#totallyyouthfultueday

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Christmas Eve can sometimes be a day that becomes unique and special totally aside from Christmas Day. And, in this book, that seems to be the case. It’s a perfect Christmas Eve for Maria. She gets to help her mother and cousins to make Tamales. Except, when her Mom takes off her ring, Maria tries it on. Uh, and then she realizes much later that the ring is no longer on her thumb (one of the problem with thumb rings sometimes). Her cousins have her back though, and they come up with a plan to find the ring (a hilarious plan).

It was such a fun book, and the art. Oh, wow, the art was just amazing as well.

You may like this book If you Liked: Growing Up With Tamales by Gwendolyn Zepeda, May Your Life Be Deliciosa by Michael Genhart, or Carla and the Christmas Cornbread by Carla Hall

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

I have read (and recommended on here I do believe) other Thor Hanson books and really liked them, so, when I stumbled onto the fact that he had written a Children’s Book I had to give it a try too.

It was so much fun. It’s basically a cute rhyming story where a crow is trying to figure out what he is, and, so that means that he has to look at all the different (in this case) animals of the Pacific Northwest (where Thor lives I believe).

Loved the text, loved the art, the only problem that I really had with it was that it was published in 2016 and there hasn’t been another children’s book yet.

You may like this book If you Liked: Little Owl's Day by Divya Srinivasan, North, South, East, West by Margaret Wise Brown, or Plume by Isabelle Simler

Bartholomew Quill: A Crow's Quest to Know Who's Who by Thor Hanson

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Escargot is going to the library! (He’s an awesome French snail). And, he excited for all the stories and books that he gets to choose from. There are stories about dogs (oh so many) and even about flamingos, but, none of them are about awesome snails who do the saving. Luckily there are lots of books that Escargot can look through to find his very favorite book.

This was so cute. I’m not always on board with snails in real life (or eating snails), but, little Escargot and his adventure at the library was just awesome.

You may like this book If you Liked: Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor, The Story of Fish and Snail by Deborah Freedman, or Snappsy The Alligator and His Best Friend Forever (Probably) by Julie Falatko

A Book for Escargot by Dashka Slater

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

This was a really fun non-fiction kids book about some of the archaeological finds that people didn’t set out to actually find. I knew about a couple of them, like the Bedouin shepherds who found the Dead Sea Scrolls. But, there were so many other stories I didn’t know, like how the Rosetta Stone was found, or the Black cowboy, George McJunkin, who found humongous bison fossils in New Mexico. It was an amazingly fun read (and I learned something, shh… heh…).

You may like this book If you Liked: Digging Deep by Laura Scandiffio, Great Discoveries & Amazing Adventures by Claire Llewellyn, or Stones and Bones by Kathryn Steele

Accidental Archaeologists: True Stories of Unexpected Discoveries by Sarah Albee

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

This is the cutest book. So awesome (I mean, it’s about Turtles, it can’t be bad…).

It’s about a family of turtles who are in no rush. They go nice and slow up a hill while the seasons change. Spring, Summer, Fall, and then the ending. The ending was perfect (I won’t spoil it). I really liked the art too. The turtle family was pictured just perfectly. An all around amazing book.

You may like this book If you Liked: Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor, Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School! by Carrie Finison, or A Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett

Turtle Walk by Matt Phelan

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

On the one hand, the story in this book is pretty simple. It’s set in British Columbia, and is a story about a First Nations family (for those who don’t know, that refers to the peoples who are native to northern North America/Canada). They go out to forage for native mushrooms and herbs and such, and the Grandmother passes down what she knows about where they go to her grandkids.

On the other hand, the art was amazingly stunning, and, with every turn of the page there was something new and beautiful. And, it was also a simple style, which went perfectly with the rest of the book. I was so bummed when I finished this book. And was pleasantly surprised when I found that Julie Flett has illustrated quite a few other great books too!

You may like this book If you Liked: Fishing with Grandma by Susan Avingaq, Wild Berries by Julie Flett, or Nipehon by Caitlin Dale Nicholson

A Day with Yayah by Nicola I. Campbell

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

I’d never seen the phases of the moon explained quite this way. Little Star keeps eating from the Big Mooncake that she baked with her Mom. Even though she’s not supposed to eat it quite yet.

As I said, so super cute, and just had me smiling through the whole thing. Who knew the phases of the moon could taste so good!

You may like this book If you Liked: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, Mooncakes by Loretta Seto, or Little Night by Yuyi Morales

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

When are penguins not totally and amazingly awesome? Well, when you find a penguin is being delivered to you every day for 365 days. There’s where to put all of them, how to feed them, and then… the cleaning…. And the noise. It’s a lot.

It is a hilariously awesome book. Lots of counting and subtle math going on in the book, and, the art is just so much fun too. So, how many penguins are too many penguins. Heh.

