Children's Book Reviews: Week of 6/1/2009

In his debut picture book, Berger, a British animator and cartoonist for the Guardian newspaper, introduces Bridget, a hyperkinetic and highly imaginative heroine. Yearning for a pet unicorn (she plans to name it Thunderhooves), Bridget is primed to believe that a huge package delivered to her house is that very same animal. After wreaking domestic havoc (she litters the kitchen with Styrofoam peanuts), she's crushed to discover that the package contains only a cuckoo clock—until she spots a ladybug that has hitchhiked on the knickknack. Berger has an animator's eye for action, and his heroine is especially appealing whenever she's in motion (she gets dressed in a whirlwind and races down the stairs accompanied by a truly ripping onomatopoeia, “SPIZZOOOOM!!”). But while Bridget is undeniably pert with her floppy short hairdo and red jumper, as a force of nature she's a bit tame. What's more, readers may find it difficult to believe that this strong-minded girl is truly assuaged by an insect pet—even if the ladybug is “much less skittery than a pet mouse.” Ages 3–5. (June)

Where does a tiny dog find just the right decor for his hollowed-out-bone house? Why, the “teeny-weeny department” at a huge store downtown, of course! Such is the premise of this sweet and silly picture book that introduces a sunny pup of small size but big personality. Itty Bitty, a tan-colored dog not even as tall as a blade of grass, just wants to feel comfy in his new digs. A spread that shows him speeding down the road on his shopping trip, riding on a tricycle fashioned out of a walnut shell, is laugh-out-loud funny. Bell's (Bee-Wigged) crisp acrylic and ink artwork features blocks of color and simple stylized shapes on grainy, speckled backgrounds. Itty Bitty is reminiscent of a character Ed Emberley might create in one of his drawing books—a square body, triangle head and stick legs. But his pinpoint eyes, gentle smile and frequent exclamations of delight (“Satisfactory!”) give him lots of warmth. Ages 3–7. (June)

In this rodent screwball comedy, a boy mouse named Tully and a girl mouse named Frill meet cute while fleeing a rapacious cat. Tully is so smitten that he can think of nothing but proposing, even when the cat is breathing down their necks; Frill stays focused on the here and now, thus ensuring that the couple survive to celebrate their wedding on the final page. Although Chaconas's (Baby's Song) heroine would have benefited from a more forceful personality (she's more June Allyson than Katharine Hepburn), the text is breezy enough to keep the action bouncing along, while the sturdy, recurring narrative motif—proposal, chase, recovery—should tickle readers' sense of anticipation (a refrain tees up every chase: “Frill didn't say no. She didn't say yes. She didn't say maybe”). As always, Masse (The Princess Who Had Almost Everything) employs a spectacular sense of burnished color. The images never quite take off—the cat feels flat, and the protagonists are overly coy—though the painterly, canvas-textured renderings, while dampening the action somewhat, lend an air of vintage storybook romance. Ages 3–8. (June)

“Mister, you've got crazy hair,” Bonnie, a girl in a tank top, tells the narrator, whose dark hair twists and tangles across the spreads. (Are they strangers? Relatives? McKean's masklike faces make it hard to tell.) “In my hair/ Gorillas leap,/ Tigers stalk,/ And ground sloths sleep,” the man tells her. Cockatoos, explorers, hot-air balloons, pirate ships and more—“These await/ The ones who dare/ Navigate my crazy hair.” McKean blends line drawing, paint and closeup images of hair to convey the dizzying variety of life within the man's locks. Even the text participates in the mayhem: lines of type swirl, switch fonts, and swell and shrink for emphasis. When bossy Bonnie offers to tame the man's unruly mop with her comb, he warns, “Miss, just be aware/ This is really crazy hair,” but it's too late; she meets a Roald Dahlesque end, hauled deep into a new world, “safe inside my crazy hair.” While some may find the tale's intensity off-putting, fans of Gaiman and McKean's (The Wolves in the Walls) twisted humor will welcome this lighter-than-usual addition. Ages 4–8. (June)

Jarka channels the Cartoon Network aesthetic to the hilt with this debut story of a boy in touch with his inner canine. Donning a dog costume with huge floppy ears, Peter excitedly sticks his head out the window during car rides, fetches his father's slippers (causing Dad to wonder if maybe there might be an advantage to his son's obsession) and even eats his own homework. Readers will be disappointed that Peter caves to parental pressure in the end (“Maybe he should be a boy again like everyone wanted”) and will probably see the easy-out ending coming from a mile away. But the cartooning is good manic fun, and the exaggerated characters, despite their overwrought reactions to almost everything, feel grounded in reality. Jarka, unlike W.C. Fields, is clearly someone who loves working with both dogs and small children. Ages 4–8. (June)

Goodrich (A Creature Was Stirring), who has worked on Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille, tells a story that tips its hat not only to the Pixar/Disney tropes of misunderstood, unlikely heroes but also to The Story of Ferdinand. When the critter (who has reclusiveness running through his DNA) takes up residence in the top half of a discarded, sternly muscular action figure, he becomes the inadvertent rescuer of a flounder that's caught under a lobster trap. Crab isn't driven by an awakened sense of civic virtue, but rather by the tasty smell of the trap's bait. Happy with his lot in life, he chooses anonymity over celebrity, allowing the other sea creatures to believe that the action figure is responsible. With watercolor and pencil, Goodrich beautifully conveys the feeling of sunlight penetrating the blue-green depths, and the goggle-eyed cluelessness of most of the creatures winks at readers without undermining the story. The narration is rather bland and literal, but the visual point of view is so strong and reassuringly familiar that children probably won't notice. Ages 6–10. (June)

Yoo (Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds) spotlights a famous Chinese-American actress from the golden days of Hollywood. Growing up poor in Los Angeles's Chinatown, Anna May Wong was fascinated with the local movie scene. “She regularly skipped school to watch the action on the set and ask questions about filmmaking.” Lin Wang's (A Single Red Thread) elegant paintings in muted hues capture the actress's emotions in her expressive eyes framed by dark bangs. Full-page spreads showcase her stylish garb—snazzy flapper attire or traditional Chinese dress—and her early-20th-century surroundings. The conversational narrative uses many descriptive vignettes from her life (e.g., a girlhood visit to the movie theater, a trip to China) to briskly move the story from her youth to her early movie career. Peppered throughout are examples of the racism she experienced (“Movie studios forbade actors and actresses of color to kiss their white costars”). Always countering these are Anna May's responses, at first her strong feelings and, later, her decision to only portray roles that didn't denigrate Chinese-Americans. A fascinating account of the life of a determined actress. Ages 6–11. (June)

Kane's original debut stars 12-year-old Olive, who lives in an Australian seaside suburb with Mog, her hippie-turned-high-profile-barrister mother. Olive is shy, excessively pale—“the exact colour of chicken loaf”—and obsessed with symmetry and pairs. Mog has “zip” to do with Olive's father, whom she left when Olive was an infant and who bears the intriguing name of WilliamPetersMustardSeed. When Olive's only friend, Mathilda, abandons her for a popular girl, Olive is distraught, but then Pip bursts into her life. While physically identical to her, Pip is everything Olive is not, and Olive is simultaneously horrified and thrilled by her. They realize they are twins separated at birth and soon Olive notices Pip in all her childhood photos. Readers will catch on that something is strange when nobody other than Olive acknowledges or interacts with Pip. But Pip's courage inspires Olive to search for their father and to take control of her life in other ways. The somewhat distant narrative voice combined with Pip's unexplained existence will puzzle some readers, but will appeal to those with a taste for eccentric charm. Ages 8–12. (June)

Apolonia “Lina” Flores is a brave Latina girl trying to restore her life in Corpus Christi, Tex., after her mother's death. Her dad is a single-minded English teacher and bibliophile who has withdrawn to the point of disappearance since the tragedy (“Sometimes when I dream about him, I see a body, a neck, and a book where his face should be,” Lina says). Despite her frustrations with her father, sixth-grader Lina is determined to create her own world of fun. “People who think socks are just for feet have no imagination,” she says (she collects them and uses them for “coasters, bookmarks, wallets, and dusters”). Alongside Vanessa (her “best friend since forever”), Lina gains confidence by playing sports and relying on her own ingenuity (she dresses up as “red tide” one Halloween). The story is saturated with Spanish traditions, such as the making of “cascarones” (confetti-filled eggs), and the chapters begin with “dichos,” truisms that help Lina feel connected to her mother. Employing lovely metaphors and realistic dialogue, adult author López (Sofia's Saints) delicately displays the power of optimism and innovation during difficult times. Ages 8–12. (June)

