Ricki – Page 26 – Unleashing Readers

Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: My Life as a Billionaire by Janet Tashjian

May 1, 2021 by Ricki

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,

Wow, wow, wow, wow and wow! Presenting…My Life as a Billionaire by Janet Tashjian illustrated by Jake Tashjian! This book was surprisingly good and I loved it because even though the kid was a billionaire he still donated tons of money to charity, gave his school a top-notch media room equipped with green screens and all of that other stuff and even gave a lot of his friends presents like his handicapped friend really wanted this skater BMX wheelchair and Derek gave it to him. Also another friend of his lost her phone and he bought her a brand new one. But what I also like is that it stays really real because like any normal kid of course he buys eight thousand dollar sneakers and his own private skatepark in his backyard! Also what helps it stay real is that there are family problems about the money. This book is recommended for ages 9-12.

When twelve year old Derek wins the lottery everybody goes ballistic. The money technically isn’t his though even though his older brother gave him the ticket for doing his own chores for him. Derek isn’t old enough to cash in his check though and his older brother is. Derek has two choices, split the money half and half with his brother or want it all to himself and then their mom will take it and give all of the money to charity. Derek takes the typical approach of course and shares with his brother so he at least has some of the money and that some is in the millions! Derek is super excited to pick up his prize and his parents tell him he can do it after school. When school is over Derek is the first out of the school building and as soon as he gets the money his parents already put some aside for college tuition. His brother who is over eighteen goes off and gives his band enough money to go on tours and other stuff like a brand new super nicely furnished band bus. Since Derek is only twelve though his parents still have control over him and they have a few rules. First of all they don’t want Derek spending nearly as much money as his brother and therefore forbid him to spend way too much. So when his dad drops him off at the sneaker store he tells him only to buy two pairs of sneakers. A friend came with him too. The thing is his friend has some other ideas. He convinces Derek to buy an eight thousand dollar shoe pair for himself and a one thousand dollar shoe pair for him, his friend. Derek barely wears those pairs of shoes because he does not want his parents asking him about them since they cost so much.

Derek starts noticing that his classmates and all of the kids in school treat him differently now that he is rich. For example they exclude him from things they used to do as a group. Derek also realizes that kids who have never talked to him or noticed him are now buzzing around him like bees around a beehive. Also a lot of people have been telling him about what they really want and maybe when they lost their phone or something else, probably hoping to be noticed by Derek and get what they want or a replacement for their lost stuff.

This book is great because it shows how somebody lucky enough to win the lottery shares his money and gives it to charity and buys gifts for all of his friends. I also like this book because it teaches about spending. It helps you understand not to buy overpriced things or buy things with ridiculous price tags that may be the same quality of the same thing just with a much much much lower price tag. But mostly I love this book because it was so funny and entertaining! I almost blew up in laughs while reading it. The great thing about this book is that there was so much suspense that I carried this book everywhere I went. LITERALLY! When my parents took us for a bike ride I read the book on the way there! I am so reading all of the other books in this series!

**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! It made us smile!**

Review and Giveaway!: Hudson and Tallulah Take Sides by Anna Kang, Illustrated by Christopher Weyant

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021 by Ricki

Hudson and Tallulah Take Sides
Author: Anna Kang; Illustrator: Christopher Weyant
Published: May 1, 2021 by Two Lions

Goodreads Summary: A tale about a cat and a dog who discover that even though they don’t look at things the same way, they can still be friends.

Hudson and Tallulah may be neighbors, but the fence between their yards isn’t the only thing that divides them. They can’t see eye to eye on anything. One day they venture out, and after nonstop disagreement, they realize something surprising: they don’t always have to agree to be on each other’s side.

About the Author and Illustrator: Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant are the creators of Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner You Are (Not) Small as well as series titles That’s (Not) Mine, I Am (Not) Scared, and We Are (Not) Friends. They also wrote and illustrated Eraser, Can I Tell You a Secret?, and Will You Help Me Fall Asleep? Christopher’s work can also be seen in The New Yorker, and his cartoons are syndicated worldwide. This husband-and-wife team lives in New Jersey with their two daughters and their rescue dog, Hudson, the inspiration behind the character in this book. Visit them at www.annakang.com and www.christopherweyant.com.

