YALSA has released their list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults. From that larger list, a top ten list is created. Below are the books on the top ten:
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
The Reader by Traci Chee
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Harry Miller’s Run by David Almond, illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino (9780763689759)
Developed from the short story that appeared in Half a Creature from the Sea, this children’s fiction version is illustrated in full color. Liam wants to be out with his friends practicing for the upcoming Junior Great North Run, but his mother wants him to come to help Harry clear out his home. As they visit with Harry, he shares the story of his own run as a boy when he and some friends ran from their town all the way to the sea. It’s a story of friendship, shared experience, a hot sunny day, and the wonder of ice cream at the end.
I enjoyed this short story immensely in the original short story collection and was very pleased to discover it again in this illustrated format. The story is immensely fun, beginning with the mistake of how far the boys were actually going to run and then their determination to finish anyway. Framed by the story of Harry as an old man telling the tale and Liam listening, the story within a story shines with the brightness of a summer day against the more somber tones of aging.
Rubbino’s illustrations make this version of the story accessible for younger audiences who will appreciate the text being broken up by bright-colored images. The illustrations reflect the story with the modern illustrations done in blacks and grays with a pop of blue provided by Harry’s cap. The illustrations for Harry’s memories suddenly turn into full color with Harry still in the same blue cap.
A lovely new version that makes this story available to more people, this is a winner. Appropriate for ages 7-9.
Reviewed from library copy.
The winners of the 2017 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award have been announced. The award is given to an outstanding new writer and new illustrator each year. Three honor books were also selected this year. In order to be eligible, authors and illustrators can have had no more than three books previously published.
Here are the winners:
NEW WRITER AWARD
A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts, illustrated by Hyewon Yum
NEW ILLUSTRATOR AWARD
Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer
HONOR BOOKS
Excellent Ed by Stacy McAnulty (NEW WRITER HONOR)
The Girl with the Parrot on Her Head by Daisy Hirst (NEW ILLUSTRATOR HONOR)
The Journey by Francesca Sanna (NEW WRITER HONOR)
The Association for Library Service to Children has published their 2017 Notable Children’s Books list. The list contains outstanding books for ages birth through 14. The lengthy list is available here on the ALSC’s website.
Here are some cool links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts this week:
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
5 Children’s Books About Trans Issues That Everyone Needs To Read http://buff.ly/2lAcK0M #kidlit #lgbt
Are these bks in your library? They should be! …https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2017/02/published-in-2016-books-byabout-native.html … Pls share with fellow librarians/teachers!
Books About Bullying for Kids | Reader’s Digest http://buff.ly/2ldHPGA #kidlit
Children’s Books for the Resistance http://buff.ly/2lO5ota #kidlit
In Conversation: Kwame Alexander and Nikki Grimes on the Power of Poetry http://buff.ly/2lLjmLV #kidlit
New book trailer alert: Noisy Night by @macbarnett & @mrbiggsdotcom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMh0OOhigKo …
People Of Color Accounted For 22 Percent Of Children’s Books Characters In 2016 http://buff.ly/2m4xWeY #diversity #kidlit
Queer children’s books have a long history that’s only now being told http://buff.ly/2mhou8q #kidlit #lgbt
Tackling The Lack Of Diversity In Children’s Books http://buff.ly/2lPvTyb #kidlit
What happened after a teacher edited WHOOSH! to remove any reference to race – my conversation with @readitrealgood. http://chrisbarton.info/blog/2017/02/whoosh-race-and-all-students.html …
Why Reading Aloud to Older Children Is Valuable http://crwd.fr/2lpCaQQ
Young Entrepreneur Kaya Thomas Created an App to Find Books by Black Authors: http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/young-entrepreneur-kaya-thomas-created-an-app-to-find-books-by
LIBRARIES
Library Hand, the Fastidiously Neat Penmanship Style Made for Card Catalogs http://buff.ly/2lowXYR #libraries
Standing Room Only: Central Library’s Chairless Main Floor: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/library-security-central-branch-homeless-chairs-noise-safety-1.3991416
TEEN LIT
9 YA Retellings Out In 2017 That Breathe New Life Into The Fairytales & Classics http://buff.ly/2ldTuoJ #yalit
Gene Yang: A Graphic Novelist Caught Between Two Worlds http://buff.ly/2m7LlCa #yalit
It’s Chemistry: 6 YA Thrillers That Get Romance Right | Bookish http://buff.ly/2lvsXUJ #yalit
Novels by YouTube stars are ruining children’s reading ages,
experts warn http://buff.ly/2lAa9nm #yalit #reading
Q & A with Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give – http://buff.ly/2kI2b9D #yalit
The Los Angeles Times has announced the finalists for their 2016 Book Prize. Winners will be announced on April 21st. The finalists include 55 titles covering a variety of themes and topics. One category focuses on young adult literature. Here are the five young adult finalists:
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
The Head of the Saint by Socorro Acioli
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
We’re Going on an Egg Hunt by Laura Hughes (9781681193144)
This lift-the-flap picture book is a riff on the beloved We’re Going on a Bear Hunt reworked with an Easter theme. Here a family of rabbits head out to find eggs on a lovely spring day. There are ten hidden eggs on the pages and not every flap has an egg hidden behind it. Along the way, the rabbits encounter a series of obstacles and how to navigate things like lambs, bees and ducks. The final very large egg hides a wolf and the rabbits and the reader have to work together to foil him.
