"Itamar Makes Friends" by Josh Hasten

February 5, 2012

This picture book, "Itamar Makes Friends: A Children's Story of Jewish Brotherhood" by Josh Hasten and Illustrated by S. Kim Glassman, is innocuous enough, but I wish it had attempted more. The protagonist, Itamar, is an eight-year-old Israeli, who lives in the country. When he goes to visit his cousins in the city, he has an unpleasant encounter with some city boys, who refuse to return his soccer ball. After Itamar falls and hurts his knee, one of the city boys, Eitan, remembers a time when he hurt himself playing soccer and tries to correct the situation by helping Itamar and apologizing. Itamar then invites the group to visit him in the country. They come, all have a great time, and "Jewish brotherhood" is restored.

I was mostly bothered by the facile solution to the bullying stage of the story. While one would like to believe that children would apologize and make everything okay, I found it to be just too pat an answer. But for young children, this story could be a way to illustrate how to empathize and apologize to another after being unkind.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher through LibraryThing.

 

Rosemary Well's On the Blue Comet

August 12, 2011

I'm going to start with a disclaimer:  Rosemary Well's On the Blue Comet is exactly the kind of book I loved as a child.  It reminds of some of my favorites by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, which had an enchanting blend of realism and whimsy. But I also think that much about the book would be hard for modern children to understand.

Our protagonist, Oscar Ogilvie Junior, is obsessed by the world of Lionel trains.  Set at the beginnings of the Great Depre...


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Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange

August 7, 2011

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange is quite engaging and difficult to categorize.  Or, perhaps, this book is engaging BECAUSE it is hard to categorize.  Whatever it is, I like it.

Sidman's poems laud the thriving world of "survivors" that populate the world.  Ranging from the microscopic bacteria and diatoms to the larger sharks, from plants and animals as well as humans, these poems and ...


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For Good Measure: The Ways we say How Much, How Far, How Heavy, How Big , How Old

August 2, 2011

Ken Robbins has done something with this book that I often despair of finding -- he has created an entertaining, truly informative, well-written non-fiction book for kids in middle grades.  I found this book to have information I didn't know, which is an added plus.

"For Good Measure" looks at one of those topics that people of all ages often obsess about -- how do we measure what we see or experience and why do we do it the ways we do.  (If you don't think we obsess about it, just try t...


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"Meanwhile" by Jason Shiga

July 30, 2011

Okay, I am SOOOO an English major.  On my first couple of attempts to read this book, I (literally) whined and complained to anyone and everyone within ear shot.  The book is too hard to follow, it is boring, it doesn’t make sense, etc.  So I handed it to my more mathematically-inclined family members who looked at me like I was crazy and implied I was too lazy to figure out how it works.

So, with some grumpiness, I picked it up the next day. And, much to my dismay, they were right.  ...


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A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata

July 27, 2011

The novel A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata is a thoughtful and compelling book, but I think it would work better with middle-school or high school students.  The book tells the story of Y’Tin, a boy who achieves his dream of becoming an elephant handler.  The story is set in Vietnam, mostly in 1975, after the US troops have left.

Some of the subject matter of this novel would captivate and charm students in the age range of 4th and...


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"I Dreamed of Flying Like a Bird" by Robert B. Haas

July 26, 2011

Robert B. Haas artfully and clearly explains how and why he uses aerial photography to capture his subjects in the wild.  Hass introduces some of the basic terminology of photography, and he makes clear just how dependent he is on the skills of the pilots he works with.

The photographs in this book are stunning.  Haas explains how he takes the photos and how often he is dependent on luck to get the best image.  The sidebar explanations about th...


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"Cosmic" by Frank Cottrell Boyce

July 22, 2011

In Cosmic, Frank Cottrell Boyce presents us with a charming and believable narrator – Liam, the twelve-year-old boy who looks like an adult man.  Liam’s narrative begins in the middle, with him telling us how he got into the mess/adventure that he is in.  His story is told with verve and energy, and just the right mix-in of self-deprecating humor. 

For you see, as the novel opens, Liam is in space, on a rocket near the moon, with four other children.  Unfortunately for Liam, he is t...


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True (. . . sort of) by Katherine Hannigan

July 20, 2011

True (. . . sort of) by Katherine Hannigan is both fun and serious. It is also an example of why I have learned to trust my instincts – some of my favorite books are the ones I happen to stumble upon.  This book falls squarely into that category.

The main character is Delly Pattison, a short, sassy spitfire of a girl who can’t seem to stay out of trouble.  Delly has enough of a reputation in her family, at school, and in her town that she is...


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The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O'Connor

July 20, 2011

Owen Jester seems like a typical elementary school boy.  In Barbara O'Connor's The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, Owen feels stranded on the wrong side of town, away from his friends.  His family has moved in with his grandfather both to help out his grandfather, who is recovering from a stroke, and to help themselves out, since Owen's father has lost his job.  Viola, the nearby neighbor girl, is no substitute for Owen's friends--she suffers fr...


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About Me


Lydia Schultz I am a school librarian and former college English teacher. I hope to review many of the books I read, both in the context of my research about children's books as well as in my pursuit of recreational reading. I want to share what I read--so what else is new?

Please feel free to contact me.  I welcome hearing feedback and advice.  If you would like to comment on a particular post, click on the title of the post and a comment box will appear after the post when the page reloads.

Thanks!



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