Review of How to Write a Poem, by Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido, art by Melissa Sweet

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

How to Write a Poem

by Kwame Alexander & Deanna Nikaido
art by Melissa Sweet

Quill Tree Books, 2023. 32 pages.
Review written June 27, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book is a wonderfully illustrated poem about poetry. It is appropriately fanciful, imaginative, and full of figurative language.

The collage illustrations show kids following the instructions on one level, and imaginative flights of fancy on the other level.

Each line or pair of lines gets a spread. Some of the lines I like best include:

Close your eyes, open the window of your mind, and climb out,
like a seedling reaching for tomorrow.

Next, listen to the grass,
the flowers,
the trees — anything
that’s friends with the sun.

Another wonderful image:

And dive deep into the silent sea of your imagination

to discover a cotton candy cavalcade of sounds —
words raining everywhere.

They tell us to let the words “dance with your joy, speak to your sorrow.”

As the book goes on, the kids who started out sitting in a circle of chairs end up playing in imaginative landscapes.

I have no doubt this book can inspire a new generation of poets. I hope we get it into their hands.

kwamealexander.com
deannanikaido.com
melissasweet.net
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.

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Hooray for New Subscribers!

General 0

Great blue heron flying across a lake

Welcome New Subscribers! This post is for you!

It’s an apology for not getting many reviews posted this week, along with an explanation.

Here’s the story: I recently finished writing a book about Psalms called Praying with the Psalmists: Open Your Heart Using Patterns from Psalms in Your Prayers. It’s a complete study of all 150 Psalms, looking at ten types of Psalms, telling how my own story has been woven with Psalms, and above all encouraging readers to write their own psalms of prayer.

I thought I’d look for an agent before I look for a publisher — but have quickly learned that both agents and publishers want you to have a platform. I thought, I’ve got a website! But let’s just say, they want numbers bigger than what I have.

So — last Saturday I made a new Info page, highlighting all the different content I’ve developed since I started writing Sonderbooks in 2001. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet! I spent a good bit of time on it and am happy with how it turned out.

Then I posted about the new page on Facebook and Twitter, hoping to get new subscribers. I’m asking people to subscribe on my Sondermusings Substack or on the blogs, Sonderbooks blog, Sonderjourneys, or Sonderquotes.

So imagine my dismay when I read a comment from my friend on July 4th that the Subscribe button gives an error message!

It turns out that it didn’t work on any of my blogs. No wonder I haven’t been getting subscribers! It works for me because I subscribed the day I put in the Subscribe2 plug-in. But it won’t even send the confirmation email for new subscribers, and no one could sign up.

Well, I stayed up late Tuesday and Wednesday, trying to figure it out, with no luck at all. Wednesday night, after failing to fix the old plug-in, I tried to find a new one that would do what I wanted. I’m not after a fancy mailing list — just subscribing to my blog. I finally found that MailPoet does what I want. I installed it last night, and a few people tested it — THANK YOU! — and now I’m writing my first post to hopefully get sent.

Today I tinkered with it more. I now have two subscription options from the Subscribe page. One is get posts in your inbox as soon as they’re published. The new one I added tonight is a Weekly digest. It will send you an email once per week with the latest posts. So if you want to switch subscriptions, you should be able to do it on that page.

All this tinkering and I haven’t been able to do book posts, which is frustrating me. So I’m hoping to get a book review posted tomorrow, and on the weekend fix the subscriptions on the Sonderjourneys and Sonderquotes blogs.

And I have an awesome story about my encounter on Tuesday with the great blue heron pictured above that I’m dying to post on Sonderjourneys. So I hope that will happen this weekend, too.

Meanwhile, thank you ever so much for your interest in Sonderbooks!

Great blue heron posing in shallow water of a lake with grass behind it

Review of Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

Audiobooks, Award Winners, Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 2

Demon Copperhead

by Barbara Kingsolver
read by Charlie Thurston

HarperAudio, 2022. 21 hours, 3 minutes.
Review written June 30, 2023, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review
2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner
2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner

I’ll be honest: When I was in the middle of this long audiobook, I wasn’t enjoying it much. It tells the story of Demon Copperhead — a kid named Damon, who, like the father who died before he was born, had red hair. He was born in the very rural Lee County, Virginia, to an addict Mom, and bad things just kept happening to him, so the book was somewhat depressing. I kept listening, because it was written by Barbara Kingsolver, who is a truly amazing author.

