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Goodnight, Good Dog
by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Rebecca Malone
With a soft easy cadence for reading aloud, this quiet story about a restless pup not quite ready for bed is just right for calming down a reluctant toddler. Some spreads are full bleed while other pages contain spot illustration; each spread has only one or two lines of text. The calm, quiet, lyrical text soothes the listener and encourages them to find their own bed and dream of the day just past as well as the day yet to come. Illustrations were done with acrylic paint on watercolor paper. Recommended for ages 2 to 5.
—Tracy Gallagher, MLIS, Collection Development
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Job Wanted
by Teresa Bateman
On a sunny afternoon an exhausted and very hungry dog stops to ask farmer if he has any job openings. The farmer just doesn’t see what good dog would be, not like a cow, horse or chicken. Dog then asks if a cow is needed and when farmer says yes dog takes the job. Like most of us, farmer wonders how in the world dog will fill out the qualifications for a cow. The next morning he finds his cows lined up perfectly for milking, but farmer still says dog is not a cow. Dog then applies for the horse position and has the farm horse plowing the fields in no time just like farmer wanted. Farmer doesn’t realize dog’s worth until he saves the chickens from the fox and then a dog position definitely becomes open! In each scenario the illustrations portray the disheartened dog with his head hanging low and the farmer in his bib overalls shrugging and telling him that he isn’t a cow, horse or chicken, but dog never gives up proving his worth. This title is a great example for perseverance, determination and self-confidence character traits making it a great fit for public and elementary libraries. Recommended for ages 4 to 7.
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development
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Ketzel, the Cat who Composed
by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Amy June Bates
Based on a true story, Newman’s latest picture book tells of Moshe Cotel, a pianist, composer, and rabbi, and his cat Ketzel. Cotel’s compositions tend to be very long. So when he learns that the Paris New Music Review is sponsoring a contest for compositions no longer than 60 seconds, he is stumped. How can he create beautiful music with such short duration? The solution is a furry one: his black and white cat, Ketzel, walks across the keyboard one day. To Cotel’s delight, it’s a magnificent piece and lasts only twenty-one seconds… perfect! He immediately transcribes her notes and submits the work under her name to the contest. The Review awards it special mention for creative instinct and imagination and invites the composer to attend the debut of her piece. Young readers will thrill when Ketzel meows every time her name is mentioned, sending the audience into laughter and management into a tizzy. Cats are not allowed in the theater! All is eventually resolved: Ketzel is allowed to remain and enjoy hearing her composition performed. Bates’ delicate watercolor, gouache, and pencil illustrations are rich and warm and evoke the gentle relationship between owner and kitten. The author’s note explains that her story isn’t far from the truth: while Ketzel may not have been present at the world premiere of her work at the Friedberg Concert Hall at the Peabody Conservatory, she was in fact at a later performance where she did meow loudly at the mention of her name! Ketzel’s composition, “Piece for Piano: Four Paws,” can be found on the Internet. Recommended for ages 5 to 8.
—Becky Walton, MLIS, Collection Development
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Gronk: A Monster’s Story vol. 1 and vol. 2
by Katie Cook
Gronk is a monster, but she is not very good at being scary. She leaves her monster home with her stuffed cat, Kitteh, and meets Dale. Gronk becomes fascinated with the life of a human, living with Dale and her pets Kitty and Harli, the dog, with whom Gronk gets up to all sorts of silliness. These full-color editions of the popular webcomic are fun reads. Volumes 3 and 4 are also available. Although the series is marketed as all-ages, I recommend it for ages 7 to 10.
—Jenny McCluskey, MSIS, Collection Development |
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Walk on Earth a Stranger
by Rae Carson
Carson (Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy) gives us a wonderful first chapter in The Gold Seer Trilogy set amid the rough and tumble, brash California Gold Rush of 1849. Our protagonist, Lee Westfall, loses almost everything within the first pages--her parents are murdered, her best friend runs away to California, and her estranged uncle makes a claim on her property and more importantly, her gift. For Lee has a special ability to "witch up" or sense gold nearby, a valuable skill, but one that can also be extremely hazardous in light of the fever that currently grips the nation. Disguised as a boy, she escapes her uncle, whom she suspects of murdering her parents, and sets off for Independence, MO where her best friend Jefferson told her he would wait as long as he could. After much trial and tribulation, Lee and Jefferson reunite and hire on serving a family as part of party bound west for gold and glory. Carson's tale is as epic in sweep as the wide open prairie skies and vast badlands Lee's wagon train must traverse to get to their golden land of milk and honey. She adroitly evokes the sheer excitement of possibility and varied dangers of our pioneering past, all while telling a boldly feministic story. Engrossing--I can't wait for part deux. Recommended for ages 13 to 17.
—Jill M. Barton, MLIS, Collection Development
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The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy
by Violet Blue
Violet Blue is not just a writer and journalist; she’s also a friend and advocate to every female* who has a computer or smart phone. With a consistently empowering tone, she explains not only the whys of online privacy issues (why do some people try to make women feel guilty for wanting privacy, why do search engines remember what people look up, and so on), but also the hows. In the first part of the book, she reassures the reader that privacy is essential to the human experience, and she outlines the many repercussions of loss of privacy: all areas of women’s lives can be impacted – physical safety, employment, credit, relationships, and reputation. She then provides specific and immediate things the reader can do to protect herself online and secure her privacy, such as how to mask a computer’s IP address, use a browser’s privacy settings, screen out scammers and stalkers, use the legal system, safely social-media share, opt-out of people finder sites, online-date safely, and so much more. End material summarizes the wealth of resources mentioned throughout the chapters. This book is highly recommended for public and school libraries, as well as social science and technology classes.
—Becky Walton, MLIS, Collection Development
*When she uses the term “female,” Violet inclusively means a woman of all shades on the gender identity spectrum.
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The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers
by Jennifer Serravallo
Teachers will be eager to have this resource title at their fingertips! Serravallo has collected 300 strategies she calls “reading recipes” for busy teachers who need to meet their students’ literacy needs. She has organized her title by goals beginning with the chapter on the pre-emergent reader and concluding with improving skills in reading and writing. For each goal, information is given on the reading level, genre/text type and skill along with the strategy, teaching tip, prompt and visual in the form of charts, writing examples, Venn diagrams etc. In the beginning of each chapter a table of contents is given for the strategies and skills addressed making them an easy find. Voice, storytelling, settings, character comparisons, themes, main ideas, analogies, primary sources and many more areas are addressed in the strategies included. Make room for this addition to add to Serravallo’s other titles, The Nonfiction Now Lesson Bank, Grades 4-8: Strategies and Routines for Higher-Level Comprehension in the Content Areas and The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook,Grades K-2: Four Steps for Turning Assessment Data Into Goal-Directed Instruction. Recommended for educators in grades K-8.
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development
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