Would you be surprised to hear that body images are something that kids think about? The images kids see on social media (including TV and video games) shape the way they think about their own bodies and not always for the better. Here are two books where the main characters are thinking about the way that they are perceived and how people perceive them in two really different ways.
The first one is called Time to Roll by Jamie Summer. This is a sequel to her book Roll With It. The main character, Ellie, wants to be a baker and finds happiness cooking and baking for her family. She is also in a wheelchair most of the time, which she doesn't find as off putting as some other people do. In Roll With It, Ellie and her mom move back to their hometown to help Ellie's grandmother because Ellie's grandfather is struggling with dementia. In this second book, Ellie has happily settled into her new hometown, she has wonderful friends and her mom has found love in the form of the PE teacher at Ellie's school. The book opens with their wedding and Ellie's dread of her mom and new stepdad going on a honeymoon trip because it's the first time Ellie and her mom have ever been apart. Ellie's dad and his new wife and their two boys are coming to stay with Ellie but that's not really easy because Ellie's dad doesn't really understand how the whole wheelchair thing works. In trying to avoid her dad, Ellie ends up entered in a Miss Boots and Bows pageant with her best friend, Coralee. Except Ellie keeps finding people she needs to educate about her wheelchair, like the pageant organizer and her dad. Ellie is a wonderful character. Her confidence and sense of self are so solid that she can talk to people when they offend her to help them understand how they can be supportive without being overbearing or keeping her from being as independent as she wants to be. This is a really fun read and I think the kids are going to love it.
And give a listen to Jamie reading a little bit of the book!
The second one is sort of the opposite end of the scale. It's called A Work in Progress and it's written by Jarrett Lerner. You might have seen some of Jarrett's other work-he's written a lot of elementary grade fiction that's super funny like Enginerds and Geeger the Robot and a new beginning reader series about Nat the Cat. "A Work in Progress" is not that. It's about Will, who has a seminal moment in fourth grade that is the beginning of the story. Will is walking down the hall at this school and another boy comes up and says that Will is fat. Will describes it like the boy is spitting it out. Will is devastated and even though Will's friends track him down and try to support him, the voices in Will's head are louder and WAAAY more negative than the supportive voices of his friends. Will starts trying to hide behind baggy clothes and when that doesn't work, he starts restricting his food intake. Will eventually finds a way to tell his friends and his family that things are very wrong with him. This is a POWERFUL book. It's written in free verse poetry so it goes quickly, but it also goes quickly because you really want to keep reading, to find out what happens to Will. His voice is so immediate, so relatable, you find yourself wanting to tell Will how awesome he is, how little his appearance actually matters, how mean middle schoolers are and how real friends are accepting of differences. Many readers will recognize themselves in this book, the anxiety, the negative body imaging, the self sabotage, the feeling of being alone, all of these are things we all feel from time to time, some more acutely than others, but thanks Jarrett. Thanks for putting this story out into the world so readers will know that they aren't alone, that there is a path forward and that there are people who want to help and support you, no matter how unworthy you feel. This is an amazing book that should be in every school library, because I guarantee you, there's someone in that school who feels exactly like Will does. DO NOT miss this one.
I've been enjoying my spring break and since we were traveling, I had some long uninterrupted time to read (because when I'm at home, there's a lot of "Oh look! Something shiny!" going on). There are some terrific new middle grade fiction books in the pipeline. Here are two of my favorites. The first one is called "The Orphan Band of Springdale" by Anne Nesbet. It's historical fiction but it's based on the author's family stories. It's set in World War 2 and I really loved that it tells the story of what it was like growing up in America at that time, with some of the ugly prejudices that people held as well as some of the social issues that have since been resolved. Gusta's dad leaves her on a train as they were heading to Maine because Gusta's dad is a socialist and believes that workers should have rights and he is being pursued by the police. Gusta ends up at her grandmother's house, which is a kind of an orphan...
I've fallen deep in the dark heart of middle grade fantasy fiction this week and there have been many, many magical creatures! These were my two favorite ones! The first one is "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell. It's not her first book but it's the first one I've read and I thought it was great. The writing is compelling and beautiful. I fell into the book but I kept stopping so I could keep going back to it! As an example, here's the opening line: "It was a very fine day, until something tried to eat him." The story is about two kids-Mal and Christopher. Mal lives with her great aunt Leonor in a place where magical animals are commonplace. Neither of them knows what happened to her parents, but the man who brought her to Leonor left a big coat that allows Mal to fly. And then a murder shows up. Mal narrowly escapes but Lenor does not. Meanwhile, Christopher is going to spend the summer with his gra...
I'm super excited to be reading for the CYBILS again this year! I love reading all the latest speculative fiction and boy are there some great ones! Here are my two latest favorites. The first one is "Island of Wonders" written by Frances Hardinge and illustrated by Emily Gravett. It feels like an old fashioned story. The format of the book is big-like picture book sized, which is good because there are lot of illustrations. And the illustrations are just amazing-in three colors-black and blue and white, they almost feel like NC Wyeth or that Art Deco kind of traditional children's literature. But the STORY. Whoo-boy, is it great. A super creepy fairy tale kind of story and so beautifully written. It's about Milo, whose father is a ferryman, but a special kind of ferryman, HE ferries the dead to the afterlife. The islanders place a lot of trust in the ferryman, because if he doesn't do his job properly, the de...
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