parent-child relationship – Page 9

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle School, mythology, Tween Reads

Loki’s daughter has her say in The Monstrous Child

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Monstrous Child, by Francesca Simon, (June 2017, Faber & Faber), $11.95, ISBN: 9780571330270

Recommended for ages 12+

Being the daughter of a giantess and the god of mischief is hard enough, but being born as a half-corpse on top of it? No wonder Hel, daughter of Loki and Angrboda, has a chip on her shoulder. Her older brothers are a snake and a wolf, her half-brothers are human – but they’re jerks, and her father’s no prize, whether or not he’s a Marvel and Tumblr heartthrob in another universe.

So goes the story of Francesca Simon’s The Monstrous Child. Narrated by Hel herself, it’s Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology for the middle school set. We read about her anger at Odin’s casting her into Niffelheim to rule over the dead, and the pain of her unrequited love for Baldr, the most beautiful of the Norse gods. We discover her friendship with a frost giant, condemned to oversee the bridge to Hel’s realm, and the despair that leads her to consider a role in Ragnarok: The Twilight of the Gods.

I loved this book. As a fan of Norse myth and YA, I enjoyed seeing the myths from Hel’s perspective: an outcast, literally cast away from her family; forced to make her way on her own. She suffers loneliness, the pain of loving someone unavailable, and the desire for revenge. This is a perfect addition to middle school libraries, and a great way to connect ancient myths to contemporary YA. Hel’s voice is clear and strong; supporting characters also have defined personalities and the dialogue – both Hel’s internal dialogue and the dialogue between characters, particularly between Hel and Loki, is delicious.

Francesca Simon has delved into Greek and Norse myth in the past. While I’m not sure if her books The Sleeping Army and The Lost Gods are part of The Monstrous Child‘s Universe, as they take place on Midgard (Earth), I’m still going to add them to my collection to stand next to Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase series, because the kids at my library read any and all things fictional myth. The Monstrous Child stands on its own as a solid work of Norse myth and middle school-level fiction. Younger readers will be familiar with Ms. Simon’s Horrid Henry intermediate series.

Originally released in hardcover in May 2016, The Monstrous Child‘s paperback release is due out in a few short weeks. You can grab a copy from your library right now!

Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Cuddle-worthy books for Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Sunday is Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmothers, godmothers, and caregivers! I’ve come up with a short list of cuddle-worthy books to snuggle and read with your little ones.

Counting Kisses, by Karen Katz Baby is cranky and tired! Mom knows the way to soothe baby: with kisses! Ten little kisses on teeny, tiny toes, nine laughing kisses on busy, wriggly feet… leading all the way to the last sleepy kiss on baby’s head. Kiss along with this one and watch your little ones giggle and squirm, especially when you throw a tickle or two in for good measure.

Mama Mama, by Jean Marzollo/Illustrated by Laura Regan “Mama, Mama/Play with me/Carry me/So I can see”. One of the sweetest, beautifully illustrated baby books I’ve ever read, Mama Mama pairs animal babies and their loving mothers. This has been one of my favorites since my eldest was a baby; I can still feel my chin on his cheek as I’d read it to him.

Mummy’s Always Right, by Joe Mulvey Never let it be said that we don’t have a sense of humor in my home. I backed this Kickstarter last year and my youngest and I still read it all the time. A little mummy named Gaws (get it? Gauze!) plays with his monster friends while his Mummy provides rhyming advice about hygiene, nutrition, and safety always reminding her little lovey that Mummy’s always right. There are lots of laughs to be had here, especially when meeting some of Gaws’ friends: the cranky Frankenmine, the tentacular Cthu-Lou, and the ghostly Ghoulia. There’s nothing scary about this book – Sesame Street has monsters that are cute; so does Joe Mulvey.

Someday, by Alison McGhee/Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds It’s every mother’s dream for her little ones to live their life to the fullest; to have everything good come to them, to grow, explore, and live. I’m not going to promise you that you’ll finish this book dry-eyed, but you will hug your sweetie a bit longer than usual. The child in the story is female, but you can easily talk to your sons about their milestones they will reach, with you cheering them on every step of the way.

