Author #189: Mahogany L. Browne with a book in verse: Chlorine Sky

 

Chlorine Sky, by Mahogany L. Browne, is a book told in verse of the struggles of growing apart from old friends and finding yourself.  Skyy deals with interactions from her old friend, her sister, her sports.  There is so much emotion in the verses which are sometimes a single word.  This is a  moving book with a hope filled ending.  We are all worth space and Sky teaches us that we can like ourselves. 

Author #188 : Shanthi Sekaran teaches us some about butterflies and segregation in The Samosa Rebellion

 Muki helps in the rebellion where the newer inhabitants are sent to camps for relocation if their families have not lived on the fictional island for more than three generations.  Muki's grandmother comes to live with the family from India and is one of the first to be put in a camp.  Notes are passed between rebellion members without identification so that they can protect one another from retaliation.  Butterflies are the protected people, crickets the enforcers, and moths the people that are to be relocated or killed.  This is a juvenile fiction book so there is fear and intimidation but not a lot of violence.  Shanthi Sekaran has written a dystopian type novel of segregation that might be good for older ages.  It did seem a bit dark for younger children but not as caught up in teen topics as a teen book. This would be a good match for tweens who are learning about segregation and the beginning thoughts of where the ideology of  genocide (demagoguery) can formulate and grow in the some arenas.  While not totally captivating, it was a good read with vivid descriptions.  Read more about the author at: https://www.shanthisekaran.com/

Author #187: Elizabeth Acevedo cooks up a beautiful tale of finding your strength

 An engagingly written book that brought back some memories of my own days in high school.  The main character, Emoni, loves to cook-it's were she comes alive. Emoni lives with her grandmother (abuela) and her young daughter-she makes hard decisions every day-but she knows she wants to follow her passion and cook while still being there for her daughter.  One of the sections that stood out for me was when she was describing making a crucial decision: "And the only question I kept asking myself was, 'Can I do this?'  And I realized there wasn't going to be a perfect answer, only the right answer for me."   Emoni learns to trust herself and to trust others as she goes through a culinary course newly offered at her school. Her experiences increase her confidence and she ultimately has to decide which future path she wants to take.  Learn more about Elizabeth Acevedo at: http://www.acevedowrites.com/about

Author #186: The Cat Man of Aleppo in part by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha

 

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha with illustrations by Yuko Shimzu is a picture book about Mohammad Alee Aljaleel who became an ambulance driver to help people when war broke out in Syria.  He realized that many people had to leave their pets and he started to ask for scraps from local butchers to feed all the cats that could not be with their families. From scraps there came a cat sanctuary, playground for children, and help for other animals. There is an interview with Alee from Dec. 9, 2020 from TRT-a Turkish Public Broadcast service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8yBAZWWUkM&t=136s

Author #185 : Hearts and Homes with Emma Dodd

 Home Is Where The Heart Is written and illustrated by Emma Dodd.  This book is just one of many sweet titles by an author with so many gentle and wise offerings in the publishing world.  Ms. Dodd has a Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Emma-Dodd-Illustration-134249816599608/  

Author #184 : Peter Raymundo Bunnies? Fish?

The Mysterious Sea Bunny by Peter Raymundo published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2021 is  a light-hearted look at sea slugs-one of which looks like a bunny.  Peter Raymundo wrote and illustrated this clever look at a lesser known marine creature located on the ocean floor.  He also wrote and illustrated I Am Not A Fish! which came out in 2019.  Visit his website at http://www.raymundoarts.com/ to see more of his wonderful work.
 

Author #183 : Amy Richau with Star Wars I Love You I Know Lessons in Love and Friendship

 Communication is key in most relationships.  Do we remember to communicate well with those with whom we live?  Amy Richau shares pictures and examples from the Star Wars universe in the book I Love You.  I Know. published by DK of Penguin Random House in 2021.

Author #182 : The Survivor Tree by Gaye Sanders brings hope after OK bombing in 1995

 The Survivor Tree by Gaye Sanders and illustrated by Pamela Behrend published by The RoadRunner Press in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 2017.  Learn more about the memorial and the America Elm tree at the museum website at: https://memorialmuseum.com/experience/the-survivor-tree/  This beautiful book shares the hopeful story of the tree that stood outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and came back after the bombing when almost everyone thought it was dead.  Seedlings from the tree have been planted all over the United States. 

Author #181 : Mara Rockliff introduces Pioneering Filmmaker Alice Guy-Blache

 Lights! Camera! Alice! The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Simona Ciraolo and published by Chronicle Books in San Francisco in 2018.  Alice was a inventive pioneering filmmaker-doing such innovative things like running the film backward, stop motion filming so that objects appeared to move on their own, hand coloring frames (see the gypsy film), and added sound before other filmmakers had figured out how to do such things.  Unfortunately a number of Alice's films were credited to men-some of whom had never even made a film  She chronicled her life story and eventually in the 1980's it came to light and was published in America.  Thanks to the sons of Leon Gaumont who found information in their father's papers and made it public in France she received the Legion of Honor in 1955.  Thank you to "Looking For Alice" who has compiled a number of short films made by Alice Guy-Blache.  See some of these films at: https://www.youtube.com/user/LookingForAlice/videos

Book Group Post 4 : Feb. spotlighted McMullan and Ahlberg and Mar. covered some j500's

We read Hooray for Bread by Allan Ahlberg and talked about other books by the Ahlbergs and the McMullans in February.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_and_Allan_Ahlberg

https://www.katemcmullan.com/

http://jamesmcmullan.com/BIO3.HTML


March started something new with a diversion into the j 500's.  We shared the following titles: (again, let me know if I missed some that we talked about)

• Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Sisson
• Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years by McAnulty
• The Glow In the Dark Book of Space by Harris
• Bedtime Math by Overdeck
• Island A Story of the Galapagos by Chin
• Max Goes to Mars by Bennett
• Water Can Be by Salas
• Magic School Bus books by Cole
• Wonderful Winter: All Kinds of Winter Facts and Fun by Goldstone
• Our Family Tree by Peters

Book Group Post 3 : Some Utah Authors in Dec. Happy Books in Jan.

For December 2017 we talked about books by Utah author couple Caralyn and Mark Buehner and Utah author Rick Walton.

https://buehnerbooks.com/

and

http://english.byu.edu/rick-walton-1957-2016/

Then in January 2018, we talked about happy books, which included the following titles and authors:
(again, if there are some that we talked about at the Jan. meeting and I didn't write it down, let me know and I'll add them-thanks!) :

• books by Mo Willems
• The Secret Pizza Party by Rubin 
• Jingle Jingle by Smee
• Good Boy Fergus by Shannon
• Ish by Reynolds
• Yes Day! by Rosenthal
• Woodpecker Wants a Waffle by Breen
• books by Karma Wilson
• 100 Things That Make Me Happy by Schwartz
• A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars by Fishman

And, on the note of humorous things, this is what happens when most people don't let the library staff know that the receipt printer is turned off and finally someone does!  We generate a lot of book reminder receipts at just one station!  (This is at a checkout station that is used infrequently through the day and yes, these are receipts from just part of one day.  I glad to say our library sees a lot of usage from programs to computer use to people actually checking out physical materials.)

Book Group Post 2 : Unpleasant Emotions in Nov.

November 2017 we talked about unpleasant emotions since the holidays can be a stressful time.  Everything from anger to jealousy to sadness. 

We found an emotions page from Inside Out on the Whatscookingsister blog: http://whatscookinsister.blogspot.com/2016/02/emotions-chart-for-kids_9.html

Books discussed included:  (sorry if I missed any titles that we discussed that time-let me know and I'll add them in!)

• The Grumpy Dump Truck by Spangler
• I'm Not Scared by Allen
• What Do You Do With a Problem by Yamada
• Feelings by Parr
• Sam's Pet Temper  by Bhadra
• The I'm Not Scared Book by Parr
• The Kissing Hand by Penn
• How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm Mad by Yolen
• The Princess and the Fog by Jones
• Who Wants a Tortoise by Keane
• The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater That Grandma Knit by Macomber
• Dolores Meets Her Match by Samuels
• Crankenstein by Berger
• I Will Never Get a Star on Mrs. Benson's Blackboard by Mann

Author #172: Furman, cookies, Santa, the world = a great grouping for a book!

M.E. Furman writes about Christmas traditions around the world and the different treats left for Santa in the book, A World of Cookies For Santa: Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around The World.  Susan Gal illustrated the book with charcoal on paper and digital collage.  The book includes nine cookie recipes at the back.  Taste of Home magazine has a list of 35 cookie recipes that they think should be in every recipe file-find the link at https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/the-best-cookie-recipes/view-all/

Author #171: Expanded knowledge about Elephants thanks to Katherine Roy

Excellent, Extraordinary, Eloquent, Educational!  These are just a few of the words to describe How To Be An Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild by Katherine Roy.  One of the most outstanding animal books for children that I've recently read, I was surprised at how many facts I did not know about these wonderful mammals.  Trunks strong enough to uproot trees and sensitive enough to pluck a single blade of grass.  And the social bonding and learning!?!  We can and should learn from our world both near and far and this book is a great start for a beginning learner who wants to know more about elephants.

Authors #147 McGhee shines bright with a little star angel and #148 Waldman takes a trip with a snowflake

 Author Alison McGhee and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds bring the story of a little angel and her gift to the Christ Child in Star Bright. Alison writes for all ages and you can see more of her books at https://alisonmcghee.com/books/  Of course Peter H. Reynolds is known for his own style of books like Ish and The Dot and more which can be found at http://www.peterhreynolds.com/

Do you wonder what happens to a snowflake after it melts?  Find out in this wintry wonderland of water book by Neil Waldman titled The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story.

Author #133: Retro graphics in a hilarious book by Bob Staake

A laugh out loud take on pet ownership!  Perfect for book lovers of all ages!  He's done a commercial for Intel!  See it here: http://www.bobstaake.com/intel/ !  More info at: http://www.bobstaake.com/ !

Author #132: Shona Innes and the playground of friendship

Ahhhh....the ups and downs of friendship are covered in this cute little book called Friendship is Like a Seesaw by Shona Innes and illustrated by Irisz Agoces.  Read about more of their Big Hug Books at: http://www.shonainnes.com/bighug/   Ms. Innes uses insights gained through her experiences as a clinical and forensic psychologist to share thoughts and ideas about a range of subjects that can be emotionally challenging for kids, teens and adults.