RI Mock Newbery 2022 - December Reading List

And so it continues. I read 16 of the 21 books on the December discussion list. Here is what I thought and what the decision was on each one that we got to:

Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Pena
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my god. The tears snuck up on me. Not sure what the kids will think, but I'm adding it to my Caldecott list. I want them to hear the message and see the illustrations.

VERDICT: The power of the book relies too much on the pictures, so even though we all loved it, it does not fully meet Newbery criteria. 

  

Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read this in one sitting while home sick. Loved it. We are totally in Callie's head, and I loved her. She reminded me of my nephew, although he has been in the loop on his parents' issues for years, and he's not even 11 yet. The ghosts were an interesting twist, and I cried at the end.

Issues: WTF with the cleaning service folding clothes in drawers and MAILING LETTERS THEY FOUND IN A BOX UNDER A BED???????? Callie needs to write them a bad review. Or at least a letter. And Isabelle was just the worst. I mean, yes, people suck, but WOW she was the WORST.

VERDICT: Keep

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm sorry, but that was a pretty nebulous prophecy. That said, a lovely old-fashioned tale. Although I'd like to know more about how the loser king got placed on the throne. I'm thinking the counselor encouraged some murder? Hmm ... there were actually a few murders. But it was still lovely. Lessons on character and friendship.

VERDICT: Keep

  


Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a sucker for intertwined stories and for suckly relatives secretly not being so suckly after all. Although several still were. Some reviewers have complained about the coincidences, but I found them believable. And I cried through the last couple of chapters in spite of myself. Addresses many issues in a sensitive way. Good stuff.

p. 41: "I can be my own sunrise."

VERDICT: Keep



Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Super cute with 100 short vignettes following Harry's time in first grade. I feel like his voice rings pretty true. Lots of boogers, puking, poems, and Fluff Monsters in the classroom. But also feelings and working through friendship situations. And Jenkins includes a list of all the books different teachers read to the class.

p. 38: "Harry's job is Calendar. That means that today he writes the number twelve in the correct square in the blank calendar on the wall. Calendar is a terrible job. It's just writing in a square. A baby could write in a square. Okay, a baby could not write in a square. But Harry wants to be Line Leader."

VERDICT: Keep



Down to Earth by Betty Culley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was fine. Definitely a unique plot, what with dowsing and meteors and magic water.

Loved Henry's notebook of questions. "What is most important is not always the answers, but the questions. Keep asking the questions. Which isn't as simple as it seems, to devise the kind of questions and observations that will lead to answers." (p. 98-99) If our school days left time for science and inquiry, this would be a fantastic way to generate ideas for a PBL project.

Also like his realization that "Good things can make bad things happen, and bad things can cause good things. You can't calculate percents for how that works, either." (p. 198)

VERDICT: Dropped 

  

The In-Between by Rebecca Ansari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Really liked the family stuff. And the vocab journal. But the kids made some crazy leaps of logic with their investigation, and then everything went off the rails. There was no explanation for why Elena and her sister were stuck in the In-Between. And the big reveal was infuriating.

Although I did like the line, "They weren't lies; they're stories I gathered about other kids at your school, invisible as I was. They are the lives of your classmates, some of whom feel as forgotten as you and I do. Find them. See them the way you saw me."

VERDICT: Dropped

  

Clues to the Universe by Christina Li
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Love the idea of the Next Big Step.

Do not love the idea of someone refusing to let their kid know who their other parent is.

Nicely executed story of loners finding friends in each other.

VERDICT: Dropped

  

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another reviewer mentioned that this book is set FORTY YEARS AGO, and now I am feeling ancient. I had drop-waist dresses! I knew all the song titles on the mix tape! And the "alternative" bands! I watched The Wizard of Oz once a year on TV! Will these touchstones for me mean anything to today's kids, though?

Anyways, I thought LaRocca did a good job explaining the pressure that Reha felt. And there are many poetic lines. And I think the red and white in the title refers to blood cells? It was fine. But not a Newbery, which is what I read it for.

VERDICT: Dropped

  

The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This started out so powerfully, but then got cuckoobananas. The realities of life in Haiti and discrimination in the U.S. were explored well, I thought. And I was ready to accept Lady Lydia because ... well, because she was offering allegorical solutions to Gabrielle's stresses. But then ... the talking rat? In an invisibility cloak? The librarian who never seems to be in the library and is always meting out consequences (or maybe I'm just jealous)?

Other things that bothered me:

- Gabrielle's power to have gone into her friend's mom's depression nightmare never seems to arise again. Besides as a potential reason Lady Lydia wants her. But if she was so sensitive, shouldn't Gabrielle have figured out Tianna's deal?

- The statement on p. 137 when Mrs. Adelman "tells me that she is a Holocaust survivor. I'm not sure what that means, and I ask her to explain. She tells her family's story with tears in her eyes." The author doesn't explain at all. Does she expect readers to look it up?

- Egg the pit bull and his owner play catch in Central Park at midnight?

- The family coming through the portal and acting completely normal.

- FEAR going from invisible to visible.

- Supertornado?

- THREE MONTHS OF FLYING AROUND? WHAT?

- There are references to 1985 pop culture, but I don't think the timing is ever explicitly mentioned.

Extra star for ... creativity.

VERDICT: Dropped

  
The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Levithan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The writing evoked a definite atmosphere, but the plot itself was rather frustrating. Was there really a point? Or was it a meditation on ... truth? Home? Reality?

VERDICT: Dropped

 

Strong Like the Sea by Wendy S. Swore
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Skimmed the second half. It just didn't keep my interest. I did like the mentions of the Bletchley Park codebreakers (although the clues Mom left were way beyond me ... except for the rebus-y ones). And some details about life in Hawaii - different foods and words. And I could relate to this:

p. 41: Just when I think I've stuffed one worry down, another pops up and takes its place like a game of whack-a-mole that never stops. Then I worry that I'm worrying too much.

VERDICT: Dropped



Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I made it page 112, and it's fine, but I don't love it enough to pay overdue fines on it. Maybe our discussion will make me want to finish it later.

VERDICT: Keep ... although I don't know that I will bother finishing



Da Vinci's Cat by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Skimmed the second half after realizing I didn't really like the main characters. Or the plot. All the travel back and forth got confusing. Also, are we not to think that Herbert kind of sucked for making off with art and only paying for it in chocolate?

VERDICT: Dropped

The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I need to know who is talking.

I did like a few lines:

p. 15 - "Both my grans and my dad -- / maybe this will sound silly, but when I'm wearing it, / it's kinda like all three of them are keeping me warm."

p, 23 - "We proved that / the dirt on the streets around here / holds chips and flakes from real stars."

VERDICT: Dropped

Best Reads T1 2021-2022

I've read 78 books total during the past three months, but only liked 27 enough to recommend. Click on the titles to read plot summaries. If you'd like to see all of my books, you can follow me on Goodreads.

Picture Books

The Museum of Everything by Lynne Rae Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I adore the concept and the tiny museum artworks. But I don't love the interstitial watercolors. One star docked for them. Will see what my students have to say when we discuss the illustrations for Mock Caldecott.

Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Would make a wonderful gift for someone who loves to cook with family members. I wish more people would slow down and make stuff from scratch. NO CAMPBELLS CREAM-OFs!

Off-Limits by Helen Yoon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love office supplies? Nice twist ending. Looking forward to reading it for Mock Caldecott.

   

Not Yeti by Kelly DiPucchio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took another reviewer for me to realize that Betty was there the whole time! That brought the book's message to another level for me. I've got a lot of Grimaces and Lloyds in my first grade classes this year. They could stand to hear this story and discuss it.

 

The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken by Jennifer Frank
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Non-cheesy riff on the "be happy with who you are" theme. The pictures of the worms with their teeth and wigs made me laugh.

 


I Is for Immigrants by Selina Alko
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not sure this will work as a Mock Caldecott readaloud, being an alphabet book, but it could make a nice addition to the 4th grade immigration unit ... kids could choose an unknown word (roti, marimba, geneaology) and present it to their class after doing a little research.

 


The Little Library by Margaret McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a school librarian who loves finding the right reader for a book, and the right book for a reader, of course I liked this one. But nobody calls me Librarian Meredith. They do, however, call me Marshmallow.

 


Survivor Tree by Marcie Colleen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this SO much better than "This Very Tree." Lyrical and inspiring.

A House by Kevin Henkes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love a book that asks questions about stuff on the page. Will definitely be using for preschool.

Middle Grade Novels

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED THIS. So whimsical yet with the real-world issue of anxiety written in a realistic way.

Things I especially loved and/or could related to:

Jada yelling her ideas like Socrates: "Ice cream for breakfast!"

Marisol worrying about where in the world to go: "She imagines Paris, but all she knows about Paris is the Eiffel Tower, which is very tall. Much taller than Peppina. What if she fell off the top of the Eiffel Tower?"
NOTE: I had a panic attack on the Scott Monument in Edinburgh because I thought I was going to slide through the wrought iron.

Marisol worrying about waiting in the car: "What if her mom takes too long and the car door won't open and Marisol is trapped inside? What if a maniac steals the car with Marisol in the backseat? What if the brakes malfunction and Charlie rolls into traffic?"
NOTE: I had these thoughts as a child. And nightmares about them happening.

Marisol being a "grumpy grandpa."
NOTE: When I was 15, my 5-year-old brother kicked me out his play he was putting on in the basement because I was "being too grumpy."

Marisol having a pity party.
NOTE: Obviously.

 

Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read this in one sitting while home sick. Loved it. We are totally in Callie's head, and I loved her. She reminded me of my nephew, although he has been in the loop on his parents' issues for years, and he's not even 11 yet. The ghosts were an interesting twist, and I cried at the end.

Issues: WTF with the cleaning service folding clothes in drawers and MAILING LETTERS THEY FOUND IN A BOX UNDER A BED???????? Callie needs to write them a bad review. Or at least a letter. And Isabelle was just the worst. I mean, yes, people suck, but WOW she was the WORST.

View all my reviews The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm sorry, but that was a pretty nebulous prophecy. That said, a lovely old-fashioned tale. Although I'd like to know more about how the loser king got placed on the throne. I'm thinking the counselor encouraged some murder? Hmm ... there were actually a few murders. But it was still lovely. Lessons on character and friendship.

 

Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a sucker for intertwined stories and for suckly relatives secretly not being so suckly after all. Although several still were. Some reviewers have complained about the coincidences, but I found them believable. And I cried through the last couple of chapters in spite of myself. Addresses many issues in a sensitive way. Good stuff.

p. 41: "I can be my own sunrise."

Graphic Novels

They Didn't Teach THIS in Worm School! by Simone Lia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I laughed out loud at the ridiculousness and would 100% recommend it as a readaloud with your kids. Marcus and Lawrence's astonishment at their would-be latent abilities; doing the dance with twig hats to get Gwenda back; the Robert the Bruce references ... delightful. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Early Readers

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Super cute with 100 short vignettes following Harry's time in first grade. I feel like his voice rings pretty true. Lots of boogers, puking, poems, and Fluff Monsters in the classroom. But also feelings and working through friendship situations. And Jenkins includes a list of all the books different teachers read to the class.

p. 38: "Harry's job is Calendar. That means that today he writes the number twelve in the correct square in the blank calendar on the wall. Calendar is a terrible job. It's just writing in a square. A baby could write in a square. Okay, a baby could not write in a square. But Harry wants to be Line Leader."

Nonfiction

Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THAT is how to do a picture book biography! So much information presented cleanly yet passionately. Would make a fantastic introduction to a civil rights unit. And now I think I will go listen to Nina Simone on Spotify.

I Am the Shark by Joan Holub
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My students love sharks, and they will love this book. So much info packed into bright, but not overwhelming, spreads. Fantastic overview of different species and what they are the "most" of.

The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics by Susan Hood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The format would make a difficult readaloud, but the information is interesting, important, and easily understood. The second grade at one of my schools is doing a project about being environmental stewards, and this perfectly aligns with that topic.

Boardwalk Babies by Marissa Moss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took FORTY YEARS for the medical establishment to accept incubators????

 
The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation by Alice B. McGinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can we please talk about the fact that rez life involves having no electricity or running water for so many people? And stop having 5th graders research Native dwellings from 200 years ago?

"While almost every other American will use around a hundred gallons of water today, many on the Navajo reservation will use only seven."

WOW. Could be a fantastic PBL jumpoff.


The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem by Colleen Paeff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As someone who read the novel "The Great Stink" by Clare Clark, I wholeheartedly endorse this picture-book version of the historical drama. Tons of good info delivered in an engaging manner. Will definitely use in my inaugural Mock Sibert this year. Need to find a 2nd-grade-level article to go with it about the lack of sanitation in so many places NOW.

 

If the World Were 100 People: A Visual Guide to Our Global Village by Jackie McCann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We'll see how this goes as a readaloud, but I do so want my students to have exposure to realities that aren't middle-class New England. And it ties into my horror that 29% of humans do not have access to clean water.

 
W Is For Webster: Noah Webster and his American Dictionary by Tracey E. Fern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loved the tone, but wish some of the "American" words had been included. Why keep talking about them and then not tell us a few?



I See Sea Food: Sea Creatures That Look Like Food by Jenna Grodzicki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very cool theme for an animal book. The information included was interesting and used a fairly clean format. And now I know about sea apples. They breathe through their butts.

The Boy Whose Head Was Filled With Stars: A Story About Edwin Hubble by Isabelle Marinov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOVED the star spreads and the stamped silver foil for Edwin's three enduring questions. But ... expanding universes make my head hurt, and if my students were to ask me to explain anything besides how a telescope works, I would be at a loss. I suppose that shouldn't prevent me from reading it for Mock Sibert. But seriously, astronomy gives me anxiety.

For Grownups

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can a book covering multiple murders be described as a "romp"? Great characters and not a lot of loose ends ... although I do question why Elizabeth, who was so determined to make one character pay for their crime, seems to have let another one slip through the cracks.

Choice lines: 

• I volunteer because it makes me look helpful, and it gives me first dibs on the refreshments.

• Joyce has never been inside a police station before, though has watched every ITV documentary going, and she is disappointed that no one is being wrestled to the ground and dragged to a cell, their obscenities thrillingly bleeped out.

• If you don’t cry sometimes, you’ll end up crying all the time.

• It’s great to be the fastest runner, but not when you’re running in the wrong direction.

• “Would you like the detailed answer, or the simple answer?” asks Ibrahim. “The simple answer, please, Ibrahim,” says Elizabeth, without hesitation. Ibrahim pauses. Perhaps he had phrased his question poorly? “But I have prepared a detailed answer, Elizabeth.”

• Though not a quick exodus, because you know that getting out of a garden chair at our age is a military operation. Once you are in one, you can be in it for the day.

  

RI Mock Newbery 2022 - September Reading List

And so it begins. I read 15 of the 23 books on the list, and here's what I thought of them. And I am posting after our meeting, so I've include what others thought as well.

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED THIS. So whimsical yet with the real-world issue of anxiety written in a realistic way.

Things I especially loved and/or could related to:

• Jada yelling her ideas like Socrates: "Ice cream for breakfast!" 

• Marisol worrying about where in the world to go: "She imagines Paris, but all she knows about Paris is the Eiffel Tower, which is very tall. Much taller than Peppina. What if she fell off the top of the Eiffel Tower?" NOTE: I had a panic attack on the Scott Monument in Edinburgh because I thought I was going to slide through the wrought iron.

• Marisol worrying about waiting in the car: "What if her mom takes too long and the car door won't open and Marisol is trapped inside? What if a maniac steals the car with Marisol in the backseat? What if the brakes malfunction and Charlie rolls into traffic?" NOTE: I had these thoughts as a child. And nightmares about them happening. 

• Marisol being a "grumpy grandpa." NOTE: When I was 15, my 5-year-old brother kicked me out his play he was putting on in the basement because I was "being too grumpy." 

• Marisol having a pity party. NOTE: Obviously.

VERDICT: Adorable and good addition to the collection, but not a Newbery contender. Sniff.

Starfish by Lisa Fipps
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not sure if this needed to be in "verse," but I stayed up and read it all in one sitting. Loved Ellie's voice. Loved that there were actual strategies shared by the therapist.

p. 31 - "It's unknown how many students' lives
librarians have saved
by welcoming loners at lunch."

p. 49 - "If I were an article, she'd put a giant X on me."

p. 59 - "Dr. Woodn't-You-Like-to-Know
shelves books based on color,
not alphabetically,
so I think she obviously can't be trusted."

p. 153 - "I saw bits and pieces of me
in the shards.
And it hit me.
That's how people see me,
as bits and pieces of fat.
Not as a person."

VERDICT: Keep on list

 

 

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good stuff. Harry Potter fans will gobble it up. The world-building is pretty even, and there are some SHOCKING twists. Will order for next year.

VERDICT: Keep on list

 

The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting, pretty fast-paced, and most of the questions I had were answered as the book went on. I would like to smack Sai, though. Moral of the story: Don't jump to conclusions.

p. 28 - "Just because everyone says something doesn't mean it's true."

VERDICT: Keep on list

 

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not really a ghost story, first of all. I mean, yeah, there is a ghost, but this isn't quite what the kids who ask for "scary" books are asking for. However, it is so well written; I'm giving it an extra star for the actual text. But I kind of want to take away a star for the whiplash I got between p. 115 and p. 154. Really? A ghost haircut made you pull a 180? It kind of made it seem like the right haircut is all one needs to find one's identity. Within minutes.

Finally, school is 45 minutes away? Gross.

p. 15 - "Smiling seems like it would hurt, like clay has dried on my cheeks and a twitch of my lips would crack it off."

p. 29 - "[G]etting good grades just felt like playing a game, and winning."

p. 46 - "Even reading on the porch sounds more interesting when I pretend to be a character in a book doing it. Reading A Book On The Porch, instead of just reading a book on the porch."

p. 49 - " ... I'm panting, then sobbing, my shoulders quake and my palms press against my face slippery with tears and snot and that narrator that's always murmuring in my head suggests that this is the part of the story where I cry over my uncle's death and maybe start to heal but I don't think that's what's happening but I don't know what's happening ..."

VERDICT: Keep on list

The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A kind of basic "kid has issues and meets an unlikely friend, and they hang out with a senior citizen" plot premise but with the not-so-basic addition of a pet elephant. Immensely readable: I finished in one sitting. I kind of knew there would be a happy ending when Mateo's mom mentioned that she was a lawyer.

VERDICT: Refreshing happy ending, but no longer on our list.

 

A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I could have told you the ending by page 76, but still a nice read in the vein of lots of traditional British children's literature. Orphans, lice, ratkilling, bullies, suspected Nazi sympathizers ... you know, tradition.

VERDICT: Reads like a classic, nice and all that, but no longer on our list.





Clues to the Universe by Christina Li
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Love the idea of the Next Big Step.

Do not love the idea of someone refusing to let their kid know who their other parent is.

Nicely executed story of loners finding friends in each other.

 

NOT DISCUSSED, saving for next time

  


Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another reviewer mentioned that this book is set FORTY YEARS AGO, and now I am feeling ancient. I had drop-waist dresses! I knew all the song titles on the mix tape! And the "alternative" bands! I watched The Wizard of Oz once a year on TV! Will these touchstones for me mean anything to today's kids, though?

Anyways, I thought LaRocca did a good job explaining the pressure that Reha felt. And there are many poetic lines. And I think the red and white in the title refers to blood cells? It was fine. But not a Newbery, which is what I read it for.

NOT DISCUSSED, saving for next time

Ways to Grow Love by Renée Watson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sorry, but I don't think there should be any Ramona comparisons being made ... except for the pickle chapter. Still, a solid younger MG entry that was blessedly devoid of any horrible trauma besides camp pranks and a jerky girl. No dead parents. I didn't love it, but I think it would benefit some of my students to see it on the shelf.

VERDICT: Sweet and important for representation, but not a Newbery contender.

 

The In-Between by Rebecca Ansari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Really liked the family stuff. And the vocab journal. But the kids made some crazy leaps of logic with their investigation, and then everything went off the rails. There was no explanation for why Elena and her sister were stuck in the In-Between. And the big reveal was infuriating.

Although I did like the line, "They weren't lies; they're stories I gathered about other kids at your school, invisible as I was. They are the lives of your classmates, some of whom feel as forgotten as you and I do. Find them. See them the way you saw me."

 NOT DISCUSSED, saving for next time

 

The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This started out so powerfully, but then got cuckoobananas. The realities of life in Haiti and discrimination in the U.S. were explored well, I thought. And I was ready to accept Lady Lydia because ... well, because she was offering allegorical solutions to Gabrielle's stresses. But then ... the talking rat? In an invisibility cloak? The librarian who never seems to be in the library and is always meting out consequences (or maybe I'm just jealous)?

Other things that bothered me:

- Gabrielle's power to have gone into her friend's mom's depression nightmare never seems to arise again. Besides as a potential reason Lady Lydia wants her. But if she was so sensitive, shouldn't Gabrielle have figured out Tianna's deal?

- The statement on p. 137 when Mrs. Adelman "tells me that she is a Holocaust survivor. I'm not sure what that means, and I ask her to explain. She tells her family's story with tears in her eyes." The author doesn't explain at all. Does she expect readers to look it up?

- Egg the pit bull and his owner play catch in Central Park at midnight?

- The family coming through the portal and acting completely normal.

- FEAR going from invisible to visible.

- Supertornado?

- THREE MONTHS OF FLYING AROUND? WHAT?

- There are references to 1985 pop culture, but I don't think the timing is ever explicitly mentioned.

Extra star for ... creativity.

NOT DISCUSSED, saving for next time

 

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I still don't like short stories.

Also, I was hoping to learn a little more about reservation life. Even though the entire book took place mostly at one powwow in a high school gym.

But I recognize the importance of having more books portraying modern Native American life. And I want to try fry bread.

VERDICT: Important for representation, but not a Newbery contender.

 

Dead Wednesday by Jerry Spinelli
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Can someone tell Spinelli that it's ok to retire? I had so many problems with this one, from Worm not knowing any songs to Becca being so physical with him (sticking fingers up his nose, slapping his butt, kissing him) to the final WTF final scene.

This read like an adolescent fever dream that I don't think any adolescents of my acquaintance would want to read.

VERDICT: No longer on our list.

The Raconteur's Commonplace Book by Kate Milford
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I tried. I really did. But the stories were incredibly random, and I couldn't keep track of the characters. Too much foreshadowing and secrecy. Supposedly there is a payoff at the end ... I took a peek and evidently several of the people are magical creatures or something? Glad I stopped reading.

VERDICT: No longer on our list