Young Books

Gantos! Raschka! Whaley! More!

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of good articles recapping the results of the children's book awards announcements this morning. I've been with 4-year-olds all day, but I look forward to sitting down a bit later and reading over all this more carefully.

From The New York Times:
January 23, 2012, 9:08 AM

Tale of Comic Adventures Wins Newbery Medal

By JULIE BOSMAN

A sly, gothic and quasi-autobiographical tale of a boy who is grounded by his parents and sent to type obituaries for a neighbor, leading to a string of comic adventures, won the John Newbery Medal on Monday for the year’s most outstanding contribution to children’s literature ...

From School Library Journal:

UPDATED Gantos, Raschka Awarded Newbery, Caldecott

By SLJ Staff
January 23, 2012

This story was updated at 2:45 PM.

The audience roared its approval this morning in Dallas after hearing that author Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar) won the Newbery Medal and Chris Raschka's A Ball for Daisy (Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks) nabbed the Caldecott Medal. Raschka's book was a favorite going into the American Library Association's (ALA) Youth Media Awards this morning...

-Rebecca Young

Who will win?

2012-01-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

Monday morning is a big one in the children's book world. It's when all the major U.S. awards for young people's literature – including the Newbery and the Caldecott – will be announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting.

Tonight might be a restless one for authors and illustrators. A number of them will be receiving a pre-dawn phone call with the news that their book has won an award. Unlike other awards we're familiar with, there are no lists of nominees. The committees for each award consider every book in that category published in the past year.

The ALA meeting is in Dallas this year and the award announcements begin at 7:30 a.m. Central Time. That's 5:30 my time. The ALA website runs a live feed and normally I'd be at my computer watching it. Last year I posted pretty quick updates as awards were announced. But this year, believe it or not, I have something else I have to do at that time. I'll try to get the word out as soon as I can, though. If you're crazy like me you can go here and watch it yourself. I'll warn you, though, the librarians won't be wearing couture.

Each year there's a great deal of speculation over who will win the Newbery Medal, for distinguished contribution to children's literature, and the Caldecott Medal, for the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. There are mock Newbery and Caldecott votes by adults and children and everyone has fun making predictions.

Then the committees make their decisions (already made by now) and often the winners are a complete surprise.

Once in a while, not so much. Jerry Pinkney's Caldecott in 2010 for The Lion and the Mouse surprised no one. But last year when Clare Vanderpool won the Newbery Medal for Moon Over Manifest, it took weeks for libraries that didn't have the book to get it because her publisher was taken off guard and had to print more copies.

This year the book I've seen mentioned most often as likely for the Newbery Medal is Okay for Now, by Gary D. Schmidt. I read it a couple of weeks ago and it is indeed a special book.

Life is tough for Doug Swieteck, a minor character in Schmidt's Newbery honor book The Wednesday Wars. It's the summer of 1968 and his family has moved to tiny Marysville, N.Y. Doug calls it "the dump" and makes up his mind to be miserable. We soon learn he might have good reason for the lousy attitude. One big brother is in Vietnam, the other bullies him and his dad's a drunk. But as Doug begins to grow on us, the town begins to grow on him. He discovers Audubon prints in the library and a librarian who helps copy the prints and realize a talent as an artist. He meets a cool girl whose dad gives him a Saturday job. And once school starts, he finds teachers who offer him some desperately needed academic help.

The plot is lively, featuring humor and heartbreak, baseball and the first moonwalk. The characters, both major and minor are terrific. Doug is a winning protagonist. But even the people you hate at first get under your skin by the end.

We'll know by tomorrow if Gary Schmidt has won a Newbery Medal or another Newbery Honor.

-Rebecca Young

Beware those origami dragons

2011-12-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

"The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter," a clip from Kirkus Reviews trumpets on the cover of Lisa McMann's new book The Unwanteds. Those are a couple of mighty big book jackets to fill, but after reading this dystopian fantasy, I can see the reviewer's point. I didn't pick up the book based on that blurb, but on the rave review from a fifth grader at my school.
As the novel opens, a group of 13-year-olds are set to be "purged" from the land of Quill. This is an event that happens yearly. The young people are divided into three groups. The Wanteds, those deemed the strongest and most intelligent, will be sent to university. The Necessaries, judged to be average but harmless, are kept to perform menial labor. The Unwanteds, children who have been caught expressing hints of creativity, are sent to their deaths.
We discover by Page 20 (it's also on the book flap, so I'm not spoiling anything) that instead of being eliminated this year (and for many years) the Unwanteds have been saved by magician Marcus Today. He brings them to Artimé, his wondrous haven, where creativity is encouraged and nurtured.
The tale focuses on a pack of boys and girls. Alex, who's the Harry Potterest of the bunch, was purged because he drew in the mud. His artistic talent flourishes in Artimé. He's also a twin, but his brother is a Wanted. That provides Alex with intense heartache and sets up danger later on.
Sticking with the Harry Potter/Hunger Games theme, Lani is a bit of a cross between Hermoine and Katniss.
Quill is a gray, dreary protectionist state run by the evil High Priest Justine. Justine has cut Quill off from all contact or trade with any other people, so the infrastructure and machinery is decrepit.
But Mr. Today and the other leaders of Artimé (who include animals and magical creatures) are convinced that their community will be discovered one day and a battle is inevitable. The children receive magical trainingto prepare
The weapons are quite wonderful. They're based on the artistic talents of the children and teachers. Origami dragons burst into real flame when they hit their targets. Clay balls coat their victims rendering them unable to move. Actors can recite soliloquies that make their victims feel magical daggers plunge into their chests. Most of the weapons are meant to slow the enemy, not kill.
The Unwanteds, while not as complex as Harry Potter, is a good bet for 9- to 12-year-olds who are on their umpteenth reading of the Potter books and need something fun and fresh. It's also a good choice for those tweens who hear the Hunger Games hype and aren't ready for the stark violence of that series. This is a far gentler read.
The Unwanteds is the first in a series.

Here's a cute video of Author McMann talking to Max Burkholder – Max on Parenthood – about the book. He "really, really, really loved it."

-Rebecca Young

The Muppet master

2011-12-07T13:31:00.001-08:00

In his rave review of The Muppets, Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers points out that Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and the other Muppets haven't had a new screen presence in many years. "So the challenge Disney has with The Muppets is to show a new generation what the fuss was all about," he writes.
His verdict: "Slam-dunk."

No doubt many of you have taken the kids to The Muppets Movie, or plan to do so over winter break. I went on Saturday and I loved it enough that I might go again with my big kids when they get home for the holidays.

The kids who love the movie and through it are reintroduced to Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal happily have a canon of older Muppet films to discover now. They also surely grew up on Sesame Street and know the Muppets in that way.
In the midst of Muppet mania, youngsters should know about the creative genius behind the beloved characters.

So after you see the movie, track down a copy of Katherine Krull's Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played With Puppets – a terrific new picture book biography with expressive paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.

Henson grew up in a big old farmhouse along the Mississippi River. He had a bucolic childhood with his brother Paul, Krull tells us. With no TV, entertainment was of the imagination-stretching variety. The boys fished, swam, watched fireflies, sang, told stories, watched wildlife and daydreamed. Jim filled notebooks with imagined creatures.

At age 13, Jim had his first cartoon published and at age 16, he had job on a television puppet show. By college he had his own TV show starring a puppet named Sam. Krull recounts the creation of Kermit and other Henson and his future wife Jane Nebel began calling their puppet creations Muppets - a combination of puppet and marionette.

Krull also describes Henson's life changing moment - the day Joan Ganz Cooney brought him in on the ground floor of her new educational television show for preschoolers. That was Sesame Street, of course.

Not just a story for Muppet-lovers, it's also an inspirational tale for anyone who has a different vision that the typical.

Not too scary

2011-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Each year there are new Halloweenish books, but as a school librarian I find myself returning to a few favorites to read aloud to my primary-grade students. (I work at an independent school where we can still celebrate Halloween.)

Room on the Broom is such fun as a read-aloud that I can read it three times in a row, to my PreK class, my kindergartners and my first graders and not get weary of the bouncy rhyming text. I can read it three times the next week, too, and have just as much fun, oh, the kids do too. The writer of Room on the Broom ($6.99, Puffin) is Julia Donaldson and the illustrator is Axel Scheffler, a magical pairing that has graced a number of other picture books as well.
I always warn the littler ones that there's one part that's a little scary. And they usually tell me at the end: "That wasn't scary!"

The witch isn't a bit menacing. She has a cat and a black hat, but she also has "long ginger hair in a braid down her back." And when three helpful creatures ask in succession: "Is there room on the broom for a dog/bird/frog like me?"

The text is packed with delightful repetition. Three times, the witch loses something, hairbow, hat, wand. Three times, the broom lands for a search. Three times one of the aforementioned animals helps find the missing items.

Listeners will soon be delightedly repeating this refrain as the broom takes off with new passenger and recovered item: "...and whoosh! they were gone."

The broom breaks and a threatening red dragon enters the picture. No big spoilers here, but there are a couple more exciting and funny twists before everyone whooshes! off on a new broom.

Boo Bunny, by Kathryn O. Galbraith, ($6.99, Sandpiper) is perfect for preschoolers who might be approaching Halloween with a bit of trepidation.

The tale starts with one nervous little bunny out trick-or-treating for the first time.

Jeff Mack provides marvelous, vivid illustrations.

On the opening page, there's a small white rabbit on a mostly black background, just a bit of violet-blue sky peeking between the trees. The bunny's eyes are wide; he clutches a pumpkin-shaped treat holder.

The first words: "One shy bunny. One dark night."

The shadows are full of spooky sounds and movement. In a moment of panic, the white bunny crashes into an equally terrified scared brown bunny.

"One bunny quivers. One bunny shivers."

Tentatively, they join forces and together they are just brave enough to try trick-or-treating at one house.

That teamwork results in treats, a new friendship and huge leaps of confidence - literally.

The bunnies are shown bounding exuberantly over the last few pages.

"Two giant hops. One loud Whoooooo!

"Two bunnies giggle. 'Whooo-booo to you!'"

Mack's vivid blues, violets, pinks, greens and black are unexpected and effective.

It's a story that will hit home with many a toddler and preschooler. Halloween is often scary before it's fun

The costumes for the two bunny characters - green mask and cape and bumblebee - are adorable and preschool-appropriate. Their faces are equally adorable and expressive.

In The Witch's Children, by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto, (Orchard Books) humor and sweetness trump horror.

"Look out," cry the pigeons, as they spy the witch's three cute kids entering the park on a windy day. Pigeons flutter into the trees; foxes run, squirrels scurry. They've had experience with these youngsters before.

It's fine until a little redheaded nonwitch named Gemma needs help. Her sailboat has blown into the middle of the pond. The eldest child helps out by changing Gemma into a frog so she can swim out to her boat. Good solution until she wants to be Gemma again. He doesn't know that part of the spell.

Then the middle child tries to fix things by changing the ice cream lady into a princess who kisses the frog. Only now Gemma is a prince. Pretty soon pigeons are footmen and trees are a castle.

Chaos rules until the youngest witch child pulls out the only bit of magic she knows.

"Mommy!" she bellows across a double-page spread.

The lovely witch mama swoops in on her broom, sets the park to rights, and mama and children fly off to eat cake on their roof.

This never fails to charm my 4- to 6-year-old audiences. The bad news - The Witch's Children appears to be out of print in the U.S. You can still get it in libraries, used - or as a paperback through AmazonUK, where it's not terribly pricey.

The Witch's Walking Stick, written and illustrated by Susan Meddaugh ($16, Houghton Mifflin) is a sweet- natured, Cinderella-like story in which a good girl triumphs over her cruel elder siblings and a nasty, has-been witch.

On a walk through the woods, the elderly witch is left fuming when a playful dog grabs her magic walking stick and runs off. Over the years, the witch used the stick for thousands of evil wishes. Its magic is nearly gone, but she still enjoyed her nasty little tricks, such as turning squirrels into goldfish.

