FINISHED:

Augarde, Steve. (2006). Celandine. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[REALLY looking forward to the last book, Winter Wood, which, it seems, has been out in the UK since Spring, but won't be out in the U.S. until May 2009!]

STARTED:
Link, Kelly. (2008). Pretty monsters: Stories. New York: Viking.

[Reading for ACL to see if I deem it worthy of being on the 2008 Distinguished Books list...]

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Picture Book Tuesday: Anthony Browne

STARTED & FINISHED:

Browne, Anthony. (1983/2002 reprint). Gorilla. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[Well, this one seems to be the one that caused the furor over Anthony Browne's work - and I can see why in some respects. Without a doubt, his attention to detail in characters and objects is outstanding. The gorillas are unbelievably realized - just so amazing. And the chimpanzee - wow! The story itself is a sad one: a girl is shunned by her father (where is Mom? Dead? Is Dad still grieving?) so she retreats into a world where her favorite animal, a gorilla, takes her around to do the things she's always wanted to do. Thankfully, in the end the father (who, if you'll notice, has a banana in his back pocket) wises up and begins to pay attention to his daughter.]





Browne, Anthony. (2004). Into the forest. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[This one I didn't appreciate as much as the one above. While, again, the illustrations are stunningly detailed, the story itself is a bit bizarre to me, and not in an easily understood way like, say, Chris Van Allsburg. This one is a play on Little Red Riding Hood with a small boy venturing into the forest to bring a cake to his sick Grandmother. Along the way he encounters odd folks who want the cake, including a horribly maudlin boy and his sister who have lost their parents. Ok, well, reading it again I can see that the kids he comes across in the woods are likely Jack (& the Beanstalk), Goldilocks, and Hansel and Gretel, but they're still weird and I'm not sure that the average kid would understand. And it ends strangely, with his family being unnaturally happy to see him...]






Browne, Anthony. (1998). Voices in the park. New York: DK Publishing.

[Again, the illustrations go without saying here. The story, while I find intriguing - with it being told from four different perspectives - is still lacking something for me. While I CERTAINLY don't need a nice, pat, cut-and-dry narrative, it would help here if there were some definitive "point". I can see a child reading through this, getting to the end, and saying, "Um, ok. What was up with that?" A great tool for a discussion on points of view and differing perceptions of the same situation, but it might just need that adult perspective to bring a child into the loop. In all, I'm super intrigued by Anthony Browne, but he just hasn't 100% won me over yet...]

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FINISHED:

Hunter, Erin. (2008). Seekers: The quest begins. New York: Working Partners/HarperCollins.

[I gotta say, I really kinda liked this one. Indeed, I was compelled enough to keep reading and find out what happened to the 3 bears whose stories are told here. Actually, there are 3 stories told at the same time, with every 3rd chapter continuing the one bear's story. Kallik is a polar bear who, with her brother, is being led by their mother across the ice to land, as the warm months are approaching. Along the way, while swimming from ice sheet to ice sheet, Kallik's mother is attacked and murdered by killer whales, and Kallik is separated from her brother, thus leaving her to find her way to safety on her own. In the second story, Lusa is a black bear living in zoo who wonders what lies in the wilderness beyond the zoo fence. One day, a female grizzly is brought into the bear enclosure next to the one for the black bears, and she goes on about how she has lost her cubs and feels horribly about it. After attacking a zoo keeper, the female grizzly is taken away, and Lusa stops eating so that she'll be taken out of the bear enclosure and eventually finds her way out of the zoo. Lusa then skulks around the suburbs where she must forage in trash cans for food, beginning a journey to find the grizzly female's cub. Which, leads to the 3rd story: Toklo is a young grizzly bear tired of his brother being coddled by their mother. After the brother dies, Toklo's mother, so filled with grief, tells Toklo he must go off on his own and fend for himself. It is Toklo's mother who is then taken to the zoo, thus inspiring Lusa to break out in the hopes of finding Toklo so that she may tell him that his mother was sorry. It seems like all of the stories will converge in subsequent books (Lusa and Toklo do meet at the end of this one), and I will definitely keep reading to see what happens to these guys. My one major complaint - at least, it is the one thing that took me out of the story - is that there is a character whom Toklo meets who can change shape at will - from a human, to a bear, to a hawk, etc. There's a lot of "earth spirituality" in the book, which I'm fine with, but this character just took it too far...]

STARTED:
Augarde, Steve. (2006). Celandine. New York: David Fickling/Random House.

[Couldn't wait any longer to read this one. LOVED The Various and am really looking forward to finding out about Celandine in this prequel. Augarde has a way with words and his stories feel like classics of children's literature.]

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FINISHED:

Sedaris, David. (2008). When you are engulfed in flames. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

[What really needs to be said about this one besides, if you've never read anything by him you are doing yourself a GREAT disservice. Not quite as hilarious and out there as some of his earlier stories, though it has some really funny moments. The man is just a master of the embedded punchline and "turn of phrase". It's also wonderful to see a gay male author achieve such great success and have people read about his and Hugh's relationship in such a "matter of fact/we're just the same as you" way. Had heard a few of these stories when we saw him read a couple of years back - which reminds me: also seek out these stories on CD, listen to them on NPR, or see him read live - his voice is one of a kind and makes the stories all that more fantastically gut-busting.]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2008). Seekers: The quest begins. New York: Working Partners/HarperCollins.

[Read the first of the Warriors titles a couple of years ago and have been meaning to pick up the next in the series. Saw this new series about bears and thought I'd give it a try...]

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Picture Book Tuesday: Donald Crews

STARTED & FINISHED:

Crews, Donald. (1984). School bus. New York: Greenwillow.

[Overall, before commenting on each specifically, I just ADORE this man. His books are pure graphic design, and I find it so exciting to expose kids to this kind of illustration. So, School Bus: This one is pretty darn satisfying. Fantastic illustrations, and sparse, easy to follow and understand text. I love that the buses are parked facing us on the opening page, and then parked facing away on the last. Great introduction to the concepts of movement in space, and a school bus is something that every kids (hopefully) can recognize (although, I suppose some might not have the best associations...). Kids intrigued by vehicles should LOVE this one. Perfect for a vehicle storytime?]



Crews, Donald. (1978). Freight train. New York: Greenwillow.

[Probably my favorite of his - and I'm likely not alone. I'd even venture a guess that this one is his most popular. Again, wonderfully sparse language which complements a tale of a colorful train. A good "color concept" book, which follows a logical progression: here's a track that a train rides on, here are each of the cars/parts of the train (each in its own color), and here is where it goes. Perfect simplicity.]



Crews, Donald. (1982). Carousel. New York: Greenwillow.

[Not one of my favorites, but even at his "worst" Crews can pretty much do no wrong. One of my favorite parts is the colorful, "music words" text - to me, it's VERY 4AD. The movement of the carousel gets a bit old (it's most of the book...) and, frankly, is a bit nauseating. Still, enjoyable, graphic, and great use of minimal, easy language.]

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FINISHED:

Kinney, Jeff. (2008). Diary of a wimpy kid: Roderick rules. New York: Amulet.

[.]

STARTED:
Sedaris, David. (2008). When you are engulfed in flames. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

[Brian is making me read this one. It's not like I don't WANT to read it, it's just that there are a bunch of other things I want to read right now. I think he's afraid that I'm not reading enough literature for adults...]

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ABANDONED:

van de Ruit, John. (2008). Spud - the madness continues... New York: Razorbill/Penguin.

[Was supposed to review this one for ACL, but just couldn't do it. I got 140 pages in and it wasn't moving me AT ALL. Like I mentioned, there's really no plot - it's 300 pages of random, paragraph long non-sequitors. In addition, it's mildly homophobic, there's way too much attention paid to pubic hair counting and testicle dropping, it's crude and creepy (one character goes out and kills a bunch of animals, and they're just listed off as if it was nothing...), and life is too short and there are way too many other books out there that I'd rather read. Period.]

STARTED:
Kinney, Jeff. (2008). Diary of a wimpy kid: Roderick rules. New York: Amulet.

[LOVED the first one and am already SO pleased to see the "Cheese Touch" mentioned again so soon in this second in the series.]

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Picture Book Tuesday: James Stevenson

STARTED & FINISHED:

Stevenson, James. (1977). Could be worse! New York: Greenwillow/William Morrow.

[This is the one that started it all. This one is in my personal collection - it's one that we got from the Weekly Reader program when we were kids, where they sent a new book to you every week. How cool it was to get a new one each week! I wonder if the still do it? At any rate, in this one, 2 kids are tired of their Grandfather always saying, "Could be worse!", so one morning he tells them about the extraordinary adventure that he had over the night - being trampled in the desert by a strange beast, falling to the bottom of the ocean and getting caught in the claw of a giant lobster, catching a ride across the ocean on a piece of toast, and flying back to bed on a giant paper airplane. The kids' reaction to their Grandfather's tale? "Could be worse!" For me, this is a treasured, super-favorite!]




Stevenson, James. (1982). We can't sleep. Greenwillow/William Morrow: New York.

[Louie and Mary Ann can't sleep, so Grandpa spins an imaginative yarn about one night where HE couldn't sleep so he went swimming with sharks in the ocean, tossed a walrus on a ferocious polar bear, avoided a dragon, and got stuck in a hurricane. In the end, it's mission accomplished as Grandpa's tale lulls the kids to sleep. Not quite as good as Could Be Worse, but it's still fun. Stevenson's wonderful ink and watercolor illustrations are, as usual, SO great.]




Stevenson, James. (1991). Brrr! New York: Greenwillow/William Morrow.

[In this one, Mary Ann and Louie exclaim that they are freezing, so Grandpa tells them of the fantastical snowy adventures that he had with he brother during the winter of 1908. Sneezes froze! The town was BURIED in snow! The boys couldn't find their house so they had to walk up to chimneys (it REALLY snowed) and ask if it was their home! Houses were covered in ice, so Grandpa's brother had to walk around and shatter the ice by crying out loud! Again, not as great as the first - these other two are just kind of extraordinary stories without a plot framework, unlike the first - but a great accompaniment.]

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FINISHED:

Almond, David. (2008). My dad's a birdman. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[A little odd, but kind of moving. There's a great message here about being yourself, following your passion, and not letting the negativity of others stand in your way. I like how the fact that the mom isn't around anymore is handled - blink and you'll miss it, but yet, from the beginning, you just KNOW that this fact is what's driving the father's state of being and actions. The fantastic illustrations by Polly Dunbar are a must mention as well.]

STARTED:
van de Ruit, John. (2008). Spud - the madness continues... New York: Razorbill/Penguin.

[Reviewing this one for ACL as well. So far, it's WORK - I just can't get into it - probably because I can't seem to find a plot....]

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FINISHED:

Green, John. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton/Peguin.

[Will post my review for ACL once it has been written. I will say, however, that I am nominating it for our Distinguished Book List...]

STARTED:
Almond, David. (2008). My dad's a birdman. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[Reading to see if I deem it distinguished.]

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FINISHED:

Dahl, Roald. (1983). The witches. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Green, John. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton/Peguin.

[Reading and reviewing for ACL. Looks like this guy is a big teen writer, having won the Printz once and gotten a Printz Honor once. This one is only his 3rd book, so he's obviously important.]

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