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The refugee crisis around the world has been featured in the news a great deal recently and Rosemary McCarney's nonfiction picture book Where Will I Live? is a moving and important introduction for readers who still might be a bit too young to understand all the nuances of this complex and timely topic.
McCarney boils this intricate issue down to the basics with simple text beginning "...When Soldiers fight or danger comes families must pack their things and search for a new place to live." It features stirring and poignant photographs of refugee children and families all over the world--from Hungary to Rwanda, Lebanon to Greece, and beyond--who have been displaced from their homes and cities and countries and are looking for a new place to belong. In portraying the moments of sadness and dire need as well as moments of forming bonds of fellowship even in such harrowing circumstances, McCarney shows just how much human beings have in common and how the need--not just for shelter, but for community--is universal no matter where in the world someone is born.
This precursory resource on refugees is both poignant and topical, and should prove useful as an introduction to this current worldwide issue for children in kindergarten through second grade. In order to further supplement this simple nonfiction picture book with more concrete information, look for more detailed and complex resources in our children's nonfiction section.
Bernard is exhausted, but he can't find a quiet and comfortable place to sleep. He goes for a walk through the forest to find an ideal location. He encounters a number of animals who kindly offer their homes. A lily pad, a tree, or burrow might be right for those animals but not for Bernard. A small unassuming mouse offers a suggestion which piques Bernard's interest but will it be the right bed for Bear?
Clive McFarland's A Bed For Bear is a wonderful story to share with young children during the fall and winter seasons, especially before bedtime.
For PreK-2nd grade.
A review of 13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau from Mr. B at the Grandview Branch of GPL.
Here’s a novel about baseball, time travel, murder, and history. Oh, and not just regular Dan Gutman baseball and trading card time travel, but the kind based on the theory that all of life past and present is happening all at once in parallel universes. The events at 13 Hangmen Court, Boston, are triggered by the death of amateur detective Tony’s great uncle, Zio Angelo. As his 13th birthday approaches, Tony inherits Zio Angelo’s 200 year old decaying house with the stipulation he sleep in Zio Angelo’s old bedroom. The room, Tony discovers, is a portal to parallel universes.
As 13-year-old boys appear and disappear, it becomes apparent to Tony that all the boys are living in the room at the same time, but in their own universes. The 13-year old boys include Tony; his great-uncle Zio Angelo who at 13 is friends with rookie Red Sox player Ted Williams; a run-away slave on the Underground Railroad; Paul Revere’s silversmith apprentice, and others. Together, as the portal allows, they solve a 200 year old mystery, save the house from demolition by the health and safety department, and solve the murder of Zio Angelo.
This well written, well researched, multi-leveled historical adventure may not be for every 13-year-old, but those willing to tackle it will not be disappointed. Maybe someone will send a copy to Tim Burton – it’s ripe for a film version.
For readers in grades 6th- and older.
