A Guaranteed Good Read

THE FENCES BETWEEN US
by Kirby Larson
Scholastic (September, 2010)
Ages 9+

THE FENCES BETWEEN US reintroduces Scholastic's Dear America series through the diary of thirteen-year-old Piper Davis who witnesses the incarceration of her preacher father's entire congregation of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children during World War II.

As author Kirby Larson expertly reveals over the course of the novel, it was one of our country's darkest secrets and deepest shames—particularly in the Pacific Northwest where the threat of an attack from without and within our borders felt imminent (sadly, not all that different from today).

Piper's account of the events leading up to, and during, the incarceration of Japanese Americans is carried by the impeccable voice of authentic self-interest that slowly evolves from lipstick and boyfriend drama to the realities of war and fear of "otherness."

Larson ups the emotional ante for Piper, whose brother is stationed in Pearl Harbor when his ship is attacked. So, while her father attends to the victims of war at home—to the point of moving with Piper to Idaho Falls to be with his congregation fenced inside Camp Minidoka—she follows news reports of the war in the Pacific with an added level of fear for her brother's life.

Through Piper's recounting of the news, as well as her vivid description of conditions inside two incarceration camps (thanks to Larson's brilliant decision to make Piper a budding photographer), THE FENCES BETWEEN US explores the war far and near without ever feeling like a history lesson.

The voice of Piper is pitch perfect, adding yet another layer of authenticity to a fictional account that feels so very real. Piper's entries are loaded with the idioms, values, and facts of the day in a natural, unforced way. And, as she changes, so too does the reader, as we transform from outsider to insider, peering through the fog of war to find some clarity and understanding.

This is education at its best—when it makes the reader think beyond the dry facts to what it all means in human terms.

Kids, teachers, and librarians will love this riveting relaunch of Scholastic's Dear America series.

Satisfaction Guaranteed:
Because I know and adore Kirby Larson, one could argue that my opinions are biased. So, just to keep my integrity, I'll stand behind my words with a money back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with THE FENCES BETWEEN US, send your copy to the South Sound Reading Foundation, email to let me know, and I will refund your money. F'real.

Source: I bought my copy at Third Place Books

It's no secret...

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester
by Barbara O'Connor
Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux (August 2010)
Ages 8-12

It's no secret that I'm a BIG fan of Barbara O'Connor's work. She's got a signature style that never goes out of style. Her words are playful, lyrical, and a delight to read aloud.

The stories have heart.
The emotions are earned.
The characters are true.

It's also no secret that I'm a tough reader, hard to please, and easily irked when I think a writer is rusting on her laurels.

The only rusting going on in THE FANTASTIC SECRET OF OWEN JESTER, however, is the cage that Owen and his buddies Travis and Stumpy are constructing for poor, sad Tooley Graham, "the biggest, greenest, slimiest, most beautiful bullfrog in the whole world."

Once again, O'Connor has crafted a tiny corner of the world that's jammed packed with characters and mysteries that she slips into the story as easily as Owen drops poor Tooley into Earlene's soup pot. Besides Owen and his buddies, there's the memorable Viola, a girl who makes it her business to be in Owen's business no matter how much he tries to shed her from his life. I love this kid. She could have easily been a one-note character, but O'Connor surprises us—slowly, but surely—as the story unfolds.

The adults are, thankfully, either in the background or slightly off center stage, just enough to make life complicated for Owen. Interestingly, Owen and his parents have come to live with his grandfather due to financial problems. O'Connor drops this background—so pertinent to today's reality—with a deft hand. The loss of Owen's home is simply there. It gives an emotional underpinning to the story without being the least bit overwrought and hand wringingly nauseating (as others with less skill—me maybe—would be tempted to do).

With great subtlety, Owen's story mirrors that of Tooley Graham—plucked from his home and made to live under the unnatural law of Earlene, his grandfather's aide. The relationship Owen has with his grandfather is magnificently understated. He shares his secrets with his ailing grandfather (who never speaks) at the same gradual pace that it takes him to make sense of the world.

It's incredibility difficult to people a world without confusing the reader or becoming distracting, but O'Connor manages to do this with such ease, the result looks effortless. Every character is part of a delightfully designed puzzle that, when it comes together, is completely satisfying.

