⚾️Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #3: Subway Series Surprise by David A. Kelly, illustrated by Mark Meyers

The yearly Subway Series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets may have been cancelled once again for the 2020 season, but young baseball fans can still enjoy some Subway Series excitement, thanks to David A. Kelly's Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #3: Subway Series Surprise. 

It all begins one Friday afternoon at Brooklyn's  Cyclone Stadium just off the Coney Island boardwalk. The Cyclones are a minor league team and during the seventh inning stretch, there's going to be a hot dog eating contest between Met fans and Yankee fans. And cousins Mike Walsh and Kate Hopkins are the lucky kids who get to help out. After helping out, they are given a hot dog paid for by a mysterious fan - one wearing a Mets jersey AND a Yankee hat, who left a puzzle on their napkin for them to figure out.  

Later, when Kate's mom picks them up, they are off to Mets stadium in Queens, where the first game of the Series is scheduled. Mrs. Hopkins, a sports reporter, tells them that someone has broken into the press box there. Then they discover that the only thing taken are Mrs. Hopkins' research notes. And it seems that the person who was last seen leaving the press box was wearing a Mets jersey and a Yankee hat. But the one person who fits that description is Rocco Sampson, the Mets Apple Manager, who has invited Kate and Mike to visit him if they are around for game 3. And he seems to have an airtight reason for mixing his teams, after all, it is the Subway Series.

But when Kate and Mike overhear someone they recognize talking on a cell phone in Grand Central Station's Whispering Gallery, suddenly all the pieces seem to fall into place so they can figure out who took the research notes, but not why? Boy, are they in for a surprise!

Subway Series Surprise is really a fun book for young readers. It has everything that makes a book exciting. There's a mystery, lots of baseball playing, some interesting baseball history, and a few New York City fun facts - like why Mike and Kate could hear a conversation even though they weren't near the speakers. At the back of the book, fans will find even more information about the New York Yankees and New York Mets, as well as the Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Station. 

Kelly really knows how to craft a book so that is ideal for the target age. The vocabulary is perfect for them, the story isn't so complicated that they got lost or bored, and the characters are believable and relatable.  

I read this to some 6- and 7-year-olds. Most of them aren't baseball fans yet, but have parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and older cousins who are so I know it's just a matter of time. And what could be more complimentary then to have a young reader ask for more books in a series, which is just what happened. 

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was purchased for my personal library

I come from a family that has a serious Mets and Yankees rivalry going on, so I know what a disappointment it is for them to have to forfeit the Subway Series twice in one summer. 

Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem written by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem

by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Candlewick Press, 2020, 96 pages

My young readers have always loved Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson and her Tales from Deckawoo Drive series. And now I'm excited at the possibility of being about to share the latest Deckawoo tale with them. Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem is the fifth volume in the series and I know my kids are already excited about it, thanks to Zoom meetings. I haven't read it to them (copyright laws), but this is pretty much what I have told them about it:

It's Stella's first day of second grade and it just so happens that her new teacher, Tamar Calliope Liliana, loves the same things Stella loves - 'listening closely, speaking softly, and singing loudly.' Second grade is definitely on course to be wonderful. Well, except for Horace Broom, the class know-it-all, who naturally knows the definition of metaphor when Ms. Liliana asks if the class knows what a metaphor is before assigning them homework - to write a poem with a metaphor in it. That ought to be easy, Stella thinks, especially since Ms. Liliana also agrees with Baby Lincoln - that anything is possible in stories and in poems, too.

But writing a poem that includes a metaphor AND the idea of that anything is possible isn't as easy as Stella thought it would. Needing some moral support and inspiration, Stella heads over to visit Mercy Watson and sure enough, she comes up with a lovely poem that includes Mercy.

The next day, proud of what she has written, Stella mistakenly lets Horace read her poem but when he comes to the part where Mercy is sitting on the couch, he insists that pigs do not do that, that it is not possible, that pigs live on farms. But Stella stands her ground and insists that Mercy lives in a house and sits on the couch - all the time. No longer 'speaking softly,' Ms. Liliana sends Stella and Horace to Mr. Tinwiddie, the principal, and it is a trip from classroom to principal's office like no other. But by the end of their adventure, Stella and Horace have become friends, and have learned to respect their differences, and look at things from the other's point of view. My young readers are just going to have to wait to find out what adventures Stella and Horace have on their to Mr. Tinwiddie's office. 

Stella's story, like all the Deckawoo tales, is just charming. DiCamillo has taken something a simple as a poem and a walk to the principal's office to highlight Stella and Horace's different and opposite personalities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and has shown us how adversaries can learn to use them to help each other and even forge a friendship. 

I've read the Mercy Watson and the Deckawoo tales to a lot of kids and one of the things they really like about them are the recurring characters, and not only that, but the characters are always consistently who the kids expect them to be, in both the action of the story and the illustrations. And kids like that - it's familiar and comfortable and feels like they are seeing old friends each time they visit and revisit Deckawoo Drive. And yet each story is refreshingly new and has a gentle lesson that even my youngest readers can grasp. And Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem is no different.  

And luckily, there is a treasure trove of Tales from Deckawoo Drive. Have you read them all?

This book is recommended for readers age 6+, but 5-year-olds like it, too.

This book was an EARC gratefully received from NetGalley and the publisher, Candlewick Press.

Remembering Tomie dePaola (1934-2020)

Like everyone else, I was stunned and saddened to read about the passing of Tomie dePaola this week. Over the years, I read and recommended a number of this books, including stories about my favorite magical grandmother Strega Nona. But it was Tomie's books about his home front experiences during World War II that I really liked and appreciated. Tomie's books about his experiences during the war are a window into exactly the kind of things I was interested in - how war impacts children. They are so open and honest. He wrote about them in the last four of the eight books that make up his 26 Fairmount Avenue series, and are subtitled The War Years. 

This post probably contains spoilers
(This review was originally published on The Children's War in 2013)

In Book 5, Things Will Never Be the Same, begins in January 1941, first-grader Tomie had just received his two best Christmas presents - a Junior Flexible Flyer sled and a diary with a lock and key, and so Book 5 begins with his very first diary entry.  With all the charm, honesty and bluntness of a very precocious and artistic 6 year old, Tomie takes us through the year 1941, diary entry by diary entry.  Each chapter begins with a short diary entry and the rest of the chapter goes into more depth everything that was going on at the time.  And 1941 is an exciting year for Tomie.  Through his diary, Tomie presents a wonderful picture of what life was life in that year preceding America's entry into the war.  Things he writes about include the day to day family life of the dePaola family, and the world of a first grader, for example, learning about President Roosevelt and the March of Dimes, and not being able to swim in the summer because of a Polio scare; the excitement over seeing Disney's Fantasia in the theater, his disappointment over who is second grade teacher is, about his tap dancing lessons which he loves, and of course all the holidays over the course of the year.  But all this changes on December 7, 1941.  Tomie writes in his diary:

As the dePaola's listen, along with the whole country, to the radio announcer talking about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tomie's mother says to her family, "Things will never be the same."

Unlike Things Will Never Be the Same, which covers a whole year, Book 6, I'm Still Scared, diary entries only cover one month, December 7, 1941 to December 31, 1941, but is is a powerful month for second grader Tomie.  Not quite understanding what has happened and the implications of war, Tomie is a scared little boy and to make matters worse, no one really wants to explain what's going on to him.  Luckily for him, after listening to Roosevelt's speech on the radio, the family go to visit Tomie's grandparents and his grandfather, Tom, takes some time he talk to him about his fears.  But life had indeed changed.  At school, there were air raid drills, and at home, an air raid shelter had to be created in the basement just in case.  And Tomie had to contend with being called the ENEMY because of his Italian heritage.  War was everywhere.  Even at the movies showing a children's feature, the newsreels showed London in the Blitz, and Tomie realized it was the first time he had seen what war was like.  At the end of December, young Tomie is still scared.

