Alice Cary

The art-loving trio of middle schoolers is at it again. In The Calder Game, Blue Balliett's latest art adventure, Calder Pillay, Petra Andalee and Tommy Segovia find themselves in England, on yet another exciting quest. Balliett has devised a best-selling formula that works—kids solving mysteries involving great works of art—but each time she varies the art form, so that each novel feels different. In Chasing Vermeer, Petra and Calder track down a stolen Vermeer painting, and in The Wright 3, Petra, Calder and Tommy try to save a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. All three novels are action-packed, but they are also information-packed, offering intriguing details about the art and artist, and challenging readers with intellectual questions and brain-teasing clues.

The Calder Game starts out with a field trip to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art to see a collection of Alexander Calder mobiles. And here, in deft writing, Balliett makes Calder's art come alive through the eyes of her three seventh-grade characters. Petra muses as she looks at the mobiles: "Simple? Only at first glance. Complex? Clearly, the answer should be yes. This is art that changes people, Petra thought to herself, people of all ages. But how?" The three students will soon be changed greatly. Calder, who got his name because his parents admire the artist and his work, travels to Woodstock, England, with his dad, who is attending a conference. It just so happens that in this town a giant Calder sculpture has mysteriously appeared in the square. And Woodstock is the home of Blenheim Palace, which has a maze, so the stage is set for excitement. Calder has lots of free time to explore this new place while his dad attends meetings each day. Before long, the Calder sculpture disappears just as mysteriously as it appeared, and young Calder Pillay also goes missing. Petra and Tommy are summoned to England to try to help find him—along with the police, of course. The story moves swiftly, and along with the high-stakes drama, interesting questions are posed about the nature and appreciation of public art. The Calder Game is another wonderful effort from Blue Balliett, one that I wish had been around when I was a kid.

Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

There are some new vehicles in town, and they live in Jon Scieszka's Trucktown. Alas, if only those garage doors had been open when my teenage son was a preschooler, we would have definitely spent many an hour there. Award-winning (and very funny) author Jon Scieszka has teamed up with three top-notch artists to create this preschool series, with 52 books planned in all shapes, sizes, and formats. My advice: If you have a vehicle-lover worth his or her salt, start clearing out the shelf space.

As with those Thomas trains, Trucktown is filled with a variety of wheeled personalities, such as Monster Truck Max, Dump Truck Dan, Rescue Rita and Izzy Ice Cream Truck, all sporting winning smiles and wide-lidded headlamp eyes. Smash! Crash! is full of these characters on bright, bold, action-filled pages. The text is intended for the very young (or a beginning reader), as evidenced by this first page: Jack Truck. Dump Truck Dan. Best friends. Jack and Dan. So what exactly do these two friends like to do together? Smash! Crash! of course, and all of their smashing and crashing will delight any truck-loving child. Throughout these pages Jack and Dan race through Trucktown, quickly introducing us to its many personalities and possibilities. The twosome realize they are being followed by a shadow something pursuing them with a task, and it turns out to be Rosie, who has a job that's just up their alley (and I bet you can quickly guess exactly what it is!).

This new book will no doubt be an instant and beloved read-aloud. The talented artwork trio of David Shannon, Loren Long and David Gordon has created quite the cast of lovable yet tough trucks, sure to be smashed and crashed again and again.

Alice Cary drives (sedately) in Groton, Massachusetts.

Sisters Emma and Lucie are having a terrible spat. After bragging about her drawing of the beautiful princess Aurora, Emma proclaims that Lucie's drawing of a kitty looks like a scribble. Lucie is so mad that she scribbles all over Emma's drawing.

Here's where the fun begins. While Emma runs off to complain to their parents, Lucie and her pet cat are magically pulled into the world of these drawings. Scribble the cat comes to life. He has heard all the fuss and wondered what a princess was, and he wondered what beautiful was, so he runs straight to the drawing of Aurora, who is sleeping in her princess bed. Author/illustrator Deborah Freedman pulls off the drawing-within-a-drawing concept of this picture book simply but deftly. Lucie has drawn Scribble with bold strokes on a piece of bright yellow paper, while Emma has drawn Aurora on bright pink paper. As these two childlike creations come alive and interact, we see the meeting of pink and yellow worlds. Meanwhile, Emma, Lucie, their cat and their room are drawn in precise detail, a nice contrast to the world of the childish drawings. Scribble decides that his job is to rescue this lovely princess, who has been sleeping for 100 years. Lucie, meanwhile, remains intrigued, but is still furious and insists she will not help with the mission. Eventually, however, Scribble gets trapped in the scribble marks that Lucie made on her sister's drawing. In the end Lucie does the right thing and comes to the rescue, helping to make everything right. By the time Lucie finds her way back out of the world of these drawings, her sister Emma returns, and it seems likely that their squabbles will continue. Scribble and Princess Aurora will live happily ever after, nonetheless, thanks to Lucie.

