Half-Minute Horrors, edited by Susan Rich, 131pp. RL 4

Half-Minute Horrors, edited by Susan Rich, is a compilation of over 70 snippets of creepy, gruesome, ghoulish, spine tingling fun with a website the encourages readers to submit their scary stories. I wish I could list every contributor here, but it would take up the whole review. Authors and illustrators are all listed on the back of the jacket and in the brilliant index that lists page numbers for both authors and themes. Everything from animals, basements, beds (under and around) and betrayal to zombies, water, summer camp and siblings has an entry. Best of all, this book is published in partnership with First Book, an organization that provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy: access to books.

Besides the short stories, including Jenny Nimmo's two sentence entry, "Soup," there are poems, haikus (or "Horroku," as Katherine Applegate titles it) and cartoons. Contributing authors and illustrators include award winning children's literature greats, such as Jerry Spinnelli, MT Anderson, Jon Scieszka and Gail Carson Levine and illustrators like Brian Selznick, Lemony Snicket, Lane Smith Cason Ellis, Brett Helquist, Vladimir Radunsky, Adam Rex and, my favorite among favorites, the three panel cartoon, "The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, as novel as told by Lisa Brown in Fewer than 30 Seconds," which had me laughing out loud. Contributing writers from the world of adult literature, some of whom have crossed over into kid lit once or twice before, include Neil Gaiman, James Patterson, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Francine Prose, Ayelet Waldman and Michael Connelley.

As the title suggests, there are indeed horrific acts and imagery that occur in this book and it obviously is not for the younger, more easily upset readers. Again and again, I felt a bit like I was re-reading the opening to Neil Gaiman's magnificent Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book in which a family is murdered by a knife wielding, supernatural being. Several of the stories have children as the protagonists, which by nature makes them children in peril. However, one of my favorite stories by Kenneth Oppel, author of the wonderful series of books about Shade, the Silverwing bat, is titled, "In Hiding," and is told from the perspective of a son and his father who are waiting silently in a tight, dark space. Are they waiting for a menace to leave without finding them or are they the menace? There are more than a few stories in the collection that make you go back and read them again, trying to unravel the mystery of the tale. Fortunately, it only takes a minute or two to do this!

For parents who would like to preview some of the book, the first 19 pages can be read on the website. You will be treated to stories by Lemony Snicket, Jerry Spinelli and Neil Gaiman as well as the brilliant, one page picture/story by Jon Klassen titled, "The Legend of Alexandra and Rose." The "legend" of the title refers to the map legend in the lower left hand corner of the picture which, with its numbers marking spots on the illustration, tells the story of the sisters and their fight for the best bedroom....

Hachiko: A Dog's Story - Two Reviews

I love coincidences that happen in the world of books. A few months ago I noticed a book on the shelves that was based on a true story about a dog. Being a big sap when it comes to animal stories, I filed it under "Books I Should Read and Review Because Kids will Like It Even If They Make Me Cry," and went on with my work. Then, I was delighted to hear from author Pamela S. Turner, who, among her other fabulous non-fiction books for children, has written a picture book based on the same dog. To top it all off, Pamela informed me that the award winning director Lasse Hallstrom has made this story into the movie Hachiko: A Dog Story. Prompted by this confluence, I read Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela S. Turner, pictures by the brilliant illustrator Yan Nascimbene and Hachiko Waits, by Leslea Newman, pictures by Machiyo Kodaira.

Both stories use a fictional character to tell the story of Haciko, the akita dog who was loyal to his death. Hachiko's own story is a simple one. He belonged to Dr. Ueno, a resident of Shibuya who took the train into Tokyo every day to teach at Tokyo Imperial University. Hachi came to live with Dr Ueno when he was three months old. One day, Hachi, which means "eight" in Japanese, Hachi being Dr Ueno's eighth dog, followed him to the train station and watched him leave for work. Hachi returned in the afternoon and was on the platform to greet him as he returned from work. This was the routine for Hachi and Dr Ueno for a little over a year until, on May 21, 1925, Dr Ueno did not return home to Shibuya, having died of a heart attack while at work. For the rest of his life, almost ten years, Hachi waited at the station for the return of his master, disappearing at night. He would not allow himself to be taken in by a new family. His devotion did not go unnoticed. Reporters began to write articles for him and a collection was started to erect a statue in his likeness at the Shibuya train station.

As Pamela S. Turner writes in her The Story Behind the Story at the end of Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog, "Some years ago my family moved o Tokyo, and we rented a home not far from Shibuya Station. Everyone, it seemed, knew that Hachiko's statue was the place to meet at the huge train station. No matter what time of day or night I visited Shibuya, I would always see someone standing near the large bronze dog, with eyes searching the crowd." She sums it up perfectly by saying, "I thought Hachiko's story was lovely, both sad and wonderful, and I wanted to share it." For her picture book, Turner invents the shy young character of Kentaro, who first meets Dr Ueno and Haciko while he waits at the Shibuya Station for his father. Afraid of the trains and Hachi at first, Kentaro soon overcomes his fears and makes fast friends with the akita. When Dr Ueno dies, Kentaro asks if his family can take in Hachi, but Hachi has plans of his own. Kentaro keeps track of Hachi over the years, contributing money to help build his statue, and he is there at the end of Hachi's life as well. Turner tells the moving story of Hachi's life (Hachiko, as he is now called, is a name that was given to him by a newspaper reporter who wrote a story about him before his death and infers honor and respect) simply and movingly in a way that will have meaning for listeners and readers of all ages. The information provided at the end of the story further illuminates aspects of the amazing story and reiterates the significance of Hachiko's life and the legacy that he leaves behind. Yan Nascimbene's magnificent illustrations bring Japan in the 1920s to life in a way that is both gentle and evocative at the same time.

At 92 pages and with a glossary of Japanese words and terms, Leslea Newman's Hachiko Waits has a plot and complexity that is perfect for a read out loud book or as a read alone for a second or third grade level reader. Newman weaves a fictional story around the real life Hachi, Dr Ueno and Mr Yoshikawa that centers on a boy named Yasuo who proves to be as loyal to Hachiko as Hachiko is to his master. Yasuo makes caring for Hachiko, making sure he is fed and has water while he waits at the station, his priority, even missing out on games with his friends to do so. Mr Yoshikawa, the station master who also watches over Hachiko, tells Yasuo that his loyalty to Hachiko will be rewarded. When Hachiko dies, Mr Yoshikawa comforts Yasuo, now a young man attending college, by sharing his belief that, "there is a special train to bring those who have obtained Enlightenment up to Heaven. Every day for the past ten years, Professor Ueno has met this special train to see if his beloved Akita-ken is on it. Day after day he has waited up in heaven, just as Hachiko has waited here on earth. And today, when that special train reaches Heaven and opens its doors, Hachiko will be the first one to step out. Just think how happy he will be to see his master again." And, as Mr Yoshikawa predicted, Hachiko does reward Yasuo in the end. It is in front of Hachiko's statue that Yasuo meets his future wife and, at the end of the story, it is in front of this statue that he proposes to her.

