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By: C. C. Gevry,
on 5/17/2013
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The Children's and Teens' Book Connection
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Sally O. Lee is back with another imaginative, unique creation. When circle meets square, circle is curious if square is always the same: brushing his teeth, bouncing a ball, at bathtime, and in other situations. Square assures circle that he’s always the same no matter what he’s doing. Simple in nature, this story is one of friendship and acceptance. Parents could even use this book as a teaching point for how their love remains constant no matter what happens.
A delightful story coupled with Lee’s adorable artwork is waiting for your young reader in Circle and Square.
Rating: 
Paperback: 34 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 12, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1482676850
ISBN-13: 978-1482676853
I received a free copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.
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Odd Duck is the newest book from my favorite of favorites, Sara Varon. Varon has teamed up with YA author Cecil Castelucci for yet another slightly off center,
What draws friends together? Is it that you both love the same music or flavor of ice cream? Or is it that you make each other laugh? Friends understand one another, love spending time together and make each other happy. Kids -- even young kids -- totally get this. And they're going to love Odd Duck, a new graphic novel that celebrates friendship, with all its quirks and eccentricities.
Odd Duck
by Cecil Castellucci
and Sara Varon
First Second, 2013
ages 6 - 10
at your local library
on Amazon
* best new book *
Theodora swims with a teacup balanced on her head, flavoring her meals with mango salsa, and stays put for the winter. She knows exactly what she likes and is happy with everything going as planned.
When Chad moves next door, Theodora is not quite sure about this new duck. His feathers are askew, he has strange sculptures in his yard, and absolutely no manners! "Theodora could not relate to a single thing that he said. But she knew one thing was certain ... she and Chad would
not be friends."
Castellucci and Varon develop this delightful story from here, showing how the two bond over their love of stars, but then fall apart over an argument over which one is odd. The illustrations are charming -- quirky, sweet and sunny. Kids will love the way the two friends come back together in the end, realizing that they really do like each other just the way they are.
Here's what my nine-year-old wrote:
"Of course, every duck can't be perfect, but these ducks are more than just not perfect. They're odd. And in this book both of them have never had a true friend, so they are put up to the challenge to make a true friend."
Kids do get it. They understand what it means to be a true friend.
Odd Duck will make them laugh, smile and remember how much they value their own friends.
I really enjoyed reading this interview with Cecil Castellucci in the
LA Times. It was also really interesting to read about Sara Varon's process creating the artwork, in this guest post at the
First Second blog. Cecil originally proposed this as an early chapter book with spot art, but when the two began working together they realized that it might be even more effective told primarily through pictures.
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Sara Varon, shared with permission of the publisher. The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, First Second / Macmillan. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.
Review ©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books
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I think that Bink & Gollie : Best Friends Forever just might be the third and final title in Bink & Gollie series. The first two books,
 |
| Front Cover of Mister Orange |
Racing along New York City streets one March 1945 day, Linus Muller stops to catch his breath when his attention is suddenly arrested by a familiar face on a poster. Noting the address on the poster, Linus changes course and sets off for it instead.
Flashback to September 1943: Linus is 12 years old and has just inherited his older brother's shoes and his job delivering groceries for his parent's shop. In fact, with six kids and a war on, everything is a hand me down, except for Linus's older brother Albie, who is off to war now that he is old enough to enlist. Linus has also inherited Albie's bed and has been made caretaker of Albie's superhero comic books collection, a love they shared, as well as Albie drawing of his own superhero Mr. Superspeed, with whom Linus keeps a running conversation while he makes his deliveries.
As Linus begins his life as a delivery boy, he meets all the customers and quickly learns their quirky ways, like Mrs. DeWinter who always has another task waiting for Linus to do when he brings her groceries. His job takes him all over the Upper East Side of Manhattan, an area Linus knows like the back of his hand. Late in the afternoon, on his first day, his mother hands Linus a crate of oranges and tells him to deliver them to 15 East 59th Street. Little did Linus know this would be his most interesting monthly delivery.
Living there is an elderly painter with a difficult to remember name and a studio that has stark white walls, except for the groups of brightly colored squares and rectangles here and there. Linus started called the painter Mister Orange and it turns out that Mr. Orange had recently arrived from Nazi-occupied Holland to escape Hitler's oppressive control on the arts.
Meanwhile, brother Albie is still excited to go to war and ships out to Italy as soon as basic training is over. At first, Albie's letters are still filled with enthusiastic descriptions about being a new recruit and the friends he has made. From Italy, he asks Linus to play a rather harmless practical joke on a friend's mother for her birthday and leave a card from her son at the same time. Linus carries out his mission with stealth, but then Albie's next letter is more somber and sad, as he reports his friend has fallen in battle.
Linus understands how it feels to lose a friend. It appears that he is losing his best friend to an older boy who dislikes Linus as much as Linus dislikes him.
And so his visits to Mr. Orange become a bright spot in his life and it is there that the two talk about life. Angry at the reality of war that Albie describes, Linus decides that comics and superheroes are imaginary escapes from all the horrors in life and rejects them completely. Now he doesn't even have the voice of Mr. Superspeed to accompany him. But as Mr. Orange talks to him about his painting and even teaches him how to dance the boogie woogie, he also tells Linus about the importance of imagination, especially during wartime: "If imagination were as harmless as you think...then the Nazis couldn't be so scared of it." (pg 122) All the while, Mr. Orange works on his latest painting, a freedom he would not have had if he has remained in Europe.
Can Mister Orange help Linus through this difficult time?
