Digging into Tunnels

There are certain publishing people whose opinion I will always listen to, and Barry Cunningham is one of them. We got to meet Barry a few years ago when he was squiring Cornelia Funke to the Educational Paperback Association’s annual meeting, and he was fabulous in every since of the word – a great and funny conversationalist and world traveler with a wicked smart eye for a good book (don’t forget, this is the man that discovered a new writer named J.K. Rowling.)

So anyway, Barry is pitching a new book for his imprint at Scholastic, Chicken House, and he says inside the front cover of the advance galley that “reading Tunnels gave me the same thrill I got from page one of Harry Potter.” Plus, I am fascinated by subways and underground people (remember Slake’s Limbo?) so it was moved to the top of my reading pile.

Do I think it’s the next Harry Potter? No way. But it was brilliantly original, with all of the right elements for what we used to call, when I was a bookseller, a “great book for boys.” Dr. Burrows and his son Will are amateur diggers, spending their free time exploring what’s under their feet…separately they discover that there is an entire world down there, run by a strange sect with evil plans. It’s solid science fiction, but it has an edge of horror to it that I don’t enjoy, but kids probably will. My only real complaint is that the end really does leave you hanging, and Barry says that the sequel, Deeps, isn’t coming until 2009!

Oh My Darling Clementine

I think it would be a blast to write a story starring Clementine, Ramona Quimby, Judy Moody and any of the other irrepressible elementary school heroines. The result would be kind of like a junior version of Cynthia Voigt’s Bad Girls, with each girl putting on their most mischievous airs.

Oh, and throw Lilly (she of the purple plastic purse) in there, too, because
I just read a manuscript of the next Clementine book, (thank you, Harcourt!) Clementine’s Letter, and I couldn’t help thinking of Lilly….when Clementine finds out that her teacher may be leaving them for the rest of the year, she isn’t happy, because she is “in the sink” with him, and understands his rules. Like Mr. Slinger with Lilly, Clementine’s teacher truly “gets” his student, and there’s a special bond between them.

I like the urban setting of the Clementine books (that reminds me, we should invite Eloise to this party too) and how real everyone seems, especially Clementine’s friend Margaret, who clearly represents the OCD crowd and yet manages to add humor and believability to the story.

The I-Can’t-Find-a-Good-Book-to-Read Cure

When I was about 11 or so, I used to read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books out loud to my two sisters, and we just could not believe how magic and clever she was. (Our favorite problem child was the girl who would not take a bath, and in short order Mrs. P-W had vegetables growing out of her ears).

Apparently Betty MacDonald’s daughter Anne, found a never-before-published Mrs. P-W story and so voila! - the forthcoming Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!, which includes the “found” story and 7 others. I’m happy to report that it’s quite lovely – the children are as misbehaving as ever and the parents are forced to turn to Mrs. P-W for advice, resulting in the Won’t-Brush-Teeth Cure, the Picky-Eater Cure and the Never-Finish Cure. I think I need to send a copy to each of my sisters, who have 6 children between them.

I've Got a Golden Compass

You know you've gotten the perfect Christmas gift when you're still loving it 2 months later...one of my favorites this year was the Alethiometer Holiday Ornament that Laurina gave me...having just seen the movie (which I liked!) and resolved to read the books again, I was doubly excited to receive it. It really does look like the one in the movie, which I thought was very realistic and matched the one I had created in my mind. So, feel free to send your questions to me and I’ll get back to you with the answers.

I Love a Good Library

Laurina is much better about using the library than I am...I’ve gotten lazy over these last 20 years of being a book reviewer, because I get so many books sent to me that there’s always something to read, so I never actually need to go to the library to find something.

But since we started our trip and are trying to visit libraries wherever we go, I find myself amazed at all of the changes made since the last time I hung out in a library. For starters, do you know that they now allow food??!! Well, some of them, anyway, in designated places.

When we visited the Phoenix Public Library’s Central branch, we stumbled into the Teen section, which resembled a clubhouse more than a library (except, of course, that there were books all around the walls.) There was a large group of computers, every one occupied by a teen and several more looking over his/her shoulder. All of them were drinking sodas or eating snacks! And there was a line of kids waiting to play Guitar Hero on the giant screen in a small theater-type section. Needless to say, there was a lot of chatter and no “shushing.” The times, they are a-changed. I was happy to see that the very large graphic novel section seemed to be extremely well used as most of the books had obviously been read many times.

Before we left the library we stopped in the children’s section, of course. They were hosting a display of the original art for The Berenstain Bears Out West. You know, it’s easy to dismiss the Berenstain Bear books, the way folks used to dismiss the Golden books – mass market, a bit preachy – but lately I’ve been reading (and reading, and reading) them to my niece (she’s 4) and my nephew (he’s 2) and they both love them. So anyway, the paintings were beautiful!

