The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Winter Reading
Your winter break from school gives you plenty of time to get wrapped up in great stories! Let’s get started with The Mini Page’s winter reading suggestions.
• The title character in “The Wonderling” by Mira Bartók lives in Miss Carbunkle’s Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures — part animals, part humans. It’s the only home he’s known until he finds a friend named Trinket, and together they escape.
• In 1925, a British explorer named Percy Fawcett set off into the Amazon jungle in search of a “lost city” he believed existed. Weeks later, he was gone and never heard from again. “The Quest for Z: The True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon” by Greg Pizzoli tells the exciting story of Fawcett’s adventure.
• In “Malala’s Magic Pencil” by Malala Yousafzai, and illustrated by Kerascoët, the young Nobel Peace Prize-winner presents a picture book of her story of wishing for and achieving an education in Pakistan, where many girls were not allowed to go to school.
• “ComeWithMe” by Holly M. McGhee, and illustrated by Pascal Lemaître, is meant for younger readers. But its positive message about reaching out to others and being brave, one step at a time, is for anyone who is overwhelmed with negative news.
“Journeys: Young Readers’ Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives” is a collection by the Library of Congress Center for the Book of letters written by students in grades 4 through 12 to authors from Laura Ingalls Wilder to Mark Doty.
• Linda Bailey’s “Under
the Bed Fred,” illustrated by Colin Jack, offers a new approach to dealing with a monster under the bed: Just talk to him!
• Markus Motum gives readers a whole new perspective on space travel in “Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover.” This largescale book is packed with facts and cool illustrations about the rover that touched down on Mars in 2012.
• “I’m Just No Good at Rhyming” by Chris Harris, and illustrated by Lane Smith, turns words into playthings and tickles readers’ funny bones. If you thought poetry was boring, this book will change your mind. • In April 1963, just months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, he traveled to Ireland, the home of his greatgrandparents. “Patrick and the President” by Ryan Tubridy, and illustrated by P.J. Lynch, tells the story of a young boy who gets the chance to meet the American president.
“The Care and Feeding of a Pet
Black Hole” by Michelle Cuevas introduces 11-yearold Stella, who has lost her dad but somehow gained a pet black hole. At first, Stella likes the idea of feeding things into the black hole, where they disappear. But then it gets complicated.