Year: 2011

2011 Nautilus Book Award Gold Winners

| Tasha

The winners of the Nautilus Book Awards have been announced.  The Nautilus Awards describe themselves as: “Gold and Silver awards are given to print and audio books of exceptional merit that make a literary and heartfelt contribution to spiritual growth, conscious living, high-level wellness, green values, responsible leadership and positive social change, as well as to the worlds of art, creativity and inspiration.”

They give awards in a wide range of categories, several of which are for books for children and teens.  The following are the winners of the children’s Gold Nautilus Awards:

Children’s Picture Books (Preschool – Grade 2)

Benjamin & Bumper to the Rescue by Molly Coxe, photographs by Olivier Toppin

 

Children’s Illustrated (Grades 3-6)

The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time by Anne Baring, illustrated by Thetis Blacker

 

Children’s Nonfiction (Grades 1-6)

Molly the Owl by Eric Blehm, illustrated by Christopher Adams

 

Middle Grade & Teen Fiction

 

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrations by Peter Sis

Merlin’s Dragon: Ultimate Magic by T. A. Barron

 

Middle Grade & Teen Nonfiction

Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Wetlands by Cathryn Berger Kaye & Philippe Cousteau

Hunger Games Will Be FOUR Films

| Tasha

 

If Hunger Games is the success that Lionsgate predicts, fans will see four films from the trilogy of books.  Wowza! 

It leaves me with lots of questions:

I wonder how it will be broken up. 

I know the money will be bigger, but is it the right thing for the films themselves?

What questions and concerns do you have?  Or are you happy to see four films?

Nautilus Book Awards 2011–Silver Awards

| Tasha

The winners of the Nautilus Book Awards have been announced.  The Nautilus Awards describe themselves as: “Gold and Silver awards are given to print and audio books of exceptional merit that make a literary and heartfelt contribution to spiritual growth, conscious living, high-level wellness, green values, responsible leadership and positive social change, as well as to the worlds of art, creativity and inspiration.”

They give awards in a wide range of categories, several of which are for books for children and teens.  These are books that libraries often miss, since they are primarily small press and therefore not reviewed in the larger library review journals.

2011 Silver Nautilus Award Winners

Children’s Picture Books (preschool – Grade 2)

  

The Gift of Grace by Grace Mary McClelland, illustrated by Nancy Moskovitz

The Secret of Pig Island by Jennifer R. Nolan, photographs by Jim Abernethy

What Does It Mean to Be Present? by Rana Di Orio, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

 

Children’s Illustrated (Grades 3-6)

  

Splinters by Kevin Sylvester

The Gift by Carol Ann Duffy, illustrated by Rob Ryan

Tree Song by H. E. Stewart

 

Children’s Nonfiction (Grades 1-6)

  

Molly the Owl: The True Story of a Common Barn Owl That Ends Up Being Not So Common After All by Eric Blehm, illustrated by Christopher Adams

Philanthropy: A Big Word for Big-Hearted People by Jan Helson & Rachel Annette Helson

Tecolote: The Little Horse That Could by Sandy Nathan

 

The Tiny Plant That Saved Our Planet by Mark Edwards, illustrated by Lynne Avril

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak, illustrated by Sarah Ackerley

 

Middle Grade & Teen Fiction

  

Grease Town by Ann Towell

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

Riding Out the Hurricane by Maeve McMahon

 

Travels with Gannon & Wyatt by Patti Wheeler & Keith Hemstreet

Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

 

Middle Grade & Teen Nonfiction

  

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Earth Heroes: Champions of Wild Animals by Bruce and Carol Malnor, illustrated by Anisa Claire Hovemann

Teen Esteem: A Self-Direction Manual for Young Adults by Pat Palmer & Melissa Alberti Froehner

 

Weird Is Normal: When Teenagers Grieve by Jenny Lee Wheeler

Yes You Can! Your Guide to Becoming an Activist by Jane Drake & Ann Love

 

Children’s Books with Audio

Little Chief and Mighty Gopher: The Pemmican Frenzy by Victor Lethbridge

Jyoti for Kids: A Meditative Technique for Purification by the Light by Simhananda

