bookpagedev

Children's & YA

A cool tribute to a jazz giant

Review by bookpagedev

Jazz is possibly the most complex musical form devised by humans. The syncopation, the improvisation, the sudden, breathtaking changes of direction and the fact that it’s not learned so much as felt makes scholarship of the genre daunting. John Coltrane was one of the most revolutionary jazz saxophonists in history. He died much too young, at age 40, from a liver ailment. But he is remembered for his great support of younger musicians, his deep religious faith and his unusually peaceful demeanor. Chris Raschka’s delightful book for young people, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, illustrates “Trane’s” classic recording “Giant Steps” using a pastel box, a snowflake, some raindrops and a cool kitten. The book reminds the reader of a fun art class exercise the kind where you have to paint a picture to the music being spun on the class record player. Even the cover is witty, with the kitten painted on a clear sleeve over the other visual elements. Inside, Raschka, who calls his book a “remix,” has the kitten, the raindrops and the box present themselves as performers. The raindrops begin the tempo, then they’re joined by the box for the “sound foundation,” then the snowflake brings in the harmony with the kitten bringing on the melody. Their initial union results in a muddle such is the difficulty of visually demonstrating Trane’s piece with snowflake, box, raindrops and kitten in an exhausted tuneless heap on the floor. Gently and playfully, Raschka’s offstage conductor tells them what went wrong (“Snowflake. I like what you’re doing . . . kitten . . . On page 18, you look a little blurry to me.”) and exhorts them to be as relaxed, as “dense but transparent,” as “Dynamic and strong and vivid,” as the great musician himself. They all take it from the top. Finally, they combine to illustrate, as vividly as they can, the sheets of sound and color that flowed from Trane’s saxophone.

This is a charming, elegant book for young people just being introduced to the world of jazz.

Arlene McKanic writes from Jamaica, New York.

Jazz is possibly the most complex musical form devised by humans. The syncopation, the improvisation, the sudden, breathtaking changes of direction and the fact that it's not learned so much as felt makes scholarship of the genre daunting. John Coltrane was one of the most…
Children's & YA

A hard-boiled crime story for kids

Review by bookpagedev

The beginning of this small-fry detective tale explains all: “My name is Jake Gander. I’m a cop. My beat: Storyville, a fairy-tale town where endings aren’t always happy. My job is to rewrite them.” Of course, most preschoolers have never heard of Sam Spade and have little clue about what comprises a detective story. Nonetheless, they’re likely to be amused by Jake Gander, while their parents will have a chuckle, too. Older preschoolers and young elementary students will especially delight in this fairy tale free-for-all. The saga begins in the vein of any fairy tale detective spoof worth its salt: “Once upon a time . . . 10 a.m.” Jake has just sat down to read his newspaper when he gets a call alerting him to “P.

W.

T.” (Possible Wolf Trouble). Gander hightails it to 1212 Granny Lane, where he finds one Red R. Hood, and a suspiciously wolf-like Granny huddled in bed. Gander drags “Granny” down to the station for questioning. There, while consulting his extensive files, several clues alert him to the fact that this is no Granny: big ears, eyes as big as manhole covers and choppers “sharp as an aged piece of cheddar.” Little Red helps Gander piece all the clues together (with the help of her “Big Book of Furry Things”), and Gander delights in sending the Big Bad Wolf to the slammer. Just when Gander thinks his day’s work is finished, in pops a family of three angry bears, and Gander realizes a detective’s work is never done.

McClements’ tale is breezy and fun, while his humorous illustrations are all framed to resemble snapshots that a detective might use as evidence. He always draws Gander in black and white, while the rest of his world appears in color, and the wolf is particularly silly, with huge teeth and wild, round, terrified eyes. There are clever touches throughout, such as a math formula our hero devises while investigating “Granny’s” eyes. It spells out “the better to see you with.” Read this book along with a regular retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and youngsters will quickly get the hang of the word “spoof.” Afterwards you’ll no doubt be in the mood for a little Sam Spade yourself. Tell ’em the Big Bad Wolf sent you.

