Review: Lucy Can’t Sleep by Amy Schwartz

| Tasha

lucy cant sleep

Lucy Can’t Sleep by Amy Schwartz

Lucy is in bed, but she just can’t fall asleep.  First, she tries counting sheep and other animals, but that doesn’t work.  So she climbs out of bed, puts on a sweater, stretches and wiggles.  Then she heads out of her room to try and find her doll and bear.  There they are in a chair downstairs.  Lucy then heads to the kitchen and rummages in the fridge for a snack.  She finds chocolate pudding and strawberry shortcake.  Everything is very quiet in her house.  Outside there is a squeaky door, a porch swing, and a radio playing.  Then Lucy’s dog appears and they head inside.  But Lucy isn’t quite ready for bed yet.

There is something old-fashioned and infinitely gentle about this book.  Lucy’s parents never awaken to find her out of bed, instead she putters around on her own with no fear of the dark, of the quiet or of being alone.  There is a great feeling of safety in this book with nothing startling or alarming in the least.  It is a welcome difference from many picture books.

Schwartz’s writing is done in stanzas with repetition and rhythm making it into a poem.  This makes it a great book for toddlers.  Her art is filled with small details of Lucy’s life and home.  It is all about warmth, familiarity and the small touches that mark a family’s life. 

Safe, sweet nighttime adventures will have young listeners enjoying Lucy and her escapades out of bed.  It will also make a nice addition to bedtime stories and story times.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Review: The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

| Tasha

girl with borrowed wings

The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

This is a stunning debut novel that will have your heart beating fast for many reasons.  Frenenqer was created in the brain of her father, the perfect girl.  So she tries to be exactly that for him by following his long list of rules about how to hold her fork, close doors silently, and never embarrass the family.  But she can also feel the absence of wings on her back, as if she had been meant to have them all along but instead she has the pressure of her father’s finger there.  Her life is lonely and dull, not even allowed to walk outside on her own in the oasis where they live surrounded by desert.  Everything changes though when she rescues the dying cat in the market, against her father’s wishes.  That dull lump of fur turns out to be a boy who can shapeshift, who can fly and who can show her new worlds and remembered places.  As their relationship grows into something beyond friendship, Frenenqer has to face her own life of isolation and her part in her father’s controlling ways.

Rossetti’s writing is magnificent.  She creates such a sense of claustrophobia in Frenenqer’s life, such a world of stifling expectation, lack of humanity and perfectionism.  That feeling is amplified by the setting of the oasis, limiting even further her options of a different sort of life.  When her rescuer arrives he represents breaking those rules, throwing them aside, and a freedom that she had never dreamed of.  Here is where Rossetti makes a choice that sets her book apart from others.  Frenenqer does not tumble easily into that freedom, she fights it, struggles with it, and almost rejects it.  And it all makes wonderful sense.

Frenenqer is a unique character.  She is a mix of world traveler and solitary reader.  She yearns for freedom and shuns it.  She longs to be touched but rejects that too.  She is shown love of a new sort and doesn’t know what to do with it.  She is beyond brave but also terrified.  She is certainly abused mentally by her father, ignored by her mother, but also defies them in small ways that show you she is not cowed by them yet.  She is pure and lovely complexity that works.

Beautifully written, wonderfully sculpted, this novel is a fresh look at fantasy from a new author.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

| Tasha

scariest thing of all

The Scariest Thing of All by Debi Gliori

This story of a very frightened young rabbit is uplifted by the marvelous illustrations.  Pip was a very little rabbit and had a huge list of things that he was scared of.  The list included rain because it reminded him of the sound a leggy wiggler makes in its web, bubbles in the water reminded him of a gobbler hiding at the bottom of the pond, and tree stumps were like the teeth of a giant wood troll.  He exhausted himself because he was so worried and frightened all the time.  He was so tired he fell fast asleep until dinnertime.  When he woke up, he heard a dreadful Raaar! Pip ran and ran, as far away from the sound as he could.  Finally, he stopped deep in the woods.  He saw a scary thing nearby, and heard the sound again.  Pip was going to have to be brave and smart to figure out what was making that horrible noise.

