As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I wonder how the teens I work with think about it. The events of September 11, 2001 are certainly etched into my memory—but today's teens weren't even born when these attacked happened. Does 9/11 feel far away and removed to them? Do they wonder what it was like to live through those traumatic times? 

In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers brings readers right into the moment the towers were struck and the devastating, chaotic aftermath. Don Brown masterfully create an accessible and immersive chronicle that's presented in a graphic novel format. Powerful and riveting, this will appeal to teens wanting to know more about this tragedy.

In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers:
The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, and Years after the 9/11 Attacks
by Don Brown
Etch / Clarion Books / HMH, 2021
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 12 and up

Beginning with the attack on the World Trade Center, readers are put right at ground zero. Brown bases his chronicle on firsthand accounts of survivors. Their direct words are used throughout the book, creating the sense that these people are talking directly to the reader. Moving quickly from the explosion, Brown captures the immediate aftermath, with claustrophobic images of survivors trapped in the rubble, exhausted first responders, and the immensity of the task. 

The Google Books preview below helps you see how effective the graphic novel style for conveying this information:

The story continues beyond the initial attacks, as Brown shows the American response to the attacks, including war in Afghanistan, interrogation of political prisoners, and a rise in Islamaphobic incidents in the US. He concludes with an informative afterward and extensive bibliography.

Hand this to fans of graphic novels, and show them how powerfully this format can be used to convey factual information. As with his other nonfiction, Don Brown masterfully captures the humanity and urgent fight for survival, bringing readers right into the scene.

The digital review copy came from the publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support. 

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

As California's skies fill with smoke and our forests burn, I wonder how you talk with children about wildfires and other natural disasters. The Fox and the Forest Fire, a new picture book, shares this experience with young children better than any other book I've read, creating empathy and understanding in a gentle but powerful way.

The Fox and the Forest Fire
by Danny Popovici
Chronicle, 2021
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 5-9

After moving to a new home in the woods with his mother, a young boy works to adjust to his new home. At first it's too different, but he gradually discovers how much fun he can have: studying bugs, building dams, playing in the river. He even makes a new friend -- the fox we see on the book's cover. 

One day, a forest fire suddenly changes everything. The boy sees "a plume of smoke off in the distance." Hurrying to warn his mother, he "wonders if we will ever see our home again." He and his mother pack up to evacuate, and the animals flee for safety. Popovici's artwork conveys the worry and fear, but the resolution shows that the family and the forest will rebuild. 

I appreciate how this picture book honors the resilience and courage of families (and animals) caught in the path of a wildfire. By focusing on the relationship between the young boy and the fox, he creates empathy as readers grow to know the boy's forest home and feel distraught seeing it burn. Ending on a hopeful note helps readers think about how we can change and grow from these disasters.

Popovici writes in his author's note that he was a forest fighter for three seasons. He knows first hand about the destructive power of fires, and the way a forest can grow back after a fire. In an interview with author Jena Benton, Popovici explains,

"I was a wildland firefighter in the early 2000’s for three seasons. It was an unforgettable experience as I got to be a part of the wilderness very few people get to see. When you’re out there you feel like you’re doing good for the animals and plants that call it home. Wildfires are all too common these days, and it’s a huge strain on the local ecology. 

As I wrote in my book, a naturally occurring fire can benefit a forest, but what we’re collectively experiencing these days are not naturally occurring fires. In 2017 a fire raged through the Columbia Gorge here in Oregon and Washington and the smoke was the heaviest I’d experienced within the city. I knew in my heart that the way we’re treating the planet, these fires are only going to get worse and effect more and more people each year."

The review copies came from my public library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Environmental issues impact and threaten our lives in so many ways--from raging fires to supersize storms. Here are six novels that tackle some of these issues, whether it’s through showing characters fighting to protect endangered species or setting survival stories in the wilderness impacted by changing climates. 

Willodeen
by Katherine Applegate 
Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan, 2021
Amazon / your local library (scheduled to be published on Sept. 7, 2021)
ages 9-12 

Eleven-year-old Willodeen feels a connection to all kinds of animals, and has an adorable hummingbear (a cross between a hummingbird and a polar bear) as a pet. But Willodeen believes that all animals play an important role keeping nature in balance -- even the detested screechers. As her community struggles with environmental disasters (from the fire that killed Willodeen's parents to the disappearance of hummingbears), Willodeen has to overcome her intense shyness and figure out how to speak up for the animals she loves. I especially appreciate how Applegate mixes gentle fantasy with an important environmental message and creates a character I connect with so strongly (my 9-year-old self wants to be Willodeenn!)

