Review: What If? - Laura Vaccaro Seeger

What If?

written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Ages 4+

32 pages

Roaring Brook Press, April 2010

Happy Picture Book Saturday!

I have been especially fond of wordless books ever since I discovered Tuesday by David Wiesner (and yes, I know, it does have some words... but the point is, you can read the book without reading the words, and it doesn't significantly impact your experience of the book.  Such is the experience with What If?  The sum total words in this book are:

what
if
and
then
but
or

Seeger (niece by marriage of folk singer Pete Singer) tells, or rather shows, the story of three seals playing with a ball.  In the first two of three possible versions of the story, one seal is left out and feels sad.  In the third, they find an alternative that makes all three seals happy. 

My son, 2, is captivated by this book.  He can relate to playing on the beach with a ball, but I think more importantly he finds the feelings of the seals, so adorably presented on their little seal faces, accessible.  What child has not been left out, or left others out, intentionally or not?  Just as repetition is crucial to children learning to read, repetition of pictures is equally crucial to children learning to understand the importance of considering the feelings of others.  This would be a quick and easy springboard to a discussion of feelings without getting didactic. 

Laura Vaccaro Seeger's books have all been well regarded.  She received some recent acclaim when she received the Caldecott Honor, the NYT Best Illustrated Book of 2007 AND the Geisel Honor in one year (for First the Egg).  The following year, One Boy won a similar number of accolades.  But for sheer inventiveness, I especially love sharing Seeger's Walter Was Worried with children.  The book tells the story, in alliterative feeling statements, of children who are confounded by the weather, but the paintings show each feeling using the letters from the feeling word to create the child's face.  For example, if you look closely at the picture of Walter to the right, you can see each of the letters in WOrrIeD. 

It's really pretty amazing what Seeger can share in her seemingly simple illustrations.  I look forward to sharing them with my students this year, and listening to what they see.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - quiet and simple, but infinitely accessible to children of all ages
  
• Wordsmithing: 6 - almost no words, but the ones she chooses are just right
  
• Personages: 6 - sweet little seals!
  
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - I've read it several times now, and I see something new each time
  
• Illustrations: 7 - beautiful primary colors and sweeping sunsets
  

Other Reviews

• Preview it at Google Books
• at 100 Scope Notes
• at A Year of Reading

Review: When the Whistle Blows - Fran Slayton

When the Whistle Blows

by Fran Slayton

Ages 9-12

160 pages

Philomel, June 2009

Summary from Amazon:

Jimmy lives in Rowlesburg, West Virginia, during the 1940s. He does all the things boys do in the small mountain town: plays a mean game of football, pulls the unforgettable Halloween prank with his friends in “the Platoon,” and promises to head off into the woods on the first day of hunting season— no matter what. He also knows his father belongs to a secret society, and is determined to uncover the mysteries behind it! But it is a midnight encounter with a train that shows Jimmy the man his father really is.

I was captivated by these vignettes of a rural railroad community in the 1940s. Rowlesburg is a West Virginia steam train town on the cusp of the diesel revolution.  Jimmy is twelve in the first chapter, which takes place on one day -- All Hallows' Eve, to be precise. Each chapter carries the reader one year later in Jimmy's life, with its consummate trials, tests and triumphs.

This short middle-grade novel is a winner. The voice of a growing adolescent is authentic and the historic setting springs to life on every page. Think Stand By Me.

It's funny, too. Here's a taste: "I spit hard onto the ground. The spit is good quality -- heavy and thick with no lumps -- and it comes out in a perfect, spinning wad that slaps itself onto the ground just like the way I'd like to slap Stubby upside the head."

On the other hand, I'm not sure if this will appeal to my typical middle grade boy readers. The content is all boy -- football, trains, gross practical jokes, dead bodies -- but the actual story mostly takes place in Jimmy's head. Although the pacing is fairly quick and the stories are engaging, I'm not sure if it has enough dialogue or action to carry the day.

In addition, it's rife with emotion. Jimmy deals with some pretty intense feelings through the course of seven years. I would like to think this will not put boys off, but the sexist cynic in me wonders. It reminds me of the kind of "I love you, man" melodrama that women writers think men feel, but men themselves scoff at. I guess in the end, being a girl reader myself, I will have to try this out on some boys-who-only-read-boy-books and see what they think.

I would give this to readers of Richard Peck and kids who liked Heart of a Shepherd (another excellent book, by the way).

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - quietly unassuming, but packs a punch
  
• Wordsmithing: 6 - vocabulary is straightforward and does not demand much of the reader
  
• Personages: 7 - memorable characters are familiar but still three dimensional
  
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - chapters were short, just right to consume in small bites

Other Reviews - and wow, there are a lot of them!  I am assuming this is because Fran is herself a blogger.

• at Books, Books Everywhere!
• at Bookends and again
• at 100 Scope Notes
• at Everyday Reading
• at The Reading Zone
• at Jen Robinson's Book Page
• at Beckwith's Book Blog
• at Donna St. Cyr
• at Not Acting My Age
• at Frenetic Reader
• at Iron Inklings
• at Galleysmith
• at Booking Mama (with an author video)
• at Capricious Reader
• at Carrie's YA Bookshelf
• Author interviews here and here and here

Nonfiction Monday: The Day-Glo Brothers - Chris Barton

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors

by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani

Ages 4-8

48 pages

Charlesbridge, July 2009

I've been waiting and waiting for my public library to buy a copy of this book so I could review it!  I so wanted to include it in my Mock Caldecott.  I should have just shelled out the bucks and bought a copy for myself.  It's a fantastic book and full of quirky details.

From Amazon:

Joe and Bob Switzer were very different brothers. Bob was a studious planner who wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Joe dreamed of making his fortune in show business and loved magic tricks and problem-solving. When an accident left Bob recovering in a darkened basement, the brothers began experimenting with ultraviolet light and fluorescent paints. Together they invented a whole new kind of color, one that glows with an extra-special intensity: Day-Glo.

What I liked best about this biography is the very human fallibility of brothers Joe and Bob.  Neither are perfect, but they complement one another well.  Their story speaks to the importance of working together to make things happen, which is not something kids ordinarily learn from a biography.  Most famous heroes are portrayed as being the best or the smartest or the hardest working.  These guys were none of  those things.  They were ordinary people who had a good idea and were curious to see what would happen with it.  Plenty of their ideas failed, and that's cool too.  Kids need more opportunities to fail.

The science is first rate and would be great to replicate in a controlled environment, but I wonder how much of it was dangerous.  I don't think making a fluorescent sponge cake is a good idea.

Ivy chose this one two nights in a row for bedtime reading.  She loved the stunt plane and the glowing flowers.  She also noted how they got older in the pictures as the book went on: "Look, here's Bob and he's a little older than the last Bob!"  Last night I didn't edit any text and she fell asleep on the last page.

Winner of the 2010 Cybil Awards for best nonfiction picture book; also a 2010 Sibert Honor winner.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 8 - I'm a sucker for the first book written on a subject (*cough* Claudette Colvin)
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - Funny and comfortable, like my Uncle Chuck.
  
• Personages: 8 - These guys were neat individuals.
  
• Mesmerizitude: 8 - Even my 1.5 year old couldn't look away from the day-glo!
  
• Illustrations: 8 - Clever use of color, but the retro design is even cooler. Those guys riding in their car look like the happiest inventors on earth.
  
• Factfulness: 8 - Excellent back matter on fluorescence.
  

Other Reviews

• Chris Barton's web page
• its own Facebook page
• on Boing Boing
• on Oz and Ends
• on Abby (the) Librarian
• at Simply Science
• on Wrapped in Foil

Review: Bad News for Outlaws - Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Bad News for Outlaws

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Ages 6-10

32 pages

Carolrhoda Books, November 2009



Okay, I admit it.  My father hooked me on westerns when I was a little kid.  One of my very favorite movies of all time is Silverado.  The sense of adventure, the open prairie, the black and white morality all appealed to my childhood brain -- and now, of course, it's too late.  It's embedded in my psyche.

But even if you don't care much for westerns, or if you have (heresy!) never seen Silverado, Bad News for Outlaws is a smashing success.  It begins with a strong hook.  I defy any child to resist the power of Bass Reeves capturing the criminal Jim Webb:

Webb couldn't outrun a horse.  And he knew he'd hang for sure this time.  In a last-ditch effort to escape, Webb stopped in his tracks, turned, and let loose with his rifle.

The rest of Reeves' story is told chronologically, with one-page episodes of each part of his life, from the slavery of his youth to becoming a Deputy U.S. Marshal.  The focus is on his time capturing criminals.  The text is scattered with fascinating facts, anecdotes and quotes about Reeves.

One of the distinguishing features of this biography is the quality of Bass' character.  He was an exemplary shot, but killed very few men in his lifetime.  A touching segment tells how Reeves was required to arrest his own son, who'd killed his cheating wife.

The back matter is rich with additional detail, including a glossary of "Western Words," a timeline of Reeves' life, books and web sites for further reading, more about Indian Territory and Judge Isaac Parker, who hired Reeves, a selected bibliography and an author's note.

The illustrations by R. Gregory Christie are colorful and rich paintings, with a thick line and impressionistic style.  You can read an interview with him at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast here.

When judging biographies for sharing with my classes, I always go back to Judy Freeman's 10 biographical "ingredients" in her recipe for Biography Hash.  Not all biographies need to have all ten, but it sure helps -- and this one does.  I can predict some serious hash-making next week!

Winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King Award.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 8 - superb example of biography and a smashing story to boot.
  
• Wordsmithing: 8 - compelling descriptions and evocative quotes.
  
• Personages: 7 - Bass is a fabulous character and a great role model.
  
• Mesmerizitude: 7 - a quick read.
  
• Illustrations: 7 - though not my style, the paintings are very eye-catching.
  
• Factfulness: 9 - truly excellent scholarship and inclusion of notes about the research process.
  

Reviews & Other Stuff

• at the publisher web site
• at Happy Nappy Bookseller
• at INK
• at The Reading Tub
• Listen to the author reading from the beginning of the book at Teachingbooks.net.

Review: The Boy on Fairfield Street - Kathleen Krull

The Boy on Fairfield Street

by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Ages 6-10

43 pages

Random House, 2004



Every year we celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday during March (is Reading Month).  I do a week of activities with my students and read them all the Dr. Seuss books they've never heard of.  This is my favorite book to read to the older kids, fourth or fifth grades, who think they know everything about Dr. Seuss.

Krull presents a chronological story of the early life of Theodore Seuss Geisel, focusing on his experiences as a boy in Springfield, Massachusetts.  It includes the happy details, such as Ted's mother reciting lists of nonsense words to help him go to sleep (names of pies!), and not so happy details, such as Ted being bullied by anti-German neighbors.  At the end there are four pages of further information about Geisel's later years, a comprehensive list of books written by Seuss and some suggestions for further reading.

This biography appeals to children of all ages, but I especially like to share it with older children who have had the experience of being punished for dreaming too much.  Ted is presented as a creative but unfocused genius, full of ideas but not a lot of drive.  I think many creative children (myself included) can relate to this state of being.

It is beautifully illustrated with a painting on each two-page spread.  At the bottom of each spread is a character from one of Seuss' books.  I took these icons and made a trivia/word puzzle out of them, appropriate for 3rd grade and up.  (Post a comment with your email address if you'd like a copy.)

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - full of great information about Seuss, and gorgeous to boot.
  
• Wordsmithing: 6 - well written, and only a bit too long for reading aloud in one session.
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - I especially liked all the stuff at the end (back matter?).
  
• Illustrations: 7 - perfectly captured the capricious, creative nature of Geisel as a boy.
  
• Factfulness: 7 - very well done!
  

Other Reviews

• on SMS Book Reviews

Review: Shakespeare Bats Cleanup - Ron Koertge

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

by Ron Koertge

Ages 10+

116 pages

Candlewick, March 2003



English teachers, take note: hand this book to your students, and you can teach them poetry little by little, almost without effort.  Isn't that the power of poetry: to instruct subtly without you even knowing you're learning?

Kevin, once MVP on his school ball team, now is laid up with mono.  He writes in his journal to escape the monotony of his illness, but also to reflect on the loss of his mother, girlfriends, baseball and other issues of importance.  As he begins to claim his identity as an author, he struggles with his changing identity as a baseball player.

Kevin begins with the familiar haiku and then moves on to more complex forms, including sonnets, a pantoum, a ballad, blank verse, a sestina, couplets and a pastoral.  I enjoyed reading each form before learning its name, as Koertge demonstrates the type of poem before explaining what it is.  He discusses structure, scansion, rhyming and similes in passing, almost offhandedly, and uses the ongoing metaphor of baseball to help keep things concrete.

I was planning to read Hate That Cat to my 5th graders (as a follow-up to Love That Dog, which I read aloud to many of them in 3rd grade), but now I am considering reading this one.  I'm going to have to ask them if they'd be embarrassed having me read about sex and stuff.  There's nothing inappropriate for middle schoolers, but having your librarian read about making out might be more than they can handle.  Maybe better to leave it to them.  I could read All the Broken Pieces.  Hmmm.  Hard to choose -- they're all so good.

Teaching idea: after reading the novel, students respond in their reader response journals with one of the poetic forms Kevin used.

Nominated for the Louisiana Young Reader's Choice Award, 2006.

Question for you: what other books do you recommend for middle school boys?

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 8 - tight and clever, with just the right amount of poetry instruction.
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - no heavy punches here; even Kevin's mother's death is presented with a light hand, but excellent poetic examples.
  
• Personages: 7 - Kevin is likeable but not outside the realm of normal boy.
  
• Mesmerizitude: 7 - a quick read; it kept me interested.
• Factfulness: 7 - taught me more about poetry than the best instruction manual.
  

Other Reviews'n'Stuff

• at lection
• at bookshelves of doom
• at Finding Wonderland
• recommended on Common Sense Media
• interviews with Ron Koertge at Through the Looking Glass and Cynsations
• lesson plans at the State Library of Indiana web site
• more novels in verse | still more novels in verse

Review: The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

The Yearling

by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Ages 10+

400 pages



I read this book for the YA Through the Decades challenge (book 1!).

I loved the perpetual question asked in the book: how would they be challenged next?  There was no question it would happen, nor did it feel excessive or overly dramatic.  It was just the way life was in the northern Florida swamp.  Yet even though the question of survival was always on Jody's family's mind, it was never so sharp and immediate as it was in the last chapter, where Jody ran away from home and discovered his own truth: in the end, when one is hungry, animals must be food.  It is eat, or die - no questions asked, no morality, just truth.

I'm listening to another book, Farm City, that discusses this idea, but clearly in our "civilized" world, it is a choice to eat animals for food.  The author embarks upon a month-long experiment to see if she can successfully feed herself on her own garden and animals for one month.   She talks about how she wasn't sure if she could kill her rabbits, being mammals like her, but discovers in the hungry moment that it didn't matter that much.  Food is food, and she is grateful for it.  I think perhaps with Jody being so emotionally tied to Flag that he has crossed a line, but I suspect, had it been necessary, Jody would have been able to eat Flag's meat, with appreciation for what Flag did for him.

Oh, and can I just say?  You know you've really made it when your book gets its own publishing imprint.  Not to mention its own Wikipedia entry.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - never ponderous even in its tome-like length, this is a great survival story.
  
• Wordsmithing: 8 - Rawlings does a spectacular job evoking the language and attitudes of the people of rural Florida of this time period, but the true magic is in her description of the swamp.
  
• Personages: 7 - several characters were flat, but Jody and his family are multifaceted and fascinating to read.
  
• Mesmerizitude: 8 - I found myself reading bits of it under the covers on my iPhone in the middle of the night.

Review: From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books - Kathleen T. Horning

From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books

by Kathleen T. Horning

Adult

230 pages

HarperCollins, February 1997



As a librarian, I've had myriad opportunities to review children's literature on the fly, in the form of booktalks and newsletter reviews, but it wasn't until I started writing this blog last year that I've looked critically at my skill as a writer and reviewer.  Reading From Cover to Cover was a gift to myself to help me write better and more informative reviews, and I highly recommend all bloggers do the same.

From Cover to Cover is written in a friendly, readable style, using a format designed for easy reference. It uses all the best features of nonfiction to guide the reader to the information she is looking for.  Horning begins with an explanation of how children's books are published, the parts of a book and various categories of children's books.  Then she methodically covers each type of children's literature:  nonfiction, traditional literature, poetry, picture books, easy readers and transitional books, and fiction. She concludes with a short chapter on writing a review.

One of the nicest elements of From Cover to Cover is the use of mentor texts to exemplify each aspect of children's literature.  Horning has a long, juicy list of recommended titles in each chapter.  I can see I'll have to devote a chunk of my summer to reading all those books!

I was thrilled to see that From Cover to Cover will be released this April in a revised edition!  You can bet I'll be picking up a copy to have on my reference shelf.

Horning has received multiple awards and commendations, including the 2009 Scholastic Library Publishing Award.  She is a former president of ALSC and a Newbery Award chair.  She is currently director of the CCBC and will be delivering the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture this year.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 8 - an excellent resource for all reviewers.
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - written simply and clearly.
• Mesmerizitude: 8 - I breezed through these 200+ pages in a day, but came away full of ideas.
• Factfulness: 9 - superior content, both presentation of elements of literature and recommendations of exemplary texts.
  

Other Reviews'n'Stuff

• at A Garden of Books
• Read an excellent interview with Horning in SLJ (July 2009)

Nonfiction Monday: Extra Cheese, Please! - Cris Peterson

Extra Cheese, Please!

by Cris Peterson, photos by Alvis Upitis

Ages 4-8

32 pages

Boyds Mills Press, 1994

It's Nonfiction Monday (see the roundup this week at Great Kid Books) and I have another book about cows!  (My school is planning to buy a cow to support Heifer International during this year's March is Reading Month (MIRM), so I checked out all the books on cows and milk we had in our public library. You'll see several of these reviews come up over the next few weeks.)

Cris Peterson, the author of eight books on farming and agriculture for children, is a full time dairy farmer in Wisconsin.  She is also the author of Huckleberry Bookshelf, a syndicated weekly column on children's literature.  She and photographer Alvis Upitis have created this excellent nonfiction book on how milk is made into mozzarella cheese.  Peterson won the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Children's Literature Award for Extra Cheese, Please! as well as for four other of her books.

Description:

When Cris Peterson's cow Annabelle gives birth to a calf, an amazing process begins. Now Annabelle can produce milk--about 40,000 glasses of milk each year, or enough cheese to top 1,800 pizzas. Alvis Upitis's sparkling photographs document the cheese-making process--starting on the farm where Annabelle's calf is born and milking begins, then moving to the cheese-making plant where the milk is heated and cooled, stirred and swirled, thickened, drained, and sliced--and finally packaged for stores. Cris Peterson's personal and informative text explains the process in a simple and engaging manner. Mr. Uptits's photographs capture moments on the farm with the cows and the calves and reveal an inside view of the cheese-making process. A wonderful collaboration, concluding with the author's own recipe for pizza.

The writing is about as technical as in Aliki's book on milk, which is to say perfectly accessible to younger readers, but complicated enough to satisfy students who appreciate technology.  The text is peppered with fun similes ("The bricks of cheese float like overgrown building blocks in a bathtub.") that make it easy for students to visualize the process.  Because it's illustrated with photographs, this will be a good compliment to Aliki's book, too. 

Oh, and I was hoping for instructions on how to make cheese, but instead there's a pizza recipe.  Perhaps I'll try it and bring in the results for students to taste!  (Too bad we had to take out the kitchen to install the book room...)

Lesson ideas: 

• While reading, students listen for ways in which owning a cow would be beneficial for Heifer International donor families.  Scribe a class list after reading.  
• Use the description of cheesemaking to guide students in writing their own how-to book on making mozzarella.  Then, make cheese using a kit.
• Research one of the villages serviced by Heifer International.  Using the figures given in the book on how much cheese a cow can produce, determine how many cows a village would need in order to provide cheese for all residents.

Additional Resources

• Here's a brief lesson plan for 2nd-3rd grade provided by Powell Center on identifying natural, capital and human resources. (PDF)
• Oregon State Extension has a module in their Start Smart Eating and Reading breakfast program for 1st-2nd grade about milk and calcium.  (PDF)
• The curriculum Bringing History Home uses More Cheese, Please! to teach about assembly line production.
• The Missouri Farm Bureau and Missouri State University present a webquest called Dig Into Dairy, in which students learn about different cattle breeds in the United States.  

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 5 - a very useful book for teaching the how-to style
  
• Wordsmithing: 6 - clear description of a technical process
• Mesmerizitude: 5 - I'm only slightly interested in factory cheesemaking
  
• Photographs: 6 - very clear
  
• Factfulness: 5 - just enough for younger students, but would have loved additional info

Nonfiction Monday: Eleanor Quiet No More - Doreen Rappaport

Eleanor Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Gary Kelley Ages 4-8 48 pages Hyperion Books, February 2009

Eleanor was a serious child.  Her parents died when she was ten.  Even though she had money, she was poor in love and affection.  She was taught to be quiet and not speak up for herself or others.  But Eleanor's compassion was awakened as she matured, and she found many opportunities to help others all over the world, by herself, as First Lady and, later, for the United Nations.  


This picture book biography is in the same style as Rappaport's Martin's Big Words, which is a staple for reading at any time of the year in my school.  It combines description with quotes from King and others in his life.  The format works equally well to tell Roosevelt's story.  I found myself tearing up at her selfless and inclusive actions.  


It includes that most useful of all biographical tools, a timeline, in the back, as well as several suggestions for more reading.  I would have loved a list of references for each quote, but I doubt it would be important to the intended audience.

