PAPER SON by Julie Leung and PIE IN THE SKY by Remy Lai

We had a great meeting with lotsa great 'pot luck' dishes, a terrific discussion, and just fun being together. We began with our picture book, Paper Son by Julie Leung; illustrated by Chris Sasaki. We all felt that this story of Tyrus Wong, a Chinese-American who immigrated to the U.S. as a 'paper son', and went on to become a noted painter in multiple media who created all of the scenery for the 1942 world-famed Bambi film and as an older man a noted maker of Chinese-style 'flying' kites . We all agreed that this was an important story to know, and some were surprised to know of Wong's history with the Walt Disney film. But we had mixed feelings as to the book itself. A couple of readers liked the beginning pages that depicted young Tai Yow's entry at Angel Island and early days as a Chinese immigrant who had to lie about his identity in order to be admitted to the U.S., and whose name was Americanized to "Tyrus" by his teachers in his Sacramento school. We liked how it depicted his early talents in art, and how he used many Chinese art techniques in his work, even as a young boy. But many of us felt that as the story of the events of his life continued it became more 'adulty' with less emotion, and that a better-written story would have been more interesting to young readers. We all liked the illustrations, and were surprised to learn that they had been done digitally by Sasaki. But we did note the emotional feelings they evoked, as well as the very subtle portrayals of the prejudice Wong experienced from the moment he arrived and as he continued to function in the American environment of his time. We wished there had been more about Los Angeles during that time, which is where Wong had settled, as well as more about his family, who were only shown in one photo in the Back Matter of the book. We wanted to know more, and were sorry that the Author's Note basically repeated the story in the book, and provided no more details for readers. We felt that this book would have many uses at different grade levels -- as an introduction to the life of an important Chinese-American artist, and for art teachers or for class discussions related to immigration and the feelings of new immigrants in our country.

We also had mixed feelings about our novel, Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai. Although it had been billed as a 'humorous' book, many of us did not feel there was much humor...except maybe in Lai's 2-color cartoon-like depictions of many scenes in the story between 12-year-old Jingwen and his 9-year-old brother Yanghao, who had been taken by their mother from an unnamed country to Australia after their father, a bakeshop owner, had died in an auto accident. We wished we knew where they came from and why they chose to move to Australia. We liked the fact that the story dealt with the issues of relocation, not knowing English, not really having friends, sibling rivalry, lying to his mom, etc., but -- we felt that this had been done so many times before, and this book added nothing new, and could have been shorter. The crux of the story (and what made it so long) was that the brothers tried to bake the 12 different cakes that Jingwen felt  could honor his father, but we never really knew why. (...and we wished there had been recipes!) Some of those situations were implausible, and details here would make this recap too long also. We felt that by the time we got to the end of the book (which a few readers couldn't even finish) we were tired of the baking scenarios, and the 'climax' of WHY Jingwen wanted to do that was finally revealed. We did, however, agree that young readers would probably like this book, many of whose pages resembled a graphic novel, and that the humor in the illustrations might keep them reading. It wasn't a bad book; just not a thrilling one.

ONCE UPON A BOOK by Grace Lin and Kate Messner and THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN by Gennifer Choldenko

We were all glad that we had two winners for May! We began with our picture book, Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin & Kate Messner. We loved the illustrations and the story of a little girl, Alice (!!) who is bored on a rainy day and is beckoned by a white rabbit to join him inside the pages of a book, where she is invited to 'turn the page and come in' by a variety of animals (and some clouds) who share their humid, rainy, hot, wet, airy, stormy habitats with her. Each page turn leads to another experience in another place, ending up in the sky, close to the moon, but when she has had enough, Alice is invited to a place of coziness and warmth -- home! -- and a loving family and a bowl of dumplings is there waiting for her. We loved how the white rabbit was shown on ever page, as well as the other details in the very brightly-colored gouache paintings.  A couple of readers thought the text wasn't so interesting, but others felt that young readers/listeners would enjoy the repetition and would soon 'join in' as the story progressed. We also felt there were many details in the illustrations that lent themselves to further discussion. This book was seemingly an homage to Alice in Wonderland and Where the Wild Things Are, and we were sure that young readers would enjoy it.

Many of us felt that our novel, The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko, had a very slow start, and looking at the cover illustration we feared it might lead to the (now very common) trope of the travails of middle school. But! -- NO! We were all ultimately captured by this very compelling story of 11-year-old Hank and his 3-year-old sister, 'Boo', whose mother has left and after a week still hasn't returned. The kids are hungry and scared, and the remainder of the story centers around Hank's resourcefulness as he tries to find a way for both of them to be safe, and ultimately to have a good normal life. We thought all of the characters were well-drawn, and we loved the realistic voice that put us inside of Hank's head as his devotion to his little sister and his resilience led him to trust other adults throughout the twists and turns of the plot. A couple of the readers felt that some of he middle part of the story meandered, and perhaps could have been shortened. We thought young readers would stay engaged in this heart-warming, life-affirming story, and that it needed to be on every library shelf, because of its realistic treatment of a situation in which, sadly, many youngsters find themselves today.

