Book Reviews

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

| Tasha

scarlet

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

The second book in the Lunar Chronicles continues the story of Cinder, who is now imprisoned waiting to be taken to Luna.  It is also the story of Scarlet, a newly introduced character, whose grandmother is missing.  Scarlet refuses to give up on her grandmother, though no one is willing to help her.  Eventually, she meets Wolf, a street fighter, who is willing to take her to where her grandmother is being held.  Along the way, the stories of the two girls draw closer and closer together as the ties between them are clarified.  The book rings with action and adventure, the echo of spaceships, and the wonder of mental Lunar abilities.  Identities are revealed, friendships are forged, and one is left breathlessly waiting for book three.

Meyer writes an amazing tale.  Her pacing is just right, lingering at moments that readers want to never end and rushing headlong into the action.  The result is a riveting read, where the author has also created a world that is believable and intriguing.  Her characterization is also strong, with now two incredible female protagonists.  Perhaps best of all is that you can rely on Meyer to not have men rescue her heroines, in fact they are much more likely to be the ones rescuing the men. 

So many series succumb to the sophomore slump, but this book is just as wild, riveting and immensely readable as the first.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Feiwel and Friends.

Review: The Museum by Susan Verde

| Tasha

museum

The Museum by Susan Verde, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Verde captures the energizing nature of a visit to an art museum.  Told in first-person verse, the young female protagonist dances and spins through the gallery, drawing inspiration and emotion from the art around her.  As she moves to a new piece of art, it evokes a new reaction that is entirely in keeping with the art in front of her.  Finally, faced with a blank white canvas, she discovers that her own mind starts to fill in the art on its own.  As she leaves the museum at the end of the day, her world is transformed by the art she has seen that she now carries along with her.  This is an engaging story of a museum visit that is sure to inspire young readers to want to try it for themselves.

Verde’s verse is filled with motion and zing.  While some may see visiting a museum as a more sedentary and intellectual activity, Verde fills it with motion and emotion alike.  She conveys through the young girl’s physical reaction what is happening to her mentally.  It is a very successful take on the transformational quality of art and how it can speak on many levels to viewers.

Reynolds’ art adds to the feel of motion and engagement in the book.  His young figure is constantly in motion, even when she takes a short break, she is inspired by art.  Reynolds’ illustrations are done in his signature fluid style, yet he is able to capture different art periods very effectively.

Ideal to use with a class before a museum exhibit or with children before a family visit to a museum, this is also a book that will inspire reflection about art during a regular day.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams.

Arte Kids Book Series

| Tasha

123 Si!: An Artistic Counting Book in English and Spanish Colores Everywhere!: Colors in English and Spanish Hello, Circulos!: Shapes in English and Spanish

123 Si!: An Artistic Counting Book in English and Spanish by San Antonio Museum of Art

Colores Everywhere!: Colors in English and Spanish by San Antonio Museum of Art

Hello, Circulos!: Shapes in English and Spanish by San Antonio Museum of Art

The San Antonio Museum of Art, the San Antonio Library Foundation and Trinity Press have worked together to create a new series of books for children.  The first book, 123 Si!, was published in 2011 and the next two books followed in 2012.  There are plans for a series of 9 books with two more titles being added in the spring of 2013. 

All three books combine art from the collections at the San Antonio Museum of Art with concepts that toddlers can relate to.  The result are books that are bright and colorful but that offer a wonderful depth of subject matter too.  The books are fully bilingual, giving terms for numbers, colors and shapes in both English and Spanish.  Fully embracing early literacy, the books offer ideas for questions on each page, giving parents cues as to what to talk about in each picture.  It is done in such a way that it’s simple, easy and non-threatening.  Additional information on the art is available at the end of each book.

Three very successful board books that combine bilingual content, great art and basic concepts, these books belong at any library serving a Spanish-speaking population.  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from copies received from Trinity University Press.

Review: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

| Tasha

etiquette and espionage

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

I must admit right up front that I haven’t read Carriger’s adult series The Parasol Protectorate.  So it is with fresh eyes that I came to the first book in her new teen series.  Here we meet Sophronia who at age 14 is rough and tumble enough for her mother to send her to a finishing school, hoping that she will learn proper manners and decorum before her older sister’s debutante ball.  Sophronia thinks she is being sent to a dull school only about curtsying and clothes, but Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality turns out to be about far more than Victorian manners and society.  Instead Sophronia is thrust into adventure right from the trip to school, finding herself the heroine when they are attacked on their travels.  As she discovers her real gifts are embraced by her new school, much of which would chagrin and alarm her mother.  This blend of boarding school and steampunk espionage will not stay on library shelves for long!

Carriger has created a great world in her book, one that I understand is the same as that in her adult novels.  Populated with vampires and werewolves as well as humans, the world that Sophronia is sent to at school reveals that there is far more to life than her mother would approve of.  The setting of a school that floats in the air also adds that distance and isolation that works so well in boarding school novels. 

Happily, Sophronia is a girl who loves adventure and though she may disdain her mother’s focus on fashion and decorum, begins to learn that as well.  She is a brave character, one that is unafraid to go against societal rules.  It makes for a book that is rambunctious and wildly fun while at the same time filled with wide skirts, hats and frippery.  It’s a charming mix.

With the popularity of steampunk, this is one book that belongs in every public library collection for teens.  With no sex and plenty of action, middle school readers will also enjoy it immensely. It’s a very fun read, so expect demand for the upcoming books as well.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay

| Tasha

lulu and the dog from the sea

Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay

Released on March 1, 2013.

This second book in the Lulu series continues the story of Lulu, a seven-year-old girl who loves all kinds of animals.  In this story, Lulu goes on vacation by the seaside with her parents, her dog,  and her cousin, Mellie, who is also seven.  At the seaside, they stay at a small cottage and Lulu quickly finds out about a stray dog who has been living off of garbage along the beach.  Lulu sets out to make friends with the dog, but no one else is enthusiastic.  Mellie just wants to build her kite, Lulu’s mother just wants to read the stack of books she brought along, and her dad wants to work on his running.  But Lulu knows that this stray is actually a very special dog, she just has to convince the rest of them.

McKay has a knack for creating characters and experiences that read as vibrantly true and honest.  In her books, there are lost kite bits, sand tracked into the house, trashed garbage cans, and too many shopping trips for forgotten items.  At the same time, there is also the love of a dog, a family that truly spends time with one another, and the success of plans coming together in the end, perhaps not exactly as planned.  As with her previous books, I have always wanted to live in a McKay novel in the midst of the loving mess.

I must also mention that this is an early reader series featuring a modern family of color.  Nothing is made of this fact in the stories.  It is just there, not a plot point, just a fact.  It’s handled with a matter-of-fact nature that I wish we saw more of in books for children.

A great addition to this growing series, the second Lulu book is sure to please fans of the first and bring new fans to the series too.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from digital copy received from Albert Whitman & Company.

Review: Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

| Tasha

hokey pokey

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

No adults live in Hokey Pokey, just kids.  They fall asleep right where they leave off playing and then jump up again to start playing the next day.  There are plenty of places to play: the Doll Farm, Thousand Puddles, Snuggle Stop, and Trucks.  Jack is one of the biggest kids at Hokey Pokey. He rides a legendary bike, Scramjet, captured from the herds of wild bicycles that roam the plains.  But when Jack wakes up one day, Scramjet has been taken and by a girl!  As Jubilee rides Scramjet around Hokey Pokey, everyone soon realizes that something is changing.  Jubilee paints the bike yellow but as she tries to get under Jack’s skin, Jack realizes that he himself is changing.  It must have something to do with hearing a train whistle no one else can hear.  But trains never come to Hokey Pokey despite the train tracks.

I was captured by this book the moment I read the first page.  I knew that I was in for a treat from Spinelli that is unlike anything he’s every written before.  This is a wonderfully wild and fanciful book that will remind readers of Peter Pan, yet it is brightly modern and not afraid to be dark too.  Spinelli uses a new language in Hokey Pokey, one that is easily understood but that also marks that we are somewhere new.  Take this description of children at play in Hokey Pokey, “…kids big and little everywhere streaking, leaping, chasing, shrieking, warring, hopscotching, footballing, hide-and-seeking, jumproping, hokeypoking, razzing, dazzing, runamucking, chuckleducking…”  The language he uses has a wonderful rhythm to it that is evident throughout the book.

The setting of Hokey Pokey is such a large part of this book.  Some places remain rather mysterious while others are completely explained in action in the story.  When readers are given a glimpse of some of the other wonders of Hokey Pokey, they can immediately relate to what it is because all of it is about childhood and play.  As Jack moves towards adolescence in the story, the book changes too.  It becomes more filled with questions, more angst pervades it.  This is a story of leaving childhood and all of its bright, candy-colored play behind and heading into the unknown.

Gloriously fun to read, this book was impossible for me not to love.  Spinelli writes with a lovely playfulness and yet beneath it all is truth.  A truly outstanding read for middle graders.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Review: The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber

| Tasha

yuckiest stinkiest best valentine ever

The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber, illustrated by Tedd Arnold

Leon has a crush on a girl, so he makes her a construction paper heart for Valentine’s Day.  But when he tries to put the valentine into an envelope, the valentine runs away insisting that Leon can’t tell Zoey Maloney that he loves her!  In fact, the valentine thinks love is “mushy and gross and just plain YUCKY!”  He says that Valentine’s Day is not about love, but about candy.  Soon Leon is chasing after the valentine, trying to get him to stop.  They pass a group of boys, a group of girls and a group of teens before finally coming to Zoey Maloney herself, and a valentine that she has made for Leon.  Maybe Valentine’s Day is about more than candy after all?

Ferber marries Valentine’s Day and the pacing and style of the Gingerbread Man together very successfully in this book.  This is a book about crushes and valentines that is far from being too sappy.  It is full of humor, action and lots of silliness, mocking the entire idea of love and then in the end turning around and seeing that life (and Valentine’s Day) is sweeter than candy. 

Arnold’s style plays perfectly with this story.  His swirling lines add to the motion and action.  His characters are always clearly showing emotion and the large-headed child characters have an endearing quality to them.

This is one Valentine’s Day book that will appeal to boys and girls alike, those with crushes and those who are just looking for candy.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

| Tasha

nelson mandela

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

In a way that only Kadir Nelson could capture, this book tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s life, imprisonment and how he became the inspiration he is.  This is a very humanizing tale of Mendela, showing his childhood before his father’s death and then his move across South Africa to study under a powerful chief.   Mandela attended school and then got involved in fighting apartheid.  The book follows him as he is jailed the first time and as he rises to be a threat to those in power and goes into hiding.  Mandela returned to South Africa to continue the fight and is then jailed again, doing heavy labor.  After being in prison for over 27 years, Mandela was freed.  His passion for righting the wrongs of apartheid and speaking for equality of all people shines from every page.

Nelson tells the story of Mandela in verse that is factual but also compelling.  He captures the long time spent in prison in a way that children will be able to understand.  Cold meals, thin blankets and beating rocks into dust.  It shows the futility and the harshness with such clarity.  Nelson’s verse also has a great sense of awe for this man and what he has accomplished, that too makes it a very special, honest book.

As always, Nelson’s images are simply wondrous.  Here they seem to shine from within whenever Mandela is part of the image.  As you can see from the cover illustration, there is all of the human inside his art; it radiates from his work.  Shown with detail, interesting perspectives, and ending with a sense of celebration, Nelson’s art is a standout.

This is the story of Nelson Mandela captured fully in a picture book that celebrates all of his accomplishments and what he stands for as a human being.  Beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Katherine Tegen Books.

Review: A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner

| Tasha

pet named sneaker

A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre

Sneaker was a snake who lived in a pet store and wanted to be taken home.  But no one seemed interested in a snake until one day Pete came into the store and noticed how special Sneaker was and decided to take him home.  The two invented games together, forming handcuffs and a hat out of Sneakers’ flexible body.  Then one day Pete had to go to school.  Sneaker didn’t want to be left behind, so he slithered into Pete’s backpack.  Once they got to school, Sneaker proved to be a great snake ambassador, quickly proving that snakes are not only no slimy but are quite smart.  Sneaker continued to show how amazing he was by saving a drowning toddler at the pool and getting it so that animals were welcome to swim there too.  Funny and briskly paced, this book will have great appeal for beginning readers.

Told in very simple and friendly language, this book has a strong storyline for a beginning reader.  Sneaker and Pete have several adventures in the course of the book, moving quickly from a tale of new friendship to one of real action, which is sure to please new readers.   The art by Lemaitre gives the book a vintage feel, hearkening back to Seuss and Eastman in its simple lines and bold colors.  There is also that little zing to the eyes, that feeling that the reader is in on the joke that is conveyed through the illustrations. 

This is a book with great humor, a touch of vintage feel, and one cool cold-blooded hero.  Appropriate for beginning readers aged 3-5. 

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.