Steal Away, Steal Away: Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.

I started out no more than a bunch of rags on a Virginia plantation. Miz Rachel done a fine job puttin' me together, takin' extra time to sew my face on real careful, with thread, embroidery they call it.

When she's done, Miz Rachel give me to her little girl, Lindy. Lindy hugs me hard. "Your name be Sally." From that first day, when Lindy be somewheres, I be with her.

Lindy takes Sally to sit around the campfire after work, listening to the folks telling stories and sometimes talking softly about Freedom, saying you have to go somewhere called North to get it.

Sally goes everywhere with Lindy and her mother, tied with a string around her waist so Lindy can help her mother pick cotton in the field. She takes her to bed every night, and Sally doesn't mind if Lindy rolls on top of her.

But one morning, Lindy's daddy Henry is gone. Massa and some men go after him and bring him back, but Miz Rachel says he's been sold South, and after that Miz Rachel is sad and quiet. And when Lindy gets whipped all over her back for asking Massa's son how to spell her name, Miz Rachel is quiet and sad.

"Lord, don't let Massa be sellin' my baby away like he done her papa."

One night soon after, Miz Rachel wakes Lindy in the middle of the night and, with Sally tied around Lindy's waist, they steal away just like in the song and run toward the North. At the river they meet up with Lindy's father Henry and a man with a skiff who rows them across to the other side and takes them to a dark house. A kind man and a white-haired lady take them inside where the man pulls back a rug in the kitchen, removes some boards and opens a trap door with a ladder to the tiny room below.

"We almost to Freedom, Sally," Lindy whispers.

But after a few hours they are wakened abruptly. Slave catchers are coming, and they quickly leave the house to hide in the woods. But in the hurry up the ladder, Lindy drops Sally, who falls back down in the dark little room under the floor, where she lies for a long time, with no company but a mother mouse and her babies--until one night there's another family going North, and their little girl Willa finds the doll in the dark room.

Willa hugs me so hard. "Your name Belinda."

I like that. Sounds like Lindy.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's story of the Underground Railroad,Almost to Freedom (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book) (CarolRhoda Books) makes use of the narration of a beloved doll to tell the story of a families seeking freedom in that period of slavery before the Civil War through the eyes of the girls who loved her. Nelson artfully uses dialogue to reveal the emotions of a family trying to stay together as they escape to the North. With the help of the Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist Colin Boatman's vivid oil painting illustrations, author Nelson poignantly reveals the pain of slavery through the eyes of a child, softened by the comfort of a doll which two girls share.  Says School Library Journal, "... ultimately a story of hope and resilience, love and friendship." Pair this one with Ellen Levine's Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad.

Happy Campers! Ivy and Bean Make the Rules by Annie Barrow

 

Five million girls in Girl Power 4-Ever shirts were squirming around the Youth Center, waiting for camp to begin. They hugged each other and squealed. They showed each other their cell phones. They sang. They danced. They giggled.

They were all bouncy and happy and busy. School's on break and it's time for "enrichment" camps. At least it is for Bean's sister Nancy. Nancy, pony tail with sparkly scrunchie swinging, was out of the car and joining the crowd of eleven to fourteen-year-olds in those special T-shirts, and for seven-year-old Bean, it's "Puppet Fun" or nothing for her "enrichment experience."

Not cool, thinks Bean.  She's going to build a tree house.

But Bean's duct tape and board tree house turns out to be a serious disappointment. Just then Ivy appears with another idea. With her mom's old curtains they make a tent on a limb of a tree in Monkey Park, anchor it with rocks, and plan their own "Camp Flaming Arrow." With the flyer from Nancy's camp, they study the list of possible activities:

A WEEK OF INSPIRATION AND FUN!
CRAFTS

NATURE STUDY

STRENGTH TRAINING

DRAMA

FIRST AID

DANCE

SOCIAL SKILLS

GREAT WOMEN OF HISTORY

Ivy and Bean begin with making friendship bracelets, but Bean's knots get all tangled up and they wind up with Ivy's hand tied together to one foot. A couple of little kids, Harley and Franny, come by and ask to join them, since their aunt has told them stay outside until dinner time. When Bean finally gets Ivy untangled, they all move on to Nature Study, with a lesson on Komodo Dragons. Ivy brings her Komodo catcher (a butterfly net) and they go on a Komodo hunt, which attracts two soccer camp boys, Leo and Juanito, who take komodo catching seriously. They're back the next morning for more Camp Flaming Arrow, where Bean decides to move on to Dance. She pushed thumbtacks into the bottoms of her shoes and tap dances on her mom's giant washtub.

RappityTappity Rappa Tappa Tap! Tap! Tap!! The noise is astounding.

Dogs barked. Cars slowed. The other campers stopped to look.

The next morning Ivy and Bean find their tent full of new campers, and their First Aid activity, aided with realistic red paint and more cut-up-curtain bandages, quickly turns into a Zombie Chase all around Monkey Park, where Camp Flaming Arrow picks up several new followers from the Puppet Fun pavilion.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, Monkey Park has a real Zombie Problem!

By Friday morning, Camp Flaming Arrow is the most popular activity at Monkey Park, and after Ivy's impassioned reading from Daredevils in Dresses; Heroines of History in which the Briton Queen Boudicca routs the invading Romans, nobody wants to be a Roman. Ivy, as Boudicca, declares that the trash in the park can be the Romans and grabbing assorted sticks for spears, the Camp Flaming Arrow campers cover themselves with glory, right down to the spouting fountain where the last Roman coffee cups take refuge and are vanquished to the trash container.  

Camp Flaming Arrow is a roaring success, in author Annie Barrow's and artist Sophie Blackall's Ivy and Bean Make the Rules: Book 9 in which Bean and Ivy's camp turns out to be way more fun than Girl Power 4-Ever, which big sister Nancy proclaims is "too much like school." For newly independent readers, this popular series is perfect, with short chapters and plenty of action appeal for young middle readers. Horn Book's reviewer says that this one "will leave their devoted fans very happy campers!"

Vote for Hubie! The Class Election from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

We're having a class election. Mrs. Green says everyone has to run for something. Maybe I can just let my nose run!

Hubie can't see himself being vice president; nobody likes his ad-vice. Being secretary is too much work taking notes. And running for treasurer doesn't add up because his math is below average. There is only one office left, so Hubie declares himself a candidate for president! He even comes up with a rhyming slogan:

DON'T BE A BOOBIE. VOTE FOR HUBIE!

Then DORIS declares she's running for president, too. She says she wants to be the first woman president. Hubie realizes he'll be ostracized by all the boys if he's beaten by a girl.

What if I lose to a GIRL? No one would eat at my lunch table! I'd eat alone for the rest of my life!

And Hubie's opponent is not above a bit of bribery:

Doris buys everyone ice cream bars at lunch! I am DESSERTED!

Doris is not above some campaign dirty tricks either. A poster for her shows up in the boys' bathroom. Now Hubie is forced to sneak into the girls' bathroom and put up one of his posters.

If I get caught, it could ruin my political career! I can see it now. I'm running for president of the U.S. I'm ahead in the polls. Then the story of how I snuck into the girls' bathroom is leaked. I could be washed up in politics. My campaign would stall. My career goes down the drain. I will never be flushed with victory!

As they say "Elections have consequences," and Hubie's brush with greatness is the subject of Mike Thaler's The Class Election from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures, No. 3) (Scholastic Press). Thaler's fun with the pun is just right for middle elementary readers--especially with sixteen short chapters filled with comic artist Jared Lee's scratchy lined, over-the-top cartoons of the schoolroom scene. This lighthearted parody of all things political is just the comic relief for this election season. Pair this one with Thaler and Lee's seasonal spoof, The Halloween Party From The Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures 5) (Black Lagoon Adventures series).

Remembering: The Wall by Eve Bunting

THIS IS THE WALL, MY GRANDFATHER'S WALL.

ON IT ARE THE NAMES OF THOSE KILLED IN A WAR, LONG AGO.

The wall is dark and shiny, reflecting the boy and his dad behind the rows of names, alphabetical by the year they were killed. it reflects a legless man in a wheelchair, wearing medals on his army hat, and a couple, as old as his grandmother, lean on each other as they sadly trace a name on the wall. They don't speak. A teacher leads her class along the wall.

"IS THIS WALL FOR THE DEAD SOLDIERS," ONE STUDENT ASKS.

"THE NAMES ARE FOR THE DEAD. THE WALL IS FOR ALL OF US," SHE ANSWERS.

Each of the kids leaves a tiny flag spaced along the wall.

As his dad searches along the straight rows of letters, the boy notices the other things left in front of the wall, larger flags, a Teddy bear, a photo of a soldier in uniform, flowers and family photos. His dad takes out a pencil and paper and makes a rubbing of his grandfather's name. It has parts of the names above and below his, perhaps some of the friends who died with him.

The cold wind ruffles the paper with his grandfather's name showing up in white, there and not there. His dad tells him to button up his jacket.

I'm proud his name is there, but I'd rather have my grandfather here, the boy thinks, telling me to button up. I'd rather have him.

As Remembrance Day for the war dead comes around again in November, Eve Bunting's The Wall (Reading Rainbow Books) (Clarion Books) is a good read aloud for elementary-age students. Along with the flags, parades, speeches, and marching bands playing stirring songs, this short memorial, simple and moving, by Caldecott winner Bunting, brings the heart of war, the grief of war home to youngsters in a father whose own father was lost to him, a boy who had had no grandfather to love and help care for him. Bunting's straightforward story of war's loss and artist Ronald Himler's soft but realistic illustrations say it all.

Going First Class? The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

We're going on a first class trip tomorrow. In my history book we learned a lot about some famous class trips. Louis and Clark went across America. They couldn't find one motel open! I wonder where we'll go and who we'll see.

The kids phone each other and try to predict. They all have different ideas.

Freddie always looks on the bright side. He holds out for Pizza Mutt. He's an optometrist. Eric always looks on the dark side. He's a messymist.

And then there's the story about the class that had a picnic lunch on the slopes of a volcano. All anyone ever found of them was twelve toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

 The kid is worried. What horrors will Mean Mrs. Green have in store for them? It's a night of nightmarish dreams until the alarm goes off at 5:30 A.M. He so tired he brushes his teeth with shoe polish and pours himself a bowl of dishwashing powder. He staggers out to wait for the school bus. It's pitch black outside, but finally he sees the headlights. When he climbs aboard, all the kids are staring straight ahead as if they are scared stiff.

But their bus driver Mr. Fenderbender delivers them all to school after only four collisions, and Mean Mrs. Green climbs on the CLASS TRIP bus, which takes them to a remote little airport where they board the historic First Passenger Plane Ever, built by the WRONG BROTHERS. Mrs. Green hands out parachutes. Mr. Fenderbender and Mrs Green try to figure out how to start the plane. Eric, the class clown announces the in-flight entertainment.

"We'll be seeing a bunch of selected shorts." He pulls out his underwear. Gross!

It's a day at Dizzyland, all right. They parachute into a jungle full of wild beasts, all hungry, it seems, for tenderloin of kid! There're alligator-filled rivers,  quicksand, and a desert and nothing to drink and the kid's head starts to swim but there's no swimming pool... and... and... then...

I start seeing things. It's a school bus that says CLASS TRIP. Mrs. Green opens the door and the kids inside are all wide awake and excited... We're going to the Zoo!

All that first field trip was just a dream, the product of poor sleep, in Mike Thaler's kickoff title in his series, The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures, No. 1) (Scholastic Press). The sequel to his first book, The Teacher from the Black Lagoon, this one is an extravaganza of school-themed silliness which begins a long series of killer-diller chapter books for middle readers, illustrated in the wild comic style of Jared Lee, famous for his equally over-the-top illustrations for Lucille Colandro's hilarious holiday and seasonal tales beginning with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly!

 If field trips with Ms. Frizzle on the Magic School Bus are too tame, it's time for Mr. Fenderbender, Mean Mrs. Green, and the Black Lagoon kids to take over the scene.

Duck Daycare? Henry Babysits by Robert Quackenbush

HENRY THE DUCK WAS ENJOYING A QUIET DAT AT HOME WHEN THE DOORBELL RANG. IT WAS HENRY'S FRIEND CLARA WITH HER BABY NEPHEW. "WOULD YOU MIND BABYSITTING FOR MY NEPHEW?" SHE ASKED. "IT'S EASY. IT'S MY NEPHEW'S NAPTIME, AND HE WILL BE FAST ASLEEP.

Henry wasn't sure he knew much about babysitting but he agreed to help Clara out. He put the sleeping baby on the sofa and went back to his easy chair and his newspaper. But not for long! Ding Dong! goes the doorbell.

But not for long. His next door neighbor has noticed Henry is babysitting for Clara. She drops in to leave her kitten, who begins to cry as soon as she leaves. Henry is fretting about the crying waking Clara's nephew, so when another neighbor comes by, asking to leave her baby Amanda there, Henry agrees when he sees Amanda's bottle full of milk. He pours some of Amanda's milk into a little bowl which makes the kitty happy. By this time, Amanda clearly needs a diaper change. But then the doorbell rings again.

Henry’s impromptu Duckie Daycare seems to be popular, as a mother monkey drops off her rambunctious toddler and a diaper bag, remarking that he may soon need a diaper change. Henry diapers Amanda and the monkey, just as another neighbor stops off to deliver her young puppy. Henry readily agrees to babysit the neighbor's young puppy because he comes with a bagful of toys and a ball. Henry tosses the toddlers the toys and they proceed to wreck the room with their rambunctious play. Finally, worn out, they fall asleep amid the toys all over the floor. Henry's living room is a mess when the parents come back for their little ones.

But Clara's nephew is still sleeping soundly on the sofa when she returns for him.

"You see, Henry," said Clara, "babysitting is easy!"

Robert Quackenbush’s new edition of Henry Babysits (Henry Duck) (Aladdin, 2020) has all the droll humor of the veteran author’s other picture books, as Henry’s babysitting problems increase exponentially with each added client. For more fun with the neighbors, share this one with Cynthia Rylant’s Scholastic Reader Level 3: Poppleton In Winter (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Hitching A Ride?Two Dogs On A Trike by Gabi Snyder

ONE DOG STANDS ALONE.

At least that's what he thinks, as he eyes a small poodle pedaling his tall trike by the gate. But there's someone else, unbeknownst, eyeballing the scene from the window, someone with a definitely slitty feline eye.

The tall dog hops onto the back of the trike as the two roll down the sidewalk, all unaware that the cat is on their trail on silent cat feet.

The two join a chubby dog on a scooter. It's three canines on one scooter with one fast feline on skates in hot pursuit, and soon the three dogs join a dachshund on his snug two-seater bike, unaware that the wily cat is following on a feloniously captured skateboard.

FOUR DOGS ON A BIKE!

WAIT! There's a trolley with a Chihuahua conductor! Surely that will leave the cat in the dust!

FIVE DOGS ON A TROLLEY!

But, no! Can a trolley outpace a cat in a race car? No, it can't. The dogs raise the ante! All six canines take the train, while the cat rides on top! Can they fool the feline by jumping on the ferry? Foolish dogs! Their feline pursuer spots them with a spyglass from a sub!

The canines commandeer an airplane, but the cat follows in a chopper! The hapless hounds and their pilot pug hop into a hot-air balloon that's handy, but the cat has a firm hold on a helium balloon and is hot on their trail! Egads! Is there no escape from this cat, even in a flying saucer soaring in space?

TEN DOGS.... WAIT!

Who is that feline figure in the last seat? Can it be ... the CAT?

It's time for a countdown as the dogs reverse the trip, taking each means of transport, with the cat following suit, from ten down to one, with the cat matching his mode of transportation to theirs until they are back to where they started. Well, almost. (The cat finally finds a feline friend to share a ride with him.) It's up to ten and down again, in Gabi Snyder's clever cat and dog confrontation via transportation, in her new Two Dogs on a Trike (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2020).

For early childhood learners this book has it all--rhyming words, counting practice, and the fun of learning about all sorts of vehicles, from recumbent bicycles to unicycles, from trains to planes. This one does double duty as a beginning reader as well as an early counting book, and there are plenty of comedic details in Robin Rosenthal's clever illustrations, with a wide range of dog breeds to identify to boot. Way to GO, Gabi Snyder!

Natural and Unalienable Rights: Mumbet's Declaration of Independence by Gretchen Woelfe

Article I. All men are born free and equal and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights....

                   --Massachusetts Constitution, 1780.

Mumbet didn't have a last name because she was a slave. Folks called her Bett or Betty. Children called her Mom Bett or Mumbet.  Others were not so kind.

Mumbet was the property of the richest landholder in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Colonel John Ashley. The Colonel's wife had the sharpest tongue in town.

But Mumbet was as strong the mountains around her. Once when Mrs. Ashley tried to hit Mumbet's daughter with a coal scoop, Mumbet took the blow and refused to bandage it so everyone could see what her mistress had done. One day Colonel Ashley held a meeting for county leaders who were critical of British rule, objecting to the enforcement of the King's laws and taxes on them without their consent. Mrs. Ashley sent Mumbet in with refreshments for the meeting, and she took her time serving the men, listening to the comments.

"Write this down," Colonel Ashley ordered a young lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick. "Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free and independent!" Mumbet sat down her tray. Her heart fluttered. How could she secure her freedom?

Soon Massachusetts' representatives signed the Declaration of Independence and approved their new state constitution in 1780, and young men from Berkshire County went off to fight for independence.

Mumbet decided that she, too, would have independence.

Taking a market basket for cover, Mumbet went to office of Theodore Sedgwick and told him she believed that under the new Massachusetts Constitution, she, her daughter Lizzy, and all slaves in Massachusetts should be free.

"Yes, but...." Sedgwick gazed at Mumbet, standing strong as a mountain. "We will go to court together and test the new law. But if we lose..."

"I will be no worse off," said Mumbet, "And if we win, I will be free!"

Mumbet and Theodore Sedgwick won her case and also freedom for all slaves in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Mumbet's first action as a citizen was to change her name, officially, to Elizabeth Freeman, and it was she who before the United States became a nation, was the first successful 

American abolitionist. Gretchen Woelfe's Mumbet's Declaration of Independence (CarolRhoda Books)  is a moving and suspenseful account of how liberation of slaves came first to Massachusetts and how as Elizabeth Freeman she lived a life as the trusted and paid  housekeeper and "second mother" to the Sedgwick family, and also the mother of all free black women in the United States. Author Woelfe's author's notes credit Catharine Sedgwick, Theodore Sedgwick's descendant, for the details of Mumbet's epitaph:

"She had no superior or equal. She never violated a trust nor failed to perform a duty. She was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend.  Good mother, farewell."

Where There's A Will, There's A Way! Runaway Pumpkins by Teresa Bateman

It's the first field trip of the year. Kids are hustling; teachers are bustling! The bus is here! Children cheer!

WINDOWS FOG AS FACES GRIN!

THE FIELD TRIP'S READY TO BEGIN!
It's down the road and round the bend, and then the visit to the pumpkin patch begins. The class spreads out, each one hoping to find the perfect pumpkin for their own jack o' lantern, the one that could win first prize at the Autumn Fair. But how can they choose when there are so many there?

BUMPY, LUMPY, STRAIGHT OR CURVY. REALLY ROUND OR TOPYSY TURVY!

So many pumpkins! Better be quick. Hurry and scurry, each one must pick!
Finally the bus driver stows each chosen pumpkin away, latched inside the big bins under the bus. The kids thank the farmer and climb aboard, and waving to the pigs watching from their stye, they pull away and head back to school.
Brains are busy; lots of possibilities there! Which one will win in the Autumn Fair?
Silly, scary, ghouly, goofy? Frightful, artsy, simple, spoofy?
But just as the kids wish the bus would go faster, the latches come loose and there is a disaster! Their precious pumpkins roll out with a smash and a crash. Now there are no pumpkins, just seeds, chunks, and pieces. The only pumpkin left is the huge one tied to the roof of the bus. While the bus drives on, midst gloom and doom, people come out to view the scene and begin to clean.

ALL A-TIZZY, THEY TAKE THEM HOME AND THEN ALL GET BUSY!

Back at school, the kids make the best of it, pitching in to make that huge pumpkin--their first group project--good enough to win the prize at the Autumn Fair.
But at the Fair...

SURPRISE! PUMPKIN CUPCAKES, COOKIES, CAKES AND PIES!

And at the Autumn fair, there's plenty to share in Teresa Bateman's latest, Runaway Pumpkins (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2020). Teresa Bateman is the doyenne of rhyming stories, and this making-the-best-of-it tale is a jolly addition to pumpkin-time picture books for primary readers. And then there are plenty more where this one came from! (See more here).

Milestones: The Proudest Blue by S. K. Ali and Ibtihaj Muhammed

It's the first day hijab. Asiyah knows it. I know it.

We're sisters.

It's a beautiful, bright sunny day. Little sister Faizah is excited about her first day of school. She has a new backpack and new shoes that flash with every step. She is also excited that this is her big sister's first day to wear her beautiful blue hijab to school. To Faizah, her big sister seems like a princess. But as her sister waves goodbye and joins the sixth-graders, a girl in front of her turns around.

"What's that on your sister's head?" she whispers.

 "A scarf," I whisper. "A hijab," I add. I don't know why that came out a whisper. 

"Oh," she whispers.

Suddenly Faizah needs to hug her sister. She runs across the schoolyard to the door of the sixth-grade area.

"Are you excited?" I ask. "About the first day of hijab?"

Her sister responds with a big smile. Then some one laughs and points at Asiyah.

A boy shouts that he's going to pull that tablecloth off her head.

Now the day doesn't seem so bright. But when her sister picks her up from her classroom at the end of the day, Asiyah is still smiling. Asiyah is strong. Faizah tells her mother about what happened, and she smiles, too.

"Hurtful words belong only to those who use them."

Ibithaj Muhammed and A. K. Ali's best-selling The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family (Little, Brown and Company, 2019) is a simple story of family unity and faithful religious practice, which for the proposed readership appropriately avoids the problems of diverse religious belief in a multicultural world in which tenets of one faith may violate the tenets of another, and instead stresses the need for respect of others' faith and practices in that world. Says Publishers Weekly, "This excellent story about identity, visibility, and confidence, touches on rites of passage, bonds between sisters, and bullying and is unapologetic in tackling misconceptions and demanding equality."

What's A Spook To Do? The Little Ghost Who Lost Her Boo! by Elaine Bickell

A LITTLE GHOST WENT OUT IN THE NIGHT,
AND FLEW UP TO SOMEONE TO GIVE THEM A FRIGHT.
SHE GOT IN POSITION, ARMS UP, ALL PREPARED.
"WAIT FOR IT, LADY! YOU'RE GOING TO BE SCARED!"

But the little spook's BOO seemed to be...nowhere!
What's a ghost with no BOO to do?
But this is a spunky little spook who sets off to look for her BOO! Off through the dark forest she flew, and then she heard a scary WHOOO! WHOOO!
But Mrs. Owl's hoot will never do.
Pigeon offers to loan her COO! and Rooster says she can borrow his COCKLE-DOODLE-DOO. The dark is fading with the dawn's early light, and Cow in her pasture even suggests her MOO! Little ghost thanks her, but it's just not HER BOO!,
There's no one left to help but YOU, the READER!

YES, YOU! CAN YOU HELP LITTLE GHOST FIND HER BOO?

In a scary season book just made for reading aloud, Elaine Bickell's The Little Ghost Who Lost Her Boo! (Philomel Books) has all the right stuff--a Halloween setting, animal sounds, rhyming couplets, and reader participation! With skillfully charming drawings by Raymond McGrath, this one is just right for little ones from nursery school to beginning readers.
Share this one with the classic of scary sounds story, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. (See review here)

Prolific Painter! Pete the Cat: A Pet for Pete by James Dean

Pete is going to the pet store... to get a pet.

At first Pete thinks he wants a bird. But when he sees a goldfish, he falls in love with her. It's Goldie for him! Back home Pete puts Goldie's goldfish bowl in his room. He feeds her some fish food.

NOW WHAT?

Pet knows he can't swim with Goldie at the beach. He can't exactly play with a pet in a bowl! But there's one thing Pete CAN do!

He paints a picture of Goldie!

When his mom admires his painting, Pet gives it to her as a present. But when his friend Bob sees Pete's painting he wants one. Bob is wowed! He shows the painting to Tom, and then Tom wants one. And when Pete takes his painting to school for show-and-tell, the whole class is wowed! PETE HAS A PROBLEM. Now everyone wants a painting of Goldie. Pete tries to comply. He uses up all his paints and has to buy more at the art store. Pete has another problem. He wants to please everyone in his class but he doesn't even have time to do his homework! What to do? But Mom comes through with an idea of how everyone in town can see a painting of Goldie, in James Dean's Pete the Cat: A Pet for Pete (My First I Can Read) (HarperCollins), in which Pete takes advantage of the roof rack for his surfboard on their VW Beetle to display a giant painting of Goldie to everyone in town! This My First Shared Reading book gives all Pete the Cat fans an opportunity to enjoy Pete's artwork while they are practicing their reading. For seasonal fun, share this one with James Dean's Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete.

Breath of Life: Your Respiratory System Works by Flora Brett

It all begins with your first breath. All of systems of the human body are necessary, but the respiratory system is the sine qua non, the one without which nothing works. Its job, to provide oxygen for the body and to carry away carbon dioxide, the waste product of metabolism, is the beginning of all human activity.

How does it work? It's as plain as the nose on your face. Long, wide, sharp or pug, acquiline or freckled, its job is to warm or cool the outside air in the nasal cavity and filter the dust and other substances--from the perfume of a rose to disease germs and particles--removing them from the air with its mucus and cillia (tiny hairlike projections (as the breath passes down the pharynx (throat) over the larynx (voice box) through the vocal cords to the trachea (windpipe) and through the two bronchii that carry air into the air and finally to the alveoli where the respiratory system meets the circulatory system in the capillaries that take up the oxygen and drop off the carbon dioxide molecules in the blood. 

Intake is controlled by the movements of the diaphragm which pull down to increase the space in the chest, helped by the muscles in the rib cage. Then the process is reversed, the "used" air is exhaled, following the THIS WAY OUT signs! 

That's it! Mission accomplished! But what a mission it is, keeping 2500 gallons (7950 liters) of air per day coming and going. And, by the way, the respiratory system is also necessary for humans to talk and sing, cough and sneeze and snore. 

