Inkspell

Inkspell
Author: Cornelia Funke
Publisher: The Chicken House
ISBN-10: 0439554004
ISBN-13: 978-0439554008

Imagine a world within the pages of a book. Imagine blue fairies, a world with men made of glass, a world where women have no rights. Imagine a man who can make flowers out of fire, who can speak to the fire and command it. Imagine that words come to life, stories become real, that someone with a powerful voice saying the right words can talk you right into that world and that world is very real.

Cornelia Funke first introduced the Inkworld in her very popular Inkheart (Scholastic, 2003) and I like so many booklovers who read it, fell completely in love. Inkspell is the unplanned sequel in what is now to be a trilogy and I for one am thrilled.

Inkspell is the story of Meggie, daughter to Mo the bookbinder (also known as Silvertongue) and Resa who was trapped in Inkheart. Meggie is fascinated by her mute mother’s written tales of the Inkworld and of the characters therein. Mo is frightened for his daughter and tries to discourage her from being so fascinated by it. But there’s no stopping Meggie when she wants something and she is determined to keep her dreams of the Inkworld.

Then there’s Dustfinger and Farid. Dustfinger is the fire-eater, the man who can command the fire to become flowers. Farid is a boy who was read out of yet another book. They are both trapped in Meggie’s modern world. Dustfinger has been trapped ten years and is dying to go home. He’s finally found someone with the power to read him back and even though Farid thinks it’s dangerous, he gets this person, Orpheus to read him back and it works. Dustfinger is suddenly home!

But Orpheus has ulterior motives and brings danger to Meggie’s family’s door. The evil witch Mortola and the equally evil Basta are back and they have horrible things planned for Meggie and Silvertongue.

A lot going on? Wait, it gets even better. Meggie is determined to go visit the Inkworld and Farid is equally determined to find Dustfinger. Between them they find a way and soon they too are magically transported to the Inkworld and set off in search of Dustfinger and Fenoglio, the writer of Inkheart. Meanwhile, Mo’s heart is broken because he’s lost his daughter, the family is in danger, Dustfinger encounters his own set of problems and the story is taking on a life of its own – out of Fenoglio’s control.

Inkspell is wonderful! The characters, the names, the worlds, the stories within stories, everything about it is fantastic. There are names like Cheeseface, Clouddancer, Her Ugliness… There’s fire honey that gives Dustfinger his ability to talk to fire, the glass men sharpen quills, there is an illuminator and descriptions of his art. Oh this is a book after any book lover’s heart. Highly recommended and in breathless anticipation of the sequel.

As Silvertongue says, "Stories never really end, Meggie, even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page."

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

The Incredible Book Eating Boy
Author/Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Penguin Philomel
ISBN-10: 9780399247491

The Incredible Book Eating Boy was a title that immediately caught my attention. I love books and I always want to read books about books. Imagine my delight when I found this gem by Oliver Jeffers. I was intrigued.

Henry is a boy who one day just took a bite of a book and liked it so much he started eating books. He found that the more he ate the smarter he got so he kept on eating them. Red ones are his favorite. Soon Henry is super smart but he’s also getting sick. Worse, his stomach and the knowledge he got from the books is getting all jumbled up and he’s making mistakes – big ones. What’s he going to do?

I loved it! The story was so funny. I just laughed and laughed and laughed all through it. I loved Henry and how he loved books. He loved them even more than I do. The illustrations were so clever and funny as well. I just couldn’t stop smiling through it. I loved the little bite taken out of the corner of the cover too. Very clever touch!

I loved it so much I couldn’t wait to share it with my grandchildren, Aiden and Jasmine. I had to have them over a day earlier than I usually do. I handed Jasmine, the four-year old the book solemnly and waited. I didn’t wait long. She looked at the cover and smiled. Then she turned it over and saw the bite and her eyebrows crinkled. “Grammy”, she said in her ooh you’re in trouble tone “who was bad and bit the book?”

Then I read it to them. Aiden kept laughing and pointing to different sections of the pages (he’s 18 months) and Jasmine laughed and laughed at the story and the drawings. At the end of the book she laughed and said, “Grammy, Henry was silly. Everyone knows you get smart by reading books, not eating them.” Smart girl. I asked if she liked it and she said, “I loved this book! May I take it home?” It lives at her house now and I’ll have to get another.

Bottom line? It’s quite wonderful.

Roxie and the Hooligans

Roxie and the Hooligans
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Illustrator: Alexandra Boiger
Publisher: Aladdin
ISBN-10: 1416902449
ISBN-13: 978-1416902447

Recommended for grades 2-4

Roxie Warbler is 9-years old, happy at home and miserable at school. Her uncle Dangerfoot, world traveler, adventurer and companion to the famous author and fellow adventurer Lord Thistlebottom has inspired her with his wild adventure stories of survival in the oddest of situations. Lord Thistlebottom’s book, Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them, Roxie has committed to memory. It’s almost a bible to her. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t explain how to deal with Helvetia's Hooligans, the gang of four mean kids at her school that pick on her unmercifully because of her big, pink, cup shaped ears.

One day the Hooligans chase her into a dumpster and follow her tumbling into it. The dumpster gets taken away and Roxie and the Hooligans end up trapped on a desert island with some very scary robbers and it’s up to Roxie and her survival skills to help get them food and water, off the island and safe from the robbers.

Roxie and the Hooligans is a marvelous book for young children just starting to read chapter books. The story is fast-paced and the character of Roxie is completely both loveable and believable. You really find yourself cheering her on. It’s also a great book for children who have to deal with bullies. We learn in the story that the bullies are all too human and that there is a reason for their meanness.

The book is also a good one for sharing by reading aloud – it will keep adults engaged as well as delight the children. The illustrations in black and white are completely wonderful, whimsical and fun.

Ghost Ship

Ghost Ship
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Illustrator: Wendell Minor
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN-10: 1416935142
ISBN-13: 978-1416935148

Prolific and first rate author Mary Higgins Clark has turned her pen to a children’s picture book and the result is fantastic.

Ghost Ship is the story of Thomas, a 9-year old boy who is visiting his grandmother on Cape Cod. His grandmother lives in a 300-year old house above the beach with steps leading down to the shore. The house was built by Andrew Hallet, a great sea captain and an ancestor of Thomas. His picture hangs on the wall in the house and Thomas often wonders about him.

One day after a storm, Thomas wanders down to the beach and finds an ancient buckle in the sand. As he dusts it off and wonders about it, a ghost of a boy appears and speaks to him. That ghost is Silas, a cabin boy to the very Andrew Hallet Thomas has so often wondered about. Silas speaks, using thee and thou, which I thought was a very realistic touch given the fact that he was alive in 1690. He tells Thomas of life in his time and how hard it was. He speaks with pride of Andrew Hallet and of how he and the other boys of his town banded together to set a huge fire that eventually saved Hallet’s boat from thieves.

Thomas has many questions for Silas as well and Silas is eager to tell his story. I thought the book was lovely and interesting. It brings back a lost time and is so vividly told that you can almost smell the sea air.

The vivid and colorful illustrations by Wendell Minor are amazing and make me think of those great, sweeping oil paintings of seascapes, sailing ships and storms. Each page is like visiting a museum. The book is simply beautiful.

I think Ghost Ship will be a favorite of any young child that loves the sea. Adults too will find it highly readable and a visual delight.


Book description from the publisher:

"I am so pleased to have written my first children's book and to have my dear friend Wendell Minor illustrate it. I thought it would be a daunting project, but with six grandchildren and eleven stepgrandchildren, I've been telling stories to children for a long time."

-- Mary Higgins Clark

Thomas loved his summer visits to his grandmother's on Cape Cod. He spent hours wondering about the sailing ships of the past and imagining their stories. He dreamed of being on a sailing ship himself. One afternoon after a night of terrible thunderstorms, Thomas finds, deep in the sand, a weathered, old-fashioned belt buckle. When he picks it up, a boy his own age, Silas Rich, who was a cabin boy on a ship called the Monomoy that sailed almost 250 years ago, appears. Suddenly the world of sailing ships is very near as Silas tells his tale.

Beloved and bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark tells a story of mystery and adventure that will transport readers to a time and place beyond their imaginings in her first book for children. Wendell Minor's inspired paintings make a time long ago very real.

Text copyright © 2007 by Mary Higgins Clark
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Wendell Minor

Jane & the Dragon

Jane & the Dragon
Author: Martin Baynton
Publisher: Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763635707
ISBN-13: 978-0763635701

Jane and the Dragon is a charming and heartwarming tale about a little girl in medieval times who dreams of becoming a knight. It’s a pretty unusual, if not downright strange dream for a young girl in Jane’s time.

Nobody gets it. Her mother just wants her to be a lady in waiting, and practice her embroidery stitches.

Her father just laughs at her.

The King doesn’t listen.

The prince pushes her into the mud.

The knights make fun of her.

What’s a girl to do? Give up on her dreams? Change her ways? Not Jane. After the court jester who is the only one to believe in her gives her a shiny suit of armor in just her size, she practices on her own, determined to become a true knight. One day, while all the knights are away, a dragon kidnaps the prince and only Jane is left to save him.

I loved this book and was so happy with Jane’s character. She’s strong-willed, determined and smart – a perfect role model for little girls. I loved that she doesn’t accept her fate but sets out to change it. Jane also happens to be kind and in her interaction with the dragon, really teaches children about turning a bad situation around and making it good.

