Deborah Hopkinson

NonfictionHumorEssays

Hilarious observations from an Irish expat

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

You don’t have to get far into Maeve in America, a volume of essays by Irish-born comedian Maeve Higgins, to start laughing. The book’s dedication, to the author’s seven nieces and nephews, reads: “You think I am your aunt, but really I am your mother.”

The 15 essays in this wonderful collection recount Higgins’ adventures—and misadventures—as she goes about “the endlessly tricky business of being a regular human being.”

Higgins plunges into her life in New York, where she’s lived for several years. She reflects on parties, Manhattan summers and the differences in small talk in Ireland and America. Dogs also merit an essay. “Rescue animals are prized possessions in New York,” Higgins tells us. “It seems the older and sicker your animal is, the richer and greater you are.”

Higgins’ essays sparkle with humor and wry observations. But as she puts it, “[t]he sliver of shared space between comedy and tragedy is one that fascinates me.” And so Higgins lets us see into the shadows—of her life and perhaps our own. She speaks of “the lowness of loneliness” and how it sneaks up at unexpected moments. She explores the terrain of friendships and failures, and writes about immigration, past and present.

In an essay entitled “Are You My Husband?” Higgins speculates on the qualities of the perfect mate. “I want him to be funny but also stable, maybe like a successful ophthalmologist who crosses his own eyes when he tells you to follow his pen.” We can wish Higgins good luck in her quest for a mate, and savor our own good luck that she has followed her pen.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

You don’t have to get far into Maeve in America, a volume of essays by Irish-born comedian Maeve Higgins, to start laughing. The book’s dedication, to the author’s seven nieces and nephews, reads: “You think I am your aunt, but really I am your mother.”

Children's & YAPicture Book

A dog who loves to dig

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Here’s a challenge for a tired parent: Try to get through the tongue twisters and antics of a very energetic canine in A Dog Named Doug without collapsing into laughter. The first line sets the stage: “Once there was a dog named Doug. Doug liked to dig, but when Doug dug, oh boy, did Doug DIG!” Readers young and old will delight in Doug’s journey, which brings them from the Old West to Hollywood and from the African savannah to the White House. And what world tour would be complete without a visit to Stonehenge? In fact, Doug digs so deep underground that he ends up on the other side of the world. (Where, naturally, he finds himself upside down.)

To enhance Karma Wilson’s clever rhymes, illustrator Matt Myers has used both pictures and inventive graphic design and varied typefaces to keep young readers engaged—and to help preschoolers identify letters, too. On one spread, a tractor falls into the giant “U” in the word “ruts.” On another page, piles of mud become the letter “M.”

And, while Doug’s tale is as rollicking as a real dog energetically excavating a flower bed, A Dog Named Doug cleverly manages to be a bedtime story. After all, any determined digger (whether they have four legs or two) has to rest sometime. And so we follow Doug to bed, where, of course, he dreams of more digging adventures.

Here’s a challenge for a tired parent: Try to get through the tongue twisters and antics of a very energetic canine in A Dog Named Doug without collapsing into laughter. The first line sets the stage: “Once there was a dog named Doug. Doug liked to dig, but when Doug dug, oh boy, did Doug DIG!” Readers young and old will delight in Doug’s journey, which brings them from the Old West to Hollywood and from the African savannah to the White House. And what world tour would be complete without a visit to Stonehenge? In fact, Doug digs so deep underground that he ends up on the other side of the world. (Where, naturally, he finds himself upside down.)

Children's & YAPicture Book

Friends always find their way back together

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In this charming double debut by author Casey W. Robinson and illustrator Melissa Larson, an older factory worker named Iver climbs to the roof during his lunch hour. While up there, he eats next to a giant inflatable bear named Ellsworth. Together they gaze out over a hilly northern landscape, and Iver feels content to be exactly where he is.

“Everyone’s going somewhere,” Iver reflects. “We can see the whole world from up here. That’s enough somewhere for me.”

Before he heads back to work, Iver cares for Ellsworth—wiping away streaks of rain, shaking snow from his shoulders, shining his paws. In the fall, Iver “plucks the crunchy leaves that stick to Ellsworth’s tummy.” And, of course, he makes sure the ropes that hold the inflatable bear steady are secure.

Then comes Iver’s retirement. Without Iver there to check on the bear, the ropes get loose and Ellsworth flies up into the air and across the town until he lands on the roof of Iver’s small house.