Originally written in Dutch and skillfully translated by Laura Watkinson,
Mister Orange is itself a wonderful historical fiction work of imagination that skillfully portrays the daily hustle and bustle of life in one New York City neighborhood during WW2 as Linus makes his deliveries. I grew up in Brooklyn and Manhattan at a time when Mom and Pop grocery stores were still common (my brother's first job was delivering groceries), and if you had a fight with your best friend, you just went over to their house to make up - just the way Linus does - very simple, very easy. So I know that this and more of
Mister Orange is pretty spot on. And so is the Action Comic that Linus buys for Albie - November 1943 No. 66. Matti has done her research well.
But the friendship between Mister Orange and Linus would be unusual, though maybe not impossible. In a way, however, it is a nice example of how even a short lived friendship can impact our lives, in this case from September 1943 to February 1944.
Mister Orange is a nice coming-of-age story that unfolds slowly and steadily, but should still engage young readers, though probably not everyone. Linus is a thoughtful, introspective, observant boy who really loves life, at least until reality comes knocking and he finds his world terribly shaken.
I put
Mister Orange on hold at the library based only on the cover and knowing it was a WW2 story because I loved the cover of the American edition. Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is one of my favorite abstract painters, so as soon as I saw the cover, I knew he would be in the story somewhere, someway. Jenni Desmond, the illustrator of
Mister Orange, has really captured both the motion of the city as Linus travels around and the sense of movement that Mondrian's painting reflect, so that it becomes such a wonderful mixture of Linus's life, and Mondrian's painting, which is as it should be. I found myself going over it again and again after I finished reading the book.
In the back on the book is a section called Mister Mondrian. This FYI section describes his life and the paintings he did while live in New York City. The painting that he was working on during Linus's visit was his never completed
Victory Boogie Woogie, see here:
 |
| Victory Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian |
Mondrian's studio had an immediate, deep impact on Linus and helped him realize hope for the future. Here, though, are photos of that studio, almost exactly as Linus describes them (right down to the orange crates):
(click the images to enlarge them)
There are some who think this book would not appeal to young readers, but I think they will enjoy reading about Linus and his life, and the person who helped him work things out for himself.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
There was just no way a chocoholic such a myself could pass on reading a book called
My Chocolate Year. And I am glad I did.
It is September 1945, the war is over and Dorrie Meyers is starting fifth grade. And the best part is that her best friend Sunny Shapiro is in her class and their teacher is the very popular Miss Fitzgerald. Popular because each year, Miss Fitzgerald has a Sweet Semester, in which each student thinks up a dessert to make, writes an essay about it and in January they all bring in their entries and a prize goes out to one winner dessert and one winning essay.
Dorrie loves chocolate passionately and is very excited about Sweet Semester, except for one problem - she has no idea how to make anything, let alone a prize winning dessert. And this year is a special Sweet Semester because not only will family members be invited, but the winners will also get their pictures in the
Chicago Daily News. In addition, since there are now so many orphans in Europe as a result of the war, the class will has a donation jar set up to collect money to send to a charity which cares for the orphans.
The subject of orphans soon hits home for Dorrie. Her grandparents had all migrated to America, but there were still relatives who had remained in Lithuania. No one knew what happened to them after war. Since they were Jewish the worst was feared and Dorrie's mother has been making inquires to find them. Then, one November morning, good news arrives. Victor Dubin, son of Dorrie's Aunt Mina and Uncle Joseph and grandson of Dorrie's Bubbie, was found living in a Displaced Persons camp. No sooner found, than arrangements begin to be made to bring Victor to America. Sadly, no other family members survived.
Victor, now an orphan, and orphan jar in school get Dorrie to thinking about the Margaret O'Brien and the movie
Journey for Margaret, about a young girl orphaned during the London Blitz. How, Dorrie wonders, did she play such a convincing orphan? So she writes a letter to the actress to ask.
Meanwhile, Dorrie and Sunny experiment with different possibilities for Sweet Semester. The first idea, Chocolate Covered Gum, dissolves into a chocolaty mess. Their chocolate covered nuts and raisins clusters taste delicious, but was that all chocolate in them? Oh, and when you add flour to brownies using the electric mixer, it is much easier if you turn the mixer off.
It is really beginning to look like Dorrie isn't going to win that Sweet Semester competition despite the fact that both her mother and Buddie are excellent bakers. She just doesn't seem to have a natural instinct for baking. She really needs a miracle...could that miracle come in the form of both real and movie orphans?
This is a lovely story about the strength and importance of family. It is told in Dorrie's voice and even though it is not written as a diary, it reads like on. The book follows the year though all the Jewish holidays, starting with Rosh Hashanah and Dorrie explains the story and Jewish customs for celebrating each holiday for the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with them. She also talks about the war and it's effect on her family, and when Victor comes, we hear his story in detail, but not so much detail that it would be too much for the targeted age of intended readers. This is a book, after all, that is written for kids who are beginning to learn about the Holocaust.
Now, the 12 recipes. Not all are real recipes, but some are and they are made from scratch. My 10 year old budding chef liked that idea, since she is a cooking purist. We actually make Dorrie's Sweet Semester entry, which was so good that when I went to take a picture, they were all gone. Lesson learned - don't leave good tasting stuff unattended with kids in the house and without telling them hands off.
This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was purchased for my personal library
Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by
Beth Fish Reads
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By: fishgirl182,
on 4/9/2013
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Category: Middle Grade Mystery
Keywords: Middle grade, mystery, friendship, bullying, Mafia
Format: Hardcover, paperback, eBook
Source: Borrowed
Synopsis from Goodreads:Chris Rylander delivers a funny Ferris Bueler-style middle grade novel with
The Fourth Stall.
Do you need something? Mac can get it for you. It's what he does—he and his best friend and business manager, Vince. Their methods might sometimes run afoul of the law, or at least the school code of conduct, but if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can pay him, Mac is on your side. His office is located in the East Wing boys' bathroom, fourth stall from the high window. And business is booming.
Or at least it was, until one particular Monday. It starts with a third grader in need of protection. And before this ordeal is over, it's going to involve a legendary high school crime boss named Staples, an intramural gambling ring, a graffiti ninja, the nine most dangerous bullies in school, and the first Chicago Cubs World Series game in almost seventy years. And that's just the beginning. Mac and Vince soon realize that the trouble with solving everyone else's problems is that there's no one left to solve yours.
Review:
The Fourth Stall is a hilarious play on The Godfather set in an elementary school. The Godfather
in question is Mac, short for MacGuyver because he’s the guy that can get you anything. And the
fourth stall is and empty bathroom stall where he conducts his business. The empire is run by a
small sixth grader and his best friend who loan out their services helping solve the problems of
their fellow classmates for a small fee. Their business is threatened when the mysterious
kingpin, Staples, starts a gambling ring at their school. Using tough high school kids and bully
tactics, Staples plans on taking Mac and his friends down. Loyalties are tested when Mac finds
out that there’s a mole in his organization. Can Mac hold the business together and flush out the
rat at the same time or is this the end of his career? And will the Cubs make it to the World
series this year?
Each person in Mac’s crew had a distinct personality and I loved reading the bios of the various
school bullies. I am partial to Kitten, the small and polite sociopath, who is ruthless and more
than a little scary. I definitely don’t want to get on his bad side. And it was cool to see Mac band
the bullies together in order to deal with Staples. I had some mixed feelings the violence in this
book. On one hand, it was pretty graphic (especially for the middle grade reader that I think this
book is aimed at) but on the other hand, I think there had to be real consequences to their
actions in order to make the story work. And though Mac ends up using strong arm tactics to aid
his own cause, he doesn't feel good about it. While the book doesn't glorify violence in the
schoolyard, it doesn't shy away from it either.
What drew me in though was the friendship between Mac and his best friend Vince. Their easy
rapport and camaraderie seemed genuine. They were a bit like an old married couple and I was
really worried when their friendship was threatened. Ultimately this is a story about friendship and
family. And though I am not a sports fan, I found their dedication and obsession with The Cubs to be funny and endearing. It almost made to me want to watch a baseball game. ;)
Visit the author online at www.chrisrylander.com and follow her on Twitter @chris_rylanderPlease note that this post contains affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here.
The Wall. William Sutcliffe. 2013. Walker. 304 pages.
The Wall is a thought-provoking coming of age novel. What is missing from Joshua's life is peace. He HATES his step-father, and readers learn there is good reason for this. But it isn't just family turmoil leading to his uneasiness. Perhaps it all starts when Joshua discovers a tunnel that goes under the wall, a tunnel that he explores. He visits the other side of the wall, he walks the streets, sees the "enemy" up, close, for the first time perhaps, and realizes that there aren't really any discernible differences. The way Joshua's father RANTS about them, he expected the "them" to be obvious threats, but that isn't the case. In fact, one of "them," a pretty young girl, risks her life to help him get back to his own side (he becomes lost). He can't forget the girl he met, can't forget her kindness and her needs. He feels he can help her, but is it the kind of help she'd welcome? That her family would welcome? The Wall gives readers an opportunity to see a boy's social awareness awaken. Joshua begins to think, deeply think about the world around him, to test what he's been taught, to make his own decisions about what is right and what is wrong.
Read The Wall
- If you enjoy thought-provoking coming-of-age stories
© 2013 Becky Laney of
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By: Stacy Dillon,
on 4/2/2013
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"So as that summer began, while America counted hostage days and Beth learned to swim, I thought up good lies to tell and climbed trees and lay a lot in the shade." (egalley pg 11-12)
11 year old Annie and little brother Rew live at the edge of the Zebra forest with their Gran. They keep mostly to themselves, on account of the house and on account of Gran, but Annie and Rew have each other, a battered copy of Treasure Island, the joy of making up bad jokes, and the many trees of the Zebra forest to keep them company on the hot, steamy summer days.
They are getting along in typical fashion when one summer night, a man rattles the back door and steps into the kitchen. Before Annie can process what is even happening, the man takes the key they always keep in the knob, drops it in his pocket and tells Annie to stay quiet. As Annie stands dumbfounded, Rew heads for the phone and then the door, but the man is quick and powerful. He is also covered in mud, and his clothes are torn. He has come through the forest. On the other side of the Zebra forest is the prison.
Now they must wait. Gran completely shuts down, and Annie and Rew must figure out how to be in the house with the doors shut and the windows closed, with the precarious piles and dirty dishes, with the man always there, always watching. There will be no more going into the trees to read Treasure Island, no more trips out into the shade.
Adina Rishe Gewirtz has crafted a novel that gives an inside look into mental illness and family. There is an incredible resilience to both Annie and Rew that shines through even though the two deal with their situation in vastly different ways. The importance of story (both family and books) is felt throughout. Even though some major points like the Iran Hostage Crisis and the plot of Treasure Island may be unfamiliar to today's readers, Gewirtz does a fine job of weaving them into the greater plot -- using them to give a sense of ticking time as well as examination into real life characters. This is a book that may not be for everyone, but will definitely find fierce love with the readers who love imperfect characters, finding connections, and those who don't mind feeling a bit off kilter.
Publishing April 9, 2013.
Read It. Move It. Share It. Each month I recommend a picture book for dance educator Maria Hanley to use in her creative movement classes in New York, and then we both share our experiences with the book. Polar Bear Morning by Lauren Thompson and Stephen Savage was our March pick. Read more about it here, and then hop over to Maria's Movers to see how Maria used the book with her students!
