Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

 

Many of us were introduced to Jon Klassen’s illustrations with his debut picture book, I Want My Hat Back (picture book gold, by the way). This was followed with This Is Not My Hat, which I’ve yet to review, but as it was recently awarded the Caldecott Medal, it goes to show that it wasn’t just me that thought it was brilliant. 

So, you can imagine that I was pleased to see that there was yet another picture book illustrated by Jon Klassen in the market. (I know it’s been out a while now, ‘Life’ has been keeping me from writing reviews).

The fact that it’s illustrated by Jon is enough for me to love it already, but it shouldn’t overshadow Mac Barnett’s writing. This is a smart and snappy book that delights in play between words and pictures. 

Wolves by Emily Gravett

Emily Gravett is wonderful! I love the way she uses book conventions to make her stories truly irreverent.

In this book, for example, We follow Rabbit, who goes to the library and borrows a book about wolves. Oh what's this? The reader in now holding a book called wolves which contains a rabbit holding a book about wolves... we read together...

Gray wolves live in packs of between two and ten animals. 

We find out more and more about them, as the rabbit walks home, too engrosed in the book to notice that a wolf has come out of the pages. He even walks right up the tail and along its back.

Then we learn, at the same time as the rabbit, that it eats lots of kinds of animals, both large and small... like beavers, voles and ...

We turn the page to see a viciously ripped and clawed back over and the torn remnants of a page saying "rabbits."

We turn the page again to read:

The author would like to point out that no rabbits were eaten during the making of this book.

It is a work of fiction.
And so, for more sensitive readers, here is an alternative ending. 

I'll leave it to you to read the alternative ending for yourself, but it's much happier and unrealistic. but it clearly illustrated by torn scraps from earlier in the book. 

She's just too good! I wrote a review a little while ago on one of her other books and I just love everything she does.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

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Butterfly Butterfly by Petr Horáček

Petr Horáček's illustration style is bright, engaging and full of life and movement. So when you sit down to read a book about colours set in the garden, you know you're in for a treat!


When Lucy finds a butterfly in the garden and chases it around, we are introduced to lots of different colours visually, just by her garden setting. When she returns the following day, she can't find the butterfly, but she does find a pink earthworm, a brown spider, a green beetle and some spotty red ladybirds.


By this point in the story, we have been introduced to some cut outs that add an extra level of enjoyment to the pictures. It continues with other insects, colours and cutouts until the finale which sees the beautiful butterfly springing from the page in a fantastic simple pop-up.

I've heard people say that Petr's illustrations are "like Eric Carle's" but I wouldn't really say that. It's true there is a feeling of collage and a bright use of colour, but other than The Very Hungry Caterpillar his illustrations really haven't done much for me. Petr Horáček, on the other hand, I engage with each of his books immediately. I think you will too. This is a fantastic colours book because there's more to it than just colours.

 

4 Silver Stars

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The Heart And The Bottle by Oliver Jeffers

Once there was a girl, much like any other

She delighted in everything, in discovering new things, and questioning and thinking and exploring 

... until the day she found an empty chair.

So, to avoid the unpleasant and painful thoughts and feelings, she put her heart in a safe place: A bottle that she hung around her neck. 

She didn't notice, question or dream any more, but at least her heart was safe. 

Then one day, she couldn't answer a question a child asked her and she discovered with out her heart, she couldn't answer it, nor could she remember how to get her heart back out of the bottle. 

Luckily she meets a girl who knew what to do and she put her heart back where it belonged.

Awww. This is one of those books that just feels good. You might have noticed that my picture book reviews tend to keep coming back to this sort of theme. I love stories about being in touch with your emotions/creativity/imagination. It's a better way of being, in my opinion. And this is such a lovely book for that collection.

Find it, read it, enjoy it.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

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Ish by Peter H. Reynolds

 

Peter H. Reynolds captures particular ideas in such a beautifully simple way, his straight forward books can be life changing. In the way that the slightest of redirections can lead you to a very different destination. As in: If you always look at things the same way, you'll never see them differently, turn your head just a bit, and the view is delightfully varied and diverse. 

I feel I'm not making any sense, let's just say this is a review-ish...

Ramon loved to draw.

Any time.

Anything.

Anywhere.

One day, Ramon was drawing a vase of flowers.

His brother, Leon, leaned over his shoulder.

Leon burst out laughing.

"WHAT is THAT?" he asked.

I think we've all been there at some point in our lives, even if it's not with drawing, or anything particularly creative. Sometimes people laugh at, or don't understand things that we have worked very hard on. And that can really throw us off. 

