By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 7, 2012

A Boy Called Dickens

By Deborah Hopkinson; Illustrated by John Hendrix

Reading level: Ages 4-9

Hardcover: 40 pages

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (January 10, 2012)

Source: Publisher

What to expect: Charles Dickens, London—19th Century, Fiction

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth—February 7—Random House Children’s Books has published A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by John Hendrix.

Deborah Hopkinson has created an incisive and thought provoking picture book that introduces children to one of the greatest and most treasured writers of all time. Although it is fiction, Hopkinson has based the story on real moments from Dickens’ life. The captivating illustrations created by John Hendrix add mystique to the text. Graphite and pen-and-ink provide the gloominess and dinginess of old London, while fluid acrylics add personality to the people and rosiness to their cheeks—the time period in history is captured well.

Illustration copyright © 2012 by John Hendrix

Growing up extremely poor, Dickens had four things going for him: a pencil, a slate, a love of books and a dream to write stories of his own. Even though times were very tough and the young, hungry, penniless Charles Dickens had to work in a rat-infested blacking factory, he still managed to hold onto his dream. It is this theme that makes the story not only interesting, but empowering to young readers. A Boy Called Dickens is a Junior Library Guild selection—if you’re looking for a little slice of history a la mode, you’ll find this book to be delicious.

Add this book to your collection: A Boy Called Dickens

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Nina Schuyler, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 6, 2012

Whatever your view of President Barak Obama, he has breathed new life into the iconic American wish, “When I grow up, I want to be president.” Not a blue blood or an actor or a gazillionaire, Obama has made the desire seem not so crazy.

If you want to inspire your little one, if your kid has a book report due, or if you just want to talk about some of the great men (yes, well, all men) who’ve led this country, there are loads of new books to choose from.

My First Biography: Abraham Lincoln

By Marion Dane Bauer; Illustrated by Liz Goulet Dubois

In simple-to-read sentences, My First Biography: Abraham Lincoln provides an overview of this great man. “A lot of people were surprised when Lincoln won. How could a man born in a log cabin be president?” It’s an art, really, to turn history into something understandable to a kindergartener. (Ages 3-5. Publisher: Scholastic Inc.)

Those Rebels, John & Tom

By Barbara Kerley; Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

John and Tom are John Adams (2^nd President of the United States) and Thomas Jefferson (3^rd President) and Those Rebels, John & Tom humanizes this duo by comparing them, weaving together biography and history to tell their story. “John liked to talk. And talk.” “Tom was shy, and dreaded speaking in front of crowds.” Despite their differences, they had something in common: they both despised the tyrannical King George of England. With John’s powers of persuasion and Tom’s skill with a pen, the two joined forces to break America free from England. Tom works out the Declaration of Independence, trying to craft “an expression of the American mind.” While John sets out to persuade the naysayers in Congress. Bright cartoonish illustrations take up most of the page, so your young reader is not overwhelmed by text. (Ages 7-10.Publisher: Scholastic Press)

I Grew Up to be President

By Laurie Calkhoven; Illustrated by Rebecca Zomchek

For each president, starting with George Washington and ending with Barak Obama, I Grew Up to be President gives a two-page spread, including when and where the president was born, the name of his wife, children, political party, vice president and when and where he died. To keep things interesting, Calkhoven includes the quirky or odd. By the time George Washington was president, for instance, he had only one real tooth left. When Thomas Jefferson was president, he received an unusual gift—two grizzly bear cubs. Before Richard Nixon got involved in politics, he wanted to be an FBI agent, but his application was rejected. And Obama? He made a small change to the annual White House picnic for the members of Congress—he threw a luau, with flowers, leis, Hawaiian food and hula dancers. (Ages 7-10. Publisher: Scholastic Inc.)

The Handy Presidents Answer Book, 2^nd Edition

By David L. Hudson Jr., JD.

