30 Days of Picture Books - Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

It's Day 27 of Picture Book Month. Today I have a confession: I am not a crafty mom. I wish I was, because one of the things Sprout really loves is making all kinds of art, using different materials and really getting creative. But sadly, I'm more than a bit challenged in this area. I don't sew, don't knit, don't draw, and can't for the life of me seem to finish our wedding scrapbook (or, um, start it, I mean).

But I do really admire the creative impulse, and we try to nurture it in Sprout. One of my goals for next year is to try to incorporate some more crafting time into our family activities, because I think it's important for kids to flex their imaginations. After all, childhood is the time for flights of fancy, not hunching over a screen like you're toiling away in a cubicle all day, right?

To that end, I was thrilled to find the book that's our pick today: Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. Sprout ADORES the first book by Lovell, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, and I do too. It's high on my list of books to recommend to all kids, packed with positive messages about being yourself and standing strong even when others try to knock you down. So we were pretty excited to read the next adventure with Molly Lou Melon, and I'm happy to say it does not disappoint.

In this latest outing, Molly Lou Melon is again acting on a lesson from her oh-so-wise grandmother, this time on using your imagination and the tools at your disposal to create your own playthings. Molly Lou's new neighbor, Gertie, has all the most expensive toys and elaborate gadgets around, but she's always bored. And so Molly Lou's showing her how to have fun, by being creative. Molly Lou cracks out some incredible creations, all of which come to life with David Catrow's colorful and whimsical illustrations. (Plus Molly Lou's delightfully droopy-faced dog is back again -- Catrow really draws the most terrific dogs, so perfect that you just want to reach out and scruffle their heads!)

Of this new book, Sprout says, "It's silly again!". He especially loves Molly Lou's cardboard-box race car, which she's painted and fashioned to look like the most amazingly cool paper-airplane ever (betcha that sucker is super fast!). I love that Lovell again sends a message about inclusion -- this time around Molly Lou's friend Gertie uses crutches, but it's not a plot point, just a feature about Gertie like her auburn hair or glasses. And Gertie learns that Molly Lou's way of having fun is so much better than watching TV or playing with a cell phone, so score one for old-school ways of amusing oneself.

Next time your kiddos complain that "there's nothing to do", share Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon with them, and talk about some of the ways you can inject some creativity into the day. With a little imagination (and some spare thingamajigs), you too can have as much fun as Molly Lou!

Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons

YA Review - Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

You know when you read a novel, and almost from the first chapter you know it's going to be one of those that stays with you, the kind you recommend to everyone and end up rereading just for the pleasure of it?

Yep, I love that too.

Confession time: I have not read Gary Schmidt's Newbery Honor book The Wednesday Wars, despite the high acclaim it has received AND despite the fact that I actually own a copy, somewhere. And so I'm not sure why exactly I moved Schmidt's new novel, Okay for Now, up to the top of my TBR list, so much so that I brought it along on vacation. But many thanks to the mysterious forces at work that led me to do so, because wow, is this an incredible book.

For Doug Swieteck, moving to a new town just makes his crummy life that much harder. There's his brother Christopher, he of the "twisted criminal mind" who torments Doug at every opportunity. There's school, where Doug will do almost anything to hide his difficulty reading. And there's his father, whose abusive nature gets worse now that he has a regular drinking buddy. It all adds up to be just about more than Doug can bear.

But then beauty enters Doug's life, in the form of an original John James Audubon book at the Marysville Public Library. Doug is captivated by the prints and Audubon's technique, and compelled to learn all of what it takes to capture the images as vividly as Audubon does. And wouldn't you know it, those birds begin to crack the hard shell Doug has formed around himself, and before long there are new friends (a girl!), books to read, relationships with adults, and all kinds of good things taking the place of beatings and desperateness.

It's not all rosy and it's not all easy. There are still "wrong days", the kind of day when Doug just doesn't try to approach his father for anything. And there are still things that Doug makes a mess of, and that make a mess of him. But the difference is that there's hope there now, where it wasn't before, and maybe things will start to turn around, just a little, because suddenly Doug knows he has a lot of people on his side.

Okay for Now pulls together pieces -- Audubon prints, domestic abuse, Joe Pepitone's jacket, a Broadway play, learning disabilities -- that in any other author's hands would be little more than a disconnected jumble. But Schmidt knows what he's doing here, and he makes it all flow together like only the best storytellers can. It works, in that indefinable magic way that really fine novels do, so the reader is never aware of the machinations behind the scenes.

Gary Schmidt is more than just a great writer, he's a great writer for kids. There is a huge difference after all, because adults will give even the most unintelligible mess of a novel a chance on the basis of critical acclaim or a friend's recommendation. But kids -- kids are different. Grab them right away, make them care and then keep on making them care, or they are on to something else. Schmidt knows how to make kids see beyond the surface. We know from the start that there's a lot Doug isn't telling us, a great deal of pain he is hiding behind his tough exterior. And I think that is something many boys will relate to, the societal pressure to hide their real feelings under a veneer of "I don't care" bravado.

I'll be extremely surprised if Okay for Now doesn't make the Newbery list this year. It's certainly going to be on my personal short list. What I do know is this is one I will save for Sprout when he's old enough, anticipating his objections with a note that says "I know. Just read it."

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt, Clarion Books

Ages 10 up

Sample quote: "This bird was falling and there wasn't a single thing in the world that cared at all. It was the most terrifying picture I had ever seen. The most beautiful."
Highly recommended