On the run from her miserable life, young Margaret meets the witch, who's concocted a ruse. She's just a wobbly old lady who needs her walking stick. She'll give Margaret a reward to bring it back.

Margaret is sweet, but smart, too. She figures out the secret of the stick and borrows it to make her life a little better.

By the time the witch gets her stick back, Margaret's siblings have learned a lesson, the little girl no longer sleeps on straw, the magic is used up and the dog has a home. The illustrations are simple and expressive.

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie, written and illustrated by Denys Cazet ($17, Atheneum) is a hilarious, slightly scary ghost tale about Mr. Wilkerson, a grumpy, impatient old man who drops dead on Halloween night as he's just about to bite into his wife's perfect pumpkin pie. I save this for at least second grade.

Mrs. Wilkerson buries him in the backyard and moves away. On another Halloween night, the new residents of the Wilkerson House, Jack and his grandmother, are baking a pumpkin pie when a ghostly white wisp rises in the yard.

"Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkin pie! I must have one before I die!" the cranky ghost moans. "It must be perfect or a ghost I'll stay, and haunt this house and never, ever go awaaaaaaaay!"

Grandma invites him in, but he's a picky ghost and her first pie is far beneath his standards. He returns again and again, providing opportunities for funny repartee between ghost and grandma, who gives back just as good as she takes. It's a great read aloud with swirly, wild watercolor-and-pen illustrations. Children will enjoy joining the ghost's refrain. There's also a surprise ending.

Reviews of Boo Bunny, The Witch's Walking Stick and The Perfect Pumpkin Pie originally appeared in The News Tribune.

-Rebecca Young

Monday Monday

2011-09-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

Monday Is One Day
By Arthur A. Levine
Art by Julian Hector
Scholastic, 28 pages
$16.99, ages 3 to 8

It's Monday – a dreary rainy Monday where I live. For many 9-5 work-a-day folks it's the start of a long stretch until they can look forward to the long family days of the weekend.
According to the jacket flap, that was in Arthur Levine's mind when he developed the concept for his comforting and charming Monday Is One Day, which opens with the line: "The hardest part of going to work is being apart from you."
So "let's count the days till we're both at home."
Each day is marked by something special, puddle stomps, playing with a toy T. rex, helping dad pick out a special tie. Then it's the weekend and time for fun.
Hector's bright illustrations have a retro feel, but there's nothing retro about the families he depicts: multiracial, grandparents caring for a child, single mom, gay dads.

Books will always be valuable | SoundLife - The News Tribune

2011-05-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

Books will always be valuable | SoundLife - The News Tribune

My spring reviews in The News Tribune

2011-03-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

8 new books kids will love

For spring: Topics range from bunnies to baseball

REBECCA YOUNG; STAFF WRITER

LAST UPDATED: MARCH 20TH, 2011 12:32 AM (PDT)

The crocuses are out. Daylight-saving time has arrived again. It’s time to read about bunnies, gardens, baseball and the like in eight terrific new children’s books.

“Little White Rabbit” by Kevin Henkes: This book tells the story of a small bunny bursting with imagination and curiosity. As he explores, he muses. He hops through tall grass and wonders what it would be like to be green. On the next glorious two-page spread, the bunny and nearly everything around him – frog, cricket, lily pad, grass – are green. He hops beneath butterflies and “wonders what it would be like to flutter through the air.”

I did not know this

2011-02-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

(ABC photo/Carol Kaelson)

You can learn interesting stuff by reading children's literature blogs. The very famous actor James Franco ("127 Hours") is the son of very fine children's book writer/poet Betsy Franco (Birdsongs, Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails, Mathematickles!, A Curious Collection of Cats). Betsy Franco played his mom on "General Hospital." I've reviewed her books for The News Tribune. Maybe everyone knew this but me, but in case you didn't I'm clueing you in.

That lends a bit more credibility to the publishing of James Franco's book of short stories Palo Alto. Maybe he's not just another celebrity author; maybe he has the writing gene. I don't know, I haven't read it. Has anybody else?

Mirror, Mirror

2011-02-05T00:21:00.000-08:00

Mirror

By Jeannie Baker

Candlewick, 40 pages

$18.99, ages 4 to 8

Two books. Same title. Published the same year. Both thought-provoking.

The resemblance stops there.

Mirror by Jeanne Baker tells the story of a day in the lives of two families, one in Australia, the other in Morocco, North Africa.

You open the book to find two books in one. The Australian story reads from left to right, the Moroccan tale from right to left. Each nearly wordless tale begins in a cozy home, follows the father and son out on a shopping trip, then back home with their purchases. Not surprisingly there are many differences between the two cultures, but Baker has also made the two stories artfully mirror one another, both in broad concepts and in smaller details that readers will enjoy spotting.

Some scenes that at first glance appear worlds apart, on closer examination and discussion reveal fascinating similarities. The Australian father and son travel through traffic and construction to get to the hardware store. The Moroccan boy and his dad travel by donkey through desert and mountains to get to the village marketplace. But both routes are circuitous. One of the purchases the Australian boy and dad make is a "magic carpet" (made by the Moroccan family). Selling the carpet enables the other family to buy a computer (perhaps from a computer store pictured in the Australian city). At the end of the day, the Australian boy and his family sit on the carpet in front of a fire. He's drawn a picture of them flying off on together on a magic carpet over sand dunes and palm trees. The Moroccan boy and his dad and other family members are gathered around the new computer looking at Morocco surrounded by many other countries on a globe. So both families are transported by their purchases.

Baker's illustrations are beautiful and detailed collages.

Mirror

By Suzy Lee

Seven Footer Kids, 48 pages

$15.95, ages 4 to 8

This is another wordless "Mirror," but packed with powerful emotions and darker overtones than the first. A little girl hunches sad and and alone in a corner, then she discovers her reflection. At first she's shy, then goofy, then delighted. Dancing ensues, becoming ever more exuberant. There's a lovely spread, wild with lyrical swirls of black, yellow and orange. But then what's happening? The two images merge and disappear into the fold. After two blank pages they're back, but they are now moving independently. There's anger. For the first time the mirror becomes visible. Glass shatters. The girl is miserably alone again. Children will be puzzled, but that's clearly Lee's intent. There is much to discuss here. The low-key color scheme – mostly black, with touches of yellow and orange, and abundant white space, reinforces the deceptively simple story and complex emotional content.

Christmas flights of fancy

2010-12-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

Each year it seems there is a snowstorm of new Christmas books from publishers. Many are forgettable, but always there are some destined to stick around to become favorites. I included two (and one for Kwanzaa) in my News Tribune reviews linked below. Here are two more I didn't have space for.

The Christmas Giant
By Steve Light
Candlewick, 32 pages
$15.99, ages 4 to 8

Humphrey the giant and Leetree the elf are best friends who live and work for Santa at the North Pole. Their regular job is making wrapping paper. Humphrey handles the big rolls, while Leetree is in charge of detail work. Kids will enjoy the invention here. The elf a paint-dipped tricycle to stripe one roll of paper and walks wearing Christmas tree stamps to decorate another.

This year, Santa (who comes up to Humphrey's knee) gives the pair a special assignment – growing the holiday tree for Christmastown. They're excited and take the job seriously. All goes well until it's time to bring the big tree to Christmastown. Then a big mishap forces the friends to come up with a creative Plan B.

Light's pen-and-ink and pastel illustrations have the look of wood cuts. They add to the considerable charm of a tale that celebrates friendship, creativity – and, of course, Christmas.

Captain Sky Blue
By Richard Egielski
Scholastic, 32 pages
$17.95, ages 4 to 8

Rarely is a Christmas story packed with so much action. Captain Sky Blue begins beneath the Christmas tree when Jack meets "his best toy pal," a pilot named Sky and together they build an airplane kit that Santa brought. Quickly the the tale leaves the living room as airborne adventures begin. At Jack and Sky are together, but soon there's a "MAYDAY!"

Sky's plane is wrecked. He bails in a parachute, blows far from home into the ocean. A whale, iceberg and North Pole trip later, he helps pilot Santa's sleigh through another emergency and lands back at Jack's in time for the next Christmas.

Caldecott Medalist Egielski's illustrations are big, bold and exciting. He sprinkles the text with lots of colorful pilot lingo, such as "goon up" (screw up) and "boards out" (brake flaps extended). There's a glossary on the endpapers, but it's fun to read the story aloud once first and see if you can guess what's going on.

Kid-friendly books make great gifts | Books - The News Tribune

2010-11-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

Kid-friendly books make great gifts | Books - The News Tribune

The pie time of year

2010-11-23T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ugly Pie
By Lisa Wheeler
Harcourt, 32 pages
$16, ages 4 to 8

Not sure if it's close to Thanksgiving in Ol' Bear's woodland neighborhood. but whatever the calendar says, he wakes up this day with a powerful hunger for pie – "not just any pie. Ugly Pie." A check of kitchen reveals that the only ugly ingredient he has on hand is molasses, "so with a heap of hope and a hitch of his britches," he sets off to visit his neighbors.

Outside each house, a pleasing repetition comes into play. Ol' Bear's nose twitches and he says. "My-oh-my--oh-my. Do I smell Ugly Pie?"
Each neighbor has just baked another kind of beautiful pie – pumpkin, rhubarb, honey – and offers Ol' Bear a piece, but he's set on Ugly Pie. So the friends instead offer up whatever ugly ingredients they can scare up – wrinkled red raisins, sour green apples – and Ol' Bear continues his search.

As he walks he continues to sing a song that grows with each stop:
"Ruby raisins – not too dry,
sweet molasses, my-oh-my!
But I'm still itchin',
sniffin, wishin'
for some Ugly Pie!"

Eventually he realizes he's got exactly the right collection of ugly ingredients for a perfect Ugly Pie and commences to "a-choppin' and a-mixin.'"

The friends smell his pie and he's happy to share.

The rollicking text makes for a delightful read-aloud. (Maybe best not to be hungry when you do.) Wheeler's watercolor, acrylic and collage illustrations are enchanting. Ol' Bear is an endearingly rotund fellow. A great round belly bowls out between his red plaid shirt and blue jeans. He's no doubt gearing up for hibernation season. Children will enjoy following his journey through his neighborhood and spotting the small woodland creatures that abound.

Wheeler includes a recipe for Ugly Pie, which sounds delicious. I think I'll try it for Thanksgiving.

BOO!!

2010-10-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

Here are three good new Halloweenish books to help celebrate a holiday most beloved by children.

Ant and Honey Bee: A Pair of Friends at Halloween
By Megan McDonald
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Candlewick Press, 44 pages
$14.99, ages 7 to 10

This charming early chapter book tells the tale of two pals working to come up with a complementary pair of Halloween costumes. Ant has decided their usual pilgrim garb is too boring and itchy. They run through a series of ideas then come up with a brilliant one - a washer and dryer. A creative frenzy ensues, with cardboard boxes, cotton balls, toilet paper, ketchup and a pilgrim dress all put to use.

The third and last chapter - Trick or Treat - is laugh-out-loud funny as Ant and Honey Bee try to walk in their big boxes and their friends guess what they are. "A pair of dice." "Two chunks of Swiss cheese." "A couple of ice cubes." Ant and Honey Bee are frustrated – and to make matters worse it starts to rain.
They decide to go to their friend Cricket's house and as they are walking up the front steps, they discover that the rain has turned their cardboard costumes into a perfect beehive and anthill.
Whimsical illustrations by the talented G. Brian Karas complement a terrific story that celebrates friendship, creativity and resilience.

ALPHA OOPS! H Is for Halloween
By Alethea Kontis
Illustrated by Bob Kolar
Candlewick Press, 32 pages
$15.99, ages 4 to 8

This sequel to AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First revisits a theatrical troupe made up of letters who can't seem to keep themselves straight. This time the show is about Halloween and the letters dramatize word such as "witch," "vampire" and "goblin." But "a" for "apple" can't go on stage first because in a Halloween show, "H" must be the star of the show. After that, it's hard to make sense of who and what will appear on stage next.

But youngsters will love it all, as illustrated with vivid digital art by Bob Kolar, and with humor and interest added by side dialogue from the letters.

