The Enigma Girls: Teens, Ciphers and War

Lynn: Decades after the secret work at Bletchley Park, its long-hidden stories finally started to be revealed. I’ve read several accounts of pivotal people involved in cryptography but here, wonderfully, in The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win WWII (Scholastic, March 2024) veteran author Candace Fleming focuses on the ordinary young women who made it all happen.

Stressing the extreme youth of the girls, most of whom were still teenagers, Fleming weaves together the stories of 10 young women in particular. They were listeners, translators, Colossus operators, cryptographers, and more. They did the everyday grinding work in terrible conditions with long hours and enormous stress. Sworn to secrecy, they shared the story of their work with no one—not even each other.

Going into fascinating detail, Fleming describes the numerous small parts of the work that required many steps, many people, and meticulous attention to detail. A mistake could kill and they all knew how crucial, if often mind-numbing, their work was. Interspersed with the girls’ stories are the steps to codes, ciphers, and the art and science of breaking them. Using short chapters and clear straight-forward text, Fleming creates an accessible and vivid portrait of an amazing effort by so many.

Careful research and documentation are provided along with archival photographs. Read in galley, so some of the back matter was not finished. This is a must-purchase for middle school collections. Also recommended for high school collections to offer an excellent WWII nonfiction for readers needing simpler text.

Delightful D and More Letters by Daigneault

Lynn: When you think of the letter B do you think of “Big Baboons Bathing in Blue Bubbles”? Or does the letter P evoke thoughts of “Perky Penquins Painting Pretty Pictures”? Well, I haven’t but after reading Sylvie Daigneault’s stunning Imaginary Alphabet (Pajama Press, 2023) those images will always be in my head.

Long-time readers may remember that alphabet books are a real favorite of mine. As I’ve said in the past, the infinite variety of them astonishes me. Each time I think there can’t be anything new to match, someone creates something that does. It’s a really basic premise, after all, so how inventive can people be? VERY inventive and Sylvie Daigneault joins the list of illustrators who have taken the ABC’s to new heights.

In the Preface, Daigneault tells readers that the idea had been in her mind for a long time and during the Pandemic, she began to really work on the book. Perhaps I should say play instead of work because playfulness is a huge part of this book, both in the bouncy alliterative text and in the exuberant whimsy of the illustrations. The book is slightly oversized and each 2-page spread features a letter and on the opposite page an intricate illustrative example of words beginning with the letter. All are done in colored pencil and full of exquisite details worked carefully into the overall illustration. For example, the letter R features a scene of “Reckless Raccoons Riding the River Rapid” and the scene shows not only a rowboat load of raccoons on a racing river but it also includes raspberry bushes, a reindeer, roses, rain, a rainbow, rabbits, a railroad, ropes, and a robin. Every letter is a new delight and each page requires and deserves careful examination and appreciation.

There is a list of over 300 items included in the pictures. I’m not sure if it is better to go through first and then look at the list or look at each letter, and then check the list. Either way is fun and awe-inspiring.

This book is a visual and imaginative treat and an absolute delight to read—even the endpapers are beautiful! A must-purchase for all elementary classrooms and libraries. I’m supposed to be winnowing my huge, out-of-control collection of books to fit in a proposed new home but I don’t think I can resist adding this one anyway! Enjoy!

Become a Spider with Jumper and Jessica Lanan

Lynn: Can you imagine ever being a spider? Many of our young readers would shout yes to that Jumper question. Author/Illustrator Jessica Lanan is right here to help with her new book, Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Jumping Spider (Roaring Brook, 2023) where readers can spend the day with Jumper, an impossibly cute Regal Jumper as she hunts in a backyard garden. A human child and her family work in the garden while Jumper also goes about her life, hunting and avoiding being hunted.

Jumper is a completely engaging little creature only the size of a bean but with some extraordinary abilities that Lanan demonstrates in brilliant and beautiful illustrations, giving young readers context and comparisons that make the little spider’s talents fully understandable. Jumper is shown, for example, making a leap after prey while in the background, the little girl also jumps. A double-page spread dramatically reveals what it is like to see with Jumper’s 8-eyed vision. Some scenes are spider-size perspectives and some are from the child’s perspective. Lanan has used ink, watercolor, and gouache and the illustrations are truly beautiful as well as being accurate, and extremely effective, helping children to comprehend a spider’s world.

Extensive back matter provides a plethora of additional information, including a 6-part guide for locating and observing spiders. Science has never been so fun! This is an ideal choice for a STEM classroom or to use as a writing prompt.

Teaching the Past – Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter

Lynn: American story How do you tell the story of our history to children when that story is a painful one – a story of slavery, cruelty and oppression for example? How do you tell a story that makes us uncomfortable? That is a question being debated across our country. Some ask it because they don’t know how to go about it like the teacher in this new book. Some ask it because they don’t want to upset their children and some ask it because THEY are uncomfortable about our history and prefer to pretend it didn’t happen. This same question has been asked about teaching the Holocaust. the Japanese Internment and other horrors of human history.

An American Story (Little, Brown/2023) is author Kwame Alexander and illustrator Dare Coulter’s answer to that critical question. You teach it because young people deserve the truth. You teach it in the hope that these events will not occur again. You teach it because our past shapes our future and the whole past deserves our understanding in order to move forward with hope.

Alexander and Coulter tell the story using the framework of a teacher starting to tell the story of a happy prosperous people stolen in the night from their land, forced into the dark holds of ships to be sold. She falters in the telling but her young students remind her that, “You always tell us to speak the truth, Mrs. Simmons, even when it’s hard?”

Dare Coulter’s stunning illustrations depict the visual history of slavery, of people cruelly treated but keeping the force of the spirit and hope alive, a people suffering but surviving. Coulter painstakingly sculpted figures, some of water-based clay and some of polymer clay and photographed them. She also created paintings with acrylic and spray paint on wood panels and drawings with charcoal. The combined results are vivid, dynamic and extremely powerful. One jolting page-turn shows manacled wrists against a blue background and another offers the hopeful sign of young hands raised, eager to hear the telling of our history.

The combination of the lyrical text and the unflinching but remarkable illustrations is unforgettable. An Author’s Note and an Illustrator’s Note provide additional information on the creation of this brave and necessary book. Look for awards on this one.

Don’t Go in the Basement – Unless You Are Ben Hatke Readers

Lynn: Everyone who watches horror movies KNOWS you should never go down in the basement! But Ben Hatke may change our minds with his wonderful new graphic novel, Things in the Basement (First Second, 2023.) For one thing, reading will solve the mystery that plagues us all – where do the missing socks go??

Ben Hatke may be my favorite graphic novelist and this new book checked every box for me. The storytelling, art work, pacing, world building, and characters were all richly created. I read this in one sitting and then went back and re-read it more slowly and I can see that each additional reading will yield more.

Young Milo, his mom, and infant twin siblings have just moved into a new rather spooky-looking house. One of the babies has lost a sock, specially knitted for her, and Milo’s mom asks him to go find it – IN THE BASEMENT! If the house was spooky, the basement is terrifying but Milo wants to help his mom. Following a mysterious creature who has stolen the sock, Milo finds a previously unnoticed door. Behind that door is a whole other huge world and it is full of incredible creatures. Some of those creatures are friendly and some, like the Gobbler, are hideous and dangerous. As Milo explores the basement world, he makes some friends and learns just what it takes to really be a true friend.

Hatke’s illustrative work is masterful, brilliantly using light and shadow to intensify the suspense, mystery, and danger. Light touches add moments of relief only to plunge back into the foreboding murky dark. The world’s inhabitants are wonderfully imaginative including the Gobbler and the skull who speaks in pictures. What a great touch.

The story comes to a satisfying conclusion but clearly, the creaky door is wide open for another adventure. A must-purchase for all libraries where kids love graphic novels…. all libraries!

The Labors of Hercules Beal and Grief

Lynn: What, you might ask, do the Labors of Hercules, grief, and middle-grade books have to do with each other? Everything, if it’s in the hands of masterful author Gary Schmidt. In his new book, The Labors of Hercules Beal (Clarion, 2023),12-year-old Hercules Beal is laboring under a heavy burden of grief and loss after the hit-and-run accident that killed his parents. His older brother has returned from his dream job to take over the Beal Brothers Farm and Nursery and care for Hercules. Neither brother can talk about their pain and daily life is a question of survival. To add to Hercules’ burdens, his brother switches him to a new school he can walk to AND his new teacher, ex-marine, Lt. Col. Hupfer’s assignment of the Classical Mythology year-long project is to consider the Twelve Labors of Hercules and how they would be performed today.

As Hercules labors over the project, life adds much more to his burdens but he also discovers the powers of friendship, love, trust, and being able to heal—and the ability to write in ways that satisfy his demanding teacher.

