Who's That Brave Girl? Out Into The Big Wide Lake by by Paul Harbridge

THERE WAS A KNOCK AT A DOOR. KATE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO OPEN IT--EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS BIG NOW.

THE DOOR OPENED. A BIG WOMAN STOOD THERE! "GRANDMA!" CRIED KATE AND RAN TO THE DOOR.

Kate's dad says that Grandma wants her to come and stay with her for the summer, like her big sister has done already.

"BUT KATE...?"

"WHY NOT? GIVE HER A CHANCE." SAID GRANDMA.

So Kate finds herself on the train on the the way to Grandpa's and Grandma's store by the lake. It seems like a long way, and it feels strange without her mom and sister with her. But grandpa and his little dog Parbuckle meet them with his boat, and Grandma starts the motor on the boat and soon they arrive at their little store across the lake.

And the next morning, Grandpa invites Kate to help him deliver groceries to the people around the lake. He shows her how to start the motor and how to steer it left and right and in circles.

A NATURAL SAILOR! SAYS GRANDMA.

Grandpa and Kate deliver groceries to happy people around the lake until they come to one place with big rocks around the landing. A grim-faced man is sitting there on a rickety old dock.

"YOU'RE LATE!" SAID THE MAN.

HELLO WALTER," SAID GRANDPA.

With a frown Walter took the box of groceries.

"BRUISE ON THIS APPLE," SAID WALTER. "THAT GIRL MUST HAVE DROPPED IT."

"SHE DID NOT." SAID GRANDPA.

All summer Kate helped Grandpa deliver the groceries. She liked all the people on the lake--except Walter--and practiced steering the boat through the waves. But one morning as they are about to leave for their delivery route, Grandpa had a sudden bad pain in his chest and sat down fast. Grandma had to drive him to the doctor's office, leaving Kate alone. Kate waited for a long time, and then decided to deliver the groceries all by herself. Why not? She knew how by now. She set off and delivered the groceries without a problem. Finally, only Walter's box was left. Kate steered the boat carefully through the big rocks. Walter was waiting for her. He looked unhappy to see her.

WHERE IS YOUR GRANDFATHER?" HE ASKED GRUFFLY.

"SICK!" SAID KATE, POINTING TO HER CHEST.

Suddenly Walter stepped into the boat and ordered her to take him back to her grandparents' store.

Kate steered the boat carefully against the wind and waves, and when they arrived at their dock, the doctor was just telling Grandma that Grandpa would be all right after a few days of bed rest. And in Paul Harbridge's just published Out into the Big Wide Lake, Kate learned that cranky old Walter is Grandpa's brother and her own great-uncle. And Grandma was very proud of how well she had delivered the groceries and piloted the boat safely home. And why not?

Artist Josee' Bosaillon's illustrations extend the narrative and help older readers to discern than Kate is a Down's syndrome child, one who is lucky to have a family who gives her support in becoming self sufficient, capable of doing tasks on her own. Younger readers will just be glad that she got to steer and run the boat all by herself.

Booklist says, "A heartening Canadian picture book with an emotionally resonant ending.”

Stop the Plastic! Rocket Says Clean Up! by Nathan Byron

Rocket's bags are packed, snorkel and all.

"I CAN'T SLEEP TONIGHT, BECAUSE TOMORROW...

ME, MY MOM, AND MY BIG BROTHER JAMAL ARE GOING ON VACATION TO SEE MY GRANDMA AND GRAMPY.

I'LL BE DANCING WITH DOLPHINS AND SURFING LIKE IMANI WILMOT!"

But Imani Wilmot, the famous female surfer, will have to wait. On her first visit to the water, Rocket finds a baby turtle in bad shape, caught up in twisted plastic. Her grandparents run whale watch tours and an animal sanctuary, so Rocket turns the turtle over to her granmmy's care, and the two take off to surf at the beach. It's great, but the endangered little turtle is still on her mind, and looking around at her beloved beach, she is appalled.

"IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS MORE PLASTIC THAN SAND!

I NEED TO CLEAN UP!"

Rocket spreads the word and soon most of the children on the beach join in the cleanup. Even Jamal stops looking at his phone long enough to help! One of the grownups offers to design snazzy seaside critter-themed litter collection bins from some of the plastic. Soon there's a barbeque on the beach to celebrate their joint efforts, and Rocket gets to release the now healthy little turtle to the ocean, in Nathan Byron's happy ending for his newest, Rocket Says Clean Up! (Random House, 2020).

Byron's resourceful little heroine is plucky and charming, and Dapa Meola's illustrations of the sunny Jamaican scene make this an upbeat story which drives home the theme of individual and joint responsibility for preserving those places we all love. Byron appends his list, How You Can Help to help primary readers understand how to help protect our favorite watery places and their creatures.

Share this one with Byron's first book about his science-loving little character, Rocket Says Look Up!

I Won't Dance! Can't Make Me! Merci Suarez Can't Dance by Meg Medina

Merci Suarez is starting seventh grade, and everything is different. Mami asks what's wrong with her, her grandfather Lolo seems more lost in Alzheimer's disease, her aunt, Tia Ines, has eyes for their friend Simon, and her friends from sixth-grade seemed obsessed by the upcoming Heart Ball--which means two things Merci dreads--romance and dancing.

And it doesn't begin well. Miss McDaniels summons her and leads Merci and a boy named Wilson Bellevue down a hall, her ring of keys rattling ominously.

We stood in front of the Ram Depot, formerly known as the the custodial closet. "I think you two would make a fine management team at the school store," she said as she opened the door. A metal cashbox and calculator sat on a cast-off desk with uneven legs. A box of pencils was against one wall, near the dust bunnies.

"Isn't there anything else?" Wilson asked. "The Earth Club? "Rinsing recyclables?" I secretly agreed with him.

Miss McDaniels bribes them with free desserts, key lime pie from the cafeteria.

"Every. Single. Day," she promises dramatically.

But Wilson Bellevue turns out to be kind and funny and easy to be with. Merci can't say the same for her so-called friends, Edna Santos, in her full glory as chairman of the Heart Ball Committee,and her once BFFs Hannah and Lena seem to have changed into boy watchers, too.

"I guess I didn't get the memo that people were changing things about themselves in seventh grade."

"I'm the same Merci as always except taller. Boring."

As the year goes on, Merci also is called on to wrangle her rowdy Kindergarten twin cousins, and Tia Ines and Simon become a dating (and kissing) couple. Her grandfather Lolo recedes into himself, becoming more lost in dementia, and Merci's mother seems to depend on her more and more. She feels like life is moving too fast, that things at home are changing and everything is swirling around her, and she can't seem to catch the rhythm of any of it. But when the  Heart Ball comes around, Merci's skills at photography and graphic editing are called upon, and even the new hairdo and the makeup and the dance dress are all right, and for once she feels like part of everything--until disaster strikes. As the dance ends, the expensive camera loaned by Edna's father is smashed in the flurry of movement from the crowd. 

 Wilson sees it fall, too. It's cracked and broken, and in a frenzy of despair, Merci frantically packs it up in its case, and seeing Miss McMillan making her way toward her, she runs out of the gym. In her anxiety, Merci can think of only one thing to do. She sells her beloved bicycle that Papi spent so much money on last year to pay for the loss. 

There are plenty of changes ahead for Merci Suarez as she comes to understand more about the many ways of love and finds her own rhythm, ironically on the dance floor of her aunt Ines' new Suarez Family Dance Studio opening, in Meg Medina's sequel to her 2020 Newbery Award winner, Merci Suárez Changes Gears, her just published Merci Suárez Can't Dance (Candlewick Press, 2021). In this funny and moving coming of age novel, Merci is a character that middle readers will love (if they don't already), and this new second novel, painful and heartwarming in the way of young people growing into a wider world, is a must purchase for school and public libraries. "Fans of Merci will root for her as they are immersed in her vibrant world full of unique characters and heartfelt surprises," says Booklist's starred review.