We don't get much snow where I live, but we did happen to have the most beautiful snow of the season just a couple weeks ago. I was initially worried about choosing another wintery book for my monthly collaboration with Maria, but I'm not feeling so bad anymore since so many of us had our fair share of cold "polar bear" mornings in March.
Polar Bear Morning, written by
Lauren Thompson with pictures by
Stephen Savage, was published in January of this year by Scholastic Press. In the spirit of winter, the book's text is quite "cool" and calming, as is the color palette of gray, blue, and white with an occasional splash of orange, brown, or red.
The book's theme and structure remind me in some ways of the picture book
Fluff and Billy, which Maria and I featured on our blogs in February. Both books are about friendship -- the friendship of two penguins in
Fluff and Billy and of two polar bear cubs in
Polar Bear Morning. Both also involve some follow-the-leader behavior as the sets of friends scamper and play in the snow.
The language in the two books, however, is very different. Fluff and Billy is told in a very direct way, with few words. Polar Bear Morning provides much more description, detail, and imagery...
The morning is chill and bright.
From her cozy den, a polar bear cub peeks out
at the snow and ice and clear blue sky.
The little bear hears the seagull's faraway call.
She sees the sparkling snow.
She clambers out into the day.
The imagery in the book is what makes it a good choice for creative movement in my mind. Even in the opening lines, words like "cozy" and "sparkling" and "clambers" make me want to move in new and interesting ways. I hope they inspire others to move in new ways, too. I realize that small children might not know the meaning of words like "clamber" yet, but it's never to early to learn, right?
Another element of the book that might inspire movement is the reappearance of the seagulls, which are introduced in the book's opening lines. The gulls "call" out several times during the book, almost like they are asking the bear cubs to follow them. This makes me think that it would be fun to experiment with different sounds and how students respond to them in movement. In other words, what do the different sounds ask them to do?
In many ways the book also lends itself well to partner dances. As I mentioned earlier, the polar bears do a lot of movements using a follow-the-leader format. But the illustrations also show them doing some movements together, especially at the end of the book when they really solidify their friendship.
So many options for this book! Let's find out
here which one Maria chose. And if you like
Polar Bear Morning, you should also check out its award-winning companion
Polar Bear Night -- another great choice for a creative movement class!
By:
Becky Laney,
on 3/25/2013
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Clementine and the Spring Trip. Sara Pennypacker. 2013. Hyperion. 160 pages.
Clementine has to be one of my favorite heroines. I just LOVE spending time with her. I love reading about her family life AND I love reading about her school days too. She always has an opinion, and she's always got something on her mind! In this book, Clementine is excited but nervous about an upcoming field trip to Plimoth Plantation. At first she felt comfortable about going because she was going to partner with fourth grader, Margaret. (Clementine is in third grade.) Clementine was going to help Margaret by doing all the "dirty" work, and Margaret was going to help Clementine by teaching her to eat quietly. The "rule" of the fourth graders being that no noisy foods are ever allowed. But when a new student arrives, a girl named Olive, well, plans change. The teacher assigns Olive to Clementine, and with the teacher and the principal telling Clementine that this will be a GOOD thing, she has to accept her disappointment. But noisy eating isn't the only thing worrying Clementine and her classmates, no, there is the dreaded bus number seven with "the cloud." This is the SMELLIEST bus ever, a thing of nightmares. And oh how the kids like to make comparisons as to what it smells like and why!!!
The novel is great fun focusing on Clementine at school and home. I would definitely recommend this series.
Read Clementine and the Spring Trip
© 2013 Becky Laney of
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By: Tanya,
on 3/25/2013
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The Popularity Papers: The Awesomely Awful Melodies of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow marks the fifth book in the series since it
It is sometimes a serendipitous world. Now sooner did I write about plane spotting in December, than I started reading a book about an 11 year old girl who really wants to be a plane spotter. Alice Calder has memorized all the plane silhouettes on her plane spotting cards, has a brand new log book and a pair of binoculars. All she is missing is her mother's permission. But when her mom figures out that Alice has been plane spotting out the window one cold night in December 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, she takes away her plane spotting equipment. Now how will anyone be able to recognize her as the important spotter she fancies herself as?
Alice wants to do something more for the war than just writing to her Uncle David (almost) everyday. So the next day, after school, she heads over to the Red Cross, where she can fold bandages for wounded soldiers. On her way, she envisions herself being introduced on the radio as a real patriot for her bandage folding. Though is it satisfying enough work, Alice still dreams of being a plane spotting heroine.
Then, as she and her Gramps are preparing a bomb shelter at home, Alice talks him into letting her use her grandmother's opera glasses (if it's OK with mom) and hits on the idea of joining the plane spotters in the Ground Observation Corps. But when she asks Mr. Parker, the head of the corps, about joining, he tells her she is too young. Taking pity on her, he gives Alice an old Ground Observer's manual that is still serviceable.
 |
| Civil Air Patrol |
One day, after dancing class, Alice runs in her old friend (and crush) Jimmy Brownell, 16. Over cokes, he tells her he has joined the Civil Air Patrol her and will be training to get a pilot's license. In CAP, he will fly his dad's plane over the coast looking for enemy submarines.
Sure enough, Jimmy gets his license and begins flying and Alice flies with him, at least in her imagination. Meanwhile, with hard won permission to plane spot, Alice does her patriotic duty spotting and keeping a meticulous log book. But then, one cold winter night, a phone call comes, saying that Jimmy's plane was lost over the sea because of a nor'easter and it doesn't look good. Upset, Alice passes out and spends a number of days in bed, seriously ill.
When she recovers, she is told that Jimmy had been found alive, but in pretty bad condition. And to her chagrin, Alice discovers that binoculars and log book have been take away once again. And that would seem to be the end of Alice's spotting days. Or is it? There is a big surprise in store for Alice and her meticulous log book.
