Fact Friday: Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life by Jerry Pinkney

Image: LBYR

Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life by Jerry Pinkney. 160 p. LBYR/ Hachette Book Group, January, 2023. 9780316383851. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Mr. Pinkney finally won the Caldecott Medal for his wordless depiction of Aesop's fable, The Lion and Mouse after winning the Honor medal five times. He had been working on his memoir for ten years before his death in 2021. It is told in three parts and highlights his Black neighborhood in and around East Earlham Street in Philadelphia, his large and close-knit family and his struggles in school as a dyslexic. He always carried materials to draw with and did so whenever he could. This intimate memoir is filled with brown and white sketches of Mr. Pinkney, his family and his neighborhood. Budding artists and fans of his work will love this.

#tbt: My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt

Image: Macmillan

My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt. 224 p. Square Fish/ Macmillan, 1998. (Own)

Happy Thursday! While this week has been a slog, mostly due to terrible sleep and burgeoning allergies, I am shocked that April begins in two days! I'm displaced because the PTO's Book Fair is in the library for two days. Even though I told my classes where we will be holding classes, sent messages, through our learning platform and put it on the announcements, a good portion of each class arrived late. <Insert eye roll.>

 #tbt features the 25th anniversary of My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt. This is set in the mid-1950s. Twelve-year-old Tiger Ann lives in a small town with her mentally challenged parents and stern grandmother. She loves her parents, but is ashamed of them and hates it when her classmates make fun of them. Her grandmother holds the family together and when she dies, Tiger Ann is offered the opportunity to live with her aunt in the big city of Baton Rouge. This coming-of-age story was Ms. Holt's debut novel. My Louisiana Sky was named a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor, an ALA Notable Book and a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. It was adapted for film in 2001.

I must say, I find the above cover much more appealing than the original iterations. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Miles Morales Suspended: a Spider Man Novel by Jason Reynolds

Image: Simon & Schuster

Miles Morales Suspended: a Spider Man Novel by Jason Reynolds. Illustrated by Zeke Peña. 320 p. Atheneum/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Simon & Schuster, May 2, 2023. 9781665918466.

Waiting on Wednesday features Miles Morales Suspended: a Spider Man Novel by Jason Reynolds. This sequel to Miles Morales: Spider Man is due out May 2. Here's the publisher synopsis: Miles Morales is still just your average teenager. He has unexpectedly become totally obsessed with poetry and can never seem to do much more than babble around his crush. Nothing too weird. Oh! Except, just yesterday, he used his spidey superpowers to save the world (no biggie) from an evil mastermind called The Warden. And the grand prize Miles gets for that is…
Suspension.

But what begins as a long boring day of in-school suspension is interrupted by a little bzzz in his mind. His spidey-sense is telling him there’s something not quite right here, and soon he finds himself in a fierce battle with an insidious…termite?! His unexpected foe is hiding a secret, one that could lead to the destruction of the world’s history—especially Black and Brown history—and only Miles can stop him. Yeah, just a typical day in the life of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Teen Tuesday and Audio Review: This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi. This Woven Kingdom #1. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~13 hours. Read by Kate Reading. HarperAudio/ HarperCollins, February, 2022. 9780063220225. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi. 
Alizeh is a servant in a wealthy house in the kingdom of Ardunia. She wears a garment called a snodder to hide her features because she is a jinn. Even though the wars between the jinn and humankind are over, jinn are not safe to roam about in society and Alizeh is at risk even more because she has ice in her veins, which makes her very powerful. She's also a talented seamstress and tries to earn extra money sewing gowns for clients at night. There is a huge ball for the crown prince coming and a client is interested in having her sew several. Traveling through the streets late at night is dangerous for an unaccompanied woman though, and she's attacked by a young boy, but a shadowy figure intervenes and Alizeh flees into the night, dropping her parcels. That figure is Prince Kamran, who is more interested in leading his army than attending the ball that is being thrown in his honor, but his grandfather insists that he choose a bride.

Ms Mafi is a gifted writer and this epic high fantasy series starter based on an ancient Persian poem and Islamic tradition is riveting from page one. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers panting for book two, These Infinite Threads, which, luckily, is out. Highly recommended!

Middle Grade Monday: The Flying Horse by Sarah Maslin Nir

Image: Linden Tree Books

The Flying Horse by Sarah Maslin Nir. Once Upon a Horse #1. 172 p. Cameron Books/ Linden Tree, March 14, 2023. 9781951836672. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publicist.)

Happy Monday. Middle Grade Monday features The Flying Horse by Sarah Maslin Nir. This series beginner is sure to please your horse-obsessed readers. This is a parallel story where the chapters alternate between the birth of a foal in the Netherlands and the struggles of a horse-loving middle school student who is hiding her dyslexia. 

When the foal is born early, the surprised farmer names him Trendsetter, or Trendy for short. Trendy soon shows promise as a jumper. The farm is struggling, so the farmer has high hopes that Trendy will become a jumper at the National Equestrian Center. Unfortunately, he misses his horse pals, his treats and affectionate pats from the farmer, and so, he literally digs his heels in and refuses to jump. His spirit catches the eye of an imposing lady though, the Calvary Master for Piper Stud Farms, where the world-famous Lipizzaner horse are trained. 

Sarah is a seventh grader at an elite, private school in New York City. She's bright and inquisitive, but hiding a secret-reading and writing don't come easily to her. She can't even confide in her beloved grandmother. Like many students with learning problems, she has been able to hide her weaknesses, but in middle school, the emphasis on reading and writing increases. Her solution-to stop doing homework-gets her suspended. 

This quick and sweet read is attractively designed and certainly gives readers tons of all things horsey-from treats to tack to competing.

What's New?

I have been a bit quiet on the blog this month. I hit a bit of a rough patch grief-wise. Even though I got through the holidays in good shape, stopped seeing my grief therapist and had a good January and February, March was not kind, probably because our 38th anniversary would've been on the 22nd. Grief is hard work and it definitely comes in waves. 

"Stacking the Shelves" was a weekly meme once upon a time, so I will just continue to post a "What's New? post whenever I receive new books. 

For Review:

I won some bound galleys from a Penguin Young Readers preview! It's so funny how I am affected by covers. These three do not have any cover art!

Image: Penguin Random House

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood. 354 p. G.P. Putnams Sons, November 7, 2023. 9780593619919.

Publisher synopsis: Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)

Image: Penguin Random House

Thieves Gambit by Kayvion Lewis. 296 p. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Young Readers, September 26, 2023. 9780593625361.

Publisher synopsis: At only seventeen years old, Ross Quest is already a master thief, especially adept at escape plans. Until her plan to run away from her legendary family of thieves takes an unexpected turn, leaving her mother’s life hanging in the balance.

In a desperate bid, she enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a series of dangerous, international heists where killing the competition isn’t exactly off limits, but the grand prize is a wish for anything in the world—a wish that could save her mom. When she learns two of her competitors include her childhood nemesis and a handsome, smooth-talking guy who might also want to steal her heart, winning the Gambit becomes trickier than she imagined.

Ross tries her best to stick to the family creed: trust no one whose last name isn’t Quest. But with the stakes this high, Ross will have to decide who to con and who to trust before time runs out. After all, only one of them can win.

Image: Penguin Random House

House of Maroinne by J. Elle. 414 p. Razorbill/ Penguin Teen, August, 2023. 9780593527702.

Publisher synopsis: A must-read for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. Maas, and Bridgerton.

BURY YOUR SECRET OR DIE FOR IT.

17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training.

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Image: Penguin Random House

How to Talk Like a Bear by Charlie Grandy. Illustrated by Alex G. Griffiths. Unpgd. Flamingo Books/ Random House, March, 2023. 96780593350669.

Publisher synopsis: Told in the same fourth-wall-breaking style of B. J. Novak's The Book With No Pictures, How to Talk Like a Bear is the perfect how-to guide to speaking fluent bear.

Want to learn how to speak Bear? Well, you came to the right place. It's far more than just growling and roaring (a'common'misconception). There's a lot more to it. It's very easy to accidentally say the wrong phrase when you're trying to get your point across. For example, saying "ROOOAARR" instead of "ROAAARRRR" is the difference between wanting a sandwich and wanting to get into beekeeping.

This silly romp is perfect for read-alouds and is the exact right gift for anyone looking for a laugh (or looking to learn a new language).

Purchased: Nothing!

What's new on your pile?

Middle Grade Monday: Winter Blunderland by James Patterson and Brian Sites

Image: Hachette Book Group

Winter Blunderland by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. Middle School #15. Jimmy Patterson Books/ Little, Brown and Company,  November, 2022. 9780316500203. (Review of finished book borrowed from public library.)

Happy Monday! With possible snow in our forecast, today is a good time to feature Winter Blunderland by James Patterson and Brian Sitts as our Middle Grade Monday entry. I honestly lost track of the Middle Grade series. TMS library has up to book 13, From Zero to Hero. This is book 15.

Rafe has the opportunity to spend Christmas break in Alaska with Penelope and Dr. Deerwin researching polar bears. Getting to spend time with Penelope is a dream come true for Rafe, but he doesn't like sharing her with Panuk and his sister Uki. Panuk is confident and handsome and drives a cool snow-mobile. Can Rafe compete with that? And, oh yeah, there's the dark and the cold and polar bears and scary poachers to deal with. Fans won't be disappointed.