Review of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

storied_life_of_aj_fikry_largeThe Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

by Gabrielle Zevin

read by Scott Brick

HighBridge, 2014. 7 hours on 6 compact discs.
Starred Review

After listening to the first CD of this audiobook, I was strongly tempted to quit. Put the whole book away. The book doesn’t even begin with A. J. Fikry. It begins with a woman who’s a publisher representative. She takes the difficult journey to Alice Island in Massachusetts to meet with the owner of Island Books. He hasn’t read his email and isn’t expecting her. In fact, he hadn’t realized that her predecessor is dead.

He is curmudgeonly and terribly rude to her. After she leaves, we see him get out the rare book that he’s counting on to pay for retiring from the bookselling business. He drinks until he passes out and imagines his recently-killed wife helping him to bed.

In the morning, his rare book, the one worth a fortune, is gone. The same policeman helps him who investigated his wife’s car accident.

Depressing story, right? I wasn’t crazy about the reader, either. It wasn’t terribly easy to tell who was talking by the voice.

But I continued into the second disc… and someone left a baby in the bookstore.

The baby changes A. J.’s life. In good ways. And this book about A. J.’s life ends up being delightful.

There are some dramatic plot twists thrown in. Perhaps the story isn’t entirely likely. But it has plenty of heart.

We see A. J.’s daughter grow to be a teenager, with the story focusing in on different crucial times in their shared lives. She’s a girl who loves books and reading. They are my kind of people.

By the end of the book, we’ve got a tribute to independent bookstores, and how they give a community its heart.

highbridgeaudio.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/storied_life_of_aj_fikry.html

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 audiobook 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 Winter Is Coming, by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Jim LaMarche

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

winter_is_coming_largeWinter is Coming

by Tony Johnston
illustrated by Jim LaMarche

A Paula Wiseman Book (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), New York, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I usually don’t fall for quiet, meditative picture books. They need some zing to keep kids from squirming in Storytime. And surely Autumn has been done to death?

However, this book is so completely gorgeous, it won my heart. The text is gentle and lovely, and the story in pictures of a girl watching the natural world, observing and sketching, snuck its way into my heart.

The girl has a platform set up in a moss-covered old tree. She has binoculars and a sketch book. The book starts in early Autumn. The girl comes and sees wildlife come to the clearing, first a fox sniffing the last apple on their apple tree. Each new scene ends with the words “Winter is coming.”

Over the months that follow, she sees a bear and her cub, a family of skunks, a pair of woodpeckers, a group of rabbits, a lynx, chipmunks, deer, geese flying south, and finally a flock of wild turkeys. With each new day, the girl observes the animals and how they are getting ready for winter. Finally:

It’s late November now.
Gray as honkers, clouds crowd low.
The red fox returns,
prowling, prying, poking.
But the apples are gone.
The day goes still.
The red fox is quiet, quiet.
I am quiet, quiet. Then –
the clouds dust us with
snow.
Soon snow lies everywhere.

Winter is here.

Besides being beautiful to look at, the pictures, even though they are all from the same basic setting, are presented from a wide variety of angles and perspectives. Paired with the poetic language and insights about nature, this book won my heart.

We can learn from animals, my father says.
About patience. About truth. About quiet.
About taking only what you need
from the land because
we are just its keepers.

KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/winter_is_coming.html

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 Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stroud

Adventure, Alternate History, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Starred Review, Suspense 0

whispering_skull_largeThe Whispering Skull

Lockwood & Co., Book 2

by Jonathan Stroud

Disney Hyperion, Los Angeles, 2014. 435 pages.
Starred Review

I was so looking forward to this sequel to The Screaming Staircase, I preordered the book as soon as I heard its publication date. And I was not disappointed.

Jonathan Stroud is a genius for plotting. This book again intertwines many plot threads. We’re back with the 3-person (3-child) agency Lockwood & Co., in an alternate reality England where ghosts plague the populace. Lucy continues to narrate, and in this book she continues to hear from the skull-in-a-jar that George stole when he was working for the Fittes agency.

