Children's Book Reviews: Week of 5/7/2007
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 5/7/2007
A Perfect Day Equally simple pictures and verse shape an endearing, comforting ode to a day happily spent. A parent and child start their morning on a breezy note: "At breakfast we could talk about.../ how we might go for a walkabout." As the two lie in the grass gazing up at the sky ("Watch the clouds... imagining.../ we can do most anything"), the smiling youngster points to an image of himself, comfortably nestled in a cloud. A picnic and a frolic on the lawn with friends are followed by a loving cuddle between the duo, resting under a tree. At home, the tyke paints pictures of their day and then they "Have a bit to eat and drink./ Read from picture books and think." As the child is tucked into bed, outside the window a smiling sun sinks into the valley alongside a rising moon. Rendered in watercolor washes, Charlip's (Sleepytime Rhyme) festively hued art reinforces the book's upbeat tempo. Depicting scenarios that toddlers can easily relate to, the illustrations provide easy picture clues that will enable pre-readers-as well as those learning to sound out words-to chime in to complete the lilting, rhyming sentences. Ages 2-5. (May) Any kid who assiduously avoids bathtime will find a kindred spirit in Postgate's (The Richest Crocodile in the World) funny, fetid canine hero. Although Bill's human family does their best to get the pooch into the sink, "every time he'd get away/ And live to stink another day." But Bill meets his match when Great Aunt Bleach arrives to dog-sit. "Bill, you will not get away!" Bleach decrees when the pooch secrets himself in what he thinks is the ultimate, take-no-prisoners hiding place. "And, like a great, plump bird of prey,/ She swooped down to the compost bin./ And landed right on top of him!" Postgate's watercolor-and-ink cartoons pull out all the stops, providing the perfect complement to his rollicking verse. Bleach, who sports a pink beehive, harlequin glasses and polka-dot bloomers (the last revealed when she makes a Tarzan-like swing into the compost pile), is the very picture of a comically obsessed foil. Fans of all things grimy and gross will likely find themselves in fits of giggles. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) Many folks thought they knew the real Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879): a scrappy orphan who possessed an almost magical rapport with horses and who became one of the bravest, fastest, saltiest and most respected stagecoach drivers in Gold Country. Charley was the kind of noble, tough-as-nails character who perfectly embodied the rugged individualism of the West. But everybody had Charley wrong, for as the doctor who certified his death discovered, Charley had successfully disguised the fact that he was actually a woman. As in her previous historical picture books, Kay (Homespun Sarah) writes in what she calls "cryptic rhyme"-terse four-line stanzas that evoke the no-nonsense speech of the frontier: "Charley working,/ Handles reins./ Learns to doctor/ Cuts and sprains./ Charley driving!/ Gaining fame./ Folks requesting/ Him by name." Kay's strict meter keeps Charley's inner thoughts at a distance from readers, so that Charley effectively holds onto her secret until the book's end, just as she did in real life. Gustavson's (The Last Day of School) lush, realistic oil illustrations are a lavish counterpoint to Kay's spare verse, are suffused with the romance and roughness of a bygone era. His vivid characterizations and cinematic framing would make John Ford proud. The twist regarding Charley's gender should come as a genuine surprise; readers will likely pore over the excellent timeline on the final spread to glean further details of this true and compelling story of secret identity and proto-feminism. Ages 4-8. (June) Addy's (When Wishes Were Horses) Gold Rush tale opens as Jake's Pa, panning in a creek with his son, finds a gold nugget. They hurry to town to buy supplies and Jake, longing for a dog, asks the storekeep if he has any to sell; he doesn't, but he does have "a runty pig." (When Jake asks if pigs make good pets, the clerk responds, "Why not? They got four legs, floppy ears, and a tail.") Naming his new pet Dog, Jake remarks that he is glad the man had a pig to sell and Pa answers, "That sure was lucky." Jake heartily agrees: "Yup. Lucky." The two repeat these refrains as their lucky streak continues. Jake plants some seed corn and it grows despite the fact that Pa hadn't