| Ingram’s Collection Suggestions |
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| Picture Books |
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You Have to Be Nice to Someone on Their Birthday
by Barbara Bottner, illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Tomorrow is Tuesday--Rosemary's birthday--and she reminds her little brother he will have to be nice to her. It's a rule. But then her mother betrays her by inexplicably agreeing to let the horrible cousins come over tomorrow. So Monday night, Rosemary sneaks into the refrigerator and devours nearly all of her chocolate birthday cake herself. Which of course makes for a miserable night and a terrible temper the next day when no one even remembers it's her birthday. The more her anger builds, the worse things get, until her entire day is a disaster. When her mean teacher sends her to the principal's office and she blurts out that it's her birthday and everyone has forgotten, she learns it is also her teacher's birthday. Uhhh-oh. You have to be nice to someone on his or her birthday! Children will totally sympathize with Rosemary and will be relieved to find out that her birthday is actually on Wednesday, which turns out to be a very good day indeed. Illustrator Mai-Wyss, as she did in The Lemon Sisters, creates a lively environment and expressive, endearing characters with her colorful watercolors. Ages 4-8. -- Susan Johnston MLS
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The Real Story of Stone Soup
by Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch
This book summarily rejects the European tale in which a hungry soldier tricks a stingy village into sharing a bit of food with him. The real story is narrated by a Chinese fisherman who hires the three young Chang brothers to help him with his work. In his amusing telling, the boys are dull and lazy, while he must do all the work himself. Jorisch's witty ink and watercolor illustrations relate a different version. The fisherman naps under his hat while the boys do the fishing, and clearly they are very competent indeed. When they discover that their master has forgotten the pot to cook their lunch, they stop and think for a moment. Then they make a hole in the riverbank, line it with banana leaves, and fill it with water. They slyly gather stones, inspecting them carefully to determine which are “soup stones,” and drop them into their fire as the grumbly narrator watches in disbelief. They trick him into cutting bowls from bamboo, carving chopsticks, and fetching salt while they secretly add fish and vegetables to the water. On his return, they ceremoniously add the heated “fish stone,” creating a steaming hot liquid smelling deliciously of fish. One by one they add the other stones, naming each as the soup comes to a boil. The soup is presented with a flourish as the youngest brother smiles behind his hand--and it is the most delicious soup the skeptical man has ever tasted. An author's note ties the charming legend to XI Shuang Ban Na in southeast China. Grades K-3. -- SJ
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Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship
by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, photos by Peter Greste
The universal appeal of Owen and Mzee, the incredible true story of a crotchety male tortoise befriending an orphaned hippo, called out for a sequel and fans will not be disappointed. Briefly encapsulating the account of Owen's orphanhood after the tsunami of 2004 and his overnight friendship with Mzee, this title goes on to relate their first 18 months together as Mzee teaches Owen to eat and survive in Haller Park, Kenya. Greste's full color photos document the account of how the two communicate and the ways that Owen tends to imitate the tortoise's behavior. Their caretakers' concerns for the welfare of each animal are explained succinctly. The other hippos there are not likely to accept Owen into their community, but as he grows larger the strange friendship presents problems. Owen is not eating food appropriate for a hippo, for example, and Mzee may be in danger of unintentional injury. A possible solution is to introduce Owen to a female hippo who was also orphaned and seems lonely, but still it is hoped that the two can somehow remain friends. As in the first book, the back matter fills in still more detail about the animals and the wildlife preserve they live in. The unresolved issues suggest that there may be yet another book. Given the popularity of the first one, we certainly hope so! Grades 1-6. -- SJ
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| Middle Grade |
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick
Selznik uses an intriguing new technique in this novel, yet another way of effectively juxtaposing text and illustration. All pages are bordered with black; chapters are introduced with formal white print on solid black. A two-paragraph introduction sets the story in Paris of 1931, where Selznick invites the reader to imagine sitting in darkness waiting for a movie to begin. The action begins with a bright light in the center of two pages of blackness. Each turn of the page widens the picture and a Parisian dawn emerges. The “camera” pans toward and into a train station, then zooms to a startlingly close face shot of a boy glancing warily over his shoulder as he hurries forward. One can almost hear the scuffle of his feet and the hubbub of the crowd. More than 20 of these dramatic two-page spreads begin the story before we encounter one bit of text, and throughout the book the illustrations take the same two-page “movie” format. Text pages vary from full pages to two or three strategic lines. The artistic device ingeniously prepares the imagination for the plot, which revolves around a young boy's obsession with an automaton--miraculous mechanical man--and an old man's lost filmmaking career. Powerful and unique, this book will garner much attention and many avid readers. Grades 3-6. -- SJ
