Author: Janet Dawson

National treasures

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Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge by Elizabeth Partridge, illustrated by Ellen Heck (Chronicle Books, 60 pages, grades 2-5). The two children of a lighthouse keeper observe the creation of the Golden Gate Bridge from their house. Told in second person narration (“You leap out of bed–how did you forget? Today’s the day work begins on the Golden Gate Bridge”), the text includes plenty of construction details and emphasizes the seemingly impossible nature of the project. As the kids grow older, the foreman gets to know them and sometimes includes them in some aspects of construction, like the day they get to ride the elevator to a height of 700 feet above the water. Finally, on May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge is open to the public, and crowds of people, including the two children, walk across the bridge, where “the word impossible seems like nothing at all.” Includes an afterword with additional information.

Great Lakes: Our Freshwater Treasure by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Jamey Christoph (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, grades 2-5). Beginning with the history of the five Great Lakes, formed by the melting of a huge glacier that covered more than half of North America, the narrative shifts to the present importance of the lakes. Not only are they home to many species of plants and animals, but they contain almost all of the surface freshwater in North America. Although they are essential in supporting humans, we’ve done our best to poison and pollute them. In recent years, work has been done to protect them, and readers are invited to investigate how they can help preserve these national treasures. Includes messages from the author and Kathleen Smith, an indigenous woman from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, information about the Center for Great Lakes Literacy, and a list of sources.

Both of these books are chock full of fascinating information, well supplemented by beautiful, detailed illustrations, that will help readers better understand two famous American landmarks. Although they are both picture books, each one contains quite a bit of text and somewhat technical information, making them better choices for older elementary and middle school readers.

Master storytellers

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As Edward Imagined: A Story of Edward Gorey in Three Acts by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Marc Majewski (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 48 pages, grades 2-5). In Act 1, we meet a young Edward Gorey, who learned to read when he was 3 and devoured books, including Dracula at the age of six. This led him to create his own spooky stories, something that he continued to do when he moved to New York City as an adult (Act 2). Not only did he write his own stories, but he illustrated other writers’ books and gained his greatest fame designing the sets for the Broadway adaptation of Dracula and creating introductions to PBS’s Mystery! series. With money earned from those projects, Gorey headed to Act 3, purchasing a house on Cape Cod where he continued to write, draw, and work with local theaters. Edward always led life on his own terms, whether that was wearing green toenail polish as a child, attending nearly every performance of the NYC Ballet for twenty years, or keeping six cats at Elephant House on the Cape. Includes an author’s note, additional resources, and chronology.

Kids may need to be introduced to Edward Gorey’s work, but they will undoubtedly embrace his spooky illustrations and books, and perhaps be inspired to live life to the beat of their own drummer, as Edward Gorey most definitely did. I first learned of Gorey through John Bellairs’ books, which were only briefly mentioned both in this book and when I visited the Edward Gorey Museum on the Cape; this seems like an unfortunate oversight.

The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix (Harry N. Abrams, 224 pages, grades 7-12). C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both suffered early childhood losses but also had mystical experiences of joy as children, often associated with reading myths and fairy tales. After horrific experiences fighting in the trenches of World War I, they both became Oxford dons, where they developed a delightful friendship based on their mutual love of myths and interest in religion. A lifelong Catholic, Tolkien encouraged the agnostic Lewis to follow his spiritual longings, eventually leading Lewis to a dramatic conversion to Christianity. Each supported the other in his writing, and it’s pretty clear that neither the Chronicles of Narnia and especially The Lord of the Rings would have existed without the influence of their friendship and the literary group The Inklings which grew out of that relationship. The main chapters are interspersed with comics featuring a lion and a wizard traveling through the landscapes of Tolkien’s and Lewis’s life, and a poignant final chapter imagines the two men, who sadly had a falling out in the last decades of their lives, reuniting for one last conversation before moving into the great beyond. Includes extensive additional information about mythology, as well as an author’s note about his research, notes, a bibliography, and an index.

As someone who is both a John Hendrix fan and was an obsessive enough fan of C.S. Lewis to actually write a biography of him, I was excited to see this new book. Although it bills itself as a graphic novel, the amount of information far exceeds most of that genre. The lion and wizard segments are in comic format, while the rest of the book is more like an illustrated text. The emphasis is on the friendship between the two men and how their common love of mythology influenced their literary masterpieces. I was a bit disappointed that Lewis’s relationship with Janie Moore, which lasted for decades and had a huge impact on his life, was pretty much left out of the story. Additionally, some of the information about mythology got a bit too dense for me, and I imagine many young adults will have the same experience. Nevertheless, this is a rich story of an extraordinary friendship between two men who changed the landscape of fantasy literature and left behind books that are still beloved today.

