Special Issue: Different Drummers

March/April 2013 Volume LXXXIX Number 2 ®

Features Barbara Bader 21 Z Is for Elastic: The Amazing Stretch of Paul Zelinsky A look at the versatile artist’s career. Roger Sutton 30 Jack (and Jill) Be Nimble: An Interview with Mary Cash and Jason Low Independent publishers stay flexible and look to the future. Eugene Yelchin 41 The Price of Truth Reading books in a police state. Elizabeth Burns 47 Reading: It’s More Than Meets the Eye Making books accessible to print-disabled children.

Columns Editorial Roger Sutton 7 See, It’s Not Just Me In which we celebrate the nonconforming among us. The Writer’s Page Polly Horvath and Jack Gantos 11 Two Writers Look at Weird Are they weird? What is weird, anyway? And will Jack ever reply to Polly? Different Drums What’s the strangest children’s book you’ve ever enjoyed? Elizabeth Bird 18 Seven Little Ones Instead Luann Toth 20 Word Girl Deborah Stevenson 29 Horrible and Beautiful Kristin Cashore 39 Embracing the Strange Susan Marston 46 New and Strange, Once Elizabeth Law 58 How Can a Fire Be Naughty? Christine Taylor-Butler 71 Something Wicked Mitali Perkins 72 Border Crossing Vaunda Micheaux Nelson 79 Wiggiling Sight Reading Leonard S. Marcus 54 Wit’s End: The Art of Tomi Ungerer A “willfully perverse and subversive individualist.” (continued on next page) March/April 2013 ®

Columns (continued) Field Notes Elizabeth Bluemle 59 When Pigs Fly: The Improbable Dream of Bookselling in a Digital Age How one indie children’s bookstore stays Swim HigH AcroSS t H e Sky afloat. What Makes a Good…? Claire Gross 64 What Makes a Good YA Coming-Out Novel? Caldecott at 75 Kathleen T. Horning 73 Prayer for a Child and the Test of Time Second in a series on the at seventy-five—one winner per decade, here the 1940s. 100 From The Guide 143 Novels in Verse A selection of reviews from The Horn Book Guide. Cadenza Raina Telgemeier 152 My Life in Comics The creator of Smile and Drama shares her passion for her art form.

11 Reviews 81 Book Reviews 141 Audiobook Reviews

Departments 5 March/April Starred Books 145 Impromptu 150 Index to Advertisers 151 Index to Books Reviewed Cover © 2013 by Paul O. Zelinsky. Page 1 art from The Beast of Monsieur Racine. 86 © 1971 by Tomi Ungerer.

Greenwillow Books An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 A Media Source Company

Editor in Chief: Roger Sutton Executive Editor: Martha V. Parravano Starred Books Senior Editor: Elissa Gershowitz March/April 2013 Editorial Assistant: Cynthia K. Ritter Marketing & Editorial Assistant: One Gorilla Katie Bircher (Candlewick) by Anthony Browne (page 82) Principal Reviewers: Jennifer M. Brabander Have You Seen Carter Sarah Ellis My New Blue Socks? Danielle J. Ford (Clarion) by Eve Bunting; Christine M. Heppermann illus. by Sergio Ruzzier (page 82) Jonathan Hunt Susan Dove Lempke My Father’s Arms Are a Boat Joanna Rudge Long (Enchanted Lion) by Stein Erik Lunde; Dean Schneider illus. by Øyvind Torseter (page 87) Robin L. Smith Online Content Editor: Elissa Gershowitz The Dark Executive Editor, Horn Book Guide: (Little, Brown) by Lemony Snicket; Kitty Flynn illus. by Jon Klassen (page 91) Assistant Editor, Horn Book Guide: Katrina Hedeen Benjamin Bear in “Bright Ideas!” (Toon/Candlewick) by Philippe Coudray (page 97) Editorial Assistant, Horn Book Guide: Shara Hardeson Maggot Moon Designer & Production Manager: (Candlewick) by Sally Gardner; Lolly Robinson illus. by Julian Crouch (page 100) Advertising Sales Representative: Al Berman Penny and Her Marble Circulation Director: (Greenwillow) by Kevin Henkes (page 104) James Marinaccio Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass President: Randall J. Asmo (Candlewick) by Meg Medina (page 114) Publisher: Ian Singer VP Marketing: Andrew Thorne Midwinterblood Business Manager: Rosalie Schweitzer (Roaring Brook) by Marcus Sedgwick (page 118) The Horn Book, Inc. 56 Roland St., Suite 200, Boston MA 02129 Hoop Genius: tel: 888-628-0225 • fax: 617-628-0882 How a Desperate Teacher and a [email protected] • www.hbook.com Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball (Carolrhoda) by John Coy; Volume LXXXIX Number 2 illus. by Joe Morse (page 134) The DarkThe Jon Klassen.. Illustrations © 2013 by

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 5 Editorial THE AMAZING WORLDS OF NIC BISHOP See, It’s Not Just Me

In an era in which books want to have sequels, sequels want to spawn series, series want to be like that other guy’s series, and those other guys become fewer and fewer as publishing consolidates itself, we thought it might be nice to take a time-out in favor of the outliers. Welcome to the Horn Book’s special issue on Different Drummers, in which we celebrate the odd, the marginalized, the independent, and the otherwise nonconforming among us. Business as usual, you might think, in an industry that just gave its two big- gest awards to books about a finger-painting gorilla and a larcenous fish—and you might have a point. As we planned the issue, I had what I thought was a clever idea to somehow graphically denote the reviews herein of books that we thought embodied and/or celebrated difference. Maybe we could have stickered ★ “Brilliant.” ★“Riveting.” ★“Intriguing.” them with a little Horn of Gondor or something. But that quickly revealed —School Library Journal, starred review —Booklist, starred review —Booklist, starred review itself as a ridiculous idea: notwithstanding the nine YA novels with one-word 978-0-545-20638-9 978-0-545-20634-1 978-0-439-87758-9 titles, the review section is bristling with nonconformity. Kittens in hard hats, rabbits on skates, a boy with twelve fingers, a wereopossum, and all manner of supernaturally or scientifically enhanced young heroes populate the picture book and fiction reviews; pioneers such as Tito Puente, Anne Carroll Moore, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Igor Stravinsky are subjects of books reviewed in the nonfiction section. Children’s literature takes all kinds. (In “Different Drums,” short pieces scattered throughout the issue, our contributors tell you about some of the strangest.) What this issue is aiming at are the books, the readers, the writers and artists, and the publishers who stand out from even the given otherness of our profes- sion. Polly Horvath and Jack Gantos address the accusation of being weird. Bar- bara Bader and Leonard S. Marcus allow Paul O. Zelinsky and Tomi Ungerer to let their freak flags fly. In an industry that survives by cannibalism, Elizabeth Bluemle, Mary Cash, and Jason Low discuss staying out of the pot. Liz Burns ★“Stunning.” ★“Irresistible.” ★“Dazzling.” and Claire Gross and Eugene Yelchin talk about books for kids who are per- —Booklist, starred review —Horn Book, starred review —School Library Journal, starred review fectly not-weird but whose way to reading may be complicated by circumstances 978-0-439-87757-2 978-0-439-87755-8 978-0-439-87756-5 weirder than they should be. As far as reading itself goes, it’s both a community and a private—sometimes

Each: Ages 4–8 SCHOLASTIC™ Scholastic Inc. scholastic.com 48 pages • $17.99 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 7 CELEBRATING OUR secret—activity. Certainly, children of all stripes and sizes read in public with- out shame, and certain books foster social inclusion and even cachet. I remem- AWARD WINNERS ber our CEO Randy Asmo telling me how his son became king for a day at school by having scored an early copy of the latest Wimpy Kid title, and while I’m slightly squicked-out by the willingness of people to read Fifty Shades Freed on the subway, right out there for anyone to see, I admire their nerve. This is conventional reading in the best sense—books that tell the rest of the tribe that you’re keeping up and paying attention. At other times, we read as a way to distinguish ourselves, to commune with those parts of the self that don’t seem to keep pace with the daily parade. Ironi- cally, but of course, we discover by reading that there is in fact at least one other person who knows exactly how we feel. (There’s a great portrait of this kind of reading in Jo Walton’s Among Others, an adult book I’ve recently been urging upon everyone, my private reading become call to the faithful.) Independence is one thing, alienation is another; reading keeps the latter at bay while allowing the former to flourish. roger sutton Caldecott Honor Winner Newbery Honor Winner

Batchelder Geisel Award Winner Award Winner

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King Sibert Honor Winner Illustrator Honor Winner Author Honor Winner

Penguin Young Readers Group penguinclassroom.com PenguinClassroom @PenguinClass The Writer’s Page Two Writers Look at Weird by Polly Horvath and Jack Gantos

From: Polly Horvath To: Jack Gantos Roger wants us to answer this: “People—some people—say your books are weird. Do you think your books are weird?” This is what I plan to say. No, I don’t think my books are weird, filmmakers would waste their time and it hurts my feelings when people making such a weird little film. say they are. I was particularly hurt I settled in anyhow because I wanted recently when someone described one a place to sulk and frame responses of my books as “weird even for her.” to “weird even for her.” I figured I’d Right after reading that comment, just ignore the movie. But to my great I sat down to watch O Brother, Where surprise, I no longer found the movie Art Thou?It wasn’t really my choice. weird. I’d seen enough Coen brothers My daughter was home visiting, and by that point to gain a facility with the she forced me. I love the Coen broth- language Coen. I was no longer sit- ers, but the first time I tried to watch ting there as I had the first time with O Brother, Where Art Thou?, I gave up my arms crossed, muttering, “Oh, because it was…too weird. In fact, it you’re just being too weird.” There’s a irritated me that the great American wonderful scene in the movie where a

Polly Horvath’s latest book is One Year in Coal Harbor, and she translated, from the original Rabbit, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives Extraordinaire! (both Schwartz & Wade/Random). Jack Gantos won the 2012 for Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar).

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 11

hb_noahwebster.indd 1 1/17/13 12:46 PM flood comes and sweeps up everything From: Polly Horvath that these readers were thanking me for selves by their ears from the nearest and everyone in its mighty waters. To: Jack Gantos creating a catalyst for something deep light fixture. Secondly, Mr. and Mrs. And that’s what it felt like. That I had within them to show up. They weren’t Bunny has very broad appeal in both Hi, Jack. Martha and Roger want to volunteered to leave the comfortable really delighting in me. They were the human and bunny market and even know if we resent being pigeon-holed footing of my familiar shores and get delighting in themselves. And since I among foxes—although there it is being (if we think we are) as quirky, offbeat, swept into a Coen flood that carried me didn’t know them and they didn’t know marketed as a horror story. And we all zany, etc.? somewhere I would not otherwise have me, I was right: there was no connec- know the many-specied popularity of This assumes that we view our own reached. tion. Not in that sense. But there was your books, Mr. Gantos. work as weird. But weird is a judgment I once read a book about language the work. And that is what art is. The But let Mrs. Bunny put her thinking by someone on the outside of a work. acquisition that said middleman. cap on. It seems to her that the Horn The writer has the that people with the Book is setting things up as weird vs. first experience of strongest egos have “Weird” is a judgment mainstream. Mrs. Bunny would ask the story and must From: Mrs. Bunny the hardest time by someone on the outside herself, having delved into a certain necessarily be inside To: Jack Gantos learning a new lan- amount of human popular fiction, Are of a work. Nothing is of it. Nothing is truly guage because they’ve bunny detectives stranger than owls truly knowable except knowable except Hi, Mr. Gantos, already found some- delivering letters or some godforsaken from the inside. from the inside. And The Horn Book asks the following: thing that works for creature called a Dementor? Is obsessive anything truly known “Jack has a book about them. They are not mother love/taxidermy weirder than isn’t weird. obsessive mother love/ anxious to give it up to the unknown adolescent girls being infatuated with But of course it isn’t always easy taxidermy. Polly has a book and where it might take them. When a young men who want to suck their for either the writer or the reader to about bunny detectives. person becomes fluent in a second lan- blood (never Mrs. Bunny’s idea of an move from the outside to the inside. Have you guage, they actually develop a whole new attractive courting ritual) or television They have to leave behind, in creation ever had a novel turned personality. They are a different person shows where the object is to kill every- or response, all that is fake. Art is, as down by a publisher? in English than they are in French. This one else and be the last one standing? Sister Wendy says in an interview with Have you ever been asked is why people who have experienced I mean, objectively speaking, are they, , “a great tester of the fake to write something with trauma or heartbreak often find them- Mr. Gantos, are they? because it must be the real you that broader appeal?” selves with a compulsion to learn Ital- So! Mrs. Bunny thinks perhaps we creates or responds. And the more the Polly has turned this section of the ian. It not only gives them a new way are not talking about weird vs. main- real you dares to create or respond, discussion over to me because once of looking at the world and a different stream. We are talking about something the more the real you is there.” This is again someone has not read the jacket frame of reference—it changes who else here. We are talking about a kind of the great reward, the great moment of of Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives they are. And that is primarily what I nervousness some books evoke. A kind being for either the writer or the reader. Extraordinaire! and is attributing the think we mean when we say something of apprehension. Some suspicion that For a long time when I got letters book to her. Humans! What are you is weird. We are saying, This is scary one is going to have to work for one’s from people saying that one of my going to do? Can’t live with them and because it might make me see things dinner. books had moved them, I couldn’t can’t eat them. (Without the proper differently and that would change who Sister Wendy calls this not weird connect. It bothered me. It seemed condiments.) I am. That is the scariness of weird and vs. mainstream, but pure vs. comfort. ungrateful to feel I didn’t even really Well, to begin, this was Mrs. Bunny’s also its strength. “Comforting art,” she says, is art that care about these letters, that they had first book, so she has yet to get the is easy to react to. “Everyone knows nothing to do with me. Recently, I “please write something with broader exactly what they think about it…Feel- have understood that what I was feeling appeal” kind of rejection slip that has ing I know I can judge without having (although I didn’t understand it) was caused so many rabbits to hang them-

12 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 13 to look, without having to take trouble. Bunny thinks it is not art, because From: Polly Horvath and Mrs. Bunny That is comforting.” You don’t have when she got inside it, it was no longer To: Jack Gantos to dig deep within to show up for it. weird—but it wasn’t really anything else Jack, help us out here. Sometimes Mrs. Bunny finds she wants either. There seemed a definite lack of this. Sometimes she wants to read there, there. There, there is a must. Bridget Jones’s Diary. But sometimes she wants to read American Pastoral. It From: Oh Say Fred reminds Mrs. Bunny of the time she To: Mrs. Bunny put a water feature in the garden. Mr. Bunny was not a fan. “Don’t you find Well, then, what if everyone says it is it soothing?” she asked Mr. Bunny, art, but yet it doesn’t awaken a flower- thing I write ignites them to reflect on but he replied, “Mrs. Bunny, I do not ing within you? No sudden understand- themselves or others, and causes mean- ALWAYS wish to be soothed. Some- ing that this is something magical and ingful change and understanding, then I times I like to be WORKED UP!” mysterious that you are now in contact am gratified. When I publish a book, it Of course Mrs. Bunny is not sure with. From: Jack Gantos is a form of sharing myself, and given the that you or Polly Horvath could call To: Polly Horvath range of my publications (from picture your books pure as opposed to comfort- From: Mrs. Bunny Thank you, Polly, for your thoughts books to a prison memoir), I don’t think ing. That is a judgment that must come To: Oh Say Fred on the subject of not being weird. any of my books are weird. from others, and only as time will tell. (And please thank your colleague, Besides, to be truly weird I believe a In other words, you’ll be toes up fertil- Yes, but it could be that you are not Mrs. Bunny, for her thoughts as well.) book has to live in the dark full-time, izing the carrot bed, Mr. Gantos, before ready for this story. And maybe never I fully subscribe to Polly’s point that unexposed to readers’ spying eyes. anything definitive is decided. Mrs. will be. Your response alone doesn’t the more you understand a piece of In other words, a truly weird book Bunny is sure only that her own book define its artiness. art, and the more you empathize with is an unpublished book—a rejected must be of the pure variety because Mr. the world within a book, and the more manuscript, in fact. So let me take Bunny is always declaiming that her From: Oh Say Fred you give yourself over to an external you to Bates Hall in the Boston Public writing career has been no comfort to To: Mrs. Bunny experience, the more it radiates within Library—a 218-foot-long, forty-two- him whatsoever. Well, frankly then I don’t know what you in a genuinely transformative way. foot-wide room with a fifty-foot- you’ve been going on about. This is not weird. It is as profound as high barrel-vaulted ceiling, with 224

From: Some anonymous person over Sophie IllustrationBlackall. © 2012 by Nicole Not SoRubel. . Illustration Left: © 1994 by Ralph Rotten Extraordinaire! Bunny—Detectives and Mrs. Right: Mr. early Homo sapiens painting portraits numbered seats around twenty-eight there at the Horn Book named, of themselves on cave walls. They oak tables. In this room is where, since From: Mrs. Bunny oh, say, Fred discovered their other selves, and thus 1974, I have written the majority of my To: Oh Say Fred To: Mrs. Bunny self-dialogue was born and blossomed. forty-five published books. Here I have So if it’s weird and difficult, it is art? I didn’t say this was going to be simple. Which was fantastic! Where would we also written three full-length unpub- Leslie Fiedler used to say that when be as a species without self-reflection? lished and thoroughly rejected and he came upon something that didn’t As for me, I can’t say that anything unrehabilitated novels, which remain From: Mrs. Bunny awaken a flowering within, he would I’ve published thus far is intentionally in manuscript form. It is these three To: Oh Say Fred say to himself, “What is lacking in weird, as I think weird is a very calcu- cadaverous novels I wish to write about No. It may not evoke any response in me that I fail to respond to this?” But lated result of a writer’s intent. I certainly in response to Roger’s query: “To some you. Twin Peaks was to Mrs. Bunny’s try that one on some editor slogging don’t want my readers to be weird as a people your books are weird. Do you greatly discerning eyes weird, but Mrs. through the slush pile. result of reading my books, but if some- think they are weird?”

14 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 15 In Bates Hall I always name my nov- re-remember them and reset their type the sentences in my sleep. stare at the listing hulk as it drifts in els after the seat number in which I sit in the doing. “Seat #37” was rejected Over at seat #117 is a manuscript and out of sight but never goes away. It during the writing of the manuscript, many times. At first I used to take out that, like Chernobyl, is encased forever never sinks. and I always change seats with each the red-inked and hand-typed manu- inside my own dome. It is the story of I imagine all my rejected books, new manuscript. Recently, I drifted script, which lived in a file cabinet I a situational mute touring the Amazon petting them as I page through and into Bates Hall. Looking out across affectionately called “The Triage.” I rainforest in an effort to communicate nurture them. They are my abandoned that vast room is like looking out at an know this manuscript better than any nonverbally with indigenous people— litter of kittens—runts to some but old New England graveyard, with the of my published books because I dwell something along the lines of how tigers to me, prowling under my skin, tall, rounded backs on it as a wound that termites communicate as described by their very own Eden where my mind is of the captain’s chairs won’t heal, and I am E. O. Wilson in his great book Sociobi- their lair and my heart is the prey that rising up above the To be truly weird, I not looking for a cure. ology: The New Synthesisand in Karl von nurtures them each day. Whenever I sit tables like flinty, skull- believe a book has to live I wander the familiar Frisch’s book that decodes the language at seat #57 (where, incidentally, I am carved headstones. I in the dark full-time, streets of sentences of dancing bees. It would be best to writing this), I quietly promise, “I will love this room, and so unexposed to readers’ and blocks of para- pulp this manuscript and instead affix never submit you again. Inside of me one by one I visited spying eyes. graphs and towns of a book binding onto a small mirror so you will always be pure.” seat #37, seat #57, chapters. I love the that the reader could open the cover The above ordinary slice of life is and seat #117. I think labyrinth of misplaced and stare into a ready-made dictionary what is within the mind of this writer. of the manuscripts written there not words, decaying architecture, dead-end of gestural language. Or not. This book What is beautiful to me is the fabulous as the dead but as unique books that story lines, and jaundiced weather. is difficult to pin down. Lovecraft of impossible landscapes have been buried alive within me, and “Seat #37” is an exceptionally rare “Seat #57” was written after motion where, within each person, the extraor- in this way I think of them constantly book for me because it is the most detectors were installed, and so I could dinary resides. The rare-book-room as my greatest private works—books so flawed, and thus a traveling museum never sit at that seat overnight and of the mind is a tonic compared to rare that only I will ever know them. of woeful double chins, gimpy phrases, ponder its endless manifestations. It is the outside world, which is unrelent- Many years ago, before electronic forced adjectives, excess rants, and a flawed manuscript fitted out with a ingly predictable. Each day I read burglary detection, I used to hide corrosive promises masquerading as broken rudder like the wounded Ger- three newspapers. I can count on the inside a long hollow coffin of a bench true love. But for editors who had read man battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic, consistency of hate, prejudice, anger, with a hinged seat just outside of Bates “Seat #37”…well, it is as if I took a which could only steer in circles like a death, cheating, ignorance, crime—all Hall in the Pompeii alcove. I would mighty oak tree in the fullness of sum- carnival marksmanship game while the cancers spawned by the foul reign of wait until the library closed and for mer and painted a letter on each leaf, British Navy pounded it into submis- pulp social behavior. What people think the guards to give a final “all clear” to and then when they dropped in the fall sion and sent it to Davy Jones’s Locker. of my books is not my concern. What is the darkened rooms, and then I would I gathered them up and taped them This book is about quantum physics beautiful to me is beautiful to me. The push upward on the seat, crawl out, onto large sheets of paper (seventy and the micro-implanted levers of a undiscovered tombs of Egypt prefer to and quietly creep into Bates Hall. In leaves to the line and twenty lines to charade government scheming within remain undiscovered. They know that, those days I only had two failed nov- the page, which equals 1,400 leaves). the president’s mind. “Seat #57” was once opened, their murals will slowly els, the ones written at seats #117 and The serendipitous text, with words rejected, and because it was the manu- fade to white like skulls bleached out by #37, and I would sit for hours in those more unknown than Esperanto, cre- script I submitted to Farrar right before the sun. seats without pen or paper. There was ated nothing but chaos. Though this Dead End in Norvelt, the words are Don’t open the tomb. Close your eyes no reason to take notes. As I thought book was rejected by all, I still love it. still freshly painted on the inside of my and imagine it. Nothing could be more about the novels, I was no longer I wake up at night from a dream and skull. It is odd to “abandon ship” on a beautiful than what you can’t share. Is attempting to rewrite them, but to realize I’ve been walking the alleys of manuscript and to sit in a lifeboat and that weird? n

16 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 17 Different Drums Congratulations to Macmillan Children’s Seven Little Ones Instead 2013 ALA Award Winners! by Elizabeth Bird CALDECOTT NEWBERY HONOR HONOR

YALSA Award “No answers are provided, no hints are given. for Excellence This lack of resolution makes for an ultimately in Nonfi ction for Young unsatisfying story.” So said SLJ of the early 1990s Adults Medal Swedish import Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Winner Daddies by Pija Lindenbaum (and adapted by Sibert Medal Gabrielle Charbonnet). Like that reviewer, I too Winner encountered this book as an adult. Unlike that reviewer, I found it so strange and so unlike any of the American picture books I knew that I fell GREEN BOMB by Laura Vaccaro Seeger The Race to Build —and Steal—the deeply and unrepentantly in love. The plot is A NEAL PORTER BOOK/ROARING BROOK PRESS World’s Most Dangerous Weapon ISBN: 9781596433977 by Steve Sheinkin simple. Rather than one big daddy, Else-Marie FLASH POINT/ROARING BROOK PRESS has seven little ones. No explanation for this is ISBN: 9781596434875 given (hence SLJ’s cries of pain). Our heroine is just a normal little girl with uni- YALSA Award YALSA Award versal fears. She’s embarrassed by her parents’ singing, worried about the impression for Excellence in for Excellence Nonfi ction for Young in Nonfi ction for they’ll make on her friends at school, etc. In the event that the reader is a child, the Adults Finalist Young Adults

Else-Marie Lindenbaum. and Her Seven Little Daddies Pija . Illustration © 1991 by Finalist internal logic of the book is airtight. Kids of the younger ages are simply not going Sibert Honor to ponder the sticky details of how, exactly, one girl comes from seven little men STEVE JOBS (though a wedding shot of the mother in her white dress with her tiny bridegrooms A Year on the Wind with The Man Who collected around her ankles was enough to get my imagination spinning). the Great Survivor B95 Thought Di erent by Phillip Hoose by Karen Blumenthal The temptation, of course, is to consider this book (now out of print in the FARRAR STRAUS GIROUX FEIWEL & FRIENDS BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS HC ISBN: 9781250015570 United States) ahead of its time. It thumbs its nose so thoroughly at standard con- ISBN: 9780374304683 PB ISBN: 9781250014450 ventions and the normality of so-called “traditional” families that as a parent I find myself wanting to draw some sort of lesson from its good-natured, nontraditional attitude. However, I cannot help but think that that would be as much a mistake Morris Finalist Odyssey Honor for Excellence in Audiobook Production as it would be to apply Freudian interpretations to the admittedly ripe situation. In AFTER THE MONSTROUS BEAUTY the end, I think we just have to accept that sometimes seven vertically challenged SNOW by S. D. Crockett by Elizabeth Fama fathers are just seven vertically challenged fathers. n FEIWEL & FRIENDS read by Katherine Kellgren ISBN: 9780312641696 FARRAR STRAUS GIROUX BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS HC ISBN: 9780374373665 MACMILLAN YOUNG LISTENERS Elizabeth Bird is a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library. Her blog, Audiobook CD ISBN: 9781427222176 A Fuse #8 Production, is hosted at slj.com, and she is the author of Children’s Lit- erature Gems: Choosing and Using Them in Your Library Career and the forthcom- ing Giant Dance Party (Greenwillow), illustrated by Brandon Dorman.

macmillan children’s publishing group 18 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 mackids.com Different Drums

Word Girl Z Is for Elastic: by Luann Toth The Amazing Stretch of Paul Zelinsky by Barbara Bader

I have to confess upfront to being a word girl. Don’t get me wrong: I love art, especially when the interplay of a book’s words and images click to form the perfect vehicle for the storytelling, but it is usually a char- acter’s voice and the author’s prose that give me a sense of where I am and how to navigate the landscape. Having never really read comics as a kid, I was slow to warm to the graphic novel format and had rather awkwardly What would Margaret Wise Brown have been without Clement embraced the potential of visual narratives. Hurd? There’d have been no Goodnight Moon. Then came ’s The Arrival. The tradi- What would Ruth Krauss have been friends. Then he had the good fortune tional look and feel of a timeworn family album, without or Crockett to be at Yale when Maurice Sendak was with its sepia cover image, grounds readers in an Johnson or Marc Simont? There’d have teaching a course on children’s books, easily relatable reality. But wait, what else is going been no Hole Is to Dig or Carrot Seed or their history and illustration. on here? Who or what is that bizarre creature? It is Happy Day. As his own work testified, Sendak immediately clear that this unassuming man with Some of the most original, imagina- had an equally keen interest in high suitcase in hand is entering a place that is at once

. © 2006 by Shaun Tan. Shaun . © 2006 by Arrival The tive picture book scripts have come art, the art of museums, and popular strange and marvelous, and we are irresistibly drawn from writers who relied on artist-illus- art, the art of newsstands. He col- to follow him. This juxtaposition of the real and the surreal, the familiar and the trators to reconceive them in pictorial lected with discrimination and gusto: foreign, is at the heart of a brilliant, wordless exploration of the immigrant experi- terms. The rare illustrators endowed Randolph Caldecott and Beatrix ence. Tan opens with domestic scenes of home, heart, and family, and the suitcase, with a willing hand and second sight. Potter, among forerunners; Ruth into which the man packs up all that is known and comforting. A page turn shows And just when it seems as if there’s Krauss and Crockett Johnson, among readers all that they need to know about the ominous threat that looms over his nothing new under the sun, such a pair- contemporaries; and at large, Lothar homeland and why he must leave in search of a safe haven for his loved ones. The up comes along, overturning—of all Meggendorfer, an inventor of books alienation and dispirited confusion of being a stranger in a strange land becomes things—the very order of the alphabet. with movable parts. In this, too, he palpable in the sequential art. The man is as helpless as a child as he needs to was a forerunner. relearn basic life functions in a bustling industrial city. Yet despite the hardships and Paul O. Zelinsky was born free, Zelinsky was an apt pupil. displacement, he slowly makes friends and begins to forge a new life. The haunting it appears. He drew avidly from earliest His first three noteworthy picture beauty of Tan’s artwork and the sheer audaciousness of his imagination gave the childhood, and by the time he was books might be called two curios and story its emotional resonance and made this word girl a true believer in the power in high school he was illustrating his a cameo—and you probably wouldn’t and reach of visual storytelling. n assigned readings and the writings of recognize them as the work of a single

Luann Toth is the managing editor of School Library Journal’s book review. Her Barbara Bader, a longtime contributor to the Horn Book, is the author of American Picture- background is in public library service, but she has been with the magazine for books from Noah’s Ark to the Beast Within. She has written extensively on picture books, twenty-three years. folklore, multicultural literature, the history of libraries, and publishing for children.

20 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 21 illustrator. Who launches a career by The Lion and the Stoat(1984) is a doesn’t. Opening by opening, being unrecognizable? lark—three episodes in the competi- one spine-chilling illustration The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd- tive life of two rival artists, a lion and a follows another. Shaped House (1981) is based on an old stoat, partially derived by Zelinsky from Narrative composition is tell-and-draw, add-on rhyme. The “wee (of all things) Pliny’s Natural History. one of his strengths, visible in maid” is an old-fashioned old lady, her Who is the better artist, lion in top hat the wordless mini-drama of mouse companion plays the sax, and and tails or stoat in scarf and beret? The little-boy-and-kite in The Sun’s the odd-shaped house they move into contests are full of surprises; the draw- Asleep. In Hansel and Gretel, grows, addition by addition, into a page- ings are spotted with amusing detail; the illustration of the children filling, rampaging cat. In cottage-kitchen there’s wit wherever you look—in the being hurried into the forest (a pastels, with costumed frown on a turtle’s face, second time) by their unrelent- figures and decorative in the converging, sur- ing parents, the linchpin of details to match, it’s Inventiveness and real ceiling lines. The the story, is a dramatic marvel. quaint and perky, amus- humor have been takeaway message: art is The road sweeps around from ing and inventive. hallmarks of Zelinsky’s engagement, art is fun. the immediate foreground The Sun’s Asleep work from the start. Meanwhile, Zelinsky to the mid-distance, where Behind the Hill (1982) was doing line drawings Hansel stops to drop his telltale is an adaptation of an for fiction by Avi and crumbs; but the thrust is vigor- Armenian lullaby by the accomplished Beverly Cleary, among other commis- ously, almost violently for- Mirra Ginsburg, empathically recon- sions. Cleary’s belated Newbery winner, ward—toward the forest, the ceived by Zelinsky. “The sun shone in Dear Mr. Henshaw, has his pictures. next page, and what awaits. the sky all day. / The sun grew tired and He was building a backlist, and he was Zelinsky. O. Paul . Illustration © 1984 by Hansel and Gretel The artwork of Hansel and went away to sleep behind the hill.” In versatile. Gretel is redolent of German From Hansel and Gretel. dusky, spacious watercolor and pastel But 1984 saw him shift, starkly, from Romanticism, with its combination landscapes, the twilight deepens; leaves, the periphery to the mainstream: with of the bleak and the impenetrable. between the two, the crux of the story, bird, and squirrel grow tired and seek Hansel and Gretel, probably the most Rumpelstiltskin (1986), on the other loses out. rest; and a little boy, first glimpsed famous of Grimm tales, rendered in hand, is set squarely in a reincarnation Hansel and Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin flying his kite, is carried homeward weighty, great-masterlike paintings, of Northern Renaissance painting. were both Caldecott Honor books (as by his mother, to be last seen asleep, a complement to poet and translator Some of the illustrations are magi- was Swamp Angel, coming up). When kite on wall, moon shining in window. Rika Lesser’s grave retelling. cal, in a fairy-tale way. Who can forget Rapunzel (1997) appeared, in an Italian Throughout, insets on alternate spreads For all its popularity as a story and the double-page spread of the queen’s Renaissance guise more imposing than illustrate the refrain and supply a kind as a “property” (World Cat lists 3,772 emissary, spotlit, as she pursues her its predecessors’, it was bound to win of subtext. “The bird sang / in the bush in book form), “Hansel and Gretel” stealthy midnight search through the the Caldecott for effort and ambition. all day. / The bird grew tired, / The is inherently difficult to handle as a forest for the little man, to somehow The story of a lovely young girl bird is quiet.” Curled up in its nest, the picture book. With its episodes of learn his name? But much of this imprisoned in a tower at puberty is bird is barely visible: to the onlooker, emotional cruelty and physical terror, simple story, about a young woman problematic for children of picture- it’s snug and safe. A two-lap goodnight it’s one of those stories best heard, or who makes a bargain with a wizard and book age; and to my mind, the book, as we might once have said, with read, with a single arresting illustra- how she gets out of it, is burdened with presentation is too much for the story. proportions and perspectives, as well as tion. Most picture-book versions go an immensity of architectural detail and Oversize pages are the setting for images, suited to very young eyes. light on the darker aspects; Zelinsky other scenic effects. The verbal parrying oversize actions—the sorceress-jailer

22 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 23 Segal and Zelinsky’s sly comic turn, deftest piece of stagecraft may be the grows too large to be contained even rather, for no ordinary pictures would “formal” frontispiece: on a very large in the double-width. Why, when she have done for the face-off between shiv- page, “wood-framed,” is a “primitive” lines up behind the local frontiersmen ery string bean Mrs. L., with her vision portrait of a very large young woman, for a shot at Thundering Tarnation, the of a cute and cuddly cat, and Purrless, a giantess, with piercing blue eyes and biggest baddest bear, only her head and who’ll have none of it. “I can’t believe a dome of red hair. Since she is alone shoulders are visible behind the hill. how mean you are!” she protests when in the picture, how do we know she is The book can be opened at random, he pre-empts her footstool, then her very large? Zelinsky has repeatedly dealt and savored. For every one of Angelica’s bed. The drawings are done in colored with issues of size, and his resources are feats, Zelinsky devises a new pictorial pencil and pen-and-ink, mainly in incalculable. Here, Angelica Longrider, solution; a feat in itself. For a tutorial shades of orange (for Purrless the tabby) a.k.a. Swamp Angel, has a huge head… in narrative illustration, you couldn’t do and blue (for “chilly” Mrs. L.); they’re flowing down into smoothly rounded, better. all over the page, and askew. It’s a look sloping shoulders…which terminate in Swamp Angel was done in oil in a with the nip of Segal’s prose. small, gentle, almost dainty hands… range of woodsy to swamp-grassy hues. The book with movable parts was, of that clasp a tiny bunch of minutely The Wheels on the Bus flaunts the sharp course, The Wheels on the Bus (1990), detailed flowers, a touchstone of folk pinks and reds and yellows of city and low-tech hijinks in the scatty, helter- painting. town life. Mrs. Lovelace is distinctly . Illustration © 1985 by Paul O. Zelinsky. O. Paul . Illustration © 1985 by Her Cat and Purrless StoryThe Lovewright of Mrs. skelter spirit of the Big and Little From baby Angelica’s birth, the orange and blue. In the three books, From The Story of Mrs. Lovewright and Purrless Her Cat. Golden Books. The rushing vehicles pictures build in successive serial- distinctive colorations, acquired by and teeming crowds of Tibor Gergely narration images that wind around different techniques, give each book a looms, contorts, shrieks, and pops her come to mind—except that Zelinsky the double-page spreads until Angelica particular identity. Would you, then, eyes. No misfortune goes undepicted: has rendered his passengers and the see the prince, overseen by the malevo- passing scenery in oils: sticky, shiny oils. lent sorceress, falling in horror from the When “the wipers on the bus go swish tower. Then see him, on the opposite swish swish” and the rain falls in tor- page, lying inert on the ground. The rents, the surface turbulence calls up a physical action overshadows the emo- painting by de Kooning or Soutine. tional drama. But no one can forget that It would be possible to write a paean spectacular tower. to the simplicity and cleverness of the movable parts: the babies opening their Zelinsky’s knack for animating mouths to wail, the mothers wagging almost any kind of material yielded, in their fingers, for instance. But when the the years between Hansel and Gretel and last pull-tab has broken, the book will Rapunzel, a rich miscellany: two picture still be fun to look at, for the pictures books about extraordinary women and will still be full of energy and action. a book with movable parts, among oth- Human interaction, too. ers. He was his own singular self. Swamp Angel (1994), Anne Isaacs’s The first picture book was Lore whirl with tall-tale Americana, gave Segal’s sly comic turn, The Story of Mrs. Zelinsky another go at historical recon- . © 1990 by Paul O. Zelinsky. O. Paul WheelsThe on the Bus . © 1990 by Lovewright and Purrless Her Cat (1985). struction—this time, with a wink. The From The Wheels on the Bus.

