After all of the serious Penguin reading I’ve been doing, I needed a light and easy break. Thankfully, I had three Cybils books on my library cart and those did the trick.

First, I’m fascinated by Zapato Power. I’ve never seen a children’s book quite like it. First, we learn that Freddie and his mom live in an apartment complex where the superintendent works hard to keep things neat and tidy – not like the last place they lived where the big kids wrote nasty words on the walls and nobody cleaned it up. And then we learn that Freddie’s dad was not only in the Army, he DIED while overseas fighting. That never, ever happens in early reader books. Never ever. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!  I am now a Freddie Ramos fan.

Next, a middle grade graphic novel called Smile. Elly read it last week and said it was SAD. That confused me. I expected it to be funny. She’s right, it was sad. Forget the dental drama – it was the mean girl issue that was sad. And unfortunately, felt pretty accurate.

Last and also least, my dirty little secret comes out. I have never liked “choose your own ending” books. I cringed when I saw Meanwhile on the Cybils shortlist. I tried to be hopeful about it. Maybe a graphic novel version would be something I’d like? Alas. No. It was worse. On the first try… the story ended on the second page. (which was cleverly done, by the way.) On my next try, it ended on the third page – or maybe I got confused and did not follow the tube-y lines properly, which is pretty likely because lord help me I cannot follow those little lines. The third and fourth times, I was more successful but again… I cannot follow those lines. The panels not related to my current path distract me and I found myself completely confused.

None of this means that Meanwhile isn’t a brilliant, awesome book. IT IS. Elly loves it. I am just not hardwired for this kind of thing. I’m just not. Your kids (and you) might be. You should check it out. It’s a very clever idea – and nicely drawn.

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