Review of Ink Knows No Borders, edited by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond

Poetry, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

Ink Knows No Borders

Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience

edited by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond
foreword by Javier Zamora
afterword by Emtithal Mahmoud

Seven Stories Press, 2019. 183 pages.
Review written May 18, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

Ink Knows No Borders is a collection sixty-four poems by skilled poets with stellar credentials – who are all immigrants or children of immigrants and many have been refugees.

Our library has this in the young adult section, but there’s no reason old adults wouldn’t enjoy these poems as well.

There’s a wide variety in the poems – in style, form, and the ethnicity of the authors. But they’re all well-crafted poems, and they’re all hard-hitting. They each succeed in shining a light on one aspect of the immigrant experience. I had considered very few of these aspects before.

I read this book slowly, a poem or two per day. They made me think – and they helped me feel empathy for those who have had to leave their homes to come to America.

Here’s a bit of what the editors say at the front of the book:

Ink Knows No Borders celebrates the lives of immigrants, refugees, exiles, and their families, who have for generations brought their creative spirits, resilience and resourcefulness, determination and hard work, to make this land a home. They have come from the Philippines, Iran, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, El Salvador, Sudan, Haiti, Syria, you name it. Enter the place of these poems, bordered only by the porousness of paper, and you’ll find the world’s people striving and thriving on American soil….

These poets know that the pen holds a secret, a secret that can only be uncovered by putting that pen to paper, in a crowded coffee shop or some solitary place, maybe in the middle of night or when the dawn won’t let you sleep, inspired, as you are, by birdsong or your own song. They know that “This story is mine to tell.” These lived stories, fire-bright and coal-hot acts of truth telling, are the poet’s birthright – and a human right.

Whether you were born in this country or another, whether you came here with the help of a “coyote,” crammed in a too-small boat, or with a visa and papers in order, whatever your skin color or first language may be, whomever you love, writing poems is a way to express your most authentic truths, the physical ache of despair, the mountaintop shout of your joy. Writing poetry will help you realize that you are stronger than you thought you were and that within your tenderness is your fortitude.

Not only does ink know no borders; neither does the heart.

patricevecchione.com
sevenstories.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teen_Nonfiction/ink_knows_no_borders.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.

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?

Review of The First Dinosaur, by Ian Lendler

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

The First Dinosaur

How Science Solved the Greatest Mystery on Earth

by Ian Lendler

Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster), 2019. 220 pages.
Review written May 29, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

The First Dinosaur told all about the discovery and study of dinosaurs – how scientists finally figured out that giant creatures like nothing they’d ever seen before even existed. I had no idea the large number of people and long sequence of discoveries it took.

The main part of the book begins in 1676 in Oxfordshire, England, when a man named Dr. Plot discovered a large fossilized bone.

Humans have been wondering over fossils for thousands of years, but the reason this book starts with this particular fossil is because of what Dr. Plot did next.

He examined it closely. He measured and described it in detail (weight, size, composition). He even illustrated it . . . and then he recorded all this information in a book.

Plot may not have understood fossils, but because of this record we are able to look back and identify what it truly was – the thighbone of a megalosaur.

Plot had created the first scientific illustration and description of a dinosaur bone.

He didn’t come up with this idea on his own. It was one of the fundamental techniques of a new method of thinking that was spreading all over Europe at the time. Its name was Science, and it was the key to unraveling the mystery of “the formed stones.”

The book continues from there, talking about how fossil collections became popular, and eventually museums. Then people began to look more closely at these fossils they discovered. But through it all, a big obstacle was the idea that creatures might have lived long ago that are not alive on earth today.

There were many colorful figures involved in the new science of geology and eventually in paleontology. I like the story of William Buckland looking after a hyena to discover that they tore apart bones exactly the way that bones in a cave were torn apart – and their poo is shaped the same way as some strange rocks in the same cave.

I was surprised how many people it took to finally realize these bones belonged to a species not identified before, and to give them the name dinosaurs — and that was as recent as 1842.

The book finishes up by showing how dinosaurs captured the popular imagination with the Crystal Palace Exhibition and giant dinosaur replicas created by Waterhouse Hawkins.

This fascinating book gives a window into how science works and how sometimes visionaries have to think beyond what they’ve been taught. It also gives credit to those who changed their minds when the evidence showed them they were wrong.

simonandschuster.com/kids

Buy from Amazon.com

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.

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 Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

Max in the House of Spies

A Tale of World War II

by Adam Gidwitz

Dutton Children’s Books, 2024. 320 pages.
Review written April 26, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a World War II book that’s a whole lot of fun – not sure if I’ve ever said that before.

Max Bretzfeld is a Jewish boy born in Berlin, and in 1939, he got sent to England for his own safety from the Nazis. He is taken in by a rich Jewish family headed by Lord Montagu. But Max wants to get back to Berlin to protect his parents. In England, Max encounters more antisemitism and bullying at the snobbish private school where Lord Montagu’s children attend.

But what keeps this from being a sad story about an oppressed kid is that Max is a genius. He is clever with radios, he knows how to plan a serious prank, and he knows how to get the attention of Lord Montagu’s brother, who works for British Intelligence. Max wants to go back to Berlin to protect his parents – why not go as a spy?

Oh, and did I mention? Max has two immortal creatures sitting on his shoulders. A dybbuk and a kobold joined Max when he left Germany. Only Max can see them and talk with them. They are less than thrilled about him going back to Germany.

The majority of this book is about Max’s training to be a spy. It’s unorthodox training for an unorthodox spy. And yes, all along the way, the adults question their choice about sending a Jewish child back to Nazi Germany.

So what we end up with is a cross between a spy novel and The Great Brain. Like I said, a whole lot of fun. And the Author’s Note at the back reveals that he took great pains to get historical details right, and inserted many actual historical people into the tale.

The first page of this book is a wonderful introduction to Max, so I’m going to copy out the whole thing here:

Once there was a boy who had two immortal creatures living on his shoulders.

This was the fourth most interesting thing about him.

The first most interesting thing about Max – that was his name – was that he was a genius. He could make a working radio from the junk at the bottom of a trash can, and he could usually predict what someone was going to say ten minutes before they said it.

The second most interesting thing about Max was that, when he was eleven years old, his parents sent him away from Germany, where he was born and grew up, to England. All by himself. Even though he’d never been there, didn’t know anyone there, and barely spoke any English.

The third most interesting thing about Max was that, when he got to England, he fell in with spies. Real, honest-to-goodness spies. A lot of them.

And the fourth most interesting thing about him was that he had two immortal creatures living on his shoulders.

The story does not end with this volume, even though it comes to a good stopping place. I’m definitely hooked and want to find out what will happen to this resourceful kid next.

adamgidwitz.com
Penguin.com/kids

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/max_in_the_house_of_spies.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 When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

When You Trap a Tiger

by Tae Keller

Random House, 2020. 297 pages.
Review written July 17, 2020, from a library book
2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor
2021 Newbery Medal Winner

As the book opens, Lily and her big sister Sam are being taken by their mother to move to the Pacific Northwest to live with their Halmoni, their Korean grandmother. Lily and Sam aren’t thrilled about this sudden move, which changes all their summer plans. As they get near Halmoni’s house, Lily sees a giant tiger in the road, a tiger that looks just like the one that appeared in the tales Halmoni used to tell. Her mother and Sam don’t even see the tiger, and nothing happens when they drive through that part.

It isn’t too long living there before Lily learns Halmoni is very sick. And it turns out the tiger is willing to make a deal with Lily, in exchange for some stories Halmoni stole long ago. But Halmoni has taught Lily never to trust a tiger.

At the same time, Lily is trying to make friends in the new community, and Sami is sometimes nice, sometimes harsh, and she’s so worried about Halmoni.

I wasn’t crazy about the way the fantasy in this book was handled, because I could find logical holes. However, it does nicely leave you wondering what’s real and what’s Lily’s imagination. The overtones from Korean mythology, along with thoughts about the importance of stories, add richness to this book.

taekeller.com
rhcbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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.

Source: This review is based on a 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 The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Current Issues, History, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein
read by a full cast

One World/Ballantine, 2021. 18 hours, 57 minutes.
Review written 2/4/24 from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I have intended to read this book since the day it came out. Putting it in my eaudiobook queue was the key to it finally happening.

And it was so much more than I expected. Instead of one continuous book of history, this is a collection that includes eighteen essays about the significance of slavery to every part of American life combined with thirty-six poems and works of fiction highlighting key moments in our history.

This audiobook is the work of multiple authors and multiple narrators, all coming together in one epic tale.

Because of the multiple authors, the book turned out to be a little repetitive, but I learned a lot as I listened, and repetition probably helped me to retain what I heard. 1619 is the date that the first slave ship came to Virginia. This book talks about how slavery shaped our nation from the beginning, and continues to affect us from Reconstruction to the present. The essays, stories and poems help the reader understand that’s not at all a far-fetched claim.

I can see why white supremacists would want to erase this work of history with its conclusions. My own eyes were opened to historical events I was never taught about in school.

You don’t have to agree with everything you’ll find here, but surely this powerful voice should be heard. Surely this side of our joint history, too, should be illuminated. This book isn’t about silencing white voices. But it is about acknowledging the impact of Black people who were brought to our shores against their will and became uniquely American.

1619 Project Website

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/1619_project.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?

Sonderling Sunday – Jinx und der magische Urwald!

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translations of children’s books.

I let Sonderling Sunday lapse for a long time, but now I’m reviving it in eager anticipation of my 60th birthday trip in a month and a half, when after 18 years away, I’m going to go back and visit the place where I lived for ten years.

So, yes, Sonderling Sunday! Today I pulled out a kids’ fantasy book that I loved when I read it, Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, called Jinx und der magische Urwald in German. I’m appalled to discover that while I have used Jinx before for Sonderling Sunday, the last time was in 2015. Far, far too long!

So we will begin where we left off, the third chapter “Strange Feet,” on page 25 in English, Drittes Kapitel “Fremdes Füße,” Seite 31 auf Deutsch.

The first sentence is:
“Winter settled in to stay.”
= Der Winter richtete sich zum Bleiben ein.

“Simon was away a lot.”
= Simon war viel unterwegs.

“he often came back in a foul mood”
= Oft kehrte er übellaunig zurück

“terrifying” = Furchterregendes

“gradually” = allmählich

“cooking mood” = Kochlaune

“cranky” = mürrisch

“fed them” = bewirtete sie

“south wing” = Südflügel

“clearing” = Lichtung

“Try as he might” = Sosehr Jinx es auch versuchte

“inside and out” = drinnen wie draußen

“slid off” = hinuntergerutscht

“on purpose” = mit Absicht

“gnarly feet” = schwielige Füße (Google translate: “calloused feet”)

“had nothing in common with tree roots” = nichts mit Baumwurzeln gemein hatten

“time ran together in a blur”
= Zeit verschwamm zu einem großen Ganzen
(“Time blurred to one big whole”)

“icky” = klebriges (“sticky”)

“Alarmed, he gave a loud snore”
= Erschrocken schnarchte er laut auf

“bristles” = Borstiges

I like this word:
cat-repellant spell = Katzenabwehrzauber

“my business” = meine Angelegenheit

“testily” = gereizt

“shooting star” = Sternschnuppe

“She had a formidable nose.”
= Ihre Nase war beeindruckend.
(“Her nose was impressive.”)

“something more polite” = etwas Höflicheres

“And wives were kind of hard to miss.”
= Ehefrauen waren kaum zu übersehen.

“was already becoming fuzzy in his memory”
= in seiner Erinnerung immer verschwommener wurde

“Everyone was afraid all the time on general principle”
= Alle hatten grundsätzlich immer Angst
(“Everyone was basically always afraid.”)

“to hide his confusion” = seine Verwirrung zu verbergen

“poker” = Schürhaken

“smooshed” = zerquetschte

“midnight meeting” = Mitternachtstreffen

“sizzle” = knisterte

“Were they all dead before you met my husband?”
= Waren sie alle schon tot, bevor du meinen Mann kennengelernt hast?

And that’s it for Chapter Three! I hope by the next time I come back to Jinx I won’t be saying Zeit verschwamm zu einem großen Ganzen!

Review of Where Lily Isn’t, by Julie Paschkis, illustrations by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Where Lily Isn’t

by Julie Paschkis
illustrations by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Godwin Books (Henry Holt and Company), 2020. 32 pages.
Review written March 5, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

Here’s a simple but beautiful book about loss. I wouldn’t use it for storytime. But I think it would be appreciated if you read it with a child who’d lost a pet. It leaves room for sadness, but has a message of hope that transcends being trite because the weight of this beautiful book is behind it.

