Month: August 2015

Review: Bernice Gets Carried Away by Hannah E. Harrison

| Tasha

Bernice Gets Carried Away by Hannah Harrison

Bernice Gets Carried Away by Hannah E. Harrison (InfoSoup)

Bernice is not having a good time at the birthday party and the cloudy day suits her mood. Her piece of birthday cake didn’t have a frosting rose on it like the others. Her soda was warm and tasted like prune grapefruit flavor. And then the big kids hit the pinata down before she even got a swing and the only candy Bernice got was a stepped-on gumdrop. So when the clown showed up with a huge bunch of balloons, Bernice grabbed them away and took them all for herself. But there may have been a few too many, and she floated up and up. She floated past other animals in the tree who were having a bad day too. She floated up until she got stuck on the bottom of the gloomy cloud. When she looked down, she realized that her problems were pretty small from a distance. Then she set out to change her day to a sunny one after all.

Harrison captures all of the elements of a bad mood and a horrible day. When you are already in a bad mood, nothing much can fix it except yourself. Harrison makes sure that it’s a substantially bad day, one that most children would have difficulty coping with. She does it with subtle humor, making the single gumdrop a stepped-on one and the soda flavor truly icky. She also makes sure that while the result is a more cheerful day, it takes a little while to get there and the change though fast does make sense.

The cover alone made me laugh out loud. Harrison knows her cats and no creature can look quite as grumpy as a wronged feline. The facial expressions of all of the animals are priceless. The paintings are detailed to the point where you can see individual hairs on the animals faces. Each one has a distinct personality, even if they are one in a crowd of little animals. Then the mood change happens and it’s like Bernice is a completely different little kitten with wide eyes and an internal glow.

Purely satisfying and fun, this picture book is a happy treat to share. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

| Tasha

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan (InfoSoup)

Apple has lived with her Nana for eleven years, ever since her mother abandoned her at age 3. Nana is strict and won’t let Apple even walk back home from school. When Apple’s mother returns, she is sophisticated and charming and not strict at all. She wants Apple to live with her and it seems like a great idea, after all she will let Apple wear makeup, walk home from school, and even shares some sips of wine. Apple agrees to move in, leaving Nana living alone, and then she discovers that she has a younger sister, Rain. Rain carries a doll around with her and pretends that it is a real baby. As the sisters grow closer together, Apple’s mother starts to spend more time away, leaving Apple caring for Rain and missing school. When tragedy almost strikes, it will take a serious choice by Apple to figure out what sort of family she really wants to be a part of.

Nominated for the British Carnegie Medal, this novel’s writing is clear and lovely. Throughout this novel, Crossan deals with serious situations and large emotions. She uses metaphors to show the depth of emotion and also ties Apple’s emotions into the poems she writes. The images she uses are strong and compelling, allowing the reader to truly understand what Apple is feeling even when her emotions are at their most turbulent.

Crossan also excels at creating relationships between characters and this book is all about relationships on a variety of levels. We have friendships both budding and decaying, maternal relationships that are troubled, and sibling relationships that are problematic yet positive. In each of these, the people are human and real. They are invested in the relationship in their own unique way, often either unable to speak to its importance in their life or unable to see beyond themselves to its importance. Apple is a strong protagonist, longing for a relationship with a mother who even after she returns cannot be the mother than Apple needs. Apple is capable, caring and wonderfully like her Nana in many ways, a touch that I particularly appreciated.

This novel about families, abandonment, and freedom will resonate with middle school readers who may be feeling their own need to be a little less monitored too. Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from ARC received from Bloomsbury.

Review: Marvelous Cornelius by Phil Bildner

| Tasha

Marvelous Cornelius by Phil Bildner

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner, illustrated by John Parra

Cornelius worked in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He was a garbage man who loved his job. He greeted everyone in the neighborhoods and made sure that the streets were clean of even a single wrapper. He had amazing calls he used with his driver, shouting “Woo! Woo!” when it was time to stop and “Rat-a-tat-tat!” when it was time to drive on. He didn’t just carry bags from the curve, he tossed and juggled them, adding dance steps to his routine job. He could launch bags through the air one after another and they landed in a perfect pyramid on the truck. But then Hurricane Katrina came to New Orleans and the city streets filled with mud and muck and piles of garbage. At first Cornelius was overwhelmed by the work to be done, but he started the same way he did every day and soon others started helping too.

