Month: August 2010

Chavela and the Magic Bubble

| Tasha

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Chavela and the Magic Bubble by Monica Brown, illustrated by Magaly Morales

Chavela loves chewing gum and blowing bubbles.  One day she finds a kind of gum in the store that she has never seen before: Magic Chicle.  Her mother explains that gum is made from the sap of the sapodilla tree, called chicle.  Her mother’s father was a Chiclero who harvest the chicle and care for the trees.  When Chavela popped the gum in her mouth, she was able to blow a huge bubble that carried her out of her room and from California into Mexico to Playa del Carmen.  There she got to see the sapodilla trees and met a little girl with a special doll who greeted her warmly.  The two girls played until dark when Chavela had to chew chicle to return home again.  Once she got home, her mother told her that she too knew of the magic, and showed her daughter the special doll she had had when she was a girl.

Brown’s prose reads aloud nicely and the story has plenty of action and interest to carry it along.  Children will love seeing where gum came from and will also enjoy the magic of the gum.  The real star of the book is the illustrations, done in candy-bright colors that also have a great depth to them.  The author’s note at the back offers more in-depth information on chicle and gum. 

A treat of a book that is nicely seasoned with Spanish, this book will appeal to candy-lovers of any language or background.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by TheHappyNappyBookseller.

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?

| Tasha

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Daniel Jennewein

If your buffalo has a backpack, then he is certainly ready for Kindergarten!  This book takes a silly look at first-day Kindergarten jitters through the eyes of a student who is sure to be unique.  Buffalos may have trouble with certain rules, like No Grazing at recess, but your buffalo will also be great at hide-and-seek and serve as a comfy place to snuggle in to listen to stories.  He will also learn about sharing with others and not losing his temper and butting them with his head.  There’s a lot to learn in Kindergarten, especially if you are a buffalo!

This is a hilarious look at Kindergarten that is sure to have children giggling.  Ideal to share with Kindergarteners on that first day, or with your preschooler who is headed to Kindergarten.  Vernick has written the book with an eye towards laughter, but also shows the daily routines of Kindergarten and the various issues that can arise.  It is a very balanced look at Kindergarten done with a lot of humor.  Jennewein’s illustrations are comic and wonderful.  He captures the pure silliness of the huge buffalo at school using simple lines and nice strong colors.  The illustrations will work well with a group.

Highly recommended for all Kindergarteners and their parents, this is a great book to read in August to get your buffalo ready for school.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

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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Zen & Xander Undone

| Tasha

Zen & Xander Undone by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Zen and Xander are sisters who lost their mother a year ago.  In his grief, their father removed himself from their lives, living in the basement and rarely talking to them.  Each sister coped with the loss differently.  Zen, narrator of the book, immersed herself even more in martial arts.  Xander started more and more risky behaviors, coming home drunk or high with questionable guys.  Zen found great pleasure in kicking one of those guys in the head, though it injured her back.  It certainly did feel good though.  As the two girls drift further apart, a mystery brings them back together.  They discover that their mother left a valuable statue to a man they have never heard of.  Now the two of them have to decide whether to solve the mystery or return to their grief apart.

A beautiful depiction of sisters who are best friends but very different from one another, this book also explores grief with an openness that is breathtaking.  I particularly appreciated the intelligence of both of the sisters, both of them bright and filled with humor, caustic at times.  Their complex relationship was depicted in a realistic way, never straying too far from the core of sisterhood that held them together. 

Xander is a particularly complex character, drowning her grief in booze and drugs and throwing in a lot of risk at the same time.  She is difficult to like, until you realize that you are seeing her only in small glimpses.  Otherwise her behavior is shielding her from the reader.  In the end, she is what makes the book gritty and realistic.  She is the barbed truth of grief and coping.

Ryan’s writing is impeccable with a great ear for dialogue, a modern style without relying on any branding to keep it current, and a genuine appreciation for teens.  She manages not to be didactic about grief at all, allowing both girls to find their own way not as examples for others but as individuals.  Both sisters move through the loss of their mother in well rendered ways, even their mistakes making great sense. 

A humor-filled book with great depth, this reads like John Green with girls thanks to the smart sisters.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by: