OK… this is a really happy day for me, except for the part where LJ is suddenly reading my html as plain text. Why won’t the pretty book cover show up? [EDIT 11/9 – I finally got the picture to work.]
Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton Here we have a delicious book for Library Mama – a romance set in a knitting shop in a magical town. Chloe Hobbs is the 30-year-old orphaned daughter of a sorceress. Unfortunately, she shows no signs of any magical powers herself. A protective spell set by her ancestress keeps everyone in the town safe from accidents and from outsiders noticing things like no one in the town dying. But the spell is obviously weakening – a woman who walks briefly into Chloe’s yarn shop is found drowned, possibly murdered, later that night. Chloe needs to get her powers fast, and start reproducing to ensure that the Hobbs line continues. Even before she gets her powers, she has to make sure that the police officer the county has sent in to investigate the death doesn’t find out too much – like that the people who pulled her body out of the water are werewolves. Business at Sticks and Strings is booming, as the internet buzz is building for the yarn store where you always get gauge and the technique you couldn’t get at home always works. While the bestseller The Friday Night Knitting Club assumed no knowledge of knitting, this book is written for knitters. Instead of beginner info, it’s filled with tips on lace and sock knitting and sprinkled with references to Koigu and Cascade 220. A magical never-empty basket of roving features prominently as well. But back to the police officer – Luke MacKenzie sticks out like a sore thumb with the only Biblical first name in a book filled with mostly ancient pagan names. Naturally, since it would probably strengthen the power of the protective spell for Chloe to fall in love with a sorcerer or a faery, she falls right for the one man who shouldn’t know anything about the magic. It’s a delicious, enthralling yarn.
The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria. Translated by Elisa Amado. There are a whole lot of picture books about colors. This one is different. You really need to touch it – but I’ll do my best to describe it. It’s all black, with white text. If you look, and then feel, you’ll notice that the text is in Braille on the top of the page, and printed on the bottom half. The pictures are black on black raised images, for feeling, not looking. It starts like this “Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as baby chick feathers.” Red is sour like unripe strawberries, and hurts when he skins his knees. The B-word is never mentioned, but this is a fabulous book for exploring the topic, as well as for just thinking about what colors mean. My only sad note is that Mr. FP only wanted to read it once – so maybe it’s better for kids a little older. Certainly every adult I’ve shown it too has been enthralled. We don’t get too many books from Venezuela here in the states – particularly not picture books. There’s a good reason this one did.
Mrs. McMurphy’s Pumpkin by Rick Walton. Illustrated by Delana Bettoli Mrs. McMurphy has a pumpkin problem. Each one of the four mornings before Halloween in this cumulative tale, a pumpkin shows up with additional features and threatens to eat her when it has its teeth. Though this threat might otherwise make the book a little scary for young readers, Mrs. McMurphy (who appears to live alone) never shows any fear. Instead, she politely but firmly tells the pumpkin to mind its manners and sends farther and farther away – even to the North Pole. Along the lines of (attempting to quote without the book here) “And what lovely ears they are! But I’m afraid no one is allowed on my counter.” The pumpkin, menacing as it is, doesn’t have a chance. I’ve never really gotten into Halloween books for kids, but this one is a charmer. Mrs. McMurphy’s kind, no-nonsense attitude is really funny, while at the same time offering a strong example of Independent Womanhood. The beautifully detailed, folksy illustrations make this a story to savor.
The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson Edinburgh, late 1930s. The world is on the brink of a second world war. Fifteen-year-old Sophie’s boarding school is shaken by the bombing attacks of rogue explosionists. (It took me most of the book to realize that Sophie herself was not going to become an explosionist. Whew.) In this world, Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo and Europe is divided into quite different countries – Scotland is not part of the United Kingdom but the New Hanseatic League. Spiritualism gained ground at the turn of the century, rather than fading out as it did in ours. You’ll notice that I found the setting fascinating, particularly as the differences between this world and ours are laid out in one place only in the author’s note at the back. But the setting sets off Sophie, a smart and thoughtful girl forced by the impending war to make important decisions about her future now. Very few girls are going to university, with many joining the military and the brightest and most beautiful going to join IRLYNS. IRLYNS (pronounced, irrationally but amusingly, irons) is a top-secret program which trains women to be the driving force to help high-placed men do great things in service to the country. The inequality of this, in a country where women do have high-ranking jobs, is very much an issue for Sophie, much as she wants to serve her country. Her daily life includes trying to hide a crush on her chemistry teacher, cutting gym class to have tea with the professor next door and his housekeeper’s visiting Danish nephew, Mikael, and attending her great-aunt’s regular séance. Then the medium from the séance is murdered, and Sophie starts hearing voices herself. Sophie and Mikael will both have to get over their distrust of spiritualism to solve the mystery, which might be linked to the war, but is definitely putting them at risk. You might not have time to think about the issues that are being raised while you’re racing to see if Sophie and Mikael make it through, but though the setting is historical, the issues are still blazingly relevant. This is a rare and delightful gem.
Castle Corona by Sharon Creech Here is a beautifully illuminated story with similarly formal and poetic language. In a castle high on a hill live a king and queen with their three children, none of them terribly likeable or happy with where they are. In the village below live two orphan children, trying to remember the family they once had and wishing that they lived in the castle. One day the shout of “Thief” goes through the village. Everyone, in the castle and village, tries to find out what has been stolen, who the thief is and what they should do about it. The king consults his hermit; the queen decides she wants a hermit of her own. The two princes want to do different things, both from each other and from what they have been doing; the princess wonders what use it is to be beautiful. And the two children wonder what to do with a pouch they have found. Short chapters that alternate between characters create a sense of urgency, but this book is really more about the characters and the questions about life than the fairly obvious plot. This dreamy tale will be a favorite put in the hands of the right child at the right time.
Palestine by Joe Sacco Journalist Joe Sacco visited Palestine for a couple of months during the first Intifada, the early 1990s, and reported in graphic form. Very graphic. There are the muddy streets and tiny houses of the camps, the torture, even an honor killing. Also, a whole lot of sitting in rooms full of men, drinking tea and talking. The bumpy, less-beautiful than reality pictures are punctuated with wavy wedges of text describing what he’s seeing, gritty days in Palestine alternating with sparkly, modern nights in Jerusalem. This is not book with a coordinated message or a neat ending. It’s reality, as told to the author by people on both sides. While Israel doesn’t come off looking like the noble saviors of democracy in the Middle East the politicians talk about, the Palestinians are equally racist, and fighting for traditions that are bluntly appalling. If you’re looking for a jumping-off point into modern history of the area, this is a good one. Pair it with Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds for views from both sides of the road blocks.
Reading Magic by Mem Fox Mem Fox is a well-known picture book author as well as one of Australia’s leading literacy experts. In this book, she talks about how reading skills and a love of reading can come about simply and naturally by reading aloud to your children. Just ten minutes a day, she says, and you’ve re-established your family bond after a day apart, or smoothed the tensions of a day together. Her advice is mostly uncontroversial – don’t try to teach your children to read before school. Just read good books to them and have fun with it (she’s got suggestions for games). Having done some more reading about literacy since I last read this, I can see where she has some differences from other literacy theories. She says that phonics is an advanced skill in English, best taught only after children have started reading you back the book you read to them a hundred times. Fox doesn’t agree with children chanting words out of context either (or learning spelling from lists). Language only makes sense in context, and that’s how it should be learned. These are hot-button items in the literacy world, but she’s convincing and hey, if you’re just reading aloud, what does it matter? She also divides literacy up into only three basic skills, where the ALA’s 
Jack Jones and the Pirate Curse by Judith Rossell Jack Jones is an ordinary elementary school student. One day, out of the blue, a parrot named Poll flies up and starts telling Jack the craziest tales. He says that Jack is descended from Blackstrap Morgan the pirate. Now that his Uncle Mungo is dead, Jack is his closest living male relative – and that means that he’s next in line for the Pirate Curse. Very soon, random people around him start turning into the pirates that Blackstrap Morgan betrayed ten generations earlier and chasing him around. Being a knife-throwing target isn’t so fun, but seeing his previously strict and proper teacher start using pirate words and dancing jigs is. Poll wants him to fight, but Jack intends to use his brains to break the curse for good. This is a great next step up from the very short early chapter books for kids, full of jokes and fast action. For adults, the action is still amusing, and you’ll be able to recognize both historical and film pirates in those chasing Jack.-
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