Still Sal by Kevin Henkes

Sal is excited. She is about to begin Grade One. Sal has all her special supplies ready:

At the moment, the school supplies were the things in Sal’s life that made her most happy; the things that gave her a little joyful lift just by thinking about them. The box held brightly colored pencils with glittery stars on them, an eraser shaped like a cupcake for the top of a pencil, and two folders and two notebooks with photographs of baby animals on them—piglets, kittens, puppies, lambs.

Her outfit is ready too:

Sal got dressed in the outfit she’d been planning for days. Pink-and-blue plaid tights. Pale-green corduroy pants that came just below her knees. A shirt patterned with yellow and orange suns. Red sneakers. ... Sal had picked out a cloth headband—her most comfortable one. It was white with purple stripes. She was avoiding her hard plastic ones with teeth. She pushed the headband on and patted it into position. “Ready.”

Then a letter arrives and it seems Sal and her best friend in the whole world Griff (Griffen Babcock) will be in different classes. Griff will have a teacher with such a wonderful name - Ms. Flowers. Surely there is a way Sal can change classes and not be in Ms. McCormick's class.

Ms. Flowers’s hair was dark and curly like Sal’s, but cut very short and accessorized with an ABC barrette. She was wearing red sneakers, also like Sal’s, and jeans that were frayed and fringy at the bottom. Her belt appeared to be a tape measure. She looked like a fun babysitter. She smelled like strawberry jam. Sal’s heart leaped.

This is a year of change for Sal. Her baby sister Poppy has moved into her room and Sal is not happy. Griff seems to be making new friends. AND everything, just everything that can go wrong at school, goes wrong. For example my heart broke for Sal when she saw her name label was wrong (this happens me too):

She was looking at her name tag with narrow eyes. There was a new problem. Although Ms. McCormick had cut off the second L and the Y, she’d made her cut so close to the first L that if you didn’t look carefully, you might think Sal’s name was Sa. Also, there’d been a nice border around each name on the name tags, and now the border on Sal’s was gone on the right side. And, the cut edge was crooked. Sal’s name tag didn’t look professional anymore, and it was different from everyone else’s. Stinging tears came to Sal’s eyes. She knew she shouldn’t ask Ms. McCormick to fix her name tag again, but, still, she found the whole thing upsetting.

Kids in Australia are sure to enjoy all the clothes Sal wears - here children wear school uniforms. Sal's choices each day reminded me of Goonie Bird Greene. 

I love the way Sal tries to convince her parents that two-year-old Poppy should not move in:

“I just don’t think she’ll be a good resident of this room,” Sal had told her parents, trying to be as serious as possible, narrowing her eyes, tilting her head, and pitching her voice to sound important. “I just don’t think she’s responsible enough to be here.”

I also love Sal's dad - he is a parent with quiet wisdom and he can make delicious pancakes.

With a group of older kids in Grade 3 perhaps, you could use this book to talk about the way teachers are different - not to criticise just to explore different ways teachers might cover a topic or relate to their class. You could also talk about the way Sal observes the kids in her class. Oh and I cheered when Sal does speak up - she certainly is not a shy child but she does have an understanding of some adult rules such as not using the teacher's first name even though she is so delighted when she makes this discovery.

I think my hairdresser would enjoy reading chapter 19:

The hair salon was called Hair We Go and it smelled important. Like the smells of a doctor’s office and a flower shop mixed together. Brooke was the name of the woman who was to cut Sal’s hair. Brooke’s thin, straight hair was shoulder length and streaked with pink and green. Sal couldn’t take her eyes off it. She wondered how old you had to be to get pink and green hair, although she wasn’t sure if she’d actually want to have it.

As an adult reader I adored this fourth book about the Miller family - I hope young readers aged 7+ will also enjoy this book but they might find the tone used by Sal a little too mature? I need to think about this a little more. The Kirkus reviewer says: Fairly sophisticated language and observations stretch the target audience to include third and fourth graders for whom first grade may be a distant memory. I was delighted to see Kirkus gave Still Sal a Star review:

Henkes’ graceful, easy prose, sharp insights, and impressive ability to convey the way children think shine here. He invites readers to empathize with Sal, feeling her disappointment and annoyance with a world that doesn’t always understand her as well as the satisfaction with small victories that bring her back to herself: getting used to a major haircut and learning to connect with Ms. McCormick. ...  A delightful, understated triumph.

