First, Ghost Boys does seem like a fairly balanced look how the shooting of Jerome, a 12-year-old boy, by a white police officer effects not only Jerome’s family, but the officer and his family as well. Perhaps, it is tilted a little more in Jerome’s favor, but that is to be expected. Second, this will bring up the feelings and thoughts we have on the subjects presented: Someone at the hearing yells, “Black Lives Matters.” And the father of Jerome is going to sue the […]
Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t, but is that for us to decide?
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes is the original Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell. Written over 60 years ago, The Hundred Dresses, addresses the theme of bullies and the fact that kids want to fit in and will tell a tall tale or two to try and do so. Both books deal with these and a few other issues. As in Adrian (who is poor, wants friends and tells a pretty tall-tale about having a horse) The Hundred Dresses sees […]
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Cardboard Kingdom is a graphic novel that follows a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary cardboard into fantastical costumes as they explore life, family, friends and themselves. Created and drawn by Chad Sell we see a world that we probably have all lived in at one point. Who has not been “the loud girl” or known “the bully” or had that “little minion” kid sister? Or maybe you are the boy who wants to be the “Sorceress” or is the young lady who is the […]
The soccer ball quit the team. It was tied of being kicked around.
One joy of working in a bookstore is you get to see some books before they come out and can create buzz for them. The Breakaways: Bad at Soccer Okay at Friends by Cathy G. Johnson is one. Out in March 2019 this is part of the First Second series of graphic novels dealing with today’s issues. Geared towards ages (very strong) 8 to (low) 13, we see the “C team” of a middle school girl soccer team. Faith is a fifth grader who is […]
Accomplishing the circle of life as you go up the mountain path
Up the Mountain Path by Marianne Dubuc is a picture book that deals with death in a very “side manner” by not actually saying the character dies. That makes it accessible to all ages and can be used for not just “the death of X” (pet, grandparent, friend, etc.) but for loss and the “circle of life” comes out instead. The badger teaches the cat and then the cat teaches the rabbit. The “grandparent/grandchild” relationship in in play. I wish I could do half points […]
When the Snow Whispers to you
A Whisper in the Snow, due to some slightly choppy language, caused me to have to stop and start a few times. The text is rich, but I think it might have been translated. Therefore, making the (I am assuming German) original text to English not an easy transition for some people’s ears. This makes it only a rating of 4.5. This is because of two main points. The first is that Ferdun Oral’s illustrations are amazingly fabulous pieces of art. They are items that […]