Review: Swimming Into Trouble

Julia On the Go!
Written by Angela Ahn
Illustrated by Julie Kim

Toronto: Tundra Books, 2024. Intermediate. 170 pages.

Julia loves swimming more than anything. When she's not helping her parents at their restaurant, she's at swim practice with the Vipers. She's most excited for the personal best day when she can beat her record. One day, while trying to dive to the bottom of the deep end, Julia feels a pain in her ear. It's an ear infection, which means she has to take a break from swimming. Julia will do everything she can to get back in the pool.

This is a great book with an important lesson about dealing with disappointment. We see many difficult things such has having parent's struggling to make ends meet and learning to be flexible when it's the last thing you want to do. This is a good intermediate chapter book for readers who are starting to read books with more words and less pictures.

Comments

Books That Take You There: The Museum

One of my very favorite things to do is walk around a museum. There's something special about being surrounded by paintings, sculptures, and objects and just getting to wander and take it all in. There are some amazing local museums, including our own Nelson Attic, but if you want to recreate the experience of visiting a museum from the comfort of your own bedroom -- here are some books that will take you there. Mona Lisa and the Others Written by Alice Harman Illustrated by Quentin Blake London: Thames & Hudson, 2023. Informational. 95 pgs. If you're going to visit a museum from your bedroom, you might as well start with the most famous museum in the world -- and home to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa -- Paris' Louvre Museum. Mona Lisa herself is on hand to introduce readers to the Louvre before passing the mic to other masterpieces who are all eager to say why they are the museum's real treasure. The result is an engaging book with lots of facts and crisp reproductions

Review: The New Girl

The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a

Display: Light Vs. Dark

The King Who Banned the Dark By Emily Haworth-Booth New York: Sterling Children's Books, 2019. Picture Book. When a prince becomes a king he decides to ban the dark completely. At first, everyone celebrates. But before long, no one can sleep and the exhausted citizens are ready to revolt. Can the people help the King face his fears, turn off the lights, and see that you can't appreciate the light without having the dark, too? --Editor The Dark and the Light Written by Kerstin Hau Illustrated by Julie Volk and David Henry Wilson Zürich: NorthSouth Books, Inc., 2019. Picture Book. Loveable Shaggy lives in the land of darkness. He is lonely. Softhearted Sparkle lives in the land of light. She is lonely. One day they both go to the gray-blue border between their countries and find that life is light and dark and every color imaginable. --Publisher Dark on Light Written by Dianne White Illustrated by Felicita Sala New York: Beach Lane Books, 2022. Picture Book. As night falls, a t

Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Search This Blog