DO YOU REMEMBER? by Sydney Smith and STELLA DIAZ HAS SOMETHING TO SAY by Angela Dominguez

At our November meeting we discussed our picture book first, Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith. We all liked so many things about this book: the contrast between 'then' and 'now' as a young boy and his mom go through various memories of their lives after -- as we learn later -- they are no longer living with the dad of the family. We thought the gentle structure of this spare story was perfect for its purpose -- the idea of reliving memories as a bedtime story activity. We agreed that it had quite deep meanings, and appreciated the difference between the mom's and the son's recollections of the same events. The fact that each of their voices was presented in a different color text was quite helpful, and the illustrations helped us to know exactly what each was remembering. A couple of readers experienced this book via YouTube, and it was obvious that it didn't come across as clearly as if one was reading the actual book, since the visual elements were very important to the story, even including the different colors of endpapers: light in the front and dark at the end. We appreciated that the reader was left with the idea that these twol, who now lived in a new place would be making new memories -- helped by many of the pictured articles brought with them from their previous life.

We had differing opinions of our novel, Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez. We all agreed that it was too long, and could have used better editing. After that, our discussion boiled down to this:

Pros: It was a nicely done story (even tho' too long); parts of it were interesting and the characters seemed real; it provided good insight into one particular family while at the same time being a universal story of a timid young girl gaining confidence as the experiences of her life in school and at home and with friends helped her learn more about being in the world and finally feel free to speak her mind.

Cons: The writing felt somewhat tepid and flat -- one reader felt it was boring; another felt the story was not engaging and contained "no engine" and "turgid pacing"; some wondered why this book had received an award for Humor, since they didn't find much funny in it at all.

This discussion was a perfect example of the joy of our book group...the fact that each reader brings something different to the experience, therefore producing different reactions after reading a book. The same is true of young readers, and we felt that some young readers might really like and relate to this book while others would become bored and put it down. ...and so goes the world!

THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WILL NOT CHANGE by Rebecca Stead and FARMHOUSE by Sophie Blackall

We started with our novel, The List of Things That Will Not Change, by Rebecca Stead. We had mixed reactions to this book. A couple of readers liked it a lot -- mostly because of the true-sounding voice of ten-year-old Bea who had many issues to deal with: her parents' divorce, living in two homes, her dad's impending marriage to a man, which would entail a new sister, and also the usual problems that seem huge to kids of that age. We thought all of the different events were described realistically, and liked the fact that even though a gay marriage was involved, this wasn't an "issue book" per se. We liked the co-parenting of her mom and dad, and the other adults in her life who were helpful to her. Other readers felt differently: it was too long; it had too many things to deal with; they could not relate to Bea at all. We felt that many young readers would probably become involved in the story, and that it was a pleasant and comfortable read for them.

We all loved the illustrations in our picture book, Farmhouse, by Sophie Blackwell. We appreciated the detailed depictions of almost everything that was mentioned in the text, as a large farm family (12 children!!) proceeded through the daily work and play on a farm in Upstate New York. We watched time pass as they all grew up and left the farm until only the youngest sibling, "now quite old" finally left. We watched the house and the things inside of it deteriorate, until it was finally 'rescued' by the teller of the story. Some readers felt it was an 'old-fashioned' picture book...with 'real' illustrations that bucked the seemingly current trend of more 'cartoon-like' depictions in books. We thought it would be a good book to share in a 1:1 situation between an adult and a child, where they could point out individual details in the family's possessions, and perhaps compare them with things they were familiar with in their own houses. A couple of readers were not so thrilled with the actual text, which attempted to be poetic, but sometimes wasn't, but we all agreed that the last lines of the story, "...twelve children...loved and grew quite old, where they'll live on, now, in this book that you hold, like your stories will, so long as they're told." This ending created a few lumps in throats. We appreciated the end papers, different in the front and back of the book, which gave the flavor of many of the details in the book, and included a full page AUTHOR'S NOTE in which Stead told all of the details of this farmhouse that she actually bought, researched, and refurbished. We had some discussion about the issue of younger people who grew up on family farms having no interest in continuing their parents' endeavors as farmers, as well as what the loss of these single family farms has done to the food chain of our country. We thought it was a good book, and we were glad we had read it.

A WORK IN PROGRESS by Jarrett Lerner and HOT DOG by Doug Salati

We had a great group and good discussions at our February meeting. We started with our novel, A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. We all mostly had varying degrees of 'Like' for Will's first-person account of his agony that started with his first being called "FAT!" by a bully in fourth grade, and how it continued to affect him even in middle school where he tried to make drastic changes in his eating habits in order to 'fit in' and attract and keep friends. We all remembered the things that had been said to us when we were quite young that continued to bother us many years later. Initially we were all a bit daunted by the 362-page heft of this book, but the format of very short free verse text and many full-page drawings in a facsimile of Will's lined notebook made it a quite speedy read. We thought it was an important story that dealt with bullying, body-shaming, eating disorders, and self-acceptance, along with the usual middle-school angst. We wondered which kids would read it: overweight kids? kids with overweight friends? parents/teachers of overweight kids? We also wondered how an adult might comfortably place this book in the hands of a kid who might really benefit from reading it -- and who also might be able to learn, through the events in Will's story, how to best cope with their own situation and begin to accept themselves for who they really were. We agreed that perhaps presenting it to a whole class would encourage a variety of young readers to at least pick it up and look at it -- and perhaps read the whole thing, given its quick-read/multi-illustrated format. Upon learning more about the author, we were pleased to know that it was his own story, and not just some "...oh! I'll write a popular issue book" situation. We were sure that young readers who started it would definitely want to finish reading the whole book.

