January's Book of the Month--Poetry Comics

January’s Book of the Month is the musing, meditative POETRY COMICS, written and illustrated with sequential art by Grant Snider.

“I want to put down/on paper the feeling/of possibilities.” So begins this gentle collection of poems, broken into seasons. Spring allows for imaginings and growth, what-ifs like Reflections (in the still pond/the same world/but blurred), If I Were a Tree, and Becoming. Summer is a “festival of fireflies,” a time for “sinking baskets/to the applause/of the setting sun;” it’s time to ride a Roller Coaster and engage in Cloudspotting. Fall brings Fishing, and “stars in conversation,” and waiting for the Late Bus, while Winter offers “a new page” where “words huddle close/to keep warm.”

The text is thoughtful yet full of activity, and offers a nice balance between exploring inner and outer worlds. Pen, marker, and Photoshop illustrations are laid out in inviting panels, with plenty of earth-and-sky pastels punctuated by primaries; characters are rendered simply yet expressively. Both text and art are uncluttered and accessible, and the book feels fresh and inspirational—like an ode to creativity and pondering the universe!

--Lynn

Shelf Awareness--What Makes a Bird?

PB Review: What Makes a Bird?

What Makes a Bird? by Megan Pomper, illus. by Maia Hoekstra (Owlkids, 32p., ages 5-8, 9781771476133, February 18, 2025)

What Makes a Bird? is a wonderfully thought-provoking picture book debut that ruminates on the surprisingly difficult question of how one defines a bird: Is there a single, preferred way, or is a bird, perhaps, more than simply the sum of its parts?

Through a series of well-considered questions, a brown-skinned child wearing a blue cap and kerchief and carrying binoculars tries to understand what, exactly, makes a bird. Is a bird "a bird" because of its feathers? But each feather the child finds on the beach is "not on a bird anymore," so does that make the bird "one part less bird?" Does it make the child holding the feather "one part more bird?" Maybe a bird is a bird because of its beak: there are many kinds of beaks, and whether they're "small and pointy" or "flat and rounded," every bird seems to have one. But if octopi have beaks, does that mean they are birds, too? Wings seem important, but bees also have wings. Perhaps a bird is defined by hatching from an egg. But a snake also hatches from an egg, as does a platypus, a fish, a lizard, and a turtle. If flying is the answer, "what about ostriches and emus and kiwis?"

Readers then begin to reach the crux of the matter, because now the child wonders if being a bird is "all of these things" or "none of them." And, really, who should get to decide? This book and its wise protagonist ultimately conclude that perhaps what exactly makes a bird doesn't matter; "they can be similar, different, ordinary, unique.../ and they can all still be birds."

Megan Pomper's child-friendly, contemplative text encourages scientific, empathetic, and poetic thinking that ponders deeply about the essence of bird-ness. Indeed, her story may even prompt some savvy readers to reflect on what constitutes a human being and who gets to decide. Maia Hoekstra's dynamic illustrations use natural tones combined with swirls of bright color as well as close-ups and active angles to create an impressionistic sense of a wide variety of birds and their habitats. Back matter identifies the many species pictured in the book and invites readers to create names for the three made-up birds "from the artist's imagination." What Makes a Bird? is an excellent and accessible meditation on identity. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author. Originally printed in Shelf Awareness Pro.

Shelf Awareness--Fortune's Kiss

YA Review: Fortune's Kiss

Fortune's Kiss by Amber Clement (Union Square & Co., 368p., ages 13-up, 9781454950219)

Fortune's Kiss is a riveting, radiant, and often bloody YA novel that features two young women in dire straits who compete for their hearts' desires in a gambling house with unbelievably high stakes.

Best friends Lo and Mayté made a pact as children: if the magical gambling hall, Fortune's Kiss, ever returned to Milagro, they would work together to win the ultimate prize of "life-changing fortunes and their most desperate wishes granted." Now, a decade later, Fortune's Kiss reappears, and the girls are more determined than ever. Seventeen-year-old Lo dreams of finding her mother while also escaping unwanted suitors and her abusive father. Mayté, also 17, who has watched her father drink and gamble away her family's fortune, dreams of becoming a famous painter. But the casino's stakes are enormous--losers return "a mess" (if they return at all) and the steep price of entry is "a large sum in golden coins," a person's "most prized treasure," or, rumor has it, blood. Nonetheless, Lo and Mayté try their luck. The young women enter "El Beso de la Fortuna," where they are immediately drugged, pitted against each other, and forced to play by the house's own secret--and deadly--rules.

Fortune's Kiss is Amber Clement's vivid, colorful, and intense debut, a tale steeped in a magical Latine culture, peppered with Spanish words and phrases, and chock-full of the macabre. Gripping and gory, the novel features two strong heroines who struggle to hold on to what's most important to them while at the mercy of magic, a seemingly sentient gambling house, and even each other. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author. Originally printed in Shelf Awareness.