Day: August 3, 2010

Big Night for Salamanders

| Tasha

Big Night for Salamanders by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, illustrated by Carol Benioff

On a rainy spring day, a young boy comes home hoping that this will be the Big Night.  After dinner, the boy gets his raincoat on and a flashlight covered in pink plastic to lessen the glare.  He and his parents head out to the wet road in the dark.  In the dark and the rain, the family help salamanders cross the road safely as they move from forest to pond to lay their eggs.  But some of the cars are going so fast that it is dangerous not only for the salamanders.  So the boy creates a sign that says “Go Slow, Salamander Crossing!”  It is indeed a Big Night.

The story of the boy is presented side-by-side with information on what the salamanders are doing.  Readers get insight into the animals, told in a much more poetic and flowing way than the human story.  It makes for a lovely contrast with one another where not just the font and the content tell the different stories but also the tone and writing style.

Benioff’s illustrations are equally at home with the humans and the salamanders.  It is a pleasure seeing a child of color in a story where there is no mention of it at all.  Her art is bold enough to work with groups, and this book as a whole is ideal for reading aloud in storytimes about spring or salamanders.  All children will reach the end of the book wishing that they too could shepherd salamanders across a road at night.

A lovely science story book, this book successfully marries science into a picture book story.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Crossing the Tracks

| Tasha

midwest train tracks

Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber

After Iris’ mother died, her father no longer has time for her, immersed in his growing shoe business.  When the business is about to expand to Kansas City, her father hires her out to a farm family without informing her first much less asking her opinion.  So Iris is sent to care for an elderly woman and her doctor son in rural Missouri.  She leaves behind her best friend Leroy and any illusions about her father caring about her.  The move to the country turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to Iris.  The family is warm and friendly to Iris, who slowly learns a lot about herself, her courage, and her connection to her mother.  But all is not perfect in the countryside, they live far too close to an angry man who drove off his wife and is now doing unspeakable things to his daughter.  Iris has to find a cunning way to help a girl who has only ever hated her.  In the end, Iris may be a hobo, but so are we all.

A virtuoso of a debut performance, this book is written with strength and conviction.  Stuber’s writing is beautifully constructed, each small detail meant to lead somewhere in the story or mean something more to the reader.  She uses several important themes that tie the entire novel together: homelessness and hobos being the most significant.  Yet she never allows these themes to drive the story, rather they are part of it, a twining of theme around the plot.  It is beautifully done.

Set in the 1920s, the book never gets bogged down with period details, rather the time period is portrayed through the story.  It is woven in and helps tell the story itself.  Doctors make housecalls, cars are fairly new machines, and there are no cell phones and only party lines. 

Iris is a marvelous protagonist with her hard exterior from years with her father neglecting her and yet her yearning for connection and family.  Iris grows as the story progresses and kindness is shown her.  Stuber has written her growth in a natural and organic way that really rings true.  There are no unbelievable leaps forward, but a slow movement with steps backwards.  The supporting cast is also very well rendered right down to Marie, the dog.  Mrs. Nesbitt, the fiesty woman whom Iris cares for, does just as much caring for Iris.  Mrs. Nesbitt is one of the reasons this book is so successful, she is hardly the stereotypical elderly woman, far from it. 

Highly recommended, this book is historical fiction with a touch of romance and danger.  It is an intoxicating mix that readers will find difficult to put down.  I happily await her next novel!  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Check out Barbara’s website here and the trailer for the book below:

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