Graphic novel spotlight: Family Style

 

Family Style by Thien Pham

Family Style is not a traditional memoir. It does not follow a true narrative arc. Instead, it is a series of vignettes, moments from Pham's life that can be represented by a particular food. The moments themselves are of different sorts. Some are momentous - the first days of a family in a refugee camp or their arrival in the United states. Others are small and common place - going to the bowling alley with friends and a crush. But in all of them a particular food plays an important role not just in the facts of the memory but in their emotional thrust. Food represents fear, comfort, acceptance, shame, desire. And the foods themselves are explored - tastes, textures, cultural importance and influence. The panel design is deliberate, the choice of moment spot on. 

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Sock pig

 We know a toddler who is obsessed with pigs and I had an idea to make her a little plush pig. Wanting something both squishy and resilient I thought I'd make it from a sock.

 

these were the best options - we decided on the bright stripes 

Since it was a knee sock, I cut of the leg just above the heel and set it aside for another project. Then I stuffed it and sewed it shut. The foot ended up a bit too long so I ended up cutting off the toe as well, gathering that shut.

Since I had a small scrap that I'd cut off of the toe, I cut it in half and used it to make the ears. Then I made some knots to pull in depressions for the eyes that I finished with fabric paint.

 

a simple, chubby little piggie

Book review - How to Stay Invisible

 

Title: How to Stay Invisible

Author: Maggie C Rudd

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

                      The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones by Wendelin Van Draanen

Rating:

 

a careful balancing act

Summary (provided by publisher): Being alone is something Raymond is used to.
Twelve-year-old Raymond Hurley has never had a place to call home. His free-wheeling parents move their family from town to town, and he’s living in a trailer in a brand-new state when one day, they just up and abandon him. All alone with nothing but a duffle bag full of clothes and his reliable pup, Rosie, he is forced to live in the woods behind his middle school.
With a fishing pole in hand and survival guide checked out from the library, Raymond scrapes by and doesn’t tell anyone his secret. This isn’t the first time he’s had to rely on himself. However, when winter days get colder and finding food becomes nearly impossible, Raymond makes new friends, including a curious coyote, in unexpected places. Soon, he learns that his fate will depend not just on his wilderness skills, but on the people and animals he chooses to trust.

My opinion: In the grand tradition of books like Hatchet, this novel presents us with a character forced to survive on his own. With scraps of knowledge he does his best to build a life and his successes will appeal to young would-be survivalists. We see Raymond building a shelter, collecting food, and taking care of basic hygiene needs. Because not only is he surviving, he's doing his best to keep his situation a secret. Rudd is careful to show Raymond making mistakes, benefiting from the kindness of people around him. He survives, sure, but isn't truly doing it on his own. While the overall thrust of the book follows a familiar pattern of recently unhoused characters - shame and fear in the shock of the new situation; a successful rhythm that makes the situation feel sustainable; a health crisis that forces the truth to be revealed - there are hints and questions from people in his life all along the way.

More information: How to Stay Invisible releases June 27.

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Picture books for everyone

 

What if I'm Not a Cat by Kari-Lynn Winters

This simple story follows a standard premise - a character hears an off-hand comment by an adult and takes it literally. In this case, a donkey hears the farmer make a joke about how much time it spends with the barn cats and assumes it is true. It acts like a cat, therefore it must be a cat. When the other cats point out all of the ways that it is different it begins to feel lost and isolated. With charming illustrations, an easily grasped message about identity and belonging, and a solid dose of humor as the donkey engages in cat behaviors this will be entertaining for most young audiences. The illustrations are well designed and engaging for even a non-reader to follow.

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Non fiction book review - Glitter Everywhere

 

Glitter Everywhere by Chris Barton

Glitter is so ubiquitous most of us never think much about it. The same cannot be said of Chris Barton. Author of many science themed books for small children, Barton isn't afraid to tackle huge subjects. And glitter is surprisingly complex. While of a picture book length, this book tackles: the history of glitter; the psychology of our attraction to sparkles; the science of refraction and reflection; and the danger of microplastics and the companies that are exploring alternatives. The reading level is appropriate for most elementary aged kids. While the science isn't deep it is thorough. If you love sparkles, give this one a look.

