Author: Tasha

Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer

| Tasha

yellow-time-by-lauren-stringer

Yellow Time by Lauren Stringer (InfoSoup)

The geese are flying south, the squirrels are busy and the crows are the only birds left in the trees. The air smells different and everyone knows that the trees must drop their leaves soon. Then the wind comes and the air fills with yellow leaves. Children run outside and play in the swirling yellow breezes. When the leaves have fallen, the yellow is in piles on the ground, covering everything. Children gather the leaves to press in books to remember the special time just before winter comes with its whiteness.

Stringer shares the drama of autumn in this picture book. She uses phrases like “a symphony of yellow” to capture the wonder of what is happening, mixing senses of sound and color together. When she describes the smell of autumn just before the leaves fall, she uses comparisons that children will understand: “Like wet mud and dry grass with a sprinkle of sugar.” It offers up the richness and deepness of the smell, the intangible dryness that is part of it and the sweetness as well. She skillfully creates autumn on the page with her words.

The illustrations celebrate the diversity of a small neighborhood filled with yellow trees and the children who wait for the falling leaves to start. There is a gorgeous overload of yellow on the pages, bright and cheerful, filled with motion and tumbling breezes and leaves. The pages are just as fresh and vibrant as the season she is depicting.

A joyous book that welcomes autumn with open arms. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing

| Tasha

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The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing (InfoSoup)

Charles and his parents have just moved to Echo City where they are going to be living in The Bellwether, an apartment building that used to be a hotel. Charles is worried by the state of the building, knowing immediately that it must be haunted. When Charles tries to sleep in his bedroom for the first time, he discovers he is right and there is something in his closet. Luckily, a neighbor gives him a card for Margo Maloo, Monster Mediator. Charles considers himself a journalist and wants to interview Margo, but she is having none of it though she lets him join her in negotiating with the troll who lives in the basement. Charles finds himself in a parallel world to his own, where there are trolls, goblins, ogres and many more monsters than he could ever have dreamed.

Weing’s graphic novel tosses readers into a new world that is strongly based in our own. With Margo as an expert guide, this book is much less about battling monsters. It is more about how monsters can get along and live alongside humans in a urban setting. Weing has created a complete monster society and ensures with his stories that the monsters are not the bad guys, just easily misunderstood. The writing is clever, the dialogue solid and the pacing is fast.

The art of the graphic novel is modern and filled with plenty of action. The city and characters are filled with diversity that includes humans and monsters in different skin tones. Weing uses the real estate of his panels in smart ways, lengthening them to share more scenic detail, focusing the scope closely when necessary and broadening them for large buildings.

Just the right book for Halloween, expect this and future books to be popular thanks to a wise mix of humor and shivers. Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

This Weeks Tweets, Pins & Tumbls

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

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Breastfeeding is rarely seen in children’s books – it’s time to rewrite attitudes

Donna Erickson: 8 ways to engage kids when reading picture books

Emily Mortimer Cast in Mary Poppins Returns Movie

‘Fantastic Beasts’ soundtrack will make you say ‘Yes, this is the sound of magic’

For National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, these books teach important lessons in empathy:

Got a reluctant reader? Try poetry, says author Kwame Alexander: https://t.co/yMlSjaMfLn

How the Berenstain Bears Found Salvation

It’s the – what is your hope for girls around the world? Graphic via

Love mysteries? Check out this book list featuring whodunits that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat!

The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) – Pottermore

New Picture Books Create Strange but Believable Worlds

Take a trip with children’s book author/illustrator Brian Floca at the NCCIL

Why I’m Reading GEORGE to My Kids

Wonderful interview ! Here’s our earlier interview with the inimitable here

...:

LIBRARIES

Inside the New York Public Library’s Last, Secret Apartments

“Kansas City Libraries Defend Free Speech in Face of Arrests, Resignations”

Milwaukee Public Library Fine Forgiveness Program Extended for Another Week

Girls Are Not Property:

TEEN READS

5 Queer Asian YA Books

5 YA Reads Perfect for Autumn

10 Honest Books About Bullying for Teenagers | Brightly

100 Must-Read YA Books With Little or No Romance:

‘Crooked Kingdom’ author Leigh Bardugo talks YA novels, magic, bookstores and teen Wonder Woman

It’s Just Us: The Need For More Trans Stories

Surefire YA Scares: 13 of the Best Teen Horror Books | Brightly

Is That Wise Pig? by Jan Thomas

| Tasha

is-that-wise-pig-by-jan-thomas

Is That Wise Pig? by Jan Thomas (InfoSoup)

Cow, Pig and Mouse are all making soup together. Mouse adds one onion, Cow adds two cabbages, but Pig tries to add three umbrellas! The other two ask Pig if that is wise. Then Mouse adds four tomatoes, Cow adds five potatoes, and Pig tries to add six galoshes. Is that wise? More ingredients go in and Pig even adds nine carrots! Then Pig reveals that she asked ten friends to join them, something that probably was not wise. Suddenly Pig’s galoshes and umbrellas make a lot of sense as the soup flies!

As always, Thomas completely understands the farcical humor that toddlers adore. Children will be so engaged in laughing at Pig’s ingredients that they won’t see the ending coming until the reveal. There is also a counting component to the book that is subtly done and the book feels much more like a story than one teaching numbers. Thomas’ illustrations will work well with a crowd, projecting easily even to those in the back thanks to their strong black lines and simple colors.

Expect lots of requests for seconds of this silly book. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

 

A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O’Leary

| Tasha

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A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Qin Leng (InfoSoup)

A teacher in a classroom asks her class what they think make their families special. One little girl hesitates to answer, knowing that her family is not like everyone else’s. The children begin to share about their families. There are children being raised by two fathers and two mothers, another who is parented by a grandmother. Some have huge families with lots of siblings and others are only children. Some have a new baby and others have stepbrothers and sisters. Each family is different and special in its own way. By the end, the little girl knows that whatever structure her family has, all that matters is that there is lots of love.

O’Leary does not lecture about families here. Rather she shows the wide variety that there are in families and how each of those is based on love. There is no need to be didactic, as every child will see themselves in the pages of this book. It is a wise way to look at families, since each is just as special and marvelous as the one before. The emphasis here is on love itself, the care that is given to children in each of those families no matter their structure.

Leng’s illustrations add so much warmth to this picture book. The illustrations are full of details and invite readers to look closely. Each page zings with energy from the mothers singing under the night sky to the child who lives with both her father and mother, just at different times. There is a playfulness on the pages too, which makes each family come to life.

A strong picture book about diversity and families, this book is filled with warmth and love and not lectures. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett

| Tasha

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How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex (InfoSoup)

How is a book made? Well this book was made in the regular way with an author making many drafts, and editor offering firm advice, an illustrator taking a long time to create the art, and it being printed halfway around the world. But it is also an amazing story and one that will surprise when the tiger keeps reappearing, the pirates raid the slow boat full of books, and the news that there is one last important piece to the book really being A BOOK. You will just have to read this book to see what that is.

Any book by Barnett and Rex is going to be wonderfully surprising and funny. This book is no exception. Barnett immediately makes sure that this book is not taken too seriously by starting it with him arm wrestling a tiger. The tiger then returns at important moments in the book, sometimes to be scared off and other times with a posse. The editor’s role is also depicted in the book with a lot of tongue-in-cheek but also honesty too. Throughout there is real information on how books get made with plenty of imagination added as well. Just like any book.

Rex’s illustrations are done with pencil on paper combined with photography. Some of the illustrations have cotton clouds and others are 3-d objects or 2-d objects photographed. This gives a great sense of space and distance, shadows lengthening across the page. Throughout the art is as clever as the words, which is a compliment to both.

A funny and imaginative look at the making of this book, both unique to this book and universal to the process. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King

| Tasha

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Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King (InfoSoup)

Sarah has stopped going to high school after an event that she doesn’t want to talk about or even think about. Sarah is a master at not thinking about certain things, like what she witnessed on vacation in Mexico with her family. Instead Sarah thinks about things like doing something original and what art is. She spends her days on the streets of Philadelphia, visiting a derelict school building, speaking with past and future versions of herself, and wondering about art and how to start creating again. She isn’t able to continue keeping the secrets deep inside hidden even from herself. So she begins to work through her thoughts, ideas and what she has seen. She contacts the brother that she hasn’t seen since the Mexico trip six years before and begins to wake up to the problems that have always been there in her family.

My goodness, this book is impossible to explain in a single paragraph. It is multilayered book that shifts and grows and builds underneath the reader as Sarah’s memories are revealed. It is wild and powerful, the tornado in the title an apt image for the rawness of this book. King depicts the dangers of living lies, whether they are built by those who say they love you or yourself. The force of those lies, the determination it takes to keep them hidden, and the emptiness of the world shaped by those lies make for a landscape that filled with traps and danger. King is a master at allowing a character to tell her own story at her own pace while making sure that the book continues to move forward, building tension upward and showing the deep humanity inside.

Sarah is an exquisite character. She is an enigma for the first part of the book, since she is determined to keep the lies spinning and not allow the truth to escape into the world. She is the epitome of an unreliable narrator, one that becomes more reliable as the book continues. Yet even as she is unreliable, she is completely relatable. Her pain is tangible on the page, her loneliness is palpable. It is in hiding her real truth and living the lie that she becomes most human.

A powerful novel filled with pain, lies, guilt and searing truth. Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dutton Books for Young Readers.

 

Leave Me Alone by Vera Brosgol

| Tasha

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Leave Me Alone by Vera Brosgol (InfoSoup)

A grandmother is all set to start knitting for her very big family, but they just keep on interrupting her. The children love to play with her balls of yarn and she can’t seem to find a quiet place to work. So she packs up her knitting things and heads out the door, shouting “Leave me alone!” She finds a quiet place in the woods to knit, but soon she catches the interest of some hungry bears. She again has to pack up and leave, shouting “Leave me alone!” It doesn’t get any better when she climbs a mountain and finds a cave to work in. The mountain goats find her yarn delicious and even eat her scarf too. So the grandmother climbs up the mountain and onto the moon. Even there, the aliens won’t leave her alone. Where can one grumpy grandma go to knit? You will be surprised by the answer!

I applaud a picture book willing to take something that has a traditional folklore theme hearkening back to The Old Woman in the Shoe and then twists it into a modern and wild picture book that you never ever realized was even headed your way. It’s an impressive shift that happens in the story, leading back ultimately to an ended that restores the folkloric tradition but along the way takes it in a scientific and funny direction. Children will love the twist, adults will enjoy the surprise making this a great book to share aloud.

Brosgol’s illustrations are a hoot. With every new area that the grandmother attempts to quietly knit in, it seems like the perfect choice at first. Then slowly and with great pacing, the interruptions appear and then devolve into wild abandon. There are very clever moments in the illustrations: a goat perched on the mountain of yarn, the hungry bear who doesn’t scare the grandmother a whit, and the goat that wanders up to the moon too.

An outstanding read aloud with a very surprising twist, this picture book is a great example of mixing folklore and science. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

My Friend Maggie by Hannah E. Harrison

| Tasha

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My Friend Maggie by Hannah E. Harrison (InfoSoup)

Maggie and Paula have been friends since they were babies. Maggie, an elephant, is great at a lot of things like splashing in puddles and reaching apples on the tree. But when Veronica tells Paula that she thinks Maggie is too big, Paula starts to notice things about Maggie. She sees that Maggie is clumsy, can’t hide during games, and her clothes are snug. Paula knows that she should stand up for Maggie, but instead Paula starts to pretend she doesn’t see Maggie at all, something that is particularly hard with an elephant. When Veronica starts to pick on Paula for her teeth and the way they stick out, Maggie is the first to defend her, showing exactly how a friend should act.

Harrison tells the story of a little problem in a strong friendship, a situation that will be very familiar for young children who are just figuring out how to be friends and what that means. Children will feel for Maggie and the way she is shunned but thanks to Harrison having the voice of Paula tell the story, they will also understand Paula’s point of view and even see how they themselves could make the same choice.

Harrison’s art shines as always. Her detailed artwork shows Maggie in all of her size and also captures her friendly spirit as well. Throughout the book, you can tangibly feel the emotions of the characters. Maggie’s ears alone do a great job of conveying how very sad and hurt she is by the way she is being treated. And look out when Maggie is angry!

This is a beautiful picture book about a cherished friendship that stumbles and then rights itself. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books.