Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Blog Tour and Giveaway!: What if Everybody Thought That? by Ellen Javernick

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

What if Everybody Thought That?, by Ellen Javernick/Illustrated by Colleen Madden, (Aug. 2019, Two Lions), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1542091374

Ages 4-8

The third book in Ellen Javernick and Colleen Madden’s “What if Everybody…” series takes a look at our internal dialogues. You know what that means… those moments when you think you’re keeping your feelings to yourself, but those thoughts come out in other ways. Here, we see crossed arms, pouts, and sneers as kids make suppositions about classmates with special needs, classmates who stutter, kids on the playground that want to play basketball, but may be a little shorter than the others.

Many of us grew up being told that “you can think it, but just don’t say it”, but What if Everybody Thought That? is here to tell you that thoughts can be toxic, too. What if Everybody Thought That? is all about how what we think influences how we act toward others. Kids scrunch up their faces and glare at foods from other cultures at an international food fair, or decide that a special needs classmate who mispells a word isn’t smart enough to be in their class. Alternating spreads illustrate a situation where classmates thinking devaluing thoughts, only to have those conclusions turned on their head when the children show other talents. The classmate who had trouble spelling vacation? He’s a whiz at robotics. That food fair turns into a success when kids try exciting new foods and rave about their experiences. A boy with a stutter can sing with a clear and strong voice, bringing his classmates to their feet with resounding applause.

What If Everybody Thought That? is here to remind readers to give everyone a chance. We’ve all got different talents and abilities, after all. The book also illustrates how thoughts can lead to action – if we think devaluing or negative things about one another, it can eventually lead to us “othering” people – separating and isolating people who aren’t like us. As one boy says to another, “I think we should all be more thoughtful”. What if everybody thought that? Ellen Javernick’s repetitive message challenges readers to pause and take a moment to ponder what would happen if positive, as well as negative, thoughts were to go viral. It creates a thoughtful atmosphere, and provides opportunities for strong class discussions and teachable moments.

Colleen Madden’s artwork presents a multicultural group of kids with a wide range of abilities and challenges, and includes quiet background lessons that support and emphasize author Ellen Javernick’s message. A playground blacktop has encouraging messages, like, “You can do it!” written in chalk; a girl with alopecia stands in a bathroom that sports graffiti-ed statements like, “How do you know, if u don’t ask?” and “Put yourself in someone else’s s-h-o-e-s”; a stage curtain hosts the message, “things are seldom what they seem”.

This is a great series, and one that I’ll be reading during class visits in the coming school year. What if Everybody Said That? went over well last year, and I’m looking forward to introducing visiting teachers and students to What if Everybody Thought That? this year.

Want a chance at winning your very own copy of What if Everybody Thought That? Check out this Rafflecopter giveaway! (U.S. addresses only, please!)

 

Ellen Javernick is the author of more than twenty books for children, including the Children’s Choice Book Award finalist The Birthday Pet, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley, and the bestselling picture book What If Everybody Did That?, illustrated by Colleen Madden. She has been an elementary school teacher for more than twenty years and currently teaches second grade. She lives in Loveland, Colorado.

Colleen Madden is the illustrator of numerous children’s books, including the picture book adaptation of All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey and the bestselling picture book What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick. She lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two sons. To see more of her work, visit: http://www.mbartists.com/cgi-bin/iowa/artists.html?artist=77

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

A sheep in wolf’s clothing? Lana Lynn Howls at the Moon

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Lana Lynn Howls at the Moon, by Rebecca Van Slyke/Illustrated by Anca Sandu, (Sept. 2019, Peachtree Publishers), $16.95, ISBN: 9781682630501

Ages 4-8

Lana Lynn is a sheep with far greater aspirations than just hanging out and nibbling grass, sipping water from the pond, or napping in the meadow. She wants to run wild! To stay up late! To howl at the moon! Other sheep think Lana is odd, but her best friend, Shawn, sticks by her, even when she poo-poos (actually, she “fiddle-dee-dees”) his invitations to nibble, sip, and nap. When Lana discovers a hairy blanket one night, she tries it on and discovers the disguise is perfect: she looks like a wolf! She finds a pack of wolves and joins in their nocturnal activities, but things get a little awkward when they invite her back to their cave for dinner, and Lana discovers that Shawn – along with a squirrel and a rabbit – are on the menu! After saving Shawn from the wolves, Lana decides that she’s had enough adventure for one night, and she decides to stick to howling on the moon on her own in the future… because “even a sheep likes a little adventure now and then”.

