Category: Children’s Books

Categories
Children's Books Graphic Novels Horror

All the Lovely Bad Ones: Graphic Novel

Based on the novel by Mary Downing Hahn. Pub Date 8/15/23

4*s. Best enjoyed when you need a ghost story with an innocent, triumph-over-evil feeling.

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Travis and his sister, Corey, can’t resist a good trick. When they learn that their grandmother’s quiet Vermont inn, where they’re spending the summer, has a history of ghost sightings, they decide to do a little “haunting” of their own. Before long, their supernatural pranks have tourists flocking to the inn, and business booms.

But Travis and Corey soon find out that theirs aren’t the only ghosts at Fox Hill Inn. Their thoughtless games have awakened something dangerous, something that should have stayed asleep. Can these siblings lay to rest the restless spirits they’ve disturbed?“

Review:

This really was such an awesome story. The illustrations were colorful and the story was eerie yet still cute in some way. I hadn’t read this book prior to now so this was my first exposure to it. I loved how the spirits were depicted and also how much growth the kids and adults both experienced throughout.

I think this is the perfect kid’s graphic novel for spooky season and I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children’s for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair review.

Categories
Children's Books

If You Were Night

By Muon Thi Van, Illustrated by Kelly Pousette

Pub Date 9/1/2020

4.5 Stars. Best enjoyed as a night time read with a little one.

If You Were Night is an adorable children’s book that explores the world as it is when most humans go to bed. Using beautiful photos of pastel-colored 3-D paper scenes built in a way to allow a play of shadows similar to moonlight, its pages capture the beauty of the world during a full moon. I can imagine that this book would be a hit with children who love animals and curious kids who often wonder what happens in the world while they dream.

I also imagine the if you have a child who gets afraid as the sun disappears behind the horizon, this book could help them get over their fears. The gentle landscapes depicted in the pictures and soft, poetic prose of the story would be set anyone with such a fear at ease.

I feel that anyone with a child who loves pretty pictures and whispered stories would love to have this in their library.

Thank you NetGalley and Kids Can Press for a copy of this Children’s book in exchange for a fair an honest review.

Categories
Children's Books Non Fiction

In the Dark

by Lisa Deresti Betik. Pub Date September, 1, 2020.

5 stars. Best enjoyed with your favorite little curious mind.

In the Dark is a beautifully illustrated book for kids about a ‘darker’ side of science–what happens when most of us are sleeping at night!

This book covers many different subjects concerning biology, astronomy, and anatomy. For example, the first section is on the human body and why sleep is important for repairing and maintaining our bodies and brains. It acts as a fantastic reminder for both children and adults as to why sleep is so important. I found the review of circadian rhythm to be an interesting reminder that I think kids will be able to integrate into their lives as they grow.

The next two sections cover nocturnal creatures and plants and the biology that they’ve developed in order to adapt and survive. It covers predator/prey relationships, the anatomy of the eye of a cat verses that of a human, how plants capture and store energy for nighttime, and also moon gardens (everyone should have one!).

The last section is all about one of my personal favorite subjects: Astronomy! There is a lot to learn and some very cool and beautiful charts that kids can reference regarding meteor showers, constellations, planetary positions, aurora borealis, and the phases of the moon.

There is so much information and so many opportunities to learn in this book for both kids and parents. For someone like me who has always had a passion for science, this was a nice little refresher course–I picked up a few cool new facts as well!

It is so important to foster a love of science in young minds and I think this book does that with panache. The colorful and beautiful illustrations accompany some very fun information, which gives kids, especially those who are visual or right-brained, the opportunity to retain some very useful information that they will definitely be able to apply to the world around them. I have a feeling that I will be buying a few copies for birthday presents and we will probably be planning meteor shower watching parties soon.

Page 40, In the Dark

Thanks to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. I loved this one.

Categories
Children's Books

The Most Beautiful Thing

Cover of The Most Beautiful Thing

by Kao Kalia Yang, pub date October 6, 2020

Five Stars. Best enjoyed with a tissue nearby.

I don’t often review children’s books, but I have to say that The Most Beautiful Thing caught my eye. The cover illustration is gorgeous and my own relationship with my grandmother fueled my desire to check this out.

The story is about a young Hmong American girl whose grandmother was a staple in her life and whom she helped care for and who helped raise her. As it should be in any culture, it is a privilege to be able to take care of one’s elders and hear their stories and history. The book talks about the tales that her grandmother told her when she would ask about the cracked soles of her feet and the little ways she changed herself or things she would do to show respect and love to her grandmother. These short tales and anecdotes mingle with reality of life of the author as a child and are emphasized by the sweeping, colorful illustrations throughout, which takes the reader on a beautiful journey. The writing is very matter of fact and gives a glimpse into the lives of the people involved.

Arguably, the overarching theme of the story is that the most important and beautiful things in life are the things we can inherit from our parents and grandparents. Not just genetically, but the stories that they pass down, the lessons that they can teach us, and the love they both give us and that they plant within us. This is an important lesson that every child should learn, especially now.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the advanced galley.

Page 32, The Most Beautiful Thing
Categories
Children's Books Fantasy Historical Fiction

Fledgling: Sorcery and Society Book 2

By Molly Harper

4 Stars, best with a cup of tea and a sense of wonder.

Fledgling is the second book in the Changeling series by Molly Harper and tackles Sarah Smith Cassandra Reed’s second year at Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies in an alternative Victorian England where the magical ruling class, or the Guardians, rule the non-magical servant class, or the Snipes. Although I did not have the chance to read and review the first book in the series, I was nonetheless sucked into this book and it gave me enough background to feel like I could understand the world that Harper built within the confines of the previous story.

Cassandra Reed, known by only her closest confidants for who she really is, Sarah Smith, is back at Miss Castwell’s navigating the society in which she has been thrust. Between her duties as a student, the Translator (the chosen keeper of the Mother Book, a tome that contains all of the history of the magical world), a new member of Guardian society, and what looks like the start of a courtship between her and Gavin McCray, her plate is overflowing and her secret mission to find more Changelings like herself has to take the shelf for the time being–something that the Mother Book itself resents. However, when the girls decide to try a divination spell during their study group, Cassandra is hit with a horrible vision of things to come if she isn’t able to find the other Changelings she is supposed to be looking for. Cassandra and her best friends Ivy and Alicia take it upon themselves to search out the rumored changeling school situated in Scotland where Alicia’s family summers. It’s a secret and dangerous mission, but the girls are running out of time, and if the visions are correct, the very world they know depends on them.

I really enjoyed this book a ton. It reminded me of Harry Potter meets A Great and Terrible Beauty. I love stories that are set in Victorian England and I also love stories involving magic. Although this is for a younger group of readers, it really was a fantastic read for any age and I have every intention of going back and reading the first. It had me from get-go. There is also a classist political element to it that I thought was an interesting take, namely the Snipes vs Guardians and the balance on their relationship, and also how Cassandra wanted to find a way to blur the lines and make life better for both sides.

Fledgling was a great book and I highly recommend you pick up a copy for that preteen in your life.

Thank you Netgalley & NYLA for an advanced copy in exchange for a fair & honest review!