Where the Heart Is: The House of Grass and Sky by Mary Lyn Ray

Once, out in the country, someone knew right where to build a house.

Inside it smelled of sunshine and new lumber. Outside it smelled of meadow grass and sky.

In a field of tall, waving grass there is a house, sturdy and plain, that shelters a family. In the grass a mother in a long white dress walks, with a black and white dog leading the way, while the father waves from the roof where he is repairing the chimney. Soon there are children, a girl with bare feet in a rope swing and a boy running with the dog. It is a a safe place to live and grow.

As years went by, other families came and went.

The house learned about babies growing up and birthday parties.

But one day the family loaded up the dog to drive away. They didn't come back. But other families with children came to swing in the swing and run through the grass. After a time, the families would drive away to stay.

A new family always came--until one didn't.

The house stood empty. It missed the children running through the house, laughing or whispering secrets. Seasons came and went. But...

. . . It knew a family would come.

But they didn't. The little white house sat empty, waiting. From time to time families would come to look and talk about how they would have to "add on" more rooms on the little house or how it was "too quiet" out there in its field of grass. Nobody came to stay. The house didn't want to be added on to!

And then one family with children drives up. They pick the dandelions in the field and find the swing and run whispering through the rooms.

Are they wishing what the house is wishing?

The heart of the house is the family who lives there, says noted author Mary Lyn Ray's just published The House of Grass and Sky (Candlewick Press, 2021). Ray's lovely new picture book, reminiscent of the spirit of Virginia Lee Burton's classic, Caldecott Award winner, The Little House 75th Anniversary Edition, celebrates how those lives are what makes a house a home. The lovely mixed media illustrations of artist E. B. Goodale evokes what a house means to a family who lives there, and also, what the family within means for a house.

Horn Book's reviewer says, "Ray’s quiet, eloquent text serves as a poignant meditation on appreciation: of the things we take for granted, the things we value most, and the things we cannot live without."

Tall Order! Go Be Wonderful! by Donna Gephart

WHEN DAISY WAS BORN, DADDY HELD HER CLOSE AND WHISPERED, "GO BE WONDERFUL."

AND SHE WAS.

A challenge to be wonderful is a tall order. But Daisy did all the baby things well. She cried and slept and ate, and inevitably, she came through. . . .

SHE WENT POO.

She giggled when Daddy played Peek-A Boo--every time, until one day she was one year old, and mommy sang...

"GO BE WONDERFUL!"

She gave her dog, Mr. Bonkers, a ride in her new truck, and dressed him up in a funny party hat, and performed in the pot-and-pan band for the party goers. On her second birthday, she got smooched by grandparents and fed Mr. Bonkers, and refused to go to bed until. . .

. . . after six drinks of water and seven stories and a big sloppy kiss from Mr. Bonkers, who was all too willing to sleep with her, she went to sleep!

And to celebrate her third birthday she finally rose to the challenge and used the potty!

Her fourth birthday was a piece of cake. She raked leaves and jumped into them with Mr. Bonkers.

Daisy met all requirements, hitting all the right marks to be wonderful. And then it was time to start to school! Everyone in the family--her parents and grandparents, three uncles and her neighbor, Ms. Myrna-- were all there with the same expectation.

DAISY WASN'T SURE SHE'D BE WONDERFUL AT SCHOOL!

What if she didn't know where to put her lunchbox? What if nobody would be her friend? What if she was homesick for Mr. Bonkers and cried in front of everyone?

WHAT IF SHE GOT LOST ON HER WAY TO THE BATHROOM?

Being wonderful is a tall order, but Daisy is well on her way, even on the first day of school, in Donna Gephart's brand-new birthday girl book, Go Be Wonderful! (Holiday House, 2021). In this exuberant celebration of the good times, the wonders of early childhood, author Gephart's gentle narration and artist Francesca Chessa's bright illustrations show the wonders of growing up in a warm family and neighborhood setting that nurtures childhood to be as wonderful as they can be.

Falling Apart: Stick With Me by Jennifer Blecher

Izzy and Phoebe had been best friends since their moms used to plop them down on the floor with squeeky toys so they could have some mom-talking time. But since mean-girl Daphne came into the picture, it seems Phoebe has no time for anyone else, certainly not Izzy. And to add to her gloom, there are those low-voiced conversations between her Izzy's mom and dad, always about money. Or not enough of it.

So much for Best Friends Forever and Happy Ever After.

Then Mom announces she's signed up with "Vacation Rentals" to make some extra money, and Izzy learns that Mom is "decorating" the upper floor of the garage, not to rent out to people to stay in while they visit nearby Boston, but for her family to stay in while the vacationers take over the house. Mom is thrilled with her first rental, a couple with a preschooler who need surgery in nearby Boston, and Mom adds, they have a daughter just Izzy's age who is a serious ice skater. Mom points out that Izzy used to love skating. And that's not all! For winter break, she's signed up Izzy and the skater for Theatre Camp together, where Phoebe and Daphne will doubtless be the leading ladies. Thanks, Mom, Izzy thinks.

The idea of staying in a small-town bed-and-breakfast doesn't please Wren either. She NEEDS the school break to prepare for the regionals, to work on her double lutzes with her trainer every day, not play "Let's Put On A Show" with a bunch of strangers. But at the first day of drama camp, Izzy and Wren hit it off; Wren is sharp enough to recognize Phoebe and Daphne's mean-girl tactics right away, and Izzy agrees to show her the local pond that may be frozen over enough for skating. Still, it's tense time for both families, and, with the example of her ex-BFF, Izzy is slow to warm to the purpose-driven Wren, who's not exactly thrilled with spending her practice time in a town too tiny to have an ice rink. And when she quarrels with her parents and with Izzy, Wren decides to take things into her own hands, and skates in hand, slips off in the twilight toward Willowy Pond.

Wren reached her left toe pick into the ice. It went deeper than she expected. The crack ran from the entry point of her toe pick to a few feet away. She lowered her body to the ice to distribute her weight. Its cracks splintered and grew. But it held. For now.

Wren didn't have a phone. Maybe her mom would call her name and realize she wasn't home. Or maybe not.

That was only half the problem. The other half was that nobody knew where she was.

But when Izzy hears that Wren is missing, she knowsinstantly where she must be.

A friend in need is a friend indeed, in Jennifer Blecher's taut tale of friendship found, as Izzy manages to get her new friend to safety, in Stick With Me (Greenwillow Books, 2020). Author Blecher is skilled with writing about the ups and downs of tweener novels, and this one appeals especially to the troubled re-alignments of friendship that middle graders face.

Says School Library Journal, "Blecher has a clear gift for writing about young girls who live on social margins, and the particular struggle of wanting to belong while staying faithful to one's self. Izzy and Wren are relatable heroines with flaws, impulses, and dreams that will resonate with young readers."

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!

The Homecoming: The Vandeerbeekers Lost and Found by Karina Yan Glaser

"WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?" LANEY ASKED.

ISA ROCKED HER BACK AND FORTH. "I DON'T KNOW. IT DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT, DOES IT?"

When big sister Isa discovers clothes neatly folded and hidden in the storage building in the community garden, she realizes someone has been sleeping in the chilly shed, and she names him the P.M., for "Person of Mystery." Isa secretly begins to leave food there every night, but when six-year-old Laney discovers a secret, everyone in their multi-racial, multi-pet family is soon in on it. Then Isa's twin Jessie overhears a conversation between their elderly neighbor, Miss Josie and her great-nephew Orlando, Jessie's special friend. Orlando is explaining that he didn't call Miss Jessie back because his phone suddenly stopped working. Orlando's mother has disappeared again, and Miss Josie tells Orlando his mother wants him to go back Georgia until she returns, unless...

"UNLESS WHAT...?" ORLANDO ASKS.

"UNLESS YOU WANT TO STAY HERE. WITH US. PERMANENTLY."

Now Jessie guesses who the P.M. is, and of course, the Vanderbeeker kids get involved, as they always do. Their parents find out that Orlando's mother stopped paying rent before she left, and Orlando was evicted. Telling no one, he's kept going to school and sleeping in the garden shed. For one thing, Orlando feels responsible to their formerly reclusive upstairs neighbor, Mr. Beiderman, who is training with him to run in the New York Marathon, and to his friends on the cross-country running team, and he really doesn't want to go back to Georgia to live with another great aunt. But when Miss Josie's elderly husband, Mr. Jeet, takes a turn for the worst and dies, things become even more complicated. Miss Josie learns that she cannot be Orlando's guardian because she has only one bedroom in her apartment, and of course the Vanderbeeker's apartment is full, with ten-year-old Oliver sleeping in what is really a large closet as it is.

It all comes to a climax when, on the day of the Marathon, Jessie finds a note from Orlando, saying he's fulfilled his promise to Mr. Beiderman and doesn't want to burden everyone else and has taken the early bus to Georgia. In a flurry of Vanderbeeker activity, word is passed through the runners in the race to Mr. Beiderman, who makes an on-the-spot decision and then a phone call.

"THAT'S MY TRAVEL AGENT! SHE'S GOING TO GET US ON A FLIGHT THAT LEAVES AT THREE THIRTY. OKAY WITH YOU?" HE ASKS JESSIE.

THE VANDERBEEKERS WERE STUNNED. THEIR NEIGHBOR, WHO ONLY A FEW YEARS BEFORE REFUSED TO LEAVE HIS APARTMENT, HAS A TRAVEL AGENT?

Mr. Beiderman and Jessie make their plane to Atlanta just as the cabin doors are about to be closed, and all's well that ends well for Mr. Beiderman, who does have a second bedroom and decides to become Orlando's guardian, and for Miss Josie, and the Vanderbeekers, who welcome their young friend home at last, in Karina Yan Glaser's fourth book in series, The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020).

And that's just ONE of the plotlines is this latest novel for middle readers from the popular Vanderbeeker series. With a lively family of kids originally ranging in age from five to thirteen, loving parents, and a lively, close-knit urban setting, there's something for a wide range of readers in these upbeat stories of modern family life. (See all reviews here.)

A child once wrote to the beloved children's author Beverly Cleary, sayiing she liked the way her books were "happy-sad," and Karina Yan Glaser's Vanderbeeker stories have that quality, too. And for fans of the Vanderbeeker family, I recommend another series of the adventures of a large family, beginning with The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy.

Teach Your Children Well: Watercress by Andrea Wang

WE ARE IN THE OLD PONTIAC, THE RED PAINT FADED BY YEARS OF GLINTING OHIO SUN. THE CORNSTALKS MAKE LINES ZIGZAGGING ACROSS THE HORIZON.

"LOOK!"MY MOM SHOUTS--AND THE CAR COMES TO AN ABRUPT STOP.

"WATERCRESS!" THEIR VOICES ARE HEAVY WITH MEMORY.

The boy and girl in the car look at each other, while from deep in the trunk, their parents pull a paper bag and a pair of rusty scissors. Mom and Dad tell them to take off their socks and shoes and help them gather some strange green plants growing in the murky water in the ditch beside the road. It's called "watercress" in English, and it's something they remember eating in China.

The girl hates the cold water in the ditch, the mud squishing up between her toes, and pulling the soggy plants, some with tiny snails still clinging to them, out of the water and stuffing them into the bag. Their outing is forgotten as her parents happily load up their find and head for home to wash and cook their prize. The girl sulks to herself in the back seat with her brother.

ON THE DINNER TABLE THAT NIGHT IS A DISH OF WATERCRESS, GLISTENING WITH GARLICKY OIL AND FRECKLED WITH SESAME SEEDS.

THE MUD AND SNAILS ARE lONG GONE, BUT I STILL DON'T WANT TO EAT IT, THE GIRL THINKS.

Her parents point out that the watercress is fresh and free.

I SHAKE MY HEAD. FREE IS BAD. "I ONLY WANT TO EAT VEGETABLES FROM THE STORE," I SAID.

Mom sadly gets up and returns with an unfamiliar photo of her family--her parents with her and a younger brother.

"DURING THE FAMINE WE ATE ANYTHING WE COULD FIND. . . BUT IT WAS NOT ENOUGH," MOM SAID.

The girl is silent as she realizes that their mother's little brother must have died of starvation in the famine.

I LOOK AT THE DISH ON THE TABLE, AND I AM ASHAMED.

TOGETHER WE EAT IT ALL AND MAKE NEW MEMORIES OF WATERCRESS.

Andrea Wang's Watercress (Holiday House, 2021) is a poignant reminder that family stories matter, that we are all alive and here because of those who came before, and that there is an almost sacred meaning to the food that they provide to nurture us to live and grow. Wang's family story is especially relevant to recent immigrants, but all of us have ancestors whose struggles, however long ago, made our lives possible. Caldecott-winning artist Jason Chin provides the gentle realistic illustrations, justaposing the first generation children and their immigrant parents with the robust American corn in the field and the delicate wild plant on its own in the wayside, which remind us of all that sustains us.

Says Booklist, "The story reveals the chasms that can separate first-generation immigrant parents from their Americanized children and how confronting past traumas from another country and time can bring a family closer together. Chin’s illustrations masterfully bring to life the vast cornfields and colors of rural America."

Loyal to the List: 13 and 3/4: Friendship List #4 by Lisa Greenwald

Everyone needs to have at least one person in his or her life who makes them feel like everything is right in the world even if it's not. Just one person.

Best friends Ari and Kaylan are anxious about their upcoming school year and all the changes that will bring.

But for their summer, they've chosen separate summer camps again, Ari at Camp Silver, where her little sister Gemma is also going, and Kaylan back at Comedy Arts camp. They have friends from the previous year, and even special boys, Golfy and Otis, who will be there. How will that turn out? they worry. Will everyone have changed over the school year?

Kaylan has cold feet about it all.

"I don't want to be thirteen and three-quarters. It's too hard.

I want to be little, still. Little forever."

As since the summer before sixth grade, the two turn to making The List for the summer to guide them. Of course, #1 is "Keeping Their Friendship Strong" "Write Each Other Once a Week," and "Make A Time Capsule of Our Lives at Exactly 13 3/4 and Bury It." But the other items they come up with are special to their camps. Some are serious, like "Make a Difference," "Keep a Gratitude Journal" and "Help a Young Camper Start Their Own List," and some are silly camp things like "Master the Art of Tie Dye," "Help Two Counselors Fall in Love," "Sneak Out at Night," and especially, "Do Something Daring."

Some of the things on the list work out. After several weeks of what seems like constant weeping, Ari's little sister suddenly begins to love being away at Camp Silver. Kaylan and her Improv partner crack up even their fellow Comedy campers, but Kay suffers through Family Day with both her mother and her dad with "his person" both attending. Golfy and Otis give them their first real kisses. But when Ari and Golfy sneak out after curfew on their "dare to be daring" goal to drive a camp golf cart (Golfy's idea), they are caught and face the possibility of being unable to return to camp again--ever.

Ari and Kaylan have a lot to share with each other when they return home. School looms just ahead, and they feel both excitement and sadness as they say goodbye to their thirteenth year and bury their Time Capsule together.

The best friends realize that things are changing fast, and that they, too, are changing, but they are still grateful to have each other.

"The whole world is like a narrow bridge. But the most important thing is not to be afraid."

In her fourth book in her Friendship List series, Lisa Greenwald's Friendship List 4: 13 and 3/4 (Katherine Tegin Books, 2020) follows close on the heels of her third, Friendship List 3: 13 and Counting, and join her Friendship List 1: 11 Before 12 and Friendship List 2: 12 Before 13, (see my reviews here. Greenwald has a good ear for the voice of middle-class middle school girls in a time of life in which the change from childhood to young adult comes all too fast for them, a time when the ground beneath their feet seems to constantly shifting. Although Ari and Kaylan have comparatively comfortable lives, they face difficult situations with their parents' marriages, shifting peer relationships, sibling problems, the health of aged relatives, and with their own friendship which they must navigate, knowing when to be (or not to be) "loyal to the list," as they make their way through the changes of early adolescence.

Says author Lauren Myracle, "Brilliant, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and heartbreaking (in a good way)."

Coming Home: Leonard (My Life As A Cat) by Carlie Sorosiak

This was not the way it was supposed to go!

It's unclear when things started to go wrong. Perhaps it was when I began to sprout a tail....

I was a cat, crashing into North America. Faster, faster, landing paws-first in a tree. And what a sensation--to feel.

For almost three hundred years, I had wished for hands. Humans might take these things for granted, but I promised myself, centuries ago, that I would not. It was so tremendously exciting, as I hitched a ride on that beam of light. This trip to Earth was about discovery. And I was ready. I chose the most magnificent creature on Earth: the common human--a national park ranger.

But instead of a ranger in Yellowstone National Park, the space traveler finds himself a cat, being rescued from a tropical storm in Turtle Beach, South Carolina, saved from drowning by a smallish girl in a yellow slicker, proving her claim to be a Girl Scout by grabbing the scruff of his neck and pulling him to safety.

Glimpsing a human up close was something like a miracle.

Olive, too, is not exactly where she would have chosen to be. Her mom has parked her for the summer with a grandmother she hardly knows while she and her fiance' head west to find a new home for all three of them in California--where Olive doesn't want to be. It's hard enough not fitting in with kids she's always known, and she has no idea what kind of creatures California middle school kids will be.

But Olive explains to her grandma Norma that she couldn't let the cat drown, and the once incorporeal being begins getting used to a real body--with a tail he didn't quite know what to do with--and the strange feeling of affection he feels for the the girl who saved him, the girl that seems to understand and want to care for him. Humans are both like and unlike the ones in "I Love Lucy" or "Dora the Explorer" that he had studied before. Olive helps him get used to a dish with crunchy things to eat (eating was new) and his own litter box (another very new experience) and a collar and leash so she can take him everywhere she goes. She begins to tell him all about everything, and he realizes that on earth, there is both the feeling of touch and personal feelings--fears, hopes, love. She even gives him a name--Leonard. How she knew he wanted a yellow raincoat like hers, he doesn't know, but she ordered it for him. She takes him to the aquarium where Norma and her friend Q work, and Leonard knows just the way to call the penguins, and Olive begins to suspect that he is no ordinary cat. And when she falls asleep with her laptop open and on, Leonard decides to type a message to tell her what he really is.

"I am an alien."

Leonard confesses how he came to be a cat in a storm-tossed tree in South Carolina instead of a ranger at Yellowstone Park, and he has to tell her that he must be there, beside the geyser Old Faithful at just the right instant in a month if he is ever to return to his own helium planet and re-claim his immortality as member of his Hive. Olive is both amazed and sad at the thoughts of losing Leonard, but she promises to try to come up with some way to get him to the right spot to return to his own place in space. In the days it takes Olive to persuade Norma and her friend Q to drive them to Yellowstone, Leonard has the surprising experience of enjoying everything he does. Even the long car ride--that most human of trips--the roadside cafes where they eat pancakes, the long dark nights of driving through rainstorms, the camping out under the trees and skies, and the feeling of being part of a sort of family is wonderful. Leonard knows that Norma and Q's making the drive straight through from South Carolina to Wyoming come out of their love for Olive, and that Olive, who loves him deeply, deeply enough to make him a Yellowstone Ranger's badge for his raincoat, enough to do everything to help him go back, is doing it all because she loves him.

"I realize that even though I've lived in a different body, I have really and truly lived."

Leonard realizes that as a mortal, even a cat, he can make a choice. As he nears Old Faithful, he hears the Hive counting down to activate his energy beam.

THREE, TWO....

Which way is home?

In a unusual fantasy filled with pathos and humor, Carlie Sorosiak's just published novel, Leonard (My Life as a Cat) (Walker Books, 2021) is about how and what it is to be mortal, from the tap of beginning raindrops, sunshine on shoulders, the surge of the ocean, the touch of a hand, and the love they are capable of sharing, even with a supposed stray cat. In a parallel with Olive, who has to choose to stay with Norma or go to California, Leonard has to decide to forfeit the immortality of the mind-meld of the Hive for the mortal life in the deep relationship of belonging in a impromptu family. What is it to be a mortal creature in the one part of the world he can call home? Young readers will love Leonard, alien or mortal, and also feel the warmth of love and place in this genuinely moving, very human science fiction novel.

Writes Kirkus Reviews, "A comforting read about connection and compassion."

Moments to Remember! A Year of Everyday Wonders by Cheryl B. Klein

First Wake-Up of the Year.

It's Janaury 1. The tree outside the sleepy girl's window is leafless, as dry leaves drift by, blown by a wintry wind. Dad escorts her sleepy older brother, still in his PJs, toward the kitchen, where New Year's waffles are on the menu. Soon her brother is awake and flipping a piece of waffle her way from a spoon, for their First Fuss of the year.

The First Snow follows, with the First Snow Day, and as soon as the two kids suit up, the First Snowball Fight occurs, just before the First Hot Chocolate of the Year.

Soon comes the First Valentine, a heart of red jam on her toast created by Mom. It's winter, so of course there's the First Sneeze, made more significant by the boy who smiles as he offers her his box of tissues, and she has her First Crush. Then, snow becomes rain, and she gets her First Umbrella, which is blown inside out in the March wind, to be followed by her Second Umbrella.

And then come the First Green Buds on the trees, the First Missed Bus, with the 97th Fuss of the year with her brother. There's her First Haircut, given by herself, and almost immediately the Second Haircut at the barber's. Along with warmer weather comes the First Ice Cream Cone, the First Beach Trip, followed immediately by the First Sunburn and the first Splash Battle. There are July 4 First Sparklers, and summer ends with the First Family Reunion and the First Exploding Cola Bottle assembled by the cousins.

All too soon it's that time, with her First New Teacher and Second Crush, the First Golden Leaves, and her Last Costume Cape on Halloween. And before they know it, there is a Snow Day and First Snowman, and another Snow Day, and another, and another, which prompts her 284th Fuss with her brother, and then it's time to sing her First "Silent Night" with the others, followed almost immediately by the Last Week, the Last Day, and the Last Stories and bedtime kiss on the Last Night of the Year/

But there's always the First Day of the next year with waffles, as true to form, her brother launches a chunk off his spoon at her--and perhaps fires off a New First Fuss for the New Year, in Cheryl B. Klein's A Year of Everyday Wonders (Abrams, 2020).

Essential to this book of few words are artist Qin Leng's affectionately humorous illustrations of the two kids making their way through a year made memorable by all the nostalgia-inducing sorts of things that adults fondly recall. Each event is given a page or double-page spread with plenty of details to induce page perusals. Told in vignettes of rather ordinary events, all together this picture book creates a moving but joyful tableau of days that all too soon become years past. Says School Library Journal's starred review, "Leng's effortless watercolor and ink illustrations pair with Klein's spare words on every page, showing the significance of everyday moments as the young girl grows and spends time with her family... Through detailed visual elements, this quietly delightful picture book speaks to the potential treasure of small moments in childhood."

Hair Today, Hair Tonight! The Bedtime Bonnet by Nancy Reed

IN MY FAMILY, WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN, OUR HAIR GOES UP!

Everyone in the family has a special bedtime hair routine to help them look good in the morning. Daddy covers his hair with a wave cap. Sis winds her hair around in a tall updo. Grandma rolls her hair up on big curlers all over her head. Big Brother winds his locs tight and ties a durag over them. Mom pulls hers up high and wraps a scarf all around it.

GRANDPA DOESN'T DO ANYTHING TO HIS HAIR--BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY!

Grandpa does, however, have hair jokes:

"WHY DOES THE BEE HAVE STICKY HAIR?"

"BECAUSE HE USES A HONEYCOMB!"

And then it is time for the younger sister to get her night-do. She sits still while her mom braids her hair up into a crown. Now it's time to put on her bedtime bonnet. But where can it be? She can't go to bed without it!

IT'S AS IMPORTANT AS BRUSHING MY TEETH! SHE FRETS.

There's a full-court search for the bonnet! Everyone looks everywhere, except for Grandpa, reading behind his newspaper and Big Brother who strolls in with a smug look on his face.

"ASK GRANDPA!" HE SUGGESTS.

The frantic quest for the bedtime bonnet ends with a big laugh when Grandpa pops out from behind his paper wearing the poofy, flowery bed bonnet, in Nancy Reed's unusual bedtime story, Bedtime Bonnet (Random House, 2020). In this humorous tale of hair care, Nancy Reed's sweet family story joins the genre which must have begun with Rapunzel! Reed's latest is in fetching style with the charming illustrations of Nneka Myers, and with this story joins the ranks of notable and laughable tales of living with those locks. (For more funny hair stories, read my reviews here).

All Together Now! Cat Dog Dog--A Story of a Blended Family by Nelly Buchet

What happens when a man with a shaggy, set-in-his-only-dog ways terrier moves in with a lady with an orange cat and a giant great Dane dog? Can the pampered pets work out some sort of accommodation? Leaving his bachelor pad behind, the man loads a box of his belongings and (ahem) several boxes of terrier toys and his pet's canopied doggy bed into a rented van and drives over hill and dale. Meanwhile the lady waits on the porch of her suburban bungalow with a persnickety cat and towering big dog, who already have their own issues.

