Written by Dana Reinhardt
Published by Wendy Lamb Books, 2010
ISBN 9780375844553

This is the story of two brothers: Boaz, who left home as a star athlete to enlist in the marines, then after three years in the war came home and locked himself in his room with maps and a shoe box containing something secret; and Levi, his younger brother who’s opposed to the war and is angry that his older brother left the family in turmoil when he enlisted.  But the story is about a lot more than war—it plunges deeply into relationships and the complexity of people when they’re angry, traumatized, worried, and in love.  It’s smart, funny, and heart-wrenching, with beautifully evocative insights: “Change creeps in quietly.  It grows like hair or fingernails.  It spreads through you slowly, like the dull ache you get in your cheeks when you’ve been faking a smile too long.”

This tightly constructed world is easy to immerse in as one brother sets out after the other on a literal and an emotional journey.  I loved the characters, believed them, believed in them, and was surprised and charmed by them.  The author captures moving relationships between brothers, family, and friends, with all the difficulties and wonder you know to be true about relationships.  The ending felt right and the change in the two brothers was tremendously satisfying.

—Kari Baumbach, children’s literature enthusiast

Written and Illustrated by Anthony Browne
Published by Candlewick, 2010 (reprint)
ISBN 9780763649678

Everyone has been sad. Everyone has been lonely. Everyone has wanted a friend at some time in their life. Little Beauty is the story of a very large gorilla who has those feelings, and who is able to use sign language to tell his keepers how he feels. More than that, this book shows how friendship can transcend obvious differences in size, gender, and even species, and how it is not always the largest, most powerful friend who saves the day.

The story of Little Beauty is simple, straightforward, and moving. The reader will feel the gorilla’s gentle roller coaster of emotions from sad to happy to devastated to elated. Beauty, the small kitten who becomes the gorilla’s friend, is a surprising but very satisfying heroine, especially for children who need to know that size isn’t everything.

Author/illustrator Browne draws wonderfully engaging characters and scenes which require minimal text to convey an array of emotions. I was hooked from the moment I saw the cover of this book, and the interior lived up to my expectations. If you like kittens, gorillas, sign language, or friendship, pick up Little Beauty.

—Steve Mudd, author

Written by Carol Estby Dagg
Published by Clarion, 2011
ISBN 9780618999835

Based on the true story of the author’s great-grandmother and great-aunt, this novel is the story of Helga and Clara Estby’s 4600 mile trek, on foot, from Mica Creek, Washington to New York in 1896 to prove the strength and determination of women during the time of women’s suffrage.  More importantly to Helga, if they can make it to New York in seven months a publisher will give her ten thousand dollars, money she needs to save the family farm from foreclosure.  The idea to earn money for walking came from Clara’s fascination with Nellie Bly’s trip around the world.

There are hints before the journey even begins that Helga struggles emotionally, going to bed for long periods of time and entering into manic phases.  Originally, Helga was to set out on the journey alone.  Eighteen-year-old Clara’s desire is to get away from home and go to college, but her father asks her to go along on the trip and keep an eye on her mother.  In fact he burdens Clara with bringing her mother home safely.

Helga likes to be in the lime light and produces calling cards to promote the trip along the way that contain her full name and daughter—barely acknowledging Clara.  The two women argue mile by mile, working through stuffed resentments and issues.  Helga says: “And if it weren’t for me, you’d still be back in Mica Creek, marrying Erick because you didn’t have the gumption to tell him no outright and figure out what you wanted to do with your life.  I’m trying to teach you some gumption and you just whine about not getting your name on the cards.”  The two also display tenderness towards each other and come through for each other during life-threatening situations.  It turns out that Helga harbors a devastating secret about her past that influences her attitudes about her daughter’s choices.

Along the harrowing 232-day journey the women face days without food, a flash flood, and an attack by a highwayman.  They also wear out thirty-two pairs of shoes and must rely on the kindness of strangers for a place to sleep each night, for work to earn a little money, and for food.  They meet fascinating people along the way, revealing the politics and culture of the time.  One day they demonstrate a curling iron to Native Americans, and another day they have tea with president-elect McKinley.