More information: Glitter Everywhere releases June 27.

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Book review - Thirty to Sixty Days

 

Title: Thirty to Sixty Days

Author: Alikay Wood

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Farewell Tour of a Terminal Optimist by John Young

                     The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner

Rating:

 

entertaining and quirky

Summary (provided by publisher): Hattie Larken doesn’t know if she’s ever really been real in her life. A compulsive liar with a quick-witted response to everything, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to just skate through the rest of high school until she can graduate and escape it all: the mind-numbing monotony of this town, the guilt of everything that happened with her dad, and the debt that her mom’s dealing with that she feels responsible for.
But then Hattie finds out she’s dying. Not like in that overdramatic way that people sometimes say they’re dying. She’s literally dying. Apparently, she was exposed to a parasite because of a mistake her mom’s company made. (And no, the irony of that all is not lost on Hattie…) And she’s not the only one. Two other kids from her class also have been exposed to the parasite: Carmen, who seems to be totally perfect, with the class presidency, a loving family, and a totally beautiful girlfriend; and Albie, a quiet kid who survived childhood cancer only to deal with this, which feels like an incredibly cruel joke from the universe.
Hattie, Albie, and Carmen are told they only have thirty to sixty days to live. But instead of just sitting around a hospital and waiting to die, the three kids form an unlikely alliance to live the last days of their lives out to the fullest. Stealing and sailing a boat to Miami? Absolutely. Adopting the turtle that a random college student hands to them? Of course—they couldn’t leave Scooter to fend for himself! Sneaking into the sold-out music festival in town? You better believe it! And if Hattie just happens to find a way to raise some money for her mom through filming all their misadventures—well, she’s not going to not do that then.

My opinion: This is a construct we seem to love to explore - what people do when they know their time is limited. In this case, as in most narratives of this ilk, is a madcap road trip where the characters do things seemingly against their own natures. They take big chances, try things that they've always wanted, and get in all sorts of crazy mishaps. In this case it includes some truly odd details that are perhaps too strange if you overthink them. If you can roll with the plot as it happens it's suitably entertaining. There are certainly edifying messages to take away from it and it feels fairly tongue in cheek. So don't expect a real deep read but it is entertaining and has some reflection backing it up.

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Custom flamingo

 Once upon a time I bought a lawn flamingo. It had little outfits and I was going to keep it in a house plant because the irony of keeping a lawn flamingo indoors struck me as hilarious. Then I found a cheap flamingo with wiggle eyes and it was so tacky that I had to have it. And I reasoned that two lawn flamingos (the first one had moved outside at that point) was perfectly tacky.

Fast forward several years. There are currently four flamingos in my yard and one waiting to be customized. Plus this one, which I've just finished with color shift paint. 

Book review - Maizy Chen's Last Chance

 

Title: Maizy Chen's Last Chance

Author: Lisa Yee

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Hike to Home by Jess Rinker

                     Partly Cloudy by Tanita S Davis

Rating:

 

interesting without becoming intense

Summary (provided by publisher): Welcome to the Golden Palace!
Maizy has never been to Last Chance, Minnesota . . . until now. Her mom’s plan is just to stay for a couple weeks, until her grandfather gets better. But plans change, and as Maizy spends more time in Last Chance and at the Golden Palace—the restaurant that’s been in her family for generations—she makes some discoveries.For instance:
    You can tell a LOT about someone by the way they order food.
    People can surprise you. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in disappointing ways.
    And the Golden Palace has secrets...
But the more Maizy discovers, the more questions she has. Like, why are her mom and her grandmother always fighting? Who are the people in the photographs on the office wall? And when she discovers that a beloved family treasure has gone missing—and someone has left a racist note—Maizy decides it’s time to find the answers.