I think that this book is not only fun and witty, it’s an important book. The book really celebrates cleverness, kindness and following your dreams. I’m so glad that this has now been made into an animated series. I know I’ll encourage any children of my acquaintence to watch it.

About the Author
Martin Baynton has written and illustrated several books for children. His Jane and the Dragon books inspired an animated TV series first developed in Canada and now airing in the U.S. on ABC, iNetwork, and Telemundo. Martin Baynton also writes for the stage, television, film, and radio. Born in the U.K., he lives in New Zealand.

Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise

Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise
Author: Nathaniel Hobbie
Illustrator: Jocelyn Hobbie
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0316010464
ISBN-13: 978-0316010467

Book Description
Here is a second clever read-aloud starring Priscilla, who is upset as rain comes down in buckets for days on end! When our intrepid heroine ventures outdoors to perform a rain-stopping dance, she meets Posy the Pixie, who shows her around the magical land of Primrose and teaches her to appreciate both rain and sunshine. Priscilla’s story is told in lyrical verse and young girls will enjoy reading her pixie land adventure aloud.

“On Priscilla's planet, which is not so far away, the sky is a purple, green-brownish gray hue today. The sky had not been blue for days. Then the raindrops began to fall and rain became the word of the day.”

Priscilla is back in another rhyming adventure! In Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise, Priscilla is not having a good day. She hates the rain and wishes it would just go away. At the edge of the forest near her home, she meets Posy the Pixie and other characters in the forest. Posy teaches Priscilla about the wonders of rain. The illustrations are colorful and bright.

School Library Journal didn’t like this book for some strange reason but I loved it. My three year old granddaughter, who is very critical about what books she likes, loves the Priscilla books and especially this one. She too was not loving the rain since she couldn’t go to the park and after reading Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise, she immediately wanted rain boots and to go out and hop through the puddles.

I always think it’s great when a book makes a child laugh out loud, when it captures them and makes them think. That to me is the gauge for a good children’s book. I loved the magical pixie world beyond the trees and the bugs and characters that live there. This is a perfect rainy day book for little girls.

About the author and illustrator:

Jocelyn and Nathaniel Hobbie are the talented son and daughter of New York Times bestselling author Holly Hobbie. Jocelyn is a painter and lives in New York City. Nathaniel works with glass and steel at his workshop in Massachusetts.

The Dragon's Eye: The Dragonology Chronicles, Volume 1

The Dragon's Eye: The Dragonology Chronicles, Volume 1
Author: Dugald A. Steer
Illustrator: Douglas Carrel
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN-10: 0763628107
ISBN-13: 978-0763628109

The real author of Dr. Drake's comprehensive Dragonology: The Complete Book Of Dragons and The Dragonology Handbook: A Practical Course In Dragons, Dugald A. Steer has begun a series of books detailing the life of the imaginary Dr. Ernest Drake. The Dragon’s Eye is the first volume in what looks to be a wonderfully engaging and adventurous series.

In 1882, twelve year old Daniel Cook and his sister Beatrice are sent to stay with their parent’s friend, Dr. Ernest Drake. They are unaware that their parent’s prolonged stay in India is because they are dragonologists from an old and very secret society who work to protect both society and dragons. They are at first reluctant to stay with Dr. Drake but soon find out that he runs a school for budding dragonologists and quickly become fascinated in the secret study of dragons. They also quickly become involved in an adventure as the sinister Ignatius Crook plots to steal the Dragon’s Eye, a gem purported to give him powers to control all the dragons.

The illustrations give depth to the story and fans of the Dragonology books will become fast fans of this new series. There are dragons, dragons and more dragons as well as insight into the fascinating Dr. Ernest Drake who compiled those mysterious and highly detailed first books. Great background and a fun addition to the series.

Priscilla and the Pink Planet

Priscilla and the Pink Planet
Author: Nathaniel Hobbie
Illustrator: Jocelyn Hobbie
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0316735795
ISBN-13: 978-0316735797

Priscilla lives on a planet where everything is pink. One day she gets so fed up with the color pink that she sets off to look for some other color, any other color. The story follows Priscilla on her quest to find a color other than dreary old pink. Priscilla finally sees a beautiful multicolored butterfly. She chases it only to find that the Queen of the pink planet has caught the butterfly in her pink net because she loves only pink and all other colors are forced to live underground.

Priscilla and the Pink Planet is a thoroughly engaging story told all in Seuss style rhyme. It’s a fun book to read aloud and has a bouncy, happy feel to it. Priscilla herself is quite the character; strong, determined and smart as a whip. She makes a good role model for little girls. I love that she doesn’t let things get her down or too discouraged. She presses onward looking for the thing she knows she needs.