Newman does a wonderful job enriching the simple but poignant story of Hachiko, and the addition of the Japanese words and terms make it all the more enjoyable. Any dog lover will enjoy this book and, being on the shorter side, it is a great book for emerging readers ready for something more complex. Also, having watched the preview for the movie, I highly suggest reading the book first.

Readers who like this book might also enjoy these other homeless dog stories:

A Dog's Life by Ann M Martin, The Good Dog by Avi and Dog Lost by Ingrid Lee. On the more playful side, there is Waggit's Tale, the sequel, Waggit Again by Peter Howe and Sheep! by Valerie Hobbs. Also on the more playful side, Bill Wallace and Dick King-Smith are well known for their dog stories, homeless and otherwise.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, 292 pp, RL 5

A native Floridian and journalist, Carl Hiaasen is known as a gifted satirist and his adult novels often classified as "environmental thrillers." In Hoot, his first novel for young adults, Hiaasen definitely delivers on the environmental themes and, appropriately, his satirical style is toned down a bit. Characters are caricatures, and potential thriller aspects are replaced with some slap-sticky type situations.

Roy Eberhardt is the only child of a stay at home mom and father who is a Federal Agent who moves his family often. Their last home in Montana was hard for Roy to leave and his adjustment to his new middle school is proving rough, mostly because an the over-sized thug named Dana Matherson who has decided to make Roy his target. Roy's first scrape with Dana, which results in near strangulation and a broken nose during the morning bus ride, coincides with his first glimpse of a mystery boy, tanned and agile, running barefoot through the houses and foliage on the side of the road. Intrigued, Roy seeks out the boy while avoiding Dana, both of which prove difficult. When Roy comes close to making a discovery, he is confronted by the school's soccer star, Beatrice Leep. Tall, powerful and with a head of curly blond hair, Beatrice cuts an imposing figure. She menaces Roy, but he doesn't back down. Eventually the two become friends, Beatrice rescuing Roy from Dana's grips more than once and recruiting him to help with the secret of the shoeless running boy.

This boy turns out to be Beatrice's younger stepbrother. An embarrassment and nuisance to his mother, she repeatedly ships him off to boarding school from which he promptly runs away. After the last school he returns to Coconut Cove, but not to his home, preferring to sleep in a rusted out ice cream truck in the local junkyard and the nearby everglades. Nicknamed Mullet Fingers because he can catch the silver, super fast fish with his bare fingers, Beatrice is keeping him secret and helping him out when she can. They entrust Roy with this secret but do not reveal the boy's real name to him, which proves to be a plus as the kids become embroiled in illegal activities - theirs and others. In an effort to protect burrowing owls living on a vacant lot about to be turned into a Mother Paula's Pancake house, Mullet Fingers has been committing acts of vandalism like placing baby alligators in the port-a-johns and letting deadly water moccasins loose on the property, albeit Mullet Fingers has taped their mouths shut before doing so. Mullet Fingers actions introduce the bumbling Officer Delinko and the brilliantly named corporate representative from Mother Paula's, Chuck Muckle, into the plot.

The climax is an exciting one and the emerging sense of environmental, community and social awareness that the characters - young and old - experience feels genuine. Hiaasen tells his story in a straightforward, reporter-like way that makes Hoot a great book for younger readers ready to bite into something a little longer than usual. As a girl, the bullying and violence from Dana Matherson were a little off putting. Fighting, even boys fighting, was not part of my childhood and is always a bit alien to me when I encounter it in books. However, I know it exists and Hiaasen does a good job of evening the odds between the bulky Matherson and the smaller Roy with the character of Beatrice. And, while Matherson helps to bring Roy and Beatrice, and ultimately Mullet Fingers, who's real name is Napoleon Bridgerm together, I'm not entirely sure that it is necessary to the plot. Even so, I think that Carl Hiaasen has opened up a new genre of young adult literature - subtle environmental themes within a real life/school setting and fascinating, realistic young characters. The movie Hoot came out in 2006 and, since the novel is so straightforward, I am sure that the adaptation was a good one. Though I have not seen it, I do plan to add it to my queue after enjoying the book.

Carl Hiaasen has written two other environmentally themed mystery/thrillers for kids. Flush, available in paperback, is about a casino boat that is dumping its raw sewage in the bay and a boy's fight to expose the owner after his father is jailed for trying to sink the boat. Scat, only in hardback at this time, is about an unlikable teacher who disappears during a school nature field trip, the kids who try to figure out what happened to her and the endangered panthers roaming the swamp...

The Silver Horse Switch (Horse Crazy Series #1) by Alison Lester, illustrations by Roland Harvey, 62 pp, RL 2

Native Australian Alison Lester is one of my top five favorite picture book illustrator/authors. Sadly, most of her picture books are not available in the United States, but if you are lucky your library will have a couple on the shelf.  Of those available for purchase here, my favorites are Are We There Yet?  :  A Journey Around Australia, which is about a family's winter-long (which is summer down under) car trip driving around the perimeter of Australia and is only available in hardcover.  Magic Beach is a poetic, sunny romp through a child's family vacation at a beach house.  Imagine is the perfect rainy day book in which a sister and brother play dress-up while imagining themselves in various animal habitats that include the rain forest, the Australian outback, the African plains, the Arctic and a jurassic setting.  Lester provides a list of the all the animals that appear in each detailed illustration in the back of the book.  Both of these titles are available in paperback and I suggest you rush out and buy them for your children immediately.

With Horse Crazy, Lester brings us a superbly written series of stories for emerging readers that are beautifully illustrated, in a style very similar to her own, by Roland Harvey.  In Australia, the series is titled Bonnie and Sam and there is a great website for the books including section devoted to all the horses who appear in the series.  I was not one of those girls who loved horses as a child, so I am not familiar with the cannon of horse stories in children's literature.  On a very basic level, I know that horses are noble, hard working, intelligent animals who can express varying levels of personality.  In her books, Alison Lester does a magnificent job of bringing the characters of each horse she writes about to life.  And they all are different characters.  Even though the Horse Crazy book are slightly more than 60 pages long, I came away from both books feeling like I understood more about the nature of horses and the different kinds of work they do with and for humans and because of this I think these books will be interesting to children, whether they have a pre-existing love of horses or not.

Much to my delight, the first two pages in each book in the series are taken up with a wonderful map of the rural town of Currawong Creek where the stories are set.  The map also includes a list of all the paddocks and horses in town.  Sam and Bonnie are two best friends who share a love of horses above all else.   Sam is the owner of a very intelligent dog named Pants, short for Smartie Pants and her father is Bill Cooper, the town police man.  Bonnie, who claims she can speak a secret horse language, lives just outside the town with her parents Woo and Chester on Peppermint Plain, a ranch that is big enough to house a horse, but doesn't. When the girls are not with horses they are thinking about them, drawing pictures of them and making scrapbooks devoted to them.  Because neither of them own a horse, they are very well acquainted with the horses in town since they volunteer to exercise all of them regularly.  

Lester begins the book with the names and descriptions of all nine horses in the girls spend time with then tells the story of the new horse, Drover, and how she came to be Officer Cooper's police horse. Although she is fine horse when she is out of the paddock and being ridden by Officer Cooper, Drover is anxious and fidgety when she is in her paddock.  She does not even let Sam and Bonnie get close enough to feed her a treat.  Drover was born a brumby, a wild horse (each book has a glossary with definitions for Australian terms like "mate," "brumby," and "double-dinking") but was caught and tamed.  One night a herd of brumbies gallops past Drover's paddock and one stops to look at her.  The horse is the mirror image of Drover and her history is almost Drover's in reverse.   Shadow, as she is called, was born on a farm but became a brumby when her mother escaped through a break in the fence.  Scared of thunder and lightning, Shadow years for the safety of a paddock and an owner.  When Shadow and Drover switch places, only Bonnie and Sam figure out what has happened.  Secretly, they brush the tangles out of Shadow's mane, file down her hooves and have Bonnie's Aunt Birdy give her a few lessons in manners.  Soon Shadow, or the New Drover as the girls call her, is working hard for Officer Cooper and enjoying the attentions of Sam and Bonnie.  The story ends in a climax that involves a missing toddler, a train and the race to save her.  There is even a chapter at the end titled, "One Year Later," in which the girls, double-dinking (riding two to a horse) on Shadow,  are wandering through the mountains when they see the herd of brumbies. Drover leaves the group to nuzzle Shadow and the girls notice the black foal at her side.

The Silver Horse Switch was so great I went on to read The Circus Horse, book two in the series.  Bonnie and Sam want to perform in the town talent show and spend hours practicing trick riding on Tricky, a very expensive horse who was once owned by the State Games Champion and is now owned (and unappreciated by) local spoiled brat, Michael.   Michael lets Bonnie and Sam exercise Tricky who, like his black and white coat, can be either very good or very bad.  Tricky loves Bonnie and she adores him and the girls decide to plan a routine for Bonnie and Tricky to perform in the talent show.  Things go bad when, after hours and hours of practice, Michael informs the girls that animals are not allowed in the show for insurance reasons and that he intends to win for a second year in a row with his violin playing.  However, Bonnie and Tricky get their chance to perform in front of the whole town when Circo Circus rolls into town and Bella Donna, the star trick rider, injures her ankle and desperately needs a replacement to fill in for her.   The only thing is, it all has to be a secret and the audience must believe they are watching Bella Donna and Jet, not Bonnie and Tricky, perform in the center ring...

There are two more books in the Horse Crazy series and I think they will be released later this year.  Alison lester also has two short yourng adult novels, The Quicksand Pony, available only in hardcover, and the Snow Pony, available in paperback. I hope you will be inspired to seek out the works of Alison Lester.  With her work she achieves what all great children's book authors should - she entertains with her engaging illustrations (when she illustrates) and humorous, distinct style of story telling while she exposes readers to something new and something familiar at the same time so that a little stealth learning goes on.

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan, 212 pp RL 5

With Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan takes us to India and introduces us to Koly, yet another of her indomitable girl characters who survives against the odds, spirit intact.  I seem to never get tired of this kind of story, but for those who might, Whelan's ability to capture the essence of another country, culture and language and weave them into a compelling story seem to be limitless and this book, winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, is no exception.

When we first meet Koly, she is thirteen, with one older and one younger brother. Living outside a small village where her father works as a scribe, writing letters for the illiterate population, Koly knows that her mother often goes without food so that her children can eat.  Thus, it does not surprise her when her father, or Baap, begins to arrange her marriage.  The cow is sold, Koly's Maa gives her the solid silver earrings she wore on her wedding day, and a dowry is scraped together. Koly's Maa is a gifted embroiderer who gets work in the village embellishing saris and she has passed on her skill to Koly.  As her wedding day approaches, Koly's mother embroiders a beautiful red wedding sari for Koly to wear.  Maa has passed on her gift to Koly, who embroiders a quilt that serves as a photo album, reminding her of the family and life she is leaving behind.

Inauspicious signs are evident as Koly and her Maa and Baap arrive in the village where her groom, Hari lives with his parents and where the wedding is to be held.  When she finally sees him for the first time during their wedding ceremony she is stunned to see that he is her age, perhaps even younger, not older as her parents had been told when the arrangements were being made.  When the priest joins Koly's hand with Hari's during the wedding ceremony, she says, "it was hot and sweaty.  I nearly pulled my own hand away, but he was hanging on to it hard, as if it were keeping him from falling over."  Hari is dying of a virulent strain of tuberculosis and her Sass and Sassur, mother-in-law and father-in-law, are disdainful and indifferent to her in light of this.  She soon learns that she was married to Hari only for her dowry.  The money is needed to travel to Varanasi so that he can bathe in the healing waters of the Ganges, along with thousands of others.  When Hari dies the day after bathing in the Ganges, Koly is sad but tries to be philosophical about her life.  She decides to dedicate herself to serving her in-laws, but they are so bereaved and her mother-in-law so resentful of and bitter towards her, that there is little happiness for her.

Where she does find pleasure is with Chandra, Hari's younger sister.  During these years, Hari's father, a teacher in the local school, agrees to teach Koly to read when she brings an old school book to him and asks if she may keep it.  Using an autographed book of poems by the Nobel Prize winning poet and philosopher, Tagore, Sassur teaches Koly how to read.  Soon, though, Koly's life is disrupted again when Chandra marries and Sassur dies and both Koly and Sass are now widows dressing in the traditional white sari.  When Sass announces she has been invited to move to Dehli and live with her brother, Koly becomes unsure of her future, but, with a wry smile on her face, Sass says she may come along.  At a stop in the city of Vrindivan, Koly finds she has been abandoned by Sass with only a handful of rupees, a bedroll and the book of Tagore's poetry that she traded Sass her silver earrings for.  Koly soon learns that Vrindivan, with its many temples and monks who feed the devoted who spend all day chanting, is the place where families traditionally abandon their widows.  The story of how Koly survives and thrives in Vrindivan takes up the rest of the book and is even more absorbing than the sadness and cruelty that brought her there.

Koly's sense of self and determination as well as her imagination keep this novel moving. Somehow, I felt that the sense of place that Whelan achieves so sharply in her other works wasn't quite as precise in Homeless Bird.  And, while I did enjoy this book and the character of Koly, my favorite creation of Whelan's remains Rachel Sheridan from Listening to Lions, which is sent in Africa amongst the tribes of the Massai and the Kikuyu, as well as England.  

Readers who enjoyed this book should look for these young adult titles by Suzanne Fisher Staples, a wonderful writer who lived in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan for many years.

Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind:  Set in contemporary Pakistan, Shabanu is married off to a much older man who already has three wives shortly after her first period arrives.  Winner of the Newbery Honor in 1990. Reading Level 5+.

Haveli:  The story of Shabanu, now eighteen, and her daughter continues as she plans for her education and fights tradition, even falling in love with another man. Reading Level 5+.

Shiva's Fire:  Set in India, this story follows a girl who's birth coincides with a cyclone that destroys the entire region.  Despite villagers wariness of her, Parvati seems to have a spiritual connection to animals and the ability to remember everything.  Her gift of dance lands her in a prestigious dancing school, but she finds the sacrifices she must make are great.  Reading Level 4.

Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon, pictures by Tony Ross, 90 pp RL 2

If Junie B Jones was a boy and had been written by Roald Dahl instead of Barbara Park, she would be Horrid Henry.  The creation of Francesca Simon, an American who has spent most of her adult life in England, the first Horrid Henry book was published some fifteen years ago and there are currently has sixteen titles in the series, including my favorite (not out in the States yet) Horrid Henry's Nits.  Tony Ross, who's illustrations are reminiscent of but less edgy than the work of Quentin Blake, current cover artist for Roald Dahl's works for children, bring Henry and his family and friends to life.  Now, for the first time ever, Henry is crossing the pond and maybe he will give Junie B and Jack and Annie from the Magic Tree House series a run for their money.

These are the kind of books that parents will probably loathe but kids will love.  Henry is a horrid child, and his parents can frequently be heard telling him not to be horrid in each of the four stories that make up the books in this series.  Henry has a younger brother, Perfect Peter. All of the characters, the children anyway, have an adjective that precedes their name and starts with the same letter.  There seem to be children for almost every letter in the alphabet in these books.  There is Prissy Polly, Weepy William, Lisping Lilly, Singing Soraya and Vomiting Vera. Where Henry is unrealistically ill behaved, Peter is equally unrealistically well behaved. Naturally, Henry spends a lot of his horrid energy on tormenting Peter, who is a pretty easy mark.  The first story in Horrid Henry is titled, "Henry's Perfect Day," in which he decides to be perfect, or like brother, anyway.  Of course this delights his parents and aggravates his brother no end, which in turn gives Henry the strength he needs to continue on being a well behaved, helpful child. Chapter 3, in which Horrid Henry and Moaning Margaret dare each other to eat "GLOP," a disgusting concoction of assorted foods found about the kitchen, is pretty entertaining also. Who among us did not make a similar sort of mixture at some point in our childhoods?  My favorite story, however, is in the book Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine.  Henry and Peter are given the box from a new washing machine to play with and, when Henry's turn is up he refuses to turn it over to Peter, telling him it is a time machine that he is too young to use.  Peter wants to turn the box into a play house with cut out windows and flower boxes but Henry convinces him otherwise by taking a solo trip to the future.  Upon his return he tells Peter that boys in the future wear dresses and lipstick, every one eats vegetables and has tons of home work and they all speak the Ugg language. When Peter is dressed properly and transported to the future, Henry is there pretending to be Zog, his own great-great-great-great-great granddaughter and explains the familiar surroundings by telling Peter that he is so famous in the future that his house has become a museum and that is why nothing has changed.

Francesca Simon is a great writer with a real ear for children's dialogue and thought processes. While the characters can seem static and archetypal somtimes, Simon draws on a rich vein of everyday experiences - from eating in a fancy restaurant to reading a book or doing a school project- for her main characters to react to.  Sometimes the stories just seem like more of the same thing - Henry being horrid in various ways.  But, sometimes there are bright spots of inspiration, like when Peter decides to get revenge on Henry for always tricking him.  Either way, these books will serve the purpose of getting kids to read and read often which is exactly what they need at this point in their budding careers as lovers of literature and seekers of knowledge.  And, like Junie B Jones and the Magic Tree House, there will soon be enough of Horrid Henry books on the shelf to give emerging readers all the practice they need in reading chapter books.  While parents may not be thrilled with Henry and his highjinks, he is definitely a step up from Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants in terms of providing a more complex plot structure and vocabulary and less (none, in fact) potty humor.  

Don't forget, your kids will be the ones reading these books, not you, so you don't really have to enjoy them as long as you feel like you can find a way to explain Henry's behavior in conjunction with your own family values - if that is a clarification your child even needs. I realize that children are influenced by their surroundings, be it television, movies, computer/video games  and peers, but I remain skeptical with the idea that children are equally influenced as heavily by the books that they read.  I believe that any child with a solid foundation in reality can read Horrid Henry and laugh at him, knowing the difference between right and wrong, and not be influenced to go out and smash a flower bed, scream in public or tease a sibling.  Horrid Henry should be considered part of the fantasy genre, really.  And what child doesn't fantasize about doing whatever s/he wants, whenever s/he wants to? Ok, I'll admit it, I actually kind of like Horrid Henry.  He reminds me a bit of Edina and Patsy from the BBC comedy of the 1990s, Absolutely Fabulous, who said and did whatever they wanted and were complete hedonists.  Horrid Henry (and Eddy & Pats) do whatever they want, whenever.  I have always wanted to live that way, for a day anyway, and I am sure that children (who are told "no" several times a day) yearn for that as well.  

