Nonfiction

Walden Then & Now – Slow Down and Enjoy

| Tasha

Walden

Walden Then & Now: An Alphabetical Tour of Henry Thoreau’s Pond by Michael McCurdy

McCurdy has outdone himself in this latest book featuring his woodcut illustrations.  This book is an alphabet book that is not for preschoolers but perfect for elementary children wanting to learn more about Thoreau and his time at Walden Pond.  Each letter of the alphabet is matched with a word from Thoreau’s book that illustrates some of the most important and basic tenets of his time in the woods.  Many of the letters stand for different creatures in the forest, but others are less tangible like J for joy and Q for quiet.  After each letter and the object it stands for, McCurdy summarizes why that object was important to Thoreau.  It is here that the philosophy and point of view become very clear even to young readers.

What can one say about a master illustrator like McCurdy?  His illustrations feel so right paired with Thoreau as a subject matter.  It may be the timeless nature of the woodcut but it is also the simplicity of the illustrations that work so very well.  Many of the illustrations stopped me for a time and I lingered just with the image for a bit.  They so capture moments and bring one directly back to Walden Pond.

The text of the book is successful as well as it hearkens back directly to Thoreau as well.  Thoreau’s own journey is written clearly and thoughtfully.  By lingering on the things that he lived with during his time in the woods, readers will discover how universal his journey was for all of us.

This is a thoughtful book that resonates with a love of solitude and nature.  Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Charlesbridge.

The book trailer captures the spirit of Thoreau and this book very nicely:

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Up We Grow! – Glorious Farm Life

| Tasha

Up We Grow! A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm by Deborah Hodge, photographs by Brian Harris

This book shows the beauty and work of running a small farm.  The book moves from season to season, highlighting the work being done at that time.  In spring, seeds are sown, plants are transplanted, compost is spread.  In summer the animals and plants are growing bigger.  The flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, crops are being harvested, and they have a farm celebration.  In fall, it’s harvest time for crops and for honey.  The farmers markets are active and the farmers are saving seeds to use next year.  In winter, it is slower.  The farmers repair their equipment, feed their animals, and grow plants in the greenhouse.  This book offers lots of information in friendly green boxes that specifically talk about sustainable practices.  It is a gentle way to introduce organic farming to young readers.

Hodge’s text is refreshingly light in tone, often asking readers to talk about their own experiences.  Her use of text in boxes for the more dense, factual portions works very well, making the book flexible for different ages and audiences.  Harris’ photographs really capture the fresh air and sunshine of a farm.  From friendly animals to deep rich soil, his photos are interesting and vibrant.

A book that will have everyone wanting to munch some farm-fresh veggies and visit a friendly goat or two, it is a warm invitation to investigate small farms in your area or at least spend some time at a farmer’s market this fall.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.

Bones

| Tasha

Bones by Steve Jenkins

Really all any book needs is Steve Jenkins’ name on the front and his great illustrations inside.  Just those two things and you know it’s going to be great.  In this book, Jenkins turns his attention to bones and skeletons.  The size and shape of bones are explored as are skeletons of the human body and of various animals.  Information is given about bones and the illustrations of the bones are laid out on very colorful pages that highlight the bones but offer some vibrancy as well.  This book of bones should be in every school and public library.

Jenkin’s text here offers just enough detail to be informative but also never too much too be weighty.  It offers the same bright, freshness as the illustrations themselves.  His illustrations are studies in restraint as he works his paper magic using a very limited boney palette of colors.  The design of the book makes it rather like an archeological discovery, since you never know what bones you will find when you turn the page.  Several of the pages fold out to offer large scale illustrations, including a full human skeleton.  Along the way, readers are asked questions and get to think about the body, the bones and how they function.

A virtuoso book, pull this one out for Halloween and get some sweet science mixed in with the candy.  It is appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from library copy.

Yucky Worms

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Yucky Worms by Vivian French, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg

A young boy was in his grandmother’s garden when she found a worm.  He is disgusted by it, but his grandmother insists that he should be friends with worms.  She then returned the worm to the ground to demonstrate which end of the worm was which.  The book goes on to discuss in the grandmother’s voice different aspects of worms, what they eat, how they survive the winter, what worm castings are, and how they help the plants in the garden.  The illustrations are light-hearted but can quickly become scientific when called for.  This is a great blend of picture book and nonfiction facts presented in a winning way.

French’s use of a grandmother narrator works well here, framing the nonfiction in a story that makes it very approachable.  It also allows the narrator to explain misconceptions that the young boy has about worms, like the widely held belief that worms can be cut in two and still survive.  Not true!  Ahlberg’s illustrations offer asides by the worms themselves, a mole carrying a grocery list, and wonderful views of below the ground. 

A great book to share with children who want to know more about these wiggly creatures in the garden, this book reads like a picture book and offers facts for children who are looking for them.  Readers of the book will quickly learn that worms are far from yucky.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

More Life-Size Zoo

| Tasha

More Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya

A gorgeous combination of life-sized animal photographs and interesting facts on each creature.  Readers will be wowed by the enormous lion that folds out to its full size that is cleverly combined with a lion cub so that the growth can be understood.  The bottomless black of the eyes of a seal will draw readers in.  The amazing color of an orangutan’s coat will have small hands rubbing the photograph.  The final photo of the glory of a hippopotamus and its coarse hairs and moist skin finishes the collection on a high note.  This book will be shared between children and appeals to a wide range of ages.  Make sure you have the first book Life-Size Zoo at hand too.

The photographs here are the heart of the book.  It is a pleasure to see photos with such clarity printed in this large a format.  The detail of skin, fur, eyes and mouths is astonishing and invites readers to lean in and really see the animals close up.  The facts with each animal apply both to the specific specimen in the photograph and to the animal in general.  The section about the close up offer small details that children will enjoy looking for in the photos. 