This picture book is based on the true story of Cornelius Washington who was a sanitation worker in New Orleans. The Author’s Note speaks to his connection with Cornelius’ family and a reporter who had gotten to know him before the storm. In this book, Cornelius’ story is told in folklore style, offering him and his amazing spirit that he displayed every day a space to be honored and appreciated.

Parra’s illustrations play to the heroic feeling of the book, Often showing Cornelius with stars behind his head or rays of the sun. The painted illustrations have a gorgeous roughness to them in texture that also connects the subject to history and makes the entire book feel timeless and sturdy.

An homage to a man who did a humble job with style and energy, this book is also about survival and what it takes to be an everyday hero. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien

| Tasha

Im New Here by Anne Sibley OBrien

I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien (InfoSoup)

Follow three new students in the United States in this picture book. Maria is from Guatemala, Fatima is from Somalia and Jin is from Korea. The three students are all new to school and new to America. They face the same challenges in learning English and understanding the new culture they are in. There is a new language to learn, new alphabet to use, They feel alone, sad and confused. Steadily they start to use their new language to make new friends. They show others their culture and alphabet and they start to take chances and share aloud in class. They find their place in this new land.

O’Brien captures the challenges faced by children arriving from different countries and shows their universal feelings. The book is one that works in both directions, both welcoming children to classrooms and also providing American children with an understanding of what it feels like to be new and learning a new language. This book will be very helpful when new children from other countries join a classroom and can also be used as a discussion starter about emotions and feelings.

The art here is simple and welcoming. The children are shown in bright colors and the format is large enough to share with a class. The emotions are also drawn clearly on the page, allowing children to both read about how they are feeling and also see it demonstrated too.

This book celebrates diversity and new arrivals in the United States. It gives space for children to keep their own strong ties to their home cultures while also creating a new home here. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

This Week’s Tweets, Pins & Tumbls

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts this week that I think are cool:

Book Hangover: Inability to start a new book because you're still living in the last book's world

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

I’ve loved participating in the Cybils – You will too! #kidlit #cybils http://ow.ly/R9Wqg

Just a lil’ Crayon rap for THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME. #TheRealColorShadey Make your own! > http://www.crayonspicturebooks.com/every-crayon-counts/# …

‘New York Times’ Changes Children’s Bestseller Lists http://ow.ly/R9VNx #kidlit

EBOOKS

Did technology kill the book or give it new life? – BBC News http://buff.ly/1LhmTGf #ebooks

LIBRARIES

Toronto boy’s apology for ripping a library book. http://buff.ly/1LkSklL #libraries

Teens’ Top Ten Voting Open!

| Tasha

teens top ten

The Teens’ Top Ten list is entirely nominated and voted on by teens. Books are from the previous year. Voting opened on August 15th and runs through Teen Read Week which is October 18-24.

Visit the Top Ten Tumblr page.

Head here to see the nominees and to vote if you are a teen.

Review: The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin

| Tasha

The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin

The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin (InfoSoup)

Released on August 25, 2015.

The voice of a parent narrates this book that looks to the future for a young child. The narrator has known from the time the child was very small that they were special, big-hearted, wild and wise. They also emphasize that the child is unique, because it’s the first time there’s been YOU. The emphasis here is on living a life that is bold and interesting but first and foremost it has to be filled with love. And this picture book shines with it.

This simple book focuses on celebrating the potential of each and every child, telling them that they are special and unique and important to the world. The book is written in rhyming couplets that have a gentle rhythm to them, creating almost a lullaby on the page and a wonderful way to send a child off to sleep.

The illustrations are lush paintings that change from one page to the next, showing different families and different children on each page. This furthers the idea that every child has this potential inside of them too. The families are ethnically diverse and most of the pages only have one parent shown, if any at all.  The focus is on the child.

