Children's Book Week

 

 

Children’s Book Week is the twice annual celebration of children’s books and reading. Established in 1919 by the Children's Book Council, it is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country, now celebrating its 102nd anniversary with over 2,000 participating schools, libraries and bookstores in all 50 states.  

The Kids’ Book Choice Awards are the only national book awards voted on solely by kids and teens. Launched in 2008 by the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader, the awards provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them. The 2021 program relaunch included a new name, logo, and categories with finalists selected through nationwide long-list voting.

The Kids’ Book Choice Awards tagline, No Adults Allowed!, lets young readers know that these awards are 100% for them to voice their choice. Below are the 2021 winners.

Best Book of the Year: K - 2nd Grade

We Are Water Protectors, by Carole Lindstrom illustrated by Michaela Goade
   Water is the first medicine.
    It affects and connects us all.
    Water is sacred.
    My people talk of a black snake that will destroy the land,
    Spoil the water, wreck everything in its path.
    They foretold that it wouldn’t come for many, many years.
    Now the black snake is here.
   Told from the perspective of a Native American child, this bold and lyrical picture book written by Ojibwe/Métis author Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade is a powerful call to action to defend Earth’s natural resources—inspired by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and similar movements led by Indigenous tribes all across North America. 

Best Book of the Year: 3rd - 4th Grade

Ways to Make Sunshine, by Renée Watson illustrated by Nina Mata
   Ryan Hart loves to spend time with her friends, loves to invent recipes, and has a lot on her mind—school, self-image, and family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means changes like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. Because Ryan is all about trying to see the best. Even when things aren’t all she would wish for—her brother is infuriating, her parents don’t understand, when her recipes don’t turn out right, and when the unexpected occurs—she can find a way forward, with wit and plenty of sunshine.  

Best Book of the Year: 5th - 6th Grade

Efrén Divided, by Ernesto Cisneros
   Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Superwoman—or Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and Mía feel safe and loved.
   But Efrén worries about his parents; although he’s American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, Mexico.
   Now more than ever, Efrén must channel his inner Soperboy to help take care of and try to reunite his family. 

Best Graphic Novel

When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and Iman Geddy

   Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future . . . but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day. 

Favorite Author

Dav Pilkey, author of Cat Kid Comic Club (Scholastic)
   A new graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey, the author and illustrator of the internationally bestselling Dog Man and Captain Underpants series.
   Naomi, Melvin, Pedro, and Poppy are just a few of the twenty-one rambunctious, funny, and talented baby frogs who share their stories in the Cat Kid Comic Club. Can Li'l Petey, Molly, and Flippy help the students express themselves through comics? The adventures in class and on paper unwind with mishaps and hilarity as the creative baby frogs experience the mistakes and progress that come with practice and persistence. 

Favorite True Story

This Is Your Time, by Ruby Bridges
   Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges—who, at the age of six, was the first black child to integrate into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans—inspires readers and calls for action in this moving letter.
    Written as a letter from civil rights activist and icon Ruby Bridges to the reader, This Is Your Time is both a recounting of Ruby’s experience as a child who had to be escorted to class by federal marshals when she was chosen to be one of the first black students to integrate into New Orleans’ all-white public school system and an appeal to generations to come to effect change.

Best Book of the Year: Teen

Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning ‘Stamped from the Beginning’, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
   This is NOT a history book.
   This is a book about the here and now.
   A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
   A book about race.
   The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited. 

Children's books are to be celebrated for both their stories and illustrations.  Children need to grow up surrounded by books in schools, homes and public libraries.  The Kids Choice Book Awards are unique, but this current list gives me hope.  The diversity of authors, and subjects prove that children what to identify themselves in the books they see and read.  Legislators and some parents are starting to ban books from school libraries and curriculum. Two of these books, chosen by kids as favorites, have been challenged in the past year---This is Your Time, Ruby Bridges and Stamped.  One author/illustrator has been continually challenged for his three popular series---Captain Underpants, Dog-Man, and Cat-Kid.

The 2022 Kids Choice Books will be announced in November, which will give you time to read these 2021 titles.  Take you favorite child to the library and have a fun afternoon reading and discovering the wonderful world of children's literature.

