Top Hat Mischief Maker

An early snowstorm comes in mid-November causing hundreds of schools to close.  The normal chatter in the household on a snow day is suddenly replaced with careful whispers.  Drawers, cupboards and even the refrigerator are being slowly opened and closed.  Coats, snow pants, mittens, hats and boots are taken from closets.

After a chorus of "We're going outside", silence descends.  When several of the carrots prepared for dinner are discovered missing, a realization begins to form in your mind.  A trip to the front window confirms your suspicions. A snow family is taking up residence on your lawn.

As evidenced by numerous prints on a white-blanketed field, perhaps humans are not the only ones to enjoy winter's deposit.  Snowman's Story (Two Lions, November 18, 2014), a wordless tale, written and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand takes readers into a creatures' world on a snowy, blowy day.  Is it only the wind or is there a bit of magic in the air?

A fancy top sits in the center of the title page as snow swirls around, evergreens coated in white stand behind it, silent sentries.  In the distance an owl flies.  On the verso and dedication pages, the owl swoops in grabbing the hat in its talons only to have it pulled away.

A bunny notices the fallen hat lying in the snow.  Crawling inside its eyes, wide with surprise, are soon seen peeking through the top as the hat is caught on the wind's currents.  It settles quietly on the head of a newly made snowman.  A bear, fox and penguin watch as their new creation comes to life.

Their wonder only increases when a book placed in the snowman's hands is read aloud.  As a crescent moon appears on the horizon good nights are said.  All this time the wily rabbit has been as quiet as the proverbial mouse.  Every so gently it comes out of hiding and...grabs the book and runs!

An alarm is sounded by the man of snow awakening the penguin, fox and bear from their slumber in a nearby cave.  All follow the thief as he heads toward the edge of a cliff.  Can they conquer the chasm, climb a mountain and best the bunny in a snowball battle?  Spotting his tracks in the snow, they find themselves standing in front of a wooden door tucked in the base of the tree.  Behind the door more surprises await the companions.


As you look at the opened matching dust jacket and book case, your eyes see from left to right, back to front, a scene right out of a cherished snow globe, full of good cheer.  There's a hush in the air as the snow falls.  It appears both the snowman and rabbit are reading.  The same dark forest green on the book is used on the opening and closing endpapers.

Will Hillenbrand begins his story on the title page, not wasting a single moment to engage readers.  Rendered in

6B graphite pencil, colored pencil, chalk pastel, pixels, china marker, crayon, ink, watercolor, collage, transparent tape, and kneaded eraser on paper

his illustrations will charm readers with the lively characters whose facial expressions and body movements are absolutely delightful.  How can you not smile at the rabbit hiding in the hat with only the tips of its ears showing?  Softer shades of blue while evoking the chilly out-of-doors work beautifully with the warmer hues of brown, rusty orange, gray, and red used in depicting the animals and the snowman's scarf.

To establish a desired pace Hillenbrand alters his picture sizes framing single pages in white or showing a single page edge to edge.  An individual image may extend across two pages or a page may be divided by two, three or four smaller illustrations.  To focus on a significant moment a smaller visual might be placed in the corner of one that is larger. A wonderful flow is established with elements from one illustration continuing into another or stretching beyond a border.

One of my favorite pictures is one of several scenes when the perspective shifts.  We are looking down on the top of the snowman as his friends are applying finishing touches to their creation.  They are looking up as the hat falls from the sky.  Most of the hat is pictured moving down from the upper left corner.  All we see of the rabbit are two very wide, dark eyes and two ears standing at attention from the top of the hat.  This picture is loaded with anticipation and promise.


Even though this tale, Snowman's Story, written and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand is set in the wintry outside, it is brimming with warmth.  No one can resist the lure of a good book.  I expect this one to be requested over and over again by readers establishing it as a beloved seasonal tale.

I invite you to visit Will Hillenbrand's website by following the link embedded in his name.  He has several videos about his process and workspace.  Educator and blogger at Kid Lit Frenzy, Alyson Beecher, was part of a blog tour for this title.  She has an excellent interview with Will Hillenbrand there.  A couple of fun activities are included in the post.  Enjoy the book trailer.




You might want to use this title in conjunction with Making a Friend by Alison McGhee with illustrations by Marc Rosenthal and other listed with this previous post.

Steeped In Legend

One of the best perks of online social networks for readers is discussing books to be read, books currently being read and books finished.  Nearing the end of my most recent lengthier book, two tweets from a long-distance colleague appeared on Twitter.

