Asian Art: Come Look with Me
Kimberly Lane
Ages 7  - 10
Hardcover, 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-890674-19-9
Buy the Book

Twelfth in the Come Look With Me series of art education and appreciation books for children, Asian Art is a big, beautiful introduction to twelve great works from South, East, and Southeast Asia. The selection of these masterpieces gives children and their parents a  journey of variety, across artistic traditions in Asia through a range of time periods and cultures. 

The artworks from India include an 11th-century sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni and a lively 14th century seated Ganesha sculpture from Orissa. From 19th-century Tibet is the brilliant blue bodhisattva, Akashagarbha. Chinese calligraphy and scroll art range from the 15th century to the 20th.  In a book that features so many older masterpieces (including horse riders in a 19th-century Hokusai woodcut) the 21st century example of Japan’s Takashi Murakami’s “superflat” art is an eye-popping surprise. Each piece of art is introduced with a full-page color reproduction. An accompanying page includes a brief biography of the artist and notes on the art form and its symbolism, together with information about the time period. Each begins with a few questions in big type, designed to encourage young readers to think about and engage in discussion of the art. This book is published in cooperation with The School at Columbia University.

The Origami Master
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
Ages 7  - 10
Hardcover, 32 pages
ISBN: 978-0-89075-6134-8
Buy the Book

Shima the Origami Master lives on a mountain in Japan. One day an origami elephant appears on his desk, and the next day a magnificent folded paper dragon. Who is making these wonderful creations? This book is the story of his enlightening discovery. Illustrated with beautiful paper cut art by Aki Sogabe, this book is a touching introduction to the Japanese art form. In the back of the book are step-by-step instructions on how to make an origami bird.

To create a fun and inspiring math lesson for older children, here’s a short video interview with a master of computational origami,  the mathematics required to create elaborate origami, as well as large practical applications of folded flat materials such as auto airbags and surgical procedures.

Wabi Sabi
Mark Reibstein
Art by Ed Young
Ages 4-8
Hardcover, 40 pages  
ISBN: 978-0316118255
Buy the book

The best introduction I can make to this extraordinary picture book (which opens bottom to top, rather than right to left) is to offer you this video by the author and the illustrator about the making of the book, and the concept of “wabi sabi,” finding subtle beauty and poetry in ordinary imperfections, a concept which has its roots in Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

Dragon Fire, Ocean Mist
Yvonne Palka
Ages 7-10
Paperback, 210 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9817668-0-5
Buy the book

This fast-moving chapter book, written by award-winning sumi artist  and naturalist Yvonne Palka, is not only a great fantsy adventure with its timeless message about the importance of peacemaking and getting along with others, it’s also a heartwarming introduction to the marine wildlife of the Pacific Northwest’s Shi Shi Beach. The book is generously illustrated with Palka’s modern Chinese brush paintings — depicting dragons in conflict, cooperation, and magical reverie. Occasionally a tiny crab scuttles along the bottom of a page, or seaweed flutters at the top, mimicking the ocean’s surface. The book’s beauty and magic owe as much to superb art direction by Yachun Peng as to Palka’s fine illustrations.

Well-written characters bring depth and humor to this innovative tale of an ancient dragon family who emerge upon a real beach in Washington State to befriend the inquisitive human brother and sister, Jaxon and Allie.

Teachers and parents, this book is quite simply an educational gold mine. In the back of the book are essays on Sumi-e (Chinese brush painting), haiku, seals and chop marks, and on dragon lore (Asian, European, and more) and the marine wildlife of the Pacific Northwest coastal region. The tone of the essays is bright and cheery, inviting exploration in the library and the outdoors. I highly recommend Yvonne Palka’s educational website with learning activities for kids and lesson plans for teachers. Palka’s excellent Firebrand newsletter features a different bit of lore and/or mini-essay about Pacific Northwest marine life in each issue, as well as fun “super simple sumi” art exercises that readers of any age will enjoy.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

Ages 8-12
Hardcover, 176 pages
7.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches

HarperCollins
ISBN-13: 978-0061448799
$10.99
Buy the book

“A string of daring burglaries has taken place in Big City, and precious lapdogs are disappearing. Who is behind this crime wave?”

On another blog, I reviewed this fledgling series right after its first offering appeared on the shelves. It, and its author’s progeny, are so worthy that I’m repeating the review again here.

