Patina (Book #2 of Track) by Jason Reynolds

In this second book of Jason Reynold's Track series, we meet Patina Jones, 12, a new girl and a gifted athlete on the Defenders track team, who has just come in second in an 800-meter race, and considers it a loss. Because Patty Jones, fastest girl on the team, needs to win - she's already experienced too much loss in her young life. As a 6 year old, she lost her adored father when he went to bed one night and never woke up. A few years later, her diabetic mother began a series of amputations until finally she lost both legs when Patty was 9. Patty may be a sore loser, but as her mother likes to  remind her, Patty Jones ain't no junk either.

Now that their mother can't really take care of the Patty and her younger sister Maddy, 6, they live with her Uncle Tony, and his white wife, Emily called Momly. Patty has taken on a protective kind of responsibility Maddy, believing Momly can't understand some things about being a black girl, like braiding Maddy's hair. The girls still see their mother every Sunday for church, and Momly, who is a nurse, takes her to dialysis three times a week. Since moving, Patty and Maddy both attend a fancy white charter school. Patty doesn't feel like she fits in with the girls in her class, whom she calls "hair flippers," and tends to keep to herself, missing her best friend Cotton from her old neighborhood. Now, though, she has been assigned to work on a school project about Frida Kahlo with three white girls, Taylor, Taylor, and Becca, and Patty isn't any too happy about it, especially since she seems to be the only one doing any work for the project.

On the track team, Coach Brody doesn't hold with attitude from any of his runners, including Patty.  Soon, Patty finds herself a member of the 4x400 relay race, a race in which the runners must rely on each other in order to win. However, Patty is a fiercely independent girl, and one who likes to control her world as much as possible. But Coach Whit, Coach's assistant, has other ideas, including some unorthodox ways of teaching the girls to work together - but teaching them to waltz? Brilliant!

At home, in school and on the track team, Patty needs to learn how to be a team player. Can she let go of her independence enough to succeed?

I really liked Ghost, the first book in Jason Reynolds' Track series, so much so that I had kind of a hard time getting into Patina, and yet, once I got past the first few pages, I couldn't put it down. The story is told from Patty's point of view in the first person, so the reader knows exactly what is going on in her head. She is a wonderfully fully-fleshed out character - loving, fiercely competitive, very opinionated (though she keeps her opinions mostly to herself and the reader), but also conflicted, flawed, and very afraid of more loss in her life. That fear prevents her from allowing herself to rely on any one other than herself. But, as the story unfolds, Patty is thrown into situations where she must learn to work with others in order to succeed - at home, at school, and on the track.

Patty has some important lessons to learn, and we do see some wonderful character development, Reynolds' narrative arc progresses at just the right pace for that to happen. For example, one of the things I really liked about her story is the way Reynolds subtly introduces the idea of teamwork all through the novel - it is slow, and steady, so the reader can really absorb it and really appreciate Patty's reaction to it.

Patty's life isn't easy, but she, like Ghost, has a loving family support system - they are there for her and she needs them much more than she is willing to admit, because Patty Jones definitely "ain't no junk" but she is not the tough cookie she would like us to believe she is, either.

Ghost handed off the baton to Patina and Patina hands it off to Sunny in April 2018. And I for one can't wait to continue this relay race.

You can find a useful Teacher's Guide for Patina HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the Bank Street School Library

On a personal level, I can really relate to Patty's feelings about her father and losing him so suddenly. When my Kiddo was young, her father also went to bed one Friday night, after an evening of talking and kidding around while they decorated the Christmas tree, and never woke up. She was devastated for the longest time, and even now will ask do I think he would be proud of her.

A Board Book Roundup

Spring has arrived, and with it comes a whole crop of new board books for your youngest readers to enjoy.

When Your Llama Needs a Haircut by Susanna Leonard Hill,

illustrated by Daniel Wiseman

2018, Little Simon, 26 pages

Picture day is coming - and your llama is looking a little on the shaggy side. Time to give him a spiffy new haircut so he can look his best. But first you have to catch your llama, then you have to wash his hair and comb out all the tangles, and of course, he will complain. Once that is done, you have to decide on what style to give your llama, who sure is squirmy around those scissors...uh oh. Well, sometimes, you and your llama need a new picture day haircut. This delightful book will have your and your young readers chuckling at the antics of the llama who isn't really into getting his haircut - some young readers might even find a little of themselves in him. It is, of course, the perfect companion to the author's two earlier books, When Your Elephant Has the Sniffles and When Your Lion Needs a Bath.  

Guess Which Hand by Hans Wilhelm, 

illustrated by Ilaria Guarducci

2018, Chronicle Books, 10 pages 

Guess which hand is a game most young kids are familiar with simply because it is one of the earliest and simplest guessing games they learns. In this interactive book, young readers can guess what is in the hand, of a boy, in the paws of a puppy, under the ears of a pig, under two shells in the ocean, under the party hats of two monkeys, under the tails of two bunnies, under the wings of an owl, under the eggs of a hen, simply by turning the side wheel until an object appears on the page, then guessing where it is and lifting the flap to see if they are right. It's a fun book and a great way to teach the youngest readers the names of all the animals, insects, and objects included in the game.

All Kinds of Kisses by Heather Swain, 

illustrated by Steven Henry

2017, Feiwel & Friends, 32 pages

There's nothing like a cuddle and a kiss from mom and dad, but how do other animals, birds, and even fish kiss their young? Eleven creatures are depicted on two page spreads, each with a different way kissing and showing affection to their young. There is a brief description of the each creatures mouth and why is it the way it is: "Red crossbill birds has twisted beaks to tweeze tines seeds out of cones" and ends with the question "How would a crossbill kiss?" This is the same pattern throughout the book. This is a nice introduction to these eleven different creatures, but, although each kind of kiss is described in rhythmic stanzas, they are a little uneven. Still, it is a fun board book, though maybe a little wordy for the youngest kids. And the boldly colored illustrations are a real compliment to the text.

Quack! by Joe Fitzpatrick,

illustrated by Paul Nicholls,

2018, Flowerpot Press, 20 pages

A duck goes out for a walk and meets a variety of animals - one elephant, two giraffes, three horses, fours pigs, five monkeys (that's right, those old jumping on the bed monkeys), six flamingos, seven grasshoppers, eight spiders, nine bluebirds, ten ducks. Each of the animals is engaged in an activity, and when the duck quacks, they ignore him. After all, they don't speak duck so they don't understand him. And yes, this is a counting book. Kids can spend time counting the different the different animals duck meets, and talking about why they are engaged in the activity they are doing. They will also enjoy the repeated refrain as the duck continues his walk -  "so the duck just kept waddling." It has a charming happy ending for the duck and takes they the book beyond the number 10. I found myself pleasantly surprised reading Quack! for the first time with some young readers, who asked to read it over and over. The illustrations are simply but sweet and really more the duck along nicely.  

I Sleep in a Big Bed written and illustrated by

Maria van Lieshout

2018, Chronicle Books, 24 pages

OK, I lied, this isn't really a board book, but it is perfect for the old board book set who are about to transition from crib to bed, and the anxiety the surrounds that milestone in their young lives. A young boy recalls how much he slept as a baby, and able to sleep a lot and anywhere - crib, car seat, floor, stroller. But now that he isn't a baby anymore, he sleeps in a big kid bed. At first, it took some getting  used. There were bedtime stories, kisses and hugs from mom and dad, then snuggling in with his lovey. But what happens when he wakes up in the middle of the night? Our narrator has some sage advice about handling that for his readers. This is a simple, but needed book. It can be read to young kids over and over to introduce and and help them acclimate to the change from crib to bed. The illustrations are simple but to the point, and done in blue, white, and brown, and outlined in thick black lines. You might want to check our Maria van Lieshout's other books about achieving milestones, such as Bye, Bye Binky, I Use the Potty, and No More Tantrums.

Little Truck written and illustrated by Taro Gomi

2018, Chronicle Books, 22 pages

A pink flatbed truck may be little but he sure likes to go fast as he starts off his day in the company of a bigger orange flatbed truck. It doesn't take long for little truck to past big truck, but when he reaches a steep hill, and begins to slow down, it's a good thing that big truck can help him and give him a push. But now sooner does he reach to top than little truck speeds up again, and heads right into a dark tunnel. Once again, big truck helps little truck out and then puts him onto his flatbed to take a very tired little truck home. This is a sweet, easy metaphoric story for kids (little truck) who are walking and trying out their first independent wanderings not too far from a parent (big truck), with a nice message that someone will always be there for them. The illustrations are Gomi simple - geometric shapes, dots and dashes with few colors. A nice reassuring book for young readers.

Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker, 

illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

2018, Chronicle Books, 32 pages

As a train arrives at a station in the middle of the night, each crew worker knows exactly what to do to quickly load of the train's freight. Box cars, hoppers, tankers, reefer cars, gondolas, autoracks, well cars, flatbed cars, and the red caboose each have their own cargo to be loaded by a perfectly matched crew, for example, hoppers are loaded by kangaroos, tankers filled by elephants, turtles drive race cars onto the autorack. After everything is loaded, the crew all go to sleep in bed on the flatbed cars, while a giraffe serves as lookout in the caboose. Told in the same whimsical rhyme that was used in the successful Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, this is a fun, if long-for-a-board-book bedtime story that turns out to be a young kid's dream based on the train set by his bed. My brother was a model train lover from age 4, so a lot of what I read was familiar to me, but it nicely teaches kids the part of a train while entertaining them.

I end this board book roundup with two nice concept books.

Up, Down & Other Opposites with Ellsworth Kelly

written and illustrated by Ellsworth Kelly

2018, Phaidon Press, 30 pages

This board book is part of the publisher's series First Concepts with Fine Artists, described as an "innovative series of early-learning board books pairing the work of fine artists with basic concepts for toddlers." Using the paintings of contemporary artist Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015), this is a simple introduction to opposites. Kids will need some adult help at first for some of the opposites, like back and front of a paintings, or rough and smooth, but on the whole, opposites make sense and will help kids learn to identify different kinds of opposites. This is a very appealing book, most the examples of opposites are large and vibrantly colored. At times, the spare text addresses the readers directly to to encourage the reader to think more about the opposites shown.  This, like all the First Concepts with Fine Artists books, is a fun, easy, very playful way to learn basic concepts.

TouchThinkLearn: Wiggles written by Claire Zucchelli-Romer

2018, Chronicle Books, 26 pages

In this interactive book, young readers will explore and learn all about different tactile experiences. The book invites kids to let their fingers explore a variety of shapes and designs by tracing them, or they can count and play with dots, zigzags, and twirls. Kids are told what to do on each page, and there is a lot of repetition and use of onomatopeia throughout. The pages are a pastel blue with text in a white font (which I found too light), and the shapes are done in brightly fluorescent colored cutouts. These cutouts are an opportunity to develop fine motor skills and explore different perceptions, but when asked to use left and right hand simultaneously, it might be a challenge for younger kids. I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about parts of this book, though I think it is a fun way to learn.

Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein written and illustrated by Lita Judge

Here is a brilliant new fictionalized biography about Mary Shelley by Lita Judge, just in time for the  200th anniversary of the publication of her best known work, Frankenstein. I have to admit that when I read Frankenstein in junior high school, I never really thought much about the author. I was reading it on my own then, and even when I reread it in college, Mary Shelley was basically ignored (perhaps my professor was a fan of Roland Barthes' The Death of the Author). Of course, we all learned that Frankenstein was the result of a challenge by Lord Byron to his companions to write a better horror story than the ones he had been reading,

and that Mary took up the challenge, and created her masterpiece. Oh, how I wish I had had Mary's Monster when I was first reading Frankenstein.

Written in free verse from Mary Shelley's point of view, Judge has created this fictionalized biography of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley that will change the reader's perceptions of her and give them real insight and a new appreciation for both the author and her novel. Judge has divided Mary's story into nine parts, mirroring the nine months it took Mary to write Frankenstein. There is also an Introduction by Judge, and a Prologue by Mary's Creature.

The story then begins in 1812 with Mary on a boat, traveling alone from England to Scotland at her step-mother's insistence, to live with friends because the debts of the family business have increased considerably. On the trip, Mary recalls her childhood - the death of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, in 1797 when she is only 11 days old, her caring, unconventional father, her loving step-sister Fanny, and favorite visits from poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge. But this all quickly morphs into unhappiness when Mary's father remarries a cold, ambitious woman, who doesn't get alone with Mary and demands that she be sent away.

After two years, Mary returns home to London in 1814, and it is then that she meets and falls in love with aspiring poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary runs off with him at age 16, leaving England to live together, first in Paris, then Switzerland. Shelley is already married to another woman named Harriet, but has convinced Mary that his marriage to her is over. Mary soon finds herself pregnant with Shelley's baby.

Disowned by her father, Mary's life continues to be one of unhappiness, disappointment, betrayal, broken promises, and loss. Nevertheless, she manages to write Frankenstein while still in her teens and pregnant.

