Review: Here in the Garden by Briony Stewart

| Tasha

here in the garden

Here in the Garden by Briony Stewart

Released March 1, 2015.

This import from Australia tells the seasonal story of a boy and his garden.  A boy spends time in his backyard, but is missing someone.  The wind blows, he plants seedlings in the garden, and dreams of his special someone joining his side.  When the rain comes, he watches from the back steps, still missing the one who would love to see the garden turn so green.  Summer comes with its sunshine and heat and the boy continues to feel his loss but begins to realize that he can still be in touch with the one he misses by being out in nature and enjoying the same things they used to do together.

Stewart beautifully allows the book to speak to anyone who has experienced loss.  In the end though, this book is clearly about the loss of a pet rabbit, the same one who is pictured at the boy’s side throughout the story.  That reveal is done tenderly and gently, clearly tying the boy to nature and to his memories of all the times they had together.  It’s beautifully and caringly presented.

Stewart’s art is washed in watercolors, colors that sweep and blow across the page, evoking the movement of air and the freshness of outdoors.  Though the book is filled with loneliness, the art remains resolutely lovely and cheery.  Even the one in the dark of night is filled with a light that illuminates.

A quiet story of grief, loss and the healing power of nature, this is a lovely little foreign title.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Kane Miller.

2015 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

| Tasha

YALSA has released their 2015 list of popular paperbacks for teens.  This year the list includes 97 books in four topics: Book to Movie: Ripped from the Pages, Mysteries: Murder, Mayhem and Other Adventures, Lock Up: Teens behind Bars, and Narrative Non-fiction: Inspired by Actual Events.  Here are the books in the Top Ten list:

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) The Fault in Our Stars Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen S. Levine

Hole in My Life I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent, #1) Lockdown

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co., #1) Maus, I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1)

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman

My Friend Dahmer The Rithmatist (The Rithmatist #1)

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Review: Moonpenny Island by Tricia Springstubb

| Tasha

moonpenny island

Moonpenny Island by Tricia Springstubb

The author of What Happened on Fox Street returns with a beautiful story set on a little island in a large lake.  Flor loves her island home, loves being able to ride her bicycle everywhere, loves that her best friend is the only other person in her grade at school, and loves that she knows all of the people who live there year round.  But things start to change that Flor has no way to control.  Her best friend is sent off the island to attend a different school, leaving Flor the only person in sixth grade.  Flor’s mother leaves to take care of her sick grandmother, and with her parents always fighting, maybe she won’t be back.  Even her very responsible older sister is hiding something from Flor.  Flor has to figure out how to live in this new island landscape where everything is changing around her.  But in change there is also opportunity, perhaps a new friend (or two) and also seeing things for what they actually are. 

Springstubb writes a love letter to her island setting.  She imbues each bike ride of Flor’s with a beauty and a celebration of this small island and its nature.  Her writing sparkles like sun on the water as she picks unique metaphors to show both her characters emotions and the setting.  Here is one of my favorite examples:  “Her heart’s a circus, with trapezes and tightropes and people shooting out of cannons but no nets – someone forgot the nets.”  Springstubb also shows emotions rather than telling about them.  Flor’s emotions come out in the way she digs her toes in sand, how she pedals her bicycle and through what she notices in the island itself. 

Flor is a great young protagonist.  She reads like an eleven year old, desperate to hold her family and friends together.  She has a youthful and frenzied love of her island, something that readers can see may change in the future but it is her connection to this place that makes this book work so beautifully.  She is fiercely protective of her siblings, throwing herself in to defend and protect them even as she proves that she has no understanding of teen love, something refreshing in a young protagonist.

Strong written, this book is beautiful, deep and rich just like its island setting.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Balzer + Bray.

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:

Seriously though!!!

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

8 Picture Books You Don’t Have To Be A Kid To Love | WRKF http://buff.ly/1HMyrT9 #kidlit

2015 Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat: ‘I Never Really Thought That I Had a Chance’ http://buff.ly/1Dv5S6g #kidlit

ALA Youth Media Award Winners Get the News – EarlyWord – http://buff.ly/1DxPJxf #kidlit

Cece Bell on El Deafo | American Libraries Magazine http://buff.ly/1zvydca #kidlit

Comics Win Big at ALA’s 2015 Youth Media Awards http://buff.ly/1I2M68W #kidlit

Day 4: R. Gregory Christie – The Brown Bookshelf | http://buff.ly/1zTSyvb – #kidlit #weneeddiversebooks

Kwame Alexander on His 2015 Newbery Win: ‘Overwhelmed with Joy’ http://buff.ly/1zQCkmx #kidlit

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast » Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Jeff Mack http://buff.ly/1DIU54B #kidlit

Tomi Ungerer’s Triumphant Return – The New Yorker http://buff.ly/1vv2ObB #kidlit

Top 10 children’s books on death and bereavement | Children’s books | The Guardian http://buff.ly/16tQMDq #kidlit

TOP TEN READ-ALOUD BOOKS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS by Aimee Owens | Nerdy Book Club http://buff.ly/1x6nbFT #kidlit

We Need Diverse Books Authors Take on Publishing, Reader Prejudice – Flavorwire http://buff.ly/16ttBK0 #kidlit #WeNeedDiverseBooks

The World’s Darkest Children’s Book Illustrator Receives Long Overdue Exhibition http://buff.ly/16dt4uI #kidlit #authors

If you don't see the book you want on the shelf, write it. - 6 Quotes About The Magic Of Reading

LIBRARIES

Borrow a sewing machine? Sacramento Public Library to start loaning more than books | The Sacramento Bee http://buff.ly/1DxF9X1 #libraries

Google’s slow fade with librarians — The Message — Medium http://buff.ly/16s0aIt #libraries

Never trust a corporation to do a library’s job — The Message — Medium http://buff.ly/16mwqfX #libraries

New tools getting Boston Public Library’s old treasures online to millions – Books – The Boston Globe http://buff.ly/1z8jf8m #libraries

Public rally to take place over Library of Birmingham cuts – Birmingham Mail http://buff.ly/1DC8krP #libraries

Seattle Public Library wins Knight grant for librarian-led, online skills service – GeekWire http://buff.ly/16hPawg #libraries

Oh yeah!

TEEN READS

2015 Young Adult Movie Adaptations http://buff.ly/1DdTKZO #yalit

Canadian author condemns ‘anti-gay’ protest against his young-adult novel | Books | The Guardian http://buff.ly/1vv2QjA #yalit

Jandy Nelson on Winning the 2015 Printz Medal: ‘Thrilled to the Bone’ http://buff.ly/1z8CoqO #yalit

Scott Westerfeld Lands Deal With Simon Pulse For a New YA Trilogy | GalleyCat http://buff.ly/1x9fA9I #yalit

2015 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers – Top Ten List

| Tasha

The Quick Picks list is presented annually by YALSA and lists books that teens (12-18) will “pick up on their own and read for pleasure.”  It is specifically designed for teens who do not like to read.  The full 2015 list features 68 titles and 1 series.  The committee also selects a Top Ten List:

Batman Science (Capstone Young Readers) The Crossover Famous Last Words

Batman Science: The Real-World Science Behind Batman’s Gear by Tammy Enz and Agnieszka Biskup

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

Find Momo: A Photography Book Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Find Momo: A Photography Book by Andrew Knapp

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

I Am Pusheen the Cat Juvie Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal

I Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton

Juvie by Steve Watkins

Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson

Through the Woods Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince

Review: Red by Michael Hall

| Tasha

red

Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall

A blue crayon labeled as red is not very good at being red at all. His fire trucks were all wrong. He thought more practice might help, but his strawberries didn’t look anything like Scarlet’s. When he tried to mix with other colors, like Yellow to make orange, it turned very green on him. His parents tried to warm him up with a scarf, but it didn’t work either. Everyone had advice for him, like just trying harder or sharpening himself to a new point. Nothing made any difference. Then he made a new friend who asked him to make an ocean for her boat to sail on. Red protested at first because oceans aren’t red, but then agreed to try. And suddenly he realized that he had been blue all along!

Told in symbolism that children will immediately understand, this book works on a variety of levels.  It can inspire children to be who they really are on the inside and to be true to that and not the labels that society puts on you. Others will read it as a metaphor for being gay or transgendered and I think it works beautifully for that as well.  Perhaps the best praise that can be given this book is that it can mean so many different things to people.

Hall’s artwork is simple and lovely. His various crayons are different heights and have wonderful color names that range from more normal colors to “Cocoa Bean” and “Hazelnut” and “Grape.”  They all have something to say too, helpful and not-so-helpful alike.  But they are Red’s community and children will see in them things that are said to people who are different in some way.

A celebration of inner diversity, this picture book is all about accepting and celebrating our differences.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Review: In by Nikki McClure

| Tasha

in

In by Nikki McClure

It’s the perfect day to stay in, in your pajamas, inside the house, even hiding inside a basket with your toy giraffe.  A child plays that he is a rocket ship in space.  He puts milk in his tea and marmalade in popovers.  It’s all about being in for him.  But then he looks out the window and decides to play in the rain and in the puddles.  He wants to be out, outside, peeking out of branches.  He will even stay out at night with the owls.  In the end though, he is happy to head back in and get in bed in the warm house. 

Simply told and beautifully illustrated, this picture book explores the opposites of in and out in a poetic and vivid way.  Woven into the narrative, the words of in and out play against one another and even together to build the experience of a young child at play.  Every child will enjoy seeing how they too like the differences between in and out.

McClure’s illustrations are just as wonderful as always.  Done in paper cuts, they are detailed enough that one could mistake them for pen and ink at times.  The play of white and black against the sunny yellow is beautifully done with the yellow being sunshine, moonlight, and marmalade at times.

A day of play combined with the concepts of in and out will have toddlers and little ones inspired to spend their own days both in and out of the house.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Appleseed.

Sold – The Movie Trailer

| Tasha

Based on the amazing novel by Patricia McCormick, this film has already won the audience award at both the London Indian Film Festival, River to River Film Festival in Florence, Italy and Best Narrative Feature at AFME.  Directed by Oscar-winner Jeffrey Brown and also with executive producer Emma Thompson, this film and book wrestle with sex trafficking and young innocent girls.

Review: Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

| Tasha

stella by starlight

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

The author of Out of My Mind returns with a book that takes a hard look at racism in the United States.  Stella lives in Bumblebee, North Carolina during the Great Depression.  When her little brother wakes her up one dark night, they witness the KKK burning a cross in their town.  Their community is segregated, so Stella and her family go to a different school than the white kids in town.  It’s smaller and less fancy with one room but also one great teacher.  They also can’t use certain stores and many of the white people in town are rude and even violent towards them.  Stella’s father is one of the men in town who decide that they will push for their right to vote, even though they know the system is rigged, requiring tests for black people but not for white.  Stella gets to witness first hand the ignorance of people in power and their disregard for others, but at the same time there is reason to have hope too.

Draper writes a dynamic story here.  She evokes the time period beautifully, allowing readers to really experience the lifestyle, the poverty, and the deep racism of the times.  This is not a book that is just darkness though, Draper creates a strong African-American community in Bumblebee.  The neighbors look out for one another, help whenever possible, and face the worst of society together as a group.  The racism and segregation is presented with an appropriate level of violence for children this age, allowing readers to see that it runs far more deeply than is depicted on the page.

Stella is an extraordinary protagonist.  Her struggles with writing are presented cleverly on the page.  One immediately sees that this is a girl who struggles with the mechanics of writing like spelling and getting the words out, but once they are on the page she has a unique voice and a poet’s eye.  It is a subtle but strong message that if you struggle with something it certainly does not mean you are not gifted in it as well.  These passages of writing lighten the book as do the various stories inserted throughout the book, paying homage to the oral traditions but also to the community and its strength.

Powerful and wise, this novel for young readers will expose them to racism after the Civil War and the basis for many of the problems we continue to see today.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Atheneum Books for Young Readers.