Twitter: @annakang27 @ChristophWeyant

Instagram: annakangbooks; christopherweyant

Facebook: Anna Kang – Author; Christopher Weyant

★“New Yorker cartoonist Weyant’s illustrations, which use gouache, graphite, and lots of white space, carry the day, filling the dog’s and cat’s reactions to what they encounter with plenty of comic details (like the bold lettering conveying the dog-park dogs’ frantic barking at the cat). Madcap fun.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Charming cartoons convey the nearly wordless story augmented with dialogue between the two rivals…An amusing exploration of how opposite personalities can learn to appreciate their unique relationship.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Aptly captured by married team Kang and Weyant (You Are (Not) Small), the unlikely friends’ comic path to camaraderie unfolds nearly wordlessly, with expressive gouache and graphite scenes that burst with physical humor, showing that even those who fight like cats and dogs can be friends.” —Publishers Weekly

Review: I was really excited to received this book because I love Kang and Weyant’s work. But there was a 4-year-old thief in my house. He stole the book from right under me and loved it so much that he hid it in his room. I still had a week until the review, so I was casually looking for it from time to time. One night, I heard uproarious giggles. Curious what was making my son laugh so hard, I peeked in his room. There it was! Hudson and Tallulah Take Sides!

Me: Buddy, I need to review that book!

4yo: But I love it so much. Look! The dog slides under the fence and says “SEE YA!” [Lots of giggling.]

Me: Okay, well can you leave it outside your door tonight when you are done with it?

4yo: Only if you put it back in my room after YOU are done.

Needless to say, this book is very well loved in my house. I will admit that I can’t read it from start to finish without giggling myself. The facial expressions of Hudson and Tallulah are so funny. The words are spread across the page in a way that they invite my 4yo to read them. Kang and Weyant are masterful in their ability to capture character, and their characters are so accessible to early readers. This book is simply fantastic, and I recommend it highly.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This belongs in every Pre-K, K, and 1st grade classroom (at a minimum!). Readers of all ages will love it, but specifically, it is a book that encourages kids to read. The personification of the animals is magnificent, and it would offer a good case study on figurative language and humor.

Discussion Questions:

How are Hudson and Tallulah different? How are they similar?
How do the author and illustrator each use personification to enhance the story?
Why do you take sides? When might it be valuable to avoid taking sides?
What makes a good friend? Are Hudson and Tallulah good friends? Are you a good friend?

Flagged Passages:

Read This If You Loved: You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant; That’s (Not) Mine by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant; It’s (Not) Perfect by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant; We Are (Not) Friends by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant; Dog vs. Cat by Chris Gall

Recommended For:

Book Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Thank you to Barbara at Blue Slip Media for providing a copy for review!**

Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Breathing Underwater by Sarah Allen

April 24, 2021 by Ricki

Dear readers,

This book is wonderful in the sense that it perfectly describes sisters. The thing that is really interesting and sad about this book is that the main character’s sister struggles with feelings. The main character, Olivia, tries her hardest to help her older sister but she usually can’t. The author almost made me cry in so many scenes. This book is recommended for ages 10-14.

Olivia’s big sister, Ruth, has a medical condition in which she struggles with feelings. This means that Olivia usually looks for signs on how Ruth is feeling. For example, what music she is listening to. Ruth listens to “happy” songs and sometimes she listens to “sad” songs. Ruth listens to all of these songs on an IPod. The old type, not the new mobile device that looks just like a miniature IPhone. She has had it for almost forever. Olivia wants to make Ruth happy again and she plans on taking her back to their first home. She remembers a game her sister and her called Treasure Hunt. The way that it worked was Ruth found a word like New or Sparkley. Then Olivia went around wherever they were and took photos that had something to do with the word Ruth picked. While Olivia was doing that Ruth made a playlist of songs that have something to do with that same word. After all of their tasks were completed they met back at a certain spot and shared what they had found. Ruth didn’t seem to have the illness back at her first home. She only started having bad days around the big move. Olivia is planning a road trip to their first home and she plans to find a treasure box that she buried there the last time they were there. She also plans on making the whole road trip a treasure hunt without Ruth noticing. Olivia really hopes that the road trip will make Ruth happier and stop her bad days from happening.

I sped through this book like a torpedo! This was the first book I have ever read on a kindle and I thought I would be reading less often because of that, but obviously I was wrong! I love this book! I almost cried or screamed at some parts because the author is really great at writing things and making people feel emotional while reading them. I am definitely keeping a lookout for some of her other books!

