Another picture book roundup - read on!

Once again my bags of books are overflowing! Here are a few new titles worthy of mention:

Jacobs, Paul DuBois and Jennifer Swender. 2010. Fire Drill. Ill. by JuyVoun Lee. New York: Holt.

A picture perfect, non-threatening, multicultural, rhyming book about fire drills.  What more can one ask for? A must-have for every Kindergarten teacher.

Elya, Susan Middleton. No More, Por Favor. 2010. Ill. by David Walker. New York: Putnam.

Know a picky eater? Well, he's in good company.  There are plenty of picky eaters in the rain forest too! 

Deep in the rain forest - selva, so green,

lives Papagayo, an eating machine.
"Here, Bebe Parrot, papaya is yummy."
"No!" says the baby. "No more in my tummy!
Papaya for breakfast, for lunch and la cena.
Too many times in a row no es buena!"

With cute, double-spread acrylic on paper illustrations, a glossary and pronunciation guide for the many Spanish words, and a very funny story about eight picky rain forest inhabitants, No More, Por Favor is great fun! ¡qué divertido!

Roberton, Fiona. 2010. Wanted: The Perfect Pet. New York: Putnam. (first published in Australia)

Simple ink sketches, highlighted with minimal coloration tell the simple story of Henry, who, "more than anything else in the whole wide world," wanted a dog.  It is also the story of a duck, to whom

Nobody ever wrote. Nobody ever called. Nobody ever e-mailed,

that is, until he created "The Perfect Disguise."  Funny, touching, and hilariously illustrated!
                                                                         

London, Jonathan. 2010. I'm a Truck Driver. Ill. by David Parkins. New York: Holt.

This rhyming picture book has large sturdy pages featuring trucks of all kinds - cement mixers, fire engines, power shovels, and more.  Each truck has a 2-page spread with a short rhyme.  Some of the rhymes are a little forced,

I'm a big crane operator.  I lift steel beams high and build tall buildings that scrape the blue sky,

and in others, London rhymes words with themselves, but overall this is a winning book for two reasons - kids love trucks and these personified trucks are cute! 

Pinkwater, Daniel. 2010. Beautiful Yetta: The Yiddish Chicken. New York: Feiwel and Friends.

A trilingual book - English, Spanish, and Yiddish?  Yes, Yiddish - the language of Yetta, a runaway from Mr. Flegleman's organic chicken ranch!  Daniel Pinkwater has a unique sense of humor and he's obviously fond of chickens (The Hoboken Chicken Emergency comes to mind). Both of these are evident in Beautiful Yetta, in which the heroine escapes the chicken truck and finds herself in Brooklyn, where she promptly saves a small green bird, a parrot belonging to one of the local colonies,

Parrots?  ?פּאָפּוגײַ  popuGEYehn?

The chicken saved me. And look! Isn't she beautiful?
¡La gallina me salvó! ¡Y miren! ¿No es ella hermosa?
la gahYEEna me sahlVO! ee MEErehn, no ess EHya ehrMOsa?

And so begins the odd friendship and pairing of chicken and parrot, Yiddish and Spanish, on the streets of Brooklyn. The in-text pronunciation guides make it possible to share this story with only a passing ability in Spanish or Yiddish. A short explanation and chart of the Hebrew/Yiddish alphabet follows the story. A Spanish alphabet chart would have been welcome as well.

The Viper's Nest

Lerangis, Peter. 2010. The Viper's Nest. Read by David Pittu. Scholastic Audiobooks.

About 5 hrs on CD or Playaway.

Still plugging along through the 39 Clues series, trying to catch up.  The Viper's Nest (Book 7) was not available from my library for digital download, so I checked out the Playaway version.

(If you’re not familiar with Playaway audio books, they are single-purpose, multi-use, mp3 players. It’s a very simple mp3 player loaded with one book and lacking recording capabilities. It has basic command buttons – on/off, play/pause, fast forward, reverse, volume. It begins each time at the farthest listening point. That’s it! Easy as pie. Larger than a typical mp3, but smaller than an iTouch, they’re durable, portable and convenient. Your public library probably offers them.)

As usual with the other audiobooks in the series, David Pittu does a fine job in narrating the story.  This time, he must add South African accents to his ever-expanding repertoire as Dan, Amy and Nellie continue their hunt for the clues - this time following the trail of Zulu warrior, Shaka Zulu and his curious connection to British PM, Winston Churchill.  In this installment, Dan and Amy discover a clue and a shocking revelation about their family. The books, in general, are fairly formulaic in nature and read seamlessly regardless of the author, however, Peter Lerangis' sense of humor is evident in The Viper's Nest.  Nellie has some great one-liners.

Once again, the audio version offers bonus materials - this time in the form of a recorded deposition from Mrs. Thembeka regarding the theft of the Churchill letter.

On to Book 8 and I've got to hurry. The tenth and final book, Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix will be released on August 31, 2010.  There will be a live webcast with all of the authors.

White Crane

Fussell, Sandy. 2010. White Crane. Ill. by Rhian Nest James. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
(Advance Reader Copy)

Set in an undetermined year, after the heyday of the samurai warrior class and prior to its demise in the 19th century, White Crane is an improbable story of a ryu, or Japanese school of martial arts, inhabited by a  revered warrior teacher and his hand-picked students, each disabled in some way.  Niya Moto is White Crane, the story's one-legged narrator, so named for his spirit totem. The white crane is a kindred creature, as comfortable as Niya in standing upon only one leg. Kyoko, the White Monkey is an albino with extra fingers and toes. One-armed Mikko is the Striped Gecko, Taji is blind and guided by the Golden Bat.  Yoshi, pacifist, yet strong and sturdy, still searches for his spirit.  All are under the guidance of the wily Sensei, who is so old that the mere mention of his name usually elicits the response, "I thought he was dead." All are preparing for the yearly ceremonial competition between the Boar, Dragon, Eagle, Rabbit, Snake, Wolf and Cockroach ryus.  Niya's ryu is, of course, The Cockroach; but as Sensei reminds his pupils,

Cockroaches are small, but they are very hard to kill.

Though the characters may be improbable, White Crane is believable.  With writing reflective of the Japanese philosophical code known as Bushido, the reader is drawn into a world in which the most important concerns are Chi! Jin! Yu!, wisdom, benevolence, courage.  White Crane is not without humor, however.  When the boys travel to the village to see the master swordsmith, they bow low to honor his age, reputation and craftsmanship,

He chants as he works, I want to listen, but Onaku's singing is even worse than mine.  Covering my ears would be impolite, so I grit my teeth and hum inside my head. Om. Om. Om. "An honorable sword sings loudly with truth and purity, " Sensei teaches.  No wonder Master Onaku's swords are so prized.  They are born singing at the top of their lungs to drown out their maker's awful voice.

The chapters move swiftly, each containing an illustrated title page and a additional full page, action-packed sketch by Rhian Nest James. With five students, many competing schools, and a fascinating period in history, debut author Sandy Fussell has all the ingredients for a great new series.  Recommended for 4th grade and up.

Read a sample chapter here.
Due on shelves August 2010

Samurai warriors, circa 1880.
(Photograph from Wikimedia Commons)

Orangutans are Ticklish

Welcome to Shelf-employed! I'm the host of this week's Nonfiction Monday.

Grubman, Steve and Jill Davis. 2010. Orangutans are Ticklish: Fun facts from an animal photographer. New York: Schwartz & Wade.(Random House)


Not your typical animal book, Orangutans are Ticklish combines stunning animal photos with animal facts, and a peek behind the scenes at an animal photo shoot.  These guys and gals are no super models!  Take the hipppo for instance,

This girl ate a hundred pounds of veggies during the thirty-minute photo shoot.

No wonder her mouth is wide open, but

a hippo's yawn doesn't mean she's tired. It means she wants to fight.

Thirteen animals including the lion, kangaroo and aardvark are featured.  Each creature has a two-page spread with large text, a beautiful photo, and a text bubble with interesting insight from photographer Steve Grubman. A "More Fun Facts" section contains three bulleted facts on each animal.  Kids will love this book for the photography.  Though it's too long for storytime reading, the photos and one or two facts could easily be shared with a storytime group.
Nonfiction fun!


Bloggers, please add your links below. Readers, please be sure to visit all of today's Nonfiction Monday contributors.  Thanks!







A few sites don't appear to be linked.  They are:
Janet's post on Alphabet City at All About the Books with Janet Squires
The Book Nosher's baseball themed post
Apples with Many Seeds offers In the Neighborhood, Over the Fence, Right Next Door
Bookends contributed Lincoln Tells a Joke by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer.
I'll continue to add any other posts that didn't get linked.

Three Rivers Rising

Richards, Jame. 2010. Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood. New York: Knopf.

This book debuted in April 2010 to well-earned, rave reviews. In sparse verse, author Jame Richards, tells a story of devoted high society sisters, Celestia and Estrella, Whitcomb, their coldly calculating, businessman father, a miner's son, Peter, Maura, the wife of a Pennsylvania railroad engineer, and Kate, an obsessive-compulsive young widow struggling to find a purpose in life. Their lives become intertwined due to the tragically preventable Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889. Chapters of free-form verse alternate between the voices of the six characters.  An author's note separates the facts of the actual flood from the story. More than 2200 people died in the flood, including entire families.

The Johnstown Flood is the backdrop, but Three Rivers Rising is foremost a story of society, class, and first (or forbidden) love.
Highly recommended for grades 8 and up.


A reader's guide is available for teachers, librarians and book clubs.

The aftermath of the Johnstown Flood.

(Photograph from Wikimedia Commons, originally taken by an employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)

Information about the flood and its victims is available from the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.