Author: Tasha

Review: The Truly Brave Princesses by Dolores Brown

| Tasha

The Truly Brave Princesses by Dolores Brown

The Truly Brave Princesses by Dolores Brown, illustrated by Sonja Wimmer (9788417123383)

This lush picture book explores the ways in which all women are princesses and all women are brave. Each woman’s details are shared, including their name, age, profession and what they love most. Then a brief explanation of their bravery is shared with the reader. Each woman is wonderfully different from the others in terms of race, culture, sexuality, being differently abled, and much more.

The entire picture book has a celebratory feeling. Each woman is given a crown in her portrait, one that matches her personality perfectly. Most charming are the small details that are shared, like the physician’s love of hot chocolate and architect’s connection to the sea. The artwork in the picture book is detailed and filled with color. Each woman gets a close-up portrait and then an image showing her with her family and loved ones actively enjoying life.

A diverse and inclusive look at the strength of all women. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from library copy. 

 

2018 An Post Irish Book Award Nominees

| Tasha

The shortlist for the An Post Irish Book Awards has been announced. Here are the nominees in the youth categories:

NATIONAL BOOK TOKENS CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR (JUNIOR)

 Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth

The First Christmas Jumper (And the Sheep Who Changed Everything) by Ryan Tubridy, illustrated by Chris Judge

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

I say OOH You say AAH The Magic Moment

I Say Ooh, You Say Aah by John Kane

The Magic Moment by Niall Breslin, illustrated by Sheena Dempsey

Pooka Party The President’s Cat

The Pooka Party by Shona Shirley Macdonald

The President’s Cat by Peter Donnelly

 

NATIONAL BOOK TOKENS CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR (SENIOR)

Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World The Dog Who Lost His Bark

Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World by Sarah Webb, illustrated by Lauren O’Neill

The Dog Who Lost His Bark by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P. J. Lynch

Secret Science: The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes The Storm Keeper's Island

Secret Science: The Amazing World Beyond Your Eyes by Dara Ó Briain, illustrated by Dan Brammall

The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle

Tin The Trouble with Perfect (A Place Called Perfect)

Tin by Pádraig Kenny

The Trouble with Perfect by Helena Duggan

 

DEPT51@EASON TEEN / YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR

Dark Wood Dark Water Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping: Twelve stories of the villains from Doctor Who (Dr Who)

Dark Wood Dark Water by Tina Callaghan

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping by Dave Rudden

Spare and Found Parts The Surface Breaks

Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

The Surface Breaks by Louise O’Neill

The Weight of a Thousand Feathers The Wren Hunt

The Weight of a Thousand Feathers by Brian Conaghan

The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

 

 

Review: The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon

| Tasha

The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon

The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon (9781524715953)

After brothers Caleb and Bobby Gene get into trouble for trading their baby sister for a bag of fireworks, they are sentenced to a summer of labor alongside the boy who traded with them. Caleb is determined not to be an ordinary person in life, something his father seems obsessed with him staying at all times, even calling him extra-ordinary! So when Styx Malone enters their lives and offers them a way to trade the ill-gotten fireworks for something even better, the two brothers eagerly join him. But Styx is not telling them the whole truth about his life or even about the trades they are making. As the boys are pulled farther into Styx’s world, Caleb worries that it will all fall apart and that he will be left being just ordinary again.

Magoon has created a story that reads smooth and sweet, a tale filled with adventures and riotous action. At the same time though, she has also created a book that asks deeper questions about family, the foster care system, children in need, and what makes a good friend. Readers may not trust Styx as quickly as Caleb does, so the book also has a compelling narrative voice that is naive and untrustworthy. Even as Caleb, in particular, is drawn firmly into Styx’s plans, readers will be questioning what they are doing. It’s a great book to show young readers an unreliable narrator who is also charming.

The book has complex characters who all rise beyond being stereotypical. Even the adults in the book show glimpses of other sides that create a sense of deep reality on the page. Styx himself is an amazing character. He is clearly doing things on the edge of the law, hustling for deals and acting far tougher than he actually is. The moments where Styx shows his softer side are particularly compelling, like the hotdog cookout and seeing him interact with a father figure. Beautifully nuanced, these moments take this book from a madcap summer to a book that speaks deeply about being a child.

A top read of the year, expect to find incredible depth in this novel about friendship and family. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Wendy Lamb Books.

 

Review: We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

| Tasha

We Are Grateful Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frane Lessac (9781632896339)

This picture book looks at modern life in the Cherokee Nation. Looking at being grateful, the book explores the year and its seasons. Along the way, various Cherokee words are shared with the reader both in English lettering and also in Cherokee syllabary. Throughout the book, a strong connection with nature is shared with buckbrush, cane flutes, wild onions, and large gardens. There is also a clear connection with Cherokee history from the Trail of Tears to family members who have passed on to festivals and memorials. This is a book about community that celebrates the earth, survival, and family.

This is Sorell’s debut picture book. A member of the Cherokee Nation, her prose here reflects her skill as a poet, bringing a soaring feel to the moments she shares. The book ends with a glossary of terms that will inform readers about the connection to things like stickball and gigging. Sorell uses the title phrase of “We are grateful” again and again in the book, creating a rhythmic feel of a traditional tale.

Lessac’s illustrations are done in gouache, creating bright and rich colors that show entire scenes on the page. The greens of nature, the blues of the water and sky, the bursts of color in homes and gardens, all have a great depth of color.

A wonderful modern look at Cherokee traditions and our universal gratitude for community and family. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

This Week’s Tweets & Pins

| Tasha

Here are some of my top news stories for the week:

Every Day Is A Good Day

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Can picture books meet the crisis in children’s mental health?