The beginning of this small-fry detective tale explains all: "My name is Jake Gander. I'm a cop. My beat: Storyville, a fairy-tale town where endings aren't always happy. My job is to rewrite them." Of course, most preschoolers have never heard of Sam Spade…
Fiction

Great Expectations

Review by bookpagedev

First novel sure to make a splash Kantner, winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize for this debut novel, was born and raised in northern Alaska; his feelings for the land and the animals that populate it are palpable, spilling onto every page of Ordinary Wolves.

His narrator Cutuk, white but given an Eskimo name, is five when the novel opens, the youngest child of Abe and a mother who left shortly after he was born. Abe, an artist, moved the family from Chicago to an igloo on the vast Alaskan tundra; Cutuk’s older brother Jerry and sister Iris remember the city, cars and lawns, but Cutuk has never seen them. Cutuk matter-of-factly describes their daily routine the floorboards of their igloo covered with caribou hairs and black mouse turds, their exhaustive hauling of river ice to melt for washing and bathing, the constant hunt for food and their home-schooling, with books delivered by the mail plane. As he grows up, Cutuk begins to understand how different he really is from mainstream America, certainly, but even from the mostly Eskimo population of Takunak, the nearest village. The family’s best friends in town are Eskimo, and Abe usually ignores the occasional town decree forbidding whites to own sled dogs or set under-ice fishing nets. After Jerry leaves for Fairbanks, and Iris follows two years later for college, Cutuk is “stunningly lonesome.” He wonders why his mother left “fewer mouse turds in the oatmeal?” and if he will ever leave himself. At 22, he embarks on a visit to Anchorage; Kantner’s beautifully subtle writing illuminates the conundrum Cutuk faces as he meets civilization for the first time and weighs the good and the bad of what he has missed growing up. He calls Iris, and tells her that the city makes him feel “wrapped in plastic.” Jerry visits, and Cutuk realizes how much his brother has changed they act “like two sled dogs that might have once been litter mates.” Interspersed throughout this thought-provoking story are short chapters written in the voices of wolves, either hunted or hunting. Through their eyes Kantner movingly underlines the passion he feels for the Arctic wilderness, to which his alter ego Cutuk eventually returns.

First novel sure to make a splash Kantner, winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize for this debut novel, was born and raised in northern Alaska; his feelings for the land and the animals that populate it are palpable, spilling onto every page of…
Children's & YAPicture Book

Horsing around with nursery rhymes

Review by bookpagedev

The title of Giddy-up! Let’s Ride is enough to convey the enthusiasm and energy of this rollicking book for young children. Flora McDonnell prefaces her tale by explaining that her own love of riding horses originates from her grandmother, who bounced her on her knee while reciting the nursery rhyme, "This is the way the lady rides." All the while, young Flora imagined herself atop ponies and horses, as well as more exotic beasts, such as donkeys, elephants and camels.

All of these animals and more appear in Giddy-Up!, ridden by an assortment of children that includes a young cowgirl, a jockey, a princess and even a goatherd. Toddlers will appreciate the repetitive rhyme and sound effects on each spread, which manage to be both lively and soothing: This is the way the jockey rides. faster-and-faster, faster-and-faster, This is the way the rajah rides. rumpetta-trump, rumpetta trump, This is the way the princess rides. jingle-ringle, jingle-ringle. McDonnell’s acrylic and gouache illustrations feature a simple background of bold color, allowing each animal and rider to be the grand center of attention, making them loom, lumber and race across the page. For the most part, she uses bold brush strokes, adding rich, intricate details when appropriate, like the flowers, jewels and bells that adorn the elephant’s headband. Color also adds to the excitement and atmosphere. The sizzling yellow background seen as a goatherd rides a donkey down a mountain conveys the heat and brilliance of summer day in a torrid, arid climate.

The animals and color, however, aren’t the only stars of this tale. McDonnell’s riders are lively youngsters who bang a drum, clown around in a circus and twirl a lasso in the air. The final spread features all the children together, a few atop a rocking horse, others riding stick horses. "Giddy-up! Giddy-up! Let’s ride!" they all exclaim. McDonnell succeeds in bringing a classic nursery tale to life in simple yet lively style.

The title of Giddy-up! Let's Ride is enough to convey the enthusiasm and energy of this rollicking book for young children. Flora McDonnell prefaces her tale by explaining that her own love of riding horses originates from her grandmother, who bounced her on her…

Children's & YA

Listen my children

Review by bookpagedev

Lane Smith has been making kids (and adults) roar for years with books like The Stinky Cheese Man, Math Curse and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Now he’s taking on American history in a new picture book, John, Paul, George &andamp Ben. How might the lives of these great Americans have been affected by their childhoods, Smith wonders.

Smith’s twisted lesson begins: Once there were four lads: John, Paul, George, and Ben. In a footnote he adds that there were actually five lads, including Independent Tom (always off doing his OWN thing). John, we learn, was bold. Young Mr. Hancock has an abundance of confidence and wonderful penmanship, and we see him signing his name in huge letters upon his grade school blackboard. Paul was noisy, probably, Smith surmises, because of all the time he spent bell ringing at the Old North Church in Boston. As he helps a shop customer, young Paul Revere yells out: EXTRA-LARGE UNDERWEAR? SURE WE HAVE SOME! Kids will definitely be yucking it up as they learn about this unknown chapter in Revere’s life, and as they see his eyes spinning wildly in one of Smith’s hilarious drawings.

George, of course, was honest, and we learn about his famous cherry tree. Young Ben has words to the wise for every situation so many, in fact, that he drives everyone crazy. And Tom is so independent and creative that his teacher plunks him in the corner of the classroom. Lane brings the story home by fast-forwarding to 1775. In a wonderful spread, he shows portraits of the five grown men and relates how their special childhood qualities were put to work in the Revolution. Lest you worry that this book might fill young readers’ heads with ridiculous notions, Smith sets the historical record straight with an intriguing page of true and false statements at the end of the book, explaining, for instance, that George Washington did not, in fact, chop down his father’s cherry tree. I cannot tell a lie: this is one darned funny book.

Lane Smith has been making kids (and adults) roar for years with books like The Stinky Cheese Man, Math Curse and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Now he's taking on American history in a new picture book, John, Paul, George &andamp Ben.…
LiteratureArts & Culture

Lasting impressions

Review by bookpagedev

Cuba In Mind, edited by Maria Finn Dominguez, is a collection of essays, short fiction, reports and poems by such luminaries as Anthony Trollope, Steven Crane, Graham Greene, Langston Hughes, Elmore Leonard, Oscar Hijuelos and Andrei Codrescu. It is essentially a catchall of impressions by those who have found something to admire in the island and its people. Ernest Hemingway liked the fact that one could raise and fight cocks legally there and shoot live pigeons as a club sport. Allen Ginsberg, who was booted out of the country in 1965, was sympathetic to the Revolution’s basic goals but enraged by its abuse of homosexuals. Reflecting years later on his ill-fated visit, he told a reporter, “Well, the worst thing I said was that I’d heard, by rumor, that Raul Castro [Fidel’s younger brother] was gay. And the second worst thing I said was that Che Guevara was cute.”

Cuba In Mind, edited by Maria Finn Dominguez, is a collection of essays, short fiction, reports and poems by such luminaries as Anthony Trollope, Steven Crane, Graham Greene, Langston Hughes, Elmore Leonard, Oscar Hijuelos and Andrei Codrescu. It is essentially a catchall of impressions…
Children's & YA

A new kind of caped crusader

Review by bookpagedev

Food glorious food! In April Pulley Sayre’s new title, Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero, the dish of the day is not only a meal, but also a superhero’s secret weapon. The storyline follows the escapades of Al Dente, a bright young man born into a pasta-loving family. Al tries to be different and break away from the family business, a pasta deli. He trains to be a dentist and then an auto mechanic, but each attempt to distance himself from the family franchise brings him closer to it. As a dentist, he shapes false teeth like macaroni, and as an auto mechanic, he installs his pasta lunch instead of car parts. Reluctantly, young Al returns to the family deli, but finds it going out of business. To entice people to buy pasta and to save the restaurant he creates a portable pasta maker that he carries on his back and begins to traipse through the neighborhoods of his hometown, trying to sell his noodles. But no one wants to buy them.

