Book Review: Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd

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Inside Outside cover imageInside Outside by Lizi Boyd is a great picture book to show the multiple activities children can engage in both in the house and out in the yard.

The house is for making art, caring for pets, reading books, and playing games. Outside play changes as the year goes on. Outside is where snowmen are built, kites are flown, gardens are planted and tended and leaves are raked.

There are no words; instead Inside Outside reads like an “I spy” game where pages are full of images that kids can look for and name.  The brown paper stock feels warm and inviting, almost as though the book is a kid’s art project creation. Boyd’s illustrations carry that feel, as they are simple and whimsical.

Children will also delight in discovering the cutouts on each page, which provide a window from one world to another. For instance, when the child inside is making a boat to sail on the pond, he can see the pond, birds and trees out his window. On the next page he is outside sailing his boat on the pond, and he can look back through the same cutout to see into the house on the previous page, where he see the books on his bookcase.

There are so many delightful details in Inside Outside it should provide hours of fun over multiple readings as both parents and children discover new things each time they pick it up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Librarians Play Important Roles for Teens

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In May the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)  is hosting National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) to talk to legislators and their staff about the significance of libraries for teen patrons. To build awareness of how libraries serve teens, YALSA has invited bloggers everywhere to post about why teens need libraries and librarians are important to them. To help with the effort, I interviewed two teen librarians near my home in Portland, Oregon:

  • Susan Smallsreed, Youth Librarian at Northwest Library, Multnomah County Library
  • Mark Richardson, Young Adult and Reference Librarian at Cedar Mill Community Library

Here’s what they had to say:

Why do you think libraries are relevant for teens?

SS: Teens need safe places in which to hang out, do homework, get information and find entertainment.  Libraries do all these things for free, a very good price!  We offer computers & wifi access, clubs, activities, books, movies, music CDs, and many of these are available 24/7!

MR: I think libraries are as relevant as we make them for teens. If libraries take the time and effort to find out what teens need and want from their library, it will be relevant to them. This is why we started the Teen Library Council here, to learn from teens what they want. As a teen librarian, I can guess about what they will check out or I can ask them. I can guess about what programs they want or I can ask them. The council has helped me plan better programs and it has given them valuable leadership skills in the process. I look for ways that they can take responsibility for different projects. That helps them figure out what they like doing and when they have bitten off more than they can chew. In addition to this, there are many resources in the library and on our website that are great for teens. The trick is getting the teens knowledgeable about them.

Why is it a good idea for a teen to make a connection with a librarian as opposed to simply wandering the aisles?

SS: Librarians help you find what you REALLY want. We can save a lot of time and energy. But I’ve also found that library staff have to make teens feel welcome in the library. When teens know you, or at least your face, they are more likely to ask for assistance with any library issue, not just finding a book.

MR: One of the things that surprised me about having a library council was that quite often, I know more about new teen books than the kids do. I thought they would be giving me advice about books, but I am frequently the one letting them know about something new and great. Librarians are frequently tapped into the publishing world in a way that allows them to steer teens towards books that may be a little more challenging than the main blockbuster titles that we’ve heard about. Even those blockbusters (Twilight & The Hunger Games) were once small projects that I heard about from other Young Adult librarians long before they became mainstream hits. Code Name Verity was one of my favorites from last year that I expect more and more teens and adults to be reading in the near future.

What can librarians do for teens other than recommend books to read?

MR: As far as research goes, librarians’ roles have changed from that of a gatekeeper of knowledge to that of a pathfinder. We can help teens find that article or resource that used to be in the physical library, but which is now in an online tool somewhere. We can help teens sharpen the information they get from Google and broaden what they can find in the great databases we have access to. Most teens are not aware that they can take practice SAT, AP, and ACT tests on one of our online tools, that we have a language tool and app called Mango that can help them with learning a language and many, many more great resources. Since we’ve lost so many school librarians lately, it becomes even more important for teens to take the extra step and see if a public librarian can help them.

Anything else you’d like to add about the importance of libraries for teens?

