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Recommended for Kids

Traveling With Your Octopus: A Travelogue For Domesticated Cephalopods

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Traveling With Your Octopus: Kesinger, Brian: 9781614040095: Amazon.com: Books

Traveling With Your Octopus: A Travelogue For Domesticated Cephalopods by Brian Kesinger
Format: Picture Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Traveling With Your Octopus: A Travelogue For Domesticated Cephalopods is a delightful tale of tentacles and tourism. The author Brian Kesinger is known for his artistic work on a number of Disney films, including Atlantis and Treasure Planet. The story involves the adventures of Victoria Prismall, steampunk woman of adventure, and Otto, her trusty mollusk companion. Victoria and Otto visit a number of gorgeously drawn locations, from exploring the Himalayas, delving in the tombs of Egypt, and attending “Dia de los Pulpos” the obscure festival to celebrate the Octopi of days gone by. Each page is a delight to look at, the attention to detail and the wonderous costumes of Victoria are delightful. Each adventure features a fun snapshot of a different culture, with a quippy Cephalopod travel fact. (Otto makes a wonderful assistant when performing Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, or makes a Japanese tea ceremony in 1/8th of the time!) To the moon and back Victoria and Otto take you along with them  I found this adventure to be quite charming, and I am happy to report that no matter your age, it’s a fun read!

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Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

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Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
Format: Book, eBook, Digital Audiobook
Who it’s for: Kids

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds tells the story of ten different middle school students walking home from school and their adventures on ten different blocks. Each kid is dealing with their own struggles and are caught up in their own lives. So much so that no one sees the school bus falling from the sky. This  poignant story demonstrates how everyone is following their own path, home from school and in life.

I love Jason Reynolds, and I love this book. From a girl who just wants to skateboard but who is confronted by bullies, to a young boy hustling pennies so he can buy ice cream for his mom, this book includes small, slice-of-life tales from a variety of different point-of-views. It really demonstrates that everyone is going through something. Even the toughest boy in school has problems he is struggling with at home. Even the funniest girl in class is using humor to comfort herself and her family. Everyone in the story is connected. It was fun to hear about the same small moments told from different perspectives and hear small comments about characters from previous chapters.

I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook of this title. It has a full cast, and it really makes the story come alive and captures your attention.

Because the most important question still remains: did anyone see that school bus fall from the sky?

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Railway Jack

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Railway Jack: the True Story of an Amazing Baboon by KT Johnston, illustrated by Cesar Samaneigo
Format: Book
Who It’s For:  Kids

Railway Jack is the true story of South African Railway employee Jim Wide and the baboon who became first his service animal, then his best friend.

Long, long ago Jim Wide worked as a railway inspector for South African Railroad, but after he lost his legs in an accident, he couldn’t do that job anymore. Jim got a new job as a railroad signalman, the person pulling the levers that switch trains to the right tracks for their journeys. He made a cart to sit on which helped him get to work and inspect the switches, and with his new wooden legs he could stand and walk a bit. But Jim struggled to do some tasks by himself, both at home and at the station. He needed help, but what could he do?  He bought a baboon of course, a very intelligent baboon named Jack! Jack learned fast and worked hard, quickly mastering water-pumping, taking out trash and sweeping floors. He pushed Jim’s cart to the station morning and evening, jumping on the back for a ride down the hill!  Amazingly, Jack even began to recognize train signals and learned which lever to pull to switch the trains. However, one day a passenger was horrified to see a “monkey” pulling levers at the station and reported them to the railroad. The railway sent a man to investigate, who tested Jack carefully. Would he pass? Would Jim and Jack get to keep their jobs or be fired? Find out when you read Railway Jack: The True Story of an Amazing Baboon.

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Octopus Stew

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Octopus Stew by Eric Velasquez
Who Its For: Kids
Format: Book

Eric Velasquez (winner of the Pura Belpre Award for Grandma’s Gift and the Coretta Scott King -John Steptoe Award for Piano Man) has written a charming story about an Afro-Latino boy named Ramsey. One day at Grandma’s, Ramsey, an artist and lover of all things superhero, paints a picture of “super Octo”, a superhero octopus. This got Grandma thinking about making pulpo guisado, octopus stew. They go shopping for the ingredients, which included one large and creepy octopus! Ramsey has a bad feeling about this, but home they go where Grandma cleans the octopus and throws it into the boiling pot. They sit down to do some homework when suddenly they hear strange noises coming from the kitchen! BLIMP! BLUMP! BRR! “Que sera esto?” asks Grandma. THUMP!! To their horror, they  find a HUGE octopus climbing out of the pot and with one tentacle it snatches up Grandma! How will Ramsey defeat the mighty octopus and save her? This story will delight all your superhero and octopus fans; check out the foldout pages in the middle of the book and the Author’s Notes for extra layers to the story (or read to the end first), and don’t miss the Glossary in the back, as the author uses many nonstandard Spanish phrases throughout the story, just as his own family did in his childhood home.

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Summer Walk

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Title: Summer Walk by Virginia Brimhall Snow
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Kids (And Adults)

Are you looking for an engaging read that not only sparks your child’s imagination but gets their body moving?   With these times of social distancing and isolation it can be difficult to find safe, fun ways for our littles, and no so littles, to connect with the outside world.

In Summer Walk, we have a rhyming tale of a summer adventure shared between Grammy and her grandkids.  The story walks us along as they discover and identify 24 insects.  The detailed pencil sketches of this family unit form an intricate backdrop for the bold and colorful featured insects.  Following the story, there are fun insect facts, as well as, a nature themed craft and activity you and your child can do together.  They become the perfect learning extensions when you get back from your own Summer walk.

I love this book not only because it is a doorway to the outdoors which seamlessly melds learning with doing, but because it reminds me of my own children and the time they spent making memories with their Grammy.

Find it in the catalog , check it out and begin making your own summer memories today!

Packs: Strength in Numbers

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Packs: Strength in Numbers by Hannah Salyer
Format: Book
Who Its For: Kids

Take a look at nature and you will find groups-herds, flocks, swarms of creatures big and small. In Packs: Strength in Numbers, Hannah Salyer celebrates this unity and diversity found in the animal world. With her illustrations of dusty bison on the march, or wolves streaking through snow-quiet forest, she gives us a close up view of just how animals, birds and insects work together to survive and thrive, in hunting, traveling, growing food, singing, protecting the young. This book contains loads of information about the habits of these creatures which will satisfy the curiosity of little naturalists, and big ones too (for example, did you know that a herd of wildebeests can have up to a million animals, and is called an implausibility? Me either!) The book ends with a gentle reminder that working together is always better for creatures and humans alike.

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