Book Reviews

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

| Tasha

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly.

In1899, girls are expected to grow up to be either wives or teachers.  So what is a girl like Calpurnia to do?  She is much more interested in different species of grasshoppers than in tatting or cooking.  She would rather spend hours with her grandfather in his shed doing experiments than learning to knit all of her six brothers socks.  As the only daughter in the family, Calpurnia is expected to be ladylike, play the piano, and eventually be launched into society.  Calpurnia is much more likely to be muddy, wet, and dashing about just as fast as her brothers.  Where is the place for Calpurnia?  Readers will love to try to figure it out as they see the wonderful day-to-day of her family and all of the animals on their farm through Callie’s eyes. 

Callie’s voice is so clear and true to character that it brings the entire book to life, not just her character.  Her dismay at her mother’s and society’s expectations, the pull of her own personal interests, and the glory of her grandfather’s scientific endeavors are vividly displayed in this gem of a novel.  Kelly’s writing is crisp and clear, revealing a previous century and what a girl’s role is.  But the book is more about Callie as an individual than Callie as a symbol for any type of feminist movement. 

The characters of the book are so well-written.  Each of the six brothers is unique, quite an achievement in itself.  Callie’s parents and grandfather are just as complex as she is, as are the servants in the house.  The small touches in the text, single phrases at times, reveal just as much as a paragraph would have. 

This book reminded me of Caddie Woodlawn, a favorite childhood book of mine.  It has the same feisty heroine girl, the same muddy pinafores, and the same clever, even sly, writing.  Highly recommended, this book is appropriate for ages 8-12 and would make a great read aloud.

Ready to Dream

| Tasha

Ready to Dream by Donna Jo Napoli and Elena Furrrow, illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft.

Ally and her mother take a trip to Australia together.  Ally carries her backpack filled with art supplies, drawing all that she sees.  At Alice Springs, she meets Pauline, an older Aboriginal woman who is also an artist.  Throughout the month she is there, Ally shares her art with Pauline.  Pauline notices small touches that Ally considers mistakes or accidents.  Pauline shows her how each of these ties into the nature of what she is drawing, more fully expressing it.  As the month progresses, Ally takes more risks with her art, looking for media that will really explore the essence of what she is trying to capture.

I am a fan of books that get children thinking about art, media and expressing themselves in that way.  This book takes it one more level by having Aboriginal artist, Bronwyn Bancroft do the illustrations.  Her art lifts this book to another level, making it mystical, sensual and eye-opening.  Napoli and her daughter, Furrow, have captured that same feeling of freedom and expansiveness in their words that is represented in the illustrations.

Share this book with art teachers, artists and others who will appreciate its take on creativity and connectivity.  Recommended for children ages 5-8.

Trudy

| Tasha

Trudy by Henry Cole.

Esme’s grandfather takes her to the farm auction where she is going to pick out an animal to take home.  Her grandmother is allergic to feathers, so the ducks, roosters and pigeons are out.  The pigs are too stinky and the cow is too big.  Esme picks out Trudy, a goat who is being given away free at the auction.  Trudy is given a small red barn to live in with her own fenced yard with an apple tree.  Trudy goes out every morning to her favorite spot.  Until one morning when she heads out, smells the air and returns to the barn.  That day, it snowed.  This happens again and again.  Trudy returns to the barn, it snows.  Crowds begin to gather to see the weather-forecasting goat.  But then, Trudy returns to the barn and it doesn’t snow.  What could that mean?

This book has many of the same charms as Cole’s On Meadowview Street.  Cole’s illustrations once again capture a feeling, a setting, a mood.  The setting here is especially clearly done for a picture book, with the feel in each and every picture of modern but small farm life.  The book reads aloud very nicely, with touches of repetition, moments of revelation, and its own pace.  I appreciate a book that shows a child living with her grandparents as matter-of-fact and unexplained.  Just normal and factual. 

This book is a charmer.  You may have to create a goat story time just to share this one.  Oh, and who wouldn’t want to pair it with a very different but equally great goat story – Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat.

What I Saw and How I Lied

| Tasha

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Of course I had big expectations for this National Book Award Winner and they were very nicely met.  After World War II, Evie’s stepfather returns from the war and decides to turn his life around.  He buys a few appliance stores and it looks like Evie and her mother will be well off.  But when a strange phone call comes and they decide to head to Florida on the spur of the moment, everything becomes unsettled.  Living in a nearly-vacant hotel in Palm Springs, Evie falls in love with the charming Peter Coleridge who knew her stepfather during the war.  All is not as it seems and Evie must figure out the truth and then decide who to share it with.

The setting of this novel is amazingly vivid with the hotel and its rather surreal emptiness.  This same surreal feeling carries through the book, as reader lenses shift trying to find the truth in a sea of lies.  Evie is a fascinating main character, struggling with becoming an adult, often frightened but not showing it, and filled with much more moxie than most.  She wasn’t an entirely likeable character, which I find an intriguing part of great teen novels. 

Highly recommended.  This is a historical novel that will appeal to teens who enjoy modern literature about risk, love and truth.  Lots to grapple with here, this manages to be a novel with depth that reads easily.

Marcelo in the Real World

| Tasha

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.

Marcelo has always heard internal music that is hard for him to pull away from.  Because of this autism-like disorder, Marcelo has attended a special school, Paterson, where he is now going to help with care and training of the ponies.  Marcelo’s father has never approved of him going to a special school and challenges his son to enter the real world by working in the mail room at his law firm.  If Marcelo refuses or fails, he will be placed in public high school instead of Paterson for his senior year.  Marcelo excels in the real world until sudden knowledge about his father’s job forces him to make an impossible decision.

This book is written from Marcelo’s point of view, allowing the prose itself to become as poetic, strange and amazing as Marcelo’s inner dialogue.  It is a book where you feel the world around you shift as you see it through Marcelo’s eyes. 

There is an enticing thread of religion and music that weaves throughout not only the book but through Marcelo himself.  It is a point of entry for the reader into understanding him.  Lovely, poignant and vivid, this book will capture you, change you, and then release you with tears streaming down your face at the beauty you have found.

Highly recommended for teen readers who are looking for a novel with depth that surprises and delights.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Babies Don't Eat Pizza

| Tasha

Babies Don’t Eat Pizza by Dianne Danzig, illustrated by Debbie Tilley.

Stop right here if you are looking for a perfect book to tell children about their new little brother or sister.  Done in a light-hearted but also matter-of-fact style, this book will answer all of the questions new big siblings have.  The book ranges from what babies look like to what they eat to what they can do plus all of the hair pulling and stinky bottoms too.  The mix of the sweet with the annoying will prepare children well.

Danzig’s text is spot on, offering just the right amount of information and leaving nothing to a child’s imagination.  The tone is exactly right too, filled with humor but staying up front and informative.  Tilley’s illustrations add a friendly approachable feel to the information, keeping the book light rather than intimidating.

A great book for public libraries to have on hand to inform all of the new big brothers and sisters.  This would also be a great gift for the new sibling when the pregnancy announcement is made.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Adventures of Riley: South Pole Penguins

| Tasha

Adventures of Riley: South Pole Penguins by Amanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz, illustrated by Sarah McIntyre.

This is the latest in the Adventures of Riley series that mixes illustrations with photographs in an inviting way.  The book is packed with scientific facts offered in bite-sized pieces, digestible and interesting.  The story is told through the eyes of young Riley who heads out with his scientist aunt and uncle and their daughter to the South Pole to study the effect of air pollution on krill, the foundation of the food supply for many Antarctic creatures.  This focus on the environment is part of the Riley series, making it all the more current and interesting to today’s youth.

The book can be read in two ways.  One would be simply reading the story itself.  The other way, you read the story and the accompanying facts, making it more of a science book than a story book.  Because of this flexibility, the book works for a variety of ages.

The illustrations are inventive and offer the ease of a cartoon paired with the beauty and grandeur of real photographs of the region and its animals.  The science facts come identified with the scientist who said it, offering children the opportunity to understand not only the need for science but the many areas of speciality available. 

Recommended for budding scientists to peruse of their own, these books are better used in small groups than large because of the details shown.  They are useful as discussion starters about the environment and science in general.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Crocodile Safari

| Tasha

Crocodile Safari by Jim Arnosky

Journey with Jim Arnosky into the mangrove swamps and learn all about the American crocodile, its habitat and its life.  This nonfiction picture book is accompanied by Arnosky’s paintings that capture the wonder and grandeur of this animal.  The reader follows Arnosky through the swamps and into hidden corners where crocs swim and bask in the sun.  Readers will feel the thrill of exploration and discovery along with the author.

The paintings and language ask children to stretch a bit and think when reading, something that is good to see in a children’s picture book.  Because of this, the book can be used with older elementary children very successfully.  This is not a book that talks down to the reader.  Rather like an exploration of its own.  Arnosky’s art ranges from quite simple to almost lifelike detail as seen on the cover image. 

This is a winning nonfiction picture book that focuses on an animal that children find fascinating already.  Filled with facts, the book brings them to life wonderfully.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Audrey, Wait!

| Tasha

 

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway.

When Audrey decides to break up with her self-obsessed musician boyfriend, she has no idea how her life will suddenly change.  The song, Audrey, Wait! is played that very night and suddenly Evan and his band are rising on the charts and Audrey is being stalked by fans.  All Audrey wants is to be able to go to concerts, hang out with her best friend, and have a normal life.  But suddenly nothing is normal anymore and Audrey is forced to make choices that no normal teen has to make. 

The voice of this novel is perfection.  Audrey is a great combination of sarcastic and vulnerable, a tone that is just right for the situation she finds herself in.  Benway’s pacing is also well done, from the bedlam of concert backstage to the quiet moments with friends.  So are the secondary characters, including Audrey’s parents and her friends.  This is one of those books that will have you snorting with laughter as you read it, longing to read entire passages to your friends and family. 

Fans of Nick and Norah’s Ultimate Playlist will love this book too.  It has the same great mix of music and wit.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.