Reviews By Shelby

  K-6th grade books When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar Drama by Raina Telgemeier The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ekua Holmes Kyoshi's Walk by Mark Karlins, illustrated by Nicole Wong Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

                Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear is an informational picture book by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. It tells the story of the real black bear that inspired the famous Winnie the Pooh series by A.A. Milne. The author of the book, Lindsay Mattick, is the great-granddaughter of Harry Coleburn, the man who bought a black bear and named him Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg. He took the bear with him as he tended to horses during World War I and eventually found him a home at the London Zoo before Coleburn was sent to a station overseas. While Winnie lived a happy life in the zoo, he befriended a young boy named Christopher Robin, whose father decided to write a series for children based on his son’s interactions with the bear.               I found out about this book after a quick Google search for informational picture books. I found this title on many lists for outstanding nonfiction picture books. It immediately c

                Hello Lighthouse is a Caldecott Award winning picture book written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. It tells the story of a lighthouse’s last keeper. The book shows his day-to-day job and the different tasks he does to keep the light going for boats out at sea. As time progresses, the lighthouse keeper starts a family of his own and faces challenges as the technology of lighthouses evolves.               I found this book on the official list of Caldecott Award winning books. I’ve always admired the artwork of Sophie Blackall, and I didn’t know that she’d authored a book, so I definitely wanted to give this one a try. The story was sweet and her artwork was beautiful as always.               Blackall creates depth in her illustrations with the details of the ocean. It feels like the waves are jumping off the page during one part when there is a bad storm. In another part, Blackall gives the reader an overhead shot of the lighthouse and ocean that surrounds it as

                A Friend for Dragon by Dav Pilkey is an easy reader book about a friendly blue dragon named…well, Dragon. He is lonely and would like a friend, so he goes on a search for one. While he is sitting under a tree, an apple falls into his lap. A sneaky snake decides to play a trick on Dragon and pretends to be the voice of the apple, telling him that he wants to be friends. Dragon is overjoyed to find a new friend, but will it be possible to be friends with an apple?               I have to admit, I am not very familiar with popular easy readers these days, so I once again looked at a teacher’s blog for some suggestions. The Dragon series was highly recommended by several blogs, so I decided to give the first one a try. The story was simple yet enjoyable.               Like I said, this is a simple book, and that goes for the plot as well. It’s almost predictable at times, but I think it’s one young readers will really enjoy. The storyline is humorous and will keep reade

                    Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel was chosen for the 2022 2x2 reading list. It follows Inside Cat, who is exactly as it sounds: a cat who stays inside. As it wanders through its home, Inside Cat sees the outside world through an assortment of windows. It thinks it has the outside world figured out, but the cat soon realizes that the world is much bigger than it originally thought.               I found this book when I looked on the official 2x2 reading list on the Texas Library Association website. I thought the book looked really cute since I love anything that has to do with cats. I have an inside cat of my own, so that played a big factor into adding this book to my list. I also thought this book seemed humorous just by looking at a few sneak peeks of the illustrations online.               First and foremost, the illustrations of this book are what really made me enjoy this fun story. The colors were the first thing I noticed. Inside Cat’s world in the house is

                    Kiyoshi’s Walk by Mark Karlins and illustrated by Nicole Wong is a picture book that features poetry. It begins by introducing the main character, Kiyoshi, who asks his poet grandfather where poems come from as he watches him write a poem in Japanese calligraphy. Eto, his grandfather, decides to take him out for a walk to show him where he gets inspiration for his haikus. As they venture out, Kiyoshi learns that ideas can be found all around, if one only pays attention to their surroundings.               To be honest, I didn’t know many children’s books that involved poetry, so I did a Google search. I found this book on a list on a teacher’s blog post about good books to use to teach poetry. I have always enjoyed reading haikus and attempting to write them, so I chose to add this book to my list to read and review. I’m glad I chose it because it was a very sweet read.               I enjoyed the theme of the story, which was to always be open to the world arou

                The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by Ekua Holmes is a Coretta Scott King Award winning picture book about how the universe formed. Each picture explores the different steps that took place to create the universe we know and live in today. It also explores how each child is also made of stardust.               I found this book on the official list of winners for the Coretta Scott King Award. I chose it because the illustrations looked beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The award was won for the illustrations alone, and after reading the book I can easily see why. This book also has many rave reviews, for both the art and the writing, which I think are all deserved.               The colors of the illustrations are beautiful. Holmes chose to use darker reds, blues, and purples with hints of lighter colors like white, yellow, and orange. It’s almost mesmerizing to look at how the colors swirl together. I am no art expert, but it

               Drama is a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier. It follows a seventh grader named Callie, whose passion is scenic design, which she gets to do for her school’s production of Moon Over Mississippi . During preparation for the play, she meets twins Justin and Jesse. Justin wants to try out for a part while Jesse wants to help behind the scenes. As work begins, Callie and her friends navigate middle school crushes and, for some, sexual orientation. Drama ensues as feelings are realized but sometimes not returned.               This book has been on my radar since I wrote a research paper for one of my summer classes about the censorship of graphic novels in school libraries. One of the scholarly articles I used mentioned this book because it is frequently challenged in elementary and middle school libraries because it includes conversations about sexuality and depicts two boys kissing during the play. I wanted to read this book so I could personally lay eyes on these things

                Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar is a Pura Belpre Award winning autobiographical novel with fictional elements that follows the author as a young girl during a time she was called Ruthie by her friends and family. The reader meets her in the 1960s, when had been living in New York City for a few years after her family moved from Havana, Cuba. She is excited because she is finally moving from the “dumb” class to the “smart” class because she finally has a good enough grasp on English. Things have been going well for Ruthie and her family. She has made new friends, her father just bought a new car, and they were enjoying the freedoms of the United States. This all changes when Ruthie and her family get into a very bad car accident. There are fatalities, but most of the family only suffer from cuts and bruises; that is, except for Ruthie, who has a bad broken leg, which requires her to be kept in a nearly full-body cast for a whole year so the leg can heal properly and not

                A world filled with magic is unraveled in Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston, one of the picks for the 2022-2023 Bluebonnet Awards. The story follows twelve-year-old Amari Peters, a young girl who is actively searching for her older brother who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. When she receives an invitation to interview for a spot at the prestigious summer camp her brother attended every year, she jumps at the chance to hopefully find out more information about what happened to Quinton. But as Amari dives into a magical world that her brother was involved in, and that she didn’t even know existed, she finds out that things are not always what they seem. It’s up to Amari to help bring down an evil force that is putting the magical world in danger, all while trying to desperately to bring her Quinton back safely.               I chose this book because I love fantasy and I’ve heard great things about it. I’ve also been wanting to read more books wit

                 When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller follows a young girl named Lily who is moving from California with her mom and older sister, Sam, to live with her ailing halmoni. Lily’s grandmother always warned her to never make a deal with a tiger. However, when Halmoni becomes sick, a magical tiger makes Lily an offer: find the stories that Halmoni stole years ago, or lose her forever. She must learn to be brave, face the scary stories head-on, and shake the Quiet Asian Girl stereotype that she’s always felt she’s represented. Along the way, Lily learns important family history, makes friends, and finds out that she’s capable of more than she initially believed.               This book was my choice for the Newbery Medal. I picked this one because it has Korean folktale elements. I have become interested in Korean culture in the past couple of years, but I have never looked into any of their folktales, so I thought this book would be the perfect introduction for that. Also, w