Gliori’s story of a small rabbit who is afraid of almost everything will resonate with children.  The ending has Pip becoming a much braver rabbit.  The book does conclude a bit too quickly and neatly.  Gliori spends much of her story developing the depths of fear and panic that Pip is living with.  All of that plays out very strongly, creating a firm foundation for the story. 

The art here really makes this picture book special.  It moves from the sunny warmth of Pip’s family and home to the dark blueness of a woods at night.  Throughout the woods scenes there is an incredible blue moon rising above him, giving a haunted feel to those pages that is marvelously chilling. 

This would make a great pick for a preschool Halloween story time because it has monsters and creepy things but won’t frighten.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Good News Bad News by Jeff Mack

| Tasha

good news bad news

Good News Bad News by Jeff Mack

So much depends on your point of view in this jaunty picture book that is written in a very limited vocabulary of just four words.  The book opens with the good news of a shared picnic.  Then the bad news of rain arrives.  Then the good news of the rabbit’s umbrella.  Bad news carries the rat off on the wind.  Filled with lots of energy and action, this picture book dashes along at a breakneck speed as readers look forward to the inevitable next twist in the tale. 

Mack manages to create a cohesive story with great pacing using just four words.  Reading like an animated short, the interchange of optimism and pessimism is sure to delight both sorts of personalities.  It gives us all a chance to laugh together as the poor rat is constantly disappointed and the rabbit doesn’t reach his breaking point until almost the end of the book.  By that point, the ups and downs of the story will have everyone ready to burst.

Good news!  The book is wonderful and is out now!  Good news!  It’s a great pick for new readers!  Good news!  No bad news at all.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

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Review: Small Damages by Beth Kephart

| Tasha

small damages

Small Damages by Beth Kephart

Kenzie is not the sort of teen who gets pregnant.  She has college plans, a boyfriend who is headed to Yale, but she took risks.  Earlier in the year, she lost her beloved father and now her mother just wants to move on.  Her mother wants to do the same with the pregnancy.  Kenzie decides to keep the baby and her mother creates a plan to keep the pregnancy a secret: she sends Kenzie off to Spain for the summer.  Staying with a friend of her mother, Kenzie is taken under the wing of Estela, a small, fierce woman who cooks for the ranch where they raise bulls for bullfighting.  Estela guides Kenzie through learning to cook, making sure that she also takes care of herself and the baby.  Kenzie meets the couple who will adopt her baby and also a young man who works on the ranch with the animals.  She slowly comes out of her shell, building relationships with those around her.  This book is an homage to Spain, an exploration of choice, and a delight of a read.

As always, Kephart writes with the voice of a poet.  Her language is especially effective here as she recreates Spain for the reader with all of its colors, scents and sounds.  There is a wonderful space to the novel, a quietness that is profound and amazing.  It too speaks of a foreign country, of being cared for by another generation, and of having time to contemplate and decide.  This book is also complex.  Decisions are made and reconsidered, lives are changed, and there is no surety to the final decision until the last page is turned.  It is a compelling dance between quiet desperation, beauty and real family and belonging. 

This is a book that you want to curl up and read and read as long as your eyes will let you.  It is a trip to Spain filled with all of the warmth, personality and impressive history of that land.  The play of the modern American teen against that timeless background is pure genius, giving a story that could have been straight forward a real depth and power.

This is an exceptional teen novel that will also be enjoyed by adult readers as a crossover title.  It is elegantly written and gloriously beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.

Review: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

| Tasha

brides of rollrock island

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Released September 11, 2012.

Rollrock Island is remote and isolated with only one ferry connecting it to the mainland.  It is also a place of magic, magic that is less sparkles and fairy dust and more ocean currents, sealskin and lust.  It is where Misskaella the witch lives, a woman able to peel away the skins of seals and gather their energies together into a woman who is beautiful and biddable.  In this way, Misskaella takes vengeance upon the women of the town who never accepted her.   She charges the men for the honor of having a wife from the sea, taking not only the money they have gathered now, but future wages as well.  These men are just as dazzled and tamed by the magic as their once-seal wives.  The desperation and quiet horror of the selkie story builds steadily as the book continues, leaving it to the next generation, the children of these unions, to see if they can resolve this, or not.

