Elem. – Stickler Loves the World

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Smith, Lane. Stickler Loves the World. Random House Studio, 2023. 978-0-593-64983-1. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades PreK-2.

A strange yet winsome creature lives in the forest with many woodland animals. True to its name, Stickler is covered with sticks and enjoys collecting them to share with his friend Crow. With its multiple changing eyes, Stickler loves looking at everything in its world like “fluffy clouds…mushy moss…craggy stone [and a] slimy frog..” Yet the creature ponders what it would be like to see all these marvels with new eyes, so that it would all be fresh again. A short time later, Stickler meets a stranger in the forest, one who appears to have only three eyes and wearing a space helmet. Convinced that this being is not from Earth, Stickler takes it on a sensory tour of the area and describes such incredible things like the colorful and fragrant flowers, the warmth of the sun and the gusts of wind. In awe of everything, Stickler reflects that many wonders are passed by without being noticed. The stranger’s helmet, which is actually a can, pops off to reveal Crow, who is thankful to his friend for opening his eyes to an amazing world. Smith’s charming and engaging illustrations were created with mixed media. With sticks for hair, a big nose, and large ears, Stickler is an endearing character who encourages young readers to get out and really notice the world around them.

THOUGHTS: This enchanting picture book should be in every elementary collection. Children will enjoy listening to the story and will delight in knowing the identity of the helmeted visitor before the title character. Highly recommended and a Caldecott contender.

Picture Book

Elem. – Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll.

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Barlow, Charnelle Pinkney. Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll. Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-0-593-57106-4. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades PreK-2.

Born in Arkansas in 1915, Rosetta Tharpe grew up surrounded by music. Her mother, a preacher, sang and played the mandolin and piano at home and at church. Her small rural town held weekly concerts where the young African-American girl enjoyed “clappin’ and twirlin’, dancin’ and singin’ “ to the rhythm of the music. When she was four, her mother gave her an acoustic guitar. Little Rosetta began to practice day and night by mimicking the sounds she heard around her, such as the “whirrrr” of a sewing machine, the clank of pots and pans and the “rummmmm” of a vacuum. She carried the guitar everywhere, and soon the efforts of all her hard work began to show. Rosetta was making music and people in town began tapping, humming, and snapping to the rhythm that her fast fingering made on the guitar. Within two years, she was a skilled acoustic guitarist. Sister Tharpe, as she later was known, began traveling around the world playing her unique style of music – a little bit Gospel, a little bit Jazz, and a little bit of Blues. She made the guitar “talk” by her incomparable style of fingerpicking. Her hit called “Rock Me” influenced other musicians like Elvis Presley and Rosetta became known as the “Godmother of Rock and Roll.” The author’s note gives more details of the guitarist’s life and includes a photo. Barlow has created striking colorful images using painted paper collage and adding pieces of cotton string for the guitar.

THOUGHTS: This gem of a book shines the light on a musical artist who has not always received the recognition she deserves. Her perseverance and passion for music may inspire budding young musicians, who would enjoy watching a portion of her “Didn’t It Rain” live performance from 1964. Pair this picture book with Troy Andrews’s Trombone Shorty for a truly musical storytime. Highly recommended.

Picture Book Biography
787.87166 Guitars, 921

MG – The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Marsh, Katherine. The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine. Roaring Brook Press, 2023. 978-1-250-31360-7. 368 p. Grades 6-8.

