News to Wake Your Brain Cells – April 16

| Tasha

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

7 excellent picture books about Eid – Book Riot

8 children’s books you can read this Ramadan – Chicago Parent

Asian & Asian-American children’s books – What We Do All Day

How children’s books carry on the struggle for civil rights – Boston Globe

Jon Klassen meets Samuel Beckett in a hilariously dark picture book – The New York Times

A picture book about children at the border aims to spark family conversations – NPR

LIBRARIES

Public libraries can tap into eligible funds worth billions – Governing

The Queens Public Library is more important than ever on its 125th anniversary – The Ticker

YA LIT

20 more must-read YA verse novels – Book Riot

24 YA romance books hitting shelves this spring that are delightfully charming – BuzzFeed

Here’s to 18 of the most crushworthy queer YA novels – BuzzFeed

Jason Reynolds to serve as inaugural chair of Banned Books Week – EW

‘Love, Simon’ writer Becky Albertalli’s ‘The Upside of Unrequited’ to be adapted for film – Variety

2021 Teens’ Top Ten Nominees

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YALSA has announced the nominees for the 2021 Teens’ Top Ten. The Top Ten is a list chosen by teens where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Nominations come from members of teen book groups in 15 school and public libraries across the nation. Here are this year’s nominees:

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Jackson

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

Atomic Women by Roseanne Montillo

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Betrothed by Kiera Cass

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

The Bone Thief by Breeana Shields

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Dangerous Secrets by Mari Mancusi

The Dark Matter of Mona Starr by Laura Gulledge

Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang

Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards

Flamer by Mike Curato

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokudo-Hall

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

We Used to Be Friends by Amy Spalding

Watercress by Andrea Wang

| Tasha
Cover image.

Watercress by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin (9780823446247)

Riding in their old car along a rural Ohio road, a young girl’s parents come to a stop when her mother spots something growing in the ditch. It’s watercress, so the entire family gets out and starts to harvest it into a paper bag. The girl finds it embarrassing to be in the ditch gathering free food, while her parents are remembering their time in China. The water in the ditch is cold and muddy, the watercress has snails among its roots. The girl finds herself partially hoping that the bottom of the paper bag falls through and this can just be over. That night, the family has the watercress for dinner, but the girl refuses to even try it. She wants food from the grocery store, not free food from a ditch that reminds her of furniture taken from the side of the road and hand-me-down clothes. Then her mother shares a story from China about her younger brother who died from not having enough to eat. The girl is inspired by her family’s history and ashamed of how she has been acting, so she tastes the watercress for the first time, a taste that builds new memories.

The writing in this picture book is exceptional. With delicate poetic words, Wang creates layers in her story. She weaves both the experience of shame for the young girl and the melancholy memories of China for her parents together into a story of generations in a Chinese-American family. From the previously unshared stories of her parents time in China to learning not to be ashamed of the way they live, this book will resonate for so many children.

Caldecott Honor winner, Chin pulls together images of China and Ohio in this book. By putting tall cornstalks against tall bamboo, the images are gateways to one another. The use of yellow to light the pages, works both in sunshine in Ohio and the sepia of memory in China. It is all so beautifully done, so well designed.

One of the best picture books of the year, this book reaches across generations and finds hope. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Holiday House.

2021 Hugo Award Finalists

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The finalists for the 2021 Hugo Awards have been announced. Amid many categories celebrating the best in science fiction for adults, there is also an award for the best YA book. Here are the finalists in that category:

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff

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The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff (9781536215854)

On their annual beach vacation, a teen and her family experience an unusual summer. It’s a summer of time spent sailing and swimming. A summer full of competitive tennis games, shared meals, and naps. It was also a summer of new love, hot crushes, and strange boys. It was the summer when the Godden brothers arrived. Kit was the golden brother, impossibly handsome and entirely intoxicating when he turned his attention on you. Hugo was the darkness to his brother’s shine, the surliness to his charm. As the narrator watches, her sister and Kit become involved, flirting at first and then becoming more and more. What should be just a summer fling has an underpinning of unease and manipulation, just in time for Kit to turn his attention to the narrator who by now should know better. But even then, he has more chaos to create.

Printz Medal winner, Rosoff has created a slim volume that is impossible to put down. It has the languid and flowing feel of Kit himself, drawing readers in with promises of summer fun and then turning into something quite unusual, dark and menacing. The book is a great coming-of-age story where readers get to see a young woman realize what is happening around her and yet not quite be able to stop it from engulfing her as well. The narrator is never named, but all is seen and felt through her own experiences, making it an intensely personal read.

The writing is exceptional. Rosoff quietly and carefully seeds doubts with the words she chooses to use in describing the characters, the things that the narrator sees, and the questions that she has deep down. Rosoff situates us all with a rather unreliable narrator, who sees her siblings and family in a specific way, then along with the reader has new realizations about them and what that means.

Sun drenched, threatening and vibrantly feminist this is a triumph of a book. Appropriate for ages 14-18.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Candlewick Press.

2021 ABIA Shortlists

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The shortlists for the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards have been announced. They are given in several categories with four youth-related categories. Below are the shortlisted youth titles:

BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR OLDER CHILDREN (Ages 13+)

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Future Girl

Future Girl by Asphyxia

Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls by Jeremy Lachlan

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

Please Don't Hug Me

Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN (Ages 7-12)

Finding Our Heart: A Story About the Uluru Statement for Young Australians

Finding Our Heart by Thomas Mayor, illustrated by Blak Douglas

The Grandest Bookshop in the World

The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Melor

Hollowpox by Jessica Townsend

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly

Took the Children Away

Took the Children Away by Archie Roach, illustrated by Ruby Hunter

CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR (Ages 0-6)

Bluey: The Creek

Bluey: The Creek

Our Home, Our Heartbeat

Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Adam Briggs, Kate Moon & Rachael Sarra

Sing Me the Summer

Sing Me the Summer by Jane Godwin & Alison Lester

When We Say Black Lives Matter

When We Say Black Lives Matter by Maxine Beneba Clarke

Windows

Windows by Jonathan Bentley & Patrick Guest

SMALL PUBLISHERS’ CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR

Bindi

Bindi by Kiri Saunders, illustrated by Dub Leffler

Family

Family by Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson, illustrated by Jasmine Seymour

Found

Found by Bruce Pascoe & Charmaine Ledden-Lewis

Metal Fish, Falling Snow

Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore

My Shadow is Pink

My Shadow Is Pink by Scott Stuart

We Became Jaguars by Dave Eggers

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We Became Jaguars by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Woodrow White (9781452183930)

When a boy’s grandmother comes to visit, his parents leave him alone with her even though he doesn’t really remember her. His grandmother immediately drops to the floor and invites him to become a jaguar with her. He joins her, stretching himself thinner and becoming faster. Soon they are out in the forest, moving through it in the way that only jaguars can. The two drink from moonlit water, and his grandmother kills a rabbit and eats it. They venture to high lookouts, take occasional rests, and run fast and often. Their voices rumble like thunder together. As they head into the Himalayas, the boy remembers he has to return to school and wonders how long they have been gone. The ending refreshingly leaves questions of what was imagined and what was real.

Eggers writes in prose that is a mix of simple lines and marvelously captivating moments. Nature plays a large role in the book, inviting readers to think about venturing out into their own forests and having their own outdoor adventures. The time spent together sipping water from a lake, running fast and hard, and bouncing over water like marbles creates a vibrant relationship between the two characters as they get to know one another. It becomes less and less important what is real as their experiences together are what truly matter.

White’s illustrations are full of mystery and moonlight. He uses such deep colors in the book, allowing the jaguars to glow on the page, full of their own light. The gatefold page opens fully to allow the two people to transform in front of the reader into jaguars. The pages are deliciously colored, showing the wonders of nature and a variety of gorgeous landscapes.

Imaginative and invigorating, this playful picture book takes us to the wild side. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Chronicle Books.

I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne

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I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne, illustrated by Julia Kuo (9781250249319)

A little girl grows up seeing her beloved Popo, her grandmother, often in Taiwan. They spend time together cuddling, eating and going to the park. Then the girl’s family decide to move to San Diego, far away from Taiwan. The girl goes to school in America with children of all colors. She doesn’t speak English yet, but she is learning. She calls her grandmother regularly. When they return to Taiwan for a visit, it feels different and she can’t communicate in Chinese as well as she used to. Her Popo’s house seems smaller though it smells just the same and her dumplings taste the same too. When her grandmother gets sick, the girl wishes she lived closer, but a dream is just the right thing to being them together after all.

This #ownvoices picture book is based on the author’s childhood, moving from Taipei to Albuquerque. It shows how a long-distance connection between a grandparent and grandchild is possible, keeping memories fresh and new experiences shared with one another. The book is filled with elements of Taiwan, such as New Year’s celebrations, dumplings and other food. Smells of Taiwan are mentioned regularly, wafting through experiences and dreams.

Kuo’s art is bold and beautiful. She allows the little girl to age through the course of the story, toddling in the park then heading to school, becoming less round and more lean as the pages turn. Popo also ages, the lines on her face more pronounced and her hair changing from black to gray. It is subtle and beautifully done.

A gentle story of immigration and continued connection to those left behind. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Roaring Brook Press.

Merci Suárez Can’t Dance by Meg Medina

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Cover image.

Merci Suárez Can’t Dance by Meg Medina (9780763690502)

This sequel to the Newbery Award winning Merci Suárez Changes Gears continues the story of Merci, her large multigenerational family, and the difficulties of being a seventh grader. This year, Merci has been assigned to manage the small school store along with Wilson, a boy who is amazing at math. As the two reinvent what their school store can be, adding movie merchandise, they end up also being drawn into selling tickets for the Heart Ball, run by Edna, who has managed to become even bossier than usual. Merci has decided not to go to the dance, but is asked to take photographs and agrees as long as she doesn’t even have to enter the gym. When an accident happens, Merci makes a bad decision and covers up the damage, setting off a series of lies that will involve school and family. With no one to talk to, since her grandfather’s dementia is worsening, Merci has to figure out who to trust to help her.

Fans returning to reconnect with Merci will once again find Medina’s rich depiction of Merci’s extended family, her grandfather’s worsening mental abilities, and the gorgeous warmth and love that keeps them all connected. Medina put Merci in quite a horrible situation in this second novel, where she feels alone and unable to be honest. Medina writes it with such empathy and skill that it is almost painful to read, though that makes the resolution all the more marvelous to experience.

As always, Medina’s writing is skillful and detailed. She truly creates a middle school experience with burgeoning romantic feelings and the changes happening between long-time best friends. Medina doesn’t let this all be negative, instead focusing on the confusion but also on the deeper understanding that can result from going through strange middle school circumstances.

Another marvelous Merci novel. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Candlewick.