We had varying opinions on our picture book, Hot Dog by Doug Salati. One reader was expecting it to be about actual hot dogs, and was disappointed that it was merely about a dog in a big city (probably New York?) who hated the hot summer and the noise and confusion and was thrilled when his owner, who was tuned into his feelings when he plopped himself down in the middle of traffic and refused to budge, took him on a short cruise to a nearby island where he could enjoy the sea breeze, romp on the beach, and cool off in the water and gather pebble and shell treasures to take home. We liked the detailed illustrations, which told most of the story, where the dog himself was portrayed as short, reddish-brown, and yes, sort of 'hot dog-looking'! One reader was not so thrilled with the scant text, and felt that had the text alone been sent to a publisher perhaps it may have not even been published. But we felt it could be a fun read-aloud, and that anyone -- adult or young child -- who had ever spent a hot summer in a big, noisy city could empathize with this nameless hot dog and dream of a wonderful day at the beach.

CINNAMON by Neil Gaiman and THOSE KIDS FROM FAWN CREEK by Erin Entrada Kelly

We all loved Divya Srinivasan's authentic India-themed illustrations of our picture book, Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman. Long ago a Rajah and a Rani had a daughter, princess Cinnamon, who was not only blind, but also did not talk, and they offered a mango grove, a parrot, and a portrait of the Rani's aunt, once a raging beauty, to anyone who could teach their daughter to talk. All failed except for a ferocious tiger, who (amazingly!) could talk, and who taught Cinnamon about pain, fear, and love. It turned out that Cinnamon never talked because she had nothing to say, but learning about the world from the tiger made her want to go away with him "...for a while to further her education." We all loved that! Some of us loved the writing and the humor in the telling, others not so much; some felt the story was too dark, others remarked that most fairy tales have dark elements; some felt it was too simple or too fantastical. The written and illustrated details that made the story enjoyable are too numerous to mention here, but worth a look. We did feel it could be a good read aloud, and could be used with students alongside other traditional tales with similar motifs.

None of us were thrilled with the title of our novel, Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly, the story of a strange newcomer, Orchid, a seemingly ethereal girl, who arrives to join a very entrenched group of 12 seventh graders who have been together since kindergarten in Fawn Creek, a tiny Louisiana town. As Orchid begins to affect the long-held behaviors of the other kids via her positive attitude, everything seems to be thrown into turmoil. The story, told from many points of view, deals with several of the usual issues among kids of this age: cliques, 'mean girls,' crushes, friendship, gender roles, bullying, lying, etc. etc. etc. Some readers thought the different points of view as the story progressed were confusing, but others pointed out that the drawings at the beginning (as if on a yearbook page) made it easier to figure out who each kid was, and why each of their descriptions/actions/feelings made sense. Some thought that it would have been good to read Orchid's point of view also, but that never arose. Some thought it was a psychological study of kids' thinking/reactions at that age but not so thrilling to read. Others felt that young readers in the target group would certainly relate, and that it was a quick read, including moments of suspense, which kids would also like.

THE GREAT ZAPFINO by Mac Barnett and THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM by Christopher Paul Curtis

We began our discussion with our picture book, The Great Zapfino (2022) by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Marla Frazee. We all loved the black Prismacolor pencil illustrations, which actually served as the main vehicle to tell this story, which begins with a very few words as "the Great Zapfino" -- a young man/boy (?) climbs a 10-story ladder at the circus, walks out on a platform and then prepares to dive down onto a trampoline. BUT WAIT! -- where is Zapfino? It seems that he got scared and disappeared and after a taxi/airplane/taxi ride ends up taking a job as an elevator operator at a seaside hotel. He even gets his own apartment on the tenth floor! The bulk of the story is told with large and small very sensitive and expressive drawings which show young Zapfino's daily life as it passes between work and making toast and sleeping in a chair at home. The expressions on the faces of the elevator riders are bored/happy/excited/inquisitive/celebratory/amorous/and more, but the expression on Zapfino's face is always...sad. When Zapfino falls asleep in his chair as his burning toaster sets the apartment on fire, he runs to the window, and -- his courage returns and he jumps! he twists! he turns! he dives!-- straight into the firefighters' net. He is a hero! ...and now -- at the very end -- he is smiling as he stands beside his elevator door with a big Z on the front of his uniform! Behold the Great Zapfino! We mostly liked the story as Zapfino found his courage, and did it for himself -- without help from anyone. We thought this might be a good message for young readers. But one reader felt that perhaps it might not be so good for young kids to see the actions in this book. Perhaps it needed a "Do NOT try this at home" disclaimer. We were unsure that it would work as a read-aloud, but felt that youngsters would individually enjoy really exploring all of the visuals as the pictures told the story.

