Book Reviews

Book Review: I’m Me! by Sara Sheridan

| Tasha

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I’m Me! by Sara Sheridan, illustrations by Margaret Chamberlain

When Imogen visits her Aunt Sara, she asks immediately to play pretend.  Aunt Sara offers to pretend that Imogen is a monkey on the beach.  Or perhaps a beautiful princess with a gown and a crown.  Or a witch’s cat with magic wands.  Or a pirate’s parrot searching for buried treasure.  Or a dragon-taming knight.  Or an astronaut.  But Imogen wants to be only one things today, herself!  So she and her Auntie Sara head to the park, play on the swings, eat ice cream, and then curl up on the couch together to share some stories.

Sheridan has created a book with a romping rhythm that keeps it moving quickly and merrily along.  The options that are given for different themes to play together are clever, silly and invitingly fun.  The book speaks to every child’s dream, an adult who is eager to play not only with them, but to play exactly what the child wants to play.

Chamberlain’s illustrations are done first in pen and ink on paper and then loaded into the computer to add color and texture.  This gives a pleasing combination of hand-drawn lines and deep computer colors.  The bright, bold colors and jaunty textures add zest to the title.

An invitation to play and imagine, this book is appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Scholastic.

Book Review: Melvin and the Boy by Lauren Castillo

| Tasha

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Melvin and the Boy by Lauren Castillo

Released July 5, 2011.

A young boy wants a pet very badly, but his parents always say no.  A dog is too big, a monkey too much work, a parrot too noisy.  One day, he sees a turtle at the park who is looking at him and follows him.  So the boy asks if he can keep it as a pet.  His parents agree, and the boy names the turtle Melvin.  But back home, Melvin won’t play.  He won’t eat.  Walking the turtle doesn’t work either.  The only time Melvin comes out of his shell is when he takes a bath.  The boy can see that Melvin is not happy in their house.  So they return him to the pond, where the boy will be sure to visit him often.

This is the first book that Castillo has both written and illustrated.  Her writing is pitch perfect here, offering just enough detail and with the right phrasing and tone.  It really feels as if a child was speaking in first person without becoming distracting.  I particularly enjoy the fact that the boy himself realizes the turtle is unhappy.  His parents follow his lead with the turtle rather than them leading him to a decision.

As always, Castillo’s art is very successful.  Her art emphasizes the urban setting of the book, playing the greens against the concrete colors nicely.  Her use of thick lines and soft colors makes for a book that is welcoming and warm.

A great addition to any story time on pets or turtles, this is also a wonderful read to start discussions about pets and keeping them safe and happy.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Company.

Book Review: White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

| Tasha

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White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

 

Released July 5, 2011 in the US.

In a tiny English village that is being slowly eaten by the sea, Rebecca and her father spend their summer.  Rebecca is all alone, her friends back home ignoring her, thanks to her father being accused of something horrible.  Then Ferelith enters her life, a strange girl who speaks in riddles, plays dangerous and illegal games, and gets Rebecca thinking of something other than her despair.  But everywhere there are secrets, some hidden, walled up and shocking.  Some from long, long ago that have never completely died.  Some that search for angels or devils.  Some that may trap new people.  Secrets are at the heart of this eerie, frightening read that is perfect for dark summer nights.

Nominated for the Carnegie Medal in Literature, this book is a taut, thrilling ride that combines several elements into a disturbing novel that is impossible to put down.  There is the amazing setting of Winterfold, a town that is withering away as the sea reclaims chunks of the cliffs.  The setting is a powerful piece of the book, a presence that is important and vital to the entire story.

Then there are the characters.  Rebecca, a thoroughly modern teen, who finds life in Winterfold even for the summer entirely too dull.  Ferelith, the strange girl, who both loves Rebecca for who she is and also hates her for it.  And finally, the voice from the eighteenth century who speaks of horrors, of blood running, of experiments, that will amaze and torture.  They come together to create a book that is wild, vivid and scary.

