MOCKINGBIRD by Kathryn Erskine

Gr. 6 and up | 235 pages | Putnam 2010 |

With autism cases tripling in the last several decades, this book on one of the spectrum’s disorders is long overdue. Ten-year-old Caitlin has Asperger’s syndrome and tells her own story in a most compelling voice throughout Kathryn Erskine’s brilliant book.

Autism victims don’t handle either interpersonal communication or social issues easily and Mockingbird offers its readers (and listeners) a deeply personal insight into one victim’s mind and heart, far closer than they might ever come with an actual classmate.

Not only does Caitlin have to cope with Asperger’s, she’s also struggling to understand the tragedy that recently has struck her family when her middle school brother was one of the victims in a fatal school shooting. While Caitlin is loved by her widower-father, her brother had been the pride of his life and she's trying to fill the family void left by his death — not an easy task for anyone, especially someone for whom empathy is a foreign emotion. As the book progresses, we see the efforts of her teachers, counselor, father, and classmates in trying to bring closure to the struggling child, giving us an opportunity to view all of them through the child’s eyes and mind. And while there are many wrenching moments, the book is not without its honestly humorous moments as she struggles with literal interpretations of classmates’ and teachers’ words and actions.

For me, the only negative about the book is its dreadful hardcover cover which couldn’t interest any living secondary students for even a tenth of a second. One can only pray the paperback folks will change it immediately (which they usually do).

Because of the serious nature of the book and its subjects, I would hesitate sharing it with children as young as the narrator (10) unless he or she was verey mature.

One cannot come away from this book without both a greater understanding of autism victims and a greater empathy for those suffering with social disorders. This tale will grab you by the throat, give you a good shake, and then set you sheering for the human spirit. If it doesn’t become a classic, there’s something wrong with all of us.

Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz
     Gr. 6 and up | 196 pages | Philomel/Penguin 1999

Two years after J.K. Rowling unveiled the world of Harry Potter (1997), Anthony Horowitz offered a marvelous send up of the Rowling series in Groosham Grange. Monty Python couldn’t have done it any better. Now the author of a popular adventure series of his own (Alex Rider, which is a parody of James Bond ), Horowitz offers us here 13-year-old David Eliot, a typical adolescent goof-off who is burdened with the most pretentious, self-serving parents perhaps in the history of the world. All of this is handled with grand humor, as witnessed by these opening two pages of the novel:

It was dinnertime at 3 Wiernotta Mews.

Mr. and Mrs. Eliot were sitting at the dinner table with their only son, David. The meal that night had begun with a large plate of raw cabbage with cheese sauce because Mr. and Mrs. Eliot never ate meat. The atmosphere in the room was distinctly chilly. That afternoon, the last day of the Christmas term, David had brought home his report card. It had not made pleasant reading.

"Eliot has not made progress," the math teacher had written. "He can't divide or multiply and will, I fear, add up to very little."

"Woodwork?" the carpentry teacher had written. "I wish he would work!"

"If he stayed awake in class, it would be a miracle," the religion teacher had complained.

"Very poor form," the form master had concluded.

"He'll never get ahead," the headmaster had agreed.

Mr. Eliot had read all these comments with growing anger. First his face had gone red. Then his fingers had gone white. The veins in his neck had gone blue and his tongue had gone black. Mrs. Eliot had been unsure whether to call a doctor or take a color photograph, but in the end, and after several glasses of whiskey, he had calmed down.

"When I was a boy," he moaned, "if my report cards weren't first class, my father would lock me in a cupboard for a week without food. Once he chained me behind the car and drove up the thruway and that was only because I got an A-minus in Latin."

"Where did we go wrong?" Mrs. Eliot sobbed, pulling at her mauve-tinted hair. "What will the neighbors say if they find out? They'll laugh at me! I'm ruined!"

Excerpted from Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz (Philomel/Penguin)

In the minds of David's parents, his underachievements leave them little choice but to send him off to Groosham Grange (a parody of Hogwarts School) set on an obscure island with 50-foot cliffs. There he’ll join other banished boarding students who must sign their names in blood, reside in stone-cold rooms, and are taught by a faculty that includes only one normal-looking member. Needless to say, they attend school on Christmas day. All done with great tongue-in-cheek. Sequel: Return to Groosham Grange: The Unholy Grail.

