23. Watercress

Watercress. Andrea Wang. Illustrated by Jason Chin. 2021. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: We are in the old Pontiac, the red paint faded by years of glinting Ohio sun, pelting rain, and biting snow.

Premise/plot: A young girl is embarrassed by her parents--her immigrant parents. How "embarrassing" to have them stop the car, get out, and pick watercress from the ditch! Why couldn't her parents be "normal"? But though she may not "like" picking watercress, and may not exactly "like" the taste of watercress, she comes to a better appreciation of where her parents are coming from and what memories they may have from the past. 

My thoughts: I liked this one. I did. This one won the Caldecott Medal in 2022 as well as being a Newbery Honor book. I absolutely loved, loved, loved, loved, LOVED the illustrations. Every single spread was just WOW for me. I loved turning pages and seeing the story unfold. It was a beautiful book. I appreciated the text, but, the text to me wasn't as 'wow'. I do think it's good for sharing if you are looking for books about families, traditions, and food. (Soul Food Sunday was another recent read.) And I do think it is relatable.

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers

154. Scary Stories for Young Foxes

Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Christian McKay Heidicker. Illustrated by Junyi Wu. 2019. 320 pages. [Source: Library] [Newbery Honor; J Fantasy; MG Fantasy; J Fiction; J Fantasy; Animal Fantasy]

First sentence: The haunted season had arrived in the Antler Wood.

Premise/plot: Seven kits sneak off for story time in Heidicker’s new animal fantasy. The stories aren’t for the timid, these are SCARY stories (for foxes). The storyteller, an old fox, tells a series of stories—seven or eight. The stories star other fox kits...and as the book progresses, readers realize the stories are related to each other and tell one big story.

Mia and Uly are the two stars of the stories...

My thoughts: Scary Stories for Young Foxes was named a Newbery Honor book in 2020. It is definitely an action-packed, character-driven fantasy novel that is intense. I loved the perspective; for whatever reason I had never seen Beatrix Potter as a super scary villain. This is just one example.

Overall it was a satisfying read. That being said it is as grim and gruesome as watching a nature special. If the thought of some kits (and some foxes and vixens) not making it disturbs you, this might not be the best choice for you.

I originally read this one in February 2020. I reread it in October 2021. It was just as delightful the second time around.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Young Readers

71. The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday Wars. Gary D. Schmidt. 2007. 264 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me. And let me tell you, it wasn't for anything I'd done. If it had been Doug Swieteck that Mrs. Baker hated, it would have made sense. Doug Swieteck once made up a list of 410 ways to get a teacher to hate you. It began with "Spray deodorant in all her desk drawers" and got worse as it went along. A whole lot worse. I think that things became illegal around Number 167. You don't want to know what Number 400 was, and you really don't want to know what Number 410 was. But I'll tell you this much: They were the kinds of things that sent kids to juvenile detention homes in upstate New York, so far away that you never saw them again.

Premise/plot: Holling Hoodhood is the narrator of this lovely coming of age novel set in 1967/1968 in New York. The book chronicles his seventh grade year focusing on his life at home and school. Every Wednesday as the other students go to either special studies at their church or synagogue (temple?), Mrs. Baker and Holling have the classroom to themselves. At first she puts him to WORK cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. But later she decides to work his mind instead, every single month they study a different Shakespeare play. At home, their family is feeling the tension of conflicting ideas over politics and the War.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved, loved this one. It had me at hello. I love Holling's narrative. The book is packed with humor and heart. I think this is a book that could appeal to anyone and everyone. If you have a special fondness for teachers that play a role in *inspiring* and *changing* young lives, I think you will love, love, love The Wednesday Wars. Equally, if you love fiction that depicts the challenges and struggles that all families face, I think you'll love The Wednesday Wars. It has a little bit of something for everyone: friendship, first crushes, family squabbles, school, prejudice. One of my favorite aspects about this novel is that it does so much. It addresses meaning-of-life issues in a way that is both serious, realistic, but it captures life's funny moments as well. It has it all.

We spent the afternoon with English for You and Me, learning how to diagram sentences--as if there was some reason why anyone in the Western Hemisphere needed to know how to do this. One by one, Mrs. Baker called us to the blackboard to try our hand at it. Here's the sentence she gave to Meryl Lee:
The brook flows down the pretty mountain.
Here's the sentences she gave to Danny Hupfer:
He kicked the round ball into the goal.
Here's the sentence she gave to Mai Thi:
The girl walked home.
This was so short because it used about a third of Mai Thi's English vocabulary, since she'd only gotten here from Vietnam during the summer.
Here's the sentence she gave to Doug Swieteck:
I read a book.
There was a different reason why his sentence was so short--never mind that it was a flat-out lie on Doug Swieteck's part.
Here's the sentence she gave me:
For it so falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost, why, then we rack the value, then we find the virtue that possession would not show us while it was ours.
No native speaker of the English language could diagram this sentence. The guy who wrote it couldn't diagram this sentence. I stood at the blackboard as hopeless as a seventh-grade kid could be. (17-18)

