tara recommends Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

So often we look for something new, something unique, something we've never seen before.  It is exciting to be surprised by a punchline or a new style, but there is something even more thrilling in the surprise of new things that feel familiar.  Kevin Henkes uses his unique style to tell a nuanced story in his Penny books.  In some ways, the plot lines feel very simple (typical of any beginning reader) - but, when you really look at them, you see how cleverly he has introduced his characters and their personalities.  They are reminiscent of the classic Francis or Frog and Toad stories - books that tell real stories with relatively complex characters.  

Penny and Her Marble is another excellent addition to the series.  The third Penny book (and also the longest) follows Penny as she finds a "shiny, blue marble" in her neighbor's yard . . . and takes it home.  The marble was smooth and fast and pretty - but, Penny starts to worry that it really belongs to someone else.  Her internal struggle is masterfully handled as Penny tries to figure out what to do with this marble.

It seems unbelievable that Kevin Henkes didn't win the Geisel award last year with his first two Penny books, but hopefully he can nab it this year with Penny and Her Marble.  It may not be the most flashy or loud beginning reader, but it certainly is my favorite of the year so far.

This quiet story is one that will stay with you and is also completely relatable.  I would think most children have, at one time or another, taken something (or found something) that didn't belong to them.  We can only hope they would have a similar pang of conscience and learn from Penny.

Even though these books are clearly marketed to girls (I love the flowery covers), even boys should appreciate the well-told stories and fun pictures.

Penny and Her Marble
by Kevin Henkes
Published by Greenwillow Books
March 2013

Three Cheers: Memorable Nonfiction

I've been trying to think of at least one nonfiction picture book from my childhood, but I haven't been able to come up with one.  That doesn't mean they didn't exist, of course, but I can't name a single title.  Perhaps the books from my youth were just forgettable, but that is not the case now.  With books like Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell, The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton and Tony Persiani,  Nic Bishop's animal books, and others, we are seeing nonfiction picture books published that are engaging, visually captivating, and certainly, memorable.  Where once they may have been used primarily by teachers as classroom assignments, nonfiction picture books today are read and re-read by children who are fascinated by the stories they tell and the worlds they explore.  Here's a look at three recently-published, terrific picture books.

Perfect for preschoolers is Lucky Ducklings: A True Rescue Story by Eva Moore.  (While it may be classified as fiction, this book is based on an actual event, so I have taken the liberty of including it in a nonfiction post.)  When Mama Duck takes her five ducklings for a walk, the ducklings fall into a storm drain in their path.  People in the town come to the rescue and work together to get Mama Duck and her ducklings safely home.

Moore's rhythmic text repeats the ducklings' names, "Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin . . . and last of all, Little Joe," and Mama Duck's forceful, "Whack! Whack!" which makes the story a delight to read aloud.  Moore sets up suspense before the page turns and pulls listeners along with, "that could have been the end of the story.  But it wasn't because . . ."

Beautiful illustrations by Nancy Carpenter convey the ducks' personalities in a realistic fashion and are reminiscent of Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings.  I read this book to my kindergartner and then immediately, read it again.

Next up is a book for slightly older kids about an invention that most of them have probably never thought of as being invented--basketball.  Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy is a spirited story that demonstrates creative problem solving at its best.

With an economy of words, Coy tells of James Naismith's attempts in 1871 to teach a rowdy gym class that no one else wanted.  Since it was winter, he tried playing games indoors--first, football, then soccer, and finally, lacrosse--but the resulting injuries led him to abandon each.  What he needed was a new game, and so, he invented one: basketball.  Played with a soccer ball and peach baskets, the first game was so successful that when "Naismith blew the whistle to end the game, nobody wanted to leave."  The story includes interesting detail, sometimes in the pictures like the attempted calisthenic and gymnastic training of the first two teachers who quit before Naismith took the class, and sometimes in the text which includes the name of the player who scored the only point in the first game.

Illustrations by Joe Morse--done in a palette of maroon, blue, gray, and brown--have a distinctly 19th-century feeling.  Angular, contorted figures convey the energy of the boys and the physicality of the games in full-page pictures.  As an added bonus, the original typewritten rules are reproduced on the end papers.

Last up is Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, the story of one woman courageously standing up, speaking out, and influencing thousands.

When Clara Lemlich immigrates to America, she finds a job as a garment worker.  Conditions are unreasonable, and the details Markel provides emphasize that: half a day's wages lost for being late, locked doors, unsanitary conditions, and more.  Clara's meager pay helps buy food and contributes to the rent for her family, but Clara wants something better.  At night she studies in the library, and during the day she urges the girls who work with her to "fight for their rights" by striking.  She is beaten, jailed, and fired, but she perseveres.  Finally, at a union meeting, she calls for a general strike saying, "I have no further patience for talk" and starts "the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. history."  Again, details underscore the determination of the girls, some as young as twelve, to improve their conditions.

Melissa Sweet's illustrations incorporate stitching and fabric swatches, reflecting the garment workers' jobs.  She does a remarkable job representing the power of the companies and the insignificance of the girls with a dramatic overhead view showing rows of tiny girls at their machines and another picture of the large Triangle Waist Company building, which gives even more weight to Clara's efforts.  The opening picture of people looking toward the Statue of Liberty from the ship arriving in New York harbor is echoed in the final picture of Clara looking from the shore toward the same statue, bringing the story of a hopeful girl who finds out America can be unfair, full circle as she regains faith in her new country.

History brought to life with an engaging text and captivating illustrations--this is memorable.

danyelle recommends Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker

If you love the Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker, or if you've never read them, check out the newest addition to the series -- the sixth (and second to last) book, Clementine and the Spring Trip.

In spring, when the weather warms up, the students at Clementine’s school go on field trips.  This year the third and fourth graders are going to Plimoth Plantation, and third-grader Clementine and her dirt-phobic friend, fourth-grader Margaret, agree to be partners for the excursion.  Clementine will “touch anything that looks filthy” so that Margaret doesn’t have to get dirty, and Margaret will help Clementine figure out how to eat quietly--a necessity for the trip because the fourth graders have a strict silent-eating rule, but their plans fall apart when Clementine’s teacher assigns her to partner with the new girl at school, Olive.  He assures Clementine that he knows she will make Olive feel comfortable.

On the trip to Plimoth Plantation, Clementine spends time with a chicken and decides that she cannot eat her quiet chicken sandwich for lunch.  When Olive offers to share her lunch of humus, pita chips, celery sticks, and apples, Clementine knows the fourth graders will go crazy when Olive takes her first bite, so Clementine breaks the silent-eating rule as loudly as she can.  Soon others join in, gulping, crunching, and snicking, and Clementine discovers she can make her own rules.

The story comes to life told through Clementine’s voice which is fresh and third-grade perfect (with the charming exception of knowing more unusual vegetables than any third grader I have met: mung bean, watercress, Swiss chard, kohlrabi).  She is independent, thoughtful, and dramatic.  Vivid imagery gives the reader a chance to experience life as Clementine sees it:  “eyelids snapped open like cartoon window shades”; the chicken “was so pretty that it could have been a chicken-shaped sugar cookie-one that was all speckled with butterscotch sprinkles and had a red-frosting Mohawk on top of its head”; and she describes herself as being like a Clementine with “lots of different sections” (89, 85, 110).  Her description of Principal Rice’s shoes as “car seat shoes” is accurate and hilarious (101).

Spot pictures by Marla Frazee (several per chapter) complement the text and add to the energetic mood of the story.

Clementine and the Spring Trip

by Sara Pennypacker

illustrated by Marla Frazee

published by Hyperion Books

March 2013

Recommended for ages 7-10

diane recommends Nobody's Secret by Michaela MacColl

Nobody's Secret is a fiction book about Emily Dickinson as a young fifteen year old. Although I liked the plot, the character was not what I was expecting. When I hear Emily Dickinson, I see the little old lady who only wore white dresses and never left her house. So, as a teenager, I would imagine her to be a little more restrained than this Emily is. This Emily is a very daredevilish, headstrong teenager. So, not quite what I was expecting, but, once I got over my preconceptions, this book was amazing.

As a teenager, Emily's adventuresome attitude on life is believable, and very relatable.  MacColl manages to catch the voice of a rebellious teenager perfectly.

"'Miss, I'm sorry for making such a spectacle of myself.' 'So you should be, silly girl,' Emily said, not unkindly. 'Here, sit down and churn the butter; that will calm your nerves.' Under her breath she said, 'It always deadens mine.' Gulping, Mary Katherine nodded."

Emily doesn't want to do the tedious jobs of a housekeeper forever, so, she keeps slipping out of the house to dawdle and smell the flowers. While out, she meets a stranger, who also happens to be really cute, and then her life starts to become more problematic as she discovers secrets she can't trust anyone else to know.

This book is full of mystery, and suspense. You never can guess what strange thing she will discover next, or who might be the problem. I enjoyed this book, but if you read this expecting Emily Dickinson, you might be a little surprised to find that Emily is not the reserved person you thought she would be.

So, I would definitely recommend this book. It was well written, and it captures the attitude of any defiant teenager as they try to do what they want, and not what others think they should do.

Review copy received from the publisher.

Nobody's Secret
by Michaela MacColl
Published by Chronicle Books
March 2013
Recommended for ages 11-16

Looking Ahead to Genius

With the first quarter of the year nearly over, and my to-read stack considerably shorter than it was in February, I am looking forward to several books that will be released in the next few months.  Here are a half dozen:

• Again! by Emily Gravett has already released in the UK, but the US version is set to release in April.  This story about a dragon who wants his bedtime story read again and again ends with a fiery surprise.

• On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein is a picture book written by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky.  Robin Smith over at Calling Caldecott said, "I think this is one to watch."  Watch it I shall.

• Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham teamed up to create a nonfiction picture book that releases in June: The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos.  I've had this one on my list for months, but I have not seen it yet.  I guess I'll just have to wait until June.

• The Story of Fish & Snail by Deborah Freedman, she of Blue Chicken fame, also comes out in June, and judging only from the cover (and the brief description provided by the publisher) it looks like it's worth finding a copy to read.

• Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by the marvelous Tony Fucile should be on shelves in April.  I don't think I can tell you how much we love Bink and Gollie at our house.

• Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz is a book I'm looking forward to rereading and recommending  when it goes on sale next month.  You should read it. 

So, as the weather warms up and the school year winds down, what books are you looking forward to reading?

Read It Again!

Preschoolers often hear the same shelfful of books read again and again.  In fact, they will ask for their favorites to be reread until they have them memorized well enough to "read" them on their own.  It turns out, familiarity with a few books at a time may be just what their brains need to learn, according to a study by Dr. Jessica Horst from Sussex University.

But what happens when children enter school?  When I was in first grade our teacher rewarded us with a paper circle each time we read a new book.  We glued those circles onto paper to create caterpillar bodies which we hung on the wall.  When we finished one, we moved to the next level, which just meant starting over with a different colored sheet of paper.  I was highly motivated to read new books, but I didn't feel like I could reread the ones I liked.  In subsequent years, my teachers assigned weekly book reports, always with the stipulation that we report on books we had not previously read.  The message was clear:  rereading a book is cheating.  As a child, I felt that, if my teachers didn't necessarily disapprove of rereading, they certainly did nothing to encourage it.

Although I was in elementary school many years ago, I wonder if that attitude has changed.  Programs like Accelerated Reader and RAZ Kids reward students for reading new books.  At my children's school, the PTA sponsors a home reading program in which students bring home a book each afternoon that they are expected to read and exchange for a new book the next day.

While I understand the value of reading different books, I'd like to make a case for rereading.  Even older readers learn vocabulary with repeated reading--the meaning of a previously skipped-over, unfamiliar word becoming clear when they understand the context.  Repetition aids in understanding plot intricacies, character motivation, and nuances in a story that a reader may not have picked up on the first time around.  Rereading builds confidence in reading.  A child knows where the story is headed, and in that familiar territory he feels more comfortable reading.  And there is emotional value in revisiting a story that feels like an old friend. When my then 19-year-old son was waiting for surgery, he reread From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler for the sixth or seventh time to help him stay calm.  I laughed at the time, but I have a  worn copy of Pride and Prejudice that has seen the inside of the hospital a time or two.

C. S. Lewis wrote, "The sure mark of an unliterary man is that he considers 'I've read it already' to be a conclusive argument against reading a work." (An Experiment in Criticism, p.2)  For my part, I'm going to encourage my kids to reread, especially when they are reading for pleasure.  And I think I'll reread The Queen's Thief books by Megan Whalen Turner over spring break.

Coincidentally Speaking

Noting similarities in recently published children's literature, book-watchers periodically engage in discussion and speculation about trends: middle-grade novels about bullying, young adult books starring vampires, a near ubiquity of bears in picture books, or fairy tales re-imagined for all ages.  But what about similarities that are limited to a couple of books--not a trend by any means--but certainly a curious coincidence?  Just for fun, let's look at a few similarities in books published this year.

Search for a Missing Family Member

• In Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, Early searches for his brother who was presumably killed in the war.
• Georgie searches for her sister even though the town has held her funeral in One Came Home by Amy Timberlake.
• When Early's dad disappears, she tries to find him in Blue Baillett's new book, Hold Fast.  And while we're on the subject . . .

Characters Named Early

• In Navigating Early, Early is a boy who has an unusual way of looking at numbers.
• And in Hold Fast, Early is a girl who has a way with words.  Different, but still similar.

The Bad Guys Are Counterfeiters

• Counterfeiters try to steal Lincoln's body in an attempt to use it as ransom to negotiate the return of their engraver in Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin. 
• In One Came Home, Georgie stumbles upon counterfeiters as she searches for her sister.

Inclusion of Recipes

• Patricia Reilly Giff's book, Gingersnap, features Jayna who makes amazing soup.  Recipes included.
• A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff features eleven-year-old Cady who has an amazing cake-baking talent.  Recipes included.

Treasure Island Readings

• Summer reads passages from Treasure Island to kids at the shelter in Hold Fast.
• Annie reads passages from Treasure Island to her brother, Rew, in Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz.

1918 Influenza Pandemic

• In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters is set in 1918 San Diego where residents limit travel, cover their faces in masks, and eat large amounts of onions in an attempt to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza.
• Written in Stone by Rosanne Parry shows some of the aftermath of the 1918 flu that killed Pearl's mother and sibling.
• In Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larsen, Hattie remembers the Spanish influenza that killed Mattie in Hattie Big Sky.

Con Artists

• Mary Shelley Black has to figure out whom she can trust in a city plagued by fear and fraud in In the Shadow of Blackbirds.
• Hattie, in Hattie Ever After, has to figure out whom she can trust when some of those closest to her take advantage of her. Similarities here seem inevitable since both stories are set in the Golden Age of Con.

Ok, there's a sampling of coincidences from this year's books.  Admittedly, some are stronger than others, but I think they are all fun to consider.  What did I miss?