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All the Things I Love About You
by LeUyen Pham
In this love letter, the mom lists many items she loves about her son: his bedhead, his style of eating, and his hugs are just a few. With illustrations immediately recognizable as hers on every page, Pham goes straight to the heart of the relationship between mother and child. Ending with the fact that there are many things “I love about you. But mostly, I just love . . . you,” parents will be able to continue writing this verbal love letter throughout every day of their child’s life. For ages 1 to 3. (Tracy Gallagher, MLIS)
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Banana
by Ed Vere
With only two words, “banana” and “please,” Vere is able to offer a full plot line, full of tension and drama. Two monkeys both want one banana, what are they to do? Set against vibrant backgrounds of a single color, a monkey in a red stripe shirt and a monkey in a blue stripe shirt learn that one banana can be shared by two monkeys. Vibrant and comical, this will be fun to share in storytime. Ages 2 to 5. (TG)
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There’s Going to Be a Baby
by John Burningham, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Two stars in the picture book world have come together to offer the “about to be” big brother/sister an exciting journey through Mom’s pregnancy. With all of the questions and mixed emotions the only child feels prior to the birth of the new baby, Burningham offers ways to vocalize those feelings. Oxenbury’s delicate illustrations perfectly compliment the activities and imagination of the young child. Interestingly, the father is not ever included in the book. Besides Mom and Child, only Grandpa appears, making this a great choice for single parent families. Recommended for all libraries. Ages 2 to 5. (TG)
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Chi’s Sweet Home Volume 1
by Konami Kanata
Chi, a tiny, American shorthair kitten becomes separated from her mother and siblings while on a leisurely walk in the city. Exhausted, hungry, and saddened from her fruitless search for home she falls asleep in the sunny meadow of the city park. When she is awakened by a “whump” and a “waah” what does she see? There on the ground starring eye-to-eye with her is a crying little boy who has fallen down. His mother quickly comes to his aid and seeing the poor kitty takes both home to comfort and soothe. Chi’s frisky antics bring much joy and delight to the whole family, but sadly a new home must be found. Absolutely no pets are allowed in the apartment building. Full-color manga illustrations depict Chi as an adorable, big-eyed, kitten who is curious about everything. Her thought bubbles and dramatic facial expressions make her all the more adorable as readers learn how torn she is between the memories of her old life with her mother and siblings and the love and comfort extended by the new human family. The series is highly recommended for ages 7-10 and is available on the Graphic Novel: Youth Standing Order Program. (Jeannine K. Wiese -Collection Development)
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My Teacher is a Dinosaur
by Loreen Leedy
What has 8 legs, 4 eyes and 6 horns? Why a Triceratops looking in the mirror of course! Did you know that an ankylosaurus loves to play golf? He always has his club with him! Loreen Leedy uses both riddles and jokes along with poems to take her readers on a journey from the beginning of time to the end of the Ice Age. Children won’t realize they are following a timeline when learning about the animal and plant life of this era as they read and giggle their way through the pages. Each page is full of illustrations from the tallest dinosaur, the brachiosaurus, to one of the smallest mammals, the eozostrodon. This title about prehistoric times will keep children learning and entertained at the same time guaranteeing to bring them back to read it over and over again. For ages 8-10. (Jeanne M. Martin, MED)
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The Life of Rice: From Seedling to Supper
by Richard Sobol
The Life of Rice is a shining example of attractive, intriguing, and educational narrative nonfiction. Sobol's introduction clearly tells the reader how he was initially inspired to write a book about rice, and it sets the tone for his enthusiastic story of something so common and yet so vital to the Thai people.
His journey begins with his receiving an ornate piece of mail written in Thai. He hops on his bike and races to the local Thai restaurant to get the owner to translate. It turns out that it's an official invitation from the king of Thailand to the Royal Plowing Ceremony, an event that kicks off the annual Phraraj Pithi Jarod Phranangkal Reak Na Kwan, the Thai National Celebration of Rice. With only a small glitch, he makes it to the ceremony and subsequently spends time in the Issan Province, learning about the life of rice and the families who rely on it.
His crisp, colorful, artistic photographs grace each page and support the text. Supplemental materials are a map to show where the events took place, a page of rice facts, a glossary of Thai and English words and phrases, a list of rice holidays, and the names of some common Thai rice dishes. Highly recommend for ages 8 to 11. (Becky Walton, MLIS)
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Grounded
by Kate Klise
Grounded opens with 12-year-old Daralynn (aka Dolly) Oakland stating, “I’m alive today because I was grounded. Maybe that sounds odd to you, but it’s true.” Dolly’s father, brother, and sister are all killed in a small plane crash her father was piloting; she wasn’t allowed to go because she had disobeyed her mama. Living in the aftermath of the tragedy with her angry mother and senile grandmother, Dolly gets by leaning on her sassy Aunt Josie (of whom Dolly’s mother thoroughly disapproves), helping her mother dress hair for the customers of Danielson Family Funeral Home (“We’re Putting the FUN back in Funeral!”), and by investigating the slick owner of the new crematorium in town.
