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This Week’s Tweets, Pins & Tumbls

| Tasha

Here are some cool links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts these last couple of weeks:

Picture Books that Teach Kids to Combat Racism:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

8 Picture Books that Deconstruct Gender Norms

“25 Picture Books That Promote Empathy and Respect”

And the Undie Goes To . . . — 100 Scope Notes

At 7-Imp today, a big, beautiful new collection of some of Tomi Ungerer’s work: .

Books do speak to children’s imagination, says author Julia Donaldson

Celebrate picture books! Reading is “the grand conversation of humanity”

Children’s book author Jon Klassen and the morally ambiguous universe of hats – Salisbury Post

Children’s books to add to your gift-giving list

A couple great picks from here! 🙂 Children’s Books that Encourage Kindness

Fairytale feast of recipes inspired by children’s books

“Family Reading: A place for ALL families”

“Finding Home: 5 Middle Grade Novels About Immigration”

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Publish Picture Book of John Lennon’s Song of Peace and Tolerance, “Imagine”

How to write great books for children and young adults

Interview with Mary Cronk Farrell, author of Fannie Never Flinched – ALSC Blog

Moving On Up: ‘They All Saw a Cat’

New York Public Lib Reveals its List of Best Books for Kids and Teens Just in Time for The Holidays

Linkubator Roundup: Week of November 13 2016:

LIBRARIES

A Bronx Librarian Keen on Teaching Homeless Children a Lasting Love of Books

Considering the Denver Public Library’s mission in the wake of the election

“Open to Change | Office Hours” – Unstaffed public libraries increase access at GCPL

State of Michigan says literacy is not a fundamental right

reading humour:

TEEN LIT

29 YA Books About Mental Health That Actually Nail It

“2016 Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Books for Teens”

Faces of Color on 2017 YA Books

Netflix Orders ‘The Kissing Booth’; YA Adaptation To Be Produced By Komixx

3 Fun Fall Board Books

| Tasha

Here are some recent board books that caught my eye! Perfect for holiday gifts or for any time of year for toddlers and babies.

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Hat Off, Hat Off by Theo Heras, illustrated by Renne Benoit (InfoSoup)

Not quite a board book, this puffy covered book is done on thick cardstock so the pages should stand up to toddler tugs. A toddler is getting ready to go out and picks out a wooly bear hat to wear. But while his shoes are being put on, he takes the hat off. Jackets goes on and so does another hat. The hat comes off and another is put on when he gets his sippy cup and toys. Going potty means taking off the hat and another is put on when he’s put in the stroller. Finally after bunny is found and they head outside, the final hat is left in a pile of leaves.

This is a funny and clever look at the problem with hats, shoes, socks, jackets, mittens and more when they are put on toddlers. It’s a universal story that will resonate with everyone. Nicely, the children in the story are not white and there is a lovely lack of gender specificity in the main character as well.

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Sunrise, Moonrise by Betsy Thompson (InfoSoup)

The day starts with a bird singing at sunrise. Squirrel runs, fish swim, bees buzz. Owl is asleep. The sun sets and squirrel falls asleep. New animals emerge like fox and fireflies. Bats swoop in the sky. There is a clear difference between day and night forest creatures here that is gently told. The art is bold and bright, the black lines forming almost a stained glass effect on the page. This is a lovely look at animals throughout the day.

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Tickle My Ears by Jörg Mühle (InfoSoup)

Another wonderful interactive book, this time perfect for very young children. Little Rabbit is getting ready for bed and it’s up to the reader to help him.He’s going to need help with getting his pajamas on with a clap of your hands. His pillow needs fluffing. His ears need a little tickle and his back needs to be rubbed. Then comes tucking him in, a goodnight kiss and the lights. This book is cheerful and sweet without being sugary. A perfect antidote to children hooked on apps and devices and who need to head to bed.

 

 

Catching a Storyfish by Janice N. Harrington

| Tasha

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Catching a Storyfish by Janice N. Harrington (InfoSoup)

Moving away from Alabama is hard for Keet. She is moving closer to her beloved grandfather though, which helps. The two of them spend days together fishing, something that Keet used to find challenging because she loves to talk and tell stories. But at her new school, she is teased for her accent and suddenly her words start to dry up. She finds it hard to make friends and even at home she isn’t talking much. Slowly though, Keet starts to find her voice again and makes a new friend. Just as she starts to talk though, her grandfather suffers a stroke and struggles with the slow recovery. Keet though has just the solution, showing him the way forward with stories.

Harrington’s verse novel is pure loveliness. Throughout she plays with various poetic forms, delicately moving from haiku to concrete poems to narrative form with many others included too. She nicely lists them at the end of the book, talking about their difficulty and what makes a poem that form. Her skill is evident throughout with all of the forms as she tells the story of Keet and her progress from losing her confidence and her voice to finding it again. The voice of Keet’s new friend is including in the poems as well, often playing against ones in Keet’s voice.

The characters here are given time to grow and stretch on the page. Keet is a wonderful character filled with a great energy and drive, but also stuck in a lack of confidence that hits her out of nowhere. It is a book about quiet and both its power and the ability to drown in being silenced. It is a book about friendship, about family and the importance of finding your place and your voice.

Beautifully written and strikingly gentle, this book is a celebration of the individual and their ability to speak their own stories. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

10 Great Picture Books on Courage

| Tasha

As the next four years go by, we will all need to be brave. Brave enough to stand up when others are in trouble, brave enough to speak up even when our voices shake, brave enough to love those who don’t agree with us. Here are some picture books to inspire:

13269821 The Knowing Book

Hands around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books by Susan L. Roth and Karen Leggett Abouraya

The Knowing Book by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illustrated by  Matthew Cordell

Miss Hazeltine's Home for Shy and Fearful Cats Nightsong

Miss Hazeltine’s Home for Shy and Fearful Cats by Alicia Potter, illustrated by Birgitta Sif

Nightsong by Ari Berk, illustrated by Loren Long

26074148 The Promise

One Day in the Eucalyptus Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom

The Promise by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin

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The Ride: The Legend of Betsy Dowdy by Kitty Griffin, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Running with the Horses by Alison Lester

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The Wren and the Sparrow by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg

You Can Do It, Bert! by Ole Konnecke

National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

| Tasha

The winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature has been announced. First, let me say how very impressed I was with the entire list this year. It was filled with diverse authors and powerful wonderful stories and writing.

I love the winner and am thrilled to see a graphic novel win!

March: Book Three

If you haven’t read this trilogy, you need to right away. It’s incredible.

Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds by Jorge Argueta

| Tasha

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Somos como las nubes / We Are Like the Clouds by Jorge Argueta, illustrated by Alfonso Ruano (InfoSoup)

This stunning book of poetry looks at the flood of children from Central America who are making their way to the United States. 100,000 of them have walked to our country, escaping to safety and what they hope is fresh opportunities. The book opens with a few poems that show the beauty of Central America and then swiftly moves to the problems and the gangs that are in control. Then begins the long march north, the trust placed in coyotes that lead them, the dangers they face, the rough conditions and the courage it takes to head towards the unknown. The book ends with poems of Los Angeles and hope.

Written by a Salvadoran poet, this book’s poetry soars and lifts even when speaking of dark and dangerous subjects. Throughout there is a focus on hope and the distant wonder of the United States. There are poems of the journey that are aching with loss. There are poems of strong parents who carry children and others of the children alone and fearful. It is a book that captures the range of immigrants coming to the United States, particularly children from Central America whose story is shared with such poignancy on these pages.

The art by Ruano is startling and beautiful. He has surreal moments in the art that capture a little touch of playfulness at first. That moves quickly to sense of isolation at times, of being alone in a stark landscape. Towards the end, there is one painting of a child afloat in the air on a blue, cloud-like sleeping bag who is finally heading home with his parents. It is a picture of such tenderness and captures the youth and dreams of these children.

An important book that shows the plight of Central American children as they walk to the United States, this is a challenging book of poetry that demands attention. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Yumi Heo Has Died

| Tasha

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Author and illustrator, Yumi Heo has died after battling cancer. She was the creator of over 30 books for children. I am most familiar with her picture books which had a style and feel that were distinctively her own. One of my favorites is Sometimes I’m Bombaloo, which captured the complex emotions of childhood perfectly.

Publisher’s Weekly has a full obituary for her.

 

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

| Tasha

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When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (InfoSoup)

Best friends, Miel and Sam each have secrets that they wear both outside and inside themselves. Sam was the first person to approach Miel when she was dumped from the town’s water tower the day it was knocked down. She is a girl whose past is tied to the water, whose skirt hem is always damp. She fears pumpkins and was taken in by Aracely, a woman who can rescue people from their own heartache. Miel also has roses that grow out of one of her wrists, marking her a danger to her family. Sam has lived as a boy, serving as the son his mother never had even though his anatomy is that of a girl. At some point, he was expected to return to being a girl but Sam doesn’t know if he will ever be ready. Meanwhile the four sisters in town seek to control Miel and her roses and restore their power, but first they must discover the secret that will make her do their bidding.

Oh my word, this is a beautiful book. It is written in prose that is wildly lush, almost aromatic, so vivid that it remains in your head after you read it. From descriptions of pumpkins as a world of their own to the beautiful danger of the four redheaded sisters to the delicacy of the eggs and herbs that remove heartbreak from a person, each description is its own painting of magic. It creates a world that is ours and yet not, a world of moons and honey, roses and water, stained glass and blood.

To this beautiful and intense writing you add an understanding of the transgender experience and a willingness to write of sexuality and desire and lust for someone who is deciding how they will transition and what their terms will be. It is a book that captures that in-between moment, allows us to linger there with Miel and Sam as their love is just blooming and they are allowing themselves to explore each other in new ways.

Gorgeous, breathtaking and wise, this is one of the most magical and transcendent books I have ever experienced. Bravo for the courage it took to write this and the love that is expressed on each and every page. Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught

| Tasha

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Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught (InfoSoup)

Dani’s grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s and is slowly reaching the end of her life cared for by Dani and her parents. So when her grandmother sends Dani on a mission to find a letter and key, Dani isn’t sure that it’s real. She discovers both the letter and key, then has to follow the trail of clues her grandmother left in her writing to discover the truth of a feud that her grandmother had with Avadelle Richardson, a novelist who wrote about a riot that happened at Ole Miss. It’s a riot that both Dani’s grandmother and Avadelle actually were caught up in. As Dani gets closer to the end of the trail, she finds more and more secrets and history and modern life begin to collide.

Vaught has written a taut novel that takes readers on a journey through Civil Rights history in Mississippi. Told through the eyes of Dani, the book is accessible to modern children and shows that racism is far from over. With our recent election, it is also a timely book that speaks to the deep-seated racism still at work in our country today. Vaught uses excerpts from Avadelle’s fictitious novel to show the historical context that the riot took place in. It does show how far we have come, but also speaks to how far we have to go.

The complex friendships of middle grade children are captured here, with Dani and her best-friend Indri sharing the adventure while her “not-friend” Mac, grandson of Avadelle continues to also be a part of it though at times the two are not speaking, just like their grandmothers. This modern division is a clever way to show how friendships change, shift and fall apart, something that mirrors what is seen in the novel and in the grandparents’ relationship.

A rich look at Civil Rights, racism and the decisions too big to be unmade, this novel is a timely look at today and our shared past. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.