Bones
By Steve Jenkins
Scholastic, 32 pages
$16.99, ages 7 to 10

"Bones: Skeletons and How They Work" isn't strictly a Halloween book, but Steve Jenkins is one of the finest of all nonfiction book creators for younger children and I try not to miss a chance to let people know about him. (One favorite: Actual Size.) His illustrations are cut or torn paper and they are astounding in their beauty and ability to capture their subjects. His prose is simple, yet vivid and packed with fascinating information, just right for its intended audience.

Bones is a visual look at human and animal skeletons. Some spreads lay out various skeletal parts side-by-side, making it clear how an arm or forelimb, for example, is adapted to how a creature uses it. Another spread takes one bone, the femur, and explains why in a bird it is thin and hollow and in land animals it is often the longest bone in the body. Three exceptionally cool foldouts show an entire python skeleton; many skulls compared, and a human skeleton – after first showing every human bone unassembled. And there's much more.

New reviews in the News Tribune

2010-09-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

... and more

Here's the link:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/12/1338044/new-childrens-books-for-start.html

From School Library Journal

2010-09-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

YALSA's List of Readalikes For 'Mockingjay'

By SLJ Staff August 30, 2010

If your kids are wild about Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (2008)--including Mockingjay (2010, both Scholastic), the newly-released final book in the trilogy--there are plenty of other titles with similar themes that are sure to help librarians, parents, and educators keep teens reading.

While Mockingjay brings an end to the story of a dystopian society in which teens are forced to participate in televised fights to the death, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has a list of books that are sure to capture the attention of Katniss and Peeta fans. ...

Here's a link to the full story:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/886522-312/yalsas_list_of_readalikes_for.html.csp

The strong

2010-08-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors
Poetry by Joyce Sidman
Illustrations by Beckie Prange
Houghton Mifflin, 34 pages
$17, ages 5 and up

Starting with the impressive word in the title and the gorgeous cover, Sidman and Prange's new book is a stunning tribute to some forms of life on earth that we might take for granted, but that have outlived us by millions (in one case billions) of years. And they continue to thrive.
Whether tiny – bacteria, mollusks, lichens, beetles, diatoms, ants, grass – or bigger – squirrels, crows, sharks, coyotes – each gets the same grand treatment. There's a double-page spread containing a poem by Sidman, maybe humorous, maybe lyrical, usually informative – and capturing its subject perfectly.
Squirrel's "Tail Tale," for example, is one long breathless, unpunctuated sentence. "Ok, your brains are big while ours are the size of walnuts which we love to eat by the way with teeth that can chew through any sort of bird feeder you care to erect ..."
On the right-hand page of each spread is a prose explanation, also by Sidman, and as elegantly written as the poetry. There we also learn family name and length of time on earth, plus much more. (For squirrels, it's family Sciuridae, from the Greek skiouros, meaning "shade-tail" and they're 36 million years old.)
The text is graced, surrounded and uplifted by Prange's linocut illustrations, handpainted with watercolors.
The last spread is reserved for humans, perhaps as a point of comparison. As Sidman writes: "Humans have been on earth only a tiny fraction of its history, but in this short time we have become one of the most dominant species of the planet." It's not a predictable diatribe about how destructive we are, though, but a thoughtful essay on why that statement is true. And her human poem, titled "Baby," is a charmer.
The book includes a fine glossary, author's and illustrator's notes, and an amazing illustrated timeline inside the front and back covers. Prange uses the image of coiled colored string to illustrate when various forms of life appeared on earth. It's remarkable to see how long it was after the earth formed before bacteria appeared – and how very much longer after that before there were mollusks.
Sidman and Prange are also the creators of the Caldecott Honor book Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems.

When friends visit

2010-07-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Brown Rabbit in the City

By Natalie Russell

Viking, 28 pages

$16.99, ages 4 to 8

When Brown Rabbit visits his friend White Rabbit in the city, she’s so excited to show him around on the first day, rushing from shop to gallery that she doesn’t notice his energy level is not matching hers. She takes him to a party that night and while she’s dancing, he slips out. When she finds him eating carrot cake at a café, and apologizes, he tells her that he really came to see her. The next day she takes him to a quiet garden where they enjoy the whole day together. A tender story about communication and friendship that adults might heed as well.

A note: I've been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks and I wanted to offer a quick explanation. I've been studying frantically for a math placement test so that I can take a statistics class without taking (two!) algebra classes first. The statistics class is a requirement for a not-math related grad school program I'm hoping to start in the fall. This cramming should be over in a week or so and I can put down the algebra books. Believe me, I'd much rather be reading kids' books!

-Rebecca Young

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

I'm posting a little last minute, but we should celebrate dads tomorrow, too, and every day!

Dad and Pop: An Ode to Fathers and Stepfathers
By Kelly Bennett
Illustrated by Paul Meisel
Candlewick Press, 36 pages
$15.99, ages 4 to 8

This sweet book demonstrates that love is not finite; a kid can love her stepdad without being disloyal to her original father. It doesn't say that in so many words, just fun pictures and simple, comparative words.
"To meet them, you'd think Dad and Pop were as different as two fathers could be."
One takes pictures, one naps. One's into gadgets; the other likes plants. One plays sports with the girl; the other plays board games with her. They both love music, but the pictures show that one likes classical and the other rock. They both like biking, one motorcycles, the other pedal-powered.
But "in the most important way they are exactly the same – they both love me!" the girl declares.
It's a great book for kids that aren't in traditional two-parent families.

Stars Above Us
By Geoffrey Norman
Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Putnam, 32 pages
$16.99, ages 4 to 8

Not all children have their daddies nearby this Father’s Day. Some are far away in dangerous places as in Stars Above Us, a tender father-daughter story. As the story begins, Amanda’s father helps her deal with her fear of the dark by taking her outside at night and showing her nighttime magic – stars and fireflies. Then he glues glow-in-the-dark stars to her ceiling to bring some of the magic indoors. When he’s shipped off to the other side of the world with the military, she looks up at the North Star on the ceiling – their star – and wishes for it to bring him home soon. Before he does come home, Amanda and her mother prepare a celestial surprise for him. Despite a little clunky writing, this is a comforting story for youngsters in similar situations. And it’s beautifully illustrated by E.B. Lewis.

My Father Knows the Names of Things

By Jane Yolen

Illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch

Simon and Schuster, 32 pages

$15.99, ages 4 to 8

It’s a wonderful thing to be a parent who knows it all. Enjoy it. It lasts until your children are about 10 if you’re lucky. A lilting new tale by veteran kids author Jane Yolen celebrates that charmed time. The young protagonist’s dad seemingly knows the name of everything, dogs, cheeses, birds, seven shades of blue, human bones, cats, candies – and which soaps make you cleanest. Best of all, “he points out everything we see and teaches all the names to me.” Sweet with lively, happy illustrations by Stéphane Jorisch.

Your Daddy Was Just Like You

By Kelly Bennett

Illustrated by David Walker

Putnam, 32 pages

$16.99, ages 3 to 8

Grandma’s tells this story to her grandson. It’s divided into vignettes from her son’s babyhood to boyhood, each ending with the refrain, “just like you.”

“Most days your daddy was my sweet boy. But some days he turned into a wild thing. … He fumed. And fussed. On those days, your daddy was sent to TIME-OUT . Just like you.”

It ends sweetly with grandma kissing the dad’s cheek and saying the dad is still her baby. (That part’s reminiscent of “I’ll Love You Forever,” without the super-ick factor of the mother crawling through her son’s window in the middle of the night.) Children love hearing true stories about when their parents were little. This can serve as a jumping off point. Great pictures by David Walker.

In The News Tribune

2010-06-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

My column on summer reading recommendations for all ages is in today's paper:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/06/13/1224771/summer-reading-for-young-minds.html

John Grisham - celebrity author

2010-06-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is how most review copies arrive:

This is the snazzy packaging that adult superstar author John Grisham gets for his first children's novel, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer:

Inside with the book, a bit of swag:

I haven't read it yet, but I'll try not to let the packaging influence me. Blue is my favorite color, as my children will attest if they ever try to choose the blue game piece before I get to it.

Once more for comparison:

-Rebecca Young

Who do you choo-choose?

2010-05-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Shark vs. Train
By Chris Barton
Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Little Brown, 36 pages
$16.99, ages 4 to 8

Who would have thought two such wildly different infatuations of childhood could be successfully teamed as costars of a book?

But from the eye-grabbing front cover to a fun back cover, Shark vs. Train is a kid-pleaser, which actually provides a few opportunities for discussion along the way.

That said, I would have done one piece of editing at the very beginning. The premise is this: Shark and Train are toys that two boys pull out of a toy box. The toy box scene happens just before the title page, which looks like the cover with a few extra words. "SHARK VS. TRAIN: Who will win?" Then there's some cartoon bubble trash talk: "I'm going to choo-choo you up and spit you out," etc.

My editing suggestion would be to save the "reveal" that Shark and Train are toys. As the story ends now, the boys are called for lunch and the toys are tossed back into the toy box. A great ending if we didn't know they were toys all along. I read the story this way at my school, starting with the title page. You can, too.

So there's the title page, then straight into a hilarious rush of contests. Who will win? "That depends on if they're in the ocean," Barton writes, accompanied by a great picture by illustrator Tom Lichtenheld. All his pictures are terrific. In this one, Shark is grinning nastily as Train sinks toward the sandy ocean floor, his cheeks puffed with the effort of holding his breath.

But on the next page they're racing on railroad tracks.

The scenarios get ever-goofier - seesaws, hot-air balloons, marshmallow roasts, burping contests, basketball. Children will chortle and you can talk about why and how Shark or Train is winning this or that competition. At the carnival, which ride draws a bigger crowd, Train or Shark?

Soon the contests grow difficult or impossible for either to win, and eventually they get downright scary, nudging Shark and Train onto the same team.

The back cover contains a "Meet Shark and Train" feature full of fun facts, such as favorite colors (blood red and coal black) and statements by the contestants.

The day I read this at school, children from two different classes said "read it again," as soon as I was finished. And later, a boy in a class I hadn't read it to found it on my chair and tried to check it out. He wasn't happy when I told him he couldn't because it wasn't a library book.

-Rebecca Young

In The New York Times

2010-05-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

The New York Times publishes two terrific special Children's Books sections each year.
The spring section came out today:
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2010/05/15/arts/artsspecial/index.html

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

My Mother is So Smart!
By Tomie dePaola
Putnam, 32 pages
$16.99, ages 3 to 8

You've got to like a book that ends with a picture of a boy standing proudly next to his mom as she demonstrates a perfect headstand.
My Mother is So Smart!, by Tomie dePaola, creator of Strega Nona and dozens of other beloved children's books, celebrates the awesomeness of moms.
The protagonist knew his mother was smart from Day 1. She always changed his diaper and fed him at the right times and taught him to walk. She baked the best cookies, taught the whole neighborhood to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and on July 4th, showed the boy and his friends how to carefully write their initials in the air with sparklers. She could drive the grandfather's old delivery truck – and she could stand on her head.
Some of this mother's attributes combined with the art have an old-fashioned feel. Those familiar with dePaola's Tom, The Baby Sister, The Art Lesson, etc. will recognize this as one of his autobiographical picture books.
It's illustrated with dePaola's recognizable always-charming style, though I'd wish for a little more expression on the mother's face. She's got a somewhat vacant, unsmiling look, the same in nearly every picture. I'm curious about that choice.
In a classroom it would be a fun story starter. "My mother (or father, grandmother, sister, etc.) is so smart that ..."

Taking Care of Mama
By Mitra Modarressi
Putnam, 32 pages
$16.99, ages 3 to 8

When I read the title of Taking Care of Mama, by Mitra Modarressi, to the first graders at my school, one boy blurted out: "I don't take care of my mama, she takes care of me!"
After I started reading and the kids learned that mother in this story is sick with a fever, taking care of her didn't seem like such an alarming idea.
This is the sweet rhyming tale of a family of appealing raccoons. Papa, sister, brother and baby Mabel are worried when Mama wakes with a fever of 102.
"Papa called the doctor
And the doctor said,
'Please tell Mama
To stay in bed!'"
Mama protests, but the caretakers win out and spend the day making meals and – predictably – making a mess. When they discover Mama is feeling better around suppertime, they have to scramble to clean up.
There's nothing radically new about the story, but the rhyme is bouncy and fun to read aloud and Modarressi's watercolors are irresistible.
Admirably on a page where the brother and sister pretend to be doctor and nurse, the sister is the doctor, and brother is the nurse. That lead to a lively little discussion in the kindergarten class I read to. One little boy said "doctors are boys and nurses are girls" then admitted he had a woman doctor. Amazing how entrenched stereotypes are.

-Rebecca Young

Books that promote peace, justice and equality

2010-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Winter, Partridge Nab Jane Addams Children's Book Awards

-- School Library Journal, 5/4/2010

A picture book about the changes in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power and a nonfiction book about the role of African-American children during the civil rights movement are winners of this year’s Jane Addams Children's Book Awards, which honor books that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community, and equality of the sexes and all races.

Jeanette Winter’s Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (S & S)is the winner in the younger children category, while Elizabeth Partridge’s Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary (Viking) won in the books for older children category.

For the rest of School Library Journal's story, including honor books:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6727671.html?industryid=47053

I reviewed Marching for Freedom here: http://rebeccayoungbooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/for-black-history-month.html

-Rebecca Young

What do you think?

2010-04-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Florida Mom Wants YA Library Books Labeled, Segregated

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 4/26/2010 2:10:00 PM

Dixie Fechtel wants to know the kinds of books her daughters check out of the local public library’s YA section. That’s why the Leesburg, FL, mom of two is pushing for labels on any book aimed at teens containing material that refer to illegal acts or what she calls “inappropriate.”

To read the rest of the article ....

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6727243.html?nid=2413&source=link&rid=17243301

Some material in young adult books gets pretty sophisticated – dealing with sex, drugs, violence and other tough topics. But young adult literature is some of the most exciting, well-written and thought- provoking literature being published these days. The divisions can be a little fuzzy, but the age label put on young adult material is usually "12 and up."

What do you think? Should books contain warnings like movies do? How have you and your kids decided what they're ready to read?

- Rebecca Young

For Arbor Day

2010-04-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

Arbor Day Square
By Kathryn Galbraith
Illustrated by Cyd Moore
Peachtree, 36 pages
$16.95, ages 4 to 8

Arbor Day Square, by Northwest author Kathryn Galbraith, begins long ago in a town on the prairie.

“Everything smells new,” young Katie tells her papa.

Everything is new and the town is growing quickly. Each week the train brings new people, along with lumber for houses and barns.

Soon work begins work on a town square, but everyone realizes that the project is sorely lacking trees. So they pool their money and order some from back east.

When 15 saplings arrive on the train, Katie is disappointed at their size. Papa promises her they’ll grow. The trees are planted in the square, and slowly but surely year after year they do grow, and more trees are added and they grow, too.

Galbraith’s story has a lyrical, lovely pacing. By the end, Katie is grown with a child of her own. The town square is lush and green. We see how trees help many generations enjoy a beautiful park.

Information on Arbor Day is included at the end.

Cyd Moore’s gentle watercolors fit the tale nicely.

- Rebecca Young

Baby birds to baseball

2010-04-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

My book reviews in Tacoma's News Tribune today:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/04/18/1152423/lively-spring-reads-will-delight.html

-Rebecca Young

Stuck inside her own brilliant head

2010-04-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Out of My Mind
By Sharon M. Draper
Atheneum, 295 pages
$16.99, ages 10 and up

"Words.

"I'm surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions.

Cathedral. Mayonnaise. Pomegranate.
Mississippi. Neapolitan. Hippopotamus.
Silky. Terrifying. Iridescent.
Tickle. Sneeze. Worry."

"Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes – each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands."

That's the gorgeous and haunting beginning of Out of My Mind, a new middle-grade novel by Sharon M. Draper. It's the theme of almost-11-year-old Melody's life.

Melody is a brilliant girl with cerebral palsy so severe that she can't walk, talk, hold a spoon or a pencil or exert much control over the movements of her body. She is trapped inside her own head.

From the time she was young, she has absorbed everything around her – noises, smells, tastes and music. She adores words and music and associates colors and images with different types of music. Country music – her favorite – makes her think of lemons, not sour lemons, but lemonade or lemon cake icing.

Melody's parents have figured out that she has an active brain confined inside her body, but she's frustrated when she can't communicate to them what she wants or needs. They don't always have an intuitive understanding. For example, she's a tween and wants to wear cute clothes like jeans, but her mom mostly buys her sweats because they're easier to deal with.

They do their best to advocate for her with the school system. For the first few years of school, Melody is in a special ed class. Once in a while there's a good teacher. But most years the teachers don't have a clue. In third grade, the teacher plays songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and is still teaching the letter "B" in February. Melody explodes with frustration one day. She starts screaming and won't stop. There's a satisfying scene where her mom comes in, and hands the teacher $5 and breaks the "Twinkle" CD (to the cheers of the students). Then she tells off the teacher.

Things get both better and worse when Melody and the other kids are mainstreamed. She finds more stimulating academics, cluelessness from a teacher or two, makes her first friend and encounters cruelty from some classmates. One girl says: "I'm not trying to be mean – honest – but it just never occurred to me that Melody had thoughts in her head."

A huge breakthrough occurs when Melody's classroom aide helps her get a talking machine. She begins to speak up for herself and becomes a great addition to the school's Whiz Kids quiz team.

But this is a realistic novel and the challenges of coping with a significant disability don't magically fall away. Without giving away endings, tough things happen in the latter part of the book, but Melody proves she's a tough cookie.

Also of great interest is the heartwarming (and later harrowing) plot thread that follows the birth and developing relationship between Melody and her little sister, Penny.

Out of My Mind is a beautifully written, powerful novel that gives a vivid picture about what it's like to live with two human conditions that others have a hard time understanding – physical disability and intellectual giftedness.

- Rebecca Young

Best books for babies

2010-04-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh-based literacy group, Beginning with Books, has just released its list of books of Best Books for Babies for 2010. Members of the Beginning with Books committee sort through the thousands of books published each year and selects the ones they believe are best for babies and toddlers.

Here's a link to an article in the Seattle Times that includes the list: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2011570349_kidsbooks10.html?prmid=obnetwork

The Helen Oxenbury books were favorites in our house when my children were tiny. Oxenbury knows babies. Also, I wrote about Posy last year in one of my News Tribune columns. It it lovely. Here's a link to that column (transplanted to this blog): http://rebeccayoungbooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/tales-are-cats-meow-for-kids.html

I'll use this excuse to mention one of my favorite series for toddlers, though I don't think any new entries were published last year:

The Gossie and Friends series by Olivier Dunrea is charming, funny and each book contains stories that are just the right length and just the right interest level for youngsters ages 2 to 4. Whenever I read one to the preschoolers at my school, we get to the end and they say: "Read it again."

-Rebecca Young

News Tribune column coming

2010-04-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 1,000-word piece for The News Tribune. It's on spring-related books. Think baby birds, gardens, trees, the earth – and baseball. It's running Sunday, 4/18

Read to me

2010-04-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a New York Times article about a father and daughter who read together for 3,218 straight days. What a great story. Literacy experts say that reading aloud long after children are reading independently helps nurture the love for books and reading – and of course also promotes family closeness. Listening to audiobooks is another way to enjoy literature together.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/fashion/21GenB.html

Ryan Collerd for The New York Times

April Fool!

2010-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Zelda and Ivy: Keeping Secrets
By Laura McGee Kvasnosky
Candlewick Sparks, 42 pages
$4.99, ages 4 to 8

Ah sisters – best friends and occasionally best enemies.

Zelda and Ivy: Keeping Secrets, Seattle resident Laura McGee Kvasnosky's fifth book about the enchanting fox sisters, is newly out in paperback.

Keeping Secrets is the follow-up to Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, which won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, which honors

Perfect for this week, "April Fool," is the middle chapter of this three-chapter beginning reader. It's the story of big sister Zelda's exhaustive attempts to get Ivy back after her that her little sister tells her ears have turned purple.

Zelda's clever tricks - confetti in the umbrella, cucumber slices in the PB&J - go humorously wrong, partly because of bad luck and partly because Ivy's no dummy.

In the third Zelda and Ivy book, Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door, Kvasnosky added a new character, Eugene, a kindred spirit to pensive Ivy and a second player for the commanding Zelda to use in her grand schemes.

The other two chapters in Keeping Secrets involve Eugene. In one, Zelda tells him and Ivy she knows who the tooth fairy is, but warns each not to tell the other. In the last hilarious chapter, there's a butterfly, an opera and a fox sister caught in a net.

The first Zelda and Ivy books were originally published in larger picture book versions. But someone at Candlewick made the brilliant decision to switch them into the compact "I can read" format. They're perfect like this.

All five (including Zelda and Ivy and Zelda and Ivy One Christmas) are charming and very funny with just the right mix of sisterly rivalry and love. Zelda and Ivy: The Big Picture will come out this fall.
- Rebecca Young

For Hunger Games fans

2010-03-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Incarceron
By Catherine Fisher
Dial, 442 pages
$17.99, ages 12 and up

Teens, kids and adults are biding their time and biting their fingernails waiting until the end of August for Mockingjay, the third and final Hunger Games book, a gripping series that's inspired nationwide buzz, a movie in the making and the creation of fan Web sites à la Harry Potter

Here's something to read during the wait: Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher, which has just been published this year in the U.S. but has been a sensation in Britain since 2007 where it was named the children's book of the year by the London Times.

Fisher's book is every bit as good, with all the excitement, intensity, adventure and complexity that makes a top-notch science fiction-fantasy novel. And the story is remarkable in its originality.

Incarceron is the name given to a vast self-contained prison of the future. It is so huge that it contains forests, seas and cities populated by warring factions. Half of the citizenry of this future time lives within this prison.

The other half of the population lives outside in a bucolic revisioning of the 18^th century. By decree, every detail must be accurate to the era, down to the last sweetmeat and thatched roof, even if some of those details are created by computer backdrops and the genetic aging of oak trees.

The story weaves back and forth between two protagonists. Young Finn is a prisoner of Incarceron, who has no memories except for a couple of fleeting pictures. He is sure that he came from outside, even though the prison was sealed long before any of its current inhabitants were born.

Claudia, a young woman of privilege, is the daughter of the warden of Incarceron. She has been promised in marriage to the Queen's son, Caspar, a foolish oaf who she doesn't love – or even like. She did like his half-brother, Giles, whom she met as a child. He would have been her betrothed if he hadn't been killed in a riding accident. Or was it really an accident?

Claudia and Finn's stories continue on parallel paths with connections that gradually become apparent. The most powerful one is a crystal key. They each come into possession of identical copies of the keys, which contain complicated circuitry and have powers they can only begin to imagine.

Finn is convinced will help him escape from Incarceron. He leaves the Civicry, the thieving, murderous people he lives with in his wing of the prison, accompanied by ragtag group of fellow prisoners. Their plan is escape. Their hopes rest on the key, Finn, who claims to have seen the stars, and the legendary tales of Sapphique, the only other prisoner believed to have escaped Incarceron.

As the tale winds on, Claudia and Finn's fates move closer, and excitement and intrigue build.
Fisher has created wonderful, complex characters and a fascinating futuristic fantasy world with much to discuss and think about. As in Lois Lowry's The Giver, we must consider the dark side of utopia. Finn is in the literal prison, but isn't Claudia – engaged to a boy she despises and living in a facade – in one, too?

As in the Hunger Games books, this ends with a stunning twist and a cliffhanger. But good news for those crafty enough to use Amazon.uk: The sequel, Sappique, is available in England.

-Rebecca Young

Newsprint from the past

2010-03-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

My daughter (the designer of this blog, by the way) happened across this long-ago article on Google news. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1wQoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5QkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6415%2C4807242

It was fun to read, but I have to correct one thing. Even back then, my education about what made a good children's book was more involved than reading to my children and the neighborhood kids. There were college courses, many conferences, talks by authors, illustrators, editors and extensive reading about children's books. And I'd read thousands of children's books – good, bad and ugly.

That's another point to note from this article. I don't often bash books anymore, as I did in one of the reviews. There are so many great books that need attention that I don't want to waste time and words on those that shouldn't get it. Once in a while if a prominent author comes out with something that is surprisingly awful, I might write about as a warning. Marc Brown's "The Gulps" was one instance a couple of years back. But usually I want to recommend books.

Want to know how long I've been doing this? My kids are 8, 6 and 4 in the article. Halley is now 24; Ben is 21 and Noah is 19. I'm no older though.

-Rebecca Young

Sad children's book news

2010-03-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Newbery Medal author Sid Fleischman died on Saint Patrick's Day, the day after his 90th birthday. He's the father Paul Fleischman, another award-winning kids' author.

Here's an article in School Library Journal:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6723533.html?desc=topstory

The summer of 1968

2010-03-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a book that's on my short list to read. There's been a lot of buzz about it. Some people are already mentioning it as a contender for next year's Newbery Medal.
Here's a New York Times review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/books/review/Edinger-t.html

ONE CRAZY SUMMER

By Rita Williams-Garcia

Amistad/HarperCollins, 218 pages

$15.99, ages 9 to 12

2010-03-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Boom Boom Go Away!
By Laura Geringer
Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Atheneum, 40 pages
$15.99, ages 3 to 6

Packed with bouncy rhythms and fun sound effects, Laura Geringer's Boom Boom Go Away! begs to be read aloud.

The cover pictures a toy gnome inside a storybook house that carries the book's subtitle: "A Most Unusual Bedtime Story."

He starts off the tale – "There was a little gnome, who lived in his little home, playing on his big brass drum. boom boom." But when his mama tells him to go to bed, he tells her she can't spoil his music. "Go away. boom boom. Go away!"

More toys join the song: a little prince on a big bassoon; little knight playing battle bells; mermaid girls playing seashell harps and more.

Mamas and papas tell them they'd better go to bed. As they refuse, an infectious cumulative rhythmic song grows.

"Go away. plong plong clink clink bong bong neeeeeee neeeeeee ding ding boom boom. Go away!"

In the end, we discover who was really making all the music – a little boy. The last picture shows him sprawled out asleep with the toys around him.

It's not the sleepiest of bedtime tales, but it's great fun. It's reminiscent of that manic, wound-tight state that kids get into when they're too tired to stop moving. Then suddenly they crash.

Bagram Ibatoulline's marvelous colorful illustrations are made from the perspective of the toys. He's created a fantastic bedroom world.

- Rebecca Young

On Heather's mommies and Tango's dads

2010-03-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

An interesting piece in The New Republic:
http://www.tnr.com/book/review/their-own-way

Ears above the crowd

2010-03-04T15:48:00.000-08:00

A Very Big Bunny
By Marisabino Russo
Schwartz & Wade Books, 40 pages
$17.99, ages 4 to 8

Many picture books are variations on themes that have been appeared frequently before: bedtime, new babies, first day of school. That's not to say that wonderful new books don't get written on familiar themes. After all, even in adult literature, it is said that there are only seven original plots.

But A Very Big Bunny, by Marisabino Russo, prompted a bit of a "wow" moment. In thousands of picture books, I'm not sure I've seen one about what it feels like to be the tallest kid in the class - or the shortest.
With charm, humor and pathos, Russo covers both in a way that youngsters who feel different in any way can relate to.

Amelia is the very big bunny. Her parents try to convince her that standing out in a crowd is a good thing, but she'd much prefer to be average. The mean girl bunnies at school reinforce her feelings. They tell her that her feet are too big for hopscotch and that they can't turn the jump rope high enough for her.

Amelia reacts by turning into a loner, hanging out by the fence, counting clouds, making dandelion chains.

But one day, a new student comes to class. Susannah is as tiny as Amelia is big. The mean girls start in on her, too, They call her "shrimp" and "pipsqueak" and treat her in similar fashion on the playground. Her feet are too small for hopscotch and they can't turn the jump rope that low.

Susannah, who has a big personality packed into her tiny body, joins Amelia at the fence. She's exuberant in her efforts to win the friendship of the lonely, timid big bunny. But Amelia resists day after day. Finally when picture class day (which Amelia dreads) approaches, Susannah comes up with a plan for the pair to be the flashiest bunnies in class. A fast friendship is cemented and Amelia learns that her parents were right, standing out in a crowd is fun, especially if you have someone standing with you.

Russo's gouche paintings are whimsical, detailed, lively and packed with personality.
-Rebecca Young

2010-03-02T09:53:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The Lightning Thief film - reviewed in The Horn Book

2010-02-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

A new review will be up soon. I spent this week finishing a grad school application and two FAFSAs (mine and younger son's). Older son did his own. Thank you! Meanwhile, here's a great, literary, movie review of The Lightning Thief.

By the way, the third graders at my school are so into the Percy Jackson series right now that they're raiding the library for books on Greek mythology. The ones who have seen the movie say: "The book is way better!"

A dragon novel fit for a kindergartener

2010-02-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Gruffen

By Chris D'Lacey

Illustrated by Adam Stower

Orchard Books, 104 pages

$9.99, ages 5-9

At my school, which serves gifted students, it can be a challenge to find books for youngsters who can read "chapter" books at an age where they're not ready for a lot of the content contained in most novels. If you have a reader like that, you've no doubt run up against that challenge.
Some of our 5- and 6-year-olds might be able to read the words in Harry Potter – and even think they're interested because of the movies and talk from bigger siblings and schoolmates. But the content in the books is too scary or sophisticated for children that young. So is the sheer length. Same thing goes for many other novels. The subject matter is simply geared to the interests of the children the author believes are most likely to be reading the books – which makes perfect sense.
Most younger kids, even those who are precocious readers, still like big print, pictures and a book they can fit easily in their little hands. And wouldn't it be nice if they had characters and situations they could relate to to go with reading material that was at their level.
As this blog grows, I'm planning to create some specialized book lists, and one for these kids will definitely be included.
But for now, young fantasy lovers will be entranced by Gruffen and its sequels, Gauge and Glade, the the first three books in Chris D'Lacey's "Dragons of Wayward Crescent" series. This is a junior version of D'Lacey's popular Last Dragon Chronicles series (The Fire Within, The Fire Eternal, et al).
The charming series for younger readers reprises two of the same characters, Lucy and her mother, Liz, who makes ceramic dragons, some she sells, and others who come alive. Those live at Liz and Lucy's house. Each has a special role to play, like cleaning or listening for unusual noises. They look the same as any of the others when visitors are around. Whenever a new task needs to be done, Liz makes a new dragon.
As Gruffen opens, Lucy is having trouble sleeping because she sees a monster in her room, so Liz creates Gruffen to protect her. There's good detail about the creation and a comical and harrowing description of Gruffen learning how to be a protector. It involves bumping into walls and landing in slippers.
After he's competent, he discovers that Lucy's monster is only a bat. The tale then weaves in facts about bats and peaceful cohabitation (despite the efforts of a crochety neighbor to drive bats out of the neighborhood).
It's a satisfying, just-scary-enough read for young ones, and a decent read-aloud, too, with lively black-and-white line drawings by Adam Stower.
In the two other books, Glade is a mood dragon and Gauge is a timing dragon employed to help save the town's clock tower.

-Rebecca Young

Where's Kronos!?!

2010-02-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Our verdict on the movie: "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"? Entertaining, but not amazing. I went with my two young- adult kids. All of us had recently read and loved the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympian series.

I usually expect disappointment when a good book is made into a movie (with the possible exceptions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Wizard of Oz"). It's impossible to fit in every precious scene and nuance.
But, in this case, one awfully big character was left out – the evil Kronos. Sorry if that's a spoiler. The real movie reviewers have insisted on comparing this film to Harry Potter, so I'll use an HP analogy, too.

Leaving out Kronos is like leaving out Voldemort. And as my daughter wondered, so much of what comes in books two through five builds on what happens with Kronos in the first, so what will they do about sequels?

Other changes to brace for: Percy is a high school student, not a 12-year-old. And a few other great characters from the book don't show up, including Ares and his daughter, Clarisse, and Dionysus, the director of Camp Half Blood. Dionysus is listed on the IMDB Web site, so his part must have been cut to nothing.

That said, there is much to like. Steve Coogan is unexpectedly funny as Hades. Brandon T. Jackson is great as Percy's sidekick/protector, Grover the satyr. Some big names grace the screen: Uma Thurman (with snake hair), Pierce Brosnan (with horse torso), Catherine Keener, Sean Bean – and the guy who plays Owen on "Grey's Anatomy." Many of the special effects seemed pretty cool to me, though I'm no expert and the real movie critics certainly quibbled with them.

Some awfully little kids were sitting in front of us. The younger boy (4?) seemed okay, but his slightly older sister (6?) was hiding her eyes during the hydra scene. The film isn't quite as scary as the later Harry Potters and has more humor, but I'd say 9 and up is a safer bet. You know your own kids though.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Woof: A Love Story
By Sarah Weeks
Illustrated by Holly Berry
HarperCollins, 32 pages
$16.99, ages 4-8

Was there ever a story of more woe than Juliet and her Romeo?

At the picture book level "Woof: A Love Story," by Sarah Weeks might qualify. There's no bloodshed, but this tale of a lovesick dog has plenty of angst.

Really it's a charming and humorous tale of the communication issues that ensue when the sentimental hound fall for the fetching green-eyed white feline next door.

He's notices that her nose looks like tiny, pink cake-frosting rose, as she perceives in a worried thought bubble: "The teeth on that dog are as long as my tail."

While she sits safely high in a tree, he tries to tell her "I love you!" She hears "woof woof woof woof."

"Climb down. I adore you."

"Woof woof woof woof."

After many frustrated attempts, he barks: "You don't understand me" and slinks off, head hanging low.

He digs to make himself feel better and finds a bone – a trombone.

After a few false attempts he learns to play and music, a language that anyone can understand, wins over the pretty kitty.

When she tells him she loves him, it comes out "meow."

"But he understood what she meant anyhow."

A sweet story, with many connections that can be made to real-life situations.

Holly Berry's illustrations are marvelous, happy collages, full of color and life. Buttons, flowers and lace add pizazz. One fabulous picture shows the dog lying in the grass, hearts exploding from his chest. He's daydreaming about the cat, who is pictured in a heart-shaped thought bubble behind a wedge of chocolate cake decorated with a pink rose that sits right where her nose would be.

-Rebecca Young

For Black History Month

2010-02-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

Marching for Freedom:
Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary
By Elizabeth Partridge
Viking, 72 pages
$19.99, ages 10 and up

Even though it's been more than four decades, the Civil Rights Movement in the South doesn't always feel like history. The battles fought and won by Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of ordinary Americans are still fresh and relevant to to those that still need to be fought in this country and worldwide.

Elizabeth Partridge's brilliant new book, which reads like a thriller and is illustrated with more than 50 stirring, amazing photographs, focuses on the children and teenagers who participated in the landmark 1965 march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery.

The book begins: "The first time Joanne Blackmon was arrested, she was just ten years old."

That was in 1963. Joanne was with her grandma and a crowd of others who were trying to register to vote. She and her sister, Lynda, three years older were each jailed about 10 more times in the next two years before Dr. King came to Selma to kick off the campaign to win blacks the right to vote.

"Don't worry about your children," he told parents. "Don't hold them back if they want to go to jail."
In researching the book, Partridge traveled to Selma and interviewed people who were kids and young adults during the march.

"Day after day in 1965, they'd protested, sung and marched," she writes on her Web site. "They were threatened and bullied, jailed and beaten, then got up the next morning and headed out again. I was awed by their courage and determination."

Partridge doesn't neglect the leaders of the times. King, Rosa Parks, President Lyndon Johnson and others appear large as life throughout the book.

