Dalmartian by Lucy Ruth Cummins

 Three green-spotted and green-eared white dogs investigate a yard one dark summer night. When they return to their space ship in a hurry, one is left behind. Stephen, a white boy with brown hair invites the "guest" in and the two begin to negotiate their new relationship. Stephen expects certain things of his dog-shaped visitor, but his new friend is very firm in standing his ground, especially when it comes to doing his "business" out in the park!

When the guest's friends return to pick him up, he goes with them, but then realizes he misses his new home and his new friend and returns, much to Stephen's delight. This is a simple story, with understated illustrations in Cummins' simple style, but charming nonetheless. There are some thoughtful parallels to be drawn between Stephen's expectations and judging by appearances - although the guest looks like a dog, he very clearly is not one - as well as the humor of new dog owners figuring out who is in charge! I'm a little disappointed Cummins chose to give the dog-alien he/him pronouns, one would think an alien wouldn't necessarily stick to a gender binary.

Verdict: Cummins' work has a timeless, classic feel and this is a gently humorous story that will make a fun addition to outer space and dog storytimes.

ISBN: 9781665911955; Published May 2024 by Atheneum; Galley provided by publisher; Purchased for the library

Hawk Mother; Hawk Mother returns by Kara Hagedorn

 I read the first title, about a rehabilitated hawk who raises chickens, some years ago and felt rather meh about it. However, I reread it when I read the new sequel and I enjoyed the second story more.

In the first book, Hawk Mother, the author tells the story of Sunshine, a red-tailed hawk who was permanently injured when she was shot. Unable to be returned to the wild, she became Hagedorn's charge and the two bonded somewhat, although Hagedorn made an effort to allow Sunshine to be as wild as possible. For seven years, Sunshine builds a nest and lays eggs, but they never hatch since they are not fertilized. Hagedorn tries having Sunshine incubate chicken eggs and she successfully hatches them and raises them, even though they are different species and chicks behave very differently from hawks. Hagedorn ends the story with an inspirational view of Sunshine's life and some information about hawks and rehabilitation.

I felt the writing in the first book was a little clunky and there didn't really seem to be any point to having a hawk raise chicks - there wasn't a lot of information about red-tailed hawks in the wild. So I was pleased to see that the second book was, in my opinion, a big improvement on the first.

In Hawk Mother Returns, Sunshine the hawk is called upon to incubate eggs again - this time hawk eggs. After a brief recap of Sunshine's story, Hagedorn jumps right into bringing in the eggs, which turn out to be from a red-shouldered, not a red-tailed hawk, and Sunshine's careful raising of the chicks. She follows them through hatching to fledging, and eventually they become independent and return to the wild. A note at the end follows up the story of the fledglings and more information about Sunshine's story. There's a brief page of information about hawks in general and red-tailed hawks in particular and a glossary.

My only caveat for the second book is that there's still a certain amount of anthropomorphism as the author talks about what she thinks Sunshine is thinking/feeling. However, despite this, it's a good overview of the how hawks are raised and cared for by their parents and an interesting look at a common but often vilified and ignored local animal.

Verdict: I'm looking for more easy animal books that feature local animals and this is a perfect fit, with a story kids can follow and lots of integrated information about red-tailed hawks which are common in our area. I personally feel the first book isn't really necessary, but it is available in hardcover and paperback and there are plenty of kids and adults who like more sentimental stories of animals.

Hawk Mother
ISBN: 9781970039078; This edition published May 2024 by Web of Life; Review copy provided by publisher

Hawk Mother Returns (with Marlo Garnsworthy)
ISBN: 9781970039085; Published May 2024 by Web of Life; Review copy provided by publisher

Browsing the beginning chapter books: Silver Pony Ranch: Sparkling Jewel by D. L. Green, illustrated by Emily Wallis

Genre: Horse fiction

Protagonists: Female, White

Reading Level: O; 400

Series: Two titles

Originally reviewed in 2016

Review: There are school visit books and there are Barbie books. School visit books are titles I buy, recommend personally, and basically consider worthy of taking on school visits. They're not necessarily all award-winning literature - I like to recommend fun chapter books, cute and gross nonfiction, and all the wide variety of books that makes a library welcoming to all readers.

Then there are Barbie books. I buy a lot of them. They circulate like crazy. They are what the patrons want and I am here to serve my community, not my own tastes and ideas. But I don't sit down and recommend individual Barbie books to kids - I just point them to the tub.

This new Branches series is a Barbie book.

Tori and Miranda are visiting their grandmother's ranch for the summer. Miranda is crazy about the dogs while Tori is obsessed with the ponies. Gran has a new pony, Jewel, who is quite a handful and Tori can't wait to ride her! But Gran says it's not safe. Tori (and Miranda) constantly break the rules, let Jewel out of her stall (Tori leaves the stall unlocked twice) whine when they don't get their way, go out at night to search for a puppy after Gran tells them to stay in, etc. In short, I wanted to smack them.

The cover and interior black and white illustrations are very 90s. There are several inaccuracies in the art - the dog, Lady, is described as a collie but pictured as a sheepdog. After Tori is told to stay away from Jewel, because she might kick, she sneaks into the stall and is shown braiding Jewel's tail. Gran says she's disappointed she disobeyed her, but proud that she's tamed Jewel and then lets her ride the pony. I don't know much about horses but this strikes me as dicey, to say the least.

So, why on earth would you buy something like this? Well, it's pure wish-fulfillment for horse-crazy kids. The little squabbles and fusses of the girls make it feel more realistic and a seven year old girl who loves horses and has probably never had more than a pony ride at the fair is not going to be critical. She's just going to enjoy imagining herself riding the spirited Jewel.

Verdict: Is this great literature? Heck, no. It's not even particularly good literature. But will kids enjoy reading it? Yep, absolutely. I read plenty of trashy books myself. It's a perfectly good "Barbie book" and as such I'll be purchasing the whole series.

Revisited: These two titles are still in print (in paperback) and still popular. Despite the perception that there are endless "girl and pony" books, there actually are not that many, certainly not at this level. Unless you've managed to find an alternative I'm not aware of, I do still recommend adding them to your beginning chapter collection.

ISBN: 9780545797658; Published 2015 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This week at the library: Last week of April and staff development day

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family Storytime
• 5K outreach storytimes
• Teens Make It
• We Explore Nature
• Lakeland Field Trip
• Project Explore
• Family Storytime
• Sewing Workshop

Meetings, Outreach, etc.

• Connecting Wisconsin Libraries meeting
• Staff Development Day

Notes

• We closed on Friday for our staff development. We have an all-staff meeting, review summer reading and new policies and procedures, and have lunch together. This year our training was active shooter training from the local police department and then in the afternoon we toured city facilities.

The bravest warrior in Nefaria by Adi Alsaid

Bobert Bougainvillea is invisible. He lives in the country of Nefaria and no matter how he tries to make friends at school, in between dodging the evil schemes that proliferate in his country, everyone seems to forget about him instantly and ignore him constantly. So when he meets two kids planning to try out the supposedly cursed gumball machine in the town square, two kids who, even though they think he's a new kid are willing to include him, he happily goes along with them. And is promptly cursed - and this time he's not just invisible, he's been completely forgotten by everyone, including his parents. Luckily, or unluckily, he's the final part of evil wizard Matt's scheme and instead of being trapped for endless years he, and all the other cursed kids, are transported to Matt's castle. There they become part of his scheme to take over the kingdom and Matt is helped, much to Bobert's shock, by the country's greatest warrior, Imogene Petunias. Matt has made her an offer she can't (or won't) refuse and it seems that there's no one to help Bobert and the other kids. But Bobert won't give up - finding his courage for the first time, he makes repeated efforts to escape, despite the apathy and eventual antagonism of many of the other prisoners, and to his surprise finds himself aided by his two new friends, Candelabra and Stanbert.

In the end, the Bobert discovers he has been lacking not visibility, but the courage to speak up and make the choice to connect with others and once he determines to shape his own destiny, he finds plenty of friends willing to help him. The kingdom is saved and Petunias redeems herself at the end, acknowledging Bobert as the truly brave warrior of the kingdom, as he is willing to risk everything to break the curse on the children.

 There are many examples of authors moving between audiences with more or less success. Adi Alsaid is a fairly popular young adult novelist and this is his first middle grade novel. However, like many authors stepping "down" in their audience, he falls into a familiar trope of writing a lengthy, and very silly, fantasy novel with a heavily didactic aspect. From the goofy names and ridiculous characters to the constant asides passing on "wisdom" to the reader, and finishing with the rather trite realization that Bobert was never invisible, he just needed to put himself out there to make friends, this hits pretty much every stereotype of "light fantasy" for young readers. This is not to say that no kids will enjoy this - plenty of kids enjoy silly stories and they will giggle and groan over the jokes about goat poop and Matt's lack of cleanliness, while happily enjoying the thought of friendship saving the day.

Verdict: Lengthy, silly fantasies do not do well in my library - if you have fans of this genre, this is a perfectly acceptable addition, but it does not stand out from the genre and is not an essential purchase.

ISBN: 9781665927758; Published May 2023 by Aladdin; Galley provided by publisher/Netgalley

When forests burn: The story of wildfire in America by Albert Marrin

 This timely and fascinating book is an essential purchase for all libraries that serve a middle grade audience.

Marrin starts the story of wildfires in America, especially North America, with a general history and scientific explanation of fire and its role in pre-historic America. He moves into how indigenous peoples were using fire when early colonists arrived and began to take over the land. Weaving the story of forests and settlers together, Marrin shows how fire played a part in the colonization of America, explores the attitudes of Westerners towards natural resources, and how this gradually began to change the landscape, along with the devastation of diseases they brought and their profligate use of fire to clear land for settlement. This segues into the story of the lumbering industry which led to major firestorms, not only familiar ones like the Great Chicago Fire, but lesser-known catastrophes like the firestorm in Peshtigo, WI, at the same time period. Somewhere around 2,000 people perished in the Peshtigo fire, but few lessons were learned as similar fires in lumber towns occurred shortly afterwards. Marrin recounts the horror and massive destruction of these fires as well as explaining the economic and philosophical reasons behind the lumbering industry's practices. He continues to recount the destruction through the building of the railroads, extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and near-extinction of the bison, and the westward spread of settlement, lumbering, and industry.

A turning point occurred with the advent of John Muir, George Perkins Marsh, and Gifford Pinchot who, along with Theodore Roosevelt, were the start of the conservation movement. Marrin does not treat these men as faultless heroes. He gives a nuanced portrait of their role in early conservation, including their different views of government, the corruption of trusts and wealthy businesses they fought against, and the exclusion of women, African-Americans, and other minorities from their view of life. He also gives a clear picture of the effects on Native Americans, whose lands were confiscated and who were not only remove, but often suffered from outright genocide as these men sought to "preserve" their native lands and resources for white people alone. Notably, Marrin is the only author I've seen, writing about this period, who also notes the exclusion of disabled people and those not in perfect health, in the original recruitment of rangers. The nascent Forest Service faced a major battle in a massive fire in 1910, the Big Blowup. This was the largest fire in American history and the aftermath shaped how government, and the people, viewed the Forest Service and the approach to wildfires for decades to come.

The last section of the book deals with the current state of wildfires and is, appropriately, titled "Bigger, Hotter, Faster." It covers the effect of climate change, the results of years of wildfire prevention methods, and current methods and equipment used in modern wildfire fighting. Marrin explores the California wildfires and the ever-expanding wildfires of 2020, using the same approach of covering a complex subject in clear, relatable language, looking at the events from multiple viewpoints and bringing in economic, political, and historical concerns. In the end, there are certainly no easy answers, but being aware of the history and facts is the first step towards solving an ever-growing problem. Marrin looks at different approaches, from controlled burning to revisiting Indigenous techniques for sustaining the land and preventing megafires, from modern technology to practical advice in the face of potential fires.

Extensive back matter, notes, sources, and an index are included.

Verdict: Although this book is packed with information, touching on history, economics, science, and more, it's a compelling read even for those who might normally balk at longer nonfiction. It's full of human stories and the always popular theme of natural disasters, as well as many opportunities for readers to consider their own history and future. Although I am located in Southern WI, this will be of interest to my teachers and students looking for the history of the lumber industry and Peshtigo, and I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 9780593121733; Published March 2024 by Alfred A. Knopf; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Browsing the beginning chapters: Stella and the night sprites: Knit-Knotters by Sam Hay, illustrated by Turine Tran

Genre: Fantasy

Protagonists: Female, white

Reading Level: 560

Series: Two titles

Originally reviewed in 2016

Review: This new Branches series shows that even something that looks "fluffy" can be both fun and well-written.

Stella is a little worried about getting new glasses - especially when her mom says she has to get a haircut too! Will anyone recognize her if she looks so different? When she stops to help a sweet but strange lady, something happens to her glasses and she starts seeing....odd things. Fairies! Soon Stella discovers where those knots in her hair are coming from and that her glasses aren't just ordinary anymore!

Simple black and white illustrations convey a feeling of sparkle and fun throughout the story, as well as illustrating Stella's moods. The fairies are dainty and sparkly, but have personalities. Stella's everyday worries, combined with the addition of a little fairy magic, make a delightful story that fairy fans will enjoy.

Verdict: This story is simple but the writing flows smoothly, the dialogue is crisp and although the story isn't particularly original it's presented in a fresh and engaging way. A great addition to my library's collection of Branches titles.

Revisited: I really liked these, but there were never more than two and they are both out of print. I'll keep them as long as they hold up.

ISBN: 9780545819985; Published 2016 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, Annual 4K party

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family Storytime (sub)
• Music to my ears (4K annual celebration)
• OPtions field trip
• Family storytime (sub)
• Library on the Go outreach (1st grade, 3 classes)
• Volunteer Fun

Meetings, Outreach, Etc.

• YS Social
• 4-H (hosting)
• City Council meeting
• Girl Scouts (hosting)
• Managers' meeting

Notes

• My school colleague, the Parent Connections Outreach Coordinator, who also does our family storytimes and some other programming, runs a big library-wide party for 4K students and their families the third Wednesday in April. This is her second time running it and she does a great job! Our main contribution, besides the space, is organizing things so she has enough time for this big program, which means my associate covers storytime for her the day before and after.
• For reasons known only to themselves, the city council meeting got moved and I was the only person available (or willing) to go. It wasn't as exciting as it sounds.
• Outreach stories - one of the 1st grade classes I visited is very "sparky" and they gave me feedback on my stories lol.
• Everyone loved Kristine Charman's Hen in the Bed and sang along vigorously.
• Oh are you awake by Bob Shea. I had just ordered this and had mixed feelings about it, but the kids said it was good. The other class I read it with was kind of confused, but it didn't go well with the doc camera I think.
• Somebody needs to do something about that monster by Doug Cenko. Picked the wrong class to read this too. One sharp-eyed youngster figured it out at the beginning, but there was a sub and this class is very rowdy anyways.
• When dinosaurs walked the earth by Sean Taylor. This was a surprise hit - I will definitely need to buy it.
• Nudi Gill by Bonnie Kelso. This was super popular, as I had expected.
• This has been a week and I worked late every day, closed three days, and FINALLY got home on Friday to find all the power out and that the company had piled all the pieces of tree that had come down on the wires in my parking spot (I do not blame them for this - it was empty and they didn't have to move them at all, they were going above and beyond! And I could just park on the street b/c it's not high summer in my tourist town. It was just One More Thing.)

The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien

 This poignant and chilling story expands the trope of "kid turned ghost" into an adventure in friendship and fear.

The story opens with the original events of 1982, when a girl named Abigail flees from her bullies to the Bellwoods and never returns. Present-day, it's tradition for 6th graders to go into the Bellwoods and "play the game." If they ring the bell on the far side of the woods, they save the town for another year from the ghost of Abigail Snooks. Bailee is eager to play - she's been ostracized by her friend Fen, who blames her for tattling to the principal about a risky plan and getting him (and most of the school) stuck in detention.

Bailee is chosen to play, along with Fen and Carmen, a girl who skipped several grades and is alternately ignored and taunted for her intelligence. They're not alone in the woods though - they're joined by new kid Noah, who's determined to find out the truth about the game and the ghost and Bailee's former friend Madison, this year's organizer of the game, and who has been acting hot and cold towards Bailee ever since the incident.

