friendship

Review: Bella Loves Bunny and Ben Loves Bear by David McPhail

| Tasha

bella loves bunny ben loves bear

Bella Loves Bunny by David McPhail

Ben Loves Bear by David McPhail

A pair of charming board books from veteran author and illustrator McPhail, these casebound books closely echo picture book structure but have sturdy board pages that will stand up to toddler use.  The stories mirror each other, following the child from waking up for a day of play through to bedtime. 

Bella’s story feels more passive than Ben’s, but I think that is because Bunny is not depicted as energetically as Bear is.  Children who have favorite stuffed animals who accompany them throughout their day will find kindred spirits on these pages.  The stuffed animals are living and breathing here, the story filled with a quiet imagination.  As always, McPhail’s illustrations have a wonderful depth of color and fine lines.  They manage to be dreamy but realistic at the same time.

Good additions to library board book collections, these are books that are gentle and joyful.  Appropriate for ages 1-3.

Bella Loves Bunny was received from Abrams for review.  Ben Loves Bear was reviewed from library copy.

Review: Starring Jules (As Herself) by Beth Ain

| Tasha

starring jules

Starring Jules (As Herself) by Beth Ain

When Jules is singing her new jingle for a fizzy ice-cream cone to her little brother and making lots of bubbles in their milk glasses, she is discovered and invited to audition for a mouthwash commercial.  But even for a girl with lots of “pizzazz” there are difficulties to overcome.  First, Jules finds out that the mouthwash is orange flavored, a flavor that makes her want to puke.  Second, the only one she can see who can help her is her old best-friend Charlotte Stinkerton Pinkerton.  Third, there’s a new girl in Jules’ class who may just be the perfect best friend ever, but Jules has to get to her first, before she joins the new clique that Charlotte has formed.  It’s a complicated situation for Jules and the question is whether it will be just too much for this girl who is fizzy and filled with pizzazz.

Ain has created a character that reads like an older Clementine.  Jules is wonderfully and innately quirky, obviously happy in her own skin.  All of the small details and Jules’ unique view of the world serve to make her a beautifully human character.  Happily, the same is true for the secondary characters as well.  They are all richly drawn and complex.  Friendship is shown in all of its miscommunication and mistakes.

Written with a light hand and a jaunty pace, this book will appeal to readers who have grown up with Clementine and are looking for a new heroine with plenty of individuality.  Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Review: When No One Is Watching by Eileen Spinelli

| Tasha

when no one is watching

When No One Is Watching by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by David A. Johnson

With all of the discussion about quiet and introverted children in classrooms right now, this book could not be more timely.  For those of us who were shy as children, you will recognize yourself in these pages.  Told in first person, the young female narrator finds it easy to be herself when no one is watching.  She is able to dance and spin when alone, but finds herself off to one side when her extended family gets together.  Alone she can be brave and imaginative, when on the playground with other kids she leans alone against a wall.  As the book progresses, another child suddenly pops out in the illustrations.  It’s a new best friend, who is quiet and shy too.  Together the two start to not care about who is watching them at all.

Spinelli does a great job of explaining the freedom of being alone, the imaginative play and the activity that happens when a child is comfortable and free.  She contrasts that clearly in her poem, where the girl who had been brave and active is now quiet and unsure.  Happily, Spinelli does not make this way of feeling seem wrong or strange.  Rather, she has created a character who is shy but willing to make friends and starts to naturally progress to being more sure of herself.

Johnson’s illustrations have a marvelous texture to them.  The main character pops on the pages, dressed in bright colors with wild curls and tumbling shoelaces, she is engaging and shining.  The other characters fade into the background, until Loretta, the new best friend appears and is just as bright as the protagonist.  It’s a subtle and successful look at connections between people.

