Tag Archive | communication

U is unbelievable, astounding, enlightening: LISTIFIED! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind, by Pettie & Lozano (kids nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr24
Book title LISTIFIED! down center of book cover, with hand-drawn collections of bugs, living things, dinosaurs, bones, eggs, snowflakes, dogs wearing graduation hats, vehicles, and sea creatures to the left, and text to right: Britannica's 300 lists that will blow your mind, about all sorts of things... by Andrew Pettie

A brachiosaurus would equal the weight of how many housecats?
If Earth were the size of a cherry, how big would Saturn and Mars be?
What animals can run faster than a horse for 20 miles?

Fastest travel time around the world, surprising things that have fallen from the sky, organs that your body can survive without (and why) – if you want to know lots of things about lots of subjects, turn to Listified!

Its highly illustrated lists are grouped into chapters on
space, nature, dinosaur times, animals, the body, being human, inventions, and game changers.

Learn about the most visited monuments and buildings in the world, biggest machines ever built, important women in medical history, most unusual modern jobs, and much more.

Whether you choose a page at random or read an entire chapter, you’ll discover something new and can be absolute;u sure that it’s true because everything has been thoroughly reviewed by the Encyclopedia Britannica team.

Are you a list-maker, too?
**kmm

Book info: Listified! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind / Andrew Pettie; illustrated by Andres Lozano. Britannica Books, 2021. [author site https://www.instagram.com/andrewjpettie/] [artist site https://www.sensgallery.com/artists/andres-lozano] [publisher site https://www.whatonearthbooks.com/us/product/listified/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

S is THE BLOSSOMING SUMMER, safe from war, finding herself, by Anna Rose Johnson (MG fiction book review) #A2Z

Apr22
A dark-haired young teen girl wearing a 1940s short-sleeved plaid dress stands on a windy hillside above a sparkling lake beneath a sunny blue sky with high white clouds as well as military airplanes. She holds a bouquet of flowers tightly against herself with her elbow as she looks left, into the wind.

Separation and reunion.
Travel amid war!
Secrets…big family secrets.

Fleeing the London blitz in 1940, Rosemary’s parents gather up the children from relatives’ homes across England and take them to America, to stay with the grandmother in Wisconsin they’ve never met. After three years apart, the 13 year old wants to be a good big sister, but isn’t sure how.

From rationing and blackout curtains to a gigantic house and gardens straight from her dreams! She’s relieved and happy, until she meets their snooty same-age cousin (not one pimple – how unfair) and is treated like a child by Aunt Ann.

Dad left this beautiful place on purpose, changed his last name – why didn’t he ever tell them that his family was French and Indian?!

Grandmother is determined to win the flower and vegetable show at the county fair – will local boy Jacob lose his gardener’s job if Rosemary and her brothers help out?

As they work in the gardens, Grandmother teaches Rosemary about traditional Objiwe plants and their names in Anishinaabemowin – could her family be transplanted here as easily as the tiny violet plant that she brought from her best friend’s garden in England?

Maybe Dad will help them in the garden and canoe with them on the lake and become happy here by county fair time… during this lovely summer, even as war’s shadows come closer.

By the Native American author of The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=14384 .

What’s your favorite garden plant?
**kmm

Book info: The Blossoming Summer / Anna Rose Johnson. Holiday House, 2025. [author site https://annarosejohnson.com/the-blossoming-summer/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777259/the-blossoming-summer-by-anna-rose-johnson/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

R is history repeating BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US, reverso poem by Wenjen & Encarnacion (Picturebook) #A2Z

Apr21
Two young girls, standing back to back, look at the viewer from behind a barbed wire fence. On the left is a short-haired Japanese-American girl, on the right a Latin American girl with long dark hair held by a patterned headband, on the book cover of Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen and Violeta Encarnacion.

Forced from home,
separated from family,
children now behind barbed wire!

A Japanese American girl scans the dusty internment camp where everyone in her community has been taken during World War II, hoping for better days when they’ll finally be able to go home.

Decades later, a Latin American immigrant girl escaping with her family from bad conditions is taken to the same dusty internment camp, her hopes of better days now dimmed.

This reverso poem tells the two girls’ different/similar stories with a single set of phrases, like going up a musical scale and then back down.

“In this land of promise, we hoped to find a place to belong.” The phrase that begins the first poem ends the second poem.

“Where darkness is, light will shine again. From behind barbed wire, new life will begin.” The phrase that starts the second poem is the final line of the first.

Muted colors evoke the dreary setting of the camp, children and parents often separated by barbed wire, far away from pleasant places.

