Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx - Jonah Winter

Illustrated by Edel Rodriguez
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009
$16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
For: grades 1-4
Endpapers: Yellow with white flowering vines
Back - author's note

This is a beautifully written picture book biography that introduces our newest supreme court justice to the world. It tells of her roots in poverty in the south Bronx and of the strong, loving mother who did everything in her power to feed, nurture, and educate her children. She instilled in her daughter a passion for learning, for success, to be and do her very best. She got into Princeton. I'm guessing a good part of her life might have been lonely - but she was proud to be Latino and proved that just because she was not a white male she could more-than succeed. Her story is one to be shared with every kid in our country.

Thanks, Johan Winter, for this fascinating peek at Sonia Sotomayor's childhood.

An added plus - the entire book is translated into Spanish on each page. Excellent!

The illustrations are not overpowering, they're gentle pen and ink, then colored, and enhance the story beautifully. I love the picture of her looking out her Princeton dorm window at a cricket in a tree.

Super book.

55. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart

For: Young Adults
Published: March, 2008
352 pgs.
Rating: 4/5
Finished: Oct. 30, 2008
2009 Printz Honor

This is a SMART book for young adults. It has feminist overtones, and makes you think.

Frankie Landau-Banks has "blossomed" in the summer between her freshman and sophomore years at Alabaster, an elite private school in northern Massachusetts. Really blossomed. She snags the attention of Matthew Livingston, the cutest and most popular senior, and he quickly becomes her boyfriend. She loves hanging out with his crowd, but when she discovers that he is part of a 50 year-old secret society that is ONLY for boys, something is awakened in her, and she comes up with a brilliant plan to make Matthew notice her for more than her body and her cuteness.

Frankie becomes the mastermind behind all sorts of plots that befuddle the administration, but she does it secretly by pretending, online, that's she's part of the Loyal Society of the Bassett Hounds. "Alpha", Matthew's best friend and the "alpha" leader, takes all the credit. But when Frankie is found out, her plans to impress Matthew with her brains backfire.

The relationship between Frankie and Matthew is not developed enough for me. What in heaven's name does she see in him? She is clever, very smart (she even reads Wodehouse!), and quite a feminist. I could believe how she'd become infatuated with Matthew, but I couldn't believe that it would last very long. She's not superficial, and he is. It was a mesmerizing read, though. Once she began planning her escapades it was fun to watch them all play out.

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever - Marla Frazee

For: Kids-Not TOO young
Published: 2008
Rating: 5/5
Read: Sept. 13, 2008
Endpapers: Photographs of the two boys at camp all week
2009 Caldecott Honor ! ! !

Friends James and Eamon spend a week of their summer vacation with Eamon's very cool (in my opinion) grandparents, Bill and Pam. Each day Bill drives them to a nature day camp. Throughout the week they play, create, pretend, build, learn, enjoy the grandparents, and listen to Bill's yearning to go to Antarctica. There's a great ending to the story, too. The boys have seemingly been ignorning Bill's hints about Antarctica, but as a surprise for him, on the last night they build a recreation of Antarctica for him to enjoy.

The best illustration in the book - the boys, laying across sleeping bags on huge air mattresses, completely surrounded by stuffed animals and toys. I'd love to have this on my wall. It just makes you grin. But the cover...well...I think it looks too comic-booky and a book IS judged by its cover. I think I wish it were different.

Written in UPPER case text-lettering by the author. All is based on the author's family and a true week - at least that's what I'm led to think.....

Great book.

The House in the Night - Susan Marie Swanson

Illustrator: Beth Krommes
For: Very young kids
Pub: 2008
Rating: Lovely/ 4
Read: Sept. 14, 2008
Endpapers: The same bright yellow which are the only illustration color other than black and white
2009 Caldecott WINNER ! ! !

This is a lovely bedtime book!

Black and white scratchboard, accented with a bright yellow...gorgeous.

The House in the Night is one of those cumulative books in the House that Jack Built vein. Here is the key to the house./ In the house burns a light./ In that light rests a bed./ On that bed rests a book....and onward, out throught the starry darkness to the moon ... and back, to find the child asleep in the bed. MmmmmmHmmmmm.

How I Learned Geography - Uri Shulevitz

For: Kids (just not TOO young)
Pub: 2008
Rating: 3/5
Read: Aug. 25, 2008
2009 Caldecott Honor


"When war devastated the land, buildings crumbled to dust. Everything we had was lost, and we fled empty-handed."

Accompanying illustrations by the author depict a very young boy with his parents. Shulevtitz states in his ending AUTHOR'S NOTE that he is four when they flee Poland, living in what is now Kazakhstan In the Soviet Union for six years. The story tells how they lived, in total poverty, in one room with another couple who were strangers. One day his father returns, not with the small amount of bread he has gone to the marketplace to obtain, but with a large rolled-up world map written in Russian. This map takes him for the next few years, via his imagination, to snowy mountains, burning deserts, wondrous temples, and cities of tall buildings. He dreams of being transported to exotic places, and this is how he survives.

The illustrations are pretty cool, beautifully drawn and colored. There's a little too much negative white space on each page for my liking, but the double-page illustrations of the bazaar and of his flying dream above the waterway make up for that, they're really great.

Okay. He was a little guy with a great imagination. But.....how did he know about all these exotic places? How did he know about stone carvings and papayas and mangoes and the shade of palm trees? It sure doesn't sound like they could afford books. It doesn't say that his father told him stories. I guess I want a little more information. The writing is simple, yes, but a little too sparse for me.

This book has gotten quite a few starred reviews, so it may end up getting awards. Yeah, I liked it, but there are others written this year that I like better.