Booktalk #1

Sixth-grader Cyrus Olson thinks he knows what being brave means, and he is convinced that he is definitely anything but. His adoptive father is a firefighter--that’s brave. His great grandfather was a war hero--very brave. His best friends love playing football--a kind of brave Cyrus just can’t understand. The problem is, Cyrus knows that football is important to his father, a former school football star, so he lies and tells his dad that he is going to practice, when the truth is that he is secretly volunteering at the local animal shelter. This is all sparked when a stray dog finds its way to the fire station and Cyrus believes that fate has brought them together. His father has no interest in keeping the dog, but Cyrus has different plans.

Cyrus may not be the kind of brave that his father is, but he learns that he has courage in other, very important, ways. Standing up to school bullies is not easy, and neither is being honest with his father about having more of an interest in the trombone than in sports, but he does both of these things. He even manages to tell his most shameful secret to his grandmother, which is that he has trouble reading.

This book shows just how important it is to speak up both for others and for yourself. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2022)

Booktalk #2

Have you ever heard adults predicting what you’re going to be when you grow up, and felt uneasy about it? In Brave Like That a thoughtful eleven-year-old boy is a member of a family of football legends. What if he doesn't want to follow their football legacy, even though the expectations are already set for him to pursue the family path? This proves a challenge with no easy answers, and to make it even more confusing, a needy dog appears on Cyrus' eleventh birthday. The boy and dog have one thing in common, they both show up at the firehouse doorstep abandoned, Cyrus as a baby, and the skittish malnourished dog appears on that same doorstep on Cyrus' birthday with little chance of survival. This heart wrenching story has an empowering message about finding the courage to follow your own dreams. (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2021-2022)