How to move on

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Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mercè López (Carolrhoda Books, 40 pages, grades 2-5). Twenty children’s poets reveal mistakes they made as kids and the lessons they learned from them. Some are funny, like Darren Sardelli’s glue on the toilet seat prank that ultimately made him a little less impulsive, others are more poignant, like Kim Rogers’ silence when she, a Native girl, was made to participate in the Land Run reenactment at her Oklahoma elementary school. And many of them, like scoring a goal for the other team or cutting your hair due to peer pressure are things that readers will relate to, whether they are children or adults. Each poem is accompanied by a paragraph in which the author tells a little more about the incident and what they learned from it.

These would make great writing prompts for kids to explore their own mistakes and what they learned from them. They’re also just fun to read and realize that we all share similar experiences, and the best thing to do when a mistake is made is to admit it, ask for forgiveness if necessary, and move on.

How to Pee Your Pants*: *The Right Way by Rachel Michelle Wilson (Feiwel and Friends, 32 pages, ages 3-6). It happens: you get caught up in what’s going on in class, you drink too much lemonade at lunch, or maybe you fall asleep, and the tried-and-true methods of crossing legs or holding your breath fail you. So what happens when you pee your pants? The owl protagonist offers some humorous ideas, including hiding the evidence, calling for help, or shooting a rocket into space in the hope that an alien will stop by with some dry clothes. If you find yourself in the embarrassing position of having to sit on bubble wrap while waiting for a change, remember that adults may have forgotten what it’s like to pee your pants (they’ll remember in a few years). The number one (pardon the expression) rule is this: if you come across someone else in a similar situation, remember to be the friend that you wish you had when you peed your pants.

We’ve all been there (and reading this book, you’ll realize you may be there again some day), and this funny and reassuring look will help kids get past what can be a humiliating experience, and remind everyone to be kind if it happens to someone else.

New Branches books

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Having read two Branches books with book clubs this fall (Pets Rule! and perennial favorite Dragon Masters), I got to wondering the other day if there were any new series and discovered a couple I hadn’t read.

Rise of the Green Flame (Kwame’s Magic Quest book 1) by Bernard Mensah, illustrated by Natasha Nayo (Scholastic, 96 pages, grades 1-4). Kwame’s excited to be starting Nkonyaa School, a boarding school where he’ll receive his calabash and learn which of the four types of magic he possesses. But when it’s his turn, the Nkonyaa Tree flashes red and his calabash doesn’t respond the way the other kids’ do. Kwame enjoys his new school and makes friends with his roommate Fifi, but his unresponsive calabash makes him feel like he’s falling behind with his magical training. A bullying incident leads Fifi to steal the evil green Boni calabash, and by the end of the book, Kwame has learned that he has the special powers he will need to rescue Fifi from the dark side.

Wildlife Rescue (Disaster Squad book 1) by Rekha S. Rajan, illustrated by Courtney Lovett (Scholastic, 96 pages, grades 1-4). Siblings Jaden and Leela live in an RV with their parents, traveling to various disasters where their journalist mom reports and their doctor dad takes care of injured people, while the kids enjoy helping animals in trouble. In the first installment, they head to a California wildfire, where the kids learn about what causes wildfires, how to be safe in one, and how firefighters battle them. Encounters with a baby bear and several deer teach Jaden and Leela the right and wrong ways to help wildlife. At the end of the book, the family is off to the Gulf Coast of Texas where a hurricane is brewing.

I’m going to say an enthusiastic thumbs-up on Kwame, a little less excitement on the Disaster Squad. Nikonyaa School has a Hogwarts feel, with the Nkonyaa Tree standing in for the Sorting Hat, and takes place in an interesting Ghanaian setting. If anything, there was a bit too much crammed into the first book, but the cliffhanger ending will leave kids wanting to find out what’s going to happen in book two. They may also enjoy reading how the Disaster Squad deals with various weather events, but I couldn’t get past the fact that these two crazy parents were driving their kids directly into danger, and for what? To do some freelance reporting and medical care, two functions that are already probably being carried out by actual news organizations and hospitals. The story also felt a bit contrived to teach readers about natural disasters. I’ll probably order both series for the library, but Kwame is the only one I want to try out with a book club.

A final pair of books about voting before the big day

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Show Up and Vote by Ani DiFranco, illustrated by Rachelle Baker (Rise x Penguin Workshop, 48 pages, ages 4-8). A young girl looks back at the end of Election Day, recalling how she was reluctant to go out on a rainy November morning, but her mother told her that they were on a mission. At the polling station, the girl recognizes friends and neighbors, realizing that voting is a community event. In the voting booth, she watches her mom make her selections, and as they finish, the two of them imagine people across the country doing the same thing. Proudly wearing their “I voted” stickers, they walk home, and the girl sees her neighborhood with new eyes, as a place where people work together to create a community, and “showing up to vote is how it all starts.”

Singer and songwriter Ani DiFranco has created an accessible introduction to voting and Election Day with rhyming text (and no capital letters) that reads kind of like a folk song and colorful illustrations that resemble retro posters. Readers will learn a bit about voting and be empowered to get involved in their communities.

Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 256 pages, ages 12 and up). Dyson and Favreau continue their exploration of American history that they began in Unequal with this story of voting rights from the founding of the United States to the present. There are inspiring narratives about Black, female, Latinx, and Native activists who worked to get the vote for their communities, alongside less inspiring ones such as how white women largely refused to help Black and Native women once they had secured their own right to vote. And there are downright depressing ones that continue to this day like the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that has encouraged huge amounts of spending across the political spectrum and the gerrymandering of districts for political gain. The list of “People-Power Ideas” at the end (get rid of the electoral college, expand the House of Representatives, introduce ranked-choice voting, among others) seem commonsensical yet depressingly unlikely to happen. There are also ideas for student activism, a voting rights timeline, additional resources, and an index.

I found this book both extremely depressing and surprisingly hopeful, seeing that our current threats to democracy are actually part of a centuries-long plot to keep voting and power concentrated in the hands of a few. The struggles that have ensued to give more people the right to vote have resulted in torture, imprisonment, and murder, yet ordinary people have persevered and often ultimately met with success. Seeing ourselves as part of this long history rather than poised at some do-or-die moment gives me a glimmer of hope to continue the struggle.

Reminder: I have an Election Day and Voting Rights book list if you’re looking for more. I haven’t had a chance to add these two books yet!

Home for the holidays, part 2

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At Our Table by Patrick Hulse, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, ages 4-8). At our table, there is room for everything and everyone: old traditions, new friends, a crowd of people, but also quiet. There’s room for giving thanks for food and for the first (Native) farmers and for the Earth that supports us. There’s room for mashed potato mountains, trying new foods, second helpings, and lots of room for dessert. And at the end of the day, there’s a place to rest and feel loved and grateful. Includes a note from debut author Patrick Hulse and Chickasaw Nation illustrator Madelyn Goodnight sharing their own memories of Thanksgiving and envisioning some new interpretations for the holiday.

This book perfectly captures what I consider to be the spirit of Thanksgiving, focusing on family, food, and gratitude. As we move away from the traditional, racist history of the holiday, I hope, along with the author and illustrator, that we can reimagine it in the ways they’ve set forth in this book.

One Foggy Christmas Eve by Kerilynn Wilson (Greenwillow Books, 40 pages, ages 4-8). The persistent protagonist is determined to get to Nana and Papa’s for Christmas Eve, despite thick fog that surrounds everything. When her parents say they can’t go, she ties a flashlight to her dog’s head and tries anyway. But the thick fog is scary, and they both end up back at home. Her next attempt is to string Christmas lights over everyone, an idea that her parents decide is worth a try. They set out together, but soon a wind carries off her homemade present, and she’s left alone in the spooky darkness. Then what to her wondering eyes should appear but a herd of glowing reindeer. They guide her back to her parents, and everyone arrives safely. Nana and Papa don’t mind that there’s no present; the girl’s story becomes a gift to everyone as they gather cozily by the Christmas tree.

An enchanting and occasionally eerie Christmas tale with luminous pictures that contrast the dark fog and the lights that pierce through it. It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s imaginary, but everyone will agree with the final sentence that “stories light the way.”

Family secrets

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Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy (Knopf Books, 336 pages, grades 5-8). Fern loves the community she and her mother moved to six years ago. Although her memories of her first six years of life are vague, she knows that she and her mom moved a lot and didn’t have much stability. At the Ranch, Dr. Ben teaches them his ideals and how to do the things they need to survive when the world inevitably falls apart. There are signs that things aren’t as rosy as Fern sees them, such as her recollections of a teenage boy who died during a coming of age ritual that she herself is slated to go through soon, but she’s sure if she trusts Dr. Ben, all will be well. So it comes as a shock when her mother wakes her in the middle of the night and sneaks the two of them away from the Ranch to a new home in California, on the other side of the country. At first, all Fern can think about is getting back, but as time goes on and she starts to learn more about the world outside of the Ranch, she begins to have doubts. Ultimately, when Fern is forced to make a difficult and dangerous decision, she realizes she must trust her own instincts about what is right and wrong.

I’ll admit that I find cults fascinating, so I was swept into this book from the very beginning. There are lots of interesting characters and subplots, and once you reach the final 100 pages, it’s difficult to put the book down. I’d love to see this considered for a Newbery. It’s a pretty complex story with a less than totally reliable narrator, so it may be a better choice for middle school than elementary, which is kind of unfortunate since Fern is 12. It would make a great book club selection with lots of interesting topics to discuss.

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin (Viking Books for Young Readers, 400 pages, grades 5-9). 19-year-old Jakob and his 14-year-old sister Lizzie wind up together at Bletchley Park in 1940. Jakob has been recruited from his mathematical studies in London, while Lizzie escaped a trip forcing her to stay with her American grandmother. Their mother, Willa, is missing, presumed to have been killed during a mysterious trip to Poland that took place on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Both siblings have inherited their mother’s courage, sense of duty, and knack for breaking codes, and as the story unfolds, they start to suspect that their mother may still be alive. When a series of mysterious letters arrives for them, Jakob and Lizzie piece together a message from their mother to meet her in London. Jakob knows from his work with Enigma, the German code breaking machine, that Germany could invade England at any minute. As the truth about Willa unfolds, the siblings find themselves in danger as fighter jets roar overhead. Includes an author’s note and photos of people and places from the story.

Two young adult masters of nonfiction and historical fiction have combined their research and storytelling talents to produce an amazing adventure story that will appeal to World War II fans as well as those who enjoy elaborate codes. There are many characters, but each one is drawn so memorably that I had no trouble remembering who was who. I did find Lizzie’s unwavering feistiness a bit unbelievable given the circumstances, but ultimately I was won over by her courage and sense of humor. Sure to be a contender for some awards, add this to the list of outstanding World War II books published this year.

A long trip, a packing blip, and numbered pages that flip

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Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Scholastic Press, 40 pages, ages 4-8). Although Jonty has a happy life at the zoo, he’s intrigued by the stories his aunts tell him about life at the South Pole. One night, Jonty slips through a hole in the fence and heads off on a polar adventure. He sees some poles, like a flagpole and a tent pole, but they don’t seem quite right. Finally, he discovers the ocean and swims until the water starts to grow cold. He finally makes it to the pole…only to learn that it’s the North Pole! A tern offers to guide him south, and they set off together, the tern flying and Jonty swimming. Some scientists on a boat help him make it through the last leg of his trip, and Jonty is thrilled to discover a place with penguins galore. He soon finds his place among the gentoos, and the tern is able to notify his aunts that Jonty has found happiness at the South Pole. Includes additional information about Arctic terns and Gentoo penguins.

This rhyming story from the creators of The Gruffalo has catchy text and colorful cartoon-style illustrations that beautifully portray the landscapes and animals that Jonty encounters as he travels around the globe.

A Moving Story by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld, illustrated by Tom Booth (HarperCollins, 40 pages, ages 4-8). Pete and Tiny may be big bears, but they’re gentle movers who take extra care with their clients’ possessions. So when the littlest panda discovers that her pet turtle has gone missing, the bears know what they have to do: unpack everything they’ve just loaded onto the moving van. The turtle is nowhere to be found, although the panda parents appreciate the effort, and the truck is repacked. As Pete and Tiny start to drive away, they hear a sound coming from their lunchbox. it’s the turtle! The bears get a big hug from the little panda, “because nothing and no one was too big to wrap up tight and treat just right.”

The team behind Stick and Stone have created another feel-good story that emphasizes kindness and going the extra mile that will prove reassuring to kids facing a move. Pete and Tiny have an admirable work ethic, and the whole packing/unpacking/packing again ordeal is rendered perfectly with illustrations depicting various perspectives including an aerial view of everything unpacked.

Animal Countdown by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Neal Porter Books, 32 pages, ages 3-8). Page 1 has the word “ten” printed on a background that looks like a watery animal habitat. A window cut on a flap of the facing page shows a small rectangle that looks like the number 10. Lift the flap to find ten sea otters. The countdown continues to one, introducing numbers, number words, and ten endangered animals. End matter gives additional information about each one, as well as a list of five additional resources.

