Fiction Wednesday - A review of Ruby Redfort: Look into my eyes

These days, when I want to relax and give my brain a break, I read a mystery novel. I have always loved mysteries and read (and reread) all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books when I was young. There were also the Famous Five and Secret Seven series, books that were published in England. I remember feeling rather disappointed that there weren't more mystery titles being published for young readers.

Today, young readers have a much bigger selection of mystery novels to read. In several of them the main character becomes a secret agent of some kind. Today's title is just such a book. In it a tween girl, Ruby Redfort, is asked to help a secret agency to solve a problem. The writing is clever, often humorous, and it is full of thrilling moments and interesting situations.

Ruby Redfort: Look into my eyes

Lauren Child

Fiction

For ages 10 to 13

Candlewick Press, 2011, 978-0-7636-5120-6

Ruby Redfort looks like a rather ordinary tween girl, but she is not in the slightest bit ordinary. She is extremely intelligent, can learn new things very quickly, and she has superlative observation skills and problem-solving skills. Ruby loves mystery and crime stories, movies, and television shows. She also loves to figure out puzzles, ciphers, and codes.

   Until now, other than winning a Code-Cracking Championship and creating a code that took Harvard scholars two weeks to break, Ruby has had a quiet life. She lives with her rather uninteresting parents, spends time with her friend Clancy, and goes to school. Then, one day, she comes home from school to find out that someone has stolen everything in her house. Everything is gone including Mrs. Digby the housekeeper. On that day Hitch, a household manager (butler), arrives to work at the Redfort home, and Ruby is immediately suspicious. Something about Hitch is off, but Ruby cannot figure out what.

   Then Ruby gets a very odd phone call. An unknown person tells Ruby that he or she has heard that Ruby is good at noticing things and that she is also a good code cracker. The person talks some more and Ruby agrees that she “can crack a code.” After saying “Good,” the person hangs up. Ruby is very puzzled by the call. If the person on the phone wants her to crack a code why didn’t the person give her a code to crack?

   Some time later Ruby figures things out. The code was in the conversation itself. She analyses what the person said and soon she is following clues, each clue leading her to another one. The final clue leads her to a manhole cover. She opens it and reluctantly goes down the drain and into a tunnel, which then opens into a very large room. It is in this room that Ruby meets a woman called LB who just happens to belong to the voice on the telephone.

   LB explains that she works for a secret agency called Spectrum, and she invites Ruby the join the agency to help them deal with one problem and one problem only. If she is willing to take on the challenge, Ruby will first have to pass a test and get cleared by security. If she gets through these, she will be told about the problem, which she will hopefully be able to solve. After the task is complete, Ruby will go back to being an ordinary schoolgirl and her association with Spectrum will be over.

   Not surprisingly, Ruby agrees to the terms. She passes the test and security check without any trouble, and then she finds out that she has been recruited to break a code. Someone is apparently planning to steal an enormous amount of gold from a local bank. A former Spectrum code breaker figured out something important about the plan, but she died before she could tell LB about what she had found. LB wants Ruby to go through the deceased code breaker’s papers to figure out what it was she was going to reveal.

   Lauren Child has delighted countless children by creating Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean, wonderful characters who appear in picture books, novels, and in television programs. Now she gives us Ruby Redfort, and readers will have a splendid time sharing Ruby’s adventures and trying to figure out the codes and puzzles Ruby encounters. Who can resist a story that is packed with colorful characters, unsolved mysteries, cool gadgets, and challenging puzzles.

Picture Book Monday - A review of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Happy Christmas Eve folks! I hope you are having a splendid day surrounded by friends and family members. For today's picture book I have chosen a title that would make a wonderful gift - just in case you need a last minute idea. Or, should you get a gift certificate or a gift of money tomorrow, you can buy this book for yourself.

