IPM May 20

KIDS’READS
Into the Realm of Books
Need a little bit of a break from
reality?
Here is a list of books that will
all take you to a different world or on a
fantastic adventure.
The first book is called Queen of the
Sea by Dylan Meconis (Walker Books,
2019). It’s a gorgeous graphic novel about
a young girl named Margaret who lives
in a convent on an island off the coast
Albion. Her idyllic world is turned upsidedown
when she learns that she wasn’t just
some random child abandoned on the
island; she, like most of its inhabitants, is
a prisoner by order of the king.
re-telling of Hansel and Gretel, but the
two children are not listening to the narrator
in the slightest. They point out the
ridiculousness of leaving a bread crumb
trail during a famine—if they had some,
they most certainly would have eaten
them--deny the idea that they’re parents
could be trying to abandon them--their
father is just bad with directions when he
went to get them blankets, and cannot
comprehend that the woman who lives in
the candy house could be evil. Kids and
parents can laugh along with Gretel and
Hansel’s antics as they retell their story
their own way. For ages 3 to 7.
Moving on to Interrupting Chicken
and the Elephant of Surprise by David
Ezra Stein (Candlewick Press, 2018).
This is a book parents can definitely relate
to right now as they struggle to help
their children with school work. Chicken
needs to find the elephant of surprise in
three stories for her homework and she
enlists her father’s help to find them.
However, Papa is pretty certain that the
teacher said element of surprise. Chicken
doesn’t agree and sets out to find the
poor lost and lonely elephant in the pages
Inspired by the early years of Queen
Elizabeth I, this story will sweep readers
along in a tale of political intrigue and
secrets as Margaret tries to discover who
she really is and what crime a baby could
have committed to land her in prison for
life. For ages 10 to 14.
The next book is for a younger audience.
It’s called It’s Not Hansel and Gretel
by Josh Funk and illustrated by Edwardian
Taylor (Two Lions, 2019). This is a
26 Island Parent @Home