Just a note

 Hi friends. Just a quick note to let you know that I'm taking a little time away. I plan to be back to my normal posting schedule in September. See you soon!

Picture books for everyone

 

Burt's Way Home by John Martz

This book isn't quite a picture book but not quite a graphic novel either. It's a short, easily understood narrative in two perspectives: Burt and his new foster mother Lydia. Burt believes himself to be an alien and is attempting to return to space. Lydia wants Burt to feel at ease with her and is giving him space to adjust. Reading this book with an older child allows the adult to discuss different perspectives and the nature of truth. It encourages the child to engage with the text and illustrations in a deeper way. Young children likely will not fully understand the book but may enjoy the dynamic illustrations. 

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Non-fiction book review - Super Animals: the Loudest

 

Super Animals: the Loudest by Reina Ollivier and Karel Claes

 When picking out a non-fiction book for young readers it's hard to go wrong with an animal book. And when it comes to animal books, I'm a fan of focusing on the superlatives. Most young readers are intrigued by extremes. And this book does more than tell us about how loud these creatures are. That is an element of course. So too is the function that being loud serves in the animals lives. We also get a fair amount of generalized info about the creatures and their role in the environment. The illustrations are stylized in a very artistic way. Appealing without having to be photo-realistic.

 Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Fire on Headless Mountain

 

Title: Fire on Headless Mountain

Author: Iain Lawrence

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Red Fox Road by Frances Greenslade

                      The Disaster Days by Rebecca Behrens

Rating:

 

a solid example of the genre

Summary (provided by publisher): Virgil is making his older siblings trek to a mountain lake on a trip unlike any they’ve have taken before. They carry precious cargo: the ashes of their beloved mother, who asked that her remains be scattered at her favorite spot. But when a forest fire is sparked by a bolt of lightning at the exact moment when their van breaks down, the journey quickly turns to disaster.
While the oldest, Josh, is gone to find help, Virgil and his sister, Kaitlyn, spot fleeing animals and soon see flames flickering above the tree line. Once the sky begins to darken with the haze of burning timber, Virgil finds himself separated from his sister and left alone in the wilderness. He isn’t sure he can make it, but with the memory of his late mother, a science teacher, and all her lessons to guide him, he quickly learns that not everything has a perfect explanation and survival starts with letting go.

My opinion: This is the exact sort of survival story I'd have loved as a kid. It combines several compelling elements: siblings at odds, a string of bad luck, a natural disaster, a series of bad choices. The characters have some survival skills but are by no means experts so they have to rely upon determination and quick thinking with a healthy dose of good luck. The characters are distinct and flawed, both their strengths and weaknesses adding to the plot in meaningful ways. There are some plot elements that do more to detract from the development of the central conflicts, that add nothing to the way they are growing. And the plot in general doesn't take many risks. It largely treads the expected pathway. Even so, it's a pretty compelling read and one I would easily recommend to kids who enjoy survival novels.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Treasure box

 Some time ago I was gifted a large box of empty altoid tins and I've been crafting with them ever since, trying out a number of different uses. I'd seen a small jewelry box online with felt dividers and I wanted to try something similar. I made my dividers out of rolls of scrap quilt batting covered with knit fabric. To match the almost royal look of the lining, I painted the outside of the tin to look like a treasure chest.

Book review - I Rise

 

Title: I Rise

Author: Marie Arnold

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristen R Lee

                     Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

Rating:

 

worth reading and reflecting upon

Summary (provided by publisher): A heartbreaking and powerful novel about racism and social justice as fourteen-year-old Ayo has to decide whether to take on her mother's activist role when her mom is shot by police. As she tries to find answers, Ayo looks to the wisdom of her ancestors and her Harlem community for guidance.
Ayo's mother founded the biggest civil rights movement to hit New York City in decades. It’s called ‘See Us’ and it tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Ayo has spent her entire life being an activist and now, she wants out. She wants to get her first real kiss, have a boyfriend, and just be a normal teen.
When her mom is put into a coma after a riot breaks out between protesters and police, protestors want Ayo to become the face of See Us and fight for justice for her mother who can no longer fight for herself. While she deals with her grief and anger, Ayo must also discover if she has the strength to take over where her mother left off.

My opinion: These days we get a fair amount of books that present us with teen characters thrown into protest and social justice movements by tragic happenstance. In this novel, Arnold shows us instead a character who's whole life has been driven by the movement. Ayo is hoping to define herself outside of that world for the first time. Of course, circumstance forces her back into it but the set-up allows us to consider the question from a different angle - when we see something wrong, what is our obligation? When are we obligated to step-up and is there a fight too big? That's the other interesting element. We meet characters who can't handle the fight and that's okay. They recognize their limits and there's no shame in that. While the book has some elements that don't always ring true or that go too far, overall the discussion it introduces makes it well worth the read.

Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Pick 6: survival

As a child I went through a period where I was obsessed with survival stories. My interest was piqued with My Side of the Mountain and absolutely cemented by Hatchet. For a solid year and a half I read every survival story I could get my hands on, mowing through Gary Paulsen, the I Survived series, and Will Hobbs. It was such a large part of my reading history that I still have affection for those books now and read new survival stories often. So here are six new survival stories published in the past six months.

6 new survival stories:

1. Green Arrow: Stranded by Brendan Deneen
2. Mountain Runaways by Pam Withers
3. Across the Desert by Dusti Bowling
4. Out of Range by Heidi Lang
5. The Hike to Home by Jess Rankin
6. Fire on Headless Mountain by Iaian Lawrence