Why discuss the characters first, before the plot? Because the characters are what make this story float (heh). The big secret of course (which is illustrated on the book's stunning cover), is the discovery of an unearthly object that's fallen off the train tracks in the middle of the night. It's the sort of discovery of a child's summer fantasy, but O'Connor makes it perfectly possible.

And that, ultimately, is the wonder of this book. It leaves the reader feeling that the world, despite its problems, is filled with possibility. Imagination is not just in the head. It may, in fact, be just beyond those trees, lying off the side of the tracks, waiting to be discovered.

Fantastic.

Source: I bought my copy at Orca Books.
 

For fun, check out Barbara's O'Connor's Trailer:

Uh Oh

OH NO!
(Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)
Written by Mac Barnett, Illustrated by Dan Santat
Hyperion Book (June 1, 2010)
Ages 4-8

Having read and loved Mac Barnett's Brixton Brothers' CASE OF THE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY, I could not wait to get my hands on his picture book OH NO!, illustrated by Dan Santat.

Let me just say that it is a visual feast, a gloriously illustrated graphic-novel-style-picture-book-that-defies-picture-book-convention. This is good and not so good. The good is that it is delicious eye candy from cover to cover. Dan Santat is a genius. Period. As someone who volunteers for a reading foundation, handing out free books by the hundreds, I know that kids would dive-in headfirst for this golden nugget.

The not so good is that I would be there to pull them back from the plunge and point out a book with an actual plot. Because the truth is that there's no there there. It's a premise (what happens when a girl's science project destroys the world?) with an unfulfilled promise.

I could add a spoiler alert here, but the subtitle sort of gives it all away: How My Science Project Destroyed the World. That about sums it up. Santat's stunning comic book illustrations show how a girl's (a girl, yay!) science project destroys the world. To her (and Barnett's) credit, she does try to fix the problem...once, by repeating it. So much for story arc. 

In a chilling way, it reminds me of M.T. Anderson's FEED, in which language is boiled down into its most elemental state, except that in the case of OH NO! it's the concept of story that's been reduced for mass consumption, sort of like being fed through the television. It's non-interactive. You look at it, but you don't really need to think about it.

I can't see being able to read this aloud at a storytime event because there's a lot going on visually that would be hard for a group of children to see; and it doesn't seem to challenge the imagination enough to sit down one on one. It is something that, like television, could be given to a child to keep busy, but that sort of ruins the point of a picture book. Little kids are learning how to use a book, turn a page, read left to right. The layout of this book appears to ignore developmental needs. So, maybe it's a new breed of early reader, for first and second graders who want to watch a book.

I could have said nothing about Oh NO! because I admire Mac Barnett's work (and Dan Santat, well, he's brilliant), but I found myself dreaming about it last night and getting upset. It's not really this particular book that's gotten a rise out of me, it's the style of book--a $16.99 television program or movie produced by Disney. Even the gorgeous cover, when removed, lays out to reveal a movie poster.

Please, don't let this be a trend. And Mac Barnett, please get back to telling great stories.

Source: I bought my copy at Orca Books.

Review: Brixton Brothers

BRIXTON BROTHERS: THE CASE OF THE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY

by Mac Barnett

Simon & Shuster Children's Publishing (October 2009)

Ages 9-12

The title of this first installment of Mac Barnett's wisecracking, tongue-in-cheek gumshoe series says it all: THE CASE OF THE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY is a swell send-up of kid detective novels that's ace all the way. Barnett takes stereotypical characters and situations and, like all good satire, pushes them to the extreme. It's a fun, cheeky approach to reinventing tired and simplistic genre tropes. 

Barnett's easy style and the short-clipped narrative of his kid detective, Steve Brixton, milk this genre for all it's worth and then some. It's brilliant, really, the way Barnett riffs on old HARDY BOYS mysteries by incorporating a fictional brother duo—the Bailey Brothers—as a guide for Steve to navigate the ins and outs of detecting. 

The mystery that Steve must solve is fantastically far-fetched: After being assigned an essay on quilting, he finds himself the target of some badass librarians who are out to recover a top secret quilt that they believe Steve has been hired to steal for the mysterious Mr. E. It's corny without being cheesy, in large part because Barnett does what every smart criminal does: he hides in plain sight. He's telling us what he's doing as he's doing it.