This is the kind of book that children and adults alike will enjoy. It's message is universal in nature, and every reading makes one think about stories, books, and what they mean to us. The story in the book won an Academy Award for best animated short film in 2012.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

William Joyce

Illustrated by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm

Picture Book

For ages 7 and up

Simon and Schuster, 2012, 978-1-4424-5702-7

Morris Lessmore loves words, stories, and books. He loves to write about his “joys and sorrows” in a book every day. Unfortunately, just like most stories, Morris Lessmore’s story has an “upset.” A terrible storm blows Morris Lessmore and everything around him through the air, and when Morris finally comes to earth, he has no idea where he is. Even worse, the storm has clean blown the words off the pages of his book.

   Feeling quite lost and not knowing what to do, Morris begins to wander. Then Morris sees a pretty lady drifting by. She is being carried across the sky by “a festive squadron of flying books.” Morris wishes his own book would fly, but it refuses to do so. The pretty lady knows that Morris needs a flying book of his own so she gives him one of hers.

   The flying book leads Mr. Morris to a building that is full of flying books, and he decides to stay there. Mr. Morris is delighted with his new home, and he spends time repairing the books that are damaged. He also reads the stories in the books, gives the books to people who need them, and he once again writes his own story. Little does he know that one day his story will play an important role in the life of another book lover.

   William Joyce started writing this story many years ago. It began as a tribute to a book lover, and then evolved over time to become an award winning animated short film, a fabulous story app, and now this book.

   The story of Morris Lessmore takes readers on an extraordinary journey, one that they will never forget. It will remind readers that books are treasures to be loved and treasured. How grim and lonely our lives would be without them.

Poetry Friday - A review of Book Speak!

I have reviewed several books of poetry that are full of poems about books and reading. Today's poetry title is special because in it the author gives books (and not people) the opportunity to speak. Instead of reading about how people feel about books, we get to find out what it feels like to be a book. Or an index. Or a book cover. The idea might sound strange, but I found it to be delightful, and I think you will too.

Book Speak! Poems about Books

Laura Purdie Salas

Illustrated by Josee Bisaillon

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 7 to 11

Clarion, 2011, 978-0-547-22300-1

If a book could talk, what would it say? Perhaps it would ask the reader not to fold page corners and to be careful not to break its spine. Maybe it would describe, in an excited whisper, the story that lies on its pages.  It might brag, loudly, that it is the best book to read if you want to know about a certain subject.

   In this deliciously clever collection of poems, Laura Purdie Salas gives books, and parts of books, a voice. We hear from an index, who tells us to “Forget that pretty picture on the cover.” Instead, it tells us how it, the index, “can tell you the page number / of anything you are looking for.”

   A book plate explains very firmly that it is not the kind of plate that requires a napkin. It is not a “soup bowl’s mate,” nor is it a receptacle for “peas or bread.” No, a book plate should be pasted in a book and used to show who it belongs to.

   A book is a very brave thing, just in case you didn’t know. Yes indeed, it can “swallow up dragons and /cannons and /wars.” It does not fear the dark at all. There is only one thing that it is really frightened of. Water. Water and books simply don’t mix.

   Vacations offer books the opportunity to have grand adventures. You get to visit exotic places, fly on airplanes, and lie on beaches. A book never quite knows where its “reader is bound / and hundreds of times I’ve been lost and then found.”

   Though this is, of course, a children’s title, book lovers of all ages are going to enjoy reading these skillfully crafted and often unusual book-centric poems. Throughout the book, colorful multimedia illustrations provide a perfect backdrop for the poems.

Season's Greeting!

Fiction Wednesday - A review of Zelda and Ivy: The Big Picture

Some years ago I read a delightful beginner chapter book about two little foxes who have everyday adventures. There was something about the characters, Zelda and Ivy, that I found very appealing. I was therefore delighted the other day to receive a new Zelda and Ivy book to review.

Zeldaand Ivy: The Big Picture

Laura McGee Kvasnosky

Fiction

For ages 5 to 7

Candlewick Press, 2010, 978-0-7636-4180-1

  Zelda and Ivy and their friend Eugene are going to the movie theatre, and Zelda and Eugene are really looking forward to seeing the movie Secret Agent Fox. Ivy is worried that the movie is going to be too scary and she is not comforted when her sister and friend tell her that what takes place in a movie is not real.

   When the movie starts, Ivy soon forgets to be afraid. In fact, she is captivated by the action that she is watching on the screen, as is Eugene. Both of them are so interested in the movie that they fail to notice that Zelda, who not long ago said “the scarier, the better,” is not actually watching the movie.  

   Some time later, inspired no doubt by the movie they saw, Ivy, Zelda, and Eugene decide to be secret agents and “spy on people.” They each choose a secret agent name, they decide on a code word, and then they proceed to spy on Mrs. Brownlie. In their opinion, Mrs. Brownlie is behaving in a suspicious manner. She is wearing goggles while she is mowing her yard, and the three friends are eager to find out why.

   In this delightful Zelda and Ivy story, there are three chapters, and in each one Zelda, Ivy and their friend have delightful adventures that children will be able to identify with. The characters are charming, and the stories are perfect for children who are starting to read on their own.

Picture Book Monday - A review of The Christmas Quiet Book

I really enjoy the holiday season but I must confess that sometimes the often frantic preparations one feels compelled to make are rather tiresome. When I read today's book I was reminded that the Christmas season can be a gentle, quiet, happy season if we just stop, notice and enjoy the good times, and let some things go. Ahhhh, much better.

The Christmas Quiet Book

Deborah Underwood

Illustrated by Renata Liwska

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, 978-0-547-55863-9

For many people the Christmas season is a busy, even frantic time. It is a time full of noise and bustle, to do lists and what-did-I-forget moments. Thankfully, Christmas does not have to be this way if you slow down, take a deep breath, and savor the moments. If you do this, you might even be able to have a Christmas that is quiet.

   Perhaps you don’t know what a quiet Christmas is. A quiet Christmas is a Christmas season that is full of quiet moments. There are those searching for presents quiet moments that are all too often followed by “Getting caught” quiet moments. There are those quiet moments when we look out of the window and dare to hope for a snow day. There are the soft quiet moments that come when you are making a snow angel or when you are gliding across the ice. Then there is that delicious quiet that comes when the lights on the Christmas tree are lit for the first time. Sometimes this happy quiet moment is followed by a “Blown fuse quiet.” And what about that Christmas Eve quiet when children listen for sleigh bells, and when they fall asleep trying to stay awake.

   In this delicious holiday book Deborah Underwood’s simple text is beautifully paired with Renata Liwska’s lovely soft illustrations to give readers of all ages a bookish experience that is sweet, funny, and as comforting as a warm hug and a cup of hot cocoa. 

Poetry Friday - A review of If you were a chocolate mustache

One of the things that I love about poetry is the fact that it comes in so many 'flavors.' When I was little, I had no idea that poetry had so many forms. I had never seen a haiku or a concrete poem. I am delighted that children today can enjoy all kinds of poetry early on. They can see and hear that one can be delightfully creative when one writes a poem.

Today's poetry title shows to great effect how one poet plays with words to create poems that are incredibly varied.

If you were a chocolate mustache

J. Patrick Lewis

Illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Poetry

For ages 7 to 10

Boyds Mills Press, 2012, 978-1-59078-927-8

Poems come in many forms, more forms perhaps than most of us are aware of. J. Patrick Lewis, the Children’s Poet Laureate, loves to play with these forms, and this is what he has done in this collection. In this book readers will find riddles, limericks, haiku, story poems, concrete poems and more. The only thing that the poems have in common is that they are all serve to amuse the reader, to make the reader smile or even laugh.

   On the pages of this title you will find a poem that describes dragon dinner etiquette. If you are a dragon, never accept a dinner invitation “If St. George is the guest of honor.” If you are going to eat Chinese food use “chop stakes,” and nights when you have pizza delivered “Spare the delivery boy.”

   In another part of the book you will encounter another dragonish poem. In “Dragon vs. Girl” we meet a dragon who is complaining about a girl who sprayed him with water using a squirt gun. The dragon’s mother points out that the dragon has got “a flame to throw,” which should make short work of the girl and her squirt gun. Unfortunately, the mother dragon fails to take one very important fact into consideration; that water puts out fire.

   Some of the poems are riddles that are both amusing and challenging to solve. There are the Haikus that are “City/State Riddles.” If you know your US geography you should be able to solve these riddles, some of which are quite tricky. In addition there are three book riddles. If you know your fairy tales you should have no problem figuring them out. For all of the riddles, readers will find that the answers written in small looking glass type next to the poems. All you need to read the solutions is a mirror.

   This is a splendid collection that young readers are going to enjoy dipping into. It is likely that they will discover some poetry forms that they have never seen before.

Fiction Wednesday - A Review of The Dragon's Eye

I love dragon stories, and today's fiction title is a wonderful book about the adventures that two children have when they find themselves in the company of a dragonologist. This book is a companion to the Dragonology books, a series of novelty titles that have delighted dragon fans of all ages for ten years now. 

The Dragon’s Eye

Dugald A. Steer

Illustrated by Douglas Carrel

Fiction

For ages 9 to 12

Candlewick Press, 2006, 0-7636-2810-7

Daniel and his sister Beatrice are looking forward to their summer vacation a great deal. Their parents, who live and work in India, are coming to England to visit. When Daniel gets to Waterloo station, his sister is waiting for him with a letter in her hand. The letter was written by their mother and in it is she explains that once again, for the fourth year in a row, she and her husband cannot come to England after all. Instead of spending the summer with their parents, the children are to spend it with Dr. Ernest Drake.

   Following their mother’s instructions, the children get themselves to Wyvern Way, a small street near Trafalgar square where Dr. Drake has a shop, which is called Doctor Drake’s Dragonalia. When they arrive, Dr. Drake is deep in conversation with someone, and the children have no choice but to wait until he is free. Feeling bored, Daniel explores one of the basement rooms beneath the shop, which is where he comes to face to face with an honest to goodness dragon. Dr. Drake catches the boy snooping and he makes it clear that Daniel should not tell anyone about what he has seen.

  Later that day the children travel with Dr. Drake to Castle Drake, his country home, and the following morning Beatrice goes into the woods with Dr. Drake while Daniel studies Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species. While the doctor is away, Daniel cannot help snooping again, even though he was told to stay in the house, and he finds out that the dragon that he saw in the London shop is now at Castle Drake. Once again, the doctor catches Daniel doing something that he shouldn’t be doing.

  Daniel and Beatrice soon learn that Dr. Drake is a dragonologist, a scientist who studies dragons. The young people learn that dragons are found in many countries around the world, but there are not a lot of them left and they need to be protected. Every summer, Dr. Drake trains a few select young people to become dragonologists, and this summer Daniel and Beatrice will be his pupils.

   The children’s studies do not progress very far before they find themselves caught up in a very unpleasant situation. A man called Ignatius Crook has decided that he should be the next Dragon Master and he is doing everything that he can to get his hands on some artifacts, in particular the Dragon’s Eye, to achieve this goal. Since Ignatius Crook does not truly care about dragons, Dr. Drake has to do everything that he can to stop the man before it is too late, and Daniel and Beatrice end up joining in his adventure.

   This companion to the now famous Dragonology books will delight readers who have an interest in dragons. The author not only gives us an action-packed tale full of adventure and misadventure, but he also helps his readers to understand the scientific process of study and why all creatures (including dragons) should be protected. 

Picture Book Monday - A review of How do dinosaurs say Happy Chanukah?

Hanukkah (Chanuka) began over the weekend and I know that millions of families around the world are enjoying the traditions that are a part of this Jewish holiday. Sometimes, when one gets caught up in the excitement of a holiday, one forgets to remember to behave nicely; one forgets to appreciate the simple joys of the holiday season. In today's picture book, which is another of the wonderful How do Dinosaurs... titles, Jane Yolen helps young readers to remember that Hanukkah is a time for reflection, for being grateful, and for sharing. With gentle humor she shows children how Hanukkah should be celebrated.

How do dinosaurs say Happy Chanukah?

Jane Yolen

Illustrated by Mark Teague

Picture Book

For ages 3 to 6

Scholastic, 2012, 978-0-545-41677-1

It is Chanukah, a time for remembering, giving thanks, and sharing with others. At least that is what the holiday should be about. Of course, there are some young (and naughty) dinosaurs who forget this. Instead of being helpful, kind, and well behaved, they “act up,” “fuss and fidget” when the candlelight prayer is being said, and blow out the candles when no one is looking. They also refuse to let anyone else play with the dreidel, and swipe all the gelt so that no one else can have any.

   In this splendid book, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague have once again joined forces to create a picture book that combines verse, gorgeous illustrations, and splendid touches of humor. They help children to see what is and is not acceptable behavior during Chanukah, and best of all, thanks to their wonderful dinosaur characters, they manage to do this without being overbearing. 

Poetry Friday - A review of Forgive me, I meant to do it

Long ago I had a friend who would do naughty things and then apologize profusely when he was caught. He was convinced that apologizing for his naughtiness was enough to get him off the hook, even when it was obvious that he wasn't in the least bit sorry for what he did. In today's poetry book you will encounter some delicious apologies that are delightfully funny, and completely insincere. 

Forgive me, I meant to do it: False apology poems

Gail Carson Levine

Illustrated by Matthew Cordel

Poetry

For ages 7 and up

HarperCollins, 2012, 978-0-06-178725-6

All too often people make apologies for their actions that they really don’t mean. In 1962 the poet William Carlos Williams wrote a poem called “This is just to say,” and in the poem the narrator apologizes for eating the plums in the fridge. Though the words “Forgive me,” are there in the poem, readers can tell that the narrator really isn’t that sorry for eating the plums. In fact, perhaps he or she is feeling rather pleased that he or she got to the plums first.

  For this funny and clever collection of poems, author Gail Carson Levine has created her own “This is just to say” poems where a person says “Forgive me,” though we can tell that the apology is a sham. In fact, the narrators in these poems are quite unrepentant for the things that they have done.

   We begin with a man driving a bulldozer who has flattened the thorny hedge around Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The driver knows that the princess “expected to sleep behind” the hedge “until the prince came,” but he wants to charge tourists for the privilege of visiting the princess’s castle, which is why he got rid of the hedge.

   Further on in the book we meet Snow White. She ‘apologizes’ to the dwarves for “making myself ugly / and leaving / with the witch,” but explains that she is only doing so because they have appalling manners and refuse to make an effort to “be at your best.”

   The author even writes a false apology from herself. She slips the introduction to the book after the table of contents and several pages of poems. Clearly she is doing her best to irritate her editor who “excruciatingly loudly / screeched” that the introduction does not belong in such a place. The author apologizes for her behavior and then mentions that she shredded the editor’s red pencil and “stirred / the splinters into” the editor’s tea. I think we can tell that the author is not in the slightest bit sorry for what she has done.

   The out-of-place introduction explores William Carlos Williams’ poem and it also invites readers to try writing their own “This is just to say” poems. The form to use is very simple, there is no punctuation, and you don’t even need to come up with a title. Plus, the ninth line is always “Forgive me.” The one thing Gail Carson Levin thinks is necessary is that the writer needs to be in a “grouchy mood.” One cannot write a false apology poem if one is happy and light of heart.

   This is the perfect book to read when one is feeling disgruntled and annoyed with someone. The reader is guaranteed to find that he or she will not be able to stay disgruntled for long because the poems are just too clever and too funny. A smile or a laugh will be unavoidable.