Hello Around the World by Sindhu Narasimhan

November 30, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Hello Around the World by Sindhu Narasimhan
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“Hello Around the World: Learn to Say Hello in 20 Languages – A Practical Guide with Pronunciation, Flags, and Traditional Dress for Kids Across Cultures” offers an immersive learning experience for children aged 2-6. This paperback book is designed to open young minds to the richness of global cultures and the power of simple greetings.

Saying hello can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

I appreciated the pronunciation guides for saying hello in all of these different languages. It made it easy to sound them out and practice this greeting with all of the characters I met in this picture book. I was surprised by how many syllables are required for this greeting in some languages as well as how similar some of the answers were depending on which parts of the world they came from and how closely related they were to similar tongues. What a fun discovery that was!

It would have been nice if the children’s names were given the same treatment. While I already knew how to pronounce some of them, others weren’t so familiar to me. Knowing someone’s name is such an important part of socializing and learning about other cultures, so I wish there had been some assistance here as well. I would have chosen a higher rating if this had been included.

This little book was the perfect length for toddlers or young preschoolers. Those aren’t always easy ages to write for by any means, so I commend the author for condensing his messages about kindness, inclusion, and learning small pieces of new languages down to something that can be read in a few short minutes and adapted to even the shortest attention spans. What a good job he did with that. I look forward to seeing what he might come up with next.

Hello Around the World made me smile.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Garden of Lost Socks by Esi Edugyan

November 9, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Garden of Lost Socks by Esi Edugyan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Akosua was always told she was too nosy.

Her parents loved her very much, but she always seemed to find trouble.

“Trouble isn’t what I find!” said Akosua. “I’m an Exquirologist. What I find is lost things.”

This big-hearted picture book debut from one of Canada’s brightest literary stars follows Akosua, a budding Exquirologist, as she finds both a new friend and a remarkable world hidden right in her very own community. Acclaimed artist Amélie Dubois adds a layer of magic to Akosua’s charming adventure with her delicate, compelling illustrations.

Each turn of the page pulls readers deeper into Akosua’s journey, daring them to become Exquirologists too, and encouraging them to seek out magic in the mundane!

Any day can be an adventure if it’s approached the right way.

Losing a sock is disappointing, but it’s not something I’ve seen mentioned in a picture book before from what I can recall. Seeing how the author expanded this into such a multi-layered topic that touched so many different families made me want to read more from her. It takes talent to write something like that, and I thought Ms. Edugyan did an excellent job of exploring how people think about socks, why some socks are so special to certain folks, and what happens to articles of clothing that suddenly disappear.

I loved the friendship that Akosua developed with another character in this story. They were both curious and imaginative kids who loved to explore every inch of their neighborhood and come up with ideas for what to talk about in the letters he sent home to his nana basia. The fact that they were willing to do everything from crawl on the ground to visit the local laundromat to find out what was happening made me smile. What a good team these two were!

Kindness was woven into every scene of this tale. Akosua and her family had clearly moved into a welcoming area, and I enjoyed seeing how all of the adults quietly kept an eye on the children who roamed around the block in search of adventure. Their gentle care was reflected in how the younger members of this community also treated others compassionately. I can’t go into specific details about how this happened, but I can say that it was heartwarming and provided a beautiful ending to something I was already thrilled to read.

Garden of Lost Socks was a cozy and sweet look at city life. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Survival by Shirley Bigelow DeKelver

November 6, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Survival by Shirley Bigelow DeKelver
Climate of Fire Book 1
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The year is 2045, global warming escalates, and wildfires are rampant. Vancouver has been devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. Those who have survived have moved north or taken up residence at Little Mountain, the highest point in the city. Food and water are scarce, there are more violent storms and rising temperatures. The ashfall from the volcanoes increases daily, making it difficult to breathe. Four young adults, Taylor West, Carlie Fleming, Mai-Li Wong, and Willie Arbuckle, and three children, twin brothers Rusty and Eddie Coleman, and Debbie, who has Downs Syndrome, have gravitated together, forming a motley crew of survivors, living in constant fear of the violent gangs.

Making a life-saving decision, they decide to walk to the Interior, hoping to find a better life. Inexperienced, they face unknown obstacles, daily hardships, and hunger. Traveling across the devastated Wastelands is fraught with danger with unexpected complications making the journey more treacherous than they ever imagined. Reaching a sanctuary and indeed their very survival hangs in the balance. Relationships are tested time and again. What will remain strong and what will shatter?

Nothing is guaranteed in this dangerous, new world.

