Get ready to LOL!

Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
By Jessica Kim

An aspiring comedian myself (no joke, a secret of apsiration of mine for sure!), I definitely want to read this one. Fifth grade Reading Ambassador, Jess, grabbed it when it came in a box of arcs and here's what she had to say about it:

Have you ever dreamed of being a stand up comedian? Have you ever done something your parents wouldn't allow you to do? Well, then you can relate to Yumi Chung. 

Yumi loves comedy and wants to figure out a way to do it without her parents figuring out. Her parents always brag about her sister's accomplishments because she goes to medical school but Yumi doesn't really have any accomplishments so her mom sometimes makes them up. Yumi also feels overruled by her parents like they tell her how she should wear her hair and that she can't do comedy.

Every morning in the summer, Yumi's parents pay for her to go to Hagwan, an educational program.  It ends at noon and Yumi is expected to go to the library afterward to study.  Instead, she sneaks into the HaHa Club, conveniently located across the street from the library. Yumi's favorite YouTuber also happens to be the counselor of the camp there so Yumi goes there every day instead of the library.

On top on everything else, a new steakhouse opens down the street from Chung's Steakhouse, the restaurant owned by Yumi's parents. Workers from Chung's quit because they would get paid more at the new restaurant.  Money starts getting tight for the Chung family and they can't pay the rent. Yumi has an idea to to save the day! How does she do it? Will Yumi's parents find out she's not going to the library? Will Yumi finally make her parents proud of her? You'll have to read this book to find out!

This book was really good! Yumi's jokes made me laugh and sometimes even giggle out loud. It even inspired me to learn some jokes and write my own. Put it on your TBR list for March 2020!

At the Mountain's Base

The beauty of a completely flexible schedule is that you can be, well, flexible.

This morning I received an urgent email from a first great teacher with the subject line, "HELP!"
She thought today was the day we were celebrating a big book birthday. Parents sent in homemade cookies, grapes and other snacks for the party.  But, our planned party is actually next week.  What to do?  "Can you come down at any time today to celebrate something?" 12:45 it was.

Fortunately, it didn't take me long to look through my F&Gs to find a book that celebrated its birthday yesterday. The gorgeous, poetic and thought-provoking-for-any-grade, At the Mountain's Base it was. And celebrate we did. Happy belated, Traci Sorell and Weshoyot Alvitre.  And check out the book's well deserved STARRED REVIEW from SLJ.

We read the book and talked about peace, family and Native Americans.  We sang "This Land is Your Land" (they knew the lyrics way better than I did!).  I brought down some yarn since it is "weaved" throughout the story and we glued a piece onto card stock in the shape of a square or circle.  Tomorrow they will draw their families inside the yarn frame.

"Don't forget we have to sing 'Happy Birthday!'" many of them reminded me.  Of course!

I love my job. And I especially love that my schedule allows me to squeeze in a book birthday at the last minute in between meeting first graders to critique Geisel contenders, helping 6th graders navigate through the overdrive app, Sora, read aloud to 5th graders daily at 2pm, introduce kinders to book exchange, plan book birthdays, author visits and... yeah, that was just today. Makes me so happy that I'm leaping...

   

Strange Birds

It's been a very hot and humid day.  Our A/C is on and so is my oven. Please don't tell National Grid (shouldn't I be conserving?).  The oven's purpose? To bake Aster's Chips+Chips cookies.

So many good books are coming out this fall and Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Perez is one of them.  Four different girls with four different backgrounds in a tree house in Florida ruffling feathers literally and figuratively.


There's Ofelia Castillo, the journalist, who just wants support and permission to apply to the four week Qwerty Sholes contest that would land her a 4-week internship in New York City.

There's Cat Garcia, a bird watcher who just quit the Floras, unbeknownst to her mother.  Being a Flora has been in Cat's family history for forever and her mother has dreams of Cat becoming Miss Floras.  As Miss Floras, Cat would don a hat made "a hundred years ago when...people thought it was okay to kill birds and wear them." Cat is not okay with that.

There's Aster Douglas, a foodie, who lives with her grandfather and is on a mission to uncover the mystery of the Winter Sun orange (and the namesake of our cookies).

And finally Lane DiSanti who is staying in Sabal Palms with her grandmother while her parents figure out the future of their relationship. "All relationships require some kind of agreement." Lane comes from old Florida money and is the one behind bringing the girls together with an intriguing invitation.

This is a story about activism, friendship, standing up for what you believe in and using your voice.  Watch out, though, after learning that actions can make a difference, who knows what your middle grade readers will be inspired to do. Strange Birds teaches them that "most things that matter carry some risk" but will be worth it in the end. (and cause for celebration with Aster's cookies, of course--thankfully the recipe is included!)

Celia with her editor at a Penguin luncheon during ALA. The flamingo and sticky notes are key.

Before

After-YUM!

 

 

 

 

PS-The cookies are DELICIOUS! I love how they are one bowl, too! 🍪♡