Review: Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman

| Tasha

Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman

Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman, illustrated by Heather Fox (9781250303172)

The book begins with the prediction that on Friday, Llama will destroy the world. On Monday, it all began with Llama eating far, far too much cake. On Tuesdays Llama dances, so he tried to put on his dancing pants. He had to squeeze in to them because they didn’t quite fit due to the amount of cake he had eaten the day before. His pants ripped, creating a sound loud enough to enter space and create a black hole. On Wednesday, Llama noticed the black hole, did scientific calculations and then made a sandwich instead of letting anyone know. On Thursday, signs of doom started appearing everywhere. On Friday, everything was sucked into the black hole. But what will happen on Saturday?

I love that the entire plot of the book is laid out in the title and again on the first page. Llama is going to destroy the world and it will happen on Friday. That hangs over the head of the reader, creating a sense of real drama. It also allows the book to head in a wild and zany direction that is incredibly engaging and that only gets sillier as the week continues. The ending is a great twist in a book that looks a physics, time and space.

Fox’s illustrations are so funny. Llama has googly eyes and a comical face with plenty of expression. The different elements of the story are given heft and drama by the illustrations, including the ripped pants, the pile of cake, and of course, the black hole.

Funny, scientific and zany, this picture book is so much fun. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy provided by Henry Holt & Company.

2019 Children’s and Teen Choice Book Award Winners

| Tasha

The winners of the 2019 Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards were announced last week by the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader. These awards are the only national book awards where the winners are entirely selected by children and teens. With over 24,000 votes cast in total, these are the winners:

KINDERGARTEN-2ND GRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR

I say OOH You say AAH There’s a Dragon in Your Book

I Say Ooh You Say Aah by John Kane

Honor Book: There’s a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher, illustrated by Greg Abbott

 

3RD-4TH GRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR

Back to the Future Safari Pug (The Adventures of Pug)

Back to the Future: The Classic Illustrated Storybook, based on the movie by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, illustrated by Kim Smith

Honor Book: Safari Pug by Laura James, illustrated by Églantine Ceulemans

 

5TH-6TH GRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR

Ghost Boys Sewing the Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Honor Book: Sewing the Rainbow: A Story About Gilbert Baker by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown

 

TEEN BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Prince and the Dressmaker The Poet X

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Honor Book: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

Review: Abner and Ian Get Right-Side Up by Dave Eggers

| Tasha

Abner and Ian Get Right-Side Up by Dave Eggers

Abner and Ian Get Right-Side Up by Dave Eggers, illustrated by Laura Park (9780316485869)

Open the book and you will discover that friends Abner and Ian are stuck on the sides of the page rather than being appropriately at the bottom of the page like any other book. What will get them into the right position? All they know is that the story really can’t start until they are in the right spot. Perhaps the child reading the book can help? But first Abner and Ian have to decide who will ask the child for help and when. The first shake doesn’t help at all, but makes it worse for both of the characters. More shaking continues and the results get more funny with each shake. Can it ever be fixed and the story begun?

I had not expected to be delighted by another book that asks children to shake the book, but this one is simply superb. A large part of the appeal are the characters themselves and their unique voices. I love their complaining and the different personalities that come forward, sharing weird little factoids and just having a conversation together that sounds natural and is entirely engaging.

Add to those interesting characters some odd visual results from the shaking that are very unexpected, and you have a winner of a picture book. The simple illustrations add to the appeal here, making the various positions on the page all the more humorous.

Funny and fascinating, this is one book that will shake you up! Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker

| Tasha

All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker

All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker (9780451479532)

This superb middle-grade novel introduces readers to a young artist who finds herself at the center of a mystery. Ollie’s parents are both artists. Her father and his partner Apollo restore art work and her mother creates sculptures. But then one night, her father leaves for France with his new French girlfriend and her mother won’t get out of bed. Ollie fends for herself, eating apples and peanuts, meeting Apollo for meals out, and protecting the secret of her mother’s depression. She spends time with her two best friends, Richard and Alex, throughout their Soho neighborhood. Ollie discovers that there is more to her father’s disappearance than she thought and is determined to find out what is truly going on.

Filled with compelling characters and a mystery worth sleuthing, this novel is a delight of a read. Tucker uses the setting of New York City as a vivid backdrop to the tale. Soho itself serves as almost another character in the book with its lofts for artists, empty buildings, and occasional illegal poster hanging. When Ollie and Alex head to an island getaway, that setting too is beautifully depicted as a foil to the city and is equally celebrated too. Her writing is deft and nicely keeps the pace brisk and the questions about Ollie’s parents fresh.

All of the young characters in the book are fully realized and each have a distinct personality that makes sense and carries through the title. Apollo, a giant of a man who serves as a rock for Ollie in this tumultuous time, is also a well depicted character. Ollie’s mother is an important character whose depression keeps the reader from knowing her better. The subject of parental mental illness is handled with frankness and the book concludes with a sense of hope.

A fresh mix of mystery, art and secrets, this book is full of vibrant colors and not just Greys. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Viking.

 

Review: Up, Up, Up, Down! by Kimberly Gee

| Tasha

Up, Up, Up, Down! by Kimberly Gee

Up, Up, Up, Down! by Kimberly Gee (9780525517337)

A toddler’s day is filled with opposites in this adorable picture book. Being lifted up out of their crib and set down on the ground the play. Saying no to all kinds of breakfast and then yes to blueberries. Clothes go on and then come right back off again. They hurry up and then slow down. There is making and breaking things. Balloons are “yay!” and then “uh-oh!” Sadness becomes better again too.

Filled with all kinds of little kid action, this book will resonate with toddlers and their parents alike. The concept of opposites is nicely woven into the activities of a normal day out and about. The text has a rhythm to it as the words repeat. The illustrations show an African-American father and child who spend their day together. The end of the day shows an exhausted father and a mother home from work.

A concept book ideal for toddlers, this one is a joy. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from copy provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 

This Week’s Tweets

| Tasha

Here are the items I shared on Twitter this week:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

10 Facts about Maurice Sendak You May Not Have Known – https://t.co/7qKppWKJJU

12 books that tell kids the fun and inspirational stories behind the women’s suffrage movement buff.ly/2ZdttJI #kidlit

A Very Happy 50th Birthday to The Very Hungry Caterpillar – NPR – https://t.co/Ln7Epylnje

READING

Unputdownable! The bookshops Amazon couldn’t kill buff.ly/2ETtACy

Review: Birds of a Feather: Bowerbirds and Me by Susan L. Roth

| Tasha

Birds of a Feather Bowerbirds and Me by Susan Roth

Birds of a Feather: Bowerbirds and Me by Susan L. Roth (9780823442829)

Collage artist Roth takes a look at the amazing bowerbird and how her work and their building process compare with one another. Both she and the bowerbird are collectors of random items. They use those items to create compositions. For the bowerbird, that is a bower for their courtship process. They both like unusual objects that they use to create art, things that no one else might ever combine in that way. They both pay attention to color and both seek out praise for their work in the end.

I was really pleasantly surprised by the content and construct of this picture book. While I knew it would be about bowerbirds and humans, I didn’t expect it to be so directly related to the artistic side of both. Roth beautifully shows the fascinating correlations between her work and that of the bird. She demonstrates both in her collage illustrations and in the text of the book how similar they actually are. The text though is kept wonderfully simple, making this book about art very accessible even for young children. She completes the book with more facts about the birds and about her own work as well as a bibliography of sources.

Roth’s illustrations are fabulous. Bright and filled with objects of all kinds, they fill the page with vibrancy. Most of the pages show the bird and then Roth, each working in a similar way on their art. The result is a book about Roth’s way of making art that is also an example of the art itself. Clever stuff!

A very successful mix of nature, science and art. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Sign Off by Stephen Savage

| Tasha

Sign Off by Stephen Savage

Sign Off by Stephen Savage (9781534412101)

At night, the images on street signs come to life and jump right off their signs! The deer on the sign munches some leaves. The tractor on the caution sign plows up some dirt as he drives past. The wheelchair sign uses the car parked in its spot to zoom down to the street. The worker on the sign makes a sandcastle out of the dirt pile. Road crossing signs become a place for romance. Children at play, actually play. As dawn arrives, all of the animals and people from the signs get together at a street light sign and greet the day in their own special way.

This wordless picture book takes the concept of toys coming to life at night into a different two-dimensional story. Savage cleverly uses them in silhouette to show what is something from a sign. The real life backgrounds are done in full color, so the black silhouettes pop against them. Each sign is interesting and their activity at being freed is unique to them. The story is simple and the presentation fascinating.

A playful and interesting book for a road trip or just staying at home. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Simon & Schuster.

Review: I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib

| Tasha

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib (9780525575115)

In this vibrant graphic novel, Malaka tells the story of growing up as a child of an Egyptian father and a Filipino mother in the United States. She learned to meet both families’ expectations though sometimes they contradicted one another and how to carefully switch between the two. There are stories of breaking unwritten rules in Egypt by skateboarding in the streets as well as tales of not being fully accepted by the Filipino kids at school. Malaka considered white culture something to long after, wishing for sandwich lunches and the lifestyles she saw on TV. As she grew up, she began to figure out how to value her own unique cultural background and celebrate it.

Gharib has created a graphic memoir that shows so many elements of being from an immigrant family, being a person of color, and being of mixed race and heritage. She is open and honest about her own struggles with asking the problematic question of where someone is from, of her own code switching, and her own disdain for her heritage as a child even while she loved her family deeply. Her book is a love letter to her families while still being an honest view of the impact of whiteness on children of color.

The art in the book is full of reds and blues, the colors echoing the American flag. The colors are used cleverly to show character’s hair colors and create diverse and inclusive illustrations. The graphic novel is well paced, full of blunt commentary about race and America, and just the right zing of food and culture.

A diverse and funny look at families, race and America. Appropriate for ages 12-18.

Reviewed from library copy.