61. Just A Girl

Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II. Lia Levi. Illustrated by Jess Mason. Translated by Sylvia Notini. 2022. 144 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: My name is Lia (if you look at the cover of this book, you'll find my name on it!) and I want to tell you the story of when I was a little girl. Mama, Papa, my two younger sisters, Gabriella and Vera, and I lived in a city in Italy called Turin.

Premise/plot: Just A Girl is a memoir for young readers. The memoir chronicles her time as a Jewish girl growing up in Italy during the Second World War. It spans the second world war. Childhood is full of plenty of changes, but, during this time in history especially so. Some of the changes happen subtly, some abruptly. 

Throughout the book, Lia sees herself as a "Jewish girl." It is her Jewishness that marks her. Her life is turned upside down and inside out because she is Jewish. Every single change--all of them damaging and devastating--is because she (and her family) were/are Jewish. But by the end of the book, by the end of the war, she can be JUST A GIRL. She no longer has to be labeled and defined. She can just be herself. 

My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed this one. I do think books about the second world war, and specifically books about Jewish experiences during the second world war, should be written for ALL age audiences. There are plenty that are appropriate (you could even argue necessary and important) for middle school audiences on up. There are fewer books written for elementary audiences, in particular for third to fourth graders. 

I thought the book had a good, strong narrative. I felt it was gentle at times. But it was definitely straightforward as well. It didn't paint it as a lovely-lovely glorious time. It didn't shy away from the harshness of the times.

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

60. Zia Erases the World

Zia Erases the World. Bree Barton. 2022. 256 pages. [Source: Library] 

First sentence: Every dictionary has secrets. That's to be expected, seeing as how a secret is made of words.

Premise/plot: Zia, our young heroine, discovers that she has the power (with a little help from a magical eraser and a magical dictionary) to change the world. But are her changes for the better or for the worse? Does erasing a word and all its meanings (definitions) ultimately helpful and healing to her anxiety? Or are words themselves part of the solution to what troubles her?

Zia struggles with 'the Shadoom.' It is her word for the shadow-y doom-y haunting weightiness of the anxiety that she's dealt with (mostly on her own, but sometimes with a little bit of reaching out for support) for the past year. 

Quite a bit is going on in her life--at school and at home--and the Shadoom seems to be a little out of control. Will finding this magical dictionary be the solution she so desperately craves?

My thoughts: I wanted to love, love, love this one. I didn't quite love it. But I did really enjoy aspects of it. I'm not sure that magic realism is my cup of tea. I want to be clear that it isn't so much a problem with the book itself as I don't happen to enjoy magic realism. I like realistic fiction. I like fantasy. I don't necessarily like them together.

My absolute favorite quote:

Maybe it’s weird that an old dusty book of words gives me comfort. But words aren’t mean. They don’t make you feel small or broken. And if someone else does, you can look up small and broken in the dictionary and find them in permanent ink, proving someone else felt those things, too. Probably lots of someones. Who wouldn’t be comforted by that?

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

59. Blips on a Screen

Blips on a Screen: How Ralph Baer Invented TV Video Gaming and Launched a Worldwide Obsession. 2022. [March] Kate Hannigan. Illustrated by Zachariah OHora. 48 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Rudolf "Rolf" Baer loved games. Money and food had grown scarce everywhere after the Great Depression began in 1929. 

Premise/plot: Blips on a Screen is a picture book biography of Ralph Baer. (ETA: Perhaps this isn't quite true. It is limited in its scope. What we have is a focused biography on Baer as an inventor of video games.) As a child, he along with his family, were Jewish refugees to the United States in 1938. It is the biography of the inventor of television video gaming. Much of the book has a setting of mid to late 1960s to early 1970s. 

My thoughts: The book offers young readers a brief introduction to the pioneer 'early days' of video games. The narrative is fairly straightforward and reads like a story. The back matter is much more detailed--and in some ways even more fascinating. I enjoyed seeing the detailed timeline!  

(ETA: His wikipedia article.)

