An Invisible Goose Can Be Scary: Mindi and the Goose No One Could See by Sam McBratney

Mindi had a problem

Mindi was afraid of something no one else could see--a big goose in her room.

It came as quietly as a thought comes into your head, and it stayed as long as it wanted to.

"A WHAT?" asked her dad.

Dad searched her whole room, including a thorough investigation under the bed. Mom laughed, but she brought a big wooden spoon to chase the goose out from behind the curtains. She locked the window so no goose could sneak in. But it didn't work. Mom and Dad found that they had a third person in their bed every night.

"Nobody has a goose in their bedroom," said Mom.

But Mindi insisted that SHE did.

Finally Dad decides that he must take Mindi to see the old wise man named Austen for advice about invisible goose problems. It was a long journey up the mountain to Austen's little farm--over the rocks in the stream amd wading through the creek, riding on Daddy's back on the steep uphill path and running down the hill ahead of Daddy, until finally they arrived at Austen's little farm. Mindi greeted all the animals, including the real geese. And as soon as they went into Austen's kitchen, a little goat pushed open the door and joined them. Austen let her feed the goat an apricot, and when Austen said he had too many animals to give this one a name, Mindi had an idea.

"I would call her Black and Whitey," said Mindi.

After a happy visit, Mindi and Daddy walked back down the mountain. On the way Dad asked Mindi carefully how she liked Austen's geese.

"THEY were nice geese. But the BIG goose isn't nice."she said.

It was beginning to look like the Big Goose was there to stay, when one stormy, rainy day, Austen appeared at their door--with Black and Whitey on a rope, a gift for Mindi. But then Austen explained that it's bad luck to give an animal away unless you receive another in return. Could Mindi part with her BIG Goose?

You BET she could, in the New York Times' best-selling author Sam McBratney's latest, Mindi and the Goose No One Else Could See (Candlewick Press, 2021). With the cozy rustic art of illustrator Linda Olafsdottir, this sweet story by McBratney, author of the best-selling series begun with Guess How Much I Love You, has in this picture book the same whimsical way of solving childhood needs and fears gently and patiently as in his earlier work. Although few parents would think of swapping an imaginary goose for a real goat to vanquish a nighttime fear, kids will love McBratney's fanciful solution. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Low-key and reassuring."

Campout! Raj And The Best Vacation EVER! by Sebastien Braun

 

DAD AND I ARE GOING ON A TRIP. I KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE THE BEST VACATION EVER.

"ARE WE GOING TO ANTARCTICA?" ASKS RAJ.

There's so much equipment to load in the car. Raj helps as they fill the trunk and load a roof carrier with camping stuff!. But there's no canoe, and Raj wants a canoe trip.

It's a long way. They play car games. They sing "Wheels on the Bus!" Raj asks "Are we there yet?" several times. But at last they pull into the camp, pulling in right behind a minibus with a bear family inside. The Bears quickly put up their huge tent. Raj's dad has quite a struggle.

"HANG ON. WHERE DOES THIS POLE GO?"

"... TERRIBLE INSTRUCTIONS!... MUMBLE..."

"...THIS IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS... MUMBLE GRUMBLE..."

The Bears offer help, but Dad declines, determined to do it himself. When the tent is finally done and they crawl into their sleeping bags, Raj decides he really, really has to go to the camp rest room. Dad trips on a tent stay on the way back in the dark.

In the morning Dad grumbles about wet matches when he tries to start the camp stove. The Bears offer to share their breakfast spread, but Dad wants to do it himself. They finally eat cereal for breakfast, and leave for their hike up the mountain. The Bear family pass them on the way up, singing jolly marching songs.

But after lunch, Dad has a surprise for Raj. They rent a canoe and set off down river. The man at Knut's Canoes calls out a warning as they paddle off.

"DON'T FORGET TO TURN LEFT AT THE SIGN!"

It doesn't take a Shakespeare to guess what happens next! It seems if you don't turn left, you will be heading for the waterfall downstream.

Sometimes doing it yourself is a good idea, but when your canoe is heading for a small waterfall, it's good to have some experienced friends handy. The veteran camping experts, the Bear Family, pitches in on the rescue, and all's well that ends with campfire-toasted marshmallows among friends, in Sebastien Braun's story of adventures in the big woods, Raj and the Best Vacation Ever! (Templar Books, 2021).

A nice plug for friendly cooperation, this is a fun read-aloud story of the ups and downs of family camp-outs, and veteran camper kids will doubtless be happy to chime in with their own family campout adventures and misadventures. As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "A sweet and satisfying book about a vacation that goes wrong before it goes right."

For more adventures with Raj, see Braun's first book, Raj and the Best Day Ever.

Birds of a Feather! I Am A Bird by Hope Lin

 

EVERY MORNING, I FLY LIKE A BIRD ON DADDY'S BIKE. I SING LIKE A BIRD ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL.

CA-CAW!

The passing birds seem to sing with her, and all the people along the way wave and smile at her happy face and cheery birdsong.

But one morning the girl notices a strange figure hustling down the street, clutching a heavy carryall. Her long skirt and coat and big hat cover everything about her--except her frowning face. There are no smiles or waves from her. Somehow the scowl on her face makes her whole figure seem sinister. The girl tries to hide behind her father and tells him that she doesn't like that lady.

"SHE'S JUST A LADY TAKING A WALK." HE ANSWERS.

But one morning when they leave home late, she spots the woman in the park. She's feeding and singing to the birds!

CHEE-CHEE-CHEE!

And the girl smiles and waves to her and sings back.

CA-CAW! CA-CAW!

And her smile is returned, in Hope Lin's just-published I Am a Bird (Candlewick Press, 2021). A human connection is made between two people who look different but find they are kindred spirits after all. Finding that fellow feeling with outwardly different sorts of people is one of the great lessons of childhood learning, and author Lin's spare text works hand-in-hand with Hyewon Yum's gentle, understated illustrations which reveal feelings in subtle lines and soft pencil and gouache artwork.

Too Many Cheeps and Peeps! Chick Chat by Janie Bynum

 

BABY CHICK HAS A LOT TO SAY!

It's breakfast time, and between bites from his little bowl of worms, Baby Chick is already full of PEEPS! Daddy Rooster is a bit appalled at his prolific little cheeper. Mom Chicken's small smile conveys both pride and impatience at the peep-athon. Big Sister plops her head down on the table with mock desperation and moans... Puh-leez!

. . ."MAKE IT STOP."

After breakfast Mom Chicken is preoccupied procuring high-protein foods (bugs) for the family's lunch. Papa Rooster perches on the fence post to provide wake-up calls to the public-at-large, and Big Sis Chicken retreats from the perpetual peeping to a spot under a tree, hopefully for respite from some chick lit advice books like A Coop of One's Own and Find Your Inner Chicken. Nobody is up for a cheep chat.

"GO PLAY!" SQUAWKED SISTER.

Baby Chick loads up her little wagon with gardening tools and her plush elephant, and, perpetually peeping as she pulls her load, she stops at a good place to dig. But her little trowel soon strikes something:

THUNK!     . . . . . . . .       PEEP?

It's a big round egg, which apparently doesn't speak Peep. But Baby Chick feels responsible, so, with plenty of peeps, she loads the big egg onto her wagon and pulls it home, where her family is perplexed, but not pleased, at the sight of her find. Mom Chicken points out that the big egg is not Chick's property!