Hercules and all the characters around him on Cape Cod won my heart and half the fun was seeing how he tackled the 12 Labors and how that affected him. Hercules is a kid that young readers can relate to and his voice is wonderfully authentic. Schmidt understandably writes often of grief and. sadly, its heavy weight is carried by many of today’s kids. Hercules’ struggles to manage that burden are deeply moving and accessibly depicted. His ultimate management of that pain is one every reader can cheer for.

Another reviewer I read has dismissed Schmidt and his books because the readers in her library won’t pick them up to read. That is a criticism of books that I have heard often over the years and while that may be true, it is also true that there are many readers for whom this book will be a truly memorable and enjoyable experience. We live in a world where young people often have little experience with books that take some time or are of places and people far different from their own. Part of our role as teachers and librarians is to open those doors for kids and help them to experience different worlds. Schmidt’s books beg to be read aloud in a classroom, to be discussed and to enable readers to walk in other people’s shoes. I feel it has always been crucial and, especially so today where focus and empathy are lacking, all the more important.

Libraries should have a wide range of popular books and formats and they should also have masterfully written stories that are deeply rewarding and that take time to unfurl. Gary Schmidt’s newest is one of those. Will a lot of kids know anything about the Labors of Hercules? Not at the beginning, but do they know about grief and sadness and the daily struggle to get through a day? Absolutely! And here, a wonderful writer reflects on those issues in ways that will make young readers laugh and cry and perhaps help them in their own struggles. I think this is a must-purchase and a wonderful book to share.

Are You Ready for Snow? Just One Flake Maybe…

Cindy: I’m not happy that it’s SNOWING here in Travis Jonker’s part of the world, where Lynn and I live too, and on HALLOWEEN, no less, but I’m chilled with delight over his latest book, Just One Flake (Abrams, 2023). This one had me at the cover as a young child sticks out his tongue to catch a snowflake. This story features Jonker’s debut as an illustrator of his work, and what a fabulous start. Knowing that Travis often highlights the covers under the picture book jackets in his popular children’s literature blog, 100 Scope Notes, the first thing I did was peek under the jacket to check—and I wasn’t disappointed. A collage of paper snowflakes is made even better when you learn that they were each created by some of the luminaries of the children’s lit world along with family members, each credited at book’s end.

Liam is eager to catch just one snowflake and gives it multiple tries but is foiled each time. A final attempt, just as he is called inside, is alllllmoooost successful, but successful enough to spark wonder and a new idea for him to explore inside with a cup of hot chocolate. The story and illustrations appear simple but the themes (perseverance, success can come in many levels, wonder at nature, and creativity is power) are subtle and important. This is a gem not to be missed.

Lynn: In Michigan, like many Midwestern states, we have a saying that if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. Our 6-9 inches of Halloween snow has quickly melted and yesterday it was 54 degrees! But snow is always a factor in our winters and Travis’ wonderful picture book is going to delight kids everywhere—even those who seldom see a snowflake.

This is a perfect book to use with very young children. The use of simple sentences and language make it wonderfully toddler appropriate and the sound effects make for a fun read-aloud. Travis’ illustrations have black line outlines and bright primary colors that do a great job of enhancing the text for small readers.

I second Cindy’s thoughts on this charming story. Quick! Add this to your collections before the next snowflake falls!

Alerting the World to the Holocaust – Sheinkin Introduces Rudi Vrba to Today’s Teens

Lynn: Award winner Steve Sheinkin’s new book for teens, Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe (Roaring Brook, 2023) is once more a true and important piece of history told with a dynamic and immersive style.

In 1942 Rudolf Verba and school mate Gerta Sidonova were ordinary teens, classmates in their Slovakian town, and suddenly aware of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi rule and the rounding up of Jewish people into concentration camps. Their country, Hungary, had resisted so far but was crumbling under Hitler’s demands. Time was running out. And so begins parallel stories of what Rudi and Gerta did, not just to survive, but to fight back in this terrible time.

Rudi was determined to journey across occupied lands to Britain and join the forces fighting Hitler. He was captured almost immediately and sent to Auschwitz. Young and fit, he was put to work in the camp instead of being sent to the gas chambers. While fortunate, this was no easy life. Horribly malnourished, the prisoners did exhausting labor from sunup to sundown in desperate conditions, brutalized by guards. Workers died in appalling numbers and Rudi learned quickly that survival was a matter of determination, luck and paying close and constant attention. Rudi also learned the truth about what was happening at Auschwitz and other camps and he became determined to escape and tell the world.