If your child likes this book, you might suggest these, or any, books in the Stink series by Megan McDonald:

Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid
Stink and the Incredible Super Galactic Jawbreaker

Hattie on Her Way by Clara Gillow Clark, 208 pp RL 3

With Hattie on her Way, Clara Gillow Clark continues the story of the independent, sometimes prickly Hattie Belle Basket that she began in Hill Hawk Hattie. Although the challenge of passing as a boy and helping her father raft logs down the Delaware River is behind her, life in a mansion on the hill in Kingston, NY with her Grandmother Hortensia and her faithful housekeeper Rose is far from easy.  

Above all else, Hattie struggles the grief she still feels for the loss of her mother, Lily, as well as homesickness for her Pa and their cabin in the woods now that they have a new found respect and understanding of each other.  Hattie's Grandmother treats Hattie with kindness, but with a quiet distance as well.  Rose, or Buzzard Rose, as Hattie dubs her due to her red face and wattle-like neck, treats Hattie like an interloper and calls her a "breaker."  Hattie assumes Rose thinks she will be careless and break the valuables in the house, of which there are mysteriously few, but by the end of the book we know that Rose means something entirely different.  Rose also seems to be holding a grudge against the skinny, tanned, scrappy Hattie who looks and acts nothing like her soft, delicate mother did.  To add to this, there is the spoiled, stuck-up Ivy Victoria (for the Queen of England) Blackmore Vandermeer living opulently in the mansion next door.  Hattie quickly learns that Ivy's invitation to tea is not to make friends but to pump Hattie for information on her secretive mother and absentee grandfather.  Ivy Victoria tells Hattie that her mother says Hattie's Grandmother and her mother Lily helped to kill Grandfather and bury him in the vegetable garden.

The thought that anyone would imply that Hattie's mother had anything to do with a murder, let alone her own father's, is more than Hattie can bear and she runs home.  What follows is an intriguing plot thread.  Bits of information about Lily, such as her refusal to continue taking the cure for her pleurisy and her fascination with fairies, from Hill Hawk Hattie are elaborated on in Hattie on her Way.  As Hattie grows closer to her Grandmother she learns more about her mother and Grandfather and the secret that they shared.  This aspect of the story makes for some very emotional scenes as well as yet another level of understanding and connection for Hattie and her father, Amos, by the end of the book.  It also allows Clark to introduce the character of Madame Blatzinsky,  Mrs Vandemeer's spiritualist, who conducts seances and "speaks" to the dead.  During this time in history, the religion of Spiritualism was founded and seances became popular among the wealthy.  Mary Todd Lincoln even held seances in the White House in the hopes of speaking to her dead son Willie.  Often times, the mediums were revealed to be frauds, working with a hidden crew of assistants in an effort to deceive.

While nothing quite as suspenseful as Hattie's raft ride over a dam and the secret of her gender occurs in Hattie on Her Way, the more subtle mysteries of family ties and class differences make a story that often has Hattie and her struggle to find her place in her new home taking a back seat.  Horace Bottle, a skinny, voracious, Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde loving academic tutor who takes up residence in mansion brings levity to the story, especially when he gives Hattie and her mother's old dress a make-over in preparation for Ivy Victoria's birthday party and Hattie's introduction into society.  Their entrance at the party allows Hattie, when asked if Horace is her brother, the hilarious line, "He's a Bottle; I'm a Basket."  My favorite line, however, comes from the always well-spoken Hattie who, when explaining to her father why she cannot leave her Grandmother just yet says, "Grandmother's sort of like a good wool sock with a hole in it, Pa.  It still has a lot of wear in it, but that hole is bound to get bigger if it isn't mended proper."

Like Anne Shirley of the Anne of Green Gables books by Lucy Maude Montgomery, Hattie is an independent spirit.  However, Clara Gillow Clark's books are written in a shorter format and the trials faced by Hattie are of a less mature and less complex nature making these books perfect for readers who have finished Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books and are looking for a new window into the past but are not quite ready to tackle Anne Shirley...

Readers who enjoyed this book and were especially fascinated by the character of Madame Blatzinsky might like A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz. Although slightly longer and a little bit more complex in its themes, Schlitz's book, set in 1909, is so evocative of the time and her characters so vivid and compelling that readers up for a longer book will not be able to put it down.  Maude Flynn is eleven at the start of the story, the same age as Hattie, and just as self-governing and strong willed as Hattie.  An orphan, Maude finds herself adopted into a family of elderly sisters, one of whom is a Spiritualist, and their deaf and mute housekeeper, Muffet.  The charismatic sister of the three, Hyacinth, is a "medium"who tempts Maude with promises of love and affection and convinces her to play the key role in her biggest seance yet, with bittersweet results.

Hill Hawk Hattie, by Clara Gillow Clark, 159 pp, RL3

Hill Hawk Hattie by Clara Gillow Clark is a superbly crafted gem of a book that fell through the cracks of the shelves of the bookstore where I work.  I was fortunate to receive a review copy from Candlewick Press of the newest book about Hattie, Secrets of Greymoor, and didn't realize there were two other books about her until I began doing research before writing my review.  Happily, I went back and read the first two books about Hattie and her remarkable life.

Set in 1883 in the hills near Pepacton, New York, on the east branch of the Delaware River, Hill Hawk Hattie is the story of eleven year old Hattie Belle Basket and her Pa, Amos.  When the story begins, Hattie and her father are still mourning the death of her mother, Lily a few months earlier.  Hattie's Ma had been a society girl raised in the city of Kingston, PA, but there are hints at a troubled past as well.  It was there that she met Amos Basket, clean-shaven and well dressed after rafting logs down river.  The two feel in love and returned to Amos's cabin in the mountains, Hattie's Ma turning her back on her family, but holding herself apart from the Hill Hawks - another name for hillbillies - also.  Lily valued education, teaching Hattie on her own and sending her to school when she could, but since her death Hattie has been stuck at home tending to chores, and not very well, her anger, grief and resentment growing.  Her father has all but stopped talking to her, "ordering [her] around with curse words like [she's] nothing," and she is growing to hate him, believing that he must hate her as well.  As she says about herself and her Pa, "Guess Ma was the sugar that kept us sweet."  When her father acknowledges her birthday with boy's clothes, not the new dress and purple hair ribbons, her mother's favorite color, she had hoped for, Hattie is convinced of this.  Amos tells her she might as well wear boy's clothes since she'll be coming to the woods with him from now on to help with his work.  That night Hattie takes her mother's scissors and cuts off both of her braids, hiding them under her mattress along with her mother's half-empty diary that she now records some of her own thoughts in.

