Book Reviews

Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus

| Tasha

Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus by Kristen Tracy

Camille is having a rough time as a fourth grader.  Her best friend has moved to Japan, and Camille has not gotten a letter from her yet.  She has low blood sugar and has to carry extra food to school in a cooler which makes her stand out from the others.  Her desk is right under a dangling hornet.  And to top it all off, she fell under the bus when she was trying to get on.  It’s enough to make someone give up entirely!  But not Camille McPhee.  Instead she is hopeful that things will get better.  She even has a plan to avoid making new friends by acting like a lone dingo.  And how could that fail?

Tracy has created a book that is modern and fresh.  It speaks to everyone who has been accident prone, or a misfit, or just has days or years filled with things going wrong.  In other words, it will speak to everyone.  Camille is a great heroine with a spot-on voice that is wry, funny and entirely herself.   Throughout the book, we can see Camille grow despite her own best efforts at staying the same.  The secondary characters are equally interesting from her warring parents to the girls who just might become her friends if she lets them.

A funny book about self-esteem, friendship and life in general, this book is a winner of a novel.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Check out Kristen Tracy’s website.

Smile!

| Tasha

Smile! by Leigh Hodgkinson

Though Sunny is almost always smiling, today she isn’t.  In fact, she has lost her smile.  It all happened when she was definitely not sulking after her mother told her she couldn’t have any more cookies until dinner.  Sunny’s dad says she should try to remember where she had it last.  Sunny looks all over for her smile, even cleaning up her room in the process.  She finally has a quick game of cards with her dog before continuing the search.  And guess what happens to appear!

Sunny has a very unique and personal voice that really makes this book special. Combined with the vibrant and child-like art, this book has plenty of energy and spark.  Hodgkinson also uses fonts to help emphasize certain words rather like Lauren Child’s books.  This book is filled with a wry humor, making it a pleasure to read aloud.

This one won’t sit on the shelf long with its bright yellow cover and friendly illustrations!  Snatch it up quickly!  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

You can check out the book trailer below which gives a great sense of the illustration style as well as Leigh Hodgkinson’s own blog.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_-Jie7sjQg%5D

All Things Bright and Beautiful

| Tasha

All Things Bright and Beautiful by Ashley Bryan

Renowned illustrator, Ashley Bryan, takes the beloved hymn by Cecil F. Alexander and adds cut-paper illustrations.  Starting with the sun as a Ferris wheel, he creates entire ecosystems in paper.  Readers will see a huge whale, people of every color, fantastically detailed flowers and birds, mountains, rivers, and much more.  This book is a feast for the eye, filled with bright colors and smiling faces. 

This book will work well paired with Bryan’s other book, Let It Shine, which has a similar style.  Bryan did the entire book with his mother’s sewing scissors, as he mentions in the first pages.  This book is a true tribute to the vividness of life, the wonder of our land, and the diversity of our planet.

Highly recommended for every library collection, this book is a feast of color, art and song.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Whoo Goes There?

| Tasha

Whoo Goes There? by Jennifer A. Ericsson, illustrated by Bert Kitchen

Everything was dark and quiet.  Owl sat alone on a branch in a tall tree, waiting and watching.  Whenever something rustled, thumped or squeaked, Owl wondered, “Whoo goes there?”  He hoped it was something just right for his dinner.  But each time it was not a fat mouse or squirrel, it was a cat, a skunk or a bat.  Finally, Owl knew it WAS a mouse, and he headed into the darkness to try to catch it.

This book based on a simple premise offers more depth than most repetitive stories.  Here we see nature in action, tension builds with each creature that isn’t edible, and the ending is perfectly satisfying with a touch of humor.  Ericsson’s prose uses the repetition nicely, never becoming sing-songy or dull, but using it instead to create a vivid mood.  Combined with Kitchen’s incredibly lifelike illustrations, this book offers a book that will give children a tingle with no real fear.  Kitchen’s art is beautifully rendered.  He shows the detail of the bark of a tree contrasted with the spines of a porcupine in just one of his masterful images.  Each one is a window into nature and into that creature.

Highly recommended, this is an ideal book for story times with toddlers.  I would consider it for Halloween story times where the children are a bit young for monster books but want a little thrill still.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Smallest Snowflake

| Tasha

The Smallest Snowflake by Bernadette Watts

Far above where the geese were flying, the snowflakes were waiting to fall.  The Smallest Snowflake wants just to land somewhere special.  Each snowflake fell in a different place.  One fell on the top of a mountain, another sparkled in the branches of a tree, another at the top of a building in a city, and still another on the wall of a castle.  The Smallest Snowflake kept on flying on the wind until it landed in a window box of a cottage where a merry fire burned in the fireplace, paintings hung on the wall, and another painting was in the process of being painted.  The snowflake had never seen this sort of thing before.  The snowflake watched day to day until one day from underneath came a pushing and green shoots appeared as spring arrived.

This is a gentle story about the journey of a snowflake to just the right spot.  The cottage is where Watts used to live in Wales.  Readers will see her at work, view her cozy home, and catch a glimpse on the final page as she takes her book to the mail.  Watts creates a lovely picture of winter here as each snowflake finds just the right spot to land.  Her illustrations capture the swirl of snow, the chill, and then the warmth of the cottage.  Small touches throughout invite the reader to look closely at the pictures.  A red kite flies high above orange roofs.  Newspaper pages blow out of someone’s hands.  Raccoons huddle together on a cold branch. 

Best shared with a small group or just one child because of the great details and quiet story, this book is a real gem.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Day Is Done

| Tasha

Day Is Done by Peter Yarrow, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary wrote this poignant song about the wisdom of children and their ability to lead us.  This picture book takes the lyrics of the song and turns it into a book for children that adults will appreciate as well.  A variety of animal families are featured in the book including bears, deer, rabbits and raccoons.  Sweet’s illustrations explore the connections of families, nature and wonder as her animals live in a forest bedecked in flowers drawn with a child-like hand.  Both the song and illustrations combine to create a world of shelter, love and connectivity.

Sweet’s illustrations with their touches of thick crayon and youthful simplicity are deceptive.  Looked at closely, they are mixes of collage and watercolor that are expertly combined into a seamless unity.  Sweet’s art moves from late afternoon through evening and night, changing from pastels to deeper starlit blues. 

A beautiful and accessible version of the beloved song, this book includes a CD with two additional songs.  Appropriate for ages 2-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Jama Rattigan, LadyD Books, and Brimful Curiosities. 

Cora Cooks Pancit

| Tasha

Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, illustrated by Kristi Valiant

Cora always got stuck with the kid jobs when her mother cooks like licking the spoon and drawing in the flour.  So when her older siblings head out of the house, Cora asks her mother to make pancit.  Cora’s mother gives her the red apron that belonged to her grandfather who was a cook.  After washing her hands, Cora gets to help with grownup jobs like shredding chicken, checking the soaking noodles, and stirring the hot pan.  When the family sits down to dinner, Cora is nervous.  Will her pancit taste good?

This is a very warm book with a bustling, busy family.  It really speaks to the relationship of a mother and daughter, the way that traditions and foods are handed down to the next generation, and the pleasure children get from being part of creating and learning.  Gilmore’s text is joyful as it explains Filipino foods and heritage, giving us glimpses of the family history along the way.  Valiant’s art with its warm, deep colors show us a family that is familiar but has its own particular culture. 

A glowingly friendly look at a loving Filipino family, this book will have you hungry for your own family recipes and offers a great venue to discuss everyone’s particular family heritage through food.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Interview with Kristi Valiant at Elizabeth Dulemba’s blog.

Also reviewed by Paper Tigers, The Picnic Basket, Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup, and BookDragon.

The King and the Seed

| Tasha

The King and the Seed by Eric Maddern, illustrated by Paul Hess

King Karnak has no heir and is coming to the end of his reign.  So he puts out a call for anyone who wants to be king to come and join in a competition.  Knights come from across the land, ready for the battle to begin.  But the king surprises them all by handing each one of them a seed and asking them to bring it back in six months to show what they have grown.  A boy, Jack, who came only to witness the competition, gets a seed for himself.  Jack tries and tries to make his seed grow, but nothing works and six months later he heads back to the castle.  There he finds the knights with armloads of plants, huge flowers, all different from one another.  Jack doesn’t want to admit his defeat to the king, so what’s a boy to do?

Maddern’s storytelling has a great flair, filled with small touches and humor that really bring the story to life.  The book has a strong message that is not overdone.  It also has a classic folk tale format that is mixed with a modern storytelling style, creating a very engaging book.  Hess’ illustrations are bright-colored and offer interesting perspectives on the action.  They will work well with a group.

Ideal for reading aloud, this book is a great modern folktale that emphasizes the importance of honesty.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

All Kinds of Families

| Tasha

All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Marc Boutavant

Bottle caps, gingersnaps, buttons, or rings

You can make families from all sorts of things!

Explore the idea of family as a broader thing.  People are families, animals are families, but also socks, marbles, thimbles and more!  The idea of family is embraced here, going far beyond our everyday concept of it and allowing children to find families everywhere.  In the book, the human families are also celebrated and children’s roles in them are highlighted.  This flowing poem even has you seeing families in fingers and toes.  A celebration indeed!

Hoberman’s rhyme here is great fun, offering lists of items that are families and inviting readers to add their own ideas.  The highlighted text above nicely finishes each verse of the poem.  Boutavant’s illustrations are retro 1970s and equally fun.  They feature grinning objects, lots of animals, and small details to enjoy. 

This is a jolly book that is a warm hug of inclusion for everyone and everything into the world of families.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from library copy.