Author Archives: Jennifer Taft

About Jennifer Taft

I am the Teacher Librarian at Lacey Elementary School.

Dressing the Stars: The Story of Movie Costume Designer Edith Head by Jeanne Walker Harvey

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This picture book about legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head is a story stressing the themes of determination and persistence. As a young girl growing up in the deserts of Nevada, Edith made costumes for her pets and dolls. While still school age she discovered the power of costumes to create characters for her human friends. After moving to Los Angeles, California, one of her first jobs in Hollywood movies was to create costumes for animals in films. She could imagine and construct costumes, but couldn’t sketch well enough to be taken seriously as a designer.

Edith worked hard at learning to illustrate and eventually earned her way to dressing some of the most famous actresses in popular motion pictures of the last century. Fun illustrations, suggesting the bits and scraps of fabric from which Edith made her earliest pet and doll costumes, decorate the book with lots to enjoy. The book ends by noting the recognition of Ms. Head’s work in film with her many Academy Award nominations and wight wins.

The Author’s Note after the story is an excellent addition for older readers sharing the book with younger students.

Read these excellent books about courage and perseverance

You Should Meet Yayoi Kusama

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This leveled book is at the top of the Ready-to-Read difficulty level with longer, more complex sentences; wider, more challenging vocabulary; and up to a paragraph of text on a page. It includes a table of contents, two one-page bios of other famous women artists, a list of areas of study involving art, information about Japan, and a quiz about the text.

The text does a great job of conveying a straightforward summary of the life of Yayoi Kusama highlighting her struggles over the course of her long life, and how she eventually became regarded as a celebrity with her exhibitions selling out instantly. The theme focuses on how dedication and belief in yourself can lead to dreams coming true.

As Kusama is famous for her extensive use of polka dots in her art, the illustrations have polka dots on many pages. The bright palette of her artwork is reflected in the illustrations.

This book could be an inspiration to young girls who want to pursue an art career.

School of Phantoms

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This book is a solid addition to the current craze for scary books for younger children. Former elementary art teacher Kory Merritt does a great job of tapping into some of our deepest fears and weaving them into the plot and his illustrations. Let’s review. The fear of disappearing and no one noticing you are gone (not even your parents)? Check! Your fear of that creepy house on the edge of town that just doesn’t seem right? Check! The fear of scary looking snowmen getting closer whenever you aren’t watching? Check! Unidentifiable, weird creatures coming out of the walls? Check! A dark basement full of alienesque creatures? Check! 

The format is a true hybrid, seamlessly going back and forth between sections with a half page of text with one large picture to a graphic novel. In lesser hands this style can be distracting, but Merrit uses it to build energy and suspense as well as signal moves between different locations and plot lines. The main character Kat is using her phone to film a documentary on the strange goings on in their small town. The result has a Blair Witch Project meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe.

The characters feel like real people and are relatable. From the distracted school principal to the cool science teacher to the janitor who seems a bit out there, each person adds a layer to the story. If you pay close attention to the janitor’s dialog, you will recognize nods to some films like The Princess Bride. 

The strongest part is the illustrations. From the students gathered in the cafeteria to an all out otherworldly invasion, the pictures are powerful. They are what keep you turning pages. The story however goes deeper than what you might expect. This could be a great way to engage reluctant readers of novels to dig deeper and learn about plot devices, character development, or satisfying endings,to name a few. Merritt cleverly builds his narrative across the entire story. While there is a resolution at the end, you also realize the story is not over yet. You are wondering about what will happen next.

This is the second of three books planned for the series. I hope Kory Merritt continues to offer kids great adventures.

Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever!

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This picture book is a rollicking, rhyming celebration of friendship and what being a family means. Ostensibly, Stick and Stone are off looking for Stick’s family tree, but when the adventure turns from fun to frightening to hopeless Stone tells Stick that he is his family and Stick agrees.

The delightful end papers have stick sprouting leaves of many different trees, which tie in with an illustration in the book. The humor around a stick looking for his family tree, which literally is a tree, remains funny throughout. The sunny illustrations reflect the energy between the two friends. The palette temporarily becomes darker when things get tense, but returns to vibrant color after help is received from another friend. Emerging readers will be successful with the repetition and simplicity of words and the short sentence length.

