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You might not recognize the name Erik Satie, but chances are you’ve heard his music. Among the most famous works by this French composer are the GymnopŽdies and the Gnossiennes (Gnossienne No. 4 can be heard on the soundtrack of About Schmidt).

Born in 1866, Satie was an original, both in habits and work. As M.T. Anderson explains in the author’s note to his wonderful new tribute to the composer, “Satie was a genius and a crank, a magician and a child, a fool and a visionary, a gentle man with a violent temper, a medieval composer on the cutting edge of modernity.” In other words, the perfect subject for a biography for children.

Strange Mr. Satie is full of simply presented details, yet Anderson doesn’t oversimplify his subject’s life. Nor does he make his subject heroic. Anderson explains that Satie often yelled, had tantrums, even threw his girlfriend out the window! There are many glorious details here. Readers learn how Satie dropped out of school early on, only to return at age 39. How he gave his compositions names like “Real Flabby Preludes (for a Dog),” and how his musical instructions included phrases like “From the end of the eyes.” How he, Picasso and others put on a wild ballet called Parade, with dancers wearing models of buildings. Petra Mathers’ illustrations are the perfect complement to the text, capturing old-fashioned France along with facial expressions and actions befitting Satie’s whimsical nature. The book’s endpapers include text from Satie’s Memoirs of an Amnesiac, with notes like “I start lunch at 12:11 and leave the table at 12:14,” and “I go to bed regularly at 22:37. Once a week, I wake up with a start at 3:19. That’s on Tuesday.” Strange indeed, but bewitching. The only thing missing from the splendid Strange Mr. Satie is a CD full of the composer’s music. Be sure to pick one up along with this book.

Contemplating the sheer peril of climbing Mt. Everest, the first thought that comes to my mind is: Danger! When reading To the Top of Everest by Laurie Skreslet with Elizabeth MacLeod, the realization of how dangerous it can be to tackle the world’s highest peak becomes more and more vivid. Of every three climbers who set out, only two returned alive is one of the startling facts in Skreslet’s first-hand narrative. Chapter by chapter, the reader learns the necessity of preparation and the drudgery it takes to reach the apex of Mt. Everest. Some of the strongest messages of To the Top of Everestare revealed through the photographs. A writer can always try to describe Mt. Everest, but in some cases, as Aldous Huxley once said, words fail to enlighten. Mt. Everest is so large that it is impossible to imagine. Most people who read this book will have virtually no climbing experience. So, seeing photos of ice screws that help to anchor the climber securely, candid shots of the way climbers pack their food and the specially designed tents they must use, help support Skreslet’s account.

In conjunction with the photographs, blue boxes frame the borders of the page with clear, brief explanations of the intricate details of the journey to the peak. They include interesting and sometimes odd information, such as the challenges of going to the bathroom in freezing climates.

One unexpected attribute of To the Top of Everest is the respect that Skreslet gives to the mountain itself. He and his team of Canadian comrades lead an expedition not to conquer the mountain, but to feel its power. There, they climb with Sherpas, the natives who live near the mountain and who refer to Mt. Everest as Mother Goddess of the Earth. Before taking on the climb, and in an additional way of honoring Mt. Everest, Skreslet and his team attend a Buddhist prayer service as a final rite of passage.

To the Top of Everest not only provides a step-by-step account of the perils of Mt. Everest, but also encouragement to readers about life’s many twists and turns.

Hunter Foreman, 16, enjoys reading contemporary literature and poetry.

How many books do you know that begin with a two-page spread of one word? In this case, it’s a resounding KARUMMP! as QPootle5’s spaceship crashes to earth. Flip back to the frontispiece and the title page, and you’ll see evidence of the spaceship careening toward this crash with a long ScreeeÉ that goes on and on. What, you may ask, is a QPootle5? He’s none other than a roly-poly creature from outer space, cute as a button and the star of Nick Butterworth’s latest book. If you want to introduce your youngster to the concept of aliens, here is a purely fun, non-threatening way to do so, since QPootle5 appears more closely related to Casper the Friendly Ghost than to any of the Darth Vader gang.

Despite his friendliness, QPootle5 is in a pickle. He needs a new rocket booster so he can make his way to the moon, to a party for his friend, QPootle6. He confers with several earthlings who happen on the scene, namely, a frog, some birds and a cat. The cat soon comes to the rescue by handing over the leftover can from his cat food, which QPootle5 manages to fashion into the needed spaceship part.