Gerta and her family also fled, and with forged papers lived an undercover life for a time, always in fear and privation. Eventually her father was arrested and sent away, Gerta and her mother arrested and severely beaten. All during this time, Gerta worked with the underground resistance, determined to defeat the Nazi’s.

Rudi’s story is the more dynamic of the two and the events of his life and escape naturally dominate the book. Amazingly Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler managed a skillful and breath-taking escape from Auschwitz, one of the few to ever accomplish that feat. Making their way through occupied country with the Germans searching for them everywhere, Rudi and Fred astonishingly made it to Hungary. Here Rudi met with Jewish underground leaders and told the full story complete with carefully memorized details of what was happening in the camps and the extent of Hitler’s Final Solution. What had been unbelievable rumors to so many became solid truth that the world soon learned. Thanks to this 1944 Vrba-Wetzler Report, the world finally took action and an estimated 200,000 Jews were saved from extermination.

It is a truly compelling story and Sheinkin tells it wonderfully, providing background history of the larger war without slowing the urgency of the main story. Often young readers ask why history is important and here both Rudi Vrba and Sheinkin answer. For years after the war, Vrba gave lectures, interviews and documentary films about the Holocaust, even testifying in a trial of a Canadian Holocaust denier. When asked if the Holocaust could happen again he said, “If it was possible yesterday, it is possible again today unless we are always vigilant.” “That’s why it is so important,” he added, “that no one gets away with racial hatred and lies.” Sheinkin connects this answer unnervingly to our current time. Teens will be awed by this tale of courage and quiet heroism and its lessons will long remain in their minds.

Squash the Cat Makes a Big Mistake

Lynn: It’s fall so squash is a common topic! But this time I don’t mean the vegetable – I mean the cat! Sasha Meyer’s new and very funny picture book, Squash, the Cat (Random Studio, 2023) introduces a cat named Squash and his best friend Maggie. Squash is the perfect name for this orange and definitely squash-shaped cat.

Squash is “an early breakfast followed by a mid-morning nap kind of cat.” Maggie, however is a later riser but a “wild playdate” kind of girl. But Maggie and Squash are perfect for each other just the same. Together they take on all challenges and always have each other’s back. Until, that is, Squash, thinking he is saving Maggie, makes a BIG mistake!

This sweet and appealing story shows what happens when a best friend makes another sad. Small children will understand both Squash and Maggie’s feelings and cheer when Maggie decides that even if best friends forever aren’t perfect, that is OK. Meyer’s large bright illustrations wonderfully convey both friend’s experiences and gently underscore the idea that friends forgive each other. This is a wonderful book to use to start discussions about friends and what happens when someone makes a mistake.

I adored the illustration in this tale! Just looking at Squash makes me laugh. But I may have a slight bias here Will on couch since I share a house with a remarkably similar and squash-shaped cat.

Lake Erie Mysteries – Swallowtail Island Returns

Lynn: I Betrayal by the book only discovered Michael Beil’s first book in the Swallowtail Legacy a few months ago. I loved it and I am so happy to report that we now have a second mystery set on beautiful Swallowtail Island to enjoy. Swallowtail Legacy: Betrayed by the Book (Pixiel Ink, 2023) is just as much fun as the first! The series features soccer player/detective/reader Lark and her extended family. Lark, still wearing the cast from the accident at the end of the first book, is thrilled to be picked as a page to her favorite author, Ann Keyhart, for the famous Swallowtail Writer’s Conference. But it is immediately clear that Keyhart is a horrible person who bullies her assistant, and undermines other authors, editors, and agents constantly. AND she hasn’t written a word in several years! Lark bonds with Didi, Keyhart’s assistant who confides that she (Didi) has just completed a book and is to meet an agent at the conference. Then, tragically, Didi is found dead of an allergic reaction and there is NO trace of her laptop or manuscript.

Lark and her band of island friends and family don’t believe Didi’s death was an accident and set out to solve the mystery.

This is another delightful mystery ideal for middle-grade readers. Set in a unique place and with an endearing cast of characters, the identity of the murderer becomes clear early but the real story lies in the proof, the gathering of evidence, and several related threads connecting the books and several of the characters. Twelve-year-old Lark is a feisty, often impulsive protagonist and easy to root for. Her extended family and the large cast of islanders and new friends add interest and warmth and help make this second installment even more fun than the first. Another wild chase scene occurs at the resolution and events set the stage for a third—and VERY welcome—book.