Deb Nance
Abdul has lots of stories to tell, but he has trouble with writing and spelling—trouble just in getting the words down on paper. Then a real author comes to Abdul's school and shares his own troubles in getting the words down on paper.
A child learns that his stories have value even when he isn't good with knowing and following all the little rules of grammar and structure.
Doris' twenty-six children—yes, one for every letter of the alphabet—give her a lot of grief. But that's just what you might expect from the offspring of a gharial. But Doris knows a lot about young gharial and she just might know how to get these dear delinquents under control again.
The charm of this book is in seeing the twenty-six different ways that twenty-six different children can stir up trouble and in the wonderful illustrations.
It's always a happy day when the Pigeon is back with a new book. This time the Pigeon is making plans to ride the roller coaster. This is a more mature Pigeon than we have seen in years past, carefully anticipating what he needs to do—obtain a ticket, wait in line, ride a scary roller coaster—in order to realize his dream. And he carefully goes through the steps he's anticipated...only to find the roller coaster is...well...a little less roller-y and coaster-y than he'd hoped...but, nonetheless, quite fun.
Award-winning illustrator Dapo Adeola and eighteen other Black illustrators to celebrate the ways Black children can make their way through the difficulties and challenges that racism creates in our world.
The illustrations are vibrant and poignant and the words feel like they are aimed directly at the reader. Powerful.
Oh, golly, I loved this one. It's a counting book, and we are counting fruit...
Well, mostly fruit. As our narrator tells us, nothing really rhymes with figs. Can we blame the poor narrator when he resorts to throwing a few animals in there?
But when we will we get to bananas?!
I am looking forward to read this one to kids!
The Black Panther Party! As a child and as a young person, I was terrified of the Black Panther Party as they were presented to me on the nightly news. Armed. Angry. They were shown to me as Very Scary People.
How different is this account of the party! The book tells the story of the formation of the party to combat police violence against Blacks and to promote pride in Blacks. The party rapidly gains new members despite having some of the key members jailed or killed, and it accomplished many of its goals. But then it began to decline and was finally dissolved.
A well-told and well-researched tale of an activist group that arose out of the movements of the sixties.
When Kylie goes to visit her Amah so far away, Kylie feels shy at first. Slowly, she becomes more comfortable with her grandmother. That's basically the story, but the book is really so much more than that.
Amah Faraway is full of the lovely details—foods, places, experiences, language—of Amah's life in Taiwan. And the structure of the book is beautifully symmetrical. It's a charming story.
Tama and George have been sent to live in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. Tama runs the library, and George comes to the library every day. Before long, they begin to talk and soon they marry.
Along with the terrible parts of being incarcerated during the war comes happiness, too.
A little story based on the true stories of the author's grandparents.
“Shimmy shimmy, no-sashay!”
Little Worm is walking along with a song stuck in his head. Who put that song in his head?
It's not Owl. His song goes, “Wave, wave, talking to the wing!”
It's not Chipmunk. His song goes, “Chee, chee, chitter-ee!”
It's not Bunny. Her song goes, “Hip, hop, thump-jump!”
It's not Fox. Her song goes, “Trot to me! Rah-rah, trot to me!”
And soon everyone was dancing and singing.
I bet kids will be dancing and singing, too. And making up their own ear worms. A delight.
Lizzy foregoes carousels and puppet shows in order to buy herself an old-fashioned cloud who she names Milo. She carefully follows the instructions for her young cloud, and together Lizzy and Milo spend many happy days together. But then the time comes when Milo must venture out on his own, and Lizzy must find a way to let him go.
Just what we have come to expect from the fabulous Fan Brothers, with a gentle, thoughtful story and buoyant illustrations.
Elsie is thrilled that soon she will be going to a dance with her Daddy. She's been practicing swaying in her wheelchair and she's picked out the perfect dress. Using a book filled with pictures and with gestures and smiles, Elsie lets her family know how excited she is. But then comes the snow...will the dance be cancelled?
Dancing with Daddy is a beautiful story of the joys of going to a dance for a child.
The less I say about this book, the better, I think.
Some spoilers, possibly, but I wish I'd known these things going in.
I didn't expect to love Love Hypothesis, but I didn't expect to dislike parts of it either. I disliked parts of it. I didn't believe the Adam Carlsen who was so horrible to his students (His parents were diplomats! He had had a cruel mentor and then he became one?!) I didn't see that the kissing strategy Olive employed in the opening chapter would be justified or even work. Sitting on Adam's lap? Really? At a scientific meeting? Tom's shift in personality? And making Adam a buff athletic superman scientist? Too much. But the real topper for me was the porn scene in the book. Did I want that bedroom door opened? No, I did not.
These are all just my very own opinions, and you may think about things completely different from me. But...very disappointing. Adam Carlsen believed in being honest with students who weren't cutting it, saying there are too many bad scientists out there already. Well, I believe the same way about authors.
Julian Warner thinks about the stories he'd like to tell his child about family. Lone Stars is a collection of stories about Julian's extended family, with stories about his grandparents, his parents, and the family of his spouse. The stories—Julian's father's time in Vietnam, Julian's mother's time at UT, the marriage of Julian's parents, Julian's growing up years, Julian's dad's affair—explain a lot about the family and its dynamics. And the stories help Julian come to know what he wants out of the new life he's creating with his husband and child.
Lots and lots of references to Texas places.
“They say you can spot a true shénnóng-shi by their hands—palms colored by the stain of the earth, fingertips scarred from thorns, a permanent crust of soil and blood darkening the crescents of their nails.
I used to look at my hands with pride.
Now, all I can think is, These are the hands that buried my mother.”
What fantastic opening lines. I was instantly captivated.
Ning has not only just lost her mother, but, even worse, she must live with the fact that her mother died at her hands, drinking poisoned tea that Ning herself prepared. Her sister, too, drank the poisoned tea, and she is dying slowly from the drink.
Ning is determined to find the source of the poisoned tea and bring that person to justice. Then she hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shénnóng-shi, masters of the ancient magical art of tea-making. The winner of the competition will receive a favor from the princess, and this may be Ning's only chance at saving her sister.
A fast-paced story filled with delightful twists and turns and stuffed with an array of fascinating characters. Plus magical tea.
Indira is a human who has been cybernetically augmented, and Fawn is a human-presenting AI. After having an embarrassingly public argument, they have been forced to work together on a project in the art gallery in which they work. Slowly their rivalry begins to evolve.
An intriguing story of the near future.