Mary's Monster is an extraordinary book, a perfect melding of both romantic and gothic fiction, two genres that were popular in Mary Shelley's day. And as if her nuanced poetry weren't enough to pull the reader into Mary's life, Judge has included over 300 pages of black and white watercolor illustrations that add to the ominous atmosphere permeating this work. Nor does Judge pull any punches or skirt around the hard issues and events in Mary's life. Because she includes the fact that Mary and Shelley made love beside her mother's grave (and most likely conceived their first child there), the deaths of Mary's children, the use of opium by her husband and his friends, the suicides of her half-sister and Shelley's first wife, I would recommend this book for mature teen readers - and I do highly recommend it.  

Although this is a fictionalized biography, Judge has included back matter giving more information about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, as well as an Author's Note, a list of the people in Mary's life and what became of them, a list of books that they were reading, notes for each part of the book, and a Bibliography.

Frankenstein was the creation of one man and composed of the parts of many. Perhaps Mary felt like she was too -

Something to think about as you read the hauntingly poignant fictionalized biography.

You can find an extensive, useful Teacher's Guide for Mary's Monster HERE

You can find a very enlightening interview with Lita Judge about the creation of Mary's Monster HERE

Lita Judge has shared a very interesting timeline of her writing and research process that you can read HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 15+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Feather by Cao Wenxuan, illustrated by Roger Mello, translated by Chloe Garcia Roberts

In this simple story about identity, longing and belonging, a single feather, blown about by the wind, begins to wonder what kind of bird she belongs to after two children find her and ask the same question. As the wind carries the feather off again, she longingly thinks that perhaps if she belonged to a bird, she could soar high into the sky. As she is carried along, the feather runs into all kinds of birds, including a kingfisher, a heron, a cuckoo, a peacock, and even a magpie, asking each in turn if she belongs to them. Some dismiss her question, others ignore it, and the peacock is just insulted that a plain feather would be so bold as to think it belonged in his beautiful plumage.

Finally, a skylark offers to fly the feather high up in the air, but then the skylark meets a tragic end when a hawk attacks. Floating back down to the ground, the feather lands on a tuft of grass. Demoralized and traumatized by the hawk, the feather decides that walking the earth can be just as wonderful as flying. No sooner does the feather thinks this, but the sun comes out and a mother hen and her chicks come along. And yes, the hen is missing a feather.

Feather, originally written in Chinese, has a lovely nuanced folktale quality to it that luckily does not get lost in the translation. It is a poignant story about our desire to belong and to know our place in the world, however humble that place may be. There is definitely a philosophical bent to the story which is meant for readers as young as four years old, bit it isn't so deep that they can't handle the questions feather's story asks.

The design of the book is as simple as the tale being told. Each bird that feather encounters is given a two page spread on different colored pages, and illustrated not necessarily in a natural setting, but in various stylized ways and always highlighting the feather along with each different bird.

Most of us know Cao Wenxuan from his novel Bronze and Sunflower, so beautifully translated into English by Helen Wang. Cao, a professor at Peking University in Beijing, is China's best known children's author, and a very prolific one at that. Most of what Cao writes is taken from his own childhood in the 1950s and 1960s, including China's Cultural Revolution. In 2016, Cao won the Hans Christian Anderson Award given by the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY). Hopefully, as his popularity grows beyond China, more of his books will be translated into English.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss Plus

Review and Interview: I'm a Duck by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

I'm a Duck is a gentle story told in rhyming couplets about a young duckling who must overcome his fear of swimming in a pond.

While still an egg, duckling rolls  out of the mother duck's nest and begins to sink to the bottom of the nearby pond. Saved by his quick acting mother, when the duckling hatches, it is afraid to go into the water: "I cannot swim and that is bad/a landlocked duck is very sad."

Watching his siblings splashing around in the water and having fun, duckling is encouraged by his friends, kind Big Frog, who tell him: "Just slide in fast; don't even think/You're a duck and ducks don't sink" and Wise Owl, who advises him: "You're a duck. Use common sense/and try to get some confidence."

Duckling decides to practice swimming in a puddle and after a day of going round and round, he's finally ready to try swimming in the pond, even though he is still scared. With encouragement from his mother, siblings, Big Frog and Owl, the little duckling takes the plunge and realizes that he really can't drown - he's a duck: "I was wrong to ever think/a well-made duck like me could sink."

