The Book Search

 I LOVE picture books.  I love the short stories with big messages.  I love the gorgeous art work.  Picture books are such a great way to tell a story.  Here are two of my new favorites. The first one is called A Hen for Izzy Pippik written by Aubrey Davis and illustrated by Marie LaFrance.  This is a folk story based on Jewish and Islamic traditional texts.  It's about Shaina, who is starts the lamenting the fact that the people in her community are struggling financially.  She's thinking about what to do when a hen comes up and pecks her toes.  It's not JUST a hen, it's a hen with emerald green feathers, gold speckles and a ruby red comb, gorgeous!  She doesn't know who this amazing hen belongs to, but she intends to find out.  She asks all the merchants in town and no one knows, but she finds a sign that says "Izzy Pippik Chicken and Eggs" next to  a broken wooden crate.  Shaina takes the chicken home and her family sta...

 Did you think I forgot how to write a blog post?  I did not.  Well, maybe I did, but COVID seemed to have scrambled my brain a little...  or maybe a lot and between trying to go to work, to go to our state librarians convention, to spend 10 days  with my parents here and suddenly it was today!  I'd like to tell you that I've done something heroic, but it would be a lie or at least a really big stretch.  Anyway, I HAVE been reading and here are two new ones that you should definitely look for. The first one is called Sardines.  It's written by Sashi Kaufman and it is wonderful.  It's about Lucas who is in middle school and struggling.  His older brother, Charlie died after he'd left to go away to college and he left a big hole in the community as well as in Lucas' family.  In fact, Lucas' mother has left the family without any big discussion with Lucas, so he doesn't really know why she left or where she went or why.  Lucas fee...

 So my colleagues and I are busily reading the books on our CYBILS list.  It's a little daunting at this point-there are 107 books on our list (that's the usual thing) and they all have to read by at least 2 people by the end of December.  Trying to get everyone copies of each book is a completely different issue, one luckily I don't have to deal with!  That's the job of the amazing Sheila Ruth .  Anyway, I've had a little extra time on my hands this week - I managed to catch some icky bug from one of those rotten PreK kids (who sat on my lap for an hour weeping copiously).  So I've put my time to good use.  Here are two of my new favorites and these are both mysteries! Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee is such a wonderful, heartfelt story.  It's about Maizy, who lives in Los Angeles with her mom, a food stylist.  They have driven across country to Last Chance, Minnesota to come and spend time with her grandparents.  Her grandfather i...

It's been so hot out that I've been spending a lot of time indoors reading.  Hooray for awesome new books to read!   These two realistic fiction books could not be more different, but I thought they were both terrific.  The first one is called Thirst and it's written by Varsha Bajaj.  It's about Minni, who lives with her loving family in one of the poorest parts of Mumbai, India.  Her dad runs a tea stall, her mom works as domestic worker for a rich family, her older brother works in a restaurant and Minni goes to school, but it's hard!  One of the things the family has to do each day is wait in line for water.  There is a tap not far from Minni's house, but it doesn't operate consistently or very efficiently, so sometimes they wait a long time and other times, not as long.  Sometimes the water is discolored or bad smelling and they are told to boil the water before drinking it.  One day, Minni's brother gets invited for a ride in a friend's ...

 Ahhh, summer!  Time to take a break from the usual and try a few new things...  We've been traveling this year to someplace completely different-Alberta, Canada.  The weather was forecasting rain every single day for the entire two weeks we were here and today, they were really right.  It's 49 degrees and windy and raining so we're staying tucked in our hotel!  We've seen some beautiful places  like this- The Athabasca Glacier Me and my sweetie at Emerald Lake     At the Valley of the Five Lakes-all of them are beautiful! But it's good to think about reading...  I've read so many wonderful ones while we're on vacation!  Here are two of my new  favorites.    The first one is called "The Summer of June" by Jamie Sumner.  I heard her read some of her first book "Roll With it" in this YouTube video. And I love her voice SO MUCH.  I could really hear her reading her new one as well.  June is a girl who live...

 New books are blooming!  Check out this new bumper crop! Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros is a terrific new book told from two points of view-Marco and Isaac.  They've been best friends since kindergarten, but are really different kinds of people.  They each live with their mothers, Marco's dad has been out of the picture for awhile.  He has a new family and often posts pictures on social media of the new family but is highly critical of Marco.  Isaac's dad has only recently left the family home and is struggling with a drinking problem.  Issac is an excellent athlete and Marco is more studious.  Marco is also very short, which makes him a target for bullies.  As they start middle school, they are each wondering if they will remain friends.  On the first day, they each people they identify with strongly-Isaac finds the basketball team and Marco finds a group of coders but they also find allies in the other's group-Marco is rescued from...

 I've been trying desperately to get caught up on some of my reading.  It sounds ridiculous to feel pressured to read but there it is.  I've been having trouble sleeping so it's a good time to dig around in Netgalley and see what is on the to-do list!  Here are two amazing ones! The first one is called Those Kids of Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly.  Erin has written some AWESOME books-I'm not the only one who thinks so, her book "Hello Universe" won a Newbery award and before that "Blackbird Fly" won a CYBILS award.  I think this new one is going to be a big hit too.   It's about a small community in Louisiana where people don't come and go very often.  The kids there have known each other their entire lives and will likely be friends forever.  That constancy can be a comfort but it can also be difficult if you are a kid who doesn't feel like he or she belongs.  Greyson is one of the main characters.  He is relentlessly bullied by ...

 School started this week and I'm a little behind the power curve on the SSYRA books this year.  I blame the shortened summer-we started late last year and so we ended three weeks late -three weeks less vacation.  Uh, gosh, that sounds like a first world problem, doesn't it?  Let's get to the book reviews, shall we? The first one is a terrific speculative fiction title called The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas.  It's about Nestor, who has just moved to New Haven.  His dad is in the Army and they've moved often.  His dad is currently deployed in Afghanistan and Nestor misses him a LOT.  Nestor and his mom have moved in with Nestor's Abuela-his dad's mom, so there are lots of pieces of his dad around, like his dad's old baseball glove and the animal encyclopedia his dad made when he was a kid.  Nestor is very interested in animals too, and he can talk to them .  To his surprise, Nestor finds school to be ok.  He find...

 It's been lovely having time to read over the last few weeks.  Not working is awesome.  I will, of course, be happy to go back to work, but having time away is pretty terrific too.  And happily, I've been on something of a tear with really great books.  Here are two realistic ones you should totally look for. The first one is called Ahmed Aziz's Epic Year by Nina Hamza.  It's her debut novel and I hope there are more coming, because this one was great!  It's about Ahmed, who's family is moving from Hawaii (where he's lived all his life) to Minnesota (his dad's home town).  The family (mom, dad, little sister Sara, and Ahmed) because his dad has a debilitating (and potentially fatal) liver disease and he can get a hopefully life saving treatment in Minnesota.  It turns out that Ahmed's dad left Minnesota as a young man, partially because his younger brother died of the same liver disease that Ahmed's dad has.  He died as a young man so A...

Sometimes it feels like realistic fiction is just a little too real for me, especially, given the world in the last few months.  Luckily, there are some wildly talented writers how are giving us a lovely opportunity to walk in someone else's shoes just for a little while and see that might feel like. The first one is called On a Good Horse by Darby Karchut.  It's about Alex, who is going to New Mexico to live with his dad.  His dad has been largely absent from his life when his parents divorced when Alex was about three.  His mom had died suddenly and unexpectedly and Alex had been living with his aunt and uncle but they were going to NY to pursue a business prospect and were not allowed to take him with them.  So he goes to spend the summer with his dad, grudgingly, and unwillingly.   His dad is a farrier and is hoping that Alex will come with him and learn about his job.  Dad is also hoping that Alex will love horses as much as he does.  So he b...

 I've been looking for titles for my library that will help drive a conversation about racial justice in our community.  These two titles will help with that! The first one is a young adult book.  It's called "Dear Justyce" by Nic Stone.  Nic won acclaim with her novel "Dear Martin" a couple of years back, which is about a young black man attending a prestigious high school in Atlanta while living in an impoverished neighborhood.  That one was great and this one might be even better.  It connects some of the characters from the first book to this one.  This one is told mostly from the point of view of Quan, who is writing letters to Justyce because he is in jail, awaiting trial for the murder of a police officer.  The story unfolds in flashbacks to different times and circumstances, which allows the reader to see how Quan came to be in such a position.  There are parts of the story that are hard to read-passages about abuse and neglect, about...

