Liberia by Scholastic Press gives a concise overview of the beautiful, troubled African country of Liberia.  The book begins with the table of contents with definite subject areas to obtain the information a student may need for a research project. Starting with a historical perspective and the founding of Liberia by former American slaves, the book also includes information about the geography of a biodiverse country with statistics displayed with  charts and diagrams.  Many photos of the social life and traditions of the people add to useful information in this book. Recommended for students from the middle and high school grade levels.

The bright, colorful children’s book , Hurry Up, Alfie, playfully looks at the difference between a child’s sense of time and a parent’s.  While being coaxed to “hurry” to get ready to go to the park, Alfie is repeatedly distracted by his imagination.  He is gently encouraged to continue by his patient Mom.  The antics of Alfie are charming and the illustrations delightfully enhance the story. This is a very sweet book for kindergarten or first grade readers.

Review of Becoming Maria

         Sonia Manzano’s memoir, Becoming Maria, is an honest, heart-wrenching account of growing up in the chaotic world of Puerto Rican New York City in the 1950s. The recollections of her early life of severe poverty, parental strife and constant moving are stated with frank realism. There is voice of authenticity as she observes the events with curiosity, confusion and occasional anger. Passion for music and a natural talent for theater are her ticket to a different life.  She continues a split life while living in the barrio and attending a performing art high school.  She then earns a scholarship to the Drama department of Carnegie Mellon University. This memoir shows that drive, determination, hard work and a dream of a better future CAN change a life.  Sonia Manzano always knew she wanted more than to just repeat the life she saw around her.  This book is inspiring for anyone with a past they wish to escape and a dream to pursue.

Three Little Culottes is a children’s book about three pigs that stand up for themselves when their culottes (pants) are stolen from them in the middle of the night.  It is a nod to the traditional Three Little Pigs story in that each house they visit is made out of straw, sticks or bricks. Colorful illustrations using a collage effect of line drawings, photo cutouts and pencil sketches enhance the whimsy and playfulness of the book.  Humorous rhyme adds to the delightfulness of this charming book, with just a hint of French for an exotic flair!  The book begs to be read aloud with playful rhyme and the inclusion of silly words. The kindness and problem-solving lesson at the end gives an added depth and sensitivity to this sweet little book.

Twelve-year-old Genuine Sweet lives in a tiny, broken down house with her drunkard of a father who cannot get a job, and her Grandmother who moved in to provide guidance to Genuine. Living in the small southern town of Sass, Georgia has proven to be challenging for the family who goes hungry and has their power turned off due to lack of funds. Then Genuine’s grandmother tells her a secret; Genuine is a 4th generation wish fetcher. She is able to grant others’ wishes by calling to the stars and having them pour down their liquid star light. The problem is she cannot fetch wishes that would benefit her self. When a city girl moves into town, she gives Genuine ideas to trade wishes for things she needs, bring bartering into town to better the community, and have her wish fetching go world wide on the internet. However, wish fetching for the clients on the web is a lot of work for one girl, and when she loses the one person who has held her world together, her grandmother, Genuine breaks the main wish fetcher rule and asks for a wish for herself. With that, she loses her gift, but shares the secret of wish fetching to others to continue the positive support for those in need.

Faith Harkey tells her story adding a sweet southern charm that adds a little magic to the already magical tale. The humanitarian message given is a valuable message to the youth of today.

Part of its series Women of Action, Chicago Review Press presents these brief

biographies of women past and present who have made a difference that resulted in

betterment for all. These fighters for human, civil, reproductive, worker’s, farmers’

rights and world peace are engagingly presented by the author, who includes resources,

useful bibliographies and notes to aid readers in future study. Further, sidebars put

stories in the context of the locations and prevailing customs and practices of the times.

Ross crosses ‘barriers’ of age, place and time to highlight the bravery of 16

women who took action rather than accepting the status quo and in so doing, changed

the face of history and the lives of all women. Often, their activism carried a high cost –

jail, attack, assassination attempts, vilification, ostracism, and outraged society. Still,

they prevailed, gathering to their causes other strong, dedicated women to whom the

struggle was well worth the cost.

Readers learn about Megan Grassell (empowerment through bras), Margaret

Sanger (abortion rights), Alice Paul (Equal Rights), Maggie Kuhn (Grey Panthers), Sampat

Pal Devi (the Gulabi Gang), Dana Edell (Girl Power), Malala Yousafzai (girls’ education),

Mary “Mother” Jones (organizing), Vandana Shiva (food and farmers), Rigoberta

Menchu Tum (indigenous rights), Kalpona Akter (garment workers’ struggles), Jane

Addams (peace and the safety net), Ida B. Wells (anti-lynching), Buffy Sainte-Marie

(Native activism through music), Judy Baca (mural activism), and Leymah Gbowee

(Women in White for peace). Each exploration into these lives is fascinating, vibrantly

depicted and filled with new information about each woman in the context of her time.

It is an important document for times like these and a worthy new addition to collective biographies for you library.

Recommended.

CitizenKid, an imprint of Kids Can Press, offers a collection of books that inform

children about real issues in the world to inspire them to be better global citizens.

This graphic novel, Child Soldier, tells the harrowing true story of Michel

Chikwanine, a 5-year- old boy abducted from his village and his intellectual, activist

father and loving family, forced to join a filthy army of rebel terrorists and other

victimized children. Dehumanized, trained to commit unspeakable brutalities, the

children kill, maim, torture (often each other) in an endless hell of civil war. Threatened

with death if they try to flee, tanked up on drugs, abused and used, they also are told

they cannot return home because of the terrible stigma their societies attach to the

crimes and killings they have committed. Hope dies.

Already haunted by his ‘initiation’ in which, blindfolded, he kills his best friend,

after many months Michel does flee and finds his way home to a loving and forgiving

family which in turn suffers through the persecution and ultimate murder of Michel’s

father. The survivors finally make a new life in Canada, but the scars Michel carries give

rise to this book that tells the similar story of hundreds of thousands of boys and girls

forced to abandon their humanity, enslaved to thugs perpetrating hideous acts of war.

Beautifully, carefully illustrated, this book ends with information about the plight

of child soldiers in many parts of the world, making a case for abolition of this practice

to every level of government and the law, giving young readers avenues for activism. As

Michel’s father said: “If you ever think you are too small to make a difference, try

sleeping in a room with a mosquito.”

Highly recommended.

For the last few years the term ‘infographics’ has been tossed around as the next best thing since sliced bread for those kids who have trouble focusing. In this book, each page is a different bright color with other brightly colored shapes layed on top of one another. The shapes are instantly recognizable as an auto, a building, an animal, and so on. The bright colors keep your eyes jumping from one thing to another. And in graphics, size matters. Objects are shown in diminishing size as the quantity gets smaller. It very much reminds me of a kids almanac but without all the information. This particular book contains ten building feats, ranging from fish aquariums to bridges to office buildings. No history about any of the buildings but a list of longest, tallest, most capacity, and so on of each building. Not much reading necessary, but then the information is semi interesting and not important.

Nerf toys are popular with both boys and girls, and especially moms, as the soft foam toys don’t break anything in the house. Nerf toys have been around since 1969 and have evolved with the times. Beginning with a soft ball, Nerf toys are sports balls, dog toys, and battle toys using soft darts. These are pretty good for all ages. The idea that a toy company owner made up a game using soft rocks to throw at each other and came up with Nerf balls and toys is a perfect example of American ingenuity. I’m not sure if there is a story here or even much interest in buying a book that reads like a catalog. Interesting but not a first purchase.

“Addition is a kind of math.” (4) As primary grade readers read this book they will feel a sense of accomplishment because they know this information. This 7″ X 6″ book begins with ” 2 + 2 = 4” in numerals, then the numerals are replaced by objects. This is repeated  with “ 3 + 2 = 5” first with numerals and then with objects.  Next, the book equates addition to counting two groups of objects. Next, the plus sign and the equals sign are introduced within addition sentences. Upon turning the page the numerals are ‘stacked’ vertically and the equals sign is replaced by a line. Next, ‘sum’ is introduced in text and illustration/diagram. This is followed by a word problem using text and pictures to count. Finally, the last concept is addition using a number line, followed on the next page by a number line/ story problem. The book ends with a make-at-home (or school) activity where two bean bags are tossed onto an appropriately sized number grid (1-12) and the child adds the two numbers the beans bags have landed upon.

The book is filled with smiling faced children giving the reader the impression “I CAN DO THIS!”