November Recommendations

Novels:

In PLAYING THE CARDS YOUR DEALT, by Varian Johnson, ten-year-old Ant is looking forward to playing in the annual Oak Grove spades tournament, so he can have a redo to replace the memory of last year’s disastrous match. But when best friend and partner Jamal gets grounded, new girl Shirley (don’t say “girlfriend”) steps in. Now Ant’s got serious trouble with Jamal, plus what’s going on with his dad, anyway?? Johnson (The Parker Inheritance, Twins) is a terrific middle grade writer, and this does not disappoint.

ALONE, by Megan E. Freeman, is a captivating novel in verse which describes how, after plans for a secret sleepover fall through and her town is evacuated due to an “imminent threat,” Maddie must survive on her own for more than three years with no one but “a big, smelly/ Rottweiler who farts/ and hogs the covers” for company. She learns to deal with loneliness, looters, and getting her period, among a myriad of other pressing problems. It’s nicely done!

Picture Books:

In BLUE FLOATS AWAY, words by Travis Jonker and pictures by Grant Snider, one day, when an iceberg living near the North Pole with his parents—CRACK—floats away, he’s determined to get back to his family. But even as Little Blue makes plans, he gets “smaller /and smaller/ and smaller/ until he disappear[s].” Blue is transformed, though, not gone, and he learns new things until he is able to “set a course for home.” This charming narrative of one iceberg’s journey introduces kids to the water cycle, though they’ll probably only know they’re learning science if they read the Author’s Note at the end. The cut paper, colored pencil and white ink art is bright and colorful and simply wonderful.

“circle under berry/ berry over square/ circle over berry/ under orange/ over square…” So begins the rhythmically beautiful CIRCLE UNDER BERRY, by Carter Higgins, a wholly imaginative look at colors, shapes, animals, and patterns. Colorful illustrations, collaged and digitally assembled, stand out cleanly on the white background, highlighting the objects being named. Read this “puzzle/ full of/ colors/ shapes/ and words” aloud, and then read it aloud again!

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A FLOWER, by Shawn Harris, is a stunningly offbeat picture book. After asking readers “Have you ever seen a flower? I mean really….seen a flower?” Harris takes a deep dive into what that might feel like, sound like, look like. Brilliantly colored pencil and colored pencil art makes this book sing. Now, “have you ever been a flower?”

In A TREE FOR MR. FISH, by Peter Stein, one morning, Bird and Cat meet in a tree. But Fish thinks that since he has “crawled, rolled, slithered, and wiggle-waggled” to get there, it is his tree. Even though, as Cat puts it, “a fish in a tree is really weird.” Then, Mr. Fish tells them a story, and things get even weirder. The deadpan humor is absolutely superb. Pen and ink linework, colored digitally, perfectly illustrates the text.

--Lynn