Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I don’t read enough non-fiction. There. I admitted it. I’m trying to rectify it, having received the requisite lecture after lecture in graduate school about its importance. And now I’m here to say I’ve read a great non-fiction title in the realm of children’s lit — Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Neal Layton. Is this, technically, a picture book? I don’t know (it’s well over the standard 32-pages), but I don’t care. Where ever it gets categorized, it’s one rockin’ piece of non-fiction.

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O yes, it’s here! It’s here! There was a knock on my door this morning, I saw through the window a mail man walk away back to his mail-mobile, and there on my doorstep was the new Sendak title, Mommy?! Joy o joy, and my heart did a little jig or two.

And I’m here to tell ya it is well worth the wait. I think I’ve made it clear (more than once, actually) that Sendak is the object of my literary hero worship, so you may not be surprised that I. am. in. love. with. this. book . . . Happily, I must add, my two-and-a-half-year old loved it, too. This one got the “again! again!” verbal seal of approval after I initially closed its pages.

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Steven Herrick’s By the River, published in 2004, is a beautifully-told novel in free verse. A lovely, lovely book this one is. And I have been wanting to read it since it was first published, but no local libraries had it. Herrick is an Australian literary sensation of sorts, as I understand it, and this book itself garnered many honors in Herrick’s home, including a Children’s Book of the Year Honor Book for Older Readers by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. All of that’s to say that the book is an Australian wonder, but it seems to have stayed there in all its glory a while, mate. But now I have Front Street Books to thank for its Spring 2006 publication here in the States, complete with a new jacket and book design. Finally, I have it in my hands. (And, to give credit where credit is due, I have the honorable Judith Ridge, also a member of the Child_Lit listserv, to thank for recommending the book. She doesn’t know me, but she raved about it on Child_Lit and piqued my curiosity. Besides, she has an informative blog, especially for those who want to keep abreast of children’s lit in a country other than this one).

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I always wanted to read this book, published in 2002. But I never got around to it. I finally picked it up a week or so ago, knowing that the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was looming. And now it’s just one day away. I can still hardly believe it ever even happened.

911: The Book of Help is sub-titled, Authors Respond to the Tragedy. And that’s just what it is — a collection of twenty-two essays, poems, and short fiction by authors who typically write for young adults with drawings by Chris Raschka (done on the day of the attacks as the second tower fell), all created in response to the terrorist attacks. Edited by Michael Cart with Marc Aronson and Marianne Carus, a portion of the book’s proceeds were given to The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund. All of the authors and Raschka donated their work. The title of the book makes a seemingly obvious connection between the date of the attacks to the emergency assistance phone number one uses to call for help. (But this terrible irony of the attacks is something that doesn’t always occur to folks right away). The book is divided into four sections: Healing; Searching for History; Asking Why? Why? Why?; and Reacting and Recovering.

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I could just mention this wonderful book in the picture-books-about-music thread that is going in the comments section of the “Never leave your cat alone” post. A few of us started discussing picture books about jazz, but Eisha also mentioned picture books about the blues, opera, and salsa. So, I could just throw in another comment about Honky-Tonk Heroes & Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country & Western Music (2006), but then you might not see it. And this is one swingin’ book, ya’ll, that you won’t wanna miss. And, yes, the title of my post is rather lame, as I’m trying to work in a Hank Williams lyric. Humor me here.

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I love it when contemporary authors/playwrights/screenwriters/etc. play with fairy tales, as long as it’s done well. There are so many great picture book adaptations, novel adaptations, variations on a theme, stage and screen adaptations, fractured fairy tales, etc. I wish I could live multiple parallel lives at once, and one of the things I’d do is study to become a fairy tale scholar of sorts. I could start out as Maria Tatar’s lackey. A librarian can dream.

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It must be hard, in some ways, to be Lois Lowry or any other insanely talented writer who has written a novel that is considered a modern classic. When you read one of their subsequent works, hard as you try, that pesky classic lingers in your mind and you compare it to the title you’re currently reading. Lots of reviews of Lowry’s work compare what she’s written to The Giver — a superb piece of writing, indeed. I dare say that The Giver became the backdrop against which we compare other contemporary science fiction books in the realm of children’s literature (but that is arguable; feel free to argue). Nevertheless, as Eisha put it when I told her I was reading Lowry’s latest, you can’t crank out The Giver every time, nor should you be expected to. So, let’s look at the merits of Lowry’s Gossamer, published in April of this year, in its own singular light.

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Polly Horvath’s ever-present muse is one quirky and offbeat and funny benefactor. I love her books. Most of them are geared for the child in the intermediate grades, but I don’t care how old you are, you will love Everything on a Waffle (2001). As a Horn Book reviewer put it, Horvath nails subtlety and slapstick, a difficult thing to do. And 2003’s The Canning Season, a Young Adult title, is compelling storytelling. Horvath has many wonderful books; she’s a talented writer.

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I’m a little bit late in getting around to this one. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book (2004, but with a 2005 first U.S. edition publication date), a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book, is one I’ve been wanting to read, and it really was worth the wait. Saying this picture book is moving would be an understatement; it’s heart-rending, yet very hopeful.

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Jimmy Liao’s new 80-page picture book, the magical and evocative The Sound of Colors (2006), is sub-titled “A Journey of the Imagination.” The book’s back-cover blurb and every ad and review you see for it will likely tell you it “celebrates the power of imagination.” This is true, but this sublime book is so much more.

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