Tuesday, November 27, 2007


STARTED & FINISHED:

Taylor, Mark. (1966). Henry the explorer. Boston: Little Brown & Company.


[Super charmed by this one. It looks like there are more adventures of Henry, so I'm definitely going to have to check those out. Cool watercolor wash illustrations and a simple, deadpan funny story about a kid and his dog, Laird Angus McAngus (is that not the greatest name for a dog!?!), who decide to go exploring, marking their discoveries with homemade flags along the way.]




Lakin, Patricia. (2007). Rainy day! New York: Dial/Penguin.


[Looks like it's one in a series (i.e. "Sunny Day!", "Beach Day!", etc.). Like the illustration style a lot, but the story itself is awfully random - and not in an OK way (they play mini-golf in the rain at one point...). The bold, rhyming text is fun, but, again, it's just kinda random.]




Wheeler, Lisa. (2004). Farmer Dale's red pickup truck. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.


[The evening that I read these turned out to be rhyming night. Haven't read a whole lot of rhyming texts here, but, then all of a sudden a bunch pop up. Sweet illustrations compliment a tale about a pickup truck driven by a dog that picks up a bunch of other animals along the way into town. Would work well in a storyhour about animals or farms.]




Gorbachev, Valeri. (2005). That's what friends are for. New York: Philomel/Penguin.


[I'm finding myself drawn again and again to this guy's illustrations. There's something very Richard Scarry about them, and who didn't LOVE at least one Richard Scarry book as a child? This a cute little Arnold Lobel/Frog & Toad-ish tale where Goat sees his neighbor Pig crying and assumes the worst - then coming up with ways to help. Turns out, Pig was just chopping onions. Again, GREAT illustrations and a fun, simple story that would be perfect in a storytime.]




Yee, Wong Herbert. (2001). Fireman Small - fire down below! Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


[I thought that I'd be charmed by Fireman Small, but that wasn't quite the case. He's a cute character, and I still LOVE the drawing of him with a towel wrapped around his arm smashing open a fire alarm case, but the resolution just doesn't work for me. I'm willing to give him another chance and will check out one of his other adventures, though.]




Ward, Lynd. (1973). The silver pony. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


[Had big hopes for this one, too. Again, just kind of weird and random. What drew me initially to it is that it's told completely in pictures done in a cool '50s illustration style. But the story about a kid dreaming of a flying horse and the things they do together is just odd and unconnected - although, I suppose that they work in a dream-like way. In the end it seems like the kid has a horrible sickness and that is why he's hallucinating (??) and then gets a pony. RANDOM.]

*

Wednesday, November 21, 2007


FINISHED:

Klages, Ellen. (2006). The green glass sea. New York: Viking/Penguin.


[Liked it a lot. Didn't LOVE it like I thought I would, but it was a good read and will certainly pick up the sequel when it comes out. The setting (Los Alamos, during the development of the atomic bomb) was a fascinating one.]

STARTED:
Pullman, Philip. (1997). The golden compass. New York: Del Rey/Ballantine.

[Reading it again before seeing the movie - which I'm VERY excited for!]

*

Saturday, November 17, 2007

STARTED:

Klages, Ellen. (2006). The green glass sea. New York: Viking/Penguin.

[Heard a lot of great things about this one, didn't feel like reading the books that I have to review for ACL, and I certainly didn't want to do my homework - saw it while shelving the other day and checked it out. (Needed a good book for an airplane flight, too. Also going to try to reread THE GOLDEN COMPASS before I see the film...) So far, so good.]

*

Thursday, November 15, 2007

3 Big Winners! (and an odd one)


STARTED & FINISHED:

Zolotow, Charlotte. (1962). Mr. Rabbit and the lovely present. New York: HarperCollins.


[FANTASTIC. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak, at first, freaked me out a bit, but the story is just so sweet and well told that I had to fall in love. It's a simple dialog between a girl and a rabbit that is so funny and, if you really try and read it with the characters in mind, quirky sweet. It'd make a great read-a-loud between two people. I'm not at all surprised that it was a Caldecott Honor Book winner.]



Say, Allen. (2004). Music for Alice. Boston: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin.


[I need to read more of his books. He's got the perfect combination of story, words and illustration. All pure poetry.]



Emberley, Ed. (1992). Go away, big green monster! New York: Little Brown/Time Warner.