In the first book of this series (winner of the Nestle Children’s Book Prize and The Red House Children’s Book Award) Chris Riddell, distinguished co-creator of The Edge Chronicles, once again makes delightful use of his trademark blend of graphic conventions and witty storytelling. Ottoline’s world is populated with oddbodies and thingamajigs. When she is not dusting her parents’ four-spouted teapot collection or brushing the head-to-toe hair of her close companion Mr. Munrose, she is making astute observations as to the day’s events or hatching clever plans which she dutifully records in her notebook.

Her parents, at turns out, are traveling abroad, leaving Ottoline in the able care of Mr. Munroe and a team of professional home-tidiers, pillow-plumpers, and home-cooked meal providers. Dutiful writers of affectionate postcards which we read over Ottoline’s shoulder throughout the book, her parents have the laudable habits of sabotaging the efforts of butterfly collectors in the jungle, and bringing home rare hats and masks from exotic lands.

Knowing all this will not in the least spoil the story, for readers of Ottoline and the Yellow Cat must still discover the trouble in Big City, as Ottoline and Mr. Munroe collaborate to solve the mystery surrounding the cat in question. Also remaining to be settled: the true identity of an uninvited guest holed up in the basement of the P.W. Huffledinck Tower.

And oh yes, in case you were worried — by page 170, Ottoline’s loving parents are on their way home to their daughter.

A delightful read!

Also highly recommended: Ottoline Goes to School

Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends

Ages 4-8
Hardcover, 48 pages
8.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
ISBN: 978-0547152226
Get the book

In this Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award Winner, early readers will meet two creative friends who set out for a day of bird-watching. Although none of the birds seem to want to keep still and enjoy being watched,  Mouse and Mole have a good time solving problems together and learning the fine art of compromise during their day out. If you pay close attention to the friends’ creative activity in this book, you’ll learn how to transform your sweatshirt so the birds won’t notice you (so much) and you can follow their three-part strategy for constructing a comfortable nest.

Mouse and Mole’s friendship is reminiscent of Arnold Lobel’s classic buddies Frog and Toad.  This particular Mouse and Mole book also pays homage to the color palette and book design of the Frog and Toad books, in its use of foliage greens, bark browns and yellow-gold. The gentleness and exuberance of the illustrations is contagious in the best sort of way.

This is a book that celebrates the learning value of arts and crafts, the joy of the natural world, the pride of publishing one’s own work, and the art of working out conflicts and differences between friends. In other words, a parent’s or teacher’s jackpot!

If after reading this gem, your children are not begging you to make a bird costume out of their sweatshirts, or to create their own illustrated books, I’ll write you a poem myself.

Here’s a video look at Frog and Toad’s excellent swimming adventure:

William Shakespeare: His Life and Times

Ages 9-12
Hardcover, 30 pages
12 x 10.2 x 0.8 inches
Templar Books (Candlewick)
ISBN: 978-0763647940
Get the book
I’d like to say a personal thank-you to the two English profs at Central Michigan University who created this wonderful book. Shakespeare fans and teachers everywhere will be delighted by the elaborate detail of this scrapbook created by Shakespeare for his daughter.

Foldouts, pop-ups and beautifully rendered facsimiles of Shakespeare’s world and time make this a book worthy of many hours poring over its treasures. Alongside the narrative and its ephemera are helpful sidebars providing factual background info in clear prose.

Highlights:

* The bard’s letter to daughter Judith introduces the book, enclosed in an envelope attached to the title page, accompanied by a Shakespearean language”cheat sheet”
* a foldout of the Globe Theater with notes on the parts of the stage
* a list of King James’ fears and superstitions

Teachers will appreciate this book as a classroom companion — a way to inspire young students to become absorbed in his life and times!

A virtual movie of William Shakespeare reading his Sonnet 106 “When in the chronicles of wasted time”:

The Twin Giants

Ages 4-8
Hardcover,80 pages
9.6 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches

Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978-0763635299
Get the book
This fun book for newly independent readers has a lot of my favorite things in it: a village, a mountain, giants and a rambling story reminiscent of those told by an exceptionally witty uncle or aunt, to those who were lucky enough to have one.

If you weren’t so fortunate as to hear outlandish tales from a storytelling relative, this book might remind you, as it does me, of other rambling favorites such as Lucky Mrs. Ticklefeather, recently reissued. This is not an entirely fair comparison, though, since nothing the Lucky Mrs. does in her eponymous story makes any sense at all, and in The Twin Giants there is plenty of sense, a double romance and a doubly happy ending. It just takes a while to realize you’re on the right track.

