Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

The Mother of all rhymes

Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses

Of the many reasons to still love ol’ Mother Goose, a kidlit historian just had to pick “irresistible rhymes with nothing to sell” in his forward to this book. How ironic. Has he seen Engelbreit’s website? She’s a one-woman kitsch factory, churning out everything from calendars to candles, teapots to t-shirts in a style that can only be described as faux-vintage cutesy. No doubt this collection will provide fodder for a score of licensed goodies to fill stockings and Engelbreit’s coffers for years to come.

That said, this is one heckuva collection.

Somewhere in either an end note or the massive press packet I recall reading that Engelbreit created each illustration from a single sketch in colored pencil and markers. She chose the verses herself too, going for those she could visualize the best such as Miss Muffet and that amorous spider, or the not-so-wise men of Gotham, setting out colorfully in their doomed bowl.

The drawings, with their multi-ethnic children and cheerfully anthropomorphic animals, never fail to charm and even clarify some of the more obscure verses. And there’s so much detail that kids will discover something new with each reading.

Me, I admire the way she renders textiles and patterns, from the layers of clothes to the grains on wooden boards, even wallpaper and, yes, teapot designs. Yikes. Her eye misses nothing, and doesn’t surrender a single chance to add a distinctive swirl or bold stripe, however tiny.

And, well, okay, her Miss Muffett illustration is now my computer wallpaper. But don’t expect me to buy the teapot.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Hairy plotter

Hattie, Get a Haircut!

by Jenna Glatzer; illustrated by Monica Kendall

(Editor's note: A big Welcome Back to reviewer Dawn Mena today after a too-busy-to-breathe absence. We hope to have a few more reviews from her soon.)

My 5-year-old son has a "favorites" stack of books on his nightstand. It's pretty hard to earn that status from him, but from the first reading, this book went right to the top.

The fun, bright illustrations first caught my eye. The little girl with too-long hair and tomboy clothes on the cover hinted of fun and mischief and I couldn't resist. And boy, was I rewarded.

We meet Hattie at bedtime when her mother tells her it's time for her first haircut. Hattie is not excited about this prospect, to put it mildly. Using clever rhyme, Glatzer takes us on an adventure with Hattie as she dreams of her hair growing at an alarming rate.

The illustrations complement the silly gaiety of the text and kept my son absorbed with minute details such as "ladybug families" and a bird nesting in her hair.

This is a book I've read to my son and daughter now every night for the past several weeks. And I'm not tired of it one bit. In fact, if they didn't ask for it, I'd probably pull it out and read it again myself.

Note: reviewed by Dawn Mena.

This book is slated for release Nov. 15.

Rating: *\*\*\

No place like home

The Great Blue House

By Kate Banks; illustrated by Georg Hallensleben

Ah, to have a summer house, someplace where the crickets sing and fireflies blink and children’s voices rise “like dandelion puff.” But when summer ends, the house goes on. A mouse and a cat and even a bird make the house their own.

Banks and Hallensleben invite us to eavesdrop on the year-round residents. We listen to the nibbling and purring, the frost crackling on windowpanes, a faucet dripping. By engaging all five senses, children can learn that quietude doesn’t mean silence, and nature unhurriedly takes its course in ways that are unseen and unheard except by those attuned to it.

Rather than mute the art to go with the stately prose, Hallensleben chooses shocking blues and eye-popping reds to jolt us into awareness. He borrows Monet’s fascination with light and Van Gogh’s electric palette for a house that teems with life.

When the children return to the house, new life has sprung – kittens, fledglings, a new baby – and the cycle is complete.

Rating: *\*\*\

Two Grimm tales, updated

Hansel and Gretel / Hansel y Gretel

Adaptation by Elisabet Areya; illustrated by Cristina Losantos

The Musicians of Bremen / los Musicos de Bremer

Adaptation by Roser Ros; illustrated by Pep Montserrat

These two are the latest offerings in a bilingual series that retells children’s classics, both published in Catalan before making it to our shores.

Hansel and Gretel is of course the unforgettable tale of two abandoned children who make their way to a witch’s gingerbread cottage. The story seemed choppy, as if some of the story’s flow either didn’t translate well or was truncated to make room for the Spanish version.

The Musicians of Bremen fared better, and resounds with the barking, braying and caterwauling of various animals tossed out by their fickle owners after a lifetime of service. Talk about age discrimination – I know people who’d sympathize. The cast-off critters decide to head for Bremen to join its famous band, but settle into a cozy cabin after their cacophony scares off some bandits.

As for the art, the Bremen book’s figures are blocky and drawn in sweeping strokes of warm, earthy pastels, as if pulled from South American native art.

H&G are gaunt figures, lost in a dark, looming landscape straight out of a graphic novel in a style reminiscent of 1930s comics with an added dash of expressionist gloom, like Popeye or Mutt and Jeff crossed with the Cabinet of Doctor Caligieri.

