Author Archives: SSBRC Former Member

A Mustache Baby Christmas by Bridget Heos, ill. by Joy Ang

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Back in 2013, Bridget Heos and illustrator Joy Ang gave birth to Mustache Baby. If you know Mustache Baby, then you already know what happens when his mustache starts out short, then grows long with ends that curl. This book has facial hair magic verses Christmas magic. Two, two, two magics in one story.

The story begins with Billy’s (a.k.a. Mustache Baby) friend Javier , who was born with a full beard. “On Christmas Eve, Javier’s beard…turned white…[making] him Santa’s #1 helper, Santa Baby!”

Santa Baby is helping adult Santa, but forgets to make the toys. Oh, no! Along comes Baby Billy to become an elf and make the toys. Hurrah! With all the work of making the toys, Baby Billy’s mustache has grown long and curls at the ends. Oh, no! “BAD GUY MUSTACHE!” is keeping all of the toys he’s made for himself. Baby Santa becomes upset. His beard is growing longer turning Javier/ Baby Santa into “MAD GUY BEARD!” The two start a snowball fight with each other. When Elf Baby/Billy hurts an innocent the two rush to help the injured. Slowly, their mustache and beard go back to normal, just in time for adult Santa’s arrival. Adult Santa invited them to ride along with him in his sleigh. “…kids heard them exclaim, as they rode out of sight, Merry mustache to all…and to all a beard white!”

If you are a Mustache Baby fan, yes you will want this book , too. If they are new to Mustache Baby younger children may find this book with BAD GUY MUSTACHE and MAD GUY BEARD disheartening at Christmas time, but older children will like it. This said, it is not a wonderful stand alone book without the rest in the series.

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

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This novel is for “Little House on the Prairie” fans, but with a racial equity twist. Obsessed with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books herself in her youth, Linda Sue Park was Laura in her imagination. But in her imaginings, she became an Asian girl living in De Smet, South Dakota — a Chinese girl with some Korean blood.

Our heroine is 14-year old Hanna, whose Caucasian father moves them to the Dakota Territory after Mama died. Hanna is half Asian and in 1880 in this part of the country, is the only Asian in the community. Hanna hides under her bonnet as long as she can and when the students in her one-room schoolhouse first discover she is not White, all but one stops coming to school. The racism that Hanna confronts is largely autobiographical and Ms. Park weaves many of her true-life occurrences into her book. Hanna’s strength is sewing, something she learned from her mother. Her father plans to open a Dress Goods shop, but the community shows no signs of wanting to frequent an establishment whose owner has a “Chinaman” daughter. Painful yet funny, the reader will cheer for Hanna’s strength on every page.

This book received the Asian/Pacific American Award – Honor Book in 2021.

Up on Bob by Mary Sullivan

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Full two-page illustrations and simple text in this picture book tell the story of Bob the dog.  Bob works hard to clear off a neatly made bed to sleep the day away.  As he finally settles in he notices “Someone” (the cat) is watching him. Will Someone go away so Bob can sleep, or will Bob’s nap be disturbed?  Young children will enjoy hearing this story with a surprise ending, and may be able to read it for themselves.

111 Trees, How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl, by Rina Singh, il. by Marianne Ferrer

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This lushly illustrated picture book focuses on Sundar, who grew up in a poor family, in a poor community, in a dry, hot region of India. His village continued the cultural traditions of celebrating the birth of boys while the birth of a girl was seen as a burden. After the childhood loss of his mother Sundar would hug trees for comfort. Working in the area’s marble mine as an adult gave him a view of it’s destructive practices and concern for the future of his village.  The loss of a daughter to dehydration inspired Sundar to promote the idea of planting 111 trees for each girl born. As village leader he eventually convinced villagers to join him in planting trees. Over many years the act of planting trees led to a renewal of the environment and an appreciation of girls within the community. It also improved the prosperity and quality of life for the villagers. The colorful illustrations enhance the tale based on a true story.  After the story are several pages with additional information about Sundar and the village as well as photographs of Sundar and the trees. The additional pages also have didactic information on gender inequality and eco-feminism not dispensed as charmingly as it was in the text of the story. This book could be used as a read-aloud for older students to start conversations about gender inequality and reclaiming the environment. The amount of text on each page of the story would make it a challenging read aloud for younger children. The additional pages of information are probably too text-rich for a typical elementary group read-aloud session.

Alien Nate by Dave Whamond

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This graphic novel tells the same plot about an alien coming/crashing to earth, only to have government agents try to find /trap it and the young people of earth trying to help it.

The originality of this graphic novel is what makes it so special! Nate, the alien, comes to earth because his planet has come into contact with 1977’s Voyager 1. The golden record was onboard, but what the aliens from Vega wanted more of was the pizza accidentally left on board. They wanted pizza!

Nate is taken to elementary school by earthling Fazel, who has dressed him up to be human in appearance. Nate enjoys learning all about earth but, “It was always just about the pizza. Now I wish we’d paid more attention to the golden record.” (18)

The facial expressions are right on as the reader ventures through to see who will alienate whom, Nate or the government’s Men in Beige. The word play is hilarious with the multiple meanings of worm holes, swear, alien, and vegan.

Just like it is the various toppings on a hamburger that make it memorable, so it is with Alien Nate. This is one memorable alien adventure to earth and back!

The Suitcase, by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

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This simply-illustrated picture book would be a nice springboard for a discussion of welcoming refugees. Primarily written as a conversation between animals, each character’s dialogue is printed in the same color as their fur, eliminating the need for identifiers in the text.  When a strange animal arrives, three local animals are curious about his big suitcase. As the locals ask questions about the suitcase they become suspicious about the answers. Their mistrust leads to a violation of privacy, but also an act of contrition which creates an opening for friendship. The simplicity of the book means it is not a deep dive on the topic of providing a welcome for strangers, but creates the space for an adult to move the conversation in that direction. Younger children would appreciate the simple nature of the book, but it could lead to richer conversations with older elementary students.

Camino A Las Estrellas

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This is the Spanish edition of Sylvia Acevedo’s Path To The Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist. Acevdo’s story is that of a young Latino girl growing up in Las Cruces, New Mexico who has ambitions to study math and science, but is constrained by cultural and societal norms. She also faces racial prejudice as a Latino student who transfers to an Anglo school. It is not until she wears her Brownie uniform to the Anglo school that Sylvia is accepted by the other students and joins the sisterhood of the Girl Scouts.

The Girl Scouts changed Sylvia’s life: she began to earn badges and learned to do many things that interested her. Selling Girl Scout cookies led her to start saving her own money and plan for college, knowing that her parents would be unable to assist her in this dream.

She tells of her experience growing up bilingual and poor, how she achieves her goal of graduating from college and graduate school and becomes a rocket scientist. Ultimately she serves as the CEO of the Girl Scouts of America.

This is a very inspiring story and libraries would be well served to carry both the Spanish and English editions.

The Ugly Five

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By Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Sheffler

Julia Donaldson introduces us to five uniquely bizarre animals of the African Savanna. The five animals: Wildebeest, Warthog, Spotted Hyena, Lappet-Faced Vulture and Marabou Stork all believe that they are the ugliest of all the creatures that roam the Savanna. They chant a rhyming song as they move along meeting each other. At the end their off-springs prove that even though the might not be the most beautiful animal, they are loved and needed, A lesson everyone can heed.
At the end of the book the author and illustrator include two pages of drawings of other animals you might see on a safari. The illustrations are beautiful but don’t deter from the message.
A good read aloud to illustrate order of events.

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History (Young Readers’ Edition) by Keith O’Brien

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 This young reader edition is adapted by the author, Keith O’Brien, from his adult book of the same title. In Fly Girls, O’Brien tells the widely unknown story of American female aviators in the 1920’s and 30′. Amelia Earhart’s amazing accomplishments and the mystery of her disappearance appears prominently in history books but how many know Ruth Nichols, Louise Thaden, Ruth Elder, and Florence Klingensmith? These young female aviators were held back by deep gender inequities during golden age of flying, and as O’Brien explains of their forgotten histories, “each of the women went missing in her own way.” 

The stories of these five “fly girls” show how they came from very different backgrounds and experiences. Nichols was a New York debutante, Thaden sold coal in Wichita, Elder was hiding her divorce, Klingensmith was working on airplane engines, and Earhart was in Boston making life changing decisions.

Airplane racing was a very hot sport between WWI and WWII but was completely dominated by men. The five “fly girls” struggled to find opportunities to fly, begged sponsors, borrowed planes, took risks such as daredevil stunts on the wings of planes. O’Brien tells all of these stories, including numerous fiery crashes and the tragedies that occured in the cockpit and also on the ground.

Fly Girls is in the vein of Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, telling the story of how a group of women banded together to break the glass ceilings, struggling against entrenched prejudice, to fight for the right to do the job which had been seen as exclusively for men.

This Young Reader edition includes a glossary, source notes by chapter, an index, and primary source black and white photos.

Leif and the Fall

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By Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant
Illustrated by Merrilee Liddiard

Leif and his friend, Laurel attempt many different ways to make his fall to the ground softer and easier. During his trials, all the other leaves taunt him but he perseveres. At last comes the time when an anxious Leif can not hold on anymore. Will his fall be disastrous?

The illustrations are simple but effective, giving each leaf a personality, This persistent tale lends to great discussion about never giving up, order of events, why and why not Leif’s inventions worked and the progression of the seasons. Great autumn read!