Review of Knit Your Bit, by Deborah Hopkinson and Steven Guarnaccia

Historical, History, Picture Book Review 0

Knit Your Bit

A World War I Story

by Deborah Hopkinson
illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2013. 32 pages.

Knit Your Bit is a historical fiction picture book. It’s based on the effort made by the American Red Cross during World War I to have people across the country “knit your bit” to provide soldiers in the trenches with warm clothes to get through the winter.

The picture book looks at a boy named Mikey and his sister Ellie. Their father has gone to war. Ellie decides right away to learn to knit for Pop, but Mikey thinks knitting is for girls. However, with the announcement of a Knitting Bee in Central Park and the girls saying that the boys are scared to learn, Mikey and two friends form a Boys’ Knitting Brigade to try to beat the girls.

The historical aspect of this picture book makes it extra interesting. I love the photos on the endpapers from actual World War I knitting groups, and the sheep that President Wilson kept on the White House lawn. An Author’s Note at the end gives more details, including a song that ends like this:

We are knitting for the boys over there;
It’s a sock or a sweater, or even better,
To do your bit and knit a square.

Buy from Amazon.com

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

Sonderling Sunday – Lost in the Sackgassen

Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, Sonderling Sunday 5

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, creating the phrase book you never knew you needed!

This week, we’re back with the lovely bizarre phrases of James Kennedy‘s The Order of Odd-Fish, Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge.

(Though does James Kennedy still exist?!? His latest blog post leaves some doubt.)

Last time, we left off on page 189, Seite 238 auf Deutsch.

I like this better in German, somehow:
“actors in costumes” = Schauspieler in Kostümen

“her eyes blazing” = ihre Augen glühten

“stalked off” = marschierte dann steifbeinig (“marched then stiff-boned”)

“glumly” = mürrisch

“babbling” = herausgesprudelt (“here-out-bubbled”)

“sneaky” = hinterhältig

“crowds” = Menschenmenge

“caught in snarls of traffic” = blieben häufiger im Verkehrsgewühl stecken

“baffled” = verblüfft

“suspected” = argwöhnen

This must have been fun to translate!
“Snoodsbottom” = Bilgental (“Bilge Valley”)

“hewn” = hineingehauen

“luminous fungus” = schimmernde Pilze und Flechten (“shimmering mushrooms and lichen”)

“gloomy” = dämmrig

“long lean man” = gro?er, schlanker Mann

“dead end” = Sackgasse (“sack-alley”)

“frustrating circles” = frustrierenden Kreisen

“She silently fumed” = Sie kochte vor Wut, blieb aber stumm
(“She cooked for anger, but stayed silent.”)

“Jo’s mood had soured” = Jos Laune gelitten hatte

“crammed” = überfüllte (“overfilled”)

“convoluted” = unübersichtliche (“un-oversightly”)

“creepers” = Kriechpflanzen (“creep-plants”)

“sweaty, dismal heat” = schwei?treibenden, widerlichen Hitze

“spiced with heavy incense” = von Weihrauch geschwängert (“from incense pregnant”)

I love the way in German this looks like a normal word:
“lizard-dogs” = Echsenhunden

“cobbled street” = Pflastersteine (“plaster-stones”)

“runners” = Kufen

“bounding past” = vorbeihetzten

“almost running them over” = sie fast umrempelten

“barking and howling” = bellend und heulend

“crouched” = kauerte

“shuddered” = fröstelte

I’m going to finish with this dramatic sentence:
“just as a horrible moistening sound came from behind her and a boneless arm wrapped itself up her leg.”
= Im selben Moment hörte sie hinter sich ein schreckliches schmatzendes Geräusch und ein knochenloser Arm schlang sich um ihr Bein.

May you have no occasions to cook for anger this week!

Review of My Bookstore, edited by Ronald Rice

Musings, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

My Bookstore

Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop

Introduction by Richard Russo
Edited by Ronald Rice and Booksellers Across America

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, 2012. 378 pages.
Starred Review

My Bookstore is a delight. I read it slowly, one essay per day. It would be a wonderful project to try to visit all the bookstores mentioned in this book, though it might take a lifetime.

The premise is simple. 82 American authors wrote an essay about their personal favorite independent bookstore. The essays are entertaining and delightful. Some talk about the power of reading, some about community, some about great book recommendations, some about wonderful family times.

Here’s what Richard Russo says in the introduction:

Many people love good bookstores, but writers? We completely lose our heads over them. We tell each other stories about them. We form lifelong, irrational attachments to our favorites….

…to me, bookstores, like my first one, remain places of genuine wonder. They fill me with both pride and humility when I come upon my own books in them. Bookstores, like libraries, are the physical manifestation of the wide world’s longest, best, most thrilling conversation. The people who work in them will tell you who’s saying what. If you ask, they’ll tell you what Richard Russo’s up to in his new one, but more important, they’ll put in your hand something you just have to read, by someone you’ve never heard of, someone just now entering the conversation, who wants to talk to you about things that matter.

