Day: May 28, 2015

2015 Boston Globe – Horn Book Award Winners

| Tasha

School Library Journal has the news of the winners of the 2015 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. Here are the winners:

PICTURE BOOK AWARD WINNER

The Farmer and the Clown

The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee

PICTURE BOOK HONORS

It's Only Stanley Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters

It’s Only Stanley by Jon Agee

Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

 

FICTION AWARD WINNER

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms

Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell

FICTION HONORS

Egg & Spoon Challenger Deep

Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

 

NONFICTION AWARD WINNER

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia

The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming

NONFICTION HONORS

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club Brown Girl Dreaming

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip Hoose

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Review: Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) by Josh Schneider

| Tasha

Everybody Sleeps But Not Fred by Josh Schneider

Everybody Sleeps (But Not Fred) by Josh Schneider

Every type of animals has to sleep whether on the farm or in the jungle or underwater, but not Fred. Fred has far too much to do to sleep at all. Fred has to do his important jumping. He has to break the world shouting record. He has to test his horn collection. He has so much to do, much to the chagrin of the sleepy animals around him who keep getting startled from his activities. It isn’t until parents start to read poetry to get children to fall asleep that Fred too succumbs to slumber. Now it’s up to young readers to be quiet enough to keep from waking Fred up and starting it all over again.

Schneider writes in rhyme, jaunty and confident. He invites readers to see different habitats for the animals as they snore and snooze. The pacing is deftly done in this book, allowing a slow build up to each activity that then becomes zany and silly. It’s that dichotomy of pace that makes for a book that is a joy to share aloud and one that will make any bedtime a lot more fun.

Also adding to the fun are the impeccable illustrations. They are complete irreverent and silly, with sleeping pigs with tattooed bottoms, monsters who brush their teeth, monkeys in tutus, and a toucan who appears throughout in unexpected places. The illustrations are worth spending lots of time with since they are filled with small details. Many of the animals continue to subsequent pages along with Fred, joining in his adventures.

Smart, funny and a great bedtime story, this picture book will amuse even the most resistant sleepyhead. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

| Tasha

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (InfoSoup)

Released June 9, 2015.

The bestselling author of the Shopaholic series has released her first novel for teens. Audrey stays at home all of the time wearing dark glasses and unable to look into anyone’s eyes except for her four-year-old brother’s. After a horrible bullying incident, Audrey has had to put her life slowly back together. Now her therapist wants her to start making a documentary film about her family and also to get out of the house and meet people. But how can Audrey do that when just the sight of one of her older brother’s friends in the house is enough to send her running away? As Audrey makes slow progress with her anxiety disorder, her family is struggling too. Her mother is obsessed with getting her brother off of computer games even though he’s prepping for a gaming tournament. Her father is focused on his Blackberry and work all of the time. Audrey begins to realize the impact of her disorder on her family, but could she push herself to get better too quickly?

Firmly set in Britain, this book will appeal to Anglophile readers. Audrey’s anxiety disorder is shown with great humanity but also with humor. The book has a natural cadence to it, a pacing that is slow but steady and where readers will realize the progress that Audrey is making before she does. This natural feel works very well for a book about recovery and even when Audrey starts to push things too fast, the results feel organic and honest. I must also mention how well this also works for the romantic piece of the book. That too feels real and it makes the connection between the two characters all the more believable and lovely.

The characters here are particularly well done. From Audrey who is the voice of the novel and who is struggling to her entire family who all deal with the stress in their own way. Each person is unique and it is their mix of family warmth and striking out at one another that makes this book work so well. Filled with humor, the book is very funny making it one of the lightest and easiest to read books about anxiety that I’ve ever read. Teens who enjoy books about issues will be surprised to see how well a lighter tone works when dealing with very serious issues.

Refreshing and funny this book will delight teen readers who will hope that Audrey will return for another book. Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Delacorte Books for Young Readers and Edelweiss.