Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Izzy Gizmo returns with the Invention Convention!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention, by Pip Jones/Illustrated by Sara Ogilvie, (March 2020, Peachtree Publishing), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5

Ages 4-7

Readers met Izzy Gizmo, a little girl who loves to invent and create, two years ago. She’s finally back in Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention, where Izzy, Grandpa, and her best buddy, Fixer, are invited to Technoff Isle’s annual Invention Convention, where she’s up against other kids. They have to make a machine that will impress The Professor, and the winner becomes a member of the Genius Guild! Izzy’s ready to get down to business, but the obnoxious mean girl Abi von Lavish seems to be taking everything Izzy needs to create her invention – until Abi’s drill breaks and she discards it without a second glance. Fixer has an idea, but will Izzy see past her own frustration to understand?

Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention has all the fun and charm of the first book, with the added positive emphasis on making, repurposing, and recycling. In a time where Fix-It Clinics are popping up all over the nation – including libraries! – Izzy hits on a few important topics. Reusing and repurposing materials is the primary objective, but readers will also notice that while Izzy’s fellow competitors are using machines that eat up a lot of energy or cause pollution, Izzy’s using wind, manual (or bird), and solar power to make her Fix-It machine a success. And Izzy also speaks to readers about frustration, and how sometimes, our feelings can get away from us. She takes her irritation out on Fixer, only to be gently guided back in the right direction by Grandpa. The pencil, ink, oil pastel, monoprint, and digital illustrations are bright and give a real feel for the hustle and bustle of a science fair, with lots of movement and activity packed into each page. Perfect for Science Fair season and beyond, Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention is fun reading with smart lessons for all. Publisher Peachtree has free, downloadable activity sheets and a teacher’s guide available.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Excellent life advice: Eat the Cake!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Eat the Cake, by MH Clark/Illustrated by Jana Glatt, (Feb. 2020, Compendium), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1946873842

Ages 4-7

It’s time to celebrate? Celebrate what, you ask? Who needs a reason? Eat the Cake is all about picking a special day – it can be a birthday, a graduation, a special occasion, or just waking up and deciding this is YOUR day – and celebrating! Great things are coming your way, so relax, enjoy, and eat the cake!

This rhyming, upbeat story is all about embracing positivity; a new mindset; creativity, and being bold and brave. Brightly colored figures parade up, down, and all around the pages, throwing confetti, playing instruments, and celebrating the reader. The bright, happy colors pop off the bright white of the pages, really grabbing the reader’s attention and creative a fun, festive atmosphere. The story is a celebration of the reader/audience, encouraging them to “be so bright that the stars, watching all that you do, / look right down from the sky and start wishing on you”. How fantastic is that to read?

Play some upbeat music, give kids egg shakers, and let them celebrate themselves after reading Eat the Cake at storytime. Don’t limit the fun to the little ones, either: this works nicely with Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! for a graduation reading at any age. Give this to a retiring colleague or family member to remind them to enjoy life and all they have ahead of them, or someone achieving a major milestone, or someone who just needs a pick-me-up. Eat the Cake is just too much fun.

MH Clark is also the author of Tiger Days, a great book about emotions, and Tiny Perfect Things, a lovely book about those small and perfect moments in our day.

 

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

I start #MGMarch with Fly Back Agnes

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fly Back Agnes, by Elizabeth Atkinson, (March 2020, Carolrhoda), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-5415-7820-3

Ages 10-13

It’s Middle Grade March (#MGMarch on social media), and I’m working my way through some incredible Middle Grade in my pile. Let’s start with Elizabeth Atkinson’s Fly Back, Agnes; a book I did not want to put down.

