This adult science fiction novella tells the story of a crew of robots who awaken from being turned off to find that the restaurant they had been working in has been abandoned. The world around them has changed too with more destruction and fewer other stores in the area. As the four robots begin to think about what they want for themselves and their own future, they decide to open a biang biang noodle shop. Along the way, they face more than their share of anti-robot hatred but they also learn that they have created a larger community willing to stand with them.
With its focus on robots and found family, this novella will resonate with an older YA or new adult audience. The length is enticing and the cover is a colorful riot of noodles, San Francisco and robots. The book has lots of heart, almost no violence and is set in a vivid world of conscious legal contracts, sentient robots with limited civil rights, and a colorful cast of human and robot characters.
A cozy SF novella food, family and San Fran. Appropriate for ages 16+.
This wordless picture book shares a day in the life of a mother and son who are unhoused. The boy goes to school and is picked up afterwards by his mother. They live in an unnamed city and he shares his news of his day as they walk to get dinner. After dinner, they spend the rest of their evening together in the library doing homework and reading. Once the library is closed, they head to a park where the boy sleeps on the bench, his head in his mother’s lap as she keeps watch through the night. The boy brushes his teeth in a drinking fountain, changes clothes and then is off to another day at school.
This book is immensely moving and powerful. There is such dignity to their day together, such effort in keeping her son safe and such a strong connection between the two of them. All of that is shared in images alone, speaking from the page through their interaction, their body language and their time together. It is haunting, beautiful and a call to action. Ransome is one of our greatest picture book creators and this one is one of his best.
Powerful and full of heart, this picture book doesn’t let you look away from those in need of housing. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Nancy Paulsen Books.
Count upwards in Spanish as a family gathers to eat menudo, a Mexican soup, together. The counting grows from 1 small casita to 7 warm tortillas to a theft of treats that leads to a chase by the dogs. Just as the food is being carried to the table, the dogs and children run through and there is a terrible crash. No one is hurt, but the platter is shattered into 15 pieces. After 1 deep breath, it is time to fix the damage and start again, counting upwards as they all work together to get dinner on the table.
So many counting books don’t have a storyline, but this one does. It’s a story of a family that works together even when things get tough to support one another, fix problems and share food. Every page brims with their love for one another. A Spanish glossary is offered at the end along with some tips for hosting your own menudo gathering. The illustrations capture the same warmth as the story itself, using merry bright colors in pinks, yellows, oranges and blues.
A comforting culinary counting book. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Young Readers.
‘Wayne Le is a perfectly normal high school kid, who doesn’t talk much to his father and cares deeply about his younger sister, who isn’t actually related to him. Since his mother left when he was a kid, ‘Wayne hasn’t done much to make his father proud. So when he is selected to be part of a Johns Hopkins study, he sees it as a way to impress his father and also find a way forward in his life since his grades won’t get him into college. But when he starts the study, he steadily realizes that it’s not what he was told at first. Along the way, he meets Jane, a girl from school who he’s had a crush on for years and hasn’t had the courage to speak with. He and Jane, who is also in the study, start to meet regularly to discuss what is happening. Kermit, ‘Wayne’s best friend, is convinced that it’s a vast conspiracy, but what happens when conspiracy theories might just end up being true?
Vacharat has written a multi-layered and gorgeous novel that explores what it means to change who we are and how that happens. She uses a variety of devices in her novel, including prompts from the app in the study, stilted scripts for ‘Wayne’s conversations with his father, and folded paper when Jane speaks to the reader. She has created very human characters, including ‘Wayne who finds himself changing whether due to the study or not, and Jane, who is autistic and makes origami, but is definitely not a manic pixie girl, thank you very much.
Whiplash smart and incredibly engrossing, this novel is unique, insightful and uproariously funny. Appropriate for ages 13+.
Bob the snail (all snails are named Bob) is just minding his own business when suddenly there is a scream, stomp, crack, drip and POOF! Bob feels strange and it turns out he has small wings, fangs and no reflection. He can’t eat the things he used to love, so he tries a bunch of other things, including eating the other Bobs. But nothing satisfies until he discovers the joy of using his fangs on a juicy tomato. He finds that he has other powers too, including hypnotizing other animals to get him more tomatoes. The other Bobs don’t want anything to do with him, especially since he tried to eat them, but Bob isn’t deterred and soon meets another creature who loves tomatoes too.
