Humor

Optimists Die First

Beware: Life ahead. Sixteen-year-old Petula de Wilde is anything but wild. A former crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula shut herself off from the world after a family tragedy. She sees danger in all the ordinary things, like crossing the street, a bug bite, or a germy handshake. She knows: life is out to get you. The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class with a small group of fellow misfits. Then a new boy, Jacob, appears at school and in her therapy group. He seems so normal and confident, though he has a prosthetic arm; and soon he teams up with Petula on a hilarious project, gradually inspiring her to let go of some of her fears. But as the two grow closer, a hidden truth behind why he’s in the group threatens to derail them, unless Petula takes a huge risk

The 65-Story Treehouse [The Treehouse Books]

Andy and Terry live in a 65-Story Treehouse. (It used to be 52 stories, but they keep expanding.) It has a pet-grooming salon, a birthday room where it’s always your birthday (even when it’s not), a room full of exploding eyeballs, a lollipop shop, a quicksand pit, an ant farm, and a time machine…which is going to be really, really useful now, since Terry messed up (again) and the treehouse just FAILED it’s safety inspection.

Where’s My Teddy?

Yikes! Eddie’s in for the surprise of his life when he discovers that his teddy bear has grown much too big to cuddle! But there’s fun in store when Eddie meets up with a real bear who’s got just the opposite problem—his lost teddy bear has shrunk to a size that’s much too small for such an enormous bear to cuddle. Could it be a case of mistaken identity? This fast-paced comedy of errors, illustrated with Jez Alborough’s quirky artwork, is guaranteed to have children—and bears alike—reaching for their teddies!

Henry and Boo!

Henry isn’t happy when an uninvited guest suddenly interrupts his tea break. And he is less than thrilled when the little creature decides to stay along with its annoying habit.With the unwelcome visitor getting under his feet all day, it’s easy for Henry to miss the signs that a dangerous and hungry bear has been seen in the area. How can he avoid being the next victim?

Me Tall, You Small

Creative use of language with wordplay, onomatopoeia, and rhyme infuses this book with humor and surprise. Together with the text, expressive line-drawn artwork drives home the funny differences between life as a parent and a child. This silly, touching read-aloud will have both parties celebrating their role, whether tall or small.

When Dimple Met Rishi

Eleanor and Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers… right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself. The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

WOW Recommends: Book of the Month, September, 2017

Featured in WOW Currents (February, 2018) around the theme of women in STEM.

Two perspectives were offered in My Take/Your Take (March, 2018).

Adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws: The Voyageurs

Set in the 18th century colonized North America, we follow the story of two mischievous Ojibwa brothers as they play pranks and have amazing adventures using a traditional Ojibwa medicine (spirit powder) that transforms them into animals for a short time.