families

Bubbles…Up! by Jacqueline Davies

| Tasha
Cover image for Bubbles Up.

Bubbles…Up! by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Sonia Sanchez (9780062836618)

This picture book celebrates the joy of swimming in a pool on a hot summer day. Focusing on the bubbles created by heading underwater, the merry rhythms of the text bounce along like the bubbles heading to the surface. The bubbles capture the light of the sun until you follow them upwards, surfacing like a porpoise. You have a mom who stays at the side of the pool with your little brother who doesn’t swim yet. Interrupted by a thunderstorm, you huddle with the others in the shelter until it’s safe to return to the water with your friends. When your little brother loses his toy in the pool, you rescue it. You can’t stop for lots of mushy attention though, because you have to keep on swimming.

Sure to bring an immediate grin to kids who love to swim or play in the water, this picture book shares the small pleasures of swimming that make it such a treat. The bubbles heading to the surface, the jumping in, the floating, the diving, splashing and more. Davies’ writing is marvelous, full of repetition, rhythms and rhymes. Her words plunge, dive, swirl and create imaginary underwater worlds.

The illustrations are full of pool blues, sunshine and bubbles. Sanchez uses the words as part of her art, creating words that plunge down and float up. Her diverse cast of characters is delightful, everyone enjoying the pool together.

Dive into this summer delight of a picture book. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Katherine Tegen Books.

And I Paint It: Henriette Wyeth’s World by Beth Kephart

| Tasha
Cover image for And I Paint It.

And I Paint It: Henriette Wyeth’s World by Beth Kephart, illustrated by Amy June Bates (9781951836047)

This picture book biography looks at the country life of N.C. Wyeth and his family through the eyes of his artist daughter, Henriette. Henriette joins her father as he heads out into the countryside to paint. The two quietly go out, avoiding her talkative sister who is in the henhouse and her brother who is in his workshop building things. Her father greets the flowers along the way, finally stopping to paint the landscape before them. The two sense the world around them, draw the details they see, and smell the earth and plants, painting the sky. They paint together until it is time to head home, and even then Henriette stays behind to paint even more.

The author first discovered Henriette through N.C. Wyeth’s letters and then went on to learn more about her. The statements that the book has Wyeth say to his daughter are taken from his writing about art. The language in the book is poetic and rich, showing all of us how to look more deeply at the world around us and celebrate the small things we see and the large landscape and sky as well.

Bates was also taught art by her own father and notes in her Illustrator’s note that this book pays homage to the Wyeth’s and also to her own experience as she grew up. The illustrations are an engaging mix of watercolor landscapes and then also smaller drawings and paintings that Henriette would have made as they wandered from things she dreamt up and details she noticed.

A lovely look at the Wyeth family, the talented Henriette and how the artistic eye is taught. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy provided by Cameron Kids.

More Than Sunny by Shelley Johannes

| Tasha
Cover image for More Than Sunny.

More Than Sunny by Shelley Johannes (9781419741814)

A girl and her little brother make their way through all of the seasons and all sorts of weather in this merry picture book. Told in rhymes, the book explores what makes each day special with a jolly sense of humor as things become soggy and froggy, or muggy and buggy, or ready and sleddy in the winter. The book centers on the warm relationship of the two children as they head outside no matter what the weather is doing and interact with the seasons.

Throughout the book, it’s the little girl who is always ready to go while her little brother is a bit more hesitant. Then he turns out to love it just as much as she does. Their shared rhymes add to the fun and bolster the clear connection between the two of them. The rhymes give the book a rollicking merriment that works particularly well as the seasons pass. It also works when the book gets quiet at the end and the rhymes continue but slow down.

The illustrations are done in pencil and mixed media and then finished digitally. The result is the warmth of the media and pencil lines combined with the dreamy digital backgrounds. They are inviting no matter the weather.

A cheerful book of rhymes, weather and seasons. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer

| Tasha
Cover image for Sunshine.

Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer (9781536214116)

Ben lives with his father and his faithful imaginary dog, Sunshine. This summer, he’s going to spend an entire week with his mother, whom he hasn’t seem since he was three. She lives alone on an island in northern Minnesota. As he and his father journey to meet her, Ben struggles to ignore Sunshine, since his father thinks Ben is too old to have an imaginary friend. After journeying to his mother’s island home by canoe, Ben finds himself struggling with his anxiety and often unable to speak. He has so many questions he wants to ask her and has imagined many conversations together, but nothing comes out. He desperately wants to figure out how to get her to return to living with them. Instead of asking, Ben spends his days on the island, giving his mother time to read. After a disastrous expedition to see some bears and another harrowing solo journey in a canoe, a disaster hits the island and a path to forgiveness is formed.

Bauer is such a remarkable writer. Her books are invitingly brief for young readers and also offer real depth of emotion. In this novel, she shows the struggles of someone with anxiety who is often asking “what if” rather than diving in. She doesn’t allow it to be superficial, instead really exploring what it feels like. At the same time, readers will realize that Ben is incredibly brave and fueled by anger that he won’t acknowledge. His connection to Sunshine is fully realized, from the way they curl up to sleep together to her position in the canoe to their ongoing friendship in a new place.

Ben is a complex character and so are his parents. His father is fastidious, clearly anxious himself in ways that Ben can’t articulate. His mother is a remarkable character in children’s literature. A mother who left her child behind for reasons that are hinted at but not fully revealed until later in the novel. Yet she is given the space to be warm, kind and caring while also being rather distant and reserved. She is many things, and also far more than she realizes.

A book full of dangers, adventure and heart. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Candlewick.

Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson

| Tasha
Cover image for Sunrise Summer.

Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson, illustrated by Robbi Behr (9781250080585)

A family heads to Alaska for the summer, traveling 4000 miles to get there. This summer, the girl narrating the story will get to join the fishing crew for the first time. She will pull ropes, twist anchor poles and fetch water. The girl and her mother watch the river, waiting for the salmon to come. Meanwhile, the family keeps busy with necessary repairs, mending nets, and listening to the fishing reports on the radio. The tides say that fishing should start at 4 am, so the family gets up a 2:30 am to head out. They dress up in rubber waders, long gloves and woolly hats. They face wind, rain and high waves as they head out to fish. At 4 am, the nets are dragged into the water and it’s her job to tie the net to the rope, but it’s much harder with the tide pulling, a wet rope and slick mud underfoot. The whole crew helps out, until finally it’s time to remove the salmon from the nets by hand. Then they get shipped all over the world.

Based on Robbi’s own personal experience as a young girl spending summers in Alaska as part of a commercial fishing operation, this picture book is full of details that only someone who has lived it would know. From bumping into bears on the beach to the troubles of taut ropes to the immense pride in being included in the family business, all of this adds to the joy of a girl participating on a fishing team for the first time. The writing is focused and brief, making the book perfect for sharing aloud. The focus is on facing a new experience with family by your side and realizing with pride that this is what we do.

The art is digitally done with watercolor washes across the sky and collaged elements that have the characters popping with black outlines against the backgrounds. The depiction of the beauty of the Alaskan tundra is particularly of note as well as the clear family support among everyone.

A unique and fascinating lifestyle that is worth smelling like fish. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy provided by Imprint.

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi

| Tasha

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi (9781534446007)

Jayne has moved from her Texas hometown to New York City to attend design school. Her older sister, June, lives in New York City too, but the two haven’t spoken in years. Jayne has spent a lot of time partying in clubs and bars and sleeping with boys. Now she lives in a horrible tiny illegally sublet apartment without running water or heat, but with a roommate who won’t pay rent, occasionally sleeps with her, and then ignores her. When Jayne and June get back in touch with one another, Jayne finds out that her sister has cancer. Even more, June has taken on Jayne’s identity in order to use her insurance for the surgery she needs. Jayne finds herself loving her sister’s fancy and safe apartment and basically moving in with her. Jayne has her own issues to confront, including her relationship with food, her hatred of her body, and the way she binge eats. As the two sisters grow closer, the truth must be shared between them in order for them both to recover.

