Month: March 2017

Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes by Mary E. Lambert

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Published by Scholastic Press

Summary:  When Annabelle was ten years old, she threw almost everything in the bedroom out the window.  Her mother’s hoarding had taken over every inch of space, and she couldn’t stand it any longer.  Now, three years later, the rest of the house is worse than ever, but Annabelle’s room is almost empty.  She checks it every day to make sure her mother doesn’t start stashing one of her collections in it again.  It’s her way of coping with a family spinning out of control, like her older brother Chad, who spends as much time as he can out of the house, and her younger sister Leslie, who tries to keep everyone else happy but is plagued by nightmares. Normally, her father escapes into his work, but when he discovers a Leslie’s folder of articles about hoarders who have been killed by their possessions, he leaves early on a business trip, warning that he won’t return until housecleaning is underway.  The family is more in crisis than ever, and Annabelle realizes she can’t keep hiding her feelings and pretending to her friends that everything is fine.  There are no easy answers, but by the end of the book, the family is taking their first cautious steps toward getting some help.  256 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  The author tackles a serious subject with a light touch.  Annabelle’s voice is funny and strong, and her family is loving despite their dysfunction.  Realistic fiction fans will find this hard to put down.

Cons: As something of an anti-hoarder, I was pained by the description of the house.

Chee-Kee: A Panda in Bearland by Sujean Rim

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Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Chee-Kee worries about fitting in on Bearland when he and his family move there from the Island of Coney.  There are all different types of bears in Bearland, but no pandas.  Chee-Kee’s kite looks different, his hat looks different, and in all his bamboo-chewing life, he has never seen a fork.  One day, while Chee-Kee is watching some other bears play soccer, he sees their ball get stuck up in a tree.  He knows just what to do: using string from his box-shaped kite, he ties together several sticks of bamboo, and pole-vaults to the top of the tree.  The last two-page spread shows an idyllic scene in Bearland with the pandas wearing sunglasses and skateboarding, and some of the other bears flying a box-shaped kite and fishing with bamboo poles.  An author’s note tells of her own struggles as the daughter of Korean immigrants, trying to fit into American society.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  What a great–and timely–message about the contributions of all cultures to a diverse society.  Told in simple language with cute illustrations (they’re pandas, for heaven’s sake, of course they’re cute), this story will appeal to the youngest readers, but provides opportunities for discussions with older ones.

Cons: Once again, key information–in this case, the author’s note–was printed on the back cover, partially covered by the taped-down library book jacket.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by Roaring Brook Press

Summary:  Which American sporting event drew the biggest crowd in 1911?  The World Series?  An Olympic event? (Wait, there weren’t even any Olympic games in 1911).  The Harvard-Yale football game?  Well, you’re half right; it was the football match between Harvard and the Carlisle Indian School football team, starring Olympian Jim Thorpe.  Final score: 18-15, Carlisle.  You might know Carlisle Indian School as a place where Native American children were sent, often unwillingly, to be taught to assimilate into white culture.  But it also had an amazing football team, coached by Pop Warner, that pretty much reinvented the modern game of college football.  You might know Jim Thorpe as the Olympian who had to return his medals when he was discovered to have played professional baseball.  But there is much, much more to his story, including an amazing football career at Carlisle that spanned seven years, and was capped by a win at West Point, playing against a team that included Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.  The symbolism of the soldiers versus the Indians was not lost on anyone, and the story of Thorpe and the Carlisle school is also the tragic story of racism that Native Americans are still experiencing today.  Includes 33 pages of source notes and works cited.  288 pages; grades 5-10.

Pros: The stories of Thorpe, the Carlisle School, Pop Warner, and the game of football are all told in an engaging style that captures the reader’s attention from beginning to end.  I bet we’ll see this book on the Sibert Award list, if not the Newbery.

Cons:  Although I attended every football game through high school and college as a member of the marching band, I am still too clueless to understand even the simplest schematic illustrating some of the plays described in the book.

What Will Grow? By Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Susie Ghahremani

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Published by Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Summary:  A dozen seeds are introduced with rhyming couplets and illustrations (“Shiny, brown.  Bumpy crown.  What will grow?  Oak tree.”)  Most of the seeds have the rhyme on the left-hand page with the plant shown on the right, but four have pages the fold out, up, or down to reveal the plant.  The final couplet is, “Dark, deep, fast asleep.  What will grow?” showing hibernating animals under the snow, followed by, “My garden!” over two pages of a colorful collection of plants blooming under a rainbow.  All 12 seeds are shown at the end, along with the time to sow them, steps for planting, and when it will grow.  The final two pages show four stages from seed to plant.  40 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  This follow-up to What Will Hatch? is a perfect springtime introduction to gardening for young readers.

Cons:  This seems like it could be a fun, interactive guessing game, except that eight of the plants are shown on the same page as the question.

Trudy’s Big Swim: How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel and Took the World by Storm by Sue Macy, illustrated by Matt Collins

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Published by Holiday House

Summary:  When Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle emerged from the water on August 6, 1926, she became both the first woman to swim the English Channel and the fastest person, shaving almost two hours off the previous record.  Admittedly, she was a superstar swimmer, having won three Olympic medals and set 29 records in events ranging from 50 yards to half a mile.  But she was also a product of her time, riding the wave of women’s increased participation in sports and freedom that allowed her to wear a two-piece bathing suit very different from the head-to-toe coverage women swimmers had to put up with just a generation earlier.  Trudy’s swim made her a celebrity, and the final illustration shows her resting on her hotel bed, surrounded by the four ham sandwiches she ate after her swim, with newspapers carrying her story pressed against the windows.  An afterword gives more details about the swim and Trudy’s life afterward (she completely lost her hearing by age 22, taught swimming to deaf children for many years, and lived to the age of 98), and there are plenty of additional resources listed.  40 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  As someone who has read America’s Champion Swimmer by David S. Adler to many classes, I thought there was little need for another picture book biography of Gertrude Ederle.  But veteran sportswriter Sue Macy has brought the story to life magnificently, placing it in the historical context of American women, propelled by getting the right to vote, enjoying greater freedoms and opportunities.  The illustrations have a you-are-there boldness that add a lot to the text.

Cons:  Endpapers giving a timeline of 1920’s sports history will be covered by the taped-down dust jacket of library books.

Ribbit by Jorey Hurley

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Published by Simon and Schuster

Summary:  The life cycle of a frog is described through illustrations and one word of text per page.  It begins with “Wait”, as two frogs swim near a mass of eggs, and ends with “Ribbit”, as one of the hatchlings, now an adult, finds a mate. In between, the eggs hatch, a tadpole transforms into a frog, and that frog catches an insect and hibernates in the mud.  An author’s note gives more information about frogs and their life cycles.  40 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  Young children will love the bright, clean illustrations depicting the frog and its environment around a pond.  The single words convey a lot of information.

Cons:  A list of books and/or websites about frogs would have been a nice addition.

Train I Ride by Paul Mosier

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Published by HarperCollins

Summary:  Rydr is traveling from California to Chicago, and toward an unknown future.  Traveling as an unaccompanied minor, she wears a nametag reading “Rider”, and that’s the name she uses on her trip (part way through the book, she changes the spelling).  As the journey goes on, Rydr slowly reveals her past.  Her mother was a drug addict who tried to raise her daughter, but had to frequently send her to live with her grandmother in California.  Ryder discovered her mother dead of an overdose, then a short time later, she was the one to find her grandmother’s body.  A great uncle in Chicago whom she has never met is the only person keeping her out of foster care. On the train, she feels safe, befriending Dorothea, the Amtrak employee assigned to look after her, and Neal, the snack bar attendant.  She has a bit of a romance with a boy from a scout troop traveling on the same train.  By the end of the trip, she is ready to spread her mother’s ashes, with the help of Dorothea and Neal, and she has made some discoveries about who she is and how she can create her own future.  192 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A beautifully written novel about a girl who has seen too much in her 13 years, but has gained a wisdom and strength which will hopefully serve her well moving into an unknown future.

Cons:  This book is recommended for third or fourth grade and up, but there’s some pretty mature subject matter for most elementary students.

Antoinette by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Christian Robinson

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Antoinette, the precious poodle from Gaston, is happy living with her bulldog brothers.  Rocky is clever, Ricky is fast, and Bruno is strong.  But Antoinette hasn’t discovered any special gift of her own.  Every day, Antoinette’s family meets up with Gaston’s to play in the park.  One day, a problem arises: young Ooh-La-La has gone missing, last seen chasing a butterfly.  All the dogs join in the search, but it is Antoinette who refuses to give up, following the scent all the way to the museum.  Even when a guard yells, “No dogs allowed!”, Antoinette persists, and arrives just in time to save Ooh-La-La from chasing the butterfly off the edge of a high statue.  Antoinette has discovered her gift, and she continues to use it into adulthood, becoming one of Paris’s most famous police dogs.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Kids who have loved Gaston will not be the slightest bit disappointed with this sequel.  It’s billed as part of the series Gaston and Friends; we can only hope for more to come in the near future.

Cons:  Ooh-La-La = not too bright.

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Roaring Brook Press

Summary:  A man and his daughter take a backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon, learning about the geological history as they go.  Starting at the bottom, they study the rocks and fossils of each layer traveling upward to discover what Earth was like in the past.  The girl imagines herself in different eras, with illustrations showing what the canyon looked like in those times.  Small cutouts in some pages give preview peeks as to what’s ahead on the next page.  Borders of many of the main illustrations show the flora and fauna that live at the different levels within the canyon.  The final two pages of the main text open up into an amazing four-page spread of the “the grandest canyon on Earth.”  Back matter includes quite a bit more information on the Grand Canyon, as well as a long list of sources and some books for further reading.  56 pages; grades 2-7.

Pros:  Jason Chin produces another natural history masterpiece, with illustrations so lifelike they almost look like photographs.  The pages are packed with information, both in the text and the pictures and diagrams.  Readers will want to be on the next flight out to Arizona to experience the Grand Canyon for themselves.

Cons:  While extremely informative, the text isn’t always quite as engaging as the illustrations.

Life on Mars by Jon Agee

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Published by Dial Books

Summary:  The narrator has arrived on Mars, where he is looking for signs of life.  By the third page, a giant creature has peeked out of his hole, but the young astronaut never sees it.  He bemoans Mars’s bleak landscape, while the beast follows close behind.  He leaves behind a chocolate cupcake in a box that he brought to offer any living beings he might find.  Thinking he has lost his spaceship, he climbs a mountain (the creature’s head) to get a better view.  Right before boarding, he finds the cupcake box he had discarded.  When he decides to have a treat on the way home, he discovers the cupcake has mysteriously disappeared.  32 pages; ages 3-8.

Pros:  This would be great to pair with Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, as both have visual clues that allow the reader to know more than the characters in the story.  The story is simple, but the illustrations will have kids laughing.

Cons:  The creature seems lonely.