Review of The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes

Award Winners, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

The Year of Billy Miller

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books, 2013. 229 pages.
2014 Newbery Honor Book

Kevin Henkes gets kids. He knows what they think about, what they worry about, and how they act. And he’s able to express that on the page.

Billy Miller is about to start second grade. His teacher says it’s the Year of the Rabbit. But Papa says, “It’s the Year of Billy Miller.”

He has some setbacks right from the start. He’s afraid his new teacher will think he doesn’t like her. So he comes up with a plan to make things right. But plans don’t always go smoothly.

Other scenarios Billy deals with include making a diorama, dealing with his little sister, trying to stay up all night, and writing and reciting a poem. They’re child-size episodes and everything Billy does rings true.

This book reminds me of the Clementine books, looking at life from a child’s perspective. Billy’s a little more worried about things than Clementine, but he also can’t hold still. He will win just as firm a place in children’s hearts.

kevinhenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Flora and Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Flora and Ulysses

The Illuminated Adventures

by Kate DiCamillo
illustrated by K. G. Campbell

Candlewick Press, 2013. 231 pages.
Starred Review
2014 Newbery Medal Winner

Flora is a girl who loves comic books. Her mother, a romance writer, wants Flora to “work to turn her face away from the idiotic high jinks of comics and toward the bright light of true literature.”

But because of Flora’s knowledge of comic books, she knows exactly what to do when she meets a superhero squirrel.

You see, their neighbor, Mrs. Tickham, was given a new Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner for her birthday. When she tries it out, it accidentally sucks up everything in sight, including her book of poetry, and a squirrel.

Flora sees it happen from her bedroom window. She rushes down and shakes the squirrel out of the vacuum.

He didn’t look that great. He was missing a lot of fur. Vacuumed off, Flora assumed. His eyelids fluttered. His chest rose and fell and rose again. And then it stopped moving altogether.

Flora knelt. She put a finger on the squirrel’s chest.

At the back of each issue of The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto! there was a series of bonus comics. One of Flora’s very favorite bonus comics was entitled TERRIBLE THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! As a cynic, Flora found it wise to be prepared. Who knew what horrible, unpredictable thing would happen next?

Thanks to her reading, Flora is able to give the squirrel CPR and revive him. She names him Ulysses, after the vacuum cleaner.

His encounter with the vacuum cleaner has given him amazing superpowers. He is super strong. He can type. He can write poetry. And he can fly.

But all good superheroes have an arch-nemesis. In Ulysses case, that arch-nemesis is none other than Flora’s mother, who believes squirrels are filthy beasts and wants Flora to have nothing to do with him.

Can Flora and Ulysses overcome evil and save the day?

Various parts of this book, particularly the parts with Ulysses’ superpowers, are shown in comic panel form, which is appropriate to the story. All the characters they encounter are bizarre in at least one way or another, which is also appropriate to a story of a superhero squirrel. It all adds up to a fun and quirky story with a lot of heart.

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Better Nate Than Ever, by Tim Federle

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Better Nate Than Ever

by Tim Federle

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2013. 288 pages.
Starred Review
2013 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4 Children’s Fiction

Here’s a book loaded with charm.

Nate is a kid who dreams of starring on Broadway. But he’s also a kid who gets bullied.

Life hasn’t always been easy (my first word was “Mama,” and then “The other babies are teasing me”), but at least I’m singing my way through eighth grade, pretending my whole existence is underscored.

His best friend Libby, also a fan of Broadway musicals, has learned there’s an open casting call for Elliott, the child star of E. T.: The Musical. So Libby and Nate form an elaborate plan for Nate to get out of his hometown in Pennsylvania while his parents are away and his brother Anthony is in charge. He’ll go to the casting call and get his big chance.

Naturally, things start going wrong as soon as Nate sets out. And his cell phone dies, so he can’t answer Libby’s frantic texts. Fortunately, he has an aunt who lives in New York, an aunt who has been estranged from Nate’s mom for years and isn’t exactly expecting him. But she knows how auditions work and helps Nate brave the process.

This book looks at the audition process in New York with lots of humor and lots of heart. The portrayals of the other kids and parents, intent on getting the part, ring true. But mostly, Nate shines exactly like the star he’s destined to become. Great fun.

TimFederle.com
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Mystery of Meerkat Hill, by Alexander McCall Smith

Audiobooks, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Mystery 0

The Mystery of Meerkat Hill
A Precious Ramotswe Mystery for Young Readers

by Alexander McCall Smith
read by Adjoa Andoh

Listening Library, 2013. 1 hour on 1 CD.

