Dragon Legend (Dragon Realm #2) by Katie and Kevin Tsang

Dragon Legend by Katie and Kevin Tsang is the second in the Dragon Realm middle grade series. The books do need to be read in order, so if you haven't read the first book please stop here. There may be spoilers. You can read my review of the first in the Dragon Realm series, here:

Dragon Mountain by Katie and Kevin Tsang

In Dragon Legend, Charlotte, Billy, and Ling-Fei must decide whether or not to follow their friend Dylan, who has been grabbed by their teacher, Old Gold, and pulled into a time portal. Old Gold has betrayed them, as well as his grandson, JJ. The entire point of Chinese Culture Camp was to find the right children to help him enter the Dragon Realm, where he planned to join the evil Dragon of Death and be on the winning side when she rules the Human and Dragon Realms. 

Of course, the children decide to go after Dylan. Because JJ has been left behind by his grandfather, he's invited to come along on Dylan's dragon, Buttons. Using one of the dragons' hoards and their powers, they open a portal in time to search for him. What they find is not promising. It looks like the Dragon of Death and her evil minions are already killing innocent dragons who refuse to join her.

What else will the children find? Will they be able to locate and rescue their friend, Dylan? What has Old Gold done with him? Can JJ be trusted? When they find out what Old Gold is up to, will they be able to beat him at his game? And, when there's a fierce dragon battle, who will win? 

Recommended - There's only one thing I didn't love about Dragon Legend and that's the fact that a few too many hints were dropped about how it would end (another cliffhanger). Meh, whatever. I still loved it. I've deliberately kept my review vague but a lot happens and I just don't want to spoil it for kids or grown-ups who love a bit of dragony adventure. And, Dragon Legend is quite a whirlwind ride. Over time, the power the children have from their pearls and connection with their dragons becomes stronger. But will it be enough when the time comes for battle? 

Ugh, I want to read the next book! My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy. I love this series and would highly recommend it to any child or grown-up in need of an escape into another world. There is some fascinating and unique world building. I enjoyed that feeling that you never know what's going to happen next. Even the ending was surprising in many ways, in spite of the fact that you know what's going to cause the cliffhanger. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Aven Green Baking Machine (Aven Green #2) by Dusti Bowling and Gina Perry

Aven Green has fast become a favorite children's book character. In Aven Green Baking Machine by Dusti Bowling, Aven and her three friends have decided to enter a baking contest. Each of them has come up with a favorite recipe or altered one to make it their own. But, Aven is rude about the name of her friend Sujata's chosen dessert and refuses to even taste another friend's because it contains raisins, which she despises. By the end of their baking session, Aven has alienated everyone and her friends even decide to enter the contest without her. 

When a boy named Ren sits down to talk with her while she's sitting alone and sad on the playground, the next day, she finds out that his mother makes a delicious dessert containing bean paste. Once again, she is insensitive about a dessert that comes from another culture and makes a face, hurting Ren's feelings. But, then her grandmother teaches her a lesson in trying new things and being kind to friends. 

Aven apologizes to her friends and asks Ren if he'd like to join the baking contest with her. With the help of Ren and his mother, she discovers yet again that things that sound kind of awful can actually taste delicious. Who will win the baking contest? Will Aven be able to reconcile with her friends?

Highly recommended - A wonderful story about being kind and culturally sensitive and trying new things, which includes recipes, yay. I love books with recipes in the back. Because Aven is a child with no arms, there are always unique situations in the Aven Green books and while she was a little rude in this book for a time, Aven is a good person, very upbeat and quick to make friends. I always find myself smiling as I read the Aven Green books. A delightful middle grade read. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! Aven Green Baking Machine is the second in a series but it stands alone fine. Here's my review of the first:

Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Little Spacecraft That Could by Joyce Lapin and Simona Ceccarelli

The Little Spacecraft That Could by Joyce Lapin, illustrated by Simona Ceccarelli, is about the spacecraft that traveled to Pluto and then onward to view a snowman-shaped object in the Kuiper Belt called Arrokoth, sending back photos of both our most distant planet and a unique object that nobody even knew existed when the spacecraft left the Earth. 

If you're thinking of the story with a similar name (The Little Engine That Could), throw that idea out the window. It's not about huffing and puffing through space but a nonfiction book with lots of facts about the spacecraft New Horizons — its size, how it used another planet's gravity to slingshot outward at a faster rate, how important it was to get the trajectory of New Horizons just right, how long it took to get to Pluto, what kind of information it sent back to Earth and how long it took for the spacecraft to communicate with NASA as it traveled farther away, etc.

The Little Spacecraft That Could also talks about Pluto's journey from being called a planet to losing its "planet" designation, and then back to being a planet but now called a "dwarf planet" and how that all came about. I confess, this is the part that interested me the most because I'm old enough to have been a child who had to memorize the nine planets and do projects with them. Like most folks, I was shocked when scientists announced that Pluto had been taken off our list of planets. How and why did that happen and why did it get its designation back, but slightly altered? It's satisfying to finally have the answers. 

I call this kind of book a "picture book for young readers" because it's a book for slightly older elementary level children but which is still picture-book sized and loaded with gorgeous illustrations.