Fort Sill, Oklahoma, has long been a prison camp for those considered different, from Geronimo and his Chiricahua Apaches in the 1880s to Japanese Americans during World War II to immigrant children since 2014.

What keeps you hopeful in the face of such things?
**kmm

Book info: Barbed Wire Between Us / Mia Wenjen; illustrated by Violeta Encarnacion. Red Comet Press, 2026. [author site https://miawenjen.com/barbed-wire-between-us/] [illustrator site illustrator site https://www.instagram.com/violeta.encarnacion/] [publisher site https://www.redcometpress.com/picturebooks/barbed] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

Q is for questions THINKING ABOUT THINKING: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings, by Grant Snider (Poetry book review) #A2Z

Apr20
A person looks out a window at flowering branch and flying bird. On surrounding walls and ceiling are other windows with branch and bird where the same person lies on their stomach reading a book, sits with a cup of coffee while writing, and makes paper airplanes from book pages at night. On the floor is book title Thinking About Thinking: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings, by Grant Snider.

April is Poetry Month https://poets.org/national-poetry-month-30th-anniversary, and art plus poetry gives us even more to contemplate.

In his latest collection, poet-artist Grant Snider walks around in his own head, as he overthinks, feels, seeks, thinks the impossible, thinks circularly, can’t sleep, dreams, and exists.

Each section includes several poems, each arrayed in comics-style panels on one to two pages.

Within “I think, therefore I feel” section, you’ll find “How To Be a Circle,” then “How To Be a Triangle,” and “How To Be a Square,” followed by “Emotional Tetris” (pg. 35), with illustrations in the style that fits the poem’s title:

“I try to keep my feelings in order
so when a new one comes…
I know how to handle it.
But when so many happen at once…
they stop making sense.”

A thoughtful collection for teens and adults by the author of Poetry Comics for middle grade readers, recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=14435.

Do you write poetry about your feelings?
**kmm

Book info: Thinking About Thinking: Impossible Thoughts and Complicated Feelings / words and art by Grant Snider. Abrams Comic Arts, 2025. [author site https://www.grantsnider.com/] [publisher site https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/thinking-about-thinking_9781419776588/] Personal copy; cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is for Ken Jennings’ JUNIOR GENIUS GUIDES: GREEK MYTHOLOGY, by Ken Jennings, Mike Lowery (MG non-fiction) #A2Z

Apr11
Cartoonish versions of Greek god Poseidon with trident, a bull, one-eye Cyclops, and snake-haired Medusa in center of book cover, under title Ken Jennings' Junior Genius Guides (with author in an airplane) and subtitle Greek Mythology below.

Trojan horse,
strong as Hercules,
Greek mythology is everywhere you look!

This clever and information-packed guide begins with ancient Greek culture, then details the complicated family tree of Greek gods and goddesses (major and minor and demi), introduces superheroes and monsters, and notes famous feuds and inventions.

Includes lots of funny illustrations, diagrams, Greek God Trading Cards, and informative sidebars.

Use the Official Junior Genius Guide Cipher to decode Pop Quiz answers, and take activity breaks for recess, art class, lunch, and music class before the Junior Genius final exam.

Even the most ardent fan of the Greek gods will find something new and interesting here!

This series by Jeopardy champion and host Ken Jennings continues with Outer Space, Dinosaurs, The Human Body, and more https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Ken-Jennings-Junior-Genius-Guides.

May you ever live up to the Junior Genius secret Latin motto: Semper quaerens – always curious!

Which Greek mythological figure would you like to meet?
**kmm

Book info: Ken Jennings’ Junior Genius Guides: Greek Mythology / Ken Jennings; illustrated by Mike Lowery. Simon Spotlight, 2025. [author site https://www.ken-jennings.com/about] [illustrator site https://www.mikelowery.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Greek-Mythology/Ken-Jennings/Ken-Jennings-Junior-Genius-Guides/9781665973625] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

G is GALAXY MAPPER: the Luminous Discoveries of Astrophysicist Helene Curtois, by Allie Summers & Sian James (Picture Book) #A2Z

Apr8
Near mountains and forest, a girl looks up into the night sky, seeing stars and galaxies and mathematical diagrams overlaid upon the aurora borealis, on book cover of Galaxy Mapper: the Luminous Discoveries of Astrophysicist Helene Curtois, by Allie Summers.

“Helene observed.
Helene questioned.
Helene had ideas.”

Growing up in the French Alps, Helene Curtois loved to look at the night sky through her binoculars – and wondered what was beyond the moon.