24 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 25 recognize the three as the work of a some, Jenkins stretches a child’s power single illustrator? Well, you might ven- to imagine, to identify and sympathize. ture a guess. Agitation, elongation, and But can these oddities be objects of headlong momentum are common to affection? Using a close focus, knee- all three, along with the inventiveness high perspectives, and tightly framed and humor that have been Zelinsky compositions, Zelinsky achieves an hallmarks from the start. intimacy that makes the pictures as toy- centric as the text. The soft black-and- Not that he’s predictable, never white pencil drawings, on stubby pages, that. The text inspires the response, and are velvety and enfolding. You sink into Zelinsky’s originality is a match for the them with Plastic and StingRay and author’s. Lumphy. Let one character be a red ball named Awful Ogre’s Awful Day (2001), on Plastic; the second, a plush stingray; the other hand, is Zelinsky on the

the third, a stuffed buffalo. Such are loose, capturing the wit and zest of Jack Zelinsky. O. Paul Z Is for Moose . Illustration © 2012 by the Little Girl’s cherished toys in Emily Prelutsky’s suite of poems in pictures of From Z Is for Moose. Jenkins’s Toys Go Out (2006)—and by comic abandon. All shrewdly calcu- not having them be teddy bears or baby lated, of course. Awful Ogre, almost eye, his bulbous nose, and potato head bet book? Its very order invites us to dolls or anything else familiarly cuddle- adorable despite his single centered (thanks to his big lopsided grin), stars categorize, to proceed from an ABC of in a drama of size and space and detail. animals to alphabets of almost every- Horrifying, disgusting detail. thing imaginable. Starting the day, Awful Ogre grooms Once, we also had true nonsense himself with onion-juice mouthwash alphabets: in verses by Edward Lear and and dragon-blood rouge—and his face other early wits; in Sendak’s Alligators in the mirror is in our face, filling the All Around, more latterly. These artist- page, with a teeny, tiny skunk inhabit- illustrators have fun with, make fun of, ing his nose. But when he proclaims the very structure they’re exploiting. himself “Statuesque!” on top of a And we, the reader or listener, laugh mountain, all we see of him are his feet, to see how each expected letter brings at the top of one page, and his dripping forth an unexpected line of text, and nose hanging down from the top of the with it a comical picture. page opposite. The infill is imagination, In Z Is for Moose, Bingham takes the Zelinsky’s and ours. structure seriously; subverting it is her Call it drawing with a wink and a story, the unimaginable her starting nudge; or call it cartooning. point. Zelinsky, as her co-conspirator, Kelly Bingham’s Z Is for Moose (2012) makes the book itself an orthodox is sheer madcappery. What is more ABC, with plain borders, flat colors, basic than the alphabet, more familiar and an item per letter—only to have

. Illustration © 2001 by Paul O. Zelinsky. O. Day Paul . Illustration © 2001 by Awful Ogre’s Awful than an alphabet book, more explored Moose flout those conventions one after From Awful Ogre’s Awful Day. than the possibilities of the alpha- another in his impatience to appear,

26 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 27 Different Drums

alphabetical order be hanged. the Truck and Umbrella, Violin and He’s a personality now—we laugh, Whale, from his alterations. And Z? See we gasp, we cringe—yet still a proto- the title, read the story. Savor it to the Horrible and Beautiful typical alphabet figure. He’s both real last mischievous tailpiece. by Deborah Stevenson and unreal. Yes, there’s more than one tailpiece. The pictorial climax, a great bit of And why not? In Z Is for Moose nothing vaudeville, has goes according Moose, denied WANTED: Bright Ideas to custom—and This ended up being a challenging assignment, even his proper Zelinsky, accord- because much literature for youth is pretty weird when Artist has pen, pencil, brush. Experienced in place in the alpha- ingly, is in his coldly explained (kids travel through space and time illustrating many kinds of books, in diverse bet by Mouse, element. Never to duel a giant brain!), and we don’t think twice about styles and techniques. Nothing is too tricky. crayoning antlers more so. What he it. Saying that I adore Polly Horvath’s wonderful com- Let your challenge be our opportunity! and feet on a Ring might be inclined bination of bizarre, perhaps magical, realism and petu- and antlers and to do next, from lant domesticity, which I absolutely do, is just going to tail on a Snake (to turn both into rep- one book to another, is an open invita- elicit yawns: yeah, me and the award committees. resentations of you-know-who)…and tion to writers to think afresh. If you I’m therefore going with a book by an author Zebra, in desperation, trying to protect can dream it, he can draw it. n whose reputation has never really taken off in the U.S. despite her significance in her home country of Australia. ’s (1995) is still one of the most horrible, beautiful, shocking books I’ve ever read, pushing not just the envelope but the entire mailbox of young adult literature. The Willows, a hardscrabble, dysfunctional family that runs a trailer If you’re going to take on park, are so isolated by their abusive patriarch’s cultish control that they have only the vaguest, most unconvincing inklings, from their poorly transmitting TV and the brave work of writing for from books, that their life isn’t the same as everybody else’s. Commencing with a clearly incestuous dawn cuddle between a brother and sister and moving swiftly children and young adults, into a lovingly detailed scene of sheep slaughter, the book marks its bitter territory it’s time to get serious. right up front. Yet this is no Neanderthal enclave, and there are heartbreaking flares of possibility beyond the family’s strictured life: one son creates delicate nature Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts drawings; another longs to go to college; and the family prizes its monthly reading in Writing for Children and Young Adults assignment (currently, portentously enough, Crime and Punishment). Into this mix comes a brash young artist intrigued by the family’s strangeness (and gratified by Develop the process and craft of writing in a rigorous, engaged, how superior it makes him feel). The ways in which this does not, to put it mildly, and supportive environment. Learn how to navigate the literary marketplace. www.hamline.edu/mfac go well would have made Flannery O’Connor blanch and William Faulkner sober up, and it is a savage, traumatic exploration of the way tragedy can lie like kindling Work with faculty who are accomplished authors and master teachers: in people, just waiting for something to set it alight. n Swati Avasthi Claire Rudolf Murphy Laura Ruby Marsha Wilson Chall Marilyn Nelson Gary Schmidt Kelly Easton Marsha Qualey Eleanora Tate Deborah Stevenson is the editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Liza Ketchum Jane Resh Thomas Anne Ursu Books and the director of the Center for Children’s Books at the Graduate Ron Koertge Phyllis Root Gene Yang Mary Logue School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Illustration by Jacqueline Briggs Jacqueline Briggs Martin Urbana–Champaign. Martin. Copyright 2003 by Linda S. Wingerter. Reprinted by permis- sion of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 29 ClassifiedPLAY.indd 1 7/17/2012 11:28:49 AM Jack (and Jill) Be Nimble: An Interview with Mary Cash and Jason Low by Roger Sutton

In between the few huge publishing houses and the many tiny ones lie the small inde- pendents. Mary Cash is vice president and editor in chief of Holiday House, founded by Vernon Ives in 1935 and currently publishing sixty-plus new books a year; Jason Low is the publisher of Lee & Low Books, co-founded by his father Tom Low and by Philip Lee in 1991 and publishing approximately twenty books annually. I met with Mary and Jason in New York soon after Hurricane Sandy, and after some discussion about what the weather had wrought on all of the city’s publishers, we got down to talking about what the current climate is like for the littler guys.

roger sutton: Are you conscious of this way. I work with my brother and working as an independent publisher? my dad—it’s a small group of people, and there’s no red tape. Essentially, we mary cash: Definitely. I used to work get together, jointly make a decision, for what was at the time the largest and then go from there. It’s incredibly publishing conglomerate in the world challenging to run a small publishing (what is now Random House; then company. Publishing is going through it was Bantam Doubleday Dell), so such changes—just to be in the busi- I think about it every single day. At ness at this time is really interesting. Holiday House we aren’t beholden to either shareholders or owners who are rs: Mary, at Bantam Doubleday Dell, not accessible to us, or to a group of you would have had an elaborate executives that are charged with making acquisition process, which I’m guessing us all behave or making sure that we’re is only more elaborate there now, in profitable. which several levels of approval would be required… jason low: The independent thing is pretty huge at Lee & Low, too. I’ve mc: …and paperwork that had to be been in the publishing business for fif- filed before you could even make an teen years, but I haven’t had any other offer. You had to do an entire research type of experience—I’ve only known it project! I was so used to this method

Photo: Photo: Mark Tuchman. Roger Sutton is editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc.

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 31 mc: And so many things can change rs: So do you feel then you have between acquisition and publication. more—I can’t remember what the latest At a big publishing house, you have to business-world buzzword is for “flexibil- jump through hoops if you discover ity.” Oh, yes, we must be “nimble.” You that a thirty-two-page book needs to can easily say, “Okay, this isn’t going to be, say, a forty-eight-page book. And be on spring 2014. We can put it on this there’s always tension if you want to list.” Or can you speed something up? alter the specs, because it was not what Recent titles from Lee & Low: “Part of our mission is to develop new talent.” was approved of or signed off on. And mc: We can do both. Although it’s you’re signing up books two to five easier to put things off than speed them that when I first got to Holiday House, jl: Before we did Honda, I didn’t years before you pub- up. In all of our deci- for the first book I wanted to acquire, even know there was such a person; I lish them, and so many sions, as at Lee & Low, I went into John Briggs’s office, and I just thought it was the name of a car things can change in It’s like the difference the decision-making had my reviews, my sales figures, all company. What I like about that book that time. Including between a small sailboat process is completely about the author, how many awards is the universal theme of “follow your the technology. and a gigantic ocean streamlined. I always she’d won, all kinds of things that I’m dreams.” Honda wasn’t a good student; liner. We can turn tell people I can get rambling on and on about, and John’s he was terrible, in fact. But he was jl: We’ve seen a lot of an answer right away, on a dime. looking more and more confused. good with his hands, with machinery. change in technology. whether it’s the answer Finally he stopped me and said, “Mary, I think that’s an important message to But I feel that it doesn’t I want or not. It’s like what about the book?” That is a big, big give to kids. You have your different speed up the process of making books, the difference between trying to turn difference. things you’re really good at—it may because the illustrations are still dealt a small sailboat, which takes some not be school, but hey, look at this guy. with by archaic media. We’re still deal- thought and some skill, and trying to rs: Sales are just as important to small Honda’s a great example of a project we ing with paintbrushes and paint, stuff turn a gigantic ocean liner, where you’ve publishers as big publishers, but I’m might go after. people have been using for ages. And got to get hundreds of people working guessing the scale is different. then you plan for a book to take six together. We can turn on a dime. rs: And how does that work at Lee & months to a year, but then, you know, jl: For us, it’s just that everything’s Low? If an editor brings in a project, illustrators—how often do they run jl: We’ve had to do that many, many smaller. Print runs are smaller. Our what does he or she have to go through into personal problems that basically times over the years. expectations are smaller. We’re very real- in order to get that book approved for make that fall down? istic. If we can cover the initial invest- publication? rs: Do you find that being smaller and ment, everything else is gravy. It frees us rs: Like sleeping late. more agile can work to your benefit up to take a lot of risks, and we do. And jl: The owners are all in the room—we with authors and agents? really, there are a lot of risks, in terms of all read everything that we’re going to jl: Exactly. So more often than not I see what we acquire. Because many of the acquire. And then the editors, and that’s books become multi-year projects. It’s mc: Definitely. For one thing, our con- things that we go after are, for instance, it. We really just go by the notion that not uncommon. I think publishing’s a tract is much easier to read. And agents biographies of people you’ve never nobody has a crystal ball in terms of very odd industry in that way. Eco- do send us a lot of new people, too, heard of. what’s going to be successful, so you’ve nomically it doesn’t make a lot of sense. because it’s easier for us to take on new got to go with your gut. If the people in It’s really based on this creative process talent. We don’t have to come up with rs: Like that guy with the motor­ the room feel strongly about this manu- that’s very old. a whole marketing strategy to sell the cycles—Honda. I loved that book. script, then we’re going to give it a shot. project to the publishing board.

32 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 33 jl: We work with a lot of new people, ent channels. Mary, how does it feel to too. Part of Lee & Low’s original be the little fish in that big pond? mission was to develop new talent, so that was the idea from the get-go. mc: It feels good. I have a huge amount It lightens the negotiating of it— of independence, which I would sometimes authors or illustrators are certainly not have at a larger publisher. unagented, but if they are, they can’t And we still have our niches that we fit really ask for the moon, and we can’t into. go there anyway. And large advances Holiday House books: “We’re very attuned to what’s happening in schools.” are just not possible. Our big thing is rs: Holiday books. that our books stay in print a very long rs: But, like Holiday House, it’s trade nication is like this constant obstacle, time, because we don’t publish many, mc: Yes, and holidays that aren’t neces- books for the institutional market. and you spend much of your time and we can really pay attention to sarily big holidays to other publishers, doing presentations so that people in every single book that we are putting like Groundhog Day and St. Patrick’s jl: Yes. the company know what you’re doing, out. That’s something that agents like Day. We’re very attuned to what’s hap- writing memos and reports, traveling to hear, and authors like to hear it, pening in schools, so we also do wacky mc: Once librarians and teachers to sales conferences in other places, too. They say, Well, I want to go with grammar books and irreverent math embrace a particular book or a particu- having lots and lots of meetings. It’s so these guys even though I’m not going books that still teach math, and I think lar author, it’s far more likely that it will much more pleasant to be working on to get everything I asked for. And from these are areas that a larger publisher have a longer shelf life. Because when a the books, with other editors, with the an owner’s point of view, I know how would not be as interested in. Because teacher starts to use it, when it’s part of art director, calling up authors, having much we’ve invested in this thing— to pay for their overhead, they’ve got to the program, or when he sees that this illustrators come in with their dum- time, money, everybody’s effort—so sell a lot more copies than we do. book works well with a certain kind of mies. It’s a lot more fun than sitting in for me, I don’t want to see any books kid, then he hangs onto it. It becomes a meeting. go out of print. I have a personal as rs: And that’s something that’s true of part of his teaching. well as monetary stake in this. I’ve got both your companies—you really have jl: All that stuff takes time away from a lot of skin in the game, you know? an investment in the school and library jl: Yeah, it gets referred to kids year what people are supposed to be doing. So it definitely motivates us to try market. Most of the Big Six publishers after year after year: the strength of the It takes time to put together a presen- really hard on everything. don’t depend on it. backlist. tation. It takes time to do anything, really. If you were to run a timesheet on rs: One way that your companies jl: We made that decision many years rs: Mary, what do you miss most about the things you do every day, even the think very differently from each other ago. When I first entered the business, big publishing? The deep pockets? simplest thing takes up your time. is in terms of audience. Mary, Holiday we worked with both the trade and the House is trying to reach traditional institutional market. But it seemed to mc: The deep pockets are not available rs: Jason, you’re an independent pub- groups—schools, libraries, bookstores, me that the institutional market was the all the time, to everyone. They’re only lishing baby. I mean, this is really all general readers; basically the same one that was embracing what we were available for specific kinds of things, that you’ve known. When you see your people that Random House and Mac- doing. At that point I asked the ques- and they weren’t necessarily the sorts of opposite numbers at conferences, what millan are trying to reach. Jason, your tion, “What kind of publisher are we?” books that I was doing. I really can’t say do you envy about their situations? company has more of a mission: to We realized that, really, our strength that I miss that. Daily life is just so dif- bring multicultural books of all kinds, was institutional sales. We went whole- ferent. I spend much more time editing jl: I do like, when I’m at an ALA written by all kinds of people, to differ- hog and basically never turned back. books. With a big corporation, commu- conference or someplace, to see them

34 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 35 building their towers [of giveaway The only thing I take offense at is the of high-profile authors and illustrators. jl: Well, that’s the thing. Everybody’s ARCs]. co-opting of the “indie” label. These We avoid things like, say, a book about driving and the headlights are out, self-publishing guys are trying to take Martin Luther King, because how many basically. mc: That’s the only thing I want, too. I it for themselves, and I’m not willing to Martin Luther King books are already want their booths. give it up to them. out there? What new spin would we rs: Given you don’t have the big pock- bring to that? But we would do some- ets, how do you keep the authors and jl: We just started a YA imprint—sci- rs: Are you ever presented with a book thing about John Lewis, who was MLK’s agents coming? ence fiction, fantasy, and mystery—and that you love, but you think is not right right-hand man. we’ve published two books. We’re just for Holiday House, or not right for Lee mc: I have to say, at Holiday House, beginning to get those types of books, & Low? rs: What does the news that Random our authors have been really wonderful so my pathetic towers look nothing like House and Penguin are and loyal to us, and I their towers. I don’t have that many to mc: All the time. Certain formats we getting together mean think there are some give away, so my tower’s a bitty tower. can’t do—novelty books, board books. for your companies? We try to do right by people who will always We’ve just started asking: How are we Which creates a bit of a problem if you everybody who works prefer to work with going to get this new imprint’s books have an artist who wants to branch mc: After a certain with us. That’s all the smaller publishers. noticed on such a small scale? And I out into those areas. We don’t have point of big, it doesn’t we’re focused on. Some will want a huge guess the social media stuff is going to the right kind of distribution for those matter to someone like one, but just like we’re come into play. But even that has its sorts of things. We can’t get a book into us anymore. I don’t not the answer for limitations, because you’re tooting your Walmart or discount drugstores, or the think we’re going to be affected by the everyone, the big publishers aren’t the own horn to the people who are already kind of places where that sort of book fact that they have merged, because we answer for everyone, either. following you. You’ve got to go out and needs to sell. aren’t competing with them in the same try to get more people to subscribe, and ways that the other big publishers are. jl: We’ve started a lot of careers, and that ain’t easy. rs: Why couldn’t you get a book into now and then those people end up Walmart, say? jl: We’re also not looking at the big moving on, but I will say that a lot of rs: So you both contend with big guys as competitors, really. They’re them do come back, like Greg Chris- publishers. And now we have all these mc: First of all, Walmart doesn’t even almost in a different universe than we tie, for instance. We published his first new self-publishers, digital publishers, want to see your products if you don’t are. We’re a small universe. We do our book, and he does publish with many or print-on-demand publishers. Do you have a critical mass. And big bestsell- own thing. We run the company as best different houses, but he does come keep your eye on that side of things? ers. If you’re Random House, you go we can. We try to do right by every- back, and he says it’s because he really in there and say, Oh, I have all these body who works with us, people work- likes working with us. We work with mc: I would say not in a concerted way. cookbooks by Rachael Ray. Don’t you ing for us, the authors, the illustrators, Ted and Betsy Lewin as well. They’re I pay some attention, but there’s just want those? And then you can get some and that’s our world. That’s all we’re Caldecott honorees and all that, and so much out there. And I think that is other books in there as well. We don’t focused on. Yes, we’re trying to predict they publish with us now because a) the real disadvantage to being a self- publish on a mass market schedule, like everybody else what’s happen- they like the experience, but b) the stuff publisher: there is so much out there. either, where you’re really publishing ing with the digital stuff, but nobody they want to do in some of their books, How on earth are you going to get any every month. We have two lists a year, knows that yet. I would have to say the big houses aren’t interested in. It attention? still. And that’s very old-school. we’re definitely playing more follower doesn’t matter that they’re the Lewins. than leader in that respect. They like to do these travel books, jl: It’s like the whole scheme of what’s jl: We would probably have to avoid based on their adventures, and we think being published anyway: there’s going something that required a very large mc: And the leaders, I don’t think know they’re great, so we will do that for to be good and there’s going to be bad. advance, so that would rule out a lot where they’re going. them. There are people who are loyal.

36 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 37 Different Drums

I think that if they didn’t have a good infrastructure of a large company. experience—obviously we earn their loyalty in some way in return. jl: I think for us it’s just keep doing Embracing the Strange what we’re doing. We’ve found a way to by Kristin Cashore mc: Yeah, good or bad, I think it is a be profitable, doing the kind of books very different experience. that we do. Our mission has definitely dictated that, but it has also grown and rs: What is the next step for Holiday shifted to encompass a lot of the things House and for Lee & Low? How are that are coming up in today’s modern the next twenty years looking? world. People know to come to us for multicultural books; now we also address “So very annoying, this vol- mc: I think smaller publishers are issues including sexuality, same-sex cano,” says Moominmamma with going to be, in a way, better equipped parents, disabilities, autism. We brought a sigh, flicking soot from her going into the future because of our out a book about a deaf baseball player. (substantial) nose and thinking of small overheads. I don’t know that So I think that gives us even more places the nice new washing she’s hung print publishing—because it is going to go, in terms of the stories we want to out. And it is annoying, as are the to shrink—will be able to support the tell. I’m happy with that. n associated earthquakes and the flood wave that in Tove Jansson’s Moomin­ summer Madness finally inundates Moominvalley and leaves an entire society of Moomins and other odd creatures bereft and homeless. Strange, eerie, frightening things happen regularly in Moominvalley. Children PROVOCATIVE, MIND-BLOWING are separated from parents, innocents are thrown into jail, families lose their homes FOR to floods; the world is populated with malicious and unhappy people. But the FICTION DARING YA READERS Moomins move calmly along, implicitly trusting in one another’s (questionable) ™ SPRING 2013 FROM CAROLRHODA LAB competence, feeding and comforting the malicious and unhappy, loving each other,

READING LEVEL: GRADE 7 INTEREST LEVEL: GRADES 9-12 HARDCOVER: $17.95 eBOOK: $12.95 embracing the strange. Says Moominmamma while admiring her golden bracelet, glimmering at the bottom of a pool, “We’ll always keep our bangles in brown pond water in the future. They’re so much more beautiful that way.” There is the most beautiful, and beauti- fully restrained, joy in this odd little book, THE TWELVE-FINGERED THE SIN-EATER’S QUICKSILVER constantly about to tip over into something BOY CONFESSION R. J. ANDERSON too strange and frightening. Just when JOHN HORNOR JACOBS ISLA J. BICK Riveting companion to the acclaimed Ultraviolet. the water is about to cover the last bit “An expertly spiced stew of “A blistering confessional and a attitude, humor, horror, and grief.” page-turning whodunit.... Readers Ages 12 & Up —starred, Booklist won’t be able to look away.” Ages 14 & Up —starred, Kirkus Reviews Ages 14 & Up

More starred reviews. More genres. More eBook options.

BOUNDARY-PUSHING FICTION . © 1954 by Tove Jansson. Tove Moominsummer Jansson. Bottom: Madness . © 1954 by Tove . © 1962 by Moominvalley from Tales Top: Kristin Cashore’s latest book is Bitterblue (Dial). FOR TEENS AND THEIR SYMPATHIZERS To Order www.lernerbooks.com 800-328-4929 fax 800-332-1132

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 39 Different Drums

of roof on which sit the Moomins and the outcasts they’ve collected, a theater floats by. Everyone clambers aboard, The Price of Truth not knowing what a theater is, thinking they’ve found their new home. What by Eugene Yelchin a scary and delightful home it is! The floor spins around like a carousel. Bright colored lights illuminate the sitting room at random intervals. Doors stand alone with no rooms behind them, staircases end in mid-air, and the open ceiling area is filled with pictures you can pull down and put back up again. And of course, the entire structure floats along unpredictably, My novel Breaking Stalin’s Nose is a book about a young boy’s pushed to and fro by the flood waves, discovery of truth, his loss of idealism, and his subsequent decision landing in a rowan forest, becoming unmoored again. “‘I like it here,’ said the to walk away from the system he trusted. The boy’s transformation Mymble’s daughter. ‘It’s just as if nothing really mattered here.’” There is a sense, in this book, that nothing really matters; that in this most ter- mirrors my own. I also discovered truth about the system I trusted, rifying world, there is no point in fear. The lost will be found, or they won’t; the and I also walked away from it. But lin’s orders, “Poetry in Russia is taken so floodwaters will recede, or they won’t; the Misabel who is always overcome with unlike my fictional hero, I discovered seriously, poets are killed for it.” tearful histrionics will discover that all along, she’s been meant to be acting tragedies truth from the books I have read, and I Books were certainly taken seriously on stage, and after that, she’ll be happy—or she won’t. Most importantly, within the Jansson. Tove Moominsummer Jansson. Bottom: Madness . © 1954 by Tove © 1957 by Moominland Midwinter. Top: owe my life to their authors. in my family. We lived in what was steady, stable, oddball Moomin family, there exists a paradox. “‘Flee!’ cried Moom- Reading books in a police state is then called Leningrad, now St. Peters- inmamma,” when the police come looking for her son. “She didn’t know what a very different activity from reading burg, in a communal apartment where her Moomintroll had done, but she was convinced that she approved of it.” The books in a free society. In a police state, several families besides ours shared paradox? There is no such thing as safety; in our (abundant) ignorance, we’ll make reading books can place your life in one kitchen, one toilet, and one cold- mistakes, we’ll lose each other, we’ll never completely understand what’s happening; danger, but it can also encourage you water tap. Five of us—my mother and yet we are safe here, you are safe here, because I love you and you are mine. n to resist the life predetermined for you father, my grandmother, my brother by the state. And that is exactly what and I—lived in one small room. Hast- happened to me. ily installed walls between the rooms Where I came from—I was born, were thin, and they had ears. The dense raised, and educated in the former living quarters were ideal for spying. —books were taken very Nobody talked about it, but everyone seriously. To quote the greatest Russian knew that the secret police routinely poet of the last century, Osip Mandels- planted at least one informer per each tam, who perished in the Gulag on Sta- communal apartment. About twenty

Eugene Yelchin’s Breaking Stalin’s Nose was a 2012 Newbery Honor book. His article is adapted from a speech he delivered to the Women’s National Book Association on June 9, 2012, in Los Angeles, California.

40 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 41 strangers lived with my family penetrating the mind. At other times, diplomats or courageous tourists. Those side by side, and which one of truth hits like a thunderbolt. In either books were the works of the Rus- them was the informer no one case, readers always know when the sian authors that were banned by the could say. author is telling the truth. In addition Soviet authorities. The books were very At first, I had nothing to to the many pleasures that reading a small, no larger than a deck of cards, worry about. My father was good book offers, the discovery of truth and printed in minuscule typeface on a devoted Communist, a true is the most essential. At its core, classic cigarette paper for easy concealment. believer in Communist ideals. Russian literature is humanistic litera- I first read Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, Material possessions meant ture. The search for truth in Russian Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, and nothing to him. He was ready books is the search for what it means to dozens of other titles suppressed by the to give his life for the party be human. government printed in that clandestine or, at the very least, to share No wonder, then, that in a country fashion. his last piece of bread with a such as the Soviet Union, where for These books, and there were a very fellow Communist. However, seventy long years the government small number of copies in circulation, my father was quite possessive consistently and skillfully concealed were passed on from one trusted person about one thing, and it was his truth from its people, reading classic to another for no more than a day or

library. The walls of our small Yelchin. courtesy Photo of Eugene books acquired such enormous value. two, and often for just a few hours. I room were lined with books he Eugene Yelchin’s father in Leningrad, 1948. What books did for me was to compel remember hurrying to read Solzhenit- had collected. The books never me to create my own life from within syn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Deniso- left the room but were read and set of works by Pushkin, Tolstoy, or rather than submit to one from with- vich overnight, as I had to pass the tiny re-read by the members of my family. Dostoyevsky; Chekhov or Turgenev or out. In other words, during the On occasion, when we had visitors, Gogol, one had to spend untold hours breakdown of humanity that one of them would get lost in a book waiting in line, often at night in the occurred under Soviet Com- he or she couldn’t find elsewhere. No most dreadful weather. In all likeli- munism, reading humanistic Russian would consider such behavior hood, my father could have read an literature helped me to become improper. entire one of these books in the time it human. By Soviet standards, my father’s took him to stand in line to subscribe My father, still a young library was extravagant. Back then, to it. He was not an exception. man, passed away in the early books were hard to come by. One The hold that books had on us dur- 1970s. His library was all he could not walk into a bookstore ing the Soviet period is hard to com- left behind. Being a member and choose a book one wanted to prehend today. I often wonder about of the Communist party, he buy unless, of course, it was a work it, pondering the reason (other than would have found it difficult, approved or devised by the Soviet pro- their short supply) why books were so politically, to add to his library paganda. The real books, the classics, important and so valuable. a small number of underground were available by government subscrip- Generally speaking, most readers books that appeared in Lenin- tion only. Because of their exalted experience moments when they come grad at that time. These books status in Russia as well as abroad, upon a passage that precisely describes were not published by the the classics could not be banned, but their innermost feelings, something official Soviet presses but by their availability was severely limited. they thought was unique only to them. University. Stanford Institution Archives, 12, Hoover 7/Folder Box papers, Ginzburg Il’ich the Aleksandr Gulag Archipelago of The from Photo foreign publishers and smug- In order to subscribe to a complete At times the discovery is subtle, slowly gled into the country by foreign The Gulag Archipelago, in miniature.