Blurb from Kevin Henkes web page: Sal has been looking forward to first grade for a long time. But her excitement quickly turns to disappointment when she learns that her best friend, Griff, is in the other first-grade classroom and has the most popular teacher. Then Sal’s name is spelled wrong on her name tag, she trips in front of the cool fifth graders, and her self-portrait doesn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. In fact, everything about school is an absolute disaster. Poor Sal! Luckily for Sal, she has understanding parents, a terrific new teacher, and empathetic friends who remind her that it takes time to adjust to change. And sure enough, after a few days, Sal feels like herself again.

Still Sal highlights themes of family, friendship, social and emotional growth, resilience, and adapting to change. The fourth stand-alone book in the Miller Family sequence includes black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes on almost every page and is an excellent choice for early elementary grades, for readers ready for a short novel, and for family and classroom read-alouds.

AND there will be another book in this series later this year - Poppy.

If I worked in a bookshop I would love to make a window display of this series. Here are the four titles from the series so far and I also think all Primary school libraries should own every one of them - you can read more from the links below. All four of these have Kirkus Star reviews:

The Year of Billy Miller; Billy Miller makes a Wish

Click on the Kevin Henkes label on this post to read about more of his books - for all ages!

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

Oh, it seems so wonderful that I'm going to live with you and belong to you. 

I've never belonged to anybody—not really.

That child is hard to understand in some respects. But I believe she'll turn out all right yet. And there's one thing certain, no house will ever be dull that she's in."

I've joined an online US Facebook children's book club. Next month our book is the famous US classic Anne of Green Gables (1908). Until last month I had not read this book. I shared this with one of our esteemed children's literature experts here in Australia and she was utterly shocked and so I felt compelled to now read Anne of Green Gables. I hunted around for a cheaper print copy but eventually I settled on reading an ebook. If you haven't read this classic here are some detailed notes about the themes and plot. You could also consider listening to the audio book - here is a five-minute sample. I also found some free examples. 

Did I love Anne of Green Gables? Not really. There were parts I enjoyed especially early in the story but after a few chapters I found it a bit repetitive and I grew a little tired of anticipating that every 'activity' would end in a disaster for Anne. 

What parts did I enjoy? 

• The rich vocabulary with words like betokened; wincey; alabaster brow; irreproachable; capricious; coruscations; prosaic; and tenacity

• The beautifully expressed descriptions of nature: 

" ... the orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom, hummed over by a myriad of bees."

"Very green and neat and precise was that yard, set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and the other with prim Lombardies. Not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen ..."

"Above the bridge the pond ran up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lay all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows. Here and there a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a white-clad girl tip-toeing to her own reflection. From the marsh at the head of the pond came the clear, mournfully-sweet chorus of the frogs."

"On both sides of the house was a big orchard, one of apple-trees and one of cherry-trees, also showered over with blossoms; and their grass was all sprinkled with dandelions. In the garden below were lilac-trees purple with flowers, and their dizzily sweet fragrance drifted up to the window on the morning wind."

"There were rosy bleeding-hearts and great splendid crimson peonies; white, fragrant narcissi and thorny, sweet Scotch roses; pink and blue and white columbines and lilac-tinted Bouncing Bets; clumps of southernwood and ribbon grass and mint; purple Adam-and-Eve, daffodils, and masses of sweet clover white with its delicate, fragrant, feathery sprays ..."

• I loved some of the characters especially Matthew Cuthbert and Diana. I also appreciated the tiny insights into Marilla and her slowly developing love of Anne. 

• The touches of humor:

"If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs. Rachel could not have been more astonished. She was actually stricken dumb for five seconds."

"She thought in exclamation points. A boy! Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of all people adopting a boy! From an orphan asylum! Well, the world was certainly turning upside down! She would be surprised at nothing after this! Nothing!"

"But if you call me Anne please call me Anne spelled with an E. ... A-n-n looks dreadful, but A-n-n-e looks so much more distinguished."

"I have no hard feelings for you, Mrs. Barry. I assure you once for all that I did not mean to intoxicate Diana and henceforth I shall cover the past with the mantle of oblivion."

"Yes; but cakes have such a terrible habit of turning out bad just when you especially want them to be good,"

"Almost a month having elapsed since the liniment cake episode, it was high time for her to get into fresh trouble of some sort, little mistakes, such as absentmindedly emptying a pan of skim milk into a basket of yarn balls in the pantry instead of into the pigs' bucket ... "

"I've learned a new and valuable lesson today. Ever since I came to Green Gables I've been making mistakes, and each mistake has helped to cure me of some great shortcoming. The affair of the amethyst brooch cured me of meddling with things that didn't belong to me. The Haunted Wood mistake cured me of letting my imagination run away with me. The liniment cake mistake cured me of carelessness in cooking. Dyeing my hair cured me of vanity. I never think about my hair and nose now—at least, very seldom. And today's mistake is going to cure me of being too romantic."

• Character descriptions:

Anne - "A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey. She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face was small, white and thin, also much freckled; her mouth was large and so were her eyes, which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others."

Anne - " ... the ordinary observer; an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid."

"Diana was sitting on the sofa, reading a book which she dropped when the callers entered. She was a very pretty little girl, with her mother's black eyes and hair, and rosy cheeks, and the merry expression which was her inheritance from her father.

• And of course Anne's relentless imagination. 

How do you feel about the love story? I was a little frustrated that it took so long to reach this scene but I guess the stage is set for the sequel/s. Will I keep reading this series? Probably not but I might try to find the television series. 

Confession - I have been to Prince Edward Island twice (and yes I do live in Australia) but when I visited I had no interest in this famous book. My visit to island was fabulous though, because I had an introduction to a resident - a lady and her husband who were entitled to called themselves Islanders. I had been teaching in Alberta and a wonderful library volunteer had a connection with a family who lived on PEI. I am so glad I took hold of my courage and phoned them. It was an evening to remember ending with the wife and I sitting in front of their fabulous bookshelves exploring her huge picture book collection! I am sad I no longer remember their names. 

"I've always heard that Prince Edward Island was the prettiest place in the world, and I used to imagine I was living here, but I never really expected I would. It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?"

Here are our Book Club titles for 2025:

When Dad's Hair took off by Jörg Mühle translated by Melody Shaw

Blurb: One day, Dad’s hair decided it was tired of being brushed and combed. It wanted a life of its own, to see the world. It took off. Out of the bathroom, into the kitchen, and before you could say, “Hairsta la vista, baby!” it was gone. Dad gave chase around the town. He spots his hair hiding in the lawn, on the road, at the zoo —it’s amazing how many things look like hair. He gives up. Dad tries to accept life without hair. Then the postcards arrive. The hair is on a round-the-world trip and Dad is still bald. Until one day the unbelievable happens and the hair comes back.

This book is a quick one to read - it will be enjoyed by young readers aged 7+ but also by parents especially dads. It has 63 pages, some with just one line of text, and full colour zany illustrations.

When you share this book with a younger child they will be exposed to some terrific vocabulary: flailed, scolded, threatened, fluttered, whumped, hullabaloo, stalking, stomped, wits' end, apparently, shimmied, crypt, launderette, hightailed, and zilch.

I also love the sense that this is a story that has been told over and over again in this family - rather like a tall tale. 

Younger listeners will enjoy the silly, complicated chase scenes, while slightly older kids and even adults will also appreciate the plentiful puns and amusing alliteration.  Kirkus

When Dad's Hair Took Off is a great example of words and pictures telling the story, and it's all encapsulated in a short novel that will get young readers laughing. Kids' Book Review

Early readers are sure to love the madcap nature of this story. Reading Time

Here is the German cover:

We are lucky to have books by Jörg Mühle here in Australia and now thanks to Gecko Press we can.

Duck's Backyard

Two for me, One for you

Meet at the Ark, at Eight

Bad Hare Day by Miriam Moss illustrated by Lynne Chapman

Tuesday Treasure

This is such a funny book and it would be the perfect gift for your hairdresser. I've put two covers just to show you how a small font change can alter the 'look' of a book.

Look closely at the cover. The little hare is standing on a pile of magazines. How funny - these are the hairdresser magazines with names like Snip, Hair Today and my own favourite Curl up and Dye.

Herbert Hare runs a salon called The Hare House. Customers come from far and wide to be styled, sculpted, cut and conditioned. The salon is a calm place with quiet music, whirling fans and a humming coffee machine. Booked in for today we have a "wash and blow dry for Bear, a feathered cut for Colobus (monkey), a perm for Panda, and long layers for Llama."

But Herbert has not factored in the arrival of Holly, his niece. Her mother has left her at the salon for the morning. Holly assures Herbert that she will be good! Of course she is not. Herbert and his assistant are distracted by the arrival of some supplies. Holly decides to have a drink from the machine.

