Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

I LLINO S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

PRODUCTION NOTE

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007.

University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science

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4, Ar I A t Books make great gifts, but Dick- ing the perfect books for your favorite youngsters can be daunt- ing. Let the expert staff of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books help you navigate the book- store wilderness full of shiny new children's books. Updated and expanded from last year's edition, the Guide Book to Gift Books contains annotations for over 225 of the best books for giving (and receiving) and is available as a downloadable PDF file that you can print out and use for every holiday, birthday, or other gift-giving occasion on your calendar this year. Listed books have all been recommended in full Bulletin reviews from the last three years and are verified as currently in print. Entries are divided into age groups and include author, title, publisher, and the current list price. To purchase, go to: www.lis.uiuc.edu/giftbooks/ THE BULLETIN

OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS May 2004 Vol. 57 No. 9

A LOOK INSIDE

359 THE BIG PICTURE Don't Cramp My Style: Stories about That Time of the Month ed. by Lisa Rowe Fraustino 360 NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Reviewed titles include: 360 * The Fire-Eaters by David Almond 372 * Tales from the Waterhole written and illus. by Bob Graham 376 * Actual Size written and illus. by Steve Jenkins 388 * A Hat Full ofSky by Terry Pratchett 391 * Why Mole Shouted and Other Stories by Lore Segal; illus. by Sergio Ruzzier 400 PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS 401 SUBJECT AND USE INDEX EXPLANATION OF CODE SYMBOLS USED WITH REVIEWS * Asterisks denote books of special distinction. R Recommended. Ad Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. M Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it should be given careful consideration before purchase. NR Not recommended. SpC Subject matter or treatment will tend to limit the book to specialized collections. SpR A book that will have appeal for the unusual reader only. Recommended for the special few who will read it.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (ISSN 0008-9036) is published monthly except August by the Publications Office of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and distributed by the University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820-6903.

REVIEWING STAFF Deborah Stevenson, Editor (DS) Betsy Hearne, Consulting Editor and Faculty Liaison Elizabeth Bush, Reviewer (EB) Timnah Card, Reviewer (TC) Karen Coats, Reviewer (KC) Janice M. Del Negro, Reviewer (JMD) Krista Hutley, Reviewer (KH) Kate McDowell, Reviewer (KM) Hope Morrison, Reviewer (HM)

Reviewers' initials are appended to reviews. OFFICE STAFF Molly Dolan Krista Hutley Hope Morrison

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Periodicals postage paid at Champaign, Illinois © 2004 by The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Drawings by Debra Bolgla. This publication is printed on acid-free paper. Cover illustration from Don't Cramp My Style: Stories about That Time of the Month ©2004 by Image Source/PictureQuest. MAY 2004 * 359

THE BIG PICTURE

Don't Cramp My Style: Stories about That Time of the Month edited by Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Menarche ushers young girls into complex new worlds of strange and heightened emotions. Menstruating girls enter a worldwide community of women, who, as Michelle H. Martin notes in her introduction to this collection of "period" pieces, need to "learn to be at home in their menstruating bodies." The stories assembled here welcome the reader to girlfriend hour, complete with laughter, tears, and lots of affirmative nods. They extend and turn into narrative art the stories girls have always told in hushed voices on playgrounds, on the phone, to their diaries, and in their prayers. The mild disgust that can accompany menstruation dissolves into humor in Pat Brisson's "Taking Care of Things." Set in a contemporary high school, this story highlights both the absurdity and the business-as-usual ordinariness of periods that always seem to come at the most inconvenient times, as the main character has to cope with trying to impress the editor of her school newspaper, managing a run-in with her crush, and being unable to find a bathroom when she really needs one, all at the same time. Periods don't only cause uncomfortable moments for girls, either. David Lubar's "The Heroic Quest of Douglas McGawain" treats a guy's experience when he makes the mistake of asking his girlfriend if she wants anything from the store besides soda. Faced with the bewildering array of tampon sizes and brands, and precipitously abandoned by his best friend in his hour of need, Douglas McGawain emerges as an intrepid remnant of all-but-bygone chivalry. The fears (and sometimes dangers) of starting your period when you aren't ready to grow up are featured in Alice McGill's "Moon Time Child," the story of a slave girl sold to be a breeder, and Joan Elizabeth Goodman's "The Czarevna of Muscovy," whose main character knows that the onset of menses will signal her confinement not only to the Kremlin, but to marriage as well. In both stories, the girls are victims of systems that treat women as hostages to their bodies, and yet both girls manage to find a way to negotiate their freedom, either literally or imaginatively. Han Nolan's young protagonist in "Maroon" doesn't fare so well. She learns too young about teen pregnancy and do-it-yourself abortions and responds by trying to starve herself in a futile attempt to stave off periods, breasts, and growing older. Then there are the opposite fears of periods that won't come when you want them to, as in Linda Oatman High's "The Uterus Fairy," a lighthearted tale about a mother's hysterectomy and a daughter's pregnancy scare. Both mother and daughter find themselves missing their periods in different ways and discover 360 * THE BULLETIN that a "ride on the cotton bicycle" isn't so bad after all, considering the alterna- tives. Pesky emotional and technical problems like PMS and sex during your period are highlighted in Joyce MacDonald's "Transfusion," a subtle story about irrational anger and its rational causes, and Julie Stockler's "Losing It," a not-at-all subtle story about not quite knowing how to tell the strange guy with whom you find yourself naked in a sleeping bag that you're on your period. The solace that the company of women and cultural tradition can provide finds expression in Dianne Ochiltree's "The Women's House," about the traditions of menstruation and birth among the Lenni-Lenapes, and Deborah Heiligman's "Ritual Purity," where a troubled girl finds healing in the cleansing rituals of Orthodox Judaism. The standout piece in the volume is Fraustino's own "Sleeping Beauty," a darkly compelling tale of a girl whose ambition and perfectionism lead her to believe that she can ignore the cycles of her body. Inspired by a true story about a girl found dead in a college bathroom after giving birth and given folkloric resonance through an analogy with Sleeping Beauty, this cautionary tale haunts the others, reminding readers that however they may feel about their periods, they ignore their bodies to their peril. A tone of knowingness and the implicit camaraderie of the already initi- ated permeate these stories, and some of the darker entries place quite sophisticated demands on readers as they explore issues of sexuality and its various effects on girls with admirable frankness and clarity. Hence, this is not a warm-hearted, chicken-soupy text to give to prepubescent girls or even first-timers, though it is a strangely welcoming one for more mature readers. The far-reaching range of emo- tion captured by these stories synchronizes with the complexities of feeling that accompany girls' sometimes complicated experience of menstruation. Taken as a whole, the anthology effectively mirrors the blend of mystery, horror, humor, and community that surrounds menstruation-it's a can't-miss with older readers. (Im- print information appears on p. 370.) Karen Coats, Reviewer

NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

ALMOND, DAVID The Fire-Eaters. Delacorte, 2004 [176p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90207-7 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73170-1 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-12 In the autumn of 1962 in northern England, the world becomes colder for twelve- year-old Bobby Burns when he leaves his two best friends, working-class Joseph and Ailsa, to attend the local middle-class Catholic school, where learning passes from teacher to student with the authority of the strap. At home, Bobby's father battles a sourceless cough that neither medicine nor folk magic can cure. In nearby Newcastle, Bobby and his mother meet McNulty, a homeless veteran who, his MAY 2004 * 361 mind crippled since World War II, engages horrified crowds with feats of fire- eating and escapology. Across the world, Soviet missiles challenge American bra- vado in a crisis that fills television screens worldwide and disturbs Bobby's quiet British backwater of Keely Bay. Bobby faces these catastrophes with faith, defiance, and compassion, joining with Ailsa to pray for a miracle to save his dad (and the world) and teaming with an upper-class boy at school to denounce the cruelty of corporal punishment. McNulty the fire-eater requires special care; the veteran spends his last night alive on the beach with Bobby's family and friends, waiting out the missile crisis, blowing flame at the beauty of a night sky none of them may ever see again. The complex grace Almond has previously brought to his mysti- cally touched fantasies now drives this involving anti-war novel. Realistic dialogue in the working-class vocabulary of Keely Bay grounds the story in its specific locale without impeding broader understanding, and the brief chapters with their short descriptive sentences help keep the intricate plot accessible. The Cuban missile crisis is barely a footnote to most contemporary young readers, and this strong offering can be used to lend depth to a history lesson or fire to a unit on persuasive writing as well as to provide a rich and imaginative literary experience. TC

ARCHAMBAULT, JOHN Boom Chicka Rock; illus. by Suzanne Tanner Chitwood. Philomel, 2004 32p ISBN 0-399-23587-6 $15.99 Ad 4-7 yrs All the elements that worked so well in Bill Martin and Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are back in place-a preschool concept (numbers this time), gentle naughtiness, a nonsense rhyme, and some eye-poppin' pictures. Too much tweaking sends this title over the edge, though, and the result isn't quite as successful. Twelve mice who, for some unfathomable reason, live behind the numbers in a clock slip down from their post and sneak past a cat to make a raid on a birthday cake that's never shown. The broad-beamed rodents romp and cavort over the countertop until the "lion" wakes up and they scamper back to the clock so that day can begin again. If the plot line is illogical and the references to Max the cat and "Lion" (one and the same) are confusing, the rhyme scheme is a minefield of tripwire scansion, defying readers to make it through alive on the first try: "Let's all tango, do the Fandango,/ Tip-toe, tip-toe, rickety rock/ Sock Hop back to the kitchen clock./ Zing! Zang! Boomerang!/ Tomorrow can't begin/ Till every hour is home/ And every number's tucked in." Neon-bright, knife-edged Chicka Chicka Boom Boom graphics have given way to shaggy torn-paper collage in muted primary and secondary colors against a background of tan and cream. There are several spreads for number identification and undeniable pleasure in chanting the trio of "Boom Chicka Rock, Chicka Rock, Chicka Boom"s, but don't be surprised to hear, "Read me the other one instead." EB

AUGARDE, STEVE The Various. Fickling, 2004 448p Library ed. ISBN 0-385-75037-4 $18.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-75029-3 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-9 Twelve-year-old Midge has been left at Mill Farm with her eccentric uncle Brian by her musician mother, who is on tour with a respected orchestra. While exploring the farm's outbuildings, Midge discovers a wounded animal-a small winged 362 * THE BULLETIN horse, a member of the tribes of the Various who live in the bramble-protected woods on the edge of the farm. Midge, who already feels strangely linked to the farm by her discovery that she was born there, feels it is her duty to save Pegs, the winged horse. Her successful effort draws her into the world of the wood, the habitat for the tribes of little people that have lived there for generations. Midge's news that her uncle plans to sell the farm to developers causes consternation amongst the tribes and even endangers Midge when some of the misguided folk consider her to be the source of misfortune. The arrival of Midge's cousins George and Katie both complicates and helps the situation: George bluffly accepts the reality of the folk after inadvertently seeing one, and even the clothes-obsessed Katie rises to the occasion when wee renegade hunters with murderous intent come after Midge. This is a layered contemporary fantasy reminiscent of White's Mistress Masham's Repose. While the grownups emerge at the end to resolve any practical dilemmas (Uncle Brian can't sell the farm because it's "protected," Midge's mother gives up the orchestra to turn the farm into a bed and breakfast), the magical elements are successfully wrought, and Midge is a believable, engaging character. Offer this to young readers with a taste for fantastical whimsy (perhaps even fans of Pratchett's The Wee Free Men, BCCB 7/03) and see if they don't look at that patch of dense foliage just a little differently. JMD

Avi Never Mind!: A Twin Novel; by Avi and Rachel Vail. HarperCollins, 2004 [208p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-054315-9 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-054314-0 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 4-7 Meg and Edward are twins, but they're polar opposites: gangly Meg is an over- achiever trying to get into the superoverachiever's club at her high-powered seventh grade at her academically intense school, while undersized, indolent Edward attends an alternative, gradeless school. Unbeknownst to each other, both twins create a fiction wherein Edward is a cool guy called Ted with a hot rock band called "Never Mind," and these lies have unfortunate results: Ted's band is scheduled to play at a party thrown by Kimberly Wu Woodson, the most popular girl in Meg's class and the force behind the High Achievers Club, and as Ted, Edward finds himself telephonically going steady with Kimberly, who thinks he's a tall, hand- some rock star. The wacky-misunderstandings notion is surprisingly unsubtle and belabored for these two talented authors, and the eventual point-that Meg and Edward need to appreciate one another more and dreams of popularity shouldn't blind you to what's really important-is set in stone right from the beginning. The alternating first-person narrations help build the tension, however, and there's plenty of perceptive yet rueful seventh-grade humor ("I felt like an idiot. Which, when you thought about it, wasn't a wrong thing to feel, because after all, I was an idiot"). Clueless parental good intentions weave their way through the story for extra comedy, and the book wisely makes the climactic band appearance quite a mitigated triumph (Edward's band is absolutely awful, but they're so loud and having so much fun that the party is still tremendously enjoyable). Readers with a taste for omniscience will appreciate the full viewpoint granted by the dual narra- tives, and the lighthearted escapade of the twins would make this a diverting coun- terpoint to heavier reading assignments. DS MAY 2004 * 363

BAKER, JEANNIE, illus. Home; illus. byJeannie Baker. Greenwillow, 2004 [32p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-623934-6 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-623935-4 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 Between the day her parents move into the tenement building (unborn Tracy prominently present in her mother's abdomen) and the day Tracy opens her own plant nursery across the street, a series of small, individual actions and massive community efforts to paint, preserve, and plant change her neighborhood from a hopeless wreck to a thriving, safe place where anything is possible-including a wedding to the boy next door. A final view of the resurrected neighborhood shows climbing plants inching through Tracy's old bedroom window, a symbolic promise of growth and peace to come. Realistic, structured collages tell this story; scribbled notes, letters, and medicine labels provide the only text (and confirm the passage of time). The story is a bit simplistic, but the theme may appeal to older readers who enjoyed Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks (BCCB 7/97) or audiences who appreciated Perkins' Home Lovely (9/95); fans of picture riddles will enjoy discovering the details of each spread. Combine a reading of this book with photographs of urban reclamation efforts and a seed-planting activity for a memorable summer program. TC

BARTOLETTI, SUSAN CAMPBELL The Flag Maker; illus. by Claire A. Nivola. Houghton, 2004 32p ISBN 0-618-26757-3 $16.00 Ad Gr. 3-5 When Mary Pickersgill receives an army commission for a garrison flag to fly over Fort McHenry in the War of 1812, she and her daughter Caroline set to work on the immense creation that would become the famed subject of a poem by Francis Scott Key. The fort comes under attack by the British, and Baltimore residents watch the United States colors to learn the progress of the battle and to gauge their own safety under invasion. "There, hoisted high above the ramparts, Caroline saw a tired flag hanging from its staff in the damp morning air.... A flag sewn full of pride and courage and hope." There is a fair amount of undefined vocabulary here, and readers unfamiliar with the aforesaid "ramparts" may be no clearer about "from hoist to fly" and "reverse applique." Moreover, the concluding note suggests substantial fictionalization is involved. Caroline's age has been reduced from thirteen to twelve; servant, slave, and relatives shown working on the flag were not known to have done so; Caroline may not have been able to see the flag from her house; the garrison flag may not have even been flying at the time of the attack. Still, Nivola's delicate line, watercolor, and gouache pictures are attentive to period detail in the bustling (if overly tidy and spacious) streets of Baltimore, and Bartoletti clearly conveys that flags were not just patriotic symbols but vital com- munication devices in time of war. Readers who pay heed to the author's notes will sing the national anthem with deeper understanding. EB

BASS, L. G. Sign of the Qin. Hyperion, 2004 [22 4 p] ISBN 0-7868-1918-9 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 Prince Zong is born with the mark of the Qin-the outlaw-on his cheek; for this offense, the Emperor banishes Zong's mother from the Forbidden City and plots 364 * THE BULLETIN to kill the baby. This mark signifies that Prince Zong is the Starlord, destined to give up his life of privilege only to usurp the imperial throne, leading the people to peace and justice as the previous Starlord, Emperor Hung Wu, did 10,000 years ago. Yamu, the Lord of the Dead, also plots to kill Zong, intending to trick the weak Emperor into freeing the demon hordes that have been entombed for centuries. The Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh are on the move, battling the demons and corrupt bandits that are spreading, while in heaven, the Celestial Court dis- cusses how to protect Zong and stop Yamu from succeeding. Two guardians, the trickster Monkey and the Tattooed Monk, are sent to make sure Zong finds his destiny. In this first novel of the Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh trilogy, Bass introduces the numerous characters, mortal and immortal, human and demon, and sets in motion the events that will play out in the next two books. The inter- weaving of the several different storylines is at first challenging to manage; a Cast of Characters list at the front of the book helps until familiarity occurs. The writing is evocative and laden with significance, and it has the slightly detached tone of folktales or legends; the combination of politics, magic, mysticism, and action is absorbing, as are the characters themselves, who are complex in their past history, motivations, and desires. An author's note explains the Chinese history and legends that inspired the story, and a key to the Chinese characters that begin every chapter is appended. KH

BEDFORD, DAVID The Copy Crocs;illus. by Emily Bolam. Peachtree, 2004 32p ISBN 1-56145-304-8 $15.95 R 4 -7yrs It's not easy getting a minute to yourself when you are a crocodile surrounded by other crocodiles in a crowded pool, so Crocodile sets off on his own. He finds a slippery pool of mud all to himself, but soon the other crocs join him. No matter what he does, from sunbathing to floating on a log to climbing a mountain, he finds that the problem with being a trendsetter is that others follow those set trends. Returning alone to his old pool in frustration, however, Crocodile finds that he is lonely without his mates, and he learns the art of compromise. Landscapes rendered in textured swatches of color laid down quickly with a broad brush are child- friendly enough to invite budding artists to do some copying of their own, while bold black outlines and goofy expressions domesticate this herd of crocs quite amiably. Crocodile's hot-pink hide stands out amongst the sociable copy crocs, whose own shades of purple, green, aqua, brown, and blue make them look like agile crayons with teeth. Their responses to Crocodile's annoyance, by turns plain- tive and defiant, give some minimal definition to their motives, if not their characters, and help the audience understand a little bit of Crocodile's desire for privacy as well. Youngsters experiencing similar frustration with trying to be on the van- guard of the new, only to find themselves endlessly copied, will appreciate Crocodile's dilemma and learn a bit about their position with respect to the crowd as well. KC

BENNETT, CHERIE A Heart Divided; by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld. Delacorte, 2004 403p Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90039-2 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-32749-8 $15.95 R Gr. 6-10 Kate is dismayed, to say the least, to leave her New Jersey home with its easy access to New York City culture for the Southern sleepiness of Redmond, Tennessee. MAY 2004 * 365

Sure enough, her worst fears are confirmed when she spies the Confederate flag flying over the town square and encounters haughty looks as she talks with her first new friend, Nikki, who happens to be black. Then she meets and falls in love with Jack Redmond, whom she sums up in three words: "Oh. My. Gawd." The yummy Jack is a conflicted guy-loyal to the town and traditions of his family heritage, and yet ambitious for a future other than the one his mother plans for him. Kate's love for Jack complicates her involvement with Nikki's crusade to change the school name (Rebels) and emblem (the Confederate flag), but she manages her conflicts by interviewing people and writing a play about the situation. While Bennett and Gottesfeld rely on decidedly recognizable characters-the prim Southern matron, the outspoken redneck boy, the bigoted ideologue, the North- ern yuppie liberal mom-they refuse to caricature and thus dismiss these folk as one-dimensional. In fact, that's the message of the book: regardless of your ideo- logical position, you can still be involved in doing work that we all consider good, like caring for your children, helping those less fortunate, responding to tragedy, and serving your country. Kate's play manages to capture the diverse sentiments of the various characters in their most passionate and ideal expression without overtly passing judgment, even though it's clear where her own sympathies lie. Encased in an energetic and idealistic teen romance, the larger issues in the book will have decidedly regional interest because of the attention to racism and the Confederate flag, but this title can also be used to spark discussions about other currently embattled symbols of America's past. KC

BLACKLOCK, DYAN The Roman Army: The Legendary Soldiers Who Created an Empire; illus. by David Kennett. Walker, 2004 [4 8p] Library ed. ISBN 0-8027-8897-1 $18.85 Trade ed. ISBN 0-8027-8896-3 $17.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-8 As the opening aerial view of a map of the Roman Empire suggests, it would take a fearsome horde indeed to whip a realm this size into submission, and readers who meet the generals, tribunes, centurions, and legionaries herein won't want to get on their bad side. Armor and weaponry, marching order and encampment layout, strategies for fording rivers and charging the enemy are all discussed in restrained text and portrayed in boxed and captioned pictures, detailed diagrams, color coded plans, and (ooh, best of all) roiling battle scenes. There is considerable overlap of material with Moira Butterfield's Going to War in Roman Times, and Butterfield in fact includes information on battle tactics and religious rites missing here, but David Kennett's signature artwork (imagine a comic strip chiseled out of stone) is more arresting by far. Although Blacklock celebrates Rome in its nigh- invincible heyday, Kennett's endpapers parade a host of enemies from the Gallic warrior of the third century B.C. to the Tanukhid soldier of fourth century C.E. Arabia. Expect this title to take up permanent residence on the middle-school reserve list. EB

BORDEN, LOUISE Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude; illus. by Erik Blegvad. McElderry, 2004 48p ISBN 0-689-84216-3 $18.95 R* Gr. 3-5 The elementary-school set may know little and care less about the mathematical calculations involved in plotting east-west navigational positions. They are, how- 366 * THE BULLETIN ever, likely to share the outrage of John Harrison, the beleaguered eighteenth- century clockmaker who fairly met all requirements to win the prize for solving the problem of longitude and then was, for decades, denied his reward. Here Borden presents a most readable biography, clearly laying out the urgent need for pin- pointing longitude ("[S]ometimes they ended up sailing in the wrong direction. ... Sometimes ships got lost in storms; sometimes they ran aground and sank") and, in just a few laudably clear paragraphs, outlining the benefit of a seaworthy clock. Even math-phobes who skim over the explanation will be caught up in Harrison's travails as he painstakingly builds a working chronometer, perfects it, submits it, tests it, retests it, turns over all his working versions, only to be spurned by the Board of Longitude until King George III himself intervenes on his behalf. Blegvad's finely hatched line drawings, many washed with earth- and olive-toned watercolor, wind around and through each page, comfortably sharing the ample white space with easily digestible stretches of text. The technical nature of the subject allows Blegvad to revel in intricate clockwork, cat's-cradles of ship rigging, and sly caricatures of the starchy, tight-fisted pedants of the Board. Closing notes remark on Harrison's surviving kin and inform readers where extant artifacts are now lodged. John Harrison should be a welcome fresh face on dress-up book-report day. EB

BRAY, LIBBA A Great and Terrible Beauty. Delacorte, 2004 [41 6 p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90161-5 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73028-4 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Gemma Doyle finds herself back in England and newly enrolled at toney Spence Academy, where she faces the dual challenge of achieving detente with a powerful clique of snobbish girls and shaking off memories of her mother's violent death in India. It doesn't help that she foresaw the death in a vision and that she's been followed to England by a mysterious (and stunningly attractive) young man, Kartik, who hangs out with a band of gypsies and warns her against using supernatural powers she has only begun to realize she wields. Wield them she does, however, and it soon becomes evident that Gemma's mother's murder, a tragic fire a genera- tion ago at the school, and the diary of an ex-Spence-ite named Mary Dowd are all inextricably connected to Gemma's power. Three schoolmates ride on Gemma's coattails, so to speak, as she enters a portal into The Realms, where she reunites with her mother's spirit and her friends indulge in fantasies of the power and love and beauty that elude them in the real world. When confining their witchery to The Realms no longer satisfies them, the girls play a more dangerous game that could bring the magic to the outside and unleash forces of evil into the bargain. Bray opens with a true boarding-school drama, full of cattiness, Victorian repres- sion, and steamy schoolgirl dreams of being ravished by virile gypsies. Readers who came for the sharpened claws and tight-laced corsets may, then, understand- ably be jolted by the plot's sudden pivot into fantasy. Still, Bray does a creditable job keeping the two genres in balance, and although the simmering love (well, lust) story between Gemma and Kartik never reaches a full boil, there's enough seductive promise in Gemma's parting line ("I want to see how far I can go before I have to stop") to keep both romance and fantasy readers watching for a sequel. EB MAY 2004 * 367

BUJOR, FLAVIA The Prophecy of the Stones; tr. from the French by Linda Coverdale. Miramax/Hyperion, 2004 [4 00p] ISBN 0-7868-1835-2 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys M Gr. 4-8 In a future land called the Realm, three girls-Jade, Amber, and Opal-each re- ceive a precious stone on their fourteenth birthday along with the news that they have destinies beyond their previous imaginings. Cast out of their homes in order to discover their true purpose, the three girls begin their journey together, knowing only that they cannot trust anyone-not even one another. Meanwhile, in present-day Paris, a girl called Joa lies dying in a hospital, her fate somehow connected to that of the trio. Through their adventures, the three girls learn that a war is brewing between the people's Army of Light and the Council of Twelve's Army of Darkness, and each girl has her appointed task: one will discover the Gift, one will discover the King, and one will convince the two others to die. Fourteen-year- old Bujor's story, a French import, begins with compelling mystery: Why are the girls enemies? What are the stones? Who is the Thirteenth Councilor? Unfortu- nately, it quickly loses its potency as it is hampered by shallow characterizations, blunt exposition and a preachy, sentimental message about the power of hope. Stiff, contrived dialogue and a relentless tendency to tell rather than show adds to these problems. Furthermore, many elements of the premise that might have been interesting are left unexamined: though the girls are told they are enemies, they are never placed into real conflict; their true purposes are not fully tied to their magical stones, and the connection between Joa and the trio is asserted but never really demonstrated in the fragmented counter-narrative. Readers seeking satisfying fantasy heroines and adventure should stick to Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce, and other stalwarts. KH

CRONIN, DOREEN Duckfor President;illus. by Betsy Lewin. Simon, 2004 40p ISBN 0-689-86377-2 $15.95 R Gr. 2-4 As previous adventures (Click, Clack, Moo, BCCB 9/00, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, 6/02) have shown, Farmer Brown's barnyard is filled with political animals. It's therefore not surprising that Duck, rebelling against his contribution to labor, decides that an election for the leadership of the farm should be held; nor is it hugely surprising, given the livestock-heavy electorate, that Duck trounces Farmer Brown in the election. Finding that running a farm is no fun at all, Duck decides to expand his ambitions and makes a gubernatorial run, successfully winning over the incumbent. Running a state's not much better, though, so he then campaigns for the White House, edging out the incumbent there; unsurprisingly, running a country proves to be just as tedious as the previous positions, so Duck hands over the reins to the Veep and heads back to the farm. This has even more adult-aimed jokes than previous versions (lots of evocations of specific campaigns in the text and classic images in the art), and in light of the 2000-esque jokes about recounts, it's a tad ironic (or pointed?) that the book relies on narrow popular-vote margins to get Duck into office. There's still plenty of humor for the pre-voting audience, however, such as lazy Duck's winning of all the elections and regretting it soon after and the regular request for a recount (always made by Duck's opponent, always resolved by the finding of ballots stuck to somebody or other, and always performed to the opponent's detriment). Lewin's thick lines have a homey irregu- larity in keeping with the slightly skewed reality of the world they limn, with washes of color (often election-year red, white, and blue) decorating the pages like 368 * THE BULLETIN bunting; Duck himself isn't all that charismatic a figure as a candidate (a compromise choice, perhaps?), but he hits his real dramatic stride when he's mournfully overworked. This will be a natural to liven up units on the democratic process or even to introduce classroom elections--or just as a readaloud antidote to the election-year plethora of paid political announcements. DS

CUTLER, JANE The Birthday Doll; illus. by Hiroe Nakata. Farrar, 2004 32p ISBN 0-374-30719-9 $16.00 Ad 4-7 yrs As Franny waits in gleeful anticipation for her birthday party, a package arrives from some relatives she's not quite sure she remembers but who have really good taste in dolls: this one has frills on her frills, and when you press her hand, she sings "ring around the rosy." The party proves a rollicking success that brings Franny even more presents, including an old rag doll wrapped in a paper bag. After everything is cleaned up and put away, Franny tries to snuggle up with her fancy new doll, only to find its one-liner annoying. She's sad and lonely with post- party blues, until she realizes that the old rag doll is perfect for snuggling. Nakata's wispy, delicate watercolors both decorate and illustrate, articulating energetic party and household scenes and decorative motifs of flowers and ribbon with quick, light strokes of darker colors against creamy pastel washes. They also rather uni- formly scream pink girly-girl, which might prove a limitation on appeal. The faces of the grownups and the partygoers are as round as balloons, with smudgy cheeks and pin-dot eyes and noses that don't distinguish the people from the dolls. The story goes on far longer than the subject matter warrants, and there is an inordi- nate amount of detail regarding the party preparations and cleanup, with too little about the origin of the rag doll. Still, birthdays are perennially exciting, and this offers some inspiration for appreciating each present for its own merit. KC

DE ANGELIS, GINA Motion Pictures: Making Cinema Magic. Oliver, 2004 [14 4 p] illus. with photographs (Innovators) ISBN 1-881508-78-1 $21.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-10 Where would today's Hollywood glitterati be without yesterday's technical wiz- ards who fashioned the celluloid firmament in which movie stars twinkle? Here readers meet seven trailblazers in the cinematic arts, beginning with W. K. L. Dickson, a "mucker" for Thomas Edison, and the man eventually credited as the real progenitor of motion pictures. The Lumiere brothers follow hot on his heels, transforming his dual devices into a single mechanism for filming, printing, and projecting moving images. Lee de Forest and his optical sound recording onto the film, Herbert Kalmus' "glorious Technicolor," Linwood Dunn and his visual effects processes, and Michael Todd's wide-screen wonders refine and expand the industry. Garrett Brown and the Steadicam empower the cameraman to rush through scenes and angle into tight corners in ways previously thought impossible. In keeping with the perspective of the reliable Innovators series, De Angelis is less interested in hyping "firsts" than in demonstrating how each inventor builds on a previously laid foundation; her closing essay on "films of the future" even suggests a circular rather than linear trajectory to cinematography, with technology so ad- vanced and accessible that independent filmmakers-such as the Blair Witch Project crew--can return to production practices that predate the studio system. Although plenty of black-and-white photographs are included (as well as a bibliography, index, and glossary), color is sorely missed in the captioned scene from The Wizard MAY 2004 * 369 ofOz and the 1930 ad for Technicolor. When Academy Awards night rolls around again, readers won't be so quick to step out for snacks come time for technical kudos. EB

DOWNARD, BARRY, ad. The Little Red Hen; ad. and illus. by Barry Downard. Simon, 2004 32p ISBN 0-689-85962-7 $14.95 R 3-6 yrs The teaching tale of the industrious Little Red Hen, who enjoys the fruits of her labors while her lazy friends go hungry, has been told and retold for lo these many years. Downard provides another reason to tell the tale yet again: the opportunity to peruse his original and often hilarious images. Using manipulated digital pho- tography, he creates a bespectacled Little Red Hen in an absurd barnyard inhab- ited by her unmotivated animal neighbors. The duck, pig, and cat sunbathe, play cards, shoot pool, watch television, and play checkers while the Little Red Hen bustles about planting, growing, threshing, and baking, until, in the end, the three layabouts gaze longingly through the kitchen window while the Little Red Hen munches on fresh bread. The combination of photorealism with the obviously fantastical give the pictures a sly and witty humor that will propel viewers through the pages, only to send them back to the beginning for a closer look. Use this with Wattenberg's similarly outrageous Henny Penny (BCCB 5/00) for a poultry pairing of photographically fantastical folklore, but don't be surprised if the com- puter-graphics kids commandeer it for inspirational purposes. JMD

FEIFFER, JULES The Daddy Mountain;written and illus. by Jules Feiffer. di Capua/ Hyperion, 2004 [32p] ISBN 0-7868-0912-4 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R 2-4 yrs Mountaineering may be a grueling and risky pastime, but our intrepid young narrator is determined to ascend the deceptively familiar but still challenging Daddy Mountain. After fortifying herself with fruit juice, she begins her climb, carefully explaining each stage of the journey ("I reach as high as I can and grab the belt of the Daddy Mountain") and the dangers she faces ("I could slip. And that could be a catastrophe"). Safety precautions are emphasized ("Remember, the Daddy Moun- tain must wear a shirt"), but ultimately our dogged climber makes it to the top of Daddy's head and proudly trumpets to those below-well, to her mother-"I climbed the Daddy Mountain!" Feiffer's focus (though fortunately not his moun- taineer) slips a little at the end with the emphasis on Mom's response rather than on the youngster's achievement, but this is otherwise a magnificent combination of gleeful play and genuine intensity. The text is taut and compact yet sufficiently clear on the specifics to guide other ambitious youngsters up the heights (and provide some hints for complicit parental mountains), and the extreme-sports commentary on the exertion ("I don't want to dawdle. I have to be brave") has its humorous implications but ultimately avoids irony, instead giving a playful activity credit for its genuine difficulty. The Daddy Mountain's smudgy gray topogra- phy makes it a suitably inanimate contrast to the loose-lined climber, whose ferocious concentration and physical effort are evident in her grimly set face and her pared- down outfit's tendency to expose bits of her as she levers herself up to each col. The vertiginous nature of her ascent is emphasized by the layout, which balances text-touched white space with the off-center Daddy Mountain and finally culmi- 370 * THE BULLETIN nates in a vertical foldout when our heroine reaches the summit of her proud daddy. This will be the perfect picture book for any dad who wants to be a big man in his child's life. DS

FIGLEY, MARTY RHODES The Schoolchildren's Blizzard; illus. by Shelly O. Haas. Carolrhoda, 2004 48p (On My Own History) Library ed. ISBN 1-57505-586-4 $27.93 Paper ed. ISBN 1-57505-619-4 $5.95 Ad Gr. 2-3 January 12, 1888 started as an unnaturally mild day on the Nebraska plains, and the students in Miss Freeman's one-room schoolhouse were unprepared for the freakish storm that hurled itself through their classroom in the afternoon. At first sitting tight around the stove seemed the wisest course of action, but when the roof blew off and the snow flew in, there was no choice but to seek shelter a half-mile away at Miss Freeman's home. Roping the children together for safety, the teacher led her sixteen charges through the whiteout and was subsequently celebrated for her resourcefulness and bravery. Although the core of this true story is positively (ahem) chilling, Figley stretches it out with a slender, throwaway plot concerning two sisters and their concern over some leftover birthday cake, and for the first twenty-five pages rookie readers may reasonably wonder when something exciting is finally going to happen. Grainy watercolor artwork ably evokes a sprawling plain transformed from glowing gold to treacherous white; finer detail ranges from the thoughtful inclusion of a chalkboard map that abruptly ends west of Minne- sota to a truly hokey pose of Miss Freeman in front of a carefully draped American flag. For start-to-finish action in the 1888 blizzard, see Wetterer's The Snow Walker (BCCB 12/96) from the same series. EB

FRAUSTINO, LISA ROWE, ed. Don't Cramp My Style: Stories about That Time ofthe Month. Simon, 2004 295p ISBN 0-689-85882-5 $15.95 R Gr. 9-12 See this month's Big Picture, p. 359, for review.

Fusco, KIMBERLY NEWTON Tending to Grace. Knopf, 2004 [17 6p] Library ed. ISBN 0-375-92862-6 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-375-82862-1 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10 Cornelia's an ardent reader with a rich inner life, but her persistent stammer makes her so reluctant to talk that she's largely silent, refusing to read aloud in her wa- tered-down ninth-grade English class or converse with her mother's new boyfriend. Conversation with her mother's boyfriend ceases to be a problem when the couple heads off to Las Vegas and dumps Corney at the rural home of her great-aunt Agatha, whom the girl has never met. Her concern swiftly moves from her expressive difficulties to her new living arrangement in a plumbingless, rickety old farm- house with an eccentric and unkempt stranger. Gradually, however, Agatha's hard-working country ways and life-learned wisdom begin to coax Cornelia into a strength and self-assurance she's never known with her flighty mother, while Agatha in turn finds a surprising opportunity for growth and trust with her great-niece. The castoff child finding new roots with her unexpected caretaker isn't a particularly new plot (Katherine Paterson's The Same Stuff as Stars, BCCB 10/02, is one of the best recent examples), and Agatha comes pretty much off the literary assem- MAY 2004 * 371 bly line of crusty old country women with a taste for aphoristic wisdom; her folksy phraseology jars with the tendency towards poetic (and often strained) metaphor in Cornelia's narration. The delineation of Cornelia's growth is sensitive, however, and she paradoxically becomes more sympathetic and interesting when her troubles become more mundane (many readers will guiltily empathize with her horrified response to labor-intensive and inconvenient rusticity), and the details of Agatha's existence-particularly the maneuvering that allows her to evade acknowledging her illiteracy-are credibly conceived. Despite its drawbacks, this is a ten- der story of adjustment to loss and recognition of strength. DS

GERAS, ADELE Time for Ballet; illus. by Shelagh McNicholas. Dial, 2004 32p ISBN 0-8037-2978-2 $16.99 Ad 3-6 yrs Our protagonist loves her ballet class so much that her mom calls her Tutu Tilly. It's easy to see why the class is such a hit: from wriggling into uncooperative ballet clothes, to warming up with "good toes, naughty toes," to flitting around the room in free-form imitations of butterflies and dinosaurs, to being introduced to some of the more formal elements of ballet, the children obviously revel in the expressive joy of their craft. Even more exciting for them is the pleasure of performing. Tutu Tilly practices her dance at home, gets into her costume, performs, and then delights in the aftermath of praise from her parents, thus providing a complete chronology of the process of learning ballet. With her attention to the pudgy proportions and perpetual motion of the child body, McNicholas' watercolor figures with their subtle graphite outlines call to mind the work of Shirley Hughes. The compositions are busy and crowded with lots of people doing lots of things, and the figures are so expressive that one can almost hear the noise of the studio. Despite some energetic onomatopoeic intrusions, the prose is generally rather pedestrian and the story lacks conflict, but if your collection needs another pink ballet book, this one provides a nice overview of what to expect from the experience of young beginners' ballet practice and performance. KC

GLENN, SHARLEE Keeping Up With Roo; illus. by Dan Andreasen. Putnam, 2004 32p ISBN 0-399-23480-2 $14.99 R 5-8 yrs Gracie's mentally challenged Aunt Ruth, called Roo, has been Gracie's best friend since her birth. Roo calmed her when she was crying, taught her to walk, and played with her every day when their chores were done. As Gracie grows older, they play school, and while Roo can't do much math, she is able to teach Gracie her alphabet. At first, when Gracie goes to school, she and Roo continue their lessons after school, with Gracie taking over the role of teacher. By second grade, however, Gracie begins to have other interests and make new friends, and Roo often ends up alone and lonely. When one of Gracie's friends comes over to visit, Gracie actually ignores Roo, who embarrasses her with her wild hairdo and her goofy dancing. As the afternoon wears on, Gracie begins to realize just how much Roo has taught her, and she decides to share her friend with her aunt, and vice versa. Andreasen gentles his homey farm scenes with crosshatched texturing that mutes the colors and gives a slightly nostalgic flavor to the book. His depiction of Roo as a baby-faced adult child (there are moments when Gracie actually looks older than Roo) is a bit disconcerting at best (and infantilizing at worst) but since Roo's disability is not mentioned in the text, this visual marker provides an impor- 372 * THE BULLETIN tant clue to fill in gaps about why Roo lives with her parents, why she doesn't have children of her own, and why she doesn't seem to have many school skills. Adult storytellers should be prepared to answer some questions for children who don't have experience with adults with disabilities, but for those who do, this is a warm, affirming picture that helps validate and explain to outsiders the depths of a mutu- ally rewarding relationship. KC

GRAHAM, BOB Tales from the Waterhole; written and illus. by Bob Graham. Candlewick, 2004 [6 4p] ISBN 0-7636-2324-5 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 You know the way some neighborhoods have a spot to which everybody seems to gravitate? In Graham's African crowd of hippos, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, etc., that locale is the waterhole. Its primary denizen, from this book's standpoint, is the young crocodile Morris, who with his younger brother, Bob, and his turtle friend, Billy, features prominently in five easy-reading stories. Events include such recognizable domestic happenings as an argument over Morris' mom's gaudy bath- ing suit, a spontaneous kids-against-moms soccer match, and the trials of clothes- shopping with parents. Australian author Graham's keen ear for authenticity and gently imaginative blending of animal and human realities give these tales an extra shine; young readers will recognize the reality of Morris and Billy's tussle ("Well, they circled and shuffled and grunted, and they groaned and swished at the air"), and even those unfamiliar with wildebeest migration will sympathize with Waldo Wildebeest's resentment of his family's traditional "walking vacation." Though compositions don't always effectively single out the protagonists from the assembled waterhole crowd, the bursting scenes cheerfully convey the happy neighborhood bustle, and the sprightly lines and soft watercolor washes create a cozy and companionable crew. Reminiscent ofJames Stevenson's Mud Flat Gang (from Christ- mas at Mud Flat, BCCB 11/00, et al.) but with its own easygoing antipodean flair, this will provide a refreshing early chapter read or sequential readaloud. DS

HELQUIST, BRETT Roger, the Jolly Pirate; written and illus. by Brett Helquist. HarperCollins, 2004 [4 0p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-623806-4 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-623805-6 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad 5-8 yrs While there's a bit of controversy over the exact origin of the piratical black flag, Helquist has a theory. Amiable but bumbling pirate Roger is so inept at the serious business of boarding and thieving that his fellow freebooters stow him below deck when there's action in the offing. To ingratiate himself with his shipmates, Roger attempts to bake a cake and, mistaking the cannon for a cooking pot, lights the fuse to fire it up and blows himself right through the planking into the middle of a battle. The Redcoats panic at the sight of the flour- and soot-covered human projectile and abandon ship, and a grateful crew honors Jolly Roger with a flag in his remarkably skull-like image. The thin but manic proceedings are more silly than hilarious, and as the resultant flag is just plain goofy, it's not easy to see how it could come to be a feared symbol at sea. The cast, however, comprises an admirable rabble of hawk-nosed, narrow-eyed villains and square-jawed, powdered- wigged officers (only Roger breaks from the severe angularity with a ruddy round MAY 2004 * 373 nose), and the shipboard scenes (tightly packed but generally controlled) are domi- nated by deep earthy hues against teal sea and sky. With a fleet of piratical picture books plying the sea lanes, listeners may find in Cannon's On the Go with Pirate Pete andPirateJoe (BCCB 9/02), or Laurence's Captain and Matey Set Sail (9/01) a richer trove of wackiness to plunder. EB

HOBBS, WILL Leaving Protection. HarperCollins, 2004 [192p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-051632-1 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-688-17475-2 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-9 Robbie Daniels can't wait to earn some cash-a commodity in short supply in Port Protection, Alaska, where his parents scrape out a living through fishing and sheer ingenuity. Robbie signs on with gruff Tor Torsen, a loner renowned for his luck catching king salmon in the outer waters. Back problems force Torsen into taking on a hand, and Robbie's experience on his parents' smaller boat is enough to get him aboard Torsen's Storm Petrel. Once they're out for the brief season, Robbie discovers that fishing is only part of the agenda; Torsen intends to secure his fortune by searching for possession plaques-Russian land-claim markers bur- ied along the coast in the late 1700s-and selling them on the black market. A strong sixteen-year-old like Robbie will certainly be useful doing the grunt work (and helping bring in the bumper salmon catch), but he just might, Robbie fears, be expendable when his contribution to the job is over. Hobbs keeps readers guessing whether Torsen is a moody fisherman with an odd hobby, a ruthless treasure hunter with a gift for fishing, or a sad old man whose greed has driven him over the edge. All the requisite adventure story elements are in place, from the corny-but-cool patter ("There was sea salt in his tangled beard and piracy in his voice") to a raging storm and a desperate run for harbor, but Hobbs excels at conveying the claustrophobia and rising tension between two overworked, over- tired, overambitious men who have just two weeks to grab their dreams and make it home alive. EB

HOBERMAN, MARY ANN You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together; illus. by Michael Emberley. Tingley/Little, 2004 [32p] ISBN 0-316-14611-0 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-3 Hoberman offers a sequel to the successful and popular You Read to Me, I'llRead to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together (BCCB 10/01) in this rhyming reimagining of eight well-known fairy tales and folktales such as "The Princess and the Pea," "The Three Bears," "Little Red Riding Hood," and other familiar nursery standards. The text is designed to be used "like little plays for two voices that sometimes speak separately, sometimes in unison." To that end the verse is three-color and three-columned: the orange left column is for the first reader, the fuchsia right column is for the second reader, and the center blue column is for both readers. The voices are conversational and the dialogue humorous, although best appreciated with knowledge of the originals (Hoberman advises in her author's note that "parents and teachers make sure that their new readers are familiar with the original versions before going on to the stories in this book"). Emberley's gel pen, watercolor, and dry pastel illustrations have an irreverent insouciance that infuses the pages with energy. Clever fashion touches enliven cartoony styliza- 374 * THE BULLETIN tions, and expressive body language gives strikingly funny individuality to familiar players. Prop this one in a prominent place to encourage reading pairs to nestle in for a giggle-punctuated readaloud snuggle. JMD

HORNIK, LAURIE MILLER Zoo School; illus. by Debbie Tilley. Clarion, 2004 [14 4 p] ISBN 0-618-34204-4 $15.00 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 Ursula, Kitty, Leo, Drake, and Robin are among the sixteen students of Zoo School, a place they all find at first to be confusing but later to be eminently worthwhile. Here zookeepers Ms. Hummingfly and Mr. Dapple lead rather than teach, since the motto of the principal is "Let the animals be your textbooks!" (and since the zookeepers admit that they don't know how to teach anyway). Over the course of several weeks, each child grows to enjoy Zoo School and even to overcome his or her faults as a result: Robin learns to distinguish between real and imagined inju- ries, Drake overcomes his fear of animals, Leo begins to enjoy work, Kitty develops an emotional attachment to animals she had previously thought of only in objec- tive terms, and Ursula sees that life skills involve more than the ability to spell. When the school is closed by the three L.I.O.N.S. (Learned Inspectors of New Schools), the fearless five band together to save both the institution and its newest addition, a kangaroo joey. In addition to a lighthearted yet pointed critique of modern school-assessment techniques, this intermediate-level chapter book provides readers with lots of human-exotic animal interaction and the enjoyable end- of-story revelation that the school is being run by a talking elephant. Though the adults are good-hearted and well-meaning (even the L.I.O.N.S.), the kids are smarter than any of them, an inversion of power roles that works especially well in this school send-up. The constant spoofing of pedagogical procedures will make this an amusing readaloud as well as a potentially popular choice for individual reading. Reviewed from an unillustrated galley. TC

HOVEY, KATE Ancient Voices; illus. by Murray Kimber. McElderry, 2004 [4 0p] ISBN 0-689-83342-3 $18.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-10 The author ofArachne Speaks (BCCB 3/01) returns to classic Greek myths in this sleekly designed volume. In a series of elegantly constructed poems, Hovey gives voice to Ganymede, cupbearer to the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus; Hera, "Zeus's wife,/ Queen of the Sky"; Hephaestus, the immortal smith, and others. The verse is vivid and controlled, the rhyme scheme and structure varies from poem to poem, and the first-person point of view adds a riveting immediacy to each entry. The twenty-three poems are divided among four locales, Mount Olympus, The Sea, The Underworld, and The Forest, an organizing principle that allows Hovey to introduce each section with a quote from classical literature. Many of the poems are emotionally powerful, whether rendering the tragedy of Hephaestus' crippling, the violent inevitability of a storm at sea, or the heady ter- ror of an encounter with Dionysus. Ganymede, who comments on his encounters with the gods several times in the collection, opens and closes the book. His voice, that of a young man dazzled by the gods yet dreaming of home, adds a quiet pathos to the larger-than-life events of the other poems. Kimber uses a variety of media in his representations of the foibles and furies of the gods and goddesses: MAY 2004 * 375 the art for "The Underworld" section are rendered in charcoal, Conte pencil, and acrylic, while the rest of the images are oil over acrylic on canvas. There is a weighty density to the images that is enhanced by the strongly angular, almost geometric compositions. The personifications of the gods and goddesses combine classical with contemporary: Ares rides a motorcycle, his sword and shield resting behind; Hades resembles Mr. Hyde at his top-hatted best, a red pomegranate in his hand; Diana stands in vest and boots, an image from Town &eCountry. While not all the poems and images reach the same heights (the cover image is an oddly ineffective choice), overall this is a strong addition to both poetry and mythology collections. JMD

