Iron Giant review

The Iron Giant
by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Laura Carlin
Random House Children's Books
September 2011

Hughes’s parable about peace, originally penned in 1968, is given new life with Carlin’s cut-paper, multimedia illustrations. In the first half of the book, after crashing to Earth, the Iron Giant re-assembles himself and wreaks havoc on the local farming community by eating its tractors and farm implements. After succumbing to a pit-trap, he is tamed by Hogarth, a boy who leads him to a scrap yard where the Iron Giant can finally eat his fill.

In the second half of the story, a space-bat-angel-dragon as large as Australia threatens the Earth. Several pages of concentric die-cut circles punch up the importance of its arrival. The formerly silent Iron Giant finds his voice to challenge the creature to an endurance test. Burnt nearly to a crisp after two consecutive trips to the surface of the sun, the space-bat-angel-dragon relents and agrees to sing peaceful music-of-the-spheres instead of waging war. The oversize illustrations are rendered in a restrained muted palette of blues, browns, reds, and blacks but exhibit great variety, sometimes emphasizing the shadowy, blurry nature of the giant, other times utilizing sharply cut lines and finely drawn small townsfolk. Occasional use of hand lettering amid the text lends drama and interest. Lengthy for a picture book, but a bit short for a novel, this is a smartly designed, highly illustrated novella in picture-book format.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
This review originally appeared in School Library Journal.

Bloomswell Diaries review

The Bloomswell Diaries
by Louis L. Buitendag
Kane Miller
March 2011


This is a fast-paced action/chase/adventure written with plenty of of boy appeal. There's a bit of mystery as Benjamin Bloomswell is left with his uncle while his parents are on a business trip. Soon, he's shocked to discover that his parents are being reported dead in the newspapers. As he makes his escape from an orphanage in order to reunite with his sister, he's forced to stowaway on a ship headed from New York to Europe.

The story didn't feel as steampunkish as I expected. Except for the rarely seen mechanical clockwork men there aren't very many sci-fi'ish touches. Benjamin hides inside one when he's smuggling himself across international borders. This is a solidly middle-grade level read - there's not even a hint of romance, and the main part of the story focuses on the mystery of what's happened to Benjamin's parents. There's an almost dreamlike sense behind the chase scenes, as Benjamin escapes from one pursuer, only to have to stay one step ahead of another generic bad guy.

While this is an American-published book, it has the feeling of having been translated - it feels just a touch alien, which is not at all a bad thing. Fans of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, or The Incorrigible Children of Aston Place by Maryrose Wood, who are looking for more stories of plucky, determined orphans fighting against conspiracies and impossible odds will enjoy The Bloomswell Diaries.




I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Zita the Spacegirl review

Zita the Spacegirl 

by Ben Hatke 

First Second 

February 2011

Really excellent middle-grade science-fiction feels like a hard thing to find these days. This graphic novel more than delivered, offering zany aliens, an intrepid girl explorer and an enjoyably distinctive style. Zita, who seems to be around 10 years of age or so, is a bit impulsive and given to making hasty decisions. After a meteor delivers a strange looking alien device, she teases her brother Joseph and hits the button, and is shocked, overwhelmed and sad when he is sucked into a vortex. Not knowing what else to do, she jumps in after him. She soon finds herself on an alien world, and with Joseph kidnapped, she makes an unlikely alliance with Strong-Strong, a sweet but kind of dumb brute, often bossed around by his levitating, top-hat wearing, cockney-accented boss. Piper, a bit of a rogue and conman, his friend/pet Pizzicato, better known as "Mouse" a gigantic mouse who communicates via ticker tape, as well as H.A.M.B.O. - a Heavily Armored Mobile Battle Orb, otherwise known as One, a slightly dysfunctional battle robot all join her on her quest to rescue Joseph.

Zita the Spacegirl favorably reminded me of several other recent books: Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, because Zita and Mirka both share the same irrepressible spirit. Zita's quest to find answers and the diverse alien population giving things a Mos Eisley feel reminded me of Eva Nine's adventures in The Search for WondLA. The sense of humor and fast pace made me think of Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack, a mildly steampunkish retelling of fairy tales.

The ending of the book promises more in a series. Fast-paced, fun and accessible, I'd recommend Zita the Spacegirl for a wide range of readers, from 4th through 8th grade.


I borrowed this book from the library.

A Long, Long Sleep review

A Long, Long Sleep
by Anna Sheehan
Candlewick
August 2011

This is a science-fiction re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story. Depending on how you look at it, Rosalinda Fitzroy is either 16-years old, or well over a hundred. Exploring a sub-basement, Bren is startled when he finds a human girl sleeping in a stasis tube, and after accidentally hitting the wake sequence, he attempts CPR, literally, "kissing" her awake.

It turns out Rosalinda is the heir to a multi-planetary empire. While she was supposed to be in a short stasis, a global disaster known as the Dark Times hit, and forgotten, she ended up sleeping for over sixty years. I really struggled for the first half of the book. Rosalinda is understandably, a disaster... technology, culture, everything has changed while she's been out and feeling physically weak from being in stasis for far, far longer than what is considered customary or safe, naturally, she feels completely overwhelmed. Even though her feelings seemed reasonable considering the circumstances, I was annoyed by how timid she was and how she constantly put herself down. She doesn't consider herself terribly bright and even before being accidentally in stasis, seemed like a bit of a lost soul. I found her very difficult to like at first.

As she slowly starts to open up to Otto, a telepathic alien classmate, readers gradually get glimpses of her tragic past. The privileged daughter of wealthy, elite business-owners, who use stasis on a regular basis, when they are traveling for business, as a punishment (kind of a like a "time-out" only infinitely worse) or just when they feel like they need a break from parenting, Rose has been robbed of any kind of normalcy since day one. After a while, she even begins to crave being "stassed" - getting high off the psychedelic dreams she experiences while in her stasis tube. Her parents truly come off as monsters... and it turns out that they've been inadvertently responsible for the Dark Times catastrophe as well.

As Rose is coping with all of this, there are dark hints of a murdering robot that's been sent to assassinate her. Obviously, there are a lot of people who would benefit if Rose could more permanently disappear. Who sent it? Who can she trust? How will she escape from this tireless death machine? I was surprised also, that while there is a hint of romance, it doesn't feature heavily in the story. Ultimately, Rose has to learn how to be her own person, discovering her own unique abilities and standing up to the board of directors who are running her family's business in her stead. I'll recommend this book to readers who enjoyed Across the Universe by Beth Revis with a caveat to stick with it, A Long, Long Sleep gets better (much, much better) as you go along.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.