"First a cup of chocolate, then a raspberry milk, then a herb tea, then a mixture of all three. Holly carried on playing with the buttons - until the machine was completely empty."

Holly is a hard working girl - she cleans the mirrors (with hair spray), she adjusts the dryer settings (to hotter), then she starts on the customers. Needless to say they don't quite get the hair style they were expecting.

"Good heavens, Herbert! ... Whatever's happened?'
Herbert looked down at Holly.
'Let's just say its been a bad hare day!' he said."

I love the hairdresser language in this book. Words like volumised, fluffed, moussed and backcombed.

This book is sadly out of print but I was able to source a used copy quite easily. Hope you can find a copy too.

Take a look here to see all the picture books by Miriam Moss and here are the books by Lynne Chapman.

I used this book as part of a mini theme about hair. Here are some other funny books on this topic:

The Brilliant ideas of Lily Green by Lisa Siberry

Lily's mum owns a hairdressing and beauty salon. Lily's older sister Faye works there too. Faye loves all the fuss over hair styles, nail polish and beauty treatments. None of this interests Lily but she does love to invent. It is her job to clean the salon and so she is very familiar with the ingredients in the products sold in the salon. Lily does not like the idea of crushed beetles in nail polish so she sets about creating her own 'natural' formula for skin cream and lip gloss.

One day when she is cleaning an expensive bottle of shampoo crashes to the floor. Lily hides this disaster by refilling the bottle with a concoction of her own. She uses ingredients from the kitchen but it does not smell right. She needs to add orange. There is an orange tree hanging over the back fence with one perfect orange. Lily picks the orange and straight away we know this shampoo is going to be special - in a good way or perhaps in a disastrous way.

"I stood on tiptoe and plucked the orange. The air was still, but I could have sworn the jagged tooth-like leaves of the tree shivered."

Lily and Faye only have one week to save the salon which is also their home. Business has been bad since a rival salon opened at the shopping mall.  Perhaps this new shampoo will save the day.

The Brilliant ideas of Lily Green is a delicious romp filled with friendships (old and new), delightful combinations of ingredients which make the beauty products sound appealing and a little touch of magic (good and bad) that comes from the plants that gown in the mysterious garden next door.

I really enjoyed all the names of the beauty products, their wild ingredients and the crazy results from using them:

Glue Goo - holds your style in place after you shampoo no hair spray or gel needed
Happy Hair Sparkle Mist - no more hair tangles
Lip Switch - lip gloss to match your mood
Spraynbow - rainbow hair to match your mood (watch out this one is dangerous)

A refreshing, inventive story full of mischief and dollops of gloop for readers aged 9+. Readings

This book was the winner of the Ampersand Prize in 2017. You can listen to an interview with Lisa Siberry here. Another Ampersand winner that I loved last year was Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt.

Crazy Hair Day by Barney Saltzberg

This is going to be a day I will never forget.

Back in 2008 I wrote my first post for this blog and I mentioned Crazy Hair Day. This year I visited a tiny rural school here in NSW and Crazy Hair Day was one of my chosen books to share with this group of children aged 5-10. This is a book that appeals to every age. Yesterday I was talking about some favourite books and I again mentioned Crazy Hair Day.  I thought it was time I talked in more detail about this little gem.

Stanley is so excited because today is Crazy Hair Day. His mother helps to wrap, dip and spray his hair. As Stanley says "I am a work of art!". The final flourish of Halloween hair spray is just perfect.

Stanley bounces along to school. He knows this will be a great day. His class really enjoy celebrations like this. They have already had Twin day, Sixties day, and Pyjama Day. You have probably guessed what is going to happen. As Stanley walks along the hall towards his class he hears his teacher, Mr Winger, say some terrible words:

"And remember,' Mr Winger was saying, 'Crazy Hair Day is ... Next Friday."

Making things even worse it turns out today is also class picture day. Stanley runs down the hall and hides in the bathroom.

I love the emotional arc of this story.
Happy anticipation - today will be great
Despair - he has the wrong day
Boredom - hiding in the bathroom time moves slowly
A laugh or two when Stanley invents a race to flush all the toilets
Reconciliation - Stanley and his best friend Larry need to heal their friendship
Problem solving - Is there a way to help Stanley feel he is part of this class and to take away the pain of this day?
Happiness when Stanley re-enters his class and discovers the kindness of his friends and wonderful teacher.

The repeated parts of this story also add to the fun when you read this book aloud:

Stanley rolled the elastic bands in is hair. 
He gently tapped the tops of his spikes.
This is going to be a day I will never forget.

You can hear the song here but be warned it may lead to an ear worm it is just so catchy. Barney Saltzberg is an illustrator and a talented musician. I have this album of children's songs.

You can see and hear the author Barney Saltzberg reading the whole book here. He explains the inspiration for this book:

"I was talking to some students at a school one morning before the bell rang, and a boy came up to us with his hair dyed orange and blue and with big spikes," the author-illustrator recalls. "Somebody looked at him and said, 'Crazy Hair Day is tomorrow!' The boy looked horrified, blurted out something, then ran the other way. I felt terrible for this boy and wondered how it could possibly turn around into a better situation."  I wanted Crazy Hair Day to show how Stanley might come to terms with feeling so out of place and realize he still belong to a larger group of friends, even though he looked different. Of course, I didn't want to hit anyone over the head with a 'message', so I tried to plant the seeds through humour." 

There are two other books where you can read about Stanley Birdbaum and his best friend Larry Finchfeather. I love these names. Can you also see a link with Mr Winger?

Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T Smith

This is Little Red
Today she is going to be gobbled up by a lion.

This Lion.
Well that's what he thinks is going to happen ...

Every element of this picture book is perfect. Children will love the gold details on the cover, the end papers do literally book end the story beginning early in the morning and ending in the evening and of course there is the familiar story of Little Red Riding Hood with a brilliant twist.

Auntie Rose has spots!  Little Red packs a basket and sets off past the crocodiles, giraffes, monkeys, termites, gazelles, elephants, hippos and meerkats. She sits under a tree for a brief rest before continuing her journey and this is where she meets the lion.  "In the time it took for his tummy to rumble, the Very Hungry Lion cooked up a very naughty plan."

You might think you know the rest but you will be in for a surprise involving hairstyles, teeth, nighties and doughnuts.

Take a look at my review of the first Claude book by the talented Alex T Smith.

Great storytelling braided with lively color and a culturally affirming accent makes this book a real standout. 

Another set of Aussie Nibbles to nibble

As promised earlier in my blog, I am reading my way through our collection of Aussie Nibbles and I continue to be surprised and excited by so many of these simple titles.

Pop-up Fox has been in my collection for a long time (published in 2004) and I am now puzzled why I did not pick it up much earlier. David does not have many friends and so a party invitation is a very special event. The party has a dress up theme - come as something starting with the same letter as the name of the Birthday boy. This is easy for David as he loves dressing up and he especially enjoys making masks. He decides to go as a fox but on arrival at the party he discovers something terrible. The boy hosting the party is called Phillip and the other children have come dressed as a pirate, pizza and a plane.

How will David survive this situation? Do you know why he went to the party as a fox? Can the author Janeen Brian give us a plausible happy ending – yes she can. Read Pop-up Fox to find out how.

I have always enjoyed the idea of using food colouring. I once had a magazine that featured a pie where the top was decorated like a patchwork quilt using food colouring. I also love those little food colouring bottles from the supermarket. Margo and her sister Sonya need to decide on the colour for the icing on their cake. Their grandmother suggests blue. While she does enjoy the cake their grandmother complains she does not like her grey hair. Can you guess how food colouring, blue icing and hair might make for a hilarious outcome? This book Blue Hair day is made all the more special by the addition of zany illustrations by Leigh Hobbs.

Sonya Hartnett has just won our Children’s Book of the Year award for her novel The midnight Zoo so I was very keen to see what she might do within the constraints of a Nibble. When the youngest children in my school preview our special donate a book display I always tell them to tuck their hands behind their backs. Fingers can sometimes get a little out of control and this is the exact premise of Sadie and Ratz. Sadie and Ratz are in fact the left and right hands of Hannah and try as she might they sometimes lead her into mischief. Hannah has a little baby brother called Baby Boy. “Baby Boy is four years old. Four years is a long time. … everyone says Baby Boy is a good boy. But …”

Baby Boy has found his voice and his power. When something goes wrong he accused Saddie and Ratz. Hannah is fed up but what can she do? Then something really surprising happens to Baby Boy and Baby Boy needs to name is own right and left hands because it seems they are causing their own mayhem. I must again make special mention of the illustrations. Ann James perfectly captures the expressions and emotions of each family member.