Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Bo the Brave knows that monsters aren’t always that easy to spot

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bo the Brave, by Bethan Woollvin, (Apr. 2020, Peachtree Publishers), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-68263-182-9

Ages 3-7

Any day I get to talk about a new Bethan Woollvin book is a good day. She creates fairy-tale heroines that upend all existing conventions, whether it’s the witch getting the goods on bratty Hansel and Gretel, or Little Red Riding Hood saving the day on her own. Her new book, Bo the Brave. stars another young girl who teaches readers that monsters aren’t always fairy tale creatures – they’re much closer.

Bo is a young girl who wants to be a monster hunter like her brothers. When they tell her she’s too little, so she strikes out on her own. On her travels, she meets a griffin, a kraken, and a dragon, all of whom seem much nicer, and certainly more helpful, than she’s been led to believe. In fact, the dragon is a mother, grieving because her baby’s been kidnapped by monster hunters! Bo, pretty sure she knows exactly who the culprits are, leads her new friends to the rescue: while delivering a stern lecture to her brothers. Bo the Brave has learned that rumors and hearsay are deceiving and can lead to a lot of misunderstanding and heartache. In this story, it’s her brothers that “were certainly acting like monsters”, not the griffin, the kraken, or the dragons!

That’s the best part of Bethan Woollvin’s storytelling. She takes a look at who the real monsters are, like Hansel and Gretel; she has heroines who save themselves – they have no time to deal with that whole helpless girl foolishness – like Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. Bethan Woollvin’s heroines have no time to waste, waiting for someone to rescue them and no patience to follow someone who doesn’t value them for who they are. They’re out there on their own, using their brains and their own common sense to save the day, and teach some valuable lessons.

The endpapers illustrated Bo the Brave’s evolution, too: the front endpapers are a map, pre-journey, where Bo notes where the “horrid forest monsters”, “scary cave beasts”, and “slimy sea monsters” are, along with her “stinky brothers’. The back endpapers are edited to show that her “stinky brothers” are actually her “monster brothers”, and each of the new friends she’s made have their rightful names noted on the map.

Bo the Brave has a starred review from School Library Journal, and is essential reading.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Books for Bedtime… or not.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Anyone else finding that bedtimes are taking on lives of their own? Here are a few books to let us know we’re not alone. Turn bedtime into funtime with these wacky families!

Friday Night Wrestlefest, by JF Fox/Illustrated by Micah Player, (Feb. 2020, Roaring Brook Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781250212405

Ages 4-8

It’s Friday night. Pizza’s been eaten, school’s out for the weekend… it’s time for FRIDAY NIGHT WRESTLEFEST! One family’s Battle To the Bedtime is an inspiration to the rest of us as they adopt their fantastic ring personas – Dangerous Daddooo (“He’s mad. He’s bad. He’s DAD.”), Tag Team Twins, Peanut Brother and Jellyfish, and “special guest star”, Big Bald Baby – and turn their living room into an all-star arena! Will Mom come in for the big save, or will Big Bald Baby clear the ring?

The artwork is a riot of color and movement, with kids and parents sailing through the air, talking smack, and dramatically posing. The family that plays together, stays together, for sure: endpapers feature a lovely wall of family photos in the usual well-mannered poses up front; back endpapers have the family striking victorious poses, hugging one another while celebrating various Wrestlefest wins.

This is a non-stop fun family read for bedtime or anytime. And if you were to construct your own wrestling ring in your living room to take on your family, you’d definitely want to download this activity kit from the publisher, so you could outfit yourself with a cool mask, pick out a great wrestler name, and get that championship belt all shined up.

