Book Reviews

I’m Number One

| Tasha

I’m Number One by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Bob Graham

A-One rules the toys.  He tells them all what to do.  He demands that the other toys wind his key, and then critiques the way they do it.  Then he teases each of them about what they are wearing.  Maddy has a floppy yellow hat that A-One teases her about and when she takes it off, he puts it on himself.  He does the same with Sally’s knapsack and Sid’s scarf.  But when his mean words get jumbled up, they start to sound very silly indeed.  When everyone starts laughing, even A-One has to join in.

This is a clever book on bullying because the bully turns out to be alright in the end.  It really shows how any child can take on the role of a bully without meaning to.  A-One is demanding and demeaning.  His tone in the book is perfectly done as are the voices of the other toys.  Rosen’s writing has a gentle quality to it that works well here.  He uses repetition nicely throughout the book, drawing young readers in.  At the end of the book, humor plays an important part in reminding A-One that he is one of the group, not the only one.

Graham’s art also has a gentle quality to it.  I love the way that A-One is the only hard toy in the group.  The others are stuffed and soft.  In the illustrations, he is stiff-lined while the others have softer, rounder edges.  This makes a nice visual tie in with the story.

Recommended for all children, bullies and bullied.  This book takes a gentle and laughter-filled approach to a difficult subject.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Sal’s Fiction Addiction and Young Readers.

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

| Tasha

My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Enter the zoo where each animal has a different emotion.  The beaver is eager, the rabbit is frightened, the clam is cozy.  There are animals here that children will recognize immediately and others that may be new to them.  Nicely, the same is true of the emotions.  Children will immediately understand angry, happy, and silly.  However, they may need help with bothered, rugged and chatty.  This is a book where emotions, art and vocabulary create a real chance to learn.  At the same time, it is friendly, bright and simple.

Hall’s art is large, colorful and great fun.  In this book, his animals are all built from hearts as you can see from the cover image.  Some like the frog are a simple heart with legs while others are quite complex constructs like the walrus.  The simplicity and graphical nature of Hall’s work really function well here.  The book can be read as simply animals.  Plus, it can be used to discuss emotions, and it would be a great platform for acting out emotions.  It can also be used to talk about similes.

Ideal for Valentines Day, this book is simple enough for toddlers to enjoy but complex enough to share with older children too.  The large images are perfect for classroom or group use.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out the great Book Trailer:

Also reviewed by:

She Is Too Fond of Books

Books for Kids

Creative Literacy

Shelf-Employed

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)

| Tasha

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

At age 13, Susy, the daughter of Mark Twain, was annoyed that people writing biographies of her father got things wrong.  So she decided to write her own biography of her famous father because she truly knew him.  At first Susy’s biography was a secret but soon her parents had discovered her book and her father helped by offering quotes at opportune moments.  In her biography, Susy told of her father’s childhood, his public side and his private life.  She documented his finer qualities and also his lesser ones.  She also wrote about his writing practice and how her mother cleaned up the racier passages.  This is a biography that shows us Twain as a family man and father as well as an author.

Kerley’s biography of Twain is immensely readable and inviting.  She has incorporated passages from Susy’s biography in an inventive way.  They are placed in inserts that look like small books on each page.  Readers will be delighted by the passages and the insights they offer.  Fotheringham’s illustrations are a creative mix of vintage and modern.  Done digitally, they have a warmth and strong graphic quality. 

Highly recommended, this is a great biographical picture book for elementary-aged students.  It is also ideal to share with children who want to be writers since it shows not only Twain’s process but gives readers a young writer to model themselves after as well.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Kiss the Book, Sommer Reading, and Young Readers.

You can read about Barbara Kerley’s own writing process for this book at INK.

Cosmic

| Tasha

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Liam is a twelve-year-old who looks like a he’s thirty.  He’s the tallest in his class and even has a wispy beard growing in.  So Liam is able to do things that other kids his age can’t.  He rides carnival rides that they are all too short for.  He is mistaken for a teacher on his first day of school.  He pretends that a girl in his class, Florida, is his daughter.  And he almost test drives a Porsche before his father stops him.   Thanks to these mistakes, Liam lives in a place between childhood and adulthood.  So when Liam is asked to bring his daughter on the trip of a lifetime to the best theme park in the world, Liam easily decides to do it.  He needs to pose as one of the world’s best dads to get on the spaceship, and it just may take a child to be the best father in the bunch.

