Picture Books
* Sea Shapes written and illustrated by Suse MacDonald
Beast Feast written and illustrated by Douglas Florian
* This Land is Your Land words and music by Woody Guthrie. Illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen
City Dog written and illustrated by Karla Kuskin
I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg
* The Fortune-Tellers by Lloyd Alexander. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Middle Grade Fiction
Matilda by Roald Dahl. Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Ruthie's Gift by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Illustrated by Dave Kramer
Covered With Nails by Paul Jennings
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Middle Grade Nonfiction
Dinosaur Discovery by Daniel Cohen. Illustrated by Russell Farrell
Young Adult Fiction
The Tower Room by Adele Geras
* Watching the Roses by Adele Geras
Pictures of the Night by Adele Geras
Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser
Specialty Books
Dear Little One by Flavia Weedn and Lisa Weedn. Illustrated by Flavia Weedn
NOTES FROM THE WINDOWSILL
ISSN 1078-8697
An electronic journal of book reviews. Copyright 1998 Wendy E. Betts. Reproduction for personal and non-commercial use is permitted only if this copyright notice is retained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission. Mail web@armory.com with comments or questions. All reviews by Wendy Betts unless otherwise noted. For info and archives, see http://www.armory.com/~web/notes.html
Vol. 6, No. 7
September 1998
Board Books
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Cow Moo Me by Stephen Losordo. Illustrated by Jane Conteh-Morgan.
Harper Growing Tree, 1998 (0-694-01108-8) $5.95
Short rhymes, strong rhythm and a surprisingly sensible form of nonsense make this book a real pleasure for readers and listeners. Each page has a rhyme for an animal, written in what sounds like a fun, sassy, babble: "frog croak lily/frog croak hop/frog croak pond/frog croak plop!" Put together with the pictures though, each rhyme also tells a silly little story. The brightly colored collage illustrations are particularly expressive, showing the frog joyfully plopping into the pond, a happy pig wallowing in mud and a very surprised hen watching her egg hatch. (6 months-2)
Big Dog and Little Dog Wearing Sweaters written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey. Red Wagon, 1998 (0-15-200361-4) $4.95
This rather offbeat title is somehow very appropriate for this board book series, because for Big Dog and Little Dog, even simply wearing sweaters can be a minor--and messy--adventure. When Big Dog is sad because Little Dog has a sweater and he doesn't, the two of them search through their owners drawers; finding a sweater, they somehow manage to tug it on, so that both dogs can be "warm and happy." As usual, the text plays straight man to the illustrations of the chaos the two dogs unwittingly cause. Although it's perhaps not as funny as the previous books, the lively, age-appropriate action is eye-catching and fun, with plenty of color contained in simple, bold outlines. (1-3)
Mary Wore Her Red Dress adapted and illustrated by Merle Peek. 1985; Clarion, 1998 (0-89919-324-2) $5.95
A simple, repetitive folk song is the inspiration for this picture book, which manages to endow it with both a plot and an intriguing concept lesson. In the first picture we see Mary, a squirrel, going through a gently shaded black and white forest; other than the text, boxed in red, the only color is Mary's red dress and its reflection in a pond. When we next see Mary, greeting raccoon Henry in his green sneakers, the background has acquired red houses in the distance; the third picture has both red and green, and so forth until every page is gaily colored. Meanwhile, the plot has also progressed, as all the animal characters gather together for Katy the bear's birthday party. The fine lines and delicate air of Peek's illustrations are well suited to the progression of color and she scatters amusing details throughout the pages; most of the furniture is carved with droll animal shapes, and a posters on the birthday girl's wall features a gracefully ice skating bear. (2-4)
Picture Books
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Sea Shapes written and illustrated by Suse MacDonald. Gulliver, 1994
(0-15-200027-5) $13.95; Voyager, 1998 (0-15-201700-3) $6.00 pb
Illustrated with colorful sea scenes, this fascinating look at shapes shows how their artificial forms can be found in nature. One side of each page shows a standard shape, changing from scene to scene until it is part of a sea creature; the other side of the page features a full-page illustration of the creature in its natural form and environment. The collage pictures, showing the sea in many lights and shades, are vibrant and eye-catching; each also works as a mini-art lesson. An appendix at the end gives basic facts about each sea inhabitant featured in the book. * (2-6)
Beast Feast written and illustrated by Douglas Florian. Harcourt Brace, 1994 (0-15-295178-4) $14.95; Voyager 1998 (0-15-201737-2) $7.00 pb
This feast of beasts features poems about real animals, but takes a sprightly approach to the facts. The primarily short, unsophisticated poems are pleasant, humorous read-alouds that beginning readers may also be able to handle. Florian's muted illustrations forsake realism for many funny touches: his chameleon holds an artist's palette, his sloth has flowers growing out of its head, his firefly comes complete with an electric plug. Each picture has an intriguing or amusing detail worth looking for. (4-8/5-8)
This Land is Your Land words and music by Woody Guthrie. Illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen. Little, Brown, 1998 (0-316-39215-4) $15.95
"This Land is Your Land" has certainly been illustrated before, but perhaps never as honestly or as movingly as here. A tribute to Woody Guthrie, as well as an illustration of his most popular song, this book does justice to his work as a social activist by including the more sombre and usually censored lyrics ("As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking/Is this land made for you and me?"), as well as images of America that include homeless people and CIO strikers. But like most of the song itself, the mood of the book is generally upbeat, showing that America is a wonderful land that can get even better, if people care enough.
