In Taco Falls Apart by Brenda S. Miles and Monika Filipina (Magination Press, August 2023) young readers are introduced to a friendly taco who grapples with overwhelming expectations and eventually experiences a breakdown. This cleverly crafted picture book employs the “Think-Feel-Do” method to teach children how to manage overwhelming situations. With the support of Nacho
Before Silicon Valley was what we imagine today, it was the Valley of Heart’s Delight. Hope in the Valley by Mitali Perkins (Farrar, Straus and Giroux July 2023) is a captivating middle grade novel set in 1980 in those early days of the changing Silicon Valley. Pandita Paul, a 13-year-old Indian-American girl, grapples with the
reviewed by C, age 11 The graphic novel Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter (Graphix, March 2021) has the theme that change can be hard. The main character, Maggie, finds out that she is allergic to dogs and fur. Maggie later meets her best friend, Claire. This book takes place in modern
The nonfiction picture book We Are Starlings by Robert Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli, illustrated by Marc Martin (Random House, May 2023), invites readers into the mesmerizing world of a starling murmuration. Watercolor, pencil, and digital collage illustrations give a delicate balance between misty-edged watercolor plants and animals and the defined edges of closer birds.
The graphic novel memoir Stitches by David Small (W.W. Norton, 2009) haunts the reader with stories from David’s troubled childhood in stark black, white, and gray illustrations. David’s childhood seems oppressive, and the variety of perspectives that David uses to show the seas of faces around him gives an added feel of overwhelm that correlates
If you could grow anything in your garden, what would you grow? In My Garden by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 2010), a little girl imagines the gorgeous garden she would grow if she could grow her own garden. In her garden, the flowers would be magical, the weeds would be non-existent, and she’d enjoy tasty chocolate
A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat (First Second, February 2023) is a middle grade graphic novel memoir of Dan’s experiences when he was 13 years old and had the opportunity to explore Europe. Set in 1989, a different era for traveling, the novel captures the essence of that time. The story revolves around
Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo (Pixel + Ink, July 2023) is a fictional middle grade novel centered around Cora May Tipton, a spirited and eager girl living in rural Kentucky during the Great Depression. Cora resides on Shadow Mountain, a considerable distance from the nearest town. Thanks to President Roosevelt’s New Deal
With a natural poetic rhythm, the nonfiction picture book Zap! Clap! Boom!: The Story of a Thunderstorm by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrated by Ellie MacKay (Bloomsbury, February 2023) skillfully depicts the development and impact of a thunderstorm. The text takes readers on a journey from a calm day to the formation of clouds and
Once, a Bird by by Rina Singh and Nathalie Dion (Orca Book Publishers, September 2023) is a gorgeously illustrated wordless picture book that takes readers on a journey through the eyes of a bird in search of a place to settle and build a nest. The watercolor and gouache illustrations capture the bird’s perspective as it
The story of Noah in the Old Testament has always troubled me, as I grapple with the implications of a worldwide flood. However, in the young adult novel Storm (Simon & Schuster, 2014) by Donna Jo Napoli, the author takes a creative approach by envisioning the experience of a teenage stowaway named Sebah on Noah’s
Who didn’t like Aven Green, the armless main character from The Insignificant Life of a Cactus? Author Dusti Bowling has created an Aven Green early chapter book series (Union Square Kids) featuring the loveable spunky girl in third grade. Just as the teenaged Aven, her eight-year-old counterpart is self-confident, determined, and out-spoken. Even though she
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