Susan Hood (1) (1954–)

Author Susan Hood and illustrator Sally Wern Comport join forces in this immensely moving look at Paraguay's 'Recycled Orchestra,' a symphony made up of children from one of South America's poorest slums, playing instruments created from trash items taken from the dump around which their village was built. The story focuses on Ada Ríos, a young girl in Cateura, a village of gancheros (recyclers) that sprung up beside the main trash dump for Paraguay's capital city of Asunción. Part of a show more music-loving family, Ada had little chance to pursue this subject until engineer and amateur musician Favio Chávez came to town, offering free lessons to the children there. When there weren't enough instruments to go around, Chávez and the children had to get creative, making their own homemade instruments from what they could find. Learning to play together, the orchestra improved, eventually giving their first concert. Ada herself was made first violin, and the group became better and better known, garnering invitations to play, not just in other cities, but in other countries as well...

Although I have been aware of Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay since its publication back in 2016, and although I am interested in the subject, I never seem to have gotten around to it until now. I'm glad I finally did, as I found it to be an immensely moving and inspirational book, pairing a story that had me tearing up on more than one occasion with gorgeous mixed media artwork that had me poring over the pages. The style of artwork created by Sally Wern Comport here - she used collage, acrylic glazes and paints, drawing and digital media - is well-suited to the story, as it incorporates various recycled objects (like bits of paper) into the visuals. So too did Ada and her friends incorporate found objects into their instruments, creating music and art from something that others found useless. The story highlights the resilience of the human spirit and the creativity of the human mind, as people with almost nothing find a way to make the world around them more beautiful. I was pleased to learn, in the extensive afterword, that the orchestra has raised money to improve the lives of the people of Cateura. As someone who is a fan of the rock band Metallica, I was also pleased to discover that the orchestra performed with them, in a massive concert in Colombia. Kudos to Metallica for having them as an opening act - I will definitely be seeking out the video of that performance, as well as the 60 Minutes special devoted to the orchestra. Highly recommended to picture-book readers looking for stories about poverty, creativity, recycling and making music. show less

Just Say Boo! is one of the best Halloween books for young children I've seen yet. The book manages to cover a lot of the traditions of the holiday without being at all didactic. Each spread of the book shows some aspect of the holiday and its spooky atmosphere and features some catchy rhyming text that ends with a question. The answer on the next page is always "BOO!" (with one notable exception half way through, which turned out to be rather funny). This consistent format makes for an easy show more call-and-response type of read aloud, with the children all shouting "boo!" at the end of each question (and then laughing the one time they had the fake out and another response is given). When I read this aloud to a 4-year-old and 6-year-old, they were both completely hooked, even the more rambunctious older child. The younger child particularly loved the part where he got to shout out the response before we turned to the next page.

In addition, the illustrations are well done, with lots of fun details besides portraying what the text says. Overall, I would very much recommend this book for reading with young children right around Halloween. show less

Oh wow, what a book. A middle grade novel in verse that tells the true story of a small group of survivors adrift in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic for 13 days after their ship City of Benares was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in 1940. The book is told from the perspective of Ken Sparks, who at 13 won a place via lottery on a ship that would bring British children to safety in Canada to escape the bombings in London. He has mixed feelings about going, feeling it is a way for his stepmother show more to get rid of him, but soon is swept up in the excitement of the sea voyage with 90 other children. Life aboard ship is pretty grand, with sumptuous meals not seen in ration-era, hungry England for a long time, as well as toys and games. They zig-zag their way with a protective convoy until it is decided they are out of range of German U-Boats, which is precisely the time that they strike. The torpedoes, the fleeing of the ship in lifeboats, the chaos in the nighttime waters, and the desperate struggle to survive aboard the lifeboat in unimaginable conditions make for a heart-pounding, breathless read. I read the book pretty much in one sitting, and sobbed with relief and joy upon rescue. The book is thoroughly researched, with pages of notes, original sources, recommended reading, interview notes, and photographs of the ship, the lifeboat, and Ken Sparks and other characters in the book. Highly recommended. show less

Author Susan Hood joins forces with fourteen woman illustrators in this poetic picture-book examination of the lives of fourteen young women who did extraordinary things. The women profiled include well-known figures like Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, African-American civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, and Pakistani education advocate and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai. Other figures - 18th-century firefighter Molly Williams, cancer researcher Angela Zhang, World War II spies show more Jacqueline and Eileen Nearne - are less well known. All of the women - the others include: Nellie Bly, Annette Kellerman, Pura Belpré, Frances Moore Lappé, Mae Jemison, Maya Lin - are interesting. Each two-page spread here features one of these women, with a poem from Hood and artwork from a different illustrator. The book concludes with an author's note, and a section of source materials and further reading, for each of the fourteen figures discussed...

Compilation biographies featuring women who did groundbreaking things have been quite popular in the last few years, from Chelsea Clinton's She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World and She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History to Vashti Harrison's Little Leaders: Visionary Women Around the World and Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, and many more besides. Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World is the first I have encountered in poetic form, and the first to features multiple illustrators, as well as multiples subjects. I enjoyed it, and although already familiar with most of the women profiled, did learn some things. The artwork was appealing, and it was quite interesting to see the different styles utilized by the various artists. I think my favorite sections, from a visual perspective, were those done by Julie Morstad and Melissa Sweet. This sort of anthology of mini-biographies can be very useful, I believe, especially for young readers who are not already familiar with most of the women discussed. It will offer an introduction to a variety of life stories, which the child can then pursue in greater detail. Recommended to young biography lovers, and to picture-book readers searching for stories of women who achieved great things, and made a difference in the world. show less