My Story, My Dance by Lesa Cline-Ransome

| Tasha

My Story My Dance by Lesa Cline Ransome

My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome (InfoSoup)

Starting from his birth through his rise to Artistic Director at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this picture book celebrates Robert Battle’s life. Born with bowed legs, he was taken in by his aunt and uncle and then raised by his cousin Dessie. It was with Dessie that he discovered a love of music and words. He sang in the church choir and after he got his leg braces off, he began to take karate. At age 13, he started dance late in life for a dancer. Soon Robert was noticed by his high school dance instructor and then auditioned for The New World School of Arts. As he grew, he got to see the Alvin Ailey dance troupe perform and was awed by them. Moving to New York City to attend Julliard, his dancing reached another level and progressively he moved to work with Alvin Ailey. This story of talent and determination celebrates dance and the power it has to communicate.

The prose by Cline-Ransome is spry and fast moving. She shows the importance of family in Robert’s upbringing, even if his mother was not in the picture. The theme of the warmth of family plays throughout the book, from the early pages to the very end where Robert Battle is speaking to the Alvin Ailey audience. The author makes sure to not only talk about the facts of Battle’s life but also shows how his early disability and his willingness to work exceedingly hard played into his later success.

Ransome has done the illustrations in this picture book biography in pastels. The rich colors are gorgeous on the page. He uses them to show the richness of Battle’s life and then when the book shows the movement of dance, he uses them to create the moves from one position to another fluidly across the page in a rainbow of sketches.

A lovely biography on a contemporary figure in American and African-American dance, this picture book is rich and powerful. Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

 

 

Henry Wants More! by Linda Ashman

| Tasha

Henry Wants More by Linda Ashman

Henry Wants More! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Brooke Boynton Hughes (InfoSoup)

Henry is a very busy toddler who just can’t get enough of all he loves in life. He wants to be lifted up high more, have his favorite song sung more than ten times, play even more games with his sister and be pulled back and forth by his brother even more. As bedtime nears, Henry is in his pajamas but still wide awake. His mother promises two bedtime books, but reads four. Then, shh, Henry is fast asleep. It’s his mother who wants a little more time with Henry at the end.

Ashman uses rhyme to great effect here. Her stanzas feel free and unbound by structure so the rhyming really works well. Read aloud, the rhymes fall into place with Henry himself filling in many of the rhymes with demands for “more” and “again!” Ashman captures the life of a toddler and a family who clearly adores him. Though Henry’s demands may sound harsh in my description, they are done with constant joy and never petulance so the tone of the book is positive throughout.

Hughes’ illustrations show a multiracial family with a grandmother too. The family includes pets and the entire book is filled with warmth and a cheery love. Henry’s own personality is captured in the illustrations with their bright colors and details.

Just right for toddlers, this picture book will be enjoyed by little ones who area also spending their days merrily demanding even more from their families. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Penguin Random House.

2016 Edgar Award Nominations

| Tasha

The Mystery Writers of American have chosen the nominees for the 2016 Edgar Awards. Winners will be announced on April 28. Below are the nominees in the youth categories:

BEST JUVENILE

Catch You Later, Traitor If You Find This

Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi
If You Find This by Matthew Baker

The Shrunken Head (The Curiosity House, #1) The Blackthorn Key
Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C.Chester
Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands

Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy
Footer Davis Probably is Crazy by Susan Vaught

 

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Endangered A Madness So Discreet

Endangered by Lamar Giles
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

The Sin Eater’s Daughter (The Sin Eater’s Daughter, #1) The Walls Around Us
The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Ask the Dark
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner

The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry

| Tasha

The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry

The Turn of the Tide by Rosanne Parry

When an earthquake hits Japan, Kai tries to help his elderly grandparents escape the tsunami waves, but he is unable to get them to move fast enough. After the immediate crisis, Kai is moved from his home in Japan to the safety of Oregon to live with his cousins. His parents stayed behind in Japan to work on the nuclear power plant that was damaged in the storm. Jet is the cousin that Kai moves in with. She dreams of being the pilot of a boat on the Columbia Bar. One day she misses checking the tide though and puts her little brother in serious danger on the water. These two cousins, each wrestling with the results of their actions and the tug of their dreams, have to find a way to forgive themselves and move forward.

Parry, author of Heart of a Shepherd, has once again captured the courage of children on the page. The two protagonists are unique voices in children’s literature. Kai from Japan looks at everything in America as different and foreign. He struggles with his own role in his grandparent’s death and feels a loss of honor for leaving Japan and escaping to safety himself rather than helping rebuild. Jet is a courageous girl who struggles to make and keep friends. She is passionate about sailing and boats but also about her family. Jet doesn’t warm to people easily, and the two cousins face interpersonal issues between them that are organic and realistic.

The setting too is beautifully rendered. The Oregon coast and the Columbia River Bar add real drama and danger to the story. The ever-present weather and tides, the concerns with sailing and family honor, and the dreams of Jet herself meld together into a mix of adventure and destiny. The book has facts at the end about the Columbia River Bar Pilots and about Captain Deborah Dempsey who appears as a character in the book, the only female Columbia River Bar pilot.

Realistic and dangerous adventure in a beautiful and unique part of the United States, this book speaks to working to forgive yourself and overcoming adversity by doing the right thing. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from e-galley received from Random House Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss.

