Review submitted by OHS student, Helen J.
Six students survive a school shooting. One student starts a rumor about one of the students that died, and the others want to get the story straight. But their community isn’t that welcoming to this “true” story.
You should read this book because it is a story of discovery and trust. This story is about acceptance of hard trials that people go through.
How do you deal with death, especially the death of someone you look up to and admire? For Charlie, the death of his father will spin him into a world he never imagined for himself. Sent to his grandparents for the summer in 1988, Charlie learns he has friends, family, comic book heroes, basketball and jazz to help him get back to feeling normal. While Grandaddy impresses upon Charlie the job of being on a team and playing a full game, it’s his cousin Roxie who teaches him the game and moves to be great in the game. Grandmother’s cooking makes all things bearable as she listens and shares in his new adventure. A quick trip to jail might also be life-changing, and friend Skinny goes with him because that’s what friends do. Readers watch a 12 year old Charlie become something special, being the path of maturing into Chuck, father of Jordan and Josh Bell from Alexander’s earlier Newbury Award Winning The Crossover. A prequel to that novel in verse, Rebound will give depth to the story of the Bell family but can be read as a stand alone as well.
This new series- The Questioneers- follow the picture book characters: Rosie Revere, Iggy Peck, and Ada Twist into the chapter book realm.
This first book begins with the trio working on an invention to help Rosie’s uncle, Zookeeper Fred scare away snakes. Even after five models, Rosie is not giving up . Her talents get temporarily guided away from that project to help her Aunt Rose and her aunt’s friends. These ladies were, ” ‘the Blue River Riveters,’ she said. ‘We worked together at the B-29 factory during World War II. We built more airplanes that you could imagine. We made a difference back when it was needed the most. And we still do our part.!’ ” (30)
Young readers will follow Rosie’s efforts to help others in the now popular STEM movement. “Rosie loved engineering, It made her happier that just about anything.” (41) Readers will follow Rosie from the brainstorming beginnings through to her end project. Rosie loved brainstorming, design, research, making prototypes, and testing. (49)
Rosie is not successful on her first attempts, but she does not give up. When Rosie gets frustrated the motto “STOP AND THINK!” comes to her aid.
In this book, Rosie is asked to come up with an invention that will help Aunt Rose’s friend June paint in the Art-a-Go-Go competition in the park, when June has two broken wrists.
As each chapter begins, red quad graph paper gives light to Rosie’s thoughts through Rosie’s sketches and diagrams of the work in progress. June is set to paint at the competition, using Rosie’s Paintapalooza 9. Mid-way through the painting, June’s arms become too tired, then a brush breaks. Undaunted, Rosie makes adjustments.
In the end the Blue River Riveters make Rosie, Ada, and Iggy “HONORARY RIVETERS!”
After the story ends, keep reading or you will miss out on: ODE TO A VALVE, ABOUT VALVES, ABOUT THE RIVETERS, THINK ABOUT THIS, and ABOUT THE AUTHOR and ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR.
It’s cute. It begins the morning of a big auto race with Mama Lion and Tiger making final preparations before heading out to join the others at the starting line. Just before the race begins Mama Lion takes a look at the prizes on display and notices that second place wins a small cup, which is rather significant, since during their morning preparations she had just noticed that Tigey’s cup at home was leaking. Mama Lion and Tiger get off to a strong lead, so that they even have time to enjoy the ride through the countryside, but just as they notice the Pandinis hot on their tale. Braking in a hurry to avoid hitting a butterfly Mama Lion and Tiger lose a wheel, giving the Pandinis a chance to take the lead, except the Pandini team stops to help. Just as they are ready to return to the race, the shady knitted monkey crew fly past, throwing banana peels into the road behind to slow down their competition. Just as it looks like it’s going to be close, Mama Lion makes the decision to slow her car, letting the helpful Pandini team take the grand prize. She is content with the useful second-place cup and the knowledge that she’s won some friends that day.
It tells the tale of a tiny boy. It never really specifies exactly how small he is, but the illustrations suggest his is maybe an inch or two tall, small enough to sleep in a matchbox, climb a mountain of legos, ride on the back of a grasshopper, and stretch out on a lily pad. It describes the struggles he faced when he started school: being too small for his desk, racing away from being squashed by a basketball, and avoiding being trampled by his classmates. It says he preferred to spend time alone and draw. It says he teacher worried about him, wondering what would become of him. But just as the reader is starting to wonder how would this small one survive and manage in our big world, the story tells us he did grow up “(But not much bigger.)”. We see the house he built himself, under the shade of a tomato plant that stretches over the roof like a tree, and a stool made of a matchstick and bottle cap. And it reveals what job he finds that just suits his size: he draws stamps. The final page declares, “One can never be too small to be a GREAT artist!” It’s fanciful and fun.
It’s a silly, rhyming story about a monster who is picky about his underwear, and doesn’t really want any new underwear, but finally admits, when his trusty old ones completely fall apart, that a shopping trip may just be unavoidable. His mother manages to find a whole, giant emporium dedicated entirely to underwear, but he finds something objectionable about every variety with which he is presented. Until at last he discovers the perfect pair, just like his old ones…he buys 18 pairs. It’s irreverent, full of words like tush and buns and rump that will leave kids giggling over feeling like they are skirting the line of polite society reading about underwear, yet it doesn’t cross the line into objectionable.
The whole book is a poem celebrating that time after the sun sets before dark fully settles in. The illustrations are full of the colors of sunset and twilight. Each two-page spread includes two stanzas describing how different animals behave in the twilight. Repeating lines that come back on each page is one way it ties together in continuity; also the last line of each page gives a foreshadowing of the page to come. Sometimes the illustrations do likewise. An author’s note in the back offers further scientific information about what defines twilight and the animals who are active at that time of day. It really is a beautiful book.
This book is well-designed as a bedtime story. The illustrations are soft and full of dark, soothing colors. The text is poetical, full of rhyme and repetition. Each two-page spread describes what a different animal dreams of, always in sets of three, and always ending with a dream that includes the listener. In the end the reader encourages the listener to dream of what animals do and when they awake to remember those sweet animals are dreaming of him/her too.
It’s a collection of poems, each written by a different author. In the past I have sometimes found such collections inconsistent in quality, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of these. Each poem honors a different role within a school, from bus driver to crossing guard to principal to lunch lady, etc… And it begins and ends with a poem dedicated to the school itself. A wonderful tool to celebrate the start of a new school year as well as all those who make it what it is.
The illustrations are full of bright, vivid colors and friendly personified tools. The text is full of rhythm and rhyme and more than one good message. The tools each start with a verse to introduce themselves, then they sing together about their excitement and joy over starting school. They’re all excited to get started at building time, but find that working on their own they’re not getting very far; when they cooperate, with each contributing his/her own specialty they have a lot more fun and success. Mistakes are still made, and they have to try, try again, but they discover that though sometimes it’s fun to work alone, some jobs take teamwork.