books4yourkids

Green Nation Revolution: Use Your Future to Change the World  by Valentina Giannella and Lucia Esther Maruzzelli illustrated by Manuela Marazzi Review Copy from Laurence King Authors Giannella and Mauruzzelli brought us  We Are All Greta:  Be Inspired to Save the World , a biography of climate activist Thunberg that is also a primer on climate change with suggestions for sustainable living, all presented in an engaging way, shining a ray of hope on what feels like an overwhelming situation. With  Green Nation Revolution: Use Your Future to Change the World , Giannella and Mauruzzelli explore what happens next in the fight against climate change, something Thunberg, and many other youth activists, proved you don't have to be an adult to understand. Acknowledging the extraordinary ability of teen Greta Thunberg to get the world talking about issues scientists and politicians have been trying to publicize for over thirty years, as well the inspirational figure she has been for many yo

  Old Enough to Save the Planet:  Be Inspired by Real-Life Children Taking Action Against Climate Change by Loll Kirby illustrated by Adelina Lirius foreword by Kallan Benson, co-founder of Fridays for Future Review copy from Magic Cat Publishing / Abrams Books Kirby, a primary school teacher, profiles twelve contemporary climate activists from around the world who are also children. Using a picture book format to present these diverse mini-biographies, Kirby and Lirius, who has the challenge of illustrating the acts of conservation and education, have created an engaging way to inform and inspire the youngest readers. A thoughtful format keeps information organized across each two-page spread and throughout the book, which has much to offer. The efforts and impact of Greta Thunberg make a book like this possible (and needed) and are recognized by Kallan Benson, co-founder of Fridays for Future , in her foreword. Sharing her realization at age nine that she do more than worry about cl

  Atlantis: The Accidental Invasion by Gregory Mone Published by Amulet Books Self-described, "novelist, science writer, and storyteller," Gregory Mone is the perfect person to deliver a contemporary telling of an ancient myth (or is it?). Set in the future, Mone creates two worlds, each with intriguing technology, and each experiencing the dangerous consequences of climate change and pollution brought on by humans. Initially told in alternating, third-person points of view, we first meet Kaya, a fourteen year-old Atalantean. Fearless, largely unsupervised and equipped with elite equipment like gravity gear and a deepwater dive suit, Kaya is determined to discover for herself if the People of the Sun (humans living on land) are real, or the stuff of stories, as the leaders of Atlantis would like their citizens to believe. At the same time, twelve-year-old Lewis Merriweather Gates is just trying to find a way to spend a few days camping with his dad. Unfortunately, Lewis'

  The Leak by  Kate Petty Reed &  Andrea Bell Published by FirstSecond Books There are so many amazing things about this graphic novel, and so many layers for readers to dig into. In many ways, almost thirteen-year-old Ruth Keller is your typical middle schooler - her friends prod and push her about her friendship/budding romance with classmate Jonathan and her dentist lectures her about brushing and flossing after finding yet another cavity. Atypically, Ruth, curious about the world she lives in with great research skills, is a passionate journalist-in-training with a newsletter where she reports the "coolest news of the week. Serving Twin Oaks and Pikes County since 2014." When she discovers dead fish and a strange sludge at Lake Particular while she and Jonathan are fishing, she senses a story that needs telling. But what is the story? Here is where Petty's story deepens from a mystery to be solved by an intrepid kid reporter to a story about information and how i

  Bruno the Beekeeper: A Honey Primer   by Aneta Františka Holasová Published by Candlewick Press Bruno the Beekeeper: A Honey Primer is a delightful surprise! The title and the charming honey-hued illustrations give a picture book vibe to what is truly a primer on beekeeping in this Czech picture book, originally published in 2013. With Bruno the bear as main character, Holasová crafts a narrative around a season of bees, starting in the late Fall. As Bruno and Grandma (a human, curiously, who, along with Bruno, is sometimes seen small enough to fit inside the hive) tend to their hives in a pastoral setting, scientific diagrams and more playful, but still technical illustrations give the bees personality, like a two page spread showing the 40-day life of a worker bee that ends with a tiny tombstone. Facts about the bees themselves are fascinating, but action surrounding the bees in their hive - and the human work that goes into helping to sustain the hive - is truly eye opening. From

  Bloom   by Nicola Skinner illustrations by Flavia Sorrentino Review Copy from HarperCollins Bloom is a book rooted in a Roald Dahl-esque world that grows into its own verdant adventure. Narrated by Sorrell Fallowfield, Bloom is set in the town of Little Sterilis, which, as the name suggests, is a paved over, concrete field of grimness dominated by the Chillz frozen pizza plant. Sorrell's days are filled with following Headmaster Grittysnit's ever-expanding rules for students and combatting the dangers of the decrepit home she shares with her hardworking mother, a machine operator at the Chillz plant. When Sorrell finds a packet labeled THE SURPRISING SEEDS she's not even sure what to do with them (the word "sow," along with a voice that speaks to her in her head, comes to mind) a visit to the only remaining garden center in town leads unexpected results.  As Sorrell struggles with the plants that begin growing out of her head, she begins to learn the sad histo

  Welcome to the Museum: Fungarium   curated by Katie Scott and Ester Gaya Published by Big Picture Press / Candlewick Press If you have read any of the seven previous Welcome to the Museum books (click here for my reviews of them) then you can stop reading now. You already know what a gorgeously designed, elegantly illustrated, well organized, engaging book Fungarium is. Written by Dr. Ester Gaya, a Senior Research Leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , where she conducts research on the diversity and evolution of fungi,  Fungarium  is a marvelous way to learn more about these mysterious, misunderstood organisms that are more closely related to animals than plants. Scott (she also illustrated  Animalium   and Botanicum ) creates scientific illustrations that are delicately radiant works of art. Fungarium  is divided into four galleries with smaller divisions within. From biology and diversity to interactions and fungi and humans, readers receive a "Welcome to the Fungar