Non-fiction book review - A Garden in Your Belly

 A Garden in Your Belly by Masha D'Yans

 The microbiome fascinates me. Not just because it's this whole world inside of your body but because it is vital to good health. We have this idea that the body does its thing all on its own but that simply is not true. We can't digest without the microbiome. Microscopic life protects and cleans our skin. It's amazing. Its also complex and we can't fully understand it. That makes it a tough subject for a kids book. How do you ex.plain something to kids when we don't fully understand it? D'yans has handled it correctly, making it very representative and artistic. Not a lot of hard facts, more fact based statements. By starting us with the image of a garden and the various life forms in it, the way they work together for the health of the garden on the whole we have a vague structure to consider the microbiome. We don't get into the hows, just the whats. It aids in digestion. We need it. Everyone's is different. It gets started when we are born, a gift from our mother, but is changed by our environment and experiences. With highly artistic illustrations, this book occupies a strange place between non-fiction and a picture book, but it's a solid way to start understanding a complicated idea. 

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Book review - A Thousand Questions

 Title: A Thousand Questions

Author: Saadia Faruqi

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Pop Flies, Robo-Pets, and Other Disasters by Suzanne Kamata

                      Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

Rating:

 

a solid exploration

 

Summary (provided by publisher): Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal.
The cook’s daughter, Sakina, still hasn’t told her parents that she’ll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score—but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family’s kitchen?
Although the girls seem totally incompatible at first, as the summer goes on, Sakina and Mimi realize that they have plenty in common—and that they each need the other to get what they want most.

My opinion: The set up here is one we don't often see in middle grade fiction - a child visiting her mother's homeland for the first time, experiencing a vastly different culture, feeling like an outsider while also feeling like she should understand it better. We get culture clash paired with degrees of class since Mimi and her mother are, by American standards, low income while her grandparents are, by any standards, wealthy. Then we meet Sakina who lives in poverty. So Mimi learns to recognize her own privilege while Sakina also gets a bit of a lesson about assumptions of another culture. We get a simple presentation of the responsibility of the "haves" to the rest of the world. We're also confronted with openly corrupt politics and the complexities of relationships with parents. Most interesting is the ending. Unlike most books for this age group this plot doesn't tie up all of the loose ends. It's more of a snapshot, the events that happen while Mimi and her mother are in Pakistan. A few plot points get resolved but most do not. We're left to draw our own conclusions, making this a great choice for book clubs.

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Book review - Izzy in the Doghouse

Title: Izzy in the Doghouse

Author: Caroline Adderson

Genre: realistic fiction/early chapter book

Similar books: Meet Yasmin by Saadia Faruqi

                     Mi Vida Loca by Jacqueline Jules

Rating:

 

cute

Summary (provided by publisher):From the author of the Jasper John Dooley series comes a new lovable character: Isabel! The first title in this early chapter book series tells us why Isabel just has, has, has to get a dog! Isabel and Zoë are favorite friends --- most of the time. They have side-by-side cubbies at school. They never take off their friendship bracelets. And they make each other laugh like nobody else. But some of the time, Isabel isn't Zoë's favorite friend at all. Because some of the time, the fun things they do end in a no-fun way. Like how they've been sent to the principal's office because of Isabel's shenanigans with some kindergartners. Now Zoë is mad at Isabel, and Isabel is miserable. Isabel is trying everything to win her friend back. Will getting a new puppy help Isabel mend her friendship with Zoë? 

My opinion: Izzy is an irrepressible, entertaining hero in the vein of Junie B Jones or Clementine. She has too much energy and often doesn't think before she acts, leading to trouble that she seldom sees coming. Getting a dog, as we might expect, teaches her to think ahead and pay attention. It forces her to be more responsible. While the plot is fairly predictable, it's easy for young readers to follow and the vocabulary is accessible.
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Picture books for everyone

 Julia's House Moves On by Ben Hatke

Julia's House for Lost Creatures taught readers that there is a place for everyone. In this follow-up volume, Hatke tackles a more subtle lesson: change. The beginning of this book finds the house and it's inhabitants preparing to move. The resourceful Julia has a plan. Of course, that plan is immediately disrupted. The house moves before Julia is ready and she has to change her plans. But each of her plans fails. Eventually, Julia has to accept that you cannot plan for everything, that you just have to let things happen and trust that it will work out. It's something of a melancholy, yet hopeful story. The messaging may not land with a very young audience but the illustrations are so active and charming  that it probably won't matter. It's a joy just to leaf through the pictures. But for older kids, especially those going through a major life change, the message will be affirming.

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Non-fiction book review - Cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain Revolution

Cryptocurrencies and the Blockchain Revolution by Brendan January

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are terms that we hear fairly often but that most of us don't really understand. Personally, I had only a vague notion of how a cryptocurrency works. Thus, my reading of this book. This is a fairly technical read, so some understanding of computers and of programming helps, especially as there is only limited explanation of technical terms. If you can wade through that language, this is a fairly comprehensive explanation of the concepts. We learn about how cryptocurrency and blockchain intersect but also as separate entities. Most notably, there is a significant exploration of other uses of blockchain. I learned a lot from a quick read through and feel like I would glean even more from a second, more focused read. A solid addition to a tech-focused collection

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Book review - Premeditated Myrtle

Title: Premeditated Myrtle

Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce

Genre: historical fiction/mystery

Similar books: The Body Under the Piano by Marthe Jocelyn

                      The Lost Twin by Sophie Cleverly

Rating:

 

solidly entertaining

Summary (provided by publisher): Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle has a passion for justice and a Highly Unconventional obsession with criminal science. Armed with her father’s law books and her mum’s microscope, Myrtle studies toxicology, keeps abreast of the latest developments in crime scene analysis, and Observes her neighbors in the quiet village of Swinburne, England.
When her next-door neighbor, a wealthy spinster and eccentric breeder of rare flowers, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtle seizes her chance. With her unflappable governess, Miss Ada Judson, by her side, Myrtle takes it upon herself to prove Miss Wodehouse was murdered and find the killer, even if nobody else believes her — not even her father, the town prosecutor.

My opinion: My first reaction to this book is to judge it harshly because of it's pun-based title. Too many mysteries rely on a pun. Knowing that I had that bias, it is noteworthy how much I enjoyed reading this book. Myrtle is a compelling protagonist. Flawed but well meaning. She jumps to a few conclusions but largely relies on facts and logic. She doesn't let others refusal to listen hold her back. She follows clues to their inevitable conclusion. And she's not the only complex character. Even the tertiary characters have a reasonable amount of complexity and development. The historical setting may be a barrier for some readers, but it's worth working through that. It's a mystery that mostly takes itself seriously but has it's share of light-hearted moments as well, little sparks of humor to keep it from becoming too dark. A solid read for budding detectives and historians alike.

More information: Both Premeditated Myrtle and it's sequel, How to Get Away with Myrtle, release today. 

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More pegs

 When I feel the need for a little inspiration, I make more famous women peg dolls. Learning about these women is thrilling and I love the idea of kids having them as heroes. This grouping includes Julia Child, Victoria Woodhall, Marian Anderson, and Isabelle Eberhart.