There was abuse from a stepdad, overdose death of his mother, terrible foster home situations, and eventually getting addicted himself. The narrator had such an authentic rural Virginia accent, I was surprised when he spoke at the end of the book in the “thank you for reading this book” section without the accent.

Something the author does to make all this terrible stuff tolerable is telling the story from the perspective of an older Demon telling about his life. So we know he’s going to survive and get through these awful things. And when things take a particularly bad turn, there’s plenty of foreshadowing, with him wondering if he had done things differently in the events leading up to the disaster, if that would have helped. Or talking about how he didn’t fully appreciate it when things were good — so you know his troubles aren’t over.

When I was in the middle thinking I was tired of listening to it and that I don’t enjoy listening to a rural southern accent as much as a British one — that was when the kids in the story noticed that the media portrays to the world that rural southerners and hillbillies are stupid. Touché! As I began thinking I didn’t really like spending all that time in Demon’s life — then he naturally in the story pointed out that’s how the media wants me to think.

The book also showed the opioid crisis and how it gained full steam. (I’m going to call it Historical because it begins in the 1990s.) The drug companies actually looked for populations likely to get hooked and sent their representatives there, giving doctors kickbacks if they prescribed the addictive painkillers. Damon got hooked after a football injury — beginning by only taking exactly what was prescribed. The whole awful situation is told in a way that reminds the reader that these are people’s lives that were destroyed, not some kind of lazy subhumans who deserved their fate.

And yes, by the time I’d listened to all 21 hours of this book, I was glad I did. I ended up having a much higher view of the folks in the communities portrayed, and I was pleased and proud to have spent so much of my time with a kid who got way more than his share of tough breaks in life, but whose heart shines like gold.

barbarakingsolver.net

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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 Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson with Sarah Durand

Science, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

The Code Breaker

Jennifer Doudna and the Race to Understand Our Genetic Code

by Walter Isaacson
with Sarah Durand

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2022. Adapted from The Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson, 2021. 320 pages.
Review written January 8, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review

This is the young readers’ adaptation of the book for adults by Walter Isaacson. Honestly, I had trouble with the density of this book, so I’m glad I read the young adult version! This was much slower reading than a typical young adult novel, and was packed with details and facts.

But despite the density, this is fascinating reading. The introduction begins with a story of a woman cured of sickle-cell anemia with gene therapy. Then they talk about some other possibilities of these techniques that came from breaking the human genetic code — learning how DNA and RNA work.

The book is the story of the career of Jennifer Doudna, who ended up being a pioneer in the field of gene-editing research and technology. But her story goes much deeper than simply one woman’s accomplishments. This is a section from the introduction:

Doudna’s life offers an up-close look at how science works. Her story helps answer: What actually happens in a lab? To what extent do discoveries depend on individual genius, and how has teamwork become more critical? And has the competition for individual prizes, money, and fame stopped people from working together for the common good?

Most of all, Doudna’s story conveys the importance of basic science, meaning quests that are curiosity-driven rather than geared toward immediate, practical results. Curiosity-driven research plants the seeds — sometimes in unpredictable ways — for later discoveries. For example, a few scientists decided to research basic physics simply because it excited them, and their discoveries eventually led to the invention of the microchip. Similarly, the findings of a handful of researchers who took an interest in an astonishing method that bacteria use to fight off viruses helped generate a revolutionary gene-editing tool that humans now use in their own struggle against viruses.

Jennifer Doudna is the perfect example of that brand of curiosity. Hers is a tale filled with the biggest of questions, from the origins of the universe to the future of the human race. Yet it begins with a sixth-grade girl who loved searching for “sleeping grass” and other fascinating phenomena amid the lava rocks of Hawaii, and who came home from school one day to find on her bed a detective tale about the people who discovered what they believed to be “the secret of life.”

The story in this book is very immediate, with the entire last section talking about using CRISPR technology to detect and fight coronaviruses.

I think it’s especially apt to adapt this book for young adults, since this technology will be something they’re growing up with. The entire last half of the book raises questions about ethics and the morality of editing the genes of humans and possibly our descendants. As more and more becomes possible, it is good to bring to young people’s attention the need to think about ethical concerns.

