MG – And Then, Boom!

Fipps, Lisa. And Then, Boom! Nancy Paulsen Books, 2024. 978-0-593-40632-8. 256 p. $17.99. Grades 5-8.

In Lisa Fipps’ new verse novel, Joe is being raised by his Grandmum. His mom gets “the Itch” and leaves town all too often. After her daughter gets arrested, Grandmum puts up her house as bail collateral. Unfortunately, Joe’s mother fails to appear in court, leaving both Joe and Grandmum unhoused. While living out of a car, Joe’s school friend shares with him a trailer for rent. The two move in, and things begin to look up…until terrible tragedy strikes, and Joe is all alone. Joe keeps his situation a secret from everyone but his two friends, Nick and Hakeem. Food dwindles. The gas is shut off. Then, the electricity all together. Adults like Mrs. Swan, a teacher, and Uncle Frankie, the trailer park owner, help Joe without knowing he has been left on his own. After summer break begins, the situation becomes dire. Add an F2 tornado into the mix. This is a story of survival against all things.

THOUGHTS: A powerful book that is going to absolutely break your heart before making it better. This is a realistic story of survival against childhood neglect and poverty in America. Lisa Fipps uses the verse format to heighten emotional impact and quicken the pace. Readers will grasp onto hopeful details like Joe finding a dog and two puppies (dubbed ‘the Lucky pups’). While the ending is hopeful, getting there is emotionally difficult. Highly recommended for all middle school fiction collections.

Elem. – Spanish is the Language of My Family

Genhart, Michael. Spanish is the Language of My Family. Illustrated by John Parra. Neal Porter Books. 978-0-823-45004-6. 36 p. $18.99. Grades K-3. 

When Manolo’s school holds a Spanish-language spelling bee, he is the first in his class to sign up because Spanish is the language of his family. He already knows how to spell some Spanish words, but he turns to his Abuela for help preparing. They review the list of words together, and as she quizzes him, Abuela also shares stories about how school was a very different place when she attended as a little girl. She describes how students were not allowed to speak Spanish and how they were sent home, spanked, or had their mouths washed out with soap if teachers heard them speaking the language. Her stories inspire Manolo to study even harder, and on the day of the contest, his whole family is in the audience to cheer him on. He takes a deep breath and spells his first word correctly. More and more correct spellings follow, until only he and one classmate remain on the stage. His final word, “respeto” reminds him of the respect he has for his family’s language, and he spells the word correctly. Backmatter includes the letters and sounds of the Spanish alphabet. Also included is a note from the author that describes the inspiration for this story; information about the National Spanish Spelling Bee; a history of the prohibition of Spanish in schools during long periods of American history; and background information about El Dia de Los Ninos, or Children’s Day. This title was simultaneously published in Spanish as El espanol es la lengua de mi familia. 

THOUGHTS: This intergenerational story celebrates being bilingual as a strength and a source of family pride. Short sentences and vibrant acrylic illustrations will hold students’ attention, making this title a good choice for a read-aloud, particularly at the end of April when Children’s Day is celebrated. 

Picture Book

Elem. – A Crown for Corina

Kemp, Laekan Zea. A Crown for Corina. Elisa Chavarri. Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 978-0-7595-5684-3. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades K-3.

In A Crown for Corina, it’s Corina’s birthday and she gets to create a flower crown out of the beautiful flowers found within her abuela’s garden. As she goes through and picks her flowers, she learns from her grandmother all the different things the flowers mean. Each one has a special meaning either for her family or for Corina personally. Once Corina picks all of her flowers, she wears her flower crown for her party and doesn’t want to take it off, even during her bedtime routine. She notices the flower petals are starting to droop, and her abuela tells her why that is. As Corina goes to sleep, she thinks about all the other birthdays and flower crowns she will get to have.

THOUGHTS: This was such a sweet story! Highly recommended for any elementary collection, as the story and the illustrations both are beautiful.

Picture Book

Elem. – Just Harriet

Arnold, Elana. Just Harriet. Walden Pond Press. 978-0-063-09204-4. 196 p. $16.99. Grades 3-5. 

