When Lightning Struck by Betsy R Rosenthal

James has lost his dad - he was killed by a lightning strike. His mum is in jail for bootlegging and she is also suffering from depression. James lives with his grandfather (Pappy) and until recently with his beloved grandmother (Abuela) but six months ago she died. Abuela was a town healer. Pappy runs the local diner and he makes delicious food for the people in the town. I loved the way James tucks into pie and hamburgers. 

There is a new kid who has moved to Odessa, Texas. He is from Ukraine and he has very little English. He is older than the kids in the class and so he is taller which is helpful for James because he is regularly tormented by a bully named Virgil and now Paul is his friend so her has someone on his side when the bullies attack. Paul's family seem very different to James. They speak a strange language (he later discovers this is Hebrew) and they observe unfamiliar customs which often include special rituals and very delicious food. They don't go to the local Christian church. 

Just before she died Abuela gave James an amulet which has a strange symbol on one side and foreign writing on the back. The Pappy shows James the family bible and it seems Abuela has a connection that goes back to 1492 when Jewish people were expelled from Spain. You can read about that in this picture book:

The Key from Spain

"Things were starting to get a little less muddy. Between the charm and the Bible with my name in it and the Hebrew writing, I felt like Abuela was sending me a message from the grave, trying to tell me that I was somebody different than I'd thought I was. And I go to wondering, too, if this news about my family's past could have something to do with me finding my purpose."

"I think your Texas Odessa is named after my Odessa because railroad workers here said this place reminded them of their home in Ukraine. ... Same name but better place for our family that Ukraine, Odessa ..."

Readers aged 10+ might gain a little more understanding about Jewish culture and the history of their persecution through this story. Paul talks about the terror his family experienced in Ukraine - a situation which has been repeated today with the Russian army. 

Our famous children's bookshop The Little Bookroom has reopened in a different location in Melbourne and I was there on their first day (not their official opening which was held two weeks later). The new owner filled several shelves with books from the previous store and marked them at 90% off the retail price and so that is how I came to find When Lightning Struck. This book was published in 2022. The ebook version is available. 

The setting for this book is Texas in 1928 but apart from references to prohibition, the Klu Klutx Klan and a few sporting heroes the parts of the story set in Texas didn't feel historical enough for me.

Here is list of other books by Betsy R Rosenthal (and there is a link to teachers notes from When Lightning Struck).

Bookseller blurb: It's 1928 in Odessa, Texas, and eleven-year-old James is struggling to find his purpose in life and to uncover a family secret. With his father struck dead by lightning and his mother in jail, he is taken in by his grandparents. Treated as a pariah at school, James is taunted as being cursed by his family's bad luck. But he finds a friend in Paul, a Russian immigrant, who is also treated as an outcast, and together, they battle the school bully. But James's life is turned upside-down yet again when he uncovers a family secret involving his beloved grandmother. His discovery leads him to find the sense of purpose he's been seeking.

Parked by Danielle Svetcov

It doesn’t seem right to be living in a van in a city this rich, this dazzling. 

I don’t think Mom imagined how badly this could go for us. I think she only pictured good. 

I can imagine how bad, though. 

I read Oliver Twist in fourth grade. I can imagine a lot.

“Why are you living in a van?” Cal asks. How long has he waited to ask that hot potato? ... “Did you hear my question?” “Yes.” But it’s my question. I ask it in my sleeping bag every night, staring at a rusted ceiling. I ask it every morning when I wake up, stiff on a deflated pad. 

I ask it when I’m trudging to the public bathroom with the overflowing garbage cans 

and the sinks that only run ice water.

The setting for this story is San Francisco - and yes even if you haven't been there you will get a feel for the city with its harbour views and very hilly streets. Readers aged 10+ will also gain a good insight into the lives of people with extreme housing insecurity. 

The lives of Cal and Jeanne Ann are set to collide. 

