I happen to be a big fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson, so I really enjoyed this picture book partial-biography.  I like the end papers covered with quotes from him, and the way more of his quotes are sprinkled throughout the text, describing his joy in building a home of his own and filling it with friends and building his own life to suit his own interests.  I love the theme of overcoming disaster with the help of friends and community.  I wish I could give it a stronger recommendation, but I don’t think the target audience is likely to familiar enough with who Mr. Emerson is to care.  I wish they’d given even a brief introduction at the beginning to tell students about who he was.

It’s fine.  The illustrations are stronger than the story.  The story is about someone who doesn’t fit in with his peers (in this case, an owl who likes poetry — hence the title).  He goes off on his own to enjoy his poetry in secret, but when discovered and teased he runs away, where he finds an audience (of mice) who appreciate his efforts, learning that poetry should be shared, so he doesn’t flee the next time other owls show up, and the more the owls listen, they eventually come to discover they enjoy it too.  It’s fine.  It just seems pretty much like a theme that’s already been done, without anything special to make it stand out.  But the illustrations are cute, and it is a good theme, even if it has been done before.

Wow! Totally cool! I love this book! But then I was not surprised, when I noticed that it’s the same author who created “If the World Were a Village” which is another book that I think is absolutely fabulous.  This book is all about taking really big numbers and illustrating them on a scale that makes them understandable, and those numbers are specific to some big ideas that shape our world and our society (e.g. representing all the wealth in the world as a pile of one hundred coins and the entire population of the world as 100 people to see the distribution; putting 3.5 billion years of life on earth into an hour and listing out when different life forms appear, with modern humans not showing up until 59 mintues and 59.8 seconds have gone by).  It includes a wide range items to draw its comparisons, but they are all things kids can recognize and relate to.  The illustrations support the text and help illustrate the ideas beautifully.  I think every library should have it!

A boy can’t wait for his father to return each summer.  His dad was a great pirate and would tell tales of the crew and their terrific adventures aboard their ship called Hope.  One summer, his father did not return home.  After receiving a telegram, his mother told him they were going to take a trip to see his dad.  They did not end up at the sea as he expected.  They ended up in Belgium.  He learned his father was a miner, not a pirate, and the mine in which he had been working collapsed, killing many.  His father was not dead, but the boy’s faith in his dad, the pirate, did.  When his father returned home to stay, the boy loved him as much as before, but still did not understand why his dad lied.  Later, when a letter arrived saying the mine was closing, the boy’s family returned to Belgium.  The boy noticed, for the first time, his dad’s boarding house was named “Hope”, which shook when the wind blew, like a ship on the seas.  His father had always wanted to be a sailor but could find no jobs on the sea.  When meeting his dad’s old friends, the boy noticed the similarities between them and the “sailors” in his dad’s stories.  Then he knew, his dad was, and always had been, a great pirate.  Imagining life on the seas had saved his dad and his “crew” when they had to find work underground.  An author’s note tells how, after WWII, many Italian workers could only find work as miners in Marcinelle, Belgium.  In 1956, a coal mine fire is remembered as one of Italy’s worst mining catastrophes.  Quarello’s expressive pencil and watercolor illustrations are a great match with this poignant tale of the love and imagination of a young boy’s father.

It’s fine for what it is:  an explanation for young children of how burps happen.  The text is limited, the explanation straight-forward, the full-page color photos and illustrations support the text. I just think these non-fiction books for the younger set tend to give too little information to support the cost of the book.

It’s okay, I guess, but I think a lot of kids would feel cheated by the ending:  the author may be trying to make a point, but the kids who can relate to the character’s struggles aren’t going to buy the believability of the ending.  The story opens with the announcement of the upcoming talent show, and goes through all of Penny’s attempts to try to find a talent she can showcase, and her discouragement.  In the end she goes on-stage to blow her kazoo with her dog, and she gets the award for the “Best Friend.”  School talent shows really do raise such anxieties with a lot of kids, but the reader who might be hoping for an idea to come from all Penny’s searching, are going to scoff that they don’t give out awards for such things (even if some of us think they ought to).

The illustrations are fun.  The general story line is good: about a block where the buildup of Christmas lights and holiday decorations keep growing over the years until it’s completely overwhelming, and in the end the lights go out completely, and they all get a chance to appreciate the beauty of the stars above.  But it’s got some issues:  I realize the ability of astronauts to see the Christmas lights from space, and the tripping of the switch spreading the black-out world-wide are exaggerations for effect, but it didn’t really seem necessary; there are these big bold letters declaring that this book comes with a free song, but when you go to the website to download the link, it’s not so much a song as a reading of the story (presumably by the author), with quiet guitar strumming in the background.  Though the online reader did a fine job of reading it smoothly, I found the flow of the text a bit disjointed, with an inconsistent rhyming pattern.

