Picture book mini-reviews, part 10

Biscuit Plays Ball
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrated by Pat Schories
HarperCollins
March 2012

I think I just took 15 points of cute damage, from this ridiculously adorable puppy. The story is fairly slight; Biscuit rambunctiously punctures a kickball, forcing the kids to switch to a whiffle ball game instead. Cuuuuuute.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Secret Agent Splat
by Rob Scotton
HarperCollins
March 2012

Splat wants to solve the mystery of why his ducks' bills are going missing. The story didn't make a lot of sense - many of the characters just pop in with very little introduction, but then again, I haven't really followed the series. I loved Splat's rambling notes on his "cunning plan" to catch the culprit. There's a fun "top secret" duck code on the end pages that I think kids will dig.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Night, Knight
by Owen Davey
Templar
January 2012

Absolutely charming. A colander-helmeted little boy has an imaginative bedtime, transforming ordinary bedtime rituals into "a great adventure." A bath becomes a a swim past wildlife in the moat, brushing teeth becomes a dodge past alligators. The book is illustrated with a limited palette of orange, brown and blue, giving it a mildly retro feel.

I purchased this book.

Dad Does it All
by Paul Orshaski, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler
Treasure Bay
December 2011

Ugh. That's nearly all I have to say about this one. Here's a dad who is so out of it, he puts Papa Berenstain to shame. The bumbling dad of this story manages to make a complete mess of things when mom is sick with a cold. "My dad stayed home the other day. My mom was sick. Her throat was gray." After a day of total incompetence, "He hung some shirts out on the line. They blew away - and some were mine! Then as we chased them in the yard, Dad said, 'I never worked so hard.' It's the kid who finally saves the day - by ordering pizza so they can eat after Dad's burned the roast. Appended with phonics activities for parents to do with their children.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Conspiracy of Kings review

A Conspiracy of Kings
by Megan Whalen Turner
Greenwillow Books
March 2010

A Conspiracy of Kings is the fourth installment in the popular Queen's Thief series. I have to say, particularly with the popularity of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, The Thief is an easy sell for me. Once I mention that it's set in a fantasy world that is loosely based on Ancient Greece, it's usually game-over and the kid I'm recommending it to will check it out that very day. The only thing that I've ever found frustrating about this series is the four or five year wait in-between volumes!

In a lot of ways, A Conspiracy of Kings feels like the anti-thesis of The Thief. Where The Thief is about Eugenides, a clever and determined spy who has used his finely-honed abilities to scrabble out of of poverty and into the queen's favor, this story features Sophos, a young noble and heir apparent to the throne of the kingdom of Sounis who is thrown into poverty and slavery as he makes his escape from assassins who attempt to slaughter his family for political gain. There's quite a bit of travel in this book, which is another feature I usually enjoy in fantasy. Sophos gradually makes his way across the continent (having been assumed lost or dead) gathering intelligence that will stop the kingdom of Mede (loosely based on the Turkish Empire?) from making their play for control over their neighbors.

I was a little surprised that Gen is such a minor character in this book. Reportedly, Turner is working on a fifth book in the series, but details about the next book are hazy. If her current pattern holds up, I'd put my money on another book coming out in 2015.


I borrowed this book from the library.

Waiting on The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee

Here's the third book in the Origami Yoda series. The first two were so funny - I know I'm going to enjoy this one. I love that they made Chewbacca into a fortune-teller origami! Also, rhymes with "fortune cookie" so it makes an odd kind of sense.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee
by Tom Angelberger
Amulet Books

August 2012

With Dwight attending Tippett Academy this semester, the kids of McQuarrie Middle School are on their own—no Origami Yoda to give advice and help them navigate the treacherous waters of middle school. Then Sara gets a gift she says is from Dwight—a paper fortune-teller in the form of Chewbacca. It’s a Fortune Wookiee, and it seems to give advice that’s just as good as Yoda’s—even if, in the hands of the girls, it seems too preoccupied with romance. In the meantime, Dwight is fitting in a little too well at Tippett. Has the unimaginable happened? Has Dwight become normal? It’s up to his old friends at McQuarrie to remind their kooky friend that it’s in his weirdness that his greatness lies.

