Web-Exclusive Children's Reviews: Week of 4/9/2007
-- Publishers Weekly, 4/9/2007
Picture Books
THE DUMPSTER DIVER
Janet S. Wong, illus. by David Roberts. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 0-7636-2380-6
This title gives new meaning to the term "buried treasure," as it explores the fun behind unearthing trash from the depths of a dumpster and recycling it into new life forms. The design mirrors the theme, with snippets of text designed to look like newspaper clippings. And while the title may suggest that the story centers on one character, Steve (an electrician who suits up for the scavenger hunt), his findings are actually the result of a team effort—a young group of Steve's fellow apartment building–dwellers. Not only does the crew lend a helping hand, they also pool their imaginations to transform the discoveries into creations with newfound purposes: "Yesterday's treasure of the day was an old computer that almost became a flowerpot (Johnny's idea) or a fish tank (Lina's idea) or a sculpture (my brilliant idea)." Readers will be pleasantly surprised that the diving team's efforts are oftentimes generous, whether they are inventing new means by which a neighbor may practice her typing skills or assembling a wheelchair to assist chief diver Steve after he takes a fall. Roberts paints a picture of an active urban landscape bursting with the many goings-on of this bustling group. The result is a short story that is long on innovation and imagination. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)
HALF A WORLD AWAY
Libby Gleeson, illus. by Freya Blackwood. Scholastic/Levine, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-439-88977-3
Gleeson's (The Great Bear) somber story of separated best friends builds up to a Jane Eyre moment. Louie and Amy have a special call for each other—"Coo-ee, Lou-ee" and "Coo-ee, Am-ee"—even when one is just across the room. Then Amy and her family move from their tidy English town to a metropolis on "the other side of the world," leaving both children bereft. "When you are awake in the day, she is asleep at night," Louie's mother points out unhelpfully, but fortunately the boy's grandmother is more emotionally astute. She encourages him to let loose "the loudest call anyone could ever, ever do." And, shades of Mr. Rochester calling across the miles for Jane, Amy wakes up in her time zone and realizes that "I dreamt about Louie and he called me." "Half a world away," the tale concludes, "Louie slept, smiling in his dream." An elegant melancholy hangs over Blackwood's (Two Summers) muted watercolors; she conveys the children's sadness without portraying them as desperate, and her bird's-eye and panoramic scenes vividly drive home the awful distance that has come between the pair. But at times the text feels precious, and the dramatic premise, however well intentioned, may miss its mark with 21st-century readers, who will likely ask why the friends don't just e-mail one another. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
LOUIS SOCKALEXIS: Native American Baseball Pioneer
Bill Wise, illus. by Bill Farnsworth. Lee & Low, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58430-269-8
Wise's solid debut picture book opens on June 16, 1897, as baseball fans filled the stadium at New York's Polo Grounds to watch the Cleveland Spiders face the New York Giants. Many in attendance had come to see—and heckle—a talented Cleveland rookie who was the first Native American to play major league baseball, Louis Sockalexis. The story then flashes back to Louis's boyhood in Maine, where he lived on the Penobscot Indian reservation and helped his father, a logger and river guide. But the lad "preferred to swing a baseball bat, not an ax," and spent his free time playing ball with peers or practicing on his own. Sockalexis became a star on his high school and college (he attended on an athletic scholarship) teams, persevering "with dignity and grace" despite the racial insults hurled by spectators. In 1897, he signed a contract with the Cleveland Spiders, even though his father insisted that his "rightful place" was on the reservation. Returning to the tale's opening scene, Wise conveys the tension and drama of the Spiders-Giants game, in which the crowd's jeers turn to cheers when Louis—as his father and other Penobscot tribe members look on—hits a home run against a celebrated pitcher (Amos Rusie, the "Hoosier Thunderbolt"). Balancing close-range portraits of the player and depictions of on-the-diamond action, Farnsworth's light-infused oil paintings impart the emotional tenor and the triumph of Louis's early years and regrettably brief major league career. Ages 6-12. (Mar.)
