Horn Book Highlights, May/June 2012

Here's a list of the books I added to my hold list after reading the reviews in the current issue of the Horn Book (I left out the ones I already read). A first step toward reviewing some of them here!

Lady Hahn and Her Seven Friends by Yumi Heo (Ottaviano/Holt). Lady Hahn is a seamstress, and her seven friends are her sewing tools personifed. The tiny women argue among themselves about who is the most important, but of course, they all are. The appeal for me is the subject (textiles!) and Heo's colorful oil-and-pencil illustrations of Korean traditional dress.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (Dial). I loved Cashore's Graceling, but didn't seek out Fire, the companion novel--I wasn't interested in the character of Fire, impossibly beautiful, able to control men's minds, etc. But Bitterblue I remember as a child in Graceling, and now she's the young queen of a troubled country. Charlotte of Charlotte's Library liked Bitterblue, too (and she's giving away two copies! I hope I win, because the hold list is already very long).

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng (Houghton). Cheng writes realistic fiction with multicultural characters and themes for elementary to middle grade readers. Only One Year (Lee and Low, 2010) is my favorite of her books. This one is narrated by Chinese-American fourth-grader Anna Wang, who always has her head stuck in a book. I can relate, then and now.

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke; illustrated by Andrea Offermann (Little, Brown). I am not always a Funke fan, but this sentence from the review is impossible to resist: "Funke's consummate way with setting, well-interpreted in Offermann's looming illustrations, brings the medieval English town (and all of its ghosts) to life, from the sprawling boarding school campus to the echoes-of-the-past cathedral and eerie cemetery grounds; a side jaunt to Stonehenge even adds some levity." We (almost) went to Salisbury when we were in England last winter, even! Maybe next time.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion). I already started this YA novel about two young women, spy and pilot, during World War II (thank you, Hyperion and NetGalley!). The first part is the spy's confession; the second, the pilot's accident report. So far, so compelling--technical detail about airplanes (the author is a pilot herself) aside. This one got a starred review. I look forward to following up with my own.

Extra Yarn, hold the needles

At last count, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer + Bray, 2012) had received four starred reviews. It's Klassen's second picture book--his first, I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick, 2011), also got a lot of attention and went on to win a well-deserved 2012 Geisel Honor. I'm not so sure about Extra Yarn, although I do love a picture book about knitting. I think Mars is a great name for a dog, too.

But back to the knitting. There's only one illustration in the whole book of Annabelle actually knitting something (it happens to be a sweater for a pickup truck, but that's another issue). And I'm pretty sure that the needles aren't supposed to be pointing up like that.

Does it matter, though? After all, the book is about a box that holds a never-ending supply of yarn of every color: Annabelle can probably knit it however she wants. And knitters as well as critics seem to love the book anyway. Maybe you are supposed to hold the needles that way, at least in picture books! Just don't try it at home.

Hans My Hedgehog

Welcome to Day 5 of the Hans My Hedgehog blog tour, celebrating the publication of Kate Coombs's retelling of the Grimm brothers' tale (illustrated by John Nickle; Atheneum, 2012). I'm delighted to be hosting Hans today for several reasons: I'm particularly fond of folk and fairy tale retellings, which I've written about before; and I can't resist wee Hans holding his fiddle, as seen on the cover of his book.

Kate is the author of The Secret-Keeper, an original fairy tale (paintings by Heather M. Solomon; Atheneum, 2006), and two middle grade fantasy novels, The Runaway Princess (FSG, 2006) and The Runaway Dragon (FSG, 2009). She also blogs at Book Aunt ("Because OTHER people give you clothes and video games for your birthday!"), and I always look forward to her reviews as well as her thorough, thoughtful comparisons of folk and fairy tale retellings.

Hans, she writes in Retellings Beautiful and Beastly, is a close cousin of the Beast in that other, more famous story. He's half a hedgehog, cursed before birth by his father's wish for a son. In the Grimms' version of the tale, Hans's father and mother reject their prickly baby (his mother won't even nurse him); but here, Hans is loved, albeit still lonely. Aside from the cover image, this is perhaps my favorite illustration in the book: I love the way his parents gaze at baby Hans in wonder (as all new parents do, of course!), although his mother still looks slightly stunned.

Kate makes other changes to the original (see the Author's Note), but this one seems fundamental to sharing Hans My Hedgehog with your own prickly little people. And I hope you do. Congratulations, Kate and Hans!

[A final, favorite detail: "The palace seamstress made them clothes for the wedding, and of course she sewed a velvet suit for Hans, though he struggled to fit it over his quills."]

Can We Save the Tiger?

Most of us, if asked, would want to save the tiger.  Just look at the one on the cover of Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins; illustrated by Vicky White (Candlewick, 2011): it's beautiful. But the real beauty of Can We Save the Tiger? (apart from White's illustrations, which I'll talk about later) is that it makes us want to save things like partula snails, and vultures. As Jenkins writes, "Ugly things can be endangered, too."

The text of Can We Save the Tiger? is, like its title, both conversational and direct. Jenkins doesn't pull any punches: we won't ever see a live dodo, kids. "And then there are all those other species that are still around, but just barely." Case studies of tigers, snails, and vultures explain the various reasons why; they're accompanied by examples of other animals that are threatened for similar reasons (because they're running out of room, affected by predators introduced by people, or otherwise accidentally endangered by human actions or disease).  There are hopeful notes ("Sometimes, though, we have managed to do the right thing in time"), but no easy answers.

Jenkins's text is perfectly paired with White's evocative and beautiful illustrations, done predominantly in pencil with touches of oil paint. White earned a master's degree in natural history illustration from the Royal College of Art, in London; her animals (and one orchid, on the Index page) are precisely rendered, standing out against an expansive backdrop of creamy, oversized pages. Often they seem to look right at you, as does the tiger on the cover.

Can We Save the Tiger? is a gorgeous book, but above all, I appreciate its respect for the intelligence and concern of its young readers and listeners. Who just might be inspired to find out how they can help save the vulture.

[I don't think Can We Save the Tiger? is eligible for the Caldecott (White would have to be an American citizen or resident), but I was happy to see it listed among the Best Books of 2011 in the Horn Book Fanfare. Do you have any Caldecott Hopefuls from among last year's nonfiction picture books?]