42 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 43 book to a friend the following morning. I remember how those blurry, were distributed through self-publish- At the same time, the collective body wrinkled, loose sheets of paper felt in ing, was awe-inspiring. In retrospect, of banned works by Russian writers and my hands. We called them samizdat, the courage of their readers was no less poets was by then so enormous that which literally means “self-publishing.” so. If apprehended by the police with only a small portion of it had leaked As a young man reading these pre- any of the banned books in possession, to the West. In fact, some of our best cious works, I began to understand the one would most certainly face a long literature was not even to unwritten rules of our lives, the hidden journey to the Siberian Gulag with a paper. Take poetry, for example. The structures of power, and the way not slim chance of a safe return. poet Osip Mandelstam was relentlessly only our government but also we our- Why did we risk our lives for some- terrorized by the secret selves, Soviet citizens thing as commonplace in free societies police. He was arrested Why did we risk and the readers of as reading? The answer is simple. We and exiled twice and our lives for something these works, contrib- were looking for truth. We were look- finally sentenced to a uted to the uncanny ing for truth about our country and as commonplace in free hard labor camp he union of oppression our history. The crimes committed by did not survive. Dur- societies as reading? and submission we the Soviet government against its own ing Mandelstam’s short called our home. people were carried out in absolute life, the Soviet censors refused to pub- The thunderbolt of truth struck in secrecy with most evidence classified lish his poetry, and in police searches all earnest when as a young man I finally or destroyed. The generations of Soviet of his papers were routinely confiscated read The Gulag Archipelago by Sol- people either still terrified by or respon- and destroyed. At the height of the zhenitsyn, a book that for the first time sible for the crimes kept silent. Stalinist purges of the 1930s, anything revealed all the horrors of the Soviet I could not learn the truth about committed to paper was dangerous. As system and paid tribute to millions of those crimes from my father while he a result, most of Mandelstam’s poetry innocent people who lost their lives was still alive. I could not learn it from had to be memorized and the paper to Stalin. I have read and re-read that my friends. Truth was not taught at on which it was composed burnt. To book since, and keep a nice English- my school or the university I attended. preserve his poetry, his wife Nadezhda language edition in my library now. Truth was not available in newspapers (which incidentally means “hope” in But I could never experience again or magazines, on radio or television. I Russian) committed to memory all of the shock, the horror, and the guilt I learned truth from the books I risked his poems. For over twenty years after felt poring over those thin, hurriedly my life to read. When I was in my her husband’s death, Nadezhda kept typewritten pages full of ink smears and twenties, I understood quite clearly for his poetry alive by repeating his poems typos for the first time. While reading, the first time that knowing what I came over and over to herself. Finally, after I listened attentively for any unusual to know from reading books and to Stalin’s death, she dictated the poems to sounds outside our door. There was remain a Soviet citizen would implicate be written down, but still the censors always a chance that the person who me in the crimes of my government. would not permit their publication. gave you the book was an informer. I did everything I could to leave my As a result, Mandelstam’s poetry was One never knew when the secret police country. copied by hand or on home typewrit- would stop by unannounced. In a final twist of fate, I had to sell ers using carbon paper, and the copies The courage of writers like Solzhenit- my father’s library in order to pay for secretly passed on to a handful of syn who were still living in the Soviet the exit visa from the Soviet Union. A courageous readers. Union but were published abroad, or fair price to pay for truth. n

44 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 Different Drums New and Strange, Once Reading: by Susan Marston It’s More Than Meets the Eye by Elizabeth Burns

In a field that celebrates the works of Maurice Sen- dak, William Steig, and , and in which anthropomorphic animals are regularly clothed only from the waist up, “weird” is difficult to define. In 1994, I had worked at Junior Library Guild for three years, helping to decide whether the K–5 titles I I work at a library that provides reading materials for the “print read seemed fresh simply because they were different disabled”—those people who cannot read a traditional print book or if they were in fact good. When our company was sold and longtime editorial director Marjorie Jones for a physical reason. It’s a network library of the National Library retired, suddenly that assessment was up to me. Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division On a train to Connecticut to meet with my new supervisors, I read proofs of of the , and the tridge have both print and braille labels. Dinner at Magritte’s by Michael Garland. It is a fictional story about historical program has been around for about The DTBM even allows the listener figures, something I’d been taught to be skeptical of—and it wasn’t perfect. Both eighty years. to adjust the pitch, speed, and volume the dialogue and paintings were a little stiff. But I loved how Garland turned the NLS, through its libraries, provides of audiobooks. Both audiobooks and ordinary happenings described in the text—a boy named Pierre and his neighbors books and magazines in audio and braille books can also be downloaded René and Georgette Magritte walk, play croquet, and dine together—into homages braille. For audiobooks, NLS also fur- for those who have access to the inter- to the surrealist’s dreamlike works. For example, as Pierre and friends walk through nishes a machine to play these books. net and (for downloadable web-braille) the woods, their arms and legs weave in and out of the background (as in Magritte’s Originally that was a record player; the technology needed to access and Carte Blanche), and Magritte attends dinner in a bowler hat, with an apple sus- then a cassette player; now it is a “Digi- read these types of e-books. pended in front of his face (à la The Son of Man). I felt sure kids would enjoy these tal Talking Book Machine” (DTBM). When I tell people where I work, I weird images, but as a whole was the book better than all the ones I hadn’t yet seen Instead of a record or cassette, books sometimes hear about how our library or read that season? are stored on flashdrives. Both the made a positive impact on the life of After the fact, when books that cause me anxiety during the decision-making pro- DTBM and cartridge that contains the a grandparent or elderly neighbor. cess (kids in a televised fight to the death, bears that eat hat-stealing rabbits) have flashdrive are provided on loan at no Almost always, it’s someone who has become established on our list, their innovations become familiar, their existence cost and are specifically designed for the diminished vision for age-related rea- seems inevitable, and it’s hard to remember that once, like Dinner at Magritte’s, they needs of the print-disabled community. sons; occasionally it’s someone whose were new and strange. n For example, both the DTBM and car- arthritis has made it impossible to hold

Elizabeth Burns is a youth services consultant for a network library of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and hosts Susan Marston is editorial director of Junior Library Guild. the SLJ blog A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy.

4646 TheThe HornHorn BookBook MagazineMagazine March/AprilMarch/April 20132013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 47 a book or turn the pages. but also, in some situations, people found in a bookstore or typical library. doesn’t record textbooks—for that, you When I explain that I don’t work with reading disabilities. Simple. The reason for that is copyright law need to go to LearningAlly.) And since with those adults but with the children and the Chafee Amendment…and not every publisher produces every one and teens who are members of our Every now and then people will I’m losing you already, right? What of their books in audio format, NLS is library, many people seem taken aback, point to the number of commercial is important here is that the Chafee able to best serve its patrons by record- as if it hadn’t occurred to them that audiobooks and text-to-speech options Amendment allows for the creation ing audiobooks that are of specific young people might also need alternate on computers and electronic devices of books in alternate formats (braille interest to them. NLS also provides, forms of print. And this is why the and ask me if braille is going away. My and audiobooks) for people with print on loan, the DTBM, eliminating any outreach component of my job is so usual response is, Are those reasons for disabilities (those who need alternate expense on the behalf of its patrons. important. If people don’t know we print to go away? The same benefits formats to read the book) without the Here is an example of a book that serve young print-disabled readers, it of children learning how to read and permission of the copyright holder print-disabled readers can only get from makes it even harder (and sometimes write standard print also apply to those (which means that the publishers and NLS: Trapped by Michael Northrop more expensive) for those readers to people who learn how to read and authors don’t get paid). (Scholastic, 2011). It’s published only get access to the same material their write braille. Organizations such as the in hardcover, paperback, and e-book, peers are reading. To be honest, most National Federation of the Blind and Why make this exception for so those teens who need audio can’t people don’t know about NLS and what the American Foundation for the Blind people with print disabilities? Why can’t listen to it on a commercially produced it offers. My outreach doesn’t involve advocate for braille education. Places they just read commercially produced audiobook. But—yes, they can, because visiting local schools and community like the American Printing House for audiobooks? It’s true that there are NLS has recorded it and made it avail- centers and talking to kids and teens the Blind, National Braille Press, and many more commercial unabridged able. about library services. Instead, I search Seedlings sell braille books. audiobooks published today than there for the adults—teachers, school staff, Personally, I think it’s a good idea for were when NLS was created in 1931, So that’s the long explanation as librarians, health care workers—who a library to have at least a few braille or when the Chafee Amendment was to why NLS has books that you won’t don’t know we exist but who work with books around. Why? First, because it passed in 1996. But do the math. To find in the bookstore or a library. NLS children who are eligible for our ser- is something that kids find interesting. listen to the commercial audiobook, books are just for the print disabled vices. If they have heard about us, they Second, it shows readers that braille is you need a device to listen to the book and only available through its network either think we are just for people who just another way for people to read and (an extra cost not incurred by a person of libraries; you cannot buy them, you are blind (with the further mistaken is as valid and real as print. Third, it’s a without print disabilities). Next, you can only borrow them, and you can belief that blind means total vision loss) way to show kids and teens how braille need to buy the audiobook version, only borrow them if you’re eligible. If or that we don’t offer anything differ- really works, outside of a sample ABC which costs much more than the hard- you want to find out what NLS has, ent from a bookstore, public library, or card. What type of book to get? Print/ cover, the paperback, or the e-book. Is you can’t look at an online bookseller school library. braille picture books can be read by that fair to family budgets? Or to school or even at WorldCat; you have to go This misunderstanding is usually the all types of readers: I often have adult or public library budgets? The answer to either the NLS online catalog or the easiest to correct. I explain that, yes, we braille readers ask for these titles to read is “no”—so the Chafee Amendment online catalog of your state’s network have braille for braille readers, but we to their sighted children. (One caveat: allows NLS to create its own audio- library. also have resources for people with low braille takes up a lot of shelf space! books. Sometimes there is overlap with See the problem here? You can only vision—the inability to read standard One chapter book can comprise several commercial audiobooks, but NLS also find the books at NLS if you know print even with glasses. I also explain volumes.) produces types of books that are less about NLS, so those kids who may that the definition of “physical handi- Less simple than explaining who commonly published in audio form: need our services and who want that cap” includes not just people who are NLS serves is educating people about scholarly books, cookbooks, midlist fic- book won’t find it until someone tells unable to hold a book or turn the pages why books for these readers can’t be tion, series titles, books for all ages. (It them, their teachers, or their family

48 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 49 about our library. Thus, the outreach E-books. I’m a champion of e-books Kindle devices have audio capability. first come out! Text-to-speech increases portion of my job. And, too often, and e-readers, though I realize they’re And if assistance is needed to get to that sales for that community (and perhaps people just don’t know. Yes, it gets a hardly perfect and they can cost a lot book that allows text-to-speech, it is for your bottom lines). bit frustrating when it is kids wanting of money and, as librarians know, not an ideal solution to the reader, who to read the book that all their friends library lending is still being worked out. loses all privacy. Imagine a thirteen- You know what else increases are reading, when they are reading it, Still, even with these limitations, there year-old (with low vision or maybe sales for the print-disabled community, and without having to pay two or three are significant possibilities offered by dyslexia) always having to ask a parent especially children and teens? The abil- times the amount to do so. e-books and e-readers that can make to buy a book and then again having ity to tweak the book design in order NLS provides a valuable service these titles accessible to those who read to ask for help to navigate through the to make reading easier. Being able to offering books in alternate formats at in alternate formats. For instance, some device to get to the book before being increase the type size of e-books can no cost to the end user. There are other Kindle books allow for text-to-speech. able to read it! If some of this sounds a turn any copy into a large-print version. sources for books; as I’ve mentioned, This is a terrific feature for people who bit familiar, it’s because organizations Even changing the font itself, to one unabridged commercial audiobooks need to read audiobooks—and it allows such as the National Federation of the that is easier to read, could make a huge are available and can meet some of them to do so at the identical price Blind are very vocal in their advocacy difference for readers, or allowing for the needs of print-disabled readers. point as everyone else buying those efforts to make e-reader devices fully change in contrast, such as white text School and public libraries who have e-books. This isn’t a catch-all solu- accessible. Quick message to publishers: on a black background or red on green. these audiobooks are meeting the needs tion; first, not every e-book includes it. trust me, many people who are print And remember the issue with text-to- of their readers who read in alternate Second, not every publisher allows it. disabled would love to buy your e-books speech and navigating to the book? formats. Another possible option? Third, at this writing only upper-end just like everyone else, right when they That is also true for large-print books:

Resources for More Information through outreach programs and provides access to information by producing books and informational resources in braille. American Foundation for the Blind, afb.org National Federation of the Blind, nfb.org AFB’s goal is to remove barriers, create solutions, and expand possibilities so people with A membership organization of blind people in the United States. Encourages independence vision loss can achieve their full potential. through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs. American Printing House for the Blind, aph.org The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, loc.gov/nls A resource for educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of people who are visually impaired. Congress, through a network of libraries, administers a free loan program for recorded and Bookshare, bookshare.org braille books and magazines for residents of the United States who are unable to read or An accessible online library for people with print disabilities. At the moment, there is a use standard print materials because of visual or physical impairment. membership fee but it is free for U.S. students. Depending on the title, books are read using Seedlings, seedlings.org DAISY, other screenreaders, or embossed braille. Braille books for children. Copyright Law Amendment, 1996, loc.gov/nls/reference/factsheets/copyright.html Thorndike Press, thorndike.gale.com Explains the Chafee Amendment and Copyright law as it applies to creating alternate read- Commercial large-print books, including books for children and teens. NLS has additional ing formats for those who cannot read standard print. information on various large-print publishers at Reading Materials in Large Print: A Resource LearningAlly (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic), learningally.org Guide at loc.gov/nls/reference/circulars/largeprint.html. Provides textbooks and audiobooks. Unlike NLS, there is a yearly membership charge. WorldCat, worldcat.org National Braille Press, nbp.org A network of library content and collections. NLS is not a member, so our collections are A nonprofit braille publisher, National Braille Press promotes literacy for blind children not included.

50 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 51 File: “notes_halfvert.indd” does the device allow magnification find it on Amazon in large print, and as inferior to print, or equate listening of the menus, allowing a person to on you’ll discover that, at best, you’ll have to them as a way of cheating. Don’t be Notes their own buy and find the book? to spend over seventy dollars for it surprised to find out that kids—not from the used and over a hundred for it new. In just older adults—may have low vision What about large-print books? contrast to all this drama (and cost!) and would benefit from reading large Yes, e-books and e-readers provide over large print, e-books are a really print. Look at what you do through Horn some possibilities, but not all, and some good way for print-disabled children to the perspective of the child or teen who people just prefer paper. Right now, be able to read the same book as their has print disabilities: When creating Book there are very few places one can buy friends. booklists and displays, putting together them for children and teens. Thorndike What impresses me most about the reading assignments or classroom NEWS ABOUT GOOD BOOKS is the most well known large-print ven- kids I work with is how many of them libraries, find out what titles exist in FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS dor that does offer kids’ books, but they love reading: they find an author, a alternate formats and get them for your produce only one or two titles a month. series, or a genre and want those books. readers. Mix up the print books with In every issue That’s roughly twenty-four titles a year, Some kids may start as reluctant readers audiobooks. When making copies of • Roger’s 5-question interview out of the thousands of books being because they haven’t had the large print those booklists, use at least a sixteen- published. In addition, the younger the or audiobooks they need, so of course point font. Often in September, I’ll • The best new books for intended audience, the less likely the it’s had an impact on their reading. send out ten, twenty, or thirty books children and young adults book has been made into large print. Alternate formats, readily available to a child’s school just to have them in • Comments from our editors Large print is typically a sixteen-point without significant cost, change all the school library or in the classroom • Links and ideas for further font or higher; picture books and early that. What these kids want is to have library so that the child can browse and reading chapter books are usually at least that the exact same reading opportunities find things, just like every other student size. I constantly get requests for books as their friends and classmates. They in their school. Simply call your local • Great information to share from kindergarten to about fifth grade want to be able to encounter the text network library to get the same services with teachers, parents, or in large print, and it’s usually difficult one-on-one, without a teacher or parent for your kids. anyone else who cares about to find books that are made in special reading it to them. They want to find When looking at e-readers or other great books large-print editions (including chapter and browse and select books on their devices or computers, examine the assis- books) in this age range. Plus, places own, without asking someone for help. tive technology they have or don’t have. and it’s free! like Thorndike have the books for only Sometimes I can make that happen by It’s not one size fits all; different solu- a short time. Books aren’t automatically having the books here at my library; tions work for different kids, so involve made into large print by publishers. Just other times, I check the catalogs of them in “test driving” the devices and as an author sells, say, the audiobook other places that also operate under the books. rights to their work, so, too, do they sell Chafee Amendment, such as Learning the large-print rights. Have those rights Ally or Bookshare; or, I try to deter- Reading is a wonderful thing: been bought? Or exercised? And for mine if an e-book copy exists. whether it’s print, or braille, or audio; how long a time period? A book may whether it’s an electronic book or print. have been made into large print several How can other people help to Print disabilities are not a barrier to years ago, but those rights may have create a world in which these kids have reading: with thought and consider- expired. the exact same access and ability to read ation, kids who read using alternate for- Here’s an example: Tales of a Fourth the books they want, how and when mats can have the same opportunities as Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. Go they want? First, don’t treat audiobooks every other kid in their classroom. n

www.hbook.com

52 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 Sight Reading

they hold all the cards. They are the as a “willfully perverse and subversive responsible ones: the people who, for individualist.” Wit’s End: good or ill, make things happen. His first picture book, The Mellops For that same reason, adults have also Go Flying (1957), immediately put him The Art of Tomi Ungerer furnished Ungerer with his preferred on the map, garnering high praise from by Leonard S. Marcus targets for satire, an art form he turned librarian-critics in the year that Robert to early, in parallel with his career in McCloskey produced his second Calde- children’s books. Moving to New York cott Medal–winner, the idyllic Time of in 1956, he quickly established himself Wonder. Ungerer clearly belonged to in both realms, with Harper’s Ursula a different, less tradition-bound—and Nordstrom acting as his champion and ultimately more combative—genera- mentor in the latter domain. Nord- tion. The artists he hung out with in strom, then in the sixteenth year of her Greenwich Village in those early days, historic tenure as director of Harper’s and regarded as his comrades in arms, Department of Books for Boys and included Maurice Sendak, Shel Silver- Tomi Ungerer was born between worlds, and his picture books Girls, recognized Ungerer’s virtuosity stein, and Jules Feiffer. as a draftsman and responded enthusi- During the 1960s Ungerer, like show it. Ungerer was raised amid the Sturm und Drang of the Second astically to the iconoclastic spirit that, Feiffer, courted controversy with his World War in Alsace, a multilingual border region to which Germany a few years earlier, had prompted a scathing critiques—presented in a and France have repeatedly laid claim over the centuries. Although disgusted headmaster to denounce him series of widely distributed posters—of the worst aspects of the war largely supply in his books, it is doubtless a passed him and his family by, the reflection of the artist’s own childhood experience marked Ungerer for life, imperative to grow up fast, master basic and he grew up to create stories for survival skills, and move on. When the . © 2011 by Tomi Ungerer. Tomi Oil . © 2011 by Mellops Strike The children about perennial outsiders globetrotting Mellops family of pigs of one kind or another. The cast of strikes oil or discovers sunken treasure, characters includes loners (Moon Man), the children help out, but worldly Mr. eccentrics (the Mellops books, The Mellops quite properly takes the lead Beast of Monsieur Racine), “sports” of in organizing and carrying out the nature (Adelaide: The Flying Kangaroo), required scheme. Ungerer stories like displaced persons (Otto), and two-bit these have the aspect of an initiation criminals, some of whom turn out to rite, serving up tantalizing foretastes have hearts of gold (The Three Robbers), of the mysterious “afterlife” of adult but most of whom do not (Crictor). experience toward which childhood If child protagonists in the conven- inexorably tends. For this artist, grown- tional, picture-book sense are in short ups make the best characters because

Leonard S. Marcus is the author, most recently, of Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices (Farrar) and Show Me a Story!: Why Picture Books Matter (Candlewick). Ungerer. Thomas Jean Crictor . © 1958 by From Crictor.

54 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 55 the Vietnam War. Like Silverstein, he Crictor devoted to the numerals two with Steinberg, Ungerer’s blithely earned a certain notoriety for his excur- to eight, Ungerer depicted an octopus sinuous pen-line has a characteristic sions into erotic art. Neither of these with seven tentacles—one shy of the life of its own, regardless of the subject projects was likely to win him friends usual number. He later claimed that he it conjures forth. Not only that, but on the Newbery–Caldecott commit- deliberately made such “mistakes” on some bacchanalian pleasure principle is tee. Ungerer was far less inclined than occasion in order to give attentive chil- also at work, at a subliminal level that Sendak to take time out to attend pro- dren the pleasure of catching a grownup can only be sensed: more than many fessional conferences and speak before in an error. In 1971, he upped the ante artists, Ungerer leaves the unmistakable groups of librarians and teachers in a when in The Beast of Monsieur Racine he impression of having taken joy in the politic effort to let them come to know drew drops of blood on random figures act of making his mark. From The Beast of Monsieur Racine. him. (In time, Ungerer would decide in the illustrations’ crowd scenes—pre- Ungerer. Tomi . © 1971 by Beast The of Monsieur Racine During the 1950s, an illustrator at the United States was not the place for sumably hoping once again to amuse the start of his career typically rendered debonair and thoroughly idiosyncratic him and take up residence elsewhere: his adventurous young fans and tweak the art for his first few books in black adult, put on display for young readers in Canada, Ireland, and his native the noses of their no-nonsense mind- and white, or at most with the benefit to marvel at. Here, too, is the mysteri- Strasbourg, France. As an epigraph for ers. Sadly but not all that surprisingly, of a very limited allowance of addi- ous beast, yet another in the long line his memoir Tomi: A Childhood Under the medal-givers that year passed over tional color. Crictor is the best of the of Ungerer outliers. And here is the the Nazis (1998), he quotes from a one of the most brilliantly witty picture early Ungerer books produced under artist’s ferociously arch and renegade schoolbook inscription that foretold books of their time. these constraints, which saved the pub- attitude toward everything, the pungent this future for himself: “I am and am Ungerer draws with the effortless lisher money and worry while testing suggestion that nothing in life is ever called Hans Ungerer / I shall be the grace of an Olympic skater turning the apprentice artist’s ability to make quite what it seems. The climactic wanderer.”) perfect figure eights, an excellence he more from less. Ungerer’s sophisticated incident—when the beast, by then the Nor did every critic get the joke shares with one of his lifelong heroes, brand of deadpan humor was already talk of all France, is revealed to be a when, in the double-page spread in New Yorker artist Saul Steinberg. As well in place by then, and it still makes pair of exceedingly clever youngsters in for delightfully good comic fun to costume—is a liberating moment on at page through the book noting each of least two counts. For young readers, it the disarmingly sly demonstrations by is always satisfying, of course, when a which his boa constrictor protagonist venerable graybeard gets snookered by shows off his talents. one of their own. Less ordinary, though, By the time Ungerer created The is the reaction Ungerer attributes to Beast of Monsieur Racine, full color had Monsieur Racine. The fine French gent long since become the option of choice is not merely unfazed to have thus been for him, and once again he made the fooled in front of all his peers but is also most of the opportunity. His experience visibly grateful for the experience. As a as a poster artist clearly served him well scientist who looks upon his own cushy as he went about designing the story’s life as a quixotic experiment, the droll ornate room interiors and outdoor Monsieur pledges no allegiance except street scenes, which though jammed to the truth, and accepts his own story’s with incident feel absolutely focused. surprise ending as he would any other. The story itself is a culmination of Nothing, it seems, could in fact ever sorts, a synthesis of signature Ungerer surprise him, and the same can be said . © 1971 by Tomi Ungerer. Tomi . © 1971 by Beast The of Monsieur Racine From The Beast of Monsieur Racine. elements. Here is Monsieur Racine, the for Tomi Ungerer. n

56 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 57 Different Drums Field Notes How Can a Fire Be Naughty? When Pigs Fly: by Elizabeth Law The Improbable Dream of Bookselling in a Digital Age by Elizabeth Bluemle When I was in nursery school, my favorite bedtime books were two my mother stole from the Unitarian Sunday School library, Martin and Judy, volumes II and III, by Verna Hills Bayley. I loved these books, about two friends who lived next door to each other, because each chapter contained a mildly dramatic story on a subject I could relate to, and each one ended “I’ve always dreamed of opening a bookstore when I retire.” We with a lesson. (That’s right, a lesson—the same used to hear this all the time, a shy confession from book-loving thing that makes me leery when I see one in customers and tourists delighted to find an independent bookstore a picture book manuscript today. But that’s because I don’t like instruction that tries to tucked away in a small Vermont town. It was the words “when I pass itself off as something else.) Judy and her retire” that made us smile, this cozy nities, is still alive and well. Will it be brother get distracted while popping corn in perception of bookselling as something enough to sustain a faltering industry? the fireplace and forget to replace the screen, causing a fire. A tiny fire that burns other than work, a magical land where It’s hard to say. When the Horn Book a hole in the rug, but it seems scary at first. Judy and her mother sensibly discuss, one got to read all day in a rocking invited me to write about the joys and “How can a fire be naughty? It has to burn the things that are in its way.” Another chair and occasionally shoo a cat off challenges of operating an independent time, Judy gets her tonsils out in a story that ends with Judy remembering her one’s lap to rise in search of a book… bookstore in the twenty-first century, . Rev. ed. Illustration by Lydia N. Breed. © 1959 by The Beacon Press. Beacon The © 1959 by N. Breed. Lydia Illustration by ed. . Rev. Martin Two and Judy: Volume father’s wise words, “Hospitals may not be much fun, but they are good when you and perhaps ring up a customer. We I was both honored and a bit wary: do need them.” So satisfying! don’t hear that opening-a-bookstore people really want to know the realities When I came across these books again in my twenties, I rolled my eyes at their dream expressed that often anymore; of bookselling? Or do they want the all-white cast, their overstated prose style, and their obvious didacticism. But now news of widespread bookstore closures dream? I recognize what they did well. There’s real plot in each story, yet they are short and and the growing dominance of online Unlike many booksellers, my partner come to rewarding conclusions. They build a world and characters. Finally, each retailing and the rise of digital books and I got into the business by accident. tale, from the rained-out picnic to the nickel that gets lost under the porch, is one have all made people more aware of the We had moved to northern Vermont a preschooler can relate to. And don’t many of our very best picture books today challenges of our field. But the fierce from Manhattan in June 1996, seeking explore or celebrate the tiny things that loom so large in a child’s universe? n passion for printed books, and a desire green grass and fresher air and a less for them in the hearts of our commu- hectic life; we were in our early thirties,

Elizabeth Law is a children’s book editor who has worked in publishing for more Elizabeth Bluemle is the co-owner of The Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, than twenty-five years. Vermont, and co-author of Publishers Weekly’s ShelfTalker blog with Josie Leavitt.

58 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 59 full of dreams and a taste for adventure. age three through high school. We had Vermont was beautiful, gay-friendly (an both taught reading to literacy students. early adopter of civil rights laws), and We had entrepreneurial enthusiasm. small enough that everything seemed Above all, we had a knowledge and love possible. of books. The center of the little town of 3,500 Once we made the decision, we acted where we settled held a post office, quickly. How hard could it be, really? a fire station, a preschool, and a tiny We weren’t attempting to be a nation- market. There was also a café in a cute ally known entity; we just wanted to little square building that used to be be a neighborhood resource, a mom- the old post office. When a “for lease” and-pop store, something one step up notice appeared on that building three from a hobby. Back then, you see, we months into our Vermont sojourn, Josie were the ones who thought opening a and I immediately began brainstorm- bookstore might be something one did ing: could we do something special in near-retirement—a calm job, prob- with that space? It took us about fifteen ably not likely to make us much money was even possible, but it happened. We beyond mere commerce. Something I minutes to decide that a bookstore— (even then, profit margins were slim), opened with 850 square feet, 6,500 often want to ask customers, authors, specifically a children’s bookstore—was but a labor of love we hoped could books, a purple front door, brightly friends, and even family who routinely the only endeavor we had any business support us. painted walls in a hue we called “Dr. give their business to online mega- considering. We both had teaching Ten weeks later, we opened our Seuss Blue,” and candy-striped awnings. corporations is, Do those corpora- backgrounds, master’s degrees in educa- doors. Ten weeks from idea to opening The Flying Pig was named in large part tions bring authors and other cultural tion, and experience with kids from day! I don’t advise this. I’m not sure it for the improbability of our vision—a opportunities to your communities, seat-of-the-pants, fly-by-day operation igniting joy and wonder and possibil- that we learned by doing. Sixteen years ity in young people? Do they give to later, we have thirty thousand books your fundraisers and bake sales, donate and a retail space nearly twice as large, books and money to your kids’ teams four miles north of our original loca- and your favorite causes? Do they set tion. While our immediate surround- aside new titles just for you, because ings have changed, it’s the landscape they know you’ll love them? Help you of bookselling that is almost unrecog- plan your curriculum using the best nizable. When we opened, there were possible titles to suit your needs? Hand several thousand independent book- you a comforting read after your dog stores in the U.S. Now, there are fewer dies? Spend a half hour with you to than two thousand—less than half. find the perfect book for your niece in And we are Chittenden County’s oldest the hospital? Do they employ people in independent new-bookstore. your town and contribute taxes to your schools and roads and public services? A good “indie” measures profit Customers who support local stores are not only in book sales but in what it also supporting themselves and their

Photos on pages 60–61: Elizabeth Bluemle. Photos adds to the community. Its role goes far communities. It’s a beautiful symbiosis.

60 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 61 When we opened, chain stores were book author as well as a bookseller, borhood businesses that serve every age books was Norton Juster and Jules just beginning to move into neighbor- and for several uncomfortable months and interest. Like a market, a bookstore Feiffer’s The Phantom Tollbooth. In hoods and compete with indies; there I couldn’t sell my own book in paper- nourishes the community—its food is addition to the puns and playfulness, were no online book retailers and no back to the local kids, who were able ideas and imagination and informa- the cleverness and heart, I was struck e-books. Publishers hadn’t yet created to buy it at their school book fair and tion. We’re part of our customers’ lives by a passage at the end of the book that websites where they sold books in direct order it from a book club flyer. That from cradle to grave. It’s an honor knocked my ten-year-old socks off. It competition with bookstores, which kind of thing makes customers think that people come to us, for books and was that marvelous moment when King act as showrooms for their products. In we are trying to charge them more conversation, sometimes even just for Azaz reveals the secret of Milo’s journey, 1996, readers appre- money by carrying a friendly face, during the hardest and as the crowds applaud his rescue of the ciated the value of only hardcovers. the best times of their lives. We’ve had Princesses Rhyme and Reason: diverse voices in book- The list of these a baby take his first steps at the Flying As the cheering continued, Rhyme leaned selling, and seemed to increasing encroach- Pig. We’ve hosted a wedding. We’ve forward and touched Milo gently on the better understand the ments into our liveli- had the joy of being part of the lives of arm. grassroots role of inde- hood is both legion hundreds of children, handing them “They’re shouting for you,” she said pendent booksellers and depressing. It’s The Story of Ferdinand, The Trumpet of with a smile. in discovering hidden hard not to sound the Swan, The Great Gilly Hopkins, The “But I could never have done it,” he gems and talking them bitter about them, Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, The objected, “without everyone else’s help.” “That may be true,” said Reason up until they reached but in truth, they are Martian Chronicles, The Absolutely True gravely, “but you had the courage to try; a national audience not even the biggest Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I Capture and what you can do is often simply a (and the attention of threats. Most troubling the Castle, The Golden Compass, Code matter of what you will do.” the chains). When is the consolidation Name Verity—hundreds of books, “That’s why,” said Azaz, “there was we hosted authors for of power—decisions some of which we know will change one very important thing about your events, spending time about what to publish, their lives, or at least their minds and quest that we couldn’t discuss until you returned.” and money promot- and what to stock Liz Shayne. Photo: hearts, forever. And nonfiction! There’s ing them and stock- on shelves across the an immense pleasure in handing a “I remember,” said Milo eagerly. “Tell me now.” ing and hand-selling their books, they nation—into fewer and fewer hands. A child a book on a subject that lights “It was impossible,” said the king, didn’t have websites that linked only to book in a healthy bookselling landscape his or her mind on fire, from sports looking at the Mathemagician. Amazon, as many do now. full of independents would have had, to cheese-making to medieval his- “Completely impossible,” said the There are challenges that threaten to say, four thousand chances to catch the tory to the undersea world. We have Mathemagician, looking at the king… undo us. Every time one of our regu- eyes of booksellers who might cham- a simple motto we share with the kids “But if we’d told you then, you might lars is given a Kindle (the only e-reader pion it. Now, a single buyer at a chain who think of themselves as “reluctant not have gone—and, as you’ve discov- that limits book purchases to a single store might pass on a title, effectively readers”: it’s simply a matter of finding ered, so many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impos- vendor), we feel the loss of those sales. wiping out a couple thousand markets the right book at the right time. And sible.” Indies sell e-books and e-readers, too, in a single decision. Fewer publishers that’s what we always aim to do. We’ve but getting that word out is an uphill and fewer markets can lead to a narrow- seen our child customers grow up, go If someone told us now, “You’ve got battle. We also now compete with ing of cultural diversity and constricted off to college, and—in more than a few ten weeks to conceive, plan, and open online retailers and publishers for intellectual freedom. In 1996, book- instances—bring in their own chil- a bookstore that will need to weather school and library sales (the bread and selling was a challenge; in 2012, it’s a dren to start a lifelong love affair with wild economic storms and the chang- butter of children’s bookselling). And fairy-tale glass mountain: worth trying reading. That’s a valuable, lucky way to ing tides of its own industry,” well, we publishers even offer books in editions to scale, but ever so slippery. spend a career. would know that it’s impossible. And we retailers can’t sell; I’m a children’s A bookstore is one of the few neigh- One of my childhood touchstone we have the flying pig to prove it.n

62 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 63 What Makes a Good…? What Makes a Good YA Coming-Out Novel? by Claire Gross

Since John Donovan’s groundbreaking 1969 I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip, young adult novels featuring gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens have come a long way. Once few and far between, they have enjoyed a steady rise in numbers and prominence, particularly over the be coming-out stories, but coming out last decade, as prolific and acclaimed is a common theme in many of these queer* writers such as David Levithan books, fitting well with the still-in- Brent Hartinger’s Geography Club, same company’s bid to move into town. and Julie Anne Peters have entered the progress audience and the relative new- Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow trilogy, and Hannah Moskowitz’s Gone, Gone, Gone scene. Queer teen lit is no longer purely ness of the genre. But what makes such Lili Wilkinson’s Stonewall Honor Book and Peter Cameron’s Someday This Pain a domain of angst-filled secret affairs, a book more than just an issue novel? Pink all build their plots around the Will Be Useful to You both draw on the deadly accidents, and ambiguous impli- What gives it that special combination complicated social politics and inter- painful post–9/11 urban landscape to cations. Similarly, it no longer needs to of universality and particularity that personal dynamics of high school, with externalize their protagonists’ acute be filtered through the eyes of a sympa- allows it to reach a wide audience while coming out just one thread of potential sense of being unmoored and under thetic straight character. While tales of at the same time speaking to individual conflict among many. In Madeleine threat. In A Love Story Starring My hapless or inspiring queer outcasts were readers on a deeply personal level? George’s The Difference Between Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner, the once commonly told from the point of What makes a coming-out novel good? You and Me, the breaking points in a main character realizes she’s a lesbian view of a straight observer (M. E. Kerr’s closeted lesbian relationship revolve over the course of the transformative Deliver Us from Evie; Peters’s Luna), A good coming-out novel around prom: Emily is trying to make cross-country bike trip that is her way now queer protagonists are more likely is about more than just coming out. her name in student government by of dealing with her best friend’s death. to be the stars of their own stories. The best ones weave their coming-out getting corporate sponsorship for it, In this book (as in all of these titles), Queer young adult novels don’t have to stories into larger dramatic narratives. while Jesse is crusading against that the protagonist’s process of coming to

*Throughout this column I use queer as a blanket term for people who are gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, or questioning. While historically a derogatory label, it has been reclaimed as an inclusive term that acknowledges the limits of labels and acronyms in describing the pantheon of sexual and gender identities. I use it here in deference to Claire Gross is the youth librarian at the Egleston branch of the Boston Public that diversity. Library and a former associate editor of The Horn Book Magazine.

64 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 65 terms with her identity, sharing it with dynamics and longing for a relationship ship and belonging. Coming out is her friends and family, and embarking help to flesh out his character. Perry about community as much as romance. on her first relationship is integral to Moore’s Hero, a Watchmen-esque super- The best books capture the exhilara- the book, but it is not all of the book; hero satire, creates neat narrative parallels tion and relief of finding a place in her life’s borders aren’t defined by this between its protagonist’s superpowers the world where you can be all of one aspect of her identity. and his gayness. The eponymous hero yourself. Geography Club is one of the Coming-out stories don’t unfold in a must alternately hide and embrace both, earliest and most enduring examples vacuum, and nor do teens’ own lives. The and his coming-out story is riddled with of this rule, with its plot hinging on best books integrate queer teens’ coming- superhero team training, epic battles, the formation of a secret school club of-age stories into the rich and varied and secret identities. (its members assume no one else will spectrum of human experience. Speaking of secret identities, identity look into something that purports to be A corollary of this rule is that a good in these novels isn’t simple. Take A. S. about geography) where queer students coming-out novel knows its characters King’s Ask the Passengers, whose meet and share their experiences. Main are more than their sexual or gender introverted protagonist is reluctant to character Russel explains the impor- identity. Queer kids are more than just label herself before she’s had the chance rainbow of ways to be gay. tance of this safe space: “There’s a dif- their designated letter of the alphabet, to sort through her identity in private. And because there is no one right ference between being alone and being and their stories—coming out and When pressed by her parents to com- way to be (or write) gay, a good lonely; I may not have been completely otherwise—should reflect that. As the mit, one way or another, to an identity coming-out novel isn’t prescriptive; it alone in life, but I was definitely lonely. protagonist of Cris Beam’s I Am J puts they understand, she argues back that recognizes that there are infinite paths My secret mission—four years in an it: “Being trans wasn’t special, and yet “it’s just not as simple as you’re making toward coming out, even if they all American high school—had been an it was. It was just good and bad and it…I don’t think every gay person can share some basic similarities. Almost involuntary one, and now I desperately interesting and…very human, like be clearly defined and kept in a nifty all of the books named here use diverse wanted to be somewhere where I could anything else.” The plot of I Am J hinges little box.” Wilkinson’s Pink plays with ensemble casts to assemble a collec- be honest about who I was and what on coming-out issues, but J himself the idea that for some teens, identity is tive narrative about coming out that I wanted.” Even though the romance struggles with issues of class and race as still in the process of triangulation. Pro- contains multitudes. Boy Meets Boy between Russel and closeted, popular well as gender, and his fraught family tagonist Ava has a long-term girlfriend may celebrate the easy outness of main Kevin ultimately proves untenable, the and supportive parents and has identi- character Paul, but it also throws into book ends on a hopeful, happy note fied as a lesbian for years, but when she stark, sympathetic relief the pain felt by because Russel has found a group of changes schools she uses her newfound his best friend Tony and ex-boyfriend friends who know and accept him, and anonymity to dress more girly than Kyle, whose coming-out paths are in turn he’s gained the courage to take a goth and explore the possibility that she much more fraught with danger and stand on things like reaching out to the might be bi. The Difference Between You doubt. The Difference Between You school’s more obvious outsiders. and Me rotates narrative duties among and Me urges readers to admire Jesse’s Laura Goode’s recent Sister Mischief the three very different, but equally determination to be true to herself, but takes a similar approach, building plot compelling, teen girls that make up its it also paints a surprisingly sympathetic around the formation of a hip-hop central love triangle. They are all queer, portrait of closeted, perpetually on-edge GSA in a small Midwestern town. In but none of them are alike. Similarly Emily, who could have easily been a this book, queerness is just one kind of using a diverse cast of queer characters, one-note villain. difference that unites outsiders of all David Levithan’s semi-utopian Boy These ensemble casts are also notable stripes in a town that values conformity. Meets Boy and Sanchez’s soapy Rain- because a good coming-out novel And King’s Ask the Passengers includes bow trilogy affirm that there is a whole celebrates the importance of friend- a joyful scene of Astrid patronizing a

66 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 67 gay club for the first time, in which an setup when it makes Cass’s love interest Coming-out novels have an impor- other story, a good coming-out novel older woman a former nemesis with whom she must tant role as cultural educators, allow- needs some combination of beautiful smiles at me. It’s not a creepy smile or a now work, delivering sparkling banter ing some readers to walk in the shoes writing, propulsive pacing, engag- flirtatious smile. I can’t describe it. It’s like and a snappily romantic love-hate rela- of those unlike them and develop ing plot, fully developed characters, a supportive smile. Friendly and happy tionship. Moskowitz’s Gone, Gone, Gone empathy and understanding. However, vivid setting, compelling theme, and for me…I smile, and the biker lady and Moore’s Hero both feature budding these books’ role as mirrors is equally emotional depth. Cameron’s Someday smiles back and blows her whistle and relationships that are breathless and important; they may offer affirmation, This Pain Will Be Useful to You features then starts a victory lap around the bar. exhilarating, with a tense romanticism guidance, and hope for young readers delicate, beautifully nuanced writing All the people at the bar put out their that even Twilight fans should be able who are challenged to and an understated but hands for high fives…and some duck to appreciate. find those things outside devastating portrait of down and kiss her. It occurs to me, as I It’s still difficult stand on the edge of the dance floor out A good coming-out novel can be the world of words. one disaffected teen’s of breath, that people here are nice to a window or a mirror. According to The best books have to find gay or lesbian pain and striving. Shyam each other. Rudine Sims Bishop, something to give any protagonists starring Selvadurai’s Swimming in reader, queer, straight, the Monsoon Sea power- That said, if there is a romance, it in anything that’s not Books are sometimes windows, offering or questioning; they fully evokes a 1980s Sri should be electric. One reason that views of worlds that may be real or imag- realistic fiction. celebrate and sympathize Lankan setting and uses Garden’s Annie on My Mind is ined, familiar or strange…When lighting with the experiences of the protagonist’s involve- still read today, despite its dated social conditions are just right, however, a the readers their protagonists reflect, ment in a production of Othello to draw landscape and unfashionably earnest window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects but their narrative power isn’t based readers’ attention to the Shakespearean tone, is the timeless luminosity of it back to us, and in that reflection we on insider knowledge. Beam’s I Am J is scale of the drama. its love story. If a story hinges on a can see our own lives and experiences a great example of this quality: Beam And let’s not forget genre fiction. It’s romance, then it had better make read- as part of the larger human experience. conveys eye-opening information about hardly fair to hand over a few fraught, ers believe in the power of that relation- Reading, then, becomes a means of self- the challenges and cruelties J faces as issue-driven books to readers look- ship. A Love Story Starring My Dead affirmation, and readers often seek their he navigates daily life that provides an ing for queer characters and leave the Best Friend draws on a classic rom-com mirrors in books. accessible, engaging education in trans Nancy Drews and Harry Potters and, issues for readers learning about them yes, even the Gossip Girls and Twilights Good YA Coming-Out Novels for the first time. At the same time, the of the literary world to the domain of level of detail and emotional intensity straight characters. It’s still difficult I Am J (Little, Brown, 2011) by Cris Beam Boy Meets Boy (Knopf, 2003) by David contained in the book make it more to find gay or lesbian protagonists Levithan Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You than just a learning experience; it’s a (and near impossible to find bisexual (Foster/Farrar, 2007) by Peter Cameron Hero (Hyperion, 2007) by Perry Moore story, one that reflects this one aspect or transgender characters) starring in The Difference Between You and Me (Viking, Gone, Gone, Gone (Simon Pulse, 2012) by of their lives in a way that other books anything that’s not realistic fiction. 2012) by Madeleine George Hannah Moskowitz do not. Romance and soapy drama are decently Sister Mischief (Candlewick, 2011) by Laura Rainbow trilogy: Rainbow Boys (Simon, Finally, a good coming-out novel represented in the canon of coming-out Goode 2001), Rainbow High (2003), and Rainbow is, first and last, a good book. It’s not stories, but mystery/suspense, historical Road (2005) by Alex Sanchez Geography Club (HarperTempest, 2003) by enough for a book to offer a respectful fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi can be more Brent Hartinger Swimming in the Monsoon Sea (Tundra, and realistic representation of queer life, challenging to find. When mysteries or 2005) by Shyam Selvadurai A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend or be the first to show a particular kind thrillers feature queer characters, they (Dial, 2010) by Emily Horner Pink (HarperTeen, 2011) by Lili Wilkinson of character. Those things are impor- often appear as victims or villains (as Ask the Passengers (Little, Brown, 2012) by tant, but they should be a baseline, in Kevin Brooks’s Black Rabbit Summer A. S. King not markers of rare quality. Like any and Lauren Myracle’s Shine). Historical

68 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 69 Different Drums

fiction has made some inroads (see Pat equally successful as speculative fiction. Lowery Collins’s Hidden Voices), but There is ground yet to travel. given how small the perceived audience Coming-out stories featuring teens of Something Wicked is for historical fiction in general, the color are still few and far between, and by Christine Taylor-Butler relative dearth of representation here representations of gay and lesbian teens isn’t surprising. Speculative fiction has far outpace depictions of bisexual and seen a boom of positively portrayed transgendered protagonists. Still, the queer supporting characters (though last few years have seen a number of with an unfortunate tendency toward debut authors (including Laura Goode, freak tent, a dust witch, a quote from Macbeth, and martyrdom) in books such as Patrick Emily Horner, Martin Wilson, Tonya A a villain named Mr. Dark. Such was the stuff of Some- Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go and Cherie Hegamin, and Cris Beam) thing Wicked This Way Comes. I’d always been fascinated Sarah Crossan’s Breathe. Malinda Lo’s whose first novels have featured queer by carnivals. They seemed to spring out of vacant park- Ash, Huntress, and Adaptation are not protagonists, and the future is bright. ing lots overnight. So it made sense that I’d be drawn to precisely coming-out stories, but they Good coming-out novels have so much Ray Bradbury’s novel as a young girl. incorporate lesbian and bisexual pro- to offer readers, from affirmation to In this tale of good versus evil, the mood is bleak. tagonists seamlessly into their respective education to iconic characters—and Danger is foreshadowed by the arrival of a man selling fantastical universes. Hero remains the there’s much more to come. We’re get- lightning rods covered in strange symbols. The bustle standard for a coming-out story that is ting there. It’ll be worth the trip. n of the small town ends abruptly once the clock strikes nine. Posters announcing Cooger & Dark’s Pandemo- nium Shadow Show appear, hung by a creepy man whistling Christmas carols in October. And when the carnival finally arrives, the descriptions are ominous. The slithering train’s grieving Love Letters sounds, a wailing calliope, and the skeletal poles of the tent drew me into the weird Summer Institute landscape and held me captive. The young protagonists, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, are relentlessly July 25-28, 2013 pursued by Mr. Dark after witnessing the devastating consequences faced by towns- Boston, Massachusetts people whose deepest desires are fulfilled by carnival attractions: a carousel that makes someone younger or older, a hall of mirrors that reveals an inner truth, and a block of ice containing a beautiful woman. Jim falls victim to temptation but in the end is saved by William and his father, Charles. Evil is conquered by a smile. The carnival is destroyed by a warm embrace and laughter. Some letters The book was odd, and not what my friends were reading, but I was hooked. may take the Every now and then, when the wind is particularly fierce and the forecast predicts whole of our an impending storm, I still wonder what it would be like to sit astride a painted lifetime to carousel horse and turn back the clock for one last glimpse of youth. n write.

- Thích Nhãt Hanh Christine Taylor-Butler is the author of more than sixty books for children, including Sacred Mountain Everest (Lee & Low). She currently lives in Kansas For more information or to attend, contact the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature: City, Missouri. Phone: (617) 521-2540; E-mail: [email protected] www.simmons.edu/gradstudies/programs/childrens-literature/

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 71 Different Drums Caldecott at 75

Border Crossing Prayer for a Child by Mitali Perkins and the Test of Time by Kathleen T. Horning At first glance, there’s absolutely no compelling reason why a young immigrant from India would choose Hans Brinker, or, The Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland by Mary Mapes Dodge as a favorite read. And yet I did. This is the second of a continuing series of articles celebrating the history of the Caldecott Medal, which marks its seventy-fifth anniversary this year. Librarian and children’s literature Writing in 1865, Dodge made blunders we still see historian Kathleen T. Horning will look at one seminal but unheralded Caldecott book of today when authors attempt to cross borders: 1) She each decade—identifying trends and misconceptions, noting the changing nature of the was overly reverential about the Dutch, portraying picture book, wrestling with issues and definitions. Here she examines the 1945 winner, them as collectively hardworking, thrifty, patriotic, Prayer for a Child (Macmillan), as a product of its time—and beyond. and sacrificial. 2) She introduced an otherwise fairly useless foreign character (Ben Dobbs) through whose eyes equally foreign readers were supposed to see this “exotic” culture. 3) She relied exclusively on secondhand sources (John L. Motley’s The Rise of the Dutch Republic Winners of the Calde- terms or criteria that and The History of the United Netherlands and conversations with one family of cott Medal have never indicate the book should immigrant Dutch neighbors in the United States), never visiting the Netherlands been intended to repre- have lasting appeal; how- until after the novel was published. 4) Thanks to these sources, half the book reads sent the best books of all ever, the Caldecott gives like a sightseeing guide, with museums, art, and history described in excruciating time, and yet that is how a book staying power, detail that threatens to choke the flow of the story. they have often come whether warranted or And yet it doesn’t. to be regarded, simply not. And many people I loved the book and still do. Dodge wove together three storytelling strands: a because the winning titles interpret that gold medal compelling Rip Van Winkle–esque mysterious plot in which two family’s lives are are forever promoted in as a stamp of approval for intertwined; teen characters whose voices still ring true thanks to Dodge’s mastery chronological listings on all eternity. of humor and understanding of young romance and friendship; a sense of place so bookmarks, posters, and Although each year’s strong I feel ice gliding under a pair of imaginary skates from the first page. now websites. Caldecott Caldecott committee Plot, place, people: braid the three well and you’ve got a timeless story. I’m loan- books also remain in print much longer strives to select the most distinguished ing the book to a Dutch friend to see if inauthenticity makes this novel completely than they likely would have had a shiny illustration in a picture book for unreadable for her, because my joy in the story is a bit unsettling: if the storytelling gold medal not been affixed to their children, whatever book they choose is good, are cultural blunders more forgivable or more dangerous? n covers. There is nothing in the Medal’s is destined to be a product of its time,

A Horn Book reviewer, Kathleen T. Horning is the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a library of the School of Education, University of Wis- consin–Madison. For more on Elizabeth Orton Jones, Rachel Field, and Prayer for Mitali Perkins’s latest book is Bamboo People (Charlesbridge). a Child, please visit hbook.com/Prayer-for-a-Child.

7272 TheThe HornHorn BookBook MagazineMagazine March/AprilMarch/April 20132013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 73 selected by her mother, Jessie Orton (who later became a children’s book Jones. In a biographical sketch of the editor in her own right). The little artist that appeared in Library Journal wooden figures of the angel orchestra just after Prayer for a Child won the that accompany the first letter of each Caldecott, Patee noted that she chose line were based on Christmas decora- The little wooden figures of the angel orchestra in Prayer for a Child. Elizabeth Orton Jones to illustrate the tions Jones had purchased in France selected by people who are also prod- stood and appreciated in fifty years? book because she wanted it to be “dig- years earlier. The hearth depicted in ucts of their time. Books created and There is no better example of a nified, reverent, and childlike.” the book was the artist’s own, includ- selected during periods of crisis, when Caldecott winner that was both a prod- Jones took the assignment and ing the portrait above the fireplace (her sentiments are running high, are per- uct of its time and a sentimental favor- immersed herself in the work. Not grandmother as a child) and the Walter haps most in danger of appearing dated ite than Elizabeth Orton Jones’s 1945 only did she face the mammoth task Crane tiles around it. Even the picture to future generations, who lack the Caldecott Medal winner, Prayer for a of pleasing everyone in the children’s drawn by a child that we see tacked context of sentiment. Does one need Child, published near the end of World book world with her portrayal of a above the little girl’s bed was based on to have lived through the era in which War II. To the contemporary eye, it child known and loved by so many, a picture drawn by a young student in the 1992 Los Angeles riots occurred in may appear saccharine and trite, even she also faced the challenge of having Jones’s sister’s class. order to fully appreciate David Diaz’s cloyingly sweet. The text for Prayer for a to interpret a prayer in a way that was As particular as she was about objects 1995 Caldecott winner, Smoky Night? Child, written by Rachel Field, was first visual and accessible to young children. and settings, Jones claimed that she Will The Man Who Walked Between the published in December 1941 as “The She approached it by focusing on never used real children as models. It’s Towers, which earned the 2004 Calde- Baby’s Prayer” in the Sunday newspaper realistic details found in the ordinary hard to believe, however, that she wasn’t cott Medal for Mordicai Gerstein, move magazine supplement This Week. It was objects of daily life. All of the toys pic- at least in part inspired by the poignant an audience for whom 9/11 is only an reprinted in The Horn Book Magazine tured in the book, including the well- photographs of two-year-old Hannah event in history books? Certainly both six months later as “Prayer for a Child” worn wooden spoon, had been lent to that were printed in the Rachel Field still seem fresh and relevant to most in a memorial issue devoted to Rachel her to use as models by the children of tribute issue of the Horn Book. Whether readers today, but will they be under- Field, who had died suddenly in 1942 a librarian friend of hers, Annis Duff she intended to or not, Jones captured at forty-seven. She left behind a two- year-old daughter, Hannah, for whom the poem had been written. Field, author of the 1930 Newbery Medal winner, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, was a beloved figure in the children’s book world, and the poem proved so popular that Macmillan editor Doris S. Patee suggested to Elizabeth Orton Jones that she illustrate it. Although best known at the time for her popular novel Twig (Macmillan, 1942), Elizabeth Orton Jones was a natural choice for the book Patee envi- sioned. Jones had illustrated a similar book for Viking the year before, Small

Dedication page. Rain, which was a collection of prayers Macmillan Company. The Elizabeth Orton for a Child . Illustrations by © 1944 Jones. Prayer Illustrations on pages 74–76, 78 from

74 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 75 sustained by drawings of such a realistic happy.” Library Journal reviewed the nature. They appeal more to adults who book a second time at the beginning of enjoy looking with sentimental eyes at 1945: “It is a prayer, beautifully written childhood scenes.” and beautifully illustrated, bespeak- Averill’s critique offers the first direct ing the faith, love, hopes and the trust charge of sentimentality I have found of little children.” How comforting it in print; however, Frances Clarke Sayers must have been for war-weary adults said much the same thing in 1945, but to cast a “wistful” gaze at “childhood with a positive spin. At the time, Sayers caught unawares,” in a homey setting was chair of ALA’s Children’s Library “filled with familiar things.” Association (now ALSC) and as such If we dwell on the book as portrait of had also been a member of the (then- motherless Hannah, we miss the bigger combined) Newbery–Caldecott com- picture that Elizabeth Orton Jones was mittee that selected Prayer for a Child. striving for: the universal theme she saw Left, photo of two-year-old Hannah Field; right, the little girl in Prayer for a Child, who, with her Her brief statement on behalf of the in it. Rachel Field’s original poem was blonde curls and cherubic face, resembles Hannah “right down to her white hair ribbon.” committee, published in the ALA Bul- personal and specific. Jones paid tribute letin, spoke only of the book from the to it in spirit with the specificity of the likeness of her round, cherubic face child’s understanding.” This observation perspective of the “sentimental eyes” of details, but she also extended it beyond and blonde curls, right down to her was echoed in many of the reviews, and the adults. “The appeal of her drawing a single child, capitalizing on the lines white hair ribbon. was generally linked to Jones’s illustra- lies in a softness of line which catches “Bless other children, far and near /

Nearly all of the reviews at the time tions, which were said to capture the 241. 1942, p. Horn Book The , July–August and Letters,” “Of Rachel Field article Bertha from Photo Mahony’s E. something of the wistfulness and And keep them safe and free from fear.” of publication mentioned that the “childlikeness” and “tenderness” of the tenderness that assail one who watches This line is accompanied by a window text of the book had been written by original prayer. children unobserved. She manages to into a multitude of hopeful young Rachel Field for her daughter. Mary Anne T. Eaton, in her New York Times convey the pathos of a child observed faces—black, white, and brown; Asian, Gould Davies in The Saturday Review review, took it even further: “Here is by adults. It is this quality that gives Latino, and Native American. Each described it as “Rachel Field’s prayer for childhood caught unawares, busy about her pictures of children such appeal for child gazes back at the viewer with a Hannah,” without any further explana- its own affairs, artless and unselfcon- many people.” In other words, the book bright, open face. This same illustration tion, apparently assuming that even scious. The pictures and the prayer was a clear sentimental favorite—with- frames the book jacket, making it clear general readers would know who Han- itself speak to children in a child’s own out apology. from the outset that it is a prayer for all nah was. Following the mention of the language; older people will find this little If there was ever a year to choose children. Although none of the original author’s daughter, most of the reviewers volume beautiful, moving and deeply a Caldecott winner for sentimental reviewers mentioned this picture went on to stress that the prayer was for satisfying.” A similar observation was reasons, it was 1945. Library Journal’s specifically, the frequent references to all children, regardless of race or creed made a little more than a decade later essay by Mildred C. Skinner about Prayer for a Child as a book for children (never mind that Jesus crept into the by Esther Averill in her look back at the the best picture books of 1944 (which of all “races and creeds” with “universal last line). The perceived universality of past twenty years of Caldecott Medal included Prayer for a Child ) opened appeal” were certainly inspired by it. the prayer, in fact, was important to winners, “What Is a Picture Book?” with these words: “In these troublous Jones spoke about the book’s univer- critics. Booklist’s uncredited reviewer But, with hindsight, she was critical of times, when we are all eager to give our sality in her Caldecott Medal accep- wrote that it would appeal to all, the same qualities critics in 1944 had children a feeling of security and a fair tance speech, delivered in July of 1945. “without regard to creed, because it is noted as commendable. Averill wrote: share of happiness and fun, it is good to “I should like every child in the world filled with familiar things—bed, shoes, “The reverent, mystical mood the prayer know that new picture books are as gay to know that what he can see from the friends, and parents—within every might awaken in a young person is not and lovely as though all the world were top of his hill, when he looks down

76 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 77 Different Drums

Wiggiling by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

My mother introduced me and my siblings to the wonderful weirdness in How- ard R. Garis’s Uncle Wiggily tales. Garis gave us old Uncle Wiggily Longears and his adventures with Sammie and Susie Littletail, Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the Wibblewobbles, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, and others. His stories clearly are meant for reading aloud, at which our mother excelled. Garis’s talky way of telling put him right there at my bedside. “Now, if you’ll get nice and comfortable in your chair, and don’t wiggle too much, I’ll begin. You see, when you wiggle, it gives me the craw-craws, and I can’t think straight…One day, oh, I guess it was just before the Fourth of July, or, maybe, around Decoration Day, Jackie and Peetie…” Of Garis’s many books, Uncle Wiggily and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow was my favorite. The Bow Wow boys were always tripping and falling. I was a clumsy child (and still have my moments), so those puppies were kindreds. But it was Garis’s story endings that kindled my taste for the strange and marvelous— “A multitude of hopeful young faces” from Prayer for a Child. If the radio doesn’t talk in its sleep and wake up the alarm clock before it’s time for break- fast, in the next story I’ll tell you about Jackie in a boot. and around, is different from what approached it from a global perspective, can be seen from the top of anybody sent up like a prayer for all the world’s Now, if I’m not bitten by a grasshopper with pink wings, purple eyes and a gold ring in his else’s hill—that what he can see when children, longing to keep them all “safe nose, riding in a plane, I’m going to tell you next about… he looks straight up is exactly what and free from fear.” everybody else, looking straight up, can This longing is timeless. Adults will And…if a big, red ant doesn’t crawl upon our porch and carry away the hammock… see, too.” always strive to protect children from I’d lie in bed thinking, “What?…Wait…say that again?” conjuring the bizarre “United Through Books” was the harsh realities. They will often turn to images Garis described. I’d smile at the silliness, then settle under the covers, secure theme of Children’s Book Week in books as a source of security in times of in the knowledge that tomorrow would bring another story—for radios don’t talk 1944, and it was regarded as such an crisis, for themselves as well as for the when they sleep, I’d never been bitten by a grasshopper, and ants have no use for important theme that it was selected children in their care. But a book that hammocks. again in 1945. It was a sentiment that offers comfort to one generation may Now if the honey doesn’t skip tea time and leave Roger Sutton to dance with the permeated the children’s book world be regarded by the next as outdated, crumpet instead… n at the time. And while it could have or even sentimental. It will fall into easily been interpreted with the sort of obscurity and be forgotten—unless it Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s latest book No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel patriotic fervor we now associate with wins the Caldecott Medal. It will be of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller (Carolrhoda Lab), illus- World War II, children’s librarians, pub- destined to fail a test of time it was trated by R. Gregory Christie, was the winner of the 2012 Boston Globe–Horn lishers, and book creators more often never expected to withstand. n Book Award for fiction.

78 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 7979 Simon & Schuster Proudly Congratulates Our 2013 ALA Award Winners Book Reviews Creepy Carrots! Written by Aaron Reynolds Illustrated by Peter Brown Most of the books are recommended; all of them are subject to the qualifications 9781442402973 hc in the reviews. g indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof. The 9781442453098 eBook # Caldecott Honor Book publisher’s price is the suggested retail price and does not indicate a possible # ALA Notable Book discount to libraries. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion. H indicates a book that the editors believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author’s body of work. For a complete key to the review abbreviations as well as for bios of our reviewers, please visit www.hbook.com/horn-book-magazine.

Aristotle and Dante Discover I, Too, Am America Picture Books the Secrets of the Universe By Langston Hughes by Benjamin Alire Sáenz Illustrated by Bryan Collier 9781442408920 hc 9781442420083 hc Kumak’s River: 9781442408944 eBook # Coretta Scott King with the life-sustaining stream—fish- # Printz Honor Book Illustrator Award A Tall Tale from the Far North ing, boating, and the vital annual trek # Pura Belpré Author by Michael Bania; illus. by the author to summer camp. The cheery line and Award Preschool, Primary Alaska Northwest 32 pp. # watercolor vistas of smiling Iñupiat, Stonewall Book Award 9/12 978-0-88240-886-6 $16.99 # Best Fiction for Young dogs, and gulls enjoying their adventure Adults, Top Ten As Bania explains in a note, the annual amid pounding ice and deep blue water # ALA Notable Book breakup of river ice in Alaska is cause are a fine match for the well-paced text. for celebration, even when a particular For anyone in the lower forty-eight who has suffered from extreme weather Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am Gone, Gone, Gone year’s ice build-up and weather cause By Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis By Hannah Moskowitz rampant flooding. In this not-so-tall and its consequences, the depiction of 9781416938958 hc 9781442453128 hc tale, when “chunks of ice as big as people thriving in harmony with a natu- 9781416938965 pb 9781442407534 pb houses” jam on their passage to the ral environment that both challenges 9781442449909 eBook 9781442407541 eBook # Schneider Family Book # Stonewall Honor sea, Kumak and his neighbors perch and sustains them offers plenty of room Award, Best Teen Book Book on their roofs in the warm spring air for discussion. joanna rudge long # Best Fiction for Young while, hour by hour, the river water rises Adults around their houses. Children rejoice in a school-free day, while Kumak fends off ice with a pole. Still, the river “went wherever it wanted to go. And it did whatever it wanted to do,” sweeping away dogs tethered in boats, oil drums, Tamora Pierce, winner of the Margaret fish nets, and toys until at last the jam A. Edwards Award for signi cant and bursts, the river returns to its bed, and lasting contribution to young adult literature! people are free to seek and find (the tall-tale part) their belongings and to . © 2012 by Michael River . © 2012 by Bania. Kumak’s anticipate their summer relationship

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing TEACH.SimonandSchuster.net /SSEdLib /SSEdLib March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 81 missing—a neatnik, he is not. Duck’s the illustrations, including underwear, living room is a mess: a belt is hanging dog bones, and a painting ox. An acces- from an open window, a soccer ball rests sible vocabulary and easy-to-sound-out under a bench holding a cactus and the words make this a perfect book for the remnants of a meal, a number of blobby newest reader, especially one with a bits are growing on the floor. None of grand sense of humor. robin l. smith his animal friends is able to help, and Duck remains sad and frustrated until Missing Mommy: at last he discovers the socks’ location. A Book About Bereavement The reader or lap listener will enjoy by Rebecca Cobb; illus. by the author pointing out the socks, as Ruzzier has Preschool, Primary Holt 32 pp. hidden them in plain sight. The best 4/13 978-0-8050-9507-4 $16.99 g way to experience this droll book is by Luckily, the title and subtitle of Cobb’s reading the jaunty rhyme aloud. “I will first picture book provide adults with ask my friend the fox. / ‘Have you seen all the information they need to decide my new blue socks?’” Later, Mr. Ox whether to share it with young children. . Illustration by Anthony Browne. © 2012 by Brun Limited. © 2012 by Browne. One Anthony Gorilla . Illustration by says, “Did you look inside your box? / This is not a book that many adults will Did you ask your friend the fox? / I get through dry-eyed, and Cobb does H One Gorilla: individuality. Every face reveals emotion may have seen your new blue socks— / an admirable job with a very difficult A Counting Book and a unique personality—some easily I saw some socks down on the rocks.” subject. A young narrator explains that by Anthony Browne; read (open friendliness, shyness), others It’s hard to resist, especially when the his mother went away—he is not sure illus. by the author complex and inward-looking, à la Mona cartoon illustrations are so captivating where—and that he and his father and Preschool Candlewick 32 pp. Lisa. Two final spreads underscore and in their absurdity. Duck’s expression is sister are trying to manage without her. 2/13 978-0-7636-6352-0 $16.99 personalize the visual subtext. Browne all in the eyebrows—such angst over a The book begins with a dark, heavy For Anthony Browne, a gorilla is never is seen in a self-portrait that mirrors pair of socks has never been conveyed illustration of black umbrellas on a rainy just a gorilla. In this seemingly simple the gorilla on the first spread, the text so well. Blues, teals, and greens are day. The only bright spot in the picture counting book from one to ten (plus a (“All primates. All one family. All my the background for the child-friendly, is our narrator, hanging on tightly to his final coda), generous white space and family…”) leading to a final spread offbeat details Ruzzier has planted in father through what is visually a somber classic type treatment balance expertly (“and yours!”) filled to brimming with with large head-and-shoulders portraits head-and-shoulder views of humans. of primates: “1 gorilla / 2 orangutans / Like everything that came before, at 3 chimpanzees” up to “10 lemurs.” first we see pattern, then endless variety. Browne’s watercolor technique is just lolly robinson about perfect, combining realism and exaggeration, mass and focus. He H Have You Seen moves from large wet strokes show- My New Blue Socks? ing hair and fur (around the edges) by Eve Bunting; to a detailed drier brush (around the illus. by Sergio Ruzzier eyes). For some traditionally black and Preschool, Primary Clarion 32 pp. brown animals, he homes in on blue or 3/13 978-0-547-75267-9 $16.99 orange highlights and makes them more Bunting and Ruzzier team up again prominent. For others, like the smaller (Tweak Tweak, rev. 5/11), this time spider and colubus monkeys, he varies with rhyme and rhythm and imagi- the posture or silhouette. It’s about native illustrations that will bring taking something that is usually seen as inevitable comparisons to Dr. Seuss. It’s

all the same and emphasizing each one’s no wonder Duck’s new blue socks are Seen My Ruzzier. New Blue Socks? Sergio Illustration © 2013 by You Have

82 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 83 her own back. Private areas (nipples, “the parts that poop, / the parts that pee”) are lightheartedly (and discreetly) included in the package. Davick ends on a vaguely philosophical note: “Body, you’re / the one for me. / If not for you… / where would I be?” Not doing the hokey-pokey, that’s for sure. kitty flynn

our parts successfully uses humor and I Spy on the Farm

© 2013 by Linda Davick. © 2013 by Toes! You, Nose! I Love You, I Love a little age-appropriate information to by Edward Gibbs; illus. by the author deliver its energetic message about cel- Preschool Templar/Candlewick 32 pp. 2/13 978-0-7636-6431-2 $14.99 ebrating the bodies we’ve got. The infec- tious rhymes are well matched by clean, This innovative “I spy with my little friendly illustrations, which feature large eye” book has no dust jacket, the boards © 2011 by Rebecca Cobb. Rebecca © 2011 by Missing Mommy. ice-cream-colored pages with wide-eyed, and binding are extra tough, and the smiling kids front and center. Both the corners are slightly rounded, entic- and confusing moment. From there through the house for his mother and pictures’ lack of background and the ing preschoolers to reach out for it the book opens up with spacious white wonders why she didn’t take her clothes simple, bouncy text make this ideal for and experiment. Once inside, each pages and simple illustrations that look when she went away. His father eventu- group sharing—though young listeners two-spread sequence is geared toward as if they might have been drawn by a ally explains that the boy’s mother has might find it hard to keep still. At times success without stress. First we see the child with crayon and marker. The nar- died and cannot come back, but that Davick seems to be encouraging kids eye of a farm animal through a (fake) rator has a preschooler’s limited under- they can talk about their memories of to join in: “I love you, back— / you’re hole on the left and a glimpse of its standing of the world—he searches all her. Cobb puts a tremendous amount out of sight! / Can almost hug you, / body through a (real die-cut) hole on of emotion in deceptively simple facial but not quite” is accompanied by seven the right, while the text provides three expressions and postures and gives her kids sitting in a circle (around the text), clues. Above the die cut, “Something Rebecca Cobb on readers small moments of visual humor each desperately trying to hug his or yellow that begins with a D,” and Missing Mommy to balance the terrible weight of the subject. The boy’s grief is palpable, but maeve visser knoth: Many picture books the family’s survival is certain. The final about grief keep their distance. How illustration of the boy watering tulips, did you decide to use a first-person his mother’s sweater tucked under his narration? arm, provides a hopeful and moving rebecca cobb: Because bereavement conclusion. maeve visser knoth is such a difficult subject to talk about, I think as adults we sometimes use I Love You, Nose! ambiguous language that can be quite I Love You, Toes! confusing to children. Writing Missing by Linda Davick; illus. by the author Mommy in the little boy’s voice allowed Preschool Beach Lane/Simon 32 pp. me to be very clear and direct with the 4/13 978-1-4424-6037-9 $17.99 words I used. I hoped it would help e-book ed. 978-1-4424-6038-6 $12.99 other children to relate to him and also “I love you, hair / upon my head, / perhaps help adults to understand straight or curly, / brown or red.” From this very sad situation from a child’s hair to tummies to toes and everything perspective.