Merchandising icon Emily the Strange—no stranger to T-shirts, accessories and Hot Topic stores—becomes much more three-dimensional in this novel from creator Reger and coauthor Gruner (the pair has also written Emily comic books). Designed to look like Emily's ever-present notebook, the book opens as the 13-year-old finds herself in the very beige town of Blackrock, with no memories of who she is, how she got there or if she has any family (“Got myself so worked up into fake-missing people who might not even exist that I even cried a little fake tear”). She gleans clues to her identity (such as an affinity for fixing machines) and gets caught up in a power struggle over control of the town, before discovering her connection to Blackrock (with some missteps and memory-related restarts along the way). Emily's diary-style narrative includes plenty of lists and her verbal quirks (“Flathering bogyarks”) are amusing. But it's her sarcastic, nerdy individualism—with a hint of buried sweetness—that will make readers want to spend more time with her. Ages 12–up. (June)

The author presents an authentic and tender story about a boy trying to cope after years of sexual abuse. Diego's stepfather molested and raped Diego for years—something Diego alone knows, now that his stepfather has committed suicide. To deal with his anger and pain, Diego cuts himself with a sharp shark's tooth and strikes out violently against his peers, landing him in court. Only when he is paired with a sympathetic probation officer can Diego finally admit his secret. Teens may find the shark metaphor that runs through Diego's dream life heavy-handed, but Sanchez (The God Box) does a masterful job explaining the protagonist's complicated emotions as he deals with his past. He worries that the abuse will turn him into a molester or make him gay—and he is angry and afraid when he finds out that the probation officer he trusted is gay. He even feels grief when he finally is able to say good-bye to the stepfather who abused him. All in all, this is a careful examination of a much neglected topic. Ages 12–up. (June)

An evocative setting, an air of mystery and some intriguing love interests for Miranda, a 16-year-old budding scientist, will make Friedman's (The Year My Sister Got Lucky) novel irresistible to romance fans. It all begins when Miranda's mother inherits a house on the remote Georgia island of Selkie, a place teeming with legends of merfolk and sea beasts. While helping her mother prepare the estate for sale, Miranda is thrown off guard by her discovery of family secrets and the attention she receives from two boys: Southern gentleman T.J., whose father was once engaged to Miranda's mother, and native islander Leo, who seems to carry traits of the mermen Miranda has discovered in an ancient book of island myths. Miranda notices changes both in herself, as she tries to sort out her feelings for her suitors, and in her mother, “the harried surgeon,” whose affection for her old beau appears to be rekindled. The effect of the island on the two women is movingly and convincingly drawn, effectively illustrating Einstein's notion that “the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” Ages 12–up. (June)

Awash in a bruised and aching adolescent sensibility, Weetzie Bat author Block's new novel doesn't waste a word. Doubles abound: doppelgängers, past lives and dual worlds in which poetic truths can exist alongside the banal details of modern teenage life. Never quite at home—even in her own home—Bee is jolted out of her social isolation by a nighttime apparition of a girl who looks just like her: “ 'You are me,' the girl said. Then she was gone.” Seeking to discover the meaning of this vision, Bee throws her lot in with two other outcasts at school (one thinks she is a reincarnated slave, the other, possibly an alien). For a time, their new friendship buoys all three (“She had, if only briefly, belonged,” Bee thinks. “The world she had never loved before had turned to gold”). Still, hints indicate that Bee's alter ego is intent on reclaiming her place, and Bee grows mysteriously ill. Fragments of poems by Yeats and Shelley are eerily apropos (and may provide an irresistible invitation for further reading). Haunting and thought provoking. Ages 14–up. (June)

High school senior Karl Shoemaker just wants to be normal. Since fourth grade, Karl has been unable to escape the stigma of the Madman Underground, a school therapy group for screwed-up kids (he earned the nickname “Psycho” after cutting up a classmate's rabbit in seventh grade). But with a drunken, hippie mom who believes that Nixon is in cahoots with aliens and who steals Karl's hard-earned money, a horde of pet cats that leave droppings everywhere and a claustrophobic hometown that still worships his deceased father (the former mayor), Karl's quest for normalcy seems doomed. In his YA debut, Barnes masterfully turns what should be a depressing tale about teenage misfits who are regularly abused, molested or neglected into a strangely heartwarming story about a kid who refuses to suck the lemons life keeps handing him, the bonds of friendship and the lengths a son will go to protect his mother. The language is R-rated, but with Breakfast Club–like realism, Barnes delivers scenes from which, like a car wreck, readers will be unable to look away. Ages 14–up. (June)

