Here are my favorite recent book picks:
Novels:
Can it be that 100 SIDEWAYS MILES is Andrew Smith actually being vaguely lighthearted? Playful even? Maybe not, but I loved this book (tho he says he hated writing it!) because it has his signature way of weaving elements from start to finish into a cohesive and intriguing whole, his offbeat sense of humor, and a highly improbable, but still completely accessible, plot. When Finn Easton was four, a dead horse fell from a bridge onto him and his mother, causing her death and his epilepsy. His dad made him into a character in a bestselling science fiction book, which leads to some interesting encounters. And he sees the ghosts of two little girls who died in a flood near his house a century ago. Pretty normal stuff! This whacky but heartfelt novel goes on the road when Finn's girlfriend moves back to Chicago, and he and his best friend set out to visit a college in Oklahoma. (YA)
In FISH IN A TREE, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, sixth grader Ally has been fooling everyone for years. To hide the fact that she can't read, she acts out and plays dumb. Actually, Ally is anything but dumb. She's a gifted artist who has moved around a lot, attending seven schools in seven years, and she's got dyslexia. It takes a substitute teacher and some unexpected friends to break through and help Ally celebrate who she really is. Ally is a likable character and readers will root for her all the way. (MG)
And BLACK SPRING, by Alison Croggin, is a dark, strange retelling of Wuthering Heights that somehow feels like it could only have been published by Candlewick, the people who brought us last year's Printz Honor book, the dark and strange story called The Kingdom of Little Wounds. And I mean it in the very best way. I love these quirky offerings that seem to straddle the YA/adult markets, and serve as literary offerings for interested (and intense?) high schoolers. Lina is born a witch in a violent, stormy land. Daughter of the village lord, her fate becomes entwined with that of Damek, a bastard son of the king. The story follows the pattern of the first part of Wuthering Heights, mercifully ending where the movie does. Really enjoyable--I read it at night and had very strange dreams. (YA)
Picture Books:
WOLFIE THE BUNNY, written by Ame Dyckman (Boy and Bot) and illustrated by Zachariah OHora, has uber-appealing cover art which features a wolf (eating a carrot) in a pink bunny suit. Inside, we find that when the Bunny family comes home to find a baby wolf in a basket outside their door, Mama and Papa are too smitten to think of anything else. But Dot recognizes that a wolf living in a family of rabbits might actually be a little dangerous. OHora's illustrations, from cover to cover, including endpapers and the alternate painting underneath the dust jacket, bring this smart story of family dynamics to life.
RAINDROPS ROLL, by April Pulley Sayre, features a poetic text, illustrated with breathtaking photographs by the author. Inviting us along on the journey of a rain shower, told in the most descriptive of ways, this book also has plenty of scientific back matter. It's a rich, rewarding, and versatile experience.
FOX'S GARDEN, by Princesse CamCam, is a wordless picture book, published by Enchanted Lion Books as part of their wonderful Stories Without Words series. In this one, a fox becomes lost in the snow, and is
shooed away by the villagers. She takes refuge in a greenhouse, where a young boy brings her a basket of food. This book is magical and inspiring, and the art is lovely, made of layered 3-D paper constructions, as far as I can tell. No words, but a full story unfolds here.
What are you reading now?
--Lynn
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