Book Reviews

Listen by Gabi Snyder

| Tasha

Listen by Gabi Snyder, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin (9781534461895)

When you leave your house and enter the world, sometimes all you can hear is a blare of noise. What if you stop instead and listen closely. Can you identify each separate sound like the car horn beeping and the dog barking? On your way to school, can you hear the slap of shoes on pavement or noises through the windows you pass? At school you can hear friends saying hello and the sounds of the playground being used. In school you can listen to learn new words. You can also listen to hear how words make people feel happy or hurt. Listen for feelings in the silence or sighs. Rain brings new noise, and wind does too. At home, it is quieter and still there are noises to listen to right up until bedtime.

This picture book demonstrates being able to reset at times of overwhelm by tuning in to the world around us rather than tuning out. It shows how listening closely can untangle the noise into sounds which allow us to learn and connect with others. Set in an urban setting, this book shares the joys of living in a city by celebrating the noise and not letting it become a problem.

The illustrations center on a little girl who is multiracial. As she moves through her day, she regularly takes time to check in with herself and center using the sounds around her. The cast of students and community members on the page are a variety of races.

A gentle book about the power of sound and our own power to use it to center ourselves. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Simon & Schuster.

What Do You Know? by Aracelis Girmay and Ariana Fields

| Tasha

What Do You Know? by Aracelis Girmay and Ariana Fields (9781592703210)

Created by two sisters, this picture book is an exploration of our world through a lens of positivity, ability to change and also a timelessness and sense of wonder. The book is a question, “What do you know,” asked by love and answered by people, objects and creatures. Their answers reveal depths and darkness, but also abundance and stars. They reveal the beauty of rain, the footsteps of fire. They include the wisdom of rocks and the wayfinding of bats. They share the insights of seafarers and farmers, each connected to a different part of our world.

Through asking the same question of the world around us, the authors create a book that celebrates the wild diversity of life on earth but also the connection to wonder and mystery around us. The book is simple yet deeply profound, offering hope in darkness, the breath of whales and bears, and the magnificence of change even if it takes millennia. Happily, the writing doesn’t rhyme, instead held together by the question and answer format. The writing is gentle and responsive, allowing each scenario to stand unique but also part of the whole.

The art is bold and simple. It moves from layers of earth in the fields to lava flowing across the land to the immense eye of a whale at sea. It invites us to see the beauty in laundry on an urban line, the marvel of goats on cliffs, and the profound black of a starlit night.

Gorgeous, deep and full of marvels. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Enchanted Lion Books.

The Perfect Plan by Leah Gilbert

| Tasha

The Perfect Plan by Leah Gilbert (9781547605262)

Maya dreams of having the “most incredible and wonderful” fort in the woods. So she researches, designs, plans and gathers supplies. Then she found the perfect spot in the woods for it. But when she started trying to build the fort, it didn’t turn out the way she had planned. But Maya didn’t give up. She went to the beavers at the river and asked them for help. They soon had plenty of branches, but they were too heavy to move. Maya spotted a moose in the trees and asked the moose to help them lift the branches high into the trees. But none of them could climb well enough. So Maya asked the bears for help. Soon they had a frame, but it wouldn’t stay in place. Maya and her team called to the birds for help and they twisted and wound vines around the frame to hold it. The fort was almost perfect, but then a storm blew in and Maya had to go home. Would the fort be ruined after all their hard work?

This story shows how working together and having each creature use their own unique talents can create something very special. At first, the book has Maya working in a solitary way with her own plans. That quickly changes when she needs help and asks for it. As the book proceeds, the words Maya uses to describe the fort they are building change too, to better reflect what that creature brings to the overall project. It’s a dynamic use of language, showing how Maya’s perspective changes with the help of others.

Gilbert’s art really reveals the magic of the forest on the page. Her illustrations are luminous with streaks and rays of sunlight coming through the trees. The greens are fresh and welcoming while the rainstorm is a threatening purple in the sky. The use of colors is very effective throughout the book.

A STEM look at building a fort with friends. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Bloomsbury.

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins

| Tasha
Cover image for Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School.

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Pete Oswald (9780525644712)

This chapter book invites readers to experience the first 100 days of school alongside Harry. Harry has worries about his first day of school, helped quite a bit by his older sister showing him the way things work. He has a real fear of guinea pigs, a creature he believes is much more like a wild pig than the small furry rodent it actually is. Harry decides that his goal is to become an expert on something, though he isn’t sure what. Perhaps an expert on Fluff Monsters, a video game he loves. Harry quickly makes friends at school, surprising himself by who he actually gets closer to. He learns to set healthy boundaries with classmates who like to play jokes and also finds himself overcoming a lot of his fears along the way. In fact, he turns out to be an expert on quite a lot!

Award-winning author Jenkins sets exactly the right tone here. Throughout the book, there is humor that will have children immediately engaged and that is layered beautifully with empathy for Harry and the others in his class. Harry and his classmates are multidimensional characters who reveal themselves over the course of the book. Readers will laugh out loud at the humor here and be drawn deeply into the story of how Harry survives first grade.

The illustrations by Oswald work well to break up the text and make this a more approachable book for young readers. Oswald captures the diversity of Harry’s class and community. The urban setting is vibrant and colorful while the classroom is warm and inviting.

Funny and clever, this is just the right book for first graders and any others who may need a good giggle about school starting. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Random House Children’s Books.

I Is for Immigrants by Selina Alko

| Tasha
Cover image for I Is for Immigrants.

I Is for Immigrants by Selina Alko (9781250237866)

This alphabet book is a celebration of diversity and the immigrants who come to America. The book is a series of double-page illustrations that include words that match each of the letters. For example, A is ancestors, abuelita, African dance, ambition, art and aspire. F contains flags, food trucks, fish & chips, falafel, frankfurters, families, friends, freedom, a father with a fez, fields and flea markets. The book is joyful and moves effortlessly between cultures, often showing the connections between them and also the unique elements they have brought to our country.

The illustrations are paintings that appear to include collage elements as well. They use a variety of fonts to share the various words for each letter, allowing the words and the images to swirl together into a beautiful mix. So much food is celebrated here that your mouth will be watering by the end for samosas, sushi, spices and more on just one page!

Joyous and inclusive, this is a beautiful alphabet book celebrating the best of America. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Henry Holt & Co.

The Museum of Everything by Lynne Rae Perkins

| Tasha
Cover image for The Museum of Everything.

The Museum of Everything by Lynne Rae Perkins (9780062986306)

When the world gets too busy and big, you can look at the smaller pieces around you. You can put those things in a quiet place like a museum in your mind. Or maybe it could be a real museum. It could have things like a Museum of Islands because there are so many kinds and sizes. A Museum of Bushes could have skirts made out of different bushes and then real bushes too. A Museum of Shadows could have usual shadows but also ones that you don’t expect. The Sky Museum is already right over your head, ready to be seen every day. All these small pieces fit together in one large puzzle, creating the Museum of Everything all around us all the time.

Newbery Medalist Perkins has created a picture book exploration of imagination that invites readers to look around themselves and see the elements that are worthy of placement in their own museums of everything. She takes expansive ideas and turns them firm and real with her examples given through the perspective of the child narrator of the book. The result are charming stories of bushes, hiding places, shadows and much more. The everyday is turned amazing.

Her illustrations are done in a wide variety of media. Some pages are done in collage, the paper elements overlapping into a layered world. Other pages are filled with objects that celebrate bushes and hidden places. These are 3 dimensional dioramas or sculptures that draw readers right into them.

Celebrating the extraordinary ordinary, this picture book is a lesson in imagination and creativity. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Greenwillow Books.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

| Tasha
Cover image for This Poison Heart.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (9781547603909)

Briseis has a magical gift that she works hard not to reveal. Plants respond to her touch and presence, growing more lush and leaning in towards her, sometimes with destructive force. When Briseis inherits an estate in rural New York, she and her mothers jump at the new opportunity. The home is dirty and needs attention, and it also holds a lot of secrets for Briseis to figure out. There is the apothecary shop that seemed to deal in more normal herbs, but also ones that are extremely poisonous and rare. Then there is a trail of clues that lead Briseis to a neglected garden on the property that has regular herbal plants but also hidden poison gardens that only Briseis can reach thanks to her newly discovered immunity to poisonous plants. As strangers arrive on the property to seek services from Briseis, she finds herself part of another mystery. What is behind the locked door in the garden, and could it have been why so many women in her family have died or disappeared?

There is just so much to love with this novel. It’s a mesmerizingly lovely look at contemporary Black life that is imbued with magic and mystery. Briseis’ talent with plants moves from being problematic to being celebrated, something that really shines at the center of the book as she gains confidence in her own powers. Against the green wonder of her magic is the danger of poison that darkens the entire story very effectively, and is steadily revealed as more characters appear in the story.

Bayron paces the mystery out very cleverly, allowing readers to both enjoy and doubt several characters who are close to Briseis. The inclusion of queer characters is done naturally and woven into the story. Briseis has lesbian mothers and is queer herself. Briseis herself is a great protagonist, richly drawn in both her self doubt, her initial friendlessness, and how that transforms into a dangerous dance of trust and betrayal.

Beautifully written, full of strong Black women and filled with magic, this teen novel is spellbinding. Appropriate for ages 13-18.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Bloomsbury.

Faraway Things by Dave Eggers

| Tasha

Faraway Things by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Kelly Murphy (9780316492195)

Lucian spent his time on the beach after storms, searching for “faraway things” that have been swept onto the shore. One day, he discovered a silver, gold and copper cutlass wrapped in seaweed. Lucian had never seen anything like it and hung it on the wall of his room. That night he dreamt of his father. The next day, he played with the sword on the beach, eventually turning one of his sleeves from long to short when he swung it. That afternoon, a great wooden ship appeared as the fog cleared and a rowboat came towards shore. The ship’s captain spoke with Lucian, explaining that not only was his ship caught on a sandbar due to the lighthouse being unlit, but he was missing his cutlass. Lucian tried to claim the cutlass was his, but the captain had the matching sheath on his belt. The captain offered a trade, and Lucian got to head to the ship and pick out anything he wanted from the captain’s stateroom. Out of all of the wonderful objects, Lucian picked out a lantern. When he returned home again, he took that lantern to the top of the lighthouse tower and once again the beam of light went out over the water.

Written in beautiful language and with sentences that sing with wind and saltwater, this picture book is one that should be shared out loud. The writing has a gorgeous cadence to it while it also has rich metaphors embedded in it. The story itself is well crafted with a lovely arc that begins with searching the beach and the discovery of the cutlass. That story is woven with the loss of Lucian’s father and the dimming of the lighthouse. When the captain arrives, the story takes a marvelous turn toward adventure and possibility.

Murphy’s art is a gorgeous study of foggy beaches, newly bright sun, and one great ship. She shares small details in her images, celebrating the crowded stateroom and the treasures of beachcombing in Lucian’s room. The illustrations play with sea and sky, each expansive and full of deftly applied color.

One to share aloud, this book is a treasure. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Little, Brown and Company.

The Story of Bodri by Hédi Fried

| Tasha
Cover image for The Story of Bodri

The Story of Bodri by Hédi Fried, illustrated by Stina Wirsen (9780802855657)

Inspired by the author’s experiences during the Holocaust, this picture book takes a child’s view of the horrors of that time. Hédi grew up in Romania. She loved her dog Bodri, and he loved her most of all. She had a best friend who lived nearby. They had all sorts of things in common, except Hédi was Jewish and her friend went to church. When Adolf Hitler shouted on the radio, Hédi’s parents assured her that he would never come there. But his soldiers did come and Hédi was forbidden to play with her Christian friend. Soon the family was told to pack their belongings. They went to the train station, followed by Bodri, who had to be left behind. Hédi’s parents disappeared in the concentration camps but Hédi and her little sister survived. She went back home and found Bodri still waiting for her.

Fried survived several Nazi labor camps, including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. She lives in Sweden and continues to be an expert voice for democracy and anti-racism. This book was inspired by a question she received at one of her presentations about what happened to her dog. The book translates the larger racism and hatred of the Nazis into a personal story of the impact of the Nazis. Fried writes through a child’s eyes, a child watching her parents to gauge what is happening. Using her dog as an anchor as time passes is very moving as he continued his vigil through the seasons.

Wirsen’s art is haunting. There is an ethereal nature to it throughout the book even as the girls play in the park full of pinks and greens. The colors change to more somber as the Nazis arrive. Wirsen uses watercolors and prints to create her images. The juxtaposition of the girls after they are liberated from the camp to before they went in is both startling and heartrending.

A powerful look at the Holocaust through the eyes of a survivor and her dog. Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from copy provided by Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers.