December 2022: Picture Books Published in 2022

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Oh goodness... those all three sound like ones I hope to find!

[Celia]

I read When the Schools Shut Down: A Young Girl's Story of Virginia's Lost Generation and the Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka Decision by Tamara Pizzoli and Yolanda Gladden for a project for my Borders and Boundaries class.

For my project I was focusing on the different ways school segregation gets told through children's literature and how movements are erased in ways that we often teach history, and how this misconstrues that narrative.

I like the counternarrative that When the Schools Shut Down presents of the effects of a movement and the depiction of Brown v. Board as the beginning of issues as opposed to the ending. I really appreciate learning about choosing education as resistance when the government decided it was better to shut down the public school system of Prince Edward County rather than face any integration. This book depicts the church schools that continued through the five years that the Virginia county refused to open the schools. One depiction I especially like is the way the students learned about Black history and that slavery was neither the beginning nor end of the story of their history. This is important and relevant to the way we teach history today.


I really liked this one as a further look at the issues of desegregation from a different perspective than just Ruby Bridges, and the way it introduces elements of the movement more than the individual.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Yes, the pivotal events we're taught are, indeed, neither the beginning nor the end of the issue. This idea is missing from many (most?) history texts... I certainly only heard an illusion to the closing of schools and had no idea that it lasted five (!) years. I'm appalled, but not really shocked, tbh. Makes the time that current children lost to Covid seem relatively minor.

I will definitely look for this book, and any others you recommend. And I will try to remember that 'pivotal' events are indeed to be thought of as a sort of 'fulcrum' or 'pivot point' and that before & after matter, too.

Thank you very much for alerting me (us) to this book and for sharing your insights.

[Celia]

Cheryl wrote: "Yes, the pivotal events we're taught are, indeed, neither the beginning nor the end of the issue. This idea is missing from many (most?) history texts... I certainly only heard an illusion to the c..."

For the project I read four books. My favorite was Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh (2015) because it presents a different narrative coming from many different angles. This follows the Mendez v. Orange County case of 1945 (10+ years before Brown v. Board). What I appreciated about this one is that it details the story of the movement surrounding the legal change instead of focusing on either individuals as the sole integrators of schools or as heroes who completely ended all segregation everywhere because that's how this works 🙄🙄🙄.

Instead, Separate Is Never Equal focuses on the various ways the movement for desegregation was started in Orange County and spearheaded by Mendez's father, who as the boss of a farm had a lot more power than other Mexican Americans or people of color at the time. The book depicts the way the Mendez family gathered support throughout the county to show how segregation was hurting people from all walks of life. This is really important because it shows the work that goes into radical change, and that it's never just one person. Their case also ended up desegregating all public schools in California.

The other two I looked at were more narrow Ruby Bridges books. I remember learning about desegregation with The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles (1995) when I was in early elementary school, so I started here. What I found was a very narrow and one-sided portrayal of desegregation that was only partially accurate and didn't look at the context in anything more than that desegregation exists. I then analyzed Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges (1999) herself, which gives a much more complete story of what was going on beyond the information presented in The Story of Ruby Bridges. That one featured a lot of primary sources including photos; newspaper articles; and even a few excerpts from John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley: In Search of America, his travel memoir across the country. He was an eyewitness to the protests and has some interesting accounts of the way Bridges (an unnamed girl in his accounts - Bridges comments that he never actually knew her name because the press kept it quiet for her family's protection, and Steinbeck died before she could meet him).

The most interesting thing I found in this one was that Bridges didn't really have any awareness of what was going on or why. There were points where the school's population was at a few dozen, but Bridges was kept separate from all the other students and was completely unaware that there were other students attending the school at all. There is one quote I find interesting where, after the first grade group was finally sort of back together (but the white students were still kept very separate from Bridges), another student said he wasn't allowed to play with her because she was black, and that's when she first realized the reasons behind everything that had happened to her. This was a fascinating take compared to Yolanda Gladden's experience as it was highlighted in When the Schools Shut Down. According to that book, Gladden was very aware of her surroundings and the fight her family had undertaken even before she was born for desegregation, and the reasons behind the movement. I find it fascinating because Bridges is seen as an American hero of the Civil Rights movement, while Gladden is virtually unknown.

[Celia]

My library's been super behind on adding our 2022 books because of system backups (we were backed up with our new books from around 2018 or 19 and I've been the sole student worker who was in charge of and doing anything on that project for most of 2022 since August) so my next step is to start to get more of the 2022 ones in and read more of the ones we do have in. I'm trying to feature a shelf with the 2022 titles that we have already logged, and then add more as I input and shelve more. So I will probably review more on this thread later this month as well.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Thank you. I'm always glad to learn so much from you!

