Picture books for everyone

How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea by Kate Hosford


This picture book is almost subversive. It's certainly sneaky, slipping messages of multiculturalism, self-sufficiency, and the value of friendship into an outwardly simple story about making tea. We see the Queen gradually learning how to make her own cup of tea and relaxing her stiff posture and formal appearance. She sacrifices strict dignity for happiness. . It's a pleasure to read. The text isn't overly complicated but flows naturally and conversationally. The detailed drawings convey their message well and do a great job of capturing facial expressions. A great book for older kids as you can build off so many topics

Book review - Goodbye Days

Title: Goodbye Days
Author: Jeff Zentner
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: For This Life Only by Stacey Kade
                     You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
Rating:

warning: likelihood of tears

Summary (provided by publisher): Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. But now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation.
Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a “goodbye day” together to share their memories and say a proper farewell.
Soon the other families are asking for their own goodbye day with Carver—but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these Goodbye Days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?

My opinion: Given the concept here, I don't think anyone wold expect a joy-filled read. Indeed, the raw emotions are almost painful at moments, sitting right at the surface. Zentner doesn't shay away from harsh realities either. Carver deals with his grief in very visceral ways, at times nearly overwhelmed by guilt and blame, both internal and external. He's not only lost his friends, he is viewed by most of his town with suspicion. He's become something of a pariah. Grief on it's own is not unique. What makes this book stand out is the goodbye days, the way they illustrated the varied needs of grieving people. Each goodbye day presents the reader with a different approach to grief. Beyond simply exploring grief, Zentner explores how well we can ever truly know a person. And he does all this with prose that is beautiful in it's simplicity and artistry. Brace yourself before you start it, but do read this book.
 
More information: Goodbye Days releases March 7.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Nana nana nana nana - Bat Pegs!

Anyone else see the Lego Batman Movie this weekend? I went yesterday with my sister, brother, cousin and his wife and kids. It was a solid laugh as well as a reasonably sensible Batman story. I'd been planning to make a Batgirl peg person so with the movie in mind, I made this trio.

I love Robin's goggles

 

Book review - You're Welcome Universe

Title: You're Welcome, Universe
Author: Whitney Gardner
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis
                     The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett
Rating:

a decent read, if something of a mixed bag

Summary (provided by publisher): When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural.
Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up.
Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war.
Told with wit and grit by debut author Whitney Gardner, who also provides gorgeous interior illustrations of Julia’s graffiti tags, You’re Welcome, Universe introduces audiences to a one-of-a-kind protagonist who is unabashedly herself no matter what life throws in her way.

My opinion: I have a lot of respect for the portrayal of Deaf culture in this book. Julia is raised in a Deaf family. She reads lips and signs. Her friend has a cochlear implant. Julia neither derides the use of a CI nor wishes for one. Her choice not to have an implant or wear hearing aids is less about not needing to adapt to the hearing world (as is sometimes the case) than about laziness. Using these devices would require more work than she is willing to put in. Julia is comfortable with her identity as a Deaf person and is initially dismissive of "hearies". Both Julia and her new classmates are forced to confront assumptions and prejudices, to see beyond a person's surface. This confrontation of cultures is certainly the strongest part of the novel. The elements of street art are a little weaker. While I love the visuals included in the book, the use of jargon felt unnatural and many elements of the plot relied too heavily on coincidence.

More Information: You're Welcome Universe releases March 7.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Graphic Novel Spotlight - Decelerate Blue

Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp and Mike Cavallaro

Think of this books as Feed meets V for Vendetta. Dystopias are a great subject for graphic novels since the author doesn't need to spend pages explaining speculative technologies, he can simply show them in use. We gather their details from context. While the inner workings of government and society can be harder to convey, Rapp and Cavallaro handle it fairly well, starting us out with a simple family conversation that, in it's very structure, reveals a lot about society. Some parts of the plot are difficult to follow but a little persistence pays off in a big way, especially since the ending defies expectations.

Non-fiction book review - Strange Fruit

Strange Fruit by Gary Golio

This song is an interesting choice for a picture book subject. While it is Billie Holiday's most well known song, a definite part of her discography, it is very dark. And while the lyrics are not the sole focus, they are an undeniable element. So, not one to pick for the very young. I could see using it in an upper elementary classroom, the age where the right picture book is still an appropriate way to introduce a complex topic. one could use this book as a starting point for a number of issues, even a discussion of racism in mdern society.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Cork board objects

I'm working on a large craft project which is still in progress. With nothing new to post, I went looking around my house for something I'd made before but hadn't posted about yet and caught site of my bulletin board. There are a few items on the board that I'm particularly fond of. At one point I was working on a plan for a felt board of the story Officer Buckle and Gloria. That plan never came to fruition but I did get a little felt Gloria made and was so fond of it that I couldn't bear to just throw it away so it is pinned to my board.

I love her sweet little face

 Also on my board are two customized thumb tacks. Glitter coated horse and unicorn heads are perhaps a bit more girly than my usual fare, but I tend to think of them like taxidermied mounts. They're weird enough to keep. Plus, hacking the heads off of little plastic animals and gluing them to tacks is harder than you might think.