Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Green Pants by Kenneth Kraegel

Green Pants by Kenneth Kraegel
Candlewick Press

Rating: 5 stars

The star of this book, Jameson, is going through a phase that I bet your children have gone through before: He wants to wear one thing day after day after day. That one thing for my Kiefer was a superhero t-shirt. That one thing for Jameson are his green pants.

In his green pants, he can do anything! He can dunk, dive, and dance.

What's the problem, you're wondering? His cousin and his lovely fiancee ask him to be in their wedding. Transfixed by her loveliness, he says yes. His mother then explains to him that being in a wedding means to walk slowly, pose for pictures, have good manners and...wear a tuxedo. That is black.

Jameson is caught in the throes of indecision. This brilliant picture cracks me up and accurately captures that moment we've seen and been in before:


Jameson's mother deftly maneuvers around Jameson's angst. She pats his shoulders, and says, "It is a tough decision, but I know you can figure it out."

Another brilliant moment in the book! (And, as I know that you know, so very tough to do in real life.)

Jameson chooses the tuxedo and is a model ring bearer throughout the wedding and reception. Until the music starts. And then, in a fantastic dance-leap, he changes out of his tuxedo pants and into his beloved green pants:



And then "Jameson danced as no one danced before."

This book is just brilliant. I'm sad to return it to the library!





Thursday, May 25, 2017

Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart


Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
Scholastic Press

Rating: 5 stars

Jonathan Grisby did a bad, bad thing. Of course, author Dan Gemeinhart doesn't tell you what it is in the first few chapters. But let me tell you, you want to know right away, and this NEEDTOKNOW feeling is one of the many things that makes this new middle grade novel a complete page-turner. 

Scar Island opens in the exhilarating, emotional moments when Jonathan is being taken by boat to a school for bad, bad boys. Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys is on a scrappy, barren island and Jonathan feels it's exactly where he should be, because from the first page of Gemeinhart's third novel we feel his guilt for whatever he's done to deserve this horrible consequence. 


Once he's on the island, Jonathan quietly befriends the boys who've been there longer. They help him navigate through the harsh rules of and unsympathetic group of grown ups at Slabhenge (what are these men like? They call the boys "scabs."). Just as he's found his way through the rules, a freak accident in the middle of an electric storm leaves the boys by themselves. What happens next is part Lord of the Flies and part Holes--the misfit boys have to figure out how to survive without the rules imposed by adults.

Jonathan finds his way through this challenge and the different personalities of the boys around him, but he also struggles to face the charges against him at home. It's this inner struggle that was most compelling for me. I kept reading because I wanted--no, I needed--to know what Jonathan had done to deserve being sent to Slabhenge. Jonathan's emotional journey from feeling guilt-ridden to forgiving himself is a strong one. He beats himself up like most children do (and adults I know would) for what turns out to be a very sad mistake. 

My ten year-old daughter read Scar Island and said, before I learned what Jonathan's did: "It's really bad, Mom." Later, after I finished the book, she said that because of the mistake, it should be for older readers. Her guess was 10-14. But the recommended age is grades 3 through 5 (though School Library Journal says a little higher, grades 5 through 8). I think grades 3 through 5 is about right. Yes, there is a child who dies in the wake of Jonathan's troubles. But I think the story is realistic and powerful because of this--and children will find the story sobering, empowering, and ultimately uplifting.


Note: This book is available in audio format; the performance by MacLeod Andrews was impressive--he made the grown-ups snarl in just the right way, and made the boys' experience trapped on the island come alive. I highly recommend keeping this book in mind for any long summer drive...though the youngest child in the car probably should probably be eight or so (why is this lower than the age/grade in above paragraph? Because you'll be listening right along with them, and you'll be there to answer questions and talk about Jonathan's mistake and its consequences right alongside your child).

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

I Just Want to Say Good Night by Rachel Isadora

I Just Want to Say Good Night by Rachel Isadora
Nancy Paulsen Books

Rating: 5 stars

Thousands of miles away from most of the readers of Rachel Isadora's new book in a small African village, parents are putting their children to sleep.

Including Lala, the main character in this book who, like many American children, wants to procrastinate on her way to bed. Rather than ask for a glass of water or another bedtime story, Lala wants to tell all the animals and things around her "good night."

"I want to say good night to the cat," Lala says.

"I want to say good night to the goat," Lala says.

"I want to say good night to the rock," Lala says. (This one made me smile--it would exasperate me if it was my own child.)

Each "good night" has a corresponding two-page, gorgeous illustration of the African village, cast in the warm colors of sunset, thousands of miles away from the reader. Thanks to the magic of a good book, the reader is transported to that village as Lala "good-nights" her way to bed.

Finally...

"Now!" her mother says.

Through one wordless two-page spread, we see Lala go inside, wash up, and get into bed. She has a book in her hand and, as she reads it, she whispers, "Good Night, Moon!"

You guessed it: It is the same book that most American children own or at least read. I love that last image--someone thousands of miles away reading the very same book the reader has read her/himself.

This book provides a perfect example of how to give a new twist to something that's done many times before. You've seen this before. You've read this type of book before. The type of book that closes out the day in a series of good-nights. But Isadora puts a great twist on this already-done story by placing her story in an unfamiliar setting, and then placing a familiar book in the hands of Lala.

It works beautifully.

My children and I are not strangers to Rachel Isadora. Her stories and pictures have filled my children's first years as readers. We only own one, but it is in Kiefer's bedroom, not downstairs on the children's library shelf--Nick Plays Baseball. Read my review of that book plus another one that Lorelei loved as a little girl, Lili at Ballet HERE.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Brook Press

Rating: 5 stars

I'm a big, huge fan of this author. Steve Sheinkin writes nonfiction middle grade books that are well-written, well-researched, fast-paced and informative--I really wish they were around when I was growing up. My favorite of his is Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. C'mon, with a title like that, how can you not pick it up?! 

Undefeated is about Jim Thorpe, a Native American athlete who dominated almost any sport he attempted (baseball is the notable exception, as documented in the book). Born around the turn of the century, when Native Americans were being herded onto reservations and assimilated into white American culture, Thorpe was forced to go to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The story centers around the meeting of and relationship between Thorpe and Pop Warner. Warner, in case, like me, you're not a football fan, was a football mastermind who hailed from the top of society, having graduated from, then coached in, the Ivy League.

These two men could not have had more different backgrounds.

Yet, Pop Warner realized Jim Thorpe was the most gifted athlete he had ever seen. He knew that within moments of meeting Thorpe, after watching him outrun a pack of Warner's well-trained and well-seasoned football players. And so the two began their relationship, which has been lauded the "most winningest" combination in sports history.

Sheinkin chronicles Thorpe's rise in football, and how he crossed over to track and field to take advantage of his speed. From there, he volunteered to give decathlons a try. Turns out he was a shoo-in for such a demanding sport, and he represented the United States in that sport and the pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. He was the first Native American to earn a gold medal. (Later, due to the fact that he accepted payment as a minor league baseball player, Thorpe was stripped of his medals.)

In addition to Thorpe's fascinating life and sports career, Sheinkin reports on the history of Native Americans in the United States. The chapters about how Native Americans were forced to schools such as the one at Carlisle, stripped of their birth name and given a "white" name, and then punished for remembering or practicing anything from their native tribes is eye-opening and humbling. In addition, Sheinkin writes about the early years of football. I'm pretty much the opposite of a football fan (don't tell my Seahawks-crazed neighbors that), but found that part of the book really interesting.

Clearly, this is not a book for really young children. But it is an excellent choice for curious, history-minded readers age ten or older, and could be read aloud to a slightly younger child (so that younger readers could have their inevitable questions about Native American policies answered right away).

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza

Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza
POW!

Rating: 5 stars

Lucia is a girl who can jump off the highest monkey bars at the playground and run faster than lightening. Still, the boys make fun of her for being a girl. They tease her that girls are nothing but "sugar and spice and everything nice." This makes Lucia mad.

"Spicy mad. KA-POW kind of mad."

But Lucia has a trick up her sleeve. Or, better still, an abuela on her side. Abu explains how, when she was younger, she was a luchadora. She fought in a ring with a mask over her face and a cape blowing behind her, mighty as can be. Outside the ring, she fought the good fight and helped others in need. She passes her mask on to Lucia. With the mask and cape, Lucia is transformed into Lucia the Luchadora. She's unstoppable! She inspires a bunch of other children to don masks and capes and come out to play just as hard as she does.

All is fine until one comes child out in a pink and white mask and cape. She is clearly a girl. The same boys taunt her, returning to their "sugar and spice" phrase. But Lucia comes to her rescue, pulling off her mask, letting her long hair escape.

See? Girls can be powerful players and kind-hearted souls--in one WOW moment.

I love this story of girl power and the illustrations are aaaaaa-mazing. But this book is special to me because I saw it when it was barely more than an idea. When it was a typed-up, double-spaced manuscript handed from one hopeful writer to another. The author, Cynthia Leonor Garza, and I were part of a critique group who met at a coffee shop in Fairfax, Virginia. We'd meet to exchange manuscripts, offer advice, point out problems, suggest improvements, and chat about squeezing in writing time while our children watched movies, played outside, slept.

Lucia is Cynthia's second manuscript (my fingers are still crossed that her piƱata story is published soon!) at our critique group, and I can't tell you how fun it is to read the final version, complete with gorgeous, vibrant illustrations by Alyssa Bermudez.

And now LOOK at this! She's got her debut picture book accepted, produced, and published. Congratulations, Cynthia, and keep fighting the good fight, Lucia!