Reading Review with Christal

Title: Turtle in Paradise Author: Jennifer L. Holm Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Honor Book (2011); Golden Kite Award for Fiction Age: 9-13 This book is about a young girl who dreams of living in Paradise. Turtle is a young girl growing up through the Great Depression, and she's a typical eleven-year-old girl although she hates Shirley Temple. She believes life isn't what it's like in the movies and knows that it's complicated, messy and sometimes there aren't happy endings. Her mom is a hard-working housekeeper ad her latest boss doesn't allow children so Turtle gets sent to live with her Aunt Minnie, her mother's sister, in Florida. Growing up she was always mocked for never having her own house, but when she got to Florida, she realizes that the place is basically a dump. Turtle showed up on her aunt's doorstep and took her in even though she hadn't seen her sister in years. During her time here she got to know her cousin Beans and hu...

Title: Hello Universe Author/Illustrator: Erin Entrada Kelly/Isabel Roxas Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Medal Book (2018); Texas Bluebonnet Nominee (2018-2019) Age: 8-12 In the beginning Virgil and Valencia both have their problems, but neither was willing to admit it. Virgil was shy and felt like she he was nothing but a failure. Valencia is deaf, and believes she may be alone for the rest of her life. Virgil really likes Valencia and doesn't know hot to tell her and approach her. They both go to see a "psychic" named Kaori. In the first meeting with the psychic Virgil sees a dark place, but is afraid of the dark. He told him that he had feelings for a girl and she told him that he needed to bring five stones to his next meeting with her. He didn't tell the psychic the name of his girl he likes, but does give the initials to her name. Valencia saw the ad for the psychic and at first isn't sure if she can trust the psychic, and lies to her and gives h...

Title: 26 Fairmount Avenue Author/Illustrator: Tomie DePaola Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Award Honor Book (2000) Age: 7-11 This book is about how 26 Fairmount Avenue came to be. his story is told through little Tomie's eyes. At first they lived in an apartment on Columbus Avenue, with another family living upstairs. A big hurricane hit where they lived, and they had just started building their first house, only for it to be destroyed by the hurricane. Once the hurricane was over, there was a lot of cleaning up to do. So they came together and got it fixed up. It then talked about what the parents went through in their process deciding to build a house, and then it got destroyed. When Tomie was supposed to start Kindergarten he and his mother waled to school until they reached a corner and he wanted to walk by himself. He go to class and asked the teacher when he would learn to read and she told him not until 1st grade and he turned around and left and went home. His ...

Title: The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 Author/Illustrator: Honest Lee & Matthew J. Gilbert/ Joelle Dreidemy Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet nominee (2018) Age: 8-10 This book talks about how one teacher became not so unlucky. Mrs. Linda LaCrosse was normally so very unlucky until one day when she realized she won the lottery which was worth $28 billion and she and all the students made a treaty if she had won she would split it with them all equally. Unfortunately, one student Santiago wasn't there to sign the treaty so he didn't get a cut of it.It then goes into talking about how each student spent their portion of the money. Each student, except one, Olivia spent their money on materialistic things and things of importance to them now. Only to later realize that something would happen to their items and they were left with nothing in return. Even the teacher spent money on a massive mansion only for it to swallowed up by a sinkhole. At the ...

Title: The Wishbone Wish Author/Performed by: Megan McDonald/Amy Rubinate Genre: Fiction Age: 6-9 Judy and her brother Stink were getting ready for the annual Turkey Trot Race. Judy was preparing her costume as the Sarah Josepha Hale, the inventor of Thanksgiving, she told her brother how for 38 years she wrote letters to the Presidents saying they should celebrate Thanksgiving once again, but one listen until Abraham Lincoln came along. He listened and agreed to make a Thursday in November, a holiday for Thanksgiving. She told him she also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Judy had planned on wining the Turkey Trot Race and the prize to go with it, a real turkey, so she had already called her Grandma Lou and told her not to by one, that's how confident she was that she was going to win, her brother didn't think that was such a good idea. They both wished on a chicken wishbone and Judy got the bigger half so her wish was bound to come true. Judy trained her brother...

Title: The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) Author/Illustrator: Barbara Kerley/ Edwin Fotheringham Genre: NonFiction Awards: CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book Award (2010); Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee and many other awards and nominations Age: 7-11 This book is about how Susy, Mark Twain's daughter, wrote a biography of her dad's life as she was growing up. Throughout this book there are little excerpts from Susy's journal that she kept on her father and how he carried himself and how he acted. In one of her journal excerpt she talked about his life when he was younger and how he would skip school, and that eventually went into the newspaper business and hopped around to many different things after that, and then ended up being a lecturer based on his friends recommendation. She mentioned his writing habits and that he would start just after breakfast and not be finished until just before supper, and he almost always skipped lunch. If he had a moment of in...

