Childrens Books

Book: MousenetAuthor: Prudence BreitroseIllustrator: Stephanie YuePages: 416Age Range: 8 and up  Mousenet is a middle grade novel written by Prudence Breitrose and lightly illustrated by Stephanie Yue. The premise has oodles of kid-appeal. Mice have learned to read, and to use human computers (though it takes a whole team of mice to accomplish anything using a full-size PC). When a quirky inventor in Cleveland invents a teeny, tiny laptop (dubbed the Thumbtop), mice spring into action. They enlist the inventor's niece, Megan, in their quest to put "a Thumbtop in every mousehole" so that they can stand beside humans as the next intelligent species.   The mouse society and hierarchy in Mousenet is fully fleshed out, and quite entertaining. The mice have figured out a way to travel by Greyhound bus (though this remains rare). They use sign language to communicate. Because they have eyes everywhere, they are able to intervene with humans in surprising ways. They have their own, hidden internet (Mousenet). They are based in Silicon Valley, for a completely logical reason. This whole shadow society of secretly smart rodents calls to mind books like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (which I now want to re-read) and Malcolm at Midnight.  The early part of the book is told from a third person (er, mouse) mouse perspective, which I particularly enjoyed. In fact, I found it a bit jarring when, in the middle of chapter two, things shifted to Megan's perspective. After that, things shift back and forth between mouse and human viewpoints. Here's an example of the mouse point of view: "The mice felt more hopeful about picking up clues to the megging's wildness later that afternoon, after the big female had spent some time doing things to food that they'd never seen happen in this kitchen--slicing, steaming, chopping, mixing. When the girl and her uncle came in to eat, the mice looked anxiously at their inventor to see how he'd react, because the dishes that the big female had put on the table didn't look at all like his usual dinner, which tended to be either delivered or thawed." (Chapter 2) I understand that it wouldn't have been possible to tell the entire story from the perspective of the mice (or certainly it would have been quite difficult), but I personally enjoyed the mouse point of view more than Megan's. Megan is a perfectly nice character, with passions and quirks of her own, but the mouse viewpoint is more unique.  Anyway, the plot in Mousenet moves along quickly. There isn't really a bad guy in the book, but Breitrose finds other sources of conflict (like the need to keep the existence of the mouse society hidden). I particularly liked the way the author developed the relationship between Megan and her step-cousin Joey, slowly and with friction along the way.  My one complaint, story-wise, is that I felt that the author's anti-global warming message came on a bit too strong at times. Not that there's anything wrong with the message itself, but towards the end of the book it comes perilously close to dominating the story. By making environmentalism a central trait of Megan's character, the author keeps things in hand, but only just barely. But I have admittedly very finely honed radar when it comes to messages inserted into fiction. Most young readers delving into Mousenet today will probably be fine with this aspect of the book.  Yue's black and white pencil illustrations are generally small in size, and are found about once per chapter. I found them helpful in visualizing Megan (who has unusual hair that's hard to describe), and of course in picturing the intrepid mice. There are also mouse silhouettes included atop the large-format first letter of each chapter. Emails integrated in with the text also add visual variety. Together, these visual elements of the book help make it non-intimidating to younger middle grade re

Windblown by E?douard Manceau Scraps of paper blow across the page, first one then several appear.  But what are they and whose are they?  First the chicken insists they are his since he found them.  Then the fish says that he cut them from the paper.  Then the bird, the snail and the frog explain that they are theirs as well.  Each animal fits them to their body to demonstrate why they belong to them.  Then the wind itself speaks about blowing the pieces around and offers them to the reader, “What will you do?”  Superbly simple and entirely engaging, readers will be playing along with the book before they even open the pages.  Manceau has cleverly selected shapes that fit together in many different ways.  He demonstrates this over and over again, then turns it all over to the reader to continue.  This is also a book that would make a great art project for little ones.  Share the book, then give each child the pieces shown in the story to make their own picture.  An ideal way to end a creative story time.  Appropriate for ages 2-4. Reviewed from library copy. Filed under: Book Reviews, Picture Books Tagged: art, creativity, shapes, wind

I said, “Look like that’s the best book you’ve ever read in your life.” I said, “Look like you’re having so much fun.” I should probably leave this kind of thing to Jeffrey.

Although it might not feel like it, spring is here. One of my favorite springtime stories to share is Fran’s Flower. In this story, a little girl finds a plant and decides she wants to make it grow. Unfortunately, she decides it needs food and feeds it a piece of cheeseburger, some spaghetti, ice cream and even a chocolate chip cookie. Of course, this doesn’t help the plant grow and fed up with the flower she throws it out the door. Once outside, the flower gets all the things it needs, and it grows! The colorful illustrations add to the fun. Before you start planting, share this one along with The Carrot Seed by Krauss. Posted by: Liz

While I can’t show you Robert Byrd‘s gorgeous interior art for Africa is My Home, I can show you the cover in the following book trailer. (And if you are at BEA, do stop by the Candlewick Press booth for a more comprehensive look or, even better, come to my Thursday 3:30 signing of F&Gs of the complete 64 page book.)

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Last week I had the good fortune to be on the panel that Deborah Heiligman wrote about Tuesday. Preplanning conversations and postmortem drinks at the very literary Algonquin Hotel gave Deb, Marfe’ Ferguson Delano, and me plenty of time to talk about the writing process. These conversations got me thinking about “voice.” Finding the right voice for a nonfiction book fits somewhere in the scheme of things between the research and final draft. You know how writers of fiction and deranged people – that may be an oxymoron – say, “It’s the voices … it’s the voices that made me do it?” That makes perfect sense to me. My books, primarily based on interviews with young people, absolutely must be true to the people featured. So after an interview, I transcribe and replay their tapes over and over again as a way to get their voices into my ears. My journey to understanding “voice” in writing began as an act of embarrassment and humility. My Confession: Once upon a time, long, long ago, after photographing four children’s books, I decided to try my hand at writing as well as illustrating. My first, full book contract was about a thirteen-year-old foster boy who spent a year socializing and loving a puppy that would later become a guide dog for the blind. What made the boy unusual was that he himself was slowly going blind. The book was called Mine for a Year. After the usual gazillion drafts, the manuscript was ready to meet its editor. At that time I knew very few children’s authors and needed a critical read. A magazine editor-cum-good friend, a brilliant writer himself, said he’d take a look at it. Before he could change his mind I was sitting in his office with my beautiful, perfect, gorgeously written first book. He turned to the first page. “WHAT IS THIS CRAP?” He didn’t say crap. “I’m not going to read this! There’s nothing happening here. There’s no voice! It’s not you. It’s not the kid.” I grabbed the pages and flew out of the office. I was devastated, furious, and very embarrassed. Once home I spent weeks trying to figure out how to make this boy read real. What could I do differently? Why didn’t the photographs alone create the boy’s character? And what is this thing called “voice” anyway? A week or so later an Aha moment arrived. Since it was the boy’s story, why not let him tell it? I rewrote everything in the first person, and interviewed the boy again to add material and to make sure what was written matched the way he spoke. We collaborated. We made changes together. After more than a few more drafts, it was back to the mag editor for round two. Wit

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When the fickle finger of fate causes three pig siblings to lose their jobs, the farmer, retiring to Florida, gives them severance pay and sends them out to seek their fortunes."LET'S BUY POTATO CHIPS," SAID THE FIRST PIG. "LET'S BUY SODY-POP," SAID THE SECOND PIG. "LET'S BUY BUILDING SUPPLIES," SAID THE THIRD PIG.The third sibling, a rather prissy and practical girl pig, is obviously focused on long-term goals, while her lazy brothers just want to feed their faces.The three pigs part company to follow their bliss. The practical pig heads for the home improvement store and spends her money on bricks and other durable building materials and soon is busy with bricklaying and gardening chores. The other two pigs settle for the fairy tale version of shacks, building their domiciles from dirt-cheap straw and sticks. Everybody's happy, until a somewhat bad and very hungry wolf blows into town. Denied service at Do-Nut Dan's, Hot Dog Hal's, and Pete's Pizza Parlor, Wolfie decides he'll have to find food on the hoof, er, trotter. The two lazy sods scarfing down chips and soda look like easy marks, so he does the Huff 'n' Puff thing on their down-market dwellings. It's instant domicile devastation!"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WORKS!" THE WOLF SAID.But when the two pigs flee to their more provident sister's house,the now very, very hungry wolf follows to the third piggy-scented house. This one is solid and somewhat intimidating, even to a wolf of proven windiness. He decides to try their doorbell first, but when they refuse to answer, he falls back on huffing and puffing--all to no avail on this up-scale residence."DO YOU THINK HE'S STILL THERE?" SAID ONE PIG. THE THEE PIGS LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND SAW THE WOLF COLLAPSED ON THE LAWN. "LOOK AT THE POOR GUY," SAID THE LAZY PIGS. "MAYBE HE NEEDS SOME POTATO CHIPS," SAID THE FIRST PIG. "MAYBE HE NEEDS SOME SODY POP," SAID THE SECOND PIG. "NEVER MIND THAT STUFF," SAID THE THIRD PIG. "DINNER IS ALMOST READY."There's more than one way to win over a wolf in Mark Teague's new fractured fairy tale version of the classic, titled The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf (Orchard Books, 2013).His tongue-in-cheek text is set off perfectly with Teague's trademark comic illustrations, with plenty of clever visual jokes for the sharp-eyed reader, including the farmer's cat, duck, and goose who are also squatters at the practical pig's house. Teague's frequent shifts in perspective keep the familiar story line moving along in this twist on the old tale in which the wolf becomes a well-fed member of the pig household, happy and no longer hungry ever after.An "entertaining and refreshing adaptation of the classic tale," says Publishers Weekly. But if kids still haven't gotten their fill of fractured fare, add a side dish of Lane Smith's award-winning The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and Eugene Trivizas' The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig for a trio of tasty rib-sticking, rib-tickling spoofs of the classics.