Young readers may wonder if this is a coincidence or if the bear just knows where he belongs. Ellsworth grins as he and his old friend look out onto their new somewhere together. Larson’s soft pencil and watercolor illustrations complement Robinson’s gentle text. With its heartfelt, endearing characters and unusual setting, Iver & Ellsworth is sure to be a bedtime favorite.

In this charming double debut by author Casey W. Robinson and illustrator Melissa Larson, an older factory worker named Iver climbs to the roof during his lunch hour. While up there, he eats next to a giant inflatable bear named Ellsworth. Together they gaze out over a hilly northern landscape, and Iver feels content to be exactly where he is.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Building a dream

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In her charming debut novel, Mae Respicio brings young readers into the warm and loving Filipino community of Lucinda Bulosan-Nelson, a determined San Francisco middle school student with an unusual dream.

Lou wants a circular saw for her 13th birthday, and she wants to build her own house: “The idea started off as a daydream, a dare to myself: What if I made something no other girl has?”

And Lou has just about all she needs as she inherited a plot of land from her late father. She has a growing set of construction skills; she’s already making sets for Barrio Fiesta, a neighborhood fundraiser for the Filipino American Community Senior Center. And thanks to her woodworking teacher, Mr. Keller, she’s learning about tools, drafting and innovative architectural designs, including tiny houses. But Lou’s ambitious plans, and her budding friendship with classmate Jack, might all come to nothing if her mom gets a job out of state, and if no money can be found to pay the back taxes on Lou’s new land.

In Lou, emerging Filipina American author Respicio has created a likable, believable girl who is eager to embrace STEAM thinking and innovation, but who appreciates and treasures her family and traditions at the same time. As Lou confronts a block of wood, she reflects on what she might make of it: “Really, I’m just aiming for the start of something. Right now it feels good. It feels like possibilities.”

And in just that way, The House That Lou Built feels like the start of a wonderful career for the talented Mae Respicio.

In her charming debut novel, Mae Respicio brings young readers into the warm and loving Filipino community of Lucinda Bulosan-Nelson, a determined San Francisco middle school student with an unusual dream.

YA FictionYAHistorical FantasyFantasy

Jane Eyre, ghost hunter

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

BookPage Teen Top Pick, July 2018

Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows, the team of young adult authors otherwise known as the Lady Janies, penned the 2016 New York Times bestseller My Lady Jane—inspired (more or less) by hapless historical figure Lady Jane Grey, who ruled as queen of England for only nine days. Now, they’ve whipped up another ghostly journey into the past in the latest installment of their Jane-centric series, but their new inspiration is a different famous Jane. This time, the eponymous protagonist is none other than Charlotte Brontë’s indomitable heroine Jane Eyre.

With this crew of authors at the helm, don’t expect a simple retelling. In the opening pages of My Plain Jane, we meet not only Jane but also her friend Charlotte Brontë, both of whom are students at the infamous Lowood School. As a young aspiring author, Charlotte is working on her “Very-First-Ever-Attempt-at-a-Novel” and thinks Jane will make the perfect heroine in her story.

Jane has the ability to see ghosts, which convinces the very attractive supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood that she would make a fine addition to his Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits. But Jane rejects the job offer and instead sets off to fulfill her destiny by securing the governess position at Rochester’s Thornfield Hall. Off she trots with a ghostly Helen Burns at her side, who proves to be a fantastic comic foil for Jane.

Anyone who loves Brontë’s classic novel will find this supernatural, romantic sendup to be clever and hilarious. At the end of the story, Charlotte reads from her future novel, and Jane approves: “Your readers will eat it up.” Charlotte nervously admits that she doesn’t have any readers yet, but it’s a sure bet she’ll have a lot more after readers finish My Plain Jane.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows, the team of young adult authors otherwise known as the Lady Janies, penned the 2016 New York Times bestseller My Lady Jane—inspired (more or less) by hapless historical figure Lady Jane Grey, who ruled as queen of England for only nine days. Now, they’ve whipped up another ghostly journey into the past in the latest installment of their Jane-centric series, but their new inspiration is a different famous Jane. This time, the eponymous protagonist is none other than Charlotte Brontë’s indomitable heroine Jane Eyre.

