I really like this one, and can see it being great as an interactive read-aloud. The illustrations a fun and full of personality, and the text is written as an interaction between the narrator, who is giving some very bad advice, and the main character, Poopsie, an adorable and pampered house cat living a rather sedate life. That is until our narrater dares her to venture out into the world, where she tangles with snakes and crocodiles and tigers. When put to the challenge, Poopsie shows she’s got some real spunk, but in the end chooses to return to her to the safety and simplicity of home, turning her back on the pushy narrator who got her into that mess.
Category Archives: Recommendation
Clementine and the Lion
It’s okay. It’s a version of the classic “kid thinks parents are ogres and would rather live without grown-up interference” trope. In this case mom got snatched by dragons and dad is lost at sea in a bottle. When an aunt shows up and tries to take over, Clementine invents an invisible paint to hide the house and get rid of the aunt. When she accidentally leaves the door open one day she ends up with a lion as a houseguest and must find a way to make peace with it and carry on in case her parents come back some day. On the one hand, a lot of kids can relate to the living-without-adults fantasy, on the other hand, it seems a bit disjointed.
Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!
This picture book is a rollicking, rhyming celebration of friendship and what being a family means. Ostensibly, Stick and Stone are off looking for Stick’s family tree, but when the adventure turns from fun to frightening to hopeless Stone tells Stick that he is his family and Stick agrees.
The delightful end papers have stick sprouting leaves of many different trees, which tie in with an illustration in the book. The humor around a stick looking for his family tree, which literally is a tree, remains funny throughout. The sunny illustrations reflect the energy between the two friends. The palette temporarily becomes darker when things get tense, but returns to vibrant color after help is received from another friend. Emerging readers will be successful with the repetition and simplicity of words and the short sentence length.
This book might be an especially good fit for young children who are adopted or, for whatever reason, are unable to make a connection with their heritage or ancestry.
The Care and Keeping of Freddy
The only thing I would change about this book is the title. I kept looking for a connection, but Freddy remained a minor character.
This story does a fabulous job of showing what can happen to kids when they are let down by adults who are supposed to care for them. Georgia’s mom leaves suddenly the same day she buys Freddy, a bearded dragon, for Georgia. She returns with a new husband and a baby over a year and a half later. Georgia is thrilled. . .or is she? Georgia’s best friend and aspiring writer, Maria has parents who happily retreat to the camper behind the garage all summer leaving her Abuela and six kids to pretty much fend for themselves. New kid in town Roland (Roly) is in foster care with the very religious Farley family because his dad is incarcerated and his mom was declared “unfit”.
These eleven and twelve year old characters come to life as the reader experiences their friendship, struggles, and adventures. Georgia’s relationship with her clearly depressed but doing-his-very-best-for-his-daughter father is especially poignant. We see the emotional roller coaster and hurt Georgia and Roly endure. Georgia is determined to get her parents back together, but then she starts noticing the not-so-great things about her mom that she had forgotten about when her mom abandoned her.
There are no easy answers for anyone in this story, but there is hard won wisdom. It is an intense, emotional ride, but well worth the trip.
Out of a Jar
by Deborah Marcero
This picture book discusses feelings and when Llewellyn the bunny experiences tough feelings he puts them aside in a jar and locks them away. This works well for him for a while until suddenly, he isn’t feeling much of anything at all. One day, the jars all break. See what happens to Llewellyn when his feelings all get loose. This book is a good addition to your S.E.L. library. Younger students will enjoy and understand what happens when one does not express their feelings and keep them inside. I would recommend this book for elementary school (k-3).
M is for Monster by: Talia Dutton
Reviewed by OHS Student, Blaze
This graphic novel is a creative with an intriguing twist on a classic horror story (Frankenstein), a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys graphic novels. Fiction, Magic, Science, Psychology, and Coming of Age are blended well in this story as the author delves deep into grief and its consequences.
Summary: Frances Ai has failed in her attempt to bring back her sisters soul, instead creating a new mind in her sisters body. This new being, M, struggles with the pressure placed on her as Frances tries to find any hint of the sister she lost.
I believe that the mechanics of magic within the story were altogether unnecessary, as they did not serve as more than occasional mentions and did not serve much purpose. The story would have been perfectly fine without mentions of magic.
The Thirteenth Hour
Before the first chapter the author tells the reader that she wrote her first book when she was eleven and that if we want to, we will write a book also. This statement sets the tone for a book that lends itself very well to being a book that teachers will read aloud to their students and that some students will then choose to read for themselves.
The young Rosemary is given an intriguing golden watch accompanied by some precise but mysterious directions on a hospital visit to her sick Aunt Jo. Rosemary’s dreams, under the influence of the watch, become adventure reality as she tries to save her frenemy Jeremiah with the help of a new friend, Alejandro, and some helpful dream world friends.
Teachers are cautioned to read the book first as some images and scenarios may be troubling to some students.
Jazz for Lunch!
This book is a visual celebration of Jazz. Written in the rhyme, you can feel the music in the rhythm of the words as they connect the food prep of Auntie Nina and her young nephew to the sounds of different instruments. Each page has a few words in large, colorful fonts that jump off the page. The vivid illustrations match the excitement of the music. There are also nods to the legends of Jazz including Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. The end papers have paragraph bios of the musicians mentioned in the text. This book would work well to introduce children to the joy of experiencing Jazz.
There’s a Ghost in This House
Every day students ask me for scary books. Here is one that is more Casper the Friendly Ghost than Elm Street. A girl moves from room to room in her 18th century house looking for ghosts that she has heard live there, but she never sees one. The fun is when you turn the translucent page that overlays where she is looking to reveal the playful ghosts that are having fun hiding from her. Each page has one or two short sentences. This book appeals to young children who enjoy the surprise factor in “lift the flap” books. The illustrations of the rooms are done in brown and cream contrasting the girl who has bright yellow and green. This palette also allows the white ghosts to appear clearly. One consideration, is the translucent ghost pages are less durable that the paper ones. Readers will also want to flip these back and forth several times to make the ghosts appear and disappear, so they will have more use. This is a delightful, engaging book that is a perfect fit for early elementary students.
I am Malala Yousafzai by Brad Meltzer
Another book in the Ordinary People Change the World Series, I am Malala Yousafzai, starts out with Malala introducing herself as an ordinary girl who likes pink, cupcakes, and pizza. The narrative quickly turns to how girls in her country are not treated the same as boys. It discusses the school started by her father and her quest to seek education. It does depict when she was shot and does show someone holding a gun. The illustrations show Malala as a young girl throughout the entire book. The end includes a timeline and photographs of Malala.
If You Were an Elephant
Young listeners and early readers can learn all about African bush elephants in this gentle book about our largest mammal. Hints of African patterns and soft sun-bleached colors add to the sweet, but factual story of elephant life. The book also included an “Amazing Facts about Elephants” page at the end that will have readers, young and old, wanting to share what they have learned about the lives of African elephants.
Sign Says Stop
This is a silly little rhyming “ready-to-read” book that stars a frog in pants trying to cross the street to get started on the day’s adventures. The wordplay encourages use of new words or call-and-response participation. The expressive face of the frog can lead to fun discussion of the drawings.
Elephants Don’t Like Ants! (and Other Amazing Facts)
Kids who have even a slight interest in elephants will enjoy this informative book. The first couple of chapters explain the differences between elephants in Africa and Asia, with photos and cartoon illustrations. The book also explains the special characteristics of elephants – did you know that their trunks have 40,016 muscles and can smell water up to 12 miles away?
Next, the book emphasizes how special elephants are – how they can remember things for many years, how attached they are to their family groups, etc.
At the end, readers are asked a few questions, to help them assimilate what they’ve read.
There’s a Lion in the Forest
This is a hilarious story of mistaken identity based in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. A toucan hears a growl and is sure it must be a lion. Capybara reminds toucan there aren’t any lions in South America. As the growls continue, they see a long lion’s tail. Then the coati sees a thick and menacing mane. Finally the creature emerges to convince the animals that there really is a lion in the forest; golden lion tamarin.
The rolicking repetative text and colorful illustrations make this a great choice for story time.
Up and Adam
Adam and his dog, Up are eating breakfast while his parents watch the news concerning the local cleanup after a large storm. The mayor cajoles everyone to keep working together for the community and ends her broadcast with, “Now, it’s time to get to work. Up and at ’em!” Adam heard a call to work for himself and his dog. Helping with lots of small tasks throughout his neighborhood, Adam’s cheerful greeting, willingness to help, and smiling face lighten everyone’s spirit. Finally Adam cooks batch after batch of cookies to share on the boardwalk.
Adam is identified in the endpapers as modeled after the author’s son who has Down syndrome. This story celebrates what Adam can do rather than focusing on how he is different. Through accepting and nurturing Adam for who he is, his cheerful and helpful nature resonated out into the community.
Use this book to promote a more inclusive community and to encourage community service.
Francis Discovers Possible by Ashlee Latimer
A lovely story showing a child coping with bullying for being overweight. Francis loves words and the class’s weekly word day. The teacher always has the class review earlier letters; ” A is for antelope…R is for rainbow.” When two of her classmate giggle F is for fat, like Francis, all Francis’s joy in words is frozen. Francis had associated her size and the word fat with positive things like puppies, cuddling, and family. Jericho and Tabitha made fat feel cold and small. The required apology didn’t help Francis let go of her feeling. It followed her all through school and to the park after school. After sitting for a while with her Baba, their conversation turned to “possible.” In their exploration of possible, Francis again found joy and acceptance of the world around her and her place in that world.
This book shows how small acts of bullying can greatly impact a child and their self perception. Wisely the story doesn’t show a fix, but rather shows that true recovery takes space, time, and caring which allows the child to process and recover.
The Fossil Whisperer by Helaine Becker and Sandra Dumais
This picture book biography of Wendy Sloboda shows how nurturing her curious and adventurous nature as a child helped her develop the skills she needed to become a world renowned fossil hunter. While always fascinated in exploring and documenting the world around her, it was during a field trip when she was 12 that she found her first fossil and was hooked. Wendy is now recognized as one of the preeminent fossil hunters alive today. She is most well known for the discovery of a new species of ceratopsian, the Wendiceratops. Over the course of her career, she discovered more than 3000 fossils.
Wendy Slobada’s energy is captured in the engaging illustrations. Endpapers include more information about Wendy, fossil hunting, Alberta’s bone beds, and the Wendiceratops.
The story of a female fossil hunter with dreadlocks and a tattoo reminds all students build on their strengths and interests – be themselves as they follow their dreams. A great choice for dinosaur lovers and to promote women in STEM.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor
by Xiran Jay Zhao
This middle grade story is a beautiful mix of Chinese history, fantasy, mythology, and science fiction technology. It has all the adventure of a Rick Riordan gods & goddesses mythology book, but using the stories of ancient Chinese Emperors and their complex machinations as the myths. These are the stories of China that have been passed down and have been woven into modern Chinese and world culture, including manga & video gaming. The story centers around Zachary Ying, a modern Chinese American kid who loves to play the video game Mythrealm using his special portal goggles. Things go awry when the ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, tries to possess Zach, but ends up stuck fused to his portal goggles. They embark on an epic adventure with several others to try to stop the spirits from breaking more completely into our world from the spirit realm. The book is sprinkled with history lessons to help familiarize students with Chinese history they may have never learned – like Zack and me. Water dragons, crazy battles between immortals, and trying to find one’s moral compass make this action-packed adventure worth the read. Those unfamiliar with Chinese names, may mentally destroy & horribly mispronounce some of the names of characters or could find it a stumbling block. It’s worth reading despite that and might be an opportunity to share the audiobook version as a way of learning how to pronounce some of the names. (It helped me!) I think students who love mythology adventures will probably love this addition to the genre. This appears to be a first book in a series as it leaves a major cliffhanger at the end of the book.
Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff
From the author of the Newbery Honor book “Too Bright to See” and the picture book “When Aidan Became a Brother,” Kyle Lukoff presents us with a novel on the queer community through the eyes of sixth grade Annabelle. When a vocal, cool binary student, Bailey, joins her class, Annabelle is instantly infatuated with them, and begins to wonder if this is actually a crush. When she brings Bailey home, Annabelle’s parents instantly act awkward and seem to be discouraging their friendship. Misreading their attitude about Bailey’s gender identity, her parents share with Annabelle that her dad is not only transgender, but a seahorse father. (He was the one who birthed Annabelle when it was discovered that her mother was unable to have children). Once this is out in the open, Annabelle, Bailey, and their families get involved in the Spectrum Families chapter in Tahoma Falls and Seattle, WA. Annabelle continues to try to “figure out which letter in LGBTQ+ applied to me, now that I know that I was something.” National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is quickly approaching and Annabelle feels pressured to figure it out soon.
From the very beginning, I saw this is as an “instructive manual” on how to “they/them” and teach terms such as butch, femme, seahorse, pan, and more. While I respect this possible motive by the author, for me, it drove the book rather than an interesting plot. I believe there are better books out there on questioning your sexual and gender identity, but if you’re looking to add to your collection, this may appeal to lower middle school students.
When You Call My Name by: Tucker Shaw
This is an LGBTQ+ Romance set in the early 90s. Usually, I love books set within this time period because I was a teen during that era; however, this one falls short for me. The pop culture references sprinkled within the book are pretty obscure; I worry today’s teens will not have enough knowledge to understand the reference and grow bored of it, unable to relate.
I appreciated the way the author told of society’s attitude toward the LGBTQ+ community during that time period; however, I feel as though parts were very trite and predictable.
I also dislike the title – it feels like it’s trying to allude to Call Me by Your Name by Aciman (which it does not compare).
I do think that our high school libraries will have an audience for this title. I am curious to hear what today’s teens say about it it.
See You Yesterday by: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Author, Rachel Lynn Solomon, is a fellow Washingtonian – and her books are set in Washington State. See You Tomorrow is set on the University of Washington campus, with a ton of local references. It made the book more enjoyable for me because I could picture the places she describes.
This story isn’t a new idea – it’s very much like the movie Groundhog Day, in that the two main characters are caught within a time loop, doomed to live one single day over and over. In the process of discovering that they are in it together, Miles and Barrett begin to work together to figure out what, if anything, can break the loop. The two begin as strangers, who irritate each other. We see their relationship begin to morph into something more as they spend more time together and learn about each other. Half way through the book, the romantic tension is palpable.
Readers will enjoy the comedic elements, as well as the slow burn love story. There are a couple of spicy love scenes within, so readers should be aware of this going into it. There is also swearing throughout.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. Readers who are fans of Solomon’s other books, or Again But Better by Riccio will enjoy this one as well.
The Other Talk by Brendan Kiely
This book has an introduction by Jason Reynolds.
The book is definitely written at teens – the casual language and clearly defined vocabulary and anecdotes will hold the attention of teen readers. The thing I liked most about the language in this book was the use of “Global Majority” as the descriptor for BIPOC folks in the United States. This puts a constant reminder in the reader’s mind that the BIPOC population is NOT the minority – and even in the US this population will outnumber the White population within the next couple of years.
This book explains why it’s important to speak of and acknowledge white priviledge within our society. It’s main message is to listen.
The book is accessible and appropriate for grades 6-12. It’s a quick read; the audio version is read by the author, so it’s equally as good.
Itzel and the Ocelot by Rachel Katstaller
Itzel lives with her nana on the edge of the jungle. Times are hard, because there has been no rain and the seeds her grandmother planted cannot grow without water. Her nana tells her a story about the great snake that brought the rainy season so long ago. But, people no longer believe and the snake retreated to the origin of water. Itzel wants to help her nana and decides to find this snake to bring back the rainy seasons. She enters the jungle and meets up with an ocelot, who agrees to accompany her on her quest. Other animals join along the way, because they too need water. They finally come to the dry riverbed and Itzel realizes that is no giant snake or water. Itzel sits down to play her flute, tears running down her cheeks. Suddenly, something crashes and bangs and the riverbed fills with water. Itzel and the ocelot are carried downriver and their animal companions on the riverbanks return to their homes. Itzel and the ocelot end up back with her nana and watch the rains come down. Her bravery and beliefs brought the rain back.
The story is eloquently told, with additional words in Spanish (word origin is Nawat, and indigenous Salvadoran language. This language is explained (with a glossary) at the back of the book along with an author’s note that gives information about folktales from this culture. Text is accessible and the glossary is helpful for those words that are unfamiliar. Accompanying illustrations are in a folk-art style, which is perfect for this story. Highly recommended.
Another Squiggly Story by Andrew Larson
A young student has a problem. His teacher, Mr. Lopez, assigns the task of writing an autobiography. First of all, what is that? His classmates get right to work. His best friend, Marcus, loves hats and Alia wants to write about vampires, because she thinks about them all the time.
He is stuck! But, his sister comes to the rescue, telling him about her autobiography and reassuring him when he makes mistakes (it’s ok, you can edit). In class, the writing continues, with brainstorming , lists and first proofs. The boy continues his writing journey with a title, cover and more editing. The story ends with an addition to his list of “Things I Want to Be” – an author.
This is a fantastic book for kickstarting the writing process for young students. Appropriate vocabulary and simple illustrations make it a quick read and great discussion starter. I appreciate that the young boy works through his frustration and learns as he goes along. We have all been in that same place in our own writing journey. His friend, Marcus, adapts his autobiography into a comic style piece, noting that “drawing is easier than writing for me”. What a great representation of the reality of writing for so many kids. And, we can infer that the teacher is accepting of this change, since Marcus proudly shows his work-in-progress to the young writer. Use this book to introduce some of the elements of the writing process as well as the concept of autobiographies. Highly Recommended
Pugs Cause Traffic Jams by Jennifer McGrath
Kirby, the pug, is missing! As his owner searches the town for her errant puppy, the reader sees Kirby causing all kinds of problems in the streets. Each page is full of color and life and different breeds of dogs. Kirby’s owner notes each breed’s characteristic. For example, “Huskies are singers”. And, “Samoyeds just smile and smile”. Finally, we find Kirby at the end, somehow turning all these traffic jams into a street party, complete with red carpet and cake.
This is a fun romp of a story with lots of dogs. Pugs are the current stars of many popular picture books and this one will be equally popular with younger readers. Busy illustrations are engaging and fun. And, the author is pretty spot on with the breeds’ personalities. Recommended.