Compassion can be expressed in many different ways. I enjoyed seeing how the characters wrestled with the thought of what total strangers should do for each other in a crisis and how much someone should be expected to risk their own safety to help others who may be injured, young, or helpless. These aren’t questions that have black and white answers in most cases, but they are good jumping-off points for all sorts of discussions about many of the scenes in this book. Sometimes I found myself wishing I’d read this as a part of a book club so I could discuss my thoughts on what certain characters should or shouldn’t have done in specific situations with other readers!

The main characters made odd and illogical decisions that I struggled to understand. For example, Carlie was given the chance to be rescued by the military in one of the earliest scenes, but she decided to hide instead for reasons that were never clear to me. This was the first of many examples of characters refusing to do simple things that would make their already-difficult lives easier without explaining why they thought those choices were the right ones. I don’t expect teenagers to always think things through the way an adult would, but this pattern of picking the hardest option for no reason happened so often that it did reduce my enjoyment of the plot in general.

I enjoyed the strong, steady pacing. Carlie and her companions regularly had new problems to solve on their journey whether they were minor ones like disagreements between certain characters or major ones like not having enough food or water. There was never a good time for me to stop reading and do something else. That’s the sort of conundrum I always like to have when I’m reading as it means that the author planned everything out evenly and made sure that their audience would have plenty of things to think about when we did eventually need to take a break and do something else.

Survival was adventurous.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Uncategorized, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

The Christmassy Cactus by Beth Ferry

November 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Christmassy Cactus by Beth Ferry
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Tiny Cactus loves Christmas!

But she doesn’t love that her little girl seems to be spending more time with the giant sparkly tree in the living room than with her. Maybe if she were decorated like the Christmas tree, her little girl would notice her again.

And so Tiny Cactus makes a wish—to be special, to be noticed, to be a part of the magic of Christmas. With the support of her friend and some Christmas magic, Tiny Cactus learns that wishes can come true if you believe hard enough.

It’s not really Christmas until everyone is included.

Jealousy comes in many forms, but it generally isn’t talked about in books about this holiday in my experience. I liked the fact that the author acknowledged how celebrations can accidentally leave some people – or cacti – out of the fun and what someone should do if they feel like they’re being left behind. This was a thoughtful exploration of how to deal with a difficult emotion and how to think the best of others even if their actions sting a little.

I was surprised by the fact that no one in this story thought to decorate Tiny Cactus, especially given how much she was loved by her little girl. When I was a child, I put small, light decorations on my family’s house plants at Christmas time. It would have been nice to know why these characters didn’t think of that solution as it was a pretty simple fix for the conflict.

One of the other things I liked about this tale was how realistic it is. Other than the fact that the cactus could talk, everything else was firmly rooted in what could really happen that would make the holiday season more memorable for everyone involved without requiring the intervention of anyone wearing a red suit and passing by in a magical sleigh. This is an uncommon choice for this genre, but it worked really well for the subject matter.

The Christmassy Cactus was heartwarming.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? by Mac Barnett

October 31, 2023 By Leave a Comment


How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? by Mac Barnett
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When Santa arrives at a child’s house on Christmas Eve, does he go down the chimney feetfirst or headfirst? What if he gets stuck? What if there’s no chimney? Maybe he slides under the door, as thin as a piece of paper? Or is it possible he pours himself through the faucet? What happens once he’s inside? Whether it’s shape-shifting or impromptu laundry use, Mac Barnett’s iconic talent for earnest deadpan humor and Jon Klassen’s irresistibly funny art honor the timeless question with answers both ridiculous and plausible, mounting in hilarity as the night continues. Channeling a child’s fanciful explanations (and begging for further speculation), this latest collaboration by a New York Times best-selling team will find a secure spot among family holiday traditions.

A little magic is all Santa needs.

The creativity of this tale made me chuckle. I laughed out loud at an early scene showing the reindeer gently lowering Santa into a chimney head first, and the answers to this riddle only grew wilder from there. They reminded me of the way small children think about the world and how they can sometimes expect large things like a person to magically fit into small spaces with a little effort. It was delightful that the authors were able to tap into this portion of childhood and really dig deeply into the wacky side of how Christmas Eve visits from a magical elf might work.

As amused as I was by the premise, I would have liked to see a bit more character and plot development. Almost all of the pages were dedicated to coming up with all sorts of ways that Santa may enter homes even if there’s no chimney to climb down. I kept expecting the narrator to eventually share a solution that seemed more likely than the rest, and I was a little disappointed when that never happened.

With that being said, I did appreciate how the author wrote this to appeal to all sorts of children. Whether a little one wholeheartedly believes in Santa, is skeptical about the idea but still hopes it is true, or doesn’t believe at all, there were scenes in here to amuse a wide variety of audiences. I should note that this could easily prompt kids to discuss their differing beliefs about Santa if this is read in a mixed group of opinions, but I think that can be a good thing for everyone involved if handled well. Differences should be celebrated, not ignored!

