Monthly Archives: December 2023

Elem. – We Are Going to be Pals!

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Teague, Mark. We Are Going to be Pals! Beach Lane Books, 2023. 978-1-665-91186-3. $18.99. Grades K-2.

Egret, the egret, sees Rhino, the rhinoceros, from a tree up above. An egret and a rhinoceros have a symbiotic relationship, which is also known as becoming best friends! Egret explains to Rhino how they have a great relationship and friendship. Their friendship is about eating together, playing and having fun together, and being there for one another. It is also about communication and respecting boundaries. Egret kindly informs Rhino of their great friendship throughout this story.

THOUGHTS: A fun story of opposite characters who were destined to become best friends due to their symbiotic relationship. This fun story is one that describes how opposites can attract!

Picture Book

Elem. – Lali’s Flip-Flops

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Zia, Farhana. Lali’s Flip-Flops. Peachtree. 2023. 978-1-682-63493-6. $18.99. Grades K-2.

Lali has been working very hard to earn some money. She works and she works until she has a little jingle in her pocket, then off to the market she goes! As she travels, she sees her animal friends and they ask her if she is going to buy them treats. The road on her journey to the market is very tough on Lali’s feet. Will Lali buy new flip-flops for herself or treats for her animal friends?

THOUGHTS: This is a fun story about working hard and being generous!

Picture Book

MG/YA – Gallows Hill

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Ruby, Lois. Gallows Hill. Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2023. 978-1-728-43102-4. 208 p. $19.99. Grades 7-12.

Gallows Hill is a fictionalized story of the Salem Witch Trials as told from the alternating perspectives of Patience and Thomas, two teens living during the 1692 height of hysteria. Patience aims to live up to her name, but when her own sister, Abigail, becomes “afflicted” and begins to accuse a local elderly widow, Prudence Blevins, of being a witch, Patience doesn’t know who to believe. Patience knows many women and men are being arrested in Salem—even a five-year-old child, Dorothy, is among the accused of witchcraft. Unlike Patience, who has lived in Salem her whole life, Thomas and his sister Grace are newcomers to Salem Village. Grace and Thomas are only trying to make a life for themselves after their strenuous trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Being of Quaker faith makes Thomas and Grace outcasts among their new Puritan neighbors. After Thomas is also arrested, he must fight against the odds to survive being swept up in the madness and sent to Gallows Hill.

THOUGHTS: This story is a compelling and well-researched fictional account of what it may have been like to grow up during the time of the infamous Salem witch trials. Ruby includes historically accurate diction (using phrases like Goody and Goodman), and she balances it with clear dialogue and short chapters to make this book accessible for middle school readers. While other middle grade and YA witch-trial related fiction often ventures into supernatural or fantasy genres, Gallows Hill stays true and realistic to the time. Strong sensory details placed throughout the story will bring the abysmal prison cells and Salem village itself to life for readers. Ruby also offers historical explanations, theories, and book discussion questions in the book’s endpapers. Recommended as an addition to middle school historical fiction collections.

Historical Fiction

Elem. – No is All I Know!

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Grabenstein, Chris. No is All I Know! Illustrated by Leo Espinosa. Random House, 2023. 978-0-593-30204-0. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades PK-2.

Oh, Oliver McSnow. “NO!” is his favorite word. It’s “NO!,” no matter what. His “NO!” becomes the world’s strongest NO! and takes over his life and that of his family. No baths, no sleep, no puzzles, or pizza, or even ice cream! Only mac n’ cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When cousin Jess, who loves to say “YES!” comes to visit, Oliver is too tired to say “NO!,” and follows Jess and his “YES!” Suddenly, a new world opens up to Oliver as he tries new things and discovers that “YES!” is a lot more fun than “NO!”

THOUGHTS: Leo Espinosa brings the rhythm and meaning of Chris Grabenstein’s text to life in No is All I Know! Oliver is depicted as stubborn and passionate–and his parents shocked and bewildered by his all-encompassing “NO!” While initially I thought that the book would appeal mostly to a Pre-K audience whose parents are desperate for some relief from the “NO” phase, I believe the book will have broad appeal to primary students who are looking for a fun read and a relatable story. Some younger brothers and sisters may even be treated to story time by siblings who find this book on the shelf in the library. Highly recommended for its humor, universal story, and appealing illustrations.

Picture Book 

Elem. – There Was A Party For Langston

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Reynolds, Jason. There Was A Party For Langston. Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-1-534-43944-3. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades K-3.

There Was A Party For Langston is a celebration of Langston Hughes and his words as well as the people that he inspired. It celebrates his poetry and showcases how he was able to use language and create things that made other people create things. It shows how he inspired Maya Angelou to create her stories. The way the illustrations add to the story will cause the reader to go back through this book several times to find different things that they missed.

THOUGHTS: This is Jason Reynolds’ debut picture book, and he hits it out of the park (which isn’t surprising). This is an excellent introduction to Langston Hughes, as well as other authors. The author’s note in the back of the book will make the reader want to know more about all of the authors that are featured in this book, as well as more about Jason Reynolds himself. Must own for every elementary, and even a middle school collection (even though the book is clearly for younger readers).

Back in 1991, there was a party in the Schomburg Library in New York City, a party for a man who had a way with words: Langston Hughes. In attendance was writer Maya Angelou and dancer Amiri Baraka who boogied amongst the rows of books featuring names of Black authors like Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Octavia Butler. When Langston Hughes wrote, the power of his words made people want to dance, jump, and shout. His words also had the power to unite and inspire, as they did with Angelou and Baraka. Perhaps Langston’s words will inspire the reader, too.

THOUGHTS: Jason Reyolds’ first picture book does not disappoint. Based on a photo of Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka dancing together at the opening of the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, this story demonstrates the power and joy of the written word. The Pumphrey brothers’ illustrations take Langston’s powerful words and turn them into a beautiful depiction of Black culture. 

Picture Book

Elem. – The Wild Robot Protects

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Brown, Peter. The Wild Robot Protects. Little Brown and Company, 2023. 978-0-316-66941-2. 277 p. $17.99. Grades 3-5.

The Wild Robot Protects takes the reader back to the island with Roz and her family. Everything is going well when a seal comes to the island and warns the creatures of a “poison tide” that is headed towards the island. Many of the animals leave the island, some such as Roz’s son Brightbill decide to stay as this island is their home. Roz decides that she is going to figure out where the “poison tide” is coming from and she will stop it as well. She learns that she  needs to find an ancient shark and ask them for help, so off she goes. The reader follows Roz as she goes off on this adventure, and they will wait with anticipation to find out whether Roz was able to save the island and stop the “poison tide”.

THOUGHTS: The Wild Robot series is so fun, whether being used for a read aloud with a group of students, or just read by one student for pleasure. This addition is as wonderful as the rest of them! This would be a great book to use with a climate change unit, or just as a read aloud (as long as the class is familiar with the other Wild Robot books). Highly recommended for any elementary school collection.

Science Fiction

Elem – Bibi: A Flamingo’s Tale

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Weaver, Jo. Bibi: A Flamingo’s Tale. Peachtree, 2023. 978-1-682-63553-7. Unpaged.  $18.99. Grades PreK-2.

Bibi, which means “grandmother” in Swahili, is the matron of her flock of flamingos. She teaches the others how to stand on one leg, how to preen their feathers, how to dance on the lake and shows parents how to build mud nests. After the babies are born, they learn how to walk, but it will be some time before they can fly. This creates a problem, because the extreme heat has caused the water at the lake’s edge to recede and the flamboyance must fly to a new source of fresh water. Since the baby flamingoes will have to walk there, Bibi offers to lead them. One chick called Toto is too exhausted to set out on the journey. Bibi decides that she and the other young birds will wait until he is rested and proceeds to tell them stories of life in the lake. Now rested, the group sets off again across the unforgiving desert and finally reaches water. As the summer ends, the entire flock, including the flaminglets, must fly to a new destination. Bibi, as the oldest member, feels she is too old and tired to fly. This time the avian community comes to her rescue, giving her time to get stronger until she is ready to join them in flight. The pink and gray illustrations created by the author are done in charcoal and then digitally colored. Weaver manages to instill some flamingo personality into these large scale drawings. The author includes a brief note about the migration habits of the lesser flamingo. The adult birds fly to Tanzania from East Africa, while the chicks, accompanied by a few adults, cross a salt desert of twenty miles to get there. 

