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

You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Poonam Mistry

You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar,

illustrated by Poonam Mistry

2018, Lantana Publishing, 32 pages

On a dark and stormy night, the baby animals in the jungle are scared - of the wind huffing and puffing and blowing the trees, of the loud thunder claps, of the lightening that sparkles in the night sky, and of the water rushing in the river.

Luckily for a little monkey, a baby loris, a tiger cub, and a young pangolin, a large, but gentle mama elephant comes along, and tenderly rocks them to sleep cradled in her truck. As she rocks them, she offers soothing words whenever the babies wake up whimpering. Don't be scared, mama elephant tells them as she comforts with reasons why each scary naturally occurring stormy element is good for the jungle in which they all live.

In calming, rhythmic language that reads like a lullaby, Chitra Soundar has written a beautiful, reassuring story that any parent or caretaker who has a fearful child will be grateful to have, especially on a dark and stormy night.

I've actually had this book for a while, and have read and re-read it many time by myself and with kids. We all love the story, and have spent some time exploring the incredible illustrations by Poonam Mistry, done in one of the most unique styles I've ever seen in a picture book. She describes it as coming from her love of nature, and exploring the relationships between patterns, shapes, and color to create intricate illustrations, with a decidedly Indian influence. Mistry's digitally created images certainly reflect this philosophy.

 After you and your kids have read and enjoyed You're Safe With Me, be sure to visit Chitra Soundar's website where you can find related activities such as a crossword and word search puzzles, and a coloring page that looks suspiciously like the mama elephant in the story. While you're there, why not explore her other books for young readers.

The publisher of You're Safe With Me, Lantana Publishing, is a relatively new independent publisher based in London. Their mission is to produce high quality, diverse books for kids and after having read many of them, I would say that they are indeed succeeding.

All in all, I can say that You're Safe With Me is a wholly satisfactory reading experience and I highly recommend it. And if you like it as much as we did, you'll be happy to hear that there is a companion book called You're Snug With Me by both Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry due out October 1, 2018

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Lantana Books

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

Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse by Tamera Will Wissinger, illustrated by Matthew Cordell

In Gone Fishing, Sam and his younger sister Lucy has some sibling issues to work out on a fishing trip with dad. Now, they're back. This time they are going on a camping trip with dad, and while both kids are really look forward to this, as the trip gets closer, Lucy is feeling some apprehension - after all, she doesn't like the dark, and there are all those night critters that could crawl into their tent.

Then, all packed and ready to go, dad wakes up sick on the morning of the trip and has to stay home with mom. But rather than cancelling the trip, much to Sam and Lucy's disappointment, Grandpa has agreed to take over, adding to Lucy's anxiety. After all, he be a little absent minded, on the other hand

"...Grandpa's funny, shares his candy, drives, can barbecue
Maybe we'll still have fun without Mom, Dad, or the canoe."

But Grandpa actually turns out to be lots of fun, as the three campers do all the usual camping things like pitching the tent, building a campfire and cooking weenies and bean over it, and enjoying that favorite campsite dessert - S'mores.

But as bedtime draws closer, Lucy's fears begin to worry her again:

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Mighty Mars
In the sky among the stars. Ruby planet, bold and bright
Here's my wish this camping night. Let me be alert and strong
And keep the bears where they belong."

But leave it to Grandpa to provide just the right thing to help Lucy with her fears - a gumdrop that will keep away the bears. Little did Lucy or Sam expect that the thing that would keep them both awake would be neither excitement nor fear, but their Grandpa. Luckily, however, sleep catches up with the kids and next thing they know, it's early morning. Lucy has (sort of) conquered her nighttime fears and they are ready to enjoy a whole day of camping fun before heading home.

Using a variety of poetic forms, Wissinger has certainly captured the excitement, fun and fears of camping in the forest, where it can feel too dark and scary. Just as she did in Gone Fishing, Wissinger traces each aspect of the camping trip with its own poem in the voice of either Lucy, Sam, or Grandpa, beginning with packing up the equipment to returning home, safe and sound.

Gone Camping explores a nice range of emotions and themes from disappointment, anger, and fear to excitement, realizing that Grandpa can be lots of fun given the chance, and most importantly, facing and overcoming childhood fears. For Lucy, the camping trip is a real milestone.

At the back of the book, Wissinger has included a section called Provisioning for Poetry where she discusses rhyme and rhythm, and how rhythm patters come from syllable combinations, and how line lengths come from rhythm pattern combinations. There is also a section called Poetry Techniques which includes a variety of literary terms, and a section on Poetic Forms and Stanza Patterns.

Mathew Cordell's lively colorful pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations go far in capturing just what each poem is saying, using facial expression and bodily gestures, as well as Lucy's fears - did you catch that red fox running along side Grandpa's car as they enter the woods?

Looking at the poems in both Gone Fishing and Gone Camping, I can see where they are a wonderful resource for teachers teaching their students about poetry in a fun, lighthearted, yet relatable way.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Here is a fun craft project that kids can do in connection with Gone Camping. It's a camping scene kids can cut and paste onto a piece of construction paper or card stock and put a picture of themselves into the middle of the campsite. You can find the free printable color template at Simply Learning

Used with permission of Kaitlyn at Simply Learning

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume

Like so many of her books, my Kiddo's
copy was a hand-me-down from an older cousin

I always enjoy re-reading a Judy Blume book, but Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great is actually a first read for me.  I found it on my Kiddo's bookshelf and thought it would be a nice summer novel.

Sheila Tubman, 10, lives in NYC with her parents and older sister Libby.  She also lives with a lot of fears and phobias, beginning with the usual - dogs, spiders, the dark - and adding to that now is swimming pools (or at least, the water in the pool).  This makes for a difficult summer for Sheila when her father announces that the family will be house-sitting at the home of a colleague in Tarrytown, NY for the summer.  Sheila is pretty excited about getting her own room, even if it is filled with models put together by one of the owner's sons, along with a note telling her not to touch anything or else.  And on top of that, the first night there, Sheila sees a spider on her ceiling.  But worse than a spider, is the little dog named Jennifer that the Tubman's will be taking care of for the summer.

So far, Sheila's Tarrytown vacation is not getting off to a good start, but then she meets Merle Ellis, called Mouse, a girl her age who is pretty good at doing tricks with a Duncan yo-yo.  Sheila likes to think she is perfect and has learned to cover her fears with a combination of false bravado and little white lies, but Mouse sees right through her and even confronts her about her fears.  Perhaps capitalizing on Sheila's on that, Mouse tells her about nearby Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane and the legend of the Headless Horseman. Yes, it creates a new worry for Sheila.

Meanwhile, at the pool, Sheila's swimming lessons are very slow-going but her swimming teacher, a college student named Marty, needs the money for college, so he can afford to be patient, but if Sheila isn't swimming by the end of summer, Marty forfeits the money her mother is willing to pay.

There is an awful lot of appealing, fun things for Sheila to do during her Tarrytown vacation, but will she be able to overcome her fears and get around her phobias in order to enjoy it?

And after I read Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, I totally understood why my Kiddo like it.  Like Sheila, she also had a few fears and phobias growing up.  And Judy Blume was (is) a favorite writer of hers.  Blume has a remarkable ability to take issues that are common among kids and look at them with humor and honesty, so that kids seem to trust that everything will work out eventually, for her characters and for her readers.

If you've already read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, the first book in the Fudge series, then you've also run into Sheila Tubman.  She is Peter Hatcher's neighbor and nemesis.  Peter, older brother of Fudge, does make a brief appearance in Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great with his dog, mostly to introduce the idea of Sheila's fears and phobias.  And although this is part of the Fudge series, it is a nice stand alone chapter book.

I like the way Blume tackled themes like friendship, siblings, courage in this novel and shows that while it isn't always easy to overcome fears, it does feel really good when one succeeds at getting past them enough to enjoy a real sense of accomplishment.  Sheila doesn't go home at the end of summer completely over her fears and phobias but she does make a good start and that's what counts.

When I asked my Kiddo if she liked this book when she read it, she said it helped her realize that her own fears and phobias could be overcome, and that, for the most part, they have been conquered.  She said Judy Blume was her favorite childhood author, so much so that she read and enjoyed every book Blume has written, including her adult fiction.  

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great was originally published in 1972.  It was updated once to reflect technological changes but there are still no cell phones or computers easily available to the kids in the novel, which is kind of nice.  So things may still feel a little dated, like playing with yo-yos and mimeograph machines, but not so much that kids won't enjoy it today.  I know from experience that everything old becomes new again, sometimes, so maybe I should dust off my own Duncan YoYo and pass it on to another kid.

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great has been in continuous print since it was first published and here are some of the Sheila covers from 1972 to 2016:

1972, 1976, 1984

1986, 2003, 2011

All the Fudge books are sitting on the shelf where I found this one.  I think I'll revisit those soon.  

This book is recommended for readers age 7+

This book was borrowed from my Kiddo

#Diversiverse Review: Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions by Lenore Look

It's Christmas vacation and Alvin Ho, 7 year old Chinese American second grader, is back for another adventure and this time he's leaving his home in Concord, MA and traveling half way around the world to visit family in Beijing, China.

For most kids, a trip to China would be an exciting, fun adventure, but most kids aren't Alvin.  For Alvin, it means packing your PDK (Personal Disaster Kit), and climbing into a tin can to fly half way around the world, accompanied by his dad, his mom, older brother Calvin, younger sister Anibelly and baby sister Claire, and oh, yes, all his allergies.  You see, Alvin is allergic to all kinds of scary things, and on a trip to a foreign country, he will be able to add all kinds if fears like flying, heights, and elevators to his repertoire of allergies.

Once in China, Alvin does manage to visit the Great Wall, lose his father's passport (NOT something you want to have happen in China), go through the Forbidden Palace and, my personal favorite, end up in a Chinese hospital.

But anyone familiar with Alvin's previous adventures in fear will remember he is allergic to girls (#1: Alvin Ho is Allergic to Girls School and Other Scary Things), so when his cousin Katie shows him the Christmas tree she decorated with angels bearing the wishes of girls living in an orphanage, Alvin thinks it is a swell idea until the angel he picks says Friend on it.  How do you give a friend?  And to a girl, no less?  It is a conundrum, but Alvin works out with some surprising results.

Although Alvin's obsessive nature sometimes got on my nerves, I think the real benefit of the Alvin Ho books is that they address the many fears that kids often have, and may even provide a kind of relief for the reader when they realize they are not alone.

I also laughed my way though most of Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions, partly because so much of what happens is so spot on (right down to Calvin's I Climbed the Great Wall t-shirt, the same t-shirt my Kiddo came home wearing from her first trip to China).

I've always like Lenore Look's books because he manages to get so much information into the story that you don't even realize you just learned something new about China and Chinese culture.  For example, I didn't know that Chinese buildings don't have a 4th, 14th and 24th floor because 4 is an unlucky number in China and they don't have a 13th floor because that is an unlucky number in Western countries.  And I didn't know that the purpose of acupuncture is to more your stuck Chi (Qi) or energy to help you feel better.  These are just part of Alvin's story and are worked into it so seamlessly.

I chose Alvin Ho: Allergic to the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, and Other Tourist Attractions for my first book in the A More Diverse Universe Reading Challenge because so often children's books written by people of color are overlooked and there are so many more that there used to be and so many are wonderful.