Mamasaurus, by Stephen Lomp Babysaurus and Mamasaurus are eating tender leaves in the jungle one day, when whoops! He slips off her back and finds himself alone. Similar to PD Eastman’s classic Are You My Mother, Babysaurus meets other dinosaurs on his search for Mamasaurus: Does she run fast? Does she have a long horn, or have wings? No, but she knows how to find her Babysaurus, and she’s the best Mamasaurus in the whole jungle. This is my little guy’s and my favorite cuddle book; it’s perfect for reading and snuggle time.

Runaway Mummy: A Petrifying Parody, by Michael Rex Margaret Wise Brown’s Runaway Bunny is (deservedly) on so many lists, I thought I’d give a little love to the equally sweet and very funny Runaway Mummy. A little monster tries on different monster personas to get away from Mummy, but just like the Bunny’s mother in Runaway Bunny, Mummy is never too far behind, even when he transforms into the unthinkable: A BOY. This book gets as much love during a Mother’s Day storytime as it does during a Halloween storytime; give it a shot.

Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

A mother’s love letter to her daughter: When I Carried You In My Belly

Posted on April 5, 2017April 4, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

When I Carried You In My Belly, by Thrity Umrigar/Illustrated by Ziyue Chen, (Apr. 2017, Running Press Kids), $16.99, ISBN: 978-0-7624-6058-8

Middle grade paranormal thrills: Future Flash

Posted on April 4, 2017April 4, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Future Flash, by Kita Helmetag Murdock, (Jan. 2017, Sky Pony Press), $9.99, ISBN: 9781510710115

Historical middle-grade fiction: Snakes and Stones

Posted on March 20, 2017March 20, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Snakes and Stones, by Lisa Fowler, (Nov. 2016, Sky Pony Press), $15.99, ISBN: 978-1-5107-1031-3

A modern twist on Cinderella: It Started With Goodbye

Posted on December 1, 2016November 6, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

It Started With Goodbye, by Christina June, (May 2017, Blink Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9780310758662

Recommended for ages 12+

Tatum Elsea’s not having a great summer. Accused of a crime she didn’t commit – she was trying to get her best friend away from her sleazy boyfriend, to add insult to injury! – she’s under her step-monster’s house arrest for the entire summer, AND her best friend won’t speak to her. She’s working on pulling invasive plants as a community service during the day, and at night, quietly launching a design business to keep from going crazy. Things start looking up when she gets a few nibbles for her design business, including a flirty exchange with a musician who needs a portfolio made to submit to colleges. Her stepmother’s mother is also staying with them for the summer while Tatum’s dad is away on business, and she brings got just a little bit of fairy abuela magic with her, whether it’s a little extra money from her bunco winnings to help Tatum out, or warming up the relationships in the house. Maybe Tatum’s summer will end on a high note, after all.

This is a very sweet, very fun, modern take on Cinderella. Tatum’s stepmother isn’t really evil, she’s just really, really strict; her stepsister is a ballet dancer that’s not as uppity as Tatum thinks she is; her fairy godmother plays bunco and watches Golden Girls while dispensing real talk. There’s a music fest instead of a masked ball, and a cute take on the glass slipper. I had a great time reading this; you’ll just feel better when you’re done. It’s very clean – my conservative readers and my tweens will absolutely embrace this – and the characters are all very likable, even if they are in need of some serious loosening up in the beginning.

A fun, light romance to add to your collections or pass along to teen romance readers. There’s some fun content coming down the pike from author Christina June, including a graphic design contest, playlists, and launch party in the DC area. Keep an eye on Christina’s author page and Blink’s webpage for updates.

Animal Fiction, Fiction, Middle School, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

When activism goes too far? Flip the Bird, by Kym Brunner

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Flip the Bird, by Kym Brunner, (Noc. 2016, HMH Books for Young Readers), $17.99, ISBN: 9780544800854

Recommended for ages 11+

Issues with hunting, falconry, and animal rights activism all come together in Kym Brunner’s Flip the Bird. Fourteen year-old Mercer Buddie wants two things out of life right now: he wants a girlfriend, and he wants to be a falconer, like his father and brother. He’s training as an apprentice to his father, a master falconer, but feels like his dad favors his jock of an older brother and is too critical of him. He captures a red-tailed hawk that he names Flip – to show his dad that falconry doesn’t always have to be a Very Serious Business – and has a few short weeks to train him for the big falconry meet; he’s got his eye on the Best Apprentice Award. Then he meets Lucy, who’s gorgeous and has a great personality and seems to be just as interested in him; the only problem is that she and her family are part of a fanatical animal rights organization called HALT. Mercer tries to play both sides to stay in Lucy’s and his family’s good graces, but sooner or later, the two halves of his life are going to converge. His mother is a scientist at a university lab doing medical research, and his father has a raptor rehabilitation center in addition to being a falconer – which means, a hunter. There are a lot of difficult choices in Mercer’s immediate future.

Flip the Bird brings together a lot of hot button topics to create a moving story about family and going with the crowd. Told in the first person by Mercer, the narrative is humorous while discussing the frustrations of being the little brother; the struggle to be treated like a responsible young adult, and the difficulty in making decisions that may be unpopular with the people you want to impress the most. To impress Lucy, Mercer joins the HALT collective she forms at school, but this puts him at direct odds with his family, and they let him know it. There are consequences to his actions, and we see Mercer grow as he faces those consequences. There’s interesting information about falconry and raptor rescue here, which will appeal to fans of animal fiction and birds. While the author gives a shout-out to some of her research sources in her acknowledgements, and does emphasize the extreme commitment that falconry requires, I’d have liked to see links to information about raptor rescue at the end of the book. I did some quick searching and came up with a quick list for anyone interested: The Raptor Trust, Wild Bird Fund, and A Place Called Hope. PBS’ Falconer’s Memoir page offers a map of states permitting falconry and links to classroom activities for using “A Falconer’s Memoir” in the classroom. The World Wildlife Fund is an organization that works with wildlife conservation and endangered species, and most large zoological preserves pioneer conservation and rehabilitation practices for animals in the wild. Kym Brunner is also a seventh grade teacher, and her author website offers presentations that you can use in the classroom.

I enjoyed the book and the characters. I’ll be adding this to my shelf; if you’ve know realistic fiction, animal fiction, or middle schoolers looking for something new and different to read, add this one to your shelves and shopping lists.

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

Gifted versus Ashkind: Helena Coggan’s The Catalyst

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Catalyst, by Helena Coggan, (Oct. 2016, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763689728

Recommended for ages 12+

A dimensional cataclysm on our world turned the human race against one another: some are green-eyed Gifted, who wield magical powers; others are dark-eyed, non-magical Ashkind. A fragile peace is in place after a great war between Gifted and Ashkind, but there seems to be signs that something’s brewing again. Rose is a 15 year-old girl whose father, David, is in charge of the Department, a brutal law enforcement agency. David and Rose are gifted, and something… more. Something they must keep others from finding out. A mysterious murder suspect knows their secrets, though, and he’s blackmailing Rose into helping him – putting her loyalty to her father, and the Department, to test.

Helena Coggan was 15 years old when she wrote The Catalyst, and that alone makes it pretty darned impressive. She’s got some solid world-building in this first book (the second, The Reaction, has already been released in the UK), and I liked a lot of her character development. The action is well-paced, and the dystopian elements of the individual leading a group against the shadowy government is tweaked to include magic elements, a nice update to the genre. There was quite a bit to keep sorted for me at first, especially with the introduction of other groups like the Host; it took me a few re-reads of some pages to set them within the frame of the book. All in all, a good addition to dystopian/sci fi collections for those with strong readerships.

Helena Coggan’s got a WordPress site that has a nice photo and description of The Reaction, for anyone who wants to know more about the Angel Wars series.

Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

My Dad is a Clown heals bodies and souls

Posted on November 17, 2016November 16, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

My Dad is a Clown/Mi papá es un paysaso, by José Carlos Andrés/Illustrated by Natalia Hernández, (Jan. 2017, NubeOcho), $14.95, ISBN: 978-84-944137-6-6

Recommended for ages 4-8

A boy with two dads is proud of what they do for a living, and wants to be like them both when he grows up. Both of the boy’s dads are healers: one dad, Pascual, is a doctor and heals his patients’ bodies; his other dad, whom he refers to as simply “Dad”, is a clown, and heals people’s souls. Pascual and the boy sneak into Dad’s rehearsal one day, where the boy realizes the hard work that goes into being a performer, and decides that he will combine the best of his fathers’ professions when he grows up.

This is a sweet story about a boy who loves and is proud of his parents. We also see a loving relationship between the boy’s parents, who happen to both be men. The cartoony two-color art, primarily black and white with reds added for visual interest and emphasis, is both sweet and dramatic. The family is tender with one another, unafraid to show affection. It’s a gratifying, emotional read, particularly when the family reunites after Dad’s rehearsal and they share happy tears.

This third edition of the story is a bilingual edition, translated into English and includes the Spanish text directly beneath the English text, both featured in a highlighted typewriter font that makes for easy independent and cuddle time reading. It’s good for English and Spanish language learners, and is a sweet story about family love to add to your bilingual collections and your storytime rotation. Put this 0ne on your shelves: there are families out there who need and deserve to have their stories told.

Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

The Last Cherry Blossom remembers Hiroshima

Posted on November 7, 2016November 6, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Last Cherry Blossom, by Kathleen Burkinshaw, (Aug. 2016, Sky Pony Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781634506939

Recommended for ages 10-14

Narrated in the first person by 12 year-old Yuriko, The Last Cherry Blossom tells the story of a family living in Hiroshima during the last year of World War II. Yuriko lives with her widowed father, her aunt Kimiko, and obnoxious 5 year-old cousin, Genji. She and her best friend Machiko stealthily listen to American Jazz records; Machiko’s father got rid of (almost) all of their records because the government wants to be rid of any American influence. She’s used to the air raid drills, even if they annoy her, but when her neighbor is called to fight for Japan, and then Machiko is called to leave school to work at the factory, Yuriko starts feeling the impact of war. She hears whispers from the neighborhood – and her father does run a newspaper – that Japan is not faring as well as the radio and newspapers would have you believe. When the true horror of war is brought to Yuriko’s door, we see, through her eyes, the devastation that the bombing of Hiroshima brought.

The Last Cherry Blossom is powerful. Even as an account of a family’s life during World War II, it’s a strong book, because it shows readers – in parallels we can make today – that the “enemy” isn’t an entire country; an entire group of people. The enemy were children teasing one another, rolling their eyes at annoying aunts and cousins, worried about their parents remarrying, and secretly listening to music that their parents may not approve of. The enemy loved eating sweet treats and held celebrations and cried when they lost people they loved in war, just like we did. Inspired by the author’s mother’s own life living as a child in Hiroshima, Ms. Burkinshaw writes so beautifully, yet packs a literary gut-punch that left me biting back tears.

There has been some strong World War II realistic/historical fiction for middle grade in the last couple of years, for which I am grateful. I’m very happy to see fiction that explores life outside the U.S. during World War II: we need perspective; reminders to look outside ourselves; to see the cost that war demands on everyone.

An author afterword tells readers about the author’s mother, and how her daughter’s class visits eventually led to the book being written. There’s also a bibliography, notes on the use of honorifics in the story, a glossary, and statistics about Hiroshima, complete with sources.

This is a good add to historical and realistic fiction collections. Booktalk with Sandy Brehl’s World War II books, taking place in Norway under the Nazi occupation; Sharon McKay’s End of the Line, taking place in Amsterdam, and most closely related to Burkinshaw’s work, Sadako and the Thousand Cranes (and please have tissues available).