**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review. We are looking forward to reading this book and had heard it was really well done. Now we know we need to read it!**

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez

April 15, 2021 by Ricki

Furia
Author: Yamile Saied Méndez
Published: September 15, 2020 by Algonquin

Summary: An #ownvoices contemporary YA set in Argentina, about a rising soccer star who must put everything on the line—even her blooming love story—to follow her dreams.

In Rosario, Argentina, Camila Hassan lives a double life.

At home, she is a careful daughter, living within her mother’s narrow expectations, in her rising-soccer-star brother’s shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father.

On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, Camila gets the chance to see just how far those talents can take her. In her wildest dreams, she’d get an athletic scholarship to a North American university.

But the path ahead isn’t easy. Her parents don’t know about her passion. They wouldn’t allow a girl to play fútbol—and she needs their permission to go any farther. And the boy she once loved is back in town. Since he left, Diego has become an international star, playing in Italy for the renowned team Juventus. Camila doesn’t have time to be distracted by her feelings for him. Things aren’t the same as when he left: she has her own passions and ambitions now, and La Furia cannot be denied. As her life becomes more complicated, Camila is forced to face her secrets and make her way in a world with no place for the dreams and ambition of a girl like her.

But is it possible that she’s becoming too American—as her father accuses—and what does it mean when her feelings for Harrison and Neo start to change? Ana will spend her year learning that the rules of English may be confounding, but there are no rules when it comes to love.

With playful and poetic breakouts exploring the idiosyncrasies of the English language, Love in English tells a story that is simultaneously charming and romantic, while articulating a deeper story about what it means to become “American.”

Ricki’s Review: I lost a lot of sleep reading this book. I could not stop reading! Camila’s voice was so strong that I was really drawn to her story. I am not a particularly athletic person, yet I loved reading about the soccer within this book. It is set in Argentina, which offered a perspective of the country. It made me want to visit Argentina. There are many rich themes in this text that make it very teachable—in particular, it offers depictions of domestic abuse, sexism, and strength. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: I would love to use this book with a translanguaging lens of analysis. It would also be interesting to look at feminist theory as a theoretical framing of the text. But it isn’t about me–instead, I’d ask students what they find interesting in the text and what they want to learn more about. This allows for a freedom of curiosity to explore topics of interest from the text (and there are many!).

Discussion Questions:

How do gender roles differ related to soccer in Argentina, according to Camila’s perspective?
What is the role of family in the text?
What does Camila’s mother teach readers? Her brother? Her best friend?
Do you think Camila makes the right choices regarding her future? Why or why not?

Flagged Passage: “Our family was stuck in a cosmic hamster wheel of toxic love, making the same mistakes, saying the same words, being hurt in the same ways generation after generation. I didn’t want to keep playing a role in this tragedy of errors.”

Read This Book If You Loved: Love in English by Maria E. Andreu; Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok; YA Books with Sports

Recommended For:

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

April 8, 2021 by Ricki

King and the Dragonflies
Author: Kacen Callender
Published: February 4, 2020 by Scholastic

GoodReads Summary: Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family.

It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy—that he thinks he might be gay. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?”

But when Sandy goes missing, sparking a town-wide search, and King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his backyard, he agrees to help Sandy escape from his abusive father, and the two begin an adventure as they build their own private paradise down by the bayou and among the dragonflies. As King’s friendship with Sandy is reignited, he’s forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother’s death.

Ricki’s Review: I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and it is still on my mind. My goodness, it is beautifully written. I think I’ve recommended it about fifteen times to friends, colleagues, and students in the past two weeks. I don’t want to give away any spoilers in the review, so I’ll just say that this book shares powerful perspectives of friendship and of family. It also offers complex discussions of racism and homophobia—intersections and analysis. I am adopting this text for class use in the Fall, and I am really looking forward to discussing it with others.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might ask students to select one aspect of the text that they want to explore in depth. I can think of many (but won’t name them because they are spoilers). Then, students might group according to interests and develop text sets to expand their understandings and think about the topics they choose from multiple perspectives.

Discussion Questions:

What does Kingston learn in this text? What does he unlearn?
How does Kingston navigate his grief? How do his family members navigate their grief?
What did you learn from this text?

Flagged Passage: “Secrets are best kept hidden, because sometimes people aren’t ready to hear the truth. And that’s okay, King, he said, Because you don’t need other people to know the truth also. Just as long as you got that truth in you.”

