DRAWN TOGETHER by Minh Lê and Dan Santat (picture book)

Mini-review of DRAWN TOGETHER by Minh Lê and Dan Santat, an #OwnVoices picture book from Little Brown Books for Young Readers.

You can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

SAVING THE COUNTRYSIDE: THE STORY OF BEATRIX POTTER AND PETER RABBIT by Linda Marshall & Ilaria Urbanati (picture book biography)

Tiny lil review of the 2020 picture book biography of Beatrix Potter by Linda Marshall and Ilaria Urbanati, SAVING THE COUNTRYSIDE: THE STORY OF BEATRIX POTTER AND PETER RABBIT.

You can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

HOW TO RAISE A READER by Pamela Paul & Maria Russo

Brief bite of the review apple tackling the literary parenting book from the New York Times’ Pamela Paul and Maria Russo: HOW TO RAISE A READER.

You can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE PURPLE PEOPLE by Kristen Bell, Benjamin Hart, and Daniel Wiseman

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE PURPLE PEOPLE has been making waves on social media as a result of its vaguely all-encompassing positive message, which can be interpreted as encouraging children to not “see color” when it comes to race. Kristen Bell, co-author and actress, has defended the book by saying it was never her intent to communicate that message. My take? I still don’t know what a “purple person” is after reading the cutely illustrated picture book, which means its message can be interpreted a million different ways. If I’m not sure what all qualities fit under the enormous purple umbrella, I wonder if the younger kids I read to would have a more intuitive reading. (Or not?)

You can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The topic of colorblindness and its impact on raising and educating children is not a new one (and not the product of the current polarizing political moment); as far back as 2009 and probably even earlier, its negative effects were being discussed in and beyond the community of educators. (For more on that subject, I recommend Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs’ 2009 article for tolerance.org.)

THE EXTRAORDINARIES by TJ Klune

A rave review for the recent (very, VERY) gay young adult book by TJ Klune, THE EXTRAORDINARIES. This video runs a little over because I just couldn’t resist including a couple of tiny lil quotelets. If you are looking for a super fun and inclusive LGBTQIA+ young adult read this summer that ALSO has some serious emotional punch. That’s on top of superheroes, super villains, and a whole lot of teenage angst. Oh, and fanfiction that gets a little bit … too … real? Or … not?

One of my top books in this category, maybe *ever.* You can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

Bonus? While the teens occasionally speculate about intimacy (and let’s be honest, what real-life teens DON’T) this book includes zero scenes of “that nature.” The teens’ rambunctiously potty-mouthed dialogue proves that you don’t even have to snog to be either totally gross or totally in love. And boy, Klune knows how to make readers VERY uncomfortable (in a “mortified by being caught in a sewage-ridden river by two cops who know my dad” kind of way) without being dirty. As an ace/aro/agender adult, I am super grateful for that, and I’m imagining some teens are skipping LGBTQIA+ reads because being queer has for a long time been equated with being titillating. Later books in the series could still go there, though, so keep that in mind.

POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER by Cory Doctorow and Matt Rockefeller

A tiny little baby monster of a review for Cory Doctorow’s POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER, a new picture book illustrated by Matt Rockefeller. It follows a clever and ferocious little girl (Poesy) whose parents are either zombies or just very tired parents of a child who can’t seem to stay in bed. It may not be the most philosophically nuanced picture book you pick up this year, but the kids will LOVE it. And Poesy’s eyebrows. They’re practically a separate character.

This book was released on July 14th, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

THE SERENITY PASSPORT by Megan C. Hayes, PhD and illustrated by Amelia Flower

My suggestion? Find #OwnVoices books on various languages of interest to you that are authored by people who are experts not just on vocabulary but the rich cultural history of the etymology and its in-community applications. Sure, page through SERENITY PASSPORT and enjoy the lovely physical and visual object that it is. I simply hesitate to think that Hayes is simply repeating what many other English-speaking people have done and said about foreign cultures and their languages.

This book was released on July 14th, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

MIGHTY, MIGHTY CONSTRUCTION SITE by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

If you haven’t already been forced by your toddlers to read and re-read MIGHTY, MIGHTY CONSTRUCTION SITE or its predecessor a gazillion times, you may or may not want to introduce them to this delightful duology by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld. Your children are pretty much guaranteed to love them, but as I mentioned, YOU might come to be tormented by constant repetition. As for the merits of this particular book? Tinker’s text is perfectly balanced page to page for a toddler’s attention span, and she rarely misses a beat in her rhyme. But me? I’m here for the art.

Lichtenheld’s illustrations are absolutely CENTRAL. I seem to remember double-checking the medium and being so happy to have been right that he used wax-oil pastels. I was forced to use them in college for at least one class, and they were an absolute *nightmare* to work with, although that could just be my general skill level. When done correctly, pastels can produce some of the most gorgeous art due to their texture, blending, and intensity. I went into college not knowing what pastels *were,* and by the time I graduated I could make you thoroughly sick of me simply by covering the basics of what soft pastel users and oil pastel users think of each other (one of the greatest rivalries of all of art history). In any case, my admiration for Lichtenheld went through the roof after I confirmed his choice of medium.

This book was released in 2017, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

JAMMIE DAY? by Carrie Snyder and Brooke Kerrigan

While some of the bedtime-related books that I’ve read recently could very well be encouraging kids to turn into a) toothpaste-aversive tigers or b) ferocious monster hunters, JAMMIE DAY? calls out adults on the average middle child’s biggest complaint: That is to say, that they’re pretty much invisible due to their position in the birth order. As a result, Cliffy gets away with wearing his pajamas pretty much constantly, even at school and elsewhere. If the book had ended just a few pages earlier, it would have been perfect, simply because the book ends with Cliffy’s parents NOT CATCHING ON FOR A YEAR while a couple of pages earlier his fellow kids at school are totally paying attention (and getting ideas). Instead of becoming a bleak commentary on parental neglect (if read the way I do) it could have been messaging something more positive, like being payed attention to by the adults in his life. As it is … I feel really sorry for Cliffy.

This book was released in 2017, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

A TIGER LIKE ME by Michael Engler and Jöelle Tourlonias, translated by Laura Watkinson

Did I pick up this book entirely because the kid on the cover looks like a combination of BOTH Calvin AND Hobbes? Why yes, yes I did. I AM THAT SHALLOW. Distributed by Amazon’s child-geared imprint, A TIGER LIKE ME is a picture book that is lovely to look at but it does have some issues with unevenly distributed text. I can read books like this to my nieces and nephews, but my sisters as mothers definitely should not unless they want to give their own kids the idea to develop problematic bedtime behaviors. (I, on the other hand, can give them candy and bad ideas all I like since I don’t have to deal with … parenting.)

This book was released in 2019, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

THE CRAYON MAN by Natascha Biebow and Steven Salerno

THE CRAYON MAN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE INVENTION OF CRAYOLA CRAYONS by Natascha Biebow and Steven Salerno is something of a rose-tinted-glasses biography as many picture book biographies are, but the story underneath as well as the illustration style and the end materials all seem to indicate that it’s picking up what Mr. Rogers was putting down in Episode 1481. (More HERE.) And if I needed anything in the wake of watching 2019’s A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD and sobbing over the perfection that is Tom Hanks, those eyebrows, and Matthew Rhys all in the same room, it’s a picture book about crayons. After all, it’s ever so easy for us grown ups to forget how to slow down and notice things sometimes, isn’t it?

This book was released in 2019, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

THE VALUE OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF: THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR by Spencer Johnson and Steve Pileggi

In the age of pandemic, it’s important to keep books on hand for curious kiddos about the risks of disease and the invaluable benefits (AKA survival) associated with dedicated scientific research therein. In THE VALUE OF BELIEVING IN YOURSELF: THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR, Spencer Johnson and Steve Pileggi were somewhat ahead of the curve in filling our present-day need for these books. Published in 1976 (a year so remote to today’s children it makes me feel every sprain and ache of my ancient millennial body simultaneously to think about), it traces the development of Pasteur’s vaccine from his lab through its first successful use on a rabid dog-bitten child. I personally appreciated Johnson and Pileggi abstaining from showing ALL of the steps involved in documenting rabies transmission and creating an effective vaccine (MANY rabbits died in the making of this science). The various details are still fresh in my mind from the episode of THIS PODCAST WILL KILL YOU on rabies, which you can listen to [HERE].

Rabies remains a grim proposition. A post-exposure prophylaxis treatment does exist for those individuals who are exposed to the virus today, but it is not a comfortable (or cheap) experience, as it involves a LOT of intramuscular injections. Delightful. Also, if you wait to long and contract rabies itself, there is no treatment. Your only hope is to receive the vaccine beforehand (and likely some extra boosters right after) or SO, SO MUCH VACCINE right after that you can prevent the virus from taking hold. Also, OLD YELLER. I will never get over that book. I *still* can’t face it, all these decades after I first sobbed over its fresh-creased pages.

This book was released in 1976 and you can find out more about this title at Goodreads.com.

HONEY, THE DOG WHO SAVED ABE LINCOLN by Shari Swanson and Chuck Groenink

HONEY, THE DOG WHO SAVED ABE LINCOLN is a sweet little biographical picture book from Shari Swanson and Chuck Groenink about, well, the time his rescue dog Honey saved his life by guiding a search party to him when he took an ill-advised childhood romp through a cave full of shifting rocks. I’m not personally the kind of person who cheers for presidents the way some people do (what is this, a rugby match?!) but having heard the story recounted by several more ardent twenty-pound-biography readers it’s lovely to see in a picture book. As more and more details about Honest Abe’s life are uncovered and analyzed or reframed in such a way as to leave me deeply confused about why anyone would buy tickets to a presidential throwdown, it’s kind of nice to be reminded of a moment in his life that everyone can agree on. Thanks, Honey, for showing us all how to be better people.

This book was released on January 14th, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

(horror) CREEPING JENNY by Jeff Noon

CREEPING JENNY is the third book in Jeff Noon’s Nyqvist Mystery series, but did I know that when I started reading? NO. Because once again, I went boldly where no reader should have gone without reading the books before. It’s a habit at this point. So when I say that I needed more context in order to understand everything in this very Weird (with a capital “W”) and surreal book of horror (I mean, I *think* it was horror in affect if not plot) it’s very likely that Noon did all the heavy lifting and contextualizing necessary in previous books in this series. What I can tell you fairly is that it’s the kind of elevated aesthetic that is most commonly found in literary fiction, and its sentences had a habit of submerging me in the world without needing to make much sense in order to do so. I still recommend reading the first two books in the series first, though. Don’t be me.

This book was released on March 23rd and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

(LGBT reads, horror) I COME WITH KNIVES by S.A. Hunt

I COME WITH KNIVES is the second book in SA Hunt’s Malus Domestica series, following closely on the heels of BURN THE DARK. Together they make for some pretty gritty witchy horror fiction, featuring witch hunters who are the good guys (what!), queer found families, plenty of body horror, and social media mentions that somehow manage not to be outdated in the time between completion and publication. (I’m seriously worried about what happens once witch hunters turn to TikTok for their documentary platform.) For those who are worried about the combination of ‘body horror’ and ‘queer,’ which in past years has often equated to token queer characters killed off for no real purpose other than titillation, you can rest easy. Sure, the body count isn’t exactly *low.* Thankfully, Hunt is an #OwnVoices author in this respect (although hopefully not in respect to the gory witch hunting bits) and handles the various story arcs without turning to easy tricks to heighten the horror like that.

My one word of caution (other than “This is HORROR, so you kind of have to like that”) is that these books are *long.* If you can handle the average Stephen King book, you’re set, but for those who aren’t used to living in a pretty bleak brain-space with lots of intestines on display, you might want to give it a pass.

This book was released on July 21st, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

(horror) THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones

Look (listen). SO many other reviewers have written nuanced takes on Stephen Graham Jones’ masterful THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS, which is simultaneously the most unexpected and the most horrifying book I’ve read in 2020 so far. I think it’s worth putting in content warnings here, but I’m not sure which ones all should be here. Murder, definitely. Psychological terror? Gruesome descriptions of harm done to animals? I might not have read it if I hadn’t read some of those other reviews I mention above, and they were universally positive. So to add my little voice to the mix, THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS is a spectacularly creepy novel by an Indigenous author and which tackles complicated notions of identity, belonging, consequence, justice, and honor both on and off of the reservation. It is also the only science fiction or fantasy-adjacent book set in my state that doesn’t paint Montana as something it’s not, and that’s probably because its a functional location, not strictly an aesthetic one. (I’m more than a little overjoyed by this.) Jones’ doesn’t massage his lines past the point of sensibility; his sentences are beautiful in their brevity and his scenes in their ability to get at the heart of this violent world we both live in and do not live in, depending. And while it starts slow, focused in on one character’s workaday life between home and a post office job, it doesn’t stay there. Once that thread of the storyline explodes into the unexpected contours of its violence, the book barely slows down to take a breath.

And yes, count me in on #TeamDenorah. Her character brought me right back to the nonfiction surrounding Sharon LaForge, not to mention the incredible Fort Shaw Indian School Girl's Basketball Team, which won the World Championship in 1904. And she reminded me of the tweens and teens I worked with as Youth Services Librarian in Montana’s Mission Valley. Deborah’s character captures something immutable.

This book was released on July 14th, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

(romance) (slightly spoilery) DEAL WITH the DEVIL by Kit Rocha

I’ll keep this short, since the sum total of my response is “boy howdy, I was expecting the wrong things!” As is my habit these days, I rushed into reading this book with nary a glance at Google or the authors’ website (Kit Rocha being the nom de plume of Donna Herren and Bree Bridges). The Kit Rocha name is associated PRIMARILY with romance, so when I read the series title of “Mercenary Librarians,” I was thinking “Oh yay! A book about people like me!” when this could not be further from the truth. As an aroace librarian, my responses were along the lines of: “What, really?” when it comes to the library aspects in this book and “HA, no thanks” to the romance bits and “yeah, ehhh” about the super soldier mercenary bits. I could not have *picked* a less “me” book than DEAL WITH THE DEVIL, but to give it a fair shake I must forge ahead in the assumption that you, dear review-watcher or review-reader, are someone who *likes* romance, a steamy-to-scalding sex scene or two, and only occasional hints at what libraries are or could become in the future.

Because d––n, I’m excited to be a mercenary librarian *right now,* and the future only promises to be more in need of freedom of access to information, advocacy, privacy protections, and access to “Library of Things” resources (Seed libraries? 3D printers? archives of carefully and culturally protected oral storytelling narratives of vanishing peoples? access to the kind of technology required to buck the capitalist system and either work from home or apply for jobs without an enormous overhead expenditure? THEM’S MY THING). This book’s authors are clearly simpatico on that bit of my life, as far as I can glean from some brief references, so that makes me happy. I would not, however, recommend that librarians read this book based on accurate representation of the field. I would recommend this book instead to librarians who dig THE OLD GUARD, only want, like, VERY explicit sex scenes and only about 12% of the gays. (And d––n, but that movie has a great queer love declaration scene, amirite?!) The book’s constant barrage of flirting would probably be delectable to those who enjoyed … hm … I try not to read romance books so this is hard … hmmm … 90s romcoms? Singles “business” meet-ups at bars in NYC? I know nothing about flirting, other than that a significant glance or two goes a long way for me unless the book in question is FLAGRANTLY and unrepentantly gay, in which case I’m SO EXCITED to see my fellow queers have a cultural moment. Am I doing a good job of reviewing? I *really* can’t tell. But I’m pretty sure I’m off topic.

Sex. Dramatic weather. Post apocalyptic architectural styles. “But wait, didn’t you JUST tell me that character was dead?!” moments. Unprofessional professionals. Librarians who really are mostly interested in SELLING (at least part of) THE (rogue) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FOR MONEY. (Still mad about that one.) Knife fights. Manic pixie dream girls (women). Road trip motifs. Bugged characters who know they’re bugged and use that to inflict sexy psychological torment. Flirting. Unnecessarily sexy outfits. Lofts to be dramatically descended from. Male specimens of a broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, fast-drawing, blue-eyed subtype that would make Louis L’Amour proud. Sex scenes that put a more positive spin on “What would *actually* happen if Superman had sex?” than [THIS website]. This book. Has. Got. It. All. Except for, y’know. People like me and my friends.

This book was released on July 28th, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

A LITERARY TEA PARTY by Alison Walsh

This is the kind of cookbook I’d pack for a weekend with my nieces and nephews, because it’s the kind of cookbook I would have *loved* to come across as a child myself. And who am I kidding? I was baking lembas from LORD OF THE RINGS in my senior year of college (“One small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man!” “How many did you eat?” “Four.”). I’m clearly not past the novelty bookish cookbook, as my past checkout history at the library can attest. I do draw a line at a GAME OF THRONES cookbook, though, since I’d rather not have to conduct three coups and a field campaign before sitting down to a dinner where everyone’s likely to die or at least be threatened creatively. REDWALL, however? YES. HARRY POTTER? Hallelujah! WINNIE THE POOH? Sign me up! ANNE OF GREEN GABLES? You had me at “Raspberry Cordial.” TOM SAWYER? … sure … I suppose ….

Suffice it to say, I love to bake with and for people, and this is the exact kind of cookbook I’d actually pay for, in part because Walsh thoughtfully pairs the dishes and drinks and so forth together so that there is a comprehensive pile of party plans already laid out by the end. Wouldn’t that make for a great birthday idea??

This book was released in 2018, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

WONDER: THE ART AND PRACTICE OF BEATRICE BLUE by Beatrice Blue

This book is exactly what its title implies it is: a collection of Blue’s artwork and some notes on the practice of both mixed media and digital arts. Gorgeous to look at and hold in the hand, it’s well worth looking at for the artwork alone, and that’s just as well, since the text portions come off more as inimitable memoir than practical pointers that another artist might glean some workable tips from. (If I could afford Blue’s gorgeous little apartment with its perfect natural lighting and its view over the rooftops, golly. Not to mention Blue’s preferred art supplies are … not remotely in my price range.) I did find it fascinating that Blue makes her own pigments for watercolor out of found materials in the natural world while on hikes, but that wasn’t given nearly as much page-space as would be required to truly imitate. Ah, well. To be absolutely truthful, I didn’t pick up this book with *any* expectations of the text, and the artwork alone was enough to leave me oohing and aching for hours. Blue’s skill is simply masterful.

This book was released on January 21st, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.

THE TEA DRAGON FESTIVAL by Katie O’Neill

If you’re not already reading Katie O’Neill’s adorable graphic novels and playing the adorable related card games and digging into her picture book DEWDROP … get thee to the nearest bookstore! Or comic shop! THE TEA DRAGON FESTIVAL is the second book in the Tea Dragon trilogy, with the third book due out in September of 2020. This second book is something of a standalone, in that it takes place in the same world as the first and upcoming third graphic novels, but it follows different characters. Ring uses they/them pronouns and the entire town speaks in sign language so that Lesa feels at home, and it’s just … the sweetest daisy of a book possible. The series is often described as “gentle” and I think that’s very true; if there is a message in any of these books, it’s to be kind to one another, make new friends, and support those around you. All depicted in the most winsome and vivid art imaginable.

I loved the platonic friendship at the heart of THE TEA DRAGON FESTIVAL and I simply can’t wait for the conclusion of this trilogy in THE TEA DRAGON TAPESTRY! Although … I guess I *can* since I *have* to. And I’m not happy that we only get three of these books. Somebody put in a word with O’Neill, please? I need more Rinn, STAT.

This book was released in 2019, and you can find out more about this title at Bookshop.org.