How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? was a cute and cheeky read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween by Helen C. Johannes

October 10, 2023 By 1 Comment


The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween by Helen C. Johannes
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Meet the Dis’Aster Family!

The kids are creative. The parents are outnumbered. And the pets, well, they’re unusual.

When the kids decide to enter a Halloween costume contest, what could possibly go wrong?

Come along for the ride. Can Halloween survive?

Spooky season is coming, and some folks are more ready for it than others are.

It’s always nice to see large, happy families in children’s stories. I don’t come across this sort of family very often these days, and I was intrigued by how all of the siblings might get along. Luckily, I soon discovered plenty of examples of the ways they played together and hints about what they thought about having lots of brothers and sisters. It was heartwarming to get to know the Dis’Asters and see how they tackled all sorts of things that are more complicated when you have more relatives to think about.

I would have liked to see more plot development. The first half or so of this picture book was spent introducing the many members of the Dis’Aster family and sharing their hobbies. As helpful as it was to know who everyone was, this also meant that there wasn’t as much time to show how they spent their Halloween as I was expecting. Given how important that holiday was to them, I was surprised by the smaller amount of space that ended up being saved for it.

This read like something a child would come up with if he or she were telling it. Tapping into the imaginative ways kids think can be difficult for adults, so I tip my cap to Ms. Johannes for pulling it off so well. Creativity was infused into scenes that many adult readers might assume would turn out a different way instead. I smiled every time the characters once again did something I wasn’t expecting them to do.

The Dis’Aster Family’s Halloween was an exciting ride.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Skull by Jon Klassen

October 5, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Skull by Jon Klassen
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Holiday, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jon Klassen’s signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit—with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note—The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.

Would you spend the night in a haunted house?

Otilla was a brave girl who I quickly grew to like. She was kind and sweet even when she was afraid. That’s not always an easy thing to accomplish, so it made me more curious to learn about where she came from and why she was running away from something that frightened her in the first scene. The more I learned about her, the more I wanted to know.

Some of the scenes in this picture book were pretty intense, especially since this was rated for ages 4 and older. I would be hesitant to read this with younger kids without first figuring out how much horror they can handle. Certainly some of them would love it, but I also felt that the talking skull’s biggest fear in life was much darker than what is typically written for preschoolers and elementary-aged readers.

Otilla’s friendship with the skull was sweet. Both of them had pasts they didn’t want to talk about and seemed to find difficult. It was rewarding to watch them figure out they had this in common and decide they were going to protect each other. Few things are better than having a friend who behaves so loyally!

I would have loved to see more character and plot development. The eerie setting had a nice Halloween vibe, but there weren’t a lot of explanations about who the skull was when it was alive and still had the rest of its body or how they were connected to the grand old mansion that was now slowly falling apart. As an adult, I was able to make certain assumptions about what the author might have meant based on subtle context clues, but I don’t think a lot of kids would necessarily pick up on enough of them to make sense of everything without help.

With that being said, I did enjoy the scenes that explained what the skull could and couldn’t do. For example, it could taste tea, but it could not keep tea inside of its mouth because it didn’t have a body or a stomach to digest it. There were multiple examples like this, and each one made me smile as I added more details to my mental file of what this character’s abilities and limitations were.

The Skull was a spooky Halloween read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

How to Hug a Cactus by Emily S. Smith

October 4, 2023 By Leave a Comment


How to Hug a Cactus by Emily S. Smith
Publisher: Larrikin House
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How do you hug a cactus? I’d really like to know. You see, I love my cactus, and my hugs will help it grow. A young girl explores the possibilities of hugging her most favourite plant, a cactus. With a little help from her family members and a gardening guru, she tries a number of solutions to help solve her prickly problem, all with varying degrees of success. How to Hug a Cactus is a story that will ‘stick’ with many readers.

Cacti need love, too!

Trying to figure out how the world works is an important part of childhood. If people and animals like hugs, why wouldn’t a cactus as well? I loved the main character’s explanations of why she wanted to hug her cactus so badly and how she planned to do so without getting poked by its stiff spikes. This sounded like exactly the sort of stage of life that kids often go through more than once as they grow up, and I loved the quirkiness of it all.

The protagonist was surrounded by supportive family members who had many different suggestions of ways to wrap the cactus up so that she could hug it without getting hurt. It was heartwarming for them to take this new interest of hers so seriously and to keep giving her ideas when the previous ones didn’t work. This is exactly how all families should behave, and I wanted to hug all of them for being so encouraging.

Reading the final scene convinced me that this was a five-star story for sure. While I loved the beginning and middle, too, the twist at the end fit into this world so well that I chuckled and wished for a sequel. It wrapped up the main conflict while leaving a lot of room for readers to wonder about how the main character was going to solve her new dilemma. If the author ever decides to write it, I’d sure like to find out what happens next.

