Tag Archives: Adventure

Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!

Posted on by

This picture book is a rollicking, rhyming celebration of friendship and what being a family means. Ostensibly, Stick and Stone are off looking for Stick’s family tree, but when the adventure turns from fun to frightening to hopeless Stone tells Stick that he is his family and Stick agrees.

The delightful end papers have stick sprouting leaves of many different trees, which tie in with an illustration in the book. The humor around a stick looking for his family tree, which literally is a tree, remains funny throughout. The sunny illustrations reflect the energy between the two friends. The palette temporarily becomes darker when things get tense, but returns to vibrant color after help is received from another friend. Emerging readers will be successful with the repetition and simplicity of words and the short sentence length.

This book might be an especially good fit for young children who are adopted or, for whatever reason, are unable to make a connection with their heritage or ancestry.

Elvis and the World As It Stands by Lisa Frenkel Riddiough

Posted on by

This is the story of a kitten, his new animal family and the humans that adopted him. Elvis and his sister, Etta, have always been together. But, at a July 4th adoption event, Elvis is adopted by Georgina and her mother. Georgina seems sad and that is because her parents have recently divorced and things are so different now. So, Georgina immerses herself in her LEGOS, building famous structures that have some meaning to her family. She does so with the help of Mo, the hamster, under the watchful eye of Laverne, the goldfish, and Clementine, a grumpy adult cat.

Elvis wants to be happy. But, more than anything, he wants to see Etta. He tries to communicate with the humans and it doesn’t work. Ever-helpful Mo tells him that he can communicate, just in a different way. After a few nearly disastrous escapes in an attempt to return to the shelter to find her, he discovers on a visit to Georgina’s dad’s apartment that the shelter is across the street. Clementine opens up about her time there and her kittens that were adopted before her. Together, they attempt to start a LEGO shelter to help explain to Georgina and she understands their actions, taking them to the shelter the next day. Elvis finds out that Etta was adopted by a wonderful family that loves her and Clementine finds one of her kittens, who is added to the family right then and there.

While Elvis is not reunited with Etta, he knows she’s happy and he allows himself to begin to enjoy his life with his family. At the same time, Georgina and her parents start to find some peace with their new family life in separate homes. Along the way, 9/11 is gently discussed after Georgina builds the Twin Towers in homage to her parents’ visit so many years before.

Told from the perspective of a young kitten, Elvis and the World As It Stands is an animal story and so much more. It is a story of healing for families torn apart and things we don’t understand. Illustrations and occasional text messages help move the story along nicely. An author’s note at the end gives a little more information about 9/11 and details the author’s motivation for writing the story. Recommended

Map of Flames by Lisa McMann

Posted on by

Meet five children, Birdie, Brix, Tenner, Seven, and Cabot, all born to supernatural criminals and all with supernatural powers of their own. Raised by Birdie & Brix’s dad, because the other parents have mysteriously disappeared, the death of their father has the five children leaving their isolated hideout and entering the outside world in search of their mother. Armed with a map with clues to her whereabouts, the five children navigate life in this new, unfamiliar world so unlike the isolated one they lived in until now. Sometimes comical, our young heroes taste pizza for the first time, discover “magical” elevators, and scream in surprise as they have their first experience with flush toilets! This fantasy is the first book in the Forgotten Five series, with the second and final book, “The Invisible Spy” coming out November 8, 2022.