Review of Louder than Hunger, by John Schu

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

Louder than Hunger

by John Schu
read by Jeff Ebner

Listening Library, 2024. 3 hours, 43 minutes.
Review written April 5, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

John Schu is a librarian whom a lot of us other librarians know and love. He’s a Mr. Rogers-like person whose big, kind heart shines. Once a school librarian, then he started working for I think it was Scholastic, going to schools around the country, pushing books. He’s written The Gift of Story about using books in schools, as well as two picture books, This Is a School, and This Is a Story. And now he’s written a middle grade novel in verse that will wring your heart.

The story is of Jake, a 13-year-old boy diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and depression, who gets put in an inpatient program. The author says at the back that Jake is a different person from him with different details, but their lives are parallel, and he spent time being treated for the same disorders Jake has.

The book is written in verse from Jake’s perspective. I started reading the book in print, before my eaudio hold came in. I like the print version, because the poems use type size and positioning of the words on the page. I finished by listening, because that was convenient when I was doing other things, but looked through the print book after I was done to again get the feel for Jake’s voice.

And Jake’s voice in print tells us about the Voice that haunts him. It tells him not to eat. It tells him he doesn’t deserve to take up space, to even exist. It tells him not to trust the doctors at Whispering Pines. It tells him it is all he needs.

The one place Jake truly feels loved is with his Grandma, and he has wonderful memories of watching musicals with her. But Grandma isn’t doing well….

However, that link to the things Jake truly loves is ultimately going to be the key to healing.

Jake’s journey feels completely genuine. He starts out trusting no one, feeling betrayed that his mother tricked him into going to Whispering Pines. He does better, then has setbacks. And all along, the Voice is working against him, saying he doesn’t need help.

When we find out about the relentless bullying in middle school that started his trouble, it just made me so sad, imagining the wonderful human being Jake is (like his creator) being beaten down so brutally.

This entire book rings true, because it’s based on the author’s own experiences and emotions. It’s heartbreaking, yet hope-filled, because little by little, Jake begins to allow others to help him learn how to tell the Voice to be quiet and actually believe that he is worthy of taking up space in the world.

John Schu has spent years talking up other people’s books. Now so many children’s authors are excited to talk up John Schu’s book. There’s a foreword from Kate DiCamillo. And of course every librarian who’s ever met him is excited about reading it. This book fully deserves all that attention, and I’m so happy that kids across the country are going to be reading it. For kids who can relate at all to Jake, may it bring them hope and healing. And for kids who might ever be tempted to bully someone like Jake, may it help them stop and think and learn a little empathy.

A beautiful book by a person with a big, kind heart.

johnschu.com

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

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 Concrete Rose, by Angie Thomas

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas
performed by Dion Graham

HarperAudio, 2021. 8.25 hours on 7 compact discs.
Review written August 26, 2021, from a library audiobook

Concrete Rose tells the story of seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter. As the son of a legendary gang member, now in prison, he follows in his father’s footsteps in the King Lords gang. As the book opens, he learns that a one-time incident when he and his girlfriend were on a break means that he is now a father. The same day the paternity test comes back, his baby’s mother takes off and leaves the baby with Maverick.

The rest of the book shows us Maverick figuring out what it means to be a good father. He wants to provide for his kid, so that means selling drugs with the gang, right? The owner of the store where he works after school doesn’t think so. But he doesn’t understand what Maverick is up against.

Things get more and more complicated for Maverick, and he makes some not-so-great decisions along the way, but I love the way Angie Thomas brings us along with him, not judging him, understanding how tough he has it. I also love the way she winds things up with hope at the end.

The narrator did a great job with this book. He takes on the street dialect smoothly and naturally in a way I couldn’t have necessarily reproduced reading print. Maverick tells the story in his own voice, and I felt like the kid was talking to me.

angiethomas.com
harperaudio.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 Size of the Truth, by Andrew Smith

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

The Size of the Truth

by Andrew Smith

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2019. 266 pages.
Review written November 6, 2019, from a library book

When he was four years old, Sam Abernathy was trapped in a well for three days. He was playing Spud with his friend Karim, and an older boy, James Jenkins, threw the ball so high, Karim couldn’t catch it, and Sam stepped in the hole and fell. The whole town of Blue Sky, Texas, rallied to save him, and some people still wear their “Pray for Sam” t-shirts.

Now Sam is eleven years old, and his parents just had him skip two grades from sixth grade to eighth grade. As if it weren’t enough to be known in town as “Well Boy,” now he stands out for being the smallest kid in eighth grade. James Jenkins was held back and is also in eighth grade and his locker is next to Sam’s. Sam is convinced he looks like a murderer.