This is the perfect book for any child who has to face doing something they are afraid of trying (and isn't that all kids at some point). The message here isn't simply about overcoming fears, but also the fact that overcoming them needs to be done in the person or duck's own way and in their own time. It's a good message for kids who feel pressured by friends or family to go at a faster pace than they are ready for, and it makes this a great read aloud for the whole family. Once again, Eve Bunting is just so spot on with this story.

Will Hillenbrand's appealing soft focus mixed media illustrations really capture the duckling's dilemma and especially his mixed feelings. I've always found Hillenbrand's illustrations so captivating and recently, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview him about his life as an artist, and what makes him tick. And Hillenbrand was kind enough to do a video interview which I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

This book is recommended for readers age 3+
This book was provided to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press

Blog Tour: How to Coach Girls by Mia Wenjen and Alison Foley

From the Publisher:
How to Coach Girls provides the most comprehensive guide available to the many issues associated with coaching girls teams across the spectrum of sports, from soccer to lacrosse, field hockey to softball. Volunteer parents and experienced coaches alike will find invaluable advice on the process of making a successful team, encouraging girls to stay in sports beyond the middle school years. Twenty-two chapters cover all the major issues, including how to pick captains, the importance of growth mindset, issues around body image and puberty, as well as the intricacies of coaching your own daughter. This invaluable guide is the brainchild of Alison Foley, Head Coach of Women's Soccer at Boston College and Mia Wenjen, a parenting and education blogger at PragmaticMom.com and the mother of two daughters, who provide personal accounts to illustrate issues discussed throughout the book. The combination of Mia's voice of parental experience coup0led with Alison's professional expertise provides an innovative and highly accessible apporach to considering potential pitfalls and how to avoid them. In the final section, a broad range of experienced college coaches, including former Olympians, give crucial guidance on what it is that girls need from a coach to allow them to flourish in sports, and most importantly, have fun.

I am not the least bit athletic, although I did play right wing on my high school field hockey team for four years. We had two coaches, and I and my teammates remained part of the team mostly because we all liked the coaches, but I never thought about it beyond that until I read How to Coach Girls.

I was not the least bit surprised to learn that 70% percent of kids give up organized sports by the time they reach middle school, and that girls drop out 6 times the rate of boys. Why? Well, according to Wenjen and Foley, coaching girls is different than coaching boys. In short, they conclude that girls need a social emotional relationship with their coaches, whereas boys don't. The way to achieve this kind of connection is called the Whole Child Approach. Once the players feel comfortable, safe and engaged, they are willing to take the kind of risks on the playing field that boys just seem to automatically take.

Authors Alison Foley and Mia Wenjen

This is a slim volume divided into three sections. Each section deals is devoted to ways a coach can  achieve a winning team of girls. The first section, The Big Picture, looks at the ways a coach can makes team sports fun, but also how they can develop a team chemistry, using positive reinforcement and, most importantly, have a team of good people, not just good players.

Section two, Solutions to Specific Issues, offers some really helpful how-to ways for different situations, such as coaching one's own daughter, building confidence in players, how to handle a losing streak, and issues around body image, puberty and sports.

Section three, Pre-Season Planning, is a really helpful section for new coaches, especially for volunteer coaches who may not be very experienced, and let's face it, with budget cuts, girls' sports get slashed first in school and sometimes the only way to play is if parents help with the coaching. Here coaches will find some very useful guidelines, such as creating a player code of conduct, a parent code of conduct, putting together that all important medical emergency plan, setting goals and evaluations, and finally, pre-season logistics.

When I began this, I said that me and my teammates continued to play field hockey for four years because we liked our coaches. It turns out that many of the approaches I read about in How to Coach Girls were actually many of the reasons why we remained. We were lucky, but so often girls continue to drop out of sports because their coaches don't understand the difference between coaching boys and girls, and girls begin to feel like just a player expected to win, and not a person playing a sport that she enjoys being a part of. 

How to Coach Girls is an invaluable guide for all coaches, offering suggestions, strategies, and guidance to help make each girls' team, regardless of the sport they are playing, the best they can be.

