Book Reviews

Rose and the Wish Thing by

| Tasha

Rose and the WIsh Thing by Caroline Magerl

Rose and the Wish Thing: A Journey of Friendship by Caroline Magerl (InfoSoup)

This gentle picture book tells the story of a girl who has moved to a new home. When she looked out her window one night, she made wish. But the wish thing did not come. Rose could not be comforted when the wish thing did not respond. Nothing worked to calm her. Her entire family searched for the wish until they came to the sea. That is when they saw the box floating on the water. In that box, was the wish thing: a thing of tiny stitches and a red glass heart. And that is what let Rose head outside of her new house and make friends.

This Australian import has a gorgeous softness to it in both images and text. The story is warm and nurturing with a large family trying to comfort Rose, a rambling house with a garden, and a big furry dog. It is also a lovely strange tale that is not straight forward, but meanders a bit, travels a lot, and finds something special along the way. Magerl’s language is noteworthy too:

The evening tide came with gentle fingers to roll over the crabs and rock the stones.

The illustrations are soft and detailed. The fine ink lines are colored with watercolors which makes them both detailed and gorgeously nuanced in color. Pages of Rose and her family are alternated with illustrations of the wish thing’s journey to Rose. There is plenty of drama along the way.

A warm and gentle look at loneliness and how it can be transformed. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley received from Penguin Random House and Edelweiss.

Abracadabra, It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O’Brien

| Tasha

Abracadabra Its Spring by Anne Sibley OBrien

Abracadabra, It’s Spring by Anne Sibley O’Brien, illustrated by Susan Gal (InfoSoup)

Through a series of large flaps, this picture book demonstrates the transformation from late winter into spring. From the very first page, snow melts away to show bare ground as rabbits watch in wonder. Green shoots become crocuses. Bare branches burst into soft pussy willows. Birds fly, nests are built, eggs hatch. Even children change their clothes and head outside into the warm day. This is a magical way to introduce small children to the wonder of seasonal change.

The gatefold flaps in this book are sturdily built and are the size of the full page, thus less likely to rip and tear. The entire book focuses on magical words, each one leading to opening the flap and revealing an amazing transformation as spring arrives. The effect works really well with the poetic wording of the book also adding to the wonder on the page. The rhyming is done well and the vocabulary while child friendly will also allow some growth for small children.

The illustrations by Gal have a gorgeous natural feel to them. They were done with charcoal and digital collage which keeps the roughness of the paper and charcoal and adds the feeling of watercolor or other paints. It’s very effective and captures the ethereal nature of spring as it passes.

Bright and engaging, this picture book will be a great pick for springtime story times. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly

| Tasha

The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly

The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly (InfoSoup)

When Sol and her little sister Ming moved from the Philippines to the United States, they knew their lives were going to change. But they didn’t realize that they would be abandoned by their father and stuck living with Vea, their mean stepmother in a tiny apartment in Louisiana. Now five years later, Sol manages to escape her stepmother’s cruelty by escaping into stories, particularly when she is sent to the closet when she has done something wrong. She shares the stories with her little sister and Ming has now started to believe in their mythical Aunt Jove and expects her to arrive to rescue them. As Ming’s hope grows, Sol despairs of their lives ever improving at all, but friendship comes from unexpected places and may be the answer to their hopes and dreams.

Kelly, author of Blackbird Fly, has created another great novel for children. In this book, she beautifully captures the complexity of the lives of some children where their families have been turned upside down through death and abandonment and they are left with those who don’t love them at all. It is a book about hope as well, about the power of stories to create new realities and the radiance of hope even in the bleakest of times.

Particularly notable in this novel is Kelly’s willingness to tell a very sad story, one filled with loss and betrayal and still one that is very appropriate for children. Sol herself reflects on the sadness of her story and her new friend:

What gloomy tales we had, I thought. I wondered what we’d look like to someone passing by. Two twelve-year-old girls – one so white she looked like a ghost and the other so dark she looked like the fields – sitting on milk crates and telling sad, sad stories in the hot, hot sun.

These are stories of poverty, of spending time on the streets to get out of the misery of your home. The novel dazzles with its truth and honesty of children who shine despite the darkness in their lives.

A powerful novel of stories and hope and how they can be used to overcome the darkness that life contains. Appropriate for ages 10-12.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Before I Leave by Jessixa Bagley

| Tasha

Before I Leave by Jessixa Bagley

Before I Leave by Jessixa Bagley (InfoSoup)

The author of Boats for Papa returns with another poignant picture book. Hedgehog’s family is moving away. They are packing boxes and getting ready to leave. Hedgehog and her best friend Anteater decide to spend one last time playing together. They act as if nothing is changing at all, playing on the swings, heading out in the boat, sharing ice cream and enjoying their forts. Hedgehog is scared to leave and saying goodbye is very sad. But once she reaches her new home, Anteater is still right there in her memories.

Bagley has an incredible way with telling touching stories. Her deftness with these tender moments is all about the balance of emotion with not overplaying it into sentimentality. In this picture book, she balances the angst of moving with the idea that best friends can survive moving apart. While there is real emotion in leaving there is also a light of hope at the end that is so beautifully timed that it shines.

Bagley’s animal characters are pure bundles of personality, demonstrating emotions clearly, sometimes sulking and sad and other times bouncing in happiness. Her world is filled with color and her illustrations range from pages filled with details to smaller discreet moments. The interplay between the two work very well as the characters form memories with one another.

A lovely book about moving away from a best friend, this book handles the subject with gentleness and pure heart. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

The Secret Subway by Shana Corey

| Tasha

The Secret Subway by Shana Corey

The Secret Subway by Shana Corey, illustrated by Red Nose Studio (InfoSoup)

Released March 8, 2016.

This amazing nonfiction picture book takes a look at New York in the 1860s and the lack of options for transportation on the crowded and dirty streets. Everyone knew that something needed to be done, but no one could agree on exactly what that was. Then Alfred Ely Beach had an idea to build a railroad powered by forced air. Beach knew though that he couldn’t propose to create a railroad under the streets, so instead he proposed that he’d build a tube to carry mail. Even Boss Tweed agreed with the plan. So Beach set to work creating a railroad to carry people and not mail. But it was not going to be as easy as just building the machine. He still had Boss Tweed and above ground politics to deal with!

Corey writes with great energy in this picture book. While nonfiction and historical, the book is fascinating and one immediately roots for Beach as he begins to plan and then dig under New York City. The slow digging under the earth is tantalizingly told. Then the rush of opening and the speed of the train are offered with a breathless tone and fast pace. The ending is sad but also hopeful, since everyone knows that air-driven trains are not the way subways were designed. There is a feeling of remembrance at the end, of one man’s amazing dream that led to other opportunities to tunnel under New York City.

It is always a joy to see work by Red Nose Studios. The book opens with a look at how the illustrations are done with figures made from wire and foam and then polymer clay for the faces. There is such attention to detail throughout with the gorgeous tube-shaped subway car appearing like magic. Done with serious flair for the dramatic and a great sense of style, this picture book’s illustrations are noteworthy and wonderful.

A great pick for fans of machines and inventions, this is also a book just right for dreamers of all sorts. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley received from Penguin Random House and Edelweiss.

Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! by Mike Twohy

| Tasha

Oops Pounce Quick Run by Mike Twohy

Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! by Mike Twohy (InfoSoup)

This fast-paced picture book is built entirely around the alphabet with one word per page. The book starts with a mouse happily “Asleep” in his chair when in comes a “Ball.” Soon a “Dog” is poking his nose into the mouse hole and putting his “Eye” up to it to peek inside. Then the chase is on filled with jumping around the “Kitchen” and “Living room.” The mouse eventually returns the ball to the dog in a wrapped present and the two happily fall fast asleep side by side.

The appeal of this picture book is in its zany energy level that keeps the pace flying along. The chase is a merry one throughout filled with moments of slapstick comedy. It has a sort of Tom and Jerry feel to the entire book made all the more fun by the alphabetic structure of the tale. Simple and fast-paced, this book may have to be read again to slow down a bit and enjoy it.