The illustrations are great fun and highly detailed. I loved how the pink changes gradually and each page gets brighter and brighter with more and more colors. Priscilla herself is a cute, but not too cute little girl with a bright smile and intelligent eyes. She’s very animated and quite wonderful. She’d lend herself well to an animated movie or cartoon series. I think kids, especially little girls in the 3-8 age range will just adore her.

She has an adventurous spirit and a zest for life that’s completely addicting. It’s one of my granddaughter Jasmine’s favorite books – this one she actually sleeps with.

Birdwing

Birdwing
Author: Rafe Martin
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
ISBN-10: 0439211670
ISBN-13: 978-0439211673

“It was on the last day of the six years during which she was not to speak or laugh if she hoped to free her brothers from enchantment, that her own sentence was to be carried out. Five of the six shirts were done, but the last and littlest was still missing its left sleeve. As they led her to the stake and the fire was about to be lit, she looked up and saw six swans flying through the sky. Her heart leapt with joy at the sight of them. The swans touched the ground before her and with lowered necks walked forward. Quickly she threw the shirts over each of them. At once their swans’ skins fell off and there, once again, stood her own brothers, strong and handsome. Only the youngest and the littlest lacked a left arm, and in its place there remained a swan’s wing.”
The Six Swans
The Brothers Grimm

The Six Swans was one of my favorite tales when I was a little girl but I always wondered what happened to the last and littlest prince with his swan’s wing for an arm. Now I know.

Rafe Martin has done a marvelous thing with his Birdwing. He’s told the story of Ardwin Birdwing, the littlest prince, the one with the wing. Birdwing is a fantastic and magical coming of age story.

Ardwin is home now, back in the palace with his father the king and learning to live with his wing. The thing is sometimes the wing has a mind of its own. It wants to soar, to fly through the skies again and sometimes, so does Ardwin. He alone of the brothers looks back fondly of the time when they were swans. He can also understand the language of animals and this gives him a great sensitivity.

The people of the town and palace aren’t all so comfortable having a prince around with a swan’s wing for an arm. He’s called Prince Freak by some and feels isolated. Determined not to let his disability keep him from doing princely things, Ardwin becomes skilled with weapons, bow and arrow, spear and sword. He wins friends too, loyal ones like Stephen and Skye. The story could just end there and it would still be wonderful.

However, there is unrest in the kingdom. The neighboring mad king is pushing for an alliance by marrying Ardwin off to his widowed daughter Alisoun. He sends emissaries with a mechanical golden arm and Ardwin, fearing that his father means to cut his wing off and attach the arm to him, flees with his friends. He is determined to find the swans and himself. The adventure that follows is a wild and unexpected one and one sure to enchant you.

Rafe Martin’s characters are rich and well developed and I fell in love with this book and with Ardwin. He is an amazingly complex person and so interesting that I hung on every word. I could see this book becoming a full length animated feature film and I sure hope someone options it. It’s simply amazing. I think we'll be hearing great things of Rafe Martin.

A Gift of Gracias : The Legend of Altagracia

A Gift of Gracias : The Legend of Altagracia
Author: Julia Alvarez
Illustrator: Beatriz Vidal
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0375824251

Julia Alvarez is the author of many wonderful books including, Before We Were Free, winner of the Pura Belpre Award. In A Gift of Gracias Ms. Alvarez pulls from the legends of her Native Dominican Republic to weave a magical, meaningful and completely charming story.

A Gift of Gracias is the story of María who loves on a finca where her family are trying unsuccessfully to grow olives. One day María’s father and Quisqueya, the Taino Indian that is part of the family bring home a basket of oranges as payment for work they had done in the city. As María’s father talks of moving his family to the city where there is work, María begins to cry into her bowl of orange pits. That night, she dreams of planting oranges on the barren land and of a beautiful woman wearing a robe of stars who says that her name is Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia.

The next morning, María tells her family of the dream and they all gather the orange seeds and begin planting them, saying gracias after each individual seed is placed into the waiting earth. In just a few short months, the trees are fully grown and give a bounteous harvest of oranges. As María’s father and Quisqueya prepare to take the oranges into the city to sell them, María asks her father to bring her an image of the Señora de la Altagracia. Her father searches but no one has such an image and he and Quisqueya head back to the finca. As Quisqueya sits in the night, he sees la Señora in the sky smiling at him. Stars fall and Quisqueya catches them with his blanket.

When they arrive home, it is far too dark to pick the oranges and Quisqueya opens his blanket where miraculously an image of the Altagracia appears glowing with light enough to illuminate the orchard.

This story reminded me so much of the stories I grew up hearing from my grandmother about Juan Diego, of his tilma santa and the Virgencita de Guadalupe or Tonantzin as the Mexica called her. Ms. Alvarez writes that the Taino Indians of the Dominican Republic’s name for their land was Quisqueya which means Mother Earth and that they saw their Madre Tierra in the image of Altagracia the same way we find our Tonantzin in the brown face of our Virgen de Guadalupe.

The illustrations are gorgeous and bright. Beatriz Vidal also illustrated A Library for Juana by Pat Mora as well as several others. Her greens and oranges capture the feeling of the orange orchard and she brings that color into every page bringing the oranges and nature to the forefront even in her illustrations of the interior of the house. You can almost smell and taste the fruit. My favorite illustration in the book is the one where María is crying and her tears look just like the orange seeds in the bowl.

My grandmother would have loved this story. She grew up in the orange orchards of Piru, California and she loved sitting on her patio telling me stories of saints as she pared orange peels into long curls that fell into her apron. She had a special love for the Virgencita in all her many facets and I’m sure she would have found the Altagracia very special.

This story is beautiful and moving. It reminds us to give thanks. It teaches of another face of our powerful and generous Madre Tierra and of how much we rely on her for our sustenance. It seems to me it is also a loving tribute by the author to her native land and shows also her love of nature and the earth. Gracias to Julia Alvarez and gracias to Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia for reminding me to be grateful, for bringing to mind yet another beautiful memory of my much missed and beloved grandmother Lupe.

Napí

Title: Napí
Author:Antonio Ramírez
Illustrator: Domi
Publisher: Groundwood Books
ISBN: 0888996101

Napí is the story of a young Mazateca girl who lives in a small village near the bank of a river in Mexico. The story is ethereal and dreamlike as is the artwork. Napí likes to dream, she dreams of colors, of feelings, of herons flying through the wind. She talks of her village, of her Naa (mother in Mazateca) making tortillas and of the ancient pachota tree that is the center of her village.

Napí is poor, at least she says so. However, her story is of a girl who feels safe and secure, who loves her village, her huilpilli's in bright colors and her family. She loves the pachota tree under which her belly button cord is buried, the herons who live and nest in it and the colors of nature and her village. Color is important in this book, each page is dedicated to it and the lovely wash of watercolors in brilliant and vibrant colors enhance and compliment Napí's dreams of colors and the river.

Domi illustrated Subcommandante Marcos' The Story of Colors and I love her use of color and the way her paintings have not only a dreamlike quality but also of their indigenous look and feel. This is especially true in this book of an indigenous girl living in her Mazateca village. Domi is Mazateca herself and this book reflects her love of her people and their customs. My favorite illustration is the one where the pachota tree becomes alive at night with as the herons fill the branches like blossoms. It's simply beautiful.

Antonio Ramírez is an artist who has worked in many media, including books and murals. Thisis his first book. He lives in Mexico with his wife, Domi and they are both very active working for the rights of Native people in Mexico, especially in connection with the Zapatista movement in Chiapas through the Colectivo Callejero, of which they were founding members.

I hope you will find this book as beautiful as I did and enjoy it.

Where Fireflies Dance / Ahí, donde bailan las luciérnagas

Title: Where Fireflies Dance / Ahí, donde bailan las luciérnagas
Author: Lucha Corpi
Illustrator: Mira Reisberg
Publisher: Children's Book Press
ISBN: 0892391456


Lucha Corpi's first book for children is a warm trip back to her own childhood memories of the tropical town of Jaltipán, Mexico. Where the Fireflies Dance is the story of young Lucha and her brother Victor told in the style of a Mexican grandmother telling stories by the fire. The story begins with Lucha and Victor braving a haunted house where the ghost of Juan Sebastián, once a soldier in Emiliano Zapata's army, is said to roam. The story tells of the children's love for music, of standing outside a cantina and saving their quarters just to be able to hear the music coming from the marvelous jukebox. They listen to their father sing corridos, boleros and other music every night, listen to their grandmother's stories and learn of destiny.

The story is charming and very family oriented. These are happy children secure and warm in the love of their family. It made me smile because while Lucha and Victor were very obedient, they also seemed to be just the tiniest bit traviesos. I've always had a special soft spot in my heart for traviesos. The illustrations by Mira Reisberg are colorful and bright, complimenting the story beautifully. They have a texture to them that makes me think of a collage or a brightly colored piñata.

I love books like this one, where the writing and the illustrations enhance each other so much so that you can hear the music, smell the air and feel the ghost of Juan Sebastián riding by on his horse to follow his destiny. It is evocative and heady - more of an experience than a read. ¿Qué padre, no? Read it in the warmth of the cocina with something delicious on the stove and your family all around you. Read it out loud and savor each word of the story, each color of the paintings as you would good chocolate y pan dulce.

My Diary from Here to There/Mi Diario De Aqui Hasta All

My Diary from Here to There/Mi Diario De Aqui Hasta Alla
Author: Amada Irma Perez
Illustrator:Maya Christina Gonzalez (Illustrator)

My Diary From Here to There/Mi diario De Aqui Hasta Alla was better than good, it's a great book and I fell in love with it.

The book tells the story of Amada, a young girl living in Juarez, Mexico who has just found out that her family is going to be making a big move to the United States. Her diary chronicles her feelings and fears, her hopes and dreams. She is worried to be leaving to a strange new land and leaving behind all that she loves in Mexico. The author is a third grade teacher and the book is based on her own move as a youngster. There is some mighty fine and poetic writing in this little book.

As Amada writes about the tortilla shop in her Juarez neighborhood, the line "hands blurring like hummingbirds wings" describing the women making tortillas by hand struck me to the core with it's simple beauty. This is poetry. The diary is bilingual and the language in Spanish is just, if not more poetic and lovely.

My Diary From Here to There is a thoughtful and moving account of a family making a big transition. So many of us either remember such a crossing or have family members that have done the same, taking risks to make a new life here. Amada writes of the challenges and of painful separation from her father who has gone ahead to the fields of Delano, California. She writes a brief letter home mentioning a young Cesar Chavez beginning his lifelong fight for the migrant workers.

There are observations in this book that make you stop and think. Take, for example, "two countries looking exactly the same on both sides of the border with giant saguaros pointing up at the pink-orange sky and enormous clouds." Makes you think, no? How different are we really and why is this border even an issue?

The illustrations by Maya Christina Gonzalez are gorgeous. The more I see of her artwork, the more I am struck by it's power and beauty. She has this way of capturing the very essence of the beauty that is the Mexican women - grace, strength, determination, warmth and most of all the love for familia that shines out of their eyes. Each illustration has a mural like quality and with each look, you find more and more to amaze at.

I would encourage anyone to buy this book - adults and children both will be enchanted and moved.

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker

I love piñatas! They hold a special place in my heart and memories. When I was seven years old, my grandfather brought back from Mexico a beautiful, traditional piñata called piñata de picos. It was gorgeous a shard and I still have mine all these years later.

El piñatero/ The Piñata Maker with tons of brightly colored paper and streaming tassles on each cone. I remember being so excited when it was time to break it. We sang the piñata song, dale dale dale... The best part of all was when one of my cousins broke it and we found it was made of clay. Each of us children kept is a fantastic little photo journal about a piñata maker. There are full color photos of the process of making piñatas. It is the story of Tio Rico, a traditional piñata maker. His pinatas are exquisite, especially the Swan which is elegant and feels almost alive. There are pages dedicated to my favorite, the piñata de picos, my birthday piña. I was thrilled to find this amazing little book dedicated to an almost lost art. No Spongebob piñatas or tacky Ninja or tacky Ninja turtles made of cheap paper and plastic in this book.

It's a treasure and I share it with you on in the hopes of reviving the art so that our children can be as enchanted as I was on my seventh birthday.

Little Night/Nochecita

Little Night

Author/Illustrator: Yuyi Morales

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

ISBN-10: 1596430885

ISBN-13: 978-1596430884

From the book jacket:

As the long day comes to an end, Mother Sky fills a tub with falling stars and calls, “Bath time for Little Night!”

Little Night answers from afar, “Can’t come. I am hiding and you have to find me, Mama. Find me now!”

I loved this book! I recently received the BLAD (book, layout and design) of both this and the Spanish language version, Nochecita and simply fell in love with Yuyi Morales’ sumptuous illustrations. Each page is a feast for the senses. The art is so rich, so deep, so textured that it is almost tactile. It feels like you could walk right into the page and in doing so, you would be walking into a dream world make of silk and velvet.

The face of Little Night is one of sheer joy. She is imbued with the spirit of childhood and laughter. Even without the fun hide and seek story you’d be completely engaged because the art tells the story on its own. That said the story is fun and adorable. The imagery of Yuyi Morales’ writing is beautiful and poetic.

Mother Sky is beautiful as well. She embodies the spirit of the india in her gorgeous huilpil and braided hair. She makes me think of Mexico, of my grandmother and her comadres, of paintings by Siquieros and Rivera but with a more feminine, almost sensual feel.

Nochecita sounds a little better in Spanish, but overall the translation is seamless and you get the same sense of fun in both versions of the book.

Little Night won’t be published until April but it is available for pre-order in most bookstores. I’m running right out to pre-order it and I highly recommend that anyone do so. Children will love the sense of fun in the book as well as the illustrations and adults will adore the dreamlike sensuousness of the art.

About the Author:

Yuyi Morales is an author, artist, puppet maker, fold dancer and was the host of her own Spanish-language radio program for children. Other books she has written/an or illustrated include Just a Minute, winner of the Pura Belpre Medal, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, a Pura Belpre Honor Book, and Los Gatos Black on Halloween. She has also received the Jane Addams and Christopher Awards for her work. Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Yuyi now makes her home in the San Francisco area.

Mariana and the Merchild

Mariana and the Merchild: A Folktale from Chile
Author: Caroline Pitcher
Illustrator: Jackie Morris
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ISBN-10: 0802852041
ISBN-13: 978-0802852045

Mariana and the Merchild is the story of a lonely old woman who lives by the sea. Each day she walks along the shore gathering things and longing for a child to cook for. The children of the village are afraid of Mariana and whisper behind her back adding to her sense of isolation. One day after a violent storm, Mariana finds a crab shell in which is hidden a merbaby. She takes the merbaby home and cares for her with all the love in her lonely heart. The merchild’s mother visits Mariana and asks her to care for her child until it is safe for her to take her back to the sea.

The writing is lyrical and the imagery beautiful. I loved the way the author describes the mermaid “Her hair flamed red and her skin shone as if polished by the sun with mother-of-pearl.”

The artwork is beautiful as well. Sweeping watercolors with wonderful earthtones give the true sense of the seashore. I loved the illustration of the waves during the storm and how the artist made them look like hungry wolves. The merchild is beautiful and wispy, a stark contrast to Mariana’s indigenous solidity.

Mariana and the Merchild is an emotional story of love, loneliness and wish fulfillment. I loved how as the merchild grew, she brought Mariana closer to the village children who would be consolation for Mariana when the time came for the merchild’s mother to come for her. I had expected a sad ending and was very pleasantly surprised at the way it all worked out.

The McElderry Book of Grimm's Fairy Tales

The McElderry Book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Author: Saviour Pirotta
Illustrator: Emma Chichester Clark
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
ISBN-10: 1416917985
ISBN-13: 978-1416917984

When I first received this book and opened the padded envelope it came in, I was in awe of how beautifully illustrated the cover was. It simply took my breath away. The princess sleeping was so real, yet surreal and dreamy at the same time. I fell in love with the cover. It is in a word, sumptious.

I love fairy tales. My first love affair with books was because of Andrew Lang’s Green Fairy Book. I remember walking into the library, finding that book, then going home and falling so deeply into it that I didn’t hear my mother calling me for a long time. I was transported into the world of fairytales. Needless to say, I got into trouble for not listening. I was lucky enough to repeat that sense of getting lost in another world with this book. I’ve read Grimm’s Fairytales before, all of them and I know them well. We’re old friends. Saviour Pirotta’s retelling though is another story. I loved the changes he made, as in the ending to Snow White where the wicked stepmother’s heart breaks into a thousand pieces as the magic mirror breaks. He truly made them new and fresh. There’s an emotional quality to his writing that I loved, he gets you involved in the same way that Andrew Lang did to me all those years ago.

The McElderry Book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales contains ten tales, including one of my favorites, The Swans and the Brave Princess. Each page is beautifully illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark and the cover is only a hint of the gorgeous and lush illustrations to be found in the book. I found her creepy rendition of the forest in Hansel and Gretel to be very dark and scary. Kids are going to love this book as will their parents.


About the Author:
Saviour Pirotta was born in Malta, a small island that used to be the favorite haunt of Mediterranean pirates. His parents, both devout churchgoers named him after Jesus. [Saviour has a brother called Joseph and two aunts called Mary. His father was a carpenter.] With such a name, people expected him to grow up liking Bible stories but, influenced by his granny, he soon developed a liking for pirate and ghost stories, especially the gruesome kind that keep you awake at night. He became fascinated by the pirate lore of the Maltese islands and used to beg people to repeat popular legends over and over again. He has written more than sixty fiction and nonfiction books for children, and his works have been translated into ten languages. He has a special interest in myths and traditional legends from around the world.

About the Illustrator:
Emma Chichester Clark was born in London in 1955 but lived in Ireland until 1975. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art from 1975–8 followed by a course at the Royal College of Art from 1980–83 where she was taught by Quentin Blake.

She has worked as a freelance illustrator for various magazines including New Scientist, Cosmopolitan and The Sunday Times, and has also illustrated numerous book jackets. Her work was exhibited at the Thumb Gallery in 1984 and 1987.

Emma won the Mother Goose Award in 1988 as the most exciting newcomer to children's book illustration.

Celandine

Celandine
Author: Steve Augarde
Publisher: David Fickling Books
ISBN-10: 038575048X
ISBN-13: 978-0385750486


Celandine is the sequel to The Various, a book I haven’t read. If Celandine is an indicator, I’m long overdue to read it because this book was marvelous.

Celandine is a young girl living in England during World War I. Her brother has been killed and she is devastated by the loss. Celandine’s story begins with her running away from her horrible boarding school and heading for the secret hiding place of the Various, tiny creatures that live in the bramble near her home. She turns to them for safety but all is not well with the different tribes, they are nearing a war of their own and have other problems as well.

The book flashes back to what led Celandine to be sent away to boarding school, how she came to know the little people and a bit about her family and the feeling of the time. It’s a rich story and the intersecting of all these stories is sublime. I loved it. Celandine reminds me of stories like The Little Princess or The Secret Garden with elements of fairy and fantasy intertwined. Steve Augarde’s Various aren’t so magical though, rather they are tiny, desperate but kind creatures struggling with hunger and poverty as they’ve been pushed farther and farther back into the bramble as the modern world encroaches.

Celandine is a rich and interesting character as well. As the back story progresses, we get to know her loneliness, her feeling out of place with her wild hair, her Austrian mother, the governess that is hostile towards her. We share her angst, her desperation. One of the most moving parts of the book for me was her realization that by feeding her, the ragged children of the Various were going without. Her determination to help them and not be a drain is admirable and I saw in that written moment, Celandine grew up.

I can’t wait to read The Various after this!

Celandine is a great book for that pre-teen girl who is struggling with her own identity crisis. I think readers of all ages will identify with her and more importantly, understand her. It’s a great book and one of those stories that is timeless.

Tech Tags: children's+literature fiction illustration WWI England the+various

The Pull of the Ocean

The Pull of the Ocean

Author: Jean-Claude Mourlevat,

Translator: Y. Maudet

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN-10: 0385733488

ISBN-13: 978-0385733489

The Pull of the Ocean is a wild little story based upon the tale The Adventures of Tom Thumb by Charles Perrault and I absolutely adored it.

Yann Doutreleau has six brothers, all tall for their age, but he is no more than two feet tall. Yann is the youngest and mute but also the cleverest and most intelligent of the brothers as well as the undisputed leader. He communicates by gestures and looks and can say more with his eyes than most people can say with their voice. Yann loves school and learning while his brothers do not. The Doutreleau brothers are very protective of Yann and love him very much in spite of his differences or perhaps because of them.

On a dark and stormy night, little Yann, overhears his parents fighting and wakes his three sets of twin brothers telling them that the parents plan to harm them. They leave, led by Yann and start a journey to the ocean. It’s a strange little parade, three sets of malnourished, ragged twin boys and one very tiny doll of a boy leading the way sometimes from the inside of a bag.

Each chapter is narrated by a different person; a school social worker, police, a student, a baker, a writer, each of the brothers and others and each has their own perspective on what they saw, did or heard so the book ends up being 21 points of view.

I found the story completely enchanting from the very first page. It’s a lovely little jigsaw of a fable on the spirit of brotherhood and I highly recommend it. The Pull of the Ocean was the winner of a prestigious award when it was first published in France and I expect it will win its share here. Buy it and read it, you won’t be disappointed.

About the Author:

Jean-Claude Mourlevat is a major author of children's fiction in his native France, where his novels have garnered numerous literary awards. The author lives in France.

Adèle & Simon

Adèle & Simon
Author/Illustrator: Barbara McClintock
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
ISBN 10: 0374380440


Adèle & Simon is such a beautiful book. It’s one of those books that make you ooh and ah over the pages. The story and the illustrations are equally compelling.

Adèle cautions her brother Simon not to lose anything on the way home from school and he immediately begins to lose things. The book is a walking trip through early 20th century Paris.

Adèle & Simon are walking through Paris, the City of Lights and there are such wonderful distractions and things to see that Simon can’t help but lose his things. They take a walk through the Louvre and Degas and Simon loses his crayons. They find acrobats performing in the streets; there is a parade, oh so many wonderful things! It’s a dream of Paris, the Paris of Gigi, of Madeline. The impressionists are alive and well, Paris is in its glory and Adèle & Simon get to walk through it all. I wanted to crawl right into the book and live in it.

The double page illustrations of the city are wondrous and bring to mind the illustrations of Ludwig Bemelmen’s. The pen and ink drawings filled with watercolors are simply exquisite.

One of the things I loved best was the end notes that talk about the locations on each illustration like on pages 18-19, the illustration is of the Jardin du Luxemborg and Ms. McClintock provides a little history and documentation of the gardens. Very educational!

Awards & Honors:
Amazon.com Top 10 Editors’ Picks: Children

Child Magazine Best Books of the Year

Children's Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, New York Public Library

New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Books of the Year

Parenting Magazine, Best Children’s Award

About the Author:

Barbara McClintock has written and illustrated several books for young readers, including Dahlia and Molly and the Magic Wishbone. She is also the illustrator of many more, including Jim Ayleworth’s retellings of The Tale of Tricky Fox and The Gingerbread Man. She lives in Windham, Connecticut.