Woody himself is our guide through the verses of the song, walking that ribbon of highway, seeing that endless skyway, in delicate, precise folk- art style paintings. For the many choruses, Jakobsen shows a multitude of American images, from a placid Iowa cornfield to a jewel-like Mardi Gras float; the lavishly designed pages also include framed quotes from Woody and verses of his other songs. Many events from his life are included: one of the most memorable is a scene of Woody playing his guitar, depicted accurately with its slogan, "this machine kills fascists." If there's a flaw in the book, it's that images from the past and present are mixed indiscriminately, making it difficult for us to know if we're seeing an image as Woody saw it or as it exists today. Dates would have been helpful.
This is a book that will captivate adults interested in folk music, who can enjoy playing spot the folk legend in its pages; an especially satisfying spread shows Woody and many of the folk artists he sang with (Leadbelly, Phil Ochs, Odetta, etc.), while underneath a tribute concert to him includes John Wesley Harding, Country Joe McDonald and Bruce Springsteen. (Both, of course, include Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.) Young readers may not have the same appreciation for this historical reference, but can certainly enjoy the wealth of images and the thoughtfulness the words and illustrations engender. P (4 & up)
City Dog written and illustrated by Karla Kuskin. Clarion, 1994; 1998 (0- 395-90016-6) $5.95 pb
A city dog's first visit to the countryside is described with lyricism and empathy in this glowing picture book. The dynamic rhythm and evocative words of Kuskin's poem make us feel the dog's incredible sense of change and release, as she explores a world with no boundaries: "Soft grass/warm ground/rabbit holes/to paw and nose/fast bikes/bare toes." By contrast, the comic watercolor illustrations are rather slight; I longed for a richer look, but the pictures certainly help to make this unusual book accessible. (4-10)
I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg. Morrow, 1996 (0-688-13411-4) $16.00; Mulberry, 1998 (0-688- 16156-1) $5.95 pb
Kellogg brings his usual irreverent humor to this picture book rendition of a popular folk song. The illustrations have two threads: along the bottom of the pages we see children in various odd costumes, who take turns telling their boastful tales about all the amazing things they've seen and done: "I saw Satan when he looked the garden over, I saw Eve and Adam driven from the door, And from the bushes peeping, Saw the apple they'd been eating, And I swear that I'm the one who ate the core." The rest of the pictures illustrate their boasts, in comic, often anachronistic detail; I especially like the illustration for "Pecos Bill and I drove cattle Clear from Texas to Seattle," which shows dozens of steer clinging desperately to the Space Needle. Naturally, kids won't get all the references, but the humor in the pictures makes them very accessible nonetheless--and of course, one of the pleasures of a book like this is that children will get more and more of the jokes as they get older.
Like many illustrated songs, this one feels a bit awkward: I wanted to be singing it instead of reading it, but the pictures are so jam-packed, it's impossible to do both them and the rhythm of the song justice. Listeners probably won't mind just hearing it read, though, and they can also enjoy learning the song; a simple piano arrangement is included on the end pages. It's also a good choice for beginning readers, as long as they're not easily intimidated by some strange words. (4 & up/5 & up)
The Fortune-Tellers by Lloyd Alexander. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Dutton, 1992; Puffin, 1998 (0-14-056233-8) $5.99 pb
Alexander's trademark gentle, wry humor simply shines in this beguiling folk tale. A young West African carpenter is feeling discouraged about his life, so he goes to see a fortune-teller. To his joy, the fortune-teller assures him that he'll become rich as soon as he earns lots of money and famous once he's well-known; marriage with his true love will be his (if he can find her and she agrees) and they shall certainly have a long life together (only one thing might cut it short: an early demise.) When the fortune-teller disappears and the carpenter is forced to take his place, he finds his fortune coming wonderfully true. But what on earth could have happened to the all-seeing, all-knowing fortune-teller?
This playful look at human nature will be enjoyed by every reader old enough to get the joke. Hyman's illustrations enhance the universality of the story, making the characters strong and believable against an exotic background that glows with gorgeous color. * (5 & up)
Middle Grade Fiction
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Matilda by Roald Dahl. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. Viking, 1988;
Puffin,
1998 (0-14-130106-6) $4.99 pb
In recent years, children's books have started to feature bleak portraits of depressed, abusive and even insane parents. It's rare, however, to find parents in a children's book who are, quite inexcusably, just plain awful. Trust Roald Dahl to create some of the most ghastly parents possible-- along with the most loathsome headmistress since Miss Minchin in A Little Princess--was the perfect target for his sensitive, brilliant, yet vindictive heroine. It's a comic fantasy that speaks to everyone who was ever small and helpless and desperately wanted to "score points against an all-powerful grown-up."
Matilda, who could talk at one and a half and taught herself to read at three, longs for her parents to be "good and loving and understanding and honourable and intelligent." Since they're anything but, however, she needs a safety-valve, a way to keep from going round the bend when forced to live with people who tear up her library books, make her watch television, and belittle her every time she opens her mouth. So Matilda uses her intelligence to punish her parents, thinking up schemes that make them less "cocky and unbearable." Later, when Matilda goes to school and encounters the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, she finds her talent for humiliating punishments unexpectedly aided by an ability to move objects with her mind--a potent combination that gets the Trunchbull exactly what she deserves.
Matilda takes place in a kind of cartoon-land, where an adult can swing a child by her pigtails as if throwing a hammer, and the child is on her feet again in a minute. Despite its absurdity, however, there's something about this story that really hits a nerve: the wildly exaggerated caricatures of Matilda's parents and Miss Trunchbull nevertheless stand for every adult that's ever been rotten to a child. From an adult standpoint, there's a lot to criticize in the book: the very classist stereotypes of the low-brow parents, for one thing. But there really isn't much point in reading Matilda from an adult standpoint because, frankly, it can be pretty nasty. And it takes a child's point of view to see that as a good thing.
This new paperback edition once again features Quentin Blake's wistfully comic illustrations and cover art. (8 & up)
Ruthie's Gift by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Illustrated by Dave Kramer.
Delacorte, 1998 (0-385-32525-8) $14.95
This light, episodic story tells the adventures of eight-year-old Ruthie
Hawk, just before the start of World War I. Growing up with six brothers-
-surrounded by boys--Ruthie finds it hard to be the proper lady her mother
wants her to be. When she sees a beautiful doll in the Sears Roebuck
catalog, she dreams that it could help her be more ladylike: "Having her
would be almost like having a sister." But the doll costs almost $5, an
incredible sum. How Ruthie learns that she can be a lady through her own
strong character and good heart--and gets the reward she deserves--
makes for a likable, satisfying story.
Covered With Nails (was published as Unbearable!) by Paul Jennings.
Viking, 1995 (0-670-86262-2) $14.99; Puffin, 1998 (0-14-038595-9) $3.99 pb
A very tasty fly-swatter... a hypnotized chicken... a boy with the most
powerful foot odor in the world... readers with sensitive stomachs might
find Jennings' latest collection of bizarre stories "unbearable," but most
will delight in his surprising and hilarious twists on reality. Put-upon
but
far from helpless underdogs are the heroes and heroines of these stories,
valiantly fighting against nasty bullies and callous adults with unexpected
help from supernatural forces. Most of the stories are funny, some are
haunting, but all are very entertaining. (9 & up)
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. HarperCollins, 1997
(0-06-027510- 3) $14.95; Harpertrophy, 1998 (0-06-440705-5) $4.95 pb
In this unusual twist on the Cinderella story, Ella has serious troubles
even before she acquires her wicked stepmother and stepsisters--in fact,
right from birth, when she receives the fairy gift of perfect obedience.
"If someone told me to hop on one foot for a day and a half, I'd have to do
it... if you commanded me to cut off my own head, I'd have to do it." The
gift of obedience doesn't have quite the effect that was intended:
deprived of her free will, Ella becomes a rebel, finding ways to subvert
orders whenever possible. But still, she must obey any direct command
from anyone, and in the hands of unscrupulous people she is helpless.
When Ella realizes that there's a chance she could get the "gift" reversed,
she sets out on a dangerous quest to find the fairy who changed her--but it
will take her own inner goodness and strength of will to finally free her.
Brightly narrated by Ella, this is an entertaining, sometimes humorous
fantasy but is so overplotted it often feels uncomfortably like at least
two different stories inexpertly mashed together, with the elements of
the traditional tale forced in. Still, many readers will enjoy the strong
heroine, her difficult predicament, and her friendly romance with the
likeable Prince Charmont. A Newbery Honor book. (9-13)
Middle Grade Nonfiction
Formerly packaged with a dinosaur stamp set (also called Dinosaur
Discovery), this book now stands alone as a no-frills but entertaining
introduction to the many types of dinosaurs. Each entry covers a specific
species, including a brief account of interesting details along with
general information and a small but striking color illustration. A page of
colored dinosaur stickers is included, but the book's main appeal will
almost certainly be to readers who genuinely enjoy information and don't
need to have it jazzed up. (5 & up/8 & up)
Young Adult Fiction
The line between a prison and a refuge can be an ambiguous one, especially
for someone on the verge of adulthood. For seventeen-year-old Megan, life
in the cozy Tower Room at Egerton Hall means more to her than she will
ever realize--until she is forced to leave it.
Orphaned at age ten and adopted by an emotionally distant guardian,
Megan's whole life is her boarding school, Egerton Hall. There she meets
caring teachers, studies hard, and makes two special friends, Alice and
Bella, who become her roommates in the Tower Room, the highest room in
the house. But when Megan looks down from the tower and sees Simon
Findley, a young man her guardian Dorothy has hired as a lab assistant,
everything else in her life starts to seem unimportant.
Normally a crush in the all girls school would go nowhere... but Megan lives
in the Tower Room, which happens to have a convenient scaffolding nearby.
This leaves just two things in the way of their romance: Megan's fear that
Simon doesn't really love her as she loves him, and her growing suspicion
that Dorothy may also have fallen for him.
Megan narrates her story in the form of a letter, interrupting her
memories of the past with painful revelations about her stressful and
lonely present life. Expelled from Egerton Hall, no longer sheltered in the
security of the Tower Room, she has realized that "it's easy to have love
as your major preoccupation when you have no other urgent problems to
think about." This could feel preachy, but Megan's story is so vividly and
believably told, it just stands as simple truth. Happily, Geras finds hope
as well as sadness in this modern Rapunzel story, showing that Megan is
not doomed to either prison or exile, but has the power to seek out her
own version of "happily ever after."
Watching the Roses by Adele Geras. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1992
(0-15-294816-3); 1998 6.00
Who would Sleeping Beauty be if her story was told today? What would be
the forces that shaped her life and the cause of her deathless sleep... what
would be the truth of her rescue? These are the questions asked in
Watching the Roses, an exceptionally powerful
retelling of a fairy tale.
Alice, an English schoolgirl, has lain on her bed, seemingly asleep, since
the night of her eighteenth birthday party--stricken dumb by a trauma so
severe she can only cope by retreating from the world. But her retreat is
not complete: in the lonely hours when no one is watching, she keeps a
diary. And as she writes in soft murmurs about her friends, her school,
her family history, she gets closer and closer to the events of her
birthday, until she is able to release the words that keep her under a spell
of silence.
Watching the Roses could stand alone as a beautifully written book about
recovering from trauma, without the trappings of the fairy tale... yet they
somehow add immeasurably to the story. The constant yet surprising
shock of seeing parallels adds to the sense of pre-destined doom which
haunts the book, especially as the reader realizes the terrible form the
evil must inevitably take. Perhaps Geras overdoes the parallels slightly,
occasionally straining credibility, but the overall effect of the familiar
story in its new form is fascinating and utterly convincing. She has given
Sleeping Beauty a soul, one which will be hard to forget.