But the roles of the young people will fascinate today's kids.

Some of the stories are terrifying and violent. Partridge interviewed Lynda Blackmon (now Lowry) about Bloody Sunday, the confrontation with state troopers on the Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, the day the march began.

Tear gas canisters were flying. Troopers lashed out with nightsticks. Lynda, enveloped in a cloud of tear gas, was hit over the eye and again in the back of the head. Her wounds took more than 30 stitches to close, but what was most painful, she said, was the hatred in the eyes of the white men attacking them.
"These people beating us, they took pleasure in it."

The march continued and swelled, of course. Lynda got patched up became the youngest person to complete the entire march.

Ultimately, Partridge ends on notes of triumph, empowerment and hope. The Voting Rights Act was signed on Aug. 6, 1965, six months after Bloody Sunday.

She writes:

"Selma, Dr. King said, was a 'shining moment.'

It was also a testimony to nonviolent protest. Hundreds of students had put themselves at risk to change America's voting laws. Their idealism and bravery encouraged the adults."

Young readers will be inspired to wonder, 'if they could do that, what could I do?"

Partridge's resources are excellent: source notes, bibliography and index. Again, her Web site has some excellent links, including footage of President Barack Obama's visit to Selma, interviews with people who were involved in the 1965 march and a taped conversation between Dr. King and President Johnson.

Partridge is the author of some other great nonfiction, too, including John Lennon: All I Want Is The Truth, This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie, and Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange.
-Rebecca Young

Exercise for brain and bodies

2010-02-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Taking the dogs for a walk is an excellent excuse to listen to The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, on my iPod. Fabulous book + exercise for me + exercise for dogs. Win-win-win!

2010-01-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Storm in the Barn
By Matt Phelan
Candlewick Press, 203 pages
$24.99, ages 10 and up

Graphic novels have been around for a long time – since the 1930s. But for a long time we called them comic books. Though they were designed to be read and passed on to the next kid, quality comics have always offered good story, good art and good escape, a particular refuge for the reluctant or struggling reader. The pictures were as important as the words in driving the story.

These days the traditional floppy comic book is still around, but what the book industry has dubbed the graphic novel has turned into an astounding phenomenon. There are graphic novels for children and adults, hardbacks and softcovers, black and white and full color. Major kids book prizes have gone to graphic novels, most recently, the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award (beginning readers) announced this month for Benny and Penny in The Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes.

The Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan, also won a big prize this year, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Phelan's powerful book is the story of Jack Clark as he and his family struggle to survive in the Dust Bowl. Jack's got more worries than any 11-year-old should have to deal with: His big sister has dust pneumonia; his dad sees him as a disappointment; local bullies target him, his little sister is a mischief maker - and there seems to be a sinister figure in the neighbor's barn with a face that looks like rain.

Phelan blends history with mystery and tall tale with thrilling, moving results. Many frames are wordless. His colors are evocative, mostly browns and pales blues, except when his mother recalls pre-drought days, then frames are richly colored. Small warning: There is also a bright red (but not graphic) section about a "rabbit drive."

Phelan writes that he was inspired by the Dust Bowl photography of Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein. The inspiration shows in his artwork. A lovely touch: The older sister reads "Ozma of Oz" out loud to the two younger siblings from her sickbed.

For more on graphic novels, here's a Graphic Novels 101: FAQ from the Horn Book, my favorite publication on children's literature, and a graphic novel Reading Lesson, also from Horn Book.

And check out these other terrific books (for a variety of age ranges): Into the Volcano , by Don Wood, To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel , by Siena Cherson Siegel, The Bone books, by Jeff Smith, The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, the Babymouse books, by Jennifer Holm, The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, and American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang.

-Rebecca Young

2010-01-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

My Elephant
By Petr Horáček
Candlewick Press, 32 pages
$15.99, ages 3 to 6

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination," John Lennon once famously said.

Creative adults strive to live by that creed, but for young children, there's just no alternative world view.
Stuffed animals communicate. Closets and under-beds harbor monsters. Clouds look like fluffy kittens and ice cream cones.

Petr Horáček demonstrates that he understands that blurry line between the real and the imaginary in a child's mind in his sweet new book "My Elephant."

Grandpa and Grandma are too busy to play, so a little boy asks his elephant to play kickball in the yard.

"Who messed up the flower bed?" Grandpa asks.

"I'm sorry Grandpa. It was my elephant," the boy says.

Grandpa doesn't believe him, so boy and elephant go inside. Pictures and vases get knocked over in the hallway. There are puddles and splashing during a bath. Orange juice spills; cupcakes disappears.

"And was it you ELEPHANT who ATE the cupcakes?" asked Grandma.

The boy is sad when his grandmother doesn't believe him. But the reader can see in the picture she has a loving smile on her face.

The boy wants to be alone then. He goes to his room. Soon his elephant joins him and cheers him up with fishing and jungle adventures.

Then suddenly it's morning and he's waking up in bed. Grandpa's there suggesting they play ball.

"How did I get here?" the boy asks.

"You were tired," Grandpa says. "So your elephant carried you to bed."

Horáček's deceptively childlike pictures are charming.

It's never stated whether the boy is visiting the grandparents or lives with them. But every time there's a high-quality new book that can connect with a child in a nontraditional family, it's cause to cheer. And that's just one more reason to love this lovely book.

-Rebecca Young

Three links

2010-01-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

A good article on the Caldecott/Newbery in the New York Times.

An interview with Rebecca Stead

... and one with Jerry Pinkney.

Newbery and Caldecott Medals

2010-01-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

I picked the right book to listen to on my iPod over the weekend.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, is the 2010 Newbery Medal winner.
It's a terrific book and not only because it pays homage to one of my childhood favorites: A Wrinkle in Time. It's written from the point-of-view of a 12-year-old girl in 1970s Manhattan and involves mysterious notes that appear to come from the future, her mom's impending appearance on the $20,000 Pyramid, shifting friendships and a seemingly impossible tangle of plot threads. But it does get untangled. The conclusion is harrowing, thrilling and moving.

Unlike some other years, it's a Newbery book that will be easy to get kids to read.
Here's a quote from the Newbery committee Chair Katie O'Dell:

"When You Reach Me’ is an exceptionally conceived and finely crafted work of fiction that will engage and satisfy readers for years to come.”

The Caldecott Medal went to The Lion and the Mouse, the gorgeous book, by Jerry Pinkney. It was a choice that was one of the least surprising of many in recent years of Caldecott medals.

This is what Caldecott committee chair Rita Auerbach had to say:

“Pinkney’s stunning watercolors add new dimensions to an ancient tale in a book which is sure to become a beloved classic."

All the World, by Marla Frazee, and Red Sings From the Treetops: A Year in Colors, by Joyce Sidman, both also exquisite, were named Caldecott Honor books.
Here's a press release from the American Library Association that tells more about this year's Newbery, Caldecott and the selection process.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award went to Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes. There were four Geisel Honor books: I spy Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold; Little Mouse Gets Ready, by Jeff Smith; Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends, by Wong Herbert Yee; and Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day, by Kate McMullan.

Newbery Honor books are: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip M. Hoose; The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jaqueline Kelly; Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, by Rodman Philbrick.

For these authors and illustrators, winning a Caldecott or Newbery (or many other of the awards announced this morning) is as good as a Golden Globe or Oscar. It means their books get those shiny gold or silver stickers on the cover and now will probably NEVER go out of print.

Here's a link to a list of all the winners of the awards announced this morning.

Awards season

2010-01-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning, even though I will have worked on the copy desk late the night before, I'm setting my alarm for 4:45. My plan is to get out of bed, put on my slippers and shuffle into the next room to watch a pretty exciting awards show. It's not the Golden Globes. (Though I'll probably DVR that and watch it later. I do like looking at the dresses.)

The presenters at the show I'll be watching will probably be wearing sweaters, scarves, jackets and horn-rimmed spectacles. But I promise you, the two big winners will appear on The Today Show on Tuesday.

What I'll be watching is a live Webcast from the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting. A number of awards will be announced, most notably the Caldecott and Newbery medals. The Caldecott is awarded to the most distinguished American picture book for children. The Newbery Medal goes to the most distinguished contribution to children's literature. A newer honor, the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, goes to the most distinguished book for beginning readers.

-Rebecca Young

I was able to attend an ALA awards announcement in 2007 when the midwinter meeting was in Seattle. It was exciting. Don't let anyone tell you librarians are quiet. Especially exciting was the fact that Seattle's own Laura Kvasnosky's Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways won the Geisel Award. If you haven't met Zelda and Ivy, you should. The Runaways is the fourth book about the funny and believable fox sisters. And Penny from Heaven, a lovely book by another Puget Sound author, Kirby Larson, was chosen as a Newbery Honor. Both got the calls early enough so that they were able to attend in person.

Back to this year's awards: As long as I've been reading and writing about children's books, I've been pretty bad at predicting which ones would win the big awards. Unlike the Oscars and Golden Globes, there is no short list of nominees. Many libraries and bookstores hold "mock" Newbery and Caldecott votes. And those aren't all that great at predicting winners either.

These are two of the many books that have been getting mentioned for the Newbery:

Anything But Typical, by Nora Baskin, a heartbreaking, heartwarming, humorous glimpse inside the mind of an autistic boy. I wrote about it for The News Tribune in May 2009.

Another is When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, told from the point-of-view of a Manhattan sixth-grader in the 1970s. I'm reading it today.

As for the Caldecott, I'd be pleased and not surprised if either The Lion & the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney, or All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, with illustrations by Marla Frazee, is the medal book. I would be shocked if neither is at least an honor (runner-up) book. The links to my Tribune reviews of both exquisite books are in the column at right.

(Another of my very favorite recent books was written and illustrated by Frazee: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever.)

What about the Geisel? Well, Mo Willems has won two years in a row for two different Elephant & Piggie Books. He's brilliant. Could be a three-peat.

Are you watching with me at 4:45 on Monday? You can sleep in and tune in at 7:45 if you're on the East Coast. Otherwise, show up here and I'll give you the scoop.

For MLK Day

2010-01-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

Peaceful Heroes
By Jonah Winter
Illustrated by Sean Addy
Arthur A. Levine Books, 56 pages
$17.99, ages 8 and up

Change through nonviolence is one of the most important values we celebrate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Peaceful Heroes, a lovely and inspiring new book by Jonah Winters, pays tribute to King and other men and women who risked their lives to make the world a better place without using violence.

The book begins with Jesus of Nazareth, who Winters calls "the perfect model for peaceful heroes of our time."

Winters explains that Christians believe Jesus was the son of God, Muslims believe he was one of many prophets, Hindus believe he was a saint and a great teacher and Jews believe he was simply a man.

But he writes, "whoever Jesus really was, his story as told in the Christian Bible provides one of the greatest examples ever of how to be a human being."

Next up is Mahatma Gandhi, then the Rev. King. Sojourner Truth's remarkable story is told, as that of Clara Barton, the "angel of the battlefield" during the Civil War who was saving lives while others around her were taking them.

Winters also writes of lesser known peaceful heroes, including: Corrie ten Boom, who hid Jews from the Nazis; Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who hid 1,268 Tutsis during a killing spree in Rwanda and William Feehan, a 71-year-old fire commissioner who had earned the right to stay at his desk but rushed right in with much younger firefighters and died in the towers on Sept. 11.

Winters' profiles, written in accessible and engaging language, read like good stories.

Evocative oil and acrylic paintings and collage artwork by Sean Addy and book design by Marijka Kostiw combine to make this a beautiful package.

-Rebecca Young

Still here!

2010-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Back in 2004, when my editor at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., suggested going weekly with my children's book review column, my first reaction was alarm. I've got two other jobs and a weekly column is, well, a weekly responsibility.

But I grew to love that format. It allowed me to discover a great book and write about it – not because Halloween or Christmas was coming – but just because it was a great book that I wanted to tell people about it.

Also, few mainstream publications were writing about kids' books as often. The New York Times was about the only one. I felt proud of my newspaper for giving children's literature that space.