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Celia wrote: "For the project I read four books."

Thank you so much for sharing all of the above. So valuable! Also, that is great to hear that you will be adding more 2022 books to your collection. It would be wonderful if you can post reviews of your favorites back here whenever you get to them.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

So Much SnowThe illustrations are utterly charming and it's a pleasant read. I can see the appeal for little ones who will enjoy seeing the snow pile higher and higher and then begin to melt bit by bit -- animals reappearing along the way. Read it for the lovely, whimsical illustrations. The ending is a bit peculiar as I'm not sure if the bear is misinterpreting falling tree blossoms as snow or if there is actually a snowfall immediately after spring bursts out. I imagine this might be puzzling for young ones still making sense of the seasons if they do not live in an area where there can be snowfalls in the spring.

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Be a Good AncestorLovely, poetic story with beautiful illustrations that cleverly and creatively convey the interconnectedness of concepts in the text. Important message of how we are all connected, to one another, to the Earth, to animals, plants, and to the future. I appreciate that it mentions not only being good to others (humans, animals, plants) but also to yourself. And that we must consider not only actions but thoughts, feelings, and words. While the message itself is not beyond young children, I think some of it might be presented in a way too abstract for the younger picture book set. However, parents and educators can discuss the concepts with examples relevant to the child's own life, and they can certainly enjoy the beautiful illustrations.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

A bit long for a picture book, but the stories are nice (even if not own voices) and the illustrations are spectacular,

Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths

Although there is a lot to textually enjoy (and in my opinion for both younger readers/listeners and also for adults) with professional Storyteller Susan Strauss' 2022 illustrated anthology Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, sorry, but if I consider this book, if I look at Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths as a whole, as a textual entity, I am left a bit conflicted on an intellectual, on a folkloristic and mythological level.

Sure, Strauss has selected a nicely diverse collection of global myths, folktales and a few fables (from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, although she has sadly not bothered with either Australia or New Zealand), and how these stories are presented and retold by Strauss in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths feels in my opinion mostly culturally and ethnically respectful (and I really do enjoy and appreciate that sometimes Susan Strauss actually adds snippets of the languages in which her included stories would have been originally told and/or penned for added textual authenticity). However, and that having been said, Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths is also not what one would call "own voices" and all of Susan Strauss' featured and shown literary and oral sources are not this either, since Strauss' acknowledgements in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths generally only do seem to harken back to not in "own voices" historical recordings and texts and seemingly just to these (which for a book published in November 2022 is in my opinion rather lacking, a bit thoughtless and that in my opinion, Susan Strauss should be trying to find the original and more "authentic" sources of and for her included tales as well and to at the very least acknowledge these and the cultures, the peoples from where the tales in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths have come alongside of the historical sources and names, since yes, especially many Native American and many African tribes now both want and also even require this and often consider "outsiders" taking their often secret stories, and retelling them, writing about them without consultation etc. as being inappropriate, problematic cultural and ethnic appropriation).

And with this in mind, while as mentioned before, I actually do enjoy the stories Susan Strauss has used in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths in and of themselves and think Strauss' retellings generally sound decently culturally appropriate, if I were reading these tales with or to younger readers, I would for one and definitely mention that Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths is not "own voices" and I also would probably skip the Storytelling Art section for each of the tales (since it is in said chapters, that the lacking acknowledgements are most prevalent and that I also must admit I find it really strange how often Susan Strauss in the Storytelling Art parts of Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths compares her included myths and folktales to the Brothers Grimm's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and to such an extent that I almost am left thinking that Strauss might well seem to consider this one tale as somehow being the root for a majority of the stories found in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, which I consider both strange, hugely problematic and also just plain wrong, just erroneous).

Now with regard to the accompanying scientific information on agriculture, botany and how each story featured in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths has a scientific exposé thereof by University of Edinburgh professor Ian Edwards, while said information is definitely interesting, it also (for me) kind of destroys the magic and the mythological, the spiritual aspects of the stories (and yes, the lack of an included bibliography is also most annoying and frustrating). And yes, and really, I like the global myth and folklore tales Susan Strauss presents in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths for their contents, for their spirituality and mythology and being shown by Ian Edwards how science supposedly mirrors these stories, well, that is definitely and certainly intriguing but also textually frustrating and definitely making the storytelling pleasure and the folkloric, mythologic joy of the tales dissipate and sometimes even completely vanish.

But I do even with my above mentioned textual issues with Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths still recommend this book (although with certain caveats and reservations, as shown above). For the stories Susan Strauss has chosen are indeed wonderful, the accompanying artwork by Gretta Johnson is lush and visually, colourfully stunning (and even though Ian Edwards' scientific analyses of the tales bothers me a bit and takes away from the textual joy and magic of Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, it is still very interesting, and I do know that there likely would be many readers and listeners who would like the way the tales have been linked to agriculture and botany much more than I have).

[Beverly, former Miscellaneous Club host]

As You Grow
This is Book 8 in a second series about Freedom Island. This particular book shows in the illustrations the growing of the Sky Tree from acorn to massive oak(?) tree, which is home to numerous anthropomorphic animals. The text, while on the surface refers to the tree, in depth refers to children growing in love, gentleness, and joy (based on the fruits of the spirit: Galatians 5:22-23). The back matter includes three games that families can play, each one featuring and indicative of one of the three fruits: love, gentleness, and joy. The illustrations by Juan Moreno are fabulous, and incredibly detailed, plus, readers can look for 10 owls throughout the story.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I am trying to read all of the picture books that are on the 2023 long list for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and yes, most of these were published in 2022.

The Comet

Well, I do have to say that Joe Todd-Stanton's 2022 picture book The Comet (which is on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal) has been on the whole rather unexpectedly disappointing, or more to the point frustratingly and annoyingly confusing. Yes, Todd-Stanton's artwork for The Comet certainly is nicely colourful, descriptive and very much lushly imaginative (albeit often also a bit too darkly hued for my personal aesthetics as even the scenes in The Comet that are taking place during broad daylight often visually and illustratively seem to feel like night and darkness are actually and always on the verge of approaching, are looming right around the corner to to speak). And indeed, from my own personal childhood experiences of moving not only from Germany to Canada when I was ten but also like Nyla in The Comet relocating from the country to a very large city, I definitely do think that Joe Todd-Stanton majorly captures in The Comet (and textually as well as visually) Nyla's homesickness and sense of not belonging, of being disconnected after moving, that the city really does not and cannot feel like Nyla belongs there (that she misses the countryside, the stars, the quietude etc.) and that I also appreciate how Nyla tries in The Comet to use her imagination to change things, to make things more colourful and better for her (and that her father also finally understands this and helps Nyla, helps his daughter to achieve this).

However, although the illustrations for The Comet have been decently pleasant and visually agreeable (even if I truly do wish that Joe Todd Stanton would use a bit more brightness and light), and that Nyla's sense of immense culture shock after moving feels realistically heartbreaking and as already alluded to above also totally personally relatable, sorry, but much of the Todd-Stanton's text for The Comet after the move is (at least in my humble opinion) quite majorly and problematically confusing. For in my opinion that entire comet scenario and how this then inspires Nyla and fuels her imagination is rather strange and a bit too fantastical for me and also kind of lessens the very important message presented in Comet that moving, that relocating can be very traumatic for children by sort of replacing this with something fairy-tale like and unrealistic. But even worse (in my opinion) is that by the end of the book, by the end of The Comet, we as readers really do not know whether or not Nyla's father is a single parent, since in the beginning of The Comet Joe Todd-Stanton rather strongly insinuates that there is only Nyla and her father, but by the end of The Comet there is suddenly a woman present (who I want to believe is Nyla'S mother but am not at all sure of this), leaving my impression of The Comet as being a decent enough attempt with some really and truly nice artwork, but that Joe Todd-Stanton has (at least for me) created a story with The Comet that has far too many inconsistencies, too much confusion and definitely too many strange fantasy elements present (both textually and visually) for me to consider more than a high two star rating.

[Celia]

I've noticed A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation by Ellen Heck (June 14 2022) a lot in my library and I decided to take a look today.

A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation presents the typical animal alphabet book - except, "A," not "B" is for "bee." Why? Because around the world, in many languages, the black and yellow striped creature that flies and buzzes is called "anu" (Igbo), "ari" (Azerbaijani), "aamoo" (Ojibwe), and "abelha" (Portuguese).

In short, A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation introduces familiar animals by assigning each animal a letter based on how it's pronounced in 65 other languages, including well known ones like Spanish, Chinese, and French, as well as much less known ones such as Chichewa, Balinese, and Zulu.

The book is accompanied by bright and colorful illustrations that are recognizable but not a generally seen art form (scratchboard panels). These add a lot to the text because it encourages readers to look for similarities and inconsistencies (either from themselves, each other, or their perceptions) in the illustrations as well as the differences between languages.

I was surprised by how similar some of the Anglicized (or more accurately, Romanized) words from diverse locations and language origins looked or were pronounced (more on pronunciation in a bit). For instance, using the words provided for "bee," the Igbo "anu" and the Ojibwe "aamoo" look similar despite the first being an east African language and the second being an Algonquin-based language in the northern US and Canada. That's fascinating to me.

Another thing that surprised me was that some cultures have the words for certain animals in their language in the first place. How, for instance, would the Maori people of New Zealand have needed a word for "giraffe," an African mammal they historically (and most likely even today to a large extent) would not be coming into contact with, or at least enough to have a word for it in their own language, rather than using a loan word?

I was disappointed at first that there wasn't a pronunciation guide, but after reading the author's note, I think I understand why. Because A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation, and because not all letters make the same sounds in all languages (nor do all languages use the same characters for their alphabet), a pronunciation guide would only go so far in helping children (or adults) to pronounce the various animals in native languages.

Instead of a pronunciation guide, then, Ellen Heck provides something that is probably even better for helping to learn the correct pronunciations of the words, as well as for cultural relevance. There is a QR code at the back of the book that connects to a page on the publisher's site that goes through each word in the book as pronounced by a native or at least fluent speaker (https://www.levinequerido.com/aisforbee if anyone is interested).

I don't know if I would feel comfortable reading this aloud to students, because of the pronunciation issues I know I would have, including not being able to make some of the sounds (one of the most fascinating fun facts that I've picked up studying education and elementary reading is that infants have the ability to make all sounds in all languages at birth, but adjust to the language around them and lose the ability. But I digress). However, I would love to share this using this website as a teaching tool for students to hear authentic pronunciations alongside.

With this scaffold, I would say this book would be usable with all school-age children as it is so important for kids to be exposed to a variety of languages, especially for familiar concepts. I really enjoyed this one and would love to have a copy for my future classroom.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

The Baker by the Sea

With her 2022 and debut picture book The Baker by the Sea (and which is also on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal), Paula White (who serves as both author and illustrator for The Baker by the Sea) both textually and illustratively provides a sweet, gentle and nostalgic evocation and celebration of life (or rather what life used to be like) in a small Sussex England oceanside village, a village where going out to sea to fish for a living is obviously the main source of income, but where the young main protagonist and narrator's father is in fact not a fisherman but instead the village baker. But aside from The Baker by the Sea celebrating village life and the fishery (although really not all that gruesomely in my opinion and with only a few featured images of caught and dead fish) White equally demonstrates how the young boy providing his story to and for us (and who originally in The Baker by the Sea wants to become a fisherman when he grows up and is also quite undervaluing his father's career as a baker), we'll, by the end of The Baker by the Sea not only does our young narrator appreciate how his father's baking provides bread, buns, biscuits, provides nourishment for all of the village, including the boatbuilders and fishermen and women but that perhaps he will also consider this, perhaps he will also consider becoming a baker as his career choice. For yes, even in a village which depends on the sea, on boats and fishing for most of its jobs and most of its salaries and earnings, without accompanying non fishery and sea-going establishments, such as the featured and described village bakery, the sea faring folk would indeed not thrive, not flourish, that basically there are multiple roles to play in The Baker by the Sea (and that a village with no bread and other baked goods would certainly be a very lacking, a very poor and sad place to call home).

Now with regard to Paula White's pencil-and-ink illustrations of mostly muted black, white, grey and with a few very subtle and almost unnoticeable touches of blue and yellow, they are delightfully expressive, flowingly, glowingly old-fashioned (in its best possible way) and provide a truly in all ways aesthetically gorgeous pictorial mirror of and for the printed words, which are also of course penned by White (and with the pictures sometimes even showing considerably more details and information than the presented text of The Baker by the Sea does). And indeed and yes, for me (with for both my adult reading self and equally my inner child strongly agreeing here), The Baker by the Sea, ranks shiningly and totally five stars (albeit more than a bit grudgingly, I do have to wonder bit if the very sweet and totally gentle nature of The Baker by the Sea might not be just a trifle too sedate for those young readers and/or listeners who might want and crave more action and also more conflict, with this thought at all being criticism regarding The Baker by the Sea, just a personal observation and that today's young children often seem more into picture books that are intensely colourful and present "exciting" stories and adventures).

[Kathryn, The Princess of Picture-Books]

Celia wrote: "I've noticed A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation by Ellen Heck (June 14 2022) a lot in...I don't know if I would feel comfortable reading this aloud to students, because of the pronunciation issues I know I would have, including not being able to make some of the sounds"

It was definitely challenging for read-aloud and probably for the typical "ABC books" audience but I agree that there is immense value in this for kids ready to explore beyond their own alphabet. (I wish I'd read the end first so that I'd had the pronunciations going online while I read!)