Lana Lynn is a cute little story about venturing outside one’s comfort zone, but making sure to know what’s really important at the end of the day. Lana Lynn – adults will get the joke, pass it along during a storytime read – is a spunky little sheep, and her friend Shawn is a foil; content, where she is restless. The cartoony digital art features characters with giant, expressive eyes and bold outlines. Colors are muted, with boldly outlined sheep standing out against the pale green or white backgrounds, and muted, smudged nature colors providing soft landscapes. Endpapers have sleeping sheep sprawled across the pages.

Lana Lynn Howls at the Moon is a cute additional add to picture book collections. Publisher Peachtree has a free, downloadable activity kit, including a word scramble, word search, and crossword puzzle.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Stanley the Hamster chugs back to bookshelves with Stanley’s Train

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Stanley’s Train, by William Bee, (Aug. 2019, Peachtree Publishers), $14.95, ISBN: 978-1-68263-108-9

Ages 3-7

Stanley the Hamster is back! This time, he’s workin’ on the railroad, along with his buddy, Charlie. The two get the train ready to go; they oil, grease, and shovel, and then chuf-chuf-chuf along, picking up their neighbors for a trip to Seaside, and a day at the beach. When the day is done, they load everyone back on the train, and head back home, where Stanley has his routine supper, bath, and bedtime.

This is William Bee’s 12th Stanley book. It’s a series kids enjoy because Stanley and his friends are adorable; they learn careers and concepts, encounter familiar, regular characters, and contain a familiar routine to close out each book, as Stanley returns home from his busy day. Stanley and Charlie work on getting the train ready for its trip, giving young learners a glimpse into maintaining a vehicle. The colors are bright and bold, primary colors with bold, black outlines that pop against the white background of the pages. Each book closes with Stanley’s return, with three spreads dedicated to Stanley’s evening routine: “Well! What a busy day!/Time for supper! Time for a bath!/And time for bed! Goodnight, Stanley!”

Transportation fans will enjoy Stanley’s’ Train, because train books are HUGE with preschoolers. Stanley books are great storytime standards, because the text is large, bold, and brief. Pair these with Lisbet Slegers’s community helper picture book “… and What They Do” series, and Brian Biggs’s Tinyville Town board book series. Learn more about Stanley and his friends at Peachtree Publishers’ Stanley Fan Page, where you can also find fun downloadable word searches, activities, and coloring pages.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Teen, Tween Reads

Folk and Fairy Tales from Across the Pond: Between Worlds

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland, by Kevin Crossley-Holland/Illustrated by Frances Castle, (Oct. 2019, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536209419

Ages 10+

Forty-eight folk and fairy tales from Britain and Ireland; some you’ve heard before, most will be new to you. The tales are organized by Magic and Wonder; Adventures and Legends; Power, Passion, and Love; Wits, Tricks, and Laughter; and Ghosts. This is a wonderful tome for your fantasy and fairy/folk tale collections; especially, if, like me, you love having a collection of tales from all over the world. Some are short enough to read aloud, others are longer and invite readers to sit down, have a nice cup of hot chocolate, and imagine a storyteller leading you back through time for  stories about fairy rings, boggarts, and changelings. Frances Castle’s stark black-and-white illustrations set a mood for each story and each section. An afterword on “Why Everyone Needs to Be Able to Tell a Story” is told as a final folktale, infusing the entire volume with a bit of magic. Comprehensive source notes identify each story’s source(s) and original titles, if any.

A definite add to your folk and fairy tale shelves, and a gorgeous gift for readers. Keep a copy at your Reference desk, too, if you have it in the budget.

 

 

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

Middle School #MeToo: Maybe He Just Likes You

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Maybe He Just Likes You, by7 Barbara Dee, (Oct. 2019, Aladdin), $17.99, ISBN: 9781534450158

Ages 9-13

It all starts with an unwanted hug that takes seventh-grader Mila by surprise, on the school playground, when the basketball boys decide to join in on a friend’s birthday celebration. It keeps going: unwanted hugs, comments, even touches; barely disguised chuckles and cheers among the basketball boys. Mila knows it’s wrong. She feels uncomfortable, she feels it in her skin, but her friends think she’s being dramatic. The teacher she tries to talk to brushes it off. And it keeps going, because she doesn’t want to mention it to her mom: she’s got enough problems, raising two kids on her own and having a lousy time at work. When Mila steps into a karate class, though, and makes an unexpected friend, she starts to recover her confidence and realizes that she owns her own power, and if no one will help her, she’s going to take matters into her own hands.