The science in this book is fascinating, and might end up being something very much a part of young people’s lives. I can’t say that it gave me a new understanding of gene editing, because saying I understand it would be exaggerating. But it at least gave me a new appreciation.

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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 You Need to Chill, by Juno Dawson, illustrated by Laura Hughes

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

You Need to Chill

A Story of Love and Family

by Juno Dawson
illustrated by Laura Hughes

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2023. First published in the United Kingdom in 2022. 32 pages.
Review written June 27, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book is simple and delightful, and there are many adults out there who I wish would take this message to heart.

The book begins inside the front cover with a picture of a girl and her big sister arriving at school. Then the younger one enters her classroom and here’s how the text starts:

Sometimes people say to me,
“What happened to your brother Bill?

We haven’t seen him in ages.
Is he hiding?
Is he ill?”

“Is he lost in the park?
Is he scared of the dark?
Is he doing his homework still?

That’s when I look them in the eye and say,
“Hey, you need to chill.”

The questions about Bill get sillier and sillier.

“Was he eaten by a WHALE or SHARK?
Was he munched up just like krill?”

But the answer is always the same.

And after several rounds of questions, the girl answers:

“There are NO hungry whales . . .
NO little green men . . .
Your hysteria is silly.

The truth is that my brother Bill . . .

“. . . is now my sister Lily.”

But the book doesn’t leave them there. There are three spreads left in the book, showing a happy family:

“It was maybe quite a shock, at first,
but she’s really just the same.
She looks a little different
and she has a new first name.”

“She’s still clever and funny
and kind and cool.
She’s one in a mil…”

And I bet you can guess what they shout when people have a problem with that.

I like the way this book makes an important point in a light-hearted way. Someone else’s gender identity, child or adult, isn’t something that people outside their family need to worry about.

I honestly think that adults need this book more than kids do, but it’s also a fun way to give the message to any kids who need it. A lot of rhyming picture books try and fail to bring a lilt to a story, but this one pulls it off with flair, and begs to be read aloud.

junodawson.com
sourcebookskids.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 One Coin Found, by Emmy Kegler

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

One Coin Found

How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins

by Emmy Kegler

Fortress Press, 2019. 209 pages.
Review written June 4, 2023, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

What a beautiful book! I bought it years ago and meant to read it, but recently read something the author wrote in A Rhythm of Prayer, edited by Sarah Bessey, and was reminded that I’d been meaning to read it. So I took it on vacation and was thoroughly blessed by its words.

The book is the author’s life story and how she found grace and love from God even when some churches failed her.

Emmy grew up in church and felt called to be a preacher. But when she realized she was queer, that was an even bigger obstacle than being a woman. The story of how the Lord’s calling kept after her is a story that she compares to the parable of the woman who loses a coin and keeps searching until she finds it.

Also along the way, she teaches beautiful principles about interpreting Scripture which tied in well with a book I was also reading, Godbreathed, by Zack Hunt.

Here’s a beautiful passage in the introductory chapter, where she talks about the “Lost” chapter of the Bible, Luke 11, which has the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son:

What I think, my fellow second sons, is that we were told the truth. The story is for us. We are the prodigal son. But too we are lost and hungry sheep. We have gone unfed, walked without rest, been chased by wolves, and our friends and leaders did not see our pain. But God, in big and little ways, has donned a shepherd’s cloak and come running after us. God, in big and little ways, has clambered over rocks and climbed down cliffs. God has found us, hungrier and more hurt and terrified, and cradled us close to say: No matter why you left or where you went, you are mine.

We too are lost and dusty coins. We have gone unnoticed, rusted from others’ indifference, misspent and misused, and our friends and leaders did not see our neglect. But God, in big and little ways, has picked up a woman’s broom and swept every corner of creation. God, in big and little ways, has tucked up her skirts and flattened herself on the floor, dug through dust bunnies and checked every dress pocket. God has found us, dustier and rustier and without any luster, and held us up to the light to say: No matter how you rolled away or what corner you were dropped in, you are mine.

