Rutabaga's Reads 2022: Part 6

While I’ve been an elementary school student volunteering in the school’s library, and I’ve been a patron of libraries, it’s only within the past year that I’ve worked in a library. I love libraries, but I’ll be the first to admit that I primarily buy my books. Books are one of my happy places. (Walt Disney World is another, in case anyone’s randomly wondering.) Working in a library means I want to check out books all the time, but I can’t, as my TBR shelf at home is already extensive enough.

            This post is dedicated to books I’ve checked out. I will say a few things about each book, but they won’t be like my regular write-ups (which I realize do get long).

Cat & Cat Adventures: The Quest for Snacks (Sept. 7, 2021) by Susie Yi.

   Format: Hardcover graphic novel

   Genre: Fantasy cartoon, fiction

   Target Audience: Cat-lovers and people who enjoy graphic novels

            Oh no! Squash and Ginny have run out of snacks! *gasp* Thanks to a magic wand and a magical portal, the two cats embark on a quest to Mewmaid Ocean for a catfish scale, a lava rock from Mount Lava and a jar of rain from the Enchanted Rain Forest. They make new friends along the way, like Coral (a catfish), Magma (a lava dog) and Lotus (Queen of the Enchanted Rain Forest and leader of the bun-fairies). Unfortunately, the rain forest is dry; it hasn’t rained in weeks, as the rain forest spirit is ill. Lotus has been making medicine, but two ingredients are missing, and it’s too windy for the bun-fairies to fly it up the giant rock. This graphic novel features problem-solving by two adventurous, spirited cats and is laid out in bright, bold, colorful illustrations with the expected sparse text. This magical setting encourages friendship and kindness with such fun cartoon cats that readers will look toward future installments. I found this delightful, and I don’t typically peruse graphic novels. In fact, this is the first one I’ve ever read (outside of one graphic novel ARC).

Harry Potter: Christmas at Hogwarts: Magical Movie Moments (Oct. 6, 2020) by Jody Revenson.

   Format: Hardcover

   Genre: Fantasy fiction

   Target Audience: Anyone who loves the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

            As someone who loves Christmas and is of an age where she watched every single Harry Potter movie in the theatre, this small book is practically nostalgic. It provides fun facts about the sets and costuming and more; there are so many bits of information I never knew. It would be a lovely addition to anyone’s Harry Potter collection.

Silly Jokes About Monsters (Aug. 1, 2021) by Michael Dahl.

   Format: Hardcover with pictures

   Genre: Joke book, shelved in nonfiction

   Target Audience: Humor-seekers of simple jokes

            It’s smart for young people to understand humor and sarcasm, but it can be hard to find clean jokes or jokes that make sense to youngsters of the 21^st Century. This joke book is one of a series. There aren’t more than a few jokes per page, and there are illustrations to accompany many jokes, making for a book that youth will get through quickly. The jokes are punchy and funny in a dad-joke kind-of-way. It includes an activity at the end, for those wanting to create their own monsters. For anyone looking for a joke book that is inoffensive, give this one, or the others in the series, a try.

Soof (Oct. 9, 2018) by Sarah Weeks.

   Format: Audiobook, read by Talitha Bateman (2h, 59m)

   Genre: Realistic fiction

   Target Audience: Readers looking for character-driven family narratives

            12-year-old Aurora (Rory) Franklin has many idiosyncrasies, like tapping three times, speaking in “Beepish,” and wearing her shirts inside out even after the tags have been removed. Doctors and specialists have ruled out an autism spectrum disorder. Rory is simply her own unique, quirky self. She is the only daughter of “older” parents (her mom gave birth to her at age 48). The relationship with her mother becomes estranged pending Heidi’s arrival. Heidi was a foster child of her parents before Rory came along. Heidi is said to be good luck, but Rory is immensely jealous, and it’s exemplified by her feeling of inadequacy compared to this Heidi she’s never met. Things worsen after a house fire and Duck, the family dog and Rory’s only friend, goes missing. Soof is a word from Heidi’s childhood, and it was her intellectually disabled mother’s word for love. Rory wonders if her mom has more soof for Heidi than for her in this middle-grade story, which does have a happy resolution. The tale is poignant, and Aurora is complex. While I could empathize with the emotional toil associated with a lost pet, I struggled with the character. For almost the entire story, she’s a brat. She’s not only blunt, she’s rude (even beyond her blah-blah-blahs and Beepish language). I did not connect with the character and therefore wasn’t a fan.

            P.S. This is the first audiobook I’ve ever listened to. For me, this format is not my style. I much prefer a physical book.

South Korea: Countries Around the World (Jan. 1, 2012) by Elizabeth Raum.

   Format: Hardcover

   Genre: Nonfiction, history/geography

   Target Audience: Those interested in a simple overview of South Korea (this is part of a Countries Around the World series, and my local library carries all of them except one)

            While certainly no in-depth reference book, this early-reader nonfiction book has a lot of solid facts about South Korea. It does show its time, though. Published in 2012, the book’s mention of K-pop doesn’t include BTS, as they did not debut until 2013. This book – and the others in the series – would be excellent introductions of countries around the world for younger readers. They’re immersive books. I enjoyed learning that the Korean dialect spoken in the South is called Hangugeo and in the North it’s called Joseonmal. The pronunciations are usually understandable between the South and North, but words are spelled differently.

Rutabaga's Reads 2013: Part 13

In this +Scholastic books compilation, there are a couple titles for the younger readers you know and a couple for the older. Please note that I have no material connection to anyone who works for Scholastic or authors any books marketed through the company. I am simply a bookworm who supports the Scholastic Brand!

But and For, Yet and Nor: What is a Conjunction? (Mar. 1, 2010) by Brian P. Cleary.

   Brian Gable, illustrator.

“But and For, Yet and Nor” is just one of many books in Cleary’s Words are CATegorical series. His series focuses on different parts of speech, but by avenue of high-spirited rhyme that presents grammar-learning in a fun, carefree way and not an I’d-rather-get-my-teeth-pulled way. In this book, Cleary concentrates on conjunctions, not only giving the definition of them, but especially by giving examples in word and type. To name a few, he explains how they can bridge phrases or link words and even brings up the common misconception that conjunctions can’t start a sentence. I think these books are terrific, and I highly recommend them for school and classroom libraries. They’re wonderful books for intermediate elementary students and their teachers.

            How many conjunctions can you spot in this summary/review?

Ladybug Girl (Mar. 13, 2008) by David Soman & Jacky Davis.

Little Lulu is Ladybug Girl. She’s got to find her own fun, because her parents have work to do. She momentarily puts on her pouty face, but finds adventure out-of-doors with her dog, Bingo, after her big brother denies her request to play with him. He tells her she’s too little, but she thinks that is ridiculous in her preschool-age way.

            Like so many children, Lulu finds adventure through her imagination. She’s a self-appointed hero with her trusty sidekick, Bingo. This cute tale provides a platform for empowering youngsters using a subtle, fun and kid-friendly approach. The watercolor and line illustrations catch Bingo’s adorably floppy ears and Lulu’s adventures, not to mention Lulu herself in her ladybug costume. She positively stands out amidst the almost-muted backdrops. But I suppose that is the point. After all, Lulu is Ladybug Girl, and she is not too little!

Spellbinding (Apr. 1, 2013) by Maya Gold.

When her teacher gives the class a genealogy assignment, sixteen-year-old Abby Silva discovers she’s the descendent of an accused witch of the Salem Witch Trials. As she delves into her ancestry, mysterious things occur: objects move without aid and things catch fire. Abby doesn’t want to believe that she willed those things to happen. She just wants to be a “normal” teenager, albeit one who’s less invisible and more confident. She wants her school’s “it” boy, Travis Brown, to look at her instead of his odious girlfriend. There’s also the baffling yet attractive Rem Anders, who lives and works in nearby Salem. He’s hot and cold, but perhaps for good reason. Can Abby make sense of her ancestry and who she is before a reckoning tries to make the choice for her?

            This book is like a much lighter version of Stephen King’s “Carrie.” This YA paranormal novel read more like upper middle-grade fiction. That doesn’t mean it’s a watered down book with no substance. It has plenty of conflict. There’s conflict of the regular high-school-garden variety in the forms of friend issues and mean girls. Then there’s the paranormal variety such as magic and ill-intentioned witches. It keeps the reader’s attention with individual characters and an easily-visualized setting. The ending is tied up like a nice bow. Could it have been darker and more intense? Sure, but not all books have to be, and it is fine that “Spellbinding” isn’t. After all, it’s by Maya Gold and not by Stephen King.

Splendors and Glooms (Aug. 28, 2012) by Laura Amy Schlitz.

Though he has more rags than riches, Gaspare Grisini is a master puppeteer. His prowess with the puppet theatre catches Clara Wintermute’s fancy, so he comes to the Wintermute home to put on a show for her twelfth birthday party. The daughter of a wealthy and renowned physician, Clara never wants for necessities and then some. The opposite is true of Grisini’s orphaned assistants, Lizzie Rose Fawr and Parsefall Hooke. Their clothes are shabby, recompense is miserly, and they never know if they’ll have enough for a next meal. To them, the Wintermute home represents everything they don’t have: doting parents, an abundance of food, warmth, riches. Clara is enamored with the puppet theatre, but then she disappears. Grisini is suspected of kidnapping her, and Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are determined to solve the mystery. As they investigate, they open up Grisini’s suspicious past and his wicked intentions. Unbeknownst to them, they flee London only to be ensnared by Grisini’s rival, an old witch with two inheritances to dole out. One is amazing, the other is deadly.

            Schlitz earned a Newberry Honor for this middle-grade, historical fantasy novel. This story mixes magic and mystery, mishaps and misdeeds in order to create a mystical literary concoction. The book is more serious than not, but it is richly written. It is dark, but not so dark that I wouldn’t let a twelve-year-old read it. For those concerned, British slang is used, and I did see one instance of a word that rhymes with “stitch.” The splendors of the book are wondrous and positive, whereas the glooms are frightening and nightmarish (to the characters, not to you). Schlitz’s narrative and characters are so well-drawn that one can’t help but be swept up into the story, unsettling bits and all.