Best New Kids Stories | April 2015

The Children’s Book Review | April 1, 2015

We have selected three picture books, a middle grade novel and two young adult books to highlight as this month’s hot new release kids books. Enjoy perusing our picks for kids and teen books that we feel represent some of the best new kids stories  …

By Mariam Gates; Illustrated by Sara Jane Hinder 

Publisher’s synopsis: For kids in early to middle childhood-and the lucky people who have to get them to bed-Good Night Yoga is both a bedtime story and a series of simple poses for following the natural world as it comes to rest at day’s end. Created by the founder of the celebrated Kid Power Yoga program. This bedtime story is so much more than a story. It’s a practice for kids and parents to end the day in a calming, mindful way. Turn the page and stretch like a tree, settle softly like a ladybug, float like a cloud, and you’ll be dreaming soon.

The sun in the sky is going down.
And the clouds float by…
You’ll be dreaming soon.

Ages 3-8 | Publisher: Sounds True | 2015 | ISBN-13:  978-1622034666

By JonArno Lawson; Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Publisher’s synopsis: In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. “Written” by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people, and small gestures.

Ages 4-7 | Publisher: Groundwood Books | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1554984312

By James Dean

Publisher’s synopsis: Everyone’s favorite cat shares a collection of his favorite inspirational and feel-good quotes in Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Life. Pete’s glass-half-full outlook on life shines through as he adds his fun take on well-known classics attributed to luminaries from Albert Einstein to Confucius to Abraham Lincoln to Shakespeare and more! Fans of Pete the Cat will delight in this amusing look at quotes that are accompanied by Pete’s witty responses and Pete illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist James Dean.

Ages 4-8 | Publisher: HarperCollins | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-0062351357

By Erin Entrada Kelly

Publisher’s Synopsis: Future rock star, or friendless misfit? That’s no choice at all. Apple Yengko moved from the Philippines to Louisiana when she was little, and now that she is in middle school, she grapples with being different, with friends and backstabbers, and with following her dreams.

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. Her mother still cooks Filipino foods, speaks a mix of English and Cebuano, and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” It becomes unbearable in middle school, when the boys—the stupid, stupid boys—in Apple’s class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school. When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show how special she really is. Erin Entrada Kelly deftly brings Apple’s conflicted emotions to the page in her debut novel about family, friendship, popularity, and going your own way.

Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Greenwillow Books | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-0062238610

By Nova Ren Suma

Publisher’s Synopsis: “Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.

On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.

Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries . . .

What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?

In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

Ages 14+ | Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1616203726

By Sabaa Tahir

Publisher’s Synopsis: Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier? and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Ages 14+ | Publisher: Razorbill | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1595148032

For more of the best new kids stories and popular books for kids, follow along with our tag for Popular Kids Stories.

Tags: Best Books for Kids, Best New Kids Books, Erin Entrada Kelly, featured, Greenwillow Books, Groundwood Books, HarperCollins, James Dean, JonArno Lawson, Mariam Gates, Nova Ren Suma, Sabaa Tahir, Sara Jane Hinder, Sounds True Books, Sydney Smith

Category: Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Ages 9-12, Best Kids Stories, Book Lists, Teens: Young Adults

The Children’s Book Review, named one of the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Great Web Sites for Kids, is powered by Bianca Schulze. Bianca is a freelance writer, bookseller, aspiring author, and mother to two daughters. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, her goal is to grow readers by showcasing useful and inspiring books!

Buy Books Online

Best New Kids Stories | April 2015

The Children’s Book Review | April 1, 2015

We have selected three picture books, a middle grade novel and two young adult books to highlight as this month’s hot new release kids books. Enjoy perusing our picks for kids and teen books that we feel represent some of the best new kids stories  …

By Mariam Gates; Illustrated by Sara Jane Hinder 

Publisher’s synopsis: For kids in early to middle childhood-and the lucky people who have to get them to bed-Good Night Yoga is both a bedtime story and a series of simple poses for following the natural world as it comes to rest at day’s end. Created by the founder of the celebrated Kid Power Yoga program. This bedtime story is so much more than a story. It’s a practice for kids and parents to end the day in a calming, mindful way. Turn the page and stretch like a tree, settle softly like a ladybug, float like a cloud, and you’ll be dreaming soon.

The sun in the sky is going down.
And the clouds float by…
You’ll be dreaming soon.

Ages 3-8 | Publisher: Sounds True | 2015 | ISBN-13:  978-1622034666

By JonArno Lawson; Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Publisher’s synopsis: In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. “Written” by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people, and small gestures.

Ages 4-7 | Publisher: Groundwood Books | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1554984312

By James Dean

Publisher’s synopsis: Everyone’s favorite cat shares a collection of his favorite inspirational and feel-good quotes in Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Life. Pete’s glass-half-full outlook on life shines through as he adds his fun take on well-known classics attributed to luminaries from Albert Einstein to Confucius to Abraham Lincoln to Shakespeare and more! Fans of Pete the Cat will delight in this amusing look at quotes that are accompanied by Pete’s witty responses and Pete illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist James Dean.

Ages 4-8 | Publisher: HarperCollins | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-0062351357

By Erin Entrada Kelly

Publisher’s Synopsis: Future rock star, or friendless misfit? That’s no choice at all. Apple Yengko moved from the Philippines to Louisiana when she was little, and now that she is in middle school, she grapples with being different, with friends and backstabbers, and with following her dreams.

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. Her mother still cooks Filipino foods, speaks a mix of English and Cebuano, and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” It becomes unbearable in middle school, when the boys—the stupid, stupid boys—in Apple’s class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school. When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show how special she really is. Erin Entrada Kelly deftly brings Apple’s conflicted emotions to the page in her debut novel about family, friendship, popularity, and going your own way.

Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Greenwillow Books | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-0062238610

By Nova Ren Suma

Publisher’s Synopsis: “Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”

On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.

On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.

Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries . . .

What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—in this life or in another one?

In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

Ages 14+ | Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1616203726

By Sabaa Tahir

Publisher’s Synopsis: Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier? and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Ages 14+ | Publisher: Razorbill | 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1595148032

For more of the best new kids stories and popular books for kids, follow along with our tag for Popular Kids Stories.

Tags: Best Books for Kids, Best New Kids Books, Erin Entrada Kelly, featured, Greenwillow Books, Groundwood Books, HarperCollins, James Dean, JonArno Lawson, Mariam Gates, Nova Ren Suma, Sabaa Tahir, Sara Jane Hinder, Sounds True Books, Sydney Smith

Category: Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Ages 9-12, Best Kids Stories, Book Lists, Teens: Young Adults

The Children’s Book Review, named one of the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Great Web Sites for Kids, is powered by Bianca Schulze. Bianca is a freelance writer, bookseller, aspiring author, and mother to two daughters. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, her goal is to grow readers by showcasing useful and inspiring books!

Buy Books Online

How Anansi brought stories to the world

Bold, tricky, and often extremely selfish, Anansi is sometimes a spider and somtimes a man. It’s hard to say why he changes form, but his character remains the same. He comes from Ghana in West Africa and has travelled as far as the Caribbean. You will enjoy hearing how he tricks animals, people and even gods. It’s equally fun when he gets his just comeuppance.

Adapted by Bertie.
Read by Richard.
Proofread by Jana Elizabeth.

Hello, this is Richard.
If you have been listening to Storynory for a while, you’ll be used to the idea that storytellers can change form. Take Bertie – during his story-writing career he’s been both a frog and a prince. Well today I’m going to bring you a tradition from Ghana in West Africa about a hero called Anansi. He is the spirit of storytelling, and he shifts shape between a spider and a man. He’s a tricky fellow, and he’s not always sweet tempered. In this first story we will learn how Anansi brought stories to the world.

The god of the skies is Nyankopon. His name means ‘He who knows and sees everything.’ His right eye is the sun, which he opens during the day, and his left eye is the moon, which he opens during the night.

Long ago, all the stories in the world belonged to Nyankopon. But down on the earth, a lowly creature called Anansi the spider held a very high opinion of himself, and his own wit and wisdom.

“How come all the stories belong to Nyankopon?” he thought. “I’m sure I could spin a far finer tale.”

And so Anansi climbed to the top of the tallest tree and spoke to the sky-god directly.
“Nyankopon,” he said. “Why don’t you give all the stories to me? I will look after them well for you.”

And Nyankopon looked down with this sun-eye, saw the arrogant little spider, and chuckled to himself:

“Why of course, Anansi,” he replied. “You can have all the stories you want, but first you must bring me three things that I would like.”

“And what might those be?” asked Anansi.

“Onini the python, Osebo the leopard, and the Mmoboro hornets,” replied Nyankopon, and he could not help laughing: “Ha Ha HA!” at the thought of the tiny spider getting the better of such fierce beasts.

But Anansi was happy with this bargain. “Done!” he said. “It’s a deal.”

And he set off on his eight legs to catch the python, the leopard, and the hornets.

As he went through the forest, he looked around for a long straight stick. He found one, and laid it on the ground outside the door of the python’s house. When Onini the Python returned home, he saw Anansi pondering this stick.

“What are you doing my hairy-legged friend?” he asked.

“Well you see,” said, Anansi. “I have a bet on with Nyankopon. I say that you are longer than this stick, and he says that you are shorter. Let’s show the all-seeing one that he is wrong.”

As it happened, Onini was proud of his long python body, and he was happy to stretch out by the stick and show that he was longer. He did not expect that Anansi, quick as a flash, would spin thread around him and tie him to the stick. Now he was trapped and could not move. All he could do was to protest with his long silvery tongue. “Anansi you trickster, untie me or or you will be sorry.” But Anansi looked up to the sky and said: “Nyankopon, I have delivered to you the first part of the bargain.”

The sky-god laughed and said: “You are indeed a tricky little spider, but I doubt that even you can catch Osebo the leopard.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Anansi. But in fact seeing was not part of he sewed up his left eye so that he couldn’t see anything with it. The one eyed spider paid a visit to the tree where Osebo the leopard lived. The big spotted cat dangled a powerful paw down from the branch he was using as a couch. He said:

“Anansi, my wily little fellow, what happened to your eye?”

And the deceitful spider replied: “Nyankopon sewed it up for me, and now I can see the most wonderful things with it – worlds, stars and the whole universe – just like gods see.”

“How simply divine!” exclaimed Osebo the leopard. “Sew up my eye so that I can see wonders too.”

“I’ll do one better than that,” replied Anansi. “I’ll sew up both your eyes so that you will be practically a god.”

And when he had finished doing what he had promised, poor Osebo was completely blind, and it was all too easy to lead the leopard to Nyankopon.”

“Well, Well, Well,” said Nyankopon. “Perhaps I have underestimated your cleverness, my little spider, but you have left the most difficult task for last, for the hornets are angry little creatures than no one has ever tamed.”

“I said I will bring them to you, and I shall,” replied Anansi with great confidence, though Nyankopon thought it was perhaps foolish confidence given the ferocity

Anansi went to the place where the Mmoboro hornets kept their nest, and he brought with him a large jar. The hornets swarmed around buzzing and saying:

“What is in that jar, Anansi?”

“Why nothing,” replied the wily spider. “But I have a bet with Nyankopon about it. The sky-god says you cannot fly into it. I say you can. Will you help me prove him wrong?”

“Why of course we can fly in!” exclaimed the hornets angrily. “Who does the all-seeing one think he is to say what we can and can’t do?” And with that, they flew as one into the jar and as soon as they were all inside, Anansi slammed the lid on tight.

Now when Anansi brought the jar of Mmoboro hornets to Nyankopon, the sky-god was truly impressed with the little spider’s successful trickery.

“Who would have thought that such a small and insignificant little creature could capture great beasts?” he said. “Truly Anansi, you deserve the stories of the world, for you have proved yourself to be the smartest animal on the earth.”

And that is how Anansi the spider got all the stories in the world – or at least all the stories in Ghana because so much of their folk law is about him. He has travelled to the Caribbean too, and his stories of trickery have influenced Brer Rabbit in the southern states of the USA. As you will hear, he sometimes takes on a human form. It’s not clear how or why he shifts from being a spider to being a man, but his tricky personality always stays with him.

I’ll be back soon with some more Anansi stories here on Storynory.com.

For now, from me Richard….

Story Books for Kids