Book Review: Big by Vashti Harrison

Big
by Vashti Harrison

 Book Cover Picture:

 

Category: Texas 2X2

 

Target Age Group: 4-11 years, preschool-4th grade

 

Format: eBook

 

Summary:A young girl grows up hearing how big she is as a good thing until one day a recess things change. She gets stuck in the swing at school and the word "big" takes on a whole new meaning filled with anti-fat connotations and people making fun of her size. She learns to stand up for herself and find her worth in herself and not others.

 

Justification: Big is the winner of the 2023 Caldecott Medal, A Coretta Scott King Award Author and Illustrator Honor book, a National Book Award finalist and a New Your times bestseller.  It is also on the 2023 Texas 2X2 book list.

 

Review: This review will examine the illustrations, the over all message and the characters. 

The illustrations in this book are done in chalk pastel colors.This lends a childlike whimsy to the drawings. Reminding the reader, and perhaps even to remind the characters, that even though the main character is "big" she is still a child.  When the words of others start to cut down and dim the light of the young girl, she turns grey, she's losing her luster and her childhood. There is a point where the girl feels confined and too big and physically pushes the boundaries of the page and takes over the span of the pages. This imagery is so moving.

 

The overall message of this story hits home for me. I have been on the bigger side most of my life. I can feel the girl's feelings and when she finally lets it all out and takes ownership for how she wants to define herself, giving back the words that hurt, is so powerful.  Spoiler Alert- An interesting thing to note, when the girl lets it all out and the words used to describe her bleed all over the page, "big" is in pink, which we associate with the "good" words. The reader can see that we choose how to define ourselves. If a reader falls more in line with the sub characters, the ones that are making fun of her size or the adults that try to make her grow up faster just because she is bigger than other kids, they can see and feel how these words cut and hurt.

 

The main character is a young girl. Unnamed. This helps the reader connect on a deeper level to the girl. This could be me, I could insert my own name into this story. The reader can feel what its like to be cut down by words. But they can also feel her eventual empowerment of standing up to her bullies. She gives the hurtful words back and finds worth in herself. Also the main character is in color where the side characters are in black and white, or just silhouettes which puts emphasis on the feelings and ultimately the empowerment of our main character.

 

I checked this book out from Libby, and read it digitally. I love the ability to check out electronic books from my library, and being able to input multiple library cards into the app to check the catalogs of everywhere at once. I typically read digital books on my phone using the Kindle or Libby apps. However, since this was a picture book, I wanted a bigger screen to simulate the size of a picture book. I would recommend reading picture books with your kids on a bigger screen so they can fully appreciate the illustrations. Once I upgraded my screen to a computer monitor, it felt like reading a physical book.

Overall, I give this powerful, beautifully illustrated book 5 out of 5 stars :O.

 

Resources

Harrison, V. ( 2023). Big (V. Harrison, Illus.) [eBook edition]. Little Brown Books for Young Readers.

 

Book Review: New Kid by Jerry Craft

New Kid
By Jerry Craft

Book Cover:

 

Category: Coretta Scott King Winner

Format: eBook

Target Age: ages 9-12 , grades 3-7. 

Summary: Jordan is in seventh grade and really wants to attend art school. His parents enroll him in a very prestigious academic school instead. He is one of the few students of color in the whole school. Every day he makes the long journey from his home in Washington Heights to Riverdale. He is caught between two very different worlds and doesn't feel like he fits in to either one.

Justification: This graphic novel has a whole list of accolades and awards. It was the winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Book Award among many others.

Review: This review will examine the plot, the appeal to an older audience, the illustrations and my experience reading this book digitally. 

This book follows Jordan, a 7th grade person of color who is starting a new school. The school is a prestigious private school with a focus in academics. He is one of only a handful of students that are not white. Through the course of the story, he tries to fit in to a world that treats him like the other. Classmates and teachers treat them like the "other" not bothering to remember their names and making racists comments. They do this without even thinking about it or realizing that something is wrong with their behavior. This makes the reader more aware of their own words and interactions that they may have with people who may be different from themselves.

While the novel is written for grades 3-7, anyone 9+ can read and  enjoy this book. The content is applicable to people of all ages. The feelings of not fitting in, or how we interact with people who are not exactly like us are concepts that even adults can relate to and learn from. The chapter titles are witty plays on older pop culture references. For example "War of Art", "The Hungry Games: Stop Mocking J" and perhaps my favorite, "The Socky Horror Picture Show" (Craft, J. 2020). This keeps even older audiences smirking and engaged. 

The illustrations are kind of busy and at times hard to follow. The main character is a budding graphic artist himself and the book shifts from panes of the graphic novel to panes of Jordan's sketches. While they do switch from all in color to black and white, it does make some of the pages busy. There is also a lot of dialogue present with multiple speech bubbles for the same person in the same pane which leads to confusion on the order to read them at times. The panes also overlap at times, with one pane blending into the next without clear separation. This also makes the action harder to follow. 

