New books from the book fair

We had our Scholastic book fair this week and there was a grand assortment of books.  There were two new ones I'd been hearing about but hadn't read, so I got to read this them this week!

The first one is a picture book.  It's called "All Are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold.  It's a story told in rhyming verse about how school is a welcoming place.  The illustrations are warm and inviting and show a range of people who look different, sound different, and worship different from me.  This is going to be a terrific book for talking about classroom and school community.  I think it would be appropriate for little kids, but I think big kids, even middle or high schoolers, could appreciate it too.  Unfortunately, Scholastic only sent me three and when I tried to reorder, they were out of stock.  I think this shows that a LOT of people are enjoying and appreciating what a good book this is.  So you need to look for it too!

The second one was a chapter book and it keeps coming up on my Mock Newbery list, so lots of people must be enjoying it and after I read it, I can see why.  It's called "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor.  I absolutely loved her book called "All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook" about a boy who had been born in jail and grew up there and was "rescued" by the new district attorney.  Mason Buttle is one also excellent.  The first thing to love is the beautiful cover, designed by the Fan brothers-I adore their work.  The second thing is the amazing cast of characters assembled in this book.  There's Mason, who is struggling with so many things-he can't really read or write, the kids in the neighborhood bully him relentlessly, he has a disorder that makes him sweat A LOT, he lives in a house that is crumbling around their ears with his grandmother and his uncle (his mom died a few years before and sent all of them into a depression), and his best friend was killed in an accident at a treehouse that they built together.  Then there's Calvin, a boy who Mason rescues from the bullies and becomes close friends with, an amazing teacher, a police officer who believes that Mason had something to do with his friend's death... oh, I could go on and on.  The writing in this one is terrific and the opportunities for empathy are endless.  This is middle grade fiction at it's best.