Book Reviews

Review: The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

| Tasha

girl with borrowed wings

The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

This is a stunning debut novel that will have your heart beating fast for many reasons.  Frenenqer was created in the brain of her father, the perfect girl.  So she tries to be exactly that for him by following his long list of rules about how to hold her fork, close doors silently, and never embarrass the family.  But she can also feel the absence of wings on her back, as if she had been meant to have them all along but instead she has the pressure of her father’s finger there.  Her life is lonely and dull, not even allowed to walk outside on her own in the oasis where they live surrounded by desert.  Everything changes though when she rescues the dying cat in the market, against her father’s wishes.  That dull lump of fur turns out to be a boy who can shapeshift, who can fly and who can show her new worlds and remembered places.  As their relationship grows into something beyond friendship, Frenenqer has to face her own life of isolation and her part in her father’s controlling ways.

Rossetti’s writing is magnificent.  She creates such a sense of claustrophobia in Frenenqer’s life, such a world of stifling expectation, lack of humanity and perfectionism.  That feeling is amplified by the setting of the oasis, limiting even further her options of a different sort of life.  When her rescuer arrives he represents breaking those rules, throwing them aside, and a freedom that she had never dreamed of.  Here is where Rossetti makes a choice that sets her book apart from others.  Frenenqer does not tumble easily into that freedom, she fights it, struggles with it, and almost rejects it.  And it all makes wonderful sense.

Frenenqer is a unique character.  She is a mix of world traveler and solitary reader.  She yearns for freedom and shuns it.  She longs to be touched but rejects that too.  She is shown love of a new sort and doesn’t know what to do with it.  She is beyond brave but also terrified.  She is certainly abused mentally by her father, ignored by her mother, but also defies them in small ways that show you she is not cowed by them yet.  She is pure and lovely complexity that works.

Beautifully written, wonderfully sculpted, this novel is a fresh look at fantasy from a new author.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

| Tasha

scariest thing of all

The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

This story of a very frightened young rabbit is uplifted by the marvelous illustrations.  Pip was a very little rabbit and had a huge list of things that he was scared of.  The list included rain because it reminded him of the sound a leggy wiggler makes in its web, bubbles in the water reminded him of a gobbler hiding at the bottom of the pond, and tree stumps were like the teeth of a giant wood troll.  He exhausted himself because he was so worried and frightened all the time.  He was so tired he fell fast asleep until dinnertime.  When he woke up, he heard a dreadful Raaar! Pip ran and ran, as far away from the sound as he could.  Finally, he stopped deep in the woods.  He saw a scary thing nearby, and heard the sound again.  Pip was going to have to be brave and smart to figure out what was making that horrible noise.

Gliori’s story of a small rabbit who is afraid of almost everything will resonate with children.  The ending has Pip becoming a much braver rabbit.  The book does conclude a bit too quickly and neatly.  Gliori spends much of her story developing the depths of fear and panic that Pip is living with.  All of that plays out very strongly, creating a firm foundation for the story. 

The art here really makes this picture book special.  It moves from the sunny warmth of Pip’s family and home to the dark blueness of a woods at night.  Throughout the woods scenes there is an incredible blue moon rising above him, giving a haunted feel to those pages that is marvelously chilling. 

This would make a great pick for a preschool Halloween story time because it has monsters and creepy things but won’t frighten.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Good News Bad News by Jeff Mack

| Tasha

good news bad news

Good News Bad News by Jeff Mack

So much depends on your point of view in this jaunty picture book that is written in a very limited vocabulary of just four words.  The book opens with the good news of a shared picnic.  Then the bad news of rain arrives.  Then the good news of the rabbit’s umbrella.  Bad news carries the rat off on the wind.  Filled with lots of energy and action, this picture book dashes along at a breakneck speed as readers look forward to the inevitable next twist in the tale. 

Mack manages to create a cohesive story with great pacing using just four words.  Reading like an animated short, the interchange of optimism and pessimism is sure to delight both sorts of personalities.  It gives us all a chance to laugh together as the poor rat is constantly disappointed and the rabbit doesn’t reach his breaking point until almost the end of the book.  By that point, the ups and downs of the story will have everyone ready to burst.

