January Book Picks

Novels:

In THE FRIENDSHIP WAR, by Andrew Clements, Grace and Ellie are best friends, but Ellie’s always been the one in charge. When Grace acquires a storeroom’s worth of buttons, and somehow manages to start a button fad at their school, the social order of the sixth grade begins to shift. Grace finds herself in the center of things for a change, and she’s not sure she likes it. This isn’t entirely new ground for Clements, who wrote the bestselling classic, FRINDLE, some years ago, but it’s an excellent story in its own right. (MG)

THE LOTTERIES, MORE OR LESS, by Caroline Hadilaksono, is a follow-up to 2017’s compelling THE LOTTERIES PLUS ONE. The Lottery’s are a unique, endearingly zany family that kids will enjoy spending time with. In this episode, it’s holiday season, and an ice storm makes all of Sumac Lottery’s plans go haywire. (MG)

NEWS FROM ME, LUCY MCGEE, by Mary Amato, is the first book of an intended series. Lucy can’t believe her luck when Scarlett Tandy picks her-- not Victoria or Mara or Resa--to help make over Scarlett’s garden shed into "a beautiful Craft Cottage." Lucy is so excited, she skips the first meeting of the new Songwriting Club she's signed up for, and doesn’t tell her parents. Somehow it seems like Lucy gets all the hard work and Scarlett has all the fun jobs, but Lucy is not deterred. This is a fun early middle grade with a super-exhuberant title character. (MG)

Picture Books:

In OCEAN MEETS SKY, by the Fan Brothers, Finn misses his grandfather, who "would have been ninety years old today.” From odds and ends, Finn builds a boat which rocks him gently out to sea. There he meets a “great goldfish" who guides him to that magical place where the ocean meets the sky. This book is stunning in all ways: dust jacket, book cover, and endpapers welcome readers to enjoy a sweet and dreamy odyssey.

FOUND, by Jeff Newman and Larry Day, is a poignant, heartwarming, wordless picture book that's illustrated with pen and ink and smart, spare touches of color. A young girl, who has recently lost her own dog, slowly falls in love with a stray, but when she sees a “Lost” poster outside the pet store, she knows what she must do. As she walks away from the newly reunited dog and his owner, there is yet a third dog, in a shelter window, who may be a perfect fit.

INTERRUPTING CHICKEN AND THE ELEPHANT OF SURPRISE, by David Ezra Stein, features the same Interrupting Chicken from her 2011 Caldecott Honor Book. This time, she’s determined to find the elephant of surprise that, according to her teacher, every story has. From The Ugly Duckling, to Rapunzel, to The Little Mermaid, when Papa reads, Chicken manages to find those elephants of surprise. Poor Papa—he was so sure there weren’t elephants in any of those stories….

--Lynn