02/27/2016
"Anya's Ghost" by Vera Brosgol
Copyright 2011, 224 pages
Fantasy and realistic fiction

Picture taken from books.google.com

This graphic novel is a little bit of everything. There's high school life, there's struggle of immigrant students, there's typical teenage stories, and then there's the ghost. For some reason, I don't actually expect Emily to turn "evil" in the end. I suppose it's her harmless look, what with the dandelion-like hair and round empty eyes. The two main characters also seem to get along really well at first. So I guess in a sense, there's a plot twist too. It's definitely a fun read.

I found this book as a recommendation for students in grades six through eight. That means children aged twelve to fourteen. I feel like an old soul saying this, but reading that recommendation, I totally didn't expect for Anya to be smoking. Granted, she quit in the end - and on top of that she explained that she only started because she thought it looked cool - but that detail definitely caught me off guard. Anya also seem to find smoking her favorite way to kill time. That said, the way the author depicted the other two characters who smoke - Siobhan and Emily - made me think that the author tried to insert a "don't smoke" message after all. Siobhan was never drawn with eyes resembling everyone else's. Her eyes are just a bunch of straight lines - hinting a tired, not-focused, just-not-right-in-the-head look. If that's not obvious enough of a message, Emily is a serial killer. She also only started smoking after she turned evil. So I suppose there's room for debate whether this book is trying to encourage or discourage teenage smoking.

Another detail that I liked about Anya's Ghost is how Anya tried to 'fit in'. Everyone says that Anya blends in real well, but she always thought of herself as the odd one out. Not only that, she kept an eye on other people to identify whether or not they're being "fobby" (Fresh Off the Boat, apparently). Not everyone gets to experience moving halfway across the globe to go to school, and sometimes people don't really get what exactly made it difficult. So I do like how this book touches on the topic. High school and bullying - sadly - goes like peanut butter and jelly here in The States. Even more so if the student looks, talks and/or acts different. I do hope Anya can help students become more tolerant of their peers. Studying abroad, to some people, is less of a dream and more of a problem.

02/25/2016
"Uh Oh!" by Shutta Crum
Copyright 2015 (32 pages)
Realistic fiction

This is my first almost-wordless picture book. There is, apparently, a lot more to reading than just processing text. This book leaves a lot to be read even with only one word every other page (or so): "uh oh!". This makes sense, because the children in the book are only toddlers. I kind of want to say it's an older girl and a younger boy, but really their character design is pretty androgynous. Maybe not so much with the child wearing the orange swimsuit - because those frills look like a skirt - but in general, there's no definite clue to the children's gender. The 'girl' wearing the orange swimsuit, for example, don't have long eyelashes or wearing a flower-shaped hairpin. The other child, whom I assume to be a boy just because of the color of the pants, is wearing a broad sun hat so we can't judge by hair style. At one point in the book, the hat got blown by the wind and we see that the child has a short hair. But then again, so is every child at that age. That said, I'm curious how many readers would immediately go: "Aha! A boy! I was right!" at that point in the story.

When I asked my professor for a book recommendation, she noted that she liked Uh-oh! because it has a lot of unexplained details we can discuss. One thing she noted was that the children are being watched by two women. There's an implication that these women are their mothers, but then again there's no explanation. So anyone can draw any conclusions. Maybe the children are not siblings after all. Maybe they're cousins. Maybe they're just neighbors. Why is it that we immediately assume they're on a family trip anyway? It's interesting to see what sort of assumptions people can come up with reading this book. Aside from that, the story is fun, simple and easy to follow. Hats off to Patrice Barton for her beautiful drawings.

02/25/2016
"Waiting" by Kevin Henkes
Copyright 2015, 32 pages
Fantasy

Picture taken from kevinhenkes.com

I went off Googling a little bit before I received this book on the mail. People seem to really, really like it. They like it so much, Waiting won two prestigious awards. I like it too. The illustrations are plainly adorable. The slinky rabbit is just too cute, and if the "Puppy on A Sled" toy is for sale somewhere I would probably line up to get one. So I do like it. But I don't know if I like it as much as everyone else does. I finished this book the same time I finished the last three books I posted about. I waited until now to review it because I don't really know what to write about Waiting. I'm not sure what the story is about. That is, if there's any to begin with.

