nonfiction

“…a necessary and accessible
treatment of a common family constellation.”
from living with mom and living with dad
THREE TIMES LUCKY
Turnage, Sheila
Dial (320 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2012
978-0-8037-3670-2
What do you get when you combine
Because of Winn-Dixie’s heart with the
mystery and action of Holes You get an
engaging, spirit-lifting and unforgettable
debut for young readers.
Turnage introduces readers to the
homey yet exotic world of Tupelo Landing, N.C., well-populated
with one-of-a-kind characters. A stranger with justice on
his mind has just arrived in town, and Hurricane Amy is on its
way. Rising sixth-grader Mo LoBeau leads the cast through a
series of clues as the whole town tries to figure out who among
them might be a murderer. The novel’s opening lines reveal the
unflappable Mo LoBeau as a latter-day Philip Marlowe: “Trouble
cruised into Tupelo Landing at exactly seven minutes past
noon on Wednesday, the third of June, flashing a gold badge
and driving a Chevy Impala the color of dirt.” This is the first
of many genius turns of phrases. Pairing the heartbreaking sadness
of children who don’t get their fair share from parents with
the hilarity of small-town life, Turnage achieves a wickedly awesome
tale of an 11-year-old girl with more spirit and gumption
than folks twice her age. Mo LoBeau is destined to become a
standout character in children’s fiction.
Readers may find they never want to leave Tupelo Landing.
(Mystery. 10-14)
A LITTLE BOOK
OF SLIME
Everything That
Oozes, from Killer
Slime to Living Mold
Twist, Clint
Firefly (80 pp.)
$9.95 | May 1, 2012
978-1-77085-006-4
For readers fond of the disgusting, Twist provides a lively
introduction to slime in the natural world.
From pond slime and red tide to phlegm and living snot
mold, the author surveys the slick, sticky substance produced
by living organisms for protection, digestion, defense and more.
In some cases the organism itself is the slime. This disparate
material has been organized into three sections: “Slimy Stuff in
Water,” “Slimy Stuff on Land” and “Other Slimy Stuff.” Short
snappy segments of informal text face full-page, full-bleed
color photographs. Additional photos bring organisms closeup:
a sea cucumber’s feeding tentacles; droplets of cane toad
poison; the spore-bearing slime of the lattice stinkhorn. The
yuck effect is heightened by a design that includes a dripping
blue or green top border, occasional blobs on the page and a
“slime-o-meter” rating. Middle-grade and middle-school readers
may well be acquainted with the slippery surface of a jellyfish
or frog, though they may not have connected that substance
with their own saliva. But colonies of amoebae that creep and
crawl are the stuff of science fiction. The natural world has
plenty of surprises! A helpful glossary defines terms bolded in
the text. There’s an index but no sources or suggestions for further
research for those who want more (and what kid wouldn’t).
Still, this small title has big appeal. (Nonfiction. 9-15)
I SAW A PEACOCK
WITH A FIERY TAIL
Urveti, Ramsingh &
Yamakami, Jonathan
Tara Publishing (56 pp.)
$17.50 | May 15, 2012
978-93-80340-14-2
Creative worlds collude and collide
in this contemporary rendering of a wellknown
17th-century English poem.
Seldom does a book review address a
book’s design, but in this visual stunner
from publisher Tara, the literal setting of the words is as key to
the volume’s success as are its text and illustrations. Urveti, an
acclaimed artist from Madhya Pradesh in central India, chooses
for his subject an oft-anthologized anonymous c.-1665 “trick”
poem, depicting the wily text with ravishingly detailed blackand-white
pen-and-ink drawings in a style typical of Gond
tribal art. The other third of this global collaboration is Brazilian
designer Yamakami’s exquisitely thoughtful setting of the
12-line poem, which highlights the reflexivity of the six couplets.
The meanings of these couplets can be gleaned reading
each line with the rhyme from beginning to end, or—the tricky
part—against it, from the middle of one line to the middle of
the next. Take, for example, the poem’s opening: “I saw a peacock
with a fiery tail / I saw a blazing comet drop down hail / I saw a
cloud….” Through the use of intricate die cuts, Yamakami subtly
leads readers from a spread featuring a plumped-up peacock to
the image of a comet with its “fiery tail” of metaphorical “hail,”
then onto a cloud dropping the more literal icy phenomenon.
These careful cuts draw readers through the work from cover
to cover, brilliantly underscoring both the poem’s dizzying,
dreamlike essence and its thematic obsession with the subjective
nature of seeing.
