Month: May 2020

News to Wake Your Brain Cells – May 22

| Tasha

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Bad Kitty: Wash Your Paws – a free download

Christian Robinson: creating art that matters – Publishers Weekly

Erin Entrada Kelly, Bich Minh Nguyen: An APAHM reading list – NBC News

Fall 2020 Book Buzz with your favorite publishers – SLJ

Poet and author Bao Phi: ‘It felt like the hate was cranked up to 11’ – MinnPost

LIBRARIES

How Oregon libraries are planning to reopen – OPB

Libraries have spent years reinventing themselves. Will they have to do it again? – Marketplace

Library workers return to work Wednesday to prepare for eventual reopening. Exactly when? Unclear. – Chicago Sun Times

Pandemic-caused austerity drives widespread furloughs, layoffs of library workers – Library Journal

Using librarians to track the virus – Today

2020 Children’s Books Ireland Awards

| Tasha

The award announcement ceremony for the Children’s Books Ireland Awards was broadcast online for the first time in the award’s 30-year history. And all of the winners are women! The awards celebrate the best of Irish books for young people. Some of the winners are in the Irish language.

BOOK OF THE YEAR

Nóinín

Nóinín by Máire Zepf

 

HONOUR AWARD FOR FICTION WINNER

Toffee by Sarah Crossan (Published in U.S. in July 2020 as Being Toffee)

 

HONOUR AWARD FOR ILLUSTRATION WINNER

The Tide by Ashling Lindsay

 

EILÍS DILLON AWARD WINNER

Mor agus Muilc 2019 (Hardback)

Mór agus Muilc by Kim Sharkey

 

THE JUDGES’ SPECIAL AWARD WINNER

The Deepest Breath by Meg Grehan (coming to the U.S. in February 2021)

The Homesick Club by Libby Martinez

| Tasha

The Homesick Club by Libby Martinez

The Homesick Club by Libby Martinez, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon (9781773061641)

Monica and Hannah go to school together and have formed The Homesick Club at their lunch table. Monica is from Bolivia and misses the time she spent with her grandmother feeding the hummingbirds. Hannah is from Israel and she is homesick for the sunshine and desert tortoise that she loved. When their class gets a new teacher, Miss Shelby, she seems to be homesick too for Texas. She talks longingly about the wide-open sky and the stars now that she lives in a big city with skyscrapers. The girls invite Miss Shelby to join their Homesick Club and she does! It’s there that she shares her longing for Hummingbird Cake. Now Monica has just the right inspiration for her presentation to the class.

This picture book explores what it feels like to be a transplant from somewhere else whether it be from elsewhere in the country or from another country entirely. The author cleverly equates these two, leaving no questions about who belongs in our country and why. Rather the focus here is about the emotional toll homesickness takes and how sharing those feelings with someone else can be healing for everyone.

The art in this picture book is light and airy. Using plenty of white space, it is playful and colorful. It sets a nice tone for the book, showing everyone’s differences but also reinforcing the similarities that we all have as well.

Resilience, friendship and cake. What else could you need? Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Groundwood Books.

 

‘Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis

| Tasha

'Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis

‘Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis, illustrated by Kenard Pak (9780823443260)

Written in the cumulative story style of The House That Jack Built, this picture book explores the tradition of a Hawaiian luau. The book begins with the kalo (or taro root) that is used to make poi. The kalo comes from the mud, with clear and cold water that covers it. It is picked by hands that are wise and old which have worked the land for generations. Sun and rain help the kalo grow. Wind carries the stories that the family tells until they gather together at the luau.

Loomis’ text is marvelous, moving readers backwards through how kalo is grown and the importance of it being land that has never been sold. The connection to weather and this land is evident throughout the text and then repeats over and over again as the cumulative format continues. The story then loops back around to the luau itself and a focus on family.

The art in the book is done with watercolor, gouache, and digital art. It depicts Hawaiians with many different skin tones, all part of the same family and working together. The landscapes are remarkable, whether bright green in sunshine or hazy in rain.

A celebration of traditions and family. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Holiday House.

 

 

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

| Tasha

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (9780062990297)

This award-winning teen verse novel deals with gender, identity and fabulous drag performances. Michael’s father is entirely absent in his life, leaving the room when they are in the same house together. Michael does have a connection with his father’s Jamaican family, receiving gifts from them and time spent together. He lives with his Greek-Cypriot mother in London; she accepts Michael entirely, from the time he was a small boy wanting to play with Barbies to college as a gay man. Along the way, Michael must deal with racism, of not being black enough and assumptions being made about him by society. He doesn’t know any other gay black people, forging a path on his own that leads him to university and a club that does drag where he finds his voice and a stage persona too.

Atta is a poet and this is his debut YA novel which has already won the Stonewall Book Award. Just starting reading, it is clear that the poems are done by a master storyteller. They allow readers to deeply understand the struggles of Michael from his family life to friendships that come and go to coming out and then performing. There is a valuable evolution on the page where Michael comes out and yet doesn’t quite become himself fully for several years, until he finds a place to belong.

Atta’s writing is beautiful. He mixes his own poetry with that of Michael the character, moving gracefully between the two. Somehow they are distinct from one another, the voices similar and still separate. The use of poetry to tell such a personal and deeply-felt story makes this really work, as poetry and verse are a fast way to allow readers to see the heart and soul of a character.

Brave, beautiful and deep, this teen novel is masterful. Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Balzer + Bray.

Two Dogs on a Trike by Gabi Snyder

| Tasha

Two Dogs on a Trike by Gabi Snyder

Two Dogs on a Trike by Gabi Snyder, illustrated by Robin Rosenthal (9781419738913)

Count up to ten with the help of a lot of dogs and one sneaky cat in this picture book. One dog is alone, but soon joins another dog on a trike. They become three dogs on a scooter, four on a bike. Then five dogs on a trolley and six on a train. Seven on a ferry and eight on a plane, then nine dogs in a hot-air balloon. Ten dogs in a UFO? Wait! Is that a cat? Soon the dogs are moving back through the vehicles, decreasing by one each time, until there are two cats on a trike.

Told very simply, this book has a wonderful fast pace that makes it great fun to share aloud. The vehicles are varied and interesting, making each page turn a surprise. The rhymes are gentle and add to the wildness of the book at just the right moments. The art is graphic and strong, the dogs silly and varied with googly eyes. Readers will see the cat right from the start, which creates a tug of anticipation through the entire first part of the book.

A great book that happens to have counting too. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Abrams Appleseed.

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham

| Tasha

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham, illustrated by Yuko Shinizu (9781984813787)

Alaa lives in Aleppo, a city torn apart by war. He loves the city with its alleys, bazaars and caring people. When the war came, Alaa didn’t flee. Instead, he kept working as an ambulance driver on the rubble-filled streets of the city. Alaa misses his family and loved ones. The cats of the city, left behind by their owners, remind him of his family. Alaa begins to feed the cats, at first only a few but soon many start coming to be fed. Alaa must find a special place for the cats. Donations come from all over the world to help and soon Alaa has enough money to create a sanctuary for them. Alaa is then able to save more types of animals as the donations continue. He builds a playground for children and well for fresh water. Through his big and aching heart, Alaa is able to share hope and sustenance with the cats and people of Aleppo.

This nonfiction picture book tells such a powerful story of resilience and how one person’s actions can impact an entire community. The text focuses on Alaa’s love for Aleppo but also on his big heart and willingness to give his own small amount of money to care for the cats of the city. Readers will celebrate his victories with him on the pages, marveling at how one person could help so many.

Shinizu’s illustrations capture the city of Aleppo both before the war and afterwards. The finely detailed illustrations show bustling bazaars and then the torn and vacant streets. The cats are beautifully drawn, each one has a character of their own, even in a crowded scene.

An important book about war, hope and resilience. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi

| Tasha

How to Solve a Problem The Rise and Falls of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi

How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi, illustrated by Yao Xiao (9781524773274)

Ashima is one of the best rock climbers in the world. Here, she shows how climbers take on the problems (or obstacles in the rock) in front of them. In this book, the problem she shares is the Golden Shadow in Rocklands, South Africa, which she climbed successfully at age 13. Ashima visualized her approach, clapped her hands full of chalk, mapped out each step in her head, and started her climb. Some parts of the rock, she named after different things in her life: her mother’s fabrics and her father’s dancing elbow. But then, the world slipped out from under her, and she fell. She dusted herself off, had a snack, and faced the problem again, learning from her fall. She tried again, stretching muscles to bridge the rock, and conquered it!

The writing here is a great mix of pragmatic approach and also lovely visualizations about the rock itself and the problem it presents. Ashima tells her story in the first person, from examining the huge problem in front of her through the approach, her fall and then success. But each step is executed in front of the reader where they can feel the muscle strain, see the skill that Ashima uses, and also use the approach of falling and learning from those falls, to dust off and try again.

The art by Xiao is marvelous with a substantial comic-book or superhero feel to it. This works really well with the subject matter, which has Ashima climbing what looks like impossible rock walls. The art shows clearly the different steps of the climb and how Ashima approaches each one with determination and focus.

A thrilling read and will inspire you to climb the rocks in your life too. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Make Me a World.

 

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly

| Tasha

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly

We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly (9780062747303)

Welcome to 1986, the year of the Challenger disaster and a year when all three of the Thomas children find themselves in seventh grade together. Fitch and Bird are twins and used to be very close. Bird loves science and exploring how things are made. As the Challenger nears its launch, she finds herself spellbound by the potential it represents for women in space and for her own future. Fitch meanwhile is struggling to deal with the anger that rises inside of him constantly, filling his days playing Major Havoc in the local arcade. Cash has been held back a grade and no longer plays basketball, which he misses desperately. He finds himself wondering if he is actually good at anything at all in life. The three siblings grow up in a family that is filled with anger, regular arguments and verbal abuse. As the three grow apart, circumstances including the Challenger disaster pull them back together, just in time to allow them all to find a potential way forward.

Kelly is a Newbery Medalist and this book shows her skill and superb understanding of the minds of youth. Using the setting of the mid-1980’s, she invites readers to see that while some things are different, much of the emotions, family tensions and life was the same as today. The Challenger disaster provides the ideal unifying factor in each of the sibling’s stories which are told from their own points of view. Yet Kelly does not overplay that element, never drawing the lines starkly but allowing readers to connect elements themselves.

The three siblings are quite different from one another and yet their shared upbringing and lack of safety at home create a unified experience that they all emerge from in different ways. Bird, the smart one, who takes things apart and does well at school, wonders if she is disappearing. Fitch burns with an anger he can’t explain, lashing out at others. Cash too is frustrated but he takes it out on himself and struggles internally.

A deep and magnificent middle-grade novel. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Greenwillow Books.