Month: April 2018

Posted in Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction, picture books

Inspector Croc helps kids manage their emotions

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Inspector Croc’s Emotion-O-Meter, by Susanna Isern/Illustrated by Mónica Carretero, (May 2018, NubeOCHO), $22.95, ISBN: 9788417123079

Recommended for readers 7-10

Inspector Croc, the great emotion inspector, is here to help kids identify and manage their emotions in this entertaining and insightful book from NubeOCHO. Accompanied by Yippee, an Emi (emotion) from a large family of emotions, kids will learn what an emotion is, how to identify behaviors associated with emotions, and read through Inspector Croc’s case files; 10 cases where emotions came into play. He introduces his Emotion-O-Meter, allowing kids to identify whether they are feeling emotions on a low, medium, or high level of intensity, and gives kids the ability to put their feelings into words. Finally, we get “recipes” for working with both good and bad emotions, and the Inspector explains that sometimes, emotions like sadness are good and right for us to feel, but that we also have to learn how to let them go when it’s time.

It’s a smart book that addresses ideas that can be tough for kids to identify and express; author Susanna Isern respectfully talks to readers and uses empowering language to promote understanding and courtesy. Mónica Carretero’s animal artwork is cartoony and light, but don’t dismiss that: she illustrates, in detail, various emotions and uses facial expressions to illuminate the physical changes our emotions bring about. It’s a very mindful book, and encourages self-exploration. The book has a dust jacket with an emotion-o-meter on the back cover, but if this book is used in a classroom or library setting, it’s not going to last: do yourselves a favor, and make this a great class project/library program. This would go wonderfully with a viewing of Pixar’s Inside Out (2015).

Inspector Croc’s Emotion-O-Meter is also available in Spanish.

Posted in Fiction, Intermediate, picture books

Art inspires storytelling in Anna and Johanna

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Anna and Johanna, by Géraldine Elschner/Illustrated by Florence Koenig, (Apr. 2018, Prestel-Penguin/Random House), $14.95, ISBN: 9783791373454

Recommended for readers 5-10

Inspired by two of Dutch artist Jan Vermeer’s paintings, this story of two friends who discover a secret on their shared birthday spins a creative imagining and appreciation of art. Anna and Johanna are two girls, living in the 17th century, and celebrating their shared 12th birthday. Anna, the daughter of the master of the house, makes a lace collar for Johanna, the daughter of the housemaid. Johanna is making a lovely breakfast for Anna, complete with handmade chocolate. As the two prepare to spend their birthday together, Anna spies a note from her father, unveiling a secret about the two girls that brings them even closer together.

Vermeer’s paintings, “The Milkmaid” and “The Lacemaker“, inspired this story, as explained in the back matter, along with a discussion about Vermeer. The artwork is Vermeer-inspired, with beautiful blues, yellows throughout the story; the art looks hand-painted, with visible brushstrokes. I love how the text and artwork take Vermeer’s artwork and weave a story around it; while the story itself is inspired by “The Milkmaid” and “The Lacemaker”, guide readers to notice details from Vermeer’s Delft paintings, like “The Little Street” and “View of Delft“. The author and illustrator even draw an actual figure from Vermeer’s lifetime into the story, a painter named Carel Fabritius, and his work, “The Goldfinch“.

This isn’t a read-aloud book; there’s a nice amount of story to be told here. It is a wonderful addition to art history programs, where you can invite readers to create their own stories based on works of art. You can make it fun by bringing fandom into it! Show kids one of the many Star Wars mockups of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, for instance:

Source: MJTIllustrationLLC on Etsy

Or maybe a Sesame Street-style Great Wave Off Kanagawa is more your style:

 Source: Laughing Squid

The point is, art and imagination go hand-in-hand. Show kids that they can create a story from someone else’s story!

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade

Badgers, llamas, horrible people, and… Uncle Shawn?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure, by A.L. Kennedy/Illustrated by Gemma Correll, (March 2018, Kane Miller), $5.99, ISBN: 9781610677400

Recommended for readers 7-10

Bill is a peaceful badger who finds himself kidnapped by two awful sisters, who intend to make him fight (even though badgers hate wearing prizefighter shorts) in their badger fighting ring. Turns out the awful sisters are the McGloones, relatives of the awful McGloone family. Seriously, the entire family is just awful; they’re filthy, rude, and all-around mean! Farmer McGloone and his wife also have four llamas held captive, and since they’re depressed and stressed (and ill-fed), they’re not producing enough yarn for the McGloone luxury socks that Mrs. McGloone wants to knit, so they plan to make the llamas into PIES. Such despair! What’s a friendly badger and four depressed llamas to do? Thank goodness for Uncle Shawn, a lovely eccentric who happens to love animals. He comes up with a plan to save everyone and live happily ever after (unless you’re an awful McGloone).

