Month: June 2009

Crazy Hair

| Tasha

Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean

Hurrah!  Another picture book from the creators of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls!  Enter at your own risk, but also know that you will see something amazing and unique!

Bonnie tells the man that he has crazy hair.  The man turns to her and starts telling her just how crazy his hair really is.  Birds nest in it, gorillas leap, tigers stalk, dancers dance, and pirate ships sail.  All in his head of hair.  Bonnie offers a comb to help make it less crazy and despite his warnings, she does comb his hair.  But this is crazy hair, remember, and the results are not what she expected.

Gaiman’s words have great rhythm and embedded rhymes that swirl around in poetic forms and lines.  His writing echoes the wildness of the hair, waving, mysterious and unknowable.  McKean’s illustrations are equally wild.  The hair in them is so very real even when a yellow-green, that it is spellbinding.  Intermixed with the vividly real hair, are Picasso-esque broken faces and characters.  The effect is captivating and chilling.

Highly recommended for those who like their picture books odd and interesting.  But what else could you expect from them?  Appropriate for ages 6-10.

Pond Circle

| Tasha

Pond Circle by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Stefano Vitale

Follow the life cycle in a small pond as this story builds one layer on the next in a traditional folktale style.  The book starts with the “deep, still water” and moves from one plant to creature growing and growing.  This is a simple story that culminates in a young girl looking out from her window over the pond and seeing all of the creatures and plants mentioned.  By tying humans into the story, we are connected and reminded of the world around us in a subtle way.  I also appreciated as the repetition got to get lengthy that the phrasing changed slightly and was refreshed. 

The writing is excellent with small touches that make it very special.  I appreciate the descriptive language of “jade green algae” for instance.  What takes this book to a higher level is the art.  Painted on wood, the art incorporates the swirls of the wood grain into watery waves, sunset-lit clouds, and even wallpaper.  Ingeniously selected and painted to great effect, the paintings are stylish, colorful and reflect that traditional but modern feel of the entire book.

Highly recommended for units on life cycles, this book will work well with very small children who will enjoy the repetition but also with older children who will appreciate the science and style.  Appropriate for ages 2-7.

The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert & Sullivan

| Tasha

The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert & Sullivan by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Richard Egielski

A glimpse of Victorian England and the theatre is offered in this book.  Through the lens of the Topsy-turvy kingdom, we meet the partners of Gilbert and Sullivan who collaborate on the operas.  The trouble in the kingdom is that Gilbert wants to write the same story over and over again with different settings while Sullivan wants to create the music for something completely new and grand.  The two men got in an enormous fight, with Sullivan declaring that he will no longer work with Gilbert.  The two part ways and after some time, Gilbert is inspired to write an opera set in Japan which is completely different from anything he has written before.  For this remarkable story, Sullivan created the best music of his life.

The tone of Winter’s writing is marvelously period at times, making sure that readers never lose sight of the time they are reading about.  He inserts these at just the right place where they are not intrusive and improve the pacing of the book.  Winter also gives each man a space of his own in the book, his own anger, his own frustration, his own creativity.  This is enhanced by the illustrations which often show the two men in neighboring buildings so that even when collaborating they are separate.  The illustrations are a nice mix of vintage and modern, just like the text.  Filled with bright colors and thick lines, they are cartoony and inviting.

This picture book is a longer one, allowing readers to really get a sense of the two people and the time period.  It is best read either with a small group of older children or given to a child with an interest in theater.  Recommended for ages 6-9.

Bravo Lisa Von Drasek!

| Tasha

Lisa Von Drasek, Children’s Librarian at the Bank Street Library of Education in New York, has written a great rebuttal to the sadly misinformed It Was, Like, All Dark and Stormy.  I especially appreciate the correction about librarians who “want to keep the book off the shelves.”  That certainly shows a misunderstanding of the role of librarians in selecting materials for teens! 

Little Goose and Little Swan

| Tasha

Both of these books swam or flew across my pile at the same time.  It was impossible to not review them side-by-side because they are similarly titled, both have water fowl as main characters, but are such very different but equally wonderful books.

 

Little Goose by David Mraz, illustrated by Margot Apple

Little Goose has always like things that are round.  They all remind him of something very special to him, but he can’t remember what it is. His mother tells him that he can head off to figure it out, but he should always walk with one wing over water so he comes home safe and sound.  Little Goose heads out, meeting Turtle, Frog, and Mouse along the way.  Each of them have some ideas about what the round thing he is trying to remember may be, but none of them are right.  Little Goose has a catchy greeting that he says to each animal he meets and to his mother: “Hoinkle-oinkle” which is his young version of a honk.  By the end of the book, Little Goose can honk like a big duck and has remembered the special round thing he had forgotten.

It is a pleasure to see Apple’s illustrations here, with her great sense of pictorial humor and the bright colors.  Done in colored pencil, the illustrations have interesting lines and a childlike quality that make them friendly and warm.  Mraz has incorporated great rhythm into his first picture book.  The repetition makes this book a good choice for toddlers as does the story itself. 