Cromwell Dixon’s Sky-Cycle by John Abbott Nez
    Gr. 1-4      32 pages      Putnam, 2009
Before there was an ipod or Google era — before Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, there was another era of great change. At the turn of the 20th century the Wright Brothers initiated the first Golden Age of Invention, and that, in turn, ignited the imaginations of people like 14-year-old Cromwell Dixon who began dismantling his bicycle to build an airship, powered by — what else — the remains of his bike. Fiction? Wrong. With his mother’s help, Cromwell built it, then rebuilt it when it accidentally burned, and finally propelled it a mile high! Later, at age 19, he was the first airplane pilot to cross the Rocky Mountains.

 

The Super Hungry Dinosaur by Martin Waddell, ill. by Leonie Lord
Tod-PreK      32 pages      Dial, 2009

A little boy and his dog are playing in the backyard when a super hungry giant dinosaur arrives and announces he’s going to eat up the boy. The ensuing simple tale details how the lad and his dog outwit and tame the dinosaur. Unlike Where the Wild things Are by Maurice Sendak, in this tale you are never sure how much is imagined and how much is real. After all, the boy’s mother and father meet the dinosaur as well. And any damage done by the dinosaur’s rampage is fixed by the exasperated creature before he can have lunch (cooked by Mom). Martin Waddell uses the same simple storytelling here that made his earlier book Owl Babies so successful and illustrator Leonie Lord turns what could have been a threatening story into an exciting but nonthreatening adventure. Together they have created the perfect toddler-preschool book.

January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco

Gr. 2 and up    95 pages    Philomel 2009

In the powerful tradition of Pink and Say and The Butterfly, Patricia Polacco gives us here an even more powerful saga—the Crosswhites of Marshall, Michigan, out of Hunter’s Bottom, Kentucky. Set in 1847, more than a decade before the Civil War, this over-size picture book’s central character is young Sadie Crosswhite, the youngest of the enslaved Crosswhites’ four children. Together they live through the terrible degradations of slavery in its fiercest hours, including the heartless near-fatal whippings of Sadie’s dearest friend, January. That night they begin their long and frightening journey into Indiana and then Michigan via the Underground Railroad, all the while pursued by slave hunters.

Settling in Marshall, regarded as a safe-haven for runaway slaves in the free-state of Michigan, the family begins a new life, including the pivotal friendship between Sadie and Polly Hobart, the local judge’s daughter. Even so, Mrs. Crosswhite continues to caution her children they must never tell anyone they are runaway slaves. Stolen property must be returned to its rightful owner and, under the law, runaways were considered “stolen.” Nonetheless, Sadie cannot help herself and one day shares her story with Polly who promises to keep the secret.

Four years after their arrival in Michigan, the Crosswhites’ former owners arrive in town to recapture their former slaves and a fierce confrontation ensues between the citizenry of Marshall and the slavers. There are two grand surprises packed into the night’s events, too good to spoil by revealing them here. Suffice it to say, the Crosswhites make one more escape, this time to Canada, where they reside throughout the Civil War.

After the war, they return and take up residence once more in Marshall, where more than a century later their story is still told in reverent tones—though never better than here in Polacco’s words and searing images. Indeed, Polacco’s home today, 12 miles from Marshall, is a former safe haven on the Underground Railroad.

It's hard to imagine the Caldecott committee ignoring Polacco after this volume.It's more than time to honor this woman's magnificent work, in whole or part.

Related books:

Mildred Taylor’s series on the Logan family’s southern experiences before the Civil Rights movement: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Let the Circle Be Unbroken; The Road to Memphis; The Land; and four short novels, The Friendship; Mississippi Bridge; Song of the Trees; and The Well. Other related titles on slavery: Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen. Related nonfiction picture books: Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack; Mary Barney by Chris K. Soentpiet and Alice McGill; More Than Anything Else (Booker T. Washington learns to read) by Marie Bradby.

The Secret of Santa’s Island by Steve Breen

PreK-Gr.1    28 pages    Dial 2009

The trend in recent years — ever since The Polar Express or, for that matter, the original Christmas story—is to have a message attached to the tale. Not that there’s anything wrong with messages, but you wouldn’t want every conversation with your mother to be a sermon, would you? So it’s refreshing as a change of pace to pick up this book and just find find a delightful new take on Santa and his elves—with no messages.