NonfictionMemoir

Looking back on a wonderful life

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

“It started,” Peter Mayle begins, “with a break in the weather.” After two weeks of a rainy Mediterranean vacation, Mayle and his wife, Jennie, set out to look for sun and explore Provence on their way home to England. They quickly fell in love with the beautiful region of southeastern France.

After the couple uprooted their lives and moved to Provence, Mayle wrote his beloved 1991 memoir, A Year in Provence. My Twenty-Five Years in Provence is the last volume of travel writing from Mayle, who died in France in January 2018, and it is a bittersweet pleasure.

It’s hard to believe that the initial print run of A Year in Provence was only 3,000 copies, as the book quickly became a sensation. For many readers, the aspiring novelist (his fiction never attained the popularity of his accounts of a delectable café lunch) put Provence on the map.

In this final memoir, Mayle returns to the beginning, recounting the couple’s early days house-hunting, learning the language and falling in love with the culture. This is France, so of course food and wine play a large part in his writing. But while Mayle can pen a mouthwatering description of bouillabaisse, what has always drawn readers to his writing are his loving portraits of people, community and the Provençal way of life.

“Lunch is taken very seriously in Provence,” Mayle discovered early on. So it’s fitting that as he makes his way home from the village market, basket piled high with warm bread, fragrant cheese, cherries, grapes and fresh eggs, Mayle’s last words to us are, “I must go. Lunch is calling.”

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

“It started,” Peter Mayle begins, “with a break in the weather.” After two weeks of a rainy Mediterranean vacation, Mayle and his wife, Jennie, set out to look for sun and explore Provence on their way home to England. They quickly fell in love with the beautiful region of southeastern France.

NonfictionHistory

Life on the border

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In 2010, historian and author Graham Robb and his wife found themselves at the railway station in Carlisle, in the far northwest part of England near the Scottish border. They had just purchased a house in the area. But the move didn’t herald long, exploratory car trips. Instead, the couple brought only their bicycles.

On their journeys, they meet people like Wattie Blakey, an elderly mole catcher, just one of the many characters—some from history—who spring to life in Robb’s new book about a desolate border tract known as the Debatable Land, the oldest territorial division in Great Britain.

While the Debatable Land itself is only 13 miles long, the region is a site of legend, conflicts, battles and mystery. In digging up its history, Robb covers a large swath of time. But in true cyclist fashion, the telling is not rushed but leisurely: The author stops to show us points of interest and sights along the way. We learn about the terrain, the wind and the seasons as we accompany Robb on research trips by bicycle, or even as he passes a band of Scottish sheep while scrunching through the snow to his mailbox. This intimate portrait of the land helps us imagine its colorful past of rebellious clans and border raiders.

In this way, readers become part of this erudite historian’s own process of discovery. Robb doesn’t end his exploration in the distant past. Instead, he ventures into the 21st century, when the Brexit vote has raised the possibility of a new referendum on Scottish independence. For Anglophiles, history lovers and, yes, cyclists, The Debatable Land is a journey worth taking.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In 2010, historian and author Graham Robb and his wife found themselves at the railway station in Carlisle, in the far northwest part of England near the Scottish border. They had just purchased a house in the area. But the move didn’t herald long, exploratory car trips. Instead, the couple brought only their bicycles.

NonfictionHistory

A wildly entertaining tale of scandal

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In her previous book, How Paris Became Paris, Joan DeJean charted the transformation of Paris into a modern, alluring city. Here, DeJean, trustee professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania and author of a number of books on French literature and history, turns her attention to a tale of intrigue and finance in 18th-century France. And what a story it is!

In the preface to The Queen’s Embroiderer, DeJean recalls her discovery of a document in France’s National Archives that catapulted her into tracing the remarkable love story of the hapless Marie Louise Magoulet, daughter of the Queen’s Embroiderer, and Louis Chevrot, son of an ambitious father not about to let his son marry a girl without a dowry like Marie Louise. His father’s solution? Arrest the pregnant Marie Louise as a prostitute and ship her off to New Orleans!

A consummate researcher, DeJean teases out this fascinating history by delving into boxed archival records, contained in “sturdy dark cardboard and tied with dingy beige ribbons.” Yet, as in How Paris Became Paris, DeJean turns her astute eye not just to the story of two individual families but to the broader historical context of the time. In this way, reading The Queen’s Embroiderer is a bit like listening to a fascinating, erudite lecture or examining an elaborate piece of needlework.

