It's Monday, Time to Share Good Books!

    

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow!   I'm going on a family vacation soon and need to take a break, but will certainly keep reading! Hope each of you is doing great!

        This must be the week for "blue" books, except for the adult one. Enjoy!

      I've read other fiction books that relate the top-secret work at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) England, like The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. However, I had no idea of the background of its beginnings and the extraordinary details as shown in this new non-fiction book by Denise Fleming. As told in the book flap, World War II raged, and a telegram was sent to thousands of young women throughout the British Isles. It read, "You are to report to Station X, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire in four days time." When many arrived, they had no idea who had recommended them, what kind of work they would be doing, and why they were chosen. Until about thirty years later, most would never know all that went on during that time, only the one part they did!

        Fleming follows ten specific girls as they arrive, find challenges in their billets and in their work, some working in codes and ciphers, some working with the later "bombe" machines, and well into the war, the newly created "colossus" machines. Each one is young, twenty or younger. One is a debutante who took the invitation as a chance to skip her debutante coming out! One young woman, through constant work beside another worker, a man, eventually married him, though each never revealed all of their secret work. The workers may have become good friends but were never to know what the "friend" did in the huts. There are amazing moments, like when Churchill suddenly appeared walking from the nearby cliffs. Something was happening! While focusing on one girl, Denise stops periodically to show the readers exactly how one of the tasks works. For example, if you were a code and cipher breaker, how to decipher a message. And she adds practice! I enjoyed trying and know that young and older readers will, too!

       The book is tension-filled as the workers rushed as quickly as possible to solve messages and to help those in power improve their plans of attack when learning about the enemies' plans, right up to Hitler's orders! Although all were proud to be helpful, they often realized that any attack, even successful, meant lives lost. Parts of the London Blitz felt especially sad to read about.  Many photos are added within the text that illuminate the telling.

        A thoughtful author's note, a brief bio, and an extended bibliography and index are added at the back. It's a great book that fills in details for me about this place that was set up for secrecy to help many in World War II. And, both this place and the book succeeded masterfully! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for my copy!

        First published by Walker Books Australia in 2023. Raewyn Caisley tells a story of a young girl who (sometimes) feels a little different because she likes things that others don't always enjoy. For example, she loves making pointy hats from CONES for her dolls and stuffies, while two of her buddies prefer just pretending with her dolls. If only some friends liked PARALLEL lines, CYLINDERS, AND TESSELATIONS! Maddie just wished she had a friend who also loved math things. She really loved learning music (because of the half notes, etc.). Then one day there was a new girl at school, Priya. Soon, she, her mother, Maddie, and Maddie's father went to an extraordinary place together: an observatory! They learned quite a lot about the stars, and Maddie dreamed of "counting them"! In our world, all kinds of kids (people) are good at different things and love different things. They travel and live in different places. But they shouldn't feel strange about it, just love it all the more! Gabriel Evans helps tell the tale with lovely color and pen and ink illustrations. It's a good book to share with kids who might also love sharing that they need a friend who has the same passion. The book will bring up helpful conversations with children! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for my copy!

       You must know Nikki McClure's usual and gorgeous, cut-paper art! Here it is from her, but in a long and artfully-written author's note, Nikki explains her process when she had to figure out how to illustrate Rachel Carson's forgotten, (and in a long process, the entire text was finally found) words about clouds. Orion Magazine wrote to Nikki to ask if she was willing to illustrate some words by Carson. Nikki, without reading them, said, "Yes."  And here is that final book, years in the making, ready for every cloud lover to allow Rachel Carson to teach them more and for Nikki McClure to show that teaching. Some words I loved: "They are the writing of the wind on the sky." And, "Without clouds and rain, the continents would have remained barren and uninhabited, and perhaps life would never have evolved beyond the fishes." There is so much more to revel in and to learn. Nikki has included people, animals, machines and of course, clouds!  
     

      Sanae Ishida writes the story of Young Sashiko who struggles with her very big feelings, yet when she learns about sashiko, the Japanese practice from where she got her name, she finds a way to clear the tangled emotions. Stitching the knots in her stomach or the tangles deep down in her heart helped to mend, just as the fisherman of long ago mended the tears in their clothes. The art of sashiko came from when those workers fished for long days, and the wind, water, and fish scales pulled at the clothes and tore them. They had to mend them and soon those menders began to make designs which solved the problem and made the clothes beautiful. 

      In this story, as Sashiko makes her own stitches, she feels better and braver and page by page, Sanae Ishida's illustrations fill out her story, just as the sewing creates the designs, piece by piece and page by beautiful page. 

      It's a special story of an art I've never known about. Ishida offers two pages at the back explaining how to do the indigo dyeing for those who changed this needed skill into a form of creativity. There are named patterns, too! 

adult book

          This is quite a thriller. Earlier I enjoyed S.A. Cosby's other books, like Blacktop Wasteland, but this time, I nearly stopped because it's even more violent than the others. Yet, there was something, a bit of sympathy that I felt for the two main characters that kept me going. They are two ex-cons, Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee, Ike who has fought and worked tirelessly to create a good business since his time in prison ended; and Buddy Lee, who really is trailer trash, lying low and drinking his way to his end. Sadly, they find common ground when their gay, and married, sons are murdered. They loved them but were not good fathers to them, never finding ways to understand their choices. Now, Ike and Buddy Lee are filled with regret and begin to work harder than the police to find the killer and show love, even when it feels too late. Despite the violence, I found that these two characters became interesting, in their thoughts of their sons' choices, their memories of so many lost times when anger won over emotions. Reading Cosby's words that show how someone changes their minds about their previous actions feels important. Physical violence lurks near the surface of these two men, yet there is a part of each revealed that readers will admire, their ability to change and show love. It's a thoughtful book that includes the challenges for many concerning new life choices. 

Next: The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Jennifer Choldenko