Review of The Story of Diva and Flea, by Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizzi

story_of_diva_and_flea_largeThe Story of Diva and Flea

As Told & Shown by Mo Willems & Tony DiTerlizzi

Hyperion Books for Children, 2015. 70 pages.
Starred Review

I like beginning chapter books that actually have an interesting story, which anyone will like. There’s a place for stories that appeal to young children, and this is written in a simple style. But it’s an interesting story, whatever your age.

This book is set in Paris, where Mo Willems lived for awhile. It tells about Diva, a little dog who lives with the gardienne of a grand old apartment building.

Diva took her job seriously. Every day, she would exit the grand front door, trot across the small courtyard, and stand at the building’s front gate. From there she watched and guarded, and guarded and watched.

And if anything ever happened, no matter how big or small, Diva would yelp and run away.

Diva was very good at her job.

It also tells about Flea, a large cat who lives on the streets of Paris.

Flea did have a fixed occupation, however. He was a flâneur. A flâneur is someone (or somecat) who wanders the streets and bridges and alleys of the city just to see what there is to see. A great flâneur has seen everything, but still looks for more, because there is always more to discover.

Flea was a really great flâneur.

When Diva meets Flea? Diva (with much hesitation at first) learns about a big world of things to discover, and Flea (with much hesitation at first) learns about the comforts of Friends and Home.

Tony DiTerlizzi’s art (gently colored) adds just the right touch to this story and gives it the flavor of Paris. There’s a nice double-page spread when Diva sees the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

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Review of Bunjitsu Bunny’s Best Move, by John Himmelman

bunjitsu_bunnys_best_move_largeBunjitsu Bunny’s Best Move

by John Himmelman

Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2015. 120 pages.

Bunjitsu Bunny’s back! This is a beginning chapter book with lots of chapters, but simple drawings on every page, and only a few sentences. So it’s a quick read, but will give beginning readers a sense of accomplishment. And it has what I like best in beginning readers – stories that all ages will enjoy, nothing watered down for kids.

The first chapter is the same as in the first book. I’ll quote the entire thing, to give you an idea of how simple and short these stories are:

Isabel was the best bunjitsu artist in her school. She could kick higher than anyone. She could hit harder than anyone. She could throw her classmates farther than anyone.

Some were frightened of her. But Isabel never hurt another creature, unless she had to.

“Bunjitsu is not just about kicking, hitting, and throwing,” she said. “It is about finding ways NOT to kick, hit, and throw.”

They called her Bunjitsu Bunny.

I didn’t think the stories in this book were quite as consistently clever as the ones in the first book, but that’s a tiny quibble. More stories about Isabel, Bunjitsu Bunny! Many of them, again, are about avoiding a fight when that’s the best route. Some are about learning a lesson. Some are about enjoying the journey. Some are about persistence.

The Bunjitsu Code is at the back, explicitly stating the ideas expressed in these simple stories:

I promise to:
Practice my art until I am good at it. And then keep practicing.
Never start a fight.
Do all I can to avoid a fight.
Help those who need me.
Study the world.
Learn from those who know more than I do.
Share what I love.
Find what makes me laugh, and laugh loudly. And often.
Make someone smile every day.
Keep my body strong and healthy.
Try things that are hard for me to do.

A nice message and simple stories. Another wonderful volume for beginning readers.

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Review of Kingfisher, by Patricia A. McKillip

kingfisher_largeKingfisher

by Patricia A. Mc.Killip

Ace Books, New York, 2016. 346 pages.

This fantasy tale begins with a young adult named Pierce who is ready to leave his sorceress mother, ready to go to the capital city and find his father, a knight. It’s also about an illegitimate prince looking for his own heritage, a chef who takes on a job her shapechanging father is opposed to, another chef who makes beautiful food that is tantalyzing but tasteless, and a princess who’s worried about her half-brother.

The fantasy world is interesting — with modern things like cars and cellphones, but a magical realm with gods and goddesses competing for power.

The unifying theme is a quest for an object of great power. No one knows where it is or what it will look like, but their heart will know it when they see it.

