Mario and the Hole in the Sky – How a Chemist Saved Our Planet by Elizabeth Rusch


Mario and the Hole in the Sky – How a Chemist Saved Our Planet by Elizabeth Rusch
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The true story of how a scientist saved the planet from environmental disaster.

Mexican American Mario Molina is a modern-day hero who helped solve the ozone crisis of the 1980s. Growing up in Mexico City, Mario was a curious boy who studied hidden worlds through a microscope. As a young man in California, he discovered that CFCs, used in millions of refrigerators and spray cans, were tearing a hole in the earth’s protective ozone layer. Mario knew the world had to be warned–and quickly. Today Mario is a Nobel laureate and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His inspiring story gives hope in the fight against global warming.

Science is full of possibilities.

Mario had such a loving and supportive family. They even cleared out an unused bathroom in their house so he could perform science experiments when he was a kid! I smiled as I read about the many other ways they supported his interest in science even when it led to a few unpleasant mixtures of chemicals. That’s exactly the sort of home every child should grow up in!

This picture book didn’t seem to be written with a clear audience in mind. Some portions were lighthearted, playful, and seemed to be meant for preschoolers. Other sections were much more serious and complex and probably would be more appealing to middle schoolers or even adults. As much as I enjoyed learning about Mario Molina’s life and scientific achievements, I’d struggle to figure out who to share this with and how to simplify the science in it for kids who haven’t studied chemistry yet.

With that being said, it was so interesting to learn the history of who discovered that humans were causing the destruction of the ozone layer around Earth back in the 1980s and how he convinced the world to stop using products that were making this problem worse. It was inspiring to learn how everyone pulled together to solve this crisis, and it gave me a lot of hope for all of the current efforts to reduce pollution and slow down or maybe even figure out how to reverse climate change today.

Mario and the Hole in the Sky – How a Chemist Saved Our Planet was exciting.

Little Pig Saves the Ship by David Hyde Costello


Little Pig Saves the Ship by David Hyde Costello
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), LGBTQ, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Little Pig is back in Little Pig Saves the Ship! When the sea-faring pigs go a-sailing! Intrepid Little Pig — still the littlest pig in the family — is too little to go to summer camp with his older brothers and sisters. He is left behind with Grandpa and Poppy. Little Pig and Poppy make and sail a toy ship all week, but on Saturday a gusty wind takes the ship into the current, and Little Pig has to use his newfound knot-tying skills to save the day.

A sweetly told intergenerational story about how even the littlest can make a big difference.

It’s never easy to be left behind.

Little Pig was such a sweet main character. I empathized with his dismay at not being old enough to join his siblings on their exciting trip. He wanted so badly to be included and would have done anything to go with them. Seeing how he chose to spend his time once they left made me smile. The adults in his life had clearly put some work into finding fun activities that he was currently big enough to do. These scenes made me wonder how he’d describe this part of his childhood when he grew up. He was having a wonderful time, but he was also in such a hurry to become big and independent like his sisters and brothers!

There are a lot of picture books out there about LGBTQ+ parents these days, but I haven’t seen as many about LGBTQ+ grandparents or other relatives. The subtle inclusion of Grandpa and Poppy made me smile. They clearly loved their grandchildren and had spent a lot of time developing a close relationship with them. I enjoyed watching them cheer Little Pig up with games and other diversions as he counted down the days until his older siblings would return home from summer camp.

As much as I enjoyed the beginning and middle of this tale, the ending was what convinced me that this was a five-star reading. It was exciting in some scenes and sentimental in others. I also appreciated the references it made to the first scene that described Little Pig’s disappointment. While I can’t say much else without giving away spoilers, seeing everything tied together so perfectly made this a must-read in my opinion.

Little Pig Saves the Ship was a heartwarming snapshot of family life in the summertime.

A Thousand White Butterflies by Jessica Betancourt-Perez and Karen Lynn Williams


A Thousand White Butterflies by Jessica Betancourt-Perez and Karen Lynn Williams
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

As if being new to the United States wasn’t hard enough, Isabella’s first day of school is canceled due to snow!

Isabella has recently arrived from Colombia with her mother and abuela. She misses Papa, who is still in South America. It’s her first day of school, her make-new-friends day, but when classes are canceled because of too much snow, Isabella misses warm, green, Colombia more than ever. Then Isabella meets Katie and finds out that making friends in the cold is easier than she thought!

A little kindness goes a long way.

I loved the way the main character described her first snow day. She gave plenty of practical details about how it works for any readers who might not live in parts of the world where school and other activities are sometimes cancelled due to snowstorms. What really made me smile, though, were all of the little things she added that will probably be most appealing to those of us who have personally experienced snow days. For example, the descriptions of crunching snow were particularly appealing to me because that is exactly what certain types of snow sound like when you walk on them or use them to make snowmen. It was wonderful to see the narrator appeal to readers from such a wide variety of backgrounds like that.

