Mom Read It

Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Hilda’s newest adventure: The Stone Forest!

Posted on September 27, 2016September 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Hilda and the Stone Forest, by Luke Pearson, (Oct. 2016, Flying Eye Books), $19.95, ISBN: 9781909263741

Recommended for ages 6-12

The blue-haired adventure-seeker is back in her sixth installment! The time out, Hilda’s grounded, but that’s not stopping her. The only problem is that when she sets out for her latest adventure, her mom catches her and ends up along for the trip. Hilda and her mom are at each other while lost in Trolberg, the land of the trolls, and Hilda has to figure out how to get them both home safely – as a troll!

The Hilda series is such a good graphic novel series for all-ages readers. There’s fun, adventure, and a strong Scandinavian influence that draws readers right in, takes hold of their imaginations, and doesn’t let go. The cartoony art is fun and vibrant and Hilda’s sense of adventure is great. I love that Mom got into the act in this adventure, and I love that she and Hilda bicker through a good portion of this adventure, because it’s fun and yet it’s real. Yes, you’re in a land of trolls with your daughter, but she was grounded is disobeyed you, and now you’re both in this mess? I’d be giving my son grief all the way home.

I met Hilda when I found her first adventure on the shelves at the first library I worked at about two years ago. I need to catch up on more Hilda, though; she’s great fun, and I love introducing graphic novel fans to her adventures. Booktalk this with your other Hilda books, plus other great girl-power graphic novels like Zita the Spacegirl, Cleopatra in Space, and Phoebe and Her Unicorn. For tween readers , talk up the Zaria Fierce books, which also incorporate Scandinavian myths (trolls!) and stars another strong, smart heroine.

Have a look at some of the art from Hilda and the Stone Giants, courtesy of the Nobrow website.

More great news! Hilda is coming to Netflix in 2018!

Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Add Labyrinth Lost to your TBR NOW.

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1), by Zoraida Cordova, (Sept. 2016, Sourcebooks Fire), $17.99, ISBN: 9781492620945

Recommended for ages 13+

Alex lives in Brooklyn with her mom and her sisters. Her dad disappeared a few years ago, and she’s taking it hard, feeling responsible. She’s about to turn 16, so the family is planning her big party. Her Death Day party. Alex and her sisters are Brujas – witches – and they’re the very real thing. But Alex doesn’t want this power. In fact, she suppresses it as much as she can – but keeps that from her family – because she’s afraid of what would happen if she were to let it go. Again.

At her Death Day party, Alex thinks she’s going to cast a spell that would leave her powerless, but something goes haywire, and her entire family vanishes right before her eyes. Now, she’s forced to get help from a Brujo named Nova; they have to travel to the in-between world of Los Lagos to bring her family back, but can Alex even trust Nova? He’s got a lot of secrets and seems to be working from his own playbook.

I loved, loved, LOVED Labyrinth Lost: it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. The story is narrated in Alex’s voice, and she is hilarious. She’s full of snark – “resting witchface” is now a term I need to put into regular rotation – and she wields it like a weapon, guarding herself from the fears that plague her. Unchecked, her power makes her the most powerful witch in her family, and it frightens her, because she’s seen that power loosed once. Zoraida Cordova has a gift for breathing life into her characters; every single character in Labyrinth Lost is amazing. I love the interactions between Alex and her sisters and between Alex and her mother; the Lady and Nova; the characters she meets as she travels through Los Lagos, everyone. Cordova gives us wild fantasy with a realistic tale of a young woman struggling with adolescence. Her adolescence comes with dead relatives, portals to limbo, and witchcraft, but still, adolescence. Steeped in Latin American knowledge and tradition and filled with rich characters, Labyrinth Lost draws you into a world you won’t want to leave. Thankfully, it’s the first in a new series, so hopefully we’ll be visiting with the Brujas again sooner rather than later.

If you haven’t already added this to your YA collections, WHY? If you haven’t picked this up and read it yourself, stop reading this review immediately and go get a copy.

Zoraida Cordova has a great webpage where you can sign up for her newsletter, read interviews and learn more about her books, and follow her on social media.

Early Reader, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate

A microraptor’s adventure; Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs

Posted on September 26, 2016September 24, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Neffy and the Feathered Dinosaurs, by Joe Lillington, (Oct. 2016, Nobrow), $17.95, ISBN: 9781909263895

Recommended for ages 4-10

Neffy the Microraptor is about to go for her first flight – but she doesn’t know what to do after she spreads her wings! Her brothers and sisters have flown ahead, and she needs to catch up! Join Neffy on her adventure, as she meets other dinosaurs and tries to figure out how to get airborne.

This is such a fun combination of fact and fiction. We have Neffy’s fictional story, where a young microraptor tries to learn how to fly and meets feathered dinosaurs along the way. Each dinosaur she encounters has a profile at the bottom of the page, where readers learn the dinosaur’s name and scientific name, size and weight, habitat, diet, family of dinosaurs it belongs to, geographic location and era in which the dinosaurs lived. An author’s note mentions that this isn’t supposed to be a linear book – eras are mixed and matched for fun and to introduce a number of feathered dinosaurs to readers.

Neffy is a good book for a wide range of readers. Kids love dinosaurs, and feathered dinosaurs are a fairly recent discovery, so it’s exciting to read. Younger readers will enjoy Neffy’s story and the bright, fun artwork. Older readers will also enjoy going a little deeper an learning more about these dinosaurs, thanks to the additional information on such dinos as the sinosauropteryx, troodon, and gallimimus. A spread at the end of the book shows readers the scale of a range of dinosaurs – and some humans!

Image courtesy of Nobrow Press

Display this one with Brenda Z. Guiberson’s Feathered Dinosaurs, and show off some more feathered dinos at the American Museum of Natural History’s site. Older readers will get a kick out of the Time for Kids article, “Fuzzy, Was He?”, that discusses the T Rex’s feathered relatives.

Joe Lillington is a UK-based author and illustrator. Check out more of his illustration at his website.

Animal Fiction, Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

What happened to the Moon? Mr. Squirrel and Moon tries to figure it out.

Posted on September 24, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Mr. Squirrel and the Moon, by Sebastian Meschenmoser, (Jan. 2015, North South Books), $18.595, ISBN: 9780735841567

Recommended for ages 3-6

Mr. Squirrel wakes up one morning to discover that the moon has fallen from the sky and landed on his tree! Afraid that he’s going to be blamed for stealing the moon, he desperately tries to get rid of it in this entertaining cumulative tale. The squirrel tries to shove the moon off of his branch, where it lands – and sticks – on a hedgehog. Together, the two attract the attention of a billy goat, some bees, and mice, but can they get the moon back where it belongs before someone notices?

The best parts of Mr. Squirrel and the Moon are the wordless, black and white interludes between episodes of trying to dispose of the moon, when Mr. Squirrel’s imagination takes over, picturing him in a jail cell with a (human) cellmate. The detail is hilarious, from the tiny toilet for the squirrel to the little uniforms for Mr. Squirrel and the rest of the animals as they join him in the cell, to the sight of the moon, back in the sky, with the hedgehog still stuck to it.

The endpapers give readers a clue as to what’s really going on, and the subdued artwork challenges readers to look closer to discover the wonderful little extras Sebastian Meschenmoser adds to his story. This is a fun read-aloud, and is even better for independent readers to sit down and look through at their leisure. There’s so much to discover here.

Image source: PictureThisBook.com

Mr. Squirrel and the Moon was a Winter 2015 Top Ten IndieNext Pick.

Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Depression is not your fault: Detached, by Christina Kilbourne

Posted on September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Detached, by Christina Kilbourne, (Sept. 2016, Dundurn), $12.99, ISBN: 9781459734319

Recommended for ages 13+

Anna is a high school student who doesn’t feel like she fits in. She’s got friends and family who love her, and she’s a talented artist; she seems to have everything going for her, but she doesn’t feel anymore. She’s detached from everything around her; she’s just going through the motions. She doesn’t want to live like this any longer, but she doesn’t want to hurt the people she leaves behind. She’s got plans written out, and finally, once her parents are out for the night, she overdoses on painkillers. A neighbor discovers her and gets medical intervention in time, but now the journey back to life begins, not just for Anna, but for everyone whose lives she touches.

Detached is a painful and accurate look at depression and how it affects everyone. Chapters alternate between Anna’s, her mother’s, and her best friend’s points of view, all told in the first person. Aliya, Anna’s best friend, notices Anna acting strangely, but is worried that saying something will alienate Anna. Anna’s mother, still grieving her own mother’s death, worries about her daughter, but doesn’t seem to grasp the gravity of Anna’s situation until it’s almost too late – and then, we read how Anna’s journey out of the black hole of depression affects a parent. It’s achingly real and it’s scary because it’s something we see in the headlines every day. Are we bad parents if we intervene? Are we bad parents if we don’t? I’d love to see parents and kids read this together and see how the other half thinks.

One of the most important messages coming out of Detached is this: depression is not the sufferer’s fault. It’s not a parent’s fault. It is an illness, just like any other, and it needs to be treated without stigma, with medication, therapy, love, understanding, and care. No one asks for depression to hit. This isn’t a gift, and sometimes, it’s just not possible to find the voice to ask for help. This is the power of Detached: to be that plea for help, for understanding, and to start dialogues that will shed light on an insidious disease.

Detached is an important addition to YA collections, particularly because it does talk so openly about a subject people are often uncomfortable addressing. Display and booktalk with Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why (which also has a very good companion website) and Julie Anne Peters’ By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead.

I read an e-galley of Detached, so I didn’t see additional resources at the end of the book; I hope that some have been added to a finished version. In the meantime, if you need help or know someone who does, please consider The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.

Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Teens on the brink: The Light Fantastic, by Sarah Combs

Posted on September 24, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Light Fantastic, by Sarah Combs, (Sept. 2016, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763678517

Recommended for ages 12+

April 19 is Senior Skip Day, and it’s April Donovan’s 18th birthday. It’s also four days after the Boston Marathon and 18 years after Timothy McVeigh drove a truck bomb through the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. April has a rare memory condition, hyperthymesia, which means she has photographic recall of her life’s events. This recall has spurred an obsession with tragedies that have happened in April, her birth month, throughout history. Elsewhere, Lincoln Evans – connected in his own way to April – is trying to understand his sometime girlfriend, Laura. Their teacher is distracted by another student’s chilling statement earlier. Across the country, a group of teens that call themselves The Assassins, led by someone calling himself (herself?) The Mastermind, are getting ready to set something terrible into motion.

The Light Fantastic brings together seven voices to tell the story of teens on the brink. There’s one adult voice here; a teacher’s voice, and she’s not there to be the heavy, the whistle-blower, or the accomplice. Each voice has a painful story to tell; each narrator has a tale to tell, intertwined with the events of April 19, 2013. It’s a tense, complex novel with some diversity to its voices. It felt a bit scattered at times – I think it may be the multiple narrators, backstories, and locations. Bringing everyone together online was helpful; I would have liked to see a little more of that interaction.

In these days when school and public violence surrounds us, The Light Fantastic is an important book to get into readers’ hands and get them talking. Booktalk this with A.S. King’s I Crawl Through It and by Marieke Nijkamp’s This is Where it Ends. Candlewick offers a free discussion guide with common core information.

Uncategorized

Cover Reveal: The Sophisticates Box Set

Posted on September 23, 2016September 23, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: The Sophisticates Box Set” →

Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

Career Day: The STEM Club Goes Exploring

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The STEM Club Goes Exploring (My Future Story series), by Lois Melbourne, (Sept. 2016, Greenleaf Book Group), $15.95, ISBN: 9781626343030

Recommended for ages 8-12

The STEM Club is excited! They’re going to interview STEM professionals to help them with their own presentations during their school’s Favorites Day. The Club visits a video game company, a veterinary clinic, a hospital, and a mine to learn about the career opportunities in these fields.

This is one of those books you have to have in your collections, whether it’s a classroom, school, or public library. STEM is everywhere; we’re teaching it, we’re creating programs using it, and kids are loving it. It’s bringing a little bit of fun and discovery back to education, which is a great thing, and it’s teaching kids that there are so many careers out there for them, that they can reach for the stars. You can work at NASA, you can create video games or apps, you can be a doctor, a veterinarian, or do anything you can think of. Science and Math aren’t as scary as they used to be when you start talking about coding and gaming, right?

The STEM Club Goes Exploring is the answer to a lot of those “yeah, but what can you do with that?” questions. The ones the kids’ parents sometimes ask me when I’m showing them how to set a code that will make BB-8 roll across their screen, or how to create Hogwarts in Minecraft. The series will also work really nicely with The Magic School Bus – think of it as the school next door; maybe even the middle school Miss Frizzle’s kids head to once they graduate elementary school.

I’m looking forward to seeing more STEM Club adventures, and I’m pretty sure my Corona Kids will, too. There’s diverse representation among the kids and careers, and both genders get equal play. Author Lois Melbourne’s My Future Story series website lets readers meet each of the STEM Club members and read their bios. The site is a great resource, geared toward inspiring readers to identify and explore what they love, what they’re passionate about, to shape their own futures. There are career profiles and articles aimed at the 8-12 and 13-17 year old audiences.

Animal Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction

What Dog Knows

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

What Dog Knows, by Sylvia Vanden Heede, (Sept. 2016, Gecko Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781776570362

Recommended for ages 7-10

Wolf is tired of his cousin, Dog, always knowing more than he does, so he checks a book out of the library (never mind that he can’t read), and tries to outsmart Dog with his new knowledge about mummies, knights, and dinosaurs.

Mixing facts into the fictional tale of the Dog and Wolf, this seems like it’s geared toward younger readers, but then throws in the process of mummification, and a plotline where Wolf intends to mummify Cat, his antagonist, and suddenly, things take a little bit of a weird turn. This wasn’t really my book, and I don’t see the kids in my library really catching on with this one because it’s a bit disjointed and quirky. The art is very sweet, and I did love that Cat struck fear into Wolf’s heart, but overall, it didn’t work for either age group (4-7 vs 8-12) for me.

This is the second Dog and Wolf book from Gecko. Wolf and Dog was published in 2013.

Uncategorized

CYBILS Judges Announced!

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The CYBILS judges for the 2016 awards have been announced, and I made the cut! I’ll be a second round judge for the Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction category, and I’m thrilled! Go to the CYBILS main page for links to the judges in each category and discover some great blogs.

Your turn is coming! Nominations open on October 1, and we want to know what you think are the best children’s and YA books you’ve read this year! Rules for nominating are here.