thought it would in their soil. Next, father and son capture a nanny goat that produces milk and they cook corn fritters. The tempting smell attracts other prospectors eager to barter for food, and soon Pa and Jake are running a booming restaurant and goods-trading business. As the two gratefully acknowledge their ongoing good fortune, perceptive readers will recognize their providence has quite a bit to do with gumption, ingenuity and a sense of fairness-and, yup, luck too. Zahares's (Window Music) contemporary, stylized pastel art features electric hues and playful perspectives, lending a bold contrast to the old-time tenor of the easygoing narrative and creating an unlikely, but lucky, pairing. Ages 4-8. (May) Rotner's and Woodhull's (Colors Around Us) handsome photographic essay enfolds readers in the diversity of the four seasons. A simple layout (borderless, rectangular photos of assorted sizes against a white backdrop) shows off colorful pictorial highlights of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Though most pictures are of fairly commonplace seasonal subjects-children cradling cuddly creatures in spring or sitting amidst a pile of pumpkins in the fall-their familiarity should be comfortingly appealing. Exceptions to this everyday subject matter are the stunning full-page bleeds that begin each season (spring opens with spiky blades of green grass, autumn with bright yellow boots amid a pile of golden maple leaves). The eye-catching hues of these close-ups evoke the essence of a season. Short, direct sentences such as, "Showers soak. Seeds sprout. Flowers bloom," maintain the book's poetic tone, as each section segues effortlessly into the next utilizing a repeated pattern. "We taste strawberries, lemonade, watermelon, ice-cream.... Summer is a time to splash and swim. But then autumn comes and... I love autumn too." The letters of individual words occasionally appear to fall, bounce or scatter across a page, mirroring the actions they describe. With this book as a reminder, young readers will agree that with so much to relish throughout the year, it's difficult to pick a favorite season. Ages 4-8. (May) French poet Siméon doesn't explain what poetry is: he portrays a poem in the making. Arthur's fish, Leon, languishes in his bowl. "Hurry," his mother says, sailing off to her tuba lesson, "give him a poem!" But Arthur doesn't know what a poem is, so he asks a charming collection of eccentric neighbors, each painted by Tallec in delicate pencil lines and wet strokes of vibrant color. "A poem, Arthur, is when you are in love and have the sky in your mouth," says Lolo, the bicycle repairman. Mahmoud, who "comes from the desert," says, "A poem is when you hear the heartbeat of a stone." "A poem," says Arthur's grandmother, "turns words around, upside down, and-suddenly!-the world is new." Tallec paints what Arthur sees as he listens: Lolo flying through the clouds with his girlfriend, Mahmoud kneeling close to a rock under the desert sun, a giant whale swimming upside-down through an inverted city street. When Arthur returns to Leon and strings together the answers he's received-"A poem is when you have the sky in your mouth"-they make, children will perceive, a perfectly beautiful poem. Exuding magic and unbridled creativity on every page, this is a book with the potential to heal more than just fish. Ages 4-8. (Apr.) The likable young narrator of O'Connor's (Fancy Nancy) buoyant tale first admits what she can't do: "I can't skip. I wish I could. Other kids are really good." But she is mighty proud of what she can do: "I can leap. I can creep. Can I twirl? Just watch this girl." Rollerskating, whistling and somersaulting are some of the other feats she proudly demonstrates. When she reiterates that she can't skip (endearingly adding, "It's not my fault."), her mother asks her if she can hop. The gal gleefully shows off her hopping prowess and her parent instructs her to hop first on one foot and then on the other: "That is skipping." The woman then shows how it is done as the girl wryly observes, "Down the street I watch Mom go. She's pretty old to skip, I know." Making sure there are no kids watching, the exuberant child gives skipping a try and adds another accomplishment to her repertoire-she even skips right past her mother. James's (the Penny Pollard series) unadorned illustrations convey the heroine's changeable emotions and abundant energy as she struts her stuff, accompanied by her perky pooch. The tale's simple text and breezy rhyme makes this a good choice for