This book is bananas, and I mean that in the most loving sense of the word. Orginally published in the UK in 2017, it’s loaded with madcap, black Scottish humor (come on, they’re making a badger fight in a fight club and threatening to bake llamas) that will make readers laugh out loud when they’re not cringing. Seriously, some of the descriptions of the McGloones are pretty stomach-churning. Black and white cartoons throughout the book add to the laughs. Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Almost Entirely Unplanned Adventure is the first in a new series, so there’s more to come: the second book, Uncle Shawn and Bill and the Pajimminy Crimminy Unusual Adventure, just hit shelves in the UK. Give this to your Roald Dahl and David Walliams fans and expand their global literary palate!

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade

You’ll want a Bob of your own!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bob, by Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead/Illustrations by Nicholas Gannon, (May 2018, Feiwel & Friends), $16.99, ISBN: 9781250166623

Recommended for readers 7-11

Livy is heading to Australia with her mother and new baby sister, BethAnn, to spend time with her grandmother. The last time she was in Australia was five years ago, so she’s a bit anxious about being back; she’s also anxious because her mother is going away for a few days to spend time with friends once she gets there. Once Livy arrives, she’s even more anxious when she doesn’t really remember much about Australia – and she certainly doesn’t remember Bob, the greenish, kinda zombie-looking thing she finds in the closet once she gets there. Bob remembers Livy, though; he’s been waiting for five years for her to come back. The two re-explore their friendship and try to remember how to get Bob back home in this celebration of friendship, the environment, and the magic of childhood.

When two award-winning authors like Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead collaborate on a book, you just know it’s going to be something amazing, and Bob is. Told in alternating first-person chapters, we get each characters’ point-of-view as the story progresses, which also fills in valuable backstory. Livy is a relatable character, dealing with anxiety: there’s a new baby in the family, she’s got separation anxiety about her mom, and her grandmother and neighbors are living through a five-year drought that’s killing their town and their livelihoods. Bob is sweet and funny, loyal to a fault, and gives his spark to Livy; to give her hope, to rekindle their friendship, to bring back the “old Livy”. I can’t get into too much without giving spoilers, and you don’t want that with this book. So let me just say that Bob is wonderful middle-grade storytelling that embraces imagination and joy. I can’t wait to see an illustrated version (my ARC didn’t have any). (Psst… would also make a good Earth Day reading assignment for next year.)

There’s been a lot of buzz about Bob lately: SLJ and Publisher’s Weekly gave it starred reviews, and you can read author interviews at The Horn Book and Publisher’s Weekly. You can download an excerpt see artwork that will melt your heart, and learn how to start a Bob book club at the Bob and Livy website.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Interactive fun with When I Say OOH, You Say AAH!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I Say OOH, You Say AAH!, by John Kane, (March 2018, Kane Miller), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-61067-7110

Recommended for readers 3-7

I am having way too much fun with this laugh-out-loud picture book! I Say OOH, You Say AAH plays with words and ideas in the most fun ways; you’re the narrator, speaking to your audience, and leading them through seemingly simple requests. The pictures, however, make your audience say otherwise! If you see an ant, you must say underpants. Which will, of course, happen at the most inopportune moments, like when a shy donkey named OOH (yup, now you’ve scared him) shows up with an ant on his nose.

The book is bold and bright, and is made for read-alouds where you want to be as silly as possible (and isn’t that what read-alouds should be?)! The digital artwork is colorful and fun, and the fonts are bold, often in caps, and easy to read. It’s great for sharpening verbal cues and teaching reading comprehension in the best way: the fun way! As Kirkus says, it’s an “invitation to silliness” complete with instructions. I have a well-known love for underpants-related picture books and storytimes, and this one is solidly in the collection.

I read this with my 5-year-old, and we needed frequent giggle breaks. And then… I read it to my colleagues as part of a Guerilla Storytime at the recent Urban Librarians Unite conference! (It’s so gratifying, reading a book like this to a group of librarians who are totally on board with your wackiness, by the way.) The librarians were thrilled – a few approached me and asked where they could buy the book. Success!

 

I Say OOH, You Say AAH is perfect storytime and funtime reading. Put it in libraries, classrooms, and homes where kids love sillytime!

Posted in Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

Eoin Colfer’s Illegal is a powerful statement on behalf of refugees

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Illegal, by Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin/Illustrated by Giovanni Rigano, (Aug. 2018, Sourcebooks), $19.99, ISBN: 9781492662143

Recommended for readers 10+

The Artemis Fowl graphic novel team assembles to bring readers a powerful, emotional story about the struggles of undocumented immigrants: in this story, three African siblings. Ebo’s alone. Orphaned and living in squalor, his sister set out months ago to find her way to Europe and a better life, promising to send for Ebo and their brother, Kwame, when she gets settled. But the boys can’t wait any longer, and Kwame sets out next. Ebo follows Kwame, and the brothers endure a journey across the Sahara Desert to find their way to the sea. The journey is inhumane, often unbearable, but Ebo will not be denied. He deals with loss, hunger, and thirst; filthy living conditions; and brutal treatment by nature and man, but he holds out hope to be reunited with his sister, and the promise of a better life somewhere else.