Agnes is a 12-year-old living in Vermont with her mother, who Agnes sees as a “bulldozer” that just rolls over everything in her path. Agnes is frustrated by her mother’s pushiness and opinions about Agnes’s clothes and imminent “becoming a woman”; she really isn’t crazy about her mother’s mumbling artist boyfriend, Richard, and Richard’s weird and obnoxious kid, George. She misses her father, who lives in a nearby town, where he’s a cellist and teaches at a university. She misses her sister, Viva, who’s pulled away from their family entirely. She feels betrayed by her best friend, Megan, who’s become enchanted with the new mean girl, Lux. So when her mother announces that they’re moving to Kansas for the summer, for a project Richard’s been hired to do – despite Agnes having made plans to work at an animals shelter – she has had it. It all starts with a white lie, so she can spend the summer with her dad, who’s housesitting for a friend. She’s thrilled to have the summer with her father, but he’s finishing up his dissertation, so he doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with her, leaving Agnes to wander the town and decide to take on a persona that isn’t Agnes at all. She becomes Chloe, an actress-dancer 14-year-old who has the life Agnes desperately wants. Even as she makes friends in town – a young woman named Stella, Stella’s grandmother, Birdie, and a cute 15-year-old named Fin – the lies get bigger and deeper. Agnes wants to tell them the truth, especially as each reveals their own secrets to her, but she just can’t seem to find a way out.

Two major themes in Fly Back, Agnes are secrets and identities. Agnes is struggling with her identity because she’s on the cusp of “womanhood” – getting her period – something that, for her, is a sign that her childhood is over. She sees her visit to her father as a chance to escape the life she’s in, and tries a new identity on for size while she’s away. Being the main character, she’s the most fleshed out: biracial, with a part-Korean father and American mother, she has her mother’s freckles and curly red hair and her father’s skin tone. Her friends are ready to take on the tween/teen mantle, consumed with their smartphones and appearances, and it feels like a betrayal to Agnes, especially when she overhears mean girl Lux talking with them behind Agnes’s back at a sleepover. Stella and Fin have their own secrets, but they haven’t created a new persona: their identities are wrapped up in their secrets, and their trust in Agnes makes her feel guilty. Agnes’s parents are less fleshed out but have enough background to give us a pretty good picture of them. I wanted to learn more about Viva, but she and Megan were both there to give Agnes more depth, and ultimately, that was fine with me.

Fly Back, Agnes, has great pacing, good characters, and is a story I can’t wait to booktalk to my middle graders. It’s relatable, with (mostly) likable characters, and an interesting mini-plot with rehabilitating wild birds. It’s a good add to your realistic fiction collections.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Blog Tour: World So Wide

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Have you ever connected with a child and just wanted to celebrate every moment, every experience, every second of them? That’s the story at the heart of this gorgeous rhyming ode to life, Alison McGhee’s World So Wide.

World So Wide, by Alison McGhee/Illustrated by Kate Alizadeh,
(March 2020, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 781542006330
Ages 2-6

A couple imagine their newborn’s first moments: first sights; first sounds; first smells; first touches. It’s an exploration of the senses, of nature, and the captivating, all-consuming love that parents and babies have for one another. Phrased with questions and answers: “What will be the first sights they see? / Sun and moon and sky… / the love in someone’s eye?”, the story moves in verse throughout the family’s life together; through toddlerhood, adulthood, and, to show the cyclical nature of life, parenthood again, with a new father, holding his baby as he was once held, overjoyed and completely in love.

 

Kate Alizadeh’s digital illustrations paint pastel landscapes of flowery fields and family rooms; parents gently holding a baby and staring lovingly at one another. Paired with Alison McGhee’s ode to parental adoration, World So Wide comes together as a beautiful exploration of parenthood through the senses, through nature, and the future. The family appears multicultural, with a brown-skinned mom and a white, fair-haired dad. I adored Alison McGhee’s Someday; she has a gift for speaking to what’s in my heart as a mom, and she does it again with World So Wide. She takes those small moments that we wish could last forever, and gives them a voice, so we know we’re not alone. World So Wide is a lovely storytime choice, and I’d consider this a good baby shower gift, too.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Red Red Red helps during meltdown time