All three pets have NO IDEA what is about to unfold! And as the two humans unpack all the boxes and put things in their places, the cat, dog, and dog start their first day with a multiple-pet shakedown. Right away, one of the dogs (whowill remain anonymous) chews a hole in a box and a hole in one of the shoes inside. There are assorted territory disputes, especially between the cat and terrier, who do not share beds and toys and bowls well. Walking two dogs is not a walk in the park, since each wants to go a different direction. Then there's the problem of who gets to sleep with the humans! There is, however, a bonding experience, as the cat, watching a bird outside on the sill, unlatches the window and all three pets escape. What happens? (Don't ask!)

The upshot of the little adventure is not pleasant, with bandages on legs and tails and cones on all the pets' heads for a period of quiet co-convalescence. But after that little sortie, the three seem to have worked out their pecking order. The two dogs play tug-of-war for the cat's amusement, and a change in the seasons shows all three in Halloween costumes, then watching the first snowfall through a (well-secured) window, and finally all three sharing the big dog's bed before a roaring Yuletide fire. The happy blend of pets ends well in a calm and placid home until... there's someone new added... A BABY!

Waaaaaaw! Who can sleep? Nelly Buchet's charming new title, Cat Dog Dog: The Story of a Blended Family (Schwartz and Wade, 2020), tells a hilarious and happy-ending story with a vocabulary of four words (five if you count dog two times), DOG, CAT,BIRD, and a FROG (who makes a cameo appearance in the front yard) that illustrates the old nostrum, "It takes a lot of living to make a house a home," and ends cheerily with dog and cat chasing the big dog with a Teddy bear in his mouth, as they exit, page right. Much credit for the success of this pettour de force goes to artist Andrea Zuill, whose illustrations tell the tale with great good humor. This new picture book from Buchet is a delight to read aloud to a child or for said child to use the limited text and many jolly details to enjoy the book solo and successfully! Among almost wordless books this one is a standout. Says Kirkus in their starred review,"A clever, winning readaloud for modern families!"

All Together Now: The Blue Table by Chris Raschka

It's a simple, bare, oval table and then a vase with one flower is added. And then a small glass of milk is added, for...

--A CHILD....

.... followed by a crayon, a piece of paper for drawing, and a glass of milk, all for one child.

And then the table has first one cup of coffee for one parent...

AND ANOTHER...

... an added parent and another cup of coffee, and a bowl of sugar for the coffee.

... A spot of breakfast and then the table is cleared for list-making. Something is underway.

Soon on the blue table are things...from the...

...GARDEN...

,,,Just-pulled carrots and just-dug potatoes are peeled and cut up, and then... more things, from the ...

...STORE...

A big meal is clearly underway as lemons and husks of corn and a turkey appear, hustled off to be cooked, succeeded by butter and apples from the farm being sliced up, and a just-rolled-out piecrust which follows. Someone fills the vase with fresh flowers, and the blue table is wiped clean and the extra leaf is inserted into the middle.

Clearly there are guests expected--as the table is set with sunny yellow plates, shiny cutlery, and a candelabra, and loaded with food and drink for what looks like a family of friends, as a special dinner gets underway around the blue table.The table is the center of the home in Chris Raschka's brand-new The Blue Table (Greenwillow Books, 2020).

Two-time Caldecott Award-winning artist Raschika knows how to say a lot with a little, in spare text in which his watercolor and collage illustrations speak volumes to young readers about family celebrations around an iconic table. Youngsters will enjoy deducing much about the diners from the things that appear on the table, evoking the deeper meaning of preparing a festive meal for another family around the table on those special times when we come together. Says Kirkus in a starred review, "A charming and cozy celebration of the places and routines that anchor and connect us.”

"Tis the Season to Be Jolly! Merry Christmas, Peppa (Peppa Pig) by Melanie McFadyen

IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY!

PEPPA AND HER FAMILY ARE OPENING THEIR PRESENTS!

But Peppa is so excited that she forgets to be careful and takes a tumble when she steps on a new toy car!

Oww! Her arm really hurts!

Mama has to telephone Dr. Bear, who recommends a trip to the hospital for an X-ray There Peppa is surprised.

THE HOSPITAL IS ALL CHRISTMAS-Y!

Peppa's X-ray shows no bones broken! The nurse even gives her a sticker for being brave.

And then Peppa gets a really big surprise. It's Father Christmas right there--in the hospital with presents and a party for all the kids.

Peppa always loves Christmas...

EVEN IF IT'S AT THE HOSPITAL!

With its sparkly cover and lots of Christmas-y decor inside, Merry Christmas, Peppa! (Peppa Pig 8x8) (Scholastic Press, 2019) has a different but just as jolly Peppa story for the holiday season. Share this one along with Christmas with Peppa (Peppa Pig: Board Book) and Peppa Pig and the Lost Christmas List.

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.

Call Me Loved! Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela had a long name. Too long, if you asked her.

"My name is too long, Daddy. It never fits!" said Alma.

Alma is small and her name is so long. But Daddy has a story to tell her about her name.

"Sofia was your grandmother," he began. "She loved books, poetry, flowers, and, of course, me.

"She was the one who taught me to read!"

Alma loves to read. She loves all those things and her Daddy, too.

"I am SOFIA," she says proudly.

And then Daddy tells her about her great grandmother Esperanza who longed to travel and about her Grandfather Jose' who was an artist and took him on long walks, and about her great great aunt Pura, who believed that the spirits of their ancestors were with them. And he tells her of Candela, her mother's mother.

"She always stood up for what is right!" Daddy says.

"And you are the first and only Alma." said Daddy.

And Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose'Pura Candela is ready to write her own story, one that fits her, in Juana Martinez-Neal's 2019 Caldecott Honor Medal-winning Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press). As poet Walt Whitman said, "I contain multitudes." So do we all, and Alma's long name fits her and Auntie Pura was right: her ancestors are with her as she writes her full name and begins her own history just as they did. For people who may know something about their own roots, Martinez-Pura gets it just right, and her warm and charming graphite and colored pencil illustrations tell the story graphically for young readers. Says Publishers Weekly, "It’s an origin story that envelops readers like a hug."

Independence Day! My Fourth of July by Jerry Spinelli

NOISE!I wake up! I rush to the window.
Parade! Drums! Cymbals!
It's the best day of all--
The Fourth of July!

The boy rushes downstairs, just as his mom takes a pie out of the oven, and races out the door in his pajamas to march along with the band. He gets to sprinkle paprika on the tray of deviled eggs and helps dad load his red wagon with their picnic goodies (and a surprise box of chocolate-covered strawberries).

"Don't forget the pie!"

(I'm in charge of not forgetting!)

Finally ... out the door!

At the town park they dance to the band, eat and eat, and the boy and a friend join in waving at a passing train decorated with bunting, fall giggling, flat on their faces in the sack race, sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of the band, and visit the monkeys at the zoo....

We cook our hot dogs on the grill in the gazebo. I like mine with black stripes.

Then as the sun sinks behind the trees' cool shadows, the boy finishes the last deviled egg and helps his parents clean up, and then they head for the baseball field for the best part of the day. He and his little dog almost fall asleep on the tablecloth in the red wagon as he waits, until--

A thump in the dark... a sudden umbrella of lights...
five thousand faces aglow...

FIREWORKS!

My eyes cannot hold the wonders I see.
My heart is cheering.

Newbery Award-winning Jerry Spinelli's My Fourth of July (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2019), is a series of literary snapshots, perfectly executed in the happy full-page illustrations of Larry Day, of an idyllic Independence Day celebration, a day with not a hint of sunburn, or upset stomachs, or cranky kids (or dads), in a portrayal of the holiday in a classic small town, with a bandstand with Dixieland music for dancing, a zoo with giraffes looking over the fence, a duck pond, tree-shaded fields with room for checked picnic cloths and folding chairs, and a grassy ballpark just right for watching fireworks lying on your back--just the way the Fourth should be celebrated. Not all July 4 observations share all these joys, but as a modern but nostalgically old fashioned Fourth, this lovely book makes a great read-aloud for sharing.

Staff of Life! Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard

FRY BREAD IS FOOD.

Fry bread, usually associated with Native American people, was born of government subsidies of commodities like white flour, salt, oils, and white sugar, but it is like many of the ancient breads of humankind, simple mixtures of grain and liquid cooked by people without ovens to bake the standard oblong we call "bread."

Fry bread is the first cousin of many breads--the tortilla of the Southwest, the hoecake of the South, the Johnnycake or "journey cake,"of the American pioneer, the ubiquitous crepe, the na'an of Asia, the pita of the Middle East, the sailor's hardtack, even the pigkeeper's wife's hlaf that King Alfred of Wessex famously let burn on the fire stone. Made from many ground grains, leavened or unleavened, they are the historic "staff of life," the daily bread of all of us, round like the sun and like the earth that grew it.

There are many recipes, some puffy and risen with baking powder and yeast, some thin and flexible, some sweet and some grainy, sometimes brown, sometimes white, sometimes tan.

FRY BREAD IS HISTORY.

It is a bread of necessity....

THE LONG WALK, THE STOLEN LAND, PLACES WE CALL HOME.

FRY BREAD IS NATION.

It takes a mother or a nana, plenty of kids to fetch and stir and eat, a meal for a family, and someone to grow it, to make it all together, in Kevin Noble Maillard's multiple award-winning Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Roaring Brook Press, 2019), in which the author's lyric text and Juana Martinez-Neal's soft pencil and acrylic illustrations bespeak the universal aspects of breadmaking and sharing. Recipes for several sorts of fry breads are included and illustrated.

"Fry bread becomes a metaphor for resilience. born ironically; Fry Bread celebrates the thing itself and much, much more . . . . Maillard and Martinez-Neal bring depth, detail, and whimsy to this Native American food story, with text and illustrations depicting the diversity of indigenous peoples, the role of continuity between generations, and the adaptation over time of people, place, and tradition.” writes Booklist.

The Duo Does It All! The Two and Only Kelly Twins by Johanna Hurwitz

Arlene Kelly and Ilene Kelly were sisters. In fact, they were identical twins. That meant they looked exactly alike.

But there was one difference. Arlene had been born at 11:55 P.M. on July 17, and Ilene had been born at 12:03 A.M.on July 18.

