Breathe review

"Mom, I can't sleep!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know...I'm nervous and I can't stop thinking, thinking, thinking..."

"Do you want me to teach you how to breathe?"

"Breathe? But I already know how to breathe!"

This familiar scene of a child having difficulty falling asleep leads to fantastic and imaginative techniques to foster calm and mindfulness. From a boat on your belly to yoga poses these beautifully illustrated and gently described tools are sure to help restless people of any age. Further notes about the techniques are included in the back. This book could be read in a sitting or picked up and put down as needed when you want to try a new tool. The mixed media illustrations perfectly capture abstract concepts to help children with visualizations. A great resource for parents and educators!

Breathe by Ines Castel-Branco: buy it or check it out today!

The Rabbit Listened Review

When Taylor's blocks are knocked over, everyone has advice about what they* should do. Chicken thinks Taylor should talk about it. Bear thinks they should get angry and shout. Snake thinks they should knock over someone else's blocks. But only bunny sits next to Taylor in silence and listens when they feel ready to talk. Eventually Taylor feels better and they make plans for a new, even bigger, structure.

This sweet story has a lot of emotional wisdom. Taylor rejects everyone who tells them how they should feel. Only rabbit is willing to sit quietly and listen to Taylor actually process their feelings. This book is a great way to start a conversation with a child about how to work through big emotions. It's also great for teaching children how they can be good friends to others. I love that Taylor's gender is ambiguous and never explicitly stated. The illustrations make great use of white space to show Taylor's feelings of isolation. The use of a purple background at the beginning and end show that Taylor has recaptured their excitement about building with blocks.

*I use they/them pronouns for Taylor in this review rather than assigning a gender to the character.

Drawn Together Review

A young boy is less than excited to spend time with his grandpa. They don't eat the same food. They don't watch the same shows. They don't even speak the same language! The boy soon grows bored and takes out some paper and markers to entertain himself. When his grandpa sees, he excitedly takes out his ink pot and brush. They have finally found a common language! Together, they go on an adventure combining their styles.

The way Santat combines the grandson and grandfather's styles is simply breath-taking. The format goes from comic panels at the beginning to show time passing to full-color spreads in a more traditional picture book layout. I love the way the characters choose to draw themselves and that they exchange their preferred drawing implement at the end. The end papers bring it all together with the front displaying the grandson's style and the back the grandfather's. A sweet, inter-generational tale.

Danza!

Danza! tells the story of Amalia Hernandez, the founder of El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. She drew from local dance traditions throughout Mexico and combined them with ballet and modern techniques to create spectacular performances. The costumes are inspired by local tradition and when the company tours it takes more than three tons of costumes with it! Tonatiuh captures these beautifully by combining digital collage with his hand-drawn illustrations. I love this mixed-media approach which uses photographs to fill in fabric, hair, and other materials and adds a wonderful texture. Amalia's life and the spread of Mexian folkloric dance is an inspiring tale. I'm lucky enough to have seen the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico perform and recommend that you do too, but first read this book!

Danza! by Duncan Tonatiuh: buy it or check it out today!

Breathe Like a Bear review

This colorful and practical guide leads kids through a variety of exercises in mindfulness. The bright illustrations and simple language make it an engaging way to teach mindfulness to even the youngest kids. The exercises are broken down into five sections: Be Calm, Focus, Imagine, Make Some Energy, and Relax. Each exercise gets a fully illustrated two page spread with large text in appealing fonts explaining what to do in kid-friendly language. I love the squirrels with their kindness exercise and the wolf that leads the get your grumpies out exercise, but it's afternoon as I write this, so I am most drawn to the energizers. This example from that section certainly looks appealing to me. Just look at that lion!

Breathe Like a Bear by Kira Willey, illus. by Anni Betts: buy it or check it out today!

Bravo Review

Reading comforts me.
I find magazines in trash piles.
Reading leads to writing.
I find poetry in tomato fields,
and stories in the faces
of weary workers.

-from "Tomas Rivera" by Margarita Engle

This gorgeous collection of poetry highlights many lesser-known figures from artists to activist. The poems are short but inspiring and made me want to learn more about the people described. It would be a great class share, especially with the full-page mixed media illustrations that could each make beautiful posters on their own. Brief additional biographical information is included in the back, but you will probably want to do more research on your own after reading.