Everyone’s Awake, by Colin Meloy/Illustrated by Shawn Harris, (March 2020, Chronicle Books), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-4521-7805-9

Ages 4-8

A foreboding house on a hill has a single light shining on a dark, dark, night… wait a minute, this is no scary story! Turn the page, and discover what’s going on in that house on that late, late night: everyone’s awake! This rhyming story stars a family that just can’t sleep, and the young narrator takes us through what everyone’s up to: Dad’s in the kitchen, Grandma’s crafting, Sister’s flossing and putting her hair in braids, but all of a sudden things take a turn for the anarchic when Mom starts tap-dancing to Prince and Dad rolls a motorcycle in the room. Even the ghost of Grandpa shows up for a late night visit!  The manic story lets readers cut loose and embrace the chaos of bedtime gone wild. The ink, charcoal, and pencil artwork has a soft, surreal feel to it, lending a dreamlike, half-awake half asleep feel to the story. There are amazing details to be found in each spread, like Prince’s album covers, and the spines on the family bookshelf. Blues, oranges, and yellows dominate the landscape, taking readers from a drowsy sleep to full-on, sleepless mania and back again.

Author Colin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter of The Decemberists, and the author of several children’s books, including the New York Times bestselling Wildwood series. Illustrator Shawn Harris is an artist and musician and the illustrator of several award-winning children’s books including Her Right Foot and What Can a Citizen Do?

Will this family ever get to sleep? You don’t expect me to spoil the surprise, do you? Everyone’s Awake is an hilarious bedtime romp.

 

Posted in Uncategorized

Books for Babies!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

How’s everyone doing? We all good? Healthy? Safe? I hope so. I’m back with another roundup of books you can read to your babies! Keep them entertained with board books and picture books like these adorable stories. Just ORDER them, or see if your local library has the ebook version. PLEASE. And support indie bookstores that are working hard to keep their employees paid and with benefits!

Alphaprints: Puppy Love, by Priddy Books, (Dec. 2019, Priddy Books), $7.99, ISBN: 9780312529383

Ages 0-3

How cute is this book? Embossed fingerprint animal faces with photo-textured bodies, tabbed pages that stand up to tiny, exploring hands, and five huggable rhymes about being snuggly and huggly! Adorable animal characters are bright, and rhymes teach littlest readers about bear hugs, love birds, purrfect pals, puppy love and bouncing bunnies. Kids will love the embossed fingerprint faces that provide interesting new texture. Use the photos that create each character’s body to talk about other textures: have fruit around the house? Let the little ones rub the apple, or banana, and tell them about “smooth” textures. Show them a pom pom, and tell them that is “fuzzy”. Point out colors, shapes, and animal sounds. There’s so much to be done using this little book!

 

 

Baby Shark (Based on the World’s Catchiest Song), Illustrated by Stevie Lewis, (Jan. 2020, Henry Holt), $8.99, ISBN: 9781250263186

Ages 0-3

You know the song. It’s burned into your memory banks like Gangnam Style, don’t fib. This adorable board book will be a beloved companion to the  music video you have eternally queued up on YouTube. A little girl and her mom walk into an aquarium, where the girl is excited to see a shark: a baby shark, really. (Cue beginning music) Sure enough, a baby shark swims by, and the words to the song run through the book for a fun version of the sing-a-long, with a twist! Kids visiting the aquarium all join the little girl, each joining in on a new phrase (“Mama Shark, Daddy Shark, the whole family is here”), and the sharks gather to greet the kids. The digital artwork gives us an adorable group of sharks and multicultural families having a fun day at the aquarium together, and you’ll be singing this song for a looooong time to come.

Need Baby Shark coloring sheets? Of course you do. SuperSimple, the home of Baby Shark and countless other music videos that make my storytimes so much fun, have your back with a six-page set. They also offer a Baby Shark printable play set – get those craft sticks out!

