{"id":42671,"date":"2025-02-17T10:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/?p=42671"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:03:01","slug":"2025-schneider-family-awards-a-little-like-magic-and-popcorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/2025-schneider-family-awards-a-little-like-magic-and-popcorn\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Schneider Family Awards: A Little Like Magic and Popcorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In<\/em> A Little Like Magic, a wheelchair-bound girl finds enchantment during the winter ice festival<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Little Like Magic<\/em><\/strong> by Sarah Kurpiel. Rocky Pond Books, 2024, 38 pages<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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Reading Level<\/strong>: Picture Book<\/a>, ages 0-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended for<\/strong>: ages 2-6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom has a special outing planned, but the little girl doesn\u2019t want to go. It\u2019s winter, meaning heavy coats, itchy hats, stiff boots, and cold wind. And it\u2019s not mentioned, but going anywhere in a motorized wheelchair is difficult. Once they reach their destination, our protagonist still doesn\u2019t see the point\u2014it\u2019s just a bunch of people using chainsaws, chisels, and blowtorches to sculpt ice. \u201cI wonder why anyone would make a sculpture out of ice. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth it.\u201d Even worse, her special little plastic horse falls out of her pocket and she doesn\u2019t notice it\u2019s missing until they get home. Why did they even go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That note of suspense will keep little ones engaged, even if they\u2019ve never experienced life in a wheelchair. They can relate to losing something precious to them and rejoice at a happy ending. But to recover the horse our protagonist must return to the scene she rejected earlier, to see the finished sculpture illuminated \u201ca little like magic.\u201d And now it makes sense: though they will melt, their beauty remains with her, something no disability can take away. Soft illustrations in cool-toned colors communicate emotion with broad strokes and simple lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom Line<\/strong>: A gentle story about loss and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Popcorn charts one no good, very bad day in the life of a 6th-grade anxiety basket case.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popcorn<\/em> by Rob Harrell. Dial, 2024, 269 pages.<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Reading Level<\/strong>: Middle Grades, <\/a>ages 10-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended for<\/strong>: ages 10-14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It\u2019s picture day at school, and Andrew Yaeger has a lot riding on a perfect shot\u2014or at least his mom does. She\u2019s starting a new, higher-income job that will hopefully help them pay for residential care for Andrew\u2019s grandma, now in the mid-stages of Alzheimer\u2019s. Then he can at least get his bedroom back, even if he\u2019ll never get his fun-loving, rational grandma. But one day at a time: Today he looks pretty good and the usual pre-school butterflies aren\u2019t kicking up too much of a fuss. The bus ride to school with his best friend Jonesy isn\u2019t overly traumatic, and if he can just get the picture out of the way first thing it won\u2019t matter much what happens after that. But alas, it\u2019s not to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything that can happen, happens, from Andrew\u2019s running afoul of the class bully to a rogue ketchup bottle in the school cafeteria to a science experiment gone seriously awry. In the meantime Andrew ruins two shirts, acquires a black eye, breaks his glasses, loses his grandma, and experiences his absolute worst nightmare, which is a full-blown panic attack at school. This is the \u201cPopcorn\u201d of the title, as Andrew pictures himself as a single kernel in the pan with the heat going up and up and pressure building until he finally explodes all over the art classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers with anxiety issues may have a hard time getting through this traumatic day with him, but all others will come to sympathize. Graphic drawings accompany the narrative, mostly symbolic representations of Andrew\u2019s worsening state of mind. When the story begins an upward turn at the end, it\u2019s not a moment too soon\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consideration<\/strong>: a few misuses of God\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom Line<\/strong>: A humorous but harrowing account of juvenile anxiety disorder, from someone who knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also at Redeemed Reader:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n