"PUT IT BACK!" SHE SQUAWKS.

But Baby Chick feels responsible. She stands guard, protecting the big egg from falling acorns with her parasol, filling him in on the neighborhood news, and falls asleep on top of him when it gets dark. Mom Chicken has to haul her home to hit the hay with the family. But in the morning at the peep of dawn, Baby Chick is up and peeping, running outside to look for her big egg, where she finds a partly hatched little turtle.

The baby turtle isn't talkative, the perfect pal for Baby Chick, and for the rest of the family....

THAT WAS PERFECTLY OKAY.

It's a pair of pals made in heaven, in Janie Bynum's just published Chick Chat (NorthSouth, 2021). Author Bynum's text is fairly sparse (except for the peeps), leaving plenty of space for illustrator Bynum's piquant comic illustrations that playfully expand the narration. With black ink outlines and perky poultry portrayed in pastel watercolors, even young chatterboxes will get the message, and kids in the primary grades will love the satisfying conclusion for the Chatty Cathys and Silent Sams in the audience. "A sweet story told with gentle humor," chirps Kirkus Reviews.

Puppy Love: Can I Sit With You? by Sarah Jacoby

People are out and about. The little dog is, too. He follows a girl and her mom walking briskly down the sidewalk lined with row houses, some with friendly neighbors waving from windows and porches. But the dog sees only the girl.

Could he be hers? Could she be his?

PARDON ME.

IF THE DAY IS STRANGE AND NEW,

I'LL BE FAMILIAR, LOYAL, TRUE.

They walk through a dog park, through an overgrown field of green and through a cold, purple twilight. The girl throws the pooch's stick. He seems to be thinking about fetching it, but then picks it up and runs away. Other dogs follow them as they make their way onward through the trees toward home.

I'VE WANDERED... AND SEEN SO MUCH NEW.

I WILL SIT WITH YOU.

And the dog follows her home to sit in her lap at last, but not without his fetching sticks, in Sarah Jacoby's just published Can I Sit with You? (Chronicle Books, 2021). In her gentle story of a girl and her dog, author Jacoby seems to say that there's an element of choice necessary in the concept of dog and "owner," and this pup chooses his girl freely and happily after all.

Author Jacoby leaves the question of stray or runaway to the reader, and her lovely mixed media illustrations and rhyming text give both of them room to roam through the idea of who "belongs" to or with whom in this lovely new picture book. Says Booklist, "The gently rhyming text and engaging pictures will appeal to youngsters who have or want a dog of their own."

Alter Ego: Bear Outside by Jane Yolen

SOME FOLKS HAVE A LION INSIDE, OR A TIGER. NOT ME.

I WEAR MY BEAR ON THE OUTSIDE.

With her bear, like a suit of armor around her, the girl feels safe. In school he raises his big paw when he knows she knows the answer, and so does she. He keeps her safe when she climbs a tree and he reads books with her in their special tent at home. He protects her when she rides a bike and does fancy moves on her roller skates. Bear goes along when she does good deeds for the neighbors.

I TAKE CARE OF BEAR, AND BEAR TAKES CARE OF ME.

They pick juicy berries and find honey hives, and they're never afraid of the bees. At dinner they share--a chicken leg for her and the salad for her bear.

Sometimes they don't quite agree on blue or red.

SOMETIMES WE MAKE PURPLE INSTEAD.

And at bedtime when Mom leaves on the night light... she doesn't care.

IT'S FOR BEAR.

It's one for all and all for one with this girl and her alter ego, a big brown bear to share her fun and fears with, in Jane Yolen's latest, Bear Outside (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2021). An imaginary friend with plenty of clout, a big, furry bear is on the lookout through the day at school or play. And what kid wouldn't want a bear to always have his or her back?

Author Jane Yolen, author of the Caldecott-winning Owl Moon and the best-selling series beginning with How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, shares the honors this time with illustrator Jen Corace, whose brown bear is both brawny and cuddly and a bit transparent as an imaginary bear should be.

"Corace’s art perfectly matches Yolen’s words in this nuanced exploration of our inner selves," writes The New York Times Book Review."

No Tiptoe Through the Catnip! Bad Kitty Goes on Vacation by Nick Bruel

"I WON! I WON! I WON!

I WON!

A FREE TRIP TO SOME PLACE CALLED LOVE LOVE ANGEL KITTY WORLD!"

Uncle Murray is on a roll! A free vacation! What a deal!

But Uncle Murray is not the only one. Bad Kitty springs wide awake from her catnap.

BOI-OI-OING!

Bad Kitty has got to go! She's read all the Love Love Angel Kittyy books.

She's got all the merch... including the Love Love Angel Kitty World toilet seat and matching underpants!

But when he agrees to take Bad Kitty along on his all-expense-paid vacation, it's no walk in the catnip park. When Uncle Murray shows up at the airport, he learns that cats are not allowed unless they are in a cat carrier. When he reappears with bleeding wounds and Bad Kitty finally inside a carrier, he's informed that the carrier must fit under the passenger's seat. There's quite a disagreement at that point, and Uncle Murray decides to take the gate agent's suggestion and drive to Love Love Angle Kitty World, where they arrive three days later, only to learn that Kitty World doesn't allow... cats.

It's no more Mr. Nice Guy for Uncle Murray as he disguises Bad Kitty as his son Murray, Jr., who unfortunately is only tall enough for one ride--The Tunnel of Love Love Angel Kitty Love!

After fourteen rides through the tunnel featuring every terrible Kitty Love tunnel tune, Uncle Murray needs some sustenance--a foot-long salami sandwich, only to discover that the only food on the menu is Love Love Angel Kitty pizza....!, and Wait! His money is gone and his credit card is maxed out

and... it's off to the Love Love Angel Kitty World Hoosgow for the two of them. . ., where he realizes that he has run a-fowl of the gangsta cabal of evil roosters who control not only the entire Love Love Angel Kitty World franchise but the entire legal system of the states in which they operate, and . . .

Well, you get the idea! This is another of Nick Bruel's hilarious graphic novels starring Bad Kitty and Co., in Bad Kitty Goes On Vacation (Graphic Novel) (Roaring Brook Press, 2020). All's well that ends well with Bad Kitty and his weird feline friends delivering to Uncle Murray a foot-long salami sandwich and a tape of his favorite TV series, Bowling for Salami. The comic author-illustrator Nick Bruel provides his famous feline character and human associates in a funny series of take-off tropes on mass transportation and crooked theme park operators which are as sharp as a cat's claw, complete with words and music to the "Love Love Angel Kitty Theme Song."

Easy and silly enough for most primary-grade readers, Bruel's latest in this New York Times best-selling series is perhaps even more chuckle-inducing for the adults who read it aloud to them.

So Many Ways! All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors by Davina Bell

I'M OFF ON AN OUTING WITH MY MOM TODAY,

AND WE'RE NOT JUST GOING TO THE PARK TO PLAY.

They roll past the usual destinations--the pool, the school.... so... where will they be?

IT'S THE LIBRARY!

"HELLO, THERE, FRANKIE MCGEE!"

<

MISS SQUID, THE LIBRAIAN SAYS TO ME!

Mom smiles. This is a kid who loves books! How great is that? Frankie makes a beeline for the shelves and comes right back with a big grin and holds a book up for Mom to see.

It's a book about tractors, one of what seems like the zillions he's already checked out. How 'bout trains and planes, boats and trucks, she suggests? With all the books available for free, why, says she, does Frankie McGee's have to to be... about TRACTORS?

"I'D LOVE TO EXPLAIN THE MANY GLORIOUS FACTORS

THAT GO INTO THE LOVE I HAVE FOR ALL TRACTORS," SAYS FRANKIE.

You see, says Frankie McGee, all those vehicles are great at what they do, but all of them, from cement mixers to submarines, from firetrucks to steamrollers, mostly do just one thing! But tractors, well, they are the Swiss Army knives of vehicles! They have glorious attachments and adaptations to deploy or add on. They can tow or sow, plow up snow, pull a boat, haul a goat, harrow wide furrows, tote a tree.... Frankie goes on and on. Mom shakes her head in frustration, but the librarian checks out the tractor book with a big smile and some good advice for Frankie and for Mom.

"YOU KNOW YOURSELF BEST.

WHEN YOU WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT, COME FIND ME!"

In this cheery homage to single-minded readers of the primary sort, Davina Bell's brand-new All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors (Greenwillow Books, 2021) bounces along brightly in lively rhymes that salute youngsters who know what they want. Many kids like a smorgasbord of subjects, but others prefer to stick to a favorite subject, sometimes to the dismay of parents. But, as Pete the Cat says, it's all good, and as Frankie points out, when he knows a book by heart, he can read it to himself--or to his mother, who will, with the help of illustrator Jenniy Lovlie's tractor-filled endpapers and pages, no doubt learn the many factors that make tractors irresistible.

"... a rollicking love letter, not just to tractors, but also to libraries," says Book Page.

Stop! Thief! The Queen's Handbag by Steve Anthony

The Queen, with her corgi, climbs into the royal carriage, ready for a royal tour of her kingdom, when a sneaky swan heists her royal handbag! The Queen without a pricey but conservative handbag is inconceivable, unthinkable! So the Queen quickly commandeers a red convertible roadster and gives chase past Windsor Castle, escorted from the rear by a battalion of bystanders, Bobbies, and Beefeaters eager to assist their dought sovereign.

At Stonehenge she switches to a red motorcycle, hot on the tailfeathers of the sneaky swan. But then, arriving at Land's End, she is forced to fly over the White Cliffs of Dover in an RAF fighter jet. Overflying Oxford (without taking a degree) she pursues the purloined purse with the singleness of purpose that Her Highness always deploys.

The snow goose, however, flies on, forcing the Empress of the Empire to sky-dive into Snowdonia, where she takes the train in steely pursuit past the iron Angel of the North, mounting a royal charger at Edinburgh Castle and leading the troop of mounted police in a hilarious Derby ride back to London... where, mingling with the mob at the London Marathon. . . .

. . . the Queen sprints speedily and snatches the sneaky swan to take possession of her handbag once more.

All of this without her hat.

But the Queen never goes anywhere without a suitable hat! (See Steve Anthony's earlier companion book, The Queen's Hat.

In a rollicking tale of Britain's indomitable queen, The Queen's Handbag (Scholastic Press), youngsters get a tour of some of the famed tourist sites of Great Britain, escorted and even led by none less than than Her Royal Highness. Author-illustrator Steve Anthony's character-filled pages enliven the brief but punchy narrative to keep the pages turning through the chase, while artist Anthony's busy and comic illustrations which encourage kids to stop and enjoy the trip along the way through the U.K. Long live the doughty Queen!

Something's Afowl, er, Afoul! Homer on the Case by Henry Cole

Homer on the Case (Peachtree Publishing, 2021) <

". . . Expressive black-and-white pencil illustrations, rendered in panels evoking newspaper comics, heighten drama, tension, and humor,” says Publishers Weekly.

Medieval Times: The Middle Ages by Marie Roesser

The medieval period, coming between the massive timespan known as "ancient history" and the current era of "modern time" is a relatively brief period in the long scheme of things, but a very important one in western history.

In what used to called "the western world," the beginning point of the Middle Ages is generally set on one epic event, the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476, when Germanic "barbarians" (in Latin terminology) under Odoacer overthrew the rule of the Rome, which had militarily imposed their law, religion, and social system over a large part of Europe. The centuries immediately following that immense change are loosely termed the "Dark Ages," an indefinite period in which there was both great change and movement of populations.

But in Marie Roesser's The Middle Ages (Look at World History) (Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2020), by 768 Charlemagne had organized Celtic Franks into a large kingdom over which he eventually was crowned by the other great power of medieval times, Pope Leo III, head of the Roman Catholic Church, as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. But it was a short-lived union. When Charlemagne died in 814 C.E., his "empire" quickly broke into a group of small, warring kingdoms, ruled under a system governed by barons and lords, in which large landowners controlled the people by physical rule enforced by their knights and warriors. Feudal farms taxed their laborers, or serfs, and the lords, along with the ecclesiastical hierarchy of bishops and priests and priors, provided what legal system there was. Church and feudal law was The Law, and as agriculture improved over the centuries, kings and bishops became richer, building vast cathedrals, abbeys, castles, manors, and centers of trade between regions and kingdoms.

Author Roesser features short informative chapters on feudalism, the Roman Catholic Church, The Crusades, which increased contact and trade with the east, the Hundred Years' War between England and the Frankish kingdom, and the various epidemics of the Black Death, all of which changed the shape of medieval society and governance.

In the 1100s, farming advances meant more food. People moved into towns and cities. More people became merchants. Trade routes connected people to new products, ideas, and ways of life. In the 1200s, people formed guilds and councils to protect their interests, and "common people" had more control over their lives than they did under feudalism..

When and how did the Middle Ages end? Author Roesser posits several points in time--Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type printing ca. 1440, the fall of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire in 1453, the discovery of new continents to the west by Columbus in 1492, and the Protestant Reformation in 1517 which ended the absolute rule of the Catholic Church. In English history, the 1485 defeat and death of Richard III, the last Plantagenet and the last English king to die in battle, brought Tudor rule and the beginning of the British Empire under Elizabeth I.

In truth, the Middle Ages had no one day or year to mark the beginning or ending of this transitional period. Big events are only markers in the timeline of history, and many changes were being effected during that time. To help young students grasp the extent and significance of the era, there is a full appendix, with timeline, glossary, bibliography, list of websites, and an index to tie all the information together. As an easy introduction or review of an important period, this brief volume is a valuable factual asset for young middle-grade students who are curious about how human life changed through time.

I Did It My Way! Sam's First Wordby Bea Birdsong

 

THERE ONCE WAS A NEWISH BABY. HER NAME WAS SAM.

Sam is already quite accomplished. She can wave her arms when her dog Farnsworth tries to get her food. She can clap her hands when Farnsworth does tricks. And she can remove her diaper and make a giggling getaway in the "altogether." Her whole family smiles every time she shows off her new skills. But there is one thing they just can't wait for her to perform. . . .

HER FIRST WORD!

Mama wants it to be MAMA! Papa wants it to be PAPA. Nana wanted it to be NANA! Even the next-door neighbor, Mr. Theotopholous, wants it to be his name! They all make up songs with one-word lyrics--their names.

But Sam has other concerns! She says. . .

"POOP!"

Nobody pays any attention to Sam, as they set out to push their own names. Mama sings a song with "Mama" as the only lyric; Papa reads a story in which the only words are his name. Nana does her own show-and-tell, even painting NANA on the wall. Sam waves her arms, claps her hands, and points at her diapered bottom!

"POOP!"

While everyone continues pressing the case for their own names, Sam decides it's time to up the ante on this presentation. She takes off her smelly diaper, and while Farnsworth covers his nose, waves the offending garment in front of them, and makes an announcement!

POOP!

Everyone smiles when they realize they've just heard Sam's first word, in Bea Birdsong's jolly new story, Sam's First Word (Little, Brown and Company, 2021). Any picture book in which the punch line is POOP will have primary kids rolling on the rug in giggles and repeating that popular word themselves. Hollie Hatam's charming pictures of this piquant toddler's first venture into speech makes for a good read-aloud, although it is recommended that this one be the final book of the session!

Quips Kirkus Reviews, "Cheeky... fresh, fun, and funny."

Pair this one with Jimmy Fallon's Your Baby's First Word Will Be DADA (see review here).

Feelings Are Like the Weather: Crying Is Like the Rain by Heather Hawk Feinberg

ONE DAY I HEARD SOMEONE SPECIAL SAY, "FEELINGS ARE LIKE THE WEATHER. THEY COME AND GO."

A mom, a girl, and her younger brother are getting set up for what looks like a rainy walk to school, and as she gathers her rain gear, the girl can't help thinking about that.

"WELL, IF FEELINGS ARE LIKE THE WEATHER THEN CRYING IS LIKE THE RAIN."

As the two children walk to school, the girl considers her mother's analogy. Yes, sometimes people wish that rain wouldn't come. Like crying that is shushed, rain is wished away, only to be hoped for later. Crying makes people feel that something is wrong, a worrying or even scary thing. Frustration gathers like a tornado, breaks open like an earthquake, bringing waves like a hurricane. Things have gotten out of balance, like the earth when the heat and humidity is too high, and loud, dark, scary storms come with a thunderous voice. But then the rain ends, the balance is restored, and the sun comes out once more.

EARTH FEELS FRESH AND NEW.

And, the girl reasons, feeling are like that.

TEARS HELP CLEAR THE MIND AND THE HEART AND THE BODY FEEL CLEAR AND CALM AFTER THE STORM.

WE NEED OUR TEARS AS THE EARTH NEEDS RAIN.

In language that young children can understand, Heather Hawk Feinberg's new Crying is Like the Rain: A Story of Mindfulness and FeelingsTilbury House, 2021) uses her nature metaphor to help youngsters understand the ebb and flow of normal emotions. As she ends her text, "We are not our feelings; they come and go." After all, rain always ends and rainbows can follow the rain. Using a sophisticated literary device, deepened and interpreted by artist Chamisa Kellogg's sensitive illustrations, this book is useful as a way to help children interpret and accept the ebb and flow of emotions and keep their eyes on the possibility of a rainbow in the calm after the storm. As the old aphorism tells us, "Into each life some rain must fall." Says Publishers Weekly, ... "the book stands as a reliable entrée for adults to support young readers’ emotional processing."

No Smooches!! Rissy No Kisses by Katey Howe

"THE NESTLINGS ARE JUST DARLING," SAID MISS BLUEBIRD. "THEY LIKE ME!"

Miss Bluebird planted two big, fat smackeroos on two of the three little ones.

"NO KISSIES!" RISSY CHIRRUPTED.

Miss Robin opines that Rissy is confused. Papa insists that all lovebirds love kisses, but Rissy still doesn't want one, not even from him. Her parents think she might be sick. And when Rissy refuses her kiss, Grandmother tried to unruffle everyone's feathers with a little peck on the cheek for Rissy, and when Rissy repeats her denial, she suggests that Rissy is just RUDE.

At nursery school, the little lovebirds sitting on each side of her on the storytime rug are sweet and affectionate, but Rissy just repeats herself.

"NO KISSIES!!"

Rissy's classmates' feelings are hurt. They make a scene and say Rissy is mean! Rissy feels terrible. Is it possible that she's not really a lovebird?

It's time for a little talk with Mama. Rissy explains that kissing just makes her tummy feel funny. But Mama explains that it is okay if she doesn't like kissing, but she can still hug her friends and hold their wings and play together and show them that she likes them.

"YOU'RE A LOVEBIRD THROUGH AND THROUGH"

Lots of youngsters shy away from kissy-kissy adults, and little Rissy is a good spokesbird for kids who just don't go for smooching from relatives and strangers, in Katey Howe's sweet and sympathetic new picture book, Rissy No Kissies (Carolrhoda Books, 2021). Her book offers understanding for kids and adults in respecting personal preferences and feelings in two separate author's notes, one for children and one for adults, in dealing with the important issue of "bodily autonomy," how to say "NO," how to ask if hugging or kissing is all right, and how to respect choices from the very young. This is a sensitive read-aloud for school groups and for parent-to-child reading--especially before big family-and-friends gatherings.

In its starred review, Kirkus Review says, "This is an artistic gem for consent discussions, sensory-processing contexts, and anyone who champions children's agency and bodily autonomy. Radiant."

How the Race Is Run! I Am Darn Tough by Licia Morelli

How do you win a race?

First, you have to finish the race!

But as all competitors know, things don't always go your way.

STUFF HAPPENS!

As our girl takes her runner's stance for the start, things look good.

I REMEMBER TYING MY SHOES.

The sun is warm and the breeze is just right, and... she's off! The ground crunches under her feet, her stride lengthening as she moves. But the path is not smooth: There are patches of mud and puddles. There are rocks and roots ready to bring her down, and soon . . . . one does!

. . . TRIPPING AND FALLING. . . MY KNEE BLEEDING. . .

But she gets up and hobbles a few steps before finding her rhythm again. And then... there's the hill ahead... Running up and up is hard! There's a pain in her side, and the sun is too hot. But she can't stop now. She takes a deep breath.

I'VE DONE THIS BEFORE. I AM DARN TOUGH!

And her stride lengthens, her cramp fades away, and she catches up with the other runners, smiling, laughing with the others, seeing the finish line ahead.

THROUGH THE TAPE. ARMS UP!

I AM BRAVE!

And the race is run, in Licia Morelli's I Am Darn Tough (Tilbury House, 2020), beautifully illustrated by artist Maine Diaz, in a fun run, but learning that what it takes to finish the race is first to master yourself and not falter on the way to the finish. Stay the course! Says School Library Journal, ". . . a surprisingly poetic glimpse of the heart of the athlete, with a welcome, winning heroine."

There Goes the Neighborhood: The Genius of the Anglo Saxons by Izzi Howell

Whether English was your language of birth or acquired later in life, you are lucky to be a speaker of one of the world's most-used and prolific tongues.

But English is like the little engine that could. Brought to the British Isles by a small group of tribes on the eastern coast of Europe when the Roman Empire pulled out of "Britannia" after around 410 A.D., the invading Angles gave their name to the land and speech--what became "English" and England. The neighboring Saxons and Jutes also contributed to a very different culture from that of the previous nearly 400 years of Romanic Britain.

