Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

Topping the towers

McFig & McFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge, and Death {With a Happy Ending}
by Henrik Drescher
Candlewick Press

Y'know how that whole keeping-up-with-the-Joneses thing goes. It can start simple, with, say, a not unreasonable desire to be spared humiliation on the playground as the only kid without Pokemon cards. Before you know it, though, you're on track for a sub-prime mortgage and a Hummer.

Drescher warns kids away from worshiping the Prada-clad bitch goddess in this tale of two widower Dads whose friendship falls victim to DIY one-upmanship gone mad. McFig lives in a sweet little cottage with his daughter, Rosie, until McFly buys the lot next door with his son, Anton.

The two are best buds, and when McFly admires McFig's cottage, they build an identical one together. Then McFly gets all fancy and adds on a tower. McFig retaliates with a rooftop playroom. And on it goes, until the two houses rise like vertical villages, in a riot of colors and inky lines that spill into a jumble of rickety planks and pieces.

Meanwhile, of course, Anton and Rosie grow up and fall in love, not that their Dads notice. Is this a critique of those busy-beaver Baby Boomers by their laid-back Millennial offspring? Or a sad tale of two testosterone-crazed fathers mired in mid-life crisis?

At least they're not pitting their kids against each other, as my mother did with her best friend. That leaves scars. This only leaves two heaping piles of junk, and a funny tale for kids to shake their heads at.

Rating: *\*\

Help needed over at Cybils

Hey all: If you're a Graphics Novel fan, you might know how to help us over at Cybils. We have five missing authors and illustrators who need their prizes.

Check out the post at Cybils for more info.

What Gods Do After They Fall

Runemarks
By Joanne Harris
Random House

Reviewed by Brett Levy

In a refreshing change of scenery, author Joanne Harris avoids the rutted road of Anglo fantasy and instead builds her characters around fallen Norse Gods trying to get by 500 years after their fall from grace.

More than just along for the ride is Maddy, who was born with an odd Rune on her hand. Shunned by her parents and small village, Maddy eventually discovers the meaning and power behind her birthmark with the help of a less-than-friendly man named One Eye and Loki, the Trickster.

While Maddy might be a symbol for hope to the Ancient Gods, the mysterious Order and its powerful “Word” is something else entirely. Our heroes must discover the intentions behind who or what is running the Order, which has banned dreaming and magic.

Equally refreshing: Maddy’s adventures reveal a strong female protagonist who has a smart head on her shoulders to boot. No silly Lara Croft stereotypes here.

My only beefs: it can be challenging at times to keep the Norse figures and Runes straight, and it is somewhat disconcerting how Maddy’s importance seems to diminish during the final moments of conflict.

Regardless, Runemarks restores some originality to magical worlds by transforming old stories into new.

Travel to Europe for Poetry Friday

Someday When My Cat Can Talk
by Caroline Lazo; illustrated by Kyrsten Booker
Schwartz and Wade

reviewed by Kelly Herold

Cats have fascinated humans for thousands of years. Their enigmatic smiles, their tendency to snub their humans for any minor slight, their expressions of deep knowledge and understanding. What is he thinking? is something a cat owner often considers.

The little girl hero of Caroline Lazo's Someday When My Cat Can Talk has some ideas about her cat's inner intellectual life. Her cat, she thinks, has a tale to tell about a trip abroad: "He'll tell me how he hopped a ship/and where he stowed away./He'll cheer the wind that blew his fur/as he sailed beyond the bay."

The little girl's cat travels all about Europe--from England to France to Spain and Italy.  And Lazo's rhyming text conveys a sense of fun and humor throughout the tale. Take this stanza, for example:

He'll speak fondly of the snail he met
while camping out near Cannes.
And he'll whisper why she's hiding
from the chef at Cafe Sands.

The cat comes home to the little girl, who imagines he'll tell her stories about his European travels. But the cat, alas, is a cat in the end and the little girl and the reader is left to guess about his adventures: My cat will tell me all these things/when he talks to me someday./Until then, when the sun goes down,/he always sneaks away.

Kyrsten Brooker's paintings--in a warm palette of dark greens, reds, blues, and browns--merge an impressionist style (a la Cezanne, in this case) with touches of collage.  Their quirky, but approachable, style works beautifully with Lazo's rhyming text.

Pack your bags!  Let's follow that cat this Poetry Friday.

A ratty little sister

Rosie and Buttercup
by Chieri Uegaki; illustrated by Stephane Jorisch
Kids Can Press

Everybody who'd be perfectly happy swapping their siblings for a bag of chips, raise your hand. I have both mine in the air. Can I swap them even if they're full-grown? Please? I promise to eat the chips slowly.

Yeah, okay, I'm over the sibling rivalry thing. Mostly.

But if it weren't for that ages-old tussle over birth order, there'd be so much less fodder for adorable picture books, this one included. Rosie's a rat with pet crickets and a taste for dried dandelion puffs. She looks mighty cute in a tu-tu too, as depicted with European flair in Jorisch's watercolors.

Buttercup ruins a perfectly good solo act, and a fed-up Rosie offers her free to a good home. Fortunately, it's the babysitter down the street, who takes Buttercup off Rosie's hands long enough for her to cycle through her immediate bliss, then gradual remorse and finally, sheer panic.

If you've seen this before in other forms, it's fine to recycle the idea, as it rarely gets old. Rosie gives it a girly girl spin, though I'd have liked to see more of Buttercup's personality to better underscore their conflict.

