Albert's Gift for Grandmother

Albert’s Gift for Grandmother
Author: Barbara Williams
Illustrator: Doug Cushman
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763622097

Kindergarten aged Albert the Turtle is at a loss as to what to get Grandmother on her birthday. He feels left out when his older siblings and parents are gift giving and wishes he too can provide the perfect gift.

I loved this little story. I think that everyone at some point in their life has felt that same sense of inadequacy that Albert did when he was watching others give their perfect gifts to Grandmother. This is a story anyone can relate to. I loved how as each person presented their gift, Albert wished he could do the same. The story showed real caring and emotion. It communicated the fact that gift giving isn’t just about giving gifts, it’s about caring enough for someone that you want to give the right gift, something they will love and remember.

Albert's Gift for Grandmother is a lovely story about family and caring. It’s a good lesson and one that we all need to be reminded of. It shows the closeness and the love of an intergenerational family and how each member is important in their own way.

Doug Cushman’s illustrations are beautiful. The ranges of emotions on each of the turtle family’s faces are so realistic. I loved the colors and the warmth each page portrayed. They show enthusiasm, joy, frustration and playfulness. The attention to detail is really great as well. I loved that the welcome mat at the Turtle’s house is a big leaf. Very imaginative!

About the Author:
Barbara Williams is the renowned author of numerous books for children, including Titanic Crossing and Making Waves, as well as Albert’s Impossible Toothache. She says, “Being a grandmother is the best job I ever held, right alongside being a great-grandmother.” Barbara Williams lives in Utah.

About the Illustrator:
Doug Cushman is the illustrator of What Grandmas Can’t Do, What Santa Can’t Do, and What Teachers Can’t Do, all written by Douglas Wood. He is also the author and illustrator of Inspector Hopper and the Aunt Eater series. He says, “It’s always fun to revisit characters I’ve gotten to know, to see what they’re all doing now. It’s like coming back to a friend’s house, sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking about old times.” Dough Cushman splits his time between northern California and France.

Mom's Cancer

Mom’s Cancer
Author: Brian Fies
Publisher: Abrams Image
ISBN: 0810958406

When freelance writer Brian Fies mother is diagnosed with both lung cancer and a brain tumor, he starts to document her struggles and what it does to the family as a whole. The result is this amazing little Eisner Award winning graphic novel. It’s done in comic book style and it’s just phenomenal. The storytelling is brutally honest, yet humorous and insightful. Each member of the family is pulled into the struggle against incredible odds and cancer, like most crises brings out both the best and the worst in a family.

Mom’s Cancer isn’t some overly sentimental cancer story. I was a bit hesitant to read it, thinking it was going to be a tear jerking sentimental story meant for a movie of the week. I was more than surprised at how personal the story was, at how it was gentle, honest and true without being sloppy. Fies doesn’t glorify his mother as would be the tendency of some. He keeps her honest. She smoked, she has trouble understanding what she’s going through and she frustrates the hell out of him sometimes. He also portrays the family in humorous and interesting ways. There’s a Kid Sis and Nurse Sis and each have their strengths and faults. There are very vivid visual metaphors for things in the book that I found especially compelling.

The artwork is clean and simple, yet detailed and emotive. The storyboard look and feel of the book really helps one to understand the scientific aspects of what is going on with the cancer cells. Very educational! I really enjoyed that part of the book as well. With the graphic format, Fies manages to get me to understand medical jargon which would normally be too boring for me to be interested in. Instead of being bored, I was fascinated, which is saying a lot for me.

If someone you know has cancer, this is a book for them. It’s educational, hopeful and humorous. I highly recommend it.

London Calling

London Calling
Author: Edward Bloor
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0375836357

John Martin Conway is a seventh grade scholarship kid in a rich prep school where his mother works as a secretary. He feels out of place and hates the school and the great grandson of the school’s founder Hank Lowery. After a fight at the school he retreats into his basement room to do independent study and brood. Then his grandmother dies and leaves him an old WW2 era radio which he begins listening to while doing research on the Blitz in London. The radio acts as a conduit for time travel and Martin finds himself sitting in London during the Blitz with a boy named Jimmy who has things to show him. Jimmy turns out to be a ghost who needs something from Martin in order to be at peace.

Back in his own time, Martin researches more and more about the Blitz and the people he met while with Jimmy. He finds out things about his much glorified grandfather as well as Hank Lowery that aren’t what is believed about either. As he shuttles back and forth in time, Martin comes into his own. He discovers a love of history, finds closeness with his sister, learns much, grows and comes to terms with his father’s alcoholism.

London Calling is a story of old secrets, a murder mystery, a story of redemption, of loss and of growing up with all its pain and angst. It’s provocative and engaging as well as an extremely interesting read. It’s one of those books that will interest the reader in a subject and send them off and running to find more on that subject. I love books like that, the ones that intrigue you so much that it leads to more and more reading.