The book is more theology laced with memoir, and her writing is beautiful, and it builds to this conclusion that mirrors the beginning:

We are, beloved, the impossibilities of God. We have dared to believe the stories of Scripture. Not the verses easily slung like stones from a condemning hand, but the stories that are real, and make us real, and bring us home. We have faced near-insurmountable boundaries between us and God. We have had the treasured stories of Scripture torn from us by those too bound in fear to see the beauty of our witness. We have been pushed to the edges again and again, our voices silenced, our cries mocked. And every time, the love of God has gone out after us. God has put on callused feet and taken up a knobbly staff to crawl down crevices and call us back to pastures full of lush love, nourishing and sweet. God has taken up a broom and cleared each corner, untucked and retucked each sheet and quilt, turned over pitcher after pitcher to see where we have landed. And God has paced the flagstones of a farm porch, eyes always on the horizon, wondering and wanting, a seat still empty at the table, heaven incomplete until all the family is home.

We have been and are and will be found in such a myriad of ways, but always, always, always love is seeking us.

Dare to be found.

I highly recommend reading about Emmy Kegler’s journey, with its beautiful picture of what our faith can be.

emmykegler.com
fortresspress.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 Reader, I Murdered Him, by Betsy Cornwell, read by Elisabeth Lagelee

Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Reader, I Murdered Him

by Betsy Cornwell
read by Elisabeth Lagelee

Blackstone Publishing, 2022. 8 hours, 20 minutes.
Review written May 29, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Oh, I love this book so much!

Mind you, as a teen, I listed Jane Eyre as one of my favorite books. So romantic! But rereading it years later as an adult, I noticed some things that disturbed me about the romance. Retellings, such as the science fiction Brightly Burning or the fantasy My Plain Jane more clearly pointed out some of the problematic details.

But this one! Oh, how it turns the story on its head, but feels so right in doing so.

The viewpoint character of this book is Adele, Mr. Rochester’s ward, the daughter of a dancer and prostitute in Paris. We start with Adele’s happy life in Paris, but then her mother, who is dying of consumption, gives her over to Mr. Rochester to make her English and one day be well cared for.

At Thornfield, Adele meets Bertha, the woman locked in the attic, who sometimes roams the house at night, but learns never to speak of her. And then Jane Eyre comes to Thornfield and into both Mr. Rochester’s and Adele’s lives. She is the closest thing to a mother Adele has had in years, and takes her into her heart. And she begins writing to Mr. Rochester’s 13-year-old cousin in Jamaica to improve her English, and gains a confidant.

After Jane leaves, Adele has a bad experience at a boarding school, but after her return, Jane does the work to find an excellent one for her. There at Webster school most of this book takes place. But at a party, when Adele comes across a man molesting one of her classmates on a balcony, she becomes a murderess. But because a young man speaks up for her, the story that this is an accident takes hold.

And then, through an interesting set of circumstances, when Adele is unsettled by what she’s done and upset by the power of ruthless young men, she makes a connection with a girl of the streets, a pickpocket and thief named Nan. She asks Nan to teach her some skills, and they work together in the style of Robin Hood, giving some of the worst young men their comeuppance, fashioning herself as a protector of her friends at school. And as they are doing that, she falls in love with Nan.

And that takes you quite far into the book, so I’m going to have to stop. But let me say that I completely loved things that happened past that point in the book, how Adele’s story played out, and the further insights we got into the characters we’d met in Jane Eyre.

Yes, there are some sex scenes, and the title itself warns you about the violence. Perhaps I shouldn’t like this book as much as I do?

Here is a happily ever after indeed.

betsycornwell.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 Make Way, written by Angela Burke Kunkel, illustrated by Claire Keane

Art, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

Make Way

The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön, and Some Very Famous Ducklings

written by Angela Burke Kunkel
illustrated by Claire Keane

Random House Studio, 2023. 44 pages.
Review written June 13, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a story of the duckling statues in Boston Public Garden. But deeper than that, it’s the story of two artists — Bob McCloskey, who created the classic book Make Way for Ducklings, and Nancy Schön, who made sculptures of Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack, for the Boston Public Garden.

I love those sculptures and visit them every time I go to Boston. In the front of my family’s copy of Make Way for Ducklings, I taped a photo of my firstborn at two years old, happily posing on the back of Mrs. Mallard.

So you need to read your child Make Way for Ducklings first. But after that, after your kid knows about the story, here’s a child-friendly story of how it was created.

It talks about both artists going through hard times before their art was acknowledged in any way. It tells how Bob brought ducks home in order to draw them from life. Later, Nancy purchased a duck foot from a butcher to learn how it was put together. (Wait a second. That’s not as charming a story. But it works in this picture book.)