If there’s something you need to know, if you’re selected for a presidential trivia game show, if you want to impress people with White House facts, you want to own this book. Why didn’t Roosevelt win the Medal of Honor? Which of Jimmy Carter’s cabinet appointees became the country’s first African American female to serve in that office? What was unusual about the 1948 election? (If you had the book, you could answer all these and more!) At 501 pages (including the index), The Handy Presidents Answer Book covers all the presidents, detailing their early life and family, early career, political offices, presidency and post presidency. It also includes basic information about the presidency, the parties, and presidential elections. Wisely, Hudson relies heavily on subtitles, which break up the text and highlight key points. (Answer to the last trivia question: The 1948 election was unusual because the newspapers and pollsters wrongly predicted Dewey would defeat Truman). (Ages 9+. Publisher: Visible Ink Press)

Nina Schuyler‘s first novel, The Painting, (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill/2004), was a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards. It was also selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Best Books for 2004 and a “Great Debut from 2004″ by the Rocky Mountain News. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of San Francisco and is working on a third novel.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: February 4, 2012

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Award-Winning Illustrator Marla Frazee & the Best Interview Ever

Kids Winter Books: Snow, mittens, polar bears and other arctic animals

Caldecott Medal, 2012

Newbery Medal Winners, 2012

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet

by Jane O’Connor

(Ages 4-7)

And Then It’s Spring

by Julie Fogliano

(Ages 4-7)

Listen to My Trumpet!

by Mo Willems

(Ages 4-8)

Pandemonium (Delirium)

by Lauren Oliver

(Young Adult)

Fallen in Love: A Fallen Novel in Stories

by Lauren Kate

(Ages 12-17)

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

I Want My Hat Back

by Jon Klassen

(Ages 4-8)

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

(Ages 4-8)

If You Give a Dog a Donut

by Laura Numeroff (Author), Felicia Bond (Illustrator)

(Ages 3-7)

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

by Eric Carle

(Ages 0-5)

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories

by Dr. Seuss

(Ages 6-9)

_______

CHAPTER BOOKS

Heroes of Olympus, The, Book Two: The Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9-11)

The LEGO Ideas Book

by Daniel Lipkowitz

(Ages 8-12)

The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9-12)

Wonderstruck

by Brian Selznick

(Ages 9-12)

Every Thing On It

by Shel Silverstein

(Ages 8-11)

_______

PAPERBACK BOOKS

Switched (Trylle Trilogy)

by Amanda Hocking

(Ages 12 and up)

War Horse

by Michael Morpurgo

(Ages 9-12)

The Red Pyramid

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 10 and up)

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

(Ages 14 and up)

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

(Ages 12 and up)

_______

SERIES BOOKS

Inheritance

by Christopher Paolini

(Young Adult)

Magic Tree House

by Mary Pope Osbourne

(Ages 6 to 9)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9 to 12)

Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset

by Suzanne Collins

(Ages 12 and up)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

by Jeff Kinney

(Ages 9 to 12)

This information was gathered from the New York Times Best Sellers list, which reflects the sales of books from books sold nationwide, including independent and chain stores. It is correct at the time of publication and presented in random order. Visit: www.nytimes.com.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 30, 2012

Marla Frazee

Marla Frazee is the award-winning author and illustrator of many celebrated bestselling books including The Seven Silly Eaters, Stars, The Boss Baby, Roller Coaster, and the Clementine series. Her acclaimed books All the World and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever received the Caldecott Honor Award. She lives in southern California with her husband and three sons, where she works in a backyard studio under an avocado tree. I’m willing to bet she makes some crazy delicious guacamole.

Nicki Richesin: You knew from a very young age that you wanted to become a children’s book illustrator. It must have felt incredibly gratifying when A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever won the Caldecott Honor Award. How does it feel now looking back on your youth and realizing your single-minded determination and drive has helped you achieve your goal?

Marla Frazee: You mean aside from making me feel old? Well, I guess I had determination and drive to some extent, but when I compare my growing up years to my children’s growing up years, I honestly feel like I was a slacker! I just loved children’s books, and I loved drawing and reading and writing stuff, and I never stopped loving all of that. I did get very serious in college – I attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and the program was so grueling that I hardly retain any memories of that time because I was so sleep-deprived.

NR: Your latest book Stars is a gorgeous, magical book about stars and all their practical applications, but it’s also about wishing. Could you tell us a bit about working on this project?

