Non-fiction book review - A Kid's Guide to the Names of Jesus

 

A Kid's Guide to the Names of Jesus by Tony Evans

For kids who grow up in the church, there is often a gap. A time period where they have outgrown bible story books but aren't ready for deep theological exploration. And it's an important gap to bridge. You can only read about Adam and Eve or David and Goliath so many times before they become stale. And that's where books like this one come in. It follows the same structure as any adult theological text. We have a central concept broken down into elements, each element explored in depth in it's own chapter. In this case, each chapter takes a name given to Jesus, gives us the context in which it is used, and explores what it meant at the time and what it means for us now. The examples are accessible and applicable to modern life. A solid choice for upper elementary and middle school kids. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Book review - Soul Lanterns

 

Title: Soul Lanterns

Author: Shaw Kuzki

Genre: historical fiction

Similar books: The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot

                     Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai

Rating:

 

artistic reflection, but a bit of a hard sell

Summary (provided by publisher): Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn't even born when the bombing of Hiroshima took place. Every year Nozomi joins her family at the lantern-floating ceremony to honor those lost in the bombing. People write the names of their deceased loved ones along with messages of peace, on paper lanterns and set them afloat on the river. This year Nozomi realizes that her mother always releases one lantern with no name. She begins to ask questions, and when complicated stories of loss and loneliness unfold, Nozomi and her friends come up with a creative way to share their loved ones' experiences. By opening people's eyes to the struggles they all keep hidden, the project teaches the entire community new ways to show compassion.

My opinion: My first thought about this book is that the artistry and culture don't really translate properly into English. The central focus of the plot is on shifts in culture after a world changing event. Can we, as American readers, properly understand those shifts if we don't really understand what the culture was like before Hiroshima? This also isn't a straightforward narrative. It's glimpses into the lives of people in a neighborhood, the secret pain they are hiding and the effort they've made towards normalcy. The central ideas here are compelling and heartbreaking, and the ideas are vital for us to understand. I'm simply concerned that the emotional distance and meandering writing style may make it a hard sell for young readers.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Visible mends

 I've been really into visible mending lately. Mostly for me that means darning knitted garments in contrasting colors. 

 

 

I also attempted darning a hole in my running shoes. A tricky fix but it should keep these shoes usable for a few more runs.

I did also patch some fleece pajamas this weekend as well, using contrasting fleece and some rainbow thread.

Book review - The Seventh Raven

 

Title: The Seventh Raven

Author: David Elliott

Genre: retelling/verse novel

Similar books: The Daughters of Ys by MT Anderson

                      Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill

Rating:

 

a literary reflection on a fairy tale

Summary (provided by publisher):When Robyn and his brothers are turned into ravens through the work of an unlucky curse, a sister is their only hope to become human again. Though she’s never met her brothers, April will stop at nothing to restore their humanity. But what about Robyn, who always felt a greater affinity to the air than to the earth-bound lives of his family?

My opinion: I don't believe I was familiar with this particular fairy tale, though I've read others that were similar. Maybe I'd find this book more compelling if I were. As a verse novel, it's a pretty quick read but not especially action driven. We have to assume a lot of actions from context. Elliot is doing some interesting things with poetic structure here, applying different structures to different characters based on personality. And there's some messaging about desire, longing, and duty. It's a valiant effort but more of a reflection than a narrative.

More information: The Seventh Raven releases March 16. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Picture books for everyone

 

The Floating Field by Scott Riley

What I like best about this book is that it doesn't feel the need to be a blunt object with the messaging. Riley presents the story in a simple, chronological manner. Events follow logically. We are presented with both the "what" and the "why" of the actions these boys took. The illustrations are dynamic and support the text well. The information is clear enough in both the text and the art that you could use this with small kids to do some basic comprehension analysis. Older kids can do more textual analysis, gleaning messaging, without those elements being flatly spelled out.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Non-fiction book review - Classified

 

Classified by Traci Sorell

This book was the very first I'd heard of Mary Golda Ross and I'm always game to learn about trailblazing women. Classified does not disappoint. We are introduced to Mary as a youth, a girl with a passion for the sciences in an era when girls were not encouraged to pursue STEM careers and where higher education for non-whites was far from the norm. But Mary doesn't seem to have been at all bothered by those facts or by social pressures. She simply wanted to learn and followed her education to logical conclusions. This is a very brief biography and we learn very little about her contributions but this is largely due to the nature of that work. It is, as the title suggests, still classified. A cool addition to a collection of short biographies. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Book review - Project Pay Day

Title: Project Pay Day

Author: Brent Hartinger

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

                      King Dork by Frank Portman

Rating:

 

too unbelievable

Summary (provided by publisher): “Our parents just said we had to get summer jobs. They didn’t say *what* summer jobs!”
Dave and his two best friends, Hannah and Curtis, are looking forward to a summer of complete freedom, but their parents have another idea: they insist that the three teenagers get summer jobs. 
But the friends come up with a plan: Why not invent fake jobs to get their parents off their backs? The trouble is, their parents are going to want to see them bringing in real money. And that means finding a way to get-rich-quick, but without breaking the law, and without doing any actual work.
The summer passes and Dave, Curtis, and Hannah try a long list of schemes: trying to catch bank robbers to win the reward; scientifically calculating the “correct” number of jelly beans in a contest jar; finding and exploring a network of underground smugglers' tunnels; and even diving for sunken treasure. 
But “Project Pay Day” never quite goes according to plan, and they don’t make the money they need.
Soon summer is almost over, and they have no choice but to solve a big local mystery — or face the consequences of their actions, which includes their parents breaking up the trio for good!   

My opinion: From the beginning, I had trouble with the details of this book. One or two details that defy logic or don't match how things work in the real world are annoying but workable. But this book is littered with them in every chapter. Like the fact that Dave and his friends calculate the total they will need based on a 40 hour work week. It's a little detail, but what teen works a 40 hour week, especially for a first job? Or the sheer number of opportunities they have to make thousands of dollars in a single scheme in a small town Contests, solving crimes, treasure hunts - they have both fantastic and terrible luck. If the characters were more complex, it could be more forgiving of such a nonsense plot but that simply isn't the case. Dave, Curtis, and Hannah have no real depth and the parents are even more one dimensional. Hard pass.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGally