The Shape of the World: A Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright

K.L. Going

As a baby Frank Lloyd Wright gazed from his crib at pictures of cathedrals hanging from his nursery walls. As a young boy he arranged and rearranged geometric blocks into designs of all kinds. As a farmhand he studied the shape of the world and decided he wanted “to build buildings as amazing as the world around him.” Author K.L. Going’s picture book serves as a simple introduction to the American architect who pioneered a movement blending architecture with nature. She steers clear of Wright’s muddied personal life and focuses on how a boy who marveled at the world became a marvel of the world. (Ages 5-10)

Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code

Joseph Bruchac

Chester Nez as a young boy attended a boarding school where teachers forbade him from talking in his native Navajo, a language they called worthless. Chester, though, loved his Indian heritage and secretly continued to speak his native tongue. Then the United States entered World War II, and what was once considered worthless became essential as the military recruited Chester and other Navajo to create a native-language-based secret code that helped win the war. Parents may need to discuss with children certain topics in the book, such as Navajo religious beliefs and the lingering trauma of war. The endnotes include a Navajo Code chart. (Ages 7-9)

Remembering Vera

Patricia Polacco

Polacco was a fresh high-school graduate when her path first crossed with Vera, an old yellow dog living at a U.S. Coast Guard base in the San Francisco Bay. Where the stray originally came from no one knew, but over the years Vera endeared herself to the servicemen and made headlines for her lifesaving exploits. Several decades later, when Polacco returned to the base in search of Vera’s grave, she discovered it was nearly forgotten over the passage of time. In writing Remembering Vera, Polacco set out to honor the memory of a remarkable canine and honorary member of the U.S. Coast Guard. (Ages 4-8)

The Boo-Boos That Changed the World

Barry Wittenstein

Earle Dickson had a problem: Cuts and burns covered the hands of his accident-prone wife Josephine, but in 1917 there was no simple way to protect her wounds. So Earle, who providentially worked for medical supply company Johnson & Johnson, developed a prototype for adhesive bandages that the company agreed to manufacture. The story didn’t end there: The Boo-Boos That Changed the World reveals that marketing Band-Aids to the public required perseverance—and a little boost from the Boy Scouts. Endnotes offer more details about the Dicksons, a timeline, and helpful web links to additional info about the advent of Band-Aids. (Ages 4-8)

AFTERWORD

Voices from the Second World War (Candlewick, 2018) is best summarized in its subtitle: Stories of War as Told to Children of Today. The volume features a diverse compilation of first-person accounts from World War II soldiers, refugees, Holocaust survivors, resistance fighters, and more. With vintage photographs that give faces to the names and stories, the book would complement middle-grade history lessons about the war.

In Joey (Tyndale, 2018) author Jennifer Marshall Bleakley chronicles how Hope Reins, a financially struggling equine therapy ministry, opened its doors to a blind horse that no one wanted. As Joey learns to adapt to his new surroundings, volunteers grapple with doubts about the ministry’s future. This true-story account will appeal to young-adult horse enthusiasts, and it showcases God’s provision and offers a hope-filled message of redemption. —K.C.