After the book was created, a friend’s family visited Nancy in Boston. When they visited the Public Garden, the kids asked, “Mommy, where are the ducks?” Nancy decided that would be her next sculpture project.

The pictures of her working on the ducks are wonderful. I always did think she chose the most delightful poses. And they mirror the ducks in the books so well — in three dimensions.

But she didn’t have any permission for this project before she worked on it. So we’ve got a spread showing Bob and his wife looking over her small-scale models.

My favorite page, though, is after she made a full-scale Mrs. Mallard and three ducklings. Bob thought they might be too large. So she brought them outside.

And as Bob stands, quietly observing, three children run — quack, quack, quacking — to come and pat the ducks.
Bob looks at Nancy.
And she knows she has her yes.

I love that page because I’ve seen for myself that children can’t resist those wonderful ducks.

This book owes its brilliance to the original amazing children’s book Make Way for Ducklings, but it is still brilliant. Fans of the original will love learning the story behind the story, and any family traveling to Boston should give it a read.

angelakunkel.com
claireonacloud.com
rhcbooks.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 Ride On, by Faith Erin Hicks

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Ride On

by Faith Erin Hicks
colors by Kelly Fitzpatrick

First Second, 2022. 220 pages.
Review written May 9, 2023, from a library book.

Ride On is a sweet graphic novel about making friends – and riding horses.

The book starts with a new girl at the riding stable, named Victoria. At first, she rebuffs the overtures of one of the regulars. We learn that she had a falling-out with her best friend at the other stable because Victoria decided to have a gentler summer and not focus on competing in shows. So now, she hopes to just focus on horses and not mess with human friends.

But humans have a way of getting into your heart. The book has lots of interactions with people and with horses. My heart was warmed by an adventure at the end with Victoria and her new friends.

Graphic novels are always popular with their accessible story-telling, and this one will especially appeal to horse lovers.

faitherinhicks.com
firstsecondbooks.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 Seen and Unseen, by Elizabeth Partridge and Lauren Tamaki

Award Winners, History, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

Seen and Unseen

What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration

by Elizabeth Partridge
illustrated by Lauren Tamaki

Chronicle Books, 2022. 124 pages.
Review written February 26, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review
2023 Sibert Award Winner

Seen and Unseen won the Sibert Award for the best informational book for children published in 2022. The book tells the story of the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II, especially looking at the testimony of three photographers.

Here’s the beginning of Dorothea Lange’s section:

In the San Francisco Bay area, Dorothea Lange was asked to photograph the roundup and forced relocation of all Japanese and Japanese Americans on the West Coast. Officials wanted documentary photos to show it was being carried out in a humane, orderly way.

Dorothea was horrified by the government’s plan. The prisoners would be held without charges filed against them and without the right to a trial. That was illegal in the United States. But there was a war on, and Japanese Americans’ rights were suspended.

Dorothea could have refused, but she ws eager to take the job. She wanted her photographs to show what the government was doing was unfair and undemocratic.

We see many of the pictures she took in the pages that follow, along with descriptions of what was going on. But most of the ones we see are labeled “Impounded” — they were withheld from the public during the war, to try to hide the brutal conditions of the imprisonment of American citizens.

Meanwhile, photographer Toyo Miyatake was imprisoned in the camps. He smuggled in his camera lens and took photos, giving a starker and more realistic picture of life in the camp.

Later in the war, he was asked to open an official photography studio to document special events like weddings and funerals. But in a silly and humiliating bit of red tape, they wouldn’t let him press the button on the camera and they hired a white American to do that.

The final photographer featured is Ansel Adams. He came in 1943, paid by the government, to support “loyal” Japanese Americans being resettled in other parts of America. They showed him happy faces — not necessarily the true story.

This book as a whole shows how a terrible national tragedy was presented to the public in general at the time. The book is full of illustrations as well as photographs and vividly presents what happened.

I thought this page was particularly striking, with a picture of a father talking to a little boy:

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to your mother and me,” future US Congressman Norman Mineta’s Issei father told him and his four siblings. “But just remember: All of you are US citizens and this is your home. There is nothing anyone can do to take this away from you.”

He was wrong.

elizabethpartridge.com
laurentamaki.com
chroniclekids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teen _Nonfiction/seen_and_unseen.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?