in between, Davick’s peppy ode to all Gibbs. Edward . © 2012 by on the Farm I Spy

84 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 85 File: “blog_halfhorz.indd”

version 3: “still fresh” below the hole, a word balloon appears After washing and drying the laundry, H My Father’s Arms Are a Boat to come from the next page: “Quack, Mrs. Jolly Bones irons and folds the by Stein Erik Lunde; trans. from quack!” Sure enough, a baby duck fills clothes “nice and neat,” then she “flings the Norwegian by Kari Dickson; the following spread and confirms with them out the window… / so they illus. by Øyvind Torseter another word balloon: “I’m a DUCK- brighten up the street!” Hanson’s cheeky Primary Enchanted Lion 32 pp. LING.” Gibbs’s expertly rendered rhyming text expertly delivers each day’s 2/13 978-1-59270-124-7 $15.95 digital art combines scribbly, brightly punch line, and Tusa’s joyful watercolor Where Rebecca Cobb’s Missing Mommy, colored animals with more subdued and ink illustrations help set the pace reviewed on page 83, is all plain speak- backgrounds in clean cutout shapes, and bring the story’s infectious silliness ing and simple comfort about the death again helping the target audience by giv- to a whole new level. Take those ani- . © 2013 by Philippa Leathers. Philippa . © 2013 by Black Rabbit The of a mother, this book from Norway is ing a calm visual on the first spread and mals, for example: a cow, a pig, a goat, indirect and mysterious in its depiction an energetic payoff when the animal and other farm animals in a city apart- identity throughout, while making the of a grieving father and son. A little boy is revealed. Near the end of the book, ment? They aren’t mentioned in the naive rabbit an irresistible character. In is having trouble sleeping, his unease we learn that the animals are all spying text (nor is the urban setting), but they the end, the formidable shadow turns echoed in the cool, sparely awry picture “YOU!” with their little eyes, which fit right into the pictures’ merry chaos. out to be a useful companion, and the of his bedroom, his pillow providing makes it nice and neat. What elevates Mrs. Jolly Bones saves the weekend for little rabbit confidently takes him by the the only spot of color. His father takes this book from a well-executed novelty playing and resting…also known as hand. Entertaining endpapers contain him into the similarly gloomy living into meta-land is the final spread, on wrestling and yodeling “until midnight a map of the rabbit’s travels that show room to comfort him; the two discuss which a hole is cut all the way through with a chicken in your lap.” Mrs. Jolly him at both the beginning and end of the birds and the fox that live in the you the back cover board: “What can Bones lives up to her name; her irrever- his journey. julie roach surrounding woods until the boy, after spy with your little eye?” Whoa—it’s ent approach to chores is one kids will the whole world. lolly robinson enthusiastically endorse (up for debate, perhaps: “step into the toilet bowl and It’s Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! give yourself a scrub”). kitty flynn by Warren Hanson; illus. by Tricia Tusa 25 years of opinions. Still fresh. Preschool, Primary Beach Lane/Simon 32 pp. The Black Rabbit 3/13 978-1-4424-1229-3 $16.99 by Philippa Leathers; e-book ed. 978-1-4424-3621-3 $12.99 illus. by the author Monday is laundry day, Tuesday is for Preschool, Primary Candlewick 40 pp. gardening, Wednesday is cleaning day, 1/13 978-0-7636-5714-7 $14.00 and so on through the week. Industri- One bright day, a small, wide-eyed rab- ous Mrs. Jolly Bones tackles each job bit finds himself terrified by his shadow, with gusto, her animal retinue eagerly which he thinks is another rabbit, large pitching in. And who wouldn’t want to and menacing. “Rabbit was scared. ‘Go do housework with this cheerful crew? away, Black Rabbit!’ he cried.” He tries Read running from it, he tries hiding from it, but to no avail. He finally manages to lose the black rabbit in the deep, dark Roger wood, but things far worse than one’s shadow lurk there. Done in digitally The Horn Book Editor’s combined watercolor and ink, the Rants and Raves illustrations are expressive and comic. Along with the dramatic page turns, the art cleverly plays up both the story’s www.hbook.com/blogs/readroger/

suspense and the joke of the shadow’s Tusa. Tricia Jolly Bones! Mrs. Illustration © 2013 by Monday, It’s

86 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013

blog_new2011_halfhorz.indd 3 9/27/11 3:19 PM sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game,’ and then we stretch! / In Japan…we sing our team’s anthem, and then we let yvind Torseter. Ø balloons go!” In the rich-hued acrylic illustrations, team colors (cool blues for America and warm reds for Japan) dominate the pages, helping young readers keep track of each picture’s location. The mostly mirror images on the well-balanced pages set up a quiet rhythm, thrillingly interrupted when both hitters get a home run (“Crack! /

My Father’s Arms Are a Boat . Illustration © by My Father’s Kakiiin!”) and their baseballs cross paths Everyone Can Learn to Ride to Chris a Bicycle Raschka.. © 2013 by Learn Can Everyone recounting his grandmother’s belief that Take Me Out to the Yakyu and go flying through the facing page. “the red birds are dead people,” asks by Aaron Meshon; illus. by the author Young fans intrigued by the game’s his father if Mommy will ever wake Preschool, Primary Atheneum 40 pp. cultural differences will easily see that up again. Honest, but gently changing 2/13 978-1-4424-4177-4 $15.99 rooting for the home team—whether a visual balance that bespeaks, succes- the subject, the father replies, “No, not e-book ed. 978-1-4424-4178-1 $12.99 it’s “Win! Win! Win!” or “Do your sively, protection, urging, assistance, where she is now. Should we go out and Yakyu is Japanese for baseball, and the best!”—is fun no matter where you are. and commiseration (after a fall). Such look at the stars?” And, in a sequence lucky boy in this picture book gets to go A glossary at the back lists additional Raschka techniques as emotion-convey- reminiscent of ’s The to ballgames in both the United States Japanese words, and an author’s note ing color and composition-propelled Summer Night, so they do, the mono- and in Japan. Left-hand pages show explains more about baseball in Japan. movement are in top form here, as he chromatic illustrations now seeming him at the stadium with his American jennifer m. brabander not only deconstructs what’s needed, enchanted rather than sad. When the pop pop; on the right-hand pages his literally, to acquire this particular skill two return inside, the red glow of the Japanese ji ji (ojiichan means grandfa- Everyone Can Learn (which may be unique for its lessons on fire warms the page, the family, and ther) takes him to a game at the dome. to Ride a Bicycle the physics of motion and the rewards the reader, as the father reassures the Each spread showcases one difference by Chris Raschka; illus. by the author of self-reliance) but also suggests the son that “everything will be all right.” between the two locales: in America Preschool, Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 32 pp. complexity of achieving balance and The quiet, intimate text and enigmatic the boy gets a giant foam hand, while 4/13 978-0-375-87007-1 $16.99 independence in any of life’s transitions. paper-collage and ink illustrations make in Japan he gets a giant plastic horn; a Library ed. 978-0-375-97007-8 $19.99 g joanna rudge long a world of their own that commends hot dog and in one place, soba Though “everyone” may be a bit of an interest beyond the therapeutic. roger noodles and edamame in the other; exaggeration, it reflects the optimism Want to Be in a Band? sutton “In America, in the seventh inning, we in this straightforward account of one by Suzzy Roche; illus. by Giselle Potter small, pigtailed learner’s perseverance Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. and triumph, a wobbly passage tracked 2/13 978-0-375-86879-5 $17.99 from selecting a bike (from amongst a Library ed. 978-0-375-96879-2 $20.99 bewildering array) to a confident last- Doesn’t everyone want to be in a band? page trajectory (“And now you’ll never Suzzy Roche, one of the trio of sisters forget how”). A grandfatherly figure’s constituting the Roches, explains to encouragement makes up the second- young readers how to go about making person text (“Find the courage to try it a musical dream come true. Speak- again, again, and again…until by luck, ing directly to her audience (“Are you grace, and determination, you are rid- one of those kids who likes to make ing”). With his loose watercolor images noise?”), she keeps readers’ attention at their most fluid, Raschka depicts with her folksy, friendly voice and story.

. © 2013 by Aaron Meshon. Aaron . © 2013 by Me Out the Yakyu to Take the adult leaning toward the child in The narrative describes her own story

88 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 89 the events seem old-fashioned or dated. Encouraging (about not giving up even when your instrument is hard to learn), honest (about stage fright), and realistic (about disagreements among band members), Roche’s story will entertain a wide audience—not just those looking to start a band. jennifer m. brabander

Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar?

by George Shannon; Giselle Potter. Be in a Band? Illustration © 2013 by to Want illus. by Julie Paschkis (“First, you’ll need two interesting, Preschool Holt 32 pp. smart older sisters who can play guitars 3/13 978-0-8050-9197-7 $16.99 g and sing”), but the specifics are what Instead of asking, as the children’s sing- make this how-to book so readable: ing game does, “Who stole the cookie once those sisters agree to start a band, from the cookie jar?” Shannon’s title DarkThe Jon Klassen.. Illustration © 2013 by “beg them to let you be in it too, even wonders how the cookies got there in though you only know how to play the first place. Text and distinctive folk H The Dark funny resolution. With his command of air guitar.” Potter’s illustrations suit art tell a cookie’s backstory, focusing on by Lemony Snicket; language, tone, and pacing, Snicket cre- the quirky, homey feel of the text and all the many hands involved in making illus. by Jon Klassen ates the perfect antidote to a universal authentically re-create time periods it. “Hands that feed and milk the cow. / Preschool, Primary Little, Brown 40 pp. fear. Klassen’s spare gouache and digital (starting in the 1960s) without making Churn the butter. Guide the plow.” The 4/13 978-0-316-18748-0 $16.99 illustrations in a quiet black, brown, rhyming text recognizes the people Leave it to Lemony Snicket to craft a and white palette (contrasted with involved in the baking, creation of story personifying “the dark”—an idea Laszlo’s light blue footy pajamas and the cookie sheet, harvesting of the all too real and frightening for children the yellow light bulb) are well suited sugar cane, all the way back to the afraid of what lurks in the shadows. But for a book about the unseen. Using people who fed and clothed and they will find a kindred spirit in Laszlo, simple black lines and color contrasts to cared for all those more directly a scared boy living with the dark in a provide atmosphere and depth, Klassen involved in the process. Paschkis’s big house. Though the dark occasionally captures the essence of Snicket’s story. If bright and bold gouache illustra- resides in the house’s hidden places and you’re reading this one at night, be sure tions show a diverse network of outside every night, “mostly it spent to have your trusty flashlight handy— characters doing their parts with its time in the basement.” When the just in case. cynthia k. ritter joy. The final wordless double-page comforting glow of Laszlo’s bedroom spread is a feast of color and of nightlight goes out one night, the dark Phoebe and Digger people enjoying the cookies of their comes to visit and speaks to Laszlo: by Tricia Springstubb; labor; even the cow has a cookie “I want to show you something.” So illus. by Jeff Newman in her mouth. This simple package Laszlo, with his trusty flashlight in Preschool Candlewick 32 pp. provides a thought-provoking and hand, follows the dark’s voice down- 3/13 978-0-7636-5281-4 $16.99 positive global concept of product stairs. Though the mood is ominous as Young Phoebe scores a toy truck (yay!) development that can be explored the dark lures Laszlo into its basement at the same time she acquires a baby on a variety of levels. A recipe for room, a page of narration about the sister (boo!). Her new digger keeps sugar cookies is included at the dark’s function serves to break the ten- Phoebe company while Mama is preoc- end. julie roach Who Put the CookiesJulie Paschkis. in the Cookie Jar? Illustration Who © 2013 by Put sion before the bright, satisfying, and cupied with the little one, but it also

90 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 91 gets the desperate-for-attention-and- relatable-to-new-big-siblings situations; tired-of-being-cooped-up big sis into and the nonsaccharine ending (bully- some scrapes around the house. Time to girl hasn’t learned her lesson, but Digger go outside, decides Mom, and the three is on the case). elissa gershowitz family members (plus truck) head to the park. Phoebe and Digger are having a Bluebird blast in the dirt until a scaredy-cat “cry- by Bob Staake; illus. by the author baby boy” lands her in time-out. Hav- Preschool, Primary Schwartz & Wade/Random 40 pp. ing served her penance, Phoebe goes 4/13 978-0-375-87037-8 $17.99 back to play—but is herself stymied by Library ed. 978-0-375-97038-2 $20.99 a bully girl who snatches Digger up. e-book ed. 978-0-375-98904-9 $10.99 Our young heroine tries to stand her From its elegant, innovative title ground, but to no avail; just when she’s sequence to its bittersweet conclu- feeling most isolated, Mama comes to sion, this picture book is a feast for the rescue, which reminds Phoebe that, the observant eye. Except for some in a family, it doesn’t have to be every signage, it’s nearly wordless; in the title girl for herself. Mixed-media illustra- spread, a variant of the spare jacket tions in subdued hues, with sketchlike art serves as a shadowed billboard in a black lines and lots of white space, gray-toned cityscape facing a dedication enhance the straightforward text while (to John James Audubon) against pure playing up the tale’s small moments sky blue, thus setting up the dialogue and its big emotions. The story is between those tones that will parallel notable for its sympathetic depictions and reinforce the whole story. In the Bob Staake. . © 2013 by Bluebird of a rambunctious girl(!) truck lover end, that hopeful blue will triumph, (who is both the victim and perpetra- but not until the protagonist—a geometric, gray streets, oblivious to pos- versal kind of love, this quietly beautiful tor of teasing), her harried mother, and downcast loner, teased or ignored by his sible friendship or fun until his spirits book invites repeated perusals. joanna the not-always-adorable little baby; its classmates—has trudged Manhattan’s are gradually lifted by the insistent bird rudge long following him. Presently he’s sharing crumbs and following it into Central Construction Kitties Park, where it leads him into play with by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges; other children. Then dusk brings a illus. by Shari Halpern bullies’ ambush, conflict, sorrow—and Preschool Ottaviano/Holt 32 pp. a dreamlike resurrection accompanied 2/13 978-0-8050-9105-2 $16.99 g by a many-colored flock. Staake’s Four indisputably cute overall-clad kit- graphically distinguished art (rendered ties don hard hats and hop into colorful in Photoshop) conveys extraordinary earthmovers to dig, move, push, and depth of emotion. Bodies are small, smooth dirt at a construction site. At schematic; heads huge, round, eloquent. midday they take a lunch break (“Tasty Buildings—from delicate silhouette to sardines. / Cool milk”), and when the near-accurate representation—support job is done, they head back home, action that’s expertly paced via a variety purring and singing down the “long, of frames and spreads until yielding to winding highway.” In case listeners the park’s natural curves and then to haven’t already guessed, the project is that blue sky. A story of friendship, of revealed on the back endpapers: it’s

. Illustration © 2013 by Jeff Newman. Phoebe and Digger . Illustration © 2013 by unfolding awareness, or of a more uni- a playground, of course, now filled

92 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 93 eight with my eyes closed.” The illustra- tions paint a far more realistic picture: Congratulations to Our ALA Award Winners! her fans are her parents and younger sibling (plus a multitude of perched birds), and the messy shape she inscribes The William C. Morris YA Debut Award Winner on the ice is hardly a figure eight. Back An ALA-YALSA Top Ten at home, the narrator explains the Best Fiction for Young Adults importance of a balanced diet (toasted An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book marshmallows) and keeping one’s mus- Rachel Hartman cles loose (playing in a bubble bath). Seraphina Bedtime brings a determination to “try A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 again tomorrow.” Throughout, Wright Construction KittiesConstruction Shari Halpern.. Illustration © 2013 by A School Library Journal Best Book of 2012 maintains a consistently childlike point A 2012 Booklist Books for Youth Editors’ Choice with happy kittens. Halpern’s irresist- of view, capturing the intensity of child- A Library Journal Best Books of 2012: YA for Adults ible gouache illustrations do the heavy # School Library Journal # The Horn Book hood obsession as well as her character’s lifting here, channeling Byron Barton’s # Booklist # The Bulletin persistent optimism. The little skater # Publishers Weekly # VOYA style (strong black lines, rich hues) but may be an unreliable narrator, but she is # Kirkus Reviews with more subtlety of color. Sturges’s Ages 12 up • 978-0-375-86656-2 totally sincere, believing wholeheartedly spare, energetic narrative provides com- GLB: 978-0-375-96656-9 in her assertions and having a wonder- EL: 978-0-375-89658-3 mentary on the action, and the pictures ful time. The full-bleed color-saturated make the most of the simply outlined illustrations, with their almost palpable scenes. With its bold images and texture, will pull readers in to the bun- straightforward text, Construction Kitties ny’s small world. And the cool palette— Tamora Pierce would make a good storytime choice. whites and grays, mint greens and light kitty flynn pinks—of the outside scenes makes the warm, darker indoor scenes that much Bunnies on Ice more cozy. martha v. parravano by Johanna Wright; illus. by the author Preschool, Primary Porter/Roaring Brook 32 pp. 1/13 978-1-59643-404-2 $16.99 The 2013 Margaret A. All year, the narrator—a young Edwards Award Winner bunny with a penchant for pink and polka dots—longs for ice- A Coretta Scott King skating time. While her family A William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist Illustrator Honor Book goes for a swim, she glides a Laura Buzo Martin Luther King, Jr.; doll along an inner-tube’s sur- illustrated by Kadir Nelson face. While the others harvest Love and Other pumpkins and rake leaves, I Have a Dream Perishable Items A Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Book of 2012 she adds skates to a scarecrow’s A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012 A School Library Journal Best Book of 2012 ensemble. Finally, it’s winter: # Kirkus Reviews A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012 she heads for the now-frozen Ages 14 up • 978-0-375-87000-2 # School Library Journal GLB: 978-0-375-97000-9 # Publishers Weekly pond, proclaiming that she is a EL: 978-0-375-98674-1 # Kirkus Reviews champion ice-skater and detailing All Ages • 978-0-375-85887-1 for the reader what it’s like to be one: GLB: 978-0-375-95887-8 • EL: 978-0-375-98772-4

“I have a lot of fans”; “I can do a figure Wright. Johanna . © 2013 by Bunnies on Ice Visit RHTeachersLibrarians.com, your online destination for all the resources you need for your school or library! 94 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013

Visit RHTeachersLibrarians.com, your online destination for all the resources you need for your school or library!

Visit RHTeachersLibrarians.com, your online destination for all the resources you need for your school or library!

NOTE: Only the bar color may be changed, the Teachers & Librarians logo and CTA type must remain black or white. CTA font may not be changed, it must remain on two lines in Helvetica Neue Medium & Heavy Condensed.

Imprint logos can be placed above the banner or in the banner if the ad is wide enough to accommodate the logos. Fiction

Starring Jules (As Herself) by Beth Ain; illus. by Anne Keenan Higgins Primary, Intermediate Scholastic 148 pp. 3/13 978-0-545-44352-4 $14.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-545-52047-8 $14.99 Jules, seven-year-old list maker, is in need of a replace- ment BFF. Her friendship with Charlotte “Stinkytown” Pinkerton has been on the rocks ever since Charlotte came back from vacation with two new best friends. Enter Elinor from London, new kid in town, who is just what Jules is hoping for—funny, smart, and ready for a playdate. Will Jules mess it up with her blunt and judg- H Benjamin Bear in “Bright Ideas!”[TOON Books] mental manner? Jules is blessed with an interesting fam- by Philippe Coudray; trans. from the French by Leigh Stein; illus. by the author ily who encourage her to follow her dreams. And why

© 2013 by Philippe Coudray & RAW Junior, LLC. Junior, & RAW Coudray Philippe Benjamin Bear in “Bright Ideas!” © 2013 by Primary Toon/Candlewick 32 pp. not? With a chef for a father and an artist for a mother, Jules knows all about trusting 3/13 978-1-935179-22-1 $12.95 her instincts and going with her own sense of style. Her exuberant spirit leads her to a Encapsulated in each of twenty-seven one-page comic-strip dramas, Benjamin casting director who is looking for a commercial spokesperson for mouthwash. Jules is Bear’s world is one of challenges both philosophical and physical. Or should that be excited until she realizes the mouthwash is orange, a color that induces her to vomit. physics-al? Plagued by fleas in “Spring Cleaning,” Benjamin ties himself to a tethered Forced to seek out the help of her former pal, she learns that the friendship might not rope, runs quickly to its end, and lets momentum do its job on the pests. As far be lost after all. The tidy ending will surprise no one, but readers will look forward to as the philosophical goes, does one gaze into a mirror out of vanity, as Benjamin’s seeing if Jules becomes a big star or not. Fans of Clementine and Judy Moody could rabbit friend suggests in “Reflection,” or, as Benjamin replies, are we simply trying have a new buddy here. Most art not seen. robin l. smith to see ourselves as others do? New readers will be served by the balance of story between speech bubbles and (needfully exact) illustrations; sometimes one provides The Crimson Crown [Seven Realms] the payoff and sometimes the other, but comprehension of both together is always by Cinda Williams Chima required. Like Benjamin Bear in “Fuzzy Thinking” (rev. 11/11), this book rewards Middle School, High School Hyperion 600 pp. what six-year-olds are already good at (scrutiny), encourages a new skill (reading), 10/12 978-1-4231-4433-5 $18.99 and enlarges the imagination (heaven). roger sutton In this concluding volume of the series, wizard, thief, and now bodyguard Han Allis- ter longs to marry his charge Queen Raisa, but she’s committed to a political mar- riage to save her quarreling queendom. The “jinxflingers” hate the native Demonai The Different Girl clans, someone is murdering wizards in the slums (and by Gordon Dahlquist Han is the prime suspect), and the Ardenine army hovers Middle School, High School Dutton 231 pp. on the border, waiting for an excuse to invade. Only by 2/13 978-0-525-42597-7 $16.99 g playing the multiple schemers off one another to heal Four girls, alone on an island, cared for by Irene and the country can Han hope to win Raisa’s hand. Here Robbert. Four girls all the same, and all doing “almost the promise of previous volumes is realized: the budding always the exact thing as one another.” Identical except love story springs to full flower and the hints captured for hair color—Isobel’s is lemon yellow, Caroline’s in thousand-year-old legends are borne out, while the brown, Eleanor’s black, and Veronika’s red—the girls are stakes are ratcheted up to perilous heights. Betrayal, orphans, knowing only that their parents were killed in war, and the faith of lovers all come around to a glorious a plane crash. They have no memories of their parents, conclusion as Chima weaves together her geopolitical, but Dahlquist drops hints as to who—what—these girls magical, romantic, and even mythical themes on an epic are: they must learn how to walk uphill and downhill, scale. anita l. burkam up and down stairs, and on sand; they have buttons

96 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 97 behind their ears that Irene pushes to turn them off into sleep at night. When Dodsworth in Tokyo Veronika finds a strange girl washed up on the shore, their lives are changed. May by Tim Egan; screams when she sees the others. “What are you?” she exclaims, and the existence illus. by the author of May changes everything: “From now on we were us compared to her,” Veronika Primary Houghton 48 pp. notes. “May was showing us something about ourselves.” But who is the titular 4/13 978-0-547-87745-7 $14.99 g different girl? Is it newcomer May, startled by the four girls she encounters? Is it On Dodsworth and the duck’s Veronika, who learns to see possibility and has a poet’s appreciation for how “the first night in Tokyo, a waitress stars rolled past above us, bright stitches on a deep dark blanket”? Or Caroline, who in a sushi restaurant praises the acts selflessly when danger comes? Veronika’s simple, sometimes profound first- duck’s good behavior. “Nobody person narration explores the nature of identity and what it means to be human in had ever said that about the an oddly touching story of a future world. dean schneider duck before.” Maybe this is a sign that the affable duo’s fifth Bink & Gollie: trip to one of the world’s great Best Friends Forever cities will be atypically mis- by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee; illus. by Tony Fucile Egan. Tim . © 2013 by Dodsworth in Tokyo hap free? The humor in Egan’s Primary Candlewick 82 pp. globe-hopping early reader 4/13 978-0-7636-3497-1 $15.99 series has always stemmed from the characterization of duck-as-id, and, happily, this Gollie (Bink & Gollie, rev. 1/11; Bink & Gollie: Two for One, rev. 5/12) has always installment doesn’t break the pattern. After the duck’s first literal slip (he leans too had her imperious side, and it comes out in spades in the first of this book’s three far over a bridge to see koi fish and falls in the pond), Dodsworth bribes him back stories. “I have long suspected that royal blood flowed in my veins,” she swoons after to civility with the promise of wagashi, a traditional dessert. As usual, droll, under- finding a photo of her great-aunt Natasha in fancy dress and a crown. Gollie dons stated watercolors illustrate the pair’s tour of popular attractions. At the Museum of her own cape, crown, and scepter (and roller-skates, natch) and goes bragging all the Imperial Collections, the duck imagines the ancient vases and bowls filled with over town. Commoner Bink is supportive when her pal finally comes back down wagashi to keep himself on track. A plot thread involving a lost kendama, a ball-and- to earth. In the second tale, diminutive Bink sends away for a mail-order Stretch- cup toy, leads to the much-anticipated moment of mayhem and to the reminder o-Matic kit (“Why should you be that our fickle feathered troublemaker has a good heart. Who knows where on earth shorter than your friends?” “Why he and Dodsworth will end up next, but let’s hope we find out soon. christine m. shouldn’t you be tall?”), assembles it heppermann (sort of), then hangs upside-down from the ceiling waiting for gravity to Obsidian Mirror work its magic. Finally, the pals decide by Catherine Fisher to start a collection, hoping to amass Middle School Dial 376 pp. enough stuff to have their photo 4/13 978-0-8037-3969-7 $17.99 g included in Flicker’s Arcana of the Jake Wilde gets himself expelled from his posh private Extraordinary. Just as in the first two school for one purpose: so he can be sent back to his series entries, the friends’ wildly differ- guardian Oberon Venn and accuse him of murder- ent sensibilities—and their interests, ing his father, David. But when Jake arrives at Venn’s both shared and disparate—tumble decaying estate, Wintercombe Abbey, he learns that out through personality-filled dialogue David wasn’t murdered. David disappeared while he and digital illustrations of barely and Venn were experimenting with a Victorian time- contained chaos. Details from previ- machine made of an obsidian mirror, and Venn is as ous books (Bink’s preoccupation with frantic as Jake to retrieve him. Nor is Venn alone in his pancakes; both girls’ love of roller- interest in the mirror and its time-travel powers: a ghost skating) will reward the BFFs’ existing from the past, a girl from the future, and even Summer, queen of the Shee (fairies), fans while bringing new friends into all want to use the mirror for their own purposes. This plot-driven fantasy by the

the fold. elissa gershowitz Fucile. Tony Bink & Gollie . Illustration © 2013 by author of Incarceron (rev. 1/10) compensates for its unremarkable prose style with

98 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 99 sheer copiousness—in wintry descriptions of Wintercombe Abbey and allusions to his way into the house. The kids are terrified, but Gran multiple mythologies, classical and folkloric. Fisher’s sentences are short, propulsive, is unmoved: the man is her son, Andrew Snow, the chil- and transparent, emphasizing the visual. The story is amply punctuated with narrow- dren’s father, whom they thought to be long dead. The escape scenes and, in its time-travel plot, hints at thinking about how acts of the fugitive bars the doors, rips out the phone, and threatens present impinge on the future. The first in a projected trilogy. deirdre f. baker harm to anyone attempting escape. Rew, more furious than scared, hatches a plan to alert the authorities, but H Maggot Moon Annie hesitates: she has been following the hostage crisis by Sally Gardner; illus. by Julian Crouch in the news, and tells herself she’s being cautious on her Middle School, High School Candlewick 281 pp. brother and grandmother’s behalf. Also, despite herself, 2/13 978-0-7636-6553-1 $16.99 she’s intrigued by her father, and this ambivalence is e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6573-9 $16.99 what makes Gewirtz’s story so compelling. Snow is not Gardner (I, Coriander, rev. 8/05) here imagines an alternate, dystopic UK: a repres- a nice guy: his prison conviction was for manslaughter, sive 1950s regime that calls itself the Motherland, abhors “impurities,” is led by a and he’s straightforward about having committed the man with a bad haircut, and consigns undesirables to the derelict housing of Zone crime. In addition, Annie and Rew’s mom abandoned Seven. That’s where fifteen-year-old Standish Treadwell the family years before; Rew has a wicked temper; and and his Gramps survive, thanks to Gramps’s ingenuity Gran’s care-taking leaves much to be desired. They all have redeeming qualities, at reusing and bartering. Out of this life of hard-won though, and their commonalities—such as their love of Treasure Island and the subsistence and oppressive schooling, Standish tells the woods behind their house—bring Annie, Rew, Gran, and Andrew together as they story of his friendship with “supernova bright” Hector navigate an ever-shifting notion of family. elissa gershowitz next door—Hector, who realizes that dyslexic Standish may not have a train-track mind, but has imagination “in Nowhere to Run bucketloads.” When Hector and his parents disappear, by Claire J. Griffin taken by the authorities, Standish sets out to rescue and Middle School, High School Namelos 111 pp. avenge him, and uncovers a grotesque government hoax. 3/13 978-1-60898-144-1 $18.95 Standish’s tale has the terse, energetic tension of poetry; Washington DC’s Georgia Avenue is “a street where you his phrases and sentences roll out with irony, tenderness, could find God and the devil sitting right next to each horror, or love, but always vividly. “The place smelled other, like they was old friends,” and it’s a hard place for of over-boiled cabbage, cigarettes, and corruption,” Calvin Williams to keep his promise to Daddy Lewis: he notes of his school; or, “What he was doing there I stay out of trouble and graduate from high school. “God hadn’t a snowflake of an idea.” Even the chronology of Standish’s story depends on is looking out for you, baby,” Momma tells Calvin (after a rearrangement of order, where present, past, and future stand side by side. Most whacking him on the head with a rolled-up magazine), appealing of all, however, is Standish Treadwell himself: tender, incisive, brave, “but He can’t do it alone. You got to give Him all the and determined, he takes a stand and treads well. Frequent pencil illustrations that helps you can.” The problem is, Calvin is torn between function almost as a flipbook underscore the story’s subtext of the unending cycle of a lifelong friendship with Deej (who can be trouble), violence and death. deirdre f. baker and keeping his promises. He aims to graduate at the end of the year and, before that, win the hundred-meter Zebra Forest dash in the District Championship. After that, no plans. by Adina Rishe Gewirtz For now, though, it’s tough. His trust in Deej cost him a week-long suspension Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 200 pp. from school and, later, his job and possibly his new girlfriend. And Norris P., Deej’s 4/13 978-0-7636-6041-3 $15.99 g criminal cousin, says he owns Calvin’s knees, that Calvin better lose that race…or e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6568-5 $15.99 else. Griffin’s third-person narrative meticulously delineates street life in one African In this novel set during the Iran hostage crisis, eleven-year-old Annie and her brother American neighborhood and creates flesh-and-blood characters with dreams, faults, Rew live with their grandmother near a state prison. Gran doesn’t leave home much, and uncertainties. Calvin is a likable protagonist, and it’s how he will decide between sending Annie on errands and having her deal with the “truant lady” who checks up loyalty to his best friend and his own goals that provides the tension for this strong on the kids. One night there is a prison break, and a desperate-seeming man forces story (unfortunately printed in tiny, hard-to-read type). dean schneider

100 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 101 sorting out how to use her power responsibly and keep it from ruining her life. Presenting obstacles to this plan are a long-lost aunt who has randomly returned, a villain who mysteriously falls off a cliff (and Vee witnesses it), and an unknown woman who keeps showing up during key moments. Vee is an appealing mix of brash certainty and absolute cluelessness—it makes her worth rooting for if at times slightly exasperating. The romance is dreamy (and well executed), but the “sliding” ability itself seems downplayed in this novel; a bit is lost in the myriad subplots, although they do ultimately come together nicely (and introduce a new slider who could be a satisfying contrast to how Vee copes with and uses her ability). Readers who don’t know the earlier novel might be baffled at times, but returning

. Illustration © 2013 by Alison Friend. Alison . Illustration © 2013 by and Maggie Bramble fans will…slide right in and find this a worthy sequel. april spisak

