creativity

Review: Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes

| Tasha

words with wings

Words with Wings by Nikki Grimes

Gabby has always been a daydreamer, but when her parents started fighting and then separated, she started retreating into her daydreams more and more.  Now Gabby lives with just her mother, who is not a daydreaming type at all.  So the two of them clash.  Gabby also gets in trouble at school due to her dreamy ways and not paying attention to what is happening in class.  But along the way, readers will see that Gabby is much more than a daydreamer, she is a poet.  Eventually, her mother will come to terms with her way of thinking and she will find that she has a teacher who not only supports Gabby’s daydreaming but makes it part of his curriculum. 

Grimes writes in short free verse, some of the poems only a handful of lines long.  Yet because these are poems written by a master poet, they each speak truth.  There are poems that talk about moving and autumn, others that celebrate family members, and at the heart of the book are the many poems that celebrate dreaming, lingering and Gabby herself.  Grimes was clearly the sort of child who also daydreamed, since she captures it so well. 

I deeply appreciate that this book does not “fix” Gabby’s daydreaming.  Instead it is the adults who adopt a new attitude towards her once they realize that she is thinking and processing and writing in her head.  Gabby is expected to change some of her behaviors in class and is supported in doing this by a very engaged and kind teacher who promises that she will have time to dream and to record those dreams she has.  Gabby is the sort of heroine that one loves immediately, and she is also one that readers will cheer to see succeeding on her own terms.

Beautiful and strong poems support a world where imagination and creativity is accepted and poets survive their childhood intact.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

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.

Review: Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

| Tasha

fraidyzoo

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

It’s the perfect day to go to the zoo and the whole family is excited.  Well, maybe not the whole family.  Little T certainly is not, in fact she is frightened of the zoo.  But she can’t remember what in the zoo scares her.  So her family set out to find out what might be scaring her.  They start out at the beginning of the alphabet and acting out the animals.  It’s not alligator, bat or camel.  As they go on, the costumes they use become more and more elaborate and they all help act them out with plenty of laughter and silliness.  They make it all the way to zebras and still Little T can’t remember why she is scared of the zoo.  So they decide to go the next day.  But there is something very frightening at the zoo, and her older sister might just find it a little too scary.

Heder does a superb job here of creating costumes out of boxes and ropes that look like they just might work in real life.  As the costumes grow more and more outrageous and complex, they also get more beautiful.  Along the way, Heder does not name any of the animals being portrayed, so the book has a guessing-game element to it as well.  The ending is funny and satisfying.

Heder’s art really is the majority of the story here.  The text is almost secondary to the full-page images that gallop and dash across the page.  They are filled with motion, color and smiles.  This is art that will inspire children to play with boxes and rope.  Expect your living room to be strewn with cardboard and ideas.

Creative and a joy to read, this is much more fun than any visit I’ve had to the zoo.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: Whale Shines by Fiona Robinson

| Tasha

whale shines

Whale Shines: An Artistic Tale by Fiona Robinson

Published November 5, 2013.

Whale is a living billboard, swimming slowly through the ocean with a poster to advertise the upcoming art show.  Along the way, he passes all sorts of sea creatures creating art.  The hammerhead shark is working on sculptures from sea debris.  Eel is forming lines in the sand.  Octopus, cuttlefish and giant squid were scaring each other to collect their ink.  Whale mutters to himself that he wishes he could make something too.  That’s when the plankton around him tell him to try.  But whale just can’t think of anything that he’d be able to do.  After all, he doesn’t squirt ink, and he can’t slither in the sand.  It’s going to take a lot of creativity and some risk for whale to even try creating art.

Robinson has created a simply gorgeous book here.  Her writing is lovely, slow-paced and languid just like Whale floating by displaying his advertisement.  Whale is a solitary figure in the story, lone and distant from the others.  As he drifts past, he is separate from everyone else.  Robinson successfully manages his transformation from wallflower to fully-engaged artist in a way that rings honest and doesn’t seem rushed.

Her art is lovely, filled with the deep colors of the ocean.  It is green and blue hues that shine.  Popping against those are the bright colors of the creatures and the coral in reds and yellows.  The result is a picture book with stunning visuals that truly evoke life underwater. 

A luminous picture book with glowing underwater scenes, this book will speak to all artists, even those reluctant to reveal themselves.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.

Review: A Moose That Says Moo by Jennifer Hamburg

| Tasha

moose that says moo

A Moose That Says Moo! by Jennifer Hamburg, illustrated by Sue Truesdell

Sitting near the laundry drying on the line, a little girl is reading books about animals.  She starts to think about having a zoo of her very own and what sorts of animals it would have.  It’s guaranteed that no other zoo has animals like hers!  There is a moose that says “moo,” bears that drive cars, tigers that swing in the trees, and sharks that read books.  At night, the animals have a big pillow fight that turns into one silly brawl with awakened goats, tap-dancing pigs that startle easily, tripping turtles, and even groundhogs that protest.  It will take one smart young girl to get everything put back together again even in this imaginary zoo.

