There's No Business Like Snow Business: Snowmen At Work by Caralyn and Mark Buehner

ONE NIGHT I MADE A SNOWMAN,
THEN WENT INSIDE TO SLEEP.
AND WHEN I WOKE, I SAW MORE SNOW
HAD FALLEN SOFT AND DEEP.

I WENT OUTSIDE TO SHOVEL
BUT I SAW THE WALK WAS CLEAR.
NO ONE ELSE WAS OUTSIDE
BUT MY SNOWMAN STANDING NEAR.

Following that thought, the boy drifts into a snowflake flight of fancy: If his snowman shovels snow at night, what other night-shift jobs might snowmen have?

Well, snow removal is a natural, so to speak, shoveling and sweeping snow, operating snow blowers and snowplows. And what kinds of groceries would a snow-grocer sell? Frosted Flakes, frozen peas, and ice cream for sure. And the snowman and snowwoman bakery would specialize in fancy icing and frosted cupcakes. A snow pizza delivery man would bring--frozen pizzas, of course, and a snow dentist drills and fills the patient's smile with new lumps of coal And a snow teacher would be way cool, specializing in polar geography and spelling of Antarctica.

Author Caralyn Buehner and artist Mark Buehner have a lot of fun fantasizing about their snow people's snow business, with Caralyn's simple rhythmic quatrains and Mark's rotund snow workers at their jolly vocations, all with a big lumps of coals showing off their snowy grins. Mark Buehner dresses his frozen folks in bright plaid and striped woolly scarves and hats and even provides hidden figures in his illustrations--a cat, dinosaur, mouse, and even snowshoe rabbit, who appears on one page with two carrots for ears--to add extra panache to his pictures.

Their latest cool tale, Snowmen at Work (Dial Books, 2012), joins the Buehner's earlier snowpeople sagas, Snowmen at Christmas, Snowmen at Night, and Snowmen All Year.

It's a Dog's Life: It's Duffy Time by Audrey and Don Wood

DUFFY CAN'T RESIST TAKING A QUICK MID-DAY NAP IN HIS COMFY CHAIR.

THE MID-DAY NAP GOES SO WELL, DUFFY SLEEPS STRAIGHT THROUGH AND INTO HIS EARLY AFTERNOON NAP

A LONG NAP MAKES FOR THE BEST DREAMS.

Duffy's house might as well be named the napping house. Duffy, a little pug with personality plus, sleeps late in the morning, takes a post-breakfast snooze, and blends his three afternoon naps into one long dream session.

Duffy's idyllic life is one long nap, punctuated by breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. He does go out with Mom, wearing his pirate costume, for a few errands and a bit of airing of his little floppy ears out the car window. But the high point of his day is when his best friend comes home from school, and Duffy gives playtime with her his all, working up a good appetite for whatever smells so good in the kitchen.

Supper's not ready yet? No problem. Duffy steals a snippet of shuteye with his head pillowed on the side of his bowl "in a place where no one could forget to feed him."

After a strenuous walk with the family in the park, Duffy is disappointed. He finds his cozy chair occupied by Dad and his newspaper, but the adaptable Duffy squirms up to take a post-prandial nap in his lap.

But, OH, NO! What time is it? Bedtime already? But Duffy's not one bit sleepy!

Audrey and Don Wood's brand-new picture book, It's Duffy Time! (Blue Sky Press, 2012) shows off their doggone good artistic abilities with a little pooch protagonist who is a cute as as pug's ear. Duffy doesn't compare with the incomparable Carl for far-fetched adventures, but nobody passes the time in dreamland like this big-eyed guy who can even make sleeping look like fun. And as an extra bonus, the illustrators provide a clock in view on (almost) every page so young readers can tell the time as Duffy passes his in snoresville. Duffy is one sweet little hero with all kinds of doggy charm, awake or asleep.

Don and Audrey Wood are the Caldecott-winning co-creators of a string of picture book best sellers, including King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (Caldecott Honor Book), The Napping House, Piggy Pie Po, and Heckedy Peg. (A Voyager/Hbj Book)

Doing It All! Stat: Home Court by Amar'e Studemire

I looked right at him and said, “Wanna bet?” I waited a few seconds until the court was quiet. I wanted everyone to hear this.

“Make it, take it,” I said.

“Sure,” said Carlos.

“I mean the court.” I said.

“Huh?” he said.

“Whoever wins gets the court,” I said. “Loser clears out for good.”

Eleven-year-old Amare figures he has nothing to lose. Those big, rough kids from outside the neighborhood have already taken over the court where Amare’s friends have always played basketball for fun after school. They are three hulks from a traveling team who don’t mind using their elbows and tripping anybody with the ball if they dare get into a game with them, and emboldened, Carlos, Yeti, and Ledge feel like they own the court now, while the rest of the kids have no place to take their game

Amare likes basketball, but he’s got a lot going on off the court as well. He likes being on the honor roll at school, skateboarding, and working for pay with his dad’s business on weekends. He doesn’t need this problem. But he knows his friends Mike and Deuce love to play.  Now push has come to shove, and Amare knows that it’s game on or give up.

NBA star Amare Stoudemire is doing for basketball what Ken Griffey, Jr., is doing for baseball novels for middle readers. In this semi-autobiographical novel , STAT: Standing Tall and Talented #1: Home Court (Scholastic Press, 2012), author Stoudemire shows that he’s got a lot going on, too. A fast-paced and authentic story of a pre-teen urban kid trying to find who he is on and off the court, the author provides plenty of play-by-play drama without stinting on the importance of peer friendships and family loyalties in that all-important maturational task of making choices. Told in first-person narrative with well-written dialogue and characterizations, this is a fine beginning to a sports fiction series for middle readers.

Just published (and just in time for Christmas gifting) other books in this promising series are STAT: Standing Tall and Talented #2: Double Team and STAT #3: Slam Dunk: Standing Tall and Talented.

Not a Creature Is Stirring: The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood

It's just before Christmas and all through the land . . . 
What do we hear?

Well, there are plenty of sounds to be heard everywhere--jolly songs about jingly bells and geese getting fat, soaring songs about ringing bells and heavenly hosts, the gabble and giggles of class parties,  the blare and boom of holiday parades, the oohs and ahhs and applause for lights suddenly shining on tall trees.

But what about Christmas quiet?

SEARCHING FOR PRESENTS QUIET

LISTENING FOR SLEIGH BELLS QUIET

TRYING TO STAY AWAKE QUIET

Deborah Underwood's newest, The Christmas Quiet Book (Houghton Mifflin, 2012) listens deep into the holiday time for those precious quiet moments that often pass without reflection but in themselves have so much meaning.

There's the quiet of looking out the window and wishing for a nice, slow snow day, the painful quiet in the audience when someone forgets his lines in the pageant, the muffled sound that knocking on doors with woolly mittens makes, the momentary awe when the town Christmas tree lights are first turned on, the shocked silence when  something blows and the tree goes dark, the quiet of reading by the fireside at night, and the hush and slush of ice skates on the smooth ice.

While parents might prefer Underwood's book to end with that last, late-night quiet on Christmas Eve, with the tree glowing and all the presents finally spread beneath it to wait for that early morning joy, kids will appreciate her final page showing the surprised quiet just before the whoops of fun as presents are opened and new toys discovered. Underwood's spare, poetic word choices in the text are well set off by artist Renata Liwska's subdued and soft-focus illustrations of little rabbit, bear, and mole children sharing the rare but wonderful quiet times of Christmas. There are plenty of noisy stories for the holiday season, but this book reminds us that there are always some quiet times to treasure as well.

Companion books by Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska are The Quiet Book and The Loud Book!

'S No Joke! Fancy Nancy: There's No Day Like a Snow Day by Jane O'Connor

OOO LA LA! IT'S A BLIZZARD!

THE RADIO SAYS THAT IT'S THE STORM OF THE CENTURY (CENTURY IS A FANCY WAY OF SAYING 100 YEARS)!

It is 6:30 A.M., and as soon as she finds out that it is definitely a snow day, Nancy is on the phone calling her best friend Bree.

"COME OVER TOUTE DE SUITE!" (THAT'S FRENCH FOR "RIGHT AWAY!")

Nancy already has visions of the whole family zooming down Mt. Everest, the local sledding hill with her and Bree on the lead sled! But then reality intrudes.

"GROWN-UPS DON'T GET SNOW DAYS," DAD SAYS. "THAT'S A SAD BUT TRUE FACT OF LIFE."

Mrs. DeVine is summoned to babysit Nancy, Jojo, and Bree and little brother Freddy, and Mrs. D. laments that her sledding days are over! Alors, the kids have to enjoy their snow day in the front yard where she can supervise.

'S NO joke!

But, of course, the effervescent Nancy has a alternate plan for fancy snow doings. They make snow angels and decorate their wings with pine cones. They build a bunch of royal snow people, raiding Nancy's seemingly limitless collection of accessories to make them the fanciest snow queen, king, and crown prince and princesses, complete with tiaras ever, while Mrs. DeVine rustles up a batch of snowflake cookies in the kitchen. It's not been too shabby a snow day after all. And then...

