Picture Book Saturday

Zoo Girl
By Rebecca Elliott
Published 2012 by Lion UK
This has a bit of dark beginning, with the titular girl an orphan all alone in the world. But it moves on to happier things, with simple text and lovely illustrations. I liked the simplicity of the story, though it might be a bit jarring for young readers, especially with the gloomy start. I think it's a cute book, but you definitely have to know your audience when sharing this one.

There Was a Tree

By Rachel Isadora

Published 2012 by Nancy Paulsen Books

A new picture book version of a favorite children's song, I adored this book. I quite enjoy the song (though I know it as "The Green Grass Grows All Around") and I loved seeing it in picture book form. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful - Isadora has transported the song to Africa and the illustrations evoke the African countryside perfectly. The colors are just lovely to look at and the style is simple but lush. Isadora has transformed the text slightly, making it into a rebus. I think this is really well done, and I like the additional layer it adds to the text.

Creature Count: A Prehistoric Rhyme

By Brenda Huante, illustrated by Vincent Nguyen

Published 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Very cute and sure to be very popular, this simple picture book combines counting with dinosaurs in a rhyming text. This would be perfect in storytime, though some of the pronunciations would be tricky (and there is no helpful guide at the end). If this were trying a little harder, this could be considered a non-fiction book as well, but a note at the end points out that the creatures depicted didn't all live during the same time periods, despite being shown alongside each other. However, kids will likely not notice this (though some dinosaur fanatics will be eager to point that out) and will definitely enjoy the pictures and rhythm of this book.

Bailey at the Museum

By Harry Bliss

Published 2012 by Scholastic

This is an adorable story of Bailey, who accompanies his class to the Museum of Natural History. He's very excited about it. I liked the simple joy depicted through Bailey as he does what many schoolchildren love to do - go on a field trip! Though maybe museums weren't always at the top of everyone's list, there is usually something for everyone there. I liked the little friendship that develops between Bailey and the museum security guard. This is just a sweet little book.

Review: The Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, book three)
By Rick Riordan
Published 2012 by Hyperion

WARNING: There will be spoilers for the first two books in the series. To read my reviews of those titles, go here and here.

With a prophecy hanging over her head, Annabeth is a bit of a nervous wreck. She's about to be reunited with her boyfriend (who she hasn't seen in many months) - that is, if she can get her ship past the Romans, who are poised for battle. In addition, she carries a gift from her mother that feels more like a burden than a delightful present. Will Annabeth - along with the other demigods - be able to find and close the Doors of Death?

I, like many others, had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this title (perhaps not as much as my boyfriend, who has a literary crush on Annabeth). The more time passes, the more this new series grows on me. As I've said in my first two reviews, this is due in large part to the deeper complexity of the plot in this series. There are multiple prophecies being explored throughout this series, as well as two entire sets of mythology to mine for characters and stories, leading to a richer world. I do, in fact, like Annabeth as a character and was excited to see her as one of the narrators of this story. Once again, Riordan has a great sense for compelling the story along, as this is his longest book yet and the pages just flew by as I read. However, on the whole, I don't think this is executed as well as his previous titles. I'm pretty sure that, as a series, The Kane Chronicles is my favorite, but I've enjoyed all of his books. With this one, for the first time, I felt a sense of ridiculous. The book is told in alternating narratives: four characters take turns telling the story. But, this time I noticed a lot of "meanwhile, back at the ranch..." type storytelling and it just seemed a little tedious. I suppose this has actually been going on throughout this whole series (and actually, probably occurs in the Kane Chronicles as well) but this was the first time I noticed it. I feel like I rolled my eyes at the beginning of every new narrator's section.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book - like I said, it's fast-paced, complex and exciting. And, maybe this is a weird sentiment, but these characters feel comfortable. Percy and Annabeth have now been characters in eight books, more than Harry and Ron and Hermoine, though they've been more or less present throughout the two series. But there is something about reading these characters that just feels comfortable, despite the fact that their lives are usually in mortal peril. I love seeing the characters and their relationships with each other develop over the course of the series. I like discovering the new twists and turns that they will have to navigate in order to achieve their destinies. I love that I still continue to learn new things with every book I read.

So, though I may have felt a little less enthusiastic about the telling of this story than the others, I still love these stories and hope Riordan continues to create new ones.

Review: Hokey Pokey

Hokey Pokey
By Jerry Spinelli
Published 2013 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

It all starts when the girl steals Jack's beloved bike, Scramjet, and soon nothing in Hokey Pokey seems quite the same. At least for Jack. As he begins to see things differently, he wonders what it means for his time left in Hokey Pokey and what exactly he should do about it.

All right, for the most part, I love Jerry Spinelli - I adored Maniac Magee when I was younger (keep meaning to revisit it - someday!) and have loved most of the novels of his I've read since then. It sort of amazes me that he's still writing books, though I don't know why it should. I was delighted last year to discover Jake and Lily, which I thought was a great portrait of siblings. So, I was once again excited to find out he was publishing another new book this year. I have to admit, I'm not sure what to say about this one, though. You see, this is a very interesting book, not what I've come to expect from Spinelli and, while I appreciate the trying of new things, I was not enjoying this book at all when I started. As a matter of fact, I found the book rather tedious for probably the first half. Then I decided to just let my expectations go and read, see what I would discover. I won't say I loved the book after that point, but it was definitely easier to read once I stopped fighting against its uniqueness. I don't want to give it all away but I have to say this - what changed this book for me was the ending. You see, dear reader, this ending sucker-punched me. It brought the whole book together for me, changed the way I thought about it all, and made me want to turn right back to page one and read it again, this time knowing the secret. This book is, amazingly enough, already getting Newbery buzz (yes, the awards were just announced last week - we're talking about the ones that'll be announced in 2014) and I will be very interested to see this one being discussed around the awards blogs. I have a feeling it'll be a very black or white book - you'll either love it or hate it. For me, the ending clinched it - I'll never doubt Spinelli again.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.

Review: Hero

Hero
By Perry Moore, read by Michael Urie
Published 2011 by Brilliance Audio

Thom gets that his father is suffering. That's part of the reason why he doesn't confide in him about his special powers. Or that he's joining the League, an organization of superheroes that shunned his father. The worst secret of all is that Thom is gay, and he doesn't know how to figure out who he truly wants to be.


This book came highly recommended from a few friends. I don't really read a lot of superhero-type books but I'm willing to try pretty much anything. I was interested to see how the intersection of two secret identities would play out in the novel and which would be the more difficult for Thom to come out about/come to terms with. Unsurprisingly, Thom struggles about equally with both aspects of his emerging identity and the two pieces seem to interact in unexpected ways.I liked the slow reveal of Thom's history - we know something big happened to his father but not what. As the pieces are revealed, Thom's struggles make even more and more sense. I loved Thom's ragtag band of up-and-coming superheroes. Though it's cliche for us to be presented with a band of underdogs to root for, there's a reason it's a cliche - it's genuinely a great feeling to get behind the underdogs. I love that they had some real but also some ridiculous powers and I liked that Thom worried he wouldn't be much good in a fight because his ability is healing instead of something defensive. Despite this being a book about superheroes, Thom's feelings of being overwhelmed by his struggles are incredibly realistic. I felt like the divide between Thom and his father was also realistic and very well-done. I did think that the truths of Uberman and the Dark Hero were a bit obvious, but with so much else going on in the story, I suppose it didn't seem that poorly executed. My main issue comes from the format. While I had no problem with Urie as a reader, I felt that the book dragged in audio form. Though this is a superhero book, the action is very spread out, so I found a number of sections dragged while listening. It was a disappointing experience. However, as a whole, I thought the book dealt with the twin secret identities very well and is an impressive addition to superhero books.

Program: American Girl Club

For our second installment of American Girl Club, we chose a doll with a unique holiday celebration, as we were holding the program in December, close to a number of holidays. We chose Kirsten, pioneer girl and Swedish immigrant. Here's what we did for the program!

As before, we started the program with a short historical and cultural presentation. Kirsten's story takes place in 1854, as her family immigrates to Minnesota from Sweden, enduring the long Atlantic crossing and the solitude of prairie life. We explained to the kids (we had boys this time!) that the pioneers lived isolated lives. Towns were often many miles away, so pioneers would save and reuse as much as they could to get them through the year. Doctors were often very busy and far away, so we explained some of the herbs that pioneers used to create their own remedies for various illnesses. We talked briefly about bees - Kirsten's family keeps honeybees in the books - and how important they are to our crops. Then we discussed Kirsten's Swedish heritage and some of the traditions and festivals she would have celebrated.

Then we moved on to our first hands-on activity: making butter! Surprisingly, I don't remember ever doing this as a child myself, but I definitely remember hearing about it, as well as seeing it around the web as a fun Kirsten/pioneer activity. I tested it out about a month before the program, to make sure it actually worked and wouldn't take the entire program. A small amount of heavy cream in a glass baby food jar and constant shaking. After about 10 minutes, I had a solid mass of butter and some buttermilk. Yay! It was a go for the program. Of course, nothing ever works exactly the way you test it when you're programming for kids. Part of it was my fault - I filled some of the jars too full of cream, not leaving enough room for the agitation. Another part was the kids - they probably weren't shaking constantly or as briskly as they should have been. We worried about this ahead of time - would the kids complain about having to shake constantly for ten minutes? To preemptively combat this, we showed two videos while they were shaking: one of a St. Lucia's Day procession and one briefly introducing Kirsten's story. I don't know that the videos were actually necessary - the kids didn't complain about shaking their jars. They seemed to be starting mini competitions among themselves - who could shake fastest, whose would turn to butter first. I think we were more concerned than the kids were - we didn't plan on the butter making to take up so much of the program time. Once we started to get some actual butter, we passed out homemade St. Lucia rolls (I made them the day before the program) and the kids spread their butter on the rolls. As we (the adults and teen volunteers in the room) frantically continued to shaking jars for some kids, they moved on to the final activity.

For the last part of the program, we made yarn dolls, another common pioneer activity. We wrapped the bodies around cardboard pieces ahead of time to make the process move a little quicker. The kids were responsible for cutting and segmenting the head, hair, arms, and legs of the dolls. Since the butter making took longer than expected, this part of the program was a bit rushed, but we stayed to help the last few kids finish up.

Overall, everyone seemed to have a great time at the program. A few girls even commented that they had more fun with this one than the Molly program. I certainly had a good time. I'm looking forward to our next American Girl Club!

Picture Book Saturday

Oink-a-Doodle-Moo!
By Jef Czekaj
Published 2012 by Balzer + Bray
I like Czekaj's books because they often let the reader in on a sly trick or a silly joke. In this case, if you've ever played the game "Telephone," you pretty much know that things are going to go poorly once the message starts being passed around the farmyard. This would be a great storytime read-aloud, if only because it would be so difficult to do so and kids would find your struggles hilarious. The illustrations are simple and complement the story well.

Zorro Gets an Outfit

By Carter Goodrich

Published 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Zorro and Mister Bud do pretty much everything together and are treated the same way. Until the unspeakable happens - Zorro receives a cape and hood that he is forced to wear. He is humiliated - even the neighborhood cat makes fun of him as the dogs walk through town together. But will another pooch's outfit change Zorro's mind? Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is Zorro himself. He is rendered so adorably in the illustrations, with the most expressive little doggie face imaginable. I love the story here and think kids would really enjoy this one.

Georgia in Hawaii: When Georgia O'Keeffe Painted What She Pleased

By Amy Novesky, illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Published 2012 by Harcourt Children's Books

Sometimes I wonder how authors get inspired to write picture books about such specific moments in history. This book is a perfect example, recounting the time when renowned artist Georgia O'Keeffe was commissioned by The Hawaiian Pineapple Company to create paintings for them. The company sent O'Keeffe to live in Hawaii and take inspiration from what she found there but apparently crossed the line when they tried to dictate exactly what O'Keeffe's paintings should contain. This is an absolutely gorgeous book, wonderfully capturing the spirit of O'Keeffe, as well as her lush and beautiful artwork. Morales' illustrations are simply divine. Kids will appreciate O'Keeffe's stubbornness and her desire to paint what spoke to her. An author's note, illustrator's note, and map are included, though a bibliography lists only one source.

What to Do If an Elephant Stands On Your Foot

By Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Published 2012 by Dial

Y'all - I will praise Peter Reynolds' illustrations until the day I die, so you know why I had to read this one. This is a circular story, similar to Laura Joffe Numeroff's If You Give... series, as well as an interactive story, much like Jan Thomas' books. This book is just begging to be read aloud at storytime - kids will love reacting to the various jungle situations in which the main character ends up. I love that the illustrations set the scene in a simple way - basically I just want Peter Reynolds to illustrate my life. I cannot wait to try this book out on a group of preschoolers and see their reactions.

Review: The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock
By Kristin Levine
Published 2012 by Putnam Juvenile

Marlee is shy - she doesn't like speaking to people she doesn't know. As a result, she doesn't have many friends. When a new girl, Liz, comes along, she's brave and not afraid to say what she thinks. Marlee likes her almost instantly. But, almost before she knows it, Liz is gone, replaced by rumors that she is a Negro girl, passing as white. Marlee doesn't want to lose her best friend so soon after finding her - she'll face down integration and danger if that's what it takes to keep Liz in her life.

This book was getting quite a bit of buzz when I picked up a copy at ALA Midwinter, though I didn't get around to reading it until the fall. However, once I read it, I found the buzz well-deserved. This is an evocative, honest, and, at times, brutal depiction of an oft-neglected historical period: the time after the Little Rock Nine integrated. I love that Levine felt that this was the story to tell. Many historical fiction books dealing with Civil Rights seem to focus on the time period up to integration or a number of years after. Levine sets her story in Arkansas one year after integration has occurred - segregationists are scrambling to find a way to stop integration from happening and emotions are running at an all-time high. I like that Levine gives us different ways to see what's happening - Marlee's friendship with Liz is the main narrative focus, but we also hear about Marlee's sister and a number of other high schoolers being sent away to attend school elsewhere. Marlee's parents (who are teachers) find their every move scrutinized and their careers in jeopardy with increasing frequency. And, while this is a story about the big issue of integration and treating your fellow humans with compassion and understanding, this is also a story about Marlee growing up and finding her own voice. I thought Levine did a wonderful job of balancing the global (the issue of integration) with the local (Marlee's coming of age). It all flows together nicely and I didn't feel like one story took away from the other. I love that there are times when Marlee makes decisions that negatively impact Liz and her family. Marlee simply wants to be a good friend but, as a white child, she does not see things from the same perspective as Liz and her family. The books feels impeccably researched - there is a tremendous sense of place and time in the novel, making me want to learn more about our nation's ongoing struggle with civil rights. I love that, even outside the big message of the story, there is a significant message about the importance of speaking up and being heard. I think this is a truly wonderful book and will definitely be recommending it highly.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy.