Review: Okay, Andy! by Maxwell Eaton III

| Tasha

okay andy

Okay, Andy! by Maxwell Eaton III

The author of the Max and Pinky books returns with a new duo, Andy and Preston.  Andy is an alligator and Preston is a young coyote.  The two of them make an unlikely team but one that works incredibly well for humor.  Preston often can’t figure out what is really going on.  So when Andy is hunting a rabbit, Preston thinks it is a game of tag.  In the next chapter, Preston wants to take every thing they find, though Andy holds onto a stick for himself.  Andy is so distracted that he doesn’t see the cliff coming and then he lets loose his anger on Preston.  Then it is up to Andy to make things right, if he can.  In the final chapter, Andy is trying to sleep when Preston wants to have him guess what kind of animal noise Preston is making.  This quickly descends into a merry chaos and then the book comes full circle back to the rabbit in a very satisfying ending.

This is a graphic novel perfect for beginning readers.  Eaton tells the story in just a few words, letting the illustrations carry most of the story rather than the words.  He uses repeating words too, making it even funnier and also making it easier for the youngest readers to decipher.  Filled with silly action, the book does speak to the ins and outs of friendship.  Eaton’s art is clear and clean, his thick black lines filled with simple colors.  The result is a graphic novel that is simple, easy and cheerful.

A great pick for beginning readers, children will enjoy the graphic novel format and the humor.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Blue Apple Books.

Review: Feathers by Melissa Stewart

| Tasha

feathers

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen

Feathers do so many things for birds and this book looks at all of the ways that feathers help birds in the wild.  Sixteen different birds are featured in the book, each one with a specific focus on what they use their feathers for.  There is the wood duck who lines her nest with feathers to keep her eggs cushioned.  The red-tailed hawk uses their feather to protect them from the sun as they fly for hours.  Other birds use their feathers in unique ways like the rosy-faced lovebird who tucks nesting materials into her rump feathers to take back to where she is building her nest.  Towards the end of the book, the author looks at all of the different sorts of feathers that birds have.

Stewart tells readers in her Author Note that this was a book she had worked on for some time as an idea.  Her use of metaphors to show what feathers do is an inspired choice, making the book all the more accessible for children.  She provides details with specific birds, explaining how they use their feathers and also providing little pieces of information on how the birds live and their habitats.

The watercolor illustrations are done to look like a naturalists field journal with scraps of paper, loose feathers, notes, cup rings, and scraps of fabric.  All of the images of the birds have their locations as well, adding to the field journal feel.  The result is  richly visual book that may inspire readers to start their own bird journals.

This is a book that will instruct and amaze, just the right sort of science book for young readers.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Charlesbridge.

Review: Maple by Lori Nichols

| Tasha

maple

Maple by Lori Nichols

This is one amazing debut picture book.  Maple loved her name.  When she was a baby, her parents had planted a maple tree in their yard.  It was tiny just like her and as Maple grew so did the maple tree.  Her tree never minded if she was loud even though her parents did sometimes.  Maple loved to be outside with her tree.  She would sway along with it, pretend to be a tree and spend time gazing up into its branches and leaves.  When the tree lost its leaves in the fall, Maple gave it her coat to keep it warm.  Throughout the winter, the two played together.  Then in the spring, there were new surprises!  A new tree in the ground and a new baby in the family.  It is Maple who figures out exactly what to do to keep her new sister happy.

Clever and very satisfying, this book is an exceptional debut.  Nichols sets just the right tone with her prose.  From the very first page, you know that she understands children’s books and the way to structure and write them.  The story is clearly presented and the arc of the tale is nicely plotted and designed.  One knows that it is building towards something, but the book is willing to take the right amount of time to get there.  The book reads like a veteran author wrote it. 

The illustrations are also impressive.  They have a lovely softness to them that is very pleasing.  The colors are muted but very effective.  My favorite pages are when Maple looks up into the tree and you see her through the leaves.  It is all beautifully done.

Take it from someone who named one of her children after a tree and then planted one for him to grow up with, this book captures children, love for nature and new siblings with grace and style.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Nancy Paulsen Books.

2014 Lambda Literary Award Finalists

| Tasha

Big thanks to Bookshelves of Doom for a heads up about this! 

The finalists for the 2014 Lambda Literary Awards have been announced.  The finalists for the LGBT Children’s and Young Adult category are:

Better Nate Than Ever Boy in Box Girls I've Run Away With

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

Boy in Box by Christopher R. Michael

Girls I’ve Run Away With by Rhiannon Argo

If You Could Be Mine Openly Straight Rapture Practice: A True Story About Growing Up Gay in an Evangelical Family

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

Secret City The Secret Ingredient The Summer Prince

Secret City by Julia Watts

The Secret Ingredient by Stewart Lewis

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Two Boys Kissing What Makes a Baby

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

What Makes a Baby by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth

Review: The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock

| Tasha

noisy paint box

The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPre

Enter the amazing world of abstract art with this picture book biography of Kandinsky.  Vasya Kandinsky was raised to be a very proper young Russian boy.  Then his Auntie gave him a box of paints and he started to hear colors as sounds.  No one else could hear the sounds, but to Vasya they were a symphony that he could paint.  Vasya grew up and stopped painting.  He still heard the colors around him, but he was going to be a lawyer.  When he attended the opera one evening, Vasya saw the colors emerge from the music and was never quite the same again.  He became a painter and tried to meet everyone’s expectations, but to be happy he had to paint in his own way, an abstract one. 

Rosenstock’s biography is very successful, focusing on Kandinsky as a child and younger man.  She doesn’t speak down to children at all here, instead bringing them up to her level and demonstrating what abstract art is, showing the struggle of an artist trapped in the wrong life, and finally beautifully displaying what a life well-lived looks like.  She celebrates the transformation from lawyer to artist, from conventional to unique.  This book joyfully exposes how we are all different from one another and how those differences can be incredible if allowed to sing.

GrandPre’s art is glorious.  She shows what Kandinsky must have seen when hearing the opera and what he heard when the colors spoke to him.  The music of the paint box and the noises that emerged for him are shown in flourishes of sound, bringing Kandinsky’s synthethesia vividly to the page.  Her art is filled with motion when Kandinsky’s art is being expressed and then dims down to the staid and quiet when he is trying to conform.

Beautiful and choice, this picture book biography is one of the best.  Get this for elementary art classes, museum visits, and young artists.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

Review: Winston & George by John Miller

| Tasha

winston george

Winston & George by John Miller, illustrated by Giuliano Cucco

Released March 21, 2014.

Winston is a crocodile and George is a crocodile bird, the kind of bird that cleans a crocodile’s skin.  The two of them would fish together in the river with George calling out when he saw a fish and Winston diving into the water to catch it.  Then they would share the meal together on shore.  But George had the bad habit of playing pranks on all of the crocodiles as well as on Winston.  The other crocodiles tell Winston to just eat George to end the problem, but Winston can’t eat his friend.  Then George takes a prank too far and puts Winston’s life in danger.  He has to convince the other crocodiles and animals to help, but at what price?

Written and illustrated 50 years ago, this picture book is finally being published.  Unfortunately, the illustrator died in 2006, so he did not live to see this work finally come to the public.  Happily though, the book is fresh and vibrant with a wonderful vintage feel that makes it feel like an immediate classic.  Miller’s words are simple and drive the story forward at a fast pace.  The ending is immensely satisfying and sharing it aloud one can expect cheers of joy and relief.

Cucco’s illustrations are superb.  They have a wonderful grace of line combined with bright tropical colors that pop on the page.  The dramatic moments of the book are captured with plenty of motion and action.  Best of all, the humor of the text translates directly into humor of image. 

A humorous and dramatic look at an unusual friendship, one only wishes that Winston & George could go on more adventures together.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.

Review: Little Poems for Tiny Ears by Lin Oliver

| Tasha

little poems for tiny ears

Little Poems for Tiny Ears by Lin Oliver, illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Celebrate the wonder of babyhood and toddlerhood with this collection of poems ideal for the youngest listeners.  These poems document the small moments of a child’s early years, seeing these little things as exactly what they are: the foundation of the future.  So each moment is given a gravity by the poems but they are also entirely playful and fun.  There are poems about body parts like noses and tongues, poems about peekaboo and high chairs, poems about naps, others about baths.  Each is short, clever and just right for sharing aloud.

DePaola has illustrated the poems with his signature style, depicting children of all colors and nationalities.  His illustrations embrace the gentleness of the entire book with their soft and bright colors and clear demonstrations of love.

Get this on the shelves right next to Mother Goose, because what you have here is a new classic set of poetry for the little ones.  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Reviewed from library copy.

Spring 2014 Kids’ Indie Next List

| Tasha

The American Booksellers Association has a preview of their Spring Kids’ Indie Next List which features fifty titles picked by booksellers at independent bookstores from across the nation.  They also select a top ten:

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend The Boundless Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3)

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Firefly July and Other Very Short Poems 18079812

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Following Papa’s Song by Gianna Marino

Grasshopper Jungle The Secret Box A Snicker of Magic

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

The Secret Box by Whitaker Ringwald

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Sparky! The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Sparky! by Jenny Offill

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Review: No Place by Todd Strasser

| Tasha

no place

No Place by Todd Strasser

Dan seemed to have it all from being popular to his hot girlfriend to probably getting a baseball scholarship to college.  But then his family started having financial problems and they got worse and worse.  Finally, they were forced to leave their home and live in Dignityville, a city park reused as a tent city for homeless people.  Dan struggles to figure out how to continue being the same person with his friends, how to stay focused on his future, and how to keep dating one of the wealthier girls in town.  On a daily basis, Dan is confronted with the differences in lifestyle and priorities.  But Dignityville is not without some good aspects.  Dan gets to spend more time with his family and he gets to know Meg, a girl who attends his high school and who also lives in Dignityville with her brother and family.  Then Meg’s brother is brutally attacked and it quickly becomes evident that there is a conspiracy to destroy Dignityville, one that may end up hurting those that Dan loves.

Strasser tackles the issue of homelessness head on here.  Yet he does in such a way as to make it accessible to those who have not experienced it.  The emphasis is on the fact that there are all sorts of people who are homeless, not just those with addiction and mental health issues.  Seeing the slow fall to homelessness by Dan’s parents and their reaction to being homeless further underlines that people are doing their best in trying and exceedingly difficult situations. 

Dan is a very engaging character, one who quickly learns how profoundly his life has changed.  The other characters at Dignityville are also well drawn and interesting as are Dan’s parents.  The only character I found two-dimensional was Talia, Dan’s girlfriend, who seemed distant and aloof from what was happening.  As the book progressed, the mystery of who was trying to shut down Dignityville moved to the forefront of the story.  I felt that this distracted from an already powerful story and took it over the top.  It was an unnecessary addition to the book.

An important book about a teen and his family experiencing homelessness, teens will find much to love in these pages.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.