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'm pretty excited about some big changes here at my house. My husband and I both decided to retire at the end of the school year and we've spent most of the summer traveling (not quite finished with THAT but since we're retired, it gets to be an ongoing thing, YAY!). Also, being 'she of the short attention span', I had some ideas about things I wanted to be able to do once I retired, so here's the latest new thing-in addition to doing book reviews, I'm also writing lesson plans! I started with the Sunshine State Young Reader Award Jr. books (because I'm pretty familiar with them and they are some amazing new books!) and they are now available on Teachers Pay Teachers ! I've created packets with librarians and classroom teachers in Florida in mind, so they're vetted by a certified school librarian (that's me!), they are tied to the Florida state curriculum (BEST standards, but handily, this also links them to other curricula), there are
I've been waiting and waiting to get to this part of my TBR pile-I have this HUGE stack of books that are being published in the next few weeks and I'm so excited to get to read them! These were DEFINITELY worth the wait! The first one is called Nimbus by Jan Eldredge. The main character is Nimbus, Nim for short, an 11 month old black cat, who lives with a boy named Fletcher. They live with Fletcher's aunt because Fletcher's dad is working so much. Fletcher doesn't mind living with his aunt, but Aunt Connie is not a big fan of Nim but Fletcher rescued Nim when she was a really small kitten and had been hit by a car. He took very good care of her and they are tightly bonded. One night, Fletcher finds an old jar and tries to open it. It turns out what's in the jar is REALLY bad-it's a nightmare demon and it's trying to suck out Fletcher's life essence. Nim attacks the demon and thinks she's destroyed it, but she's also been badly injur
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