Book Reviews

Drum City

| Tasha

Drum City by Thea Guidone, illustrated by Vanessa Newton

A great choice for a musical story time, this book offer charming illustrations and a dynamite beat.  The beat starts with one child banging on a pot with a whisk and spoon.   Soon children take to the streets with all sorts of objects to drum with: pots and pans, kettles and cans.  They march down the street, surprising grown ups with their music.  The parade of people grows and grows, turning the entire city into a city of drums.  Not only does this book offer a catchy beat, but it also shows the delight of music and its ability to bring people together.  Drum!

Guidone’s words create all sorts of rhythm, never hesitating to be jazzy or complex.  This makes the book far more interesting to read aloud than a sedate or steady beat.  She begins most stanzas of her poem with the word “drum” and ends most with that word too.  This gives everyone a chance to stop and restart with another rhythm.  Purely infectious! 

Newton’s illustrations, done in Photoshop, are filled with a city of people of all colors, ages, and occupations.  Interestingly, they incorporate not only digital art but a collage effect with word clippings in unlikely places.  Sharp-eyed children will also spot postage marks in the pictures. The illustrations nicely capture the busyness of an urban setting along with the excitement of the music.

Recommended, this book is one you must try with children.  Just go with the rhythm, hand everyone different things to drum with, and everyone is sure to have a bang up time.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Tricycle Press.

City Dog, Country Frog

| Tasha

City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon J. Muth

I was a little concerned about a book by Willems that he didn’t illustrate himself, but I shouldn’t have.  This book is a rich exploration of friendship.  A dog who has never lived in the country before runs out through the fields and comes upon a frog sitting on a rock near the water.  The frog immediately invites the dog to be his friend and the two play frog games together that spring.  When summer comes, the dog and frog play city dog games together, including fetch.  In the fall, the frog is growing old and tired.  So the two play remembering games together, thinking of spring and summer and the games they played.  Then winter came and when the dog headed to the rock, the frog wasn’t there.  Then spring came again, and this time the dog was the one sitting on the rock waiting for a friend.  And guess who came?  A new and unexpected friend.

This book is about friendship, that deep and abiding type of friendship that is about connection.  It is also about loss and it captures it so vividly that children will immediately understand the gravity of winter and exactly what the dog is experiencing.  It is a very powerful moment, depicted in deep blues of winter cold and silence in the text.  Beautifully captured.  At the same time though, it is a book about friendship continuing, new friends arriving, and the ability to move on and resume.  Willem’s language is simple and adept, he says things is so few words yet captures feelings perfectly.  Muth’s illustrations really capture the seasons. One can almost smell the grass of spring, the autumn leaves, and the crisp snowy air.  He also imbues the animals’ faces with deep emotions yet makes sure that they are still dogs and frogs. 

Highly recommended, this pairing of author and illustrator has created an amazing story that is deep and moving.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.  Make sure when you share this with a child that there is time to talk afterwards, it is sure to start a conversation.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out the trailer that Mo Willems created for the book:

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LMNO Peas

| Tasha

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

Follow the energetic and very friendly green peas in an alphabet journey through various activities.  Starting with A, the peas are acrobats, artists and astronauts.  Each letter has activities that are shown in the illustrations with charming detail that invite readers to spend time with the book.  The use of activities rather than objects as the words makes for a dynamic picture book filled with lots of action.  The text reflects that same active feel with a jaunty rhyme that gallops along.  Make sure to read aloud the comments of the peas along the way, because they are worked into the verse and maintain the meter of the rhymes.  This is a charmer of an alphabet book that is sure to be a hit with kids.

The illustrations in the book are done digitally.  They have a warm and natural feel to them that suits the subject of friendly, active peas very nicely.  The smiling green peas have limbs, wear costumes, and use props.  They use the letter themselves as the basis of their activities, climbing them, mining them, using them as a stage.  This makes sure that kids are really looking at the letters themselves.  There is a superb sense of humor on display throughout, sure to have adults and children smiling and laughing along. 