We all thought they went back to the North Pole when deliveries were done on Christmas eve, right? Wrong.

Young Sam McGuffin stows away on Santa’s sleigh one night and discovers they all go to a resort island for fun and games, including amusement park rides, beach football, and rock music by “Bread-Zepplin” (composed of gingerbread men). Sam also learns that Santa himself has grown a bit weary of the traditional milk ands cookies fare at every house after he confides to Sam, “I’d much prefer pretzels and ginger ale.” This will be a sure hit with young audiences.

An adult aside on this: I couldn’t help but think there’s a slight allusion here to the high-flying CEO’s who, until the recent recession, annually took their staffs to resorts for R&R. Hopefully, the current financial collapse will not affect Santa’s sojourn.

OTIS by Loren Long

PreK—Gr. 1     36 pages     Philomel 2009

Literally and figuratively, Otis is a “throwback.”

A small but diligent, spirited farm tractor, Otis is the life of the barnyard and the best friend of a lonely calf residing in the barn's adjoining stall. When his day’s labors are done, he and she sat in the shade of the apple tree to contemplate their happy lives. But their happiness is suddenly interrupted when the farmer purchases a brand-new yellow tractor that quickly relegates Otis to the scrap heap-weed patch outside the barn. He is now outdated, unemployed, and too sad to play with his friend. The calf, in turn, wanders down to the pond for a good soak, only to get stuck in the mud. Either unable or unwilling to work herself out of the mire, she soon becomes the focus of a community-wide rescue effort. But neither the farmhands, the new tractor, nor the fire department can extricate her from the mud. Suddenly Otis is seen making his way down the hillside and soon a “happy ending” is in sight.

This anthropomorphic creation falls in the grand tradition of children’s literature, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland to Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit. If you add modernization and technology to the mix of ingredients, you’re sure to end up including picture books like Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and Bill Peet’s Smokey, all of which featured objects or machines that happily escaped obsolescence by way of diligence or patience. The lasting success of such books perhaps is due to humans’ basic need to hold on to their past, to never completely escape the innocent joy of childhood. And those who do lose that innocence completely are doomed to a joyless adulthood. At least that’s my theory.

Despite following this long tradition, author-illustrator Loren Long remains entirely original and never imitative with this book, although there appears to be a subtle tribute to Munro Leaf’s Ferdinand on one page (insert right). Long’s earlier books include Drummer Boy (one of my favorite Christmas books) and Toy Boat (written by Randall de Sèv). If there is true justice in children's publishing, Otis and his friend the calf deserve a long life in children's lives. They speak volumes about lasting friendships and the outcasts around us.

 

Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes by Margie Palatini, Ill. by Barry Moser

Gr. K-3    28 pages     Simon & Schuster , 2009

First of all, the title here will grab any child’s attention. When was the last time you saw the words “Rotten” and “Stinkin’” in a children’s book title? So immediately I was prepared for an original play on the old Aesop’s fable and I wasn’t disappointed. The original tale featured only a single character—the fox—but Palatini has added six forest neighbors to the cast (bear, badger, porcupine, etc.), each enlisted by the sly fox to aid in his gaining the just-out-of-reach grapes. Each tries to explain to him that there’s an easier way to reach his goal but he’ll brook no advice. It’s his way or no way. In the original tale, he concedes defeat by grousing that the grapes probably were “sour” anyway and thus the origin of the term “sour grapes.” The ending here is the same but the moral of the story is entirely different: Don’t be a no-it-all. Moser’s double-page illustrations perfectly fit the mood and tale.

When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

Gr. 6 and up    162 pages     Philomel, 2009

This fine first novel traces one family's life in a small West Virginia town that is so dependent upon its trains and steam engines that it literally lives and dies by them. And there is some of both in this volume. Each of the book's chapters is set on Halloween night for seven successive years, 1943-1949. Each episode finds the book's protagonist, Jimmy Cannon, a little older and a little wiser but still yearning to work the rails—much to his rail machinist father's dismay. The railroad's days are coming to an end, declares the father, but Jimmy turns a deaf ear. By novel's end, however, the father's prescience is clearly evident. In this respect, the changing times of the 1940s are reflected in the employment ruptures today in the automobile industry.

As the book spans the years. Jimmy's Halloween adventures move from giggly preteen stuff to sobering adult, from a cemetery prank to a gut-wrenching high school football contest, and, finally, to Jimmy's father's death. This is a pulsating slice of small town America as it used to be (and still is in parts of rural America). As with any slice of life, there are a few whiskey bottles among the grown-ups and an equal amount of religious righteousness—for those concerned about such subject matter in the classroom.

It was a joy to read.

T-MINUS: THE RACE TO THE MOON by Jim Ottaviani, Ill. by Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon

This history book, designed as a comic book, is not a read-aloud title. It’s just such an important book for classroom use today that I feel compelled to include it here. In case the "comic book" label puts you off, consider the fact that many of today’s best readers began their reading lives not with classics but with picture books and comic books. The reluctant reader (who might be considered the “lost sheep” in your reading mission) could be more inclined to pick up this book before anything else on your shelves.

Now to the plot. Although the astronauts garnered all the praise and glory through the last half century, it was the thousands of brainy scientists who were the real stars of the space race. Thus on the 40th anniversary of man’s first steps on the moon, we find this book (what could be more appropriate for an achievement based on charts and diagrams than a volume with hundreds of inked panels) called T-Minus: the race to the moon by Jim Ottavianni, illustrated by the unrelated team of Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon.

Anyone old enough to remember names like Eisenhower and Khrushchev know about the “space race,” but most people today — especially children — know only the role of Neil Armstrong, if that. T-Minus begins in 1957, a full 12 years before the moon landing and takes us forward through the lives of American and Russian scientists and politicians, each bent on beating out the other for the glory of a lunar landing. Along the way, there are enlightening side trips back to Robert Goddard’s workshop and Werner Von Braun’s efforts to reach General Eisenhower during WW II.

None of this is simple; indeed, it’s information-loaded and brilliant. No, not a read-aloud but a book every classroom from sixth-grade and up should have on its shelves. There’s a future scientist sitting in some classroom who will soak this up like a sponge. But he or she can’t do that if it’s not there.

 

LOOK OUT, JEREMY BEAN! by Alice schertle, Ill. by david slonim

K-Gr. 1    60 pages     Chronicle, 2009

With a finger firmly pressed to the pulse of early childhood, author Alice Schertle gives us a short novel about a one Jeremy Bean who will ring true with both parents and children. When his class is asked to bring in their “collections,” Jeremy is worried: He has no collection. How about collecting a sample of everyone’s shoes in his family? Not good. How about their hats? No. What can he share with his classmates?

The book is broken down into three chapters, each dealing with a different challenge (collections; dust bunnies; and the St. Patrick’s Day when he forgets to wear green) with short subchapters, making it an ideal read for classes with short attention spans.

The gentle humor that pervades the book is best seen in “Jeremy Bean and the Dust Bunny.” When Jeremy overhears his mother tell someone that she has to get after the “dust bunnies” under the beds, he thinks there must be some kind of rabbit under his bed — so he sets about laying traps to catch it.

Let’s hope Ms. Schertle has more Jeremy Bean tales to share. Lord knows we could use more good chapter books for early primary grades where there is a great shortage.

TEEDIE: The Story of Young Teddy Roosevelt by Don Brown
Houghton, 2009    Gr. 1-3    30 pages

Few presidents of the U.S. had as little expected of them as Theodore ("Teedy”) Roosevelt did as a child. Born with weak eyes and muscles, along with severe asthma that left him gasping for air, he was lucky to just “survive,” never mind succeed. But he did. With private tutors, a positive-thinking father, a natural curiosity that led him deeper and deeper into the world of print, and a fierce personal determination, he eventually became a police commissioner, governor, war hero, President of the United States, and Nobel Peace Prize-winner. Not bad for a guy who lived as blurry and “gasping” childhood.

Over the last 17 years, Don Brown has written and illustrated a dozen outstanding picture book-biographies of men and women who deserve the attention of children for their accomplishments. Both his writing and artistic styles compliment each other and are easily assimilated by early primary graders. This volume is among his very best. Related book: You’re on Your Way, Teddy Roosevelt by Judith St. George.

Bobby bramble loses his brain by Dave Keane, Ill. by David Clark

PreS-Gr. 1    30 pages     Clarion, 2009

Bobby Bramble never exited by way of a door if there was a rooftop, drainpipe, or a tree branch he could climb out on. With more energy than the Energizer Bunny, he vaulted somersaulted, skipped, bounced, and flipped his way through his days, leaving behind the shouts of his parents, “Be careful, Bobby, you’ll fall and break your head open!”

Of course, Bobby ignored them—until the day he fell and not only did he break his head open but his brains skipped out and ran away — "because it had a mind of its own.” The rest of this lively and entertaining cautionary tale is the search for and eventual capture of Bobby’s runaway brain. After reading this book, it’s pretty easy to understand the author’s favorite TV show was “The Three Stooges.” This will be a huge hit with children who find it hard to sit still for very long—though they'll sit still for this tale.

 

MOONSHOT: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca

Gr. K-4    44 pages    Atheneum, 2009

In the end, what started out as a fierce race between the two fiercest enemy nations on Earth—the U.S. and the Soviets—became a ride with three guys locked in two containers they’d nicknamed Charlie Brown and Snoopy with most of the world watching from 238,00 miles awa.—Apollo 11.

With all the technology and politics involved in the first moon landing, the simple beauty of the event is easily overlooked. And since the astronauts were equipped with the most advanced camera technology in the world, what could an illustrator’s pen and brush bring to the story that hadn’t already been captured “for real” by their cameras? In celebration of that historic event’s 40th anniversary, artist-writer Brian Floca brings his considerable talents to the roundtrip ride and gives us a beautiful bird’s eye view from both outside and inside.

As the image top-right shows, he sometimes gives us a simultaneous view, from the spectators on the beach at Cape Canaveral to inside the space capsule with the astronauts as the blastoff-countdown progresses. His text is not only uncomplicated, but poetically informative. Take, for example, his description of the crew’s first taste of weightlessness (image right, bottom):

Onboard Columbia and Eagle, Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin unclick gloves, unclick helmets, unclick the straps that hold them down, and float inside their small ships, their home for a week. Here there is no up or down; an astronaut can spin in air and turn a floor into a wall or a ceiling to a floor . . .

. . . There are food and clothes packed into corners. There are flight plans, flashlights, pens, and cameras—and they float too. They drift from hands and pockets. That’s why there’s Velcro everywhere: for holding things so they stay put.

All the facts a young child would wish to know about this trip are here, never crammed, but floating beside the illustrations. And in those pieces of art, Floca demonstrates what great art can offer that cameras cannot: every camera must have a lens and each lens has its edges and limits beyond which it cannot focus. What the artist has instead of a lens is an imagination that is limitless. When Armstrong and Aldrin walked the surface of the moon with Collins looking on from above in the orbiting Columbia, there was no camera to give us the perspective of both the men, their landing craft, the moon, and mother Earth. Floca gives us exactly that. Artist over technology.

For those who want more, Floca’s endnotes and sources will take you there.

 

Boys of Steel by Marc Tyler Nobleman, ill. by Ross MaCDONALD

Gr. 3-7    32 pages    Knopf, 2008

Jerry and Joe, two nerdy, bespectacled teenagers in Cleveland, spent their high school years writing and drawing things that couldn’t be seen or experienced any way except in their imaginations. Their peers avoided them and their teachers berated them. What were they thinking, anyway? The country was mired in the Depression and families were struggling to put simple bread on the table. Why couldn’t these kids two “get real”?

What the pair was about to create would very soon become “real”—a real super cultural hit, known the world over, that would bring daily relief from the pain of reality. Jerry Siegel would write and Joe Schuster would draw a fictional character named Clark Kent, aka Superman.

Here is the true story behind the fictional saga, including the corporate shenanigans that cheated the pair out of their rightful royalties for most of their lives. Not even Superman could capture the glory these two so deserved for what they gave the world’s children.

This picture book retelling of their tale offers a spirited look into the creative process and fearsome determination that is necessary for most great things to be born. If you know a young person obsessed with writing fantasy and/or drawing super heroes, this book is a natural connection.