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

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

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/great_mathemachicken.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

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

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

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/strong_like_the_sea.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of New From Here, by Kelly Yang

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

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/new_from_here.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Last of the High Kings, by Kate Thompson

The Last of the High Kings

by Kate Thompson
read by Marcella Riordan

Clipper Audiobooks, 2009. 5 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written December 7, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve been meaning to listen to this book ever since I listened to The New Policeman back in 2011. But in those days, I listened to audiobooks on CD and never as eaudiobooks, but that was the only version the library had of this sequel. I’d been so taken with the Irish music mixed into The New Policeman audiobook that I wasn’t going to settle for reading it in print.

Well, sadly The Last of the High Kings doesn’t have any Irish music in the audiobook, though it does include the delightful Irish accent of the narrator. We’ve got the same main character, J. J. Liddy, but fifteen years have passed since he first visited Tir na nOg, and now he’s a father with a family.

And his eleven-year-old daughter Jenny never wants to stay indoors and can’t seem to follow directions. She can see and talk with the ghost who guards the ancient beacon at the top of the hill. She laughs when he thwarts archaeologists from digging into it. But she can also talk with the pooka who masquerades as a goat, who also seems to have designs on the old beacon.

Meanwhile, their old neighbor Mikey says he’s the last of the High Kings of Ireland. He wants to visit the top of the mountain one last time – maybe by helicopter? J. J.’s too distracted to make it happen, but his son Donal tries to see what he can do.

And those are the bare bones of what’s going on, but we’ve got more Irish magic and ultimately the fate of the world depending on some cleverness. But I especially like that the entire Liddy family gets involved in the magic that happens in this book. And there’s plenty of music and dancing.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/last_of_the_high_kings.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Bletchley Riddle, by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

The Bletchley Riddle

by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Viking, 2024. 394 pages.
Review written January 2, 2025, from my own copy, sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review
2024 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #5 More Children’s Fiction

I quickly read this book at the end of 2024, after finishing my reading for the Cybils Awards, because I had a strong suspicion it would end up making my Sonderbooks Stand-outs list, and I didn’t want to wait a year. For one thing, it’s about code-breaking at Bletchley Park during World War II, and for another, two stellar writers collaborated on it. Ruta Sepetys specializes in detailed historical fiction, and Steve Sheinkin writes engaging historical nonfiction. Both have won numerous awards for their work.

This is the year for World War II books! I was glad I read this book after reading Candace Fleming’s nonfiction The Enigma Girls, because that gave the nonfiction side of what happened at Bletchley Park, outside of London – a top secret code-breaking operation with many, many different aspects. The Bletchley Riddle fictionalizes that story and gives us a 19-year-old brother Jakob working at Bletchley Park with his 14-year-old sister Lizzie.

The story is engaging – pulling us into real-life spy work. It begins in 1940, before Britain has been pulled into war with Germany, but when they are expecting it. And the book opens with half-American Lizzie giving her chaperone the slip. She leaves him on a ship bound for America, while she escapes her rich American grandmother’s plans and shows up at the address in London where her brother has been receiving mail. Receiving mail, but never answering it.

Their mother had worked for the American embassy, but recently traveled to Poland and was there when the Germans attacked. She did not return, so she’s been presumed dead – but Lizzie doesn’t believe it for a minute. When she’s offered a messenger job at Bletchley Park, where Jakob is working, she hopes that being on the scene she might get leads on what has become of her mother.

Now, after reading The Enigma Girls, it felt a little unrealistic that Jakob would have any idea what was going on in other parts of the estate, but it’s not like they gave away a whole lot. I also had a hard time believing 14-year-old Lizzie would be hired as a messenger, taking messages between buildings – but the authors specifically mention in a historical note that Bletchley Park in fact hired messengers as young as 14.

But the story does put in details about how the team at Bletchley made breakthroughs in decoding German messages – including using a replica enigma machine smuggled out of Poland by three mathematicians. The details of the codebreaking were really fun, and we’ve got an additional mystery of what happened to Jakob and Lizzie’s mother. Oh, and Lizzie also wants to continue to thwart her grandmother’s plans to send her to America, so she has to elude the chaperone more than once. There are actual historical characters sprinkled throughout the story, and I loved a diversion involving Alan Turing, which the Historical Note tells us is completely based in truth.

Now, I did wonder if MI6 really would have been suspicious of folks working at Bletchley Park. There’s a shadowy character surveilling Lizzie and Jakob because of their mother, which almost felt like one thread too many, but I think in a middle grade novel this simply ups the suspense.

I did have a hard time deciding how to rank this book on my Stand-outs against Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz, and on another day, this one might have come out ahead. They were both about puzzles and spy activities in London. Max has more of a feel of the children’s classic The Great Brain and also addressed anti-Semitism in Britain at the time, but it felt a touch less believable. (I think Max was 12 – would they really let him be a spy?) And this one was simply full of authentic historical details – I just thought the puzzles were a little more fun for the reader in Max. (And remember, Sonderbooks Stand-outs are not chosen based on literary merit, but simply on how much I enjoyed the reading experience.) Bottom line, this is a wonderful spy novel for middle grade readers, full of cool spy problems and firmly rooted in historical fact.

RutaSepetys.com
SteveSheinkin.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/bletchley_riddle.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Bibsy Cross and the Bike-a-thon, by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Dung Ho

Bibsy Cross and the Bike-a-thon

by Liz Garton Scanlon
illustrated by Dung Ho

Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 112 pages.
Review written October 25, 2024, from a book sent to me by the publisher.

Bibsy Cross and the Bike-a-thon is a new beginning chapter book series about an irrepressible third grader named Bibsy Cross. This is the second one I’ve read.

In this book, Bibsy is excited about taking part in a “Bikes for Bucks for Books” event at the local library – so of course she got a fan here.

Bibsy forms a team with her best friend Natia, and is torn because she very much wants to win a prize for bringing in the most money for the library. Then on the day of the Bike-a-thon, things happen to mess up her plans.

I like Bibsy’s spirit – she has a tendency to raise her hand in class and share so much information that she tries the patience of her teacher. And I like the way her family shares “sweet-and-sours” at the dinner table – sweet things that happened and sour things that happened, and even ways the sour things have something sweet come out of them. And I love the way her parents are sympathetic about everything that happens to Bibsy, sweet or sour.

There are pictures on almost every page of this book, and not a whole lot of words per page, so this book is perfect for a kid building confidence in their reading.

lizgartonscanlon.com
dungho.me
rhcbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/bibsy_cross_and_the_bike_a_thon.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Spirit Glass, by Roshani Chokshi

The Spirit Glass

by Roshani Chokshi

Rick Riordan Presents (Disney Hyperion), 2023. 302 pages.
Review written January 3, 2024, from a library book.

Like the other books from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, The Spirit Glass tells about a kid who discovers that the mythology of her culture is real. In this case, Corazon Lopez has magic powers from her Filipino heritage.

Here’s how the author introduces Corazon’s gift:

Corazon had the blood of a babylan, a rare mortal who guarded the boundaries between the human world and the realm of spirits. Some babaylans whispered to the weather. Others brewed potions that could lure a soul back into a dying body. Some could even sift through dreams to find glimmers of the future. It all depended on each babaylan’s particular gift.

Trouble is, Corazon doesn’t yet know what her particular gift is. She does have her own anito, a gecko companion who thinks he’s a crocodile.

Corazon’s parents have been dead for three years, but their ghosts come visit Corazon at her aunt Tina’s house on every Saturday night. Corazon hopes to get her powers and bring her parents back from the dead.

But when a spirit steals her soul key, she ends up on a quest in the realm of the dead, visiting different mythological spirits. Her guide is a ghost kid named Leo, and they get into one adventure after another.

