Category: Cream of the Crop Nominees

That Night

That NightThat Night by Amy Giles
Published by HarperTeen on October 23rd 2018
ISBN: 0062495771
Pages: 320
Goodreads
five-stars

That Night

 

That Night was the worst night of Jess and Lucas’s lives when a shooter at a movie theater killed both of their older brothers.  The shooting came out of nowhere and the ramifications continue to haunt both characters.  Jess needs to find a job to earn money to keep her household going as her mother slips further into a debilitating depression.  Lucas is working at a hardware store, partly to escape from his parents’ concern and his panic attacks, and he and Jess meet at her job interview.  Lucas isn’t sure he wants to work so closely with someone else who went through the same thing he did.  But they both soon realize that they are each what the other needs to climb out of the depths of sadness and continue on with their lives.

This book covers what happens after a terrible tragedy when the tv cameras leave and the survivors feel guilt and depression while wondering why they were left alive.  The love story that develops is sweet, optimistic, and a strong part of what will get Jess and Lucas through.  It was refreshing that the conflict wasn’t between the main characters and wasn’t over something silly or half-heard conversations.  From the very worst day will come a positive future.

I would like to recommend this book for Cream of the Crop for young adults in grades 9-12.

 

Reviewed by Ellen Spring, Oceanside High School, Rockland

five-stars

Pop!

Pop!Pop! by Jason Carter Eaton, Matt Rockefeller
Published by First Second Books on July 3rd 2018
ISBN: 1626725039
Pages: 42
Goodreads
five-stars

Does your storytime include blowing bubbles? If not, here is the perfect book to introduce such an activity. Dewey likes blowing bubbles more than playing with other youngsters, which frees up his mind to be creative in his methods of capturing a bubble that floats just out of his reach. In spite of his ultimate failure to pop the bubble, it turns out to be a friendship story.    

Wide pages hold double page spreads and some pages show series of smaller images, urging the reader to move quickly along with Dewey. Text is well-placed and well-paced. Librarians might want to leave the dust jacket unsecured – don’t miss the cover image!

Before reading aloud, I would ask youngsters to think of ways they could reach that last elusive bubble that floats just of their reach, or for older students, discuss why bubbles float and pop. If you’re looking for a book to add to your STEM list, this should be on it, mostly because it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be a STEM book!

Recommended for Cream of the Crop.

Reviewed by Lynn Mayer, Librarian, Old Town Elementary School, Old Town

five-stars

Broken Things

Broken ThingsBroken Things by Lauren Oliver
Published by HarperCollins on October 2nd 2018
ISBN: 0062224131
Pages: 408
Goodreads
five-stars

Recommending this novel for cream consideration.  Oliver has created a suspenseful, mystery novel that will be difficult to put down.  She deftly intertwines the story that the public believes with the pain and manipulation the suspects then victims have as they struggle to cope.  Oliver adds in just the right amount of red herrings.  Brynn and Mia were introduced to Summer five years ago when they were thirteen.  The three became obsessed with the book “The Way into Lovelorn” and role- played the setting, world and characters and created a Fanfic sequel because they didn’t like the way the book ended.  When Summer is found murder in a sacrificial way that matches the Fanfic’s details, the girls and another friend become suspects.  Social media and small town thinking pull the two teens into a notoriety that is difficult to break.  Told in the voices of Brynn and Mia, switching from past to present and instilled with quotes from  “Lovelorn” creates the suspenseful telling of this who- dun-it.  Recommended reading for mystery lovers in grades 10-12.

 

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Youth Services Librarian, Springvale Public Library

five-stars

Wild Buildings and Bridges

Wild Buildings and BridgesWild Buildings and Bridges: Architecture Inspired by Nature by Etta Kaner, Carl Wiens
Published by Kids Can Press on October 2nd 2018
ISBN: 1771387815
Pages: 40
Goodreads
five-stars

This is a great book for the next step of life after legos. The future architects will love this book. It’s a true story of building and bridges from around the world that were inspired by nature. One learns from observing how nature works wetland copycats dirty toilet water turns into a living machine, paint mimics butterfly wings to let the rain keep a round shape to roll right off, turning a desert green,  it’s not cool to be hot, and how to survive earthquakes. The Council House 2 office building in Melbourne, Australia was modeled after termite towers in Africa. They meant for the tower to work like lungs, but discovered they didn’t have it quite right. It still saves a lot of energy in ways that they didn’t expect. The school in San Juan Comalapa thick walls are made from used tires, dirt, plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash, this keeps the building cool during the day and warm in the evening.

The book is a mix of watercolor and photos. The stories include the history of some of the architects, the structures, and how they work.

After reading the book, students wanted to learn more about some of the structures, they researched on their own

Review by Jeri Fitzpatrick, GNGMS School, Gray

five-stars

Imagine

ImagineImagine by Juan Felipe Herrera, Lauren Castillo
Published by Candlewick Press on September 25th 2018
ISBN: 076369052X
Pages: 32
Goodreads
five-stars

He Is a distinguished author and activist and the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, but before that, he was a migrant child moving from town to town, never calling any one place home. He entered school not knowing English  or any of his classmates. This is his story, the story of Juan Felipe Herrera, told in the way he knows best-in poetic verse. In it, he challenges the reader – If I can do this- imagine what you can do! If I can leave my home, move to the city, enter a classroom knowing  no one, learn a new language,sing in front of a  class, hone my craft and become a great poet-think of what you can do. His text is supported and expanded by Castillo’s large expressive pen and foam monoprint illustrations. Imagine  is not only a beautiful book to look at, it carries a message of challenge and hope that we can aspire to be and do anything we wish no matter the odds. Use this with units of immigration, poetry and persons who overcame the odds to be their true selves.

grades 2-6

submitted by Kathy George, Gray Public Library

five-stars

Pip & Pup

Pip & PupPip & Pup by Eugene Yelchin
Published by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) on April 24th 2018
ISBN: 1627793941
Pages: 32
Goodreads
five-stars

Recommending for cream consideration.  This wordless picture book, for readers from birth to 2nd grade, shows the humorous encounter of a just hatched chick and the barnyard puppy.  The title page provides a play by play of the chick getting out of his shell that stays in two pieces.  He explores the farm.  A clever spread has the chick on the left page looking through his wings like binoculars and the opposite page the shadows of those binoculars with the sleeping pup in the center of each optical circle.  After pecking the pup awake and running away, a quick thunderstorm brings them back together in a comical and comforting way.  A new friendship has formed.  Perfect for lap sharing, reading picture practice and sharing with preschool groups.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Springvale Public Library, Springvale

five-stars

The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle

The Adventures of a Girl Called BicycleThe Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss
Published by Margaret Ferguson Books on June 5th 2018
ISBN: 0823440079
Pages: 320
Goodreads
five-stars

Handpies! Family feuds! Stampeding pigs! A runaway Kentucky Derby horse! A man in a chicken suit! Mostly-silent monks! French cuisine! A friendly ghost! Cookies! And among all of this, a girl on a bicycle looking for a friend. This refreshing middle grade novel offers some of the quirkiest characters and scenes this reviewer has ever encountered. When Bicycle shows up at the Mostly Silent Monastery as a toddler wearing only a shirt with a bicycle on it (how she receives her name, of course), she is taken in by the not-so-silent, big-hearted, well-intentioned Sister Wanda who does all of the talking for the Mostly Silent Monks. She also does all of the schooling and socializing of Bicycle, or she tries to. When she gets it into her head that Bicycle needs to attend the Friendship Factory Camp, where she is guaranteed to make at least three friends, Bicycle knows that the only friend that she needs to make is the world-famous cyclist Zbig Sienkiewicz. So she sets off on a 4000-mile bike trip across the United States to prove her point and meet that friend. What follows is a madcap adventure like no other filled with silliness, fantastic scenarios, and plenty of delicious fried pies. Bicycle will win your heart and prove that making friends is easy when you have an open mind, a sympathetic ear, and a rumbling stomach.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth

five-stars

The Dam

The DamThe Dam by David Almond, Levi Pinfold
Published by Candlewick Studio on September 11th 2018
ISBN: 0763695971
Pages: 32
Goodreads
five-stars

