Review of You’re SO Amazing! by James & Lucy Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

You’re SO Amazing!

Being Singled Out Doesn’t Always Feel Amazing.

by James & Lucy Catchpole
illustrated by Karen George

Little, Brown and Company, 2024. Originally published in 2023 in the United Kingdom. 36 pages.
Review written April 19, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Yes, it’s a message book. But like the message delivered in the author’s earlier book, What Happened to You?, this message comes wrapped in an engaging story about a sweet kid who just wants to play pirates.

In What Happened to You?, Joe made friends with the other kids on the playground. We can see from the pictures that Joe has only one leg. That doesn’t have anything to do with his enjoyment of playing on the playground.

But while Joe is playing pirates with his friend Simone, we can see that some grown-ups and bigger kids are watching him. After a kid calls him “Amazing!” Joe reflects that he knows he’s amazing because people keep calling him that. When he slides on the slide or swings on the monkey bars…

Joe was even amazing when he was doing ordinary things,
like waiting in line for ice cream . . .
or eating ice cream . . .
or just scratching his bottom.

“People need to relax,” said Simone.
“I know!” said Joe.

Next, Joe tries to be invisible, so people can see how amazing his friends’ running and jumping can be. Instead, a grown-up finds him hiding while they are running and jumping, feels sorry for him, and encourages him to try it, too.

But the book winds up with the big brother of one of his friends helping Joe practice shooting a soccer ball at the goal. And most of Joe’s shots aren’t great, but some are amazing.

And the book winds up by reflecting that he likes playing with his friends who know him.

With them, Joe wasn’t Amazing Joe,
and he wasn’t Poor Joe.

He was just Joe.

There’s a note at the back for adults, accompanied by a picture of the authors with their happy family. You can see in the photo that they’re disabled. So I hope it’s okay to say I love this amazing book. It effectively and simply shows a kid what it feels like to be singled out over and over again. Nicely done!

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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 I Never Saw Another Butterfly, edited by Hana Volavková

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942 – 1944

Edited by Hana Volavková
Expanded Second Edition by the United States Holocaust Museum

Schocken Books, 1993. 106 pages.
Review written July 22, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

I found this book in good condition, hidden in the children’s nonfiction section of our library. It’s a thin paperback, and not many had noticed it. Besides, it’s a thin book and doesn’t draw the eye. But instead of weeding it from our collection, I was pulled in. I checked it out and read a few poems a day while the library was closed.

This book is a collection of poems and artwork created by children who were incarcerated in the town of Terezin, a ghetto in the Czech Republic during World War II. Jews were sent there supposedly for their safety, but as a stop on the way to extermination camps.

There’s a description of the history of Terezin and what life was like there at the front. At the back, an index tells what happened to the children who created the art and poetry. Most died in the camps, though a few escaped.

Something that made Terezin remarkable, though, was that some teachers decided to encourage the children to write and draw about their experiences. And their work, miraculously, has been preserved.

If you think about the words and pictures in this book much at all, they’re heart-wrenching. Reading it felt like a small way to honor these children, who experienced things no child should ever have to deal with.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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

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

Review of Threads That Bind, by Kika Hatzopoulou

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Threads That Bind

by Kika Hatzopoulou
read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Listening Library, 2023. 12 hours.
Review written February 20, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2023 CYBILS Award Winner, Young Adult Speculative Fiction

This year I was Category Chair for the CYBILS Awards Young Adult Speculative Fiction category, but because I was reading for the Morris Award, I didn’t get to take part as a judge or panelist. So I’m making up for lost time and reading the great books they picked.

Threads That Bind is a distinctive fantasy. It’s set in a world after an apocalypse with separate city-states divided by barren wastelands in between. In the city of Silts, where tides regularly flood, Io has grown up with her two sisters, all of them descendants of the Fates, the Mira. Like all Otherborn, the Miraborn have inherited powers. All three can see people’s life threads, the connections between people and the things or people they love, including life itself. The oldest can weave the threads, the next can draw the threads, and the third, Io in this family, can cut the threads.

As the book opens, Io is doing work as a private investigator, afraid she’ll have to report that her client’s husband is indeed having an affair, and she can see by the strong thread between him and his lover that they are in love. But then a person shows up and attacks and kills him. This person is alive, but shouldn’t be alive — because she has only one thread, her life thread, and it’s been cut.

But someone shows up at the crime scene — and it’s the person Io’s been avoiding — the boy she shares a Fate thread with, before she’d even met him. His name’s Edei, and he works for the Mob Queen who rules their city. The Mob Queen orders Io to investigate this wraith, because it’s not the first one to show up in the Silts. Who is making this happen, and how are they choosing their victims, while talking about justice?