reading aloud to preschoolers or for readers just starting to sound out words. But grownups beware: youngsters will surely be tempted to mimic the high-spirited girl's antics, so they shouldn't be expected to sit still. Ages 4-up. (May) Debon (Four Pictures by Emily Carr)again employs the graphic-novel format, this time in a robust recounting of famed Canadian circus strongman, Louis Cyr. The story begins toward the end of the brawny performer's career as his health is failing. A conversation with his young daughter, Émiliana, prompts him to recall his life, starting with his Québec boyhood. "In this tough world of ours, a man without strength is nothing," he remembers his grandfather and mentor saying. The chronological reminiscences, bound within orange text boxes within the panels, highlight major milestones of Cyr's life, such as when he lifts a huge draft horse as a teenager or when he founds his own circus. Émiliana's questions and memories ("Isn't it true that you arrested six dangerous bandits and carried them all off to jail at once??!") propel the narrative and keep it flowing smoothly between Cyr's flashbacks and the present father-daughter conversation. A limited palette of gray, beige and peach hues showcases the vigor of the illustrations, which include roughly shaded muscles on angular subjects and white hatch marks to denote motion, emotion and perspiration. While endnotes offer concrete biographical information, intriguing trivia is scattered throughout the story (Cyr's mother stood at over six feet tall). A thoroughly absorbing tale about a turn-of-the-20th-century celebrity. Ages 7-up. (Apr.) Fiction Giving the Indie Kidd series a spirited start, this playfully illustrated novel introduces an earnest, energetic British girl who lives with her mother (an assistant manager at an animal rescue center) and a menagerie of pets. On her 10th birthday, Indie is stumped when her teacher instructs her students to write curricula vitae listing three of their talents. Seeking to discover exactly what she is good at, Indie repeatedly stumbles-sometimes with comical results. Her attempt to master hair-wrapping leaves one of her best friends with a bald spot, her stab at talking to animals incites a donkey to chew off a chunk of her hair and she can't pull off a single trick when she tries to perform magic. Meanwhile, the C.V. she creates for the ugly, drooling dog at her mother's rescue center-"Can sit very still for ages. Can make his eyeballs look in two different directions at the same time."-brings no takers. In a kid-pleasing if predictable denouement, Indie adds the seemingly un-adoptable dog to her roster of pets and is lauded in the local paper with the headline, "Indie has a talent for doing good!" Indie and her pals return in Oops, I Lost My Best(est) Friends, due out the same month. Ages 7-10. (Apr.) Clements's (Lunch Money) latest thoughtful school tale opens as fifth-grader Dave researches a report on India. He is fascinated to learn that for years Mahatma Gandhi did not speak at all one day each week to "bring order to his mind." Dave, an inveterate blabber, tries to keep silent for a day at school, a plan that derails when he cannot contain his outrage at his classmate Lynsey's superficial, nonstop monologue at lunch ("She knew I wanted that sweater more than anything, and she bought it anyway. And then? After school on Friday at soccer practice? She smiled at me, like she wanted to be friends or something-as if!"). After she erupts at his complaint, the pair enlists their entire grade in an experiment to determine which gender can utter fewer words during a two-day period. The rules allow students to answer teachers' questions with a three-word-only response, but they are prohibited from speaking after school is dismissed. Enhancing the challenge is the fact that the fifth grade has a reputation for being particularly loquacious, prompting the teachers to dub them "The Unshushables." The contest plays out at an occasionally plodding pace, as Clements dwells on the teachers' musings about the competition as they find ways for the kids to learn and communicate nonverbally. Despite the rivalry that started the contest, the longstanding animosity between the boys and girls dissipates as the students bond over the experiment. Presuming the novel doesn't generate similar contests in real life, readers may be compelled to use their voices to praise Clement's deft handling of an interesting premise. Ages 8-12. (Jun.) Abright and brassy fifth grader named Queen narrates Flake's (The Skin I'm In) resonant novel about the importance of friendship, imagination and being true to oneself. Though her father gave her a regal name so that others will respect her, the outspoken girl's superior attitude often alienates her peers, who, she admits, think she is "a royal pain in the neck." Leroy, a new boy at school who rides a rusted bike without a seat, announces that he is a prince from Senegal. For show-and-tell, the lad, who lives with his mother in a housing project, brings in elephant tusks and gold coins that he says belonged to his great-grandfather. Feeling particularly alone after her only friend moves away, skeptical Queen decides to expose Leroy as a fibber so that her classmates will "stop liking him and like me." Queen's quest to learn the truth about Leroy's life brings her in contact with Cornelius, a wise, elderly former stage actor who sometimes speaks in intriguing riddles and who eventually reveals the secret behind the boy's stories. Guided by the actions and astute advice of Leroy, Cornelius and her parents, Queen gradually comes to acknowledge and reveal her true self-one who doesn't need to belittle others. Multi-dimensional characters and frequently affecting dialogue make this a memorable work of fiction. Final artwork not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. (May) Tate's (Don't Split the Pole) latest offering, a historical novel set in 1921, stars 13-year-old Celeste Lassiter Massey, who lives in Raleigh, N. C., with her father and his cantankerous sister, Aunt Society ("She was the only person I knew who loved to sit in a wheelchair, even though she didn't need to"). Celeste often plays the violin with her father, a former soldier with lingering health problems, and she dreams of becoming a doctor. But when her father enters a sanitarium after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, Celeste is sent to live with her Aunt Valentina in Harlem. Celeste-who has been told that Aunti Val lives in a mansion and sings and dances-is unprepared for what she finds. Rather than starring on Broadway, Aunti Val makes her living scrubbing floors, unable to secure stage work. Celeste is angered that she is expected to work too, though over time, the two make peace and Celeste's musical abilities earn her praise as a neighborhood prodigy. (A local café proprietor gushes, "When you play that violin it's like you're just strollin' down a Harlem street on a fine Saturday afternoon, and we're all just strollin' with you.") Unfortunately, just as things are looking up, Celeste must return to Raleigh to care for Aunt Society, who has suffered a stroke. In Celeste, Tate has created a fully realized heroine, whose world expands profoundly as she's exposed to both the cultural pinnacles and racial prejudices of her era. Readers will likely happily accompany Celeste on her journey. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Golding's YA debut, the first in the Companions Quartet, packs a serious environmental message, yet never feels heavy-handed. Eleven-year-old Connie Lionheart is not like other children-she has mismatched eyes and can talk to animals. Constantly switching schools because of assorted incidents ("Something always happens: foxes start following me around, or mice invade the classroom"), she ends up living with her odd Aunt Evelyn and soon meets popular student Col, who also has mismatched eyes. Aunt Evelyn is aware of Connie's abilities; she is a member of the Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures, along with Col and a cast of eclectic characters. The Society is currently concerned with the sirens, who are increasingly angered by an encroaching oil company. The Society needs to find a "siren companion," someone who can approach the sirens while they are in their warlike state. Connie turns out to be a "universal companion," able to communicate with all species. Through her, the Society learns that an ancient evil spirit named Kullervo is whipping the sirens into their frenzy. Kullervo attempts to sway the tenderhearted Connie with a view of an unspoiled world-one "scoured clean" of humanity and its poisons-but the Society comes to her aid. The contemporary setting and its modern villains (including a shady oil company that covers up employee deaths) make for an entertaining read. Young readers with an environmental conscience will likely await the next outing in the series. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) The summer before senior year, life looks good for Katie Ellison, girlfriend of football player Seth Turner (who has "the most sought-after tongue in all of Eastport"). She's waitressing at the Gull 'n Gulp and making out on the sly with Eric Flutely, star of the school musical. With the cash she's sure to earn by placing in the Quahog Princess pageant-one of the four contestants is an anarchist whose platform involves allowing Eastport's famed quahogs (clams) "to live free, without fear of being dug up and eaten"-she can pay off the balance on the professional camera she wants. Then Tommy Sullivan returns to town. Katie and Tommy were close friends until he became a pariah after penning an exposé about SAT cheating by football players, a scandal that cost Seth's brother a scholarship. Katie betrayed Tommy rather than be ostracized by association, but Tommy is no longer the skinny brainiac who left Eastport: he's tan, buff and ultra-confident. Boy-crazy Katie, who admits to a kissing addiction, is more than smitten: she may be in love with her boyfriend's archenemy. The lies Katie tells to keep her romantic indiscretions under wraps build until she realizes the truth is her only recourse. It may be a bit tough to conjure sympathy for a pageant contestant with a straight-A average and three hot guys in her orbit-but tweens and teens will likely find this amusing fare as easy to swallow as iced tea on a hot afternoon. Ages 12-up. (May) This latest offering from the husband-and-wife team (Zipped) brims with affecting characters and an eerie plotline, colored by elements of the supernatural. Sixteen years old, headstrong and without parents, Lana Morris finds herself in a foster home full of "Snicks" (special needs kids) who are tenderly portrayed with a multitude of quirks. Their foster mother, Veronica, is hostile toward Lana, however, because Lana has a crush on Veronica's compassionate husband, Whit. In several disconcertingly romantic scenes, Whit takes advantage of Lana's misplaced affections in the interest of, in his words, "decoding" her. One of Lana's few lifelines to the outside world is Chet, her sympathetic neighbor. Lana hopes to break into his social circle of outcasts, riding in the trunk of their car to escape her routine. During one outing, Lana buys a box of paper that she comes to believe is the canvas on which she can redraw her life-a liberating idea. When Lana sketches a portrait of Veronica, her foster mother demands she erase it. Lana only gets as far as erasing one of Veronica's arms-the very arm Veronica loses soon after in a traffic accident. The sense of power Lana experiences through her sketches escalates-as do the results, which quickly spin out of control. Lana emerges as a fullyformed heroine; while some of the choices she makes may frustrate readers, her generosity and compassion for the "Snicks" should win her many fans. Ages 12-up. (May) In this dark and consistently gripping mystery-Arnold's (Parts) first foray into YA territory-14-year-old Todd Anthony whets readers' appetites with "a list of possible first lines," beginning with "A dead guy washed up from the river." Set in upstate New York during the Vietnam War, Todd works at his parents' motel and spends his school days writing stories to entertain his friends. One day while biking home, he encounters a small dog; when Todd picks it up, it bites him and darts into the road where it is hit by a cement truck. He is forced to kill it-it's been too gravely wounded-and he is subsequently devastated. Todd keeps his actions secret; he writes about the incident for a school assignment, but is unable to turn it in. "I pull her closer. Feel a tiny lick on my wrist. I'm crying. Shaking. I never knew what crying really was." While searching for the dog's owner, Todd meets Rat, a tattooed and evasive veteran only a few years older than Todd, who offers him a job at the local movie drive-in. Meanwhile, a dead body has been discovered in the nearby river and Todd begins to suspect that Rat is involved on some level. Arnold amply demonstrates his ability to write for an older crowd, spinning a suspenseful yarn with a dizzying climax that sweeps Todd off his feet-both literally and emotionally-and will likely do the same to readers. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Carey (Wenny Has Wings) has written a romantic fantasy steeped in the Arthurian tradition of knights, dragons and lost kingdoms. After eloping with an outlaw, King Arthur's sister, Evaine, is banished to Wilde Island. Merlin, however, foresees a prophecy regarding the 21st queen in her future lineage: "She shall redeem the name Pendragon. End war with the wave of her hand. And restore the glory of Wilde Island." Centuries later, Queen Gweneth (the infertile queen number 20) devours an egg stolen from the dragon, Lord Faul, in an attempt to conceive. When she does give birth, her daughter, Rosalind, is born with the "devil's mark": her left hand bears a claw in place of one finger. Rosalind hides her hands underneath golden gloves and Queen Gweneth repeatedly commits murder to preserve the secret. The lonely princess doubts any man will ever marry her, but when she meets Kye-a young knight who vanquished a female dragon that has plagued Wilde Island-she falls in love. Soon after, Rosalind is captured by Lord Faul (her true father) and becomes nursemaid to his offspring, known as pips. When one of the pips drowns, Lord Faul's tears quench his "inner fire," killing him and ending Rosalind's capture. She returns to Wilde Island to claim her rightful place as queen, and though she is put on trial for being a witch, Rosalind's "curse" ultimately becomes her triumph. Fantasy lovers will readily empathize with this brave heroine who learns to be true to herself. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Many teenagers obsess about sex and Penelope (Lopi) Yeager, the 16-year-old girl at the center of Jahn-Clough's (Country Girl, City Girl) latest novel, is certainly among them. Having grown up with her young, single mother Viv's revolving door of boyfriends, Lopi isn't exactly surprised by her own one-track mind ("I am so seriously screwed up. Never happy, never satisfied. Never alone, never together. I want so much"). Additionally, Lopi is burdened by her younger brother's death: her parents mistakenly ran over him when she was six years old, and she still believes it was her fault they divorced. Viv's current love interest is Josh; he's 14 years her junior and has all but moved in, making Lopi feel even more out of place. To hasten her independence, she strives to graduate high school a year early and leave her mother's watch behind (and to have sex as soon as possible). Although Lopi is able to put into motion the first half of her scheme, she finds the sex part of the equation less straightforward. She fumbles through awkward situations, frantically seeking sex and love, and hopelessly confusing the two. At times, the contrast between her naïve fits of desperation and her mature thought processes can seem too great, and teens may well grow frustrated with her rash and melodramatic behavior. However, Jann-Clough deserves credit for resisting the urge to wrap up Lopi's story too tidily. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)
Remy Charlip. Greenwillow, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-051972-8
Daniel Postgate. North-South, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7358-2135-4
Rough, Tough Charley
Verla Kay, illus. by Adam Gustavson. Ten Speed/Tricycle, $15.95(32p) ISBN 978-1-58246-184-7
Sharon Hart Addy, illus. by Wade Zahares. Houghton, $17 (40p) ISBN 978-0-618-47286-4
Shelley Rotner and Anne Love Woodhull, photos by Rotner. Roaring Brook/Porter, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-59643-136-2
Jean-Pierre Siméon, illus. by Olivier Tallec. Enchanted Lion (FSG, dist.), $16.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-59270-067-7
Jane O'Connor, illus. by Ann James. Viking, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-670-06216-4
Nicolas Debon. Groundwood (PGW, dist.), $17.95 (36p) ISBN 978-0-88899-731-9
Karen McCombie, illus. by Lydia Monks. Random/Yearling, $5.99 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-440-42195-5
Andrew Clements. S&S, $15.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-4169-0983-5
The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street
Sharon G. Flake, illus. by Colin Bootman. Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, $15.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-4231-0032-4
Eleanora E. Tate. Little, Brown, $15.99 (279p) ISBN 978-0-316-52394-3
Julia Golding. Cavendish, $16.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-7614-5371-0
Meg Cabot. HarperTeen, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-088015-6
Laura and Tom McNeal. Random/Knopf, $15.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-375-83106-5
Rat Life
Tedd Arnold. Dial/Sleuth, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3020-5
Janet Lee Carey. Harcourt, $17 (320p) ISBN 978-0-15-205926-2
Lisa Jahn-Clough. Houghton, $16 (208p) ISBN 978-0-618-77366-4
Picture Books
