Ginger and Petunia by Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco, author of dozens of children's picture books, often bases her stories on events in her own life.  She uses the life of a friend in her latest book, Ginger and Petunia.  Ginger is a an elegant woman, and Petunia is her pet pig.  When the pig is left alone one day, it puts on Ginger's clothes and make-up, accidentally discovers a forgery in a museum, goes out to parties, and dances the tango.  The funny thing is, nobody even knows the difference!  This is a cute, funny picture book for kids ages 6 to 8.

Submitted by Barb M., Youth Programming Assistant

Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman

Did you ever wonder what it was like for kids during the civil rights movement in 1964?  In Yankee Girl, by Mary Ann Rodman, a white sixth-grader named Alice Ann Moxley moves to Mississippi from Chicago.  She is surprised and dismayed at how she is treated by the people in the South because of her accent and her ideals.  It is very difficult for her to make friends.  When the first of two black students at her school arrive, she ends up in the midst of racial turmoil, especially because her dad is an FBI agent sent to Mississippi to help keep peace.  She has a hard decision to make—whether to follow the crowd or to follow her heart.  As you're reading the book, see if you would make the same decisions that Alice did.

-- Book reviewed by Mary Lou H., Youth Library Assistant

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Accents and Southern custom, it turns out, are the least of Alice Ann Moxley's troubles in her new Mississippi hometown in the novel Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman.  The year is 1964, and Alice's FBI-agent father has been reassigned from Chicago to Jackson to protect black people who are registering to vote.  Alice knows from the news that down South the Ku Klux Klan has burned down Negro churches and that civil right workers have been murdered.  She is torn between reaching out to the one black girl in her class in a newly-integrated school and doing what it takes to hang out with the popular crowd.  And when you're finished reading the book, I'm sure you'll be wondering, "What would I have done in her place?"

--Book reviewed by Julie D., Elementary School Liaison

Whatever by William Bee

"Billy can be very difficult to please.”  Well, that’s an understatement.  In the picture book, Whatever, by William Bee, all that ever comes out of Billy's mouth is, “Whatever.”  Billy’s dad spends the length of the book trying to get some sort of reaction out of Billy.  He shows him something very tall, and something very small.  He shows him the world’s smokiest train and the world’s curliest trumpet, and even flies with Billy to the edge of outer space.  “Whatever,” Billy keeps saying.  Then, Billy’s dad tries to scare him with the world’s hungriest tiger and, well… I won’t give away the ending.  But even if you think you can guess what happens, I’m sure the ending will still make you smile.  I love this book!  I also have to wonder if William Bee got his inspiration from Maurice Sendak’s Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue.  I read Pierre a few months ago, after a friend of mine recalled reading it when he was young.  I’d never heard of it, but was interested because of the author.  Published in 1962, the library's copy isn't so pretty anymore, but the story hasn't lost its charm.  For everything Pierre’s parents try to do to please him, all he will say is, “I don’t care!”  And just like Billy, Pierre has a little encounter with a lion.  Both of these books are great for a chuckle.

Submitted by Erin E., Youth Programming Coodinator

The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha by Uma Krishnaswami

One of the most recognizable Hindu gods is the elephant-headed Ganesha.  But who is he?  Why does he have an elephant’s head rather than a person’s?  Uma Krishnaswami tells you why in The Broken Tusk: Stories of the Hindu God Ganesha.  One day the Goddess Parvati was lonely and made a doll out of clay, breathed life into it, and called it Ganesha.  She sent the boy to guard the door while she took a bath and her husband, the God Shiva, came home and found this boy not letting him pass.  After a great battle, Shiva got past the boy, but the boy lost his head, literally.  Parvati was so upset about the loss of her son that Shiva went and found the head of the first living thing in his path.  It was an elephant.  So now Ganesha has the head and temper of an elephant.  And that’s just one of the many stories you’ll learn in The Broken Tusk.

Books reviewed by Steve B., Youth Services Technology Librarian