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Red Red Red, by Polly Dunbar, (March 2020, Kane Miller), @14.99, ISBN: 9781684640263

Ages 2-4

Originally published in the UK in 2019, Red Red Red is a rhyming story about a toddler on the verge of a meltdown when a mission to reach a highly-placed biscuit (we call ’em cookies on this side of the pond) and falls down, getting hurt. If you know toddlers like I know toddlers, you know that the meltdown is mighty. In this case, the little one is hurt and still has no biscuit to show for the pain. This is cause for an apocalyptic-level meltdown, and we see it unfolding, spread by spread. Mom asks if the little one’s okay, leading to blame (“Yes! I had a bump. / It made my cry. / The biscuit jar / war up too high!”); dismay (“My socks are down. / My pants are twisted. / I want… / I want… / I WANT / A BISCUIT!”); and ultimately, the tantrum. The toddler rails against the cursed cookie jar, roars, and thumps their head on the floor. This kid is SEEING RED. Luckily, Mom is there to save the day, and provides some calming wisdom; she acknowledges her child to stop engaging in self-destructive behavior and encourages them to count to 10. The panels illustrate each number with an angry red scribble as the little one counts their way to solace; the fonts become less black and bold, more gray, almost ethereal, and the angry red scribbles lessen, becoming little sprinkles as the little one learns to self-comfort and goes from rage to relaxed. Mom and little one do some deep breathing, the little one gets that cookie, and all is well once again.

Red Red Red wonderfully depicts a meltdown from beginning to end, with a positive workaround that parents and caregivers can put into action. The toddler depicted is genderless, making them accessible to any reader, and the illustrations are boldly outlined with light, pastel colors, really letting that angry red blast off the page and make a statement. Even the endpapers get into the story, with angry red scribbles greeting readers as they open the book; as the book concludes, tantrum over, the back endpapers show childlike drawings of red hearts strung across the pages.

A very helpful book to have on hand (we adults need to remember this stuff, too) for parents, educators, and caregivers. We get frustrated, too, and seeing this mom keep her cool as she comforts and guides her little one through a tantrum is a helpful reminder that two people getting mad leads nowhere. Display this one with book like Zachariah Ohora’s No Fits, Nilson!; two of my favorites are still Mo Willems’ Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! andHow Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Hollow Dolls takes the Shadow Weaver duology in a new direction

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Hollow Dolls, by MarcyKate Connolly, (Jan. 2020, Sourcebooks), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4926-8819-8

Ages 9-14

Picking up immediately after the events in Shadow Weaver (2018) and Comet Rising (2019), Hollow Dolls, set in the Shadow Weaver universe, follows Simone and Sebastian, two of Lady Aisling’s captives, as they try and rebuild their lives. Simone is a mind reader, determined to find her lost family – but she has no idea how old she is, having been Lady Aisling’s prisoner, suspended in time, for so long. Sebastian, a memory thief, invites her to stay with him and his sister, Jemma, as she begins her search, and the three decide to head to the Archives to seek information about Simone’s village. After visiting Lady Aisling in prison, Simone and Sebastian discover that a body walker – someone with a talent to control another person – has taken over Jemma, and the two head off on their journey alone. When they meet a woman named Maeve, also headed to the Archives to learn what happened to her family, they’re so relieved to have found someone they can trust, but strange things start happening when the group arrives at the Archives, too.

Hollow Dolls is an expansion of the Shadow Weaver universe, but there’s enough background in the book that new readers should be able to follow along (and most likely, head for the Shadow Weaver books when they’re finished). Simone and Sebastian’s friendship is a strong part of the story, and the Archives staff and other guests have mixed emotions over their presence there, but there’s not enough meat to the characters to invest readers. The world-building is solid and interesting, and I wanted to know more about the Archives. The unraveling revelations are well-played, and readers will like the overall smooth pace of the novel. In short, Hollow Dolls is good; I just wanted more – which is a pretty good thing, overall. Shadow Weaver readers will likely get much more from this.

Author MarcyKate Connolly’s website has more about her books, a link to her blog, and information about her appearances.

 

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

Lauren Myracle’s This Boy is quiet and powerful

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

This Boy, by Lauren Myracle, (Apr. 2020, Candlewick Press), $18.99, ISBN: 9781536206050

Ages 14+

Paul Walden is an ordinary teen. He’s not a chest-beating jock, he’s just Paul, and This Boy takes us from freshman year to senior year. We meet Paul and his best friend, Roby; we meet Natalia Gutierrez, the girl they both fall for. They’re ordinary teens, doing teen stuff: some beer, some weed, but mainly, video games and talking about girls. Until disaster strikes and Paul finds himself gripped by addiction, depression, and grief.

This Boy is Lauren Myracle is her most powerful. The story shows readers exactly how “this could happen” to the kid next door. We all know Paul: he lives next door, or have a class or two with him. He’s the Everyman (Everyteen) of the story: living with his mom, not terribly close with his dad, loves playing video games and hanging out with his best friend. The dialogue is so painfully everyday teen; the small moments that make up the first part of this book are so spot on, that it makes the ensuing tragedy and Paul’s spiral even more heartbreaking to witness. He tries to dull his grief, but the usual social drinking isn’t working. He ups his game, becoming a full-blown addict. Paul’s mother isn’t invisible in this story; she’s a scared parent who doesn’t know what to do to help her boy. By trying her own methods first, she puts him in danger of a relapse, and has to come face-to-face with her own complicity in it. Paul’s story is raw and gritty, with frank descriptions of sex, masturbation, and drug use.  A strong choice for teen collections, and a good book to hand to readers who enjoy Chris Crutcher, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Eric Devine.  Hypable has an excerpt available.

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

A new intermediate series arrives in the US: Jasmine Green Rescues

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’ve just finished two books in an intermediate series that’s debuting here this month. Jasmine Green Rescues, originally published in the UK, is a series of books about a young girl named Jasmine. Her dad is a farmer; her mom is a farm vet, and Jasmine and her best friend, Tom, both adore animals.

Jasmine Green Rescues: A Piglet Called Truffle, by Helen Peters/Illustated by Ellie Snowdon, (March 2020, Candlewick Press), $14.99, ISBN: 9781536210255

Ages 7-11

We meet Jasmine when her mom, Nadia, is called to help a farmer with one of his laboring cows. Jasmine tags along and visits a new litter of piglets, noticing that a runt has been overlooked and is in desperate need of special care. She quietly “adopts” the runt, when the farmer decides it’s best to let nature take its course, but Jasmine’s parents discover the piglet, which Jasmine has already named Truffle, and suggest Jasmine clear it with the farmer before allowing her to nurse Truffle back to health. Jasmine and her best friend, Tom, quickly discover that Truffle is pretty smart, which will come in very handy when Jasmine boards Tom’s guinea pigs!

This first book in the Jasmine Green series puts the overall theme of the series into motion. We meet Jasmine and her best friend, Tom, who are working toward creating a veterinary/pet boarding practice. Jasmine’s older sister and younger brother make appearances, as do her parents, to give us more depth and set up further adventures. Having a veterinarian mother and farmer father means readers get some good information about farm animals and pet care, too! There’s a lot packed into this slim volume, but animal lovers will embrace Jasmine and company, especially with Ellie Snowdon’s black and white illustrations adding adorable animals and farm scenes to enjoy. You can enjoy a preview chapter at Candlewick’s webpage.

 

Jasmine Green Rescues: A Duckling Called Button, by Helen Peters/Illustated by Ellie Snowdon, (March 2020, Candlewick Press), $14.99, ISBN: 9781536210255

Ages 7-11

In this second Jasmine Green outing, Jasmine and Tom rescue a group of orphaned duck eggs when an unleashed dog wreaks havoc on Jasmine’s father’s land. The work is hard and heartbreaking, but so rewarding when one duckling survives and bonds with Jasmine. Readers learn how much care goes into taking care of eggs and baby animals here, going through the emotional work with Jasmine throughout the story. Like Truffle the piglet, Button is a pretty extraordinary duckling and befriends other animals on the farm, becoming especially close to a lamb Jasmine’s dad cares for. Can Button help save the day – and the when an emergency happens at the farm?

Like A Piglet Called Truffle, A Duckling Called Button is sweet with emotional moments. Both books take a no-nonsense look at nature, which can be unkind; animals do die in these stories, and Jasmine grieves when they do, showing kids that it’s okay; it’s normal. The books illustrate the incredible amount of dedication, love, and work that go into caring for animals, and Jasmine’s plan to become a veterinarian/animal boarding service is sound and she and Tom show initiative in revisiting their plans and revising them as they go, also showing readers how to put their ideas and dreams into action. Once again, Ellie Snowdon’s artwork enhances the story with black and white illustrations. Sample a chapter at Candlewick’s webpage.

I’m enjoying what I’ve read of this series so far and look forward to seeing what other Jasmine Green adventures the future holds! Give these to your E.B. White fans, your Shelter Pet Squad readers, and fans of Hilary McKay’s Lulu series.

Posted in Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

The Perils of Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Daring Darleen: Queen of the Screen, by Anne Nesbet, (Apr. 2020, Candlewick Press), $18.99, ISBN: 9781536211757

Ages 10-14

It’s 1914, and silent serials are all the rage at movie houses. Fort Lee, New Jersey, is the filmaking hotspot, and 12-year-old Darleen is the star of Matchstick Studios’s adventure serial, Daring Darleen. The studio, run by Darleen’s father, uncles, and aunt, churn out serials where Darleen faces bad guy after bad guy while searching for her dear papa, but the dangers she faces onscreen are nothing compared to the turn her real life takes when a publicity stunt goes haywire and Darleen finds herself kidnapped – FOR REAL – alongside a young heiress. Darleen and Victorine, a “poor little rich girl”, quickly bond and work on a way to escape their captors and keep Victorine safe from her money-hungry relations.

Daring Darleen is a great piece of historical fiction, with a rich background of the early filmmaking industry and Fort Lee’s place in it (an author’s note touches on the industry and real characters who cameo in the story). Darleen is a smart, spunky young heroine and Victorine is her protege; the two have a remarkable chemistry that comes together on the page and makes them a formidable duo. Victorine blossoms as Darleen’s daring rubs off on her, and Darleen is always working to keep one step ahead of everyone else. Two strong female heroines, a good supporting cast of characters, and a well-paced, plotted story make Daring Darleen a book to have on your shelves. Will Daring Darleen have more adventures? Like the silent serials of old, we just have to wait and see!

Daring Darleen: Queen of the Screen has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. Publisher Candlewick has a sample chapter available on their website, and librarian/podcaster/reviewer extraordinaire, Betsy Bird, has an interview with author Anne Nesbet here. Want to show off a silent film to get your reading group in the mood for a Daring Darleen discussion? Check out one of Anne Nesbet’s favorites, Alice Guy Blaché’s Falling Leaves (1912), right here:

Posted in Early Reader, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction

NatGeo Readers shine a spotlight on Women’s History

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

March is Women’s History Month – do you have your displays up? I feel like I’m a hundred years behind, but thankfully, my saving grace is that I merchandise as I go, so I’ll pull a few books out as I wander my room, make sure they’re face-out, and pique the kids’ interest as they wander the stacks. Teachers Pay Teachers has me covered again, thank goodness, as does Education.com. I’ve got printables galore thanks to these two sites; everything from trading cards to coloring sheets, for which I’m hugely grateful.