We chose our novel, the Newbery Honor book The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, to see if it still held up 28 years after its original 1995 publication. We decided that it basically does. We all liked10-year-old Kenny's voice as he introduces us to his family by commenting on their lives, daily activities, personal quirks, and some family history. When Kenny's 13-year-old brother Byron, who Kenny describes as an "official juvenile delinquent" has some problems, it is decided that the family will drive from their home in Flint, MI to Birmingham, AL so By can live for a while with his Grandma who will certainly ' 'straighten him out'. It's a long ride, with various incidents, conversations, music, and events that solidify the family further. There is suspense as we learn that on Sunday a "bomb has been dropped" on the church where younger sister Joey has gone -- all dressed up -- to Sunday school, and then Kenny finds her shoe on the street near the church. We thought that it was important for today's middle-grade readers (age 10+) to be aware of this atrocity that occurred on September 15, 1963 at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham where the KKK planted the bomb that killed four young girls: three who were 15, and one who was 11 years old. We thought the family's reunion back at Grandma's home at the end left a good feeling for the reader. We appreciated that Curtis included an Epilogue, which gave the reader a short historical perspective on conditions in the U.S. South in 1963 and the Civil Rights Movement which was an outgrowth. A couple of readers felt that the story took too long to actually get to Birmingham (since that was the title) while others thought that really getting to know Kenny and his family made the climax and the ending of the book better. We agreed that it was a good read for the designated age group, and that today's kids might want to give it a look.

PAPA LOVES YOU, TINY BLUE by Jo Empson and SPY SCHOOL by Stuart Gibbs

 

Our October meeting was a hybrid with three of our members joining us remotely on Zoom. We began with our picture book, Papa Loves You, Tiny Blue by Jo Empson. We all loved this sparely and beautifully told story of Papa Penguin and his very cute baby, Tiny Blue, who had A LOT of questions as they walked along the beach and swam in the ocean. We agreed that anyone one who has had experience with an inquisitive toddler (including the toddlers themselves!) could relate as Papa very simply and clearly explained the wonders of the world around them and the sea in which they swam – until – he finally said, “Aren’t you tired yet?” We loved the ending as Papa answered the final question, “What is love?” We also loved the lush, mostly bluish and pinkish illustrations throughout, which in many places felt very ‘wet’ – especially when they were exploring the underwater areas. We also liked the addendum page at the very end that explained fairy penguins, the smallest in the world, and gave very simple, scientifically true answers to some of Tiny Blue's questions. We felt that this was a great read-aloud/bedtime story that all would enjoy.

We had a 50/50 split in our reactions to our novel, Spy School by Stuart Gibbs. Half of us thought at first that the book would be really great, due to the title and the chapter headings, along with the military-seeming format telling the location, date, and time of the incidents in each chapter. But sadly, these readers were disappointed due to what they felt was a lack of characterization, too much violence, references that they felt were beyond the knowledge of the 8-12-year old targeted readers, and some plot situations that were just too convoluted to tolerate. Those of us who liked this book more appreciated 12-year-old Ben, the protagonist, who, after being brought to the Spy School as a ruse to catch an internal mole, turned out to be a very smart and intuitive thinker and problem solver, even as he was cast into various scary episodes of intrigue along with the usual middle-school angst common in novels for this age group: friends, girls, relating to teachers, food, etc. We also appreciated the fact that the ‘smartest person in the room’ was the very aloof and brilliant Erica, who had an answer and a solution for almost every situation that arose. Even though we didn’t love all of the weapons and violence, we felt that young readers would enjoy reading this first installment (published in 2012) in what is now a series of ten books, and many of us were interested in possibly reading more ourselves to see what happens to Ben, and whether the author’s style and plot ideas have changed at all, given current issues with school violence, guns, relating to authority, and attitudes of today’s youth toward sex. We had a very interesting discussion, and our differences of opinion are part of why we love our group!

DOUBLE BASS BLUES by Andrea J. Loney and WHEN WINTER ROBESON CAME by Brenda Woods

We began our April discussion with our picture book, Double Bass Blues, by Andrea J. Loney; illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. We unanimously loved the vibrantly colored, action-packed, and symbolic illustrations -- including the front and back endpapers -- in this book, which were mostly the vehicle for telling the story. Double-bass player Little Nic -- after being hailed as a star in his school orchestra -- has to lug his clumsy, heavy bass on a bus from school to his granddaddy's house. The many details in the illustrations tell the story and also cause readers to be very observant. On the way, Nic's many experiences are shown by various painted sound words, some of which are made by his clunky bass, some by nature, and some by taunts from others he encounters. A couple of readers felt that these words got in the way; others liked them. We wondered how much communication (if any) there had been between the author and the illustrator. We felt it was a unique book for young readers and liked the way that it represented jazz, especially at the end where Little Nic arrives at his granddaddy's place and is warmly greeted by 'real' jazz musicians who loudly applaud his playing. We liked the way the book dealt with his relationship with his grandpa, with showing his own talent, and with how he handled the bullying from some people he encountered on his journey. We felt that kids who are 'into' music would love this book, and we felt it could be used as a read-aloud in many K-12 school situations -- especially where music and art are emphasized.