It is highly unusual for someone to be able to talk with a ghost. This is a Type Three ghost, and only one other Sensitive was ever able to do it. So this could bring Lucy and their agency fame and fortune. But is it worth it? The skull gives them information that almost gets them killed, and it sows doubts in Lucy’s mind about Lockwood and that door he asked them never to open.

Then there are, of course, the cases. The ones in this book are even more gruesome and frightening than the ones in the earlier book. Kids with an especially vivid imagination might want to stay away. Kids who like scary books, however, will be delighted. Mention that a ghost starts falling apart and forming ghost-rats that attack them. If they think they like the sound of reading about that, this is the book for them!

There’s also a rivalry with another agency – and a bet as to which one can solve the case first. There’s the usual fun banter between Lockwood and Lucy and George. (And George shines in this volume, I must say.)

But the meat of the book is the mystery. Who stole the Bone Glass, and what does it do? And can they get it back, yet stay alive?

This is yet another example of Jonathan Stroud’s superb writing. Even though I had my own copy, I checked out the library’s copy so I could read it on my lunch breaks. This is absorbing, clever, innovative, and completely delightful reading.

To give you the flavor, here’s a bit from a scene right at the start, where Lockwood & Co. get in a little over their heads:

“It’s getting close to the barrier,” I said.

“So’s mine.”

“It’s really horrible.”

“Well, mine’s lost both hands. Beat that.”

Lockwood sounded relaxed, but that was nothing new. Lockwood always sounds relaxed. Or almost always: that time we opened Mrs. Barrett’s tomb – he was definitely flustered then, though that was mainly due to the claw marks on his nice new coat. I stole a quick sidelong glance at him now. He was standing with his sword held ready: tall, slim, as nonchalant as ever, watching the slow approach of the second Visitor. The lantern light played on his thin, pale face, catching the elegant outline of his nose, and his flop of ruffled hair. He wore that slight half-smile he reserved for dangerous situations: the kind of smile that suggests complete command. His coat flapped slightly in the night breeze. As usual, just looking at him gave me confidence. I gripped my sword tightly and turned back to watch my ghost.

And found it right there beside the chains. Soundless, swift as thinking, it had darted in as soon as I’d looked away.

I swung the rapier up.

The mouth gaped, the sockets flared with greenish fire. With terrible speed, it flung itself forward. I screamed, jumped back. The ghost collided with the barrier a few inches from my face. A bang, a splash of ectoplasm. Burning flecks rained down on the muddy grass outside the circle. Now the pale figure was ten feet farther off, quivering and steaming.

There you have it: Plenty of adventure, danger from entities living and dead, swordplay, ghosts, mysteries and murders. This will appeal to many for its clever plotting, but is not for the faint of heart.

LockwoodandCo.com
jonathanstroud.com
DisneyBooks.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/whispering_skull.html

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 my own copy, preordered from Amazon.com.

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 Two Speckled Eggs, by Jennifer K. Mann

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

two_speckled_eggs_largeTwo Speckled Eggs

by Jennifer K. Mann

Candlewick Press, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Ginger’s birthday party is coming up, and she wants to invite everyone in the class except Lyla Browning. Lyla Browning is weird. She even brought a tarantula in a pickle jar for Show-and-Tell. But Ginger’s mother says it’s all the girls or none of the girls, so Lyla gets an invitation, too.

At the birthday party, we see, in subtle ways, Lyla behaving more nicely than any of the other girls. And she brings Ginger a present she made herself – a tiny bird’s nest with two speckled, malted-milk eggs.

And so we see the blossoming of a friendship, one which we can see will continue at school.

This book is lovely in the way it shows that sometimes weird can also be quirky; unusual can also be creative; and not-like-everyone-else can also be thoughtful and interesting.

And the message is never stated outright. But you can see it in the blossoming of this friendship between two girls, and every reader can see that Lyla Browning may be weird, but she’s going to make a very good friend.

candlewick.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/two_speckled_eggs.html

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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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/scraps_book.html

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 Extraordinary, by Nancy Werlin

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 2

extraordinary_largeExtraordinary

by Nancy Werlin

Speak (Penguin), 2010. 393 pages.
Starred Review

After reading Nancy Werlin’s Impossible on the plane on the way to Portland, Oregon, I went to two different Powell’s locations looking for the sequels. And had them finished before I got home.

Extraordinary isn’t exactly a sequel to Impossible, but it’s got a similar element of Faery and our world interacting with one another. And the third book, Unthinkable, has threads from each of the previous two books. So you don’t have to read the first and second books in order, but it’s good to have read them before you read the third book.

In a short section called “Conversation with the Faerie Queen, 1,” which appears before “Chapter 1,” we learn that a faerie girl is being sent into the human realm.

“You are anxious. Naturally. It is a great deal of responsibility. But remember, your way has been prepared. The Tolliver woman will believe you to be her own human daughter, miraculously restored to her. Grief, depression, and loneliness have caused her to lose herself, so she will gratefully accept your guidance in all things, young though you are. Managing her will be easy for you; you will give her certain human medications to keep her under your influence, and you will use her money for all your needs in the human realm.”

“I understand. And the Rothschild girl?”

“The girl is of course your main focus. You will observe her at school. I need not tell you again that everything — everything — depends on her.”

“The stakes are high.”

“Frighteningly high, at this point. It is useless to deny it.”

Chapter One begins with the sentence: “Phoebe Gutle Rothschild met Mallory Tolliver in seventh grade, during the second week of the new school year, in homeroom.” From the conversation with the Faerie Queen, we know something’s up, that something’s at stake, but we don’t know what. Mallory is being talked about by everyone for how peculiar she is.

However, Phoebe decides to be Mallory’s friend. Mallory meets again with the Faerie Queen:

“But child, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. You are absolutely sure the Rothschild girl is the right one? And yet you say she is not ready?”

“Yes, she is the right one, and yes, she is not ready. That other human girl that we were watching, the one called Colette – she had not achieved what we thought she had. The Rothschild girl was fighting back. While she is not very self-assured, she has personal strength of will. Your Majesty, I now understand that when we observe human activity from outside, we can be mistaken when we try to interpret what it means.”

Mallory goes from saying she can finish in a few days to a few weeks, and then to a few years. We pick up the story four years later – “four good, solid years of best-friendship later.” One day, Mallory tells Phoebe that her half-brother is coming to live with her and her mother. Phoebe doesn’t believe it at first. Mallory has never mentioned a brother before.

Mallory’s brother Ryland is older and incredibly handsome. And he is very interested in Phoebe. And it doesn’t take long before Phoebe is obsessed with him. But why do they have to keep it secret from Mallory? And what is Mallory trying to tell her?

We’re eventually going to learn what the Faerie world wants with Phoebe Rothschild and what the high stakes are. And we also get a look at friendship and self-esteem and character – all with magical undertones that stretch into our world. And the story of a generations-long bargain made with the Fae.

This is a worthy successor to Impossible

nancywerlin.com
penguin.com/teens

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/extraordinary.html

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 book I purchased at Powell’s.

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 Hidden, by Loïc Dauvillier

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

hidden_largeHidden

A Child’s Story of the Holocaust

written by Loïc Dauvillier
illustrated by Marc Lizano
color by Greg Salsedo
translated by Alexis Siegel

First Second Books, New York, 2014. Originally published in French in 2012. 76 pages.
Starred Review

Hidden is a graphic novelization of a grandmother telling her granddaughter about her experiences during the Holocaust. The graphic novel form makes this a gentle way to introduce the Holocaust to children.

I’m going to tell the ending in my review, so you know where the story goes and can judge if your child is ready for it. The pictures in the graphic novel format add to the power. And the frame of the grandmother telling the story lets you know right away that she will survive.

Dounia lived in Paris during the occupation by the Germans. At first, when her family is forced to wear the yellow stars, her father tells her they have all become sheriffs. She wears the star proudly, but quickly learns the truth when she is ostracized in school and told to sit at the back of the classroom.

Eventually, when the Nazis come for her family, Dounia is hidden under the false floor of a wardrobe. Their downstairs neighbors take her in after her parents have been taken away. But eventually, she must leave Paris. However, a woman sees Dounia and starts shouting for the police, so the father runs, and the mother must go with Dounia into hiding on a farm in the countryside.

Dounia, who now is called Simone, does make it through the war, because of the help of the people who hide her. After the war, they find her mother, looking gaunt and skeletal. They never do find her father.

And this is the story the grandmother tells her granddaughter in the night. The next day we learn that her son – the granddaughter’s father – has never heard the story. But he’s proud and happy that his daughter knows. And they end with a group hug.

It’s hard not to be moved by this story. It’s told from the perspective of a little girl who didn’t know what was going on. There’s not a lot of commentary, but the reader can easily see that the situation is not fair.

There’s one interruption in the story, flashing back to the grandmother and granddaughter, after people are first mean to Dounia at school.

Your daddy was a liar!
No, of course not!
Then why did he tell you you were a sheriff?
My daddy didn’t want to hurt me. He made up that story to protect me.
Okay, but then, why were they mean to you at school? They really didn’t like Jews?
I don’t know . . . I don’t think so. I think they didn’t know what to do. We were just children.
And the teacher? She was a grown-up!
Sometimes we do things without thinking, too.
Well, she was wrong.
Yes, I think you’re right.

I like that simple evaluation of the situation. There’s a lot more that can be said, but this sums it up nicely.

A powerful book.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/hidden.html

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.

Parents of Toddlers, Beware of This Book!

Animal Characters, Old Favorites, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

cars_trucks_largeCars and Trucks and Things That Go

by Richard Scarry

A Golden Book, New York, 1974. 69 pages.
Starred Review

Today I was reminded of my son’s favorite book when he was a toddler: Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Tim is now 20 years old, but when he was a year old, we checked out the book from the library and spent the entire two weeks (or three weeks? I don’t remember) reading it over and over.

If you aren’t familiar with this book, it’s basically a story of a pig family going on a picnic. Each extra-large spread shows a different stage of their journey, and they pass every kind of vehicle imaginable along the way. There is a simple storyline about the family’s trip, but the busy pictures are all labeled, and Goldbug shows up on every page, and there are many other things to spot.

The book does, however, take a long time to read. You can try to skip all the extra pointing and only read the story about the pigs, but your child may or may not cooperate with that. So it was with some relief that I turned the book in, when we went back to the library. I was perhaps a bit furtive in the action, and I’m sure I buried the book under others, but I checked out several new books to distract him.

It wasn’t until the next morning that he asked to read Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. I don’t remember what words he used — he still wasn’t very verbal (Though he could say “Car.”) But I knew what he was looking for and said, “Oh Timmy, we took that book back to the library. It’s all gone.”

My son did not take kindly to that news. He went to the back door (the one we used to go to our car), and began a full-fledged temper tantrum, complete with banging his head against the sliding glass door. If I was so horrible as to take the book to the library, then we must go to the library RIGHT NOW!

Well, I survived and managed to not give in to the terrorist. But his dad was on a band trip and was coming back that very day. He liked to bring our sons gifts when he was on a trip. So I called him up and told him that if he had a chance to go to a bookstore (I knew he was staying near a Big Box Borders — they were still new), well, I knew just the book that Timmy would love.

Timmy_Cars_Trucks

Okay, so what made me think of that old story today?

It so happens that my younger sister Marcy (Much younger — she’d never heard this story) has a sweet toddler daughter. Tim and I got to stay at their house in Oregon on our vacation last month, and we both completely fell for her.

This morning, Marcy posted the following on Facebook:

Yeah… when our daughter has a meltdown because “Caws and Tucks” has been returned to the library… we all knew how that was going to end, right?

Her copy arrives Saturday.

I asked Marcy if she was indeed referring to Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, and explained that I’d had the exact same thing happen 19 years ago. She clarified further:

Yep, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go! Returned it yesterday, I’m surprised she made it this long before requesting it. She was super tired though, so the meltdown was NOT surprising, though it was impressively powerful. (After telling her several times we took it to the library, “all gone,” and her continuing to ask, “Caws n Tucks?” I tried to pick her up. THAT led to the “Noooooo!!! No, NOOOOOOO!!!” with her head thrown back and everything.)

Fortunately for us, she’s too young to see a connection between a tantrum and a book arriving THREE DAYS from now.

Dang it, this means I’m going to have to keep reading it. Frog and Toad it isn’t. Oh well. At least she’s ridiculously adorable when she reads it.

Now, as far as I can remember, this is the only book either of my sons ever threw a tantrum about returning to the library. And now my niece has thrown a tantrum about the very same book!

So, consider yourself warned! If you check this book out for your child, you may find returning it a challenge.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go: Discriminating toddlers demand nothing less.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/cars_trucks.html

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 my own copy, purchased by my husband at a Borders in Illinois in 1995.

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 Great Greene Heist, by Varian Johnson

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

great_greene_heist_largeThe Great Greene Heist

Saving the School, One Con at a Time

by Varian Johnson

Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2014. 226 pages.
Starred Review

This is a Heist Novel set in middle school, and it’s tightly plotted and brilliantly executed. On top of that we’ve got a diverse cast of characters, nicely reflecting middle school students today. In the tradition of heist stories, the caper is pulled off by a team working together.

The heist in this case is to steal the student council election. But don’t worry – it’s ethical because the principal has accepted a bribe to make Keith Sinclair win. Keith would have the power to cut funding for all the student clubs he doesn’t like – and he doesn’t like any that Jackson Greene is involved in.

The book starts, expertly, in the middle of the action. Jackson Greene already has a history of schemes and cons. After getting caught on “The Kelsey Job,” otherwise known as “The Mid-Day PDA,” he is not allowed to carry a cell phone, and has promised to reform. And his friend, Gaby, hates him. Because Jackson was caught in the principal’s office, kissing another girl.

Gaby de la Cruz is the one running against Keith Sinclair, and she’s the one who should win. However, as it becomes clear that Keith is going to use shady means to win, Jackson reluctantly agrees to bring his formidable talents to bear on making sure Gaby gets elected.

The characters in this novel are varied and realistic middle school students. The election is taking place the same day as the end of year formal, so there’s added tension as to who’s attending the formal with whom. I love the way Jackson is brilliant in planning a job – yet as clueless as any thirteen-year-old boy about girls. The action keeps moving, so you never want to put down the book.

varianjohnson.com
scholastic.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/great_greene_heist.html

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 Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

most_magnificent_thing_largeThe Most Magnificent Thing

by Ashley Spires

Kids Can Press, 2014. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I love this book. A tribute to the power of failure.

A girl has a wonderful idea. She’s going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! She enlists the help of her dog best friend and assistant. She takes a big pile of what looks like junk and sets to work.

But when it’s finished:

They are shocked to discover that the thing isn’t magnificent.
Or good. It isn’t even kind-of-sort-of okay. It is all WRONG.
The girl tosses it aside and gives it another go.

This happens over and over. The thing isn’t right. She keeps trying again, adapting her design. It never turns out magnificent.

Finally, getting angrier and angrier, she crunches her finger.

The pain starts in her finger.
It rushes up to her brain…
…and she EXPLODES!
It is not her finest moment.

However, her friend the dog convinces her to take a walk and cool down. And when she returns, she sees her failures in a whole new light. She sees parts of different contraptions that are actually quite right. (And in the background, we see bystanders appreciating her efforts as well.)

The new perspective gives her the energy and excitement to try once more. The final result is not perfect, but it’s truly magnificent.

I love the fine print on the page opposite the title: “The artwork in this book was rendered digitally with lots of practice, two hissy fits and one all-out tantrum.”

This book is a beautiful tribute to persistence, hard work – and failure.

kidscanpress.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/most_magnificent_thing.html

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.