Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski, ill. by Lee Harper
Woolbur's parents are in danger of pulling out all their wool. Woolbur continually comes home with notes from his teacher saying Woolbur hasn't done things quite the way he was supposed to. Grandpaa keeps telling Maa and Paa not to worry, Woolbur will be fine. Finally, they've had it and tell Woolbur he needs to do things the way the rest of the class does. Woolbur agrees, but the result is NOT what anyone foresaw (except for possibly Grandpaa).
The twist at the end of this book was hilarious. [Instead of conforming to the class, Woolbur convinces the class to all do things his way so he is technically following his parents' rules. (hide spoiler)] Woolbur is constantly thinking outside the box in ways others never would have dreamed. It's the kind of thing that makes you shake your head but also be slightly impressed with his creativity. He isn't bad. He's just so energetic and creative that some don't know what to do with him.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Thinking Outside the Box: Boy does Woolbur know how to think outside the box. He’s a crystal clear example of what this concept means.
- Understanding Differences: This is good book to read with a group that includes kids who have disabilities or differences that make them seem a teensy bit weird to others, not bad, just weird. Off the top of my head, I'd say primarily those learning to understand ADHD and mild forms of autism could benefit from this, but it could also be a good book to pull out if you find the class divided into cliques between the "cool" kids and the "nerds" or "artsy" kids.
The Princess in Black (Princess in Black, #1) by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale, ill. by LeUyen Pham
Princess Magnolia is apparently a perfect princess, with an immaculate castle and tons of pink, frilly clothes, and a sparkly unicorn named Frimplepants. But when monsters cross the border into her kingdom from Monster Land, Princess Magnolia becomes the heroic Princess in Black and Frimplepants becomes her faithful steed Blacky who together vanquish monsters and save the citizens (and goats) of the kingdom. But keeping a secret identity is tricky, especially when snoopy Duchess Wigtower comes to tea just as there's a monster alert. Can Magnolia keep her secret and save the kingdom?
There are currently 3 Princess in Black books with a 4th on the way in November. She and Blacky are definitely fun to hang out with. Read all of them!
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Strong Princess Lovers: If you’re looking for a princess who can hold her own, look no further.
- Lower Grade Fantasy Lovers: If you’re looking to get a lower elementary student hooked on a series, who can resist a princess with a secret identity in books with eye-catching full-color illustrations?!
- Lower Grade Spy/Superhero Story Fans: With her secret identity, Magnolia has to be sneaky like a spy or other superheroes. There's always that little bit of suspense about her being discovered.
Super Amoeba (Squish, #1) by Jennifer L. Holm, ill. by Matthew Holm
Squish wants to be just like his favorite superhero and do what's right. But when it comes to the class bully, Squish is finding the bravery to do what's right a little hard to find. Can he save his friend Penny from being eaten without letting Lynwood cheat off him in science?
Having a cast of single-celled characters certainly lends itself to unusual situations and humor. (Like the bully Lynwood repeatedly almost eating Penny.) Squish is a relatable amoeba. Penny is hilarious in her perkiness, and Pod is...interesting. And the science teacher in me likes all the science facts and fun. There are currently seven adventures with Squish and an eighth coming out in August. Each of them has these single-celled characters deal with real-world problems.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Reluctant Readers: This is a great series for reluctant readers. They’re super fast reads. Squish is guaranteed to suck them in quickly. And they’re graphic novels, a huge plus.
- Lower & Middle Grade Graphic Novel Fans: This one has appeal across the grades. It’s short and sweet enough for lower grades, but engaging enough for middle grades too.
- Science Fans: I know I’m not the only one out there that can’t resist a good, nerdy science fact or two with my fiction.
Harriet the Invincible (Hamster Princess, #1) by Ursula Vernon
Harriet Hamsterbone's parents forgot to invite the evil fairy to her christening, and so, as expected, she's been cursed to prick her hand on a hamster wheel on her 12th birthday. When her parents finally tell Harriet about the curse when she's ten it backfires as Harriet realizes that if she can't thwart the curse, she's also invincible till she turns twelve. So off Harriet goes to fight ogres and join jousting tournaments and go cliff diving, while her parents start searching for prince to break the curse. Harriet returns home for her 12th birthday and manages to foil the evil fairy, but manages to still put everyone else in the castle to sleep until she can find a prince to help her break the curse. Harriet finds it's a little hard to find a prince willing to help out a princess who isn't typically princessy, but eventually she finds the right guy. She just has to rescue him first.
A very fun twist on the Sleeping Beauty tale that manages to empower the princess but doesn't put the prince down in the dirt either. They eventually form a great team (a team that isn’t mushy) and I probably liked that twist best of all - though I also loved the moment when Harriet realizes the curse means she's invincible...why has no Sleeping Beauty rewrite thought of this before?! Kids will like the illustrations throughout, and of course, Vernon makes it funny. Harriet’s second adventure is great too, with a new twist on the Twelve Dancing Princess, and #3 is coming with a new twist on the Rapunzel tale. Harriet is a hamster with a good head on her shoulders, a healthy dose of bravery, a trusty quail steed, and a firm resolve that she and her friends are not ready for any mushy stuff.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Fairy Tale Fans: Harriet’s fractured fairy tales are the best. No really. Go read it.
- Humor Fans: Hide this book behind a false cover, start reading, and I guarantee even the boys who turn up their noses at fairytales won’t want you to stop. Vernon’s writing is sure to give readers their dose of laughter for the day.
- Strong Princess Lovers: This is another great one for those looking for strong princess leads.
- Animal Lovers: All the characters in the Hamster Princess tales are some kind of animal. And they’re adorably illustrated (in a strong princess kind of way).
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
One day, a hurricane sinks a cargo ship carrying robots fresh from the factory. One robot's crate is washed onto an island and some playful otters accidentally turn her on. Roz meanders the island figuring out how to survive and where she is. Most of the creatures fear her as a monster. Over time, Roz's careful observations allow her to catch on to the language of the animals and she starts to communicate. They still fear her. When an accident happens while Roz is climbing, an entire family of geese is accidentally killed except for one egg. Roz takes care of the egg since she was responsible for the accident, and soon finds herself the mother to a little goose dubbed Brightbill. Roz's care of Brightbill helps other animals realize that Roz isn't so bad, and soon Roz finds herself with a whole island of friends. She helps them as best she can, and they in turn help her. The island is a better place for the arrival of Roz, until one day other robots come to the island to retrieve Roz and take her back to the factory.
This was an adorable and sweet story about an outsider robot who soon becomes beloved by the entire island. Roz is relatively unemotional as befits a robot, but she is also programmed to be helpful. It is fun to see how her helpfulness eventually wins her friends all over the island, and how they help her when she gets into tight spots too. The ending is a little bittersweet, but hopeful. The entire time I read this I pictured it in my head as a cartoon from the 60's or 70's for kids. Perhaps it was the influence of the illustration style or maybe it was the light feel of the story. Even the serious parts don't feel overly heavy. It's cheery and happy and sweet. I wasn't sure how Peter Brown would do as a chapter book author, but he did a fantastic job. Everyone will fall in love with Roz and Brightbill.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Read Aloud: This would appeal to a variety of ages, but would especially make a great read aloud for 1st-3rd grades.
- Survival Fans: Roz has to get pretty creative to be able to survive on a wild island.
- Light Sci-fi Read: Most of this story has to do with surviving in the wilderness, but there are sci-fi elements. When Brightbill migrates it is clear this is some time in the future when robots are everywhere. And of course, there’s Roz, who is a pretty advanced robot. This would be a light intro to the sci-fi genre for the lower end of the middle grades.
- Animal Lovers: This is also a great pick for animal lovers, since there's a whole island full of critters that Roz gets to know.
The Trouble with Weasels (Life of Zarf, #1) by Rob Harrell
Zarf is a troll. Trolls aren't exactly the most popular of creatures, but Zarf manages to have some friends. There's Chester the human training to be a jester...except he really isn't that funny. And Kevin Littlepig, who is a pig, and a bit of an extreme worry wart. So the King of the country manages to get himself captured by Snuffweasels and his son takes over as king, which is really bad news because Zarf just tackled the prince in a moment of lost cool. Anyway, Zarf ends up in the dungeon, but he realizes the Prince is totally incompetent and somebody has to rescue the King. So, thanks to the help of the school lunch lady, he breaks out, gathers his friends (and a guy he found in the dungeon), and is off to save the kingdom. Or just try to survive the woods. Whichever seems most important.
I absolutely love this author’s Monster on the Hill so I figured I should give some of his other work a try. This was a pleasantly diverting read (ok, so I admit, I laughed out loud several times). There's illustrations scattered all over the book which help it fly by at super speed, and Zarf and gang are quite fun to travel around with. Lots of fairy tale elements, like Kevin is part of the Littlepig family and the 2nd book in the series sees the return of a certain wolf with a vendetta against them and some other fairy tale characters. So far there’s two Zarf books with a third coming out in September.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Sneaky Life Lessons: Don't tell kids but there's some good stuff on learning to manage your temper and using your talents for good in this book.
- Non-Mushy Fairytale/Fantasy Fans: Hand this to kids who like fantasy adventures with dabs of humor. (Especially those who like fantasy but want to avoid the mushy princess tales. No mushiness in here. Well, Kevin has a crush on a butcher, but it is a very teensy, tiny, minor side thing that gets about three sentences. And it’s highly ironic since he’s a pig.)
- Humor Fans: Zarf’s adventures are fraught with situations designed to make readers laugh, and illustrations throughout to help. These are lots of fun.
- Reluctant Readers: Zarf would be a great character to pull in those kids who say they don’t like to read.
Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd
Before you crack the cover on this book you need to find yourself a nice porch with a rocking chair, a cup of hot cocoa and some muffins. And after you’ve established a proper rocking rhythm, you’ll crack the cover and find that the words flow with the rocking of your chair. Soon you’ll be transported to a tiny Appalachian mountain village, where life is perhaps just a tiny bit magical, the heroes of the past are ever-present, and one girl believes her destiny is to save her beloved town from bulldozers of the future.
Before her Mama passed, she showed Emma the special Book of Days. In it are recorded all the women in their family, dubbed the Wildflowers, who have had the Destiny Dream. Emma will know the Destiny Dream when she has it because it always starts with the girl or woman standing in a field of blue flowers and then it will show them some symbol that will guide them to the path for the future. Some of the Wildflowers were Civil War heroes, some were musicians like Mama, some were suffragists, and others were journalists. When Emma finally has her dream, she thinks what she sees means she is supposed to find the legendary treasure of the Conductor to save her family’s home/café from the developmental dreams of Warren Steele. Legend says those of pure heart can hear the ghost of the Conductor, follow his song, and will be led to his treasure hidden somewhere in hills of Blackbird Hollow. But the legend also comes with a warning, those who seek the treasure without a pure heart often are driven mad by the search and eventually disappear, never to be heard from again. Emma has heard the song of the Conductor drifting out of the graveyard in her backyard. She knows her motives are pure, she just wants to save her family’s café so that she and Granny Blue and her brother Topher don’t have to leave. Yes, home is filled with sad memories of Mama’s illness, and Emma often wakes with the hard task of facing the Big Empty. But there are also so many good memories here. Memories of jamboree nights at the café when the entire town turns up to sample Boneyard Brew cocoa and dance away their troubles. Memories of adventures with her best friend Cody Belle, baking muffins with Topher, giving tours of the cemetery, and riding the hills on Granny Blue’s motorcycle. With the help of Cody Belle and newly returned Earl Chance - who doesn’t talk but is still a good friend - Emma is determined to face any ghosts in Blackbird Hollow necessary to hunt down the treasure.
Natalie Lloyd is a magician with words. I love the way her sentences lure you in and feel like music. They encapsulate that storyteller-rocking-chair-magical-rhythm that sings of anticipation, the warm blanket-feeling of a loving home, the bittersweet memories of days gone by, the creepiness of a cemetery at night, and the restfulness a cozy mountain town where just touches of magic are possible. It transports you up and down with the story, and refuses to let you go until Emma’s tale is done. And what a magical tale it was. Now, personally, I approached this with equal measures of anticipation and wariness. I adored Lloyd’s A Snicker of Magic, and was looking forward to more of her wordsmithing. But I had also heard that much of the story is wrapped up in a legendary ghost, and I’m not a huge fan of ghost stories. However, having now read this, I can’t say enough how much I loved this story. Lloyd did so very many things well, and the ghostly part of the book had a not-so-spooky explanation and went in a direction I was very excited about. It was a stroke of brilliance. (A stroke of brilliance I can’t tell you about without spoiling a big part of the plot, but suffice it to say there’s a historical thing and a great message. And it's really, really good!) While the characters themselves are so fantastic, there’s lots more to love in this story, from the various magical flowers in Blackbird Hollow to Penny Lane the crow, but I don’t want to spoil it. I definitely recommend enjoying the magic by reading it yourself or with others; it would make a great read aloud! Suffice it to say fantastic characters, superb writing, a well-done mystery with a rich ending, and lots of happy-sigh-inducing feels. One more note, while you needed ice cream on hand to read A Snicker of Magic this one requires hot cocoa and muffins. They’re always enjoying the hot cocoa in the café accompanied by Topher’s special peach lavender muffins.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Value of History: There’s a celebration of both family history and local history in this story that's so well done.
