adventures

Review: Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

| Tasha

legends of zita

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Released September 4, 2012.

This is the sequel to the wonderful graphic novel, Zita the Spacegirl.  In this second book, Zita is having to deal with her fame seriously cramping her style.  She can’t go anywhere without security (in the form of the friends she made in the first book.)  So when an opportunity arises, Zita heads away with Mouse for a little time alone.  Little does Zita know, but a discontinued robot who can make herself look like another person, has disguised herself as Zita.  By the time Zita realizes what has happened, Piper and the others have left with her to try to save a planet.  Now Zita has to follow them and steals a spaceship to catch up.  Unfortunately, this makes her a criminal and the Doom Squad are after her.  This is just the beginning of another amazing adventure of Zita the Spacegirl.

Dealing with the negative side of her fame is a wonderful way to open this second book. Add to it the strange robot who can imitate people, the ferocious Doom Squad, and several new friends she makes along the way, and you have another Zita book that is impossible to put down.  Zita is a great protagonist, a fantastic mix of normal girl and heroine.  She has real adventures in space as a young girl, something you don’t often see in children’s graphic novels.  She also solves many of her own problems, not relying on others to save her. 

Hatke’s art is clean and clear and filled with color.  He manages to create characters who project their personalities just through a few facial expressions and their appearance.  His pacing is spot on, carrying the book forward as fast as you can turn the pages.

This series belongs in every public library, offering a great young heroine in graphic novel form.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Review: Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

| Tasha

cardboard

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel

What’s the worst birthday present ever?  It just might be the cardboard box that Cam’s father had to give him.  Cam’s dad can’t find work, his mother is dead, and his family is falling apart.  But Cam is still optimistic about the fun the two of them can have together building things from cardboard.  Little does he know that the cardboard things they create are about to come to life!  There are rules that come with the magical cardboard.  Gather all of the scraps that are unused and return them to the man who gave Cam’s dad the cardboard.  Unfortunately, the local bully finds out that Cam has something worth taking away and starts to create an army of cardboard monsters.  What will it take for Cam and his dad to fix the misuse of magical cardboard?

TenNapel’s graphic novel is pure maniacal genius.  He takes a universal thing like playing with cardboard and makes it first pure magic and then dark and sinister.  He also carries the story to the extreme, refusing to back away and take an easier approach.  It makes for a riveting graphic novel that will have plenty of kid-appeal.  My only quibble is that the side story of the father’s romantic interest in the neighbor lady does not add to the story.

Because I am reviewing an advanced copy of the book, I don’t have it in the full color throughout.  The pages I do have are a mix of sandy tan, zips of red, deep purples with plenty of shadows in black.  He plays with angles and points of view, creating an entire world of cardboard before he is finished. 

This is a darker comic for kids, something that children will appreciate and gobble up.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Review: It’s a Tiger by David LaRochelle

| Tasha

its a tiger

It’s a Tiger by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

The story starts in the jungle filled with vines and trees.  You can look at the monkeys swinging around, but wait!  That’s not a monkey.  It looks like… a tiger! Run!  Whew.  Now we are safe inside a cave.  You’ll have to watch for bats and duck your head.  Wait, some of those shadows look like… a tiger!  Run!  The escapade continues through the jungle with snakes, but then you head on a boat to a deserted island.  Sure you are safe there.  Right?  Roar!

This fast-paced race through the jungle is exactly what squirmy toddlers need at the end of a story time.  The book has a great sense of timing and plenty of action.  The repetition of the tiger appearing over and over again, will have children merrily joining in and shouting along.  This is not a quiet book for contemplative reading, but instead a jolly book that will have children making plenty of noise. 

Tankard’s art is a huge part of the appeal here.  The thick-lined, orange ferocity of the tiger plays against the finer lines and subtler colors of the background.  The little boy who joins you in your trek through the jungle is also drawn in the thicker lines and pops on the page.  There is a feeling of motion and action throughout the book that brings the story even more fully to life.

A great pick for toddler story time, this is one book to have in your pile for when kids get restless.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

| Tasha

three times lucky

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Mo LoBeau arrived in the small North Carolina town of Tupelo Landing as an infant riding on a hurricane wave.  She was discovered by the Colonel, a man also trapped in the storm who completely lost his memory.  Now at age 11, Mo helps the Colonel and Miss Lana run the café that is attached to their home.  It’s a quiet life, punctuated by the hope of her long-lost mother finding one of the bottles that Mo sends off upstream.  Then the law comes to town and things get interesting.  A murder was committed in a nearby town, then someone is murdered right in Tupelo Landing!  Mo and her best friend, Dale, form a detective agency and try to stay a step ahead of the police as they investigate the murder, try to clear Dale’s name, and worry that the Colonel may be mixed up in things too.  All Mo knows is that it is up to her to continue to trust the people she loves so fiercely and to prove their innocence. 

I must admit that I sighed a bit when I discovered that this was another book set in a small town in the south.  I knew that it would be filled with interesting small town characters, probably have a spunky heroine, and expected that it would be pretty formulaic as well.  It does have interesting small town characters, but also ones that resemble modern society.  As much as this is a story of a family that is created out of love alone, it is also the story of what a small town community can be.  Yes, Mo is spunky.  She is also smart, savvy and wonderfully inventive.  And while the story starts out in a familiar way, it quickly turns into a book that is a fun, fast-paced read.

The story is not as light-hearted as it might seem on the surface.  Dale lives with his mother in fear of his drunken father returning and beating him.  There are families that are divided in other ways, including money.  And without giving anything away, there are twists that are surprising in a children’s book.

Turnage’s writing is filled with humor.  She creates memorable characters, dancing quickly with stereotypes and then reaching beyond them to something that means much more.  She is not afraid of real danger in her book and she is also not shy about deep love.  It is a book about family, community, bravery and friendship. 

This is one to read on a slow summer day, preferably one threatening a nice fat thunderstorm.  Now if someone can just find me a real café like Miss Lana’s I’m all set.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books.

Review: A Home For Bird by Philip C. Stead

| Tasha

home for bird

A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead

Vernon, the toad, was out finding interesting things when he met Bird.  Bird wasn’t much for talking, not responding to anything that Vernon said, not even when he introduced Bird to his friends, Skunk and Porcupine.  Despite his silence (and his stiffness and button eyes) Vernon proceeded to show Bird around the river and forest.  But when Bird didn’t react even to watching clouds together, Vernon started to worry that Bird was depressed.  So Vernon and Bird set out to help Bird find his home.  They  looked at all sorts of homes, but none of them were right for Bird.  Then they came to a small blue house where they decided to stop for the night.  In the house was another small house, a cuckoo clock, up on the wall.  And that was where Bird and Vernon spent the night.  Until in the morning, Bird finally found his voice.

Stead writes and illustrates with a wonderful charm.  His writing is so solid that it is a joy to read aloud.  The story is carefully crafted and then playfully told, making for a book that is a pleasure to share.  Vernon is a character that children will relate easily and happily to.  Bird will immediately be recognized for the toy he is, but the story is less about that mistake by Vernon and more about the journey to find where Bird belongs.

The illustrations have a wonderful freedom to them, filled with swirls of color, that fill the air and cover the walls.  Stead draws the main characters with detailed fine lines, but their world is a more childlike, looser scrawl that reveals trees, flowers and dirt.   The way the detail plays against the less structured backgrounds adds to the cheer of the title.

Finding ones home, friendship and a grand quest fill this picture book to the brim and combine wonderfully with the charm of the illustrations.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Review: Mrs. Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter

| Tasha

mrs harkness and the panda

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

In 1934, Mr. Harkness set out to China to bring the first live panda to the United States.  Unfortunately, he did not survive his journey.  So his young widow, Mrs. Harkness decided to set out and complete her husband’s dream.  Mrs. Harkness was not an adventurer; she designed tea gowns.  She knew that the journey would be hard, maybe even impossible.  But she set off for China and met up with Quentin Young, a man who had seen pandas and agreed to help her.  They packed carefully for the journey, even taking baby formula and bottles in case they found a baby panda.  They journeyed deep into China, until they finally found traces of panda activity, but no pandas.  Then they heard a small sound and followed it to a baby panda hidden in a rotten tree.  Mrs. Harkness had completed the mission!

This is a marvelous biographical picture book about an unlikely adventurer who took an amazing risk, especially after her husband’s death.  The story is told with a wonderful richness that helps bring the time period and this woman to life.  I particularly enjoyed all of the people telling her that it was a mistake and the amazing number of things she took along with her on the journey.  Potter takes the time to really create the world and this character, something that can be missing in picture book nonfiction.

Sweet’s illustrations are marvelous.  They incorporate cut paper art, maps, Chinese lettering, postcards, and lots of little touches that make them especially rich and meaningful.  At the same time, there is a sweetness to the illustrations that works particularly well with this story and the main character.  It also works well with the cuddly furry pandas too.

An inspirational story of adventure with an unlikely heroine at its center.  Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Alfred A. Knopf.

Review: Giants Beware by Jorge Aguirre

| Tasha

giants beware

Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre, illustrated by Rafael Rosado

Claudette lives in a town protected by a huge wall to keep the giant out.  Years earlier, the town had been terrorized by The Baby-Feet Eating Giant who still figures into most of the stories to keep the children in town in line.  Claudette though knows that she is brave enough to slay any giant, so she sets out with her wooden sword to kill the giant.  She brings along her friend Marie who desperately wants to be a princess and her younger brother Gaston who is a disappointment to their father who wants him to be more brave.  Gaston on the other hand wants to be a chef.  The three children head out on their quest that will take them through the Forest of Death, across the Mad River, and up to the Giant’s Peak.  Unfortunately, their parents are following them to bring them back home before their adventure is really complete!  Can Claudette kill the giant before being dragged back to safety?

How I love a book that turns gender stereotypes on their head.  In Claudette, a spunky girl who is brave and ferocious, the author does just that.  Claudette is wild, heroic and along the way learns a lot about being a better friend and sibling.  Told with plenty of humor, the storyline is tight,  and the world building is amazing.

Rosado’s illustrations shout with color and energy.  This full-color graphic novel gets a lot of its appeal from the strength of the illustrations, their clarity and the skill with which the story is depicted. 

Highly recommended for all library collections, this is a graphic novel that has broad appeal.  Here’s hoping there are more monsters to slay in upcoming episodes of this feisty red-headed heroine!  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce

| Tasha

chitty chitty bang bang flies again

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce, illustrated by Joe Berger

Take a lively ride in the first follow-up to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang book by Ian Fleming.  The Tooting family have hit hard times, Mr. Tooting has lost his job.  But they don’t stay down hearted for long, deciding that they should take a trip around the world.  Mrs. Tooting brings home a very old and worn camping van that Mr. Tooting and Jem slowly rebuild together after taking it entirely apart.  When they go looking for parts at a local junkyard, they discover an amazing racing engine and mount it on the camping van.  The engine, of course, belonged to the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and now Chitty wants to get the rest of herself back together.  So the family and Chitty are off on an adventure around the world to find all of her parts.  This adventure will take them to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the depths of the ocean.

Boyce has moved the story into the modern age with cell phones and a contemporary family.  The story pay homage to the original in many ways, foremost being the search for the parts of the original Chitty.  Also, the story arc is very similar with wonderful villains who pop into the story with menacing jelly baby phones and the moment when the children are separated from their parents and have to fend for themselves.  The book also has a real spirit of the first, incorporating humor throughout.

Berger’s illustrations enliven the book, showing a multi-ethnic family and making the book more approachable for young readers.   They have a wonderful humor about them too, carrying the jolliness of the story into images.

The old-fashioned yet modern mix of this book is extremely appealing.  The book reads quickly and is completely entertaining.  Ideal for fans of the first book and sure to win new fans as well.  Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck

| Tasha

secrets at sea

Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck

A wonderful mix of Upstairs Downstairs and The Borrowers, this is the first animal story from the incredible Peck.  Helena is the eldest of the Cranston family of mice.  Her parents are both dead as are her older sisters.  It is 1887 and the human Cranston family is planning a trip to England to get their eldest daughter wed.  So the mouse family also has to decide.  Do they travel across the dangerous and deadly water with the family or stay behind in an empty house.  Helena hopes that the trip will help with some of the problems she has been fretting about.  Her younger brother is always getting into scrapes and needs some direction.  One of her younger sisters is far too attached to one of the human daughters.  So the family embarks on a trip where they discover the large impact a family of mice can have on their humans.

Peck writes with a sly humor here that takes on the establishment and the constraints of society in the late 1800s.  The same sort of tiers that make up the human society are found reflected with the mouse society as well.  It makes for a delight of a novel that has depth and a lot of heart.  Peck’s young heroine, Helena, is a mouse burdened with many cares but who also starts to see herself differently as her travels continue.  She is an engaging and richly drawn character.

Peck has also vividly created the setting of a Victorian ship at sea.  From the lavish parties to the lifeboat drills, the mice are involved throughout.  This is a world of privilege that is gloriously redrawn mouse sized complete with royalty and romance.

Highly recommended, this is a dazzling book that will find a place among other great animal stories.  Peck has amazed me once again.  Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin Young Readers Group.

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