The first-person narrative is outward facing enough to keep it from feeling claustrophobic, and the novel keeps a brisk pace with action, dialogue, and specific details.  A journey well worth the effort.

—Kari Baumbach, children’s literature enthusiast

Written by Jennifer Holm
Illustrated by Adam Gustavson
Published by Atheneum, 2011
ISBN 9781416913733

The opening line of this middle-grade novel is in the engaging voice of May Amelia Jackson, the only sister to seven brothers on a farm near the Nasel River in Washington state in 1900.  May Amelia is believable as a girl growing up in a boy’s world.  She says: “My brother Wilbert tells me that I’m like the grain of sand in an oyster.  Someday I will be a Pearl, but I will nag and irritate the poor oyster and everyone else up until then.”

May Amelia’s brothers and the boys at school are pranksters and she’s always on the wrong end of their jokes.  But the boys are not her biggest obstacle.  May Amelia’s relationship with her father is a much bigger struggle:  “Pappa says I’m Just Plain Stupid because I Never Pay Attention and that he would rather have one boy than a dozen May Amelia’s because Girls Are Useless.”

The struggles in the story are balanced with wonderful, wry humor.  A neighbor, Old Man Weilen, continually asks May Amelia whose boy she is no matter how many times she’s tells him she ain’t no boy.  A bull named Friendly terrorizes the children at school, and May Amelia helps her favorite Uncle come up with new ways to die whenever she sees him.  The story is a kind of romp through silliness and hardship.

The unusual first person narrative doesn’t have a single quotation mark in the entire book, and yet I was never lost as to who was speaking, and the narrative moves at a nice clip.  The author capitalizes words in the middle of sentences for emphasis, which some may see as a device but which I feel strengthens her characterization.

The book is full of surprising tragedy which gives the book weight to balance the twang of the dialogue.  It’s not a “cute” story.  It has heart, spirit, and endearing characters.

—Kari Baumbach, children’s literature enthusiast

Written and illustrated by Lisa McCue
Published by Sterling, 2009
ISBN 9781402757198

Everybody’s playing a game, but I don’t know the rules. Everybody’s dancing, but I don’t know the steps. Everybody’s singing, but I don’t know the words. These are common problems most children face at one time or another—wanting to participate in an activity but feeling excluded for one reason or another. Even as adults we experience this sense of exclusion, whenever we run into our own perceived or real limitations. Dancing, singing, playing a sport or a game or a musical instrument—all require us to stretch in some way so that we can become part of a group experience.

In Quiet Bunny’s case, the group is the nightly serenade in the forest, with the birds singing, owls hooting, snakes hissing, wolves howling, frogs croaking and crickets chirping. Quiet Bunny wants to join in, but can’t make any of the sounds the other creatures make. The other rabbits are all quite content to be listeners, but Quiet Bunny wants to join in the song. Eventually, he finds his own unique way to contribute to the nightly chorus.

Author McCue has written a tale that speaks to everyone’s desire to belong, and the need to find one’s own “voice”. Children will find gentle encouragement to keep trying and searching for their unique gifts and talents. McCue’s illustrations are also gentle, with Quiet Bunny being about the fuzziest picture book character I have seen, and the rest of the woodland creatures and environments looking bright and inviting.

This is a book well-suited to reading to children and for them to read along with. When each animal contributes its voice to the forest song, adult and child can join in, as Quiet Bunny tries to sing along.

—Steve Mudd, author

Written by Tom Angleberger
Published by Amulet Books, 2010
ISBN 9780810984257

Does Origami Yoda, perched on the index finger of Dwight, the weirdest kid in McQuarrie Middle School, really have special wisdom? Can it really solve the other kids’ problems, answer all their questions? That is the mystery Tommy sets out to solve in The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. He gathers reports from other kids’ experiences with Origami Yoda. Has Origami Yoda really solved their difficulties with life, love, and school work, not to mention the whole issue of hogging Cheetos?

