Discover Top Posts Tagged with #k-6

F3D Skyknight jets at K-6 (modern day Camp Humphreys), Korea

#korean war #US Air Force #Cold War #K-6

F3D Skyknight taking off from K-6 (modern day Camp Humphreys), Korea

#korean war #Cold War #US Air Force #K-6

Review #12: The Real Riley Mayes by Rachel Elliott

Category/genre: Graphic novel, LGBT

Target age group: Grades 3-7 (ages 8-12)

Summary: Riley Mayes doesn’t feel like she fits in in the fifth grade. Since her best friend moved away, no one understands her, and she doesn’t have crushes on boys like the other girls do. As the school year continues, Riley embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she learns more about the world and how she fits into it.

Justification: When I was looking for an LGBT book for young readers, I used the Stonewall Book Awards, which recognize excellent books about the LGBT experience in a variety of categories. The Real Riley Mayes received this award in 2023. Out of other books on the list, I chose this one because I liked the simple art style and that the protagonist was younger.

Evaluation:

The art style in The Real Riley Mayes is simple but engaging. Elliott’s art is expressive, colorful, and varied, including the traditional comic panel style while also incorporating more unique formatting such as daydreams and Riley’s own drawings/comics of comedian Joy Powers. The text is also placed on the page in unique ways to create visual interest and control the pacing as you read, with lots of onomatopoeias to give the story sound effects and texture. I especially liked Riley’s colorful, vibrant outfits (such as red cowboy boots, red cargo shorts, and a graphic tee), which really help you understand her better as a character. Overall, the art enhances the text and makes the book immersive and entertaining.

Riley as a character is also deeply likeable and real. Because the text in the graphic novel is first-person POV, you really feel like you’re in Riley’s head experiencing her thoughts and feelings with her. This experience of getting to know her character is also enhanced by her thought bubbles, daydreams, and drawings scribbled over class assignments. Riley goes from feeling ostracized and like she doesn’t fit in with her peers to befriending classmates Cate and Aaron and learning more about herself (with the help of Aaron’s two dads) and her fascination with Joy Powers. Through it all, Riley is hilarious, silly, and sassy. I too was a weird girl who struggled with fitting in, and I definitely wanted to be Riley’s friend while reading this.

Finally, the themes of identity and self-discovery are expressed authentically and appropriately for the age group. This is a book that I would have loved to read as a fifth grader who was questioning my identity, and I think it’s really important to have that representation for all ages, both so children can see themselves represented and familiarize themselves with how others experience the world. The positive impact of queer role models is shown firsthand in the book when Riley meets Aaron’s dads and is able to see for the first time how queer people live normal and happy lives. I also loved how Riley finds the people who “get” her and learns that it’s okay to be your authentic self.

References

Elliott, R. (2022). The real Riley Mayes (R. Elliott, Illus.). HarperAlley.

#k-6

Review #11: Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

Category/genre: Novel in verse

Target age group: Grades 3-7 (age 8-12)

Summary: Reha feels torn between her Indian heritage and America, the only home she has ever known. She feels like her parents don’t understand her or the American cultural moments she wants to be involved in. When Reha’s mother is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, Reha is determined to be the perfect daughter in the hopes that it will somehow make her mother well again.

Justification: Red, White, and Whole was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2021 and has received numerous other awards such as the Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Readers, which recognizes excellent diverse books for children. When looking for lists of recent middle grade novels in verse, this one appealed to me because of its diversity and the fact that it tackles hard topics like a sick parent and grief.

Evaluation:

The author’s choice to present Red, White, and Whole as a novel in verse is highly effective. The main character and narrator, Reha, has a lot of big emotions as she grapples with her Indian American identity and her mother’s illness, and the verse format reads like a stream of consciousness as she lives through fear, grief, and self-reflection. The novel in verse format also lends itself to more poetic language, and the author uses repetition, metaphor, and other figurative language techniques to enhance the text. There is also a heartbreaking letter from Reha’s mother where the format switches to prose for the letter and then back to verse, which makes an already emotional moment even more impactful and jarring. I really enjoyed both novels in verse that I read this semester and how quickly you can fly through the pages while still feeling the depth and weight of the story.

