Esmé Raji Codell's Blog, page 12

AROUND THE WORLD WITH MOUK (PICTURE BOOK)

PICTURE BOOK
AROUND THE WORLD WITH MOUK by Marc Boutavant (Chronicle)
Take your eye for a walk! And what a walk it is, from continent to continent accompanied by a restless little brown bear who bids au revoir but not adieu to his friends in a French café while he goes off to collect some more comrades. Mix the Asian-influenced, almost unnerving cuteness of Gyo Fujikawa with the eager, overpopulated animal world of Richard Scarry in a new wave trip-hop blender, and wah-la! The result is a...

ALA YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT

ALA Youth Media Awards were announced this morning! It's like the Oscars for the American children's book world. And the winners are...

Newbery (for writing)
Gold:
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead (Random House)
Silver:
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Philip M. Hoose (Farrar Straus Giroux)
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Tate (Henry Holt)
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)
THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG by Rodman Philbrick (Scholas...

A POP-UP BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES and AWARD PREDICTIONS

POETRY
A POP-UP BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES by Matthew Reinhart (Little Simon) One of the masters of the movable book puts some spring in the step of classic verse with scenes that are as much sculpture as illustration. Besides the dramatic pop-up splays on every spread, a bevy of insets brim with small surprises such as a black sheep that transforms into three bags full of wool before our eyes, a tiger caught by the toe who really gives jumping off the page a college try, and some glittering...

TODAY I WILL (NONFICTION)

NONFICTION
TODAY I WILL: A YEAR OF QUOTES, NOTES AND PROMISES TO MYSELF by Eileen and Jerry Spinelli (Knopf)
This page-a-day book feels like getting to peek at the genius scribblings on napkins or the secret "stuff drawers" from the desks of two brilliant authors (and husband/wife team), with a little goodie to pull out for every day of the year. Highly conceptual, each page contains the date (without a year named), a quote taken from children's literature, a brief reflection on the quote...

I AND I (NONFICTION)

NONFICTION
I AND I by Tony Medina, illustrated by Jesse Watson (Lee and Low)
Each note I play
Each song I sing
Freedom coming
From my guitar string

It was predicted that Bob Marley, the "one kissed/By three little birds/As a baby chile" would be a soothsayer, a fortune teller, a prophet, but ultimately he created a future by using lines of music instead of lines in a palm. In the free verse form the author used so effectively to tell a life story in LOVE TO LANGSTON, readers are carried from...

SNOW WHITE (PICTURE BOOK) and SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM THE PLANETESME BOOKROOM

PICTURE BOOK
SNOW WHITE: A THREE-DIMENSIONAL FAIRYTALE THEATER by Jane Ray (Candlewick)

Borne of a mother's wish for a daughter with skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood, the old chestnut gets new blood in this gorgeous gift-worthy book that makes the traditional feel fresh as fallen snow. Succinct storytelling is less Disney and more Grimm, without too much gore. The evil queen is more impressively tenacious, first trying unsuccessfully to squeeze Snow White to death in a corset...

BUTTON UP! (POETRY) and PRESENTS FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKLOVERS

Here's the thing about Christmastime and children's books. Yes, there are some kids who hop up and down when they see a hefty wrapped rectangle, as recognizable as a gift-wrapped tennis racket, and there are kids who have particular titles on their wish lists. But for the most part, frankly and unfairly, it's hard for Santa to score the kind of screaming, jump-up-and-down reaction using a book as opposed to, say, an Xbox 360 or a Zhu Zhu pet. And for gift-givers not from the North Pole...

STICK MAN (PICTURE BOOK) and CHRISTMAS BOOK PICKS

PICTURE BOOK
STICK MAN by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler (Scholastic)

"I'm Stick Man, I'm Stick Man,
I'm STICK MAN, that's me,
And I want to go home to the family tree!"

Good luck, Stick Man, because dude, you've got miles to go before you sleep (or do whatever it is Stick Men do). First abducted by a dog, then chosen as best for a bird's nest, and then at last a sandcastle mast, Stick Man complains: "I'm not a mast for a silly old flag,/ Or a sword for a knight.../Or a hook for ...

WAITING FOR WINTER (PICTURE BOOK) and WHAT BOOKS SAVED YOUR LIFE?

PICTURE BOOK
WAITING FOR WINTER by Sebastian Meschenmoser (Kane Miller) Squirrel determines not to hunker down in a hole in his tree this year but instead wait for the first snowfall, which he has never seen. He's soon joined by a sleepy hedgehog, who joins him in sea shanties to stay awake, which rouses a lumbering bear who decides to also wait for the snow (and the peace and quiet it will imply). What does snow look like? It's white and soft and wet and cold; this, they know, from a...

NED'S NEW HOME (PICTURE BOOK)

PICTURE BOOK
NED'S NEW HOME by Kevin Tseng (Tricycle) When a worm's real estate value plummets (i.e. his apple starts to rot), it's time to go house hunting. A pear? Too wobbly. A watermelon? Sometimes bigger isn't better. And life is anything but a bowl of cherries when he finds himself riding fruit that has been plucked by a bird. They say you'll know your true home as soon as y ou enter it, and so it goes for Ned; he finds the perfect place to lay his welcome mat, and a clever...