Indice dei contenuti per Vol. 118, No. 3, 10/1/21 in Booklist

Booklist Trend Alert Mindfulness in the Kitchen by Annie Bostrom Mindfulness has become a bit of a buzzword, but there’s a reason for that. Staying aware of ourselves, our needs, and our connectedness with our environment is always a good thing. The mindfulness trend finds itself at home in the kitchen, where we can focus on the present moment through meditative tasks and be conscious of where our food comes from and how to use it wisely. These recently published cookbooks share culinary mindfulness through homesteading techniques, seasonal awareness, food history, and time-consuming, contemplative recipes. The Art of Preserving: Ancient Techniques and Modern Inventions to Capture Every Season in a Jar. By Emma Macdonald. 2021. Watkins, $19.95 (9781848993983). While both encouraging beginners and inspiring preserving experts, Macdonald decodes the processes…

Read-alikes Tree-Centric Novels by Donna Seaman Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees (review adjacent) is a many-limbed family tale that is narrated, in part, by an immigrant fig tree and encompasses the trauma of ethnic divides and civil war as well as the marvels and solace of trees and all the lives they support. In each of these novels, characters face grief and upheaval, while a cherished tree or forest shapes and reflects human struggles, hope, and concern about the future of life on earth. And the Mountains Echoed. By Khaled Hosseini. 2013. Riverhead, $17 (9781594632389). An immense, ancient oak stands in a village in Afghanistan, emblematic of the complexly branching lives of Hosseini’s vibrantly realized characters in this deep and spellbinding saga of family bonds and unlikely pairings…

Spotlight Vehicles in Series Nonfiction by Angela Leeper Vehicles are a perennial favorite among young readers, and publishers have met this need in a variety of ways. While motorcycles, Maseratis, and monster trucks aren’t on typical school curricula, these high-interest series about vehicles still promote reading and inspire curiosity. The Big Picture As one might expect, vehicle series for beginning readers often cover a range of traditional transportation vehicles. For emerging readers, Cherry Lakes’ Watch It Go series uses repetitive sentences to build fluency. Go Plane! (2019) begins with “Here is the plane’s nose” and continues with similar sentences, such as “Here is the plane’s wing.” Large, crisp photos display the individual parts of planes, with the same treatment given to trucks, fire trucks, and trains in other volumes. Bellwether’s…

Podcast Connection Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. By Emily Ladau. Read by the author. 2021. 4.5hr. Books on Tape, DD, $38 (9780593417188). Disability rights activist Emily Ladau voices her approachable and meaningful guide to becoming a better ally to the disability community. The comprehensive work presents practical advice, countering popular notions and traditional approaches to including people with disabilities. Language used to discuss the disabled population, recognizing ableism, practicing good etiquette, the history of disability and advocates, and portrayals in the media are just some of the wide range of topics discussed. Ladau’s narration highlights her passion for the subject, elevates the listening experience, and will be familiar to listeners of her podcast, The Accessible Stall. Using varied tone and texture,…

YOUTH Spotlight on Food Bake, Make, and Learn to Cook: Fun and Healthy Recipes for Young Cooks. By David Atherton. Illus. by Rachel Stubbs. Nov. 2021. 88p. illus. Candlewick, $17.99 (9781536219364). Gr. 2–5. 641. Atherton, winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2019, offers a cookbook with straightforward, easily adaptable recipes geared toward children. The dishes range from breakfast treats to desserts, and they’re accompanied by pleasant illustrations of families happily cooking, baking, and eating together. Many of the dishes are fairly wholesome, with most featuring a vegetable, fruit, or whole grain. Banana Bear Pancakes, for instance, have spinach pureed into the batter to give them a green hue, and the Super Sweet Brownies contain mashed sweet potato. Others, though (like Octopizza and Heart-Stopper Scones), are classic treats. The…

Top 10 Series about Vehicles There’s always a demand for books about cars, tractors, tanks, and bulldozers. Get young readers’ engines revving with these 10 outstanding series about vehicles and big machines. —Angela Leeper Busy Machines (Rosen/Windmill; 4 titles) K–Gr. 3. Diggers, rescue vehicles, tractors, and trucks with cartoon faces show off what they do in this illustrated series. Chunked text and labeled vehicles and parts make the details accessible and memorable, and readers even have an opportunity to select their favorite vehicle. Car Stars (ABDO/Dash!; 12 titles) K–Gr. 3. A sleek layout with full-page, high-quality photos introduces some of the world’s most coveted luxury cars, from the Bentley and Bugatti to the Maserati and McLaren, in an early-reader format. The short text gives descriptive details about each car’s design,…

Kelly Yang’s Room to Dream Sponsored by Scholastic Kelly Yang made waves in 2018 with her debut, Front Desk, which featured Mia, a Chinese American tween living in California and working at a motel with her parents. Room to Dream, the third book in Yang’s series, finds Mia traveling with her family to Beijing for a long-awaited trip to visit family and navigating lots of changes, both visible and invisible, in her community and among her friends and family. Read on for our interview with Yang about the book, its 1990s setting, and what she loves about writing for middle-grade readers. Booklist: Room to Dream is set in the ’90s; what about that era do you think will resonate with your readers today? Yang: There are so many parallels between…

ADULT Spotlight on Food Ashia’s Table: Family Recipes from India and Beyond. By Ashia Ismail-Singer. Dec. 2021. 224p. Interlink, $35 (9781623718848). 641.5954. Cooking blogger, nurse, and mom Ismail-Singer, of Memon Indian descent, grew up in Malawi and then the UK. As an adult, she moved to New Zealand, and, homesick, she took the traditional lessons she learned in her mother’s kitchen and translated them into recipes that reflect the flavors of the many places she has called home. In this American release of her first cookbook, exquisite photography and luxe design may make readers think, at a glance, that this cookbook is too fancy for a weeknight meal; however, recipes are simple, filled with comfort, and easy to execute. Ismail-Singer encourages readers to make the recipes their own and delivers…

YOUTH Spotlight on Series Nonfiction Older Readers The Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957. By Stephanie Lundquist-Arora. 2021. 64p. illus. ReferencePoint, lib. ed., $31.95 (9781678200961). Gr. 7–10. 614.5. This slim volume is packed with information about the origin, transmission, treatment, and ultimate eradication of an influenza virus that bloomed into a worldwide pandemic in the late 1950s. Part of the Historic Pandemics and Plagues series (5 titles), this user-friendly guide begins with a helpful time line. Pages are filled with dense paragraphs set off by subheadings, and archival black-and-white photos help readers understand contemporary context, as do the multiple pop-culture references sprinkled throughout the text. Additional graphics include color-blocked quotes from individuals who were directly involved in the pandemic (doctors, patients, the media, government officials), while brief insets offer satisfying side…