Good news!  The book is wonderful and is out now!  Good news!  It’s a great pick for new readers!  Good news!  No bad news at all.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

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Review: Small Damages by Beth Kephart

| Tasha

small damages

Small Damages by Beth Kephart

Kenzie is not the sort of teen who gets pregnant.  She has college plans, a boyfriend who is headed to Yale, but she took risks.  Earlier in the year, she lost her beloved father and now her mother just wants to move on.  Her mother wants to do the same with the pregnancy.  Kenzie decides to keep the baby and her mother creates a plan to keep the pregnancy a secret: she sends Kenzie off to Spain for the summer.  Staying with a friend of her mother, Kenzie is taken under the wing of Estela, a small, fierce woman who cooks for the ranch where they raise bulls for bullfighting.  Estela guides Kenzie through learning to cook, making sure that she also takes care of herself and the baby.  Kenzie meets the couple who will adopt her baby and also a young man who works on the ranch with the animals.  She slowly comes out of her shell, building relationships with those around her.  This book is an homage to Spain, an exploration of choice, and a delight of a read.

As always, Kephart writes with the voice of a poet.  Her language is especially effective here as she recreates Spain for the reader with all of its colors, scents and sounds.  There is a wonderful space to the novel, a quietness that is profound and amazing.  It too speaks of a foreign country, of being cared for by another generation, and of having time to contemplate and decide.  This book is also complex.  Decisions are made and reconsidered, lives are changed, and there is no surety to the final decision until the last page is turned.  It is a compelling dance between quiet desperation, beauty and real family and belonging. 

This is a book that you want to curl up and read and read as long as your eyes will let you.  It is a trip to Spain filled with all of the warmth, personality and impressive history of that land.  The play of the modern American teen against that timeless background is pure genius, giving a story that could have been straight forward a real depth and power.

This is an exceptional teen novel that will also be enjoyed by adult readers as a crossover title.  It is elegantly written and gloriously beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.

Review: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

| Tasha

brides of rollrock island

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Released September 11, 2012.

Rollrock Island is remote and isolated with only one ferry connecting it to the mainland.  It is also a place of magic, magic that is less sparkles and fairy dust and more ocean currents, sealskin and lust.  It is where Misskaella the witch lives, a woman able to peel away the skins of seals and gather their energies together into a woman who is beautiful and biddable.  In this way, Misskaella takes vengeance upon the women of the town who never accepted her.   She charges the men for the honor of having a wife from the sea, taking not only the money they have gathered now, but future wages as well.  These men are just as dazzled and tamed by the magic as their once-seal wives.  The desperation and quiet horror of the selkie story builds steadily as the book continues, leaving it to the next generation, the children of these unions, to see if they can resolve this, or not.

I have long disliked stories based on selkie myths, so I read this because of my love for Lanagan’s work.  But Lanagan gets at the nastiness of these relationships, the sandy dirtiness of them that will not wash away.  Her writing is by turns ethereal and wondering and then turns to the baseness and cruelty of what is happening.  There is a strong sense of place woven into the story.  It simply could not take place anywhere else.  From the seals at the base of the cliff to the tiny town that is simple yet enticing, Rollrock Island is unique and astounding yet also grindingly normal.

Lanagan plays with contrasts throughout the entire book.  The women who rise from the ocean are compliant yet wrenchingly miserable, longing for a world that they have lost.  The men are dazzled and yet absent.  The children beautiful, part sea and part land, yet also unable to see the truth until it is forced upon them.  It is as much Misskaella’s story as it is the selkies.  Their destinies intertwined thanks to her magic.

Told in a series of short stories that show the different points of view, though never the point of view of one of the selkie women, this book is pure richness and beauty.  Lanagan takes a timeless myth and exposes it, yet leaves the reader hopeful in the end.  This is a glorious read.  Appropriate for ages 15-18 and a great crossover read for adults.

Reviewed from digital copy via NetGalley.

Review: Monet Paints a Day by Julie Danneberg

| Tasha

monet paints a day

Monet Paints a Day by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Caitlin Heimerl

Told in the first person by Monet, this book explores his painting process when he was on holiday in Etretat, France.  Children waited for him when he leaves his hotel, wanting to help carry his canvasses to the seaside.  When they reached the strip of sand at the bottom of the cliffs, the canvasses were placed against the cliff.  Monet was unique in painting right in the middle of the landscape rather than sketching and then finishing the painting in his studio.  Because of his unique approach, he had many canvasses in process at the same time.  On this day, he got so involved in painting that he didn’t realize how quickly the tide was coming in.  Everything was taken out by the sea, so he had to begin again on a new day.

Danneberg manages to tell two levels of story here.  There is the day that Monet is painting which is explored in exquisite detail.  Then in small boxes that are offset from the rest of the story, there is historical context offered about how Monet differs from other artists of his time and how he was creating an entirely new style of painting.  The Author’s Note at the end offers even more detail as well as a copy of Monet’s Waves at the Manneporte so that readers can see an example of Monet’s work.