I love Boyce’s books because you never know what journey you are about to start out on.  The book will seem to be one thing and delightfully morph into something else along the way.  Readers will start out thinking this is a book about space travel, but it is so much more.  It is an exploration of what age means, a novel about what it takes to be a parent and what it takes to be a kid.  It is a deep book that never loses its light heart and sense of fun.

Liam is a great character who even when he is acting like a great father never could be confused with an adult.  Boyce has written a wonderful hero here who is smart, intuitive and thoroughly juvenile in a great way.

I only have one teeny quibble with the novel.  Boyce uses World of Warcraft as one of Liam’s main interests.  I play WOW and so will many of the kids who read this novel.  The problem is that Boyce gets a lots of the details of the game wrong.  Some he has right, but others are really jarringly off.  This doesn’t detract from the book’s quality, but it may really bother some young readers.  I know that whenever he got a detail wrong it pulled me right out of the story, which is unfortunate.

Highly recommended, even for WOW junkies, this book is a beauty of a novel filled with humor, grace and a hero for our times.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Nayu’s Reading Corner and Fuse #8.

Wishing for Tomorrow

| Tasha

Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess by Hilary McKay

I have been a huge fan of A Little Princess since I was a little girl.  It was my favorite book for years and have read it so many times that I can’t count.  My favorite version was the one with the illustrations by Tasha Tudor.  The pictures matched the ones in my head so beautifully.  I am also an enormous fan of Hilary McKay and her Casson family series.  So how would one of my favorite authors do with a sequel to one of my favorite books?

Now that Sara has left Miss Minchin’s school, things are very different, especially for Ermengarde who misses Sara very much.  One thing though has bothered Ermengarde ever since she got a glimpse of Sara’s attic cell after the magic transformed it.  Why did Sara never tell her of how her world had changed?  With Sara gone, Lottie returns to her mischief and Lavinia once again is the leader of the girls.  A new maid replaces Becky.  She brings with her a fresh attitude and a no-nonsense point of view that is soon beloved by the girls.  When a boy moves in next door with a wandering cat, everything is poised to change again. 

When I first heard of a sequel to A Little Princess, I assumed that it would focus once again on Sara Crewe.  Then I was disappointed, now I am delighted.  Continuing the story of the girls we met in the first book was a great choice.  McKay lets us see into the other girls in the book and each girl is surprising and interesting.  McKay’s writing pays homage to the original but has a wry humor that keeps the book from ever becoming sentimental.  I would compare this book to your best friend moving away and realizing that other girls that were there all along are also wonderful companions. 

Bravo to the very brave McKay for taking on such a challenge and creating a winning story that both honors the past and takes its own direction.  Well done!  It is a book just like the first that I intend to read again and again.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by Charlotte’s Library, Nayu’s Reading Corner, and So Many Books.

Henry in Love

| Tasha

 

Henry in Love by Peter McCarty

How do you create a great romantic picture book?  Well, first it must include fresh-baked blueberry muffins.

Henry woke up to the smell of muffins baking and was given one to take to school for snack.  Henry thought Chloe was the loveliest girl in his class.  Whenever he looked at her the wind started to blow and he saw poppies, flowers and grass.  At recess, Henry decided to go up to Chloe even though his friends thought it was a bad idea to talk to a girl.  After Henry demonstrated his best somersault, Chloe showed him her perfect cartwheel.  Then a game of tag started and Henry chased after Chloe.  Back in class, the teacher rearranged their desks and guess who Henry got to sit right next to?  Just in time to share his blueberry muffin.  Now that’s true romance!

A large part of the reason this book is so successful is the art.  As you can see from the cover it is done in inks with touches of watercolor.  Color is used subtly here to great effect. Even the slightest color is magnified by the bare backgrounds.  The result is a book that is modern and charming.  McCarty includes small moments in the book that really make it a treat.  It made the book difficult to summarize because it is the collection of the small moments of Henry’s day that make this book such a delight.  Just as with color, words are used sparingly and offer just the right amount of story to carry the book forward.

A very sweet, honesty picture book, this story captures childhood crushes with dignity and appeal.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Beatitudes

| Tasha

The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Tim Ladwig

Weatherford has taken Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and created a poem that follows African-American history from slavery through to the election of Barack Obama.  The poem affirms that God has been with people even in slavery, during the Civil War, during the civil rights movement, and continues to be with them now.  Readers will discover historical figures from various times in the book, including Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King, Jr.  There are a wealth of heroes here, all surrounded by the strength of faith.

Weatherford’s words are strong and ringing.  They both celebrate and mourn, moving ever onward to a brighter future.  The book shines with a beautiful combination of faith and history.  Ladwig’s illustrations add to that shine with strong people shown in moments of strength.  Many of his paintings have interesting perspectives that make the book even more lovely.

Highly recommended, this is a book that truly captures the strength of a people.  Appropriate for ages 6-10.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Visit Carole Boston Weatherford’s website  and Tim Ladwig’s website.

Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down!

| Tasha

 

Shake, Rattle & Turn That Noise Down!: How Elvis Shook Up Music, Me & Mom by Mark Alan Stamaty

When Mark Alan Stamaty’s parents gave him his own radio at age eight, they thought he’d be listening to the gentle popular music of the time.  But one evening, Elvis and “Hound Dog” blasted from the radio and everything changed with rock and roll.  Mark’s mother was alarmed at this new music and forbade him from buying any of Elvis’ records.  Mark was still able to read about Elvis in magazines, listen to him on the radio, and even see him on TV.  Eventually, Mark’s mother gave up and gave in and he was able to buy Elvis records.  Mark changed the way he did his hair into an Elvis pompadour, helped the other boys in his class get the same look, and when his school picture was taken everyone thought he looked just like Elvis.  So it was natural when the Cub Scout talent show came along that Mark impersonate Elvis, but how would his mother react?

Stamaty is a cartoonist and that shows in this book.  Filled with the frames of cartoons, speech bubbles and caption, the book has its own rocking and rolling feel.  His illustrations show a delightful mix of vintage and modern that echoes the feel of Elvis too.  This book will not work well as a read-aloud because of the graphic novel format, but individuals will enjoy it immensely.  The final pages of the book are a real treat as readers get to see the famous Elvis school picture and a snapshot of Mark performing in the Cub Scout event.  There is also information on Mark performing as Elvis for President Clinton.

A humorous look at a moment in history, this picture book will be most appreciated by slightly older children who can identify with growing up and having preferences of one’s own.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Check out Linda Davick’s interview with Mark Alan Stamaty as well as Stamaty’s own website.

Back of the Bus

| Tasha

Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

It is a winter afternoon in Montgomery, Alabama.  A boy and his mother are riding the bus home after a long day.  The boy is playing with a marble, letting it roll up the aisle.  When a hand snatches the marble, the boy sees Ms. Parks smiling at him and she rolls the marble back.  The bus gets more crowded and then there is a commotion.  The bus remains stopped until the police arrive and take Ms. Parks away.  There is something in her eyes and the way she holds her head though, that show the boy that something big is happening.  And he can see the same spark in his mother’s eyes now.

Here we see a moment in history captured through a young boy’s perspective.  Reynold’s poetry is languid with the warm afternoon and the bumps of the bus.  His poetry allows us to see more deeply into the boy and his mother as he calls attention to small details:

Mama shakes “no” at me,

and I hold it snug in my hand.

She’s got them worked-all-day eyes,

but she’s got her strong chin on.

Very accessible to children, the poem is filled with an honesty and truth.  Cooper’s illustrations are filled with afternoon sunshine that illuminates this moment in history.  He has captured the small world of the bus, yet the poem and his illustrations reveal far more.  Warmly lit, detailed and beautifully done, his illustrations are glowingly lovely.

Highly recommended, this book takes history and bring it to life through poetry, image and one boy.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from library copy.