Along the way secrets are uncovered and there are battles between good and evil.

This is the kind of fantasy I find a little bit annoying. It’s beautifully written and evocative — but I never feel like I actually know quite what is going on or exactly how the magic works or what just happened.

I’m still glad I read it and glad to have spent time with these characters and enjoyed their quest. But it will be better for readers who don’t get hung up on details of world-building and internal logic like I do.

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Review of The Whisper, by Pamela Zagarenski

whisper_largeThe Whisper

by Pamela Zagarenski

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2015. 36 pages.
Starred Review

The Whisper is a mystical, highly symbolic picture book about imagination.

The main story is that a girl is given a book by her teacher. But when she gets home and opens the book, there are no words inside, only pictures.

As the little girl paged through the wordless book, she heard the wind blow and then a small whisper:

“Dear little girl, don’t be disappointed.
You can imagine the words.
You can imagine the stories.
Start with a few simple words and imagine from there.
Remember: beginnings, middles, and ends of stories can always be changed and imagined differently.
There are never any rules, rights, or wrongs in imagining – imagining just is.”

The whisper sounded so knowing and wise to the little girl that she opened the book to the first page and began.

From there, we see each lavishly painted page and hear the beginning of the story the little girl tells about each one.

There are definitely recurring themes in the paintings (In fact, themes that tie in with Pamela Zagarenski’s other books) which also tie in with the stuffed animals in the girl’s room, and the fox who followed her home.

And that all sounds a lot simpler than this book really is. There are layers upon layers. After a few readings, I’m still not at all sure I’ve grasped everything that’s going on.

You could also use this book as a simple Seek-and-Find book with the various recurring elements happening on each page.

But the overarching idea is this: You can make stories yourself.

And you will be glad you did.

Oh, and my favorite painting is the one of the wizard who blows bubbles in the shapes of things and fills the harbor with enormous white whales.

Imaginative!

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hmhco.com

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Review of Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

across_the_universe_largeAcross the Universe

by Beth Revis

Penguin, 2011. 398 pages.
Starred Review

This is a science fiction dystopian story crossed with locked room mystery.

Across the Universe is told from two perspectives. First, we have Amy. As the book opens, she watches both her parents get cryogenically frozen to travel on a space ship for 300 years to terraform a new planet. Amy’s father tells her she doesn’t have to go through with it, but she decides to stay with them.

The other narrator is Elder, a sixteen-year-old who lives on the spaceship Godspeed, being trained to be the next leader. He’s frustrated because Eldest hasn’t been training him as he should be. He is destined to lead all the people on the ship – Shouldn’t he know more about it?

Elder finds out about the frozen people in the belly of the ship. Not long after, the beautiful girl with the amazing red hair wakes up. They are fifty years away from landing – who woke her early? How will she cope with life on Godspeed, which is not what she signed up for?

The story continues, seen from both Amy’s and Elder’s perspectives. Things that Elder thinks are normal, Amy sees as seriously flawed. Eldest tells them this is how things must be. Amy tries to explain what life was like on earth, but most of the people of Godspeed believe she’s crazy.

Then more of the frozen passengers thaw – and some die. Who is responsible? Are Amy’s parents’ lives in danger? What secrets are behind the strange life on the ship? And will Amy ever see the stars again? Does Elder have what it takes to lead his people? When should he speak up, and when is it best to simply obey Eldest? What does Eldest know about their mission that he is keeping hidden?

Eldest tells Elder that discord comes from differences. Amy is different. Will the discord she brings destroy the ship?

This is the first book of a trilogy. By waiting so long to read it (I meant to read it ever since it was first published), I will not have to wait to read the sequels! I’ll let you know what I think….

AcrosstheUniverseBook.com
bethrevis.com
razorbillbooks.com
penguin.com/teens

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Review of Moving Mountains, by John Eldredge

moving_mountains_largeMoving Mountains

Praying with Passion, Confidence, and Authority

by John Eldredge

Nelson Books, 2016. 248 pages.
Starred Review

My church Small Group went through this book this year, and we’ve been richly blessed.

Moving Mountains is a book about prayer, and praying effectively.

We have embarked on the most exciting story possible, filled with danger, adventure, and wonders. There is nothing more hopeful than the thought that things can be different, we can move mountains, and we have some role in bringing that change about.

As in his other books, John Eldredge reminds us that we are at war – but God has given us authority in the battle.

The Scriptures are a sort of wake-up call to the human race, a trumpet blast, to use Francis Thompson’s phrase, “from this hid battlements of eternity.” One alarm they repeatedly sound is that we are all caught up in the midst of a collision of kingdoms – the kingdom of God advancing with force against the kingdom of darkness, which for the moment holds most of the world in its clutches. Is this your understanding of the world you find yourself in? Does this shape the way you pray – and the way you interpret “unanswered” prayer?

The author also points out that God is growing us up. He’s teaching us to use the weapons He’s given us by throwing us into the battle.

Now, if you believed both assumptions, if they were woven into your deepest convictions about the world, you would want to learn to pray like a soldier wants to learn to use his weapon, like a smoke jumper wants to learn survival skills. We really have no idea what sort of breakthrough is actually possible until we learn to pray. Perhaps we, too, will be ending droughts and stopping wildfires.

With that background as to where we’re going, John Eldredge doesn’t leap right into prayer of warfare. He lays the groundwork, looking at our beliefs about God. Here’s a moving section:

A slave feels reluctant to pray; they feel they have no right to ask, and so their prayers are modest and respectful. They spend more time asking forgiveness than they do praying for abundance. They view the relationship with reverence, maybe more like fear, but not with the tenderness of love. Of being loved. There is no intimacy in the language or their feelings. Sanctified unworthiness colors their view of prayer. These are often “good servants of the Lord.”

An orphan is not reluctant to pray; they feel desperate. But their prayers feel more like begging than anything else. Orphans feel a great chasm between themselves and the One to whom they speak. Abundance is a foreign concept; a poverty mentality permeates their prayer lives. They ask for scraps; they expect scraps.

But not sons; sons know who they are.

Before he talks about praying for others, he covers our authority in Christ.

We really thought this life was simply about getting a nice little situation going for ourselves and living out the length of our days in happiness. I’m sorry to take that from you, but you and I shall soon be inheriting kingdoms, and we are almost illiterate when it comes to ruling. So God must prepare us to reign. How does he do this? In exactly the same way he grows us up – he puts us in situations that require us to pray and to learn how to use the authority that has been given to us. How else could it possibly happen?

After talking about prayers of intervention, the book goes on to talk about consecration and about daily prayer to align ourselves with God’s purposes. Then it covers prayer for guidance, listening prayer, praying Scripture, warfare prayer, and inner and outer healing. The final chapter talks about outcomes that are not what we had desired.

I love this reminder:

Life wins. Sometimes now, especially if we will pray. But life wins fully, and very soon.

Just as we must fix our eyes on Jesus when we pray, we must also fix our hearts on this one undeniable truth: life will win. When you know that unending joy is about to be yours, you live with such an unshakable confidence it will almost be a swagger. You can pray boldly, without fear, knowing that, “If this doesn’t work now, it will work totally and completely very soon.” We can have that kingdom attitude of Daniel’s friends, who said, “God is able to deliver, and he will deliver. But if not . . .” we will not lose heart. Period.

As we worked through this book, our Small Group found ourselves getting opportunities to practice what we were learning. We saw some mighty examples of God working. And we feel like we’re only at the beginning of our journey.

I highly recommend this book for personal study, but especially for group study if your group is ready for an adventure together.

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Sonderling Sunday – Ein Musical!

Sonderlinge 2

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! – That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books. This week, I’m back to my stand-by, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, by James Kennedy, translated by Wolfgang Thon from the English found in The Order of Odd-Fish.

Last time, we left off at the very last section of Chapter Twenty, so that’s where we’ll pick up today.

That section begins with this interesting sentence:
“Ken Kiang felt he was winning the war against the Belgian Prankster.”
= Ken Kiang hatte das Gefühl, dass er dabei war, den Krieg gegen den Belgischen Scherzkeks zu gewinnen.

I like this word.
“return” = zurückzukehren (“back-to-sweep”)

“striking the blow” = den entscheidenden Schlag zu landen

“how to do it with style?”
= wie sollte er das stilvoll bewerkstelligen?

“the verve” = der Schmiss

“the showmanship” = die Effekthascherei

“the arrogant stunt”
= das überlegene Bravourstückchen

I like that there’s one word for this:
“cherry on top”
= Sahnehäubchen
(Hmmm. Google translates the word as “icing.” I like how it comes out when broken up: “Cream-bonnet.”)

“final, outrageous flourish”
= letzten verrückten Schlenker

This translation is kind of disappointing:
“A musical!”
= Ein Musical!

“nobody in Eldritch City properly appreciated him”
= niemand in Schauerstadt ihn gebührend zu schätzen wusste
(“nobody in Shiver City him duly to treasure knew”)

“audacious victory” = kühnen Sieg

“grand spectacle” = gewaltiges Spektakel

“a cast of hundreds”
= eine Besetzungsliste mit Hunderten von Darstellern
(“a cast-list with hundreds of performers”)

“too ambitious” = zu ehrgeizig
(“too glory-stingy”)

“Ken Kiang scorned the thought.”
= Ken Kiang schob den Gedanken verächtlich beiseite.
(“Ken Kiang shoved the thought contemptuously aside.”)

“in one fell swoop” = in einem Aufwasch
(“in one wash-out”)

“premiere his musical” = seine Musical uraufführen

“and thus the demands of both duty and style would be satisfied!”
= auf diese Weise würde er gleichzeitig den Erfordernissen der Pflicht und des Stils Genüge tun!
(“in this way would he at the same time the requirements of duty and of style Enough do!”)

“evicted” = gekündigt

“Dazed but strangely unruffled”
= Ein wenig benommen, aber seltsam unerschrocken
(“a little dazed, but oddly undaunted”)

“belongings” = Habseligkeiten

This phrase is fun to say:
“stumbled down the hallway”
= schlurfte durch den Flur
(“shuffled through the hallway”)

“sigh with relief” = erleichtert aufseufzten

“crusty socks” = Schmutzige Socken

“scribbled-on paper” = vollgekritzelte Papiere

“he didn’t bother to pick them up.”
= Er machte sich nicht die Mühe, diese Dinge aufzuheben.
(“He made himself not the effort, these things to pick up.”)

I like the coincidence of finster aus einem Fenster:
“glared from an upstairs window”
= beobachtete ihn finster aus einem Fenster im Obergeschoss
(“watched him darkly out a window in the upper floor”)

“farewells” = Abschiedsworte

“Were they mocking him?”
Verspotteten sie ihn?

“Check and mate” = Schach und Matt

I like the last paragraph of the chapter, so it’s a fitting way to close. I’ll break it into pieces:

“Ken Kiang jumped up and down on the street corner,”
Ken Kiang hüpfte an der Straßenecke auf und ab,

“squawking and waving his arms.”
krächzte und fuchtelte mit den Armen herum.
(“croaked and waved with his arms around”)

“People discreetly crossed the street to avoid him.”
= Die anderen Passanten wechselten unauffällig die Straßenseite, um ihm aus dem Weg zu gehen.
(“The other passers exchanged unobtrusively the street-side, for him out of the way to go.”)

You’ve got to hand it to James Kennedy — He always writes with Schmiss und Effekthascherei!

Review of Butterfly Counting, by Jerry Pallotta

butterfly_counting_largeButterfly Counting

by Jerry Pallotta
and Shennen Bersani

Charlesbridge, 2015. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I’ll admit, I am already a huge Jerry Pallotta fan. Why? Because 27 years ago, The Bird Alphabet Book was one of the very first books my child loved. We read it so often, she could recite whole paragraphs from the book with her cute toddler voice. Phooey, 27 years later, I can recite whole paragraphs from the book. (I especially remember, “Wait a minute, bats are not birds! Although they have wings and can fly, bats are mammals…. Get out of this book, you bats!”)