Rating: *\*\

Heartfelt hopes

Wishes For You

by Tobi Tobias; illustrated by Henri Sorensen

I’d love to review this book but I have to stop crying first …

*sniff*

There, I’m back. Maybe becoming a mother for the second time has made me overly sentimental and squishy, or maybe it’s a raging head cold that has me sniffling and snuffling over this book.

Although not expressly written from a grandparents’ perspective, the poetic wishes have a knowing quality to them. It’s as if Tobias gathered the best insights from years of patient child-raising and gently breathed them onto these pages, each a bubble of wisdom that shimmers briefly before evanescing into the next:

I hope you will have moments when you’re so happy, you’ll feel the sun is shining from inside you.

I hope you will want to make your body strong and quick and beautiful – and enjoy the way that feels.

Sorensen’s oil paintings add an elegant serenity. His wide brush strokes are awash in sunlit blues and greens and his children laugh, play and cuddle in compositions that are uncluttered, peaceful and bright.

A perfect book for teaching feelings or just for snuggle time.

Note: The cover shown here isn't the one on my review copy, which shows a sleeping infant against a dark background.

Rating: *\*\*\

What happens to all those review copies

I don't normally call attention to myself on this blog, since I have Inland Empress for that. But I thought a few people, particularly book publicists, might want to know what happens to all those review copies.

Two weeks ago, I got a frantic call from a friend of mine. She knew I was looking to donate the books to a nearby elementary school, where teachers are perenially short of new materials. Would I be willing to donate a few books to Pitzer College, she asked? Could they come by tomorrow? Tomorrow early?

I thought she meant that Pitzer must have some sort of early education program and said sure, why not.  I wondered where all that tuition money must go that they had to beg for free kids' books, but didn't question it. That is, until a professor emeritus called and asked for directions.

A wandering Jew tells his story

The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century

by Uri Shulevitz

We never see the face of the narrator as he makes his way through exotic, dangerous lands. He’s viewed only in profile or from behind, an enigmatic figure who weeps into his cloak before the gates of Jerusalem or ruminates among the ruins of Rome.

Nothing is known about Rabbi Benjamin, a Jew who left his native Tudela, Spain in 1159 for a 14-year journey, except for what he wrote in his travelogue, one of the only surviving accounts of a time that straddled the ancient and modern eras.

He became the first European to bring back rumors of a country far to the east called China, and painted a complex portrait of Medieval Jewry as it perched precariously between Christians and Muslims during the time of the Crusades. He described pageants and pirates, and bore witness to the mystical and the miraculous.

Now try translating this real-life epic into a story readable to young children, and illustrating it in a way that does it justice. How would you do it? Shulevitz converts the tale into a first-person narrative and fills in gaps such as what documents Benjamin carried or the hair-raising hazards he faced on the road or at sea.

However rich the narrative, the illustrations lift this to the sublime. Shulevitz borrows different techniques and styles to fit the story: Constantinople shines as if lifted from a Byzantine mosaic; an impressionistic rendering of the Sahara shimmers with heat.

Shulevitz received a Guggenheim fellowship to partly retrace Benjamin’s path. You can see how it must’ve paid off in such knowing, precise details as the spires above Baghdad or the narrow alleys of Tudela. This isn’t merely a guide to architecture of the Middle Ages, but a tour through the imagined heart of a determined pilgrim.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

The right direction

Up!

by Kristine O’Connell George; illustrated by Hiroe Nakata

A cheerful little girl leads her smiling Dad on an exploration of all things up, from bouncing on the bed to climbing a tree. It’s a warm portrait of a father-daughter relationship on a sunny Sunday, when things are looking, well, up.

The simple rhymes and simpler pictures – in candy-bright watercolors – make for a sweet read at snuggle time. The girl's glee is infectious.

Rating: *\*\

Monstrous home improvement

He Came With the Couch

by David Slonim

This books is silly, and that’s a compliment. When Sophie’s family buys a sofa at a rummage sale, a silent, unmoveable creature comes stuck to it. The book’s dedication to Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, probably accounts for the figure’s resemblance to the famous puppets, with his blue skin, yellow bulb nose and purple hair.

He won’t budge, and the book’s at its quirkiest with the couch getting dragged on family outings, until one day he springs to life in a quick and instinctive act of love. The story’s playful innocence is also reminiscent of Henson, but rendered with the tenderness and simplicity of a bedtime story.

Rating: *\*\

Comedy of errors

Mother, Mother, I Want Another

by Maria Polushkin Robbins; illustrated by Jon Goodell

No sooner does Mrs. Mouse tuck her little boy into bed and give him a quick kiss than he announces, “I want another, Mother.” Thinking he said another mother, she rounds up all her animal mommy friends in a hilarious mix-up.

Kids get it: it’s pitched perfectly to their love of the absurd, not to mention cutesy animals. Plus, what Mommy doesn’t appreciate the sight of so many girlfriends coming to her aid?

First released in 1976 by Crown, it’s been reissued with new illustrations that bring to life the text's silliest moments. And geez, do those animal mommies look like archtypes, from the horsy-looking mule mama to the jumpy frog type.

Rating: *\*\