Almost done with Egg & Spoon. Reading this passage I am struck once again with the brilliance of words… http://t.co/oJJD8VOGht
— Katherine Sokolowski (@katsok) December 8, 2014

Holy hell. Just finished Egg & Spoon. Didn't expect to cry at the end. Beautiful book.
— Katherine Sokolowski (@katsok) December 9, 2014

I had been reading a few chapters a day because the language is rich and refined but after those two tweets I couldn't wait to discover what the ending revealed.  When I finished on the morning of December 13th I was stunned at the inventiveness of this title and...I was moved to tears too.

Egg & Spoon (Candlewick, September 9, 2014) written by Gregory Maguire is set in the Russia ruled by Nicholas II, son of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna.  Timeless legends exist and shape a classic case of mistaken identity.  Wrongs need to be reconciled with the clock ticking toward disaster encompassing the whole of the country.

Before.
THE HEELS OF MILITARY BOOTS, STRIKING MARBLE FLOORS, made a sound like thrown stones.  The old man knew that agents were hunting for him. He capped the inkwell and shook his pen.  In his haste, he splattered the pale French wallpaper around his desk.  That will look like spots of dried blood, he thought, my blood.

A monk, whose name is of no importance until the end of this tale, is imprisoned in a tower for one thousand days.  Several times during the course of five parts, containing eighty-two chapters, his singular voice offers a pause in his writing of this narrative.  He asks us to think about story, strangers and heroes, Noah on his ark with his wife, children's games, acts of nature, cycles of life, care for others, magic and children.

Elena lives in a group of homes, barely a village, plagued with poverty, starvation hanging heavy in the air.  Her father has died, as have all the other young women.  Luka and Alexei, her two brothers, have left, leaving her to care for her dying mother.  The one is taken before her very eyes to serve in the army; the other when a land owner's household leaves for Moscow.  Her only supporters are a horse doctor named Peter Petrovich Penkin, a good man, trying to care for the remaining villagers and an aging woman called Grandmother Onna.  A freak storm and a lightning strike herald big changes and opportunities.

A sight Elena has never seen rolls into Miersk on tracks in the form of a train.  People of wealth and privilege are traveling toward Saint Petersburg.  It is Elena's desire to go to this city to plead before the Tsar for the return of her brother Luka.  Although it is not part of her plan, she will soon be on that train headed toward her desired destination.

Accompanying her great-aunt Madame Sophia Borisovna Orlova on this train, Ekaterina is to be presented at court during a festival honoring the Tsar's godson.  At thirteen years of age, she sees a possible engagement with a sense of impending doom.  As her station prevents her from being a true friend with Elena, a give-and-take daily conversational exchange starts and continues between the two as repairs are made to the lightning-damaged bridge.  A Faberge egg made as a gift for the Tsar, designed to have three interior scenes, by Great-Aunt Sophia further alters lives adding yet another layer to this tale.

The first part of this adventure ends as the train jerks to a start with Ekaterina, Cat, somersaulting off the platform cradling the egg in her arms to protect it.  Elena is trapped on the train by fear.  The people of Miersk live in fear of retribution with Cat in their midst.  Cat leaves in fear for her life.  Her governess, Miss Bristol and the butler, Monsieur d'Amboise are terrified.  There is so much fear.  Deceptions by more than one party are about to begin in earnest.

The three depictions inside the Faberge egg from legends of the land, Baba Yaga, the Firebird and the ice- dragon, are very real indeed.  Baba Yaga, hag with iron teeth, enjoying children as entrees, is currently deep in a woods living in her home, Dumb Doma, supported by chicken legs ever ready to mobilize.  Bound by a curse, a Siberian tiger, assuming the form of a cat, is her current house guest.  The  Firebird has recently landed in a forest further down the train tracks.  Elena and Cat are about to encounter one or the other.

As the characters get nearer to their destinations it becomes clear the landscape of Russia, the legendary beings and the heart of magic are under attack. The festival, a beloved matryoshka doll, the Prince attending incognito (Anton the godson who craves nothing more than adventure not marriage), imprisonment, eggs lost and found, and a forgery force four plus Mewster to travel to frozen lands at the top of the world.  The scales need to be righted, with harmony restored, or life as all know it will easily slip away.  You will have to remind yourself to breathe as every chapter races toward the resolution; a resolution filled with so much love and hope your heart will hardly be able to hold it.


Within short order my copy of Egg & Spoon began to fill with sticky notes.  It was all I could do not to get out a yellow highlighter. Gregory Maguire's use of language is marvelous.  Every single character with their nuanced personalities is fully developed.  We are privy to this through dialogue and thoughts.

Cinematic descriptions of settings envelope the reader.  Intricacies of history, politics and the class system are woven into every facet of the adventure.  Whether you believe in Baba Yaga, the Firebird or the ice-dragon, you will definitely expect to see them should you ever travel to this part of the world.

At the core of this story (even at the heart of Russia as you will learn) is Baba Yaga.  Here Maguire excels in giving readers comic relief in her snarky life observations.  Through her contemporary references to a future hundreds of years in advance you will find yourself laughing out loud.  Although she views humans and their lives with negativity, she is positively full-steam-ahead in addressing each situation.

Here are several marked passages from the book.

Sooner or later you realize that everything you experience, especially something like being arrested, is never only about you.  Your life story is really about how the hands of history caught you up, played with you, and you with them.  History plays for keeps; individuals play for time.

What a worthless trade, thought Elena.  All those clouds brashing down the sky, bellowing their opinions and knocking down church steeples.  And the only thing that matters to the people of Miersk?  A sensible snowfall befitting the season?
Not a flake of it.  Full of static and sizzle, the clouds swagger on toward the Urals.  They drag the dry tails of their purple greatcoats behind them.  

"I don't know what the crisis is," muttered Great-Aunt Sophia, "but have you ever noticed that the world can hardly fail to be beautiful even when it is falling apart?"

"Oh! Slumming.  What fun," said Baba Yaga.  The mirror worked up a new outfit and showed Baba Yaga sporting a head scarf and a pair of spectacles with elongated, translucent frames that came to a glittery point on each end.  She was sheathed in a slurry-colored coat that plunged cylindrically to the floor, a fulsome tree trunk shorn of its bark.  Drooping from her hands, two overladen paper sacks with handles.  On their sides, in English, the sacks said BLOOMINGDALE'S.


Egg & Spoon written by Gregory Macguire is a beautiful blend of Russian history and legend, mystery and magic, the feasible and the unbelievable woven together by a master wordsmith.  It's an exploration of the human condition at its very best and those moments when it leaves much to be desired.  I guarantee there will be portions you mark or underline for repeated readings.  I think this would be an excellent title for a book group.

To explore this title further please follow this link to the publisher's website.  There you will find a sample chapter, a Q & A with Author Gregory Maguire, a discussion guide and author's note.  This link takes you to another page highlighting other works by Maguire.  Teresa Kravtin, a publisher's rep has compiled an outstanding post on her blog, A Rep Reading.  Here is a link to an interview posted at Here & Now.

Absurd Astonishing Animated Antics

For fans of games like Scrabble or Boggle mixing and matching letters to create words is not only a challenge but fun.  At the mere mention of anagram, their eyes light up and grins spread across their faces.  Perhaps they see letters everywhere they look as did the creator of Alphabet City (Viking, 1995) Stephen T. Johnson or maybe they see the potential in turning a letter into an object which begins with that letter like The Graphic Alphabet (Scholastic, 1996) by David Pelletier.

Reading the newest alphabet title from Enchanted Lion Books I couldn't help but think of all those people who have love for team twenty-six.  Take AWAY the A: An ALPHABEAST of a book! (September 9, 2014) written by Michael Escoffier with illustrations by Kris Di Giacomo stretches possibility into the world of fantastic.  These animals and plants certainly know how to make the best of a wayward letter.

Without the A
the BEAST is the BEST.

Without the B
the BRIDE goes for a RIDE.

As we move merrily forward, we encounter a chair in need of a brush, comb or even a curling iron, frozen water inhabiting a card game and a group of large mammals trapped for the time being.  There will be scars and love but not scars from lost love.  Climbing of trees and stairs will provide exercise for the characters.

Jelly takes a backseat to jam, a primate prospers, and plants make a fashion statement.  While arriving at the sought after peace of a pastoral setting seems hopeless, well-known nursery rhyme characters could be in for a surprise.  A quartet makes the decision to bundle-up against possible cooler temperatures.

Dinnerware provides doom for tiny creatures in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Believe it or not losing the q leads to a day of fun and frolic.  With a page turn we see a crustacean is in need of transportation.

A drastic change in weather, too many snakes and an insect relative lead us toward the alphabet end.  We have seven, an itch and foes following along.  The value of sharing with others heightens as everyone takes the stage realizing the importance of z to a song forever embedded in our minds.
 

The ability to find twenty-six words when a letter is removed which make perfect sense when combined with another is mind-boggling.  Which word did Michael Escoffier think of the first?  Did he think of best or beast, dice or ice or moon or moo?  His sentences sometimes rhyme or create an alliterative thought.  Most of the words will be easily understood or, as in the case of FAQIR, will promote discussion or even the use of a dictionary.  By the time the final page is turned readers will come to understand Escoffier has been building sentence by sentence a wildly wacky title brimming with subtle and not so subtle humor.


