Reading the Sandman books in their collected form, rather than as they originally appeared (in comic-book-size installments), makes me wonder how my experience differs from that of the readers who read them one at a time as they were released. This volume collects stories that form a single narrative arc, rather than separate stand-alone stories, and I honestly cannot say which I prefer. The stand-alones are fun, intriguing glimpses into Dream's world and workings. The longer stories are gripping and connect more intimately and at greater length with the various characters. Being able to read them all at once, rather than serially, as they were published, must make for a less frustrating experience for the longer stories!
This latest short story collection by Charles de Lint contains stories set in his fictional Canadian town of Newford. Readers of his Newford books will be pleased to see old favorite characters appear in these pages, including Jilly Coppercorn, the Crow Girls and Meran, as well as new characters who are also residents of Newford.
Brother and sister Benny and Penny, two little mice, return in their second book, another of the excellent Toon Book easy readers. In this story, the mice learn that a new family has moved next door, and that they have a child. The two are dying to get a glimpse of the new kid through the fence, but they can't see anything. They know that it's a "big no-no" to climb over the fence and sneak into someone's yard, but when Benny discovers that his pail is missing, and Penny wonders aloud if the new kid took it, Benny is over the fence and into the yard in a flash.
This particular book tells a story that children will easily relate to. Older and younger siblings alike will identify with the relationship between Benny and Penny, who are friends and playmates but do not always see eye to eye. They will get caught up in the story, which is told in simple, readable words for emerging readers - and has all the visual cues to explain those words that any new reader could desire - because it is not just a series of words from a word list arranged in a "kind of" story, like so many beginning readers are. It is exciting, funny, and even involves a little mystery - just what did happen to Benny's pail?
I brought this book home from the library yesterday (it won this year's Geisel Award, and I hadn't read it yet!), and I happened to set it down on the kitchen table. Both my children (in the third and fifth grades) are well past easy readers at this point, but each one picked it up and read it through without any prompting on my part - and both said how cute and fun it is. That is the magic of graphic novels - kids pick them up willingly (as do many adults) - and what's better than graphic novels targeted at the younger set, to make the books even more appealing? Another thing I like about these books is that for kids who are behind their peers in reading skill development, it is less off-putting or embarrassing to read this kind of book around their friends than something clearly targeted at much younger children - their friends will want to read this too, just as my kids did, simply because it's such a good book. Hooray for Toon Books!
Set in London, this engaging mystery features brother-and-sister sleuths Ted and Kat. Ted is the younger of the siblings, and he lays out the mystery when the book opens. Their Aunt Gloria and teenaged cousin Salim have come to visit them on their way to New York City, where they are moving from the north of England. During their visit, they decide to do some sightseeing around London, and Salim expresses a wish to ride on the London Eye, an enormous Ferris wheel that is located near the river Thames.
bined with his sister's own unique perspective, make for an excellent investigative team. Even when the adults pay no mind to their theories and thoughts, Ted and Kat pursue every lead they can think of and turn up some interesting clues.
I adored this book. So much, in fact, that it's taken me forever to get around to writing a review of it because I am certain there is no chance that I'll be able to to it justice. Therefore I've included more images than usual, because as far as I'm concerned, all I'd have to see is one of these pictures, and I'd be off to find the book for myself."When I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed."And here is the accompanying illustration:
Can you resist reading further to hear the rest of the story? I couldn't.
Another story that really tickled me is "Alert but Not Alarmed," in which the government, years earlier, decided to issue ballistic missiles to citizens, who could feel proud that they were doing their part, by being custodians of the missile, to protect their way of life "in an increasingly dangerous climate." The commitment, we learn, is "modest:" "We only have to wash and wax our missile on the first Sunday of every month and occasionally pull a dipstick out the side to check the oil level. Every couple of years a tin of paint appears in a cardboard box on the doorstep, which means it's time to remove any rust and give the missile a fresh coat of gunmetal gray."But soon the missiles are painted other colors, and take on an entirely different purpose in the lives of their custodians...
"Of course, weddings were more complicated in those days, not the short'n' sweet kind you see today."And Grandpa is not joking. The day of the wedding is an adventure fraught with peril and full of puzzling clues and riddles. If he and the bride-t0-be cannot solve them, there will be no wedding. They start out full of confidence and optimism, sure that if they stick together, nothing can stop them. But their troubles are only beginning.
Above is a depiction of one of their adventures, which are depicted as a sequence of several such images, each one more perilous than the last. How can the couple ever hope to make it safely back to their wedding ceremony? I couldn't help but wonder how such a tradition might affect the divorce rate - it would be an excellent way of weeding out the incompatible couples before the wedding!Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009
Also reviewed at:
Books of Mee: "I love love love these stories! Or should I say the illustrations. I’m not sure which I like more: the artwork or the stories. They’re both amazing. I often feel that the stories illustrate the pictures than the usual other way around."