Rating: *\*\

Planting a seed of kindness

The Apple-Pip Princess
by Jane Ray
Candlewick Press

You know how the fairytale goes. There are three sons or three daughters and the aging father or wizard or king will leave all he has to the wisest one, as determined by some task or other they must complete that will prove which one deserves to rule.

The oldest is usually ambitious, the second is vain and competitive, the third has a good heart. They each set about scheming or building or vying for the king's attention, but the third prevails through some simple act of kindness or previously unsuspected wisdom.

Think King Lear but without all those messy deaths.

Ray offers her colorful take of the old tale in a naive style, which emphasizes its folkloric origins. She uses a warm palette, perhaps drawing from a Mediterranean or North African palette (judging by the dark-skinned family, though of course that's beside the point). A handful of mixed media collages are skillfully placed for maximum comic effect when the bad siblings wreak their havoc.

Three princesses each possess something of their late mother's--two choose material things, the third picks a simple box, which she fills with such charming keepsakes as a burst of nightingale song or a splash of sunlight.  And, of course, an apple pip.

When the old king's challenge comes, Ray sets the stakes high: the land's been barren since the queen's death and devoid of birdsong or laughter. Each daughter has only a week to impress their still-grieving father. You're rooting for the youngest, Serenity, especially as the wicked older sisters only find ways to make folks more miserable.

Serenity doesn't fail in her mission, or in her ability to please readers too. She's a delight to watch in action, thoughtful and kind, and her smallest, simplest act of selflessness sprouts into something much larger than expected, as all good deeds in all good folk tales do. All her enchanted items get used in the process, but each has its payoff too. At no point does Ray belabor the message, and even the mean older sisters get a pleasant reprieve. 

Rating: *\*\*\*\

I got a new camera for Mother's Day

Un-bearably persistent

A Visitor for Bear
by Bonny Becker; illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Candlewick Press

Hooray for us introverts! I've long savored this essay about the horrors of enduring those in-your-face, smile-a-minute, non-stop extroverts. Let them go chat up amoeba down at the bottom of the food chain and leave us higher-functioning types to our deep, world-saving contemplations, says misanthrope moi.

Naturally, my sympathies go out to critters like Bear, with his growly countenance and "No Visitors Allowed" sign. All he wants is a spot of breakfast. All Mouse wants is to join him. Bear finds every way possible to turn him away. Mouse finds every way back in, until Bear finds all that friendliness, well, over-bear-ing and surrenders to the inevitable.

Mouse is all British-style cheek and cheeriness, but is overall quite polite, in his persistent way, while Bear is all gruff and grizzly temper. The duo is in the best tradition of Odd Couple-type pairings, and there's no question by the end that Bear will find the expected solace in having such a companionable visitor.

MacDonald Denton's watercolors place Bear in a cozy, suburban-style home with all the creature comforts--just the sort of place where a friendly Mouse might want to make himself welcome. And a few jots and lines conjure up a full range of bearish expressions, from delight to exasperation and back again.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Better than Benadryl

Little Rabbit and the Night Mare
By Kate Klise; illustrated by M. Sarah Klise

Reviewed by Kelly Herold

Sisters Kate and M. Sarah Klise make bedtime safe again with their newest picture book.   

School is stressing Little Rabbit out: It's Monday and the teacher tells the class they're to prepare a report on any topic they'd like. Mother Rabbit suggests a variety of topics to Little Rabbit, "But Little Rabbit didn't like those topics."

Little Rabbit begins to worry and then at night, "a mysterious creature appeared in his dream and carried him away." Mother explains that Little Rabbit had a nightmare, but Little Rabbit hears only "night mare." Now he has two worries--his report and the night mare. And the only way Little Rabbit can conquer his fears is to face them head on and to "look [the night mare] in the eye."

Kate Klise serves up Little Rabbit's universal tale so sweetly and with such compassion, that you'll cheer when the hero chases his night mare off and finishes his report. M. Sarah Klise's warm illustrations draw the reader in to a comforting world of a lucky, loved childhood.  Little Rabbit and the Night Mare is a cozy blanket for light sleepers of every age.

Rating: *\*\*\

Boys town

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
by Marla Frazee
Harcourt Children's Books

Two boys, James and Eamon. A cabin on the beach. A nature camp. Sounds perfect, right?

Well, of course. Especially when the cabin belongs to Eamon's indulgent grandparents, Bill and Pam, who have their own quirks and a fondness for penguins.

Frazee's narration and pictures don't line up exactly, to hilarious effect: when James shows up with a few items, we see a mountain of boxes. He's never been away before. And when the text says he's sad to see his mother go, we see him waving with enthusiasm. The narration flows along what perhaps Bill and Pam or other adults (that's probably us) might like to see, while the art shows the boys tussling or play-acting or watching TV until their eyes bug out.

They're not trouble-makers; it's all innocent, boyish fun, involving lots of make believe and sleepovers and heaps of ice cream. Oh, and penguins.

Frazee has a light touch for kids' humor, focusing on key details and mood in her art, where the two boys come to resemble each other even as Bill merges their names into Jamon. The text's in all caps, and looks handwritten in the same black pencil Frazee uses for her meticulous lines that create shadow or link illustrations or outline the boys skinny, constantly moving bodies.

The narration is also rich in detail, fleshing out its simple premise with the trivia of the boys' days, maintaining its earnest, sincere tone even as the boys make a hash of things.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Other books by Frazee reviewed here.