When you first open the matching dust jacket and book case, the first thing popping into your mind is a monster is loose gobbling up the letters of the alphabet.  It would appear he is the star of a show highlighting this feat.  On the back (to the left) we see a wee white mouse floating above the clouds by means of an umbrella getting closer to a strand of stars in a night sky.  The identical opening and closing endpapers in spring green with white feature rows of typeface, some askew, of the letters of the alphabet in order.  A turn of the page shows the mouse now with a red balloon still floating near the initial title as a taxi driven by a duck carries a rabbit to its destination.  The more formal title page has the crab as the culprit, grabbing the A.

Twenty-six illustrations span double pages for each of the letters in an array of subdued colors providing a soft texture.  Kris Di Giacomo's interpretation of Escoffier's sentences is at times absolutely hilarious, whimsical, tender and may tell a tale of their own.  In the sentence

Without the M
the FARM is too FAR.

a barn is seen in the distance as a road winds over several hills.  In the foreground a pig and a rooster, clearly exhausted, are sitting on suitcases next to the road.  Stopping next to them in a red car is a grinning wolf with the license plate reading LUP 1.

The white mouse first introduced to readers on the dust jacket and book case is a recurring character in most of the illustrations as are a number of its companions.  Characters seen in one illustration may pop up in another with their role changed; the dog for the letter C is later seen driving an airplane.  Like Escoffier Di Giacomo brings in her own style of humor; for

FOUR wear FUR

it's animals at a tea party dressed to the nines in fur-trimmed coats.  Elements from nursery rhymes or fairy tales appear too.  The final two pages before the closing endpapers are very clever.

One of my favorite illustrations is for

Without the I
STAIRS lead to the STARS.

The illustration from the back of the dust jacket is expanded to show a staircase on the right coming from the clouds.  At the tip top an owl is reaching out a wing to touch a star.  Careful readers will notice the stars are hanging by tiny strings.

This is by far one of the more unusual but utterly fun alphabet books, having appeal for all ages.  Take AWAY the A: An ALPHABEAST of a book! written by Michael Escoffier with illustrations by Kris Di Giacomo is a must purchase for word lovers.  Besides the entertainment factor, the potential for use in the classroom is high.  I can't imagine not having this on my personal or professional shelves.


If you want to see several spreads from the book head over to a review by teacher librarian and blogger Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes.  This link takes you to a Facebook page where Enchanted Lion Books has posted a book trailer.

One Great Forest

I am a collector of words; not necessarily individual words but words put together in ways meaningful to me.  Collections of quotations hold space on my bookshelves.  In my dining room hangs a chalk board with a favorite saying welcoming guests into my home.

Either spoken or written my most cherished collections of words are stories, especially folklore. These tales were the first I heard and learned to read.  I haunt the 398.2 sections in libraries seeking out new narratives or derivatives on old ones.  One of the most enjoyed units working with students is the presentation and comparison of folktale and fairy tale variants.  It's fascinating to listen to the discussions of their viewpoints and to see them realize how each story is a reflection of the culture from which it comes.

When I learned Neil Gaiman was writing Hansel & Gretel (A TOON GRAPHIC, October 28, 2014) with illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti, I knew I not only had to read it but needed to own a copy.  First I read it quickly; then again more slowly marking specific sentences which wrapped me in the atmosphere of his telling.  I sought out other versions; locating my copies of Best-loved Folktales Of The World (Doubleday & Company, 1982) selected by Joanna Cole, Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm (Puffin, 2012) introduction by Cornelia Funke and Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm: A New English Version (Viking, 2012) by Philip Pullman.  For the third time I read Hansel & Gretel told by Neil Gaiman knowing I was reading pure magic.

This all happened a long time ago, in your grandmother's time, or in her grandfather's.  A long time ago.  Back then, we all lived on the edge of the great forest.

With this beginning Gaiman departs from other versions.  With this beginning he invites us to gather close and listen.  This beginning is his once upon a time.

He then describes in detail, in a separate paragraph, the work involved in earning a living as a woodcutter.  When the woodcutter marries we are assured she does her best to support her husband.  When Gretel and then Hansel are born, we are told how they acquire their names.  Their daily childhood routine is laid before us as is the financial stability of the family.  Within these two pages Gaiman has acquainted us more intimately with these characters. We are bound to them.

Poverty strikes not only these four people but the entire land because of the ripple effect of war.  This we can understand through Gaiman's telling; history is replete with battles fought on every continent.  The true horror begins when Hansel overhears his parent's whispered conversation one night.  The suggestion his mother makes and the logic used to reach her conclusion go against most laws of nature.  The father perhaps exhausted by work and worry, hesitantly agrees.

Rather than leave their home in the dead of night Hansel, without telling his older sister, collects white stones in the morning.  She believes they are going to help their father, even though before they were told it was too dangerous.  When left by a fire for warmth, Hansel immediately tells Gretel the truth.  She denies his claims. Thankfully, as you all know, Hansel is able to lead them back home in the moonlight. The response of both parents is more vividly portrayed; again this is Gaiman tying us closer to the events and the people involved.

On their second journey into the woods things are changed; no warning is given, a river is crossed and Gretel is much wiser.  A more sensory element is added for their discovery of the witch's home.  An independence is assigned to the children; an extension from what we learned about them in the first several pages.

Emerging from her home to discover the children eating portions of it, the old woman is portrayed as kindly and sympathetic to the children's situation.  Double meanings, reading between the lines, are easily understood by the reader in a conversation about her eyesight and the lack of any meat in the meal on the table before them.

After the children are sleeping, the wily crone does take Hansel to a cage in a nearby stable and does chain Gretel to a table forcing her to slave about the one room cottage.  Neither child sees the other for weeks and weeks.  Gretel is frequently told of her plans for Hansel while promising to teach Gretel as if she were her daughter.

When the old woman's patience ends at Hansel failing to fatten (the clever boy using a bone instead of his finger to measure his weight) Gretel fires up the oven as instructed, tricking her captor into thinking she is witless and ending their imprisonment.  Upon Hansel's release by his sister and opening the oven to make sure the hag has not survived, they discover a gift which leads to riches.  Their trip home is successful and made happier by the welcome they receive from their father.  As the tale draws to a close Neil Gaiman includes more personal details about the father, mother and siblings making this version all the richer for readers.


The rendition of this story by Neil Gaiman is broader and deeper taking us into the darkest parts of people's hearts mirroring the forest in which they dwell.   Like all good stories it prompts thinking by the readers; the mother's logic and the father's horror at what is suggested but his completion of the abandonment of his children.  Why does only the father take them into the woods in this telling?  Why does only Hansel hear his parents talking?  Why does Gaiman choose to have both children unaware of the second journey?

 Gaiman's decisions to include elements from the original story, leave out others and add his own signature spin are stunning; each choice intricately tied to another. The woman is the children's mother as written in the original not a stepmother, elevating the frightening turn of events for the brother and sister.  Gaiman mentioning the food was drugged when the children first arrive at the home in the forest adds to the sinister intentions of the old woman.  Leaving out the duck assisting them in crossing the river (lake) on their return maintains the resilience they learned from their father.  Here are some sample passages from this title.

The day waned and twilight fell, and the shadows crept out from beneath each tree and puddled and pooled until the world was one huge shadow.

They went so deep into the old forest that the sunlight was stained green by the leaves.  They pushed through brambles, and the thorns tugged at their clothes as if to say "Stay here! Stay here!
But they plunged deeper into the forest.

 She dropped him onto the straw, for there was only straw on the floor, along with a few ancient and well-chewed bones, and she locked the cage, and she felt her way along the wall, back to her house.
"Meat," she said, happily.


We all know of the wickedness found in this story, the lack of light which dominates nearly every portion.  For this reason the illustrations of Lorenzo Mattotti, swirls of black and gray with only small holes of white, are exceptional.  The brush strokes, the play of lines from left to right and top to bottom, of his paintings rendered in India ink create an appropriately eerie atmosphere.  His use of shadows makes the story even more haunting.

All of the images span two pages.  It's the suggestions of things, rather than numerous details, prominent in each, relying on the minds of readers, which adds to their impact.  It's interesting to note Mattotti does include Gretel riding on a duck across the river with Hansel on the shore watching even though Gaiman does not include it in his telling.  What portions of the tale Mattotti selects to illustrate enhance every single moment.


For me this is the most accomplished writing of this Grimm story I have ever read.  Hansel & Gretel written by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti is memorable, eloquent and truly frightening.  It maintains the classic structure of the original but gives it an immediacy not felt previously.

To learn more about Neil Gaiman and Lorenzo Mattotti please follow the links embedded in their names to access their websites.  There is a video at Lorenzo Mattotti's website explaining his illustrative work on this title.  It is in Italian but you can follow the main ideas.    This link to Toon Books includes a wonderful array of information including several pages for reading, a teacher's guide about Hansel & Gretel and several videos with Neil Gaiman.

This telling of Hansel & Gretel is so remarkable I am giving away four copies.  Two will be the deluxe edition signed by Neil Gaiman.  The others are the standard edition unsigned.

A Handy Handbook

It would be impossible to calculate the number of hours I have spent guiding a circle through a maze as it gobbles up dots, all the time trying to avoid Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde.  Pac-Man was and is still one of my favorite video games.  Several years later I spent a considerable amount of time trying to navigate a lone bicycle rider through the hazards of a suburban neighborhood.  I can still see some pretty strange characters chasing after the Paperboy.  I did also manage to grab every opportunity to assist family, friends and students with tracking down the infamous mastermind in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  After completely vanishing into another world for every waking moment one summer playing Myst, I knew I had the potential to be a serious gamer.

