Book Reviews

Wonder Bear

| Tasha

Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu

This wordless fantasy book will carry children away into a dream-like world filled with luscious foliage and flowers, silly monkeys, huge bubbles and flying dolphins.  From the very first pages where the two children are planting watermelon seeds and hat seeds, children will know that something special and even strange is about to happen.  The story has no real foundation, drifting along from one lovely notion to the next, lingering and then moving on again. 

Unlike some dreamlike story books, there is no point at which there is any sense of danger in the story at all.  Readers are held in a magical space, guided by a huge white bear from one fascination to the next.  Nyeu’s illustrations are very strong and bold, with bright colors and beautiful ideas.  One of my favorite sections is where the bear blows leaves into the air and they become sea creatures.  Dolphins, octopus, seals, schools of small fish float through the air and eventually up into outer space.  Her illustrations exude a childlike simplicity, heightened by a real sense of style.

Recommended for a cuddle with a child who has a great imagination and can "read" this wordless book in their own way.  It will not work well with a group because of both its intimate nature and lack of text.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

What the World Eats

| Tasha

What the World Eats by Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel.

I dare you to pick up this book and not be captivated.  Through photographs, fascinating statistics and humanizing essays, readers get a glimpse of what people in different countries eat each week.  Every entry in the book begins with a photograph of a single family surrounded by the food they would normally consume in a single week.  Then the foods are categorized and listed, and that family’s lifestyle is examined in detail as well.  Small details of their lives are shared and those lend the greatest insight into the similarities and differences between cultures.  Using the vehicle of food, our world is revealed in intimate and loving detail.

Menzel’s photographs are vivid, striking and clear.  He not only photographs families and food, but often reveals the inner spirit of the subjects as well.  There is a story in every photograph that goes beyond meals.  The differences between cultures is staggering, just as it should be.  This is the type of book that American children need to be exposed to, to see beyond the consumerism that surrounds them and into the lives of others who share our planet.  The wonder of the book is that it is all managed without lectures, rather it is left up to the reader themselves to draw their own conclusions. 

I savored this book, reading about just a few families and then setting it aside so that it wouldn’t disappear too quickly.  It is a great book to have available in a classroom where children can peruse it and discuss it.   Highly recommended, it is appropriate for ages 9-15.

Brooklyn Bridge

| Tasha

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse.

Joseph feels trapped in his Brooklyn apartment surrounded by the Teddy Bears that his family invented a few months ago.  The bears have taken over their lives, their space and their toy store.  Now Joseph spends his days stuffing bears, packaging them, and being responsible for his younger brother and sister.  And all he longs to do is go to Coney Island, the symbol of all that is fun and all that is not his current life.  But life isn’t that simple, as he quickly finds out as he faces falling in love, a death in the family, and much more during the summer he’s fourteen years old.

Hesse has created a novel filled with characters that are so well written they come to life.  Even the more extreme characters in the family ring true and have hidden complexities to them which are a treat to discover.  Joseph himself is a true teen with a certain focus on himself rather than his family.  It is when he faces hardship that his true character shines through.  Hesse’s voice as a writer is equally strong here with attention to period detail that make the setting as much a part of the story as the characters.  Never intrusive, her voice is a guiding light bringing the period to life for children who may have no knowledge of it.  Hesse has also blended humor, tragedy and a real family into this story.  One never knows quite where the book is heading because of her skillful writing, elevating what could have been a simple quiet story into something with dramatic tension that is hard to put down.

Highly recommended as great historical fiction that is very well-written and conceived, this book is appropriate for 10-13 year olds.  It would also work as a book to read aloud and discussed in a 5th or 6th grade classroom.

My Little Book of Chinese Words

| Tasha

My Little Book of Chinese Words illustrated by Catherine Louis, calligraphy by Shi Bo.

Just as the title implies, this is a small book, about five inches on each side.  Inside is a treasure trove of Chinese words accompanied by illustrations that aid in seeing the concept behind the calligraphy.  Each word has the ancient Chinese character, the modern Chinese character, the translation to English, an illustration to aid in understanding, and the pronunciation of the word in Chinese. 

Louis’ illustrations are prints with thick black lines and simple subject matter.  Often the images as so perfectly matched with the Chinese character that they astound.  The illustrations are what make this book work so very well, creating a book welcoming to children learning Chinese.

