Year: 2011

The Honeybee Man: The Beauty of Bees

| Tasha

honeybeeman

The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi and Krysten Brooker

On a quiet summer morning, Fred heads to the roof of his home in Brooklyn where his bee hives are.  With his cup of tea, he spends time with the bees, thinking about the honey they will make for him.  He imagines flying like a bee and looking for nectar.  He encourages the young bees to have courage on their first flights.  He celebrates the older bees as they throw themselves into the air, some stopping to land on his sleeves first to greet him.  He knows they will return full of nectar that then will be made into honey by others in the hive.  At the end of August, Fred harvests the honey from the hives, resulting in golden jars of sweetness that he shares with his neighbors.  This is a book about communities large and small, interwoven together.

The language in this book is lovely and evocative.  It is a book that creates small moments of celebrations.  Here is a passage of Fred’s morning in July greeting the bees:

Fred inhales the smells of a summer city morning: maple leaves and gasoline and the river and dust.  He turns to the tiny city and inhales its smaller, sweeter smell – a little like caramel, a little like ripe peaches.

All of the senses are filled with the experience of urban bee keeping in this book.  It is packed with these sensory moments.  The language is poetic and beautifully detailed.

The mixed-media illustrations have a whimsical feel to them.  Just as the book itself does, they celebrate Brooklyn, urban life, and the bees.  There is a homey, warm feel that is often lacking in books about cities that is a pleasure to see.

Celebrate bee keeping, city life, and community with this book.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Clementine: A Book of Big Dreams

| Tasha

clementine

Clementine by Sebastian Loth

Released May 1, 2011.

Clementine is a snail who loves anything and everything round.  She loves tires and balls, but most of all she loves the roundness of the moon.  So she decides that she is going to head to the moon.  Her best friend Paul, a worm, helps her come up with a plan on how she will get to the moon.  They try a trampoline first, with poor results.  The slingshot doesn’t do any better.  Then they decide to try a rocket!  And Clementine discovers that she has been connected all along to something amazingly round and magnificent.

The writing in this small picture book has a depth that is surprising and delightful.  Written in longer paragraphs than many picture books, the text remains completely readable and enjoyable for preschoolers.  It is because of the length of the text that the ideas can be explored fully. 

Loth combines his poetic language with stunningly simple illustrations.  The illustrations play beautifully with light and dark as well as motion.  Opening with Clementine sitting near oranges, they also play with color and shape.

The result is a book that speaks straight to the dreamer in all of us.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from NorthSouth.

Small Persons with Wings: Fantastic Fairy Fiction

| Tasha

smallpersons

Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booream

Mellie grew up with a fairy living in her bedroom.  He was her best friend for years.  But when she told her kindergarten class about him, he disappeared before she could prove he existed.  Now at age 13, she is still called “Fairy Fat” by her classmates.  Even her parents who had agreed that the fairy existed and treated him as real, declare in front of the school counselor that it is all Mellie’s imagination.  So Mellie decides to turn off her imagination and become practical.  When her parents inherit a decrepit inn in another town, it is Mellie’s chance to leave her nickname and the fairy behind for good.  But that’s before Mellie discovers that the inn is inhabited by lots and lots of fairies. 

Booream’s writing is so very readable, inviting readers into a world where fairies are real and plenty of trouble.  The dialogue in the book works well, reading very naturally.  The setting of the old inn is nicely rendered, giving readers just enough detail to visualize the inn clearly, but not too much to get bogged down.

Booream excels at creating interesting characters.  Mellie is a wonderful young protagonist who displays an intriguing combination of prickliness, self-doubt and courage.  She is a girl who has been bullied for years, but has not been broken by it.  I also appreciate that Mellie is a heavier young lady who has heavier parents who love her and don’t mind her weight.  It is the other children who have issues with it. 

The cover with its zinging blue, sparkly letters is very appealing.  I do wish that there was some even small hint off Mellie being a larger teen.  Plus I am getting very tired of the feet on covers as a way to not show problematic protagonists in great detail. 

A very friendly and fun fairy fantasy, this book will be popular with fans of the Rainbow Fairy books who are aging out of that series.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Also reviewed by:

Royal Mail’s Stamps Feature Wizards

| Tasha

The new special set of stamps from the Royal Mail feature some of the most famous witches and wizards from literature.  The stamps are beautifully designed.  So much so that I think I’d write many more letters and cards if I only had these to affix to the front.  Wowza!

  

Via /Film

Monkey Truck: Ingenious Mash Up

| Tasha

monkeytruck

Monkey Truck by Michael Slack

Whenever there is trouble in the jungle, Monkey Truck races to the rescue!  He saves small lizards from crushing elephant feet.  He rescues big hippos from a shrinking and muddy water hole.  He grinds gears to get the job done with his truck bed filled to bursting.  He is Monkey Truck!  Fueled by bananas and always ready to go, he is the hero of the jungle.

This book grew on me once I got into the story.  It has a frenetic pace that toddler will enjoy immensely.  It also obviously has its own screwball humor from the premise alone!  That humor is really what makes this book work so well.  From fart jokes to bouncing stacks of muddy hippos, there is plenty of laughter to be found here.

