Deborah Hopkinson

Children's & YAPicture Book

Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Drew Daywalt, author of the bestselling picture book The Day the Crayons Quit, brings his kid-centric sense of humor to a new bedtime story with a twist, raucously brought to life by illustrator Scott Campbell.

Roderick positively loathes going to bed at night. He’s adept at coming up with excuses to delay the inevitable. There are the usual requests for more stories and a glass of water, but Roderick isn’t above pulling out all the stops: Why not ask for a pony so he can hear his parents detail all the many reasons he’s not getting one? But Roderick’s parents have a plan. They give Roderick a special stuffed goodnight buddy (Is he a moose or a bear?) named Sleepy. Roderick doesn’t like the look of Sleepy all that much, and when he tries to stash him away in the closet, Sleepy reveals that he’s alive.

The tables are then turned and the real fun ensues as we learn that Sleepy doesn’t live up to his name—he hates bedtime even more than Roderick does. And so an increasingly exasperated and exhausted Roderick finds himself on the other end of a series of Sleepy’s delaying tactics, humorously brought to life through the characters’ dialogue and Campbell’s watercolors.

While children will appreciate the story’s humor, parents may well wonder about the inspiration for the book. Let’s just say that author Daywalt dedicated it to his children, “To Abigail and Reese, but mostly Reese.” Unlike the mom on the back cover, parents can’t go to the store to buy a magical goodnight buddy, but adding Sleepy to the must-read bedtime pile for the sleep-averse ones in your home may be the next best thing.

Drew Daywalt, author of the bestselling picture book The Day the Crayons Quit, brings his kid-centric sense of humor to a new bedtime story with a twist, raucously brought to life by illustrator Scott Campbell.

NonfictionHistory

Two brothers behind enemy lines

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Charles Glass, former chief Middle East correspondent for ABC News, uses his considerable research and storytelling skills to uncover the little-known story of SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents George and John Starr.

American readers may be unfamiliar with the SOE, a volunteer organization sometimes called “Churchill’s secret army.” With secret headquarters on Baker Street, not far from today’s Sherlock Holmes Museum, the SOE recruited ordinary men and women to parachute into Nazi-occupied countries including France, Denmark and the Netherlands. There they braved danger on a daily basis, working with local resistance groups to conduct sabotage and collect intelligence. As the SOE’s French section head, Maurice Buckmaster, said, “It was no use trying to do things by the book. There was no book.”

Using newly declassified documents and family archives, Charles Glass focuses on the wartime experiences of two SOE agents, brothers George and John Starr. As head of the WHEELWRIGHT circuit, George Starr operated in southwest France, where he played a key role in helping to delay the Nazi arrival in Normandy following the Allied invasion. John Starr operated primarily in Burgundy. But in July 1943 he was betrayed by a double agent and arrested. After attempting to escape, he was wounded, tortured and imprisoned at Gestapo counterespionage headquarters in Paris. He was later sent to concentration camps, where he managed to survive.

While They Fought Alone may read like a thriller, the enormous toll that the war took on George and John Starr is palpable. As we approach the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, this book is a timely reminder of what it took to defeat tyranny.

Charles Glass, former chief Middle East correspondent for ABC News, uses his considerable research and storytelling skills to uncover the little-known story of SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents George and John Starr.

YA FictionYA

How does a best friendship fall apart?

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Kit Frick’s debut YA novel, See All the Stars, is part love story, part thriller, part coming-of-age story—and definitely a book to be devoured all in one sitting. Frick, who is also a poet and poetry editor, has a love of words (and, as she puts it, “putting complicated characters in impossible situations”) that is clearly on display in this story about the relationships among four high school students.

Ellory, the narrator, begins the story in June following her sophomore year. She calls it “then.” Then, she was best friends with Bex, Jenni and Ret. To Ellory, her friends are the stars and planets of the solar system. Ret is the bright center sun, and Ellory sees herself as “the moon, dark and cold without the sun’s light. Ellory Holland—constant satellite.” So, when Ret wants to go to a party, Ellory follows. At the party, she meets and falls in love with Matthias Cole—a beautiful but complex boy with plenty of secrets.

See All the Stars shifts between these past events and now—Ellory’s senior year. Now, Ellory is attemping to brave out the school year by hiding in metalwork class and trying to focus on her dream of going to art school in Portland.

Frick deftly keeps the suspense and mystery of what happened “then” just out of reach until the very end, when the pieces fall into place and we can see all the stars—and understand the full nature of the gulf between then and now. Frick’s debut will especially be a treat for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.

Kit Frick’s debut YA novel See All the Stars is part love story, part thriller, part coming-of-age story—and definitely a book to be devoured all in one sitting.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Sometimes the magic works

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

We all need a little make-believe sometimes, and in Cat Wishes, author Calista Brill teams up with artist Kenard Pak to create a fairy tale fit for feline lovers everywhere.

The story begins with a hungry cat who wishes for something to eat. The cat soon finds a tasty-looking snake who offers the cat three wishes in exchange for sparing his life. “No such thing as a wish,” declares the cat. “Sure of that, are you?” asks the snake. And so the skeptical cat finds himself making wishes anyway. He would certainly love a fish. And then, when it begins to rain, a house with “a roasty, toasty fireplace” would be very nice. And most of all, in the lonely, shadowy night, a friend would certainly come in handy. All of these wishes are fulfilled.

There’s a sweet twist to Brill’s tale. The cat discovers he’s not the only creature who has benefited from the snake’s three wishes. Just as the cat wishes for a friend, a girl appears, claiming that she made a wish for a friend, too.

Cat is an endearing hero whose adventures are never too scary for young readers. With Pak’s gentle pastel illustrations and Brill’s simple message, Cat Wishes is a lovely bedtime story that will also delight toddlers exploring the magic of friendship.

 

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

We all need a little make-believe sometimes, and in Cat Wishes, author Calista Brill teams up with artist Kenard Park to create a fairy tale fit for feline lovers everywhere.

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.

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