- Authentic Grief: I thought that Lloyd did a fantastic job in the way she portrayed Emma’s grief over her mom’s death. The way she describes the Big Empty so encapsulates what it is like after a close loved one dies, but she doesn’t let Emma wallow in grief. Emma is having fun, going on adventures and excited about the future. Her memories of her Mama are bittersweet; just as often likely to make her smile as to make her cry. I’ve written recently in some reviews of books about kids who lost loved ones about how wary I am of reading such books due to my own family history of loss. But I really liked this one. Lloyd gets it. She gets how to handle the ebb and flow of grief in Emma’s character, while not making it the central part of the story. And Emma is handling the grief in healthy ways. It’s the most authentic and respectful portrayal of a kid handling grief well I’ve come across. (Partly because most other books that include the loss of a close loved one focus on the kid starting off not dealing with the grief well, that’s the main plot of the story, and the climax is eventually them getting to a healthy grief.)
- Kids Born with a Cleft Palate: Another thing I liked was having Emma deal with some insecurities about a scar on her lip. Eventually it comes out that she was born with a cleft palate and had surgeries to repair it. I have never read a book about a kid born with a cleft palate, and yet it isn’t all that uncommon. Here’s a story for those kids.
- True Friendship: Earl Chance was another fantastic addition I applauded. He has been severely traumatized by surviving a tornado and has been mute since that storm. His lack of speaking doesn’t make one lick of difference to Emma or Cody Belle, they swoop in and make him their friend without batting an eye. And they don’t try to fix him. I love their acceptance and unconditional friendship. Those two are some stellar role models for readers.
- Appalachia Setting: If you want to curl up in a valley in Appalachia for a while or know someone else who might, pick up this book.
- Mystery Lovers: Those who like to match wits with the author and try to figure things out before the characters have a challenge in store in this book, but it’s a fun challenge. There’s just enough clues clever readers may get things worked out before Emma.
- Word Lovers: Natalie Lloyd is a magician with words. Half the time I’m reading her books I’m just marveling at the way she puts words together to make a book magically sing.
- Light Fantasy Fans: There are just tiny touches of fantasy in this. Mostly it reads like a contemporary story with a mysterious puzzle.
- Read Aloud: Natalie Lloyd's writing makes for splendiferous read alouds.
Groot by Jeff Loveness, ill. by Brian Kesinger
Ok, now, who can resist a book full of lovable Groot?!
Groot and Rocket are off on an intergalactic road trip. Groot wants to see Earth and take the scenic route. They have a few adventures along the way, reminisce about how they met up, foil the plans of some rather incompetent wannabe Earth invaders (with a little help from the Silver Surfer and his girlfriend), and eventually make it to Earth where Groot and Rocket enjoy the sights and track down an Earthen girl Groot met a long time ago.
This was hilarious. Rocket and Groot are so much fun to follow on a road trip, and the wild cast of characters they run into along the way are super entertaining. The only quibble I had was the ending of the last story. It isn't entirely clear if Groot finds Hannah or not, but the back story of his home planet was quite interesting so I'll be ok. The comedic elements more than make up for any quibbles: the 1996 robot with a battle floppy disk, aliens that mistake planet Earfk for Earth because they can't read the map, and of course, Groot and Rocket's interactions. So much funny to love.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Groot Fans!: And that pretty much includes everybody, so I don’t think I need to write any more. (Ok, one sentence more. There is some violence and three minor swear words, so some parents may want to preview this first.)
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