This ABC book pairs perfectly with the popular The Most Magnificent Thing. As readers go through the alphabet, we follow the maker as she tries to create yet another magnificent thing. Each featured word or phrase is followed by descriptions that support STEAM thinking, like “Q is for QUESTIONS. Why isn’t it working? What would make it better?” Readers will be inspired as the maker “Experiments” and makes “Mistakes” until the girl and her pup assistant find success.
A wolf cub is born to a pack, but she doesn’t feel or act like her brothers and sisters. She is, as the title says, a little bit different. Eventually the wolf finds something else in the forest that is quite different, and a bond is formed. This lovely imagining of how wolves began their transition to domestication will capture the hearts of young wolf and dog lovers alike. The beautiful illustrations add to the dreamy quality of this envisioned tale. The text is simple enough to be understood by very young readers but the ideas are complex enough to capture the imagination of mid level elementary students as well.
Yaya and the Sea lets readers follow along on a special trip to the ocean. The book begins with Yaya and her mom waking before dawn and traveling through the city to meet Yaya’s aunties on the train. On the train, Yaya listens to her mom and her friends chat, and we understand how fortunate she feels to be included on this journey. When they reach their destination, we get to watch along with Yaya as the four friends participate in a special ritual to welcome spring and new beginnings. Tonya Engel’s illustrations depict this peaceful and significant moment in beautiful detail. Yaya and the Sea is a lovely story, and I can see many readers wanting to take this serene journey with Yaya time and time again.
Aya Ghanameh tells the story of her grandmother’s youth in Palestine. Oraib has a deep connection to the olives she collects with her mother, and, together, they use the olives in many ways to aid and improve their lives in the refugee camp. When the war comes to their camp, Oraib is forced to quickly gather her things to leave the only home she has known. As she leaves, Oraib uses an olive to give a message of hope for a better tomorrow. Ghanameh does a nice job presenting a complicated and heartbreaking story in a child-appropriate manner. The illustrations of Oraib and her family are charming, while the illustrations of the occupying forces as large ghostly hands are powerful and haunting. The author’s note in the back gives additional information about her grandmother’s story and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
What a sweet book celebrating the power of music to move us! Based on a true story, it tells of a young boy who is non-verbal, rarely speaking, accompanying his grandfather on an outing to the symphony. When the music ends, in that moment of silence, Ronin bursts out with his first, “Wow!” Obviously impacted by the music he’s just heard, his Wow is a celebration, which further impacts the rest of the audience in its genuine, uninhibited joy. Ronin returns to being quiet, but the final page of the book shows him going to sleep night, and ponders what he may still be listening to in his dreams.
It’s all about the power of a cat to worm its way into our lives whether we like it or not. The narrator professes to not like cats, and when one starts coming around every day, she says she doesn’t like it, even though she gives it food, and she names it Not My Cat so that every knows it’s not her cat. She says she doesn’t know where the cat lives, or what it does at night, even though she wonders about it sometimes. But when Not My Cat doesn’t show up for several days in a row, she’s worried, and all her normal routines feel empty. When she does return, our narrator doesn’t know where she’s been, but she know she looks hungry and curious, and she looks like she’s hers. The logical, responsible pet owner in me wishes there was some sort of little afterward to comment that now she’s claimed the cat it will mean taking her to the vet and keeping track of where she is because there are so many dangers for cats left to stray, but the mushy side of me just feels warm and fuzzy, which is what the kids will feel.
Some kids have a hard time with change, but it’s something we all have to face in life. As this author shares her own experiences of change, she weaves through a thread that keeps things connected. The story opens with her sharing her memories of time spent with her grandfather in his big garden, but then a time comes when he needs to move into a smaller apartment, and though he no longer has space for a big garden, he doesn’t leave all his plants behind. When the time comes that she must move far away from her grandfather, she shares that her new home feels lonely, until her grandfather sends her a gift in the form of a favorite plant from her childhood. Eventually, when she is grown, we see her returning to visit her grandfather’s little apartment with her own daughter in tow, and even though his potted plant garden is smaller than the big one from her own childhood, she is still able to share some of the same kind of experiences, so it still feels like home. It’s a comforting, reassuring kind of story as kids (or grown-ups) face changes, reminding us it’s still possible to maintain the ties that are important.
In the Pacific Northwest we can too easily fall into the habit of associating rain with words like cold and gloomy and dreary. But this book celebrates rain. The colors are bright and cheerful. It dedicates several pages to the anticipation of the rain, when so many creatures (including kids) hurry home when they sense it coming, but instead of a sense of dread, it offers a sense of the cozy. It mentions the dogs who don’t hurry home but wait to feel the drops just for the fun of it, and the ducks who are happiest of all enjoying a glorious day in the rain. It reminds us that rain is good for everybody, filling bird baths and creeks and helping things grow.
It’s a charming book that tells of four sisters who grew up in southern California in the early 1900s, and each followed their own interests, right into careers that were uncommon pursuits for women of that era. As adults they brought their individual strengths and skills together to build cottages that captured the magic they remembered from the fairy tales they read as children. The end note in the back is just as well-written as the book itself, adding depth and detail to round out the story. I just wish kids actually read those parts.
I was prepared to be hard on this one, thinking to myself, “Do we really need another book encouraging kids to learn to read? There are so many good ones out there already.” But who can resist a library fish who gets wrapped up in the joy of the library, watching books come and go, watching patrons search for just the right book, listening in during story our and getting caught up in the wonder and excitement and humor in books? When a book is shared during story time about a dog who learned to read, Library Fish is determined she can too. As soon as she’s alone in the library, “With plenty of hard work, determination, and, of course, imagination…” she creates a water bubble for herself around her head (think old-time diver’s helmet) that lets her venture beyond her bowl and explore the library, starting with the alphabet, building up to words, practicing night after night, until she’s ready to share all she’s learned with her book-mobile friend. It’s full of delight and determination and celebration. The illustrations are full of personality and express the joy found in persistence. I now want a library fish.