Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle.

If you have been looking at the top books of 2006 lists that are floating around on lists like YALSA-BK, you will have heard of Black Duck.  It seems to be one of the top choices of the year.  And I completely agree. 

Black Duck tells the story Ruben, a teen boy at the height of Prohibition and rum running along the New England coast.  Ruben and his friend Jeddy find a dead body floating along the beach and are caught up in the question of who the man was and why he was murdered.  Ruben, son of the manager at the local grocery store and Jeddy, son of the local chief of police, rarely see eye to eye about whether something has to be reported or not.  As their friendship crumbles, Ruben is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of the rum runners, especially the legendary Black Duck.

The writing here is perfect, unobtrusive and brisk.  It captures the beauty of the setting filled with fog and uninhabited coves, as well as creating a world where the story surges forward carrying readers along.  This is a great feat of writing where you get a strong feeling of place but also find that the action is unburdened by it. Readers will find it easy to read along at a breakneck speed as they are caught up in the adventure, but they will also find that they have learned a lot about the Prohibition Era on the way. 

Recommend this novel to older elementary age and teens who enjoy a good adventure story, especially ones who will appreciate the fact that this is reality-based and could have happened.  It should also be recommended to kids who enjoy historical fiction. 

Pumpkin town: or nothing is better and worse than pumpkins by Katie McKy, illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi.

Jose and his family grew pumpkins of all sizes.  They would take the pumpkins to market to sell, but the best pumpkins would be saved for seeds.  Then the worst of the seeds were dumped over the hill and forgotten about.  But the seeds landed on the town at the bottom of the hill, falling into straw roofs, gardens and flower pots.  And then they did what seeds tend to do, they grew.  The townfolks have no idea what to do about all of the pumpkins that they find themselves surrounded by, but when Jack looks down at the very orange town from the top of the hill, he knows just what to do. 

This is a perfect fall tale that will have children anticipating the amusement to come as the seeds fall down on the town.  The illustrations are modern collages of clipped images, fabrics, and wild hair that lend even more excitement to the story. The twist at the end is marvelous fun, and will have children asking for teachers, librarians or parents to read it all over again.  Exactly what we all want in a picture book.

This book will be welcomed in schools where a pure autumnal harvest tale is more acceptable than Halloween stories.  It may be a little long for preschoolers, but older children in Kindergarten and first grade will appreciate the humor and illustrations more anyway. 

Wide Awake by David Levithan.

Levithan returns to his utopian writing of Boy Meets Boy with this political and social commentary on today’s world.  Imagine a future where Bush has created a second Depression, known as the Greater Depression, and the world has survived, but it has turned away from the blue and red of today’s America and embraced a new green party made of Christians and the left out of which the first gay Jewish president is elected.  Or is he?  In this world, there is no more consumerism, no more brands, no more emphasis on affluenza.  It is truly an amazing view of the future of the United States.  All is not perfect in this future.  There is still intense hatred by right-wing religious people towards people who are gay, but a vast movement has occurred that has created a Christian voting force and lifestyle that focuses on love.  Again, amazing and fascinating and uplifting. 

Levithan has once again created a world in which readers will want to live.  Whenever I set the book down, I found it jarring to return to the world I live in.  I saw commercials differently, listened to politicians speak in a detached way, and realized that there is hope even if things go all wrong and gas prices truly skyrocket and the world flips around.  There is hope, hope that the new America may be more accepting, more forgiving, and less commercial than where I stand now.  And it is all because of Levithan’s knack at creating a world that is at first unthinkable and by the end impossible not to consider seriously.  What if?  That is the strength of Levithan’s writing.  A simple what if?

Levithan’s characterizations are brilliant as well.  His writing is effortless and easy to lose yourself in.  The characters are people you know, people you are, and people you hope to be one day.  Each one can be related to, is completely human, and reacts to the situation in a personal way. 

Bravo!  Bravo for having the courage to create a view of the future that takes us beyond the immediate darkness and shows us that the future of America is brightly lit with acceptance and love.  Bravo!

Boo and Baa Have Company by Lena and Olof Landstrom. 

If you have not read the earlier Boo and Baa books, run out and get them.  Boo and Baa are two quirky little sheep who have small adventures that are filled with humorous moments.  In this story, Boo and Baa are raking the leaves in the lawn when they hear a meowing noise.  It takes them awhile to locate a cat caught in the tree above them, although children will immediately know what is going on.  Then comes the rescue of the cat, leading to lots of laughter-inducing action.  It is a lot of fun. 

Landstrom’s use of spare language underpins all of the humor and the simple illustrations carry the story with one or two lines adding tension to the pictures.  The illustrations may be simple but they are masterfully so.  Boo and Baa will appeal to preschoolers, but even older children will enjoy the humor here. 

Mercy Watson Fights Crime by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. 

Ah, Mercy Watson, a pig who adores buttered toast, lives in a 50’s styled world, and has adventures that will have everyone laughing along.  Her first two books were fabulous, and the third in the series continues with the same feel.  Mercy Watson hears something downstairs after she goes to bed.  It sounds like the toaster, so she is sure that someone is downstairs making toast without her!  Down she heads and discovers a robber in the kitchen.  The robber would have been just fine if he hadn’t had a buttery candy in his mouth. 

These books are perfect for new readers who want books with real chapters and plenty of words but also colored pictures and plenty of action.  They are also great read alouds for preschoolers through first graders.  The question is whether you can wait for kids to grow up enough to read the books themselves, or whether you are like me and simply must share them as bedtime stories before then! 

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller.

This is a book I discovered not from reviews in print journals, but from my fellow kidslit bloggers who simply raved about it.  And that is exactly what I am going to do too.  It is the story of Ananka Fishbein, who looks out her window one day to discover a giant sinkhole in the park across the street.  She decides to explore it and by doing so, changes her life.  Inside the sinkhole she finds a fully decorated room and a book that leads her to understand the dirtier and darker side of New York City, including the Shadow City, a warren of connected rooms deep beneath the ground.  After her adventure, she meets the strange Kiki Strike, a tiny girl who is dangerous and mysterious.  Ananka then finds herself on an adventure with the Irregulars, a group of preteen girls who all have different talents that will enable them to explore the Shadow City.  Author Miller has created a riveting book filled with twists and turns, betrayals and lifelong friendships, populated with preteen girls who have real adventures.  It is an amazing triumph to create female preteen characters who care about both style and explosives.  This is a girl book that rocks, that captures exactly what girls really want: to be dangerous and to have adventures, but not be boyish in the least.  The writing is witty, vivacious and pure fun just like the characters.  Miller has also added guides throughout the book on subjects like detecting a liar, snakebites, and following someone without being found out. 

Run and get this for any brave preteen girl who has spunk and a thirst for adventure.  It is books like this that make me sigh about the lack of real modern adventure books for girls.  Tamora Pierce is my hero for featuring girls in her stories that are just as tough and strong as the boys, but we have needed a modern story that features great female characters as well.  Kiki Strike fills that void, and does it with great style.

A Beautiful Girl by Amy Schwartz. 

Amy Schwartz is one of those authors who has created books that will live on forever, like Bea and Mr. Jones.  With A Beautiful Girl, she has created a simple story where Jenna encounters an elephant who says that she has a very funny trunk!  Jenna replies, “I am not an elephant.  I am a big girl and this is my NOSE.”  The elephant then explains what he uses his trunk for, and then Jenna tells the elephant what she uses her nose for.  Then they travel on together until they come to the next animal who asks her questions about another part of her face. 

This book is simply charming.  I enjoy that Jenna clarifies that she is BIG girl, because most children want that clarified as well.  There are so many opportunities for audience participation as well as discussion afterwards where children can list what they do with their senses.  The text is just the right length and the illustrations will work well with a crowd.

Share this for a preschool unit on the senses or just because it is a great book that children will enjoy.

An Island Grows by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Cathie Felstead.

Lovely, lovely, lovely.  This is a great volcano book for toddlers and preschoolers, many of whom are fascinated by volcanoes.  And to top the whole thing off, volcanoes are not portrayed as scary and destructive, but rather as the geological force that creates islands.  Schaefer’s text is inviting and easy to read, while Felstead’s paper-crafted illustrations are at once visually exciting and very child friendly. 

Perfect for a unit about the earth in preschool, a great read-aloud for a science storytime, or just the perfect book to read if you have a child interested in science.  I would recommend this one especially for those children who appreciate nonfiction more than story picture books.  It is a treat.

Snow Sounds: an Onomatopoeic Story by David Johnson.

Through onomatopeoic words and evocative watercolors, Johnson perfectly captures the morning of a deep snowfall.  The book opens with the extreme hush of falling snow, and readers glimpse a house covered in white with more snow in the air.  Then as a child wakes up, the sound of the snowplow approaches.  As the morning routine progresses inside, the outside world is revealed as roads and driveways are cleared, reconnecting the house and family.  Finally the school bus pulls up with a honk, taking the kids off. 

This is such a lovely book, especially effective because it uses only the sounds of the morning to really provide a mood.  As someone who lives in Wisconsin and adores those hushed winter mornings that signal a snowfall, I know this is a book that will speak to many northern readers.  It is amazingly easy to read aloud, given that it is all sound words.  Children will also be able to follow the storyline easily. 

Recommended for classes doing onomatopoeia, but also for new readers and anyone who loves snow.