Review by New York Times Review
Seventeen-year-old Cassel is at a definite disadvantage. We meet him as he's teetering on an icy rooftop at his boarding school, wearing only boxer shorts and with no memory of how he got there. But his real problem is that he comes from a family of "curse workers" and mobsters, and is haunted by nightmares about a white cat and a murdered friend. The action is occasionally confusing, but parts of the book, the first in a new series for Black, have the polish of a noir thriller. SCHOOL! Adventures at the Harvey N. Trouble Elementary School. Written by Kate McMullan. Inspired and illustrated by George Booth. Feiwel & Friends. $12.99. (Ages 6 to 9) "School!" almost reels in a tornado of silly wordplay and fast-paced events, with students like Dewey Haveto and little Izzy Normal in a chorus of confusion. Booth's comical portraits look like cameos of his beloved New Yorker cartoons - the janitors Iquit and Quitoo, tossing their brooms aside, could have just stepped off one of those crowded country porches. THANKING THE MOON Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Written and illustrated by Grace Lin. Knopf. $16.99. (Ages 4 to 8) Glowing lanterns give cheerful punctuation to this evocative introduction to the Chinese harvest festival - this year, on Sept 22. According to notes in the back, "children, allowed to stay up late, parade with lanterns in the moonlight. The paper lanterns are usually round like the moon or have the shape of animals, like rabbits (a white rabbit is said to live on the moon)." Lin's deeply tinted gouaches make a nighttime picnic of mooncakes and round green fruits look especially magical. SPORK Written by Kyo Maclear. Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. Kids Can Press. $16.95. (Ages 3 to 7) Arsenault's expressive drawings of an unhappy spork are instantly winning. With all the advantages of spoon and fork, how could this fellow remain unloved? But he just doesn't fit in. (Some glowering forks, whispering and pointing, look like the mean kids in a school hallway.) The spork tries founding himself off with a hat, then makes himself "more forkish" with a crown - until he becomes the perfect foil for just the right small chubby hand. THE FANTASTIC SECRET OF OWEN JESTER By Barbara O'Connor. Frances Foster/Farrar, Strong & Giroux. $15.99. (Ages 8 to 12) Owen Jester should be having the time of his life: he's captured the "biggest, greenest, slimiest" bullfrog in Carter, Ga, and not only that, a mysterious crate that fell off a train nearby yielded an incredible find. But how to get the "Water Wonder 4000" down to the pond? And can his best friends stand the brainy know-it-all girl next door long enough to get her to help? O'Connor has perfect pitch in this comic adventure, which ends with a happy resolution everyone, even the frog, can live with. INSTRUCTIONS Written by Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Charles Vess. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $14.99. (All ages) Like a more impish version of Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" Gaiman's book offers riddling advice that could be for young or old. The stern voice giving instructions also teases ("the 12 months sit about a fire, warming their feet, exchanging tales. They may do favors for you, if you are polite"), while Vess's fairy-tale landscape is an apt setting for the words of wisdom: "Trust the wolves, but do not tell them where you are going" ; "Do not be jealous of your sister." JULIE JUST
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 12, 2010]
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-In the style of Bringing in the New Year (Knopf, 2009), Lin fashions a child-friendly introduction to the mid-autumn harvest moon festival with engagingly simple text and colorful, oversize gouache illustrations. A family travels to a moonlit meadow where each individual helps with preparations for a nighttime picnic. The full moon's shape symbolizes harmony and wholeness, and the family members unpack round-shaped fruit and paper lanterns. The young narrator pours round cups of tea, and everyone nibbles on soft, sweet mooncakes. As a glowing moon "peacefully watches over all of us," the family sends their secret wishes to it and relishes being together. The writing is concise and accessible, and an author's note adds further information on the holiday and its significance. The inviting nocturnal landscapes are vivid with interesting details, and readers will long to join in this peaceful celebration.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Spare text describes a family's observance of the Moon Festival. Understated gouache illustrations show the family members laying out a nighttime picnic while the sky, growing slowly darker on each spread, sets the scene for the glowing moon. Information about the celebration--"the thanksgiving holiday for the Chinese and many other Asian peoples"--and its symbols is appended. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