Sam’s father has big plans for Sam. He wants him to go to a magnet high school and get a scholarship to study physics. What Sam wants to do is become a chef. He experiments with dishes at Karim’s house.

The story is told with flashbacks from Sam’s three days in the well interspersed with what’s happening in eighth grade. Sam couldn’t remember what happened for a long time, and now his memories involve a talking armadillo named Bartleby who is very annoying, but shows Sam some interesting things down side tunnels. And at least Sam wasn’t alone!

The story is about truth and perception. And about parental expectations and learning to speak up. You can’t help but liking Sam, but also feeling sorry for him. I’m happy to report that Sam does learn ways to make things better for himself before the book is done. Here’s a bit from early in the book to give you a feel for Sam’s voice:

I have an idea for a reality television show.

The show follows an eleven-year-old boy named Sam Abernathy, who’s been jumped ahead during the first week of the school year, catapulted directly from sixth into eighth grade.

The show is called Figure It Out, Kid!

We are entirely uncertain whether or not the kid makes it out alive.

simonandschuster.com/kids

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 You Are Here: Connecting Flights, edited by Ellen Oh

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Short Stories, Starred Review 0

You Are Here

Connecting Flights

edited by Ellen Oh
read by David Lee Huynh, Dana Wing Lau, Ramon de Ocampo, and Jeanne Syquia

Allida, 2023. 5 hours, 40 minutes.
Review written March 11, 2024, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

You Are Here: Connecting Flights is a collection of well-connected short stories written by various authors: Christina Soontornvat, Linda Sue Park, Meredith Ireland, Mike Chen, Susan Tan, Randy Ribay, Traci Chee, Mike Jung, Erin Entrada Kelly, Grace Lin, Minh Le, and Ellen Oh. All the stories feature an Asian American kid temporarily stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during a ferocious thunderstorm, some with parents and family, and a few traveling unaccompanied.

The stories are nicely intertwined, with each kid having at least a little interaction with some of the other kids. The book begins with a boy mortified when his grandmother takes his grandfather’s remains through security. Everything works out, but they have to stop the line for a bit, which bothers people in a hurry.

Some of the kids are heading to Asian countries of their forebears, and some of them don’t feel great about that. Pretty much all the kids deal with some negative attitudes toward Asian Americans, and most of them come up with a good way of responding.

The kids, characters, and situations have lots of variety, because the authors have lots of variety. The variety included very different countries in their backgrounds, different appearances, different religions, and different traveling situations. For all the kids, the stories came together to give a sense of belonging, a feeling that they can deal with what life throws at them, and peace with where they’re going and where they’ll come home to.

I wish the audiobook and the book itself had put the author’s name under each chapter title, which instead was the name of the fictional kid featured. But perhaps they wanted to put the emphasis on the kids themselves. And I have to admit that the many authors did a fantastic job of telling a seamless story about many great characters. And it gave readers who are not Asian American a window into the microaggressions that our fellow Americans have to deal with. So besides reading an entertaining story with great characters, I learned a lot about empathy.

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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 The Doughnut King, by Jessie Janowitz

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Doughnut King

by Jessie Janowitz

Sourcebooks, 2019. 330 pages.
Starred Review
Review written June 19, 2019, from a library book

The Doughnut King is the sequel to The Doughnut Fix, which was one of my 2018 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, read during my Newbery year.

In the first book, Tris and his family moved to the small town of Petersville in upstate New York from the big city, and Tris managed to begin a thriving doughnut business, located next to his mother’s new restaurant.

But Tris’s doughnuts are so delicious, so very good, that he can’t keep up with demand. People come to Petersville to buy doughnuts, and they are disappointed.

At the same time, the mayor of Petersville tells them that the town is dying. Tris gets a vision – if he could only make more doughnuts, people could come to Petersville and would not be disappointed. He could even hire people to sell them.

Tris gets his heart set on a doughnut-making machine that could solve their problem of not making doughnuts quickly enough. But the price is far out of range. So Tris’s genius little sister enters him into a cooking show contest, Can You Cut It? — completely against Tris’s will.

But their mother once worked with Chef J. J., the temperamental chef who judges the show. Tris is convinced that got him on the show. But once on the show, he needs to win – for the sake of Petersville.

This book is another fun read with the ins and outs of the cooking competition and the characters from the town. Kids who are interested in cooking will like it all the more, but even if not this is a fun story about using ingenuity to save a town.

jessiejanowitz.com
sourcebookskids.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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?

*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 Check and Mate, by Ali Hazelwood, read by Karissa Vacker

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Check & Mate

by Ali Hazelwood
read by Karissa Vacker

Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 32 minutes.
Review written March 13, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I decided to read this book to find out what all the fuss was about, because since the day it was published, it has been high on the list of most holds for young adult books for our library in Overdrive’s Libby. I was enchanted. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it’s about a young woman taking on competitive chess.

As the book opens, Mallory is 18 years old and it’s the summer after high school. Her friends are getting ready to head off to faraway places to go to college. But Mallory’s staying home, working as a mechanic at a garage that used to be her uncle’s. Her mother has rheumatoid arthritis and she and her two younger sisters need Mallory to stick around and get the mortgage paid. Their dad is long gone — and it had to do with chess, which Mallory decided to completely give up four years ago when her dad left.

But now Mallory’s best friend cajoles Mallory into playing chess in a charity tournament. Once there, much to Mallory’s surprise, she defeats Nolan Sawyer, the reigning world champion — someone she idolized back when she was playing chess, and who also happens to be incredibly handsome.

After that, Mallory gets offered a year-long fellowship at a chess club that wants to increase women’s participation in competitive chess. She doesn’t intend to take it, but bills need to be paid, and she sees no other choice. Then she tells herself that she can just treat it as a job and stop thinking about chess when she clocks out. Oh, and she doesn’t tell her family, because she doesn’t want to hurt her mother by talking about chess, which will make her think of Mallory’s dad.

So that’s how the fun begins. The reader will not be surprised when Mallory has more and more encounters with Nolan Sawyer. And she has a lot of natural talent, and the chess club training is helping her develop that.

The book also makes a strong point about misogyny in the world of competitive chess. The author’s note says that a real study was done, and women playing online who were told they were playing men did worse against the same opponents as when they were not told gender or were told they were playing against women. Mallory is the only woman in the tournaments where she competes and has several microaggressions to navigate. But through it all — what does she think of Nolan Sawyer? The interaction between them is beautifully portrayed, with each having some past baggage and some obstacles to navigate.

Since young adult novels have changed so much since I started writing reviews, I will mention that at the start of the book in particular, Mallory has recreational sex with both men and women. She doesn’t want to get close to anyone she has sex with, because that can get messy. The sex isn’t described in detail on the page, but it is talked about a lot. Actually in very open ways. Later when it turns out that Nolan is a virgin, they talk about both ways of being in the world without judgment. (But at the start I was thrown for a loop by how freely Mallory talked about having sex and how frequently she seemed to be doing it. Like I said, young adult novels have changed a lot in the last 24 years.)

But the romance here! Exquisite! I honestly think the fact that this was a story of falling in love over chess was especially what made me love it. And a brilliantly smart heroine! Falling in love with an incredibly smart guy! No shade whatsoever on nerdiness. And it reminded me of being in high school back in the early 1980s. I had learned that if we went on a bus trip (with choir or with my church group) — if I brought along my magnetic chess set and asked if anyone wanted to play chess — it was a sure-fire way to get to sit with an attractive guy on the bus! (Because smart guys who could play chess were the most attractive to me, anyway.) I did feel like I messed this up a little by usually beating them. But falling for someone over a chessboard? Oh yes, it gives me all the feels. And in the book, the guy is a worthy opponent who fully appreciates Mallory’s intelligence and likes her better because she can give him a challenge. Yes!

Now, I’ve never played competitive chess. I was never interested in memorizing openings and gambits and defenses, preferring games where you have to figure it out at the time. As an adult, I like games that make you think, but preferably with some small element of luck so that the same person (even if it’s me) doesn’t win all the time. I’m not completely sure her descriptions of chess play were authentic or if a talented player could suddenly do so well after time away from the game. But I wanted to believe, and it was plausible enough for me. Speaking against misogyny in chess was a bonus.

I don’t think you have to like chess to enjoy this book. But I love this story of two highly intelligent people falling in love and treating each other as equals. Beautifully done.

alihazelwood.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 All Because You Matter, by Tami Charles, illustrated by Bryan Collier

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

All Because You Matter

by Tami Charles
illustrated by Bryan Collier

Orchard Books (Scholastic), 2020. 36 pages.
Review written 10/20/2020 from a library book
Starred Review

This picture book is a message book, but it’s written in a way that transcends the message, with poetry and lovely paintings/collages telling children that they matter.

The specific child shown in the illustrations is a black boy, and this book will work best for black boys, but that sure seems fair. And you can use this book to remember the value inherent in all young people – while enjoying the poetry and the stunning illustrations.

It’s a book for reading to your own beloved child. Here’s how it begins:

They say that matter
is all things
that make up the universe:
energy,
stars,
space . . .

If that’s the case,
then you, dear child, matter.

Long before you took
your place in this world,
you were dreamed of,
like a knapsack
full of wishes,
carried on the backs
of your ancestors
as they created
empires,
pyramids,
legacies.

The book talks about when you get older and get to school and start wondering if you matter. This part is as dark as it gets:

Or the time when your Pop Pop
turns on the news,
and you see people everywhere
take a breath,
take a stand,
take a knee.

And you hear Pop Pop’s
whispered prayers,
as another name is called:
Trayvon,
Tamir,
Philando,
and you wonder
if they,
or you,
will ever matter.

But did you know
that you do?

Did you know that
you were born from
queens,
chiefs,
legends?

Did you know that
you are the earth?
That strength, power, and
beauty lie within you?

And that takes the book to the finish with more affirmations and celebrations that you and your family always mattered and always will.

Again, all of this is accompanied by lavishly beautiful illustrations. There are author’s and illustrator’s notes making it personal.

I read another picture book with a similar message shortly before reading this one. I chose not to review that earlier book, because it had a good message, but the book wasn’t much more than the message. This book has reached a level of art in both the illustrations and the poetry. And it tells a particular story that can be universally applied. But it is particular to those who most need to hear it in today’s times. And that’s a lovely breath of fresh air.

scholastic.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.

What did you think of this book?

*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 We All Play, by Julie Flett

Contemporary, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

We All Play

kimêtawânaw

by Julie Flett

Greystone Kids, 2021. 40 pages.
Review written May 29, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

We All Play: kimêtawânaw is exactly the kind of book I try to find for Baby Storytime: Just a few words per page, plus images of children and animals on the pages.

The pictures are animals playing. Here’s the first verse, covering several pages:

Animals hide
and hop [Little rabbits on this spread]

and sniff
and sneak [Little foxes]

and peek
and peep [Little owls]

We play too!
kimêtawânaw mîna [Now there are children]

That’s the pattern for three verses, and then in the final verse, the animals go to sleep, and we do, too.

The language being used is Plains Cree, and there are only a few words in the text, but I like the chart at the back. It’s got all thirteen animals that appear in the book, as well as “child” and “baby” and gives the Cree words for One, More than One, and for “Younger, Smaller, Cuter.” There’s also a pronunciation guide at the back, so if I use this in story time, I’ll be able to say the Cree words in the text.

I love Julie Flett’s art! It’s quiet and calming, with subdued colors, but the children and animals playing do convey joy.

This book is simple, and it’s playful and lovely, with lots of room for talking with your little one about what they see – and then playing!

greystonebooks.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.

What did you think of this book?

*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 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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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?

*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 Class Act, by Jerry Craft

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Class Act

by Jerry Craft

Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 250 pages.
Review written March 20, 2021, from a library book

Class Act calls itself a “Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid,” so I won’t call it a sequel, but it does tell about Jordan Banks’ second year at a private school outside his neighborhood, where he’s one of a few African American kids. The publisher is right, though, that you won’t feel lost if you didn’t read the first graphic novel, or if it’s been a while. The author is good at catching the reader up.

And this time, besides following Jordan’s story, we also follow two of his friends – Drew, whose skin is darker than Jordan’s and faces more discrimination, and Liam, who is white and rich, but whose parents are never around.

This year Jordan’s bothered that he doesn’t seem to be growing and developing like his friends are doing, and he doesn’t want to stay a little kid forever. He also is afraid that drawing his comics is babyish and wonders if he should go to art school next year.

For all of them, there’s still discrimination to navigate, and friendships, and girls, and what kids in the neighborhood think of them going to a private school. I liked the part where a mean kid accidentally got his skin dyed green with unwashable dye for Halloween – and thus became a person of color temporarily. The teachers are trying to figure out how to be sensitive to diversity – with mixed results.

The chapter break pages refer to other published books. It starts out with mostly children’s graphic novel references but includes some adult novels as well. I didn’t quite understand the point of doing this, though it was fun for me to recognize the books.

The story is good, and it’s great to have another graphic novel with Black kids as the protagonists. There’s no doubt in my mind that kids will happily scoop this up and be glad they did.

jerrycraft.com
harperalley.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.

What did you think of this book?

*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!