I have long disliked stories based on selkie myths, so I read this because of my love for Lanagan’s work.  But Lanagan gets at the nastiness of these relationships, the sandy dirtiness of them that will not wash away.  Her writing is by turns ethereal and wondering and then turns to the baseness and cruelty of what is happening.  There is a strong sense of place woven into the story.  It simply could not take place anywhere else.  From the seals at the base of the cliff to the tiny town that is simple yet enticing, Rollrock Island is unique and astounding yet also grindingly normal.

Lanagan plays with contrasts throughout the entire book.  The women who rise from the ocean are compliant yet wrenchingly miserable, longing for a world that they have lost.  The men are dazzled and yet absent.  The children beautiful, part sea and part land, yet also unable to see the truth until it is forced upon them.  It is as much Misskaella’s story as it is the selkies.  Their destinies intertwined thanks to her magic.

Told in a series of short stories that show the different points of view, though never the point of view of one of the selkie women, this book is pure richness and beauty.  Lanagan takes a timeless myth and exposes it, yet leaves the reader hopeful in the end.  This is a glorious read.  Appropriate for ages 15-18 and a great crossover read for adults.

Reviewed from digital copy via NetGalley.

Blog Anniversary!

| Tasha

nine

Thank you everyone who has made this such an amazing nine years of blogging.  I’m so happy to be part of the growing children’s literature blogging community.  I love all of the passion, the debates, and even the moments of drama that demonstrate how seriously we all take both blogging and children’s literature.

Over the years, this blog has changed and hopefully grown.  It’s been hosted on three platforms (anyone else remember Greymatter?) and had two names.  Personally, I know that I write now with greater confidence than I used to.  I’ve been part of debates over the years and have continued to blog in my own way, with no negative reviews (who has the time?) and focusing on book news and great reads.

I’m sure that I’ll continue to evolve, since I have no intention of stopping blogging any time soon.

Again, thank you for reading, for giving me of your precious time and attention.  It’s been a great nine years!

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/4507500068/

Vacation Time

| Tasha

I’m going to be taking some time off from work and from blogging to spend time with my family.  I’ll be back on Monday, August 6th.  Expect my Twitter feed to go dark too, since I’m unplugging for the week.

I hope to read some great books and have them to share when I return! 

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/52421717@N00/6323696803/

This Week’s Tweets and Pins

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter and Pinterest accounts that you might find interesting:

Best-Ever Teen Novels? Vote For Your Favorites : NPR http://buff.ly/Omsw7r

Flavorwire » 9 Unintentionally Terrifying Children’s Books – Very funny! http://buff.ly/LL2Jnp #kidlit

Hunger Games Flowchart Helps You Find Your Next Book http://prsm.tc/WuhTEt #yalit

I Hate This Book So Much: A Meditation | Entertainment | http://TIME.com http://buff.ly/LRLcKa #reading

Malinda Lo: 10 LGBTQ Young Adult Novels To Make It Better http://buff.ly/PndSzB #yalit

A Nerdy Book Club Confession « Nerdy Book Club http://buff.ly/LL581s #reading

Storyboard: Paolo Bacigalupi on Writing Political Sci-Fi for Young Adults | Underwire | http://Wired.com http://buff.ly/LKGz9j #yalit

Too Edgy for Teens? Not Likely. http://buff.ly/PN456d #yalit

Top Ten Books to Share « Nerdy Book Club http://buff.ly/LLbspE #kidlit

Ursula K. Le Guin: Still Battling the Powers That Be | Underwire | http://Wired.com http://buff.ly/PN4cyD

What does YA mean to you? A discussion about definition | Kill Your Darlings http://buff.ly/LKGEd7 #yalit