The book has been printed on thicker pages, making it an ideal transition book for toddlers from board books to picture books.  This is clearly a book that is meant for very young children who just might demand why they can’t have a monkey truck of their very own!

If you do a toddler story time at your library or work with a toddler group, this is a book that will really work when shared out loud.  Be prepared to mash your animal sounds with engine noises and your young listeners will be sure to enjoy it!  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

You can check out the wordless trailer for the book below:

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Hide and Squeak: Bedtime Fun

| Tasha

hideandsqueak

Hide-and-Squeak by Heather Vogel Frederick, illustrated by C. F. Payne

Daddy Mouse chases Mouse Baby around the garden and through the house trying to get him to head to bed.  Mouse Baby hides in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and the living room with his father right behind.  Until finally, Daddy manages to grab his tail just before he runs off to a new hiding place.  The pace of the fast-moving book changes to a slow bedtime story as Mouse Baby is tucked into his matchbox bed.  This is an adorable bedtime story with just enough running and romping to keep it lively and fun.

Frederick’s writing incorporates repetition and rhyme.  Daddy Mouse has a rhyme he says again and again in the book, making this a great choice for small children:

Mouse baby, mouse baby,

where can you be?

I can’t see you.

Can you see me?

It’s time for bed.  It’s time for sleep.

No more time for hide-and-squeak.

The tone of the entire book is playful with the added fun of a chase and hide and seek.  Payne’s illustrations have a nice timeless feel to them that adds warmth to the book.  They also have the added charm of coming from a mouse-high perspective that children will enjoy.  The relationship of father and child is highlighted in both the illustrations and the text. 

A great bedtime pick, this book just may become a favorite night time read for your family.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Also reviewed by:

Small Saul

| Tasha

smallsaul

Small Saul by Ashley Spires

The author of Binky the Space Cat returns with a brand new character for us to enjoy!  Small Saul is not your regular pirate type, but he has known since he was small that he wanted to spend his life at sea.  When the Navy turned him down because he was too short, Saul enrolled in Pirate College.  Even in college, he didn’t fit in.  He was great at singing shanties and less good at sword fighting.  He wasn’t rough or tough, but he excelled at swabbing the deck.  Finally, he had his pirate diploma and headed for the docks.  But his time at sea was not what Small Saul expected and definitely not what the pirates on The Rusty Squid were ready for!

Spires infuses the entire story with puns, pirate humor and just plain fun.  Her writing is meant to be read aloud with its natural pacing.  The broad comedy also makes this book ideal for sharing with a group.  The illustrations continue the humor of the text with Saul’s wide-eyed glasses, his diminutive size, and the rather blank faces of the pirates.

Nicely, the book is not just humorous, it also has a strong message at its heart.  It celebrates differences between people that can first be seen as problems and then are seen as treasures.  It’s a message worthy of pirate gold.

This is one pirate book that will not be walking the plank any time soon.  It’s ideal for any pirate-themed story time and will appeal to even elementary-aged children thanks to its humor.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.

Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons

| Tasha

snowrabbit

Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons by Il Sung Na

The author of A Book of Sleep returns with another book filled with striking illustrations.  When winter comes, all of the animals know it.  Some fly to warmer places, others take a long sleep, some swim to warmer waters, and others grow a thicker coat.  The white rabbit leads readers through so many different types of animals and how they deal with the winter season.  Then spring comes and all of the animals know it’s a new season.  That includes our friend the rabbit who looks very different now!

Il Sung Na has created a book that celebrates changing seasons with a sense of joy and fun.  Readers will see migration, hibernation, and much more in this book.  The text remains simple and straight-forward, keeping the concepts to a preschool level nicely. 

The real impact is made by Il Sung Na’s incredible illustrations that are lush, vivid and at the same time laced with a real delicacy of line and pattern.  Created using handmade textures combined with digitally generated layers, this is a sort of illustration that is stylized, modern and still welcoming and friendly.

Highly recommended, this book is a beautiful exploration of changing seasons, ideal for welcoming spring.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

Also reviewed by:

Cinnamon Baby

| Tasha

cinnamonbaby

Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Janice Nadeau

Miriam was a baker who had her own little bakery where she made wonderful breads.  She always saved the cinnamon bread for last because it was her favorite.  As she made the bread, she sang the songs of her childhood, weaving them with the scent of cinnamon in the air.  Then one day a young man named Sebastian bought some cinnamon bread and continued to by a loaf every day for a year.  Finally, he proposed to Miriam and she said yes.  Soon a baby was on the way, but when the baby arrived it cried and cried and cried.  Nothing would settle the baby down until Miriam got a sudden idea  and headed for the bakery with her family.  She made every kind of bread with the cinnamon bread saved for last.  And what do you think happened when her voice mixed with the cinnamon and sugar in the air?

This modern magical story is simply delicious.  Winstanley’s writing is gentle and strolling, building towards the story and throughout until it is neatly tied together by the end.  There is a sense of ease, of simplicity and of love throughout the entire book that is very comforting and warm. 

Nadeau’s illustrations have a modern feel to them with their bright mix of yellows and pinks against browns and grays.  At the same time, they feel timeless with the people riding bicycles, pushing prams, and the motif of curling wrought iron. 

This sweet story has the spice of cinnamon to keep it interesting and the warmth of bread baking to keep it filling.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.