This book might be an especially good fit for young children who are adopted or, for whatever reason, are unable to make a connection with their heritage or ancestry.

The Care and Keeping of Freddy

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The only thing I would change about this book is the title. I kept looking for a connection, but Freddy remained a minor character.

This story does a fabulous job of showing what can happen to kids when they are let down by adults who are supposed to care for them. Georgia’s mom leaves suddenly the same day she buys Freddy, a bearded dragon, for Georgia. She returns with a new husband and a baby over a year and a half later. Georgia is thrilled. . .or is she? Georgia’s best friend and aspiring writer, Maria has parents who happily retreat to the camper behind the garage all summer leaving her Abuela and six kids to pretty much fend for themselves. New kid in town Roland (Roly) is in foster care with the very religious Farley family because his dad is incarcerated and his mom was declared “unfit”.

These eleven and twelve year old characters come to life as the reader experiences their friendship, struggles, and adventures. Georgia’s relationship with her clearly depressed but doing-his-very-best-for-his-daughter father is especially poignant. We see the emotional roller coaster and hurt Georgia and Roly endure. Georgia is determined to get her parents back together, but then she starts noticing the not-so-great things about her mom that she had forgotten about when her mom abandoned her.

There are no easy answers for anyone in this story, but there is hard won wisdom. It is an intense, emotional ride, but well worth the trip. 

The Thirteenth Hour

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Before the first chapter the author tells the reader that she wrote her first book when she was eleven and that if we want to, we will write a book also. This statement sets the tone for a book that lends itself very well to being a book that teachers will read aloud to their students and that some students will then choose to read for themselves.
The young Rosemary is given an intriguing golden watch accompanied by some precise but mysterious directions on a hospital visit to her sick Aunt Jo. Rosemary’s dreams, under the influence of the watch, become adventure reality as she tries to save her frenemy Jeremiah with the help of a new friend, Alejandro, and some helpful dream world friends.
Teachers are cautioned to read the book first as some images and scenarios may be troubling to some students.

Jazz for Lunch!

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This book is a visual celebration of Jazz. Written in the rhyme, you can feel the music in the rhythm of the words as they connect the food prep of Auntie Nina and her young nephew to the sounds of different instruments. Each page has a few words in large, colorful fonts that jump off the page. The vivid illustrations match the excitement of the music. There are also nods to the legends of Jazz including Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk. The end papers have paragraph bios of the musicians mentioned in the text. This book would work well to introduce children to the joy of experiencing Jazz.

There’s a Ghost in This House

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Every day students ask me for scary books. Here is one that is more Casper the Friendly Ghost than Elm Street. A girl moves from room to room in her 18th century house looking for ghosts that she has heard live there, but she never sees one. The fun is when you turn the translucent page that overlays where she is looking to reveal the playful ghosts that are having fun hiding from her. Each page has one or two short sentences. This book appeals to young children who enjoy the surprise factor in “lift the flap” books. The illustrations of the rooms are done in brown and cream contrasting the girl who has bright yellow and green. This palette also allows the white ghosts to appear clearly. One consideration, is the translucent ghost pages are less durable that the paper ones. Readers will also want to flip these back and forth several times to make the ghosts appear and disappear, so they will have more use. This is a delightful, engaging book that is a perfect fit for early elementary students.

If You Were an Elephant

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Young listeners and early readers can learn all about African bush elephants in this gentle book about our largest mammal. Hints of African patterns and soft sun-bleached colors add to the sweet, but factual story of elephant life. The book also included an “Amazing Facts about Elephants” page at the end that will have readers, young and old, wanting to share what they have learned about the lives of African elephants.

Elephants Don’t Like Ants! (and Other Amazing Facts)

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Kids who have even a slight interest in  elephants will enjoy this informative book. The first couple of chapters explain the differences between elephants in Africa and Asia, with photos and cartoon illustrations. The book also explains the special characteristics of elephants – did you know that their trunks have 40,016 muscles and can smell water up to 12 miles away? 

Next, the book emphasizes how special elephants are – how they can remember things for many years, how attached they are to their family groups, etc. 

At the end, readers are asked a few questions, to help them assimilate what they’ve read. 

The Strangest Thing in the Sea (and Other Curious Creatures of the Deep)

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The illustrations in this book are enchanting. Each set of 4 pages describes a different denizen of the deep, with an overlay page that imagines the creature as something out of a fairy tale. When you lift the flap, you see what the creature actually looks like. 

The author provides some fun facts about each sea creature, as well as the basics (size, prey, habitat, and the sea depth at which they live). 

The suspense builds: each creature in turn says, “… But I’m not the strangest thing in the sea!” 

You might be surprised when you find out what “the strangest thing in the sea” really is! 

When Langston Dances

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The picture book When Langston Dances by Kaija Langley is a celebration of movement and color with Keith Mallett’s illustrations seeming to come alive with every page turn. Langston is a young black boy who liked basketball, but fell in love with ballet when his mom took him to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. As we watch him leap, dip, kick, and spin on his way to his first dance lesson, his joy is contagious. Mallett is a master of making each person a distinct individual with all different skin tones, head shapes, hair, and even age lines. On his way to ballet class Langston notices other classes for tap, hip-hop, and African dance. Each one is populated with diverse students. 

This book will make you want to start dancing right off the couch. Highly recommended.

Once Upon a Camel

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A camel with a penchant for alliteration? A worried mother Kestrel falcon trapped inside a tangled tumbleweed? Two baby Kestrels escaping a gigantic dust storm riding on the head of said camel? You will encounter all of these, plus engaging historic fiction in Kathi Appelt’s Once Upon a Camel. The reader is drawn in by the idea of a camel named Zada  living in the desert of Texas. The chicks must ride to safety as they are not old enough to fly. Their parents have been blown away by the storm, so they are understandably anxious. Zada provides distraction by telling them her life story. The novel goes back and forth between Zada’s stories and surviving the haboob.

Through Zada’s stories the reader gains a peek into the Middle East of the 19th century: the world of camel racing, the great wealth and power of the Pasha, the elaborate palaces. As the  setting will be new for most children, there will be the excitement of discovery. It will help readers on the important journey of gaining perspectives outside of their own and building empathy. Appelt’s work gives young readers access without bogging them down with too much historical information, because we learn through the eyes of a camel.

Each character is well developed. She always adds a dash of humor. The squabbling baby birds ring true for anyone who has a sibling. Take my word that Zada’s concern about her diminishing physical capabilities as she ages is also right on the mark as I found myself nodding and smiling. Mother Kestrel Perlita’s tendency to get over excited and bossy, especially when it comes to her babies, is humorous and heartwarming. The disdain the camels have for the vain, delicate horses and their certainty of the need and satisfaction of spitting made me laugh. 

The way the death of a loved one is depicted is both sad and beautiful. Her conclusion is surprising and unpredictable, but ultimately very satisfying. Keep the tissues handy. This title is highly recommended for upper elementary readers.

An Earth-Bot’s Solution to Plastic Pollution by Russell Ayto

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This book highlights the challenge of pulling children’s eyes off of screens long enough to recognise and act on the crisis of plastic pollution in the oceans. Neo doesn’t want to stop playing his game long enough to clean up his room let alone the ocean which is steps from his front door. It takes visits from three different sea creatures begging for help and a trip underwater himself for him to appreciate the problem. Once motivated, Neo works with the ocean creatures to help clean up. The story wraps up with a call to action to use less plastic.

The strongest part of the book is the illustrations depicting the effects of plastic on ocean dwellers. Instead of depicting the ocean with waves, Ayto represents it as row upon row of plastic bottles.There is a jellyfish floating inside a plastic bag and a humpback whale ingesting over a hundred bottles unintentionally.

I found the earth-bot premise distracting. It seems that Neo wears a glass helmet with antennae because of his connection to his video game. But Grandpa, a former astronaut, wears something similar for no discernable reason. It would have made sense that once Neo was pulled away from the video game, the helmet would also have gone away to demonstrate his new focus.
There was a missed opportunity to provide more background information on ocean pollution. Overall this book would be a good introduction for young children when paired with other titles. Join the No-Plastic Challenge! A First Book of Reducing Waste by Scot Richie provides doable suggestions for kids to take action. One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia by Miranda Paul provides an inspirational true story.