Welcome!

Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Picture Book Monday with a review of Bug in a Vacuum

Most of us, once in a while, experience a change in our life that has a profound effect on us. We lose someone we love, are forced to leave a job or a home, or get sick. For a time everything that once felt safe and familiar does not feel safe at all and we are temporarily adrift.

In today's picture book we meet a bug who gets sucked into a vacuum cleaner. To say that this is a terrible experience for the bug is an understatement. It is a life changing disaster, and the bug goes through a series of emotional upheavals as it tries to come to terms with what has happened to it. As they read this book readers will come to appreciate that any drastic change can tip anyone, even a bug, over the edge into a very scary place.

Bug in a VacuumBug in a Vacuum
Melanie Watt
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Tundra Books, 2015, 978-1-77049-645-3
One day a bug decides to explore a house and it flies in a door. It buzzes through the bathroom, past the kitchen, across the bedroom and then finally alights on a globe that is sitting on a desk in the sitting room. What the bug does not know is that someone in the house is wielding a vacuum cleaner, and this person creeps up to where the bug is resting, and sucks the bug up using the vacuum cleaner’s wand.
   Now the bug is inside the canister of the vacuum cleaner and it has no idea where it is. At first the bug thinks that it is in a wonderful place. Then is starts to get suspicious when it realizes that the place it is in is dark and very quiet. The bug then decides that it is in a dream and it pinches itself so that it will wake up. The pinch hurts and convinces the bug that, in fact, it is not dreaming. It really is in a dark, creepy place all on its own.
   Next the bug determines that its current situation is all a big mistake. It calls out that “you’ve vacuumed the wrong bug!” It even promises (in writing) that it will “avoid my favorite handouts” if the vacuum will let it go.
   After trying to bargain its way out if its dire predicament the bug loses its temper. Now it is angry and it starts to shout very loudly. When all its shouting gets it nowhere, the bug sinks into the depths of despair. “I’m a prisoner forever” it says. Its situation is “hopeless.”
   The bug then decides that all it can do is to accept what has happened and “make the best of things.” What the bug doesn’t know is that the vacuum cleaner itself is about to experience a big change, and the bug will be going along for the ride.
   This unique, often amusing book take a look at the stages a bug goes through after experiencing an unexpected change in its life. It has lost its freedom and is trapped in a lonely dark place, and it experiences a range of emotions, which are collectively known as the five stages of grief.
   Readers are going to thoroughly enjoy seeing how the bug copes (and sometimes doesn’t cope) with what has happened to it, and they will enjoy seeing how the bug’s story ends

Friday, October 16, 2015

Poetry Friday with a review of Pieces: a Year in poems and quilts

Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts
I used to make quilts and loved taking dozens of small pieces of fabric and turning them into a beautiful piece of art that people could snuggle under on a cold day. I was therefore naturally drawn to this poetry book, and was amazed to see how the author created picture quilts that so perfectly complemented her image-rich poems.

Pieces: a Year in poems and quilts
Anna Grossnickle Hines
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 6 to 8
HarperCollins, 2003, 978-0060559601
Writers and illustrators have, over the centuries, found many ways to describe and celebrate the seasons. Poetry is often a format that writers are drawn to using, as the lyrical nature of poems seems to so beautifully ‘fit’ what they are trying to say about the seasons. Often these poems are paired with artwork or photographs that help encapsulate the image or feeling that the poet is trying to capture.  Anna Grossnickle Hines has done something a little different. She pairs the poems she has written with photos of quilts that she has created, and the effect is quite astonishing.
   The poet begins in spring with a poem called Ballet. In the blank verse poem she describes how a crow lands on a cedar branch and how the weight of the bird causes the branch to bounce and the bird to dance. A beautiful quilt shows the crow about to land on the branch, rectangles and triangles of sewn fabric in tones of green forming the fronds at the ends of the branches.
   Green plays a big role in another poem, Do you know Green? Here we see a scene that perfectly captures the colors and textures of spring. The poem describes how “Green sleeps in the winter,” until, with the warming of the sun it, “comes… / tickling the tips / of twiggy tree fingers.”
   In summer we see cows in a field. With a “Scrunch, / crunch, / munch,” they eat their lunch, their tails twitching. Summer is also a time when there is “a mass of wild confusion” of flowers blooming. The “rousing-raucous” celebration of colors and scents stirs us “to jubilation.” During the warms days, hummingbirds “zip zip” and “sip sip” amongst the flowers of the honeysuckle vine.
   Then the tone of the poems and the colors of the quilts shift for fall. Now the green has been replaced with reds, golds, and rusts. We see leaves drifting down singly or in groups, “swirling / and whirling / twisting / and twirling.” Other leaves “skip-a-dip” and others “just drop / flop.”
   Winter brings the greys and blacks of tree branch silhouettes, the pale yellow of a winter sun, and the whites and blues of snowfall. We read about how sometimes, when the author is sleeping at night, “outside / the world is turning / white.”
   At the back of the book the author explains how she created the remarkable quilts that illustrate her poems. We learn how much time and careful effort goes into creating the quilts, and how the author designs them. We learn too that often seams have to be taken out and redone to get the effect the author is looking for.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Picture Book Monday with a review of Sloth Slept On