There’s a bit of lesson-learning and character-building in The Twin Giants, but at all not the irritating kind that makes you suspect your Sunday School teacher is lurking beneath the narrative.

It may sound as if I’m not a fan of rambling stories, but nothing could be further from the truth. I love slight digressions, especially if they make me feel more thoroughly embedded in the story’s landscape, such as happens in the best of William Steig’s picture books (see The Amazing Bone, Sylvester’s Magic Pebble and Shrek — yes, that Shrek, but if you haven’t read the original witty telling, you and your children haven’t had the full Shrek experience).

Author Dick King-Smith is the creative mind behind over 160 books for children including Babe: The Gallant Pig (yes, of movie fame, originally titled The Sheep-Pig), The School Mouse, A Mouse Called Wolf and Pigs Might Fly.

The illustrations by Mini Grey bring joy, movement and exceedingly rosy cheeks into this enjoyable telling of a modern-day fairy tale. And who doesn’t love rosy cheeks?

Scream Street: Skull of the Skeleton

Ages 8-12
Paperback,128 pages
Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763646350

If you loved Fang of the Vampire (#1), Blood of the Witch (#2), Heart of the Mummy (#3) and Flesh of the Zombie (#4), you’ll simply adore the funny, grisly, gore of Skull of the Skeleton (#5) and Claw of the Werewolf (#6). In the Scream Street Series, author Tommy Donbavand luxuriates in haunting plot surprises for our hero, Luke Watson who, at the start of the series, becomes a werewolf on his 10th birthday. Soon Luke and his family are sent away to G.H.O.U.L. (Government Housing of Unusual Life-forms), on Scream Street. It soon becomes clear to Luke that, while he’s making ever more interesting friends, his parents just can’t get used to having vampires and mummies as neighbors.

Luke now faces a daunting task — finding six relics mentioned in Skipstone’s Tales of Scream Street, a history of the community’s founding fathers. With the help of this ancient volume and his nightmarish new friends, Luke must locate the relics and use their combined power to unlock the doorway out of Scream Street so he can take his parents home.

Each book in the series helpfully begins with a recap of this basic storyline, as well as a spread of wonderfully illustrated character portraits and a map of the monstrous neighborhood. While I wish the map were a bit larger and the labels of “Who Lives Where” a bit clearer and easier to follow, the map does enhance the reader’s sense of setting, and provides just enough detail to fuel the imagination. The tales are best read in order, so readers may have the satisfaction of watching Luke draw nearer his goal as he creeps through the cobwebs to acquire each new relic, to save his parents from a life of deep unease (and a concerning dearth of smiles).

Each volume of Scream Street includes glossy, collector’s cards of the series’ characters, illustrated in color.

Scream Street: Claw of the Werewolf
Ages 8-12
Paperback,128 pages
Candlewick Press
ISBN-10: 0763646385

In Claw of the Werewolf (#7), Luke Watson is closing in on the last of the six relics he needs to complete his quest. What scares and snares are in store? You’ll have to read the book — I’m no spoiler!

Kids will no doubt wish to check out the website, Screamstreet.com for its regular Screamcasts and a subscription to the Terror Times.

Watch for the next in the series!  Invasion of the Normals (#7)

Delightful Scream Street trailer narrated by Donbavand himself:

____________________________________________________________

Ceci Miller is co-publisher of BooktiMookti Press, home of the Runt Farm chapter book series. She is also a children’s author, book editor, and owner of CeciBooks editorial and book publishing consultancy for authors and indie publishers. See some of Ceci Miller’s recent book projects.

The Haunting of Charles Dickens

Ages 10+
Hardcover, 368 pages, illustrated
Feiwel & Friends
ISBN 978-0312382568
Pre-order the book (Available October 2010)

When we meet Meg Pickel, her brother Orion has been missing for six months. It is this harrowing fact that sends a sleepless Meg out into the night in a kind of aimless reverie. When she encounters a family friend, the great author Charles Dickens, also wandering the rooftops, both insomniacs find themselves spying on a seance taking place inside Satis House, which yields an unexpected clue as to her brother’s disappearance.