Paradise on Fire
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown, 2021
Amazon / your local library (scheduled to be published Sept. 14, 2021)
ages 10-14

Addy joins five other Black city kids to spend a summer on a mountain ranch to take part in a summer wilderness program. As a young toddler, Addy barely escaped a tragic apartment fire that killed her parents, and now she's obsessed with maps and escape routes. Her Nigerian grandmother thinks that getting away and spending time in nature would be good for her. Addy, who's full name means "daughter of an eagle," quickly takes to life in the woods and learns how to read and draw topographical maps. But on one of their last days, the group of kids leave the only skilled woodsman behind and head out for an overnight camping trip. In the middle of the night, a forest fire erupts and they flee down the ridge, heading toward the creek they know is below. Addy's narrative focuses on survival and her escape is heart-poundiogly realistic, although I was left in the end not feeling like I got to know the other characters.

Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers
by Celia C. Pérez 
Kokila / Penguin, 2019
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 9-12

Four awkwardly mismatched middle school girls find themselves creating a secret club, joining forces to disrupt the status quo in their small Florida town and convince the local social club (the Floras) stop using an unethically made feathered hat in its annual pageant. All throughout middle school, I felt socially awkward and on the outside, so the idea of joining a secret group of kids who are challenging the system appeals to me so much. Each of these girls brings her own unique perspective and story, wrestling with her own challenges, and adding to the adventure in important ways. When the girls take up the protest, supporting Cat and her dedication to protecting birds, they must face issues of race and class that emerge.

Pax
by Sara Pennypacker
illustrated by Jon Klassen
Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins, 2017
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 9-13 

A boy. A fox. Inseparable, until they are suddenly torn 300 miles apart. Told in the alternating voices of Peter and Pax the fox, this is a story of the friendship between a child and an animal, a story full of love, loyalty and determination, a story about how grief, war and anxiety can take deep root but how friendship can help you find peace within. Here are the notes I wrote to myself when I first read it: "I've just finished this and, oh my, how the themes are vibrating in my mind and soul. Loyalty, friendship, family, anxiety, fear, determination, grief, war, peace within. Cannot wait to talk with my students about this. Incredibly powerful story." Pennypacker wraps many complex emotional issues into this story, but at its heart it's about our connection to animals, the environment around us, and our found family. I'm excited that the sequel, Pax: Journey Home, is being published in September.

Same Sun Here
by Silas House and Neela Vaswani
Candlewick, 2012
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 9-13 

Pen-pals River and Meena reveal their "own true selves" to each other through the letters they write, their friendship slowly develops as they share their hopes and frustrations, discovering how much they are alike despite their differences. Meena has just moved to New York City from India, while River has lived all his life in a small coal-mining town in Kentucky. They both have been raised by their grandmothers for much of their lives, and they both love the mountains-- River loves the Appalachian Mountains, and Meena misses the mountains in Mussoorie, India. I especially appreciate the way that they encourage each other, as River becomes an environmental activist protesting coal mining in his community, and Meena joins her school's theater program.

Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
Random House, 2002
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 9-13

In this 2003 Newbery Honor book, Roy and his two new friends set out to solve the mysterious vandalism at a nearby construction site. When they discover that this is also a nesting ground for small burrowing owls, they try to protect the endangered owls and block construction. Hiaasen's story is full of his classic offbeat humor, blockheaded adults, and kids who are determined to disrupt the corruption and compromises of the adult world.

The digital review copies came from the publishers; other review copies came from my school libraries. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support. 

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Attention comic book lovers: come explore a 19th century California logging camp and listen to a young Chinese girl spin stories and tall tales envisioning a better future. The Legend of Auntie Po, by Shing Yin Khor, explores the struggles of the Chinese in California in the years following the Chinese Exclusion Act, balancing important historical details with a compelling, heartfelt, magical story.

The Legend of Auntie Po
by Shing Yin Khor
Kokila / Penguin, 2021
Amazon / your local library / Overdrive
ages 9-14

Mei helps her father cook and feed dozens of hungry men in a Sierra Nevada logging camp, in 19th century California. She dreams of a better life and chafes at her limited opportunities, knowing that her white friend can go to university and get married. Mei loves reading and telling stories--at night, she enchants anyone who will listen with her stories of Auntie Po, a Chinese woman who "stood taller than the tallest white pine" and ran a logging camp with her "loyal blue buffalo Pei Pei." Adult readers may recognize much of Paul Bunyan, I'm not really sure that young readers will know those stories.