MAMA AND LITTLE JOE
Angela McAllister, illus. by Terry Milne. S&S/McElderry, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1631-4
Youngsters will hear some familiar strains in McAllister's (The Little Blue Rabbit) endearing story about toys who learn the importance of heart. A well-worn stuffed kangaroo and her joey arrive at their new residence, also home to a quartet of expensive animal toys. Mama explains that they've come from a house where the children are all grown up. " 'You mean you're secondhand?' sneered Camel," and spirited Little Joe corrects him, announcing, "We're tenth-hand!" Camel, Polar Bear, Monkey and Mouse (who deem themselves too special to be played with and instead "get admired") do not invite the newcomers to share their space at the end of the bed at nighttime. The kangaroos instead curl up on a hard bookshelf. After Mama patiently fetches playthings for the demanding menagerie, her son begs them to let his weary parent onto the bed, "Have a heart." They don't know that word, so Little Joe explains, "It's what's inside of you.... the part that cares." The camel haughtily responds that they have expensive stuffing inside of them, and "There's nothing better than that." But when Little Joe winds up in a garbage can outdoors, the fancy animals rally to help Mama rescue him, and get a warm feeling inside their expensive stuffing ("Mouse knew he was feeling his heart"). Like the narrative, Milne's (Second Best) engaging, pastel-hued watercolors possess a timeless, reassuring quality. Text and art affectingly deliver a worthy message. Ages 3-6. (Mar.)
MEE-AN AND THE MAGIC SERPENT: A Folktale from Mali
Baba Wagué Diakité. Groundwood/Anansi (PGW, dist.), $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-88899-719-7
What Diakité's (The Hunterman and the Crocodile) somewhat sluggish narrative lacks in grace the artist makes up for in his fluid line and elegant shadings, rendered on his signature ceramic tiles. The story, inspired by a folktale from his homeland, centers on a beautiful, vain young woman who is holding out for the perfect husband. Mee-An insists that she deserves someone as physically flawless as she, despite her mother's warning that "Seeing a person is not the same as knowing him." One day Mee-An's younger sister, Assa, turns herself into a fly to search for a suitor for her sibling. The disguised Assa spies a newcomer to the village—a magic serpent who has transformed himself into a handsome young man in order to vie for Mee-An's hand. When this fellow comes calling, walls crack, cooking pots break and winds howl, but Mee-An marries him anyway. She and Assa then accompany him to a new home on the bank of a distant river, where he daily reverts to his serpent shape to catch fish for their dinner. The gals enjoy their new life until they discover the fishing snake singing about his plan to fatten them up so they become a "delicious meal." Mee-An realizes the wisdom of her mother's admonition and, meeting the man who would become her next husband, loves him despite his blemishes. Depicting animals, vegetation and clothing native to Mali, Diakité's earth-toned illustrations capture the fable's bucolic setting and timeless message. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)
THE MOON MIGHT BE MILK
Lisa Shulman, illus. by Will Hillenbrand. Dutton, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-525-47647-4
Shulman (The Matzo Ball Boy) blends a host of familiar themes and plotting devices to serve up this diverting if uneven picture book about a child's pondering of the moon. Looking out her bedroom window at a full moon, young Rosie wonders what the glowing, celestial orb might be made of. In a traditional cumulative wandering, the girl seeks advice from various animal pals who have different, wishful opinions of the moon's contents. Cat is convinced that "the moon is a saucer of fresh milk," while hen believes it's an egg. With such potential explanations running through her mind, Rosie seeks out Gran for a definitive answer. The kindly grandmother then takes all the possibilities (milk, egg, flour, butter and sugar) and whips them together into a batch of moon-shaped sugar cookies for the whole crew to enjoy. Though Shulman visits no new territory here, young readers will likely find enjoyment in the tried-and-true elements and childlike perceptions. Hillebrand's (Kiss the Cow!) ever-evolving mixed-media illustrations (including a bit of collage and a broad palette of bold and sheer applications of paint) lend the proceedings equal parts sweetness and flair. A recipe for Gran's moon cookies ends the cheerful tale. Ages 3-up. (Mar.)
SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY
Deborah Hopkinson, illus. by Leonard Jenkins. Peachtree, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56145-395-5
Hopkinson's (Sky Boys) accessible, conversational narrative relays the little-known story of Oscar Chapman who, as a white boy in racially charged post–Civil War Virginia, was asked by his teacher to select a picture to decorate the bare walls of his two-room schoolhouse. In a junk shop, Oscar chooses a picture of Abraham Lincoln, not realizing that this is a portrait of the recent controversial president. The boy is expelled temporarily for his selection, and realizes that he "had seen injustice all around him. And now he was being treated unfairly too." After a member of the school board removes Lincoln's picture from the wall, the plucky lad climbs through the schoolhouse window and re-hangs it. He knew he "was stirring things up, just like Mr. Lincoln. But maybe that was the only way to get things to change." The story then fast forwards to 1939, when Chapman is serving as assistant secretary of the interior under Franklin Roosevelt. He and his friend, NAACP head Walter White, start "stirring up trouble" after they learn that Marian Anderson has been barred from singing in Constitution Hall because of her race. They obtain Roosevelt's permission for the celebrated soloist to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where 75,000 people show up to hear her sing "America" (My Country 'Tis of Thee). Featuring bright swirling pastel patterns against deep blues and browns, Jenkins's (Langston's Train Ride) collage-like mixed-media illustrations deftly dramatize this illuminating and inspirational behind-the-scenes look at a triumphant moment in the civil rights movement. Ages 6-10. (Mar.)
TURTLE SUMMER: A Journal for My Daughter
Mary Alice Monroe, photos by Barbara J. Bergwerf. Sylvan Dell, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-9777423-5-6; $8.95 paper ISBN 978-0-9777423-7-0
Novelist Monroe (The Beach House) ventures into the children's book arena with this companion to her upcoming title for adults, Swimming Lessons (itself a sequel to The Beach House). A mother and her daughter in that story spend a summer along the Southeast coast, helping to ensure the survival of as many baby loggerhead sea turtles as possible. This book takes the form of a journal the mother assembles for her daughter, to record the memories of their turtle-tending summer. Its scrapbook-like pages chronicle the pair's experiences looking for turtle tracks, marking turtle egg nests and waiting for the hatchlings to emerge. Numerous photos of baby turtles and other coastal wildlife and flora appear against backgrounds of mottled, sandy-hued paper, often peppered with sepia-tone sketches (e.g., photos of a mother turtle laying her eggs are mounted on drawings of beach grass). The first-person narration is by turns informative and lyrical. "Nights by the ocean are breathtakingly black and beautiful. Sometimes we wonder what the turtles are doing under the sand.... Are they awake? Are they sleeping? Are they dreaming?" The conversational presentation of turtle facts should make for interesting reading, even if the connection to Monroe's adult work remains a bit vague. Some readers may wonder just who the woman and girl in the photographs actually are, but all nature lovers should appreciate the generous smattering of facts and clear photos here. Ages 5-9. (Mar.)