It tells a little-known bit of American history, the story of one baker’s contribution to the American Revolution.  The illustrations are cool, echoing the title by looking like it’s all made of gingerbread.  The things is, gingerbread has little to do with the story, other than stating up front that in his civilian life the baker was known for his gingerbread.  His contribution to the war effort was actually in baking regular bread.

The clean, stylized illustrations offer a good juxtaposition to the squeamish topic:  a mischievous boy who’s bored the businessman’s dinner party his father has insisted he attend decides to add one of his fishing worms to each of the salads, just so he can watch everyone’s reactions. Of course, after the fun of watching everyone else, his father scolds him for taking so long to eat his own salad, so he too is forced to face his own medicine.

A sweet story about Christmas without all the commercialism, and about everyone having something to contribute and about the joys of family time spent together.  When a family is noticing as they decorate their tree that the homemade ornaments are the best, they make a pact that that Christmas they will all make homemade gifts.  The youngest is left in a quandary trying to figure out what he can make.  He keeps brainstorming ideas, but he’s too little to be allowed in the kitchen to cook alone, and it’s the wrong time of year to plant a garden, and the snow bear he makes melts before the big day, and Christmas Eve finds him going to bed sad because he’ll have no gift to offer the next day, but Momma’s comforting words,”the best part of Christmas is spending time together,” finally inspires an idea.  He ends up gathering all the little scraps of paper on which he’d been brainstorming ideas into a decorated jar which he labels, “365 Days of Together To-Dos.”  I think it’s sweet, and it captures the message it’s trying to deliver, and it’s got lots of little details in the illustrations that tie things together into a clean ending.  And I think a lot of kids can relate to feeling like they can’t come up with an idea, plus the book offers so many kid-friendly ideas.

I like what I think it’s trying to be (a grand fanciful adventure set in days gone by), but I think it misses the mark.  The illustrations seem inconsistent in their quality, and rhythm of the poetry is inconsistent in its readability.  These tigers are friends of this rich Victorian dude, and they set off on an adventure, but storms at sea leave them stranded, but after facing a volcano and spending time with some gypsies, they run into their old friend and neighbor in a Paris train station, who welcomes them back into the fold and throws them a feast.  A lot of the whys are left unanswered, leaving the reader a bit in the dark as to the point.  I’m not sure there’s ever an actual climax to the story.  I can’t figure out why they bother republishing it.

The publisher is re-issuing several books originally published in the mid twentieth century.  On the one hand, there’s something sort of charming and sentimental about the vintage illustrations, and it would be nice to have the cleaned up copies, rather than the battered, faded copies that have been sitting on the library shelves for the last 60 years.  On the other hand, I don’t know if the kids will be as charmed as I am.  The story tells of a baby elephant who’s not paying attention when he’s supposed to be holding his mom’s tail in the circus parade, so he follows a farm wagon back to the barn instead.

Lyric Walker lives a normal teenage life until she is forced into the unlikely situation of an invasion by the Alpha in Undertow. Then her world is shattered as she takes on the problems of living with a secret that would tear her world apart. Her friends are kept in the dark and she lives with the fear that others will know. Soon she is forced into becoming a friend to Fathom, an Alpha prince, but soon begins to be attracted to his unlikely charms. The plot beautifully unfolds as Lyric discovers both a hostile and magical world.

The author creates the realistic world of a teenager who lives in a terrifying world. Things go from bad to worse as Lyric, a strong female character, battles for her friends and family. The book is fast paced and moves from one situation to another. It ended too soon and readers will be ready for a sequel.

This book follows a child and her mother on a visit to an apple orchard where they take apples through the cider making process. They pick apples, wash them, put them in a shredder, help press the apples, then fill the jugs with cider. Then they attend the festival where there are many different kinds of apple dishes including muffins, pie, cobbler, fritters and more. Sweet illustration help describe the cider process.

Zig is a small, blue creature who lives in a lonely, rainy world. He grabs hold of a red umbrella and is carried away by the wind to a faraway place. He meets a tiny bird that needs his help to conquer a big roaring creature and free the tiny bird’s friends. The bird is so grateful for Zig’s help that a friendship develops, and Zig isn’t lonely any more. This book has very colorful illustrations.

The school dance is going to start, but Little Piggy is worried because all the other animals can moonwalk, cha-cha, boogaloo, etc… But Little Piggie is told by his Daddy, his Mummy, his grandma and grandpa, and his brother and sister that, “Us piggies, we’ve got no moves.” Soon Little Piggie believes what his family has told him. With a heavy heart, he attends the dance and watches the animals move to the music. Suddenly, his tail begins to twitch and twirl, and he starts moving across the floor joining the animals in their dances, and discovers he has a dance of his own. This is a great story to encourage students to disregard negative comments that others might say, and believe in themselves.

It is the day before the vegetable competition at the local harvest fair, and Max Monroe and the ghost of his great-uncle work together as a detective team to solve the mystery of the Zamboni sisters’ missing giant zucchini. They investigate people around town including Mr. Jordan who really wants to win the contest this year, and Edwena Whacker who makes the most delicious zucchini bread. Together they find clues to solve the mystery. This fun little mystery book is book two in the Ghost and Max Monroe series.