With first-hand accounts from outsiders, nerds, cute girls, jocks and snarky kids alike, Tommy delves into this mystery. How can Dwight, who seems so clueless and hopeless, possibly have on his finger a figure of such unsurpassed insight? Is Origami Yoda for real, or is this some kind of a trick?

This book is hilarious and insightful at the same time. We can relate to the problems of these middle-schoolers. Their voices sound real. And the solutions to their problems, though not obvious or predictable, make sense. Tommy’s friend, Harvey, comments skeptically throughout, and is never convinced of Yoda’s legitimacy. Tommy’s other friend, Kellen, doodles on nearly every page, adding his own sort of commentary. And throughout, Dwight, the weirdo loser, sits at the heart of the story, an enigma wrapped in a bad sweater. Is he brilliant, or crazy? A total loser, or the sharpest kid in school? Pick up this book, dear readers, and decide for yourselves!

—Steve Mudd, author

Written by Trent Reedy
Published by Scholastic, 2011
ISBN 9780545261258

Set in Afghanistan after the Taliban have been driven out, Words in the Dust  is the story of thirteen-year-old Zulaikha, born with a cleft palate and taunted with the nickname, Donkeyface.  In order to keep food from falling from her mouth she tips her head back, eating like a bird—a heartbreaking detail.  But Zulaikha has a quiet inner strength and comes from some strong stuff.

Zulaikha’s birth mother was killed by the Taliban for hiding books.  Even though the Taliban is gone, life for women in Afghanistan is still brutal and heartbreaking.  Zulaikha lives with a father focused on making a living for his family—sometimes to the detriment of his family, a severe stepmother, an older sister she adores, and several brothers who lead a very different life than their sisters.  Zulaikha and her beautiful older sister, Zeynab sew the dress Zeynab will wear for her wedding, and Zulaikha wonders who will ever want to marry her.
 
When Zulaikha meets a professor who had taught her mother, Zulaikha learns Afghan poetry in secret and dreams of going to school one day: “I looked down at the words I’d written on the paper.  Words that were at once a thousand years old and yet completely new.  I held them to my chest, but did not feel foolish for doing so.  Somehow I felt Muallem would understand.  My mother could write and read this poem and more.  I wanted to learn to do that too.”
 
Then American soldiers who had seen Zulaikha’s mouth come to find her, to bring her to a surgeon who could fix her cleft palate.  But the journey isn’t an easy one as cultures clash and misunderstandings occur.  The surgery is postponed.
 
Still, Zulaikha dreams of a fix for her mouth, happiness for her newly married sister, and an education for herself.  Some things she will get and others will break her heart.

—Kari Baumbach, children’s literature enthusiast

Written by Molly Beth Griffin
Illustrated by Anne Hunter
Published by Houghton Mifflin, March, 2011
ISBN 9780547254876

I remember the terror of being lost in a department store, lost at the beach, lost while blueberry picking … and the immense sense of relief when my mother arrived to make me un-lost. I was sure I’d never wander off again, until the next sight or sound piqued my curiosity and I paid no attention to where my mother was. I’m betting you had that experience at least once while you were growing up.

Molly Beth Griffin captures the universal fear, relief, and assurance of being loved in her book for young children. With spare text, she conveys the carefree playfulness of the baby loon, its resistance to believing the mother loon is gone, and the terror felt when Loon Baby is sure Mama is gone forever. As all the best stories do, Loon Baby reassures the reader with warmth and love and safety by book’s end, making this a good choice for laptime and storytime read-alouds.

Anne Hunter’s predominantly blue, green, and brown watercolor palette pulls us into the loons’ watery world. Her use of cross-hatched ink provides texture for the fish and birds and trees. Loon Baby’s watery antics are a descriptive complement to the author’s story.

Read this out loud. Ker-plish! It’s fun to read through the range of emotions. You’ll have little ones practicing their kick-flips as they see themselves in Loon Baby.

—Sydney Lange, Children’s Literature Enthusiast