Month: September 2013

Chaos Walking – The Movie

| Tasha

ChaosWalkingTrilogy_zps9f8951ee

Patrick Ness fans have even more to celebrate than his new book (which is amazing).  The Wrap says that Robert Zemeckis is in negotiations to direct a film version of Chaos Walking for Lionsgate studios. 

Ness wrote the Chaos Walking trilogy in such a cinematic way that it should come as no surprise that it has been optioned for a movie.  His writing is stellar and makes the entire world appear before your eyes.  Getting a director like Zemeckis would make this even more of a contender to be a success following Hunger Games.

Thanks to Book Riot for the heads up.

Review: Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

| Tasha

rooftoppers

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

Sophie was found floating in a cello case after a shipwreck, scooped out of the water by a fellow passenger, Charles, who became her guardian.  He was a single man and a scholar, and unlikely to be a suitable parent, but the two of them got along perfectly well.  The Welfare Agency did pursue the two of them and it finally got so bad that the two fled to Paris before Sophie could be sent to an orphanage.  Sophie knew that her mother was still alive although everyone else thought she was dead.  And her guardian always taught her to never ignore a possible.  So they searched Paris for her mother, following the clue she found in the cello case.  There she met Matteo, a boy who appeared in her skylight and led her to a world of the rooftops.  Together they search the roofs of Paris for the sound of her mother’s cello.  But how long can Sophie search before she is caught by the authorities?

Rundell writes so beautifully, it is impossible not to stop and linger over her phrases.  She uses unusual metaphors like “…he held her in his large hands – at arm’s length, as he would a leaky flowerpot…”  She also paints gorgeous images of her characters, “Think of nighttime with a speaking voice.  Or think how moonlight might talk, or think of ink, if ink had vocal chords.”  And she also vividly shows how characters think, “Mothers are a thing you need, like air, she thought, and water.  Even paper mothers were better than nothing – even imaginary ones.  Mothers were a place to put down your heart.  They were a resting stop to recover your breath.”  I could go on and on with quotes, since her entire novel is filled with moments like this.

Sophie and Charles are great characters, entirely unique and quirky.  At first they are living in a normal society where they don’t fit at all and the tension between them and normalcy is finely conveyed.  It is when she reaches the rooftops of Paris though that the book becomes pure quicksilver magic.  Impossible to put down, one wishes that they too could climb to the rooftops of Paris in the confident hands of Matteo, who is also a vivid and amazing character.

Profoundly original and filled with shining prose, this novel is a wondrous read.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.  Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster.

New Harry Potter Film Series

| Tasha

JK Rowling will be partnering again with Warner Bros to bring a new film series to the big screen.  The new series will be based on her Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book and will focus on the fictitious author of the book, Newt Scamander. The film will be set in New York, 70 years before the Harry Potter series. Rowling will be doing the screenwriting for the first time.

Fans can also expect a video game based on the book.

Advantages of Being a Reader–You Can Count on It!

| Tasha

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As reported by the BBC, a new study by the Institute of Education at London University looked at the reading habits of 6000 children.  The results show that reading for pleasure is more important to a child’s development than the education level of their parents. 

The conclusion was that because of their wider vocabulary due to reading, children did better across the curriculum.  Children who read more than once a week for pleasure had a 14.4% advantage in vocabulary, a 9.9% advantage in mathematics, and an 8.6% advantage in spelling. 

Perhaps most surprising is the correlation with mathematics where one might expect the vocabulary impact to be less.  Here is the explanation from the study’s author:

"It absolutely makes sense that you would expect reading for pleasure to improve children’s vocabularies.

"But I think that that also does improve children’s ability to take on new information and new concepts across the curriculum.

"A child who has a narrow vocabulary may constantly be coming across things they don’t understand."

Review: Foxy! by Jessica Souhami

| Tasha

foxy

Foxy! by Jessica Souhami

This North American version of a universal trickster tale is given a fresh but still classic take in this new picture book.  Foxy caught a bee and put it in a sack.  He met a woman with a rooster and asked her to look after his sack while he went to visit a friend, but insisted that she not look in the sack.  Of course, the woman did look in and the bee flew off.  So the Fox demanded her rooster in exchange.  This pattern continues with Foxy leaving the sack with another person and exchanging one animal for an even more large and tasty one.  Until he finally gets a little boy in his sack and meets up with a woman who understands how to trick a trickster.

Souhami incorporates rhythm and repetition into her story in a way that makes it a pleasure to read aloud.  Each new animal is gained in the much the same way with the structure carrying through from one to the next.  The result is a story that dances along with the wily fox, the readers able to settle into the traditional feel of the tale.

This would make a great choice for turning into storytelling, though it would be a shame to lose the bright and vibrant cut-paper illustrations seen here.  They have a great crispness to them that translates well to a group.

Perfection for reading aloud, this story is designed to be shared.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Thumpy Feet by Betsy Lewin

| Tasha

thumpy feet

Thumpy Feet by Betsy Lewin

Cat owners will immediately see their own cats in Thumpy Feet.  He spends his day playing, sleeping, cleaning himself, and hunting.  The book takes a very simple but also very playful look at this active cat.  Small children will see their own days of naps and play reflected in this book and will also be drawn in by the jaunty rhymes and bright illustrations. 

Lewin keeps the book very simple with her language.  Using phrases like “flippy flip” and “yawny yawn” makes this a story that is great fun to share aloud.  The simplicity of the subject also lends this to be used very successfully with small children.  Additionally, the illustrations are large, bright and simple. 

This book is perfect for toddlers and librarians will be happy to add this jolly book to their cat storytimes.  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Here I Am by Patti Kim

| Tasha

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Here I Am by Patti Kim

This wordless picture book is the story of a boy and his family coming to an American city.  The signs don’t make any sense, the crowds are huge.  It’s noisy and big and confusing.  In the boy’s pocket is a red object from home.  It reminds him of what he left behind whenever he holds it in his hand.  He spends a lot of time at home, not interacting with anyone until one day, he drops his keepsake out of the window where a girl picks it up.  The girl heads off and the boy follows her and along the way discovers the greener parts of the city, food he recognizes, and people who are friendly.  In the end, he’s planted himself firmly into this new place.

Told entirely in pictures, this wordless book is written by a person who lived through this experience when they came to America from Korea forty years ago.  The book has an honesty that runs through it and nicely shows the time that it takes for someone to even see the positive in a new place.  It addresses the overwhelming feeling of homesickness and the jarring loss of language that isolates.  Beautifully illustrated, this book is one that has intricate images that come together to form a cohesive and powerful whole.

A remarkable capturing of the immigrant story, this book will speak to those who are immigrants and will also help others understand what children from other countries are going through.  The choice to make it wordless makes it all the more useful with immigrant populations in our communities.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from digital galley received from NetGalley and Capstone Young Readers.

Review: Loula Is Leaving for Africa by Anne Villeneuve

| Tasha

loula is leaving for Africa

Loula Is Leaving for Africa by Anne Villeneuve

Loula has had enough of her mean triplet brothers and decides to run away.  She packs up her cat, tea set and best drawing.  She knows she wants to be far away from her brothers.  She announces to her parents that she is leaving for Africa, but neither of them seem concerned.  The only one who notices that she is running away is Gilbert, the family chauffeur.  Happily, Gilbert also knows just how to get to Africa.  It will involve riding camels, crossing a desert and taking a plane and a boat.  But most importantly, it also takes lots of imagination and one good friend.

Told with wonderful wit, this book starts out like many running away books and then takes a cheery turn.  Villeneuve tells the story with a light hand, allowing her illustrations to show the truth of what is happening while the text remains primarily dialogue.  The result is a book that has depth and creativity but reads quickly and effortlessly.

Villeneuve’s art evokes Madeleine and Babar somehow.  It has a timeless feel, swirls of watercolor.  One of the most effective images is the series of sky pictures as Gilbert and Loula sit along the river as the sun goes down.  The attention to color and the motionless pair next to each other capture those moments in life when all is perfection. 

A winner of a picture book, this is one that belongs in every running-away bag or bedtime stack.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from NetGalley and Kids Can Press.

Review: Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang

| Tasha

boxers saints

Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

Saints by Gene Luen Yang

These two incredible graphic novels tell the story of the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1898.  Boxers is told from the point of view of Little Bao, a young villager who has seen the foreign missionaries and soldiers take the ancient Chinese gods and beliefs and smash them apart.  Trained in kung fu by a wandering man and also introduced to a ritual to bring the ancient gods to life, Little Bao becomes the leader of a band of commoners who become instrumental in the rebellion.  Saints looks at the other side of the rebellion and is the story of Four-Girl, a daughter not even given a real name by her family.  She finds a place for herself in Christianity, at first only attending the teachings because of the cookies but eventually finding a new name and new identity as Vibiana.  Her faith makes her a target and both Vibiana and Little Bao have to find the extent of their beliefs and what they are willing to sacrifice for them.  There are no easy answers here, no right and wrong, there are only choices in the middle of violence.

Yang has created two books that must be read together to get a full picture of the history.  Both books are one-sided, showing only the point of view of the rebels or the Christians.  At the same time, they are both balanced against one another, showing the violence on both sides, the hubris, and the faith.  They also both capture a young individual caught up in history and questioning their own choices.

As always, Yang has written a compelling book.  His art is strong and his story arcs are well developed.  I found Boxers to be the more interesting of the two with the Chinese gods and the question of being in control of that amount of violence.  Saints to me is a necessary foil to Boxers but lacks its depth.  That said, Boxers is one of the more compelling graphic novels I have read for tweens, so Saints had a lot to live up to. 

Highly recommended, this graphic novel duo has a place in every library collection.  Its violence and questions about faith, duty and responsibility make it a good choice for teens and tweens.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from digital galleys received from NetGalley and First Second.