It's all there and more in Flora Brett's Your Respiratory System Works! (Your Body Systems) (Capstone Books). In this nonfiction book author Brett provides the correct scientific terms for the parts of the respiratory system and how they work within the rest of human physiology and points out some other considerations young readers should be familiar with--the importance of exercise in keeping the cardiopulmonary system healthy and the airborne problems that can occur with this system--asthma, bronchitis, allergies, infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and inhaled smoke from cigarettes, fires, and from pollutants--as well as ways to help avoid them. 

Brett's text is well-written for its readership, defining the Latin terms assigned to parts of the system, with simple language and definitive paragraphs, accompanied by excellent color cut-away illustrations and photographs of the anatomical terms described. As all proper informational book authors should, the author also includes a full appendix with glossary, bibliography, list of websites, and index to allow young scholars to breathe easy with their science reports in the early grades. 

Surprise Bundle of Joy! It's A Moose! by Meg Rosoff

The nursery was all ready for the new little bundle of joy, with crib and mobile, a rocking horse, teddy bear, rack-a-stack, and cute onesie pajamas and little blue suspender suits.

WE WERE EXPECTING THE USUAL SORT OF BABY, SO IMAGINE OUR SURPRISE!


HE HAD FOUR PERFECT HOOVES INSTEAD OF FEET.

When she's taken to see the new arrival at the hospital nursery, the little girl carries a balloon that says "IT'S A MOOSE."

And a baby moose in a diaper is darling. She falls in love with the new family member.

I FELT SORRY FOR THE OTHER BABIES.

THEY ALL LOOKED THE SAME!

Grandma observes that he has the same nose as her Great-Aunt Lydia!

But there are some unusual problems. When they take the baby out in his buggy, people tend to point and stare. He outgrows his baby clothes in no time, and before long they have to get a bigger car with a sun roof to accommodate his long neck and antlers when they go to the drive-through. He doesn't fit the furniture in the house, and from the dormer window upstairs, he begins to sing sad songs nightly under the moon.

So the family packs the car with provisions and heads north... way up NORTH... to the NORTH WOODS actually, where the moose soon finds another moose to play with. He sings a happy song.

AT LAST IT WAS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE.

And soon the family gets a post card from Moosie....

Dear Mom and Dad + Sis,
Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.
XXX

Meg Rosoff's It's a Moose! (Putnam, 2020) is a book that grownups won't be able to wait to read aloud and kid will want to read over and over! It's fanciful and funny and sweet, and filled with charming illustrations by artist David Ercolini. Ercolini's carefully-drawn, double-page spreads of the hospital nursery, the baby's room at home, and Moosie's birthday party--with the moose antler ring-toss and Pin the Tail on the Moose game and the young guests in antlered party hats--will keep young readers giggling at each comic detail with each page turn. This one is a real winner for the primary set, a joy for all. Says Publishers Weekly, "Rosoff begins with a goofy what-if . . . but deepens their story into something much more: one about how loving families stick together, embrace radical acceptance, and know when to let go."

Save the Tiger! Tigers at Twilight (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie walked past the Frog Creek Woods on the way back from the library.

"I miss Teddy!" said Annie."He is a really smart dog."

Jack agreed.

"And here!" said Annie.

"ARF! ARF!" The small dog barked from behind a bush. "Is it time to get our third gift?" asked Jack.

Teddy sneezed, as if to say "YES!"

Teddy leads them into the woods where inside their tree house they find a note from Morgan Le Fay.

"Now we have to get a gift from a faraway forest," Annie reads.

And with a tap of Morgan's magic book, the tree house rises above the trees and spins away, finally coming down to rest in what is indeed a forest, with two langur monkeys, Kah and Ko, waiting in the tree to guide them. Kah places his little paw in Jack's hand and leads him into the beautiful forest. Jack and Annie are amazed at the bright birds and flowers, but frightened by a giant python and a tree marked by the deep scratches left by a huge tiger. And then they spot a real tiger, unconscious with his foot caught in a steel trap. Jack and Annie spring the trap, and dash up a tree, afraid of the tiger.

Kah and Ko show them how to swing from the vines in the tree to the back of a patient elephant. Safe for the moment, they meet a hermit seated by a blue pool who asks Annie to pick him a lily from the pond. It's a beautiful bloom, but its stem ends in a muddy smelly root. Annie wonders how can anything as beautiful as the lily and the tiger can be so ugly at the same time?

"When you saved the tiger, you saved all of him, his graceful beauty and his fierce nature. This perfect lotus blossom grows from dark, thick mud," said the wise man. "It's beauty cannot live without its ugliness. Do you understand?

Take this lotus." he said.

"A gift from a faraway forest.... Our third gift," said Annie, thoughtfully.

Their task is complete and with a tap of the magic book the Magic Tree House returns them to its place in Frog Creek Woods, with only more task and gift left to free Teddy from his spell, in Mary Pope Osborne's book from her best-selling series, Tigers at Twilight (Magic Tree House, No. 19) (Random House). As she always does, Osborne also includes an appendix which explains much about the folklore and animals of India's tropical forest

Jack and Annie have only one last task to perform to free Teddy from his spell. For that transformation, see Osborne's Magic Tree House #20, Dingoes at Dinnertime (Magic Tree House, No. 20)

On Broadway and In The Heights! Game Changers: Lin-Manuel Miranda by Stephanie Kraus

Lin-Manuel Miranda was looking around a bookstore one day when he came across Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. He bought the best-selling biography and began reading it on vacation. The book describes how Hamilton, an orphan from the Caribbean, wrote his way out of poverty and helped shape a new nation.

How does a young guy turn the story of one of America's founding fathers into a record-breaking Broadway musical hit?

Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up with lot of music in his house--pop songs, salsa, and Broadway show tunes, which he loved, and although his family couldn't see all of them, he did see and love Cats, Les Miserable, and The Phantom of the Opera. He loved his piano recitals and he and his school bus driver led rap competitions on the way to grade school. Miranda played in school productions, as Conrad Birdie of Bye Bye, Birdie and the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Pirates of Penzance. He was hooked.

The musical theater was his calling!

After college Miranda helped composer Steven Sondheim translate the famous musical West Side Story (based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) into Spanish, and after some roles on stage, Miranda decided to compose a show that took advantage of a diverse cast, and his result was the hit Broadway musical In the Heights, which won 13 Tony Awards. A hit like that is hard to follow, and that is why Miranda was in that bookstore, searching diligently for a subject that would inspire a different sort of show, and inexplicably, he settled on the subject of Alexander Hamilton, born in the Caribbean, a Revolutionary War general, member of the Constitutional Convention, and first secretary of the treasury of the U.S. in George Washington's first cabinet, and the only member of that administration killed in a duel by another politician.

In 2009, after a year of work on his idea, Miranda previewed his signature song "In the Room Where It Happened" at a White House gala with a standing ovation, and his complete musical Hamilton: An American Musical opened in 2015 to even more Tony Awards and even a Pulitzer.

Author Stephanie Kraus tells the amazing story of the Puerto Rican composer who brings American patriot Alexander Hamilton into Broadway history with new rap style, along with many other musical forms, in her biography, Beyond Words: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Time for Kids(r) Nonfiction Readers) (Time For Kids). As nonfiction for middle-school and high-school students, this book is illustrated with lively color photos, and the biographical part of the text is broken up with fact boxes, "Stop and Think," boxes, pie-graphs of the racial composition of Broadway plays, and other eye-catching features, along with basics such as an appendix that boasts a glossary, index, "Try It Out!" and "Stop and Think!" sections, and a bibliography with books, video, and websites. This stylish biography has much to offer readers in showing how success in any area involves everything a person learns--at home, in school, from associates, and in the life around him or her.

Meet and Greet! Welcome to the Party by Gabrielle Union

Sweet baby, there’s a party happening and it’s YOU who’s invited.

There's nothing like a new member of the family, and everyone's excited. Mom and Dad are proud to host your debut. The cousins can't wait to welcome you ... with the aunts and the uncles and the grandparents, too!

Say HI to your guests. They are happy to meet you.

They have waited so long, and can’t wait to greet you!
Down the red carpet goes the little invitee! There's Grandpa, Grandma, and all the family... . All take a place at the table, set with everything yummy! They'll laugh, share stories, and all kiss your tummy. They'll dance for you, sing to you, hug you, my sweet. 'Cause you're the one making our family complete!

There's no happier assembly than one introducing a new baby to life in a family, a time to party hearty, in Gabrielle Union's personal story of a much-wanted baby, Welcome to the Party (HarperCollins, 2020). With jolly rhymes and plenty of artist Ashley Evans' charming full-bleed illustrations of the special guest, the big occasion is celebrated in a happy reunion of assorted relatives. This first children's book by actress and best-selling author Union is great for parents with a new baby (and the new baby's siblings) and for grandparents as well, a perfect gift for birthdays and special days, and a great book to include with a Meet the Family photo scrapbook of the celebration.

Childhood Haikus: Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright and Nina Crews

The haiku from Richard Wright's childhood came from the closely observed landscapes and animals he knew, the railroad trains that rumbled down the middle of the town, the caws of the crows and the rustling of the leaves, a dusty road down which his bike travels, the blue of the skies in which his yellow kite rises, and a sunset that colors and changes everything. --Nina Crews

Empty railroad tracks. And the rails leap with life.

Like the classic style dictates, Richard Wright's haikus capture a tiny memory, a moment in time as a child might see it.

Suddenly mindful,

the tree was looking at me,

each green leaf alive.

In her Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright (Millbrook Press), artist Nina Crews sets Wright's haiku against photos of real boys in the real outdoors, arranged together to set off the meaning and feeling of each haiku, the photos and the text each a slice of life, caught in the moment. For reading aloud and for poetry lessons, this book is perfect for youngsters learning to listen to the music of words and to write their own poetry.
Says Publishers Weekly, "The clustered, overlapping photographs scatter and dissipate at the edges of the spreads, subtly reflecting the evanescence of the moments Wright describes."

Like Night and Day: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o

Sulwe was born the color of midnight. She looked nothing like her family. Not even a little.

The rest of her family--her mama and her sister--are lighter and brighter, like noon! At school the other kids call her sister Mich "Sunshine," but they call Sulwe "Darkie." No one plays with her. Sulwe tries a big rubber eraser to see if her color will rub off. It doesn't. It only hurts. She tries some of Mama's makeup. She eats only white food for a while. None of those things work. One night when she says her prayers, she wishes to be as fair as her parents. But in the morning she only sees her midnight face in the mirror. Seeing her tears, her mama reminds her that her name means "Star" for brightness.

"Brightness is not in your skin," Mama tells her. "It's who you are. It begins with how you see yourself."

But Sulwe doesn't understand. With her tears drying on her face, she falls asleep and into a dream in which a big, bright star soars through her window and tells her the story of two sisters, Day and Night. People call them different names. Day is called "Lovely." Night is called "Scary." They praise Day so much that one day Night just leaves the earth. At first the people love having Day always with them, but little by little things go wrong on the earth. Nothing goes the way they like it. And Day is lonely for her sister and goes into the sky to search for her. But when she finds her, Night does not want to return to earth where people call her bad names. But the people come to her with a plea.