The illustrations are just as simple as the story itself. Done in a style that will work well when shared with a group, they will project right to the back of a room. The illustrations add to the fast pace with plenty of images of running, dashing, jumping and lines that create more motion on the page.

A dynamic alphabet book that is filled with cheerful energy. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from library copy.

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager

| Tasha

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager (InfoSoup)

Carol is missing out on what all of her friends are doing this summer, because she has to head out with her family to the New Mexico desert and move her grandfather off of his farm and into a home for people with dementia. Carol has never really met her Grandpa Serge and tries to avoid him at first because he is so prickly and all he will talk about is a wild story about bees returning to the desert. As the summer goes ever so slowly by, Carol connects with Serge and discovers his ability to weave a great story. It’s a story that is about her grandparents, about a magical tree that granted everlasting life and about bees too. Carol begins to understand her grandfather’s connection to the dried out land and the small home just as the summer ends and they are forced to leave it behind but the story has not reached its end yet.

This magical realism book is enticingly radiant. It shimmers with desert heat, itches with dust and dirt, aches with the loss of loved ones, and dances with the voice of a great storyteller. The writing is lush and lovely with distinct tone differences between Grandpa Serge’s stories and the prose of the novel. Even that prose though is written with such poetry:

I want to tell her how Serge’s eyes glow, how they are cat’s eyes, wide as a newborn’s, ringed like an ancient tree trunk.

A large theme of the novel is connection to one’s heritage and roots. In this book about a magical tree, those roots have many meanings. Carol is urged to connect more with her Hispanic heritage and also to the land itself. She does over the course of the novel in a believable and organic way that really works well. This book is about those slow changes, about becoming yourself and honoring who you are and where you come from.

Beautiful and haunting, this novel deserves a wide audience and plenty of buzz. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Candlewick Press.

 

 

Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer

| Tasha

Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer

Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josée Masse  (InfoSoup)

Singer returns with another collection of her amazing reverso poems this time focusing on Greek mythology. The format which has poems which read one way read forward and another way read in reverse, looks at myths from two divergent points of view. This is particularly effective with Greek myths because they so often have two points of view embedded in them. The poems focus on myths such as Pandora’s box, King Midas, Medusa, Icarus and Narcissus. Though brief, these poems capture the essence of each myth, exposing their complexity in a few choice words and phrases.

Singer has done it again. Her amazing reverso poems must be read with care by young readers who have to pay close attention to punctuation to see the difference in meanings between the two poems. The poems are dazzling as they lay open the themes of each myth, the drama being played out in the story and the differing points of view of the main characters. This is one intelligent display of word play that is incredibly difficult to even imagine doing.

Masse’s illustrations each play upon the theme of different sides or points of view. With visual lines down the middle, the two sides both work together as a whole and show the differences between the two poems. The illustrations echo the poems closely, offering a visual feast in addition to the richness of the words.

Another winner for Singer and her reverso poetry, classrooms teaching mythology will love to have this book on hand for accessible and bite-sized looks at many myths. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix

| Tasha

Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix

Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix (InfoSoup)

Released March 8, 2016.

So simple and so clever, this picture book takes the wonder of shapes and page turns to a new height. Apples are made of circles and red, turn the page and the white circles on a red background transform into red apples and green leaves. A ladder appears from a stack of six rectangles and one long one. A robin flies onto the page as ovals and triangles are framed by a circle cut out. The book comes together as a birdhouse is built in the apple tree and soon robins and apples are thrown into disarray as the page turns reveal a big storm. The simple elements though return and things are set to rights once more.

There are a lot of books with cut outs on the market. Few though have this book’s flair with surprises and a sense that with each page turn there is a reveal. Even the very simple ladder somehow surprises and delights. The combination of apples and robins may not seem clear at first, but that too is revealed in a playful way as the book comes together into a cohesive whole filled with enough drama to keep those pages turning quickly.

The illustrations are simple and lovely. They use basic shapes in a compelling and creative way. As I mentioned earlier, it is the reveal that works so well here with each page turn having a sense of magic about it.

Smart and lovely, this is a brilliantly designed book. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.