The director of Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson, has been signed to direct Larklight, based on the book by Philip Reeve. This steampunk book will be one of the first YA books of the genre adapted to film by a major studio. Another to keep your eye on.
Thanks to /Film for the news.
Baby Baby Baby! by Marilyn Janovitz
A board book filled with a jaunty rhythm and fun rhymes, this is a book that the littlest ones are going to love (and so will their grown ups!) The book starts with action and movement, like clapping hands, dancing feet, and crawling away. It then moves into preparation for bedtime with a bubbly bath, laughs, and some peek-a-boo. Oh, and a little chasing of the cat too. Then it slows down into hugs, sleeping and kisses.
Though the rhythm stays the same all the way through, it can be read with plenty of action and then moves gracefully into the quieter moments. The verse is engaging and fun, matching well with the illustrations which are filled with color and pattern. Plenty of bright colors also transition at the end to more pastels, making the quiet part that much more soothing.
A very cute board book to share with a toddler or baby story time or to have at home to enjoy again and again. Appropriate for ages 1-3.
Reviewed from copy received from Sourcebooks.
The Memory Bank by Carolyn Coman, illustrated by Rob Shepperson
Hope Scroggins lives with her little sister, Honey, and her neglectful and uncaring parents. Perfectly horrible people! One day when they are out in the car, Honey laughs out loud and doesn’t stop. So her parents leave her behind on the side of the road. The only thing that Hope can do is watch out of the back window. Her parents order her to forget her sister, but she can’t. Instead Hope starts to sleep more and more, retreating to a dream world. Readers don’t have to fret about Honey. Her part of the story is shown in wordless pictures, showing her being rescued from the side of the road almost immediately by a truckload of children. Hope receives the first letter she ever had which summons her to The Memory Bank. She is picked up and taken there where she discovers a place where memories and dreams are stored like treasures. She has not been making enough new memories and has been creating too many dreams, so her account is imbalanced, but they had never expected her to be a child! As Hope spends time at the Memory Bank with its band of interesting characters, she starts to remember more and more about Honey. Perhaps even enough to find Honey again!
Coman has created a book in the vein of Roald Dahl where the adults tend to be either horrible humans or wonderful adoring people. This is a new book that reads like a classic. It has a timelessness about it as well as a winning combination of fantasy and reality. Coman’s world building at the Memory Bank is wonderful, each new area revealing itself to the love-starved Hope like its own treasure.
I have an Advanced Reader Copy of this book, so I don’t have all of the finished illustrations. The ones that are finished have a grace to them. Done in black and white, they too hearken back to classic children’s books. Shepperson manages to tell all of Honey’s story with his illustrations, making sure that readers know that not only is Honey safe, but her life is pretty sweet too.
This book cries out to be shared aloud with Dahl fans and others who are looking for a book with a little zest, plenty of creativity and lots of dreams and memories. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.
The Familiars will become an animated film. The director is Academy Award winner, Doug Sweetland who won the award for his short film, Presto. Sweetland is a veteran Pixar animator, having worked on films like The Incredibles and Cars. The authors will be writing the screenplay. Definitely one to keep your eye on!
Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival by Grace Lin
Join a Chinese-American family as they head out into the night to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. They bring a night-time picnic and set up the moon-honoring table. There are glowing lanterns and tea to drink. There are also special mooncakes to munch. Then everyone thanks the moon for bringing them together and make secret wishes. This will have every child wishing that they could celebrate the Moon Festival too.
A gentle and simple story, Lin offers a glimpse of Chinese heritage in this picture book. With just one or two lines of text per double page spread, she invites readers to the picnic and the celebration. Her illustrations are jewel-toned and delightful. She fills the night time sky with swirls and plays with other patterns throughout as well. From the plate to the tea cups to clothing and lanterns, everything has a touch of pattern to catch the eye.
This short, simple book concludes with some additional information on the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival that will answer any questions that readers may have. Lin has once again created a book that is inviting, interesting and culturally fascinating. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Reviewed from copy received from Random House.
Also reviewed by:
The Properties of Water by Hannah Roberts McKinnon
Released October 26, 2010
For Lace, the lake she has grown up living on has been an integral part of her childhood and her life. All of the seasons of the lake, as well as the sounds and smells of it, are the background to her days. When her older sister, Marni, is injured jumping into the lake from a height, Lace is unable to return to her beloved lake or even to the city’s swimming pool. Lace works to continue having some order to her life, but her mother is hours away caring for her sister, her father is grieving himself, and her grandparents dart in and out of her summer. There is the new family care giver, Willa Dodge, but Lace sees her as an invader and perhaps even a thief. One happy part of her summer is that an older boy is paying attention to her. As Lace faces her first summer without her older sister, she begins to realize that everything has changed and she can do very little to repair any of it.
Written with a clear voice, this book has lustrous prose that makes Lace’s struggles come beautifully to life.
To show the author’s skill with words, I have to share one passage, though there were many to choose from:
He sinks on the bench beside me, and we sit, shoulder to shoulder, like two battered bookends holding up all the sadness in the world. This time I put my arm around him, and Cinder wedges under the bench beneath us, his black fur collecting our tears like gemstones.
This is a book about grief and the horrible time when grieving seems like the wrong thing to be doing, but forward motion is impossible too. It is the story of a loving, devoted family torn apart by an accident. It is Lace’s story and the lake’s story. It is about the power of nature, the horror of brain injury, and the healing powers of time and love (as well as a great dog).
This very short book by today’s standards is a small jewel. It is dazzling as it shows emotions so thoroughly that it is like readers are experiencing it themselves. Her prose is deep and radiant, but never leaves a young reader puzzling. Rather her images are taken straight from the world of the lake, of summer and of sadness.
Highly recommended, this book is a great choice for tweens who will understand everything that Lace is feeling. Appropriate for ages 11-13.
Reviewed from ARC received from Farrar Straus Giroux.
The Children’s Book Guild has awarded the 2011 Nonfiction Award to Kathleen Krull. Author of nonfiction books that are such fun to read as well as well-researched and fascinating. No one quite mixes the humor of life with nonfiction as Krull does. I am looking forward to her new titles too!
Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates
Dog loves everything about books. He loves their smell, their feel. In fact, he loved them enough to open a bookstore. He worked hard to prepare for the Grand Opening, but when he threw the door open no one was there. Some people do come in, but they aren’t interested in buying books. Dog was all alone with his books. So what’s a Dog to do? Read the books to pass the time! So he doesn’t even notice that he’s alone anymore, but when a real customer is ready to buy a book, he is more than ready.
Yates has created a simple but spirited picture book that captures the love of books perfectly. Her writing is brief and child-friendly, telling a complete tale in just a few words. Her illustrations tell the rest of the story, including the mood of Dog who moves from great exuberance to near despair, his posture along showing his emotions. Nicely, the moments that Dog loses himself in stories are shown in double-page spreads with full backgrounds while the real life moments are shown in rounded illustrations with white space surrounding them. This change again demonstrates the appeal of reading without ever becoming didactic about it.
A simple and cheerful book, this is one to add to your own book pile and share with other book lovers. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Reviewed from copy received from Random House.
Also reviewed by:
Mimi Loves to Mimic by Yih-Fen Chou, illustrated by Chih Yuan Chen
Mimi Says No by Yih-Fen Chou, illustrated by Chih Yuan Chen
These two books capture the essence of being a toddler and the ups and downs of their days.
In Mimi Loves to Mimic, Mimi copies whatever the grownups in her family are doing. She throws things away, puts on lipstick, plays the trumpet, makes “soup” and even shushes people. When Mimi kisses her mother after being kissed, the other adults share some kisses too. Just like Mimi.
In Mimi Says No, Mimi does the classic toddler trick of saying no to absolutely everything. She wants to dress herself, pour her own milk, walk alone, and slide down the slide on her own. But when she ends up getting hurt a little, she finds her own way to get a hug from her mother.
Chou’s words are brief and simple. Yet they have a wonderful rhythm to them, refrains that repeat, and a steady structure that toddler will enjoy. Chen’s art may have readers wondering just what kind of creature Mimi is, but that only lasts for moments before the story pulls you in. The art is friendly, clear and very child friendly. Children will see themselves in the picture books, but they are not here to teach lessons. Rather they are a celebration of toddlerhood itself.
These books have been translated into 14 languages from their original Chinese. Their appeal is universal and will surely find a place in American toddler’s reading. Appropriate for ages 2-3.
Reviewed from copies received from Independent Publishers Group.
