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coming of age, fairy tales, middle grade

Middle Grade Must-Read: The Counterclockwise Heart

Seth Harris

The Counterclockwise Heart (Algonquin Young Readers)
Written by Brian Farrey

While I am not the biggest fan of fantasy literature, I always enjoy a thought-provoking book, especially one where children are encouraged to think outside the boundaries they’ve had set around them. Most popular kids’ lit I see seems to pander, and it makes sense that children would be pulled toward familiar brands and names. However, I think this book is well worth your effort to present as a read-aloud or for those voracious readers who can’t get enough. 

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afro-caribbean, author spotlight, culture, social-emotional

Author Spotlight: Tami Charles

Seth Harris

Like many of you, Tami Charles was once a public school teacher. It was a natural fit, as he grew up with a mother who was a teacher, vice-principal, and even principal. So it’s also no surprise that Charles is an excellent writer with parents who encouraged learning and set the bar high. In her younger days, show business seemed possible as she was part of an all-girls singing group that even performed on BET. But ultimately, teaching kids won out, and she spent many years as a teacher, honing her craft and listening to the children she taught. As a woman of Afro-Caribbean descent, that cultural background has also profoundly affected her work. She debuted with a middle-grade book and still writes those texts, but here I will focus on her picture book work. Charles currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and son and loves Caribbean food, as seen in one of the books below.

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arabic, book list, culture, muslim

Book List: Muslim Lives

Seth Harris

Mommy’s Khimar (Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Written by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Illustrated by Ebony Glenn

For ages: 4-8
This lovely text is all about finding beauty in your culture. The young girl who narrates the tale loves her headscarf or khimar. For our young friend, the scarf can be many things: a bird’s wings, a queen’s cloak, and a superhero’s cape. The family is presented as Black, and there are rich details about the girl’s braided hair and the scent of coconut oil and cocoa butter that will connect with children who have these sensory experiences in their lives. The book even addresses people outside the Muslim community, like a Christian grandmother on her mom’s side. She loves her sweet granddaughter even though they practice different belief systems. There’s so much joy and warmth in this text I expect most readers will be unable to resist a smile.

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family, fantasy, science, social-emotional

Spotlight – Unicorns Are The Worst/The Great Whipplethorpe Bug Collection

Seth Harris

Unicorns Are The Worst (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Written & Illustrated by Alex Willan

For ages: 3-7
It’s easy to judge but harder to look at others with empathy. That’s a lesson the goblin narrator of this tale learns. He is sick of unicorns for many reasons, mainly because he feels that other magical creatures are ignored. The goblin also dislikes all the glitter the unicorns are sprinkling everywhere. He spends so much time talking to the reader about the unicorns he doesn’t spot the other magical creature stalking him. 

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climate collapse, middle grade, science, weather

Middle Grade Must-Reads – The Story of More

Seth Harris

The Story of More (Adapted for Young Adults) (Delacorte Press)
By Hope Jahren

If you are an older Millennial like myself, you must come to terms with the idea that this planet is not ours. A solid argument can be made that the older generations clung to their positions of power for too long, resulting in a complete imbalance. Octogenarians run the American government, and activism is quickly becoming the realm of the young people. As a teacher, you must realize your crucial role in this dynamic. Despite not having the immediate power to upend the broken society crushing us, our students, their parents, etc., you must provide the youth with knowledge. You are arming them to face the devastation of climate collapse on this world in the hopes that, sometime after you are long gone, they create that better world of which we dream.

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author spotlight, humor, social-emotional

Author Spotlight – Dan Santat

Seth Harris

With over 100 children’s books to his name, Dan Santat is one of the biggest names in the business. When not writing and illustrating his own, he is a regular collaborator with other author’s providing his stylish illustrations for their titles. Born in 1975 to Thai immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, Santat was raised in California. He studied microbiology at the University of California in San Diego but entered the Art Center College of Design immediately after that. While there, he befriended Peter Brown, author & illustrator of The Wild Robot. 

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culture, folktales

Book List: American Folktales

Seth Harris

Jackrabbit McCabe and the Electric Telegraph (Schwartz & Wade)
Written by Lucy Margaret Rozier
Illustrated by Leo Espinosa

For ages: 4-8
Jackrabbit McCabe is the fastest person in Windy Flats and has become a town icon. One of his essential tasks in the community is delivering messages quickly and across long distances. Unfortunately, that is endangered when the new-fangled electric telegraph comes to town. The illustrations here are top-notch, resembling retro Disney animation from the 1950s. They are partnered with a story that touches on the ever-present fear in modern life of workers losing their jobs because of expanding technology. It also introduces children to the beginnings of what would become the telecom industry. It could provide a great start to an Industrial Revolution unit.

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history, middle grade

Middle Grade Must-Read: Catch You Later, Traitor

Seth Harris

Catch You Later, Traitor (Algonquin Young Readers)
Written by Avi

The Second Red Scare (1947-1957) is a period of American history not often addressed with our younger students. As the political climate in the United States becomes increasingly reactionary (one look at today’s headlines shows the horror), we must inform our students about times in America’s past when people’s political beliefs were used to harm them. The tradition in the United States in times of political strife is for most of the brutality to be visited upon Leftists’ heads. This was no more apparent than during the McCarthy era when people lost jobs and were even sent to prison simply for holding a political belief supportive of Communism. 

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art, community, social-emotional

Spotlight – How to Spot an Artist/Making a Great Exhibition

Seth Harris

How To Spot an Artist (Prestel Junior)
Written & Illustrated by Danielle Krysa

For ages: 4-9
They don’t get much better than this. Using a collection of wonderfully diverse artistic techniques, readers get a perfect explanation of who an artist can be. The answer is everyone. Author Danielle Krysa begins by taking readers through the ways artists can look, being big or little, young or old. Readers are shown various artistic mediums, and a big emphasis is on glitter, meaning an entire page is devoted to it. A warning about art bullies is also given, those voices that tell you that your work is no good and that you can’t get better. The solution to dealing with an art bully is to make more art.

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author spotlight, black history, fairy tales

Author Spotlight – Jerry Pinkney

Seth Harris

On October 20th, 2021, the world lost a fantastic children’s author & illustrator. Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia in 1939, the middle child out of five. Dyslexia plagued him in school, so he found drawing to be a comforting escape from the confusion of reading. As a teen, he continued to hone his artistic skills while working other jobs and eventually caught the eye of cartoonist John Liney who mentored Pinkney. After art school and marriage, Pinkney got a job making art for greeting cards. In 1960, the young artist illustrated his first children’s book, retelling the African Anansi stories. In 1980, he won his first award for children’s book illustration, and by 2010 Pinkney won his first and only Caldecott Medal for The Lion and The Mouse.

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