The next big question is, will the can contraption work? Butterworth stretches out the suspense for several pages, culminating in a blastoff scene plus a giant foldout illustration of QPootle5 partying it up with his friends on the moon. It’s an illustration chock full of energy and joy, a regular bacchanalian feast, with all sorts of aliens munching on moon cheese balls, UFO cake, rocket jelly, star biscuits and more.

Butterworth is one of those rare talents who can make storytelling and even drawing look deceptively simple. While his plot is straightforward enough to appeal to three- and four-year-olds, a slightly older crowd five- to seven-year-olds will be drawn to the alien theme by Butterworth’s purely lovable beings from outer space. Take a closer look, though, and Butterworth manages to touch on any number of important themes: the importance of helping those in need; the usefulness of resourceful, creative problem-solving; the magic of newfound friendship; and the lure of exotic places that beg to be explored. No doubt plenty of little readers will beg to join QPootle5 and his moon party night after night.

Young Lindsay is excited about her invitation to Aunt Fiona’s party. When her mother informs her that it’s a dress-up party, Lindsay suggests that she wear her pirate suit or her ribbon-pocket jeans. Her mother quickly and calmly nixes those ideas, explaining that she’ll have to wear a dress to this end-of-the-summer, snazzy, ritzy dress-up party. The problem, of course, is that rough-and-tumble Lindsay never wears dresses. Lindsay’s tall, chic mother knows just what to do. She escorts her to Miss Beeline’s Girls’ Shop, where Lindsay turns up her nose at everything until she spots the dress, a seemingly magical sundress that features a winking parrot, jungle foliage, oranges and stars, along with a tag that reads, Made in Bora-Bora for you. Aunt Fiona’s soiree is overwhelmingly elegant. As Lindsay and her aunt head to the beach for moonlight dancing, Lindsay asks where Bora-Bora is, and Fiona explains that it’s a South Sea island where she has traveled and seen leaping dolphins, and coconut drinks, and people who make wonderful things. Under the moonlight, Lindsay and her dress merge into a swirling ball of grace, swishing and swooshing under the stars. Artist Catherine Stock’s watercolors dance with personality throughout the book, and practically jump off the page during Lindsay’s dance. One of the great things about this book is that Lindsay remains true to herself at every moment. Yes, she is magically transformed for a night, just like Cinderella. However, she’s never too prissy before, during or after her frenzied dance is full of both grace and wildness. Whether you know a tomboy or a frilly princess, girls of varying temperaments will be equally enthralled by The Bora-Bora Dress. Too bad this book doesn’t come with its own dress, because no doubt many readers will be searching for Bora Bora versions of their own.

Don’t you love to hear and read empowerment stories, especially about strong, beautiful women? If your little god or goddess does, too, then The Lady of Ten Thousand Names is just right. This introduction into the legendary realm of the goddess is a wonderful way to encourage our daughters and sons to embody their personal power. From China to North America and from Japan to Africa, stories have been passed down for centuries, one generation to another. Many of these are tales of powerful and mysterious goddesses that teach important life lessons still applicable today. The Lady of Ten Thousand Names is a delightful smorgasbord of these stories, presenting a wide range of times and cultures that will capture the imagination of adults and children alike.

Author Burleigh Muten lucidly retells these traditional stories of bold women who risked it all to serve humanity with kindness, care and compassion. Egypt’s Isis, the North American Lakota Sioux’s White Buffalo Woman and Nigeria’s Oshun are perfect models for female readers, given the current popularity of princesses in today’s literature. But the stories in The Lady of Ten Thousand Names are timeless enough to give all young readers encouragement to reach for their dreams.

Beautiful watercolor illustrations by Helen Cann grace the pages and bring the situations and characters to life. As an added touch, she uses different borders that tie in with each different culture. The Chinese tale of Kuan Yin is filled with soft lotus blossoms. The Greek story of Persephone, Demeter and Hekate contains a border of bright pomegranates and daffodils. Most impressive are the stories of Ama-terasu from Japan, Freya from Scandinavia and Cerridwen from Wales, where Cann successfully uses the illustrations to pull the reader into the world of the goddesses.

The talented combination of Muten, the author of Grandmothers’ Stories: Wise Woman Tales from Many Cultures, along with Cann whose work has been exhibited around the world, is a sure combination of mastery.

Karen Van Valkenburg is a book publicist by day and a goddess (at least in her own mind) by night.