THOUGHTS: This beautiful tale shows how some animals work together to help their community survive. A great choice for elementary collections.

Picture Book

Elem. – Thank You, Moon: Celebrating Nature’s Nightlight

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Stewart, Melissa. Thank You, Moon: Celebrating Nature’s Nightlight. Illustrated by Jessica Lanan. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. 978-0-593-43507-6. 40 p. 18.99. Grades K-3. 

This homage to the moon is part poem, part science text. Lyrical lines honor the moon’s constant presence in the night sky and highlight the many ways it benefits life on planet Earth. The moon’s gravity keeps Earth stable, and its light helps all kinds of nocturnal animals thrive. Baby leatherback turtles use the moon’s bright light to crawl towards the ocean, while prides of lions take advantage of a waning crescent moon’s sliver to creep up on unsuspecting prey. Watercolor and colored pencil illustrations in dusky blues, greens, and purples showcase several of nature’s nocturnal creatures under the luminous moonlit sky. Backmatter includes information about how the moon lights up the night sky and descriptions and diagrams of the phases of the moon. The scientific name, size, habitat, range, diet, predators, lifespan, and field notes about each featured animal are also included. 

THOUGHTS: This informative title describes the ways animals adapt their nighttime behaviors to match the way the moon cycles through the sky. Students will be fascinated by the ways different animals behave based on the amount of light that appears each evening. This will be a good addition to STEM collections for the youngest readers and for units about nocturnal animals. 

591.5 Animal Behavior

Elem – I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

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Tarshis, Lauren. I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. Scholastic, 2023.  978-1-338-82515-2. 158 p. $10.99. Grades 3-6. 

Eleven-year-old Oscar has only lived in Chicago for a few hours before he finds himself at the center of one of the deadliest fires in American history. Oscar never wanted to move to the big city, leaving his family farm behind, but when his mother remarries, she and Oscar relocate to Chicago to move in with his new stepfather. While still at the train station, Oscar’s luggage is stolen, and as he tries to track down one of the thieves, he’s separated from his family. Fire breaks out while he’s finding his way back, and suddenly showers of sparks are everywhere. With fire crackling at every turn, Oscar’s courage is put to the test as he struggles to find safety, and reconnect with his family, in an unfamiliar city. Backmatter includes a note from Lauren Tarshis as well as historical photographs and drawings of the way Chicago looked before the  Great Fire. 

THOUGHTS: The graphic novel format works well for telling this story, and the full-color panel illustrations effectively capture the chaos, confusion, and fear of Oscar and others as they navigate through the burning city on the evening of October 8, 1871. Hand this to fans of the original I Survived chapter books and to readers looking for plenty of fast-paced action. 

Graphic Novel

Elem. – Winter: A Solstice Story

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Gross, Kelsey E. Winter: A Solstice Story. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. 978-1-665-90813-9. 32 p. $18.99. Grades K-3. 

An owl watches the sun set, signaling the end of daytime and the beginning of solstice, the longest night of the year. From atop a pine tree, the owl hoots to other woodland animals, asking how each might help shine the light and share a gift of hope to celebrate the special evening. Animals of all sizes emerge from their snowy thickets, dens, and burrows, each bringing a simple, yet thoughtful gift to decorate the pine tree. A deer hangs nuts from branches, a squirrel nestles leaves onto limbs, a mouse sprinkles seeds, a duck offers feathers, a rabbit tosses pieces of bark like confetti, a raccoon brings berries, and a chickadee wraps long grasses all around the tree. The animals celebrate the beautifully decorated tree by singing, frolicking, and twirling, but all the commotion wakes up a sleepy bear. The animals hold their breaths as the bear lumbers towards the tree, but the owl warmly welcomes the new friend to join the celebration and enjoy the gifts. Two oversized, fold-out pages depict the decorated pine tree in its full glory, beautifully capturing each animal’s joy and generosity.

THOUGHTS: Digital illustrations in a muted winter palette convey each animal’s gentle nature and the stillness of the snowy woodland setting. Young readers will pick up on the refrain as each animal repeats what it will contribute to shine the light during the solstice celebration. Share this title as part of a winter-themed story time or to supplement lessons centering on generosity, thoughtfulness, or kindness. 

Picture Book