City Chickens

by Christine Heppermann
various photo credits
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 2012
Bok bok! Get it here.

This is a truly lovely story about a chicken rescue organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, you read that correctly. Mary Britton Clouse and her husband, Bert, run Chicken Run Rescue--devoted to providing rehabilitation and adoption services for chickens in the Twin Cities.

Apparently (who knew?), chickens are often abandoned or abused. Many people discard of roosters after they find out they are roosters rather than hens who will lay eggs. And Mary Clouse has no tolerance for any mistreatment of any animal. She and Bert have a permit to house up to 20 chickens at a time in their home and yard in the city. (Of course, that didn't help the time there were 105 abandoned chicks on the side of the highway--that story is one of the highlights of the book.)

Heppermann is a longtime Horn Book Magazine reviewer, and she tells this story with a deftness and with a clear alacrity for her topic. Any child reader will delight in reading about how chickens are rescued and adopted by families.

The book is appended with Clouse's artwork, a good, long author's note, and information about how to care for a city chicken yourself. There is also info for educators and a source list. 

(L to R): Bert and Mary Clouse, the author's daughter, the author.

Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-true Story of Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure

SPECIAL NOTE: Tomorrow, January 26, 2013, is my 40th birthday. This week, January 22, 2013, was the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I've always been proud to share a birth-week with such a momentous moment in women's rights history. This week also now marks the day that the armed forces allowed women into combat roles, opening the entire military up to us. In honor of these two 40th anniversaries and new moment in history, I present a book about a woman of gumption.

by Shana Corey
illustrated by Hadley Hooper
Scholastic | 2012
Buy it now! (It's cookie time, after all.)

This book is the perfect gift for anyone in your life who is currently a Daisy, Brownie, or Girl Scout or for any adult who once was one. We also just passed the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts, in March 2012. Every Girl Scout knows their founder's name: Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low, but how many know about her early life and how she came to found the organization in the United States?

This charming account of a "girl with gumption" tells the story of Low's founding of the Girl Scouts (modeled on the Girl Guides of England). The art is stylized and fun--created with paint, ink, and printmaking along with some digital enhancements. The earth-toned palette is perfect for this story about early environmentalism. If I have any complaint, it's about the somewhat overwhelming design (small primary text, larger secondary text that appear to be quotes from Low and too-varied text placement end up feeling a bit haphazard).

The book includes a "gallery" of famous Girl Scouts, a lengthy author's note including information about her personal Girl Scout connection, the U.S. history era in which the organization was founded, information about conservation efforts, diversity, the Girl Scout Promise and Law, a source list, and acknowledgements.

Add this book to your Girl Scout cookie shopping list this year!

43 Old Cemetery Road: Till Death Do Us Bark

by Kate Klise
illustrated by M. Sarah Klise
Sandpiper/Houghton Mifflin | 2011
Use your pennies to buy it here!

This is book three of the five-book 43 Cemetery Road series. I know this seems sort of random--to review a book in the middle of a series--but considering that I've not read any of the others and this one worked as a stand-alone, here it is.

Told entirely in expository entries--journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings, labeled illustrations, memos, and more--the book opens with an introduction by Seymour who lives with his adoptive parents, Ignatius B. Grumply and the ghost of Olive C. Spence, whose mansion they all live in. Seymour's real parents are in jail for some undisclosed reason (at least in this book).

The story is about the town's richest inhabitant, Noah Breth, who has died. His son and daughter are fighting over his money, but Noah has cleverly set up a secret hunt for the money and townspeople keep stumbling over valuable coins from his collection hidden in unlikely places. Every rare coin in the text is a real rare coin, Google-able and everything, which is a very cool treat.

Because I'm a super-dork, I found one of my favorite things I've ever read in a book--EVER--in this story. Pages 21-23 outline some facts about the U.S. penny that are just awesome and I can't believe I'd never known before. Your kids will LOVE it and will ask you for a magnifying glass so they, like I did, can verify the truth of the coolness of this short chapter.

Your 8- to 10-year-olds will love this book and I bet the whole series. Check it out!

