Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

Mmmm ... berry tasty

Blackberry Banquet
by Terry Pierce; illustrated by Lisa Downey
Sylvan Dell

This snappy rhyming text has all the woodland animals zeroing in on a blackberry bush with its yummy, just-ripe treats. That is, until growly Bear turns up, sending them all scurrying in a farcical cascade of mishaps. But who will get the last berry--and the last laugh?

Pierce keeps the text light, with lots of appropriate onomatopoeia  for all  the animal noises when they're happily munching. Downey's lifelike art captures just a hint of whimsy in their gleeful gobbling. And, of course, there's more info on blackberries and their place in the "food web" and a yummy recipe for blackberry smoothie.

This is one of Sylvan Dell's better outings this season, with a more imaginative and sprightly treatment of a nature topic, but one that doesn't stray far from its factual basis.

Rating: *\*\*\

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: *\*\

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.

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: *\*\*\*\

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: *\*\*\*\

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.

Listen Up! Don't Miss This One

Listen, Listen
by Phillis Gershator; illustrated by Alison Jay
Barefoot Books

reviewed by Kelly Herold

Celebrate the seasons in style with Listen, Listen. This charmer of a picture book aimed at the two- to six-year-old reader makes you appreciate every quarter of the year, even depressing ol' winter. Listen, Listen has that one-two punch--a combination of snappy, lively text and intricate, nostalgic illustrations that will please the adult and the child reader.

Gershator's rhyming text is, simply, perfect. It scans and it sings as you travel through the year.  Here, for example, are the first four lines of the text:

Listen, listen...what's that sound? Insects singing all around!
Chirp, chrip, churr, churr, buzz, buzz, whirr, whirr.
Leaves rustle, hammocks sway. Splish, splash, children play.
Clouds drift, dogs run. Sizzle, sizzle, summer fun.

Go ahead.  Read it aloud.  I know you want to.

Alison Jay's detailed illustrations have an old-fashioned feel to them. They are presented as cracked oil paintings and feature old-fashioned school houses and animals like those you'd see in the work of Margaret Wise Brown.  Jay's color scheme is rich and warm--with dark reds and light blues and greens of every shade. The pages are so inviting, you want to fall into them and live in this peaceful world of seasonal activity and sound.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Nuts and bolts

Baby Brains and Robomom: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World
by Simon James
Candlewick

I was going to save this one for Mother's Day, but, heck, shouldn't we get a tribute every day?

This is no treacly tribute to a gauzy, pastel-hued, idealized Mom. Mrs. Brains eats fish and nuts while pregnant and gives birth to a mercury-addled, cholesterol-padded freak. No, wait, that's wrong! Bad Anne.

She gives birth to a super-smart inventor type, in a wry nod to all of us overeager parents of would-be wunderkinds.  

But Baby Brains' also blessed with extraordinary empathy in how he notices the fatigue he causes his folks for looking after their budding brainiac. Wish my kids had some of that DNA.

A night of serious tinkering and voila! Introducing Robomom, who looks like an oversized can opener on caterpillar tracks and who does all the things parents do, but better, and without complaint. That's okay, it's not exactly up to the rigors of Mommyhood, which is what gives this book it's unexpected hilarity.

This is actually the third Baby Brains book, but Simon smartly doesn't assume we've met the characters before. His cartoon illustrations keep the tone light to match the story, which rips along to its witty and ironic ending. Parents will like how they're portrayed (especially Mom) and four-to-eight year olds should find its silliness perfectly pitched.

Rating: *\*\*\

Put another nickel in

Jukebox
by David Merveille
Kane/Miller

Sometimes a book crosses over so fancifully into adult territory, I'm tempted to keep it for myself, lest the kids spill stuff or gum it up. Such it is with Learning to Fly or The Gift of Nothing. I'm adding Jukebox to that special list, though of course there's nothing wrong with sharing it with the sticky-fingered brats. Just give it back! In one piece! Did you hear me?!

There are precious few words in this book about a jukebox and how it transports its listeners into their private fantasies. On each left-hand page, a customer plugs in a coin, and on the facing page, becomes a hip-hop deejay or an opera soloist or a country strummer, to name but a few. The style of music is labeled with some clever typography used as a graphic element.

In fact, the whole book reminds me very much of those oversized bistro posters you can find at Z Gallery or swanky art poster shops, but shrunk down to a smaller format book. It's understated but polished, sparing in detail but big on storytelling elements.

Its humor derives from chuckling over people's imagined selves, while celebrating our inner John Travolta or Garth Brooks. I would've liked to see a few more women characters, but this is a small quibble.

Rating: *\*\*\

POETRY FRIDAY Jack Prelutsky's 'My Dog May Be A Genius'

My Dog May be a Genius
by Jack Prelutsky
Greenwillow

Prelutsky's tenure as the nation's first Children's Poet Laureate ends in May, when the Poetry Foundation announces his successor (no, I have no idea who's in the running). Publishers have been eager to cash in on the foundation's imprimatur and they'd slap a gold sticker on anything with his name on it, which isn't entirely Prelutsky's fault, even if I've chided him on this blog for it.

Fortunately, his career blazes on, and he has another collection of poems out before he goes back to merely being the performer with a thousand funny voices and the creator of rampantly silly stanzas.

As usual, his best verses are those with a punchline or some sort of payoff:

I crossed a lion with a mouse.
Their progeny patrol my house,
and often roar, demanding cheese--
I give them all the cheese they please.

And he's at his worst when trying to sneak a message in, as he does with a plodding paean to schoolwork in "Homework, Sweet Homework":

My friends think I'm loony
to take such delight
in homework, sweet homework--
they're probably right.

He also adds several concrete poems, with an understated assist from illustrator James Stevenson, as in the vertiginous "I am Climbing up a Ladder" that reads from bottom to top.

I'll leave you with one of my favorites, "A Turtle," partly because it's a prime example of how he uses adult words for comic effect, but mostly for its Zen-like resolution:

A turtle never feels the need
to ambulate at breakneck speed.
Of course, unsuited for the deed,
it certainly would not succeed.

Because a turtle takes its time,
its life is quietly sublime.
It's happy in its habitat ...
there's something to be said for that.

Rating: *\*\*\