[This man is an absolute genius. I'm not even going to attempt to describe this book because it needs to be experienced to be appreciated - it's brilliant in all its die-cutness.]



Valen, Herb. (1968). The boy who could enter paintings. Boston: Little Brown.


[Gives me that same feeling that I get from Winnie the Pooh: is Christopher Robin just an incredibly lonely and disturbed child who makes all these characters up to fill some awful void?]

*

Friday, November 9, 2007


FINISHED:

Spinelli, Jerry. (2007). Love, Stargirl. New York: Knopf/Random House.


[Official ACL review:

This continuation of the trials and tribulations of Stargirl, an eccentric home-schooler, picks up after she and her family have moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania. Still pining for her ex-boyfriend Leo, Stargirl embarks on a quest to keep her “happy wagon” filled with rocks while interacting with some of her new town’s array of odd supporting characters: an agoraphobic woman who hasn’t left her house in 4 years, an old man who sits at his dead wife’s grave everyday, a possible new love interest who litters, steals, and has a harem of girls following him around, and Dootsie, an over-excited 5-year old who has clung to Stargirl and her pet rat, Cinnamon, like sickeningly sweet gum on the bottom of your shoe (a stock character that we’ve seen many times before). As the book is written in letter/diary format, things get a tad monotonous and repetitive in the middle of the year – one wonders for a long time about the relevance of planting spatulas on a hill to make a sun calendar, and why Stargirl continues to tell us, in code no less, how she is putting orange halves around the neighborhood. While both of these incidences do pay off somewhat in the end, one can’t help but think that it takes much to long to get there, and it is all just a bit too eccentric and colorful for the sake of being eccentric and colorful. Fans of the first will certainly find lots to love here, and while this one stands on it’s own, it’s hard not to compare Love, Stargirl to the myriad of other novels out there with unique protagonists finding their way in a world of unique and oddball characters.]

STARTED & FINISHED:


Magoon, Scott. (2007). Hugo & Miles in: I've painted everything: An adventure in Paris. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


[Also reviewed for ACL:

Hugo is a “creative artist” who, one day, comes to the startling realization that that he has painted everything (his studio is filled with paintings of light switches, hamburgers, and bell towers). Hugo’s friend Miles, an inventor, has to fly to Paris on business, so he invites Hugo along believing that the change of scenery might offer him some inspiration. While touring some of Paris’s most famous art museums, Hugo sees the works of some of the grand painting masters, and, while on the top of the Eiffel Tower, finds inspiration in how different things look from a new angle. Adorable illustrations, done in pencil and then digitally colored, that will bring a smile to any child (or adult’s) face compliment a sweetly simple story of a painter with artist’s block. The central lesson for kids about perspective and looking at the world from different points of view is timeless and deeply important in our world today. Other touched upon concepts such as hue and impressionism could open up a larger discussion or storytime about artists and styles of art. A relative newcomer, Scott Mangoon is definitely someone to watch out for in the future.]




Odone, Jamison. (2007). Honey badgers. Honesdale, PA: Front Street/Boyds Mills Press.


[Quirky. VERY VERY quirky, and I think that I LOVE it. Yes, VERY Maurice Sendak. I bought it at the ACL meeting this week - it was on the sale table. But it looks like no one ever reviewed. I think that I may review it and label it OUTSTANDING...]

*

Friday, November 2, 2007


STARTED & FINISHED:

Ransome, Arthur. (1968). The fool of the world and the flying ship. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.


[Featuring the Caldecott Award winning illustrations of Uri Shulevitz (my new favorite!).]



Van Allsburg, Chris. (1982). Ben's dream. New York: Houghton Mifflin.


[Not my favorite of Van Allsburg's books, but the woodcut-looking illustrations are winners. I just wish that he would work on his noses. He's never been great with the noses. Mostly wordless, this one is about a kid who falls asleep studying monuments from around the globe, and in his dream, finds his house floating by a number of them.]



Holm, Jennifer L., and Matthew Holm. (2007). Camp Babymouse. New York: Random House.


[The sixth in the series. Kind of lacking, but still fun. HIGHLY recommended for kids of all ages.]




Say, Allen. (1989). The lost lake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


[I think that I need to add Allen Say to my list of favorites on the left. His soft watercolors and straightforward, nostalgic stories are outstanding.]

*