I Have A Dream

words by Martin Luther King Jr.
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Schwartz & Wade/Random House | 2012
Get it here.

Award-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson (Caldecott Honors for Henry's Freedom Box in 2008 and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom in 2007) brings Martin Luther King Jr's iconic speech to life in this new book. And I'm here to tell you it's as beautiful as Nelson's past contributions to the field of children's literature.

I'm telling you on the day we set aside each year to remember MLK, which also happens, this year, to the be the day that Barack Obama will take his second oath of office in the very city where MLK gave the speech presented in this book.

I mean, look at this:

I was lucky enough to see an exhibit of Nelson's original art for his book about the Negro League, We Are The Ship, last year at the Carle Museum in Western Massachusetts. His art is just stunning. Looking at his books makes it easy to imagine why.

One might think there are enough books in the world about MLK already. I think there's no way that's true. Each generation will continue to interpret the words of the civil rights leader taken from us far too early in their own way. And some members of each generation, like Nelson, will interpret them visually. What a gift. 

The Giant and How He Humbugged America

by Jim Murphy
Scholastic | 2012
Get it here!
Reviewed from galleys.

Murphy is back again, with yet another awesome nonfiction entry for kids. Murphy's excellent books include Fire, Blizzard, Truce, and The American Plague (a Newbery Honor book). To me, the most remarkable thing, amongst many remarkable things, that Murphy does is that he somehow makes intimate objects into main characters. A blizzard, a war, or a fire almost take personalities of their own as Murphy recounts the events he chooses to research and present in his books.

This book is the same. The 10-foot-long stone-cast man found buried on a farm in Cardiff, New York in 1869 becomes as much a character in Murphy's narrative as does the men who discover it. This bizarre finding had the whole country buzzing and wondering about the origins of the man. Using narrative supplemented by historical photos, advertisements, and drawings, Murphy leads the reader through the discoveries--of the giant and of the fact that it turns out to be a colossal hoax.

This is just the kind of book a kid interested in practical jokes or weird oddities is looking for. Appended with short vignettes about other famous hoaxes, an author's note about research, source notes, a bibliography, photo sources, and an index, it's also just right for the Common Core. With a narrative, a cast of characters, history, geography, and some research methodology thrown in, it's a cross-discipline lesson come to life. Murphy has proven once again that nonfiction need not be boring--in fact, it's some of the most exciting stuff out there!

Out of My Mind

by Sharon Draper
Simon & Schuster | 2010
Get it here.

The story is told in the first-person from Melody's point of view, and she is one extraordinary child. Melody is in the fifth grade, and she has cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair, can't feed herself, dress herself, or talk. She also has incredibly high intelligence, synesthesia, and a photographic memory.

When she decides she wants to integrate into the regular fifth-grade classroom instead of staying in the special education room, her mother advocates for her. And once she gets a talking machine that allows her to communicate with classmates, she starts to make friends, even as the class mean-girls continue to tease her.

I like this one a lot. I heard former high-school teacher and prolific author Draper speak in 2011 and she was authentic and energetic. Kids will like this one--it's a good story and provides a different way of looking at the world. Read it together!

Chickadee (Book Four of the Birchbark House Series)

written and illustrated by Louise Erdrich
HarperCollins | 2012
Get it here.

The heroine of the first three Birchbark House books (The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence, and Porcupine Year), a Ojibwa girl named Omakayas, is back in this fourth installment, and her own twins are now eight years old. Chickadee and Makoons are the best of friends and good boys. After their father, Animikiins, kills a moose, the whole family celebrates together. But,  two evil men decide to steal Chickadee to make him their servant. What follows is an eventful adventure of how Chickadee is reunited with his family that flows from the woods of Minnesota to the Plains.

Anyone could easily read this book as a stand-alone, but it's richer if you've read the Birchbark House series in its entirety. And there are more books planned. Erdrich, who is also well known for her books for adults (Round House won the National Book Award this year), bases this series on her own family's history.

Many have made this comparison before, and I agree with it and will repeat it here: this series is much like the Little House on the Prairie series, but from the viewpoint of people indigenous to the United States who, rather than moving across the U.S., are instead trying to maintain their lifestyles even as others are encroaching upon their land. Far from heavy-handed, the stories present the lives of these native peoples with a grace and sensibility that will likely resonate with any reader. These stories are classic and shouldn't be missed.

Snowflake Bentley

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
illustrated by Mary Azarian
Houghton Mifflin | 1998
Buy it here!

This Caldecott Medal book is about William Bentley, who discovered much of what was known about snow crystals during his lifetime. Born in 1865, as a boy in Jericho, Vermont, he spent the long winters there determined to make photographs of snowflakes. After a lot of trial and error, he learned how.

Azarian's gorgeous woodcut prints, which according to the copyright page are hand-tinted with watercolor, couldn't be more perfect for the story and it's no wonder they won the Caldecott. It's clear through her artwork that Azarian is not only a Vermonter, but a snow-lover. And indeed, her dedication in the book reads: "For all the snow lovers of the world, who--like me--think that snow is like chocolate; there is never enough."

As a snow and winter lover myself, I find this is the perfect book with which to curl up next to the fire. Snuggle in with someone and read about Snowflake Bentley. This book is as unique as the snowflakes Bentley found so fascinating.

One of W.A. Bentley's photographs.

I Funny

by James Patterson with Chris Grabenstein
illustrated by Laura Park
Little, Brown | 2012
Reviewed from ARC
Order here!

Patterson, well-known for his prolific career as an adult mystery novelist, began working toward getting more kids to read in 2011 with his Read Kiddo Read site. He's also begun writing for young people (apparently in his spare time <grin>).

Jamie Grimm is focused on being a kid-comic. And he's good. He's funny. He lives with his aunt and uncle and their kids and spends time at his Uncle Frankie's diner, has two best friends, and a new friend he dubs "Cool Girl." Jamie is in a wheelchair, and when he wins the Long Island Local Funniest Kid Comic competition, there's some rumors that the judges just felt bad for him. How he deals with those rumors, the situation of his life, and his dream to be funny rounds out a great story that any third through sixth grader will likely love.

Patterson is doing for child reluctant readers what Oprah did for mostly non-reading grown-ups all those years ago--inviting them in. He's gone one step further and is penning just the books he and his publisher think will draw kids in. This is one.

Ender's Shadow: Parallel Novel to Ender's Game

 

by Orson Scott Card
Tor | 1999
Buy now!

If you haven't read Ender's Game, go. Go read it and then come back. I'll wait.

Okay, good. Now you know what you need to know to read Ender's Shadow, which in my opinion is actually better than Ender's Game. That last statement may perhaps be blasphemous, but I've decided I don't care. As much as I like Ender Wiggin and appreciate his struggles and his story, I find I like Bean that much better. And that Card, fourteen years after Ender's Game was published, decided to go back and write Bean's story, tells me that I'm not the only one with affection for Bean.

This is a parallel novel. This concept is so awesome to me, I don't even know where to start. Basically, Card went back and wrote Ender's Game again, only from the perspective of Bean. Through him, the reader gets that much more information about Battle School, the plans of Graff and the other teachers, and how the war against the buggers plays out. We get to see how Ender's rag-tag army was created and we get to understand more about how the political situation on Earth is playing out. We get to see a strong-willed, strong-minded character we root for even through his sometimes misguided behavior. We get to know Bean, an important character in Ender's Game, in his entirety.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for a sci-fi-loving kid on your list? Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, bundled together. And let me also suggest, that no matter whether a reader professes to like sci-fi or not, these books cross-over and transcend genre. Give them a try. You'll be glad you did.

Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Stephen Alcorn
Sandpiper/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | January 8, 2013 (paperback reprint edition)
Order now!

Originally published in 2000, this gorgeous new paperback reprint edition would be a fantastic addition to any middle-school classroom. Chronicling the stories of 10 important black women freedom fighters (a term I love), the book offers succinct yet information-rich vignettes of each person.

