45. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

listened on Libby/borrowed from library

narrated by the author, Elizabeth Acevedo and Melania-Luisa Marte

Unabridged audio (5:32)
2020
432 pgs.
YA CRF in Verse
Finished 5/5/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.32 - 52,442 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary NYC and Dominican Republic

First line/s: "I know too much of mud.

I know that when a street doesn't have sidewalks

& water rises to flood the tile floors of your home,

learning mud is learning the language of survival."

My comments: Incredible, lovely writing.  Many times when you hear a book read aloud that has been written in verse you cannot tell that it WAS written inverse.  This, read by two readers (one being the author), the poetry just flowed.  Absolutely gorgeous words.  Very sad, depresssing, but the beauty of the writing ... and of the story ... made up for it.  Learning about the "DR" community both in New York City and the Dominican Republic and hearing the story told with a large amount of Spanish verbiage included added to the experience.  And it was read with lovely, lilting accents of two SpanishAmerican narrators.  The story was tough.  But I would consider this a masterpiece.

Goodreads synopsis:   In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

          Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…
          In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
          Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.
          And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

40. A Chance Inheritance by Carolyn Brown

listened on Audible Original

narrated by Brittany Pressley

Unabridged audio (1:51)
2021
100 pgs. (guessing, only on audio)
Adult romance - clean, if I remember correctly...
Finished 4/16/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.50 - 317 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Pleasant River fishing area, Texas

My comments: A very sweet story about three female cousins and the recently deceased grandmother they all adored.  She had left them equal shares in her baitshop/general store on Pleasant River in Texas.  This story tells about how they gather together after Lizzie's death and decided, together, how to go on while grievine her death together.  There was a fourth major character, a love interest for the eldest cousing named CHRIS ADAMS!!!!

Goodreads synopsis:  What do a runaway bride, a free spirit, and a corporate exec have in common? Besides all being down on their luck, Lainie, Jodi, and Becky are Lizzie Cornell's granddaughters. Upon inheriting their grandmother's home and family bait shop, the three cousins return to Catfish, Texas, grieving Lizzie's passing and hoping to find the fresh start they all need.
          Turns out cohabitating together and running the Catfish Fisherman's Hut isn't at all like the idyllic summers they spent as children on the banks of the Red River. The days are long and hot, the tourists demanding and rude. And then there's Chris, a local river guide who seems to have eyes only for Becky.
          But Lizzie's death has set in motion a chain of events that will cause a new generation of Cornell women to come together. And thanks to this chance inheritance, some local fishermen, and the love of their Granny Lizzie, the Cornell cousins discover that sometimes an ending is really the beginning of a brand-new happily ever after.

PICTURE BOOK - Ocean Meets Sky by the Fan Brothers

Illustrated by the authors

2018, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

HC #17.99

40  pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.23 - 1814 ratings

My rating: 3.5 

Endpapers:  Animal clouds

Illustrations:  Lovely, best part of the book

1^st line/s:  "Finn lived by the sea,
and the sea lived by him.
"It's a good day for sailing,"
his grandfather would have said."

My comments:  Lovely illustrations, story is a tiny bit vague, but also quite lovely.  I get stymied by little things...how can a very young boy have a 90-year old grandfather?  Might this perhaps have been his great-grandfather...but then would they have been so close?  Silly questions like that bogged me down.  So a second reading was needed and enjoyed.  I'm still not sure why I didn't like the book as much as I expected I would...

Goodreads:  Finn lives by the sea and the sea lives by him. Every time he looks out his window it’s a constant reminder of the stories his grandfather told him about the place where the ocean meets the sky. Where whales and jellyfish soar and birds and castles float.
          Finn’s grandfather is gone now but Finn knows the perfect way to honor him. He’ll build his own ship and sail out to find this magical place himself!
          And when he arrives, maybe, just maybe, he’ll find something he didn’t know he was looking for.

16. Ordinary Grace - William Kent Krueger

listened on Audible - read BEAUTIFULLY
2013 Atria Books
307 pgs.
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 2/14/2018
Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 48,224 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting:1961 New Bremen, sourthern Minnesota

First line/s:   "All the dying that summer began with the death of a child, a boy with golden hair and thick glasses, killed on the railroad tracks outside New Bremen, Minnesota, sliced into pieces by a thousand tons of steel speeding across the prairie toward South Dakota."

My comments:  This story is about a minister's family in New Bremen, Minnesota in the summer of 1961, told in the first person by the middle child, a 13-year old named Frank, called Frankie by his family.  The story examines faith and the "awesome grace of God."
     I am genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.  Usually I go running in the other directions - screaming - when I discover a book contains ruminations about religion.  This one never ever shoved religion down my throat, and the minister father, Nathan Drum, was everything anyone could ever want in a minister.  It certainly game me lots to think about, particularly about grief.  It also made me ponder so many people's unquestionable belief that anything that happens is "God's will."  And, if anything, it strengthened my own beliefs. 
     So many strengths here - wonderful characterization, beautifully crafted plot, and really lovely writing.
     So many great things bout this book, but the best for me?  I really like the relationship between Frank and his stuttering younger brother, Jake.

Goodreads synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger comes a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.
         New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were at the ready at Halderson’s Drug Store soda counter, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a summer in which death assumed many forms.
          When tragedy unexpectedly comes to call on his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his years kid brother, Frank finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal.
          On the surface, Ordinary Grace is the story of the murder of a beautiful young woman, a beloved daughter and sister. At heart, it’s the story of what that tragedy does to a boy, his family, and ultimately the fabric of the small town in which he lives. Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, it is a moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.

The Wishing Tree - Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by Connie McLennan
Shen's Books, 2004
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Gold & beige decorated Chinese designs

I spent an hour browsing and reading in the Martha Cooper Library on Catalina - a small public library I rarely get to visit. The local neighborhood holds many cultures, and there are many kids' books in different languages here. In other words, a great multicultural find.

There's a huge banyan tree in Ming's hometown where his grandmother would always take him to make a wish for the lunar new year. She would purchase a Ng Bo Dip (Five Treasures Pile), a stack of decorated red and yellow papers. After writing a wish, the papers were rolled into a scroll, secured with string, and attached to a large mandarin orange. When ready, this was flung high into the banyan wishing tree.

For many years Ming and his grandmother enjoyed this yearly custom, until, when Ming was nine, his wish was not fulfilled and his grndmother's sickness does not get better. She dies. The rest of the story deals with grief resolution in a positive, helpful way.

Each two page spread is beautiful with an edge-to-edge illustration on one side and the text is usually within a pale-colored box that looks like paper. The same one inch Chinese patterns found on the endpapers are "seals" at the bottom of the page.

Fantastic explanation in the Author's Note at the end of the book.

Included are directions for making your own Ng Bo Dip and a black and white WISHING PAPER page to photocopy and use as the five pages.

Perfect addition to my 4th grade China study!

Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories - Audrey Penn

Illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson
Tanglewood Publishing, 2009
$16.95
32 pages
Endpapers: Purple

I picked this book up just to glance through it, to read it quickly, but with no intentions of blogging about it. However, I really enjoyed it. I liked the illustrations. I liked the story. I liked that it talked about making memories, but avoided spirituality. There's certainly a place for books like this.

When Chester Raccoon discovers that his friend Skiddil Squirrel has died, his mother helps him understand what that means, and helps him relieve memories of their time together, creating a happy spot in his mind about his friend. And when they travel to the place where Chester and Skiddil always played, they are accompanied by others who knew the squirrel. There's even a cool, happy ending that really cements the idea of memories and how important they are: Skiddil had collected a cache of acorns and buried them. However, when it came to finding them again, even with his friends helping, they could not be found. But Chester and his mom find a stand of new oak trees, and know this was the hiding place.

The illustrations cover the entire page, are very detailed and colorful and....happy.

Okay, I really like this book.

The Heart and the Bottle - Oliver Jeffers

Philomel Books/Penguin Group, 2010
$17.99
32 pages of THICK cardstock
For: well....great for adults.....
Endpapers: Blue-line drawings of the young girl and her father

The very first illustration is of a little girls and her father in the forest. The little girl has stick legs and the flowers have no leaves. I was reminded immediately of The Great Paper Caper and I was right - this is the same author and illustrator. The father always wears pants, so you can't see his stick legs.

The little girl is an explorer, a questioner, nurtured and guided by her dad. In the evening he sits in his chair by the window and they discuss the "curiosities of the world." Then, one day the chair is empty. The little girl feels she needs to protect her heart so she puts it in a bottle around her neck. Her joy, her curiousity about the world is gone. As her life continues, the bottle gets bulkier and more awkward, but when she tries to take her heart out of the bottle, she cannot get it out. It takes another curious, questioning little girl to help her....and the book ends with her sitting, as an adult, in the empty chair with a huge pile of books beside her.

Grief is a simple thing. It's not complicated at all. It just.......is.

There's a video on the internet of Oliver Jeffers. He's from Northern Ireland with the adorable accent to prove it. I find his story interesting, clever, and beautifully illustrated. It grew on me more and more with each reading. But I'm not sure how or if a very young child would understand it.....

There's a difference between Heart and the Bottle and Heart IN the Bottle. An interesting discussion-in-my-head.

Oliver at the Window - Elizabeth Shreeve

Illustrated by Candice Hartsough McDonald
Front Street, 2009
$16.95
For: preschoolers, young kids, but it's about divorce, so I'd be careful about getting little kids nervous or upset
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Red

Oliver's parents have separated, and now he has two homes and a new preschool to go to. At first he just looks out the window, depressed, hanging on tightly to his stuffed lion. There are lots of books and things to do at Redbird School, but he has no interest. But gradually, as the days pass, he begins to spend less time at the window and more time drawing and playing. He starts spending less and less time staring out the window, but still alwys keeps his trusty lion with him. It's good to note that his parents never let him down, they take turns coming to pick him up and always love him.

One day, after he is fully integrated into the class and much of his grief has passed, a new girl comes to the school that was in the same state he wasw in upon his own arrival. He befriends her and helps her work things out.

Sweet, simple full-page illustrations that help tell the story.

Be careful - I wouldn't want to scare young kids into thinking this could happen to them - it reminds me of Elizabeth Partridge's book about her cat that died , but this isn't quite so sad.....