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Book Review: Fortune Cookies by Albert Bitterman

| Tasha

fortunecookies

Fortune Cookies by Albert Bitterman, illustrations by Chris Raschka

One day, a young girl gets a package in the mail that contains seven fortune cookies.  She opens one cookie each day.  The fortunes are done as pull tabs in the book, nicely mimicking the pleasure of cracking open a cookie and the surprise of the fortune.  Each fortune moves the story forward a bit.  The first talks about losing something you don’t need, and she loses her tooth.  The next about money being like the wind, and she finds a dollar under her pillow and buys a kite.  The next fortune is more vague, about finding the good with the bad.  Here the girl loses her kite, but finds a cat and takes her home.  As the days pass, more fortunes are read, the cat is lost and later found in the fort the girl has built.  But one last surprise awaits that makes for a very satisfying fortune indeed.

Librarians will be very pleased with the tabs here, because they will stand up nicely to public use.  There are only seven of them and they are sturdy and move easily back and forth.  Equally pleasing is that the tabs make sense here.  They are not an afterthought of the story, but an integral pleasure of the book and fortune cookies themselves.  The story is intriguing with its mix of fortunes, straight-forward action, and then the satisfying resolution.  It makes for a book that is great fun to read, because one is never sure what will happen next, though you have been given a clue in the fortune.

Raschka’s art adds another dimension here.  His splashing watercolors are very pleasing on the white background.  Combining this free-feeling art with the dimension of the tabs creates a book that is not only unusual in its artistry but a joy to explore and read.

A fortunate pick for any reader, this book is appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.

Also reviewed by:

Out of Sight: Sophisticated Popup

| Tasha

OutofSight 

Out of Sight by Francesco Pittau and Gervais

This intriguing lift-the-flap and pop up book is really a fun guessing game.  From one page to the next, the book changes.  First it is silhouettes of animals.  Lift the flap and you get the answer of what animal it is plus a fact about that animal.  There are also sections where you guess the animal from their tracks, their fur, and their tails.  The book is great fun for young science and animal lovers.

out-of-sight-interior

The large format of the book will make it challenging on library shelves, but I wouldn’t expect it to sit there for long anyway.  Nicely, the flaps and pop ups are sturdy enough to stand up to library use.  The concept is a very strong one with plenty of appeal thanks to the strong design elements.  Each page is visually attractive and well designed. 

At times, the illustrations can be a bit off, making guessing more frustrating.  The facts about the animals are random and unrelated to one another, so the occasionally book lacks cohesion.

A great book for reluctant readers, this is less of an informational book and more of an inviting and sophisticated introduction to animals and their variety.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Jean Little Library.

Jim: A Cautionary Tale

| Tasha

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Jim: a Cautionary Tale by Hilaire Belloc and Mini Grey

Looking for a picture book that is far from sweet and a bit wicked?  Then look no further!  Mini Grey takes the classic tale by Belloc and turns it into a book with lots of tiny details and pop-up pages that make for great fun in reading.  The tale is one of Jim, who went to the zoo with his nurse and then slipped away from her.  He hadn’t gotten far when a lion grabbed him and began to eat him from the feet up.  Jim called for help and a zookeeper came running, but was too late, only Jim’s head was left.  The story is written in verse that is dry and naughty.  The voice of the poem makes what happens that much more unexpected and delightful.  Grey’s illustrations have a modern feel that works well with the tone here.  This is a picture book best shared with children who are slightly older and will understand the dark humor at work.

Belloc’s poem makes a great point from which Grey could build such a book.  Though the writing is decidedly Edwardian, Grey’s modern illustrations work well with it.  Her small touches enliven the book, getting readers interacting with panels to open, a zoo map to view, and a lion’s claws to dodge.  Though we may see modern books as those with a darker edge, it took an Edwardian author to create one of the more dark picture books I have read in a long time.  Children looking for a sudden happy ending will not find one.  They will only find the sly humor of an urn shaped just like Jim’s head that holds his remains.

This is one of those books that readers will either love or hate.  Me?  I absolutely adored it and read it again and again just to get that same jolt from the ending.  You know what kids will love this book.  Get it into their hands!  It would make an ideal holiday gift for that special child with a wicked sense of humor.

Reviewed from copy received from Knopf.

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Beauty and the Beast: Popping Up Near You

| Tasha

Beauty & the Beast by Robert Sabuda

Sabuda has outdone himself with this pop-up rendition of the classic Beauty and the Beast story.  Each double-page spread opens with a large pop-up that is amazing in its complexity.  Also on each page behind smaller pages, the story is told through text and smaller pop-ups that may be more diminutive but are just as lovely as the larger ones.  Sabuda’s retelling of the tale reads aloud well, offering a sturdy structure to build from.  While it may not be particularly poetic in tone, the text will carry readers happily from one gorgeous illustration to the next. 

There are some particularly wonderful moments in the book.  In the first set of pages, Sabuda has rigged long hallways that the reader stretches out and directly up to the eye.  The halls are detailed and even populated, giving a real depth and wonder to the Beast’s home.  Another winning moment is when the Beast transforms back into a man.  Sabuda does not let that happen off-page, instead turning it into a small and magical moment that readers can relish again and again.

Highly recommended, this is a book for home use rather than library use.  A perfection of a present, give this to any Beauties or Beasts in your life.  Appropriate for gentle five-year-olds through adults.

Get a great sense of the book from this video:

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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