Book Reviews

Once a Witch

| Tasha

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Tamsin comes from a family with magical Talents, but she doesn’t have any herself.  While working in her family’s bookstore, she is asked to help find a lost object, something others in her family do for people.  Tamsin is tired of being overlooked and pretends to be her older and very Talented sister Rowena and takes the job.  She goes to boarding school in New York City, against her family’s recommendations, and finds that the man looking for a unique clock also lives there.  He’s a professor at NYC.  At the same time, a Talented childhood friend reappears into Tamsin’s life and agrees to help her find the clock.  But all is not what it seems in this twisting book filled with romance, magic, and danger.

This book is light and lovely.  It is a refreshing fantasy filled with enough angst and action to move it along briskly.  There is also enough danger to make it difficult to put down, enough mystery to keep the pages turning, and enough romantic tension to keep any romance-lover happy.  MacCullough has created a protagonist who is bright, snarky and very funny.  Tasmin is the brilliant star of the novel even though she feels ordinary and dull.  MacCullough’s light touch keeps the book breezy and a pleasure to read.

Perfect for reading under the covers with a flashlight, this novel is simply a lot of fun to read with its captivating blend of fantasy and romance.  A light and lovely book appropriate for ages 12-14.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by A Patchwork of Books.

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes

| Tasha

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.

Is that the scent of butter in the air?  No!  It must be a new Mercy Watson book!

Finding that there is a movie called When Pigs Fly playing at the Bijou, the Watsons set out to the movies.  Mercy is pleased to hear that they serve real butter at the Bijou!  On their way, they meet up with many familiar characters from the series who join them:  Eugenia and Baby Lincoln, Stella and Frank.  Once they reach the drive-in, readers will happily recognize more characters, all of whom enter the fray as Mercy disrupts the drive-in as only a butter-loving pig can.

If you are a Mercy Watson fan, you must pick up this latest one.  If you have not yet enjoyed the buttery wonder of Mercy, don’t start with this title.  Head to the first book and enjoy them one by one.  Note: it is impossible to not want to read them by the bucketful, but try to show some restraint and not pig out.  Van Dusen’s illustrations are colorful, lively and wonderfully manic when called for.  His tiny touches of buttery toast behind each page number make for a complete package of a book that one can simply sink into with a joyous sigh.  This world of pigs, butter and fun is one that is always a pleasure to return to and linger in. 

A great read-aloud series that is also great fun.  I highly recommend it for young readers who are heading for chapter books but still enjoy illustrations to break up the text a bit.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Applesauce Season

| Tasha

Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson, illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein

A perfect book to ease into autumn!  A little boy and his family make applesauce every year just around the time school starts.  They go to the farmer’s market and pick out all sorts of apples for sauce and for eating.  The little boy is in charge of washing the apples when they get home and then his mother and grandmother cut them into pieces.  Into the pot they go with just the right amount of liquid.  When they soften, the little boy gets to help put them through a food mill.  Then a bit of butter, a pinch of salt and just the right amount of cinnamon sugar are added.  The father in the family doesn’t help with the applesauce, instead he makes things to go with it and applesauce cake to use the last of it up.  Throughout the fall, the family makes applesauce together with the color and taste of it changing as the season moves on.

The details of the making of the applesauce is the bulk of this story, though it is about not only the process but a family that cooks together and enjoys it immensely.  Lipson has just the right touch with the text which is explanatory and simple, allowing children to see how it is done.  One delightful part is how much the little boy is allowed to do.  Children will see themselves as part of the action rather than observers.  Gerstein adds the beaming faces of the family as they cook together, the bright colors of the apples, and the changing faces of the applesauce.  His illustrations are just as comforting and welcome as a warm spoonful of applesauce.

