Tag Archive | England

T is THE TRAVELING TACO & origins of our favorite foods! by Mia Wenjen & Kimberlie Clinthorne-Wong (kids nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr23
Clockwise around title of book The Traveling Taco: the Amazing & Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods, by Mia Wenjen: a huge ice cream cone, shaped pasta, French fries, juice, onion, spaghetti twirled on a fork, fish, pomegranate half, taco, olives, ginger, and shrimp.

We love it!
Let’s eat it!
It came from where?

Did you know that French fries didn’t originate in France, and cheesecake began in ancient Greece?

Find out about the roots of a dozen favorite foods and how cooks adapted them to new places using the ingredients and methods available there.

Learn the fascinating histories of fish and chips, jerk chicken, pizza, pasta, and more.

Each favorite food’s double-page spread includes what it is, where it came from, a “did you know?” fact, a rhyme, and how it changed in its new place.

“Recipes are crafted to delight and to nourish.
When a recipe travels, new minds help it flourish.
Popular foods can evolve over time.
Cooks add small changes that make them sublime.” (preface)

Kids of all ages will learn something new about a popular food in this yummy book (I did)!

What’s your favorite food?
**kmm

Book info: The Traveling Taco: the Amazing & Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods / Mia Wenjen; illustrated by Kimberlie Clinthorpe-Wong. Red Comet Press, 2025. [author site https://miawenjen.com/the-traveling-taco/] [illustrator site https://www.kimberliewong.com/] [publisher site https://www.redcometpress.com/nonfiction/taco] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

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.

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.

N is for THE NIGHT ANIMALS, leading Nora to help and understanding, by Sarah Ann Juckes (MG fiction) #AtoZ

Apr16
Book cover of The Night Animals, by Sarah Ann Juckes. Shows dark silhouette of girl sitting on a tree branch in front of a large full moon, next to a rainbow-colored fox who is looking at her intently.

Alone at school,
home is too quiet,
but in the dark – ghost animals!

Mum has more bad days than good as her PTSD worsens, unable to get out of bed or fix dinner for Nora. Dad left them in England years ago and works at a wildlife rescue far away in India. Sigh…

What’s that on the middle-schooler’s bed? A ghostly fox, shimmering edges like rainbows!

At school, the fox leads her to artistic Kwame who’s also bullied by Joel. Kwame and his brothers are on Nora’s street often to help with their granddad whose memory is failing.

Now a ghost hare appears, running zigzags, away from the bully, then back to attack when Joel mocks her mother’s illness – flight?fight! The school office calls in their parents…

Oh, no! Kwame’s granddad needs help! Mum’s paramedic training calms them all.

Ghost ravens? What are they trying to tell Nora?

As Nora And Kwame race to follow the raven, she spies a ghost otter in the canal, swimming toward the harbor!
Train, docks, boat, stormy skies – should they follow the otter to the island?

Nora and Mum insist that “everything’s fine, we’re fine, no help needed” but perhaps not…

How have you coped with the mental health concerns of others?
**kmm

Book info: The Night Animals / Sarah Ann Juckes; illustrated by Sharon King-Chai. Kane Miller/EDC, 2024. [author site https://www.sarahannjuckes.com/the-night-animals] [publisher site https://www.kanemiller.com/the-night-animals.html] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B is for BORN READING: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History, by Kathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan (MG book review) #A2Z

Apr2
book cover of Born Reading: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History, byKathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan; illustrated by Aura Lewis. Paula Wiseman Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The skill of reading hasn’t always been taught to girls or encouraged for women, but that didn’t stop those determined to learn!

Meet Wu Zeitan, the first and only woman emperor of China, who promoted reading and education, published books on farming and government, wrote poetry, and created new Chinese written characters.

Get to know E. Pauline Johnson, an Indigenous Canadian poet and performer who was able to lecture and write about her Mohawk and White heritage in the late 1800s when few Indigenous or native voices reached such wide audiences.

Patsy Takemoto Mink didn’t let prejudice against Japanese Americans after World War II stop her from continuing her education, becoming a lawyer, then going into politics to change policies that discriminated against women and people of color. In Congress, she championed Title IX to end gender discrimination in higher education.

You’ll discover more about the reading lives of historical figures Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Phillis Wheatley Pierce, Chien-Shiung Wu, Indira Gandhi, Shirley Chisholm, and Audre Lorde in this book.

Contemporary women readers chronicled include Temple Grandin, Sally Ride, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Serena Williams, Taylor Swift, Mala Yousafzai, Amanda Gorman, and Marley Diaz.