Read This If You Loved: Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender; Fighting Words by

Recommended For:

and

Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: Game, Set, Sisters!: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Jay Leslie

April 3, 2021 by Ricki

Dear readers,

This book is called Game Set Sisters by Jay Leslie. While reading this book about the Williams sisters I read things that I have never heard about, even though I have read one or two biographies on them. For example the fact that there were originally five Williams sisters! This book told me so much about the Williams sisters and really made me feel the sisters, meaning I knew what they felt and what they were going through. I loved that the author just didn’t focus on their successes but also on their downfalls like when their sister was shot. Also I need to say that the illustrator was amazing! This might just be the best picture book I have ever read in my whole life! The illustrator, Ebony Glenn has done an astonishing job showing the Williams sisters and family! Her pictures are part of what helped me be there!

This book is recommended for ages 6-10!

Originally there were five Williams sisters. Serena was the youngest of all of them. Venus was the second youngest. When they were young all five of them went every day to the tennis court with their dad. When the sisters grew older they all stopped playing until only Venus and Serena were left. Since they did not go to any fancy tennis training club they came up with ways to make them stronger. Finally they went to their first tournament together. But for the finals they had to play against each other! If you want to know who wins and what effect the victory has on the sisters, you have got to read this!

I love this book because of the illustrations! As I mentioned before the illustrator did the best job ever! I also love this book because of all of the information that I got from it. I love how it mixed the information in and you don’t exactly know that you are learning. For example I read it with my kindergartener sister and she loved the illustrations and learned a lot! I love this book because the author did such a great job in talking about the Williams family. She knows so many things about the family and writes very nicely and emotionally! I hope that you enjoy this read as much as I do!

**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We agree that this book is amazing!**

Sofia’s Kids’ Corner: A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer

March 27, 2021 by Ricki

Dear readers,

Let me introduce you to my new best friend, A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer! I read this book with my mom for a “book battle“ in which we see who can finish their book first and actually have read it! I chose this book, a 500 something paged book and my mom read a 200 something paged book! I was so surprised when I finished my book first! This book pulled me in right from the start and I could not put it down! This book is recommended for ages 8-12!

Magic is strictly forbidden in the place and time this book takes place. The punishment for use of it is death. Madame Weatherbury is a very powerful fairy and wants to change that law. At the beginning of the book Madame Weatherbury is allowed to take two magical kids, one named Brystal from the Southern Kingdom. The world is split up in five sections, the Northern Kingdom, the Eastern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, the Western Kingdom and the In-Between.

Here is a map that shows the world back then. It is in the beginning of the book. Brystal is a kid in the Southern Kingdom, her father is a judge and her oldest brother is one too. Brystal’s second oldest brother is going to be taking a big test to become a judge too, soon. Brystal likes to stay up late and read books! Unfortunately, reading books is a crime, at least for girls. One time her mother catches her doing it! She gives Brystal a warning and takes all of her books but doesn’t tell her father anything because he hates Brystal as is. Brystal is expected to do chores like washing the dishes, cooking food and setting the table.

Just then Brystal’s biggest brother, Brooke, enters the dining room. He sends Barry, her second-oldest brother, a mean comment and then sits down at the table. After his butt hits the chair they all hear some commotion on the front of the house and they all stand up assuming it is father. They stand up because everybody always stands up to the judge in the courtroom and he expects that he is welcomed the same way at home. As they sit back down Brooke tests Barry in mental flashcards and gives him the wrong answer even when Barry says the right one! Brystal can’t stand her older brother lying to Barry so she yells out all of the correct answers and tells Brooke to stop telling him the incorrect answer. Her father is surprised and asks her in a stern voice how she knows all of that. Do you think that he will get really mad because then her mother tells him about the books that she was reading or do you think he will calm down after a while? And even better yet, it gets even better!

When I was reading this book I thought it would never end and I loved the idea! I also love this book because this book propelled me through its pages! It has so much detail and excitement in it! The author, I must say, did a beautiful job pushing the story along. So far this is my favorite read of 2021! It is of course a bit too early in the year to say that, BUT STILL! I also loved this book because the characters were so relatable and had many good and bad characteristics. During this book I noticed some changes in character and Brystal changed in a way I would have never imagined. I really enjoyed this book and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do! (I just figured out this is a series and the second book is called A Tale of Witchcraft by Chris Colfer! Also a third is coming out in September. It is called A Tale of Sorcery by Chris Colfer! I am really excited to read the second book in the series!!!)

**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We love that you not only beat your mom, but you found a new best friend!**