Following the arrival of imperial Romans, Britain had become a civilized jewel in the crown of the Roman Empire. But unlike the sophisticated Romans with their universal language and their engineering and organizational prowess, the new immigrants were mostly illiterate farmer-herders. While the Romans had excelled in stone masonry and decorative arts, the newcomers built wood-and-daub houses with straw-thatched roofs, raised grains, and herded sheep. Unlike their former rulers' body of literature, the new settlers' written language was meagre, with angular letters called runes in an early alphabet and a partially shared culture. Constantly bedeviled by subsequent raids and invasions by the Norse Vikings, many of those linguistic cousins joined the Anglo-Saxons and the native Celtic Britons, and settled down as well, and after centuries, added their dialects and skills to the mix. By the time that King Athelstan managed to unite the six Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one, local dialects were beginning to coalesce into a language with stable vocabulary and its own literature.

But it is to a later Saxon king, King Alfred (the Great), that English owes much of its current status. Alfred was the first ruler to insist that all citizens speak and read English, instituting reading and writing in their own language for all children, and what is now called "Old English" became a full-fledged national language, like the Roman Empire's Latin, on its way to becoming a world language in an empire "upon which the sun never sets."

But leaving that accomplishment to a yet unborn Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Queen Elizabet I, Izzi Howell's The Genius of the Anglo-Saxons (Genius of the Ancients) (Crabtree Publishing, 2019) goes on to discuss the other contributions of the Anglo-Saxons--their early version of local democracy and royal oversight through their powerful Witans (groups of powerful and wise local leaders who could even unseat a king), their system of laws, their citizen-soldiers, the Burh, their skills at metal working and penchant for shipbuilding and wide trading--all set the scene for the importance of this small group of early immigrant people whose influence ultimately helped created a vast empire.

Ample color photos of Saxon fabrics, goldsmithery, and graphic arts--jewelry and weapon-making--as well as the household arts of village life, fill these pages divided into sections on food, laws, weapons and armor, and social life in this fascinating book, part of The Genius of the Ancients series, which includes ancient Egyptian, Mayans, Romans, Greeks, and Viking societies, all perfectly paced for middle readers just beginning to be interested in the wide world and including an appendix with glossary, timeline, index, and bibliography with websites for the young historians among us.

Cloak and Dagger and Spangles: World War II Spies and Secret Agents by Stuart A. Kallen

World War II's fields of battle are famous in many accounts, photographs, and film. But there was another war, one fought in secret by mostly unknown and unnamed agents, who fought, not just with weapons, but with with their wits and special skills to bring the war to its end in 1945. Some of these shadowy warriors planted explosives and staged assassinations behind the lines, but other agents worked in secret, unknown, moving among the enemies themselves. Great Britain drew upon the students or graduates of their most elite universities, Cambridge and Oxford, and the United States similarly recruited quite a few young men educated at Harvard and Yale.(/p>

But some of these secret agents were women, most unusual women indeed.

Josephine Baker began her career as a chorus girl in the mid-1920s at the Cotton Club in New York. But soon her ambitions took her to France in 1925, where she became the toast of Paris for her exotic dancing at the Folies Bergere, at times with her pet cheetah, and later opened her own successful nightclub. But when the Germans invaded and occupied Paris, Baker volunteered to work undercover against the Nazis.

"The people of Paris have given... me their hearts, and ... I am ready, Captain, to give them my life," she said.

After joining the French Intelligence Service, Josephine Baker pretended to cooperate with the Nazis, traveling to performances all over European countries under German control. Attired in glamourous furs and jewels, as a star Baker was able move freely with her entourage, acquiring information about troop movements and concealing it in invisible ink within her usual sheet music arrangements as she moved from city to city. She even smuggled photos of defenses and troop movements, if need be, on her own body at great risk. Another brave but quite different woman was spy Viginia Hall, of the British Office of Strategic Services (the famed OSS), known to the Nazis only as "The Limping Lady," worked closely with the French Resistance movement, training battalions of fighters, setting up safe houses, communicating stealthly with her handlers in London, and earning the Distinguished Cross for her heroism.

One spy for the OSS who ultimately gained fame for his service with British Naval Intelligence was Ian Fleming, whose missions broke codes, stole documents dealing with secret weapons, and kidnapped a coterie of Nazi scientists who eventually cooperated fully with the British. Ian Fleming became a novelist after the war, and after a success with the children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, turned his exploits as a secret agent into his famed series of James Bond novels. And like Fleming, wartime undercover agent Graham Greene also became a celebrated author of best-selling spy stories.

Not one of the usual dapper spy sorts, another unlikely secret agent was Morris (Moe) Berg, a third-string catcher who played on several major-league teams with the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in off-season exhibition games in Japan before the war. Berg photographed significant governmental and industrial places in Japan, and his information guided U.S. bombers to many strategic targets during the war.

In Stuart A. Kallen's World War II Spies and Secret Agents (Heroes of World War II (Alternator Books ® )) (Lerner Books), readers will meet several colorful and yet crucial secret agents whose bravery and special skills helped military forces win World War II. In fascinating stories of quite unusual and courageous people, this short non-fiction book gives middle graders a look at an important period and the personal history of the unlikely people who helped end the war for the rest of the world. Writes School Library Journal, "A perennial favorite time period among students receives a fresh treatment."

It Can't Hurt! Hugga-Loula by Nancy Dearborn

 

HUGGA LOULA LAY ON HER BED READING A BOOK. SHE HEARD A TERRIBLE RACKET COMING FROM THE GARAGE.

Dad is rummaging frantically through his big tool box, looking for something. Hugga Loula rushes downstairs and outside to see what the hullaballoo is all about. It seems he can't find the special pliers he NEEDS! Loula tries to console him.

"IF YOU'RE GRUMPY AND MAD, FRUSTRATED OR SAD, JUST GIVE A SHOUT AND HUG IT OUT!"

And, sure enough, after a hug,  a brief search turns up the slip-joint pliers, and Dad finishes the job in jigtime.

But before Hugga-Lou can get back to her book, she hears a racket coming from the kitchen, which is piled with pots and pans and cooking implements scattered everywhere. Mama is frustrated as she searches for her smallest sauce pan. She NEEDS that pot! Hugga-Loula runs through her mantra, and after a big hug, she helps her mother locate the small pan. With a smile and a thank-you, Mom gets back to work in a jiffy.

Mission accomplished, Hugga-Lou returns to her reading, just as there's a desperate ruckus emanating from her little brother Stevie's bedroom. She finds him with the contents of his toy box scattered all over the floor, complaining crankily.

"I NEED. . . I NEED. . . "

Hugga-Loula repeats her magic words and with a hug helps Steve spots the truck he HAS to have. His frown turns upside down, and it seems finally everybody is happy, so it's back to her bedroom and her book for Hugga Lou at last. . . !

Or IS IT?

With a quick knock her whole family rushes in, saying that what they NEED is to hug her and thank her for her help, in Nancy Dearborn's latest Hugga Loula (Familius, 2021), with Huang Junyan's jolly illustrations assisting. Everyone gets by better with a little help from their friends (or family,) and although a big hug may NOT make a missing object miraculously turn up immediately. . .

IT CAN'T HURT!

Learning emotional maturity is a great skill that may take a lifetime to master, but little Hugga-Lou demonstrates  to young readers just how sympathy, a hug, and a helping hand work well for young and old. As School Library Journal puts it, "Modeling compassion for family and loved ones with hugs and patient listening, this is a perfect lesson for social emotional learning."  And we could all use a lesson in that these days!

Into the Wild: We Became Jaguars by Dave Eggers

MY GRANDMOTHER CAME TO VISIT. I HAD MET HER ONCE, BUT SHE LIVED FAR AWAY.

HER HAIR WAS WHITE AND VERY, VERY LONG.

But when the boy's parents go out and leave him with his grandmother, she has a strange suggestion. She gets down on all fours on the carpet.

LET'S BE JAGUARS," SHE SAYS.

And as they crawl off the rug, they become jaguars, making their way through the tall grasses to the cul de sac and then into the woods. The boy has been there before, but never as a jaguar. The birds and squirrels flew and ran way when the two jaguars together leap lithely into the branches of a dark tree.

His jaguar grandmother ate a rabbit she caught.

I SAID I WAS ALLERGIC.

WE JAGUARED ON.

The two run sleekly up a mountain and see the world laid out before them. They drink the divine water from a lake and run across the ocean so nimbly that they do not even get their feet wet. They stop to rest somewhere in the Himalayas.

I REMEMBERED I HAD SCHOOL. "I SHOULD GO BACK SOON," I SAID.

And his grandmother drives him to school just in time, in Dave Eggers' brand-new adventure, We Became Jaguars (Chronicle Books, 2021). With Dave Eggers' sybillant storytelling and the beautifully dreamlike mixed media scenes in Woodrow White's illustrations, this is a very different visit from Grandma, to say the least, a fantasy that youngsters will want to relive over and over. Says School Library Journal, "The playfulness isn't restricted to language. White's illustrations are ... sumptuously depicted. . . . . So fantastic it feels real, or so real that it feels fantastic?"

Little Like Me! The Secret Fawn by Kallie George

THIS MORNING, MAMA SAW A DEER. DAD AND SARA SAW IT, TOO.

The younger girl in the family seems to miss everything because of her age. She misses picking the very first apple because she's too short to reach it, so her big sister gets to do that. She misses the meteor shower because she has to go to bed early. And now she's missed seeing the deer because she was trying to dress all by herself. Stealthily, she puts a sugar cube in her pocket and slips out of the house to look for the deer by herself.

There are a lot of false alarms. The movement behind the apple tree is not a deer. The glimpse of something brown turns out to be the neighbor's dog greeting her. She shushes the dog, hearing a splash at the pond. Is that the deer drinking or a fish jumping? Is that crack in the bushes a deer's step? No, it's a squirrel frisking by, carrying a nut for his breakfast, reminding the girl that she is hungry for hers. She puts the sugar cube on a rock in case the deer is hungry, too.

I LISTEN AND LOOK. I SEE SOMETHING.

NOT A DEER. A FAWN. "HELLO," WE SAY WITH OUR EYES.

The girl watches as the fawn rises and goes to look for its mother, and then she heads home to look for her own, who is waiting with a plate of pancakes just for her.

But the little girl does not hurry to tell her family of her secret sighting.

They saw a deer, but SHE saw its fawn, in Kallie George's just published, The Secret Fawn (Tundra Books, 2021), a sweet story, a sort of coming-of-age for a youngster who treasures her unique bond with the very little fawn. Author Kallie George's skillful narration shares the mystery of the little girl's encounter with another creature all on her own, and the charming illustrations of Elly McKay also capture the emotionally moving magic of a meeting with the little fawn.

Says Hornbook, “Cut paper adds definition; salt stippling creates the impression of apple blossoms; the whole becomes a world set apart from the ordinary. The protagonist, too, is out of the ordinary: returning home, she keeps her encounter with the fawn secret, her rich inner life bringing its own rewards.”

Superheroes Need Sleep! Bedtime for Superheroes by Katherine Locke

EVERYBODY KNOWS superheroes have busy days!

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BEING A SUPERHERO IS HARD AND MESSY WORK!

Besting bad guys requires the right gear--anywhere from tutus and tights to capes and coats, hoods and cowls. Some superheroes go undercover in ordinary tees and jeans!

Fighting evil generates a lot of noise, too!

BASHES AND BAMS! CRASHES AND KAPOWS! ZAPS AND ZOINKS!

Superheroes have to be versatile--able to fight octopuses and robots, natural disasters and dinosaurs in any setting, from the library to the grocery, as well as in shadowy alleys! It's yucky work!

EVERYBODY KNOWS BAD-GUY GOO--STICKY, STAINS, SMEARS, AND SPLATS!

BLECH!

It's hard work, but somebody's got to do it! But when the sun goes down, superheroes need baths and toothbrushing--and bedtime! Wherever they snooze, from beddie-bye to rocket ship, everybody agrees...

SUPERHEROES NEED SLEEP!

Being a kid requires a lot of super-duper powers to get through the day, and Katherine Locke's Bedtime for Superheroes (Running Press Kids, 2020), affirms that bedtime is sometimes one of the most demanding deeds of the day for both parent and child, with ordinary little heroes who require that special magic--sleep--that helps them grow and polish their powers. Artwork by Rayanne Viera shows all kinds of superkids doing super deeds with zest and settling down to sleep as well. Share this one with Shelly Becker's Even Superheroes Have Bad Days. Read my review here.

Something from Nothing: The Whole Hole by Vivian McInerny

ZIA HAD A HOLE IN HER POCKET. THAT DIDN'T STOP HER FROM STUFFING SMALL THINGS IN IT--SPARKLY ROCKS, GOLFBALLS, AND JUMPY FROGS.

SOMETIMES THEY STAYED. SOMETIMES THEY DIDN'T.

But, as holes in pockets do, the hole gets bigger and bigger, until Zia fall right into it. That might be scary, but after all, the hole is hers, and since Zia didn't like anything scary, she decides to have some fun. She imagines it is her favorite fishing hole, where she catches a big fish, and then a swimming hole. Floating on her back, Zia notices that one of the fluffy clouds above looks like a thirsty lion, so she imagines a watering hole for the lion. But Lion, wanting the whole water hole to himself, tells the other cloud animals that there is a hungry crock lying in wait in the water. The others cloud animals are not wholly convinced.

THE GIRAFFES FOUND THE LION'S STORY HARD TO SWALLOW.

"WHAT BUGS ME," SAID THE ANTEATER, "IS THAT I BELIEVE THE LION IS LYING."

"SOUNDS LIKE A TALE TO ME," SAID THE SNAKE, ALMOST WHOLLY TAIL HIMSELF.

Sick of the bickering, Zia dives deep down into the watering hole, and pulls the plug on the whole scene. But now what she's got now is a muddy mudhole. But when Zia gets mud, she makes mud pies, lots and lots of them. It's fun, but that leaves her with a bigger hole. So she thinks BIG. She spreads a blanket over the big hole, tops the blanket with some tasty peanuts, and she has a deadfall trap just right to catch a big elephant. But when she does, she realizes that she can't get a BIG elephant out of a deep hole! It's wholly impossible.

So she drops into the hole and excavates a deeper hole all the way to the other side of the earth, where the elephant is back in India where he belongs.

"SEND ME A POSTCARD," ZIA TELLS THE ELEPHANT.