Picking Up Where We Left Off

We haven't posted for a few months but now that some big projects and conferences are behind us we're eager to begin writing again. It's a perfect day to play catch up. We've been camped at Zion National Park for 2 weeks now and every day there's the tug of sunny days and the most majestic scenery pulling us outdoors away from our laptops. Today though, clouds, strong winds and threatening rain have kept us indoors, all cozy with the Watchman above.

Bookstore Visits

The Children’s Hour
Salt Lake City, UT
www.childrenshourbookstore.com
Waaaay back in October, an uncertain weather forecast “grounded” us in Salt Lake City for an expected day-and-a-half. So of course we headed for The Children’s Hour, a terrific store owned by Bobbie’s friend Diane Etherington. Bobbie and Diane first met
through the Association of Booksellers for Children some 20 years ago, and this was Bobbie’s third visit to the store – Laurina’s first.

We didn’t expect to see Diane working on a Saturday, but were happy to find her there. Introductions were made and we had a short conversation before she was called
away to help a customer, so we began browsing the shop.

What began as “just” a great children’s bookstore years ago has evolved into an eclectic mix of books, gifts and women’s/children’s clothes and shoes. There’s definitely a “boutique” feel to it, with books and other items intermingled throughout the smallish space.

We were struck by the depth of inventory…selected titles, both new and backlist, were represented by multiple copies and Diane confirmed that they do lots of handselling. On this Saturday morning the store was full of customers, both adults and chidren.

Both the title mix and the focus on handselling make it clear that books are central here. We were happy to see that such an unusual mix is so successful!

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The NeverEnding Story
Las Vegas, NV
www.theneverendingstory.biz
We couldn’t imagine there really was a children’s bookstore in Las Vegas (are there any children living in Vegas??!!) but Bobbie thought she remembered meeting the owners a few years back at BEA. Sure enough, we found the address for The NeverEnding Story and couldn’t wait to drop in. Our luck held and both owners were there – Kimberly Diehm and Jennifer Graves, who opened this lovely store in 2006. The “special events” board out front gave us a preview of some of the special events the two put together: story hours, birthday parties, book clubs…

Clean design, wood floors, just the right sidelines and a small play area made the store seem so welcoming! And Kimberly and Jennifer were just so friendly and interesting – they met while both were librarians for the Las Vegas – Clark County Library District.

Probably our favorite thing in the whole store were the children’s book quotes painted on the walls, from favorites like Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are.

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Changing Hands Bookstore
Tempe, AZ
www.changinghands.com
We loved this store before we even went in, because it is connected to a great restaurant called the Wildflower Bread Company – we had been to one in Sedona, AZ and just loved it! So, after you finish your fabulous breakfast or lunch, you can stroll right through the connecting arch and spend the next three hours exploring the bookstore, like we did.

Changing Hands was the Publisher Weekly Bookseller of the Year 2007, and they deserve it. Truly one of the fabulous independent stores that we bookpeople can’t resist, with lots of Booksense signage and handouts. They had a “help wanted” sign up and we briefly considering it, just for the chance to hang around in this amazing atmosphere.

We have NEVER been in a bookstore with this many amazing sidelines and yes, we did make a few purchases.

The kid’s section was just as fabulous as the rest, with deep, deep backlist, many face-out titles and these 2 wonderful signs: “New Essentials” and “Forever Favorites.” You’ve got to love a store that sells the Hornbook in the magazine section, too.

Saw a new Tolkien book, which with the news that Peter Jackson is going to make The Hobbit, has me fired up to read them all again, and watch them all again. I still remember the THRILL of reading The Hobbit for the first time, in 7th grade.

Some Book Reviews

Superheroes, written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III, Knopf/Random House,early reader
The adventures of Max (a boy) and Pinky (a pig) continue in this second episode. They decide to play superheroes, first practicing the right moves and dressing the part, and then becoming Mighty Max and his sidekick. “Wait, ‘stubby sidekick’?” Pinky gets mad over his second rate status and quits, but when he discovers Max in trouble, he’s able to prove just what a first rate superhero he is. The text is laugh-out-loud funny with much of the humor taking place via speech balloons. My favorite is while they’re trying on superhero outfits and Max asks “How come you get the good hat?” (Well, you have to see the illustration!)The bold, brightly colored art and black outlined figures add to the fun. Kids will relate easily to the ups and downs of these “best buds”.

