It's Monday! What are you reading? We read Four Fun Picture Books!

It's been a while since I took part in It's Monday! What are you reading? and I thought this would be as good a time as any to return. Here are some picture books I have been reading with my young readers.

Reading is Fun

I Like Trains 

written and illustrated by Daisy Hirst

Candlewick Press, 2021, 32 pages

A happy little golden puppy loves nothing more than to play with his toy trains, whether his is giving his favorite animal stuffies a ride or driving his own cardboard boy train. He even loves to have books about trains read to him. But even better than toy trains is when his parents take him to the train station to ride on a real train. It's so exciting to sit by the window and watch as the train sets off. There are so many different things to see as they leave the city and ride through the countryside - houses, cars, hotels, factories, even boat on a river soon give way to fields, trees and farm animals. When they finally arrive at their stop, there's Grandma, waiting for them. This very happy golden puppy loves playing trains with his Grandma, and Grandma loves it, too. Here is a book perfect for your youngest readers, whether or not they are train enthusiasts. It is written in simple declarative sentences, with letter is bold black letters and with boldly colored illustrations as uncomplicated as the text. Don't get me wrong, simple only means it is perfect for your youngest readers who are just setting off on their reading journey. My young readers were very excited to be able to pick out the letters and some sight words they recognize from other books we've read. This book also generated some lively, always welcome conversations of trips taken with their families. My young readers gave I Like Trains a hearty 👍🏼

The Greatest Showpenguin 

written and illustrated by Lucy Freegard

Rizzoli Books, 2021, 32 pages

Poppy's family have been performers in a traveling circus for generations, and skills are always passed down from penguin to penguin. Everyone performs, including Poppy, and she is beloved by the audience. But there is just one problem - Poppy doesn't want to be a performer. She would like to feel calm and in control and that can't happen performing in a circus. But what if the family is against her no longer performing? What if her mother doesn't understand? Poppy is so unhappy, she decided to take a little break from the show to rest and relax. But while on vacation, Poppy misses everything about the circus so much that she comes up with a brilliant idea of how to be part of the circus and not perform. After all, someone has to organize things and run the circus behind the scenes and it's the perfect place for Poppy. This is a sweet, heartwarming story about overcoming fears, then finding and doing what you are best suited for. The color-was mixed media illustrations are bright and bold, and you readers will always recognize Poppy among all the other penguins - she's the one with the big round red glasses. This book also received a 👍🏼from my young readers.

The Boy Who Loved Everyone written by Jane Porter, 

illustrated by Maisie Paradise Shearring

Candlewick Press, 2021, 32 pages

On his first day of preschool, Demitri is so excited and happy to be there that he goes around telling everyone and everything that he loves them - the other kids, the teacher, the tree in the playgound, even the lunch lady. But no one responds to him the same way. Instead, they just joke or turn away. By the end of the day, Dimitri is feeling pretty dejected. But he never noticed how uncomfortable he was making the other people feel with his demonstration of affection. The next day, even though Dimitri doesn't want to go to school, his mom gets him ready while she explains how people can say I love you in different ways without saying the words, but through action, kindness, and words of appreciation - like hugging, sharing and friendliness. When Dimetri gets to school, the other kids invite him to join in their activities and to sit together for story time, demonstrating just what his mother had to hime about how to say I love you, just not in those words. A encouraging story about learning to recognize social cues and helping young kids with social-emotional development. The brightly colored mixed media illustration as a sweet as Demitri is and also reflect the wide range of diverse children and adults in today's schools and neighborhoods. 

Cat Dog Dog: The Story of a Blended Family

Words by Nelly Buchet, Art by Andrea Zuill

Schwartz & Wade Books, 2020, 40 pages

This is a book that makes me laugh every time I read it, and it is a book my young readers love because they've learned what it feels like to be a reader thanks to the bare minimum of words used. I love to see them pull it out and go through it pointing to the word that matched the animal. Told from the point of view of the dogs and cat, it the story of a biracial couple who move in together and combine their family - he comes with one dog, she already has a dog and cat. Over the course of a year, the animals eventually learn to accept one another and get along. When a new addition comes along, you just know it will be three against one until they all learn to get along again. What I love about this book is that the illustrations harmonize so well with the words allowing my young readers to not only begin to recognize letters and words, but to also make up their own storylines about the two dogs and cat thanks to all the detailed included in the background. There is such a variety of emotions on the faces of the pets, that it is a great way to talk about feelings and introduce the idea of empathy.

Cat Dog Dog has just won the Bank Street 2021 Irma Black Award for excellence in children's literature. What makes the Irma Black Award unique is that children are the final judges of the winning book. Watch this space for information about registering your 1st and 2nd grade classes to participate in voting for the 2022 award.

It's Monday! What are you reading? is the original weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  It's Monday! What are you reading? - from Picture Books to YA is a kidlit focused meme just like the original and is hosted weekly by Teach Mentor Texts.  The purpose is the same: to recap what you have read and/or reviewed and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week.

Keeping the City Going written and illustrated by Brian Floca

 

Keeping the City Going

written and illustrated by Brian Floca

Atheneum  BFYR/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Simon and Schuster

2021, 40 pages

When we first heard about COVID-19, I used to lose sleep worrying about my Kiddo living in China and a mere 600 miles away from ground zero there. Than, before I knew it, New York became somewhat of an epicenter for the virus and almost everyone pulled in their welcome mats and shut down. People wore masks, disposable gloves, carried hand sanitizer and only went out when they needed to. Supermarkets stayed open, but restaurants closed their doors and had delivery only. Theaters and libraries closed and people turned to their Kindles and Nooks. Big Target boxes filled with toilet paper and disinfecting wipes littered apartment buildings lobbies, food delivery services like Instacart became even more popular, and Times Square, the crossroads of the world, was EMPTY. Hospital tents set up in the East Meadow in Central Park, and the Navy docked their hospital ship in New York harbor. But the buses and trains kept going, and essential workers showed up for work every day.

I bring all this up as a way to introduce Brian Floca's newest book Keeping the City Going. It is a homage to the essential workers who kept the city going through it all. Because behind everything I mentioned were/are people who went out in a pandemic to take care of us. And not just in NYC, but all over the country.

The book is narrated in the collective voice of some children looking out their window at their almost street downstairs, reflecting on how the city has changed, and Who the few people they see might be. 

Floca has really captured the essence of New York during the lockdown and the frontline workers that we so desperately needed - from bus, subway and taxi drivers who safely carried people from place to place, to the sanitation men who kept the city sort of clean, postal workers who kept the mail going, and even the utility workers who kept us in gas, electricity, water, phones and internet for our zooming and remote learning sessions.  

Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the part about the medical and hospital personnel who worked so tirelessly to save the lives of patients who had contracted COVID-19. Probably because I come from a medical family, I really love how Floca pays tribute to all of them - the FDNY, the EMTs, the doctors, nurses, nurses aides, technicians, clerks and cleaners - because sometimes some of these essential workers were/are forgotten about. 

Floca has also included our nightly ritual of opening windows and cheering, banging on pots and pans, blowing horns and ringing bells in appreciation for the people who are kept the city going. 

In his signature style, Floca's watercolor illustrations are done in a colorful yet soft palette and are as beautifully detailed as the city he is illustrating. 

Keeping the City Going is a lovely tribute as well as a timely work documenting those days for now and for the future. And while Floca may have highlighted Brooklyn in particular and NYC in general. this is a book that can be read and appreciated by anyone anywhere who has lived through the pandemic days of 2020-2021. We were all in this together. 

This book is recommended for everyone

This book was gratefully received from the publisher Simon & Schuster.

MMGM: Kyle's Little Sister story and art by BonHyung Jeong

 

Kyle's Little Sister

Story and Art by BonHyung Jeong

JY, an imprint Yen Press, 2021, 240 pages

Sixth grader Grace Bailey is very excited to finally be a middle grader. Well, except for one thing - older brother Kyle is an eight grader in the same school. Grace and Kyle may be siblings, but they couldn't be more different. Kyle is outgoing, good-looking and popular, especially among the girls, and likes to game with his two best friends, Liam and Andrew. Grace is a quiet, shy girl who prefers staying home and gaming with her two best friends, Jay, who is Black and has a big crush on Kyle, and Amy, Andrew's younger sister.

When Amy finds out that Andrew is having a game night with Kyle and Liam at her house, she convinces her mother to let her have an overnight with Jay and Grace at the same time. Everything is going relatively well until Amy starts pushing Jay to let Kyle know how she feels, something Jay does not want to do. When Jay finally tells Amy to stop pushing it, that she's taking Jay's feelings too lightly, Amy explodes. Hurtful words are said, feelings are hurt, Jay goes home, and Amy tells Grace she is only her friend because of their brothers. 

The following Monday, after not receiving any text messages all weekend from Jay or Amy, Grace finds herself alone in school, with no one to hang out with or sit with at lunch. But soon a popular, outgoing girl with blond curly hair named Cam invites her to sit at her table at lunch after finding out Grace's last name is Bailey. It's fun for a while, but when Cam and her other friends start bullying Amy, Grace begins to feel badly for her old friend. Things really come to a head when Grace discovers Cam's ulterior motive for being so friendly to her. Things are so bad that even Kyle begins to notice something's wrong. 

Will Kyle finally help his sister out? Will Grace, Jay, and Amy ever be able to patch things up and become besties again? And who is Audrey and is she friend or just another girl with a Kyle crush?

Kyle's Little Sister is a debut graphic novel for BonHyung Jeong and she has really hit it out of the park, capturing all the big and small happenings and nuances that can only happen in middle school. Her characters are so spot on and so very today even if the story is as old as...middle school. Jeong's has managed to take a handful of characters and give them all distinct personalities. There is nothing ambiguous in the storyline, and motives are clear and uncomplicated, and there is even a nod to the very popular K-Pop phenomena.  

Jeong's art is also uncomplicated, and I love the way she indicates things like the noisy school hallways, and the mutterings and asides of the characters by using a smaller font and not encasing them in a speech bubbles. Her illustrations are done in a soft pastel palette of colors, and her characters are given a variety of facial expressions reflecting their feelings and emotions, and red mouths when they are speaking.  

I'm a big fan of graphic novels and this one about living in the shadow of an older popular sibling is totally relatable and I know this from my own experience. I got really tired of people, especially teachers, saying to me "Aren't you Ginny's little sister? You're nothing like her." I suspect there are many of us out there who can relate to Kyle's Little Sister. 

Art and storyline make this a unique graphic novel about school relationships, sibling rivalry, forgiveness, maturing, and real friendships to share with your young readers. 

Meet the Author/Illustrator

BonHyung Jeong (Bon) studied Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Kyle's Little Sister is her debut graphic novel, made possible with the help of numerous people. She hopes to make connections with others through relatable stories. Currently living in Korea, she's always busy playing console games - exactly like someone in the book. 

This book is recommended for readers 9+

This book was gratefully received from Casey Blackwell at Media Masters Publicity  

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia

 

Rita William-Garcia begins her epic story by giving a brief history of the land and people in what would later become the boot of Louisiana as a way to usher readers into the main part of her story, and ultimately situate them in the summer of 1860 in St. James parish on the ironically named Le Petit Cottage, home of the Guibert family and the people they enslaved.

The family is headed by its French-born matriarch Madame Sylvie Bernardin de Maret Dacier Guilbert, who never tires of telling people about her connection to Queen Marie Antoinette and the Bernardin de Maret vineyard owned by her family. Madame Sylvie taken from France by a middle age man who forced her to marry him at the age of 13. And before you go feeling sorry for her, know this - Madame Sylvie is so enamored of Marie Antoinette, she named her personal servant, the enslaved Thisbe, a girl taken from her family at age 6 to serve Madame only, after the Queen's dog, 

Le Petit Cottage has been run by Madame Sylvie's son, the poetry loving, syphilitic Lucien while her grandson, Bryon, 20, is attending West Point. The plantation is losing money and could soon be in the hands of creditors as Lucien waits for his mother to give him the stash of gold she had buried long ago and which she holds over his head. Bryon is engaged to be married, but he prefers the company of men, specifically his fellow cadet Robinson Pearce. Lucien is also hoping to make a good (and profitable) marriage for his daughter Rosalie, his beautiful, educated "quadroon" daughter. Her mother is an enslaved woman that Lucien raped during one of his visits to the slave quarters where he would often go for that purpose.   

After learning that Lucille Pierpont "had her portrait painted and hosted a much-talked-about showing at the Pierpont plantation," Madame Sylvie, now 80, has decided this is something she must also have done, even though the Guilberts can't afford it. And after finding out that a portrait of Bryon's finance's father had been commissioned as a gift to his daughter, Madame is even more determined, and almost beside herself when she learns that the painter was Claude le Brun, a descendant of Madame Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun who had painted a portrait of Sylvie and the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette when they were children. 

Into this cast of the major white characters comes Eugénie Duhon, Bryon's fiancee, and Jane Chatham, the 15-year-old abandoned daughter of plantation owners who only wants to ride her warhorse, Virginia Wilder, and of course, Bryon's lover Robinson, visiting for a few weeks before they return to West Point. 

I kept asking myself why would Rita Williams-Garcia write a story set in the antebellum south from the point of view of white characters. After all, that makes it sound almost like you are going to read an updated version of Gone with the Wind, doesn't it? But that couldn't be further from what Williams-Garcia has actually done here. Because it is through this very flawed, very cruel, entitled family that Williams;Garcia has captured the true horror of the institution of slavery. All the while that Williams-Garcia records the ups and downs of the Guilbert family, standing in the background, quiet, invisible, abused to their white owners are the enslaved Blacks, some of whom we do get to know well.

Had Williams-Garcia focused on only one enslaved character, for example Thisbe, readers wouldn't see how they are all treated and abused. By focusing on this family of enslavers, readers will "witness a brutal period in its benign and overt cruelty, to better understand its legacy of privilege and racism" and how it manifested itself on the people this family considered to be nothing more than property.

I won't kid you - this is not an easy book to read, and yet one that I found hard to put down. There are moments in it when you will pump your arm and say "yes," moments when you will reach for a tissue to wipe away your tears, and moments when you will want to turn away from what you are reading. All I can say is keep reading. This is too important a book to ignore. That said, you may be surprised to discover who the real hero of this story is. And then you will think about it, and you won't be surprised at all.

This book is recommended for readers age 16+

This book was very gratefully received from Keely Platt at Sparkpoint Studio

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey written and illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly

 

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey

written and illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly

Greenwillow Books, 2021, 160 pages

Marisol Rainey, 8, lives in Getty, Louisiana with her Filipino mom, her brother Oz, 12, and her white American dad who is an electrician and works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Three days a week, dad checks in with his family on the computer and one week a month he helicopters home to visit. Marisol is in the habit of naming things, for example, the refrigerator is named Buster Keaton, an old timey actor from a silent film Marisol watched. In the backyard is a tall magnolia tree named Peppina, named after another silent film called Poor Little Peppina, starring Mark Pickford. Peppina the tree is perfect for climbing, or at least that's what Oz and Marisol's best friend Jada George say. Marisol wouldn't know though, because she is afraid to climb Peppina. Well, really she is afraid of falling out of her. But maybe, just maybe Marisol will someday find the courage to climb that inviting tree.

Actually, Marisol has a great many fears and worries, and wonders why she is so scared of everything when it seems that no one else is. Luckily, she also has a best friend who never makes fun of her for being scared. Jada doesn't even care that Marisol has never climbed Peppina, although Jada climbs her all the time and dangles her foot from a comfy branch. Marisol is especially dismayed when finds out that her mother had climbed many trees back in the Philippines when she was a girl, the kalachuchi tree being her favorite. Will Marisol ever find the courage to climb Peppina and see the world from that new perspective?

