Happy 2024 everyone! This is a curious mix of stories, let’s dive right in:
Too Much: My Great Big Native Family by Laurel Goodluck (Author) Bridget George (Illustrator)
Big families are loud, and chaotic, and sometimes can feel a bit overwhelming.
However, when our young hero gets to perform in a play, everything his family means to him will come into focus.
His Native family does everything together: prancing around with enthusiasm and lots of good humor. It’s something I’ve rarely seen in a picture book, such a big, boisterous, happy family.
Of course, Russell is kind of a small kid, and he tends to disappear amidst all of the noise. When the chance to participate in the school play appears, he sees an opportunity to shine for himself, to fly solo, as it were.
However, something will happen when Russell decides to keep his big debut to himself.
I really enjoyed this book, a rare glimpse of a happy, big, loud family, that will always be with you at the end.
Too Much: My Great Big Native Family is on sale since January 23, 2024.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 40 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9781665911269
I know that there is a cold snap right now in the US, and that you might shiver even thinking about it, but this family’s relationship with a glacier is truly unique:
Angela’s Glacier by Jordan Scott (Author) Diana Sudyka (Illustrator)
You can tell by the music of the first words of this book, that the person who wrote it is a poet:
This is Angela’s glacier.
For weeks before Angela arrived,
her glacier was covered in clouds.And then…
Angela came into the world,
and the glacier bloomedPeacock, indigo, and duck egg blue
Under the milky Arctic sunlight.
As soon as she’s born, Angela’s father introduces her to her glacier. He carries her on his back up the icy expanse as the wind makes music of the snow and the water underneath.
Soon Angela will be big enough to walk with him, and then, to go alone. It is a place where she can tell the glacier everything, all of her feelings, and feel listened to.
But when life gets too busy, Angela forgets about the glacier, as we tend to forget about Nature.
Diana Sudyka makes a wonderful work of illustrating this beautiful relationship, because when you hear Nature, Nature hears you, too.
Angela’s Glacier is on sale since January 2, 2024.
Publisher: Neal Porter Books
Pages: 32 / Hardcover
ISBN 9780823450824
Up next, is a graphic novel adaptation.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library: The Graphic Novel by Chris Grabenstein (Author) Douglas Holgate (Illustrator)
This is the graphic novel adaptation of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, a book Jonathan H. Liu reviewed in 2013.
It follows the same premise, whilst depicting Mr. Lemoncello a bit like the Monopoly guy: Twelve twelve-year-olds are selected to participate in the inauguration of the library, with an essay that must be themed: “Why I’m Excited about the New Public Library”— and are invited to spend a night inside.
In there, there will be games and prizes and lots of puzzles. All are drawn in a very dynamic way.
I feel that I have to read the book first to truly assess the graphic adaptation, but at least it got me curious about the premise, one that loves information quizzes and fun.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library: The Graphic Novel is on sale since November 07, 2023
Published by Random House Graphic
Hardcover | Pages: 256
ISBN: 9780593484852
Now we make a sharp turn and start with YA novels.
Tagging Freedom by Rhonda Roumani (Author)
This novel is divided into two voices, one from 15-year-old Kareem Haddad, who is participating in what was known as the Arab Spring in Damascus, Syria. The other one is with her cousin in the US, the only Arab in school, Samira.
He is intent, despite his young age, to protest against the government and to participate in the upheaval around him, and has learned to express himself with anonymous graffiti. And he is too young to understand the consequences of his actions. In Syria, young men get killed easily on the streets, and the cops have immunity.
Meanwhile, Samira, is in her Never Have I Ever moment. A talented artist, she tries to fit in by joining the Spirit Squad, even though the lead used to bully her in Middle Grade.
When Kareem is sent to live with Sam’s family, their worlds will inevitably collide.
Soon, graffiti messages will start to appear around town, and all eyes will turn to Kareem.
Sam must make a choice: does she shy away to protect her new social status, or does she stand with her cousin?
Art, activism, youngsters who feel that they have to say something and feel powerless in front of adults, social pressure… there are a lot of interesting turning points in this novel. War affects children, and sometimes being a refugee can feel overwhelming.
Tagging Freedom is on sale since November 04, 2023.
Published: Union Square Kids
Hardcover | Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780593111550
This YA novel is about another war, this time in Sri Lanka:
I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera (Author)
Writing an entire novel in verse must be very difficult. It is riveting to read, and I think that Elizabeth Acevedo is the master of the genre. Other titles that come to mind are Other Words for Home and Inside Out and Back Again.
Kavi lives in Sri Lanka, it’s 1998 and there is a war going on. Grief-stricken by the death of her father ( a soldier who had lost a leg in the armed conflict) and angry at her mother for marrying again, Kavi has put all of her hopes onto a scholarship.
Her elite new school was supposed to be everything she ever wanted, but war has a sneaky way of thwarting every plan and dream you may have. Also, the fact that everyone seems loved and sure of themselves does nothing to ease her pain and discomfort.
Kavi will want to lie her way out of feeling misplaced and pretend to be someone else to fit in. This ruse of course cannot be kept up for long, and some of the toughest questions Kavi will face will come from within herself.
A new South Asian Voice, this is Thushanthi Ponweera’s first novel.
I Am Kavi is on sale since September 19, 2023.
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 272 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780823453658
Finally, here is another YA novel, set in Lake Michigan in 1914:
The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson (Author)
Norvia grew up in Beaver Island, where Grand-père told her many stories about their Ojibwe tribe. He sang her songs about the Crane Clan in the old language, and her grandmothers taught her how to make story quilts and maple candy.
When she must move to the city, she will have to hide her proud heritage. Norvia must pretend there is nothing Nativer about her. It is 1914, and the Industrial Revolution is in full swing.
The novel is based on Anna Rose Johnson’s family history and has received a lot of Historical Fiction and YA literature awards since it came out.
The Star That Always Stays has been on sale since July, 2022.
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 288 / Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780823450404
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