This is a lovely celebration of food and family with just the right sweetness and spice.  Highly recommended for apple story times and units, especially for those classrooms and libraries that create applesauce with the children.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Strawberry Hill

| Tasha

 

Strawberry Hill by Mary Ann Hoberman

Allie and her family are going to be moving to a home all their own.   Her father would be able to be with them every day, not just on weekends because his job was far away due to the Depression.  And the neighborhood had a wonderful name, Strawberry Hill.  But when Allie gets to the new house, there are no strawberries in sight and she had to leave her best friend behind.  Allie discovers that there are two girls just her age right nearby, but deciding who is going to be her new best friend is complicated.  It doesn’t help that the two girls are so very different and Allie feels drawn to each of them for different reasons.  When Allie is called a “dirty Jew” by another girl, the novel takes on another dimension, dealing with racial issues. 

This novel for young readers has just the right amount of tension around friendships and race.  The girls are all complex and interesting characters as are the adults, which takes some finesse in a book for this age.  Allie is a charming character who worries about things like colors, tuna fish sandwiches, and making a good impression.  Her coming-of-age story is gentle and will find an audience with children who enjoy quiet moments, small details, and historical elements. 

Allie’s eagerness to find a new best friend translates into a character that any reader would love to befriend.  Recommended for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Brimful Curiosities, A Patchwork of Books, and Abby (the) Librarian.

When the Whistle Blows

| Tasha

When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

Every once in awhile a debut novel takes your breath away.  This is one of those novels.

Jimmy Cannon’s life is surrounded by trains.  His bedroom is right by the tracks, his father works for the railroad, and Jimmy plans to work the railroad himself as soon as he possibly can.  But Jimmy does not want to be like his father who focuses on rules.  Set in a West Virginia town during the era of steam trains in the 1940s, readers will happily follow Jimmy as he merrily breaks many of the rules.  From Halloween night to boyhood scrapes, this book has a timeless feel.

Slayton writes with a spirit and style that reads like a classic novel.  Offering a complex relationship of a boy and his father, she lightens the novel through the scenes that define Jimmy’s boyhood.  Every reader, boy or girl, will be able to relate to the escapades, enjoy laughing out loud about the close calls, and bite their nails when the tension gets thick.  This is a many layered book that teachers will look forward to reading in their classrooms.  There is so much here to discuss and yet it is so easy to read, understand and relate to.  It is frankly a masterpiece of ease and complexity not often seen in children’s books.

If there is one book you are going to read aloud to 4th and 5th graders this year, it should be this one.  Highly recommended, this should be a Newbery contender this year.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from copy provided by publisher.

Check out Fran Cannon Slayton’s own blog.

Also reviewed by BookDads, Reviewed Here First, Reading, Writing, Ruminating, Susan VanHecke, WriterJenn, Charlotte’s Library, Confessions of a Bibliovore, Becky’s Book Reviews, Through the Wardrobe, The Reading Zone, Underage Reading, Sarah Miller, 100 Scope Notes, and Into the Wardrobe.

Museum of Mary Child

| Tasha

The Museum of Mary Child by Cassandra Golds

Heloise lives a lonely, subdued and severe life with her godmother.  She is not allowed to have toys, not allowed to play, and must spend her time being constructive.  Heloise yearns most of all for a doll and then she discovers a secret niche under a floorboard where a doll is hidden.  She succeeds for some time in hiding the doll from her godmother, but when her godmother discovers the doll, she flies into a rage.  Next door to their house is the Museum of Mary Child, a place where visitors come but Heloise has never been allowed to enter.  Her grandmother drags her there.  Stunned by the revelations of the museum, Heloise flees her godmother’s home with her doll in tow.  Ending up in the city, Heloise is taken in by a choir of orphans, where she begins to learn about what life is about and to feel like a real little girl.  But she cannot escape the mystery of her own upbringing for long.

This gothic tale owes a lot to folk tales with birds who guide humans, and a prince in prison.  These elements weave themselves into Heloise’s tale, offering glimpses of magic and wonder  against the darkness of madness and solitude.  Just as Heloise is a unique child, so this book is unique and fascinating.  It doesn’t fit into a genre niche neatly, offering so many different but well-worked elements.  Because of this, it is a very fun read.  Readers will be unable to figure out how the novel will end because they won’t be sure if they are reading fantasy, gothic, horror or fairy tale – perhaps it is all of them at once.