You may like this book If you Liked: One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, Can A Cat Do That? by Eric Carle, or Monkey Time by Michael Hall

365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

A well done wordless book is always so much fun, and, this one is great. A girl has a dream and then, a red fish comes into her life. But, of course, the girl is a girl, and the fish is a fish. How will their friendship work.

As I said it’s wordless, and, so, the art is the focus of the book, and, it’s quite amazing and beautiful. An amazing book.

You may like this book If you Liked: Blue by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Now by Antoinette Portis, or Draw! by Raul Colon

Aquarium by Cynthia Alonso

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

So, it’s not a spoiler to say that Rocky, the ‘dog’ on the cover is, well, not a ‘good dog’ because, well, Rocky isn’t a ‘dog’ at all, but a cat. Still. It’s a hilarious book because the little girl that gets the cat for her birthday thinks that she got a dog, and, is very confused as to why Rocky is such a bad dog (doesn’t listen, doesn’t like the leash, doesn’t play fetch, etc.).

Thankfully, the book does take a turn, and, it’s not all bad when it comes to Rocky the ‘dog’. And, I was cracking up the entire time I was reading it. For dog or cat lovers, this picture book is a barking and meowing good time.

You may like this book If you Liked: I Want a Dog by Jon Agee, A Cat is Better by Linda Joy Singleton, or Do You Believe in Unicorns? by Bethanie Deeney Murguia

Bad Dog by Mike Boldt

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

I had to read this. Look at the title!

Raccoon wants to go on a picnic with Duck because it’s such a great day, but, also, is worried because, who knows what could go wrong. From Killer Bees to a dragon and everything in between. Duck, on the other hand, is not, and thinks it will be awesome. Playing, exploring, and even flying a kite.

This is a children’s book, so, of course, they both learn from one another. Raccoon overcoming his worry to go with Duck, but also loading himself down with everything that he thinks they’ll need, which, of course, comes in handy.

It’s such a cute book, and introduces both kinds of kids to each other as well. So much fun.

You may like this book If you Liked: Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins, Pigs Make Me Sneeze! by Mo Willems, or A Pig, a Fox, and a Box by Jonathan Fenske

Ready For Anything! by Keiko Kasza

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Tobias Hawthorne, a billionaire, dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. Yay right? Well, maybe not exactly. There is a heckuva catch. Avery has to live in the Hawthorne house with Tobias Hawthorne’s family. Most of whom believe that they deserved to get their father/grandfather’s fortune. Yeah, definitely not the happiest of ways Avery could spend a year. Also, she has no idea --why-- Tobias left his fortune to her either.

There were lots of awesome questions in this novel, and, I loved how the questions were answered too. It was an intense book, and, it’s part of a series too. (And, this and the second book are currently out, with the third coming in August!)

You may like this book If you Liked: All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban, Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers, or Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Spirals are seriously cool. And, truly, once you’ve read this book about all the different kinds of spirals that are in the world. All I’m seeing is spirals, spirals, everywhere. It was an awesome book!

You may like this book If you Liked: Mysterious Patterns by Sarah C. Campbell, So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban, or A New Green Day by Antoinette Portis

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals of Nature by Joyce Sidman

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

The cat in this book has problems. I mean, they’re not horrible problems when we look at them from our point of view, but to the cat, not good at all. I mean, why does the sun beam have to keep moving? Or the squirrel, c’mon now squirrel. And then there’s the vacuum. The horrible horrible vacuum.

It’s a typically awesome Jory John picture book, and, I didn’t realize that there are two other books by him and in the same vein, Penguin Problems and Giraffe Problems, so, a definite woo hoo there!

You may like this book If you Liked: Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins, Bear and Bunny by Daniel Manus Pinkwater, or Scaredy Squirrel in a Nutshell by Melanie Watt

Cat Problems by Jory John

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Dying, and then assassins, oops, apparently there’s the start of an unintentional sort of theme this week.

Kit is a girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Toby is a spy who’s job it is to stop the assassination. Then, they both get cast in Shakespeare’s newest play, Twelfth Night, which, may not just be another play. Not surprisingly they grow closer, but, of course, the underlying stories here are Shakespeare, and so there’s lots of delightful Shakespeare-esque drama they have to get through.

I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with Twelfth Night. So, this was just an amazing read for me, and, the twists that were in it were just awesome too. Loved it. Loved it.

You may like this book If you Liked: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Love Disguised by Lisa Klein, or She's Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard

An Assassin's Guide to Love & Treason by Virginia Boecker

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Totally Youthful Tuesday

Happy New Year! Lunar New Year (this year is the Year of the Tiger)

This picture book is an awesome story about Lunar New Year as well as family, and missing family at holidays.

The story is beautiful, and, at the same time the book imparts all sorts of information about what the Lunar New Year is as well. Such a fun read.

New Year by Mei Zihan