Whenever Steve runs up against a baddie, why he whips out The Bailey Brothers Detective Handbook for tips. When he finds himself in a tight spot, the Bailey Brothers bail him out with the following advice:

Jumping from high places isn't so bad—as long as you know how to fall! Shawn and Kevin Bailey are always leaping from old water towers or speeding trains. The key is rolling when you hit the ground!

As happens throughout the book, The Bailey Brothers Detective Handbook then goes on to give advice that falls apart in real life. It's a fun spoof! With lots of exclamations! And keen ideas! That don't work!

The only problem I have with the book is not with the book, but the next one. How can Mac Barnett sustain the freshness of THE CASE OF THE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY? Will retro get old? Can Barnett top the top of his game? I guess I'll have to wait until this fall when the next Brixton Brothers mystery—THE GHOSTWRITER SECRET hits the shelves.

(Oh--and Adam Rex who illustrated the book, he's ace too!)

Source: I bought my paperback copy at Orca Books.

Great American Illustrator Month at Ripple

It's Great American Illustrator Month over at Ripple, the brainchild of illustrator Kelly Light. Ripple offers a way to stop feeling helpless over the assault against wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico by making "ripples" with small donations for sketch cards created by contributing artists. The proceeds go to benefit one of two non-profit organizations working to save animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill.

Today, four Mo Willems' sketch cards will be up for bid (at $50 each), beginning promptly at 6:30 pm (EST) and continuing until 8:30. Instructions are explained on the Ripple's site, so be sure to read through before contacting Kelly.

See you there!

Libba Bray Has Some Serious Ovaries

After reading countless tweets from ALA-goers who could never quite capture the moment (an impossible task), here is Libba Bray's Printz Award acceptance speech for GOING BOVINE.

Monday Review: Guinea Dog

GUINEA DOG
by Patrick Jennings
EgmontUSA (April 2010)
$15.99
Ages 8-12

No point beating around the bush on this one. Patrick Jennings latest book, GUINEA DOG, is simply the most delightful, laugh-out-loud funny read I've come across this year.

The premise alone is enough to entertain: Boy (Rufus) wants dog. Dad does not want dog. Mom compromises with guinea pig (Fido) who behaves exactly like a dog. Fido whines for attention, growls, plays fetch and keeps up with the big dogs like nobody's business.

The last thing Rufus wants, however, is a rodent. He wants a real dog, one like his friends have. And there's the real issue right there—the tender little nugget tucked inside this hilarious romp—accepting who you are, even (or especially) if it's not quite up to normal standards. Jennings takes the perfect approach to dealing with a topic that can easily be ground into preachy pablum. He makes a joke of it. An expertly crafted one.

Three things that make this story work like a dog:

1. The seamless integration of fantasy into real world. Without a single explanation for Fido's existence (in fact, the pet store from which she came has mysteriously vanished), Jennings manages to make us believe the reality of a guinea dog...to the point that I've been thinking of getting one. This deft manipulation of reality is no small feat. In fact, it's the sign of a master magician/storyteller.

2. Rufus and his friends are hands down some of the most well-crafted, fully rounded characters to strut the page. With very small strokes, Jennings paints such realistic characterizations, I know that I know these kids. They're recognizable without being stereotypes. The dialog and mannerisms are spot on. He captures the essence of kids with the same care and respect he uses to depict natural life (animals are a mainstay of Jennings' work). In Jennings' world, kids and animals live in harmony. He doesn't cheat either out of their dignity, yet he always finds unique ways to draw out the humor.

3. The sound and rhythm of Jennings' words create a lyrical soundtrack that make this story sing. Jennings uses several poetic techniques to achieve this effect: the well-place repetition of words and phrases that take us directly into the mind and emotion of Rufus (who's narrating the story); listing (which also makes use of building repetitions and rhythm); short, declarative sentences that drive the beat; and unobtrusive alliteration.

Jennings hit a home run with this book. Before he came to our Imagination Celebration two weeks ago, I knew that GUINEA DOG would do well at the book signing. It did. In fact, it sold out.

I was just glad I already had my copy.

Book Source: I bought GUINEA DOG at Orca Books