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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
Tell us what you love.Books That Belong On PaperĀ first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair.Ā Sign up hereĀ to get the issues a week early in your inbox.
Hole in the Heart: Bringing Up Beth
by Octavia E. Butler (Author), Damian Duffy (Adapter), John Jennings (Illustrator)
Penn State University Press
2016, 288 pages, 6.8 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches, Paperback
This isnāt an easy read, but itās an important and memorable one. Hole in the Heart, a memoir about giving birth to a child with Down syndrome, expresses anger, frustration, guilt, and many other parenting emotions. The book is moving and feels searingly honest, for instance when it explores Beaumontās ambivalence about the outcome of her daughter Bethās heart surgery. She struggles with the thought that it might not be such a terrible thing if Beth doesnāt make it.
The colors are starkly monochromatic, but Beaumont does expressive, figurative things with them that communicate emotional depths. This includes crying fat tears that threaten to drown her, or showing differences in moods using shadows.
Parents are under such pressure to be perfect, including saying all the right things. Itās brave of Beaumont to give voice to such complicated and difficult feelings in Hole in the Heart.
ā Christine Ro
Hattie & Hudson
by Chris Van Dusen
Candlewick Press
2017, 40 pages, 10.1 x 0.4 x 11.7 inches, Hardcover
Hattie & Hudson is a beautiful book in every way. When Hattie McFadden paddles out on the lake one summer morning for her daily dose of exploring, she is so happy, she begins to sing. āSo come with me ācause thereās room for two, / Weāll be together, you and I. / Out on the lake in my little canoe, / Paddle, just a paddlinā by.ā Her calm, sweet song unexpectedly charms āa monsterā at the bottom of the lake who canāt help but respond to the invitation. Though Hattie can see Hudson for who he really is, the townspeople are not so welcoming.
This story is a great in for getting kids talking about everything from persistence to profiling. Concepts of home and belonging, of loud, angry grownups acting out of fear, of power and voice all make it a book that works for many kids, on many levels.
Visually, Hattie & Hudson rivals Chris Van Dusenās 2009 release, The Circus Ship, in its breathtakingly gorgeous Maine-inspired landscapes and achingly expressive Rockwell-meets-Pixar characters. But where The Circus Ship is silly and bouncy and quick, Hattie & Hudson uses the time (and space) needed to tell the story of a quietly righteous little girl and the power of friendship.
ā Mk Smith Despres
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