A very inventive alphabet book that should find a home in every public library collection, this book is appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

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The Water Seeker

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The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

I am struggling with the summary of this book.  I could list all of the things that happen, but that doesn’t capture the wonder of this book, the tiny touches that make it so very special and the overlying theme of water and family that tie it all together.  I could talk about the special moments but at its heart this book is the story of a boy who becomes a man before our eyes and builds his own sort of family out of the people he loves.  It is the story of Amos, a boy who loses his mother the moment he is born, is loved by his father who cannot settle down and stay with him but makes sure he is cared for.  It is the story of a mother’s love that continues to guide, embodied in birds and reflections.  It is the story of the Oregon Trail, of homesteading, of hardship and pain.  It is the story of humanity captured in one boy’s life.  And I apologize that that is the best I can do for a summary, because it only grazes the top of this deep book.

I am amazed that Holt was able to put so much love, soul and power into a book that reads like an adventure story.  It is a book that can be enjoyed on different levels, but is wonderful to plunge into and be carried away by like a strong river current.  It is a book that celebrates all sorts of loves, doesn’t turn away from pain and loss, and shows how life continues after devastation meets us.  It is a story filled with strong women and men.  Men who are both physically strong but also emotionally there.  Women who shoulder the burden of entire families, survive horrific abuse, and continue to life and love. 

Holt has created great characters here who are a joy to spend time with.  Amos is a humble protagonist who grows into greatness.  He is complicated, a wonderful amalgam of all who cared for him in his life.  And yet at the same time he is simple and always himself.  Holt manages to do both in this boy.  And through it all runs a current of water.  Water as life.  Water as death. 

Get this book.  I am afraid I can’t capture it any more clearly, because my words don’t seem to be able to match the depth and power of this novel.  It is amazing, wondrous and special.  My Newbery pick so far. 

Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Turtle in Paradise

| Tasha

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

Because her mother gets a job with a woman who doesn’t want a child around, Turtle has to move across the country from Pennsylvania to Key West to live with her aunt and cousins.  Set in 1935 during the Depression, the book captures the unique character of the Florida Keys as well as the poverty and joblessness of the time period.  Turtle finds herself surrounded by boy cousins who have started their own business that pays in candy.  They look after babies by pulling them around in a wagon for a few hours to give mothers a break.  They also have a secret diaper rash formula that helps keep them in business.  Their small town is filled with characters all with interesting nicknames.  Turtle discovers a lot during her summer in the Keys: the ties of family, the power of hurricanes, and how to find buried treasure.  This book is an ideal summer read.

Holm packs such a great story in this brief book thanks to her stellar writing.  It features a heroine who is smart, sassy, and very brave.  She has specific ideas about things and is never afraid to say them, even though they will have readers cringing at her bald honesty.  Holm beautifully creates a town of characters who are constantly surprising, always more complex than expected, and delightfully depicted.  Her writing is clean as an ocean breeze, moving along at a brisk pace.  Dialogue is at the heart of the book and is written with a great ear and accuracy. 

Highly recommended, this book based on Holm’s family history, offers a window into the Great Depression and into Key West with a Little Rascals feel. It would make an excellent read aloud but an even better beach read.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

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My Father Knows the Names of Things

| Tasha

 

With a colorful airplane on the cover, this book welcomes you to the world of a father and son.  The father knows all sorts of facts.  He knows the names of each and every thing from birds to dogs to cheese to bells.  He knows facts about things like which beetles are smallest and which mosses are fuzziest.  His son follows merrily after him, soaking up the knowledge of his father.  A great book for Father’s Day.

Yolen’s poem is clever, silly and great fun to read.  It’s couplets are merry and jaunty.  The rhyme is never overpowering and the rhythm adds to the appeal.  Jorisch’s watercolor and gouache illustrations also have a wonderful sense of play.  They have a quirky modernism that captures the feel of the poem and adds to it. 

This book celebrates knowledge and imagination as well as the father son relationship.  It is a treat for any time of year.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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My Father Is Taller than a Tree

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My Father Is Taller than a Tree by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

Ideal for a Father’s Day read, this book features pairs of fathers and sons who spend time together.  They do so many different things from boating to painting to playing games.  The father son pairs are diverse not only by being from different cultural and racial backgrounds but also in their relationships.  There are father who wrestle, fathers who need help, father who are artists, fathers who read books.  This is a true celebration of the importance of fathers and the many ways that men can be fathers to their sons.

Bruchac’s poem flows over the bottom of the pages, knitting them together.  The poem is simple and enjoyable with rhyming couplets that offer the inspiration for the illustrations.  Halperin’s illustrations are exceptional.  Done in crayon and pencil, they have a delicacy of line combined with a pleasing density of color.  Each double spread offers one large image of the father and son and then four smaller images showing details of the time they are spending together.  Because of the detail of the pictures, this book is best shared one-on-one and really looked closely at and talked about.  The illustrations invite readers in, tell them a story beyond the poem, and allow us to really understand fathers and sons.

A beautiful book that should not be saved just for Father’s Day.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

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Cat’s Night Out

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Cats’ Night Out by Caroline Stutson, illustrated by J. Klassen

A clowder of cats fill the pages here, counted up one by one all the way to twenty.  (Don’t you love the term “clowder" for a group of cats?  It’s very appropriate here because it sounds so much like “louder.”)  On each page, the cats appear in different dance costumes and a different type of dance is shown.  Line dancing with rhinestones, tangoing in red capes, and polkaing in flip-flops are just some of the great matchups of costume and dance.  The cats dance until the people in the apartment buildings can’t take the noise anymore. Readers will love dancing to dawn with these delightful felines.

Stutson has created a counting book that is a pleasure to read aloud.  Her rhymes are unforced and natural, with the vowels rhyming but rarely the full word, creating a more flowing verse.  The illustrations take this book to another level.  Done in subtle browns and grays, the setting is clearly urban and has the feel of an intimate club that morphs into an almost Broadway show effect as the cats become more numerous.  Klassen evokes a timeless feel with her illustrations but they are definitely modern with a hip, suave tone perfect for these confident dancers. 

Highly recommended, this book is one of the hippest counting books to come along.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Restoring Harmony

| Tasha

Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony

Sixteen-year-old Molly has lived her entire life on a sheltered island in Canada.  Despite the Collapse ten years ago in 2031, her family has food, shelter and lives an agrarian, self-sufficient life.  But now Molly must leave the island and venture into the United States to bring her grandparents home.  The family doesn’t know if her grandmother is alive or dead, due to communication problems.  To make it worse, Molly must sneak into the United States and only has enough money to get there, not to return.  Molly must brave a country filled with poverty, starvation, no transportation, and ruled by the Organization.  It is one farm girl and her fiddle against the world.

World building is very important in a book like this.  One faulty line of logic and the entire book crumbles.  Anthony has created a world that is carefully built on logic and a great extension of the direction the world is heading in.  The loss of petroleum, the decay of large cities, and the reliance on trading and bartering make for a world that is alarming in its nearness and ambitious in its scope. 

Molly is a glorious protagonist.  She shines with intelligence, resourcefulness and kindness.  Her reliable farmer’s knowledge serves her well in this dystopian novel.  Molly is neither too brave nor too frightened.  She faces danger with squared shoulders and does not seek it out.  Many of the secondary characters are equally well drawn.  Spill, the boy who is able to get anything because of his connections to the Mob, is multidimensional and a great romantic foil to Molly. 

A dystopian fantasy that is hauntingly honest and offers a marvelous heroine, this book is appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Putnam.

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