Bringing Asha Home by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Jamel Akib.

This is a picture book for older children which celebrates adoption.  Arun is celebrating Rakhi, the Hindu holiday special to siblings, and wishes that he had a little brother or sister.  Soon he finds out that his wish is coming true and his family is adopting a baby from India.  But the family faces many delays in Asha joining their family.  It is almost a year before Asha finally joins their family.

In the year that Arun has to wait for Asha to arrive, he experiences lots of genuine fears and feelings about his new sister.  It is well written and offers a real look at the ups and downs of an older sibling facing an adoption, especially an international one. 

Recommend this to families adopting, but also to teachers and others who would like to use it to discuss feelings or families.  It is the right length to use with first through third graders for reading aloud. 

Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle.

If you have been looking at the top books of 2006 lists that are floating around on lists like YALSA-BK, you will have heard of Black Duck.  It seems to be one of the top choices of the year.  And I completely agree. 

Black Duck tells the story Ruben, a teen boy at the height of Prohibition and rum running along the New England coast.  Ruben and his friend Jeddy find a dead body floating along the beach and are caught up in the question of who the man was and why he was murdered.  Ruben, son of the manager at the local grocery store and Jeddy, son of the local chief of police, rarely see eye to eye about whether something has to be reported or not.  As their friendship crumbles, Ruben is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of the rum runners, especially the legendary Black Duck.

The writing here is perfect, unobtrusive and brisk.  It captures the beauty of the setting filled with fog and uninhabited coves, as well as creating a world where the story surges forward carrying readers along.  This is a great feat of writing where you get a strong feeling of place but also find that the action is unburdened by it. Readers will find it easy to read along at a breakneck speed as they are caught up in the adventure, but they will also find that they have learned a lot about the Prohibition Era on the way. 

Recommend this novel to older elementary age and teens who enjoy a good adventure story, especially ones who will appreciate the fact that this is reality-based and could have happened.  It should also be recommended to kids who enjoy historical fiction. 

Pumpkin town: or nothing is better and worse than pumpkins by Katie McKy, illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi.

Jose and his family grew pumpkins of all sizes.  They would take the pumpkins to market to sell, but the best pumpkins would be saved for seeds.  Then the worst of the seeds were dumped over the hill and forgotten about.  But the seeds landed on the town at the bottom of the hill, falling into straw roofs, gardens and flower pots.  And then they did what seeds tend to do, they grew.  The townfolks have no idea what to do about all of the pumpkins that they find themselves surrounded by, but when Jack looks down at the very orange town from the top of the hill, he knows just what to do. 

This is a perfect fall tale that will have children anticipating the amusement to come as the seeds fall down on the town.  The illustrations are modern collages of clipped images, fabrics, and wild hair that lend even more excitement to the story. The twist at the end is marvelous fun, and will have children asking for teachers, librarians or parents to read it all over again.  Exactly what we all want in a picture book.

This book will be welcomed in schools where a pure autumnal harvest tale is more acceptable than Halloween stories.  It may be a little long for preschoolers, but older children in Kindergarten and first grade will appreciate the humor and illustrations more anyway. 

Wide Awake by David Levithan.

Levithan returns to his utopian writing of Boy Meets Boy with this political and social commentary on today’s world.  Imagine a future where Bush has created a second Depression, known as the Greater Depression, and the world has survived, but it has turned away from the blue and red of today’s America and embraced a new green party made of Christians and the left out of which the first gay Jewish president is elected.  Or is he?  In this world, there is no more consumerism, no more brands, no more emphasis on affluenza.  It is truly an amazing view of the future of the United States.  All is not perfect in this future.  There is still intense hatred by right-wing religious people towards people who are gay, but a vast movement has occurred that has created a Christian voting force and lifestyle that focuses on love.  Again, amazing and fascinating and uplifting. 

Levithan has once again created a world in which readers will want to live.  Whenever I set the book down, I found it jarring to return to the world I live in.  I saw commercials differently, listened to politicians speak in a detached way, and realized that there is hope even if things go all wrong and gas prices truly skyrocket and the world flips around.  There is hope, hope that the new America may be more accepting, more forgiving, and less commercial than where I stand now.  And it is all because of Levithan’s knack at creating a world that is at first unthinkable and by the end impossible not to consider seriously.  What if?  That is the strength of Levithan’s writing.  A simple what if?

Levithan’s characterizations are brilliant as well.  His writing is effortless and easy to lose yourself in.  The characters are people you know, people you are, and people you hope to be one day.  Each one can be related to, is completely human, and reacts to the situation in a personal way. 

Bravo!  Bravo for having the courage to create a view of the future that takes us beyond the immediate darkness and shows us that the future of America is brightly lit with acceptance and love.  Bravo!

Boo and Baa Have Company by Lena and Olof Landstrom. 

If you have not read the earlier Boo and Baa books, run out and get them.  Boo and Baa are two quirky little sheep who have small adventures that are filled with humorous moments.  In this story, Boo and Baa are raking the leaves in the lawn when they hear a meowing noise.  It takes them awhile to locate a cat caught in the tree above them, although children will immediately know what is going on.  Then comes the rescue of the cat, leading to lots of laughter-inducing action.  It is a lot of fun. 

Landstrom’s use of spare language underpins all of the humor and the simple illustrations carry the story with one or two lines adding tension to the pictures.  The illustrations may be simple but they are masterfully so.  Boo and Baa will appeal to preschoolers, but even older children will enjoy the humor here.