Maybe He Just Likes You. Who hasn’t heard this phrase, growing up? It’s been the excuse, as old as time, for behaviors from hair-pulling to unwanted brushes across parts of our bodies; smirks and hapless shrugs with half-chuckled, half-muttered, “Sorrrrrry” responses. It’s been the excuse, putting it on young girls and women to endure the snickers and comments as we walk down the halls of school, play outside, walk into the workplace. Barbara Dee’s book introduces us to Mila, a seventh grader who finds herself the object of a group’s attention; their power play. She asks for help, and gets brushed off. Her friend, Zara, seems almost jealous of the attention she’s getting, not understanding that attention like this is unwanted, unasked for. She’s gaslighted by her tormentors, who tell her to “lighten up”; that she blows things out of proportion; that she can’t take a joke. Just as Mila begins to withdraw into herself, she starts taking a free karate class, and discovers a classmate who notices that something’s been going on, and encourages Mila to stand up for herself. Karate practice, plus this new, unexpected friendship, gives Mila clarity and the ability to bring attention to the behavior, and discovers that she is not the only one the boys have targeted.

Mila is a strong, smart character in whom readers may see themselves. Barbara Dee creates a painfully real story with Maybe He Just Likes You; a story that has taken decades to come to light, but isn’t backing down anymore. Mila’s first person narration makes it much easier to envision ourselves in Mila’s shoes, and Barbara Dee’s strong, clear voice makes Mila’s creeping discomfort and anger palpable, causing us to curl our fingers and grit our teeth. I wanted to cheer for her, I wanted to scream for her, I wanted to yell and demand that her educators take notice of what was going on – and wanted to sink into my seat with relief when someone finally does.

Sexual harassment has spent too long feeding on our silence. With the #MeToo movement, and now, a #MeTooK12 movement, kids are learning about respect, consent, and boundaries. Let’s support them. I hope that Maybe He Just Likes You will come with an educator guide with sexual harassment resources and lesson plans for K-12 educators. I have found some on the Web: Institute for Humane Education; Equal Rights Advocates; Harvard University’s “Making Caring Common” Project; and Stop Sexual Assault in Schools.

This is a middle school/upper middle grade novel, and needs to be read by adults, teens, and tweens. Booktalk and display with books like Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie, Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, and Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali. There are more and more books available for YA on this topic; I’m glad that middle grade/middle school is getting their moment, too. School Library Journal has a great article from 2018, “Beyond “No Means No”: Resources on Consent“, and a Teen Librarian Toolbox article from 2014 spotlights two works by Jacqueline Woodson that can fall into either middle grade/middle school or YA. Author Barbara Dee writes about her inspiration in this Nerdy Book Club post.

Maybe He Just Likes You has a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Barbara Dee’s author webpage contains information about her books, school visits, and an FAQ.

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

Aven’s back in Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, by Dusti Bowling, (Sept. 2019, Sterling), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4549-3329-8

Ages 9-14

Dusti Bowling gives readers more of the unsinkable Aven, her family, friends, and life at Stagecoach Pass in the follow-up to 2017’s Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (which also happens to be one of my favorite middle grade books ever). Aven, a middle grader born with no arms; her best friends, Connor, a boy with Tourette’s and Zion, a boy with weight problems, formed a tight-knit group of kids who could lean on each other, strengthen one another, and – because what are friends for? – drive one another nuts. Insignificant Events is a brilliant novel with characters that become part of you the first time you meet them, so to learn that Dusti Bowling was giving us another book about Aven and Company was just the news myself, and so many other readers, needed.

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus changes the game on Aven and her friends once more. Just in time to start high school, Connor’s moved away and makes a new friend. A new female friend. Trying not to let jealousy get to her, she works on affecting indifference, but a cruel prank by some of of the Mean Boys (yep, they exist, and you know exactly who they are) in school devastates Aven, sending her into a PTSD-like spiral of anxiety and depression. Lando, Zion’s older brother, seems interested in Aven, but she can’t imagine – especially while continuing to be bullied by the creep that pranked her – that he’d be interested in her, which makes her more miserable. There’s a subplot where Aven wonders about her father while trying to find Henri’s – the ice cream man at Stagecoach Pass – family as his dementia gets worse, that put my emotions through the ringer.

