 The Old Boat by Jarrett PumphreyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Thank you to Norton Young Readers for the review copy. Another great book from the Pumphrey brothers! They use stamps to create beautiful illustrations. The color palette is bright but calm at the same time. The text is spare, and every word is important. My favorite spreads are back to back: “The old boat caught wants -> and wishes, ->waves -> and wonders.” Good picture books use the illustrations to tell the story as much as they use the prose, and like The Old Truck, if you pay attention you will see the characters grow older and introduce the next generation. View all my reviews
0 Comments
 Maya and the Robot by Eve L. EwingMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Friendship, jealousy, loneliness, grief, finding your voice, resilience, and pursuing your interests are all themes tucked neatly into this story about a girl and her new mechanical companion. Maya’s best friends are in a different class this year, and for the first time, Maya is not looking forward to school. On top of that, Zoe is mean to her, and her teacher calls her by her first name instead of by Maya. But then, Maya finds a robot in the stock room while working at the store for Mr. MacMillan. She loves science and engineering, and this is exciting! She finds out that Mr. Mac’s son Christopher built the robot years ago, but Christopher is gone now, and Maya is not sure where he is. Maya gets the robot to work and all is well until sabotage at the science fair! This is a good story with heavy moments tempered with humor and fun. Maya learns that there is more to people than she can see on the outside, that Christopher was shot and killed 10 years ago and Mr. Mac is still really sad, that Zoe is mean because she’s jealous and thinks Maya’s life is perfect, that her teacher calls her the wrong name because she doesn’t know any different and Maya never spoke up to correct her. Highly recommended! View all my reviews  Incredible Rescue Mission: Book 3 by Zanib MianMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Thank you to NetGalley for a preview copy. Omar lives in London, where he goes to school with his friends Charles and Daniel. One day they arrive to find that their favorite teacher Mrs. Hutchinson has been replaced by mean old Ms. Crankshaw, who is so grumpy she outlaws smiling. No one tells the class what happened to Mrs. H, so Omar and his friends set out to solve the mystery themselves. According to Omar, all clues lead to alien abduction. Meanwhile, Omar and his family take a trip to Pakistan for a family wedding. While there, Omar learns a lot about his family's culture, and he gets some unexpected information about his teacher as well. I like the story about a close family and students who like their teacher. Even at over 250 pages, the illustrated chapter book format makes it quick and easy to read. I think middle-grade readers who try this series will really enjoy it. View all my reviews  Dinosaurs Before Dark by Jenny LairdMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Thank you for the review copy from NetGalley and Random House Books for Young Readers. What? Magic Tree House as a graphic novel? Yes, please! This is a really quick read as a graphic novel adaptation for the 7- to 9-year-old crowd. The illustrations are bright, the text is sparse, and they kept my favorite line, “Then everything was still. Absolutely still.” The Magic Tree House books in my library don’t circulate as much as they used to, despite new copies. I hope that this graphic version, and any that follow, will serve as a “gateway book” to the Jack and Annie books. View all my reviews  Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel AchoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Uncomfortable Conversations should be subtitled Important Conversations. Acho takes time to explain with great poise and patience why various actions and beliefs are racist, even when white people maintain that they aren’t. His examples are concrete and timely, and his explanations are clear and direct. This book is perfect for parents and other caregivers to read together with kids to discuss in small bites. View all my reviews  Ways to Grow Love by Renée WatsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Thank you for the review copy from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Childrens. All opinions are my own. Ryan is one of my favorite middle-grade characters. In this story, our spirited protagonist heads to church camp with her besties. She is elected the cabin captain, and not everything goes as planned. Amid the skits, pranks, and other adventures of the next 4 days, she has to learn how to love her neighbor, forgive, and ask forgiveness. And by the end, she becomes a big sister. This is a wholesome story where the protagonist is just a little girl doing little girl things. She learns, she grows, she loves her family and they love her. I hope Renee Watson has more books planned for this series because I can’t keep the first one on the shelf, and I suspect this one will follow suit. View all my reviews  Darkwhispers by Vashti HardyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Thank you for the digital review copy from NetGalley and Norton Young Readers. All opinions are my own. 2nd in the Brightstorm series, Darkwhipsers follows Arthur and Maudie as they adventure out looking for Ermitage Wrigglesworth, who disappeared into the Wide while searching for the mythical fourth continent. Maudie is the inventor and engineer, but Arthur is observant and good at reading people. Arthur thinks that Ermitage left clues behind. He thinks that he saw a bear-like creature with gills, and he suspects that people on an island in Stella Oceana are covering up the truth about Ermitage. He’s right about all of it. Now Arthur is an accidental stowaway on the Culpepper ship, stolen by Eudora Vane, and things are about to get stranger and more dangerous. I would suggest reading Brightstorm first if possible. This adventure can stand on its own, but there are references to Thought Wolves and South Polaris from the first book without a lot of recap, and that might bother some readers. Plus, the first book is worth the read. Fans of A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat and Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis will enjoy this imaginative world. View all my reviews  Oh, my stars! Ways to Make Sunshine is an adorable book by Renee Watson @harlemportland starring Ryan Hart. Ryan’s name means “king”, and her parents remind her every morning to be who they named her to be, a leader who does the right thing. Here are some reasons I like this book:
|
RSS Feed