Month: September 2009

Nonfiction Monday: Building on Nature

| Tasha

 

Building on Nature: the Life of Antoni Gaudi by Rachel Rodriguez, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

This picture book biography of the renowned Spanish architect and artist is a true celebration of his art and gift.  Readers follow Gaudi from his sickly boyhood to his dreams of rebuilding cathedrals and his study of architecture.  Then, of course, Gaudi goes his own way, covering a house in colorful tiles, creating ramps for horses to reach a stable in the basement, and making balconies from what looks like huge bones.  All of his buildings are unique and unlike anyone else’s.  They turn the rules on their head and are filled with imaginative touches, both small and big.  The book ends with a fascinating author’s note, links to see photos of the buildings online, and a bibliography.

Rodriguez takes a complicated subject and lengthy life and distills them down to just the right level for young readers.  She excels as using only a few words, not over-explaining things, and letting Gaudi’s work speak for itself.  As she describes Gaudi’s buildings, her prose is almost poetry.  Paschkis’ gouache illustrations are vivid, colorful and dynamic.  Her work embraces the swirling lines of Gaudi’s celebrating him in ever whorl. 

Recommended for art classes in elementary schools, this picture book captures the essence of Gaudi with style and color.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Check out the interview with illustrator Julie Paschkis on Jacket Knack.

Strega Nona’s Harvest

| Tasha

Strega Nona’s Harvest by Tomie dePaola

Rejoice!  A new Strega Nona book is here!

Every spring, Strega Nona plants her garden with seeds saved from the year before.  She carefully keeps records of where things were planted previous years and never plants them in the same place.  The garden is planted during a full moon, and is done perfectly with straight rows.  Big Anthony chafes under these rules and Bambolona’s bossiness, but he does his best.  Watching Strega Nona, he learns what her little bit of magic is to make the plants grow strong.  Then he finds some forgotten seeds and decides to prove to everyone that he can do just as well himself.  Needless to say, things grow out of hand and Big Anthony has to find a way to get himself out of the situation with funny results.

DePaola’s format is classic Strega Nona with his great lines, bright colors,and signature style.  The book has both large illustrations and smaller ones with white space between them, lending them a comic strip style that  is recognizably dePaola.  His writing is clever, simple and great fun.  The Italian that is thrown in makes it a joy to read aloud as do the various character voices. 

An feast of autumnal fun featuring Strega Nona can only be delicious.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Swamps of Sleethe

| Tasha

The Swamps of Sleethe by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Jimmy Pickering.

Climb into your spaceship and travel from one strange world to another, each with some strange twist and surprise.  It’s a trip that only Prelutsky could take you on with his signature mix of poetic humor and chills.  Each world is captured with a single poem that is paired with illustrations by Pickering which are equally funny and dark.  Part of the fun of the book is unscrambling the planets names into words that describe them.  Pure word fun from beginning to end!

Prelutsky takes readers from icy planets to dangerous forests.  You will visit planets with water you should not drink and planets with air you should not breathe.  Danger lurks around every corner, usually in surprising places with even more astonishing results.  This book is dark, showing one way after another to die on distant planets.  Middle-school and early elementary children will embrace it.  It’s not for preschoolers.

If you are asked to read for a 4th or 5th grade class, this book would be a perfect read aloud.  You will get gasps and giggles often at the same time.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by A Patchwork of Books.

Haunted Party

| Tasha

Haunted Party by Iza Trapani

I read a lot of counting books, but they rarely make it to my review pile.  It’s even more rare for a rhyming, counting book to make it!  But this book beat those odds.

This book is about a ghost who is having a Halloween party.  To the party come a whole series of monsters: skeletons, goblins, werewolves, vampires, witches, mummies, and more.  Each monster is counted and joins the chaos of the party where they merrily cavort until 10 children knock on the door to trick-or-treat.  Frightened, the monsters flee the house in reverse order, until just the ghost is left.  The book ends with a little jump, perfect for goosebumps on Halloween.

Trapani has done a counting book right.  The counting is part of the book, but not the only reason for it.  There is a strong storyline here that keeps the book on track and interesting.  The rhyming is done well, creating a book that is easy to read aloud and has a bouncy, friendly quality.  There is a refrain that groups of children will love to chant along with: “at the haunted house of the ghost.”  Trapani’s illustrations are filled with deep colors that evoke the autumn.  There are also many small touches that bring the haunted feeling to life: spiders, eyes peeking from under the floorboard, worms and rats. 

Halloween fun for those who enjoy the thrill of monsters and the chill of a bit of creepiness.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Cool Cat

| Tasha

Cool Cat by Nonny Hogrogian

This wordless picture book is a strong voice for creativity and change.  Cat is in a desolate landscape, filled with dead grass, broken glass, and rusting cans.  It is a brown, barren place.  But Cat has brought his paints!  He starts in a corner with some green leaves, then moves to the sky and turns it from brown to blue.  Mouse and Rabbit join him, adding touches of bright red berries.  A cardinal sweeps in to finish the sky, while trees, rocks and even a pond are added.  Soon the birds are perching on the tree branches, a duck is paddling in the pond, and the painting becomes real.

Hogrogian’s paintings have a softness that really works for this blurring of reality and art.  The muddy brown of the original landscape speaks volumes all in itself.  Then with juxtaposed with the brightness of green, red and yellow it becomes a dreadful ugliness.  Children will enjoy the different animals that help out with the art.  This is a testament to shared art and murals.  But at a deeper level, it is a book about how art transforms and how each of us can make change in our own worlds.

A great art book for very small children, this book can be shared at different levels.  Toddlers will enjoy the animals and the colors while older children will see the change and wonder.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Boo to You!

| Tasha

Boo to You! by Lois Ehlert

A new Ehlert picture book is always cause for celebration, a Halloween celebration in this case. 

The mice are in the garden preparing for their harvest party.  But then the cat shows up, making them very nervous.  The mice continue to decorate, creating jack-o-lanterns out of pumpkins and other vegetables.  When the cat appears in the middle of the party, the mice have found a way to defend themselves with very funny results.

Ehlert excels at simplicity.  Her books have a minimal number of words, but still have a storyline, action, and humor.  Perfection to share with toddlers and preschoolers with shorter attention spans.  Ehlert’s illustrations are always wonderful.  Here she works with paper combined with garden objects and photographs of squash and vegetables.  She perfectly captures the feel of late autumn with seeds, pods, and twine.  Her collages are great fun to pore over and try to figure out what they are made out of.  She uses pumpkin seeds as teeth to great effect!  Children will want to talk about the illustrations, touch them to see if they can feel them, and just linger for awhile in Ehlert’s world.

Highly recommended, this is a great Halloween book for little children.  It has no witches, monsters, or anything frightening.  Just mice, a cat, and lots of squash.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Leaf Trouble

| Tasha

Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

Pip, the squirrel,  lives in an oak tree and knows that tree very well.  But something has been happening so slowly that he never noticed: the leaves have changed color and are starting to fall off!  Pip runs around and tries to catch all of the leaves, he and his sister gather them into a big pile, and then they try to reattach some.  That doesn’t work, of course, but his mother appears then and explains about the tree needing to rest over the winter.  She then explains that the leaves are like the setting sun each evening, disappearing but returning in the morning.  The book ends with the young squirrels comparing the reds and yellows of the leaves with the colors of the sunset.

I have read many picture books over the years about children and animals panicking when leaves start to fall from the trees.  But this one deserves a spot on your library shelves because of the intelligent tie-in with the setting sun.  Children will immediately understand the connection to something they experience each and every day.

Emmett has written this in a voice that should be read aloud.  His prose has depth, humor and a nice cadence.  The first paragraph of the book is inviting, clever, and sets the tone nicely for the rest to come.  Church’s illustrations are perfect for the seasonal tone of the book.  Done with paper art, they are filled with tumbling bright-colored leaves that have a dimension and shadow to them.  They will work well with a large group of children because of their size and color.  

A great combination of author and illustrator, this autumnal title will have you falling for it immediately.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

New Movie Posters

| Tasha

Oo la la!  Two new gorgeous movie posters for the two movies based on children’s books that I am most looking forward to!

Gorgeous!  Now if the films can just live up to both the books and the posters!

Our World of Water

| Tasha

Our World of Water: Children and Water around the World by Beatrice Hollyer

This book focuses on one of the world’s most precious things: water.  Water and its use is seen through the eyes of six children who live around the world.  From Peru to Mauritania, from Tajikistan to Ethiopia, from the United States to Bangladesh, each child uses water to bathe and drink, but there the similarities end as we see deserts and monsoons.  Hollyer’s use of bright, clear photographs helps to bring our understanding of our own relationship with water into clarity as we also learn about the hardships of other cultures from other parts of the world. 

Hollyer’s photographs are windows into the lives of these children.  They show their homes, siblings, families, and daily lives.  Though it focuses on water, readers will also get a sense of the overall culture as they read.  Hollyer has written the prose with simplicity and a great feel for the young reader.  There is just enough detail to be easy to read and interesting. 

Expect a lot of conversation after sharing this with a group of children or even one child.  This is a winning look at our world and our water.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.