Ramon has trouble finishing drawings, he just can't make them look "right" until he finally gives up. 

Then he sees his sister has taken a scrunched up piece of paper and he chases her back to her room where he is met by a veritable gallery of smoothed out discarded drawings. Including the vase that started it all.

This is one of my favourites,"

Marisol said, pointing.

"That was SUPPOSED to be a vase of flowers,"

Ramon said,

"But it doesn't look like one."

"Well it looks vase-ISH!" 

she exclaimed. 

Enter the slight change in seeing things. With the freedom of 'ish' Ramon launches back into his drawing knowing that things don't have to be "right" or "perfect" but can be an expression and still be considered valid and good. 

It's this type of book that alleviates the weight of the world from your shoulders.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

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What's In The Witch's Kitchen by Nick Sharratt

I'll start with this: my nieces love this book. I gave it to them a year or so back and they still laugh each time it is read to them, or when they read it to themselves (because they know it so well).

I move on to this: I love this book.

I know that Nick Sharratt's illustrations aren't for everyone. Some people find them too cartoony and over simplified. But I say, hey! if it works, it works. And Between this and 'The Foggy Foggy Forest' I think his style works pretty well!

"What's in the fridge in the Witch's kitchen?

Open it left or open it right,
Will you like what you see?
Will it give you a fright?"

We then open the fridge (a lift the flap kind of thing) and we see that the fridge has Tasty Cheese in it (much like my own fridge... mmm cheese). Then we see that the flap can open the other way too, and inside we find Bats with Fleas!

And so on it goes, each container in the Witch's Kitchen holding something yummy and something disgusting. You know, the types of things are are sure to illicit giggles from children (and the occasional adult). Things like "Pooh! Lizard's Fart!" and "Nasty! Goblin's Wee!" and "Rabbit Plops!".

Then on the last page, as we try to escape the strange goings-on, there is a scary pop up surprise. Boo! Out jumps the witch herself!

He he he... I'm still chuckling as I write this. 

Do you know what this book is? It's fun!

 

4.5 Silver Stars

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Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat by Stephen Michael King

Milli dreams of making wonderful and out of the ordinary things, but she has to spend her time making plain brown and black shoes and boots for the people in the town who don't like anything unusual.

That is until two wandering vagabond minstrels wander into town and offer to give her dancing lessons in exchange for some new shoes.

The dancing makes Milli brave, and she discovers she has the courage to follow her dreams and make extraordinary things.

This is such a sweet book which encourages following your dreams and unleashing your creativity. Stephen Michael King just has a brilliance about him that shines out from his deceptively simple stories.

 

4 Gold Stars

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Pure by Julianna Baggott

I kept getting told how fantastic this book was, but how off-putting and gross it was because of all the malformed bodies etc that it contains (post nuclear holocaust). Some even said it was hard going because of this. So, I thought to myself, let's see what all the fuss is about.

I found that because I knew that it would have deformities left, right and center, I wasn't grossed out at all. In fact, putting aside the fact that I really think that most of these afflicted people would be dead (which is explained briefly with chemical and nanotechnology which was designed to create this grotesque fusing), I wouldn't have expected any less for the world which was being created.

So, did it all work?

Yes, absoultely! Julianna Baggott has given us a world so vivid and alive and filled with the horror and hope of survival it's almost palpable. You nearly feel gritty, yourself, as you read about the soot and ash and dust that permanently grays they sky and every thing else. All of which is perfectly contrasted with the pure 'Dome' that is so clean and spotless, it's ripe for conspiracy.

I really enjoyed the journey this book took me on. My only criticism is that it felt a little long and perhaps could have been pared back in places to create a slightly more fast pace story. But, even as it stands, it was a great read!

 

4 Gold Stars

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Grandpa's Slippers by Joy Watson and Wendy Hodder

Grandpa's Slippers was one of the books I owned as a kid. I loved it. It was one that I practically new by heart.

I have just now re-read it, and I'm struck by how differently things seem to adult readers. I don't mean this in any sort of derogatory way, but really, Grandma is relentless in her quest to destroy the slippers that Grandpa loves so much. It made me chuckle is all.

But I still see the things I loved about it as a child, and I still quite enjoy them. The passing days, the many different ways Grandma tries to get rid of them, the cumulative complaints Grandma has about them and the smug satisfaction on her face when they finally fall to bits and he is forced wear his new ones which he quite likes.

I think another reason I like this story is that I often hold onto things long after their used-by date. Good thing this book doesn't have a used-by date. It's just as good now as it ever was.

 

3.5 Silver Stars

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The Mercy Watson Series by Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen

     

      

 Kate DiCamillo is a crazy genius. Her beautiful lyrical junior fiction novels are nothing short of Amazing. The Tale of Desperaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician's Elephant are all by far some of the best junior fiction out there.

But how could such a wordsmith create an early reader that stands along side such beautiful junior fiction?

Easy, she says, I'll just invent a porcine wonder: Mercy Watson!

Mr And Mrs Watson, own a pet pig, whom they love dearly. Her name is Mercy.

What does Mercy love? Toast with butter on it. A Good deal of butter. It is her diving force. It is what drives her to get help when the Watson's floor is falling in, it is what leads her to capture a thief in the middle of the night, it is what causes her to bring a whole community together.

She really is a porcine wonder, a dear, a darling.

And boy, does Mrs Watson love dealing out the toast with butter on it!

These books are great fun! They made me chuckle constantly and laugh out loud on many occasions. They work well as early chapter books because there is quite a lot of repetition, but that very repetition is half of the humour.

The fact that she is so clearly driven by her stomach, and her love of buttered toast, yet all her actions are misinterpreted as heroically motivated that it is very amusing to see the mismatch between her thoughts and how she is interpreted.

Yes, Kate DiCamillo is truly fantastic. I can't recommend any of her books highly enough!

Chris Van Dusen's illustrations are PERFECT for this series too. Bright, bubbly, slightly retro, fun, and capture the characters brilliantly! They are too good!

Mercy Watson is a porcine wonder. You should get to know her.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

Find them on Goodreads:

Mercy Watson to the Rescue

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride

Mercy Watson Fights Crime

Mercy Watson: Princess In Disguise

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes

Skellig by David Almond

Having worked with Children's books for nearly 8 years now, I had heard of Skellig around about, and always thought I might read it one day. I mean, it won the Carnegie and the Whitbread book of the year and was turned into a movie. In recent years, I've read a few of David Almond's other books and each time I'm surprised by something else. He is a brilliant writer.

Earlier this year, my lecturer at uni and I were talking about good books etc. and she asked if I had read Skellig. I hadn't, at the time, and she said I must. She told me that when she first started as an assistant to a lecturer when she had just left uni, her boss asked her the same question and when she said no, her boss handed her the book and said 'go home, and do nothing today other than read this book'.

Last year I watched the movie that had been made from the book, which was good, but now that I have read it, I can see why there has been so much fuss over this book.

Michael's new born sister is having health issues. She's in the hospital and his parents are worried sick, but are trying to keep a brave face and not neglect Michael in their concern. they have just moved into a new home. A Fix-er-up-er is putting it mildly. Michael is also worried about his sister, he feels that if he stops thinking about her then she might die.

Then he discovers a strange man who is sitting in the old, junk-filled shed. He looks like he has been there for years, unmoving, he eats spiders and bugs and has some strange humps on his back under his coat.

Michael then meets Mina, a precocious home-schooled girl who becomes his friend. And together they do what they can to help this strange man they can scarcely believe exists.

This book is amazing. It is such a well synthesised family-drama/fantasy/identity-themed/discussion of evolution and the afterlife it is really something!

Not a word is wasted. It's not a very long novel (170 well-spaced pages) but for all that, it holds so much.

What should I say now? I feel like echoing the question that was passed to me: 'Have you read Skellig? If not, you must!'

 

5 Gold Stars

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Waiting For Mummy be Tae-Jun Lee and Dong-Sung Kim

This is a beautiful, simple and strange picture book.

It is about a child who is waiting for their mother at a tram stop. That's about the extent of it. It is beautifully illustrated, and paints a charming picture of Korea. But it leaves questions which I struggle with.

First and foremost, What is such a young child doing waiting by themselves for such a long period of time? Where is his mother or father? Do they have no concern for a child who looks like he could be no more than four. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that a child couldn't wait that long, or should be able to without something bad happening. But it begs to question the roll of the parents.

Secondly, I understand that we are supposed to realise that 'Mummy' has arrived by the final illustration. But we don't know that it is her. We are so far removed from the situation that for all we know, it is some stranger, convinced the boy (who has really been standing in the snow, alone, for hours) to come with her.

I mean, this is only one way of reading this book, which really is beautifully put together. And I must concede that I am a little removed from the culture in which it was produced. Not only is it a Korean book, the text was originally written in 1938, when I can only assume that it was more likely that children might be out in the streets on their own.