Jeanne Ann's mother moves her daughter across the country to California. When they get there Joyce cannot find a job and the promised housing is no longer available. Mother and daughter are forced to live in their van which they nickname Carrot. Meanwhile Cal lives across the road in a huge house which has a wall of windows to face the glorious views. Cal's mother manages a restaurant, but she no longer cooks there. They serve vegetarian food. Jeanne Ann's mother is a cook and her specialty is eggs and she most certainly is not a vegetarian. Joyce also collects cookery books. But she is a loud and opinionated lady and it seems no one will hire her. Surely there is a way to link Cal's mum with Jeanne Ann's mum so we can all enjoy the happy ending but NO things in life are never that simple. 

Cal is an artist but he is in trouble because he created a huge art piece on the wall of his 'posh' school. His mother decides his punishments will be working in her restaurant and limited access to his art materials but this does not stop Cal from continuing to draw and also from caring about the van dwellers who live across the street from his house. Cal also has to change to the public middle school.

Jeanne Ann sure is stubborn and she won't accept help from anyone especially Cal. Cal on the other hand is so kind and he is a problem solver, and he has some emotional intelligence. He knows Jeanne Ann needs space and she has her pride, but he absolutely does not give up on her. Jeanne Ann is desperate to start middle school but she has no fixed address and so cannot be enrolled. 

There is a little thread in this book based on the overdue book notice from Chicago where Jeanne Ann used to live. She has a huge list of overdue books and then Jeanne Ann 'pawns' a heap of book at a local shop to raise money for basics like food. I worried about this firstly because with each letter from the library the fines grow bigger and bigger and secondly because it seemed the books would now never be returned - but there is a fantastic resolution to all of this which will make all library users smile. Also, her list of overdue books could give you some terrific titles to explore yourself. I also love the librarian Mrs Jablonsky. Mrs. Jablonsky treated new library card registrations like magical events. She’d have released balloons from the ceiling for every single one if the library had had a budget for it.

 

Here are some text quotes:

The store there has been vacant since somebody invented the Internet in 1990-something, Mom says, but no one ever took down the posters that are taped to the inside of the glass, facing out. There’s one of the Eiffel Tower and one of the Taj Mahal. And one of the Golden Gate Bridge. They’re all faded like everything else on this block, but Mom likes to tap the glass over the Golden Gate Bridge poster like she’s got a plan. Which she does. I know she does. She just hasn’t shared it with me yet.

We’re at the front of a line of vans that look a lot like ours—drained of blood. I thought they were abandoned, but last night I caught sight of an arm popped out of a window two vans back; it dumped something wet and steamy onto the sidewalk. Not a good sign.

Mom calls someone who scratches at the same worry, over and over, a “grinder.” I am definitely grinding. But Labor Day is when school starts in Chicago. It’s gotta start around the same time here. And I’m pretty sure I can’t go without an address. I know I can’t check out a library book without one.

I settle my eyes on the homes across the street. To them, looking down, we’re just a shadowy crease, like in the fold of my book. Everything that matters is off to the sides of us—the water and bridge out my window, the mansions and hills out Mom’s. We’re in the no-place place.

The absence of a credit card is like the absence of a thumb, Mom says. You can’t grip things tightly. We lived in a crummy apartment in Chicago because of the absence of a credit card. We live in this van because of the absence of a credit card. We can’t pay this new parking ticket. Missing a thumb is something you notice quick.

Parked has 400 pages but I read the whole book in one day on a long train journey - and yes, it is THAT good! I always enjoy books with different voices and Danielle Svetcov makes this easy to identify with alternating chapters and a different font for each of these kids. 

Kirkus, however, think this book is too long and there are too many neat coincidences, but it did hold my attention right to the end. I did have one reservation myself (hence the 4 stars) - I was not sure why Cal drew all his images of people with wings and I wanted to know a little more about his absent dad and his distant mum. I did enjoy the minor characters - the crazy kid who keeps escaping from his daycare/summer activities program and the generous and kind man in the van next door. 

