Review of Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone, by Tae Keller

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

by Tae Keller
read by Shannon Tyo and Carolyn Kang

Listening Library, 2022. 7 hours, 4 minutes.
Review written January 7, 2023, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone is told from the perspective of Mallory, a middle school girl who worries about fitting in. Her best friend, Reagan, is the queen bee of the school. But when her neighbor, Jennifer Chan, goes missing, Mallory is terribly afraid it has something to do with “the Incident.”

When Jennifer moved into their neighborhood last summer, Mallory knew she was different. And Jennifer’s honesty about how she believes in aliens and is researching how to find them doesn’t help.

But then when Jennifer comes to school and seems to think she can get away without following the normal rules of popularity, Mallory doesn’t know what to think. Reagan feels she needs to be taught a lesson.

The timelines of the story go back and forth. Mallory thinks Jennifer was surely searching for aliens. Maybe if she can find some allies to follow in her footsteps, they can find Jennifer. But is that simply a way to avoid thinking about The Incident? What if that’s the real reason Jennifer left?

This book explores friendship and peer pressure and bullying and trying to figure out how to make amends. And it asks the question: Who do you want to be? Oh, and it also talks about aliens and how they might make themselves known to us.

I was especially moved by the author’s note at the back, read in the audiobook by Tae Keller, where she talks about how she was horribly bullied in middle school and her process in trying to channel that for this book. She did an amazing job of turning that awful experience into art that heals.

taekeller.com

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Review of The Wrong Way Home, by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Wrong Way Home

by Kate O’Shaughnessy
read by Caitlin Kinnunen

Listening Library, 2024. 9 hours.
Review written March 27, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2025 Newbery Honor Book

My hold on the audio version of this Newbery Honor book finally came in, and Wow! This one packs an emotional punch as well as letting you spend time with delightful people.

For six years, twelve-year-old Fern, once known as Frankie, has lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid sustainable community in upstate New York, led by kind and wise Dr. Ben. Before they came to the Ranch, Fern had her mother had several different homes, but now they have stability and purpose, away from the harmful influences outside the community. When Dr. Ben tells Fern she’s ready to go on her Rite – a challenging scenario that will mark her as an adult and a true member of the community – she’s full of pride and scornful that her mother would want to hold her back.

But soon after that, Fern’s mother tricks her into going outside the community, saying it’s a trip for Dr. Ben, when really they’re moving across the country to a coastal town in California. Her mother has landed a job housekeeping in a small hotel while they live in a hotel room. It turns out that her Mom has a history there – and a godmother who wants nothing more than to look out for them. Fern only wants to go back home.

Things are rough for Fern in school – she knows about sustainable practices and the harms of man-made chemicals, but she doesn’t even know who George Washington is. But she makes a friend when a girl named Eddy needs a partner for her science project. Eddy wants to prove that the local legend, the Spirit of the Sea, is a hoax. Fern is happy to help and makes more ties in the community – all while trying to earn money to hire a private investigator to find Dr. Ben’s address and ask him to talk her Mom into taking them back home.

The author skillfully shows us how Fern little by little gains a new perspective on Dr. Ben and all the control he held over their community, all while she finds more and more to appreciate in California. But can she remember that when Dr. Ben shows up to take her back?

I like that the reader doesn’t hear the word “cult” until Fern does. We’ve only been hearing Fern’s rosy perspective on things “back home,” and kids may gradually realize, along with Fern, that something’s off.

The Newbery committee did a fine job choosing this book! I only wish I’d gotten it read sooner so I could have recommended it at my February awards round-up to other librarians. It’s a book I’ll remember for a long time to come.

kloshaugnessy.com

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Review of Frank and the Bad Surprise, by Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Jon Lau

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

Frank and the Bad Surprise

by Martha Brockenbrough
illustrated by Jon Lau

Levine Querido, 2022. 64 pages.
Review written December 13, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

This is a very beginning chapter book with seven short chapters and pictures on every page. It’s told from the perspective of Frank, a cat who’s happy with his life — until his owners bring home a bad surprise — a big box with a puppy inside.

Frank types them a letter:

To my dear humans:

We do not need the puppy. We were happy with life the way it was before. It is time to take the puppy back.

Sincerely,

Frank

But even though Frank puts the letter in an envelope and the envelope into the mailbox, his owners don’t get rid of the puppy.

When the puppy proves he doesn’t know the rules of naps (Do not disturb Frank!), Frank knows it’s time to find a new home.

But that does not go as planned.

Here’s Frank contemplating what he must do:

The humans would miss Frank. They would miss his plush fur.

They would miss his purrs.

They would miss the tricks he did with feathers on sticks and balls with bells.

But there was nothing to be done.

Yes the story is predictable — all the better for beginning readers — and it’s lots of fun.

A note on the cover says “Book One,” so I’m looking forward to more books about Frank and the puppy.

marthabrockenbrough.com
levinequerido.com

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Review of Popcorn, by Rob Harrell

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Popcorn

by Rob Harrell

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2024. 270 pages.
Review written February 27, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Schneider Family Award Winner, Middle Grades

Popcorn is about a kid named Andrew who has OCD and Anxiety – who has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And it’s so awful it’s funny – but the story is told with compassion, so we are feeling it along with Andrew – and both Andrew and the reader come through it all encouraged.

It’s School Picture Day. Andrew’s wearing his favorite shirt (a new one, which isn’t easy for his Mom to afford), and his Mom even thinks to have him pack an extra one. Mom is starting her first day on a new job, and a friend of the family is staying with Andrew’s grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s.

And as soon as he gets to school, things happen to mess up Andrew’s appearance. A ripped shirt. A black eye. The things are only loosely Andrew’s fault – I mean, he could have let the bully copy off his paper, but we’re definitely feeling for him. Then we think he’s safe because the shirt gets mended, but no, Andrew is never safe! The things that happen to mess up his appearance only get worse.

And in the middle of the day, he learns that his grandma has gone missing, and they weren’t able to reach his Mom by phone. This is not a good thing to hear for someone who has anxiety. Andrew has a gauge like a popcorn kernel – the heat builds up until he knows he’s going to pop.

Andrew’s had two panic attacks in the past, but one of his greatest fears is having one at school. And that fear itself for sure doesn’t help.

The whole thing adds up to a story told with humor and compassion about a kid watching what he thought was the worst possible thing actually happen – and he gets through it, and friends and teachers help him through.

The story of how that all happens is a fun ride indeed.

robharrell.com

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Review of One Big Open Sky, by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

One Big Open Sky

by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Holiday House, 2024. 300 pages.
Review written February 13, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Newbery Honor Book
2025 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

This Newbery Honor Book is a pioneer story – about a Black family. And yes, that surprised me – but it turns out it shouldn’t, because from 1879 to 1880, over 20,000 Black people left the South to head West. The author gives details in the back of the book, but it turns out that many people lived out this story – even though there’s not as much written about the Black pioneers.

One Big Open Sky is told in verse (so it doesn’t take long to read), mostly from the perspective of Lettie, a girl who’s leaving Natchez, Louisiana, with her parents and two little brothers, in a covered wagon pulled by their two mules Charly and Titus. We also get the viewpoint of her mother and a single black woman who joins their party, who’s got a position as a teacher in North Platte, Nebraska.

The family joins a group of ten Black families headed for Nebraska. Their original plan was to take a steamboat up the Mississippi River most of the way, but when none of those will stop for a group of Black folks, they decide to walk. I didn’t realize that the wagon was mainly for supplies, and there wasn’t really room enough for everyone to ride, so unless you were sick, you walked alongside.

There are several dangers and setbacks along the way. Lettie’s keeping the accounts for her parents, so she knows they can’t buy all the good things they see at their stop in Independence, Missouri. She adopts the dog of a man who dies along the way, so she has him to turn to when a loss hits even closer to home.

Now at last Black girls can see someone like them in a pioneer story, with all the danger but excitement of leaving home behind and making the long journey to a new place.

lesaclineransome.com

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Review of Juana and Lucas: Muchos Changes

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

Juana & Lucas

Muchos Changes

by Juana Medina

Candlewick Press, 2021. 90 pages.
Review written September 28, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

The Juana & Lucas series is one of those exactly-perfect-for-beginning-chapter-book-readers books. There are thirteen short chapters, with friendly, happy, cartoon-like illustrations on each page, and an interesting story about a kid whose life is relatable — though she lives in Bogota, Colombia.

Juana is the one who narrates this book, in a friendly tone, peppered with Spanish words. Lucas is her furry amigo, a little dog who goes everywhere with her that she can bring him. The Spanish words happen throughout the book, but there’s enough context that English-only speakers won’t be confused and may pick up some Spanish.

In the first book, Juana’s Mami got married. In this book, her Mami is going to have a baby. She’s not sure what to think. Her friends tell her that babies make everything complicado.

The other big sopreso of the summer is that Juana’s Mami signed her up for roller skating camp. And none of her friends are there. And on her very first skate by herself across the rink, she tripped on a pebble and skinned her chin. So all the pictures after that show Juana with a scrape on her chin.

But Juana deals with all these things with spunk. Plus the help of her loving family, including her grandparents, and of course Lucas.

The book ends up being a happy story, with vibrant pictures full of motion, and you again feel like you have a friend in this kid from Colombia.

At the back, author Juana Medina shows herself at the character Juana’s age, holding her baby sister.

juanamedina.com
candlewick.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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Review of Across So Many Seas, by Ruth Behar

Audiobooks, Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

Across So Many Seas

by Ruth Behar
read by Allison Strong, Victoria Villarreal, Sol Madariaga, and Frankie Corso

Listening Library, 2024. 5 hours, 53 minutes.
Review written February 15, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Newbery Honor Book
2025 Sidney Taylor Silver Medal
2025 Capitol Choices Selection

Across So Many Seas is an intergenerational family saga for kids – featuring four 12-year-old girls, each of whom crossed a sea.

The book starts in 1492 with the expulsion of Jews from Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their families had been there for centuries, but all Jews were told to leave, convert, or be executed. Benvenida and her family travel by foot to the port, her father carrying the Torah, and then travel across the sea to Constantinople.

Even in Turkey, they remember the language and customs of Spain, but the next girl featured is Reina, 450 years later, 12 years old in 1923, a descendant of Benvenida. After Reina disobeys her father and goes out at night with a boy to a party celebrating revolution in Turkey, she is sent in disgrace to Cuba as a companion to her aunt. In three years when she is 15, she will marry another Sephardic Jew her father has chosen for her and make a home in Cuba.

Next we meet her daughter Alegra, who is 12 years old in 1961, after Castro has come to power in the Cuban revolution. She joins the volunteer team of children who go out to the countryside to teach folks to read, and is proud and happy with her role – but is suddenly pulled back to Havana by her parents. They inform her that her father is not allowed to continue his business of selling shirts and they are being watched by the government. So they are sending Alegra to America, because it’s easier to get children out of the country first. They hope to follow soon.

And then we meet Alegra’s daughter, born in America, now 12 years old in 2003. And things come full circle when she travels on vacation to Spain with her mother and grandmother and they visit a museum in Toledo about the Sephardic Jews who were expelled in 1492.

Throughout the book, certain songs, foods, and customs link the girls together. I loved that the narrators sang the song that all the girls knew, about a girl in a tower in the sea. An interesting and lengthy historical note from the author came after the end of the book – it’s all based on her own family’s history. Even without such a family connection, it made me want to visit the museum in Toledo and think about the hundreds of years of history.

ruthbehar.com

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Review of The Great Mathemachicken: Hide and Go Beak, by Nancy Krulik, illustrated by Charlie Alder

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

The Great Mathemachicken

Hide and Go Beak

by Nancy Krulik
illustrated by Charlie Alder

Pixel + Ink, 2022. 88 pages.
Review written May 6, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

Here’s a silly and fun book about a chicken named Chirpy who wants to go beyond the coop. When she gets the chance to sneak out, she follows the children Randy and Andy onto the big yellow bus to go to school. Once there, she catches a ride on a rolling backpack.

