Category Archives: Recommendation

We Shall Overcome by Bryan Collier

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Bryan Collier’s breathtaking illustrations of the Civil Rights protest song make this book an important addition to any elementary library. Each refrain is supported by the visual portrayal of the text with the current day children of color living and dreaming beside a black and white portrayal of historical events and figures important to the Civil Rights movement. The message is thought provoking and uplifting and celebrates progress while recognizing there is still change that needs to happen.

Since the text is based on the lyrics from the original gospel hymn, the breadth of the message is broadened beyond the repeated refrain most often part of Civil Rights protests.

The endpapers explain the origins of the hymn and provides details on the significance of the black and white historical events.

I Don’t Want to Read This Book

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I Don’t Want to Read This Book by Max Greenfield starts off with the narrator declaring that they do not want to read this book. Books are full of words, sentences, and paragraphs. On each page, the narrator explains why they do not want to read the book. Even at the end of the book the narrator the narrator says the changes of reading the book again are infinitesimal.

Bisa’s Carnaval

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Bisa’s Carnaval by Joana Pastro is a delightful picture book about Clara who is so excited to celebrate her favorite holiday, Carnaval, with her family. Her Bisa (great-grandma) helps Clara make her costume for the parade, but says she is too old to take part in the parade. Clara decides to take the parade to her Bisa.

The vibrancy of the illustrations and the different font sizes bring the feeling of excitement and joy of the Carnaval to the reader. The author and illustrator note’s at the end give personal perspective to Carnaval and the glossary at the end translates some of the Brazilian Portuguese words.

The Barking Ballad: A Bark-Along Meow-Along Book

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The Barking Ballad by Julie Paschkis is an interactive picture book. The author has used a stanza from Oliver Goldsmith’s poem “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” to build her own poem. The book starts out with a cat that was left behind when someone moved away and she is wandering around alone and hungry. One day a dog is hit on the head by a falling rock and the cat takes care of the dog. Soon the cat and the dog are friends and are inseparable.

Throughout the book, the reader will find red dots which mean the readers should bark and yellow diamonds which mean the reader should meow. In a read-aloud, the reader would need to figure out a way to demonstrate when the audience should bark or meow. This book is geared towards pre-readers but there is some vocabulary that would need to be defined for them (bereft).

Earth’s Aquarium: Discover 15 Real-Life Water Worlds

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By Alexander Kaufman; illustrated by Mariana Rodrigues

This oversized book is both beautiful and informative. This book begins with the important aspects of many watery worlds and defines each: salinity, density, light penetration, currents, pressure, waves, water acidity, and tides & oxygen concentration. 15 different water ecosystems are highlighted from all parts of the planet. Within each, 8-10 species are illustrated and discussed, as well as the importance of each unique type of watery ecosystem. Each ecosystem features a two-page spread of the ecosystem “in action” followed by 2 pages of information about specific species. While the reader may never see the fast-moving freshwater of the Amazon River in South America, they can certainly see similar ecosystems near their own homes.  The illustrations are gorgeous and are worthy of time spent just swimming around the pages. This book would be a great addition to a science class involved in water quality testing or any school library where water issues are studied. This is a highly recommended picture book for older audiences since the text is geared toward older students!

Earth's Aquarium: Discover 15 Real-Life Water Worlds

What About Will

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By ELLEN HOPKINS

While Trace used to have a close relationship with his older brother, Will, everything changes after Will suffers a serious brain injury in a football game. “The incident” has a permanent effect on Will’s personality. He now skips school, hangs out with the wrong crowd, steals money, and eventually becomes addicted to pain medication. Trace, already juggling his parent’s separation and pitching for his school baseball team, hides what he knows about Will from their father. When Will attempts suicide, Trace learns the hard way that the best way he can help his brother is to be open with his parents about the direction Will’s life is taking him. The author, Ellen Hopkins writes this story of family love in prose, the perfect format for the storyline.

The New Friend, by Charlotte Zolotow

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Originally published in 1968, the story of The New Friend remains true to the experiences of childhood today. Newly illustrated by Benjamin Chaud, Zolotow’s story begins with a celebration of all the things both mundane and imaginative that a boy and his friend with long brown hair do together. When the girl with the long brown hair finds a new best friend with whom to share all her experiences, the child is devastated and rushes home in tears. In his dreams that night he finds a new friend to share those mundane and imaginative experiences of childhood. Upon waking he is determined to find a new friend so that when he thinks of his old friend, he will no longer care.

Nerdycorn by Andrew Root

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Fern isn’t like other unicorns. She’s not interested in glitter, rainbows, or parties. She would much rather spend her day laboratory working on math, chemistry, engineering, or programming. She is always willing to help others but even while she went out of her way to do things for others, they teased her and called her names. Finally, she had enough and decided to no longer fix things for all the unicorns who had been unkind. She feels justified in her decision, but eventually decides to step in to save the Sparkle Dance because being smart, a good friend, and helping others is more important than holding a grudge. The other unicorns were so impressed they apologized for their teasing and asked Fern to teach them.

Nerdycorn features a strong female character who enjoys and excels in math and science. Fern demonstrates a willingness to be true to herself even in the face of teasing and as a result is able to accomplish much. Through Fern’s perseverance, the other unicorns come to appreciate the benefits of STEM learning.

Muddle School

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Based on Dave’s own middle school experiences, the main character, Dave, moves to a new middle school and has to start all over trying to establish his “cool-factor”. He is not very successful initially. Eventually, he and a science lab partner build a time machine and he tests it out. The results allow him to learn from his mistakes and get a do-over – sort of. Poignant and real, students will be able to relate to many of Dave’s experiences and will perhaps find ways out of their own struggles. I did find the exaggerated leadership trophy scene a bit over-the-top, but liked the subtle empathy he finds in the parking lot afterwards.  Illustrations are all in calm, neutral blue tones, but the drawings are full of energy and humor. I also liked the occasional page that appears to be doodles on notebook paper. Included at the end is a short author biography that draws comparisons between the fictional Dave and the real one.  Overall, a solid, must-have in a middle school library.

Muddle School
Book Cover