My opinion: Yee has created a solid balance between Maizy's modern experience and the stories about her family's connection to Minnesota. There are thematic parallels between the two that encourage young readers to reflect and compare. It's not terribly deep, perhaps, but hits about right for a fourth or fifth grader. More importantly, the characters are realistic and well developed. We care about these characters and even secondary and tertiary characters have multiple aspects. A solid read for most any middle grade reader.

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Listen with me

 

The Chaperone by M Hendrix

Going into this book I saw it as having potential to revitalize the tired teen dystopian fiction market. That was, perhaps, too much pressure to put on a single book. It didn't blow me away. Honestly, I think it over-simplifies it's conflict. A truly compelling dystopian novel relies on one of two ideas: either it's impossible to escape or the alternative is too dangerous. That's where this book fails. New America is too obviously "bad" as it strips girls of all agency. When Stella learns about the truth about Old America, it is too obviously "good". She sees only the benefits. There is no true dilemma and not enough explanation as to how New America happened or why people stayed. While the concept is strong there isn't enough nuance to the plot. I applaud Hendrix for recognizing how our current political climate could go horribly awry but I don't fully love this book.

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Book review - Almost There and Almost Not

 

Title: Almost There and Almost Not

Author: Linda Urban

Genre: magical realism

Similar books: The Elephant's Girl by Celesta Rimington

                      Spirit's Key by Edith Cohn

Rating:

 

well balanced

Summary (provided by publisher): California Poppy has been dropped off, yet again, with an unsuspecting relative. This time it’s her eccentric Great-Aunt Monica, a woman she’s never even met. Aunt Monica has no idea what to do with an eleven-year-old, so she puts California to work researching their ancestor, the once-famous etiquette expert Eleanor Fontaine.
California soon discovers that Great-Great-Great Aunt Eleanor is...not exactly alive and well, but a ghost—and a super sensitive one at that. The grand dame bursts into clouds of dust whenever she loses her composure, which happens quite often. Still, an unexpected four-legged friend and some old-fashioned letter writing make this decidedly strange situation one that California can handle.
Just as California’s starting to feel like she’s found a place for herself, life turns upside-down yet again. Thankfully, this time she has some friends almost by her side...

My opinion: Urban has found the perfect balance of elements to make this a nearly gentle, sensitive read. With a largely abandoned child character encountering ghosts and living with a grief-stricken relative it could easily become maudlin and over-wrought. Instead we meet a likeable, far from perfect protagonist learning to handle her overwhelming emotions and coming to terms with the ways her father has failed her. Through her encounters with the ghost she learns about the complexities of all people and her lessons in calligraphy and etiquette help her to express herself more clearly. It may not be a thrilling book but it is a thoughtful one and may be good for discussion with young readers.

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Book review - Back to the Bright Before

 

Title: Back to the Bright Before

Author: Katherin Nolte

Genre: magical realism

Similar books: Looking for True by Tricia Springstubb

                      The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart

Rating:

 

I'm not fully sure about this one

Summary (provided by publisher): When eleven-year-old Pet Martin’s dad falls from a ladder on their family farm, it isn’t just his body that crashes to the ground. So does every hope her family had for the future. Money is scarce, and Pet’s mom is bone-tired from waiting tables at the local diner, and even with the extra hours, it’s not enough for a third surgery for Pet’s dad. Her five-year-old brother, Simon, now refuses to say anything except the word “cheese.” Worst of all? The ladder accident was Pet’s fault.
She’s determined to fix things—but how? Good old-fashioned grit…and maybe a little bit of magic.
When a neighbor recites a poem about an ancient coin hidden somewhere on the grounds of the local abbey, Pet forms a plan. With her brother, a borrowed chicken, and a stolen pony, Pet runs away from home. If she can find the coin, Daddy can have his surgery, Momma can stop her constant working, and Simon might speak again. But Pet isn't the only one who wants the coin…which means searching for it is more dangerous than she ever imagined.