Heloise is a great character with her fierceness and inquisitiveness.  She carries this book forward, gradually learning along with the reader what her story is.  It is a delicately balanced story, never moving too far into horror, never too far from its fairy tale elements.  The setting is such a large part of the tale from the museum to the city itself and its madhouse and prison.  Golds does a great job creating and sustaining a mood though the entire book along with a tension that makes it difficult to put down and impossible not to puzzle about even when not reading.

Recommended for tweens who are a little too young for Twilight, this book has quality writing and an intriguing premise.  Children as young as ten who are looking for a little horror and creepiness will find a great read here.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from copy provided by publisher.

The Doll Shop Downstairs

| Tasha

The Doll Shop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Heather Majone.

Nine-year-old Anna is lucky enough to grow up living above her parent’s doll shop where they repair broken china and bisque dolls.  She is a middle child, feeling ordinary next to her smart older sister and her cute little sister.  Though the family doesn’t have enough money for dolls for the three girls, they are allowed to play with the dolls that have been in the shop for some time.  Each girl has a special doll that is “theirs.”  However, changes are coming with the beginning of World War I.  Doll parts become impossible to import from Germany because of the War.  So the family must become creative about how they will earn a living. 

I was a girl who played with dolls.  My favorite and one I still treasure is the rag doll my mother made for me.  She has yellow yarn hair, blue eyes, and a collection of clothes which include a velvet dress with a bustle!  It was a treat to read a book about little girls who love dolls, especially dolls which are not perfect. 

Anna is a great character.  Her perspective on her own ordinariness is shown to be incorrect by all of the clever and important things she invents and does.  I think there are many children who don’t see that they are special and its nice to have a book that explores that for younger children.

The world of pre-War New York City is vividly depicted and is as much a character as any of the human ones.  McDonough does a great job of showing glimpses of the city but not inundating young readers with facts.  I also appreciate the fact that the family is Jewish and that it is handled so matter-of-factly. 

Recommended for doll lovers and as a great example of historical fiction for young readers who are looking for something light but historical.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Mr. Putter & Tabby Spill the Beans

| Tasha

Mr. Putter and Tabby Spill the Beans by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Arthur Howard

As a huge fan of the Mr. Putter and Tabby series with their gentle and very funny humor, I was delighted to see that there was a new entry in the series!  In this latest book, Mr. Putter and Tabby (his cat) join their friends Mrs. Teaberry and Zeke (her dog) on a new adventure, a cooking class.  To be specific, a cooking class that offers one hundred ways to cook beans.  At first the worry is that Tabby and Zeke won’t stay below the table, but the two animals are capable of causing plenty of trouble from right under there.

Rylant has a special gift for writing text at a beginning reader level that is not only accessible for new readers but also great fun to read aloud.  She writes in a way that belies the difficulty of a smaller vocabulary.  Howard’s art offers additional humor and great facial expressions from Tabby.  Both author and illustrator delight in naughtiness, making this ever so much more approachable for children because of it!

This entire series is highly recommended.  Fans of the series can rejoice in yet another book that meets the high standard of the series.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

When Stella Was Very, Very Small

| Tasha

When Stella Was Very, Very Small by Marie-Louise Gay.

After several Stella books and some Sam books too, readers will get the treat of seeing a much younger Stella in this new picture book.  A tiny version of the imaginative Stella moves quickly from one imaginative idea to the next.  Stella races her rubber ducks in the bathtub, listens to the stories the trees tell in the wind, and explores the jungle of tall grass in her backyard.  By the end of the book, Stella is bigger and Sam has appeared so she has someone to share her stories and imagination with.

Gay portrays an imaginative child who happily plays in her own creative world alone but just as merrily includes a younger sibling.  Gay uses poetic words to describe Stella and her surroundings.  One of my favorites has the trees outside Stella’s windows talking in the evening.  It gives readers an even clearer sense of Stella’s internal world.  Beautifully and tangibly written and captured.  Gay’s illustrations are just as successful.  Her watercolors offer a vivid glimpse into Stella’s imagination.  Yet the illustrations are more about her reality than her imagination.  Done with just the right touch and tone, this book is a pleasure.

Readers who already love Stella and Sam will be the first in line for this book, but those who are just discovering them will find themselves welcomed into a wondrous new world.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from library copy.