Alice at the Home Front is a story that really demonstrates the desire of young people in WWII to do something, anything to help the war effort. The war wasn't something far away on unimaginable battlefields to them. They felt the effect of it wherever they lived. Rationing, bomb shelters, air raid sirens and blackout were the kinds of things that brought it all home for them every day. Tarantino has given the reader a picture into what it was all about for them through Alice.
 |
| Plane Spotting Cards |
Plane spotting was a big very big thing for kids and there were all kinds of ways to learn plane identification, including playing cards with images on them It was something they could do right in their own backyard and maybe feel a little more empowered than they actually were. And naturally, kids could get pretty competitive about who could identify and/or spot the greatest number of different planes. And I suspect that lots of kids, like Alice, had Walter Mitty-like dreams be being a hero/heroine. And it is part of what made
Alice at the Home Front such a realistic novel.
This is a heart-warming story with lots of humorous bits, lots of slang and some pretty serious stuff, too. I loved that she wanted to be a plane spotter, and really was dedicated to it, even at the risk of falling out the window. The most amazing part of the novel was that a 16-year-old boy was allowed to fly a plane alone the way Jimmy did, but it certainly demonstrates how different times were back then.
This book was recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library.
Be sure to visit the
National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol where you can see an extensive online exhibit of the role CAP played in World War II.
On September 1, 1939, Operation Pied Piper commenced and thousands of children were evacuated from London to the English countryside to keep them safe from the war that was just beginning.
Among the evacuees to Little Weinwold is William Beech, 8, left in the care of Tom Oakley, a widower and a rather crusty loner. William is much to small for his age, frightened of everything and covered in black and blue bruises. Inside he duffel, Tom find a belt with a large buckle and instructions to use it on William whenever he sees fit. Appalled by what he sees that first day, Mr. Tom, as he tells William to call him, begins to soften towards the boy, taking him out and buying him some appropriate clothing and boots, feeding him well and doctoring the bruises.
As William's body heals, he comes out of his frightened shell and even develops a fondness for Mr. Tom's dog Sammy. But William has a bed-wetting problem that continues despite everything. Soon William meets Zach, another evacuee, and they become best friends. And other kids begin to join in on their fun. And it turns out that William is quite a talented artist, receiving some art supplies from Mr. Tom for his ninth birthday. Things go well until school starts.
It turns out that William cannot read, that in London his teachers ignored him and the other students taunted him. When all his friends to into their proper class, William is put in with the younger kids who are just beginning school. Mr. Tom begins to teach him to read and by the end of the term, William has conquered not just reading but his bed-wetting problem as well.
Life for William, Mr. Tom and Sammy the dog has evolved into a comfortable, happy companionship and Mr. Tom has even begun to participate in village activities again, something he hasn't done in forty years after the death of his wife and new baby son, also named William. But one day a letter arrives from William's mother, asking for her son to come home for a visit.
And it is with very heavy hearts that Mr. Tom and William say good-bye at the train. William is laden with all kinds of lovely, friendly gifts for his mother as he leave and promises to write to Mr. Tom as soon as he can. When weeks go by and not letter arrives, Mr. Tom and Sammy take the train to London to find out if things are going well for William, arriving just at the Blitz begins.
And yes, he does find him - locked in a closet, tied up to a pipe in it and holding a baby who turns out to be his illegitimate sister. Traumatized and blaming himself for the baby's death, William is taken to a hospital. Mr. Tom keeps watch and makes himself useful when people injured by the bombing are brought in. After a few days, however, he is told that William is going to be transferred to a home where he will be given psychiatric treatment.
Not agreeing that this is the best thing for William, Mr. Tom resorts to something desperate. Will the two ever make it back to Little Weinwold or is this the end of things for Mr. Tom and William?
Good Night, Mr. Tom is Michelle Magorian's first novel. It was written in 1981 and hasn't lost any of its appeal nor does it have a dated feeling. It is probably her most well-known work, particularly since it has been made into a television movie (ITV in the UK, Masterpiece Theater in the US, and with John Thaw, a favorite) and a play.
I have read
Good Night, Mr. Tom a few times and never get tired of it. The writing is elegant, and Magorian has great talent in fleshing out her characters so that they are believable and well-developed. And the same can be said for her settings, actually.
Magorian also has a way of presenting difficult issues without getting too graphic or going overboard. In this novel alone, there are issues of abuse, bullying, anti-Semitism, skewed religious beliefs, the death of children and suicide. These are dreadful things, and yet not presented in such a way that they will disturb young readers, but enough is said to make this book appeal to an adult reader as well. And in the end, it is a novel of healing, hope, love and trust, and these are the issues that predominate, even without a really pat ending.
If you haven't read
Good Night, Mr. Tom, be warned - it is a tearjerker, but oh, so worth it. But there is much in the story that will make you chuckle, especially William's very outgoing friend Zack, whom I haven't mentioned much even though he is a good part of the book and who makes me smile just thinking about him.
This old favorite is worthy of a first read if you haven't already read it, or worthy of another read if you have read it before.
This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library
Sometimes, when you read a debut novel that also wins a Newbery, your expectations for next novel by the same author are way too high. That was exactly what I was thinking when I picked up Navigating Early at the library and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised when I began reading and realized that I was not to be disappointed.
The book begins just after World War II has ended in Europe and 13 year old Jackie Baker's father, a Navy captain, has returned home to Kansas, not because of the end of fighting, but to bury his wife. Not knowing what to do with their son Jackie, he enrolls him in the Morton Hill Academy for Boys, a boarding school in Maine.
