Tag: books and reading

Digging for Words: Knowledge is Power

Digging for Words by Angela Burke KunkelCindy: Mr. Rogers said, “Look for the helpers.” Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutierrez and the Library He Built (Random/Schwartz & Wade, 2021) introduces children to yet another helper, working to make his corner of the world just a little bit better. A whole lot better, really. This is the story of two Josés. One a small boy who gets through the week anticipating the joy of Saturday when he visits the other José (based on the real José Alberto Gutierrez, who opens his house to people in his community to browse his books, his personal library, and borrow what they want to read for the next week.

Mr. Guiterrez’s library is not fancy and the books aren’t pristine leather-bound volumes. José Gutierrez drives a garbage truck route in Bogotá, Colombia. As he collects trash each night, he looks for discarded books and collects them to add to his library. The books he finds on the street were his education as he was too poor to attend school and didn’t finish his high school education until he was in his fifties. His “spark” book was Anna Karenina and he never looked back but did decide to share his treasures with others.

The young José and other community members don’t waste this opportunity and flock to Mr. Gutierrez’s home to exchange their books every week.  The power of books and reading and knowledge shines through the story, published in both English and Spanish editions.

Lynn: Librarians, teachers, and book lovers of all ages will be charmed by this story of an amazing man who takes his love of books and reading to a new level. José Alberto Gutierrez’s efforts to build and share a library are inspiring—especially when readers learn in the back matter that there are only nineteen libraries in the city of Bogata, Columbia, a city of ten million people! The Author’s Note provides more information about Gutierrez including the fact that he now also runs a foundation which provides books and reading material to schools and libraries across Columbia. And, portions of the proceeds from this picture book go to that foundation.

Rescatando Palabras by Angela Burke KunkelPaola Escobar’s digital illustrations are ideal for expanding and enhancing this wonderful story. I especially love the double-page spread of Gutierrez’s garbage truck journey across the city, showing him examining a discarded pile of books with his flashlight and the scenes of his library, books everywhere in towering stacks with happy readers making choices.

The back matter includes information on the featured books in the story and a selected list of online sources along with the Author’s Note in which Gutierrez reflects on on twenty years of creating his library, saying “My dream is to exchange my garage truck for a truck full of books and travel the country. I’m sure I can pull it off.” I think he can too!

Hilary McKay Proves There Is Magic in Reading

Lynn: Passionate readers have always talked about the absorbing magic of books. One of our favorite authors, Hilary McKay, explores that concept in her new middle-grade book, The Time of Green Magic (S&S/McElderry, 2020) set to be published in July. Eleven-year-old Abi is a reader.

“She read while her father dragged into her life Polly as a stepmother, plus two entirely unwanted brothers. She read through the actual wedding ceremony… She read through the year that followed, squashed with three strangers into a too small house. Most recently she had read through the start of a new school. But she had never read a book like this.”

For a few startled moments, Abi was ON the Kon-Tiki in the middle of the ocean. She had never experienced such a vivid feeling of being in the book and when she came back to herself, there was salt on her skin. Was it the book, Abi wonders, or something strange about the new house? This delicious opening introduces readers to Abi, her father Theo, and her newly blended family. Desperate to find a bigger home, the family has moved into a house swathed in green ivy with room for all of them. It is far too expensive for their budget but the house enchanted them all. I was hooked from the beginning and the way this plotline plays out is a joy that avid readers will love.

But there is a lot more going on here! One of the elements of McKay’s writing that I deeply appreciate is the way she gets inside kids’ heads and describes so perfectly what she finds there. That element nearly stole the show for me in this book as we as readers feel every bit of Abi’s reluctance to share her family with her deeply annoying new stepbrothers, 6-year-old Louis’s emotional hunger for an animal/companion all his own, Max’s painful quarrel with his former best-friend or his soul stunning first crush on Louis’s babysitter. The thoughts, feelings, actions, and fears of each character are exquisitely written here as are the intricate and achingly real relationships developing between them. In fact, they felt so real while I was reading that I wouldn’t have been surprised to have had a little green magic bring them walking into my living room! Hand this wonderful story to every book lover you know!

Cindy: We’ve often raved, I mean blogged, about Hilary McKay’s books (The Exiles series is one of my all-time favorite series). Can I rave about the cover on this one? The cat is larger and not quite what I imagined as I read the book, but it will certainly draw in readers. I want my own attic room in this ivy-covered cottage. Lynn describes the book beautifully, but one of my additional favorite parts are the letters Granny Grace sends to Abi from Jamaica. Granny Grace finally was able to pursue her own dreams after caring for Abi during the ten years after her mother’s death. It is she who provides the title when she ends her letter, “So much ivy, so much news! What a time of green magic!” Her letters always come with a pressed Jamaican flower, too, and little Louis is jealous. He’s not a reader and avoids all tricks to get him to read until, finally, a letter comes addressed to him. My heart melted a little. My heart also melted as Max devotes himself to learning French to speak to Louis’s French babysitter, Esmé, in an effort to get this older girl to notice him. Young love. Book love. Family love. Don’t miss this one. “Iffen” you do, you’ll be sorry.