MF: When I first read Mary Lyn Ray’s manuscript, it reminded me of A Hole is to Dig with its seemingly random, childlike sentences and it’s high-wire act of how-is-she-gonna-pull-this-off, oh-my-god-she-just-did! I thought it would be impossible to illustrate, which is why it was so intriguing. I spent many months just thinking about it before I started sketching. It is always fascinating when a book begins to take form, because it goes from being abstract to tangible almost on its own accord. I am often surprised by this, even though I am making it.

I work very closely throughout this process with my editor, Allyn Johnston, VP and Publisher of Beach Lane Books, and we discuss the emergent book at every single stage of its development. I depend on that give-and-take very much.

When it was time to paint the finishes for Stars, I had to make an effort to slow myself down. Some of the paintings in Stars were laborious. Hundreds of layers of watercolor, hundreds of snowflakes, hundreds of mossy stars, etc. But it was calming, too, and I usually need to calm down.

Illustration copyright © 2011 by Marla Frazee

NR: Many of our TCBR readers are aspiring authors and will be encouraged to learn that it took you a long time to break into children’s book publishing. You worked in advertising, educational publishing, and toys and games wherein your artwork was used to communicate messages or teach something, but with children’s books you had to tell a story. You’ve said it took you quite a while to develop this storytelling component in your illustrations. How did you eventually learn to do it?

MF: Yes, it is always helpful to hear a story such as mine and I am more than happy to share it. Even now, I get all prickly when I hear about someone who was offered a contract by the first publisher who saw their work or someone whose first book hit #1 on the NYT bestseller list. I hate those kind of stories. I’m all for delayed gratification.

What I had to do was learn how to tell stories with my pictures. At first I didn’t even know what that meant because I thought I was already doing it. After all these years of drawing stories and trying to teach it, I think it boils down to a pretty simple rule: it takes time to get to know the characters in a book and the world they inhabit. My first sketches are always horrible. Stereotypical. Contrived. Generic. I have to put in the time in order to deepen them and have it all mean something.

NR: In the Clementine books, you wanted your images to hearken back to that era and to look as if they came from that time. You’ve said you’d like your work to appear as “fresh as paint, but to have been around long enough to be a classic.” How do you accomplish this in your illustrations?

MF: This is a hard question! No one has ever asked me that before.

I work on the book’s structure before I know what the content of each illustration will be. I think there was a formality to the classic books I admire and I try to riff on (or out-and-out rip off!) some aspect of that with each book. I never just wing it when it comes to structure – and I’m referring here to the pagination and layout of words and pictures within the picture book form. I plan it out, using the rhythm and meaning of the manuscript to dictate what the relationship between words and pictures should be on the page.

NR: When you’re searching for a manuscript to illustrate, you look for a challenging and exciting project- almost like a puzzle you want to understand.  You work on a book for about a year. At which point in this process, do you usually feel as if you’ve begun to solve the puzzle?

MF: I definitely feel like it is solved when I have a finished sketch dummy, with text and images in place, page turns figured out, content in the pictures established. Before that, it is all in flux. By the time I start to paint, I’ve got a pretty good handle on what is going on with the book. Then it is a matter of executing it. Sometimes there is a lot of trial and error in the beginning of the painting process before I get a sense of the materials and color palette I want to use. But that’s a different and lesser challenge to me, because by that time, the puzzle of the manuscript is solved.

NR: I loved one of your earlier books called Mrs. Biddlebox about a frustrated crank who decides to bake a cake to lift her mood. I was shocked to learn that the author Linda Smith died the same year this book was published. I wondered whether you knew Linda personally and if her death affected your work on Mrs. Biddlebox?

MF: I didn’t get to meet Linda in person, but we spoke on the phone a few times. I called her to see if there was anything she might want to share with me about the book. This is not the way it typically works between authors and illustrators, of course. Usually discussions about the development of a book go through the editor. But I knew that there was a chance Linda would never get to see the finished book and I felt it was important for me to hear what she might want to say. I’m glad I did, because Linda died before I even started the first sketches.

Linda was very professional during our phone conversation and didn’t want to influence my thinking, but she finally shared some of her thoughts. One was that Mrs. Biddlebox should have a pet of some kind, and she suggested a mangy dog or a skinny cat or something. In the initial sketches, I drew Mrs. Biddlebox with a dog and a cat and then a goat and I even tried a raccoon. Finally I settled on the goose. It seemed right. It turns out that Linda used to have a goose named Gabby who would follow her around and bite her through her jeans. Linda’s husband and kids said Linda would have been delighted with Mrs. Biddlebox and her goose. This convinced me that I was taking good care of Linda’s brilliant story, even though she wasn’t alive to see the finished book.

