Month: January 2025

“Ferris” by Kate DiCamillo

I recently found Kate DiCamillo’s “Ferris” at the library. I don’t know how I missed when this book came out, but I’m glad I found it. I love Kate DiCamillo books because she is such an incredible storyteller, and her each story is unique and not a repetition of a past book.

“Ferris” is filled with an eccentric group of characters. Pinky, Ferris’ younger sister, wants to be an outlaw. She terrorizes the town, trying to hold up a bank, and her own family. Ferris’ Uncle Ted is living in the basement while painting the history of the world. Ferris is especially close to her grandmother, Charisse, who also lives with her family. Charisse sees a ghost in the house and tells Ferris the ghost has a very specific wish. Ferris and her best friend, Billy Jackson, try to help Ferris’ grandmother fulfill the ghost’s wish but quickly realize they can’t do it alone. They need to ask the whole family and some friends for help.

This book is so well written, the characters are unique and captivating. Ferris’ sister Pinky is challenging, and her antics are funny to readers (not to her parents who are trying to deter her from her wish of being an outlaw). Every character plays a significant role in the story and readers will find themselves invested in each individual character’s story.

Often when reading a good book, I find myself texting my reader friends photos of pages of the book. The read the passage I loved and end up reading the book as well. This book was no exception, and I texted the photo above because it was one of my favorite parts of the book. Ferris and Billy Jackson often refer to the vocabulary words their teacher had them learn in school. They define them, use them in sentences. The words are an important part of the story and an excellent way to teach young readers so many great new words.

I highly recommend this book for readers of all ages. This story would make a great family read aloud as it would give young readers a chance to hear how so many new vocabulary words are pronounced. Definitely check out “Ferris.”

Big Tree – the journey of two Sycamore seeds

Happy New Year everyone! I’m excited to be back after a little holiday break to talk books with you.

I love Brian Selznick books. Over the holiday break, I dove into “Big Tree.” Selznick has this magical way of using words, the blank space on pages, and illustrations to tell his story. It’s both complex in the multiple ways the story comes to life, but easier to follow the story through this unique combination he weaves.

“Big Tree” is the story of Louise and Merwin who are two Sycamore seeds. Yes, the story is told from first person seed and while that sounds strange when I write it here, it makes complete sense when you read the book. A fire spreads through the forest and the seeds are sent out into the unknown far sooner than they expected. Scared and only with each other to rely on, their story is their journey into the world, their communication with other plants of the forest, their quest to find good soil and their goal to set down roots to become trees.

I loved the way the story was told but had no idea if this is really how a seed potentially becomes a tree. Since this is not my area of expertise, I was thrilled to read the afterword titled, “The Science”, at the end of the book. Selznick explains “everything in the story you just read is based on scientific fact” and then goes on to further explain the specific parts of the book and the science behind it. I was fascinated. This is the most beautiful and brilliant way to explain “how does a seed become a tree” to a child.

Readers of all ages will love this story because it is so beautifully illustrated. When you read it, pay attention to the use of white space on the page. Selznick tells part of the story in that space. It is significant. Take time to really look at the illustrations. Aside from being beautiful, more of the story resides there too.

I highly recommend this book. To read about some other awesome Selznick books, check out my previous review.