JACKSON, ROBERT Meet Me in St. Louis: A Trip to the 1904 World's Fair. HarperCollins, 2004 144 p illus. with photographs Library ed. ISBN 0-06-009268-8 $18.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-009267-X $17.99 Ad Gr. 4-7 Not to be outshone by her glittery Gilded Age cousin, Chicago, St. Louis hosted its own World's Fair a decade later, and once again state-of-the-art technological marvels vied for bragging rights with almond elephants, butter tableaux, trans- planted ethnic "villages," and a strip of tantalizing lowbrow entertainment. Jackson's account is cast in the verbiage of a tourist brochure, hinting at the wonders therein but never quite tackling the details: "Another large exhibit showed off all sorts of ancient Chinese weapons and suits of armor, reminding visitors that cultures around the world had been making unusual and exciting products for many centuries." Historical background is inadequate, and without some turn-of-the-century context, readers are unlikely to realize what the fuss over Geronimo and electric lights was all about. Plenty of black-and-white photographs should lure browsers, and a suggested reading list that includes works of children's fiction as well as fact is a nice bonus. An index and bibliography will assist report writers, but this title is more likely to satisfy recreational readers than budding social historians. EB

JANECZKO, PAUL B. Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writ- ing; illus. by Jenna LaReau. Candlewick, 2004 136p ISBN 0-7636-0971-4 $16.99 R Gr. 4-8 Nineteen years after his previous book on the topic (Loads of Codes and Secret Ciphers, BCCB 3/85), Janeczko takes a new, somewhat younger-skewing look at a subject that's been dear to him since youth. He offers some broad philosophy (noting that some codes, such as ISBNs, aren't designed for secrecy), helpful defi- nitions (explaining the difference between ciphers, which are letter-by-letter en- cryption, and codes), and historical developments and anecdotes (from ancient Greece to World War II), but the main jackpot here is the plethora of technical explanations that instruct readers how to make-and break-ciphers and codes themselves. There's a wealth of information and a wide range of difficulty both in use and in conceptual complexity, from simple substitution ciphers that entry- level cryptanalysts can manage to more elaborate codes and steganographic techniques that will delight experienced young spymasters. Explanations are generally clear (illustrated demonstrations greatly facilitate understanding of some mecha- nisms), but even kids not interested in working out the engineering will appreciate these marvels of secrecy. Readers determined to forge ahead into DIY coding will adore all the "kids, do try this at home" exercises for each method described (an- 376 * THE BULLETIN swers are in the back). It's somewhat surprising, in light of the book's otherwise far-reaching coverage, that there's no discussion at all of the contributions com- puters have made and could make for interested youngsters, and there are no pointers to some of the excellent websites on this subject. Smudgy and shadowy black-and- white art offers not only helpful illustrations but a pair of sample spies, whose sharp-nosed obviousness and mismatched pairing suggests a cross between Mad's "Spy vs. Spy" and Rocky and Bullwinkle's Boris and Natasha. The enticing subject and flexible readability will make this an indispensable companion for the young and secretive. A "Hall of Fame," brief bibliography, and an index are appended. DS

JENKINS, STEVE Actual Size; written and illus. by Steve Jenkins. Houghton, 2004 [32p] ISBN 0-618-37594-5 $16.00 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 3-7 It's a funny thing about animals in picture books-their size is so consistent (slightly smaller than that of their book's trim size) that the natural world appears to be a wonder of uniformity, and even knowing better makes it hard to extrapolate to the extremes that the animal kingdom really offers. Jenkins' inventive gallery panders to no such misleading conventions, however, and provides views of almost twenty mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and fish at, as the title suggests, their actual size. Brief captions provide identification and measurements (additional information is provided in the back of the book), and Jenkins' imaginative paper collages work their usual magic in transcending their medium to capture the spirit and detail of their subjects. The real triumph here, however, is the compositions: rather than ducking the issue of page-size limitation, the book makes brilliantly creative use of its tight focus, resulting in startling closeups. The page turn to the giant squid, whose twelve-inch eyeball peers out from the spread, is a wonderfully "Yikes!"-inducing moment of literary drama; kids will literally be all over the book, pressing their hands up against the huge palm of the gorilla and squashing their faces up against the jaws (on a foldout spread, no less) of the man-eating saltwater crocodile for a clear demonstration of what an easy mouthful they'd make. Small animals have their due as well (the tiny dwarf goby fish looks like something a goldfish cracker would turn down as an insufficient meal), but ultimately it's the huge that humbles and horrifies here (three different subjects, in fact, have the common name of "Goliath"), suggesting that in some aspects of zoology size does indeed matter. This has sufficiently sophisticated eye appeal to make it an irresistible browse for text-phobic older readers, and it would be a compelling and immediate introduction to natural history for any group of youngsters with sufficient sang-froidto look a great white shark straight in the gleaming four-inch teeth. DS

JONES, PATRICK Things Change. Walker, 2004 [22 4 p] ISBN 0-8027-8901-3 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-12 Johanna is an academically accomplished junior, tired of being her parents' pup- pet and yearning for the attentions of Paul, a senior who's the cool comedian of the in-crowd; when he drives her home after student council, she changes both of their futures with six little words: "I want you to kiss me." Soon Johanna and Paul MAY 2004 * 377 are a devoted couple, with Johanna's parents furious as her grades plummet, Johanna's best friend hurt as she's left by the wayside, and Johanna wrapped up in her first sexual relationship and real love affair. Paul's grand sweeping gestures of affection, however, are increasingly tendered in apology for moments of anger and physical coercion, coercion that rises to outright violence, leaving Johanna in an emotional maelstrom as she's yanked between her love for Paul, her embarrass- ment at her position, her reluctance to confirm her parents' views, and her recognition that this is a dangerous situation. This isn't a new plot (Jones mentions in a note that he actually began the book twenty years ago, when the subject was unad- dressed in young adult literature); this title somewhat resembles Tashjian's Faultline (BCCB 10/03) in its alternating narrative (Paul's anguish is particularly evident in angry letters to his dead father) and its refusal to reduce Johanna's involvement to an issue of low self-esteem. There's more emphasis here, however, on the general changes in Johanna's life, how this relationship fits into her attempt to break away from her parents' crushing expectations ("How can people who say they loved you all the time make you hate them as much as I hated my mother right now?"), and how it brings her knowledge of people she's underestimated (her old best friend doesn't actually come running back when Johanna finally calls, and it's the girls in Paul's popular set whom Johanna had once derided as airheads who turn out to be a source of strength and wisdom). Even teens spared some of Johanna's more dramatic experiences will sympathize with the turmoil of her maturation. DS

KAABERBOL, LENE The Shamer's Daughter; tr. by Lene Kaaberbol. Holt, 2004 [24 0p] ISBN 0-8050-7541-0 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 Ten-year-old Dina Tonerre has inherited the Shamer's gift from her mother, Melussina, and as her mother explains, few can look a Shamer in the eyes for long: "You make them remember all the things .. . that they are secretly ashamed of." As a result, Dina's life is a lonely one: while her family is loving, her playmates have abandoned her and the adults avoid her. Though Dina cannot fathom a good side to the gift that has made her a pariah, the community values Shamers for their ability to solve crimes by identifying the guilty party. Melussina is therefore called away to solve a triple murder at Dunark Castle, leaving Dina behind; when a man named Drakan brings Dina a message that her mother needs her, she goes without question because he looks the young Shamer in the eyes without fear. Soon, however, she finds that she has been tricked and that Drakan has brought her to the castle to help "motivate" Melussina to condemn an innocent man. In this first novel of a quartet, originally published in Danish, Kaaberbol has written an absorbing and fast-paced fantasy/mystery bursting with action and intrigue. The Shamer's gift is clearly thought out yet explained to readers gradually as Dina learns to use it. Dina's early naivete, especially her trust for Drakan, is credible, and her unwitting discovery of his evil lends the story an unexpected punch of immediate danger. The pacing of her resulting escape from the castle and her attempts to clear the innocent man and free her mother alternate between stam- peding action and tiptoeing suspense, while the story remains firmly rooted in Dina's experience and development. The only question is: when will the next one come out? KH 378 * THE BULLETIN

4 KARR, KATHLEEN Exiled: Memoirs ofa Camel. Cavendish, 2004 2 0p ISBN 0-7614-5164-1 $15.95 R Gr. 5-8 As both a good Muslim and a good son, the camel Ali takes his mother's words to heart: "Work, but never surrender." He accepts his Allah-ordained destiny, but that doesn't mean that the humans who claim his service will master his spirit. The doughty dromedary, captured and trained for labor in Egypt, is sold to the United States Camel Corps; Ali is packed off on a transport ship, where he meets not only fellow travelers Fatinah (his love interest), Seid (a recalcitrant bull), and Omar (an arrogant wrestling camel), but also their new trainer Hi-Jolly (Hadji Ali), who truly understands the nature of the beast. Together the team face many adventures common to Western humans in the Year of the Infidel 1856-arduous labor, Indian raids, Army discipline-while pursuing their own camel-y concerns in matters of love and one-upmanship. Admittedly, enjoyment of the book de- pends heavily on a reader's tolerance of anthropomorphization, and the camel's- eye view of this quirky chapter in U.S. military history is hardly well enough developed to satisfy historical fiction fans. Ali is, however, a fully developed character in his own right, and readers with a strong faculty for suspension of disbelief will find themselves thoroughly absorbed by his dignified narration. In a closing note, Karr comments on the Camel Corps, the humans who ran the service, and the fate of the camels abandoned when the Corps disbanded. EB

KESSLER, Liz The Tail ofEmily Windsnap; illus. by Sarah Gibb. Candlewick, 2004 [22 4 p] ISBN 0-7636-2483-7 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-7 Emily Windsnap lives on a boat but has never learned to swim, and until seventh- grade swim class she has never been totally immersed in a body of water. Once in the water-an event she anticipates with great excitement-her life undergoes a profound (and literal) sea-change: Emily discovers that when she's immersed in water her legs fuse and become a tail; that while on land she's a human girl, in the water she becomes a mermaid. Her adventures in the sea and her search for an explanation of her strange gift lead her to her mother's forgotten secret, her long- lost father, and her mer-heritage, all of which are in danger from Neptune, the controlling king of the sea. The text suffers from too-casual language sprinkled with bits of soon-to-be-dated slang, and the development of the undersea world is shallow. The derivative plot owes much to made-for-television movies and that splashy bit of'80s cinema, but there is no denying the siren-like allure of mermaid stories for the preadolescent set. Emily is a likable if not particularly original character, and while the unfolding of events is utterly predictable, the action does move fairly quickly to a happily-ever-after conclusion. Gibb's spot art has a fluid delicacy that adds much to the watery ambience. JMD

KOSITSKY, LYNNE The Thought ofHigh Windows. Kids Can, 2004 175p ISBN 1-55337-621-8 $16.95 R Gr. 6-10 Esther Wilinsky could read the political writing on the wall, even if her mother could not, and the teenage girl arranged to join a group of children being evacu- ated by the Red Cross from Berlin to Belgium, one step ahead of the German invasion. As her narrative opens, Esther and her comrades are in Southern France. MAY 2004 * 379

On the estate of the Chateau la Blaize, the children enjoy a period of relative security, in which they can indulge their normal kid tendencies toward cliquish- ness and mild bullying, and overweight Esther is the designated target. Her only prospective friend, Walter, is undependable at best, since he seeks control in his life by obsessing on the most beautiful girls at hand-which certainly do not include Esther. The invasion of France puts personal matters on hold. Older teens are particularly in peril, and Esther, now in disguise and under an assumed name, ends up in the Jewish Underground, where she reunites with and then uninten- tionally betrays Walter. Esther's safety is, of course, never more than tenuous, so her tale speeds along like a runaway train. Kositsky deftly handles the irony of Esther's maturation-that her girlhood tendency toward self-destructive acts is finally overcome by horrors greater than low self-esteem. The conclusion, which finds Esther committed to the Resistance and the war still raging, forces readers to supply their own ending; cautiously hopeful is as good as it gets. EB

KURTZ, JANE The Feverbird'sClaw. Greenwillow, 2004 [30 4 p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-000821-0 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-000820-2 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12 In the Delagua city that curls "like a giant wildcat in a fertile valley sheltered by the four sacred hills," a red flag marked with a yellow feverbird whips in the wind. The bird's claw protectively holds a silkworm, the source of the Delagua people's wealth and strength. Moralin, royal-born through her father's line, takes her privi- leges for granted until she is kidnapped by the Arkera, the barbaric enemies of the Delagua. Luckily for Moralin, she has been secretly trained by her grandfather in the martial arts and can win the respect of her captors through acts of bravery. With guidance from her patron goddess, Moralin hopes to escape and return to the city of her ancestors, but what she comes to know on her journey may change her previously uncritical view of her home. The tale, told from Moralin's perspective, carefully creates her world's language and traditions, credibly portraying her preliterate society; the heroine's many adventures make for dramatic reading. Unfortunately, there are too many surprise elements undercutting the narrative's direction, and the brevity of the descriptions often leave the reader without a clear sense of place, a flaw that is ironically emphasized when contrasted with the acuity of Moralin's perceptions of facial expressions, political maneuvering, and combat- ive encounters. Additionally, because there is no concrete salvation for the city until after the end of the novel, in spite of all the talk of Moralin's fulfilling a prophecy, the reader is distanced from the emotional impact of the climax and resolution. Nonetheless, the continuing action and doughty heroine may allow fans of prehistoric fiction and fantasy to enjoy exploring Moralin's world even without a high-voltage ending. TC

LAGUNA, SOFIE Too Loud Lily; illus. by Kerry Argent. Scholastic, 2004 32p ISBN 0-439-57913-9 $14.95 R 5-7 yrs Lily, a young hippopotamus, is constantly getting into trouble for her boisterous enthusiasm for life, and sometimes even her best friends find her just "too loud." When a flamboyant new drama teacher in a bright red poncho comes to Lily's school, everything changes. Miss Loopiola (with red toenails to match her poncho) recognizes Lily's hidden talents and puts her in charge of "crashing the cym- 380 * THE BULLETIN bals and banging the drums for storm noises, . .. growling and roaring for the fierce lion noises, ... [and] cackling and screeching for the wicked witch noises." On opening night Lily the loud suddenly suffers an attack of nerves: "What if she forgot what to do? What if she tried to speak and no words came out? Or even worse-what if she was too loud?" Fortunately, all ends well, with the audience "clapping and stamping and cheering" for Lily and her classmates. Laguna's tale of loud Lily, although predictable, is succinctly and effectively told, and the hippo's dilemma is sympathetically portrayed. Argent's animals are plump and shapely, their characters evident in articulate faces enhanced by headlight-bright white eyes. Each spread is a mini-drama, so make sure young listeners (who will certainly appreciate Lily's success) take time to thoroughly peruse the pages. JMD