But Zia is not wholly done with her hole yet, not until she gets that hole right back where it belongs, in Vivian McInerny's funny and punny The Whole Hole Story (Verify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021). With artist Ken Lamug's hilarious illustrations, youngsters will chuckle at all the things you can do with nothing, which is what a hole is, right? Booklist seems wholly pleased with this one, writing "This charmer of a picture book takes an Alice in Wonderland approach to a young girl’s discovery of a hole...A vivacious tribute to creative thinking and play."

Snow Day Friend: A Thousand White Butterflies by Jessica Betancourt-Perez and Karen Williams

OUTSIDE THE WINDOW THE U. S. IS COLD AND GRAY.

THE TREES WITHOUT LEAVES LOOK LONELY.  LIKE ME.

Isabella misses the trees, green with leaves and the warm air of Colombia, her Papa, and the friends she played with in the sun.

But today is the first day of school. She's already up and dressed in her new jeans and fluffy yellow sweater, with her schoolbag packed with brand new crayons she hopes to share with new friends. But her grandmother tells her to look out the window!

EVERYTHING IS SO WHITE!

IT LOOKS LIKE A THOUSAND WHITE BUTTERFLIES.

School is cancelled, and Isabella is sad. No new friends to share her crayons with today, she thinks.

"I HATE SNOW!"

But as she sits sadly by the window, she sees a girl outside, slipping and sliding, and suddenly falling down on her back in the snow. Isabella quickly puts on her puffy parka and stiff snow boots and hurries out to ask the girl if she is hurt.

"I MADE A SNOW ANGEL!" THE GIRL SMILED.

"MY NAME IS KATIE! SHE SAID. "LET'S MAKE A SNOWMAN!"

And there's no day like a snow day to make a new friend and learn to build a snowman, in Jessica Betancourt Perez's and Karen Williams' new A Thousand White Butterflies (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2021), and soon Isabella and Katie are making plans to walk to school tomorrow. The authors imbed Spanish into the text seamlessly, with meanings clear within the context, and also appends a glossary of Spanish words, while artist Gina Maldonado portrays the flow of emotions with empathy in her gently charming illustrations of friendship found. "An encouraging story of new beginnings," says Kirkus Reviews.

It Takes An Island: When the Babies Came to Stay by Christine McDonnell

THE FIRST ARRIVED ON THE MAIL PLANE. THE HARBORMASTOR OPENED A CANVAS BAG. INSIDE WAS A SQUALLING, RED-FACED BABY.

THE NEXT TWO CAME ON THE FERRY.

THE FISHERMAN FOUND THE FOURTH, ASLEEP ON A PILE OF NETS, SMELLING FAINTLY OF MACKEREL.

The babies each had a note asking someone to take good care of them, but the harbormaster, the ferryman, and the fisherman said they had their own work to do. The mayor said he was much too important. But the librarian thought the babies should stay on their safe little island. Who could take them? The Librarian usually knew the answers to questions.

"I'LL DO IT MYSELF," SAID THE LIBRARIAN.

She made a nursery for the babies in a freshly-painted storeroom. The Fisherman made rocking cribs from lobster traps and the Mayor rocked them whle he read his important newspaper. The others provided coverlets and curtains made from canvas and fishnets. The Librarian named them alphabetically--Agatha, Bram, Charles, and Dorothy. She called them A, B, C, and D, and said their last name was "Book." The babies grew and thrived. As time passed they learned to walk, led by Bram. Their rescuers taught them sea chanties and how to blow the ferry horn and how to tie many kinds of knots, and the mayor let them spin in his important desk chair.

The Librarian, of course, taught them to read.

When they started to school, a few kids asked them why they lived at the Library.

"WHERE ARE YOUR REAL FAMILIES?"

And the Librarian, who usually knew the answers to questions, told them they were the Book Family and the island was their home, in Christine McDonnell's sweetly moving When the Babies Came to Stay (Viking Books, 2020).

With a dreamlike, almost fairy-tale story of foundlings taken in and raised on a kind and close-knit island, what would seem to be a perilous fate turns into a nurturing community in which the adorable foundlings, pictured in Jeanette Bradley's intimate and outstanding art, find reassuring love and stability, a place where they truly belong, something all children crave. Kirkus Reviews says, "While the fantasy plotline of the babies' arrivals is whimsical, the story is grounded in an emotional reality that will appeal to and delight children. Charming and lighthearted with broadly applicable messages of love and acceptance."

Outside! I See You See by Richard Jackson

MOM CALLS, "MAISIE, WILL YOU WALK THE DOG?"

DOG PULLING, MAISIE PUSHING, THEY SET OFF.

Tinker, like all dogs, is always ready for a walk, so Maisie and her brother Jonah decide to go outside to see what they can see. And what they can see is wondrous!

Tinker trees a cat and they see a tree with pointed leaves, which become the ears of a multitude of cats. A border of tall blooms becomes a popsicle garden. A swooping bird's trajectory becomes a sliding board, and two rows of wet sheets blowing on two clotheslines become a secret tunnel. The dangling branches of a weeping willow become bell ropes to pull to begin a carillon of chiming bells.

"I HEAR IT!"

TING-A-LING. JINGLE...

BONG! BONG! BONG!"

The fluffy clouds are dinosaurs, and flower petals blowing in the spring winds becomes a flight of goldfish with fluffy fins and then falling orange snowflakes all around.

It's anything but a humdrum, everyday, walk-the-dog day when children let their imagination roam free as the spring winds, in Richard Jackson's joyful I See You See (Atheneum Books, 2021), illustrated magically by artist Patrice Barton. This one challenges youngsters to go outside and see what they can see. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A warm, quiet ode to imagination."

Smile, Darn Ya! Bunny Will Not Smile by Jason Tharp

"HEY THERE! MY NAME IS BIG"

"I HAVE A PROBLEM OVER HERE ON THE NEXT PAGE...

"BUNNY WILL NOT SMILE!"

Big Blue Bear is always trying to get Bunny to do stuff. And Bunny likes to say, "NOPE!"

Bear tries bribing Bunny with bunches and bunches of carrots. Bunny is apparently bored with bunches of carrots. So Big tries dressing up like a clown and making silly balloon people. Bunny is not amused. Bear tries boisterous busking with a rock band. Bupkis!

Bear has to bring in the experts. He challenges his readers to do something super silly.

"OKAY. GET IN REAL CLOSE SO BUNNY CANNOT HEAR!"

"I NEED YOU TO MAKE A SUPER SILLY FACE."

And Bear's readers are more than on board with that idea, and Bunny bursts into a big wide grin, in Jason Tharp's Ready to Read book, Bunny Will Not Smile!: Ready-to-Read Level 1 (Ready-to-Reads) (Simon Spotlight). Author-illustrator Tharp's interactive easy readers are certain to bring at least a smile to the kids who can read this one out loud when they see Big Blue Bear's selfie of himself and Bunny, both with big smiles. Check out Tharp's other Bear and Bunny book, Bunny Will Not Be Quiet! (Ready-to-Reads) and his latest, It's Okay to Be a Unicorn! and his silly skunk in It's Okay to Smell Good!

A World Away! Home Is In Between by Mitali Perkins

 

"GOODBYE HOME!" SHANTI WAVES TO WARM MONSOON RAINS AND TO THE GREEN PALM TREES OF HER VILLAGE.

In only one sleep and a long airplane ride, Shanti finds herself in what seems like another world, with cold rains and chilly winds scattering red and orange leaves from the trees and tall brick houses--a town where there is no one she knows. In her apartment, it's like the village they left behind, the same stories in Bangla and Mama's luchi for dinner, but outside in a restaurant, she must keep a napkin in her lap and her elbows off the table when she orders a bowl of macaroni and cheese. But her father's laugh is big, like always. Then, when they call their relatives at home, they are celebrating a holiday that the people in the new town don't know. In the new town the children are dressed in odd costumes and trick-or-treating, while Shanti only gives out candy at the door.

"NEXT YEAR, JOIN US," SAYS TONYA.

And at Christmas, Santa leaves a stocking for Shanti--at Tonya's house! Although it is a different kind of dance, Shanti joins Tonya at ballet class. Shanti watches Bollywood movies at home and Hollywood movies with Tonya and her friend Malcolm. And when it snows, Shanti and Tonya join Malcolm in his snow fort, throwing snowballs. One kid on the other team is impressed.

"YOU CAN THROW! DO YOU PLAY TEE BALL?"

"WHAT'S THAT?" ASKED SHANTI.

"BASEBALL, SILLY! WHERE ARE YOU FROM? MARS?"

Suddenly, Shanti is tired of being in between. Where does she belong? Where is home? She sleeps.

And when she wakes, she sees the same blue sky that is above the village and above the town. It's spring, with warm sun and green trees in the town.

And Shanti sees that she can be home wherever she is, in Mitali Perkins' sensitive story of an immigrant child learning to be at home wherever she is, Home Is in Between Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021).

It's a big world with many different places just a sleep and a short journey away, as portrayed by artist Lavanya Naidu's charming pictures of kids being kids on both side of the globe and the families that nurture them everywhere. Between them, artist and author give youngsters an idea of what it feels like to be the immigrant, the stranger in a strange land. Says School Library Journal, "This book can serve as either a validating mirror or an illuminating window. A warm read-aloud, it is a must-purchase for all picture book collections."

Making a Difference: Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Jeremy longs for those shoes--the cool black hightops with two wide white stripes--the kinds that the B-ball stars wear. They show up first in his class at school on just one boy--Brandon--and then on a lot of the other boys, who strut down the halls to the bathroom just to show them off. Brandon even brags that his shoes make him the fastest runner in the class.

Jeremy tells Grandmother that he wants those shoes.

"THERE'S NO ROOM FOR "WANT" AROUND HERE. JUST NEED," SHE SAYS. "WHAT YOU NEED IS NEW BOOTS FOR WINTER!"

Then one day at school one of Jeremy's old shoes fall apart in a kickball game, and the guidance counselor takes him down to the box of spare clothes, but the only shoes that fit him are like baby shoes, with Velcro instead of shoestrings and a cartoon animal on the sides. And when Jeremy comes back to class, all the boys in the class laugh, everyone except Antonio Parker.

"I'M NOT GOING TO CRY ABOUT ANY DUMB SHOES," JEREMY TELLS HIMSELF.

But Grandmother notices and and takes him downtown to search for the shoes he wants at the thrift stores. At the third store, Jeremy spots the perfect pair, brand new, and tries them on. There's barely room for his toes, but Jeremy laces them up happily. Grandmother is not fooled, so Jeremy buys the shoes with his own money--$2.50! A few days later, Grandmother puts a new pair of snow boots in his closet and says nothing about Jeremy's feet, already sporting several bandaids.

But Jeremy's sore feet force him back into the sneakers with the dumb cartoon. He notices that Antonio's shoes are mostly held together by tape. His feet are smaller than Jeremy's, and suddenly Jeremy knows what he has to do.

I RUN ACROSS THE STREET AND PUT THE SHOES IN FRONT OF ANTONIO'S DOOR, PUSH THE DOORBELL--AND RUN!"

One good turn deserves another in Maribeth Boelts' Those Shoes (Candlewick Press), and when the next day brings snow, Jeremy proudly pulls on his brand new boots, never worn by anyone! Author Boelts handles this story of shoe envy and product bullying with diplomacy and a touch of humorous irony as well, and artist Josh Z. Jones' artwork perfectly portrays the all-too-real feelings about footwear that elementary kids have. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Boelts blends themes of teasing, embarrassment and disappointment with kindness and generosity in a realistic interracial school scenario."

Not Feelin' Groovy! Pete the Kitty Goes to the Doctor by Kimberly and James Dean

PETE THE KITTY WAKES UP. IT'S TIME TO GO TO SCHOOL.

HE STRETCHES. OUCH!

Pete's dad comes in to see why he's not up.

"MY BELLY DOES NOT FEEL GROOVY," PETE SAYS.

Dad tells Pete to rest, and Pete soon feels a little better, so he gets out of bed to play with his trains. He's expecting a groovy day playing at home. But in a while Pete's dad comes back and tells him he has an appointment with the doctor. Now Pete has a tummyache and he's a little scared, too!

Dad tries to make him feel better.

"THE DOCTOR IS COOL. SHE IS NOT SCARY," DAD TELLS HIM ON THE WAY.

The doctor's waiting room has lots of cool, far-out toys to keep Pete busy. Soon the nurse comes to take him to the doctor's examination room, where she checks his temperature and looks in his ears and eyes with cool tools. She feels his tummy and then listens to his heart with a stethoscope and lets him listen to hers.

THE DOCTOR GAVE PETE A COOL STICKER!

It's all new and interesting to Pete, and he's glad when the doctor tells him he only needs to rest at home until he feels well, and sure enough, he soon does.

Dad knows best, in Kimberly and James Dean's Pete the Kitty Goes to the Doctor (My First I Can Read, a beginner reader than takes Pete to the doctor for an actual illness. A chance trip to the doctor for Pete serves as a vicarious experience to prepare real children for more than the routine "well-child examination," one in which they actually feel unwell and may fear what will happen in the medical office.

How Do We See The Sea? My Ocean Is Blue by Darren LeBeuf

What is the ocean? It's too big to be any one thing!

It's the rough wooden boardwalk, warming the girl's walk down to the beach. It's the warm brown sand where she and her mother spread their beach towel, their home base for the day.

THIS IS MY OCEAN.

The ocean is wide, spread across the horizon, but it can be as small as a handful of sea water with a tiny hermit crab in it. It is as dry as driftwood and as wet as a splash in her face as the girl and her mother play in the waves. It's as rotten as a dead fish at the high tide mark, or as fresh as the breeze over the sea oats. It is as sparkly as the sun on the water and as dull as the brown beach sand where she sketches an octopus.

MY OCEAN SPLASHES AND CRASHES AND ECHOES AND SQUAWKS!

Seagulls fuss and flap. There are dolphin smiles as they race with a boat, surfacing and diving. Meanwhile, a pelican facing into the wind on a post is still as still can be.

The ocean is as pink as a wet starfish, as orange as a rusty anchor, and as white as a sun-bleached seashell. But....

MY OCEAN IS MOSTLY BLUE, ENDLESS BLUE.

The ocean is many things, but mostly blue, in Darren LeBeuf's lovely little tone poem to a glorious day beside the sea, My Ocean Is Blue (Kids Can Press, 2020), portrayed with skill in Ashley Barron's mixed-media collaged illustrations, in a picture book that itself is a collage of sensations and feelings. Nothing is better than being a child on a day at the seashore, but this book will take parents reading it aloud down to the sea along with their children. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A joyful marine romp!"