Highly recommended - The Little Spacecraft That Could would make an excellent resource for either an elementary school library or a science classroom, a nice addition to the library of anyone who has a passion for astronomy and/or NASA, or just a fun read for anyone curious about the journey of a spacecraft to our most distant planet and what exactly it found upon its arrival. It contains a very nice, 2-page glossary. 

There are so many fascinating bits of information about Pluto, our solar system, the spacecraft's journey, and what it found when it arrived in The Little Spacecraft That Could that I'm going to have to muzzle myself a bit. It's just the size of a piano! It's powered by plutonium! The only thing I found a little uncomfortable (at first . . . but I got over it) was the anthropomorphizing of a spacecraft in a nonfiction book. But, it makes the book a little more palatable for youngsters, I'm sure, and makes for cool spreads like this, showing the little spacecraft crying, "Wheee!" as it uses Jupiter's gravity to increase its speed (click on image to enlarge): 

Fun and educational! Many thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Climate Change and How We'll Fix It by Alice Harman and Andrés Lozano

It's Earth Day and I've been saving my review of this book just for today! It's so good. Climate Change and How We'll Fix It by Alice Harman begins with the very first thing you need to know: What's the difference between weather and climate? As I read the beginning of the book, it occurred to me that already I found that it had defined climate change in a more palatable and easily comprehensible manner than any other book I've read (and I do enjoy reading about climate change), enough so that I couldn't help but think that a lot of adults could get a great deal out of Climate Change and How We'll Fix It. 

From the introduction of Climate Change and How We'll Fix It:

In the first section of this book, we're going to try to answer the big questions you might have about climate change. Questions like "How do we know it's happening?", "What is causing it?", and "What will happen if we don't stop it. 

Then, in the second section, we'll look at some of the problems getting in the way of fixing climate change. And in the third section, we'll try to figure out how humans — including you! — can help solve these problems and create a better, safer world for us all. 

There's a pretty substantial list of contents but the first section, "What We Know" talks about the Greenhouse Effect, different types of energy/fuel and how they contribute to climate change or can reduce it, food and farming (impacts of farming on the climate and the reverse), "Too much stuff" (conspicuous consumption, particularly in advanced nations where advertisers try to convince everyone they need more, and how wasteful consumption adds to the problem), and how exactly scientists find the evidence and impact of climate change. 

The second section uses talking heads (illustrated with little conversation bubbles) to show the two sides of various issues. For example, the "That's not fair" problem has a person from an advanced nation and a nation that is trying to become wealthier in discussion. The person from the wealthier nation tells the other that his country needs to reduce its carbon emissions but the other country's opinion is, "Hey, you did it to make yourselves wealthy and now it's our turn." 

The third section, about solutions, goes into some interesting territory in that it tells the reader that there are ways to do your part but it's also important to understand that there are reasons people don't understand and act on climate change, that it's important to listen to others and learn from them, try to promote fairness in climate action, and not lecture people. I thought the bit about not lecturing because it doesn't work anyway but simply doing what you can was particularly great because, in fact, I've read an entire book about why people don't want to even think about climate change, much less accept it, and it makes a lot of sense to stick to simplicity — do what you can to help, but let others come to understanding of what needs to be done in their own time. 

Geared for older elementary level, Climate Change and How We'll Fix It would be an excellent library resource and wonderful for use in classrooms or for science reports. Adults who don't want to read a more in-depth book but just want to know the basics will get a lot out of it, as well. Here's an interior image to give you an idea of the reading level (click on the image to enlarge). 

Highly recommended - I've read quite a few books about climate change but this children's book is one of the clearest, most easily comprehensible books I've read. It does become a little repetitive in the latter half and I thought the fictional conversations were a tiny bit more complex than the text. Still, Climate Change and How We'll Fix It is an excellent primer about climate change: what it is, how scientists know it's not normal, why progress in reversing it has been slow, and what readers can do to help bring about change. It also contains a very nice glossary. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Edmund the Elephant Who Forgot by Kate Dalgleish and Isobel Lundie

Edmund the Elephant Who Forgot by Kate Dalgleish is just what it sounds like, the story of a young elephant who has a bad memory. When Edmund is sent to fetch some items for his brother's birthday party, his mother teaches him a song about memory and then sends him with a list, which he promptly discovers that he's forgotten. 

Colin the Cricket tags along to try to help Edmund but Edmund can't quite hear what Colin is shouting. The end result is like a game of telephone. Colin shouts, "It's a bunch of balloons!" and Edmund says, "Aha! A gang of masked raccoons!" and promptly places them in his wagon to take home. Here's a spread showing how Colin's shouted reminder to pick up twenty pointy party hats becomes "seven sassy dancing cats!" You should be able to click on the following image to enlarge.

As you can see, the illustrations by Isobel Lundie are dynamite. There is not only a ton to look at to keep little eyes busy, but she also has hidden Colin the Cricket throughout the book. At the end of the book, the number of Colins to be found is mentioned (25) and there's a foldout illustration of what happens when Edmund brings home all the wrong items. Edmund has forgotten to send out the invitations but his brother says he thinks he's about to have the best party ever!

Highly recommended - This book is a serious gigglefest. If my grandkids were within driving distance, I'd dash over to read it to them because I just know they'd have a great time laughing at Edmund's silly mistakes and enjoying the crazy illustrations. So. Much. Fun. 

Many thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy!! My copy of Edmund the Elephant Who Forgot is going on the favorites shelf to save for grandkid visits. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling and Gina Perry

Aven Green is a girl with no arms who has decided to put her superior brain cells to use solving mysteries in Aven Green Sleuthing Machine by Dusti Bowling. At first, the mysteries are not all that mysterious. In some cases, she's the guilty party, which makes sleuthing very easy. But, some mysteries require more brain power. 

When a string of mysterious disappearances of food at the school along with gigantic messes happen, Aven is on the job. And, when she finds out her grandmother's dog is missing, crime solving becomes even more urgent. 

Working in sleuthing around her everyday life at home, at school, and with friends, Aven tracks down clues to the mysteries. But, will she be able to figure out what's going on at school and what's become of her grandmother's dog? Aven doesn't want her grandmother to be sad about her missing fur friend. 

Highly recommended - Hilarious and adorable middle grade fun; I smiled all the way through Aven Green Sleuthing Machine. I love the fact that Aven talks about her armlessness up front and then after that it's no big deal. You're reminded when she writes with her toes or picks up a fork with them, and when you see her in the illustrations. But nobody treats Aven like she's any different from them apart from helping her when she asks by doing things like holding a pen or flipping a button. One of my favorite scenes takes place when Aven has her friends over and they're karate-chopping pillows, which totally took me back to childhood sleepovers. 

Aven Green Sleuthing Machine is the second of the Aven Green books I've read and both serve as excellent lessons in not "othering" people who are a little different. Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus (link leads to my review) is a YA, while Aven Green Sleuthing Machine takes a step back in time to elementary school — third grade, as I recall. Aven is a great character, funny and delightful. I hope there will be a lot more books about her. I particularly loved the way she gave a title to every mystery, i.e. The Mystery of the Missing Donut (not from the book, just an example). 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bindu's Bindis by Supriya Kelkar and Parvati Pillai

First things first: A bindi is the decoration South Asian females often wear on their foreheads, which is known as a "third eye" and is meant to keep evil away. I thought that was what a bindi was, as I went into the reading of Bindu's Bindis, but I wasn't certain so I looked it up. It's good to know that going into the book, in case the child you're reading to has questions. 

Bindu is an American girl who loves wearing bindis. She wears different designs depending upon her mood, using stick-on bindis that come in a variety of colors and shapes. Her grandmother sends her a new set each month and she wears them to the temple, on holidays, and at home. Then, one month her grandmother brings them to Bindu in person. 

Bindu wears a "brilliant oval bindi" to greet her grandmother, or Nani, at the airport. But, when they turn from the gate, her family is surprised to find that they're being greeted by protestors with signs telling them to go home. Bindu holds her head up high and so does Nani. 

Nani has always loved dancing and she teaches Bindu some of her moves. When Bindu dresses up to dance in a school assembly, she's excited at first. But, then some of the children giggle at her beautiful outfit and she's hesitant. Nani tries to excite her by offering different bindis for Bindu to try but it doesn't work. So, Nani goes up on the stage and starts dancing, then Bindu joins her. 

Recommended - I like the story, love the vibrant illustrations in Bindu's Bindis, and particularly appreciated the fact that there are two separate challenges that are tied together: dealing with protestors who are xenophobic and children who make Bindu nervous about her ethnicity. Both are obviously common, right now, in the US. There was one thing I wish the author had done and that's add a single sentence or phrase defining the word "bindi" at the beginning of the book. However, once you know what it is, you know . . . and there's no longer a need for a description. So, after I thought about it for a while, I decided it's no big deal. Bindu's Bindis is a children's picture book, after all, and the illustrations alone make it pretty clear. There is some information about who wears bindis, other names for them, and why they're worn, in the back of the book. 

Incidentally, as I was reading the scene with Nani getting up on stage, I was reminded of the similar scene in About a Boy when Hugh Grant gets up on stage and makes a fool of himself to encourage his young friend to perform. I love the cringeworthy humor of that scene (and the movie, in general), so Nani's dancing brought back a fond memory. In Bindu's Bindis you get a similar feeling from Nani's dancing. It's a little uncomfortable but her joy is infectious. I wanted it to be real and to be transported into that scene. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Shock Wave (Pick Your Fate #2) by Jack Heath

Shock Wave by Jack Heath is the second in the Pick Your Fate adventure series. If you're older, you may recall the Choose Your Adventure series from the 90s. Shock Wave is that type of book, in which you must keep making decisions that alter your path and leap around the book till you succeed or fail. This second installment in the series for middle graders (I have not read the first) is a wild ride . . . repeatedly. 

The reader chooses to be one of two characters, a male or a female, as someone approaches in a boat, then decides what that character will do. The person in the boat is a woman who claims to be an agent in pursuit of thugs who are about to blow up the island on which the main character is attending camp. But is she really an agent? Should the reader, in character, run for help or go with her? Once that decision is made, new circumstances lead to further decisions that lead, eventually, to the reader's fate. Will your choices lead to your death or will you save the day?

I recently read a series of interconnected short stories by Jack Heath and said at the time that I would read anything he wrote. I loved the tension and excitement in that first read by Heath, 400 Minutes of Danger. I have not changed my mind. 

Having said that, I confess that I did not manage to find every "You survived!" ending before I grew tired of flipping back and forth, although I found most and got blown up only a couple times. 

Highly recommended - Loads of fun for the adventure-minded child or adult. Jack Heath's books would be perfect for children who are convinced that reading is boring because you absolutely, utterly cannot be bored reading one of his books but I would not limit this book to middle graders. Anyone who likes something challenging and adventurous will enjoy Jack Heath's writing. His books are so full of breathless action that I think they're particularly well suited to both adventure lovers and children who've lost interest in reading and need something genuinely heart-pounding to lure them back. 

While Shock Wave does have a feeling of being geared to a middle grade to high school audience, it's just so much fun seeing how things unfold that I'm sure adults who love adventure will enjoy it without giving the language level much thought, as I did. 

Both of my children would have loved Heath's books, particularly my eldest, who was an avid reader of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. My youngest went through a phase during which he had no interest in reading (you can imagine the angst on the part of Mom the Bookfool) and I'm sure he would have also loved anything and everything by Jack Heath. Adventure and survival were among those rare attributes that finally helped lure him back to the reading world. That and 19th century literature. Go figure. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Dragon Mountain by Katie and Kevin Tsang

Dragon Mountain by Katie and Kevin Tsang is a middle grade book and the first in a series. Four children who attend a language and culture camp in China are put into a group together. When they're given a task, they end up coming across unexpected danger. But, together, they find that they can overcome the danger. Later, they find a crack in one of the mountains near their camp and the children start disappearing, one by one. The main character sees one of the children as she's snatched and realizes that he's the only one who can save his friends.

Inside the mountain, they find four dragons who have been trapped for a hundred years. The evil dragon who trapped them inside the mountain is about to return; one of them can sense it. The only way they can stop her is to band together, each paired with a human. And, the children are the humans who are needed to help save humanity. After each child is matched with his or her dragon, they will enter the Dragon Realm to prepare for a classic battle of good vs. evil. But, when things go terribly wrong, can they save the dragons from a horrible death before it's too late? 

Highly recommended - Oh, my goodness, what a fun book. So full of adventure and magical powers and dragons!! Who doesn't love dragons? I also love the way the children start out unsure of each other but quickly realize their bond is their strength. 

I absolutely gobbled up Dragon Mountain. It does, unfortunately, have a cliffhanger ending. But I was surprised to find that didn't bother me for the first time in maybe ever. I think the fact that I absolutely loved every moment of the story made Dragon Mountain an exception to my usual distaste for cliffhanger endings. Of course, I'm aching to read on. 

Also worth mentioning: I think both of my kids and my child self would have absolutely loved this book. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

400 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath

• Nika is halfway up the face of a glacier when she realizes it's melting from the inside and there's only a sheer face of ice that will fail soon, inundating the village in which her parents work for Doctors Without Borders. But, she's too far away. Can she find a way to save the village from catastrophe?
• While on a field trip in a national park, Charith spots a man creeping around with a gun. He tells his teacher and they hastily board the bus but the man gets ahead of them and plants a bomb in the road, severing their brake line and sending them careening down the mountain with a kid at the wheel. 
• Nancy is standing on the deck of a cruise ship when an island that shouldn't exist materializes out of the mist. Spotted by the people on shore, they are pursued and hit with missiles. But, Nancy left her dog in her cabin. Can she get down to the lower deck to save her dog without going down with the sinking ship? 

These are just a few of the short stories in 400 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath, a middle grade book that is so tense and action-packed that I would not advise limiting it to a middle grade audience. Each story plunks the reader right at the beginning of a terrifying, taut situation in which the main character has a limited amount of time to figure out how to save someone, complete a dangerous job, or just survive. 

Highly recommended - Whether you have an action-loving child, one who doesn't love reading that you're trying to tempt, or just need a book that's great for breaking a reading slump, 400 Minutes of Danger is a perfect, fast-paced and lively, often outlandish, read. It took a while for me to realize that the stories in 400 Minutes of Danger are interconnected, as the author slowly drops clues and then nicely gathers those clues and explains them in the final story. I appreciated the way he wrapped things up but I would have also been perfectly happy if the stories had no connection because they're so entertaining. 400 Minutes of Danger is a wild ride not to be missed. 

My thanks to Sterling Children's books for the review copy! 

I have one more Jack Heath book for review and I would have been perfectly thrilled if Sterling had sent me everything he's ever written. I'll keep my copy of 400 Minutes of Danger for when I'm in a reading slump as this kind of fast-paced adventure is exactly what I need sometimes to break the spell. And, I'll be reading the next Jack Heath book, soon! 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion by James Pray and a Fiona Friday pic

It took me over a week to finish a single book, thanks to election stress. Anyone else dealing with this? I think it's fading. Fortunately, Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion was a good book to spend time with. I loved the main character and enjoyed every minute of this exciting middle grade book. In fact, I really, really want the author to continue Jonesy's adventures. 

Jonesy Archer and 17 other youngsters have been stranded on the remaining portion of a remote science station called Canary Station since it was attacked and mostly destroyed, 3 years ago. When the bad guys return, drawn by the signature from Jonesy's special power, her "flux", they're unable to find her so they take all of her friends instead, hoping to lure her into the legion in an exchange. 

Determined to save her friends, Jonesy figures out a way to run for help. Nobody has the strength and technology to battle the Gray Legion. But Jonesy's power is indeed special. Will she find a way to control her power and locate her friends to rescue them (preferably without giving herself up in exchange) before it's too late? 

Highly recommended - There's a lot more to the story that I'm leaving out, of course, like how the children survived the attack and the 3 years alone, how Jonesy manages to escape, and what happens after. It's a 400-page book and action-packed! I seriously hope the author is working on making this a continuing series and I would love to see it turned into a movie. 

Bonus: Jonesy is 11 years old and while she's smart and tough, the author let her be emotional. She actually cries quite a bit. As a person who was quick to tears at that age, I really appreciated the realistic emotions. 

Many thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! 

I didn't take many photos of the kitties, this week, but I did get one of Isabel with Jonesy Flux and the Gray Legion while I was reading! Happy Friday!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Song of the Court by Katy Farina

Song of the Court by Katy Farina is a children's graphic novel. Arietta sells flowers at her local castle market. She doesn't have enough money for seeds, so she decides she has no choice but to sell her grandfather's violin. But, then she runs into the princess outside the music shop. Princess Cassia is looking for musicians for her upcoming birthday party and assumes Arietta can play the violin in her hands. 

Arietta doesn't know how to play the violin but she agrees to play because she really doesn't want to part with the violin, which brings back fond memories of her grandfather, or disappoint the princess. So, with the help of a friend she takes a crash course in violin playing. She progresses quickly but at the party she's horrified to find out someone else has chosen to play the same song, the only song she knows. 

I won't give away the ending but it's sweet and I have a feeling I would have absolutely loved this book as a small child, both for the main character's determination to learn an instrument and the friendship with a princess. 

Recommended - A cute graphic novel with a great theme about putting your mind to something and accomplishing it. The age range for this book is listed as 4-8 years so it can first be read to a little one and then part of their intro to reading. I did occasionally find some of the characters' expressions confusing (I'd misread them and then figure out my mistake through the text) but that didn't cause much trouble as it always quickly became clear. Especially recommended for little girls who are interested in music, royalty, or that "You can do it if you put your mind to it" theme with some nice friendship on the side. 

I received my copy of Song of the Court from Sterling Children's Books in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks!

Just for fun, here's how I posed the book for Instagram, followed by a "behind the scenes" image. I had to keep telling Fiona to stop chewing on the flowers. 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Magic in Changing Your Stars by Leah Henderson

First, apologies for not having a better image of this book's cover. I am having some formatting issues and the new Blogger platform is giving me fits, so I've defaulted to an image I took for Instagram (complete with tap shoes). You should be able to click on the image to enlarge it. I couldn't get a saved image of just the cover to load properly. 

The Magic in Changing Your Stars by Leah Henderson is a middle grade book about a boy named Ailey who desperately wants to win the role of the Scarecrow in his school's production of The Wiz. He's a rapper and a dancer but he can't sing and he's not so hot at memorizing lines. Still, he's made up his mind; Scarecrow is the role he wants and he's certain he can make the role unique, both in the way he moves and dresses. 

But, when it's Ailey's turn to try out for the role, he totally freezes and can't remember a single line. His competition, a girl named Mahalia with a fabulous voice, does a fantastic job of trying out so Ailey is certain he won't get a callback. Feeling defeated, he goes home and later admits what happened to his grampa [sic], who is in a hospital bed. Grampa tells him the secret he's kept from all but one person, about his own personal defeat and how he's lived with regret his entire life. 

Grampa sends Ailey to fetch and care for a pair of tap shoes that were given to him by the famous dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and when Ailey makes a wish, the shoes magically transport him back in time, to the day of Grampa's mistake. Can Ailey convince a young Grampa, then known as "Taps", that he has the talent and help him summon the courage to dance for Mr. Robinson? Together, will they change the way the stars align for the old man he adores? 

Recommended but not a favorite - I didn't love the writing style, which kept The Magic in Changing Your Stars from being a favorite, but I did love the story and got totally sucked up into it, at least partly because I'm a sucker for anything that involves time travel. But, I also liked the theme that hard work pays off and even if it's painful or embarrassing or terrifying, you should do your best to make your heart's desire come true. 

I recognized a few famous names used by the author as character names but only a few, so I also really loved the fact that the author included a substantial list of character names she used in the book and where they came from. That list would be terrific for kids looking for ideas for Black History Month as it described each famous Black person briefly but enough that it certainly piqued my interest to read more about some I'd never heard of. 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams and Tara Nicole Whitaker

In Bubble Kisses by Vanessa Williams (the singer) and Tara Nicole Whitaker, a little girl sings about her goldfish, Sal, and why they're the best of friends. As she's talking about Sal and how she gives perfect bubble kisses, the heroine (the little girl on the cover) is swept into a fantasy world in which she has become a mermaid and the goldfish is no longer trapped in a bowl but free in a large body of water.

The entire book is a single song and it comes with both a CD and a QR code that you can scan with your phone or tablet. I mentioned Bubble Kisses when it arrived and at the time, I thought it was very strange that it had a CD because most people don't have CD players, anymore. Mine is in the garage, somewhere, and I have no idea how to load music to a phone so I have to listen to the radio in the car and thought I'd have to pull out my old car to listen to it! But, I hadn't bothered to take the CD out, yet, so I didn't realize there was a QR code behind it (although that was probably in the publicity material and I just forgot).

At any rate, all that's to say that I was wrong and unless you have no phone, tablet, DVD player, or CD player, you're going to be able to listen to the song. I presume probably 95% of people have access to at least one of those.

The song is kind of an upbeat, jazzy song that . . . sorry . . . reminds me of a 1950s television advertisement. I can't think of anything else to compare it to. I can easily imagine my eldest granddaughter bobbing to the song when she was a little bit younger (she's 5 and reading at 3rd grade level, now) and I have a feeling my youngest granddaughter would enjoy it, too. It's definitely got the sound of a children's song, a little repetitive and very cheerful.

Recommended but not a favorite - Maybe one of the best things about Bubble Kisses is the fact that it has an African American heroine. I really appreciate the fact that children's publishers have been working hard at embracing diversity in the stories they acquire, in recent years. I do like the upbeat music, the quirky but charming illustrations, and the fantasy of the story. The only thing I dislike is the fact that it's written as a song and if you just want to read the book aloud, it's going to sound a little weird. That keeps it from being a favorite because I love to read aloud to children and a good story that's readable will always be my favorite. But, it only takes one listen to catch on to the rhythm and for children who love to dance and sing, Bubble Kisses will make a cute and fun addition to a home library.


©2020 Nancy Horner All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Nerp! by Sarah Lynne Reul

Nerp! by Sarah Lynne Reul is an unusual book and I love it for that. An incredibly silly tale about a little monster who doesn't want to eat anything offered to him, it's written entirely in gibberish and yet still totally comprehensible. "Nerp," for example, is obviously "nope". I think it's easier to show illustrations, in this case, so I took a couple interior photos:

Pardon my poor job of cropping. You can see how, even though there's no such thing in reality as "frizzle frazzle hotchy potch," it's clear that it's a food item and the little monster is saying, "No way. I'm not eating that."

The unnamed little guy is offered dish after dish after dish, all with hilarious names, and turns them all down. Then, as the determined parents walk into the room with two more dishes to try to persuade him (or her) to eat, they hear a lengthy slurp and find their little monster has chosen to eat something . . . unusual. But, they're happy the kiddo is eating.

Highly recommended - I had a huge grin on my face while I read this book and I know absolutely without question that my eldest granddaughter would be doubled over in peals of laughter if she was close enough to read it to her. Actually, she's reading on her own, now. She might need a little help with the nonsense language, but I'll bet she'd have a blast reading it between the giggle fits. I love it that an entire book is told in gibberish and yet still completely clear of meaning. And, the illustrations are absolutely perfect. So expressive. You know immediately how that little monster feels. So. Much. Crazy. Fun.

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy. Nerp! has just been released, today! Cool. If you have a little picky-eating monster (or even if you don't), you should rush right out to get this one. The giggles will be worth every penny.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Moldilocks and the Three Scares by Lynne Marie and David Rodriguez Lorenzo - #3 for Children's Day

IN A HUGE HAUNTED HOUSE —

with room enough for four,

there lived three Scares:

Papa Scare, 

Mama Scare,

and Baby Scare. 

You can see where this is headed, already. Moldilocks and the Three Scares: A Zombie Tale by Lynne Marie and David Rodriguez Lorenzo is an updated, zombie-slash-monster version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the first page (quoted above) hints at the twist at the end, as does the next page spread, which begins with Papa's musings:

One chilly night, Papa

sliced finger sandwiches and 

brewed a batch of Alpha-Bat 

Soup. "This recipe serves four. 

Just enough for one more."

Hint, hint. Mama wishes for an assistant. Baby says there's too much time and nobody to play with. The soup is poured in three bowls sized perfectly for Papa, who looks very much like Frankenstein, Mama, a Mummy (hahaha), and Baby, a little vampire. But, it's too hot. It boils Papa's bolts, unravels Mama, and gives Baby fang-ache, so they go off to walk the dog, Plasma. While they're gone, Moldilocks shows up, sleepwalking. She smells the soup and is lured to the house, which smells like home. She calls out but nobody is home so she tiptoes inside and, of course, samples all the soup. Too hot, too cold, just right, so she eats Baby's soup all up. You know the story. Moldilocks tries their chairs. Too hard, too soft, just right, but the baby's chair breaks. She tries their beds because she's sleepy. Too hard, too tight, and just right. She falls asleep.

The Three Scares arrive home, declare that someone has eaten their soup, tried their chairs, and tested their beds, always with Baby's being the one she ate, broke, or . . . fell asleep in, and there she is. Here's where the classic story takes a turn.

"HOW DARE YOU . . . 

. . . eat without us!" exclaimed Papa. "I've always

wanted another mouth to feed."

"You could be my

 lab assistant," mused 

Mama. "My nightmares have been answered." 

And, Baby is excited to have a playmate. As hinted at in the opening, there's room for four and the family is excited to add an extra member.

Highly recommended - What fun! I love an updated classic children's story and Moldilocks and the Three Scares is a joy with fun word play, like Baby holding out his Deady Bear and asking if Moldilocks wants to play Corpse and Robbers. Great for Halloween but also fun for any time of the year. Kids who love a surprising use of words will get the giggles and it's a sweet way to introduce the topic of adoption, showing how awesome it can be to add a family member! I love this book.

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! I would have loved to read this to my eldest granddaughter, this past weekend, since it's so perfectly holiday-appropriate, but it was way too noisy and crazy around the house with all the relatives and I totally forgot about it. Bummer. Might have to mail it to New Jersey so the kids can enjoy it. This is the final review for this Children's Day event! Thanks to all who stopped by!


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The End of Something Wonderful by Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic and George Ermos - #2 for Children's Day

FIRST you need something dead, meaning

something that was once alive but isn't any longer. 

Your Something Dead will most likely be something

wonderful you loved very much as a pet, like a guinea

pig or a fish. 

Perhaps a pill bug. 

This is an oddly blunt beginning to a book about losing a pet, I thought, but when I read The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard Funeral, it occurred to me that it's a necessary evil, talking about the loss of pets, and bluntness with a little dark humor is not unwarranted.

In The End of Something Wonderful, author Stephanie Lucianovic talks about the process of burying a pet but she keeps it light and fun. You'll need a box, but careful about the box you choose. A litter box, for example, is too stinky and jack-in-the-box is too springy. A shoe box is good for many pets. You'll have to dig a hole but the size depends upon the size of the Something Wonderful. You'll need permission to dig a hippopotamus-sized hole but most pets will fit in a fairly small hole. Don't bury something that's alive; that's rude. Sing or say a few words if you feel like it, maybe tell stories about your Something Wonderful.

You could also explain how being dead won't ever change how much you love them. But if you don't feel like saying it out loud, it's perfectly okay to hug that thought inside your heart, too. 

She tells you it's okay to laugh or cry at a funeral. The author also advises you not to dig your Something Wonderful back up, later, to see how things are going and then tells you it's okay if you're not quite ready to feel like the backyard funeral is over, after you're done.

You see, it's possible you still aren't all-the-way ready to say goodbye to your Something Wonderful that is now your Something Dead. 

Highly recommended - There is only one thing I really dislike about The End of Something Wonderful and I ran it past both Huzzybuns and Kiddo. Am I being picky? I asked. They both said yes, but I'll share anyway. On the final spread, it says funerals happen at the end of Something Wonderful but it's not the end of everything. You can always begin something wonderful again. And, the spread is an illustration of a little girl looking into a lobster tank, the implication being that maybe she can get a lobster for her new pet.

The problem I have is that there are fish on ice in the background and some of them are chopped into sections. In a book that has a fish as one of the Somethings Wonderful that were pets, I found that a little disturbing. Again, the family thought I was nuts. Fish are in the seafood shop; get used to it, woman. It still bothered me the second time I read the book but in general, I loved the book because it's such a positive look at losing a pet, laying it to rest, and moving on. Most children will have a pet of some kind and losing them is hard when they die. I've never read a book about burying a pet, as far as I can recall, and I love the fact that such a thing is available. I think there should be a book for everything and loss and grief are things children experience, so I'm giving this one two thumbs up. Apart from that final spread (Did I mention I refuse to touch raw meat and I'd happily go vegetarian if the cook would let me? I might be a little biased.) I also love the illustrations.

Many thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy! This is #2 for Children's Day. The final review will be up later today.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh by Supriya Kelkar and Alea Marley with S. J. Singh - #1 for Children's Day

Harpreet Singh loved his colors.

Bright, muted pastel, or neon, he had one for every occasion. 

He wore yellow when he felt sunny, 

spreading cheer everywhere he went. 

He wore pink when he felt like celebrating, 

bopping along to bhangra beats. 

And he wore red when he needed 

an extra boost of courage. 

The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh is about a Sikh boy who color-coordinates his outfits with his patkas (turbans) and chooses the color based on his mood. He wears blue when he's nervous, gray when he's sad, white (that's white) when he wants to disappear. When Harpreet's family moves all the way across the country, from a land of beaches to a colder climate where it snows, Harpreet begins to wear colors that reflect the fact that he's not particularly happy with the move. He doesn't like the cold or snow and he just wants to be invisible at school. 

But, then one day Harpreet finds a hat with a smiley face on it and he knows who it belongs to. He takes it to the little girl who lost it and after exchanging a few words with her, he has a new friend. Harpreet starts wearing bright colors again: red for a regular school day, pink for a class party, then finally yellow. 

Yes, Harpreet Singh loved his colors. 

He had one for every occasion. 

Even for just hanging out with a 

FRIEND. 

Highly recommended - Besides the tale of Harpreet, the creative little boy who likes to match his outfit to his mood, and a story of dealing with a difficult move and finding a friend, there is an extra page of information about Sikhism by a "scholar and professor of Sikhism", just after the final page of the story. I love a book that teaches something new. The first time I read the book, I was evaluating as I read and it concerned me that "patka" wasn't immediately defined. This time, I knew that it was defined within the story and there was no need for a glossary, so I enjoyed the story more. A good tale for reinforcing color skills, talking about moving house and making new friends, and for learning about a religion that a lot of people don't know anything about. Lovely illustrations reflect the many moods and colors. I love this book. 

I received a copy of The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh from Sterling Children's Books for review. Many thanks! Today is Children's Day at Bookfoolery and this is the first of three posts. Back in a few hours!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bad Order by B. B. Ullman

I'm not sure how to even start writing about this book, but I'll try my best and pull from what I wrote on Goodreads immediately after finishing.

Even while I was reading Bad Order by B. B. Ullman, I kept thinking, "This is going to be hard to describe." There is a boy, Albert, who communicates telepathically with his sister, Mary, three holographic aliens, a VW bug that flies, and a tear in something-or-other that allows bad feelings to infect people. As the tear grows and the bad feelings spread, people attack each other. But, Albert has an understanding of what happened and possibly the ability to fix it. I didn't fully understand that part but it has to do with his deceased father, a scientist, working in his lab before Albie was born.

Told you it was not going to be easy to describe. Bad Order is very entertaining, though. I had a little difficulty with suspension of disbelief because the science bits didn't sound particularly plausible. But, I liked the story enough to deliberately shove those feelings aside. The bottom line is that the story is about 3 children and a young adult working together to save humanity under difficult and dangerous circumstances and it's a tremendous ride.

All four of the main characters come from difficult circumstances and in addition to the tale of "interdimensional catastrophe", the author does a nice job of showing how the challenges of loss (a father), alcoholism (Mary's best friend Brit's mother), and poverty (all of the children in the book live in poverty) effect children.

Bad Order is an exciting and suspenseful read. As a middle grader, I know I would have enjoyed Bad Order because I loved anything that was otherworldly with children saving the day. So, I definitely recommend it for middle grade children who like fantasy or sci-fi. As an adult, I found it a little far-fetched but didn't care. I still thought it was a terrific read, once I'd set aside my disbelief. The holographic people are very entertaining and the relationships between the children are charming.

Highly recommended - Space travel, weird happenings, and a cooperative effort to keep a dangerous rift whose glowing mist could end life on earth make for a unique, page-turning plot that sci-fi- and fantasy-loving children will enjoy. I was captivated by Bad Order, even though I didn't always understand what was happening. A fun and wildly imaginative story.

I received a copy of Bad Order from Sterling Children's Books in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon by Joyce Lapin and Simona Ceccarelli - Children's Day #5

This is the final post for Children's Day! Thanks for reading! 

When you're weightless, there's no up or down. 

In fact, if your birthday cake floats upside down, it'll

be just as safe as it is right-side up. 

If You Had Your Birthday Party On the Moon takes young readers and listeners from a little after take-off to the return flight to Earth as author Joyce Lapin imagines what it would be like to celebrate a birthday on the moon. Topics discussed are gravity or the lack of it (on Earth, in space, and on the moon), how long it takes to fly to the moon, what it's like to experience weightlessness, how astronauts sleep, what the moon looks like up close and why it looks that way, light from both the Earth and the sun, how long a moon day lasts vs. the length of an Earth day, why the sky is black instead of blue when you look up from the moon and much more.

As impressively informative as If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon is, I think my favorite thing about it is the illustrations, which I absolutely love. They're such happy images. Children jump in low gravity, sit on boulders to watch the Earth rotate, play ball, make angels in the moon dust, play freeze tag, and try to hit a piñata. In every case, the science behind what happens (balloons fall because there's no air on the moon; balls fly six times as far because of the lower gravity) is described. There's even a two-page spread about things that were left behind on the moon by astronauts, why they're still exactly where they were left, including the footprints, and why the flags have faded.

Highly recommended - A delightful way to present a science lesson about the moon and space travel. When I signed up to review If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon, I expected something a little more silly and less informative. I was definitely pleasantly surprised.

My thanks to Sterling Children's Books for the review copy of If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon!

One little note:

Today is my 13th bloggiversary at Bookfoolery. I usually don't say much about it — I usually just post a picture of a slice of cake with the right number of candles (or number-shaped candles) beneath a photo and a few words about the anniversary of D-Day. But, I forgot to make or buy cake and I feel a little speechless at the thought that this is the 75th anniversary of the landing at Normandy. I was born less than 20 years after the end of WWII, watched the first moon walk from the dining table on a tiny black-and-white TV, and I remember the end of the Vietnam War.

Even in blog years, I'm feeling old. 13 years ago, I had a child in junior high and one working on his first college degree. Now, my eldest child has 4 (yes, 4!) university degrees, a wife, and two children. My youngest has just set a wedding date and is finishing up his second degree. We do love learning in this family. Both of my grown children are avid readers and that is, I think, the best thing about my life. I raised two readers. Bloggiversaries make me all sappy, obviously. To those who are still reading my blog, I appreciate you!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.