“Children's Book Reviews - Publishers Weekly” plus 1 more |
| Children's Book Reviews - Publishers Weekly Posted: 03 Jan 2010 03:53 PM PST Picture Books Where Is Catkin? Janet Lord, illus. by Julie Paschkis. Peachtree, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56145-523-2Sisters Lord and Paschkis (Albert the Fix-It Man) team up again, this time for a search-and-find story about a honey-colored cat whose hunting skills are not all they might be. Skillful use of repetition ("Catkin hops... Cricket hops deep into the grass"; "Catkin leaps... Frog leaps into the pond") and offbeat animal noises ("Kerik-kerik" for the cricket, "Garrump" for the frog) move the story forward, but it's in essence a series of observations—there's little suspense. Paschkis's bright, peasant-style illustrations bring cheery liveliness to Catkin's world; they're a bit like the art Wanda Gág might have produced had four-color printing been available to her. Stylized borders run along the top and bottom of each page, showing simple silhouettes of the animals Catkin pursues. Between the borders, Catkin chases his prey through a tapestry of curling leaves and waving grasses (readers are directed to find the animals within the vegetation, and several make repeat appearances). In the end, Catkin becomes the pursued, as his owner, Amy, seeks him out. The story will entertain very young children, and the artwork will absorb them. Ages 2–6. (Feb.) Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse Rebecca Janni, illus. by Lynne Avril. Dutton, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-525-42164-1It's her birthday and Nellie Sue is hoping for a horse. Her parents have gotten enough hints: she wears cowgirl duds from head to toe, uses words like "moseyed," drops her g's (as in "Yee-haw! We've got herdin' to do!"), and has elaborate plans for converting the family home into a barn and paddock. Instead, Nellie Sue gets a bicycle: "All eyes were on me, and I felt like I swallowed a hay bale." Debut author Janni and Avril (Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School) clearly appreciate their heroine's fantasies, but don't always succeed in getting inside her head. Avril's pink-hued watercolor cartoons have a birthday-card geniality, giving little sense of either an internal drama or a romantic vision of life on the range. The extent to which Nellie Sue takes the bike-as-horse fantasy makes for some overly precious lines ("I walked over to her with my palm out flat so she could get a good sniff," she says, approaching the bike), but readers should identify with her longing, as well as her powerful sense of imagination. Ages 3–5. (Feb.) Hip & Hop, Don't Stop! Jef Czekaj. Disney-Hyperion, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4231-1664-6Hip, a turtle, lives in Slowjamz Swamp, and Hop, a rabbit, lives in Breakbeat Meadow—a geographic divide that's also a huge social barrier in Oldskool County. But Hip and Hop have one thing in common: they're both devoted rappers ("Listen to the drums/ and listen to the basses./ I've got buck teeth,/ but I don't need braces," rhymes Hop). Their shared passion becomes the basis for a close friendship, successful partnership, and reconciliation between swamp and meadow dwellers. Cartoonist Czekaj inserts numerous inside jokes—most likely to be caught by adult readers—into the doodlesque drawings of his picture book debut (Breakbeat Meadow borders the Sugar Hills, and a De La Foal poster hangs in Hop's bedroom). But while the story should make for fun read-aloud (Hip and Hop's rhymes are color-coded for quick or slow reading), the pacing flags, and, in its eagerness to convey a lesson about prejudging differences, the conclusion is hazy. It's never entirely clear why combining Hop's fast rhymes, which other animals can't understand due to the rapid delivery, with Hip's soporific rapping equals a winning combination. Ages 3–7. (Feb.) Meet the Howlers! April Pulley Sayre, illus. by Woody Miller. Charlesbridge, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-57091-733-2Sayre's (Trout Are Made of Trees) latest is a rhyming introduction to the howler monkeys of Central and South America. Verses appear in a jaunty typeface atop newcomer Miller's full-bleed spreads; prose paragraphs in smaller type provide additional information. The rhymes often suggests that the howlers' lives are more carefree than those of readers ("Sister claims a branch,/ yet no one says to share./ She never has to bathe./ Her suit is wash-and-wear!"). A recurring chorus reproduces the howlers' cry ("Woo-hoo-hoo! AH-UH-OH!"); the repetition doesn't add much to the story, but offers a chance to howl along. And readers will take great pleasure in the "special message" howlers send to intruders, human or otherwise: "They often urinate close to or on the invader to mark their territories." The surfaces of Miller's mixed-media drawings are fuzzy and heavily worked, the rain forest–green palette offset by cloudy pastel skies. They're energetic, too; the howlers leap from branch to branch, scaring nearby birds and tearing leaves off trees for a snack. A solid read-aloud for young animal enthusiasts. Ages 4–7. (Feb.) First Family Deborah Hopkinson, illus. by AG Ford. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-189680-4The creators of Michelle widen their focus in this affectionate portrait of the Obamas. After describing the family's move into the White House and the various purposes that building serves, the book touches on details of the first family's daily lives. Readers will find much of the information familiar: Malia and Sasha make their own beds and walk their dog, Bo; the president and Michelle work out at the White House gym; the first lady visits schools and serves as White House hostess. Fresher tidbits include the family members' Secret Service code names and the fact that the president's desk is made of oak from a British ship. Hopkinson adds some gratuitous filler ("It's rewarding to eat a salad made with lettuce from your own garden") and heaps praise on Michelle ("With her winning smile, ready laugh, and big hugs, Michelle has warmth, glamour, and charm"). Though Ford's likenesses are recognizable and consistent, several images have a stilted wax museum quality, and the Obamas' heads sometimes have uneasy relationships to their bodies. Additional White House trivia wraps up the volume. Ages 4–7. (Jan.) Young Zeus G. Brian Karas. Scholastic Press, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-439-72806-5Karas (On Earth) opens this spirited embellishment of Zeus's little-documented boyhood with an author's note explaining that he drew from early accounts of the Greek gods and "true to the nature of myths, imagined the rest." Fans of Greek mythology will be familiar with the details of Zeus's childhood on Crete in the care of the enchanted goat, Amaltheia, hidden from his father, Cronus, who has swallowed his siblings. But Karas's imagination serves him well in making Zeus a relatable character (Zeus's motivation for rescuing the other gods is to be able to "play with my brothers and sisters"). Droll dialogue and asides mitigate the tale's dark undertones: after Zeus frees his siblings (who look "surprisingly good" for having been eaten whole), they bicker about who's boss, and a hungry dragon asks Zeus if he's "a sweet meaty treat." Energetic, airy gouache and pencil cartoons playfully skew scale and also keep the tone light, as when the diminutive young gods pounce on gigantic Cronus ("Take that!") before throwing him into the sea, and thunderbolt-hurling Zeus dispenses with the mammoth Titans. Ages 4–8. (Feb.) Little Cloud and Lady Wind Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison, illus. by Sean Qualls. S&S/Wiseman, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8523-5The Morrisons (Peeny Butter Fudge) examine the problem of being part of a group while maintaining one's identity. Quietly rebellious Little Cloud will not join the other clouds, who want to "terrify the earth with storm and thunder." She loves the earth and wants to live there. Lady Wind carries her through a storm and brings her to a valley spangled with dew, mist, and a rainbow, as Little Cloud learns she can be part of the earth without losing her cloudness. In Qualls's (Before John Was a Jazz Giant) collages, Little Cloud has pensive expressions and puffy blue hair, while Lady Wind has the flowing hair and gown of a goddess. The homey, cut-and-paste nature of the pencil lines, cut-paper stars, and pale blue paint strokes forms a comfortable counterpoint to the mythic dimensions of the story. Despite some lyrical passages ("Little Cloud looked again and saw a necklace of many colors stretching from her place in the sky to the valley"), the text sometimes feels heavy-handed; the conclusion, in contrast to the story's espousal of freedom, seems preordained. Ages 4–8. (Jan.) Bag in the Wind Ted Kooser, illus. by Barry Root. Candlewick, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3001-0A plastic bag, "just the color of the skin of a yellow onion," blows away from a landfill and across a wintry rural landscape. With unadorned realism, captured in former poet laureate Kooser's plainspoken prose and Root's (The Birthday Tree) copper and slate-gray watercolors and gouache, a girl finds the bag and fills it with aluminum cans, which she takes to a gas station to cash in. Soon the bag meanders on. A traveler, sleepy beside a bridge, lets the bag slip into the water, and in the morning, a homeless woman fishes it out. After the bag ends up at a secondhand store, its journey comes full circle when the girl from earlier buys a baseball glove and ball from the cozy-shabby shop, not recognizing they're put in the same bag she had before, "because it looked just like every other grocery bag in the world."The reflective message about waste (there's an endnote about recycling plastic bags) is gently balanced against the meditation on the quiet beauty and nobility of objects—and people—that aren't often given a second thought or glance. Ages 5–8. (Feb.) Fiction The Night Fairy Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Angela Barrett. Candlewick, $16.99 (128p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3674-6All is not well in fairyland, at least for Flory, a young night fairy whose wings were broken during an encounter with a bat. Feeling vulnerable when unable to fly, Flory finds shelter in a wren house and decides to become a day fairy despite her nocturnal bent ("She soon found that her body did not like the day. Her skin liked to be cool and moist, not hot and dry"). In this whimsical and cozy tale, Newbery Medalist Schlitz (Good Masters! Sweet La dies! Voices from a Medieval Village) explores what it's like for a tiny winged creature to be grounded. Readers will delight in Flory's resourcefulness in finding food, clothing, and a new form of transportation (on the back of a squirrel), and identify with her brash, childlike personality ("I hate, hate, hate bats, and I'm always going to hate them"), which softens as she grows compassionate and makes friends. Culminating with Flory's brave act of saving a hummingbird caught in a spider's web, this story reveals how handicaps can be overcome through quick thinking and determination. Full-color art not seen by PW. Ages 7–11. (Feb.) One Crazy Summer Rita Williams-Garcia. HarperCollins/Amistad, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-076088-5Williams-Garcia (Jumped) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative,readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers ("There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star"). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers. Ages 9–12. (Jan.)  Northward to the Moon Polly Horvath. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-375-86110-9This poignant sequel to Horvath's My One Hundred Adventures continues to trace the physical and emotional journeys of Jane's unconventional family. The story begins in Saskatchewan, where Jane's new stepfather, Ned, has taken a position as a French teacher. When he's fired from his job (it turns out that he doesn't know French), Jane, her parents, and her younger siblings head west to visit one of Ned's friends, an elderly Native American woman. Then the family moves on to Vegas, trailing Ned's estranged brother, who, for unknown reasons, has left them a bag of money. For a while, it's fun for Jane, pretending they are outlaws on the run ("I imagine us all on horseback with masks, robbing trains and making our way to Mexico"), but when they settle in with Ned's mother on her remote horse ranch, Jane begins to long for Massachusetts, her home before Ned entered the picture. A dynamic montage of dark and light moments, this novel shows rather than tells Jane's changing moods, her ambivalent feelings about being uprooted, and her quiet observations of her unpredictable yet endearing family members. Ages 10–13. (Feb.) Green Laura Peyton Roberts. Delacorte, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-73558-2Like Harry Potter, 13-year-old Lily Green receives a special delivery on her birthday—a package that explodes on her front porch, leaving her with singed hair and a gold, emerald-encrusted key. She recognizes the key—it belonged to her late, beloved grandmother, Gigi—but not the little men who have brought it, a trio of leprechauns who have come to escort Lily to her true calling as keeper of the Clan o' Green, a wealthy community of leprechauns. Lily, like Gigi, is a "lepling," a human with a drop of leprechaun blood, and as such, she is in line to safeguard the clan's gold stores, if she can pass three increasingly difficult tests. Though the outcome is never in doubt, Roberts (Queen B) threads enough tension to keep the pages turning. Lily herself is not the most likable