Tag Archive | creativity

Her family is like ALL FOUR QUARTERS OF THE MOON, but where is she? by Shirley Marr (MG fiction book review)

May27
In front of a large full moon, a young Chinese girl cups her hands around those of her little sister who holds a paper rabbit. Above them is book title All Four Quarters of the Moon by Shirley Marr. In the foreground below are trees, animals, and a barn, all cut from paper.

New country,
new expectations,
old worries.

It’s good that Ba Ba doesn’t have to work every day of the week as he did in Singapore, but in their new Australian home there are no aunties down the hall for Ma Ma to visit or play mahjongg with Ah Ma.

No cousins to play with, so it’s even harder for 11-year-old Peijing to keep her impulsive little sister Biju in check, as their very traditional family expects.

Speak only English at school, only Chinese at home. Speak up when answering the teacher, never talk back to their parents. Peijing is always worried about doing something wrong.

Thankfully, the sisters can escape to the paper world that they’ve drawn and cut out, where Biju retells the rabbit in the moon story and more.

Ma Ma feels trapped at home with her limited English, Ba Ba gets to do more with the family now, and grandmother Ah Ma has begun forgetting.

How can Peijing help her new schoolfriend Joanna, always hungry?
Why does she have to take Biju wherever she goes, even to a birthday party?
When will Ma Ma ever appreciate her artistic skills?

Peijing feels like her four family members with their varied temperaments are like the four quarters of her favorite mooncakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as she tries to work out where she fits in at home and at school.

Another rich and tender story of a family from another country finding their new life in Australia but the author of Glasshouse of Stars , recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=12451.

Where are you in your family’s order of birth?
**kmm

Book info: All Four Quarters of the Moon / Shirley Marr. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [author site https://www.shirleymarr.net/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-Four-Quarters-of-the-Moon/Shirley-Marr/9781534488861] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

WRITING IN COLOR: 14 Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned, edited by Nafiza Azad & Melody Simpson (YA nonfiction book review)

May21
Three hands in shades of brown use pen, pencil, and marker to inscribe book title Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We've Learned. Surrounding the words are bright butterflies and glowing flowers. Below are listed the writers: Julie C. Dao, Chloe Gong, Joan He, Kosoko Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar, Darcie Little Badger, Yamile Saied Méndez, Axie Oh, Laura Pohl, Cindy Pon, Karuna Riazi, Gail D. Villanueva, Julian Winters, and Kat Zhang.

Characters, plot,
themes, action –
now what?

BIPOC authors of YA fiction share their experiences of getting started as a writer and advice on staying true to your own story while navigating the still-so-white publishing world as a person of color.

The first essays cover Craft: Starting from a Blank Page, as Kosovo Jackson gives 6 questions to ask yourself like “What do I want to be known for?” and Axie Oh notes that yours is a unique point of view – “you not only notice the books that are being published, but also the ones that are not.” (pg. 21)

All can be writers, but becoming an author requires commitment to the Journey: Querying, Publishing and Beyond. Adiba Jaigirdar takes us on the Publishing Roller Coaster with book deals and rejections, Julian Winters grapples with imposter syndrome, and Darcy Little Badger counsels perseverance.

“BIPOC authors know, all too well, what it is to be bled of joy,” says Julie C. Dao. “And yet joy is integral to this career. Joy is what got us here in the first place.” (pgs.226-227)

Contributors include: Julie C. Dao, Chloe Gong, Joan He, Kosoko Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar,
Darcie Little Badger, (Elatsoe, https://booksyalove.com/?p=11663)
Yamile Saied Méndez, (stories in anthologies Calling the Moon https://booksyalove.com/?p=14303 , Rural Voices https://booksyalove.com/?p=11936 & Come On In https://booksyalove.com/?p=11814 )
Axie Oh, Laura Pohl,
Cindy Pon, (Want https://booksyalove.com/?p=8943)
Karuna Riazi, (The Gauntlet https://booksyalove.com/?p=8849 & Hungry Hearts anthology https://booksyalove.com/?p=10918 )
Gail D. Villanueva, Julian Winters,
and Kat Zhang (The Memory of Forgotten Things https://booksyalove.com/?p=10407) .