"We must be the only identical twins who have different birthdays," said Arlene.

Despite that one difference, they were very much alike. They both liked the same clothes and colors, so they had identical outfits to wear for every day. But then, on their not-quite identical seventh birthdays, they didn't have identical choices for a pet.

"I want a kitten," said Arlene.

"I want a puppy," said Ilene.

The disagreement went unresolved until one night Dad brings home a box from work--with two ferrets inside. They look exactly alike, so that even the twins can't tell them apart. They name them Frankie and Fannie Ferret, and of course the ferrets are identical, too.

But when school starts, the twins discover that they are no longer so special. There are now triplets in second grade--two identical twin girls named Claudia and Roberta Best and a brother named Simon Best. Roberta boasts that they are the "Best identicals" ever.

Ilene is so annoyed with Roberta that she makes up an identical triplet, too, covering her story by saying their identical sister Marlene goes to a different school for young geniuses. But the twins soon see that keeping up their cover story is going be hard, and after one playdate when Ilene has to be pretend being both herself and "Marleen," the twins finally agree to confess their "joke" to the Bests.

When Halloween rolls around, naturally Ilene and Arlene both want to dress as witches. But the moms with the kids on their block decide to split the trick-or-treaters into two groups, so the twins go separate ways. And then, on their second street Arlene runs into a problem at every house.

"You have enough!" said one lady.

"You again? Don't be so piggy!" said a teenaged girl.

Being identical twins in the same costume can be a problem. But when Arlene wakes up with appendicitis in the middle of the night, Ilene has to go it alone at school and at karate class all week, and finds that it's not altogether a bad thing. Dressing alike and fooling people is fun, but sometimes it's easier to make new friends as just yourself, as both girls learn during their separation, in veteran author Johanna Hurwitz's first in her new beginner chapter book series,The Two and Only Kelly Twins (Candlewick Press, 2018). For double the fun, pair this one with Hurwitz's companion chapter book, Double or Nothing with the Two and Only Kelly Twins. Says School Library Journal, "This gentle twin story explores big questions about identity in an approachable way for budding chapter book readers."

Anger Management: Ravi's Roar by Tom Percival

Ravi was the smallest in his family...

... even Biscuits the dog seemed bigger.

When the family sets off on a picnic, Ravi finishes last in the run to the train. And that means he has to share a seat with Dad and Biscuits. When his brothers and sister play hide-and-seek, he's too short to spot anyone.

He can't reach the climbing bars and he's too small for the Big slide. Ravi is getting angry!

Dad tries to cool his ire by suggesting ice cream cones for all. His big brothers and sisters run to the ice cream vendor. So when Ravi and Dad got there...

... there was NONE left!

Ravi had HAD it!

Ravi was FURIOUS!

He sprouted sharp pointy teeth,and stripy orange fur!

Ravi ...

ROARED!

His big brother gingerly handed over his ice cream cone. Everyone else got out of his way!

Ravi liked having the power of a tiger. He did anything he wanted. He slid down the BIG slide and nobody said anything. He liked being a scary tiger! But then Ravi noticed no one would come near him.

There wasn't anyone who dared to play with him! Now what?

This might be a good time to say SORRY, in Tom Percival's Ravi's Roar (Big Bright Feelings) (Bloomsbury Books, 2019), in which Ravi is frightened by his own temper and takes charge of his own inner tiger when it comes to taming tantrums. Author-illustrator Tom Percival skillfully portrays the power of Ravi's understandable anger, while showing the potential harm of a tantrum, along with the loving support of his family, while reserving a small growl for the occasional bully.

Share this one with Percival's other funny but sensitive books in this series, Ruby Finds a Worry (Big Bright Feelings) and Perfectly Norman. (Big Bright Feelings)

Rescue Dog! MVP--Most Valuable Puppy by Mike Greenberg and Stacy Greenberg

Hi! My name is Phoebe.

I like tummy scratches, cheese, tennis balls, and eating crumbs that fall from the table.

Obviously, Phoebe is a dog, a fluffy white doodle dog whose perky, woolly tale is a bright shade of pink to match her collar. She loves treat time and TV time, but...

"More than anything I love my family."

Phoebe loves to go to the park with her "sister," the girl in the family whose pink glasses match Phoebe's tail. And one day when all the kids invite the girl to join in a game of football, Phoebe decides to join the game, too, and the kids cheer. After all, she's watched enough gameplay on the tube to know how to move the ball down the field. And Phoebe is even better at soccer, where her speed and agility come in handy in guarding the ball downfield.

SCORE!

Phoebe wins the title of "Most Valuable Player" for the game, and when her "sister" takes a tumble, Phoebe is right there with sympathetic tail wags, in sportscaster Mike Greenberg's picture book illustrated by his wife, graphic artist Stacy Greenberg, MVP: Most Valuable Puppy (Aladdin Books, 2018), based on this own family's story and pets. Games, kids, and a fun-loving labradoodle! What's not to like in this sunny story of a day in the park. Kirkus Reviews says, "Phoebe and her best friend score a touchdown with this groundbreaking pairing of a sports-minded girl and her dog."