Children's Book Reviews: Week of 5/21/2007
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 5/21/2007
Picture Books
Family LullabyJody Fickes Shapiro, illus. by Cathie Felstead.Greenwillow, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-051482-2
Given the many people who love and nurture a newborn, this picture book is a deserving testament to the extended family at the core of a child's universe. Shapiro's (Up, Up, Up! It's Apple-Picking Time) singsong text consists of simple, short verses that detail each family member's designated role in baby's life, followed by the repeated anthem "We all love Baby. Yes we do!" Whether it's mommy feeding baby a bottle or grandpa giving a piggy-back ride, each job is unique, yet shares the common thread of doing everything humanly possible to make baby happy. Felstead (Big Wolf and Little Wolf) depicts these caregivers at work in separate circles, drawing readers' eyes to each person, one by one. The text adheres to a steady pattern and rhythm-youngsters will relish the repetition. By story's end, it's no wonder that the "sleepy family" members all have their eyes shut tight. The final page, showing a satisfied and beaming baby, summarizes the result of all their hard work-and the goal of any new parent. Ages 0-4. (May)
Tummy GirlRoseanne Thong, illus. by Sam Williams. Holt, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8050-7609-7
In this paean to tender childhood moments, a diminutive girl is first seen in a pose of quiet restfulness, her chubby tummy peeking out from beneath her shirt. "Once there was a tummy girl.../ A full-of-warm-milk yummy girl," writes Thong (The Wishing Tree) in fluent Mommy lingo. The poem follows the girl into her first few years of life, giving Williams (No More Diapers for Ducky!) ample opportunities to sketch her in a series of snapshot-like poses-savoring bath bubbles, toddling in a diaper, romping at the beach and prancing in a tutu. None of these vignettes is startling in originality, but Williams's charcoal line has so much verve and affection and the subject exudes such cuteness that it's hard to quibble. But no matter how impressive the girl's talents and achievements (she is last seen in the starring role of the moon in a school play) or how big she becomes ("Soon you'll be my older girl, /A taller-than-my-shoulder girl,"), the grownups who love her will always think of her as their Tummy Girl. That nickname may not go over big by the time she reaches adolescence, but for the target audience, the book's reassuring message should resonate loud and clear. Ages 3-5. (Apr.)
ScribbleDeborah Freedman Knopf, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-83966-5
In this unpredictable blend of comic strip and children's drawings, two short-tempered siblings compare their magic marker artwork. Proud older sister Emma shows off her picture of a sleeping princess on bubblegum-pink poster paper. Defensive younger sister Lucie, less practiced with her pen, chooses mustard-gold paper and draws "a kitty" with a crude teardrop-shaped head and sticklike limbs. "It looks like a scribble," Emma tells her. Indignant, Lucie grabs a pen and scratches tangled loops, like twisted vines, all over Emma's Sleeping Beauty. This sibling squabble takes an unexpected turn, however, when Lucie's scrawled kitty, christened Scribble, decides to rescue the damsel. He leaps onto the pink page with Lucie and her actual pet kitten in hot pursuit. But "before Lucie could stop him, Scribble scrambled into a Giant Thicket, where deep within he discovered the Princess Aurora, who had been asleep for One Hundred Years." Scribble unravels the inky loops and finds an unlikely true love, a la Norton Juster's The Dot and the Line. Freedman, in her picture book debut, pictures the dueling sisters and their white kitten semi-naturalistically in pen, ink and watercolor, depicting their showdown in tidy comic panels with voice bubble dialogue. She creates their drawings in the naïve style of Lauren Child, and when Scribble comes to life, this anarchic, digitally enhanced art fills the pages and breaks the frames. The juxtaposition of realistic portraits and more playful designs results in often chaotic spreads, but Freedman's willingness to color outside the lines pays off-she's created a clever gem of a book. Ages 3-6. (May)
A Promise Is a PromiseFlorence Parry Heide, illus. by Tony Auth. Candlewick, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2285-5