It is my privilege to recommend many under-represented voices on BooksYALove.

Look for this great collection of writing advice in hardcover or paperback at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder. Did you know that if you order any book through https://bookshop.org/ you can designate which indie bookstore gets credit for your purchase? (NO affiliate links here, ever.)

Are you ready to write?
**kmm

Book info: Writing In Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned / Nafiza Azad & Melody Simpson, editors. Margaret K. McElderry Books, hardcover 2023, paperback 2024. [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Writing-in-Color/Julie-C-Dao/9781665925655] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

THE BIG BOOK OF PI: The Famous Number You Can Never Know, by Lehmann, Aubin & Sildre (kids nonfiction book review)

May12
A large symbol of Pi surrounded by a circle of numerals and silhouettes of people measuring and observing, overlaid with book title The Big Book of Pi: the Famous Number You Can Never Know

Pi r-squared – everyone’s heard that formula, but where did the name for that constant come from?
How was it discovered?
What makes it unique in mathematics?

This highly illustrated book begins examining those questions in the introduction, chapter 3.14, noting 2 unusual facts about Pi: it’s infinite and irrational. Did you know that you can find any number sequence of any length in pi? (pg. 19)

Characters Pi-Rat the questioner and Little Horsey PiPi who loves math help readers learn about scholars in many eras and many lands worked diligently to discover Pi’s hidden digits.

In 1761, Johann Heinrich Lambert proved that Pi wasn’t a rational number, and the race was on for mathematicians to calculate as many of Pi’s decimal places as possible!

Srinivasa Ramanujan’s 1913 formula came to him in a dream, was ignored by university mathematicians, then proven correct over 70 years later, leading to even more efficient formulas. From pen and ink to calculating machines and computers, trillions of digits have been discovered!

But why do we need to know so many decimals of Pi? Testing new supercomputers and standing in for random number selections are just two reasons.

Pi-Rat and Little Horsey PiPi want us to have fun with Pi, with tricks for memorizing its digits, silly jokes, brain-twisting paradoxes, and how to cut a pizza exactly in half without cutting the crust.

The proofs behind historic examples cited and a glossary round out this very entertaining look at Pi and its never-ending digits. Check out the educator’s guide here: http://hello.helvetiq.com/en-us/bigbookofpi.

How many decimals of Pi can you recite?
**kmm

Book info: The Big Book of Pi: The Famous Number You Can Never Know / Anita Lehmann & Jean-Baptiste Aubin; illustrated by Joonas Sildre. Helvetiq, 2026. [author site https://www.anita-lehmann.com/] [publisher site https://helvetiq.com/us/the-big-book-of-pi] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

Z is Zuzanna Celej illustrating THE VASE WITH THE GOLDEN CRACKS by Fran Nuno (Picturebook) #A2Z

Apr30
A young Japanese boy drops a piece of paper into a round flower-painted vase with cracks highlighted with gold, on book cover of The Vase with the Golden Cracks, by Fran Nuno.

In the vase were the words,
in the words were the meanings,
in those meanings is the story.

His father kept Japanese words in a beautiful vase, words whose meanings didn’t exist in other languages, and would read a new one to him every day.

The boy’s favorite was ikigai, referring to our mission in life, “the one that makes us wake up every day with joy.” (pg. 7)

One day, the boy accidentally breaks the vase, his father mends it, and the word-filled vase is more beautiful than ever.

A lovely addition to this story of why its author became a writer is the list of other words kept in the vase and their meanings.

This book is printed on “Stone Paper” which isn’t made from trees (https://www.cuentodeluz.com/pages/stone-paper-2) so its pages turn with a weighty yet fluid feel unlike most picturebooks’ shiny color-printed paper.