Bravo!: Poems about amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle; illustrated by Rafael Lopez: buy it or check it out today!

Accident Review

When Lola spills orange juice all over a nice, white armchair she exclaims "I've ruined everything! I'll hide in the library! They have books and bathrooms. And I'll stay there till I'm a grownup." But on the way to the library one catastrophe follows another and soon Lola's gathered a large group. When everything seems to go wrong a little bird whispers "accident" and shows everyone how to own up to their mistakes make it all better again instead of running away.

I would have spent hours pouring over the details in these illustrations as a kid. There's so many small, humorous moments in the background. Above all I like that it emphasizes that accidents are okay and everyone from kids to adults can have them. The characters' overreactions are funny, but in the end the message that is clear that calmly admitting your mistake and helping to fix it is the way to go.

Adults might appreciate this episode from Hidden Brain talking about how language can influence the way we see the world. Part of it focuses on how our language around accidents affects where we place the blame and how we remember them. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/29/581657754/lost-in-translation-the-power-of-language-to-shape-how-we-view-the-world

Just look at all the hilarious details in one page of this book:

Accident by Andrea Tsurumi: buy it or check it out today!

You are not my friend, but I miss you

Book talk: Dog used to be monkey's friend. They used to play together for hours. They used to have so much fun. Not anymore. Dog stole monkey's ball and monkey stole it back. Now monkey has his ball, but who will he toss it to?

Rave: This short story is full of emotion and describes a common childhood experience. Monkey gets upset at his friend, Dog, but after a while realizes he misses Dog. All is forgiven and they're back to happily playing a game of catch. The pictures vary from close-ups of monkey to action sequences with multiple scenes depicted on a page. The emotions are clearly visible on all the animals and the background colors further emphasize the emotions. There's happy pastels in the scenes with friends playing and brown, blue, and red on the close-ups of an upset Monkey. The animals all have a fabric texture that makes you want to cuddle them. This would be great for sparking a discussion about friendship and sharing with young kids.

Every book its reader: I'd read this with students pre-school to 1st grade.

Topics and Trends: picture books, sharing, friendship

Extras:


Daniel Kirk has a website where he describes the inspiration behind the book and some of the process of making it: "I have long been interested in writing a book where the main character has feelings and points of view that to us, the reader, are clearly wrong." He also includes a great list of questions for discussion and things to do after reading the book, "Try writing an 'I’m sorry' letter to someone. If there’s anybody out there you owe an apology to, try telling them in a letter. Even if you choose not to send it, it will help to see your thoughts and feelings in writing."

Source: school library

You Are Not My Friend, But I Miss You by Daniel Kirk

Somos como las nubes

Book talk: 

We Sing

Since we left home

we haven't stopped singing.

My father says

if we keep singing,

we'll scare away all the tiredness

and the fear

and become a song.

Rave: This collection of poems tells the story of migration from Central America to the United States. The author himself grew up in El Salvador and came to the United States in the 1980's, fleeing war in his home country. The poems range from the specific story of an individual to describing the migrant experience as a whole. They move in time chronologically starting in Central America and ending in the United States. Each poem has both a Spanish and English version and they're accompanied by beautiful, dreamy acrylic paintings. The poems are short, but their impact is big and could easily spark longer discussions and more research into the migrant experience.

Every book its reader: This is a great for those looking for bilingual books as well as classroom teachers and parents who want to introduce the topic of migration.

Source: school library

Somos como las nubes /We Are Like the Clouds by Jorge Argueta & Alfonso Ruano

The Grand Mosque of Paris

Book talk: During the Nazi invasion of France, thousands of Jewish people found sanctuary in the Grand Mosque of Paris. This book describes how Muslims in Paris helped their Jewish brothers and sisters during World War II. They saved lives in a myriad of ways ranging from writing false papers identifying Jews as Muslims, to secreting Jewish people and resistance fighters through hidden tunnels and out of Paris in emptied wine barrels.

Rave: There are so many fascinating vignettes of courage and defiance in this book. The actions described were secretive by nature and never officially documented, but the authors have hunted down the scraps of information they could find to present these stories. Full-page oil paintings throughout illustrate the story. There's a glossary, bibliography, index and further information in the back.

Ever book its readers: This would be a great classroom share for grades 3rd - 5th.

Topics and Trends: World War II, religion, Islam, Judaism, the Holocaust, the Resistance

Extras:

This travel video has some beautiful shots of the Grand Mosque of Paris for those interested.





Source: school library

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A story of how Muslims rescued Jews during the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix

Giant Squid

Book talk: The giant squid is a tantalizing mystery. We have more close-ups photographs of Mars. We know more about dinosaur behavior. Much of what we do know about giant squids comes from pieces we have found and dissected--pieces often found in sperm whales. Despite how rarely giant squids are sighted by humans, sperm whales have been found with as many as 7,000 indigestible giant squid beaks in their stomachs. Get a glimpse into the life of these mysterious and beautiful creatures with Giant Squid by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann.

Rave: This book is beautiful and a bit terrifying, much like the creatures it describes. What little we know is described in a poetic language that creates a rich atmosphere. The pictures are gorgeous, showing parts of the squid to emphasize its size and the sense that it's lurking just out of sight. This would make a great read-aloud for budding science enthusiasts.

Every book its reader: I'd give this to students 1st-3rd with an interest in marine life who don't frighten easily.

Topics and Trends: nonfiction, giant squids, marine biology, narrative nonfiction, picture books

Extras:

The AP has raw footage of one of these creatures making a rare appearance at the surface of the ocean. There's no voice-over, just the gentle bubbling of the diver's oxygen tank, which lends it a rather hypnotizing air.

Source: school library

Giant Squid by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann

Journey

Book talk: A lone wolf strikes out from his pack and heads south to California. His radio collar allows scientists and animal lovers to follow his progress. Abby watches with excitement as he heads closer to where she lives, but she's also worried. Some people don't want the wolves to come back to their land. Will this one survive?

Rave: Journey alternates between the perspectives of the wolf and a young girl following his progress. The young girl's story provides context and adds tension as she worries over the fate of the wolf. She even participates in a contest to name him. The wolf is from Oregon and the girl lives in Northern California. Even the girl's grandparents as far away as Mexico follow the wolf's progress. This is based on real events and there's a lot of great back matter including the real Journey's path, a timeline of wolf conservation efforts, and questions and activities for a classroom.

Every book its reader: This would be great as a part of a science unit in a classroom, but it's also an excellent story for young wildlife enthusiasts at bedtime. 1st - 3rd grade.

Topics and Trends: wildlife conservation, wolves, picture books

Extras:
Brain scoop did an excellent episode talking about wolf conservation that gets into wolf and coyote cross breeding and goes further into other topics mentioned in passing in this book. There are scenes in the video that show animal carcasses that are graphic, so preview it before sharing it.




Source: school library

Journey: Based on the true story of OR7 the most famous wolf in the west by Emma Bland Smith; illustrated by Robin James

Willow and the Wedding

Book talk: Willow loves weddings, so she is excited Uncle Ash is getting married to David, and even more so when she finds out that she gets to be the flower girl. Their wedding will be on the beach and dessert will be her favorite: donuts with sprinkles. Everything will be perfect--if only she can convince her uncle to put his childhood fears behind him and dance. 

Rave: This sweet story is a lesson in empathy. Willow learns that her uncle used to love dancing until he was in the school musical and got teased for his affinity for dance. Willow sets out to help him reclaim his love of dance to great success. Her care for others is on display at the wedding as she helps relatives: providing a blanket for an aunt who gets cold and a cool drink for an overheated uncle. Adults will appreciate this diverse but not didactic offering and kids will enjoy imagining they're at this fantastic beach and donuts wedding.

Every book its reader: Hand this book to aspiring dancers and flower girls in grades k-2.

Extras: Don't miss the end papers and this delightful dino:

Source: school library

Willow and the Wedding by Denise Brennan-Nelson; illustrated by Cyd Moore: buy it or check it out today!