How to Hug a Cactus was utterly adorable.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Witch & Wombat by Ashley Belote

September 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Witch & Wombat by Ashley Belote
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Every witch will want a wombat after reading this humorous picture book perfect for little readers who want a new pet!

Wilma, a young witch, cannot wait to get her very first cat! But when the pet store is fresh out of kittens, Wilma brings home. . . a wombat?! What a CAT-astrophe! A wombat is nothing like a cat, but maybe if Wilma puts cat ears on the little critter, no one will notice. . . . (Spoiler alert: they do.)

This bright and fun picture book teaches young witches that our differences can be our strengths when we have an open mind!

Witches know exactly what they need…right?

This tale had a playful sense of humor that worked well for the surprises that sometimes come up during the spookiest time of year. I chuckled as I peered closer at certain funny illustrations and read other lines a second time for the sheer joy of it. Wilma was delightful, and her silly attempts to make her new pet act more like a cat couldn’t have been better. Halloween and humor aren’t mixed together very often, so it was heartwarming to see them included in the same storyline here.

I found myself wishing that the storekeeper had explained to Wilma why he thought a wombat was an acceptable substitute for the cat she had ordered. Did he make a mistake with the order form from his supplier? Were wombats a common pet to order from his store? Why didn’t he ask her in advance what she thought of this solution? The logic there never made sense to me, and it detracted from an otherwise enjoyable story.

With that being said, I did appreciate the messages about making the best of things, respecting differences, having a good sense of humor, and being flexible about your plans. These are lessons that many adults often need to learn just as much as kids do, so this is something that can appeal to readers of all ages. Life may not always turn out the way we like, but the plot twists in it might end up being even better than what we originally hoped for!

Witch & Wombat was a cute Halloween read.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War by David Scott Richardson

September 19, 2023 By Leave a Comment


River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War by David Scott Richardson
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

ADVENTURE. HISTORY. AWAKENING. Life is good for high school senior Alex Haugen. He has a group of buddies to fish the Nisqually River with, his membership on the football team guarantees status with his peers, and he’s recently set his sights on Amanda Schneider – an engaging blend of brains, beauty, and personality. He’s beginning to think that the lead cheerleader and star lineman go together like burgers and fries.

Learning that his dad participated in the latest fishing raid at Frank’s Landing, Alex’s curiosity is piqued. The more he reads, the more he realizes how little he knows about the deep-rooted conflict between the Washington State Game Department and local tribes. The state claims the right to enforce conservation measures and the tribes claim that their treaty rights supersede state regulations.

Alex has strong convictions about conservation but wonders if there’s more to the story. Indian netting can’t be the only reason fish are in decline. Strident and entrenched certainties dominate both sides of the fishing controversy, and Alex begins to resent that a side may have been chosen for him at birth.

Chancing conflict with his dad – an officer with the game department – Alex’s quest for understanding rouses discovery of his own voice and the courage to stand apart from his parents and peers. Along the way, he befriends Charlie McCallister, a Nisqually Indian his dad arrested in a raid.

Amanda, whose mom does pro bono work for the tribe, is a social justice warrior at heart. As the fish war heats up, her readiness to support the tribe clashes with Alex’s reluctance to rock the boat with his father and threatens to drive a wedge in their blossoming romance.

Charlie, Amanda, and the Nisqually River form the key catalysts for Alex’s awakening as the story unfolds against the backdrop of a nation gripped by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the seismic tunes of rock ‘n roll.

Sometimes change is painfully slow.

The last year or two of high school can be such an exciting and restless time in life. Soon classes will end and everyone will go their separate ways in life. This was a quieter portion of the storyline in the beginning, but it grew more and more enjoyable and meaningful as Alex and his friends inched closer towards graduation and the many different paths they all would take. Mr. Richardson captured this stage in life nicely, and it has made me curious to see what else he may write in the future.

I struggled with the slow pacing of this novel. Most of the plot and character development was released gradually and between scenes that didn’t always seem to push anything forward. As interesting as the descriptions of nature and the small town setting were, there were so many of them that they were distracting for me as a reader as well. In my opinion, this would have been a stronger story if some of those scenes were trimmed down to either shorten the length of this in general or to provide more space for action scenes.

Racism is a complex topic, especially for teens like Alex who hadn’t spent much time thinking about how race can impact everything from how a student is treated by his or her peers to what sorts of jobs someone might be encouraged or discouraged to apply for. The historical setting amplified these themes as well given that societal expectations of what should and shouldn’t be said about race can shift a lot from one decade to the next. I appreciated how much effort the author put into developing this portion of the plot and showing how even a kind and sensitive kid like Alex can still have misconceptions about race and culture.

River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War was a thought-provoking read.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »