Picture Books

Review: Strega Nona’s Gift by Tomie dePaola

| Tasha

strega nonas gift

Strega Nona’s Gift by Tomie dePaola

In the small Italian village where Strega Nona lives, everyone is busy preparing for the holidays.  They stretch from December 6th and the Feast of San Nicola to January 6th and the Feast of Epifania.  This picture book looks at the various Italian feasts, focusing mostly on the Eve of Epifania where animals are said to be able to get the power of speech.  So all of the people in the village made delicious food for the animals to keep them happy.  However, when Big Anthony realizes that he is eating a simple meal of pasta and not the beautiful food Strega Nona has cooked for the animals, things start to go wrong.  Big Anthony eats the food that was meant for the goat, so she is left with just hay and oats.  Strega Nona uses her magic to send everyone dreams of food that night, but Big Anthony misses out because the goat ate his blanket and he cannot sleep.  In the end, Big Anthony makes everything right again but it takes some holiday luck to make that happen.

dePaola manages to weave the feasts into the storyline deftly, creating a book that shows how some cultures have an extended holiday filled with different sorts of celebrations.  The relationship between Big Anthony and Strega Nona is a large part of the success of this picture book.  Their unique ways with one another adds the spice to the holiday story that it needs.  There is a gentle humor about the story that works well.

As always, the illustrations are simple, humorous and completely appealing.  This is the Stega Nona we have all grown to love, showing her care for her village through her cooking and magic.  It is a quiet sort of Christmas book, one that shows the depth of the holiday season and speaks to more than Santa and gifts.

For families looking for a book that explores a different holiday tradition, this book will be great fun to share and informative too.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Penguin Young Readers Group.

Best Picture Books of 2011

| Tasha

 

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art has Susan Bloom’s picks for best picture books of 2011.  Susan Bloom is Professor Emeritus at Simmons College and a reviewer for The Horn Book.

Her picks are filled with my personal favorites but she also has some books that I have yet to get my hands on.  Some even that I can’t find in our library system catalog, which is quite unusual. 

So enjoy her list!  I’m sure you will find new reads in it.

Review: The House Baba Built by Ed Young

| Tasha

house baba built

The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China by Ed Young

Illustrator Ed Young grew up in Shanghai during World War II.  His father managed to get them a house that was safe because he built it himself.  He made a deal with the landowner that he would build a house and after 20 years, the landowner would get it free and clear.  But in those 20 years, Ed Young’s family lived there.  It was a huge home with a swimming pool, space to roller skate on the roof, staircases to slide down, and lots of other places to play.  This is the story of growing up in that house with the war raging around them, but also feeling very safe as a family because of the house.  It is the story of welcoming people beyond their family to stay with them, giving refuge and forming a larger family unit.  It is the story of years of playfulness and joy together despite the outside forces because his father thought brilliantly and quickly.

It will come as no surprise to those who know Young’s work that this is a beautifully designed book.  Young weaves together paper cutting, sketches, painting and photographs into a dreamlike world of his childhood where some things stand out crystal clear and others are fogged by time.  It is like looking into someone else’s memories along with them.  They are beautiful and mesmerizing.

This book may have trouble finding an audience.  While the illustrations are gorgeous, the story is told in vignettes rather than one large story.  This technique will resonate more with slightly older readers than usual picture book preschoolers.  On the other hand, teachers looking for a book to inspire telling a biography in more than words will delight in this book.  It will share aloud well and the illustrations will invite readers into Young’s world.

A book for older elementary school readers who may take some encouragement to pick it up.  Once they do, they will be transported to Shanghai in the 1930s and 40s.  Pair this with Drawing from Memory by Allen Say for two artist’s childhoods in Asia.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from ARC received from Little, Brown.

Review: Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

| Tasha

balloons over broadway

Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet

For over 80 years, there have been huge balloons in the Macy’s Parade.  We have Tony Sarg to thank for that.  Even when Tony was a small boy, he was inventing things.  He figured out a way to feed the chickens in the morning without having to get out of bed.  He wanted to be a marionette puppeteer, but was born in a time when marionettes were not being used anymore.  So he figured out how to build them and started performing on Broadway with his marionettes.  From there, he got a job designing the holiday windows for Macy’s where he did puppets that moved through gears and pulleys.  After that, he started working on parades.  He first built balloons that were held by stiff sticks, but they needed to be higher so more people could see.  So out of necessity and through tremendous creativity, he figured out how to make balloons fly high but still be controlled and seem lifelike.  We are all lucky enough to still be able to see the work of Sarg every Thanksgiving in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

This book is all about dreaming big and then figuring out a way to make those huge dreams come to life.  Sarg’s life is also about following your own personal bliss and making a living doing what you love.  It is a tribute to creativity and imagination on a grand scale.  Sweet has created a book that celebrates all of this and remains a biography of a real man too.

Her art is a tremendous part of the book’s success.  Through a mix of painting and collage, she brings Sarg’s world to life.  Fabrics, different paper, objects and maps all find their way into the illustrations, creating new textures, dimension and color.  They are illustrations that celebrate on almost every page, filled with bright colors and ingenuity.

Highly recommended, this book should be added to everyone’s must read list for Thanksgiving titles, but don’t keep it just for that time of year.  It is also a great book to discuss creativity and unusual jobs!  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Review: A Christmas Goodnight by Nola Buck

| Tasha

christmas goodnight

A Christmas Goodnight by Nola Buck, illustrated by Sarah Jane Wright

This cozy, quiet Christmas book focuses on the nativity.  Through gently rhyming stanzas, the story of Jesus’ birth is told.  It is woven into a bedtime story where everyone in the nativity tale is told goodnight.  It includes the animals, the angels, the star, the Wise Men, and the shepherds.  Then the book moves to a modern winter scene at a farm where the good night wishes continue to the snow, the hare, and a small nativity set.  This transition is made seamlessly and very successfully, tying the modern Christmas celebration directly to the birth of Jesus. 

Buck has written a book that celebrates the story of the nativity in a way that small children will be able to easily understand.  She successfully ties in a goodnight theme as well as a link to the modern world. 

Wright’s illustrations have a jewel-colored palette and simple lines.  They are modern and yet also honor the traditional, so they work well for this subject.  The simplicity also works well for the very young audience with the washes of color and the clean lines.

A great pick for libraries or families looking for books that celebrate the reason for Christmas in a religious way.  It’s a perfect bedtime read for Christmas Eve.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Tom’s Tweet by Jill Esbaum

| Tasha

toms tweet

Tom’s Tweet by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Dan Santat

Tom the cat is on the hunt after a storm when he spots a baby bird on the ground.  But the Tweet is so little and scrawny that it won’t amount to much, so Tom turns away.  But the little bird looks so helpless and alone, that Tom decides to help despite his misgivings.  Tom heads up the tree to return the Tweet to its nest, carrying it in his mouth.  But then the mother bird sees him and she attacks!  Tom has to flee with the Tweet.  After that, he has to figure out how to give it a home.  And (gulp) feed it too.  Tom finally finds a way to get the Tweet back to its nest, but he can’t get it out of his head.   What is a cat to do when he misses a bird?!

Esbaum’s rhymes romp along, and they work well for the most part.  The rhythm is even better, galloping along and creating a brisk pace for the story.  The infectious rhythm makes reading the book aloud great fun.  In fact, I think it reads aloud better than it reads silently.  The story is filled with humor, from Tom’s expressions of “tarnation” and “dadburn it” to the scene where he feeds the little Tweet.

Santat’s illustrations are what take this book to another level.  While the story is funny on its own, it becomes wildly silly with his art.  With its computer smooth feel, it looks as if it was taken right off of a Pixar movie screen.  Children will respond naturally to the style and then enjoy it even more thanks to the humor embedded in it.

Very funny, this picture book will be enjoyed by children looking for a silly read with plenty of heart.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Alfred A. Knopf.

Review: Lighthouse Christmas by Toni Buzzeo

| Tasha

lighthouse christmas

Lighthouse Christmas by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

Frances and her little brother live with their father on the remote island lighthouse of Ledge Light.  Christmas is coming and neither of them are sure that Santa is going to find them there.  So when the children get offered a boat to the mainland to spend Christmas with their relatives there, they have to think about it.  It does mean a Christmas filled with family and holiday spirit.  But on the other hand, they have to leave their father behind to man the lighthouse.  When a nor’easter blows in though, all of their plans have to be set aside.  The storm blows in a stranger also trapped by the weather.  Now the small family have to create their own Christmas together, with a little help from a plane overhead.

This book is based on the true story of the Flying Santa Service, which still continues today to serve the isolated islands in Maine’s Penobscot Bay.   The story has a wonderful, warm feeling of home.  It touches on Christmases spent after losing a loved one as well as Christmases in new homes.  The story also moves from the quiet of the family life to the drama of the storm and then the clearing after the storm passes.  It makes for a pleasing story arc. 

Carpenter’s illustrations help create the warmth of the book.  Done in a traditional style, they work well to also emphasize the story arc.  The story is obviously set in the earlier part of the 20th century, thanks to the clothing and the furniture.  Delicate lines and color washes add to the vintage feel of the illustrations.

An old-fashioned Christmas story, this is a great pick for those looking for an emphasis on family and reality rather than Santa and elves.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Review: My Rhinoceros by Jon Agee

| Tasha

my rhinoceros

My Rhinoceros by Jon Agee

At an exotic pet store, a boy picks out a rhinoceros as a pet.   But when he gets the rhinoceros home, he realizes that his pet really doesn’t do anything at all.    He won’t chase balls, or sticks, or frisbees.  He doesn’t roll over.  He keeps to himself and is very quiet.  So the boy asks a rhinoceros expert what the problem is.  She informs him that rhinos only do two things:  pop balloons and poke holes in kites.  The boy thinks that that is completely pathetic, but he decides to test it out.  He heads to the park where there was a balloon vendor.  Nothing.  Then they walk past children flying kites.  Nothing.  Maybe his rhinoceros is a clunker?  Until their walk back home, then suddenly his rhinoceros does amazing things, but you will have to read the book to see what they are!

Agee has a wonderful knack for taking a simple idea and running with it to the extreme.  Here the concept of buying a pet and figuring out that pet is taken to a wild and amazing place.   Agee allows the situation itself to provide the humor, making it more subtle and understated than many children’s books.  So while this is a wild and zany book about rhinos, it also has an air of sophistication about it.

Agee’s illustrations are also an important part of his books.  His unique style is done in thick black lines and washes of color.  The illustrations are almost like coloring books at times, if coloring books were cool and about pet rhinos.

Another winner from Agee, children who read this book may want to find their own exotic pet, probably a rhinoceros of their very own.  It’s also a perfect surprise addition to story times about pets.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Scholastic.

Also reviewed by A Picture Book a Day.

Check out the book trailer with Jon Agee and his own pet rhinoceros:

Review: Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

| Tasha

stuck

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Floyd’s kite gets stuck in tree and what is a boy to do?  Well, he tries to pull on the string and swing on it, but the kite stays stuck.  So he throws one of his shoes up to try and dislodge it.  His shoe got stuck too.  The other shoe didn’t work either.  Now what could he do?  Well, the cat was lingering nearby…  And so begins the wild and very funny story of a boy, a stuck kite, and a tree with an amazing propensity for keeping things stuck.  The story goes wild with what Floyd has thrown into it, never letting up on the joke.  In fact, at the end of the story, which I want you to experience for yourself, the humor is still just as strong as in the beginning and the joke stays true.

Jeffers is one of the kings of picture books.  His books love to stretch reality to almost breaking, creating new worlds that readers long to get lost in.  Here he takes getting a kite stuck in a tree to the extreme, resulting in a very funny book that will have young readers giggling along.  The book will also get readers thinking about what they would throw into a tree, so it becomes a great conversation and creativity piece.

Jeffers art is whimsical, funny, and adds a zany edge to the book.  He plays with colors throughout, with the character, objects and tree all changing colors as well as the background.  It makes for a dynamic read.

This would make a great final book for a storytime, because children will tune back in for the silliness.  I can also easily see it as a flannel board story or a jumping-off point for a creative project.  This is great fun combined with effortless storytelling and dynamic art.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.

Also reviewed by:

Take a look at the book trailer featuring Jeffers reading: