Book review - The Princess and the Absolutely Not a Princess

Title: The Princess and the Absolutely Not a Princess
Author: Emma Wunsch
Genre: beginning chapter book
Similar books: Ellie, Engineer by Jackson Pearce
                      Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker by Shelley Johannes
Rating:

better than I expected, though not without it's annoyances

Summary (provided by publisher): Princess Miranda does not want to go to school. She wants to shoe shop, plan parties, and decorate the castle.
Maude cannot wait for school. She loves rules and social justice and getting good grades. She also loves hard-boiled eggs, much to Miranda’s dismay.
When a tense first week of school results in Maude getting excluded from the Royal Birthday Party, Maude decides she’s found her first fight for social justice: a birthday boycott.
This hilarious, heartfelt chapter-book series teaches empathy, and reminds us that your very best friend could be one desk away.

My opinion: I didn't realize, going into this book, that one of the characters was a literal princess. I had assumed that she was simply hyper feminine, fond of princess-y things. It actually works better the way it's written. We see the parallels as well as the differences between the two families. The varied parenting approaches and personalities lead the kids into conflict. They see each other as weird, aggressive, noisy, snooty, etc. We see the negatives of judging one another on a single encounter, on a preconceived notion. And I liked the balance between a strict interpretation of justice and the moral right. I had a few problems with it but I can mostly respect the plot. And it provides a number of opportunities to start deeper conversations with young readers.
On a side note, it drove me a little buggy that the glasses that Maude affects to wear just happen to be the exact prescription that Miranda needs. Not to mention the fact that Miranda's vision is poor enough that she needs lenses strong enough to cause Miranda physical pain but no one notices. But that's more of a logistical annoyance than a real problem.

More Information: The Princess and the Absolutely Not a Princess releases August 7.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Every house should have an elf

I was looking to make some new puppets this weekend and was looking for inspiration. And I kept circling back to Dobby. I couldn't think how to make him work as a sock puppet (which had been my plan initially) so I reapproached it. 

I had some plastic balls lying around from something else and I always have bamboo skewers in my supplies.

2 more puppet bases for future projects!

With some scrap plastic and fabric, a pipe cleaner, and a little craft foam, I have a happy little Dobby. He is particularly happy with his sock.

 

Graphic novel spotlight - Three Story Books

BirdCatDog FishFishFish and SheHeWe by Lee Nordling and Meritxell Bosch

To my way of thinking, the real pinnacle of quality graphic novels is a strong wordless book. Any graphic novel that can tell a complex story without any text is worthy of our attention. These three books are built on the same idea: they tell a story, simultaneously, from 3 perspectives. We see through those perspectives how every story has multiple elements, how events seen only in one thread affect the events in the other two. Personally, SheHeWe is my favorite but all three have their merits. 

 

Non-fiction Book review - Unstoppable

Unstoppable by Art Coulson

I'd heard of Jim Thorpe. I'd heard of the Carlisle Indian School and the prowess of its sports teams. I can't say that I'd ever heard the connection between the two. This book is more about Thorpe than about the school. Coulson gets a lot of credit for not whitewashing the reality of the Indian schools or systemic racism, even for a young audience. The reality is softened; Coulson discusses the cruelty of taking children far from their families and stripping them of their culture but doesn't go into rampant abuse and neglect. Readers are told that the schools were "sometimes cruel" rather than truly criminal. The focus is certainly more on the early days of organized sports. Pair this book with something on the history of football.

More information: Unstoppable releases August 1.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Avatar. The good one

I've been rewatching the first season of Avatar: the Last Airbender (for like the third time) and was struck with some ideas for craft projects. This particular craft was inspired by a scene of Aang playfully airbending.

like so

I knew I had some marbles left over from another project. A little polymer clay and now I have my own Aang.

Book review - Pizzasaurus Rex

Title: Pizzasaurus Rex
Author: Justin Wagner
Genre: graphic novel
Similar books: Sci-Fu by Yehudi Mercado
                      Wrapped Up by Dave Scheidt
Rating:

rather odd

Summary (provided by publisher): Meet Jeremy Duderman, the most extremely awesome scientific mind of his generation. Too bad everyone’s too busy bullying him or just generally disliking him to realize it. But that all ends today.  Jeremy has invented the Reality Alternative Dimensionator (R.A.D. for short), a device that allows Rex Raditude, the Pizzasaurus, to enter our dimension. He’s a guitar-shredding, pizza-loving party animal with only one thing on his mind: BEING TOTALLY RAD, DUDE. But is that enough to stop Emperor Buzzkill and his horde of hapless minions who are bent on ending pizza parties, skateboarding, and all things rad?  And can poor, pitiful Jeremy Duderman, quite possibly the dorkiest dude in the universe, help Rex in defeating them?

My opinion: At face value, this feels like a comic I'd have seen in the mid 90s, what with the popped collar and high tops wearing dinosaur and the focus on being "rad". Lots of dated slang. Clearly, Wagner is playing with genre and expectations. It's a borderline spoof. The plot is relatively complete, just ridiculous and bearing some plot points that come rather out of left field. There's certainly an audience for this book but I feel like it's a narrow one.

More information: Pizzasaurus Rex releases July 24.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Pick 6: Survival stories

Ever since reading Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, I've been a fan of books about struggles to stay alive. Talking with middle grade readers, I know I'm not alone in this preference. Publishing companies know this too. Book catalogues tend to feature at least one survival story. Here are six new stories of survival published in the last six months.

6 new survival novels

1. Big Water by Andrea Curtis

2. Chasing Helicity by Ginger Zee

3. Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth

4. Blood Will Out by Jo Tregiani

5. Wild Blues by Beth Kephart

6. Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe by Jo Watson Hackl