Two award winners; David Almond known for his stories and young adult novels including Skellig ,Kit’s Wilderness and Heaven Eyes, and Levi Pinfold whose picture book Black Dog won the Kate Greenway Medal have created a powerful picture book about the building of a dam and what was lost in the building and what was gained. Based on  a true story , a father and daughter, musicians are going into the area that will be flooded, land lost forever, to play one last time for the people, animals, birds and flowers that will no longer live on the land and for those who lived on the land in past times. But they also play for the new life that the dam creates- a lake which invites people and animals to it and the music binds the old wit the new.

The text is poetic , simple and direct, the illustrations are in browns and blues, somber and striking but not sad. The full page of the new lake formed is hopeful and makes the loss bearable. this is a visually striking book. with a message of hope delivered in a story  not commonly told in a picture book.

Use in art classes to demonstrate how art can tell express feelings and tell a story, use in music classes to explain the power of music to keep the memory of a bygone time alive and not forgotten.

The author’s note explains that such a dam was built in Northumberland, England and that musicians played for what was lost and then what was found.

So often teachers and librarians must encourage older children to take the time to visit the picture book section. Somehow children seem to think they are too old to enjoy this genre. This is one of those books that is to be enjoyed by children of all ages.

Grades 3-6

Submitted by Kathy George, Gray Public Library

five-stars

Inkling

InklingInkling by Kenneth Oppel, Sydney Smith
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on November 6th 2018
ISBN: 152477281X
Pages: 272
Goodreads
five-stars

Recommending this for Cream Consideration.  Oppel’s begins this realistic drama, suitable for grades 4-6,  with a splat of inky magic from the point of view of Rickman the family’s cat.  Rickman discovers the ink splotch that escapes Dad’s sketchbook and devours written print to learn how to communicate with the family.  Sixth grader Ethan finds the ink splotch, Inkling, first and Sarah, his younger sister with Down Syndrome, is immediately enthralled by Inkling’s ability to make the shape of a dog.  Inkling becomes a likeable and driven character.  It absorbs books, literally, and provides the family members, as well as readers, energy, inspiration and comical relief as the inquisitive splotch takes on the vernacular of whatever it “tastes”.   Anne of Green Gables, The BFG and Twenty Leagues under the Sea are some of the many titles that readers will be inspired to explore further.  Deeper themes bubble to the surface as the Inkling becomes helpful to Ethan and his father.  Grief, honesty, being yourself and friendships can be found in the ever changing dynamic that is presented as Inkling becomes known to others outside of Ethan’s family.  The design of the book, with ink splats on every page and comic illustrations, by Sydney Smith, liberally place throughout makes this a complete package.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Springvale Public Library, Springvale

five-stars

Zola’s Elephant

Zola’s ElephantZola's Elephant by Randall de Sève, Pamela Zagarenski
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on October 9th 2018
ISBN: 1328886298
Pages: 40
Goodreads
five-stars

A new girl moves in next door to our narrator – another little girl.Thus the begins the back and forth conversation between our narrator and the reader. Our little girl tells us that her neighbor has an elephant, who eats toast, takes baths , plays hide and seek and other fun things. that is the reason the two girls will surely never meet and be friends. As each reason they should not meet is imagined, Zagarenski in her signature style shows the reader on the facing page what is really happening. Eventually, they meet and of course, become friends. The text is sparse and direct, as someone making an excuse for not meeting a potential friend might say, the truth is in the illustrations. This is a picture book where the illustrations support the text. Zagarenski creates thru color and atmosphere, beautiful, fanciful imaginative illustrations that the reader can pour over. Her signature images of bees, foxes, crowns and wheels are included in her message of friendship.It is a beautiful book for its story and its art.

grades pre-k- 3

submitted by Kathy George, Gray Public Library

five-stars