I Hear a Pickle by Rachel Isadora

| Tasha

I Hear a Pickle by Rachel Isadora

I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!) by Rachel Isadora (InfoSoup)

A book about your senses, this picture book invites the youngest of children to think about their senses and the many ways they use them in life. Starting with hearing, the book offers examples of different things that children may hear in their day like birds, bees and waves. There are also things you can’t hear, like worms. There are loud and soft noises too. Smelling has good smells like soap and bad smells like sneakers and baby diapers. Sight offers light and dark, the joy of wearing glasses to help you see, and the fun of reading. Touch has animals and rain, but also things not to touch like hot stoves or electric plugs. Taste is filled with foods, even ones like spinach that you may not want to eat at first. And then it all comes together in one crunchy pickle in the end.

Isadora uses small pictures on the page to show all sorts of interactions with the world. Children will enjoy seeing the things that they have done and then will want to talk about other ideas they have of things they have experienced with their senses. This is a book that starts a conversation with small children. Are there other things that are crunchy to eat? Other things that are dangerous to touch? Other things that you can’t hear at all? This book invites that sort of exploration of the child’s own world.

A joyous exploration of all of your senses that will have toddlers listening hard. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

This Week’s Tweets, Pins & Tumbls

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts this week that I think are cool:

The Official Anime Versions of Harry Potter Characters:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

17 Times Children’s Books Got A Much, Much Better Title

A delightful way to teach kids about computers

J.K. Rowling Shows Off The International Wizarding World With New Magical Academies

The Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Spring 2016

What’s Lost When Kids Are ‘Under-connected’ to the Internet?

Charlie Brown lost his library book.:

LIBRARIES

Beyond Books: Why Some Libraries Now Lend Tools, Toys and More

How the Detroit Public Library is staying relevant to kids in the 21st century

Policies for Library Inclusion of Self-Published Works » Public Libraries Online

St. Louis Public Library gets access to rare collection of African-American history

I still like fairy tales ... keeps my imagination keen.:

READING

More on Diversity: A Response to Courtney Milan | Kirkus Reviews

Speaking up against systemic racism in the publishing industry

Why Books are the Best Furniture

Book:

TEEN READS

6 Great New Comic Books You Need to Read This Spring | Teen Vogue

FAITH #1: Comics’ Plus Size Superhero

Love Is in the Air: 11 Teen Romance Books | Brightly

Red Queen Rising: Victoria Aveyard’s Expanding YA Empire

Spider-Man #1 leaps into new, more diverse era as black teen dons mask

Top 10 books by transgender authors featuring trans characters

2016 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

| Tasha

The Quick Picks list is always my favorite list of the year. I find titles on it every year that I’ve never heard of and that are amazing and even better will be popular with teen readers! YALSA picks the Quick Picks list every year and it includes both fiction and nonfiction. Here are the top ten titles for 2016, but the big list is worth looking at for great additions to your library collections:

Dumplin' Everything, Everything

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks The Iron Trial (Magisterium, #1)

The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks by Sam Maggs

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Nimona Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History… and Our Future! by Kate Schatz

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) Shadowshaper

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Shadowshapers by Daniel Jose Older

The Silence of Six (SOS, #1) Zeroboxer

The Silence of Six by E. C. Myers

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee

Bear Is Not Tired by Ciara Gavin

| Tasha

Bear Is Not Tired by Ciara Gavin

Bear Is Not Tired by Ciara Gavin (InfoSoup)

This is the second book featuring Bear and his adopted family of ducks. In the first book, the bear and ducks had to figure out a home that worked for all of them. In this follow up, bear is getting steadily more and more sleepy as winter approaches. But ducks don’t hibernate and Bear worried about missing out on things throughout an entire season. So Bear decided not to sleep, but the ducks started to notice that Bear was acting differently. Bear tried and tried to stay awake, but nothing seemed to work. Finally Mama Duck pulled Bear aside and promised that if he slept through the winter, he would not miss a thing. And it was true!

Gavin has written another winning picture book about the unusual pairing of a family of ducks and a solitary bear. Here the story focuses on Bear and his unique need to sleep through the cold months. It’s a story that will speak to families who have people who respond differently to things, who like different activities, but still want to be with one another. Perhaps the ducks’ ways of including Bear in everything despite him being asleep will inspire new ways of thinking for human families to stay close even when they are doing different things.

Gavin’s art work has a lovely gauzy quality to it, giving Bear his huge softness. Meanwhile the little ducks are done in firmer lines. All of them have personalities that brighten the page and enhance the story. The little ducks are all characters, and it is clear through their body language alone how much all of the animals love one another.

