Review of Grandfather Gandhi, by Arun Gandhi, Bethany Hegedus, and Evan Turk

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

grandfather_gandhi_largeGrandfather Gandhi

by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus
illustrated by Evan Turk

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2014. 40 pages.
Starred Review

This book is shelved with the biographies in our library, and technically it’s nonfiction, but this isn’t so much the story of someone’s life as it is a true story that children will relate to and that makes a magnificent picture book.

Arun Gandhi is the grandson of the famous Mahatma, Mohandas K. Gandhi. This picture book tells the story of when he met his grandfather, who was already a revered spiritual leader.

He moved to the Sevagram ashram from South Africa when he was twelve years old, and had to adjust to no electricity or television, learning a new language, sharing his grandfather with many followers, new foods, and feeling like he could never measure up to the expectations of being a Gandhi.

It seemed everyone around him was good at peace and tranquility, but Arun kept finding anger welling up inside him. Finally, after an explosive incident on the soccer field, Arun got to talk with his grandfather, who admitted that even he felt anger. But anger, like electricity, has two sides. It can strike like lightning and cause destruction, or it can work in a lamp and bring light.

This story is specific to this boy’s upbringing, but it is universal in its appeal. Every child understands wondering if they will measure up to the expectations of others. And every child understands the difficulty of dealing with anger.

The art in this book is striking, using collage including cloth and thread. I especially liked how Arun’s anger was expressed in a cloud of black thread encircling him and the resonant shapes done with shadows.

This is a lovely book, and gently and without preaching is a vehicle for bringing up important topics. It’s all told from a child’s perspective, in a natural way, and will appeal to children and adults from any culture and any religion.

arungandhi.org
bethanyhegedus.com
evanturk.com
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.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.

Review of Secrets of the Sky Caves, by Sandra K. Athans

Adventure, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science 0

secrets_of_the_sky_caves_largeSecrets of the Sky Caves

Danger and Discovery on Nepal’s Mustang Cliffs

by Sandra K. Athans

Millbrook Press (Lerner), Minneapolis, 2014. 64 pages.

Shades of Indiana Jones! Here’s a nonfiction book about modern archaeology, complete with danger, religious artifacts, wall murals, ancient manuscripts, and plenty of human remains.

In the Mustang region of Nepal, nestled high in the Himalayas near Mount Everest, high in the soft stone of the cliffs are thousands of caves, where ancient people used to make their homes, probably to escape fighting over the Silk Road.

This book details recent expeditions to explore the caves. Pete Athans, American world-class mountain climber, led the expedition, and brought along his wife Liesl Clark, who is also a world-class mountain climber, and their two children. The children have set a record as the youngest outsiders to enter the district of Mustang. Pete Athans’ sister is the author of the book.

Pete Athans has climbed Mount Everest, but the Mustang cliffs, with their brittle rock faces, are perhaps even more dangerous.

The photographs in the book are many and varied. The story of the exploration is fascinating as they had to use mountain-climbing techniques to uncover these cave cities – and then found artifacts like an ancient mural, thousands of pages of an old manuscript, ancient pottery, and even human and animal remains.

Scientists study the different artifacts in different ways, and for each step, permission was needed from the government of Nepal. A scholar who could read ancient Tibetan was needed for the manuscripts. A geneticist who can extract DNA was needed for the human remains. And of course archaeologists are involved in uncovering the rich artifacts buried in the tombs. And all the scientists have to learn rock climbing to access the finds.

This book is sure to get kids interested in archaeology, as well as the many other areas of science involved in learning about the ancient past. Or perhaps exploration and rock-climbing.

lernerbooks.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.

Review of The Griffin and the Dinosaur, by Marc Aronson

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science 0

griffin_and_the_dinosaur_largeThe Griffin and the Dinosaur

How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science

by Marc Aronson with Adrienne Mayor
illustrated by Chris Muller

National Geographic, Washington, DC, 2014. 48 pages.

Here’s a picture book biography of a scientist readers probably haven’t heard of, but whose work, which continues to the present day, is fascinating.

Adrienne grew up interested in the natural world around her and also interested in Greek myths. As she studied Greek writings and Greek art over a course of years, she became convinced that the Greeks were basing their stories on things they had actually seen.

The book traces Adrienne’s thought processes and dead ends until she finally established a connection between Greek tales of Scythian gold hunters and abundant fossilized bones of Protoceratops

Adrienne’s decade-long quest to prove that the griffin legend was based on a real fossil always had a larger aim. She was certain that the peoples of the ancient world had been as attentive to fossils and bones as we are today. If the Cyclops was an extinct mammoth and the griffin was a Protoceratops, surely many other myths and legends were based on observation, not fantasy. Which ones?

This book is an introduction to the topic that is sure to pull in readers. We’ve got Greek mythology and dinosaurs, combined. What could possibly have more kid appeal?

marcaronson.com
kids.nationalgeographic.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.

Review of The Noisy Paint Box, by Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpré

Art, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

noisy_paint_box_largeThe Noisy Paint Box

The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art

by Barb Rosenstock
illustrated by Mary Grandpré

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

I love picture book biographies about artists where the illustrator communicates the feeling of the artist’s life and work. Mary Grandpré achieves this in The Noisy Paint Box, managing to do what Vasily Kandinsky was trying to do, and paint feelings.

The words ring. A note at the back explains, “This book is historical fiction. The dialogue is imagined, although the events are true.” As long as Barb Rosenstock was inventing dialogue, she used words that make an impact.

“Look what I made!” shouted Vasya.
“Is it a house?” asked Auntie.
“Is it a flower?” asked Mama.
“What’s it supposed to be?” asked Papa.
“It’s music!” said Vasya, waltzing his painting around the house.

“Calm down!” said Mama.
“Do some math!” said Papa.
“Heavens!” said Auntie. “This boy needs a proper art class.”

Later, when the adult Kadinsky creates abstract art, we see our first reproduction of one of his paintings with text that echoes his family in childhood.

It took a long time for people to understand.

“Is it a house?” “Is it a flower?” “What’s it supposed to be?”

“It’s my art,” Vasya answered. “How does it make you feel?”

In the note at the back, the author also explains that Kandinsky probably had synesthesia, since he described experiencing colors as sounds and sounds as colors throughout his life. Combined with the art of Mary Grandpré, even child readers will get a sense of what that means.

BarbRosenstock.com
MaryGrandPre.com
randomhouse.com/kids

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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.

Review of The Scraps Book, by Lois Ehlert

Art, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

scraps_book_largeThe Scraps Book

Notes from a Colorful Life

by Lois Ehlert

Beach Lane Books, New York, 2014. 72 pages.
Starred Review

Lois Ehlert makes wonderful picture book art, including the classic which I bought for my oldest son and quickly became a favorite in our family, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

This book tells a bit about how art found Lois Ehlert since childhood and led to her satisfying career. I say “a bit” because this is a picture book. There’s a little bit of text on each page, but mostly the book is made up of images.

There are pictures of the author as a child with her parents. There is a picture of the folding table her father set up for her to do art. There is a picture of the pinking shears her mother used on fabric, which Lois still uses. And on almost every page, there are elements of art that went into her many different books. She shows her method of collage and has a word of encouragement for budding artists: “If you feel that way too, I hope you’ll find a spot to work, and begin.”

The text is simple, with just a sentence or two of the main thread on each page, with the rest made up of many little notes about the art. The style reminds me of that in Feathers for Lunch, since you can read it on a couple different levels – reading the overarching main text, or getting delightfully absorbed in the details.

This book is fascinating for someone like me who has no desire to be an artist, in that it looks behind the scenes at the creation of some brilliant picture books. How much more inspiring I think it will be for kids who are interested in doing art.

KIDS.SimonandSchuster.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.