The end of the school year is just a couple weeks away and it’s time to reminisce. So with an appropriately wistful faraway stare and slight smile, I bring you the most popular books of the year in my K-2 school library. If you’re up for more looking back, click here to relive last year’s favorites. 10. Disney Princess: A Read-Aloud Storybook It’s fair to say I’m not a princess fan. My students respectfully disagree with my stance on the matter. 9. Brave New Pond (Squish, Book 2) by Jennifer L. Holm; illustrated by Matthew Holm In 2013 we welcome Squish to the list of most circulated. I added the series at the beginning of the year and it has become a favorite. 8. Bad Dog, Marley! by John Grogan; illustrated by Richard Cowdrey The K-2 crowd still has Marley Fever. Even though this book came out a couple years ago now, checkouts are still strong. 7. Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems After a lot of careful consideration about what more I can say about Mo Willems’s beginning reader series, I’ll settle for this: the Elephant and Piggie books are outstanding in every way. That includes popularity, too – the mess of them go out nonstop. 6. Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray by Nick Bruel During election season, we had a Bad Kitty vs. Babymouse election. It was close, but Bad Kitty won out. It’s a series that continues to gain steam. 5. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean Speaking of gaining steam, Pete the Cat is on top of the world right now. The books are well-written and the musical hook draws even more fans. It will be interesting to see where the series goes now that it appears Eric Litwin is out of the picture, but for now it’s tough to mess with Pete. 4. Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel Our second Bad Kitty appearance. Bruel’s mix of illustrations and, I think, naughty behavior has proven to be an appealing combination. 3. Star Wars: Clone Troopers in Action by Clare Hibbert There are certain students who always have the same library routine – check for any Star Wars books first, then, if they are out, look for a different book. That explains why this one is at number three. 2. Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean Reading Pete the Cat is like creating an instant party – especially if you play the accompanying song available on the Pete the Cat website. 1. Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey Somehow, this was a slight surprise for me. I take the extreme popularity of Captain Underpants as a given these days – information placed off in the corner of my mind labeled “Things I Know for Sure”. The fact that this book bested all the rest reminds me of just how popular this series is. Elementary schools everywhere are awash in devoted Pilkey fans. Check out previous 2013 top 10s 3rd-4th Grade

This week the National Rifle Association’s American Rifleman website featured an unsigned list of its top ten “Coolest Gun Movies.” It’s an interesting window into how people in the organization think.To begin with, this list has little or no praise for gun design or marksmanship. It doesn’t include Winchester 73 or Sgt. York, for instance. Nor is there any regard for gun-collecting, supposedly the reason people need to be able to buy a dozen guns at once. Even Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels has more regard for that hobby than this article.Instead, the list’s main impetus is fantasizing about social breakdown. Of the ten films listed, five take place in some horrible future that the writer enjoys imagining and presumes his audience will, too. Thus, the writer praises The Road Warrior despite the fact that, as he admits, “There are very few firearms featured…as well as very, very little ammunition.” But lots of desperate violence.The article’s emphasis on dystopic futures is particularly odd given its claim that “Many of these movies also take us back to simpler times.” We can hope the writer means that he saw most of these movies in high school—which seems about right for the maturity and values expressed. (You’ll note that I’m assuming the author is male.)Another common element of the list’s choices is an emphasis on amoral power and destruction. Only one film features a police officer as hero, and John McClain in Die Hard is supposed to be off-duty. There’s no room for Dirty Harry, Lethal Weapon, or High Noon, films that show lawmen carrying guns to protect society against criminals.Instead, the writer celebrates gun-toting criminality. Of The Godfather’s murderous crime boss, he says, “Who has not dreamed of having the power and respect of Michael Corleone? That he built his empire through violence is only that much more alluring.”As Talking Points Memo pointed out, earlier this year NRA consigliere Wayne LaPierre responded to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre by complaining about how Hollywood sells, and sows, violence against its own people. Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?But “fantasizing about killing people” is precisely what LaPierre’s colleague did as he wrote this list.That must be a fun workplace.