What follows is a long and somewhat convoluted investigation, trying to find out who’s behind it all and what they are plotting. Io must talk with many different Otherborn and dig around lots of people with power — including the new mayoral candidate — and her oldest sister, who abandoned them years before.

Like I said, the plot seemed a little convoluted to me — but the problem may have been that I didn’t listen closely enough. The magic system is intriguing, but I had to not look at the details too closely. (If Miraborn always come in sets of three, why are they not triplets? What happens if the third is never born? And why are all the threads not hopelessly tangled up?) I also didn’t completely understand all the motivations revealed at the end, having to do with the Gang War many years ago.

But all the same, it’s a great story also looking at questions of emotional abuse, justice, and violence. Although the book does solve the mysteries presented, there’s an overarching story that isn’t finished yet. I just checked and see that Book Two, Hearts That Cut, is coming out in June, and I’ve already ordered copies for the library.

kikahatzopoulou.com
penguinteen.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 Lizzie Demands a Seat! by Beth Anderson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Lizzie Demands a Seat!

Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar Rights

by Beth Anderson
illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Calkins Creek (Boyds Mills & Kane), 2020. 32 pages.
Review written April 22, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

We’ve all heard of Rosa Parks, but in this book I learned about Lizzie Jennings, a free black woman who fought in court for her right to ride on streetcars with whites in New York State in 1854.

This picture book dramatizes her encounter. She was physically thrown off a streetcar on her way to church, but got right back on.

Five blocks later, the conductor hailed an officer.

Again a crowd gathered and watched in silence.

“Officer,” said the conductor, “the passengers object to this woman’s presence. It’s my duty to remove her.”

“No one objected!” Lizzie said, leaping up. “I have rights!”

The officer forced her off the streetcar. “Make your complaint. You’ll not get far.

Lizzie did go to court about it, with her whole community behind her. Her lawyer was Chester Arthur – who later became President of the United States.

The whole story is dramatic and inspiring. I’d had no idea that African Americans also had to fight for rights in the North – of course that shows my ignorance. It’s always good to read about someone standing up for what’s right. And especially good when they win rights for others as well.

The book is beautifully illustrated, with a nice variety of scenes pictured and a focus on faces. I’m glad this story is being told.

bethandersonwriter.com
eblewis.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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

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

Review of Coyote Lost and Found, by Dan Gemeinhart

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Coyote Lost and Found

by Dan Gemeinhart

Henry Holt and Company, 2024. 275 pages.
Review written April 29, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This book is a follow-up to the amazing and wonderful book The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, and the sequel is equally amazing and wonderful. I think you can enjoy the second book without reading the first, but why would you? If you have not read the book that introduces us to Coyote and her dad Rodeo, please do so as soon as possible!

As this book opens, Coyote and Rodeo have been settled down in a small town in Oregon for about a year. Coyote hasn’t exactly fit in well at her new school. And in her spare time, she likes to hang out in their old bus, Yager.

Then, one day, Coyote makes a momentous discovery. Fallen behind a bookcase, she finds a special box. And that box has her mother’s ashes in it. Coyote’s mother and her big sister and little sister all died in a car accident before the events of the first book, and those deaths were what prompted Rodeo to hit the road with Coyote. When Coyote confronts Rodeo with her discovery, he said that yes, they buried her sisters, but her mother had wanted to be cremated, and she had told Rodeo the location where he should bury her ashes in one of her favorite books.

But when Coyote goes to find the book — it isn’t there. She’s sure it was one of the books she dropped off at a thrift store somewhere on their journey last summer. But she doesn’t have the heart to tell Rodeo. One thing leads to another, and they set out again in Yager. Rodeo thinks that Coyote’s mom set them a journey, but Coyote is going back to the thrift shops from last summer, particularly the four she wasn’t able to reach by phone.

And the journey is much like the first one. Again, they pick up fellow travelers along the way. Again, they get into adventures both humorous and poignant. And again, they’re dealing with the past, but learning to look forward to the future.

This book wrenched my heart in all the best ways. You can’t find better travel companions anywhere than Coyote and Rodeo.

dangemeinhart.com
mackids.com

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

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Review of The Gift, by Edith Eger

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Starred Review 0

The Gift

12 Lessons to Save Your Life

by Dr. Edith Eger
with Esmé Schwall Weigand

Scribner, 2020. 195 pages.
Review written July 15, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

Edith Eger is a doctor of psychology and a Holocaust survivor. So when she fills a book with life lessons, she can use examples from her own life and from her patients’ lives. And you know the lessons will be helpful, even in extreme situations.

