Month: May 2021

Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson

| Tasha
Cover image for Sunrise Summer.

Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson, illustrated by Robbi Behr (9781250080585)

A family heads to Alaska for the summer, traveling 4000 miles to get there. This summer, the girl narrating the story will get to join the fishing crew for the first time. She will pull ropes, twist anchor poles and fetch water. The girl and her mother watch the river, waiting for the salmon to come. Meanwhile, the family keeps busy with necessary repairs, mending nets, and listening to the fishing reports on the radio. The tides say that fishing should start at 4 am, so the family gets up a 2:30 am to head out. They dress up in rubber waders, long gloves and woolly hats. They face wind, rain and high waves as they head out to fish. At 4 am, the nets are dragged into the water and it’s her job to tie the net to the rope, but it’s much harder with the tide pulling, a wet rope and slick mud underfoot. The whole crew helps out, until finally it’s time to remove the salmon from the nets by hand. Then they get shipped all over the world.

Based on Robbi’s own personal experience as a young girl spending summers in Alaska as part of a commercial fishing operation, this picture book is full of details that only someone who has lived it would know. From bumping into bears on the beach to the troubles of taut ropes to the immense pride in being included in the family business, all of this adds to the joy of a girl participating on a fishing team for the first time. The writing is focused and brief, making the book perfect for sharing aloud. The focus is on facing a new experience with family by your side and realizing with pride that this is what we do.

The art is digitally done with watercolor washes across the sky and collaged elements that have the characters popping with black outlines against the backgrounds. The depiction of the beauty of the Alaskan tundra is particularly of note as well as the clear family support among everyone.

A unique and fascinating lifestyle that is worth smelling like fish. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy provided by Imprint.

Nubia: Real One by L. L. McKinney

| Tasha
Cover image for Nubia.

Nubia: Real One by L. L. McKinney, illustrated by Robyn Smith (9781401296407)

When Nubia heads into a store to talk to Oscar, a boy she likes, everything goes wrong. The store is robbed, and Nubia finds herself using her Amazonian strength to stop the robbers and protect everyone in the store. The problem is, that Oscar witnessed what she did. Nubia and her mothers have had to move multiple times when people have seen her feats of strength just to protect her and let her have a normal life. Her mothers get advice from D, who helps relocate them and assess the dangers. As one of her best friends is targeted by a predatory classmate, Nubia learns that she can’t just sit by and let things happen to those she loves. But as a Black woman, the world sees her as a threat already, it’s not as simple as Wonder Woman has it.

McKinney, author of A Blade So Black, has created the voice of this graphic novel, focusing on modern issues like Black Lives Matter and the problem of being a super hero in a world that sees Black people as the problem, not the solution. McKinney centers the problems that Nubia faces into these larger societal problems, giving them a serious weight. Her text is lively and her dialogue is natural and deeply explores what Nubia is experiencing as a Black woman.

The illustrations by Smith are marvelous. I love the height and strength of Nubia. I adore the messy look of Wonder Woman, as if she has run her hands through her hair in frustration several times on her way into the room. The images of Nubia’s mothers are great, from their determination to their deep caring to the celebration of Nubia despite what the world might say.

A graphic novel for our times and for our future. Appropriate for ages 11-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

2021 British Book Awards

| Tasha

The winners of the 2021 British Book Awards were announced on May 13th. Two of the Best Book awards are for children’s titles and several of the trade awards are for children’s publishers. Here are the winners in those categories:

CHILDREN’S FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Highland Falcon Thief by Junior MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli

CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED AND NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

Black and British: A Short, Essential History by David Olusoga

BEST SMALL PRESS

Sweet Cherry

BEST CHILDREN’S PUBLISHER

Wonderbly

Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca

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Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca (9781534493773)

This picture book by Caldecott Award winner Floca explores the Covid-19 pandemic. Through New York City streets, the book shows how most people were forced to stay indoors and watch the streets go quiet. But the streets never emptied entirely, since there were people working at essential jobs. People were still out and about using all sorts of vehicles. There were people delivering mail and packages, people heading to work in hospitals, others making food deliveries on their bicycles, still others picking up trash, and police and fire protecting everyone. Then every night, the windows opened and people shouted and banged their appreciation for these people who kept on working through the danger and the emptiness to keep everyone safe, fed and looked after.