SPOILERS

It turns out that there is, indeed, a ghost in the woods - but Abigail is not the real danger. There is an ancient creature in the woods that grows stronger every year and only by ringing the bell can the kids truly save the town for another year. But what will happen the year after that, and after that as the creature grows stronger? Nothing can be trusted in the Bellwoods, but in the midst of the most dangerous, high-stakes game they've ever played, this group of kids will reveal their secrets and their darkest feelings. If they survive, they might not only save the town but find a new bond of friendship together. 

Black and white drawings and panels are scattered throughout the book, showing a diverse group of kids, a chilling representation of the creature in the woods, and the frightening events that ensue. The year's previous winner, Arlo, is addressed with they/them pronouns.

Verdict: This reminded me a little of Doll Bones, with its mixture of illustration, bildungsroman, and spooky events. It's a little slow-paced and more reflective than gory for horror fans, but it's beautifully written, includes relatable characters, and will certainly appeal to certain kids who like atmospheric, slightly creepy stories and are fluent enough to read and enjoy a full-length chapter book. I enjoyed reading it and have several kids in mind who I am eager to hand it to. I only buy a few middle grade novels at this point, because of the changing tastes and needs of my audience, but this will be one of them.

ISBN: 9781665912501; Published July 2023 by Atheneum; Galley provided by publisher; Purchased for the library

Shells... and what they hide inside by Helen Scales, illustrated by Sonia Pulido

 This is a board book, scaled down version of Scales' What a shell can tell from 2022. Simple text, giving basic information about shells, fills the board pages and a myriad of flaps can be pulled down to view shells and their interiors.

Readers will see a beach scene, with shells beneath rocks, garden scene where they can find hiding snails, and a fun variety of shells and the creatures who live in them. The penultimate page gives an option to open "glass drawers" and describe the different shells pictured both on and under the flap. The final page shows a beach scene with shells to investigate - some with creatures inside, some empty.

The text makes an effort to be both accurate and accessible to young children. One page asks readers to imagine what shells feel like, picturing a spiky murex shell, rough oyster shell, etc. There are no actual textures on the page, which is a little disconcerting though. Two lift-the-flaps explain why shells have their particular texture.

One of the best spreads shows a variety of shells on lift the flaps that kids can look at and identify the mollusk, if any, inside. The art is interesting and detailed, but general enough for a young board book audience.

The pages themselves are sturdy, but the flaps are the thickness of cardstock or very thin cardboard and there are so many  it would be difficult to reinforce them all. At least one spread has all of them opening up, instead of pulling down, and I flipped the book upside down to pre-open those.

Verdict: If you have a lift-the-flap or pop-up collection, or if you include these types of books in kits, as I do, this is a great addition to those collections. I would find it difficult to recommend for a general board book collection, especially as it's priced like a picture book, not a board book.

ISBN: 9781838667887; Published April 2024 by Phaidon; Review copy provided by publisher

Humphrey's Tiny Tales: Playful Puppy Problem by Betty G. Birney, illustrated by Priscilla Burris

Genre: Animal stories

Protagonists: Animals, male

Reading level: 500s

Series: Probably complete with 7 titles

Originally reviewed in 2016

Review: This is part of the rather odd trend of cutting chapter books down to beginning chapters. I find this pointless since, if they're trying to attract a previous fan base, those kids are unlikely to be familiar with the characters and if they're trying to build a new fan base the books are really quite close together in reading level and by the time the kids move on to the older chapter series they're likely to have lost interest. However, they are useful beginning chapter books and I've bought quite a few of them - the younger series of Hank Zipzer (Here's Hank), Judy Moody (Judy Moody and Friends) and Humphrey's Tiny Tales (Humphrey).

The original Humphrey books, about a class hamster, regularly rise and fall in popularity and seem to be as much of a staple as Beverly Cleary or Junie B. Jones.

SO, what is this book about? Humphrey is hanging out in his cage and watching the class doings with interest when he learns that the kids are going to do experiments, he's going home with Richie for the weekend and Richie is....going to do an experiment on HIM! Humphrey is very worried about this, even more so when he gets to Richie's house and discovers they have a very playful and scary new puppy. But once the experiment gets underway and Richie's uncle, the school janitor, helps Humphrey feel more at home, things seem to be going well. But when disaster strikes, only Humphrey can fix the experiment - if he can get past his fear of the puppy. What will Humphrey do?

Verdict: So, honestly I found this book to be....boring. Nothing much happened, it was rather repetitive and I kind of trudged through it. But kids who are struggling to move into chapter books will find this a good choice. The language and plot is simple so they can concentrate on their reading skills without losing track of what's happening, there's enough mild humor and silliness to keep them reading, and there are only a few, easily identifiable characters. It's a good choice for my younger book club, which has a lot of struggling readers and I'll continue adding these titles to our collection.

Revisited: Humphrey, and these simpler chapters, continue to be solid backlist titles for circulation. One thing I've found, which proves that sometimes publishers know better than me lol, is that as the years pass and the original books become "classics" there are parents eager to introduce them to their kids who really like the younger versions. Humphrey is definitely in this category and if the original books are popular and you initially missed these shorter chapters, they are well-worth purchasing, especially as this year is the 20th anniversary of the original Humphrey stories. These also are solidly in the "gentle reads" category for my patrons.

ISBN: 9780399252020; Published 2014 by G. P. Putnam/Penguin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Purchased for the library

This week at the library: I have returned (but not until after the eclipse and no, I totally didn't plan that really)

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family storytime
• 4K outreach storytimes
• We Explore Nature
• Kids/Teen Dungeons and Dragons
• Family Storytime
• Fact Finders
• Teen Advisory Board

Meetings, outreach, etc.

• National Library Week
• 4-H (hosting)
• Great Give-Back (sports teams volunteer day)

Notes

• I returned to work on Wednesday the 10th, not only missing the eclipse, but also prevailing on my long-suffering associate to cover Dungeons and Dragons for me that evening, although she didn't end up needing to since only 3 kids showed. This week is very busy at school apparently. I only had one kid at Fact Finders, but they're a favorite of mine and I like hanging out with them, so it's cool.
• I whipped through a lot of random stuff left on my desk and then immediately tackled the first steps in prepping for summer. I am dumping all the info into Canva templates and then my long-suffering associate is doing all the formatting.

One day this tree will fall by Leslie Barnard Booth, illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman

 It's fitting that I read this beautiful picture book, celebrating the life of a tree and biodiversity, at the same time as I was reading Albert Marrin's new narrative nonfiction When Forests Burn about the history of wildfires. I'm also trying (somewhat) to restrain myself from yelling at people who are getting out their leaf blowers to remove any last vestige of leaves or dead plants that they somehow missed in the initial scouring in the fall. Ahem.

The story opens with a twisted, broken pine, covered in moss and fungi. "One day this tree will fall and this story will end. Won't it?" First, we have to go back to the beginning of the story, following the tree from seed to sprout, from sapling to full growth over the period of many, many years.

As the tree matures, it is damaged by fire and drought, but survives and provides a home to numerous wildlife from insects to mammals. But finally, it does fall. But that's not the end of the story. Over many more years to come, the fallen tree provides a home for animals, nutrients for fungi and moss, and a source of food for various bugs that continue the process of decomposition until finally, the fallen tree's story begins again - as a soft, nurturing place for a new seed to sprout and the cycle to begin again.

Textured illustrations show a variety of natural colors, from greens and browns to reds and blues, in the journey of the great tree. Back matter includes an in-depth look at the information behind the story in the life cycle of a tree, including all the different creatures who are part of the interdependent life cycle of trees and the habitat they live in and support. A final note gives specific information about the Pacific Northwest forests which are featured in the story, a glossary, and sources.

Verdict: While not a raucous storytime read-aloud, this quiet, thoughtful story provides plenty of room for discussion and action with both kids and adults. Younger children will enjoy finding all the different creatures throughout the story and the book would pair especially well with a nature walk or storywalk where students can look for trees in different stages of their life cycle. Recommended for libraries looking for stories with a focus on nature and natural life cycles, especially those who offer or support outdoor programming.

ISBN: 9781534496965; Published March 2024 by Margaret K. McElderry; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library