Written in a rollicking rhyme, this book really celebrates the ridiculous and the silly.  Hamburg manages to create zoo animals with wild qualities that make the book a surprise on each page.  The result is a book that dances on the edge of losing control, but the firm hand Hamburg takes with the rhyme and rhythm keeps it within control and makes for a book that begs to be shared aloud.

Truesdell does an amazing job of managing to take all of the wild chaotic silliness of the book and turn it into illustrations that help it all make sense.  At the same time, she too revels in the silliness on the page and adds to it with small touches like a reading shark accidentally eating a book, the offer of many tissues to a sneezing tiger, and goggled bears in cars. 

Pure silliness, this book could merrily be wedged into many storytime themes.  Use it as a finisher since even antsy children will sit still for this wild ride.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Review: How To by Julie Morstad

| Tasha

how to

How To by Julie Morstad

This “how to” book does not describe mechanical endeavors, instead it is a luminous look at an eclectic collection of activities.  They include how to look like a mermaid, how to see the wind, and how to go slow.  Others are straight-forward ideas but the image shows a more inventive solution.  How to wash your socks has children dancing in a puddle wearing socks.  How to make friends is the cover image of a child drawing people with chalk.  The result is a book that is an elegant and lovely exploration of the creative.

Morstad creates beautiful books and this is no exception.  Here again she mixes a quiet sense of wonder into the book and combines it with gorgeous illustrations.  She uses fine lines, particularly when drawing the children on the pages.  Their hair and faces shine with the attention she has given them.  The ideas in the book are all creative and inviting.  This is a book that will entrance some children while others will be looking for more action.

Ideal for creative children who look at the world from a more whimsical point of view.  They will make friends in these pages.  Appropriate for ages 3-5, perfect for adults too.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Journey by Aaron Becker

| Tasha

journey

Journey by Aaron Becker

This stunning wordless picture book tells the story of a young girl who is very lonely.  Her parents are busy doing things and she has no one to play with.  Then she discovers a red crayon on her bedroom floor and draws a door on her wall that she can open.  She finds herself in a forest light with strings of lights, a river running by.  Her red crayon is in her hand, so she draws a boat that she can use to travel down the river.  Her incredible journey is just beginning and you will want to be along.

Done first in sepia tones with bursts of red, the book quickly changes to full color once the girl opens the magic door into another world.  Happily, this is not a world that readers will have visited before.  It is a dynamic mix of steampunk, fancy castles, and wondrous creatures.

Becker’s art is incredible intricate, inviting closer inspection.  Just the castle alone had me gazing for some time to see it all.  HIs art is also very beautiful.  The depth of color is lovely, particularly the colors of the sky and the landscape.

Beautifully done, this book is a gorgeous testament to the power of creativity and the amazing places that great art can take us.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

You can see some of this incredible journey on the book trailer:

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: When Stravinsky Met Nijinski by Lauren Stringer

| Tasha

when stravinsky met nijinsky

When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet and One Extraordinary Riot by Lauren Stringer

This is the story of how two Russian artists collaborated to create a revolutionary new ballet, The Rite of Spring.  When the two artists met one another, each of them started to change.  Stravinsky’s music changed and Nijinsky’s dance changed.  They inspired one another to try something entirely new and created a ballet based on Russian folk dances and folk songs.  Even at rehearsal, some of the musicians walked out, but enough stayed so that the show could go on.  When the ballet was first performed, the crowd was split.  Some people loved the new music and dancing, others were shocked and hated it.  The crowd took to the streets to continue to express their anger and appreciation.  This is a great picture book biography that captures the magic of creativity that results when two masters collaborate on something brave and new.

Stringer’s writing takes a complicated story and distills it to the most important points.  Young readers will quickly understand that the two men brought new ideas out of one another, finding each other inspiring.  Her art also speaks to the collaboration of these two men, using flowing lines and deep yet soft colors.  She inserts elements from the art of the time, referencing movements like cubism in both her text and art.  The end of the book has photographs of the two artists and dancers in the ballet.  It also has a longer look at their collaboration. 

A great choice for art and music classes, I’d recommend listening to The Rite of Spring with the group too.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge

| Tasha

will whit

Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge

The author of Page by Paige returns with another superb graphic novel.  Will has suffered a tragedy and now fear the dark, since she sees the shadows of those she has lost within them.  Her hobby is to create lamps out of found objects, keeping the dark at bay.  Then Hurricane Whitney roars in and takes away the electricity entirely so that Will is left in a complete blackout.  Happily, she is surrounded by great friends who are just as creative as she is.  There is even an arts carnival being created.  Now Will just has to face her fears, in the darkness.

Done in black-and-white, this graphic novel plays nicely with light and dark.  The entire background of the pages change from the bright white to pure black once the power goes out in the story.  Gulledge’s story embraces creativity and also features female characters who are real and honest.  Gulledge also nicely uses metaphor in the story, showing shadows coming towards Will who are human shaped.  As that part of the story is resolved, readers will notice the changes in the shadows around Will, a visual harbinger of real change. 

Get this into the hands of those who enjoyed Page by Paige as well as other teens who are creative and touch romantic.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.