Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog Tour: What a Beautiful Morning by Arthur A. Levine, illustrated by Katie Kath

Noah loves to spend his summer days with his Grandpa.  Together, they sing each beautiful morning in with a big, booming song.  Then, after bringing Grandma a hot cup of coffee, they take the dog out for a long walk, rain or shine, singing the whole way. When they come home, there's cinnamon French toast, thanks to Grandma. And after breakfast, Grandpa always asks Noah the same question: "what's on the docket" for the rest of the day.

But one morning, Grandpa forgets how to cut his French toast, followed by more and more forgotten things, until one day, Grandpa doesn't even remember who Noah is and the time Noah and Grandpa spend together is changed forever.  But thanks to wise Grandma, the good days aren't completely over once she tells Noah that they must learn to appreciate what Grandpa still has, not what he has lost.

And Noah discovers just how he and Grandpa can connect with each other again - by singing big, booming songs together.

Like so many kids nowadays, Noah is learning how to accept that fact that his Grandpa is suffering from memory loss, most likely Alzheimer's though nothing specific is mentioned, and that forgetting is going to happen more and more frequently, even forgetting a beloved grandchild.  This has to be a difficult thing for a child to understand, especially one who is used to seeing a grandparent who is active, happy and loving.

What a Beautiful Morning is a well-done book that doesn't shy away from the reality of what a memory loss disease like Alzheimer's can do to an older person and how it impacts those around them.  I think Arthur Levine has really captured Grandpa's confusion when he wakes up and doesn't know who Noah is and Noah's despair as he runs out of the house "breathing hard, a painful lump in his throat."

Illustrations should always reflect what the text says and Katie Kath's line and watercolor illustrations are a beautiful melding of word and picture from beginning to end.  Kath captures the joy that a smiling Noah and Grandpa feel when things are going well in her colorful illustrations and the sadness they both feel when Grandpa doesn't remember things in her black, white and gray illustrations giving the sense that all the joy has drained out of their lives.

What a Beautiful Morning is a lovely and sad book, but it is a story that needs to be told to young readers so that they may understand should their lives ever be impacted by a grandparent's memory loss, and/or feel empathy should one of their friends be in a position like Noah.  But whether you can relate to Noah or Grandpa or not, it is a book that should be read by everyone.

Alzheimer's directly impacted Arthur A. Levine life when his father was diagnosed with it.  It is one of the reason's this book feels so authentic, rather than a story from his imagination.  And he has posted some very useful and important Alzheimer's Resources on his blog to help you and your family understand and deal with this disease better.  You can find them HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Running Press

Be sure to visit these other stop of the What A Beautiful Morning Blog Tour:

8/2 Flowering Minds

8/3 MomReadIt

8/4 Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books

8/5 Stacking Books

8/6 #Kidlit Book of the Day

8/8 Enjoy Embrace Learning

8/9 Unleashing Readers

8/10 Two Writing Teachers

8/11 Bildebok

8/12 Geo Librarian

8/13 Randomly Reading

Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sís

Today, June 19, 2015, is National Ice Cream Day and what better way to honor it than with a book about ice cream.  And leave it to Peter Sís to create just such a delectable summer treat.

A young boy named Joe has just received a letter from his grandpa, asking how his summer is going and hoping his grandson will tell him all about what he has learned over the summer.  Joe immediately writes back, telling his grandpa he is very busy.  At the bottom of the page, Joe writes in simple declarative sentences what he has been up to so far this summer: he reads, he writes, he's making his own book, he does math, including word problems, he's learned to make a map in camp, he goes on field trips, and he's even doing so world history.

But this is a Peter Sís book, and in true Peter Sís style, it is a multilayered picture book,  And so the reader's eyes must up from the words on the bottom of the page and look at the illustrations above the.  Yes, Joe is reading - the names of the  different flavors of hanging on the wall in the ice cream shop while he decides what flavor cone he wants. and yes, he is practicing math - 10 scoops of ice cream + 3 scoops = ?, and yes he has made a map, and the names of all the places on his map are ice cream flavors.  His research - the history of ice cream beginning 8,000 years ago in China and working his way through the to the Founding Father, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and including the invention of the cone and ice cream on a stick.

This is a fun book book for ice cream-loving kids, who will enjoy learning some history of this favorite treat.  The pastel palette used for the watercolor illustrations will remind you of those big tubs of different ice cream flavors found in shops. And kids will no doubt have some fun combing the illustrations to see how many ice cream related images there are in each illustration.  This is done so cleverly that it almost becomes a kind of Find-the-Hidden Object game.  And kids are certain to love how Joe tells his grandpa the absolute truth about his summer, but leaves out the ice cream details (and yet, given the ending, perhaps grandpa knows more than Joe thinks).

Because there are some interesting facts to learn in Ice Cream Summer, Sís has included an A Note from the Author along with a short list of book about the history of ice cream for anyone who wants to know more about this delicious sweet summer treat.

Whether you like one scoop or two, a hot fudge sundae or a banana split, this is a book that is sure to give young (and old) readers some ice cream fun.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

I scream

You scream

We all scream 

for ice cream!

I love ice cream and my very favorite ice cream comes from Springer's in Stone Harbor, NJ.  My favorite flavor is Springer Chip (coffee ice cream with chocolate chips).  

What's your favorite ice cream?

And to celebrate National Ice Cream day, you can get free ice cream at some pretty good places, click HERE to find out who is participating.