Brave by Svetlana Chmakova, 241 pp, RL 4

-

With brave, Svetlana Chmakova cements her place on the shelves next to Raina Telgemeier, proving once again that she is a gifted chronicler of the lives of tweens. In awkward, we met Peppi (short for Penelope) Torres, newly arrived at Berrybrook Middle School and navigates the challenges of avoiding the mean kids, finding her tribe and struggling through a challenging class. With brave, Chmakova returns to Berrybrook Middle School where Jensen Graham takes center stage.
Jensen is going to save the world someday from a zombie apocalypse, if the effects of sunspots (Jensen's greatest fear) don't destroy the earth first. Jensen also plans to become an astronaut and discover the ruins of an ancient civilization while exploring Mars. However, his immediate, everyday goals are usually to make it from class to class without attracting the attention of the mean kids and making it through class without attracting the attention of his teachers. The high point of his day comes after school when he can retreat to the art club.
Jensen's inner world is rich and inviting, but his reality gets increasingly challenging and confusing over the course of brave. Jensen copes by assuming that this is normal, imagining his school day as a race through a video game, hoping he will level up at some point. When he gets caught up in the whirlwind activities of Jenny and Akilah, who manage the school newspaper, film the school news, and run social-experiments, his world seems to open up and expand - until a questionnaire about bullying opens his eyes to the realities of his life at school and he does something truly brave.

As with awkward, Chmakova's greatest gift in brave is presenting Jensen and his experiences with bullying and social isolation in a way that is authentic and empathetic. Jensen's character has such depth that it is easy to see how, despite outright, obvious bullying and the more subtle meanness of "friends," he doesn't believe that he is being bullied or treated badly when confronted with this possibility. This makes the moment when he does realize this and struggles with it even more meaningful. 

I can't wait to visit Berrybrook Middle School again and see where Chmakova turns her gaze next.
Source: Purchased










Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more