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Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
This book is something I have never seen before in my life, a different type of book. This book, The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks, has QR codes! These QR codes, more about them later, show famous paintings that are being described on the page that the QR code is on. Most of the paintings are by Van Gogh but some are by other artists like Hans Holbein the Younger and Leonardo Da Vinci. This book is recommended for ages 10-12!
The book is about a boy. The boy had lost his memory, meaning he didn’t know who he was, where he lived or who his parents were. He was found in the National Gallery of Art, Gallery number 83 and was sitting on a bench there for most of the day. When the security guard comes to check on him because he finds his behavior suspicious, he finds out that he has lost his memory. The boy gets sent to the police station and then they realize he has amnesia which is when you lose your memory because of a blow or a traumatic event. They ask him questions about who he is and where he lives but he doesn’t know the answers to any of these questions. They send him to foster care and he ends up with a woman named Mary Sullivan and her ten-year-old daughter, Camille. The police also put an ad in the newspaper about the boy.
Meanwhile a man, who the book leaves in the dark at first, breaks into a person’s house and takes their phone and looks through their computer. The man has a whole team of grown-ups who are the best in their field in the whole world. This person, I will say no more about because everything needs to stay a surprise.
I love this book because of its amazing feature that I have never ever come across before, QR codes! It’s something extraordinary! I love how the QR codes bring you to different sites that show those paintings and let you experiment a bit with them, meaning you can sometimes watch a video about the painting or zoom it in and out and rotate the painting or, of course, the virtual painting. On one of the sites, while zooming in, I could even find a bristle of the paintbrush that Van Gogh himself used! If you do not know what a QR code is, then I can tell you. A QR code is a code which you have to scan using your mobile phone or tablet. You would enter the camera app and then hold the mobile device closeish to the QR code as if you were about to take a picture of it. Then after holding it there a while you would see a website pop up on the top of your screen. You would have to click on that link to the website on the top and then voilá! You’ve done it! If it doesn’t work maybe your phone or tablet is too old and does not have the technology in it to recognize the QR code. If you want to find out more about them, then do what I told you to do and scan this QR code! This one goes to Wikipedia’s page about QR codes!
Another reason that I love this book is the author’s style of writing. I love when they do different perspectives but I love even more when one of the perspectives is, figuratively speaking, “left in the dark”! Get your paint brushes out and get ready to read to them!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We love those books that are so, so difficult to put down!**
Brave in the Woods
Author: Tracy Holczer
Published January 5th, 2021 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Summary: Critically acclaimed Tracy Holczer returns with a heartrending tale about a girl descended from the Grimm brothers who sets out to break what she thinks is a family curse.
Twelve-year-old Juni is convinced her family is cursed. Long ago, her ancestors, the Grimm Brothers, offended a witch who cursed them and their descendants to suffer through their beloved fairy tales over and over again—to be at the mercy of extreme luck, both good and bad. Juni fears any good luck allotted to her family she used up just by being born, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night with the horrible feeling like antlers are growing from her head, she knows something is wrong. The next day she learns her older brother Connor has gone missing during his tour in Afghanistan.
Her family begins grieving his loss in their own ways but Juni can’t help but believe that his disappearance means the family curse has struck again. Juni is convinced the only way to bring her brother home is to break the family curse and so she sets out on a quest to do just that.
From Charlotte Huck honoree Tracy Holczer comes a stunning new novel about the power of stories, the enormity of grief, and the brilliancy of hope.
About the Author: Tracy Holczer lives in Southern California with her husband, three daughters, and two rather fluffy dogs named Buster and Molly. She has a deep love for the mountains where she grew up, the lakes and rivers that crisscrossed her childhood, so she writes them into her stories. The Secret Hum of a Daisy was written in praise of both nature and family, and all that can be found there if you’re willing to hunt for treasure. Following her debut, Everything Else in the Universe was published, and Brave in the Woods is her third novel.
