That's Noteworthy! (vol. 14)

January MG/YA reads, award-winners, a really cool drone pic ❤️

Happy February! It’s so cool that this year’s theme for Black History Month is “African Americans & the Arts.” While I think it’s important to celebrate the books written by Black authors any and all times, it’s great to have this special month, too. This week I read Caldecott winner Big by Vashti Harrison to students. We talked about how her artwork and unique use of the page/text really helps the reader feel what the character is going through, and also about how she is the first Black woman to win the Caldecott. (This book and many others are on sale— 15% off with code: BHM24— on Bookshop.org this month for Black History Month.)

📚. Books I recently read…

Since I shared my top books of 2023 in last edition, I have quite a few books to share with you this time around! Here are all the MG & YA books I read in January. Enjoy!

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown :: (MG) I distinctly remember how this book brought my son to tears when he read it (he loved it)¹. I finally got to it (almost exactly six years later) and loved it as well. Heartwarming and captivating, I loved this story of Roz’s survival and adaption on a wild island. Who would expect a robot to connect so deeply with wild animals? The audio narration was fantastic as well. Kids are currently also loving books 2 and 3 at my library.
  5 ⭐️s

• New Kid, Class Act, & School Trip by Jerry Craft :: (Upper MG) I was skeptical about listening to a graphic novel, worried I would miss too much without the visual component, but wow! These full-cast audio productions were fantastic. I originally read New Kid a few years ago and didn’t remember much. In listening to both it and Class Act, I didn’t feel lost at all. The different voices and sound effects made it fun and easy to follow. A great option for enjoying this award-winning book and its sequels! I will say, book #3 (which I read in print) might have been my favorite of the trilogy. I love how much the characters have grown over the course of three books. I also loved how on-the-nose Jerry Craft was in School Trip particularly about book banning, racism/microaggressions, and the stigma of reading (and creating) graphic novels. He has some fun easter eggs in here with a nod to other artists as well. His purpose in writing this book (at least in part) was to show people of color doing fun things like traveling (rather than only focusing on "misery and history") and I think he succeeded in making this a joyful book while still tackling some serious issues. 
  5/4/5 ⭐️s

• The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz & Iva-Marie Palmer :: (Upper MG) This cleverly-crafted mystery packs a major adventurous punch! An exciting romp around Paris, with found family/friendship woven in, and a speculative twist in terms of its use of Jules Vernes' stories and inventions (which only adds to the fun). The narrator, Owen, is funny, quirky, and endearing, and even shows us a peek at the extra challenges of having asthma while running around the city and encountering very old places and items. The ending was so good that it really solidified the book as getting five stars from me. (If you didn’t read my complete review for this on IG, you can read the rest on StoryGraph).
  5 ⭐️s

• The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day :: (Upper MG) What a fascinating, captivating nonfiction read. This book reads like heist/police procedural novel, but it's based on facts and is thoroughly researched. The illustrations by Brett Helquist add a *chef's kiss* bonus to the hard copy. I hybrid listened/followed along to see the illustrations, and also really enjoyed the audio narration. I can't wait to recommend this book to all my mystery-loving readers-- perfect for fans of Chasing Vermeer, Masterpiece, Book Scavenger, etc. And the best part will be telling the kids that it's a true story! A well-deserved winner of the Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children.
  5 ⭐️s

• The Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson :: (YA) I loved reading and discussing the second Agathas book with my YA/MG book club last week. We read book one back in September of 2022 so we decided to read book two as a group. This one was another installment with atmospheric, complex mystery, with plenty of teenage angst mixed in. The setting features a town and castle very similar to San Simeon/Hearst Castle, near where I went to college, which is fun. We really saw some growth in our characters in book two, and I can’t wait for another installment with Iris and Alice.🤞🏼Don’t sleep on the acknowledgements with this series, as they are always fun to read.
  4.5 ⭐️s

• Being Mary Bennet by JC Peterson :: (YA) My daughter thought this looked like something I would like and picked it up at the library for me. It was a very delightful read! A rare homage to the oft-forgotten sister from Pride & Prejudice, Mary Bennet, this story takes place in San Francisco and feature a protagonist trying to figure out herself and her place in the world. We do get a nice romance, but family dynamics and friendship themes are even stronger. Also, there are cute dogs, beautiful costumes, and coffee shop hangs. (Please note content warnings— potentially more for older readers to be honest.)
  4 ⭐️s

my whole school, to celebrate kindness week

🤓. In the library…

It’s been fun for me this year to follow the Youth Media Awards as they were unfolding, really for the first time. While I am not someone who tends to focus on awards all that much in my own reading, I do find it interesting to see what books are recognized by the various medal committees. Before the awards, I watched a Mock Newbery Award discussion put on by School Library Journal, which gave me some insight into the process. On the mock award committee there was a very articulate high schooler, and it was particularly interesting to hear his opinions on the books. I haven’t done any mock awards at my school yet, but I have heard that’s a fun thing for school libraries to do. Maybe in the future. For now, I’m trying to check out and read as many of the award winners as I can (that interest me).

📖. What my kids are reading…

• Gigi (16) is finally reading The Hunger Games series! She’s currently on Mockingjay. She’s also reading The Night in Question after a re-read of The Agathas (book 1).

• Brody (13) just read and liked Jessica Khoury’s Skyborn trilogy (which I recommended because she once compared it to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom). For school he’s reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.

• Hallee (12) is still reading On Air with Zoe Washington, plus The Giver for school.

🥰. Things bringing me joy right now…

I’ve gotten into some really fascinating research for my middle grade story in progress (about sea life primarily!) and, I’m happy to say I have the second half (almost) outlined so I can hopefully finish my first draft in the next couple of months. I love this story.

As someone eagerly anticipating the start of a new baseball season, I picked up Joe Posnanski’s book Why We Love Baseball this week to prepare for a book club discussion with

Molly Knight

of

The Long Game

. I am about halfway done with the book (listening to most of it) and I could not be more delighted. It is indeed doing its job of reminding me we why we (I) love baseball. If there was ever a sport that kept its fans young at heart, I’d have to say that was baseball.

Happy Friday and happy reading!

xo,
Nicole

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1. I can’t believe this was 6 years ago. Also see author Peter Brown’s comment/response.