The Book Search

 OOOOOO, it feels SO good to have some time to read!  I found some really great science fiction this week in my Netgalley pile!  And guess what?  These two are on the SSYRA 3-5 list for 2022-2023! This one is called "The Lion of Mars" by Jennifer Holm.  I'm a big fan of Jennifer Holm-I love Turtle in Paradise and Babymouse and the Fourteenth Goldfish and Sunny.  The list is long and I'm so happy to see there's a new addition to the list!  The Lion of Mars is set on Mars.  The American government has sent a group of people to set up a colony there.  There are adults and children who grow their own food (with occasional resupplies from Earth) and make do with what they have.  There are strict rules about living in the colony and one is that there is no contact with the other colonies.  (Wait, what?  I hear you asking!) Yep, there is a French colony, a Finnish colony, a Chinese colony, and a Russian colony.  The Americans don...

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 love historical fiction.  Of all the genres, that's probably my favorite and these two new ones might show you why. The first one is called Ming's Christmas Wishes by Susan Gong.  It's about Ming, who has three Christmas wishes.  She wants to sing in the Christmas Choir, she wants to have a Christmas tree, and she wants to feel like she belongs.  But as the child of Chinese immigrants in 1930's California, discrimination was common and traditional Chinese families didn't really have Christmas trees.  Ming's dad takes her to into the mountains to visit an old friend and helps Ming accept who she is and who her family is.  The art work in this one is warm and luminous and really helps the connect the holiday feeling around the cold hard facts of discrimination and racism that many families feel.  This a good story to talk about our own family traditions and how we might be more accepting of others.   The second one is called Just Like That b...

 Wow, so I guess it's been a busy fall.  There was this little projec t  that kept me busy for awhile. Oh and school ... in the middle of a pandemic... and being available for a relentless amount of tech support to teachers trying to teach a hybrid model of both in person and online classes to 3, 4, and 5 year olds.  BUT this week, I actually had time to read some books!  YAY!!!  Here were two terrific ghost stories with great cultural connections.   The first one is called The Ghost in Apartment 2R by Denis Markell.  Danny is the storyteller.  He lives with his parents and his older brother in an apartment in Brooklyn.  It's a small apartment and his bedroom has always been in a closet.  That was all supposed to change when Danny's older brother, Jake, went to college.  Except that now, his parents decided, in an effort to make some extra money to help pay for Jake's college expenses, they are going to rent out the bedroom on ...

  This is always such a fun time of year.  The CYBILS awards are in their first round and there are SOOOO many books to be read.  This year I'm a second round judge so I'll have a shorter list to read, but I'm keeping my eye on things, just so I can keep up.  Two great books caught my eye this fall and they are great! The first one is a sequel to the CYBILS middle grade speculative fiction award winner last year-Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia.  I devoured that one last year during Thanksgiving weekend when people were giving me long looks when I would bust out laughing and then try to explain the entire story line without giving too much away.  I started reading it aloud to my fifth graders this year and they are only annoyed because I only get to see them once a week.  It's great being able to slow down a bit and talk about some of the amazing symbolism and cultural connections.  SO NOW, I just finished reading the secon...

 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...

 Social issues and building empathy have been hot button topics in middle grade fiction. The current way of thinking about this is windows and mirrors.  Some books show us people who are like us and some show us people we never really thought about before.  Reading some of both kinds of books is important for kids, so I'm happy to share some new ones with you! The first one is called A Fish Out of Water by Joanne Levy.  It's about 12 year old Fishel who is living with his mom, his stepdad and his baby sister.  Fish is getting ready to celebrate is bar mitzvah and he needs to do a  kind of community service project.  His friends have ideas and would like Fish to do the project with them, but Fish really wants to think up his own project.  He gets a great idea from his grandmother.  He wants to knit socks and give them to people who need them.  His grandmother says that boys don't knit.  His stepdad agrees and encourages him to take w...