Posts

#MMGM: Emma McKenna, Full Out by Kate Messner & Rohan Murthy Has a Plan by Rajani LaRocca

Image
  EMMA MCKENNA, FULL OUT The Kids in Mrs. Z's Class #1 written by Kate Messner, illustrated by Algonquin Young Readers, 2024 ISBN: 9781523525737  Ages 7-10 Early middle grade realistic fiction Source: publisher for review All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. REVIEW Emma looks forward to attending her new school, Curiosity Academy with her new teacher, Mrs. Z. Until her former friend turned arch enemy, Lucy shows up in the same classroom.  Emma wants to make friends but after an unfortunate incident between her and Lucy that resulted in an unpleasant nickname, she's wary. Friendships can be tricky things as Emma discovers as she wrestles with her conundrum. In addition to the friendship concerns, Emma wants to participate in helping her school choose a mascot for the school, but she absolutely doesn't want to get up on the stage to present her suggestion. Can Emma find a way through her friendship concerns to h

INTERVIEW WITH HAYLEY & JOHN ROCCO including a review of Hello, I'm a Quokka

Image
https://www.meetthewildthings.com/ Many thanks to HAYLEY & JOHN ROCCO for taking time out of their busy schedule to answer a few questions! INTERVIEW • Reading is ….one of the greatest ways to not only expand your mind, but your perspectives and viewpoints, as well. It’s an opportunity to see how others think and feel, which naturally inspires empathy. • I hope our books will ….Inspire empathy for these fascinating endangered animals in young readers, and if we’re so lucky, maybe even motivate them to take action or pursue a career in the conservation sector they’re excited about. • How did your series come about?  When I was young, I loved animals so much, I wanted to be Dr. Doolittle and Dr. Jane Goodall all in one. While I was researching for Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough, I really became aware of just how many of our beloved creatures were on the brink of extinction. I learned that the most trafficked animal in the world was the beloved pangolin, and I

PICTURE BOOK REVIEW: Cookie Time by Jessie Sima

Image
  COOKIE TIME written and illustrated by Jessie Sima Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024 ISBN: 978-1-6659-3674-3 Source: publisher for review Ages 4-8 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK From the New York Times bestselling creator of Not Quite Narwhal comes a tasty picture book about two kids who get into time travel shenanigans while trying to skip waiting for cookies to bake!Kat and Ari love cookie time, their special tradition with Grandpa and his dog, Biscuit. It’s always fun and oh, so delicious! But waiting for the cookies to be ready is so hard. What better way to skip to the good part than a time machine? The two plan to jump a little into the future, to when the cookies are out of the oven, but they overshoot and go way too far ahead! And when Kat and Ari try to return, they still can’t get the timing right. They have fun meeting prehistoric dinosaurs, futuristic robot

CYBILS GRAPHIC NOVEL NOMINEE: Homebody by Theo Parish

Image
  HOMEBODY written and illustrated by Theo Parish HarperAlley, 2024 ISBN: 978-0-06-331959-2 Source: public library Ages 14 and up YA Memoir All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK In their comics debut, Theo Parish masterfully weaves an intimate and defiantly hopeful memoir about the journey one nonbinary person takes to find a home within themself. Combining traditional comics with organic journal-like interludes, Theo takes us through their experiences with the hundred arbitrary and unspoken gender binary rules of high school, from harrowing haircuts and finally the right haircut to the intersection of gender identity and sexuality—and through tiny everyday moments that all led up to Theo finding the term “nonbinary,” which finally struck a chord. “Have you ever had one of those moments when all of a sudden things become clear…like someone just turned on a light?” A whole spectrum of people wi

EARLY GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: A Newcomer in Pocketville (Monti and Leo) by Sylvie Kantorovitz

Image
  A NEWCOMER IN POCKETVILLE Monti and Leo #1 written and illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz Walker Books, 2024 ISBN: 978-1-5362-2277-7 Source: purchased Ages 6-9 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK A charming early reader in graphic form draws on the classic theme of friendship to show that being new—or different—doesn’t have to mean being lonely. Pocketville is a small town, set in its ways, and the arrival of a stranger causes a stir. Monti the mole is stunned one morning to find Leo the lizard hogging his special reading rock. When Monti visits the bakery and the library, he learns that the last cinnamon roll has been purchased, and the book he was waiting for has been checked out. What’s a fastidious mole to do? When Monti confronts Leo, the newcomer turns out to be agreeable in the extreme, and friendship is a given. Now to convince the town’s cantankerous baker, Ms. Sheep, to stop turning ev

WILD & WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY: Narwhal, Unicorn of the Arctic by Candace Fleming & Deena So'oteh

Image
  NARWHAL, UNICORN OF THE ARCTICE written by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Deena So'Oteh A nne Schwartz books, 2024 ISBN: 978-0-593-37778-9 Source: Blue Slip Media & publisher Ages 6-10 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com & Blue Slip Media. ABOUT THE BOOK Venture to the Arctic Ocean and discover real life underwater unicorns--narwhals--in this stunningly illustrated nonfiction picture book.You are a narwhal. Shy... Swift... Small... Humans call you unicorn of the Arctic.When winter ice covers the Arctic Ocean, a narwhal pokes his head through a patch of open water, his tusk--a six-foot long tooth--pointed to the sky.Join this mammal as he jousts with another narwhal, floats with his pod, and uses echolocation to find his prey. When warmer weather arrives, he will migrate towards summer ground. But he must be careful! Predators--orcas and polar bears--will be hungry and looking for a meal.... Ho

PICTURE BOOK REVIEW: Leo's First Vote by Christina Soontornvat & Isabel Roxas

Image
  LEO'S FIRST VOTE written by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Isabel Roxas Alfred A. Knopf, 2024 ISBN: 978-0-593-64426-3 Source: purchased Ages 4-8 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK Get out the vote! In this kid-friendly picture book introduction to voting and elections, Leo's father teaches him about the importance of every single vote, and how to use their voices to uplift their community. Leo's dad is voting in his first election as a naturalized US citizen, and he promises to take Leo to the polls with him. Leo can't wait! But, after his cousin Ray casts doubt on the importance of a single vote, it'll take Leo's class mock election results, as well as a talk with his dad to convince him that each and every vote matters. This lively picture book shows us how citizens decide who will be in charge, hitting key moments in an election, from voter registration to

CYBILS GRAPHIC NOVEL NOMINEE: Ink Girls by Marieke Nijamp & Sylvia Bi

Image
INK GIRLS written by Marieke Nijkamp, illustrated by Sylvia Bi Greenwillow Books, 2023 ISBN:  978-0-06-302710-7 Source: purchased Ages 9-12 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK Every secret is a story waiting to happen. From New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp and illustrator Sylvia Bi, this debut middle grade graphic novel celebrates the power that everyone—even those often overlooked—has to create change. In a vibrant city, two girls from very different walks of life join forces to fight censorship and protect the people they love. Eleven-year-old Cinzia is a printer’s apprentice. She adores Mestra Aronne for taking her in—most guilds don’t have room for apprentices with a crippled leg—and she loves life in the raggedy workshop that smells of paper and printing, where secrets and stories are always circulating. So when Mestra Aronne is imprisoned for publishing accusations against

WILD & WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY: Life After Whale by Lynn Brunelle & Jason Chin

Image
LIFE AFTER WHALE The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall written by Lynn Brunelle, illustrated by Jason Chin Neal Porter Books, 2024 ISBN: 978-0-8234-5228-6 Source: purchased Ages 6-10 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK Follow a blue whale’s enormous body to the bottom of the ocean, where it sets the stage for a bustling new ecosystem to flourish. All living things must one day die, and Earth’s largest creature, the majestic blue whale, is no exception. But in nature, death is never a true ending. When this whale closes her eyes for the last time in her 90-year life, a process known as whale fall is just beginning. Her body will float to the surface, then slowly sink through the deep; from inflated behemoth to clean-picked skeleton, it will offer food and shelter at each stage to a vast diversity of organisms, over the course of a century and beyond. Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin’s astonishing

CYBILS GRAPHIC NOVEL NOMINEE: Snow and Sorcery by Chad Sell, et. al.

Image
 As a member of the 2025 Cybils Graphic Novel panel I will be reading many great graphic novels in the next couple of months, so I will be posting quite a few reviews for those books. These are my opinions only and do not represent the views of the group. SNOW AND SORCERY Cardboard Kingdom #3 illustrated by Chad Sell, contributing authors: Jay Fuller-Ng, David DeMeo, Katie Schenkel, Vid Alliger, Manuel Betancourt, Barbara Perez Marquez, and Jasmine Walls Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2023 ISBN: 9780593481622  Source: eBook from public library Ages 8-12 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK The kids of the Cardboard Kingdom go on a new adventure! This time, they are in search of new friends—but what they discover is a lot more like enemies ... It’s winter break in the Cardboard Kingdom, and kids from the town across the park want to play together! But according to the evil Sorceress, not just a