Thinking Ahead- Christmas!

Nelson, Natalie. Dog's First Christmas
October 1, 2024 by Quirk Books

Copy provided by the publisher
 

In this third board book in the Dog and Cat's First series, Dog and Baby are preparing for Christmas. There's a tree with decorations (which are not fofr throwing or tugging), crafts, and lots of food. There are snowsuits for the cold weather that don't make either character happy, although they do like to be outside where they can make friends with a snowman. The two go caroling, investigate an advent calendar, and hang up stockings before the big day arrives and they get to open up boxes!

This simple story will delight fans of the first two books, and offer important information for readers approaching their own first Christmas-- don't throw ornaments or tug at the tree! This will be a good springboard for endless conversation about crafts, food, and holiday activities, and the illustrations have plenty of detail to have young readers engaged in pointing out different items. It may even be good for removing some of the grumpiness from faces when snowsuits are brought out. If you want to go play in the snow, you have to wear the hat, mittens, and boots!

Baby looks to be about nine months old; sitting up, but not quite yet walking, and wearing an array of adorable Christmas themed sleepers. Baby's mother is shown in several of the scenes, taking pictures or carrying a sleeping Baby, but the stars of the show are certainly Dog and Baby. 

We had a rule in my family that the Christmas songs couldn't be played, and the Christmas books couldn't be read, until Thanksgiving. During the month leading up to the holiday, books like Boyton's Moo, Baa, Fa La La, Emmett's Christmas Street, or Symmes' Merry Little Christmas were in frequent rotation, because they were new, special, and "limited time only". I can see Dog's First Christmas being a seasonal favorite that might accidentally get spared being put away so that it can stay year round on the shelf with Cat's First Baby and Dog's First Baby. 

Barnett, Mac and Smith, Sydney (illus.)

Santa's First Christmas

October 22, 2024 by Viking Books for Young Readers

Copy provided by the publisher 

Every year, like many adults, Santa makes lots of people happy with his preparations for Christmas, but gets up every Christmas morning (after sleeping in a tiny bit) and gets right back to work. He doesn't let himself enjoy the same sort of Christmas that he provides to others, which makes a local bear curious. The elves agree with the bear that Santa deserves a little bit of a holiday. The elves make preparations, and when Santa wakes up Christmas morning ready to head to his workshop, they play him with breakfast in bed, and then suggest they go pick out a tree. Once the enormous tree is installed in the house, it of course has to be decorated. After stockings are hung and a fire it lit, Santa is in a holiday mood and ready for the next activities. Lights are strung up to illuminate the North Pole, Christmas cookies are made, and a polar bear makes an appearance as Santa to distribute toys. There's a delicious feast, and at the end of the day Santa has had so much fun that he decides to celebrate  Christmas every year. 

Smith's artwork is very impressionistic, which gives a cozy feel to the book. It just begs to be read while cuddled in a plaid blanket, with a cup of cocoa close at hand. It also makes sense to have a mythical place like the North Pole rendered in an unfocused, dreamy way. Of course, this made the view of Santa's kitchen, which looks like the vast majority of suburban kitchens I've had, all the homier. 

This is more gently funny than Barnett's frenetic The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza or goofy Mac B.: Spy Kid series, but still has humorous moments with the elves and the very exuberant polar bear! 

This is a fun addition to stories that reimage Santa's every day life, like Sharff and Kaban's When Santa Came to Stay Fergus' The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Himself, or  Barnes' Santa's Gotta Go.   It will delight children who still believe in Santa Claus, since they will be glad that he gets to experience the same joys that they do, and parents will nod wearily as they read this at bedtime, knowing they will spend half the night putting together a toy, and get up in the morning and have to make waffles for breakfast AND Christmas dinner!                                                

MMGM- Boy 2.0

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 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Baptiste, Tracey. Boy 2.0

October 1, 2024 by Algonquin Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Win "Coal" Keegan has been living in foster care with Tom, but when his foster dad has a mental health crisis, he ends up on the McKay's doorstep. The father, Jackson, and the mother, Candace (or "Doc"), haven't had a foster child before, but have three children, Aaron, who is in high school, and young Mia and Hannah. The family is friendly, but boisterous and a little overwhelming. Doc makes sure to give Coal some space, and to let him know she understands that the move is difficult. When Coal decides to get some air and go for a walk, Aaron agrees to tell the adults where he's gone, but also tells him to be home by dark. Coal finds a small side street where he can draw a picture in chalk of a woman who has been wrongfully killed, but when he is almost finished, a man comes after him with a gun. Panicked, Coal runs, and when the police arrive, he tries to hide behind a dumpster. He notices something odd-- he's become invisible, and so the police go right by him. When he gets home, Doc is worried, since he seems shaken. She's a psychiatrist, so knows when teens are lying to her, but gets Coal cleaned up and sends him. To bed. He's tried to tell her about the invisibility, but it's hard to explain something like that. He also tells his best friend, Door, at school the next day. Wanting to know more, Coal does some research, and comes across the Mirror Tech labs that are located nearby. He and Door take a tour of the facility with some other kids on the weekend, but don't feel comfortable doing any of the screenings that the director, Dr. Hunter Achebe, is having others do. Coal has interacted with some mimetic fabric, and a volunteer there, Isadora, mentions that the fabric usually doesn't act that way. There are still lots of questions, and Coal does unpack some of his worries with Doc, as they do yoga and run through some breathing exercises. When Coal mentions all of this to Aaron, Mia, and Hannah, they help him research, and come across information about Project Snow White, which was run through Mirror Tech, and which was supposed to help women with infertility issues. At school, the vice principal pulls Coal aside, and he thinks he is in trouble, but the vice principal wanting only to mention that there was a chalk drawing found, and the police wanted the artist to know that he could file charges against the man who shot at him. Coal and Door have tried to figure out what makes Coal turn invisible, and figure that it has something to do with a fear response. When Dr. Achebe asks Coal to be an intern, he's flattered until they get to the lab and the scientist not only takes blood and spit samples, but also some skin! Coal finds out that Tom, his foster father, was a scientist working at Mirror Tech. He and Door decide to break into the lab with Isadora's key card that Door swiped, and try to get more information. The boys claim to be going to a silent protest, but sneak into the lab. They manage to find some secrets and retrieve some files, but are, of course, caught. Doc shows up to protect him, but Coal knows he needs to figure out these secrets from the past. Does Coal's ability to turn invisible have anything to do with his birth mother, Mirror Tech experiments, and genetic manipulation, or is it something else? Will he be taken by the military and researched, or will his new found family, and Coal himself, be able to save the day? (I don't want to spoil the twists and turns!)

Strengths: The positive depiction of a foster family is good to see, and I particularly liked Aaron. Coal's concern for his foster father Tom is well placed, and the family tries to provide him with information that he needs. It's good that he's allowed to continue to go to school and see Door. The most unusual part of this book is that Coal TELLS people what has happened to him, and asks for help from Door, but even his foster siblings and parents. The connections between Coal, Doc, Tom, and Mirror Tech are fascinating, and revealed slowly. There is also an intriguing reason for Coal to turn invisible that is NOT connected with the lab. The cover is fantastic, and it's a short, punchy sci Fi adventure with a good message that I think will have broad appeal. 
Weaknesses: I wish there had been more scenes where Coal was invisible and less yoga with Doc. If he has the ability, couldn't it have been used to better effect in Mirror Tech? This might just be me projecting my desire to run around and whap people upside the head when I'm invisible, like the characters in Ray's 2012 Calling Invisible Women. 
What I really think: This is an excellent choice for readers who want a good dose of science in their science fiction adventures. There are a couple of books that deal with teens turning invisible, like Clements' Things Not Seen (which has left me permanently wary of electric heating pads!) or Kessler's Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?  , or Welford's What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible, and it's something we could see a lot more of. Middle school students always feel that they are TOO visible. Boy 2.0 has a lot of things that make it unique. There are some genetic mystery adventures, like Smith's Boy X (2017) and Werlin's Double Helix (2004) Messner's Wake Up Missing (2013), but this also has a lot of family secrets. I thought it might be a series until the very end of the book, when things were wrapped up. I wouldn't mind reading more about Coal and the McKays, which is a good sign! 

"Made Especially For You!"

Jenny loved Nana Marion. She did. But for every Christmas and birthday, there was a new, elaborate sweater. They were beautiful, and she knew that Nana took great pride in them, but they took up a lot of room in her closet, and they weren't really the sort of thing she wore now that she worked remotely. 

Thankfully, the sweaters from her childhood were gone; once Brittany trotted them out at the holidays for great grandma to coo over, Jenny pretended that she had given them to Scott for his kids, and his wife... well, who knows what Amy did with them after the divorce. 

Over the years, she made excuses. The pastel fair isle with inexplicable penguins at the yoke was so admired by a friend that it was given to her. The beautiful Aran knit that weighed 25 pounds became "so worn out". Jenny saved a few to wear when she visited Nana at Quiet Pines, but those dwindled over the years as Nana's eyesight faded and she didn't remember what Jenny wore the last time she visited. 

Standing at Nana's grave, tugging the neck of the last, itchy wool sweater, Jenny started to wonder if there was some sort of... retaliatory component of Nana's work. Eveything was either a little too short or a little too long, but never in a reliable way. Hadn't that penguin sweater appeared after young Jenny used sidewalk chalk one Easter on the covered back porch? The mustard popcorn stitch vest after she announced her engagement to Brad, whom Nana disliked? The too tight cardigan with the extra long sleeves not two months after she commented, very carefully, on Nana's weight gain? Coming home after the service, Jenny peeled off the star yoked brown wool sweater that Nana made her in college. It was her favorite, but her internal thermostat now made wearing such heavy wool unbearable. She had more pleasant memories of Nana. Someone else didn't its history would enjoy it.

From Zero to Hero

Calonita, Jen. Zero to Hero (Lost Legends #4)

October 15, 2024 by Disney Hyperion
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Pain and Panic, Hades' minions, are very concerned that the Fates will let their secret out, and Hades will torture them. Somehow, he still doesn't know that the didn't do in the infant Hercules, but let him be raised by a couple in Argos. Now twelve, Hercules is having some troubles, since he doesn't understand his powers and frequently causes havoc in town. It's hard to make friends when the popular Aias calls him "Jerkules", but out intrepid hero tries to stay positive. When he causes an olive oil vendor, Elpida, to have her cart broken and her products destroyed, he promises to make things right, but when he has replaced the cart and the inventory, someone ruins her entire olive grove. Of course, all eyes turn to Hercules. This makes Athena mad, and she threatens to destroy the entire town in retribution. Luckily, the goddess Nike intervenes, and gives the town an option: if a seed from the first olive tree planted in Athens can be brought back in a week, and the Cretan bull who has been savaging other olive groves can be subdued, the town won't be destroyed. Hercules isn't sure that he can do this alone, and luckily a new boy in town, Theseus, steps up. He's been nice to Hercules, but is a bit too sure of himself. Hercules finds a leather bound book on how to be a hero written by Philoctetes, and uses this to help plan their journey, but Theseus ignores all of the advice. He insists on taking a shortcut through centaur territory, and when the two run into trouble, is useless at fighting them. Only a palm frond given to them by the gods saves our two heroes to be. They also run into the robber Sciron on the road, and the giant Sinis, and both times narrowly escape because they are squabbling so much. Nike even appears again to tell them to get their act together and cooperate, or they will never m ake it! After another scuffle, this time with the Crommyian Sow, Theseus confides in Hercules that he was the one who ruined the grove, because he wanted Athena to help him meet Poseidon, who is possibly his father. Hercules tells him that he doesn't have to do the quest on his own, and they both have things to prove. Theseus does use his wrestling talents to take down Cercyon of Eluesis, but the boys manage to work together once they get to Athens. Armed with both the needed olive seed and the Cretan bull, will they be able to make it back to Argos in time to save the town?
Strengths: Calonita is a Disney fan, and her love of the shows is clearly evident. This was a little bit like reading a novel based on a television episode; I could see the Disney characters in my mind. The Lost Legends series also has books about other "infamous rogue boys", like Flynn Rider (Rapunzel?), Aladdin, and Kristoff from Frozen. This is rather fun, since so many of the Disney books I've seen feature the heroines. The details about mythology are great, and since it's a topic that is still interesting to middle grade readers, I love to see a new classical mythology title from time to time. Theseus and Hercules have to set aside their toxic masculinity to work together and complete their quest, which is a good twist on a hero's tale. I need a copy of this to go along with my Hercules throw, children's dishes, birthday cake decorations, thermos, McDonald's happy meal toys, Melmac plates, Megara Barbie, and, yes, Hercules doll, which is NOT in mint condition. 
Weaknesses: My children and I were HUGE fans of the Disney television series that aired in the late 1990s on which this book is based, so I found myself being really not picky! I can accept that the series had no Aias, and even that Theseus wasn't portrayed as Hercules' cousin with the alter ego of the Grim Avenger, because classical tales have always been open to interpretation. I did have a question about Hercules carrying around a leather bound book; he probably would have used scrolls. I also would have had more scenes of fighting monsters and beasts and less of the social emotional content, but I imagine that publishers encourage writers to get positive messages into franchise books like this. 
What I really think: This is a great adventure tale set in ancient Greece that would be fantastic for Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief fans, as well as for readers who enjoyed this author's Go the Distance (Hooray, Megara!), Yolen's Young Heroes series, McCaughrean's Hercules, or my favorite, Shipton's The Pig Scrolls. 

Happy 29th birthday to the biggest Hercules fan ever.