The Astonishing Maybe - an audiobook review

The Astonishing Maybe
By Shaunta Grimes
Read by Ramon De Ocampo
Macmillan Audio

I recently reviewed The Astonishing Maybe for AudioFile Magazine. I can't post my review here; however, I'd like to say just a few things about it.

Gideon Quinton is the book's main character, a rising middle-schooler whose family has recently relocated to Nevada. He is the story's main character, but his new neighbor, Roona, drives the plot. She and her mother are most everything that the Quintons are not. Against all odds, she and Gideon become inseparable.

I don't want to say that this is a book about depression and incarceration and a troubled family because I don't want that to put you off from reading it. What I want to say is that if you have a child or were a child, or are a child, or know a child that comes from a perfectly nice, safe, and boring family—be thankful, be grateful, be kind—and read this book because you need to know that there are other families that are just as loving as yours, but they're struggling and they need you look on their struggles with compassion rather than judgement.

If you have a child,  or are a child, or were a child, or know a child that comes from a family struggling with depression or an incarcerated parent—be caring, be resilient, be persistent—and read this book because you need to know that there are other families out there that are just like yours. You are not alone.

With a sprinkling of magical realism and hopefulness, Shaunta Grimes does a stellar job of tackling difficult topics for young readers. I hope you read or listen to her book.


My review of The Astonishing Mabye for AudioFile Magazine is linked here. [https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/155703/the-astonishing-maybe-by-shaunta-grimes-read-by-ramon-de-ocampo/]

Read an excerpt from The Astonishing Maybe

Sweep: The Story of Girl and Her Monster - an audiobook review

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
By Jonathan Auxier
Read by Sarah Coomes
Brilliance Audio, 2018
8 hours, 14 minutes

Enter the world of Nan Sparrow, an indentured child laborer in the soot-filled chimneys of Victorian London.

Coomes's voice and Auxier's prose combine to create an immersive experience. 

 Read my complete review of Sweep for AudioFile Magazine and hear a sample of the book here.

Sweep swept the journals, receiving starred reviews in Horn Book, SLJ, PW, Booklist, Kirkus, and School Library Connection. 

In addition to AudioFile Magazine's Earphones Award for "truly exceptional titles that excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text," Sweep recently won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. award honors "outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience."


This Publishers Weekly article has a #booktalk for Sweep by the author, Jonathan Auxier.

My copy of Sweep was provided by AudioFile Magazine.

The Snow Lion a review

The Snow Lion
By Jim Helmore and Richard Jones
Peachtree, 2018

A short and sweet review on what may be a snowy day for many of you. Enjoy.

A little girl uses her imagination to find comfort in her new house. From exercising her imagination, she finds the quiet power so useful in the real world as well. This is the book for every child who notices the faces and creatures visible in walls, ceilings, clouds, or rocks—if only one looks for them. From the moment I saw the Snow Lion peeping out on the title page, I knew that I would like this gently pleasing book.

My copy was provided by the publisher.

Good Rosie! a review

Good Rosie!
by Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Harry Bliss
Candlewick, 2018

The genre of comic book styled stories in the children's picture book section has been the almost exclusive milieu of Toon Books, one of my favorite imprints.  While Good Rosie! is not completely comic book style, it certainly brings something new to the class.  Other than the obvious star power—Kate DiCamillo is a Newbery medalist and former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and Harry Bliss is a New Yorker cover artist and picture book artist for best-selling books such as Diary of a Worm, Good Rosie! is a fresh mashup of comic book, graphic novel, easy reader, and chapter book.

In sections called "parts," (I love Part Six's title best, "Part Six: Somebody Does Something"), DiCamillo tells a story of a lonely dog named Rosie, and her older, balding owner, who both find companionship at the dog park.  She writes, as always with heart.  After we learn that Rosie feels lonely when looking at her reflection in her food bowl, we are reminded of her feelings later in the story,

That cloud does look like a dog! Rosie wags her tail. "Hello,  hello!" she shouts.
[the image contains a lettered "Woof, woof!]

The dog cloud does not answer her. Rosie feels lonely in an empty-silver-bowl sort of way.

Rosie's owner is kind and gentle, walking with a cane and trench coat, vulnerable against the elements of weather and terrain.  Rosie reflects his gentle personality.  They are as sweet a pair as Mr. Putter and Tabby, both in word and picture.  The man's words appear in classic comic book word bubbles,

 Isn't this great? Look at all these dogs. 

Panels are framed in black against white gutters.  The text is a simple black typeface, allowing the images to enhance the story. Rosie is a sweet brown and white terrier.  Her new found friends are a Saint Bernard named Maurice and what looks to be a long-haired chihuahua named Fifi.  They are full of expression and frolic against a backdrop of lush green grass, and blue cloud-filled skies.

A charming book for reading alone or reading aloud.


Good Rosie! extras:

• A peek inside Good Rosie!
• An interview with Kate DiCamillo and Harry Bliss

My copy of Good Rosie! was provided by the publisher.

Kalinka and Grakkle - three questions with Julie Paschkis

Kalinka and Grakkle
by Julie Paschkis
Peachtree, 2018


Welcome to the final stop on the Kalinka and Grakkle blog tour.  I don't do many blog tours, but I love the artistic style of Julie Paschkis and so am pleased to participate. Her combination of ink and watercolors combines humor with a delicate and detailed art form reminiscent of Ukrainian psysanky. 

Julie Paschkis was kind enough to answer three questions for me. 

Q: In the author bio for Kalinka and Grakkle, it notes that, "One day, Kalinka flew into Julie's studio when she was rewriting the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."  Always helpful, Kalinka turned it into a story about herself (and Grakkle)."  Was that a metaphorical bird that flew into your studio, or an actual one? If it was a real one, I'd love to know what species. (I love birds!)

 A: The bird that flew into my studio was a metaphorical bird. I called her Goldibird at first; the seed of her character was Goldilocks. I always wondered why Goldilocks felt entitled to make herself so at home in someone else’s house. Goldibird was bossy - she just took over everything. I realized that she felt entitled because she thought she was helpful. She was self deluded as well as bossy, but she always meant well. Once the bears were kicked out of the story I renamed her Kalinka. I have had a real bird fly into my house (years ago). I caught it with a big soft towel and then released it back outside. Maybe it left the seed of an idea.

 Q:Just curious, although he's not a bird, is Grakkle's name a reference to the (messy) common grackle?

A: When I imagined what the beast would sound like,  “Grakkk” came to mind. It’s an outraged sound, and a funny sound - not a scary sound. So I called him Grakkle. The name of the bird- grackle -comes from the Latin graculus and means crow or jackdaw.  I guess that the word also originally came from the sound.

 
Q:  Like many librarians, I review picture books even though I am not an artist.  I try to learn as much as possible about picture book art via informational books, webinars, reviewer chats, and title page information.  As an author/artist, please tell me (and other reviewers) what aspects of a book do you wish we'd give more attention; or what do reviewers often miss?  (to which the polite and diplomatic Julie Paschkis replied ...)

A.  I don’t feel that there is any specific or general thing that reviewers miss. People brings their own stories to the experience of reading a book. I put in as much as I can of my story, but the experience of reading and looking at it will be different for each person. That’s a good thing!

Read and excerpt from Kalinka and Grakkle here.  Kids will surely enjoy this odd-couple friendship story.


Previous stops on the Kalinka and Grakkle blog tour:

• Monday, 4/2: Librarian in Cute Shoes
  Tuesday, 4/3: Librarian’s Quest
  Thursday, 4/5: The Late Bloomer’s Book Blog
   

Tilly & Tank - a review

Tilly & Tank
by Jay Fleck
Tundra Books, 2017

The basis for Tilly & Tank is a clever idea. From an artistic point of view, a tank and an elephant are similar. The elephant has a trunk, tail, and head. The tank has a barrel, flag, and turret. They recognize themselves to be similar, but are unsure of their differences. Tilly is a peaceful shade of blue. Tank is army green. Tilly assumes Tank to be a friend. Tank assumes Tilly to be the enemy. In the end, however, it's a story of friendship, and incorrect assumptions,

"Oh no! thought Tank. He had been wrong. That wasn't an enemy. That was a friend!"

While the characters are endearing—digitally enhanced paintings in a muted, but colorful palette, the general warlike attitude of Tank may take some explaining. His viewpoint is through the crosshairs of a target sight, and his early responses to Tilly's attempts at friendship are to fire at her.

Tilly and Tank will appeal to kids attracted to weaponry (or elephants!) and educators or parents seeking to reinforce the concept of peace as the alternative to war.


Other Tilly & Tank reviews:

• Publishers Weekly
• Kirkus 

 My copy of Tilly & Tank was supplied by LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Mouse - a review

Mouse
by Zebo Ludvicek
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017

A mouse with a cherry meets the letter M.

May I have a bite?
"A bite? Absolutely not!" replied Mouse.
May I PLEASE have a bite?
"All right. One bite." agreed Mouse.

Sadly for the mouse, the M's bite is rather large, and the mouse is left without a cherry.  The kindly M feels remorse and offers himself as a snack for the hungry mouse.  Mouse nibbles so much, that M, is soon an N.  And when Mouse sleepily climbs upon the N for naptime,  N tips over and becomes a Z.   And so it goes.  M transforms into several letters as the two become friends over their shared experiences and Mouse attempts to return his new friend to his original state.

Author and illustrator, Zebo Ludvicek, makes impressive use of white space and a minimal color palette to highlight the very expressive Mouse and his transformational letter friend.  Mouse's dialogue is in red italicized typeface; M is actually a part of his dialogue, complete with eyes, eyebrows, and mouth.  Some illustrations are double-spreads, but it is the large, single-page images of the mutually adoring friends that will win your heart.



Although the specified age range for this book is 3–5, I read this book to a group of first graders before their lunch.  (Older children often get so much more out of picture books.) After lunch, several of the kids clamored for me to read it again!


Look for Mouse on a shelf near you in a few days. 

My Advance Reader Copy was provided by the publisher at my request.

Note: See if you can read this book without thinking of The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. Both mice are so winsome, yet fiercely protective of their fruit! 😊

They Didn't Teach This in Worm School - a review

They Didn't Teach This in Worm School! : One Worm's Tale of Survival
by Simone Lia

The publisher's description accurately captures the spirit of this book.

A hungry chicken (who thinks he’s a flamingo) and a quick-thinking worm set off on a madcap adventure — and forge an unlikely friendship.

Published first in the UK, it has a definite feel of British humor, which I enjoy.  I often think that we, as Americans, take ourselves too seriously.  Canadians and Brits definitely have a quirkier funny bone, and it is on full display in They Didn't Teach This in Worm School.  When Marcus and Laurence set off on their adventure, the goal is to find Africa so that Laurence can unite with his "fellow" flamingos.  Along the way, they become convinced that they've found France because of the many "Eiffel Towers" that they encounter.

Source: OpenClipart

Marcus and Laurence take this all in stride, even the fact that no one in "France" seems to speak French.  Things go poorly and, aided by some local worms, they narrowly escape with their lives, prompting Marcus to remark,

     I was really glad to have met these French worms.
     They were really kind and helpful.
     I liked them, even though they were weirdos.

Their adventures continue in a similar zany vein until eventually, all is sorted out, and the two have become fast friends despite their disparate interests.

My Advance Reader Copy was of one color, but the finished book with have two-color illustrations like this sample page:

Every page is illustrated to some degree, and there are occasional double-spread images throughout. Simone Lia's illustrations bear some resemblance to those of Sara Varon, but have more straight-up humor and none of Varos' pathos.

They Didn't Teach This in Worm School is a perfect choice for readers with a quirky sense of humor who won't mind a rather heavy-handed dose of ethics on the friendship front.

Look for this on a shelf near you in February, or pre-order it now.


My copy of They Didn't Teach This in Worm School was provided by LibraryThing's Early Reviewers.

Mouse and Hippo - a review

Mouse and Hippo
By Mike Twohy
Paula Wiseman Books, 2017


How does a mouse view a hippo? How does a hippo view a mouse? And more importantly, can they be friends? Mouse and Hippo is an entertaining commentary on artistic perspective, but at heart, it's a comical story of friendship.

On a shelf near you beginning in February, 2017.

My complete review of Mouse and Hippo is in the January, 2017 edition of School Library Journal.

Advance Reader Copy provided by School Library Journal.