Lily was a loving, happy dog. Here’s how the book begins:

Lily ran

and jumped and barked and whimpered and growled and wiggled and wagged

and licked and snuggled.

But not now.

And then the book catalogs all the places where Lily isn’t now, places like “beside my chair, waiting for some food to fall” or “waiting just inside the door.” At the park now, the bushes are unsniffed. And when the letter carrier puts letters through the slot, they just fall to the floor, with no barks.

The book ends with the sentiment that Lily will always be in the girl’s heart, and shows her drawing many pictures of Lily in places we’ve already discussed.

This book wouldn’t have to be as nice as it is. But the pictures go beautifully with the words, and thinking about all the ways Lily interacted with her owner as she went through her day makes the reader feel the loss, too.

juliepaschkis.com
chodos-irvine.com
mackids.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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.

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 The Reappearance of Rachel Price, by Holly Jackson

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Reappearance of Rachel Price

by Holly Jackson
read by Sophie Amoss

Listening Library, 2024. 16 hours, 34 minutes.
Review written April 22, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price is by the author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, so I knew to expect a thriller where you couldn’t count on police to do the right thing and there’s going to be scary danger by the end.

The book begins with Bel Price being interviewed for a documentary about her 16-years-missing mother, Rachel Price. In the context of the documentary, we learn that Rachel Price disappeared twice, first in a mall when she vanished from the cameras with Bel (who was then two years old), and second from a car off the side of a road, where baby Bel was found in the back seat, with the door closed and the heater running, but Rachel completely gone.

Bel’s father Charlie went on trial for Rachel’s murder, but he had an alibi and was acquitted. Now Bel relies on him as the only person who will never leave her.

But then, as they’re filming a reenactment of the event, Rachel Price returns. She says she’s been held in a basement all that time and the guy finally let her go.

But things aren’t as Bel dreamed they would be when her mother came back. And her mother doesn’t tell her story the same way each time. What if Rachel Price is lying? But why would she lie? And what actually happened to her? And why won’t she leave Bel alone so she can get back to her normal life?

To me, this book dragged a bit in the middle. I wasn’t completely tracking with Bel’s suspicions. I was also taken out of the story by the time they played a video of two-year-old Bel, because she was babbling like a not-quite-one-year-old, only able to say “Mama,” which isn’t consistent with a two-year-old at all.

However, as usual with a Holly Jackson book, by the time we started finding out what actually happened, it didn’t drag a bit. In fact, I turned on the audiobook as I was working on a jigsaw puzzle and when the audiobook finished, it was fully two hours later than I’d thought it was.

Holly Jackson doesn’t go for realism, but she does go for pulled from outrageous headlines, and she did surprise but satisfy me with the outcome of this twisty thriller.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/reappearance_of_rachel_price.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 Cast Away, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

Cast Away

Poems for Our Time

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 159 pages.
Starred Review
Review written March 6, 2020, from a library book

This is a book of poems about trash. And I was surprised, but it made me want to write poems about trash, too. In fact, I will never look at things thrown by the side of the road the same way.

In the Introduction, Naomi Shihab Nye writes about her compulsion to pick up trash. She makes a habit of going out and cleaning up her spaces. And other spaces in her neighborhood. And even spaces where she visits.

And then she writes poems about it. Here are a few short ones.

Two

Two white buttons
not matching
in hot white gravel
dreaming of
shirts

Junk Mail

The great poet
William Stanley Merwin
known as W. S.
wrote first drafts of his poems
on junk mail envelopes
plucked from the garbage
so he never had to worry
about wasting paper
or being perfect

Most of the poems are longer than these. And most either make you smile or make you think.

I enjoyed this book, reading several poems per day. I will not look at things thrown out the same way again. I’m even thinking maybe it’s time to pick up some of the detritus on the edges of my local lake.

My favorite part of the book, though, is at the back, called “Ideas for Writing, Recycling, Reclaiming.” After reading all the poems about things thrown away, I was ready for ideas about getting out and cleaning up – and then writing about it. Here’s the second idea listed, after the first idea of ways to equip yourself to get out and pick up trash:

Write about what you find. You learn a lot about human nature while doing this. Why do people throw certain things away? What do these leavings tell you about your neighbors? Imagine the litterer. Create a character study from everything you find on one day, as if it all came from one person. Or write a story including 5-10 of the items you find.

Further ideas involve ways of including other people as well as further writing prompts. I also like this one: “Write a letter to a particular piece of trash.”

The final paragraph of this section is something she’s shown to be true with the entire book:

It’s never too late to make things better. Understanding them more might help.

harpercollinschildrens.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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.

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 Animal Albums from A to Z, by Cece Bell

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

Animal Albums

from A to Z

by Cece Bell

Walker Books, 2024. 72 pages.
Review written April 23, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is seriously the silliest serious silly children’s book I have seen in a long long time.

And oh my goodness — that’s what I thought before I found the QR code leading to the YouTube channel featuring performances of all the songs. (Oh wait. It looks like only four of the songs are up when I’m writing this. But I hope more will come.)

The book is played completely straight. We’ve got an intro at the front that the author is sharing her obsession with us. That page is just too good – so let me share how it begins:

I love finding and acquiring old albums, especially those created by animal musicians. The “animal albums” in my treasured collection reflect the visionary work of several small human-run recording studios whose mission was to elevate and promote musical talents of all kinds. From the 1940s to the 1980s, these albums proved somewhat popular and profitable, with the animal musicians themselves experiencing varying degrees of success.

However, my research reveals that these albums were never easy for the studios to produce. The communication difficulties between humans and animals during the recording sessions were a constant challenge; the volatile disagreements regarding proper toileting procedures could not have helped, either. By the early 1980s these difficulties, coupled with a waning interest from audiences, both human and animal, signaled the beginning of the end of an extraordinary time in the history of music.

In this book, Cece Bell shares 26 gems from her supposed collection, including beautiful album cover art, with the lyrics to one of the songs printed out on the facing page. I couldn’t resist sharing this book with my coworkers, and more knowledgeable than me about album cover art, they’re pretty sure most of them reference classic albums.

Some of the albums are “Blame It on the Baloney” from the Barbershop Beagles, “A Little Lounge Music” from Leo Lionel, and Tubby Tapir’s “Let’s Twist Tomorrow and Tuesday Too.” The lyrics are completely silly in their seriousness. Here’s a bit from The One and Only Olga the Ostrich of Opera singing “The Oysters Are a Little Off”:

The oysters are a little off my love
There’s mold upon the bread
Let’s postpone the party
Let’s watch TV instead

The oysters are a little off my love
The house, a total mess
Our party days are numbered
Don’t cry, I must confess

It is I who left the oysters out
It is I who let them rot
A party wasn’t in the cards
My dear, it just was not

Or from Ivanna the Iguana, “I Am an Inspiration to Me”:

You might think
You’re as lovely as me
But we both know that’s simply a lie —
My skin is the best
My hair’s even better
The pink of my lips makes me sigh!

REFRAIN
I’m an inspiration to me, to me
I’m an inspiration to me!
I do everything perfectly —
I’m an inspiration to me.

As if all this weren’t enough, at the back there are bios of all 26 performing groups. My favorites are N and Y:

Nose flautist Natalia Numbat is beloved worldwide for mystical soundscapes that evoke the tinkling of mountain streams and the flushing of porcelain toilets. Numbat got her start touring with her siblings, the Numbat Nine. She left the group in 1982, stating, “My siblings couldn’t appreciate the subtle nuances that my nose fluting brought to the music.” Her song “Next November (I’ll Be Normal)” addresses that familial fissure.

Despite having no musical talent, siblings Yvette and Yohan Yak were pressured by their mother, Yolanda, to perform a yodeling act throughout the Carolinas in the early 1970s. Neither sibling was able to play the alphorn that Yolanda had ordered from a Sears catalog; what you hear on Yodelay-Yoo-Hoo was lifted (illegally) from Heilwig Schweizer’s instructional recording “The Alphorn and You.”

My first reaction was not being sure who this is for. Will kids get any of the references? But then I reflected that I have a stunted musical education and don’t get any of the references (just know enough to be pretty sure there are lots of references) — and I’m completely delighted with the cleverness and ingenuity and just plain silliness. And all that before I found the YouTube channel. I’m sure there are kids out there who will be delighted, too.

The fact that this book exists makes the world a better, and sillier, place.

YouTube channel
walkerbooksus.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/animal_albums.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?