Biographies are always good to have on hand, especially when those research projects come up. NatGeo Kids’s leveled Easy Reader series is a big help for collections geared toward younger readers.

Susan B. Anthony, by Kitson Jazynka, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $4.99, ISBN: 9781426335082

Ages 5-7

The Level 1 Co-Readers also provide a nice bonding opportunity, with a “You Read/I Read” format that lets a grownup read a page with denser text, but with fact boxes and color photos and illustrations that allow for discussion. The “I Read” page has bigger, bolder text, simpler vocabulary, and repeated new vocabulary words that let a new reader try out words they’ve just read with their grownup.

Susan B. Anthony’s biography introduces readers to the feminist pioneer, with information about her upbringing, her background as a teacher, her friendships with Frederick Douglass and work with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with whom she traveled, speaking about women’s suffrage. Five “Your Turn!” sections present discussion questions and invite readers to come up with their own viewpoints on causes they believe in, differences between school in Susan B. Anthony’s time versus the present, and how to hold an election (voting on artwork, they start the kids off gently!). Loaded with photos from primary sources and helpful, quick call-out fact boxes, this is a nice introduction to women’s history for readers becoming more comfortable with informative text. There’s a Susan B. Anthony coloring page available for free on Education.com, which will make a nice addition to a reading.

 

Harriet Tubman, by Barbara Kramer, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $4.99, ISBN: 9781426337215

Ages 6-8

Level 2 readers are the next Easy Reader step, good for kids ready to work on greater informational text, with more vocabulary. There are fact boxes, “Words to Know” boxes that define new vocabulary words, and a timeline of the subject’s life; in this case, abolitionist, spy, and activist Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman’s biography begins with her childhood as a slave named Araminta; her escape via the Underground Railroad and continued work in leading slaves to freedom along the Railroad, her work as a Northern spy during the Civil War, and her postwar life and work with the African American elderly. Spaced between the denser text about Harriet Tubman’s life are spreads with chunked facts like, “In Her Time”, where readers can learn facts about life as a slave in 1820s America, “6 Cool Facts About Harriet Tubman”, and a quiz. Readers can discover Ms. Tubman’s own words with “In Her Own Words” quote boxes throughout the text. There are incredible photos of Harriet Tubman and primary sources (newspapers, Tubman’s hymnal), maps, and artwork.

Great for newly confident independent readers, perfect for a circle time or history readaloud, this Harriet Tubman biography is a brilliant, compact introduction for readers to an iconic figure in history. Education.com has a free, downloadable Harriet Tubman coloring sheet to have handy, too.

 

Breaking Through: How Female Athletes Shattered Stereotypes in the Roaring Twenties, by Sue Macy, (Feb. 2020, National Geographic Kids), $18.99, ISBN: 9781426336768

Ages 8-12

Welcome to the Roaring Twenties! A hundred years ago, things were very, very different: we didn’t have Title IX protecting girls’ and women’s rights to compete in school sports, for starters, but women found ways to get it done. Breaking Through travels through the original Roaring Twenties, a decade where women, having just secured the right to vote, are ready to take on more. But women in athletics? Perish the thought! Each chapter takes on a different year in the 1920s and profiles the women who fought their way into the athletic arena and the critics who opposed them. There are reprints from news stories, black and white photos and full-color artwork, and historical events that place readers fully in the context of each year. While Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to earn a pilot’s license, was making headlines in 1922, for instance, the National Women’s Party began their campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment (and we’re still waiting, folks); archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb, and the Charleston was the dance rage. Each year profiles a Trailblazer whose dedication to the sport opened the door for generations to come. An epilogue looks at where women in sports are now, from Wilma Rudolph to Billie Jean King to Megan Rapinoe. A timeline, Defining Moments in Women’s Sports, looks at 15 major highs and lows of women’s athletics. Resources are available for further research. Breaking Through is a needed history of women’s athletics, perfect for middle graders.