XO, OX: A Love Story by Adam Rex

February 3, 2017January 31, 2017 | Tasha

XO, OX: A Love Story by Adam Rex, illustrated by Scott Campbell

A romantic ox writes a letter to a gorgeous gazelle professing his love for her. At first, he only receives form letters back, but Ox is determined. He commends her for how smart she must be to send two identical letters to him. Gazelle finally does reply in person, still aloof. The two begin a letter correspondence filled with Gazelle’s not-very-subtle insults to Ox and Ox returning only compliments. Gazelle insists that the letters have to stop, but Ox continues writing. He sees only humor in her replies. Finally Gazelle has had enough. Or has she?

Rex’s writing is a joy. Using only the letters they write as text in the book, he captures both animals’ personalities. Each is far more complex than they seem at first and just as they learn about each other in their letters, the readers learn about them as well. It would have been easy to set the Ox up as hero and the Gazelle as villain, but Rex is more subtle and skilled than that.

Campbell’s illustrations are done in watercolors and colored pencil. Just as with the letters, there is a wonderful difference between the illustrations of either animal. Ox is rather rougher and wears the same outfit in all of the illustrations. Gazelle changes outfits in almost every scene and is surrounded by opulence rather than the simplicity that surrounds Ox.

The joy of letter writing and receiving letters is captured in this picture book romance. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Heart to Heart by Lois Ehlert

February 2, 2017January 27, 2017 | Tasha

Heart to Heart by Lois Ehlert

Ehlert makes a picture book entirely from rebuses and puns that is completely endearing. Filled with the same bright graphics as the cover, this picture book is a small square size perfect for a gift or for little hands. Various fruits and vegetables make appearances in the puns, adding a yummy twist.

The simple premise of the book gets challenging unless you read the riddles out loud. Suddenly turnips and beans make sense in the sentences and everyone is sure to smile when the sentence is decoded. The playfulness here is as bright as the colors used in the illustrations.

This book is just right to share one-on-one with someone you love. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Harry and Clare’s Amazing Staycation by Ted Staunton

February 2, 2017January 26, 2017 | Tasha

Harry and Clare’s Amazing Staycation by Ted Staunton, illustrated by Mika Song

Released February 7, 2017.

Brother and sister, Harry and Clare, aren’t going anywhere for their spring break plus it’s raining. But they manage to visit exotic locales anyway, using their imaginations. Their living room turns into the volcanic surface of Mars. The next day they raced cars in the grocery store. The third day, they went to the local pool and Harry was forced to walk the plank. In fact, every day Clare decided on the game and then managed to eat Harry’s snack along with her own. As the week went by though, Harry started to plan a way to keep the snacks for himself and decide on the game.

The dynamics between these two siblings are wonderfully honest and accurate. The older sister who knows all and manages to be tricky too. The younger brother who loves the games that he plays with his sister at first and then slowly realizes that he wants some decision-making power too. The two children are the only real characters in the book with parents along the periphery but nothing more. Harry himself figures out the way to get his sister’s attention through food and then how to insert his own point of view into their play. It’s done gently and intelligently without drama.

Song’s illustrations embrace the imaginative play of the children, showing how a playground transforms into a jungle and a couch becomes the way to the volcano. The pictures have a playful lightness. The hair of the children is wonderfully wild, exactly the way that children’s hair really looks, particularly while on school break.

Perfect for your next staycation or any time that children are spending time at home, this picture book is exactly the snack kids will want. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley received from Netgalley and Tundra Books.

Brandon Sanderson’s Double Film Deal

February 1, 2017 | Tasha

Steelheart (Reckoners, #1) Firefight (Reckoners, #2)

Deadline Hollywood has the news that YA author, Brandon Sanderson has two film deals in the works. His series The Reckoners has been purchased by 20th Century Fox. The deal includes the first two books in the trilogy, Steelheart and Firefight.

The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey

February 1, 2017January 27, 2017 | Tasha

The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey

This Australian import is the first in a fresh new illustrated chapter book series. Wolf has decided that he’s tired of being a bad guy so he recruits three fellow baddies to his new gang where they do good deeds. But it’s not so easy for Shark, Piranha and Snake to give up their own ways, like eating meat and people. Their first mission for good is to rescue a kitten stuck in a tree, but what kitten wants to climb down if they see those big teeth smiling at them? Their next job is to rescue 200 dogs from the dog pound. It involves Shark dressing up as a little girl, Wolf making a great shot, and Piranha and Snake showing the dogs the way out. But the plan doesn’t quite work out they way they want it too either.

This book has the pep and feel of a comic book, filled with large fonts that add attitude to the pages and lots of illustrations. In fact, because of its many illustrations it will be a welcome early book for new chapter book readers who will love the humor as well as the pictures that nicely break up the text. There is a great zany energy to the entire book with one joke leading nicely to the next. The pacing is cleverly done with just enough time to catch your breath from laughing before the action starts again.

Blabey’s illustrations are a large part of that manic charm. They are hugely funny. Emotions are shown broadly and wildly on characters’ faces. The shark barely fits into the car and not without a bump out for the dome of his head. There are incidents of eating one another and being bashed against walls. Each one is hilarious and children will love the slapstick comedy of it all.

A funny delight, this illustrated chapter book will have young readers begging for the next in the series. I know I can’t wait! Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report

February 1, 2017January 31, 2017 | Tasha

This is the sixth biannual Kids & Family Reading Report that Scholastic has created. The 2016 survey was done in conjunction with YouGov. The surveys focus on family attitudes and behaviors around recreational reading.

Here are some of the findings that struck me. You can read the entire report here.

Children who are frequent readers have 141 children’s books in their homes vs. 65 books for kids among infrequent readers’ homes.
Households with income less than $35K only have an average of 69 children’s books vs. 127 books for kids in households with income more than $100K.
When looking for children’s books to read for fun, both kids (37%) and parents (42%) “just want a good story,” and a similar percentage want books that make kids laugh.
Parents of Hispanic children are more likely than parents of non-Hispanic children to look for books with characters who are culturally or ethnically diverse
The majority of kids ages 6–17 agree “it is very important for their future to be a good reader”
Parents underestimate the degree to which children have trouble finding books they like.
Despite conventional wisdom, six in 10 children ages 6–17 agree “I really enjoy reading books over the summer”
One in five 12–17 year-olds and one in five kids in lower-income families do not read any books at all over the summer.

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown

January 31, 2017January 27, 2017 | Tasha

Lesser Spotted Animals by Martin Brown

This book doesn’t include any koalas or bears or bison or tigers. Instead it’s full of mammals who tend to be ignored. In fact, I guarantee that there are animals here that you’ve never even heard of! All of them are amazing but for very different reasons. There’s the Cuban Solenodon, an insectivore with a poisonous bite. There’s the impossible to find and count Sand Cat who lives in the deserts of Africa and Central Asia. There’s the stinky Zorilla who can be smelled up to a mile away. Turning the pages of this book is a journey of discovery that is just right for any kid tired of the same old popular animals and up for a look at truly wild animals.

Brown’s tone in the book is masterful. He uses humor perfectly, creating moments of asides that made me guffaw aloud. This is one of the rare nonfiction animal books for children that you won’t mind reading aloud, even multiple times! It is full of fun facts, interesting tidbits and then that zing of humor that makes it entirely enjoyable. Brown picks his animals carefully, offering just the right amount of detail on each animal and then moving on merrily to the next.

Brown’s illustrations contribute to some of the best humor in the book. He uses images that are similar to mug shots of the various animals to show their similarities and differences to more familiar animals. He also uses comic-like speech bubbles and frames to create silly asides that add immensely to the appeal.

A delight of a nonfiction book about animals, here’s hoping that it’s the first in a series. Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Egg by Kevin Henkes

January 31, 2017January 27, 2017 | Tasha

Egg by Kevin Henkes

Henkes returns with another winner of a picture book. This time he uses a graphic novel format ideal for preschool picture book fans. The book is utter simplicity, using repetition to show each of the four eggs: one pink, one yellow, one blue and one green. At first they are whole, then three begin to crack. Soon three chicks have emerged! Still, the green egg stays whole and quiet. There is lots of waiting and the three chicks return to help the final egg start cracking open. Then they are the ones who get a surprise when the egg hatches!

Simple and completely wonderful, this picture book graphic novel is great fun to read. Children can help by repeating the phrases the right number of times along with the adult reader. There is a lovely rhythm created by the repetition, almost swinging along with the beat. The limited vocabulary is also welcome for new readers.

The art by Henkes stays simple as well. With firm lines and soft pastel colors, the book is ideal for springtime (or those of us dreaming of spring). Even the illustrations get in on the repetition, using similar panels to repeat as the different eggs wait, hatch and then wait once more.

Clever and warm, this is a very welcome addition for emergent readers and springtime story times. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

2016 Blue Ribbons

January 30, 2017January 27, 2017 | Tasha

The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books has announced their 2016 Blue Ribbons. These are books they consider the best of the year and wonderfully their list contains a lot of books that I haven’t seen on other ones. Here are the books that received ribbons:

FICTION

Afterward Anna and the Swallow Man