This book does a little of that playing with the reader as well. It starts with a spread of 20 moths. After counting them,

But wait . . . these are not butterflies! These are all moths. We tricked you! Moths can be very colorful.

Then it goes on to count butterflies of different varieties. The first ten butterflies are red, blue, green, purple, orange, black, white, pink, yellow, and brown. The next nine are multicolored and patterned butterflies. Then for 20 to 25, they look at the lifecycle of the butterfly, beginning with twenty Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly eggs.

Each page tells us the word for butterfly in another language. And the book is full of facts about the different varieties of butterflies.

And the book is so beautiful! The illustrator has made stunning paintings of each variety of butterfly (or moth).

It’s so easy for me to imagine a small child, like young Jade, avidly learning and reciting these facts.

The last page shows a lovely creature with wings that go from yellow to bright pink.

A butterfly in Great Britain is called a butterfly. But don’t be silly! This is not a butterfly. It is a grasshopper. Should we write a grasshopper book next?

jerrypallotta.com
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charlesbridge.com

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Review of Traveling Butterflies, by Susumu Shingu

traveling_butterflies_largeTraveling Butterflies

by Susumu Shingu

Owlkids Books, 2015. First published in Japan in 2012. 42 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s a children’s nonfiction picture book that is simple enough for preschoolers. Yet it’s interesting enough for older readers, and the pictures are stunningly beautiful.

The story is of the migration of monarch butterflies. It shows their life cycle, then how very far they travel.

There’s a fascinating author’s note at the back. I didn’t realize that most monarch butterflies live only two to six weeks. But the generation of monarchs that migrates south, traveling nearly 2,500 miles, lives six to eight months. Interestingly, the butterflies that fly back north from Mexico to Canada don’t live any longer than the others — so it takes three to four generations of monarchs to fly back north.

This is a wonderful introduction to the story of these butterflies. I couldn’t stop looking at the beautiful and vivid paintings.

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Review of File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

file_under_13_suspicious_incidents_largeFile Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

by Lemony Snicket
with various readers

Hachette Audio, 2014. 3 hours on 3 CDs.
Starred Review

This audiobook continues Lemony Snicket’s series All the Wrong Questions set in the strange deserted town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea. However, this is a side file to the case in the main series. Here are thirteen short mystery tales, some more bizarre than others. You don’t at all need to have read the original books – many of the characters are new. Some we’ve seen before, but knowing them ahead of time is not crucial to any of the short cases.

The audiobook has two flaws. The first is that there are 13 wonderful narrators, but it isn’t announced on the audiobook who is reading at any given time. I should have read the label on the CD before inserting it, but I wasn’t going to do that while driving in the car. All the narrators did a great job, but it would have been fun to know when I was listening to Jon Scieszka, Terry Gross, Sarah Vowell, Libba Bray, Ira Glass, Sophie Blackall, Jon Klassen, Chris Kluwe, Holly Black, Sook-Yin Lee, Rachel Maddow, Stephin Merritt, or Wesley Stace.

The other annoying thing is that the conclusions to each short mystery were all given at the end of the third audiobook. But before the conclusions are three stories. So there’s no way to check on the answer to a mystery right after finishing that mystery. If the conclusions had their own CD, I could have popped that in and listened to some conclusions before continuing on. Of course, in the print book, one could just check the back of the book after each mystery. As it turned out, the entire book wasn’t very long, so I found I could mostly remember what was involved in the story once I heard the conclusion. Honestly, there probably isn’t a good way to do this on audio CDs. I would have liked a separate CD for the conclusions – but that would add to the cost.

Other than that, these were totally fun mystery stories. They reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown – with a lot more variety, and a touch of silliness here and there. This would be a great one to suggest to kids who like mysteries, and they don’t need to read the longer 4-volume series, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn to that next.

LemonySnicketLibrary.com
HachetteAudio.com

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