I especially appreciate the way Khor draws readers into the story with this graphic novel, creating a visual sense of the logging camp, yet really focusing on the character's feelings and struggles. Young readers often find it hard to feel a part of history, and this story will bring them into an important perspective that is often left out of the history books. Take a look at this preview from Google Books and see for yourself:

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

My feed this month has been full of speculation about Covid-19, but I'd like to take a break from all that to focus on some reading-related posts. Let's start with something fun: a Buzzfeed quiz on bookwork habits. Then we'll move onto Time's new list of 100 Best YA. 

illustration by Colin Verdi for TIME

Just for fun: Buzzfeed Quiz

How Many Of These Bookworm Things Did You Do As A Kid? -- I admit it, I have tried walking and reading, stumbling and running into things way too many times. How about you? What bookworm things can you fess up to doing?

100 Best YA Books

Time Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time is a fabulous list of classics and brand new titles. You'll definitely see classics on there (Little Women, Lord of the Flies) and some popular best-sellers (Hunger Games, The Hate U Give). I especially appreciate the range of stories and voices included here.

Age-Appropriate Discussions about Race

In KQED's Mind/Shift, veteran educator Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul talks about how to have age-appropriate discussions about race. Scholar Dr. Ibram X. Kendi wrote "Stamped from the Beginning" as a definitive history of racism in America, and Jason Reynolds remixed this for teens as “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.” Now, we have “Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You,” an adaptation aimed at 7- to 12-year-olds. I found it particularly interesting how Dr. Cherry-Paul suggested taking into account younger children's development when you're talking about these tough topics. 

Broad strokes of nuanced ideas will do the trick for young learners. Instead of focusing on small details, concentrate on big picture ideas and how to stoke sustainable interest. “I just had to remind myself that ‘Stamped (For Kids)’ is a start and not an end to the kind of reading that students should have access to across their lives about race and racism. And if I've done my job well, they'll want to read more,” says Cherry-Paul.

Ten Ways to Make Storytimes Interactive

Are you looking for ways to keep young listeners engaged as you read stories with them? Check out author Abi Cushman's post in Nerdy Book Club. Whether it's choosing stories with built in guessing games (like Cushman's new book Animals Go Vroom!), or books that get kids moving -- Cushman shares her favorite ways to engage young kids during storytime. 

What's in your feed these days? Drop me a note, and let me know if you find any of these articles interesting.

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

As your children are getting ready to read or developing their reading skills, it's great to play with the sound of words. Each word is made of small blocks of sounds. In order to learn to read, we need to be able to break words into the smaller parts. Focus on these sounds (not letter names) and play with these sound parts. As Reading Rockets explains:

As the foundation for all written words, letters are important because they are the symbols for the small actions your mouth makes as you say words. What's equally important, however, is that your child learns the sound associated with each letter. These individual sounds are called phonemes, and children who know about the connection between a letter and its phoneme have an easier time learning to read.

Parents can help children get ready to read by playing with the sound of words. Play some of these silly games as you're at the store or cooking dinner. 

image from PBS Kids for Parents

Play with rhymes: Rhyming games help children recognize how parts of words can be similar. You can sing songs or read stories with rhymes. But you can also play guessing games with everyday objects. Maybe it's a version of "I spy" using rhyming: "I spy something that rhymes with bear." 

Be silly with nonsense words: Kids love-love-love being silly. Encourage this, and use nonsense words that play with small sounds of words. These types of words help kids learn to blend together words, using these sound chunks. Maybe if you sneeze, try saying "achoo-a-boo-boo-boo!" Do you see how that helps emphasize that small part of the word?

Listen for sounds: Help your child listen for beginning sounds in words and then play with them. Can they make this even sillier: Silly Sally sings songs all Saturday -- by extending all the sss's? What about Mommy makes mud pies? This sort of goofy playing actually helps children realize that the beginning sounds are important parts of words.

Swap sounds around: For a more advanced game, try removing or swapping sounds. What is ‘beat’ when you take away the T sound? Bee! Maybe they can use this to make up silly nicknames for their pets or stuffed animals.

Read more ideas on PBS Parents at How to Start Playing On-the-Go Literacy Games.

Playing with language and words will help children develop their confidence and phonics skills. How do you help grow your readers? Send me a note, and let me know what works for you! 

©2021 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books