This storybook and music CD collection begins with a picture book telling of the title’s namesake.  This super silly song is matched in wits with PisHier’s bold, geometric and whimsy illustrations of what could be happening in the old lady’s stomach.  Following the song-tale are 11 more children’s songs, with words on one page and an illustration on the other.  A music CD accompanies the book.  I could see librarians using this with K-1 grades and having students asking again and again to read/sing along.  Fun!

John M. Feirerabend only changed a small amount of the original tune to flow with the beautifully crafted scratchboard etchings.  Any librarian who can carry a tune will thrill k-3 grade students with this traditional call and response songtale, perhaps before they leave for the summer with thoughts of camping and hiking in their future plans.  The last page of the book gives a brief history of the song and a small paragraph about the artwork.  Smart teacher-librarians will explain the art before the reading/singing of the song so that students appreciate the amount of time it took to create these illustrations.  The music for the original tune and a set of the lyrics are also at the back and two free mp3s of the song are available for download.  This is  one of ten in a series of picture books from GIA Publications, Inc. in an effort to preserve children’s folk songs.  Recommended.

Jennifer Anne Moses’ author bio in the back of this book has more girth than the 300 pages prior in Tales from My Closet.  This is the story of five teenage girls, none of whom are good friends with each other, but all of whom will influence the others in terms of fashion, body image and self-confidence.  Each chapter is told in one of the girls’ points-of-view, with multiple chapters examining the same event from different character’s eyes.  Moses’ does keep the plot moving despite these varying entries that feel very diary-esc. But he cover says it all.  Clothes. Drama. Friends.  Most of this is so “Oh My!” that readers that don’t regularly watch Bravo or E Entertainment television channels will probably bring it back.  There are some in your face real life drama that real teens deal with such as an alcoholic parent, a parent that cheats on their spouse, or romantic feelings for a sports coach, but the drama that spins the entire story is really the focus of the book.  When the teens have their moments of reckoning, the moments happen too fast and non-realistically.  This is definitely an additional purchase for most libraries.

Part of The Alternative series, Patrick Jones’ book explores the effects upon a ‘normal’ but emotionally-stunted family as they take in a damaged, out-of-control niece, Misty, upon the death of her neglectful, troubled, drug-addicted mother.

Rachel, attending Woodbury High School, wants to help her pushy cousin, but Misty’s arrival turns out to be more than challenging, bordering on outright mental illness, while Rachel’s life is orderly, planned, and relatively quiet. As her father and mother become embroiled in Misty’s blatant disrespect, Rachel begins to empathize with her cousin in the face of her straight-laced parents’ inability to fathom Misty’s wild, sexually dangerous, self-abusive behavior: Misty cuts herself.

Expelled from Woodbury, CPS sends Misty to Rondo Alternative School, but even here she cannot cope, and when rules at home prove too much, Misty flees, ending up in a horrible situation from which she needs rescuing by Rachel.

When Rachel needs rescue herself, it is Misty who comes for her since Rachel’s perfect friends have deserted her. As their understanding grows, it is not enough to keep Misty from being admitted, as a final resort, to a mental health facility with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder that fits Misty like a glove. Misty has the chance to overcome her illness with hard work, and Rachel will be her friend as they learn to care for themselves.

This book is a convincing and easy-to-read look at what is at stake when a child, neglected from the start, must learn to cope in whatever way she can while exposing the difficulties for a family taking in such a damaged person for whom rules are meaningless.

Recommended, of course.  It’s Patrick Jones!

A young Japanese-American girl named Mitsi is sent off to a containment camp located at the Puyallup Fairgounds in Washington State during World War II. While at the camp, she keeps in contact with her dog, Dash, who she could not take to the camp with her. She hopes to be reunited with Dash at some point in time. During her stay at the camp, her family is slowly splitting apart due to other relationship. The contact with her dog keeps Mitsi’s hope of reuniting her broken family alive.
This is an emotional novel that keeps the reader turning the pages to learn how Mitsi deals with the problems of the camp. The characters are well-developed where the reader is able to make a connection with them. This book is highly recommended to those who enjoy World War II historical fiction books.

