Category Archives: Reviewer’s Library Type

Bridges Instead of Walls: The Story of Mavis Staples

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Written like lyrics with rhythm and rhythm, Bridges Instead of Walls is Mavis Staples memoir of growing up in a musical family and going on to successful performance career. Each part of Mavis’s life is treated as almost its own song, reinforcing the musical theme in her life. The Staple Singers, Mavis’s family’s performing group started as gospel group and eventually expanded to add message music that supported the Civil Rights Movement.

Mavis sees her life as a series of bridges, many of which were built from the music in her life. Born in Chicago to a poor black family that moved north during the Great Migration, Mavis met Elvis, Dr King, and Prince; she sang for presidents and princes; and earned accolades and awards for her music. Recommended for collections looking for books on music in the Civil Rights Movement.

The book includes a recommended listening list, recommended viewing list, and a timeline.

The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World

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In the Terezin ghetto where Jewish people were confined during World War II, survival was not guaranteed. A teacher named Irma Lauscher asked a fellow prisoner to risk his life to smuggle in a sapling to help the children celebrate Tu BiShavat, the New Year of the Trees. This sapling planted in a pot then later in the ground. Water was scarce, so the children shared a few drops of their water every day. It became known as Etz Chaim, The Tree of Life. The tree survived, but many of the residents of Terezin did not. Many died in the ghetto and many others were shipped off to concentration camps. The horrors of the Holocaust is summed up in the books words, “The children were the future of the Jewish people. And the Nazis wanted a future without Jewish people.” The tree survived and after the war, Irma saw that seeds from the tree were planted all over the world in memory of the children in the ghetto. In 2007, the tree died after taking flood damage, but it’s 600 descendants around the world thrive.

The Tree of Life focuses the story on life, hope, and strength in unity during a truly horrific time in history. Pair with This Very Tree: A Story of 9/11, Resilience, and Regrowth by Sean Rubin.

The House Before Falling into the Sea

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As the conflict that became the Korean War was erupting, many people were forced to flee from the violence. In The House Before Falling into the Sea, a young girl’s family welcomes one group after another to shelter in their home at the base of the Korean peninsula. The sacrifices she is asked to make and the disruptions to her life at times grate on her. With the help of her parents, she accepts that its okay to be scared and that as a group they can hold each other up.

The image a rock reappears throughout the story; from the travelers looking like stones, suseok (stone art), the stony beach, and finally the stone commemorating the generosity of the Tak family in welcoming those displaced by war. In the words of Umma, “Our visitors are not stones we can toss to the sea.”

A gently told story of time and place not often seen in picture books. Use when teaching about the Korean War, displaced people, or on a unit on kindness and compassion.

Beautiful illustrations show dark and light, the fear and the peace of a home that stood as a refuge for family and friends fleeing south.

The Reunion by Kit Frick

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Reviewed by OHS Student, Kloie P.

The Mayweathers and Hunts all officially meet each other in Cancún for an engagement party. However, old problems arise and relationships become tense, with the breaking point of someone mysteriously dying. This book has plenty of suspense- since the first page, tidbits of information is given of a murder that happens further along the two families week-long vacation in Cancún. In between, events leading up to the death explain backstory, as well as more side stories that account for certain distasteful relationships between characters.

This book keeps you guessing; you think you know everything, and think that you can probably draw a good conclusion, except more information is constantly revealed and keeps you pretty hooked. It also had some representation, which is always nice. However, I feel like the way the author portrayed how teenagers act is how they acted in 2005-2015 (and caused me to cringe a couple times). The vocabulary is also not that advanced. The latter kept me from finishing this book as quickly as I usually would, as it just felt somewhat bland to me.

I think anyone could read this book if they enjoy thriller (and are above maybe 5th grade?), and the vocabulary doesn’t have too many fancy words.

Daughters of Oduma by: Moses Ose Utomi

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Reviewed by OHS Student, Quinn P.

This book takes place in a world unlike any others, with complex characters and a plot that tugs at the reader’s heartstrings. Main character, Dirt, must take the place of her sister in a type of fighting competition that she has long retired from, knowing that if she fails, her family will be split apart.

At first I was unsure whether I would be able to read the entire book, because for quite a while there was very little happening. I only began to actually want to pick the book up and read it when I was more than halfway through. Additionally, there are several terms related to the fantasy world that cease to be explained either during the entire book, or for a long time. Because of this, I found a few scenes to be confusing and had to re-read them later.

I do like how surprising the plot of the book is– you can’t tell what is going to happen until it happens. I also appreciate how each character had some kind of growth throughout the story, some subtly and some dramatically. This book was also very quickly-paced at times, making the reader want to continue, whereas there were also many calmer parts of the book that felt like a breath of fresh air. The balance between the two elevated the reading experience for me. Overall, Daughters of Oduma is well-written with interesting and complex characters.

This book falls under the genres of fiction and fantasy, and contains coming-of-age themes. I think anyone who appreciates an action-filled (and slightly gruesome at times) fantasy book that still has its quiet moments will enjoy reading Daughters of Oduma.Daughters of Oduma is a good pick for any fantasy reader.

Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo

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Jun moves to America from Hong Kong. She only knows a handful of words and they are written on her hand. School feels isolating and very scary. Her lunchbox is filled with familiar comforting things from home and leads the way to new friendships.

The book is mostly wordless and the only text is speech bubbles and a few pages. The illustrations of school are dark and you can feel Jun’s sadness, but when Jun opens her lunchbox, joy and color burst forth. The end of the book includes the English and Cantonese translations of the few words that Jun knows, as well as a description of the things in her lunchbox.

Veena and the Red Roti: A Story of Hope During Partition by Namita Moolani Mehra

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Veena loves to be in the kitchen when the women are making roti. Veena practices making the roti and finally gets the hang of it. Then her world changes and the Partition of India occurs and her family leaves their home. They end up in a migrant shelter, where she is given a roti that was like nothing she had tasted before, it was red and hard to swallow. Veena decides that she needs to do something to help at the kitchen and makes red roti.

The end of the story includes a glossary, an author’s note and historical context. The story is inspired by the author’s grandparents’ journey during the Partition of India. The historical context explains what the partition was and is important for those who may not know this piece of history.

I Worked Hard on That

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After seeing a beautiful web, Kiara is inspired to make her own web. It was not as easy as it seemed and her first webs were not works of art. Finally she created a masterpiece when a squirrel ran through her web, destroying her work. Each web Kiara created were ruined by others not paying attention. Kiara meets another spider, Orb, and they work together to create something beautiful until Orb gets hungry and eats the web. Frustrated Kiara runs away destroying Paws, the squirrel’s, sculpture. Kiara helps Paws and learns that creating is just as important, if not more than the finished product.

The digitally created illustrations feature expressive characters, intricate webs, and designs to demonstrate varying textures.

This book would be great for discussing frustration when creating something and for how to respond when you accidentally ruin someone’s creation.

Careers in STEM: Aerospace Engineer

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Aerospace engineers use math and physics to design airplanes and spacecraft.

This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, photographs and captions. The glossary is needed as there are many words that will be new to readers, such as internships and physics. This book explains what an aerospace engineer is, does, and how to become an aerospace engineer. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.

Careers in STEM: Mechanical Engineer

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This book is a Blastoff Reader from the Careers in STEM series.This series for beginning readers focuses on jobs in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. There are 2-3 sentences per page and uses many text features such as bold words, table of contents, glossary, photographs and captions. Information about a famous mechanical engineer is included.This book explains what a mechanical engineer is, does, and how to become a mechanical engineer. The books in this series introduce readers to careers they may not be familiar with.