Children's Books: Week of 1/8/2007
By Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/8/2007
Children's Books
Picture Books
The WishElle van Lieshout and Erik van Os, illus. by Paula Gerritsen. Front Street/Lemniscaat (Boyds Mills, dist.), $15.95 (24p) ISBN 978-1-932425-91-8
This trio of Dutch newcomers suggests that even little wishes can bring great happiness. Lila, a red-headed woman in a billowing blue dress and stark-white apron, lives "far away from the rest of the world," sowing seeds, picking beans and making applesauce. She's got a big orange cat, and a neighbor with a red tractor, but in the deep of winter, when she runs out of food, she's on her own. Gerritsen draws the potentially tense empty pantry scene tongue-in-cheek; the cat peers mournfully through an empty glass jar. Lila wishes on a star for enough flour to make bread, and gets it. "Of course, she could have wished for something completely different...," the narrator explains, "a mountain of gold and diamonds, a carriage, and a palace with servants." Fantasy spreads show Lila ill-at-ease in a Cinderella-style ball gown. Lila does, however, hazard one extravagant wish, for "two cakes—and a tractor—shiny red—with a chauffeur." For younger readers who can't connect the dots, Gerritsen depicts Lila and the neighboring farmer tearing through the sunflowers in the tractor, the cat hanging gamely to the smokestack. A heavier-handed setting might have made readers impatient with Lila's stubborn refusal to wish big; as it is, they will wish they could meet Lila themselves. Ages 2-up. (Jan.)
The Littlest Grape StomperAlan Madison, illus. by Giselle Potter. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-83675-6
In the vine-fringed, semicircular village of Ear, famous for its "scrumptious grape juice," lives Sixto Poblano, a boy so named for having six toes on each foot. Sixto frequently goes barefoot: "At the shoe store there was never a good fit, and when he ran he often tripped." On the plus side, he excels at kickball, and during a game his powerful tootsies come to the attention of a juice magnate. Boss Nova Boombatz, a shady guy with a pencil mustache and porkpie hat, recruits Sixto for harvest time: "We in Ear pick, pluck, and stomp—that is our sworn duty," Boombatz says persuasively. Sixto reluctantly climbs into a wooden barrel of grapes and stomps "once, then twice, and because his spare toes made his feet so worldly wide, all the juicy grapes were now grape juicy." The other stompers are amazed: "Two stomps? Unheard of!" In florid prose, Madison (Pecorino's First Concert) elevates Sixto to legendary status, and details the downfall of taskmaster Boombatz. Potter (Sleeping Bobby), whose drily funny paintings emit a folklorish, Old World quality, may be the ideal illustrator for this book. She concentrates on Sixto's feet and pictures him up to his chest in grapes, wearing nothing but briefs, yet still implies his melancholic dignity. She brings a festive carnival air to the grape stomping rituals. The discomfiting combination of bare feet and "deeeliciousss!" grape juice only adds to the flavor of this tall tale. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)
Hey Batta Batta Swing! The Wild Old Days of Baseball Sally Cook and
James Charlton, illus. by Ross MacDonald. S&S/ McElderry, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1207-1
With a catchy, conversational style, the authors present a potpourri of anecdotes and facts that reveal the many ways baseball has changed over the years. One of the many entertaining aspects of the book is the way the writers weave insider slang into the narrative, highlighted in bold and defined in the margin (e.g., "gappers: hits between outfielders"; "tweeners: hits between infielders"). Fans will lap up details of the evolving style of the players' uniforms, the evolution of the jerseys' numbering system, the genesis of some of the stars' nicknames, and the ways that teammates have "doctored" balls and bats to enhance their performance. Among the kid-pleasing bits of trivia are the facts that, with only one umpire in the field in professional baseball's early days (rather than the current total of four), incidents of cheating regularly occurred, including players running directly from first to third base, and fielders tripping base runners. The book provides dates for events and incidents on a spotty basis, rendering some of the comparisons between yesteryear and the present murky. With a signature style that recalls vintage cartoons, MacDonald's (Another Perfect Day) watercolor and pencil crayon illustrations pleasingly convey the text's lighthearted tone. Baseball buffs will find this a diverting—and occasionally wild—outing indeed. Ages 6-10. (Feb.)