Starabella: Welcome to a Bright New World by Sharon, Tara & Dana Fialco, illustrated by Anton Petrov

Book Review: Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door by Adam Rubin

| Tasha

Those_Darn_Squirrels_and_the_Cat_Next_Door

Those Darn Squirrels and the Cat Next Door by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

This sequel to Those Darn Squirrels continues the story of the squirrels and Old Man Fookwire.  Old Man Fookwire has been waiting for spring when his beloved birds would return.  The winter has been long with only the squirrels for company (and trouble).  After a pleasant spring morning spent painting birds, Fookwire is shocked to hear kabooms coming from the house next door.  Little Old Lady Hu was moving in along with her evil cat, Muffins.  She had moved to the country so that Muffins could make some new friends, but Muffins was not a friendly cat at all, as the squirrels were about to find out.  This time the squirrels craftiness just might help out Old Man Fookwire too!

Rubin plays with words to great effect here.  Not only with the names of Fookwire and Little Old Lady Hu, but with the birds’ names: baba birds, yaba birds and the floogle bird too.  Throughout the book, the language is silly and rich, making for a great read aloud.  Rubin also has a great feel for pacing, allowing the humor really stand strong and the story to roll along merrily.  There is plenty of humor here, including the attacks of Muffins being wedgies, noogies and wet willies.

Salmieri joins in the humor with his illustrations as well.  The fine-lined illustrations have a natural silliness to them.  Old Man Fookwire has a great red nose, huge glasses, and a body that manages to be skinny and paunchy at once.  The squirrels look crafty, bright and foolish all at once. 

If you haven’t read the first book, you should, but you will be able to enjoy the second all on its own.  Get this into the hands of any kids who enjoy a brains vs. brawns match where the brains win, but you get to giggle at wedgies along the way.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Book Review: Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

| Tasha

crossinglines

Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

Released June 9, 2011.

Adonis plays on his high school football team and all of his best friends are football jocks.  He has just started dating Melody, one of the hottest girls at school.  Alan is the new person at school.  He is the only boy in the Fashion Club and a kid who refuses to conform.  Alan is openly mocked and ridiculed by Adonis’ friends.  Things take a turn for the worse when Alan begins openly wearing lipstick and dresses at school.  He even embraces the name the jocks have been calling him, Alana.  Adonis finds himself pressured by Melody and his younger sister to befriend Alan while all of his friends at school assume that Adonis detests Alan just as much as they do.  Adonis is trapped in the middle, never telling anyone exactly how he feels and where he stands.  But then a plan to bully Alan goes wrong and Adonis is forced to choose sides.

I have mixed feelings about this novel.  Part of me wishes that the subject matter had been handled more subtly.  At the same time, I understand the value in a very accessible book that teens who may feel mixed feelings about GLBTQ issues can relate to.  Volponi writes in a very concrete way here.  His prose is tight and very reality based.

Adonis is a character who will also be easily understood.  His own homophobic-at-worst and mixed-at-best attitudes are clear.  Readers will see themselves in him because we all hesitate at times to speak up, go against our peers, and side with the loner or different.  And here is where I wish that the book had been written with more internal dialogue and less concrete depictions.  Adonis does not ever reflect on why he is homophobic, why he reacts to Alan in the way he does, why he doesn’t leap to defend.  Instead the book stays above those questions, which does not add to its depth.

This lack of self-exploration also hurts the character development of the secondary characters in particular.  Alan is a very interesting character who offers glimpses of his strength but never really comes alive for the reader.  Unfortunately, he never becomes more than a stereotype. 

Volponi has again written a book that teens will relate to easily.  It is a book that asks for discussion, one that will have teens questioning what their reaction would have been in the same situation.   Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from author.

Also reviewed by:

Hunger Games Casting Continues

| Tasha

 

Last week I completely missed the news that Lenny Kravitz has been cast to play Cinna in the upcoming Hunger Games film.   Talk about a guy with style!

The actor playing President Snow has also been announced and I’m very happy with the casting.  Donald Sutherland!  I am already rethinking the voice of Snow in my head. 

So what do you think of the new cast members?

Book Review: The Voyage of Turtle Rex by Kurt Cyrus

| Tasha

voyageturtlerex

The Voyage of Turtle Rex by Kurt Cyrus

Follow the story of a baby sea turtle starting with her hatching under the sand.  But there is something very special about this little turtle, she’s growing up surrounded by dinosaurs!  So what is a little turtle to do to survive?  She’s got to find safety and then grow, grow as big as she can.  She eventually grows into an enormous two-ton archelon.  Eventually something inside her calls her to return to the shore, so she leaves the safety of the silt at the bottom and heads back to land.  There she digs a nest for her eggs and buries them before returning to the sea.  The book then talks about modern shelled animals who are descendants of the great prehistoric sea turtles.

Cyrus, author of Tadpole Rex, has added another thrilling book that extends the landscape of the dinosaurs to include more creatures.  Here sea turtles are celebrated in rhymes that make the book very entertaining and fun to read.  Cyrus offers just the right mix of scientific fact and story line, keeping the book anchored in fascinating science but also fast-moving.

His illustrations are dramatic as the tiny turtle struggles to survive at sea after a harrowing crawl to the water near dinosaurs.  All of the many predators around her add to the interest and excitement both in the text and the illustrations.  Cyrus uses bold lines, effective textures and a surprisingly soft color palette to create the images. 

Perfect for both dinosaur and turtle fans, this book is sure to find an eager audience in elementary and public libraries.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Wrapped in Foil.

Book Review: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

| Tasha

insideoutbackagain

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Debut author Lai has created a verse novel of fleeing Saigon for the United States.  The narrator is ten-year-old Ha, who speaks of the beauty of Vietnam, its culture and their lives there.  Her father was captured years ago in the war, so she lives with her mother and three older brothers.  Her mother has a good job, but when the prices begin to rise because of the war, the family can barely survive.  They are given a chance to flee Saigon by ship though when they do, they almost starve because their rescue by the Americans is delayed.  Ha describes her culture shock when they do arrive in Alabama as a sponsored family.   All is different from the taste of the food to the quiet of the neighborhood to the language.   Many of her classmates are cruel to her, but she does meet nice Americans who help her learn the language and who are willing to learn about Vietnamese culture as well.

Lai’s verse is precision, written tightly and beautifully, it changes mood from one poem to the next.  Some are sliver thin and crack like a whip.  Others are sinewy and strong, ropes that bind and connect.  Still others are emotions that unite us all, tying us closely to the story.  Lai herself also immigrated from Vietnam at the end of the war to Alabama.  Her book speaks to the personal journey that she had in its depth of feeling.

Ha is a character whom readers will immediately connect with and understand.  She is written in a universal way, even as she describes her homeland and evokes scenes that many readers will not have seen or experienced.  In the descriptions of Ha’s family, Lai creates characters who are vivid and profound.  One of my favorite passages is early in the novel where the family is deciding to leave Saigon.  Ha’s mother is described on page 54:

Who can go against

a mother

who has become gaunt like bark

from raising four children alone.

This a book that is so beautifully written.  It captures the journey both physically and emotionally of refugees to our country.  It is breathtaking and strong.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review: Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson

| Tasha

leapbackhometome

Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Matthew Cordell

A little frog takes his first small leaps over a ladybug, over a bee, and over the clover before returning to his waiting mother.  His leaps get bigger and he leaps over the creek and over the beavers.  Then they get even bigger, leaping over trees and hills!  After every outing he returns to his mother who is waiting for him with either a book to share, food to eat or a hug.  Soon the little frog is leaping out into space and the stars, but no fear, his mother is still there for him.

Thompson has created a picture book that is very simple with just a few lines on each page and a gentle concept.  Her text has an infectious rhythm to it, adding to the jaunty tone of the book.  The humor of the book builds as the little frog leaps over larger and larger things.  Children will love the humor and will delight in the final pages as the little frog enters outer space. 

Cordell’s illustrations echo the jaunty tone of the text and add a friendliness, warmth and plenty of color to the story.  The little frog soars into the sky with a joyous freedom, his froggy legs and arms waving merrily. 

An ideal book for toddler story times featuring frogs, this is sure to become a favorite of young listeners.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Also reviewed by 100 Scope Notes.