I've always been fond of Eleanor Roosevelt.  She seemed to me a sensible, funny individual.  Now I'm inspired to learn more -- which, I think, is the ultimate goal of any nonfiction book.  Another fine achievement by Doreen Rappaport.

A Recommended book listed by the Orbus Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - memorable and significant contribution to the picture book biography genre
  
• Wordsmithing: 8 - a lovely selection of quotes in particular
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - enjoyable read
  
• Illustrations: 7 - muted colors emphasize the challenges of the time and Roosevelt's plain appearance
  
• Factfulness: 6 - concentrates on Roosevelt's character rather than facts about her, but highlights some interesting moments
  

Other Reviews - one lone review at readerbuzz -- write a comment if you know of another!

Review: Love, Aubrey - Suzanne LaFleur

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur Ages 9+ 244 pages Wendy Lamb Books, June 2009

(spoilers)

Aubrey wakes to a world that has changed overnight -- again.  Her mother has run off, following the accidental death of Aubrey's father and little sister, leaving her alone in the house.  It's a haunting beginning to a story about healing and trust following a devastating experience.

Speaking as one who's recovered from major trauma, Suzanne LaFleur has hit the emotional and physical sensations right on the head.  Aubrey has persistent stomach pain and nausea when she remembers her family.  The way she deals with food is directly related to her inner peace, until at last she is able to accept the feeling of "food... heavy in my stomach" (p. 205) just as she is able to accept love from others, both Grandma and her friend Bridget.

The story steps carefully through Aubrey's healing and shows from the inside out how she begins to trust again.  Even greater than her pain is her need for a parent who loves her, and a family that belongs together.  It is remarkable how she manages to find both by the end of the book, but in different places and with different people.  There were several points at which the story could have been resolved, but LaFleur followed through and tied up all the loose ends, which made for an even more satisfying ending.

In other reviews, readers have named it as a teen novel, but I think it is very middle grade, even though the issues are heavy.  The things she is going through as an 11 year old girl will resonate with older readers, but there is nothing inappropriate about it for younger readers.  I can think of several fourth graders I'd recommend it to.  

Love, Aubrey is a first novel that does not read like a first novel.  I felt like I was reading a Patricia Reilly Giff -- familiar and expertly crafted, solidly paced, with characters that read like real people snipped right out of their lives and pasted onto the page.  Certain scenes, such as that in which Aubrey and her grandmother go roller skating, include every perfect detail to recreate the experience for the reader.  I am definitely looking forward to more from LaFleur.

Favorite quote: "Meatloaf is better left over."

Shortlisted for the Waterstone Children's Book Prize,

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - a very fine story!
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - read like a straightforward realistic fiction novel, with food metaphors that packed a punch
  
• Personages: 7 - I cheered for Aubrey and felt the realism in every flashback she had with her family
  
• Mesmerizitude: 7 - I was surprised by its length when I was done -- it didn't feel like 250 pages

Other Reviews

• at Persnickety Snark
• at Vulpes Libres
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at The Well-Read Child
• at Semicolon
• at Book Nut
• at Jen Robinson's Book Page
• at Garden of Books (For Teens)
• at Readingjunky's Reading Roost
• at Peaceful Reader

Review: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Philip Hoose

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose Ages 10 and up 133 pages Melanie Kroupa Books, January 2009

This is my first Nonfiction Monday post in a long while, and my first time participating in the actual event.  You can find today's roundup at Playing By The Book.

Many young readers easily sort themselves into two categories: those who prefer fiction and those who prefer nonfiction.  I can really only say I've met a handful who bridge these categories without any effort.  If I'm trying to get a fiction reader to try some nonfiction, or vice versa, I often go the biography route.  Even non-narrative biographies can be compelling reading.

As a young reader, I definitely fit into the former category, though I did love me some joke books and folklore ephemera.  Even now, I have a hard time picking up a nonfiction picture book when I could choose a fiction one.  Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice sat on my shelf for mmmrrph weeks before I finally looked at my calendar, sighed, and scheduled it for review this week.

Can I just say?  Compelling doesn't begin to cut it. Really.  As in, I'm putting all Hoose's books on my to-read pile NOW.

For those of you who, like me, have been lured away from the nonfiction side of the library by your When You Reach Mes and Homer P. Figgs, this book is an account of a little-known hero of the civil rights struggle.  Claudette Colvin was a teenager who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for not relinquishing her seat on the bus -- eight months before Rosa Parks.  Colvin played a pivotal role in the little-known case of Browder v. Gayle, in which she and four other African-Americans successfully sued the city of Montgomery, claiming bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

Colvin has largely been quiet about her role in the civil rights movement until recently; although she does appear in books, there are no other sources for young readers which quote her directly or provide this level of detail into her involvement.  Young people who read about the history of civil rights for African-Americans may never have known that a teenager could, and did, do so much for the movement.  Reading this book may very well provide a huge breakthrough for students who may be interested in participating on a personal level in social justice.

Hoose has compiled a winning collection of artifacts, quotes and historical data and interspersed it seamlessly with Colvin's own account of her experiences in the Montgomery bus boycott and court proceedings.  I wish student textbooks were written this way.  I mean, really, can't we just toss our dead white guy books in favor of a collection of award-winning, compelling nonfiction like this??

My only struggle here is knowing to whom I can recommend this book.  I think many of my fifth graders could and would enjoy it, with some guidance through some of the bits on teen pregnancy, but I doubt they'll pick it up without a lot of prodding.  All my teachers, of course, but who has time to read nonfiction?  I showed it to my principal today with a 20 cent review and she said, "Hmmm, looks kind of long."  Yeah.  True.  But really, those 133 pages (yes, I even read the notes at the end) just flew by.  I'm hoping my booktalks and reading aloud bits will lure in those students for whom nonfiction is an unexplored territory.  Maybe I'll even make some converts.  After all, you got me, Philip Hoose.

A Newbery Honor book, a finalist for the YALSA Award for Nonfiction for Young Adults, a Sibert Honor book and winner of the National Book Award.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 9 - solid journalism, compelling original material and thoughtful analysis
  
• Wordsmithing: 8 - reads smoothly, especially for a nonfiction title
  
• Mesmerizitude: 8 - some important a-has about the civil rights movement as a whole and the bus boycott, Parks and MLK in particular
  
• Illustrations: 8 - my favorite photo is Rosa Parks on page 42
  
• Factfulness: 10 - and how often does one find a truly NEW addition to civil rights historical literature?
  

Other Reviews

• at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
• at Reading Rants
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at nomadreader
• at Rasco from RIF
• Leave a comment if I forgot your review!

Review: The Mitten - Jim Aylesworth

The Mitten retold by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock Ages 4-8 32 pages Scholastic Press, October 2009

In Michigan, winter goes on for quite a long time, and so there is a great demand by teachers for winter-themed tales.  Our school does not do much with holidays, so secular stories like this one are doubly requested.  I can already tell this new retelling of a classic Ukranian folktale will find a comfortable place in the early elementary curriculum.

Illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Our Abe Lincoln), in lines recalling the style of Maurice Sendak, Aylesworth tells the story of a boy gone out to play in the snow, proudly wearing mittens, hat and scarf knitted by his grandmother.  The mitten is lost in the snow.  In turn, a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox, a bear and a mouse squirm in to get warm.

The only other version of The Mitten I've read is the Jan Brett one, although we have another (Tresselt?) in the library.  I'm going to have to check that one out, because the ending of this one is quite different.  I didn't think it was as cute.  In the Brett retelling, the animals are ejected from the mitten by the mouse's sneeze, and the child finds the mitten all stretched out.  There's a hilarious, wordless picture of her holding the two mittens, one small, one enormous, with a befuddled look on her face.  Aylesworth chose to have the mitten explode into little bits (admittedly an excellent illustration, with freaked-out animals flying everywhere) and the boy's grandmother knits him another one; this is cozy, but not as strong a conclusion.

Otherwise, though, this is a masterful retelling of a very enjoyable tale.  Aylesworth's repetitive, rhythmic cadences just beg to be read aloud.  I immediately began writing the reader's theater script in my head.

Ivy chose this one from my big pile of Caldecott hopefuls.  She predicted the fox would eat the rabbit and squirrel, but was pleased by the actual outcome.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - Aylesworth + McClintock = a dynamite package
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - fine repetitive retelling
  
• Personages: 5 - flat fairy tale characters
  
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - excellent re-readability
  
• Illustrations: 7 - nice contrast of colorful cartoon animals on white backgrounds
  

Other Reviews

• on KidsLit
  
• on A Patchwork of Books
  
• on 4IQRead
  
• on Kiss the Book

Review: Green Grass and White Milk - Aliki

Green Grass and White Milk by Aliki Ages 4-8 32 pages Harper Collins, 1974

My school is planning to buy a cow to support Heifer International during this year's March is Reading Month (MIRM), so I checked out all the books on cows and milk we had in our public library. You'll see several of these reviews come up over the next few weeks.

Aliki is a classic favorite picture book writer. This easy reader style nonfiction offering is simple, but offers some fascinating tidbits of information:

"Good summer grass and good winter hay are healthful food for a cow. The better a cow eats, the better milk she will give."

At the time this book was written, it may be that many cows were still fed on grass and hay. Now it is almost impossible to find a dairy that feeds that way. Most cows are fed grain (bad) and soy (worse) and leftover bits of I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it.

Later readers will encounter a diagram of the cow's 4 stomachs and an explanation of why cows chew their cud -- this is how grass is broken down into nutritious food for the cow. There is also a detailed dairy diagram with pipes & tubes demonstrating the pasteurization process. I can imagine my students who are fond of machines and technology will be riveted to this page. This explanation is given for pasteurization:

"It is quickly heated to a temperature of 161 degrees F (71 degrees C) for 15 seconds. That is not boiling."

Um, no. Most kids now drink "ultra-pasteurized" milk, which is heated to 284 degrees F (140 degrees C). This has the advantage of making the milk last much longer before spoiling, but also turns it into something completely different than it was before it was cooked. Beneficial, even crucial, vitamins, enzymes and nutrients are lost. Many people who are allergic to milk products are not allergic to raw (non-pasteurized) milk.

Raw milk is scary to many people because we grew up in a "sterile is better" culture. Of course, the folks who get the Heifer International cow won't be sterilizing their milk, will they? They'll drink it raw -- just like the way babies get their milk from mamas all over the world. In the United States, raw milk is illegal in most states.

The book then explains how to make butter and yogurt, which of course is fascinating. Incidentally, don't try to make yogurt with ultra-pasteurized milk, because it won't work.

I was even more bemused when I found out that this book was revised, re-illustrated and even renamed by Aliki in 1992. I guess a book about milk that included the word "grass" in the title was just too confusing for kids now.  I will track down the other title and see what the revisions look like.

Excuse me while I pour my illegal raw milk on my cereal.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 6 - an important topic made simple for young children
  
• Wordsmithing: 5 - although it's hard to make complex subjects easy to understand!
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - I love the bits about pasteurization and homogenization, and the process of how to make butter and yogurt will be great projects
  
• Illustrations: 4 - I can see why she chose to reillustrate - these are somewhat washed out and from earlier in her career
  
• Factfulness: 6 - clear and full of good information

Review: The Unfinished Angel - Sharon Creech

The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech Ages 9-12 164 pages Joanna Cotlen Books, September 2009 978-0061430954

To me, Sharon Creech fits in that select group of authors one would recommend to older elementary students using the words, "This is an author you do not want to miss."  In fact, I did that very thing twice last week, in my annual pre-Newbery Power Point presentation to my two fifth grade classes.  So I don't mind saying I have high expectations for any book with Sharon Creech's name on it.

The Unfinished Angel is different from any other Creech book I've seen yet.  It has her same short chapters, same thoughtful, humorous inner monologue.  But the main character in this book is a mystery, and I had no more answers at the end of the story than I had at the beginning.  The angel has no name; it has no gender.  It simply thinks it's an angel.

What works about this story is the angel's bewilderment and frustration at dealing with "peoples."  It's easy to hear the angel complaining (in my head, in an Italian accent).  It doesn't quite have human vocabulary down, which leads to amusing wordplay and clever, invented words like "adulterinos" and "fidgetated."  It's like Junie B. Jones with four syllable words.  It is touching to note how, even in moments of great confusion, the angel cares for its humans with a sweet, grumbly sort of love.

What I think works against the story is the wandering plot and frequent deviations from the main story.  I found myself re-reading several passages, uncertain about where things were going, and still confused by the end.  I feel a little dense.

Final verdict?  I'm not sure I will recommend this to my students.  This is not as weak an offering as Castle Corona (which I thought blundered and doddered to an uninspired conclusion), but I'm not convinced kids will find their way through the slow story and strange words to appreciate the clever writing.  In the meantime, I'll continue to suggest The Wanderer, Bloomability and Walk Two Moons to anyone who will listen.

Ratings
Awesomeness: 4 - clever and touching, but slow and confusing
Wordsmithing: 6 - funny speech patterns
Personages: 4 - I just didn't care enough for Zola or the angel, but the kids were cute
Mesmerizitude: 5 - the story lagged a bit at times, but the good writing helped keep it going

Other Reviews
• at The Reading Tub
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at Charlotte's Library

This was posted at Saturday Reviews on January 16, 2010.