When Wanda was growing up in Puerto Rico’s rainforest, she couldn’t see the stars because of all the trees. She first truly saw the stars on a family fishing trip and she was entirely amazed by them. Wanda was a child who didn’t like school all that much and certainly didn’t like the shots she had to take for her diabetes. Eventually, she found out what she liked at school and decided to study physics in college. But at college, she started losing her eyesight due to her diabetes and eventually became blind. How could a blind person study the stars? Happily, she had friends around her to encourage her and one friend who was using sounds to study the stars. Now Wanda could listen to the stars and hear them. Wanda moved to the United States and continued to study the stars, making discoveries that only someone listening to the noises could have found.
An amazing story of overcoming a disability in a field where it seemed impossible to go on, this nonfiction picture book shows Wanda’s perseverance, skill and also her willingness to accept help in order to find her way forward. The story itself is wonderfully written for young readers and the ending where the star noises are shared on the page is amazing in an entirely additional way. The illustrations are friendly and invite readers to engage with the material.
A fascinating and inspiring true story. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
Deanne loved spending time in nature with her family as a young child. It was a love that continued throughout her life. When wildfires started spreading in California, Deanne applied for a job with the U.S. Forest Service. She was hired by them to fight fires. She had found exactly what she loved. It was a physical job with long hours and risks. But Deanne wanted to do more: she wanted to become a smokejumper. So, at age 26, she started taking the required physical tests. She passed them, but was found to be too small for their requirements. Deanne fought the decision, filing a formal complaint. Months later, she was allowed to take the tests and soon passed them to become the first female smokejumper in the nation.
Deanne is the epitome of resilience and determination. The book focuses on her willingness to take risks but also on her level-headed approach to gaining new skills as she pushes the envelope of society’s biases toward women. The writing here is approachable and evocative. It shares how Deanne was feeling as she hit each obstacle and overcame them. The illustrations are full of flame colors, smoke and fire. It brings the dangers and the drama directly to the reader.
Bravery, resilience and character are all on display in this great picture book biography. Appropriate for ages 4-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Penguin Young Readers.
The Black Mambas are an anti-poaching unit that works in South Africa on the Olifants West Nature Reserve. The unit was started when animals in the reserve began to disappear, particularly rhinos and pangolins. The unit is the first all-women anti-poaching unit in the world and despite doubts from family members became very successful. The book explores how the unit was created, what sorts of training they go through, and what they do on a daily basis to protect the wildlife in the reserve. One particularly dramatic series of images shows the women tracking poachers and successfully stopping them. Told via photographs, the book celebrates the impact these women have had on their community and the success of the reserve.
A stirring tale of women successfully stepping out of traditional roles. Appropriate for ages 5-10.
Marjorie Rice grew up loving shapes, enchanted by the golden rectangle. She studied art and geometry, but her parents wanted her to be a secretary. Meanwhile, others were discovering five-sided shapes that could fit together, creating a seamless pattern. They each declared they had found them all. Majorie was raising children, doing art, helping with math, and discovered the question of five-sided shapes in her son’s Scientific American magazine. Marjorie started to work on the problem, despite it being declared as solved. Her first discovery was declared the tenth tiling pentagon, but she wasn’t done yet!
This picture book tells the story of an amateur mathematician who discovered tiling shapes that others couldn’t. These were questions from the beginning of math and design, solved by a mother of five working out of her home. It is an inspiring story of resilience, tenacity and patience. The illustrations in the book invite readers to look at five-sided shapes themselves, seeing them elongate and shrink and they fit together.
It’s a book that makes mathematics something tangible and beautiful. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Ruth Asawa was raised on her family’s vegetable farm in California. She attended Japanese school on Saturdays and won an award in her regular school for a poster she made of the Statue of Liberty. Her life was divided in half, but soon that was to become even more clear. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, her father was taken away. Two months later the rest of the family entered imprisonment. Ruth started to draw her life in the camps. At age 20 after the end of the war, she started to create the wire sculptures that she would become known for. Eventually she was asked to create the memorial for those imprisoned in the Japanese internment camps.
Told in poetic language that uses the image of lines repeatedly, this nonfiction picture book pays a deep and respectful homage to this Japanese-American artist. Asawa rises again and again, despite the racism that impacted her childhood and teen years. The use of art to create conversation and connection is clear in this book. The illustrations are done in charcoal, watercolor and digital media. They capture the lines, the wire, the connectivity and the inhuman conditions of the camps.
A book that celebrates survival and the way art can carry a spirit through its darkest days. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Roaring Brook Press.
Lynn grew up going to Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains every summer. She swam in the water, climbed trees, and walked in the forests. For a few weeks every summer, the fireflies put on a light-filled display in the evening. The entire family would gather to watch the fireflies flash in sync then go dark, then light up in sync once more. When Lynn tried to research fireflies as she grew up, she couldn’t find much information. Then when she read an article, she found that scientists thought that the only fireflies that flashed in sync were in Southeast Asia. Lynn knew that they were wrong. Now she just had to convince one scientist to take her seriously.
This story of a self-taught naturalist and scientist shows that paying close attention to nature can create new discoveries. The book focuses on Lynn’s childhood and her growing interest in getting others to see what she has found. Throughout the text and the illustrations, there is a sense of joy in nature, of play and discovery along the way. The illustrations are done in watercolor and digital media. The watercolors are allowed to bleed together to create the backgrounds against which nature dazzles.
A beautiful look at discovery in nature. Appropriate for ages 5-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Margaret K. McElderry Books.
This picture book celebrates the life of Pura Belpré, librarian and storyteller. From a young age, Pura loved stories, particularly those that her Abuela told her. As an adult she moved from Puerto Rico to New York, where she first dreams of being a librarian. Soon Pura is hired at the library and works as the storyteller. But she is bound by rules such as only sharing stories written in books. But the stories she grew up hearing were not written down in English. Pura shows the how storytelling can be more than is in books, and gets permission to tell her stories in her own way. Pura also finds ways to bring in children who had not been coming into the library, children who spoke different languages and were new to America. Finally, Pura manages to put her stories into a book, one that reminds her of the taste of home.
Through lyrical prose, this picture book shows the power of stories as they cross borders. It also shows the impact of one woman, determined not to lose her stories and how she changed public libraries and their services to children permanently. It is beautiful to see a biography for young children that captures the elements of Pura’s stories and her own personality of determination but also one of joy and playfulness.
The illustrations are filled with that spirit of play. They capture the spark of storytelling, the dance of movement, and the wonder of children entering the library for the first time. Done in the colors of citrus, papaya, guava and mango, they suit Pura’s stories and herself.
An inspiring biography of the librarian who changed the rules for generations to come. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
Reviewed from copy provided by Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Told in a series of meals and food, this is the story of how she rose to become a great Japanese-American chef. Starting with growing up in LA to parents who came from Japan, eating American food with a Japanese influence. Niki wanted to do her own thing, deciding not to go into the family seafood warehouse business and showing her family that she could be as successful as her older brother was expected to be. After high school, she traveled to Japan and discovered the art and flow of the kaiseki feast, a series of dishes that told a story. She went to culinary school, worked as the lone woman in a sushi restaurant, and then went on to learn kaiseki, even though no women did that either. Niki returned to LA to open a restaurant, first serving sushi to prove to her family she could do it, and then finally, opening the kaiseki restaurant she always wanted.
Using the food itself to form the structure for this picture book biography makes for a delicious journey through Nakayama’s life. Her family may not have believed in her, but Nakayama had enough determination and resilience herself to make it. Powered by her love of food and its ability to bring people together, her story shows how small steps in a journey can become destinations and life callings.
The illustrations are bright and full of foodie warmth. They focus on Nakayama herself both with her family and on her journeys. The food is central too, dishes that are colorful, steaming, luscious. Using clever frames of restaurant doorways, prep counters and plates, the illustrations always come back to Nakayama and her food.
A brilliant look at an inspiring figure in food who did it her own way. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Farrar Straus Giroux.
As a child, Kitty O’Neil loved to go fast. She loved running, riding on the lawn mower with her father, and swimming and diving. Though she lost her hearing due to a childhood fever, it never slowed Kitty down. Kitty grew up to be a stuntwoman in movies. She also set records as the fastest water skier and boat racer. Then Kitty set her sights on being the fastest driver. Her car was called the Motivator and it was rocket powered, capable of going over 300 mph, if Kitty could steer it at that speed. The woman’s land speed record at the time was 308 mph. Kitty went 618 mph! She became an American hero in the 1970’s even having an action figure made in her likeness. Kitty continued to be a champion of children with disabilities and held records in an incredible range of sports.
Robbins’ book about Kitty O’Neil is just as fast paced as her records. His writing is brisk, opening the book with Kitty in her rocket car and closing the book with her record drive. This frames the story very successfully, as young readers will want to know what happens on that historic drive. Robbins also captures the breathlessness of the countdowns, the danger of the drive, and Kitty’s own fearlessness. It’s a marvelous rocket read of a book just right for the subject.
The art, done in pencil, watercolor, acrylic and digital, get readers right into the cockpit with O’Neil. They capture her joy at going fast and breaking records. With bright colors, they also show the dynamic moments of the countdowns, the acceleration, the determination and the eventual win.
