Picture Book Roundup - August edition

It's been a while since I've done a picture book roundup. Here are three - one funny, one fun, one sweet.  Enjoy!

• The funny one

See a preview at the publisher's site

Vere, Ed. 2012. Bedtime for Monsters. New York: Henry Holt.

Do you ever WONDER if somewhere, not too far away, there might be ... MONSTERS?

This book may be reminiscent of  "Going on a Bear Hunt," but you won't be going anywhere; a monster may be coming to hunt you!

And as he crosses the gloopy, schloopy swamp
GLOOP GLOOP SCHLOOP
do you think he's imagining just HOW GOOD
you'll taste all covered in ketchup?

Bright and fresh and silly!  I love it.

• The fun one

Baker, Keith. 2012. 1-2-3 Peas. New York: Beach Lane.

A follow-up to the popular LMNO Peas, I like this one even better. The digitally rendered and definitely adorable peas count their way to 100 in rhyming fashion.

Eleven to nineteen - skip, skip, skip!
Twenty peas cutting - snip, snip, snip!

While it can be read quickly for fun, it's worth savoring to find and enjoy each delightfully quirky pea (can you find the one singing in the shower?) and note the great details.  How do peas travel when in a rush?  In a Spea-dy Bus, of course.

More peas, please!

• The sweet one

Kraegel, Kenneth. 2012. King Arthur's Very Great Grandson. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

I want swordplay! A struggle! A battle to the uttermost, and if you will not have ado with me, tell me who will!

So says brave and diminutive Henry, who sets off for adventure astride his trusty donkey, Knuckles. He encounters a Dragon, a Cyclops, a Griffin, and a Leviathan. They are no match for him at swordplay, but at chess? Perhaps.  Simple pen and watercolor illustrations are a bright and cheery mix of naive and cartoon styles of painting; pairing perfectly with this story of five utterly guileless characters destined to become friends. Enchanting!

I just noticed that each of these was illustrated by the author, or authored by the illustrator.  Whichever way you slice it, great talent.

Firelight - an audiobook review

Jordan, Sophie. 2011. Firelight. Read by Thérèse Plummer. Brilliance Audio.

Following is my review of Firelight, the first in a romantic, inter-species trilogy, which I reviewed for School Library Journal. The review appears in the May 2012 journal.

Firelight (unabr.). 8 CDs. 9:42 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2011. ISBN 978-1-4558-5815-6. $49.97.

Gr 9 Up--Jacinda is a draki, a modern-day descendant of the dragons of old, surviving in the misty mountains of the Pacific Northwest in the first title (HarperCollins, 2010) in a trilogy by Sophie Jordan. She's not just any draki--Jacinda is a fire-breather, the only one born to her pride in generations. Armed with her particular talent and the innate ability of all draki to shift or manifest into human form, Jacinda is special, powerful, prized. But her power and desirability have a cost. She is too important to the survival of the pride to be trusted with her own decisions. When Jacinda is promised to the pride's alpha male, her mother flees with Jacinda and her twin sister. They attempt assimilation in a small Nevada town, hiding from the pride. But when Jacinda finds a forbidden love in Will, a human in her suburban high school, she places her entire family in danger. Thérèse Plummer is cast perfectly as Jacinda. Her youthful voice switches seamlessly between Jacinda's self-absorbed, anxious inner musings and her more confident audible declarations. She is equally adept at portraying Jacinda's determined mother, long-suffering sister, the brooding alpha male, Cassian, and the tortured voice of Will. This fiery inter-species romance, fraught with anxiety and anticipation, will leave fans scrambling for the next title in the series.

Copyright © 2012 Library Journals, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. Reprinted with permission.


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Hear an excerpt from Firelight.


Firelight news:

• Vanity announces that Mandalay has purchased the film rights for Firelight.
• Hidden, the final book in the series, will be released in September 2012.

Note:
... struggling to adapt to posting via Mac. Last night I suffered the #bluescreenofdeath on my laptop, so my posts may be scarce while I wrestle with the fallout.  Not too pleased with Kaspersky right now.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Lin, Grace. 2009. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. New York: Little Brown.

Grace Lin, as talented an artist as she is an author, illustrates her own novels; and it shows in the way that her cover art and drawings so expertly convey the mystical, magical feeling of her book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. The jacket art draws the reader in; and, thumbing through pages numbered in gold and sprinkled with Chinese symbols and colorful illustrations, the reader is entranced before the story even begins.

…and when the story does begin on the bleak and barren Fruitless Mountain home of Minli and her parents, the reader is enchanted by the storytelling of Minli’s gentle father and the endless possibilities presented in his stories and in those of the Goldfish Man, an itinerant vendor. Unlike her mother, disheartened and dispirited by poverty, Minli is rich in spirit and belief. She believes that she can change her family’s poor fortune by following the clues of the ancient stories, stories that will lead her to seek the Old Man of the Moon.

…and so,
On a blanket, she put:

a needle
a pair of chopsticks
her white rabbit rice bowl
a small piece of bamboo
a hollow gourd full of water
a small knife
a fishnet
some uncooked rice
a large pot
and the one remaining copper coin

Then she wrapped her blanket into a bag, tied it on her back, and took a last look at the shabby house. Through the window, Fruitless Mountain stood like a shadow, but Minli closed her eyes and imagined the house shimmering with gold and the mountain jade green with trees, and smiled. Then, she opened the door and left.

Along the way, she will travel through the Dragon Gate, the City of Bright Moonlight and the Village of Moon Rain. She will encounter a dragon, the buffalo boy, and the Green Tiger. And she will change her family’s fortune, and that of others as well; but not in the way she thinks.

A unique and delightful book that craftily reminds Minli’s mother (and the reader) of lessons learned many years ago by a young girl from Kansas who traveled in a tornado – faith, hope, charity, perseverance, and family.

Hear Grace Lin read an excerpt!

My Father's Dragon

Gannett, Ruth Stiles. 1986. (1948). My father's dragon. New York: Random House.

I read this book on a recommendation from a coworker who remembers it fondly from her childhood. First published in 1948, this Newbery Honor book is still in print. My Father’s Dragon is told by Elmer Elevator’s offspring, and is the story of Elmer’s daring trip to Wild Island to rescue a dragon. Encouraged to make the journey by a kindly alley cat, Elmer sets of on his adventure with a knapsack full of provisions,

“ chewing gum, two dozen pink lollipops, a package of rubber bands, black rubber boots, a compass, a toothbrush and a tube of tooth paste, six magnifying glasses, a very sharp jackknife, a comb and a hairbrush, seven hair ribbons of different colors, an empty grain bag with a label saying “Cranberry,” some clean clothes, and enough food to last” while on the ship - “twenty-five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and six apples.”

Needless to say, each of these items becomes necessary to his quest. Using resourcefulness and ingenuity, Elmer outwits the inhabitants of Wild Island. A rousing and timeless adventure story!