Third grade just ended, but summer is not beginning the way Harriet plans. When her mother is put on bed rest until Harriet’s new baby brother arrives, her parents also decide to send Harriet to live with her grandmother for the summer. Nanu lives on Marble Island where she runs a bed and breakfast. Harriet always enjoys visiting Nanu with her parents, but staying alone with her for the whole summer is an entirely different story. As Harriet struggles with adjusting to her new surroundings, she finds a mysterious key in Nanu’s shed. This discovery leads her on an adventure involving an antique dollhouse, her 100-year-old neighbor, and some items from her father’s childhood on the island. Harriet is a boisterous, stubborn narrator with a penchant for lying, and she does not enjoy changes that are out of her control. But, readers will root for her as she copes in her own way with the many unexpected twists her summer takes. 

THOUGHTS: This summer adventure is perfect for readers who are just transitioning to chapter books. Short chapters include at least one black and white illustration. Readers will relate to Harriet’s conflicting emotions about being sent away for the summer but also her excitement about seeing her grandmother and trying to solve the mystery of what the old key opens. 

Mystery          Anne Bozievich, Southern York County SD

YA – Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra

Parks, Amy Noelle. Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra. Amulet, 2022. 978-1-319-75344-2. 296 p. $17.99. Grades 7-12.

Lia is delighted when she receives a letter from her missing grandmother, inviting her to compete in a stage magic competition to be held in Mirror Lake, a retreat for magicians where her grandmother resides. Over the protests of her mother, who wants Lia to do something “meaningful” with her summer, Lia eagerly escapes to Mirror Lake, to practice the tricks her magician grandmother has taught her. Lia is determined to win the competition, make her grandmother proud, and take the prize, the small theater her grandmother has owned for years. Lia definitely wants to keep it out of the hands of the Blackwell boys, grandsons of her grandmother’s ex-husband and magic partner. Lia has been warned to stay away from the Blackwell boys, but while Lia may be great at counting cards and sleight of hand, she wasn’t counting on Beckett Blackwell being so cute, and nice, and good at magic, even though it clearly is not his passion. However, as the competition progresses, Lia realizes there is more at stake than the theater. Additionally, Lia and Beckett team up to exact revenge on Beckett’s cousin, Elliot, a talented mentalist who uses his gifts for nefarious purposes. This addictive rom-com is entertaining from the start. Readers will root for Lia to follow her muse, despite the pressure from her mother, as well as for Lia and Beckett to (inevitably) find each other. The amusing con Lia sets up to crush Elliot adds spice to the pot, and the story rounds out with a feminist punch, as the reparations for the historic dismissal of female magicians ties up the plot. Readers will be left with a big grin on their faces and warm fuzzies in their heart.

THOUGHTS: This delightful book contains everything a good romance should, and makes a solid purchase where romance is popular.

Romance          Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor SD

Elem. – Nana, Nenek & Nina

Ferneyhough, Liza. Nana, Nenek & Nina. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2022. 978-0-593-35394-3. Unpaged. $17.99. Grades K-2.

Nina loves visiting her grandmothers, one who lives in Malaysia and one who lives in England. Nina goes back and forth between each grandmother explaining the different and similar things that she does with them. Each grandmother has a garden, each visits the market, and each one cooks dinner but each one is slightly different based on where they live. Nina has a little dinosaur that she brings with her, so the reader can have fun finding the dinosaur hidden in each illustration. The text can be complicated to follow at times, but the journey of watching Nina visit each grandmother is wonderful to follow along with.

THOUGHTS: This would be a great book to share for a grandparents day event; however, it might not be the best read-aloud with extremely young children as it can be complicated the way the text is set up. 

Picture Book          Mary McEndree, Lehigh Valley Regional Charter Academy

Elem. – The Katha Chest

Chowdhury, Radhiah. The Katha Chest. Salaam Reads, 2022. 978-1-665-90390-5. Unpaged. $17.99. Grades K-2.

The Katha Chest follows a young girl named Asiya who loves to visit her Nanu’s house because she gets a chance to go through the katha chest. Each quilt tells a story, and Asiya loves learning about her family in this way. The illustrations are beautifully done, and when Asiya is looking at each quilt there is a spread of pages that just show the woman from the family who is attached to each quilt. On those pages, the illustrations demonstrate and show more about each woman from the family without having any words to describe them. At the end of the book, there are both author and illustrator notes delving more into the katha chest and what that means to each of them. 