My paper, like most, has been undergoing a series of economic cutbacks over the past couple of years. Sadly, the latest is that our feature sections have been cut from seven, to three days a week. My weekly column is one casualty. I'll now get a longer quarterly children's book review feature on the front of a Sunday Sound Life section.

That will be great for what it is, but I know I have some readers who look for the column to be in its regular spot every week. This blog is an attempt to keep letting those readers – YOU – know about great books for young people just as often as I did before.

My plan is to write at least once a week and to provide links to interesting children's book news. At some point I want to provide a data base of earlier reviews indexed by subject matter.

You can help me out, too. If you find this blog and like it, send links to others. I'll make a Facebook fan page; you can join that and invite others, too.

Tales are cat's meow for kids

2009-08-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Posy
By Linda Newbery/ Illustrations by Catherine Rayner/ Atheneum, 32 pages/ $16.99/ ages 2 to 4/
Wabi Sabi
By Mark Reibstein/ Illustrated by Ed Young/ Little, Brown/ 36 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8
What Cats Are Made Of
By Hannoch Piven/ Atheneum/ 40 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8

By Rebecca Young

Aug. 4--When it comes to the domestic pet duo, cats usually get short shrift in media and popular literature. Not sure we'll see "Snowball and Me" coming out of Hollywood anytime soon. Good thing children's books are there to pick up the slack. Here are a three wonderful cat books that have come out in recent months.

"Posy" by Linda Newbery is the delightful story of a kitten told in rhyming couplets with stunning illustrations by Catherine Rayner. The fetching feline is a "spider catcher, sofa scratcher" and "pillow sitter, hissy spitter."

Newbery's simple and elegant text allows Rayner's expressive pictures to take center stage. Mostly in sepia, black and rust – the colors of Posy -- with splashes of color, the pictures perfectly capture a kitten in all its adorableness.

"Wabi Sabi" by Mark Reibstein with art by Ed Young, is another gorgeously illustrated, but much more complex tale. It's the story of Wabi Sabi, a cat named after a Japanese philosophy -- the art of finding beauty in impermanence and imperfection.

The cat embarks on a journey to discover the meaning of her name. The animals she meets along the way tell her that wabi sabi is difficult to explain, but they could show her what it means, in simple things like a tea ceremony or warm steam rising from a bowl. Each phase of the journey is accompanied by a haiku. In the end, Wabi Sabi arrives at her own understanding of the ideas behind her name. Young's collages are three-dimensional and lovely in this interesting and lyrical book.

"What Cats Are Made Of" by Hannoch Piven is a collection of goofy collages paired with descriptions of breeds of cats, including Persian, Scottish Fold, Siamese, Savannah and more. There are also general "feline facts" sprinkled throughout the pages. The descriptions are interesting and the collages are fun. The Scottish Fold cat is made of origami. The Siamese, which is described as being exceptionally intelligent, has computer mice for ears and a circuit board nose.

Rebecca Young: 253-597-8606
rebecca.young@thenewstribune.com

'Grand' picture books

2006-09-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

My Pop Pop and Me
By Irene Smalls;
illustrated by Cathy Ann Johnson
Little, Brown, 26 pages, $15.99, ages 4-8

My Nana and Me

By Irene Smalls;
illustrated by Cathy Ann Johnson
Little, Brown, 26 pages, $15.99, ages 4-8
The Grandpa Book
By Todd Parr
Little, Brown, 24 pages, $9.99, ages 2-6
The Grandma Book
By Todd Parr
Little, Brown, 24 pages, $9.99, ages 2-6

Grandparents play major roles
in some excellent tales for younger kids
Published in The News Tribune, Sept. 5, 2006

A child who knows grandparents is a lucky child.
Grandparents' Day, which is this Sunday, is a good excuse to share some good picture books that honor those special bonds that bridge a generation.
Grandma and Grandpa are featured separately in a pair of lovely books written by Irene Smalls and illustrated by Cathy Ann Johnson.
"My Pop Pop and Me" came out this year, joining "My Nana and Me," published in 2005. Both feature black families, as, happily, more and more everyday books do these days.
In the new book, a boy helps his grandfather bake a lemon cake. The words are joyfully rhythmic. "Pift pift the sifter's swift.
"Mash mash I love to smash."
The simple text communicates the fun of baking and time together.
In bright, beautiful watercolors the love between Pop Pop and boy almost bursts off the pages.
Johnson's paintings are playful, decorated with swirls, speckles and little squares. Bubbles float across the pages - eggs and lemons, too. The perspective shifts in fun ways. In one picture, the boy is tiny and pouring milk with the carton on his back. In another, Pop Pop and child carry a giant slice of cake.
A recipe for Lemon Bar Cake Bake is included.
In "My Nana and Me," a girl and grandma have a tea party, and then spend the day together, all the way until bedtime. It's either an overnight visit, or the pair lives together. We don't know - or need to. Whatever the case, the love is as evident as in the first book.
"Then we played hide-and-seek.
"My Nana can never find me.
"I am the smartest girl in the world.
"I know because my Nana told me so
"and she knows everything."
Johnson contributes the same swirls, lovely colors and shifting perspectives. On one page, the girl is pouting because Nana has called her "baby girl." She is pictured as huge, the grandmother tiny.
Another pair of books, "The Grandpa Book" and "The Grandma Book," by Todd Parr, presents entertaining and true descriptions of varied grandparents.
"Some grandpas put extra money in your piggy bank," one says.
"Some grandmas give you a lot of books," says the other. That will be me, someday. Both books make a few statements about "all grandpas" and "all grandpas."

"All grandmas like to give you lots of kisses."
Parr's pictures are fun - neon-bright and childlike. His people come in a mix of colors, including purple and green. Their faces are uncluttered by noses.
Here's a list of some other recent and classic grandparent books:
"Here Comes Grandma!" by Janet Lord, illustrated by Julie Paschkis: Grandma is coming to visit. She might ride a bike, take a train, ski down a mountain, fly a plane or race a submarine. Charming illustrations by Seattle resident Paschkis look like folk art (Henry Holt, 28 pages, $12.95, ages 2-4).
"The Grandma Cure," by Pamela Mayer, illustrated by John Nez: When a child stays home sick with a cold, it sets off a two-grandmother competition over who can take better care of her. The girl keeps the peace. Lively pictures are by another Seattle resident (Dutton, 32 pages, $15.99, ages 4-8).
"Abuela," by Arthur Dorros, illustrated by Elisa Kleven: An enchanting tale by yet another Seattle resident about Rosalba and her grandmother who fly over New York City in their imaginations; includes many Spanish phrases where the meaning is clear in context. Abuela and child take an imaginary visit to the Caribbean in a sequel, "Isla." Kleven's collages are magical (Dutton, 40 pages, $7.99 paperback, ages 4-8).
"Tom," by Tomie dePaola: An autobiographical picture book by a beloved children's author/illustrator details a special relationship between a grandfather and his namesake (Putnam, 32 pages, $6.99 paperback, ages 4-8).

"My Grandma is Coming to Town," by Anna Grossnickle Hines, illustrated by Melissa Sweet: A nicely illustrated, sweetly told story addresses long-distance relationships. A small boy and his grandmother have a close bond by mail and phone. He's thrilled when she plans a visit, but gets a sudden attack of shyness when she arrives (Candlewick, 16 pages, $13.99, ages 2-6).

-Rebecca Young

'Dance' teaches kids about illness

2005-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

A Tacoma author explores bipolar disorder in a new fantasy story
By Rebecca Young
Published in The News Tribune, Nov. 8, 2005

When young-adult novelist Dia Calhoun was a child, she loved "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale about sisters who mysteriously disappeared every night and returned in the morning with their shoes in tatters.
Calhoun also has Bipolar II disorder. In an author's note in her new book, "The Phoenix Dance," she writes that she has long wanted to write about the disorder, which causes dramatic mood swings from manic highs to depressive lows.
When the Tacoma resident reread the fairy tale as an adult, the thought of the depressed turn that the princesses' moods must have taken after their endless nights of manic dancing started the wheels turning.
"The Phoenix Dance" is an imaginative retelling of the princess tale with a 14-year-old aspiring shoemaker as its main character.
Phoenix Dance, apprentice to the royal shoemaker, is ambitious and creative. After her master loses his royal appointment because the princesses wear his shoes to shreds, Phoenix enters a contest to win the appointment back. Once she starts drawing designs for shoes, she can't stop.
"One idea suggested another, which leaped to another, like a cascading waterfall leaping from rock to rock, sweeping her along in its powerful stream. She felt ablaze with light, drunk on ideas - ecstatic, possessed, seized," Calhoun wrote.
Though the book doesn't mention bipolar by name until the author's note at the end, anyone familiar with the disorder will recognize Phoenix's manic creativity and her plunges into debilitating depression.
In the book, it's called the Illness of the Two Kingdoms. A healer and her herbs help Phoenix manage her episodes. Even though the story takes place in a fantasy setting, Calhoun tackles real-life bipolar issues, such as finding the right combination and dose of medications and whether becoming stable is worth giving up the highs of the manic periods.
The other story line is typical, but still exciting, fantasy fare, as Phoenix takes a cloak of invisibility she's given and volunteers to find out where the princesses go at night. The answer involves dragon boats, mermen, fire, a wicked wizard and, ultimately, Phoenix coming to peace with her illness.
Calhoun has written an engrossing and unorthodox combination of fantasy adventure and the story of a young woman grappling with an illness. It's an important book, as bipolar disorder is diagnosed with increasing frequency among adolescents.

Celebrate Chinese New Year in literature

2005-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy Chinese New Year!
By Demi
Crown Books, 24 pages, $8.95
Happy New Year!/Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'ai!
By Demi
Dragonfly Books, 40 pages, $6.99 paperback
My First Chinese New Year
By Karen Katz
Henry Holt, 28 pages, $14.95
Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes
By Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz and The Children's Museum, Boston

Harcourt, 74 pages, $20

Learn about Chinese culture and a spectacular Chinese holiday with children's books
Published in The News Tribune, Feb. 8, 2005

Happy New Year!
Chinese New Year, that is.
Wednesday begins the most important and exciting of all Chinese festivals, a 15-day celebration of new beginnings and family togetherness. Here are some good children's books to look for during this joyful holiday.
"My First Chinese New Year" by Karen Katz is a new title for children from preschool and up. Katz depicts a girl and her family getting ready for the holiday, with an clear explanation of what each step of the preparations means.
"First we decorate the walls with cut papers all red and bright. Red means good luck and happiness in China," the child explains.
The story continues through the celebration, big family dinner, parade in Chinatown and joyful last scene where everyone shouts "Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!"
Katz's happy illustrations are collage and mixed media in bright shades of red, pink, purple, turquoise, yellow and orange. It looks as though she's used Chinese paper for many of the patterned sections of clothing, wall and floors.
"Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes," by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz and The Children's Museum of Boston, came out in 2002. It's packed with great stuff, not just for Chinese New Year, but other holidays, too. It's also beautifully designed, with lovely watercolor illustrations by Meilo So dancing through the pages.
In the section on Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival (the first and 15th days of the first moon), we learn that families like to welcome the year with a clean slate. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom, windows washed, gates painted. Everyone gets new outfits. Debts are settled.
The authors tell traditional stories, including one about the Kitchen God, who watches over each household and gets special treatment this time of year so that he will take only good reports to the Jade Emperor, ruler of the world.
Recipes for dumplings and peanut sauce, instructions for writing good luck characters, directions for making and playing Chinese shuttlecock and lessons on the Chinese zodiac are included, with much more.
The authors also give the same fun and comprehensive treatment to the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and Qing Ming and the Cold Foods Festival.
"Happy, Happy Chinese New Year!" by Demi is a reissue of an earlier book, "Happy New Year! Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'ai!" The cover on the newer book is vivid turquoise, the older one, bright red. The format on the new one is smaller and less comprehensive. The earlier book has more information, and the print is larger and easier to read.
Both are fun to pore over and informative, bursting with colorful pictures of children taking part in the traditions of the holidays. Two-page spreads have emphatic titles such as "Paint and Parade!" "Trees and Flowers" and "Light the Lights."
Demi has created many fine books for children involving Asian history and culture, including folk and fairy tales and biographies of the Dalai Lama and Buddha.
Three more terrific Chinese New Year books have been around a bit longer but are still available.
"This Next New Year," by Medina resident Janet S. Wong, is the story of a Chinese Korean boy preparing for the new year. He describes how he and his friends, who come from many cultures, celebrate Chinese New Year with a blend of old and new traditions.

