Who’s Hiding?

WHO’S HIDING?
By Satoru Onishi
Kane/Miller, 2006

Category: Picture Book

Every year I find a picture book or two that are simply irresistible, and these become holiday gifts for all the munchkins on my shopping list. This year I will be giving lots (and lots and lots) of copies of WHO’S HIDING?

The premise is simple: twelve animals appear in the same arrangement on each double-page spread. But with each turn of the page someone changes: readers are challenged to find “Who’s crying?”, “Who’s angry?” and “Who’s hiding?” After pages and pages of this everyone knows which animal is where … a good thing because the pièce de résistance is the spread on which the lights go out: “Who’s who?”

This is a fun one to share with the younger set and even with beginning readers, like my daughter, who love to interact with their books. Check it out!

 

The Ugly Pumpkin

THE UGLY PUMPKIN
by Dave Horowitz
Putnam, 2005

Category: Picture book

I was sure I’d be the only one to blog about this book today, but I was wrong. Oh, well. I’ll settle for being the only one to post an ugly pumpkin picture:

My daughter’s kindergarten homework last week was to create a pumpkin with personality. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find a pumpkin in our garden small enough to carry to school herself (we grow ’em big around here). She did, however, find the cutest little butternut squash you ever did see. We remembered THE UGLY PUMPKIN and, Voila!, homework that stands out from a crowd.

If you are wondering about the plot of THE UGLY PUMPKIN, consider the title, the picture above, and the catchiest line in the book: “Oh my gosh, I’m a squash!”

Happy Halloween one and all!

 

Marie Curie

MARIE CURIE
By Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Viking, 2007

Category: Middle grade biography

I like these “Giants of Science” books. I like them a lot. There are currently four titles in the series; I’ve read ISAAC NEWTON and have LEONARDO DAVINCI and SIGMUND FREUD on the bedside table. Krull’s writing is light and breezy, even when discussing the finer points of (in the case of MARIE CURIE) particle physics. And I appreciate the pains she takes to give readers a sense of the times in which her subject lived. Readers don’t just read about the great Madame Curie, they visit her.

I’m off to nominate this one for a CYBIL award. (Can I do that? My own book was nominated in the same category!) Have you nominated your favorite book for a CYBIL yet? Get to it, man!

 

Tracking Trash on Indian Lake

Wow!

The International Coastal Cleanup came to Worcester, Massachusetts yesterday in the form of the Indian Lake Cleanup event. Over ninety men, women, and children collected debris from the shores and mudflats and recorded what they found for The Ocean Conservancy. Later this week I will send our data to COASTSWEEP, the Massachusetts arm of this massive, worldwide marine cleanup event. I’m still crunching numbers, but we cleaned more than 8.5 miles of shoreline, filled 43 bags with garbage, and hauled approximately 660 pounds of trash off the lake. Not bad for four hours work!

 

Blogging for a Cure: Week Three

With thanks to Jen Robinson for permission to print the following post …

As you know if you’ve been visiting any children’s book blogs for the past few weeks, Robert’s Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children’s book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates. The snowflakes will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here. Jules and Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast have found a way for bloggers to help with this effort, by blogging about individual illustrators and their snowflakes. The idea is to drive traffic to the Robert’s Snow site so that many snowflakes will be sold, and much money raised to fight cancer. The illustrator profiles have been wonderful so far – diverse and creative and colorful. And there are lots more to go.

Here’s the schedule for Week 3, which starts Monday. As previously, this early schedule links to the participating blogs, instead of to the individual posts. You can find links to the posts themselves, and any last-minute updates, each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far. Also not to be missed is Kris Bordessa’s post summarizing snowflake-related contests to date over at Paradise Found.

Monday, October 29

Tuesday, October 30

Wednesday, October 31

Thursday, November 1

Friday, November 2

Saturday, November 3

Sunday, November 4

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you’re so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert’s Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

Kissing the Bee

KISSING THE BEE
By Kathe Koja
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007

Category: Young adult fiction

I’m into bees at the moment and my friend Jane, worried what an uninterupted diet of buzzy non-fiction might do to me, compiled a list of novels that have something to do with bees. It is a longer list than you might think; KISSING THE BEE was right at the top…

Dana is a senior in high school busy with the drama of planning for prom, helping her best friends create a fabulous costume for the festivities, writing a biology report on honey bees, and dealing with the fact that she has fallen in love with her best friend’s boyfriend. True-blue Dana manages to keep everything under control … until the moment she realizes that Emil just might love her, too. With the vivid structure of life in the hive as a backdrop, Koje weaves a tale of chaos, living, and choosing. I’d recommend this short, sweet book even if I hadn’t found this little nugget on page 48:

“Somebody even made a robot bee that can communicate with real bees …”

Seriously? Could this be true? Off to do some more poking in the 590s (you know, the non-fiction section devoted to honey bees) …

 

The Great Gilly Hopkins

THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS
By THE GREAT Katherine Paterson
Trophy, 1978

Category: Middle grade fiction

Awards: Newbery Honor

The kids and I read this book to commemorate Banned Books Week 2007. I assume its place on the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999 is because of Gilly’s language, and I will admit to changing a few “hells” to “hecks” as I read aloud. But this was because I had very young ears listening in, ears attached to a little girl who believes STUPID is a swear word. THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS is a finely rendered look at the frustrations of being young, abandoned, and very, very angry; banning a book that has so much to offer readers for mild language seems, um, STUPID, to me.

From a writer’s perspective, I found it interesting that Gilly is so unlike-able for much of the story. This is hard to pull off, I think, and Paterson did it masterfully. (Hey Liza … are you listening? You know how I always rant about unlikeable protagonists being impossible? I stand corrected!)

 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET
By Brian Selznick
Scholastic Press, 2007

Category: Hmmm. This one is in a category all its own; Lisa Yee suggests we call it Selznickian

My mind prefers words to images. I am not sure why this is so; it just is. And so I was afraid I might not enjoy THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET the way the rest of the world has. And, truth be told, I was feeling less-than-attached (emotionally speaking) early in the story. But then I got to this moment:

“The black engine was zooming right toward Hugo and he was caught, unable to look away, as though he were watching a movie.”

and realized I was in the hands of a capable and talented writer. By the time I closed the covers I understood that this book was more than words and pictures. It was a three-dimensional experience served up in a gorgeous two-dimensional package. The accolades being heaped upon this book are well-deserved; give it a read, er, a look …

 

Blogging for a Cure: Week Two

Week Two of “Blogging for a Cure” is officially underway. Below is a schedule of this week’s artists and the blogs that will feature them. If you find a snowflake you adore, visit the Robert’s Snow online auction to bid on it. Enjoy!

Monday, October 22

Tuesday, October 23

Wednesday, October 24

Thursday, October 25

Friday, October 26

Saturday, October 27

Sunday, October 28