There’s been quite a bit of attention focused on undocumented immigrants, and it’s a conversation we need to continue. War, disease, poverty, and hunger are global problems that force men, women, and children to undergo unthinkable scenarios for the sole purpose of cultivating a better life. Illegal, while fictional, is inspired by true events: just pick up a newspaper or turn on the news. Ebo’s story is one story of millions: the United Nations records 65.6 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide. Told in Ebo’s voice, readers will feel like they are reading a private journal. His voice is strong and clear, and evokes anger, grief, and the desire to do more. The artwork supports the text, laying out the slums of an African neighborhood; the devastating stretch of desert, and the terrifying expanse of the ocean. Ebo’s face will stay with readers long after they finish the book.

(Images courtesy of Entertainment Weekly‘s article)

Illegal should be on every middle school and/or high school’s Summer Reading list, and needs to be discussed in our classrooms and in our homes. The book is currently out in the UK, and there are teaching materials online, including this downloadable one from the U.S. publisher, Sourcebooks. Author Andrew Donkin has articles about Illegal on his website, and Eoin Colfer has the US and UK covers on his website. Entertainment Weekly has a featured excerpt and The Guardian made it the Children’s Book of the Week when it was published in the UK in October 2017.

Illegal was shortlisted for the 2017 Irish Book Awards and was chosen for EmpathyLabUK’s Read for Empathy List (a downloadable copy of which can be found here). I’ve embedded the trailer below:

 

Booktalk and display Illegal with Michel Chikwanine and Jessica Dee Humphreys’ Child Soldier and Barron’s Children in Our World books (Refugees & Migrants, Poverty & Hunger, Racism & Intolerance, and Global Conflict).

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

We all want a Little Small

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

My Little Small,by Ulf Stark/Illustrated by Linda Bondestam, Translated by Annie Prime, (March 2018, Enchanted Lion Books), $15.95, ISBN: 9781592702091

Recommended for readers 4-7

Originally published 2014 in Swedish as Min Egen Lilla Liten, this is a touching story about a lonely Creature that allows for some interpretation with readaloud audiences. A lonely gray Creature lives inside a mountain cave, living in darkness because the sun will hurt her; possibly kill her. She longs for something to love and care for: “someone small to sing to and care for”. She tries to share her affection with the moon, whose rays shatter when she attempts an embrace. But one ay, a stray spark from the sun finds its way into her cave, and her heart soars. The spark tells her stories about the sun, and the colors visible in the daylight: the blue ocean; the yellow deserts; the green forests; the animals and birds that live above. While the Creature is enchanted by the spark, calling it her Little Small, the spark must hurry back to the sun before dark.

The Creature in this story is gendered female in the text, but this is open to interpretation: The Creature can easily take on any preferred pronoun the reader wishes; it’s a gray, amorphous shape with large, expressive eyes, a bulbous, black nose, and sharp white teeth. It’s nowhere near scary; rather, it’s kind of cute. Creature’s story is the big thing here: the desire to love and care for a Little Small; the same desire that fuels parents and caregivers; the same desire that moves children to attach themselves to a Lovey. My Little Small is also a reminder that our time together is short, and to fill those moments with joy – a nice nod to us adults to stop sweating the small stuff. The artwork is bold, with textured grays giving life to Creature and her environs, and bold, bright colors populating the spark’s tales of life outside. The spark itself is tiny and bright, giving off rings of warm, yellow light.

Words Without Borders calls My Little Small a “sweetly eccentric book”, and that seems about perfect, so I’ll leave it at that. It may not appeal to every reader, but it does reach down and get to the heart of the desire to love and protect. Sunrise, 2013 comic by Heather L. Sheppard, from a few years ago, makes a good readalike with absolutely adorable artwork. If you can find it (it’s a digital comic, available through Comixology), give it a read.

 

 

Posted in Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Make Way for the Thunder Girls!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Freya and the Magic Jewel (Thunder Girls, #1), by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams, (May 2018, Aladdin), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4814-964-07

Recommended for readers 8-12

I LOOOOVE Joan Holub’s books, from board books to middle grade novels; I read ’em as often as I can and I love every single one of them. When I saw that the Goddess Girls team of Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams were starting a new series on the ladies of Norse mythology, I needed a moment to collect myself. And when I received a review copy from the author herself, I needed a few more moments. Okay, I took another moment. Let’s begin.

Freya is the 11-year-old goddess of love and beauty, happily living on Vanaheim: one of the nine worlds in Norse myth. When she and her twin brother, Frey, are summoned, by Odin, to Asgard to attend Asgard Academy as part of a new initiative to open relations between the nine worlds, Freya is skeptical. Her people have been at war with Asgard, and besides, she has it made at Vanaheim Junior High! But Odin is the king of Asgard, and she’s got to go, so she and Frey head out. Things go wrong from the start when her beloved jewel, Brising, falls from the Bifrost bridge. That jewel is what helps her see the future, and that also happens to be what Odin wants her to help him with! She also runs afoul of Angerboda, a bullying frost giantess, right off the bat. Freya has her work cut out for her, but she’ll learn – with the help of some new friends – that magic can be found in the wildest places.

I love, love, LOVED this book. Not strong on Norse mythology? You don’t need to be; you learn exactly what you need to within the pages of this book. Readers will meet characters whose names are practically household at this point, like Thor, Loki, Odin, and Frigga (thanks, Marvel!). Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams know their mythology and make the Norse tales readable for middle graders (the story of how that wall around Asgard was built is refreshingly kid safe, for starters) and put the same sense of fun into Thunder Girls that they put into Goddess Girls. There’s adventure, friendship, and enough mischief to keep readers happily turning pages. Display and booktalk with (what else?) Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard books, KL Armstrong and MA Marr’s Blackwell Pages trilogy, and NatGeo’s Norse Mythology treasury. (Have some copies of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology around for parents, too.)

Joan Holub has amazing printables on her author website, including Goddess Girls and its companion series, Heroes in Training, bookmarks. Suzanne Williams has a reader’s theatre script for one of the Goddess Girls stories, fun quizzes and downloadable stickers at her website. The next Thunder Girls book is out in October, featuring Sif, so I’ll be counting days until then.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

A grand expedition awaits in your backyard

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Grand Expedition, by Emma Adbåge/Illustrated by Anne Prime, (Apr. 2018, Enchanted Lion), $16.95, ISBN: 9781592702459

Recommended for readers 3-7

Two siblings head to their backyard for an adventure! They take the time to prepare food (coffee and pickles) and provisions (blankets, tent, jump rope). They head out, set up camp, and… eat all the pickles. And sit. And then the mosquitoes come out. And then one sibling has to poop, which seals the deal: they’re heading back inside. They end the evening cozy, with their dad, indoors.

This is the stuff of childhood. Originally published in Sweden, this is the kind of story that appeals to kids of all kinds: the campout. I grew up in an apartment, and my kids spent their early years in one, so living room campouts were the answer (who doesn’t love a sturdy blanket and pillow fort?) The kids pack like kids – minus the snacks, because they’ve only got pickles, but you get the point – and head out to an adventure that is greater in the imagination than in actuality. Once they get out there, there’s not a whole lot to do, and the lack of indoor plumbing is a dilemma. The adventure continues into the home, where the boys end the evening still on an adventure, this time, in the comfort of home. This is a fun story for a pajama readaloud – can you build blanket forts in your library, classroom, or living room? Bring the stuffed animals, sit in your PJs, and enjoy a comfy campout. The illustrations lend to the imaginary feel, with muted watercolor and line drawings giving a hazy, dreamlike feel to the story.

Posted in Historical Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Get Radical with Fierce Young Women from U.S. History!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Radical Element, edited by Jessica Spotswood, (March 2018, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 978-0-7636-9425-8

Recommended for readers 13+

This anthology gives readers snapshots of young women at pivotal moments in their lives and U.S. history, from 1838 to 1984. Written by YA literary powerhouses including Anna-Marie McLemore (Wild Beauty), Marieke Nijkamp (This is How it Ends), Dhionelle Clayton (The Belles), these 12 stories are about young women who are the “radical element” in their time periods; their communities; their families. A young Jewish woman living in 19th century Savannah, pushing to learn more about her faith; a Cuban immigrant, living in Queens (whoo hoo!) and walking the line between her parents’ traditional world and the new, modern world; a 1950s debutante whose idea for her future doesn’t quite line up with her mother’s.  All of their stories are here, expertly told and starring a fabulous and diverse group of females: multicultural and LGBTQ characters all find a home here.

The authors alone make this a must-add to bookshelves and book collections; the stories contained within present strong characters and exciting adventures, with backstories that still hold relevance for readers today. Characters here deal with gender identity, racism and religious persecution, and sexism. These are perfect for quick reads or to binge read like the best Netflix series. Contributor bios at the end introduce readers to the authors.

The Radical Element, a companion to A Tyranny of Petticoats (2016), has a starred review from Kirkus.