Included are Sojourner Truth, Biddy Mason, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Josephine Baker, Dorothy Irene Height, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Shirley Chisholm. How many of these women have you heard about before? Are you sure you know their whole story?

The text is lyrically written, just as we've come to expect from Pinkney. Lines like these, from the section on Sojourner Truth lead the reader in and makes you want more: "Belle's mother, Mau-Mau Bett, had a special kind of strength. She was quiet strong, like a wind that keeps a boat on course."

The art is the perfect blend of realistic and whimsical, with gorgeous color and rich details. An entire discussion could happen just about what the art depicts and why. The trim size is a perfect 9 x 12, which is big enough for two students to read together, huddled over a desk as they prepare a report or a presentation to their classmates. This is the perfect non-fiction text: it draws the reader in and makes learning both interesting and fun.

A Monster Calls

by Patrick Ness
inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd
illustrated by Jim Kay
Candlewick | 2011
Buy now!

Thirteen-year-old Conor has been recently plagued with a recurring nightmare, has a mom who is sick and isn't doing so well, a grandmother he doesn't really understand, and a father who is off in the U.S. living with his new wife. School is a problem as the bullies bother Conor each day; pretty much nothing is going well.

Conor also has a yew tree outside his window. One night, it turns into a giant monster and visits him. Slowly, over time, as the monster tells Conor three stories, he finds out what the monster wants -- why it has called on him.

My description here is purposely vague. To say much else would ruin the book, I think. Suffice it to say, this is a book for everyone and especially for any person (perhaps 12 years old and up) dealing with something difficult. Social workers and school counselors -- read and figure out if you have clients and students who might benefit from reading and discussing this special book.

Author Siobhan Dowd had the characters, premise, and a beginning for this story, which would've been her fifth book, but she died before she could write it. Ness was asked to write it in her stead, which he has done in her memory and with aplomb. Kay's illustrations are nothing short of phenomenal and the design of the book is something quite special from the silver foil on the cover to the yew-leaf covered end papers to the heavy gloss paper.

Clearly, I like this one a lot. I think you will too.

I know this looks terribly scary, but in context, the illustrations are perfect and in some odd way, not scary at all.

Martin & Mahalia: His Words and Her Song

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Little, Brown | August 2013
pre-order now!
(reviewed from galleys) 

Children's book living-legends and husband-and-wife team Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney come together again--this time for a glorious portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahalia Jackson. This gorgeous and spiritually-worded book begins with separate portrayals of the two subjects and then brings them together, mirroring their relationship in real life. The water color in the illustrations lend a softness and the India ink pen highlights a strength in the images.

Some words and phrases on each page are rendered in a bigger, sans-serif font, allowing for the reader's eye to focus in on what's most important on that page. The water-color-like color of those words keeps them clearly linked to the images. The story uses a metaphor of a road map to invite the reader in before the title page and carries the story along the path towards the Civil Rights era and the path toward a greater freedom for all in the United States. Ending with the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the book is appended with an author's note, an illustrator's note, a list of further reading, a discography of Jackson's work, acknowledgements, and a time line.

This is a picture book, yes. But it is a fine example of why picture books are not always for the smallest readers. While a younger child might appreciate the images and could perhaps sit through an entire reading, this is the kind of book that is meant for older readers. This book invites kids as old as high-school to sit down and dive in. The illustrations add context and a fluidity to an understanding of the impact both King and Jackson had on United States history. This book shows with words and with pictures why the struggle was difficult, yet also vibrant and joyful. And while everyone has heard of King, is everyone familiar with the role Jackson played? I would guess: probably not.

The book opens: YOU ARE HERE. . . . Take the road. Come along. With Martin and Mahalia." I echo this first page. Get this book. Take the road the Pinkneys offer.

Holes

by Louis Sachar
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 1996

I had forgotten how amazing Holes is. As a Newbery winner, it obviously is good, but it's not just good--it's truly amazing. I know two of the people who were on the Newbery committee that year, actually. I'm so pleased they chose this book. If you've read this book before, read it again. And if you know a child of either gender between the ages of 10 and 18, give it to them to read or read again. It's that good.