April Reading Highlights

 Air travel and plenty of cold Spring weather that gave me time to read this month.  Here are some of my favorites:  

The Lifeguards: A Novel by Amanda Eyre Ward
   Austin’s Zilker Park neighborhood is a wonderland of greenbelt trails, live music, and moms who drink a few too many margaritas. Whitney, Annette, and Liza have grown thick as thieves as they have raised their children together for fifteen years, believing that they can shelter their children from an increasingly dangerous world. Their friendship is unbreakable—as safe as the neighborhood where they've raised their sweet little boys.
   Or so they think.
   One night, the three women have been enjoying happy hour when their boys, lifeguards for the summer, come back on bicycles from a late-night dip in their favorite swimming hole. The boys share a secret—news that will shatter the perfect world their mothers have so painstakingly created.
   Combining three mothers’ points of view in a powerful narrative tale with commentary from entertaining neighborhood listservs, secret text messages, and police reports, The Lifeguards is both a story about the secrets we tell to protect the ones we love and a riveting novel filled with half-truths and betrayals, fierce love and complicated friendships, and the loss of innocence on one hot summer night.

Two historical set in the 60's:

Sister Stardust: A Novel by Jane Green
   Claire grew up in a small town, far from the glitz and glamour of London. Ridiculed by her stepmother, and harboring a painful crush on her brother's best friend, she has begun to outgrow the life laid out before her. Claire yearns for the adventure and independence of a counter-culture taking root across the world.
   One day a chance encounter leads to an unexpected opportunity--- a journey to a palace in Morocco. A getaway where famous artists, models, fashion designers and musicians--even the Rolling Stones--have been known to visit.
   When Claire arrives in Marrakesh, she's swept up in a heady world of music, drugs and communal living. But one magnetic young woman seems to hold sway over the entire scene. Talitha Getty, socialite wife of the famous oil heir, has pulled everyone from Yves Saint Laurent to Marianne Faithfull into her orbit. Yet when she meets Claire, the pair instantly connect. As they grow closer, and the inner circle tightens, the realities of Talitha's precarious life set off a chain of dangerous events that could alter Claire's life forever.
  Here is the 60’s era of sex, drugs and rock and roll! The author crafts the story of Claire as she is swept into the world of the rich and famous. When I began to doubt some of the experiences, my internet search confirmed people and places, so I allowed the tale to take me into Claire’s life!  

The Dolphin House by Audrey Schulman

   Based on the true story of the 1965 “dolphin house” experiment, this spellbinding novel captures the tenor of the social experiments of the 1960s
   It is 1965, and Cora, a young, hearing impaired woman, buys a one-way ticket to the island of St. Thomas, where she discovers four dolphins held in captivity as part of an experiment led by the obsessive Dr. Blum. Drawn by a strong connection to the dolphins, Cora falls in with the scientists and discovers her need to protect the animals.
   Recognizing Cora’s knack for communication, Blum uses her for what will turn into one of the most fascinating experiments in modern science: an attempt to teach the dolphins human language by creating a home in which she and a dolphin can live together.
   As the experiment progresses, Cora forges a remarkable bond with the creatures, until her hard-won knowledge clashes with the male-dominated world of science. As a terrible scandal threatens to engulf the experiment, Cora’s fight to save the dolphins becomes a battle to save herself.
   Timothy Leary appears in this novel of the 60’s also! A fascinating tale of animal communication, with end notes telling of the real Cora.   

The Sacred Bridge: A Novel by Anne Hillerman
   Sergeant Jim Chee’s vacation to beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He’s on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier.
   Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk.
   Back in Shiprock, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.
   But the evil that is unleashed jeopardizes her mother and sister Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career.
   Anne Hillerman successfully continues the Chee, Leaphorn tales made famous by her father.  

Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott
   A lifelong worrier, Philpott always kept an eye out for danger, a habit that only intensified when she became a parent. But she looked on the bright side, too, believing that as long as she cared enough, she could keep her loved ones safe.
   Then, in the dark of one quiet, pre-dawn morning, she woke abruptly to a terrible sound—and found her teenage son unconscious on the floor. In the aftermath of a crisis that darkened her signature sunny spirit, she wondered: If this happened, what else could happen? And how do any of us keep going when we can’t know for sure what’s coming next?
   Philpott’s distinctive voice explores our protective instincts, the ways we continue to grow up long after we’re grown, and the limits—both tragic and hilarious—of the human body and mind. Leave it to the writer to illuminate what it means to move through life with a soul made of equal parts anxiety and optimism (and while she’s at it, to ponder the mysteries of backyard turtles and the challenges of spatchcocking a turkey). 

How Free Speech Saved Democracy: The Untold History of How the First Amendment Became an Essential Tool for Securing Liberty and Social Justice by Christopher M. Finan
   How Free Speech Saved Democracy is a reminder that First Amendment rights have often been curtailed in efforts to block progress, and that current measures to reduce hurtful language and to end hate speech could backfire on those who promote them.
   To those who see free speech as a threat to democracy, Finan offers engaging evidence from a long and sometimes challenging history of free speech in America to show how free speech has been essential to expanding democracy.
   From the beginning of American history, free speech has been used to advocate for change. In the 19th century, abolitionists, advocates for women’s rights, and leaders of the labor movement had to fight for free speech. In the 20th century, the civil rights and anti-war movements expanded free speech, creating a shield for every protest movement we see today.
   I worked with Chris Finan during my days on the board of the American Booksellers Association, the final chapter of the book captures my life as a bookseller. Those days were the backbone that still have me fighting book banning and supporting The First Amendment.

 

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Celebrate and Honor Mother Earth

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.  Many books remind us how to protect our surroundings.  Here is a selection of old and new titles to remind you what you can do to protect the  environment: 

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
   I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
   Dr. Seuss’s beloved story teaches kids to treat the planet with kindness and stand up and speak up for others. Experience the beauty of the Truffula Trees and the danger of taking our earth for granted in a story that is timely, playful, and hopeful. The book’s final pages teach us that just one small seed, or one small child, can make a difference.
  Printed on recycled paper, this book is the perfect gift for Earth Day and for any child—or child at heart—who is interested in recycling, advocacy, and the environment, or just loves nature and playing outside.
   Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.  

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf
   Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was the most famous scientist of his age, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. In North America, Humboldt’s name still graces towns, counties, parks, bays, lakes, mountains, and a river. And yet the man has been all but forgotten.
   In this biography, Andrea Wulf brings Humboldt’s extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and many others., The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt’s ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism—and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever.  

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
   As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.
   Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.  

The Outdoor Scientist: The Wonder of Observing the Natural World bynTemple Grandin, Ph.D.
   What are the aerodynamics of skipping stones or the physics of making sandcastles? Do birds use GPS to navigate their migratory routes?
   In this book, Dr. Temple Grandin, an inventor and world-renowned scientist, introduces readers to geologists, astrophysicists, oceanographers, and many other scientists who unlock the wonders of the natural world. She shares her childhood experiences and observations, whether on the beach, in the woods, working with horses, or gazing up at the night sky. This book explores all areas of nature and gives readers the tools to discover even more on their own.
   With forty projects to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around them, this is a perfect read for budding scientists, inventors, and creators!  

Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck
   On an autumn morning in 1849, Henry David Thoreau stepped out his front door to walk the beaches of Cape Cod. Over a century and a half later, Ben Shattuck does the same. With little more than a loaf of bread, brick of cheese, and a notebook, Shattuck sets out to retrace Thoreau’s path through the Cape’s outer beaches, from the elbow to Provincetown’s fingertip.
   This is the first of six journeys taken by Shattuck, each one inspired by a walk once taken by Henry David Thoreau. After the Cape, Shattuck goes up Mount Katahdin and Mount Wachusett, down the coastline of his hometown, and then through the Allagash. Along the way, Shattuck encounters unexpected characters, landscapes, and stories, seeing for himself the restorative effects that walking can have on a dampened spirit. Over years of following Thoreau, Shattuck finds himself uncovering new insights about family, love, friendship, and fatherhood, and understanding more deeply the lessons walking can offer through life’s changing seasons.   

A Trillion Trees: Restoring Our Forests by Trusting in Nature by Fred Pearce
   In A Trillion Trees, veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce takes readers on a whirlwind journey through some of the most spectacular forests around the world. Along the way, he charts the extraordinary pace of forest destruction, and explores why some are beginning to recover.
   Pearce transports readers to the remote cloud forests of Ecuador, the remains of a forest civilization in Nigeria, a mystifying mountain peak in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and the boreal forests of western Canada and the United States, where devastating wildfires are linked to suppressing the natural fire cycles of forests and the maintenance practices of Indigenous peoples.
   Throughout the book, Pearce interviews the people who traditionally live in forests. He speaks to Indigenous peoples in western Canada and the United States who are fighting to control their traditional forested lands and manage them according to their traditional practices. He visits and speaks with Nepalese hill dwellers, Kenyan farmers, and West African sawyers who show him that forests are as much human landscapes as they are natural paradises. The lives of humans are now imprinted in forest ecology.
   At the heart of Pearce’s investigation is a provocative argument: planting more trees isn’t the answer to declining forests. If given room and left to their own devices, forests and the people who live in them will fight back to restore their own domain. 

 HIKE.  OBSERVE.   PROTECT.

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Celebrate Poetry!

 A few weeks ago, while I was in my local bookstore (Fact & Fiction), I saw a display of poetry books in the children's section.  It was a lovely collection of books to introduce and celebrate poetry for people of all ages. Here are the titles: 

A Child's Introduction to Poetry (Revised and Updated): Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry By Michael Driscoll, Meredith Hamilton
   Poetry can be fun -- especially when we can read it, hear it, and discover its many delights. A Child's Introduction to Poetry ntroduces kids (and parents) to the greatest poets in history -- from Homer and Shakespeare to Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou -- and provides excellent examples of their work and commentary on what makes it so special and everlasting. The book covers every style of poem, from epics and odes, to nonsense verse and haikus, and is filled with examples of each one.
   This multimedia package encourages children to listen, read, and learn, and opens the door to a lifetime of appreciation of a rich literary tradition. Also included is a removable, fold-out poster of "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, and access to downloadable audio, allowing kids to listen and learn as they experience the magic of the spoken word.  

Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Ehsan Abdollahi
   Seven-year-old Jace and his puppy, Thinker, are poets, putting everything they do into verse, from going to the park to philosophizing to playing ball. One day, they'll have the whole world figured out, but for now, Thinker has to keep quiet in public. And he can't go to school with Jace for fear he might recite a poem in front of Jace's classmates. But when Pets' Day comes, and Thinker is allowed into the classroom at last, he finds it harder than he expected to keep his rhyming skills a secret.  

 

Explosion at the Poem Factory by Kyle Lukoff,  illustrated by Mark Hoffmann
   Kilmer Watts makes his living teaching piano lessons, but when automatic pianos arrive in town, he realizes he’s out of a job. He spots a “Help Wanted” sign at the poem factory and decides to investigate — he’s always been curious about how poems are made.
   The foreman explains that machines and assembly lines are used for poetry these days. So Kilmer learns how to operate the “meter meter” and empty the “cliché bins.” He assembles a poem by picking out a rhyme scheme, sprinkling in some similes and adding alliteration.
   But one day the machines malfunction, and there is a dramatic explosion at the poem factory. How will poetry ever survive?   

My First Book of Haiku Poems: a Picture, a Poem and a Dream; Classic Poems by Japanese Haiku Masters (Bilingual English and Japanese text) by Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, Tracy Gallup
   My First Book of Haiku Poems introduces children to this ancient poetry form that's still a favorite among teachers, parents and    children. These concise poems are easy for readers of all ages to understand and appreciate.
   Each of these 20 classic poems by Issa, Shiki, Basho, and other great haiku masters is paired with a stunning original painting by award-winning illustrator Tracy Gallup--which children will want to dive into and adults will want to frame.
   A fully bilingual children's book, My First Book of Haiku Poems includes the original versions of the Japanese poems (in Japanese script and Romanized form) on each page alongside the English translation to form a complete cultural experience.   

No More Poems!: A Book in Verse That Just Gets Worse by Rhett Miller, Dan Santat
   In the tradition of Shel Silverstein, these poems bring a fresh new twist to the classic dilemmas of childhood as well as a perceptive eye to the foibles of modern family life. Full of clever wordplay and bright visual gags--and toilet humor to spare--these twenty-three rhyming poems make for an ideal read-aloud experience.
   Taking on the subjects of a bullying baseball coach and annoying little brothers with equally sly humor, renowned lyricist Rhett Miller's clever verses will have the whole family cackling.    

What Is Poetry?: The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Jill Calder
   For thousands of years, people have been writing poetry. But what is poetry? Award-winning wordsmith Michael Rosen has spent decades thinking about that question, and in this helpful guide he shares his insights with humor, knowledge, and appreciation — appreciation for poetry and appreciation for twenty-first-century children embarking on their own poetic journeys. Young readers are invited to join him on a welcoming exploration of the British poetic canon, replete with personal insights into what the renowned poet thinks about as he writes and advice on writing their own poetry. When he’s finished, readers will be able to say with confidence: this is poetry. Included in this accessible handbook are writing tips, analyses of classic poems, and an appendix of poets and useful websites.

THINK SPRING.  READ POETRY. 

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