We had various reactions to our novel, When Winter Robeson Came by Brenda Woods. A couple of readers were not big fans of novels in verse; they felt it was distracting by creating unnecessary (poetic?) pauses in their reading. Others were not bothered by that and said they had just read it like any other story. We all liked the historical perspective of the story told in the voice of 12-year-old Eden -- a budding musician/composer -- which was set in Los Angeles in 1965, "not too far from Watts". Some were a bit put off by some of the musical terms Eden added throughout her narrative, and said it felt like those words were just 'tacked on'. Eden welcomes her 14-year-old cousin Winter who has come from Mississippi to visit for two weeks. We liked the comparisons the two made between life in each place at that time. We also liked the way they navigated the city, using a telephone book (!) and maps and traveling by bus on various sightseeing trips, including to Watts Towers and the beach. A mystery element was introduced when Winter expressed that he was actually looking for his dad, who had come to LA ten years earlier and had seemingly disappeared. We liked the way that these two brave young folks became detectives, questioning significant people and following clues to find the dad (no spoilers here). We liked the relationship between Eden and her family and friends, and felt that all of the kids' voices and personality quirks were very real, and we also appreciated the vivid descriptions of the clothes, music, cars, buildings, and events of that time and place, including everyone's reactions to the 1965 rebellion in Watts that erupted in the middle of Winter's visit -- but played a relatively small part in the overall story. We also liked the compassion that was shown between various characters in times of stress or anxiety...and commented about how, sadly, these days it seems that a lot of that has been lost. We felt the book was quite accessible for young readers, and that they would enjoy a smooth read and learn something about how things were way before their time. We agreed this book could be a jumping-off point for further research.

AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE by Traci Sorell and Weshoyot Altrite and THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT by Mae Respicio

We began our April discussion with our picture book, At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell & Weshoyot Altrite. We all liked the simple, flowing text of this pictorial poem depicting a family awaiting the return of a member who had gone to war. We were puzzled by some of the illustrations, which were somewhat ethereal, showing several generations of women in their cabin at the base of a mountain. (Where were the men??) But when we saw a young woman flying a P-38 warplane -- about halfway through -- her depiction looked almost photographic. We found that confusing and somewhat jarring, and felt it might confuse young readers also. There were a few other things that were a bit off-putting after we learned more. Why did the Author's Note say that this was about a "fictional Cherokee family," and then inform us that it was an homage to Ola Mildred "Millie" Rexroat, an actual WWII pilot from the Oglala Lakota tribe? We also felt that another confusion was the depiction of various Native artifacts and cultural entities...and although the illustrations throughout the book portrayed cords/threads surrounding various parts of each page, we couldn't decide for sure what this actually meant. We were glad to learn about this undersung Native American WWII heroine, but we felt that a serious picture biography about her life and her many accomplishments would have been a better choice.

We all liked our novel, The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio. We loved the portrayal of Lou, a 13-year-old biracial (Filipino/Caucasian) girl who was adept at using tools and relished building things. We also loved the relationships she had with her best friends, her cousins, her mom, and her multi-generational extended family who frequently gathered in her Lola's (grandma's) small apartment in San Francisco, CA where they enjoyed the food, music, and stories that had bonded them together for generations. Everything about the family and the Filipino culture and the conversations felt very real. We liked Lou's persistence as she worked toward her dream of building a 'tiny house' on the land in Marin County that her deceased father had left her, even though we knew that it might be a bit unrealistic to assume that she could actually accomplish this by herself. We liked the way that each character's personality was developed, and felt that drove the story more than the actual plot, which we felt was a bit too long and convoluted, and could have benefitted from cutting a few scenes. (Are our attention spans shortening??) We also discussed the fact that Lou told many lies to further her goals, and even though there were consequences, we wondered if so much lying should occur in a middle-grade story. We didn't actually arrive at an answer to this question. However we felt that middle-school readers would love reading this book, because of its lively language and great characters, and that they would root for Lou throughout. All things considered, it was a pretty good book, and we were glad to have read it also.

SCHOOL'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL by Adam Rex and INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS by Dusti Bowling

We started with our picture book School's First Day of School by Adam Rex (2016). We all had generally positive feelings about this book. We all loved the voice of the newly built Frederick Douglass Elementary School, who was trying to figure out why he was even there. His morning and afternoon conversations with Janitor, helped him to figure out what a 'school' was and what he was supposed to be and do. We liked how his 'personality' evolved, as students arrived and went through their first day, where he also learned a few things, played a couple of tricks on the students -- a fire drill and a water squirt -- and felt empathy for a little freckled girl who didn't even want to be there -- but by the end of the day changed her mind. One reader felt that the beginning and ending were somewhat 'flat' but she liked the middle and main part of the story. A couple of other readers felt that the ending was quite abrupt and unsatisfying. We all liked the illustrations showing a multicultural group of children a lot, and one reader pointed out that reading the book and looking carefully at the illustrations several times made her notice new details in the pictures each time. All things considered, we all basically liked the book and felt it would be a great read-aloud for a new kindergarten class on the first day of school, and could help children to compare their own feelings with those of 'the school' as well as the students in the story.

We had mixed feelings about our novel, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling (2019). We felt that it was an important story, since it dealt with the main character, Aven, who was born armless and had been adopted, and her two best friends, one of whom had Tourette's Syndrome and the other who was dealing with obesity. These are areas not frequently handled in most middle grade fiction, and we thought that the story could provide good information for young readers about differences, acceptance, self-reliance,and friendship. But we also felt that some of the text that described the kids' different situations was a bit too 'explanatory' and didn't add much to the emotional feeling of the story. We all agreed that this story's strength was in the characters -- not the plot. One reader was disappointed that it was not really about a cactus, but she kept reading it anyway. We felt that as a story, the plot lacked moments of real excitement or intrigue, even though there was a mystery that the main character, Aven, wanted to solve, and even when she solved it, there was minimal emotion, and it almost didn't really matter. We all agreed that the plot could have been developed better, and that it could have been a 'dynamite' book -- but, sadly, it wasn't.

