Category Archives: Read This

Read This!: WE ARE THE SCRAPPY ONES by Rebekah Taussig and Kirbi Fagan

Authors You Should Know, Read This, Recommended Reading,

We Are the Scrappy OnesWe Are the Scrappy Ones by Rebekah Taussig and Kirbi Fagan
Summary:  We are the scrappy ones. / We live, we adapt, we defy. / Made of stardust and grit, we are spectacular. 
Children with disabilities experience the world in all kinds of ways. Yet one thing they share is navigating a world that doesn’t always make space for them as they are. Existing on the edges can feel unfair—and downright exhausting. And at the exact same time, it can also foster creativity, resourcefulness, and adaptability. In a word, scrappiness.

In lyrical prose overflowing with gorgeous imagery, author and disability advocate Rebekah Taussig celebrates the unique and authentic experiences of children with disabilities: “We might move slowly or in zigzags, but we thrum our own tempos to beautiful songs.” Taussig’s text flows with Kirbi Fagan’s evocative pastel, colored pencil, and collage illustrations, which showcase the diversity of the disability experience. Yes, medical devices, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and guide dogs appear, but always the focus is on the agency of the children interacting with their world. This book is a glorious ode to the spirit of disabled children, acknowledging that “[the] burden we carry is the weight of a world that wasn’t built with us in mind.” Especially powerful is the section highlighting “revolutionaries thinking of you before you were born, fighting to get this world ready for you.” (Those revolutionaries, all members of the disability community, are featured in more detail in the back matter and each one is someone all kids and adults should learn about!) The core message is as simple as it is necessary: you are not alone. A beautiful, moving, and necessary picture book for all collections.

WE ARE THE SCRAPPY ONES is out now.

Bonus recommendation: Check out my review of Rebekah Taussig’s excellent memoir, Sitting Pretty.

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Read This!: THE SECRETS OF UNDERHILL by Kali Wallace

Authors You Should Know, Read This, Recommended Reading

The Secrets of UnderhillThe Secrets of Underhill by Kali Wallace
Summary: Nick Sixsmith has spent her whole life on the road. The daughter of a traveling arborist, she and her mother move from town to town, caring for the ironwood groves the communities rely upon. When a dangerous blight takes hold of these magical trees, they must journey to the city of Mistwood—her mother’s hometown—for answers.  Nick can’t wait to explore the prosperous city of Mistwood and all it has to the bustling markets and workshops, neighborhoods built under a roaring waterfall, and the vast ancestral grove of ironwood trees. But dark secrets simmer beneath the surface as people start to disappear, and tensions rise in the city.  As the mystery grows, Nick and her new friends must follow the trail where it leads underground, to a strange, enchanting world called Underhill. Only then, among the roots of ancestral grove, will Nick find a way to save her new home and the ironwood trees.

Another instant-classic middle grade fantasy from Kali Wallace. As in her previous middle grade novels Hunters of the Lost City and City of Islands, Wallace creates a world here that feels both timeless and utterly of its own moment, filled with achingly detailed characters confronting the challenges of their own time and yet providing insight on issues plaguing our modern world. In The Secrets of Underhill, the focus is on how people coexist with their environment, and what happens when greed outweighs human lives. As Nick helps her mother explore the cause of the mysterious blight affecting magical ironwood groves everywhere, she also confronts family secrets and her own fears. A bighearted story celebrating family ties, the power of nature, and the value of standing up for what’s right.

THE SECRETS OF UNDERHILL is out now.

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Read This!: MONSTER HANDS by Karen Kane, Jonaz McMillan, and Dion MBD

American Sign Language, ASL/Deaf Culture Book Reviews, Authors You Should Know, Read This, Recommended Reading, Reviews

Monster HandsMonster Hands by Karen Kane, Jonaz McMillan, and Dion MBD
Summary: When nighttime comes, Milo has a problem—he’s convinced there’s a monster under his bed! Luckily, his best friend Mel knows just what to do—scare the monster more than the monster scares you! So using shadow puppets on the wall, Mel and Milo make monster hands that roar, chomp and even laugh to scare the monster away. But uh oh! What if the monster thinks this is funny! This is NOT funny! Milo has an idea to show the monster who’s boss once and for all. Together Milo and Mel hatch a plan to scare the monster away forever. But in the end, they discover the true cure to a monster problem is a best friend who will stand and face it with you.

What do you do when there’s a scary monster under the bed? Scare it away, of course! Milo and his friend Mel communicate in American Sign Language from their neighboring windows, sharing ideas about what to do with that monster. This clever story features rhyming vocabulary in American Sign Language, and invites readers to sign along to scare that monster away. This book would be a terrific complement to interactive storytime classics like Ed Emberley’s Go Away, Big Green Monster! Check out the educator resource guide with more background information on the signs in the book here.

MONSTER HANDS is out now.

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