 

We Love Babies!, by Jill Esbaum, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $17.99, ISBN: 9781426337482

Ages 0-5

Who does animal babies better than NatGeo Kids? This rhyming ode to babies of all shapes and sizes in the animal world is just too cute. Snouts, and bills, beaks and cheeks, the cutest baby animals get their moment to shine against brightly colored and patterned backgrounds. The photos are breathtaking, and the digital artwork of fluttering butterflies and baby animal cheerleaders ups the cute ante. Read this and talk up how adorable our own kiddos’ ears, noses, toeses, and belly buttons are. Give all the snuggles and kisses, because we all need more of that now. I’ll be reading this at an upcoming virtual storytime, because it just makes me happy.

Posted in Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

We Could Be Heroes: dogs, rocks, and adventures in friendship

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

We Could Be Heroes, by Margaret Finnegan, (Feb. 2020, Atheneum Books for Young Readers), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-5344-4525-3

Ages 8-12

Hank Hudson is a boy who loves rocks and The Jungle Book. He does NOT like the very sad book his teacher is reading to the class: it gives him the a’a feeling, which is a geological term for lava flow which moves and cools at different rates. Hank has autism, and feels things, sees things, in a way that doesn’t always match his classmates. His classmate, Maisie Huang, notices him after a big incident lands Hank in some hot water. Her parents are geologists, so she invites him over to see their rock collection. It’s there that Hank discovers Maisie’s ulterior motive: she wants Hank to help her “rescue” her next door neighbor’s dog, Booler. Booler has seizures, and Mr. Jorgenson, his elderly owner keeps Booler tied to a tree outside, because it’s too dangerous for him to be indoors. Maisie has built up a vision of her neighbor that isn’t too flattering, and Hank, while happy to have a friend, is conflicted about a lot of Maisie’s “rescue” ideas. But the two kids become friendlier with Mr. Jorgenson, until he has an accident and his daughter comes to town. Hank and Maisie decide that Booler isn’t safe, after all, and revisit their initial rescue plan. Filled with cringeworthy, funny, and touching moments, We Could Be Heroes is a story about friendship, understanding, and feeling “less than”.

Hank and Maisie are complex characters that feel real. Readers may know kids like Hank and Maisie at school – they may be Hank or Maisie. Margaret Finnegan captures the feelings that go into a meltdown for a person with autism by linking Hank’s love of rocks and geology to the feeling that heralds a meltdown; the “a’a”, a Hawaiian word that, once defined, paints a picture for readers and opens the door to understanding. Maisie may frustrate some readers – this is a great character to talk about; find her motivation, and give pros and cons of her focus on saving Booler. The adults in the novel each have wonderful depth, too; they are all invested in our characters and important parts of the story throughout.

A strong choice for book discussions, We Could Be Heroes is a good realistic novel that delves into the complexity of emotions and friendships. Author Margaret Finnegan has epilepsy and autism resources available on her author webpage.

We Could Be Heroes is a Junior Library Guild selection.

Posted in Fiction, Intermediate, picture books

The Fabulous, the Mysterious, Madame Badobedah!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Madame Badobedah, by Sophie Dahl/Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara, (April 2020, Walker Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781536210224

Ages 5-8

Mabel is a young girl living in the Mermaid Hotel, where her parents work. There’s always something to see and do at the Mermaid, but when a mysterious, somewhat eccentric old lady moves in, Mabel puts on her detective hat. Madame Badobedah, as Mabel calls her, has simply got to be a supervillain. When Mabel begins investigating Madame Badobedah, she discovers a much softer, kinder, friendlier woman, and the two unlikely friends explore the hotel – and beyond – together.

This is a sweet story of intergenerational friendships, with a Dahl-esque fantastic twist (Sophie Dahl is author Roald Dahl’s granddaughter). Mabel is a smart, curious girl a la Harriet the Spy; Madame Badobedah is a fabulously exotic, mysterious figure that readers can’t help but be drawn to: “She was old, old, old. With red lips. She was not alone. She had two dogs, two cats, a tortoise, and twenty-three bags, all clustered around her like a choir. I thought she might be a little awful”, as Mabel describes her. She calls people “Darlink”, and has “red, crunchy hair”. Dahl’s descriptions are vivid and wonderfully brought to life by Lauren O’Hara, whose watercolor illustrations add a surreal touch to this incredible story. Blue and white beachy endpapers really put the reader into a spring/summer mindset.

Originally published in the UK in 2019, I’m very happy to be welcoming Sophie Dahl to US readers. Great for a read-aloud to school-age readers, Madame Badobedah also allows for an art/English exercise where kids can draw their own versions of Madame Badobedah, a room in the Mermaid Hotel, or where their own hidden corridor would lead to.

Madame Badobedah has starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

That’s Good That’s Bad is a classic – glad it’s back!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

That’s Good That’s Bad, by Joan M. Lexau/Illustrated by Aliki, (March 2020, Prestel Publishing), $17.95, ISBN: 9783791374192

Ages 3-8

This hilarious look at the upside and one boy’s exciting day in the jungle was originally published in 1963, brought back to a new generation of readers by Prestel Junior. A tiger happens upon a boy, sitting on a rock in the jungle, and tells him to run or be eaten. The boy tells the tiger he is too tired to run, and recounts his very busy day running from a rhino and a crocodile. The spreads alternate between the boy’s story, to which the tiger responds, “That’s good!” or “That’s bad!” as the boy recounts the ups and downs of his day. The final twist is laugh-out-loud funny, and Aliki’s vintage illustrations are just as lively and bright today as they were in 1963. Bright, bold colors come right off the stark white background and bring the jungle to life for younger readers.

I adore Aliki’s artwork, so I’d read My Five Senses and ask the kids to think about how they’d use their senses if they were in the boy’s situation.

That’s Good That’s Bad is a storytime book I’m happy to welcome back into print.
Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Chapter books to take on a camping trip

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I know, right now, camping is probably the furthest thing from your minds, but why not? My older boys loved “camping out” in our living room, spreading comforters on the floor for cushioning, and staying up all night giggling and falling asleep while talking into the wee hours of the morning. My eldest “camps” in his little brother’s room in the dog days of summer, when Gabe’s air conditioner is a lot cooler than Will’s. And Gabe and his buddies have had sleepovers where they camp out, sleeping bags all over the living room, and stuffed animals, action figures, and assorted iPads strewn about. So why not consider a camping trip for your kiddos now? Hike on over to a room that can fit you all, and settle in with some snacks, some games, and some good books.

McTavish Goes Wild, by Meg Rosoff/Illustrated by Grace Easton, (May 2020, Candlewick Press), $21.99, ISBN: 9781536203318

Ages 7-10

Originally published in the UK, this is the second book in the McTavish Stories series, starring a rescued dog and his adopted family – although, as McTavish would tell you, he’s the one who rescued them. The Peachey family is a little quirky, as most families are; in this second installment, the family frets over where to go on vacation. Young Betty Peachey wants to go camping, but Pa Peachey is convinced that nature is far too dangerous to be out and about in. Teenage brother Ollie just wants to be somewhere where there are dance clubs where he can find a girlfriend, and big sister Ava wants to stay home and read German philosophy. Thank goodness for Ma Peachey, who sides with Betty. Once out in nature, McTavish sees that it’s up to him to get this family acclimated to the Great Outdoors, in sweet and fun fashion. The story is gentle, moves at a leisurely pace with humor throughout. Black and white drawings give life to the text. Intermediate readers will get a kick out of this quirky family and their canine companion, who seems to be two steps ahead of the game. You won’t need to have read the first book, Good Dog McTavish, to jump right into this series, but animal fiction fans will want to – make sure you have both on the shelf.

The Infamous Ratsos Camp Out, by Kara LaReau/Illustrated by Matt Myers, (May 2020, Candlewick Press), $19.99, ISBN: 9781536200065

Ages 6-10

The fifth book in the Infamous Ratsos series Ralphie and Louie Ratso going on a camping trip with the Big City Scouts, with Grandpa Ratso as their guide. Even with Grandpa’s guidance and experience as a Scoutmaster, the Scouts learn that camping isn’t as easy as they think it is: pitching a tent, making a fire, and finding their way through the woods is hard! They have to learn to work together, and they have to learn that asking for help is the most important skill a Scout – or anyone – can have. With fun scout-meets-urban living references to badges like City Smarts and Cleanup, and scouting levels like Streets and Avenues instead of Cub and Weeblo, this is a cute addition to the series. Black and white cartoony illustrations of the Ratsos throughout the book really engage the reader. Enjoy a chapter sample from Candlewick’s page and consider adding this series to your intermediate collection if you haven’t yet.

Make some merit badges – all you need is paper, scissors, and imagination! Come up with fun merit badge ideas: ate a vegetable, read for 30 minutes, Kitchen Science, Minecrafter. The possibilities are endless, and we’re not going anywhere, anytime soon. Make it fun.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Rosie: Stronger Than Steel, like the ladies around her. Plus, a giveaway!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Rosie: Stronger Than Steel, by Lindsay Ward, (April 2020, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-15420117947

Ages 4-8

In a nod to history, and a fitting way to send off Women’s History Month, Rosie: Stronger Than Steel salutes the American and English women who took care of business during World War II. Most of us know the iconic Rosie the Riveter, symbolic of the women who went to work in factories during the War, but not many of us in the States have heard of the British Women’s Land Army, tthat encouraged women to work in agriculture, keeping he Women’s Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during World War II so women could work in agriculture, so that Britain – an island nation that largely relied on imported food – could grow their own crops and be self-sufficient.

Rosie is an ode to the power of women working together. Created as a poem – part rhyme, part evocative verse – from the point of view of a tractor named Rosie, built in America by female factory workers – Rosies – and sent overseas to join the Women’s Land Army. She’s green, with a painted rose, and filled with a strong sense of purpose as she works with the women in Britain to plow fields, grow crops, and feed her new nation. She has a mantra that she clings to, repeated throughout the story: “I plow and I dig. / I dig and I plow. / No matter the job, / This is my vow. It spurs her on, as she plows in the shadow of fighter planes, through mud and muck. When the war ends, she mentors new farm machines, until the day she thinks it may all come to an end when she gets stuck in the mud… but wait! No one is going to abandon our Rosie! Like the Little Engine That Could, Rosie is truly stronger than steel, and roars back to life. A testament to women coming together to achieve great things, Rosie: Stronger Than Steel is an inspiring story about collaboration, cooperation, and determination. An author’s note tells the story of the American factory workers – our Rosie the Riveters – and the British Women’s Land Army. There’s an abbreviated  World War II timeline across the bottom of the author’s note spread.

Lindsay Ward’s colored pencil and cut paper artwork is colorful, bright, and filled with images of women (including Rosie!) working together, determined. Her art is so different here, from her colorful, cartoony artwork we see in her Dexter trilogy and Brobarians: here, we see realistic women and farmland, with a sweet-face, cartoony tractor; a blend that shows her versatility as an artist as well as an author. I really enjoyed Rosie: Stronger Than Steel and love this introduction to women’s history, for younger readers.

Rosie: Stronger Than Steel has starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist.

Lindsay Ward is the creator of the Dexter T. Rexter series as well as This Book Is Gray, Brobarians, Rosco vs. the Baby, and The Importance of Being 3. Her book Please Bring Balloons was also made into a play. Lindsay lives with her family  in Peninsula, Ohio, where she often sees tractors from the 1930s and 1940s. Learn more about her online at www.lindsaymward.com.

Twitter: @lindsaymward

 

Reviewers love Rosie!

★“More than the sum of its parts, this is a wildly successful and well-researched shaping of the picture-book form to true historical sheroes.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★“This ‘little tractor that could’ sort of tale pays tribute to the iconic Rosie the Riveter persona from the US and the British Land Girls of the Women’s Land Army during WWII. Fans of Loren Long’s Otis, Virginia Lee Burton’s Katy, and like sturdy, dependable workhorses will welcome Rosie into the fold, but the historical perspective adds an unusual dimension to her story.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Vocabulary is rich, and the younger set will appreciate the intermittent rhymes. The style of Ward’s colored pencil and cut-paper illustrations reflect the period of the tale. ” —School Library Journal

One lucky winner will receive a copy of Rosie: Stronger than Steel, courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. addresses). Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!

Posted in Uncategorized

A league of heroes dedicated to protecting: Spark and the League of Ursus

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Spark and the League of Ursus, by Robert Repino, (Apr. 2020, Quirk Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781683691662

Ages 8-12

Have you ever seen that meme with a teddy bear standing over a sleeping child, challenging a looming monster? If you have, you’ve got the basis for Spark and the Legends of Ursus. Spark and Sir Reginald are teddy bears, pledged to protect their now-tween children, Loretta and Matthew, from monsters. Sir Reginald is the elder bear and mentor to Spark, the one who introduced her to the League of Ursus – the secret society of teddy bears, sworn to protect. Things are dire when a monster shows up in Loretta’s room, and when a neighborhood girl goes missing. Spark and Sir Reginald are determined to protect their charges, but find themselves up against a terrible evil that they need help battling. Additional League of Ursus members, a sock monkey, and Amazon warrior princess doll are all that stands between the monster and the children of their neighborhood.

This is an exciting, heartfelt adventure book that embraces our love of teddy bears. Their gentle natures belie the fact that they are bears, who can be pretty ferocious! The story also looks at the love between a toy and a child – in this universe, a toy doesn’t “awaken” until it’s loved by a child – and how that changes as the child gets older and finds less time for their toys. If you have Toy Story fans, and readers of books like Brian Lynch’s Toy Academy series, that are ready for a more involved book, this is the book to give them. Spark is a wonderfully idealistic, eager young character, waiting to be called upon for her moment; Sir Reginald is a world-weary warrior with much to pass along to his student. Loretta and Matthew are burgeoning filmmakers with their own YouTube channel, so there’s some filmmaking tidbits here and there that could link up nicely with some Summer Reading programming involving filmmaking, maybe on a cell phone.

Spark and the League of Ursus is a good first fantasy novel to give to readers who are looking for something new, and a good fantasy novel to give to readers who may need that reassurance that it’s still okay to love a teddy bear. (I do.) Have Stranger Things fans? Give them this one, too – that monster can surely come from The Upside Down.

Note: I believe the final book will have illustrations; my ARC didn’t.

Posted in Uncategorized

Virtual Programming makes anywhere a library

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

So we’re finishing up our second week of quarantine, and the news is maddening. Homeschooling is overwhelming for Gabe and for me; my 16-year-old Alex, is feeling it, too. There are six of us under this roof, along with our dog and our cat, so there’s a lot of togetherness happening.

This week, I started my virtual programming, and I loved it. Storytimes and craft times helped me feel connected to my Corona Kids, especially when our moms started posting pictures of my kiddos and their crafts. I miss them all so much; this was just… thank you. Thank you all, because I needed that.

I’m growing even closer to my colleagues in the system as we navigate virtual programming together. A few of us are now on a committee our library system created so we can get our programming out via the library Facebook Live page (and we’re still doing our own programming on the side, because who loves storytime more than a children’s librarian? Other than, you know, the kids). These have been bright moments during the darker times this week, and I’m counting on those to keep me going.

What’s up for this week? I’m working on a programming schedule now, but there will be more virtual goodies, more Duolingo conversation groups (I’m in a Spanish language group now), and more reading and blogging time. I need to build in more family time, because I see us all gravitating to our devices, and think we need a little more interaction.

Keep safe, stay home, and find joy in the small moments.