Thursday by Ann Bonwill, illustrated by Kayla Harren

Thursday by Ann Bonwill,

illustrated by Kayla Harren

Two Lions, 2022, 32 pages

Life altering events like divorce or loss are changes that can be really hard to deal with. This is particularly true for young children who don't necessarily understand what or why something is happening, and may even blame themselves for the change. Often, stories can help children cope with what is happening and Thursday is just that kind of book.

Thursdays, our narrator, a stuffed unicorn, tells us, used to be his little girl's favorite day. On Thursdays, she has art class and popsicles at lunch. But then, one Thursday, her parents told her they were going to get divorced, and the little girl knew that from now on, everything would be different and Thursdays were not longer her favorite day.   

The little girl tried to be brave, but it just wasn't happening. And so, she turns to her stuffed unicorn for comfort and companionship. After all, our unicorn narrator knows all about feeling lost and alone, then being saved by a friend. That's just how they found each other. First, they go to all of her favorite places and do her her favorite things and maybe even a few new things.

Not knowing what else to do, our unicorn narrator stays by her side until one day, the little girl hangs up a bird feeder and watching the birds flock to it, she decides it's time for her to gather all the little treasures from her life before the divorce and put them all in a box she can take wherever she goes. Eventually, her parents move to separate houses and some of the little girls stuff goes to one house and some to the other house, but the box of treasures will always travel with her.

Soon, she begins having some good days and some not so good days, but eventually Thursday became Thursday again, and our unicorn narrator finds his place in the little girl's box of treasures but available whenever she needs him.

Thursday is such a sensitive, tender story that takes a difficult topic and shows young readers that change does happen and that it's ok to be sad, but also that time and a good friend can help with healing and overcoming difficulties in a healthy, positive way.

I thought that having her stuffed unicorn tell this story and keeping the little girl nameless made her story a more universal one. I think readers could identify with the story more easily and put themselves in the girl's place. 

I thought using a decorated box to store treasures from the past was a brilliant metaphor for how you can keep your good memories and be able to take them out and revisit them whenever you want to, instead of just dwelling on the sad memories and the changes brought on by the divorce.

Look closely at the digital illustrations. There are so many that will generate some conversation with young kids. The first thing they will notice is a lovely home in the rain. My young readers knew right away this was not a good sign. I particularly liked the way the changes in the girl's life were depicted (see the first image above). The before is bright and colorful, while the divorce shows blue when she is with her mother and pink when she is with her father and the two pieces look like a broken egg (according to one of my readers.)    

Thursday is a book that should be read by any family dealing with divorce or even another kind of traumatic change. And even if your family isn't going through changes, it's a good story for helping young readers develop empathy for others who might be.

Thank you, Barbara Fisch of Blue Slip Media for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Meet the Author:

Ann Bonwill grew up in Maryland surrounded by books. Before becoming an author, Ann worked as a clinical social worker, a Montessori teacher, and an autism therapist. She is the author of multiple picture books and nonfiction books for children, including When Mermaids Sleep, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, and I Am Not a Copycat!, illustrated by Simon Rickerty. Ann has lived in many places, from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Frankfurt, Germany. She currently lives in Virginia with her family. Learn more at www.annbonwill.com.

Meet the Illustrator:

Kayla Harren is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a BFA in illustration. She’s an award-winning illustrator of multiple picture books, including A Boy Like You, written by Frank Murphy, and The Boy Who Grew a Forest, written by Sophia Gholz, among other titles. Her work has been featured in the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts, and 3x3 Magazine, and she won the Highlights for Children Pewter Plate Award. She lives in Minnesota with her family. Learn more at www.kaylaharren.com.

Facebook: Kayla Harren Illustrator

Instagram: @kaylaharren

Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee

 

One morning in February, 11-year-old Ren wakes up and discovers her dad has left the house and she doesn't hear from him until he lands in NYC, assuming Ren's mom has explained that they were getting divorced. Ren's mom Kelly, an ER nurse, doesn't really want to talk about the divorce, and escapes accepting it by sleeping a lot. Ren copes with these changes in her life watching online extreme makeup videos, especially those of Cat FX, an expert in special effects makeup. 

It turns out Ren's father has met someone who lives in Brooklyn and they are planning to get married in the summer. He invites Ren out for a visit and as much as she doesn't want to like Vanessa, she does. Vanessa is also pregnant, and somewhat into makeup because of her upcoming wedding. and the two have fun shopping for different kinds of cosmetics.

That summer, attending her father's summer wedding (and doing Vanessa's makeup for it), Ren's mom decides they need to move and start over, and since she is going to be attending a new school, Ren decides she want's to be called Wren from now on. At school, she immediately makes a friend named Poppy, who is so impressed with Wren's makeup skill, she talks her into trying out to do the makeup for the school play Wicked. Poppy was hoping for the part of Elphaba, but it goes to Avery, a not very friendly mean girl. Avery has a crush on a boy named Kai, but it seems that Kai is more attracted to Wren. 

Meanwhile, Kelly is sleeping more and more, and blaming it on her long days in the ER and the aching back and knees that come with job. Perhaps that's why she is so short tempered with Wren. Then there are all the pain pills in the medicine cabinet, and the lock Kelly has put on her bedroom door, keeping it locked at all time so Wren can't go in. Wren thinks there might be something wrong with her mom, but doesn't know what. Luckily, Kelly has made a friend in the ER named Krystal, and it starts to become clear that something is indeed wrong when Krystal begins checking up on her and Wren. It all comes to a head when Kelly doesn't show up for opening night of Wicked. All of this leads up to a crisis which Wren is way too young to handle by herself, but thankfully has Krystal and her dad's help.

This is another tough topic book by Barbara Dee who tackled sexual harassment in Maybe He Just Likes You and mental illness in My Life in the Fish Tank. Parents who divorce is also tough enough topic, as is moving to another town and school and starting over, but here Dee takes things one step further and explores the reasons for the broken trust between Wren and her mother, a trust that may never be healed completely. 

I have to confess that at first Wren's extreme makeup interest didn't appeal much to me, but when I thought why, I realized that the extreme makeup was a great metaphor for the secrets Wren and her mother hide from each other throughout the book. Makeup, after all, is used to hide flaws and make us look better than we might without it, in a sense presenting a false face to the world. Wren's having to hide her feelings about her dad and his new life forces her into being secretive about what happens on her visits to Brooklyn (and there are many) and the cosmetics Vanessa sends her, hiding them from Kelly. Meanwhile, Kelly hiding a host of her own problems behind a locked door which is just so telling. 

On a positive note, it was very nice to see a stepmom getting along so well with her husband's daughter from a previous marriage, and Wren acceptance of her and the twin babies she gives birth to is equally good to see. You don't often see that in middle grade novels. Vanessa is so open and accepting of Wren and Wren really needs that.  

Violets are Blue is an emotionally charged novel, and one that I highly recommend. You can also find a useful Reading Group Guide courtesy of the publisher Aladdin/Simon & Schuster HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an ARC 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

Summer and July by Paul Mosier

It's July 1st and Goth girl Julliet, 12, is on a plane with her mother traveling from Michigan to Ocean Park, California, where her mom, a doctor, will be working in an ER. Julliet's parents are divorced, and her dad is in Switzerland with his new younger girlfriend. Julliet is also a girl who is fraught with fears, all shared with her best friend Fern, whom she is forbidden to hang out with after a misunderstanding. 

On her first morning, Julliet finds a note from her mom listing possible goals for her, including exercise, fresh air and work on her fears. Later, she meets Summer, an energetic surfer girl who wants to be friends. At first reluctant, Julliet, whom Summer insists on calling "Betty," slowly begins to warm up to Summer, and Summer for her part, patiently puts up with Julliet fears, while slowly, and even more patiently helping her deal with them. 

At first, they simply walk around town, checking out stores and just hanging out. Summer, who lives year round in Ocean Park knows everyone. Like Julliet, she's mostly on her own because her parents both work. Eventually, Summer gets Julliet to go to the beach and into the water, introducing her to surfing culture. Always at her side when Julliet confronts a fear, the two begin with skateboarding at the beach, then graduate to boogie boarding, all the while continuing to pal around, visiting to Santa Monica pier, and just having fun. But once in a while, Summer isn't available and Julliet wonders why. It seems Summer has a secret and isn't ready to share it with Julliet, at least not until Julliet is ready to finally try surfing. 

I don't think I've read a good surfing book since I found my sister's old copy of Gidget in the late 70s. So surfing culture isn't exactly something I'm up on. But I am a girl who spent summers on the Jersey shore, and I do love the ocean, and enjoyed reading a book that is set in an ocean community. In fact, the setting in Summer and July is so realistic, I could practically feel the sand and smell the salty ocean breeze.

I loved reading Julliet's transformation as she became more of a Betty, as her "fears" dropped away and she seemed to feel a much less antagonistic towards her mother. Her summer with Summer gives her a confidence that she lacked before arriving in Ocean Park, even allowing her to explore her sexuality. To his credit, Mosier never lets the reader think that Julliet's fears and her Goth look are anything more than an affectation she's picked up from Fern and defense mechanism which suits her anger at her parents for divorcing and the way they dealt with the aftermath of that divorce. Right from the start, it's clear there is someone else under the heavy black eye make up and clothing.

Summer, on the other hand, is such charming, natural, and kind character without any of the shallowness you might associate with pretty blond surfer girls. Summer has an inner strength that enables her to face everyday with a smile and a positive attitude, despite what has happened in her family. And it's this inner strength that she uncovers in Julliet. I also think that by always calling her Betty, she gives Julliet the freedom she needs to find herself away from her everyday life.

Summer and July is an textured, multilayered coming of age story that turned out to be one of the most satisfying books I've read this summer.     

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was an EARC gratefully received from Edelweiss+

MMGM: A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough

The thing about robotics and coding that nine-year-old homeschooled Sutton Jensen likes is that is it always black and white - if you code correctly, your program responded as expected. Not like a mom and dad who marry and then get divorced, or a mom who's always off studying emperor penguins in Antartica and who sometimes misses big events in Sutton's life. Hopefully, she'll make it home for Sutton's upcoming 10th birthday. And now her dad Martin is dating a woman named Elizabeth and it's starting to get serious. He's finally taking her out for a fancy dinner. To ask her something?

Elizabeth's son Luis is also a bit uncertain about his mom dating Martin. But their first big dinner date does mean he gets to go on his first ever sleepover. Luis, who lost his dad to cancer when he was two, has serious, very serious food allergies and ends up in the hospital in the middle of his sleepover, ending his mom's date thanks to some guinea pig food. Luis is a regular at the hospital, and everyone knows him. Back home, his mom suggests a visit to the Museum of Pop Culture, one of Luis' favorite places. And Luis suggests they invite Martin and Sutton. But as much as Luis enjoys the MoPOP, Sutton is totally disinterested, after all, Luis' favorite Star Wars exhibit is science fiction, not real science. 

Clearly, Sutton and Luis have nothing in common, but Martin, who was very unhappy with Sutton's behavior at the museum, and Elizabeth decide to try getting the kids together again, and take them on an outing hiking in the woods at Discovery Park. Not really wanting to go, both kids nevertheless try a little harder to make the outing less disastrous than the first one. Then Luis spots a "narrow opening in a dense thicket of bushes," and imagines it's a secret passageway to another world. The opening is too small for adults, but the parents encourage the kids to explore it, and head to what they think will be the other side to meet them.

But when Luis and Sutton take a wrong turn at a dead end and get lost, will they be able to join forces to find their way out and back to their parents?  

A Field Guide to Getting Lost is narrated by both Sutton and Luis in alternating chapters, so that readers know each child's thoughts and reactions to their parents increasingly serious relationship, and to each other. And they couldn't be more different. Sutton is logical, all science and robotics, and a Ravenclaw. Luis has a great imagination which he turns into stories, and, like Martin, is a Hufflepuff. Despite also being a Ravenclaw, I didn't really like Sutton at first, but as she grew, she also grew on me and I began to see that change is hard for her, and she retreats into science as a way of dealing with disappointment. Sutton is apparently white, but lives in a diverse neighborhood, including Muslim, Chinese, and Indian neighbors. And I would love to try some of Mrs. Banerjee's golden milk when things get rough. 

I did like Luis right off the bat. Despite his life-threatening allergies that really limit what he can do, Luis is not homeschooled as you might expect for a person with his health problems, but he does carry an epipen. Luis also has a great attitude and I liked how he used his imagination to take him to places he couldn't otherwise visit through his character Penelope Bell. Luis is part Guatemalan on his dad's side, and part white on his mom's side. And even though he doesn't speak Spanish anymore, he keeps in touch with his abuelos who live there. 

On the whole, I thought Sutton and Luis' story was delightful to read, and even when they were lost, they weren't in real danger, just enough to let them get to know each other better and learn to appreciate and respect their differences. This very relatable book will definitely appeal to the younger age middle graders.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was gratefully received from the publisher Simon & Schuster 

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

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

MMGM: The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead

Twelve-year-old Bea looks back over the last 4 years, recounting her parents divorce, her father's engagement to another man, and getting to know her new stepsister.

Bea is 8-years-old when parents tell her that they would be getting a divorce, not because they don't love each other, but because her father is gay. And, they reassured her, although she would now have two homes and two rooms, some things would never change. In fact, they were so sure of that that they gave her a notebook in which they has listed all the Things That Will Not Change and green pen (Bea's favorite color) for additional entries.

Bea is 10-years-old when her dad, a chef and restauranteur, announces that he is going to marry Jesse, who works with him. Bea, who adores Jesse, is especially excited when she discovers that he has a daughter, Sonia, who is the same age and lives in California.

But Sonia's first visit to New York doesn't turn out as Bea had hoped. Sonia misses her family in California and doesn't seem very interested in anything Bea proposes, including the upcoming wedding. But Bea perseveres, writing letters and emails to Sonia, even when there is silence on the other end. Meanwhile, plans for the upcoming wedding go forward, and when Bea discovers the Jesse has a brother, she is sure he would want to be invited to the wedding, despite being told that the brothers are not on speaking terms. She decides to send him an invitation anyway, telling no one, and thinking it will be a wonderful surprise.

Throughout all these changes, Bea struggles to navigate her life around big and small challenges and upheavals, like being a poor speller in school, outbreaks of eczema, learning to trust her therapist, incidences of homophobia, a guilty conscience, and the seeming rejection by Sonia, the sister she wants to have so badly. One way of coping with all this is to add to the List of Things That Will Not Change. Knowing there are people and things that are concrete and unchanging and that she can hold on proves to be the security blanket Bea carries wherever she goes.

I began this blog back in September 2012 with a review of Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, about which I wrote "...the story started to worm its way into my thoughts and the more that happened the more I began to really appreciate the incredibly clever way the story is woven together, each part adding to the whole picture, and the wonderful subtleties of Stead's writing." And that is the beauty of Stead's plotting and character development. She gives us characters that are easily relatable and puts them in seemingly unconnected situations and then you finish the book and, voilá, there is the whole picture, clear as could be.

And Bea is certainly relatable, simple because she is a flawed character in the way middle schoolers are flawed. She's impulsive, angry, sometimes unthinking and inappropriately physical, but always well-meaning, and she has a secret that causes major guilt feelings. She reveals her story slowly and in anecdotes that at times seem completely unconnected. In fact, she begins her narrative with one about her dad and his brother listening to the corn growing, an account that seems to have nothing to do with anything, but at the end of Bea's tale, has everything to do with everything. Each part of her narrative adds to the whole picture.

Bea's slow narration also gives readers the opportunity to get to know the people who are part of her world, all of whom are supportive and loving, but also flawed, and to see how her family's dynamics work. By the end, we see that all is not without disappointments, and there are plenty of ups and downs. But throughout it all, there is family, forgiveness, personal growth, and, of course, the list of things that will not change.

The List of Things That Will Not Change is at times poignant, funny, angsty but always real. It's a book that shouldn't be missed by tween readers, and one that should probably be read by their parents. I can't recommend it highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an eARC gratefully received from NetGalley

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.