Ideal for those looking for a Halloween read that isn’t scary at all but also has plenty of action to keep little ones’ attention, this picture book is also hilarious. A small bug offers side commentary about vampires and what is happening to Bob as he transforms. This lets young children who may not understand all of the vampire lore into the jokes as they happen and is very cleverly done. The illustrations are great fun with Bob offering more emotions than might be expected from a snail thanks to his expressive eye stalks. The transformation is particularly effective visually and adds to the fun.
A great Halloween read aloud with lots of laughter. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Random House.
For a Girl Becoming by Joy Harjo, illustrated by Adriana Garcia (9781324052241)
From the U.S. Poet Laureate comes a picture book that celebrates the birth of a little girl. From the birth itself and the baby in its “spirit house,” to those that gathered to celebrate your birth, to the gifts given to you by the halves of your family. Breathe and walk, remembering the source of your breath, the source of your walking and running. Horses ran the land when you were born, remember. It’s impossible to encapsulate Harjo’s poem with any clarity. It is the celebration of a birth, the speaking to all of us about where we came from, and a thunder of a poem. The illustrations by Garcia flow on the page, forming horses, children, families and weaving an interconnection.
A great book for a baby gift and one that celebrates the poetry of life. Appropriate for ages 4-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Norton Young Readers.
Deanne loved spending time in nature with her family as a young child. It was a love that continued throughout her life. When wildfires started spreading in California, Deanne applied for a job with the U.S. Forest Service. She was hired by them to fight fires. She had found exactly what she loved. It was a physical job with long hours and risks. But Deanne wanted to do more: she wanted to become a smokejumper. So, at age 26, she started taking the required physical tests. She passed them, but was found to be too small for their requirements. Deanne fought the decision, filing a formal complaint. Months later, she was allowed to take the tests and soon passed them to become the first female smokejumper in the nation.
Deanne is the epitome of resilience and determination. The book focuses on her willingness to take risks but also on her level-headed approach to gaining new skills as she pushes the envelope of society’s biases toward women. The writing here is approachable and evocative. It shares how Deanne was feeling as she hit each obstacle and overcame them. The illustrations are full of flame colors, smoke and fire. It brings the dangers and the drama directly to the reader.
Bravery, resilience and character are all on display in this great picture book biography. Appropriate for ages 4-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Young Readers.
The Black Mambas are an anti-poaching unit that works in South Africa on the Olifants West Nature Reserve. The unit was started when animals in the reserve began to disappear, particularly rhinos and pangolins. The unit is the first all-women anti-poaching unit in the world and despite doubts from family members became very successful. The book explores how the unit was created, what sorts of training they go through, and what they do on a daily basis to protect the wildlife in the reserve. One particularly dramatic series of images shows the women tracking poachers and successfully stopping them. Told via photographs, the book celebrates the impact these women have had on their community and the success of the reserve.
A stirring tale of women successfully stepping out of traditional roles. Appropriate for ages 5-10.
Marjorie Rice grew up loving shapes, enchanted by the golden rectangle. She studied art and geometry, but her parents wanted her to be a secretary. Meanwhile, others were discovering five-sided shapes that could fit together, creating a seamless pattern. They each declared they had found them all. Majorie was raising children, doing art, helping with math, and discovered the question of five-sided shapes in her son’s Scientific American magazine. Marjorie started to work on the problem, despite it being declared as solved. Her first discovery was declared the tenth tiling pentagon, but she wasn’t done yet!
This picture book tells the story of an amateur mathematician who discovered tiling shapes that others couldn’t. These were questions from the beginning of math and design, solved by a mother of five working out of her home. It is an inspiring story of resilience, tenacity and patience. The illustrations in the book invite readers to look at five-sided shapes themselves, seeing them elongate and shrink and they fit together.