Games, video games, can foster creativity, problem solving skills, desire to increase knowledge about a specific subject, healthy competition, and connections with like-minded people.  Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer's Alphabet (POW!, October 14, 2014) written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Joey Spiotto is a guide every gamer will enjoy.  It's a starting point to promote understanding of the basics.

SO...A GAMER, HUH?
HERE ARE A FEW 
THINGS YOU
OUGHT TO KNOW.

While most people are aware of the definition of attack, they will become acquainted with the precision necessary to accomplish this within a game.  For those in the workplace the meaning in gaming associated with boss will definitely bring a smile or two.  Some of the most popular books in our school library are those associated with cheat codes.  You don't have to wait until a holiday to locate Easter eggs hidden by a creative developer.

Point of view, first-person and third-person, is not only for writing but crucial when playing.  Did you know there's a name for the person who gives you problems when you're engaged in a game together?  It's not your special name to protect your identity, handle, but Charlie Brown might understand.  You will be surprised at the interpretation given to certain words like instance or sandbox.

For older video game players the word selected to represent j might incite an outburst of laughter.  Explore a specific genre, master challenges, unleash your inventiveness and learn a new word for a new language as you journey through the alphabet.  Testers, collectors, and seekers can find a spot in this recreational (and professional) realm.

You can lose track of time in a RPG or cheer when you have become unlockable.  For history buffs a term used for designing graphics will increase their appreciation for using the simplest elements to achieve results.  Similar to a term heard in Australia, players can shadow another to learn more about the ins and outs of a game.  Amass XPs, acquire a YOKE and zerg the big guys to enhance your experience.  Learning the lingo letter by letter will have you racing to your next virtual adventure.


Chris Barton has selected twenty-six words either recognizable or unknown depending on your level of expertise as a gamer; defining those using concise conversational sentences.  His explanations use words easily understood by the youngest listener or earliest reader demonstrating his knowledge of the intended audience.  If in a comment he uses a word previously defined it will appear in all capital letters.

To further reader comprehension one of the final pages contains two sentences using all twenty-six terms.  Here is a single definition with a hint of advice.  Barton's narratives ring true of a mentor speaking with avid players.

R IS FOR RPG
Short for Role-Paying Game, and part of a longer acronym (MMORPG, for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).  Filled with QUESTS, characters, strategies, and interactions, these are best played with people you like, because you could be at it for a long, long time.


From the first time you get a glimpse of the book case, it's as if you have entered into a game.  The blue in CHEAT CODE! on the front is carried forward to the opening and closing endpapers.  Using three different shades of the color Joey Spiotto designs four separate screens portraying a game in its various stages.  After an initial title page the formal title page is depicted on the right with our guide, an eager looking guy who begins talking to the reader, on the left.

A diverse, bright and engaging color palette is used throughout reflective of the definitions and the interpretive illustrations.  Many of the pictures extend edge to edge across two pages representing scenes from games.  Others supply pictorial examples of the definitions.  In the case of D IS FOR DEVELOPER Spiotto diagrams the processes to look like the inside of a computer.

Even the single page images flow one after the other, maintaining a reader's interest.  One of my favorite illustrations is for the letter j.  Spiotto features a cave man, wearing glasses, using a hammer and chisel to form the object being described.  The tiny cave paintings of hunters and their prey definitely look like they are straight out of a video game; an early game.


Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer's Alphabet written by Chris Barton with illustrations by Joey Spiotto is sure to peak interest, provide for discussion and get readers excited to begin or continue their gaming.  The size, just right for younger readers' hands, and the heavy paper which lies flat after page turns invite repeated inspections.  After reading this I can hardly wait to play the next round of Pac-Man. 

For more information about Chris Barton's books and Joey Spiotto's additional work (this is his first book) please follow the links embedded in their names which will access their websites.  Barton has a list of additional links taking you to informative interviews about his process in writing this book.  Here is a link to the publisher's website showcasing pages from the book.

Without Alyson Beecher's 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge each week hosted at Kid Lit Frenzy during this year, I would certainly be less informed than I am today.  It's fun each week to feature a title which has taught me more about a variety of subjects.

Those Rascal Residents Down The Road

There are things over which we have little or no control in our lives.  Two of them are bugs and neighbors.  We know the former is essential to maintaining the balance in our environment and there are those who believe they will outlast all other living beings on our planet.  To be truthful one of the benefits of winter is being able to enjoy the out-of-doors without flies or mosquitoes buzzing around your head.  Granted you are bundled up like an Arctic explorer but the joy of being bug free is worth it.  As to the latter, despite your best efforts, it's much like flipping a coin.  People seem to have varying definitions of being friendly, cooperative or even civil.  Some neighbors are downright scary.  