This story, which amounts to an overextended setup for a "gotcha" punch line, stars a boy named George who persuades his parents that he needs a pet ("I'm the only kid in town who doesn't have a pet. I'm probably the only kid in the whole world who doesn't have a pet"). George's parents summarily reject his first round of candidates: a dog is too high-maintenance, a mouse is too fecund (" 'Nothing that scampers,' said George's mother. 'And nothing that multiplies.' ") and a shark is too carnivorous. But George finally gets his parents to swear (hence the title) that that they will let him let him keep a bird-no matter what. Kids will see this one coming a mile away. The bird is the worst of the bunch: an obnoxious parrot who calls Mom a boob and Dad a nincompoop, and loves to remind both of them, to George's delight, that "A promise is a promise!" While it's true that children love to see grownups eat their words, despite a handful of mirthful moments this story comes across too flat and flimsy to provide a satisfying degree of schadenfreude. Ages 3-9. (May)
My Little Grandmother Often ForgetsReeve Lindbergh, illus. by Kathryn Brown. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-1989-3
Lindbergh (My Hippie Grandmother) writes in the voice of a youngster endearingly devoted to his grandmother, who suffers from memory loss. The title page shows the lad and his parents arriving at the home of the diminutive woman, who sports an eccentric hairstyle, snazzy earrings, jeans and striped socks. The child observes that his grandmother can't find her belongings, including her cat (perched atop the chair she's sitting in) and her glasses (tucked into her hair). The boy stays close to his grandmother, watching her take burnt cookies from the oven and waiting patiently as she ponders a purchase, explaining that on an earlier visit "She got to the store/ but forgot the way back./ Now she takes me along,/ and I help her keep track." In an especially affecting scene, the understanding grandson gently corrects her when she calls him by his father's name: "So I say, 'I'm not Roy,'/ and she answers, 'You're not?'/ Then I tell her, 'I'm Tom./ That's okay. You forgot.'" In the story's heartwarming ending, Tom reveals that his grandmother now lives with him and "She can't find her cat,/ and she loses her way..../ But she says she's found me,/ so she thinks she will stay." Brown's (Tough Boris) wispy, pastel-toned watercolor and ink illustrations poignantly underscore the bond between the narrator and his grandmother. This will easily provide a springboard for adult-child dialogue and will reassure children faced with similar family situations that they can be of help. Ages 4-6. (Apr.)
Hugo & Miles in I've Painted EverythingScott Magoon. Houghton, $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-618-64638-8
Hugo, a blue pachyderm who loves to paint, is "in an elephunk." He surrounds himself with portraits of his animal friends, images of local buildings and still lifes of his favorite foods. But the paint is not yet dry on his latest masterwork (a picture of a wall socket) when he laments, "I've run out of ideas!" Hugo's friend Miles, a scruffy brown dog, proposes a getaway to Paris; there, Miles plans to test his new invention, a silver antenna-like contraption. Soon the friends are enjoying Montmartre and a dejeuner sur l'herbe (posed as in the famed Manet painting-though without the nude companion). At museums, Hugo contemplates an enormous painting of St. George and the dragon (his paintings could be "Hugo-mongous" too, says Miles) and checks out Van Gogh (he could become "Van Hugo," Miles suggests). Inspired by the Impressionists, Hugo considers painting "with light" ("Hu-glow," quips Miles), and takes in the view from the Eiffel Tower. "Wow!... Tons to draw!" Hugo exclaims. He decides to paint his hometown from rooftops, from cellars and in experimental palettes. In playful cartoons of pencil and digital color, Magoon (Ugly Fish) provides tourist views of Paris that feature recurring characters like a raccoon art thief and a perky red bird. Disappointingly, Miles never explains his invention, which is pure plot device-it is attached to the Eiffel Tower and forgotten. Instead, Magoon focuses on how Hugo gets his groove back, and budding artists will be encouraged to try fresh perspectives. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)
WhaleDavid Lucas. Knopf, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-375-84338-9
In Lucas's (Halibut Jackson) books, readers are carried to places where curious events unfold with comfortable matter-of-factness. This time, a gamboling whale accidentally flattens the seaside town where Joe and his Grandma May live, and Joe has to figure out how to save everyone. When they realize that that the whale outside is blocking the door, Grandma May puts on her "Going Out Hat" and grabs her umbrella. "Right, come on, then," she says gamely. "Up the chimney!" The gigantic whale fills many of the double-page, full-bleed spreads; he's a deep Mediterranean blue, and his skin is covered with a multitude of tiny calligraphic markings. Joe and Grandma May gather with the Mayor and the other wooden-doll townspeople on the whale's back, awaiting advice from the Innumerable Stars. The stars recommend that the townspeople sing, and the flood that results from their rendition of "The Rain Song" successfully floats the whale away from town, but submerges it in the process. The help of another group of creatures is required to rebuild: "An army of fiddler crabs marched up the beach and set about making the town more beautiful than ever before." In an era when natural disasters may loom large in children's minds, Lucas seems to offer the vision of a problem that-at least between the covers of a book-can be solved with careful consultation, cooperation and the judicious use of fiddler crabs. Ages 5-8. (June)
Ginger BearMini Grey. Knopf, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-375-84253-5
As she showed in her soulful The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, Grey has a knack for reimagining nursery rhymes and other children's classics. This story of an independent-minded cookie alludes to "The Gingerbread Man," noting that "the life of a cookie is usually short and sweet." But fate smiles on Ginger Bear: he escapes being eaten by his baker, Horace, whose Mum interrupts every time he gets ready to take a bite. At bedtime, having missed his chance for a snack, "Horace put the bear in a little tin and put it on his pillow" for later. As sleepy clock faces strike midnight, Ginger Bear comes to life and bakes a crispy batch of bears for company, decorating them in carnival icing and dots. Poised atop a tower of cookbooks, Ginger Bear becomes the ringmaster of a culinary circus. But the festivities end abruptly with the arrival of the family dog who "liked cookies. (But not in a way that is necessarily good for the cookies.)" Grey doesn't sugarcoat her watercolor and mixed-media illustrations: she plays the cookie carnage for laughs, with sole survivor Ginger Bear overlooking a crumb-covered linoleum floor. The mock-pathos implies that cookies are meant to be eaten. No fox can catch this gingerbread man, though, whose recipe for a doughy rumpus calls for a bit of In the Night Kitchen and a dash of Where the Wild Things Are. Young readers should be pleased to discover how Grey allows her edible hero to spend the rest of his days. Ages 5-8. (June)
Holy Molé! A Folktale from MexicoCaroline McAlister, illus. by Stefan Czernecki. August House/Little Folk, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-87483-775-9
Legend has it that molé, one of the signature dishes of Mexican cuisine, was created when a monk named Brother Pascual tripped and accidentally spilled the ingredients into a pot. In her debut children's book, McAlister adds a kid's-eye-view twist, positing that an orphaned kitchen boy named Carlos unwittingly created this celebrated concoction. Poor Carlos is convinced he is permanently in the doghouse after causing Brother Pascual to drop ingredients intended for several different courses into the turkey pot. But then "the most delicious smells began to rise from the simmering stew-a rich mixture of chilies, garlic, chocolate and cinnamon." The thick, savory sauce enchants the palates of both the monks and their VIP visitor, the Viceroy. Czernecki's (Zigzag) illustrations never offer a sense of time or place-in fact, he dispenses with backgrounds altogether and provides his angular characters with just enough props to carry the story. Budding foodies-especially young fans of the spontaneous gastronomy of Iron Chef-will likely find this a tale to pique their appetites. Ages 5-8. (May)
Fiction
EggsJerry Spinelli. Little, Brown, $15.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-316-16646-1
