Stewart – Legion of the Dead

Stewart, Paul & Chris Riddell. Barnaby Grimes: Legion of the Dead. New York: David Fickling Books, 2010.

Legion of the Dead is the third installment in the adventures of Barnaby Grimes. Barnaby is a tick-tock lad; a delivery boy – who plies his trade by running along the rooftops of his fair city in true Highstacking fashion. In a Victorian city which is not-quite London, filled with all manner of odd goings-on, Barnaby’s quick wits & indomitable character keep him just ahead of the dangers lurking around every turn. In this thrilling volume Our Hero stumbles across a mysterious rash of grave-robbing; only to discover that the truth is far more horrifying than he could possible imagine.

I’ve quite enjoyed the Barnaby Grimes series (Legion of the Dead was preceded by Curse of the Night Wolf & Return of the Emerald Skull). Barnaby is a fun, admirable, but not too goody-goody sort of character & the mysteries into which he embroils himself are both interesting & imaginative. Legion of the Dead follows suit & while much of Barnaby’s adventure has a strong ‘I saw that coming’ factor, Stewart & Riddell manage to keep a fair number of surprises on hand as well. Barnaby inhabits an almost steampunky Victorian world full of strange artifacts & curious doings. The world itself, with its specialized lingo (such as ‘Highstacking’) is as much of a character as Our Hero himself. In addition, the excellent illustrations throughout really add to the book & to the not-quite-real city that Barnaby inhabits. I’ve generally found that most of Stewart & Riddell’s books are far more visually appealing than they are to read, but the Barnaby Grimes series seems to break that trend. While they’ll never be high literature, they make great little reads for boys. There was even a scene in Legion that I found a little scary – it had a genuine creep factor which is more than I usually expect of a book of this stripe. My one critique also holds true for the other books in this series, which is this: Barnaby is definitely a boys’ series. This may not even be a critique; I like that books are being written for guys – we need them – so maybe this is more of an observation. S&R’s other books, while also obviously boy-books, have relatively strong or interesting female characters, but in Barnaby Grimes, the ladies are little more than pretty faces for Our Hero to admire. Is that bad? I dunno, but it is somewhat striking.

All in all, I would recommend the Barnaby Grimes series to boys ages 8 – 12ish; especially if the kid likes supernatural stories. Or, for adults who like kids books like this. They’d be good Halloween-time reads, too. I would definitely recommend them before the Edge Chronicles or any other Stewart & Riddell books. On my super-fancy rating system, I’d give Legion of the Dead (& for that matter, the other Barnaby Grimes, too as this has really turned out to be a review of the series rather than the individual title) a Check it Out rating. They’re good; they’re worth reading, but I wouldn’t go much out of my way to get ahold of them. I do, however, think that they should be a staple for a library’s collection.

Shan – Cirque du Freak

Shan, Darren. Cirque du Freak: a Living Nightmare. New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2001. pp. 257.

The first volume of the Darren Shan/ Cirque du Freak series is the first-person narrative of Darren Shan (not his real name) who got himself into the kind of trouble most kids don’t even have nightmares about. Darren & his best friend Steve sneak out to the forbidden Cirque du Freak; a mysterious freak show that suddenly pops up in their little town. They witness much that is strange at the Cirque du Freak, but the highlight for Darren, a self-professed lover of spiders, is a trained tarantula by the name of Madame Octa. For Darren’s friend Steve, however, Madame Octa’s owner’s is far more fascinating – a vampire! When Darren steals the deadly Madame Octa only to have it bite Steve, Darren is left with a decision; does he let his best friend die, agree to become the vampire’s assistant?!

When I saw Cirque du Freak on this week’s reading list, I knew it would be the title I wanted to review. A few months ago, we showed the movie Vampire’s Assistant as a teen afterschool movie at the library & I was really impressed by it. What surprised me most about the book, however, it that it is written for a much younger audience than I expected. Our library keeps all the Shan books in the YA section; they seem to be popular with older teens & the movie portrays Darren as an older teen. However, in the book, he seems quite a bit younger. The almighty internets disagree about how old he’s supposed to be, but a School Library Journal review places him at age 12.[1] More importantly, the book ‘feels’ like it was written for grade-schoolers. NoveList gives it a lexile range of 650; which translates to a 3^rd to 5^th grade reading level.[2] This threw me a little bit at first; it was simply not what I was expecting. Nevertheless, I really liked the book; I’m definitely going to continue on through the series.

The aforementioned review offers this critique; “this volume is neither as well written nor as compulsively readable as the “Harry Potter” books (Scholastic), though surely J. K. Rowling’s endorsement on the cover will win it a few fans.”[3] While I definitely agree that Shan’s no Harry Potter, I think that the series still has a definite appeal. The author got the idea for the books after reading Goosebumps for the first time, & wanted to write something just as scary, but with more substance.[4] Knowing this, the feel of the books make more sense. I was not the only one who expected a book for an older audience; numerous popular reviews on LibraryThing express a similar surprise to my own, including one by Luxx, whose assertion that “I had to stop and remind myself to consider the intended audience very frequently,” certainly rings true.[5]

I am definitely going to modify the audience to whom I recommend the Shan series to at the library; following the lead of co-workers, I have offered it to many older teens & Twilight fans. While they may still enjoy Cirque du Freak, it’s definitely a better recommendation for kids looking to move up from Goosebumps. Unless my opinion changes by the time I finish with the series, I may put in a recommendation to move it from YA to JFiction.

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[1] Capehart, Timothy, “Cirque du Freak: the Saga of Darren Shan,” School Library Journal, vol. 41, issue 5, pp.159. as found in NoveList. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=noh&tg=UI&an=081656&site=novelist-live (accessed 25 April 2010).

[2] “Cirque du Freak: the saga of Darren Shan,” NoveList.

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=noh&tg=UI&an=081656&site=novelist-live (accessed 25 April 2010).

[3] Capehart

[4] Shan, Darren. “Author Notes,” The Saga of Darren Shan Books. http://www.darrenshan.com/vampires/books/01cirque.html (accessed 25 April 2010).

[5] Luxx, “Cirque du Freak,” LibraryThing, 16 Jan. 2010. http://www.librarything.com/work/220546 (accessed 25 April 2010).

Fleischman – Phineas Gage

Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain science. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002.

Last week was Non-Fiction, this week is Biographies; and so….

In 1848 Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, survived a demolition accident which blasted his three-foot long, 13 pound iron tamping rod through his face & out through the top of his skull. Not only did he survive it, he stayed conscious throughout the wagon-wide into town & sat on the porch of his hotel, brain-splattered tamping iron in hand, telling folks about what just happened to him. Incredibly, Gage seemed to fully recover from his accident. However, the iron rod which drove through his frontal lobe dramatically altered his personality; so that according to his doctor, “Gage wasn’t Gage anymore.”[1] A study of the man & the implications of his accident had dramatic effects on the way we understand the brain & the way we function. To this day, Gage’s skull is on display at the Harvard Medical School.

Phineas Gage was a good book & an excellent addition to a children’s non-fiction collection. However, as a biography, it kinda felt like a dirty trick – I wanted to read a biography about some freak show drop-out with a bizarre personality & rod through his skull. Possibly with a little bit of weird olde tyme phrenology thrown in. Instead, I was subject to a biology lesson about the human brain, how it works, what each part of it does, etc. While I know some readers will appreciate the facts which are interspersed throughout the narrative, I found them distracting. I wanted to get back to the story. The ‘Brain Facts’ were too detailed & numerous to make this a proper biography. It would, however, be a good book if someone had wanted to learn all about the behavior-influencing functions of the frontal lobe. Still, I felt cheated: the book seemed to sell itself as a Spectacle of the Bizarre, not as a biology text.

