Over Christmas break this year, I read Waking the Rainbow Dragon (Dragon Masters #10) by Tracey West. I did this because before break I had a long discussion with a third-grade boy where we looked at hints in past Dragon Masters books as to what new dragons might be featured in upcoming adventures. (I may have used the word “foreshadowing” once, but we mostly just enjoyed a healthy chat.) When he found out that I had not read any of the books after number 9, he went to the shelf, took off number 10, and handed it to me saying, “I think you will have time over Christmas vacation to catch up.” When a third-grade boy wants you to catch up with his favorite series, you have no choice.
This review will focus on three categories: what kids already love and how you can engage them and move them to next steps, some new books for them to love, and a couple cautionary tales.
What They Love
Fantasy
The Last Firehawk series by Katrina Charman, illustrated by Jeremy Norton
Like the Dragon Masters series and the Kingdom of Wrenly series, The Last Firehawk series capitalizes on each book’s distinct story arc, which is linked to a larger narrative. This effectively keeps kids eager for the next installment. The first book, The Ember Stone, follows Tad, an owl with dreams of a powerful place in the owl guard, and his squirrel friend, Skyla. Tad, who is not strong enough for the guard, is instead sent with Skyla to guard the last firehawk. The firehawk is a mythical bird who holds the key to fighting the evil vulture, Thorn, who is destroying the world with his “Shadow.” My adult complaints: Why aren’t the owls nocturnal, and why does Tad eat worms and berries and not, say, squirrels? Why are some animals drawn realistically and others not? The target audience for these books, however, is unlikely to share my concerns. These books convey the usual fantasy themes: the weak being chosen over the strong, characters slowly learning to use new powers, and heroes using individual gifts together to help achieve a quest. The addition of a map in the front of each book allows students to use some geography skills as they follow the characters to each destination. More difficult reading than Dragon Masters, these books have more intense danger and would work to build a transition to other animal fantasies such as Kathryn Lasky’s the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series and eventually Kenneth Oppel’s Silverwing series, Brian Jacques’s Redwall series, or David Petersen’s Mouse Guard series.
Realistic Fiction
Sofia Martinez books by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Kim Smith
Martinez is a great realistic fiction introduction. Sofia is a fun-loving seven-year-old without the smart-alecky attitude that can sometimes show up in protagonists for this age. Students will find her family problems relatable, like when she gets a singing machine for Christmas and everyone finds creative excuses to get her to go somewhere else to sing, or when she tries to find just the right seatmates for a long family car trip. Spanish words are highlighted throughout. Most can be figured out through context clues, but there is also a glossary in the back. The stories are available in single books or three-in-ones, so check before you order. These are a great lead-up to Lara Bergen’s Sophie series, Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series, or Cori Doerrfeld’s Cici: A Fairy’s Tale series.
Mystery
King and Kayla mysteries by Dori Hillestad Butler, illustrated by Nancy Meyers
When I first ordered King and Kayla books, I wondered why the dog, King, was listed before the human in the title. It turns out that the dog is the narrator! These books provide a smart and funny dog’s-eye-view of the world. The stories are simple and clearly lay out the pattern for solving mysteries: What do you know? What do you still need to know? and How can you find out? Because of his sense of smell, King always knows one more clue than the people, but he can’t communicate it. When he tries, Kayla invariably asks him if he wants to go outside, or worse, calls him a “bad dog” (he really hates that). Fans of the Zoey and Sassafras series will recognize the methodical approach to solving problems and enjoy making predictions. Dog lovers will just love King. Move readers up to Butler’s Buddy Files mysteries next.
Some New Things
Realistic Fiction
Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters (The Questioneers #1) by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts
Using characters first introduced in the wonderful picture books by this author/illustrator duo, this chapter book is the first in a series that promises to combine history, engineering, grit, failure, friendship, and family. Rosie’s great-great-aunt Rose is a former World War II assembly-line worker who is still friends with her fellow “Raucous Riveters.” Adults will appreciate historical nods to her friends: Marion, the opera singer, and Eleanor, the plainspoken pragmatist. The Riveters ask young Rosie to design a machine for a friend who wants to paint but has both hands in casts. Rosie goes through the engineering process (brainstorming, design, research, prototypes, testing) with many failures along the way, as well as inspiration found in unlikely places. Rosie gets help and support from her friends Izzy Peck (architect) and Ada Twist (scientist) who offer ideas and encourage much-needed breaks. Introducing a naturally diverse set of characters, this will hopefully be an inspiring series for young “Questioneers.”
Graphic Novels
Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri
In this lovely graphic novel, Tiger has a monster under her bed who is her best friend. They play games every night, and then Monster scares away nightmares from Tiger all night because, well, monsters have to scare something! But when a nightmare comes along that is too big for Monster to handle, the two friends have to work together for a solution. Set in a futuristic neighborhood with flying cars, the book uses warm and comforting colors for Tiger’s home and family. The nightmares are appropriately cool colors. Most of them are not too scary, but the big one is different. (It might make an interesting discussion with a child about what each nightmare might be.) Tiger and Monster try various plans to defeat the big nightmare, and the final solution will bring comfort to children battling nightmares of their own. A sweet, empowering story.
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
The author/illustrator of Hugo Cabret ventures into the early reader market. If you read only the words, this can seem a simplistic and silly book. There is no explanation of why anyone would hire a baby monkey, who has difficulty putting on his pants and stops for snack breaks, to solve crimes, especially when all he seems to need to do is follow a series of footprints down the hall to find and tie up the perpetrators. What makes this a great introduction to a graphic novel format for young children are the details revealed by the pictures. The last image in the book makes the story clearer, and children will enjoy finding hints through subsequent readings, while adults will appreciate the “Easter eggs” hidden in the beginning of each chapter. An index(!) in the back provides a fun way to find repeated images and is a good introduction to looking for page numbers and other features of a book. While physically too small for a large class read-aloud, a quick book talk showing the highlights will be enough to get early readers on their way.
Realistic Fiction Fantasy (?)
Mia Mayhem Is a Superhero! by Kara West, illustrated by Leeza Hernandez
Young Mia gets an unexpected letter telling her she is accepted into the Program for In-Training Superheroes (sound familiar?). Mia finds out that her parents are both superheroes who went to this school, and she has to go through testing to find out what kind of powers she has. Nothing seems to fit. Mostly her powers seem to cause chaos. Everyone seems better at things than she is. After a realistic portrayal of the frustration that comes from trying something new, Mia finds that she has passed into almost all of her new subjects, and that her powers can be developed into something useful. This story shows that it’s OK to start small and work to build, and that doing your best is more important than being the best. It will be interesting to see if this theme is carried through subsequent books.
Cautionary Tales: Or, the Danger of 4.5-Star Reviews
If, like me, you purchase books from Amazon, this is a reminder to be extra-vigilant on book recommendations based on your purchases. Both of the following books had almost five-star reviews and glowingly written reviews. Both are terrible. (Hints to avoid my mistakes included.)
Haibu: Lost in New York by Blake Freeman with Tara Price, illustrated by Zoltan Boros and Gabor Szikszai
Amazon pitch: “If you liked . . .” pretty much all diverse realistic fiction.
This is a book that seems to exist to promote a website benefiting WildAid. (Hint: always check the publisher.) It seemed like a promising premise: an Inuit protagonist who can talk to animals teaches kids how to care for the creatures of the world. Haibu lives with her family in a remote northern village where we experience some of her culture. Told by her older brother and father that she is too young to join them on a traditional fishing trip, she sneaks out to follow them and ends up being attacked by a polar bear. While fending off the full-grown bear with a small fishing spear, the ice breaks under her, and she is set adrift in the ocean. She is picked up by a container ship and brought to a Dickensian orphanage in New York City. And we are not even to the most preposterous parts yet. I’ll spare you most of the details, but the book seemed to be written by someone with little firsthand knowledge of how children or institutions function. The lovely idea of taking care of animals turns out to mean that animals’ “feelings” are just as valid as humans’, and Haibu’s culture gets abandoned as she literally tosses her handmade traditional parka down a garbage chute because it is made of bear skin and equates her family’s sled dogs to human slaves. Promising premise, zero payoff. (Hint: “Award-Winning” book? Check out which awards.)
Prince Martin books by Brandon Hale, illustrated by Jason Zimdars (Hint: don’t be pulled in by a popular author last name.)
Amazon pitch: “If you liked Dragon Masters . . .”
These books are written in prose format. But the sentences rhyme. Why? No one knows. If done really well, this could have been cool. But inconsistencies and bad sentence structure just made it cruel.
If you could make it through three books written in the above style, you might enjoy the Prince Martin books, and you could learn about whatever virtues they espouse. I couldn’t do it.
The premise, again, seemed fine: Prince Martin wins his family sword through acts of loyalty and grit as he rescues an injured dog after a battle. The next two books follow Martin and the dog (who is really a knight—don’t ask) on their adventures. These self-published books (Hint: again, always check the publisher) are in need of a good editor. Beyond the distracting writing, anachronisms in illustrations and language abound. (Hint: Always read the one-star reviews. In this case, they were right on.) Give me Dragon Masters any day.
Heather Altena is the librarian at the Oak Lawn Campus of Southwest Chicago Christian Schools as well as Chicago Christian High School.
