Being a Pig Is Nice

June 4, 2009 | Tasha

Being a Pig Is Nice: a child’s-eye view of manners by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrations by Dan Krall

It’s tough to be a kid! You have to be polite and clean. But what if you were another kind of animal? If you were a pig, you could be just as dirty as you want. If you were a monkey there would be no such thing as table manners. If you were an owl, you could make noise at night. A little girl explores the freedom of being different kinds of animals instead of herself. Of course with each animal comes some additional rules that make it not quite such a great thing to be. This is a humorous and clever look at manners through the eyes of a child.

Lloyd-Jones has a great ear for what will make children giggle and groan with delight. Her text is humorous and has a great romping rhythm without being really structured. Krall’s art adds a lot to the book, offering plenty of parental glares of all shapes and sizes as well as lots of delightfully googly eyes too.

A funny look at manners yes, but make sure you don’t save this book for a discussion of manners! It is worth sharing at any time. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

For a feel of the text and illustrations you can take a peek at the book trailer below.

Lemony Snicket Sequel

June 3, 2009 | Tasha

/Film has the fascinating news that the next Lemony Snicket film could be in a completely different format: stop-motion animation! I love the final quote of the piece on how they will explain the move to animation vs. real actors:

Silberling says that they film could open up the movie with Lemony Snicket telling the audience, ‘Okay, we pawned the first film off as a mere dramatization with actors. Now I’m afraid I’m going to have to show you the real thing.’

Very much in the spirit of Snicket, don’t you think?

A Book

June 2, 2009 | Tasha

A Book by Mordicai Gerstein

Deeee-lightful! I found this book to be fresh, clever, surprising, and great fun.

When the book opens, the lights inside go on and the family in the book wake up. One day, the little girl asks a question that she has been thinking about for some time. “What is our story?” Each of her family members (including the pets) think that the book is about them and head off the page. The readers are eventually left with the little girl alone. She heads to the next page where she discovers a big goose who thinks that the girl is from a fairy tale. Nope. Perhaps a mystery? Alice in Wonderland? A pirate tale? Historical fiction? Outer space? Nope, none of them. But the little girl has decided what to do about the situation.

I love the perspective of this book, peering down to the page from above as the characters live their lives. Gerstein uses humor, wonderful bits of stories, and themed art work to make sure that readers know just where they are. My favorite genre page is the historical novel. I guffawed out loud. Yes, guffawed. Truly.

Children who know how books are supposed to work (which means almost everyone) will get the joke right away and love laughing along. This book has the feel of The Monster At the End of this Book where that fourth wall is removed and the reader becomes a participant in the tale. If I had a class of children to read to, this would be my clincher at the end. Appropriate for ages 4-6 – older for reading aloud since they too will enjoy the humor.

Adios Oscar!

June 2, 2009 | Tasha

Adios Oscar!: a butterfly fable by Peter Elwell

Oscar is a caterpillar with big plans to turn into a butterfly and head to Mexico. His caterpillar friends don’t believe that they will ever turn into butterflies, but Edna the bookworm takes him to a library for bugs where he learns about butterflies and caterpillars. Oscar also learns that they speak Spanish in Mexico, so he sets out to learn the language. Soon Oscar is ready to build his cocoon and transform. He has dreams of monarch butterflies but when he emerges he finds that he is a moth instead! He is expected to fly around lightbulbs and eat socks, not fly to Mexico. What is a small gray moth supposed to do with his bright sunny Mexico dreams?

This book is a great blend of factual information on butterflies and caterpillars and a story about one’s dreams and reality. Elwell has married the two divergent subjects into a nicely cohesive book. His illustrations are a large part of the book’s success, offering a silly, fresh feel. As a reader, I was pleasantly surprised by the twist of Oscar being a moth and the choice that he faces about expectations for moths and his own dreams.

Appropriate for ages 3-6, this book is a great addition to a butterfly unit or story time and will offer a discussion opportunity about everyone’s dreams.