One of the great things about modern middle grade literature is its unflinching look at some of the social issues kids deal with on a daily basis.  As an adult, I often think I'd like to shield my students from some of the harsher realities, but what if this IS their reality?  What if they are waiting to tell someone a terrible secret?  Stories like these might make it easier for kids to talk about some of the things that they are going through. The first one is called "Fighting Words" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.  I'm a big fan of her writing.  I adored "The War that Saved My Life" and the sequel "The War I Finally Won".  Her latest book is just as good, maybe better.  "Fighting words" is about Della, who is 10 and has been living with her big sister, Suki, who has been taking care of her.  They have been living with Clifton, a truck driver, who was their mother's boyfriend, until their mother was arrested.  They've ended up in ...

It might be feeling a little like realistic fiction is the wrong way to go right now, real seems a little too real to me some days, but these are terrific stories and you don't want to miss them! The first one is actually perfect for right this minute, when racism is front and center in people's minds.  It's called "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Farqui and Laura Shovan.  It's told from two viewpoints-Sara and Elizabeth who live in small town in Maryland.  The girls have just started middle school and are struggling to find their places.  Sara is an artist and her parents want her to be a scientist or a doctor.  They are Pakastani immigrants and Sara's mom is teaching a cooking class at her school.  Elizabeth is taking the cooking class along with her best friend Maddie and a new girl named Stephanie whom Elizabeth feels is coming between her and Maddie.  Elizabeth's mom is also an immigrant-she's from England and is struggling with depression s...

I have been hoping for some fantasy fiction, because frankly, real life is real enough for me!  However, the advanced reader copies I've been getting are realistic fiction, so realistic it is!  Luckily, both these books were awesome and so different from my life, that they were both a great get away. The first one is called Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein.  It's about 12 year old Will who's having a hard time.  First, his dad died when he was four.  Will's dad went into the hospital to a hernia repaired and died.  Part of Will's coping mechanism has been withdrawing, which brings the reader to problem 2, Will doesn't really have any friends.  Well, he has one good friend, Shirah and one friend who annoys him, but is still his friend, Max.  Shirah and Max and Will have been friends since they were small and the rest of the kids at their school do a lot of teasing, which Will perceives as bullying.  Will is also coming up on his Bar Mitzvah...

It seems an appropriate time to talk about facing big challenges, since this whole virus-stay at home-school online thing is pretty challenging!  Thinking about different kinds of  challenges is kind of a nice diversion.  These books were certainly that. The first one is called "Like Nothing Ever Amazing Happened" by Emily Blejwas.  It's about Justin, a middle schooler who is struggling to adapt to a new normal.  His dad died awhile back and part of the problem with his dad's death is that there were a lot of unanswered questions.  Justin's dad was a Vietnam War vet that struggled with PTSD.  He didn't talk much about it and was careful with the words he did speak.  His dad was killed by a trolley and one of the things that Justin wonders is if his death was a suicide or just an accident.  His mom and older brother are doing the best they can to try to hold things together.  His brother is a talented athlete but has taken to working at...

I read two books this week that both had to do with postwar trauma.  One is historical fiction and one is present day and they were both terrific! The first one is called "A Galaxy of Sea Stars" by Jeanne Zulik Ferruolo.  Jeanne wrote a terrific book last year called "Ruby in the Sky" that I really enjoyed, so I was delighted to see she had a new book out.  This one is just as good, and maybe even better!  In "A Galaxy of Sea Stars", Izzy, the main character is starting middle school.  She's nervous like most kids are but she's got a lot on her plate.  Her mom has gone to stay and work with her sisters in their family restaurant, and although it seemed like she would be gone just a short time, it's turning out to be longer than Izzy figured it would be.  Part of why her mom left, is that her dad is different now.  Her dad served in the army in Afghanistan and came back different.  He's had to take a different job, they've had to move ...

I'm a big fan of Linda Sue Park, so when I saw she had a new book, I couldn't wait to read it!  You might have read some of her other middle grade fiction, like "Long Walk to Water" or the Newbery award winning "The Single Shard".  Her latest one is called "Prairie Lotus" and it's a terrific combination of historical fiction and modern activism.  Hanna is 14 and she and her dad are traveling to an expansion town in South Dakota in hopes of settling there.  They are leaving California, where although the family had a successful business there, it cost them Hanna's mother.  Hanna's mom was injured during a riot and massacre of Chinese people and never fully recovered.  Hanna and her dad are trying to build a new life.  Hanna is hoping to go to school to get a diploma, something her mother wanted badly for her.  Hanna is also a talented dressmaker and she would like to pursue that as a career.  The new town has an ally-a friend of her dad...