Review of Rainbow the Koala, by Remy Lai

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel 0

Surviving the Wild

Rainbow the Koala

by Remy Lai

Henry Holt and Company, 2022. 108 pages.
Review written May 4, 2022, from a library book

This is part of a new graphic novel series fictionalizing the lives of baby animals in actual situations of environmental danger.

Rainbow the Koala is, no surprise, almost unbearably cute. It features a tiny baby koala still living in his mother’s pouch. (Did you know koalas are marsupials like kangaroos?) As Rainbow grows up, he learns from his mother to always climb trees when in danger.

Before long, she sends him out on his own. He has trouble finding water because the forest is drier than ever. He has some encounters with humans in his efforts to survive.

But then a terrible wildfire strikes. Rainbow does what he was taught and climbs as high as he can. Amazingly, he survives — and this story is based on the story of a little koala found high in a eucalyptus tree after the fires of 2019-20 in Australia.

There’s another book in this series, Star the Elephant that tells about a little elephant whose home is threatened by deforestation. The graphic novels are easy for young readers to understand, and oh my goodness, these books are cute.

remylai.com
mackids.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of J. D. and the Great Barber Battle, by J. Dillard, illustrated by Akeem S. Roberts

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

J. D. and the Great Barber Battle

by J. Dillard
illustrated by Akeem S. Roberts

Kokila (Penguin Random House), 2021. 126 pages.
Review written January 11, 2022, from a library book

Third grade is starting for J. D., and it’s time for his mom to cut the Afro he’s had all his life. She does a terrible job. He gets teased mercilessly by everyone at school. He tries using her relaxer on it, but that just makes things worse.

So J. D., who’s an excellent artist, decides to cut his own hair. He practices on his little brother first, and does a great job. Turns out, he’s a really great barber! His friends start coming to him for haircuts instead of the only barber in town, who takes a long time and doesn’t know the latest styles.

But the other barber — a father and son operation — isn’t happy with the competition from a kid. So that’s when J. D. decides to challenge him to a competition.

This is a fun story. My grown-up mind gets hung up on details like child labor laws and business regulations and if a kid would really want to spend that much time on Saturdays cutting hair. But there’s even some math involved as J. D. starts calculating his earnings and what he can buy. Of course, the best part is seeing a kid take something on and thrive.

This is the first of a new chapter book series.

penguin.com/kids

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Review of Orris and Timble: The Beginning, by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Carmen Mok

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Orris and Timble

The Beginning

by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Carmen Mok

Candlewick, 2024. 80 pages.
Review written May 8, 2024, from a library book
Starred Review

This is the start of a new beginning chapter book series by Kate DiCamillo, and it’s tender and sweet and brilliant.

Orris the rat lives in an old abandoned barn. We see his treasures: A red velvet slipper, a yellow marble, and a sardine can. The sardine can is for “Imperial Sardines” and has the picture of a fish wearing a crown and saying, “Make the good and noble choice!!”

That phrase haunts Orris when he discovers a young owl with his claws caught in a mousetrap nailed to the floor, crying for help. Owls eat rats, so at first Orris leaves the owl struggling and goes back to his own home. But in spite of himself, he wants to make the good and noble choice.

I like the way when Orris decides to save the owl, whose name is Timble, Orris is obviously frustrated with himself and says, “For the love of Pete!”

And this book tells, in simple but evocative language, how Orris rescues Timble, and how this becomes the beginning of their friendship.

This book is lovely – beautifully illustrated and with a warmly relatable story as we see Orris make the good and noble choice despite great fear – and then reap the consequences.

katedicamillo.com
carmenmokstudio.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Billy Miller Makes a Wish, by Kevin Henkes

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Billy Miller Makes a Wish

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2021. 179 pages.
Review written April 29, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I like it when beginning chapter books feature characters and situations that match the age of the child who will be reading them. Billy Miller Makes a Wish captures second-grade situations and concerns beautifully.

The book opens with the wish from the title:

When Billy Miller blew out the eight candles on his birthday cake, he made a wish. He wished that something exciting would happen.

Not more than ten minutes later – even before the present opening had begun – a police car and an ambulance flew past Billy’s house and raced down the block. The wail of sirens stopped nearby.

When Billy’s old neighbor ends up dying, he feels awfully guilty about his wish. Even when assured that Mr. Tooley was old and sick and was going to die soon anyway and it had nothing to do with Billy’s wish, more exciting-but-bad things start to happen.

Billy’s best friend is on a trip for the summer and so he’s got a lot of time with his family – including his four-year-old sister, Sal. I love the way Sal is portrayed, so lovable but so annoying. She decides to make “Symphony Cards” to give the family of their neighbor who died – using Billy’s new birthday markers. And then she doesn’t actually want to let the family have them. And that’s only the beginning.

This book is a quick read, but it will keep you smiling. I like how creatively Kevin Henkes came up with exciting things to happen to Billy, in answer to his wish.

kevinhenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books!

Review of The Puppets of Spelhorst, by Kate DiCamillo

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Puppets of Spelhorst

A Norendy Tale

by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by Julie Morstad

Candlewick Press, 2023. 150 pages.
Review written November 8, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

Hooray! Kate DiCamillo has started a series of original fairy tales!

Now, mind you, I’m a fairy tale fan, and this wasn’t my favorite ever. There’s not much magic — well, except puppets that can talk — and no fairies at all. But the feel does fit fairy tales, and I definitely would like to read this book aloud to an audience of primary grade kids. There’s a musical quality to the words and the atmospheric illustrations fit perfectly.

The story itself is about five puppets — “a king and a wolf and a girl and a boy and an owl.” An old sea captain named Spelhorst buys them because the girl reminds them of someone he loved once.

But when the sea captain dies, their adventures begin. The puppets want to be in a story. The wolf keeps going on about his sharp teeth. The king is very proud of his kingly nature. The owl is full of wise sayings. The boy has a quiver full of arrows. And the girl has beautiful eyes that want to see the world.

And the puppets do indeed find a story, complete with some danger in the middle, but ending up with adventure.

To give you an idea of the flavor, here’s a section when the puppets are in a dark trunk on the cart of a rag-and-bone man who takes things that aren’t wanted:

The puppets lay together in the chest. They could hear the rag-and-bone man’s song.

“Who are we?” said the owl.

“Well, I suppose we’re something that’s not wanted,” said the girl.

“Nonsense,” said the king. “Everyone wants a king. That’s the very definition of kingliness.”

“It’s so dark in here,” said the boy.

“Darkness means nothing when your teeth are as sharp as mine,” said the wolf.

“Into the darkness, there sometimes comes a light,” intoned the owl.

I’m definitely looking forward to more idiosyncratic fairy tales from the quirky mind of Kate DiCamillo. (Honestly! How does she think of these things?) This one left me smiling.

candlewick.com

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Review of Just a Girl, by Lia Levi

Award Winners, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

Just a Girl

A True Story of World War II

by Lia Levi
with pictures by Jess Mason
translated from Italian by Sylvia Notini

Harper, 2022. Originally published in Italy in 2020.
Review written February 24, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review
2023 Mildred Batchelder Award Winner

The Mildred Batchelder Award is given every year to a children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States. It’s given to the publisher, to encourage them to find and translate such books.

Just a Girl is a gently told early chapter book about a terrible time. The author Lia Levi was a girl living in Italy in 1938, having just finished first grade. The book begins as she’s told she won’t be able to go back to school this year, but will have to go to a Jewish school.

As the war progresses in Italy, her father loses his job. They think things will get better after Mussolini is put out of power, but then the Germans come and things get worse. Lia and her sisters have to hide in a convent boarding school and use fake last names.

The author does a good job of telling about bad things, but also reassuring the reader with insertions as her older self. She does acknowledge that she was luckier than many others and does highlight the unfairness of her family being targeted for who they were. And through all of the story, the worries and troubles are punctuated with stories of kids finding ways to have a good time.

And in the last chapter (I don’t think this is a spoiler.), she wrote a letter to a radio station and began with, “I am a Jewish girl.” She was surprised when her mother tore it up.

What terrible mistake could I have made? And even if I had made a mistake, couldn’t we have fixed it?

Mama’s face isn’t serious, though.

Now she’s happily tossing all those bits and ripped-up pieces of paper everywhere as though they were confetti at Mardi Gras.

“You’re not a Jewish girl,” she says, smiling. “You’re a girl. Just a girl.”

What’s this all about? For years now, they’ve been shouting and writing female student of Jewish race next to my name everywhere.

I know perfectly well that the laws against the Jews have been repealed. But what is this about not being a Jewish girl?

Mama laughs.

“You’re mixing things up. Of course you’re still Jewish,” she says. Then her face gets very serious and she tries to explain. “You’re Jewish, but that’s something personal. It doesn’t need to be a label you wear on your forehead. You’re Jewish, you have two sisters, you go to school, you like going to the movies. . . . These are all facts about you. If you want to, you can tell others, but only if you choose to. These facts are no longer of any importance to the State, to the authorities. They have to let you go to school, to the gym, to the library, to your tennis or dance lesson, without saying: she can, but she can’t; he can, but he can’t.”

A lovely story that gives a gentle way for young children to learn about discrimination.

harpercollinschildrens.com

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Review of A Sliver of Moon and a Shard of Truth, by Chitra Soundar

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review 0

A Sliver of Moon and a Shard of Truth

by Chitra Soundar
illustrations by Uma Krishnaswamy

Candlewick Press, 2022. First published in the United Kingdom in 2021. 101 pages.
Review written April 3, 2023, from a library book.

A Sliver of Moon and a Shard of Truth is a sweet beginning chapter book with stories of two clever boys solving problems in surprising ways.

The author explains at the back that when she grew up as a child in India, her favorite stories were trickster tales. She has reimagined those stories as adventures of Prince Veera and his friend Suku, a farmer’s son. She’s done a wonderful job keeping the spirit of the folktales, with the added bonus of clever children outsmarting adults.

There’s an earlier book about Veera and Suku, Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship, but I understood this one fine without having read the first.

At the start of this book, Veera and Suku are well-known for their prowess in solving problems, and Veera’s uncle, Raja Apoorva, has invited them to his kingdom of Peetalpur. This book covers four stories of their time there, with problems such as tricking a peahen into singing, winning against a powerful wrestler, unmasking a burglar, and arbitrating a dispute over a fig tree.

Chapter books for beginning readers are always fun when they have a reward of a clever twist in each story, and these fit that description nicely. Give this to kids ready for chapter books or use as a read aloud for everyone’s entertainment.

chitrasoundar.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Too Small Tola Gets Tough, by Atinuke, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Too Small Tola Gets Tough

by Atinuke
illustrated by Onyinye Iwu

Candlewick Press, 2023. Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2022. 89 pages.
Review written May 3, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

When I reviewed the second book about Too Small Tola, a small girl who lives in Lagos, Nigeria, I was a little critical that it made me sad that Tola’s fifteen-year-old brother had to work to keep the family from starving. But the author does make it clear that this brother hated going to school and loves being a mechanic.

This book, too, is sad. But I’ve decided that it’s a gentle way to help kids understand poverty and have compassion for people in tough situations.

In this book, the coronavirus hits. When a lockdown threatens, brother Dapo goes to stay and sleep at the garage, and sister Moji goes to stay and sleep at her principal’s home so she can continue her studies. So Tola and Grandmommy are the only ones home. Dapo plans to continue to send them money — only work at the garage slows down during the pandemic. Tola gets hungry.