Boston Globe – Horn Book Awards

June 2, 2009 | Tasha

The 2009 Boston Globe – Horn Book Awards have been announced. They “reward excellence in children’s and young adult literature” and have three categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction, and Picture Book.

The winners are:

Fiction and Poetry:

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Nonfiction:

The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming

Picture Book:

Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Honor Books

Fiction and Poetry:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by MT Anderson

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Nonfiction:

The Way We Work by David Macaulay

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

Picture Book:

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli

New Moon Trailer!

June 1, 2009 | Tasha

Check out the New Moon Trailer!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSFMmkMfQ5Q%5D

Dessert First

June 1, 2009 | Tasha

Dessert First by Hallie Durand

Dessert is a third-grader who has a strange but wonderful new teacher who tells them to march to the beat of their own drum. But when Dessert tries to do something as simple as having her family eat dessert first at supper, her parents do not appreciate the suggestion. With a little finesse, Dessert does persuade them to give it a try with great results. But this mischievous girl finds herself unable to say no when her mother leaves a box of her grandmother’s famous Double-Decker Chocolate Bars in the refrigerator and declares them off limits. Meanwhile, there is a fundraiser for her teacher’s anniversary at the school that calls for the children to give something up. Dessert has no idea what to give up, but her enemy is waiting with a special suggestion. Spend a delightful time with Dessert and her very active family of foodies.

Durand has set the perfect tone here. One that children will relate to effortlessly. There is a great sense of humor, a nuanced approach to naughtiness, and examples of frenzied but quality parenting. Dessert is a character who is interesting, conflicted and great fun. The supporting characters are equally interesting from her parents to her teacher to the people who work at her parents’ restaurant. Durand’s pacing is also well done, with the book speeding right along like a sweet sugar rush.

A life-long fan of dessert, I am happy to say that it continues to hold true with this title. I’m looking forward to Dessert’s next adventure, one just knows it will be sweet but never saccharine. Appropriate for ages 7-10.

The Orange Houses

June 1, 2009 | Tasha

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin

Mik has moderate hearing loss, helped by her aging hearing aids, but she prefers to use them to muffle the sounds around her instead by wearing them turned off. Her greatest joy is creating her art, cityscapes empty of any life. Jimmi Sixes in a teen from her neighborhood who at age 18 is already a war veteran. He is also a drug addict and a street poet, seeing the world through his own distinct lens. Fatima is a refugee newly arrived in New York who can create angels out of the newspapers she sells. The three teens come together in a unique friendship that transcends their differences. But the book will not let things be that easy. Starting before even the first chapter, readers know that Jimmi will be hung. Each chapter has a countdown to the hanging, keeping it central in readers minds even as they watch these three characters come closer and closer together.

The countdown effect is jarring and riveting at the same time. When the reader gets too caught up in a chapter, it is there at the next one to remind them what will happen. It is a cloud, a threat hanging over the book, yet each chapter manages to escape from the cloud.

The characterizations here are very well done. All three of the main characters are complex individuals, each with their own form of deafness, each with their own problems, cares and worries. Each tied together in this story, both loosely and very tightly. Griffin also writes with a poetic sense, especially when writing about Jimmi. Though written in prose, the sentences have the beat and pace of poetry about them. He also uses metaphor nicely throughout the novel, placing them in unexpected but effective places. His writing style perfectly fits the subject matter.

This tense and beautifully written book offers a piercingly violent yet connected and supportive view of urban teens. Appropriate for ages 14-17.

VOYA’s Perfect Tens

June 1, 2009 | Tasha

One of my favorite features of VOYA reviews is that they review books from two perspectives. One is whether they have literary quality (Q) and the other is whether they have teen appeal (P). In each of those they can receive up to 5 points, so the top score would be 5Q 5P. That’s a perfect ten.

Here is the list of the 2008 Perfect Tens, many of which have 2007 publication dates. You can see how very rare this high rating is. Even better, so you can see that they tend to buck the trendy books and you can find unexpected titles to add to your collection. Books that are guaranteed to appeal to teens but still be well written.