Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

POETRY FRIDAY It's a small, squeezable world after all

Hug Time
by Patrick McDonnell

Little, Brown

My husband is a huge Mutts fan and wouldn't let me pan a book of McDonnell's even if he were capable of writing a bad one. Though this one leans a tad toward the pedestrian, if I can avoid getting shot at for saying so. Still, if I could say as much in so little space,  I'd bottle his talent, sell stock in it, and retire to my own island.

So Hug Time doesn't rate with my all-time favorite of his, The Gift of Nothing, but it's a fine little book about dispensing full-frontal, no-holds-barred hugs. I don't know all the Mutts characters (being a relative newcomer to the McDonnell orbit), but a little kitty named Jules sets off on a round-the-world trip wearing a favorite sweater and carrying a hug-to-do list.

In rhyming quattrains, he meets up with a variety of animals, more than a few on the endangered list, and gives 'em a big ol' squeeze:

Exploring the rain forest by foot and canoe,
Jules discovered a species brand-new.
Kneeling, he whispered, "We welcome you."
Off to India--with its tigers so few,
Finding one is hard to do.

Okay, so there are better rhymers out there, and McDonnell isn't above some blatant sentimentality, especially considering his famed fondness for animals (he's on the board of directors of The Humane Society of the United States, among other accomplishments).

There's no real plot here--no conflict or mounting drama or discernible character arc. Still, 'tis the season for such things, and you could do worse than put a hug in someone's stocking.

Rating: *\*\

When some bunny loves you

Rabbit's Gift: A Fable from China
by George Shannon; illustrated by Laura Dronzek

Harcourt, Inc.

The rabbit in this story starts out with an extra turnip, and winds up with a lot of friends. He passes along the extra turnip to Donkey, who he imagines is lonely. Donkey--not knowing it came from Rabbit--passes the surprise treat along to another animal friend he thinks might need it more. And so on, until it comes full circle.

An end note states that variations of the story have turned up in places as different as Germany and Jordan, and likely exist "among and beyond these cultures."

The understated acrylics cover a lot of ground emotionally, from the animals' kindly nature to the frosty landscape. You can almost feel a chill in the air (though maybe I have the heat turned too low) in Dronzek's expressionistic blending of blues, grays and whites. A dab of yellow in rabbit's white fur tells us something about his disposition--a ray of warmth in the harsh winter.

Rating: *\*\*\

Expect the unexpected

I've stumbled upon StumbleUpon, and I'm addicted. I like the weird, the arty, the satirical and the environmentally conscious. Oh, and financial sites. They're dull as dirt, but maybe some money smarts will rub off on me.

I've compiled all the oddest kid-friendly ones in a sidebar dubbed "Expect the Unexpected." I've written about some, like the Jackson Pollock simulator. But what's a Letterfu? Ha! Click and find out.

If you want, I'll highlight the better ones from time to time. Otherwise, I'll just keep adding these lovely time sinks to my sidebar for your entertainment.

It's all in the stars (and popcorn)

The Magic Rabbit
by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Candlewick Press

Picture books have gotten so sophisticated, they now dip heavily into the same inkwell as graphic novels, with illustrations zooming off in their own narrative directions. The text often has to catch up--a clever tactic designed to keep kids scanning the art for clues.

If you're just reading this text and whizzing past the scratchy black-and-white drawings, you're missing the most dramatic parts of a simple tale of a street-corner magician and his bunny.

Ray's gray, grubby little apartment's crammed with magic props, posters and esoteric knick-knacks, where the only spots of color are bright yellow stars and popcorn. We see Ray loading his magic wand with the former, while Bunny munches on the latter. They're best friends, do everything together, and share a career entertaining park goers in this busily realized urban setting.

The written text sketches out the plot--you have to watch out for that juggler in the park, the one with the pug on his head wheeling his unicycle as Ray readies his big trick. After their big crash, that pug's chasing poor Bunny straight out of the picture frame.

Bunny eventually picks up a trail of stars and popcorn, but if you've been paying attention, you spotted the trail's beginnings much earlier, with sightings of a tiny, forlorn Ray in the background as a terrified Bunny wanders the city alone.

The New Yorker-style illustrations actually teach the rudiments of storytelling to wide-eyed kids who notice everything. Foreshadowing, suspense, cause and effect--it's all here, carefully and elegantly laid out in pen and ink.

Rating: *\*\*\

Happy shopping

Introducing the Cybils widget

Isn't this widget just lovely? It's helping us highlight--and sell--the glorious children's and young adult books nominated over the past seven weeks at the 2007 Cybils. Refresh the page and see what happens. Ta-dah! A whole new book pops up.

Within the next few days, we expect to have our widget loaded with every nominated book--however many that turns out to be. (We're still counting. Patience!) Plus it comes already linked to both Amazon and BookSense for easy shopping. Could it get any better?

Our beautiful widget comes to us from the fabulous crew at JacketFlap, whose mega-blog reader has us all addicted, and which has acted as a kind of portal for our cozy corner of the blogosphere. Our special thanks to Tracy Grand, who's done all of this gratis.

You can build your own Cybils widget right here, and yes, you can customize the colors and genres. Go and get yours--soon, all the fashionable kidlit blogs will have them.

All proceeds go toward buying a non-lame prize for Cybils' winning authors and illustrators. 

Black and blues and read all over

The Crocodile Blues
by Coleman Polhemus

Candlewick Press

I recently came across a blog post where a Mommy--a picture book author, no less--griped that she hated wordless books because she didn't know how to read them aloud. I imagined her improvising a story, all stammers and false starts, and felt sorry for her.

I don't have that problem, obviously. Can I natter about anything art-related? Why, yes I can! Sometimes I even make sense (not that my kids ever notice).

Books like this one, where sequential pictures make for a clear narrative, make it easier, of course. This nearly wordless book speaks loudly and cheerfully, with the world's simplest palette: white and gray scale for daytime, and deep blue, black and banana yellow at night.

Know what I thought of first? Matisse. Call me crazy, but using just four colors (in printing terms, gray is really lesser tones of black) in huge, flat slabs to convey mood just smacks of my favorite Expressionist and his cut-paper collages.

It's set in the Jazz Age, featuring a sleepy fellow with a cockatoo on his head who buys an egg and sticks it in his fridge, waking in deepest, darkest night to a cracking sound. We get only slivers of light--that's the yellow, see--and the silhouette of a crocodile. What follows is the usual madcap misunderstanding, with the fellow fleeing, cockatoo in tow, to a cramped little flat elsewhere.

Foldout pages go out or up, adding scale and suspense. What'll it unfold to be? Why, a tall building, with a lonely croc peering out from the only lit window. How sad. Not to fear ... several pages later, we'll be back as the man accepts a mysterious invitation. Unfold the pages upward and discover his old building converted into a blues club, the local swells outlined in the lit windows.

This study in contrasts--dark or bright, empty or busy, cramped or expansive--uses only a few monosyllables (we do get a "zoom" or a "swoosh" here and there) but a large visual vocabulary. And since kids read illustrations, they'll piece together a more coherent story than you could spin in an hour of talking. 

See if they can pick out the man from all the other shadows when he's in line for the blues club. I bet they know immediately it's the silhouette in yellow, as if reflecting the light, his face upturned in obvious wonder, though he has no facial features we ever see.

You can weave stories out of whole cloth, or whole pages, with just four colors, no words, bare outlines and plenty of laughter. Try this for starters: "Once upon a time ..."

Rating: *\*\*\*\

A Poetry Friday time waster. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Look at it this way; I'm saving you a trip to the fridge.

Hum a new Toon

My favorite part of the Cybils contest has been the behind-the-scenes chatter by some smart, bookish people with similar passions obsessions. One of the most lively discussions has been about where picture books end and graphic novels begin; a subject that's coincidentally been taken up by the wise and wonderful Oz and Ends blog.

Well, the line's going to get just a tad fuzzier with some of the best graphic novel folks jumping into the kids' market over at newly minted Toon books. Their comics will be aimed at ages four and up. We have Art Spiegelman (Maus) and his wife, Francine Mouly, the New Yorker's art director, to thank. Yay!

Though oddly I still sometimes do a double take. Haven't I been told all my adult life that comics aren't for kids anymore? 

A little Fibbing for ya

If you've been missing Deb Clark's witty writing around here, she's gone back to school to be a nutritionist. I managed to pull her out of class long enough to interview Gregory K. from GottaBook, best known as the inventor of the Fib poem that's based on the Fibonacci mathematical sequence.

Wow, that's a mouthful. She explains it better than I do over at the Poetry Foundation, where I sometimes freelance as their children's webpage editor. Only Deb gave me very little editing to do--she's a true professional, and we'll miss her here at Book Buds.

Congrats to Deb and Greg both.