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 #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.

Authors #180 : Ann Hazzard, Marianna Celano, and Marietta Collins share how to help handle the strong emotion of fear

 

Doctors Ann Hazzard, Marianna Celano, and Marietta Collins are all psychologists who worked together at the Emory University School of Medicine and have worked for over twenty years with children’s behavioral health and social justice. They collaborated together to write the book entitled: Something Happened In Our Park: Standing Together After Gun Violence.  Illustrations are by Keith Henry Brown. The book explores the hard emotions after a cousin living with family is shot in the leg while attending a concert at a local park. The book shares some of the fears and how the characters in the story address those fears through art, talking with each other, coming up with ideas to change the neighborhood through community action, and how to move forward when you feel like you can’t move because of fear.  At the end of the story there are several pages of information in the reader’s note section. Some of the ideas the authors shared about dealing with anxiety include expressing feelings, encouraging positive thinking, and taking action. Find more information at: https://www.apa.org/pubs/magination/something-happened-in-our-park

Author #179 : Jane Goodall shares a story about pangolins

 

Pangolina by Jane Goodall and pictures by Daishu Ma  Published by Minedition (a division of Astra Publishing House) in 2021.  This fictionalized story of a young Pangolin shares her growing up in the forest, learning to hunt and eat termites, getting captured, and what happens after her captor tries to sell her. Written by the world-renowned conservationist, Jane Goodall, this is a sweet entry about an unusual mammal.  Pangolins are endangered around the world because they are the most trafficked species.  Habitat destruction and use of pangolin scales and meat account for much of the decline in the species.   Find out more about how you can help at: https://www.savepangolins.org/news/2019/5/19/dr-jane-goodall-urges-us-to-take-action-for-pangolins

Author #178 : Mr. Eggers shares a colorful story of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge

This Bridge Will Not Be Gray by Dave Eggers and illustrated by Tucker Nichols tells the story of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge back in the 1930's and how it got and kept the beautiful "International Orange" color that it still sports to this day.  Dave Eggers also wrote the book The Circle which was made into a movie in 2017 starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson.  He also has another wonderful children's book called Her Right Foot that talks about some of the history of the Statue of Liberty.

Author #177 : Ed Vere and the kitten Max

Max at Night is only one of the cute books written and illustrated by Ed Vere.  His wide-eyed kitten wants to know where the moon has gone since he can't find it one evening.  Read more about Ed Vere and his books at http://www.edvere.com/ .

Author #176 : Art and Dinosaurs-looking at them in a new light with the Newbolds

If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur with text by Amy Newbold and art by Greg Newbold.  This husband and wife team also collaborated on If Picasso Painted a Snowman.  Both books take a whimsical look at great artists and imagine the art produced by them.  What if Diego Rivera painted dinosaurs (it would feature lilies) or dinosaurs in tutus ala Edgar Degas.  Not only do the books include little bios of each artist but the dinosaur book also includes the name of dinosaur featured in each piece of art such as Compsognathus in the picture done in the style of Rivera.  Have some reluctant art appreciation in your home?  These books are a cute way to introduce some famous works of art in a humorous way.

Author #175 : Alexandra Day shares her Good Dog Carl in book form

Alexandra Day has numerous tales of Carl, a very loveable Rottweiler that she has also illustrated.  See her website at: https://www.gooddogcarl.com/

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

Book Group post 1 : Henkes in Sept. and Donaldson in Oct.

In September of 2017, we talked about books by Kevin Henkes.  Interview from NPR (National Public Radio) in 2015: https://www.npr.org/2015/09/22/442521229/some-kids-books-are-worth-the-wait-they-do-take-time-says-kevin-henkes

Interview with BookPage in 1996: https://bookpage.com/interviews/8481-kevin-henkes#.Wq3sc2rwaUk

Kevin Henkes Homepage: https://kevinhenkes.com/  He's got activities and teaching and discussion guides!



In October of 2017 we talked about books by Julia Donaldson of Scotland. 

Julia Donaldson website: http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/   This woman is amazing!  She's written poems, songs, all kinds of books, and lots of wonderful things for children (and adults who love cleverly written works). 

Author #174: Candace Payne makes us laugh with joy

Chewbacca Mom has a book out, Laugh it up!, and she talks a lot about joy in her book.  I'm listening to the audio version which she narrates and I'm really enjoying it.  5 discs of happiness with some real-life experiences and different ways to look at the positive and negatives in our lives. And, if you haven't seen the Chewbacca face mask video:

Author #173: Coppens cake and geology

Geology Is A Piece Of Cake by Katie Coppens.  Cleverly tying together geology with cake, Ms.Coppens, a middle-school English and science teacher, takes the reader on a journey linking science with science from geologic structures and processes to how they relate to different aspects of cake such as how eating a piece of cake is related to how animals cause weathering.  She uses cake to help explain Mohs scale of hardness.  The book is primarily about geology with some cake references included.  She's got a good balance-just enough cake references to whet the appetite and keep you going through the book without feeling like you're overwhelmed in sweetness.  Her approach also makes geology easier to understand and encourages the reader to learn more about science in general.

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.