Indian folk art triumphantly meets 17th-century English
trick verse in this sophisticated graphic venture fit for
middle graders on up. (Picture book/poetry. 10 & up)
COPPERNICKEL
GOES MONDRIAN
van Reek, Wouter
Illus. by van Reek, Wouter
Enchanted Lion Books (40 pp.)
$15.95 | May 14, 2012
978-1-59270-119-3
A red-hoodie–sporting, uprightstanding
bird (or possibly weasel) named
Coppernickel (Coppernickel: The Invention, 2008) and his diminutive
pet dog follow artist Piet Mondrian though a progression
of changes in their setting, time period and bodies.
Quickstep (aka Mondrian), who has a full beak and approximates
an upright-standing bird more than Coppernickel does,
“is looking for the future.” Coppernickel presumes that “If you
just wait, the future will arrive anyway,” but Quickstep disagrees:
“[I]f we stand around waiting, nothing will change…. Things
will only get older. I’m looking for the new.” Quickstep’s dog
can “smell the future” and they’re off. Left-hand trees mimic
Mondrian’s early organic naturalism; as Coppernickel (pursuing
Quickstep) traverses a horizontal landscape scroll, the trees
shift subtly into roadside telegraph poles—or late-Mondrian
grid-style trees. Coppernickel reaches a packed, bustling city.
Gorgeous tiny rectangles tile the subway as Mondrian’s famous
primary colors and grid patterns begin to dominate. Composition
varies dynamically; the scene moves from city blocks
to Mondrian’s spare 1940s apartment. Music emerges from a
turntable in lively primary-colored rectangles, becoming Mondrian’s
famous painting Victory Boogie Woogie, and even the four
characters end up geometrically stylized.
Surreal but fascinating, visually jazzy but conceptually
cryptic, this will work for older readers who like primary
colors, geometric art or the philosophical notion of the
future. (author’s note) (Picture book/art. 7–10)
A TROUBLESOME BOY
Vasey, Paul
Groundwood (232 pp.)
$16.95 | paper $9.95 | $9.95 e-book
May 15, 2012
978-1-55498-154-0
978-1-55498-155-7 paperback
978-1-55498-201-1 e-book
When 14-year-old Teddy is classified
as troublesome, disrespectful and defiant
of authority, his despised stepfather sends him off to St. Ignatius
Academy for Boys, an isolated Roman Catholic boarding school.
St. Iggy’s is run by priests who ruthlessly enforce discipline
through intimidation and abuse. Narrator Teddy befriends the
wisecracking, Wordsworth-loving Cooper. The boys use their
wits and humor to cope, but the endless beatings and humiliations
take their toll, especially on the fragile Cooper. He reaches
his breaking point when he becomes the victim of Father Prince,
a pedophile. Teddy watches helplessly as Cooper withdraws
into his own private nightmare, and Prince targets Teddy himself
as his next victim. The only positive adult relationship the
boys have at school is with the janitor, who takes them to his
farmhouse outside of town on Saturdays to enjoy a brief period
of normalcy. The priests are either bullies or predators; even
Brother Joe, who seems sympathetic to Teddy, betrays his trust.
Although set in a well-realized 1959, Vasey’s brisk, sharply written,
riveting narrative transcends any time period.
A vivid, disturbing and all-too-real topical story. (Historical
fiction. 14 & up)
LIVING WITH MOM
AND LIVING WITH DAD
Walsh, Melanie
Illus. by Walsh, Melanie
Candlewick (40 pp.)
$15.99 | Jun. 1, 2012
978-0-7636-5869-4
Her parents may be divorced, but
this little girl’s family is anything but broken.
Sometimes she lives with her mom, and sometimes with
her dad, and clever lift-the-flap design juxtaposes how things
are in one home versus the other. On her birthday, the girl’s
mother makes a cake, and the flap lifts to show her dad taking
her bowling. Another spread reads, “Sometimes my dad
takes me camping on the weekend…” and the flap lifts to reveal
that sometimes her mom takes her “to see the animals at the
farm.” Other pages show joint activities—both parents attend
a school play, and both are included in a photo album that the
girl can look at if she misses one of them. This last point firmly
situates the family’s co-parenting arrangement on the side of
the child, as does the fact that she freely brings favorite toys
between homes. Despite this laudable content and its charming,
simple, acrylic illustrations, the book lacks careful pacing.
It begins and ends on the endpapers, resulting in a cramped feeling,
and culminates in a rushed ending with pictures of friends
and family who also love the little girl.
Even with this misgiving, this is a necessary and accessible
treatment of a common family constellation. Recommended
for children of divorce and for others seeking to
understand diverse family structures. (Picture book. 2-6)
876 | 15 april 2012 | children’s & teen | kirkusreviews.com |
| kirkusreviews.com | children’s & teen | 15 april 2012 | 877