The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, by Dan Gemeinhart

 What a great book title, right? It sounds like an old western movie or something....love it! Another OBOB book for the upcoming season, and not the first for author Gemeinhart. A few years ago his book The Honest Truth was also part of OBOB. In that season, Truth was possibly my least favorite book of the year, but kids loved it! In fact, even since then a few teachers have used that book in small book groups, and kids still love it! I, however, did not love it...I didn't even really like it. So when I saw that another book by the same author was part of OBOB, I was tentatively hopeful that this book would be better.

I was not disappointed. Early on this book reminded me a lot of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, one of my favorite books of all time! Moons is one of the few books I have read more than once, and every single time I get tears in my puggie eyes! I'm pretty stoic, so making me cry is tough to do, but every single read?!? Once my brain had made that connection between that book and this one, though, I was a bit skeptical that Gemeinhart would be able to reach that sort of high standard. 

He almost reached it...almost, but close enough for me to highly recommend this book to you. I didn't get teared up during this one, although he really, really tried! And Walk Two Moons is one of the best books ever, in my opinion, so although Coyote Sunrise didn't hit that level, it is one of the better books I've read this year! A wonderful story about a young girl Coyote, and her dad, Rodeo, a bus, a cat, and a few unexpected friends. Oh, and loss. Grief. But also a police chase, a goat, a runaway teen...tough to explain the entire plot, but let me just say that this is really good, and chances are pretty good you will shed a few tears along the way. Coyote is very hard not to be friends with...I think you'll count her as your friend by the time you finish the story. 5 paws!

It's Trevor Noah: Born A Crime, by Trevor Noah

 Another book in this coming year's OBOB season, Born A Crime is the autobiography of comedian Trevor Noah. Noah was born in South Africa of a White father and Black mother, which was an actual crime at that time and in that place. Born and raised in a system of legal racism called Apartheid, Born A Crime tells Noah's story of trying to exist between and among Blacks and Whites when he fell into neither category. Raised solely by his mother, he navigated childhood and teenage years like many kids do, but in a country that severely limited what certain people could and couldn't do based on their skin color. Sound familiar? The differences between where he and his mom could live, where they could go and when, what she could do for work, where he could go to school - every aspect of their lives was impacted by this terrible system of government, one that existed legally for about 50 years.

If you don't read many non-fiction books, including biographies, give this a try for something different. So much of what happens to Noah and his family will be difficult to believe, and then to think that he was able to rise out of that life and become the success that he is today is simply amazing! This book reminds me a bit of Hole In My Life, the autobiography of Jack Gantos (author of the Joey Pigza series), which is also incredible once you read his story of where he came from and where he was able to land. 

Another really good OBOB for the coming year...a tail wag for that! And 4 paws for this book!

Becoming Muhammed Ali, by James Patterson and Kwami Alexander

 This wonderful book was made even more wonderful by the fact that it was a gift from a student - thank you, Kai!

Written by two authors - James Patterson, known for the I Funny and Middle School, Worst Years of My Life series, and Kwami Alexander, author of one of my all-time favorite books, The Crossover, as well as Undefeated, Swing, and Booked. Two amazing, accomplished writers, writing together, can only mean one thing - an awesome book, of course!

Written both in verse and in chapter format, this book tells the story of Cassius Clay, who later became Muhammed Ali. In this novel you'll meet Cassius, and his friends, all growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, with a young Cassius already knowing that boxing was what he was meant to do, and being the greatest was what he was meant to be. If most people bragged on themselves like Clay did growing up, it would probably end badly. But for Ali, it was just...who he was! And it worked! He would go one to become a 3-time World Boxing Champion, and this book ends with this success. But it focuses mostly on Cassius as a boy and a teen, and along with Walter Dean Myers' The Greatest, one of the best books about Ali I have read. He was more than a boxer, for sure, and that is also touched upon in this book, although not in a heavy-handed or preachy way. 

A really remarkable American, one you should know about. This book is a great place to start! 5 paws!