Ms Yingling also has a few reservations about Parked:

The juxtaposition of Cal and Jeanne Ann's lives was particularly interesting since they lived on the same street. The details of why the family ends up living in a van, and how they manage various activities is important in helping young readers understand how others may face difficulties they may not. Cal's presence makes the neighborhood initiative to remove the vans more interesting, and the fact that Jeanne Ann loves reading will immediately endear this to librarians and language arts teachers. The San Francisco setting and the different restaurants adds to the appeal of this.

Publisher blurb: Jeanne Ann is smart, stubborn, living in an orange van, and determined to find a permanent address before the start of seventh grade. Cal is awkward, sensitive, living in a humongous house across the street, and determined to save her. Jeanne Ann wants Cal's help just about as much as she wants to live in a van. As the two form a tentative friendship that grows deeper over alternating chapters, they're buoyed by a cast of complex, oddball characters, who let them down, lift them up, and leave you cheering. Debut novelist Danielle Svetcov shines a light on a big problem without a ready answer, pulling it off with the perfect balance of humor, heartbreak, and hope.

When I am travelling I like to read books on an e-reader so my next few blog posts I will share the books I read over the last couple of weeks.

Parked was published in 2020 but a paperback from 2021 is currently available here in Australia.

Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee

Fortune Cookie wisdom  

Good friends are friends for life. 

Talk is overrated. True friendships are not.

Maizy and her mum have driven to Last Chance, Minnesota because Opa (Grandfather) is very unwell. Maizy has never visited her grand parents or seen their Chinese restaurant before. Mum and Oma (Grandma) are not on speaking terms. This is just one of the puzzles Maize has to unravel. She also needs to hear the story of her family going all the way back to the 1850s. Opa tells the story of Lucky - his great great grandfather all the while teaching Maizy how to play poker - the card game and the life game.

"In my family, some times what's not said takes up more space than what is."

"It's not just the cards you're dealt. It's what you do with them that matters most."

"You're not interested in stuff like sailing ships, outlaws and a gold mountain are you?"

"It's funny how one insult can ruin your day or how one compliment can make someone so happy."

Take a close look at the cover - the tiny details here are important to this story - fortune cookies; Grandma (Oma) and Grandpa (Opa); a large brown wooden bear; the Chinese restaurant; and even the LA T shirt worn by Maizy herself.  There are 81 chapters in this book - they are all so short the pages just fly by. This book truly is a page turner. I can understand why this was a 2023 Newbery Honour Book.

If you are sharing this book here in Australia I would use this quote as a way to start a discussion about the themes of racism which are explored in this story:

"Does this girl even know how beautiful she is? I wonder what it would be like to be blond and beautiful. Or just blond. Or just beautiful."

I was called for jury duty today and because this is a long process I took along my ipad which has a few Kindle middle grade books. At 9am I settled down to wait and I read over 60% of this book and then when I arrived home (everyone was dismissed - no one was needed for a jury today) I finished off Maizy Chen's Last Chance. Now I need to head out to my local Chinese restaurant and devour some delicious food - this book is filled with tantalising dishes. It was great to see so many people who were sitting in the court holding area today reading books and ebooks. 

Here is a video with Colby Sharp talking about this book. He mentions the minor characters and I totally agree. I loved the way Maizy needed to discover each of their back stories and motivations. Take a look at the author page about this book. Here is an in depth interview between Lisa Yee and Roger Sutton (Horn Book). Here is the Kirkus Star review.

This was a perfect balance between a fun setting and characters, and more serious issues and history. Ms Yingling (she also mentions The Parker Inheritance as a related text). Read her review for more plot details. 

Maize asks Principal Holmes if she can borrow books from his high school library over the summer months while they stay in Last Chance. Specifically she asks for this book which I have now added to my own enormous to read list:

Companion books to read after Maizy Chen's last chance:

Zadie Ma and the dog who chased the moon

Danny Chung does not do Maths

Front Desk (this is the cover here in Australia)

Tiger Daughter (for readers aged 12+)

The twenty-elephant restaurant by Russell Hoban illustrated by Quentin Blake

This seductive exercise in runaway absurdity 

starts out with a wobbly table ...