[Beverly, former Miscellaneous Club host]

Kathryn wrote: "Celia wrote: "I've noticed A Is for Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation by Ellen Heck (June 14 ..."

I also read and enjoyed this alphabet book. And I went to the publisher's site to listen to the pronunciations while looking at the words in the book. An interesting and enjoyable experience.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Saving the Butterfly

With Saving the Butterfly (which was on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal but unfortunately did not make it to the short list), author Helen Cooper evocatively and with subdued but ever-present textual emotionality shows two young (and anonymous) refugees (a little boy and his slightly older sister) who are the only survivors when the boat they are on sinks, and how each sibling experiences the aftermath of their journey and of being rescued, of suddenly being alone in the world very differently, with the younger child, with the boy almost immediately embracing their new reality as refugees, venturing out, making new friends (basically still managing to be celebrating life), whereas the older sister is not only much more hesitant, deeply traumatised and depressed but is also shown by Cooper as having more painful memories of the past, more all encompassing culture shock and so much homesickness that she basically refuses to go outside and hides herself away.

But things do finally begin to change a bit for the better when the young boy, when the brother brings a butterfly to his sister (inside) and she realises that she has to leave the house in order to rescue, in order to set the butterfly free outside (hence the book title being Saving the Butterfly), a big and important step forward for the girl to take and demonstrating that her taking responsibility for the butterfly's welfare is also a symbol of hope and that she might henceforth also be willing to start to embrace life again and to also maybe join her brother outside to explore, to make friends, to live and play instead of just existing and vegetating away (and yes, even if Saving the Butterfly basically shows mostly so-called baby steps being taken, these baby steps nevertheless are important, necessary and totally, absolutely essential).

Emotionally powerful but also gentle, Saving the Butterfly is engaging, both sad and hopeful at the same time and with Helen Cooper's text humanising the refugee experience and also with the boy and girl remaining unnamed and readers not being given any information at all on ethnic origin and/or how and why the two children have become refugees giving a delightful and appreciated universality to Saving the Butterfly and showing that refugees are refugees and that their experiences are collectively speaking often very globally similar (and that while some children are resilient and are able to deal with trauma with comparative ease, other children are more lastingly and more painfully affected and experience disconnection, depression and major sadness, as well as a need to become rather like hermits).

And finally, with regard to Gill Smith's artwork for Saving the Butterfly, her mixed media illustrations do a really great job emotionally and aesthetically mirroring Helen Cooper's story (and vice versa), with the generally dark hues visually corresponding to the older sister's feelings of isolation, loss and uncertainty and how the occasional bright splashes of colour (including the butterfly that is requiring "saving") represent courage and hope for a possible somewhat brighter and more optimistic future for brother and sister, a lovely combination of text and images, and that yes, both my adult self and also my inner child are finding Saving the Butterfly enchanting, encouraging and also nicely but not every preachily thought-provoking, solidly engaging and also nicely child friendly (and with the anonymity of Saving the Butterfly demonstrating that refugees come from many areas, from many countries and that their stories and experiences are not only personal, not only individual but also global and as such general).

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

Manybooks wrote: "Saving the Butterfly

With Saving the Butterfly (which was on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal but unfortunately did not make it to the short list), author Helen Coop..."

Sounds like a wonderful book!

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Cheryl wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Saving the Butterfly

With Saving the Butterfly (which was on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal but unfortunately did not make it to the short list),..."

I really liked it and am kind of annoyed that Saving the Butterfly did not make it to the Kate Greenaway Medal short list when the for me very much inferior The Comet did.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Dadaji's Paintbrush

Maybe I am just not in the mood, but honestly, while Rashmi Sirdesphande's text and Ruchi Mhasane's accompanying pictures for their 2022 (and on the long but not on the short list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal) picture book Dadaji's Paintbrush are decently expressive, do a pretty nice job mirroring and playing off each ofter and tell both verbally and illustratively a sweet story with very touching and important messages regarding in particular the different stages of grief (from anger and sadness to finally acceptance, to being able to move on) and how a young boy not only learns how to deal with his grandfather's death but then also manages to continue with his Dadaji's legacy of providing painting, of giving art lessons to the children of his home village in India, well, I am sorry to say that albeit Dadaji's Paintbrush definitely provides a lot of positives, I am left with a feeling of not really having been wowed, of not feeling reading gratification.