First-time author Freedman is a Connecticut architect and the mother of two daughters, Emma and Lucie. Her exceedingly clever and entertaining little tale will enchant the very youngest of readers, while also enthralling older readers who are savvy enough to appreciate and ponder its many dimensions.

Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

Wolves starts out tamely, as a floppy-eared rabbit goes to the library to check out a red book titled Wolves. Look closely, however, and you'll notice that Rabbit's red book looks exactly like the book you're reading. Pay careful attention, because this is one of the most clever picture books that has come along in a long time. This book-within-a-book is one that kids will enjoy returning to, and pondering. As Rabbit starts to read his book, he also learns a few facts about wolves. For instance, he reads that Gray wolves live in packs of between two and ten animals. We see a pack of seven wolves jumping out of a box with their teeth bared.

As the wolves in the book try to stalk Rabbit, he reads on obliviously. Consider, for example, the clump of trees shown as Rabbit reads about wolves living in forests. British author-illustrator Emily Gravett has drawn the tree trunks and leaves in the shape of a wolf and a rather fierce one, at that. Rabbit is so engrossed in his book that he doesn't notice that he is getting closer and closer to the wolf. He climbs up a tail of bushy hair, wades through thick fur on his back, and finally ends up on the tip of the wolf's nose, as the wolf waits, licks his lips and holds a knife and fork ready for a rabbit feast. Finally, Rabbit reads that wolves also enjoy [eating] smaller mammals, like beavers, voles and . . . This stunning sentence suddenly jolts Rabbit into awareness, and he realizes he is about to be eaten. The close-up of the wolf's gleaming eyes and Rabbit's wide-eyed look of realization is hilarious.

The next telltale spread simply features the red cover of the book, which has obviously been ripped to shreds during the wolf's feeding frenzy.

Gravett's animals are stately, yet very funny, a combination not often seen in children's literature. A concluding page points out that no rabbits were eaten during the making of this book, adding: It is a work of fiction. As for the ending, I won't spoil the author's final stroke of comedy.

Alice Cary keeps the wolf from the door in Groton, Massachusetts.

Waiting for a baby to be born is more agonizing than waiting for Christmas, as any sibling-to-be knows. When young Iris asks about the impending arrival of her cousin, grownups give her a variety of frustrating answers.

Her father tells her soon, but not too soon, and not too long. Her grandfather advises her to be on the lookout for a giant stork. Grandma tells Iris that she must wait for the right moment in the cabbage patch. Iris' friend tells her that her aunt's belly will first grow as big as a pumpkin, and that her aunt needs to eat 1,000 ice cream sundaes with pickles on top.

Despite these typical but confusing words of wisdom, Iris waits patiently, looking forward to teaching her cousin to make snow angels, to wish on dandelions and to learn how to swim. Finally, of course, Cousin Gregory does arrive.

National Book Award Winner Kimberly Willis Holt has written a sweet text filled with humor, anticipation and love, perfect for any child waiting for a baby. Greatly adding to the pleasure of the story are the exceptional illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska. In an era when minimalist, almost childlike drawings seem to be the standard, here is a book filled with exquisite paintings and detail reminiscent of the great masters. Swiatkowska has drawings on every page that could have come from Da Vinci's invention sketchbooks. In her intricate illustrations we see a helmeted stork arriving on an elaborate pulley and a ladder reaching to the heavens.

Iris finally decides that Waiting for a baby is like waiting for a show to begin. The characters here all wear old-fashioned, costume-like clothes, as though they might be getting ready for a play or circus. Indeed, Waiting for Gregory is a lovely show guaranteed to enthrall young readers.

Alice Cary is a writer in Groton, Massachusetts.