A strong book that looks at shyness in positive and understanding way, this book will be embraced by children looking for someone just like them in the pages of a picture book.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Review: A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner

| Tasha

pet named sneaker

A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre

Sneaker was a snake who lived in a pet store and wanted to be taken home.  But no one seemed interested in a snake until one day Pete came into the store and noticed how special Sneaker was and decided to take him home.  The two invented games together, forming handcuffs and a hat out of Sneakers’ flexible body.  Then one day Pete had to go to school.  Sneaker didn’t want to be left behind, so he slithered into Pete’s backpack.  Once they got to school, Sneaker proved to be a great snake ambassador, quickly proving that snakes are not only no slimy but are quite smart.  Sneaker continued to show how amazing he was by saving a drowning toddler at the pool and getting it so that animals were welcome to swim there too.  Funny and briskly paced, this book will have great appeal for beginning readers.

Told in very simple and friendly language, this book has a strong storyline for a beginning reader.  Sneaker and Pete have several adventures in the course of the book, moving quickly from a tale of new friendship to one of real action, which is sure to please new readers.   The art by Lemaitre gives the book a vintage feel, hearkening back to Seuss and Eastman in its simple lines and bold colors.  There is also that little zing to the eyes, that feeling that the reader is in on the joke that is conveyed through the illustrations. 

This is a book with great humor, a touch of vintage feel, and one cool cold-blooded hero.  Appropriate for beginning readers aged 3-5. 

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

| Tasha

aristotle and dante

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

This is one of the big winners of the ALA Awards this year.  It won the Stonewall Book Award, the Pura Belpre Author Award, a Printz Honor, and was on the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list.  So I’m not sure what I can say about it beyond that it is one incredible read!

Ari has his entire empty summer ahead of him so he one day he heads to the pool even though he can’t swim.  There he meets Dante, a confident boy just his age, who offers to teach him to swim.  Through that one act, the friendship between these two loners is formed.  They have very little in common except that they are both Mexican Americans.  Ari tends to be angry, is able and willing to fight, and can’t communicate with his father.  Dante, on the other hand, goes to a private school, reads poetry, sketches and actually gives his father kisses.  The two boys form a strong bond with one another, able to have long conversations and tell each other everything.  Well almost everything.

This book is an interplay of strength and fragility with Ari, the physically strong and more strident one, being actually the more fragile as you see deeper under the surface.  It is about the way that friendships form in unlikely places, flourish and potentially fall apart over small things.  It is a book of celebration, a book that wonders at the desert night filled with stars.  It is a book that explores what it means to be gay, what it means to have a best friend that is gay.  It is about being a hero, finding your truth and moving ahead past doubt.

Beautiful, strong and incredibly brave, this book reads like a poem read aloud by a best friend.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers

| Tasha

horse

H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers

A basketball court + a ball + two kids = the perfect sum to play horse!  When two boys meet at the basketball court, they immediately invite one another to play horse or ghost.  It’s the game where one person takes a shot and then the other person has to try to match the shot exactly.  It starts out simply enough with a layup with your eyes closed, but watch where this game goes!  Filled with a banter that challenges one another to seek an even wilder idea, the two boys quickly start to talk about shooting a basket from the roof of a neighboring building when standing on one toe.  The Magellan shot takes it even further, with a jump across the ocean and around the world and a dunk with a tongue!  That’s not the end of the game though, you will just have to read it to see the final play.

I love the playfulness of this book and the friendly tone of the banter between the two boys.  The fact that not a single shot is actually thrown makes it very funny too.  This is not a challenge about sports but about imagination and thinking outside the court.  Myers writes with a feel for modern dialogue between teens that doesn’t resort to modern vernacular but instead has the perfect rhythm and posturing.  Myers’ art is equally modern with lanky boys against bright colored backgrounds.  He also mixes in photographs and builds collages that add texture and pattern. 

Great fun to read, it will have you challenged to a game of horse as soon as you can find a court and a ball.  My favorite shots were always with my eyes closed and backwards.  How about you?  Appropriate for ages 5-7. 

Reviewed from copy received from Egmont.

Review: Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino

| Tasha

too tall houses

Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino

Rabbit and Owl live right next door to one another at the top of a hill in separate small houses.  Rabbit likes growing vegetables and Owl likes the view of the forest.  They were good friends.  Until one day, Rabbit’s vegetables got so tall that they blocked Owl’s view of the forest.  Rabbit refused to cut his vegetables down, so Owl built his house taller.  Then Owl’s house was blocking the sun from reaching Rabbit’s garden, so Rabbit built a taller house and put his garden on the roof.   So started the competition to have the tallest house.  And my, do the houses ever get taller and taller! 

Marino does a great job of telling a story that has the heart and soul of a classic folktale.  The friendship and competition between the two animals carries a subtle lesson that is masked effectively in humor.  She doesn’t back away from carrying the tale to its very funny extreme ending.  The story is kept simple, allowing the illustrations to carry much of the story forward.

Marino’s illustrations have the colors of fall and warmth.  From the orange branches Owl uses to create his home to the terra cotta bricks of Rabbit’s, the colors are bright and autumnal.  As the houses grow into the sky, the colors are cooler, emphasizing that they are leaving the comfort of their warm homes and creating homes simply to beat someone else. 

This is a funny, warm and memorable read that will get your audience laughing.  Perfect for reading aloud any time of year.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Viking.

Review: The Reader by Amy Hest

| Tasha

reader

The Reader by Amy Hest, illustrated by Lauren Castillo

A young boy walks through the snow with his dog and a suitcase in his hand.  He gets his red sled with runners and heads out.  They climb a large hill, leaving straight lines in the snow from the sled as the dog bounds ahead.  Once at the top, they stop for a snack of toast and warm drinks.  Around them the snow continues to fall.  Finally, the suitcase is opened.  The boy pulls out a book to share with his dog, about friendship.  He reads it aloud, the two of them together at the top of a snowy hill.  When they are done, they pack everything back up and climb on the sled for the ride back down the hill.  Together.

Hest has written a book that is filled with falling snow but also warmed by the friendship of a boy and his dog.  Though the title gives a hint at what is in the case, readers will still be surprised to have them read it out in the falling snow.  Hest incorporates beautiful little details: the sound of crunching and sipping, the sound of the boy reading at the top of the hill, the hard work of getting up the high hill.  These all create a feeling of time, moments that are to be treasured because they are so beautiful.

Castillo’s illustrations are done in pen and ink and watercolor.  Against the white of the snow, all of the colors pop.  The brown of the dog, the red boots, the smears of color on the suitcase: all are cheery bright against the white countryside.  The illustrations have a wonderful jaunty feel to them, celebrating this close friendship and reading books.

A wonderful mix of snow and story, this book is a rich winter delight.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Boot & Shoe by Marla Frazee

| Tasha

boot and shoe

Boot & Shoe by Marla Frazee

Boot and Shoe were born in the same litter and now live together in the same house.  They eat out of the same bowl, pee on the same tree, and sleep in the same bed.  They do spend their days apart though, one on the front porch and one on the back porch.  Everything was blissful until a squirrel started messing with them one day.  After a ferocious chasing around the house, Shoe found himself on the back porch, where Boot should be, and Boot was on the front porch with no Shoe in sight.  The two waited and waited for the other to show up, they missed dinner, and got drenched in a rainstorm, but the other one never showed up.  They even made sure to check the other porch, but they both did it at the same time and missed each other.  How will they ever find one another?  Read the book and find out!

Frazee has written a book that is very funny but also filled with a wonderful friendship between these two identical dogs.  The fact that they spend their days apart but their activities so closely meshed adds to the pleasure of the book.  The wonderful peace of the way they spend their day is just so perfect that it’s almost a relief when chaos enters with the squirrel.  Then the fun begins!

Frazee’s art is as warm as ever.  She has a wonderful comedic timing that is shown off particularly well in this story with two dogs and two interwoven storylines.  The squirrel chase alone, captured in a single two-page spread, is worth the read.

Another treat from the amazing Frazee, this book is pure fun and a great read-aloud too!  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.