Lovers of Dickens will recognize Buzbee’s Satis House as the fictional offspring of Miss Havisham’s dilapidated mansion in Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations. This recognition is the beginning of many to come in The Haunting, which launches readers on a  tour of Dickens’ London that not only teaches a great deal about letterpress printing and the construction of the Underground Railway (now known as The Tube) but also about the class system, and the ill treatment of child workers in that day.

Thought-provoking on many subjects, the book doesn’t shy away from the dark side of Old London. Like a Dickens tale, Buzbee’s Haunting lends the reader the author’s insatiable appetite for the details of the city — by turns noisy, mystical, intriguing, dangerous and even cruel. Children toiling in underground workhouses, thieves skulking in dark bars, kidnappers and con artists — all delivered from the point of view of Meg Pickel, a courageous, warm-hearted and serious investigative journalist-in-the-making.

There’s a lighter side to this novel as well. Suffice it to say that Beatles fans should take note when Meg Pickel makes her way down Penny Lane. Masterful illustrations by über-cool comic (and music video) artist Greg Ruth bring a modern edge to Buzbee’s Old London, both the dark and the light.

The novel is set in 1862, the Silver Jubilee year of the reign of Queen Victoria and boasts a wealth of 19th-century details in both settings and language. Protagonist Meg Pickel prefers her tea Tiff (tea first), not Miff (milk first), and characters make their way through the dark with match-lit “rush-lights.” Chapter titles honor the writing style of Charles Dickens, as do words hyphenated as Dickens would have done: “sleep-walker,” “work-house.” But the homage doesn’t stop there — witness this passage, roiling with industry:

“. . . the two-wheeled Hansom cabs stopped and started, weaved and darted, delivering their fares only to pick up others and fly away again. On the sidewalks, the wheeled carts of vendors — flat-fish, breakfast rolls, coffee, baked potatoes — strolled up and down, and between the carts and the storefronts, hurried and harried Londoners weaved in and around one another.”

It’s a tricky thing to bestow the power of a protagonist on a young girl of the 19th century, but Buzbee deftly accomplishes it, despite having to concede that “It is generally accepted of reality that there are fields of endeavor suited to the male sex and fields of endeavor suited to the female sex.” To strike a tone of gender equality true to the time period, the narrator muses,

“Perhaps there will come a time — can we strain our minds to imagine a future one hundred, even two hundred years hence? — in which women and men will compete for the same positions of skill and adventure. But that time is not now.”

Nevertheless, it is Meg Pickel’s curiosity, wit, and compassion that drive this story forward. In writing The Haunting, the author sets out to bring a bit of gender balance to Dickens’ young all-male heroes, as though certain that Dickens himself would have more prominently featured young girls in his novels, had he been given a hundred more years to get used to the idea.

Whether in children’s literature or books for adults, a protagonist must possess extraordinary qualities, and true to form, Meg Pickel is no average girl. Only a genuine mystery sleuth would venture out for a walk on the rooftops at night! And on more than one occasion Meg questions the efficacy of dresses and petticoats. Although Meg knows well enough how to play the part of a proper young girl of the 19th century, she does so only if and when it serves her primary purpose: to find her missing brother.

Along the way our heroine discovers, and vows to end, the tragic abuse of  press-ganged child workers in the dark and hidden parts of London. When it becomes clear to both Meg and Mr. Dickens that it is futile to attack the problem head-on, they rely on the power of the written word to weave worlds and expose wrongs, as well as (for good or ill) to say one thing while seeming to say another:

“Yes, Meg. You’ve nailed it down. Words, as you well know, may expose the world as it truly is. Or they may be used to paint a world that never was nor will be. Words reveal and conceal, and sometimes both.”

Lewis Buzbee is also the author of the extremely well-made YA  mystery Steinbeck’s Ghost (reviewed here earlier) and The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, the award-winning memoir of a confirmed bibliophile.

Teachers, take  note: Like Steinbeck’s Ghost,  The Haunting of Charles Dickens will compel young readers to seek out works by the writer honored in its title. To thoroughly appreciate the delightful collection of literary allusions in the novel, I’d suggest looking into Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities, at the very least. I can easily imagine a classroom contest made out of locating these allusions, with a smartly bound copy of one of these classics awarded as a prize.

Here’s a trailer of the 1946 version of the film “Great Expectations” which suitably evokes the settings revisited in Buzbee’s rich homage, The Haunting of Charles Dickens:

____________________________________________________________

Ceci Miller is co-publisher of BooktiMookti Press, home of the Runt Farm chapter book series. She is also a children’s author, book editor, and owner of CeciBooks editorial and book publishing consultancy for authors and indie publishers. Ceci Miller’s recent book projects

Simon & Schuster Children’s
ISBN: 978-1416928294
Buy the book

A funny, irreverent approach to learning about some big names in history. From Queen Cleopatra to Johann Sebastian Bach, to Susan B. Anthony, Babe Ruth and Rosa Parks — all of them were put in time out at one time or another, even though some didn’t do anything wrong. Witty, bright illustrations with plenty of attitude get the point across: even the great among us make mistakes just like we do.

If I were using this as a teaching tool (though I no longer teach young folks, either at home or in a school classroom) I would take it in sections, using each funny two-page spread as a companion to more sober-and-traditional biographies of these historical figures. What great discussions we could have — about what makes our actions “right or wrong,” and how do we know if we’re right when we think something’s wrong? We could discuss whether the punishment was fair or unfair to the folks featured in The Book of Time Outs (once we’d read their more complete stories elsewhere).

If you’re more confident than I am in your knowledge of historical figures (including Babe Ruth, mind you) this book is fabulous conversation-starter for kids and parents who like talking about big ideas — and big names other than Britney Spears or Robert Pattinson (for the unbitten, see Twilight).

Possibly the only book out there that makes time-outs seem mildly amusing.

____________________________________________________________

Ceci Miller is co-publisher of BooktiMookti Press, home of the Runt Farm chapter book series. She is also a children’s author, book editor, and owner of CeciBooks editorial and book publishing consultancy for authors and indie publishers. Ceci Miller’s recent book projects

Listen to the Wind

Ages 4-8
Hardcover, 32 pages
Penguin / Dial
ISBN: 978-0803730588
Buy the book

This is the picture book version of the bestselling Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, founder of Central Asia Institute which builds schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The book makes beautiful use of the collage medium to depict the people of the village of Korphe and their hard work to build a school for their children with the help of the man they nursed back to health, the nurse whom they affectionately call “Dr. Greg.”

The artwork in this book not only expresses the kindness and determination of Greg Mortenson to help the people who saved his life, but also the beauty of the mountains of Pakistan and the village community of Korphe. A “Korphe Scrapbook” at the back shows photos of the real people depicted in the story, and the Artist’s Note reveals how Susan L. Roth was inspired by an assortment of artifacts from Baltistan as she created the collages that illustrate this moving book.

After sharing this with your children or your class, be ready with interesting papers, fabrics, markers, scissors and glue! Kids will want to try making their own collages as they think about the story of Dr. Greg and the children who are now able to learn in a school instead of having their lessons outside, writing with sticks, on the ground.

The Pennies for Peace program is a way for children to get involved in helping Dr. Greg to keep building schools for children through Central Asia Institute. Participating in Pennies for Peace teaches children about the world beyond their experience. By helping to bring hope and education opportunities to the children in Pakistan and Afghanistan, children learn they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time.

Listen to the Wind — read aloud:

Knuckleheads

Ages 4-8
Hardcover, 40 pages

11.1 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
Chronicle Books
ISBN: 978-0811855235
Buy the book

A funny book full of puns on hands and feet and fingers and toes! Kids will love the irreverent tone and off-handed (oops, it’s contagious) retellings of fairy tales collected in this book. We begin with the bickering of Handsel and Gretel, hop over to the house of homely Handerella, then quick as a finger-snap you’ve read the shortest tale is that of Thumbelina. You’ll be relieved to hear that everything clears up for Nose White in the end. Fake blurbs and coming attractions at the end of the book poke fun at this necessary evil (or good? you decide) of book publishing.
Michael Slack’s illustrations are bug-eyed wonders of oddballness, except for little beady-eyed Thumbelina, who despite the fact that she’s a digit, is awarded two cute ponytails. This book is just right for long, lazy Saturday silliness, alone or with friends.

More about the wordly witty Joan Holub.

Watch — the Knuckleheads book trailer is a good one!

__________________________

Ceci Miller is co-publisher of BooktiMookti Press, home of the Runt Farm chapter book series. She is also a children’s author, book editor, and owner of CeciBooks editorial and book publishing consultancy for authors and indie publishers. Ceci Miller’s recent book projects