Mah (Chinese Cinderella) brings East to West in this concise, reader-friendly history of China that contains more than 80 photographs of famous figures and artifacts. Spanning 2,000 years of strife and victories, the book mainly focuses on China's six dynasties, which are introduced in chronological order and are followed by brief portraits of post-dynasty leaders. Straightforward narrative sheds light on the rise and fall of each empire, defining leaders' accomplishments as well as their acts of tyranny. Of Qin Shi-huang, China's first emperor, Mah states: “Hard-working and disciplined, he read 55 kilograms (120 pounds) of reports written on bamboo slips every day.” (And because he wanted Chinese history to begin with his rule: “He ordered all books written before him to be burned. Any scholar who dared to object was buried alive.”) Brief sections that explain Chinese attitudes, superstitions, inventions (including gun powder, porcelain and paper) and even the role of palace eunuchs are both entertaining and enlightening. Complete with maps, a time line, index and extensive bibliography, this accessible work will be an invaluable resource for students and young history buffs. Ages 12–up. (June)

Here are some fun board book picks for summer.

An expressive, sky-blue bunny praises comfy slippers in this sweet board book. “Slippers are for toes to snuggle,” she says, as she nestles one of her slippers (which features a red heart) against her cheek. “Slippers are for creeping softly,” as her feet swim in a large purple pair. Meanwhile, four kittens play along until they fall asleep in the slippers (“Slippers are for kittens to sleep in”). Also available: Shoes and Boots. Up to age 3. (July)

Part of the Curious Baby series featuring Rey's Curious George, this counting book comes with a built-in abacus-style set of five wooden beads, which can be used in tandem with the pictures. As Curious George meets other animals, readers can count the characters pictured by sliding the beads: as George holds out his hat to a mother cow and calf, the text reads: “Three meet up with a moo.” Finally, all of the animals appear together (“How many came out to play?”). While the beads are cleverly incorporated into the book, for youngest readers they will get more use as a rattle. Up to age 3. (June)

This board book bids good night to sea creatures amid crisp, soothing images of stars, seaweed, bubbles and waves. “Night is dark, baby shark,” says a little, orange fish to the nonthreatening shark, adding, “Make no fuss, octopus,” to a haughty, pink cephalopod on a later spread. In the end, a large yellow goldfish kisses the little fish good night: “Time for sleep in the deep, deep, deep.” Utterly serene from start to finish, with the bonus of introducing some interesting sea creatures. Up to age 3. (June)

The popular Uglydolls franchise expands into the Ugly Boards series, featuring the diminutive monsters. Though the book is foremost an abecedarian, the collaborators introduce mininarratives and cause-and-effect scenarios as well. On one spread, M (“more sugar”) and N (“nonstop candy”) result in a trip to the dentist's chair for a blue monster (“O is for open up!”). The sometimes sardonic humor will likely be lost on the youngest readers and some of the vocabulary (infirmary, ventilated, overdrawn) will need explanation, but it's a good antidote to more generic alphabet books. Also available: 123 4 U. Up to age 4. (July)

Adorned in chic attire and ready for overseas excitement, babies travel in high style in the latest addition to the Urban Babies Wear Black series. “Jet-set babies speak foreign languages” reads one spread showing three babies of different nationalities conversing, “gagagoogoo”). Elsewhere, a baby poses for the camera of her “papa-razzi” and another serves refreshments to her “friends all over the world” (stuffed animals). A breezy blend of cute and cool. Ages 1–3. (June)

Rendered in soft pastels, a sparkly fairy named Lily says good night to her friends who are nestled behind flaps in clouds, flowers and castles textured with glitter. “Is Jasmine fast asleep already?” Lily asks (pulling on the peach-colored flap reveals Jasmine holding “Lily's teddy”). In the end, “the moon is shining overhead” and “all the fairies are in bed.” Fairy enthusiasts will love the air of dreamy enchantment. Ages 3–5. (June)

Annie and her doll Raggedy Ann take a trip to the beach in this new book in the Raggedy Ann and Me! series. On the sturdy board book pages (the book can be carried via a die-cut handle) the story frames a question: “Annie has forgotten to pack her favorite beach toy. What is Annie's favorite beach toy?” The answer is found by removing a cardboard piece, in this case a ball, with the corresponding word shown underneath. After a day in the sun and sand, Raggedy Ann enjoys her “favorite treat”—a press-out popsicle. The interactive component adds dimension to this basic lesson in objects. Ages 3–5. (May)