Bramble and Maggie: When We Wake Give and Take by Karen Healey by Jessie Haas; illus. by Alison Friend Middle School, High School Little, Brown 298 pp. Primary Candlewick 52 pp. 3/13 978-0-316-20076-9 $17.99 g 4/13 978-0-7636-5021-6 $14.99 g On an ordinary day in 2027, sixteen-year-old Australian Tegan Oglietti is on her Now that Maggie’s new horse, Bramble, has settled in (Bramble and Maggie, rev. way to attend a climate change protest when she’s shot and killed by a sniper. She 3/12), everyone has some adjusting to do. In four chapters, beginning readers will wakes up to find that she’s been cryogenically frozen for a century, and everyone she get to know this pair better, along with their neighbors and a broader meaning of knows is long dead. Tegan is subject to intense military the phrase give and take. Readers learn from the very first page, when Maggie sug- supervision and media scrutiny (the press calls her the gests going for a ride, that Bramble in particular has strong opinions and dry wit: “Living Dead Girl,” and various political and religious “Bramble knew about rides. The rider sat in the saddle. The horse did all the hard groups all have opinions about her existence). But she work.” For new readers gaining confidence, the simple sentences are peppered with bravely adjusts to her new reality, attending school, more challenging vocabulary, and they build in complexity over the course of the making friends, and learning new technology. When book. The soft gouache illustrations delicately draw out and supplement the text’s she hears about the mysterious “Ark Project,” how- humor in both spot art and full spreads. While Bramble’s arrival brings plenty of ever, Tegan (with the help of new love interest Abdi) trouble, it also comes with many benefits only discovered through experiment and resolves to discover what secrets the government is compromise. As Bramble herself asserts in the first chapter, “Neither of them should keeping—and once she does, she finds herself in dan- be boss all the time. There should be some give-and-take.” julie roach ger and on the run. This gripping dystopic novel cre- ates a future that logically extends the problems facing Impostor us today, such as human rights abuses, climate change, by Jill Hathaway and diminishing natural resources. It ingeniously links High School Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins 261 pp. this future to our time: for example, Tegan loves the 3/13 978-0-06-207798-1 $17.99 g Beatles, and chapter titles are named after their songs. e-book ed. 978-0-06-207800-1 $9.99 Tegan is a passionate, stubborn protagonist determined to make a difference, and her In this sequel to Slide (rev. 3/12), the ability to mentally slip into the mind of anger at humanity is palpable. “You are not the future I wanted!…I wanted you to another person is still pretty undesirable. Sure, Vee finally got her guy, and her be better! Be better!” she screams at the indifferent people of the future—a warning classmates are no longer dropping like flies, but she’s got a lot of work yet to do in and a wake-up call for us, too. rachel l. smith

102 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 103 H Penny and Her Marble Never Say Die by Kevin Henkes; illus. by the author by Will Hobbs Primary Greenwillow 48 pp. Intermediate, Middle School Harper/HarperCollins 212 pp. 3/13 978-0-06-208203-9 $12.99 2/13 978-0-06-170878-7 $16.99 Library ed. 98-0-06-208204-6 $14.89 Library ed. 978-0-06-170879-4 $17.89 e-book ed. 978-0-06-222384-5 $9.99 The jacket illustration signals a slight tonal change in this, Penny’s third outing (Penny and Her Song, rev. 3/12; Penny and Her Doll, rev. 9/12). Her upbeat signature Set in the Yukon Territory hard by the Beaufort Sea, color (rose) is replaced by a more subdued robin’s-egg blue; Penny looks downward Hobbs’s latest turbocharged wilderness survival story with a pensive expression. Here, she’s grappling with serious business: sins of com- has heavy weather, savage river waters, treacherous mission and omission, accompanied by childlike guilt. That all three issues receive trails, and, as chief antagonist, a “grolar bear.” Just as thoughtful examination without exciting (and real) as the Turkish war dog of Hobbs’s any heavy-handedness is to Henk- Go Big or Go Home (rev. 5/08), the polar bear–grizzly es’s considerable credit. When out- hybrid attacks our hero Nick in the first chapter and side walking her doll, Penny spies returns in the last for a spectacular confrontation. In a marble on Mrs. Godwin’s lawn. between, Nick and his adult half-brother Ryan travel by bush plane, raft (until it “The marble seemed to say, ‘Take smashes into a wall of ice), and foot through isolated Ivvavik National Park, where me home.’” And Penny does. With photojournalist Ryan is on assignment to document how caribou numbers and just a turn of her head and a move- migration have been affected by climate change, which has also led to dangerous ment of her eye, the illustrations (and exciting) thunderstorms, floods, and the grolar bear itself, the result of newly show that Penny clearly knows this overlapping habitats. While you might want half-Inuit Nick, who never met his is something she shouldn’t do. She now-dead white explorer father, and Ryan, product of yet another of the father’s brief hides her marble and dreams about relationships, to display some complexity to match their challenging environment, her furtive act with the imagined they are mostly there as the reader’s stand-ins, allowing him (or her!) to know what consequences escalating during it’s like to face the bear. And the lightning. And the mosquitoes. Hobbs doesn’t resist the night. Unwilling to confess her information-packing (“Nick, have you ever heard the theory that climate change deed to her parents, Penny asks for might be a factor in the decline of caribou herds in the Arctic?”), but he’s brisk about

extra hugs, reinforcing the warmth Kevin Henkes. and Her Marble . © 2013 by Penny it and knows how to get out of the…LOOK OUT! roger sutton and support in this close-knit fam- ily. But Penny, by herself, finds resolution. Beyond his hallmarks of natural language, Hero on a Bicycle illustrations that complement the text, and impeccable pacing, Henkes introduces by Shirley Hughes a new aid for young readers. Thoughts, imaginings, and dreams appear in unboxed Intermediate, Middle School Candlewick 213 pp. frames, while concrete action is shown within borders. That respect for the begin- 4/13 978-0-7636-6037-6 $15.99 g ning reader’s emerging skills beautifully matches Henkes’s respect for Penny and this e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6359-9 $15.99 common crisis of childhood. betty carter In her first novel, veteran picture-book creator Shirley Hughes moves from the small dramas of contemporary young-child life to a story of wartime survival/adven- Kevin Henkes on Penny and Her Marble ture in 1940s German-occupied Florence. The titular hero is Paolo, a thirteen-year-old boy who misses his betty carter: Penny has a secret. Did you have a childhood secret you kept from father, away fighting with the partisans, and chafes at your parents? the restrictions of his otherwise all-female household: kevin henkes: When I was about five, I took a plastic medallion from my neighbor Karen’s his mother, the English-born Rosemary; his older sister, crayon box. We were drawing together when I discovered the wondrous coin-like object. Constanza; and the housekeeper, Maria. While Paolo It had a K on it. I wanted it badly. I slipped it into my pocket and took it home. I told no finds some respite in his secret nightly bicycle rides through the tense city, he hopes one. The guilt nearly killed me. After a fitful night, I returned it secretly. Forty-some years that they might also be his ticket of admission to the resistance activities of the par- later, the experience gave me a book. tisans hidden in the hills around the city. With the narrative’s point of view moving

104 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 105 among Paolo, his mother, his sister, and, briefly, a Canadian P.O.W., some intimacy is sacrificed, but setting and atmosphere are surely established, and the sense of dan- ger is everywhere, allying us with the characters’ efforts to survive and subvert their conquerors. roger sutton

The Twelve-Fingered Boy [Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy] by John Hornor Jacobs High School Carolrhoda Lab 268 pp. 2/13 978-0-7613-9007-7 $17.95 e-book ed. 978-1-4677-0950-7 $12.95 “It’s a monster of a world” for fifteen-year-old Shreve Cannon, incarcerated in Casimir Pulaski Juvenile Detention Center for Boys: “not quite prison. Not quite a Hilton.” Words are Shreve’s thing—how he sells contraband candy, how he survives in a some- times brutal world. But words fail him when he’s assigned a new roommate, Jack Graves—“slight, pale, and still,” with large brown eyes, a dead voice, and twelve fingers, six on each hand. It turns out that Jack has special powers that resulted in the hospitalization of five kids at his previous foster home. When the mysterious Quincrux and his witchy counterpart Ilsa begin stalking Shreve and Jack, Jack’s powers are called upon, forcing the boys to make an explosive escape. As the fugitives wander from state to state, the narrative also meanders, but readers will enjoy this trilogy debut, a wild and riveting tale full of allusions to fairy tales, movies, and comic book heroes—including the witch, the wolf at the door, the Hulk, Jack Sprat, Godzilla, Spiderman, and Hansel and Gretel, all contributing a mythic scale to the whole affair. Polydactyl heroes are rare in children’s literature, and so are novels like this that make the fantastical utterly believable. dean schneider

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson High School Levine/Scholastic 298 pp. 3/13 978-0-545-41779-2 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-545-52077-5 $17.99 Four hundred years after nuclear war devastates the world, the Brazilian city of Palmares Três thrives as an isolationist matriarchy. June, stepdaughter to one of the powerful political leaders known as Aunties, is determined to be an artist, and her daring, anony- mous installations challenge the city’s restrictions on technology, its corrupt infrastructure, its disregard for the young (technology has allowed lifespans to stretch multiple centuries), and its rigid class system. She finds an ally in Enki, the charismatic new summer king

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 107 who will be an honored celebrity for a year, until he is sacrificed as part of a ritual sees “frowns and heard cursing and felt a thickness of fear and regret permeating the to choose the incoming queen. In precise prose Johnson evokes an utterly foreign air.” She longs for the easy camaraderie and the lush flora back home. Darrio’s tiny setting, complete with technologies that push at the limits of what it means to be apartment is bleak, barely furnished; dealers and bullies roam the streets. Still, Nina human, and the relationships that delineate the social landscape are intriguingly makes friends at school and in the neighborhood, especially with entrancing green- unconventional and startling in their intensity. The story itself is thematically rich, eyed Luis. Helping her raise orchids on their fire escape, Darrio seems more himself; encompassing the political nature of art in a time of vast upheaval, the potential of yet his mysterious transactions in a locked room down the hall trouble Nina, who— power to corrupt, the tension between tradition and innovation, and the toils and comparing herself to Laura in The Glass Menagerie—concludes that “ignorance rewards of underground creative expression. While its complexity and disorientingly wasn’t blissful.” With the help of some clear-sighted new friends, she weathers the immersive sense of place may limit its appeal among teen readers, it stands as an truth about her beloved brother and her demanding mother, too. This is an absorb- imaginative and thoroughly realized addition to the sci-fi genre. claire e. gross ing picture of a thoughtful young woman navigating a challenging new environment with intelligence, moral courage, and grace. joanna rudge long The Madness Underneath [Shades of London] by Maureen Johnson Freaks Middle School, High School Putnam 279 pp. by Kieran Larwood 2/13 978-0-399-25661-5 $17.99 g Intermediate, Middle School Chicken House/Scholastic 250 pp. Rory and her friends in the Shades, London’s answer 3/13 978-0-545-47424-5 $16.99 e-book ed. 978-0-545-52062-1 $16.99 to the Ghostbusters, return and regroup after defeat- ing a spectral Jack the Ripper copycat killer at her Performers in a Victorian freak show are the detective boarding school in The Name of the Star (rev. 11/11). heroes in Larwood’s first novel. Sheba, a hirsute girl While not as taut and engaging as Name, this second who can morph into wolf form, joins with a “monkey installment in the series still offers promising develop- boy,” a gigantic man, a Japanese ninja girl with cat’s ments, such as Rory’s new supernatural power, gained eyes, and Mama Rat (custodian of intelligent rodents) from her near-death experience at the end of the last to save London street urchins from a predatory group book. She has become a human “terminus,” meaning of scientific inventors. The misfits travel throughout that when she touches a ghost, it disappears for good. the less savory areas of London as well as the Crys- Hailing from a Louisiana family peppered with eccentric alleged mystics, Rory was, tal Palace of the Great Exhibition in their efforts from the beginning, game for belief in the spirit world. Now she hesitates when her to retrieve the lost children. Larwood emphasizes comrades try to persuade her to put her power to civic use, even as other suspicious solidarity, loyalty, and each character’s special gifts in deaths crop up to suggest that the Ripper’s destruction may have simply unleashed orchestrating his plot. Stock moments of suspense and more mayhem. Fans of the first book should be sufficiently intrigued to stick with action are laced together with a thread of inventive the series and see where it goes next. christine m. heppermann scatalogical humor (“holy pigeon turds on toast,” Monkey Boy cries), and a better-than-usual evocation Flowers in the Sky of the Victorian setting. A concluding author’s note on mid-Victorian London is by Lynn Joseph informative and engaging; it tethers the fantasy elements of the plot to sober reality. Middle School, High School HarperTeen 234 pp. Despite some weak writing (the Crystal Palace is described as “a jaw-droppingly 3/13 978-0-06-029794-7 $17.99 amazing man-made structure” by the narrator), this has energy, color, and creative e-book ed. 978-0-06-223642-5 $9.99 verve. deirdre f. baker Joseph’s The Color of My Words (rev. 9/00) portrayed a gifted twelve-year-old living under an oppressive P.K. Pinkerton and the Petrified Man[ Western Mysteries] Dominican Republic regime; here, an older girl must by Caroline Lawrence; illus. by Richard Lawrence leave the island. Nina’s Mami sends her to join her Intermediate Putnam 310 pp. brother Darrio in New York, imagining she’ll snag a 4/13 978-0-399-25634-9 $16.99 g wealthy husband—a doctor, or a pro baseball player. Flush with cash after claiming his rightful ownership to a silver mine (The Case of Unfortunately, Darrio’s reality is nothing like Mami’s the Deadly Desperados, rev. 5/12), twelve-year-old P.K. Pinkerton opens a detec- dreams. While people in Washington Heights, Nina tive agency in the untamed Virginia City, Nevada Territory, of 1862. With his new finds, are “Dominicanos like me,” at first she only business in place, all he needs is a client wanting his services. And that client quickly

108 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 109 appears: the young and frightened former slave Martha, his classmate tearfully giving a report on orphans in Haiti to Alvin’s family gathered who worked for the recently deceased Sally Simpson. around the new baby. Fans of Alvin have nothing to fear—he’s sure to come up with Martha witnessed Miss Sally’s murder and fears for her more worries for future hilarious installments. jennifer m. brabander own life; P.K. must find the killer. Told in flashback (as P.K. is waiting in jail facing a murder charge), the Prodigy: story unfolds quickly with numerous twists and turns A Legend Novel propelled by cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. In by Marie Lu addition, the narrative often summarizes events, which, Middle School, High School Putnam 374 pp. because of its many complications and characters, is 1/13 978-0-399-25676-9 $17.99 useful rather than tedious. Prior knowledge from the Having fled Los Angeles for the relative safety of Las first book is helpful but not critical. P.K. has several Vegas at the end of Legend (rev. 11/11), Day (the personal challenges, particularly those stemming from Republic’s most notorious criminal) and June (its an Asperger’s-like syndrome that renders him unable to erstwhile prodigy) decide to throw caution to the wind read faces or recognize tone. But what isn’t hampered and join forces with the rebel Patriots to assassinate is his most important skill: like his friend Sam Clemens, P.K. knows how to spin a the newly ascended Elector Primo. The plan calls for great yarn. betty carter June to be captured and sent to the capital in Denver, work her way back into the Elector’s good graces with Alvin Ho: a penitent attitude and a supply of misinformation, Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night and lead him into an ambush where Day will publicly execute him, toppling the by Lenore Look; illus. by LeUyen Pham government regime for good. But the situation changes when June discovers that, Primary, Intermediate Schwartz & Wade/Random 185 pp. unlike his deceased father, the new Elector is determined to implement wholesale 4/13 978-0-375-87033-0 $15.99 changes. The romance that developed in the first book is complicated here when Library ed. 978-0-375-97033-7 $18.99 g e-book ed. 978-0-375-98889-9 $10.99 Day learns he is the object of unrequited love and June finds herself falling for the In this fifth book featuring seven-year-old Elector’s charms. Readers not hooked by the sociopolitical elements will still clamor Alvin Ho and his wide-ranging fears (school, for the final volume to see whether their relationship can survive. In the wake of the camping, birthday parties, etc.), his current phenomenal success of the Hunger Games trilogy, a cottage industry of dystopian anxieties include two that will resonate with novels has emerged; no author—save perhaps Veronica Roth with her Divergent lots of kids: burglars (there’s been a rash of trilogy—provides a more satisfying readalike experience for fans interested in this break-ins in town) and babies (his mom is particular niche. jonathan hunt expecting one). As always, though, there’s one fear that only Alvin could come up with: Odette’s Secrets he thinks he’s pregnant, too. When he’s too by Maryann Macdonald tired to get up for school, his mom (who Intermediate Bloomsbury 227 pp. doesn’t know he’s been on burglar alert all 2/13 978-1-59990-750-5 $16.99 night), says, “Maybe you have a sympathetic In this free-verse novel closely based on a true story pregnancy!” After that, Alvin is certain he’s (with photographs at the end), a little French girl “simply pathetic pregnant,” and soon the recounts her childhood during World War II. Born to rest of the boys in class are convinced they’re Polish atheist Jews, Odette lives a pleasant life with her also having babies. (After all, their mothers parents in Paris, while Madame Marie, their upstairs have said they have “baby fat”—words that neighbor, takes on a special role as her godmother. Paris suddenly have new, and seemingly obvious, becomes increasingly dangerous after her father enlists meaning.) As usual, Pham’s illustrations in the army and her mother joins the Resistance, and capture both the highs and the lows, from after a frightening visit from soldiers where Madame

Alvin examining his profile in the mirror to Pham. LeUyen Alvin Ho . Illustration © 2013 by Marie hides Odette and her mother in a closet and says

110 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 111 all the right, terrible things about Jews in order to protect them, Odette is sent to a takes the time to talk to Linus about color, design, and country village, posing as a Christian. The uncertainty of her life filled with secrets “the future.” Because of the old man’s regular fruit order, is beautifully realized, along with the hard choices she must make. “Did God punish Linus dubs him Mister Orange. Two plot lines move me because I told a lie, / said that I was not Jewish? / But my mother told me to lie. in parallel. Bohemian Mister Orange introduces Linus / ‘It’s a matter of life or death,’ she said. / And the priest tells us to obey our parents.” to the joys of jazz and the avant-garde; meanwhile, The free-verse narration opts for directness over lyricism, allowing Odette’s terror, Albie’s letters home become increasingly bleak until confusion, and gradual acceptance of her new life and new familiarity with God to Linus realizes that war is nothing like the fantasy world come through in a very personal way. Macdonald delicately balances the reader’s of Mr. Superspeed, the comic-book hero that Albie happiness that the heroine survives with an understanding of her deep, permanent had invented. Only in an appendix do we discover that sorrow for her people, ones she knew and ones she didn’t. susan dove lempke Mister Orange is Piet Mondrian, who in the last years of his life lived in , working on his painting Dragon Run Victory Boogie-Woogie. The various elements here don’t by Patrick Matthews entirely mesh, but this Dutch import by the author of Middle School Scholastic 328 pp. Departure Time (rev. 11/10) presents a fresh and imme- 3/13 978-0-545-45068-3 $16.99 diate portrait of the time and place. sarah ellis e-book ed. 978-0-545-52073-7 $16.99 On Testing Day, when twelve-year-olds are sum- Lulu and the Dog from the Sea moned to the castle to earn the dragon-mandated rank by Hilary McKay; illus. by Priscilla Lamont that will determine the course of their future lives, Primary Whitman 108 pp. Al Pilgrommor is given a shameful score: zero, even 3/13 978-0-8075-4820-2 $13.99 g lower than those who score a one and are forbidden Animal-lover Lulu and her best friend and cousin, Mellie, go on holiday with Lulu’s to own property or father children. On the run from family to stay at a cottage by the sea. This second appearance of the pair (Lulu and the Cullers who want to kill him, Al finds help: from the Duck in the Park, rev. 9/12) allows readers more insight into the two girls and the mysterious society of Evans that help him escape; their friendship as well as a chance to know Lulu’s distinctive family. The cottage’s from his friends Wisp and Trillia, who abandon their grumpy caretaker points out a dog running wild who’s “not welcome around here.” own apprenticeships to go into hiding with him; and from the sword his parents left Them’s fightin’ words for Lulu, him—which he can use to defend himself if he can teach himself to do more than and she systematically goes parry. Author Matthews lays down his cards at a deliberately teasing pace as readers about winning the dog’s trust slowly begin to see the bigger picture: dragons are harvesting magical energy from by feeding and petting him, the ranked humans, giving the dragons nearly unlimited power and preventing most caring for his neglected coat, and humans from putting it to their own use. The society of Evans has a plan to loosen praising him. “Often she said the dragons’ stranglehold on humanity, and Al, who is unsusceptible to magic, could ‘Good dog’ as she petted, and play a role in that plan—if he can only figure out what he’s supposed to do. Stories every time she said it the dog’s that shed light; colorful characters who help the young protagonists along; and a plot tail beat with happiness.” Clearly that keeps getting bigger and bigger propel this sleeper tale to a whiz-bang conclu- Lulu has plans to rescue this dog, sion. anita l. burkam knowing full well her parents’ rule about pets: “The more the Mister Orange merrier! As long as Lulu cleans by Truus Matti; trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson; up after them!” Mellie’s love of illus. by Jenni Desmond Lamont. and the Dog the Sea Priscilla Lulu from . Illustration © 2011 by crafts and her attempt to make a Intermediate Enchanted Lion 160 pp. kite become integral to the story 1/13 978-1-59270-123-0 $16.95 as McKay tightly connects several subplots. Along with the novel’s straight chrono- In 1943 Manhattan, Linus’s position in his large family shifts when his oldest logical order and abundance of natural dialogue, generous pen-and-ink illustrations brother, Albie, goes off to war and Linus is assigned a new job—delivery boy for show setting, characterization, and important action scenes, giving plenty of help for the family’s grocery store. One of his customers is an artist, a kind elderly man who its audience of beginning chapter book readers. betty carter

112 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 113 H Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass escapes prison in the Eastern Commonwealth (via spaceship) with fellow inmate by Meg Medina Carswell Thorne. Cinder has discovered she is the missing heir to the Lunar throne, High School Candlewick 261 pp. and even though a world-wide manhunt is underway, she and Thorne follow a lead 3/13 978-0-7636-5859-5 $16.99 g that eventually brings them to Scarlet and Wolf. By the end of this second series e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6354-4 $16.99 installment, the two pairs have joined forces to stop evil Lunar Queen Levana. Meyer A move to a new neighborhood in Queens means a new high school for almost- exhibits impressive growth as a writer, seamlessly weaving the multiple story lines sixteen-year-old Piddy (short for Piedad) Sanchez. Instead of a welcoming com- together throughout the novel. She introduces a new heroine in Scarlet—as strong, mittee, she gets word that someone she doesn’t even know has it in for her. Yaqui yet vulnerable, a character as Cinder—and Meyer doesn’t allow Cinder’s continuing Delgado turns out to be one of those girls Piddy’s story to detract from maintaining primary focus on Scarlet’s tale. Further develop- mother calls “nobodies,” or, as Piddy explains it, ment of this futuristic world plus plenty of action, surprises, and a fast pace will keep “They’re her worst nightmare of what a Latin girl can readers invested in their journey. cynthia k. ritter become in the United States. Their big hoop earrings and plucked eyebrows…their tight T-shirts that show The Runaway King [Ascendance Trilogy] too much curve and invite boys’ touches.” Yaqui may by Jennifer A. Nielsen think she’s tough, but it’s Piddy and some of the other Intermediate, Middle School Scholastic 335 pp. female characters, namely Piddy’s mother and her 3/13 978-0-545-28415-8 $17.99 mother’s flamboyant best friend Lila, who make more e-book ed. 978-0-545-52951-8 $17.99 lasting impressions. Medina’s setting stands out as well, Jaron has only been king of Carthya for a month when especially her portrayal of the bustling Latina-owned an attempted assassination leads his advisors to consider beauty salon, Salon Corazon, where Piddy works on a regency until the boy comes of age. Forced into hiding, weekends, folding towels and sweeping up hair. It’s Jaron takes the offensive, running away to the borders of here where Piddy overhears unsettling gossip about her his kingdom where he hopes, ultimately, to infiltrate the mother and father, a man Piddy has never met—gossip pirate camp and get to the bottom of things. Once there, that makes her question whether her mother is as virtuous as she purports to be. As he is surprised to find Imogen, the girl he turned away the bullying intensifies, so do Piddy’s fear and lack of self-worth, to the point that from the castle in The False Prince (rev. 3/12) so that she she’s soon spending more time retreating from her life than living it. Is it easier to would not become a pawn because of his affection for her. He is less surprised when give up and become a “nobody,” or should she fight back? Teens will identify with Roden, his erstwhile friend and rival, shows up. Through various machinations of Piddy’s struggle to decide. christine m. heppermann the plot, Jaron challenges the pirate king to a duel, emerges victorious, wins back Roden’s allegiance, and remains maddeningly uncertain about his feelings for Imo- Scarlet [Lunar Chronicles] gen. Jaron barely has time to race back to the capital and put the regency plan to rest by Marissa Meyer before he is attacked by the neighboring kingdoms. This solid middle volume has Middle School, High School Feiwel 452 pp. its own arc, but still ends with a cliffhanger, an important villain on the loose, and a 2/13 978-0-312-64296-9 $17.99 g potential love triangle between Jaron; his betrothed princess, Amarinda; and Imogen, Fiercely independent but naive Scarlet Benoit would now behind enemy lines. Nielsen’s mix of adventure and intrigue with the barest hint do anything to find her missing grandmother. When of romance once again recalls Megan Whalen Turner and Suzanne Collins but is a a mysterious street fighter named Wolf offers to help great read in its own right. jonathan hunt Scarlet, the two travel to Paris, where Scarlet risks her life trying to save her grand-mère, uncovering Requiem [Delirium Trilogy] shocking truths about Wolf, her grandmother, and by Lauren Oliver her own past along the way. This engrossing sci-fi Middle School, High School Harper/HarperCollins 391 pp. adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood story 3/13 978-0-06-201453-5 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-0-06-220296-3 $9.99 (complete with Scarlet’s red hoodie) takes inspiration from the original folktale but adds its own unique In the final book in the trilogy (Delirium, rev. 3/11; Pandemonium, rev. 3/12), fight- twists, including romance. Meanwhile, and picking ing between the resistance and the regulators escalates to the brink of war. Within up where Cinder (rev. 1/12) left off, cyborg Cinder the walled cities, officials consolidate power over the “cured” population with even

114 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 115 greater restrictions. Outside in the Wilds, the resistance builds among those who escaped the cure, the proce- dure that prevents amor deliria nervosa: love. Oliver deftly portrays both worlds through the parallel stories JLG gives you books to of Lena and her best friend, Hana. Struggling for food and shelter and hiding from the deadly regulators, Lena and her friends make the dangerous trek north to join free young imaginations with other refugees in the sharply drawn setting of the Wilds. Lena also wrestles with her feelings for her first, passionate love, Alex, miraculously returned yet deeply damaged, and for gentle, patient Julian, now at her side. Back in Portland, Hana prepares for her wedding to soon-to-be-mayor Fred Hargrove in the polished but empty society of the cured. Hana worries that the cure hasn’t worked perfectly for her; her feelings are “not eradicated completely… but like shadows,” and she cannot forget her worst memory—that she betrayed Lena and Alex. Tension builds as Oliver drives both narratives inexorably toward both the climactic battle and a dramatic meeting of the two girls. Fans of the trilogy will be rewarded. lauren adams

Fox Forever [Jenna Fox Chronicles] by Mary E. Pearson High School Holt 290 pp. 3/13 978-0-8050-9434-3 $17.99 g The Jenna Fox Chronicles distinguish themselves among the many dystopian novels because of their unique combination of genre appeal and literary merit, the juxta- position of personal struggles and political turmoil, and the subtle exploration of human nature. (The premise: three teenagers killed in a car accident receive new, improved bio-engineered bodies and must survive in a society in which they are considered illegal.) In this final installment, Locke (protagonist of The Fox Inheri- tance, rev. 9/11) is recruited by the Resistance to find out whether their missing leader, Karden—long presumed dead—is really still alive, imprisoned by government Security for the past sixteen years in the hopes of recov- ering the eighty billion duros he stole. The plan calls for Locke to gain access to the home office of the Secretary of Security by infiltrating his daughter Raine’s circle of friends. As the plot races toward its climax, Locke must find and rescue Karden and win back Raine’s affection after she discovers his duplicity and betrayal—and he We Review You Choose We Deliver must do it before the missing bank account numbers and select the the right mix and new books to your best books for our number of levels library every month, expire. The denouement offers Locke and Jenna (The 51 levels for your library all year long Adoration of Jenna Fox, rev. 5/08) an opportunity for closure in their relationship, and the final chapter, set To learn how JLG makes collection development easy, visit us online at thirty years later, brings the trilogy to a satisfying con- clusion. jonathan hunt www.juniorlibraryguild.com

Book Reviews • Free Posters • Free Shipping • Free Standard MARC Records • Free Unlimited Substitutions 116 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 Junior Library Guild is a Media Source Company. Junior Library Guild is a registered trademark. Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets Counting Back from Nine by Evan Roskos by Valerie Sherrard High School Houghton 310 pp. High School Fitzhenry & Whiteside 198 pp. 3/13 978-0-547-92853-1 $16.99 g 11/12 Paper ed. 978-1-55455-245-0 $9.95 “I’m a depressed, anxious kid.” Maneuvering the haz- This novel in verse begins “when IT began”: the dis- ards of high school, abusive parents, a banished sister, solution of Laren’s closest friendships after she steals and diminishing mental health proves exhausting for her friend’s boyfriend, Scott. The adjustment process sixteen-year-old James Whitman. He’s tried everything isn’t easy for Laren, and things get worse when her to feel better—from reciting Walt Whitman to yawp- father is hurt in a car accident and unexpectedly ing in the face of adversity, hugging trees, rescuing a dies from complications—then worse still “when Tastykake wrapper (he thinks it’s a bird) from being what cannot be / crashes into what is” and devastat- hit by a bus, and even talking to an imaginary pigeon ing secrets about his life are revealed. The road to therapist about his problems—but none of it seems to healing is a difficult one (occasioning some porten- help. When his parents refuse to pay for real therapy, tousness: “there are no arrows to tell you how to get James decides to get a part-time job in order to afford back to / where you were before”), but there are some things in Laren’s life that help: it himself, while simultaneously undertaking a crusade to get his sister reinstated she starts seeing the school psychologist; she writes a multi-part letter to her father in school and ultimately welcomed back into his home. However, digging into his working through her complicated grief; she forces herself to appear strong for her sister’s past unearths secrets he isn’t entirely ready to face and solidifies his belief that younger brother, Jackson; and she leans on boyfriend Scott (though readers can see his family may be irreparably broken. Though his circumstances are nothing to laugh that he is not adequate support and will not be surprised when his cheating ways at, James’s wry sense of humor, one of his most charming coping mechanisms, effort- resurface). Eventually Laren’s tone sounds wiser and healthier, and the memories she lessly fuses with the starkness of his reality. Author Roskos’s strength lies in his refusal zeroes in on are more positive. Sherrard has written a touching protagonist who is to tidy up the mess in James’s life and in his relentless honesty about surviving with heartbreakingly fragile yet also strong; the verse narration suits Laren’s character and depression and anxiety. shara l. hardeson is an effective vehicle for these meditations on guilt, grief, betrayal, friendship, and self-acceptance. katrina hedeen H Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick Bruised High School Roaring Brook 263 pp. by Sarah Skilton 2/13 978-1-59643-800-2 $17.99 g High School Amulet/Abrams 282 pp. Sedgwick takes us backwards, first by sixty-year intervals 3/13 978-1-4197-0387-4 $16.95 and then by leaps of centuries, in seven short stories Being bruised “means you’re alive,” Imogen’s friend Ricky tells her after she hurts her centering on a remote northern island and the potent, hand. “The body can’t bruise once the heart stops beating.” But for Imogen, a high drug-laden flower that blooms there. Each story begins school junior and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, this with love and ends with death, whether of young lovers, self-inflicted injury represents just one more way she’s parents and children, or brothers and sisters. It’s only in punished herself in the months since she witnessed a reading through all seven that we begin to understand holdup at the local diner. Can she ever forgive herself the prehistoric ritual that brings bloody death and for hiding under a table instead of using her martial forbidden love to “Blessed Island.” In each of these sto- arts training to somehow stop the crime and prevent ries—set in 2073, 2011, 1944, 1902, 1848, the Viking the gunman from being shot to death by police? This period of the tenth century, and “time unknown”—Sedgwick’s prose is taut, careful, layered first novel explores the aftereffects of the trauma, and chilling, as it moves through the bright, gentle language of love and the island’s convincingly depicting why Imogen blames herself for beauty to the abrupt, deliberate sacrifice that ends each section. The dark deceptive- a situation over which she had no control. Skilton also ness of words themselves underlies the island’s shift from “bloody” to “blessed” (as sensitively depicts the bond and tentative romance that the narrator says in a philological moment, tracing the word’s evolution from Old to develops between Imogen and Ricky, another witness Modern English). But it’s the earthy, the romantic, and the ghostly—rather than the to the shooting who also hid beneath a table. While cerebral—that make this book such a complete work of art. deirdre f. baker Skilton’s teen characters often seem more like twelve-

118 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 119 year-olds when talking or thinking about love and sex, the main story line about population suffering from a fatal fever. Here Smith gives us characters faced with two Imogen’s struggle to come to terms with what she did (and did not do) is nuanced choices: live or die. When Fen becomes the caregiver for an infant, her one hope is to and honest. christine m. heppermann transport the child, disease free, from Orleans. Soon she meets an idealistic scientist whom Fen believes can courier Baby Girl to freedom. Smith effectively tells their sto- Feral Nights ries through both voices: his idealistic, naive, and grammatically perfect; hers, street- by Cynthia Leitich Smith wise, in the dialect of the tribes of Orleans. Carefully crafted backstories, revealed High School Candlewick 296 pp. throughout the novel, allow readers initially to form opinions and later have these 2/13 978-0-7636-5909-7 $17.99 either confirmed, denied, or altered. The bleak, austere setting becomes a tableau for e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6368-1 $17.99 life’s basics: survival and sacrifice, compassion and greed. betty carter Fans of the Tantalize quartet (Tantalize, rev. 3/07; Eternal, rev. 3/09; Blessed, rev. 1/11; Diabolical, rev. 1/12) will appreciate this companion novel featuring its supporting cast. Set in Smith’s alternate Austin, Texas, during the events of Diabolical, this book follows wereopossum Clyde and human Aimee as they inves- tigate the murder of their werearmadillo friend Travis. They’re joined by Yoshi, the brother of missing werecat (and prime suspect) Ruby. Just as the three teens real- ize that their information about Ruby doesn’t add up—and that she’s not the only wereperson to disappear recently—they’re drugged and whisked away to a private island where werepeople are hunted as game. Calculating yeti and ghostly Travis join the established motley crew of werepeople, vampires, and angels, and while some lingering questions from the quartet are answered, plenty of new and old mysteries remain to be addressed in projected sequels. As before, Smith’s blend of supernatural suspense, campy humor, and romantic tension is addictive; allusions to both pop Matthew Cordell. . Illustration © 2013 by on a Burger Juice Bug Like culture (“Thriller,” Python) and literature (The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Most Dangerous Game) add to the fun. Most satisfying of all, Aimee and especially Like Bug Juice on a Burger unassuming, injured Clyde leave their sidekick roles behind to come into their own. by Julie Sternberg; illus. by Matthew Cordell katie bircher Primary, Intermediate Amulet/Abrams 172 pp. 4/13 978-1-4197-0190-0 $14.95 g Orleans As a girl, Eleanor’s mom loved Camp Wallumwahpuck so much that Eleanor is sure by Sherri L. Smith she will, too. But as readers of Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie (rev. 5/11) know, Eleanor Middle School, High School Putnam 331 pp. is a worrier, and camp offers lots of opportunities for worrying as well as missing 3/13 978-0-399-25294-5 $17.99 g home. Right away, she trips on a tree root, scraping up her hands, knees, and chin: With near-biblical cadence, sixteen-year-old orphan “I just lay there, / sprawled on the ground / like dirty underwear.” The short lines Fen recites the flood stories of New Orleans, enumerat- offer an expressive form for bringing out feelings without harping on them, so Elea- ing the hurricanes that have battered the city over the nor stays sympathetic, and Cordell’s funny cartoon sketches add humor and detail. years as they increase in frequency and intensity. In the Through one series of pictures, kids who have never encountered tetherball can see beginning, “the sky and the sea can’t live without New how the game works while being entertained by the gestures the two girls are mak- Orleans being they own, so they start to fight over her.” ing as they play. Just as Eleanor has sent off a coded letter to her parents that means When Jesus, the seventh storm and a category 6, hits she wants to leave, she begins to find activities she enjoys, like visiting a baby goat the city in 2019, “that be the end of New Orleans. She on a farm. Through hard work in her embarrassingly babyish swimming class, she love that last storm so much, she run off with him and progresses to the next level, and by the end of camp Eleanor has found much to like. leave only Orleans behind.” What remains is a necropo- Sternberg gets all of the details exactly right, from the “orange, oozing sloppy joes” to lis, walled off from the rest of the U.S., and with its the frustrations of trying to swim in a life jacket. susan dove lempke

120 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 121 Mojo begins to ponder her own life and her role as the “good girl” and looks for divine by Tim Tharp help (through a complicated traditional birthday wish) for guidance. The different High School Knopf 289 pp. segments of Ruby’s life, like those in the color wheel, had a center: her beloved, but 4/13 978-0-375-86445-2 $16.99 recently deceased, grandmother. But in an intriguing backstory that plays out almost Library ed. 978-0-375-96445-9 $19.99 g entirely during the town’s annual parade, Ruby realizes that she can become a center e-book ed. 978-0-375-89580-7 $10.99 for others. By turns thought-provoking, humorous, and poignant, Ruby’s story If Encyclopedia Brown were a teenager trying to boost introduces a multi-faceted character well worth meeting. betty carter his mojo by investigating both the death of a classmate and the disappearance of a rich girl—and if his sidekick Navigating Early Sally turned out to be a lesbian—you’d get the feel for by Clare Vanderpool this snappy mystery. While hiding out (in a dumpster) Intermediate, Middle School Delacorte 307 pp. from bullies, wannabe-investigative-journalist Dylan 1/13 978-0-385-74209-2 $16.99 stumbles across the body of Hector Maldonado. The Library ed. 978-0-375-99040-3 $19.99 police shrug off Hector’s death; meanwhile, on the e-book ed. 978-0-307-97412-9 $9.99 affluent side of town, the cops set up a search party to locate Ashton Browning, Jack and Early are both outsiders in the Morton Hill whose family is offering a one-hundred-thousand-dollar reward for news of her Academy for Boys, their mid-1940s Maine prep whereabouts. Dylan, along with his best friend Audrey and a girl named Trix they school. Jack is new and from Kansas and has never are both crushing on, sees a connection between the two cases and begins his own before seen the ocean or rowed crew; Early is gifted investigation. His suspicions are far-ranging, and readers are privy to all of his wild but strange, dropping in and out of classes, subject to theories; most will find themselves one step ahead of the hapless protagonist. There’s brief epileptic seizures, bedding down in an aban- some social commentary worked in—were Ashton and Hector secretly dating, and doned janitor’s workshop rather than in the dormitory. if so, was someone angry about the white girl going out with the smart Hispanic kid The two boys are each mourning someone, too: Jack’s from the wrong side of the Oklahoma City tracks?—but mostly it’s just lots of fun. mother has died, thus occasioning his Navy captain Throw in a Fight Club–like rich-kid hangout, a sassy little-person exotic dancer, and father to put him in boarding school; Early, we come a terrible karaoke contest to make an entertaining mystery that doesn’t take itself too to learn, is not only orphaned but has lost his beloved seriously. elissa gershowitz older brother (and Morton Hill golden boy) to the war in Europe. While the writing is as minutely obser- The Center of Everything vant as it was in the author’s Newbery-winning debut, by Linda Urban Moon over Manifest, this book has a stronger trajec- Intermediate Harcourt 197 pp. tory, developed by the classic quest structure that emerges when Vanderpool sends 3/13 978-0-547-76348-4 $15.99 g the boys into the Maine wilderness, on a search that Jack thinks is metaphorical but Every year, the sixth graders at Bunning Elementary is gradually revealed to be real—and life-changing—for both of them. Interspersed School in southern New Hampshire create a color episodes from a story Early tells about a wanderer named Pi sit uneasily; and Jack’s wheel. Their art teacher, Mrs. Thomas, gives basic narration can be too self-aware and self-explanatory, leaving the reader with perhaps instructions: include twelve colors, put them in order, not enough to do, but the same attentiveness also gives the book a rich texture and and identify the complementary ones. She provides envelopment. roger sutton a model that looks like a bicycle wheel with spokes; Ruby Pepperdine completes the assignment by making Ivy Takes Care her wheel just like Mrs. Thomas’s. This, Ruby believes, by Rosemary Wells; illus. by Jim LaMarche is what she’s “supposed to do.” True to character, she Intermediate Candlewick 197 pp. has figured out what is expected of her and met, but 2/13 978-0-7636-5352-1 $15.99 g not exceeded, those expectations. But then she spies e-book ed. 978-0-7636-6363-6 $15.99 Nero DeNiro’s cleverly executed wheel and begins In the summer of 1949 in western Nevada, things are changing for thoughtful fifth- to wonder: “What if there is no such thing as ‘supposed to’?” Literally and meta- grader Ivy, who has a special gift with animals. Ivy senses a shift when her closest phorically, Ruby colors within the lines; Nero goes outside the boundaries. Ruby friend Annie departs for her privileged summer camp in New Hampshire. Though

122 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 123 Ivy lacks Annie’s monetary resources, she is resource- make readers long to learn more about them and will likely inspire more than one to ful in her own way and starts a pet care business follow the author’s appended note on ways to help alleviate suffering in the Sudan. with the intent of buying Annie a friendship ring. anita l. burkam The ring can’t hold Annie, but Ivy’s three clients and their animals broaden her world and her relation- B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy) ship with others in remarkable ways. Ivy is a mature by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple character with strong insight: “She realized that she Intermediate, Middle School Dutton 344 pp. missed Inca much more than she had missed Annie. 3/13 978-0-525-42238-9 $16.99 g With a dog, there was no guessing as to who loved Twelve-year-old Sammy Greenburg is a victim. School whom in the world.” The vividly evoked rural setting bullies make his days miserable—dunking him head- tends to overshadow the book’s historical period, but first into the toilet, tripping him in the hallway, spit- the moving story, told from a third-person limited ting on his food. But things begin to look up when he perspective, brings the characters to life for young befriends a new student named Skink, and they start a readers. Ivy will need her independent nature and “klezmer jazz boogie pop fusion rock” band with fellow confident spirit to achieve her ambitions, but readers student Julia Nathanson. Skink even attends Sammy’s can see that with her open heart and mind, she will never be truly lonely. Occasional Hebrew lessons with Rabbi Chaim, who, upon hearing spot art unseen. julie roach of the bullying, introduces the boys to the story of Reb Judah Loew, who, in sixteenth-century Prague, created The Milk of Birds a golem, “made of clay, animated by the name of God, by Sylvia Whitman to stand as protector of the Jews when death threatened them all.” When Skink High School Atheneum 371 pp. is severely beaten by the same bullies who make Sammy’s school life a nightmare, 4/13 978-1-4424-4682-3 $16.99 g Sammy creates his own golem to protect him and Skink. Somehow, Sammy is able In alternating first-person accounts and letters, fifteen-year-old Nawra, an “internally to make a being so lifelike that he attends school, comes over to spend the night, and displaced person” living in a camp in the Sudan, and K. C., a fourteen-year-old plays drums in the band, and no one wonders too much who he is or where he came girl struggling with learning disabilities in Richmond, Virginia, find strength in from. Though utterly far-fetched, this is a likable tale with a clear and laudable mes- their friendship and begin to work through their problems. The two are connected sage about friendship and learning to fight your own battles. dean schneider through Save the Girls, a fictional charity based on an actual one (Women for Women International) that matches U.S. donors with Sudanese pen-pals and offers Curses! Foiled Again job training as well. Although Nawra is grieving the murders of most of her family, by Jane Yolen; illus. by Mike Cavallaro the withdrawal of her surviving mother, and a pregnancy brought about by gang Middle School First Second/Roaring Brook 164 pp. rape, she still has gentle words of encouragement 1/13 Paper ed. 978-1-59643-619-0 $15.99 and advice for her American “sister.” K. C.’s initial Foiled’s (rev. 7/10) feisty heroine, Aliera Carstairs, makes a return appearance, ready reluctance (writing is an almost insurmountable to “save Faerie from the big bad guys. The really big bad guys. You know, ogres and chore for her) develops into passionate advocacy as witches and trolls. Oh, my!” But, of course, there’s also high school and fencing Nawra slowly reveals her circumstances. Their cor- respondence deepens ties both girls have with family, community, and each other. Nawra’s conversation and letters are embroidered with Sudanese proverbs (“The miserable person has a long life,” “Nothing scratches your skin like your own fingernail”) that with their poetic, wry images state the truth, if some- times obliquely. Despite believing she is “dumb,” K. C. invests her letters with such curiosity and spirit that she avoids an unflattering comparison

with Nawra’s fortitude. These two correspondents Mike Illustration © 2013 by Cavallaro. Again. Foiled Curses!

124 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 125 class, and “balancing the mundane and hollowed-out as a moon crater”; “The outline world with the mystical” isn’t exactly of her hipbones looked like a basket with nothing in easy-breezy. To make matters more it.” Sustaining this tone throughout, Yovanoff relates complicated, Aliera’s got an unwanted Hannah and Lillian’s obsessive investigation (both in bodyguard: Avery Castle. He’s a high the real world and the supernatural realm) into the school hottie in daylight, but as dark- murders that soon pile up in their community. The ness falls, he morphs into a troll. And serial-killer mystery unfolds steadily, then rapidly, although Avery has pledged to protect and the climax is unexpected and thrilling. Mean- her, how can Aliera, Defender of Faerie, while, Hannah begins a relationship with mysterious bring herself to trust a troll, especially delinquent Finny Boone. As their romance blossoms, when her cousin Caroline’s life may so, too, does Hannah’s confidence, her spirit slowly be on the line? As Aliera quarrels with strengthening until she’s able to stand up for herself Avery about, well, everything, their in multiple situations—even to Lillian, who had been back-and-forth thrust and parry is a the dominant one in their friendship. This is taut clever verbal analog to actual fenc- sleuthing, a supernatural ghost story, and a coming- ing. Yolen repeats this comparison of-age novel; it’s horrific and shrouded in death but also poetic and life-affirming. and even winks at its appearance in These remarkable juxtapositions will haunt readers long after they’ve put the book movies like The Princess Bride during down. katrina hedeen Aliera’s showdown with the Dark Lord, who is not only the leader of the trolls Poison but, in an unexpected twist, the real by Bridget Zinn betrayer of Aliera’s trust. Throughout Middle School Hyperion 280 pp. the graphic novel, Cavallaro plays with 3/13 978-1-4231-3993-5 $16.99 g contrast, interrupting his muted gray Sixteen-year-old Kyra is a girl with more than her share of secrets. Living in the palette (Aliera is colorblind) with bursts world of witches, dwarves, potion masters, shape shifters, and the like, she is reluc- of bright color whenever fantastical tant to trust anyone, even her best friend and the future queen, Ariana. Readers learn creatures or objects appear on the scene. early on that Kyra has attempted to murder Ariana, tanya d. auger and we spend the rest of the book trying to figure out why Kyra shot a deadly potion at her…and why, Paper Valentine when she has never missed a target, she missed that by Brenna Yovanoff one. Twists and turns, including dramatic cliffhanger Middle School, High School chapter endings, quick getaways, disguises, tricked- Razorbill/Penguin 307 pp. out witches, a princess-seeking pig, and one especially 1/13 978-1-59514-599-4 $17.99 clever and handsome boy make this a fine rollicking From page one, the landscape of this adventure from start to finish. The author’s use of novel is decidedly eerie. The city of thoroughly modern language in a magical setting adds Ludlow is experiencing a suffocating to the charm. The characters are complicated and act heat wave, there’s a rash of dead birds, in flawed human ways, making mistakes in judgment a young girl is found brutally murdered that make the plot twists all the more realistic. Kyra in a park, and there is Lillian, Hannah’s and Ariana are strong girls in the Vesper Holly tradi- best friend who died six months ago tion—not giving in to sexist social requirements and, but now haunts Hannah’s every move. thank goodness, never fighting over Fred, the love The description of ghost Lillian, who interest. Zinn has crafted a marvelous tale, more Harry Potter than Twilight. Readers died of anorexia, is vivid, disturbing, will be sad that, due to her untimely death, Zinn’s promising debut novel will be her and even crude: “Her face is as sharp last. robin l. smith

March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 127 “busy-busy” Little Chick who gets to orange, and red, capturing a feeling of Folklore work, ignoring the tempting worms and motion with his loose black lines. Both crickets and corn to gather materials Harrington and Pinkney steer clear of Nelly May heads up the hill in search of and build. Former children’s librarian any overt moralizing—the mama hen employment with Lord Pinkwinkle, the Harrington knows how to tell a story, is warm and loving, the chicks enter- requirements of the job are to memorize and she uses repetitive elements and tainingly cute, and in the end all are his eccentric names for things: a bed is refrains to keep children engaged and delighted to find their beautiful new a “restful slumberific,” water is “river- participating. Pinkney here moves away house. An appended glossary and a trickle,” boots are “stompinwhackers,” from his usual structured scratch- comprehensive author’s note explain the etc. DeFelice rounds out the character board illustrations to create free and roots of the tale and the Nkundo words of the unnamed child servant in the energetic watercolors in bright yellow, used. susan dove lempke folktale to the capable and clever Nelly May and adds an extra, highly satisfy- ing beat to the plot. Cole’s illustrations don’t try to be too clever, and the clean Poetry book design and forefronted action make it perfect for storytime, which is World Rat Day: getting ready / To fire up a festival? / where this comical tale of creative nam- Poems About Real Holidays ELECTRIFIED CONFETTI.” Twenty- ing will shine. sarah ellis You’ve Never Heard Of one additional obscure but entertaining

Nelly May Has Her Say Henry. Illustration © 2012 by Cole. by J. Patrick Lewis; illus. by Anna Raff holidays get their own poem, each one Busy-Busy Little Chick Primary Candlewick 40 pp. funny, playful, and even instructive, as Nelly May Has Her Say by Janice N. Harrington; 3/13 978-0-7636-5402-3 $15.99 g in “Eight Table Manners for Dragons”: by Cynthia DeFelice; illus. by Brian Pinkney You may not have been aware that “Don’t talk with people in your mouth.” illus. by Henry Cole Preschool Farrar 32 pp. April 10 is Firefly Day, but now that (The holiday? Dragon Appreciation Primary Ferguson/Farrar 32 pp. 2/13 978-0-374-34746-8 $15.99 g you are, you can celebrate by reading Day.) Raff’s ink washes and drawings 3/13 978-0-374-39899-6 $16.99 g Unlike the industrious Little Red Hen, “A Thousand Baby Stars”: “How could feature animals with lots of personality, The brief and absurdist folktale “Master the hen in this story (from the Nkundo I ever catch them all / As they were like the worms who look very worried of All Masters” (found in Joseph people of Central Africa) is the one Jacobs’s English Fairy Tales), about an who keeps putting off doing any work. eccentric gentleman who insists on his When Mama Nsoso’s chicks are shiver- own invented language, is a tempting ing in their nest at night, she promises story to tell, except for two problems. they will build a new “ilombe” (house), The tale’s invented words (pondalo- but each day something yummy begs to rum for water, barnacle for bed) lack be eaten instead: “crunchy-munchy, / nonsense logic, at least in our time sweety-meaty, / big fat worms!” It’s and place, and the punch line, a sort of party piece tongue-twister, leaves the listener wondering, “And then…?” In Jacobs, it feels like a joke that got frozen on its way to becoming a story. DeFelice and Cole do a fine job of letting the premise grow into a real nar- rative and amending the invented terms to ones that trip more rhythmically off the tongue as they take on an energetic

American twang. Here, when red-haired Brian Pinkney. Little Chick . Illustration © 2013 by Busy-Busy Day Raff. Rat Anna . Illustration © 2013 by World

128 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 129 few illustrations seem out of scale with their subjects and with the lovely verse: Jenkins’s thrush is outsize and raucous, an unlikely source for one of nature’s sweetest songs. Worth’s poems remain a marvel and a joy: each offers, like the firefly here, its “Gold-green / Revelation, before / Slipping out / Between crossed / Thumbs, and slyly / Winking away.” joanna rudge long

Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy-Tale Voices with a Twist when advised to “stay away from / The or the Jollyfish, “radiant, / Ebullient 5/07), Pug features a radically different by Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Robin ’hood,” while a pair of realisti- blobs of mirth.” Berger sets up each design from that of those quiet earlier Dotlich; illus. by Matt Mahurin cally enormous robins dig their bills illustration to look like a diorama in a books, so in tune with Worth’s elegantly Primary Wordsong/Boyds Mills 40 pp. into the ground above their heads. The museum, incorporating found objects, simple verse. Still, times change, and Jen- 3/13 978-1-59078-867-7 $16.95 g poems vary in length and style, with aged paper, and other miscellanea to tag kins’s bold collages of precisely observed An introductory authors’ note describes a concrete poem in the shape of a fla- and label the various beasts. The total the Sky Berger. and OtherCarin . Illustration © 2012 by High Across Swim Poems Stardines creatures effectively dramatize these this book’s concept: each of fifteen well- mingo for Pink Flamingo Day, and five effect is both whimsical and fascinating, eighteen welcome additions to Worth’s known fairy tales is distilled into two limericks in honor of May 12, Limerick with rich language in the poems and oeuvre. The soulful, lifesize “Pug” face on short poems, one written by Yolen, the Day. Children may find themselves unexpected objects in the pictures to the jacket is a worried charmer (“Per- other by Dotlich. (Oddly, who wrote inspired to discover (or invent) their return to over and over again. Prelutsky haps because, for / Dogs, they look / A what is only mentioned on the copy- own quirky holidays and write some concludes with (presumably) a little lot like people”); a primeval black bull right page.) The perspectives are mostly quirky poems, too. susan dove lempke poke at himself in the poem about personifies his kind (“Rough-hewn, / different, and are often those of charac- Bardvarks, who “think they’re poets / From the planet’s / Hard side, / From ters—or inanimate objects such as the Stardines Swim High Across And persist in writing rhyme”—but the cold / Black rock / That abides”). A princess’s pea—not usually heard from the Sky and Other Poems children will be glad he persisted. susan by Jack Prelutsky; dove lempke illus. by Carin Berger Primary, Intermediate Greenwillow 40 pp. Pug and Other Animal Poems 3/13 978-0-06-201464-1 $17.99 by Valerie Worth; Library ed. 978-0-06-201465-8 $18.89 illus. by Steve Jenkins Ingenious book design pairs with Primary Ferguson/Farrar 40 pp. inventive poetry to create this museum- 3/13 978-0-374-35024-6 $16.99 g in-a-book of animal poems, featur- Valerie Worth is fondly remembered for ing unusual critters such as Fountain her small books of “small poems”—deli- Lions, Braindeer, and Slobsters. The cate epiphanies springing from thoughts concept itself is simple: combine a real on such ordinary things as a book, a animal with a quality that fits into the fence, an acorn, rags—all exquisitely name (Bobcat + Sob = Sobcat, “sad / illustrated with Natalie Babbitt’s small, As a feline can be”). The fun comes in delicate line drawings (gathered in All the perfect but unexpected matches the Small Poems and Fourteen More, rev. Prelutsky makes, such as the Stardines 3/95). Like Jenkins’s first collection of the title, who “twinkle overhead,” of Worth’s poems, Animal Poems (rev. Matt Mahurin.. Illustration © 2013 by the Forest Grumbles from

130 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 131 in the traditional tales. In the kick-off playing up characters’ facial expres- Tito Puente: pez. poem, the wicked fairy from “Sleeping sions and posture, along with shadows ó Mambo King / Rey del Mambo Beauty” first laments, then shrugs off, or light and angles sharp or soft, the by Monica Brown; trans. into being outsmarted (“I blame myself. / pictures help reinforce meaning of Spanish by Adriana Domínguez; This didn’t go well”). Many of the sub- the occasionally oblique writing. Two illus. by Rafael López sequent pieces also incorporate humor, appended pages provide short sum- Primary Rayo/HarperCollins 32 pp. but, just as in fairy tales themselves, maries of the traditional stories along 3/13 978-0-06-122783-7 $17.99 there’s no lack of darkness—menace, with brief information about origins A bilingual picture book charts the longing, envy, violence—throughout and variants; three websites are also life of the Mambo King himself, Tito the book. Mahurin’s varied, painterly included for further reference. elissa Puente, with all the exuberance of the . Illustration © 2013 by Rafael. Illustration © 2013 by L Puente Tito illustrations echo each piece’s tone; by gershowitz drummer and bandleader’s irresistible music. Beginning with the opening endpapers, where two children peek Tito wins a Grammy—and are told Nonfiction through a flame-red theater curtain, in straightforward English and Span- Brown and López set the stage for a It’s Our Garden: worry—Ancona’s no-nonsense style is ish language that lends itself to easy series of tableaux illuminating high- From Seeds to Harvest perfectly suited for newly independent recitation and translation. The vibrant lights in the Puerto Rican musician’s in a School Garden readers. For example, his five-sentence imagery hums right off the page, full of life. The scenes themselves are simple by George Ancona; description of pollination succinctly high-contrast color and energetic com- enough—Tito takes music lessons, Tito position, and decorated with swirling, photos by the author boils down the subject into a digestible joins the Navy, Tito goes to Juilliard, starry embellishments. The treatment Primary Candlewick 48 pp. morsel for young readers. Like these 1/13 978-0-7636-5392-7 $16.99 children and adults working in harmony Ancona spent portions of all four sea- with the earth’s resources, Ancona’s sons observing students in their school words and visuals exist in a beautiful garden at Acequia Madre Elementary balance. A bibliography and list of web- School in Santa Fe. The result is this sites are appended. sam bloom fertile book, which shows the garden as an outdoor classroom and gather- ing place for the school community. From spring planting to winterization, full-color photographs chronicle a year in the life of the garden; students are shown composting soil, watering plants, raising butterflies, and sampling the edible delights. While green is visually ubiquitous, the real star of the show is white—as in white space, which is plentiful and keeps each spread from becoming crowded. The inclusion of student-created art on nearly every spread is surprisingly successful, used sparingly to punctuate the attractive layout. Of course, appealing book design means nothing if the accom-

panying text doesn’t work, but not to Ancona. Our George Garden . © 2013 by It’s

132 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 is not especially deep and is decidedly but by the time they get to lacrosse not positive: Tito’s life reads like a sequence a player remains without some form of of successes, each met with acclaim bandage. He needs a game where “accu- from smiling audiences and enthusiastic racy was more valuable than force.” And animals on every page. While a brief so, in a Massachusetts gymnasium, bas- biography as an endnote offers a bit ketball is concocted. Coy understands more information, this brash, joyous the power of detail—only one point outing lives to express not the facts of was scored in the very first game—and Tito Puente’s life but the spirit of his his tight focus on the game’s initial

music. A final rumba beat, in musical season is immediately engrossing. Spare, Deadly! Neal Layton. Illustration © 2012 by notation, captures the story’s irregular precise language reflects the game’s refrain: “¡Tum Tica! ¡Tac Tic! ¡Tum Tic! welcome sense of order as well as its tional information, and a you-are-there ing information about predators and ¡Tom Tom!” thom barthelmess athletic appeal. Morse’s kinetic paint- facsimile reproduction of the original defenders and the adaptations that assist ings, at once dynamic and controlled, thirteen rules of basketball adorns the in their survival. Davies commendably H fill the spreads, capturing the game’s Hoop Genius: endpapers. thom barthelmess balances spectacle and science, provid- How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy combination of power and finesse. ing accounts that are rich with factual Gym Class Invented Basketball And the stylized figures and restrained detail (how big cats kill their prey with by John Coy; illus. by Joe Morse palette of blue, brown, purple, and gray Deadly!: The Truth About the Most teeth, muscles, speed, and sight; why Primary Carolrhoda 40 pp. fix the proceedings in the nineteenth Dangerous Creatures on Earth some ants explode themselves for the 3/13 978-0-7613-6617-1 $16.95 century. Naismith’s abiding respect for sake of their colonies) and admiration e-book ed. 978-0-7613-8723-7 $12.95 his students’ irrepressible energy plays by Nicola Davies; illus. by Neal Layton Primary, Intermediate Candlewick 64 pp. for the diversity and realities of life. This thrilling account of the birth of an important role in the invention of 3/13 978-0-7636-6231-8 $14.99 Davies also alerts readers to the ways in basketball is more a biography of the the game, and the book credits the Readers with a taste for the grisly real- which animals such as spiders, snakes, game itself than of its creators. The entire crew (“James Naismith and that ism of nature will revel in the latest and tigers inadvertently (and sometimes story begins with one James Naismith rowdy class”) with the creation, adding Davies and Layton collaboration, fea- even deliberately) hurt humans. The taking over an unruly gym class that a nuanced understanding of the value of turing the ways in which animals cause book ends with an upbeat perspec- had already run off two predecessors. sports and teamwork. An author’s note lasting harm or death to other animals, tive on how all these seemingly bad He tries playing favorite sports indoors, and selected bibliography offer addi- including humans. No punches are ends have positive outcomes for both pulled here—this is gory-but-fascinat- humans and the environment. Layton’s

Nicola Davies on Deadly!

horn book editors: What’s the most dangerous creature you’ve ever encountered?

nicola davies: My first job as a TV presenter was to swim with a captive killer whale. The whale’s trainer had never swum with her, and seemed a bit nervous, but it was my first job and I didn’t want to seem like a wuss. Plus I had a good feeling about this whale, so I just dived in. She seemed really pleased to have company and she carried me on her back round and round her pool. Then I had to swim to the side of the pool and talk to the camera. Whilst I was doing that, she swam toward me with her mouth open and all those enormous teeth showing and closed her jaws on my arm. I can’t tell you why, but I wasn’t even a tiny bit scared, and not at all surprised that she wasn’t biting me, just very gently grasping my arm and pulling me back into the water to play with me some more. But I think the cameraman and the producer almost had heart attacks. Illustration © 2013 by Joe Morse. Illustration © 2013 by Hoop Genius.

134 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 135 both inspirational and— sometimes—intractable. But this easygoing picture-book biography forgoes coverage of the more formidable aspects of Moore’s personality, giving us instead a simple narrative of Moore’s Maine childhood and early love of books on through to her career at the New York Public Library, where she created the innovative Cen- Illustration © 2012 by Holly Berry. Illustration © 2012 by Colorful Dreamer. tral Children’s Room for the library’s new main building in cartoon illustrations skillfully lighten into paradise”). As the story describes 1911. With sun-dappled acrylic the tone, as animals in the throes of Matisse’s years as an artist, Berry’s illus- OtherwiseMiss Thought Moore Atwell. Debby . Illustration © 2013 by paintings of, first, rural Maine death or dismemberment often provide trations never go back to the original and, later, triumphantly, the humorous asides and jokes. danielle drab palette, instead directly mimick- light-filled interiors of the new that “the balls he pitched looked like j. ford ing Matisse’s Fauvist use of color and Children’s Room, the tone here is one marbles or bullets.” As a test, a game maturing style. Spreads of his time on of uncomplicated optimism, reflecting was set up between the barnstorming Colorful Dreamer: the French coast nod to specific, well- Moore’s practical idealism. A bird’s- team Dick Bartell’s All Stars (a group The Story of Artist Henri Matisse known Matisse still-life and landscape eye view of Miss Moore setting off on of major league players plus DiMag- by Marjorie Blain Parker; pieces, while spreads relating his older her “retirement” travels spreading the gio) and the Satchel Paige All-Stars. The first time up, DiMaggio nervously illus. by Holly Berry years during which he “painted” with gospel of children’s librarianship across faced the great Satchel, and was hit by a Primary Dial 32 pp. colored paper incorporate—then move the land clearly places this apostle in 11/12 978-0-8037-3758-7 $16.99 entirely to—collage. Though Parker’s the company of her (fictional) Maine pitch. In his second at-bat, he grounded sister, Miss Rumphius. “More about out, as he did the third time up. In his This picture-book biography opens in a lyrical text and Berry’s impressive Miss Moore” and a list of sources are fourth at-bat, he smacked a shot over dreary French village where, compared mixed-media pictures fully encom- appended. roger sutton Satch’s head that was caught by the to simple, hard-working villagers like pass Matisse’s chronology, aspirations, his parents, Henri Matisse didn’t “excel talents, and style, an appended note fur- at much of anything—except, perhaps, thers young readers’ understanding of Something to Prove: dreaming.” This dreaming is brought one of modern art’s preeminent figures. The Great Satchel Paige vividly to life in illustrations that depict katrina hedeen vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio the village in black, white, and gray by Robert Skead; except for the electrifying pops of color Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: illus. by Floyd Cooper that represent Henri’s dreams. The How Anne Carroll Moore Created Primary, Intermediate Carolrhoda 40 pp. text, too, mirrors the artist’s emotional Libraries for Children 4/13 978-0-7613-6619-5 $16.95 state, describing with glum language by Jan Pinborough; e-book ed. 978-1-4677-0954-5 $12.95 the morose years as a misunderstood illus. by Debby Atwell In 1936, two baseball players had son and bored law clerk (which “tied Primary Houghton 40 pp. something to prove. Was twenty-one- his stomach in knots”) and then a 3/13 978-0-547-47105-1 $16.99 year-old Joe DiMaggio ready for the period bedridden in a hospital. Once Nowadays, Anne Carroll Moore is Major Leagues? Should Satchel Paige, Henri discovers painting, the diction remembered as the fiercest of the library pitching great in the Negro Leagues, be becomes more lively (“He picked up ladies whose influence on children’s playing in the Majors? After all, Paige the paintbrush and was transported library service and publishing was Cooper. Floyd . Illustration © 2013 by Something Prove to “threw fire,” and baffled batters said

136 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 137 aboard a giant plane filled with babies in cardboard boxes. This sequel describes Tuyet’s adjustment to life with her adoptive Canadian family, the story’s drama this time revolving around the surgery she must have on her leg. Polio has left Tuyet with one leg that’s weak and smaller than the other: “Her ankle turned inward, making her foot useless. She had to limp on the bone of her ankle to get around.” Memories of fire, bombs, helicopters, and a hospital—things she thought she’d forgotten—come flood- ing back, and Tuyet is all alone in the hospital (no parents allowed) and knows center fielder. The game went to extra no English. Readers will be just as riveted innings, and both players did indeed to this quieter but no-less-moving story prove themselves worthy. DiMaggio as Tuyet bravely dreams of being able joined the Yankees right away, but it to run and play—a new concept for a Be Doctors? Marjorie Illustration © 2013 by Priceman. Can’t Who Says Women was twelve years before Satchel Paige girl who has spent her days caring for babies. Especially satisfying is Skrypuch’s broke the color barrier, a year after women, because no one else would hire liography on the last page offers readers portrayal of Tuyet’s growing trust in her Jackie Robinson. Skead effectively uses her. Elizabeth Blackwell’s early life is more, its suggesting just how adoptive family, whose love and affec- a little-known baseball episode to por- outlined in trim conversational prose welcome this new title is. nina lindsay tray larger issues of race and justice in tion never fail to amaze and thrill her. in this lively picture book treatment. America, while superbly developing the Illustrated with photos. Includes notes, As she did in Elizabeth Leads the Way: When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: game’s tension inning by inning. Grainy further resources, and an index. jennifer Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One brown-toned illustrations nicely evoke m. brabander Vote (rev. 5/08), Stone addresses readers Extraordinary Riot the dreamy reminiscences of baseball in the second person to involve them in by Lauren Stringer; legend, and frequent changes of per- Who Says Women her energetic narrative: “Being a doctor illus. by the author spective keep the story from becoming Can’t Be Doctors?: was definitely not an option. What do Primary Harcourt 32 pp. static. An engaging look at two baseball The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell you think changed all that? Or should 3/13 978-0-547-90725-3 $16.99 greats who eventually made it into the by Tanya Lee Stone; I say…WHO?” A choice handful of For a Horn Book issue with the theme Baseball Hall of Fame. An author’s note illus. by Marjorie Priceman biographical elements are arranged “Different Drummers,” a book about and brief bibliography are included. Primary Ottaviano/Holt 40 pp. artfully to develop Blackwell’s character the riotous 1913 premiere of The Rite of dean schneider 2/13 978-0-8050-9048-2 $16.99 g within the expectations and challenges Spring fits right in. Although Stringer Here’s a refreshing introduction to a of her time. An appended two-page overplays the degree of collaboration One Step at a Time: regularly but often dryly cited female author’s note delivers exactly enough (Diaghilev, unmentioned here, chose A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way “first.” The girl “who tried sleeping additional information and context for Nijinsky to choreograph the piece well by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch on the hard floor with no covers, just readers to understand the basics of her after Stravinsky had begun compos- Intermediate Pajama Press 104 pp. to toughen herself up” becomes the achievement. Priceman’s richly color- ing it), there is no doubt that the two 2/13 978-1-927485-01-9 $17.95 young woman who proved she was as ful gouache illustrations completely men created something beautifully, Skrypuch’s Last Airlift: A Vietnamese smart as any of the male students at dominate each spread, lending a perfect brutally new, its “primitive” rhythms Orphan’s Rescue from War (rev. 9/12) Geneva Medical School, and, eventu- framework of energy and pacing to the and movement almost as shocking and told the dramatic story of eight-year- ally, the woman doctor who opened text, and drawing upon its provocative divisive today as they were to the first old Tuyet’s 1975 rescue from Saigon the first hospital for women, run by and often humorous tone. A short bib- audience at the Théâtre des Champs-

138 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 139 subjects as the effectiveness of plot structure. Listing variants, Audiobooks both international and amongst the Grimms’ many editions (see The Wolves of Willoughby Chase LaVoy brings them all to life, employ- also the excellent bibliography), by Joan Aiken; read by Lizza Aiken ing a variety of accents that reflects the Pullman explains his own choices Intermediate Listening Library Rev. 2/64 diversity of the city’s inhabitants. With like a master teacher illuminating 4 CDs 4.8 hrs. 978-0-307-99128-7 $25.00 so many competing voices, however, the art of storytelling: “I like the It’s author Aiken’s daughter who reads LaVoy is not always completely suc- version here because the reward is this classic and old-fashioned adventure cessful: though she imbues the spectral for courage, not just for luck.” Or, novel, and the result is superb. The figure and antagonist John Hobbes “Strong Hans” is “not very tidily combination of the author’s masterful with an eerie shakiness, at times her strung together…once you start storytelling and the narrator’s assured portrayal comes off as over the top. ‘improving’ a tale like this, it can and intimate reading is mesmerizing. Still, LaVoy fully captures Evie’s bubbly easily come apart in your hands.” Listeners will hold their breath as they personality, and her overall verve and All the teller can do, Pullman con- follow the up-and-down fortunes of clarity nicely complement Bray’s vivid cludes, “is to try for clarity, and spunky Bonnie and timid Sylvia, men- writing. Listeners will be humming the stop worrying about it.” And so aced by wolves and by the scheming song “Naughty John” for days on end. he does, enlivening his text with Stringer. Met NijinskyWhen Lauren Stravinsky . © 2013 by and hateful governess Miss Slighcarp marisa finkelstein Élysées. Stringer’s text has brio (perhaps concrete details, hints of character, and alike. Today’s Harry Potter–weaned chil- a tad too much: “[Stravinsky’s] trumpet vivid language without ever breaching dren will find orphans, villains, narrow D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths tah-tahed a twirling ballerina”), and her the original tales’ integrity. The shoe- escapes, and friendships aplenty here by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire; acrylic illustrations dance right along maker, for example, picks up the shoes and may be glad to embark upon the read by Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, in a sweep of movement and color that the elves have stitched “and look[s] whole Wolves Chronicles. As an added Kathleen Turner, and Matthew owes as much to Matisse as to its own at them closely from all angles…He bonus, Lizza Aiken introduces this lively spirit. Notes about the ballet, couldn’t have done better himself.” The Broderick audiobook with a brief story about how Stringer’s visual inspirations, and a list fisherman and his wife live “in a shack Intermediate Listening Library Rev. 2/63 her mother came to write the book—a 4 CDs 4.25 hrs. 978-0-449-01418-9 $25.00 of sources are appended. roger sutton that was so filthy it might as well have huge treat for longtime Joan Aiken fans. been a pisspot.” This is indeed “A New Come for the illustrious lineup of martha v. parravano English Version,” a revitalized Grimm narrators; stay for the stories. Pre- Of Interest to entrance seasoned admirers and new sented here on this reissue of a 2000 readers alike. joanna rudge long The Diviners audiobook (originally published by by Libba Bray; read by January LaVoy Airplay) is the whole pantheon of Greek to Adults High School Listening Library Rev. 11/12 mythology, from the twelve Olympians 15 CDs 18.25 hrs. 978-0-449-80875-7 $60.00 to the minor gods to the kings and Fairy Tales from Travel back to New York City in the heroes of ancient Greece. The retell- the Brothers Grimm: 1920s with all the glitz, glamour, and ings shine even fifty years after their A New English Version occasional supernatural serial murder. original publication and even without edited by For once, Evie O’Neill’s little party the d’Aulaires’ glorious illustrations: Viking 406 pp. trick—reading people’s secrets via here are tales full of adventure, intrigue, 11/12 978-0-670-02497-1 $27.95 objects that belong to them—heralds rescues, betrayals, transformations, love, It’s no surprise that Pullman can tell more good than harm if it can help lust, tragic fates, and petty squabbles. a story, but the magic he works on stop a serial killer from rampaging The d’Aulaires don’t shy away from the these fifty favorites is a revelation. It’s through New York to fulfill an old less salubrious aspects of the myths yet tempting simply to quote his supple prophecy. Evie also soon discovers she never forget their target audience (they updating of dialogue, his spot-on isn’t the only one with powers. With a include, for instance, many pourquoi descriptions, and his sage notes on such captivating cast of characters to portray, stories—how peacock feathers got

140 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 141 From T h e G u i d e

Novels in Verse their “eyes,” why dolphins are the most and Vietnamese, for example—is a human of all animals). The superstar detraction; her performance of Ashlynn narrators—Olympians in their own (Eve’s best friend), however, is impres- right—clearly relish this material and sive, swinging between insufferable To honor National Poetry Month in April, we’re deliver expert performances. Paul New- swagger to believable vulnerability as spotlighting notable novels in verse from the past year. man is quietly compelling describing the teens take on the evil scientists and From illustrated lighthearted verse to historical fiction the epic creation of the Earth, the reshape a love triangle into a square. to contemporary realism, this eclectic potpourri of Titans, and Zeus; Kathleen Turner allison e. cole Horn Book Guide–recommended novels showcases the brings an appropriate passion to Zeus form and gives readers—from primary-age kids to older and Hera’s tumultuous courtship; Code Name Verity teens—good reasons to celebrate poetry. Sidney Poitier lingers dramatically on by Elizabeth Wein; read by Morven —Katrina Hedeen the gruesome details of Prometheus’s Christie and Lucy Gaskell punishment. Unobtrusive original pipe High School Bolinda Audio/Brilliance Audio Assistant Editor, The Horn Book Guide music delineates transitions between Rev. 5/12 4/12 9 CDs 10 hrs. narrators. martha v. parravano 978-1-7428-5764-0 $59.97 This is the intimate story of two young Calhoun, Dia Eva of the Farm Eve & Adam women in WWII: one is a spy, the other 235 pp. Atheneum 2012 isbn 978-1-4424-1700-7 by Michael Grant and Katherine a pilot. One has a chance—the other Gr. 4–6 When life on the family farm as twelve-year-old Eva knows it is threatened by a Applegate; read by Jenna Lamia is doomed. The circumstances of war recession, fire blight, and sudden medical expenses, she turns to her great passion—poetry— and Holter Graham throw them together, and they become for comfort, self-expression, and a possible means of making money. Eva’s beautifully con- Middle School, High School Macmillan Audio the best of friends. In fact, the book is structed, imagistic poems within this novel shine, allaying the minor lyrical inconsistencies of Rev. 1/13 6 CDs 8 hrs. 978-1-4272-2663-1 $29.99 ultimately about friendship. The audio the main verse narration. Two genetically modified teens come features two different narrators portray- together to fight the growing amoral- ing the two characters—one is a refined, Engle, Margarita The Wild Book ity of the biotech firm their parents aristocratic Scotswoman; the other, a 133 pp. Harcourt 2012 isbn 978-0-547-58131-6 founded years ago. Chapters alternate working-class girl from Manchester. As Gr. 4–6 Engle relates, with some fictionalization, her grandmother Fefa’s childhood in dan- between the perspectives of Evening, Julie, Christie is convincing—her tones gerous early-twentieth-century Cuba. Fefa suffers from “word-blindness” (dyslexia), but she daughter of the powerful and feared are subdued, as a tortured prisoner’s slowly learns to read and write as a blank book from Mamá becomes her “garden” in which mogul Terra Spiker, and Solo, an would be. Her voicing of the narrative “words sprout / like seedlings.” Spare, dreamlike verse pairs perfectly with a first-person nar- rator whose understanding of written language is unique. orphan living at Spiker Biotech. Nar- conveys Julie’s exhaustion, fear, anger, rators Lamia and Graham respectively frustration, and sadness. Gaskell’s Mad- read these parts, with Graham also die is a bit less believable (her narration Hemphill, Stephanie Sisters of Glass taking on the role of Adam, Eve’s “per- has several noticeable edits, and her 154 pp. Knopf 2012 isbn 978-0-375-86109-3 le isbn 978-0-375-96109-0 fect man,” whom she creates believing accent is more refined than Maddie’s YA Before his death, their father, a respected glassblower, declared that younger daughter that her genetic engineering is only a perhaps would have been), though the Maria must marry Venetian nobility, leaving elder Giovanna to stay on Murano with the computer simulation. Graham adeptly story is so compelling that one doesn’t differentiates between Solo’s and Adam’s really mind. All in all, this is a fine narratives with markedly different audio of a thrilling, emotional, and approaches: Solo’s conversational tone devastatingly honest book. Friends like contrasts sharply with Adam’s earnest, these don’t come along every day, nor These reviews are from The Horn Book Guide and The Horn Book Guide mechanic modulation. Lamia’s inability do books of this caliber. “Fly the plane, Online. For information about subscribing to the Guide and the Guide to voice convincing accents—Haitian Maddie.” angela j. reynolds Online, please visit hbook.com/subscriber-info/.

142 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 143 From T h e G u i d e n offfh le. in a and sty c ed or zed short omposi orm extempori A tion perf . n family. The sisters each long for the other’s future (and suitor); creative ingenuity allows for a satisfying resolution. A vivid fifteenth-century Venetian setting, true-to-life family tensions, and fairy-tale romance complete this novel told in elegant verse. Glos.

Hopkins, Ellen Tilt 604 pp. McElderry 2012 isbn 978-1-4169-8330-9 Impromptu YA Mikayla, Shane, and Harley alternate narration as they struggle to find balance amidst poor choices, family issues, and personal crises; snippets from secondary characters add per- spective. The issues-laden plot and labyrinthine web of characters is the stuff of soap operas, which older teens may relish. Hopkins’s free verse, with thoughtful line breaks and word choices, is by turns poised and visceral. And the winner is… The winner of the 2013Newbery Medal Pinkney for Hand in Hand: Ten Black Rosen, Michael Running with Trains: A Novel in Poetry and Two Voices is Katherine Applegate for The One and Men Who Changed America (Disney- 102 pp. Boyds/Wordsong 2012 isbn 978-1-59078-863-9 Only Ivan (Harper/HarperCollins), Jump at the Sun), illustrated by Brian Gr. 4–6 With Dad MIA in Vietnam and Mom back in school, thirteen-year-old Perry takes illustrated by Patricia Castelao. Splen- Pinkney. The honor awards went to the train back and forth between Gran’s and Mom’s every week; Steve is a lonely nine-year- dors and Glooms (Candlewick) by Laura for Each Kindness old on an Ohio farm, enamored with the train that passes through his family’s property. Both Amy Schlitz; Bomb: The Race to Build— (Paulsen/Penguin), illustrated by E. B. boys’ alternating voices are unique and poignant in this verse novel about self-discovery and the nature of home. and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Lewis; and Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Weapon (Flash Point/Roaring Brook) by for No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Rosenthal, Betsy R. Looking for Me Steve Sheinkin; and Three Times Lucky Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis 172 pp. Houghton 2012 isbn 978-0-547-61084-9 (Dial) by Sheila Turnage were named Michaux, Harlem Bookseller (Carol- Gr. 4–6 In some free verse and some loosely rhymed poems, Rosenthal tells the story of her Newbery Honor Books. rhoda Lab), illustrated by R. Gregory mother Edith’s Depression-era childhood in a Jewish family with twelve children. The novel Christie. Jon Klassen is the recipient of the 2013 is episodic but gives individual personalities to the many siblings. Edith’s voice is touching Bryan Collier is the recipient of and genuine; readers will maintain hope that she someday realize she’s more than “just plain Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat the 2013 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Edith / who’s number four.” Glos. (Candlewick). Five titles were cited Award for I, Too, Am America (Simon), as Caldecott Honor Books: Creepy Love & Leftovers written by Langston Hughes. The Tregay, Sarah Carrots! (Simon) illustrated by Peter 435 pp. HarperCollins/Tegen 2012 isbn 978-0-06-202358-2 honor awards went to Christopher Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds; YA Marcie’s dad comes out as gay, and she moves from Idaho to New Hampshire with her Myers for H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Extra Yarn (Balzer + Bray/HarperCol- depressed mother. Missing her boyfriend and crew of friends nicknamed “the Leftovers,” she Basketball and Imagination (Egmont); struggles to acclimate (and remain faithful). She returns to Boise midyear, but everything lins) illustrated by Jon Klassen, written Daniel Minter for Ellen’s Broom (Put- is different—including her. The first-person verse narration wrought with satisfying angst by Mac Barnett; Green (Porter/Roaring nam), written by Kelly Starling Lyons; makes Marcie’s woes and joys palpable. Brook) by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; One and Kadir Nelson for I Have a Dream Cool Friend (Dial) illustrated by David Wissinger, Tamera Will Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse (Schwartz & Wade/Random), with text Small, written by Toni Buzzeo; and 128 pp. Houghton 2013 isbn 978-0-547-82011-8 by Martin Luther King, Jr. Sleep like a Tiger (Houghton) illustrated Gr. 1–3 Illustrated by Matthew Cordell. Sam is excited for his fishing trip with Dad—until Demetria Tucker was named the by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary little sister Lucy tags along. Poems of varied forms describe the fishing trio’s day: prepara- winner of the 2013 Coretta Scott King/ tions, techniques (“Heeere, fishy, fishy, fishy…”), frustrations (“Lucy’s winning eight to… / Logue. Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime none”), and eventual triumphs. Cordell’s buoyant illustrations are a natural fit for the upbeat verse. A “Poet’s Tackle Box” section outlines poetic devices and forms. Bib. is the recipient of Achievement—Practitioner Category. the 2013 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. The 2013 Robert F. Sibert Informational The winner of the 2013 Coretta Scott Book Medal goes to Steve Sheinkin for King Author Award is Andrea Davis Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—

144 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 145 the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. for a Drive! (Hyperion) by Mo Willems; for A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Seraphina (Random) by Rachel Hart- Three honor books were named: Electric Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy But- Leave, to Return written by Zeina Abi- man received the 2013 William C. Morris Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of tons (Harper/HarperCollins) written by rached, translated by Edward Gauvin; Award. Four other books were finalists Benjamin Franklin (Dial) by Robert Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean; and Eerdmans for Son of a Gun written for this award: Wonder Show (Hough- Byrd; Moonbird: A Year on the Wind and Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover and translated by Anne de Graaf. ton) by Hannah Barnaby; Love and with the Great Survivor B95 (Farrar) by (Candlewick) by Cece Bell. Other Perishable Items (Knopf) by Laura Andrea Davis Pinkney has been chosen Phillip Hoose; and Titanic: Voices from Buzo; After the Snow (Feiwel) by S. D. Dial is the recipient of the 2013 Mil- to deliver the 2014 May Hill Arbuthnot the Disaster (Scholastic) by Deborah Crockett; and The Miseducation of Cam- dred L. Batchelder Award for My Family Honor Lecture. Hopkinson. eron Post (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins) for the War written by Anne C. Voorho- The 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal went by Emily M. Danforth. Up, Tall and High (Putnam) by Ethan eve, translated by Tammi Reichel. The to Anna, Emma and the Condors (Green Long won the 2013 Theodor Seuss publishers of two honor books were The 2013YALSA Excellence in Nonfic- Planet Films), produced by Katja Geisel Award. Honor books are Let’s Go also selected: Graphic Universe/Lerner tion Award goes to Bomb: The Race to Torneman. Build—and Steal—the World’s Most The Fault in Our Stars (Brilliance Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. Obituaries Audio) by John Green, narrated by Four other books were finalists for the Storyteller, artist, and filmmaker Jan Ormerod died on January 23, Kate Rudd, is the recipient of the 2013 award: Titanic: Voices from the Disaster Gerald McDermott died December 2013, in Cambridge, England. She Odyssey Award. Honor citations went by Deborah Hopkinson; Moonbird: 26, 2012, in Los Angeles. He was was sixty-seven. The Australian-born to Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian (Lis- A Year on the Wind with the Great seventy-one. His picture book Arrow artist published more than fifty tening Library) written by Eoin Colfer, Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose; Steve to the Sun: A Tale from the Pueblo won picture books, including Sunshine, narrated by Nathaniel Parker; Ghost Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different the 1975 Caldecott Medal; Anansi Moonlight, 101 Things to Do with a Knight (Listening Library) written by (Feiwel) by Karen Blumenthal; and the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti, Baby!, and Goodbye Mousie (written Cornelia Funke, narrated by Elliot We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham and Raven: A Trickster Tale from the by Robie Harris). She received the Hill; and Monstrous Beauty (Macmillian Children’s March (Peachtree) by Cynthia Pacific Northwestwere named Calde- 2011 Australian Prime Minister’s Lit- Audio) written by Elizabeth Fama, nar- Levinson. rated by Katherine Kellgren. cott Honor Books. Raven and The erary Award for Shake a Leg (written The 2013Stonewall Children’s and Magic Tree were Boston Globe–Horn by Monty Boori Pryor). Nick Lake is the recipient of the 2013 Young Adult Literature Award goes to Book Honor Books. For more, please Michael L. Printz Award for In Darkness Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets Diane Wolkstein see author-illustrator Doug Cush- Author and folklorist (Bloomsbury). Four honor books were of the Universe by Benjamin Alire man’s appreciation on our website at died January 31, 2013, in Kaohsiung, recognized: Aristotle and Dante Discover Sáenz. Four honor books were selected: hbook.com/Gerald-McDermott. Taiwan. She was seventy. Author of the Secrets of the Universe (Simon) by Drama (Graphix/Scholastic) by Raina some two dozen books, including Benjamin Alire Sáenz; Code Name Verity Telgemeier; Gone, Gone, Gone (Simon Antonio Pre-eminent woodcut artist The Magic Orange Tree and Other (Hyperion) by Elizabeth Wein; Dodger Pulse) by Hannah Moskowitz; October Frasconi died on January 8, 2013, Haitian Folktales, Esther’s Story, and (Harper/HarperCollins) by Terry Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard in Norwalk, Connecticut, at ninety- The Banza, she is also credited with Pratchett; and The White Bicycle (Red (Candlewick) by Lesléa Newman; and three. He illustrated more than one reviving the art of storytelling while Deer) by Beverley Brenna. Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, hundred books, including The House serving, from 1967 to 1971, as New (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie (Flux) by Tamora Pierce received the 2013 Mar- That Jack Built/ La Maison Que York City’s official storyteller. “Cric?” S. J. Adams. Jacques a Batie, a 1959 Caldecott “Crac!” garet A. Edwards Award in recognition Honor Book. of the Song of the Lioness Quartet and The 2013 Pura Belpré Author Award the Protector of the Small Quartet. goes to Benjamin Alire Sáenz for

146 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 147 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets Scientist: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery the Monica Hughes Award for Science gram concerning the history, literature, of the Universe. An honor citation from Your Own Backyard (Holt) written Fiction and Fantasy given to PJ Sarah and culture of ancient Greece) on was awarded to Sonia Manzano for by Loree Griffin Burns, photographs by Collins for What Happened to Serenity? illustrations for children of classic texts The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano Ellen Harasimowicz; Electric Ben: The (Red Deer). titled “Rosy Fingered Dawn and Wine (Scholastic). Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Dark Sea: From the Image to the Page.” Illustrator Quentin Blake has received David Diaz won the 2013 Pura Franklin by Robert Byrd; The Mighty a knighthood in the United Kingdom’s Belpré Illustrator Award for Martín de Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures 2013 New Year Honours. Porres: The Rose in the Desert (Clarion), of Spirit and Opportunity (Houghton) Want to write written by Gary D. Schmidt. written by Elizabeth Rusch; Those Reb- els, John & Tom (Scholastic) written by for the Magazine? The winners of the 2013Schneider Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edward Horn Book diary We are always on the lookout for Family Book Award are Back to Front An update on the activities of Horn Fotheringham; and We’ve Got a Job: The good magazine articles and welcome and Upside Down! (Eerdmans) by Claire Book contributors, reviewers, and staff. 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by your submissions (note: reviews are Alexander in the young children’s cat- Cynthia Levinson. The Horn Book, Inc., along with assigned in-house). Articles should egory; A Dog Called Homeless (Tegen/ co-sponsors Reach Out and Read be of a critical nature on some aspect HarperCollins) by Sarah Lean in the The Association of Jewish Libraries and the Cambridge Public Library, of children’s literature and should be middle school category; and Somebody, announced that the 2013 Sydney Taylor will present a one-day conference, no longer than 2000 words in length; Please Tell Me Who I Am (Simon) by Book Awards will go to Linda Glaser “Fostering Lifelong Learners: Prescrib- potential contributors are advised to Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis in the and Adam Gustavson, author and ing Books for Early Childhood Educa- have a solid familiarity with The Horn teen category. illustrator of Hannah’s Way (Kar-Ben); tion,” on Thursday, April 25th, at the Book Magazine. “Cadenza” submis- Louise Borden, author of His Name Chickadee (Harper/HarperCollins) by Cambridge Public Library. For more sions—witty commentaries, send-ups, Was Raoul Wallenberg (Houghton); and Louise Erdrich is the recipient of the information, please go to hbook.com/ poems, sketches, comics, cartoons, Deborah Heiligman, author of Inten- 2013 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical EarlyChildhoodEdu. etc.—should be approximately 350 tions (Knopf). Fiction. words (text) or fit on a 6-by-9-inch Elissa Gershowitz, senior editor of The Trilby Kent won the Canadian Chil- page (art). Submissions may be sent as The winner of the 2013Charlotte Horn Book Magazine and the Horn dren’s Book Centre’s 2012 TD Canadian Microsoft Word attachments via email Zolotow Award is Each Kindness by Jac- Book’s online content editor, gave birth Children’s Literature Award (English to [email protected] using the queline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. to her second child, Zachary Hart Language) for Stones for My Father subject line “Article Submission.” They Lewis. Three honor books were named: Silber, on December 19, 2012. (Tundra). The Centre also awarded the can also be mailed to: The Horn Book Flabbersmashed About You (Feiwel) writ- Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fic- Contributor and former Horn Book Magazine, 56 Roland Street, Suite 200, ten by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Yumi tion for Young People to Kate Cayley for Magazine associate editor Claire Gross is Boston, MA 02129. Heo; Me and Momma and Big John The Hangman in the Mirror(Annick); the new youth librarian at the Egleston (Candlewick) written by Mara Rockliff, the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Branch of the Boston Public Library. illustrated by William Low; and Sleep Children’s Nonfiction to Susan Vande like a Tiger written by Mary Logue, Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Find us online Griek for Loon (Groundwood), illus- Check our website, hbook.com, for illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Pretty, a new YA poetry collection by trated by Karen Reczuch; the Marilyn special web-only features. Visit hbook. reviewer Christine M. Heppermann, is The 2013 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award goes Baillie Picture Book Award to Geneviève com/category/news/. For links to new being published by Greenwillow. to Monsieur Marceau: Actor without Côté for Without You (Kids Can); and reviews, articles, booklists, events, Words (Roaring Brook) written by Leda the John Spray Mystery Award to Rob On March 2, 2013, reviewer Joanna awards, and more. Schubert, illustrated by Gérard DuBois. Mills for Charlie’s Key (Orca). The Rudge Long will take part in a webinar The Horn Book’s blog, Read Roger, Five honor books were named: Citizen Centre added a new award this year: for the Examined Life (an online pro- reports on book-related controversies,

148 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 149 Letterspublishing news, to and the listserv Editor brouha- get your Horn Book fix at the click of a has. Our Out of the Box blog takes a mouse. On Twitter, follow @HornBook look at what comes into the Horn Book and @RogerReads. Index to Books Reviewed offices, covering books and bookish Aiken, Joan, 141 Fairy Tales from the Brothers Madness Underneath, 108 Skead, Robert, 137 ephemera beyond the Magazine and Ain, Beth, 96 Grimm, 140 Maggot Moon, 100 Skilton, Sarah, 119 Guide. And at the Horn Book’s newest Alvin Ho, 110 Feral Nights, 120 Matthews, Patrick, 112 Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk, Blowing our own horn Ancona, George, 132 Fisher, Catherine, 99 Matti, Truus, 112 138 blog, Calling Caldecott, a companion Back issues of The Horn Book Magazine Applegate, Katherine, 142 Flowers in the Sky, 108 McGhee, Alison, 98 Smith, Cynthia Leitich, 120 blog to SLJ’s Heavy Medal, you will and The Horn Book Guide are avail- Fox Forever, 116 McKay, Hilary, 113 Smith, Sherri L., 120 Bania, Michael, 81 Freaks, 109 Medina, Meg, 114 Snicket, Lemony, 91 find provocative conversation centered able for sale, but supplies are limited, Benjamin Bear in “Bright Meshon, Aaron, 88 Something to Prove, 137 Ideas!”, 97 Gardner, Sally, 100 Meyer, Marissa, 114 Springstubb, Tricia, 91 on the Caldecott Medal. especially for pre-1990 issues, so please Bink & Gollie, 98 Gewirtz, Adina Rishe, 100 Midwinterblood, 118 Staake, Bob, 92 Become friends with The Horn Book call for availability. Black Rabbit, 86 Gibbs, Edward, 85 Milk of Birds, 124 Stardines Swim High Across Bluebird, 92 Grant, Michael, 142 Miss Moore Thought Other- the Sky and Other Poems, on Facebook and join a lively online To order any of the above, write Bramble and Maggie, 102 Griffin, Claire J., 101 wise, 136 130 community of children’s book lovers. The Horn Book, Inc., 7858 Industrial Bray, Libba, 141 Grumbles from the Forest, 131 Missing Mommy, 83 Starring Jules (As Herself), 96 Brown, Monica, 133 Mister Orange, 112 Stemple, Adam, 125 With updates on Horn Book happen- Parkway, Plain City, OH 43064. Call Browne, Anthony, 82 Haas, Jessie, 102 Mojo, 122 Sternberg, Julie, 121 ings such as the latest news, previews 614-873-7951. The Horn Book accepts Bruised, 119 Hanson, Warren, 86 My Father’s Arms Are a Stone, Tanya Lee, 138 B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy), 125 Harrington, Janice N., 128 Boat, 87 Stringer, Lauren, 139 of upcoming issues, new additions to MasterCard, Visa, checks, and money Bunnies on Ice, 94 Hathaway, Jill, 102 Sturges, Judy Sue Goodwin, the website, and relevant links, you’ll orders. Bunting, Eve, 82 Have You Seen My New Blue Navigating Early, 123 93 Busy-Busy Little Chick, 128 Socks?, 82 Nelly May Has Her Say, 128 Summer Prince, 107 Healey, Karen, 103 Never Say Die, 105 Center of Everything, 122 Henkes, Kevin, 104 Nielsen, Jennifer A., 115 Take Me Out to the Yakyu, 88 Chima, Cinda Williams, 96 Hero on a Bicycle, 105 Nowhere to Run, 101 Tharp, Tim, 122 Cobb, Rebecca, 83 Hobbs, Will, 105 Tito Puente, 133 Code Name Verity, 142 Hoop Genius, 134 Obsidian Mirror, 99 Twelve-Fingered Boy, 107 Index to Advertisers Colorful Dreamer, 136 Hughes, Shirley, 105 Odette’s Secrets, 111 Construction Kitties, 93 Oliver, Lauren, 115 Disney-Hyperion...... cover 3 Macmillan...... 19 Coudray, Philippe, 97 I Love You, Nose! I Love You, One Gorilla, 82 Urban, Linda, 122 Counting Back from Nine, 119 Toes!, 84 One Step at a Time, 138 Hamline...... 28 Penguin...... 9 Coy, John, 134 I Spy on the Farm, 85 Orleans, 120 Vanderpool, Clare, 123 Crimson Crown, 96 Impostor, 102 HarperCollins...... 3 Random House...... 95 Curses! Foiled Again, 125 It’s Monday, Mrs. Jolly Paper Valentine, 126 Want to Be in a Band?, 89 Bones!, 86 Parker, Marjorie Blain, 136 Wells, Rosemary, 123 Houghton...... 10 Scholastic...... 6, cover 4 Dahlquist, Gordon, 97 It’s Our Garden, 132 Pearson, Mary E., 116 Wein, Elizabeth, 142 Dark, 91 Ivy Takes Care, 123 Penny and Her Marble, 104 When Stravinsky Met d’Aulaire, Edgar Parin, 141 Phoebe and Digger, 91 Junior Library Guild...... 117 School Library Journal...... 133 Nijinsky, 139 d’Aulaire, Ingri, 141 Jacobs, John Hornor, 107 Pinborough, Jan, 136 When We Wake, 103 D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Johnson, Alaya Dawn, 107 P.K. Pinkerton and the Petri- Lerner...... 38 Simmons College...... 70 Whitman, Sylvia, 124 Myths, 141 Johnson, Maureen, 108 fied Man, 109 Who Put the Cookies in the Davick, Linda, 84 Joseph, Lynn, 108 Poison, 127 Little, Brown...... cover 2 Cookie Jar?, 90 Simon & Schuster...... 80 Davies, Nicola, 135 Prelutsky, Jack, 130 Who Says Women Can’t Be Deadly!, 135 Kumak’s River, 81 Prodigy, 111 Doctors?, 138 DeFelice, Cynthia, 128 Pug and Other Animal Wolves of Willoughby Chase, DiCamillo, Kate, 98 Larwood, Kieran, 109 Poems, 130 141 Volume LXXXIX, Number 2. The Horn Book Magazine® (issn 0018-5078, usps 250-700) is published six times a year in January, March, May, July, Different Girl, 97 Lawrence, Caroline, 109 Pullman, Philip, 140 World Rat Day, 129 September, and November. The Horn Book Magazine is a registered trademark of The Horn Book, Inc. Diviners, 141 Leathers, Philippa, 86 Worth, Valerie, 130 The Horn Book, Inc., 56 Roland St., Suite 200, Boston MA 02129; editorial office tel: 888-628-0225; fax: 617-628-0882; [email protected]; Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Lewis, J. Patrick, 129 Raschka, Chris, 89 Wright, Johanna, 94 www.hbook.com. The Horn Book, Inc., is a Media Source company. www.mediasourceinc.com. Poets, 118 Like Bug Juice on a Burger, Requiem, 115 Dodsworth in Tokyo, 99 121 Roche, Suzzy, 89 Periodicals postage paid at Boston MA and at additional mailing offices. Subscription price $72.00; Canada and Mexico, add $17.00; inter- Dotlich, Rebecca Kai, 131 Look, Lenore, 110 Roskos, Evan, 118 Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick national, add $21.00. Single copies, $13.50. Payment from international subscribers must be in U.S. dollars, payable by a U.S. bank. Send Your Ass, 114 orders to Horn Book Magazine, PO Box 6236, Harlan IA 51593 or call toll free: 877-523-6072; fax: 712-733-1277. Email Customer Service at Dragon Run, 112 Lu, Marie, 111 Runaway King, 115 [email protected]. Lulu and the Dog from the Yolen, Jane, 125, 131 Yovanoff, Brenna, 126 POSTMASTER: Send change of address form 3579 to Horn Book Magazine, PO Box 6236, Harlan IA 51593. Copyright © 2013 by The Horn Egan, Tim, 99 Sea, 113 Scarlet, 114 Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved. For permissions requests, please contact The Copyright Clearance Center at 978-750-8400 Eve & Adam, 142 Lunde, Stein Erik, 87 Sedgwick, Marcus, 118 (fax: 978-750-4470). The Horn Book Magazine® is indexed in Academic Index, Artbibliographies Modern, Book Review Digest, Book Review Index, Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Shannon, George, 90 Zebra Forest, 100 Children’s Literature Abstracts, Guidelines, Library Literature, Magazine Index, and Media Review Digest. Bicycle, 89 Macdonald, Maryann, 111 Sherrard, Valerie, 119 Zinn, Bridget, 127

150 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013 March/April 2013 The Horn Book Magazine 151 My Life in Comics by Raina Telgemeier

152 The Horn Book Magazine March/April 2013