For one (and this is if course mostly my own and personal textual feeling), although as mentioned above Rashmi Sirdesphande's printed words for Dadaji's Paintbrush feature some nicely and tenderly penned messages, Sirdesphande's narrative, it is in my humble opinion at the same time also rather overly simplistic and does not contain nearly enough verbal oomph and meat (even for a picture book) to sufficiently textually be all that rewarding and fulfilling (and that not only I as an adult reader but also I as a child reader do definitely totally agree with regard to this, with regard to finding Dadaji's Paintbrush decently readable, but also not ever delving deeply enough to provide writing that is really and truly memorable). For two, and concerning Ruchi Mhasane's accompanying artwork for Dadaji's Paintbrush, yes, her pictures are expressively colourful and present a visually informative portrait of an East Indian village (and also depict how Dadaji and later his grandson provide art instruction for the village children). However, for my aesthetic tastes, Mhasame's pictures are much too blurry, are not visually strong enough, and I also find that with basically ALL of the many human figures being depicted, their facial features appear pretty much the same (with rather rigid smiles and stare) and are as such rather lacking visual emotion.

And indeed, taking into account that Dadaji's Paintbrush is basically a story that is featuring or rather is supposed to be featuring some pretty strong emotions, that Ruchi Mhasane's artwork does not really provide nearly enough feeling and expressivity, for me, this is a rather significant lack (and that Rashmi Sirdeshpande's sweet but over simplified text accompanied by Ruchi Mhasane's colourful but too blurry and a bit flat feeling pictures leave a combination of text and images that is for me at best but three stars as a rating for Dadaji's Paintbrush).

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

The Fog Catcher's Daughter

In Marianne McShane's (and set sometime in Irish past) original fairy tale The Fog Catcher's Daughter (which was on the long list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal for Alan Marks' accompanying illustrations but did not end up making it to the short list), main protagonist Eily and her father (the Fog Catcher's daughter and the Fog Catcher of the book title) live in a small village by the sea (and with no mother) not far from the mysterious island of Lisnashee (which is home to the fairy folk, who are known to the villagers, to the Irish as the Good People, but that these fairies are certainly not universally good-natured, cutified and are actually majorly ambiguous in nature, trickster like and can thus be both helpful and also harmful, even at times dangerous, depending on the fairies' mood and whether they are feeling disrespected and slighted). But Eily’s father with his job as the village's Fog Catcher must regularly, must venture annually by boat to Lisnashee to gather magical fog water, a potentially perilous undertaking, but the villagers rely on this fog water for charms, cures and protection, particularly from the Good People, from the wiles and the tricks of the fairies. However, this year, Eily's father accidentally makes the trip to Lisnashee without his charm meant to ward off fairy spells and interference, leaving Eily in The Fog Catcher's Daughter to follow her father to the island to rescue and to protect him (and to make sure that not only her father is safe but also that the precious magical fog water makes its way from Lisnashee to the village so that the apothecary Wise Annie can make her necessary cures and protective charms, and which also must of course then last for an entire year).

And basically but wonderfully, The Fog Catcher's Daughter is simply a typical questing type of tale, with Eily acting and functioning as the heroine, her father as the individual requiring rescuing, and with the fairies providing the magical and potentially threatening obstacles that need to be overcome for Eily to succeed. But for me, what makes The Fog Catcher's Daughter so textually special and delightful is that although Marianne McShane's story is an original composition from her imagination (and is thus what would be called a Kunstmärchen, a composed fairy tale penned by a named author), McShane obviously makes ample use of traditional Irish fairy lore, so that her text for The Fog Catcher's Daughter does in fact feel very much like a folk tale that has been passed down through the generations, a story orally recounted to a gathering of both children and adults gathered to listen (textually filled with rich sensory descriptions, to be sure, but with Marianne McShane always keeping the narrative tone and feel of The Fog Catcher's Daughter attuned to folklore and thus very much and nicely traditional, and with an author’s note providing a bit of a glimpse into the Irish folklore traditions regarding fairies that underpin The Fog Catcher's Daughter, as well as the real-life Moroccan practice of fog catching that inspired McShane to create this story),

Finally but definitely not in any way least, Alan Marks’ accompanying water-colour illustrations for The Fog Catcher's Daughter, they not only totally and wonderfully descriptively mirror (and sometimes also visually expand on) Marianne McShane's printed words, they also visually very much demonstrate how the Goods People, how Irish fairies are both beautiful and dangerous, how they provide both support and also something uncanny and eerily threatening (with Alan Marks at times depicting his fairies as wisplike clouds and then as ghostlike but almost solid and threatening entities). And furthermore, Marks' pictures, they are to and for me so ethereal and so aesthetically captivating that I almost want to take the depicted images (and which create a delightful feeling of both realism and fantasy) out of the book, out of The Fog Catcher's Daughter and hang them on my bedroom walls. An absolutely spectacular, marvellous and delightfully successful in every way combination of Marianne McShane's text and Alan Marks' images, for me The Fog Catcher's Daughter rates solidly and gloriously with five stars, is highly recommended to and for folk and fairly tale enthusiasts (both young and old), and with me actually being rather majorly annoyed that The Fog Catcher's Daughter did not end up making it to the short list for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Landscapes of the Solar System

