Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

 Jacqueline Woodson has a new book out about a child who sees first hand the devastating effects 

Mock Caldecott 2021

 Hello everyone... we are about to embark on reviewing books for the upcoming Caldecott awards season..... the first book we are gong to look at is Nesting by Henry Cole.  

Artistic technique: Excellent

Use of visual elements : Excellent

Creative use of physical object ( endpapers, gutters, orientation, ) 

Artist used micron pens and acrylic paints 

Henry Cole, author and illustratr uses black and white illustrations to draw the next but uses baby blue colors to highlight the nest egg.  A gorgeous work!

Fighting Words

 

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley continues to tackle sensitive issues with the publication of her latest middle grade book, Fighting Words. Like her previous novels, we meet a strong character in ten- year old protagonist, Della who along with her sixteen year old sister, Sukki, has recently been placed in a foster home. Their mother is incarcerated having nearly killed them by blowing up their hotel room while cooking meth. The girls initially were left with their mother’s boyfriend, Clifton but they fled after he tried to continue his abusive patterns towards Della. They end up being placed with Francine who seems to care about them but the girls don’t know for sure who they can trust.  They carry with them the scars of their trauma. It comes to a head and the girls must face their abuse in order to move on. The author does a terrific job of making the reader hope that Sukki and Della overcome their terrible childhood and achieve full lives. This is an honest novel that stay will readers long after they have finished it.