Filled with just enough action and surprises to keep small children’s attention, this is a good pick for a story time on geese or mothers.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

 

Little Swan by Jonathan London, illustrated by Kristina Rodanas

When Ko-hoh hatches from his egg, his mother and father are with him.  Two days after they have hatched, he and the three other cygnets swim in the lake for the first time.  Ten days after that, they are learning to feed underwater themselves.  Through the entire summer, the swan family stays close together.  As fall begins, Ko-hoh and his siblings learn to fly, a little farther each day, preparing to migrate.  But what will happen when Ko-hoh is attacked by a bear just before he and his family will migrate?

London has depicted the life of a young trumpeter swan with accuracy and without personification.  The name of the young swan, Ko-hoh, comes from the Kootenai Indians, who called the swans trumpet “ko-hoh.”  Rodanas’ paintings show the swans and their environment with nice details.  Yet the illustrations are not busy, but rather focus on the larger world.  They are illustrations that will work well for a group.

A great book for elementary science units, this book is scientific in nature and tells a great story.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Fire

| Tasha

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Released in October 2009.

What a great book to be surprised by in the mail just when you have a couple of days of vacation.  I savored this read over the course of several days, teasingly reading only a small taste at a time so that it would linger longer.  That is until I reached about 3/4 of the way through and simply could not put it down. 

Fire is the prequel to Cashore’s Graceling.  There is only on character who appears in both books.  Set in the Dells as the kingdom heads towards war, readers will feel the dramatic tension not only of impending battle but also of romance.  Fire is a monster, born so beautiful that she either mesmerizes, creates desire or drives people to anger.  Her hair is the color of flame, not red but all of the other colors of fire entwined together into a sunset of hair.  Fire can speak in other people’s minds and can control their minds.  Her father was truly a monster, abusing his power and his relationship with the king.  Now with both her father and the king dead, Fire lives in a remote and quiet area until a mysterious archer with a foggy mind attempts to assassinate her.

This book is a wonderful fantasy, bringing depth to Cashore’s world in this neighboring kingdom, offering unforgettable characters, deep and fulfilling romance like Katsa and Po, and impossible choices that must be made.  This is a story of power, its abuse, its necessity, its application, and its release.  And it is the story of one amazing heroine, who readers will love despite her beauty, crave because of her spirit, and want to spend ever more time with.

Highly recommended, I expect every library will have a copy of this on their shelves.  It is a worthy successor to Graceling, equally enchanting and perhaps even better written.  Glorious as its heroine, this book is a monster of a book.

Tropical Secrets

| Tasha

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle

Daniel left his family behind in Nazi Germany and sailed for New York for a new life.  But his boat is rejected by the Americans and ends up in tropical Cuba.  He still hopes to reunite with his parents one day, but doesn’t know how they will ever find him in this unexpected port.   He is befriended by a young Cuban girl, Paloma, who is the daughter of the man who decides the fate of the refugees that arrive in their port.  And there is also David, a Russian refugee who fled long ago to Cuba.  These three are captured and celebrated in Engle’s poetry where their fears, joys and friendship are the foundation.

Engle writes with such power and clarity that her poems are startling.  They enthrall with their words and then end sometimes with a shove, as reality comes hurtling back.  Readers as with her characters are not allowed to daydream for long.  She has the ability through poems to create a cohesive novel yet each of her poems could be read separately and be complete.  This is an incredible achievement.  Her characters are distinct and interesting, each grappling with their own demons but living in the same place.  She writes of our commonalities and differences with a fearlessness that makes it all discussable and accessible. 

Highly recommended as are all of Engle’s novels in verse, this book sings with history, truth and wonder.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

| Tasha

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Han, author of Shug, a perfection of a tween novel, returns with a beauty of a summer read.  Belly has always summered at the beach house with her brother, her mother, her mother’s best friend, Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah.  She has also always had a crush on Conrad who is years older than she is.  Belly is the lone girl in the group, and the youngest, often left behind while the three boys head out to swim, go to parties, and ignore her in general.  But this summer the boys are reacting differently to Belly.  This is her summer, the summer where she can be the center of things, where they will notice her, and where she can feel she is really part of their group.  But things don’t always work out as planned, there are huge things happening in the family, that may just change things forever.

Han’s writing is so effortless that it is easy to read this book in a single sitting.  She captures the lightness of a summer read, but never loses depth and realism.  Her characterization is complex and often revealing far more than the characters would want.  It is a delicious read in this way.  There is also the sweetness of young love, the drama of a crush, and the sudden realization of how brief summers are.  All of this is done without losing pacing and interwoven into the very activities that make summers so special.

I grew up in a resort area where I was one of the few kids who lived there year round.  As someone who has deeply experienced the seasonal community, this book captures it down to its very core.  Belly’s realization that the family she stays with are wealthier than her own family was also one that struck me at about that age when I realized that the families who summered there were living in their second homes.  Seems obvious, but it really isn’t to children who have grown up with that as the norm.  The fact that Han used that little realization made this read so real.

The perfect beach read of the summer, take this one, dip your toes in the water and enjoy!  Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Anthony Browne is New Children’s Laureate

| Tasha

Anthony Browne is the new British Children’s Laureate.  He is taking over from Michael Rosen and is the 6th person to hold the position.  Known for his gorillas, Browne has published nearly 40 titles.  In 2000, Browne was the first British children’s author to win the Hans Christian Andersen Medal.  Browne will be laureate for 2 years. 

What a wonderful choice!  You can check out some of his work in an online gallery.  I look forward to seeing what he brings to this unique role.