Avengers, Assemble! Kidlit Edition

The Avengers opened yesterday with great fanfare. Because it is a Joss Whedon project, I’ll admit to being just a bit more interested than usual. From what I gathered, superheroes (and their egos) must cooperate to save the world as we know it because the plot hinges on an advanced weapon (a blue box, but not the blue box) of unthinkable doom called the tesseract…

Calling Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which, anyone? Maybe Thor, the Avenger of the Legolas blond hair, was in cahoots with the Mrses, and it’s thanks to the Norse god of inclement weather that A Wrinkle in Time begins as famously as it does: it was a dark and stormy night.

Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which are already cast in the Agent Nick Fury (aka the man in charge) role, but which kidlit characters across two dimensions would you unite to don the cape and take down the forces of evil?

Grouping Books

Some books are meant to be read together.

It’s seriously important for historical fiction, when you want different perspectives: I recently read Johnny Tremain and My Brother Sam is Dead back to back–one celebrating the fight for freedom, the other showing the brutality of both sides and vehemently anti-war. I got a lot more out of them by reading both together. Come to think of it, I should re-read Chains and Forge to round out the story (Tremain’s attitude towards anyone who’s not white and male is problematic, to say the least).

Some authors do a great job of complementing their own works. Karen Cushman is my go-to guide for medieval Europe: Catherine, Called Birdy for manor life, The Midwife’s Apprentice for villagers and Alchemy and Meggy Swann for life in the city.

And then there are the books that should be paired up just for fun:

Gardening Vicariously

And now it's spring!

My gardening skills are pretty limited–I can barely keep a cactus alive, let alone anything that needs actual care. But I do like visiting (and sampling from) friends’ gardens. Today being the kind of perfect spring day where everyone’s outside doing garden-y stuff, here’s a list of picture books to help set the mood:

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illus. by Erin Stead: is every bit as charming as A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin: anyone who likes their gardens to be edible, rather than simply ornamental, should read this book.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown: there’s something WALL-E-esque about the discovery of this tiny garden in the middle of a bleak, brown city.

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith: okay, this one isn’t really about gardening, but it made me temporarily inspired to create my own topiary zoo.

Plant a Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen: will inspire kids to join or start a community garden.

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney: a classic–one that treats the world like one gigantic garden.

My Garden by Kevin Henkes: another classic, and possibly my favorite, no doubt due to the chocolate rabbits strewn over the lawn.

Other suggestions? Chime in in the comments below.

Wishful Meetings

Children’s book writers we’d like to meet:

1. Richard Peck – who else can teach the art of pranking and storytelling so masterfully at the same time?

2. Louis Sachar — let’s play bridge! We’d have to re-read The Cardturner to learn the rules, though…

3. Allen Say — would it be creepy if we just watched him draw?

4. Shaun Tan — ditto that.

5. Elizabeth Honey — in Australia, preferably. On a camping trip, with campfire tales about Henni and the rest of the gang!

6. JK Rowling — you know what would be awesome? Harry Potter, the tv series! Starring Hogwarts!

New Books on a Senseless Graph

There’s a slew of sequels and companion novels coming out in the next few months, and instead of just listing them, I present, in the spirit of Pseudoscience, a plot of anticipation level vs. expected surprise:

Review: Shooting Kabul

Review: Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai

When I show my friend the newest book I’m reading, she takes one look at the title and says, “hmmm, kind of violent, isn’t it?”

I point to the title, more specifically, the background behind the title. It’s a bit vintage, but depending on your age, you may still recognize the black strip with perforated edges on both sides. Film. That kind of shooting.

But there’s gunfire, too. Mere months before September 11th, eleven-year-old Fadi and his family are fleeing Afghanistan in the dead of night because the Taliban has given their father an ultimatum: join them or else.  So Fadi’s family pay human traffickers their entire life savings for five spots on a bullet-ridden truck that will smuggle them and many others out of the country. Fadi hopes their getaway will be successful, but with the sudden appearance of the Taliban, his younger sister Miriam gets separated in the mad scramble to get on the truck. There’s no going back. Once out of Afghanistan, Fadi’s family have no choice but to seek asylum in the United States.

Insert Wonder Pun Here

Review: Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Feb. 2012)

We’re four months into the year, and R.J. Palacio’s Wonder is already getting the kind of Newbery buzz that Okay for Now had at this time last year. There’s a long way to go until January, but prizes or not, Palacio deserves serious recognition for writing about something rarely found in children’s lit.

“The universe was not kind to Auggie Pullman,” observes one of his friends. Born with a severe facial deformity, August (Auggie) has spent most of his life in and out of the hospital. He’s protected by loving parents who homeschool him and a fiercely devoted sister. When Auggie turns 10, his parents enroll him at the local junior high, forcing him out of his comfort zone. You can imagine what happens next. As Palacio said in an interview, there’s something about junior high that turns kids into Lord of the Flies. As hard as it was to read about the bullying, I was a lot more enraged by some of the kids’ parents—one classmate’s mom actually Photoshops Auggie out of the class photo. Auggie’s face attracts plenty of unwanted attention, most of which he endures with dark humor. But he finds kindness, too, and true friendship. Indeed, kindness is at the heart of this book: as one of Auggie’s teachers reminds us, being kind is more important than being right.