Month: August 2012

Review: Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

| Tasha

wumbers

Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

I love puzzle games and this book is like reading a puzzle game.  The concept is to mix numbers and words to form something entirely new.  The book cre8tes a gr8 way to interact with children, who will happily call out the answers.  My 11-year-old happily curled up with me and helped decipher the puzzles on each page.  The book is made up of a series of different situations rather than a flowing storyline, which makes the puzzles all the more enjoyable.  As the book progresses, the wumbers do get more difficult to figure out, resulting in plenty of groans of appreciation as we read the book.

This would make a 1derful writing exercise for students to a10mpt, since it’s a lot more difficult than it first appears.  It’s not a book to share with a large group, but rather one to cozily figure out together with one or two children.  Lichtenheld’s illustrations are great fun, adding context to the puzzles and a lightness too. 

Perfect for children who enjoy word puzzles or as a jumping off point for a fun writing exercise, this book is sure to el8 young readers.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg

| Tasha

laugh with the moon

Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg

After her mother dies, Clare’s father takes her to Malawi where he had worked as a young doctor.  Clare is determined to never speak to her father again.  She has lost not just her mother, but her best friend and the potential for her first boyfriend at school.  Now she is stuck in Africa where there is little hot water, mosquito netting over the bed, and monkeys screaming outside.  As Clare starts to relax into life in Africa, she begins to make incredible friends at her new school.  Memory, a girl from the local village, quickly becomes her closest friend.  Memory too has lost her mother, though the girls don’t speak of their losses together.  Memory makes sure that Clare has things that she can eat, explains the school day to her, and even warns her of the bully in class.  As Clare faces her new school with its new language, visiting chickens, and scurrying insects, her relationship with her father starts to get better.  Clare still has big issues to face, including teaching English, putting together a play, and another large loss in her life.

Burg truly brings Malawi to life with its strong culture, the stark differences between America and Africa, and the warmth of the people.  Her writing is an invitation to explore Africa.  She celebrates both the differences in cultures and the universal aspects of life, filling the book with details that paint a full picture. 

Clare is a complex character, grieving from the loss of her mother, at first she seems remote and difficult to relate to.  Happily, she soon grows past that, becoming a vivacious personality with opinions and skills.  Her art forms a connection between her and other people who may not speak the same language, but it is her open personality that does the rest. 

The book would make a good choice for reading aloud in a classroom setting since it explores so many themes and topics.  There is plenty to discuss from death and grieving to dealing with living in another part of the world.  The glorious cover will get this moving from the shelf into young hands directly too.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Delacorte Press.

Jean Merrill Dies

| Tasha

Author of one of my favorite children’s books of my childhood, The Pushcart War, Jean Merrill has died at age 89.  The Pushcart War was a breakfast-table book for my family.  I believe we read it at least twice during breakfast, as my mother’s strategy to keep us from fighting while waiting for the bus. 

Merrill wrote more than 30 books for children, though this is the only one that I’ve read.  I’d recommend it as a great book to share with the generation of Occupy Wall Street.

Review: All by Myself by Emile Jadoul

| Tasha

all by myself

All by Myself by Emile Jadoul

Leon is potty trained, but at night he still wants his parents to help him get to the bathroom.  So when he has to use the bathroom, he calls to his parents from his bed and waits for them to take him to the potty.  Then the next morning, his parents are exhausted.  So his mommy tells him that big boys go to the potty by themselves at night.  Leon decides to try it.  So that night when he has to use the potty, he climbs out of bed.  He considers calling his mother…but ends up going all by himself!  Then comes the clever bit at the end that I won’t spoil, but that makes the book all the more enjoyable to read.

Jadoul perfectly captures the later part of the pottying process, when there is still a little help to be given.  Told in very simple words, it is a quiet story of a loving family.  The writing level is just right for preschool children to enjoy.  The ending twist will have everyone giggling too.

The art in the book is done in black pencil and oil paints.  The rough darkness of all of the penguins plays nicely against the finer lines of the backgrounds in the story.  The addition of the little purple teddy bear emphasizes the youth of the main character and his need for security.

This book will nicely encourage almost-trained children to continue to do things on their own.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

This Week’s Tweets and Pins

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter and Pinterest accounts that you might find interesting:

You can also check out the library and e-book related tweets and pins of this week on my Sites & Soundbytes blog.

74 Books to Read if You Love the Hunger Games http://buff.ly/PwK7YN #yalit

The Best of the Young Adult ‘B-Sides’: Suzanne Collins, Markus Zusak, and More – Entertainment – The Atlantic http://buff.ly/OJfi4A #yalit

Best Young Adult Novels, Best Teen Fiction, Top 100 Teen Novels : NPR http://buff.ly/OKJBuy #yalit

Children’s book illustrator attacked in Mass. home – Wire Entertainment – The Sacramento Bee http://buff.ly/QBWzLJ

Chris Colfer to release his first young-adult novel ‘Struck by Lightning’ | Shelf Life |http://EW.com http://buff.ly/OYJCJ1 #yalit

Emma Barnes’s top 10 books with wolves | Children’s books | http://guardian.co.uk http://buff.ly/MC8vxX #kidlit

Family favourite picture books – in pictures | Children’s books | http://guardian.co.uk http://buff.ly/OL1Ik2 #kidlit

‘Infinity Ring’ is a 7 book series by James Dashner with an online game too –http://buff.ly/MC8iuw #kidlit

Preschool children who can pay attention more likely to finish college http://buff.ly/OJehtl

Rebecca Stead and ‘Liar and Spy’: A Kids Book Author Takes On Bullying – Speakeasy – WSJ http://buff.ly/ON7jE0 #kidlit

A Treasure Trove of Edward Gorey by Eve Bowen | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books http://buff.ly/Mdl811

What Grown-Ups Can Learn From Kids’ Books – Maria Konnikova – The Atlantic http://buff.ly/OHhDjf #kidlit

What’s Your Favorite Line from a Children’s Picture Book? « The Happiness Project http://buff.ly/MxsP3y #kidlit

Why Do Female Authors Dominate Young-Adult Fiction? – Meghan Lewit – The Atlantic http://buff.ly/MxWsS9 #yalit

Review: Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

| Tasha

cardboard

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

What’s the worst birthday present ever?  It just might be the cardboard box that Cam’s father had to give him.  Cam’s dad can’t find work, his mother is dead, and his family is falling apart.  But Cam is still optimistic about the fun the two of them can have together building things from cardboard.  Little does he know that the cardboard things they create are about to come to life!  There are rules that come with the magical cardboard.  Gather all of the scraps that are unused and return them to the man who gave Cam’s dad the cardboard.  Unfortunately, the local bully finds out that Cam has something worth taking away and starts to create an army of cardboard monsters.  What will it take for Cam and his dad to fix the misuse of magical cardboard?

TenNapel’s graphic novel is pure maniacal genius.  He takes a universal thing like playing with cardboard and makes it first pure magic and then dark and sinister.  He also carries the story to the extreme, refusing to back away and take an easier approach.  It makes for a riveting graphic novel that will have plenty of kid-appeal.  My only quibble is that the side story of the father’s romantic interest in the neighbor lady does not add to the story.

Because I am reviewing an advanced copy of the book, I don’t have it in the full color throughout.  The pages I do have are a mix of sandy tan, zips of red, deep purples with plenty of shadows in black.  He plays with angles and points of view, creating an entire world of cardboard before he is finished. 

This is a darker comic for kids, something that children will appreciate and gobble up.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Review: Lucy Can’t Sleep by Amy Schwartz

| Tasha

lucy cant sleep

Lucy Can’t Sleep by Amy Schwartz

Lucy is in bed, but she just can’t fall asleep.  First, she tries counting sheep and other animals, but that doesn’t work.  So she climbs out of bed, puts on a sweater, stretches and wiggles.  Then she heads out of her room to try and find her doll and bear.  There they are in a chair downstairs.  Lucy then heads to the kitchen and rummages in the fridge for a snack.  She finds chocolate pudding and strawberry shortcake.  Everything is very quiet in her house.  Outside there is a squeaky door, a porch swing, and a radio playing.  Then Lucy’s dog appears and they head inside.  But Lucy isn’t quite ready for bed yet.

There is something old-fashioned and infinitely gentle about this book.  Lucy’s parents never awaken to find her out of bed, instead she putters around on her own with no fear of the dark, of the quiet or of being alone.  There is a great feeling of safety in this book with nothing startling or alarming in the least.  It is a welcome difference from many picture books.

Schwartz’s writing is done in stanzas with repetition and rhythm making it into a poem.  This makes it a great book for toddlers.  Her art is filled with small details of Lucy’s life and home.  It is all about warmth, familiarity and the small touches that mark a family’s life. 

Safe, sweet nighttime adventures will have young listeners enjoying Lucy and her escapades out of bed.  It will also make a nice addition to bedtime stories and story times.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Review: The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

| Tasha

girl with borrowed wings

The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

This is a stunning debut novel that will have your heart beating fast for many reasons.  Frenenqer was created in the brain of her father, the perfect girl.  So she tries to be exactly that for him by following his long list of rules about how to hold her fork, close doors silently, and never embarrass the family.  But she can also feel the absence of wings on her back, as if she had been meant to have them all along but instead she has the pressure of her father’s finger there.  Her life is lonely and dull, not even allowed to walk outside on her own in the oasis where they live surrounded by desert.  Everything changes though when she rescues the dying cat in the market, against her father’s wishes.  That dull lump of fur turns out to be a boy who can shapeshift, who can fly and who can show her new worlds and remembered places.  As their relationship grows into something beyond friendship, Frenenqer has to face her own life of isolation and her part in her father’s controlling ways.

Rossetti’s writing is magnificent.  She creates such a sense of claustrophobia in Frenenqer’s life, such a world of stifling expectation, lack of humanity and perfectionism.  That feeling is amplified by the setting of the oasis, limiting even further her options of a different sort of life.  When her rescuer arrives he represents breaking those rules, throwing them aside, and a freedom that she had never dreamed of.  Here is where Rossetti makes a choice that sets her book apart from others.  Frenenqer does not tumble easily into that freedom, she fights it, struggles with it, and almost rejects it.  And it all makes wonderful sense.

Frenenqer is a unique character.  She is a mix of world traveler and solitary reader.  She yearns for freedom and shuns it.  She longs to be touched but rejects that too.  She is shown love of a new sort and doesn’t know what to do with it.  She is beyond brave but also terrified.  She is certainly abused mentally by her father, ignored by her mother, but also defies them in small ways that show you she is not cowed by them yet.  She is pure and lovely complexity that works.

Beautifully written, wonderfully sculpted, this novel is a fresh look at fantasy from a new author.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

| Tasha

scariest thing of all

The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

This story of a very frightened young rabbit is uplifted by the marvelous illustrations.  Pip was a very little rabbit and had a huge list of things that he was scared of.  The list included rain because it reminded him of the sound a leggy wiggler makes in its web, bubbles in the water reminded him of a gobbler hiding at the bottom of the pond, and tree stumps were like the teeth of a giant wood troll.  He exhausted himself because he was so worried and frightened all the time.  He was so tired he fell fast asleep until dinnertime.  When he woke up, he heard a dreadful Raaar! Pip ran and ran, as far away from the sound as he could.  Finally, he stopped deep in the woods.  He saw a scary thing nearby, and heard the sound again.  Pip was going to have to be brave and smart to figure out what was making that horrible noise.

Gliori’s story of a small rabbit who is afraid of almost everything will resonate with children.  The ending has Pip becoming a much braver rabbit.  The book does conclude a bit too quickly and neatly.  Gliori spends much of her story developing the depths of fear and panic that Pip is living with.  All of that plays out very strongly, creating a firm foundation for the story. 

The art here really makes this picture book special.  It moves from the sunny warmth of Pip’s family and home to the dark blueness of a woods at night.  Throughout the woods scenes there is an incredible blue moon rising above him, giving a haunted feel to those pages that is marvelously chilling. 

This would make a great pick for a preschool Halloween story time because it has monsters and creepy things but won’t frighten.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.