Each Kindness

Booklist starred (August 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 22))


Grades K-3. Starting with the title, this quiet, intense picture book is about the small actions that can haunt. As in collaborations such as Coming on Home Soon (2004), Woodson’s spare, eloquent free verse and Lewis’ beautiful, spacious watercolor paintings tell a story for young kids that will touch all ages. In a first-person voice, Chloe speaks about how a new girl in class, Maya, gets the empty seat next to her and tries to be friends. But Chloe and her clique will have none of the poor white kid in her old ragged clothes, and their meanness intensifies after Maya asks to play with them. Then Maya’s family moves away, and she is “forever gone,” leaving Chloe without the chance to put things right. Chloe’s teacher spells out lessons of kindness, but the story is most powerful in the scenes of malicious bullying in the multiracial classroom and in the school yard. It is rare to tell a story of cruelty from the bully’s viewpoint, and both the words and pictures powerfully evoke Chloe’s shame and sorrow over the kindness she has not shown, as she looks at the empty seat next to her in the classroom, and then, alone and troubled, throws a stone in the water and watches the ripples move out and away. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The combined talents and star power of Woodson and Lewis will undoubtably create plenty of pre-pub. buzz.

Whatever After: Fairest of All

Booklist (April 1, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 15))


Grades 4-6. There’s “once upon a time” and “happily ever after,” but what happens when the story “gets all tangled up” in the middle? That question is at the heart of this debut title in a new fairy-tale-themed series. Ten-year-old Abby and her seven-year-old brother, Jonah, are living a normal life in a new town until they discover the mirror in the basement. When they knock on its surface three times, they’re whizzed away to fairy-tale land and find themselves at the home of Snow (yes, White). Just as Evil Evelyn, her wicked stepmother, is about to hand over the infamous poison apple, Jonah intervenes. But if Snow doesn’t eat the poison apple, then the prince can’t save her, and that means Snow’s love life is ruined, not to mention Disney’s whole movie. There’s lots of hilarious artistic license here (three of the seven dwarfs are women; one has pink hair), along with unexpected plot twists and plenty of girl power. Tween girls who may not be quite ready for Donna Jo Napoli and Gail Carson Levine’s fractured-fairy-tale novels will find this title is just right.

Jake and Lily

Horn Book (May/June, 2012)


Twins Jake and Lily have always shared a birthday, a room, and a special connection they call "goombla" (e.g., if Lily gets hurt, Jake feels pain). Now it’s the summer before sixth grade, and things are changing for the twins. Their parents decide they should have separate rooms (Jake is game, Lily distraught), and Jake starts hanging around with Bump Stubbins, whom Lily loathes. The story is a conversation between the two, with alternating viewpoints and reactions to each other’s telling (Jake to Lily: "I don’t believe you’re going to bring that stuff up"). The narrative rambles a bit, especially at the beginning before the story line picks up; however, the structure works well to provide insight into the characters both as individuals and as siblings. Jake does some regrettable things but redeems himself by book’s end. Lily shrugs off fear and self-pity to regain her inner vigilante. Spinelli’s hallmark issues -- individuality, nonconformity, alienation, standing up for the little guy -- figure prominently, and the messages are for the most part convincingly worked into the story. There’s also a welcome sense of mystery; no one tries to rationalize goombla, for example, instead allowing the kids’ unique twin-ness to remain unexplained. elissa gershowitz

Nightsong

Kirkus Reviews starred (August 15, 2012)


Exquisite design coupled with evocative illustrations enrich this charming tale of a little bat taking his first solo flight and how he learns to "see" with his "good sense," otherwise known as echolocation. Although picture books about bats abound, small Chiro will capture readers' hearts immediately. When the bat-mother tells her child it is time for him to fly alone, the little one shares his fears about the darkness and his inability to see. His mother instructs him on what to do--"sing out into the world, and [listen to] the song the world sings back to you. Sing, and the world will answer. That is how you'll see." Up to this point, Long, utilizing acrylics and graphite, features the two creatures up close in toasty browns against a textured dark background. When the mother lets Chiro go, the page turn reveals an emotional change in perspective. No longer is the young bat cuddly and large on the page; now he appears tiny and vulnerable in the immense black spread. Talented storytelling features rich yet concrete language to describe and to build suspense during the bat's nocturnal trip. Vague but frightening shapes in the dark become defined as trees, bugs, geese and ocean waves in the bluish-green tones used to render a visual of the bat's echolocation. Young ones will relate to Chiro and cheer as he gains confidence with his newfound skill and will be deeply satisfied flying along on his sensory-rich journey. (Picture book. 4-7)

Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy

Booklist (November 1, 2012 (Vol. 109, No. 5))


Preschool-Grade 2. In an anything but soothing lullaby, a rather high-strung cowboy tries to strum a pair of little dogies to sleep. He punctuates his somniferous lyrics—It’s time for little cows to rest their heads. / It’s time for little cows to go to bed—with a regular Eeeeek! as he mistakes a shadowy flower, a stick, and a harmless shadow for a spider, a snake, and a large, lumbering bear, respectively. In typically elemental cartoon illustrations, Thomas uses loud colors that don’t always stay within their outlines, and she places her large figures against plain backgrounds of deep blues and purples. Ultimately another shadow actually does turn out to be a huge wolf, but as wolves also love lullabies, the stage is set for a cozy finish. In this, as in Thomas’ other comically manic crowd-pleasers, the only thing wrong is that it’s all over so quickly.

Creep and Flutter

Booklist (April 15, 2012 (Vol. 108, No. 16))


Grades 3-5. Similar in approach to Arnosky’s Slither and Crawl (2009) and Thunder Birds (2011), this large-format book features many colorful illustrations, six foldout pages, and a wealth of knowledge about insects and arachnids. Each section presents a topic such as “Mayflies, Dragonflies, Stoneflies, and Caddisflies” or “Beetles and Bugs.” Used in combination with beautifully shaded pencil drawings, the colorful and sometimes dramatic acrylic paintings of creatures (represented life-size, enlarged, or supersized) will draw readers to the book. The approachable text is quite informative as well. Writing in first person is chancy in a science book, but it works here because it springs from Arnosky’s decades of observing nature and discovering how things work. Whether he writes of living in woods infested by gypsy moths or walking down a trail into a huge spiderweb, a personal narrative opens each section, which broadens to describe a group of insects or arachnids and offers facts about particular species alongside many pictures of the animals. An inviting, informative addition to science collections.

Abe Lincoln's Dream

Horn Book (November/December, 2012)


Smith channels his inner Dickens, presenting a ghost of White Houses past: the specter of one Abraham Lincoln. While visiting the White House, a young girl named Quincy spies a tall man in a stovepipe hat pacing around. He confesses to worrying about the path the country has taken since 1865. Quincy persuades him to leave the “Executive Mansion” (as he still thinks of it), and the two soar over Washington DC. “Are the states united?” Abe asks. Quincy assures him they are, and that his optimistic, forward-thinking wish for equality for all people is now possible. “And Man?” the ghost asks as they fly past the Capitol. “Does he no longer Fuss ’n’ Fight with his fellow man?” Quincy’s answer -- “We’re still working on that one” -- is underscored by an illustration of a chair being thrown out of that august building. Here, Smith’s palette, which lightens from darker reds, browns, and blacks to the glorious promise of Washington’s cherry blossoms, shows faith in that possibility, leading to the story’s hopeful ending, with America’s Ship of State (appropriately, a nineteenth-century paddle wheeler) heading toward a better world. Abe’s Ichabod Crane-like angularity is set against an imaginative array of design elements, from the hand-lettered broadside printing of the nineteenth century to collages incorporating various patterns and effects -- crackle, sponge-painting, spackle -- that also lend an old-fashioned feel. However, Smith combines and juxtaposes these elements to create a look both bold and spectacular. Beyond its visual pleasures, the book effectively, and with a light touch, presents government as a work in progress rather than the done-deal children are usually taught; author’s notes (effectively pitched at a young audience) provide historical context. betty carter