THE ZOO
Suzy Lee. Kane/Miller, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-933605-28-9
This story of a girl who gets lost at the zoo draws its energy from a collection of contrasts. The text, told in the girl's voice, is deadpan; the pencil illustrations provide the punch lines. The girl's parents' world appears as a tinted blue-gray; her world comes alive in full color. The hard edges of the zoo's tiled walls and wire cages give the book a crisp, architectural look; newcomer Lee draws with a bold, free line of pastel. "I went to the zoo with my mom and dad," the girl says; she follows a peacock, who leads her literally off the page to play with the zoo's animals (they've escaped from their cages). A few pages later, her parents realize in alarm that their daughter is gone. On the next spread, she cavorts with elephants in a shallow pool rendered in ecstatic strokes of every hue; collage elements add dimension and texture. The parents call out for her in front of the huge gray grid of an empty aviary, as she flies through the trees with a flock of exotic birds. At last her parents find her napping on a bench. "I love the zoo. It's very exciting," she announces, as her exhausted parents carry her home. Each page and picture, from the front cover to the back, takes the story a step further. It's up to young readers to decide if the young heroine has had a wild adventure or a wonderful dream. Ages 2-7. (Mar.)
Fiction
DAWN AND DUSKAlice Mead. FSG, $16 (160p) ISBN 978-0-374-31708-9
A solid entry in multicultural literature, Mead (Year of No Rain) once again profiles a country in conflict. Thirteen-year-old Azad lives with his father in the Kurdish town of Sardasht in 1987. He sees his mother whenever he can, but Azad never understood why his parents divorced when he was seven. Azad observes the growing hostility against Kurds in both his country of Iran and in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein has vowed to get rid of the Kurds for good. His neighbor hints that Azad's father is part of SAVAMA—Iran's dreaded secret police. Not until Azad is helping his mother prepare for his cousin Mohammad's wedding does he learn the real reason for his parents' divorce: his mother works to protect the human rights of women and children. His life changes dramatically when a poisonous gas bomb is dropped over Azad's village. Although Azad and his friend escape the worst of the gas, 300 people die in the attack, and Azad grows up quickly after the incident. When it becomes clear they are no longer safe, Azad and his mother undergo a perilous journey to Turkey, eventually making their way to the United States. Mead doesn't overwhelm the story with too many details about the conflict or daily life in Iran, yet young readers will be drawn into Azad's story and come away with an understanding of his fears. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)
GIFT OF THE UNMAGE
Alma Alexander. HarperCollins/Eos, $16.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-083955-0
The first volume in Alexander's Worldweavers trilogy recalls Carlos Castaneda's mind-altering New Age journeys, integrating moments of wonder into large expanses of wandering, ethereal prose. Young Thea, the seventh child of a seventh child, disappoints her family when she appears to have no magical powers at all, unlike everyone around her. Her father, who works for the Federal Bureau of Magic taming "feral libraries," sends her off into the past through a "Time Pass," to a mysterious old man named Cheveyo. Cheveyo leads her on a psychedelic journey of self; she meets Grandmother Spider, who takes her to the "First World," where Thea embodies a powerful magician who can weave world-portals from light. She narrowly escapes kidnap by a shapeshifting trickster who wants to sell Thea to the world-trotting Alphiri people. When she returns home, Thea finds that months have passed, and the world is bracing for the impact of a magical force called the Nothing—a force she seems destined to battle with her newfound abilities. Alexander's "different is good" message is a valuable one, and a strange subplot at the very end involving computers holds tantalizing promise for volume two. But long, meandering pages of near-gibberish dialogue (e.g., "Every action you have taken has been based on a change in yourself, in the spirit you brought here to me to be healed of what it believed were its faults") mar an otherwise imaginative modern fantasy. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
JACOB'S LADDER
Brian Keaney. Candlewick, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3071-3
Keaney's (Hollow People; Balloon House) enigmatic mystery is simultaneously poignant and puzzling, echoing some of the themes of last season's Everlost by Neal Shusterman. Jacob wakes up facedown in a field, his memory wiped blank, save for his name. He is taken to the town of Locus, where children like him wear gray uniforms, eat gray flavorless food and spend their days picking up gray rocks in the fields. At night, they play the "memory game," sharing what little bits of their previous lives they can recall. Most of the kids are resigned to life in Locus; Jacob is determined to get out, though, as are his new friends Toby and Aysha. Through a series of dreams and a séance, they come to realize that they may be dead; stories circulate of a "Palace of Remembrance [where] the king and queen would give you back everything you'd lost." Their journey takes them through a surreal, misty purgatory, populated with spectral bands of tattooed nomads, ruthless dogs and an ominous hermit named Moloch. A palpable sense of melancholy pervades this mournful story; Keaney explores the nature of giving up hope, although ultimately the tale is optimistic. The climax elegantly answers all questions, making this ghost story more satisfying than most. Ages 10-14. (Mar.)
LIAR OF KUDZU
Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle. S&S, $15.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1488-4
The narrator of this sassy if slim debut book by the creators of the Disney Channel's Kim Possible series explains that he earned the nickname of Liar by being "the finest truth bender in all of Dixon County." He announces that the story he's about to tell—revealing events of the previous summer, when he was 12—is "a good one." And for the most part, it is. Liar humorously relays his botched attempts to impress Justine, a pretty classmate who has just moved to Kudzu. He offers to show her around the sleepy southern town and, while walking in the woods, the two see a fireball come crashing to the ground and discover that it's a mysterious spacecraft. The pair seeks out a "scientific genius" classmate and return to the spot the following day. The craft is gone, but they do find a gold CD containing reproductions of New York Times front pages from 1900 until September of the current year—but it's only May. The unevenly paced narrative makes too little of this time-warp handle until late in the novel, when Liar discovers an opportunity to prevent a rail disaster in Kudzu. The three friends try and succeed, landing them the appearance on Oprah that Liar has long dreamed of (during which he creatively embellishes his account of their heroics). And the feisty, fast-talking lad's other big wish comes true: he gets a kiss from Justine. Ages 10-14. (Mar.)
RUNAROUND
Helen Hemphill. Front Street (Boyds Mills, dist.), $16.95 (117p) ISBN 978-1-932425-83-3
In Hemphill's (Long Gone Daddy) often humorous coming-of-age novel, 11-year-old Sassy Thompkins cannot forgive her older sister Lulu for ruining her first kiss. In seeking revenge, Sassy's plan is to get Boon Hoyt Chisholm "to fall head over heels" for her. That way, Sassy could flaunt "the cutest boyfriend in the world right under her sister's nose." However, Boon is off limits to the Thompkins girls. He's illegitimate, poor and his mama has been married several times. Aptly named Sassy has a quick temper that consistently gets her into trouble. In fact, her unpleasant disposition causes Sassy to miss some very important clues regarding Boon's true affections. When she discovers Boon and Lulu together, red-handed, Sassy is inconsolable, while her father hits the roof. In the heat of the moment, Mr. Thompkins reveals a dark secret he's kept from the girls regarding their mother. Hemphill credibly portrays Sassy's frustration at being 11, her desire to grow up, and her feelings of betrayal towards Lulu. But the sisters' reconciliation at the book's conclusion seems sudden, and the revelation about their mother superfluous. Each chapter opens with a quote from the romance magazine, Love Confessions, that Sassy uses as her guide. The setting is rural Kentucky during the 1960s, which lends the story a sense of innocence. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
THE VIRTUAL LIFE OF LEXIE DIAMOND
Victoria Foyt. HarperTempest, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-082563-8
Gearheads and Internet geeks may take a liking to this esoteric murder mystery debut by actress Foyt, but many readers may find its plot too "plugged in" for everyday enjoyment. When 14-year-old computer nerd Lexie Diamond's mother is killed instantly in a car crash while fighting on the phone with Lexie's father (they're divorced), Lexie's world changes forever. Then, when her father moves back home and brings his psycho girlfriend, Jane, with him Lexie vows to bury herself in the online world in order to block out her increasingly horrible real life in "the Bubble." But then blonde bombshell–popular chick Zoe Lushing uncharacteristically hands her a CD-ROM containing a virtual personality program that allows her to access her deceased mother online, as well as secret clues to her murder (including a possible link to Jane). Lexie begins to take more of an active interest in her day-to-day life, if only to solve the mystery of her mother's death once and for all. The narrative labors under the weight of excessive jargon (e.g., "She no longer cared who was pushing her personal mouse around the disintegrating pad of her mind"). Frequent jumps between reality and dreamscape vignettes make the plot confusing and the story's reliance on a necessarily tech-friendly audience will limit its overall appeal. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
WHEN THE CURTAIN RISES
Rachel Dunstan Muller. Orca, $7.95 paper (144p) ISBN 978-0-55143-615-9
This mystery blends music, magic and self-discovery, and introduces 12-year-old Chloe McBride, who choked on her last recital, shattering her dreams of being a concert pianist. Despondent, Chloe accepts an invitation to spend several weeks with two great-aunts in Canada, intrigued by a tiny brass key enclosed with their invitation. She becomes enchanted by the stories the aunts tell of their father, a circus magician who disappeared decades ago. Chloe reads his memoir (long passages of which appear within the novel) and learns that the key her aunts sent her unlocks a rosewood box with the power to grant wishes. If she can find the box, perhaps her wishes will be granted—but each wish has its price. Readers will be able to identify with Chloe's need to get away from the scene of her humiliation, and the aunts' affection comes through in ways well-suited to each one's personality. Fantasy elements play a large part but do not overshadow the reality of Chloe's blossoming friendships and her enjoyment of the resort. Ages 9-12. (Mar.)
THE WHOLE SKY FULL OF STARS
René Saldaña, Jr. Random/Lamb, $15.99 (144p) ISBN 978-0-385-73053-2
In over his head with a gambling debt, high-school senior Alby needs to come up with some cash fast. He believes that the only solution is to place another bet. If he can persuade his best friend, Barry, a trained boxer, to enter a local fighting match, Alby stands a chance of winning plenty of money making side bets, or so he thinks. At the beginning of Saldaña's (The Jumping Tree) moralistic tale, it is fairly obvious that Alby is destined to learn a hard lesson (that gambling doesn't pay). But readers—especially boxing enthusiasts—will keep turning pages to see just how far the young protagonist will go before he realizes that friendship is more important than winnings. Despite the fact he is an excellent boxer, Barry is reluctant to enter the "Man o' Might" competition, but pushed by Alby and knowing how much his recently widowed mother would appreciate the prize money, he hesitantly agrees. Alby's selfish motives and Barry's more virtuous ones clash during the novel's climax, and both teens suffer emotional blows by the time the match is over. While the author's hand is perhaps too apparent, guiding the actions and fates of his characters, his novel challenges traditional notions of what it means to be a winner. Those, like Alby, who are enticed by the glitz and glamour of high-stakes betting, may perceive the world of gambling differently after reading this book. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
THE YEAR OF MY MIRACULOUS REAPPEARANCE
Catherine Ryan Hyde. Knopf, $15.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-375-83257-4
Binge drinking, rebellious behavior and denial abound in Hyde's rather disappointing novel about a stubborn yet defiantly resilient 14-year-old and her battle with alcohol addiction. Cynnie doesn't exactly hail from the most stable of circumstances. Her older sister, Kiki, has disowned the family; her three-year-old brother, Bill, has Down's Syndrome; and her single mom is always plastered. So, when Cynnie takes off with Snake, her 15-year-old neighbor and possible love interest, a kidnapped Bill, and a bottle of gin, all seems to be righted in her world—until she totals the car and winds up in the hospital. The rest of the novel (aka the road to her recovery) reads basically like one long, grueling 12-step session. Unfortunately, the humor that leavened Hyde's Becoming Chloe is in short supply here, and Cynnie's much-needed period of healing comes off feeling rushed and lacking the weight to carry its otherwise uplifting message through successfully. Readers might have a hard time believing in her struggle—or its rosy outcome. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