"We need you." "You see," the Big Star explained. "We need both--and every shade in between."

And the next morning, Sulwe wakes up...

BEAMING.

It takes all kinds and all shades to make an interesting world, in Lupita Nyong'o's Sulwe (Simon and Schuster, 2019). Of course, color is only one difference that divides people, but in this little parable it serves as a symbol of the many superficial differences that sometimes loom large in children's eyes. Awarded a Coretta Scott King Illustrator's Award for Vashti Harrison's vibrant illustrations, Nyong'o's book offers what Booklist's reviewer calls, "...A welcome celebration of Black girls, an important lesson for all kids (and grownups), and a necessary message for any child who has been made to feel unworthy of love on account of their looks."

Taking a Break with the Bard! Stink--Hamlet and Cheese by Megan McDonald

It's school break time, and Stink has a choice to make. Shall he hang around the house all week and listen to his big sister Judy Moody babble about how superior she is, or go over to his friend Sophie's house and see what she's got planned for the week. It's an easy decision. Sophie's just got her latest yard-sale finds, including one unusual action figure:

"Here's the best one." She held up a balding guy with a big collar and puffy pumpkin pants.< "Hey!" said Stink. "Isn't that... ? It's William Shakesbeard!"
Sophie cracked up. "Close! It's William Shakespeare. I can't wait for Shakespeare camp. It's called Shakespeare Sprites." "You get to drink soda at camp?" asked Stink.

Sophie explains that a sprite is like a fairy, and that everyone in the group gets a part. And, Sophie points out, there are some other perks Stink might enjoy about the camp.

"Everybody gets a speaking part. Also, there's mad kings and murders and storms and shipwrecks and sword fights in Shakespeare. Oh, and I almost forgot the best part!"Sophie added. "At Shakespeare camp, you get to swear like people did in Shakespeare's time."

Swords AND swearing? Stink is sold! He signs up for the camp. He's unhappy about being the only boy there, but happy that that means that he gets to do most of the swearing and sword fighting and play Hamlet, with his own fake mustache and pumpkin-shaped shorts. But Fie! There be one fly in ye olde ointment! Stink's nemesis Riley Rottenberger is there, still determined to kiss him and embarrass him in front of a live audience. Riley even has a Shakespearean knock-knock kissing joke awaiting Stink!

"Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Puck." "Puck Who?" "Pucker up, Stink!" Riley puckered up her lips! MWAH!
"Fie on thee, fly-faced maggot pie!"

But "All's well that ends well," and with a dose of "eye of newt and toe of frog" Stink manages to elude a Riley Rottenberger smoocharooney, tosses off some erudite Elizabethan swearing, and his Hamlet death scene brings down the house at the camp finale, in Megan McDonald's Stink: Hamlet and Cheese (Candlewick Books, 2019 ed.) With the comely comedic artwork of Peter H. Reynolds, young independent readers will find much merry-making indeed as Stink Moody treads the boards, hits the histrionic heights, and bests the Bard in another of of McDonald's novels packed with laughs and lower grade humor that will have the pages turning fast in the beginning chapter book for Judy and Stink Moody fans.

With A Little Help from My Friends: Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy

In two little houses,

on two little hills,

lived two best friends.

Every day Rita and Ralph run down and up two hills to meet together between their houses under their apple tree. They high-five and pinkie shake and play together until it's time to part and return to their houses. They are the best of friends. But...

Then one day... they played a new game: Sticks and Stones...

Ralph hits Rita right on her head with his stone.

"UH-OH!"

"OUCH!"

Rita runs home, closes her door, and puts an ice bag on her head. She feels angry. Ralph feels sorry.

The hills between Rita and Ralph feel like a hundred years. But she is his best friend, so Ralph runs down and up and down and up all the hills to Rita's house. But by the time he gets there, he is feeling cranky about the whole thing.

"I'm SORRY!" he barks.

Rita won't come outside, so Ralph runs back down and up and down and up the hills to his house and closes his door. He's mad. Meanwhile, at her house, Rita is beginning to feel a bit sorry. She trudges up and down the hills to Ralph's house, but by the time Rita gets to Ralph's house she is angry again. She shouts up to Ralph's window that she wants her special pinecone back. Ralph throws it down to her.

Nobody's sorry now.

But after a sleepless night for the former best friends, they both leave their houses and head up and down and up and down the hills to meet in the middle under their apple tree.

"I'm sorry," says Rita.

"I'm sorrier!" says Ralph.

In a witty story of conflict resolution, best-selling author and illustrator Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrator Pete Oswald come together in Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day (Scholastic Press,2020), an appealing collaboration which portrays the process of managing emotions and reconciliation which seem to be an almost inevitable learning experience of childnood. Artist Pete Oswald sets up the up-and-down terrain which becomes a metaphor for these ups and downs of friendship in his clever illustrations of the two houses separated by four hills and dales and deftly uses the eyes of his characters to portray emotions of the two characters. Even their two pets, Rita's puppy and Ralph's kitty, and the flock of black birds flying from Ralph's house to Rita's symbolize their anger. It's a simple little story that has layers of depth supported skillfully by artist Oswald's charming illustrations and book design.

Says Shelf Awareness' starred review," A terrific read-aloud... Rita and Ralph's tiff, told with a sweet freshness, is a timeless, engaging tale with which any young reader is likely to identify."