This book was one of those fantasy adventures where one thing leads to another and the characters follow along — a little less of a driving plot than in my favorites. But by the time it all wrapped up, my heart was warmed, and I had nothing but good thoughts for Corazon and her family and companions.

This is a gentle fantasy with a sweet spirit that will get many kids started on a love of fantasy adventures.

roshanichokshi.com
DisneyBooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/spirit_glass.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Crimson Twill: Witch in the City, by Kallie George

Crimson Twill

Witch in the City

by Kallie George
illustrated by Birgitta Sif

Candlewick Press, 2022. 54 pages.
Review written February 26, 2023, from a library book
2022 Cybils Winner, Early Chapter Books

Witch in the City begins a new early chapter book series about a young witch named Crimson Twill.

Crimson Twill was a little witch. But you might not know it. She didn’t look like a typical little witch. Instead of wearing pointy shoes, she wore gum boots. Instead of wearing a plain black dress, she wore a polka-dotted one. And instead of wearing a plain black hat, she wore one with a big bow, and the hat was crimson, just like her name.

Crimson Twill is on her way to Broomingdales with her mother, her first trip to the big city. As she looks for ways to spend her money, she finds some other out-of-place things and creatures and people. She has some gentle adventures and makes new friends.

It’s a promising introduction to a new series about a little witch who’s not like all the other witches.

kalliegeorge.com
candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

This review is only on the blog.

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Probability of Everything, by Sarah Everett

The Probability of Everything

by Sarah Everett

Clarion Books, 2023. 326 pages.
Review written January 13, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review
2024 Mathical Honor Book, Ages 11-13

Kemi is eleven years old, and the world is ending in four days.

Or at least probably. There’s an asteroid heading toward earth, with an 84.7% chance of hitting us.

Kemi loves math and probability — especially the probability puzzles her Dad gives her. But now there’s an asteroid in the sky making everything purple. They have to leave their house in the “better” part of town and stay with her aunt and cousins. Kemi can’t believe her best friend is still going to school.

Kemi thinks about her family, including her new baby sister who won’t be born before the end of the world. She decides to make a time capsule to remember her family and everything they love most. But to find what her father will put in means doing his favorite things together with him.

And I can’t tell you what happens at the end of the book, but it did surprise me how things turned out. I liked the inclusion of the Monty Hall Problem in probability, the concise explanation, and the application that you should always pay attention to new information.

This book is about a girl coping with the end of the world by remembering what she and her family love most.

saraheverettbooks.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/probability_of_everything.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Out of My Heart, by Sharon M. Draper, read by Sisi Aisha Johnson

Out of My Heart

by Sharon M. Draper
read by Sisi Aisha Johnson

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2021. 7 hours, 21 minutes.
Review written October 12, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’ve long intended to read this sequel to the brilliant Out of My Mind, and finally placed a hold on the audiobook when I heard that a third book is out. Took me long enough! But I’m so glad I finally did listen to this story.

Once again, we’re spending time with Melody, a brilliant girl with cerebral palsy. In the first book, she learned to talk at last with the help of a machine, and instead of being in the class for kids with mental difficulties, got moved to the regular class and won a place on the quiz team. But that book had a sad thing happen at the end.

I’m happy to report that this book is only happy for Melody. She goes to camp! It’s a camp specifically for kids with special needs, and Melody gets to swim, paint, ride on a boat, swing on swings, ride a zipline, ride a horse, and even dance. She makes firm friendships with the three other girls in her cabin and even with a boy in another cabin.

Yes, there are adventures and small setbacks, but this is a happy book, all about Melody getting to do lots of things for the very first time that many would say are a normal part of childhood. It made me happy to read it and also wonder about how many experiences like that are available to kids like Melody. It’s a lovely story, well-told.

sharondraper.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/out_of_my_heart.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

What did you think of this book?