LAWRENCE, COLTON Big Fat Paycheck: A Young Person's Guide to Writingfor the Movies; illus. by Jim Steck. Bantam, 2004 [176p] Paper ed. ISBN 0-553-37600-4 $8.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7 up Lawrence is actually rather a sneaky guy: while the title and the opening of the book are shamelessly pandering to a hunger for a piece of Hollywood riches, this is actually a down-to-earth, witty, and genuinely informative guide to screenplay creation. The book covers the process from the formation of the concept and treatment through the proper formatting of and terminology within a screenplay to the execution of draft after draft; it then addresses the thorny issue of getting that brilliant script out of the desk drawer and into the hands of a genuine Holly- wood player. While readers will occasionally roll their eyes at the sanitization of the author's colloquialisms ("Johnny opens up a can of whoop"), the unstuffy and informal approach is inviting and comradely ("Your first draft is going to suck total butt. Revel in its depravity. Wallow in its stench"). Under that informality, however, is a helpful approach that's filled with useful details about the genre and about writing as a whole (rarely has the bitter truth about the importance of re- writing been hammered home with such clarity and focus), making this a text that could help aspiring writers in other genres tighten up their creative endeavors as well. The author's particularly good at conveying the difference between the "this is my baby" world of the novice screenwriter and the knee-deep-in-paper world of those receiving such scripts, so that his strictures on formatting and on keeping things interesting have a clear justification (convincing a jaded and overloaded reader not to toss the screenplay aside). Additional energy and support comes from a multitude of anecdotes and useful URLs. This could liven up all manner of writing curricula, and it will be the salvation of any kid stuck with a dream, a blank screen, and an ever-mounting sense of desperation. Reviewed from an unillustrated galley. DS

LEEDY, LOREEN Look atMy Book: How Kids Can Write & Illustrate Terrific Books; written and illus. by Loreen Leedy. Holiday House, 2004 32p ISBN 0-8234-1590-2 $16.95 R Gr. 2-4 Leedy breaks down into sensible steps a process for children to compose and pro- duce their own books. Happily, nonfiction gets equal attention with biography and fiction, and readers follow three children (well, two kids and a pooch with autobiographical interests) as they brainstorm, draft, revise, and proofread their texts, choose a format, decide on layout and artwork and lettering, and finally bind MAY 2004 * 381 their finished works. Although the emphasis on revision and editing may not come as welcome news to free-spirited writers bent on dashing off a masterpiece, teachers guiding a class through a writing process will welcome Leedy's support. Kids will probably find her treatment of format (shaped books), layout (how to combine text and illustration), and suggestions for lines, color values, lettering, and range of detail far more appealing. Leedy clearly practices what she preaches, and children familiar with her work will recognize her own style of outlined characters, candy colors, dialogue bubbles, and busy-but never confusing-layout. A concluding page offers resources on writing and illustration, research skills, and bookmaking; the list of web and print publishers of children's work will be especially valuable to teachers who want to promote their prodigies. EB

MACLEOD, ELIZABETH Helen Keller: A Determined Life. Kids Can, 2004 32p illus. with photographs (Snapshots) Library ed. ISBN 1-55337-508-4 $14.95 Paper ed. ISBN 1-55337-509-2 $6.95 R Gr. 3-6 Concise chapters of short, chatty paragraphs describe the extraordinary accom- plishments of this legendary woman, noting what she found difficult only to high- light her determination to overcome her disadvantages. The approach is occasionally inclined towards the adulatory and the superficial (Keller's serious and controver- sial political activism is downplayed), but this is still a vivid introduction. Motiva- tional quotes from Keller's writings and speeches dot the book, giving the reader a sense of instant intimacy with the subject that other biographies sometimes lack. Each full page of text faces a page of collaged and captioned photos and graphics, and lavender, pink, and avocado-green backgrounds and frames enliven the sepia and gray tints of old photographs. Illustrations of the signed alphabet and Braille and examples of how Keller used them give amateur decoders another way to connect their experience with hers. The last chapter describes the effect Keller's life has had on services for the deaf and blind today. Photo credits are given, but no text sources. A timeline of Keller's life, an index, and a list of places to visit are included. TC

McCoRD, PATRICIA Pictures in the Dark. Bloomsbury, 2004 [320p] ISBN 1-58234-848-0 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 6-9 Sarah and her older sister, Carlie, live in fear of their disturbed mother, whose bizarre collection of rules leaves them, outside of their time at school, essentially imprisoned in their upstairs room, often deprived of meals and subject to her sudden violence. Their father seems either unaware or simply more interested in keeping the peace with their mother, and there's little external help offered in their community in 1954, so the girls rely largely on each other. Fifteen-year-old Carlie bears the brunt of the abuse, and she begins to question the situation and expand her boundaries, striking up a friendship with a boy who works nearby. In a fury, the girls' mother sends her from the house, and Carlie becomes a runaway, leaving a distraught Sarah bereft and alone, trying desperately to find her older sister and repair her family as best as she can. The writing is more earnest than deft (it's sometimes, especially at the book's start, a little hard to discern the referents for some pronouns); the problem of the girls' mother (whose character and treatment of her offspring are reminiscent of the mother in Sybil) isn't believably resolved by 382 * THE BULLETIN

their father's sudden intervention and their mother's nervous breakdown and re- covery. The setup is, however, a compelling one: McCord effectively makes the girls' tension contagious, drawing both their solitude and mutual dependence with compassion and believability. Readers empathizing with Sarah and Carlie may realize their own homes aren't so bad. DS

MCNAUGHTON, JANET An Earthly Knight. HarperCollins, 2004 [272p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-008993-8 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-008992-X $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-10 Jenny is the younger daughter of a minor lord in twelfth-century Scotland. She has had to take over the running of her father's household from her disgraced older sister Isabel, who, after running away with a knight from her father's court, returns in shame after he reveals his nefarious intentions. With Isabel destined for the convent, Jenny is her father's only hope for recognition at court, and he energeti- cally promotes her betrothal to the dissolute Earl William. Jenny, however, is of a different mind, having met-and fallen in love with-the notorious Tam Lin in the woods of Carter Hall. McNaughton combines the plots of two different bal- lads in this densely written but involving novel: the subplot of Isabel and her wicked lover is the story of "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," while the main plot of Jenny and her true love is that of "Tam Lin." The book effectively combines historical fiction and fantasy, rooting the tale of the two sisters in fact before intro- ducing the fantastical elements that drive the story forward. While characterizations are sometimes anachronistic, the relationships between sister and sister, daughters and father, confessor and church, and servant and nobility are solidly believable. The melodramatic elements are sufficiently controlled to allow for a suspenseful climax and satisfying resolution while still providing all the thrills readers desire. A glossary and historical note are included. JMD

MEACHAM, MARGARET A Mid-Semester Night's Dream. Holiday House, 2004 [15 4 p] ISBN 0-8234-1815-4 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 4-6 Seventh-grader Morgan Yates likes Ben Hennigen, who likes Cierra Sinclair- doesn't he? Morgan's father might be dating Louise Bentley, who swats away the family dog and talks down to Morgan. Plus, there's a dance on Friday. If only Morgan's mom were around to give advice and hear secrets. Instead (after wishing on a star), Morgan gets a visit from Gretta, an enterprising but reckless first-year student from the Fairy Godmother Training Academy. Unfortunately, one of Gretta's love charms makes Morgan allergic to Ben, and the cure turns her "blue like a Smurf." The next spell gives her best friend, Sam, a crush on their most evil teacher, Mrs. Grossinger. Never does a love spell actually hit Ben ... but he seems to be interested in Morgan anyway. In spite of the promising opening sentence ("Morgan Yates was losing control of her body parts"), the novel relies on a pattern plot from the point where Morgan observes her own "boring" image in the mirror in order to provide the reader with a description to the inevitable announcement that her dad is not going to marry Louise Bentley, but instead has been dating Sam's mom on the sly. Though Morgan and Gretta develop some individual bulges, the other characters remain plastered to the page. Nonetheless, the story MAY 2004 * 383

has a rapid pace and some giggly situational comedy that will involve preteens fantasizing about their own middle-school careers or current crushes. Readers looking for an easily ingested novel with few calories (especially those addicted to romances and lighthearted fantasy) will gobble this up. TC

MIKAELSEN, BEN Tree Girl. HarperTempest, 2004 [24 0p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-009005-7 $17.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-009004-9 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Her name is Gabriela, but she has been called Tree Girl since the day her neighbors found her up a tall avocado tree, holding off (via well-aimed avocados and much swaying of the tree trunk) the three young men who had chased her there. Gabi's arboreal aptitude saves her skin more than once, since an Indio in embattled Guatemala has no friends, neither among the guerrillas who claim to fight for freedom nor within the ranks of the soldiers who destroy villages and torture the inhabitants as a matter of course. These horrors can be survived, but can they be surmounted? Gabi must do so, if she is to live as more than a shadow of the carefree, confident person she used to be. The prose of this quick yet powerful read is packed with imagery and metaphors. The language never seems out of place in Gabi's voice, which is consistently that of a precocious yet inexperienced fifteen-year-old girl unwillingly confronting the vindictive violence of civil war. Appropriately, Gabi's response to the war, though incomplete and halting, origi- nates at last from inside herself rather than in the advice of any other character. It's a dramatic and compelling story in its own right, and the fact that it's based on the life of a real person (according to front matter) and the in-text assertion that both military training for the soldiers and humanitarian aid for refugees comes from the United States may stimulate teens to articulate their own beliefs about the contradictory nature of American foreign policy. TC

MILLS, CLAUDIA Perfectly Chelsea; illus. by Jacqueline Rogers. Farrar, 2004 119p ISBN 0-374-31244-3 $16.00 R Gr. 2-4 Nine-year-old Chelsea loves her church, with its wonderful reverend, its splendid hymns, and its possibilities for the public display of one's goodness. She relishes the opportunity to be an acolyte ("Being acolyte was like being a bride, with all eyes upon you-better than being a bride, because you didn't have to have a groom"), to act out Bible stories in Sunday school (" . . . and then Jesus would appear and say to all the other people hanging around, 'Go, and do likewise,' meaning, 'Go, and be like Chelsea"'), and to mark her good deeds by adding straw to baby Jesus' manger. The main fly in the ointment is her gleefully disruptive class- and congregation-mate Danny Repetti, but Chelsea also finds herself beset by other trials: she's distressed that as a member of the bell choir she's producing not musical perfection but disharmonious error, she's perplexed and angry when a beloved congregation member dies despite everyone's prayers, and she's devastated when Reverend Waller moves on to another church. As in her previous chapter book, 7x9 = Trouble!(BCCB 4/02), Mills respectfully interprets her protagonist's age-appropriate viewpoint; here she's also addressing some large and enduring issues of faith while naturally weaving them among a fourth-grader's other concerns. Chelsea's interest in the spiritual, an element undertreated in books for this 384 * THE BULLETIN age, is mixed with her love of ritual and feeling toward her community. It's all the more genuine for that blending, however, and there's absolute authenticity in her sorting out her loyalty to her Jewish best friend and her loyalty to her faith as she prepares for her first experience of Hanukkah. Chelsea herself is the kind of character too often reduced to a prissy antagonist, who can indeed be irritatingly smug about her goodness but also finds genuine enjoyment in doing well and whose confidence is genuinely shaken when she falls below her own standards. As readaloud or a readalone, this will resonate with many kids' experience, and it may actually inspire a few youngsters to find new appreciation for their own religious life. DS

MINCHIN, ADELE The Beat Goes On. Simon, 2004 212p ISBN 0-689-86611-9 $15.95 Ad Gr. 9-12 In this British import, Leyla is shocked and overwhelmed when she learns that her beautiful, beloved cousin, Emma, is HIV-positive. Moreover, she feels the burden of secrecy, since she's the only one besides Emma's mom who knows Emma's status. When Emma finds a support center and asks Leyla to come with her, Leyla balks, but eventually she finds the center to be a place where she can develop her own talents by teaching drumming to people affected in some way by HIV/AIDS and eventually helping them burn a CD to raise funds for the center. Tucked around Emma's story are all the standard contrivances of the teen-romance plot: though Leyla is shy and only average looking, she still manages to catch the attention of the "most gorgeous, funny, intelligent, sensitive, talented" lad in her school, she has a vexed relationship with her staid parents, and she dreams the standard British teen dream of playing in a band. The book is obviously agenda-driven, with plot developments mere stages for showcasing facet after facet of living with HIV and dialogue slipping into health department pamphletspeak. Trendy Brit- ish slang helps liven the speech, however, and the real point here is Leyla's confu- sion and conflicted emotions; these ring true as well as help drive home the book's important message, and readers will sympathize with her dilemma. Resources for American teens living with HIV/AIDS are included in this edition. KC

MYERS, WALTER DEAN I've Seen the PromisedLand: The Life ofDr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; illus. by Leonard Jenkins. Amistad/HarperCollins, 2004 4 0p Library ed. ISBN 0-06-027704-1 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-027703-3 $15.99 R Gr. 3-5 While report writers on the prowl for dates and places and family members may not find all the data they seek here, readers who want to understand the significance of Dr. King's nonviolent approach to civil-rights activism have come to the right place. Myers opens his account with a weary King on the eve of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike: "He was tired, but he felt he had to offer his support. Dr. King could not enjoy his own good fortune, even though he had worked hard for it." Children who already know the story will anticipate the tragedy around the corner, but Myers flashes back immediately to King's birth, leaps forward to the Montgomery bus boycott of the 1950s, and proceeds onward through the burgeoning civil-rights movement that King would help to shape. Although Myers does not disguise his admiration for King's consistently peaceful methods, he does respectfully acknowledge opposing views: "Many blacks were disappointed with Dr. King's belief in nonviolence and love for all people. Some MAY 2004 * 385 argued that blacks didn't need people to love, they needed justice." Jenkins' artwork is potent and explosive, freely melding finely drafted faces with almost pho- torealistic features, broad swaths of thickly applied media, hasty swirls of streetwise graffiti, superheated colors bursting from shadows, and Biblical imagery befitting the man of the cloth. Do you really need yet another biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.? When it's this one, yes, you do. EB

OLSEN, SYLVIA The Girl with a Baby. Sono Nis, 2004 [208p] Paper ed. ISBN 1-55039-142-9 $7.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-12 When her mom dies, Jane tries her best to keep her family from falling into the kinds of behavior that give Indians a bad name in her area of British Columbia. This becomes more difficult when, after indifferent sex with her white boyfriend, she finds herself pregnant at fourteen. She manages to hide her pregnancy until the day she gives birth to Destiny, whose presence in her life deepens her desire to keep her rowdy brothers on track. With the help of her family, especially her grandmother, and some supportive friends, Jane not only shoulders the responsibility of rearing Destiny but also continues to go to school and pursue her dream of performing by seeking the lead in the school play. A note indicating that the book was inspired by the author's daughter's experience of having a baby at fourteen goes a long way toward explaining the thoroughly respectful and supportive tone of the narrative. Jane has her moments when she wants to chuck it in, but on the whole she is remarkably self-possessed, so much so that Auntie Mary decides to give Destiny the most powerful name of their family at a traditional naming cer- emony because she knows that Jane will rear her with a knowledge of the old ways as well as the new. Jane's natural grace and strength of character would be a bit less credible had Olsen not created a context of strong women in which Jane is self- consciously embedded. The book portrays a community that both supports its members and holds them accountable, not to values of surface respectability, but to depths of character and loyalty to tradition and one another. Her apt use of simile, especially when describing strong emotions, adds lyrical depth to Jane's first-person narration; Jane quickly becomes someone a reader can both care about and admire. KC

PATENT, DOROTHY HINSHAW The Right Dogfor the Job: Ira's Pathfrom Service Dog to Guide Dog; illus. with photographs by William Mufioz. Walker, 2004 [32p] Library ed. ISBN 0-8027-8915-3 $17.85 Trade ed. ISBN 0-8027-8914-5 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2-4 Actually, Ira's path starts even before service dog: at the beginning of this book he's a delectably pudgy golden retriever puppy without a care or responsibility in the world, and it's only after he's placed in the home of his puppy raiser that he starts learning the skills he'll be using in his eventual job assisting a disabled person. After an explanation of various steps in Ira's education-and his participa- tion in the education of his puppy raiser's human students in her sixth-grade class-the book reveals a hitch in the plans when there's no training facility ready to complete Ira's preparation. In an unusual move, Ira changes organizations, careers, and even names, transforming into a guide dog for the blind named Irah 386 * THE BULLETIN

(the school already had an Ira on their books), who adapts quickly and graduates satisfactorily with his new human partner. This isn't the first picture book that follows the training of a service dog, and the shift to guide dog (presumably unan- ticipated by Patent and Mufioz) moves Ira to even more well-trodden ground. The subject is still pretty much irresistible, however, and Patent offers some tasty informational treats about the training process; the notion of Ira's presence in his puppy raiser's school classroom will cause many readers to turn soulful, beseeching eyes to their own teachers. Though the layout is rather stodgy and some of the photographs have lighting problems ranging from excessive shadow to bleaching out, golden Ira remains a photogenic presence, and young dog lovers will relish seeing him go through his paces. A list of relevant organizations, with addresses and websites, is appended, along with a rather scanty bibliography. DS

PEARSON, SUSAN Squeal and Squawk: Barnyard Talk; illus. by David Slonim. Cavendish, 2004 32p ISBN 0-7614-5160-9 $16.95 R Gr. 2-4 Various denizens of the barnyard get their poetic due in this collection of eighteen poems. Pearson features pigs ("When Pigs Could Fly") and chickens ("A Chicken Will Eat Most Anything"), ducks ("Chuck's Duck") and goats ("Goats on the Roof') in compact verse that moves from rollicking to lilting to dreamy. Some entries are appealingly general ("My Dog"), whereas others wittily draw on more specific animal husbandry information ("Recite Your Chickens" weaves the names of a multitude of chicken breeds into rhyming stanzas, and "Stomach Math" be- moans the plight of the four-stomached cow should a bellyache strike). Slonim's acrylic art accentuates the playful aspects of the verses, with scrabbly lines broadly emphasizing the bleary eyes, knobbly joints, and scruffy coats of the rural residents-no pastoral idylls here, but plenty of comic caricature. This will be a bouncy companion to Schertle's How Now, Brown Cow (BCCB 12/94) or just a clever advance on "Old MacDonald." DS

PEARSON, TRACEY CAMPBELL Myrtle. Farrar, 2004 32p ISBN 0-374-35157-0 $15.00 R 3-6 yrs Myrtle, a charmingly bottom-heavy, long-nosed mouse, lives in a blissful surround of familial love and good will until mean-spirited Frances moves in next door. Frances taunts, she jeers, she invokes fear, so much so that she drives poor Myrtle indoors-permanently. Myrtle's distressed parents call in Aunt Tizzy, returned from her safari in Africa, to draw Myrtle out of her closet hideaway. When Aunt Tizzy tells Myrtle how she dealt with mean lions in Africa by singing and dancing until they were gone, Myrtle decides to try the same tactics on Frances. The character and plot dynamics invite immediate comparison with Kevin Henkes, and Myrtle suffers a bit thereby, as her solution lacks the creativity and redemptive closure of a Henkes offering. Myrtle the timid is empowered, but Frances the bully is left to her fate, ignored. Nonetheless, the jumbly, frenetic compositions done up in watercolors that encompass the entire jellybean palette are just yummy; Pearson manages simultaneous humor and pathos in Myrtle's countenance and deliciously ratty snobbery in Frances. Aunt Tizzy is a visual feast as well-she is certainly everything an eccentric relative should be. Myrtle's tale of woe is bound to find many a sympathetic ear, and her defeat of Frances will give great satisfac- tion to those beleaguered by their own bullies. KC MAY 2004 * 387

PETERS, JULIE ANNE Luna. Tingley/Little, 2004 [248p] ISBN 0-316-73369-5 $16.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12 "If Liam could wish for one thing in the world ... he would ask to be born again. Born right, in the body of a girl." Unfortunately, only Liam's younger sister, Regan, knows this, so she's the recipient of all his confidences and the only one acquainted with his female incarnation, Luna, who models her secret wardrobe late at night for Regan. Liam increasingly yearns to become Luna publicly and always, shedding the male role he finds forced and repellent; Regan loves her sib- ling, but she'd like to take a break from protecting him and his secret at the high school they both attend (especially now that Regan has found a boy she likes) and at home with their tightly wound parents. While Andrew Matthews' The Flip Side (BCCB 10/03) treated transvestitism, this is one of the first novels for young people to explore genuine gender transition (Liam in fact plans to obtain sexual reassign- ment surgery when he can afford it); as with many thematically groundbreaking novels, its sincerity is palpable but its emotionality is more notable than its execution. Liam's desperation is understandable and compelling, but his character beyond his longing isn't particularly sympathetic, since his dilemma makes him so self-focused that he's quite ruthless in using Regan and even her acquaintances to further his ends; the examinations of the nature of gender are often muddy and contradictory, and repeated flashbacks chop up the narrative flow. Peters retains her deftness in depicting complicated relationships between young people, however (there's a brilliantly tense scene when Liam is dangerously transfixed by the girly activities at Regan's slumber party); better yet, in Regan she's created an intriguing character: a largely disaffected, academically uninterested young woman who's brought the energy to being a good sister that more old-fashioned girls might have brought to being a good daughter. While the treatment of the subject isn't going to win over the dubious, those wrestling with issues of identity or family loyalty will empathize with the siblings' trials. DS

PIERCE, MEREDITH ANN Waters Luminous & Deep: Shorter Fictions. Viking, 2004 [2 5 6 p] ISBN 0-670-03687-0 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 This collection of eight short stories-loosely structured around the theme of water in all of its forms-encapsulates Pierce's transformation from fourteen-year- old writer to award-winning fantasy author. The stories, four ofwhich are previously unpublished, are set in ancient, mythical worlds, from a land frozen into an end- less winter ("Icerose"), to a world beneath the water in a neglected garden pool ("The Frogskin Slippers"), to islands ruled more by the sea than by king or lord ("The Fall ofYs" and "Rampion"). Many echo well-known fairy tales, while others sail off into unexplored territory, but in Pierce's stories, it is almost always a girl at the helm. Alys and Sif escape from their island homes, leaving behind the restrictions imposed upon their sex in "Rampion," and Truzjka searches for the wild geese to save her grandmother in "Where the Wild Geese Go." Gunther helps her brother free the land from an evil witch in "Icerose," and Rose falls for a princely frog that takes her to the fairy ball under the water in "The Frogskin Slippers." Myramond defies her father, the King, to the destruction of his kingdom in "The Fall of Ys," and the nameless queen of "Rafiddilee" learns too late 388 * THE BULLETIN what a true friend is. Even in "The Sea-Hag," narrated by a young man on a pirate ship, it is the sea-hag herself who calls the shots. The weaker stories-such as the sentimental, unstructured "Rafiddilee," written when Pierce was fourteen-are balanced by the strength in the rest of the collection. What results is a surprisingly cohesive look at Pierce's themes and imagery; this will be an important story collection to any interested in her work. KH

PIETRI, ANNIE The Orange Trees of Versailles; tr. from the French by Catherine Temerson. Delacorte, 2004 [14 4 p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90130-5 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73103-5 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-8 Fourteen-year-old Marion, a natural "nose" with the gift of memorizing, identifying, and blending scents, has found employment with the marquise Athenais de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV. Although the girl first regards her employer as attentive and kind, she soon learns that her behaviors mask a far more devious nature. First Marion catches the marquise in lies, claiming to admirers that her unique perfumes have been created by Venetian professionals; later she discovers that Athenais is invoking the devil and scheming to poison the queen and the dauphin in hopes of ascending the throne herself. Marion joins forces with the court doctor to thwart the plot and is rewarded, in a fairy tale ending, with attention and gifts lavished by a grateful royal family. It's difficult to tell whether the often stilted prose ("I am sick of lying naked on a pallet while you consecrate the host with the blood of a newborn child!") is attributable to the French original or its translation; moreover, the occasional flub in details is somewhat annoying ("un- derpants" are unlikely garb in the seventeenth century). Still, this is a quirky look at a little-appreciated talent, and the author's concluding note on the importance of perfumes among the elite is, perhaps, as fascinating as Pietri's fictional tale. EB

PRATCHETT, TERRY A Hat Full ofSky. HarperCollins, 2004 [288p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-058661-3 $17.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-058660-5 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-10 Fans of Pratchett's The Wee FreeMen (BCCB 7/03) will be happy to learn that the author could not resist a sequel to the adventures of aspiring witch Tiffany Aching. Now apprenticed to Miss Level, a mountain witch with a (literally) split personality, Tiffany comes to know that being a witch isn't all spells and glamour; most of it is simple hard work helping folk who don't always know when to be grateful. What Tiffany doesn't know, however, is that she's been targeted by a hiver, a supernatural parasite that means to take over her mind and her magic. It's the Wee Free Men to the rescue: disguised as a rather scarecrow-like human with disconcertingly talking parts, the Nac Mac Feegle journey to Miss Level's mountain where Tiffany, her will subverted by the hiver, is desperately trying to hold her own against it. Even the banishing of the hiver is not the end, since Tiffany must learn how to keep the being at bay, and that requires some private tutoring from the formidable Granny Weatherwax. As in the previous book, Pratchett here lets the Wee Free Men run riot across the pages to splendid effect. This is not a rehash of the first book, however, but a developing story about the developing powers- and the responsibility demanded by those powers--of a serious young witch com- MAY 2004 * 389

ing of age. The fantasy world combines edgy adventure with comfortable yet imaginative domestic detail, and readers will curl up to read with a sigh of contentment. JMD

ROMANEK, TRUDEE Aha!: The Most InterestingBook You'll Ever ReadAbout Intel- ligence; illus. by Rose Cowles. Kids Can, 2004 4 0p (Mysterious You) Trade ed. ISBN 1-55337-485-1 $14.95 Paper ed. ISBN 1-55337-569-6 $7.95 Ad Gr. 3-6 The latest Mysterious You entry (see also Romanek's Zzz...: The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever ReadaboutSleep, BCCB 4/02) stays true to the series' fun-follows- function approach to the human body. Readers take a breezy tour through the mind, focusing on both normal intelligence and deviations from the norm. Savants and prodigies, the attention-deficient and dyslexic, the brain-damaged and the brilliant all get their moments in the spotlight, and the emphasis is consistently on the need for everyone to keep their mind sharp by grappling with mental challenges. Peripatetic organization may trouble linear thinkers, and the lack of precisely and consistently deployed terminology ("smart," "intelligent," and "talented" are, for example, often conflated) could be a bane to report-writers. Still, such pertinent in-the-news and in-the-curriculum issues as the questionable merits of medicinal intelligence boosters and the importance of acknowledging multiple intelligences are addressed. Cartoony spot art, Sweet-Tart colored backgrounds, frequent "You Try It" breaks, and bite-size articles should please casual brain browsers, and if it's true that "a good sense of humor is a sign of high intelligence," Aha! can sign on with Mensa. EB

ROOT, PHYLLIS If You Want to See a Caribou; illus. by Jim Meyer. Houghton, 2004 32p ISBN 0-618-39314-5 $16.00 R 5-7 yrs A lyrical text employs second-person narration to entice viewers on a northwoods journey; in an attempt to view the elusive caribou, audiences travel down "trails/ churned black by caribou hooves" through evocative descriptions of local flora and fauna to a lake where caribou gather under scented evergreens. Touches of soundplay such as alliteration and consonance add resonance to the carefully ca- denced ragged-right text, framing the island exploration in a rhythmic structure that emerges with reading aloud. The hushed atmosphere and descriptive emphasis make this a little sophisticated for more wiggly audiences, but the gentle suspense of the quest will help keep youngsters involved. Woodblock illustrations in solid, earthy hues, intricately overlaid to create more softness and subtlety than the medium sometimes allows, suggest the scents and sensations of a camping expedi- tion and emphasize the textures of the natural elements (including a carefully semi- hidden caribou several spreads before the official meeting). The human characters, featureless and androgynous, are placed at a distance from the viewer, obligingly allowing for audience projection. While the book's content is appropriate for any unit on northern animals, nature walks, or endangered species, its serene style will be best received by small groups or a single listener (perhaps in preparation for Great Lakes travel). An author's note describing how the caribou came to live on the islands of Lake Superior and explaining the endangered status of the species is included. TC 390 * THE BULLETIN

ROSEN, MICHAEL Howler; illus. by Neal Layton. Bloomsbury, 2004 25p ISBN 1-58234-851-0 $15.95 R 5-8 yrs The canine narrator of Rover (BCCB 6/99) has returned with another tale of his small human pet, Rover, and her family. It all starts when Rover's mother, Cindy, gets wider and wider, and new furniture and decorative items begin to appear in the house that are puzzlingly useless to the current inhabitants. After a disappear- ance, Cindy returns, having "found a small human" ("It tried to eat Cindy"). The narrator is unimpressed, accurately dubbing the new arrival "Howler," and mourn- ing that "no one noticed me. No one at all." After various failed attempts to rearrange the family, the narrator seeks solace with Ruff-ruff next door; this results in five little critters ("I thought they all ought to be called Small Me, but I wasn't asked") who regain the attention of the narrator's human pets and also allow him to come to a fair conclusion: since the Rufflets can stay, then Howler can stay. The narrator's self-centeredness will tickle young audiences even as his narcissism and doubt about the new arrival reflect the viewpoint of many reluctant young siblings; the succinct sentences are packed with personality as well as poker-faced humor. Layton's wild childlike scrawl is at its most anarchic in depicting the canine protagonist, but the bubble-eyed humans are pretty outrd as well, albeit in a happy-go-lucky and cheerful way. Helpful-and funny-diagrammatic labels and speech balloons combine with collage inserts to add texture and even more pell-mell feel. This is an entertaining dog-told story for those too young for Finney's I, Jack (BCCB 4/04), and it's a highly amusing tale of dethronement and adjustment for youngsters dealing with new little Howlers in their own homes. DS

ROSENTHAL, BETSY R. My House Is Singing; illus. by Margaret Chodos- Irvine. Harcourt, 2004 40p ISBN 0-15-216293-3 $16.00 R 4 -7 yrs A child describes her beloved house and its inanimate inhabitants in twenty-eight concise poems. Verses follow the loose order of the girl's daily routine, from catching the furnace's hot-air gusts "on winter mornings" to wrapping up in a quilt at bedtime. Accompanying prints offer planes of rich, gently grainy color and clean- edged, often geometric line; details are minimal but textures are outsized, intensifying the impression of a cozy and safe house. The poetry's strength lies in its double-filtered perspective: the persona of the young narrator never falters, but the projection of thoughts and feelings onto familiar objects such as a light bulb, a smoke alarm, and the back door remains effectively focused. Poems vary from formal and rhymed to free verse, but they all share a quiet appreciation and won- derment that will prompt young audiences to reassess their own surroundings. A useful successor to Cassedy's similarly themed Roomrimes (BCCB 2/88), this can be read as a whole by or to a child, or individual poems can be used for tempo changes in storytime. TC

SANDLER, MARTIN W. Island ofHope: The Story ofEllis Island and the Journey to America. Scholastic, 2004 144 p illus. with photographs ISBN 0-439-53082-2 $18.95 R Gr. 5-8 Ellis Island opened its doors in 1892 and, over the next sixty years, greeted more than twelve million immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity in the United MAY 2004 * 391

States. The capable text draws heavily on interviews from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, "dedicated to preserving the first-hand remembrances of immigrants," and for the most part Sandier lets the voices do the telling. The primary- source emphasis yields a rich and provocative collection of reflections, memories, and social commentary on the experience of coming to America. The decision to feature Ellis Island itself results in a tightly focused collection of anecdotes full of information not often included in more broad-based sources. The small details of moving from homeland to ship to barge to the island itself fill more than two- thirds of the text; especially strong is the middle section describing the myriad bureaucratic procedures, the abundant fear of the new arrivals, and the remarkable facility itself. The text loses a bit of focus when it leaves the island to provide a general overview of tenement life, factory conditions, and westward migration. Still, this is a noteworthy tribute to a remarkable group in American history. The clean layout integrates archival photographs, drawn mostly from the Library of Congress, with lengthy textual passages and boxed excerpts recalling famous Ellis Island alum. Text and photos are well documented and the chronological organization effectively partners with the movement of the immigrants themselves. A more text-heavy partner to Sandler's Immigrants (BCCB 3/95), this promises to attract readers both for its curricular use and its engaging narrative tone. A cat- egorical list of further reading and index are included. HM

SEGAL, LORE Why Mole Shouted and Other Stories; illus. by Sergio Ruzzier. Foster/ Farrar, 2004 28p ISBN 0-374-38417-7 $16.00 R 4-7 yrs Four stories describe the exploits of young Mole, who lives in reasonable content- edness with his grandmother ("They would have got on well enough if he had only remembered to always put things back where they belonged"). The happenings are modest-Mole misplaces his glasses, rejects his grandmother's guidance on cold-weather dress, enjoys some noise-making, and discovers the pleasures of rhyme-but the feeling is solidly familial and affectionate. The writing enhances the coziness with a touch of old-fashioned formality (each story opens with "Once there was a mole" or a variant thereof) and some well-honed storytelling turns of phrase ("He would not and would not stop"); sprinklings of gentle humor also enrich the tales, though kids may not get the joke about a chilled Grandmother Mole's insistence that little Mole keep bundled up. The book's tidy layout, with its softly creamy pages, neat spot art, and solidly square shape, joins the text in recalling mid-twentieth-century convention, and the delicately muted tones of Ruzzier's watercolors suit the sensibility. Rather than go straight for adorability, however, the illustrator has instead rendered Mole as an intriguingly peculiar being, with his huge glasses and oversized pink snout, hands, and feet somehow suggesting an underwater diving costume rather than an under-earth dwelling animal; the pictures occasionally slyly add a note of impatience (Grandmother with her arms akimbo glares daggers at a startled little Mole) or defiance (Mole waves a dismissive hand at his grandmother's attempted help). Most of the stories could also function as warmly supportive early reads (though the last story has some French terms waiting to trick the unwary novice), but this book is really begging for a snug readaloud, perhaps in the lap of an affectionate grandparent, whether mole or otherwise. DS 392 * THE BULLETIN

SLAYMAKER, MELISSA ESKRIDGE Bottle Houses: The Creative World of Grandma Prisbrey;illus. by Julie Paschkis. Holt, 2004 32p ISBN 0-8050-7131-8 $16.95 R 6-9 yrs Grandma Prisbrey "wasn't a regular sort of a person who did things in a regular sort of way," so it strikes her as completely natural to use throwaway glass bottles to build her California house. She's so enchanted with the stacked glass in myriad colors that she goes on to build outbuildings and garden ornaments, playfully designing with color ("She made a wishing well of blue bottles and a rumpus room of green ones") and shape ("Just for fun she built a round house"). Eventually her creation draws floods of visitors, and Grandma Prisbrey is surprised to find herself called an artist. This is an inherently fascinating subject, and Slaymaker's text deftly compacts the high points of Prisbrey's story into an accessible narrative pep- pered with quietly illuminating quotes from Prisbrey herself. Paschkis' sometimes intricate gouache art captures the plenitude and joyous overstuffedness of Prisbrey's creations. Unfortunately, the draftsmanship sometimes overprettifies the scenes and, especially, the faces, undercutting the bold if kitschy drama of Prisbrey's created world and raising the question of why the book wasn't illustrated with photographs throughout (a final double-page spread offers some photographic images that more effectively convey the scope and genuine grandeur Prisbrey managed to achieve). This has obvious uses for inspiring art projects as well as discussing outsider or folk art; most importantly, it will demonstrate that the making of art is available to anybody, a salutary lesson that can help counteract the sobering effects of hushed museum halls. A brief final note gives more information about Tessa Prisbrey and her Bottle Village. DS

SZPIRGLAS, JEFF Gross Universe: Your Guide to All Disgusting Things under the Sun; illus. by Michael Cho. Maple Tree, 2004 [6 4 p] Trade ed. ISBN 1-894379-64-0 $21.95 Paper ed. ISBN 1-894379-65-9 $12.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-9 While sixty-four pages might not be enough to cover all disgusting things, nobody's going to claim that there's an insufficiency of the revolting here: all the (un)popular bodily emissions from sweat to spit to pee to poop are examined, as well as bits of physiology that seem inoffensive to the naked eye but offer noisome possibilities when looked at more closely; there are also discussions of various animal habits that make the minutiae of daily human life seem sterile and dainty. Present as well is a cornucopia of genuine, if weird, information, resulting in a book that under- neath its brash and effluvia-philic nature demonstrates a real fascination with the natural world. Each spread offers several compact tidbits of thoroughly unappe- tizing yet nonetheless intriguing knowledge; though the inclusion of at least one dubious factoid and the absence of notes suggest that enthusiasm may have out- stripped rigorous standards of research, keen students can doubtless explore their favorite icky details further. Szpirglas' relish in the repugnant and in his corny jokes is companionable rather than condescending (alert readers may notice-and particularly appreciate-his dedication of the book to his late appendix), making the book, if not its subject matter, inviting. Though the personification and caricature sometimes obscure the actual workings of a process or animal, the deliber- ately cheesy reality-comic style illustrations harmonize perfectly with the text's tone. The ebullient layouts, with their screaming headlines, are loud but cleverly MAY 2004 * 393 balanced, keeping the putrid three-ring circus moving hectically but smoothly along. Reluctant readers will flock to this like flies to pages 50 through 55. An index is included. DS

TAYLOR, SEAN SmallBad Wolf illus. by Jan Lewis. Kingfisher, 2004 4 8 p (I Am Reading) Paper ed. ISBN 0-7534-5801-2 $3.95 R Gr. 2-3 The Big Bad Wolf isn't much of a father. Even when Mother Wolf convinces him to take Small Bad Wolf out hunting dinner, Big takes all the good jobs (stealing, snatching, and grabbing) himself and gives Small the boring job of standing watch. When Big dresses Small up as a caramel-apple-selling granny in order to lure some soccer-playing children close enough to catch for supper, Small has had enough. Since soccer looks like more fun than thieving and kidnapping, Small Bad Wolf neutralizes his father with one well-placed nip, leaves him unconscious under a park bench, hitches up his granny skirts, and joins the game. Watercolor and pencil illustrations of the scraggly, yellow-eyed Wolf family and their intended prey wind around six- to ten-line text chunks, adding humor and narrative impe- tus to the text. The plot is clever, and there is plenty of comic repetition and humorous turns of phrase, as well as the suspense of wondering just when and how Big Bad is going to get his richly deserved comeuppance. Small Bad Wolf is a satisfying hero who decides his own destiny; many children under stricter "no biting" polices will read with relish-and a touch of envy. TC

WEIN, ELIZABETH E. The Sunbird. Viking, 2004 [224p] ISBN 0-670-03691-9 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-12 With a few quick strokes, Wein transports the reader back to the sixth-century Aksumite Empire she previously animated in The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions (BCCB 4/03). In this third book of her Arthurian/Aksumite cycle, Telemakos, the grandson ofArtos, fallen High King of Britain, continues his habit of hiding among adults and overhearing information not meant for his ears. Among the things he hears is that plague has overtaken the trade routes, giving unscrupu- lous men the opportunity to take advantage of the rising price of salt, the major export of the Aksumite Empire. He tells his aunt, Goewin, who has remained in Aksum as the British ambassador, and though she immediately petitions the emperor to quarantine the Empire, black-market salt, and with it plague, continues to slip the borders. Goewin asks Telemakos to use his talents for invisibility to spy on the traders; his involvement in the dangerous plan nearly results in his death, but the outcome opens the difficult process of healing for his family. Wein is a master at establishing atmospheric detail in both setting and attitude; her characters enact codes of honor and dishonor that are not of this time and place, yet remain intel- ligible to contemporary sensibilities. Telemakos is a reluctant hero in this densely plotted but well-paced adventure; his motives are complex and at times contradictory, at once mythically brave, charmingly childlike, and resonantly human. Wein's continuing employment of a strong female heroine does not compromise authenticity; Goewin makes difficult decisions among difficult circumstances and earns respect among men who do not give it lightly, especially to women. Jacket text refers to this book as part of an ongoing cycle; here's hoping that Wein returns us to Aksum early and often. KC 394 * THE BULLETIN

WHELAN, GLORIA ChuJu's House. HarperCollins, 2004 [24 0p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-050725-X $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-050724-1 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-8 Since the Chinese government has declared it the "patriotic duty of a family... to have no more than two children," everyone in Chu Ju's family hopes that her pregnant mother will give birth to a boy. Chu Ju's domineering grandmother Nai Nai makes no effort to hide her feelings, praying loudly, "Send us a boy to care for us in our old age and not another worthless girl." Days later her mother gives birth to a daughter. When the family, pressured by Nai Nai, decides to sell the infant Hua to the orphanage so that they may try again to conceive a male child, Chu Ju decides to protect her baby sister's fate, escaping late at night and leaving behind a quickly penned note: "Honored Parents, Now you have only one daughter. A son may yet come." This episodic adventure tale follows Chu Ju's escape, first on a fishing boat, where a kind family takes her in and teaches her to mend nets and gut fish, then to a silk factory, where she spends hours in a dark room tickling the undersides of the silkworms so they will shed, and finally to the small rice paddy of Han Na and her son, Quan. Ultimately remaining with Han Na so that she may care for the woman and her land when Quan takes off for Shanghai, Chu Ju discovers the essential meaning of home and learns that family can be defined in ways deeper than bloodlines. This shares with the author's Homeless Bird (BCCB 5/00) both the sensitive tone and the convincing depiction of an exceptional young woman who makes her way in the world despite the odds. Chu Ju is a compelling character, and a splash of cultural commentary and character development fill out the adventure plot. This solid story of a girl unwanted because of her gender is certain to find its way into the hands of readers, both old fans and new, interested in the wider world. HM

WHYBROW, IAN The Noisy Way to Bed; illus. by Tiphanie Beeke. Levine/Scho- lastic, 2004 32p ISBN 0-439-55689-9 $15.95 R 2-4 yrs As a young farm boy decides that it is time to make his way home to bed, he keeps getting interrupted by animals who'd like to join him. In fact, what they interrupt is his gentle rhyme scheme: "This little boy was oh so tired/ and this is what he said:/ 'I think I'll go home past the pond,/ because this is the way to .. .'"'// "Quack!" interjects the interrupting duck. The delightful little surprises that pre- vent the boy from finishing his rhyme offer a unique spin on the bedtime-stalling tactic-the boy is the one who wants to go to bed, and the animals are doing the stalling. The boy prevails, of course, and ultimately gets to snuggle up in bed, with his animals at his feet. As is the case in many bedtime books, the colors move from warm to cool on the spectrum, starting with eye-popping yellow and ending with soothing, iced-over blues and greens. Beeke lays down wet on wet to smudge the colors in her backgrounds without blending them; the effect is a dreamy landscape that, like the edges of sleep, blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. The rhythms make the text gently interactive on a second or third (or umpteenth) read, and they may even inspire the listener to add his or her own favorite animal compan- ions to the nighttime litany. KC MAY 2004 * 395

WILD, MARGARET One Night. Knopf, 2004 [240p] Library ed. ISBN 0-375-92920-7 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-375-82920-2 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12 Gabe's the gorgeous babe magnet, Bram's the cool manipulator who orchestrates famous parties, and Al's the increasingly troubled long-term friend; Helen is the girl swept up into one of the parties, a lost soul who gets past Gabe's defenses and whom he therefore, after the party, rejects. It's not so simple for Helen, however, who is left with a tangible reminder of Gabe in the form of her pregnancy. When her parents refuse to support her plan to have the baby, she moves out and finds a job and a room of her own in a boarding house, also discovering a supportive makeshift family for her and baby Raphael in the house's residents and landlady. An emergency leads Helen to leave Raphael with his father's family (the first Gabe has heard of his son), and Gabe takes the baby to what turns out to be Bram's last party, after a drunken Al makes a near-tragic mistake with the infant. The se- quence of free-verse poems tell these stories and more, offering glimpses into the secret lives of Helen's and Gabe's parents and Helen's housemates and mixing third-person views of their lives with Helen's and Gabe's first-person observations. The result is an Altmanesque mosaic of scenes, but they never quite form an effective pattern in their own right; the one-night conversion seems externally imposed, and the poetry tends towards the prosy. It's often quite good prose, however, with a taut compactness of expression and some dramatic vignettes. There's a warm and hopeful growth in the shifts of the various characters towards greater understanding and connection; Helen's evolution, from the patched-together outsider (she has undergone extensive plastic surgery for congenital disfiguration) to devoted mother and valued household member, is particularly touchingly documented. If you're looking for readers' theater projects, the format and dramatic subject make this a promising candidate, and reluctant readers may also appreciate the compact intensity of the verse narrative. DS

WILLIAMS, MARCIA, ad. God andHis Creations: Talesfrom the Old Testament; ad. and illus. by Marcia Williams. Candlewick, 2004 37p ISBN 0-7636-2211-7 $15.99 R Gr. 2-6 She's taken on Shakespeare (Talesfrom Shakespeare: Seven Plays, BCCB 11/98) and King Arthur (KingArthurand the Knights ofthe Roundtable, 3/96), the denizens of Sherwood Forest and Mount Olympus, and now Williams gives eleven Old Testament stories her signature comic-strip-style treatment. A rotund, Santa-like God presides over earthly affairs, the pockets of his hot pink robe bulging with bits of creation or the odd punitive lightning bolt. Having launched creation (including a rainbow of startled humans) in fifteen frames, He's on to His first disappointment in the Garden of Eden, sending His errant man and woman packing in some natty animal furs, while a zaftig angel in beaded braids holds a "No Re-entry" sign. Noah's exploits get a full four pages, with one whole spread devoted to forty postage- stamp-sized frames decrying the monotony of an all-hay diet. It's on to Abraham and Isaac (Sarah insists she's not moving again, whatever the Divinity says), Joseph, Moses, the Battle ofJericho, Samson, David and Goliath, Daniel, and Jonah, finally leaving God in a good mood-at least temporarily-and "happy with His creations." Although there's plenty of visual humor and wry commentary among the players, 396 * THE BULLETIN

Williams never meanders into outright silliness, and it would be a grim Sunday School indeed that would tsk-tsk her lively condensations. Richly detailed line- and-watercolor spreads offer fresh treats over multiple inspections, and even kids who think they've outgrown cartoon Bible stories will find themselves pleasantly engrossed. EB

WILLIS, JEANNE Naked without a Hat. Delacorte, 2004 [2 2 4 p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90206-9 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73166-3 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Eighteen-year-old Will finally feels his life is coming together now that he's found a place of his own (so he doesn't have to deal with his mother's strictures and annoying new boyfriend); he even likes his landlady, the motherly Chrissy, and his strange housemates, compulsive, sensitive Rocko and constantly needling James. Things get even better when he meets Zara, the youngest daughter of a gypsy family staying in the park where Will is working; what starts as a casual flirtation (Zara thinks he's "lovely-looking") progresses to a growing bond between the two young outsiders who'd never thought they'd be truly loved and appreciated. Will thinks Zara's fears about a relationship between gypsy and non-gypsy are unfounded, but he's terribly afraid that she will discover his lifelong secret, which his mother has made him swear never to divulge. Will's secret, revealed to readers only as it's revealed to his friends, is that he has Down syndrome (he's undergone cosmetic surgeries to minimize the effects on his appearance), and Willis does a skillful job of making Will, and not the label, the point of her story. Will's narration is straight- forward and unassuming, and it's only gradually, mainly from his own awareness of his limitations, that readers realize that his viewpoint is curbed intellectually and not just narratively (it's only toward the end that he, and readers, learn he's been living in sheltered housing). This allows his romance with Zara to develop credibly as a relationship that benefits them both despite its pitfalls, and it fore- grounds his bitterness about his mother's resistance to his maturation, since it's clear that that maturation is proceeding (reasonably well, in fact) whether she likes it or not. This touches on a number of compelling issues, but it's also a story of burgeoning independence with which many teens will identify. DS

