Month: November 2010

What the Ladybug Heard

| Tasha

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What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Lydia Monks

All of the animals on the farm make their own type of noise, except for the little ladybug.  She never says anything at all.  That is until she hears two robbers planning how to steal the farm’s prize cow.  They know just where each animal on the farm sits and what noises they make so that they can find their way in the dark without alerting the farmer.  So the ladybug heads to the farm, tells the animals about the robbers, and comes up with a cunning plan to foil them.  Told in a wonderful romping rhyme and rhythm, this book has immediate appeal.

Donaldson has a great ear for rhythm and rhyme, never pushing it too far to become annoying.  She weaves in humor effortlessly.  The premise for the book is very clever, mixing animal noises with a barnyard mystery and a silent witness.  Monks’ illustrations are done in mixed media which makes them visually interesting.  The painted sheep has a wooly coat that is a photograph of wool.  The bushes around the farm are either photographs of leaves or fabric.  There is just enough of the mixed media to still have a very cohesive feel. 

Get this into your farm storytime and also for any insect unit or story time.  It is a winner of a read, just be prepared for plenty of animal noises and ask the audience to help!  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Also reviewed by Pied Piper Picks.

Bridget’s Beret:

| Tasha

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Bridget’s Beret by Tom Lichtenheld

Bridget loved to draw as much as other kids love ice cream.  She had a lot of art supplies, but her most important one was her beret that made her feel like a real artist.  But one day, her beret was caught by the wind and flew away.  Bridget searched for her beret, reported it missing and even offered a reward for its safe return, but it was not found.  Unfortunately, along with her beret, Bridget lost her ability to do art.  She did try other hats to see if they would inspire her, but none of them did.   Bridget was left unable to do art at all; she had artist block.  A few days later, her sister asked her to make a sign for their lemonade stand.  Bridget tried to refuse, but was reminded that it was a sign, not art.  So she started making a sign.  And once she started, she couldn’t stop.  She made sign after sign, several in the styles of famous artists.  Bridget was back to being an artist, beret or no.

The text here is laugh-out-loud funny at times with a charming wit.  There are several series of illustrations that really add humor, including the series of images of Bridget trying different hats.  Her paintings that reference more famous works are also very funny.  Nicely, there is an appendix that shows the original works.  Bridget is an engaging character, reacting to the loss of her beloved hat in an honest and childlike way.   Watching a young person genuinely work through a crisis is great, as is the fact that she did it herself without adults offering the solution. 

A clever take on artist block and the power of art, this book will appeal to adults as well as children.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

The Trucker

| Tasha

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The Trucker by Barbara Samuels

Ever since he was very little, Leo was a trucker.  He loved trucks, playing with them, reading books about them, and was distracted by all of the trucks outside when he went on a walk with his mother.  Unfortunately, while he was looking at a toy fire truck in a store window, his mother was looking at something else.  And that’s how they got a cat, that they named Lola.  Though Leo’s mother got Lola a brush, a cat bed, and a toy, she was much more interested in Leo and his trucks.  Leo ignored her and tried to play without her.   Until one day when the toy fire trucks were trying to stop a blaze, Lola jumped in and saved Leo’s stuffed bunny.  Leo made Lola his deputy and from then on out they were truckers together.

The mix of pet and trucks here works well.  It is a truck book that has more of a story than most, giving lots of colorful truck eye-candy but also mixing in the frustration of having a bothersome pet.  Samuels nicely mixes in visual humor (even a scene in the bathroom for gleeful giggles) with the humor of the text.  Her art is bright and vibrant, set against white backgrounds that really make it pop visually. 

This is a truck book that can be happily used at a story time, something that can be hard to find!  Happily it can be enjoyed by children who are not truck-crazy as well.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar Straus Giroux.

Beauty and the Beast: Popping Up Near You

| Tasha

Beauty & the Beast by Robert Sabuda

Sabuda has outdone himself with this pop-up rendition of the classic Beauty and the Beast story.  Each double-page spread opens with a large pop-up that is amazing in its complexity.  Also on each page behind smaller pages, the story is told through text and smaller pop-ups that may be more diminutive but are just as lovely as the larger ones.  Sabuda’s retelling of the tale reads aloud well, offering a sturdy structure to build from.  While it may not be particularly poetic in tone, the text will carry readers happily from one gorgeous illustration to the next. 

There are some particularly wonderful moments in the book.  In the first set of pages, Sabuda has rigged long hallways that the reader stretches out and directly up to the eye.  The halls are detailed and even populated, giving a real depth and wonder to the Beast’s home.  Another winning moment is when the Beast transforms back into a man.  Sabuda does not let that happen off-page, instead turning it into a small and magical moment that readers can relish again and again.

Highly recommended, this is a book for home use rather than library use.  A perfection of a present, give this to any Beauties or Beasts in your life.  Appropriate for gentle five-year-olds through adults.

Get a great sense of the book from this video:

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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You: A Fast-Paced Chiller

| Tasha

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You by Charles Benoit

A brutal and honest portrayal of an adolescent in trouble, this novel is a gripping and fast-paced ride.  The entire book is written in the second person, making the reader the protagonist, Kyle Chase.  And you are in serious trouble.  You know it right from the start because of the all of the blood and he won’t stop screaming.  Then the book flashes back to where it all started.  You find out about your crush on a girl in your class whom you are too scared to approach for fear of rejection.  You are used to being sent to the office regularly, and even though you hung out with friends at one point who were achievers, you now don’t try at all.  Your parents ignore you most of the time and you spend your free time hanging out with other boys who also dress all in black with hoodies.  You don’t have much in your life to be happy about.  But then a new kid comes to school.  He helps you with your bully problems and invites you to a party that is fairly cool.  So how in the world, did you get to that place?  The one with the blood and the screaming?  You will just have to read it to find out.

This book completely absorbed me, not letting me go until I turned the final page.  It is a compelling read, one filled with angst and threat.  There is so much here that is mundane, this is the life of a teen who has given up.  A teen like so many are who is distant from almost everyone, yet not a loner.  He is just Kyle, a screw-up and nothing special.  It is that day-to-day plotting that makes this book work so well.  There is dread around every activity, fear at every encounter.  Will this one be it?  How about this one? 

Benoit is skilled with the difficult second person, a device that brings the reader directly into being Kyle and feeling what he is feeling.  It allows the reader to bring who they are, who they know to populate the world, making it all the more tense.  Benoit also excels at pacing, slowing things down to intensify the book and reaching almost breakneck speed at the end.  The secondary characters are given short shrift here, partially because of the tense the book is written in.  I would have liked to have known more about them.  At the same time, I recognize that one of the reasons this book reads so well is that details do not slow it down.

Highly recommended, this is a book that will speak to many teens who will also be unable to put it down.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

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2010 Booktrust Teenage Prize Winner

| Tasha

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Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes has won the 2010 Booktrust Teenage Prize.  This is a debut novel written by a deep sea diver.  I’m already intrigued!