Book 7, Why?, begins on January 1, 1942 and runs until April 29, 1942.  In his new diary, Tomie gives more details of his day to day life.  He writes about his excitement about being able to stay up late for New Year's Eve, of going to help in his grandfather's grocery store, and of his first surprise air raid drill at school.  But his real trouble comes when his teacher starts teaching the kids to write in cursive and refused to allow Tomie, a lefty, to hold the pen in a way that worked for him.  And Tomie talks more about his older brother Buddy and how angry/annoyed Buddy gets with him.  But perhaps saddest of all are the entries about his cousin Anthony A/K/A Blackie.  Blackie was a favorite cousin who had joined the Army Air Corps.  Tomie seemed able to adjust to everything involving the war - like rationing and air raid drills - but the news of Blackie's death is just incomprehensible to him.  In the end, he is left asking himself Why?

Book 8, For the Duration, is the final book in the 26 Fairmount Avenue series and begins on May 1, 1942 and runs through... Well, that's hard to say.  It seems that early on, Tomie's diary key disappeared.  While there are not more diary entries, Tomie still talks about his life and in 1942, patriotism is in full swing.  At school, Tomie gets very sad and runs out of the room when the class starts singing the Army Air Corps anthem.  At dancing school. there is a lot so rehearsing for a wonderful recital, but there are also bullies in the schoolyard who take his new tap shoes and start tossing them around.  And there are victory gardens and ration books and helping again in his grandfather's grocery.  Things between Tomie and his brother Buddy get worse and in the end, it is Buddy who has taken the diary key.  But one thing Tomie learns to understand completely is that some things disappear (chewing gum, fireworks) and other thing come into being (war bonds, war stamps), all "for the duration."

The 26 Fairmount Avenue series is an extraordinary group of chapter books recalling Tomie dePaola's early life living in Meridan, Connecticut. For the most part, they are a series of vignettes told in great detail and include whimsical illustrations by Tomie throughout. Much of what he writes is funny, charming, sad and so typical of kids that age. Though I haven't reviewed for first four books here, I would really recommend the whole series to anyone who is a Tomie dePaola fan.  

Thank you, Tomie, for all your wonderfully written books and illustrations.

You did, indeed, decorate all of our lives.

And if you are a Tomie dePaola fan, be sure to read Lee Wind's interview with him:
Part 1 can be found here
Part 2 can be found here
Part 3 can be found here

These books are recommended for readers age 7+
These books have been purchased for my personal library

Three for Friday: Power Forward, On Point and Bounce Back by Hena Khan, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

There is nothing like the comfort that comes from knowing that the character you have just met in a book will be back in subsequent books. One of our favorite series is the Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream trilogy by Hena Khan. These three chapter books are wonderful sports stories that are ideal for kids ready to move on from easy readers to longer, more complex stories, or even for reluctant early middle school readers. They are clearly written, narrated in the first person by the protagonist, the issues are age appropriate, and they are diverse. Yes, the Pakistani American Saleems - Baba, Mama, older sister Zara, Naano (grandmother), Nana Abu (grandfather), and Jamal Mamoo (uncle) - are a Muslim family, but this is also a basketball story. The Saleem's culture and religion are a big part of Zayd's family life, and readers are given a nice window into what that is like, but most of the conflicts and challenges he faces are the kind that any kid might be confronted with at that age, both within the family and in the outside world. 

Power Forward by Hena Khan, 

illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

(Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream Book #1)

Salaam Reads, 2018, 144 pages

Meet Zayd. He's a fourth grader who loves basketball way more than he loves playing the violin in the school orchestra. And all he really wants is a chance to tryout again for the winning gold team and play his favorite game with his best friend Adam. So when Adam encourages him to skip orchestra practice and practice basketball in the gym instead, Zayd is all for it...until his mother finds out and he is grounded from anything basketball related for two weeks. And that includes the gold team tryouts. Zayd learns an important lesson in this book, but it's not the one you might think it should be. It's even better. There's also a nice story line about Zayd's favorite uncle beginning to think about marriage, an event Zayd has no interest in, but it does present a dilemma for him. If Jamal Mamoo gets married, he'll probably be too busy to hang out, shoot baskets or play basketball video games with Zayd. How can Zayd find the courage to let his family know how he really feels about playing the violin, playing basketball, and possible abandonment by Jamal Mamoo?

On Point by Hena Khan,

illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

(Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream Book #2)

Salaam Reads, 2018, 144 pages

Yes, Zayd did manage to get to the gold team tryouts and he's finally part of this winning basketball team. Except, they aren't such a winning team anymore - they've lost their first two games and now Zayd's best friend and teammate is starting to play football with some other guys. Zayd is afraid that Adam may be blaming him for the games the team has lost. When Adam stops coming to practice and playing on the team altogether, Zayd worries that Coach Wheeler will also think that's his fault. But then, Coach Wheeler has him play point guard, Adam's usual position. Not feeling particularly confident in his new position, the team loses yet again. Meanwhile, Jamal Mamoo and the family are busy making wedding plans and Zayd is indeed feeling abandoned by his favorite uncle. These wedding plans offer readers a further window into Muslim culture and religion, but this time with lots of wonderful mouth-watering food descriptions thrown in (which means a trip to Sahadi's in Brooklyn for me). But when Adam has to stay over at Zayd's house, the two friends have a really serious talk. Can Adam help Zayd get past comparing himself on the court to Adam and become a great player in his own right? 

Bounce Back by Hena Khan,

illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

(Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream Book #3)

Salaam Reads, 2018, 144 pages

Adam's talk really helped boost Zayd's confidence and he's on fire on the court, thanks also to the new basketball hoop he and his parents went halfsies paying for. Maybe, just maybe Coach Wheeler will name Zayd team captain now. But as the team approaches the end of the season and looks forward to the playoffs and hoped-for-championship, Zayd has an accident on the court and ends up with a severely sprained ankle and no basketball for four weeks. Already feeling sorry for himself, he begins to feel jealous as he watches teammate Sam take over his spot and do a great job. When he starts skipping practice, Baba finally convinces him to start going again. Sitting on the bench, he can see exactly what the team does right and what it does wrong, especially Sam. Can Zayd put team over jealousy and say something to Sam? Meanwhile, Jamal Mamoo's wedding approaches and it is truly a family affair. But when Nana Abu has a heart attack, and falls into self-pity, it takes clever thinking by Zayd and sister Zara to get him up and moving again in time for the wedding. Jamal Mamoo's wedding offers a great introduction to Muslim festivities and traditions surrounding his pending marriage, and shows a family happily involved (maybe too much for Mamoo and Nadia Auntie, his fiancée) in all the preparations and the big day.

I loved this trilogy and was sorry to say goodbye to Zayd and his family. Khan did a great job of seamlessly weaving in so many details about Zayd's life as a member of a Muslim family, while also showing that other aspects of their lives are similar to all families. I especially like how Zayd's budding maturity over the three books was depicted by his ability to incorporate the lessons he learned about good sportsmanship into his life off the court. 

I can't recommend the books in the Zayd Saleem, Chasing the Dream series highly enough.

These books are recommended for readers age 7+

These books were borrowed from the NYPL

Two for Tuesday: Juana & Lucas Books 1 and 2 written and illustrated by Juana Medina

Here are two mini reviews about books that my young readers really enjoyed - over and over. Not only did we find Juana to be a chatty, funny, heartwarming character, but we also learned some things about living in Bogotá, Columbia, South American and some Spanish words while reading both books. I gave them copies of a map so the kids could see just where Bogotá is and how Juana could see the Andes Mountains from her bedroom window. The kids were also able to see how far Juana and her family had to travel to get to Spaceland in Orlando, Florida. We spent a lot of time with these books and had lots of fun doing it. 

Juana & Lucas 

written and illustrated by Juana Medina

Candlewick Press, 2016, 96 pages

Young readers will love getting to know Juana in this delightful semi-autobiographical chapter book. She's a young girl living in Bogotá, Columbia with her two favorite people: her Mami and her dog Lucas. Juana also likes lots of things: drawing, superhero Astroman, brussels sprouts,and reading books (sometimes under the covers with a flashlight). She also like living near her abuelos and playing her friends, especially Juli. Juana isn't crazy about math, dance class, or her school uniform, but she does like lunch when she can play fútbol with her friends. Juana thinks her life is just about perfect, that is until English comes along - on the first already-not-going-well day of school. Thank goodness, there's Lucas to come home to after such a horrible day.

English, Juana discovers, has lots of THs, big Ws, and long Ls and she finds them all so hard to pronounce. Besides, why does she have to learn English anyway?  Her mother tells Juana that "learning English can change [her] life...in a good way." And everyone else she asks seems to agree with that - neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon, shopkeeper brothers Fernando and Hernando Herrera, even Tía Cris. But it's when her abuelo tells her she needs to learn English for the family's trip to Spaceland where Astroman lives in the United States that Juana finally finds a good reason to study English harder.

I thought the kids in my reading group were a little too young for this book, but I read it to them anyway. I thought it was just such a great kid-friendly book, that I couldn't resist. And my kids loved it! One could relate to Juana's struggle to learn English, and Juana reminded a few of them of their older sisters, but all agreed it was a great story. I thought it was also an ideal read aloud.

Told in first person narration by Juana, you can feel the energy behind her words, and she gives a very easy to follow vision of her life, that includes detailed asides that draw the readers into her world along with the main story. These are all accompanied by lively cartoon-like ink and watercolor illustrations and sprinkled with Spanish words throughout. Each time we came to a Spanish word, we practiced it until it was memorized, which proved to be a lot of fun. We also talked about how Juana's is similar to their lives and how it is different, which was also an interesting conversation. And though we learned that her father had passed away, we also saw that Juana has a loving, supportive family and lots of friends.

With her pigtails, her dislike of her uniform, her friendliness, and her abundant enthusiasm, Juana is a wonderfully appealing character, and we were pretty excited to continue her adventures with a second Juana & Lucas story.

You can download some handy Spanish/English flash cards to use along with Juana & Lucas thanks to Candlewick Press

Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas

written and illustrated by Juana Medina

Candlewick Press, 2019, 96 pages

This sequel to Juana & Lucas, begins just as Juana is realizing that her just about perfect life has become a little less perfect lately. It starts when she notices that her mother is wearing her hair differently, using more perfume, more lipstick and even singing. And lately Juana has also been spending more time with her abuelos, or with her abuelo's sister Cecilia, nicknamed Piti, or she has been staying with her cousins Cami Pipe, which is nice since Lucas can come, too. But Juana misses spending time with her Mami, whose spending times elsewhere without her.

Change is in the air and it turns out that Mami has been dating a man named Luis. Luis asks Juana lots of questions about herself when they first meet, and she learns that he loves to take pictures (so does she), he has a house in the country, called La Finca, and Luis likes to listen to jazz (so does she). And she really likes visiting La Finca. But when Mami and Luis announce they are getting married, Juana is less than happy.

And now, Juana needs to pack all her things because she, Mami, and Luis will be moving to a new house. Not only that, but her abuelita's seamstress is called in to take measurements for wedding dresses, including one for Juana and a special bow tie for Lucas. Piti is making the wedding cake, and Juana is her official taster. And she is excited about the new house, too. Pretty soon, Juana's dress is ready, the cake is made, and the wedding day has arrived. By now, Juana has accepted that her life has changed in a big way, and she starting to enjoy it, especially the idea of more cousins, uncles and aunts. After all, "it might guarantee an adventure or two."

Once again, Juana's first person narration draws readers into her life as she deals with the trauma of change and a new stepfather. I liked that Medina included an aside that is very touching as Juana thinks about the father she doesn't really remember and wonders what life would have been life with him. And Mami's reassurances that not everything will change, that she will always be her Mami who loves Juana, not matter what, and who will take care of her, laugh with her, cook her favorite foods, was also a nice touch.

The ink and watercolor illustrations are every bit as playful and energetic as in the first book, capturing all of Juana's emotions that run from very happy to very sad. And once again, there are Spanish words sprinkled throughout Juana's story. Juana's asides might inspire young readers to think about what is good in their own lives.

Both Juana & Lucas books deal with the kind of ups and downs that kids anywhere might face, but I really thought this story might be way, way over the heads of my young readers. Happily, most of them really got into it, and we again had lots of discussions, especially regarding the topics in the asides that Juana includes. I really hope they revisit both of these books when they begin reading on their own.

As a sequel, Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas stands up very nicely in terms of execution and strong storyline, and with the short introduction to Juana's near perfect life in Bogotá, it can be read as a stand alone story. 

And it is the humble opinion of my kids that Juana & Lucas and Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas are just about perfect. And we are hoping for more stories about Juana's life in Bogotá, Columbia with her best furry friend Lucas in the future.

You can download some handy Spanish/English flash cards to use along with Juana & Lucas. There is also a short Juana & Lucas: Big Problemas Activity Kit that can also be downloaded. Thanks to Candlewick Press for these.

These books are recommended for readers age 5+

These books were provided to me for review by Candlewick Press

This is the map I used:

Source: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/map/

The Year of the Fortune Cookie by Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Patrice Barton

This is the third book in the Anna Wang series by Andrea Cheng.  In the first book, The Year of the Book, Anna was in 4th grade and her best friend Laura now has different BFFs.  Feeling like an outsider, Anna loses herself in books, but it is also the year that she begins to develop empathy for other people, including Laura.  And Anna finds a new best friend in Camille, another Chinese girl.

In The Year of the Baby, Anna's parents have adopted a new baby sister from China, but Kaylee, an otherwise happy baby, isn't eating.  So 5th grade friends Anna, Camille and Laura develop a science project that they hope will entice baby Kaylee to eat more.

Now, in The Year of the Fortune Cookie, Anna has moved on to 6th grade and middle school.  It looks like Anna and Camille are the only Chinese students there, until Anna meets Andee when she signs up for an after school club.

In English, the teacher Mrs. Smith is teaching the kids how to write a proper paragraph and coordinates her lesson with the social studies topic of Who Am I?  This gets Anna to thinking a lot about who she is and about who baby sister Kaylee is.

Anna and her mother are invited by her 5th grade teacher Ms. Sylvester to accompany her and her husband to Beijing, China as they adopt they own baby girl.  When it turns out that Mrs. Wang isn't able to make the trip, it's decided that Anna would go with the Sylvesters anyway.  In order to miss two weeks of school in December, however, Anna needs the signature of all her teachers.

Her English teacher is reluctant to sign and instead hands her back a paper Anna had written about what makes her who she is with suggestions for a rewrite.  Eventually Anna hands in a satisfactory paper and gets permission to go to China.  It is Anna's hope that going there will give her a better understanding of who she is.

At the same time, the students in Anna's after school group decide to bake and sell fortune cookies to raise money to give to the Lucky Family Orphanage that Kaylee and the Sylvester's new baby were adopted from.  They also knit hats for the babies still there.  It's Anna wish to talk to the women who cared for her sister, but the prospects of that don't look very good.  Then, just when Anna thinks she will never to see the orphanage, she is pleasantly surprised.

This is a gentle story with lots happening, but with none of the dramatics usually associated with middle school novels.  The action may happen in middle school, but this is a better book for kids who are not there quite yet, making it a nice introduction to this time for readers.  Anna frets about all the usual things that going to a new school brings up - friends, work, being different, being accepted, but the main theme of identity and what makes us who we are is really the stuff of this book and of middle school.

Adult readers may wonder why the Sylvesters take Anna with them to Beijing, but younger readers won't be bothered by it.  I didn't dwell on the time Anna spent in Beijing, even though it takes up a fair amount of space, mainly because there is so much to it.  I admired Anna tenacity there when it looks like the woman from the orphanage is trying to get out of taking her to visit, but Anna was determined to do this for her sister.

The whimsical black and white illustrations by Patrice Barton add much to this heartwarming story and will provide continuity to readers who will recognize them from The Year of the Baby, which Barton also did.

The character of Anna grows a lot in this book and I wonder if Cheng is going to bring her from chapter book to middle grade novel for her fans who are growing up as well.  I think it is a nice book for kids around 9 or 10 who are soon facing middle school.

Anna is still learning Chinese and there is a pronunciation guide and character list at the beginning of the book of all the words and phrases used in The Year of the Fortune Cookie.  And even though we learn that fortune cookies don't exist in China, there is a recipe at the back of the book for making them.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from a friend

What the Witch Left by Ruth Chew

One boring rainy afternoon, Katy and her friend Louise are hanging out in Katy's bedroom when Louise becomes curious about what is in the chest of drawers stored there.  The first three drawers yielded not really interesting, but the bottom, fourth drawer was locked and Katy, as explained to Louise, she was not allowed to open it.  The things in the bottom drawer belong to her mother's Aunt Martha, whom Katy has never met.  But, curiosity gets the best of the girls, and off they go off to fetch the key.

Inside they find a bunch of ordinary looking items - a mirror, a bathrobe, an old dented metal box with a fruitcake painted on it, a pair of boots and some flesh colored gloves.   But are they really ordinary?

When Katy put the gloves on, she notices that, oddly enough, she couldn't see them on her hands.  But before she had time to take them off and put them back in the draw, her piano teacher arrives.  Still wearing the gloves, Katy's piano playing goes better than usual, even her teacher is impressed.  Later, when Katy isn't wearing the gloves, her piano playing was just a bad as ever.  Likewise, without the gloves, Louise is just a girl who draws well, but when she wears the gloves, she becomes a masterful artist.

Concluding that the items in the drawer are truly magical, the best friends continue to be drawn to it, especially when they start getting perfect spelling tests while wearing the gloves.  All that sounds pretty good, but. needless to say, soon the gloves lead to all kinds of school problems for the girls, including pandemonium in the auditorium when Louse wears the bathrobe in a school play and all you can see of here is her head floating through the air.

Over Thanksgiving break, Katy and Louise decide to try out the boots.  Called Seven League Boots, the girls calculate that each step in these boots equals 21 miles.  So the girls decide to so south where it is warm for a day of swimming.  And sure enough, in no time they find themselves in Mexico, meeting a young girl named Pilar and her donkey.  Pilar and her grandmother weave place mats to sell in the market to tourists.  Wearing the magic gloves, Katy and Louise spend part of their day helping her weave her mats, and because Louise's artistic talents are enhanced by the gloves, she makes mats with an unusual design to them.

But when the girls return home to Brooklyn, they discover the gloves are missing and they must return to Mexico the next day.  They find the gloves and teach Pilar how to do the new place mat design, which have been a hit in the marketplace.

The girls have lots of adventures with the items in the bottom draw, until...well, you'll just have to read the book to find out.

I loved this slow-paced, magical story.  But, how could I not love a book that not only takes place in Brooklyn, but near Church Avenue, my old stomping ground.   I do, however, think What the Witch Left is a nice companion chapter book for kids who are just starting to get into Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series.   And, in a day and age when kids can't wait to read books like Harry Potter, it is a perfect introduction to books about magical worlds and fantasy and to spark the imaginations of young readers and prepare the way for the kind of magical world Harry lives in.

The story is well-written, and there are no real scary bits in it.  I did find that What the Witch Left held up very well over time, although I don't think children go out to play without supervision any more quite the way that they do in this book.  Given that the book was published about 40 years ago, it might be a nice book to read with a parent or grandparent who has fond memories of reading it when they were young.

One nice thing worth mentioning: the dustcover illustration has been redone for this new edition, but underneath the DJ is the original illustration from the 1973 edition of What the Witch Left, seen here

This book is recommended for readers age 7-10
This book was borrowed from the NYPL