It’s a book that makes mathematics something tangible and beautiful. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Ruth Asawa was raised on her family’s vegetable farm in California. She attended Japanese school on Saturdays and won an award in her regular school for a poster she made of the Statue of Liberty. Her life was divided in half, but soon that was to become even more clear. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, her father was taken away. Two months later the rest of the family entered imprisonment. Ruth started to draw her life in the camps. At age 20 after the end of the war, she started to create the wire sculptures that she would become known for. Eventually she was asked to create the memorial for those imprisoned in the Japanese internment camps.
Told in poetic language that uses the image of lines repeatedly, this nonfiction picture book pays a deep and respectful homage to this Japanese-American artist. Asawa rises again and again, despite the racism that impacted her childhood and teen years. The use of art to create conversation and connection is clear in this book. The illustrations are done in charcoal, watercolor and digital media. They capture the lines, the wire, the connectivity and the inhuman conditions of the camps.
A book that celebrates survival and the way art can carry a spirit through its darkest days. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Roaring Brook Press.
A Book of Maps for You by Lourdes Heuer, illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III (9780823455706)
From a map of the town with its orange groves, this book of maps explores neighborhoods, yards, the local school, the town library, the city park, and Main Street. At the end of the book, the person creating the maps heads away to a car and moving van and a new person finds the book of maps waiting as they arrive to what is their new home.
Full of wry details, this book offer the joy of maps large and small and exploring them on the page. An inspiring book that will have children creating their own maps.
Appropriate for ages 4-6. Reviewed from library copy.
The Gnome Book by Loes Riphagen, translated by Michele Hutchison (9781782694687)
Kick is a gnome who wants to share everything about how gnomes live. Gnomes live in cities and villages mostly, between the walls. Kick shows readers how to make their own gnome hat, what clothes they have, and what pet insects they own. They share their collections and their favorite things as well as details about their family, school and life.
Filled with details to pore over, this Dutch picture book gives a humorous glimpse of the life of a tiny gnome that will have young readers glued to the page. Small touches throughout the book award a slow approach and deep reading.
Appropriate for ages 4-6. Reviewed from library copy.
Big Bike, Little Bike by Kellie DuBay Gillis, illustrated by Jacob Souva (9780063315235)
Duck finds a bike just sitting there, but it’s too big for him. After a crash, Rhino finds the bike but it’s a bit too little for him! The bike turns out to be too slow for Cheetah, but too fast for Turtle. After some messiness and some more crashing, the bike is left in the muck and sold as junk. But one person doesn’t think the bike is too old and soon has it up and going again for his daughter. Time passes and she outgrows the bike, until it is found once again by someone new.
This merry and dynamic picture book celebrates reuse of items even if they might be the wrong size for someone or too old. It’s a look at opposites at first filled with plenty of action and then the book leans into its environmental look at how one person’s garbage can be reworked and recreated into something new and fresh. Written in easy language with lots of repetition and plenty of crashes, this picture book is inviting. The illustrations of a variety of animals and their experiences on the bike are funny and full of cycling silliness.
Ideal for little ones learning opposites or great for bicycle storytimes. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by HarperCollins Publishers.
Ah-Fu’s grandfather decided that he was now big enough to bring home the ox from the field in the evening. He explained that Ah-Fu was too small to ride the ox. Ah-Fu set off until he met a flock of swallows who explained that Ah-Fu shouldn’t try to lead the ox by the horns as he was too small. Next, Ah-Fu met a frog who explained that Ah-Fu was too small to herd the ox from behind. Ah-Fu whispered all of these rules to himself until he found himself facing an enormous ox. He was not big enough at all! Ah-Fu soon learned that the ox may be big but he was maybe even more scared and worried than Ah-Fu. Soon the two worked together to get home but Ah-Fu would have to break all the rules to make it happen.
This charming tale reads like a traditional folktale with its talking animals and the structure of building a list and then breaking it down. The ox being so large and so gentle-hearted adds to the story as Ah-Fu must become the courageous one. The luminous illustrations were done digitally using traditional Chinese gongbi and xieyi techniques. They are stunningly beautiful with their misty qualities that work particularly well for this story.
Beautifully crafted and just right to share aloud. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Waking Brain Cells 