Praise:
★ “This is a beautiful tale of love and grief, friendship and family, and of hope. . . Give this to readers who loved Ali Benjamin’s The Thing About Jellyfish and Kate Allen’s The Line Tender. . . Holczer’s use of humor, thoughtful imagery, and magical realism elements makes this a wholly unique blend of modern fairy tale, hero’s quest, and coming-of-age story. A suggested purchase for all middle grade collections.” —School Library Journal, starred review
“Holczer’s clear, gentle prose allows the emotional and descriptive elements of the text to shine in this multilayered road-trip story . . . A thoughtful exploration of grief, family lore, and human connection.” —Kirkus Reviews
“By turns heartbreaking and humorous, this is a story that hints at the possibility of magic while remaining rooted in real-world problems and relationships. There is love and hope amid the grief and confusion, just as the Grimm tales contain both wonders and horrors in their own right. A heartfelt lesson on the power of love and the tales we tell ourselves.” —Booklist
Review: Brave in the Woods is the story of grief, hope, true friendship, love, and truth. With Holczer’s brilliance of story telling, just about every emotion is felt while reading this novel as Juni goes through all of the emotions alongside us. And with just a dash of magical realism, the story has a magical feeling weaved throughout it from beginning to end.
Add to these emotions a road trip, fun and unique characters, a dog (and a ornery cat), and a quirky family history, and you have a must read middle grade novel for so many readers who need this story.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Juni’s family legend says that they are related to the Grimm Brothers, so there are allusions to the Grimm fairy tales throughout the book. Use these to introduce and discuss allusions.
Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think the author chose a stag throughout the novel?
- Why was it so important to Juni to get Elsie?
- Which of the characters who helped Juni along the way do you like the best? Why?
- How are Juni and Anya alike?
- How are each of the characters grieving differently?
- How does the author compare bees and asthma?
- How does the author use the setting like a character to drive the plot?
Flagged Passages: “Chapter 1: Velvet Bones
Juniper felt it when her brother disappeared.
She was certain of this.
Oddly, her lungs didn’t go all wonky the way they sometimes did when bad things happened. Like a hive of bees inside her chest, using up every bit of her breath with their buzzing and swarming.
That feeling would come later.”
Read This If You Love: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor, Clean Getaway by Nic Stone, Other Tracy Holczer novels
Recommended For:
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
Presenting: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart!!! This is a story of a brave girl who is determined to get a memory box which she buried with her mom and sisters before they got killed in a car crash. She made a promise to get that box and she isn’t the type to break promises! This book is recommended for ages 9-12.
Coyote’s mother and her two sisters died five years ago in a car crash so Coyote’s dad, Rodeo, is the one who takes care of her. After the death of his wife and two daughters he bought a school bus and named it Yager. The bus, Yager, would now be their new home. Coyote’s dad forbids her to say anything related to her family which includes the words mom, dad, sister, Ava, Rose and many more. He also tells her not to think of her sisters and mom. And that’s why, for five years, Coyote and Rodeo have been traveling around the country, avoiding their home because it gave them too many memories. Coyote talks on the phone with her grandma every Saturday to catch up. One time when they talk her grandma tells her that the park that she used to play in was going to be destroyed on Wednesday! Coyote remembers that that is where her mom and sisters had buried a time capsule back when they were still alive. She devises a plan to dig up the time capsule before the park is destroyed. That is pretty complicated for two reasons, one the park is in Washington and she is in Florida which means they would have to drive about 3,600 miles to get there and two, the second that she told her dad about it he was going to say it was a no-go. It takes a lot of planning but finally Coyote comes up with a plan. I can’t tell you the plan but I can say that after a bit of time on the road they pick up a man named Lester and even later when they are bickering about a map they drive off and forget Coyote! Will they come back for her or will they forget about her?
I absolutely love this story because this story is unusual. Think about it, a twelve year old who lives in a school bus named Yager. Most stories start with girls living a normal-ish life but Coyote is a more interesting and different character. The name Coyote Sunrise even sounds exciting! She lives differently than other people, is just simply different in her characteristics and has things that she can’t say or think about without getting into trouble. Not every character in a book can do and does what Coyote Sunrise does in this book. The second reason I love this book is because the front cover illustration is amazing! For this I have to say that the cover illustrator did a great job and that the cover gives the book a nice feel to it when you are reading it. I usually don’t do this but while reading this book sometimes I just flipped to the front cover and started staring at it and then I got back to reading. Another reason I love this book is because once I started it I could not put it down. Well unless of course I had to, like when I had to eat or sleep or go to school. But still! I really hope that you love this book as much as I do!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We love those books that are so, so difficult to put down!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Published June 30, 2020
Dear readers,
This book, called The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray is soooooo cool but also a bit scary, so I will warn you: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU GO TO BED! I literally had to hide under the covers and only leave a little hole so I could breathe! This book is recommended for ages 8-12.
