Book Reviews

Review: A Strange Place to Call Home by Marilyn Singer

| Tasha

strange place to call home

A Strange Place to Call Home: the World’s Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Ed Young

Through evocative poetry, this book explores habitats that you would never guess something could even survive in.  But they do!  There are creatures who live in places with no water, no warmth, little food.  And those are the creatures that star in this book, each of them celebrated in verse.  There are penguins, mountain goats, and camels, which may be the animals that came to mind.  But Singer looks deeper than that and introduces unlikely creatures to readers, including petroleum flies that hatch in oil, ice worms that live in glaciers, and blind cave fish from Texas and Mexico.  She takes these creatures, known and unknown, and gives us a glimpse of them and their habitat in a variety of poetry forms.  Each page is a discovery of a new animal and a new type of poetry.

Singer excels at creating poetry that is artistic and has depth and yet offers young readers an approach to verse that is welcoming.  She writes at their level yet doesn’t ever play down to them.  Since some of the haikus and other forms are quite brief, it’s nice that she offers paragraphs of information at the end of the book on each creature.  At the very end of the book, she also speaks to the variety of poetic forms she has employed in the book.

Young’s illustrations add another layer of beauty into the book.  Through his layered paper art, he creates a red forest of flamingo legs, a swirl of desert sands, foaming rivers, and an urban landscape among many others.  His work embraces the diverse habitats, recreating the harshness and the often subtle richness of these unknown worlds.

A great pick for poetry units or units on habitats, this book offers a perfect blend of verse, science and art.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

| Tasha

code name verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Verity has been captured by the Gestapo, who have tortured her and kept her without sleep for weeks.  Now she has agreed to tell them the truth, but as a British spy during World War II, that means putting many others in danger.  Still, it gets the torture to stop, and there are many ways to be truthful.  As Verity puts pen to paper, she tells the story of the friendship between two girls, Maddie and Queenie, who would never have met during peacetime, much less become best friends.  Maddie’s story is that of becoming a female pilot when there are very few.  It is a story of strong skills, good luck, and great mentors.  Along the way, she met Queenie, another strong girl, who spoke German, bluffed naturally, and loved fiercely.  This friendship is the heart of Verity’s story of truth, one written with details that are lingered over as if they transport her somewhere safe.  It is also the story that will keep her alive one more day, but eventually the story must end.

Wein is purely masterful here.  While I caught certain things in the story that pointed me to the right conclusions, much of it is so cat and mouse that it is a real pleasure to puzzle through.  That said, it is also a great story all on its own without the puzzle, something that is incredibly difficult to do.  Wein populates her story with so many strong women.  There are Maddie and Queenie, either of whom would have been heroine enough to carry their own book.  Yet there is the magic of having their stories told intertwined.  There are the other women who risked their lives against Hitler, women who defied by seeming to capitulate, women who fought with all their had.  It is the story of all of those women too.

Throughout the book there is an ache that will not go away.  That is the ache of Verity and her story of torture.  Every detail is rimmed with sorrow, with never seeing it again, with the knowledge that her days are so few.  This creates a fragility, a solid sadness, that is present throughout.  It is the world of war, the desperation and the death, and it lifts this book to another level that is beyond the pain.

Tremendously beautiful, achingly sad, and beyond brave, this book and these heroines are simply and utterly amazing.  This is a must-read book, one that I hope garners awards, one that will be a delight to share with others.  Oh, and I must mention that it’s a great crossover for adult readers too.  Trust me, get your hands on this one!

Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer

| Tasha

lonely book

The Lonely Book by Kate Bernheimer, illustrated by Chris Sheban

When the book first arrived at the library, it was shiny and new.  It was placed on display and a long list of children waited to read it.  Then the book was moved to the regular children’s shelves with other books that were not so new too.  It was still happy, since it got checked out often.  But as the book grew older, it got checked out less and less.  It had a tear and was missing its last page.  Then one day, a girl found the book, read it and loved it.  She took it home, carried it to school with her, and even shared it at show and tell.  The book felt loved again.  But the next story time, the girl chose a different book and forgot the special book.  She remembered when she got home, but the library was already closed.  Then when she got to the library a week later, the book was gone, withdrawn and meant for the book sale.  This is a sentimental but gorgeous book that every person who has ever loved a book will enjoy.

When I started this book, I was not a fan.  I worried that it would tip into the saccharine and overly sweet.  It is sentimental, as I mentioned above, but it never tips too far into that mode.  Instead I found myself reading a book that brought me back to the joy of discovering books as a child and finding myself closely attached to them.  I still can’t have a logical discussion of the Little House on the Prairie series, since I read them to tatters as a little girl.  I love this book for bringing me back to that.

Sheban’s art is soft and dreamy.  There are often books that glow with the wonder inside of them, something that book lovers will really appreciate.  This is a quiet book, and the art supports that, depicting quiet time reading and bonding with a story.

A great gift for any book-loving child, I think this book will speak most to adults who look fondly back on the books of their childhood.  Perhaps a holiday gift for your favorite librarian or reading teacher.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Schwartz & Wade.

Review: Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick by Jennifer L. Holm

| Tasha

eighth grade is making me sick

Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick: Ginny Davis’s Year in Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm, illustrated by Elicia Castaldi

Ginny starts out 8th grade with big plans that she lists out.  They include trying out for cheer, being able to bike to school, sketching every day, and falling in love.  Ginny and her family have just moved to a newer, bigger house, but she’s able to stay at the same school.  Lots of things are going right for Ginny: she likes her science partner, she makes the cheer team, and she just might be falling in love too!  Unfortunately though, everything is not perfect.  Things get tough when Ginny’s mother gets pregnant and her step father loses his job.  As things start to cascade, Ginny starts to get sick.   Nothing is going like Ginny hoped it would.

This book is entirely told in objects like notes, texts, lists and letters.  Readers will love looking through the debris of Ginny’s life.  It’s almost like searching through someone’s stuff to find a storyline inside.  Castaldi’s art is a great mix of actual items and art, done in a popping mixed-media style.  The colors are pure teen-girl yet not stereotypical and I loved the inclusion of all of the books that Ginny was reading that readers can seek out too.

Holm has created a book that reads quickly and lightly, but also explores some of the deeper issues facing tweens today.  There is sickness, a blended family, and job loss to name a few.  Even friendships are explored in a deeper way than one would expect in a book this colorful and fun.

Reluctant readers and tweens who love to read will both enjoy this book which is honest and bright.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis

| Tasha

squeak rumble whomp

Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis, illustrated by Paul Rogers

Released October 9, 2012.

This very jazzy picture book will have your toes tapping along in no time.  It’s the story of a young boy who sees the noise, music and rhythm in everything around him.  From the squeak of the back door to the rumble of trucks on the highway, it all makes the music that surrounds him.  Throughout the book, real musical instruments are also woven into the loose storyline.  There are bass drums, his sister’s saxophone, violins, a trombone, tubas, and even a full band or two.  Coming from Marsalis, readers will not be surprised that the final instrument in the book is a trumpet, right before all of the noises and music come together at the end. 

So many musical books don’t quite work right, but this one really grooves.  The rhythms of the writing are catchy and great fun.  Incorporating the sounds of the world into the musical beat adds to the fun, showing rather than telling children that music can be found everywhere around them.  The writing is simple and effective, and I promise that your head will bob along to this song.

Rogers’ art is completely joyful.  He has incorporated the various noises into his illustrations, popping the lettering in orange color and wild large fonts.  Everyone in the book seems to be moving to the beat, inviting you to join the dance.

This is a dynamite book about music and sound that will have everyone moving along to the beat.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from ARC received from Candlewick Press.

Review: Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood

| Tasha

just say boo

Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood, illustrated by Jed Henry

If you are going to get just one Halloween book this season, this is the one!  Head out trick-or-treating with three siblings dressed up as a witch, a bat and a shark.  The neighborhood is filled with others out on Halloween, but there are still moments when you can be scared.  So what happens when you get a wobble in your knees from ghosts in the trees?  Or a wolf howls nearby?  Or the wind whips and whines through the trees?  You say BOO! 

Told in a rollicking rhyme, this book begs for audience participation.  The book follows a rhythm and pattern nicely, giving listeners the perfect cue to shout BOO! along with the story.  Hood nicely changes it up towards the end, reminding children to thank people for candy with a playful nod. 

Henry’s illustrations have a wonderful playfulness to them but also turn to the dark and shivery nicely too.  Once out on the streets, the colors turn to pure Halloween with oranges, purples and blacks adding to the atmosphere.  Back inside, there is lots of yellow, eliminating all of the creepy shadows nicely.

A perfect book for Halloween where you want audience participation and not to scare anyone.  This book is much more about the small shivers of Halloween than the big frights.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Review: Ready for Pumpkins by Kate Duke

| Tasha

ready for pumpkins

Ready for Pumpkins by Kate Duke

Hercules, or Herky for short, learned a lot being the classroom guinea pig in Miss MacGuffey’s first grade.  He learned to paint, he learned about Halloween, but best of all, he learned that he could plant a garden from seeds.  And Herky had seeds from the Halloween pumpkin that he had saved in his cage.  So when he was taken for the summer out to the country, he knew he just had to plant his own garden.  He met Daisy, a rabbit, who helped him find a sunny place to plant the seeds.  Herky dug up the dirt, planted the seeds, and watered them.  But then he had to be patient as they grew, and that was the hardest part!  The plants grew, flowers appeared, and finally pumpkins.  But Herky had to return to school before they turned orange!  Will he ever know how his pumpkins turned out?

This is a charming mix of classroom pet story and gardening.  Duke makes Herky quite a character.  He’s impatient to the point of digging up the seeds to see what is happening, angry when the birds and beetles attack his garden, and yet he is also hard working enough to make a garden in the first place.  The writing is simple and reads aloud easily, making this a good book to share with a fall class.

Duke’s art is full of simple lines and bright colors.  As the garden grows, she shows the wild beauty of the pumpkin vines, their many flowers and the slow process of pumpkins growing to maturity.  Daisy and Herky are engagingly drawn little creatures whose growing friendship mirrors that of the garden.

A great pick for pumpkin season or as an addition to spring growing books too.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: Hit the Road, Jack by Robert Burleigh

| Tasha

hit the road jack

Hit the Road, Jack by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Ross MacDonald

Opening this book, I was surprised that it was not based on the song at all.  Instead, this is a tribute to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.  Jack in this picture book is a jackrabbit who longs to travel America.  So he leaves New York and rides his bicycle to Boston and then Buffalo.  Pennsylvania and Cleveland are next with Detroit too.  Jack spends some time in Chicago before heading back into the countryside and hopping a train.  A car carries him to the Great Plains and Mount Rushmore.  He sees the Rockies and the desert mesas before arriving at the Golden Gate.  Jack has reached his west coast destination, but the road still calls. 

Burleigh takes the picture book done in verse to another level here.  Never forced, always brimming with honesty and joy, this verse rhymes but does so in a sophisticated way.  It has all of the rhythm of the beat poets inside of it too, paying double homage to Kerouac both in subject and style.  Young readers will explore the United States in this book, but even better, they will get a feel for what makes America great. 

MacDonald’s illustrations have a playfulness and joy that matches the text well.  Done with a vintage feel, Jack has huge ears but is more human than rabbit most of the time.  Shown in his leather jacket and rolled-up jeans, Jack is the ideal companion on the road.

This is a special book where subject matter and form combine to create something all the more amazing.  It may be difficult to get this into the hands of the right kids, but it is worth the challenge for a book this good.  It will also make a great book to share with elementary classes studying the United States.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: Cat Tale by Michael Hall

| Tasha

cat tale

Cat Tale by Michael Hall

This is an exceptional picture book that I’m not sure I will be able to explain well enough.  If I bungle this, just take my word for it that this is a book you want to get your hands on.  Told in a rollicking verse, this is the story of three cats: Lillian, Tilly and William J.   The three of them head out on some adventures that are driven by the words in the lines.  I think it will work best if I just pull a few of the early verses:

They pack some books and kitty chews.

They choose a spot.

They spot some ewes.

They use a box to hide from bees.

And so it goes on, each line pulling the last word from the line before to create a new situation.  But even better, these are homophones rather than the exact same word.  Best of all, the story is fun and engaging.  This is word play at its best.

Hall has also created engaging artwork to go along with his playful verse.  Done in bright colors and big shapes, the art has an appealing texture.  Created from acrylic paint and paper cut outs that were combined digitally, it is eye-catching and cheerful.

Bravo for a book that invites children to look closely at the words they are reading and just may be the best way ever to introduce homophones to children.  Appropriate for a variety of ages.  Younger children will enjoy the art and verse while slightly older children will understand the word play best.

Reviewed from library copy.