This would be a great new baby gift or with the way that it ends with the child growing up, a graduation gift too. But it’s best place is being read aloud to children so that they can understand how incredible they are. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Random House Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss.

Review: The Forget-Me-Not Summer by Leila Howland

| Tasha

The Forget Me Not Summer by Leila Howland

The Forget-Me-Not Summer by Leila Howland (InfoSoup)

Marigold, Zinnie and Lily are sisters. They live busy lives in California where Marigold is hoping to have a real kiss for the first time, not one done on set. Zinnie is trying to get her curly wild hair under control and hopes to be able to spend time with Marigold and her friends. Lily is five and wants nothing more than to stay home with her nanny and eat great food. But then their parents get jobs out of town and the sisters are sent to spend the summer with an aunt they have never met across the country in Cape Cod. The three girls suddenly have to share a room with one another, live without a TV, not have cell phone service, and even the internet access is outdated and slow. Marigold is furious at losing a chance to be in a major film and having to spend time with her little sisters. Zinnie finds herself talking to trees for advice and watching for surprises created by special brownies. Lily longs for the food she had at home but also enjoys a good clambake too. Just as things seem to be starting to turn around, parts of California life appear and set everything askew again. These three sisters will have to figure out how to be themselves even when kisses, peer pressure and fame appear.

This book will inevitably be compared to the Penderwicks and rightly so. The sisters have that same spunk about them and the setting offers that timelessness that works so well. Though in this book, the girls chafe against the loss of TV and Internet, struggling to get along with one another. These sisters have fights, that are so well done that you understand both sides of the problem and can take the side of either one. The two older girls in particular both are human and far from perfect. Lily may look angelic but she too can throw tantrums and have horrible days, especially if baths are not negotiated properly.

It is that human quality that makes this book work so very well. The sisters are realistically portrayed and their relationships develop and change right in front of the reader in a way that makes sense. The unknown aunt turns out to be a very special person, kind and caring and someone who is a leader in the Cape Cod community. It’s a treat to see such a great female adult portrayed in a children’s book. One who is strong, enjoys children and gives them plenty of space to learn and grow without being overly odd or incompetent in any way.

A great summer read for fans of The Penderwicks, I’m hoping for another book featuring these girls. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Review: Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Bostone Weatherford

| Tasha

Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Bostone Weatherford

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer:The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Bostone Weatherford, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (InfoSoup)

This biographical picture book is written in verse, singing the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, a woman who was at the heart of the civil rights movement. The book begins with Hamer’s childhood in Mississippi as the youngest of twenty children in a sharecropper family. She grew up working in the cotton fields, seeing it for the slavery that it was. School was only held for four months a year, because the children needed to work in the fields in order for their family to survive. Even in the early part of the 1900s, Hamer was taught that black was beautiful and that she was special. She stayed in the south rather than moving north like her siblings, taking care of her mother and getting married. The in the 1960s, voter registration became an issue and Hamer found herself standing up to the system despite the violence and the threats. She joined the movement for voter rights and starting to use her singing voice to bring people together. Soon she was seen as a leader in the movement, running for office, and speaking out for those who did not have a voice. She is an inspiration for today’s Black Lives Matter movement and youth activism in general.

Weatherford’s writing is gorgeous and the verse she uses to tell Hamer’s story is very effective. She is able to directly talk about racism and violence in her poems, never dancing away from the toughest of subjects. Each poem reads as a call to action, a reason to stand up and make sure civil rights are not being abridged. Even the poem where Hamer is beaten by police and other prisoners rings with strength and power. This is a biography of a woman who was immensely determined and strong. She stood up to the system, risked her own life for change, and used her own skills for the sake of the cause.

Alongside the powerful poetry are equally impressive illustrations. The collage art by Holmes is a mix of paper art and paintings. The illustrations are deep colored and tell the story of oppression and then accomplishment. There are illustrations that take the bright colors of Africa and the 1970s and make the pages blaze while others are dark and somber as violence and death cloud the pages.

Important and powerful, this nonfiction picture book shares the story of a woman vital to the civil rights movement. Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from library copy.