Reha’s characterization as a young teenager struggling with her identity and experiencing emotional hardship feels realistic and authentic. As a second-generation immigrant, she feels constantly torn between the Indian culture she participates in at home and the typical American middle school experience that her parents don’t understand. As her mother’s illness worsens, Reha experiences grief, anxiety, and guilt for still enjoying her life while her mother is suffering. These conflicting emotions make Reha feel especially human and nuanced. By the end of the book, Reha is learning how her two cultural identities can coexist, which is a powerful message for teens thinking about their place in the world.

The themes of grief, illness, and identity in the book are relatable and serious while also being age-appropriate for middle grade readers. Many children this age might have experiences with a sick parent or other family member, and normalizing that experience and the emotions that come with it can be really powerful. I also appreciated the scientific explanations of blood cells, leukemia, and chemotherapy – they were clear and appropriate without being condescendingly dumbed down. It actually helped me understand the processes behind blood cancer a lot better as an adult without a science background. Finally, to further enhance the themes, the author weaves in Reha’s retelling of the Indian myth of Savitri and Satyavan, which is a story of love, death, resilience. This story parallels Reha’s emotional journey and her determination to make her mother well again while also adding elements of her Indian culture to the book. Overall, Red, White, and Whole is emotionally powerful and an engaging read for both children and adults.

References

LaRocca, R. (2021). Red, white, and whole. Quill Tree Books.

#k-6

Roswell Johnson Saves the World by Chris Colfer

This book fulfills the Science Fiction category.

The target age group is 9-12 years old.

This book is about a boy named Roswell Johnson. He is abducted by aliens and thus learns that aliens are real. It then becomes up to him and his new extracurricular friends to save Earth from invasion.

This one caught my eye due to its eye-catching title and cover. Honestly, I think that's a common theme in these reviews. I think having a cool-looking cover and title is important in the area of children's literature. Children will be drawn to things that appeal to them. At least, I think so.

I'm going to talk about the plot, the illustrations within the book, and the worldbuilding. The plot is a typical action-packed science fiction romp suitable for middle-grade readers. It's not anything particularly groundbreaking, but it's exciting fare for its age group. I feel like kids, especially boys, often need exciting stories to keep their attention. Reluctant readers might greatly enjoy this book for that reason.

Now let's talk about the illustrations in the book. This is a middle-grade book, so there are not a lot of illustrations, but there is one illustration at the beginning of each chapter. They are in black-and-white. I think this is an interesting strategy to keep kids' attention. Black-and-white illustrations also makes the book seem a little older than colorful ones would've.

Finally, the worldbuilding. I really liked how creative it was, with all the different aliens and whatnot. It really fit the sci-fi genre. I feel like this is one of those books that was engineered to appeal to kids who want exciting adventures, especially kids who might be reluctant to read. No wonder it is a whole series.

Citation:

Colfer, C. (2024). Roswell Johnson Saves the World! Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

#k-6

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

This book fulfills the Novel in Verse category.

The target age group is 10 and up.

Alone is about a girl named Maddie who wakes up to find that her entire town has evacuated and left her behind. She's alone and has to survive with only a dog named George for company. It's up to her to stay alive in the face of various threats, but none more threatening than her own loneliness.

This was another recommendation from my local library. You will notice I take their recommendations a lot, and this is because I trust their judgements. I have worked at that library for several years, after all. Once again, they delivered with this one. It was a very engaging book.

Today I will discuss setting, genre, and verse format. The setting of this book is an abandoned town. This is not a setting often used in survival books, as people tend to more often go for a wilderness area, but this particular setting gives an extra sense of tension to the proceedings. After all, this is a place where people should be, and yet for reasons unknown, there are no people there besides Maddie. It adds a heightened amount of unsettling stakes.

Secondly, genre. This is a middle grade novel in what is known as a "survival genre." Other examples of books of this nature include Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain. The narrative is of a young person surviving alone in a harsh environment; as I said before, it's most often the wilderness. As mentioned previously, Alone has enough differences in the formula to keep it fresh while still being recognizably part of the genre.

Finally, the verse format. The story is told in a collection of poems instead of chapters, describing the events in the form of verse instead of the typical prose format. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the verse format added to this particular genre, but I was engaged nonetheless. It was a creative way to tell this story. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

Citation:

Freeman, M. (2021). Alone. Simon and Schuester.

#k-6

Review #10: Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Category/genre: Historical fiction, Texas Bluebonnet Award winner (2026), Coretta Scott King Book Award winner (2026)

Target Age Group: Grades 3-6 (ages 8-12)

Summary: Twenty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Will and his father set out on a journey from Texas to Oklahoma to participate in a land rush and claim land for the family to live and work on. Along the way, they face dangers such as snakes, thieves, and more.

Justification: We recently received the 2026-2027 Bluebonnet award winners at my library, and the cover of this book caught my eye immediately because of the colors and the imagery of Will riding the horse. When I read the blurb, I was interested in the time period because I feel like there isn’t a lot of historical fiction covering the period after the Civil War ended. This book is also a Coretta Scott King Book Award winner for 2026.

Evaluation:

References:

Rhodes, J. P. (2025). Will’s race for home. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

#k-6

Review #8: Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Eric Rohmann

Category/genre: Children’s picture book, informational/nonfiction

Target Age Group: 4-8 years

Summary: Honeybee follows the life cycle of a single honeybee from birth to death, nicknamed “Apis” based on the scientific name “Apis mellifera.” The book has detailed oil painting illustrations and poetic text that’s factual and informative.

Justification: Honeybee was awarded the 2021 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, which recognizes distinguished informational books for children each year. It was also a 2021-2022 Texas Bluebonnet Award winner and an NCTE Orbus Pictus Honor Book. When I was looking through the list of Sibert Medal winners from the past 10 years, Honeybee stuck out to me because of the detailed photorealistic illustration on the cover (which I thought was an actual photo until I looked closer).

Evaluation:

The text in Honeybee, written by Candace Fleming, is lyrical and accessible while still being informative. Fleming uses a verse format along with figurative language such as imagery, repetition, and alliteration to tell an engaging story about the life of “Apis” the worker bee. The repetition of “Flying? Not yet…” creates a sense of pacing and rhythm that culminates in Apis finally leaving the nest and flying to pollinate and collect nectar for the hive. At the end of Apis’ short life, “she has collected enough nectar to make/one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey,” which is a striking detail that makes the reader think about the scale and effort of a single bee compared to the combined work of the whole hive. I think that creating narratives and stories out of science and nature (and assigning a name to a worker bee) is a great way to show children that nonfiction can be factual/informative without being boring or dry. Personifying the bees also makes the reader empathize with the plight of the honeybee, which Fleming talks about in a short essay on how we can protect honeybees at the end of the book.

The illustrations in this book by Eric Rohmann are gorgeously detailed (and honestly, if you don’t like insects, kind of creepy) and add life and realism to Fleming’s text. You can see the individual hairs on the bee’s legs and the details of the antennae and wings. When Apis is growing and completing her tasks inside the hive, the colors are deep, dark oranges, yellows, and browns, which contrasts with the brightness of the outside world when Apis is finally able to fly. The spreads of blues, greens, and pastel flowers as the bees gather pollen and nectar in the outside world are striking. The illustrations also come full circle and complete the life cycle as a new bee is born in the same way Apis was born on the first page. Overall, the illustrations help add informative context to the text and are detailed enough to act almost as scientific diagrams of honeybee anatomy and behavior for the reader.

I read this book as an ebook on Libby, which impacted my experience of this book in a few ways. First of all, reading a picture book as an ebook changes the rhythm of turning the page. It’s not as dramatic to press a button and instantly go to the next spread, and there’s less of that sense of a natural pause while you take the time to turn the page. However, it was nice to see the illustrated spreads/scenes in all their glory without the spine creating an interruption in the middle of the page, and the colors still felt vivid and bright. Additionally, Libby’s accessibility features allow you to zoom in on text and illustrations and adjust the lighting of the page if needed, so I was able to zoom in super far and see all the tiny details of Rohmann’s illustrations. I read the ebook on a laptop, so the text and images still felt large enough to see and capture my attention, but I don’t think this book would be as effective on a smaller screen such as a phone or tablet. Overall, I liked the digital format, but I would be interested to compare it to a physical copy of the book and see if the illustrations and colors translate well.

References: Fleming, C. (2020). Honeybee: The busy life of apis mellifera (E. Rohmann, Illus.). Neal Porter Books.

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