Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

MacLachlan, Patricia. 1985. Sarah, Plain and Tall. New York: Harper & Row.

Set in the midwest during the 1880s Sarah, Plain and Tall is the story of Sarah Wheatland. Her brother has married and for reasons left to the readers imagination there is no longer room for Sarah in the house where she has lived her entire life. She must now fend for herself and, with few options open to her, answers an advertisement for a mail-order-bride. Leaving her home in Maine, Sarah travels west to take up residence with widower Jacob Witting and his children Anna and Caleb. This gentle story of strangers who need each other unfolds through Anna's narrative as she and Caleb wait fearfully to see if Sarah will stay; not realizing Sarah needs them as much as they need her. Surviving on the midwest plains during this time was difficult enough, but doing so without a wife or mother made it almost impossible, and women in late 19th century America, being almost completely dependant on male family members or marriage for their livelihood, had very few rights and fewer options when it came to supporting themselves. Sarah, Plain and Tall glosses over some of the harsher realities of 19th century life, but remains a lovely, tender story of the need to love and companionship.

Still Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper

Harper, Charise Mericle. 2007. Still Just Grace. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

With the second in children's author Charise Mericle Harper's Just Grace series, we again join eight-year-old Grace; one of four Graces in her third-grade class. In order to distinguish the four Graces they have been christened Grace W., Gracie, Grace F., and, worst of all, Just Grace. When a new student teacher, Mr. Frank, joins the class, Just Grace decides this is her opportunity to get rid of the "Just" once and for all. But, when she informs the regular teacher, Miss Lois, that she wants to be called Grace or Grace S., Miss Lois dismisses her request with "Now is not the time to be confusing everyone with new names." Now, on top of worrying she is losing her best friend Mimi to a new boy in class, she is stuck with "the most dumb name in the world"; not to mention having to put up with superior, know-it-all Grace F. everyday. Luckily, Grace possesses a secret, invisible, super power; empathy power. According to Grace, "empathy power is the power to feel someone else's sadness, and then to try to make that sadness go away." Using her super power Grace manages to make it through each day, and quite often see and understand things from the perspective of others. Using short chapters, humorous, realistic narrative and dialog written in Grace's wise-beyond-her-years-but-still-eight-years-old voice; Ms. Harper invites readers into the complex world of third grade. Sprinkling the narrative with Grace's child-like doodles and sketches; what she did or imagined during the day, maps of the places she has been or is going, snippets of homework, and cartoons of Grace using her empathy power, visually enhances our visit to Graces' world. Still Just Grace reminds readers that things (and people) are not always what they seem and a little empathy for your fellow man (or kid) goes a long way in making the world a nicer place.

Claiming Georgia Tate by Gigi Amateau

Amateau, Gigi. 2005. Claiming Georgia Tate. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

Gigi Amateau's first novel acquaints the reader with thirteen-year-old Georgia Tate Jamison. Divided into two parts, before and after the death of her grandma, we join Georgia as she comes-of-age and learns some hard truths about herself, her family, and life. Set in the south, circa 1970, Claiming Georgia Tate presents realistic characters, some sympathetic, some loathsome, as they struggle with universal themes that resonate in the 21st century; innocence and its loss, the devastating consequences of keeping secrets, incest, pedophilia, racism, and prejudice. Told her mother is dead, Georgia lives happily with her Grandma and Grandpa Tate. Her father, the alcoholic Rayford Jamison, wants custody of Georgia, but Georgia's grandma refuses. Everyone knows about the alcoholism, but only Georgia's grandma knows Rayford's dirty secret. Rayford Jamison is a pedophile, and when Georgia's grandma dies unexpectedly; she takes the secret to her grave. Georgia's Grandpa, a good man trying to do what he thinks is best for her, sends Georgia to live with her father. Seen through Georgia's eyes and heard through her thoughts; what follows is something no child should ever have to deal with; although too many do. Use of the "f" word and a devastating rape are part of the narrative, but this wonderfully written, slice of life story serves as a warning that refusing to acknowledge evil does not make it go away.

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos

Gantos, Jack. 1998. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Jack Gantos, self-proclaimed screw-up and author of many books for children including the Rotten Ralph series, introduces readers to Joey Pigza. Through realistic dialog and Mr. Gantos' terrific and entertaining narrative of Joey's thoughts, we learn that Joey Pigza is out of control; like his father before him, and his grandmother before that. Joey cannot make his brain stop. And, once he puts into action the ideas his brain forms, he is not able to stop himself; no matter how crazy or dangerous that idea might be. Again and again he swallows the house key that hangs on a string around his neck and pulls it back up his throat. On a class trip he eats an entire pie and, his brain racing from too much sugar, decides to climb to the topmost rafter of a huge barn. The final straw comes when, running across the classroom with the "teacher" scissors, he trips and accidentally snips off the tip of a classmate's nose. Because he is a danger to himself and others, Joey is sent to "special ed" and warned it is up to him whether or not he will ever return to a regular classroom. Any kid who has ever struggled with a problem at home or in school will relate to likable and smart Joey Pigza. Readers will cheer for him as he struggles to come to terms with problems he can fix and problems over which he has no control.

Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed by Barbara Park

Park, Barbara. 1997. Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed. New York: Random House.

In this installment of the popular Junie B. Jones series Barbara Park incorporates her combination of familiar format, short chapters, likable heroine, and unique, realistic dialog to create another sure fire winner in her much-read series. In Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed Junie B. Jones is too smart to be afraid of dinosaurs. She knows dinosaurs do not exist. But what about monsters? Classmate Paulie Allen Puffer says EVERYONE has monsters under their beds. With the help of her best friend Lucille and her Grandma Miller, Junie B. Jones commences to find a way to vanquish the monster under her bed. Brought to life visually by Denise Brunkus exuberate, full-page pencil sketches, kindergartner everyman Junie B. Jones gives voice to the trials and tribulations of all kids.

Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth? by Louis Sachar

Sachar, Louis. 1992. Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth?. New York: Random House.

Louis Sachar's first book in the Marvin Redpost series introduces us to red-haired, left-handed Marvin, his family, and his friends. Short chapters, believable dialog, and a main character who is smart and thoughtful, but still far from perfect, make the first Marvin Redpost a fun and engaging read. Told by his teacher, Mrs. North, that he is lucky to be left-handed because left-handed people are descended from royalty, Marvin does not feel lucky; he is worried. Marvin has just finished writing his current events report on the King of Shampoon. The King of Shampoon has red hair just like Marvin, and he is looking for his son, Robert, who was kidnapped the day he was born nine years ago. Marvin has red hair, although everyone else in his family has brown hair. Marvin is nine years old just like the King of Shampoon's kidnapped son. And now his teacher has told him being left-handed means he has royal blood. Is Marvin the long-lost Prince of Shampoon? Does this mean he will have to leave his friends and family to live in Shampoon and be heir to the throne? Neal Hughes full-page pencil sketches of Marvin in class, Marvin in his messy room with his best friends Nick and Stuart, and Marvin dealing with the class bully compliment Louis Sachar's narrative of the everyday life of Marvin Redpost. Published in 1992, children today might find parts of the plot, such as going into a hotel room alone to have a blood test, a little dated, but beginning readers will still relate to Marvin's day-to-day triumphs and tribulations as he learns that maybe fame and wealth are not what a boy really needs.

Here's a Little Poem by Jane Yolen

Yolen, Jane, and Andrew Fusek Peters, comp. 2007. Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry. Cambridge: Candlewick.

Divided into four parts; Me, Myself, and I, Who Lives in My House?, I Go Outside, and Time for Bed, this big, bright, cheery collection of poems follows the morning to night activities of a group of rosy-cheeked babies and toddlers. They bang pots, eat yucky stuff, make mud pies, throw temper tantrums, and gaze with sweetness and wonder at the world around them. In Hamsters by Marci Ridlon a small, bespeckled boy gently strokes a tiny, beige hamster sitting in the front pocket of his overalls: Hamsters are the nicest things/That anyone could own./I like them even better than/Some dogs that I have known. Jane Yolen's compilation includes some of today's best known children's poets; Eve Merriam, Leslea Newman, and Mary Anne Hoberman; and some you might not expect such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Gertrude Stein. The mixed media illustrations by Polly Dunbar are done in nursery room colors both bright and pastel. Mud-brown footprints, smiling yellow suns, soft pink hearts, velvety-red flower petals, splatters of gooey-thick strawberry jam, and splotches of icky, soggy greens trail the children from one huge, full-page illustration to the next; until the very last buttery-yellow page where, with one last kiss, a mother tucks up a gently sleeping, pink-cheeked child. This is truly a book parents will want to read again and again to their preschoolers.

Mother Goose on the Loose by Leo Dillon

Dillon, Leo. 2007. Mother Goose on the Loose. Orlando: Harcourt.

The numbers are at the center of this lively, off-beat collection of Mother Goose rhymes. If you never considered how many of the traditional nursery rhymes you grew up with involved counting; then this book will open your eyes to the wonderful world of numbers in Mother Goose. Cavorting through the book, in and around the numbers, are Diane Dillon's beautiful gouache on watercolor paper illustrations. Every kind of animal imaginable, some dressed fit to kill, some completely uncovered, does its part to bring Mother Goose to life. Frolicking across, down, over and through the pages are men in donkey heads riding donkeys and pigs, witches, babies, and those two little blackbirds Jack and Jill sitting on a hill in tophat and bonnet, respectively. Children in preschool through second grade will be fascinated by the outlandish activity in this new twist on some old favorites; some familiar and some not so familiar. They will want to revisit this Mother Goose with the numbers on the loose again and again to see what they might have missed the time before.

Pio Peep!

Ada, Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy, comp. 2003. Pio Peep!. New York: HarperCollins.

This wonderful collection of traditional Spanish nursery rhymes are a combination of old ballads, Spanish folktales from the oral tradition, and much loved harvest songs. Some of the rhymes, such as Arroz Con Leche/Rice Pudding will be familiar to both Spanish and English speaking children. Told first in Spanish and then in English by Alice Schertle, the English versions are not literal translations, but adapted so the original rhythm of the poetry is maintained.

Tortillas para mama /Tortillas for Mommy

Tortillitas para mama /Mommy likes tortillas

tortillitas para papa./ steaming hot and yummy.

Las calentitas para mama /Make them round and nicely browned

las doraditas para papa. /for Daddy's hungry tummy.

Vivi Escriva's watercolor illustrations of yellow chicks, tumbling puppies, plump abuelas, and laughing, clapping, singing, playing children add to the spirit of each rhyme and will entice Spanish speakers to try the rhyme in English; and English speakers to try the rhyme in Spanish. Children ages three to seven will enjoy chanting and singing these rhymers over and over.

The Sky is Always in the Sky by Karla Kuskin

Kuskin, Karla. 1998. The Sky is Always in the Sky. New York: HarperCollins.

This collection of funny, touching poems is about birds, rabbits, laughter, imagination, eating, and understanding who we are.

There is a me inside of me,

inside

the outside me

you see.

Gleefully enhanced by Isabelle Dervaux's brilliantly colored, child-like, illustrations of blooming flowers, wiggle-dancing worms, and cows munching contentedly; children ages four through nine will giggle their way through this happy, kid-friendly collection of poems.

Nonsense! by Edward Lear

Lear, Edward. 2004. Nonsense!. New York: Atheneum.

Including only a small portion of Edward Lear's collection of limericks, Nonsense! offers a nice assortment of the author's simple, silly four-line poems. Each limerick is framed in swirling, calligraphy pen, and backed by old-fashioned, print wallpaper.

There was a Young Lady of Ryde,

Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied;

She purchased some clogs, and some small spotted dogs,

And frequently walked about Ryde.

Re-told through full-page illustrations; the limericks are brought to life by Valorie Fisher's photographs of whimsical, cutpaper, watercolor, and china figurine collages. Interesting touches are added that enable modern readers to more fully understand the context and setting of these centuries-old poems. In The Young Lady of Ryde, the young lady strides along the boardwalk with her spotted china dogs; carrying a shopping bag from "Ryde's Seaside Clogs-Isle of Wight." Just as they have been since he first wrote them; Mr. Lear's limericks are for all ages.