I may be alone in my critique. It seems as though most reviewers favor a heavily-didactic approach to children’s biographies. Reviewer Steven Engelfried of the Beaverton City Library recommends the title, saying “Phineas Gage brings a scientific viewpoint to a topic that will be delightfully gruesome to many readers.”[2] A Kirkus review adds that the, “eye-widening photos of Gage’s actual skull (now at Harvard), his life mask, and dramatic rod-through-bone computer images that, as the author writes, will make you wince “whether you’re a brain surgeon or a sixth grader.””[3]

This is a good selection for a library collection; my critique owes more to how unexpected the content was. It would be sensational addition to a library display of children’s how-the-body-works type books, but also a cool addition to a Halloween display. In addition, I’m always looking for books to read excerpts from during outreach or class visits from older kids. Reading a selection from Phineas Gage might be a good ‘hook’ to get kids (especially boys) to read.

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[1] Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: a gruesome but true story about brain science. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002. pp. 2.

[2] Engelfried, Steven. “Phineas Gage.” School Library Journal Reviews. 2002 March. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3f.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=6&ps=6&fr=0&anc=6&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000293.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 18 April 2010).

[3] “Phineas Gage,” Kirkus Reviews. 2002 February #2. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3f.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=6&ps=6&fr=0&anc=6&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000293.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 18 April 2010).

Hale – Murder, My Tweet

Hale, Bruce. Murder, My Tweet: From the Tattered Casebook of Chet Gecko, Private Eye. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2004.

The tenth book in the Chet Gecko series, Murder, My Tweet is an elementary school mystery in which Our Hero, wisecracking gumshoe Chet Gecko finds that a simple case of follow-that-boyfriend quickly devolves into an insidious plot to finger is partner, Natalie Attired for blackmail. Then, just as Chet is about to clear his partner’s name, Natalie mysteriously disappears. Caught within a tangled web of “killer robots, lovesick parrots, and a school band called The Stench Bombs,” Chet must find his partner – before it’s too late.

I’ve been wanting to read a Chet Gecko book for some time – they’re pretty popular at my library & frankly, I’m charmed by the covers & catchy titles. Suspecting that they don’t really need to be read in order, I just grabbed the only one on the shelf – Murder, My Tweet (I would have preferred to read Key Lardo – because I find the title funnier, but I needed to get it read this week for class & didn’t want to wait). All in all, I liked it. I find the premise amusing – an elementary school filled with anthropomorphic animals of all sorts with a chubby 6^th grade gecko in a trench coat & fedora serving as P.I. for his fellow students. Each animal does its own thing – Chet climbs up walls, the mole digs holes in the playground, & the ringtail squirts musk all over when he’s frightened. It’s a great mystery for upper elementary school kids looking for a fun & funny read. Chet’s never-ending gumshoe monologues can get a little tiresome at times, but they’re clever & amusing & I suspect that kids won’t really mind. The illustrated plates throughout add to the fun & humor of the book.

I really couldn’t find any actual professional ‘reviews’ of the book; just a couple of descriptive blurbs masquerading as reviews; School Library Journal says “As he has in previous titles, Hale saturates the story with wacky wordplay, corny jokes, and droll humor,”[1] & The Horn Book Guide describes Chat to be, “as mouthy as ever, and his jokes fly fast and free – even when he’s up against an “Industrial-Strength Nerd” and his evil robot army.”[2] I did, however, get a couple of popular reviews off of Amazon.com, including this endearing one; “at first my son refused to read it, but after reading the first two chapters aloud as a bedtime story, he was hooked. He has since read all of the Chet Gecko novels and loves each and every one.”[3] Out of the 7 popular reviews, there was only one negative one; “Bruce Hale encourages violance and judgemental attitudes. As a teacher, there is no way I would allow my students to read this book.”[4] (I’ve left the spelling just as Mr. Smith wrote it, so as not to misquote him… he is, after all, a teacher).

I would definitely include any Chet Geckos in a number of library children’s displays; mystery, certainly, but it could also fit into a humor collection, or a collection of stories with anthropomorphic animal-characters (I recently did such a display entitled “Tails of Heroism”). It would also be a good selection to read a chapter from for older elementary class visits.

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[1] “Murder, My Tweet,” School Library Journal Reviews, Oct. 2004, as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3d.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=5&anc=2&ps=6&fr=0&fb=0&bs=1&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000131.rec (accessed 25 March 2010).