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The Navigator
by Eoin McNamee
In the very first pages, McNamee gives several hints of what is to come for the alert and experienced fantasy reader. Owen's mother has become distracted, troubled, and disturbed by talk of his dead father. The children of the town are somehow intimidated by Owen, and the kindly owner of a local store says mysterious things to him. One of the few items in his meager room is an old chest with a broken lock, which has never been opened but which his father had insisted he keep. When Owen retreats to his hideaway by the river on this Saturday morning, he spies a small man who watches intently for something ominous. And thus begins Owen's adventure into an threatening world where time can be spun backward and the universe is threatened by the Harsh, a dark force that wants to obliterate time and life altogether. At first Owen appears as a bystander, lost in a world he doesn't comprehend. But as events unfold, it becomes clear that he has a critical role to play in the dangerous battle to save life as we know it. While the theme is the familiar fight against evil, McNamee's plot is creative and readers will thrill to his descriptions of ragtag bands and patchy contraptions battling for their lives and the very existence of the world in which we live. Grades 5-9. -- SJ
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| Young Adult |
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Dear Author: Letters of Hope Top Young Adult Authors Respond to Kids Toughest Issues
by Joan Kaywell
Wonder what happens to letters sent by fans to actors, sports figures, or, maybe, even to authors? The latter part of the question can be answered: the authors write back. Editor Joan Kaywell, with the assistance of a cast of writers reading like the who's who of young adult literature, has compiled a collection of letters sent between teen readers and authors. More than two dozen teens openly reveal how a book impacted their lives enough to prompt sending a letter. A teen girl, after reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, tells about getting back her voice. A boy in cancer remission shares with T.A. Barron how Merlin's fortitude inspired him. A gay teen boy shares his sexuality with Nancy Garden. Authors--endorsing the power of bibliotherapy--respond honestly to deeply personal and heartbreaking reactions, often offering additional counsel. The book concludes with a brief biography and list of titles by the authors.
Connecting a reader to a book is the goal of good library programs: connecting a reader to an author is the ultimate achievement. This epistolary compilation would be a fine addition to middle, junior, and high school collection and to public libraries serving these age groups. -- Cheryl Karp Ward, MSL
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Rat Life
by Tedd Arnold
For high school student Todd Anthony, “a blank sheet of paper had always been a playground.” Smoothly narrated between dialogue and his creative writing, an insightful, loyal, and honest young man emerges and a memorable story evolves. We find a cast of multidimensional eclectic characters who embrace some of the messiness of humanity: an alcoholic, abusive father; a battered wife; a vulnerable elderly Alzheimer's victim; an emotionally scarred Vietnam veteran. Add the discovery of an unidentified corpse discovered washed up by the river, a battered hat, a murder, secrets, unanswered questions, and a disastrous town flooding, and you have a suspenseful plot guaranteed to pull the reader into this story set in New York State during the early 1970s.
Notable Books award-winning author and illustrator--and 2006 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book recipient--Tedd Arnold writes like he's painting a picture with well fleshed characters and scenes almost visceral in their depiction. His first foray into the throngs of young adult literature has produced a treasure. An extremely satisfying mystery for grades 7 and up. -- CKW
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Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath
by Stephanie Hemphill
In novel-in-verse format with rich nuances, this book spanning her birth on October 27, 1932, until her suicide on February 11, 1963, provides an almost voyeuristic trip into the life of Sylvia Plath, tragic icon of the literary world. Using Plath's journals, fiction, poetry, and other cited sources of relevant people and events, Hemphil, through a crafting of poems reminiscent of her unique style, has subtly interwoven the fabric that was the mind and the spirit of the poet. Verses include the recollections of Aurelia Plath (Sylvia's mother), ex-boyfriends, her grandmother, Warren Plath (her brother), editors from Mademoiselle, college roommates, Ted Hughes (her husband), Assia Weville (Hughes's mistress), Myra Norris (nurse who discovered her body), and her numerous therapists. In all, more than 150 poems poignantly expose a Sylvia slowly slipping away as the demons eventually become too unbearable to endure.
The allure of the life and the work of Plath remain strong with young adults who are first introduced to the writer through her disturbing, thinly disguised autobiographical The Bell Jar. This is a highly recommended addition for all high school collections. -- CKW
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