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  • Postcards
  • Deena Hinshaw, Sylvia Vardell, Doris Audet, Natalie M. Van Deusen, Bahar Eshragh, Melissa Garavini, Tulin Kozikoglu, and Linda Dütsch

With vivid and emotionally evocative illustrations, "No!", said the Little Monster brings to life the struggle between staying silent when a friend does something wrong, or speaking up and risking the friendship. When the big monster comes over to play, the little monster runs through a list of all the times in the past when his friend has caused damage or hurt others' feelings and the little monster hadn't dared to say anything. The litany of past frustrations gives him the courage to say "No!" this time, prompting an unexpected reaction from his friend. The importance of speaking up is portrayed with just the right mix of humor and seriousness, in a way that both children and adults can enjoy. As a part of a larger series, including a companion book called Big Monsters Don't Cry, it also shows the different perspectives inside a friendship and how one situation can be perceived very differently. This book can be a starting place for a conversation about why friends might do things that feel hurtful and how important it is to speak up for core values, reinforcing that conflict can even strengthen friendships.

Deena Hinshaw

Kalle Güettler and Rakel Heimisdal

¡No!, dijo el pequeño monstruo ["No!", said the Little Monster]

Illus. Áslaug Jónsdóttir
Barcelona: Beascoa, Random House, 2010.
36 p.
ISBN: 978-84-488-3002-1
(Picture Book, 3+)

When a young girl takes her own life and her circle of peers is complicit, Kana is sent to her mother's childhood home, a small village in Japan, to visit with her extended family. She reflects on her role and her own identity in the powerful novel in verse, Orchards, by Holly Thompson. The story unfolds as Kana addresses each chapter to the dead girl, Ruth, as if she were alive and still with her. Feelings of guilt and isolation mix as Kana struggles to fit in with her Japanese family's unfamiliar routine, while coming to terms with her own role in the suicide at home. Through flashbacks we come to understand what happened at school and how the "popular" girls treated the outsider, while Kana herself feels like an outsider in her own family. This blending of social, cultural, and familial issues is deftly portrayed in a story that is full of vivid sensory details of foods and farming, as well as engaging and sensitive characterizations. The verse novel format reads quickly, and the story builds to an emotionally satisfying conclusion as Kana finds her voice and bonds with her Baachan. Thompson lives and teaches in Japan, and worked on a local mikan [orange] orchard for a year to learn the process and describe it authentically.

Sylvia Vardell

Holly Thompson

Orchards

New York: Random House, 2011.
336 p.
ISBN: 0385739788
(Fiction, 12+) [End Page iv]

In The Mysterious Francois's Leaf Monkeys, field naturalist Liu Xianping takes us through China's magnificent wilderness in search of the elusive and endangered François's langur. The world needs more nature writers like Xianping, willing to share their deep knowledge and understanding of nature with young readers, yet openly admitting that we know very little about the basic needs and life histories of most species with which we share this planet, including those we have been keeping in captivity for centuries. Xianping encourages his readers to share his inquisitiveness and his account portrays the passion, patience and tenacity of those who make studying nature their life. The book is part of the series My Friend from Mountains by the same author. Sadly, the awkward translation of this award-winning author's work will discourage most readers from making it past the first chapter of any of the three books in the series. How unfortunate.

Doris Audet

Liu Xianping

The Mysterious Francois's Leaf Monkeys

Guangzhou: time, 2010
102 p.
ISBN: 978-7539635606
(Nonfiction, 10+) [End Page 56]

Þórarinn Leifsson's 2009 young adult novel Bókasafn ömmu Huldar [Grandmother's Library], inspired by the recent Icelandic financial crisis, is a creative and entertaining work that...

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