Seeger’s work is always beautiful and creative, and kids will have fun trying to figure out the animals that are hiding behind the flaps. Unfortunately, the flaps make me think the book itself may become an endangered species in a public library.

Home for the holidays

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Merry Christmas, Zoo by Lisa Eickholdt and Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Laura Watkins (Chronicle Books, 40 pages, ages 3-8). Inspired by “The Night Before Christmas,” this rhyming story shows how the zookeepers prep for Christmas, making gifts for the animals and decorating the zoo. When Santa arrives, they’re ready, and they help him load up his sleigh. An aerial view shows the right jolly old elf making deliveries, and then the action zooms in on the animals enjoying their presents. At the end of the night, Santa calls out a “Merry Christmas, Zoo!” before flying on his way. Includes information about how zoos create holiday gifts for animals designed to stimulate them both physically and mentally.

Add this adorable book to your holiday reading list. Kids will love seeing the illustrations filled with all their favorite animals and will be curious to say what they get for gifts. The end matter adds interesting information and invites readers to volunteer or donate to their local zoo. Just to add a Grinch/Scrooge note, zoos always make me a little sad, no matter how festive the occasion.

An Anishinaabe Christmas by Wab Kinew (Onigaming First Nation), illustrated by Erin Hill (Tundra Books, 48 pages, ages 4-8). As Baby and her family head to the Rez to celebrate the winter solstice, she learns some Anishinaabe words and how they help describe their holiday celebration. Kookom and Mooshom (grandparents) are waiting on the Rez. Giiwedaa means “let’s go home,” and home can be a place you live now, or a place you came from, like the Rez is for Baby’s parents. Miigiwe means “giving away”, something that the Anishinaabe people celebrate when they give each other gifts. When Baby and her parents finally arrive, everyone gets out drums and goes outside to sing a song about home, family, and wintertime. Includes an Anishinaabe glossary and a note about how Anishinaabe people include both Christmas and solstice traditions in their winter celebrations.

This affectionate family story introduces a few words and cultural practices of the Anishinaabe, including those around December holidays, and does a good job explaining how home can mean different things. I wish Baby had been given a slightly less infantilizing name, as she was old enough to have made a gift for her grandparents at school.

Space travel

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Almost Underwear: How a Piece of Cloth Traveled from Kitty Hawk to the Moon and Mars by Jonathan Roth (Christy Ottaviano Books, 40 pages, grades 1-5). Back in 1903, unbleached muslin was most commonly used to make ladies’ underwear. But one bolt of fabric was purchased by Wilbur and Orville Wright and used for a completely different purpose: to help make the wings of their new flying machine. Although they succeeded, and the muslin went airborne, the machine ultimately was wrecked and went into storage for many years. Shortly before his death, Orville donated swatches of fabric to the new Carillon Historical Park museum in Dayton, Ohio, where it stayed until 1969, when Neil Armstrong carried a piece of it into space. The cloth made it all the way to the Moon, where Armstrong carried it on his moonwalk. The cloth’s final adventures took place in 2020, when it traveled all the way to Mars on board the rover Perseverance. Not only that, but the cloth was attached to Ingenuity, a four-pound helicopter that became the first machine to fly on a different planet. Not bad…for something that could have been some underwear. Includes an author’s note, a glossary of the Perseverance instruments, and a bibliography.

The title reveals the clever hook used to look at three different milestones in air and space travel history, illustrated with combinations of historical photographs and cartoons, including a fun cartoon rendering of the happy piece of cloth. The author does a great job of making STEM history accessible to elementary readers. Pro tip: be very specific when doing a Google images search for Almost Underwear.

Mae Jemison: A Graphic Novel (It’s Her Story) by Lesley Williams, illustrated by Brooke O’Neill (Sunbird Books, 48 pages, grades 2-5). This short graphic biography tells the amazing life of Mae Jemison, who graduated from high school at age 16, attended Stanford, became an M.D., then transitioned to a career as an astronaut, becoming the first Black woman to go into space. She also loved music and was an accomplished dancer, as well as working for civil rights as a college student and advocating for STEM education as an adult. The last page invites readers to share their dreams, remembering that Mae’s hard work and persistence made hers come true.

This is the first volume of this series I’ve seen, but it looks like there are several others about famous women. The short page count and graphic format will make it appealing to many different types of readers, and it brings Mae Jemison to life in a way that kids will relate to, showing her as a child who had many interests in addition to science. Some additional resources at the end would have been a nice addition.