Chirpy rolled into a room full of kids.
Which made her wonder:
At home kids stayed outside the coop.
Chickens stayed inside the coop.
Could school be a kid coop?
If someone saw Chirpy in a kid coop, would they make her leave?
Hmmm. . . .
Chirpy needed a hiding place, just like when the chicks played hide and go beak in the coop.

While Chirpy is hiding in the classroom, she learns basic principles of simple machines.

And when she goes home, those principles may be exactly what the chickens need to catch a fox!

The author and illustrator weren’t going for plausible in this book, but it sure is fun to read. Chirpy the curious chicken, excited about learning everything she can, earns her title of Mathemachicken.

At the back of the book, there are instructions for making your own simple machine, a Whirly-Swirly Wheel-and-Axle Toy. While following Chirpy’s adventures, kids may learn things themselves. The book is marked as Book One, so I’ll be watching for more.

realnancykrulik.com
PixelandInkBooks.com

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Review of Strong Like the Sea, by Wendy S. Swore

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Strong Like the Sea

by Wendy S. Swore

Shadow Mountain, 2021. 295 pages.
Review written September 26, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Set in Hawaii on the island of Oahu, this is the story of 12-year-old Alexis, who loves to do puzzles and wants to win her school’s history project competition, but who is currently afraid of the ocean because of a bad experience. Alexis’s dad teaches diving lessons, but her mother is a codebreaker who’s currently deployed on a submarine somewhere far away. But Mom has left intriguing puzzles and codes for Alexis, leading to a prize.

The fun of this book is that there are some truly cool puzzles for Alexis to follow. There’s also a cipher in the book for the reader to solve (with the code spelled out in the back). Alexis does her history project on Mavis Batey, a codebreaker from World War II, which ties in with the other puzzles.

Along the way, Alexis must deal with her father’s schedules (will there be enough time to make an awesome project *and* solve Mom’s puzzles?) and her own fear of the ocean. And then there’s a typhoon in the Pacific and Mom doesn’t connect for their weekly call.

This is a fun book for budding code breakers and puzzle solvers, with a nice taste of Oahu thrown in.

wendyswore.com

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Review of New From Here, by Kelly Yang

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

New From Here

by Kelly Yang

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2022. 361 pages.
Review written September 12, 2022, from my own copy, received at ALA Annual Conference and signed by the author.
Starred Review

Here’s a pandemic book that tells a bigger story.

Knox is the middle child in an American family living in Hong Kong to be near their grandparents in China. But when Covid-19 begins to spread in China, his parents decide that they will move the kids back to America, to live in the house where they usually spend summers, inherited from their other grandparents. After all, surely they’ll be safe from the disease in America! (There were several places where as a reader I cringed, knowing what was coming.) Their mother goes along with them, thinking she’d work remotely, but loses her job with the distance, so their father still in Hong Kong is trying to support them.

They get into American schools, glad that they can attend school in person instead of remotely from Hong Kong. Knox has ADHD, and sometimes his impulsive choices don’t turn out the best, though I love the way he and his friend learn that ADHD includes a super-focusing ability. They simply have to be interested, and then they can focus better than anyone.

Their mother is busy looking for work in America, but the kids want to get their family back together. They decide to make a Linked In profile for their dad and surprise him by finding him a job.

Once the virus starts spreading in America, anyone who finds out they came from Hong Kong doesn’t want anything to do with them. That’s why they explain they’re “New from here.” After all, they were born in America!

I like the way they decide to help out their friend’s Chinese restaurant by delivering food on their bicycles for tips (to bring their dad to America), and they decide to wear full-body dinosaur suits to protect themselves from the virus.

The interactions between Knox and his family are all spot-on. And the particularity of the situation all rings true. When I finished the book, I learned that the author based it on their own family and what they had done to unsuccessfully try to escape the pandemic. No wonder all the details seemed right. And I appreciate that though the mother is an important part, the perspective is firmly with Knox.

kellyyang.com
simonandschuster.com/kids

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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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