A Year Without Mom by Dasha Tolstikova

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Published by Groundwood Books 

Summary:  12-year-old Dasha is crushed when she learns that her mother is spending a year at the University of Illinois, leaving Dasha with her grandparents in the Soviet Union.  Her father is living in Los Angeles, so Dasha feels lonely, despite her loving grandparents and two best friends.  During the year, she goes through some friendship difficulties, develops an unrequited crush on an older boy, and works hard to get into a better school.  Meanwhile, political unrest results in a few anxious days until Boris Yeltsin replaces Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet leader.  Things are beginning to fall into place by the spring, when her mother returns, announcing that Dasha will be joining her for the second year of her master’s program.  The book ends on an uncertain note, as Dasha arrives in Urbana, Illinois, and meets a girl who just might be a new friend.  168 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  Even though she is from a different place and time, Dasha’s feelings will be familiar to 21st century American tweens.  A cross between a graphic novel and an illustrated chapter book, A Year Without Mom will appeal to both reluctant and avid middle school readers.

Cons: Some of the Soviet references may be a bit confusing for post-Cold War readers.

A Bear’s Year by Kathy Duval and Gerry Turley

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Schwartz and Wade 

Summary: Told with a rhyming couplet on each page (“Winter Bear drifts into sleep/Earth’s snowflake blanket soft and deep”), this story follows a mother bear and her cubs as they move through the seasons. Starting with their winter birth in a cave, the cubs and their mother emerge in the spring, eating, playing, growing, and learning to fend for themselves.  By the time winter rolls around again, the cubs are old enough to be able to dream about being on their own.  40 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros: Although the text is spare, readers will learn about bears and the seasons, both through the writing and charming illustrations that perfectly capture the feel of each time of year.

Cons:  The bear picture book shelf is already pretty crowded.

Beastly Verse by Johee Yoon

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Published by Enchanted Lion Books 

Summary:   16 poems about animals are presented, illustrated with vividly colored prints.  Some poets, such as Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash, will be familiar to many readers, while others, such as Arthur Waugh and Carolyn Wells, are less well-known.  Some of the pages unfold to reveal even larger illustrations.  48 pages; grades K-4.

Pros: The large square design and brightly colored, busy illustrations will provide an enticing introduction to poetry for young readers.

Cons:  I always enjoy an author’s note explaining the selection of poems, and maybe a description of how the art was produced to complement them.  Other than acknowledgements, there was none of this sort of information.

Forgotten Bones: Uncovering a Slave Cemetery by Lois Miner Huey

~ Janet Dawson ~ 4 Comments

Published by Millbrook Press

 

Summary: When construction workers near Albany, New York, dug up a human skull, police, town officials, and archaeologists were all called in. The skull was determined to be over a century old.  Construction was halted, and an archaeological site was set up.  More skeletons were found, indicating a cemetery had been there.  Since there were no markers and it was far away from the main house of the farm that had been there in the 1800’s, the archaeologists were fairly certain it had been a slave cemetery.  This book looks at how scientists, historians, and artists worked together to learn the history of the people who had been buried there, as well as in two other slave cemeteries in New York City and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Using clues from the bones, DNA, and artifacts found on or near the bodies, much could be learned about the people, where they came from, what their lives were like, and even what their faces looked like.  Back matter includes an author’s note, glossary, bibliography, and places to visit to learn more.  112 pages; grades 5-7. 

Pros:  A fascinating blend of science and history, covering both the history of slavery in the northern United States, and the science of how the skeletons contributed to this knowledge.

Cons: A picture of a slave being burned alive near the end of the book could be disturbing to some readers.

Hansel & Gretel by Holly Hobbie

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Published by Little, Brown

Summary:  Holly Hobbie (yes, children of the 1970’s, that Holly Hobbie) stays close to the original version of this tale.  In an author’s note, she explains how she grew up listening to a recording of the Great Gildersleeve reading the story and imagined pictures to go with it.  Her illustrations portray blonde Germanic-looking children, a pointy-nosed-and- chinned witch, and a classic gingerbread cottage.  Shadows loom in many of the illustrations until the final page when the children and their father are reunited.  32 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  The watercolor illustrations are beautiful and will make this classic fairy tale accessible to a new generation.

Cons:  Some of the details of the fairy tale were left out; I always liked how Hansel tricked the witch into thinking a chicken bone was his finger, but that was excluded from this retelling.

 

The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis

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Published by National Geographic 

Summary: Over 200 poems are paired with nature photographs, arranged in sections about animals, seasons, specific places, and natural disasters. J. Patrick Lewis, former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, edited the collection and wrote an introduction about looking at nature and responding to it poetically.  He includes six of his own poems in post-it note form at the end, and an essay on “Who is Mother Nature?” that invites kids to write their own poetic answer to that question.  Also included at the end: a bibliography of children’s books on wordplay in poetry arrange by category (acrostics, anagrams, epitaphs, etc.), and indices by title, poet, first line, and subject.  192 pages; grades K-6.

Pros:  This is a rich collection of poetry by many different writers that invites children to engage in the creative processes of enjoying poetry and creating their own.  Readers will be drawn in by the beautiful, National Geographic quality photographs on every page.

Cons:  It would have been interesting to know a little more about some of the lesser-known poets; at the very least, the year they wrote their poems.

This just in – Newbery, Caldecott, and other award winners

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Here’s the link to this year’s winners.  The Newbery winner was a total surprise to me!  What do you think of the selections?

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-library-association-announces-2016-youth-media-award-winners-300202055.html

 

My Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson

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Published by Namelos 

Summary:  From 1825 to 1857, Seneca Village in Manhattan was populated by newly-freed African American slaves and immigrants from Ireland and Germany.  The people were poor and life was hard, but there was also celebration, hard work, and hope for the future.  This collection of poems tells the story of those years through the people who lived there.  Each facing page introduces the poem and creates a picture of the person at the moment it is spoken.  Characters are referenced in others’ poems, or come back with their own several years later.  The second to last poem, “The Law of Eminent Domain” quotes the law that ordered the eviction of Seneca Village residents so their land could be used to create Central Park.  The author’s introduction gives the history of Seneca Village; she uses the last few pages to describe the different poetic forms in the book.  87 pages; grades 5 and up.

Pros:  These moving, beautifully crafted poems introduce a little-known chapter in American history.  Footnotes give additional historical context.  The final lines of the last poem bring the inhabitants of Seneca Village into the present:  “I am one who knows that time and we are mist/hiding Light’s ever-changing panorama,/where the future holds a President Obama.”

Cons:  The drab colors of the cover could make this less appealing for young readers to pick up and try.

In! Over! And On! (The Farm) by Ethan Long

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Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Summary:  A pig, chicken, goat, and cow explore the concepts of in, out, over, under, around, on, and off in three very short cartoon-style stories.  Each story includes one lift-the-flap.  40 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  This would be a fun read-aloud to young children as well as a good first book for emergent readers to try on their own.  The cartoon illustrations are sure to be enjoyed, and lifting the flaps is always fun.  Also a good introduction to the concepts listed above.

Cons:  Those flaps may not survive long if this is a library purchase.

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van, illustrated by April Chur

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Creston Books

 

Summary: In a village by the sea, a woman and her child wait for their fisherman husband/father to return. Near the baby’s cradle is a hole in the wall.  Inside that hole is a cricket who is painting a picture of a fisherman on the sea.  The fisherman in the painting is dreaming about his family at home, waiting for his return.  An author’s note tells about her father, a Vietnamese refugee, who made his living as a fisherman, and her mother, who raised their nine children while he was away.  Ages 4-8.

Pros: A deceptively simple tale that moves inward from the sea to the tiny cricket in the hole then back out again. The illustrations are gorgeous and evoke a feeling of home, while showing details of the Vietnamese culture.  Each picture presents a unique perspective.  The author’s note adds an interesting dimension to the text and illustrations.

Cons:  I didn’t find the cover as appealing as the illustrations, so it took me awhile to get around to reading this book.