 

TODOS IGUALES/ALL EQUAL--A Ballad of Lemon Grove by Christy Hale and SCARY STORIES FOR YOUNG FOXES by Christian McKay Heidicker

We began our October discussion with Todos Iguales/All Equal -- A Ballad of Lemon Grove by Christy Hale (2019), the story of the first successful school desegregation case in the United States in Lemon Grove, CA in 1921. We all agreed that this narrative of Roberto Alvarez -- an excellent student -- who, along with his other Mexican-American schoolmates was denied access to the local public school, and sent instead to an "equal" (but actually quite inferior) school for Mexican students, was an important story that had to be told. We felt that it was a good companion to a book about a similar case in 1947, involving Sylvia Mendez in Westminster, CA, Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh. We loved the illustrations which were brightly painted and reminiscent of the labels on the wooden crates of citrus fruits that were used in the 1920s-1940s. We also liked the pictures of the various children, and especially liked the several pages of  'Back Matter,' which presented photos of the actual people involved, more details about the case, the school board, the judge, the decision, maps, quotes, etc. What we felt was missing from this book was emotion...it was told in alternating sections of English and Spanish in a very straight-forward journalistic manner, and attempted to include too many details, while neglecting any real evidence of the feelings of the children (and their parents) involved in the lawsuit, which they finally won. We were also a bit confused by the fact that the book was based on a Corrido -- a traditional Mexican-style ballad about a historical event -- the music and lyrics of which  were produced in their entirety on the first two pages, but never mentioned again. We wished that the text of this important book had been wonderful and compelling, but we were still happy that it had been created, and we felt it had an important place in classrooms, both in 3rd-5th grade, and even in middle or high school when the issue of school desegregation was a topic of discussion as a part of the Social Studies curriculum.

Our feelings about Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker ran the gamut from, "I loved it" to "I couldn't finish it." Readers who loved it loved everything about it: the writing, the fact that -- although a fantasy -- it depicted descriptions and facts about the behavior of actual foxes and the places where they live, and its connections to human emotions. Other readers felt it was hard to get 'into' it due to the confusing multitude of characters, the seemingly disjointedness of the events and hopping around between genres. A couple of readers who were normally not fans of any type of horror story were completely turned off by some of the violence, and couldn't even continue reading. We felt that there would be young readers who would probably love it -- either because they love animal stories or scary stories or both, but that it wasn't a book for every reader.

BROWN ANGELS by Walter Dean Myers and THE VANDERBEEKERS OF 141st STREET by Karina Yan Glaser

We started with our picture book, Brown Angels by Walter Dean Myers (1993). The book presents many black-and-white or sepia-toned photos of African-American babies and young children that appear to have been taken in the early 20th century. Myers began purchasing these photos in second-hand stores years ago, and had amassed a collection of thousands when he was inspired to write poetry for several of them and combine them in an album-like book. We all loved the photos showing beautiful children in their Sunday-best as they probably posed for professional photographers. We felt that each photo had a story to tell, but that, sadly, Myers -- brilliant writer that he was -- fell a bit short when it came to poetry. We did single out two that we liked: "Pretty Little Black Girl," -- a counting rhyme -- and "Jeannie Had a Giggle," which was humorous, but very real. We weren't sure that young readers would relate to the rest of the poems, since their observations seemed much more adult-like. We thought that young readers today would probably enjoy looking at the photos, and that in a classroom setting it might be fun to have students write their own poetry or stories after seeing them.

We had mixed feelings about our novel, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (2017) by Karina Yan Glaser. We all agreed that it was a very 'old-fashioned' book, reminiscent of The All-of-a-Kind Family or Little House on the Prairie, and that factor was a plus for some readers and a minus for others. A couple of us loved this story of a family of Mom and Dad and five children: Jessie and Isa,12-year-old twin girls; Oliver, 9; Hyacinth, 6; and Laney, 4 3/4. The family was losing their lease of their dad's childhood brownstone home in Harlem (NYC) by their seemingly grouchy landlord, Mr. Beiderman, who was feared by all. As the children tried various plans to circumvent this dire situation, five days before Christmas, they became individuals -- each with their own quirks -- and there were several plot twists that brought out each of their personalities as well as those of their parents. Everyone agreed that once they 'got into' the actual story there was suspense, and even though we knew the family would probably be able to stay in their house at the end, there were several surprises before that was actually assured. But some readers felt that the language was just too old-fashioned, and that even though the story takes place sometime after 2007, it just wouldn't grab the interest of today's kids in the 9-13-year-old reading crowd. Some felt that there was a disconnect between the language of the narrative and the way kids actually talked during the time of the story. We basically agreed that it was definitely a very 'wholesome' story and that it was great that the children were given space to figure things out and to solve their problems without hovering parents. Another issue was the fact that this seemed to be an interracial family, but that was never really clearly dealt with, which seemed unrealistic, given the time and the place. Some readers felt that this story could have taken place anywhere; and even though it was in Harlem, in New York, they really didn't get a feeling of that from the story. We learned that this book is the first in a series, and that three sequels follow. Some will read them; some will not. This discussion was a great example of why the differences in opinions and reactions to books makes our group so interesting and fun!

FRONT DESK by Kelly Yang and ODE TO AN ONION: PABLO NERUDA AND HIS MUSE by Alexandria Giardino

We started our discussion at our October meeting with our novel, Front Desk by Kelly Yang. We all agreed that this very accessible book contained so many issues that relate to the times in which we are now living: immigration, poverty, racism, families, extortion, injustice, and empowerment, among others, as 10-year-old Mia helps her immigrant Chinese family run a somewhat seedy motel in 1990s Anaheim, California. Mia's resourcefulness and deeply felt indignation at the various wrongs she observed in her daily life at the motel and in school leads her to write a series of letters that she feels could solve the problems. Although we felt that some of her actions and her letters were a bit far-fetched, we agreed that they created a good story that young readers would want to follow to its conclusion. We liked the group of diverse characters, both adults and children, and the relationships that were formed between several of them. We thought it provided a good message for these times.

There were two things we really liked about our picture book, Ode to an Onion: Pablo Neruda and his Muse by Alexandria Giardino: the illustrations and the fact that we could read Neruda's poem in its entirety -- in English or Spanish -- in the back matter of the book. But sadly, we felt that this very short, and drily written story about one lunch with the Chilean poet and his muse, Matilde, which came from vegetables they discovered in her garden -- including an onion -- did little to show the depth of this very sensitive and intuitive man. Although some of the illustrations did present a clue as to how Pablo created 'Ode to an Onion,' we didn't feel that was enough. We thought the book would be a good companion to a couple of other outstanding books for young readers that have been written about Neruda.

ALMA AND HOW SHE GOT HER NAME by Juana Martinez-Neal and MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS by Meg Medina

We began with our picture book, Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. We were generally underwhelmed by this book. Many of us felt the story was 'thin' and didn't really do much as Alma's dad explained to her the origins of her several names and the ancestors that they honored. That was the whole story, which did emphasize the multiple names that may often be given to children in Latino and Spanish cultures. Some of us felt that the book could be put to good use in a classroom to encourage young kids to question their families about the origins of their own names. As for the illustrations. . . also underwhelmed. One reader thought the drawings of Alma made her look like a bee, and we all wondered how/why this book garnered a 2018 Caldecott Honor award.

We had mixed feelings about our novel, Merci Suarez Changes Gears, the 2018 Newbery Award book by Meg Medina. One reader stated that she would have loved to read a book like this when she was ten, but there were none like it around at the time. Others said they weren't significantly engaged enough to even finish it. Some readers felt that the many incidents described by Merci in her home, her neighborhood, and her school were very disconnected, preventing the story from having a continuous story arc. We pretty much liked the depiction of the relationships in Merci's family, including her closeness with her grandpa, Lolo, and her bewilderment when his behavior changed as he began to show symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. We understood her anger that no-one in the family would tell her the truth, making her feel very betrayed by them. We agreed that the book was quite accessible for middle-grade readers, who would probably relate to a lot of it, but we all felt that this book, at 368 pages, was just too long -- especially for readers of this age group -- and that it would have benefited by editing out many of the lesser school incidents.

THE FUNERAL by Matt James and MRS. SMITH'S SPY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS by Beth McMullen

We were unanimous in our reactions to both of our books at our December meeting. We started with the picture book, The Funeral by Matt James. Although we all agreed that there is certainly a place in the picture book arena for a story about this subject, this book wasn't it. To start, several of us were offended that the letters FUN were highlighted in the large lettering of the title on the front cover. Although young Norma and her favorite little cousin Ray did have fun romping around the churchyard after the services, we felt that shouldn't be the focus of a story about funerals. There were no redeeming features in the story that dealt with any deep feelings on the part of anyone related to the deceased, great-uncle Frank -- except that everyone was sad. There were no quotes from Norma's parents about what he had meant to them, and Norma barely knew him. Beyond seeing a picture, neither Norma nor Ray nor we readers learned anything about him. We were also not so thrilled about the illustrations. Norma never looked the same way from one picture to another; in one picture she looked like a teenager, and in another, like a 40-year-old woman. We felt there were so many different ways this story could be told that would have generated more feelings and more information helpful to young children hearing or reading this story. It did, however, make for a great discussion about our own experiences as young children faced with the death of a loved one and the activities that followed. A good discussion is always a good thing!

Our reactions to our novel, Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls by Beth McMullen were equally tepid. Although we felt that the protagonist, Abigail, had some good lines, and some good reflections and observations, most of the action of the story was entirely unbelievable and beyond impossible. It was difficult to keep track of what happened to her from one insane incident to another as she was supposedly being trained to be a spy. A lot of the actions seemed very cartoonish, though not funny, and in several cases, quite violent. We felt that the character of Abigail's mother, who was the reason she was sent to this odd boarding school in the first place, was less than fully developed, not to mention being a less-than-concerned mom for subjecting her daughter to such freaky and possibly life-threatening escapades. We felt the plotting was disorganized and difficult to follow. One reader said it had, "not enough substance and too much flash." And -- to top it all off, when we reflected on the whole story, we realized that it was Toby, a schoolmate, and not Abigail, who 'saved the day' each time with the help of his genius technological gizmos. We felt that the 'heroine' of a story should be a true heroine. Abigail wasn't.

TEACUP by Rebecca Young and CHASING SECRETS by Gennifer Choldenko

We discussed our picture book first -- Teacup by Rebecca Young. One reader stated, "Teacup is just not my 'cup of tea'!" We all pretty much agreed. Although one reader felt that the illustrations were exquisite, most of us felt that they didn't work for a picture book -- either as a read-aloud, or for new readers. The text, mostly printed in white over light grey or blue seascapes, was practically invisible, and this was the situation for most of the double-page spreads. We also questioned the story of a boy who leaves home -- alone -- in a small boat, carrying only a few things, including a teacupful of soil from the place he's leaving, and then bounces around on the sea for a looooong time -- long enough for an apple tree to grow in the teacup. (huh??) The bulk of the story describes his journey, but we felt that it probably wouldn't hold youngsters' interest for very long. We also questioned his life alone on an island he finally found, and then the arrival of a young girl, which presumably made him very happy. The final illustration showed footprints in the sand: large ones, smaller ones, and then very tiny ones. (again -- huh??) This was not among our favorite picture books.

 

We all liked our novel, Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko. We agreed that although the text was very simple and straightforward, it served the well-told story very adequately. We loved the characters, and the issues the story dealt with in a very non-didactic way: the roles of women and girls in 1900 San Francisco, racism toward the people of Chinatown, the strength of the friendship between Lizzie and Noah even though it was in secret, the relationship between Lizzie and her father, and the issue of telling the truth when it's important to do so. We loved the research that Choldenko had done about this historical period and the plague epidemic, and we appreciated all of the additional information provided in the back of the book.

NANETTE'S BAGUETTE by Mo Willems and FULL OF BEANS by Jennifer Holm

We had a small, but verbal group at our last meeting, including the grandson of one of our members, a third-grader, who read our picture book, Nanette's Baguette aloud to us. In his opinion it was great! He said it was "weird, but in a good way," and that it was a "tonguetwister." He also loved the use of the words, 'Krack!' and 'Kaboom!' It was neat to hear the opinion of a real kid! We pretty much agreed with him. We liked it a lot, the use of '-et' words throughout a delightful story of a little girl sent for the first time to buy a baguette for her family at the neighborhood bakery allowed for many language activities in a classroom. One of our members who grew up in France explained that this was a real honor for a small child, and that it was very normal to eat up the pointy ends of the warm, good-smelling baguette on the way home. Nanette, however, ate the whole thing, and was worried about her mother's reaction once she returned home, but we loved how the mother understood perfectly and they both returned to the bakery for another one, which mom proceded to eat on the way home. (Krack!) We thought the illustrations were humorous, and appropriate for the story, although some of us would have preferred that the characters shown were actual humans instead of frogs. We learned that Mo Willems had actually created a paper village for this story, and that the scenes in the book all occurred in parts of this village -- as shown in each illustration...quite an unusual and creative premise. Altogether, positive opinions on a fun read.

We also all liked our novel, Full of Beans by Jennifer Holm. We liked the fact that it reminded us of a simpler time (1934) when kids were pretty much left alone to explore their town and solve their own problems without helicopter parents. We liked that Beans and his friends were very resourceful in finding ways to earn a bit of money during this Depression-affected time in Key West, FL. A few readers felt it was somewhat reminiscent of many of the Beverly Cleary books. A couple of readers were a bit put off by the fact that Beans did some illegal things: transporting liquor for a rum-runner in his wagon and setting of fake fire alarms to distract attention from what he was doing. They thought that he wasn't adequately punished for these things, even though his guilt had a profound effect on him. We thought it was a well-plotted and well-written story, and we liked Beans' voice as he described his life and the activities of the WPA people who had come to Key West to revamp the town to attract tourists. We also liked the Author's Note, which explained that many of the incidents in this story had actually happened, and the list of resources at the end provided many websites with further details and photos of Key West before and after the WPA project. So -- two good books, two positive reviews. It's great when that happens!

THE GIRL IN THE WELL IS ME by Karen Rivers and CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG by Mo Willems, illus. by Jon Muth

We had very interesting discussions at our last meeting, starting with our novel, The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers. We all marvelled at the fact that a novel that almost totally takes place in a well where Kammie has fallen could even get published. We had varying opinions of the story however. Many readers said the whole thing made them feel very claustrophobic and therefore difficult to read. We basically liked how Kammie's story developed as she told about how her father had been sent to prison for embezzlement, why she and her mother and brother had to move to Texas, and how she had so much wanted to be accepted by the 'cool girls' -- who actually turned out to be mean girls, since they did little to help her after she fell in the well, and may have even caused her fall. Many of us felt that they didn't receive proper comeuppance at the end after Kammie was rescued. Although we liked Kammie's descriptions of the various details of her life, several of us felt that when she started describing what was going on in her mind, after she became delirious, it just went on for too long. A couple of readers skipped thru that part quickly. We also felt that there were a few things that just weren't plausible, even though they made for a good story. Mixed opinions all around.

We mostly all liked our picture book, City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems; illus. by Jon. J. Muth. We all loved the illustrations, which revealed new details each time one re-looked at them, and beautifully depicted the year as the seasons passed. Most of us liked the development of the friendship betwen the two animals as they taught each other new things each season, but a couple of readers felt that the friendship actually became too dispensable, since it appeared so easy for Dog to make a new friend at the end when Frog wasn't there waiting for him when Spring returned. We felt it could be a good story to read to a small child to help deal with the death of someone near and dear, OR to explain why a good friend had left. At first we all felt that Frog had certainly died, but as we talked more, we learned from one reader that frogs hibernate, so Frog could have just left for that reason. It's amazing how knowing one additional piece of information can affect one's perception of a story. . . which is why reading, and the thinking it creates, are wonderful things!