A modern gothic story, this book is intense and horrific enough that you will want a light on.  Seriously.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Also reviewed by:

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Book Review: Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell

| Tasha

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Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell

All Janie wants is to be normal, but she can’t shake her stinky reputation that comes from her family’s goat farm.  The lump of something strange in her hair one day didn’t help and neither did the clump of goat poo on her shoe that stunk up the bus.  To make it worse, her group of friends from middle school don’t have the same lunch as she does, so she has taken to wolfing down her lunch at her locker and then spending the lunch period in the library.  She keeps hoping that someone normal will enter the library and befriend her, but there are only weird kids around.  No friend material, and no boyfriend material either.  The real trouble is that Janie herself is not normal: she makes her own clothes, is sassy, smart and vibrant.  Now the question is when she’s going to figure that out.

Dowell’s writing is funny, intelligent and spot on.  She writes dialogue that is snappy and a pleasure to read.  Janie’s journey from hoping for normal to embracing her own uniqueness is written with great pacing, lots of truth, and a joyousness that is infectious.  There are many places in the book that clichés could have been used, but Dowell never turns to them.  Instead, she uses those moments to make the book ever more special.

A large part of the success of the novel is the character of Janie.  She has a voice that is clear and consistent, filled with humor.  The novel really traces her growth as a teen, finding her own way that is certainly not normal.  Yet despite being a unique path, it is clear that the person she grows into is the one she was meant to be from the beginning.

A book that celebrates being exactly who you really are, even if you aren’t sure who that is yet, this is a treat of a read.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review: I Spy with My Little Eye by Edward Gibbs

| Tasha

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I Spy with My Little Eye by Edward Gibbs

Children adore books with holes to peek through.  In this book, the frog’s eye on the cover is actually a hole that carries through the book, with the background changing as the page is turned.  The entire book is an I-Spy game where a clue is given and then you can see just a bit of the next page.  My favorite aspect is that as you turn the page, you see the next creature’s eye looking at you.  The book incorporates game play, colors, and logic with great results. 

Gibbs has a real sense of style with this book.  His illustrations are big and bold, the animals bursting off of the pages with the bright colors and the large size.  While the illustrations are large, the lines stay delicate and filled with swirls. 

This is one book that will fly off of library shelves as soon as children spy it with their little eyes.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Everyday Reading.

Book Review: Sparrow Road by Sheila O’Connor

| Tasha

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Sparrow Road by Sheila O’Connor

Raine’s mother suddenly drags her from their home in Milwaukee to a strange place called Sparrow Road far away.  Her mother has a job as a cook at Sparrow Road, making meals for the artists who call the place home for the summer.  Not only is Raine away from home and her beloved grandfather for the first time, but Sparrow Road has rules.  No one is allowed to speak all day long, until after dinner, she is not to bother the artists, and her mother won’t let her leave the grounds.  As the days pass, Raine discovers some of the secrets of Sparrow Road but answers will be harder to find.  The biggest secret of all is why Raine and her mother came to Sparrow Road in the first place.

A delight of a novel, this book is about family, connections, and friendships.  Readers may believe at first that it is going to be about Raine discovering how to be on her own and silent in the beauty of Sparrow Road’s natural setting, but that is not the case.  Instead it is about creating new friendships, finding unexpected connections, and discovering anew those closest. 

O’Connor’s writing creates a world within Sparrow Road.  She writes with great sensory detail of both the natural setting and the strangeness of the big house where orphans used to live.  She blends the past and the future with great results, allowing Raine to wonder about the past both her own and that of Sparrow Road.  It is a beautifully written book that has a strong sense of place.

Highly recommended, this book would make a great read aloud for a classroom as it explores families, forgiveness and friendship between generations.  It is also a great summer read for older elementary children who can head for their own green space to think and wonder.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Penguin Group.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review: The Summer Before Boys by Nora Raleigh Baskin

| Tasha

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The Summer Before Boys by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Julia is spending the summer with Eliza, who is her age but is also her niece.  Julia’s mother has been sent overseas with the National Guard and her father can’t watch Julia and work.  So the two girls spend their summer together, often heading up to the hotel where Eliza’s father works.  The friends spend a lot of time playing pretend, imagining that they are back in time when girls wore long dresses.  But Julia is worried about her mother and the war.  She has also discovered a boy named Michael who seems interested in her too.  But pursuing Michael may mean leaving Eliza behind.

This is a book about changing from being a child to being a teen.  Baskin perfectly captures that transition, that tension that is achingly real here.  Her writing explores the changes, the new-sounding laughter of flirtation, the running both from and to boys at the same time, the loss of imagination, the setting aside of old priorities for new ones.  She allows us to see the friendship of the two girls first as it always has been with a comfort, a shorthand, a natural ease.  And then we watch it change before our eyes as one girl grows up faster than the other, and tensions begin to create cracks and shifts.

Julia is a beautifully crafted heroine who is honest, confused, and filled with a depth of feeling and awareness that makes the book so special.  I enjoyed seeing the world change through Julia’s eyes rather than having it be Eliza, the one being left behind, who was the first person voice.  And the ending, the ending!  It is exactly what the book needed, what all of us who have left childhood behind need to remember.  Lovely.

Highly recommended, this book is a stellar piece of tween fiction that captures that age with depth and beauty.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Reviewed by

Book Review: Slog’s Dad by David Almond

| Tasha

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Slog’s Dad by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean

Originally a short story, this small book is eerie, haunting and achingly sad.  Slog’s father is dead and he knows it.  But when he sees the scruffy man outside the butcher shop, he knows that it is his father who has returned to see him.  But Davie, his best friend, is just as convinced that this man is a fake.  The story explores the way that Slog’s father died, slowly and by tangible steps.  It is a story of grief but also one of hope that asks unanswerable questions and allows readers to stay in the in-between world where hope thrives but so does doubt.

Almond and McKean paired up for The Savage, an amazing work of fiction.  This story is gentler and hopeful.  It quietly explores grief, allowing the poignant moments to live, hover and hope.  It is a story of dreams and beauty, of the unexpected and the amazing.  Almond’s writing is at times so blunt that it is traumatic and unblinking.  At other times, it is eerie and bizarre.  And at still others it is haunting, hopeful and trembling.

McKean’s illustrations help bring the story to a new level.  From the almost photographic detail of some of them, where the warped faces are the only clue that you are not looking at a photograph to the line drawings that soar with greens and blues hovering above heads.  These are illustrations that explore the emotions of the book.  They are not concerned with a unified look and feel, but with the look and feel that is right for that moment in the story. 

A gorgeous work of writing and art, this book is a testament to grief, hope and wonder.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Book Review: If Rocks Could Sing by Leslie McGuirk

| Tasha

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If Rocks Could Sing: a Discovered Alphabet by Leslie McGuirk

This is such an intriguing premise for an alphabet book!  Each alphabet along with the items that the letter stands for are shown in rocks.  The rocks were found along a Florida shore and not changed to look this way.  It is a book based on finding treasures others overlook and seeing possibilities.  The book has a simple layout, allowing the rocks to be the feature here.  It begins with A is for Addition with rocks standing in for 1, 8, = and 9.  B is for Bird with a very unique bird-shaped rock posed in a nest.  C is for couch potato, because who could ever not use this perfectly potato-like rock!  The book is a whimsical tribute to beachcombing.

It is such a simple concept that it has to be done right.  While a couple of the rocks do seem more like blobs than the object they are meant to be, others are startlingly close.  Look at the T is for Toast page, and you can almost see the whole-wheat grain in the toast slice.  The book is a delight just to page through and discover.

It is a book that will have you looking for much more than pretty seashells on your next visit to the beach!  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

Also reviewed by Journey of a Bookseller.

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