Elementary School

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

| Tasha

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan (InfoSoup)

Joe and Ravi could not be more different. In fact, the only things they seem to have in common is they are in the same class and they could each use a new friend. Ravi has just moved to the United States from India and is discovering how very different school in a new country is. Joe’s two best friends have moved away and now he is left at the mercy of the class bully who also has Ravi in his sights. Joe has to attend special classes to deal with the way that he gets overloaded by sights and sounds. Ravi’s teacher has trouble understanding his English with his Indian accent and may be sent to special classes as well. Ravi is eager to befriend the class bully, who is also from an Indian background. How can these two very different boys figure out that there is a friend right there who needs them just as badly.

The book is divided into the perspectives of Ravi and Joe, each boy written by one of the authors. Beautifully, the two voices meld together into a cohesive whole. The two boys have distinct personalities and points of view that go far beyond their different cultures. The book speaks directly to stereotypes, particularly first impressions of people before you get to know them as a person. It illustrates this without a lecturing tone, instead demonstrating it in the ways the two protagonists interact with one another throughout the novel.

This is a very approachable book, one that invites readers to explore and see what is happening. It has a light tone, yet reaches deeper meanings and explores real issues that children today face no matter what their background or culture. Adding to the depth of the book are glimpses of the boys at home, showing how they spend their free time and the way their parents and families interact. It’s a way to further show both their differences and their similarities and works particularly well.

A perfect lunchtime read, this one is worth saving a special spot for on your shelf. Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

 

Little Dee and the Penguin by Christopher Baldwin

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Little Dee and the Penguin by Christopher Baldwin

Little Dee and the Penguin by Christopher Baldwin (InfoSoup)

Three friends head out for a quiet picnic together that will end up leading them on a wild adventure. There is an opinionated vulture, a friendly but rather slow dog, and a motherly bear. On their picnic, they meet two creatures who will change their day entirely. Little Dee is a human and a resourceful child who doesn’t speak at all. Then there is the penguin who is on the run from the polar bears who are hot on his trail. Now it is up to the five of them to get the penguin back to his home before he ends up a  meal. Along the way, planes are stolen and jumped out of, wise mountain goats offer sage advice (maybe), and safety rafts become sleds. Much the same way that five unlikely characters become friends.

Baldwin has created a cast of lovable characters in this graphic novel for children. The humor is truly laugh-out-loud funny. It got to the point where I was following family members around to share one-liners from the story. In fact a large part of the success of this book is in the blend of a funny story in general and then the way that circumstances seem to invisibly line up for the perfect pun or joke with impeccable timing.

The art is wonderful too. Each character is unique and their outward appearance says a lot about their personalities. The prickly vulture is all angles. The bear is soft plush. Little Dee is a jolt of visual energy. The action is captured with a sense of fun throughout, adding to the fast pace.

A silly and very successful read, this graphic novel will be enjoyed by all. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell

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Withering by Sea by Judith Rossell

Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell (InfoSoup)

Stella lives with her three Aunts in a majestic hotel along the coast. Her Aunts are miserable and mean, demanding that Stella be quiet and dutiful. Stella though would rather read the dilapidated atlas that she discovered only partially burnt in the garbage pile behind the hotel. That is why she is in the quiet conservatory and witnesses something being hidden in one of the planters. The knowledge is just one part of the mystery that is about to unfold in the hotel. It is a mystery that Stella finds herself caught up in, taking her away from the hotel and her dull Aunts and into a world of magic and new friends and enemies that even the atlas could not fully prepare her for.

This Australian import is an entirely captivating read. It has an engaging old-fashioned feel about it, particularly with the Aunts and their disapproval of anything childlike or fun. The structure of Stella’s life shouts of Victorian expectations and then the story opens into riotous action, bewildering dark magic, and daring adventures. The quiet of that early part of the book serves to make the adventures even more thrilling due to the contrast.

Rossell uses setting to great effect in this novel, creating a series of discrete worlds where Stella explores and lives. First is the hotel itself, filled with staff and the Aunts and its own secrets. As Stella walks the hallways, Rossell describes them so completely that one is walking alongside the character. Then there is the pier along with its theater that Stella longs to visit and then gets to deeply explore. Finally, there an ancient castle that has such a dramatic setting that plays a role in the entire tale.

A strong female protagonist, deeply lovely settings and intelligent escapes mix with magic in this remarkable story. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Atheneum.

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

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The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (InfoSoup)

Faith appears to be a very somber and dutiful daughter to her father who is a clergyman and a natural history scholar. When their family is forced to leave Kent for a small island, Faith discovers that her father’s entire body of work has been discovered to be based on lies and that their family is disgraced. Faith desperately wants to be seen as more than a burden to her father, so she helps him move a valuable specimen to a secret sea cave reached by boat. Soon afterwards, her father dies and people suspect it was suicide. Only Faith thinks that it could have been murder and may have something to do with the tree they moved to the cave. It’s a tree that only bears fruit when a lie is whispered to it and grows in strength as the lie grows too. Now Faith is the only one who knows where the tree is and that may be enough to have her become a target too.

Hardinge’s writing is breathtaking. She uses unique and unusual metaphors that are compelling and vivid, further building her world of lies, distrust and isolation. At times the writing is so beautiful that it stops the reader so that it can be reread again. At other times, the pace rockets forward, the reader clinging on and whooping along. Hardinge has created in the tree itself a beautiful metaphor for lies, the fruit they create and the power they can bring.

Throughout the strictness of Victorian society is at play, creating a world of rules that must not be altered or broken. In that world is Faith who must figure out how to solve a murder that only she believes has happened in a society where she is to be quiet and docile lest her reputation be forever ruined. As the book continues, readers will be carefully shown their own sexism about female characters to great effect. This is feminist writing at its finest.

Stunning writing, a compelling young heroine and a world filled with rules and lies, this is one amazing read that mixes fantasy, historical fiction and a big dash of horror. Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

 

 

The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island by Dana Alison Levy

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The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island by Dana Alison Levy

The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island by Dana Alison Levy

This is the second book in the Family Fletcher series and once again it is a treat to spend time with this dynamic family. This time they head to Rock Island, a place where Papa has been coming since he was a child. Rock Island is a small place where things are always the same. There is the same lighthouse, the same flavors of ice cream, and the same tiny house where all of the boys share a loft filled with beds. This year though, some things have changed. There is a fence around the lighthouse, so no one can visit it. A new family has moved in next door too, though they seem to be very annoying. The brothers themselves are also changing and heading in different directions for the first time on the island. Though one thing unites them all, the question of what is really happening to their beloved lighthouse.

Levy has once again written such a readable book. The Fletcher family is made up of gay parents and four adopted siblings of different races. Yet this series is not about growing up in a diverse and gay family, rather it is about a merry and very human family that is a joy to spend time with. The brothers all treat one another like siblings, meaning they fight, they apologize, they inadvertently hurt one another’s feelings. This series is about a real family, one that comes to life on the page.

Levy does deal very sensitively about race in this book. The scene is handled beautifully where at first readers will not realize what is going on, so their own understanding progresses at the same rate as the young characters who soon realize they are dealing with a bigoted bully. The issue is not minimized, but the family comes together to support their brother as he discovers the harshness of direct racism for the first time.

Smart and very funny, this novel for young people adds a winning second book to a series I hope continues for some time. Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Delacorte and Edelweiss.

 

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

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Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (InfoSoup)

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania in 1943, Annabelle lives a quiet life where she hopes for adventure. She attends a one-room schoolhouse with her two younger brothers, walking there from their family farm each day. That quiet life changes when Betty Glengarry arrives at school. She immediately targets Annabelle, demanding payments in exchange for not hurting Annabelle and her brothers, killing a bird without remorse. Annabelle does not want to worry her family with her troubles, so she keeps them to herself. Soon though things escalate with her youngest brother running into a sharpened wire along the path. After that, Annabelle’s best friend is maimed with a rock that Annabelle knows was thrown by Betty. Betty though blames Toby, a reclusive man who walks the paths all day long with guns slung on his back. Toby has been nothing but kind to Annabelle and her family, but he is considered strange by many. When Betty disappears soon after making the allegation, Annabelle decides that she must rescue Toby from the new accusations being made.

Wolk has created a rich and beautiful world for Annabelle to live in. The hills and valleys of the Pennsylvanian countryside offer not only a rich farming world but also a place where secrets can hide and dangers lurk. The setting of Wolf Hollow itself with its history of trapping wolves in pits is a striking analogy for what happens in the novel. Annabelle herself is brave and clever, a girl who is bullied awfully and then has the power placed in her hands to make a difference for someone she cares about.

This book focuses on the courage it takes to stand up for what is right, for what one knows deep down to be true. It is a book that speaks to all of those who are strange among us and the way that rumors and accusations tend to target them. It is also about the power a child can have in an adult world, the difference one person can make. It is also a book that is dark and complicated: one where girls disappear, where Germans are not welcome, and where hate is fast to develop.

This is a complex and layered novel that is a deep and compelling read focusing on bullying and the impact of war. Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dutton Books for Young Readers

I Am Pan! by Mordicai Gerstein

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I Am Pan by Mordicai Gerstein

I Am Pan! by Mordicai Gerstein (InfoSoup)

From the minute he is born, Pan is filled with mischief. Born with his goat horns and hoofed feet, he is immediately silly and even gets the grumpy Zeus to smile. As Pan grows, he becomes bored with life on Olympus and gets into so much trouble that the Gods ask him to return to Arcadia where he was born. While there, he invents panic, falls in love with the moon, and helps battle the monster Typhon. He also falls in love and marries Echo and discovers his love of music and the pan pipes. Story after story shows the power of merriment, music and mischievousness.

Gerstein embraces the spirit of Pan on the page by telling the tales with a zany spirit and a wild feel. There is not attempt to contain Pan here, just a feeling of being along on a very rambunctious ride. This suits the subject beautifully, giving space to the large personality of Pan. The graphic novel format also works very nicely with retelling Greek myths, keeping them brief and showing rather than telling a lot of the action.

The illustrations of this picture book/graphic novel are done in loud colors with lots of action and movement. Pan almost flies off the page in some sections, particularly when creating panic personally. The illustrations match the subject, offering a loud and cheery look at this wild God.

I am hoping this is not the only Greek God book that Gerstein does, since this book works so well and offers a very approachable and funny look at Pan. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

 

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport

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Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Matt Faulkner (InfoSoup)

This nonfiction picture book looks at all of the women critical to the suffrage movement in the United States. From Abigail Adam’s plea in 1776 for her husband to “remember the ladies” to Sojourner Truth’s attendance at a meeting to remind the white women of the  movement that African-American women deserved the vote too, this book looks at the many voices of the movement with a particular focus on Elizabeth Cady Stanton who started the called on women in the mid-1800’s to fight for the right to vote. It is a dynamic book that will remind young readers that the right of women to vote in our country only happened in 1920.

Rappaport captures the tremendous tenacity that it took for women to fight actively for the right to vote for nearly 75 years. Moving in a vibrant way from one historical figure to another, Rappaport highlights not just those who were suffragists but also women who broke female stereotypes by becoming doctors and starting schools where women learned the same subjects men did. This global look at the movement demonstrates the number of ways it took to get changes made that would allow women to voice their own opinions through elections.

The illustrations have a humorous quality to them with near-caricatures of each of the women. There is a feel of a political cartoon to them which is particularly appealing given the subject matter. Their bright colors also help show the passion of the women and their drive to make change.

A great addition to public libraries, this book offers a neat package showing the full history for women’s right to vote. Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from library copy.

Their Great Gift by John Coy

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Their Great Gift by John Coy

Their Great Gift: Courage, Sacrifice and Hope in a New Land by John Coy, photographs by Wing Young Huie

This picture book is filled with gorgeous photographs of diverse people who live in the United States. The book speaks about the way that families came to our country. It talks of the dreams that they had and how difficult it was to make the journey and learn a different language. It is about the hard work that it takes to be an immigrant, the mistakes that are made, the way money is sent back home. At it’s heart this is a book about determination, grit and resilience, qualities that make our country great and that exemplify the immigrants who add so much.

Coy’s words are simple and yet very powerful. He states each fact in a way that makes it easy to understand but also in a tone that rings with truth. His focus is on humanizing immigrants, showing that they are just like all of us who may have been born here, no matter how they worship, dress or what language they speak. Don’t miss the final pages of the book where the author and the illustrator speak to the ways both their families arrived here.

The photographs in this book are what make it so lovely. Done in a mix of black and white and color, the photographs capture people of various backgrounds and cultures. There are children, adults and the elderly and each page opens to reveal faces that form a tapestry of diversity on the page.

A very timely and important picture book, this book will open discussions for elementary-aged children about the larger topic of immigration in a way they can understand. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from library copy.