Pictures of the Night by Adele Geras.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993 (0-
15-261588-1) $16.95; 1998 $6.00
This third book in the "Egerton Hall" trilogy of retold fairy-tales follows
the adventures of Bella, a beautiful girl who spends the summer singing
with a seven-man rock band to get away from her jealous and hurtful
stepmother, Marjorie. It's a time of changes and growing up for Bella, as
she finds herself involved with a member of the band who's fallen in love
with her, even as she's fallen in love with a stranger she'll probably never
see again. But if she keeps having these bizarre accidents--almost
strangled by a belt and poisoned by a hair-comb--she may not live to grow
up any more...
Up to a point, Pictures of the Night is a very enjoyable book, with the
fairy-tale parallels once again providing a new and insightful look at a
common theme of young adulthood. Especially good is the description of
how Marjorie's feelings towards Bella changed over time, from treating
her like a doll to be dressed to hating her as a rival. But Pictures of the
Night is marred by an extremely abrupt and unsatisfying ending, which
fulfills the demands of the fairy-tale ending in a half-hearted way but
which doesn't resolve any of the conflicts created in Bella's story. I was
also disappointed to find that Bella doesn't learn anything from her
stepmother's hatred; she is only too happy to use her own beauty and to
put down (as too fat, of course) a woman she is jealous of. It is all too
easy to see Bella in Marjorie's place in a few years, desperately clinging
to her former youth and hating the young women she sees as rivals.
Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser. Delacorte, 1998
(0-385- 32329-8) $15.95
Until she was eleven, Tara Sullivan felt pretty normal. Okay, she did
have frequent bad dreams, constant eczema and a tendency to worry about
everything from fire drills to whether aborted fetuses go to heaven. ("By
fourth grade, I didn't care about prochoice or prolife, but I was extremely
proafterlife.") But then she hears the phrase she can't got out of her
mind: "Step on a crack, break your mothers back." It follows her everywhere she
goes--"like listening to the sound track of a movie that I wasn't
watching"--forcing her to watch ever step she takes. Soon she is not just
watching for cracks but counting them: counting the 495 chances that she
might break her beloved mother's back simply by walking to school.
The first obsession leads to others and soon Tara's life is bound-up by
complex rituals that must be preformed exactly right for an exact number
of times, rituals that drive her friends away and her family to the brink of
insanity. Psychologists variously diagnose her as insecure, angry and
anorexic, but never offer any help. Until finally someone appears to tell
Tara she isn't crazy, that her problem has a name, and that it might even
be curable.
Very much an issue book, Kissing Doorknobs is rather sparse as a novel.
Although Hesser claims it is not autobiography, she writes as if it were,
with much detailing of facts but little background development and a
noticeable lack of meaningful transitions; it's probably quite true to life,
but lacks something as literature. But the bizarre, often horrifying
details do make for engrossing, sympathetic reading, and though many
readers will enjoy this story simply for its strangeness, they will also
end up with a better understanding what Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
is and how devastating it can be.
Specialty Books
Baby books are the place for unabashed sentiment and Flavia and Lisa
Weedn are particularly unabashed in this one. Adoring paeans to babyhood
and parenting are scattered among the more conventional pages meant for
family trees, first events and footprint outlines, reminding parents that
"the privilege of parenting is by far the most sacred of all blessings."
Gently mottled colored pages, in soft shades of lavender, yellow and blue,
are an attractive background for the entries, ornamented with star, ribbon
and safety pin motifs. Serious record keepers will appreciate the many
categories; an especially nice touch is several pages on which to write
memories of pregnancy and special moments before the baby was born.
* indicates a book the reviewer feels is outstanding in its genre
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Dinosaur Discovery by Daniel Cohen.
Illustrated by Russell Farrell.
Puffin, 1998 (0-14-056413-6) $5.99 pb
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The Tower Room by Adele Geras. Harcourt Brace, 1992; 1998
(0-15-201518-3) $6.00 pb
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Dear Little One: a Memory Book of Baby's First Year by Flavia Weedn
and Lisa Weedn. Illustrated by Flavia Weedn. Cedco, 1998 (0-7683-2048-8)
$19.95