Discouraged, Al head towards home one night and discovers thieves trying to break into a store. In his fright, he jiggles a lever on the machine, and angel hair pasta shoots out to tangle the crooks. Using the pasta machine, Al continues to unexpectedly save the day. He rescues children from burning buildings with lasagna and helps people cross the street with fusilli. But in each case, he disappears before anyone recognizes him. Soon he’s the hero of the town, known only as Noodle Man. It’s not until he rescues his crush (a pizza delivery girl) with the help of his family, that the townspeople realize who he is. Not only does Al save the town from disaster, his new fame as a superhero revives the family business.

Sayre’s outrageous food puns, paired with Stephen Costanza’s delectable illustrations, are a treat for children of all ages. And if you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between various shapes of pasta, you can find out here. Heidi Henneman is a freelance writer living in San Francisco and enthusiastically sampling the local cuisine.

Food glorious food! In April Pulley Sayre's new title, Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero, the dish of the day is not only a meal, but also a superhero's secret weapon. The storyline follows the escapades of Al Dente, a bright young man born into a…
Biography

Face of the revolution

Review by bookpagedev

Volker Skierka’s Fidel Castro: A Biography was first published in Germany in 2000 but has been updated for the American edition. It is a meticulous accounting of Castro’s rise to power, his frequent run-ins with his more cautious Russian supporters and his close but ambivalent relationship with Che Guevara, who, as the author demonstrates, was the political purist Fidel could never afford to be. Skierka provides a valuable sketch of what Cuba was like under Castro’s predecessor, Fulgencio Batista, and his allies in the American Mafia. It may surprise some to learn that Castro was a childhood admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, even going so far as to write him a “fan letter,” a copy of which is reproduced in the book. Skierka includes a detailed bibliography, 16 pages of photos and a list of relevant CD-ROMs and websites. While he has no illusions about Castro’s flaws or Cuba’s unrelenting turmoil, Skierka concludes that, “Identification with the revolution is still high among ordinary people, including many young people, and it will outlive [Castro]. One thing Cubans certainly don’t want is to return to the old dependence on the great neighbor to the north.”

Volker Skierka's Fidel Castro: A Biography was first published in Germany in 2000 but has been updated for the American edition. It is a meticulous accounting of Castro's rise to power, his frequent run-ins with his more cautious Russian supporters and his close but…
Science Fiction & FantasyScience Fiction

The land between the mountains

Review by bookpagedev

Canadian writer Sean Russell spent years purposefully and successfully avoiding the Tolkien-type of grand fantasy that has ongoing characters and plot elements. He had two persistent ideas, however, that eventually led him to attempt a fantasy on a large scale. The first idea derived from Huckleberry Finn was of a group of characters traveling down a river by raft. The second was of two families fighting for power, somewhat akin to the Montagues and the Capulets. When Russell realized these two ideas could be linked, he found himself with the basis for a traditional fantasy, one that would have a motley group of characters traveling through strange and distant lands on a quest to save their homeland. The Swans’ War series was launched last year with The One Kingdom. The second entry, newly released, is The Isle of Battle, and it includes a dense four-page section, “What Went Before,” to help new readers to catch up.

As befits the mid-book in a trilogy, The Isle of Battle is a dark book. The land between the mountains is on the brink of war as the two ruling families (the Rennes and the Wills) use politics, games and marriage to try to take the throne. At the start, Elise Wills has thrown herself in the River Wynnd rather than give herself up to a political marriage. But she has not died, as her broken-hearted father and friends suppose; she has made a deal with Sianon, a nagar or dark river spirit, to live on and share her body and mind.

The Isle of Battle is mostly questing and chasing, as various groups of warriors hunt the three nagar: Sianon; Hafydd, Sianon’s murderous brother; and Sainth, their half-brother, who inhabits the body of a wanderer named Alaan. The chase leads into lands that exist side by side with the land between the mountains, where the only hope of exit is Sainth and Sainth is very much in danger from Hafydd and his men.

Russell keeps the characters moving, the tension high and the quest arduous. The politics are complicated, the relationships even more so. When one young lord swears he will spy for his enemies in the hope of future peace (and familial gain), it is difficult to remember who he can safely talk to, and who he can’t.

