JuniorBookWorm.com

Will and Squill

Emma Chichester Clark is usually a winner. Her Lily and the Blue Kangaroo books are moving and insightful. The illustrations are luscious. I am sure that they will stand the test of time.
Like most Lily fans, one is tempted to buy every new Chichester Clark there is. She wrote a terrific book about dog heaven a couple of years ago. More! was a big hit in our house. But sadly, Will and Squill does not live up to our expectations. It is cute but a bit tedious.
Will and Squill is about an undying friendship between a boy and a squirrel.  Boy's  mother and squirrel's mother both disapprove of the relationship. A kitten is bought as a displacement exercise. But ultimately, you can't keep a good friendship down. As they say in the old country about such relationships, it was b'shert, meant to be, in the stars.
    Unfortunately, the book reads a bit like Fox in Socks but not as clever and just as annoying (Sorry Theo). This is a book suitable for those acquiring language. Little two year olds will love to chime in  with the thirtieth repetition of the word Squill and Will. And if you are tolerant, you will read it to them.
    The one redeeming feature of this book is the pictures. If you love Emma's drawings, her gardens, her familiar faces, the anguish, the glory, it is all there in boy form and squirrel form.

Read more about Emma Chichester Clark at the Magic Pencil site www.magicpencil.britishcouncil.org/artist/clark

Mice We Like

    We recently had a small litter of mice invade our house. They were either born here or fled here after our neighbours dug a deep hole under their kitchen (a wine cellar, perhaps). We are not blaming anyone except ourselves, our compost heaps and the crumbs we leave on the counters after a late, great boozy dinner with friends.
    So, I decided, after the poison, the traps or our kitten Rex, who was put into action and did catch two mouslings, to remember that eventhough one doesn't want one in the house, there are many nice mice about. Here are some of our favourites. Please introduce us to more.
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, Stuart Little by E.B.White, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter, Princess Camomile Gets Her Way by Hiawyn Oram, Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse by Leo Lioni, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes, The Mouse and His Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, Is this the House of Mistress Mouse, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff Joffe and The King, the Mice and the Cheese by Nancy and Eric Gurney. Most of these authors wrote about more than one mouse. In our search I came across Story of Jumping Mouse by John Steptoe which looks interesting. I am going to find a copy and review it soon. (Also Dick King Smith's A Mouse Called Wolf).                                                                                                             

Crow Boy

Crow Boy, first published in 1955, is a brilliant story. It is as relevant now as ever. Taro Yashima writes about Chibi, a school boy, who is either being bullied or ignored. From the story's brief description of Chibi, he probably has some form of autism. But the story takes place in the 1950's rural Japan, not 2005. Chibi is not labeled at his one room school, he is coped with. He is frightened of the other children. He is always the last in line.
Lucky for him, a new teacher comes to the school. Mr Isobe nutures Chibi, talks to him, brings out his best. His work is up on the walls and he performs in the assembly.The illustrations speak mountains. They contain a lot of local detail. The pallet is a limited one, as with other books from the period.
This is a story about bullying, about transformation, about regret, about giving people a chance. My husband and I rarely leave a reading of this book with a dry face.
My children, both big and small, like to hear this book again and again. Crow Boy is a Caldecott Honour Book, suitable for ages 5-10.

Picture Book Author Sites

Below are some links to websites we like:

1. Eric Carle's website and link to museum site
2. Dav Pilkey of Captain Underpants fame
3. Lawrence Anholt (and Catherine) have written loads of terrific books for little ones
4. Joyce Dunbar is an amazing picture book writer
5. The Mitten, Belioz, Trouble with Trolls is just the beginning of Jan Brett's talent
6. William Steig will be with us forever in our hearts
7. For your first reference to email in a picture book, to the Queen's underpants-Nicholas Allan

M. Sasek

Miroslav Sasek was ahead of his time. In the late 1950's when the sleepy world of children's books was  just about to wake up, Sasek cottoned on to the idea of writing guide books for children. Born in 1916, the author/illustrator, travelled the world, sketching and gathering. He began with This is Paris, then wrote This is London. He went on to write dozens of books in the series, covering major cities and countries around the world. 
    When the internet first became widely available, I rarely used it. One of the few things I was drawn to was used book sites. I went straight to www.Alibris.com because The New Yorker was advertising it and I bought two children's books. One was Play Street by Esther Wilkin (  1962 Golden Press) and the other one was This is London by M. Sasek. I have to admit that competition in those early days of the late 1990's was not fierce and I paid quite a lot for the Sasek classic. But it was worth it. My children loved it. I loved it and the funniest thing was that eventhough the book in nearly fifty years old, so much about London remains true.
    Universe Publishing is slowly re-releasing them. They have reprinted London, Ireland, Paris, New York, San Francisco and Venice. And I intend to collect the lot for a few reasons. They encapsulate a place. I read This is Paris before my recent two day trip there with my mother. I closed the book and thought, I must go to a bakery and see a dozen monuments. These books are not for young children. But for a nine year old, they would make a good quick read to help them decide what to do on vacation. For those less likely to roam, it will give them a true sense of what elements combine to create a unique location. And just like many family vacations, these books have their dry parts. It is not all jokes and fascinating facts. But while you are in This is Ireland and reading about yet, another church, the illustrations are there to peruse. He was an excellent artist. His cartoony people seem to have never left the 1950's. They have a signature style, full of expression. The books are generous in their large format, hardback state, true to the original design.

    Although I love This is London, as an ex-pat New Yorker, This is New York, is my all time favourite.

Granny Torelli Makes Soup

    Granny Torrelli Makes Soup is a chapter book for children (girls in particular) who do not like to read. The chapters are incredibly short, the characters speedily described and the suspense makes the pages turn.
    The book starts out with a friendship in crisis between Rosie, Granny T's granddaughter, and Bailey, the boy next door.  In Steve Biddulph's book Raising Boys, he suggests that one should teach one's son to fold laundry by folding it with him. He says it is an amazing opportunity to have intimate conversations while not looking at each other. In this book Granny Torrelli uses cooking to draw out the story and then subtly solve the problem.
    The best feature of this book (besides the handy recipe) is that Bailey is deaf and Creech makes it seem cool to be deaf. Rosie is jealous that he can read braille, that he is flirting with other girls, that he has a secret life that she doesn't know about.
    Granny Torrelli is a great story teller. She weaves in the story of her passionate past, which relates so well to the actions of the present. Creech is subliminally saying, she may not be fashionable, she may sit around in the kitchen a lot, but if you ask your grandmother, you may be in for a big surprise.
    On the back of this book, that my son's in particular, liked, I have bought two more Creech's "Love That Dog" and "Heartbeat" which I will be reviewing soon. If you can't wait, then check out her site:
Sharon Creech's website

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

   When Michael Rosen's teenage son died of Meningitis, no words could describe how absolutely heart breakingly awful he felt about it. Life went on, as it does, and yet his sadness remained. He would go to readings before an audience of children and somehow his son's death would come up. He noticed that children had a very matter of fact way of greeting this news. That lead him to writing this book.

    If you are trying to protect your children from falls off bicycles, troubles in Iraq or the Tsunami, you will not like this book. Don't buy it. It will engage them in emotions and thoughts you would rather them not feel or think. But for the rest of you, this book is priceless. And you the adult reader, whether you have lost someone close or not, will surely cry. But you are in good hands. Michael Rosen knows his audience and he is incredibly in touch with "his inner child".
    The book is about grief. He describes what it is like to feel very sad.  It is about the process of mourning. He describes "shouting in the shower" or stepping on the cat's tail. He talks about who can be sad and about being happy.
    This book, evocatively illustrated by Quentin Blake, is a guide to what to expect when you are really sad. In this age of cancer and AIDS, where more and more young parents are dying, this book can be helpful as much for children as adults. And since it is a children's book, perhaps it will speak to children about personal grief, or what a parent might be going through.
       Quentin Blake captures the grief, the darkness, the joy and the light, in so few strokes. Having heard Rosen speak at Jewish Book Week, I realized how intimate and true, the portraits in this book really are.
     Sad book teaches children empathy, which frankly, they are not always very good at. I would recommend it for everyone, to be read once in a long while.
   

   Some Other Rosens: We're Going on a Bear Hunt, You Wait Till I'm Older than You, Quick Let's Get Out of Here