Children’s Librarian Book Reviews

Into the Bewilderness by Gus Gordon

 

Into the Bewilderness is a quirky graphic novel that blends slapstick and philosophy, cynicism and sweetness, in a celebration of staying home and exploring the world, of getting lost and finding what you already had, and of complaining and, well, celebrating.
Two housemates, a bear named Luis and a mole named Pablo, live in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe “anywhere is actually a long way from everywhere. So technically we live everywhere.” Luis wins two tickets to see The Weary Mermaid in The Big City. He asks everyone he knows, including their sort-of-Yeti friend Ray, but no one can or will go, because the city is too different. He finally asks Pablo, but his little friend claims he doesn’t want to go either.
And yet, after a few minutes (during which Luis mostly naps), Pablo misses his friend, even Luis’s awful songs. So the two make their way, sort of following the map at the beginning of the book, which has such whimsical features as “Wet River,” “The Really Pointy Mountains,” and “Weird Rock Place.” It turns out they’re just heading to the bus stop, since the city is too far away for Pablo’s little legs. When they finally arrive at their destination, they learn surprising lessons about friendship, “culture,” and more.
The writing is, as you can see, very offbeat, but the illustrations range from stunning landscapes to signs that say things like “No Guitar Smashing” and “Baa & Grill.” I’ve read this book twice so far, laughing out loud the first time, and yet I feel like I still haven’t fully taken the book in. Although the publisher recommends this for ages 8 to 12, I’d go higher, like bright ten-year-olds to younger teens, although obviously adults will get different things out of it. There’s nothing inappropriate, beyond some name-calling and some off-page squirrel-eating, but I wouldn’t recommend this to younger kids, because it’s a little too out there. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone, but I highly recommend it to those it would click with.
I’m going to let the book have the last words, from the last page–
RAY: It’s been a lovely evening, but I think better get…
LUIS: Lost?
PABLO: Lost is how I’d feel without Luis, Ray. He’s the kind of friend any critter would love to have.
RAY: That is true. I seem to be lost with friends AND without them.
LUIS: I am lost in this pie!
PABLO: Slurp
RAY: Lick
LUIS: Gulp
The House That Floated by Guojing

The House That Floated by Guojing is a wordless picture book about a couple who fish together and raise a child, while living in a tiny red house on a cliff. They befriend dolphins and the man carves a red dolphin out of wood. He passes this carving skill on to their son. Time passes and the water rises, so that the clifftop becomes the shore. The family puts their house on a raft and tugs it out to sea. Guided by a lighthouse, they find a new land. The local people help them raise their house to the cliff by the lighthouse.

The soft colors are in a limited range, so that each color counts, like the red of the house, and the pink flowers on the tree they must leave behind. The layout is like a comic book or graphic novel, with as many as seven pictures on a page, as well as two-page spreads for their journey to their new home. Sometimes a minute passes between pictures, sometimes a year. Without words, the “reader” must read the pictures, discover the story that links this all together. The mood is bittersweet at times, but ultimately lovely, with the interwoven themes of home, family, and time.

Recommended for ages 5 and up, preferably a parent and child discussing what they think is happening, as they go along. There is also a subtle environmental message beyond the book, which grade-school kids can appreciate.

Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Kanata

Chi’s Sweet Home is a manga series (but read left to right, Western style) by Konami Kanata, with the spin-off Chi’s Sweet Adventures. Chi is an adorable and very curious kitten who wanders off from her mother and finds a new home with the Yamada family. Unfortunately, the Yamadas live in an apartment building that doesn’t allow pets. The family has to hide the cat from the superintendent, but Chi has a tendency to wander off and have little adventures. Both indoors and out, she learns how the world works, although sometimes drawing the wrong conclusions. The English translation is smooth and funny, and the full-color pictures are vivid and bright, capturing the different moods, including sadness when Chi remembers her mama. I recommend this to fans (ages eight to adult) of manga and/or of cats.

Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash

Are You a Horse? is a laugh-out-loud story about a cowboy who gets the gift of a saddle, without knowing what a saddle is, or a horse! He talks to everyone and everything he meets, in his bumbling but scientific way asking, “Are you a horse?” He starts with a rusty wagon telling him, “A horse is a living thing,” and comes closer and closer, until he meets a four-legged creature eating grass. But when he hears, “I’m not a horse, I’m a zebra,” he becomes very upset. In the last five pages, he and the readers get surprises.

This picture book works well in a group setting but would also be a good fit for a parent (especially one who likes to do funny voices) and child (ages 2 to 7) looking for a silly but educational Year of the Horse read-aloud.

