Review: The Fog

The Fog by Kyo Maclear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warble the warbler lives in Icy Land where he loves to people watch. One day, a dense fog rolls in but none of the other inhabitants seem to notice or care. Soon, Icy Land becomes Fog Land, and everyone falls into a new pattern of blindness, forgetting how visible life used to be. Deteriorating into the same disinterested haze, Warble is awoken from his stupor by the sound of a singing child. Together, the pair decides to reach out to the rest of the world using little origami boats to see if anyone else is conscious of the fog. As the duo receives more and more responses, the fog begins to lift.

Award-winning Maclear creates a beautifully messaged tale about environmental conscious, friendship, connectivity, and humanity. Although a slightly more abstract concept for younger children, The Fog is a great lap-read for preschool-aged children to third graders. Paired with Maclear’s simple yet meaning-packed text, Pak’s gentle watercolor illustrations elevate the story’s power. The initial icy white and gray colors against a bright yellow, thumbprint-sized warbler set the tone for Warble’s inner and spirited self and world awareness. Children can laugh as Warble uses a fan to try to blow away the dense, all-invasive fog and feel soothed as the warbler and his new friend watch the stars over the incandescent ocean.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Tundra/Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed by Christine Frascarelli

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Review: Goodbye Days

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

The book, Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner, is the story of a boy named Carver Briggs who had a fatal accident that killed his 3 best friends. All of this happened because of a text message and to make things even more stressful the police is doing an investigation on their deaths. The name Goodbye Days comes from the fact that one of his friends’ grandmothers asks Carver to help her remember her grandson through a goodbye day together. With this he start to also help the other families with their own memorial day. The book was a heavy read and it got me crying through most of it. Zentner does an awesome job at expressing the fear, stress and despair that came with the accident. Not only Carver’s despair but also that of all of the families. With this situation being one that could happen to any of us and has happened to many it made it even more real and emotional to me. Student Reviewer, Dayana, 12th Grade Student

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