But, her Pa has his reasons, reasons he doesn't reveal to her until the very end of the story. Earning his living as a logger, Hattie's father fells trees during the winter then lashes them together to ride down river to Easton, PA in the Spring, returning home to make the trip seven or eight more times.  As with all great historical fiction, the author reveals something to the reader, such as a way of life from the past that has died out, in a way that dovetails with the main characters and plot seamlessly.  Clark does this wonderfully as she breathtakingly describes the rafters' journey down the river in the Spring right after the ice breaks up.  What propels this story from good to great, however, is the presence of Hattie, now passing as a boy, on the raft along with her father and his partner and his partner's son.  When Rastus and his boy Jasper meet up with Hattie and her Pa on her first day of work in the woods, Amos introduces her as his son, Harley.  She and Jasper become fast friends and, being two years older and more experienced, he is eager to show her the ropes and tell her of the expedition that is ahead of them.  Hattie's father has warned her never to reveal that she is a girl, although he does not go into specifics as to why.  There is a very funny scene when the "men" are being sent off on their journey by Jasper's mother and sisters and his oldest sister flirts with Hattie. She does her best to ignore awkward situation this but Jasper teases her heartily.

Once the group embarks on their two day journey it is clear why Hattie must pass as a boy. Not only do the men bunk together in hotels when they stop for the night, an ice jam forces them off the river and into a barn the next night.  Amos, who is known for his rafting and fighting skills, narrowly averts an all-out brawl one night in a tavern when Hattie's real gender is hinted at. Despite the fact that Hattie desperately misses being a girl, her time on the river with her father is exhilarating and educational, physically and emotionally.  She sees her father steer the boat through some very rough patches, including over a dam, and gradually stops hating him as her admiration for his skills grows.  He even gives her the chance to steer the raft one day, telling her she has "the gift."  But his eyes have a sad look in them, not the proud one Hattie was expecting when she looked up.  Hattie grows sad as well, thinking Pa will never call her his girl again now.  There are more twists and turns ahead for Hattie as well as a bittersweet ending and a bit of redemption for herself and her Pa.

Clara Gillow Clark's book is rich with details, compelling characters and layered plot, all in less than 200 pages!  Despite the cover of the book,  I had no idea when I started reading that Hattie would be passing as a boy and doing man's work for part of the story.  Reading this book made me realize just how easy it is to be a woman today, in so many ways.  Sometimes it seems like works of historical fiction are crowded with spunky, independent thinking girl/woman characters.  Perhaps this is because of the difficulties and limitations women faced over one hundred years ago.  The most interesting historical fiction seems to be about the girls and women who break free of these constraints.  The women who manage to live within these repressive societal rules usually merit the role of saintly mother in works of historical fiction, Caroline Ingalls and Nancy Hanks Lincoln as depicted in My Brother Abe: Sally Lincoln's Story come to mind immediately.  This leads me to wonder if there are any works of historical fiction, for kids or adults, that depict the lives of the women who didn't break any molds in their time but instead lived quietly and happily with what was available to them...  I'm sure there are writers out there who could make this interesting and I'm also sure these books exist and I just don't know about them - yet!

I highly recommend this book, and I think readers will also want to know more about Hattie Belle Basket's adventures.  Not only is is well written, but it covers a little known (to me) area of the geographical and historical United States.  Hattie's experiences on the river and her struggle to do as her father tells her while maintaining her sense of self make her a knotty but engaging character.

You can read Clara's blog about writing and books at Clara Gillow Clark, which is a different from her website linked above.

For readers who like this book, I recommend:

Hattie on Her Way by Clara Gillow Clark

Secrets of Greymoor by Clara Gillow Clark

My Brother Abe:  Sally Lincoln's Story by Harry Mazer

Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illustrations by Matt Phelan 133pp RL 3

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, superb illustrations by Matt Phelan, was a hard book for me to read.  Since it won the Newbery Award in January of 2007 it has garnered extra attention because the word "scrotum" appears on the first (and last) page of the book.  In February of 2008, Julie Bosman explored the debate in her New York Times article With One Word, Children's Book Sets Off Uproar.  Also, I think to some people, the choice of Patron's books over others published in 2007 was questionable.  There has been some grumbling of late about the number of recent Newbery picks that have contemporary social issues as their subject matter.  I am going to try to push all of this to the sides of my brain and write a review about this book and just this book.

Lucky, the main character of The Higher Power of Lucky, is a ten year old living in Hard Pan, California, population 43.  It was 42 after her mother died, but then Brigitte came to take care of Lucky and it was back to 43.  Brigitte is a French woman who was married to Lucky's father before he was her father.  Not wanting to have a child, he is not much of a father to Lucky.  And, while Brigitte is a loving guardian to Lucky, she knows that she misses her home in France.  The meandering plot of the book follows Lucky as she works her job, sweeping up at Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center where she also finds time to listen through a hole in the wall to the discussions that go on during the twelve-step anonymous meetings that are held there.  That is where she overhears Short Sammy tell the story of hitting rock bottom and deciding to quit drinking.  His rock bottom involves his dog being bit on the scrotum by a rattle snake and his wife taking him to the vet in the next town because Short Sammy is too drunk to drive.  His dog survives, but his wife leaves him and takes the dog with her.

The book is filled with quirky characters doing quirky things as well as Lucky's quirky way of looking at them and life.  This book is almost like the young adult novel version of the 1990s television show Northern Exposure, which was about quirky people in a small Alaskan town. There is Lucky's friend Lincoln who, according to Lucky, has a brain secretion that makes him want to tie knots all the time.  He is an expert at it and has researched it copiously, even though his mother wants so much for him to be president of the United States that she has named him after three of them.  There is five year old Miles, being raised by his grandmother while his mother does time in jail on drug related charges.  Lucky gathers this knowledge during a Smokers Anonymous meeting and keeps it to herself for most of the book.  These are the only children in the story.  The rest of the characters are adult like the Captain who sorts the mail, Dot who has a beauty salon and Short Sammy who lives in a water tank.

The climax of the book comes when Lucky, who has begun to suspect that Brigitte is planning to return to France, decides to run away during a dust storm.  Her plans don't go quite as expected, but she does rescue Miles and remove a cholla burr from his heel as well as a moth that has flown into her ear and won't leave.  Most of the town is looking for the two of them and when they find Lucky and Miles she takes the opportunity to turn it into a memorial service for her mother and scatters her ashes, which she has included in her survival kit backpack, while they all look on.  The day ends with Lucky safe and cleaned up and ready for bed getting a big hug from Brigitte while she explains that the papers were out because she was planning to adopt Lucky.  In the last chapter of the book, Brigitte is the owner of the successful Hard Pan Cafe and Lucky is still working at the Hard Pan Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center where she has recently plugged up the hole in the wall with Fix-All.

As you may know, I am only lately coming to appreciate realistic fiction for young adults. Fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction are my preferred genres.  Despite this, I think that The Higher Power of Lucky is an interesting book rich with unique details that will entertain readers, both girl and boy.  However, I do feel that Lucky seems to think and act younger than the ten year old fifth grader that her character is.  I am sure that, as an only child growing up in a small town with not many children and no television will allow a child to mature at a reasonable pace, unlike the media saturated "tweens" that roam the malls today. Despite this, it was jarring to me as I was reading along and found Lucky sitting in a fifth grade classroom but I am sure it would not seem out of place for a young reader.

Susan Patron does an intensive job getting inside Lucky's head and explaining her way of thinking and ideas regarding all sorts of things from ants to government cheese.  The vivid words and descriptions that fill her writing brings to mind what the creations in the Found Object Wind Chime Museum must look like - jumbles of kaleidoscopic, colorful, jangly everyday things, or in the case of this book, words, dangling about in bunches.  And, while I liked the abounding details most of the time, I found myself thinking often of Polly Horvath and her wonderful novels which are less cluttered and slightly less quirky, but rich with details nonetheless.  My One Hundred Adventures, which was published in September of 2008, is the story of twelve year old Jane and is filled with interesting adults, just like the town of Hard Pan and is my favorite book by Horvath thus far.  Actually, Polly Horvath's Everything on a Waffle which won the Newbery Honor in 2002 is more akin to The Higher Power of Lucky in terms of unique (and sometimes just flat out odd) adults and a child in a precarious family situation.  

In March of 2009 Lucky and the inhabitants of Hard Pan are back with Lucky Breaks, again with magnificent, gently expressive illustrations by Matt Phelan.  Lucky makes a new friend, Paloma, Miles invites the whole town to his sixth birthday party, and a wild burro visits Brigitte's Hard Pan Cafe, among other things...

If your reader liked The Higher Power of Lucky try:

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath

Savvy by Ingrid Law

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by EL Konigsburg

Olivia Kidney by Ellen Potter

Secret Letters From 0 to 10 by Susie Morgenstern

Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay, 36pp RL1

Buddy books seem to be the staple genre of beginning readers.  Along with Frog and Toad and George and Martha, Houndsley and Catina can be added to the list of stand-outs in their field.  Above all else, these stand-out friends show kindness and consideration for each other, especially at times of conflict.  

The three books in the series are written by James Howe, of Bunnicula series fame, and have detailed, cozy watercolor illustrations by Marie-Louise Gay, author and illustrator of the Stella and Sam books as well as the chapter book, Travels With My Family that match the gentle tone of Howe's writing.  Houndsley is a dog with a soft-as-a-rose-petal voice who enjoys cooking, but learns that he neither wants or needs to be the best cook.  Catina is a thoughtful, enthusiastic cat who thinks she wants to be a writer but learns that writing does not make her happy.  

Each book has three chapters, as opposed to the Frog & Toad and George & Martha books which are separated into stories.  For siblings of older independent readers, this might make all the difference.  Some kids who see their older sibling reading a chapter book will accept nothing less.  Hopefully, this will fit the bill and take up a some time during that difficult learning year or so between being an emerging reader and an independent reader.

The other books, Houndsley and Catina and the Birthday Surprise, available in paperback and Houndlsey and Catina and the Quiet Time, available in hardcover, are 

equally enchanting and make for good story time reading as well for the three and four year old crowd as well.

The Hoboken Chicken Emergency story and pictures by Daniel Pinkwater 84pp RL3

Daniel Pinkwater is a very funny guy.  He makes frequent appearances on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday to discuss children's books with the host Scott Simon.  I have discovered many a great story time book thanks to Mr Pinkwater. Sometimes Pinkwater and Simon will even read the books out loud, which is great.  And, of course, he has written over 100 children's books.  If you never read another one of his books, please make sure you read his picture book Big Orange Splot.  Otherwise, check out what he can do for a 266 pound chicken named Henrietta.

Arthur Bobowicz is sent out to find a turkey for the family's Thanksgiving dinner, even though no one really likes it.  While he has no luck finding any poultry, he does find a card for Professor Mazzocchi, Inventor of the Chicken System.  For a mere sixteen dollars he takes the enormous Henrietta home with him and promptly becomes enamored of her.  Arthur's parents don't mind keeping her as a pet at first, but when she causes a neighborhood disturbance he is forced to return her.  The Professor offers to trade her for a rectangular goldfish, another creation of his, but Arthur leaves sad and empty handed.  The next day, the Henrietta is loose on the streets of Hoboken and the Professor is hightailing it out of town.  

The citizens of Hoboken consider themselves terrorized and demand the mayor take action. He hires Anthony DePalma, Chicken Hunter from Henfanger, Florida, who deploys his sure fire chicken attractor, Frankie.  Frankie, a robot chicken, made from styrofoam cups, a car battery and a black wig, looks suspiciously like Mr De Palma.  When his trap attracts only a few cats, dogs and an old man named Meehan, he flees in the mayor's limousine.  Next up is Dr Hsu Ting Feng, formerly the teacher of Mr DePalma.  Dr Hsu's approach to chickens is a bit different and, when he insists that the whole city agree to love Henrietta rather than fear her, things turn around for everyone.

It's no wonder that Henrietta makes a guest appearance in Jon Scieszka's Time Warp Trio book Summer Reading is Killing Me.  Pinkwater is clearly an influence on his writing, which is silly and antic and a little bit absurd.  This book makes for a very fun read aloud, but is also a great book for boys who are just becoming solid readers.

The Houdini Box, written and illustrated by Brian Selznick 53pp RL3

I have two say two things right now:  Everything Brian Selznick has ever done, especially when he writes and illustrates, fascinates me and I do not understand the allure of Harry Houdini. Despite this and because of it, I love this, Brian Selznick's first book, which is really a long picture book and not a chapter book, but don't tell your kids that.

Despite my lack of interest in Harry Houdini, Brian Selznick's book has a magic, both in the illustrations and the text.  And I don't mean wizards and witches kind of magic, or fairies and elves magic, I mean real magic, the magic of childhood.  Selznick takes some facts about the man who was Harry Houdini, his given name, the date of his death, the fact that he had once said that on his 100th birthday a box would be opened revealing all of his secrets, and weaves them into a spellbinding story of hopes and dreams and drive and disappointment.

The book begins with a page of information about Houdini, the magician and a wonderful illustration of the man himself.  Selznick posits that, in addition to all the adults who were wonderstruck by the magician, children loved him best of all because children want to be able to escape from punishments and make both dinners and parents disappear from time to time.

He goes on to tell the story, with a full page illustration accompanying each page of text, of Victor, who is ten in 1926, and his relentless efforts to perform feats like Houdini.  When a chance encounter in a train station puts him face to face with the man, he receives a promise from Houdini that a letter will arrive and he will reveal all of his secrets to Victor.  The letter finally arrives, and it is an invitation to visit the master in his home.  Victor leaves right away, forgetting entirely that it is Halloween, not even caring about the candy he is missing.  When he arrives at Houdini's house, he is met by the beautifully sad face of Beatrice Houdini. It seems that Harry Houdini has died that very day.  When Victor explains who he is, she runs upstairs and returns with a box for him.  

Victor runs home excitedly, but is dismayed when he sees that the box has the initials E.W. carved on it, rather than H.H.  Victor assumes that there must be a mistake and buries the box in a closet and does not think about Houdini again for years.  The twist at the end of the book is both bittersweet and surprising, like all good books.

If you don't know Brian Selznick's by name at this point, I am sure you have seen his work and just didn't realize it.  He has illustrated numerous book covers, including all of Andrew Clements, as well as The Doll People Trilogy by Ann Martin and Laura Godwin. And, in a first ever feat, his 533 page book, over 200 of which are illustration, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, won the Caldecott Award for excellence in children's book illustration, the first time a chapter and not a picture book has ever done so.  His black and white sketches are both realistic and magical, much in the way Chris Van Allsburg's are.  They depict a sparse but precise reality and then some, and have a simple way of drawing the reader into the storyand bringing the characters to life instantly.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin 80 pp RL2

The Hundred Dresses, written in 1944 and winner of the Newbery Honor, performs the amazing feat of teaching a "life lesson" without being didactic and dull.  

**polemic warning**

feel free to skip to the review

I put the phrase life lessons quotes because it is a new phrase that has been introduced into children's literature and I take issue with it.  I'll be honest, I loathe children's books that set out to teach "life lessons."  I've never liked The Berenstain Bears books and refused to read them to my children and I avoid celebrity authored picture books like the plague because of the usually poor quality of writing and the fact that they are frequently moralistic and teach-y.  While I do think that there is a book (or three) in the world that can address any and every life issue, I think that the value of the book lies in it's art, which is a book's ability to capture an experience, to craft it into a story and to make you feel and think things that you didn't before you read it.  In my experience, children's books that propose to teach a life lesson are devoid of these qualities.  And, ultimately I think it's kind of unfair for us, as knowing adults, to slip our kids these life lesson books and expect them to learn something.  We should be teaching and leading by example and talking with our children about these things.  Often, part of the beauty of a great book is discovering it on your own and the self-discovery that comes with the reading.

*****

The Hundred Dresses tells the story of Polish immigrant, Wanda Petronski who wears the same faded but clean dress to school every day and is made fun of when she tells her classmates that she has one hundred dresses in her closet at home.  When the winners of the class drawing contest are announced, the children learn that Wanda really did have one hundred dresses - one hundred drawings of dresses - and that she has won the competition.  However, she cannot collect her medal because her family has moved to the big city.  Mr Petronski sends a note to Miss Mason, the teacher, telling her that in the big city, "No more holler Polack.  No more ask why funny name.  Plenty of funny names in big city."

Although Wanda is the center of the story, what makes this book work is the fact that it is told through the eyes of Maddie, a conscientious classmate of Wanda's who goes along with the teasing, initiated and driven by her friend Peggy.  The thoughtfulness and realizations that Maddie has as the story progresses are simple but powerful.  And the ending wraps up the story in a bittersweet but satisfying way.

Hitty: Her First Hunudred Years by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop 206pp RL5

First published in 1929,  Hitty:  Her First Hundred Years won the Newbery Award in 1930.  Narrated in the first person by Hitty herself, she tells how she went from a sturdy piece of Mountain Ash Wood in Maine in the early 1800s to a carved doll and playmate to Phoebe Preble. Hitty's adventure begins when she and Phoebe join Captain Preble aboard his whaling ship.  From there, she finds her way from a tropical island, to India, to Philadelphia then to New York.  She travels with a snake charmer, attends the opera, meets Charles Dickens, has her daguerreotype taken, becomes a doll of fashion and an sits as an artist's model.

Hitty's perspective as a doll, the sweep of history that she travels through and the Newbery award have ensured that this book has stayed on the shelf for over seventy years. However, there is some dated language and attitudes that may rub parents the wrong way, although probably go right over most children's heads.  Sadly, because children, girls especially, mature at such a young age these days, they are not interested in reading Hitty by the time they are able to read it.  For this reason, I highly recommend it as a read out loud for younger children or as a great book for an advanced reader.

If you like this book, try:  The Doll People.

Hugo Pepper (Far-Flung Adventures) by Paul Stewart, illustrated by Chris Riddell 252pp RL4

Hugo Pepeper is the third and possibly final book in the Far-Flung Adventures  series and, although the books do not have to be read in any order, there are reoccurring people and places in all of them.

This book begins with Harvi and Sarvi Runter-Tun-Tun, reindeer herders and cheesemakers extraordinaire of the great Frozen North and their discovery of a baby on their doorstep one night.  When this orphan, Hugo, discovers the wreckage of the aeronautical snow chariot at age ten and a half, he realizes that he has a past that he yearns to know about.  Harvi and Sarvi realize this as well and help him to find his way home.  When Hugo reaches Harbor Heights, he finds a town both wonderous and wretched.  The inhabitants of Firefly square sell the most amazing things, but they are stuck in the evil grip of Elliot de Mille, the new head of the Institute of Travelers' Tales and the secrets he publishes in the Firefly Quarterly.

Rich with story-collectors, mermaids, snow giants, tea blenders, flying carpet slippers and far more amazing people, places, foods and the usual array of fantastic hats than I can describe here, it makes me a little bit sad to think that this may be the last Far-Flung Adventure.  Fortunately, Chris Riddell is striking out on his own with what might become a series about Ottoline, a little girl who is often on her own while her parents travel the world collecting interesting things...  Along with her companion, Mr Monroe from Norway (a definite relative of Cousin Itt) Ottoline solves the mystery of the cat burglar.  Shorter and at a slightly lower RL than the Far-Flung Adventures, this could be a great addition to the world of children's literature!