In Spinelli's (Maniac Magee) latest novel, the Newbery Medalist falls slightly short of the high standard he's set in some of his previous books. The conceptually appealing story starts out with a bang as readers are introduced to David, a vulnerable nine-year-old boy whose mother died by slipping on wet pavement and falling down the stairs. He lives with his grandmother, whom he finds nagging and annoying, and his absent father, who is only around on weekends. One day while begrudgingly participating in a neighborhood Easter egg hunt with his grandmother, David stumbles upon 13-year-old Primrose under a pile of leaves-she is pretending to be dead. Coincidentally, her father is out of the picture as well, and she lives alone with her kooky, fortune-telling mother. David and Primrose become fast friends, sneaking out at night and generally ignoring their guardians. Whatever potential this "kids against the world" setup has quickly dissipates, unfortunately. The two befriend a crafty mechanic down the street named Refrigerator John, call each other names and run away from home a few times, but they don't do much else. While readers will likely get a kick out of David and Primrose's quirky behavior, they might also want to move beyond the kids' bickering into deeper, meatier territory, such as death, fear and healing-issues that clearly affect them both. While Spinelli does touch on these themes throughout, the attention given them seems only to scratch the surface. Ages 8-12. (June)
Dreamquest: Tales of SlumberiaBrent Hartinger. Tor/Starscape $15.99 (168p) ISBN 978-0-765-31397-3
Hartinger (Grand & Humble) deftly moves into the realm of fantasy in his latest outing. Eleven-year-old Julie is caught in between her parents. Her mother, a consummate homemaker, and her television producer father constantly use Julie as a tool to jibe at each other, and the stress spills over into Julie's dreams. She is troubled by increasingly violent nightmares-having to avoid giant vacuum cleaners or being trussed up like a pig for her parents' consumption. One night while asleep, she stumbles into the land of Slumberia and into a film studio, where her dreams are filmed nightly. She embarks on a quest to meet the executives who create and control her dreams, befriending a bounty of oddball characters-a shark turned lawyer and a mustachioed butterfly, among others-along the way. But Vivian, the villainous actress who portrays Julie in her nightmares, travels through the rift that brought Julie to Slumberia. Vivian ingratiates herself into the girl's life, scoring a role on Julie's father's television show and befriending the popular crowd at school, much to Julie's horror. As Julie restores order within her own head, the physical landscape around her is renewed, lending an air of allegory to the tale. Hartinger's winning pairing of a sincere message with hyperbolic humor should resonate with readers. Ages 8-up. (May)
DragonsdaleSalamanda Drake, illus. by Gilly Marklew. Scholastic/Chicken House, $12.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-439-87173-0
Fantasy-minded girls with a love for horses will likely take to this story, first in a planned series, which uses the structure and tone of a horse-training tale but features dragons instead. Cara is the daughter of Huw the Dragonmaster, leader of the training farm called Dragonsdale. She has a deep love for dragons in general, and for the "untamable" Skydancer in particular-but her father has forbidden her ever to ride one since her mother died in a riding accident. The arrogant and lazy Hortense, daughter of wealthy Lord Torin, is trying to learn to ride, but her attitude prevents her from bonding with any dragons. When Cara catches Hortense beating her dragon after losing a competition, she blackens her eye, earning the ire of both her father and Lord Torin. To smooth the ruffled feathers of his valued customer, Huw offers Hortense her choice of dragons to take for her own-and, of course, she chooses Skydancer to spite Cara. That ends badly too, and Cara ends up rescuing Skydancer (and flying him in the process). Large portions of the book are devoted to the workaday stable duties at a "dragon farm" and to the day of the big competition-it is in both of these sections that the similarities to horse fiction are particularly strong. But the element of the fantastic, a nifty die-cut cover and Marklew's exuberant pencil illustrations should endear this book to girls who dream of riding great, beautiful creatures-of one sort or another. Ages 9-12. (May)
Finn's GoingTom Kelly. Greenwillow, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-121453-0
Ten-year-old Danny narrates this puzzling story about a family thrown into emotional turmoil by the sudden death of a child-Danny's identical twin, Finn. Danny's first method of coping is to cease talking altogether ("I thought if they couldn't tell who I was, they couldn't tell who was lost either"). He then skips school and boards a train to run away, certain that every time his grieving parents look at him, they are reminded of his brother's death. Despite the poignancy of this premise, the story fails to convince, and the slow, random musings of the first 100 pages may make this a non-starter for youngsters. The narrator's voice comes across both too wise ("The only thing I know for sure is if [God] is sitting up in heaven or wherever and just watching then he needs a thump. Sitting and watching it happen and not doing anything about it is almost exactly as bad as making it happen in the first place") and overly juvenile. The humor is scatological-scary things are called PBTMs ("Potential Brown Trouser Moments") and much is made of the pleasures of "weeing" into the sea. Kelly, a playwright, keeps the pages turning by stingily parsing out the details of the accident that led to the boy's death. A surprise ending leaves it unclear which twin has in fact died and ultimately feels manipulative. Ages 10-14. (May)
The Marvelous EffectTroy CLE. S&S, $14.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-4169-3958-0
Troy CLE's debut novel, originally self-published, has its heart is in the right place, but unfortunately often gets bogged down by an overwrought narrative. Seventh-grader Louis Proof receives an invitation to an exclusive, hidden playground called the JunkYard JunkLot. Once there, he discovers a subterranean playground filled with video games, pizza and skateboard half-pipes. Louis is spooked by two pairs of phantom eyes he sees while playing a larger-than-life car racing games. Soon after, he falls into a coma for three months, and when he wakes up the world appears to have gone mad: parents don't act like themselves, kids start disappearing and reappearing, and fire hydrants spray cookies and ice cream. Louis learns he is becoming a Celestial-like Entity ("Close to perfection, but not quite," says Timothy, a supernatural mentor to Louis) and he gains powerful abilities that make him a threat to the Galonious Imperial Evil, who has crossed over from the "thought dimension" with his army of Crims to free everyone on earth from all responsibilities. There is a profound message at the book's core-that selfish desires to do only what pleases oneself are among the darkest evils imaginable-but it's buried fairly deep beneath a profusion of arcane alien names and too-cute direct asides to the reader. ("Will L. Proof really be able to put a stop to all this? Do you want him to stop it?") The urban setting and characters of CLE's world may attract fantasy fans and bring new ones to the fold, but they might struggle to comprehend it once they arrive. Ages 10-up. (May)
Beauty Shop for Rent: ...fully equipped, inquire within Laura Bowers. Harcourt, $17 (336p) ISBN 978-0-15-205764-0
Fourteen-year-old Abbey Garner, the star of Bowers's debut novel, has lived with her great-grandmother Granny Po since her mother abandoned her three years earlier. Abbey believes the women in her family are cursed because, starting with Granny Po, each had a baby by age 17. ("Not only did the women in my family inherit overly fertile eggs, they each married men who were total, complete, and absolute duds.") Abbey is determined to avoid the same fate; instead, she intends to become a millionaire by age 35. Working at her grandmother's beauty shop and on her neighbor's horse farm, Abbey is well on her way to her financial goal, yet she still hopes to be reunited with her mother. Then Gena Hopkins breezes into town and rents Granny Po's beauty shop, transforming it into a posh day spa and giving Abbey a new job and an ambitious, entrepreneurial role model. During a rare visit, Abbey's mother promises they'll be reunited as soon as she can afford a down payment on a house. Reluctantly, Abbey hands over her savings, but she soon discovers her mother has deceived her. Teens will find Abbey's emotional turmoil rings true, as does the reason behind her final act of forgiveness. But it's the multigenerational friendships-the feisty, sniping conversations with Granny Po and her close circle of friends, "The Widows," brim with humor-that make Bowers's first novel a delight. Ages 12-up. (May)
Does My Head Look Big in This?Randa Abdel-Fattah. Scholastic/Orchard, $16.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-439-91947-0
With an engaging narrator at the helm, Abdel-Fattah's debut novel should open the eyes of many a reader. Headstrong and witty, 16-year-old Amal, an Australian-Muslim-Palestinian ("That means I was born an Aussie and whacked with some seriously confusing identity hyphens") decides during winter break from her posh private school that she's ready to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, fulltime, as a testament to her faith. Amal knows she will face discrimination by classmates and misinformed people but she is committed to her decision; her parents are initially concerned, but ultimately rally behind her. Their worries, in fact, are well-founded: Amal attracts her share of stares and taunts both at school and around town, but she finds strength, not only from her convictions, but from her close-knit group of friends, who for various reasons-being Japanese, Jewish, nerdy or body-conscious-are perceived as being outside "the norm." As Amal struggles with her identity in a post-9/11 world ("Do you have any idea how it feels to be me, a Muslim, today? I mean, just turn on the television, open a newspaper.... It feels like I'm drowning in it all"), her faith-and an array of ever-ready quips-help her navigate an often-unforgiving world. Using a winning mix of humor and sensitivity, Abdel-Fattah ably demonstrates that her heroine is, at heart, a teen like any other. This debut should speak to anyone who has felt like an outsider for any reason. Ages 12-up. (May)
Epic Conor Kostick. Viking , $17.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-670-06179-2
Irish author Kostick's powerful debut imagines an agrarian world where violence is illegal, except within a massive computer game that provides the economic and governmental structure for society. When they're not working in the salt mines of New Earth, everyone spends their time in the online game, Epic, accumulating resources and completing quests. Erik is frustrated both with the game and with his father, Harald, who refuses to play. Harald does eventually appear in the arena to demand more solar panels for his community, but his appearance unearths a secret in his past, and he is sent into exile. Erik finds a loophole that allows him to defeat a red dragon, making him one of the wealthiest players in the game; suddenly he is a threat to Central Allocations, a team of powerful players that are the world's de facto rulers, even though they do not fully understand the system they are manipulating. As the game becomes self-aware, there are whispers of a revolution among those who would use the game's technology for conversations and elections rather than endless fighting. Kostick manages to aim his allegory at two separate targets: the pointless wastefulness of a government too big to correct its course or even know its true nature, and, on a slightly more trivial note, the waste of time gamers spend in their online "second lives." The elegant conclusion will linger with readers. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)
Alex Unlimited: The Vosarak CodeDan Jolley. Tokyopop/Pop Fiction, $7.99 paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4278-0122-7
Jolley, penning the first original novel for Tokyopop's Pop Fiction prose imprint, starts things off with a bang. Eighteen-year-old Alexandra Benno, a naïve and emotionally immature teenager, has grown up under the protection of the Bureau of General Operations, a clandestine organization based in the nation's capital. Despite outward appearances, Alexandra is exceptionally gifted-she possesses the ability, through intense concentration, to summon versions of herself from alternate realities. These replicas are specialists in a vast array of arenas, from hostage negotiation to theoretical physics. Additionally, they are-invariably-gorgeous, worldly and the center of attention once they arrive, leaving Alex to stew on the sidelines. The latest replica Alex summons is Rachel (duplicates Alexes are referred to by their middle names), an expert on a dead language known as Vosarak. An artifact containing both Vosarak and Aramaic-a Rosetta stone of sorts-has been stolen, and Alex convinces her superiors to let her actively participate in this mission. Alex and Rachel soon discover that Vosarak has the ability to affect machinery and the human mind, and SKAR, the criminal organization behind the theft, plans to use the relic to control the human race telepathically. The breakneck pace and the cinematic quality of Jolley's writing should keep action fans turning the pages of this first installment in a planned series. Ages 13-up. (May)