This gem of a book was first published in 1978.  I remember having a tiny copy from the Pocket Puffin series in my first school library.  I am glad to say this new copy, recently republished, is  much larger and so will be easier to read with a group.

Have you ever been sitting at a restaurant and noticed you table had a wobble. This book offers a solution.  Make a new table.  Make a table  that is "really strong. It's steady as a rock. No matchbooks under that table. Elephants could dance on that table."

Elephants.  More than one.  More tables are needed and elephants!  The solution - advertise.

This book is perfect to read aloud and the riotous scenes are bought to life by the perfect illustrations from Quentin Blake.

Mr. Maxwell's Mouse by Frank Asch and Devin Asch

Today I spent some happy hours book shopping.  As I walked through one very large shop this book caught my eye - the mouse on the plate, the expression on the face of the cat and above all the author - the wonderful Frank Asch.  I knew at once Devin must be his son and after reading the first page I knew this book would be perfect.

I have been collecting books for a senior class on the theme of power - power in relationships, use of power, feeling powerless and so on.  This week we enjoyed discussing Extra Yarn and now I will add Mr. Maxwell's mouse to my list.

Mr. Maxwell dines each day at the delicious sounding Paw and Claw Restaurant.  On this day he decides to partake of a mixed green salad followed by raw mouse.

"Excellent choice, sir, Would you like us to kill it for you?' asked Clyde.  'That won't be necessary,' said Mr. Maxwell ... just make sure it is fresh and healthy."

The meal arrives - a mouse stretched out on a single piece of rye toast as if sunning itself on a sandy beach.  Our canny mouse engages Mr. Maxwell in conversation.  Asking for salt, suggesting the type of wine as an accompaniment and even asking Mr. Maxwell to say grace before - well before the deed.  Mr. Maxwell is not a religious man so the mouse kneels down and prays ending with the perfect word 'Amice!'

If you are looking for another book on the theme of persuasion this one is perfect and it also has such a delicious vocabulary and scrumptious illustrations.  This is a picture book for our middle and senior students.  This book is also an example of a trickster tale.

Vocab - precisely, manicured, flourish, gloated, unaccustomed, fraternize, dignity, squeamish, patrons and mayhem.

Here is a review if you need more detail of the plot.  Mr. Maxwell's mouse was first published in 2004. The paperback copy was released this year.

You might also enjoy Cat you'd better come home, The Spider and the Fly and Strat and Chatto.

a delicious cat-and-mouse tale in which small outsmarts large

Three times lucky by Sheila Turnage

The plot of Three Times Lucky is so complicated (and so rewarding) I am not going to say too much here. If you want to read every detail here is a long review.

I liked this book so much because Mo (Miss Moses LoBeau) is such a feisty, determined and loyal young girl.  She has her own life problems such as her ongoing search for her mother and the mystery of her arrival at Tupelo Landing but she is also determined to protect the people who love her especially when a murderer is on the loose.

"Trouble cruised into Tupelo Landing at exactly seven minutes past noon on Wednesday, the third of June, flashing a gold badge and driving a Chevy Impala the color of dirt.  Almost before the dust had settled, Mr Jesse turned up dead and life in Tupelo Landing turned upside down.  As far as I know, nobody expected it."

Here is a treat - you can see other possible covers by Gilbert Ford.  Finally here is an interview with the author.

Read the Google blurb: Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.

If you enjoy books with strong characters you might also enjoy Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo and When you reach me by Rebecca Stead.

Turnage achieves a wickedly awesome tale of an 11-year-old girl with more spirit and gumption than folks twice her age. Mo LoBeau is destined to become a 

standout character in children’s fiction.

