Your Neighborhood Librarian Recommends

A group of 3rd graders were learning about holidays around the world. I taught them about Christmas crackers in England (and showed them the Queen's message, they thought that was cool). I also showed them the Christmas tree ornament of a spider that I have on my tree each year. They general consensus is that spiders are for Halloween NOT Christmas. Not so, I tell them and we read the Spider's Gift. The story is of a poor family that doesn't have enough money for Christmas presents but the youngest girl convinces them they should still have a tree. They search for a perfect one and decorate it with homemade ornaments (and it turns out they have enough money for a few Christmasy things). Just before Christmas the mother discovers baby spiders hatching in the tree and wants to throw it outside. The youngest convinces her to have mercy on the spiders and let them stay until Christmas.  The story ends when they return from church on Christmas Eve night and discover the spiders

I can barely contain my joy about my 2nd grader reading the original American Girl books. I would recommend them for 1st to 5th grade. 1st graders will be interested but may need help. 2nd-4th is the real perfect age. I love the new girls too especially Grace and Rebecca.

At least a few times a year I have a teacher or parent come to me asking for a book about death. Usually it is about a pet. These are my go- to books: I love "the Fall of Freddie the Leaf" for a student who is experiencing a loss. "What is Death" is good for a general question and "When Dinosaurs Die" is valuable because it goes pretty in-depth about how different people process death, cultural practices, and feelings someone might have when they lose someone close to them. I am very happy to see a new book "Piggy in Heaven" about the death of a guinea pig. Usually books about pets dying are about cats or dogs and this fills a void in our collection. I know my students will appreciate it's soothing message and find comfort that we may meet our pets again one day.

Wow, just wow. This story is heartbreaking. It is also uplifting and funny and I am really glad I get to meet this author in a few weeks. This is an auto-biography in graphic novel form. I read it in a few hours this weekend. Jarrett, a very talented artist from a young age, tells his story of growing up with a heroin addicted mother before being raised by his grandparents. Because he is about my age and grew up in the Northeast a lot of his childhood is familiar to me (he gets a cone-head sundae from Friendly's at one point-- that was my favorite!). Also, his grandfather is Polish and Catholic (my grandmother was Ukrainian and Catholic) so our grandparents have a lot of similarities too. For high school age and up, due to the language and adult nature of the problems in the book. Middle School maybe with adult help to understand the language and issues Jarrett went through.

If you have a pre-teen girl in your life that wants a sweet (pun intended) middle-grade fiction book with all of the elements that make the genre great, school drama, identity, crushes- this is for you. The characters and plot have substance too. It is interesting enough for grown ups to read along. We listened to this in the car as an audiobook and everyone liked it a lot.

Happy Hanukkah to my friends who celebrate. I love this book by Lemony Snicket. My kids laugh and laugh with our dear screaming latke protagonist. And then they eat latkes 😋