Not happy about this and somewhat of a misfit in the school, Jackie discovers a boy living in the janitor's workshop instead of the dormitory. Early Auden, that strangest of boys, as Jackie describes him, is also a misfit, a boy who uses rituals to organize and navigate the world. He also has an extraordinary ability for mathematics. Numbers, Early tells Jackie, tell a story, specifically a story about Pi, that most mysterious of numbers: "The numbers have colors - blues of the ocean and sky, green grass, a bright-yellow sun. The numbers have texture and landscape - mountains and waves and sand and storms. And words - about Pi and about his journey. The numbers tell a story." (pg 66)
Early and Jackie becomes friends. And it turns out that Early, like Jackie, has suffered a loss of someone important to him. Fisher Auden, a hero and a rowing legend at Morton Hill, was Early's older brother who went to war right after graduation. But after a dangerous mission, Fisher is declared Missing in Action, presumed Dead. Early, however, is convinced that Fisher is hiding in the Maine woods and has decided to find him during a school break.
Jackie, disappointed that his father couldn't come to get him for the break, decides to join Early on his quest along the Appalachian Trail to find Fisher.
And what a quest it is. It is a story about how Jack, Early and Pi lost heir direction in life and how they tried to navigate their way back to it. And along the way, they meet all kinds of strange people, like the pirates searching for treasure, a Norwegian still pining for his first love, a 100 year old woman stilling waiting for her son to come home. As the boys travel along the Appalachian Trail, Early narrates his story about Pi's journey in an attempt to earn the name Polaris which his mother had given him.
And as the boys travel along, there are lots of coincidences, lots of twists and turns in Navigating Early, but never a dull moment. In the most enchanting language, Vanderpool weaves a taut, complex, entertaining story. I found myself anxious to get back to Jack and Early whenever I put the book down and, like Jack, I wanted to hear more and more of Pi's story.
Whenever a book is set in or after WWII, I ask myself why that time period. The war impacted everyone in some way or other. It brought Jackie's father home before it was over. But more importantly, it showed how lost some people were when it was over. Jackie's father knew the Navy, how the operate, organize, control his ship. But in Kansas, after his wife's death, he was faced with an inability to navigate his world there. And this led to his inability to guide Jack, who without mother and father, also has difficulty navigating the world. Fisher was also a lost soul because of the war, and Early completely lost his way of navigating the world when Fisher went missing. And so while Navigating Early is about navigating, it is also about finding your direction again, just as Pi must. Some many had to grapple with that after the war.
A lot of people have used the words autistic or Asperger's to describe Early. Yet, it is not for us to diagnose him and to her credit, Vanderpool does not label Early either, but merely has Jackie call him "that strangest of boys" which would be more apropos for the time.
This is a wonderful novel, and I think it is not to be missed.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
By: Stacy Dillon,
on 3/10/2013
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I first read about this book over at
Ms. Yingling's blog. Romance is always a bit of a tricky thing in that I tend to find them super girly or super sexy. Farrar has hit the mark with
A Song for Bijou in that it offers a boy's point of view without going into the realm of YA.
Alex knows the moment he lays eyes on Bijou that she is something special. Time seems to slow down so that he notices every detail about her: from the way that she unwraps her straw at Peas 'n Pickles, to her stiff new uniform and the butterfly purple beads that end her braids. The girl is with motor mouth Mary Agnes and Alex can she that she's not able to get a word in edgewise. Alex asks his friend Nomura who the girl is, but he doesn't know either.
It doesn't take Alex too long to find out. Bijou goes to St. Catherine's along with Mary Agnes and Ira's sister Maricel, and the boys attend St. Christopher's which is the brother school. Alex cannot wait to get to know Bijou, which shouldn't be too hard as they have a school dance coming up.
There are, however, a couple of obstacles that Alex has to get around before he can see what the possibilities are with Bijou. First of, she is living with her Aunt and Uncle who are super strict about her hanging out with non-Haitians let alone with boys. Then there are Rocky and Trevor - two tough guys who seem to have some interest in Bijou as well. Lastly, there is the fact that Alex doesn't exactly know what to do in order to get Bijou to notice him! He's been stuck at an all boys school forever, and hasn't had practice talking to girls aside from his mom and his sister Dolly.
Mary Agnes starts to hatch some plans that will allow not only Alex and Bijou to get to know one another, but herself and Nomura as well. What follows is a story filled with age appropriate angst, first love, cultural clashes and misunderstandings. Farrar gifts readers with the bitter sweet dance of first crushes from both Alex and Bijou's points of view. Cultural and racial differences are not shied away from and Alex and Bijou must both face prejudice in their quest to get to know each other. A breath of fresh air!
By:
nicole,
on 3/7/2013
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now THIS is pure talent...;)
an illustration i did last year for the magazine Stories for Children. entitled "teamwork". i thought it was fitting for this week's IF theme.
PRINTS AVAILABLE HERE:
Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2012, 320 pp, ISBN: 0375869026
Recap:August Pullman doesn't look like anyone else. Born with a severe facial deformity that is still dramatic even after years of plastic surgery, Auggie tells readers "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse."
At the beginning of August's 5th grade year, he starts attending public school for the first time in his life. Not surprisingly, the transition is anything but easy.
But August's life is like real life - nothing can be all good or all bad, people will always surprise you, there is always hope.
Review:Book lovers, I am woefully late to the party that is Wonder. Admittedly, I skipped it on purpose. I knew the gist of the story, and just didn't feel like being depressed. But it's one of the Contenders for the 2013 BOB so off to the library I went. Two nights ago I posted on my sister's facebook wall "Please give me some encouragement to start Wonder..." Within 30 minutes there was a LIST of different people telling me to read it immediately, and they all used lots of exclamation points. I couldn't avoid it any longer.
