psocoptera

Towers Falling, Jewell Parker Rhodes, MCBA book. I thought this was going to be the historical-fiction treatment for 9/11 but it's actually about a contemporary (2016) 5th grader who's never heard of 9/11 learning about it, thus being a teaching vehicle for *your* 5th grader who's never heard of it to learn about it. I didn't like this at all; I thought it was forced and heavy-handed and didactic, and the writing was choppy. But god knows I don't want to talk to my kids about 9/11 but it's important cultural context for so much shit in the US since then, so respect to Rhodes for stepping up to do something about that. I can only assume it'll become a staple in schools the way Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes was for people my age. I think it'll work, for that purpose: it hits all the points and POVs it needs to and doesn't gloss over things kids might hear about elsewhere. I was reading along like "how far is Rhodes going to go with this" and the answer was all the way to the jumpers, which I don't know that I would have had the resolve to include, if I had been trying to tackle this.

What Elephants Know, Eric Dinerstein. A boy in late-20th-century Nepal (which I feel *ancient* saying, but "pre-satellite", which this felt like, in terms of connectivity/remoteness, really is a different historical period than post-satellite. Anyways, sometime during the reign of King Birendra, probably 70s or 80s) is raised by the head of the king's elephant stable and has various experiences with his fellow elephant handlers, a white teacher/naturalist, and others. A fast, enjoyable read, and the (white) author apparently did biology fieldwork in Nepal for a number of years in the 70s and 80s and so may have some idea of what he's talking about. Content note for animal harm. I thought Junie had read this one but it turns out she hasn't (she became reluctant when it opened with a tiger hunt, although no tigers end up harmed, and also was put off by the male main character), so I'm actually ahead of her now. Not to claim that as an accomplishment - I am an adult veteran of many college-level literature classes and she's a nine-year-old - but just to note where we are. Anyways, I've hit five, so I'm going to start ranking them:

A Night Divided
Curious World of Calpurnia Tate
Wolf Hollow
What Elephants Know
Raymie Nightingale

Although I may re-rank as we go. None of them have been *bad*; I guess I would rank them all above No Award, if that was a thing here, which it is not.

Junie is like three books ahead of me on MCBA reading, probably because I'm reading more other things. But I've now finished a second one! Wolf Hollow, Lauren Wolk, historical drama, 2017 Newbery Honor (lost to Girl Who Drank the Moon). A girl in rural WWII-era Pennsylvania, a bully, and a shellshocked homeless WWI veteran. I liked it - I thought it had some really powerful moments, and it made me cry - but it also seemed like A Lot for late-elementary readers. Although when I tried to see how Junie felt about that she pointed out that she's read all the Harry Potter books, and I guess maybe the realistic fiction/fantasy fiction distinction seems more dramatic to me than to her. Anyways, major content warnings for animal harm, child harm, and child death (and as always let me know if you'd like more detail).

The Raven and the Reindeer, T. Kingfisher who is Ursula Vernon, 2016. A nifty YA novelization of "The Snow Queen" fairytale, with shapeshifting, and the having-to-overcome-feeling-stupid part of being a hero, and lesbians, and realizations about dangling after jerkboys. Recommended, especially if you like Fire and Hemlock.

A Closed And Common Orbit, Becky Chambers, 2016. Sort-of sequel to Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, although most of the characters from that aren't in this one. This one is more serious and intense, grapples SFnally with some not-unfamiliar brain stuff? Also I criiiiied so much oh my gosh, really hit some of my buttons for that. Recommended but while I think you *could* read them in either order, this one definitely spoils some stuff that happens in Long Way so my suggestion is to read them in publication order.

The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly, 2016. Sequel to Evolution of etc. Kelly has answered my objection about the previous book and laid out a path by which Callie might actually escape and make it to college! Really hoping we get a third one of these with some bigger time jumps so we can see her do it. Are series that start with a juvenile protagonist and follow them all the way into adulthood rarer now than they used to be? I mean, there's Harry Potter, but I feel like stuff like, oh, all the big classic old timey girls series, Anne and Little House and Betsy/Tacy, and then the fantasy classics like Dragonsong and Alanna, there's this whole thing where the content (and, especially in the older series, the complexity of the writing), "grows up" along with the characters. I don't know whether someone could sell a series like that today - specifically I don't know whether Kelly might have. I guess there's Princess Diaries, hrm.

The Case of the Invisible Dog and The Case of the Secret Scribbler, E.W. Hildick, illustrated by Lisl Weil. We've finally caught up to McGurks I remember! Not all or even most of the details - I think I would have read these in like 1984, and never re-read them past elementary school - but there's bits where I'm like "oh yeeeah, this is familiar." Invisible Dog is really charming, and Secret Scribbler involves an Actual Crime TM!

The Storyteller, Evan Turk, picture book, 2016. I don't follow the Caldecott (so no idea what they've been awarding) but I could see this making the list. Really neat story about storytelling, with nested framing stories. Junie was intrigued and wanted to discuss further, which she rarely does about her reading!

Zoom, Istvan Banyai. Q was fascinated by this wordless picture book in which steady "zooming out" reveals scenes to be pictures cleverly inset in other scenes. After we went through together he spent a long time flipping back and forth through the pages "zooming".