Set a few years after the Vietnam War, this slim novel doesn’t feel historical, merely timeless. Klise explores the term grounded in all of its various uses, bringing a richness and complexity to the discerning, thoughtful reader while allowing the breezy reader to just enjoy the story and quirky characters. Recommended for your patrons age 9 to 12, especially fans of Richard Peck’s Grandma Dowdel books. (Jill Barton)
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Not Your Parents’ Money Book
by Jean Chatzky
Chatzky, a financial coach and author of several personal finance books for adults, now turns her attention to a younger audience. She provides a clear, concise introduction in which she gives her credentials and tells how and why she wrote this book. She spent three months meeting with kids in middle schools and junior high schools across the country talking about money. She took the questions she was most often asked (plus a few that she just thought were fun) and based this book on them.
She explains that she wants kids to see money as one of the tools they have in life; and if they are smart about money, they will likely have more choices. She provides her Web site address and encourages children to go there to ask her questions not addressed in the book. She uses kid-friendly examples throughout: in the chapter on earning money, she suggests creative ways that young people can generate income, such as being an iPod installer and eBay auctioneer for those who aren’t techno-savvy; in the chapter on spending money, she explains bartering using a two-Twilight-books for one-Wii-game exchange. Chatzky’s tone is friendly but not cutesy, professional but not pedantic. A timely, welcome book for ages 10 and up. (BW)
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Heart Transplant
by Andrew Vachss
It seems that every year one graphic novel stands out in my mind from all the rest. Last year it was Stitches <<9780393068573>> and << 9780393338966>>. This year it’s Heart Transplant. Sean, the young boy and narrator of the story, begins by telling exactly what it feels like to be branded an outsider, whether in school, the neighborhood, or at home. He’s continuously bullied by everyone, including his mom’s live-in boyfriends. He survives only by closing himself off to the world and not allowing himself to feel anything, not even pain until the day he comes home from school to find his mother and boyfriend murdered. Surprisingly, he’s taken in by his “grandfather,” the father of his mom’s last boyfriend. This gruff old man slowly teaches Sean how to stand up for himself, how to care about others and feel emotions. He secretly gives his all to Sean, the ultimate sacrifice, the heart transplant Sean so badly needs. Although not completely a graphic novel or a self-help book this gripping story crosses both formats and categories in an attempt to get to the heart of the complex type of abuse known as bullying. It examines it from all sides and gives parents and teens the real facts. Some pages are completely wordless; others contain much text. Regardless, the striking color illustrations dramatically expose the full range of developing emotions in Sean, ultimately revealing a heart inside. The book concludes with an additional nonfiction essay by clinical social worker, Zak Mucha, which explains in detail what the reader just experienced. Additional reading resources are also listed. Highly recommended for all school and public library YA collections. (JKW)
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Teen Cuisine
by Matthew Locricchio
Locricchio’s latest offering presents gourmet cooking for teens, both beginners and the experienced. A chef, author, and culinary teacher, he provides recipes that are both straightforward and challenging, using ingredients that can be found at one’s local supermarket. Although not required, the use of organic or locally grown ingredients is suggested. With more than 50 recipes, Teen Cuisine offers a sampling of everything between breakfast and after-dinner dessert with a variety of everyday and special occasion dishes. No recipe is too difficult, and many are geared towards healthier versions of staples of the teen diet. For example, the section entitled “Pizza Coast to Coast” focuses solely on how to make different types of pizza (Chicago, New York and California-style, to name a few). The best part of this cookbook is the step-by-step instruction that really breaks down each recipe into the simplest directions. There is an introductory section on general safety in the kitchen, the importance of hygienic practices, and detailed knife safety. The back of book sections on metric conversion, identification of equipment and utensils, and definitions make excellent references. The book contains beautiful color photography of almost every recipe as well as “Chef’s Tips” interspersed throughout. Locricchio has also written two international cookbooks for kids. Recommended to both public and school libraries for ages 12-17. (Jenny B. McCluskey, MSIS)
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Matched
by Ally Condie
First-time author Condie has created a page-turning romance and an alternately thrilling and chilling tale of dystopian future for us in Matched. The Society has arranged its citizens’ lives so that every person’s efforts will achieve “optimal results” even in marriage and procreation. Teenage Cassia is thrilled to be Matched with childhood friend Xander--people almost never know the person to whom they are partnered with by the Society. But when reviewing her file on her Match, another boy’s face shows up on the screen--another childhood friend, Ky--and Cassia becomes confused and frightened. Condie utilizes the inevitable love-triangle trope, but what emerges most clearly is the importance of the right to choose, of self-determination, in a free society--exactly what this Society lacks. A fast-paced read, Matched will appeal to those readers that most enjoyed the romance and pathos of The Hunger Games. Highly recommended for ages 12 to 17. (JB)
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Good Behavior
by Nathan L. Henry
Henry’s gritty memoir traces the path he took as a teen that led to his being admitted to a rehab institution, expelled from school for setting the principal’s office on fire, and then spending a year in jail for armed robbery. Alternating chapters describe his time in jail and his childhood spent enduring his father’s paranoia and hostility, torturing animals, obsessing over guns, skipping school, fighting, and experiencing violent inclinations. The writing is a bit unpolished; on his time in rehab, Henry writes: “I got a cold as soon as I got there. I was congested. I couldn’t breathe. On top of that, the meds destroyed my ability to think. A few days later I was feeling slightly better, and by the end of the week I could function. I still felt removed from reality. I was slow to respond.”
Also, some questions are left unanswered. At the end of his incarceration, Henry realizes he has poor impulse control and lacks self-insight--“I’m afraid of myself…I feel like it’s already arranged that I’m going to blow everything up.” A few pages later, in the author’s epilogue, we find him two years later, with a wife and a home. But we aren’t told if he still has violent urges and, if so, how he deals with them, or if not, how he overcame them.
Despite these hesitations, this work does help to fill a void in the world of young adult memoirs. While this book may not be for everyone or every library, librarians looking for visceral YA memoirs for their collection should take a look. Good Behavior is recommended for mature teens ages 15 and up. (BW)
Other young adult memoirs published this year:
Med Head: My Knock-Down, Drag-Out, Drugged-Up Battle with My Brain by James Patterson and Hal Friedman (This work is something of a biography/autobiography hybrid as it is written by Patterson and Friedman in the voice of Hal’s son, Cory, with Cory’s blessing.)
Smile for the Camera by Kelle James
Alexis: My True Story of Being Seduced by an Online Predator by Alexis Singer
Hannah: My True Story of Drugs, Cutting, and Mental Illness by Hannah Westberg
Rae: My True Story of Fear, Anxiety, and Social Phobia by Rae Swiggett
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Reading Ladders
by Teri S. Lesesne
The classroom reading philosophy of Teri Lesesne can be compared to Nancy Atwell‘s (In the Middle) as both of these teachers/authors use similar strategies focusing on motivating tweens and teens to read for pleasure. The author gives an overview on how to plan a reading area in the classroom, how to choose titles based on different variables and how emphasis should be placed on reading aloud to a class no matter what age the students are. Lesesne’s main area of focus in her title is introducing the reading ladder concept, which takes a student from one level of reading to the next. She stresses that she is not pushing to challenge students to read more difficult texts, but to gradually help them grow as a reader. One of Lesesne’s ladder examples begins with a Chet Gecko mystery on the bottom rung with a Sammy Key mystery title coming next, keeping the student in their comfort range and then climbing through titles to the top rung of The Adoration of Jenna Fox which is a more complex title utilizing both the science fiction and mystery genres. With the use of reading ladders, Lesesne hopes students will be able to choose their books in this manner in order to expand their own reading horizons.
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Autumn (Picture Windows Books)
Grades Preschool to 2
School is beginning and autumn is just around the corner so what should catch my eye, but these colorful book covers focusing on the fall season. This is not your run-of-the-mill, fact-telling series, but one that includes a fun storyline about children experiencing the activities of fall along with informational text discussing pumpkins at harvest time to collecting apples at the apple orchard. Warm fall colors used in the illustrations and large type print invite young students to sit down and enjoy learning about this season. Each title also devotes a page to a fall craft with easy step-by-step directions for children to follow. Autumn can’t come too soon this year with the heat wave we have been experiencing making this a good series to put on the shelves reminding us that fall is fast approaching. (JMM)
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Music Makers (The Child’s World)
Grades K -2
Learning about music and musical instruments is one of the essential components of the National Standards for Music Education mandated to be taught in the classroom. Teachers can now find titles geared to the early elementary age student discussing different musical instruments in this series. The six titles of Music Makers introduce violins, recorders, drums, guitars, trumpets, and pianos. Each title has full-page illustrations of the particular instrument being highlighted as well as children playing it showcasing their finger positions on the keys. Easy explanations are given on how the instrument is made in order to create a sound and how to manipulate the sound by the use of keys or strings. These titles are a great way to introduce the instruments of an orchestra to your classroom. (JMM)
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Rebels of Rock(Enslow)
Grades 5 and up
The newest crop of titles in the Rebels of Rock series provides, among others, a long-awaited YA treatment of punk rock with books on The Ramones and, reviewed here, The Clash. Clearly written, well-researched, documented with footnotes, and illustrated with color and black-and-white photos, this book offers a warts-and-all account of the rise, triumph, and dissolution of unarguably the best and most-influential of the punk bands to emerge in the mid-seventies. Bowe candidly addresses how drug abuse contributed to the British band’s demise, thus offering a cautionary (but not preachy) tale of the dangers of drug abuse. Notably, the author emphasizes the band’s incorporation of numerous musical styles into its sound, and, more importantly, how The Clash promoted racial harmony and social justice while espousing the ultimate punk ethos: encouraging people to think for themselves. Bowe’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in, as they were dubbed, “The Only Band That Matters.” I highly recommend this title and series to both school and public libraries. (JBM)
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