Review of Every Monday Mabel, by Jashar Awan

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Every Monday Mabel

by Jashar Awan

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. 44 pages.
Review written March 17, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

I have discovered a new-to-me picture book author whose work I love! After reading Geisel Honor-winning Towed by Toad, I discovered the author has a new book published in 2025, and placed a hold. This one, too, is great fun – with simple language (though not quite as beginning-reader friendly as Towed by Toad), simple lines, and bright colors.

The first half of the book is anticipation.

It’s Monday, and Mabel wakes up early and drags her chair out of her room down the hallway. She grabs a bowl of dry cereal and sets up outside in front of the garage. Her sister thinks the thing she does every morning is the most boring thing in the world, her mother thinks it’s the cutest, and her father thinks it’s the funniest. One thing the reader is sure of is her absolute determination.

And then…

The Garbage Truck comes!

The best thing in the world is finally here!

From there, the backgrounds change from plain white to a bright, happy yellow. The pages are full of onomatopoeia, echoing the noises of the truck. We see Mabel joyfully jumping and dancing with each wondrous movement of the giant truck.

And the book pulls off a satisfying ending by showing us that, despite Mabel’s indifferent family, there are other garbage-truck watchers throughout the town.

I know a Storytime hit when I see one! The anticipation plus all the sound effects make this a winner for sure. And small garbage-truck lovers throughout the country will find a kindred spirit in Mabel.

JasharAwan.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 Kings of B’More, by R. Eric Thomas

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

Kings of B’More

by R. Eric Thomas
read by Torian Brackett

Listening Library, 2022. 9 hours, 58 minutes.
Review written January 25, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
2023 Stonewall Honor Book

Kings of B’More is a story of two friends on an adventure. Harrison and Linus are two black gay boys, who’ve just spent every day together in the summer before their junior year of high school. And then Linus tells Harrison that he and his dad are moving from Baltimore to North Carolina on the very next weekend.

Harrison is devastated. It’s not a friendship he wants to lose. When his father chooses “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” for Family Movie Night, Harrison gets an idea. He’ll plan a Ferris Day for Linus! They’ll take off from their jobs and go off and have an adventure, doing things that scare them and things they’ve always wanted to do. It will be a grand gesture that will make sure Linus doesn’t forget him and cement their friendship forever.

Of course, there’s a catch. Both Harrison’s and Linus’s parents use an app that tracks their movements. So they’re going to need someone to take their phones as a decoy to the places where they’d normally spend the day. They find an app and an old ipad to use in place of phones.

Harrison makes elaborate plans and sets his heart on making Ferris Day a grand success. Of course, it turns out that his plans start going awry from the very beginning. But could it be that the adventure turns out even better than he’d planned?

This is a refreshingly lovely story of friendship. Oh, and it made me resurrect my intention of visiting the Museum of African American History in Washington, DC, which I’d put aside when the pandemic started. I did enjoy the way the book is grounded in real places, even if I only recognized the DC ones.

rericthomas.com
PenguinTeen.com

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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.

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Review of Girls Like Her, by Melanie Sumrow

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Girls Like Her

by Melanie Sumrow
read by January LaVoy

Clarion Books, 2024. 9 hours, 4 minutes.
Review written April 2, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2025 Odyssey Award Honor Audiobook

Wow. Odyssey Award Honorees are always worth listening to. Every time. This one had me riveted from the moment it started.

It starts off telling about a prominent citizen who’s been murdered. And that police have arrested a suspect. Then we meet the 15-year-old girl who killed him, already in juvenile hall for months, meeting with a new social worker before a hearing where the prosecution wants to have her tried as an adult.

The prosecution gets its way in that hearing, so Ruby is moved to a women’s jail. And she knows that if she doesn’t win her case, she will be in prison for life. The book uses multiple formats to tell the story – some news clippings (with a news show sound effect), some court transcripts from her trial, some notes from the social worker, some letters Ruby writes to a friend on the outside, but the bulk of the book is Ruby’s meetings with Cadence, the social worker, as she tries to get Ruby to open up and tell her story.

And it’s a hard story. Ruby was kicked out by her mother when she was 13. She fell in with someone she thought loved her (still thinking that in prison), but was sex trafficked by him. (I don’t think I’m giving too much away here. The reader/listener has the idea much sooner than Ruby does.) But we don’t find out what happened the day of the murder until the end of the book.

The production quality of this audiobook is excellent, with plenty of sound effects to give you cues about the different types of material used. The narrator’s voice adjusts to the different materials and speakers so much I thought there was more than one person reading until I looked it up at the end.

It’s a powerful story, but sad. The author has worked as a lawyer, so it all has the ring of truth, and she has listed some resources at the back. May our justice system do better for girls like her.

melaniesumrow.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 Scattered Showers, by Rainbow Rowell

Contemporary, Short Stories, Teen Fiction Review 0

Scattered Showers

by Rainbow Rowell

Wednesday Books, 2022. 282 pages.
Review written January 15, 2023, from a library book

Rainbow Rowell is exceptionally good at quirky romances.

And that’s what this book is full of — short stories featuring quirky romances. The stories are indeed short, but they pull you in and make you root for the couple, each with their own obstacles to romance.

My favorites were the ones at the beginning of the book, self-contained sweet stories. Later, she included characters from her books Fangirl, Attachments, and the Simon Snow trilogy. I probably would have enjoyed those more if I’d read the books.

The first story is about friends who are always together at midnight on New Year’s Eve — and simply tells what happens each successive midnight. Another story I enjoyed takes place in a college dorm, with a girl listening to breakup music over and over. The guy who lives underneath her starts giving her mixtapes of music he likes better, and it turns out she does, too.

What they all have in common is the stories are quirky and feel so individual they seem like there must be real people like this.

These stories made me smile.

rainbowrowell.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 Joyful Song, by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Susan Gal

Award Winners, Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Joyful Song

A Naming Story

by Lesléa Newman
illustrated by Susan Gal

Levine Querido, 2024. 40 pages.
Review written February 4, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Sidney Taylor Silver Medal, Picture Books

I checked out this picture book after it was honored with a Sidney Taylor Silver Medal by the Association of Jewish Libraries – and what a beautiful book it is!

The story is told from the perspective of a kid named Zachary. His family is walking through their vibrant, colorful neighborhood to the synagogue for his baby sister’s first Shabbat, when they will announce her name to the world. Zachary gets to push her baby carriage.

Along the way, their neighbors Miss Fukumi, Mr. Baraka, and Mrs. Santiago greet them and ask the baby’s name. Before Zachary can speak, first Mama gives a nickname, then Mommy gives a nickname, and the third time, Zachary knows to tell Mrs. Santiago they call her Snuggle Bunny. All three neighbors are invited to come with them to the naming ceremony.

In the synagogue, the family comes up front, and they announce the name and why they chose it. It’s all followed by a meal, and walking home, with the three neighbors saying good-by, each in their own way, and talking about the lovely baby with a lovely name.

For Jewish families, it must be a delight to see your traditions reflected in this gorgeous picture book. (I can’t stress enough how wonderful the art is!) For non-Jewish families, you’ve got a lovely cross-cultural window. And every family who reads this book will find the perfect lead-in to talking about how you chose the names for your children.

galgirlstudio.com
levinequerido.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 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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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 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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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 A Is For Bee, by Ellen Heck

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

A Is for Bee

An Alphabet Book in Translation

by Ellen Heck

Levine Querido, 2022. 36 pages.
Review written December 13, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

This book is creative and fascinating — though you’ll want to show it to older kids, who already know their English alphabet well, so they don’t get confused.

The introduction is simple:

We speak to each other in many languages, and in some of them…

Then it goes right into an Alphabet book. The order is A to Z, and many of the animals you’re used to see in alphabet books appear, but now they show up in different places.

On the first page, we’ve got:

A is for BEE

Anu in Igbo
Arl in Turkish
Aamoo in Ojibwe
Abelha in Portuguese

There’s extended back matter, explaining the difficulties of translation and the Romanization of different alphabets. 69 languages are represented in this book, which they note is a small fraction of the more than 6,500 spoken across the world.

They’ve got a QR code you can scan to get to this page: levinequerido.com/AIsforBee and hear the words spoken aloud. I had a lot of fun exploring there.

This isn’t really a book for learning other languages, but it’s a beautiful book for delighting in the variety of human expression and for children to get an idea of the many amazing ways people speak.

The book goes from A is for Bee to Z is for Elephant, with delightful variety in between.

levinequerido.com/AIsforBee

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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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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 A Little Like Magic, by Sarah Kurpiel

Award Winners, Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

A Little Like Magic

by Sarah Kurpiel

Rocky Pond Books (Penguin Random House), 2024. 44 pages.
Review written February 28, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Schneider Family Award Winner, Younger Children

Here’s a gorgeous picture book that features a kid in a wheelchair.

The child and their mother (probably a little girl, but the gender is never specified) are headed to an ice festival to watch the sculptors work, but they don’t want to go.

I don’t like heavy coats
or itchy hats
or boots that don’t let me bend my ankles.
I don’t like cold wind
or icy roads.
Most of all, I don’t like going places that I’ve never been before.

Still, they go, bringing a special toy horse in their pocket. They watch the sculptors work, using chainsaws, drills, chisels, picks, torches and steaming irons.

They watch until they are too cold, then have hot chocolate together. The child isn’t convinced it’s worth it to make sculptures that are going to melt anyway.

And to their dismay, the little horse is no longer in their pocket when they get home.

But then the next day they go back after dark. Now the sculptures are finished, and they’re magical and wondrous.

The cold and crowd melt away. There is only light and ice and stars and Mom and me.

And, yes, they find their toy horse – along with a special surprise. That’s the best part of all.

In the end, they realize that even though the sculptures melted, they never really went away because they’ll always remember their magic.

This is one of those quiet, lovely, wonderful books that you love more each time you read it.

sarahkurpiel.com

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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.

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