Samsara Dog, written by Helen Manos and illustrated by Julie Vivas, Kane/Miller Book Publishers, picture book
Few picture books combine sadness, suffering, love and joy like this one. Based on the Buddhist concepts of Samsara and Nirvana, the many lives of Dog are presented as a natural process that children can easily grasp and understand. When we first meet Dog he’s living on the streets, loving and trusting no one. In later lives his circumstances vary – he’s with a motorcycle gang, a mountain rescue team, a juggler, four lively, young girls – and the relationship he has with each owner shifts a bit. Lastly, Dog learns the most important lesson of all as he lives a full and happy life with a boy who loves him and depends on him throughout the boy’s adulthood. Julie Vivas’ soft watercolors capture the emotionality of each of Dog’s lives, significantly adding to the story.
It was hard to read this without an “adult” head or without some anthropomorphizing on my part -- I’m such a dog person. Each reading brought tears because there’s no denying this is a sad book but there’s hope too, and I felt such comfort and joy knowing that Dog knew compassion.



Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers, written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola, Putnam/Penguin USA, picture story book
DePaola celebrates his love of northern New England in this modern tall-tales collection of stories and jokes. The humorous tales are arranged by season and each section ends with a cartoon-strip depicting a tourist’s interaction with the locals. DePaola’s familiar illustrations appear throughout, focusing on the beautiful landscape and the taciturn, practical people. His use of regional dialect like “fahmah” and “hewse” adds to the down home flavor of the tales. You don’t have to be a New Englander to enjoy this collection!

New Best Books from SLJ

School Library Journal has posted the 2007 Best Books list. As with all "best books" lists, it takes careful consideration and passionate lobbying to select a few from many. With head down, I admit I hadn't read all the selected titles and some of them I wasn't even familiar with! Here's a few comments and examples --


The Expected

ALEXIE, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. illus. by Ellen Forney. Little, Brown. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978--0-316-01368-0.
HORNBY, Nick. Slam. Putnam. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-0-399-25048-4.
TAN, Shaun. The Arrival. illus. by author. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Bks. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-0-439-89529-3

Personal Favorites

BANKS, Kate. Lenny's Space. Farrar/Frances Foster Bks. Tr $16. ISBN 978-0-374-34575-4.
GRAVETT, Emily. Orange Pear Apple Bear. illus. by author. S & S. RTE $12.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-3999-3.
PERKINS, Lynne Rae. Pictures from Our Vacation. illus. by author. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. 2007. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-085097-5; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-085098-2.
STEWART, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious Benedict Society. illus. by Carson Ellis. Little, Brown/Megan Tingley Bks. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-05777-6.
THOMPSON, Kate. The New Policeman. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-117427-8; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-117428-5.

Haven't Read (yet)
APPLEGATE, Katherine. Home of the Brave. Feiwel & Friends. Tr $16.95. ISBN 978-0-312-36765-7.
CRISLER, Curtis L. Tough Boy Sonatas. illus. by Floyd Cooper. Boyds Mills/Wordsong. Tr $19.95. ISBN 978-1-932425-77-2.

A Surprise, but an Agreeable One
MADISON, Alan. Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly. illus. by Kevin Hawkes. Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-375-83597-1; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-93597-8.

For the complete list click here.

Reading, reading, and reading

My reading has really slowed down since we began our road trip and I haven’t had time to write even brief reviews of the books I have had time to read. So I’m fast forwarding and just mentioning these titles I feel are special to me so I can feel caught up.
The Seems: the Glitch in Sleep by John Hulme & Michael Wexler (Bloomsbury)
great story and so inventive
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin (FS&G)
realistic, powerful look at identity
Kissing the Bee by Kathe Koja (FS&G)
Mistik Lake by Martha Brooks (FS&G)
brillant story by one of my long-time favorite authors
The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty (Arthur Levine/Scholastic)
quirky, unusual story and the Zing Family Secret will astound; a reworking of the author’s I Have A Bed of Buttermilk Pancakes, I think it still seems more of a book for adults
Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg ( Ginee Seo/ S&S)
Fine characterizations and I like how Konigsburg makes me think about art’s relevance to my everyday world; I knew nothing about degenerate art and now I do. Shortly after reading this, I read ELK’s book of short stories, Throwing Shadows, which includes a story written many years previous with some of the characters of MEOTHW. Interesting to see how a story becomes more.
Edward’s Eyes by Patrica MacLachlan (HarperCollins)
Her use of language is so beautiful.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury)
Crow (Books of Pellinor) by Allison Croggan (Candlewick)
I’m pretty selective about my fantasy and think this series is outstanding!
Lenny’s Space by Kate Banks (FS&G)
This is a gem; I’ll try and find time to write more later because I hope it’s widely read.
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (David Fickling Books/Random)
I was totally immersed in this story; the characterization of Ted is particularly well written; intelligent mystery.
THANKS TO ALL THE PUBLISHERS FOR REVIEW COPIES AND GALLEYS.

Now that I look over this list, I see that many of these I read before we started our trip. And what to make of the number of FS&G titles on the list?
I’m rarely reading just one book and am also in the midst of re-reading The Golden Compass because I want to read the entire His Dark Materials before seeing the movie of The Golden Compass. And speaking of movies, I don’t think I can bring myself to see the Dark is Rising – too many changes that remove the movie from the spirit of the book which I have a very visual memory of (after re-reading it several times.)

Congratulations!

Today I learned from the CCBC list serv that Vera B. Williams was chosen as the recipient of the 50th Regina Medal. Happy congratulations to her! I love her work for it's honesty and inclusiveness; her understanding of children; her use of color and emotive art. "More More More!" Said the Baby has remained at the top of my favorite picture books list for years and Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart is exceptional.

Wild About Books

We kicked off our plan to visit as many children’s bookstores as we can during our RV travels with a stop in Kansas City at The Reading Reptile. Wow – what a fantastic store! Large scale paper mache characters from favorite children’s books abound, hanging from the ceiling or resting on the floor -- Peggy Rathmann’s Gorilla, Cassie from Tar Beach, My Father’s Dragon, a Giving Tree. There’s a HUGE map of the US on the ceiling, each state brightly colored. A spacious room is divided into smaller spaces through the arrangement of bookcases, tables and chairs, as well as the giant characters, and there are many alcoves brimming with unique touches and decorations – dioramas embedded in the shelves, sticker and bead trimming , a small table lacquered with illustrations and verse from Eloise Greenfield’s Daydreamers. We’ve never seen a store with so many personal touches that reflect the owners’ sensibilities. Many titles were displayed face-out, inviting easy browsing. I discovered a new title by Patricia Maclachlan and her daughter Emily, Fiona Loves the Night ; a delightful picture book with pitch perfect rhythm matched with bold art. Bobbie was pleased to find a copy of Byrd Baylor’s I’m in Charge of Celebrations which she was just talking about the day before. She read the passage about coyotes aloud to me.

We introduced ourselves to Pete who owns the store with his wife Debbie. He told us we could see Chris Crutcher the next day if we were in town. Darn! We need to continue heading west to make it to Reno in time for the AASL conference. He gave us bumper stickers anyway.

The store is so welcoming to both adults and children and creative in both appearance and programming. Be sure and visit the web site for more info and the irreverent musings of Bitterman.

Open Books, Open Roads, Journey On

It’s official! We Love Children’s Books is out on the road. Our plan is to work and travel for the next two years. Our mobile home/office is a 30 foot Jayfeather Ultralight trailer, which we’re pulling with a Chevy Tahoe. We hope to see many of our friends in the children’s book industry along the way, and we’ll chronicle many of those visits here.
So if you have a farm, extra long driveway or just want some company, drop us a line.

BTW, our friend Desiree is the ultra-talented graphic designer who created our logo -- isn't it great?! That's our dog, Molly, in the back seat.

Pop, Pop

Two pop-up books recently made their way to our review stash. I'm a mild fan of pop-ups and I like one very much, not just because it's awesome to look at, but because it also engages readers in different ways. The book is How Many ? spectacular paper sculptures by Ron van der Meer (Robin Corey Books/ Random House.)
On five double-page spreads, four featuring shapes -- triangle, circle, square, and star -- and the fifth using a line, remarkable pop-up structures amaze and delight readers. Multiples of each shape form the brightly colored structures paired against white backgrounds. Looking from the top and sides produces different views. Many questions pertaining to shape and color appear on each spread – for instance How many circles are formed by words? How many squares overlap? How many star points touch the pages?
You can check your answers on the Internet at www.howmanypopups.com. van der Meer is truly a master paper engineer; he’s created pop-ups for adults and kids. I think kids eight and older will be fascinated with How Many ? A limited edition signed by the author is also available; for more information go
here.
The other pop-up I didn't like because I felt it was too contrived and just didn't work, so I won't say more about that.

Weekend in New Hampshire

We haven't posted much because we are (still) sorting, packing and preparing for our move at a frantic pace. But over the past weekend I was with college friends near Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire and had a fun, relaxing time -- that easy way of being with longtime friends. I've known these women for 35 years! Just before leaving, I received a review copy of Tuttle's Red Barn by Richard Michelson and illustrated by Mary Azarian (Putnam.)It's the story of America's oldest family farm, relating pieces of the country's history along with the story of twelve generations of family farming in Dover, New Hampshire.
Azarian's fine woodcuts are a perfect complement, capturing the people and the New England landscape with a rustic air. I haven't visited the Red Barn yet, and until I do, this book will provide me with a feeling of it's place in New Hampshire life and culture.