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Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal

October 29, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal, has a modern style of illustration that brings neighborhoods to life, even as the monsters surface from behind buildings.  These monsters are wreaking havoc in town, terrorizing parents and children.  From zombies and vampire bats to one-eyed and furry monsters, people are unsure how to handle these monsters and their destruction.  Turned over cars, chewed up mailboxes, and more.  Parents are scared for themselves and their children, and without a solution in sight, they are prepared to leave town.

Wally decides that he’s going to take a different approach.  He’s going to talk to them.  When that doesn’t work, he throws his sister at the monsters because he considers her evil enough to fight them — or so it is implied.  He employs other tactics, using tricks and treats, lollipops, and more.  When the parents make the decision to leave, their escape is blocked by a giant ogre.  Everyone is fearful and wants to run, but there is no escape and no where to run to.  Wally, in a desperate plea, asks them to please stop terrorizing the town.  Through the use of his manners, he’s able to get through to the monsters.  The monsters stop making messes and begin to cleanup.

Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal, is a colorful and fun way to introduce the idea of using manners to children.  There’s the promise of more fun when the monsters agree to return again.  Most little kids know that “Please” is considered the magic word, and this book plays with that knowledge.  It demonstrates that manners are important in communicating with adults, monsters, and others.  The one thing missing from this story is the use of “Thank You.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz

October 23, 2015 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Hardcover, 40 pgs.
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The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz, features adorable pumpkins.  The single-toothed pumpkin boy is dreaming big in this story, and while he talks of running off to play mummy or fly on brooms with witches, his mother is supportive.  Although she wants to protect him from the things that go bump in the night, his mother is aware that kids want independence and want to grow up faster than their parents are ready for.  She knows that without his blanket he’ll be scared at night, so she offers to pack it for him.  Her support does not go unnoticed by the little pumpkin.

We’ve probably read this more than a few times since it’s come into the house, but she loves the adventures of the little pumpkin.  Her favorite parts are when we see his mother watching over him from under the straw on the hayride or in the distance behind some bushes.  It’s like a little game of hide-and-seek.  By the end of the book, we’re both ready to enjoy the adventures of both mother and son pumpkin.

The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz, is cute and has a great message about giving children some independence to think and do on their own, but it also cautions that parents need to be ready in the wings to step in when they are needed.  My daughter’s favorite parts are when the little pumpkin dresses like a pirate and wears a fake mustache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

October 22, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 168 pgs.
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Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is part one in a series of graphic novels about a mysterious house and its locked rooms.  Keyhouse is an unlikely mansion in the Massachusetts town of Lovecraft, and it sits on an island separate from the rest of the town.  It’s a clear set up for a horrifying tale.  The three Locke children are left with their barely functioning, alcoholic mother when their father is murdered at their summer cabin outside San Francisco.  The family starts over across the country, only to be caught in a web of darkness they can’t see until it’s too late.

Tyler is struggling because he blames himself for his father’s murder.  He never could please his father, and they often argued, but he did not really want his father to die.  Bode is the youngest, and he escapes the sorrow through his imagination, flying around the Keyhouse as a ghost, while his sister, Kinsey, struggles to remain unseen by everyone in their new school.  What these kids are unaware of are the childhood antics their father and uncle used to get up to as children in Keyhouse, and even their mother is only mildly aware of some stories.  Rodriguez’s artistry is gritty and the violent scenes are well rendered.  The ghost-like characters are gorgeous, swirling as they move from place to place.

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is a great opener to this dark fantasy series, and the twists and turns are unraveled a little at a time to keep readers on their toes.  There are dark forces at work in this house, and they will stop at nothing to open all of the locked doors.

About the Author:

Joseph Hillstrom King is an American writer of fiction, writing under the pen name of Joe Hill.  Hill is the the second child of authors Stephen King and Tabitha King. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer. He has three children.

Hill’s first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005 by PS Publishing, showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for “Best New Horror”. In October 2007, Hill’s mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

About the Illustrator:

Architect, artist and illustrator. He started his career with myth based illustrations for card games, and then jumped into the world of professional comics working with IDW Publishing. In addition to his current work in Locke & Key, his collaborations with IDW include Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, Beowulf, George Romero’s Land Of The Dead, as well as several CSI comics and some covers for Angel and Transformers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, graphic novel, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott

October 21, 2015 by

Source: Bostick Communications
Paperback, 72 pgs.
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Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott is a collection that seeks to dissect human motivations to love, to hate, to soldier on, and more.  His poems express this search through a dialogue within their lines and between one another, almost like people in deep conversation.  Readers may see this technique as an extension of his days as a U.S. Army interrogator, as Ott continues to dig deeper to find kernels of truth and fact.  He opens with a poem that examines the undercarriage of retirement, what does it mean to retire, how does it feel.  In the poem, it’s clear that there is an expectation about retirement that does not come to pass:

From "The Interrogator in Retirement" (pg. 3)

He wants to love recklessly
but his eyes remain desert
dry, unable to view clear skies
without seeing the curtains,

He examines this new found freedom with a critical eye. How do you move beyond what came before, even if you have no further obligations and you’re beholden to only yourself and your desires?  Ott creates tales that unfold and fold unto themselves, taking readers on winding journeys — much like those in real life that are never a straight line from point A to point B.  His images are fresh and nuanced, and will force readers to rethink their own perceptions of retirement, work, and death.

From "Survivor's Manual to Love and War" (pg. 6)

Death is a loving dog
with no children or chew toys
to occupy its attention.
It will lick you into submission,
this inevitable pack instinct,
to join the vast departed.

He examines what it means to face death and how alluring it can be when things are hopeless, but he also counters these examinations with a look at how much we do to stave off death and avoid it altogether just so we can eek out just a little bit more time with loved ones. Ott’s images will stay with readers long after poems are read, like a man who turns into “a dragon … sucking fumes in motor pools” or the clacking of Salinger’s typewriter on the battlefield sounding “like gold fillings against wet pavement.”

Some poems seem to be about the mundane, like why he doesn’t set the clock in his car or why he doesn’t carry an umbrella, but these poems, too, become something more — a time travel journey with kids or the hidden dangers of the umbrella and how it can die just from being opened.  Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott, winner of the , turns over the rocks in our lives to find the darkness, the humor, and the introspective nature we hide as we trudge through daily activities.

About the Poet:

Born in Alaska and raised in Michigan, Martin Ott served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence. He moved to Los Angeles to attend the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC, and often writes about his adopted city, including in the novel The Interrogator’s Notebook (currently being pitched by Paradigm as a TV pilot) and poetry books Captive, De Novo Prize Winner, C&R Press and Underdays, Sandeen Prize Winner, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2015).

Social and political themes are prevalent in all of his books, particularly Poets’ Guide to America and Yankee Broadcast Network, coauthored with John F. Buckley, Brooklyn Arts Press and his short story collection, Interrogations, Fomite Press (Spring 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: bostick communications, challenges, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten

October 16, 2015 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten, is another hit with my daughter with its comic book style illustrations.  It’s like a beginner’s comic book.  She is hooked.  Ava is a young girl with a favorite stuffed animal and an active imagination, which is fueled by the stories of her older brother.

When her mother tells her that her stuffed animal is in the dryer, she is determined to save him from the monsters in the basement.  She transforms herself into a monster slayer with a cape, a crown, and pink rain boots when she realizes that she’s on her own in her quest.  There are action sequences, moments of tension in which Ava’s confidence is shaken, and large old-school “Pow” and “Wham”-type exclamations.  She is on a mission to save her friend, Piggy, despite the dangers.

Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten, is an origin story, and it seems as though there are more adventures to come for Ava.  My daughter adores these adventure stories, and this one has great illustrations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

October 14, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 208 pgs.
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Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss has a cover that glows like the radium discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, and the collage format allows the text, photos, illustrations, and documents to inform one another in a unique way.  Not only does Redniss use interviews with scientists, A-bomb survivors, and Marie and Pierre Curie’s own granddaughter, but she also utilizes Marie Curie’s own words from her diaries and letters.  The book chronicles not only the discovery of Radium and Polonium, but also how Marie and Pierre came to be working and living their lives together, as well as Marie’s life after the death of her husband.

What’s interesting about this book is that it not only examines the history of discovery and the resistance to commercialization held at the time by the Curie’s and other scientists.  There are some points in the book where the transition between the historic events and the more recent consequences of Curie’s discoveries could have been smoother, particularly the section about the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant meltdown that comes right after Marie has lost her husband and moves with her daughters closer to Pierre’s father.  Beyond that, those who have studied Curie in school may not know about her work with hospital X-ray units or how her work was carried on by her children.

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss condenses a lot of historic fact into a small volume and offers supporting documentation for her findings.  This collection would be a great addition to school classrooms and could help make a hard-to-understand subject easier to digest.

***Another thank you goes to Bermudaonion for bringing my attention to this one***

About the Author:

Lauren Redniss is the author of Century Girl: 100 years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies and Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout, a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award for nonfiction. Her writing and drawing has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, which nominated her work for the Pulitzer Prize. She was a fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars & Writers at the New York Public Library in 2008-2009, became a New York Institute for the Humanities fellow in 2010, and is currently Artist-in-Residence at the American Museum of Natural History. She teaches at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, graphic novel, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Monster Trouble! by Lane Fredrickson, illustrated by Michael Robertson

October 9, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 26 pgs.
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Monster Trouble! by Lane Fredrickson, illustrated by Michael Robertson, was a big hit.  Winifred Schnitzel has an active imagination and is fearless, even when monsters arrive in her bedroom.  Like my daughter, she loves Halloween, monsters, and ghouls, but what she doesn’t like is interrupted sleep.  She tries to ignore their noises and their distractions, but it’s of no use.  The more the monsters come and visit, the sleepier she is during the day.  She can’t even have fun.

While the immediate subtext for adults is that this child who loves monsters is having dreams that keep her from achieving full rest — they might be nightmares.  Parents can use this story to teach little ones about being strong and taking care of their nightmares with their imaginations.  Winifred uses a Monsters Beware book to lay traps, use smelly cheeses, and more to get the monsters to leave.  But the biggest weapon she has is her love for all that’s ghoulish.

Monster Trouble! by Lane Fredrickson, illustrated by Michael Robertson, has been read more than once, and my daughter adores the colorful “scary” monsters and the traps Winifred sets for them.  We were giggling as the monsters get trapped and outwit her, until finally she turns on the love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson

October 7, 2015 by

Source: Penguin Random House
Hardcover, 144 pgs.
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All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson is a collection of haiku poems — though not all of them include references to nature — about love and all of its manifestations. This small collection, however, is just a taste of what love can mean, bring, and be to many of us. These verse reveal a poet who is romantic and optimistic, as these poems espouse not only how passionate love can be but also how transformative and consuming it is.

I am broken down
and shattered into pieces
You are still barefoot
Your soul knew my soul
long before we needed skin
to spend a life in.
Lay down your roots now, 
let them wrap tight around mine,
sink deep in the soil.

In each of these short haiku, readers will get a glimpse of the form and its power to punctuate a feeling or a moment, so that they can stop and listen to their own feelings and thoughts, compare their own past and present loves, and be more introspective. Gregson lays his heart out and is unafraid of those who would poke fun at his cheesy lines or his unabashed love expressed in intimate ways. It’s like peering into his life, watching how he forms attachments, reveres them, and carries them forward.

All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson could be a romantic gift for your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend on an anniversary, as an every day gift, or something special for Valentine’s Day, that most commercial of holidays.  However, Gregson’s haiku also challenges the traditional use of the form, driven by nature imagery, to consider more abstract things as natural because we are aware of them — such as love or the soul.  Some of these haiku also leave you breathless.

Filed Under: challenges, Penguin, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: ,

The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings by Anna Llenas

October 2, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 20 pgs.
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The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings by Anna Llenas is a wonderful use of paper art and color.  Imagine a gray scale world in which the monster is the only one in color, and his rainbow of color signifies that his emotions are out of control.  This young lady has the patience of a saint as she kindly explains the situation to the monster and they set off together to sort out his emotions.

The young lady and her monster go through the book sorting out the emotions by color into jars from the sunshine of happiness to the blue rain clouds of sadness.  In addition to using paper art, these pop-out images also utilize other materials, including string.  And by the end, she and her monster uncover another emotion, one that they haven’t even labeled, which is accompanied by pink hearts.  The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book of Feelings by Anna Llenas is delightful to look at and read, but it also is a great tool for helping young kids sort out their emotions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor

September 30, 2015 by

Source: Penguin
Paperback, 256 pgs.
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Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor is told from two points of view, including that of poet Emily Dickinson, and the reader is given a glimpse into the secluded life of the poet through her own eyes as well as those of the new maid and Irish immigrant, Ada Concannon.  Concannon has had wanderlust for some time, and her daydreams have pushed her out of favor with the family her siblings and mother work for, pushing her into a new life in America.  Although she will miss her sisters and family very much, she’s eager to see the world beyond her home.

“‘You cultivate possessiveness,’ Vinnie once told me.  ‘You smother Sue, and every other acquaintance, with friendship.'” (pg. 27 ARC)

“Oh, chimerical, perplexing, beautiful words! I love to use the pretty ones like blades and the ugly ones to console.  I use dark ones to illuminate and bright ones to mourn.  And when I feel as if a tomahawk has scalped me, I know it is poetry then and I leave it be.”  (pg. 40 ARC)

The Dickinson’s are well respected in Amherst, though Emily’s recent withdrawal from society has become part of the town’s gossip.  As a maid in the Dickinson household, she is privy to the inner workings of the family but is also expected to maintain its secrets.  O’Connor has created a believable Emily in terms of action and manner, and her portrayal of immigrants, particularly the Irish, rings true.  O’Connor adopts Dickinson’s style of economical word use to tell her story and it works really well.  These foil characters work well together, as a mutual respect blossoms and friendship emerges between these women.

“But how can I explain that each time I get to the threshold, my need for seclusion stops me? The quarantine of my room–its peace and the words I conjure there–call me back from the doorway.  Ada could not truly appreciate that the pull on me of words, and the retreat needed to write them, is stronger than the pull of people.”  (pg. 52-3 ARC)

“From now on I shall be candle-white.  Dove-, bread-, swan-, shroud-, ice-, extraordinary-white.  I shall be blanched, bleached and bloodless to look at; my very whiteness will be my mark.  But inside, of course, I will roar and soar and flash with color.” (pg. 121 ARC)

Readers will be thoroughly taken in by this novel about Dickinson and the Irish immigrant’s life, and O’Connor provides a real motivating factor for Emily’s seclusion from the outside world.  As Ada’s life is threatened, Emily is forced to act and in so doing, she must leave the home in which she finds solace.  Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor is stunning and one that should not be missed.  A definite best book of the year.

About the Author:

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1970, Nuala O’Connor is a fiction writer and poet. Writing as Nuala Ní Chonchúir she has published two novels, four collections of short fiction, a chapbook of flash fiction and three full poetry collections – one in an anthology. Nuala’s third novel, Miss Emily will be published in 2015.

Nuala holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Translation Studies (Irish/English) from Dublin City University. She has worked as an arts administrator in theatre and in a writers’ centre; as a translator, as a bookseller and also in a university library.

Nuala teaches occasional creative writing courses. For the last four years she has been fiction mentor to third year students on the BA in Writing at NUI Galway. She lives in County Galway with her husband and three children.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: ,

Dining With … Monsters: A Disgusting Way to Count to 10! by Agnese Baruzzi

September 25, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 34 pgs.
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Dining With … Monsters A Disgusting Way to Count to 10! by Agnese Baruzzi is a cute children’s book in which young readers can dine with monsters on some of their favorite foods.  From The Beast with Giant Claws and Scales to Mr. One-Eye Not-So-Nice, these beasts eat spiders, frogs, and more.  My daughter has read and re-read this book several times with me and she enjoys flipping open the flaps to count the disgusting creatures being swallowed whole.  Even when we are not reading together, she often opens the book and creates her own stories about these monsters.

The bright, bold colors in these drawings and the short little rhymes are engaging and entertaining, and these characters are scary and funny at the same time. It’s a fun way to count to 10.  At the end, there is even a recap of all the items eaten, so that young readers can recount these items.  Dining With … Monsters A Disgusting Way to Count to 10! by Agnese Baruzzi was a big hit.  Perfect for Halloween and for R.I.P. X.

About the Author:

Qualified from the ISIA in Urbino in 2004, Agnese Baruzzi currently lives in Bologna, Italy. She has been working as an illustrator and has been publishing children’s books since 2001 in several countries. She collaborates with advertising agencies and leads workshops for kids in schools and libraries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Teacher’s Pets by Crystal Hurdle

September 24, 2015 by

Source: Tightrope Books
Paperback, 150 pgs.
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Teacher’s Pets by Crystal Hurdle is ripe with innuendo, secrets, and more. Readers will venture into the wilderness with a class training group, as their instructor Cam teaches them about nature and all of its wonders. Through the interplay of free verse, overheard conversations between students and between teachers, as well as classroom assignments, Hurdle creates an absorbing setting in which the laws of the outdoors are internalized and the students learn to engage with the theory of evolution — “survival of the fittest.”

From "Robert Sedaris" (pg. 47)

He says some trees' taproots
probe and probe,
seek out the heat at the centre of the earth.

Man, I had no idea.
It's as if all my life I was underground
and have just now poked through the surface.

Robert Sedaris is a character full of foreshadowing, and he alludes to many events to come throughout the collection, but his lines are just subtle enough that they read like discussions of nature. In “Robert Sedaris” (pg. 83), “You hear the first little pop/and then so many that individuals can’t be heard,//they are all one./It blows up into something bigger/than you thought possible,/” Working on two levels, Hurdle has crafted a complex collection with multiple moving parts within and around it. In many ways, these little solar systems are orbiting one another and informing a larger sense of action and purpose.

Teacher’s Pets by Crystal Hurdle deals with some heavy issues and lines that should never be crossed — though they often are. These poems are by turns sad and will have readers shaking their heads at naive children, as well as shaking a fist at adults who should know better.

About the Poet:

Crystal Hurdle teaches English and creative writing at Capilano University in North Vancouver. She is the author of the poetry collection After Ted & Sylvia and her poetry and prose has been published in many journals, including Bogg, Canadian Literature, the Dalhousie Review, Event, Fireweed, and the Literary Review of Canada.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,