This Week’s Tweets, Pins and Tumbls

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts this week that I hope you find interesting:

-Madeleine L'Engle

CHILDREN’S LIT

6 Life Lessons from Laura Ingalls Wilder| Bich Minh Nguyen | http://buff.ly/1eELQfM #kidlit

Anne Ursu on ‘The Real Boy’ and writing for kids | MinnPost http://buff.ly/1cprRgR #kidlit

Children reading books to cats | Metro News http://buff.ly/1dCVMBS #reading

Downtown Books: Five great children’s books about Harriet Tubman http://buff.ly/1dCWrTP #kidlit

Glenn Close, Sophie Nelisse, Octavia Spencer Join ‘The Great Gilly Hopkins’ | Variety http://buff.ly/1dvLLGm #kidlit

Happy birthday, Charles Darwin! – The Horn Book http://buff.ly/1cxj0tu #kidlit

J.K. Rowling Did Make a Mistake, But It Wasn’t the Ron-Hermione Pairing | BOOK RIOT- http://buff.ly/NDvPgA #kidlit

Pictures Of Babies As Book Characters Are Worth WAY More Than A Thousand Words http://buff.ly/1g1SLiB #kidlit

Zita the Spacegirl faces her toughest challenge yet: Space Prison! http://buff.ly/NyiMgd #kidlit

EBOOKS

As the line between platform and publisher continues to blur, who wins and who loses? http://buff.ly/Nyj9Yk #publishing

My favorite winter activity is going back inside and reading a book in my pajamas (and spring, summer and autumn...)

LIBRARIES

12 Jobs on the Brink: Will They Evolve or Go Extinct? http://buff.ly/1eEFMDP See a smart take on libraries! #libraries

Best College Libraries: 12 of America’s Most Magical http://buff.ly/1lM9Kv4 #libraries

Kyle Cassidy photographs librarians at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (PHOTOS). http://buff.ly/1orF417 #libraries

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TEEN READS

Beth Revis: Why is Diversity Important? http://buff.ly/1gpI7T8 #yalit

The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2014 http://buff.ly/1orFSD2 #kidlit #yalit

Pete Hautman on the Book that Will Save Us (Writing for the Long Haul series)/ Desert Dispatches http://buff.ly/NyirKB #writing #yalit

YALSA’s 2014 Hub Reading Challenge Begins! | The Hub http://buff.ly/1dvLX8x #yalit

Review: What’s Your Favorite Animal?

| Tasha

whats your favorite animal

What’s Your Favorite Animal?

Eric Carle and many other well-known illustrators offer their personal favorite animals complete with a short piece about what animal they love and why.  Turning the pages is rather like visiting a gallery of some of the top picture book illustrators working today.  Turn the page and see Lane Smith’s choice of elephant, then Jon Klassen’s ode to his love for ducks, and Susan Jeffer’s beautiful look at horses.  This work is fantastically lovely and personal to the illustrators.  It is a pleasure to turn each page and take a journey through this book.

Readers may discover new authors and illustrators and seek out their work.  But best of all, this is a wonderful look at well-known illustrators on a personal level.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Co.

Review: Florence Nightingale by Demi

| Tasha

florence nightingale

Florence Nightingale by Demi

This picture book biography shines thanks to its rich artwork.  It tells the story of Florence Nightingale’s life beginning with her wealthy childhood in England.  Florence’s mother was known for her parties, but Florence liked to spend time by herself and even as a child pretended that her dolls were sick and needed to be in a doll hospital.  Florence traveled in Europe as a teenager and realized that she was called to help people.  Her parents were dismayed when she declared that she wanted to be a nurse.  Then later Florence got a chance to help in an orphanage and her parents allowed her to choose her own way.  Florence excelled at organization, documentation and hygiene.  She transformed the different places she worked at, eventually going to Turkey to help the soldiers during the Crimean War.  Florence grew ill later in her life, but never stopped working on improving nursing and patient care around the world.  She was an inspiration for many both as a nurse and a woman. 