— Kellyn S.

When Pearl searches her closet for warm clothes, she tumbles into the Underwater Kingdom.  She finds it strangely quiet.  She discovers all the princesses gathered around an injured princess, washed in on a tidal wave, from their enemies in the Reef Kingdom.  Pearl tells them they must care for her and give her plenty of rest.  Although her wounds begin to heal, Princess Velvet’s eyes remain closed.  Pearl reads her stories and brings various corals to decorate the room.  One day Pearl asks her to open her eyes so she can return home.  Slowly Velvet looks at Pearl.  She had been worried because a look from a Coral Princess can turn enemies into stone.  Pearl assures her they are friends, not enemies.  She escorts Velvet home and they are greeted by the Coral Princesses – with open eyes.  As a thank you, they give Pearl a lovely coral pearl as a token of friendship.  The artwork in this simple story will appeal to all princesses.  There is a “pearl” embedded in the front cover.  At the end of the book, the reader is invited to touch the pearl and whisper their own pearl of wisdom by which to live.

Pearl is invited to the Underwater Kingdom to celebrate her birthday.  The sea princesses give her a beautiful pearl necklace.  Everyone is impressed, especially Princess Amethyst.  On their way to the party, Pearl accidently drops the necklace.  Unnoticed, Amethyst quickly picks it up and puts it in her own pocket.  At the Coral Castle, they play games and eat delicious snacks.  All at once, a magician appears stating he makes things appear and disappear.  In his hands he has Pearl’s necklace yet he returns it to Amethyst!  Ashamed, Amethyst rushes to return it to Pearl saying she just wanted something beautiful for herself.  Pearl tells her it looks pretty on her and that she can borrow it any time.  All she has to do is ask.  The artwork in this simple story will appeal to all princesses.  There is a “pearl” embedded in the front cover.  At the end of the book, the reader is invited to touch the pearl and whisper their own pearl of wisdom by which to live.

Eleven year old Anna’s former teacher and her husband have been approved to adopt a child from China.  As an Asian, Anna gets to accompany them to help with translation and the baby.  She is excited because she hopes to see the orphanage from where her little sister was adopted and to immerse herself in Chinese culture.  At home, Anna is one of two Asian students.  In China, she does not stand out at all.  To help raise money for the orphanage, Anna and friend Andee, make fortune cookies.  Andee surprises Anna with a gift of paper fortune cookies to open each day of the trip.  Anna has a journal to record her observations and ideas for her oral history project.  This book has unexpected depth dealing with adoption, being a minority, adjusting to middle school, and families.  A pronunciation guide for Chinese word and phrases is at the beginning of the book.  Words are listed in order of appearance.  A recipe for fortune cookies is in the back.  Black and white illustrations are a perfect match for the story.  This is a sequel to The Year of the Book and The Year of the Baby.  Coming soon is The Year of the Sisters.  They chronicle Anna’s life beginning as a 4th grader, although they are enjoyable even if read out of order.

Alice, the dragon, introduces dragons to the dragon-illiterate.  From the beginning, she says dragons are not real.  She then goes on to say they are famous, have treasure, come from eggs, are smart, almost indestructible, live all over the world, and like to eat humans.  Full page color illustrations are delightful.  None are scary.  Not all look or act the same as different cultures hold varied beliefs.  Alice is charming even as she ends the book with a plan to eat the reader!

In this Inuit folktale, long ago Walrus once had fancy, spiraled tusks which he used to uncover tasty clams.  Jealous of his ability to gather and eat so many clams, Raven cast a spell on the ocean to trap Walrus.  Frozen in place, Walrus was trapped with part of his tusks and head above the surface.  Raven teased and tormented Walrus while little critters nibbled him from below.  Enraged, Walrus heaved himself out of the ice, straightening his tusks and reddening his eyes.  He lunged after Raven who hastily scrambled far, far away.  Walrus left the coast preferring to live out at sea.  Artwork is in blues and browns and reminiscent of wood cut prints.  While stylized, it is a good match for this Arctic folktale.