Following the stitches of the tale leads readers to an exploration of the worlds of finance and fashion, an analysis of the first stock market boom (and bust), the founding of New Orleans, and the complexity of social relations, including marriage contracts. If your plans for springtime in France haven’t materialized, don’t despair. Just open The Queen’s Embroiderer and you’ll find yourself transported.

In her previous book, How Paris Became Paris, Joan DeJean charted the transformation of Paris into a modern, alluring city. Here, DeJean, trustee professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania and author of a number of books on French literature and history, turns her attention to a tale of intrigue and finance in 18th-century France. And what a story it is!

Children's & YAPicture Book

A little book provides big inspiration

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Author Katherine Applegate is perhaps best known as the author of the acclaimed Newbery Medal winner, The One and Only Ivan. In her latest book, she teams up with talented illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt to create a celebration of childhood bursting with humor, warmth and love.

The spare text pairs well with Reinhardt’s delightful ink and watercolor illustrations. The story begins with just three words: “Before the cake,” accompanied by the illustration of a rather frazzled-looking mom baking for her 1-year old.

While the refrain “before” appears throughout the story, Reinhardt’s illustrations depict different characters and families, enabling readers to embrace a diversity of children, experiences and milestones. Whether it’s attempting to knit, roller skate, bake or make art, children see that “Each recipe we undertake can rise or fall, can burn or bake.” In this way, like recent popular picture books such as Cynthia Rylant’s Life, or Matt de Peña’s Love, Sometimes You Fly aims to inspire, encourage and illuminate through stunning art and a simple yet profound text.

At the end, Applegate’s spare, rhyming narrative returns to birthday cakes as a marker of milestones, but with an emphasis not on superficial accomplishments, but of the wonder and joy of life-long learning: “What matters most is what you take from all you learn . . . before the cake.” While young readers will be drawn in by the vibrant, often humorous illustrations, Sometimes You Fly will also make a thoughtful gift for expectant parents, graduates and anyone who seeks to spread their wings in a new adventure.

Author Katherine Applegate is perhaps best known as the author of the acclaimed Newbery Medal winner, The One and Only Ivan. In her latest book, she teams up with talented illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt to create a celebration of childhood bursting with humor, warmth and love.

NonfictionHistory

The Marshall plan that failed

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, will always be remembered for the victory on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Perhaps less known is the fact that he wasn’t the only, or even top, candidate for the job. In fact, it took President Franklin D. Roosevelt a long time to select his commander. Most expected the role to go to General George Marshall.

As author Daniel Kurtz-Phelan puts it, the feeling was that since Marshall “had built the Allied war machine, he should lead it to victory.” In the end, though, his protégé got the command—and the glory. As Roosevelt told Marshall at the time, “I feel I could not sleep at night with you out of the country.” In the enthralling The China Mission, Kurtz-Phelan, executive editor of Foreign Affairs, uses archival sources and extensive research to give an in-depth look at Marshall himself, as well as a fascinating account of a little-known chapter in the history of that tumultuous era: Marshall’s difficult and complex postwar assignment in China.

Over the course of 13 months, Marshall sought to create unity in a chaotic China, prevent a Communist takeover and work with larger-than-life figures such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang. Ultimately, the mission failed. That failure followed Marshall the rest of his life and also made him a target of Joseph McCarthy.

In 1953, Marshall became the first military officer to win a Nobel Peace Prize, bestowed for work on the Marshall Plan, his design for the postwar recovery in Europe. Still, Marshall remains less known than many of his contemporaries in “the greatest generation.” As we approach the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, The China Mission is a timely reminder of the pivotal role George Marshall played in shaping the world we know today.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, will always be remembered for the victory on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Perhaps less known is the fact that he wasn’t the only, or even top, candidate for the job. In fact, it took President Franklin D. Roosevelt a long time to select his commander. Most expected the role to go to General George Marshall.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Finding solace in the scientific method

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

On the first day of seventh-grade science class, Natalie Napoli, the narrator of Tae Keller’s debut novel, learns that the scientific method begins with observation. And while Mr. Neely is a new teacher, and therefore “all optimistic and stuff,” Natalie finds herself drawn to his lesson on the scientific method. After all, she’s the daughter of a botanist who even wrote a book about miracle plants.