The Mystery of Meerkat Hill is a second mystery about the heroine of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency when she was a little girl. The book form is a short chapter book with illustrations, perfect for kids ready to start on chapter books. The audio form has rich African accents, and is a delight to listen to.

Precious already has her trademark matter-of-fact approach to life. In this story, she makes some new friends who have a meerkat as a pet. Later, the friends lose their cow. Precious helps them track the cow and figures out a clever way to show it is theirs.

You’ve got a mystery, lots of animals, and a story set among kids living in another country. I’m excited to be able to offer this to kids, and the CD makes a wonderful family listening experience as well.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

Frogged

by Vivian Vande Velde

Harcourt Children’s Books, Boston, 2013. 198 pages.

This is one of Vivian Vande Velde’s more light-hearted works, for younger readers. When Princess Imogene meets a talking frog, he claims to be a prince who will gain his true form if she kisses him. Imogene wants to do what a good princess should do, so she kisses the frog. The frog does turn back into a boy (though not a prince), but the spell transfers to Imogene, and she becomes a frog. What’s more, she’s stuck as a frog until she can find someone to kiss her and take the spell. But what kind of princess would do such a thing to someone else?

Imogene figures she can find someone who will take her back to her parents, and they can figure out a solution. But instead, she falls into the hands of some traveling performers who plan to make money with a talking frog. In the misadventures that follow, Imogene wonders if she will ever get home again, and if she will ever be a princess again.

This book is simply fun, with a heroine who started out feeling burdened by expectations to be a good princess, but who ends up just being thankful to be herself.

vivianvandevelde.com
hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Heaven Is Paved with Oreos, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Heaven Is Paved With Oreos

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 201 pages.
Starred Review

Heaven Is Paved with Oreos is a follow-up to Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s wonderful Dairy Queen trilogy about D.J. Schwenk. You don’t have to have read the earlier trilogy, but those who have will enjoy D.J.’s presence in this book. As a matter of fact, I thought there was a bit more of D.J. than felt quite realistic, but it was fun to feel still in touch with her.

This book is about Sarah Zorn, the girlfriend of D.J.’s little brother, Curtis. Or is she his girlfriend? Turns out, Sarah came up with a Brilliant Outflanking Strategy, which turned out not to be so brilliant.

But it seemed brilliant at the time. Sarah and Curtis were doing lots of things together, and people kept teasing them and asking them if they were going out. Finally, out of frustration, Sarah said Yes. Suddenly the person who asked didn’t even care any more.

Curtis frowned. “Why would she keep asking us that question if she doesn’t care?”

“She did care,” I said, thinking hard. “Until we said yes. Then she stopped thinking about it.” That was when I had my eureka moment. Eureka is what you say when you have a massive scientific discovery. “That’s it! Curtis, no one cares if we’re really going out. They just like thinking we are. They don’t like it when we say they’re wrong. So let’s let them think it!”

But that backfires after awhile. During the summer before high school, Sarah’s grandmother, Z, is taking her to Rome. Just before she leaves, Curtis says he doesn’t like the lying to people. So they break up even though they were never really going out. So Sarah can’t even send postcards to her best friend.

The bulk of the book is about Sarah’s time in Rome with Z, since it’s in the form of her journal for the summer. She writes about what she’d say in a postcard to Curtis – if she were writing to him.

But Z has her own drama on the trip when she turns 64, and Sarah has to step up and be responsible in a foreign country.

Catherine Gilbert Murdock knows how to write about kids that feel very real in situations that are exceptional but feel normal. I hope more books about Sarah will follow this one.

hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Star Wars Jedi Academy, by Jeffrey Brown

Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction 0

Star Wars Jedi Academy

by Jeffrey Brown

Scholastic, Sept 2013. 160 pages.

This is Diary of a Wimpy Kid crossed with Star Wars. It is going to be a huge hit with our library patrons. From the author of Darth Vader and Son and Vader’s Little Princess comes this graphic novel look at what middle school would be like – if you were training to be a Jedi.

Roan Novachez lives on Tattooine and he’s waiting eagerly for his acceptance to Pilot Academy, when, much to his disappointment, he gets selected by Master Yoda for Jedi Academy instead. Kids used to Star Wars will especially enjoy Roan’s impressions of the characters for the first time.