Michael's Golden RulesDeloris Jordan with
Roslyn M. Jordan, illus. by Kadir Nelson. S&S/Wiseman, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-689-87016-3
This follow-up to Salt in His Shoes, which dabbles in the subject's less successful flirtation with baseball, may disappoint fans of the earlier book. The tale opens as young Michael's best friend, Jonathan, strikes out at the end of a game their Little League team loses. Walking home with the lads, Michael's uncle utters the well-worn platitude that there's "a lot more to a game than winning or losing.... It's all about how you play the game." Uncle Jack, a former baseball player, then shares with the boys his book of 10 "golden rules" (e.g., "Pay attention to the coach at all times," "Be a team player" and "Have fun!"). These come into obvious play during the big end-of-season game, which the boys' team predictably loses. When the coach assures them that they "played like winners," Jonathan gushes that, despite the loss, he feels good because "we all played together and gave our all." Michael then coos back, "Now, that's what I call a home run." Nelson's (Henry's Freedom Box) oil paintings are oddly uneven here; the artwork ably conveys the boys' emotions yet overall the portraits are marred by inconsistent likenesses of each. Ages 6-10. (Jan.)
Bronzeville Boys and Girls Gwendolyn Brooks, illus. by Faith Ringgold. HarperCollins/Amistad, $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-06029505-9
Brooks's deceptively simple poems for children combined with Ringgold's vibrant illustrations help to rejuvenate this collection first published in 1956. Inspired by Brooks's Chicago neighborhood, the events, feelings and thoughts of the children in the verse take on a timeless quality. The language and tone appear to be casual, but each poem is tightly constructed, rhythmic and distinctive. Whether the poem takes a child as its subject or unfolds in a child's voice, the images are universal. A new puppy has a "little wiggly warmness" and will not "mock the tears you have to hide." The snow is "white as milk or shirts./ So beautiful it hurts." Brooks's language remains economical yet astonishingly inventive. She describes how "Maurice importantly/ peacocks up and down./ Till bigly it occurs to him/ (It hits him like a slam)" that he won't be able to pack up his friends and take them along when he moves to another town. A few of the poems seem dated (kids call their mothers "Mother-dear," and when Paulette wants to run, her mother says "You're eight, and ready/ To be a lady") but on the whole, the collection will be as appealing to today's readers as it was to a child of the 1950s. Ringgold's bold illustrations, outlined with her signature thick black lines, are among some of her best and most narrative works since Tar Beach. She moves easily from cityscapes to cozy interior scenes around the family dinner table or singing at church. Ages 7-10. (Jan.)
Little Red Riding HoodAndrea Wisnewski. Godine, $18.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56792-303-2
Wisnewski (A Cottage Garden Alphabet) retells the familiar story, adorning it with graceful illustrations that emulate woodcuts, washed with saturated watercolors, and brimming with details. In her retelling, she recasts the nearby woodsman as Little Red Riding Hood's father and, arriving at Grandmother's, the heroine recognizes the wolf straightaway and uses the familiar questions regarding the odd physiognomy to buy time. Other details strike familiar tones: Grandmother is swallowed whole ("It had been a slim winter"), and the girl's father, after "carefully slitting open the wolf's stomach," stares gravely into the belly of the flayed but bloodless creature. (Flowered bed curtains spare his daughter—and readers—any implied gore.) Unfortunately, the narrative suffers from several overlong sentences (e.g., " 'Thank you, wolf,' she said and started down the path not noticing that as soon as she turned her back the wolf slid back into the trees and took yet one more of his shortest short cuts through the woods"). Children will enjoy studying the detailed artwork, from Grandmother's pets (a tabby hides under the bed while a ginger cat flees) to cozy interiors modeled on Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts (according to an author's note). The bookmaking's lovely, too: lupine footprints trot across the front cover (beneath the book jacket), and red gingham endpapers conjure both the cloth protecting Little Red's basket and Grandmother's cheery tablecloth. Ages 7-up. (Jan.)
Good Sports: Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and MoreJack Prelutsky, illus. by Chris Raschka. Knopf, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-83700-5
Despite Raschka's (The Hello, Goodbye Window) action-filled illustrations, this collection of sports poems lacks pizzazz. The untitled verses brim with fairly obvious sports commentator clichés. A basketball player hopes to "soar above the rim," and a runner "put[s] a burst of speed on." Conversely, one pair of poems humorously contrasts the highs and lows of life on the field: a football player scores a touchdown and says, "I love football. Football's fun," but on the opposite page, Raschka pictures the same player fumbling the ball under a heap of opponents: "I don't like this game,/ Not a bit, not at all." The quick-dash brushstrokes imitate the athletes' movements. A gymnast's elongated leg stretches over her body on the balance beam and emulates the girl moving from one position to another. A baseball heading for a determined hitter trails a streak of color like a comet in the sky. Simulating the stop-animation film seen in television coverage of the Olympics, eight progressive versions of a basketball player depict his eventual delight at dunking the ball. Poems about the same sport are not grouped together but sprinkled throughout the book, and the effect is akin to clicking a TV remote through the sports channels. Although the first-person poems narrated by young athletes may disappoint readers, Raschka's high-speed artwork offers a whirl of color and breathless activity. Ages 8-up (Mar.)
Fiction
Feathers Jacqueline Woodson. Putnam, $15.99 (128p) ISBN 978-0-399-23989-2
Looking forward" is the message that runs through Woodson's (The House You Pass on the Way) novel. Narrator Frannie is fascinated with Emily Dickinson's poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers/ that perches in the soul," and grapples with its meaning, especially after a white student joins Frannie's all-black sixth-grade classroom. Trevor, the classroom bully, promptly nicknames him "Jesus Boy," because he is "pale and his hair [is] long." Frannie's best friend, Samantha, a preacher's daughter, starts to believe that the new boy truly could be Jesus ("If there was a world for Jesus to need to walk back into, wouldn't this one be it?"). The Jesus Boy's sense of calm and its effect on her classmates make Frannie wonder if there is some truth to Samantha'a musings, but a climactic faceoff between him and Trevor bring the newcomer's human flaws to light. Frannie's keen perceptions allow readers to observe a ripple of changes. Because she has experienced so much sadness in her life (her brother's deafness, her mother's miscarriages) the heroine is able to see beyond it all—to look forward to a time when the pain subsides and life continues. Set in 1971, Woodson's novel skillfully weaves in the music and events surrounding the rising opposition to the Vietnam War, giving this gentle, timeless story depth. She raises important questions about God, racial segregation and issues surrounding the hearing-impaired with a light and thoughtful touch. Ages 8-up. (Mar.) Agent: Charlotte Sheedy.
A Friendship for Today Patricia C. McKissack. Scholastic, $16.99 (176p) ISBN 978-0-439-66098-3
McKissack (Porch Lies) reaches into her own childhood to shape this immediate and affecting novel narrated by strong and smart Rosemary. She enters sixth grade in 1954, just after her Missouri town acts upon the Supreme Court school desegregation decision and closes the "colored school" the girl has attended. Since her best friend, J.J., contracts polio just before school starts, Rosemary is the only black child in her class at her new school. Her first day, she wears a pink dress with lace, while the other kids have on pants and tennis shoes ("She looks like one of those dressed-up monkeys they have at the zoo," a classmate says). And her assigned seat is right next to Grace, her neighborhood nemesis, who comes from a racist family ("They hate colored people and don't mind telling us"). The graceful narrative splices together several survival stories, as Rosemary copes with her peers' prejudice and her parents' disintegrating marriage, and J.J. endures grueling polio treatments. One of the tale's most poignant threads is the evolving friendship between Rosemary and Grace; in an especially incisive passage, after Grace confides that her abusive father believes white people are superior, Rosemary asks, "You know better, don't you?" to which Grace answers "Now I do." Rosemary replies, "That's what counts with me." A real, at times raw tale about a winning and insightful young heroine during a bittersweet era. Ages 9-12. (Jan.)
On the Wings of Heroes Richard Peck. Dial, $16.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3081-6
Peck (A Year Down Yonder) concocts another delicious mixture of humor, warmth and local color in this period piece, which describes America during WWII through the eyes of a Midwestern boy, Davy Bowman. The 1940s are a time of sacrifice for the Bowman family and a time of collecting for young Davy, who does his patriotic duty by gathering "whatever it took to win the war." Davy's search for scrap metal ("Five thousand tin cans will make a shell casing," his friend muses") leads him to mysterious Mr. Stonecypher, who lives in the oldest house in the neighborhood and who lost a son in another war. While hunting for milkweed ("for stuffing in life jackets, to keep shipwrecked sailors afloat"), Davy has his first run-in with old Miss Titus, a cantankerous woman, who ends up taking charge of his class during the teacher shortage ("We weren't used to a teacher who looked like a walnut with a mustache"). Throughout the novel, the author adroitly conveys how Davy's boundaries and horizons gradually expand, first beyond his neighborhood and finally overseas, when his brother is sent to Europe. First-person narrative brings the time period to life and vividly captures Davy's sentiments about the war and his family members, especially his father and brother, who are both heroes in Davy's mind. Chock full of eccentric characters and poignant moments, this coming-of-age novel will be embraced by children and grownups alike. Ages 10-up. Agent: Sheldon Fogelman. (Mar.)