The fearsome five by Wolf Erlbruch

This book, The Fearsome Five has been in our school library for a couple of years and the cover has always intrigued me.  Today I bought it home to read.  I was wondering if this book was suitable for our youngest students because the animals on the cover look a little fierce.

It is true they are fierce but this book is suitable for all ages and I have made some excellent discoveries.  Firstly this is a book in translation. This book is from Germany and was first published in 1991. I always seem to enjoy European children's books that are translated into English.  Well done Gecko Press for sharing this book with us. Secondly this is quite simply a charming and heart warming story about friendship, pancakes and good music.

Toad, Rat, Bat, Spider and Hyena know "it's generally agreed that we're revolting."  Other words used in the text include horrible, sickly, awful and hideous. It is Hyena who has the answer.  "It doesn't matter a jot if others think you're ugly... It's what you do that matters.  I advise you to do something - anything."  He then picks up his saxophone and everyone is entranced by the tune. Inspired, Rat pulls out his ukulele and joins in, spider sings with her delicate voice and Bat adds a soulful whistle.  But what about Toad - he has no musical ability.  That is no problem - Toad can make pancakes.

The five new friends now set up a musical pancake palace but as midnight passes not a single customer turns up.  Hyena begins to play and the others join in.  "The five of them made such a happy racket, it could be heard in the farthest corner of the neighbourhood."  I won't spoil the ending but it is certain to make you smile.  The sentiment of this book reminded me of the wonderful Frog books by Max Velthuis.

You might also enjoy another book illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch in our school library - The Little Mole who knew it was none of his business.

Stir it up by Ramin Ganeshram

This short novel is absolutely brilliant.  Anjali is a young girl living in New York.  Her family are from Trinidad and Anjali has a huge passion for cooking.  She helps out each evening in the family roti shop where she is allowed to experiment with her cooking ideas and occasionally even try these out on friendly regular customers. Anjali is a brilliant cook and she has a dream to one day host her own cooking show on television.

Anjali's parents, and especially her wonderful grandmother Deema, are happy to support this dream but they are also ambitious that their daughter attend a good school and to do this she needs to sit for a test to enter Stuyvesant High.  Deema takes Anjali to special cooking classes on Saturdays and one week she learns there will be a kids cooking show on television - think of Master Chef.  Anjali, with the help of a good friend,  makes a video and sends it into the competition.  She is asked to audition and this is a dream come true but there is a clash of dates with the High School test.  Naturally there is also a huge clash with her parents.

There are two kinds of recipes in this book.  Real ones for special food and recipes for life!  I read one review who thought kids would react badly to the food recipes because they contain ingredients that will be unfamiliar to many children but I loved this aspect of Stir it up.  We all need to expand our cultural horizons.  I knew nothing about food from Trinidad before reading this delicious book.  I may not cook the recipes but I can enjoy the experience of this spicy food through reading.

I am sure you can tell I loved Stir it up.  It is a quick and rewarding book and I especially enjoyed the realistic ending.  I won't spoil this but you might have guessed what happens.  I smiled all through this book because on my recent trip to New York city I visited the Chelsea Market where television cooking programs are filmed. (Anjali goes to Chelsea Market - can you guess why?)

The real recipes in this book include Red Bean Pudding, Aloo Pies, Deema's easy Curry Chicken and Jicama Watercress slaw.

Here is one of the life recipes :

Recipe for Ambition
4 parts desire
1 part hope
5 dashes moxie
3 cups plans, well laid
1. Pour the desire into a heavy pot placed over high heat.  Allow it to come to a hard boil and add the hope. Stir well and lower the heat to a simmer.
2. When the mixture begins to thicken, add the moxie and mix rapidly, using a whisk. Remove from the heat.
3. Allow the mixture to cool until it is no longer steaming but still hot to the touch.  Carefully fold in the well-laid plans until completely combined.
4. Pour into a heavy ceramic dish and allow to gel.

You can read a good review here and here.