Guaranteed to get appreciative exclamations from young readers who will turn to the photos again and again.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from book received from Seven Footer Press.

Under a Red Sky

| Tasha

Under a Red Sky by Haya Leah Molnar

A memoir of childhood under Communism, this book offers a real window into that world.  Growing up in postwar Bucharest, Romania, Eva lives with her extended family in one house.  This includes her grandparents, her parents, two uncles and one aunt.  Eva is surprised at age 8 to discover that her family is Jewish, though readers will know it from the start.  All of her relatives are unique and interesting.  Her father, a filmmaker, survived the Nazi concentration camps.  Her mother is a former ballerina who teachers dance to children.  Her Aunt Puica spends most of her time in her bedroom reading romance novels while her husband, Uncle Max is running into trouble at work for joking too much about the Communists.  Uncle Natan is a bachelor who still lives at home.  Her grandmother is prickly and her grandfather is doting.  The mix of all of these strong characters forms the background of Eva’s life.  They quarrel, fight, make up, love, and joke.  It is a family of very human people who are trapped behind the iron curtain, living lives so similar to our own and yet so very different and frightening.

Molnar has set just the right tone with this book.  Its universal qualities of family and childhood are played out against the repressiveness of Romanian Communism, yet it is not grim.  Moments of humor and humanity shine against the darkness, incandescent against the horrors of Communism.  As the book moves on, Eva begins to understand the dangers of her life, creating a tension that makes for intense reading.

Molnar’s depiction of her relatives is told with great relish and delight.  They are the sort of family members who shape who you are, and readers can see them shaping Eva as we watch.  Each person has their own distinct style and reactions, they are vividly depicted and as the pressures of Communism grow around them, become more and more themselves.  The characters are what make this book a pleasure to read, their colorful lives more than enough relief from what could have been a very grim tale.

Highly recommended, this book offers a memoir that reads like good historical fiction.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar Straus Giroux.

Also reviewed by Killin’ Time Reading.

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How Does a Seed Grow?

| Tasha

How Does a Seed Grow? by Sue Kim, photographs by Tilde

A visually interesting book all about seeds, sprouts and the harvest.  Each page is dedicated to one kind of seed complete with photographs of the seeds.  That then unfolds to show a large photograph of the seedling in a cutaway format that shows below the ground to the roots and up above the ground for the leaves.  Readers then unfold the page one more time to see a photograph of a child holding the fruit or vegetable.  The text is very simple and rhyming.  The illustrations are the heart of this book.  It is a book guaranteed to fascinate children not only with the unfolding pages but with the details of the seeds and seedlings.

The book covers tomatoes, blueberries, bell peppers, peas and oranges.  The brief rhymes do give a sense of the needs of plants from loose dirt to warmth to water and sunshine.  Readers will enjoy looking at the differences in the shapes and sizes of the seeds and the different ways that the seeds grow.  The children pictured with the fruits and vegetables are multicultural.  One quibble is that some of the pictures are a little blurred, which is noticeable when compared with the crispness of the other images. 

This book will work well in a classroom setting or in a story time focused on spring and plants.  The foldout pages will not survive circulation at a library for long unless they are reinforced with tape.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Seeds of Change

| Tasha

Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler

We have already seen two incredible picture books about Wangari, so I was hesitant to pick this one up.  I should never have hesitated.  This book adds to Wangari’s story by telling the story of her youth growing up in the bounty of Kenya.  Her mother teaches her about each tree and what it offers.  Though it was unusual for girls in Kenya to be educated, Wangari’s parents saw how bright she was and sent her to school.  After she graduated from elementary school, Wangari went to the city to continue her education, eventually heading to the United States to study biology.  Throughout her travels, she thought often of Kenya and her home.  Kenya had changed with the land being harvested for timber by big foreign companies.  Wangari returned to Kenya and taught women and children to plant trees, giving the people a way to feed themselves and turning the barren land green again.  In 2004, Wangari won the Nobel Peace Prize, the first African woman or environmentalist to receive it. 

Johnson has taken the time to really reveal where Wangari came from and what created the seeds of environmentalism within her.  Other picture books pick up where Wangari is seeing the damage done in Kenya, but this addition of her childhood and education make for a more complete understanding of her.  Sadler’s illustrations use thick white lines which remind me of batik or stained glass.  The images show interesting design choices that are often dreamlike. 

I would recommend pairing this with both Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli and Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire A. Nivola.  The three together offer a strong environmental message combined with a complete view of the woman behind the movement.

Highly recommended, this book tells the powerful story of Wangari and her legacy in Kenya.  It shows readers that one person can definitely make a difference.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Lee & Low.

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A Book about Color

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A Book about Color: A Clear and Simple Guide for Young Artists by Mark Gonyea

This book approaches color as a street with houses.  The houses for the primary colors are bigger than those for the secondary colors, setting them apart.  The book then goes on to talk about the meaning of colors and how one color can mean different things.  Warm and cool colors are discussed along with the way they appear in a picture.  Complementary colors are explained by lining the houses up on opposite sides of the street, the houses next to each other are analogous colors.  The book finishes with saturation of colors, and white and black.  Visually interesting and using a great analogy for learning about colors, this book is a treat.

Gonyea has created a book that really demonstrates aspects of color.  His use of a street and house analogy works very well, keeping the primary houses large throughout the book, using the same street design to show complementary and analogous colors.  His use of strong graphical images and clean design make this a book that children and adults will enjoy using.  It goes well beyond a book for toddlers about color, making it a welcome choice for young artists.

Recommended for art rooms and library collections, this book is best in the hands of artists or those learning about art.  A strong nonfiction book appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.