Picture books for everyone

111 Trees by Rina Singh

What a cool, inspiring book. Singh relays the true story of a man who took a tragedy and used it to inspire his village to show it's love for it's daughters. It's the perfect intersection of learning to value girls and protecting the environment, even rehabbing land that seemed irreparably destroyed. I loved the idea that by tying the trees to the children the people are more motivated to take care of those trees. That neglecting their care is akin to neglecting the children. And then we see how this one action, this wild and extreme movement, has a rippling affect on the entire community. It affects the environment of course. Their physical health. But it also affects how they interact with one another. A wonderful object lesson on the power of a single action for young readers.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Non-fiction book review - William Still and His Freedom Stories

 William Still and His Freedom Stories by Don Tate

We hear a fair number of stores about slavery and the Underground Railroad. What we seldom consider is how we know those stories. I'd never heard that it was a focused effort to record slaves' stories until I read this book. Due to William Still we know about slavery conditions and the efforts of escape. It makes the history unimpeacheable, having first person accounts. And it's inspiring, to learn how this young man use the opportunity he was given by being raised in freedom and properly educated to do everything in his power to help others, to reunite families and give his people help moving forward. A great addition to history collections.

 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Muffled

 

Title: Muffled

Author: Jennifer Gennari

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

                     Rain Reign by Ann M Martin

Genre: realistic fiction

Rating: 

 

more complex than it first appears

Summary (provided by publisher): Ten-year-old Amelia does not like noise. From subway brakes to squeaky sneakers, she is sensitive to sound, just like her dad. Amelia has always worn noise-canceling headphones, but now that she’s going into fifth grade, her parents want her to stop wearing them. To make matters worse, she must learn to play an instrument! Or, as Amelia sees it, make noise on purpose.
To help Amelia cope, her father gives her a pair of earmuffs to wear instead. Even with her new earmuffs, Amelia struggles at school…until she gets partnered with Madge in music class. Madge is loud and bold and goofy—everything Amelia is not. And so Amelia is surprised when Madge wants to be friends.
Still, it’s not long though before Amelia’s quiet nature clashes with Madge’s loud personality. And when Madge disappears after an argument, Amelia fears Madge might be in trouble. If she’s going to help her friend, she will have to find a way to let in the noisy world she’s muffled for so long.

My opinion: At first glance, this plot seems pretty straightforward: Amelia is misunderstood by her peers and by her mother, all of whom become frustrated when she is overwhelmed. As the book progresses, though, we begin to see the complexities. It's hard for people to understand how difficult it is for Amelia to cope with noise. Her father is perhaps a bit permissive in his desire to make things easier for her, thus he never challenges her to expand her comfort zone. And Amelia herself is quick to dismiss people and ideas. If something isn't easy right away she gives up. It ends up being a book about recognizing your limits but being willing to try had things and to fail on occasion. Amelia is a charming if not entirely likeable protagonist. She's a bit standoffish, difficult for the average reader to relate to, but still worth the read.

More information: Muffled releases December 2. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Listen with me

 

The Brave by James Bird

This book surprised me with the degree of mysticism. I was expecting the standard "fish out of water" sort of tale, though I began to think that might not be the case with the introduction of the grandmother. What we get here is a sort of magical realism. Its firmly rooted in the world as we know it but with magical elements: spirits, vision quests, and the world beyond our own. At heart, this is a story of a boy learning to be comfortable with himself in all his aspects and to accept life changes in every form, even when they are painful. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Serena Says

 

Title: Serena Says

Author: Tanita Davis

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: The Mighty Heart of Sunny St James by Ashley Herring Blake

                     The 47 People You'll Meet in Middle School by Kristin Mahoney 

Rating: 

 

more emotional complexity than we see sometimes

 

Summary (provided by publisher): JC shines like a 4th of July sparkler. She has the best ideas, the biggest, funniest laugh, and the party starts when she arrives. Serena St. John is proud to be known as her best friend.
Everything changes when JC returns from the hospital with a new kidney—and a new best friend. Out of the spotlight of JC’s friendship, suddenly things aren’t quite so sparkly in Serena’s world.
Lonely Serena works on perfecting her vlogs, hoping to earn a shot at becoming a classroom reporter. If she can be smart and funny on video, why can’t she manage that in real life? If only she could always pause, edit, or delete conversations. It would be so much easier to say the right thing at the right time . . . instead of not saying what she should, or, even worse, blurting out a secret that wasn’t hers to share.
Life doesn’t have a pause button—but as Serena discovers her voice through vlogging, she learns that she’s not just there to reflect JC’s light—she’s fully capable of shining on her own.

My opinion: The first thing I note about this book is that both Serena and JC are at fault for the change in their relationship. Both have changed and both of their decisions are making things worse between them. Additionally, we're dealing with a kid post-transplant. She doesn't feel like a new person - she's trying to go back to "normal" and thus ignores medical advice. She skips her meds and struggles with feelings that divide her from her life the ways she wants it to be. But the central focus, of course, is on Serena and her exploration of herself. She's learning to define herself apart from her friend, deciding what kind of person she wants to be. While these are typical goals for middle grade fiction, Davis acknowledges that the emotions involved are not clean cut, that somethings are not fixable and that the best we can hope for is a new normal.

More information: Serena Says releases November 3.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Graphic novel spotlight - Space Battle Lunchtime

Space Battle Lunchtime: Lights, Camera, Snacktion! by Natalie Riess

I didn't expect much from this book, but I found it surprisingly entertaining. It's not especially deep. We have a human who finds herself a part of an alien cooking show. While she is out of her depth, she's willing to take chances, to experiment with food and take chances with people. There's no fear or distrust, only openness. The plot, for the most part, goes in the directions we expect. The real strength here is the illustrations. This book leads with art, telling the subtle parts of the story with images. The characters are incredibly expressive and whole sequences are told with little to no text. This is a great book to flip through. And since the story is incomplete, it could develop complexity with future volumes.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Non-fiction book review - The Everyday Workings of Machines

The Everyday Workings of Machines by Steve Martin

These kinds of books are always going to go over well with young readers. As children we love examining how things are put together, what makes them run. Consider the sustained popularity of books like The Way Things Work. This one looks at the internal mechanisms of a wide variety of machines but only in a very simple way. We get one or two vital parts of complex machines, the whole only with simple things like balance scales or thermometers. It's a short, pleasant version of a familiar concept. 

 Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley