The women in Brazen are unconventional, brave, and determined. Readers are introduced to a diverse array of interesting and feisty characters. The tales in the book span both the globe and history. The women in the stories are from all backgrounds and fields. A common thread is that the women defy social norms, follow their dreams, and express their indomitable selves. Brazen tells the heroes tales through captivating drawings and playful writing. Learn about someone new and be inspired through these tales!
Archives: Book Reviews
Woven in Moonlight Isabel Ibañez
A rich fantasy tale, Woven in Moonlight wraps the reader in the suspense full of intrigue, magic and revolution. Ximena is a young girl who can weave moonlight into magic thread and tapestries. She is also a decoy for the royal condesa of a people who have been pushed to the margins of their kingdom by a rival people group. Ximena as condesa enters the rival kingdom as a spy in order to help overthrow the rivals from within. Her prejudices about her enemies are challenged the more time she spends inside the castle by a variety of characters–a kind medicine man, the intelligent princesa, and a masked bandit. In a story about revolution, loyalty, power as well as love and friendship, we learn through Ximena how we ourselves can change as our prejudices shift and fall away in the face of learning people’s true character and history.
Music for Tigers
Louisa, a passionate middle school violinist, is sent to the Tasmanian forest (from Canada) to live with her uncle, a naturalist. Despite the disruption to her practice schedule, she discovers the joy learning about new species and even makes a new friend. Species extinction and deforestation are the backdrop to Louisa’s participation in a family secret that also begins to heal her. Fascinating and full of compassion, this book is a joy.
The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren
Terrific simple introduction to climate change that explains clearly how we got to this point in various industries — Food (agriculture, meat production, fishing), Energy, and Earth (melting ice, rising waters, warming air). Hope Jahren (Lab Girl) is a scientist/professor and this is the content of her most frequently taught class; it’s fact based, non emotional clarity about our world as it is currently run. The information is deeply disturbing, but she doesn’t leave it there. She also issues a call to arms: “Having hope requires courage..it is precisely because no single solution will save us that everything we do matters. Every meal we eat, every mile we travel, and every dollar we spend presents us with a choice between using more energy than we did last time or less. You have power. How will you use it? Now is a time to imagine a world in alighnment with our ideals…”
All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir Manifesto
This memoir manifesto is a must read. George M. Johnson takes us through growing up as a Black Queer boy and how different moments and people in his young life shaped who he is today. George shares very intimate moments of this life; from traumas he experienced, his first time having sex and to his deep relationship with his grandmother. He discusses his Black and Queer identities and how in some situations he minimized aspects of them. George’s candidness, passion and honesty create a very thought provoking and engaging read.
A Blade So Black
A thrilling adventure into a re-imagined Wonderland. Shortly after her dad passed, Alice was pulled into a whole new world where dark creatures called Nightmares (from Wonderland) can creep into our world and wreak havoc. Now she’s a dreamwalker, a skilled warrior, trained to defeat the Nightmares before they ever cross to our world. Alice struggles balancing her new role with the rest of her life. She still has classes, friends and her mom to keep in the balance. As Alice is completing her dreamwalker training she’s unexpectedly pulled into the middle of a terrible and dangerous scheme that might just destroy both of her worlds.
Eagle Huntress: The True Story of the Girl who Soared Beyond Expectations
Aisholpan Nurgaiv’s triumph as the first female winner of the Mongolian eagle hunting competition in 2014 is shared with the world in an award winning movie called Eagle Huntress in 2016. Now she gets to tell her own story in her own words in this book! Aisholpan speaks in a simple yet powerful way. She starts with the day before she was born and ends with her meeting the 7 girls she inspired to compete in the eagle hunting competition in 2017. She describes how she became interested in learning the male sport of Eagle Hunting, how she learned how to care and train an eagle. She also shares her feelings and impressions from the experiences recorded in the film and the new experiences she has as a nomadic tribeperson at film festivals. Aimed at 3rd – 7th grade, but would also be a compelling family read aloud and will appeal to naturalists of all ages. Compelling especially when describing a traditional Kazakh life.
This book is going to be published in May of 2020.
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (link to the Hoopla ebook edition–available now)
This thrilling, imaginative addition to the Rick Riordan Presents series introduces readers to Tristan. He wants to be as good a boxer as his elders, but still needs to perfect his moves. Haunted by the tragic loss of his best friend, Tristan’s life takes a change for the bizarre when he finds himself in the MidPass, a world populated with African American folk heroes and West African Gods. He must join forces with John Henry, Brer Rabbit, the hilarious scene-stealing Gum Baby, and others (including trickster Anansi) to, you know, stop the world from ending. Fast, funny, and action-packed (and with a sequel on the horizon), Tristan Strong deservedly won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award. This epic story leaves the reader breathless.
Peggy’s Letters
Fans of Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life, know that people in London, England commonly lost their homes to bombings during World War II. But if someone did lose their home this way, what was life after that like?
In the first few pages of Peggy’s Letters, while in line at the butcher shop to get sausages with their rations, ten-year-old Peggy’s home is demolished by a bomb. Though thankfully, her mother, baby brother and she are safe, they no longer have a home. And Peggy’s precious biscuit (cookie) tin filled with letter to her father is lost to the rubble. All her family has now is a pram (stroller), sausages and each other. In one of Tumblebook’s great read-alouds, join Peggy in navigating her new normal living at her gruff grandad’s home and attending a new school. The British voice actor providing audio helps the reader become even more immersed in the story. Don’t miss out!
Follow this video tutorial on how to access free Tumblebooks! And click here to follow instructions on downloading and using the Tumblebook app!
Name That Text Type!: What Is Poetry?
Hello, April! National Poetry Month has arrived! Time to brush up on or learn for the first time what poetry is, what poems can be about (hint: anything you want!), where we can find them, and what the guidelines are for writing different types of poems (like concrete, limerick, haiku, acrostic and more)! Learn what stressed syllables are (hint: they aren’t anxious), the difference between rhythm and rhyme, and metaphor and simile!
Check it out on Hoopla here. It’s a Bonus Borrow, and won’t count as one of your 4 monthly borrows!
Then engage with Ms. Sally’s Family Poetry Jam activities! We’d love to see the poems you come up with!