At university, she studied astrophysics, the science of how natural objects in space (like the moon) begin, grow, and interact. When she was ignored because she was a woman, Helene remembered the brilliant women scientists who’d made discoveries before her and decided to go even further.

She fell in love with galaxies seen through the university’s professional telescope and decided to map these swirling islands of stars and dust in the night sky, to become a cosmographer.

Traveling to the best telescopes around the world, Helene and her scientific team observed and mapped thousands of galaxies and discovered they were all moving toward one place, a supercluster of galaxies!

What is beyond the moon? Now we -and Helene- know.

Includes a timeline of Helene’s life (ongoing!), glossary of galactic terms, notes on other fiercely intelligent women in astronomy, selected bibliography, and “where is a good location to build a professional telescope.”

Want a quick intro to a subject that’s completely new to you? Grab a non-fiction picturebook!
**kmm

Book info: Galaxy Mapper: the Luminous Discoveries of Astrophysicist Helene Curtois / Allie Summers; illustrated by Sian James. MIT Kids Press, 2025. [illustrator site https://www.sianjames.com/ ] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/787573/galaxy-mapper-the-luminous-discoveries-of-astrophysicist-helene-courtois-by-allie-summers-illustrated-by-sian-james/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D is detective daring to venture into ODDITY WOODS, by Kay Davault (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr4
Teen girl holding a glowing magnifying glass points to her right, followed by a teen boy in glasses grasping an electronic device, with a ghostly dog floating behind them as they run away from a spooky building and red-eyed creature - book cover of Oddity Woods, graphic novel by Kay Davault.

Dad suddenly missing,
town police won’t help…
teen detective has her first case!

“Deep in the woods, a ghost train appears, then steals your soul if you ride it.” (pg. 38) – made-up story to keep kids away from the deep forest or how The Conductor kidnapped her dad?

Three weeks since receiving a strange transmission sent Dad from their remote cabin to the woods, and Marietta knows it’s time to go find him, armed with his magical magnifying glass.

Rebuffed by local police, the 13 year old heads into the woods alone, encountering a ghost dog, a terrified (alive) young man, and a derelict train station – where the ghost train stops!

Can they ride the ghost train and stay alive?
Which beings at the Labyrinth Inn are the real monsters?
Will the creatures of Oddity Woods let Marietta and Wyatt live?

Trying to locate Marietta’s dad and find their way back to the real world, Marietta and Wyatt must solve puzzles, outrun evil, and decide who they can trust in this vibrant graphic novel, first in a planned trilogy.

What’s your favorite paranormal beastie?
**kmm

Book info: Oddity Woods / Kay Davault. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.kaydavault.com/about-contact] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Oddity-Woods/Kay-Davault/Oddity-Woods/9781665915830] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B is A BITE OF PEPPER, young vampire finding herself, by Balazs Lorinczi (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr2
On roof's edge near a streetlamp, a seated dark-haired girl wearing a bat-winged backpack looks back at a standing blonde girl who watches a leashed vampire puppy chase butterflies in the sky, on book cover of graphic novel A Bite of Pepper, by Balazs Lorinczi.

Skateboarding,
loving on her pup,
does she have to lock in her future already?

As a born-vampire, teen Pepper isn’t immortal – yet. Once she takes a bride (any gender) and they turn together, their age and appearance will be set… forever.

Despite her mom’s pressure to choose, she’s not ready yet, not grown into her true self. Just-younger half-brother Jeb may defy tradition and turn immortal first – the upcoming human-vampire Gala is when many announce their brides and turn each other.

Meeting college art student Ana is refreshing – she really appreciates Pepper’s skateboarding talent and adores immortal puppy Shroom. Pepper’s mom hires her to work in the family bookshop, so the pair happily get to spend more time together.

Ana’s art class illustration project of Pepper’s amazing skateboard tricks is turned into an edgy skateboard brand by Jeb, who looks to the rich vampires’ Human Relations Council for start-up funding.

Will the Council help if neither Jeb nor Pepper are full vampires yet?
Does Ana really like Pepper for herself or just as a skateboard model?
Do they all have to become real adults right now!?

In a human and vampire world where B+ juice keeps vampires healthy without human blood, Pepper has to decide how much of her self she’ll let others control.

Lorinczi portrays his characters in pink, black, and lavender rather than the usual black and red.

Other “non-traditional” vampire books you’d recommend?
**kmm

Book info: A Bite of Pepper / Balazs Lorinczi. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://balazslorinczi.carrd.co/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Bite-of-Pepper/Balazs-Lorinczi/9781665970464] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Six kawaii kitties on holiday – so cute! FALLING IN LOVE WITH A TRAVELING CAT, by Juno (Graphic Novel)

Jun26
Book cover of Falling in Love With a Traveling Cat, graphic novel by Juno. Six kitties standing on their short hind legs are moving to the left, ready for travel with backpacks, rolling suitcases, snack bag, camera on strap around one's neck, another with purse slung across its body. Most are tabby cats colored orange, tan, grey & white.