Some sentences were written in Spanish. There was a glossary in the back for anyone who needed English translations of those words which was fabulous, but I think that anyone who already knows a little Spanish could probably figure most of them out on their own. It was wonderful to see Isabella switch between her languages depending on how she was feeling and who she was talking to. Learning a new language is difficult but rewarding. I loved the fact that the narrator conveyed this message so clearly without stating it directly.

There was so much compassion woven into this story. Isabella’s homesickness for Columbia and her yearning to see her father again were shared with the audience in overt as well as subtle ways. I wanted to hug her almost as badly as I wished for a sequel where her family would be reunited and they could experience summer in the United States. Loneliness is even tougher to deal with when the weather is too cold and snowy to go anywhere, so I eagerly kept reading to find out how she’d occupy her time in a foreign country where she didn’t know anyone yet. I can’t go into more detail about the plot twists, but do know that the compassionate themes in the beginning were carried all the way through to the final scene.

A Thousand White Butterflies is the perfect read for immigrants or anyone who wishes to learn about one character’s experience as an immigrant.

Princess and the Peas by Rachel Himes


Princess and the Peas by Rachel Himes
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Princess and the Pea gets a tasty twist in this fresh retelling of the beloved classic fairy tale.

Ma Sally cooks the best black-eyed peas in Charleston County, South Carolina. Her son, John, is a highly eligible bachelor, and three local women vie for his hand in marriage by attempting to cook as well as Ma. At the last minute, a surprise contestant named Princess arrives at the door. Princess and John are well-matched, but Princess has her own ideas. When told she has won John’s hand, she asks him to scrub the pots and pans before she’ll give him an answer. Her answer, it turns out, is that she wants to spend some time getting to know John first.

Complete with Princess’s recipe for Black-eyed Peas, Princess and the Peas is a charming, food-filled read aloud perfect for the whole family.

Before anyone lives happily ever after, they’ll need to make some smart decisions first.

One of the best things about this retelling was how well it worked both for readers who are already familiar with the original fairy tale as well as those who haven’t heard it yet. This story was different from its source material in so many important ways that it could be enjoyed by a wide variety of ages and perspectives. That isn’t something I see very often in this sub genre, and it was as delightful as it was thought provoking.

It would have been nice to have a better explanation for why Ma Sally decided to interfere with her son John’s attempt to find a wife. While her intentions seemed to be honorable, she also came across as a little overbearing to me at times because of how much influence she wanted over this decision. That was one part of the plot I’d feel the need to explain to the little ones in my life, and I’m saying this as someone who really enjoyed the storyline in general.

I adored the messages about what really makes someone a good person. The author took such a practical and wholesome approach to the question that I kept nodding vigorously as I read more scenes. They knew exactly how to dig deeply into their character’s personalities to find the most important traits for anyone to look for if they want a spouse or even a new friend!

Princess and the Peas made me smile. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes realistic retellings of classic fairy tales.

Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Griffin


Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Griffin
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Genre: Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A heartfelt story of changing perspectives, set in the Midwest. Ten Beautiful Things gently explores loss, a new home, and finding beauty wherever you are.

Lily and her grandmother search for ten beautiful things as they take a long car ride to Iowa and Lily’s new home with Gran. At first, Lily sees nothing beautiful in the April slush and cloudy sky. Soon though, Lily can see beauty in unexpected places, from the smell of spring mud to a cloud shaped like a swan to a dilapidated barn. A furious rainstorm mirrors Lily’s anxiety, but as it clears Lily discovers the tenth beautiful thing: Lily and Gran and their love for each other.

Ten Beautiful Things leaves the exact cause of Lily’s move ambiguous, making it perfect for anyone helping a child navigate change, whether it be the loss of a parent, entering or leaving a foster home, or moving.

Kindness makes everything better.

Lily and her grandmother had such a warm and loving relationship. I appreciated the fact that the narrator focused on what a big change it was for a young child to move in with her grandmother instead of explaining to the audience why this was necessary. Leaving that background detail up to the audience’s imagination meant that this story could appeal to children who need to adjust to living with new legal guardians for any number of reasons. What mattered was that Lily was frightened by this move and that her grandmother had come up with a clever way to help and comfort this girl.

One of my favorite scenes happened early on when the grandmother asked Lily to come up with ten beautiful things as they drove home. The protagonist was skeptical of this idea for understandable reasons, but what happened on the next page instantly endeared me to both of these characters. It was simultaneously delightful as well as something that felt realistic and natural for the plot.

It was also delightful to see how these two characters learned to agree upon what should count for their list. They took a creative approach to filling out certain portions of it. Not only did that work nicely for the storyline, it also made perfect sense based on how Lily was feeling about all of the transitions in her life. I appreciated the fact that the narrator continued to acknowledge the mixed emotions in this child while also gently encouraging her and the reader to look forward to better days.

Ten Beautiful Things was a remarkable tale that I’d enthusiastically recommend to readers of all ages.