What word with special meaning would you add to your vase?
**kmm

Book info: The Vase With the Golden Cracks / Fran Nuno; illustrated by Zuzanna Celej; translated by Jon Brokenbow. Cuento de Luz, 2024. [author site, in Spanish https://www.frannuno.es/BIOGRAF-A/] [illustrator info https://theplumagency.com/illustrators/zuzanna_celej] [publisher site https://www.cuentodeluz.com/products/9788419464958?_pos=1&_sid=32c21897a&_ss=r] 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.

P is for THE PENCIL, precious in their iglu home, by Avingaq, Vsetula, and Chua (Picturebook) #A2Z

Apr18
Inside their iglu, a young Inuk girl wearing a traditional Indigenous Canadian parka holds a short pencil as her younger sister and brother look on eagerly, on book cover of The Pencil, by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula; illustrated by Charlene Chua

The children and Ataata stay home in the iglu while their mother is away helping a neighbor.

How should they pass the time?

When the sun is out, the two big girls can trace their letters in the frost on the iglu’s ice window.

They play games with baby Peter, and their father tells them stories, and still Anaana isn’t back.

Is Ataatu really letting them use their mother’s one precious pencil and the last piece of paper to draw on?

What will Anaana say when she sees how short the pencil is now?

The author fondly remembered living in an Inuit iglu as a child in Nunavut, Canada, where they learned to use all things wisely, because the trading post was so very far away. Find learning resources in English and Inuktitut here https://inhabitmedia.com/2021/04/22/the-pencil-educators-resource/.

What special object have you saved because it’s the last one?
**kmm

Book info: The Pencil / Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula; illustrated by Charlene Chua. Inhabit Media, 2018. [illustrator site https://charlenechua.com/picture-books] [publisher site https://inhabitbooks.com/products/the-pencil?_pos=1&_sid=b3e677320&_ss=r] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

M is MAKER GIRL AND PROFESSOR SMARTS must save the city’s ice cream! by Jasmine Florentine (kids graphic novel) #A2Z

Apr15
A tween girl wearing goggles, superhero cape & satchel with logo raises a gadget skyward, next to a tween boy in ballcap and shades consulting a book, with science & math motifs in background, on book cover of Maker Girl and Professor Smarts, book 1, by Jasmine Florentine.

Summertime,
ice cream time!
Ewww… now it’s slime?!

Chuy and Yaya have been besties since preschool – he wants to know everything, and she can build anything.

Too bad the 12 year olds didn’t get superpowers when the recent comet struck Earth, like some people did…

When new supervillain Mr. Anti-Freeze starts turning everyone’s ice cream into slime, it’s time for them to act anyway!

Super-cape for Yaya, super-cool shades for Chuy – now Maker Girl and Professor Smarts!

Can their brainy/inventive powers outwit Mr. Anti-Freeze’s icky superpower?
Can they stop him from unleashing his slime bomb on the city?
Why does he hate ice cream so much?

This first graphic novel in new series includes instructions on making a grappling hook and yummy sorbet, a preview of book 2 (mayhem with younger siblings), and a resource list so you can make and learn stuff, too.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
**kmm

Book info: Maker Girl and Professor Smarts (Book 1) / Jasmine Florentine. MIT Kids Press, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.jasmineflorentine.com/books] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786774/maker-girl-and-professor-smarts-by-jasmine-florentine-illustrated-by-jasmine-florentine/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

F is for FREE PIANO (NOT HAUNTED), by Whitney Gardner (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr7
Book cover shows a teen girl carrying a ukulele case walking from a stormy dark seashore toward a glowing red synthesizer keyboard which has handwritten sign attached "Free Piano (not haunted)" = title of graphic novel by Whitney Gardner

Summertime!
Songwriting time!
Nope, just not clicking…

Throwing weird stuff off a high platform has earned her pals “SonsOfSmash” a good following online, but lonely teen Margot’s original tunes on ukulele? Hardly any.

So she claims the old electronic keyboard left on the curb with sign “Free piano (not haunted)” – to learn to play, not to smash.

But her musician dad leaves for LA instead of teaching her, the guys are busy filming more smashes, and mom is working even more hours in their small coastal town…sigh.

What weird sounds this synthesizer makes! And it totally IS haunted, by 1980s bubble-gum pop star Vision!

Vision says making music is important because of how it makes you feel; Margot claims that only the number of fans and followers counts – who’s right?

Whoa! If Vision isn’t sitting at the unplugged keyboard, who’s playing it now!?

Flashbacks to Vision’s meteoric rise to stardom help her talk to aspiring songwriter Margot about staying true to your own soul’s melodies in this graphic novel, available in hardcover or paperback from your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder.

Would a resident ghost help or hinder your creativity?
**kmm

Book info: Free Piano (Not Haunted) / Whitney Gardner. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. [author/illustrator site https://www.heywhitney.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Free-Piano-(Not-Haunted)/Whitney-Gardner/9781665938129] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

C is COSTUMES FOR TIME TRAVELERS – to save them from being erased? by A. R. Capetta (YA fiction) #A2Z

Apr3
book cover of Costumes For Time Travelers, by A. R. Capetta, published by Candlewick Press, shows two people in vibrant medieval costumes nearly kissing in front of a bright window, their faces blurred by swooping veils of curtains.

Just hike from one time to another,
with your time boots…

Time travelers eagerly seek out the costume shop in Pocket to get the right clothing for their next locale and era, where Calisto will stay put, thank you very much.

When Grandmother departs for her childhood hometown, she leaves Calisto in charge of the shop, telling them not to take on any new travelers.

But surely not Fawkes, who appears from the moons festival sky, who himself has met Calisto countless times, although they’re meeting him for the first time…

Off he goes to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, clad in proper attire, thanks to Calisto, leaving an extra pair of time boots for them (as if they would ever want to hike through time…ha!).

Oh no! Time Wardens crash in, intent on stopping time travel and erasing Fawkes, who can hop from era to era without walking through the timelands!

Next, Korsika arrives in Pocket to meet up with Fawkes, learns where/when he is, then steals the time boots’ secret formula!

Reluctantly donning time boots to chase after the thief, Calisto races to find Fawkes at the Globe, and the pair barely escapes the Time Wardens.

Away to Fawkes’ old friend in ancient Crete, who tells them where Korsika may be headed, then off to intercept him at the dawn of a new millennium before he breaks the timelands!

Paperback releases in late May 2026 with a new cover, but I prefer this original cover art.

Which era of time would you hike to with your time boots?
**kmm

Book info: Costumes For Time Travelers / A.R. Capetta. Candlewick Press, 2025. [author site https://onceandfuturestories.com/#441af115-aefa-4541-8b8b-f847c3851ea7] [publisher site https://www.candlewick.com/9781536233711/costumes-for-time-travelers/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Where does your PENCIL come from? by Hye-Eun Kim (picturebook)

May7
book cover of Pencil, by Hye-Eun Kim. Shows a large pencil sketching a many-colored forest, tree by tree.

A few leaves, many leaves, a whole tree!
Small trees, more trees, a whole forest!
Many animals, many birds…and a noisy machine…

This wordless picturebook traces the journey of a single pencil from sapling to forest tree to sawed log to factory to art supply store.

A young girl chooses that pencil, then draws marvelous trees extending from the tree stumps, a forest that the displaced animals want to visit!

Drawn in colored pencil and marker, first published in the illustrator’s native Korea and dedicated to her daughter: “May your small tree grow into a large forest.”

Includes helpful advice on how to read a silent book to others.

It’s Children’s Book Week! When you look for this charming book at your local library (https://search.worldcat.org/libraries) or independent bookstore (https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder), check out the many art styles of today’s picturebooks.

If you chose just one colored pencil, what color would it be?
**kmm

Book info: Pencil / illustrated by Hye-Eun Kim. Toon Books, 2025. [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763419/pencil-by-hye-eun-kim/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.