The Isle of Battle will please Russell’s earlier readers and bring him many more. He has taken up the mantle of a traditional fantasy writer and is producing strong, highly readable tales. Gavin J. Grant reads, writes and publishes science fiction in Brooklyn.

Canadian writer Sean Russell spent years purposefully and successfully avoiding the Tolkien-type of grand fantasy that has ongoing characters and plot elements. He had two persistent ideas, however, that eventually led him to attempt a fantasy on a large scale. The first idea derived from…
MusicArts & Culture

Music matters

Review by bookpagedev

Eugene Robinson, an editor and former reporter for the Washington Post, views Cuba’s history and post-Revolutionary politics through its many kinds of music in Last Dance In Havana. While this approach may not satisfy scholars, it does have a lot to recommend it. After all, the arts are a barometer of what a society values, subsidizes, permits and turns to in times of crisis. Thanks to the international success of 1997’s The Buena Vista Social Club CD, a project that resurrected a group of old and once-neglected native performers, Cuban music was suddenly all the rage. This fascination brought yet another tentacle of capitalism to the country and widened the general interest in other varieties of popular music. Robinson is at pains to trace them all: he visits nightclubs and musician’s homes, inspects Cuba’s world-class music academies and demonstrates how Castro’s seemingly capricious rules affect the ebb and flow of music. Robinson, who is black, also describes the racism that still afflicts this supposedly egalitarian society.

Still, he is not cynical about Castro’s motives. “He saw a Cuba of heroic sacrifice and complete selflessness, a state that came as close as possible to attaining the communist ideal, a land where bourgeois comforts’ were rightly scorned and private ownership’ was a concept consigned to history’s dustbin and constant struggle’ was the happiest condition of all. . . . I think that when Fidel looks at the glorious shambles that is Cuba, he sees success, not failure.”

Eugene Robinson, an editor and former reporter for the Washington Post, views Cuba's history and post-Revolutionary politics through its many kinds of music in Last Dance In Havana. While this approach may not satisfy scholars, it does have a lot to recommend it. After all,…
FictionWomen's Fiction

Final chapter in Big Stone Gap series

Review by bookpagedev

Adriana Trigiani has created a world well worth visiting and revisiting in her Big Stone Gap series. Milk Glass Moon, the last novel in the trilogy, brings Ave Marie Mulligan’s story full circle.

Her family and friends in the small Virginia mountain community are facing changes and challenges. Etta, her daughter, is growing up, preparing to leave the nest and making choices worrisome to her mother. Theodore, her best friend, has seized the opportunity to move to New York. Jack Mac, her husband, continues to reinvent himself in ways Ave Marie could have never imagined. The unforeseen causes Ave to question her relationship with her mother in order to save her relationship with her child.

As in the earlier Big Stone Gap novels, Ave Marie is torn between her love for Big Stone Gap and the Italian Alps. Trigiani brings first-time readers up to date with ease and reminds long time readers that Ave Marie met and married Jack Mac in the first novel, Big Stone Gap, and overcame marital problems in Big Cherry Holler. While it isn’t necessary to read all three novels to follow the story line of Milk Glass Moon, each book adds texture and detail to the ongoing story.

Adriana Trigiani, who wrote successfully for television and the theater before turning out her first novel, is a terrific storyteller. She has created endearing characters with complicated, realistic lives. It’s a pity to see the series end, but fans of the books should eventually be able to see them on the big screen. Trigiana has written and plans to direct the film version of Big Stone Gap. Pam Kingsbury writes from Florence, Alabama.

Adriana Trigiani has created a world well worth visiting and revisiting in her Big Stone Gap series. Milk Glass Moon, the last novel in the trilogy, brings Ave Marie Mulligan's story full circle.

Her family and friends in the small Virginia mountain community…
Children's & YA

Middle-school morality tale

Review by bookpagedev

What would you do if you were a fifth grader facing a huge homework load every night, and you found out that there was a machine that would do all the work for you? (Do we even have to ask?) That’s the situation presented to Sam, Kelsey, Judy and Brenton in Dan Gutman’s entertaining new book for young readers, The Homework Machine.

 

The four children, all fifth graders in Miss Rasmussen’s class at Grand Canyon School, are as different as any four 11-year-olds could be, but they have one thing in common all are somewhat isolated from their peers. Sam’s a newcomer and has had his share of school trouble before; Kelsey quietly carries her grief at losing her father; Judy’s righteous sense of indignation constantly irritates others; and Brenton . . . well, he’s another story entirely. Brenton is easily the smartest kid in school, so smart that even his parents and teachers have trouble keeping up with him. When Brenton and his three classmates are assigned to the same study group by their first-year teacher, the others discover that Brenton has created a time-saving gadget to do his homework for him. While the boy genius is perfectly capable of doing the homework himself, Sam, Kelsey and Judy could use the help.

Having perfect grades is something new for these three, and as they meet on a daily basis to do homework, they find that they’re learning a lot about each other. Such a good thing can’t last though, and when a mystery man starts trying to contact them, the kids start to get nervous. Soon there’s an even scarier problem why can’t the Homework Machine be turned off?

Told in alternating voices (as all the participants make statements to the Grand Canyon Police), the story unfolds in intriguing fashion. Gutman is a talented writer with dozens of children’s books to his credit, and his latest is a funny and thought-provoking tale that should appeal equally to boys and girls. Put it in your lesson plan.

James Neal Webb thinks adults dread helping with homework as much as children dread doing it.

What would you do if you were a fifth grader facing a huge homework load every night, and you found out that there was a machine that would do all the work for you? (Do we even have to ask?) That's the situation presented…

History

A timely account of germ warfare

Review by bookpagedev

Germany was a signatory to the Hague Declaration of 1889, a decision that helped to establish the principle that some kinds of wartime combat were “uncivilized.” Among those types of combat was the use of “deleterious gases.” In April 1915, Germany violated its pledge, and chemical warfare as we know it was born. In A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare, authors Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman present a general history of gas and germ warfare. The book was first published in 1982, but in this updated paperback edition, the authors have added new material covering recent developments. Compelling, timely and important, the book is even more relevant today than when it first appeared. Despite concerted efforts around the world to outlaw chemical and biological warfare, the threat still looms large. In this well-researched, briskly written account, the authors focus on the scientific and military aspects of the subject, as well as governmental and diplomatic issues. They also look at the effects of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the black market in weaponry that resulted. Recent terrorist attacks and attempts by Third World countries to establish arsenals are also given thorough coverage.

Because the research and development of these weapons has been done clandestinely, the authors use the term “secret history” in their title. The book takes us behind the secrecy to reveal the stories of victims who suffered and died, some by design, others by accident. And we learn of such figures as the Japanese army major, Shiro Ishii, who was given government permission to build the world’s first biological warfare installation in 1937, thus starting the biological arms race. Of particular interest is the reluctance of both sides to use biological or chemical weapons during World War II. Although either side might have deployed them under certain circumstances, both FDR and Hitler were opposed to their use. FDR regarded poison gas as “barbaric and inhumane” and rejected all proposals to use it. Hitler had been wounded by mustard gas in World War I and, the authors say, “was known to have a marked aversion to using chemical weapons.” Top Nazi leaders repeatedly advised Hitler to use them but to no avail. Churchill, on the other hand, strongly promoted the production and possible use of gas. The British were the first, in 1940, to prepare serious plans for using it. As late as July 1944, Churchill, proposed in an extraordinary memo, which the authors quote in full, that his service chiefs seriously calculate again the pros and cons of such use.

Robert Harris is known for best-selling fiction thrillers like Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel. Jeremy Paxman is a prominent news anchorman in Great Britain whose distinguished career has taken him to the Middle East, Africa and Central America, among other places. As the two point out, “Proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is now perhaps the most urgent problem facing Western military planners.” Their exploration of this grim but important subject helps us to understand it in a wider historical perspective. Roger Bishop is a regular contributor to BookPage.

Germany was a signatory to the Hague Declaration of 1889, a decision that helped to establish the principle that some kinds of wartime combat were "uncivilized." Among those types of combat was the use of "deleterious gases." In April 1915, Germany violated its pledge, and…

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