Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to discover books you'll love! Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki who share so much with us by taking time to support this meme!I have some new books to share, and some I finally caught up with! Thanks to Candlewick for these first two books.
One winter's night, five siblings looked out a window in their living room, noticed it was unusually blue even for dusk, and one by one, Susan, Max, Nell, Kate, and Jean tumbled through into another world. Day after day, they had to learn to fight for survival in this strange new world where people's faces looked different, and the children's faces were noticed, sometimes with fear, other times with jealousy. It would be a while before they discovered why. Susan, the oldest, then her twin, Max, both thirteen, begins the story and each has a turn as they escape dangers again and again. It reminded me of other fantastical worlds, but the horror they faced connected more to "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness rather than Madeleine L'engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" or the Narnia series.
I enjoyed the unique voices of each child as they continued the story, and the important parts each played in their survival, even the youngest, Jean, who often felt like she didn't understand what older ones said and as if they didn't care if she did either. Each had individual quirks to learn about, to like or to dislike. And I liked the world-building, but sometimes it felt over long and even for me, some things repeated and confusing. It feels more like a book for fantasy-loving teens rather than middle school. I cannot share quotes because this is an arc, thanks to Candlewick Press, but will add that I loved much of the writing and language used by Adina Rishe Gewirtz and marked more than one page.
Also from Candlewick, a beginning-to-learn-colors book for toddlers, showing our joyful and colorful world. In contrast to a Black Bird, Steve Light's bold and bright illustrations travel from morning "yellow sun" through midday "green grass" to night's "blue moon". It's a great book to learn about colors and a few things in the natural world.
Another color book, this time for young readers, all about the Festival of Colors, the Indian Festival of Holi that's celebrated in spring, when flower colors appear. The text is brief, showing two youngsters, Chintoo and Mintoo, gathering all colors of flowers to ready for the festival. There is a process of drying and grinding, then bringing the bowls of color to throw into the air on festival night. Now, the afterword says, most of the powders are pre-prepared and bought instead of being made at home. Colorful pages happily tell the story, a nice introduction to a festival that some children in the U.S. will not know of, but connect to in the celebration.
