By Chelsea Weissman from Grandview Heights Public Library
Your Nose: A Wild Little Love Song by Sandra Boynton (ages 0-3)
This fun, cute and singable board book is based on the song of the same title from Boynton’s Blue Moon album from 2008, sung by Neil Sedaka. Illustrations start with a fox parent admiring their child’s angel eyes, but they really love... their nose! Throughout the book, there are fun little “boops” and other animals like hippos, birds, mice, platypuses, pigs, rabbits, all admiring the noses of their children.
We All Play: Kimêtawânaw by Julie Flett (ages 2-5)
Simple text and beautiful illustrations in this picture book show the bond between children and nature, and how we are all connected. All kinds of critters sniff and sneak, slip and slide, and rumble and roll, which is like kids playing. The refrain “we play too!” is written in English as well as in Cree, a North American Indigenous language. A list of the animals from the story translated into Plains Cree, as well as a simple explanation of how to pronounce the consonants and vowels. A translation of the three phrases used throughout the story is presented at the end of the book.
Just Dance by Patricia MacLachlan (grades 2-4)
By the author of the famous Sara, Plain and Tall, this early chapter book tells the story of a 10-year-old girl named Sylvie Bloom who lives on a farm in Wyoming. She is curious why her mother traded away her life as a successful opera singer in London to marry Sylvie’s father and worries she and her family have held her mother back from a more exciting life. Sylvie also has a knack for writing and her teacher encourages her to take over a column in the newspaper about all the important events in their town. Through her writing and various other events, Sylvie learns a lot about life, love and her place in the world.
Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly (grades 5-7)
The first of the “Waterfire Saga” series tells the story of Serafina, who is the teenage mermaid daughter of the queen, Isabella, and the heir to the throne. A premonition that Serafina must be one of six other mermaids to save the sea turns out to be true when her realm is invaded, and her mother is wounded. She and her best friend, Neela, go on a journey to find the other mermaids so they can work together to save the seas. They meet a lot of interesting characters on the way and solve mysteries. In addition to the fun, fantasy backdrop to this story, there are also many strong female characters. All the mermaids have strong but different personalities and there is not a lot of focus on a love story even though Serafina is in love with her betrothed. There are simply too many other conflicts happening in the story that take priority.
Everlost by Neal Shusterman (grades 7-12)
Two teenagers, Nick and Allie, are killed in a car accident at the beginning of the story. Their souls are stuck between life and death, in a place known as “Everlost.” This place is only for kids under the age of 15 and the two are now known as “afterlights.” This new place they have found themselves in is a shadow of Earth and there are specific places ghosts can walk; otherwise, they’ll sink into the earth. Nick and Allie don’t know what to do, so a long-time “Everlost” resident named Leif, whom they met upon their arrival, joins them on a journey back to New York City, where there are many ghost kids living in Twin Towers. A girl named Mary Hightower oversees all the kids and turns out to be an intriguing villain, whom Nick is in love with and Allie doesn’t trust. There are a lot of obstacles and dangers (like monsters and gang “afterlights”) in “Everlost” and interesting presentations on identity. As the characters evolve, Nick discovers a way to help the “afterlights” and becomes Mary’s arch-nemesis. This trilogy provides well-developed characters and an engaging take on a world of what life after death might look like.
Bookmarks submitted by the Grandview Heights Public Library.