About Yoda, he says, “Everything up mixed says he, backwards he talks.” He includes translations of the beeps and boops from their droid, and what their Wookiee gym teacher has said this week. It’s all very funny in the context of Star Wars, but it all rings true as to things middle school kids have to deal with – tests, a science project, an election, competition, learning new skills, and navigating friendships. Oh, and making light sabers.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an Advance Review Copy I got at ALA Annual Conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Bluffton, by Matt Phelan

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review 0

Bluffton

by Matt Phelan

Candlewick Press, 2013. 223 pages.
Starred Review

Bluffton is a graphic novel about a fictional friend of Buster Keaton. When Buster Keaton was young, and already a vaudeville star, his family really did vacation at Bluffton, in Muskegon, Michigan, along with a whole group of vaudevillians, complete with an elephant and a zebra.

The book shows what it might have been like for an ordinary kid living in Muskegon, getting to play with Buster Keaton during the summers.

This graphic novel catches the lazy fun of summer, as well as Buster Keaton’s tendency to pranks and tricks. And it imagines what he would have been like to play with. Henry, the ordinary boy in the story, dreams of having an act like Buster.

This book has a lot of heart, and a nice factual foundation. Matt Phelan writes that he has been a Buster Keaton fan since he was a small boy, and his affection comes out in his work.

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett, by Tom Angleberger

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett

by Tom Angleberger

Amulet Books, New York, 2013. 224 pages.
Starred Review

This is now the fourth book about Origami Yoda and Tommy, Dwight, Kellen, Sara, and other kids at McQuarrie Middle School. Like the last one, this one ends with “To Be Continued,” but that didn’t bother me as much as it did in the third book. Now we’ve got a continuing saga going, and those who have read this far will certainly want to keep going.

In this book, the kids are up against the FunTime Education System, produced by Edu-Fun Educational Products. The school’s average standardized test scores were down, so all elective classes have been cancelled so they can watch “educational” videos with Professor FunTime and Gizmo the talking calculator.

This horror is too big for Origami Yoda alone, but they recruit a complete Origami Rebel Alliance to fight back and attempt to restore band, drama, and art. But can a band of rebel fighters take on the Empire of adults determined to bring up those test scores?

This installment in the series was huge fun. Tom Angleberger knows how to fill the reader with mind-numbing terror at the idea of FunTime, because although it’s over-the-top, there are far too many elements of truth in this scenario.

Imagine, if you will, another world, another galaxy, where there is someone like Mr. Good Clean Fun, the guy with the monkey puppet who comes to our assembly and sings songs about how to blow your nose. But this other-galaxy dude is actually worse — he lip-synchs all his songs and is named . . . Professor FunTime! And instead of a puppet, he has an animated, singing calculator.

And together they sang:

“FunTime! Every minute, every second will . . . help you FOCUS on the FUNdamentals!”

The weird dude said, “I’m Professor FunTime!”

And the calculator said, “And I’m Gizmo!”

“We’re here to help you PREP for your big test!”

“What does ‘PREP’ stand for, Professor?”

“‘Preparation and RE-view Period!'”

“Wouldn’t that be ‘PARP’?” asked Kellen.

Oh, the horror! Go, Origami Rebel Alliance!

This middle school series is full of good, clean Fun!

origamiyoda.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Clementine and the Spring Trip, by Sara Pennypacker

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Humorous 0

Clementine and the Spring Trip

by Sara Pennypacker
pictures by Marla Frazee

Disney Hyperion Books, 2013. 160 pages.
Starred Review

Clementine’s back! In this, her sixth book, we’re taken through Clementine’s 3rd grade year. I’m almost sad to see her maturing as the series goes. She doesn’t really get into any trouble in this book. In fact, her teacher asks her to partner with the new girl, Olive, on the class’s Spring Field Trip to Plimouth Plantation.

And there’s plenty of elementary school drama. Clementine’s class is forced to ride the dreaded Bus Seven.

I have only taken Bus Seven one time, but one time was enough, let me tell you. If you took all the terrible-smelling things you could think of and mixed them together and let them rot for a good long time, it would smell like roses compared to The Cloud. The smell gets worse with every step you take toward the back of the bus, except that it gets a little better at the very last row, but that might be just because at the very last row you can smell the exhaust. Bus exhaust smells like roses too, compared to The Cloud.

On the field trip, the third graders have to eat with the fourth graders, and Margaret warns Clementine that the fourth graders have rules against eating anything noisy.

Rules and worries and the new girl and the disgusting smell all have a part to play in a satisfying story about our irrepressible third grade friend.

This book doesn’t stand out in my mind, because I’m getting used to the high quality of the series. I’m booktalking the whole series this year simply by reading aloud a small section from this book. This whole series makes highly enjoyable reading, with plenty of lively pictures and a way of looking at the world not quite like anyone else’s.

disneyhyperionbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!