Classic, Award-Winning, Popular Books with Racist, Biased Depictions of Indigenous People

Judy Blume Has Finally Sold the Movie Rights to Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

Mama Bear knows best: The enduring problem with children’s picture books

LIBRARIES

Advocacy and the Power of Narrative | American Libraries Magazine

Anti-Tax Fervor Closed Their Libraries. Now Residents Are Trying to Go It Alone.

READING

Why can’t NC kids read? Another study shows Read To Achieve produced no gains.

TEEN LIT

Angie Thomas, The Author Of “The Hate U Give,” Has A Message For Young People

What’s the one book all young Canadians should read? 12 teens share their picks | CBC Books

Review: Africville by Shauntay Grant

| Tasha

Groundwood Logos Spine

Africville by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Eva Campbell (9781773060439)

A girl visits the historical site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She imagines what the community was once like, how the children would play together. She imagines lunch on the tables, picking blueberries over the hill. She imagines playing games, going rafting, and bonfires by the water. Her great-grandmother had lived in Africville before it was destroyed in the 1960s after surviving for over 150 years. But the black community of Africville never received the same services as the rest of Halifax despite paying taxes. The community was eventually relocated from the site and moved to public housing. Africville is now a park where former residents and their descendants return to remember the community that had once stood there.

Grant gives us a glimpse of what Africville once was. The picture book keeps descriptions short and the focus on children and their lives in the community. There is an author’s note at the end of the book that offers more context for what Africville was and what happened to its residents. The use of a modern child to dream about what might have been in Africville is a great lens through which to look at life there. The peacefulness and sense of community pervade the entire read.

Campbell’s illustrations are filled with deep colors. The bonfire pages glow with reds of fire and sunset. There is lush green everywhere and the houses pop with bright paint colors. She creates the warmth of a real community on the pages, illustrations that seem to have sunlight shining from them.

A gorgeous tribute to a piece of Canadian history. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

Review: Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera

| Tasha

Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera

Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Lauren Castillo (9780763690526)

Poet Laureate of the United States, Herrera here writes a poem that is filled with wonder and possibilities. He invites young readers into his own childhood, filled with tadpoles in creeks, sleeping outside, and feeding chickens. Though his childhood also had goodbyes to people when he moved away and fetching water through the forest. Herrera shares moving to the United States and learning English. Filling pages with words and ink, creating poems and songs. The book ends with him speaking on the steps of the Library of Congress and then asks readers to imagine what they could do.

Herrera’s poem is exquisitely crafted for young readers. He takes them on a full journey of his childhood, showing them the beautiful side, the hard work and the difficulties of learning a new language and moving to a new country. It is a powerful work just right for small children about immigration and the impact the immigrant voices have on our country in so many ways.

Castillo’s art is filled with a sense of memory and longing. She lights her pages with bright sunlight and then haunting moonlight appears. There is a sense of being a witness to Herrera’s life in her work, of watching things happen right at his shoulder. It’s a beautiful way to view someone’s life.

Rich, memorable and timely, this picture book is something special. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See the World by Guillaume Duprat

| Tasha

Eye Spy Wild Ways Animals See the World by Guillaume Duprat

Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See the World by Guillaume Duprat (9781999802851)

This science-focused nonfiction picture book takes a close look at animal eyes and the ways that different animals see the world. Incorporating flaps to lift, readers can lift the eyes of the animals on the pages to see the way that they do. What does it look like to only see things clearly that are a few inches away? How does it change things to only be able to see three colors instead of five? What happens when a bird can see all the way around in a 360 view? How do insect eyes work to form a full image of what they are perceiving? All of these questions and more are answered in this engaging nonfiction picture book.

Beautifully designed, this picture book offers an engaging format combined with fascinating facts. While reading about how other creatures see the world is interesting, being able to actually see what that means in a visual way is incredible. The book includes mammals like cats, dogs, horses, and cows and then moves on to other types of animals like reptiles, insects, and birds. Each page turn brings a new animal with a new flap to peek behind.

The art here is vital. The flaps to lift offer a hidden view into the way these animals perceive the world. The art invites us to look right at the creature and then look at the world through their eyes. It is beautifully done, with all of the animals looking at the same scene so that readers can see the differences clearly.

An eye-opening look at the science of vision and animal eyes. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy provided by What on Earth Publishing.

Review: Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

| Tasha

Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo (9780763694630)

Fans of Raymie Nightingale are in for a treat with this new novel that focuses on Louisiana Elefante. Louisiana is thrown into an adventure when her granny wakes her in the middle of the night and drives across the state line from Florida into Georgia. Along the way, she talks about feeling unwell and eventually is incapacitated by a toothache. Louisiana takes the wheel and drives them, with a few mishaps, to a small town to find a dentist. After granny’s teeth are all removed because of advanced decay, they find a place for her to recuperate. Louisiana longs to return to Florida and her friends, but with granny in no state to travel, she is stuck. She meets a boy with a crow for a best friend, discovers the sweetness of a pink house filled with cake, and learns that a minister may not have all the answers but can still help. Louisiana’s life has been filled with goodbyes, perhaps this small town can break that curse.

DiCamillo tells Louisiana’s story with a deft humor and a deep empathy. The book begins as a strange road trip in darkness, becomes a comedic romp of a kid driving a car, but then starts to ask big questions about honesty and family. As Louisiana learns more about her own personal history, she begins to question everything that her granny has told her over the years. Still, even the truth is hard to accept at times.

Louisiana herself is a wonderfully compelling character and one of the most interesting ones from Raymie Nightingale. Here readers get to know her better and will find her even more compelling. The book has a gentleness to it, a tenderness, that lifts it up. The supporting characters add to that, treating Louisiana with a care that her granny has been unable to provide her.

Beautifully written and filled with amazing characters, this one is a winner from a master storyteller. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Candlewick Press.