Top Ten Tuesday Favorite Books Ive Read for my Blog

The folks at The Broke and the Bookish selected a retrospective list for this weeks top ten--your favorite books since you began your blog. I started mine almost two years ago, so I had to do a lot of soul searching before I came up with my final list. Click on each title for my original review.

1. Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows

Why? Great friendships are a staple in early chapter books. This series introduces two girls with big size personalities that perfectly mesh.

2. Bink & Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

Why? Two very different friends put a new spin on dynamic twosomes for beginning readers.

3. Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker

Why? My favorite in the series about Clementine, an irrepressible third-grader, who learns she will once again be a big sister.

4. Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

Why? Readers get a front view seat to the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade and how it began in this award-winning nonfiction picture book.

5. Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

Why? Atinuke is a natural storyteller. Anna, a young African girl, is an engaging character who lives with her extended family in an unnamed African village.

6. The No. 1 Car Spotter by Atinuke

Why? An eyeopener into the world of a young African boy and his extended family.

7. Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins

Why? This hard-to-classify story stayed with me long after I read it.

8. Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel

Why? One word--Hysterical. Bad Kitty rules.

9. Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch

Why? A picture book about death like no other. Wow.

10. Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones

Why? Diana Wynn Jones last book proves why this author excelled in writing fantasy.
 

Read More

My Happy Life

In this charmer of an early chapter book, Lagercrantz brilliantly captures the essence of first grade with all its ups and down. Dani, the books resilient heroine, is concerned that she wont make friends. She does, of course, and she and Ella experience all the joys of getting to know each other. They share swing rides, a friendship necklace, and sleepovers. There is also the pain of the first fight, when Ella refuses to swap her angel bookmark.

But all good things must come to an end, and Danis world crumbles after Ella moves away. Until her friends departure, Dani used to go to sleep counting all her happy times. Now she no longer can. Dani is deeply sad and one of this books strengths is that it doesnt shy away from childhood grief. Dani misses her friend and although her teacher and father try their best to make her feel better, things go from bad to worse. In the days that follow Dani skins her knee, is tackled playing soccer, and feels terribly guilty after injuring a boy during a class free-for-all. Slowly, though, Dani regains her old cheerful self. She makes new friends (although none can take Ellas place). She gets two hamsters. Finally, she receives a letter from Ella and an invitation to see her new home. Joy.

Translated from Swedish by Julia Marshall, the books twenty easy-to-read short chapters explore the day to day life of a young child, respecting each experience, from the small joys of jumping rope 500 times to the larger issues of death and loss.

"Dani used to have a mother who lived there too, but she passed away. Thats what people said when someone died. They said she had passed away, but how could a dead person pass anything? And away to where?"

The pen-and-ink illustrations are full of life and vitality, just like Dani. Eriksson manages with just a few strokes of her pen to capture a multitude of expressions on the childrens faces. The world she creates rings true and subtly adds to the story. Just by looking at the illustrations of Danis teacher we know shes great at her job.

A treasure of a book!

My Happy Life
by Rose Lagercrantz
illustrations by Eva Eriksson
Gecko Press, 134 pages
Published: 2013 (U.S. edition)  

Read More