Book of the Week: You Go First

by Erin Entrada Kelly

Published by Greenwillow / HarperCollins, 2018
288 pages
ISBN: 978-1-06-241418-2

Ages 9-12

Twelve-year-old Charlotte’s Dad is hospitalized and she’s scared to visit him. Meanwhile, her best friend wants to move up in the social hierarchy at school and is willing to belittle Charlotte to do so. Eleven-year-old Ben is surprised and then furious when his parents announce they’re divorcing. He throws himself into running for student council treasurer, although his earnest campaign is destined to fail. Both smart and precocious, Charlotte and Ben live in separate cities. Their connection to each other is through an online word game and the online chatting that has grown around their play. Ben is generally oblivious to his social awkwardness and inability to pick up on cues that would no doubt make his transition to middle school easier. Charlotte is more aware of the ways she’s seen as odd. Alternating chapters follow each of their lives over the course of a difficult week, although neither is honest with the other about their current challenges. The parallels offer readers plenty to ponder. So, too, does the fact that Charlotte and Ben’s personalities are a matter of fact, not fault or in need of fixing. When they each connect with someone new at school, it’s clearly because of who they each are, not in spite of it. ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Charlotte Zolotow Symposium: Illuminating Experience

The early bird registration rate for the Charlotte Zolotow Symposium expires September 15.  

Join us for a day of illuminating presentations, book discussion, breakouts, and conversation featuring Angie Thomas, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Candace Fleming, Crescent Dragonwagon, Eric Rohmann, Javaka Steptoe, and editors Anne Hoppe and Neal Porter.

Click on the link above for a complete schedule and more information. 

Book of the Week: We Don't Eat Our Classmates

by Ryan T. Higgins

Published by Disney / Hyperion, 2018
40 pages
ISBN: 978-1-368-00355-1

Ages 5-8

Penelope Rex is nervous about starting school, but she’s prepared: She’s got a new backpack with ponies on it (she loves ponies--they’re delicious), and 300 tuna sandwiches packed for lunch. But she is not prepared when she walks into her classroom and discovers the other students are all children. “So she ate them. Because children are delicious.” She spits them back up after being yelled at by her teacher, but it isn’t easy to make friends after that. Everyone is afraid of her, especially as she’s prone to the occasional relapse. Discouraged, she asks Walter, the class goldfish, if he’ll be her friend. Walter’s response gives Penelope a new perspective on how it feels to be someone’s snack, paving the way to friendship with her classmates. There’s no heavy-handed lesson in this hilarious picture book but that doesn’t mean there isn’t food—or at least a snack—for thought. The humor gets an even greater boost in mixed-media illustrations showing sweet-faced Penelope in her bright pink overalls alongside a diverse cast of sometimes angry, sometimes fearful, ultimately friendly human classmates. ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Book of the Week: Pride

by Ibi Zoboi

Published by Balzer + Bray, 2018
304 pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-256404-7

Age 12 and older

Zuri is second-oldest of five sisters in the Dominican-Haitian-American Benitez family. After the wealthy Darcys move into a renovated brownstone across the street from the Benitz’s apartment building in Bushwick, Zuri’s older sister, Janae, and friendly Ainsley Darcy fall hard for each other, but Zuri finds Darius Darcy to be arrogant and aloof. Once she’s thrown together with him, however, she begins to see there’s more to Darius. She’s intrigued, and more than a little attracted, until Warren, who attends Darius’s private high school on scholarship, tells her a story that confirms Zuri’s initial impression. Warren, meanwhile, is fine, not to mention sweet and charming. And he’s from the neighborhood, the real deal in every way. Isn’t he? Readers of Pride and Prejudice may find delight, recognition, and surprise in how this remix reimagines characters and plot for the 21st century, but familiarity is not required. Zuri is smart, witty, and perceptive; her sisters lively and entertaining. Rooted firmly in the specifics of people and place, this novel is steeped in Zuri’s tight-knit Afro-Latinx family and working class community, her love of them both, and her plans for attending Howard University and returning to Bushwick someday. It explores economics and race and culture and gentrification, revealing the complexities where and how they intersect. It’s also a satisfying love story. ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Book of the Week: Bob

by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

Illustrated by Nicholas Gannon 

Published by Feiwel and Friends, 2018
208 pages
ISBN: 978-1-250-16662-3

Ages 7-10

It’s been over five years since Livy, now almost 11, last visited her grandmother in Australia. Her grandmother is disappointed that Livy doesn’t remember much from that earlier trip. It’s even more disappointing to Bob, whom Livy finds in the closet of her mother’s childhood bedroom. A tattered chicken suit disguise 5-year old Livy made can’t hide the fact that Bob’s a small green creature, neither human nor fowl. Bob’s been waiting in the closet for Livy’s return, passing the time practicing the hokey pokey, constructing and de-constructing a Lego pirate ship, and occasionally crying as he wondered where and why his friend had gone. Livy’s memories of Bob gradually return in bits and pieces as he tells how she rescued him—or did he rescue her? Chapters alternate between Bob’s and Livy’s perspectives, and the impossible truth about Bob emerges within a larger story of family and home. Livy’s voice is firmly grounded in childhood as she struggles with anxiety about staying without her mother, who is off seeing friends, reconnects with Sarah, a girl she played with during her last visit, and attempts to keep Bob safe from all who might not be fooled by his chicken costume. Occasional brown--tone illustrations add a reassuring tone to this seamless merger of everyday and extraordinary.  (MVL) ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Book of the Week: Jerome By Heart

By Thomas Scotto
Translated by Claudia Zoe Bedrick & Karin Snelson from the French.
Illustrated by Olivier Tallec  

U.S. edition: Enchanted Lion, 2018
32 pages
ISBN: 9781592702503

Ages 3-8

Raphael loves his friend Jerome, who holds his hand and chooses him for a buddy on field trips. Jerome, who is fun to be with and makes Raphael feel safe. Raphael’s parents think he talks and thinks too much about Jerome. “Now that’s enough,” says his dad. “Dad’s voice is like sharp fish bones in my hot chocolate.” But Raphael knows “Jerome” is not a bad word, and is determined to find the perfect gift for his friend, who is always up for an adventure, and would never hide his head in shame. “Raphael loves Jerome. I can say it. It’s easy.” Illustrations that are soft yet slightly quirky showcase the deep and genuine affection between the two boys, and the temporary dissonance and isolation caused by adult disproval before Raphael affirms feelings that bring him such contentment and joy. This welcome picture book offers sweet and essential conformation of emotions that children are too often encouraged to deny or suppress, particularly when it comes to same-gender friendships/relationships, and especially between boys. ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Book of the Week: Running through Sprinklers

Running through Sprinklers

by Michelle Kim
Published by Atheneum, 2018
209 pages pages
ISBN: 9781481495288

Ages 9-12

Sara, 12, has been best friends with Nadine since they were in diapers. Both are biracial, Sara Korean/white, Nadine Japanese/white, and have grown up on a cul de sac in Surrey, BC, moving in and out of each other’s houses and families and traditions with ease. Sometimes it seems to Sara they’re a single person, and she likes that feeling. As the summer before grade 7 winds down, two things disrupt Sara’s sense of security: A boy named Daniel Monroe disappears without a trace, and Nadine announces she will be skipping a grade and entering high school (grade 8 in Canada). Sara’s sense of hurt at the last-minute announcement is amplified by the feeling that Nadine is ready to leave her behind. When school starts, Sara focuses on getting good grades in the (unrealistic) hope of skipping to grade 8 midway through the year. She also becomes closer to Nadine’s younger sister, 6th grader Jen, but still longs for reconnection with Nadine. Sara is imperfect, at times incredibly selfish, but genuinely grieving and achingly real as first-time novelist Kim writes with a singular style and sure hand, immersing readers in Sara’s slowly expanding perspective in a story that explores friendship, family, growth, change, loss, and finding the light again. ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center