I read this on my kindle app. It was the first time I've read a graphic novel that way. You can activate comic cinema and it focuses pane by pane and has cinematic changes from pane to pane as you flip through. This was actually really cool. It made this particular novel slightly easier to follow, because only one pane was showing at a time. You can turn this feature off and just read it page by page as well. I also appreciated that this book was available through kindle unlimited. This allows more people to have access to the book without having to pay for it individually. If you choose to read this book, I would recommend using this cinematic comic feature and reading it digitally. 

Overall I give this book a 3.5 stars. The message was good and the characters were relatable but the format was just not one I connect with. 

Resources 

Craft, J. (2020). New Kid [eBook edition]. Quill Tree Books.

Book Review: Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates

Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates
Graphic novel By: Katy Farina
Based on a novel by: Ann M. Martin

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Category: Graphic Novel

Target age: 2nd- 4th grade; ages 7-9

Format: paperback

Summary: Karen loves to roller skate and do tricks! One trick went slightly wrong and she ends up breaking her wrist. While at the hospital, she runs into a classmate that also broke a bone and ended up in cast. She then goes on a mission to have her cast signed by the most interesting people to beat the signatures of her classmate. 

Justification: I selected this book due to its popularity among young grade school students. Everyone has heard of the Baby-Sitters Club and this spin off is offered in a fun easy to read format that kids enjoy.  

Review: This review will evaluate the illustrations, the characters and the overall experience.

Graphic novels are perfect for young readers who are starting to read on their own. The illustrations in this novel help to move the story along without having to read the words. There are even several panes that have no words at all. There is a lot of action and movement happening between the inner monologue of the main character that is depicted in the pictures. The artist uses movement lines that allow the reader to see movement through the drawings. How fast Karen skates or how quickly they run away is all brought to life. The drawings are also simple and uncluttered. This allows young readers to focus more on the story than busy pictures.

The characters very relatable. It centers around a young girl, Karen, whose parents are divorced. The blended family dynamic is one that many young kids can relate to. Karen is a daredevil who likes to skate and do tricks. This is also a very relatable trait for many young children. 

While the plot is simple, the relatable characters and the immersive drawings are engaging. These novels sparked my daughter’s love for reading when other books were a struggle to get through. This was the first time I picked up the graphic novel myself and we read it through together. Even though she had read it many many times before, she remained engaged through the whole story. There was a word even I had a hard time pronouncing, “bacitracin”. Instead of getting frustrated and leaving me to finish the story myself as she has done in the past, she showed me her trick… to ask “Alexa” how to pronounce it! 

I give this four out of five stars as it provides a fun engaging way to connect young readers to something their parents used to love. Nostalgia at its finest. 

Resources

Farina, K. (2020). Karen's roller skates. Baby-sitter's little sister, (2). Graphix.

 

Book Review: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

 Long Way Down
By Jason Reynolds 

Book Cover: 

 

Category: Novel in Verse

Target Age:12+

Format: Audiobook

Summary: Will’s brother, Shawn, was shot and killed. Now Will is following his rules: no crying, no snitching, revenge. Will takes his brother's gun and heads to the elevator intent on following through with rule 3. During the 60 second elevator ride on his way to get revenge, someone gets on at every floor connected to Shawn and reveals a part of the story that led to Shawn's death that may just change Will's mind on how he plans to retaliate. 

Justification:This novel is the winner of the National Book Award, Printz Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor, and Newbery Medal Honor awards. 

Review: This review will examine the effect of writing in verse, the plot, the overall message and how listening to the audiobook impacted my experience of this book.

The entire novel is written in verse. The staccato poetry adds a sense of tension that writing in prose may not have pulled off. The book takes place over the course of a 60 second elevator ride and the poetry flows at such a quick pace that the short time frame of these interactions are believable.

The main character, Will, is a young black teen. He lives by a set of rules that furthers the cycle of gun violence. 1. No crying, 2. No snitching and 3. Revenge. Rule three propels him into wanting to find the person who shot his brother and kill him. On his elevator ride, he encounters a new supporting character on each floor. Each of them shares part of their story with him, how they are connected to Shawn and their own experience with gun violence. Each character pushes the plot forward and engages the reader to race forward to find out how these new encounters are going to impact our main character. 

The overall message shows the downfall  of revenge and how following these street rules just perpetuates violence and death. The reader goes on this journey with our main character and invokes the reader to think about what they would do in Will's situation. Spoiler Alert- the novel ends on a cliffhanger. I'd love to hear how you think Will moves forward... what would you do?

I am not a huge fan of reading poetry. The way authors put the words on the page is frustrating and can make it difficult to read. Therefore, I opted to listen to this book in audiobook format. This book is narrated by the author. So going into it, I knew that the breaths and the beats would come across as intended and not as someone's interpretation. Listening to the poetry flow like a song from the author's own voice was breathtaking. It felt more impactful to hear the words rather than to try and decipher how the author wanted us to read them.