Flipping between the days of the pandemic in 2020 and the Holodomor in the Ukraine in 1933, this eye-opening historical fiction work tells the story of Matthew, a young man barely tolerating the conditions brought on by COVID days and three cousins from the Ukraine. Matthew’s mother has moved GG, Matthew’s 100-year-old great-grandmother, to their home to protect her health. As a diversion from video games, she encourages her son to help GG sort through the many boxes from storage that GG brings with her. At first reluctantly, then gradually eagerly, Matthew gets to know his immigrant grandmother in a new way, learn about this atrocity that was suppressed in even prestigious newspapers like the New York Times, and form a tighter bond with his journalist father who is seconded to Paris for his work. In each compelling chapter, the reader uncovers the struggles, beliefs, and failures of the girls: Helen, the cousin who lives in a cramped apartment in Brooklyn and is trying to shed light on the Ukrainian famine; Mila, the spoiled daughter of a staunch Stalinist who has grown up believing the doctrine of the Communist Party; and Nadiya, the poor peasant whose family resists the collective farms and suffers terrible consequences. Author Katherine Marsh, whether deliberately or inadvertently, draws similarities between the disinformation prevalent during COVID in contemporary times and the near silence on the Ukrainians’ years of starvation in the early thirties. With the current war in the Ukraine continuing, the reader cannot help but feel sympathetic toward this country that has endured so much.

THOUGHTS: Students having Ukrainian or Russian ancestry will gain the most from this book, but everyone who reads it will know of the Holodomor. (I asked a student whose family came from the Ukraine if she knew about the Holodomor and she immediately said yes, though I just learned about it from this book.) It provokes discussion of perpetuating true information and encourages a stronger discernment of governments and the news they pass on. This title is a springboard for preserving family stories. Matthew’s search for information is contagious, and the action keeps building, but more prolific readers may predict the plot twist before it happens.

Historical Fiction

YA – Chain of Thorns

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Clare, Cassandra. Chain of Thorns. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2023. 978-1-481-43193-4. $24.99. 800 p. Grades 9-12.

Chain of Thorns, the final book in The Last Hours series, concludes the story of James Herondale and Cordelia Carstairs who found themselves engaged to one another to avoid ruining Cordelia’s reputation. After witnessing an intimate moment between James and Grace Blackthorn, Cordelia escapes to Paris with Matthew Fairchild. Although James runs after them, he instead accompanies his father and Magnus Bane to find his sister, Lucy. Meanwhile, The Merry Thieves and the rest of the Shadowhunters are making plans to fight back against Belial and Tatiana Blackthorn, who has escaped imprisonment. Once they are all reunited, these friends uncover dark secrets and find the courage to speak their truths while they attempt to protect their fellow Shadowhunters from harm and save the entire city of London.

THOUGHTS: Cassandra Clare is a unique, fantasy author. She has never “left” the world of Shadowhunters that she first created with The Mortal Instruments, but instead continues the story both before and after the events of the original series. In my opinion, each series gets better and better and should be included in every young adult library collection. If you can get a student hooked on one series, they’ll want to read them all! I was not disappointed with the conclusion of this series, and Clare has plans for one more series in the Shadowhunter world, and she does a fantastic job of including diverse characters into her novels.

Fantasy

YA – A Hunger of Thorns

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Wilkinson, Lili. A Hunger of Thorns. Delacorte Press, 2023. 978-0-593-56266-6. $19.99. 432 p. Grades 9-12.

When Maude and Oddette were young girls, they were best friends. Maude, a daughter of witches, processed magic in the form of storytelling. They would have grand and wild adventures through the stories Maude would tell. Now, they’re grown up. Maude has lost her magic, and Odette, no longer her friend, is missing. Odette has always longed to possess magic as her friend did, and Maude knows she went into the forbidden Sticklehurst to hunt for it. Armed only with her stories and flashes of her past inside of the abandoned power plant, Maude journeys into Sticklehurst to rescue her former friend and become the hero of one of her own stories. Will she be able to defeat the monsters once and for all?

THOUGHTS: A Hunger of Thorns is an urban wonderland full of magic, stories, cursed princes, monsters, and wild girls trying to find their place in the world. I’d recommend this one to readers looking for a more sinister and darker fantasy. Although this can be read as a stand alone novel, a sequel planned for the same world, but with different characters and storylines, will be published next year.

Fantasy

Elem. – If I Was a Horse

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Blackall, Sophie. If I Was a Horse. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 978-0-316-51098-1. $18.99. Unpaged. Grades PreK-2.

What would your life look like if you were a horse? In this amusing, whimsical picture book, a young child imagines exactly what they’d do if they were a horse. Gorgeous illustrations depict a majestic horse interloping in various everyday scenarios, such as eating at the dinner table, refusing to take a bath, and parading through the living room. Each spread contains a simple, straightforward sentence or phrase describing these humorous scenarios. Imaginative and intelligible, this title is sure to spark some interesting discussions at story time.

THOUGHTS: This is another winner from two-time Caldecott medalist Sophie Blackall. Use it to kickstart imaginations and have children come up with their own creative storylines about life as an animal. Horse lovers will especially adore this book!

Picture Book

YA – Thieves’ Gambit

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Lewis, Kayvion. Thieves’ Gambit. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023. 978-0-593-62536-1. 384 p. $19.99. Grades 8-12.

Ross Quest is about to pull off the biggest heist of her life in order to save her kidnapped mother in this action-packed YA thriller. Ross and her mother have planned many robberies together—as one of the most notorious thief-families in North America, they have a reputation to uphold. When a robbery goes awry, Ross reluctantly must enter into the mysterious and dangerous Thieves’ Gambit, a high-stakes game made up of the best young criminal minds from around the world. If Ross wins, she’ll have one wish granted: in her case, it’s the wish to rescue her mother by paying her mother’s billion dollar ransom. All goes according to plan until feelings for one of the contestants, the handsome British Devroe, threatens to throw Ross off of her game. Filled with twists and turns right until the end, this one will keep your students reading the whole way to the last page.

THOUGHTS: A high-stakes heist must-read title. For teens who love lots of action, twists, turns, and a fast-paced plot, this is the ideal story. Thieves’ Gambit reads like a heist movie on paper as it takes readers on a wild adventure around the world. Ross is a likable and realistic character trying to fulfill quests before time runs out. There is enough romantic tension between Ross and Devroe that will keep romance readers loving this book, too. Ideal for fans of series like The Inheritance Games. Strong diversity and character development.

Mystery

Elem.- Great Carrier Reef

Posted on October 31, 2023 by pslamediaselectionreview

Stremer, Jessica. Great Carrier Reef. Illustrated by Gordy Wright. Holiday House, 2023. 978-0-823-45268-2. $18.99. 40 p. Grades K-5.

The USS Oriskany, nicknamed “The Mighty O” spent 8,784 days in active service as an aircraft carrier for the US Navy. In 2006, scientists were looking for a way to improve ocean life off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. Reef animals were disappearing due to lack of natural protection. Reefs around the world are in danger from pollution, ocean warming, and overfishing. The USS Oriskany was called out of retirement to be converted into an artificial reef. A team of over 150 scientists, engineers, and workers transformed the ship, removing toxic chemicals, metals, and paints. The carrier was transported 20 nautical miles off of the coast. Using precise explosive techniques, The Mighty O – once thought to be unsinkable – was flooded so that it would sink to a sandy area of the ocean’s floor. The artificial reef is now home to a wide variety of ocean life. End pages include additional information about reefs, marine life, the history of the USS Oriskany, selected sources, index, and information on preserving and saving natural reefs.

THOUGHTS: This title presents a very simple and engaging explanation of the need for reefs, the destruction of reefs around the world, and the process used to design and create an artificial reef from a retired Navy carrier. Beautifully illustrations by Gordy Wright enhance the text.

551.424 Islands and Reefs

Literature Review

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Monthly Archives: October 2023

Elem. – Stickler Loves the World

Elem. – Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll.

MG – The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine

YA – Chain of Thorns

YA – A Hunger of Thorns

Elem. – If I Was a Horse

YA – Thieves’ Gambit

Elem.- Great Carrier Reef