The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is a phenomenal book. It's the kind of book that you can't put down. One friend told me today that she was brushing her teeth and reading it. Another that she was making dinner and reading it. A third said she devoured it and will need to re-read it. All were surprised when they were directed to the children's section of the local bookstore to pick up a copy. Luckily, they were not deterred.



The synopsis on the dust jacket does a fine job of hitting the highlights and setting up the plot: Death is narrating the story of a sweet and brave girl named Liesel, living with a foster family, in Molching, Germay during the rise of Hitler. The story is so much more sweet and brave, and complex, than those details, though. And that outline can not prepare you for the wonder of Zusak's writing.

The author's style is uniquely colorful. He deftly manages to pinpoint a color, a moment, a crack in a wall with language that is both surprising and wonderful. Countless times I took up my highlighter, only to set it back down again, in awe of the precision and beauty of the lines.

And all the while, being reeled in by the magic of the horrible story of Liesel's situation.  This is a fantastic story for book groups for teens and older.

P.S. Note - you can see how I've changed my tune in comparison to my first mention of The Book Thief by clicking here.

If You're Happy and You Know It

If you haven't met Jane Cabrera and her books for toddlers yet, you're missing out. Hands down, she is one of the most talented picture book illustrators (and writers) out there. Often, she paints scenes that accompany traditional children's songs or poems, and those paintings are gorgeous, lush, bright, bold masterpieces. I've often thought that I'd like to own a poster-sized painting from one of her books for a nursery wall.

But barring that expense, I'm grateful for the good fortune that allows all of us to share in her work through her books. It's hard to choose a favorite, but if pressed I'd go with If You're Happy and You Know It because it really gets my child up and moving about. It's fun, engaging and lovingly created with colors deep enough that you could go swimming in them.



Other favorites include Mommy Carry Me Please, Ten in the Bed (a good book about counting) and Over in the Meadow; the latter two are helpful when practicing numbers. This is just a small sampling of Cabrera's work.

  

One note: I have found one (and only one) of Cabrera's stories a bit awkward, although still beautifully illustrated. The Lonesome Polar Bear is magical to view, and the premise works - a polar bear cub looking for a friend - but the ending in which the cloud friend brings a snow bear to life isn't executed very well. As in most cases, when I find a book in which I don't love the text (e.g. Hey, Get Off of Our Train), I just make up words to go along with the pictures.

 

Curious George: Up, Up, and Away!

We love the Curious George series on PBS and now we've stumbled on the complementary books.

They are most definitely a departure for the Curious George books of old. The new soft cover books are extremely colorful - very bold and bright primary colors - with images directly from an episode. The writing is stronger, more action verbs and less repetitiveness about George's curiosity. The books don't open with the standard lines: "This is George. He lived with his friend, the man with the yellow hat. He was a good little monkey ...." Instead , they move right into the plot.

Today, we read Curious George Up, Up, and Away and I was immediately drawn in by the writing which was clear and moved the action along at a pleasing pace. The pictures from the show were well chosen; they accompanied the text perfectly. I loved the bold hues of the images, and how the text was separated at the bottom of the page. I also appreciated the activities at the back of the book.

My daughter was less enthused, however. 

She much prefers some of the Curious George books from over the last couple of decades (not the original books). She likes the standard opening, and will request Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery or Curious George and the Firefighters. She loves to hear about George's antics, and she's not interested in the abbreviated new books where the action is constant. She'd rather linger at the dinosaur dig or at the firehouse.

Just by looking at these two images, you can tell how different the contents are. 


Reading these books is a good reminder that as adults we bring something, perhaps just opinions, but a different perspective to children's picture books. That's why I suspect that some of today's best sellers are a little too sarcastic, a little too sophisticated for kids. But it's the parents doing the buying. In the end, I'm going to go with the books that she constantly requests. And as much as I like the new Curious George books, the preponderance of our Curious George book purchases will be the older books. (I'd like to devote another post later as to the quality of the older set which I find to be of uneven quality.)

Review: Martha Doesn't Say Sorry

Parents pick up this book!

I love it. My daughter is fascinated by it. The message is clear, and the characters are darling.

As the title suggests, Martha the girl otter does not say sorry, even after wakes up her baby brother, paints her dad or dumps batter on her mom. She's got a lot of redeeming qualities, though, and after some reflection - and after being rebuffed by said family members - Martha apologizes and reaps the rewards.

Cleverly written by Samantha Berger and delightfully illustrated by Bruce Whatley, Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! is a great story for toddlers and young children.

Overrated Children's Books

Here it goes: the words that will probably get me slammed over and over again.

I don't like Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I read it once and both my daughter and I were sort of underwhelmed. She never requested it again and I never brought it up.  Let the lambasting begin.