In poignant rhyming text, the young narrator takes extra care with activities designed to bring good luck, hoping that he and his family can have a fresh start this year.
Vividly colored illustrations by Yangsook Choi round out a nice offering (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 32 pages, $16).
"The Runaway Rice Cake" by Ying Chang Compestine is an entertaining folktale a bit reminiscent of "The Gingerbread Man." But in this story, illustrated by Tungwai Chau, there's a poor family, a hungry old lady and holiday generosity that gets rewarded in the end (Simon & Schuster, 34 pages, $16.95).

"Celebrating Chinese New Year" by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith is a photo-essay following a 10-year-old boy and his family through their preparations and celebration of the holiday in San Francisco's Chinatown. Lawrence Migdale's photographs capture the excitement and warmth of family dinners, lion dancers, red envelopes filled with lucky money and the big New Year's parade with its magnificent dragons (Holiday House, 32 pages, $6.95).
-Rebecca Young

When moms and dads have to leave

2004-11-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

First published in The News Tribune
Copyright The McClatchy Company Nov 30, 2004

While You Are Away

By Eileen Spinelli

Illustrated by Renee Graef

Hyperion, 32 pages, $15.99

Don't Forget to Come Back!

By Robie H. Harris

Illustrated by Harry Bliss

Candlewick Press, 34 pages

$15.99, ages 4 to 8

"Don't go, Mommy! Take me." "Don't leave me, Daddy!" Every parent has heard a few renditions of those heart-tugging words.

It's tough, but we know that children need to learn how to be with other people, too - and that we need to leave sometimes so they'll know we come back.

As this is the season for grown-up parties, there will be lots of short separations and tearful goodbyes in store. There are also longer and much more serious separations affecting many children in the (South Puget Sound area and other regions throughout the country) - the separations forced by the deployment of military moms and dads. Both kinds of separations can be scary to young children, though. Snuggling in a cozy armchair to read one of these picture books might provide some comfort and cheer.

While You Are Away, by Eileen Spinelli, portrays three children whose military parents are far from home.

The words are from the perspectives of the children. They're sad and sweet.

"While you are on that big ship, Daddy, far, far away, I miss you," one little boy thinks. "I miss baking brownies, hunting for salamanders, collecting river rocks.

"I wonder: where is my daddy sleeping?"

The three situations are inclusive. One child is black, one white, one Hispanic. Two of the youngsters are boys, one a girl. One dad drives a jeep. A mother pilots a jet.

The illustrations by Renee Graef are warm and cheerful. They picture children and parents in comfortable, safe situations, not necessarily an accurate depiction of war zones, but appropriate because the book is aimed at 3- to 7-year-olds.

Don't Forget to Come Back by Robie H. Harris has a completely different feel. Funny and emphatic, with lots to look at in the pictures, children will want to crawl into this one and stay awhile.

A little girl's parents are going out for the evening, so first she tries being reasonable - in numbered cartoon bubbles. "1. I am NOT a baby. 2. I'm a BIG kid. 3. So I do NOT need a stupid babysitter."

When that doesn't work, she resorts to scare tactics, talking of giant, destructive thunderstorms that will come when they leave, tummy aches, throwing up and carnivorous moose.

"That didn't scare daddy at all."

As her mother gets dolled up in front of the mirror, the child grabs her pink umbrella, panda and ballet shoes and announces she's coming along. No go, either. So she hides in a closet.

Sarah, the baby sitter, arrives. Resigned, the girl says goodbye to her parents, again in cartoon bubbles: "DON'T FORGET TO COME BACK!"

Of course, Sarah is tons of fun. They paint toenails silver and purple, and Sarah reads the monster book five times.

The watercolor and ink illustrations by Harry Bliss are wonderful. The elegant mother and balding father look like couples we know, and the art in the family home is fun to look at.

The best picture is the last, after the child has discovered her parents are safely in their bed in the morning. She's snuggled between them telling them about Sarah. "And she didn't let a single moose in."

The family is tiny and cozy viewed through the window. It's snowing outside. And there's a great big moose looking sadly in.

Harris is able to capture the powerful feelings of children with just the right touch. She's never heavy-handed or patronizing. Try her "Goodbye Mousie" when a preschooler's pet dies.
-Rebecca Young

Multicultural tales

2001-05-16T01:50:00.000-07:00

First published in The News Tribune, May 16, 2001

Long gone are the days when all the characters in children's books were white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. Visit the children's section in a bookstore and look at the book jackets. You'll see a multicultural melting pot.

Here is a sampling of recent books that help bring different cultures alive.

Madlenka

By Peter Sis

Farrar Straus Giroux, 44 pages

$17, ages 4 to 8

The plot is deceptively simple. A little girl who lives in New York City discovers a loose tooth. She's excited and runs to tell the people in her neighborhood the news. First she runs to Mr. Gaston, the French baker; then Mr. Singh, from India, who sells newspapers; Mr. Ciao, from Italy, who has an ice cream truck. By the time she finishes, she has spread the news to people from 10 countries.

Still sounds simple. But Sis has a way of complicating things with his amazing artwork. The Escher-like perspective he uses to illustrate is fascinating. So is the way he mixes black and white and color.

My Baby

By Jeanette Winter

Farrar Straus Giroux, 32 pages

$16, ages 3 to 6

A nearly perfect book, this is the story of folk artist Nakunte Diarra, her inspiration, her life in Mali in northwest Africa and the birth of her baby.

Nakunte's mama teaches her to make bogolan, a pure white cloth painted with sticks using the blackest mud, mixed with a special leaf. As the child becomes more skilled, she paints larger pieces and sells them.

Nakunte marries, wearing a bogolan her mother has made. She learns that she will give birth to a baby and begins to paint a bogolan for it. On one page Nakunte hears drums, and stylized drum shapes appear on the cloth. A leopard slinks by. Nakune paints her own version of spots. A scorpion's tail, fish bones, iguana's tongue, calabash flower, turtle dove footprints and stars all appear on the cloth.

Coolies

By Yin

Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet

Philomel, 40 pages

$7.99 paperback, ages 4 to 8

Two brothers from China, Shek and Little Wong, step off a crowded boat into what Shek calls "the land of opportunity": the United States in 1865. Along with hundreds of other Chinese immigrants, they have jobs helping to build a railroad.

Building a railroad was difficult and dangerous work, especially for the Chinese laborers. They labored over deserts, across steep cliffs and over the imposing Sierra Nevada mountain range. Shek is buried in an avalanche and almost dies.

In spite of all the hardships, the brothers were proud of the money they were able to send to family members in China, and also of the monumental project they helped to complete. They weren't recognized by the people in power, but they knew that they had had a big part in an important creation.

The Trip Back Home

By Janet S. Wong

Harcourt Brace, 32 pages

$16, ages 4 to 8

A girl 5 or 6 years old travels with her mother from the United States to the mother's childhood home in Korea. Before they leave on the long plane trip, they buy gifts for everyone: leather work gloves for grandfather (haraboji), a ruffled apron for grandmother (halmoni) and a simple children's book so aunt (imo) can learn to speak English.

In Korea, the child and mother blend seamlessly into the daily routine, helping feed the pigs, traveling to the market, making kim chi. Warm illustrations and descriptive text impart a good amount of information about life in a Korean village, and also about love and family connection. Wong is a Puget Sound resident.

The Blizzard's Robe

By Robert Sabuda

Atheneum, 32 pages

$16, ages 4 to 8

In the cold, dark Arctic the "People Who Fear the Winter Night" stay close to fires, fearful of the monstrous Blizzard. Among them is Teune, a skilled maker of robes. One night, sparks from Teune's fire ignite Blizzard's robe. The People rejoice, but Teune is upset. In a dream, Blizzard promises a great gift if she will help. Next morning she finds rolls of cloth made of ice. She creates a gorgeous new robe for Blizzard, which becomes the Northern Lights - the gift.

Sabuda's colorful illustrations for this original folk tale are fittingly made of batik. Sabuda makes incredibly engineered pop-up books, the most recent of which is a tribute to "The Wizard of Oz" (the tornado is a must-see).

Streets of Gold

By Rosemary Wells

Dial, 40 pages

$15.99, ages 4 to 8

Adapted from "The Promised Land," by Mary Antin, this is a touching fictionalized biography of a young Russian Jew who came to the United States in 1894.

Masha's family fled Russia when Jews were considered inferior and were tyrannized by unfair laws. Masha's father went to America and sent for the rest of the family.

The family was poor and had to work very hard. But Mary was allowed to attend school and eventually wrote a poem about freedom. The book ends with Masha, speaking to the sunrise, "I'm on my way ... here in America."

-Rebecca Young

Young Books

Gantos! Raschka! Whaley! More!

Tale of Comic Adventures Wins Newbery Medal

*UPDATED* Gantos, Raschka Awarded Newbery, Caldecott

Who will win?

Beware those origami dragons

The Muppet master

Not too scary

Monday Monday

Books will always be valuable | SoundLife - The News Tribune

My spring reviews in The News Tribune

I did not know this

Mirror, Mirror

Christmas flights of fancy

Kid-friendly books make great gifts | Books - The News Tribune

The pie time of year

BOO!!

New reviews in the News Tribune

From School Library Journal

The strong

When friends visit

Happy Father's Day

In The News Tribune

John Grisham - celebrity author

Who do you choo-choose?

In The New York Times

Happy Mother's Day!

Books that promote peace, justice and equality

Winter, Partridge Nab Jane Addams Children's Book Awards

-- School Library Journal, 5/4/2010

What do you think?

Florida Mom Wants YA Library Books Labeled, Segregated

For Arbor Day

Baby birds to baseball

Stuck inside her own brilliant head

Best books for babies

News Tribune column coming

I just finished a 1,000-word piece for The News Tribune. It's on spring-related books. Think baby birds, gardens, trees, the earth – and baseball. It's running Sunday, 4/18

Read to me

April Fool!

For Hunger Games fans

Newsprint from the past

Sad children's book news

Newbery Medal author Sid Fleischman died on Saint Patrick's Day, the day after his 90th birthday. He's the father Paul Fleischman, another award-winning kids' author.

The summer of 1968

ONE CRAZY SUMMER

On Heather's mommies and Tango's dads

Ears above the crowd

The Lightning Thief film - reviewed in The Horn Book

A dragon novel fit for a kindergartener

Where's Kronos!?!

Happy Valentine's Day

For Black History Month

Exercise for brain and bodies

Three links

Newbery and Caldecott Medals

Awards season

For MLK Day

Still here!

Tales are cat's meow for kids

PosyBy Linda Newbery/ Illustrations by Catherine Rayner/ Atheneum, 32 pages/ $16.99/ ages 2 to 4/Wabi SabiBy Mark Reibstein/ Illustrated by Ed Young/ Little, Brown/ 36 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8What Cats Are Made OfBy Hannoch Piven/ Atheneum/ 40 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8

COPYRIGHT 2009 The News Tribune

'Grand' picture books

'Dance' teaches kids about illness

Celebrate Chinese New Year in literature

When moms and dads have to leave

Multicultural tales

UPDATED Gantos, Raschka Awarded Newbery, Caldecott

Posy
By Linda Newbery/ Illustrations by Catherine Rayner/ Atheneum, 32 pages/ $16.99/ ages 2 to 4/
Wabi Sabi
By Mark Reibstein/ Illustrated by Ed Young/ Little, Brown/ 36 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8
What Cats Are Made Of
By Hannoch Piven/ Atheneum/ 40 pages/ $16.99/ ages 4 to 8