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

58. DJ Funkyfoot: The Show Must Go Oink

DJ Funkyfoot: The Show Must Go Oink (DJ Funkyfoot #3) Tom Angleberger. Illustrated by Heather Fox. 2022. [March] 112 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: My phone rang. "Greetings," I said. "I am DJ Funkyfoot and I am at your service."

Premise/plot: DJ Funkyfoot is in between jobs when his third adventure opens. After a few false starts, DJ Funkyfoot finds himself a new employer. Great Wolfgoose Pigwig is in great need of a butler; a butler who will do anything and everything to make sure everything is done EXACTLY to his orders. Readers pick up on--or at least older adult readers will pick up on--the fact that Pigwig may not be the best boss!!! 

Many misadventures follow his first day on the job...

My thoughts: I really have enjoyed this early chapter book series. DJ Funkyfoot is a great narrator. I've found the books fun, charming, enjoyable. This third book is no exception. I have not done any research, but it almost sounded like the author was concluding the series. Everything was wrapped up nicely with a bow. If so, I'm disappointed. 

I do recommend the series. It's just so much fun. Ridiculous, whimsical, but super fun.

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

57. Crab and Snail: The Invisible Whale

Crab and Snail: The Invisible Whale (Crab & Snail #1) Beth Ferry. Illustrated by Jared Chapman. 2022. [March] 64 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Huff. Huff. Huff. Hello! We'd introduce ourselves but we have a Code Red.

Premise/plot: Crab and Snail are best beach friends. These two friends are the narrators in a new graphic novel early reader series by Beth Ferry. 

My thoughts: I found this very meh. Unfortunately. It's not like I started this one wanting it to be dull as dirt. I am always on the look out for new early reader and early chapter book series to recommend. It's important to me to seek out books in these categories because they can be so important in growing young readers. 

The setting is the beach/ocean. The action is non-existent. Mostly. Two friends chatter back and forth about nothing. Until somehow or other they decide to make friends with an invisible whale. Then they go to chattering about that instead. Nothing much happens in terms of plot. As far as characters, well, very minimal depth to development. The humor is bare minimum. I think an attempt was made to be funny. 

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

56. What Do You See? A Conversation in Pictures

What Do You See? A Conversation in Pictures. Barney Saltzberg. Photographs by Jamie Lee Curtis. 2022. [March] 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: She took photographs of things she loved and sent them to him. He drew pictures on her photographs of things he saw and sent them back. 

What Do You See is a collection of photographs AND art. Simple text introduces each spread. The idea being that the book celebrates the artistic friendship of these two. Jamie Lee Curtis would send photographs to Barney Saltzberg. Barney would add illustrations, etc., and send the photographs back.

The narrative is not so much a traditional story as it is a book celebrating creativity, imagination, friendship, and collaboration. There are many ways of "seeing" the world around us.

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

55. Night Train, Night Train

Night Train, Night Train. Robert Burleigh. Illustrated by Wendell Minor. 2018. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Train ride! Bump-bump. Chug-chug. Slow. Faster. Faster. Off we go.

Premise/plot: A little boy goes on a train ride...at night. This picture book is told in rhyming verse.

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, love the illustrations. I do. But I--as an adult who isn't particularly a train enthusiast--was disappointed with the rhythm and rhyme of the text. I guess part of me was hoping it would be more like Freight Train...only at night. This one does focus on colors--gray, black, red, blue, white, orange, purple, green, yellow.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10 

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

54. Belly of the Beast (Fabled Stables #3)

The Fabled Stables: Belly of the Beast (Fabled Stables #3) Jonathan Auxier. Illustrated by Olga Demidova. 2022. 96 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: At the top of the world sat an island. And at the heart of that island lived a boy named Auggie. 

Premise/plot: Auggie is starring in his third adventure. In each adventure, he goes on missions to rescue fantastical animals/creatures. In this third book, his chores are interrupted by a mission to save the Shibboleth. This may be his most dangerous--most "icky" mission yet. And he finds himself relying on Fen to save the day. (I bet he never saw that one coming! Since Fen is usually so cranky that he's not a reliable buddy.) 

Auggie has more on his mind these days than in previous books. Fen has hinted that it's never worth learning anyone's name on the island because EVERYONE leaves eventually. Auggie does not want to leave, and the idea of being sent away alarms him. 

My thoughts: I really enjoy this series. I am so happy with this third book. It finally is beginning to connect with the wider world that Auxier has created for older readers in his fantasy novels. In this one, readers for the first time meet Professor Cake! And we get a glimpse of Book of What, one of the four magical living books. I don't think these details will confuse readers who have not read his other books, but those that are familiar with those other books may get a little grin at these references.

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

53. Fenway and the Bone Thieves

Fenway and the Bone Thieves (Make Way for Fenway #1) Victoria J. Coe. Illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. 2022. 85 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Everyone knows that dogs are better than squirrels. Dogs make humans happy. Dogs live in houses. Dogs ride in cars. Squirrels do none of these things.

Premise/plot: Fenway and his humans are starring in a new chapter book series. In this first adventure, Fenway is thrilled to get a bone, but, unsure exactly HOW to keep that bone safe. If he buries it, well, it will be safe. But he won't exactly get to enjoy it in the here and now. And is it really that safe? What if someone else finds HIS bone and steals it??? What's a dog to do?

My thoughts: I enjoyed meeting Fenway, Hattie, Food Lady, and Fetch Man. This was my first introduction to Fenway. However, I think it is important to point out that there a handful of books (for older readers) starring Fenway and Hattie.

• Fenway and Hattie
• Fenway and Hattie and the Evil Bunny Gang
• Fenway and Hattie Up to New Tricks
• Fenway and Hattie in the Wild

Presumably, readers will in the future most likely meet Fenway and Hattie in these new early readers (early chapter books), and grow into the original series. 

I liked the book well enough to be curious about both series. I can't say that I am in love with these characters just yet. I found the book charming, but, not necessarily deep. (Then again how many early readers have enough depth and substance to be called "deep"?) 

I will definitely look and see if my local library has the original series.

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

52. King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin

King of Ragtime: The Story of Scott Joplin. Stephen Costanza. 2021 [September]. 56 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: In the valley of the Red River,
where the soil was as rich
as most folks were poor,
four states sat side by side
like colors on a quilt
sewn from cotton picked
by black hands, brown hands,
tired and worn--but oh!
How they clapped at night,
as voices lifted to the stars.

Premise/plot: King of Ragtime is a picture book biography of Scott Joplin. This picture book is written in verse. It tells the story of how music shaped him and he shaped music.

My thoughts: I thought this was beautifully done. I thought the verse complimented the illustrations perfectly. I appreciated both so much. While I was familiar with a handful of Joplin's compositions--I do like ragtime music--I was not familiar with his life story. Or not as familiar I suppose.

If you do share this one with young readers--in your own home, in a library setting, in a school setting, DO make a point of sharing his music as well. I would love to see kids reactions to his music!

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

51. Good Knight, Mustache Baby

Good Knight, Mustache Baby. Bridget Heos. Illustrated by Joy Ang. 2021. [December] 40 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: United in friendship, they spent their days riding, jousting, and slaying giants. Yet each night, darkness befell them. By law of the land feasting, fighting, and fun ended at the stroke of seven. At that hour all babies were banished to bedtime.

Premise/plot: Mustache Baby (aka Billy) is back with his good buddy, Javier, in Good Knight, Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos. In this adventure, Mustache Baby swears to DEFY bedtime. But resisting all the authority in the kingdom is easier said than done...

My thoughts: I really LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this one. Mustache Baby is always good for a laugh. This one is no exception. In fact, I think it might be my favorite of the series? Maybe. It'd be hard to say. It might be a case of the most recently read is my favorite. Still, this one is worth checking out (or, you know, buying). My favorite quote, "He fought valiantly, but in the end he was captured by the Lord and Lady of the House of Mustache...and banished to the castle turret."

The text and illustrations work together well. The illustrations add to the humor for sure.

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers