Book Review: Small Steps

By Louis Sachar. 2006. Delacourt Press, New York. 259 p. 

Gr. 5-8. Two years after his [mis]adventures at Camp Green Lake in Holes, Armpit, whose preferred name is Theodore, is back home in Austin, Texas, working as a landscaper. It’s a hot Hill Country summer, and Armpit's friend, X-Ray, has a foolproof plan for them to double their money – guaranteed. Though Armpit is struggling to stay on the straight and narrow, he goes for his friend’s plan and lands in the middle of the trouble he wanted so much to avoid.

Short chapters and lots of white space make Small Steps an easy read. Though the main characters are teenagers, the book is ideal for 10 to 14 year olds. This follow-up adventure from Sachar follows different characters than in Holes, so readers looking for a continuation might be disappointed. And the mystery and high drama of the juvenile prison camp and its misfit warden are missing from Small Steps. But this book is not without action. Lots of dialogue and short scene descriptions keep the action moving. Sachar’s character development endears Armpit, Ginny, his ten-year-old neighbor, and offbeat X-Ray to readers. Music superstar, Kaira, who longs for real friends and to make quality music, complicates Armpit’s life, just when he’s trying to keep things simple.

Though different from Holes, fans of Sachar will find Small Steps a fun read. With Armpit and Kaira, boys and girls will find characters they can get behind. Small Steps provides a great story and characters, and leaves readers wanting another story from the Camp Green Lake crew.

Book Review: Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist

By Lesa Cline-Ransome. Illustrated by James E. Ransome. 2004. Antheneum Books for Young Readers, New York. 36 p.

Ages 4-10. Many believe Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in American sports. But it was “Major” Marshall Taylor, a professional cyclist, who was the first black American to earn a world championship. His story starts in Indianapolis, spans Worcester, Massachussetts and France, and ends in Chicago. While Taylor achieved much fame and wealth in his career, he was forever plagued by racism and died poor and estranged from his wife and daughter.

Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome have created a vibrant picture book to introduce Taylor’s life and achievements to children. Cline-Ransome adroitly handles the text, using Taylor’s own autobiography and Andrew Ritchie’s biography, Major Taylor, to tell a succinct tale of Taylor’s life from his humble beginnings as a paper boy and stunt rider to world’s champion. Though Taylor’s life ended unhappily, Cline-Ransome ends the book in Taylor’s triumphant victory over his friend and rival Frenchman Edmond Jacquelin. The author’s language is simple and engaging with measured pacing and straightforward chronology. She also includes backmatter with additional information.

Ransome’s oil painting illustrations bring Taylor’s story to life, adeptly supporting Cline-Ransome’s text. Innovative use of layout, including three of four frames per page, perfectly renders the illustrations’ graceful detail and rich hues. Ransome’s dramatic use of light provides for informative settings and evocative facial expressions.

Cline-Ransome and Ransome have created an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand biography of a great but often overlooked American hero. While never talking down to their readers, the author and illustrator convey Major Taylor’s story with respect.

I Like Bikes!

For a project in Library Materials for Children, I did a booktalk of eight books about bicycles for kids 5 to 7. Along with the booktalk, I created a brochure and a bookmark. Since Blogger doesn't allow PDF attachments (boo, Blogger, boo!), below is blog-post reinterpretation of the brochure's content.

Book Review: Time Stops for No Mouse: A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure

By Michael Hoeye. 2002. G.P. Putman’s Sons, New York. 250 p.

Gr. 3-6 Hermux Tantamoq is a watchmaker mouse living in the city of Pinchester. He’s perfectly content working on watches and clocks, talking with friends, eating the occasional doughnut, and spending time with his pet ladybug, Terfle. When the beautiful aviatrix, Linka Perflinger, stops in his shop and drops off a watch for repair then disappears, Hermux goes on an adventure that changes how he sees his world.

Hoeye uses short chapters and simple language to draw readers into this fast-paced adventure. This story started as a series of emails Hoeye wrote to his wife while she was traveling, so reluctant readers will find this episodic romp easy to put down and come back to later. Hoeye’s straightforward writing style doesn’t overwhelm, instead engaging readers to turn all 250 pages in no time.

The vivid characters of Pinchester and beyond light up the pages: good guys endear, bad guys appall. Boys will find a friend in the shy Hermux and his affinity for things with gears, while girls will look up to Linka’s sense of adventure and loyalty.

Hoeye creates a rich world of rodents in the big city delivering mail, running cosmetics companies, and enjoying sandwiches and honey fizzes. Humorous and witty dialogue abounds. Time Stops for No Mouse is a galloping escapade chock full of suspense, villainous adversaries, and friends both old and new. Through it all, the timid Hermux learns that he just might have it in him to venture beyond his cozy life.

Book Review: Tuesday by David Wiesner

For my Library Materials for Children class, I had to evaluate a picture book. Remember those? If not, you should revisit them. Picture books are one of the best forms of reading, no matter your age. Beautiful artwork combined with essential language makes for an exhilarating read. This one was the 1992 Caldecott Medal winner and was named as an ALA Notable Children's Book.

David Wiesner’s Tuesday (1991) tells a story – with almost no words. “Tuesday evening, around eight,” frogs go joyriding when their lilies come to life. This time indication and one more are the only words in the book. While flying their lilies, the frogs pull midair tricks, startle a late night snacker in his kitchen, don capes stolen from a clothesline, watch television, and battle a dog. At the end, the reader discovers the start of a new escapade the next Tuesday.

To tell a story only in pictures, those pictures need to be expressive, both in emotion and plot. Wiesner does this with frogs’ faces that reveal fun, mischief, anxiety, and surprise. Other characters in the book similarly emote.

Wiesner also works well with light. With the events of the book occurring at night, moonlight spotlights faces and animals in an otherwise dim scene. Lights from windows and televisions do the same. Wiesner uses pictures within pictures effectively, with backgrounds setting a scene and smaller frames moving the action along.

Though watercolors are often known for more impressionist scenes, Wiesner creates detailed and realistic settings. Readers instantly connect with kitchens, living rooms, birds on power lines, and clothes hanging in the yard. Yet the fantastic idea of frogs flying lilies through those clothes makes way for the reader’s imagination.

Telling a story without words is difficult indeed; the pictures have to tell the whole story. Wiesner’s whimsical tale enchants readers with its art and its story.