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:

So true.:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books -2015 BLUE RIBBONS

CCBlogC: “Drum Dream Girl” by Margarita Engle Wins 2016 Charlotte Zolotow Award

Fantasy Author Cornelia Funke On Writing For Kids & How It Feels To Kill A Major Character

Neil Patrick Harris will star in Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Scholastic pulls George Washington book over slave cake controversy

Top 10 worriers in children’s literature – The Guardian

Watch. Connect. Read.: Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall

:

LIBRARIES

Have an overdue book or unpaid fines? L.A. Public Library to offer 2-week amnesty program

READING

Why You Should Read 50 Books This Year (And How To Do It)

.:

TEEN READS

9 Books to Read Before They Become Movies in 2016 | Teen Vogue

A Reading Rainbow: YA Novels That Explore Sexuality and Sexual Identity

‘Trendy’ books: should we really be following the crowd?

Uploading of Anne Frank’s diary ruffles legal feathers

Why ‘The 5th Wave’ Isn’t Just Another ‘Hunger Games’

2016 Hans Christian Andersen Awards

| Tasha

The shortlist for the 2-16 Hans Christian Andersen Awards has been announced.

The criteria used to assess the nominations included the aesthetic and literary quality as well as the freshness and innovation of the body of work; the ability to see the child’s point of view and to stretch their curiosity; and the continuing relevance of the works to children and young people. The Award is based on the entire body of work.

Here are the authors and illustrators on the shortlist:

AUTHORS

Bronze and Sunflower The King Book-Black Door 黑门

Cao Wenxuan (China)

Elefanterne holdt hver gang med Tarzan Halli! Hallo! Så er der nye firkantede historier

Louis Jensen (Denmark)

Wer morgens lacht Anne Frank's Family

Mirjan Pressler (Germany)

Brothers: Life, Death, Truth Hou van mij: bijna alle gedichten en veel beelden 1984 - 2009

Ted van Lieshout (Netherlands)

The Giver (The Giver, #1) Number the Stars

Lois Lowry (USA)

 

ILLUSTRATORS

In the Town All Year 'Round Definitely Not for Little Ones: Some Very Grimm Fairy-tale Comics

Rotraut Susanne Berner (Germany)

Pejman Rahimizadeh (Iran)

The River Oggi mi sento così

Alessandro Sanna (Italy)

3171606

Suzy Lee (Korea)

The Red Bird Groter dan een droom

Marit Tornqvist (Netherlands)

 

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford

| Tasha

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (InfoSoup)

A lovely mix of poetry and nonfiction, this picture book takes a serious look at slavery and the unique situation in New Orleans. In New Orleans, Congo Square was the one place where slaves were allowed to congregate once a week on Sundays. The book counts down to Sunday, each day filled with brutal work and the harrowing harshness of slavery. As Sunday approaches, one can feel spirits looking forward to it. When it finally arrived, slaves and free blacks congregated together, able to celebrate the songs and society of the African homes they were stolen from.

This book is carefully framed and placed in history with a combination of a foreward by historian Freddi Williams Evans and an Author’s Note placed at the end of the book. In both places, Congo Square is explained in detail. The real magic though happens with Weatherford’s poetry. It has a rhythm to it, a structure that is almost musical. The text is deceptively simple as it speaks to the depth of human heart even in the face of slavery and the importance of having a place to congregate like Congo Square.

Christie’s illustrations are incredible. They evoke primitive art with the lengthened and stylized people done in deep black. The pages are filled with bright colors that may seem merry, but then they are filled with slaves doing hard work. They also have twisted black trees in the outside scenes, the tortured branches speaking to witnessed horrors.

An important nonfiction picture book that has poetry that sings in mourning about slavery but also sings of the beauty of the strength of the human spirit too. Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Little Bee Books.

CCBC Choices 2016

| Tasha

Cooperative Children's Book Center

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center has announced their list of Choices for 2016. As always, their list focuses on high quality and diversity, so if you are looking for books with strong and unique voices, you are sure to find them here!

The Hueys in What’s the Opposite? by Oliver Jeffers

| Tasha

The Hueys in Whats the Opposite by Oliver Jeffers

The Hueys in What’s the Opposite by Oliver Jeffers (InfoSoup)

The Hueys are back with another book, this one focused on opposites. One Huey starts by asking another what the opposite of beginning is, but that stumps the other one. So they move on to easier opposites like here and there, up and down, yes and no. Each of the opposites is acted out by the characters with lots of humorous touches that make the book a delight to read and share. As always, the Hueys have exactly the right tone for a preschool crowd, this time making the concept of opposites great fun to learn.

Jeffers has a real gift for quiet humor that is shown mostly in the illustrations while the text stays focused and matter of fact. Sharing this aloud is not about just reading the text, but also exploring the illustrations together to make sure that you don’t miss the smashed cup of tea when the cat is gotten down from the tree (by sawing it down). At times the text gets in on the fun too, like when the Huey caught on a desert island is unlucky at first, then lucky and then sadly, unlucky once again.

Children will enjoy that the opposites get more complex at the end of the book. A discussion of whether a glass is half full or half empty should lead to everyone joining the Huey with his hurting head. The end of the book adds to the merriment finally answering the original question of the opposite of beginning.

A real joy to read and share, this picture book will appeal to both existing Huey fans and will also earn new ones. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.