Overall I give this book at 4.5 out of 5 stars. I am stingy with my 5 stars but this book was very impactful and beautifully written.

Resources 

Reynolds, J. ( 2017). Long way down (J. Reynolds, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Simon & Schuster Audio.

Book Review List

These reviews are all completed for my grad course, INFO 5423. This running list will link you to any book reviewed for this purpose!

Pre-K- 6th Grade

Bluebonnet Award - The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernandez
Texas 2x2- Big by Vashti Harrison (eBook)
Coretta Scott King winner- New Kid by Jerry Craft (eBook)
Pura Belpre winner - Child of the Flower-Song People: Liz Jimenez, Daughter of the Nahua by Gloria Amescua
Newbery Medal book- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera (eBook)
Graphic novel - Baby-Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Roller Skates graphic novel by Katy Farina, based on a novel by Ann M. Martin
Informational or biography- The Extraordinary Life of Rosa Parks by Dr. Sheila Kanani
Fantasy - The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Disability or Differences: Boy by Phil Cummings
Poetry or Novel in Verse-  Red, White and Whole by Rajni LaRocca

7th-12th grade level
Romance- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
Novel in Verse - Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (audiobook)
Sci-Fi - Iron Widow  by Xiran Jay Zhao (audiobook)
Printz winner or Printz Honor book- All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Manga volume - Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo

 

Resources 

Amescua, G. (2021). Child of the flower-song people: Luz Jimenez, Daughter of the Nahua. (D. Tonatiuh, Illus.). Harry N. Abrams.  

Barnhill, K. (2016). The girl who drank the moon. Algonquin Young Readers.

Craft, J. (2020). New Kid [eBook edition]. Quill Tree Books. 

Cummings, P. (2017). Boy (S. Devries, Illus.). Kane Miller.

Endo, T. (2024). Spy x family (11), (T. Endo, Illus.). VIZ Media LLC.

Farina, K. (2020). Karen's roller skates. Baby-sitter's little sister, (2). Graphix. 

Harrison, V. ( 2023). Big (V. Harrison, Illus.) [eBook edition]. Little Brown Books for Young Readers.  

Hernandez, J. (2018). The dragon slayer: Folktales from Latin America (J. Hernandez, Illus.). TOON Books. 

Higuera, D. B., (2021). The last cuentista [eBook edition]. Levine Querido.

Kanani, S. (2019). The extraordinary life of Rosa Parks (N. Lawson, Illus). Kane Miller.

Reynolds, J. ( 2017). Long way down (J. Reynolds, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Simon & Schuster Audio.

Ross, R., (2023). Divine rivals.Wednesday Books.

Tahir, S., (2022). All my rage. Razorbill.

Zhao, X. J. (2021). Iron widow (R. Fu, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Penguin Teen Canada.

 

Book Review: Boy

 Boy
Written by Phil Cummings
Illustrated by Shane Devries

Book Cover Picture:

                                                 

Category: disability or differences

Target Age Group: Pre-K- 2nd grade, ages 4-8

Format: Hardback

Summary: Boy is about a young Viking boy who lives in a land where the king and his knights have an ongoing war with a dragon who has burned off all the leaves on the trees. He is deaf and thus cannot hear the fighting and ends up right in the middle of the action. He then helps the king and the dragon reach a peaceful end of the conflict.

Justification: This book is the winner of the 2017 Children's Peace Literature Award. This award is awarded by the Australian Psychological Society. They recognize children's literature that centers around peaceful conflict resolution.

Review: This review will evaluate the illustrations, the disability representation and the overall message. 

Shane Devries uses watercolor to paint the illustrations in this book.This does give it a more weathered look like is indicative of the time period of the book. The colors are also more muted vs bright primary colors. This allows the viewer to feel like they are more realistic than cartoon-y. Most of the illustrations span across the page, helping to immerse the viewer into the story. 

While I am not part of the hard of hearing community, I  do feel as though this book is not geared towards people in that community. While the main character is deaf, the story shows deafness almost from a hearing person's point of view. Phil Cummings describes sign-language as "dancing hands" rather than sign language. The towns people all find the boy weird and different but the story does not delve into how this would make the boy feel. I feel it would be hard for someone who is deaf to find themselves in this boy other than to feel like the "other", which does not seem to be the intention of this story.

The overall message, however, is to communicate. This message does come across through the story and will help all children understand the importance of communication. It is important to talk about why we're angry and come to a peaceful resolution rather than going straight to war.

I give this story a three out of five stars. While children will be immersed into the story and it has the excitement of dragons and does get its message across, the disability representation feels unbelievable and un-relatable.

Resources

Cummings, P. (2017). Boy (S. Devries, Illus.). Kane Miller.