Book Reviews

Review: Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

| Tasha

green

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Wow.  That could be my entire review, just WOW.

Let me try to do better than that though.  Seeger looks at the different sorts of green that surround us.  There is sea green, shown with a turtle gliding through not only green but purples, reds, oranges and yellows too.  Lime green, pea green, faded green and fern green.  There are odd sorts of green too like wacky green, slow green and even no green at all.  The book is written simply with only a couple of words per page, making the focus of the book the illustrations.  And what illustrations they are.  This is my pick for the Caldecott winner so far this year. 

The illustrations are paintings that are done with plenty of thick paint, the brushstrokes visible making the pictures tactile.  They have a great depth of color and maintain a playful lightness that speaks to the young audience.  Turn the first page and you will be astonished to find die cuts in the page, done so smoothly and carefully that they don’t ever look like holes in the page until the page is turned. 

The book is a delight of surprises, new perspectives, and just speaks to everything that this format can be for children.  It is an unrivaled success as a concept book.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Review: Words Set Me Free by Lesa Cline-Ransome

| Tasha

words set me free

Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome

This picture book tells the story of Frederick Bailey, who would grow up to become the great Frederick Douglass.  His biography is also the story of the power of the written word and the ability to read.  Born a slave, Frederick was separated from his mother early in life and sent to live with his Grandmamma.  His mother would walk 12 miles at night to see him while he slept.  At age 8, Frederick was sent to work for another master in Baltimore.  It was there that he first learned his letters, until his mistress was told to stop teaching him as it would make him unfit to be a slave.  Daring white children to write better than him, Frederick continued to learn to read.  Returned to his home, Frederick taught the other slaves to read too, eventually writing his own way free from slavery.

A glimpse at an amazing mind and leader, this book takes us back to his childhood.  It is a testament to the damage and horrors of slavery, as readers see Frederick taken away from one person after another in his life.  It is also a celebration of the human spirit and the power of writing to change a life.  Cline-Ransome’s writing is exemplary.  She tells the story with wonderful detail, rich with meaning, and plenty of depth.  The book has more words than most picture books, but the story being told needs those words to shine best.

The illustrations are also rich.  There is such an aching feel to the image of the slave mother visiting Frederick that it is a portrait in heartbreak.  Other illustrations capture emotions beautifully as well.  The soaring nature of Frederick hidden up high and reading a newspaper rises against a purple-blue sky. 

The author and illustrator have created a wonderfully cohesive work with soaring prose and powerful illustrations.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan

| Tasha

kindred souls

Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan

Billy has lived on the farm his entire life.  He was raised in the sod house that is now tumbled down and covered by weeds.  Billy is the center of his grandson Jake’s world, especially their walks around the farm together.  Jake gets to see the farm through Billy’s eyes and spend time as his kindred soul.  When Billy gets sick, Jake isn’t worried.  He knows that Billy will live forever.  There’s only one wish that Billy has ever spoken about and that is having another sod house built on the farm.  As Billy recuperates in the hospital, Jake and his older brother and sister decide to build a house for him.  But the job is huge and Billy is coming home soon.  Can they pull off the special surprise?

MacLachlan excels at creating great depth in small packages.  This is another of her very short books that plunges readers into a family and immediately takes up space in your heart.  There is the beauty of a long life lived on a farm that is almost spiritual.  There is a young family that has an elder as their center.  And then there are the small moments that create their days and weave together a story that is bittersweet in the best way.

This small book looks at the role of grandparents in the lives of children in a quiet yet powerful way.  Billy is the center of the book, since he is the center of Jake’s world.  The book, told in the first person by Jake, also explores connections between generations that are strong and true.  The sense of kindred spirits is strong but never overplayed.  This entire book exudes a quiet strength that makes for a compelling read.

A strong book that would make a great read-aloud (especially by grandparents), this book is a beauty.  Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

| Tasha

one and only ivan

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Ivan is the gorilla that is part of the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  The big billboard outside the mall shows Ivan as a ferocious beast, but he’s really a very easygoing guy.  He doesn’t remember anything about his life before he came to live with humans.  He was raised in Mack’s house as long as he was little and cute, but when he got bigger he was put into his domain: a glassed-in room.  He watches TV, lots of Westerns, and hangs out with his friends: an old elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob.  He also does art, scribbles that Mack sells in the mall gift shop.  Things change at the circus as money gets tighter until Mack purchases a baby elephant for the Big Top.  Ruby has been taken from her family and is full of lots of questions.  She makes Ivan look at his small, enclosed world more closely and inspires him to make promises that he will probably never be able to keep. 

I read this book in one long gulp, unable to get Ivan and his tiny, limited world out of my head.  The book is written from Ivan’s point of view, one that is distinctly gorilla and wonderfully familiar and foreign at the same time.  Applegate manages to give us a taste of being animal while never imbuing Ivan with human sensibilities, yet he is entirely relatable for readers.

The use of art to bridge the language gap between humans and gorillas is equally effective.  Ivan’s ruminations about art and how to capture taste and feel on paper is lovely.  Ivan’s world may be small and enclosed, but through art and his relationships with others, it grows larger and larger. 

This is a book that captivates.  It is compelling readers, bubbling with humor, yet addresses issues that are deep and complex.  It is a book that is memorable, rich and simply marvelous.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman

| Tasha

looking at lincoln

Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman

Take a fresh and radiant look at our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln in this new picture book.  A young girl is motivated to find out more about President Lincoln after spotting someone in the park who reminded her of him.  She discovers many interesting facts, some of them well known like him being born in a small log cabin and other more obscure like his love of vanilla cake.  This is a personal look at a president, allowing us to see what his road to greatness was and how it ended in tragedy. 

Kalman takes a very modern look at history here.  A large part of its modern feel is the art in the book which is bright and blazing.  She uses color with abandon, with pinks, yellows, reds and greens adding color to simple illustrations.  Her paintings range from individual objects of importance to entire scenes from history.  The diversity of the images also adds a sense of playfulness to the work that is welcome.

Her writing carries through that same light touch, making the facts all the more interesting.  As she tells the story of Lincoln’s life, she is also telling the sad story of slavery and Civil War.  Somehow her illustrations and the tone she employs here keeps the book moving and never lets it bog down into too many words. 

A colorful, fascinating look at the life of our 16th President.  This book is appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Nancy Paulsen Books.

Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce

| Tasha

chitty chitty bang bang flies again

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce, illustrated by Joe Berger

Take a lively ride in the first follow-up to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang book by Ian Fleming.  The Tooting family have hit hard times, Mr. Tooting has lost his job.  But they don’t stay down hearted for long, deciding that they should take a trip around the world.  Mrs. Tooting brings home a very old and worn camping van that Mr. Tooting and Jem slowly rebuild together after taking it entirely apart.  When they go looking for parts at a local junkyard, they discover an amazing racing engine and mount it on the camping van.  The engine, of course, belonged to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and now Chitty wants to get the rest of herself back together.  So the family and Chitty are off on an adventure around the world to find all of her parts.  This adventure will take them to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the depths of the ocean.

Boyce has moved the story into the modern age with cell phones and a contemporary family.  The story pay homage to the original in many ways, foremost being the search for the parts of the original Chitty.  Also, the story arc is very similar with wonderful villains who pop into the story with menacing jelly baby phones and the moment when the children are separated from their parents and have to fend for themselves.  The book also has a real spirit of the first, incorporating humor throughout.

Berger’s illustrations enliven the book, showing a multi-ethnic family and making the book more approachable for young readers.   They have a wonderful humor about them too, carrying the jolliness of the story into images.

The old-fashioned yet modern mix of this book is extremely appealing.  The book reads quickly and is completely entertaining.  Ideal for fans of the first book and sure to win new fans as well.  Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: How Many Jelly Beans? by Andrea Menotti

| Tasha

how many jelly beans

How Many Jelly Beans? by Andrea Menotti, illustrated by Yancey Labat

Released in April 2012.

I cannot count how many dismal number and math books I have read over the years.  I’m lucky enough to have a mathematical kid, but finding books that he would enjoy was painful.  Many math books are a lot more about concept than about being fun to read.  Well, not this one!  This one winningly mixes math with candy, so that even non-mathematical kids will give it a try.  Aiden and Emma are just like most siblings, they are trying to get more than each other.  So when Emma asks for 10 jelly beans, Aiden asks for 20!  And the number just keep climbing from there.  Soon, they are up to 500 jelly beans, which may be way too many to eat.  But how about 1000 or 5000 or 10,000 in a year?  The jelly beans get smaller and smaller until the final number of 1 million is reached only be an enormous fold-out page. 

This visual sweet treat will get children able to truly visualize what the difference between thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and a million are.  The art by Labat done in black and white with only the jelly beans for tantalizing color really works.  The focus is on the candy and the number.  Menotti nicely inserts division into the conversation too, when the children debate how many jelly beans they could eat in a year. 

I can see this over-sized book inspiring lots of counting, adding, dividing and multiplying in families, or it is also a very sweet book to share with your number-loving kid.  Appropriate for ages 5-7. 

An aside just for librarians, please don’t put this in the remoteness of the nonfiction section with your math books.  Let it enjoy being taken home as a yummy picture book with a jelly bean and math center.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson

| Tasha

north

North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson, illustrated by Patrick Benson

This poetic look at the amazing Arctic starts with the deep winter and the few animals who survive there year round.  Then spring comes to the Arctic and the sun comes back along with some warmth.  Plants start to appear from under the snow.  Soon more animals will arrive.  The first to head out on their journey are the gray whales, that swim from Mexico to the Arctic Circle.  Birds head north too in flocks.  Herds of pregnant caribou journey north, followed closely by the gray wolves looking for weakness.  Walrus, narwhal, schools of fish, all of this life crowds the Arctic summer until the weather turns cold and brutal again, and once more they head back around the world.

Dowson’s words are poetry in this book.  Not only written in verse form, they also speak to the soul of the Arctic, the beauty of the place and the glory of the creatures who live there.  At the same time, the words are scientific and filled with information about the place and the animals.  It is an elegant combination of poem and fact.

Benson’s art is striking.  He created paintings that are both natural and accurate but also have a sense of artistry.  Much of the art is about the landscape, the place itself and the grand amount of space there.  The illustrations of bitter winter are cold and bleak with dim, gray light.  Then the reader turns the page and it is spring with its lemony light and sprigs of green.  The change is striking to the reader and beautifully captured.  There are moments like this throughout the book.

A striking mix of poetry, art and science, this book will speak to a range of different children looking to understand their world a little better.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Outside Your Window by Nicola Davies

| Tasha

outside your window

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld (InfoSoup link)

Explore nature through the seasons in this lush book of poetry that starts with the first moments of spring with melting icicles and the green shoots of bulbs.  Summer is filled with butterflies, chickens, baby birds and bees.  Autumn comes with leaves, wind, geese and acorns.  And winter ends the year filled with snow, deer and ducks.  The poems range from merry verse with lighter tones to atmospheric pieces that make you stop and think.  It is this range of moods and depth that makes the book so very readable and enjoyable. 

Davies’ poems are all very child friendly, offering new perspectives on familiar things.  Her poem, “Night”, is one of my favorites of the book, though there are many to choose from that are incredible reads.  It capture the movement of the night, the feel of the quiet, and the sense of the world turning beneath you.  It’s quiet, beautiful, and captivating.

Add to these dynamic poems the art of Hearld and you have a real jewel of a book.  Illustrated with collage that combines paper cutout work, layers of texture, and realistic depiction of nature.  This realism emphasizes the beauty of nature, its diversity, and our own place in the world.  These are images that make you dream but also put your feet squarely on the earth and your connection to it.

Gorgeous illustrations combine with vibrant poems, creating a book to treasure.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from library copy.