When Mr. Neely encourages Natalie to enter a city-wide egg drop contest, it makes her realize how much has changed since her botanist mother became depressed. “The old Mom would have loved this project. She would have sat with me for days, brainstorming different questions and experiments,” Natalie says. These days Natalie’s mother has all but disappeared into her room.

In attempting to apply the scientific method to her family’s situation, Natalie decides on a hypothesis and action plan. If her mom can once again connect with the miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchid she once studied, maybe she would be “excited by science and life and questions” once again. Natalie’s experiments lead to a daring break-in at a botany lab, and, in the end, the hope of an emotional breakthrough of another sort.

Natalie is an engaging narrator whose struggles at home and with her peers ring true. Educators will be especially pleased by the STEM connections in The Science of Breakable Things, as well as illustrations of experiments related to the egg drop contest. And as for a conclusion, it’s irrefutable: Readers will be eager to see what Natalie chooses to investigate next.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen.

On the first day of seventh-grade science class, Natalie Napoli, the narrator of Tae Keller’s debut novel, learns that the scientific method begins with observation. And while Mr. Neely is a new teacher, and therefore “all optimistic and stuff,” Natalie finds herself drawn to his lesson on the scientific method. After all, she’s the daughter of a botanist who even wrote a book about miracle plants.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Teamwork makes for sweet success

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Spanish illustrator Anuska Allepuz makes her picture book debut with That Fruit Is Mine!, a delightful offering aimed at the preschool set. Replete with bright colors and lots of fun alliterative phrases, the story follows five elephants who live in the jungle. Like toddlers claiming toys in a playroom, they’re all quite happy with the fruit they’ve chosen as their favorite meal. That is, until one day, the elephants discover a new fruit tree: “And on that very tall tree was the MOST delicious-looking exotic fruit the elephants had ever seen. EVERYONE wanted to eat it.”

Each elephant tries out his or her idea to nab that juicy golden fruit that’s hanging high out of reach. Each one is frustrated, and all are convinced of a fact: “That fruit is MINE.” But then the selfish elephants see the fruit being successfully moved by the collaborative efforts of five mice who carry it off together before indulging in a shared feast. “This fruit is OURS,” they say. Inspired, the astonished elephants find a way to work together in order to obtain their prize.

Allepuz’s elephants are a joy, and young readers will have no trouble discerning the emotions on their faces—from frustration to fruit-filled satisfaction. They’ll also enjoy discovering that the mice, who appear at the end, have actually been busy modeling cooperation throughout the story. With its simple phrasing, sly humor and lots of chances for audience participation, That Fruit Is Mine! will lend itself well to a preschool storytime reading or a bedtime story at home.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen.

Spanish illustrator Anuska Allepuz makes her picture book debut with That Fruit is Mine!, a delightful offering aimed at the preschool set. Replete with bright colors and lots of fun alliterative phrases, the story follows five elephants who live in the jungle.

YA FictionYAGraphic Novels & Comics

A poignant look at the life of Mary Shelley

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Award-winning author and illustrator Lita Judge is best known for her picture books, but her new work, Mary’s Monster, introduces teen readers to the brilliant Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Judge spent five years researching Shelley in order to create this dramatic, creative and fictionalized biography. (Frankenstein’s monster authors a prologue.) Narrated from Shelley’s point-of-view, Judge’s lyrical free verse is accompanied by more than 300 pages of evocative, black-and-white watercolor illustrations, and this innovative format will have special appeal for young graphic novel fans.

Judge divides Shelley’s story into nine sections, reflecting the number of months Shelley spent writing her draft of Frankenstein. The last pages include illuminating source notes, a bibliography and short bios of Shelley’s peers along with plenty of background information on Shelley and her classic novel. All of these educational additions should prove useful in helping teen readers appreciate the importance of both Shelley’s work and her struggle to lead a fulfilling creative life at a time when social norms severely restricted women’s options.

Mary’s Monster is aimed at mature readers, as Judge does not shy away from including details such as the death of Shelley’s first baby and the suicide of her half-sister. Instead, Judge weaves these personal losses seamlessly into her narrative, much as Shelley drew on her own struggles in order to breathe life into one of the most enduring books of all time.

 

Deborah Hopkinson lives near Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book for young readers is Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen.

Award-winning author and illustrator Lita Judge is best known for her picture books, but her new work introduces teen readers to the brilliant Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

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