More than seven years ago Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash collaborated on a title, Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug (Harcourt, June 1, 2007), addressing the unexpected presence of a bug in a terrier's life.  Without benefit of words we follow this dog as he follows the bug around a square block in a daytime adventure with less than normal events.  On November 11, 2014 the duo brings readers another longer wordless book (there have been other concept books showcasing this character, the last in 2009), Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press).  In the darkest part of the night trouble looms. 

Unlike the first book the opening and closing endpapers include the title, verso and dedication pages. An ornate pattern looking like flocked-wallpaper in a Victorian home is colored in black and gray.  The scroll work design features cats.  The text for each of the pages is placed on a white, gray and black background surrounded by an embellished gray on gray frame of three different shapes like hanging pictures.  A page turn reveals on the left a complete black canvas except for the tips of three white tails.  

On the first page Bow-Wow is sleeping peacefully on his cozy teal-colored bed.  It's the same shade as his collar.  Through an open window a full moon hangs in the star-studded sky.  Three cat faces are peering over the window sill.  All we can see of the smaller one is a pair of ears.

Bow-Wow is shocked awake when something bites his tail.  As he leaps into the air his bed vanishes out the window.  Howling with unhappiness he follows a trail to a house; the sight stopping him in his tracks.  It is the very definition of haunted.  But a dog needs his bed.

Inside he falls through floors, glares at a picture with moving eyes, and is followed by ghostly cats.  Yelping with pain his tail continues to be nipped again and again.  Several encounters with items thought to be his bed lead him on a chase and frighten an unwanted guest.  Alert and using all his senses, he heads upstairs.  

Terror with a toilet, an exploding closet and a colorful room deepen the spookiness but the nose knows.  Before Bow-Wow can make a move a gigantic shock allows him to see that which cannot be seen.  Leaping in fear out into the stormy night, our furry friend finds himself in a perilous position.  

Lightning ignites a change in thinking.  An eerie exodus ensues. This is a night to remember.  Sweet dreams?

Impeccable layout and design contribute to perfect pacing.  Each of the images is framed in heavy black lines as are many of the elements in the pictures.  White space further delineates each panel.  

Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash vary the number of illustrations on each page to control the flow of the narrative.  All are square or rectangular.  At times, to give the reader an inside scoop, almost as an aside, a single page square will contain a circular picture surrounded by black.  Point of view shifts supplying emotional impact.  

To create an atmosphere, once inside the haunted house, most of the illustrations are done in a palette of gray and black with Bow-Wow, his collar and items in teal the only additional hues used.  To draw our attention to pain or a temporary loss of sight additional spots of color appear.  In the final pages of the story more color is shown, pulling readers toward a warm resolution. 

I have read this book over and over and over and each time I see a new detail.  Perhaps every single element is not initially consciously recognized but it enriches the collective whole.  For Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash to conceive and produce this pictorial story achieving those results is impressive.  

One of my favorite illustrations is divided by black lines and white space framing it into nine elements; Bow-Wow falling down the tunnel.  Several others are prized for their humor; the group of four showing Bow-Wow following his bed up the stairs with the tops of the stairs lifting after he passes to reveal seven ghost cat heads or the five pages involving the toilet in the bathroom switching picture sizes back and forth.  The final three visuals are classic comfort.

If you have a reader who likes a hauntingly good tale filled with twists and turns, then hand them Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors written and illustrated by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash.  It's storytelling at its very finest.  Readers, like me, will be compelled to open the front cover again as soon as the back cover is closed.  

For more information about both of the authors/illustrators please follow the links embedded in their names to access their respective websites.  The Bow-Wow books have their own web pages linked here.  This title is listed as one of The Horn Book Fanfare picks for 2014.  An article appeared in Publishers Weekly, The Return of Bow-Wow.  I thoroughly enjoyed this interview of the two by Philip Nel at The Comic Journal, Nightmare Neighbors, Dream Collaborators.  

Read On Read On Read

Each person stores away their sensory perceptions, what they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, in ways unique to them.  Several people could discover the same thing but remember it differently; noting the color, texture, shapes, the time of day, the temperature inside or outside, a specific noise, or a pungent odor, giving one more importance than the other.  To me what is most meaningful is that they noticed.

When we stop, take the time, to use our senses we realize stories can be found in the simplest everyday events; many beyond our control.  This attention given to heeding those stories not only helps us to grow in appreciation but connects us to each other.  The final title in the Mock Caldecott unit in which Katherine Sokolowski, an educator in Monticello, Illinois and I are collaborating is Blue on Blue (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, December 2014) written by debut author Dianne White and illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner (The House in the Night, 2009) Beth Krommes.

Cotton clouds.
Morning light.
Blue on blue,
White on white.

As the sun rises starting a new day, a blue sky is patterned with clouds.  A young family awakens.  Children play outside as the light brightens.

As a front moves in, the clouds change in size and color.  Cool air rides on rising wind gusts.  A gloomy darkness descends.  Booming and flashing announce the rainfall.  It's an endless cloudburst of noise and wet.

As quickly as it starts, the downpour shifts to drops.  The change is so gradual you barely notice when it stops, but it does. There are glorious puddles and mud around every corner.  Jump! Roll!

As the last rays of a setting sun warm the yard, barn and surrounding land a family gathers together to head back home.  It's a full moon night with a few sparkling stars for companions.  Colors change as sleep comes to all.


When I read the words of Dianne White as she describes a single day from sunrise to wild weather to calm to sunset and into the night, I can feel Mother Nature's heartbeat.  Intertwined with this rhythm are the lives of a young farming family living near the seashore.  Their responses to the sudden summer storm are in complete harmony.

The technique of joining similar or identical words with the preposition "on" creates a beat throughout the story.  Thoughts are tied together with rhyming words at the end of lines and the repetition of words from line to line.  Spare, explicit text brings readers intimately into each moment.  Here is another example.

Dripping dropping.  Never stopping. (page turn)
Never stopping.  Dripping dropping.


It's as if we are peering through wildflowers as the idyllic scene of a small farm home, perched on a hill, enveloped by the sea, unfolds before us upon opening the matching dust jacket and book case. At first look one word comes to mind---stunning.  On the right Beth Krommes introduces us to the mother, her older daughter, their two dogs and a cat.  We see laundry hanging on the line.  On the left is a perfect extension of every element from the front forming a larger picture; the exception is the dark clouds, falling rain and waves on the water.  That special cornflower blue of sky reflected off water is the color for the opening and closing endpapers.  As if cupped in a reader's hands a small visual appears beneath the title; flowers in a garden, the cat, a jump rope, a watering can, an umbrella, a ball in a puddle of water and a single red rain boot.

Crossing the gutter a nearly two-page spread begins the story on the verso and dedication pages with one of the puppies looking outside into the yard through the screen door at the cat.  Laundry in a basket along with a bucket of clothes pins are ready as are the jump rope, ball, red tricycle and rain gear.  All of the twenty-two double-page illustrations and the three single page pictures rendered in scratchboard and watercolor by Beth Krommes heighten the poetic words of Dianne White.  Krommes' portrayal, her interpretation of the words, is nothing short of marvelous.

The fine lines of her artistic style create exquisite images rich in depicting the natural world within which the family resides on their farm.  She brings readers breathtaking panoramas of sea, sky and land, warm snapshots of daily life between the parents and their children, and the importance of the animals wild and domesticated.  Perspectives change from picture to picture or even within the same visual.  We may be looking down upon the house, barn, yard and pond with the farmer plowing to the right as if we are one of the horses on the hill.  We may be inside the girl's bedroom as she and the pups hide beneath the covers as the thunder booms and the lightning flashes.  Outside her window her father is bringing the horses to the barn.  No element is missing.  Layer upon layer of detail is present.

It's impossible to single out a favorite illustration.  The final two pictures for the words

Black on gold... (page turn)
on silver night.

are breathtaking.  The first is inside the barn with the mare feeding from a bucket as the colt is curled around the sleeping black cat.  Hues of brown and gold are defined with black, gray and white supplying cozy comfort.  Farm tools, the farmer's hat and gear for the horse are hanging on or leaning against the walls. Stars and a full moon fill the window.  Our focus then changes outside to the sea filled with rolling waves, a whale emerging to the surface.  Islands are shown in the distance.  To the left a cliff rises; steps formed in the side.  On the top is the house and barn of the family's farm.  A few clouds and stars are placed on the black sky.


The lyrical words of Dianne White enhanced by the artwork of Beth Krommes in Blue on Blue gives readers a truly beautiful book.  I can guarantee at least two things will happen when this book is read either by an individual reader or shared with a group.  First and foremost the elegance read and seen on every page will astound them into silence.  Secondly everyone will look at the visuals over and over noticing new elements each time.  I would plan on getting more than one copy.  You might like to compare this book to TAP TAP BOOM BOOM written by Elizabeth Bluemle with illustrations by G. Brian Karas.

If you wish to discover more about Dianne White or Beth Krommes please visit their websites by following the links embedded in their names.  They were both interviewed about this title at The Nonfiction Nook late last month.  Here is a link to an extensive interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast hosted by author Julie Danielson from several years ago about the artwork of Beth Krommes. Update:  Here is a guest post Dianne White did about this book at Cynsations, a blog hosted by author Cynthia Leitich Smith. 

I think everyone should have this title on their personal and professional shelves.  That's why I am giving away a copy.  Good luck!