The whole idea of the book is that each of the toys on the windowsill is waiting for something (except for the Rabbit, who just likes to look outside the window). And then as they wait, they watched as varying natural phenomenons - such as storms, snowfall, rainbows, and many more - come and go. At one point there's this ceramic elephant that joined them. However, unlike the five toys that are anthropomorphic - as in they change positions and facial expressions in every page - the elephant looked lifeless. And then by the next page it's already in pieces underneath the windowsill. By the end of the book, A Cat With Patches joined them. The cat turned out to be a matryoshka (Russian nesting doll) and later we see it looking out the window along with all of its smaller pieces. The book stated that it's not waiting for the rain, the moon, the wind, or the snow. It's just waiting for the next thing to happen. So I guess the bit about the cat "waiting for the next thing to happen" is supposed to be the ending note that makes the story full circle. However, as I looked at all the Cats with Patches cramming in the windowsill with the original five toys, I found myself raising an eyebrow muttering: "huh?"

Then again, maybe I'm just not as critical as most people. Someone somewhere wrote that they found this book reassuring, because waiting is a huge part of children's lives. I can't say that's not true, but I also can't see how that's a connection I would make. In fact, I can barely make any connections at all.
On one hand, I suppose it's nice to have a book with a vague story line so people can have their own interpretations about what's going on. On the other hand, I find that most readers are more inclined to follow through with a book if they really know what the story is all about. I'm more on the latter part. That said, I still like this book. It's simple, short and sweet. With short texts and adorable, detailed illustrations, Waiting would make a nice reading practice for young readers.

02/24/2016
"Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras" by Duncan Tonatiuh
Copyright 2015, 40 pages
Nonfiction (informational, biography)

Picture taken from Google

This book has a few features that set it aside from your typical informational picture books. First of all, there are a few original drawings made by Lupé with some sort of a discussion question written around it. For example, in the part of the story where Lupé realized that Mexico City is becoming more modern, the question was: "Don Lupé drew some wild skeletons racing and trampling one another. Was he saying that... we can try to go faster but one day we will all reach the same finish line and become calaveras?" 

For a book specifically designed for young readers, that was a pretty nontraditional question to ask. Most people like to ask children how they feel about school, friendship or the everlasting classic: "what do they want to be when they grow up?". Discussions about death and mortality is often avoided, as it is considered "grim" or "harsh". Since the original drawing is wordless, I find that Tonatiuh must have chosen that question on purpose - because there are many many ways to interpret a wordless picture. I'm not for or against the view Tonatiuh took on this book, but I like how - this way - he took the feel of the culture (the idea that skulls - representing death - is the opposite of scary) and spread it all around. After all, I feel like it's clear as day that Tonatiuh is aiming for a global audience. Throughout the book I see explanations and pronunciation guides for people's names and what specific cultural items are called. I find it a little surprising, honestly, since most people in The States are hugely familiar with the Spanish language. I mean, at least that's my impression of them. I do enjoy the explanations and glossary though. It makes the book feel more accessible. I did find smaller texts half-hidden throughout the pages that has no English translation though. I imagine it serves as some sort of an Easter egg for those who speak the language.

Second of all, the bits about printing technique. I honestly don't know how much attention or retention can the average person pay to the four-panel, how-to explanations of lithography, etching, and engraving techniques included. I, for one, certainly don't understand it that much. That said, I do like having them explained instead of simply mentioned. The whole idea of a biography book is so we can get to know someone we never got to know. So, since printing is Lupé's world, I do appreciate having that detail included and explained - however minimally. Reading through this book, I got a feeling that Tonatiuh asked himself what would his main character want people to know if he traveled through time and say: "hey, want to hear my story?".

In short, I can see how much effort was put into the making of this book. The illustrations are adorable too!

02/24/2016
"Drum Dream Girl" by Margarita Engle
Copyright 2015, 48 pages
Nonfiction (biography)

Picture taken from Google

This picture book tells the life story of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga: a young musical prodigy from 1930s Cuba who is only referred as "drum dream girl" throughout the story. This book is written in poetry form, which means there are more pictures than texts. So, yes, it's a short read. But you really can't put down this book so quickly. I took my hat off for illustrator Rafael López.  His drawings are vibrant, colorful, eye-catching and full of symbols starting from the cover picture, to the summary page, all the way to the back cover. I especially like all the symbols implied within each drawing. For example, in the cover photo above, we can argue that the drum sitting up on the moon symbolizes the fact that Millo is restricted from practicing her hobby. On the other hand, we can also argue the same detail symbolizes how Millo connects with her Cuban culture through playing musical instruments. What else? I can't pull up another guess from the top of my head, but I love it when books leave wordless questions. That way, there are no right or wrong answers.

The poem inside is beautiful too. There are repetitions, rhymes, similar-sounding words like "drum" and "dream", and most of all a tale to tell. The story is easy to follow, the words easy to read, but the plot still detailed. Sometimes the book would switch in page orientation from landscape to portrait. That's probably just so they can fit even more pictures, but I also think of it as a nice attention grabber for those of us who don't usually sit through a whole book. In addition to that, the illustrations - which I just cannot praise enough - will surely keep readers' attention long enough for them to come from any age group. In short, this book is a work of art both in narration and illustration. It's a great tribute to a brave young girl whom I wish I've heard of a little earlier.

02/22/2016
"The Crossover" by K'wame Alexander
Copyright: 2014 (237 pages)
Realistic fiction

Photo taken from Wikipedia

I must say, when I first picked up this book, I thought for sure I won't enjoy it. I'm not a sports person. I know nothing about any kind of sports, and even by the first glance it's already obvious that sports is what this book is all about. What made me give The Crossover a try is the fact that it's written in poetry. Now that is right up my alley.

I was not wrong. The Bell father and sons live and breathe basketball. The book was written from the point of view of one of the twins, Joshua Bell, in the form of free verse poetry. As a result, the book was packed full with terminologies I have zero idea about. "Crossover" is about the only basketball terminology that Josh took the time explaining. Speaking of explaining things, Josh Bell's diction is one of the many aspects of this novel that I really like. One thing about Josh that I immediately notice, beside being skillful in basketball, is that he has a wide range of vocabulary. Every so often he dedicated a whole page to define a word dictionary-style, along with examples of the word being used in a sentence. Most often, those examples correlate to the events in the book to keep the story flowing. I feel like it's a great way to help readers learn new words whether they meant to or not. For example, I don't think I would ever forget what "pulchritudinous" mean after finishing this book. It means: "having great physical attractiveness".

See?

Another thing that I found unique is how personal, casual, and day-to-day this book came across. Instead of imagery, Alexander uses font size, paragraph alignments, and even letter arrangements to describe what's happening in Josh Bell's head. We see words that are spelled in all caps, diagonally. We see words that have capital letters every other letter. We see words that are spelled downwards. All these made me feel Josh Bell's excitement and thrill when he's playing on the court along with him. And then, later on as Josh feels more sad or frustrated than excited, the font style and size goes back to normal. Lastly on his county championship game, we see the funny font sizes again.

Too many people are discouraged by novels due to the sheer density of words in each of its pages. Many more are turned off by the amount of "big words" found within the sentences. So the way Alexander wrote The Crossover made this novel a lot more down to Earth, just so anyone - avid readers or beginners, basketball fans or non-sport enthusiast - would feel welcome to pick it up and give it a try. After all, The Crossover is not a hundred-percent sports. There's also family, friendship, loss and mourning. Although there are many obvious hints about Chuck Bell's poor health since the beginning, the part where he passed on still hits me hard. I suppose stories feel different when told through poetry. There are less words, so it leaves the mind to fill up more gaps - making closer connection between the story and real life. In short; this novel is poignant, funny, unique and memorable. If you haven't read it yet, do it now.

02/19/2016
"Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
Copyright: 1987 (192 pages)
Realistic Fiction

Picture of book cover by Amazon

First and foremost, I think I've found my new favorite author. This book is older than I am, but I have only heard of it recently. Now I know what I've been missing out on. I love Paulsen's intense, short-and-sweet way of describing the story. I always said that I connect less with books that are in third-person point of view. Not with this one. By the end of the book I spent time browsing through the fine prints to make sure it's actually fiction. It felt a little too real.

