Stories that Shape Us
A place where CL/R SIG reviewers share annotations and insights on books that matter.
|
Nancy Brashear & Carolyn Angus Here is our list of favorite books published in 2024 that did not get Children’s Literature and Reading reviews—books we would like to see added to classroom, school, and family library collections.  Animal Albums from A to Z. Cece Bell. (2024). Walker. Readers of all ages will giggle-snort their way through Bell’s zany ABC picture book featuring 26 imaginative “animal albums” inspired by those of animal musicians from the 1940s to 1980s in her personal collection. Double-page spreads spotlight colorful, richly detailed album covers and clever songs (aka poems), such as “Eat Your Vittles, Vivian” performed by “Vampire Bat Vaudeville Revue” for the letter V. (introduction, QR code for songs, more about the animal artists). (PreK Up)  The Bard and the Book: How the First Folio Saved the Plays of William Shakespeare from Oblivion. Ann Bausum. Illus. by Marta Sevilla. (2024). Peachtree. Bausum’s witty narrative filled with fascinating facts and quotations, complemented by photographs and Sevilla’s colorful artwork, is a superb introduction to the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and to the First Folio (1623), the book that preserved the bard of Avon’s comedies, histories, and tragedies. (author’s notes, source notes, resources, index) (Gr 6 Up)  The Bletchley Riddle. (Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin. (2024). Viking. In 1940, 19-year-old Jakob Novis works at Bletchley Park, Britain’s top-secret WWII codebreaking center. When his 14-year-old sister Lizzie, who refuses to believe that their mother was recently killed in a bombing raid in Poland, joins him and becomes a messenger, the contentious siblings finally team up and are immersed in codes, clues, riddles, and family intrigue amidst increasing personal and national danger in this historical mystery. (photos, historical note) (Gr 6 Up)  Cornbread & Poppy for the Win (Cornbread & Poppy #4). Matthew Cordell. (2024). Little, Brown. In this latest book in Cordell’s early chapter series about best friends who are opposites, the simple text and expressive ink-and-watercolor illustrations humorously depict Poppy and Cornbread’s entry in the Small Rodents Competitive Cycling Championship Classic. Poppy is determined to beat bully Gerald for the Winner’s Cup, but in a pants-splitting grand finale, the unexpected happens. (PreK-Gr 2)  That Curious Thing. Chris Raschka. (2024). Michael di Capua. In Raschka’s fantasy, when 12-year-old Cleo finds her missing cat, Muffin, in a neighbor’s apartment, she discovers a secret organization of talking cats, PURR (Peace Urgently Requires Reasonableness), whose aether beam plan to solve the energy crisis has been stolen by nemesis KLAW (Cats Loving Awful Warfare). After she and Muffin join PURR, Cleo goes undercover to stop KLAW from sending all dogs into outer space—and discovers a curious thing about herself. (Gr 3-5)  Fast Cheetah, Slow Tortoise: Poems of Animal Opposites. Bette Westera. Trans. by David Colmer. Illus. by Mies van Hout. (2024). Eerdmans. In this playful concept book, 16 pairs of animals are matched to accentuate opposing characteristics introduced through poem titles as antonyms. For example, ”Relaxed”—sloth, “Busy”—ant; “Quiet”—pill bug, “Noisy”—cricket. Free verse poems written in first person are placed on opposite sides of double-spread pages with colorful, mixed media illustrations of animals displaying the behavior or emotion portrayed in the poems. (PreK Up)  A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration. Cynthia Harmony. Illus. by Devon Holzwarth. (2024). Viking. Told from the perspective of Lucía, a young Mexican girl, Harmony’s lyrical text, enhanced by Holzwarth’s vibrant illustrations, interweaves stories of the spring migration of monarch butterflies and her father’s journey north as a migrant farm worker. Papá’s promise to return when the monarcas do, leaves Lucía watching the autumn skies for a “flicker of hope,” the homecoming of the mariposas. (glossary, author’s notes) (PreK-Gr 2)  Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence—and How It Will Change Everything. Martha Brockenbrough. (2024). Feiwel and Friends. “The future is not what you think.” Brockenbrough offers an accessible exploration of artificial intelligence from its history to present-day acceleration of technological advances and use of AI throughout the world. In the third part of the book, she addresses the future of living with AI and the need for human intelligence to continue to guide its further development. (bibliography, endnotes, index) (Gr 9-12)  Godfather Death. Sally Nicholls. Illus. by Júlia Sardà. (2024). Viking. In Nicholls’ reimagining of a Grimm’s tale, embellished by Sardà’s classic folk tale style artwork, after rejecting Father God and the Devil, a poor fisherman chooses Death as his son’s godfather because of his equal treatment of humanity. Godfather Death makes the fisherman rich through predictions of living or dying, but when the fisherman changes the verdict of the king’s demise and tries to bargain with Death, he learns he can’t cheat death. (Gr 3 Up)  Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge. Elizabeth Partridge. Illus. by Ellen Heck. (2024). Chronicle. Heck’s stunning artwork rendered in mixed media over red-orange paper and Partridge’s second-person narration give readers an accessible account of the seemingly impossible building of a suspension bridge across the Golden Gate strait from the beginning of construction in 1933 to its opening on May 27, 1937. The afterword provides more details about the Golden Gate Bridge, “one of the most beautiful and most inspiring bridges ever built.” (PreK Up)  A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Soccer—and Beyond. Emily Rusch. (2024). Greenwillow. Rusch chronicles the history of gender bias and the pay gap for female soccer players from 1985 through current times including the development of the U.S. Women’s National Team, their participation in the Olympics and World Cups, labor and contract negotiations, and a winning lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay on September 6, 2022. (resources, source notes, index) (Gr 9-12)  The Hotel Balzaar (The Norendy Tales #2). Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Júlia Sardà. (2024). Candlewick. Young Marta, whose father is a missing soldier, quietly explores the Hotel Balzaar while her mother cleans rooms. After a mysterious guest, a countess with a pet parrot, departs before telling her the final of seven stories that seem to tie small important things in her life together and circumstances change, Marta realizes that she is now living in the missing story, one of “of love enduring.” (Gr 3-5)  How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird. Candace Savage. Illus. by Rachel Hudson. (2024). David Suzuki institute/Greystone Kids. In this engaging exploration of the world of the Corvidae family, Savage’s chapters, which focus on the life of a fictional American Crow named Oki, include text boxes of fascinating facts and “Crow Lab” suggestions of activities. Hudson’s mixed media illustration provide eye-catching details of the characteristics and behavior of crows. (author’s note, glossary, resources, index) (Gr 3 Up)  Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall. Lynn Brunelle. Illus. by Jason Chin. (2024). Neal Porter. Chin’s stunning, realistic watercolor-and-gouache artwork telling the visual “whale fall” story of a 90-year-old female whale pairs beautifully with Brunelle’s informative narrative text to describe how her death will benefit the ocean ecosystem for the next 100 years. (sections on blue whales, ecosystems, and phases of a whale fall ecosystem; books about whales; websites on whale falls; bibliography) (PreK Up)  Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden. Christy Mandin. (2024). Orchard. When she and her mother move into a neglected house on the edge of Garden Glen, Millie Fleur dislikes the sameness of the town’s tidy gardens all planted with roses. She uses seeds from her old garden to create a “wonderfully weird” garden. When the Rosebud Club declares it unacceptable, Millie Fleur comes up with a plan that results in the townspeople celebrating individuality in their yards too. (“Snapdragons & Spider Plants,” author’s note) (PreK-Gr 2)  Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens. Rebecca E. F. Barone. (2024). Henry Holt. In this compelling narrative nonfiction account of the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington on May 18, 1980, Barone tells stories of victims, survivors, heroes, scientists, and others. She uses quotations from interviews, excerpts from media, and charts to analyze historic, scientific, and political aspects of the deadly and destructive eruption. (QR code for photos, maps, author’s note, characters, lessons learned, bibliography) (Gr 6 Up)  Outspoken: Paul Robeson, Ahead of His Time: A One Man Show. Carole Boston Weatherford. Illus. by Eric Velasquez. (2024). Candlewick. Weatherford’s beautifully crafted first-person free-verse poems, which incorporate quotes and lyrics of spirituals and songs, and Velasquez’s expressive oil portraits based on and inspired by photographs present the life story of African American Paul Robeson (1898-1976) in four acts: Youth, Artist, Activist, and Erased. (timeline, source notes, bibliography, copyright acknowledgments) (Gr 3 Up)  Puppet. David Almond. Illus. by Lizzy Stewart. (2024). Candlewick. In Almond’s magical novel, enhanced by Stewart’s black-and-white cartoonlike illustrations, elderly and lonely puppet master Silvester has just donated his life’s work to a museum. Visiting his old workshop, he creates child-sized Puppet, who comes to life. After meeting and making friends with young Fleur and her mother in the park, he passes on his puppet-making skills to the girl, and they put on a show in the park that brings the community together. (Gr 3-5)  Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992: Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire. Paula Yoo (2024). Norton. Yoo provides a well-researched account of the five-day deadly and destructive 1992 Los Angeles Riots ignited by the acquittal of four LAPD officers for the brutal beating of Rodney King and the history of systemic racism, police inequities, and tensions between Black and Korean communities in Los Angeles. (author’s note, “In Memoriam,” notes, bibliography, index) (Gr 9-12)  Shakespeare’s First Folio: All the Plays (Children’s Edition). William Shakespeare. Abridged by Anjna Chouhan. Illus. by Emily Sutton. (2024). Shakespeare Birthplace Trust/Candlewick. This special children’s edition of Shakespeare’s First Folio was created to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the first printed collection of Shakespeare’s plays, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies (1623). Each of the 36 playscripts is adapted, primarily using Shakespeare’s language, and embellished with Sutton’s beautiful artwork inspired by historic items in the trust’s collection. (Gr 3 Up)  The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. Gennifer Choldenko. (2024). Knopf. Almost twelve-year-old Hank Hooperman and his three-year-old sister, Boo, are on their own when their unreliable mother, Geri, goes missing. Left with no food and six months of unpaid rent, they might end up in separate foster homes if Hank can’t find her. Following clues that lead him to unexpected help, he makes his biggest mistake ever and learns a stark truth that brings hope for him and his sister. (Gr 3 Up)  Ukraine Remember Also Me: Testimonies from the War. George Butler. (2024). Candlewick Studio. “We dream of peace, freedom, and the joy of being without war.” Ukraine Remember Also Me is a compelling collection of testimonies from Ukrainians following the Russian invasion of their country. Their stories were told as British journalist and artist Butler drew their portraits on visits he made to Ukraine in March 2022 and March-April 2023. (foreword, map, afterword, artwork notes) (Gr 6 Up)  Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough. Hayley Rocco. Illus. by John Rocco. (2024). Putnam. David Attenborough (b. 1926), who grew up exploring wild places near his home in England, has traveled all over our planet filming nature programs that have been viewed by millions. Recognizing the decrease of wild places, Attenborough is an activist for conservation. “We must rewild the World.” (author’s note, “Rebuilding Our Planet” with a chart of problems and solutions, bibliography) (PreK Up)  The Wild River and the Great Dam: The Construction of Hoover Dam and the Vanishing Colorado River. Simon Boughton. (2024). Christy Ottaviano. Boughton chronicles the construction of Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River that began in 1931 and was completed in 1936. He provides a balanced account of the political, economic, social, and environmental impact of taming the wild river, and addresses the current crisis on the Colorado River. (timeline, “Dams of the Colorado River,” maps, notes, sources, index.) (Gr 6 Up)  Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare. Andrea Balis & Elizabeth Levy. Illus. by Tim Foley. (2024). Roaring Brook. Balis and Levy’s deeply researched exposé with Foley’s expressive black-and-white sketches explores the story of Joseph McCarthy and the histrionic Red Scare and how ordinary people were accused of being communists in a national “witch hunt.” The screenplay-style format includes excerpts from primary sources and “Fly on the Wall” contextual commentary. (author’s note, timeline, source notes, further reading, index) (Gr 6 Up) Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.