The subtitles of the twelve chapters tell you what major life issues each lesson deals with: Victimhood, Avoidance, Self-Neglect, Secrets, Guilt and Shame, Unresolved Grief, Rigidity, Resentment, Paralyzing Fear, Judgment, Hopelessness, and Not Forgiving. Her lessons and stories are practical and pointed. For example, the chapter about Judgment is titled “The Nazi In You,” and she talks about meeting an American teen in the 1980s who was wearing a brown shirt and brown boots and ranting about killing Jews and others and making America white again. She took a deep breath and said, “Tell me more.”

It was a tiny gesture of acceptance – not of his ideology, but of his personhood. And it was enough for him to speak a little of his lonely childhood, absentee parents, and severe neglect. Hearing his story reminded me that he hadn’t joined an extremist group because he was born with hate. He was seeking what we all want: acceptance, attention, affection. It’s not an excuse. But attacking him would only nourish the seeds of worthlessness his upbringing had sown. I had the choice to alienate him further, or give him another version of refuge and belonging.

Another bit I like is her tip in the chapter on hopelessness: “Don’t cover garlic with chocolate.”

It’s tempting to confuse hope with idealism, but idealism is just another form of denial, a way of evading a true confrontation with suffering. Resiliency and freedom don’t come from pretending away our pain. Listen to the way you talk about a hard or hurtful situation. It’s okay. It’s not that bad. Others have it so much worse. I don’t have anything to complain about. Everything will work out in the end. No pain, no glory! The next time you hear yourself using the language of minimization, delusion, or denial, try replacing the words with “It hurts. And it’s temporary.” Remind yourself, “I’ve survived pain before.”

I also appreciated the insight in the chapter, “There’s No Forgiveness Without Rage.” I’ve seen that in other books, with explanations of how you need to admit there’s pain and wrongdoing before you can forgive it. You need to feel the hurt rather than dismiss it. This idea There’s no forgiveness without rage. is even simpler.

Those are just a few examples of the hard-won wisdom found in this book, told with warmth and love.

dreditheger.com
SimonandSchuster.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 Nature’s Ninja, by Rebecca L. Johnson

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Nature’s Ninja

Animals with Spectacular Skills

by Rebecca L. Johnson

Millbrook Press, 2020. 48 pages.
Review written May 1, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This book was made to be booktalked to elementary age kids! I wish we were doing in-person booktalks this year, but I’m going to make a note to myself to be sure to include this book next year.

The book presents nine ninja skills, with their Japanese names, and then nine animals that demonstrate those skills in amazing ways.

I also want to say that books about animals with strange characteristics are a booktalking staple, but I hadn’t heard about any of these abilities before, except maybe the sticky feet of the gecko – but I didn’t know why they are so sticky, or about their microscopic suction cups.

The most striking skill to me was the same one the author said prompted her to write the book — shuriken-jutsu, Ninja throwing stars. It turns out that the collector sea urchin throws small parts of itself at predators. They’re shaped like mini-throwing stars, and they open and close their jaws to bite a would-be attacker.

Other animal ninjas include the sailfish with its sword-wielding skills, the alkali fly and its ability to stay dry underwater, ground spiders with their abilities to throw web silk to attack, and fish-scale geckos that easily escape by releasing their scales and skin.

Each chapter features a ninja skill and an animal or animals that demonstrate the skill. Then in “The Science Behind the Story,” we learn how scientists discovered this animal’s amazing abilities.

This book is short at only 48 pages, but it packs a lot of surprising science.

rebeccajohnsonbooks.com
lernerbooks.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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 Dragonfruit, by Makiia Lucier

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Version 1.0.0
Dragonfruit

by Makiia Lucier
read by Mapuana Makia

Clarion Books, 2024. 8 hours, 12 minutes.
Review written April 29, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Makiia Lucier is a relatively new fantasy author I’m watching closely. I read her second book when I was on the Newbery committee, but it was for young adults, so I took note but I had to keep quiet about books I was reading at that time. Then later her book Year of the Reaper was a Cybils Finalist, and I was impressed with the way it handled a population traumatized by plague and war. I snapped up this new book, and got something completely different – a fantasy set in a tropical island world.

This story features 18-year-old Hanalei, whose father fled with her from the island of Tamarind ten years ago, and 19-year-old Samahtitamahenele, Sam, the prince of Tamarind. But the crown passes only to women, Sam’s grandmother is getting old, and his mother has been in a coma for ten years. So Sam needs to find a wife. But more than that, Sam is searching for Dragonfruit – the eggs of a sea dragon. The eggs of a sea dragon, dragonfruit, are said to have the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow. But with that hope comes a warning: Every wish demands a price.

Ten years ago, Hanalei had been a page at court, and she had eaten the same poison that still keeps Sam’s mother asleep. When dragonfruit was found, her father stole it and fed it to Hana instead of leaving it for the princess. And then fled the queendom with Hana. Hana did recover, but a few days later, her father died. She’s had a hard life since then, working in the factories that process the valuable body parts of sea dragons until she was fourteen, when her hands got too big. Since that time, Hana has been studying sea dragons, sending information to the academy on the largest island.

But as the book opens, Hana warns a set of dragons so they can escape the dragoners ready to kill them. Two of the dragons escape, but Hanalei doesn’t. However, they all see by the color of the frill that this dragon is pregnant, soon to lay eggs.

Further adventures bring her back to Tamaraind. Now Sam, too, is looking for the Dragonfruit, to at last wake his mother. But so is the ruthless dragoner. And what will the price of the wish be?

The setting of this book is delightful. Some additional magic of their island is many of the teens on the island develop magical tattoos of an animal. That animal can move around on their skin and even materialize off their skin in the real world, a companion who communicates with them and is always close at hand.

There’s a gentle romance in this book – indeed, I expected more drama than I got – and no sex at all, so it feels completely appropriate for younger teens, too. Hana and Sam are almost adults and it is a coming of age book, so older teens are the main audience. The book ended at a good place, but I can’t help hoping more stories are coming about this lovely island world, the sea dragons, and these two characters coming into their own.

makiialucier.com
EpicReads.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 Enigma Girls, by Candace Fleming

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

The Enigma Girls

How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II

by Candace Fleming

Scholastic Focus, 2024. 371 pages.
Review written April 29, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

We’ve all heard stories about Alan Turing breaking the Enigma code in World War II, right? But did you know that literally thousands of girls under the age of 21 were also involved in monitoring enemy communications during World War II?

In this book, the title tells us that we’re tracking ten of those teenage girls, but honestly my one quibble with the book was that I couldn’t keep them straight at all. She was still introducing new characters toward the end of the book. But what made the book amazing despite that was the picture it gave of code breaking and intelligence gathering as the war progressed and what a large operation it grew to be, and how important. And taking the perspective of teenage girls who worked in this field brings home how many ordinary people were caught up in the effort.

The book progresses chronologically. It sounds like early on, they’d figured out how Enigma worked. Every day the settings changed, so every day they’d work on breaking the code. Once the code was broken, the cryptographers moved on to something else, and they had machines where girls would type in the messages with the new settings, and decoded messages would come out.

Then later in the war, they used giant computers that were programmed by connecting and disconnecting actual wires. In another department they’d figure out the settings, then they had the girls set up and run the machine. Another department translated messages from German and Italian. Another department indexed the messages on 3×5 cards to be able to understand the messages better. Other girls were hired to check radio frequencies and listen for messages and transcribe what they heard. According to a chart, by the end of the war, 2,237 men and 6,758 women worked at Bletchley Park, and most of those women were under 21 years old.

This book makes all of that fascinating. I liked the short chapters with lots of photographs. Yes, it was hard to keep track of so many characters, but it did give the idea that many young women were working there, doing many different jobs. And they worked in total secrecy, unable to tell their family and friends what important war work they were doing. I was impressed that the Germans never knew that their codes had been broken, and the valuable intelligence gathered definitely helped win the war. I now very much want to visit the Bletchley Park Museum some day.

This book is written for kids ages 8 through 12, and I think older kids (and adults like me) will be intrigued by this story of ordinary young women using their talents to win a war.

candacefleming.com
scholastic.com/ScholasticFocus

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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 Lucky Duck, by Greg Pizzoli

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Lucky Duck

by Greg Pizzoli

Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 40 pages.
Review written April 30, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Lucky Duck has the feel of a classic picture with elements from the beginning that are important in the end. And it shows that luck is all in your perspective.

As the book opens, Susan Duck is complaining about her bad luck because the skates she ordered are two sizes too big.

But then a wolf comes to her door in a tuxedo proclaiming that it’s her lucky day! She’s won a big, shiny, new soup pot!

This gets Susan feeling lucky for a few hours – until her kitchen light bulb burns out. But then the wolf comes by and says she’s won lots of onions – perfect for making soup!

And so it continues. Susan Duck has a set of banal little things go wrong, making her feel unlucky. But after each one, the wolf comes by with another “prize” – which happen to be ingredients for soup.

The astute reader will figure out where this is going. But when the wolf declares himself ready for duck soup – suddenly each one of the things that went wrong works together to thwart the wolf in silly but effective ways.

And Susan Duck ends the day feeling lucky indeed.

This is the sort of picture book that makes me miss doing preschool storytimes. I can just hear the kids shouting warnings as I read it. Any kid who has this read to them is lucky indeed.

gregpizzoli.com
rhcbooks.com

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