The Grooviest Generation? The Truth about Grandparents by Elina Ellis

My grandparents are really old.

I've been hearing lots of strange things about old people. Some people say they are--

--NOT MUCH FUN.

But that's NOT the way this boy sees his own grandparents.

They take him on roller coasters and ride down the big drop with their arms up! They chase him all the way around the roller rink. They're not SLOW!

They excel at yoga and tossing pancakes. They are plenty BENDY. They are not put off by new stuff: They all share the latest digital devices.

The elders jump and jive to the sound of their Victrola. They jam loudly on trombone and sax with their band. They are adventurous enough to sack out on a hilltop and watch a midnight meteor shower with the kid.

The word for these energetic elders is AMAZING, in Elina Ellis' The Truth About Grandparents (Little, Brown and Company, 2019). While Grandma is not so svelte and Grandpa has little hair left up on top, their grandson can count on them for plenty of funny and action-filled adventures, with the theme that these grandparents can't be stereotyped. A great read-aloud for that salute to the increasing role of family elders on National Grandparents Day or any event that celebrates the role of the family.

Blossom Promise: Sakura's Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston

More than anything,
she loved sitting underneath
the tall cherry tree

side by side with Obaachan,
whose voice was warm like sunshine.

Sakura's name means "cherry blossom," so it is especially wonderful for her to sit under the cherry tree blossoms in spring, to picnic with her grandmother,and to play with other children as the blossoms drift in the breeze. Her grandmother says...

"Seeing these blossoms in bloom
is always finest with friends."

But when Sakura's family has to move across the ocean to a whole new country, she arrives in winter and there are no cherry trees in bloom and no friends to share them with. Her school is big and noisy. The new words for things are a clatter, a strange sharp sound on her tongue...

... like the tang of pickled plums.

Sakura misses her grandmother and the bento-box picnics, her playmates and the cherry trees.

But she befriends a solitary boy in her neighborhood, one who shows her the millions of stars to be seen through his telescope.

"There's a chance," said Luke,
"one of those stars has gone dark,
but we still see it."

And when Sakura travels back home to see her very ill Obaachan, she is again sad, but she thinks of those old stars whose light is still traveling toward earth, and when spring comes, she discovers that her new home has trees blooming everywhere and some have cherry blossoms to share with friends.

Robert Paul Weston's Sakura's Cherry Blossoms (Tundra Books, 2018) deals simply and poignantly with loss--loss of home, friends, and grandparents--with the cherry blossoms serving as the symbol of lasting love and beauty in life. Life blossoms everywhere, and Sakura finds new friends to share the cherry trees with her. Weston tells his story in the unique Japanese poetic form of tanka--a three-line haiku, followed by a two-line summary, all in thirty-one syllables. Mika Saburi's child-centered illustrations are unusual, done with thick black lines and both strong and pastel colors and widely different perspectives, from bento lunches to starry space, which echo the theme of both gain and loss, happiness and sadness, the old and the new.

What's Roamin' in the Gloamin'? Peppa Pig: Night Creatures by Neville Astley

Peppa and George were having a sleepover at Grammy and Grandpa Pig's house.

As it grows dark, Grandpa heads out to look for slugs on the plants in his garden. He tells Peppa and George that the slugs only come out at night, and the two begin to wonder what other critters roam only in the dark. Grandpa is only too happy to hold forth on the subject.

"Some are asleep all day and awake mostly at night. In fact, there's one night creature up in this tree.

HOOT!

Peppa and George's own eyes get almost as big as the owl's when they point their flashlight at those glowing eyes up in that tree, in Neville Astley's latest Peppa book, Night Creatures: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Peppa Pig) (Scholastic, 2018). And that's just the beginning in this light-the-night, lift-the-flap book with surprising creatures of the night under each flap and a tiny flashlight on the cover to add to the fun. Bats and hedgehogs are soon spotted, and Peppa and George are amazed at all the awesome animals to be seen, until Grandpa points out that, unlike these creatures, they can't stay awake all night, and Grandma Pig points them toward their own bedtime.

Fans of the Peppa Pig television program will enjoy discovering the varieties of night life under the sturdy flaps with the toy flashlight and will perhaps want to follow up with more night animals, as in Lizi Boyd's award-winning Flashlight (read review here) and Divya Srinivason's Little Owl's Night, see review here.)

Sleepover: Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa by Anna Dewdney

LLAMA LLAMA, BIG BIG DAY!

IT'S A FIRST--A SPECIAL STAY

WHO WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF LLAMA?

LLAMA LLAMA'S GRAM AND GRANDPA.

Llama Llama is off to his grandparents' house for a sleepover visit all by himself. He and Mama pack together--some clothes and Llama's pajamas--and put
his bag in the trunk. Llama Llama carefully carries his little Fuzzy Llama to the car himself to sit beside him in the backseat.

Gram and Grampa are waiting when they drive up. They hug Llama Llama a lot. Grandpa takes his bag, and with a last kiss and hug, Mama is off.

Gram takes little Llama into the kitchen for some cookies and milk, and then they go to help him unpack.

OH, NO!
WHERE IS FUZZY LLAMA?

Llama Llama bravely says nothing, and Gram and Grandpa smile encouragingly and busily try to divert his attention to some outdoor doings. He climbs up on their big green lawn tractor and pretends to drive it. Gram lets him pull some carrots from the garden and even eat one. Still, little Llama can't help feeling sad about leaving Fuzzy Llama behind. Is Fuzzy Llama feeling alone, too?

Grampa seems to notice Llama Llama's worried look and hustles him down to his workshop. He shows off his tools, and he and little Llama build a small red chair, just the right size for Fuzzy Llama. It's fun, but.... Llama still looks sad.

Then it's time for dinner with Gram and Grampa. Llama Llama eyes what's in the serving bowls.

GRAM'S HOUSE HAS DIFFERENT FOOD.
SOMETHING SQUISHY, SOMETHING STEWED.

LLAMA TRIES IT AND IT'S GOOD!

Keeping things moving, Gram and Grandpa take little Llama outside for a look at the bright stars, and then it's time for Llama Llama's warm bath, toothbrushing and bedtime stories. Llama is quiet, but he can't quite find a smile even for the stories. Gram gives him a long hug and a bed-night kiss, but... oh, dear! What's all this? Is that a tear?

LLAMA LLAMA NEEDS FUZZY NEAR,
BUT FUZZY LLAMA ISN'T HERE.

But it's Grampa Llama to the rescue. He leaves the bedroom, and when he comes back he has something very familiar looking in his arms.

WHEN GRAMPA WAS A LITTLE BOY,
HE ALSO HAD A SPECIAL TOY.

Yes, it's Granda's old fuzzy llama toy, in blue striped pajamas like Llama Llama's, no less, in Anna Dewdey's latest, Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa (Viking Books, 2015), in which her beloved character learns that this is his home... away from home. In their simple way, Dewdney's stories document those preschool milestones with a genuine sweetness that is never saccharine or trite. Dewdney's shrewd use of humor in the illustrations reveal emotions while adding to the fun. Sharp-eyed kids will likely notice Mom's car driving away with the forgotten Fuzzy looking sadly out the rear-view window, and the panel in which Llama Llama, Gram, and Grandpa, realizing the seriousness of the Fuzzy-less bedtime situation, give the reader triple and identical "Uh-Oh!" looks, is a priceless picture book moment.

Every toddler should be lucky enough to know the Llama Llama stories. (See reviews here).