The text in the book is simple, explaining what happened to cause the streets to empty as people took refuge in their homes to stay safe. The book shows vehicles of all sorts but also shows lovely moments of connection, of toys being delivered or taxis stopping to get someone with lots of grocery bags.

Floca tells us in his Author’s Note that he created these images during the pandemic’s height in New York City. As the streets emptied, he found solace in drawing the vehicles that continued to move through the city. He then took those images and made them into this book, which explains the aching melancholy of some of the images as they show the empty streets and the vast change to a normally bustling city.

A beautiful yearning look at New York City in 2020 with plenty of interesting vehicles to explore. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Atheneum.

News to Wake Your Brain Cells – May 14

| Tasha

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

7 children’s books to celebrate Eid at home – Chicago Parent

15 great diverse picture book biographies – Book Riot

My kids won’t even pick up a book – and it is definitely all my fault – The Guardian

Read Woke: from picture books to fantasy, children’s literature can open minds and hearts – SLJ

Why Alice is the ultimate icon of children’s books – BBC

LIBRARIES

Brooklyn Public Library’s iconic Central Branch debuts a Toshiko Mori-led refresh – The Architect’s Newspaper

YA LIT

6 sensitive YA books to check out for Mental Health Awareness Week – Cultured Vultures

40 YA books by AAPI authors that release this year – BuzzFeed

Adam Silvera will adapt his novel They Both Die at the End as a TV series – Tor

Alice Oseman wins the YA Book Prize 2021 – The Bookseller

All the new young adult SFF books arriving in May! – Tor

How trans and nonbinary actors are revolutionizing audiobooks – BuzzFeed

Amira’s Picture Day by Reem Faruqi

| Tasha
Cover image

Amira’s Picture Day by Reem Faruqi, illustrated by Fahmida Azim (9780823440191)

It is Eid tomorrow, and Amira is thrilled. She gets her hands decorated by mehndi designs that she has to let dry from green to a rich brown. They also get to miss school tomorrow! Amira is happily helping her family make goody bags for the children at the masjid, when she sees the notice about tomorrow also being Picture Day at school. The class was going to be photographed all together and now Amira would miss it. The next morning, Amira got ready for Eid but still longed to wear the dress she had picked out for Picture Day. Once they were at the masjid, Amira was swept up in the celebration of Eid with lots of food, hugs and sharing of goody bags. But when the celebration ended, she once again thought about Picture Day. On their way home, Amira had a big idea that involved the leftover goody bags and maybe going to Picture Day after all.

Faruqi shows the push and pull of being Muslim in a country like the United States where children must miss school to celebrate holidays like Eid. When Eid which is based on the lunar calendar, falls on an important day at school, it can be very difficult for children. That’s what happens with Amira in the story and her navigation of it shows the tension between loving her family and her faith but also wanting to be part of her school community too. The book shows various parts of Eid without minimizing Amira’s wishing to be at school too.

Azim’s illustrations are bright and colorful. She shows the diversity in both the Muslim community as well as at Amira’s school. She creates great facial expressions as Amira navigates having to go to Eid and potentially miss out on Picture Day. Readers will clearly understand her happiness, wistfulness and pleasure at being able to find a solution.

A strong addition for school and public libraries that celebrates the diversity of children in our communities. Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy provided by Holiday House.

A Plan for the People by Lindsey McDivitt

| Tasha
Cover image.

A Plan for the People by Lindsey McDivitt, illustrated by Charly Palmer (9780802855022)

This picture book biography of the great Nelson Mandela explores his adult life as first an attorney and then a prisoner and then president. Mandela defended people against the unjust White laws of apartheid that drove dark-skinned South Africans into impoverished communities and took away their rights. He joined the African National Congress, helping draft their Freedom Charter. Mandela was a leader in the fight for justice, soon arrested as an activist, tried and sent to Robben Island. Mandela was placed in a small, cold cell and separated from those he loved, allowed just one visitor in his first year and only two letters sent and received. But Mandela and others created ways to communicate and continue to learn. He saw ways to open the hearts of the guards in the prison, learning about their history as well as his own. Along the way, they gained more freedoms in the prison, eventually getting released as international pressure mounted. Mandela was elected President and formed a new multiracial government with new freedoms for everyone.

McDivitt shares in her Author’s Note that she was born in South Africa as a white person. Her background gives her an interesting lens of understanding from which to write a biography of Nelson Mandela. She does so with a real depth, allowing Mandela’s decades in prison to form a lot of the book and also focusing on the injustice of apartheid and its ramifications on its victims. Throughout her prose, she uses vivid imagery from South Africa that help readers better understand the impact and power of Mandela.

Palmer’s art beautifully captures Mandela throughout his adult life. From the days in prison to connecting with fellow prisoners and guards to eventually donning his signature vibrant tunics as President. The illustrations show the injustice of apartheid, the horrors of the prison, and the rise of Mandela as a world leader.

An important look at Mandela’s life and work. Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from copy provided by Eerdmans.

My Red Hat by Rachel Stubbs

| Tasha
Cover image

My Red Hat by Rachel Stubbs (9781536212716)

A grandfather gives his red hat to his granddaughter. He explains the amazing things that the hat is capable of. It can make you stand out in a crowd or blend right in. It can keep you warm and dry or keep you cool in the sun. It can be used for serious and silly reasons. Wearing the hat, you can go anywhere you like: low, high or on real adventures, until you are ready to come back home again. It is your hat.

Stubbs takes a very simple and familiar event, the gifting of a hat into a level of wonder and dreams in this picture book. Using very simple language, she has created a book that reads aloud brilliantly. The pace manages to be both fast and rather dreamy, revealing new opportunities that the hat provides at each turn of the page. It is the relationship between grandparent and grandchild here that is beautifully portrayed while never being overtly discussed in the text.

The illustrations are done in a limited color palette with teal, red and pink the primary colors. On each page, the red pops out, focusing on the hat itself. The illustrations have enough details to linger over, particularly the crowd scenes that fill double-page spreads.

A warm look at the role of grandparents to inspire discovery and self-esteem. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Walker Books.

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley

| Tasha
Cover image for Jo Jo Makoons.

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley, illustrated by Tara Audibert (9780063015371)

Boozhoo! Welcome to a new chapter book series featuring an Ojibwe girl. Jo Jo has two best friends. There is Mimi, her pet cat, who may need to be saved from having to get shots. Then there is Fern, her school best friend, who has been acting a lot more distant lately. Jo Jo lives on the Ojibwe reservation with her mother and grandmother. Because Mimi must get shots soon, Jo Jo tucks her into her bookbag and takes Mimi to school with her. At school, they have to do a rhyming exercise that Jo Jo doesn’t get quite right. But when she tries to hide Mimi in her shirt and Mimi escapes, Jo Jo suddenly speaks in rhymes much to her teacher’s surprise. With Fern not being overly friendly, Jo Jo realizes she needs to start making new friends besides Mimi, so Jo Jo tries following her grandmother’s advice and being friendly to everyone. But its’ not that easy!

Written with a ton of humor that will have you laughing out loud, readers will immediately love Jo Jo with her unique view of the world. She’s a girl who thinks that her gym teacher’s name is “Jim” and doesn’t realize that words spelled alike sometimes don’t rhyme at all. Meanwhile, she is a great friend, a great artist, and just has to find her own unique way through life.

Quigley’s writing is just right for a chapter book. It pairs well with the illustrations which show Jo Jo and her series of misadventures through a few days in her life. From the chaos of Mimi in class to Jo Jo’s humorous art style to her attempts to be more friendly, all are captured in the images with humor and empathy.

A look the life of a modern young Ojibwe with plenty of giggles. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Heartdrum.