Review of Mysterious Patterns: Finding Fractals in Nature, by Sarah C. Campbell

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical 0

mysterious_patterns_largeMysterious Patterns

Finding Fractals in Nature

by Sarah C. Campbell
photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell

Boyds Mills Press, 2014. 32 pages.

I love it when an author takes a fairly complicated mathematical concept and makes it picture-book simple. And in this case, she makes it look easy. (I’ve taught math. Trust me; it’s not easy to explain things simply.)

This book explains fractals and how they appear in nature – with plenty of photographs illustrating the concepts every step of the way.

Every fractal shape has smaller parts that look like the whole shape. Fractals are everywhere in nature, and can form in many different ways. A tree is a fractal. It starts with one shape that changes in the same way over, and over, and over again.

This tree [There’s a diagram below this paragraph.] starts with a stem, which splits into two branches, which each split into more branches, until the smallest branches split into twigs.

Many smaller parts of the tree – large branches with smaller branches and twigs – look like the whole tree, with its trunk and branches and smaller branches.

I already knew about fractals. I’ve seen mathematical formulas for them. I’ve even begun knitting a Sierpinski Triangle Scarf. However, after reading this book, I’m noticing fractals around me far more than ever before.

I think the same thing will probably happen with kids who read this book – and this book that includes no numbers higher than five may even inspire some child to find out more about the beautiful mathematics behind it.

sarahccampbell.com
boydsmillspress.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.

Review of A Boy and a Jaguar, by Alan Rabinowitz

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

boy_and_jaguar_largeA Boy and a Jaguar

by Alan Rabinowitz
illustrated by Cátia Chen

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

This is a picture book biography, with Alan Rabinowitz telling his own story. The book stands out because his story is riveting and inspiring, and the paintings by Cátia Chen are a perfect match.

Alan Rabinowitz has always been a stutterer. When he was a child, he was put in a class for disturbed children, because the teachers said that whenever he tried to speak, it disrupted the class.

He explains his predicament simply:

I try to explain, but my mouth freezes, just as I knew it would. I am a stutterer. If I try to push words out, my head and body shake uncontrollably.

However, the book begins with Alan standing in front of his favorite animal, a jaguar, at the Bronx Zoo. He explains why:

I can do two things without stuttering. One is sing – only I can’t sing well – and the other is talk to animals.

Alan builds a special relationship with animals. People treat him as broken because he stutters.

I know that my pets listen and understand. Animals can’t get the words out, just as I can’t get the words out. So people ignore or misunderstand or hurt them, the same way people ignore or misunderstand or hurt me.

I make a promise to my pets.

I promise that if I can ever find my voice, I will be their voice and keep them from harm.

Alan gets through school and college and learns to speak without stuttering, but he still feels broken on the inside. So he sets off to study animals.

Later, in Belize, I am the first person to study jaguars. The jungle makes me feel more alive than I have ever felt.

He’s in a wonderfully atmospheric jungle scene for this spread.

But jaguars are being hunted. Alan needs to speak to the prime minister of Belize for a plea to set up a jaguar preserve. Can he do it without stuttering? Can he keep his promise he made to animals in his youth?

The book finishes off with an amazing encounter. As an adult, back in the jungle studying jaguars, he comes face to face with a large male jaguar.

I know I should feel frightened, but I squat down and look into the jaguar’s eyes, just as I had with the sad old female at the Bronx Zoo. But this animal isn’t sad. In this animal’s eyes are strength and power and sureness of purpose.

We are both whole.

We are both at home.

I lean toward him a little, the way I had at the Bronx Zoo so many years before.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

This is a truly beautiful book with an inspiring message. This is a case where what stands out is the strong story and you realize later that because it’s true, technically, it’s a biography, not a storybook. I do hope that readers will find it in the nonfiction section. We’re going to have to make an effort to pull it out and give it the attention it deserves.

panthera.org
stutteringhelp.org
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.

Review of Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey, by Loree Griffin Burns and Ellen Harasimowicz

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

handle_with_care_largeHandle with Care

An Unusual Butterfly Journey

by Loree Griffin Burns
photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz

Millbrook Press, Minneapolis, 2014. 33 pages.
Starred Review

This beautifully photographed book tells the true story of an unusual farm – El Bosque Nuevo, in Costa Rica, where they grow butterfly pupae.

This story begins with a museum in Boston receiving a box full of butterfly pupae which are about to become butterflies. Then it zooms to Costa Rica and shows us the screened greenhouses where the butterfly farmers keep the butterflies.

The book shows all the parts of the process, including feeding the butterflies with crushed bananas and sugar water, searching the leaves for predators, making sure the growing caterpillars get plenty to eat, and gathering the ones almost ready to become pupae.

They explain the stages of an insect’s life. The blue morpho caterpillar grown at El Bosque Nuevo changes its patterns dramatically at each stage of molting.

The pictures show workers sorting hundreds of pupae to send out, shows how they are kept in the museum, and finally shows the wonder of a little girl looking at a newly-emerged butterfly.

For those who want to know more, the back matter is most interesting. This is a nice twist on a simple book about butterflies – shows an actual butterfly farm and the entire process of growing a butterfly.

loreeburns.com
ellenharasimowicz.com
lerneresource.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.

Review of Firefly July, selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry, Starred Review 0

firefly_july_largeFirefly July

A Year of Very Short Poems

selected by Paul B. Janeczko
illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Candlewick Press, 2014. 48 pages.
Starred Review

I’m not proud to say it, but a poetry book has to be something special to wow me. Firefly July is stunning.

The poems chosen have one thing in common: They are all short. They are also fit nicely into the context of a specific season.

A few are well-known, and I’d heard of them in my childhood, such as “The Red Wheelbarrow,” by William Carlos Williams, and “Fog,” by Carl Sandburg. Several more were by poets I’d heard of, such as Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes. But the majority were entirely new to me. Those, too, were short and sweet and lovely.

Of course, the fact that all the poems are short makes this perfect for young kids looking for their first poem to memorize.

But the stunning part of the book is the way the bright pictures work with the poetry. I love the water lily on the page with this poem:

Water Lily

My petals enfold stamens of gold.
I float, serene, while down below

these roots of mine are deeply stuck
in the coolest most delicious muck.

–Ralph Fletcher

Melissa Sweet’s artwork is hard to describe. There are collage elements and bright colors and unsophisticated line drawings and friendly faces. They work beautifully with the poems in this collection.

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.

Review of Eye to Eye, by Steve Jenkins

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

eye_to_eye_largeEye to Eye

How Animals See the World

by Steve Jenkins

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Steve Jenkins does it again! He’s the one who can make incredibly detailed animal art using cut paper collage. His art looks like photographs and has amazing levels of detail. When coupled with fascinating facts about animals, his books are exceptional.

Eye to Eye looks at four kinds of animal eyes: eyespots, a simple cluster of light-sensitive cells; pinhole eyes, which can form dim but detailed images; compound eyes with hundreds or thousands of individual facets; and camera eyes, found in all birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, emplying a lens to focus light on the sensitive surface of a retina.

Then he’s got examples of the different types of eyes and all sorts of strange and unusual eyes. We’ve got the biggest eyes in the world (on a colossal squid), eyes bigger than the animal’s brain (on a tarsier), the most highly developed eyes (on a mantis shrimp), eyes that look in two directions (on the brownsnout spookfish), an animal with a third eye on the top of its head (the tuatara), and a creature with as many as 111 eyeballs (the Atlantic bay scallop), among others.

I found some of the creatures a bit disgusting, but I’m guessing that will make certain kids enjoy the book all the more. I learned a lot about eyes reading this book. Another treasure trove of information paired with mind-boggling artwork from Steve Jenkins.

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.