Isabella's Garden by Glenda Millard and Rebecca Cool (grades K-2)

2013 USBBY Outstanding International Book

Plot Summary from Amazon

A lyrical, uplifting picture book explores the growth and continual change that goes on in a much-loved garden.

This is the sun that kisses the clouds 
that cried the rain that soaks the seeds
that sleep in the soil, all dark and deep,
in Isabella’s garden.
In Isabella’s garden, amazing things come from the tiniest of seeds as they bloom and flourish and make way for a whole new season of growth. Told with great warmth and echoing favorite nursery rhymes such as "The Green Grass Grows All Around" or "The House that Jack Built," Glenda Millard’s award-winning story bursts with life. Beautifully complemented by Rebecca Cool’s bright, peaceful illustrations, here is a tale that is sure to win the hearts of readers of all ages.

 

YouTube Storytime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wktk_sC-Ms

 

Questions to consider:  

What style of art does the illustrator use? Why?

What are the differences and similarities between two cumulative rhymes Isabella’s Garden and “This is the House that Jack Built”?

What universal experience does this book refer to? 

Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Grades 9-12)

This month, I will be discussing Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity, a 2013 USBBY Outstanding International Book for grades nine through twelve. The author, Wein, may sound familiar to you all, as I featured her other USBBY Outstanding International book, Rose Under Fire in a previous blog post.

Wein, E. (2013). Code Name Verity. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.

As you know, I read the later-published, companion novel, Rose Under Fire, before I decided to delve into Code Name Verity. I'm not sure why I chose to read the former first, but I wish I hadn't. The two books are so similar, yet so very different, and I just wish that I had experienced Code Name Verity before its counterpart. To divulge why I have come to this conclusion, I feel as though I must include a brief summary, retrieved from the author's website, of the novel in question:

When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.  They'll get the truth out of her.  But it won’t be what they expect.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from a merciless and ruthless enemy?

Harrowing and beautifully written, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that reveals just how far true friends will go to save each other. The bondage of war will never be as strong as the bonds forged by the unforgettable friendship in this extraordinary tale of fortitude in the face of the ultimate evil.

I'm sure, by reading the summary, that you've noticed some very obvious differences found between the two books. They contrast one another with their plots and setting. The protagonists are captured by Nazis, but the outcomes are quite different in various ways. However, their interwoven similarities are so complex and beautiful, and, admittedly, were something I didn't quite realize when I began reading Code Name Verity. To be honest, it took me a while to read this book. I just couldn't get into it, you know? After completing the beautifully written Rose Under Fire, with all of its poetry and its hope and faith in humanity (things CNV certainly lacks during the first few "entries"), I didn't want to be immediately thrust into the dark world of Code Name Verity. Additionally, the strange narration style didn't motivate me at all to pick this book back up. To explain, Wein takes a familiar approach, the style of diary entries, but this particular narrator writes not from her own perspective--but from her best friends'. It's very confusing at first. I almost gave up on this work, but I am so, so glad that I didn't. This book was filled with such raw and deep emotion, and, once again, I was left in a state of shock, the good kind of shock, when finishing this book.

I would certainly recommend this book to readers of YA novels and beyond, but I must warn you, just as I did with Rose Under Fire: It is graphic. It will make you feel uncomfortable. It will make you think (about our world's past, about humanity, about friendship), but, hey, isn't that what all good literature is supposed to do--make you think? Don't let the narration style discourage you as it did me. You won't regret reading this book (and Rose Under Fire).

As you all may now know, I am a huge fan of this author's work, but I do believe that there are always questions that readers should consider while exploring a text. With this particular work, I think these questions should be addressed:

• Why do so many USBBY Outstanding International Books have a World War II setting? Does this choice of the author represent a universal theme or international issues?
• Again, I must ask: How is Code Name Verity a companion text for Rose Under Fire? What similarities do the two texts have? What differences? Did these similar characteristics aid in Code Name Verity's placement on USBBY's Outstanding International Book List?
• What topics, if any, are too graphic or possibly too upsetting to discuss in a classroom setting?

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

Tamaki, Mariko, & Tamaki, Jillian (2014).  This one summer.  New York: First Second.

       This One Summer is perfect for a summer read, as it is a great YA graphic novel and a coming of age story of two pre-teen girls, Rose and Windy.  Both girls are only children, so they bond with each other while their families spend summers at the lake.  In addition to the normal challenges that come with being early adolescents, Rose's parents are going through a "rough patch" in their marriage.  Also, Rose and Windy become indirectly involved with relationship issues of older teenagers in the neighborhood.  Fortunately, they are able to lean on each other.  The drawings in the book are beautiful, and the dialogue is realistic for the age group.  Although the book was published in the United States, both of the authors are Canadian.  They are the same duo who teamed up to write the YA graphic novel Skim, which tells the story of a Wiccan "gothic" girl who has a hard time fitting in at her private school.  The author (Mariko) and the illustrator (Jillian) are cousins, and I love the idea of two family members collaborating on a creative project.
     I can relate to the book on a personal level because of the many beach vacations my cousin Cindy, my sister Patty, and I spent together as kids.  In particular, summer 1997 was a pivotal time in our lives and in our relationships with each other.  Cindy and I were both in high school, and Patty was in middle school.  All three of us were going through a lot of changes, both physically and emotionally.  One night, after July 4th fireworks, we went out to the beach, just the three of us.  We each made promises to the ocean that to this date, we haven't told anyone except for each other and the Amelia Island waters.  The ocean still holds some of our secrets and, therefore, a key into our souls.  In This One Summer as well, water is a force that both gives and takes away.  I believe that like the characters in this book, other pivotal moments in my life will take place by the water.