PICTURE BOOK - Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the Author

1990 Philomel Books

32 pgs.. - 4830 ratings

Goodreads rating:  4.35

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Dark Red

1^st line/s:  "On sultry summer days at my grandma's farm in Michigan, the air gets damp and heavy."

My comments:  I see absolutely no reason not to give this book a "5" rating.  It's wonderful.  Sometimes Polacco's books are really heavily texted, this one is not quite so.  And there are, of course, her wonderful illustrations.  A special grandmother-granddaughter relationship (I love that!), and a cool way to help the child be not so afraid of thunder as well as helping her realize that not everything is quite as scary as it seems.  Lots of great things in one beautiful picture book - plus a recipe that looks like a lot of fun to make, which adds some tomato the the chocolate flavoring....magic....

Goodreads:  Grandma consoles her frightened granddaughter by telling her that the dark clouds of the impending storm are nothing more than the ingredients for a Thunder Cake

BOARD BOOK - Mommies Say Shhh! by Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2005 Philomel Books, Penguin
Board Book, $6.99

17 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.8 - 264 ratings

My rating: 4

My comments:  Yippee, a Patricia Polacco board book!  My favorite (though 'wordy') picture book writer has a book for little ones!  This 17-page board book,shows one family on their farm with all sorts of animals and is primarily written to show the sounds they make.  (I've never seen dogs who say, "buff, buff, buff," but if you don't like that you can use your own woofs or arfs.)  There are a lot of fun things happening on each two-page spread, and you can even hunt for the different family members as you proceed from page to page.  Fun!

Goodreads:  Goats say “maa-maa-maa.” Birds say “cheep-cheep-cheep.” Horses say “neigh-neigh-neigh.” Rabbits say nothing at all! But when all of these animals get together and raise a honking, braying, neighing ruckus, what does Mama say? “Shhhhhh!” Now available in this adorable board book, Patricia Polacco’s fun-filled collection of animal sounds and beautiful rural landscapes is a perfect readaloud for beginning readers. They’ll want more-more-more.

12. The Buried Book by D. M. Pulley

listened on Audible
read by Luke Daniels
2016 Lake Union Publishing
412 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction/Mystery
Finished 2/28/17
Goodreads rating: 3.99 (3,515 ratings)
My rating: 4.5
Setting:1952 Michigan farm country just outside of Detroit

First line/s:  "Jasper."
"Mmmm," he mumbled.
"Jasper, wake up."

My comments:  Although this book was somewhat slow-going at times, I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.  There were many things to like about the book:  the storyline, the setting, the point of view, and the characters.  Set in 1952, mostly in the rural farmland of Michigan, the story is told through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, a nine-year-old who is trying to make sense of his very complicated world.  The world of 65 years ago is very different from the world of today...but it is also very similar.  Corruption, drugs, moonshine, degenerate (in this case) males taking advantage of young females, horrible treatment of Native Americans, poverty, dishonest cops, holier-than-though Christians....oh my, there were some very bleak parts.  But well worth the read.  All in all a very well told story that I will not easily forget.

Goodreads synopsis:  When Althea Leary abandons her nine-year-old son, Jasper, he’s left on his uncle’s farm with nothing but a change of clothes and a Bible.
          It’s 1952, and Jasper isn’t allowed to ask questions or make a fuss. He’s lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle’s good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she’s coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.
          As he’s drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother—and now it’s chasing him too.

2. Moo by Sharon Creech

Library Book
2016 Harper Collins
288 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF in mostly verse
Finished 1-8-16
Goodreads rating: 3.92 - 1507 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Maine, with the best of two worlds, an oceanside town that has farms

First line/s:  "The truth is, she was ornery and stubborn, wouldn't listen to a n y b o d y, and selfish beyond selfish, and filthy, caked with mud and dust, and moody: you'd better watch it our she'd knock you flat."

My comments:  Because this was short, mostly written in verse form (with a little prose that's almost like verse) there was not quite as much character development as I'd like for a 288-page book, but it was certainly a wow-ing book.  It's a lot to do with farm animals, and I'm not an animal lover in any way, shape, or form....and I STILL liked it a lot.  Yes, very predictable, but who cares?  I'll certainly recommend this book to reluctant readers of either gender, especially if he/she is an animal lover.  AND it takes place in MAINE!

Goodreads synopsis:  Fans of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog and Hate That Cat will love her newest tween novel, Moo. This uplifting tale reminds us that if we’re open to new experiences, life is full of surprises. Following one family’s momentous move from the city to rural Maine, an unexpected bond develops between twelve-year-old Reena and one very ornery cow.
          When Reena, her little brother, Luke, and their parents first move to Maine, Reena doesn’t know what to expect. She’s ready for beaches, blueberries, and all the lobster she can eat. Instead, her parents “volunteer” Reena and Luke to work for an eccentric neighbor named Mrs. Falala, who has a pig named Paulie, a cat named China, a snake named Edna—and that stubborn cow, Zora.
          This heartwarming story, told in a blend of poetry and prose, reveals the bonds that emerge when we let others into our lives.

34. Off Season - Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Sequel to Dairy Queen

read by Natalie Moore (brilliantly!

2007, Listening Library

5 unabridged cds

277 pgs.

Finished 8/28/30

YA CRF

Goodreads Rating:

My Rating:

Awesome (5) 

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Red Bend, Wisconsin

My comments:  This is the sequel to Dairy Queen, a book I finished very recently and loved.  I couldn't wait to read this one.  Same spectacular writing, same wonderful reading (Natalie Moore was just terrific). same intricate character development, same subtle, clever humor.  And such voice!  The story is a little sadder...I guess I should probably say bittersweet.... but quite remarkable.  I love the way Murdock digs into her characters and makes them feel so real.  As much as a "happy ending" is (always)anticipated, Murdock keeps it believable. Things don't always turn out the way you'd really like them to.  I love D.J. Schwenk! What a great girl!

Goodreads Review:  Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She’s in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she’s reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She’s got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, who’s cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there’s the fact she’s starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you can’t predict the future. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she’s a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

   This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.

Charlie the Ranch Dog – Ree Drummond

Illustrated by Diane deGroat

Harper, 2011

HC $16.99

40 pages

Rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  red

Title Page:  2 page full painting of part of the ranch – with trees, pond, two cowboys, and both dogs

Illustrations:  Full page, usually double spreads, with no white, edge to edge.  Very cool, really like them.

Extras:  Lasagna recipe on the last page

Dog’s p-o-v, 1^st person

Setting:  a contemporary Midwestern ranch

OSS:  Charlie, a bassett hound, details all the “work” he does all day on the ranch.  

Tongue-in-cheek, Charlie considers that his humorous lazy escapades are work.  He and Suzy, another dog in the household, have their run of the ranch.  Great fun book with very clever writing.

32. Ten Miles Past Normal - Frances O'Roark Dowell

2011, Atheneum
211 pages
for:  Middle School/young YA
rating:  very likable: a happy, easy, fun read for girls (4)

1st sentence/s:  "No one can figure out where the terrible smell is coming from, but everyone on the bus this morning can smell it and has an opinion."
Setting:  Contemporary "rurally" North Carolina, the high school is in town, but the protagonist lives out a bit on a small farm.

Janie Gorman has been miserable throughout her first months as a freshman.  Many middle schools have come together in her North Carolina town to become part of a huge high school, and it words out that none of her friends are in any of her classes OR eat the same lunch as her.  It doesn't help that when she was in the 3rd or 4th grade they moved from the central part of town way out to the country, where her family now lives on a small, self-sustainable farm.  She has her own goat, which she loves and talks to.  But this has not helped her non-existent social life at all.

Janie just wants to be "normal."  Well, she's more than normal, she's unique and special, but she doesn't realize it, as most 14-year-olds don't.  Starting the year by getting onto the school bus with goat poop on her shoe - stinky goat poop - doesn't help.  She knows no one at her lunch, so she crams her food down standing outside her locker and spends the period in the library. Her best friend, Sarah, is in only one class with her, and elective they chose purposely to be together.  It comes a the end of the day, and for it they have decided to research some older civil rights workers in their town.

However, wanting to belong as much as possible, it works out in a somewhat funky way that Janie starts to play bass guitar.  She teaches herself.  Fast.  It does not mention too much practicing, but she becomes fairly good.  Again, fast.  This was the one part of the story that needed work.  When Sarah and her sister, Emma, take up accordion, it never mentions any previous experience on the piano, but they are performing together in no time.  Didn't quite work for me.

But the characters did.  From her mom's futile attempts at crafting, her realization that Sarah is really quite bossy (and also her acceptance of it), to the boys she meets that year, all are interesting and pretty well crafted.  It was a quick, enjoyable read with a happy edge to it.  Perfect summer reading, and perfect for a whole lot of the girls I know.

Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie -Robbin Gourley

A Story About Edna Lewis
Clarion Books, 2009
For: ages 4-8
46 pgs.
Includes five recipes at end
Rating: 4

Bright, lovely watercolors.

In this story, we follow Edna and her siblings living on a farm, surviving from its fruits and labors - from early spring to late fall. From the first wild strawberries to the gathering of the last walnuts and pecans, we follow the seasons as the family gathers fruits, share stories and songs, and cook fresh food.

Ednas Lewis goes on to become an award-winning chef, best known for her fresh southern cuisine.

The book ends with five recipes: strawberry shortcake, apple crisp, corn pudding, and the following two:

Pecan Drops
(makes 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies)

350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, flour and salt and mix well, then blend in vanilla and pecans. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheet, bake on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Nut-Butter Squares
325 degree oven

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups flour
2 T. vanilla
1 egg, separated
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

With mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add flour, vanilla, and egg yolk. Dough will be stiff. Using your hands, spread dough into an 11 x 15 jelly roll pan. Brush dough with lightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle nuts across dough, then press into the dough with your fingers.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Keep checking that nuts don't burn. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares.

Gathering the Sun - Alma Flor Ada

Poetry
An Alphabet in Spanish and English
English translation by Rosa Zubizarreta
Illustrated by Simon Silva
Lothrop Lee & Shepard, 1997
(4.1/590L/K-2)
40 pgs.
Endpapers: Bright Orange

26 "small" poems describing the life of a Mexican farm worker. The illustrations are just fabulous - edge to edge - with the word in bordered boxes. The book flap calls them "sun drenched". They are! The dark cover doesn't suit OR give enough credit to the illustrations inside. Spanish first, then English.

Orgullo = Pride
Proud of my family
proud of my language
. . . . culture
. . . . people
. . .being who I am

Tomates = Tomatoes
Fresh tomato
in a salad,
in the salsa,
in enchiladas
Red tomato
in the kitchen,
in the little tacos
my godmother loves to make.

Otis - Loren Long

Philomel/Penguin, 2009
$17.99
40 pgs.
for: preschoolers
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Otis coming (front) and going (back)

Otis is an old tractor who loves his farm and loves his life. One day the farmer brings a young calf into his barn, and they become fast friends. When the farmer buys a shiny new yellow tractor, Otis is relegated tot he puckerbrush behind the barn. His calf friend misses him, wandering the farm alone. When he gets stuck in the mud pond he sinks deeper and deeper with different attempts to unstick him until -- Otis the hero arrives.

This seems to be the kindo f book that would become a favorite. The illustrations are great - shades of brownish grays with red (Otis) and yellow (the new tractor), and bordered with a thick line. Even the font (15.5-point Engine) is just different enough to help the book become more of a standout. Such charisma and innocense on the faces of the two protagonists!

Is it anthropormorphic if a tractor behaves with human attributes? I'm going to sa so for listing purposes....

Here's a blog review from A Year of Reading.

The Scarecrow's Dance - Jane Yolen

Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Simon & Schuster, 2009
$16.99
32 pgs.
for: young kids
rating: 4/2
Endpapers: Dark orange
Illustrations: Edge of page, no white, gouache and watercolor, lovely



"An autumn eye,
The moon was high,
As yellow as
A black cat's eye.

Out in the field,
Stiff and forlorn,
The scarecrow stood
And watched the corn."

Rhyme and rhythm always enchant me. The wind catches the scarecrow in a huge field, setting him free from his post to whirl and dance in the wind. When he comes to the farmer's house, he peeks into an upstairs bedroom window where a boy is kneeling in prayer - aking for a blessing on the scarecrow that guards his family's cornfields. Realizing his duty, the scarecrow dances back to his pole and reattaches himself.

'"For anyone can dance,"
Thought he,
"But only I
Can keep the fields free."'

The kneeling, clasped hands of the "praying" pages inserted near the end of the dancing, rhythmic story were a bit disconcerting. I think that it would be more universally appealing with a little different direction here. Oh well, can't win 'em all.....

Here's a blog review from Book Aunt.

Hogwood Steps Out - Howard Mansfield

A Good, Good Pig Story
Illustrator: Barry Moser
2008
Rating: 5
For: Kids
Endpapers: Orange

Hogwood is a huge black and white pig. He's tired of spending winter in the barn and smells spring outside. Mud. Mud. He's smart and he's figured out how to open the gate. It's time to go find gardens with good things to eat and it's time to find mud with its great smell and so much squishiness to roll around in. But the neighbors are not happy about this, and he is captured and returned to his barn, as he has been many times before.

The illustrations are what drew me to the book - it's a perfect blend of text and visual.

I'm going to share this with my 7th grade class - we're reading Animal Farm and talk every day about pigs! Very cute.