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APRIL 2022
Our April lineup includes interviews with Ben Levin, Rebecca Evans, Kyle Lukoff, Erin Entrada Kelly, James Murray and Carsen Smith, Raynelda Calderon, Rachelle Burk, Melissa Stoller, and Wednesday Kirwan!
Taylor Moxey is pushing the reset button, Judy Newman has something sticky on her shoes, Linda Harkey has a doggone writing assignment for little readers, Once Upon a Dance is drawing from feline inspiration, Olivia Amiri is learning to be herself, and Nick Spake reviews Turning Red.
Check out our newest book reviews and spring reading list! It's all inside!
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FEATURES
BEN LEVIN
Turns the Page on Autism
by Melissa Fales
In the Hole is the newly published YA novel by prolific writer Ben Levin. Nineteen-year-old Levin has had his ups and downs over the course of his journey with autism, but he’s come to have a very positive attitude about the disorder. “Autism is not a curse, it’s a gift,” he says. “It’s not easy. Sometimes I struggle, but I feel it’s helped me in so many ways. I feel like if I didn’t have autism, I wouldn’t be able to come up with so many storylines or be able to remember them or to write them down. Autism has helped me to be a better writer.”
REBECCA EVANS
Illustrates the Power of Friendship in New Picture Book
by Melissa Fales
Rebecca Evans’ new children’s book, Alone Like Me, was heavily inspired by events from her own life. The book, set in China, is about a lonely little girl who longs to have a friend. In part, Alone Like Me is a reflection on Evans’ experience traveling to China to adopt her son. It also touches on a common theme from Evans’ own childhood. “We moved a lot when I was young and I was shy, so I struggled to make new friends,” Evans recalls. “Whenever we moved to a new town, I looked for other kids who sat alone at lunch or on the playground and tried to make friends with them.”
KYLE LUKOFF
Offers Middle Graders an Affirming Look at Gender Identity
by Melissa Fales
Middle grade novels about preteens with crushes are nothing new, but Kyle Lukoff’s new book offers a fresh take on a common storyline. In Different Kinds of Fruit, Lukoff introduces Annabelle, a sixth-grade girl who experiences her first crush on Bailey, a new, nonbinary student. Lukoff says it’s important for children to learn about gender identity. “Children absorb the rules they are taught both explicitly and implicitly, and many of those rules involve the current dominant construction of gender that we are all operating within,” he says. “Almost all books include lessons about gender, and I think learning there are ways of experiencing gender that conflict with that more hegemonic understanding is part of becoming a whole person and an engaged human being.”
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One to Read
ERIN ENTRADA KELLY
by Melissa Fales
Newbery Medal-winning and New York Times bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly’s latest book is Those Kids from Fawn Creek. It’s about a tight-knit group of seventh-grade classmates from a small, sleepy Louisiana town who are stunned when a new girl shows up at their school and shakes everything up. Those Kids from Fawn Creek explores similar themes to those Kelly explored in her 2018 Newbery Medal book, Hello Universe, her 2021 Newbery Honor book, We Dream of Space, and her award-winning books The Land of Forgotten Girls and Blackbird Fly. “One common thread through all my books is a feeling of being ‘unseen,’ whether it’s in your family or friend group or society in general,” says Kelly. “I know what it feels like to be invisible or to not be seen for who you really are. I think we all know what that feels like, no matter our background.”
DON’T MISS AN ISSUE
JAMES MURRAY AND CARSEN SMITH
Take Young Readers to Area 51 for Some Alien Fun
by Melissa Fales
Comedians Carsen Smith and James “Murr” Murray of Impractical Jokers fame have joined forces to create Area 51 Interns, a new children’s book series about a group of kids who band together to protect the storied, highly-classified zone from a hostile takeover by an onslaught of aliens. The first book in the series, Alien Summer, was released on March 15. According to Murray, the inspiration for Area 51 Interns was simple. “The series came from two really fun questions,” he says. “First, what if everything you heard about Area 51 was real, and second, what if you and your best friends landed a summer internship there?”
RAYNELDA CALDERON
Gives a Voice to Underrepresented Hispanic Women
by Melissa Fales
Raynelda Calderon works as a librarian in the New York Public Library system. One day she made a disturbing discovery while on the job that inspired her to start writing books for children. “I was browsing the library shelves looking for books about the lives of notable Hispanic women to display for Women’s History Month, but found none,” she says, adding that it led her to wonder why her culture was so underrepresented in children’s literature. “Where are our stories, our history? More importantly, who is telling our stories?” In response, Calderon wrote Mama Tingo, about a farming activist from the Dominican Republic who was murdered for standing up for her rights. “I’ve been writing about the accomplishments of Hispanic women since then,” Calderon says. Her recently released book, The Mirabal Sisters: From Caterpillars to Butterflies, is the latest in Calderon’s collection of stories about great Hispanic women in history.
RACHELLE BURK
Teaches Toddlers to Shake, Rattle, and Roll in Fun Picture Book
by Julianne Black DiBlasi
As is Murphy’s Law tradition, the tooth came out when I had the least amount of cash in my wallet.
As all seasoned tooth fairy representatives know, coins are a strict no-no when you have a light sleeper. Bah. After a few minutes of going over the pros and cons of an I.O.U. coupon, I decided to turn over the last two dollars I have on hand and start chanting the ‘vow to do better next time’ mantra I have on hand for times just like this.
Fast forward to morning. Kiddo runs in to ask about the return policy with the Tooth Fairy. Um ... what? She then proceeds to tell me that she believes her tooth is worth more than a lousy two bucks and would like to trade it back. Only. My. Kid.
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