Stanley Yelnats is fat and bullied. His family struggles economically and things are pretty tough. One day, while he's walking along, a pair of sneakers falls from the sky, clocks Stanley in the head, and he's arrested for stealing them. Turns out they are some valuable sneakers. He's sent off to Camp Green Lake, in the middle of the desert in Texas. And there he is made to dig a hole each day, alongside the rest of the campers/prisoners who are also digging holes. The holes must be exactly 5 feet deep, 5 feet wide, and 5 feet across in every direction. They measure with their shovels. The Warden is looking for something.

When Zero is punished one day for helping Stanley dig his holes in return for reading lessons, he takes off across the desert and is left for dead. Stanley follows the next day, and together, they survive the desert, hatch a plan, and return to camp. In the grand climax of the story, all the pieces of the book fall together--stories told intermittently throughout the text involving Stanley's great-great-grandfather and a family curse and the story of the woman outlaw Kate Barlow and her forbidden love, Sam the onion man.

I don't own this book, but I'm going to buy a copy right now. You should too. (Note: I've not seen the movie, but if you've only seen the movie and never read the book--get the book. I bet it's better.)

Noah Webster & His Words

by Jeri Chase Ferris
illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch
Houghton Mifflin | 2012

This nonfiction biography picture book about Noah Webster and the creation of the first dictionary is fantastic! Full of great facts and the story of how Webster became the father of the American dictionary, it is written clearly with excellent definitions of fourteen words built right into the story.

From the first page:

"Noah Webster always knew he was right, and he never got tired of saying so (even if sometimes, he wasn't). He was, he said, full of CON-FI-DENCE" [noun: belief that one is right] from the very beginning."

The whimsical drawings bring the story even more to life, and the prodigious use of squiggles in the art bring a "handwritten" quality to all the illustrations. One awesome detail in the illustrations stands out. On a page about how Webster sailed to Europe to use the libraries in there to finish his dictionary, the illustration is of a boat on the ocean. The ocean waves are made of words, all having to do with ships. I only know that because I looked them up! Taffrail, gaff, moonraker, stunsail, tilller, halyard, and more are spread across that ocean and it's a lovely detail!

The book includes a detailed timeline that interweaves Noah Webster's life with important American dates; after all, he was born in 1758 and died in 1843 and during his lifetime, the United States was born. He is buried in New Haven in Grove Street Cemetery next to Yale. The book also includes a longer note about Noah Webster and a bibliography that includes websites.

Biographies are not boring! And this one proves it yet again.

Monsoon

by Uma Krishnaswami
illustrated by Jamel Akib
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux | 2003

It is the end of the dry season in an Indian city and a young girl and her family await the monsoon rains that will wash away the dust and bring renewed life. As they go from home to market to the streets, they wish and hope that the rains will come soon and in just the right amount. Too little rain means difficulty as does too much.

Akib's soft drawings are perfect for both the mood and topic of the book. The family includes the protagonist, a young girl and her younger brother, mother, father, and grandmother. They live in a modern, upper-middle-class home and wear a mixture of Western and traditional Indian clothing. The book introduces a weather phenomenon most American children won't be familiar with and places it in a place that looks both familiar and foreign at the same time.

On the copyright page a brief, helpful glossary explains a few Hindi words not defined in the text. This is a lovely book. Don't miss it's quiet and graceful story. 

The Obstinate Pen

by Frank Dormer
Henry Holt | 2012

Uncle Flood's new pen arrives while Horace is visiting. He flees as Uncle Flood demands silence to write. He begins, "The following story is all true." But that's not what the pen writes. The pen, who is obviously obstinate, writes, "You have a BIG nose." Uncle Flood tries again. The pen insults him again. So Uncle Flood throws it out the window.

What follows is a stream of adults discovering and attempting to use the pen to no avail and with different reactions. In the end, it is Horace who winds up with the pen, and a surprise. For, it appears, in the right hands, the pen has no need to be obstinate.

This unique and original idea has turned into a fantastically illustrated picture book. It's funny and clever and droll. The characters are entertaining and readers learn quite a bit about each one, which is quite a feat considering the small number of words in a picture book.

Imagine if your pen suddenly started writing whatever it wanted rather than what you wanted. Ask your young readers to imagine it. What might it say? What a fun classroom activity!

Crossing Stones

by Helen Frost
Farrar, Straus & Giroux | 2009

This narrative brings together the voices of two families in rural Michigan in 1917 as their sons go off to war and their daughters struggle to define themselves. There is an easy symmetry in the families and an assumption that the boys and girls will match up and be partnered, but Muriel finds herself questioning this arranged destiny. "Mother: I have no intention of becoming the Mrs. Norman of your imaginary future. Who I am remains to be seen - and I alone intend to be the one to see it." Muriel tells us this on page 15! So early we learn this young woman in 1917 will not be molded easily. And luckily for her, she has a paternal aunt who is fighting for suffrage.

At 16, Muriel is already questioning the status quo at school and at home, and her parents, although supportive, are cautionary. They tell her she must learn to mind her tongue, to think before she speaks, to not be too forthright with her thoughts or questions. They are raising a daughter, after all, in 1917. When Muriel attempts to write to her friend (not boyfriend) Frank, away at war, her mother is quick - "I'm not aware I know this rule, until I'm embarrassed to be caught breaking it: The gentleman should always be the first to write, Mama informs me. A lady never writes before she has received a letter." Yet two pages later, Muriel's mother says to her daughter after a bout of questioning: "Maybe you won't rock the cradle, Muriel. Some women prefer to rock the boat.

Told deftly by Helen Frost in verse, the poems are shaped round like river stones and waving like river water. The shape depends on from whose point of view they are told. This book is for anyone really, but it might be especially good for middle and high school girls. It reminded me why it's important to believe in myself and I think it would do the same for younger readers.

Double Helix

by Nancy Werlin
Dial | 2004

Eli lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is graduating as salutatorian of his class. His girlfriend, Viv, is the valedictorian. He's not going to college next year--his mother is dying of Huntington's Disease and he and his dad have a pretty tense relationship. He's going to take a year off and work at Wyatt Transgenics, just down the street, where the famous Dr. Quincy Wyatt is doing amazing things with genetics.

But Dr. Wyatt takes an odd interest in Eli, Eli's dad is angry about it, Viv is wondering what's going on, and then beautiful Kayla comes on the scene, staying at Dr. Wyatt's for the summer. Soon, Eli is caught up in trying to find out his history, why his father hates Dr. Wyatt so much, and what went on more than a decade ago that he thinks he can remember.

This fantastic science fiction novel now published with the tagline: "a mystery" is more rooted in the real world than a mysterious one, in my opinion. Eli's search and desire to know more about who he is makes a lot of sense. And the end leaves room for you to think, and to wonder. What's right? What isn't? Who is Eli? What makes us who we are? 

Just about anyone might love this story, but for anyone who has recently asked for an appropriate book for middle school aged boys: this is it!

The Unforgotten Coat

 by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Candlewick | 2011

Chingas and his brother Nergui are Mongolian and new at Julie O'Connor's school. Nobody is sure what to make of them, even the teacher. Chingas chooses Julie as a friend, and she is honored. She sets out to learn as much about Mongolia as humanly possible and tries to learn where in her English town the boys live. They come to her house, she ends up at their apartment one night, and then they go on an unplanned adventure on the train. One day, Julie comes to school and finds that the boys are gone--deported. And Chingas has left his coat behind, which bothers Julie.

The story is told by an adult Julie who is looking back on Year Six, the year she was the "Good Guide" for Chingas and Nergui. It ends with a pretty cool twist that's pleasing. Boyce's in-depth afterword provides context for the story that, no matter how you might feel about his motivations for writing the book, is interesting.

The author with Year Six kids.

 Read this one with your book club or with your child's book club. Talk about what it means to be different--or the same. Talk about safety and what that might mean. Or just enjoy a good story!