I don't know if Hatchet was originally advertised for young readers. I feel like this is one of those books that anyone can read and enjoy no matter which age group they're currently in. It's a blend of self-discovery, coming of age, adventure, thrill, and a hefty dose of nature appreciation. I really like the scene about the bear when Brian first got stranded, and a similar one with the wolf pack later on. I love how it explains how wild animals, even the ones with fangs and claws, are not the blood-thirsty man-eating monsters that we always depict them to be. They only attack if they feel threatened, not just because they're inherently vicious. I love how, later in his time in the woods, Brian smiles and nods to the wolf pack as they calmly walk past him. I also like how, of all things on Earth, the two wild animals that truly have hurt Brian is a porcupine, a skunk, and of course that one crazy moose. I've seen some similar survival stories where the hero picks up weapons and then randomly go off fighting lions or tigers just to highlight their bravado. In contrary to that, Brian is a very modest character. He doesn't carry the "miracle child" image, much less the "I'm a survival expert, everyone learn from my awesomeness" one. I find it refreshingly honest how the first thing Brian did after he survived the plane crash was not scouring the woods for edible seemingly-inedible items, or defeating a dangerous predator. Instead, he sat down and slept. For two days.


Painfully realistic, blatantly honest details is a constant theme throughout this novel. Starting from how the pilot got a heart attack (cartoons and movies like to depict heart attack as a person dancing funny before they comically scream and faint), to Brian's low point where he attempted suicide, and finally to how Brian's view changed even long after he went back to his life. The typical happy ending that most people expect for this kind of story is Brian's parents reuniting. That did not happen in Hatchet. Another typical ending would be for Brian to become rich and/or famous instantly for the rest of his life. That did not happen either. Brian is still Brian, a young teenager whose parents just divorced - except that he survived a plane crash and lived on his own in Canadian wilderness for a couple months. The changes that happened to him was very personal (how he admired food variety and availability in the supermarket), which - for me anyway - made him easier to admire.

Another topic that this novel touched is divorce. We never seem to figure out how to talk about divorce to our children. What do we say, what do we do, how will they feel... All these questions are probably a century old and nobody can really answer them. There are probably tons of print out there that aims to "water down" the divorce talk to children. It's often something like "mommy and daddy may not live together anymore, but they will still love you the same!", followed by attempts of silver-lining it ("you will now have TWO Christmas presents! Yay!"). I'm not saying it's bad or wrong, but it's getting old. Paulsen did something else. Instead of taking on the 'grown-up' image to tell the kids what divorce is, how it works and how to feel, Paulsen chose to simply describe - in detail - how was thirteen-year old Brian Robeson's experience with his parents' divorce. There was never a sense of "this is how you ought to feel, say or do in the event of your parents' divorce" in the book. There was just a description of how Brian felt; what made him sad, what made him angry, what made him feel everything else. I have never been in Brian's shoes, but I suppose sometimes that's all they need; a story to relate to. Just so they know whether or not feeling sad or angry means they're a bad person.

I could go on and on about this short novel. There was so much to love, and so much to talk about.

02/19/2016
"Gaston" by Kelly DiPucchio
Copyright: 2014 (40 pages)
Anthropomorphic fiction, realistic fiction

Picture of book cover taken from Google

As an avid dog lover, I find this picture book endearing and fun to read. The illustration is simply adorable, and the story leaves much to be discussed. For example, although there are hints about Gaston being the odd one out, the book didn't mention about anyone in his family finding his behavior weird (although the readers might). However, when Gaston and Antoinette swapped places, we can see from the illustrations how much their new families found their behavior odd. What I like most is when Gaston lines up with the other bulldogs, and Antoinette lines up with the other poodles, the text says: "now it looks right". But then when the families noticed that they prefer to have their mismatched children instead of the 'correct' one, the text says: "now it feels right". And then, there's also this book's summary on Google Books, which read: "a bulldog and a poodle learn that family is about love, not appearances".

The book did not mention how Gaston ended up with the poodle family, and Antoinette with the bulldog family. However, I like to think this book is aiming to talk about adopted or foster children, who may or may not look like their adoptive or foster parents. I happen to know someone who adopted a child from a different racial group myself, and the stories I heard from them showed how little most people accept the idea of a family that doesn't all look like one another. Said people still ask how are my friend related to her daughter, even after they heard the child calling my friend "mommy". In short: I think it's great how we have picture books like this one to shine a spotlight on every different kind of families we have out there.