Stainless Steel Droppings: "Some of the stories featured here have a deep melancholy, others are poignant, still others are quite funny. Without a doubt, each and every story is worth reading again and again and each and every illustration fires the imagination.”
Peeking Between the Pages: "It's almost like walking through a dream filled night when the pictures are changing on you quickly. It's very outside the box and would appeal to teens with great imaginations as most of the stories leave you with pieces to figure out on your own."
Book 4 of the contemporary fantasy xxxHolic series opens just before Valentine's Day, and Watanuki is a bit annoyed that his friend/nemesis Domeki is inundated with chocolates and cards from the girls at their school, but Watanuku doesn't receive any. That is, not until his huge crush Himawari presents him with some - but she gives some to Domeki, too, which sucks the joy right out of it. But then Watanuki is given chocolate in a bizarre, dreamlike scene, and the giver is not exactly human - which sets in motion an unexpected chain of events.
I had such a fabulous time reading the first Ottoline book, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, to my girls last year, so when this one arrived at my library, I was very excited to take it home. The girls were so excited to see it that they ran off to read it without me, so I was left, sadly, to read it to myself. I have a feeling that is going to be happening more and more often as they get older, which is a bittersweet feeling. I'm so glad that they are book lovers, but I do enjoy sharing books with them, and I'll be sad when they no longer wish to be read to. At any rate, this second book in the Ottoline series was just as whimsical and creative as the first one, and it cheered me right up.
Lucky, heroine of Newbery-Award-winning The Higher Power of Lucky, returns in this, her second book. She is nearing the end of her tenth year, and the amazing and alluring possibilities of being eleven are on the horizon. Her best friend Lincoln is entering a knot-tying competition, and if he wins, he'll get to go to England for the entire summer - and Lucky feels pretty bleak inside when she thinks of an entire summer without Link.Lucky spotted a worm, a big soft fat one. The word for not wanting to touch a big soft fat worm is squeamish, which has a built-in sound of exactly the feeling in your fingers as they reach for that worm. Being, like Charles Darwin, a scientist, Lucky un-squeamished her fingers. Worms grasp their branch strongly, so you have to get a really firm grip on their bodies in order to pry them off.Can't you just feel those worms in your hands? Patron's descriptions of characters make me feel as though I'd recognize them if I met them on the street - and they reflect the kinds of things a child tends to notice about people. Here is one of the geologists:
Pete was tall, with big arm muscles and an energetic face. When he spoke, his eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and even his ears moved a great deal; they were acrobatic. Although he was clean shaven, his beard was the type to already be growing out again the minute he finished shaving. It was an enthusiastic beard. Lucky often had an urge to touch his cheeks, which looked scratchy in a handsome way, but instead she stared at them quite hard. When she did this, Pete himself would rub his cheek, as if he were feeling it for her.The illustrations are perfectly suited to the story - they evoke the dry-as-dust atmosphere of Hard Pan and the characters are exactly as described by the author. I just wish they had been reproduced in a larger size. Here is an interview with illustrator Matt Phelan.
Vögelein is a most unusual creature: she is a faerie, a tiny, beautiful person with functioning wings, yet she was constructed by a human and is made of clockwork. She thinks, talks, and experiences emotions - and as the story opens, she is frightened.
I had great fun with the Graphic Novels Challenge last year, although I must sheepishly admit that I neglected to post quite a few of my graphic novels reviews. So I'm excited to be joining it again - and even more excited that Chris (of Stuff As Dreams) and Nymeth (of Things Mean a Lot), two of my very favorite people in the book-blogiverse, are hosting it this year. Three cheers for Chris and Nymeth! I'm glad we're going to Mr. Linky this time, because it will be faster and easier to put my reviews up, and I will be better about doing it, I hope! 
This standalone novel, set in the same world as Hoffman's A Fistful of Sky, features that novel's main character's sibling, Opal. Opal is a makeup artist for Hollywood films, and her specialty is special effects makeup. Her current film is a horror movie that is being filmed in a remote town in Oregon, and her job is to transform Corvus, the tall, sexy actor she secretly fell in love with during a previous film, into an otherworldly forest deity.
This novel tells the story of two estranged sisters, Claire Waverly, a caterer who puts an extra magical something into the foods she prepares, and Sydney Waverly, who left her small North Carolina town as a teenager, where she was defined by her last name as one of those weird Waverlys. But now Sydney, on the run from a disastrous marriage to an abusive, controlling man, is coming home. Having a child has changed things for her, and she needs to give her daughter peace and security.