I am rather annoyed and disappointed with only being able to grant Landscapes of the Solar System (which was published in 2022 and is thus really up-to-date and current regarding the astronomy, regarding the science being featured) but three stars (although that I still do highly recommend Landscapes of the Solar System). For yes, Aina Bestard's presented artwork for Landscapes of the Solar System, it is absolutely aesthetically brilliant and stunning, with much colourful (albeit sometimes a wee bit too darkly hued for my eyes) visual detail providing a spectacular, imaginative but also realistic accompaniment to and for the presented textual data and information presented in Landscapes of the Solar System by the ALMA (by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, the biggest radio radio telescope in the world, located in Chile's Atacama Desert) and by astrophysicist Dr. Anthony Hales (albeit that yes, I do kind of wish that aside from Bestard's glorious and superbly rendered pictures, there would also in Landscapes of the Solar System be included actual photographs of the sun, the planets, the asteroid belt and the like), because while I of course (and as already clearly shown) visually totally and utterly adore Aina Bestard's artwork, I personally do kind of want and prefer a combination of both drawn pictures and photographs for Landscapes of the Solar System. And regarding the actual textual portions of Landscapes of the Solar System, Dr. Anthony Hales (and the ALMA radio telescope data) feature and present a nicely detailed introduction to basically every part of our solar system, from its place in the universe and in the Milky Way galaxy, to the sun, the individual (now eight) planets, why Pluto's status as ninth planet changed to being a dwarf planet in 2006 (with much both numerical and verbal current and as such also not dated information), simply but informatively and above all scientifically penned and suitable for young readers from about the age of eight or so onwards but in my opinion for anyone wanting a basic and scientifically sound, academically straight-forward account regarding the solar system and where there is also no textual silliness and/or forced humour and authorial chattiness ever being encountered but only interesting and enlightening details on the solar system and on the aptly named diverse, intriguing and fascinating Landscapes of the Solar System.

But as much as the combination of text and images for Landscapes of the Solar System has been pretty much five stars for me (and yes, even with the absence of photographs), that there is no bibliography provided in Landscapes of the Universe with titles (with books, websites etc.) for further reading and study, well, this does majorly annoy and infuriate me (and enough so to lower my rating for Landscapes of the Solar System to only three stars). Because honestly, considering that Landscapes of the Solar System is entirely non-fiction and as such totally scientific in scope and nature, I personally do find the non inclusion of secondary sources rather hugely academically problematic and seriously reducing the supplemental research and thus also the educational value of Landscapes of the Solar System (and no, simply mentioning the ALMA telescope is for me not sufficient by any stretch of my imagination), and not to mention that an astrophysicist with a PhD like Dr. Anthony Hales should certainly and definitely know better than to not provide academic sources for a presented text. And while I still do think that Landscapes of the Solar System is a very decent and also a nicely scientifically sound textual introduction to our solar system, the absence of bibliographical materials is for me a major and a hugely problematic oversight and faux pas.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (published in 2022 but the original Spanish edition hails from 2020)

Well and sadly (but without any feelings of either guilt or contrition either), it looks like I am going to have to be an absolute and utter outlier with regard to my star rating for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (and which was originally published in Spanish in 2020 under the title of Paisajes Perdidos de la Tierra).

For while and just like with her illustrations for Landscapes of the Solar System, Aina Bestard's artwork for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth is aesthetically spectacular, lushly detailed, both realistic and imaginative (but never once trivial or childish), and with the lift the flap parts and translucent pages providing the aesthetic icing on an already visually marvellous cake, sorry, but unlike with Landscapes of the Solar System, where my one and only textual complaint is the (but also really annoying) lack of a bibliography, with Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth I have academically speaking found both the (and once again) absence of a bibliography (and which like with Landscapes of the Solar System really does make me livid) Marta de la Serna's general text for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth rather problematic with regard to scientific rigour and with regard to providing a decent and also an accurate and truthful account of the history of life on earth to and for the intended audience, to and for young readers from about the age of eight or so onwards. Because while there is indeed lots of interesting textual information provided by de la Serna (and by extension of course also by translator Matthew Clarke), I am personally not all that impressed with and by what is textually being featured in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth, as there are simply for me too many missing bits and pieces and too much that I would consider problematic and even erroneous, even downright wrong with regard to contents (with regard to the scientific information being textually shown).

For one, many parts of Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth simply do not contain enough relevant ands essential details and thus end up being rather confusing and potentially misleading (such as for example Marta de la Serna claiming that life on earth seemingly began with the atmosphere becoming oxygenated, for while this is of course correct regarding the rise and proliferation of complex multicellular life, unicellular life on earth started without much if any atmospheric oxygen present, that oxygen was in fact a byproduct of cyanobacteria and their photosynthesis and that without this, complex life would likely never have started in the first place and certainly not so all encompassingly, so completely). And for two (and for me much more of an issue and the main reason why Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth can only ever be rated with two stars by me) is that there is featured text which I for one consider really and truly problematically wrong. I mean, why does Marta de la Serna's words (and Matthew Clarke's translations) seemingly read like there was only ONE mass extinction and that the K-T boundary event of 66 million years ago (which glitched the dinosaurs and caused the rise and the proliferation of mammals and also of birds) should be put on some kind of a pedestal above and beyond everything else, when the extinction event at the end of the Permian era was in fact much worse and actually almost caused life itself to be obliterated? And that in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth ONLY the K-T boundary event is shown and described (and other mass extinctions in fact totally being ignored), this is for and to me massively scientifically unsound and also plays up that ridiculous idea and concept of dinosaurs somehow being more important and essential than any other prehistoric animals.

Thus and also considering how this type of attitude has massively bothered me since my own childhood, indeed, a book like Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (and geared to younger readers) that has the author, that has Marta de la Serna (and her translators) totally focussing on dinosaurs with regard to extinction and really only on dinosaurs, for me, this most definitely makes Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth scientifically lacking, academically unsound and as such also not a book I would consider recommending for in particular teaching and learning purposes (and not to mention that de la Serna also does not really point out in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth that stromatolites are in fact the oldest currently known living fossils, that mammals were part of the Mesozoic era as well and that birds are now considered not just close cousins to the dinosaurs but in fact a type of dinosaur that in fact survived the mass extinction even 66 million years ago, and that for me much of the text encountered in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth is rather substandard, yes, this is all really majorly annoying, and that Aina Bestard's wonderful artwork for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth might well be visually delightful but is totally not in any way enough and sufficient by any stretch of my imagination).

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Encyclopedia of Plants, Fungi, and Lichens for Young Readers

A very nice (but with no bibliography) picture book introduction to plants, fungi and lichens, which my inner child totally loves (and as such solidly four stars). If you want more information, the link to my review appears below:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And there are also picture books by the same publisher about birds and animals which I have not yet read (kind of weird though that birds get their own book as they are of course also animals, and I sure hope that in the bird book, birds are described as being animals)

Encyclopedia of Birds for Young Readers
Encyclopedia of Animals for Young Readers

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

I see from the cover that birds are included in the animal book. Birds get their own because it is easy for children to see a variety of them, I bet. How many different other animals does a child see in a day, outside of domesticated?

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Cheryl wrote: "I see from the cover that birds are included in the animal book. Birds get their own because it is easy for children to see a variety of them, I bet. How many different other animals does a child s..."

Oh I agree, but I do wonder if some children might think that because birds get their own book they should not be considered as animals. I have not read the books, but am planning to.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I's the B'y

Found Lauren Soloy's illustrious fun (but sometimes a bit too anthropomorphic) and providing a delightful visual mirror of and for the lyrics of the Newfoundland folksong I's the B'y (but the best part is definitely the detailed notes on the song and the musical score/notes). Highly recommended and in particular if there is an interest in Newfoundland and Newfoundland folk songs!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[QNPoohBear]

Holi Hai! is a good one!

Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle is cute and shows a normal, loving, nuclear family. The little girl just happens to have two moms.

Many of the books are on my TBR banned and challenged lists. I haven't gotten to them ALL yet!

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

QNPoohBear wrote: "Holi Hai! is a good one!

Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle is cute and shows a normal, loving, nuclear family. The little girl just happens to have two moms.

Ma..."

In retrospect, I now do wonder if the verse regarding kissing in I's the B'y was not included to prevent possible challenges. For the book contains all of the verses of I's the B'y except for the one about Susan White and her petticoat.


Susan White she's outta sight,
Her petticoat wants a border,
Well old Sam Oliver in the dark,
He kissed her in the corner!

[QNPoohBear]

Bathe the Cat is zany, silly and a lot of fun. The family happens to have two dads but that isn't the focus of the story.