A lovely winter read, perfect for curling up on a cozy couch or snuggled at bedtime. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults

| Tasha

YALSA has selected a list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults. They also choose a Top Ten which happens to have many of my personal favorites of the year:

Audacity Bone Gap

Audacity by Melanie Crowder

Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

The Boy in the Black Suit The Bunker Diary

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks

Challenger Deep More Happy Than Not

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

Shadowshaper Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) X

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad

| Tasha

When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad

When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad (InfoSoup)

Inge arrives at the small island town of Bornholm, Denmark via boat. She hasn’t eaten since the morning of the day before, thanks to missing her mother and the fish guts on the boat. Inge has never met her grandmother before, but now the two of them will be living together at her small farm. Inge brings with her plenty of laughter and trouble, but her grandmother does not seem amused by any of it. Over and over again, Inge gets into mischief, whether it is in a kicking contest with the donkey, learning how to walk in wooden shoes, or insisting that in 1911, girls can play on the grass at school too. Inge’s vibrant personality never stays down for long, but can this small island community survive her?

This book is pure silly and shimmering perfection. Inge is a marvelous protagonist, filled with life and the ability to get into great trouble even on a small farm on a tiny island. Inge is the real reason this book works so well, but so is her grandmother who proves the perfect foil for the rambunctious child. While I don’t want to spoil the book, it is the grandmother’s reaction to Inge that makes this book so special by the end.

The setting of the small Danish island also plays a huge role in the book. Set in 1911, the strict community rules rub Inge entirely the wrong way. Though some areas are moving in a more modern way, the small town keeps things traditional. With a strong focus on food, children will enjoy the changing menagerie of gingerbread creatures, the question of how thick a piece of cake should be, and the way that the grandmother feeds Inge with a beautiful determination held together by lots of cream.

A gem of a book, this would make a great read aloud for a classroom thanks to the large amounts of guffaw-level humor throughout as well as a winning young female protagonist. Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens

| Tasha

Every year YALSA creates a list of amazing graphic novels for teens. They also pick a Top Ten Great Graphic Novels list. Here is this year’s top ten:

Awkward Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova

Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans by Don Brown

Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed

Lumberjanes (Volumes 1 & 2)by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters, illustrated by Brooke Allen

Ms. Marvel (Volumes 2 & 3) by G. Willow Wilson

Nimona Roller Girl

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Sacred Heart A Silent Voice, Vol. 1 (A Silent Voice, #1)

Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia

A Silent Voice (Volumes 1-3) by Yoshitoki Oima

Trashed The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power

Trashed by Derf Backderf

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (Volumes 1 &2) by Ryan North, illustrated by Erica Henderson

A Big Surprise for Little Card by Charise Mericle Harper

| Tasha

A Big Surprise for Little Card by Charise Mericle Harper

A Big Surprise for Little Card by Charise Mericle Harper (InfoSoup)

Released February 9, 2016.

Every card has a special grown up job, except for Little Card and Long Card. There were cards who were price tags, others were office folders, others were postcards. So the two cards waited for their special letter to arrive. But on the day the letter arrived, the two cards collided and cards went everywhere. Little Card picked up a letter and read that he was going to be a birthday card! He got lots of training and found that he loved everything about being a birthday card. But one day when he got home, Long Card was there and told him there had been a mix up. She was the birthday card and he was a different type of card. It was too late to be trained again, so Little Card was sent off immediately to work at the library as a library card. He tried to use his birthday card training at his new job, but his loud singing wasn’t welcome. Little Card soon learned though what special things were available at the library and was thrilled in the end to know that he could be at the library more than once a year!

This clever take on libraries and having a library card is very nicely structured. The exuberance of Little Card makes the book read aloud well. Children will enjoy the pleasure of the birthday card part of the book, the loud singing, the cake, and the balloons. One might think that that would overshadow the more quiet library portion of the book, but the author made sure to make the library part just as appealing, so the result is that libraries are shown as being just as much fun and just as joyous as a birthday party. Hurrah!

The illustrations of the book are just as fun and buoyant as the story itself. Done in ink washes, pencil, pen and ink, and stamps, they were also colored digitally. They have a nice simplicity to them that will make this book easy to share with groups. The sprightly Little Card dances (literally) across the page and invites children to have a great time with the book and at the library.

A jaunty picture book about libraries, this book will be welcome for library tour groups as well as for introducing children to libraries as a place of fun. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from ARC received from Candlewick Press.

ABC Dream by Kim Krans

| Tasha

ABC Dream by Kim Krans

ABC Dream by Kim Krans (InfoSoup)

This wordless alphabet book is a wonderful mix of concept book and also guessing game. Each double-page spread is dedicated to one letter and filled with natural elements that demonstrate that letter being used. The detailed illustrations invite readers to look closely and explore what other items they can spot that start with that letter. Nicely, the book ends with a list for each letter so adults can help make sure all of the details are noticed. This alphabet book is a unique and wondrous book that invites whimsical dreaming even as young ones learn their alphabet.

The illustrations are the entirety of this book. They are a gorgeous mix of pen and ink fine lines and watercolor washes. This combines black and white detail with touches of color that enliven the pages. Each illustration is its own fine composition with colors that complement one another and invite you to lean in and look even closer.

One of the more unique alphabet books around, this picture book will delight adults and children alike. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Books for Young Readers.