Millie along with five other girls is invited to spend the night at Amelia Earhart’s house! Millie’s dad drops her off in the middle of a big snowstorm which will last the whole night and tells her that he is only one call away. When she arrives she thinks the building is beautiful and goes inside it. There she meets the five other girls named Thea, Natalie, Cassie, Robin and Wren. The person who basically runs the house is called Birdie. Birdie takes the six girls on a tour of the house and she tells the girls to pick their bedrooms but Amelia Earhart’s room is off limits. When Mille looks for her room she opens a door by mistake and in a glass box in the room there are Amelia Earhart’s goggles! Then the girls, along with Birdie, go downstairs and have a wonderful meal. Some of the dishes that the chef prepared were Amelia’s favorite back in the day. After that they go on a scavenger hunt and Millie realizes that Amelia’s goggles are gone! At first she and her partner Wren think it’s part of the game but when Birdie gets poisoned they know it’s not part of the game. To make matters worse Mille was the last person who saw them so all fingers are pointing at her!
I love this book so much because of how the story affected my mood. You see, no other book that I have ever read made me hide under the covers or look twice in the hallway in my house and then flee to get to the bathroom to brush my teeth! Also, this book basically begged me to read on! If I decided that I was going to read one last chapter I would probably break my promise because most of the chapters ended like this! “And that’s when a hand grabbed my arm.” or “And the whole house grew dark.”. Seriously! I can tell you that the only time that I actually decided to go to bed while reading this book was when the words started dancing all over the page and my head kept helplessly flopping to the side. So that meant that I was really tired and thanks to this book that was around 11:30 pm! Have fun!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We will be sure to read it well before our bedtimes!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
I have just finished reading this amazing book about a girl who would stop at nothing to find out the truth about her father! It is called From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks! This book is recommended for ages 8-12.
On Zoe’s twelfth birthday she finds out that her father is sending her letters from jail when she accidentally finds one in the mail. Zoe is confused by the letter because it says that her father had written more letters and decides to keep the letter secret and answer it. She does that because her mom refuses her to have any contact with her dad because of the crime he is in jail for. She knows that her mom will forbid her to write any more letters the second she tells her she has been writing letters to her father. In her reply to the letter she asks a bit about him. Zoe is also an excellent baker, like her father and wants to enter The Kids Bake Challenge!. She asks her mom and her new dad if she can, but they say maybe. They allow her to work at Ari’s Cakes so her mother’s friend, Arianna, can teach Zoe some of her baking tricks. They also say if Arianna gives her a good review then she would probably be able to enter The Kids Bake Challenge!. When Zoe is ready to mail her letter she goes to the street’s mailbox so her parents won’t see the letter. Her dad, named Marcus, keeps on writing her letters and Zoe sends some back along with questions. But one time Zoe’s grandma sees one of Zoe’s letters to Marcus when she is on her way to mail it! Will Zoe get in humongous trouble or will her grandmother be kind about it?
I loved this book so so so much because of how well it was written and how much joy it gave me reading it. I couldn’t put this book down because of the amazing suspense, action and normal life drama that was in it. There were so many cliffhangers in the story, it was just great! Too good for words to express! I loved every second of the journey through this book. I also loved it because of Zoe’s personality. The fact that Zoe was curious, courageous and smart made the book very interesting. It also meant that she would keep digging for the truth about her father no matter how impossible it was. I also loved this book because Zoe’s passion for baking and creating recipes carried on to me and she even inspired me to make up a recipe, Nutella swirl Cupcakes! My mom had a recipe for vanilla cupcakes and I simply just added my favorite thing… Nutella! I’ll include the recipe in case you want to try it out.
Nutella swirl cupcakes recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups of flour
- 1 ¼ cups of milk
- 15 teaspoons of Nutella
Instructions
Grab a big bowl and mix butter, eggs and sugar together. Add vanilla. Grab a medium sized bowl and mix flour, baking powder and salt. Mix all into the big sized bowl using spoonfuls each time of the medium bowl and use the mixer to stir around and add milk. Put into cupcake forms. Add one teaspoon of Nutella into each cupcake (you should have about 15) and twirl with a toothpick. After all that put the cupcakes in your oven and bake at 375 degrees for twenty minutes. Let cool and Voila! You baked Nutella swirl cupcakes! Enjoy!
If you absolutely loved this book then I would definitely recommend Front Desk by Kelly Yang! I have already written a book review about that book so click on the link here Front Desk book review to see the review! I make this recommendation because they are kind of alike in the characteristics of the main characters. Mia in Front Desk is just as courageous and smart as Zoe in From the Desk of Zoe Washington.
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this terrific review!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
I just finished reading this amazing book called Small Steps by Louis Sachar and I can’t wait to tell you about it! This book is the second book in a series and the first book is called Holes. You don’t have to have read Holes to understand this book. This book is recommended for ages 12+ by Amazon.
Armpit (his real name is Theodore) has just been released from a Juvenile Correctional Facility called Camp Green Lake. He gets a job digging and gets paid a pretty good amount of money for it. But when Armpit’s friend called X-ray, who he met when he was at Camp Green Lake, gets in the picture things turn a bit bad for Armpit. Armpit makes some pretty bad choices like when X-ray tells him they can get extra money by scalping tickets to Kaira DeLeon’s show. Armpit makes the bad choice of saying yes. Armpit is not bad and he only got sent to Camp Green Lake because of a bowl of popcorn. Armpit also has a nine year old friend named Ginny and she is handicapped and she helps Armpit out with some of his decisions. She is his best friend.
Kaira DeLeon eventually becomes friends with Armpit. Kaira has all kinds of things going on, like her not getting paid as much as other people, having a bodyguard and most of all, her manager, El Genius. El Genius is Kaira’s step-father but Kaira just thinks he married her mom because he wanted to kill Kaira.
I love this book because of the way the author wrote it. What I mean is that the author keeps on switching points of view from Armpit to Kaira so you don’t miss anything and you know how different characters feel about the same thing. I also love this book because of the amazing suspense which made me finish it in two days! Enjoy!
If you love this book and want to know a bit more about The Juvenile Correctional Facility, then check out Holes by Louis Sachar. It is the first book in the series and I read it and loved it. By the way, if you like Holes, there’s a movie about it!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this terrific review!**
A Place Inside of Me
Author: Zetta Elliot
Illustrator: Noa Denmon
Published: July 21, 2020 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)
Summary: In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year.
There is a place inside of me
a space deep down inside of me
where all my feelings hide.
Summertime is filled with joy―skateboarding and playing basketball―until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.
In her stunning debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting―through grief and protests, healing and community―with washes of color as vibrant as his words.
Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers―children and adults alike―talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.
My Review: Whew. This is a powerful text that is accessible to all ages. I could imagine reading this to a class of elementary schoolers, and I could imagine reading it aloud to a group of adults. The book is a poem that reads in layers. It offers a surface-level understanding for beginning readers and also offers a rich conception and application for more mature readers. Following a police shooting, the narrator feels a wealth of very real emotions, and each spread navigates the emotions with beautifully woven language and powerful images. I believe that Zetta Elliot is one of the greatest authors of our time, and I felt this book in my gut. It is a must read.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might use this text to unpack the many levels of emotions that students experience with events. One way to use this book is to ask students to pick a recent event and write a poem about the varied emotions they felt (or feel) regarding the event.
Discussion Questions:
- How do the author and illustrator depict the emotions within the text?
- What nuances do you see in the different emotions?
- How can we use this text to enact change in our community?
Flagged Passage:
Read This If You Love: I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson, You Matter by Christian Robinson, I Walk With Vanessa by Kerascoët
Recommended For:
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