character, and she gets a little too much help from others in conquering her trials. Hopefully, she will come into her own in future books, as the ending suggests there's more of Lily's story yet to unfold. Ages 10–up. (Jan.) Ashes Kathryn Lasky. Viking, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-670-01157-5In this thoughtful historical novel, Lasky (the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series) chronicles Hitler's rise to power in 1932 Berlin through the intelligent narration of 13-year-old Gaby. The action proves sluggish initially, though it establishes Gaby as a voracious reader growing up in an intellectual, literate family, with a physicist father who works with Einstein and a musically talented mother. Each chapter begins with a well-chosen quote from one of Gaby's beloved books, including The Call of the Wild and The Sun Also Rises. The pacing picks up as Gaby witnesses the rise of the Nazis; she realizes her family's sensible maid supports Hitler and overhears a baker's anti-Semitic remarks. Gaby begins a "Diary of Shame," a mounting list of morally troubling moments, as when she salutes Hitler in school. Suspense builds as teachers lose jobs and as Gaby's sister becomes more seriously involved with her Nazi boyfriend. When book-burning threatens Gaby's precious books (and free thought in Germany), Gaby and her family must make critical, costly choices about their future. Gaby's questioning but assertive nature helps form a compelling, readable portrait of pre-WWII Germany. Ages 11–up. (Feb.) After Ever After Jordan Sonnenblick. Scholastic Press, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-439-83706-4Jeffrey Alper, now in eighth grade, narrates this intense sequel to Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie. He is cancer-free now, but leukemia treatment left Jeffrey with a limp and a brain that is "a little scrambled up." When he learns he will be held back unless he passes a statewide standardized test, Jeffrey panics, then agrees to let Tad, his best friend and fellow cancer survivor, tutor him. But Jeffrey fails the practice test and is dealing with other stresses: his older brother—always his biggest supporter—is unreachable in Africa, his girlfriend won't see him until after the test, and Tad is suddenly missing a lot of school. Jeffrey's honest, humorous narration acts as a counterbalance to the subject matter (when Tad asks if he ever dreamed of doing "something completely magnificent," Jeffrey answers, "Dude, mostly I just hope I won't forget to zip my pants in the morning"). Even so, this book is packed with emotional highs and lows, and readers will understand the toll cancer takes on victims and everyone around them—even after it is gone. Ages 12–up. (Feb.) Nothing Janne Teller, trans. from the Danish by Martin Aitken. S&S/Atheneum, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-416-98579-2"Pierre Anthon left school the day he realized that nothing was worth doing, because nothing meant anything anyway," opens Teller's haunting novel, a violent sequence of events sparked by a seventh-grader's decision to leave school and live in a plum tree. Pierre's fellow students are confused and then outraged by the boy's actions and taunting, and they decide to prove Pierre's philosophy wrong by creating a hidden pile of objects that demonstrate meaning in life. It starts out innocently enough, with shoes and boxing gloves, but anger surfaces. The frustration and fury the children feel, as they challenge each other to sacrifice increasingly "meaningful" things, is visceral and chilling. Soon the pile includes the severed head of a dog, the exhumed coffin of a child, and a desecrated statue of Jesus, among other gruesome objects. Sofie is forced to give up her "innocence"; Hussain gives up his faith; and Jan-Johan loses his index finger. Matters don't improve once the stash is discovered by the community either. A provocative and challenging parable about human instability. Ages 12–up. (Feb.) Light Beneath Ferns Anne Spollen. Flux, $9.95 paper (216p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1542-1This contemporary ghost story begins on a suspenseful note, with narrator Elizah Rayne warning readers, "If death and the dead make you afraid, you better just stop reading and go take a nap." However, heavy foreshadowing and transparent characterizations mar the overall effect. In order to escape the scandal of her father's sudden disappearance, Elizah and her mother move to a different town, where Elizah resists making friends with her new classmates. Her interests are limited to bones, specifically the human jawbone she found in the woods, and Nathaniel, a mysterious loner she meets under a bridge, whose touch (a "mingling of coolness and heat") reminds Elizah of "light beneath ferns." Evidence mounts that Nathaniel is a ghost, but Elizah remains skeptical until a local psychic helps her piece together the puzzle of Nathaniel's history. While Spollen's (The Shape of Water) story offers some evocative imagery of the spirit world, Elizah's real-world conflicts—her isolation from peers and her ambiguous feelings toward her absent father—seem to be swept under the rug. Ages 12–up. (Feb.) Numbers Rachel Ward. Scholastic/Chicken House, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-545-14299-1Fifteen-year-old Jem has a singular and terrifying ability—looking people in the eye reveals to her the date they will die. Needless to say, she avoids eye contact. Her mother overdosed; she's on her umpteenth foster home; and school (when she goes) is a dead-end special education class. But school also brings her closer to Spider, a gangly bundle of raw energy who genuinely likes Jem—and who she knows has just weeks to live. Their bittersweet courtship becomes terrifying when their first date ends in a terrorist bombing at the London Eye. Jem escapes with Spider moments before the blast, but witnesses report their flight and suddenly they are persons of interest in a police investigation. It's a gritty tale, unsparingly told, and debut novelist Ward demonstrates exceptional control of her material. Her characters remain true to themselves and their bleak circumstances, making for some excruciating moments. This is not an easy read, but it isn't entirely hopeless either. Despite its supernatural premise, Jem's story shines a stark and honest light on the lives of teens on the fringe. Ages 14–18. (Feb.) Nonfiction FDR's Alphabet Soup: New Deal America, 1932–1939 Tonya Bolden. Knopf, $19.99 (144p) ISBN 978-0-375-85214-5Bolden's (George Washington Carver) vivid and well-researched account of America's New Deal comprises detail-packed chapters bursting with acronyms, explanatory sidebars, margins filled with quotations, and b&w photos. The concise, conversational style and sometimes glib tone ("Had Giuseppe Zangara been an ace assassin, FDR would have been Dead Man of the Year") keeps the narrative lively, helping readers make sense of a complex set of issues and policies. The many acronyms (FERA, NRA, RFC, SPA, etc.) often necessitate flipping back for reference, and, as the title suggests, it can be difficult to keep them straight. The book excels at contextualizing FDR's new programs and agencies within the political landscape and in noting how they affected minorities, women, labor, and the arts. Bolden also highlights opposition to New Deal policies. She doesn't skew judgment about the programs' effectiveness, though a concluding half-page chapter notes, "[T]here is consensus that the New Deal did not kick [the Great Depression] out, but that World War II did." An author's note compares FDR's era to today's economic crisis, and a glossary defines terms and acronyms. Ages 12–up. (Jan.) Children's Comics Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler. RAW Junior/Toon Books, $12.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-935179-02-3While Zig (a young alien child) and Wikki (a walking computer) are out flying their spaceship, Zig gets a call from his teacher reminding him that his homework is late, again. Zig must find a pet for the class zoo, and his teacher warns him to not take Wikki with him since the two of them always get into mischief. Despite that, the two friends land on planet Earth in search of a pet. During their adventure, they learn about how the food chain operates, until Zig accidentally uses his shrink ray on Wikki instead of a raccoon. Each time they find a potential pet, Wikki's built-in computer screen flashes with a photographed image of the animal, as the book mixes appealing cartooning with informational "Wikki's Fun Facts" about animals. Ages 4–8. (Apr.) Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders Michael Townsend. Dial, $14.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3308-4Hellenic heroes and mythic monsters from Greek mythology go to a whole new level with Townsend's cartoony, bright, and colorful art. This collection of whimsically told Greek myths include comical abridged stories about King Midas, Pandora, Pygmalion, Persephone, Arachne, Perseus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Icarus, and Hercules. A brief introduction informs readers on the "first things they should know about the world of Greek Mythology" complete with a show and tell of the gods' and monsters' character names and faces. The entertaining, lively, and action-packed stories are spiced with slapstick throughout, while the moral messages are contained within loud, flamboyant action, leaving readers with plenty of room for laughs. Ages 9–12. (Mar.) Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 Eric Wight. Simon & Schuster, $9.99 paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-4169-6485-8Frankie is really down on his luck in this second installment of the Frankie Pickle series. He's convinced he'll remain a Pygmy instead of advancing to Shrew in Possum Scouts as everyone else in his scout pack has advanced except for him. When his dad reminds him of the Pine Run 3000, a special race where scouts can compete regionally using hand-crafted model cars, Frankie believe his luck just might change. Through trial and error in designing the perfect car and using his imaginative day dreaming—shown in short easy chapters mixed with comics—Frankie realizes he may not have what it takes to produce the perfect race car. Simple black and white line art keeps the momentum of adventure moving forward and readers entertained. Ages 4–8. (Feb.) Calamity Jack Shannon Hale, Dean Hall, and Nathan Hale. Bloomsbury, $14.99 paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-59990-373-6Calamity Jack follows up Rapunzel's Revenge, the 2008 graphic novel that imagined the famous damsel in distress taking matters into her own hands. Children's author Shannon Hale and her husband, Dean, and illustrator Hall offer a charming update of Jack and Beanstalk, set in a world that combines elements of fairy tales, a Gilded Age American city, and the Wild West. Jack is a young huckster until one of his schemes leads him to stumble upon a dastardly plot by the evil giant who lives in a penthouse that towers above Shyport. Teaming again with Rapunzel, and a few other allies, Jack leads readers on adventure trekking through sewers and taking to the sky. The dynamic artwork fits well with Jack and Rapunzel's quick tongues, as they flirt their way through numerous hair-raising situations. Ages 10–up. (Jan.) Mercury Hope Larson. S&S/Atheneum, $17.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4169-3585-8Beginning with a quick historical progression through the fictional town of French Hill in Nova Scotia, from the wilderness of 1400 through soldiers in 1775 to one of the story's main characters going for a run in 2009, this visual history, with fascinating detail, sets up the alternating narrations of the book. One takes place in 2009 and tells the story of Tara, while the other, set in 1850, tells the story of a girl named Josey. That the two are linked by blood is evident. They're also each in possession of the same necklace, a small glass pendant containing a drop of mercury with the mysterious ability to prospect for gold. The stories alternate in quick succession, making it sometimes difficult to keep track of narrative threads as crushes, friendships, and parental conflicts develop in both time periods. Larson's drawings are full of motion and life, her characters' faces expressive, and she uses decorative details to illustrate emotions and ideas. Compared with the wonderful art, the story comes up short, with little action for much of the book, but readers may take pleasure instead in the book's atmospheric appeal and the manga-like illustration of fluttery emotional states. Ages 12–up. (Jan.) Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, Jake Parker. Scholastic/Graphix, $21.99 (176p) ISBN 0-545-11714-3; $10.99 paper ISBN 0-545-11715-1A secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency, Missile Mouse is independent, resourceful, a risk-taker, and in a lot of trouble with his boss. After a botched attempt at recovering a Star Compass, and one too many crashed spaceships, he's been assigned a partner, Agent Hyde, who has parents in high places. Now, their mission is to find a missing scientist and prevent the Rogue Imperium of Planets from manufacturing Dark Plasma to fuel a Star Crusher—a fearsome weapon of mass destruction. Along the way, they cross paths (and guns) with Mouse's rival, Gurne the mercenary; a robot filled with giant ants; and the shark-headed goons of the dreaded Rogue Imperium. The art, a smooth blend of Alex Toth by way of Chris Sanders, is clean and fun, and Parker combines sharp characterization with breakneck plotting that should keep aspiring space cadets turning pages furiously. Age 8–12. (Jan.) Happy Valentine's Day! Get that soft, fuzzy feeling with this array of love-centric books. Kisses: A Pull, Touch, Lift, Squeak, and Smooch Book! Barney Saltzberg. HMH Books, $13.99 (16p) ISBN 978-0-15-206534-8Saltzberg (Animal Kisses) returns with another touch-and-feel book about kisses, with plenty of textures and interactive features accompanying rhymed text ("Kisses in the... morning./ Kisses on your... nose"). A sausage dog kisses his little one on the head; pulling a tab makes the puppy's ears rise with glee. And later a monkey swings via pull-tab to kiss a little monkey's toes. At the end, letters of the alphabet appear on colored tabs, like miniature valentines, with more smooching animals inside. Kids will enjoy the element of surprise helping move the action forward. Up to age 3. (Jan.) Baby, I Love You Karma Wilson, illus. by Sam Williams. S&S/Little Simon, $7.99 (30p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1910-0In this sweet, genuine board book, a companion to Baby Cakes, lively babies hug and hold a pudgy stuffed dog, while a soothing rhyme weaves throughout with variations on a refrain ("Love my baby, little one./ Oh, my baby, I love you!"). The babies' personalities shine through their engagement with the dog. One baby's tummy pokes out just like the dog's does ("Love my baby's tummy-tum,/ love that belly button, too"), while another baby in diapers balances on one foot, hands outspread: "Love my baby's everything./ You make life complete, it's true." Ages 1–4. (Dec.) Hugaboo, I Love You Hans Wilhelm. Scholastic/Cartwheel, $8.99 (16p) ISBN 978-0-545-11510-0Lifting flaps shows cute-as-can-be animals receiving enthusiastic "hugaboos" from their grown-up counterparts. "If you were a little kangaroo... You would get a jumpy hugaboo!" (Under the flap, a big kangaroo holds a little one tight.) A lion cub gets a furry hugaboo, and for a baby giraffe it's a tall hugaboo on a flap that unfolds twice to reveal the big giraffe's neck. In a showy finish, a friendly bear opens its paws and offers a "hugaboo for you!" Likely to inspire some animal-themed hugs. Ages 3–5. (Dec.) Guess Who? A Foldout Valentine's Adventure Lola Schaefer. S&S/LittleSimon, $7.99(14p) ISBN 978-1-4169-5910-6This fun guessing book pairs fold-out photographs of five animals with clues in the form of sing-song phrases: "Please, don't paws. Be mine right now... and I'll show my love with a soft meow." Lifting the page a flap vertically, then to the left forms a square and a full picture of a kitten. Schaefer gets points for avoiding the typical menagerie: the kitten is joined by a frog, owl, skunk, and sea star. The final spread shows the animals beside a fat, balloonlike heart, a valentine for readers. Ages 3–5. (Dec.) Sunday Love Alison Paul. Houghton Mifflin, $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-618-99184-6In this slapstick picture book, printed in black, white, and red, lovelorn Bruno the Burglar—in prison stripes, mask, and ball-and-chain—uses a spoon to tunnel out of the Big House on Valentine's Day. Employing comic-style panels, Paul (The Crow [A Not So Scary Story]) creates a wordless tale, except for some sound effects like the "wwwhee waaaa" of the prison siren and pursuers' shouts of "Halt! Halt!" At last Bruno reaches his destination, an ice-cream parlor that reveals his true love (and the title's double meaning). While the narrative is sometimes hard to follow, the book's strength is in its well-timed humor. Ages 3–7. (Jan.) Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine Herman Parish, illus. by Lynne Avril. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-154458-3Love is in the air for Amelia Bedelia, in the second story to feature the literal-minded heroine as a child. She gives away her card-playing mother's hand—"Look at all those valentines!"—and fixes valentine cards that confuse her (she puts a bandage across a broken heart on one that reads "Hi Heartbreaker!"). And when she leaves the valentines on the bus, she has to improvise using playing cards. Her ingenuous spirit will continue to capture hearts. Ages 4–8. (Dec.) My Furry Valentine Deborah Zemke. Blue Apple (Chronicle, dist.), $9.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-934706-79-4Animals demonstrate different ways of saying "Be my Valentine" in this small, gift-size offering. Die-cuts and flaps add an interactive dimension to gentle verse. Ladybugs "say it with spots," in the shape of hearts; a pack of wolves says it by howling at the moon; and, behind a fence, two cows play banjo and tambourine, making "beautiful mooooosic." Crocodiles say it "with smiles," while a flock of birds flies "thousands of miles... to be home together." Kids and adults alike should find the book's whimsy infectious. Ages 4–up. (Jan.) Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| New and notable book reviews - AZCentral.com Posted: 01 Jan 2010 03:56 PM PST 'Noah's Compass' Anne Tyler (Knopf, $25.95) Tyler writes with such unaffected charm that her novels feel like guilty pleasures - until, of course, she takes her characters into some of the most complex chapters of their lives. Here, it's 60-year-old Liam Pennywell, once-widowed and once-divorced, who is fired from his job as a teacher at a private boys school and then, after he has moved to a smaller apartment to start his new life, is knocked unconscious by someone who breaks in during the night. Liam spends a day or two in the hospital being poked and prodded by doctors and hovered over by his ex-wife and three daughters. But what haunts him is that he cannot remember the attack at all, and he begins a furtive quest to jog his memory and find those lost hours. In the process, he strikes up a relationship with a younger woman named Eunice, who is unorthodox (not unlike Muriel in Tyler's "The Accidental Tourist") and inspires in Liam the sort of "astonished pleasure" he has forgotten how to feel. Once again, Tyler reminds us that there is strange magic in ordinary lives. 'The Butterflies of Grand Canyon' Margaret Erhart (Plume, $15) In this novel, the canyon is more character than setting. It's often in the background, but when it takes center stage nothing else in the book can beat it. In 1951, Jane Merkel comes from St. Louis with her older spouse, Morris, to visit his sister and her husband, who live on the South Rim. Morris then returns home, but Jane stays on and falls into a flustered but intense relationship with a young park ranger. Meanwhile, two female botanists arrive at the request of their friend Emery Kolb, one of the famous brothers who photographed the Grand Canyon and had many adventures there. In Erhart's book, Kolb becomes a suspect in a 13-year-old murder, and he asks the botanists to search for the truth. The story is uneven (the murder plotline all but disappears while the romance takes shape), and zany coincidences abound. It's like an old-fashioned movie, full of blushes and exclamation points but with an ending that's surprisingly poignant. And always, there's that breathtaking presence waiting just beyond the trees. 'Becoming Jane Eyre' Sheila Kohler (Penguin, $15) Can this be, is it possible that this little woman wrote "Jane Eyre"? That's what publisher George Smith asks himself as he stares at the diminutive, plainly dressed woman who has come into his London office in August 1848. "You?" he sputters aloud. "You are the author of 'Jane Eyre'?" Yes, it's true, although she is frightened of giving up her anonymity and exposing herself to strangers. Under the name Currer Bell, she has written the best-seller that has set London abuzz. What's more, according to this fictional portrait of Charlotte Bronte, much of Jane's character was drawn from Bronte's experiences and put to paper in an effort that was mentally and physically cathartic. If you read and loved "Jane Eyre," Kohler's novel will not just take you back to the experience. It will add to it. The book has its own dark and brooding moments (it opens with Charlotte's care of her father after a brutal eye operation), but it also is quiet, intelligent and seemingly as unflappable as Jane herself. Enjoy. 'Cutting for Stone' Abraham Verghese (Vintage, $15.95) The title, borrowed from the Hippocratic oath, is fitting because this enchanting first novel, now new in paperback, is steeped in the practice of medicine. The narrator is Marion Stone, who at 50 looks back on his birth, with his twin brother, Shiva, in Ethiopia in 1954. Their mother, a nun from India who worked at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, died during birth. Their father is Thomas Stone, the hospital's British surgeon, who is so wounded by her death that he flees the country and disappears for 200 pages. His boys are raised lovingly by two remarkable Indian doctors who remain at Missing Hospital through the final years of Haile Selassie's rule. Marion later goes to America as a young doctor and reconnects with his long-absent father. While Verghese has a weakness for melodrama, his tenderness for his characters and respect for the healing arts (he, too, is a doctor) give it a loveliness - especially in his portrayal of the twins' birth and early life in Ethiopia - that's hard to forget. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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