This is a refresh of his 1987 book and it is filled with 32 songs with music and lyrics. Accompanying illustrations are the wonderful artworks that we expect from this great author/illustrator. This book will be a treasure to anyone that chooses to add it to their Christmas collection. Highly recommended, of course!
By Olivia Abtahi
Reviewed by Lucas H. 12th grade – I gave Azar on Fire by Olivia Abtahi 4/5 stars because it had great disability representation, diverse characters, and an enjoyable story, but the pacing and some of the plot points felt a bit off.”Azar on Fire” follows 14-year-old Azar Rossi, a disabled and multiracial teen who accidentally damages $1000 worth of school property and is given the ultimatum to pay the school back or join the battle of the bands, leading her to form a band with diverse members to win the competition. The realistic fiction genre of this book brings to life the struggles of LGBTQIA+ characters in a way that is relatable and emotionally impactful for readers. The author’s skillful use of descriptive language and attention to detail transports readers into the characters’ world, making for an engaging and thought-provoking read.I enjoyed the book’s diverse representation of characters, including the protagonist Azar, who is multiracial and has a disability, as well as her bandmates, who are all people of color. The author also did a good job of portraying Azar’s gradual acceptance of her disability throughout the story. I didn’t like how some parts of the story felt out of place and didn’t contribute much to the plot. Some scenes felt awkwardly inserted, such as Azar’s visit to Eben’s house and the sudden mention of her demisexuality.
The Bad Decisions Playlist is a wildly funny story of a sixteen-year-old stoner, slacker, kid Austin, who cannot seem to make even one smart decision. All he wants to do is get high while writing and playing music. He uses self-deprecating humor to joke his way out of situation after situation, until he gets into so much trouble that he’s about to be shipped off to military prep school. Fortunately for him, its at this moment that his long-lost dad Shane, who Austin thought was dead (according to Mom), shows up on his door step.
Shane is, in fact, a rock-star who seems to have passed on to Austin his music talent, and also his bad habits of drugs, dropping out, and screwing up.
Austin is pulled into his father’s world of show business, and has the readers laughing as they follow along as Austin plays through his list of bad decisions.
The debut novel by Christopher Pennell, The Mysterious Woods of Whistle Root, is a perfect read-aloud or a read alone for the intended audience. It is a tale of magic and friendship that captivates from the very first sentence:
“In a small town called Whistle Root, rats play music in the moonlight.” From that beginning, nothing that comes later can be too strange to be believed and really makes for a fun, refreshing fantasy.
The rats play music from the rooftops so the owls can dance. There are vegetables appearing on rooftops, of which one character comments: “ I notice that you have a squash on your roof, dear. How lovely. I only have broccoli”. Rats talk and fly on breezes, mysterious messages appear inside a hat that is in a wooden crib in the middle of the woods, strange whispers can place people in a deep sleep and an unique beast appears who likes to adorn himself with owl feathers. It may have been difficult to pull off the sorts of unusual happenings found in this book, but Pennell does it with entertaining ease. He presents the activities and events so casually and deftly that it becomes very easy for the reader to accept them as a natural part of this odd, wonderful world.
The main character is Carly Bean Bitters, a young girl who can only sleep during the day and no one knows why. She is lonely as all children are awake when Carly is asleep. One magical night that all changes when Carly becomes friends with Lewis, a violin-playing rat. Lewis has lost two members of his musical trio. When a member is missing from the band a vegetable stands in “for you must always have exactly three members.” Lewis already has a squash on Carly’s rooftop but Lewis proclaims that “ it would be too embarrassing to have two vegetables in the band and (the squash is a lousy drummer)”. So he asks Carly to join his group.
Soon after, Carly and Lewis become friends with Green. He is a boy who lives with his grandmother underneath the school. Green has a hidden door to his house in a little used, dark area of the school library – the reference section. The three friends set out to uncover the reason for the strange change in behavior among the owls in Whistle Woods. They had always danced to the rats’ music, but now they hunt them instead. Also, Green’s grandma has fallen into a sleep from which she cannot be awakened. Carly and Green are willing to do what is needed to get Grandma back and restore the once peaceful owl and rat relationship. Unraveling the mysteries will help restore everything to “normal”.
The illustrations by Rebecca Bond are charming pen and ink doodlings that complement the text. My first response at seeing the illustrations was disappointment. In our flashy, colorful world I expected the same for the illustrations. However, I realized as I became acquainted with the book that the media choice really was perfect. Pennell provides a wonderful description and Bond provides a nice framework for readers to use their own creative imagination to fill in the color and detail. In the end I thought it was a wise choice.
Others have compared this novel to The Dreamstealer by Sid Fleischman with its storyteller’s voice and the extravagance of its imagination, and Kenneth Grahme, C.S. Lewis, E.B. White and Kate DiCamillo for its well-imagined talking animals… just to name a few.
It has just the right blend of mystery and scary with a fairy tale ending.
I’m a truly hoping that this will be a series, as I would love to get lost in the world of Whistle Root again and again.
K Mister Ka the Koala
Mister Ka the Koala
Has four kids
Armani, Tapio, Mo and Pol
Armani Ka, Tapio Ka and Mo Ka
and Pol…..
he hates being called Pol Ka
This book is full of fun word play and child like imaginings. It comes with a music CD which is very nice to have, but certainly not necessary for the book to be enjoyed. Each letter is given a two page spread of pencil and watercolor drawings. The last pages contain the alphabet, A-Z, titled let’s sing it again.
Catchy tunes, silly stories and engaging illustrations will make this a favorite of teachers and students alike.
This reference opens with a quotation by Jimi Hendrix, “Once you’re dead you’re made for life – you have to die before they think you’re worth anything,” followed by an introduction that details the death of Blues pioneer Robert Johnson by strychnine poisoning. This event is listed as a “timeline of death in popular music.”
The book is a true encyclopedia, divided into sections by date rather than alphabetical order by name, beginning with pre 1965, then month by month each year after that. It includes greats like Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, including a key to symbols used to denote what kind of death each victim suffered. For students who just want to read about various artists to those looking for a particular star, this book should find a niche, but I doubt it will circulate a lot
Synopsis: 
Fred the street singer and musician and his cat Tabby McTat are purr-fectly happy singing or “busking” for tips in the town square. One day while the cat is roaming, Fred is robbed of his money and chases the thief, breaks his leg and ends up in the hospital. When Tabby returns Fred is gone. Tabby finally wanders away and finds a new home with a family, but he never forgets Fred.
What I liked about it and who would like it: This a lovely story about a long lasting friendship. Scheffler’s illustrations have great appeal, especially the cat and kitten faces. Also look for interesting detail in drawings and the clever “cat” endpapers that look like they are stamped on the book! On a whole this is a very enjoyable story and cleverly illustrated.