WISE, WILLIAM ChristopherMouse: The Tale ofa Small Traveler; illus. by Patrick Benson. Bloomsbury, 2004 [152p] ISBN 1-58234-878-2 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-5 Young mouse Christopher learns early from his mother the hard truth that he and his siblings are destined for pet shops or medical laboratories. Mother is right: Christopher's three brothers go to a lab, while Christopher and his sister Anna are bought by a pet store. After Anna is sold, Christopher struggles on alone, going from good owner to bad owner to freedom (and near death) to a new family of good owners. When these last owners talk of getting another mouse to keep him company, he realizes that the planned new arrival could be his sister Anna, since the mouse under consideration was returned to the store by its former owner. Past adversities teach him not to hope, but he can't help wondering-and neither can the reader, since Christopher's journal ends there. The short chapters of this tale are filled with perceptive observations of the vagaries of human owners, which MAY 2004 * 397 combine with a slightly old-fashioned first-person (well, first-mouse) narration to recall Black Beauty; the adventures on the other hand, have an understandable kinship with Stuart Little, and Christopher's taste for creation of verse adds humorous perspective. This is darker than your basic King-Smith animal romp, since the sun shines but occasionally on poor Christopher, but it could be a satisfying precursor to the mouse adventures of Margery Sharp or even Robert O'Brien. For readers ready for a more critical view of the world-and our treatment of the creatures in it-this novel is a good place to start. Benson's highly textured, hatch- ing-dense drawings enhance the slightly period flavor; while the humans are sometimes awkwardly depicted, Christopher and his brethren are engagingly and authentically portrayed. TC

WOLKSTEIN, DIANE, ad. Sun Mother Wakes the World. An Australian Creation Story; illus. by Bronwyn Bancroft. HarperCollins, 2004 [32p] Library ed. ISBN 0-688-13916-7 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-688-13915-9 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R 6-9 yrs In this creation myth from the indigenous people of Australia, Sun Mother is called to wakefulness by a loving voice that tells her to "wake the sleeping earth." This she does by walking: "Sun Mother began to travel. With each step she took, grass, plants, and trees sprouted in her footprints." When her work is complete, Sun Mother returns to the sky, coming back to earth each day to light the daytime hours. Memories, even among the animal folk, are short: "As time passed, the animals forgot the joy they had felt when they first received the gift of life. They looked at each other, and they wanted what they did not have." Their cries of discontent reach Sun Mother, who returns to shape them into their chosen, permanent forms. She gives birth to Moon and Morning Star, who in turn give birth to twins, the first man and the first woman. Sun Mother exhorts the first man and first woman to "care for the land for the sake of your grandparents as well as for your children and grandchildren," telling them that they must "walk the land to keep it alive." Wolkstein's lyrical adaptation has a stately but gentle pace suited to Sun Mother's gentle cajoling of creation. The text is illumined by Bancroft's pic- tographic art, wherein stamp-like motifs enliven the geometric shapes of the earth's emerging life forms. Swirls of wave and cloud, circles of fish, and the flame-like verticals of trees keep the compositions in constant motion. Swaths of opaque blue and green are brightened by the glowing yellow of Sun Mother herself. Wolkstein opens with a page providing cultural context and concludes with an extensive source note on the origin of the tale. JMD

WOODS, NOAH Tom Cat; written and illus. by Noah Woods. Random House, 2004 [32p] Library ed. ISBN 0-375-92497-3 $16.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-375-82497-9 $14.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad 4-6 yrs Tom Cat thinks he could be a bird, a bat, a pig, or an elephant, so he tries building nests, hanging upside down, wallowing in mud, and running from mice. His parents, who love him "no matter who you are," gently insist that he truly is a cat, but Tom Cat won't believe them until the day he discovers meowing-and likes it. "How about a 'moo' or a 'cock-a-doodle-doo'?" asks a mouse. "I just can't do 398 * THE BULLETIN it," Tom Cat replies. "I... am a cat!" Tom Cat's story is told in brief text-bites that beg for action-packed illustrations to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately for Tom Cat, the illustrations, in which graphic design predominates over narrative impact, don't provide the required power. Animated circles in neo-cartoon tradition are spattered throughout the pages, Tom Cat and his parents depicted among them in flatly geometric bodies of their own. The black-gray-magenta palette adds contrast against the sweep of the white pages but also fails to provide Tom et al. with any emotional zing. Tom Cat's partial transmogrification into a tiger and then a goose peps up one page, and more of those witty visualizations of Tom Cat's imaginative genius would have lifted this book above the level of the ordi- nary. However, if the children clamor for identity-questioning books like Feiffer's Bark, George! (BCCB 11/99), this is an admissible option. TC

WOODSON, JACQUELINE Behind You. Putnam, 2004 [17 6 p] ISBN 0-399-23988-X $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10 Woodson seeks closure for those characters devastated by the death of fifteen-year- old Jeremiah (known as Miah) Roselind in this sequel to If You Come Softly (BCCB 10/98). The aftermath of African-American Miah's death (he was shot by New York City policemen who mistook him for a robbery suspect) is seen through the eyes of those he left behind: his white girlfriend, Ellie; his mother, Nelia; his father, Norman; his teammate, Kennedy; and his best friend, Carlton. Stories also come from those who have gone beyond: Miah, who looks on while his family and friends grieve; and Miah's grandmother, Desire, who rocks on some celestial porch waiting for her grandson to realize he must move on. The book is divided into three sections: the Ending, in which Jeremiah tells of his own death; the Hurting, in which those who loved Miah try to cope with his senseless killing; and the Healing, in which grief gives way to the very tentative beginnings of hope. Woodson plays the language of feeling with an often stunning virtuosity; her crys- talline vision makes each voice herein resonate with its own particular emotional tone. The arc of the movement from pain to acceptance is choppily drawn, however; the number of voices overwhelms the premise, and the result is less than cohesive and not always satisfying. Still, there are moments of real beauty in this melancholy yet ultimately life-affirming examination of grief, and those haunted by the sadness of Miah's death will find some comfort here. JMD

ZEISES, LARA M. Contents under Pressure. Delacorte, 2004 [25 6 p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90162-3 $17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73047-0 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-9 Lucy and her best friend, Allison, contemplate the fourteen-year-old-and-never- been-groped blues as their friends are beginning to see some action. When even Allison gets a date for homecoming, Lucy feels as if she'll never catch up. Sud- denly, though, things begin to happen. First, her beloved older brother, Jack, comes home from college with his live-in girlfriend, Hannah, who moves into Lucy's room. Then she attracts the attention of a very cute junior named Tobin. Soon she's getting lessons on love, sex, loyalty, and friendship from all quarters, as she discovers that Hannah is pregnant and Jack is being a jerk about it, her friend Tabitha has had sex with her boyfriend but is still interested in other guys, and MAY 2004 * 399

Lucy needs to learn how to set boundaries with Tobin before she finds herself in a compromising position. Zeises does an exemplary job of capturing the many faces and moods of fourteen, from naive Allison and Lucy, to worldly Tabitha, to the snotty we've-got-older-boyfriends-and-don't-have-time-for-you-anymore girls. Lucy is especially effective as a character in transition; she has a hard time managing her first kiss because of a fat lip she got in a fistfight with her younger brother, and an even harder time negotiating girlfriends when boyfriends get in the way. Mostly, she has to learn the hard way the differences between boys and girls when it comes to the responsibility for sex and parenting, what questions to ask, and whose side she's ultimately on. While not nearly as intense as the issues that haunt the author's Bringing Up the Bones (BCCB 1/03), the questions posed here about the challenge to heart-held ideals and the shifting alliances of adolescence are as compellingly handled for a slightly younger audience. Refreshingly forthright and not overly sophisticated, Lucy is a likable guide to the messy entanglements of the early teen years. KC

In our April 2004 issue, we incorrectly stated that Shakespeare's Romeo andJuliet, adapted by Michael Rosen, contained no page numbers; page numbers are in fact included. The Bulletin regrets the error. 400 * THE BULLETIN

PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS: RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS

MATTHEW, KATHRYN I. Neal-Schuman Guide to Celebrationsand Holidays around the World: The Best Books, Media, and MulticulturalLearningActivities; by Kathryn I. Matthew and Joy L. Lowe. Neal-Schuman, 2004 452p Papered. ISBN 1-55570-479-4 $65.00 This reference work offers three ways to access materials for young people about celebrations and holidays: a quick guide to holidays, a guide to titles useful in social studies curricula, and an extended and annotated guide to holiday and celebration materials arranged by season (autumn, winter, spring, summer). The third section, which constitutes the bulk of the book, is by far the most useful, containing annotated lists of recommended books, videos, and CD-ROMs with appropriate audience ages, spanning from grades K through 8. In addition to these lists, brief descriptions of holidays are included for quick reference along with suggested "explorations," which offer activities to augment the students' reading or listening experiences. The quick guide and the social studies guide both lack annotations and age-level information, requiring readers to use one or more of the several indices (author, illustrator, title, subject) in order to locate the resources listed in those sections. Although the breadth of information contained in this volume is likely more than any individual teacher would need, school and public librarians will want to consider purchasing this extensive guide to resources for study and celebration of world holidays. KM MAY 2004 * 401

SUBJECT AND USE INDEX

Keyed to The Bulletin's alphabetical arrangement by author, this index, which appears in each issue, can be used in three ways. Entries in regular type refer to subjects; entries in bold type refer to curricular or other uses; entries in ALL-CAPS refer to genres and appeals. In the case of subject headings, the subhead "stories" refers to books for the readaloud audience; "fiction," to those books intended for independent reading.

Abandonment-fiction: Fusco Codes: Janeczko Abuse-fiction: Jones; McCord Cold War-fiction: Almond ADVENTURE: Bray; Bujor; Cousins-fiction: Minchin Hobbs; Pratchett; Wein; Whelan Creation-stories: Wolkstein African Americans: Myers Current events: Mikaelsen African Americans-fiction: Dancers and dancing-stories: Geras Woodson Dating-fiction: Bennett; Zeises AIDS-fiction: Minchin Death and dying-fiction: Woodson Animals: Jenkins Disabilities: MacLeod; Patent Animals-fiction: Graham; Hornik; Disabilities-fiction: Fusco; Willis Karr Disabilities-stories: Glenn Animals-poetry: Pearson; Root Dogs: Patent Animals-stories: Bedford; Dogs-stories: Rosen Downard; Laguna; Whybrow Dolls-stories: Cutler ANTHOLOGIES: Fraustino; Drama-stories: Laguna Pierce Ecology: Baker Art: Downard; Leedy; Slaymaker Ethics and values: Almond; Art and artists: Slaymaker Bennett; Jones; Kositsky; ARTHURIAN LEGEND: Wein Mikaelsen; Mills; Olsen; Zeises Aunts-fiction: Fusco Fairs: Jackson Aunts-stories: Glenn; Pearson Faith-fiction: Mills Australia-folklore: Wolkstein Family-fiction: Whelan Babies-stories: Rosen FANTASY: Augarde; Bass; Bray; Ballet-stories: Geras Bujor; Kaaberbol; Kessler; Kurtz; BEDTIME BOOKS: Whybrow McNaughton; Meacham; Pierce; BIBLE STORIES: Williams Pratchett BIOGRAPHIES: MacLeod; Myers Fathers-fiction: Taylor Biology: Jenkins; Romanek; Fathers-stories: Feiffer Szpirglas Fear-stories: Pearson Birds-fiction: Cronin Films and filmmaking: De Angelis; Books and reading: Leedy Lawrence Brothers and sisters-fiction: Avi; Flags-fiction: Bartoletti Peters FOLKTALES AND FAIRY TALES: Bullies-stories: Pearson Downard; Hoberman; Careers: Lawrence McNaughton; Wolkstein Cats-stories: Woods Friends-fiction: Zeises Chickens-stories: Downard Friends-stories: Bedford China-fiction: Whelan Gender roles-fiction: Peters Civil rights movement: Myers Gifts-stories: Cutler 402 * THE BULLETIN

Government: Cronin Reading, easy: Figley; Graham; Grandmothers-stories: Segal Hoberman; Hornik; Mills; Segal; Growing up-fiction: Zeises Taylor; Wise Health: Fraustino; Minchin Reading, family: Hoberman; Segal HISTORICAL FICTION: Almond; Reading, reluctant: Jenkins; Bray; Karr; Kositsky; Pietri Szpirglas; Wild; Williams History, classical: Blacklock Religious instruction: Mills; History, U.S.: Bartoletti; Jackson; Williams; Wolkstein Myers; Sandier RHYMING STORIES: History, world: Borden Archambault; Whybrow Home-fiction: Baker Romance-fiction: Bray; Jones Houses-stories: Rosenthal Royalty-fiction: Bass HUMOR: Avi; Cronin; Graham; School-fiction: Bray; Meacham Helquist; Meacham; Pearson; Science: Borden; Romanek; Pratchett; Rosen; Szpirglas Szpirglas Identity-fiction: Peters Scotland-fiction: McNaughton Identity-stories: Woods Ships and sailing: Borden Illness-fiction: Minchin Ships and sailing-fiction: Hobbs Immigration: Sandler SHORT STORIES: Fraustino; Inventors and inventing: De Angelis Pierce; Segal Jews-fiction: Kositsky Sisters-fiction: McCord Kidnapping-fiction: Kurtz Smell-fiction: Pietri Knights and chivalry: Wein Snow-fiction: Figley Language arts: Janeczko Social studies: Mikaelsen Latinos-fiction: Mikaelsen South, the-fiction: Bennett LOVE STORIES: Willis Spies and spying: Janeczko Magic-fiction: Bujor Storytime: Archambault; Bedford; Menstruation-fiction: Fraustino Downard; Feiffer; Laguna; Root; Mental illness-fiction: McCord Rosenthal; Wolkstein Mermaids-fiction: Kessler SUPERNATURAL STORIES: Mice-stories: Archambault; Pearson; Augarde; Kaaberbol Wise Teen pregnancy-fiction: Olsen; Mothers-fiction: Fusco; Kaaberbol; Wild McCord Toddler books: Feiffer; Whybrow MYSTERIES: Kaaberbol Transsexuals-fiction: Peters Mythology, classical: Hovey Twins-fiction: Avi Native Americans-fiction: Olsen Urban life-fiction: Baker Nature study: Jenkins; Root Voyages and travel: Borden Nobility-fiction: Pietri Voyages and travel-fiction: Hobbs Noise-stories: Laguna War: Blacklock Parents-fiction: Meacham War-fiction: Almond; Mikaelsen Parties-stories: Cutler Weather-fiction: Figley Perfumes-fiction: Pietri West, the-fiction: Karr Pirates-stories: Helquist Witches-fiction: Pratchett POETRY: Hovey; Pearson; Wolves-fiction: Taylor Rosenthal Women's studies: Fraustino; Princes-fiction: Bass MacLeod; Whelan Prophecies-fiction: Kurtz World War II-fiction: Kositsky Readers' theater: Hovey; Wild Writers and writing: Lawrence; Reading aloud: Graham; Hornik; Leedy Hovey; Mills; Pearson Congratulations, Pigeon, 0o wint1n1g a 2004 Caldecott Honor

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STORY: FROM FlEPIACE TO CYESPACE Connecting Children and Narrative EDITED BYBETSY HEARNE, JANICE M. DEL NEGRO, CHRISTINE JENKINS, AND DEBORAH STEVENSON Papers Presented at the Allerton Park Institute Sponsored October 26-28, 1997, by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois

In our interest in children's welfare, we often forget that children are not simply passive receptacles for whatever treasure or trash the adult world throws at them but are lively agents who are continually interacting with their environment. Children actively create meaning as read- ' ers, viewers, and listeners. The 39" Allerton Park Insti- tute papers emphasize the critical need to connect children and narrative as a way to affect their development LBi5N iU-/t•'-1tO-O; as listeners, readers, viewers, and evaluators of litera- Number 39; 143 pages; ture-and information in all forms. paper; $21.95*

The Bulletin Storytelling Review, Volume 1 Recommend-only reviews of storytelling audio- and videotapes EDITED BYJANICE M. DFI NEGRO AND DEBORAH STEVENSO Add to your library this vital compendium of material not regularly reviewed in other publications. Designed to be a tool for selection and collection development, the first volume of The Bulletin StorytellingReviewcontains: * 162 alphabetically-arranged reviews of tapes by storytellers such as Joe Bruchac, Len Cabral, Donald Davis, Barbara McBride-Smith, J. J. Reneaux, and Laura Simms SPrice ristrihunr ajnd ryrrade level information for each review * Ordering information for each distributor listed * An index that allows readers to search for tapes by type of story or possible use ISBN 0-87845-106-4; 99 pages; paper; $14.95*

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