Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
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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 - . rr ~-· i-,- 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 edi- tion, 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 au- thor, 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 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 year, institutions, $75.00; multiple institutional subscriptions, $70 for the first and $50 for each additional; individuals, $50.00; students, $15.00. In countries other than the United States, add $7.00 per subscription for postage. Japanese subscription agent: Kinokuniya Company Ltd. Single copy rate: $7.50. Volumes available in microfilm from ProQuest, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Complete volumes available in microfiche from Johnson Associates, P.O. Box 1017, Greenwich, CT 06830. Subscription checks should be made payable to the University of Illinois Press. All notices of change of address should provide both the old and new address. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820-6903. All inquiries about subscriptions and advertising should go to University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820-6903, 217-333-0950; toll free 866-244-0626. Review copies and all correspondence about reviews should be sent to Deborah Stevenson, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 501 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820-6601. Email: [email protected]; phone: 217-244-0324. Visit our homepage at http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/puboff/bccb 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 reso- nance 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 sophisti- cated 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.