Booklist starred (May 1, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 17))
Grades 4-7. Growing up with six brothers in rural Texas in 1899, 12-year-old Callie realizes that her aversion to needlework and cooking disappoints her mother. Still, she prefers to spend her time exploring the river, observing animals, and keeping notes on what she sees. Callie’s growing interest in nature creates a bond with her previously distant grandfather, an amateur naturalist of some distinction. After they discover an unknown species of vetch, he attempts to have it officially recognized. This process creates a dramatic focus for the novel, though really the main story here is Callie’s gradual self-discovery as revealed in her vivid first-person narrative. By the end, she is equally aware of her growing desire to become a scientist and of societal expectations that make her dream seem nearly impossible. Interwoven with the scientific theme are threads of daily life in a large family—the bonds with siblings, the conversations overheard, the unspoken understandings and misunderstandings—all told with wry humor and a sharp eye for details that bring the characters and the setting to life. The eye-catching jacket art, which silhouettes Callie and images from nature against a yellow background, is true to the period and the story. Many readers will hope for a sequel to this engaging, satisfying first novel.

The Curse of the Ancient Mask: and Other Case Files

Booklist (May 1, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 17))
Grades 3-5. Saxby Doyle Christie Chandler Ellin Allan Smart, whose father loves crime novels, has cut his literary teeth on great detective stories and developed a schoolyard reputation as a sleuth. In the first case related here, a classmate arrives at the door of Saxby’s Crime Headquarters (backyard shed) and announces that her father is cursed by an ancient mask, accused of industrial espionage, and faced with losing his job. In the second, three students find their homework assignments sabotaged. In the third and final case, a girl is accused of stealing jewelry. Confident, though occasionally baffled, the young detective organizes the evidence methodically and, in each case, solves the mystery. Even better, careful readers can do the same. Expressive ink drawings help bring the occasionally quirky characters to life. After reading this well-paced and sometimes funny first-person narrative, young mystery fans will be looking for the second volume in the Saxby Smart Private Detective series.

Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem

Kirkus Review starred (May 1, 2009)
Readers know what kind of place they are in when the endpapers include ads for giant-squid repellent and shrimp-of-the-month club and the author and illustrator snark at each other in the dedication. Billy Twitters's room looks much as one might expect: unmade bed, piles of dirty and clean clothes, video games, books, backpack and stuffed toys everywhere. Billy's mom tells him plainly that he's to clean up his room and finish his dinner or "we're buying you a blue whale." He doesn't, and they do. While Rex never reveals the faces of the adults, he does provide nicely detailed diagrams of the size and habits of the blue whale (from FedUp, "Delivering Punishment Worldwide"). Billy has to take his whale everywhere, even though the whale kind of wrecks the classroom and moves Alexis to un-invite Billy and the whale to her pool party. However, the prospect of feeding his whale inspires Billy to a damp and fishy but very boylike solution to the problem of both room-cleaning and whale-sitting. Definitely funny and slyly subversive. (Picture book. 5-8)

Itty Bitty by Cece Bell

Booklist starred (July 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 21))
Preschool-Grade 1. A tiny dog named Itty Bitty finds an enormous bone and, after chewing door and window holes in it, hollows it out to make a house. The empty bone doesn’t feel quite homelike, though, so Itty Bitty drives into the city to visit a department store. Beyond the gigantic chairs and rugs, he finds the TEENY-WEENY Department, where he chooses “an itty-bitty table and an itty-bitty rug . . . / an itty-bitty sofa and an itty-bitty lamp.” There’s even an itty-bitty book. He carts his purchases away and turns his empty bone into a cozy home. In the colorful ink-and-acrylic illustrations, Bell uses line, color, texture, and white space extremely effectively to create this diminutive character and his world. Itty Bitty, drawn with a highly simplified body and stick legs, is dwarfed by the daisies and grass surrounding his home and sometimes appears quite vulnerable (and who wouldn’t be, driving a three-wheeled, walnut-shell vehicle among full-size cars?). But more often, this small, stalwart character looks as capable and confident as every young child would like to feel. With its irresistible repetitions of “itty-bitty” and occasional comments in speech-balloons, the simple text reads aloud well. Unpretentious, endearing, and enormously satisfying, this little book is one that children will ask for again and again.

Summer Reading

Our Riddle library was open several times this summer, and I am happy to tell you that almost 2,000 books were checked out! What great Riddle readers! We had so much fun reading stories and sharing books. I loved watching wagons full of books being taken home this summer instead of collecting dust!

Booklist (October 15, 2008 (Vol. 105, No. 4))
Grades 5-8. This book expands upon the premise of The Glitch in Sleep (2007), in which a mirror world called the Seems constructs and maintains the machinery that governs our own, with a massive bureaucracy charged with everything from keeping the Seconds rolling along smoothly to painting properly glorious sunsets and delivering Little Unplanned Changes of Kismet (L.U.C.K.). When a rebel organization plants a Time Bomb that threatens to destroy the inner workings of our universe, Becker Dran, the talented, teenage “Fixer,” finds himself in desperate need of help to set things right. With increasingly severe time storms wreaking havoc worldwide, it looks like only the elusive Time Being herself has the power to help; can Becker track her down and persuade her to lend a hand? Yes, as it turns out, and no. This sequel continues to develop a truly ingenious setting while proving every bit as much of a nail-biter as the first. Becker and his allies come through in the end, but the close brings signs of impending disaster on an even vaster scale. Stay tuned.

The Real Princess: A Mathemagical Tale

School Library Journal (June 1, 2008)
Gr 1-4-Three princes, Primo, Secundo, and Terzo, are in need of brides, but only the oldest must find a real princess-one fit to be the next queen. When two bedraggled young women arrive during storms, Secundo and Terzo become enamored of them, and marry them even though they are not quite real-they do not feel the gold peas that the queen has placed under many mattresses. Finally a real princess's sleep is disturbed by the presence of a solitary pea. The king and queen have parted with all of their gold, but that solitary pea provides them with a fresh source of income. The story, referred to as a traditional tale rather than attributed to Hans Christian Andersen, is liberally laced with numbers, all highlighted by a different font. Children can count the windows in the castle, add up the number of servants, determine how much gold is remaining, and perform other tasks suggested at the back of the book. The text flows nicely and the illustrations, done in acrylics and collaged papers, are intricately detailed and will invite children to pore over them repeatedly. A nice twist on the original with opportunities for readers to interact with the text.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.