That New Book Smell

You'll hear plenty of folks wax poetic about "that old book smell." Here's a perfume meant to simulate that "new book smell" (probably not as famous as "new car smell" but to die-hard booklovers, probably more valuable.) 

Picture books mini-reviews, part 9

Dixie and the Class Treat
by Grace Gilman, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers
HarperCollins
March 2012

Dixie the dog gets into one mishap after another. Emma and her mom are making cookies to share for snack at school, when uh-oh! An over-rambunctious Dixie knocks over the table, ruining everything. They whip up a fresh batch, unsuspectingly adding cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon. Cue the sad trombone - Wah-wah-wah-waaaaaah! But Dixie (and Emma's mom) save the day when they arrive at school and Dixie manages to knock over another table of cookies, saving the students from a too spicy snack. Emma's super-mom presents the kids with a third batch of cookies (cooked the right way this time, of course.) Colorful watercolors give a great sense of motion as Dixie wiggles and waggles across every page.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze

by Maureen Wright, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
September 2011

Here is a great picture book for sharing in the fall. I love the digital and watercolor illustrations by Hillenbrand. Bear is certain that his sneezing is the cause of falling leaves and geese flying south, while Autumn Wind knows that Big Bear had nothing to do with it. In a way, this is a bit of take on that old Aesop's fable, The North Wind and the Sun - where they battle it out to see who's stronger (it is neither, of course.) I don't know what made me think of it... the mopsical foolishness of the bear in this story, I suppose.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Little Bea

by Daniel Roode
Greenwillow Books
March 2011

A busy bee named "Bea" buzzes around, looking like a unscrewed lightbulb with her tiny striped body and bulbous yellow head. Gardening, visiting with friends, playing in the rain, and an array of other little mini-adventures in a bucolic outdoor setting wear her out until she, "Bzz. Bzz. Zzzzzzzz," goes to sleep. No matter how many times I look at this, bobble-headed Bea looks like a lightbulb to me! All of the digitally created art looks slick and bright. 

I borrowed this book from the library.

Mac and Cheese and the Perfect Plan
by Sarah Weeks, illustrated by Jane Manning
HarperCollins
March 2012

In this silly rhyming beginning reader, two alleycats argue over whether they should go to the beach or not. (Mac is in favor, Cheese is against.) When they miss the bus, they have to settle for the pool. Colorful watercolor illustrations depicting an overstuffed junkyard which is home to the two cats is probably my favorite part of this odd couple series.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Waiting on Spark

As soon as I finished reading Glow, I was desperate to read the next one in the series. Not much longer to wait now!

Spark
by Amy Kathleen Ryan
St. Martin's Griffin

July 2012

Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. Kieran has led the boys safely up to this point, and now that the girls are back, their mission seems slightly less impossible: to chase down the New Horizon, and save their parents from the enemy ship. But nothing is truly as it seems…Kieran’s leadership methods have raised Seth’s hackles— and Waverly’s suspicions. Is this really her fiancé? The handsome, loving boy she was torn from just a short time before? More and more, she finds her thoughts aligned with Seth’s. But if Seth is Kieran’s Enemy No. 1, what does that make her?

In one night, a strange explosion rocks the Empyrean—shooting them off course and delaying their pursuit of the New Horizon—and Seth is mysteriously released from the brig. Seth is the most obvious suspect for the explosion, and Waverly the most obvious suspect for releasing him. As the tension reaches a boiling point, will Seth be able to find the true culprit before Kieran locks them both away—or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? With the balance of power precarious and the clock ticking, every decision counts… every step brings them closer to a new beginning, or a sudden end...

Read in June

This month I read the following books:

1 Goddess Interrupted - Aimee Carter
2 A Hero for WondLA - Tony DiTerlizzi
3 The Iron Duke - Meljean Brook
4 Dust Girl - Sarah Zettel

Picture credit: Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honore Fragonard