Month: December 2010

Lulu and the Brontosaurus

| Tasha

lulu

Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Lane Smith

Lulu was a pain, a real pain.  She demanded that her parents give her everything she wanted.  And if they didn’t?  Then she threw a fit, screaming, throwing herself on the floor and kicking her feet.  Until her parents agreed to give her exactly what she wanted.  But that all changed when Lulu demanded a brontosaurus for a pet for her birthday.  Her parents tried to explain that a brontosaurus was huge and wild and not suitable, but Lulu threw a tantrum.  However, this time it did not work.  So Lulu set off on her own to find herself a brontosaurus.  As she entered the forest, she sang herself a song about getting a brontosaurus for a pet.  Going deeper into the forest, she encountered some wild animals but even they could not scare her from her mission.  Eventually, Lulu does find a brontosaurus deep in the forest, but will he be the ideal pet she has been expecting?

A great beginning chapter book, young readers will enjoy the over-the-top humor that will keep them laughing.  The short chapters will also help keep reluctant readers going as will the large number of black-and-white illustrations from the master Lane Smith.  The illustrations hearken back to Syd Hoff’s Danny and the Dinosaur with the smiling brontosaurus, but are edgier as well with great perspectives.

Viorst has obviously had fun playing with the book format here.  She opens the book saying that of course she knows that humans and dinosaurs have never existed at the same time!  It sets the tone perfectly for the story itself which is filled with humor throughout.  Various fonts are used throughout the book, some for singing, others for effect in reading.  Later in the book, the chapters are numbered by the half chapter just for fun and to laugh about the very short chapters of the book.  And finally, the book ends with different endings for the reader to choose from. 

A winning early chapter book, this has the dinosaur appeal combined with great illustrations and clever writing.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from book received from Atheneum.

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Little Tree: Christmas by Cummings

| Tasha

little-tree

Little Tree by e.e. cummings, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray

This reissue has been out of print for sixteen years.  It is a joy to see it returning in time for this year’s Christmas.  A story of two children finding a tiny tree and taking it home will remind all readers what the holidays are truly about.  The care of the children is clear in both the poem and the illustrations.  They stand the tree, decorate it with ornaments from a shelf high in the closet where the decorations have been waiting to be on display again.  The tree stands splendid in the window, facing the street below, and the children sing around it.

The soft illustrations by Ray have a delicacy about them that is perfect for the poem which dances and skims.  Done in colored pencil, the colors are rich but also gentle and quiet.  The poem remains resolutely a poem, never becoming words on a picture book page, making this book even more unique and special.  

Fans of cummings will find his poem lifted by the illustrations rather than obscured in this quiet holiday book.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Dragonfly Books.

Blank Confession

| Tasha

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Blank Confession by Pete Hautman

This book begins with Shayne Blank entering a police department to confess a murder.   The question for readers is how this kid who is new to school got into the situation.  Mikey is a kid whose mouth always gets him into trouble.  Though he thinks he wants to blend in and be invisible at times, he dresses in secondhand suits that make him stick out from the regular high school crowd.  When Shayne seems interested in being his friend, Mikey has just ticked off his sister’s boyfriend, drug dealer Jon by dumping a bag in order not to be caught in a sweep of the school.  Jon now says that Mikey owes him $500 and that he will pay it back.  As the tension grows throughout the novel and the damage done by Jon and others gets more intense, readers will be caught in flashbacks looking for the trigger to the murder.  A riveting and tense story about truth, friendship and what one is capable of, this slim novel will hook many readers.

Hautman has written a novel with a structure that creates tension all on its own.  Add in some evil drug dealing teens, a mouthy unusual teen who tells the bulk of the book in his voice, and the natural vibe of the police department, and this is one pulse-pounding book.  Additionally, Hautman puts the characters in situations where murder is not only possible but likely.  This adds to the taut nature of the book even further.  The characters are interesting, especially Shayne who is very bright, very tough and a complete mystery.  Mikey is a character who would be easily unlikeable but because much of the book is shown through his perspective becomes understood at least by the reader. 

That said, the book is not perfect.  The ending was brilliant, twisting away from the twist I had expected to my great delight.  But the book should have ended a chapter earlier than it does.  It should have left us hanging a bit, figuring it out for ourselves.  With the final chapter added in, the mystery of Shayne is revealed and it is all a bit too neatly resolved.  I’d have much preferred the mysteries and questions to remain.

A book that teens will relate to and be unable to put down, this is a tense and thrilling ride from confession to deed.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Tropical Rainforests: Beautiful Nonfiction

| Tasha

9780061142536

Tropical Rainforests by Seymour Simon

Veteran children’s nonfiction author, Seymour Simon, returns with this Smithsonian Institution book on rainforests. With full color images featuring interesting wildlife and grand expanses of forest, the book is an enticing introduction to tropical rainforests for children.  The importance of rainforests for the entire planet is woven into the particulars about the animals and plants that can be found there.  Making up just 2% of the earth’s surface, these forests are home to millions of insects, plants and animals.  Simon reveals their uniqueness and beauty as he writes with passion about their importance. 

Though he is writing nonfiction, Simon writes with an almost poetic voice.  He has a graceful sense of wonder in his prose, never allowing the rainforest to be reduced to a list of creatures that inhabit it.  Instead, Simon waters the book with plenty of facts, offers a sunshine of lovely little moments (like the way that you can hear the army ants hiss because there are so many of them) and brings out the beauty with the lush photography.  This is a science book for real science lovers, where the science is the loveliness of the world around us with so many details that make it amazing.

Unlike most science books, this one reads aloud very well.  Though you will find yourself stopping regularly to discuss an interesting point or take a closer look at an image.  A book that is sure to warm up wintry days, this is a scientific vacation to the rainforest.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Also reviewed by A Patchwork of Books

A Tale Dark and Grimm: And Very Funny Too

| Tasha

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A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

I was very hesitant to start this book, because I love the original tales so very much.  I still have my faux-leather copy of the Grimm’s tales that I read when I was little.  In this debut novel, Hansel and Gretel serve as the uniting characters in a series of stories inspired by the Grimm tales.  Written with a narrator who interrupts, gleefully warns of upcoming bloodbaths, thrillingly cautions to get small children out of the room, and generally makes the book tantalizing, readers will find themselves unable to stop turning pages just to see what in the world the excitement is all about next.  And excitement there is, with stories that involve cutting off fingers, chopping off heads, battling dragons, and turning into a wolf creature.  Hansel and Gretel do a lot more than find a house made of candy here, though that story is part of this book too.  Get ready for a wild read that is sure to surprise and delight.

OK, so I tend to not like books with narrators who insert their opinions or foreshadow upcoming scenes.  It bugs me that the author had to resort to that rather than skillfully telling the story.  But here, that narrator actually adds a lot to the book.  The narrator tells readers that it’s OK to be thrilled with being frightened.   The narrator teases the reader with endings, merrily romping through the book and adding to the mayhem and fun.  This is a narrator who has become a character himself. 

Gidwitz has taken liberties with the stories.  While some bear close resemblance to a Grimm tale, others are very different.  Delightfully, without a book of Grimm at hand, the stories all work side-by-side, a testament to the skill of the author. 

Best of all, this is a book for older elementary children that needs to be read aloud.  It needs to be shared, laughed aloud at, gasped together at, and delighted in with someone else.  So grab a kid, cuddle up and get ready for a great wild read.  Appropriate for ages 8-12, or whenever you think a child is ready for such grisly and grand fare.

Reviewed from copy received from Dutton.

Lucy and the Green Man: Gentle Green Magic

| Tasha

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Lucy and the Green Man by Linda Newbery (first published as Lob in the UK)

Lucy loves spending time with her grandfather in his garden where he tells her stories of a mysterious helper who lives in his garden named Lob.  Lob is a Green Man who is rarely seen but his presence is felt in the energy in the air, the thriving garden, and the little jobs that are mysteriously finished.  Her grandfather tells her that only special people can see Lob, and Lucy works hard to try to see him.  Eventually she catches moving leaves, then bright green eyes, but little more because Lob is so shy.  Lob has been working in that garden for years, but when a sad event happens to her grandfather and to the garden and his home, Lob must find a new place to live.  Lucy, mourning her grandfather, hopes that Lob will come to her home in London and live in the park nearby.  After months of waiting, she wonders if Lob was really real after all.  Meanwhile, Lob has been struggling to find a place to live and work where he is understood.

Newbery has written a novel for young people that has a lovely old-fashioned feel to it.  After the changes at the garden and cottage, the story has alternating chapters of Lob and Lucy.  Readers will never question that in this book, Lob is most definitely real.  The adventures that Lob has in getting to a garden where he can work and be appreciated really carry the book forward.  Additionally, the wonder of gardens and growing things is a special element here that weaves throughout the book.  It is a joy to read a modern book for children that has its roots so firmly in the soil.

In the Lob chapters, Newbery has created verse that speaks in Lob’s voice directly.  They are wonderful poems, with an ancient quality and a firm tie to nature.  Set aside in a larger font, they are moments of stillness in the book that one looks forward to as a reader.  Newbery’s prose is equally evocative.  Take for example this passage when Lucy heads out into the dark evening on Page 41:

The gap between indoors and out, tameness and wildness, lightness and dark, stretched wide and wider in the flittery dusk.  Lucy didn’t want to go in, not yet.  Stars were pricking the sky, tree branches stretching out to muffle them.

In this book, one visits the wonder of nature again and again.  A beautiful book to share in the spring of the year with a class that will stretch imaginations and will have everyone looking for friendly green eyes in the bushes.  Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

April and Esme Tooth Fairies

| Tasha

0763646830[1]

April and Esme Tooth Fairies by Bob Graham

April is a seven-year-old tooth fairy about to head out on her first tooth collection.  But first she has to convince her parents that she is old enough to go out with just her little sister for company.  Soon the two of them are headed out into the starry night with a coin in their sack that will be exchanged for the tooth.  Their mother cautioned that that the boy must never see them, that’s the most important thing.  After diving for the tooth in a glass of water, April and Esme are stunned to see the boy wake up and look right at them.  But all is not lost, as with quick thinking the two of them save the day.  They then return home again tired but very proud of their success. 

Graham has such a great touch with stories.  He marries modern touches with classic tropes.  Here the father of the tooth fairy family has a pony tail along with his wings.  His wife sports a tattoo on her arm that is visible when she’s reading in the bath.  At the same time, the family lives in a tiny home near a hollow trunk of a tree, surrounded by thistle and mushrooms.  But turn your head and you will see the trucks on the M42.  Graham also weaves humor into the story, both through the juxtaposition of modern and classic, but also in small moments in the book.  One of my favorites is when Esme pauses to consider taking a grandmother’s false teeth too. 

A story sure to resonate with modern children that is gentle, sweet and toothsome.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Maze Runner–The Movie

| Tasha
Cover of "The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Tr...

Cover via Amazon

 

/Film has the news that Catherine Hardwicke is in talks to direct The Maze Runner.  Hardwicke is the  director of the first Twilight film.  James Dashner, author of the teen novel the movie will be based on, will write at least the first draft of the script.  (Hurrah!)

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Anna and the French Kiss: Romance in Paris

| Tasha

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is not happy that she’s been sent to boarding school in Paris just because her bestselling author father decided it.  She doesn’t speak any French at all, is missing out on her senior year in Atlanta, and just connected with a cute boy who works with her.  Anna quickly meets a group of kids at the school who have been attending it for years.  Most of them are American seniors, but one boy is part French, part English, part American and entirely perfect.  Unfortunately, he is in a serious long-term relationship and Anna does have that boy back in Atlanta.  So Anna and Etienne become good friends, watch movies together, and struggle to make sure that their relationship stays just friendly.  Filled with lots of romance and plenty of romantic tension, this book is hot, never heavy, and pure bliss.

Perkins has captured the streets of Paris, creating the vibe and feel of a European city seen through the eyes of an American teen.  Readers will enjoy discovering the city with Anna and will love living vicariously through her adventures.  Perkins has also created teens who talk like teenagers, tease like bright teens, get drunk, get angry, lose control, but don’t destroy their lives.  She has written authentic teens who react to real life as real people.  Add to this mix of breathtaking setting and authentic voice, a beautiful love story and you have a winning read.  Perkins has managed to avoid the cliché of the love triangle, instead focusing on two people who are drawn to one another but aren’t available. 

Anna is a protagonist who grows throughout the book in many ways.  She becomes more confident as she leaves her dorm room and walks the streets of Paris.  She also becomes a lot more honest with herself, about the boy back in the states, her best friend in Atlanta, and her true feelings for Etienne.  She is a wonderfully drawn protagonist who is filled with emotions but also plenty of self control.  It makes for a dynamic and fascinating character.  Etienne is equally well drawn with his great hair and handsomeness.  He is not perfect though, he tends to be overly cautious, is desperately scared of heights, and is a tad short. 

Highly recommended, this romance is much more than fluff but has plenty of heady romantic moments too.  Appropriate for ages 15-18. 

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.