Demi writes with depth and detail in this biography.  She paints a clear picture of Nightingale from childhood through her development as a nurse and finally as a world-renowned expert in nursing.  It was fascinating to learn of Nightingale’s wealthy background and her unwillingness to turn her back on her calling. 

Demi’s art is as rich as ever with her saturated colors that give way to other pages with rich yet delicate texture.  Nightingale appears wearing her deep blue dress that somehow shines on the page even though it is often the darkest color there.  Ones eye just travels straight to her and the heart of the story.

Rich and detailed, this is a winning picture book biography to introduce children to a major female figure from history.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Co.

Review: Peek-a-Boo Bunny by Holly Surplice

| Tasha

peek a book bunny

Peek-a-Boo Bunny by Holly Surplice

Bunny and his friends are playing their favorite game, Hide-and-Seek!  Bunny gets to seek first and all of his friends hide.  He counts to ten.  Then he bounces and rushes around, moving way too fast to notice the others hiding.  As Bunny races from one page to the next, another friend is revealed in their hiding place on each page, making it a real game of hide-and-seek for the reader.  Eventually, Bunny does slow down, but he still can’t find the hidden animals.  Bunny sits down under a tree, saddened by not finding any of his friends.  But don’t worry, they can find him!

A jolly picture book where the game is made real for the reader, Surplice infuses her book with humor but also with a gentleness toward Bunny too.  The story itself is simple and linear, offering space for the illustrations to carry the full story for the reader.

The illustrations are lovely.  They offer collages of cut paper grasses and flowers in a rainbow of colors that pop against the pastel backgrounds.  Bunny and his friends all pop out as well with their firm lines dark against the flowing colors of the forest. 

A sparkling spring pick, this book is great for preschoolers and toddlers.  I could see it making a great board book too.  Appropriate for ages 1-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey

| Tasha

dance like starlight

A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina’s Dream by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Told in the first person by a young African-American dancer, this book shows how dreams can come true with lots of hard work and plenty of hope.  Set in Harlem of the fifties, this young dancer dreams of becoming a ballerina.  Her mother works hard to pay for her dance lessons.  The ballet master saw her pretending to dance and offered her lessons.  She isn’t allowed to dance onstage with the white girls, but can take lessons each day in the back of the room.  Then she learns about Janet Collins, the first colored prima ballerina.  Now she is going to the Metropolitan Opera House to see Collins dance and feast on the hope that that brings to her.

Dempsey’s picture book is in verse that not only shows what the little girl is feeling but also speaks to the time before Civil Rights and the separation that came with it.  It is much more the story of the young girl than of Janet Collins, though it is her inspiration that led a generation of non-white girls to realize that they too could be dancers. 

Cooper’s illustrations are gauzy and beautiful.  When the young girl is up on the rooftop dreaming, his image is breathtaking with the color of the sky shining upon her face.  He unerringly turns her toward light, speaking with pictures of the hope that sustains her.  It is beautifully done.

Inspiring and exquisite, this picture book belongs in the hands of all little girls dreaming of pirouettes and tutus.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel.

2014 American Indian Youth Literature Awards

| Tasha

AILA

The American Indian Library Association has named the winners of their 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Awards.  The awards honor the best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians.  Here are the winners:

PICTURE BOOK

Caribou Song

Caribou Song, Atihko Nikamon by Tomson Highway, illustrated by John Rombough

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL

How I Became a Ghost

How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle

 

YOUNG ADULT

Killer of Enemies

Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac

 

HONOR BOOKS

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner

Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner by Tim Tingle

 

YOUNG ADULT

If I Ever Get Out of Here

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

Review: The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

| Tasha

ghosts of tupelo landing

The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

Return to the world of the Newbery Honor book Three Times Lucky in this follow-up novel.  Mo and Dale continue to run their Desperado Detective Agency but the mysteries have gotten smaller.  Then an old inn goes up for sale and Miss Lana, Mo’s guardian, accidentally purchases it.  That’s when it is discovered that that inn comes with a resident ghost.  Now it is up to Dale and Mo to figure out why the ghost is haunting the inn, something they also manage to make into a homework assignment to do double duty.  But the mystery of the ghost is tied up in other secrets in Tupelo Landing, secrets that have been kept for decades but that must be revealed to solve this mystery.

Returning to Tupelo Landing was immediately like being reunited with friends.  There was catching up to do, but it was easy and warm right from the beginning.  Turnage’s writing is rich and layered.  She excels at descriptions, creating analogies that are surprising and constantly original.  Here in Mo’s voice is a description of Lavender, the boy she plans to marry eventually:

Lavender has eyes blue as October’s sky and hair like just-mown wheat.  He’s wiry and tall, and flows like a lullaby.

All of your favorite characters from the first book are back again.  There are the Colonel and Miss Lana, continuing to figure out their relationship while running a restaurants whose theme changes every night.  There is Grandmother Miss Lacy whose funding saves Miss Lana and the inn, but who may be dealing with secrets of her own.  There is even the scary Red Baker who may be closer to the ghost than anyone else.  There is even one complex new character who takes time to learn about because his secrets are held very close.  And then of course there are Mo and Dale, the two detectives at the heart of the story and who give the story its heart.

Funny, heartfelt and memorable, this sequel is just as good as the award-winning original.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin Group.

2014 Amelia Bloomer List

| Tasha

The Amelia Bloomer List recommends feminist literature for children and teens aged birth through 18 years old.  It is part of the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association’s Social Responsibility Round Table.

They also named a top ten:

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America's Heart

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II by Cheryl Mullenbach

Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart by Julie Cummins

Global Baby Girls The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace However Long the Night: Molly Melching's Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph

Global Baby Girls

The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich

However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph by Aimee Molloy

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban Profiles #4: Freedom Heroines

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Profiles: Freedom Heroines by Frieda Wishinsky

Rookie Yearbook Two What Will It Take to Make A Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power

Rookie Yearbook Two edited by Tavi Gevinson

What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? by Marianne Schnall

Review: The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos

| Tasha

scar boys

The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos

Trying to fill out a college application, Harry decides to ignore the word limit and tell his full story to that point.  When he was 8 years old, kids in his neighborhood tied him to a tree during a thunderstorm.  The tree was struck by lightning and set ablaze with Harry tied directly to it.  Harry has severe scars both physically and emotionally from that day.  Harry had no friends until Johnny came into his life, a charismatic and confident boy who swept down and saved Harry from obscurity and loneliness.  Together the two of them started a band, one that really sucked at first, but then amazingly got better and better.  Called The Scar Boys, the band transported Harry from his dull life into a different type of storm, one of music and pure joy.  But bands often fall apart and so do high school friendships on the brink of college.  As the future looms closer, Harry has to figure out what to give up on and what is worth fighting to keep.

Vlahos’ debut teen novel is a screamingly funny wild ride.  The author was in a band himself when he was younger and the moments onstage read honest, zany and completely true.  The writing throughout is smart and clever, making points with arrow-sharp zingers that are surprising and make for a great read.  Here is one from page 97:

Truth is, if we’d had a shred of sense, we’d have known we were getting in way over our heads.  But you can’t buy shreds of sense, and even if you could, we were pretty much out of money.

Harry is a great protagonist.  He is witty and smart himself, since the book is written in first person from his point of view.  Vlahos manages to never lose track of Harry’s scars but also manages to make his scars much deeper than his skin and therefore the book about much more than that as well.  It is a book that explores friendships, power and dreams. 

An amazing debut novel, it has a winning mix of punk rock, guitars and real life.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from digital galley from Edelweiss and Egmont.