I'm not entirely sure what I hoped to achieve by this review, because I can see that this book has its place, and by all accounts, it is highly commended. And I do like to read it; the pictures are stunning. Yet I always reach the end and find myself thinking "but..."

 

2.5 Gold Stars

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Ghost At The Point by Charlotte Calder

This book took me by surprise. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it looked interesting and when I started it, there was no turning back.

I guess the most straightforward way to describe it would be Historical, Junior, Australian Fiction. But really, what does that tell you?

What can I tell you about it? That it was really compelling, creepy (the ghost story and set-up works brilliantly), and good fun. It’s set on an island inspired by Kangaroo Island in the 1930s and captures the rural Australian community feeling perfectly. The main character, Dorrie, is a believable, likeable, independently minded girl and is a great protagonist. Her relationship with her grandfather is succinct, yet genuine, what you might expect of people who live in a semi isolated part of an island with a small population. And when her grandfather has an accident and has to spend some time in hospital, she manages to get back to their house unattended because she wanted to stay at home, rather than having to stay with cousins.  But that’s when everything comes to a head.

The persistent and sinister treasure hunters from the mainland turn up in the middle of the night, and the presence of the ghost is felt more than ever. Isn’t that the way? Scary things tend to happen when you’re alone, miles from the next house, and it’s the middle of the night, right?

The no-good treasure hunters, the truth about the ghost, the mystery of it all comes together so well at the end I was reminded of the well constructed mysteries like The Famous Five.

I can strongly recommend this book. Particularly if you (or your child) have a leaning towards stories set in times gone past. But more than that, this book is a well constructed, mysterious ghost story. I really liked it!

 

4 Gold Stars

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The Enemy by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch

There is a war on.

Here's something that could be a desert ...

in which there are two holes.

In the two holes, two soldiers.

They are enemies.

This prologue appears over five double page spreads before we even reach the title and imprint page. It is fantastic in the way it sets the scene. Describing all we need to know of the setting, which is very little. It could be any war, any where, and any two soldiers.

I picked up this book knowing absolutely nothing about it. The cover was eye catching enough and piqued my interest. The prologue unfolding before me.

We then learn that one of the soldiers knows nothing of the war other than what his generals and his manual have told him: That the enemy is evil and a monster, it is kill or be killed. But how he longs to be back with his family. But that is not possible. For if he leaves his post, the enemy will kill him. He knows this. His manual told him so. Then they will kill his wife and children. Even his animals.

We are shown how his days unfold, and what he must do each day to survive in his hole.

But one night he knows he must carefully attack the enemy in the dead of night, if this war will ever be over. so he crawls over in 'Disguise Number Three: A Branch'.

I would love to describe how the book ends, to make this review feel more fulling to you, the reader, but I feel I would rob you of what I experienced when I read it for the first time. Trust me, this one is worth reading for the end. Particularly if you hold anti-war sentiments.

This is a powerful book.

 

5 Gold Stars

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Broken by Elizabeth Pulford

When I heard about Broken, I got excited. I thoroughly enjoyed Tussock and so Elizabeth Pulford’s writing was more than enough to make me want to read it. But then I heard that it is narrated by a girl who is in a coma and my interest spiked. Further, the cover is beautiful!

Zara is broken, the back cover tells us, she’s in a coma, trapped in the world of her subconscious. We learn at the very beginning that she was on the back of her brother’s motorcycle when there was an accident. Jem, tragically, died immediately. Zara is in a coma, unaware of his death, unaware of her own vegetative state. All she knows is the broken pieces of her life, over-lapping, intersecting and scrolling through her mind without much rhyme or reason.

She hears snippets of conversation from the hospital room, she remembers things from the past, she knows Jem is missing and she needs to find him. He is her secret keeper. He is the only one she told the whole story to after she was kidnapped as a seven year old and kept in a cupboard for six weeks. She desperately needs to find him. Has he disappeared into one of his comics that he was so obsessed with? Armed with a pencil and an eraser she draws her way in after him to find out.

Piece by piece Zara must sift through her past to unlock secrets she has kept deep inside her.

I really liked this book. The fragmented text types, the disjointed narration, the blurring of reality and fantasy within the comic book; they all build to make a believable picture of a girl in a coma. At no point did I feel it was gimmicky or forced. Even as great idea “narrated by a girl in a coma” is, it is a great premise that could have easily fell flat by a less skilled author. Once I had finished I didn’t think the story in Broken could have been told in any other way. It all works.

This is a YA read that is different other things out there.

 

4.5 Silver Stars

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