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By the time most read this, the ALA 2021 Youth Media Awards will have been given. Congratulations to all the winners. There have been many marvelous books this year and it's been a tough year because of the Pandemic. It's hard to see how the committee can choose only one or a few more. Did your favorites earn some love?
Yes, I finished it, then read the few pages Oppel left at the back. It's terrible I need to wait now until May for Thrive. I see others might have it from NetGalley or Edelweiss!
I chose one sentence that shows how Oppel kept readers on the proverbial edge of their seats: "Something knocked against the boat. This time it wasn't a log." There are a few connections from the main characters' sympathy with the huge loss all over the world that brought me sailing back to our own world disaster, the Covid Pandemic. I enjoyed the connection, though this story holds many more ugly challenges than one virus and a few variants. I also like the idea that kids were shown making their own choices and fight for survival just like adults. It's a terrific "next" part of "The Overthrow".
Thanks, Candlewick Press to these three picture books for younger children, about sleeping and learning (if you want to be an owl).
Early evening time means bedtime for many animals, including the wee warthog, Alvie. But he doesn't want to go to bed; he leaves his mother and runs off to play. First running into the cheetahs to run a race. No thank you, they call, time for bed. After also asking elephants to Splish and Splash and meerkats to see who can dig the deepest hole, all refused, Albie goes off to play alone. It isn't as much fun, it's getting darker, and Albie, with a surprise to him, is getting sleepy! He's found by his mom who finds one last fun before bedtime, a mud bath. This turns into a surprise with all the others joining in. Aw, Albie's very tired now! With cutest pictures of friendly animals in the jungle, Sophie Ambrose writes and illustrates a wonderful bedtime story for anyone who needs "one more story" for their child.
With a new exploration of what really goes on at bedtime in the forest, Maddie Frost's Wakey Birds offers some imaginative fun. For instance, have you ever known about "Wakey Birds?" They are creatures who struggle to go to sleep but finally, finally, with "Soothing Shushers" and "Go-to-Sleep Leapers", they do. However, there is one "littlest Wakey Bird" who just cannot make it and decides she must "get a stick to wake the others up". With some excited other Wakey Birds (who wake up), unfortunately, they also wake up the Jungle Beast. Uh Oh! I imagine little ones will love what happens! Frost's pages fill with black spaces because every scene is in the dark. There's also a wonderful, vertical double-page spread of a tree with sleeping Wakey Birds. Night scenes create good bedtime stories!