THOUGHTS: This book is a beautifully done story about the katha chest, as well as what each woman in Asiya’s family means to her. A great story for a read aloud that will cause readers to want to know more about this skill of making the katha quilts.

Picture Book           Mary McEndree, Lehigh Valley Regional Charter Academy

Tags: Quilts, family, grandmothers, mothers, authors, Bangladesh, saris. 

YA – Pretty Dead Queens

Donne, Alexa. Pretty Dead Queens. Crown, 2022. 978-0-593-47982-7. 336 p. $18.99. Grades 9-12.

Moving to a new town to live with her estranged grandmother is not the senior year Cecelia Ellis had in mind. Her mother’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent passing have forced Cecelia on a new path, but her plan is to graduate and get out of town just like her mom did. In the meantime, she’s living at the top of creepy Victorian mansion with Maura Weston, her famous mystery writing grandmother. Though a small California coastal town, Seaview was put on the map years ago with Maura’s first book, a fictionalized version about the of death of one of Maura’s classmates. Later turned into a movie which was filmed in Seaview, the town now has its own unique traditions, like a murder tour given by two of Cecelia’s classmates and Weston-Con, a weekend retreat for fans of Maura’s thriller books. When one of Cecelia’s classmates is found dead under eerily similar circumstances to one of Maura’s books, Cecelia distracts herself from her grief by trying to solve the murder and determine if a copycat killer is loose in Seaview – or if someone was wrongly convicted years ago. As Cecelia learns about the history of Seaview and about animosity among her new friends, she’s convinced there’s more to the story. Will Cecelia make a connection before the police solve the case, or will she be the killer’s next victim?

THOUGHTS: Knowing all that Cecelia has overcome, readers will root for her to uncover the truth behind two crimes that are decades apart. Fans of fast-paced mystery/thrillers (like Donne’s The Ivies and Henry’s Two Truths and a Lie) will enjoy this whodunit.  

Mystery          Maryalice Bond, South Middleton SD

Elem. – The Year We Learned to Fly

Woodson, Jacqueline. The Year We Learned to Fly. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022. 978-0-399-54553-5. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades K-3.

Stuck inside on a rainy day, an African American brother and sister follow their grandmother’s advice to let their imaginations take them away to another place. Soon, they are able to use their minds to fly away from all of the challenges life throws at them. When they’re mad, they fly away from the anger. When they move away and their new neighbors look at them funny, they fly away from the judgment and skepticism. Their grandmother tells them this ability to free their beautiful, brilliant minds and rise above adversity comes from their ancestors who, many years ago, overcame the challenges of slavery in a similar manner. 

THOUGHTS: This is a remarkable story about strength, resiliency, and the power of one’s imagination. An author’s note honors the ancestors who suffered through the horrors of enslavement and acknowledges the influence of Virginia Hamilton in this story (and other stories). This would make an excellent introduction to a unit on slavery, or it could be paired with Hamilton’s The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales (1985). It can also be given to children who lack confidence to encourage them to believe in the power of their dreams. An uplifting and inspiring story, this book belongs in every elementary library.

Picture Book          Julie Ritter, PSLA Member

Elem. – A Gift for Nana

Smith, Lane. A Gift for Nana. Random House Studio, 2022. 978-0-593-43033-0. Unpaged. $18.99. PreK-2.

Rabbit is on a quest to find the perfect gift for his Nana. He travels through the forest, across a lake, onto rocky shores, and up a mountain. Along the way, he meets other creatures who make suggestions for a perfect gift, all of which Rabbit turns down with reasons why Nana wouldn’t like them. The journey is long and arduous, but Rabbit eventually discovers the perfect gift and returns to his Nana’s house with it. An endearing story that showcases the unconditional love between grandchildren and their grandparents, this book would be perfect for a read-aloud or a heartwarming bedtime story. 

THOUGHTS: I adored this sweet story! The mixed media illustrations by award-winning illustrator Lane Smith manage to evoke a variety of feelings and emotions throughout the story. More muted tones at the beginning of Rabbit’s long journey give way to brighter, more comforting tones by the time he returns home to Nana. An element of humor is also embedded in the story, as Rabbit eats some of his gift before he even makes it back to Nana. Any library that serves young children would not be disappointed with this title.

Picture Book          Julie Ritter, PSLA Member