Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty & Illus by David Roberts

Somehow, I had never really read any of these books. I heard all the great things about them, but I somehow never saw one in the library or bookstore to pick it up and look at it. 

They are fun little STEM related books!

In rhyming text and adorable illustrations, we learn the store of little Ada Marie, who "said not a word till the day she turned three."

I am not always a fan of rhyming text, but this text works. 

Her first word was "Why?" 

I love the brother and his tattling, pointing finger. 

Once she started asking, she didn't stop. 

Her family tried hard, but it was difficult to keep up with her questions.

Even at school Ada was always questioning and wondering.

I love this illustration!! 

Then she moved on to smell experiments

But her family had to put their foot down about something. 

She was sent to time out. 

Doesn't her mother have the grooviest fashion sense? 

When they came out to see if Ada had reconsidered her behavior, they found their hall covered in her musings, diagrams, and questions. 

I love that they support Ada in her endeavors. 

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

Okay, this book. I was pretty sold on it just from the blurb--a father-daughter duo traveling around the country in an old bus? Yes please, fulfill all my dreams. 

And the cover! See that cover? 

That there is Coyote sitting on the top of Yager, the school bus, with Ivan the cat. A few wispy leaves, a touch of red, and a fancy script?  

A GREAT COVER. 

(Whoever said you shouldn't judge a book by the cover was full of baloney. A good cover is pretty vital. That is one thing I have learned as a school librarian--no matter how good the book, kids will not read it if the cover is some cheesy thing from the 1990s.) 

So a great cover, a great premise, and it even delivers. 

SO GOOD. 

The first page sees Coyote in a gas station in bare feet, choosing her slushie flavor wisely, (watermelon is always a mistake) while her dad is filling up. Strong start with an interesting female lead with plenty of depth. 

Coyote's hippie father Rodeo operates under the belief that if the past was hard (and it was) the only way to deal is to pretend it never happened. So his life (and by default, Coyote's life as well) is one giant game of pretend nothing bad ever happened and that we don't miss anyone at all. 

Which worked fine when Coyote was 8. But now that she is verging on being a teenager, she is beginning to question that philosophy a little bit. After a phone call from her grandmother that lets Coyote know a childhood park with nostalgic, personal treasure is being torn up, she has to finagle her father from Florida to Washington state to reclaim her treasure in a weeks time without him really being aware of it. Because going "home" is a hard no from Rodeo. Too painful. Just like his rule about Coyote never calling him Daddy. 

Hard, absolute no. 

With the help of a fate and a few wayward strangers, Coyote gets him very, very close to the goal before he figures out what is going on. That is when things fall apart a little bit for Rodeo. 

But when things fall apart Coyote can finally put them back together again in the right order for the first time in five years. Because sometimes fathers need their daughters. Just like daughters need their fathers to be fathers, not just traveling companions. 

My only minor complaint about this book is that the people they picked up along the way seemed a little like someone was checking off a checklist. An African-American? Check. A single Hispanic mother and son? Check. A misunderstood lesbian? Check. A crazy goat? Check... (oh wait--that was just a bonus.) That is not to say these characters were not well developed. I loved all of the characters. And how they joined Coyote's story was well done. The identities just seemed a teensy bit too coincidental. 

Don't let that put you off the book though--It was so good! I laughed and I cried. And there was hope. And a goat. And a bus. 

Read it! 

Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery

Since we were talking about magic, I thought I might as well trot out Emily of New Moon. 

LM Montgomery has always tended toward magic and the unexplained. While that tendency is kept in check through most of her books, it peeks out every once in awhile. Emily of New Moon is one of those times. 

(This is a newer edition of the book, but I really like the cover. I think it is my favorite of the ones I own.)

Since Emily is an orphan sent away to live with elderly relatives on a farm, people sometimes think Emily and Anne are pretty similar. But Emily is supposedly more autobiographical, and is definitely a few shades darker than Anne ever got. Situations for Emily were not as sure to end well as they did for Anne. 

(This was the cover that we got when I was a teen--mid 1990's.)

Of course, there are other differences between the two books as well--Emily lived with her father until she was 8-10. So she had sweet memories to sustain her when her relatives didn't understand her and her poetic flights of fancy. Similarly, she also was grieving on a level Anne never got to since Anne couldn't remember her parent's death. 

But similarly, Emily settles into her new life, just like Anne, with a close friend or two; austere older relatives who soften up and love her; and an imaginative, poetic mind. 

The difference is that the ending here has a deeper level of magic than any of Anne's experiences. A fevered hallucination brings a long unsolved mystery to a close. 

I would say I like Anne better, but Emily is more relateable in many ways. So.... both are definitely worth reading! 

Anything by LM Mongomery is worth reading though, so that's not surprising. 

(This cover was the first one I read, probably early/mid-1980's.)

I took these picture last summer (why am I so bad at getting posts up on time?!) and I MISS wildflowers. We have three inches of fresh snow from last night..... Spring IS coming. We had a day in the 50s this week, so we are getting closer! 

A Perfect Day by Lane Smith

What is a perfect day? Does everyone think one particular kind of day is perfect? 

This is a great one for teaching perspective .

The sun figures in a lot of perfect day scenarios.

Cat loves to be in the daffodil bed with the sun. 

That is a perfect day for Cat.

Dog likes sun and water.

Chickadee likes sun and food.

For squirrel, a perfect day involves a corn cob all to herself. 

But a bear!!! That was not in the perfect day plan!

Bear eats the corn and ruins squirrel's perfect day. 

He ruins Dog's day. 

He ruins the flowers AND Cat's day at the same time. 

Bear is making this a terrible day for EVERYone. 

But wait a minute... is this Bear's perfect day?!

I think so. 

The Library by Sarah Stewart & David Small

(Yes, that is the same pink hydrangea. I like it, okay?)

This book is lovely! And it is written by a husband and wife team. I always love thinking about husband and wives working together. Not sure why, I just like thinking about it. 

These are pictures to warm the cockles of a book-lover's heart. 

How perfectly springy (or fally) is this picture?

Elizabeth Brown--

She didn't like to play with dolls,

She didn't like to skate.

She learned to read quite early

And at an incredible rate.

This book is all rhyming and rhythmic. (And for some reason I always have trouble spelling those two words.) It is a fun book to read!

#bookgirlproblems

Midnight raids for her friend's library books. 

Elizabeth Brown is rather relentless in her pursuit of books. 

Elizabeth Brown 

Preferred a book

To going on a date. 

While friends went out

And danced till dawn

She stayed up reading late. 

She gets lost one day, so buys a house where she is. 

Squeak!!

 I love this picture! All things cozy....

When volumes climbed the parlor walls

And blocked the big front door, 

She had to face the awful face

She could not have one more. 

So she did what any bibliophile would do--she donated the books and her house to the town for a library. 

And settled down to living with her cats, her friend, and more books. 

A life well spent amongst books! 

At Christmas I no more desire a rose by William Shakespeare & Illus by Tasha Tudor

At Christmas I no more desire a rose

Then wish a snow in May's newfangled mirth.

                                 --William Shakespear

                                        Love's Labour's Lost

Around America to Win the Vote by Mara Rockliff & Illus by Hadley Hooper

Women's voting rights, a yellow car, a cross country roadtrip, and a cat. 

What's not to love?

This is based on a true story. Which is awesome.  

April 6, 1916, Nell Richardson and Alice Burke set out from New York City to drive around the country drumming up support for Women's Right to Vote. 

They bring a typewriter and a sewing machine with them. The type writer is in case anyone says women don't have the brains to run the country. Nell will sit down and whip out a poem on the typewriter to show that women do have brains. If someone says women should leave the running of the country to men and stick to housekeeping, Alice would whip up an apron while Nell gave a speech. 

And if they could drive all the way across the country by themselves, it would prove women could do anything. 

Philiadelphia. I love the colors. 

A blizzard on the way to Baltimore.

Muddy roads and getting stuck. 

But then, there were fields of birds and goldenrod in North Carolina. 

Okay, I love that they are supporting the idea that yellow is the color of the women's rights cause, but really? Goldenrod does not bloom in April or May. 

School kids loved them.

An all yellow luncheon in South Carolina.

A parade in Georgia

A fancy hotel in New Orleans

Dodging bullets by the Rio Grande.

Finally, they reach California. But they are only half way there. 

September 30th, they arrive back in New York City. 

To a lovely yellow cake. 

Four years later, women get the vote.