If you haven’t been in a good bookstore in a while, the book you now hold in your hand will welcome you, lovingly, home.

By reading this book, you can experience for yourself some of those stories that writers tell.

It seems wrong to have a link to Amazon after this review. However, I’m going to keep it there, but ask that my readers merely use Amazon as a “showroom.” Get the information about the book, current price, length, reader reviews. Then go find an independent bookstore and buy yourself a copy. Even though there’s only one of the stores in this book anywhere near me (and not so very near), I think I need to purchase a copy of this book before my next vacation and then start checking off stores.

It does have a list at the end of the stores by geographic location. This book is a celebration of books and people who love them.

blackdogandlevinthal.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/my_bookstore.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 Robomop, by Sean Taylor and Edel Rodriguez

Contemporary, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Robomop

by Sean Taylor
pictures by Edel Rodriguez

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. 40 pages.
Starred Review

This book is too fun. It’s a story of a Robomop with personality. He works cleaning a bathroom in a basement. He is completely stuck, because Robomops can’t get up stairs.

He comes up with clever plans to try to escape. Run over a potato chip wrapper so it sticks in his vent and makes an awful noise. Try to hide in a man’s duffel bag. Dance to the honky-tonk music the window washer plays, in hopes someone will sell him to the circus.

But they didn’t.
Oh dear. I was completely gloomy, and in a sad pickle.
How was I ever going to see the world, feel the sunshine, and fall in love?
I was stuck down there, well and truly, with an awful case of Robomop-basement-bathroom-blues.

But when the Inspector of Public Restrooms brings in a brand-new Bio-Morphic Bellebot Cleanerette, the Robomop finally leaves the basement restroom – to land in a trash can. But that’s not the end for him, and the happy ending is lovely.

The pictures in this book are done with print-making and a few muted hues, looking vaguely old-fashioned. The expressions are choice, and the picture when Robomop gets so excited at meeting the Cleanerette is sure to elicit roars of laughter. “I was overcome with excitement, so much that I had an odd small accident.” (He’s upside-down in a toilet.)

This book holds a story with a beginning, middle, and end that includes a character readers won’t soon forget.

seantaylorstories.com
edelrodriguez.com
drawger.com/edel
penguin.com/youngreaders

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/robomop.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 Crankee Doodle, by Tom Angleberger and Cece Bell

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review 0

Crankee Doodle

by Tom Angleberger
pictures by Cece Bell

Clarion Books, New York, 2013. 32 pages.

This one is just silly.

There are so many parts of the song “Yankee Doodle” that don’t make any sense. Turns out, they didn’t make sense to Yankee Doodle himself.

Here’s a section where he’s talking to his pony, who wants to go to town, and suggests he buy a feather for his hat:

First of all, why would I want to call my hat macaroni? I don’t want to call my hat anything! It’s just a hat! Second of all, why would putting a feather in my hat turn it into macaroni? It would still be a hat, not macaroni! Look at this hat! Does it look almost like macaroni to you? I don’t care how many feathers you put in it, it’s still just a hat. And besides, I don’t even like macaroni!

This picture book isn’t really for the preschool set, but for young school-age kids who may have wondered a few things about that silly song. But here’s hoping it doesn’t make them as cranky as this guy gets!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/crankee_doodle.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 Follow Follow, by Marilyn Singer

Children's Nonfiction Review, Poetry 0

Follow Follow

A Book of Reverso Poems

by Marilyn Singer
illustrated by Josée Masse

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. 32 pages.

Like Mirror Mirror, Follow Follow is a book of Reverso poems based on fairy tales. Marilyn Singer created this form. It consists of a pair of two poems. “Read the first poem down and it says one thing. Read it back up, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization, and it means something completely different.”

The beauty of using fairy tales for the reversos is that children will know the stories they are based on (notes in the back explain the basics if any need to be filled in), and will appreciate the implications of the two perspectives.

Some of the poems include the two perspectives of the hare and the tortoise, the emperor and the boy who sees he’s wearing no clothes, the big bad wolf climbing down the chimney and the pig in his brick house waiting for him, the mayor of Hamelin and the Pied Piper.

These are fun to read and clever, and what better way to illustrate that there’s always another side to the story?

marilynsinger.net
joseemasse.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/clementine_and_the_spring_trip.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 Lulu and the Dog from the Sea, by Hilary McKay

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

Lulu and the Dog from the Sea

by Hilary McKay
illustrated by Priscilla Lamont

Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, 2013. First published in the United Kingdom in 2011. 108 pages.
Starred Review

Hilary McKay is so good at writing about families! In the Lulu books, the family is not as quirky as the Cassons, but they still have enough foibles to feel real and to be fun to join in.

We already knew, from Lulu and the Duck in the Park, that Lulu loves animals. (Though, no, you don’t have to read that book first to enjoy this one.)

The rule about pets in Lulu’s house was: The more the merrier! As long as Lulu cleans up after them!

Lulu had two guinea pigs, four rabbits, one parrot, one hamster, a lot of goldfish, and a rather old dog named Sam.

When Lulu and her family go on vacation to a cottage by the sea, they bring along Lulu’s cousin Mellie, who is seven years old like she is. When they get to the cottage, the owner warns them about the dog from the sea and tells them to put the trash can in the house at night.

All the family make plans for their vacation. Lulu’s father is going to train for a marathon. Her mother is going to read six books. Mellie is going to make a kite perfectly. But when Lulu says she’s going to find the dog from the sea and make friends with him and tame him, everyone quickly tells her why that’s impossible. I like Lulu’s reaction.

Lulu did not argue. She had found that arguing only made people argue back. It was better, she thought, to do exactly as you liked, quietly, with no fuss. Besides, what did her crazy family know about possible and impossible?

As if it were even slightly possible that her father would ever run a marathon!

Or that her mother would read six books in six days ending with War and Peace (which she had been trying to read ever since before Lulu was born).

Or even that Mellie would perfectly finish her kite, which was already spread all over the living room floor with the string in knots and the instructions missing.

“Never mind,” said Mellie. “I never bother with boring instructions anyway.”

“How can you make it without instructions?” wondered Lulu.

“I’ll just copy the picture on the box.”

“It’ll take ages.”

“Not if you help,” said Mellie, looking around to make sure Lulu’s parents were out of the way, and adding, “You help me with my kite and I’ll help you with the dog from the sea.”

Lulu thought about how much she liked Mellie, who never thought anything was impossible.

This is a wonderful warm beginning chapter book.

albertwhitman.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/lulu_and_the_dog_from_the_sea.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 No Fits, Nelson! by Zachariah OHora

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

No Fits, Nilson!

by Zachariah OHora

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I always love the books that turn the tables on a toddler’s world, and give them a chance to have a new perspective on their own propensities.

In this book, Amelia has a giant blue gorilla for a friend. The last page pictures him as a small stuffed toy in bed with her, but the bulk of the book is the way Amelia sees him: A giant blue companion.

They do everything together. But Nilson does have a problem with throwing fits.

However, Amelia’s on top of it. When she sees Nilson is frustrated, not getting what he wants, impatient, and about to throw a fit, she says “No fits, Nilson!” and gives him a reason to contain himself. “We’re having banana pancakes for breakfast!” “This is an ADVENTURE, not errands!”

The pictures are such fun, with Nilson’s mounting frustration and Amelia’s calm, but then happily enjoying the day together in between the fit-crises.

I especially love the page after Nilson’s been promised banana ice cream on the way home.

Amelia covers Nilson’s mouth and stares him down with a gorilla eye lock, repeating the words banana ice cream over and over.

The picture shows tiny red words BANANA ICE CREAM over and over in a line between their eyes and between Amelia’s mouth and Nilson’s ears.

There’s a lovely climax when it turns out there’s no banana ice cream left for Amelia, and she’s the one in danger of throwing a fit. This time, Nilson is the one who saves the day and calms her down.

This book is perfect for any family whose child has ever acted like a giant gorilla. Marvellously cozy and quirky.

zohora.com
penguin.com/youngreaders

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/no_fits_nilson.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 Lucky Ducklings, by Eva Moore and Nancy Carpenter

Contemporary, Picture Book Review 0

Lucky Ducklings
A True Rescue Story

by Eva Moore
pictures by Nancy Carpenter

Orchard Books, New York, 2013. 32 pages.

This book is a lovely tribute to Make Way for Ducklings, using a true story and an equally cute family of ducklings. A note at the front explains the true story from an incident that happened in June 2000, which the book is based on. Five ducklings fell through a storm grate and had to be rescued by people.

But Eva Moore gives the ducklings names – Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin, and Little Joe. She shows us the walk from Mama Duck’s perspective. She’s walking along proudly, stepping over the grate, and all five ducklings fall right through.

When the firemen are called, they can’t get the grate up. But then they use a cable from a truck, while someone holds back Mama Duck. Then the firemen can climb down and rescue all five ducklings.

It’s all dramatized beautifully, with multiple pictures of adorable ducklings, and plenty of places for the reader to Quack. To get the family all the way to the park, there’s even a scene where a fireman holds back traffic while Mama Duck hurries to reunite with her rescued babies.

This doesn’t replace Make Way for Ducklings, but it’s a lovely book, more modern and shorter, to read alongside the old classic. Some things, like families of ducks, remain the same.

scholastic.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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