There’s so much taking place in Momentous Events. Aven and her friends are struggling with adolescence and the things that come with it; namely, shifting friendships, crushes, and first relationships. Aging, death, and family – especially when you know there are family members “out there” somewhere – take up huge parts of Aven’s thinking and feelings here. A new friend on the scene introduces Aven to fictional punk rock band Screaming Ferret, which gives her a new outlet for her feelings and makes me very happy; each chapter begins with a Screaming Ferret lyric, giving readers a heads-up as to what Aven’s mood may be for that chapter.

There are no downsides to Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus. Dusti Bowling gives readers – yet again – incredible characters with messy lives; lives that we recognize, challenges we can understand, sympathize with, and appreciate; and she does it with humor, care, and feeling.

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus has a starred review from Kirkus and is the follow-up to the award-winning book, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. Author Dusti Bowling’s website includes free downloads of cactus bookmarks, teaching resources, and activity guides. Educator Tara Bardeen has created an educator’s guide for Momentous Events, available as a free pdf.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

The Malamander welcomes you to Eerie-on-Sea with a HUGE GIVEAWAY!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor/Illustrated by Tom Booth, (Sept. 2019, Walker Books US), $16.99, ISBN: 9781536207224

Ages 9-13

Winter comes to the sleepy town of Eerie-on-Sea, and Herbert Lemon – the 12-year-old Lost and Founder for the Grand Nautilus Hotel – discovers a girl about his age hiding, in his Lost and Found room, from a very angry man with a hook for a hand. Violet Parma was found abandoned as an infant in the Grand Nautilus Hotel, and she’s come back, determined to learn what would have taken her parents away from her. Is the Eerie legend of the Malamander – a part-fish, part-human creature – tied into the mystery? Everyone in town seems to know more about Herbert and Violet – and the Malamander – than they’re letting on.

I could not get enough of this first Legends of Eerie-on-the-Sea adventure! It’s got a very period feel – very British (the book was originally published in the UK), almost steampunk, but takes place in the modern day. There’s delightfully creepy, creaky worldbuilding; the Malamander itself shows up, wreathed in fog, but is far from mild-mannered, attacking if it feels threatened. There’s a fantastically oddball Book Dispensary, where selections are chosen by a mechanical mermonkey, and a cast of quirky, instantly memorable characters like the mysterious hotel proprietress, Lady Kraken; Mrs. Fossil, the eccentric beachcomber, and Jenny Hanniver, who works in the Book Dispensary. Everyone’s got a backstory, and the world-building is weird and wonderful. Kirkus calls it “H.P. Lovecraft crossed with John Bellairs”, and really, that’s the most spot-on quick take I’ve read. My advanced reader copy only had some of the illustrations in place, but from what I’ve seen, Tom Booth’s black and white artwork lends great shadow and mist to a shadowy, misty, seaside mystery; the characters have exaggerated, bold facial expressions and angular shapes, and every chapter is heralded with a load of tentacles to draw readers in. In other words, it all comes together perfectly.

I loved visiting Eerie-on-Sea, and can’t wait to take my kids (both library and the ones in my family) there for a stay. Malamander is the first in a planned trilogy, so pardon me, while I sit and wait.

Malamander is out in September, but you can read an interview with author Thomas Taylor here. You can read an excerpt and check out some postcards Herbie’s received at the Lost and Found, at the Eerie on Sea website. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that GeekDad gives five reasons to read Malamander, and they’re all very good reasons.

Malamander has a starred review from Booklist.

 

Candlewick has offered a great giveaway for MomReadIt and Malamander. THREE readers will win a Malamander gift set, containing an advanced reader copy of the book and a Malamander tote bag! U.S. addresses only, please, and no P.O. boxes. Check out the Rafflecopter giveaway and enter!

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Learn about these Awesome Achievers in Technology!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Awesome Achievers in Technology, by Alan Katz/Illustrated by Chris Judge, (Aug. 2019, Running Press), $11.99, ISBN: 9780762463367

Ages 8-12

Kids have heard of the big names in Technology: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and, lord knows, Markus Persson (also known as Notch; Minecraft’s creator). But have they heard of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the particle physicist who invented the World Wide Web as a way to share information with other scientists? Or Marie Van Brittan Brown, the nurse from Queens who devised the first closed circuit TV system, in conjunction with her engineer husband? Awesome Achievers in Technology is a series of short bios on some of the lesser-heralded names in technology. The book is part biography compilation, part wacky facts and silly stories, and a sprinkling of dad jokes. There are 12 profiles and 13 biographies – Adam Cheyer and Dag Kittlaus, the developers who created Siri, are included together – with black and white illustrations throughout. There are fun asides, including a “Get the couch potato back where he belongs” maze, remote control pop quiz, and wacky poems and stories from Katz’s memories.

All in all, a fun addition to biography shelves, and a good way to introduce kids to even more figures in STEM history. Awesome Achievers is going to be an ongoing series, with Awesome Achievers in Science hitting shelves on the same day as Awesome Achievers in Technology.

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Ophelia’s back and fabulous in the latest Snazzy Cat Caper

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Fast and the Furriest (Snazzy Cat Capers #2), by Deanna Kent/Illustrated by Neil Hooson, (Sept. 2019, Imprint), $13.99, ISBN: 978-1-250-14347-1

Ages 7-11

The Diva herself, Ophelia von Hairball V of Burglaria is back in her second caper, and I could not be happier! I loved the first book, and her sophomore outing is just as much fun and just as light-hearted. The queen of all cat burglars is still working with her long-suffering (senior) inventor, Oscar Fishgerald Gold, and his robot dog creation, P.U.G. In this new adventure, there’s trouble at the Furry Feline Burglary Institute (FFBI): someone has stolen an artifact from the Institute’s vault, and it could lead to disaster for the FFBI and for felines WORLDWIDE. It takes a thief to catch a thief, so Ophelia’s assigned to the case – but those mutts at the Central Canine Intelligence Agency (CCIA) are hot on her tail, and she’s going to need every trick in her marvelous designer bag to stay one fluffy tail ahead of them, not to mention all the brainpower Oscar has to design new gadgets and costumes for her every step of the way.

The Fast and the Furriest captures all the fun of the first book in the series, introduces a new mystery, and keeps some hilarious subplots going. Ophelia still has her long-simmering feud/competition with her unibrowed cousin, Pierre; she still really, REALLY wants to work alone, but Oscar finds a way to sneak on board – and thank goodness for it; and the dogs at the CCIA will stop at nothing to try and subjugate all of felinekind. The black and white graphic novel panels add directly to the story, breaking up the chunks of text and keeping kids on their toes, switching from text to graphics, and keeping them engaged and reading. In addition to the graphic novel panels, there are black and white illustrations, and each chapter begins, once again, with sage advice from Ophelia, which everyone needs to read and heed. She could write her own Little Instruction Book, in all honesty: “Be the fabulous you want to see in the world”; “Not everyone will adore what you do. That’s purr-fectly fine. Do what makes you feel shiny”; and “Don’t bother ‘overcoming’ your obstacles. Stomp them into fine dust, add glitz, and use as party confetti” are words I need to live by, and, quite frankly, I think the kids in my library do, too. I may have to start printing these up on colorful paper and hanging them up in the kids’ room.

In short, I’m fangirling hard for this intermediate/middle grade series, because we all need to lighten up and enjoy the finer things in life, just like Ophelia. Snazzy Cat Capers: The Fast and the Furriest will be on shelves in September, and what a way to welcome kids back to school.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

The Itty Bitty Witch proves that being small is pretty handy!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Itty Bitty Witch by Trisha Speed Shaskan/Illustrated by Xindi Yan, (July 2019, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 978-1542041232

Ages 4-7

Betty Ann Batsworth is a little witch who can’t wait to start first grade, but she ends up being teased by some of the kids for being small and still having her kinder-broom, calling her “Itty Bitty”. The nickname makes Betty feel itty bitty on the inside, but when her teacher, Ms. Fit, tells the class that they’re going to prepare for the Halloween Dash – a big broom race – Betty is determined to win, and shuck that Itty Bitty nickname!

Coming from the kid who was ALWAYS first or second in height order, I am right there with Itty Bitty Betty. Being small is something we all have to grow into. The Itty Bitty Witch is a sweet story about overcoming childhood teasing, thinking outside the box, and determination. Betty discovers, during the course of the race, that being Itty Bitty is pretty handy – we can fit into places bigger folks can’t, after all! The digital illustration is bold, with cartoony characters and vibrant color. It’s full of teachable moments we can discuss with our kids like teasing vs. encouraging, and loving ourselves in any package.

The Itty Bitty Witch is good Halloween reading, and it’s good anytime reading. Size matters not!

Visit Xindi Yan’s illustrator page for more of her adorable artwork, and author Trisha Speed Shaskan’s author page for more info about her books.