Dandy is very worried about the fifth grade spelling bee because his family has a history of winning the contest. When Dandy steps on stage and starts spelling, crazy things happen to interrupt him. The speakers buzz loudly, the microphone cuts in and out, and then thousands of bees swarm the auditorium making it impossible for Dandy to compete. Malcolm, his best friend, realizes that the contest is being haunted and the boys go into action to stop the spelling bee specter. This is book number 19 in the Ghost Detectors series. This is a fun story of the two ghost detector friends.

The eleventh book in the Faerieground series, it brings loyalty, trust, friendship and love into this fantasy of a war between the faeries and the crows. The faerie heroes go to battle to free the faerie Queen, Soli. This book ends in the midst of the war, leaving the reader to turn to book twelve for the conclusion. The illustrations are amazingly detailed watercolor images. The text is very simple, appealing to the low level readers as well as the reluctant readers.

The Prince of Peas is a parody of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. The art work makes this an excellent picture book to use with high school art students. The numerous inferences throughout the story both in text and illustration make this story  for a mature audience, rather than an elementary reader*.

“Princess Antoinette [ a rabbit] has decided to wed. The idea has been growing like a pea in her head.” The first prince, possible groom, is musician Prince Tristan [a cat]. He spends the night of the party playing with the musicians in the band, instead of holding Antoinette’s hand. Then, he fails the pea test under the seven mattresses because his dog does not like heights. The second prince, Prince Victor [a boar] finds his bed too skimpy, so goes out to sleep with his war horse. Antoinette gives the search for a prince one more try. Prince Philippe [a stag] is spotted saving a cat from drowning. after the ball Antoinette and Philippe hold ‘hand(s) as they bounce on his bed.” All the bouncing on the bed lets Queen Louise [a crow] know this is the right spouse for her daughter. “Antoinette is so happy, so pleased to be wed, that another idea takes shape in her head. [a page turn] The months, they pass by, the idea grows and grows… into a new little Prince with a pea for a nose!”

*The little prince has a green pea for a nose, one rabbit ear and one stag antler.   So my question is, did author Sylvie Chausse mean for this to be a simple retelling of the classic Princess and the Pea? If so, is Sylvie Chausse happy with the illustrations that lead me to think there is a hidden meaning, dealing in favor of interracial marriage, on the part of the illustrator Anne Letuffe. That aside, the illustrations are mixed media, using layers of drawn art with fabric for clothing , maps, textured paper, photos of actual peas and pea plants.

This is a YA “Twilight Zone” style story in picture book form. This book asks the question, “How should we react to the violence of war in a far off country?”

The gray on gray illustrations tell the story of a war zone photo journalist who follows a 9 yr. old boy, wounded in a school bus attack, to the hospital. The photo journalist finds difficulty with this boy’s photo story because the boy reminds him of his own nephew who he gave the same pair of red shoes to for his eighth birthday. “I looked through the last shots: I had taken the same photo twelve times. In each one, Kenan was stretched out on the gurney, a bloodied bandage on his head and a red basketball shoe on his left foot.” On the next/last page turn with text, the reader finds the photo journalist talking with his nephew on the phone about he nephew’s upcoming basketball game. The last page turn reveals the photo journalist  in his office contemplating this story’s events. He is siting on the edge of the desk with one foot on his chair and a lit cigarette in his hand. On the desk is a newspaper whose headline reads ‘School Bus Attacked’ under a photo of the bus.

Well it kinda feels like it falls into the category of a book you just have to have in your library, if only because all the little fans of the other Click Clack books who know there is a Christmas one, are going to want it.  It’s fun.  It’s got the same characters from all the other books, and it opens with Farmer Brown hanging the stockings while listening to sounds outside that send him to bed in anticipation that Santa is near.  All the while, the illustrations are showing the reader that it’s really Duck in a Santa cap playing on the roof that Farmer Brown hears, but when Duck gets himself stuck in the chimney and all the other animals are trying to help, but getting themselves stuck, too, we do see Santa’s sleigh silhouetted in the distance, and sure enough Santa comes to the rescue, because of course he never gets stuck in a chimney.

The illustrations are really charming, but the story is a bit flat.  It tells of a young girl (about age 6 give or take a couple years?) riding the bus by herself for the first time, to go visit grandma.  Who let’s a kid that young ride a bus by themselves?  Now granted, it’s obviously not meant to be taken seriously, as all the other passengers on the bus are animals dressed as people, but still.  The text is mostly just a ramble of the girl’s thoughts, and the story is mostly told through looking at the details of the pictures, and that is mostly just a story of watching the different characters come and go.  At the end of the ride, we see the girl connect with her grandma, proclaiming that she’s got so much to tell.  But really not much happened.

Rhyming text celebrates all the different kinds of boats.  The illustrations are beautiful, and support the text.  Both words and pictures are fairly simple, contributing to its charm.