A neighbor finds Tola a place where she can work as a house girl. So she can eat. (This is the sad part, to me.) Though there’s a happy ending — Tola uses math to help the wealthy owner discover he’s being cheated — and she gets to go home back to Grandmommy, with reward money.

Yes, it’s a very tough situation. But yes, Tola gets tough.

It’s all in a beginning chapter book package with three chapters and plenty of pictures. And American beginning chapter book readers can learn about an ordinary but clever girl living on the other side of the world with people who love her.

atinuke.co.uk
onyinyeiwu.com
candlewick.com

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Review of Odder, by Katherine Applegate

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Odder

by Katherine Applegate
with illustrations by Charles Santoso

Feiwel and Friends, 2022. 274 pages.
Review written January 15, 2023, based on an advance reader copy I got at ALA Annual Conference
Starred Review
2022 Cybils Award Finalist, Novels in Verse

Katherine Applegate does it again! Like The One and Only Ivan, this novel in verse for young animal-loving chapter book readers takes the perspective of a wild animal and completely wins readers’ hearts.

Odder is a young sea otter living in a slough near Monterey Bay off the coast of California. When Odder gets a little too adventurous and ventures into the bay, she’s bitten by a shark and needs the assistance of the scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium — the same people who nurtured her when she was an orphaned pup — to recover and survive. This is Odder’s story.

Along the way, we learn about this endangered species and how humans are learning to care for them so their numbers can increase. Odder’s story is based on actual sea otters helped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The story is mostly told from Odder’s perspective. And she’s a sea otter — there’s nothing cuter! Her perspective is all about adventure and play. The accompanying illustrations are of course adorable, and this book will oh-so-easily win kids’ hearts.

The story is told in verse, so it’s a much quicker read than it might appear at first. I think the final version may have more cute drawings than my advance reader copy does, but my hold was taking a long time to fill, so I’ve needed to order the library more copies. This book will bring smiles wherever it goes.

katherineapplegate.com
montereybayaquarium.org
mackids.com

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Review of The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink, by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink

by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Candlewick Press, 2023. 90 pages.
Review written May 4, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

I love the Princess in Black series! This is the tenth book in the series. By now, Princess Magnolia, a frilly princess who wears lots of pink, has gathered many other princess friends who also have secret identities. Magnolia’s secret identity is the Princess in Black, who fights monsters.

In this book, the princesses run into a problem at the Flower Festival Fair where a knight in shining armor named Prince Valerian helps banish a giant grumpy emu. But when the emu smashes Princess Magnolia’s decoration for the fancy ball at the end of the day — it turns out that Prince Valerian’s secret identity is exactly what they need.

The reader learns that Prince Valerian is secretly the Prince in Pink.

“Champion of celebrations! Paladin of parties! Darling of discos! Wherever there is a festival in distress, there I will be with a helping hand.” He shook a tasseled glove.

It’s great fun. Mind you, Prince Valerian is not a girl. But he’s a prince who enjoys a nontypical prince activity, decorating with glitter and sparkles, just as the Princess in Black enjoys a nontypical princess activity, fighting monsters.

And it’s all done with so much fun. I love the way the characters wink at each other’s secret identities:

The Princess in Black looked around. To her surprise — and delight — she saw the ballroom was now full of her hero friends. Her princess friends had mysteriously disappeared. And there! The Prince in Pink had returned!

So yes, this book is delightful fun. But I got even more enthusiastic about it after reading a twitter thread from Shannon Hale. A mom had given a 1-star review to this book. Shannon beautifully explains how not allowing boys to ever express “feminine” traits is a result of devaluing women. Okay, she says it much more beautifully than that quick summary. But, yes, both the Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink are going against gender stereotypes. If you think the first is okay, but not the second, step back and question why that would be so. (And read Shannon’s thoughts on it in the Twitter thread.

This is a delightful story that shakes up gender stereotypes in beautiful ways.

shannonhale.com
candlewick.com

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