Title: Rosa Author/Illustrator: Nikki Giovanni/Bryan Collier Genre: Biography Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (2006) Age: 4-8 This book is about the life of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress and one day her supervisor let her go home early since she was just about done with the piece she was working on, and they knew that if she didn't she would be there all night trying to get it finished on time. When she got on the bus, she had her fare ready and remembered she had to enter through the "Colored" doors. She saw that the section for blacks was full, and she noticed an open seat in the neutral section next to a man she knew., so she sat next to him. As the bus made several stops, people got on and off, there wasn't any room in the white section, so the bus driver told her she had to give up her seat. The man she was sitting next to got up because he didn't want any trouble, and a few onlookers from the black section said she shouldn't have...

Title: Ballerina Dreams: a true story Author/Photographer: Lauren Thompson/ James Estrin Genre: Biography Award: Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Award (2008) Age: 4-8 This book is about five little girls' journey to become ballerinas, and it wasn't an easy journey for them because they had cerebral palsy or other muscle disorders. These girls had worked hard all year long and were finally getting to perform in their own recital. They did everything a normal child could, with the help of their helpers as needed. Leading up to the recital these girl worked harder, and practiced until they couldn't anymore. When it was time for the show their helpers helped them get ready for their first performance which was the Nutcracker, then after that they performed Swan Lake, and their finale was Wish upon a Star. During the finale each girl had a star and boldly said their name and they swayed and turn and the music ended with them being the stars of the night. Their teacher Joann wa...

Title: I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Author/Illustrator: Walter Dean Myers/Leonard Jenkins Genre: Non-fiction Age: 5-8 This book is about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This book talks about how Dr. King got involved in Civil Rights Movements and how he believed the American people should be treated, all while holding a non-violent view. It talked about how he got involved with the bus boycotts after Rosa Parks denied giving up her seat, and was then arrested because of it. The people felt that they shouldn't have to pay money to ride the bus if they were going to have to give up their seats, just because they weren't white. At the time Dr. King was a pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, and people were impressed with him and asked him to lead the boycott. There were many groups that did everything to stop black people from being treated equal. Dr. King was even arrested so they could harass him, and ...

Title: Through My Eyes Author/Compiler & Editor: Ruby Bridges/ Margo Lundell Genre: Non-fiction; Autobiography Major Awards: Jane Addams Children's Book Awards; Carter C. Woodson Book Award Age: 8-12 This book is about Ruby Bridges life and how she changed a world's view and was the first child to be integrated into an all-white school system. In the beginning pages of this book w get a background of her early life and all the things she's experienced so far, and how when they were considering children to be integrated they had to take this test and how it was made to be super hard, because they figured if none of the black children passed the test they wouldn't have to integrate that school year, but Ruby and a few others passed that test and were set to be integrated. At first her father was unsure because he fought in the Korean War and knows how segregation can affect them, but ultimately it was her mother who convinced him that they should do it. As she l...

Title: Brother Hugo and the Bear Author/Illustrator: Katy Beebe/ S.D. Schindler Genre: Fiction Awards: American Booksellers Association Best Books for Children Catalog (2014); Society of Illustrators, "The Original Art" annual exhibition (2014); Kirkus Best of 2014; School Library Journal Best Books of 2014; Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (2015); Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year, (2015) and many other recognitions Age: 5-8 This book about how a monk named Brother Hugo needed to return a library book but couldn't because it was eaten by  a bear. The book brother Hugo needed to return was an important book and the Abbot, who was like the librarian, said he would need to borrow the copy of St. Augustine's letters from the brothers at the Grande Chartreuse and write it out word for word, line by line, and picture by picture to replace their copy. He had to do this within the season of Lent in order to make a good penance...

Title: The Edelweiss Pirates Author/Illustrator: Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren/ Daniela Stamatiadi Genre: Fiction Age: 8-12 This book is about students who take action during Hitler's tyrant. A young boy by the name of Kurt wants to be like his older brother who is an Edelweiss Pirate, which means they boycott Hitler and are defiant to his beliefs. Kurt's older brother Albert plays Jazz music at a local area, even though they're not supposed to be playing jazz music they could get in big trouble for it Albert does it anyway. Before he could argue with his brother, he handed him an album by Louis Armstrong and he couldn't wait to listen to it. That weekend he invited his friend Fritz over, who was Jewish and snuck him in through a side door, so that he wouldn't be seen by patrolling Hitler Youth. They listened to the Jazz record over and over again until they both were able to play it, Kurt on his trumpet and Albert on his sax. The next day in class there were port...

Title: The Paperboy Author/Illustrator: Dav Pilkey Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (1997) Age: 4-8 This book is about a young boy who delivers newspapers to his local neighborhood and he and his dog enjoy the time together while the city is still asleep. Each Saturday morning while the neighborhood was still sleeping paperboy and his dog leave their comfortable and warm beds to deliver newspapers to the neighborhood. Paperboy and his dog quietly walk down the stairs being sure not to disturb his parents and sister, who are all still sleeping. They eat some breakfast and head to the garage to pack his sack of newspapers, being sure that each has a rubber band around it so that it doesn't come open by accident, and it's easier for throwing. It seems hard at first for him to ride a bike with a bag full of newspapers weighing him down, but he's mastered that skill. Paperboy has learned his route by heart and knows which houses to deliver a newspaper to. ...

Title: Queen Victoria's bathing machine Author/Illustrator: Gloria Whelan/ Nancy Carpenter Genre: Fiction Awards: ALA Notable Children's Books;  CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book; Capitol Choices List (DC); Eureka Nonfiction Honor Book; Kansas State Reading Circle List PrimaryTitle  MSTA Reading Circle List; Wisconsin State Reading Association's Reading List Age: 5-8 This book is about wants to go for a swim, because it was so hot, but the people around her think it's not a good idea for the queen to show more of her skin than, her hands and face. One day Prince Albert said he would devise and invention to help Queen Victoria get her wish. One idea he came up with was catapulting her into the Atlantic Ocean, but the Queen thought about how the English shoot whatever is in the sky down, so he had to come up with another idea. He came up with the idea to make her a bathing machine. He told her how it would work and that she would enter one side dressed lik...

Title: Wolf in the Snow Author/Illustrator: Matthew Cordell Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Caldecott Winner (2018); Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List (2017); Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year (2017); NPR Best Book of the Year; School Library Best Books of the Year (2017); Booklist Editor's Choice, Evanston IL Public Library Best Books of the Year; CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Age: 2-6 This book is about a little girl who encounters a baby wolf on her way home. The baby wolf got separated from its pack and she tried to help it find its way home. The snow was just too much for the little wolf so she carried and and followed the sounds of the howling wolves to return the cub. Once she finds the pack one wold, assuming it's the baby's mom, the cub jumped out of her arms and sunk into the snow and walked over to the wolf who then licked the cub and picked it up and carried it in her mouth. When the mother wolf walked away the girl had needed to get home, bu...

Title: Last Stop on Market Street Author/Illustrator: Matt de la Peña/ Christian Robinson Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Medal (2016); Caldecott Honor Book (2016); Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book (2016); New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book (2015); Wall Street Journal Best Children's Book (2015) Age: 3-5 This book is about how a young boy learns to see the beauty in the world around him like his grandmother does. It was Sunday and after church, CJ and his grandma take the bus home, and they ride all through the town. CJ asked a lot of questions, and was very curious as to why they had to ride the bus, or why he didn't have iPod like these two older boys who got on the bus, and for every question his grandma had a wonderful answer. When he asked about the bus, she told him that the bus breathed life and for one thing it didn't have Mr. Denis, the bus driver, who always had a trick to show CJ. He had asked how come two of his friends ...

Title: The Night Before Christmas Author/Pop-up Designer: Clement Clarke Moore/Robert Sabuda Genre: Fiction Age: 4-8 This book is about what happens in a little house the night before Christmas,when Santa was supposed to be coming to lay the presents under the tree. It mentions the preparations a family went through to get ready for good ole St. Nick. They hung up their stockings, set out some cookies and milk and went to bed to await his arrival. They heard noises and went to the window and saw Santa's sleigh and his reindeer, the child then heard them land on the roof. The child saw Santa come down the chimney, and his sack of toys with him. The child was able to describe Santa Claus and see him. They described what he did, putting things in their stockings, described his figure, and that he didn't say a word and just went to work. Once he finished he noticed the child saw him and put his finger to his mouth like saying "shh" and went back up the chimney.  And ...

Title: The War that Saved My Life Author/Illustrator: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Genre: Historical Fiction Major Awards: Newbery Medal Honor (2016); Mark Twain Readers Award (2017); William Allen White Award (2017); Odyssey Award - (2016), and many more Age: 8-12 This book is about a little girl's journey away from her abusive mother and how life is without her. Ada was born with a disability called club foot, and her mother saw nothing but her disability. While she lived at home things were always difficult for Ada, her mother never treated her with respect and she wasn't allowed to leave their apartment because her mother was ashamed of her. It took for her brother to be shipped out of London to a countryside, and thus a chance for her freedom and a new life away from her mother. Since all the young children were being shipped out to get away from Hitler and his army and a possible invasion, Ada saw it as her chance and snuck out and was able to get away. Since she had a...

Title: Love that Dog Author/Illustrator: Sharon Creech Genre: Fiction Awards: IRA/CBC Children's Choice; Carnegie Medal Finalist; Amazon.com Editors' Pick; School Library Journal Best Book; Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts (NCTE); ALA Notable Children's Book, and many more Age: 9-12 This book is about a boy named Jack who wasn't sure how to write poetry and thought it was something just for girls to do. Miss Stretchberry kept assigning poetry assignments and he couldn't get out of them, and since he originally thought poetry was for girls only he already went into it feeling discouraged. With every assignment his teacher gave them, he didn't want his name put on it, because he felt like others would think it wasn't real poetry or that some of his poems would make them feel a certain way. After his teacher read some work from Walter Dean Myers, Jack was instantly inspired by him. At the beginning of the story Jack felt like he didn't...

Title: Me...Jane Author/Illustrator: Patrick McDonnell Genre: Non-Fiction Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (2012); Charlotte Zolotow Award Winner; Horn Book Fanfare Book; New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book; New York Times Notable Children's Book; Booklist Editor's Choice Book; Kirkus Reviews Best Book; University of Wisconsin-Madison CCBC Children's Choices Book (2012); Illinois Monarch Children's Choice Award Winner (2014); Iowa Goldfinch Book Award Winner (2014) and many others Age: 4-7 This book is about a little girl named Jane who grew up wanting to help animals. When Jane was a little girl she would take her stuffed toy chimpanzee, Jubilee, with her everywhere she went. And Jane really loved being outside. She would watch things happen in nature and watch animals doing what they do, and she wanted to learn everything she could about them so she would read books about them and study different things that were in her backyard. A day came whe...

Title: The Red Book Author/Illustrator: Barbara Lehman Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Caldecott Honor Book (2005) Age: 4-7 The story is about a girl who finds a red book in the snow and a boy who found this book in the sand of a beach, and they progress in a story together. The story progresses and we see that the children are reading about each other. One day after class the little girl got a bunch of balloons to fly to the beach, but as she's going up, she drops her book. While her book was falling, we see the boy is watching this and it looks like he started to weep because he was waiting to meet his new friend, but in the background we see the girl and her balloons arriving in the background. Through her book, the wind starts to blow the pages and the books closes, but as it is, we see they two kids meet each other and are very happy, and we can assume they went on many adventures. The book closes and a man on a bike picks up the book and thus the story was over, or so one ...

Title: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear Author/Illustrator: Lindsay Mattick/Sophie Blackall Genre: Nonfiction Major Awards: Caldecott Medal (2016) Age: 3-6 This book is about the true story of how Winnie-the-Pooh became famous. The story starts off by a little boy who has his mother reading him a bedtime story. The story she tells them is about Harry Colebourn, he was a veterinarian and cared for horses. He went to help care for the horses who got injured during the war, and when they made a stop in White River, he noticed a bear tied to a post and this trapper had her tied there, so he paid $20 for her and she became one of their own. He named her Winniepeg, Winnie to remind him and his troops of their home in Winnipeg Canada, and so they could that they were never that far from home. They took care of her, fed her, loved her, and even played with her. During the war, Winnie traveled with them and had her own little post and job. They discovered...

Title: Double Happiness Author/Illustrator: Nancy Tupper Ling/Alina Chau Genre: Fiction Age: 5-8 This book is told from the two children talking about things they experience as they are moving from their old home. the two children Jack and Gracie are sad to leave their home and all the things that make it special such as the trolleys, Nai Nai, Auntie Su and Uncle Woo, and many other little things. They decide to keep a little box with treasures in it from their traveling and remind them of their old home. When they were both young they decided to keep memories inside a special box and it was their happiness boxes.  Their goal was to find 4 treasures on their way to their new home. When Gracie went to visit Nai Nai, she had a panda sitting on the window she let her take it to remember her by. They kept score of how many they each had and it was like a game, the first to 4 would win. Jack wanted things that grrr and whirl, so his first item was a dragon, with its sharp claws and...

Title: Maybe Something Beautiful Authors/Illustrator: F. Isabel Campoy & Theresa Howell/Rafael Lopez Genre: Fiction Age: 4-8 This book is about a little girl who transformed her neighborhood through art. Mira enjoyed painting and she had many of her own paintings hanging in her room. Her town was bleak and din't have many colors around. She was filled with joy and life while her town wasn't. One day on her way to school she started passing out some of her pieces, and taped one to the side of a wall that was hiding in shadows, her city was a little less gray, but not by much. One day as Mira saw a man looking at her work and she asked him what he saw ad he replied "Maybe...something beautiful".  So, he took his brushes and started painting away,Mira asked who he was and he told her he was an artist, so he gave her a paintbrush and they started painting the city away. As people saw them they started to join in as well and they listened to music as they painted ...

Title: The Invisible Boy Author/Illustrator: Trudy Ludwig/Patrice Barton Genre: Fiction Major Awards: School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (Winner); Georgia Children’s Book Award (Nominee 2016) Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee 2015); IRA Teachers’ Choices (Selection 2014); Nebraska Golden Sower Master List (Selection 2015) Age: 6-9 This book is about a boy who feels invisible to his classmates and even his teacher until a new student comes along and becomes friends with him. Everyday people ignored him and didn't care to notice him. One day at recess they were picking teams to play kickball and the best players were picked, then their best friends, then the friends of the players already on the team, and when one of the team captains saw that Brian was the only option left, he said they had enough on each team, when there was really room for him to play. At lunch they were talking about how great Madison's birthday party was, and Brian felt so left out because ...

Title: Big Red Lollipop Author/Illustrator: Rukhsana Khan/Sophie Blackall Genre: Fiction Awards: Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text Age: 4 and up This book is about a little girl, Rubina, who has just been invited to her first birthday party and is really excited about going. When she gets home and tells Ami about her invitation, and asks if she can go and she says yes, but her little sister Sana, started complaining and wanted to go. So Ami told her she could go, but would have to take her little sister.  Rubina, didn't really like the idea because she knew her friends would think she was weird and maybe not invite her to any other parties. She begged and pleaded but Ami's mind was made up, so Rubina called her friend and she said it was alright. While at the party, Sana was the only little sister there and she wanted to be the one to win all the games, and when she fell in musical chairs she started crying. When they left the party, they were each given a goodie ba...

Title: Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book Author/Illustrator: Yuyi Morales Genre: Fiction Major Awards: Pura Belpré Award for Illustrator; Nominated for Pura Belpré Award for Author Age: 6-9 This book is about Señor Calavera wanting to find the perfect gift for Grandma Beetle's birthday. Grandma Beetle was Señor Calavera's friend and he was on his way to her birthday party but he was running late. He was stopped by Zelmiro the Ghost, who reminded him that he hadn't gotten her a present yet. Some of the first gifts he found were un Acordeón (an accordion), Bigotes (a mustache), Cosquillas (tickles), and un Chillo (a whistle). and it follows that pattern, but Zelmiro would ask "Are they what Grandma Beetle would love the most? Why don't you look again, my friend? Just in case..." and anytime Zelmiro said that it would continue the Spanish alphabet. It gave a sentence after the Spanish word so if someone didn't know what it was, th...

Title: Mango, Abuela, and Me Author/Illustrator: Meg Medina/Angela Dominguez Genre: Children's Literature Major Awards: 2016 Pura Belpré Author & Illustrator Award Honor Book Age: 5-8 This book is about a little girl who learning how to adjust, now that her grandmother is moving in with her and her family. Her grandmother who she had never really got to know before was coming to stay with them. At first things were very difficult because the grandmother only spoke Spanish and Mia, the main character/little girl, only English and very few words in Spanish. In one scene we could tell the grandmother was missing her husband, who I assume has passed away, and a wild parrot she used to care for. During that winter while her mom and dad were at work, she would spend her days with her grandma. Ma's Spanish wasn't that good, she she couldn't tell her grandma everything she wanted to tell her. So they usually sat and watched TV, and went out for walks. One day she told...

Title: The Storyteller Author/Illustrator: Evan Turk Major Awards: ALA Notable Children's Books; Aesop Accolade; Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award (NY); Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Multicultural Books List; Chicago Public Library's Best of the best; Children's Africana Book Award; Texas Bluebonnet nominee: 2017-2018 Genre: Fantasy Fiction Age: 4-8 This book is about a boy whose whole village has gone without water. This book includes a story within a story. The little boy is given a brass cup by a water-seller and he said if you find water you can drink, drink it and share with others. On his journey home, the boy met an old man, who was sitting at a fountain that didn't have any water, the old man told him to sit and his thirst would be quenched. The old man began with a story about how not too long ago there was a terrible drought in the village, like the one happening to them right now. One family had always had ...