Heimerl has the challenge of doing a picture book based on a famous artist.  In her illustrations she manages to create illustrations that both are their own style and yet pay homage to impressionism.  She achieves this with small touches, daubs of watercolor, here and there, lightening and brightening the illustrations.

A very successful picture book biography of Monet, this will be enjoyed by elementary art teachers and students.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Charlesbridge.

Review: What to Do If an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson

| Tasha

if an elephant stands

What to Do If an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

You must stay calm, if an elephant stands on your foot.  The last thing you want to do is startle it…YEEEOOOWWW!  Now you probably want to run away from the elephant, but resist that and don’t run.  After all, running attracts tigers.  Oops.  OK, so now that you have the tiger’s attention you have to be silent.  No sudden noises, like a sneeze.  And so the romp in the jungle continues with the poor character steadily making worse and worse choices, including climbing up a tree and jumping into crocodile infested water.  Finally, thanks to the help of some friendly monkeys, you arrive home safe and sound.  All you need to do is apologize to the elephant, but remember, don’t startle him! 

I absolutely adored this wild ride of a book.  It reads aloud beautifully, though I’d practice a bit before using it with a group because the timing of the jokes is everything here.  Robinson’s writing has a great comedic feel, and the book design maximizes the humor with the page turns.  The pace is wild and almost run away, suiting the subject.  The book is one long running gag, which will delight young readers.

Reynolds’ art adds to the humor.  He manages to take sedate and even friendly animals and with one sneeze or jump turn them alarmingly grumpy.  This creates a zany energy in the art and the book as a whole.

This is a book to keep in your bag for when the kids get restless.  Pull it out with a grin and a flourish.  I’d also keep it in mind for an option when reading to older elementary children, since they will love the humor too.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Review: Grammy Lamby and the Secret Handshake by Kate Klise

| Tasha

grammy lamby

Grammy Lamby and the Secret Handshake by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise

Larry wasn’t very excited when his grandmother came to visit.  She invented a secret handshake for the two of them on the very first time she visited.  The three squeezes meant “I love you.”  His grandma also loved to talk and sew, and that’s what she did much of the time she spent at their house.  When they went to church, Grammy Lamby wore a big hat and sang louder than anyone else.  She even had big plans for trips they would take together when Larry was older.  But Larry didn’t want to go anywhere with Grammy Lamby.  The next time Grammy Lamby visited, a storm blew into town and tore a hole in their roof.  Grammy Lamby sprang into action, fixing and hammering.  It was a whole new grandma from Larry’s perspective.  And a whole new hero for him to admire.

The Klise sisters have created a winning picture book here.  The hesitance of a child with a relative their don’t see often is captured very cleverly here.  The way it is approached honors both of the people in the relationship:  Larry is cautious and overwhelmed and Grammy Lamby is friendly and trying very hard to be liked.  The use of an emergency to have the two of them come together works well, allowing Grammy to display her real skills and character.

The illustrations have a warmth to them that is wonderful.  They have small details that invite readers to linger a bit yet are large enough to work with a group. 

A great addition to story times about grandparents, this would also make a good present for any long-distance grandparent to give.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Company.

Review: The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith

| Tasha

great cake mystery

The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith, illustrations by Iain McIntosh

The author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has written his first children’s book.  This one too stars Precious Ramotswe and is the story of her very first mystery as a child in Botswana.  When her father tells her a favorite story about when a lion got into their village, he notices that she has several characteristics of a detective: she asks a lot of questions and she can tell when people are telling the truth.  So when food starts disappearing at Precious’ school, she gets involved in solving the mystery.  She is shocked when one of her friends accuses another boy of being the thief because he has sticky fingers, literally.  It makes her even more determined to figure out exactly who is stealing the food. 

Told in very simple prose, sometimes a bit too simple, this story has a certain charm about it.  The book begins in a rather stilted way thanks to the wording, but quickly moves on to a more natural cadence that works much better.  I am pleased to see a mystery set in Africa with a young female protagonist who manages to solve the mystery without any adult help.  Smith captures the differences between societies as well as the special setting of Botswana.

McIntosh’s illustrations are block prints done in a limited color palette of red, black and gray.  They have a quality about them that speaks to the setting clearly.  They have a delicate and yet unfinished quality that is very appealing.

This book for young readers has plenty of mystery, detective work and an appealing heroine.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from library copy.