Set in South Korea, the origin story of Yumi’s jumoni (Korean Lunar New Year blessing pouch) is rooted in family.  Grandma cut her beautiful red silk wedding gown to make blankets for her children.  As her kids grew up, grandma made red vest and a quilt from the pieces.  Grandma then used the red silk of her vest to make Yumi’s blessing pouch.  The gift of the blessing pouch includes the gift of intergenerational family memories.  Grandma’s Red Silk Dress brings to mind the Yiddish folktale of a coat worn out and repurposed again and again until it is a handkerchief.  Used together, these stories provide authentic cultural and familial perspectives.

As part of a math series, the purpose of this title is to demonstrate the concept of whole and parts.  In the instruction of fractions, the unequal parts described in the story would confuse the concept rather than clarify for young learners.

A Tower of Giraffes introduces collective nouns for animals with intriguing artwork and interesting information on the social behaviors of a wide variety of animals. To this information Wright adds flavor with fun language such as her description of a flamboyance of flamingos; “There fancy feathered friends work together to make theatrical displays by posing like ballerinas and marching in time.”  Headings are in artistic cursive that will be difficult for many younger readers, though this book will shine as a read aloud.

This is a silly tale of three characters, Eenie, Meenie, and Harold.  Harold was supposedly in the bathroom when Meenie discovers a sword, then a shield and then a helmet in the stove.  Eenie is mellowdramatic about the whole series of events, even after Meenie starts to suggest that maybe the items are actually Harold’s, but he can’t quite put 1+1 +1 together.  In the end, the dragon gets them all, which was a surprising resolution that little boys might satisfaction with.   Illustrations slightly are reminiscent of the David Shannon books.  You medieval fans will flock to The Sword in the Stove.

My Dog Spot could become a classic for generations.  The simplicity of the illustrations and text make it accessible for preschool students through the recommended age of 8.  The tan-textured, recycled paper background for every page present uniformity and focus for the illustrations of the dog and his activities.  For librarians, this would lend itself to call and response because of the repetition of “My dog Spot…” throughout.  Spot is black and white, smaller than some but larger than others.  He likes to do all of the classic activities a dog likes to do.  I envision this text selling well with millennials who pine for suburbia while acting like they are tres chic.  The heart-felt preface written by the authors’ son just makes one smile.  Recommended as a gift and for all libraries.

As this presidential draws near, I remember my mother working at our local polling place. Until I read this book, I never realized my mother would have remembered when women gained the right to vote in a national election in 1920.  STORIES OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE: Votes for Women tells of five women, in particular, who diligently worked over a fifty year period to gain this right for women.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton began her work prior to the Civil War when many laws were unfavorable towards women. First she worked as an abolitionist before moving into women’s rights. In 1851, she met Susan B. Anthony and began collaborating with her. During the Civil War Elizabeth helped the abolitionists as she could. Then after the war, “Elizabeth and many other campaigners for women’s rights to vote became frustrated as more people began to support the right of black men to vote. Elizabeth refused to support the vote for black men only, instead demanding that this right should be extended to black and white women, too.” (22)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony made a good team. Elizabeth liked working behind the scenes and Susan liked being out in front of the crowd. Elizabeth was the mother of seven children, while Susan never married. Susan traveled around the country giving speeches. She was very good at strategy, such as, scheduling her talks “just before politicians were due to discuss changes to the law. This got the attention of the newspapers and the lawmakers themselves.” (34) Susan used the 14th and 15th Amendments as the basis of her arguments. In 1872, Susan registered to vote, voted, and was then arrested for voting.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in Britain, Clementina Black was working to improve the lives of poorer working women. Clementina was asking for equal pay for equal work, breaks during the work time, limited hours to a work day, and a legal minimum wage. “Clementina’s work and writing has helped lay the ground for other campaigners for women’s rights, who were ready to give their lives for the right to vote.” (61)

Carrie Chapman Catt married newspaper man Leo Chapman and “became co-editor of the newspaper.”(65) Sometime after Leo’s death, Carrie married a wealthy George Catt who agreed with her views on women’s rights. George, on occasion, spoke for women’s rights with Carrie at rallies. Carrie’s strategy was to get women the right to vote at the state level and then finally get an Amendment to the Constitution.

Emmeline Pankhurst, in Britain, saw that peaceful protests were not achieving the results women wanted. Her motto was, “Deeds, not words.” She wanted the issues in front of the public everyday, in every way, even if it meant chaining women to fences shouting about women’s suffrage, so they couldn’t be removed and arrested.

Britain’s women could vote by 1918, if they were 30 years old, which changed to 21 years old in 1928. In the United States, the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, though women in varying states could vote on local issues before then. Washington state women could vote by 1910.

These longer bios are followed by five one page mini-bios on: Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Millicent Fawcett, Annie Kenney, and Emily Davison.

Then, there is a timeline, Facthound.com, glossary, and index.

I’m a fan of this whole series.  They both share the real-time science currently being investigated and studied in different parts of the world (in this case about sea turtles), and also share about the life and work of the scientists themselves.  Illustrated with full-color photographs, they offer readers a chance to be fascinated by creatures they didn’t know were fascinating, and they also inform students about career possibilities in the sciences.  This one does a particularly good job of communicating the dangers faced by the leatherback sea turtles, and efforts being made to help them, while also making clear that there is still much that is still unknown.

I’m a fan of this whole series.  They both share the real-time science currently being investigated and studied in different parts of the world (in this case about octopuses), and also share about the life and work of the scientists themselves.  Illustrated with full-color photographs, they offer readers a chance to be fascinated by creatures they didn’t know were fascinating, and they also inform students about career possibilities in the sciences.

It’s shiny and attractive.  They had good graphic designers working on this series, and they include lots of bright color photos so that if you just pick it up and flip through the pages it looks like it’s going to be really interesting.  But it’s not.  It’s got all the basic information.  But it reads like a textbook, with absolutely no effort put into the writing in terms of making any of this information sound interesting, let alone enchanting, as the series title claims.

It’s shiny and attractive.  They had good graphic designers working on this series, and they include lots of bright color photos so that if you just pick it up and flip through the pages it looks like it’s going to be really interesting.  But it’s not.  It’s got all the basic information.  But it reads like a textbook, with absolutely no effort put into the writing in terms of making any of this information sound interesting, let alone enchanting, as the series title claims.

According to the flap on the back of the dust jacket, both author and illustrator are award-winners in their fields.  But picture books depend upon the story and the illustrations supporting each other and enhancing each other, but in this case they don’t.  The pictures really don’t seem to even fit the story.  The story’s not bad on its own.  It opens with a little girl describing her perfect pet to her parents (soft and cuddly and quick and strong, able to both fly and swim, able to shrink so small it can hide anywhere, and also to grow big enough to protect her).  After her parents tell her such a pet does not exist, she goes to bed and meets her perfect pet, and enjoys a whole night of adventures with it.  The illustrations, though kind of cool in their own right, don’t fit the story:  when the words say the creature is soft and cuddly, it looks rather sharp and geometric; when the words describe it’s sparkling eyes, the illustrations don’t support that, the wings that are described as broad and beautiful appear rather small and stubby.