The 20 profiles are followed by sections on Feminist Fun Facts, more Girls with Books, activities to keep you reading, how to access free books, organizations that help girls and children read, and an extensive resource list.

Prolific author Kathleen Krull died in 2021, leaving behind a handful of profiles in the manuscript for this book which was further researched and completed by author and long-time friend Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan.

Kathleen said “Once books change their brains, girls change history.” (page 1)
How will you read your way into history?
**kmm

Book info: Born Reading: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History / written by Kathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan; illustrated by Aura Lewis. Paula Wiseman Books/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [Loh-Hagan interview] [illustrator site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Her talents rejected? ‘Tis A SEASON MOST UNFAIR! by J. Anderson Coats (Middle grade book review)

Oct11
cover image of A Season Most Unfair / J. Anderson Coats. Atheneum Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Candlemaking is hot, stinky work, but Scholastica helps her father render the tallow and twist the wicks and dip the candles until they’re just right. Her loving stepmother can’t have children or bend down with her leg brace, so Tick has worked with Papa since she was tiny.

This year Tick is old enough to mold the Agnus Dei charms for travelers’ safety, using pricy beeswax and expensive paints. The charms sell well at the Stourbridge Fair, and Papa can’t see well enough now to paint their fine details.

So why does Papa think he needs an apprentice?!

Tick doesn’t care that Henry’s father and Papa are friends – how will an inexperienced boy help make enough candles to sell to get them through the bitter winter?

If only she can get some beeswax and make the charms…
If only she can find a way to Stourbridge Fair…
If only she can be sure that Papa still loves her enough…

There are joys among the hardships of living in medieval England, and Tick just wants to do the job that makes her happy!

By the author of The Night Ride, recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=13684

What task did you like to help your family with when you were younger?
**kmm

Book info: A Season Most Unfair / J. Anderson Coats. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

ONCE THERE WAS…some magic, a monster, a miracle? by Kiyash Monsef (YA book review)

Aug15
book cover of Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Her best friends try to help, but Marjan is sleepwalking through life since Dad was killed by who-knows-what recently in their California home. She’s trying to juggle sophomore classes and Dad’s struggling vet practice and her anger and grief.

Wait, her Pakistani father didn’t just treat dogs, cats, and birds – he was a veterinarian for creatures out of myth and legend?! And “the work” is Marjan’s now, because she’s inherited his gift of knowing precisely how to care for them, wherever in the world they are.

People who live with these amazing creatures contact Marjan through the secretive Tea Shop group. Off she goes to see a griffon in England reaching the end of its very long life, an incontinent house gnome a few hours from home.

Into Dad’s vet office comes a young woman named Malloryn, a self-taught witch whose grey fox is ill. She’ll stay with Marjan for the mythic nine-tailed fox‘s lengthy treatment, maybe disperse the house’s gloom and bad aura.

Um, this ultra-rich Horatio guy isn’t collecting mythic creatures to appreciate them, like Malloryn loves Zorro or cute Sebastian’s family loves the griffon who chose his family generations ago. There’s something dark about Horatio, and Marjan wants to stay far away from his underground menagerie of faerie and stone giant and deadly manticore – every Persian tale her father told her, come to life.

Tea Shop believes that magical creatures’ contentment influences the overall good for humanity. As many creatures have disappeared lately, things are worsening in the world – and they want to find the missing.

Horatio keeps requesting her help with his creatures – can she safely stay away?
Dad was preparing for a trip to Ithaca, New York, when he was killed – will Marjan find any answers there about his death?
Sebastian wants to help her – what can two teenagers do against age-old problems?

“Once there was, once there was not…” Tales told by her father punctuate the action and peril – read the first chapter here free on the publisher’s website.

What’s your favorite mythic creature?
**kmm

Book info: Once There Was / Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

How friendly is their new-old house in THE TIME OF GREEN MAGIC? by Hilary McKay (MG book review)

Aug8
book cover of The Time of Green Magic, by Hilary McKay. Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Two families into one.
An old house large enough for all.
Enough love to go around?

Abi had been an only, cherished by Dad Theo and Granny Grace after Mum died when she was a baby.

Now the 11 year old is a middle, squished between 13-year-old Max and grubby hands 6-year-old Louis when Dad marries Polly, and they move into her small house.

The blended family searches and searches for another house to rent, finally deciding on an old, tall house covered with ivy – and room enough for everyone!

With Polly and Theo working more hours to afford the house, Esme is hired to bring Louis home from school, and Max is enraged that his best friend Danny tells everyone that the 18-year-old French art student is his “babysitter” now.

Abi is happy to get back to escaping into books in her own room – so vivid, so real that she can feel the ocean spray in her face as she reads Kon-Tiki.

It isn’t ‘a nowl’ that Louis hears in the ivy, but an invisible friend, a cat-shaped being named Iffen who races up the vines to sleep in his room, who sharpens his mighty claws on the bedside mat, who is hungry.

Could Max finally calm down around Esme?
Is Iffen listen getting larger?
How can Abi see Iffen?!

Perhaps, perhaps the old house’s magic can help their many-parts family become whole.

Did you have an imaginary childhood friend?
**kmm

Book info: The Time of Green Magic / Hilary McKay. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2020, paperback 2021. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Celebrate the rainbow spectrum – read with your ears! (audiobook recommendations)

Jun22

For Pride Month, AudioSYNC brings us real-life and fictional accounts of teens across the rainbow of gender and sexuality.

You have until Wednesday 28 June 2023 to download either or both of these professionally produced audiobooks into your Sora shelf. Get all the details here.

The Audiofile review page for each audiobook include a link to their podcast discussion of the book!

Get ready to read with your ears!

CD cover of Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin | Read by Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu, Marisol Ramirez. Published by Brilliance Audio/Candlewick

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out (free Sora download 6/22-6/28/23)
by Susan Kuklin | Read by Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu, Marisol Ramirez
Published by Brilliance Audio/Candlewick

Two trans feminine, two trans masculine, and two nonbinary young people spoke candidly with Susan Kuklin about their struggles to be accepted.

These real interview transcripts of gender non-conforming teens also include some family members; all narrated by professional voice actors with emotion and empathy.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/225998/beyond-magenta-by-susan-kuklin-read-by-tanya-eby-nick-podehl/

swirling lines clipart http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Loveless, by Alice Oseman | Read by Billie Fulford-Brown, Elizabeth Schenk, Imogen Church. Published by Scholastic Audiobooks

Loveless (free Sora download 6/22-6/28/23)
by Alice Oseman | Read by Billie Fulford-Brown, Elizabeth Schenk, Imogen Church
Published by Scholastic Audiobooks

Surely her first year of college will be when Georgia finally has a crush, gets kissed, falls in love…right?

New friends and old help the British teen find her true self and claim her identity as asexual/aromantic.

I recommended Loveless here on BooksYALove.

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/206271/loveless-by-alice-oseman-read-by-billie-fulford-brown-elizabeth-schenk/

What’s your favorite story with gender-nonconforming characters?
**kmm

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AudioSYNC brings us thieves’ tales – to read with your ears! (audiobook recommendations)

May25

Clever, devious – it’s time for some sneaky stories with this week’s AudioSYNC free audiobooks.

Remember to download either or both audiobooks into your Sora shelf by Wednesday 31 May 2023. All your AudioSYNC downloads are yours to read for 99 years, as long as you keep them on your Sora shelf.

You can sign up for a free Sora account and see the entire AudioSYNC season here.

Let’s see what these scofflaws are up to…

CD cover of Arsene Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes, by Maurice Leblanc | Read by David Timson. Published by Naxos Audiobooks

Arsene Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes (Arsene Lupin, book 2) (free Sora download 5/25-5/31/23)
by Maurice Leblanc | Read by David Timson
Published by Naxos Audiobooks

Gentleman thief Arsene Lupin is the prime suspect in the disappearance of a blue diamond, leading famous English detective Herlock Sholmes and his assistant Wilson to Paris. Can they catch this master of disguise and recover the jewels?

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/187516/arsene-lupin-versus-herlock-sholmes-by-maurice-leblanc-read-by-david-timson/

swirling lines clipart from http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/mondays-throughout-the-day-17164159
CD cover of Mask of Shadows, by Linsey Miller | Read by Deryn Edwards. Published by Dreamscape

Mask of Shadows (free Sora download 5/15-5/31/2023)
by Linsey Miller | Read by Deryn Edwards
Published by Dreamscape

Of course, Sal steals that audition poster – they want to be right in the middle of the group auditioning to be one of the queen’s assassins. Not to become a member of the Left Hand – but for revenge!

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/131498/mask-of-shadows-by-linsey-miller-read-by-deryn-edwards/

What’s your favorite good story about a person choosing to live on the wrong side of the law?
**kmm

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