To learn more about this book, please visit the  How to Coach Girls website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page

Be sure to visit these stops on the How to Coach Girls Blog Tour:

February 22  Shelly Bean the Sports Queen   
March 1        Wise Owl Factory                       
March 2        The Conscious Kid                     
March 3        Jump Into a Book                   
March 4        Books My Kids Read                 
March 5        Ms Yingling Reads                     
March 7        All Done Monkey                     
March 8        Miss Panda Chinese                   
March 9        Biracial Bookworms                 
March 10      Mom of all Capes                     
March 11      Franticmommy                         
March 12      Randomly Reading                   
March 13      Here Wee Read                         
March 14      DawnDavis.com                       
March 15      The Pragmatic Parent               

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia

Nothing makes Clayton Bryd happier than sneaking off to Washington Square Park and playing his blues harp (a/k/a harmonica) with his beloved grandfather Cool Papa Byrd and his friends the Bluesmen, except possibly playing a twelve-bar solo. But all Cool Papa keeps telling his not yet. Then, the unthinkable happens and Cool Papa is gone from Clayton's life.

No sooner is Cool Papa's funeral over than his daughter, Juanita, Clayton's mom, decides to sell all his belongings - records, guitars, clothing, everything. All Clayton manages to salvage is Cool Papa's porkpie hat. Sad and angry, Clayton just doesn't understand why his mom is so bitter towards her father.

To make matters worse, Cool Papa always read to Clayton at bedtime, and no sooner does he return to school, when the teacher announces a new book for the class to read together - the very same book Cool Papa read to help Clayton fall asleep, the one he was reading when he passed away. When Clayton tells the teacher he has already read the book, could he please read another, she insists he read what the class is reading. But Clayton associates that book,  The Four Corners of the World with going to sleep and that's just what happens everything time the class begins reading it.

After finally getting suspended for constantly falling asleep when he should be reading, Clayton's mother takes his precious blues harp away. Angry and hurt, and still missing his grandfather, Clayton hatches a plan. The next day, instead of going to school, Clayton finds his blues harp, his grandfather's porkpie hat, and his money - all $17.00 of it - and heads to Washington Square Park to find and join the Bluesman. And that is just the beginning of Clayton's coming of age journey, thanks to the ragtag group of buskers he meets on the subway, and who are just trying to make some money performing hip hop underground.

There is so much going on in Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, I almost don't know where to begin. On the one hand, there is Clayton's story, the loss of the most stable person in his life, followed by  his anger and frustration at his mother and teacher for not understanding how profoundly his grandfather's death has impacted his young life. Then, there is his desire to recapture what he had with his grandfather by finding and joining the Bluesmen. But there is also Clayton's mother and her anger and frustration at her father for being gone most of her childhood, coupled with feelings of jealousy as she watches Clayton get the love and attention she had once wished to have, while she is now forced to work long shifts at the hospital to make ends meet.

Cool Papa had always said that "a bluesman ain't a bluesman without that deep-down cry" (pg 6) and that is just what Clayton's underground education helps him understand. Now, I've been riding the NYC subways my whole life and even I had a few breath-holding moments reading Clayton's experiences with those hip hop buskers he meets. And yet, kudos to Williams-Garcia for letting Clayton make wrong decisions and have those scary experiences.

The blues and hip hop, both African American musical and cultural genres. are the perfect musical accompaniment for Clayton Orpheus-like journey to the depth of the underworld to find a way to release his "deep-down cry." To his credit, it is his father who ultimately hears Clayton's cry, the father whose access to Clayton has always been limited by the angry Juanita but whose desire to be part of his son's life never flagged.

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground is an achingly realistic novel, and a brilliant coming of age tale for today young readers.

You can find a detailed, useful downloadable Discussion Guide for this book HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss Plus

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's Monday! What are you reading? - from Picture Books to YA is a kid lit focused meme just like the original and is hosted weekly by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. The purpose is the same: to recap what you have read/reviewed and plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. Twitter: #IMWAYR

It's been exactly two weeks since I last posted anything on this blog. I have been down and out since then with the flu (and yes, I had a flu shot). How bad is this year's flu? I actually had two days when I thought I wasn't going to pull through, I was so sick. On a more pleasant note, however, I did have a nice dream that my Kiddo came home from San Francisco to NYC and did all my laundry. When I told her about the dream, she laughed and said she would have done that for me if I really needed her to. What a great kid!

If the flu comes calling at your house, here are some of our favorite sick day picture books that might help you through:

I didn't read as much as I would have liked but I read a few things, including

The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

2018, Greenwillow, 208 pages

Right now, I am reading

Without Refuge by Jane Mitchell

2018, Carolrhoda Books, 288 pages

I have a whole slew of books to review that have been sitting only desk for the last few weeks, and I hope to get to them soon. I'm still very tired all the time, but I'm a big believer in the idea that slow and steady wins the race and that's how I am approaching things right now.

Stay healthy, safe and warm!!