[2] “Murder, My Tweet,” Horn Book Guide Reviews, Spring 2005, as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3d.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=5&anc=2&ps=6&fr=0&fb=0&bs=1&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls000131.rec (accessed 25 March 2010).

[3] Ms. Parrothead “Book Lover,” “Tweet-heart of a Book!!,” Amazon.com, 29 August, 2006. http://www.amazon.com/Murder-My-Tweet-Gecko-Mystery/dp/0152052194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269557285&sr=8-1 (accessed 25 March 2010).

[4] Brian D. Smith, “Corrupting our Children,” Amazon.com, 29 August, 2006. http://www.amazon.com/Murder-My-Tweet-Gecko-Mystery/dp/0152052194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269557285&sr=8-1 (accessed 25 March 2010).

Juster – The Phantom Tollbooth

Juster, Norton. The Phantom Tollbooth. New York; Random House, 1996.

The Phantom Tollbooth is one of those titles which has been on my ‘to read’ list since… forever. Originally published in 1961, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer, the book tells the story of young Milo “who didn’t know what to do with himself.” Given a tollbooth as a present, Milo journeys through it into the nonsense Kingdom of Wisdom which has fallen into disarray because it lacks both Rhyme & Reason. Milo, of course, is given the task of retrieving both Rhyme & Reason – who are princesses – to the kingdom. Along the way, he is joined by the watchdog Tock & meets such strange persons as King Azaz the Unabridged – ruler of Dictionopolis & travels to the Island of Conclusions – which can only be reached by jumping.

I only regret that I had waited so long to read this delightful book. Replete with clever (&, unfortunately, some not-so-clever) puns & wordplay, The Phantom Tollbooth is a treasure for anyone who loves language. The real genius of the work is that Juster’s work is clearly a didactic piece of literature disguised as fun. Children reading this book find themselves learning about math & language without even realizing it. On the down side, the plot & Milo’s travels, etc. are actually pretty simplistic. Nonetheless, the delight of the wordplay more than makes up for it & I’ve no doubt that younger readers won’t even notice the contrivances in the plot.

As an older book generally held to be a classic, I had some difficulty in finding professional reviews for The Phantom Tollbooth. As such, I settled for some popular ones. Steven Wu would “highly, highly recommend The Phantom Tollbooth for children,” but suggests that adults reading the book will find it “a charming tale – but nothing more.”[1] I disagree; I found it both charming AND clever; a Jasper Fforde for kids (except that it pre-dates Fforde by many years). LibraryThing had 97 popular reviews of the book & all of them that I saw were favorable including such praise as, “This book knocked my socks off,”[2] “Children’s literature at its finest,”[3] & “a classic childhood book, bar none.”[4]

The Phantom Tollbooth would be a great selection to read to older elementary/ early middle schoolers on class visits to the library – not the entire thing, of course, but a chapter or two could be wonderful. It’s definitely going on my list of regular recommendations for any kid that wants a funny or clever book.

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[1] Wu, Steven. “The Phantom Tollbooth,” Steven Wu’s Book Reviews. http://www.scwu.com/bookreviews/h/JusterNortonPhantomTollboothThe.shtml (accessed 3/14/10).

[2] debnance, “The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster,” LibraryThing. Jan. 29, 2010. http://www.librarything.com/work/6320 (accessed 3/14/10).

[3] ibid.; jibrailis, Sep 23, 2009.

[4] ibid.; baobab, Feb 3, 2009.

Scieszka – Squids will be Squids

Scieszka, Jon, & Lane Smith. Squids will be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables. New York: Viking, 1998.

Squids will be Squids is picture book of 18 fables “that Aesop might have told if he were alive today and sitting in the back of class daydreaming and goofing around instead of paying attention and correcting his homework like he was supposed to.” Each one is a silly little story – mostly about animals – that end with a more or less silly moral. The fables include such classics as “He Who…” in which Skunk, Musk Ox & Cabbage pursue an inquiry into the origins of a strange smell, & “Termite, Ant & Echidna,” in which friends are chosen poorly. Most of the morals take up a single two-page spread, cleverly illustrated in Lane Smith’s distinctive style. The book begins & ends with a brief biography of Aesop himself.

“He who Smelt it Dealt it,” “Don’t ever Listen to a Talking Bug,” & “It takes one to know one,” are the kind of life-long lessons that I myself hope to instill in the hearts of youth. As such, I found Squids will be Squids to be a delightful book – clearly deserving of its place in the Scieszka/ Smith canon. Smith’s illustrations are excellent & fit with Scieszka’s fables like “Eggs & Toast.” While many of the morals are just plain silly, some of them manage to sneak a real message into their subtext; such as in the first fable, “Grasshopper Logic.” While the listed moral of “There are plenty of things to say to calm a hopping mad Grasshopper mom. ‘I don’t know’ is not one of them,” is valuable enough in itself, the more subtle warnings concerning the dangers of procrastination still shine through. All in all, a great picture book for older children & especially for boys – the book has a high-enough gross factor to keep most kids’ attention.

A 1998 BookPage Review describes the book in some detail, and its place alongside Scieszka & Smith’s other works, but most striking is the reviewer’s recognition that Scieszka “trusts the intelligence of kids. He understands that most of them want to read something as entertaining and smart as what they see in other media, and he writes with that in his mind.” [1] On the other hand, a Booklist Review criticizes the book’s design & layout.[2] The reviewer says of Smith’s illustrations that they fail to “sparkle, and they don’t extend the text,” and that the vary-sized typeface “isn’t very attractive and seems to serve little purpose.” However, it may say something that many of Lane Smith’s books since Squids employ these very same techniques, despite this reviewer’s critique.

Squids will be Squids is an excellent book to read to older school groups visiting the library; from 3^rd grade on through Middle School. It’s fun & light, with great pictures. It could also be used as a silly addition to any collection of Aesop’s fables readings – to help keep the kids’ attention. I actually plan on using it in a few weeks for a 6^th grade class visit; they want a reading so I’ll give them a few silly fables. Maybe I’ll throw in a bit of Scieszka’s Stinky Cheese Man , Science Verse or Math Curse as well.

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[1] “Squids will be Squids.” BookPage Reviews. November 1998. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3c.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=4&ps=5&fr=0&anc=4&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls002903.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 16 Feb. 2010).

[2] “Squids will be Squids.” Booklist Reviews. September 1998., no. 2. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3c.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=4&ps=5&fr=0&anc=4&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A%5Cwebapp%5Cts3%5Cmain%5Cusers%5Cls002903.rec&FirstRec=Y (accessed 16 Feb. 2010).

Raskin – The Westing Game

The Westing Game. Raskin, Ellen. New York; E.P. Dutton, 1978.

The Westing Game is the winner of the 1979 Newbery. This clever little book is a mystery involving the death of a multi-millionaire, a puzzling will & a host of characters whose skills are pitted against each other in Samuel Westing’s final game. Each of Westing’s 16 “nieces & nephews” is given $10,000 as an incentive to play & are split up into pairs. Each pair is given a different clue. The winner is supposed to inherit Westing’s $200 Million dollar estate.

I really liked The Westing Game – and I’m not really one for mysteries (it helped that it was short & fast-paced). It had a wonderfully Clue-like feel to it – it was funny & clever at the same time. Furthermore, it really seemed to withstand the test of time. The book is slightly older than I am, yet it didn’t feel dated or out-of-touch; it came across as fresh & exciting. I don’t want to spoil anything about the mystery for any who would read this, so I won’t say too much about the ending, but I loved the clues & The Game itself & I loved trying to figure out the clues on my own as they were presented. The characters were all lively & interesting & Raskin did a good job of presenting a set of ‘the usual suspects’ without making anyone too cliché. In addition, any story which takes place in my Ancestral Homeland of Michigan is sure to win a little extra consideration from your truly.