LeapJane Breskin Zalben. Knopf, $15.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-375-83871-2
This sensitively wrought novel about growing pains shows how two sixth-graders in Flushing, Queens, rekindle an old friendship after a devastating accident. Through alternating viewpoints, Zalben (Hey, Mama Goose) offers an up-close, honest portrayal of her two main characters: Daniel, who is left partially paralyzed after having an allergic reaction to anesthesia, and Krista, who used to be close to Daniel but now is preoccupied with getting Daniel's best friend, Bobby, to notice her. As the story unfolds, the children's individual conflicts come to light. Daniel, once a champion swimmer, is frustrated with his slow progress in recovering the use of his legs and is distraught by his parents' bitterness towards Bobby's father (the dentist "responsible" for Daniel's paralysis). Family tensions go from bad to worse when Daniel's mother leaves the family to pursue her music dreams. Meanwhile, Krista experiences her own share of anger and dismay as she observes the blossoming romance between Bobby and another classmate, Lainie. As Daniel and Krista struggle to come to terms with changes in their lives, they find themselves drawn together. Krista agrees to help Daniel relearn how to swim and the two of them team up to work on a science project centered on a tadpole. The tadpole's metamorphosis neatly mirrors the children's internal growth as they come to terms with their losses and move forward. Eloquently expressing the power of hope and friendship, this story delivers an inspiring message. Ages 10-up. (Jan.)
Spelldown Karon Luddy. S&S, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1610-9
Set in a folksy South Carolina town in 1968, this heartrending and funny debut novel deftly evokes place, time and character. Karlene, a gutsy eighth-grader determined to win the Shirley County Spelldown, narrates in a charming voice that exudes her love of words. Mrs. Harrison, her new Latin teacher, brings the dead language alive, for Karlene and for readers. The woman volunteers to be her spelling coach and warmly welcomes Karlene into her heart and her home. As the teen spends time in their seemingly perfect household, babysitting for the two Harrison children, Karlene envisions her teacher and loving husband as her "pretend parents." Theirs is a different world from Karlene's: her father's soul has become "trapped in a liquor bottle" and her increasingly dispirited mother labors long days at the mill. In one especially moving scene, the girl hauls a Christmas tree through the woods to her younger twin brothers waiting at home, musing, "the way it looks around here, it's up to me to make the holiday happen." Readers will revel in the heroine's much heralded public victories, yet her private triumphs—among them a longed-for first kiss from a kind older boy and her reunion with her father at a treatment center—are even more moving and memorable. Peppering her narrative with copious references to '60s songs (Karlene observes that a sad teacher "probably keeps her face in a jar by the door like Eleanor Rigby"), Luddy has composed a resonant, applause-worthy work of fiction. Ages 10-up. (Jan.)
TattooJennifer Lynn Barnes. Delacorte, $7.99 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-73347-2
Barnes's (Golden) book about four friends who get special powers from their temporary tattoos has some fun moments, despite the far-out premise. Even 15-year-old narrator Bailey acknowledges the surreal situation when she considers explaining what's going on to her mother: "An evil fairy princess who doubles as one of the three Fates is sucking out the souls of innocent people, and my friends and I have been imbued with the powers to stop her, but we only have the powers for like another twelve hours." But readers learn enough about the protagonist to believe that she could be a descendent of the powerful Sidhe, and the girls cleverly put to use their powers (Annabelle can control minds, Zo can see the future and Bailey can start fires). The book's best moments may come from ditzy Delia, with the power of transmogrification, who turns a hotel door lock into butterscotch pudding, plus gives the girls Rollerblades when they're on the chase, including a fashionable pair for herself that look like high heels. Delia also delivers the book's best line when facing off against evil Alecca: "You think you're bad?... I'm on the cheerleading squad; I know what real evil looks like." In the end, readers will get a few good laughs from these sassy heroines. Ages 12-up. (Jan.)