And I am kicking myself for waiting so long. Wonder is 100% about one boy's face, and how it affects the people around him. But you know what? It's also not really about his face at all. Wonder is about all of us. It's about how we choose to treat each other - how much effort we are willing to make to reach out, to love, to empathize with one another, whether we know each other or not. Wonder is about living life courageously, and with a sense of humor. It is about doing the right thing, not because we will be applauded or appreciated - but doing the right thing, even when others may laugh or turn their backs, simply because it is right.
As I read, I couldn't help but think of my son, Lincoln. He has the sweetest spirit and the kindest heart, and I just pray that his dad and I can help him to nurture and guard those qualities as he grows up. I hope that Lincoln grows up to be like Auggie, or Via, or Jack, or Summer. I never buy books, but there is no doubt that I will be adding a copy of Wonder to Linc's bookshelf.
One note about the format: I've read some reviews where the reader really didn't care for the way the narrators switched around to include a variety of different people in August's life. While I thought some choices were surprising (his sister's boyfriend for one), the changing narrators never once pulled me out of the story. In fact, I felt like they added so much more dimension. Because of the multiple first-person perspectives, we were able to witness a variety of personal transformations on a very intimate level. I loved that. But I just really wished Mr. Browne had had his own chapters; his precepts were one of my favorite parts of the book!
Recommendation:Read it. Read it to your children. Read it in your book club. Read it with your students, or your spouse, or your best friend. Wonder is literally a must-read.
BOB Prediction:Oh man, this is a tough one. A huge part of me wants to predict that Wonder will go all the way to the Big Kahuna Round. However... it's up against Bomb in the first round. Potentially life-changing fiction vs. absolutely brilliant nonfiction. This one is too close for me to call; I'd be happy either way!
Quotable Quotes:"Shall we make a new rule of life... always try to be a little kinder than necessary." - J.M. Barrie
"Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world." - August Pullman
"If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God." - Mr. Tushman
By:
Smoore,
on 1/29/2013
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If you like The Westing Game, you’re sure to like Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist (illustrator of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events). The book jacket says Chasing Vermeer “is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.” A famous painting by Jan Vermeer known as A Woman Writing has disappeared and its mysterious thief has threatened to destroy it. Sixth-graders Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay start out as classmates but soon become friends and fellow sleuths as they boldly venture to follow a trail of clues and track down the missing painting. Using their wits and intuition, they solve the puzzle of the painting’s disappearance and its mysterious thief . Chasing Vermeer reminds me a bit of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Petra finds an old used book called Lo! that tells of coincidences throughout time. As Petra thinks, “Why wasn’t more time . . . spent studying things that were unknown or not understood . . . ? . . . To try to piece together a meaning behind events that didn’t seem to fit?” Perhaps there are no coincidences–perhaps life is really full of patterns and cosmic synchronicity. Petra dreams of [...]
By:
Smoore,
on 1/29/2013
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If you like The Westing Game, you’re sure to like Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist (illustrator of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events). The book jacket says Chasing Vermeer “is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.” A famous painting by Jan Vermeer known as A Woman Writing has disappeared and its mysterious thief has threatened to destroy it. Sixth-graders Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay start out as classmates but soon become friends and fellow sleuths as they boldly venture to follow a trail of clues and track down the missing painting. Using their wits and intuition, they solve the puzzle of the painting’s disappearance and its mysterious thief . Chasing Vermeer reminds me a bit of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Petra finds an old used book called Lo! that tells of coincidences throughout time. As Petra thinks, “Why wasn’t more time . . . spent studying things that were unknown or not understood . . . ? . . . To try to piece together a meaning behind events that didn’t seem to fit?” Perhaps there are no coincidences–perhaps life is really full of patterns and cosmic synchronicity. Petra dreams of [...]
Greenhorn is a heart-warming story of two outsiders who become life-long friends. With lovely folk art type illustrations by Miriam Nerlove, the story is set in a Yeshiva, a boarding school in Brooklyn, NY in 1946 and narrated in the first person by Aaron, a student there and a boy who speaks with a stutter, to the annoyance/amusement of the other boys in the school.
One day, the Rabbi interrupts a class during their recess to announce that twenty boys from Poland, who, unlike their parents, survived the Holocaust, will soon be arriving at the school.
After the Polish boys arrive, one of them, Daniel, is assigned to Aaron's room, already crowded with three boys. The other boys don't really welcome their new roommate, and start going after him for being skinny and not speaking. They nickname him Greenhorn, but there is not affection in the name. Aaron realizes that Daniel doesn't speak English and asks if he understands Yiddish. At first, Daniel doesn't respond to any of the boys, except with fear when they bring up the Nazis.
Eventually, the Polish boys all start speaking English, except Daniel, who, it turns out, does know Yiddish and will only speak it. Yet, no matter what kind of friendly overtures are made to Daniel he never joins in. Nevertheless, Aaron keeps trying to be friends with Daniel. One day, while the boys are picking on him because of his stutter, Daniel comes to Aaron's defense - in English.
Things get better after that, but not much and the other boys begin to really focus on the little box Daniel carries around with him, even putting it under his pillow at night. One night Aaron notices that the box had fallen on the floor, opened and the content had fallen out. It looked like a rock to Aaron, but when he asked Daniel about it, he received no reply. "F-F-Friends don't keep secrets from each other." Aaron tells him. But Daniel was sleeping.
But what's in Daniel's box that he carried all the way from Poland and never let out of his sight? Was this the end of Aaron's attempts to be friends?
Most American children really didn't comprehend how conditions were in Europe for Jews during the war. Of course, by 1946 they had heard about what happened in concentration camps, but it was still hard for them to grasp the full measure of things. To her credit, Anna Olswanger has depicted this aspect of life even in a place like a Yeshiva. But I think she has done an outstanding job of depicting the kind of trauma kids who were caught of in the actual events and who lost parents, siblings and other relatives suffered from. It seems like it would be just unimaginable, but you do get the idea from this short but powerful story.
Healing is a long hard road, but this is a story of friendship and it is based on a true event. The boy Aaron grew up to be Rabbi Rafael Grossman. He lost touch with the real life "Daniel." But one day, while visiting Israel, he ran into him again, "Daniel" had become a pediatrician, working and living in Israel.
And yes, eventually Aaron/Rabbi Grossman did find out what was in Daniel's box and why it was so important.
This is just my feeling but, although this is a story written for readers around 9+ years old, I think it might be a good idea for them to read this little book with some supervision. Not that the events involved are described in graphic detail, but some of what the Nazis did to people is not always covered in books for kids. That being said, it would still highly recommend it.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher.
A discussion guide for teacher's can be found
here
A discussion guide for parents can be found
here
The author, Anna Olswanger, has written a very interesting guest post about
Greenhorn over at
Cynsations
There is a Goodreads Greenhorn Givaway running until February 17 and you enter to win a copy
here
THE POPULARITY PAPERS BOOK 3 is now in paperback!!
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One of the few downsides to this blog is that I have such a full shelf of books I want to read
By:
nicole,
on 2/14/2013
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Love, Pippa...and her *bear*y special Valentine :)
xxx
Read It. Move It. Share It. Each month I recommend a picture book for dance educator Maria Hanley to use in her creative movement classes in New York, and then we both share our experiences with the book. Our February book was Fluff and Billy by Nicola Killen. When you're done reading about the book here on my blog, stop by Maria's Movers to see what kind of movement it can inspire!When my girls were younger, they really liked to play follow the leader, and I sometimes used this to my advantage. At bedtime, I could usually get them to go upstairs for bed if I did some super silly moves going up our staircase and asked them to follow along.
Fluff and Billy, published a few months ago by Sterling Children's Books, is a book about friendship and overcoming disagreements. But what made me think it would be a great book for creative movement classes is that the text and illustrations also inspire a good game of follow the leader!
"I'm climbing up!" said Fluff.
"I'm climbing up!" said Billy.
"I'm sliding down!" said Fluff.
"I'm sliding down!" said Billy.
Fluff''s a little bigger than Billy, and he's the one who seems to be the leader. When he climbs and slides, Bill follows along. When he screams, swims, splashes, runs, and jumps, Billy follows along again. But, when Fluff decides to roll a snowball, Billy doesn't quite follow along. Billy decides to throw the snowball at Fluff, and it hits Fluff hard enough to knock him down.
Just like when young friends or siblings play together a lot of the time and then have a fight, Fluff and Billy don't talk to each other for a while -- or at least for a few spreads of the book! Eventually, though, they make up and the book ends on a happy note.
The illustrations of Fluff and Billy are darling, and I love the simplicity of the color palette that was used to create them -- shades of black and gray for their bodies and and orangish red for their beaks and feet. The backgrounds on every page of the book are a mix of white, blue, and yellow. I love books that use unique fonts, and this book does that, too.
If you want to see a few of the spreads from the book, you can see them
here on Nicola Killen's website. And if you're curious to see whether Maria played a game of follow the leader with her young students this month, I hope you'll check out her post
here.
My girls are six and eight now, and I haven't tried follow the leader with them in a while. They are actually getting pretty good at going upstairs on their own and at least getting the bedtime process started. It might be fun to surprise them with another game of follow the leader up the staircase one of these days, though. And I might even have to follow it up with a reading of this delightful book!
Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead, Wendy Lamb Books, 2012, 192 pp, ISBN: 0385737432
Recap:
Things aren't going so hot for Georges (the "s" is silent). His dad just lost his job, forcing their family to move out of their house and into an apartment. His mom is working at the hospital almost 24 hours a day. And Dallas Llewellyn is doing everything he can to make Georges' life a nightmare at school.
But when Georges joins the Spy Club, things start to look up for the first time in months...
Review:Rebecca Stead, my hat is off to you. When You Reach Me was pure genius. I laughed, I cried, you shocked me in the end. Liar & Spy followed almost the same trajectory. (Sidenote: Are you friends in real life with Esme Raji Codell? Because I just have a feeling you would love each other.)
Liar & Spy is really a very simple story, that pretty much every 4th, 5th, or 6th grader in America could relate to a some point: struggles at home + bullies at school = a very lonely time in life. It actually started a bit slowly for me, but quickly picked up with the introduction of characters like Safer, Candy
(love!), and Bob English Who Draws. Although
Liar & Spy lacked the time traveling magic of Stead's first novel, the resiliency and quirkiness of the Blue Team added their own special brand of magic.
And Rebecca Stead truly has a gift for the surprise ending. There are few things I love more than a story that is
not predictable!
Recommendation:
I've already started recommending Liar & Spy to anyone (teachers, parents, actual kids!) who work with kiddos in the 4th - 6th grade group. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a book I will read with my own son one day.
**Just for the record, I listened to Liar & Spy via audiobook, and while I still clearly enjoyed it, I think the reader will gain more from the print version - Bob English Who Draws (and creatively spells) would agree.
BOB Prediction:
Liar & Spy is up against Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz in the first round. Now y'all know I am a big fan of Georges, but Splendors and Glooms just might be my most highly anticipated read of the remaining Contenders. I'm going to have to get back to you after I read it...
Quotable Quotes:
"Boredom is what happens to people who have no control over their minds." - Safer
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so nice post :)
great pictures:)
Thank you:)
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