0 Comments
Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus As reviewers, we weed our bookshelves each January to make room for new releases. As book lovers, we add some books to our personal collections and put some aside for grandchildren and special friends. As advocates of reading, we will send the others to schools and libraries, but before we do, here is our list of books published in 2023 that are too good to miss—books we would love to see in the hands of all children and teachers.  Apart, Together: A Book About Transformation. Linda Booth Sweeney. Illus. by Ariel Rutland. (2023). Balzer + Bray. Together, Sweeney’s lyrical text and Rutland’s bold, colorful double-spread illustrations present a child-friendly introduction to how separate things can become something new when they come together. Apart, Together begins with simple pairings. For example, “APART, blue is blue and / yellow is yellow, but . . . // TOGETHER, they make green!” The transformations then become more complicated and metaphorical. For example, at soccer practice, “APART, players kick a ball . . . // TOGETHER they score!” (PreS Up)  The Bear and the Wildcat. Kazumi Yumoto. Illus. by Komako Sakai. (2023). Gecko. “One morning, Bear was crying. His best friend, a little bird, was dead.” This beautifully crafted picture book tells the story of Bear’s inconsolable grief until he meets a wildcat who understands his loss and helps him remember the special times he shared with the little bird. The wildcat, a traveling violinist, offers him friendship and a hopeful path of recovery with the gift of a tambourine and an invitation to join him in traveling as the Bear and Wildcat Band. (PreK Up)  The Bone Wars: The True Story of the Epic Battle to Find Dinosaur Fossils. Jane Kurtz. Illus. by Alexander Vidal. (2023). Beach Lane. Meeting in 1863, paleontologists O. C. Marsh (1831-1899) and Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897) became friends and collaborators until Marsh pointed out a mistake Cope made in attaching the skull to the tail of a dinosaur he named Elasmosaurus. “And that’s when . . . the Bone Wars began,” the bitter competition between the two fossil hunters to make the next big discovery. (author’s note, illustrator’s note, selected sources, suggested reading) (PrekUp)  Champion Chompers, Super Stinkers and Other Poems by Extraordinary Animals. Linda Ashman. Illus. by Aparna Varma. (2023). Kids Can. A call for animal contestants becomes a guessing game to identify who takes first place. Each recto page features a mask poem and a part of the animal’s body. A page turn reveals the name, a portrait, and a paragraph of facts about the winner. Among the 18 winning contestants are peregrine falcon for fastest flyer, North American beaver for best engineer, and Etruscan shrew for smallest mammal. (protecting endangered animals, about measurements, about mask poems, recommended reading, glossary) (PreK Up)  Creep, Leap, Crunch!: A Food Chain Story. Jody Jensen Shaeffer. Illus. by Christopher Silas Neal. (2023). Knopf. In this cumulative story, grass is nibbled by a cricket that is eaten by a brown deer mouse and so on up a simple food chain of consumers: a red milk snake, red hawk, red fox, and black bear. But some days, each animal alludes its predator, and the story ends with the bear munching “flowers and seeds … / …all that she needs,” and they all live to forage another day. (illustrated glossary) (PreK-Gr 2)  Evergreen. Matthew Cordell. (2023). Feiwel and Friends. Evergreen, a young squirrel who lacks courage, must conquer her fears when she must journey alone through Buckthorn Forest to deliver an empty acorn full of her mother’s healing soup to sick Granny Oak. Along the way, Evergreen hears strange noises, makes some friends, eludes some enemies, and almost loses the soup several times before delivering it safely to Granny Oak. Cordell’s animal fantasy with a lively text and detailed, ink-and-watercolor illustrations, organized in six parts during which Evergreen’s I-can-do-it confidence grows, has a surprise ending. (PreK Up)  Friend of Numbers: The Life of Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Priya Narayanan. Illus. by Satwik Gade. (2023). Eerdmans. Growing up in southern India, Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan (1887-1920) was observant, full of questions, and fascinated with numbers. “They made patterns only he could see.” Traveling to England in 1914 to study mathematics under Professor Godfrey Hardy at Cambridge University, Ramanujan continued to discover more and more complex numerical patterns and gained worldwide recognition as a mathematical genius. (author’s note, patterns in numbers, sample problems, glossary) (PreK Up)  Friends Beyond Measure: A Story Told with Infographics. Lalena Fisher. (2023). Harper. Narrator Ana tells about becoming best friends with Harwin on the first day they meet and doing everything together—until Harwin reveals that her family is moving far away, and they must make plans for how to remain best friends forever. Young readers will delight in poring over the charts, diagrams, pictograms, maps, and other infographics in Fisher’s humorously detailed cartoon-like illustrations. (glossary of infographics with activities) (PreK Up)  Hippos Remain Calm. Sandra Boynton. (2023) Boynton Bookworks. “Two fine hippos, / cozy at home, // take turns reciting / a morning-time poem” from The Big Book of Hippoetry. They calmly face some surprises during the day including a visit with one lonely friend that turns into a night of partying with a herd of hippos before they head home at dawn to snooze all morning long. For a fun read-aloud session, pair this rhyming picture book with Boynton’s first book, Hippos Go Berserk! (1977). (PreS Up)  My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups (Mischievous Nonsense #2). Chris Harris. Illus. by Andrea Tsurumi. (2023). Little, Brown. From front cover to back cover, this companion to I’m Just Not Good at Rhyming (2017) is chock full of nonsense including silly rhymes, concrete poems, haiku, limericks, fractured fables, and other forms of creative wordplay. Harris’s energetic, snarky, and clever words spill across page after page with occasional hilarious footnotes, accompanied by Tsurumi’s cartoon-like illustrations, for a laugh-until-your-belly-hurts reading experience for all. (glossary, indices by title and subject) (PreK Up)  My Incredible India. Jasbinder Bilan. Illus. by Nina Chakrabarti. (2023). Candlewick. When she visits Nanijee (her grandmother), Thara takes one memento from an old trunk and hears a story of Nanijee’s travels all over India. Each entry in My Incredible India features a boxed section about the special object from the trunk (for example, a small metal tuk-tuk or a model of the Taj Mahal), where it came from, brief paragraphs of related facts, and numerous colorful illustrations with captions. (time line, biographical note on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the Indian flag, index, resources) (Gr 3-5)  Penny & Pip. Candace Fleming. Illus. by Eric Rohmann. (2023). Caitlyn Dlouhy. On a class visit to the natural history museum, Penny sees a baby dinosaur hatching from an egg in a corner of a dinosaur exhibit, and the dinosaur sees Penny and follows her around the museum. In the lunchroom, he eats some of her cheese crackers, burps, and squeaks “Pip, pip.” In the Dinosaur Hall full of ancient skeletons, Penny realizes Pip is all alone and devises a clever plan to take him home with her and “into the future . . . together.” (PreK-Gr 2)  Robot, Unicorn, Queen: Poems for You and Me. Shannon Bramer. Illus. by Irene Luxbacher. (2023). Groundwood. Bramer’s new poetry collection, a companion to Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children (2019), explores various childhood experiences. Some of the 22 poems are playful and silly while others delve into thoughts and feelings from a child’s point of view. Luxbacher embellishes each poem with a stunning illustration created with watercolor, gouache, pencil, found paper, and digital collage. (author’s note) (PreK Up)  A Spider Named Itsy. Steve Light. (2023). Candlewick. With a spare, rhythmic text and playful ink-and-watercolor illustrations, Light elaborates on “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” nursery rhyme. On the fateful day after a tree limb fell and destroyed his web on a watering can, Itsy sets out to construct a new web under the gutter of a house and meets some other insects ascending the crooked waterspout. A heavy rain washes them back down but after the sun comes out, they all climb the spout again, and the story ends with “New web home, newfound friends.” (PreS Up)  The Stars and Other Stories (Bear & Bird #2). Jarvis. (2023). Candlewick. In four short stories, unlikely best friends Bear and Bird quarrel over something silly and decide to get new best friends, have a surprise go awry, nearly lose each other, and discover that looking up at the stars with your “bestest” of friends is perfect. Jarvis’s crayon-like illustrations featuring these two charming characters add warmth and humor to the stories in this series for newly independent readers about the ups and downs of an enduring friendship. (PreK-Gr 2)  Stone Age Beasts. Ben Lerwill. Illus. by Grahame Baker-Smith. (2023). Candlewick. Following an introduction to the Stone Age, which started nearly three million years ago, Lerwill and Baker-Smith provide profiles of the wooly mammoth, elephant bird, Steller’s sea cow, and 15 other majestic animals that lived alongside humans then. Each double-spread entry includes a spectacular portrait and introductory paragraphs written in a conversational tone, smaller text boxes of other interesting facts, and a side bar with scientific name, weight, date of extinction, range (with map), and a comparison of its size to that of an adult human. (glossary) (Gr 3 Up)  The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (Deluxe Anniversary Edition). Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Timothy Basil Ering. (2023). Candlewick. This 20th anniversary edition of The Tale of Despereaux includes a new short story, “The Tapestry at Norendy,” the perfect link between DiCamillo’s Newbery Medal-winning fanciful, adventurous tale about a heroic small mouse named Despereaux Tilling and The Norendy Tales, her new series of original fairy tales. The first book in the planned trilogy, The Puppets of Spelhhorst, was published in 2023; book two, The Hotel Balzaar, will be published in October 2024. (Gr 3-5)  Too Small Tola Gets Tough (Too Small Tola #3). Atinuke. Illus. by Onyinye Iwu. (2023). Chronicle. Too Small Tola, who lives with Grandmommy and her older siblings, Moji and Dapo, in “a run-down block of apartments in the megacity of Lagos, in the country of Nigeria,” is worried when even her beloved megacity cannot fight off the deadly virus plaguing the world and goes into lockdown. In three episodic stories, Tola proves that she is small but mighty, as well as clever and resourceful, when she takes on her family’s economic challenges of surviving the pandemic. (PreK Up)  We Are Human Animals. Rosie Haine. (2023). Eerdmans. With a spare text and stunning double-spread illustrations, Haine introduces young readers to a family of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gathers living in what is now France about 25,000 years ago when planet Earth was very different. This accessible story of our Stone Age ancestors ends on a thought-provoking note: “This was tens of thousands of years ago, // The world is very different now, but . . . // We are still human animals.” (author’s note) (PreK Up)  What Rosa Brought. Jacob Sager Weinstein. Illus. by Eliza Wheeler. (2023). Katherine Tegen. Young Rosa lived in Vienna, being cared for by Grandma, while her parents worked in the family’s grocery store. “Then the Nazis, came, and things changed.” With rising anti-Semitism making life dangerous for Jews and new rules that prohibit them from owning stores making survival difficult, the family eventually obtains three visas to America. Rosa wonders what she will bring with her, until Grandma, who will not be going, says Rosa will be taking her love with her. “And that’s what Rosa brought.” (authors note, photographs) (PreK Up) Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English from Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.
Nancy Brashear and Carolyn Angus As reviewers, one of the tasks we undertake each January is weeding our crowded bookshelves to make room for new releases. We add some books to our personal collections and put some aside for the grandchild or special friend we know will love them. We will send the others to schools and libraries, but before we do, here is our list of books we didn’t get reviewed in 2021 that are too good to miss.  Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country. Atinuke. Illus. by Mouni Feddag. (2021). Candlewick. Atinuke’s accessible guide to the fifty-five countries of Africa is organized into five sections: South, East, West, Central, and North. Each section includes a double-page spread featuring a list of the countries in the region, an introductory paragraph, a “welcome” in regional languages, and a colorful map followed by one-page entries for each country. (PreK Up)  Ambushed!: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield (Medical Fiascoes). Gail Jarrow. (2021). Calkins Creek. On July 2, 1881, four months into his first term as the twentieth president of the United States, James Garfield (1831-1881) was assassinated by Charles Guiteau. President Garfield suffered for eighty days before succumbing to infection following faulty diagnoses and primitive medical care. This medical thriller with Gail Jarrow’s gripping narrative includes primary source insets, captioned archival photographs, and extensive back matter. (Gr 6 Up)  Bei Bei Goes Home: A Panda Story. Cheryl Bardoe. (2021). Smithsonian Kids. Cheryl Bardoe’s photobiography of Bei Bei covers the first four years of the giant panda’s life from birth at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in 2015, to relocation at China’s Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in 2019. Double-page spreads feature full-color photographs of Bei Bei, one or two paragraphs of narrative text, and a side bar of panda facts. (PreK Up)  The Book of Math: Adventures in the World of Shapes and Numbers. Anna Weltman. Illus. by Paul Boston. (2021). Kane Miller. In this oversize book, readers venture into the world of shapes and numbers by exploring forty illustrated double-page spreads full of fascinating facts about topics such as “I Spy Pi,” “Weird Measurements,” “The Secrets of Prime Numbers,” and “Puzzling Paradoxes.” (Gr 3 Up)  Cold-Blooded Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery #3). (2021). Algonquin. When the owner of Leighton’s Mercantile is found dead at the unveiling of the store’s annual Christmas window display, twelve-year-old amateur sleuth Myrtle Hardcastle follows clues that appear in the display to learn that Leighton’s career as Professor of Archaeology was destroyed by the death of a student during a secret society initiation at the local college. As suspects keep dying, Myrtle risks her life to connect past events to the present murders. (Gr 6-8)  Disasters by the Numbers: A Book of Infographics. Steve Jenkins. (2021). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Steve Jenkins’ fascinating introduction to natural disasters, including earthquakes, blizzards, locust plagues, pandemics, asteroid impacts, and climate change, is organized in four categories: Earth, Weather, Life, and Space. One-to-four-page entries feature an introductory paragraph and a wealth of information explained with infographics (maps, charts, graphs, and accessible explanatory text). (Gr 3 Up)  Fish and Sun. Sergio Ruzzier. (2021). HarperAlley. Bored Fish swims to the ocean’s surface and meets Sun. When Sun sets after a day of playing hide-and-seek, Fish sadly swims back home. On the following day, Fish returns to the surface, Sun rises, and the two friends make plans to play all day every day. A simple text (in speech balloons) and colorful sequential artwork make this early reader a good introduction to stories in graphic novel format. (PreK-Gr 2)  The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem. Colleen Paeff. Illus. by Nancy Carpenter. (2021). Margaret K. McElderry. Cholera outbreaks in the 1800s that killed more than 37,000 people were caused by poop-polluted water, not foul air as Londoners believed. In 1858, engineer Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891) built a gigantic sewer system to safely reroute raw sewage and clean up the Thames, and “the great stink” and plagues abated. Back matter includes an informative “Poop Pollution Today” update and timeline. (Gr 3 Up)  Have You Seen Gordon? Adam Jay Epstein. Illus. by Ruth Chan. (2021). Simon & Schuster. It is too easy to spot Gordon, a purple tapir, in crowds in this seek-and-find book because he won’t hide, so the narrator directs readers to locate Jane, a shy blue rhinoceros—who keeps running off the pages. Gordon’s suggestion, “Ask who wants to stand out,” leads to scenes crowded with eager-to-participate creatures and “Can you find . . .” lists followed by a surprising final page. (PreK-Gr 2)  I Am the Subway. Kim Hyo-eun. Trans. by Deborah Smith. (2021). Scribble US. “I rattle and clatter over the tracks, same time, same route, every day.” Readers join the narrator, the subway, as it makes stops at stations around Seoul to pick up and discharge passengers. The warm, expressive watercolor artwork and rhythmic text of this picture book provide portraits and tell the stories of passengers taking the subway each day. (PreK-Gr 2)  The List of Unspeakable Fears. J. Kasper Kramer. (2021). Atheneum. During the typhoid epidemic in 1910, anxious ten-year-old Essie O’Neill adds moving to New York’s North Brother Island where her new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for incurably ill patients (including the infamous Typhoid Mary) to her alphabetized list of unspeakable fears. Haunted by a recurring nightmare of a red door with a ghostly riddle to solve, Essie must unlock family history to free herself. (Gr 3 Up)  One Great Lie. Deb Caletti. (2021). Atheneum. Eighteen-year-old Charlotte Hodges is in a summer writing workshop with author Luca Bruni, whom she idolizes, on a private island near Venice, Italy. Although she becomes disillusioned as Bruni’s true self emerges, she successfully digs into a mystery about a poem stolen from her ancestor Isabella Di Angelo by a famous seventeenth-century poet Antonio Tasso—and discovers that sexist treatment of women artists hasn’t changed much since the Renaissance. (Gr 9-12)  Opposites Abstract. Mo Willems. (2021). Hyperion. Mo Willems invites readers to explore the concept of opposites by responding to questions about pairs of abstract paintings. Some of the questions—“Is this light?” and “Is this dark?”—are easy to respond to; others—“Is this intentional?” and “Is this accidental?”— are more difficult to interpret. All the questions will encourage conversations about opposites and abstract art. (All ages)  Picturing a Nation: The Great Depression’s Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself. Martin W. Sandler. (2021). Candlewick. In 1935, ten photographers documented the daily lives of people in the United States during the Great Depression. Martin W. Sandler’s commentary for this photodocumentary with one hundred four black-and-white and color photographs organized by four regions (South, Midwest, West, and Northeast) highlights the importance of this U.S. Farm Security Administration project as an historical record. Includes profiles of the photographers. (Gr 6 Up)  Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Estivate. Melissa Stewart. Illus. by Sarah S. Brannen. (2021). Charlesbridge. A simple narrative and double-spread watercolor illustrations tell the story of how and where twelve animals “sink into a summertime sleep called estivation.” Each animal is identified by its common and scientific name in an overlaid black-and-white notebook sketch, and a “More About Animals That Estivate” endnote provides additional information on the featured animals. (PreK Up)  The Three Princes of Serendip: New Tellings of Old Tales for Everyone. Rodaan Al Galidi. Trans. by Laura Watkinson. Illus. by Geertje Aalders. (2021). Candlewick. In “A Note from the Gatherer of Tales,” Iraqi native Rodaan Al Galidi (b. 1971), who sought asylum in the Netherlands in 1998, states “stories are the best migrants and the finest travelers.” This collection of twenty retold tales from his childhood in Iraq, illustrated with Geertje Aalders’ intricate cut-paper collage artwork, supports this assertion beautifully. (All ages).  Two at the Top: A Shared Dream of Everest. Uma Krishnaswami. Illus. by Christopher Corr. (2021). Groundwood. In alternating voices, this picture book with colorful folk art-style illustrations tells the story of Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986), who grew up in Nepal, and Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), who grew up in New Zealand. Both dreamed of one day ascending the highest peak in the Great Himalaya Range. Years of separate climbing experiences led to their making history together in 1953 as the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest. (PreK Up)  Up Cat Down Cat. Steve Light. (2021). Candlewick. Steve Light’s artistically-designed board book featuring two feline companions, one black and one white, offers a first lesson on opposites: black-white, long-short, lost-found, straight-curvy, up-down, wet-dry, empty-full, and awake-asleep. With repeated readings, young children will discover the visual story being told of one day in the life of the two collaged cats and enjoy spotting the cats’ blue toy mouse in the mixed-media artwork. (PreK-Gr 2)  The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life. Amy Butler Greenfield. (2021). Random House Studio. This well-researched biography chronicles the extraordinary life of pioneering cryptanalyst Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892-1980). Often teamed with her husband, William Friedman, and often unacknowledged for her contributions, Elizebeth uncovered enemy secrets, hunted spies, and developed U.S. government code-breaking units during World Wars I and II. Amy Butler Greenfield includes “Code Break” inserts with intriguing information on codes and ciphers. (Gr 9-12)  You Can’t Say That!: Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell. Leonard S. Marcus (Ed.). (2021). Candlewick. Leonard S. Marcus’ in-depth interviews of Matt de la Peña, Katherine Paterson, Angie Thomas, and ten other children’s and young adult authors explore their experiences of growing up, writing, and having their work challenged or banned along with sharing wisdom on various topics. Marcus’ introduction provides background on the history of censorship and contemporary issues related to intellectual freedom. (Gr 6 Up) Nancy Brashear is Professor Emeritus of English from Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California. Carolyn Angus is former Director of the George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California.
|
AuthorsThese reviews are submitted by members of the International Literacy Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG). Categories
All
Archives
January 2026
|
RSS Feed