Jada

But one day, just before Jada has to go home, she climbs Peppina higher that usual and discover a bird's nest with a feather and a pink ribbon. Marisol wishes she could see the bird's nest, too. Will this be the incentive she needs to gather her courage and climb Peppina?

This is Erin Entrada Kelly's debut chapter book. Not only did she write it, but she also illustrated Marisol's story with black and white spot illustrations throughout, and the result is just delightful. Told in the third person from Marisol's perspective, the chapters are short, with lots of white space between sentences, perfect for older elementary and younger middle grade readers. And I suspect that readers will find Marisol's worries, anxieties, and challenges completely relatable to their own. She also does have a nemesis of sorts, Evie Smythe, a girl who knows just how to put Marisol down and get under her skin to her make her feel bad (and make herself feel superior). But lest you think Marisol is ALL worry and fear, Kelly endows her with a loving family, lots of interests, curiosity, empathy, and she's really good at getting stuffies out of the claw machine. 

There is no maybe about it, Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey is a book you won't want your young readers to miss. It is a appealing story exploring age appropriate themes like biracial families, siblings, friendship, courage, and facing fear. You might even want to think about pair it with Lenore Look's Alvin Ho series and Katie and Kevin Tsang's Sam Wu is not afraid of...series. 

You can download a useful Teaching Guide for Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was gratefully received from Madison Ostrander at SparkPointStudio

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

 SPOILER ALERT!!

Fighting Words 

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dial Books/Penguin BFYR, 2020, 272 pages

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse and Attempted Suicide

Life has not been easy for Della, 10, and her sister Suki, 17. They are both in foster care now that their mother is in prison for blowing up a hotel room cooking meth. Six years ago, they had been taken in by their mother's former boyfriend, Clifton, but he has now been arrested and is about to go on trial for child sexual abuse. Suki caught him attempting to sexually abuse Della and filmed what was going on while calling the police. Now, Della is expected to testify at Clifton's trial, but Suki insists that it must be filmed and not done in person. Their new foster mother, Francine, is an old hand at fostering kids and really seems to be on Suki and Della's side. Living with her is the closest to a normal life that they have ever experienced. There is enough food to eat and no one abuses them. They go to school regularly, although Della struggles with the work, but also makes friends with a girl named Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards) and stands up to a boy in the class named Trevor who is always harassing the girls for wearing or not wearing a bra. 

And so it is in just such an atmosphere that Della begins to narrate their story, seemingly searching for something that she may have missed. Francine, who know exactly what has happened to the girls, keeps asking them if they want to talk to a counselor, but their case worker never follows through with that. Then, Suki attempts suicide, suffering from PTSD and unable to continue to be strong for herself and Della. As the pieces to what happened to Suki while living with Clifton begin to make sense to Della, she decides that she would rather testify in the courtroom at his trial instead of on a recording. She also finds the strength to report what Trevor has been doing to the girls in her class, right under the teacher's nose.  

Fighting Words ends well, but I think it needed a positive ending for it to be considered a middle grade novel. There is a lot of heavy stuff going on in Suki and Della's story, but Brubaker Bradley has included enough humor that it doesn't diminish the experiences of the sisters, but it sure is needed for some relief. I found Della to be a wonderful unreliable narrator (after all, she's only 10). And I was glad this didn't turned into an ugly foster care story. It's always encouraging to read about a positive foster care situation, and while Francine is a little rough around the edges, she is a real softy with her heart in the right place. 

I loved the irony of Della using the word "snow" whenever she was using "colorful language" and she did that a lot. I used to teach in the Bronx and Della's "snowy" language and defensive attitude reminded me of some of the kids I had in my classes, making her such an authentic character for me. I think Brubaker Bradley did a stellar job presenting Della and Suki's story, getting what happened across without being terrible graphic except for the one incident involving Della. But, in the end, I think this book needs trigger warnings - it is definitely not for every middle school reader. 

This book is recommended for readers age 10+