All too often, when we don't know what something is, we simply walk away. We can't be bothered to find out. We are too busy doing more 'important' things. In today's picture book readers meet some children who encounter an animal that they cannot identify. They could walk away from, it but they don't. Instead they try to find out what it is and then they do their best to help the animal.

Sloth Slept OnSloth Slept On
Frann Preston-Gannon
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Sterling, 2015, 978-1-4549-1611-6
One day a group of children discover that there is a strange looking animal in a tree in the backyard. The children ask the animal its name, and they ask it what it is doing in their tree, but the animal does not respond at all because it is fast asleep on its branch.
   Wanting to know what the animal is, the children put in in their little red wagon and they “set off to find some answers.” They ask Dad about the animal but he is too busy to answer their questions. They look in books to try to find out what their new friend is, but find nothing. They know what is isn’t, but what it is remains a mystery. The children even imagine that he might be an astronaut, a pirate or a knight. Then one of the children makes a discovery, and they learn that that their new animal friend is very special indeed.
   With touches of pictorial humor throughout her story, the author of this book gives her readers a mystery that they will enjoy sharing. In the artwork we are given clues to the animal’s identity, so that, if we are looking hard enough, we know what the animal is before the children do. This memorable book comes to a close with an ending that is sure to delight readers young and old.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Poetry Friday with a review of Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems

Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems
When I was six my parents and I moved to an island where families were big. When our neighbors had a family gathering so many people turned up that the party would spill out of the house and into the garden. My immediate family was small, but it was not long before we were 'adopted' by other families, and we too started having big gatherings that were wonderful affairs.

Today's poetry title celebrates families, and it is full of poems that are tender and amusing.

Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems
Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Marylin Hafner
Poetry Picture book
For ages 4 to 6
Little Brown, 2001, 978-0316362511
Families come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as small as “One and another,” and they can be big enough to include dear friends who are so close that they too are family. Humans are not the only ones who have families either. “A pair like a kanga and roo is a family,” as are “A calf and a cow that go moo.”
   In this heartwarming picture poetry book Mary Ann Hoberman celebrates families, bringing readers a collection of poems that explore relationships and connections. She begins with a little boy who tells us about his baby brother. We can hear the love in this child’s voice as he tells us that his brother is “beautiful” and how “when he laughs, his dimple shows.” Another child tells us about the walks that he takes with his father. Often his father talks about “how it was when he was small” when he used to take walks with his dad, and how his dad took walks with his dad. Four generations of children in this family have gone down to the beach to watch the ships go by.
   In another poem a little boy introduces us to all his grandparents. We hear how one grandma bakes him birthday cakes and “rubs my tummy when it aches.” His other grandma knits clothes for him, and when he got the chicken pox “She let me have her button box.” One of his grandfathers, the stout one, is teaching him how to yodel; and his tall and thin grandfather is good at basketball.
   In a wonderful poem called Relatives we get to meet one little boy’s colorful family when they are all gathered together in his home. Each one has a comment to make about the boy, and they all talk “as if I couldn’t hear.” He hears about how he has got “Uncle Perry’s nose,” “He looks a tiny bit too thin,” and “has his mother’s knobbly knees.” By the end of the discussion the poor little boy wonders “who I really am.”
  As the pages are turned we hear about special moments in children’s lives that are touched by the actions of their relatives. There is the little girl whose mother cares for her lovingly when the little girl is sick, and then there is the child whose father now lives in a different house and has “another family.” Every time the child and the father get together they have a visit full of happiness, but when the father drives away the child always feels the loss.
   Throughout this book wonderful verse is paired with artwork to give us a taste of moments in children’s lives that are sometimes sweet and sometimes funny.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Picture Book Monday with a review of Lizard from the park

When one is something of a loner, making a friend can be a very big deal indeed. That friend can become the center of one's life, and a much needed presence. In today's picture you will meet a little boy who makes a very special friend indeed, and who then discovers that this friend creates some rather challenging problems.

Lizard from the ParkLizard from the park
Mark Pett
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Simon and Schuster, 2015, 978-1-4424-8321-7
Every week day Leonard walks home from school by himself, so it is not surprising that on that particular spring afternoon Leonard is walking home through the park on his own. In the deepest and darkest part of the park Leonard finds a very large egg, which he puts into his backpack and takes to his apartment home.
   For the rest of the afternoon Leonard plays with the egg and that night he even sleeps with it. The following morning the egg starts to “jiggle” and “crack” and then a little green lizard emerges. Leonard decides to call the lizard Buster and from that day on the two are inseparable. Leonard shows Buster all his favorite places in the city and they have a wonderful time together.
   Not surprisingly little Buster grows, but what Leonard does not expect that Buster keeps on growing until he is so huge that even a disguise doesn’t cover up the fact that he is very large and very green. Buster is going to have to stay in Leonard’s bedroom and this makes the lizard unhappy.  When Buster outgrows Leonard’s bedroom, Leonard has to reassess. Something has to be done about Buster.
    In this clever and charming picture book we see how a little boy develops a very special relationship with an animal, but in the end he realizes that his new friend cannot go on living with him. What makes this book especially clever is that we are given clues throughout the book that Leonard is not alone and that maybe, just maybe, there is someone out there who knows exactly how he is feeling.
   In this book beautifully atmospheric illustrations and a powerfully simple story are brought together to give readers a memorable story experience.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Poetry Friday with a review of Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

It isn't often that I come across biographies that are written using poems. I am sure such books present the writer with a unique set of challenges. The author of today's poetry title rose to the challenge beautifully and created a book that is powerful and memorable.

Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 6 to 8
Candlewick Press, 2015, 978-0-7636-6531-9
Fannie was born in 1917, the daughter of sharecroppers who lived and labored in Sunflower Country in Mississippi. Though the sharecroppers were technically free, their lives were terribly hard, for “Sharecropping was just slavery by a gentler name.” Fannie was only six when she started working in the cotton fields with her family members. Though they picked fifteen tons of cotton each season, they could never “get ahead” because “the scale was always tipped / in the owner’s favor.”
   Even as a young child, Fannie could see that there was no equality in her world. Whites had food, clothes and everything they needed, while blacks worked hard every day and still went hungry. Fannie’s mother taught her daughter that even if they had less than the whites, they were not lesser people. She wanted her youngest child to “respect yourself as a Black child.”
   Worn out by hard work, Fannie’s father died before she twenty-two and many of her brothers and sisters moved north where they hoped to find better paying work. Fannie would have joined them but her mother needed to be taken care of, so she stayed in the land of Jim Crow. Fannie got married and she and her husband did their best to get by, picking cotton in the fields, and selling homemade bootleg liquor.
   In 1962 one of Fannie’s friends told her that some young men were coming to their local church to talk to the congregation about voter registration. Not a single person in the congregation had ever cast a ballot but that did not stop eighteen of them, including Fannie, from volunteering to go to sign up and register. Fannie never imagined that the simple act of going to register to vote would have a huge impact on her life, but it did. The white establishment would not tolerate such behavior, and blacks who tried to sign up were punished over and over again. Fannie lost her job and her home; she was shot at; she had to move from place to place, and then, finally, she decided that enough was enough. Fannie was going to speak out and do her part to bring about change.

   In this memorable picture book biography, powerful poems bring Fannie Lou Hamer’s story to life. We see how she struggled, and how she stood up for what she believed in, even when it was dangerous to do so. The poems contain direct quotes from Fannie Lou Hamer, and at the back of the book an author’s note contains more information about this incredible woman’s life. 

Monday, September 28, 2015

Picture Book Monday with a review of A Lucky Author has a Dog

I am very lucky to have not one but two dogs in my life, and since I work at home they are my constant companions. They don't mind when I read reviews and stories out loud. In fact they are wonderful listeners! They don't mind when I mutter and fuss when things are not going well, and will press their noses into my hand when they feel that I need a little attention. They are wonderful work mates, which is why I was immediately drawn to today's picture book. Anyone who has a dog in their life is lucky, but I think we authors really need our dogs.

A Lucky Author Has a DogA Lucky Author has a dog
Mary Lyn Ray
Illustrated by Steven Henry
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Scholastic, 2015, 978-0-545-51876-5
Every morning a dog up wakes its person with a kiss. The dog’s person is a little different from other people because she is an author, and authors tend to stay at home to work, which means that the dog has a companion all day long. The dog is therefore very lucky indeed.
   The interesting thing is that the dog is not the only one who is lucky. The author is lucky too because she has the dog. Dogs are wonderful partners who understand that what the author is doing is important even if the dog really “isn’t exactly sure what an author does.” The dog is an “encouraging friend” who is always there, and the dog knows when it is time for the author to take a break. Walks are good for the dog, but they are also good for the author as well because new sights, smells and sounds help feed a mind that is stuck and frustrated. In fact, a dog can really show an author “how to look and listen the way a dog does,” which can make all the difference in the world when you are a wordsmith and storyteller.
   In this unique picture book we find out what the life of an author is like, and we also come to appreciate that being an author’s dog is not a job to be taken lightly. As the narrative carries us through the day we see that the relationship between the author and her friend is special because both partners know that they are lucky to have each other.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Poetry Friday with a review of Double Happiness


Moving to a new home can be hard for children. They often have to leave friends and family members behind and it can be scary not knowing what your new life is going to be like.

In this delightful poetry title the author uses a series of poems to tell the story of two children who are moving away from their home in San Francisco and going to a new house many miles away in a different state.

Double Happiness
Nancy Tupper Ling
Illustrated by Alina Chau
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Chronicle, 2015, 978-1-4521-2918-1
Gracie and her brother Jake are leaving their home in San Francisco and they are going to live in a new place far away from family members, and far from their “city house / by the trolley tracks.” Gracie is not happy about this change but her brother is excited about the prospect of having a new room with all kinds of ‘cool’ things in it.
   Before they leave, the children’s grandmother, Nai Nai, gives each of the children a box in which to put four items, treasures that will lead them “from this home / to your new.” The first item to go into Gracie’s box is her Nai Nai’s panda toy, which Nai Nai gives her. On the bus to the airport Jake finds a lucky penny, which goes into his box. As Gracie gets off the bus at the airport a eucalyptus leaf drifts down in front of her. The leaf is “the perfect treasure to remind me of home” so it is placed carefully into her box.
   As the journey to their new home unfolds, we join Gracie and Jake in their adventures as they visit the plane’s cockpit, try not to fall asleep, and then see their new home “from the sky.”  With their happiness boxes by their sides, the children experience change that is both painful and exciting.
   In this unique book the journey two children take is told in a series of poems. Some of the poems are from Gracie’s point of view, and some are from her exuberant brother’s. Some of them are told using both ‘voices,’ which beautifully capture how different the children are.
   Throughout the book the poems are accompanied by beautiful and emotive illustrations that capture the connection that the children have with their former home, and that also explore the hopes and fears that they have about their new one.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Welcome Autumn!

Autumn is finally here and I am really looking forward to cooler temperatures, colorful trees, sitting by the fire on Sundays, and getting out my knitting needles and yarn. Mind you, yesterday it was eighty degrees here in southern Oregon, which made the day feel more like summer than autumn, but one can hope that this situation will change soon.

Over the years I have reviewed many books about autumn. Some are stories, while others are nonfiction titles about this wonderful season. Do visit the Through the Looking Glass Autumn Days Book Collection page to find books that have a delightful autumn flavor.


Monday, September 21, 2015

Picture Book Monday with a review of Rufus the Writer

The amazing thing about writing stories is that the writing process ends up being a gift to the person who creates the story, and the story itself is a gift to those who read it. In today's picture book you will meet a boy who loves to write stories, and who happily gives his stories away to the people he cares about.

Rufus the WriterRufus the Writer
Elizabeth Bram
Illustrated by Chuck Groenink
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Random House, 2015, 978-0-385-37853-6
One day Rufus is lying in the grass looking up at the summer sky when he gets an idea. Instead of having the usual summer lemonade stand he will have a story stand. Rufus runs indoors to gather up what he needs, and he sets up a table outdoors, which he covers with a cloth. He makes a sign for his story stand and lays out paper, pencils, and colors. Rufus then goes and changes his clothes. After all, a writer has to look the part!
   Millie and Walter come by and they invite Rufus to go swimming with them. He explains that he has to take care of his story stand. Walter asks to buy a story and when he asks what the fee will be Rufus tells the little boy to bring him “a special shell from the beach.” After his friends leave, Rufus writes his fist story stand tale, one that will be perfect just for Walter.
   Rufus is working on illustrating his first story when his friend Sandy comes up with some wonderful news. His cat Rainbow has had kittens. Rufus offers to write a story for Sandy so that he can buy one of the kittens. Sandy says that Rufus can have the kitten for free, but Rufus still insists on writing a story in payment, and this is what he does. He writes a story all about a man who discovers that cats are far more important that things.
   The next story Rufus works on is for his sister Annie, who is going to be having her birthday the next day. A story will be a perfect gift; a personal gift unlike any other.
   In this charming picture book we meet a boy who understands how precious stories are. We watch as he carefully crafts tales that will suit the people he is writing them for. Children will enjoy seeing how Rufus’ stories are unique, and how each one has its own flavor, voice and illustrative style.
Bookmark and Share