A wild ride of book about a deaf woman driver who became a hero. Appropriate for ages 4-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Scott Joplin was a child who loved to listen to the sounds around him rather than using his own voice. He was the son of a man who was once enslaved. Their home was full of music with his father fiddling, his mother playing banjo and singing, and his siblings playing instruments too. Scott played the cornet. To find work, the family moved north to Texarkana where Giles found work laying tracks for the railway. Scott’s mother found work as a housemaid for a wealthy white family who happened to have a piano. When Scott came along to help, he saw the piano and started to play when he had time. Eventually, the Joplin family was able to purchase a piano for Scott and traded housework for lessons. Scott loved learning about the piano and music, but most of all he loved composing his own songs. He played all over town, and eventually made his way north to play in saloons and eventually in Chicago where he heard ragtime for the first time. Scott went to Sedalia, Missouri where he went to college and composed music. He tried to get his songs published and finally found a man willing to take a chance on a Black unknown composer. That’s how “Maple Leaf Rag” became a national sensation.
Constanza’s writing is full of rhythm and talks about music throughout. From his mother singing hymns to his family playing together to learning piano to getting work playing and composing, the entire book dances along to the importance of music in Joplin’s life. The writing also incorporates lots of sounds like the chirping of cicadas, the swish of brooms, the plink of the piano, and the OOM-pah! The writing is full of energy and tells the story of Joplin’s life with style.
The illustrations are bright and full of color and light. They have elements of quilts that fill the ground with patterns. The skies are blue with swirling clouds that dance in the sky. The towns are full of colorful buildings. Everything is inspiration for Joplin’s music, from the trains to the chickens to the flowers to the towns. It all comes together into one warm and bright world.
A jaunty and rhythmic biography of a musical legend. Appropriate for ages 5-8.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
It was 1858 and the Thames River in London smelled terrible. The problem was that the river was full of poop. The problem had started in 1500, when the sewers were emptied by men who shoveled them out at night. But the population kept on growing. By 1919, there were many more people in London and flush toilets are growing in popularity, but there is no way to get rid of all of the human feces, so some people connected their homes directly to the sewer, sending it all to the river. Cholera epidemics started killing thousands of people, but cholera is blamed on smelly air rather than polluted water, so they kept happening. In 1856, Bazalgette submits a plan to create large sewer pipes to take the sewage away from the river. His plan is finally approved in 1858 after a very hot summer causes the smell to get even worse.
Told with a merry tone, this book embraces the stink of history and shows how one man can change the lives of so many, rescuing them from disease and death. Paeff packs a lot of history into this picture book, making it all readable and fascinating through her use of historical quotes combined with a focused pared down version of what happened. Her writing is engaging and interesting, offering lots of information without ever overwhelming the story itself.
Carpenter’s art is just as stinky as can be. She captures the sewage entering the Thames, the miasma of stench coming off the river in the heat, and the grossness of dumped chamber pots. Against that unclean setting, a small baby is born and becomes an engineer who creates grand tunnels where the air is clear once again. Add in the macabre face of cholera and you have a book that is hard to look away from.
Fascinating, stinky and delightful. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Luz Jiménez was a child of the flower-song people, the Aztecs. She had listened intently to the stories told by the elders about their sacred mountains and streams and also about how the Spaniards had taken their lands away. Luz learned how to do the traditional work of her people, grinding corn on a metate, twisting yarn with her toes, weaving on a loom. She learned about the plants around her and what herbs were medicine. Luz longed to go to school, but it was forbidden for native children. Then the law changed and required schooling in the ways of the Spanish. Luz was a good student and learned much, still keeping the traditional tales alive as she shared them with the other students. At age 13, Luz was forced to flee the Mexican Revolution and live in Mexico City. There Luz became a model for artists, sharing her traditions in paintings and photographs. She longed to be a teacher, but was denied that opportunity. Instead she taught in a different way, through modeling, sharing her tales, and being a living link to the Aztecs.
This beautiful picture book pays homage to Luz Jiménez, a humble woman who became the face of her people. Amescua’s lovely Author’s Note shows the detailed research that went into this biographical picture book. That research is evident in the lovely prose she uses to share Luz’s story with a new generation. Her writing uses metaphors and evocative phrases to really show the impact that Luz’s presence has had as well as her strong connection to her heritage.
Tonatiuh’s art is always exquisite. Done in his own unique style, his illustrations mix modern materials with a folkloric feel. They work particularly well for this subject.
A stellar biographical picture book of a true teacher and heroine. Appropriate for ages 7-10.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Waking Brain Cells 