Art's Supplies

| Tasha

Art’s Supplies by Chris Tougas

Enter the wild and wonderful world of Art’s room, filled with paint, markers, chalk, and anything else you would need to have a party with a pad of paper.  This book captures the joy of creation, the fun of art and the release of imagination.  As Art uses each type of art supply, they comment with silly puns and laugh-out-loud jokes, adding to the hilarity and pace of the book.

Tougas’ art is wonderful, each page capturing the medium being used and the differing feel and techniques.  Children will immediately be drawn in to the explosion of art and inspired to create their own messy party.

Recommended not only to encourage art in children, but also to instruct on the variety of media that can be used.  An inspiring and fun look at the diversity of art.

Mattland

| Tasha

Mattland by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert, art by Dusan Petricic.

Matt has moved three times with his family and now they have moved to a place filled with mud and water and no trees.  So when Matt picks up a stick, he is tempted to break it or throw it, but instead he starts to draw in the mud.  And as he draws, a world appears before him filled with lakes, rivers, mountains of rock, roads and houses.  The closed doors of the other houses begin to open and an outsider joins him in building his land.  When disaster strikes the tiny world, Matt’s own world has expanded enough for lots of hands to be there to help.

This book is about the power of creativity, the strength of play and the formation of connections without trying.  The illustrations are a large part of the book with their skillful and restrained use of color to show where imagination has touched the dirt and changed it.  The text is wonderfully bristly at the beginning, filled with Matt’s anxiety.  By the end, it has transformed to be eager and free-flowing.  The amount of text on each page make this book appeal to a slightly older audience, so it will be appreciated by elementary art classes as well as teachers and librarians looking to get children thinking creatively.

Highly recommended, this book will get you feeling free and easy too as you survey what may be your muddy and rocky place and find imaginative ways to make it magical and friendly.

All Aboard for Dreamland

| Tasha

All Aboard for Dreamland by Melanie Harby, illustrated by Geraldo Valerio.

I’m not a huge fan of bedtime books.  So often they are saccharine sweet and make me twitchy.  They also tend to get my sons begging me to read the book with the monster on the cover.  This one, however, works.  Follow the whistle down the rainbow railroad tracks, hear the chugga-chugga, the clickety-clack, the bumpety bump.  Get caught up in the jaunty rhythm and rhyme, and then just allow yourself to drift as the train reaches that final hill and slows way down.

The illustrations are quirky rather than sweet, filled with pink elephants, wide grins, a lots of railroad tracks.  The pace of the book is what does the trick, starting fast and vibrant and skillfully slowing at the end. 

Guaranteed yawns and sleepy eye rubbing for toddlers and preschoolers.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

The Pout-Pout Fish

| Tasha

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, pictures by Dan Hanna.

Mr. Fish swims around with a permanent scowl on his face.  He won’t even try to cheer up because that just the way he is.  He doesn’t know how to be anything but dreary and dull and dour.  As fish after fish try to cheer him up, he just becomes more and more dismal until he is upside down flopped on a rock at the bottom of the sea.  That is where a beautiful silver fish finds him and kisses him.  And suddenly his attitude changes.

Readers will be drawn into the book by the rollicking rhyme and the repetition, making this the perfect book to share with toddlers and preschoolers.  Even now, weeks after reading it my sons launch into the chorus from the book with great gusto on the spur of the moment.  The illustrations will project well to a room and by reading it to a class you will bring them out of their own pout-pouts.

Recommended for toddler story times, this book may not be deep literature, but it is great fun.

Boys of Steel

| Tasha

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman by Mac Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Ross MacDonald.

This is the gripping and fascinating true story of the creation of Superman.  Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were high school students in Cleveland during the Depression.  Jerry was a writer, who loved adventure and science fiction.  Joe loved to draw and illustrated many of Jerry’s stories.  Together in 1934, they created Superman, a hero who was also as shy and reserved as both of them were.  For three years they tried to sell Superman to publishers.  It wasn’t until they found one interested in publishing comic books rather than comic strips that they got a deal.  The comics debuted in 1938 and were an instant success. 

And the end of the book, you will find a historical piece on the copyright issues of Superman which is equally interesting as the book itself.  This picture book will be of interest to all children who enjoy superhero stories.  Its vintage feel captures the time period perfectly while the comics and action themselves make it a thrill visually.  The text is just the right length to tell the full story, but not too much to overwhelm young readers or listeners.  The book reads aloud well and could be used in elementary classes about writing and creativity.

A great example of a nonfiction picture book recommended for ages 6-8, this book will fly off your shelves.  Up up and away!