Summer is almost here and I’m still not ready, and already hating the heat. Trying to get all the things together so I can register my kid for summer camp and sign him for the good camps and fun activities here at the library. I’m doing a storytime for older kids at the end of April and so all the picture books I am reviewing this month are from that. 

I’ll Build You A Bookcase = Te Hare Tu Propio Librero written by Jean Ciborowski Fahey, illustrated by Simone Shin

I love this book! I love that it is bright and colorful, with a diverse cast of characters, and is short but to the point. The book has the text in English on one page and in Spanish on the next. It celebrates reading, and especially reading between parents and kids. The book starts out talking about creating a bookcase library for a not-yet born baby  and reading to babies, and toddlers, all the way up to age 3. It’s got mentions of nonfiction books, grandparents reading to grandchildren, going on adventures while reading, and then constructing little free libraries so everyone else can enjoy books too! It even has tips for How to Read to Your Child in the back. Highly recommended for ages 3-6, 5 stars. 

Lola at the Library written by Anna McQuinn, Rosalind Beardshaw

Originally used for a books/reading toddler storytime in Oct 2015, and will be using again for a books/reading for older kids storytime at the end of April 2022. It is a simple story about an African-American preschool child named Lola who goes to the libraries once a week on Tuesdays with her mom – good way to introduce kids to the concept of going to the library and storytime. And the best part is she gets books for bedtime! Recommended for ages 3-7, 4 stars.

Quiet! There’s a Canary in the Library written and illustrated by Don Freeman

Originally read Dec 2014: Whenever I think of Don Freeman, I always think of Corduroy the bear (which I’ve somehow never read), although I did enjoy his book Fly High, Fly Low. This book was adorable. Although a little long, I think it would be great for a toddler storytime on reading or the library. Cary is a young girl who loves going to the library and picking out books to read, recommended by Mrs. Curtis the librarian. One day, as she is reading a book about the zoo, she imagines that she is a librarian. The first thing she does is have a day that all the animals and birds can visit the zoo. My son loved naming all the different animals in this book and liked that they all liked to read too. Pandemonium almost breaks out when some mice come in the library, but the day is saved by a canary. After accidently shouting, Cary realizes that she is still in the library and picks out a book to read at home. Recommended for ages 2-6, 4 stars.

Re-read April 21, 2022: I’m doing an older kids storytime on books and reading and thought this would be a great addition as most people haven’t heard of it. I would actually recommend it for slightly older kids due to the length, maybe 3-7, 4 stars.

A Book for Escargot written by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Sydney Hanson

Originally read June 2020: Even more adorable than the original book! Escargot is going to the library to get a book on cooking, but wants your help creating cool new snail stories as snails are never the heroes. And totally did it in a French accent! Highly recommended for ages 4-8, 5 stars.

Re-read April 22, 2022 to my son and hopefully other kiddos at a Books/Reading storytime to be done April 30th at one of the branches: You just have to do this book in a French accent, though it is a little wordy so it might turn into generic European or Spanish after a while. I love little Escargot, he is tres adorable! Got to re-read it to my kiddo as he had forgotten about it. 5 stars.

The Little Library written by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Everyone in Mr. Tiffin’s class is excited to go to the library, except for Jake, who has a hard time when he’s there because he’s a careful reader and has problems with comprehension. I think it’s possible he could have dyslexia, though they never come out and say that. While all the other kids hurry to get a book, he hangs back. The Librarian, Beck (a non binary individual), notices and looks for the perfect book for Jake. He finds an older worn out crafting book called Woodworking for Young Hands and gives it to Jake, who spends many hours doing hands on projects with his grandfather on the weekends. This is the perfect book for him and Jake checks it out over and over again until the end of the school when he learns he must give it back for the summer. Jake decides to help out the librarian by creating and building (with a little help from grandpa) a Little Free Library for his classmates and the librarian, so they can have books to read over the summer. Librarian Beck gifts him with the woodworking book, which he had decided to withdraw from the collection. Recommended for ages 5-9, 4 stars.

El Deafo written and illustrated by CeCe Bell

Originally read April 29-30, 2015: I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile, especially after it won one of the two 2015 Newbery Honors. This book is the memoir of the author/illustrator CeCe Bell, who lost her hearing after getting meningitis at age four very suddenly. She has to adjust to not hearing and using a giant hearing aid called the Phonic Ear that straps to her chest, under her clothes. She is able to hear everything her teacher says with it and everywhere she goes with it and Cece believes she may have a superpower, and so makes up her alter ego superhero, El Deafo. Really the book is all about acceptance, which is so hard with young kids, especially girls and especially if someone is different. Will Cece be accepted and find a true friend? To find out, read this fascinating biography. Recommended for ages 8+, 4 stars.

Re-reading for Tween Graphic Novel Club (April 17-22, 2022): I picked this for my Tween Graphic Novel Club in April and they also picked it as one of the new additions to our Great Chapter Book Collection at the library. Been a bit distracted this go around so it took me longer to read. Also I found the book really unnecessarily long. I understand that it takes awhile to explain Cece (aka El Deafo) and her predicament, but the story just goes on and on. I feel like it could’ve probably been half the length and still been okay. 3-1/2 stars.

Blood Water Paint written by Joy McCullough

I picked this book for my book club pick for Poetry Month. I have been wanting to read this book since it came out in 2018, as I only knew a little about the artist, mostly just the Judith painting in my Baroque class in undergraduate.  This book is a Young Adult historical fiction verse novel about 17th century Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi who started painting in her father’s painting workshop, where he trained her as his apprentice, in a time when there were next to zero female painters.  She later painted on her own after she was married, and followed Caravaggio’s school of painting with Baroque technique of chiaroscuro (light and shadow). The novel talks about two paintings of hers, Susanna and the Elders, c. 1610 and Judith Beheading Holofernes, c. 1625, especially as they relate to Artemesia and how she changes throughout the verse novel. The sections with stories of these two Biblical women are the only prose sections in the book and the cool part is they are feminist reinterpretations of Susanna and Judith, but taught by her mother before she passed away.

Artemisia was raped by Augustino (Tino) Tassi, another painter her father originally hired to teach her perspective and to get juicier commissions for himself (even though by that point his daughter was doing most of his work for him). Artemisia fought a long hard-wrought trial against Tino Tassi saying he raped her, and won it surprisingly, despite being tortured herself. She had to re-teach herself to paint and she still managed to kick ass with paintings like Judith Beheading Holofernes, and actually put herself and Tassi in the painting as characters. I very much enjoyed this book, despite Tino’s seriously sketchy behavior not only to his wife and sister in law, but also to Artemisia. Highly recommended for ages 15+, 5 stars.

Dial A for Aunties (Aunties #1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto 

There is an author’s note at the beginning of the audiobook that explains the author’s nationality, Chinese-Indonesian and why she chose to speak the way she did (or more specifically the way the aunties spoke) in the book. As Peter (on semi-hiatus) wrote in his August 21, 2021 Goodreads review, “The shifts in language between Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian, English, and even the use of emojis, provide the perfect opportunity for comic dialogue, with misinterpretations, insensitivity, and regular point-scoring. Elements of slapstick comedy are vividly drawn with laugh out loud scenes and antics.”

First things first, this murder mystery rom-com book was freaking hilarious! Everything that could’ve gone wrong did and then some. Risa Mei did a great job as narrator about getting the right about of panic for a young twenty-something who just wants to impress her demanding family, and her aunties were my favorite part! The story is a little disjointed in the way it kept jumping back and forth between Meddelin’s college days and the present day story, but the past definitely has an impact on the present. It’s a bit like Crazy Rich Asians but way funnier and more relatable. Plus I heard Netflix is planning on adapting it into a movie, so very excited for that! I also can’t wait to listen to book two!

Meddelin, Meddy for short, Chan studied photography in college where she met Nathan, the most perfect boyfriend ever. No seriously, I kind of want to date him. Only she can never take him home to her demanding aunties and mom, because she feels so much pressure to be perfect ever since all her male cousins and relations have left home. She does the only thing she can think of and breaks it off with him.  Meddy instantly regrets it at that moment and every day during the nearly four years since she’s done it. She’s now the photographer for her family’s wedding business. There’s also First Aunt, the eldest and usually the most authoritative, and she is their master baker. Second Auntie is the hair and makeup lady who is always practicing weird poses of Tai Chi and hates everything her older sister does, her mom is the florist, and Fourth Aunt is a semi-professional singer. All of them fight and try to one-up each other, which makes for some interesting conversations.

Her mother and aunties try to set her up with a guy her mother met online (pretending to be Meddy of course) and she thinks, “What the hell, why not?”. Turns out the guy is hella skeevy and she accidentally kills him and then brings the body home, having no idea what to do with it and her mother and aunties step up because they’re all family. They all have a billionaire’s Chinese-Indonesian wedding to help with the next day on a nearby island (they live in California) so the body goes in a cooler and they’re gonna sort out where the dig a grave later. Only things don’t happen the way you would think and start getting more and more outrageous the more you dive into the story. Will they be able to get rid of the body? To find out, check out this uproarious book! Recommended for ages 16+, 4 stars.