Choi has once again created a novel that lays her characters bare before the reader. Jayne is so caught up in her own tragic life story, that it startles her and the reader alike when she must face a true tragedy, her sister’s cancer diagnosis. As Jayne obsesses about her classes, her future career, her awful apartment, her horrible roommate, and her family, she avoids thinking about her eating disorder or facing it at all. Readers will see the evidence of her imbalanced relationship to food, but the extent of the problem is only steadily revealed as the layers are peeled away.

Jayne is a captivating character, full of so much self doubt and self hatred. Her story is full of unflinching honesty paired with the poignant truth of a family who has immigrated to the United States and stands to lose one another along the way. Jayne’s relationships with her mother and sister are so beautifully crafted, they ring with such truth that they are frightening. Choi’s writing is masterful throughout, capturing the tragic, beautiful story of growing up as a Korean-American immigrant.

Heartbreakingly true, riveting writing and stellar characters. Appropriate for ages 14-18.

Reviewed from copy provided by Simon & Schuster.

A Mother Is a House by Aurore Petit

| Tasha
Cover image.

A Mother Is a House by Aurore Petit (9781776573233)

This touching picture book looks at a mother through the eyes of her baby. A mother is so many things, starting by being a house that the baby grows inside. Then a pouch where the baby is carried around town. She is a fountain of breast milk, a port in a crowded room, a mirror that reflects the baby, an island in the bath. She is protection from strangers, a doctor when needed, someone to play with or on top of. She is so many things, but most importantly she is home.

Petit has created a rhyming picture book just right for toddlers. The writing celebrates the role of a mother, showing all the various ways in which she protects, embraces, adores, and supports her baby. The book moves from the mother being pregnant all the way through to the baby becoming a toddler, clearly gaining skills and age as the pages turn. The writing is simple and never sing-songy. The art is modern and bright, using clean lines and a jaunty attitude. The images show a modern mother in an urban setting along with a father who is present and contributes his share.

A colorful celebration of baby and motherhood. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Gecko Press.

The Night Walk by Marie Dorleans

| Tasha

The Night Walk by Marie Dorleans (9781782506393)

Full of deep blue, this picture book takes a family and readers out of their beds and into the night. They get awoken by Mom in the middle of the night, get dressed and head outside. Crickets were chirping outside in the darkness. They walked through the sleeping village, past the brightly-lit hotel, and out into the countryside with the summer night around them. Their eyes adjusted to the darkness, letting them see the cows in the pastures and find the path as they left the road. They headed into the forest until they reached a small pond, where they played with the moon’s reflection and their flashlight beam. They stopped to take a break and looked at the vast sky overhead, stars alight. Then they reached a rocky hillside and climbed, up and up. And that’s when they realized they had gotten there just in time!

The winner of the Landerneau Children’s Book Prize, this French import is a deep and amazing read. It invites us all to think about adventuring out into the world in the dark, discovering how the world feels with nature around us, darkness, summer heat and wonder. The text in the book is simple, guiding us through the night’s adventure, pointing out what can be seen and heard, and allowing us all to marvel at the world covered in night. The text never gets in the way of our amazement, instead encouraging us to see more and play along.

The blue, oh the blue in this book. It perfectly captures the night, light only by the moon and the stars. Broken at times by windows or flashlight beams or passing trains, the night is allowed to take over all of the pages. Dorleans lets us squint a bit, as if our own eyes are adjusting to the darkness, to spot badgers and mice and deer. That blue drops away as dawn comes, almost worth shielding one’s eyes after being in the dark for so long.

Brilliant, magical and immersive. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Floris Books.

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.