MR: Libraries are great places to explore ideas and concepts.  Being a teen is almost literally an act of exploration. Libraries and teens should go together like peanut butter and jelly. The reason so many adults gravitate towards YA literature is that they want to read about the hopefulness of an age where the main character is making fundamental choices about who they are going to be. So much adult literature is about loss and regret. Teen lit, even when it is dark, is about finding a way towards hope and the light.

Raja: Story of a Racehorse by Anne Hambleton

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Raja: Story of a Racehorse cover imageAuthor Anne Hambleton has given us a glimpse into the life of a thoroughbred through the horse’s point of view in her novel, Raja: Story of a Racehorse. When Raja is born his owner, a sheikh from the Middle East, has high hopes for racing him. At first it seems that Raja will fulfill those hopes, but his fear of lightning leads to an accident that ends his career before it’s even begun.

This sets off a chain of events that sees Raja end up with a variety of owners, some good, some bad, and move from one purpose to another. Along the way, readers get an interesting look at and education about the variety of ways horses interact with humans. Raja learns dressage and steeplechase. He also discovers that not all horses race. For instance, some are set to work in fields, while others are police horses. Some owners treat their horses well and develop special bonds with them, others see them merely as a means to an end, like winning races or keeping a farm going. Some owners don’t know how to care for horses, and the animals suffer from neglect.

Through the eyes of Raja readers see both the good and the bad, and they get a feeling for how much horses (and other animals) depend on the humans in their lives to protect them from harm. Raja’s connections to the people who care for him, his fears of lightning and the “kill buyer” at auction, his love of running and open pastures, all combine to make his story both touching and educational. You’ll cheer him on to the very last page.

The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Book Club Recipe: Bubbe’s Jewish Apple Cake

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In How to Survive Middle School, an 11-year-old boy turns to his grandmother, whom he calls Bubbe, when he needs comfort. Comfort food is part of that, and you can tap into that spirit when serving meals to book club members of all types, whether your reading group is for kids or adults. Here’s the recipe for apple cake author Donna Gephart provides in her book.

Bubbe’s Jewish Apple Cake

Serves 8

  • 4 large apples
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 4 eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 3 cups flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • ½ cup raisins (optional)
  • powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Pare and slice apples. Soak apples in a large bowl of water with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Set aside.

Combine two tablespoons sugar and two teaspoons cinnamon and set aside. Beat eggs; beat in 1-1/2 cups sugar gradually; then beat in applesauce. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture and orange juice alternately to applesauce mixture, starting with flour mixture, stirring after each addition. Add vanilla and stir. Mix in raisins (optional).

Pour ¼ of the batter into greased pan; arrange 1/3 of the apple slices on top; sprinkle with 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture. Repeat layers twice, then add a layer of batter to the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 80 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

 

Enjoy, bubelah!

Round is a Tortilla by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, and John Parra

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Round is a Tortilla cover imageRound Is a Tortilla is a picture book that helps kids learn shapes as well as a few words in Spanish. Written by Roseanne Greenfield Thong, the story follows two Latino children as they dance, cook, play games, read and enjoy other activities in the world around them. They see shapes in normal, everyday things like the round moon, a square fountain, rectangular flags, triangle-shaped slices of watermelon, and oval pebbles.

John Parra’s illustrations include many other objects in the featured shapes, some of which are Latino in origin. These include sombreros, tortillas, ventanas, paletas, metates, guacamole, and huevos. A glossary in the back helps out both kids and any parents who are not familiar with these terms.

Each page has lots of shapes to discover in things all around us. Round Is a Tortilla is sure to help kids look for the shapes in everyday objects in their own world.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl

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Nobody's Secret cover imageA young Emily Dickinson is daydreaming in the woods near her home when a handsome young man interrupts. She’s never seen him before, yet when she asks his name he tells her he’s nobody. The air of mystery deepens when she sees him in town and he still won’t say who he is or why he’s visiting Amherst, but he hints at family crimes. The next day Mr. Nobody ends up dead in her family’s pond, and Emily suspects foul play. She sets out to discover who Mr. Nobody is and why he died.

Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl is part mystery, part historical fiction and entirely enjoyable. MacColl paints a picture of the teen poet as headstrong, always looking for ways to avoid housework, curious and tenacious. She knows what’s expected of girls in her world, yet she’s not afraid to push society’s rules.

MacColl meticulously researches the subjects of her historical fiction—in other books a young Queen Victoria in England and aviatrix Beryl Markham—and the details she discovers about her characters helps her create nuanced portraits that make them human. She weaves facts about Emily and the Dickinson family into her story easily, and helps readers see what everyday life for her may have been like while keeping the mystery moving along.

As Emily works to solve the mystery of Mr. Nobody’s death, she makes poetic notes about her discoveries, and it’s fun for readers to imagine her creating full poems from those notes. She also reads a contemporary poet, Walt Whitman, and focuses on the natural world around her.

Nobody’s Secret is fun to read and can generate discussion and activities for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 12 and up. Activities include reading Emily Dickinson’s poetry, learning more about her life in Amherst and writing poetry in her style. Discussions can center around what life was like for women in her times and the mystery itself. I highly recommend it.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Book Review: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

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This Is What Happy Looks Like cover imageWhat Graham believes is a simple email to his pet sitter is actually the beginning of a relationship with Ellie, who gets it by mistake. The teens live on opposite sides of the country, he’s in California she’s in Maine, and they believe they will never meet. But Graham happens to be a popular teen movie star, and when he chooses Ellie’s small town in Maine as the location for his next film, the two finally come face to face. The trouble is, photographers are always following Graham, capturing every person he’s interested in. And Ellie has a reason not to be in the limelight.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith takes a familiar storyline, celebrity meets regular person who they can really be themselves with, and turns it into something fresh, interesting and fun to read. Graham’s rise to stardom is recent, and he finds that living the celebrity life can be lonely. Ellie lives alone with her mother in the small town they fled to when a scandal drove them away form her father. When they meet, they feel as though they know each other well, yet, they also feel like strangers.

There aren’t a lot of surprises as their relationship unfolds, and they hit a few rough spots along the way, but its fun to go on the journey with them. Mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 14 and up who choose This is What Happy Looks Like will find several issues to talk about: online safety, keeping secrets, relationships between parents and children, and more.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Club Recipe: Rice Bowl with Meat and Vegetables

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As more and more people cut gluten from their diets, it gets to be more difficult for book club hosts to figure out what to serve their guests. One answer: rice. Rice is naturally gluten free, and it’s easy to add vegetables and meat to it to make a tasty, easy dish to prepare. Here’s a recipe I frequently make at home:

Rice Bowl with Meat and Vegetables

Serves 5 to 6

  • 4 eggs, boiled and cut into ¼” slices
  • 2 cups medium-grain rice
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 lb. ground pork or turkey
  • 2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce, divided
  • 1 piece fresh ginger, about 4 inches long, peeled and grated
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 6 green onions, chopped
  • 1 lb. fresh asparagus, with woody ends trimmed off and cut into 3” pieces
  • 2 tbsp, vegetable oil, divided
  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

In a medium saucepan, bring rice, salt and three cups of water to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat, cover and cook on low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit.

In a large bowl, mix pork or turkey, 2 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. ginger and ¼ cup water. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium high heat. Cook meat mixture about 5 minutes, or until meat is well done. Transfer to a serving bowl and cover to keep warm.

Return saucepan to heat and add 1 tbsp. oil. Sauté remaining ginger, garlic and green onions for 3 minutes. Add asparagus, 1 tsp. soy sauce, and broth. Stir to combine. Cover and cook about 3 minutes so asparagus stays crisp to the bite.

To serve, ladle rice into the bowl. Top with meat mixture, asparagus and boiled eggs. Ladle pan juices from asparagus on top.

Other vegetables you can substitute for asparagus include green beans, broccoli, baby bok choy and spinach.

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