In a School Library Journal review Margaret Dorsey describes the characters as having “little more than one dimension,” which I think a bit unfair.[1] The book itself is rather short for containing so many characters yet many of them show real development over the course of the story & some have hidden, un-guessed-at depths. Dorsey also gives away the ending; which is sad, considering that her review was so short. I found a later review, coinciding with the release of the audiobook, that is a bit more generous. The book is described as “dazzling,” with a “Rubik’s cube of a plot.”[2]

The Westing Game would be a good reading recommendation to coincide with a grade school or middle school-aged murder-mystery (or some similar type of more politically-correct mystery) program. In fact, it might be possible to set up some kind of “Library Westing Game” in which the books clues could somehow point to places in the library in order to win a prize.

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[1] Dorsey, Margaret A. “The Westing Game,” School Library Journal. April 1978, Vol. 24 Issue 8. pp. 87-88.

[2] Beavin, Kristi,“The Westing Game,” Horn Book Magazine. May/June 1999, Vol. 75 Issue 3. pp. 357.

Yorinks – Hey, Al

Yorinks, Arthur. Hey, Al. New York; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986.

Hey, Al is the ’86 winner of the Caldecott Medal for Illustration. Richard Egielski did the amazing illustrations. Hey, Al tells the story of Al & his (apparently talking) dog Eddie who live in a drab little one-room apartment on the West Side. Weary of their life, Eddie jumps at their chance to fly off with a strange bird to a land of paradise & convinces Al to come along. In a bird-filled paradise, everything is fine until Al & Eddie begin to become birds themselves. In their return to the City, Eddie falls into the sea & Al finds himself alone in his drab apartment with the realization of how much he has just lost. Fortunately, Eddie swims home & in the end, they get some paint & add a little color to their little world.

Hey Al was really a strange little book with a somewhat grown-up message; the “Paradise Lost is sometimes Heaven Found.” It definitely deserves the Caldecott; Egielski’s illustrations are wonderfully bright, vivid & vibrant. The imagery is delightful; with a tropical island floating in the clouds & fanciful birds (including a dodo with hands in an homage to Tenniel’s Alice illustrations) as a stark contrast to Al & Eddie’s drab little grey apartment. The apartment pics are enclosed in small, cramped little frames, while the birds’ island paradise spreads out across the pages. The story itself is a little weird, but not bad.

Kenneth Marantz describes Hey, Al’s theme as “’be happy with who you are,’ or maybe, ‘there’s no free lunch.’”[1] He points out that Egielski’s illustrations do much to highlight the surreal feel of the story & makes connections between Eddie’s fall into the sea & the similar fate of mythical Icarus.

While Hey, Al would be a fine choice for some storytimes, the story may be a bit too creepy for some kids (or for some parents) – especially if they’re a bit unsure about birds in the first place! However, Hey, Al is an excellent example of how illustrations can really make a story – Egielski shows more than Yorinks tells. The book could be used for children’s art classes, a library art program or for young art school students as a good study work. Asking kids to make observations about the pictures & about what they tell us might be a good critical observation skill.

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[1] Marantz, Kenneth. School Library Journal Reviews, March 1987. as found in Baker & Taylor’s Title Source 3. http://ts3c.informata.com/TS3/record.jsp?rn=7&ps=7&fr=0&anc=7&bs=1&fb=0&n=E%3A\webapp\ts3\main\users\ls000598.rec&AF=1524361&FirstRec=Y (accessed 7 February 2010).

Cooney – Miss Rumphius

Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. New York; Viking Kestrel, 1982.

Miss Rumphius tells the story of an old lady who, as a child set three goals for herself; to live by the sea, to travel the world, and to make the world a more beautiful place. The last goal was set on the recommendation of her grandfather, who told her that this was the most important thing of all. She grows up, becomes a librarian, travels the world, and eventually settles in a cottage by the sea. While there, she hits upon the idea of spreading lupine seed throughout the town and countryside, so that every summer fields of lupines bloom as far as the eye can see. In time, she becomes known as the lupine lady and through her flowers, she has made the world a more beautiful place.

The really liked the message of the book; that of making the world a more beautiful place, but felt that overall, the book was written as much for adults as for children. I was also a little shocked that it was written in 1982; the language used to describe the faraway places to which Miss Rumphius travels, such as the “Land of Lotus-Eaters,” (pp. 13) struck me as a little H.M. Stanley-esque. The Lotus-Eaters were a group of fictional savages who lived entirely off of the narcotic ‘lotus’ plant as described in the Odyssey, and later by Herodotus. Cooney clearly means the island of Djerba, off the coast of North Africa, but apparently feels compelled to describe it in the most sensational manner possible. On her travels, Miss Rumphius appears as a white woman in a pith helmet surrounded by, and being catered to by, grinning brown people.

Although the book is not necessarily that old, I had difficulty find in-depth professional reviews of it. It’s mentioned in a December 1987 issue of booklist, but as little more than a description. Carolyn Brodie offers another brief review of it in School Library Media Activities Monthly, describing it as “endearing.”[1] There are, however, numerous popular reviews of Miss Rumphius, describing it as “beautiful,” and “exquisite,”[2] “my favorite children’s book,”[3] and containing a “wonderful message.”[4]

Although I’ve never really thought of myself as overly sensitive about such things, I really found the inspiring message of Miss Rumphius reduced by the Western-centric descriptions and depictions of her travels. Despite the variety of positive popular reviews, I would be really hesitant to use this book in a library storytime, especially in a culturally-diverse community such as my own.

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[1] Carolyn S. Brodie, “Miss Rumphius.” School Library Media Activities Monthly; Apr 2003; 19, 8; pp. 47.

[2] Carol Hurst, “Miss Rumphius.” Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site. http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/missrumphius.html (accessed 1/31/2010).

[3] Rebekah, “Miss Rumphius.” Good Reads, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/334818.Miss_Rumphius (accessed 1/31/2010).

[4] Dolly, ibid.

Keats – Peter’s Chair

Keats, Ezra Jack. Peter’s Chair. New York; Puffin Books, 1967.

With a new baby sister in the house, Peter is first told to play quieter, then finds that all his old baby furniture is being painted pink! Only one piece of furniture, his old blue chair, has not been painted yet. Peter and his dog Willie grab the old chair and decide to run away. In setting up a new home for out in front of his house, Peter discovers that he can no longer fit into the old chair – he’s too big! At lunchtime, he sneaks back inside and is delighted to find that his mother comes looking for him. Then, he gets to sit in a big chair next to his dad. In the end, he offers to help his father paint his old blue chair pink for his new sister.

Keats’ illustrations are wonderful; even for being a little dated. They are static, blocky and concrete, with each important element in the image showing up clearly. I like that this gives kids a good, solid image to look for when Peter talks about his chair, his toy crocodile, or the picture of him as a baby. The story seems like a good one for big-brothers-and-sisters-to-be, but the parents come across as distant and unrealistic. All these changes seem to come as a surprise to Peter, which leads adult readers to wonder if the parents have even talked to Peter about giving up his baby stuff to his new sister. However, I suspect that the intended preschool/ kindergarten age audience wouldn’t pick up on this.

W. Nikola-Lisa points out that “a constant theme in all of Keats’s work is the child in perpetual motion.”[1] This was not something that occurred to me while first reading the book, but is definitely apparent in going back through it. Peter is always doing something and it is this, perhaps, that makes the book so enjoyable. On LibraryThing, earobinson offers a brief synopsis of the book with links to curriculum guides on Keats’ website: http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/ .[2]

This would be a good book for a preschool storytime about siblings, or for a “mom’s group” library visit, where a lot of the kids would be going through the same sorts of things that Peter is going through. Alternately, it could be used for a sharing storytime, as well.

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[1] W. Nikola-Lisa, “Letters, Twigs, Hats, and Peter’s Chair: Object Play in the Picture Books of Ezra Jack Keats.”

Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. v. 16, no. 4, Winter 1991, pp. 255-258

[2] earobinson. Member Review. “Peter’s Chair.” LibraryThing. http://www.librarything.com/work/103448 (accessed 30 Jan. 2010).