Hughes has done a nice job of incorporating the rhythm and structure of the original book into this springy Easter version. Even the obstacles themselves have a springtime theme. The wolf at the end makes for a delightful twist that creates the joy of rushing back through the obstacles in reverse order and returning home just in the nick of time.
The use of flaps is particularly enjoyable when combined with an egg hunt. Children will enjoy lifting the flaps which are fairly sturdy and should survive small hands well. There are surprises underneath some of them and the chance to count upwards to ten as well.
Great for sharing with a small group of children or one-on-one, there will be lots of demand to be the one to lift the flaps because it is such fun. My guess is you will be reading this one again and again. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from copy received from Bloomsbury.
Hello Spring! by Shelley Rotner (9780823437528)
Released February 28, 2017.
Filled with bright and buoyant photographs, this picture book celebrates the arrival of spring. It moves from early spring filled with snowdrops emerging from the snow and the running of maple sap all the way through to the beginning of summer. In between, the book looks at flowers, bees, pollination, early garden crops, animals and much more. Even worms and snakes appear on the pages as the sunshine warms.
Rotner’s text is simple and straight forward. She writes with embedded rhymes, giving the text a wonderful poetic twist particularly when shared aloud. In other sections, she uses rhythm and repeating sentence structure to carry the celebratory tone forward and engage the reader.
Her photographs are equally compelling. Filled with light and the greens and blues of spring, they shine on the page. She has included children in many of the images, interacting with animals and plants. Throughout the book there is attention to diversity of the people on the page.
This is a spring fling of a book, worthy of being taken on a picnic or cuddled with on a rainy spring day. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from copy received from Holiday House.
Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (9781681191058)
Jade attends a mostly-white private school on scholarship, riding the city bus to and from school as her mother works multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their head. Jade is one of the best students in Spanish class and she looks forward to being selected to travel abroad. But a different opportunity arises as Jade is placed in Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk African-American girls. Jade’s mentor, Maxine, is often distracted or late, seemingly more interested in her love life than in Jade. Sometimes though, she is wonderful, paying attention to Jade’s collage art, talking about ways to get her art seen. Still, Jade is the one with things to show and teach even as she is learning herself to find her own voice in life.
Watson’s writing is superb. She captures the conflicting issues of being poor and African-American in today’s America. There are opportunities, yes, particularly for talented students. Still, those opportunities can come at the cost of other decisions and choices. There is the tension of being the one leaving poverty to another place and not wanting to lose family and friends along the way. Even neighborhoods and ways of life are sources of pain and emotions.
Watson doesn’t shy away from directly addressing racism in the book. She gives Jade a new best friend who is white and who doesn’t understand the racism that Jade is experiencing and can’t support Jade in the way that she should. This is handled with sensitivity but also clarity, about what the role of white friends should be in our world. Jade herself is learning that she needs to speak up for herself, insist on fairness, and continue to push. Black Lives Matter is clear on the pages too, showing the violence of society, the murders by police and the impact that has on everyone in a community.
Powerful, strong and filled with writing that calls for action, this book is simply stellar. Appropriate for ages 13-16.
Reviewed from ARC received from Bloomsbury.
Waking Brain Cells 