Illustration copyright © 2007 by Marla Frazee

While I illustrated Mrs. Biddlebox, it was often hard to keep from focusing on the sadness of Linda’s death and still honor her wickedly subversive and darkly funny manuscript. It was a balancing act, and maybe because of that it remains one of the most gratifying projects I’ve worked on.

NR: You received the Caldecott Honor Award in 2009 for A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. You must be grateful that you created this thank-you card/book at your editor’s suggestion. Did it feel different working on a project that sort of documents your son’s adventures rather than working on a fictional project that another author dreamed up?

MF: Absolutely. My editor (whose son is the other boy in the story) and I were often worried that we were engaged in a vanity project, God forbid. Luckily we never thought this at the same moment or we would’ve bagged it. But one of us was always convincing the other that there was something happening with it that was worth our attention. As the book came into being, the story began to take on a life of its own. Basically, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever is a highly fictionalized account of a very real week. The emotions are all true. The events, well, not so much.

Illustration copyright © 2008 by Marla Frazee

NR: The Seven Silly Eaters is a family favorite in our home. I especially love that Mrs. Peters found the time to play her cello, as if! Could you describe how you first brought the Peters’s family’s adventures to life with your humorous and lively pictures?

MF: Mary Ann Hoberman is brilliant, of course. But the premise of The Seven Silly Eaters – seven children, all of them with weird eating issues, and a mother who is actually attempting to meet their needs – is almost disturbing. The challenge was how to temper it. Linda Zuckerman, my first editor and the editor of The Seven Silly Eaters, thought the way to do that was to illustrate it with animal characters. But I really wanted it to be a human family. I related very strongly with the mother. The story is really about how she is pulled in all directions by the demands of raising children. What parent among us can’t relate to that?

I felt the cello was a way of reinforcing the mother’s identity. She is in danger of seeming like a dishrag. I also pared down the world this family exists in. They have no neighbors, no jobs, no car, no phones, no TV. And I put a dad in the book. Mary Ann Hoberman never mentions a dad in the text. Imagine. A woman having a baby every time there’s a page turn? With no dad in the picture? THAT wouldn’t have worked at all! Of course, he’s implied. But it is amazing how when we look at picture books, it is often hard to remember what story is being told in the words and what story is being told in the pictures. And that’s how it should be – a seamless experience of words and pictures telling a larger story together than could be told by either the words or pictures alone. That is what we aim for every time up to bat.

Illustration copyright © 1997 by Marla Frazee

NR: Your Caldecott Honor Award-winning All the World is truly a masterpiece. It somehow subtly balances the stunning splendor of the world (in your illustrations) with the beautiful simplicity of the poetic text (by Liz Garton Scanlon). I’d love to know more about your creative process on this book.

Illustration copyright © 2009 by Marla Frazee

MF: Liz Garton Scanlon’s manuscript is an incredible mix of expansiveness, intimacy, specificity, poetry, emotion, and universal truth. When Allyn sent it to me seconds after she received it, she didn’t wait in a polite way to see if I would be interested. She demanded that I drop what I was doing and start illustrating this thing called All the World right away! This is not the way we usually talk about new projects. There is typically a lot of hemming and hawing and whatnot. But as soon as I read it, I understood where she was coming from.

All the World was daunting. The challenge here, for me, was how to portray “all the world.” An impossible task. When I am confronted with an illustrative problem that seems insurmountable, it is usually that I am thinking too literally and I need to find the emotional truth of whatever it is I’m trying to figure out. In the case of All the World, I decided that no one – certainly not me – has ever experienced “all the world,” but we all have the sense that we belong here. On good days, at least. When I personally feel like I belong to the world, it is because I am with people I love in places I love. So I decided that would be my solution. I set All the World in a place I love – the central coast region of Southern California – and populated it with people and things that I love. I stopped worrying that I wasn’t representing every place, every person, every possible experience. And I hoped that through this personal expression of mine, others would find their own personal meanings as well.

I do believe this to be the over-arching philosophy behind most of the books I’ve fallen in love with over the years. The more personal and heartfelt the story is for the author and/or illustrator of the book, the more universal the emotion that can be gleaned from it. We see this again and again. But it’s hard to remember. It is so easy to go to a place of, “Well, that’s just about me. No one will care about that.” But actually, if it comes from a true place and is spoken from the heart, people do care. A lot.

Illustration/sketch copyright © 2009 by Marla Frazee

NR: Could you tell us a bit about your upcoming book Boot & Shoe and any other projects you’re working on?

MF: I’ve just put the finishing touches on Boot & Shoe. It’s about two (almost) identical dogs who live in the same house – one spending his days on the front porch and one spending his days on the back porch. This is the perfect arrangement for them, until a squirrel comes along and seriously messes with their heads. The most difficult thing about Boot & Shoe was keeping it light and not bogging it down with extraneous detail. I hope I did that. I think I did, because when I look at the completed book, I wonder why on earth it was so hard to do. It seems like it should’ve been so easy. I think that’s a good sign. I am going to take it that way because otherwise I’m just beating myself up.

Illustration copyright © 2012 by Marla Frazee

Now I’m beginning work on the 6th book in Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine series. There will be 7 altogether. Sara is bringing this series to a close in the most amazing way.

My next project after that is still under wraps because it involves a book with a text that was published previously, but was not illustrated. I’m very excited about it. And in preparation, I’ve signed up for an oil painting class at Art Center. So I am suddenly a student again, instead of a teacher, working totally out of my comfort zone.

That’s got to be good, right?

Nicki Richesin is the editor of four anthologies,What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding On To, and Letting Go of Their Daughters; Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond; Crush: 26 Real-Life Tales of First Love; and The May Queen: Women on Life, Work, and Pulling it all Together in your Thirties. Her anthologies have been excerpted and praised in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Redbook, Parenting, Cosmopolitan, Bust, Salon, Daily Candy, and Babble.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 23, 2012

Medal Winner

Honor Book

Honor Book

“The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” ~ALSC

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

Reading level: Ages 7-10

Add this book to your collection: Bad Kitty for President

Have you read this book? Rate it:
[ratings]

Video courtesy of MacmillanChildrens: “It’s election season! The cats on Main Street are split along party lines. Will Bad Kitty really be elected to run the Neighborhood Cat Coalition? Is she up for the task? With more than 3.2 million books in print, Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty is taking the chapter book world by storm… and now its time to get out the vote! Visit badkittybooks.com to play games, collect books, and watch hilarious video of Bad Kitty running amuck!”

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Nina Schuyler, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 11, 2012

Illustration copyright © 2010 by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Back in the days when we drank gallons of Tang and ran wild in the neighborhood like dogs without leashes, these books were called comic books. Now they’re graphic novels and have fancy covers and binding so they don’t fall apart. They’re still action-packed, with lots of sounds spelled out in capital letters and exclamation points (KLANG! OOF! SLAM! WHOOSH!). The plot usually involves the forces of good versus evil. My husband tells me graphic novels, unlike comic books, tend to involve humor.

A confession, of sorts. Yes, I had to ask my husband, who read comic books as a kid. My mother was an English teacher and in her world, comic books did not qualify as books and therefore were off-limits. I still carry a residue of that high-brow distinction, but my eight-year-old son loves them. So how did I open my front door and invite them in?

(1)   As I said, my son gobbles them up. He’ll sit on the couch for a solid hour and read. He’ll even tell me not to bother him; he’s reading.

(2)   My son (his name is Fynn. He gave me permission to reveal it) has even taken to writing his own comics;

(3)   Graphic novels are a great way to transition from shorter books to something longer. This has to build a certain confidence in a kid;

(4)   Pulitzer Prize Winning writer Michael Chabon read comic books growing up, (how else to account for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay). Look what happened to him.

With that said, here are some graphic novels that your kids might devour:

Sidekicks

Written and Illustrated by Dan Santat.

In Sidekicks, written and illustrated by Dan Santat, Captain Amazing is getting old and decides he needs some help. He announces to the citizens of Metro City he’s going to hold auditions for a sidekick. Captain Amazing, who’s been so busy fighting crime, hasn’t been home much, so he doesn’t realize that his pets, his dog, Roscoe, his hamster, Fluffy, and chameleon, Shifty, have developed their own superpowers. They’d all love to be Captain Amazing’s sidekick, mostly because they’d get to spend more time with him. An intense competition results—who will get to be the captain’s sidekick?

According to my son, Fynn, “The pictures are amazing. And the story is really funny.”

Illustration copyright © 2011 by Dan Santat

It’s true. The pictures are amazing, in full color, with lots of blue tones to indicate the city and night time and a brownish tone to signal a flashback. It’s great fun watching a hamster take on the evil Dr. Havoc. And yes, it’s a fast read, with lots of POW! And HURRY UP! AND STOP! filling the pages, but there is a story and a sweet ending and your kid will be able to say he/she read a 217 page book. (Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.. Ages 8-11)

Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit

Written and Illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

The Lunch Lady graphic novel series, written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, also uses humor, action, and unexpected superheroes. In this case, as the title suggests, the lunch lady at public school is the superhero fighting crime. Krosoczka kicked off the series in July, 2009, with Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute. When Mr. Pasteur arrives at school as a substitute teacher for Mr. O’Connell, Lunch Lady is suspicious. Mr. O’Connell hasn’t been sick once in twenty years.  At the same time, the Breakfast Bunch, three kids at school become suspicious of Lunch Lady: what does she do after school? The wackiness ensues, with Lunch Lady wielding chicken nugget bombs, fish stick nunchunks, and a spatu-copter, a spatula that allows her to fly.

Illustration copyright © 2009 by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Lunch Lady has gone on to fight evil in Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians, Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta, Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown and Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco.

Krosoczka continues the zaniness in his most recent, Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit. The school has planned a bake sale to fund an upcoming field trip (Krosoczka manages to capture the dire financial shape of many public schools), only to have all the goodies stolen by someone. Lunch Lady and cafeteria worker, Betty, get busy. The fun comes in the many devices Lunch Lady uses to solve the mystery—a mirror broom, rubber glove suction cups to climb the walls, a cookie camera and a spork phone.

The only complaint my son has about this series—“I wish there were more and they were longer.” (Publisher: Random House Children’s Books. Ages 7-10)

Nina Schuyler‘s first novel, The Painting, (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill/2004), was a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards. It was also selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Best Books for 2004 and a “Great Debut from 2004″ by the Rocky Mountain News. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of San Francisco and is working on a third novel.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

Reading level: Ages 7 and up

Add this book to your collection: The Flint Heart

Have you read this book? Rate it:
[ratings]

Video courtesy of CandlewickPress: The Flint Heart by Katherine & John Paterson and illustrated by John Rocco

“An ambitious Stone Age man demands a talisman that will harden his heart, allowing him to take control of his tribe. Against his better judgment, the tribe’s magic man creates the Flint Heart, but the cruelty of it causes the destruction of the tribe. Thousands of years later, the talisman reemerges to corrupt a kindly farmer, an innocent fairy creature, and a familial badger. Can Charles and his sister Unity, who have consulted with fairies such as the mysterious Zagabog, wisest creature in the universe, find a way to rescue humans, fairies, and animals alike from the dark influence of the Flint Heart? This humorous, hearty, utterly delightful fairy tale is the sort for an entire family to savor together or an adventurous youngster to devour. http://www.theflintheart.com“

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 1, 2012

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Kids Winter Books: Snow, mittens, polar bears and other arctic animals

Star Wars Books for Kids

Author Interview: Gary Paulsen

Review: Scat by Carl Hiaasen

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

The most coveted books that release this month:

Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles

by Marissa Meyer

(Ages 12-17)

The Fault in our Stars

by John Green

(Ages 14-17)

Llama Llama Nighty-Night

by Anna Dewdney

(Ages 2-4)

Fallen in Love: A Fallen Novel in Stories

by Lauren Kate

(Ages 12+)

A Million Suns: An Across the Universe Novel

by Beth Revis

(Ages 13-17)

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

I Want My Hat Back

by Jon Klassen

(Ages 4-8)

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Author), Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

(Ages 4-8)

If You Give a Dog a Donut

by Laura Numeroff (Author), Felicia Bond (Illustrator)

(Ages 3-7)

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

by Eric Carle

(Ages 0-5)

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories

by Dr. Seuss

(Ages 6-9)

CHAPTER BOOKS

Heroes of Olympus, The, Book Two: The Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9-11)

The LEGO Ideas Book

by Daniel Lipkowitz

(Ages 8-12)

The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9-12)

Wonderstruck

by Brian Selznick

(Ages 9-12)

Every Thing On It

by Shel Silverstein

(Ages 8-11)

PAPERBACK BOOKS

War Horse

by Michael Morpurgo

(Ages 9-12)

The Red Pyramid

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 10 and up)

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

by John Grisham

(Ages 8-12)

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

(Ages 14 and up)

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

(Ages 12 and up)

SERIES BOOKS

Inheritance

by Christopher Paolini

(Young Adult)

The Twilight Saga Collection

by Stephenie Meyer

(Ages 12 and up)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

by Rick Riordan

(Ages 9 to 12)

Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset

by Suzanne Collins

(Ages 12 and up)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

by Jeff Kinney

(Ages 9 to 12)

This information was gathered from the New York Times Best Sellers list, which reflects the sales of books from books sold nationwide, including independent and chain stores. It is correct at the time of publication and presented in random order. Visit: www.nytimes.com.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: December 30, 2011

Wildwood Chronicles

By Colin Meloy; illustrated by Carson Ellis

Reading level: Ages 9 and up

Hardcover: 560 pages

Publisher: Balzer + Bray; First Edition first Printing edition (August 30, 2011)

Source: Library

What to expect: Fantasy

At first glance, Wildwood Chronicles may seem too massive a tome to read to your children. Although daunting, I’m glad that we undertook the challenge. For the more faint-hearted, you may want to invest in the audiobook narrated by Amanda Plummer (whom you may remember as Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction and the axe-murder in So I Married an Axe Murderer). I’m told she employs a remarkable number of voices for this large cast of characters. The one character she cannot give voice yet seems to pulse with life throughout this book is the forest itself, the various flora and fauna that inhabit this Northwestern clime, and the ivy that lurks just below its surface waiting to engulf its very heart.

The soul of the book for me is the uncommonly bold heroine Prue who risks life and limb for her brother Mac and even puts her own parents to shame with her fearlessness. The story begins, much like Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, when baby Mac is snatched from his radio flyer wagon in the park and whisked into the sky by a murder of crows. Shocked yet undaunted, Prue returns to her house for supplies and leaves to rescue her brother early the following morning. Unbeknownst to her, she is followed by her curious friend Curtis who only wants to help her. Once past the Impassable Wilderness, they encounter an army of coyotes and lead separate adventures for most of the book until they are reunited in a battle to save Wildwood and Mac.

Illustration copyright © 2011 by Carson Ellis

The inventive ragtag cast of characters befriends and tricks Prue and Curtis as they search for Mac and whom to trust along their way. They both encounter beasts and humans trying to survive in a world that has changed since the reign of Alexandra the mad Queen who was banished to the Wastelands. Her devoted legion of various birds and coyotes prove formidable foes for Prue, Curtis, the Mystics, Bandits, and the Irregulars as they mount a campaign to defeat Alexandra and her minions and take back Wildwood. Throughout the novel, Carson Ellis’s delicate illustrations provide a fantastic backdrop for her husband’s imagination. The husband and wife live just across from the Impassable Wilderness and it would seem the perfect inspiration for them to conjure Wildwood into life. I must confess, though enchanting, Meloy’s long descriptions of fern and bracken often proved too taxing for my seven-year-old. I admire the breadth and depth of his imagination and his sheer ability to bring a story to Portland that will leave a mark on this fair city for some time to come. Much like Eloise in New York or Paddington Bear in London, Prue and Curtis will live on in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Portland. I salute the pair for a masterfully good read and look forward to reading their next installment.

Add this book to your collection: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book 1

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Nicki Richesin is the editor of four anthologies,What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding On To, and Letting Go of Their Daughters; Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond; Crush: 26 Real-Life Tales of First Love; and The May Queen: Women on Life, Work, and Pulling it all Together in your Thirties. Her anthologies have been excerpted and praised in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Redbook, Parenting, Cosmopolitan, Bust, Salon, Daily Candy, and Babble.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.