The story has a very personal and real feel to it. The characters are well developed and the mystery about just what Hank Lowery and Martin’s grandfather were up to in London had me eagerly turning the pages to find out. I hadn’t read Edward Bloor before and London Calling made me a fan. I’ve added his other works to my list of books to buy.

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To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel

To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel
Author: Siena Cherson Siegel
Illustrator: Mark Siegel
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0689867476

To Dance is one of the most beautiful, evocative and stunning pieces of writing I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. It’s as elegant and graceful as the ballet it tells about. Husband and wife Siena Cherson Siegel and illustrator Mark Siegel have teamed up to produce a gorgeous memoir.

To Dance is the heartfelt story of Siena Siegel’s following her dream of becoming a dancer. It begins with the six year old dreaming of dancing and dance classes while seeing a doctor about her flat feet. The story that follows is a delightful one, with tribute paid to famous ballets, ballet companies, dancers and everything about the ballet. It is also the story of a mother who supports her daughter in her dreams, who even moves to the U.S. from Puerto Rico so that her daughter can attend the School of American Ballet in New York. There are chapters like My First Toe Shoes, Back to the Barre and The Dying Swan.


Text copyright © 2006 by Siena Siegel
Illustration copyrignt © 2006 by Mark Siegel


The story progresses with Siena as she grows older and advances her both her classes and proficiency. Scattered along the way in the story are illustrations of her nursing her aching toes which give a sense of how hard she worked, how hard it is to dance and how much she loves it. I am an Aztec dancer and know just how painful dancing can me so those little illustrations of Siena bandaging her toes really hit home.

Throughout the book is her love of the dance, her profound respect for other dancers of talent, of the icons of her field like Baryshnikov and George Balanchine. It portrays the feel of what it is like as a dancer to view a ballet as part of an audience. It truly gives the reader an insight on what is like to be a ballerina. Not only that, but it shows how important it is to follow your dreams and do what you love.

Each illustration by the Mark Siegel eloquently accompanies the writing and captures the grace and beauty of the dance with flowing lines, lovely movement and a dreamy color palette. I fell in love with the way the chapter names are written on what appears to be a ribbon from a ballet shoe. It’s wonderful. The range of emotions shown on characters faces is just amazing. The whole book flows like a dance and is a little uncanny how it almost moves. I was touched by its elegance and mobility. Simply stunning!

The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless

The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless










Author: Ahmet Zappa
Monster Designs and Illustrations: Ahmet Zappa
Photo Illustrations and Sculptures: Clay Sparks
Photos of Main Characters: Brian Bowen-Smith
Costunme Design: Paris Libby
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0375832874


Minerva and Max McFearless have just found out that their father is a Monsterminator and that they come from a long line of legendary monster killers. The book opens with Minerva, Max and their father all trapped in an iron birdcage over a bottomless pit of fiery molten lava. How’s that for exciting?

The book follows Max and Minerva as they set out to rescue their father from an evil demon. They, along with Ms. Monstranomicon, a monster hunting manual that is itself a monster set off have many wild, dangerous and just plain weird adventures as they are being chased by the evil minions of the vile Zarmaglorg.

Even though this book is meant for older children, I’d say in the 9-13 age range, my three year old granddaughter is obsessed with it. Every time she comes over, she heads right for the shelf and pulls it and says “read it Grammy, read my monster book”. What is it about kids loving to be scared? We never really read it, she’s three and has the attention span of a gnat but we spend lots of time looking at the doodles, drawings and photos that are just fun and wonderful. She loves the tongue twisters too. I’ve read the first paragraph of the book at least 100 times and she always wants to hear it again. It sounds funny and she loves that. Kids love funny sounding nonsense and this book is filled with paragraphs that make them laugh.

I finally took the time (she’s not here) to read the book for myself all the way though and I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. This book is highly entertaining and just plain fun. There are some very creepy parts that I don’t recommend for smaller children, but if they are like my granddaughter, they won’t want the whole book read anyway. Give them bits and pieces and look over the drawings and you’re guaranteed to have a ripping good time.

One thing I loved about the book was the weird recipes in the book like Soldier Slimmers and a Pajama loaf telescope. They’re fun and inventive and just gross. Boys will love it. There’s a castle called Doominstinkinfart which sends my granddaughter off into peals of laughter every single time I say it. Kids like gross, kids like silly. This book is all that and more.

The photos and illustrations are fun as well and the doodles throughout the pages bring interest and a sense of the bizarre and dark to the pages. There are bugs aplenty as are photos of the protagonists, with Ahmet Zappa himself playing the father. The sepia tones of the photos give the book a feel of something old, dusty and scary. Think old black and white monster movie. It’s all fun and thoroughly engaging.

It’s a zany, gross and amusing romp of a read and I recommend it for the older ones but you, like me can modify it for the little ones.