A little girl makes a snowman and names her Wonder. She and Wonder spend so much time together, but when spring comes it is time for Wonder to go. The girl is sad until she finds something else that sparks wonder. The color change in the illustration highlights the girl’s feelings. When she is happy and can see the beauty around her, the illustrations are colorful. When she is sad the illustrations are shades of gray and white. A sweet story of friendship and finding joy in everyday things.
Category Archives: Reviewer’s Library Type
The Wire Zoo: How Elizabeth Berrien Learned to Turn Wire into Amazing Art by Natasha Wing
A look at the life of artist Elizabeth Berrien and how she became a wire sculptor. Elizabeth has a special way of seeing the world, she sees lines flowing across the surface of animals bodies. She wanted to draw it, but she couldn’t recreate the beautiful lines. She tried other kinds of art, but it wasn’t until she learned wire sculpting that things seemed to click for Elizabeth. It is text heavy, making it more suitable for upper elementary. The author’s note at end includes more information and photographs of Elizabeth’s work.
Snow Is… by Laura Gehl
“Snow is the feeling the moment you wake. Snow is a stillness before the first flake.” Through rhyming text, this book takes a look at the joy found in snow as a young boy and his family enjoys a day in the snow. The main colors in the illustration of blue, gray and white take on the feeling and look of snow, while the pops of red in the family’s house and clothing stand out. A sweet celebration of snow.
Roar-Choo by Charlotte Cheng
Dragon tries to explain how fierce and frightening they are, but everytime the roar, they sneeze. Each sneeze becomes more powerful and dangerous. Phoenix tries to get Dragon to rest, but Dragon persists. Eventually Phoenix ends up sneezing too. The colorful, expressive cartoonish pictures bring the characters to life. The author’s note at the end explains the Dragon and Phoenix significance in Chinese mythology.
Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião Salgado by Philip Hoelzel
Sebastião Salgado grew up on his family’s farm in Aimorés in the forests of Brazil. He spent time in the forests and loved his home but eventually moved away. He soon discovered his love of photography and how he could show what he saw and how it made him feel through pictures. He took photographs for different news stories, but the weight of what he saw made him no longer want to take pictures. After moving back to his family farm and seeing the destruction caused by cutting down the forest, Sebastião and his wife Lélia decided to rebuild the forest of his childhood.
This beautifully illustrated book takes you through the life and work of Sebastião Salgado. Also offering the reader a chance to think about and reflect on human’s impact on the earth. The author’s note at the back offers further information.
Penguin’s Egg by Anna Kemp
A papa rockhopper penguin falls asleep while waiting for his egg to hatch and is accidentally separated from his egg. He ends up very far away and has to use a variety of modes of transportation to make it back to his egg. He takes a train, a chopper, a pogo stick, an elephant and a hover board to name a few. The characters throughout the story are different animals, the text is rhyming, with some rhymes being approximate rhymes. The illustrations are vibrant and fill the page.
How to Cheer Up a Friend by Stephanie Calmenson
What do you do when your friend is sad? How do you help them feel better? Do you offer treats, make them laugh, listen? Through rhyming text, the narrator offers suggestions of how to help a friend: make him laugh, take a walk, listen. A young boy tries to cheer up an elephant who really just needs someone to listen. The pages consist of 1-2 sentences per 2 page spread. The colorful illustrations bring life to the texts and convey the elephants emotions. Perfect for helping young readers learn about feelings and helping others.
Thirsty
Big Bad Bee is the personality of Blake when she has the confidence to take on anyone, when her girlfriend seems to be the most proud, and when she is hammered from consuming copious amounts of alcohol. The summer before college, Big Bad Bee is out to prove who she is to everyone, including members of the secretive and illustrious Serena Society, a tight knit group of women of color who attend Jameswell College, where Blake will begin school in the fall. Over the summer, pledges get to compete for the final invitation to the group but Blake’s lack of real confidence in herself is her downfall. She wants to be in the society because her two best friends are also pledging and are likely to get in but her family doesn’t have money or mothers who are also members. Drinking to loosen up and have fun with the “right” people quickly becomes the defense mechanism for Blake to maintain her cool. When one of her best friends expresses concern but Blake’s longtime girlfriend continues to encourage Big Bad Bee, Blake is caught between who she is and who she thinks she wants to be. This reader was triggered by Blake’s actions because of the tension between the poor choices due to alcohol consumption and the desire for Blake to be smarter. It wraps up better than I had predicted and will be one that should be checked out on the regular from our high school library.
May the Best Player Win
by Kyla Zhao
May Li loves to play chess. After a competition where she won a trophy at the California State Middle School Chess Championship for being the top female up-and-coming player, winning and being on top gets a whole lot more stressful. Her school’s chess club has their sights set on Nationals, her teammate suddenly becomes her rival, and life gets more complicated when she becomes friends with a soccer player. May has to find her love of the game again and not just her nerves about always being on top. This sweet story is not only for those interested in chess, but also for anyone who puts too much pressure on themselves to meet others’ perceived expectations of us. I liked that May found balance in her life as she learned to re-embrace the sport she had loved since she was young. For those who also play chess, there is plenty of chess play, vocabulary and strategy in the pages of this book, too. The book confronts sexism in sports – both chess and soccer – and reminds readers that gender has nothing to do with whether or not you can play chess well or kick soccer goals! A great addition to a middle school library.
Hummingbirds (Pollinators)
by Martha London
Hummingbirds describes the life and importance of hummingbirds. Facts are presented with accompanying photos and QR codes are interspersed throughout with added videos, activities and information. Unfamiliar words are bolded and colored with a glossary at the back of the book. There is a page of connections to consider, an index and further information as well.
This book packs a lot of information into 32 pages and the extras via QR codes make it a fantastic addition to your science collection. Photos are clear and brilliant, a timeline of the lifecycle is well-done and text spacing all make this book accessible for many readers.
It is part of a series called Pollinators and should be a first choice when updating your collection. It is geared toward upper elementary, but will prove useful (with guidance) for the younger readers. Free teaching resources are included. Highly recommended.