Author: Tasha

Break

| Tasha

Break by Hannah Moskowitz

Authored by a senior in high school, this debut novel would make a veteran author proud.  Jonah worries about a lot.  He worries about his parents, worries about the fact his baby brother cries all the time, but most of all he worries about his younger brother, Jessie, who is severe and life-threatening allergies.  After being hurt in a car accident, Jonah has started trying to break every bone in his body to make himself stronger.  He is helped by his best friend, Naomi, who films him breaking his bones.  As Jonah moves deeper and deeper into pain and breaking, the question is who is worrying enough about Jonah to help him.

The characterization here is nicely done, capturing the stress, fear and worry of being a teen as well as the dysfunction of mental illness.  Moskowitz also excels at dialogue, offering very authentic back and forth between the teens.  Jonah is a complex character, struggling with an affliction that he can’t admit to almost anyone and seeing himself though the lens of being normal. It creates a powerful dichotomy. The author also captures Jonah’s mental illness without alienating him from readers.

My only problem with the novel is the ending.  The first three-quarters of the book are taut and fascinating.  In the end, the novel starts to unravel losing its believability in action that never quite reaches a climax worthy of the previous writing.  That said, the book is still worth reading.

Start this book when you have time because it is very hard to put down.  An immersive experience that teens will really respond to, this novel is appropriate for 14-17 year olds.

To the Beach

| Tasha

To the Beach by Thomas Docherty

The great spirit of this book captures the fresh feeling of a boy making his own world out of a rainy day.  Some might think that a rainy day would not let you go to the beach, but that doesn’t slow him down at all.  In fact, the day is even more fun-filled than it may have been without the rain.  He has his swimsuit, goggles, snorkel, bucket, shovel, flippers, and inner tube.  So he takes an airplane, sailboat, truck and camel to reach the sand and the sea.  He plays at the beach and then heads back home.  Taking a tanker, helicopter, bike and tractor.  His next trip?  Perhaps something out of this world?

Each illustrations captures the exuberance of this child’s imagination.  Every new discovery is a joy, each mode of transportation an adventure.  It is impossible to read this book without a grin and chuckle.  The book will work well with small children, because of the ratio of illustration to words.  Sometimes a page has just a few words on it.  And children who enjoy trucks, tractors and other big kinds of transport will find a lot to love here.

A great start to a day of imagination or the end of one, this book is just right for playful 2-4 year olds.

Reviewed from library copy.

Let’s Do Nothing!

| Tasha

Let’s Do Nothing! by Tony Fucile

Frankie and Sal have done it all: played every sport, painted pictures, baked cookies, played board games, and read every comic book.  So they decide to do something they have never done before!  Nothing!  They try again and again to do nothing at all, but it doesn’t work.  When they pretend to be statues, Sal has to swat away the pigeons.  When they think of themselves as trees, Sal imagines that Frankie’s dog pees on him.  When they are tall buildings, Sal is scaled by King Kong.  In the end, they decide that they have to start doing something after all because it is impossible to do nothing.

The common problem of boredom is paired here with a sense of humor.  The two boys imagine themselves as different things, but Sal always has his glasses even as a tree or building.  The King Kong sequence is especially funny as sharp-eyed readers will spot the hand of Kong even as Sal reassures Frankie that he is doing great.  The relationship between the two boys is also very well done.  The boys are different as can be but their friendship is never in jeopardy in the book.   It is a great and subtly delivered message behind the action.

A rousing read aloud for any bored child, this book will refresh long summer days filled with free time.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Lori Calabrese Writes.

Max and the Dumb Flower Picture

| Tasha

Max and the Dumb Flower Picture by Martha Alexander with James Rumford.

This is Martha Alexander’s last book.  You have probably read some of her books, but to jar your memory she did the Blackboard Bear series.  This final book was completed from her unfinished manuscript and sketches by James Rumford. 

Max’s teacher Miss Tilley wants the class to color a picture of a rose for Mother’s Day.  Each child is given a sheet with the same rose copied on it, but Max knows that his mom would not want that for a present.  So Max refuses to color the sheet and runs from the room, hiding behind the bushes to create his own flower for his mother.  Everyone looks for Max, even the police, and when he is found he shows everyone his flower.  All of the children are inspired to create one of their very own, unique from everyone else’s.  Make sure to take time to look at the end pages filled with flowers drawn by Martha Alexander’s friends and family.

A simple story, well told and inspiring, this book will remind everyone that you don’t have to stay in the lines, don’t have to color a red rose like everyone else, and can create your own art and beauty.  Along the way, children who are happy to create their own art, stop.  They start following our rules, losing their creativity.  Suddenly skies are no longer orange and pink, cows are not purple, and clouds a fluffy in front of a corner sun.  This book is a small step towards fixing that and giving children back their own voice, odd, unusual and colorful.

I can see using this with adults working on creativity.  It reinforces that there is no right or wrong answer when being creative and expressive.  It is also a wonderful book for children who are just beginning to feel the pressure to stay in the lines.  Let’s all wander outside those lines and celebrate it!  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Magic Box

| Tasha

Magic Box by Katie Cleminson

On her birthday, Eva got a box!  A special box that she jumped into and became a magician.  Her first trick was to create a pet called Monty, who turns out to be an enormous polar bear.  Then she pulled rabbits out of hats.  Lots of rabbits.  She went on to make food, bring in musicians, and have a big party.  And in the end, she clicked her fingers and made everything disappear.  Almost everything.

First, let me say that I love seeing a girl magician who is not a witch.  That alone makes this book worth reading and having on library shelves.  Readers will also appreciate the beauty of imagination here on the page.  The illustrations use thick black lines which are then mixed with splashes and blots of color – imagination at work and visible.  The story is brief and powerful.  It is short enough to read aloud to young audiences but deep enough to spark discussion.

A lovely look at creativity with a large splash of magic, this book is certain to float right into readers hands.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope

| Tasha

A Child’s Garden: a story of hope by Michael Foreman

This story of a child’s world reduced to rubble and devastation is one that will ring true with children of war, and ring warning bells with children who have not witnessed it.  A young boy lives in ruins, separated from the green hills he loves by a fence.  In the rubble, he discovers a shoot of green which he nurtures.  It becomes a grapevine that covers the barbed wire fence, bringing butterflies and birds, and sheltering shade.  The soldiers tear down the vine, leaving it dead.  It isn’t until the next spring that the boy sees green sprouts on the other side of the fence and a little girl tending them.  Then green sprouts appear on his side of the fence, where both vines grow to cover the fence in between.

Told simply and with great respect, this slim picture book manages to evoke hope, growth, change and community.  Using imagery to make his case about war, Foreman has created a book that is accessible and profound.  What a great image of green vine covering stark wire, life absorbing death, connection replacing coercion.  At the same time, it can be read by small children as a vine, and a vine alone without losing much of its power and statement. 

Perfect for discussing peace and community with classes, this book naturally starts dialogue and questions about the world, our own prosperity, and violence.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Sacred Scars

| Tasha


Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey

I adored Skin Hunger when it came out, despite it’s precipitous ending.  Remember those debates?!

Now the second in the series has been released to help people recover from that ending.  And it picks up right where the last book left off, in the midst of the drama and tension.  The book has two interconnected story lines which are set 200 years apart.  Readers get to see the rediscovery of magic in one of the lines and the harsh reality of it in the other.  In both stories is Somiss, the aristocrat who struggles to find the key to magic and after finding it, runs a diabolical school to train young magicians.  Franklin, his servant, also appears in both story lines, as servant, unwilling helper, and magician.  At the heart of the stories is Sadima, who learns magic by reading Somiss’ documents and eavesdropping on his recitations.  She yearns to escape with Franklin, her love, and the street urchins they have kidnapped and caged.  But in this brutal world of magic, there are only desperate choices, evil around ever corner, and constant deception.

Nicely the novel manages to not rehash the first book at all, yet readers who have had a gap of a few years between the novels will find it offers just enough to allow you to remember the first novel.  Duey’s writing is gripping, tense, and engulfing.  She has created a world that is so dark, yet it has piercing moments of light, love and truth.  Duey excels at creating characters with depth and dimension, then immersing them into a twisted story.  It makes for a book that is not only impossible to put down but makes it difficult to breathe deeply while reading.

This novel is filled with violence.  Violence so shattering that it is hard to read, harder to process, and impossible to understand.  She is an author who pushes it to a new limit, daring the reader to read on, dancing on the knife’s edge.  All to great and dazzling effect.  She is an author I don’t trust to keep my favored characters alive.  In fact, I am constantly checking to see which of the stories is written in first person, hoping that guarantees survival.

Though I have used some of the most powerful words I have to describe this novel, it is far more dark, disturbing and taut than I can express.  Teens will love this world, react to its harshness, and eagerly await the third and final book in the series.  Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Happy Blogversary!

| Tasha

photo_11760_20090614

A huge thank you to everyone who reads and supports my blog.  I’ve been blogging for six years now! 

Originally this was a blog about children’s literature news, movies, etc.  Gradually it has turned into more of a review blog with small bits of news scattered amongst the reviews. 

Originally, I was a director of a tiny Wisconsin library – I am now a director of a mid-sized Wisconsin library. 

Originally, I was one of a handful of children’s lit bloggers – now I am so happy to be a part of the growing kidslitosphere.

Originally, I had a two-year-old and six-year-old – now my boys are 8 and 12.  Whew!  Now that time went too fast!

What has never changed is my amazement and joy that people read my blog.  So thank you.  It has been a pleasure to write about children’s books for this long for such an amazing group of readers. 

Kirkus Fall Preview

| Tasha

I love paging through glossy sheets of paper filled with tantalizing glimpses of upcoming titles!  Kirkus has a nice fall preview filled with debut authors and lots of adult fiction and nonfiction.  Head towards the end and you will find debut authors in children’s and YA along with some featured reads. 

I’m looking forward to Siobhan Dowd’s Solace of the Road, Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson.