Kate McMullan

I was reluctant to read yet another truck book to my 3yo, but she insisted, and I'm glad I did. This is about a backhoe, which, A, I never knew was so fascinating and all-purpose. And, B, it was great: the backhoe had tons of personality. And it was an "it"! I am so tired of trucks being "he" in board books. So this truck was an "it", which was awesome. Recommended.

I came across this children’s book in a donation to my Little Free Library. As I was registering this book with BookCrossing prior to its release, I decided I should read it. With Black Lives Matters protests going on now in full force, I thought that I needed to know more about Harriet Tubman so this was as good a time as any to start. I’m glad I did. Although this book is written as a story for school age children, I found it worth my while to learn some facts about Harriet Tubman. She show more lived in my own state of Maryland, in Dorchester County, a little over 100 miles from where I live now and a little over 50 miles from where my own family used to go fishing years ago. Tubman was told to follow the Choptank River north to reach freedom in Pennsylvania. I know of that river. I didn’t realize as I started this book that I’d be reading local history. It is painful to read about the slavery that existed in my state even though my own ancestors were living in Europe at the time Harriet Tubman was alive. Harriet’s escape to freedom in Pennsylvania sadly reminded me of my mom’s escape to freedom as a Jew from Nazi Europe, while realizing that her own parents were not free to leave. When reading about the different feelings toward abolition in Pennsylvania (the North) and in Maryland (the South) and reading about racism in the news now, over 200 years later, I realize how little has really changed in race relations in the United States.

In this book, I learned about the coded letters concerning “bales of hay” and coded words like the “railroad” to facilitate communication among working slaves and free blacks. I learned what it meant to be a conductor on the Underground Railroad. I learned there were slave pens in Cambridge, Maryland. That reminded me of current-day Hispanic undocumented immigrants, many of them children, currently on the U.S. border in cages. John Bowley, Harriet’s brother-in-law, hid his family in an attic—shades of Anne Frank. I learned that Harriet Tubman had to live in Canada because it was too dangerous in the United States with her being part of the Underground Railroad. She lived in St. Catherine’s, a city I visited three years ago. I lament the fact that I am not more knowledgeable about American History.

I’m not trying to equate situations of the Underground Railroad with others who were not black slaves but also in dire situations. I’m only telling you where my mind took me while reading this book and how I realized that each of our lives is so intricately tied up with those of others in more ways than we can ever realize.

Page after page of this book had me astounded by Harriet Tubman’s strength and courage. I was in tears as this book ended. show less

I STINK is an amazing amalgamation of text, image, story ,and rhyme with a kid favorite topic: GARBAGE TRUCKS! Readers will be riveted by in your face text that pops off the page fused with the bold watercolor illustrations that absolutely reek with urban rubbish and attitude. The alphabet soup of refuse consumed will delight children in their revulsion of dirty diapers, gobs of gum, moldy meatballs, and puppy poo. Throw in a lesson of how garbage trucks work told by the vehicle protagonist show more himself, and you get an alphabet book with attitude enough to appeal to readers of all ages. show less

The first book of this series that I had the pleasure to read. And it was awesome.

It's such a fun ride. I love how the author uses Hades to narrate the tale of Odysseus. It's clever, irreverent, funny and entertaining. Children and youths will adore this snappy tale, and adults will get a kick out of this retelling of Homer's very dry account of the Odyssey.

I studied Classical Mythology in school, and am quite familiar with the stories. I wish I had come across this series then. It would show more have made the material a whole lot more entertaining. show less