Sharon Verbeten

By Gollie, they’re back! And fans of this easy reader series—the first won the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award—will be thrilled to reunite with the droll duo of wild-haired Bink and skinny but solemn Gollie in Bink and Gollie, Two for One.

In three slim but well-paced chapters, BFFs Bink and Gollie visit the state fair and are greeted with an array of equally tantalizing festivities, including the Whack-a-Duck game, an amateur talent show and a psychic fortune teller booth.

In the first, Bink—much to Gollie’s dismay—takes on a Don Knotts-lookalike carnie as she buoyantly tries to win the “world’s largest donut.” Down, but not out, they contemplate the talent show, amid the pickle jugglers and opera-singing cats.

While neither endeavor ends successfully, the two stick together, soon entering the tent of a fortune teller—who tells Bink exactly what she wants to hear. The prognosticator’s special is “two for one,” and that’s just what readers get with these friends—two distinctly different and charmingly audacious buddies.

While the playful, dry and easy-to-read dialogue by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee perfectly fits the characters, Tony Fucile’s dramatic imagery of the girls brings them to life. The wordless spreads are especially effective in conveying emotion, such as Bink’s excitement or Gollie’s trepidation.

These short, funny and tender-hearted tales peer even deeper into the life of two unlikely friends. Let’s hope the trio of DiCamillo, McGhee and Fucile team up yet again to see what mischief they—and Bink and Gollie—can get into!

Be careful who you get close to—you never know how long they’ll be around. That seems to be the new mantra for Carley Connors.

Placed in foster care after a domestic abuse incident, the 12-year-old goes to live with the Murphys in Connecticut—in a picture-perfect home complete with three active boys and two caring, attentive foster parents. But while the scenario might seem ideal, the Murphys aren’t anything like what Carley is used to. Their happy suburban existence is a far cry from her life with her single mother in Las Vegas. And Carley just doesn’t seem to fit in—nor, at first, does she want to.

Bright, perceptive Carley remains guarded, both at school and at home—trying to fly under the radar to avoid too much scrutiny or criticism. But the warmth of foster mother Julie Murphy chips away at that wall, and by the time her stint in foster care is over, Carley is torn. Her future with her biological mother isn’t exactly clear, but meeting the Murphys has given Carley a better sense of who she is and what a caring family is all about, no matter where she finds it.

In One for the Murphys, Lynda Mullaly Hunt convincingly portrays the personality of a questioning tween as she interacts with those around her. This is a life-affirming middle grade novel—perfect for those struggling with similar issues of fitting in or standing out.

Kadir Nelson confesses in his author’s note to Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans that history was never his favorite subject in school. Why, then, would he tackle a topic as vast as the history of African Americans? Because, he says, “the American story came alive to me” through his research, writing and painting—as it will for readers of this strikingly beautiful picture book that spans centuries of African-American life, from the days of slavery to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. 

Best known as an award-winning illustrator, Nelson proved his abundant skill as an author in his recent—and equally stunning—We are the Ship, illuminating the people and personalities of the Negro League. In Heart and Soul, Nelson further proves his exquisite talent at both writing and illustrating.

Atmospheric, penetrating full-page (and some double-page) paintings are billboard-like backdrops that powerfully reflect the text. The book is narrated colloquially in the first person by a grandmotherly figure who often addresses readers as “honey” or “chile” as she recounts the experiences of slavery (“like mother’s milk to a new country”), Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the advent of the Ku Klux Klan, the Civil Rights Movement and more watershed events in American history.

There is raw emotion in both the illustrations (the spread of an orating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is especially powerful) and the words, rife with the reality of African Americans’ alternating pride, shame, anger and fear. One painting shows the steely resolve of two African Americans at a lunch counter sit-in in the South, with angry white customers pressing close behind them—the tension palpable on all the faces. The story of the African-American experience is hard to tell, and hard to read at times, but as the prologue notes, “You have to know where you come from so you can move forward.”

Nelson may say he never liked history much. But you’d never know it by all the heart and soul, and extremely diligent research and insight, he pours into this profound and important book—a definite Newbery and Sibert medal contender.

Sharon Verbeten is a children's librarian and freelance writer who lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Ever wanted a pet so badly you’d promise to do anything to get one? Anna and her brother, Tom, have been pestering their mom seemingly forever, to no avail. They already have New Cat (Old Cat was run over), but they desperately want a hamster. They’ve tried everything—begging, praying in church and even asking their sick Nana to lobby for them. But it isn’t until Nana dies that Mom comes around.

Even though Mom has an unfortunate history with rascally rodents, she finally agrees to let the kids have Russian Dwarf hamsters. In an unexpected turn of events, she agrees to buy not one, but two(!)—insisting, of course, that both pets be the same gender.

Fate has a way of intervening, however, and when Number One and Number Two reproduce, Anna and Tom are elated . . . until they wake up to find the hideous and disturbing “great hamster massacre.” With Number One missing a leg and Number Two just missing, the siblings and their next-door neighbor Suzanne launch a full-scale investigation of the monstrosity. Who are the likely suspects? Will they ever be brought to justice? And what will become of the empty cage and silent hamster wheel?
This debut novel by British author Katie Davies is a flippy, fun and extremely fast-paced journey into the world of a very likable brother and sister—and their amusing family and friends. Intermittent silly pencil sketches fill the pages diary-style, creating a whimsical mood and adding comic relief.

Hilarious happenings, surreptitious outings, secret passwords and a lighthearted mystery liven up The Great Hamster Massacre. Giggles are frequent among the kids in this book, and they will infect readers as well.

Few children can imagine walking eight hours a day or digging by hand deep into the mud, just to find water for their family. But the backbreaking work under the hot African sun is just a typical day for 11-year-old Nya, growing up in Sudan circa 2008. She rarely complains; it would do no good.

Salva, also 11, is from a prominent, upper-class Sudanese family. As the Second Sudanese Civil War erupts in the mid-1980s, Salva is forced to run as bombs hit his village. Fleeing quickly and leaving his family behind, he joins up with bands of strangers—all headed out of their war-torn homeland to Ethiopia.

Difficult as it may be, both Nya and Salva come to accept their own long walks to water—each peppered with challenges and each tied to family and survival. Nya’s sister becomes very ill; Salva loses several loved ones. But Newbery Award winner Linda Sue Park’s brilliant dual narrative provides a soulful insight into both journeys.

Both Salva and Nya are urged on by their individual reserves of hope—for a better tomorrow, a better future—but neither really knows what lies beyond. The book’s denouement, however, intertwines their stories in a soul-satisfying and optimistic way.

A Long Walk to Water is based on Salva Dut’s true story of perseverance amid adversity. But beyond that, it’s a touching narrative about strife and survival on a scale most American readers will never see.

Why do people write? To express themselves? To reach others? To inspire? Whatever the reasons, five fourth graders in Miss Cash’s class are about to get the lessons of their lives—courtesy of visiting author Ms. Mirabel.

Ms. Mirabel brings with her not only a melodious name and ebullient spirit, but what she calls “magical words.” And BFFs Lucy, Henry, Evie, Russell and May are spellbound—both by having such an interesting visitor and by learning how to tell their own stories, word after word after word.

“I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to,” Ms. Mirabel tells the kids. But she encourages them to find their own words and their own reasons for putting pen to paper. Words have power, but it’s up to the writer to find the right ones for them.

One of the kids faces family relationship issues. Another deals with a serious family illness. All of them, however, share their stories underneath the lilac bush at Henry’s house after school. And that’s where the magical words fill their notebooks with the poems and prose that reflect their own lives.

In Word After Word After Word, Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan weaves a gentle, funny story about five friends, their camaraderie and the words that ultimately stir each of them. Ms. Mirabel’s encouragement is a timeless—and well-stated—lesson in creative writing.