My opinion: There are solid elements at play here. It's a quest for a treasure - a special coin that can solve all of this family's problems. We have a lurking villain and a charming, if somewhat strange, assortment of details. Nuns, taffy, a chicken, a treasure, and chainsaw carving are not things we expect to see together but Nolte makes them work. It's the quest itself that gives me some pause. Because when Pet and Simon set out on their quest they seem to leave the natural world behind. They encounter a series of increasingly odd beings that tell them stories about their parents, shedding light on their past and the influences on their current situation. The journey feels far more symbolic than literal, even in the world of the book, and that creates an emotional distance that may make it difficult for young readers to engage.

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Pick 6: history

 Sometimes history can be a struggle to understand. It tends to be presented as a series of facts, disconnected from everything else. We may not recognize why it matters. And that's why I like historical fiction. A good book set in the past helps to personalize the past, to make it real and remind us that these dry events we learn in class happened to regular people. Here are six historical fiction novels published in the past six months.

Six new historical novels

1. For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome
2. The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
3. Wild Bird by Diane Zahler
4. Bea and the New Deal Horse by L M Ellis
5. A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer
6. When Clouds Touch Us by Thanha Lai
   

Non-fiction book review - Stamped from the Beginning

 

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi; adapted by Joel Christian Gill

Unraveling racism and it's place in our history and culture is a huge task. Expecint anyone to grasp all of the nuance seems nearly impossible. This book will help. By explaining concepts visually as much as with text we have an easier time digesting the concepts. Of course, the graphic novel format is limited in some aspects and means that a lot of nuance will be left out. That is to say, this is by no means a full exploration of the ideas and history. Instead, think of this book as a primer. It's an introduction that will get the reader thinking critically about racism and culture so they can go into a traditional text with some understanding.

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Book review - Falling Out of TIme

 

Title: Falling Out of Time

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Genre: dystopia

Similar books: The Town With No Mirrors by Christina Collins

                      The List by Patricia Fforde

Rating:

 

a bit of a let down

Summary (provided by publisher): Twelve-year-old Zola thinks she has the perfect life. She thinks everyone does, now that it’s 2193, and humanity has solved all its problems. Insta-Closets deliver new clothes every morning, Insta-Ovens deliver gourmet meals on demand, and virtual reality goggles let her have any adventure she wants, with friends from all over the world.
Then one day Zola finds a handwritten note in her Insta-Closet:
If you want to see things as they really are, come find me.
What if Zola’s wrong about everything—even the year? As she struggles to figure out who wrote the note, she discovers a printed book in her Insta-Closet called The Jessie Keyser Story: How One Girl Escaped from Clifton Village. Zola wonders: Who is Jessie Keyser, and why does she look like her . . . and what else do they have in common?

My opinion: I feel like I should preface this by saying that I read Running Out of Time when it was still fairly new and I was a young teen. I loved the book and it made Haddix one of my "must read" authors for several years. But that's been a couple of decades and I haven't read it since. So maybe this book is suffering for me in comparison with an idealized memory. That being said, most of my criticisms remain. My biggest complaint is that this book didn't feel necessary. I do understand the desire to revisit the world of a book, especially taking into account how attitudes have shifted in the intervening years. You want to explore how new issues and ideas would influence the culture of the book. The problem for me is that this book basically follows the same plot as the first one. While the details are different, the thrust of the plot remains essentially the same. Additionally, the villain lacks focus and proper motivation. There are seeds for a more complex exploration of class structure, grief, and responsibility but they don't get much beyond introduction.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Listen with me

 

The Chaperone by M Hendrix

It felt like, in the wake of The Hunger Games, everyone got a little burnt out on dystopian fiction. Enough time has passed, though, that we are primed for a renaissance and authors have begun to oblige with more innovative stories. Take, for instance, this novel that promises a future world where girls are "protected" by constant supervision. I'm ready for explorations of safety, gender roles, and authority.