Cats in Construction Hats by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & Leeza Hernandez

Poem Review
Different colors for cats, and hats.
In the middle of construction,
“Helpful” rats cause vast destruction!
“Oh, no!” “Watch that!” “Boom!’ “Crash!” “Eek!” “Drat!”
But it’s a storm they can weather.
Red Cat tells them, “Work together.”
The cats and rats work as a team.
And they build a home like a dream.
Prose Review
The picture book Cats in Construction Hats by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen & Leeza Hernandez is more than just a simple concept book.  It’s adorable, funny, inspiring, and recommended for ages 2 and up, where each age and stage can get something different out of it.

Just Like Millie by Lauren Castillo

Just Like Millie is a heartwarming story about a girl who is very introverted but opens up when she and her mother adopt a very friendly dog named Millie. It’s never stated whether the nameless protagonist, who tells the story, has social anxiety, but I think that makes the book more relatable for a wide variety of kids. The girl’s mother is very patient with her, just giving little nudges along the way but mostly meeting the girl at whatever level of interaction she’s ready for. In the end, when Millie makes a friend at the dog park, our narrator decides to befriend the other dog’s little girl.
The illustrations match the warmth, gentleness, and subtle humor of the story, with colors that suggest autumn, although it looks like this takes place in a sunny spring. The setting is a walkable city with an ethnically diverse population, including lots of kids. The initial endpapers show the narrator and her mother moving into their apartment, the girl looking uncertain and perhaps intimidated. Then the closing endpapers show that same block, with the two moms chatting, while their daughters walk the dogs and seem to be happily talking a mile a minute. There’s now a black cat in a window, and a bearded dad on a bike, his baby in the seat ahead of him. It’s like the whole world has opened up a little more for everyone.

Imagine a Day by Sarah L Thomson and Rob Gonsalves

Imagine a Day is a 2005 picture book that pairs poetic text by Sarah L. Thomson with surreal paintings by Rob Gonsalves.  Together, they create a dream-like world where children create, build, and explore.  The illustrations in particular are worth poring over, because they are like M.C. Escher’s art, bending dimensions and reality.  Recommended for children 4 and up, and any adults who recognize that picture books don’t have to be simple.

Volcanoes, written by Nell Cross Beckerman and illustrated by Kalen Chock

Volcanoes is children’s nonfiction that is as gorgeous and entertaining as the finest picture books. Beckerman’s style is simultaneously simple, poetic, dramatic, and, of course, informative. For instance, one page says in large font, “POP?!” and then the page opposite explains what a volcano is. Even the spacing of the words affects the “story.”

Chock’s lovely but sometimes rugged illustrations provide perfect support for the words, while telling their own story, as with the range of colors. One nighttime scene is in shades of purple, but red and orange weave their way through the book. Nature is represented as not just volcanoes but green islands in a blue sea, and star-speckled skies. Humans are part of this story, from distant silhouettes to close-ups of sturdy shoes as people watch the volcano, “Oozing like thick, hot honey. Glowing taffy.”

This book is recommended for aspiring scientists as young as three, since parents can decide how much of the text to read, and even little ones would enjoy the pictures. Yet there’s enough here to hold the interest of reading-on-their-own older kids, up to about age ten.

Crush by Svetlana Chmakova and 

Not If You Break Up with Me First by G.F. Miller

Both Crush and Not If You Break Up With Me take humorous looks at the complicated interpersonal dynamics of middle school, from peer pressure to friendship to dating, especially various forms of communication and miscommunication.  In Chmakova’s graphic novel (Book Three in a series but it works well as a stand-alone), Jorge is a big, tough, but considerate boy, who uses his strength for good, earning him the nickname of “Sheriff.”  However, he is very quiet, especially around his crush.  Miller’s novel alternates between the third-person perspectives of best friends Eve and Andrew, who are pressured into becoming a couple and then find themselves scheming to each get the other one to dump them.  In both stories, friends, enemies, and frenemies make everything more difficult, especially when they’re trying to help.

Chmakova and Miller in their different ways explore all the mishaps and eventual resolutions with surprising depth, while keeping the characters relatable, even as we wish we could save them from impending disasters.  Both books are funny, although Chmakova’s humor is generally gentler.  (Miller’s book would actually make a great graphic novel, too, and I can see either story as a movie, or short-run television series.)  Jorge, his crush Jazmine, Eve, and Andrew all get happy endings (as do some of the supporting characters), but not necessarily the happy endings they’re expecting.

These books are recommended for ages 10 and up.

Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari

Fungi Grow is a beautifully illustrated nonfiction book that offers fungal facts in a clear and yet poetic way.  Children as young as three can enjoy the watercolor pictures and the text with larger font.  Smaller, less simple but still approachable text offers more information for kids at old as 9 or 10.  Gianferrari shows that fungus can be deadly but also beneficial, and always interesting.

 

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