 That night, I read Treasure Island again, and I don't want to brag, but I've read Treasure Island four times and Kidnapped twice and The Black Arrow twice. I even read Ivanhoe halfway through before I gave up, since I started The Call of the Wild and it was a whole lot better. (9)

That's the teacher gene at work, giving its bearer an extra sense. It's a little frightening. Maybe that's how people decide to become teachers. They have that extra sense, and once they have it, and know that they have it, they don't have any choice except to become a teacher. (60)

© 2020 Becky Laney of Young Readers

24. Undefeated

Undefeated. Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. 2019. 40 pages. [Source: Library] [poetry; picture book; Newbery honor; caldecott medal]

First sentence: This is for the unforgettable. The swift and sweet ones who hurdled history and opened a world of possible.

Premise/plot: Undefeated is an illustrated poem written by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The poem celebrates black lives and black history. To get the most of this one, it is essential, in my opinion, to read the back matter, specifically historical figures and events featured in The Undefeated.

My thoughts: If I had to describe this one in just a couple of words, I’d choose stunning for the illustrations and compelling for the text. The poem is masterfully written even when you haven’t taken the time to read the back matter and considered the context. The narrative style is just excellent. The illustrations are definitely have the wow factor. When you reread the book and examine the illustrations in light of the back matter, they are even more impressive. Together the text and illustrations are worthy of acclaim and the many awards and honors.

Text: 5/5
Illustrations:5/5
Total: 10/10

© 2020 Becky Laney of Young Readers

23. Scary Stories for Young Foxes

Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Christian McKay Heidicker. Illustrated by Junyi Wu. 2019. 320 pages. [Source: Library] [Newbery Honor; J Fantasy; MG Fantasy; J Fiction; J Fantasy; Animal Fantasy]

First sentence: The haunted season had arrived in the Antler Wood.

Premise/plot: Seven kits sneak off for story time in Heidicker’s new animal fantasy. The stories aren’t for the timid, these are SCARY stories (for foxes). The storyteller, an old fox, tells a series of stories—seven or eight. The stories star other fox kits...and as the book progresses, readers realize the stories are related to each other and tell one big story.

Mia and Uly are the two stars of the stories...

My thoughts: Scary Stories for Young Foxes was named a Newbery Honor book in 2020. It is definitely an action-packed, character-driven fantasy novel that is intense. I loved the perspective; for whatever reason I had never seen Beatrix Potter as a super scary villain. This is just one example.

Overall it was a satisfying read. That being said it is as grim and gruesome as watching a nature special. If the thought of some kits (and some foxes and vixens) not making it disturbs you, this might not be the best choice for you.

I am definitely glad that I read it in one sitting. 

© 2020 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Millions of Cats

Millions of Cats. Wanda Gag. 1928. Penguin. 40 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]

Once upon a time there was a very old man and a very old woman. They lived in a nice clean house which had flowers all around it, except where the door was. But they couldn't be happy because they were so very lonely. 
"If we only had a cat!" sighed the very old woman. "A cat?" asked the very old man. "Yes, a sweet little fluffy cat," said the very old woman. "I will get you a cat, my dear," said the very old man.
And he set out over the hills to look for one. 

Millions of Cats is a Newbery Honor book from 1929.

Premise/Plot: A very old man and a very old woman long for a cat. The husband goes on a quest to bring back a "sweet little fluffy cat" to please them both. Is his quest successful? Yes. A little too successful. For in fact he finds

Cats here, cats there,
Cats and kittens everywhere,
Hundreds of cats,
Thousands of cats,
Millions and billions and trillions of cats.

How is he ever to choose just ONE cat from so many?! Especially since as he picks up or pets each one he sees, he finds it to be the prettiest cat. He can't bring himself to leave any of the cats behind. But it isn't practical to bring home hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and trillions of cats. You can probably guess what his wife's response will be! Surely, they can't keep them all. For better or worse, he lets the cats decide amongst themselves. One scrawny cat remains, but, it may be the best one of all.

My thoughts: I loved this one growing up. I loved the repetition. I thought it was a fun story. I didn't--at the time--take the man's conclusion that the trillions of cats ate each other up literally. Is the book violent? Perhaps. Perhaps not. See for yourself.  "They bit and scratched and clawed each other and made such a great noise that the very old man and the very old woman ran into the house as fast as they could. They did not like such quarreling." This one might pair well with Eugene Field's "The Duel." (The gingham dog and the calico cat).

Have you read Millions of Cats? Did you like it? love it? hate it?

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10


© 2018 Becky Laney of Young Readers