Month: September 2008

The Worry Tree

| Tasha

The Worry Tree by Marianne Musgrove.

Juliet is a born worrier.  She worries about lots of things: her grandmother falling, her little sister driving her batty, hygiene, her parents arguing and especially her two best friends fighting over her.  After things with her little sister finally come to a head, she gets to move into her father’s old junk room.  There she discovers a mural on the wall, hidden behind the wallpaper.  It shows a tree filled with animals, designed to take your worries and watch over them for you.  Exactly what Juliet (and her grandmother as a little girl) needs. 

This is a lovely timeless story perfect for those children who find themselves victims of their own worries.  Juliet is nicely portrayed as a worrier, not a whiner.  She feels responsible for so many things, just as many children do.  Her family is seen as busy but still involved: a true modern family.  Additionally, the process of telling your concerns to someone or something else is sound advice. 

This book would work as a read aloud for classes as well.  A nicely done, Australian import, it is appropriate for ages 7-9.

Tales from Outer Suburbia

| Tasha

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan.

Tan follows up his amazing The Arrival with another unique look at modern society, this time focusing on the peculiar world of suburbia.  Rather than one story, this book is a series of short stories or vignettes with a common theme.  It is a cohesive book, but one that surprises in wonderful ways.  Tan captures the odd and unique in a way that makes it all seem normal and every day.  The tone is exactly right and the stories are utterly believable but at the same time magical and strange.

The stories move from vary in the amount of images and text.  Some are almost all text and others are nearly graphic novel amounts of images.  Tan created a table of contents using stamps that bear images from the stories.  I found myself turning back to the table of contents to discover what the matching stamp looked like.  Just a glimpse of the whimsy and unique approach that Tan uses.

I was going to list my favorite stories, but they are the vast majority of the book.  Each story stands on its own, but also contributes to the whole.  In turn, Tan’s art changes from story to story in both style and medium.  He is almost chameleon-like in this book, yet his voice stays true and on target.

Highly recommended where The Arrival was popular.  Make sure this gets in the hands of graphic novel fans and artists.  Fans of Ray Bradbury short stories will also adore this.  Tan writes with much the same spirit and takes similar risks in his stories.

Sex and the City the Book Series

| Tasha

 

Candace Bushnell has a contract with HarperCollins children’s division to write two novels for teens about Carrie Bradshaw’s high school years.  The first book is due out in 2010.

I’m sure that the plans to have a crossover hit between teens and adults will come to fruition.  One wonders if it will be of better quality than Gossip Girls…

Jake Starts School

| Tasha

Jake Starts School by Michael Wright

This second Jake book by Wright follows Jake as he starts on his first day of school.  Jake happily gets ready for school but is very surprised by how many kids are at the school, how huge the door is, and by his teacher too.  He grabs his parents around the knees and refuses to let either of them go.  So there is no other choice, all three of them have to attend class together while Jake holds on.  But Jake can’t do much while holding onto his parents, and though it takes awhile, he is finally able to let go.

Wright has taken the classic first-day-of-school-book and turned it into a screamingly funny picture book.  His characters are long-faced and often quizzical.  They emote wonderfully and often there are small touches that add even more humor.  The text is rhyming, once more evoking traditional picture books, but again Wright merrily decides to add gas passing and popular gags to the text.

This book is not ideal to use with kindergarten children heading to their first day because it really is not aimed at easing fears.  But first and second graders will howl at the humor and adore this book.  Recommended for ages 6-8.

Airman the Movie

| Tasha

It looks like Airman by Eoin Colfer may become a motion-capture animated film.  The director will be Gil Kenan who directed Monster House, which was nominated for an Academy Award.  Robert Zemekis will be producing. 

Sounds very promising!  What do you think?

Sandy's Circus

| Tasha

Sandy’s Circus: a story about Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Boris Kulikov.

Alexander Calder is known for his incredible mobiles like the one on the right.  But this book focuses on one of his first creations, from sketches and wire designs to his amazing circus built from wire.  The circus worked through springs and levers, sending the wire characters through their acts. 

Through play and wonder, this book captures Calder at his most elementary and most childlike.  The story is captivating and vividly written, letting children understand that though Calder did not consider himself an artist, he certainly was one.  Kulikov’s art perfectly captures the time period and Calder’s art.

A perfect book to share with art classes in elementary school, this is a great introduction to Calder and his art.  Recommended for ages 4-8.

The Knife of Never Letting Go

| Tasha

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

On the shortlist for both the Booktrust and Guardian Children’s Fiction awards, this book will not disappoint.

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in his town.  The youngest in a community of only men, he has only a few weeks before he too becomes a man.  Todd can’t escape the Noise of his town, where everyone can read everyone else’s thoughts, literally.  There are horrible things in men’s minds, things that boys should not be exposed to, but Todd has to face them every day of his life. 

When Todd goes out into the swamp to gather apples, he finds an area of silence where there is no Noise at all.  He can’t even hear the Noise of his dog by his side.  This lack of Noise is something he has never before encountered.  Though he tries, Todd can’t keep his discovery out of his own thoughts and therefore his own Noise.  His discovery threatens the community he lives in, and Todd is forced to flee into the wilderness with only a book he can’t read and a vague map to a destination he doesn’t understand.

Let me be straight with you.  This is a brutal book, filled with violence, cruelty, murder, maiming and tragedy of epic proportions.  This is not a book for children to read, no matter how advanced their reading levels.  This is a book for teens that will enthrall them and leave them breathless until the very end.

Ness manages to make a completely successful science fiction book that has real heart and a thrilling story.  His book is a definite response to our own inter-connected world of Internet, cell phones, and information overload, but it manages to break free from that and become something much larger.  Ness’ writing is as fast paced as the novel itself, often rushing headlong and leaving the reader stunned.  He is a fearless author, and after a few of his stunning events, readers know that they are in for a real ride where there is no predicting what will happen next.  It is thrilling to read a book that breaks so many conventions and finds its own path.

Highly recommended, this is the best science fiction novel I have read in many years, not just this year. 

Jake's Best Thumb

| Tasha

Jake’s Best Thumb by Ilene Cooper, illustrated by Claudio Munoz.

Jake loves to suck his thumb.  People in his family worry about it, but he continues to do it.  When Jake starts kindergarten, he depends on his thumb to get him through the day.  But one child in his class calls him a "thumb sucker" in a mean way and his teacher suggests that it might be best if Jake not suck his thumb in school.  Jake tries, but isn’t always successful.  But the bully is there whenever he does to tease him.  Jake makes friends with Nell, a girl who has a stuffed cat that she takes with her to school.  When Cliff the bully teases them both, he drops a scrap of material from his pocket.  It’s his blankie.  Jake seizes the fabric and demands that all of the teasing stop before he will return it.

One of the pleasures of this book is how authentically it reads.  Jake’s problems are not easily solved, there is no magic moment where he suddenly stops sucking his thumb.  The bully is not evil at any time, just teasing and mean.  And Jake’s family is nuanced in their reactions to the thumb sucking.  Munoz’s art is bright, friendly and fun.  Cooper’s text reads aloud well and offers great discussion points for teasing, bullying, and dependence on comfort objects.

Recommended not as bibliotherapy, but as a great read-aloud to share with many types of children.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Market Day

| Tasha

Market Day by Carol Foskett Cordsen, illustrated by Douglas B. Jones

A merry day at the market is made all the more interesting by a hungry cow.  The Bensons get a late start on market day and have to rush.  They pick the apples they are going to sell and then rush out of the farm gate, not closing it behind them.  In their hurry, they have also forgotten to feed the cow, who sees the open gate and follows along behind.  When they all reach the market, the cow causes all sorts of trouble before finding her family and finally getting fed.  Apples, of course.

A wonderful, warm autumnal title, readers will enjoy the traditional feel of the illustrations paired with the rhymed couplets in the text.  The rhymes are not forced at all, but instead seem effortless.  With the speed of the story and the rush, the use of rhyme works well. 

A wonderful book to share when doing either cow or apple stories.  It is the perfect read on a fall day or when a class is heading to an orchard for a field trip.  Recommended for children ages 3-5.