First, we plan.
Next, we pack.
Then, we go traveling!

Six soft, cute, often bemused Mofusand cats prepare to travel all over Japan, and their illustrator Juno invites us along for the fun.

Squished in the subway, relaxed on the plane, their first stop is the aquarium, where they talk to dolphins, enjoy the Baby Penguin Cafe, and walk with them in the parade.

On to the amusement park, with exciting rides and yummy snacks served by roller-skating kitty waitresses.

Ahh, relaxing outdoors, cooking over the campfire, napping in hammocks, whooshing on bicycles, and watching birds at a picnic.

Beach time! So many water activities and lovely frozen treats! [short-legged, long-bodied cats in bikinis = not your everyday swimsuit models]

Every prefecture of Japan is represented as the cats wear symbolic costumes like a white peach for Okayama and a deer from Nara.

These cats love eating, so they try food from every prefecture, too – curry soup from cold Hokkaido, Takoyaki octopus balls from Osaka, crunchy waffle cookies from Hyogo.

Relaxing at the hot springs is a great way to wrap up a vacation, as the kitties soak in hot tubs large and small, enjoy the sauna and massage – and evening banquet, of course!

Heading home with lots of souvenirs and treats and great memories, as well as the “Mofustagram” posts they sent along their journey.

Perhaps you’ve seen Mofusand cats with fried shrimp as headwear on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mofu_sand/; this first Mofusand illustrated book was published in Japan in 2022, then recently brought to English-language audiences.

Where in Japan would you like to visit with these traveling cats?
**kmm

Book info: Falling in Love With a Traveling Cat / Juno; translated by Mari Marimoto. Kakadawa, 2022; Udon Entertainment, 2024. [artist site https://mofusand.co/blogs/news/who-is-juno-the-artist-behind-mofusand] [publisher site https://store.udonentertainment.com/products/falling-in-love-with-a-traveling-cat-mofusands-1st-illustration-book] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Publisher Spotlight.

Amid the pandemic’s first autumn, THERE IS A DOOR IN THIS DARKNESS, if she can find it! by Kristin Cashore (YA fiction)

Jun24
Book cover of There Is a Door in This Darkness, by Kristin Cashore. A maze with several entrances encloses and surrounds the words of the title on a background of streaky cloudy sky.

Seven people, one apartment,
one pandemic, college deferred –
who is she anymore?

Wilhelmina’s best friends and their families are in a Covid-pod together without her, and the Boston teen misses them enormously. She can always sense where people are in a building, and text messages just aren’t the same.

Her gap year has turned into running all the errands and trying to keep her younger siblings at bay while Mom and Dad work from home; her Aunts (actually great-aunts) are now here too, missing late Aunt Frankie as much as Wilhelmina does.

Tomorrow “your doughnut will be stale!” a fortune-teller tells her from 6 feet away. “Trust Wil-helm-ina” sparkles the message she sees parachuting from the snowy sky while walking in the cemetery for solitude; well-masked classmate James saw a white owl drop it!

The next day, she chooses just-fried doughnut from James’ Italian-Chinese-American family’s bakery – somehow, it is stale…

She sees James in the cemetery again, and he’s glowing at the edges. The Temperance tarot card that Frankie gave her long ago changes to “Trust Ray” in sparkles. Huh?!

What if the aunts’ mail ballots don’t arrive from Pennsylvania in time?
Could she really drive them home as the pinched nerves in her neck and arm flare with pain?
Why is James now in her recurring Aunt Frankie dream?

Chapters for each day of her pivotal week in November 2020 alternate with those filled with wonderful memories of childhood and teen summers spent with the Aunts at their lovely rural Pennsylvania home.

These strands of past and present story weave together satisfyingly and realistically and a bit magically as Wilhelmina navigates the current crisis to find herself at last.

This contemporary work of magical realism by the author of the Graceling fantasy epics is now available in paperback and definitely deserves your reading attention.

Where were you during November 2020, before the vaccines were available?
**kmm

Book info: There Is A Door In This Darkness / Kristin Cashore. Dutton Books /Penguin, hardcover 2024, paperback 2025. [author site https://kristincashore.com/books/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313481/there-is-a-door-in-this-darkness-by-kristin-cashore/] Review copy checked out from my local public library; cover image courtesy of the publisher.