I would like to say that I find the illustrations quite engaging, but the story does nothing for me. Dare I say I don't quite get it? What is all the hoopla about?



And since I'm getting started on the subject, I find the Olivia books a little too tongue-in-cheek for my tastes. Should the parents really be quite so put upon by their kid? Ah, the poor suffering parents.



Surely, you have books, children's or adult, that you'd throw in the "what's the big deal" category.  Feel free to let me know what books you think are overrated.

Write When You Have Something to Say; Query About 'Heaved'

I've officially been back from my trip for about two weeks now, so the laundry is caught up and the suitcases are put away.

While on the trip, I met with a friend who passed along some words of wisdom and I'm including them here for posterity:

"Write when you have something to say, Crystal."

Keeping a blog can be an enjoying challenge, but at times, I've got to prioritize my book or the article I'm working on.

So no more weekly schedule (Monday book reviews, etc.)  Instead, I'm applying this new policy.

I'll end todays post with a query about the word 'heaved'.

Two writers in my writing circle think I'm misusing it.  I think the word I really want is lug but I ask you, have you ever heaved (as in dragged) something heavy?

Picture Book Review: Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs?

It doesn't seem possible to exhaust the dinosaur subject when it comes to kids and picture books.  We're presently making our way through a stack of books on the topic at our house, with varying degrees of amusement.

Luckily, today, we came across a classic just by chance at our local library.  It's called Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs? by Bernard Most.



The book is a simple set of questions pondering what happened to the dinosaurs, a question that I struggle to find a satisfactory answer to for my toddler.  The suggestions are wonderful and had both my daughter and I chuckling.  Perhaps the dinosaurs are in disguise?  (See the cover picture.)  Maybe the dinosaurs have gone underground?  Are the dinosaurs on another planet?

The pacing is perfect and the accompanying pictures have demure black and white drawings and then one or two images is delightfully illustrated with a bright color (some pages happily reminded me of a Mondrian painting).

I've noticed that there is a video based on the book that we'll be looking for, and I'll definitely be looking for more books by Bernard Most.

Weekly Recap: the Fundamentals

After reviewing the news in YA lit this week and my own musings, I'm coming around to the idea that writing (like everything else that is worthwhile in life) requires getting the fundamentals right.



You can't get good at tennis without practicing routinely, and also seeking help from a pro.  My meals only improve whenever I slow down and follow the instructions, and make the same dish over and over again - each time slightly altering the recipe until I've finally nailed the right amount seasoning and the proper cooking time.

And writing requires the same amount of attention and devotion.  In cooking, you may learn to coddle an egg (delicious) and coddling a poem, an essay, or a novel is the same principle.  Slowly simmer until the words and sentences and paragraphs form a congealed dish for the eyes.  That process is long, involved, torturous and fraught with distractions.  It's not always fun, or easy, to work on style.

I'm reminded of a friend in college.  He chose to study English, not because he was good at it, but because he wasn't.  I don't feel particularly adept at writing, but I know that with practice I can become passable.

KidSpeak: Shaking the Tree

Me: When you were younger, I did everything for you.  I fed you, bounced you, changed your clothes.  Now that you're three, you can walk and run and feed your self.

3 year old: And shake a tree.

Me (stifling laugh): Yes, I suppose now you can shake a tree.

3 year old:  Can I shake that one?

Me: Well, that one is pretty big.  We would probably need to find one your size.

3 year old: Yes, that one touches the sky.  It probably touches all the way to California.

[Note: This conversation should not be confused with Peter Gabriel's fantastic album and song, also by the same title.]

Lake Shasta

Lake Shasta
Do you haveta
Be so blue?

My eyes flinch
It's no cinch
Watching true

Style: Eye of the Beholder

I'm currently reading a YA book (The Book Thief) that has been celebrated by the press and received numerous awards (more on the book next Monday).  For me, though, I'm having difficulty managing my way through the prolouge where the descriptions are meant to be clever and arch, I suppose, but instead I find them perplexing and simply strange.  For example, a description of skin as skeleton colored is brilliant whereas the description "there were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness" less engaging.



In cases like this I'm left to wonder if there isn't a bandwagon effect going on.  Or perhaps I simply prize a different style.  (Or maybe I'm just too simplistic.)  But the prose that speaks to me is often clean, clear, evocative.  I think Kent Haruf of Plainsong fame achieves this type of style that I'm describing like few others have.  There is a woman in my writing group who comes a close second.  The writing is not terse, but concise - not a word wasted.



When I first began blogging a few weeks back, I noticed that if I gave myself a word challenge to cut my word count in half, my writing dramatically improved.  I find that as I read YA books, among others, I am wishing that others would attempt this same sort of precision.