battles

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt

| Tasha

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Adam Rex (9780062438898, Amazon)

This picture book takes on a very familiar childhood game and turns it into a tale of battles and glory. It begins with Rock, who traveled the mysterious Forest of Over by the Tire Swing looking for warriors to battle. He fights and wins over Clothespin and Apricot but still hasn’t found a worthy foe. Paper is in the Home Office and also looking for battles. He takes on Computer Printer and Trail Mix and wins over both easily. Now he too is searching for harder battles. Scissors is in the Kitchen where she battles Tape and Breaded Chicken Dinosaurs and wins. Now the three strong warriors are on their way to finally meet one another. Who will win?

Daywalt has written this picture book with the voice of a world wrestling announcer. One can almost hear the crowd in the background and the pounding music as the battles rage. All of the fights have a sense of playfulness and wrestling to them, rather than war. They all echo the same feel of the hand game and amp it up considerably. This book is ideal for sharing aloud and begs for big voices and cheers.

Rex’s illustrations play on the drama of the text. They are action-filled and full of humor. The battles are shown in comic-book like stills, capturing the blaze of battle and the silliness of it all at the same time. The tone is perfection throughout.

A very silly, very fun book that is just right for a crowd of restless or wrestling kids. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins.

Review: Salt by Helen Frost

| Tasha

salt

Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost

In 1812 in Indian Territory, two boys forge a friendship over hunting, fishing and survival of their families.  James’ family runs the trading post at Fort Wayne, living right outside the walls of the fort.  Anikwa’s family, members of the Miami tribe, has lived on this land for generations.  Now two armies are heading right to Fort Wayne to battle, the Americans and British will meet for a critical battle.  The question becomes whose side the Miami will be on when the battle occurs.  But even more deep is the question of whether the friendship between the two boys and their two families can survive this battle and the losses that it brings.

Frost has mastered the verse novel, creating a work that functions as beautiful poetry with profound depths and also as a complete novel.  Frost puts a human face on history in this novel that tells the story of a major battle in the war of 1812.  By the time the soldiers arrive, readers care deeply for both boys and their families.  So when the destruction starts, the wounds are real and the losses far beyond numbers.  The poems show readers the beauty of the landscape, the bounty of the land, and all that is possibly lost afterwards.

Frost writes from both boys’ points of view in alternating poems.  So the lifestyle and losses of both families is shown from their own points of view.  Anikwa’s poems are done in a poetic form that creates a pattern on the page.  Frost explains in her notes at the end that this is to mimic Miami ribbon work.  Without knowing this while reading, I could still see the square form of James’ poem representing the fort and the home he lived in next to the motion-filled form of Anikwa’s poems that exuded nature. 

An exquisite verse novel that fills history with real people and war with real loss.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

| Tasha

battle bunny

Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, illustrated by Matthew Myers

Gran Gran has given Alex a very saccharine sweet birthday book filled with bunnies as a gift.  But Alex is clearly not a fan of the original book since he takes his pencil and makes lots of changes so that it’s a book that he wants to read.  Birthday Bunny is turned into Battle Bunny, complete with helmet, utility belt and walkie talkie.  His goal is to unleash his evil plan on the forest and the world that only a boy named Alex can prevent.  Expect danger, cut-down trees, epic battles and much more as Alex tries to defeat the evil that is Battle Bunny!

Told and drawn in layers, this book is something very special. First you have the rather sickly sweet story underneath that celebrates Birthday Bunny’s birthday with lots of dancing and balloons.  It’s silly, friendly and pure sugar.  Over the top of that comes the brilliance of the writing of Scieszka and Barnett who manage by changing a few words in every sentence to make an entirely different story.  Most sentences just have a few words changed, but others towards the end are more edited to really let the story flow.  It works so well that one can forget the words underneath until you eye snags on one and you just have to read a bit of the silly story that has been edited. 

Myers’ art is equally successful.  He takes a dance scene and deftly turns it into an epic battle but one where you can still see the dancing underneath.  On some pages little comics are added in the white space so that more story can be told.  The cutesy nature of the underlying story is captured in his illustrations and one can feel the glee with which he reworked them just as a little boy would.

These three gifted book creators truly channeled their inner children to create this book.  It is funny, smart and immensely creative.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.