"IT'S TWILIGHT, WHICH IS A LOVELY WORD FOR WHEN IT'S ALMOST DARK OUT. WE ALL CATCH SNOWFLAKES ON OUR TONGUES."

But the best is yet to come. Mom and Dad return from work, and seeing the sleds still leaning hopefully against the porch, they decide that this is the perfect time for a moonlight trip to Mt. Everest, and soon all the kids are on board for an epic run down the moonlit hill.

"SOON WE ARE ZOOMING DOWN THE HILL AT SONIC SPEED (THAT MEANS REALLY, REALLY FAST!)"

It's a snow day to remember in Jane O'Connor's timely Fancy Nancy: There's No Day Like a Snow Day (Harper, 2012), which comes with (yes!) STICKERS with which to fancy-up an extra page of snow people just ready for accessorizing. There's no day like a snow day with Fancy Nancy on board the sleigh.

Color Me Content! Amber Brown Is Tickled Pink by Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy



I, Amber Brown, have to spend a million dollars.

Mrs. Holt just told me so. Actually everyone in our class has to spend a million dollars.

Too bad it’s not real money.

We have to have a lot of facts and figures. And we each have to make a pie chart. I like eating pies....not charting them.

“When the project is finished, we’ll have a Budget Fair,” Mrs. Holt tells us.

I think a “Budget Fair” sounds like a place to go on really cheap rides and get half- price cotton candy!

Actually the budget project is perfect for Amber Brown, because she has bucks on the brain. Her mother and Max, Mom’s fiancé, have just had their first big argument over whether to have a big wedding (Max’s idea) or a small one at City Hall (Mom’s budget plan). Amber has been chosen as the budget attendant, “Best Child,” a combo maid-of-honor and best man role, and she is ready to walk down the aisle in her first “occasion dress.” Plus, she’s already invited her best friends, Brandi and Kelly, and she’s embarrassed to have to un-invite them.

Amber Brown has more than one reason for feeling blue. In addition to the on-and-off wedding plans, Mom and Dad keep making her an unwilling audience for their snarky sniping at each other. Amber loves her dad, and she really likes Max a lot. Dealing with both of those feelings is definitely coloring her mood these days.

Max pulls out of the driveway before Dad and I turn in.

I turn to look at Dad. I see the start of a smug smile. “Looks like there’s trouble in
paradise.”

This makes me angry. But I’m also scared. I wonder what happened between Mom
and Max.

“Dad, I don’t like it when you say things like that.”

He definitely needs to keep taking those dad lessons. Now I have to go in the house and see what’s going on with Mom.

Sometimes my parents are a lot of work.

But an alternate idea comes to Amber from an unimagined source. Mrs. Holt books notorious nose-picker Fredrich Allen’s dad to talk to the class about managing their family business, Camp Sukkatukket. Suddenly, Amber Brown has the glimmer of a bright idea. She talks Max and Mom into a Sunday drive to the place of her choice and directs them to take a look at Camp Sukkatukket as a possible budget wedding venue. It has a long, rustic porch with a spectacular view of a very pretty pond, and the off-season price is perfect, penny-wise, for a spring wedding. The wedding plans are suddenly in the black, and Amber Brown is no longer feeling blue.

Now if she can just come up with the perfect “occasion dress,” Amber Brown will be tickled pink, and again the solution to her dilemma comes from an unexpected but welcome source. 

When Paul Danziger died in 2004, her “best friend” and “other best friend,” veteran authors Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy, felt that her most famous character had been left in fictional limbo, leading them to pool their prize-winning literary skills in re-creating Amber’s unique voice. In this latest in the Amber Brown series, we have our famous color-me character reincarnated, and her in-living-color return in Amber Brown Is Tickled Pink (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2012) is a delightful addition to the series and to the world of chapter books for young readers in that early middle reader fictional neighborhood where Ramona Quimby, Judy Moody, Just Grace, and Clementine happily reside.

Earlier books in this notable and long-running series are Amber Brown Is Not A Crayon, Amber Brown Sees Red, Amber Brown #9: Amber Brown Is Green With Envy, Amber Brown Is Feeling Blue, and Amber Brown Goes Fourth. Despite her punny titles and downright hilarious heroine, Paula Danziger knew how to write in that “happy-sad” way that Beverly Cleary spoke of, with realistic stories that speak of the emotional ups and downs of real life. It’s good to have Amber Brown back. As Publisher's Weekly puts it, Levy and Coville "don’t miss a beat as they channel the voice of Danziger’s funny, acerbic, and pun-loving heroine."

Toy Story, Too: My Special One and Only by Joe Berger

CAPTAIN CAT WAS BRIDGET'S SPECIAL ONE AND ONLY AND EVEN IN HER DREAMS SHE HELD ONTO HIM.

But Bridget Fidget's dreams that night are all about the Tooth Fairy, who comes through with a gold coin in exchange for her first lost tooth. Bridget knows that money in her hand means she gets a trip to the world's best toy store, DingleBang's, and soon she pops her gold coin into the sailor-suit pocket of her beloved plush buddy, Captain Cat, pops him into her backpack, and bounces off with her mom for an epic shopping trip.

But in a Rube Goldberg comedy of errors, things go terribly wrong at DingleBang's. As Bridget Fidget spizzooms through the dazzling store, the handle of a lady's umbrella hooks Captain Cat, depositing him almost immediately into the shopping basket of another little girl. It's love at first sight when the girl lays eyes on the cutesy Cat, and by the time Bridget notices what's happened, that girl has bonded with her one and only special toy!

CAPTAIN CAT WAS 100% NOT THERE!"

"NOOOOOOoooooo!"

Suddenly Bridget Fidget forgets about new toys and concentrates on recovering her old One and Only. Bridget gets some help from a serendipitous knight-in-shining-armor, a.k.a. Billy, in a shiny and swift toy car who gives her a lift in the chase to recover Captain Cat. There is many a comic twist before B.F. and her BFF Captain Cat are reunited, in an action-packed climax, but when the dust settles, the two are back together, and calm is restored when Bridget uses some of her tooth-fairy loot to buy the disappointed little girl a charming cat toy of her own, buoyed by the discovery that her revenue stream is intact as she discovers a new, loose and wiggly tooth.

With the visual punch of a fast-paced 1970's cartoon chase, complete with sound effects (YIKES! SCREECH! KABOOF!), Joe Berger's My Special One and Only (Dial Books, 2012) is a funny and fantastical romp in this second outing for his frenetically energetic heroine. (See Berger's earlier Bridget Fidget and The Most Perfect Pet).

Pairing up: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney



We’re starting a ballroom dancing unit in Phys Ed, and Mrs. Moretta said each of us needed to find a partner.

To be honest with you, I don’t really care who I get paired up with as long as it isn’t Ruby Bird.

As far as I know, Ruby is the only girl who has ever been suspended from our school, and that was for biting a teacher. In fact, the reason Ruby has only one front tooth is because the other one ended up in Mr. Underwood’s elbow. I know if she’s my dance partner, I’ll do SOMETHING to make her mad and end up with her other tooth in MY arm.

But there are a lot more boys in my class this year than girls, so it made sense that not everyone got a partner. But Mrs. Moretta said that EVERYONE had to dance and she started pairing us boys up with ONE ANOTHER. The next thing I knew I was dancing the waltz with Carlos Escalera.

Today Phys Ed was canceled because we had a general assembly during fourth period. I have to admit I was a little disappointed, because believe it or not, me and Carlos have actually been getting the hang of the meringue'.

And Greg is going to need those cool moves. The subject of that assembly is the seventh-grade Valentine’s Dance, and it’s suddenly a serious mission to ask a girl to the dance. Greg scrambles for a socially acceptable date (i.e., one that isn’t Ruby Bird or Carlos) without, like, actually asking a girl in person. He decides he needs a minion, a wing man, as he puts it, to do the actual asking, and taps his sidekick Rowly for the job. But when Rowly strikes out as Minister of Romance, Greg fears he’s going to be one of those left-out lonely guys.

But then a surprise epidemic of chicken pox (who ever gets those anymore?) sweeps the seventh grade and some girls are left dateless. It’s game on for girlfriends all over again, and when Abigail Brown agrees to go with Greg and Rowly as “a group of friends,” the dance looks like a sure thing. With a new, hand-me-down suit from big brother Rodrick, his stash of cash to pay for dinner out, and Rowly’s dad down as designated limo driver for the evening, it’s a date!

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, everything (except the last dance) does, in Jeff Kinney’s latest installment in his best-selling series, The Third Wheel (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 7) (Abrams Books, 2012). It’s another wry walk through the Wonder Years with the world’s most famous wimpy kid! As Publishers Weekly puts it, ”Seven books into the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Kinney isn't messing with a good thing, and he continues to mine middle-school life for comedic gold.”

And if readers just can’t get too much middle-school mirth, (and from their sales, that’s not happening) there’s always Greg’s literary cousin, Lincoln Pierce’s latest top-selling Big Nate Makes the Grade (Big Nate Comic Compilations) (Andrews McMeel, 2012) or James Patterson’s latest Middle School: Get Me out of Here! (Little, Brown, 2012) (See my review here.)

As Right As.... Apple Pie ABC by Aliso Murray

G   Get a taste for it!

H   Have to have a lick of it!

I     In trouble!

Pie is not the recommended daily diet for doggies, but when a crumb from the fresh-baked apple pie falls on the floor, the family canine does what dogs do! He laps it up and suddenly acquires a taste for the fruity pastry. In fact, he's downright Eager for it. When he attempts to Jump up upon the table to get a bigger bite, his little mistress decides he had to be removed from the scene, Kept out of temptation for his own good. She snatches him up, Leaves with him under her arm, and plops him in doggy time-out, still hungry and now, well, mighty Miserable!

But this Rover comes over, as he escapes from isolation and steals back to where the warm pie is cooling in the kitchen. Scooting Under the Table, he comes up with a way to get to the pie without giving away his Undercover approach. Stealthily the pup pulls on the edge of the tablecloth---slowly, Very slowly, until ....WHOOPS! The pie hits the floor and it's time for a quick eXit from the scene of the crime, but not without this pooch's pastry prize!  YUM!  Our pup is full and content and ready to find a hideaway in which to catch some...zzzZZZZZs!

Alison Murray's delectable doggy-cum-pie alphabet book,  Apple Pie ABC (Hyperion Press) is a delicious dissertation upon this delightful dessert.  Apple pie is awesome, amazing, and almost absolutely attractive, as we admit, and it's hard to blame this chow hound for giving in to apple pie mania as he makes his way through the alphabet.  More than just an alphabetical list of words, this charming little board book is great for predicting what letter, word, and action comes next and even serves as a beginning book for novice readers An A+ All-Around treat!

Roll Video: Reel Life Starring Us by Lisa Greenwald

I'm standing in the second-floor bathroom shaking crunched-up potato chips from the bottom of my backpack.

This whole starting-a-new-school thing would be easier if I had a removable tattoo on my forehead or something, just so people would know I was cool in my old school. Really, I was.  Everyone was artsy in his or her own way. And it wasn't cliquey. I was cool. People liked me.

"Chipped already?" the girl at the sink asks me. "On your first day?"

"So, it's, like, a thing?" I asked. "I don't get it."

"You were chipped," she said. "Someone saw you and decided that you were a good target."

It was the job opportunity of a lifetime for both of Dina Gross's parents to move from their home in the Berkshires to Long Island. For Dina it's like moving to a new planet. Rockwood Hills Middle School is big, and the kids are cliquish. There are the custom-jeans-wearing queens and kings of the popular crowd, led by the biggest queen bee of all, Chelsea Stern, and her followers Kendall and Molly.  Then there's everyone else.  And  there's that strange custom of being "chipped," a stealthy and seemingly random "thing" that seems to happen to anyone who seems slightly different.

But Dina and Chelsea have one thing in common--both are entering a month late--Dina, because of the move and Chelsea because she's been out with mono. Their social studies class is already divided into groups working on major projects to be presented at the school's fiftieth anniversary celebration, and Mr. Valakis makes them a group of two and pointedly warns them to get busy catching up.

Dina sees a way to use her favorite hobby--video filmmaking--and she already has the skills and lingo from her old school's film class. Chelsea thinks going around sticking a camera in people's faces is embarrassingly lame, but she has her own problems, a secret she can't share with her even her best friends. Her dad has lost his high-paying job, and she's struggling to hide her limited budget from her shopping-crazed BFFs, and Chelsea knows that she's close to dropping into the masses of non-popular, frequently chipped kids at school. Reluctantly, she decides she has no choice but to go along with Dina's adventurous plan to include Sasha Preston, teen TV star and the best-known alum of Rockwood Hills Middle in their film, a daring plan in which the two would-be filmmakers find themselves pretending to be extras on location for Sasha's show in New York while Dina tries to talk their way into a video interview with the star.

Both girls discover that things are not always what they seem in the process of filming their classmates. Sasha Preston's powerful remembrances of the superficialities of her old middle school help them to see their social scene in a different way. As Dina tells Chelsea after their video's premier,

"You're going to say I'm a video nerd for saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway," Dina starts.

"Sometimes in order to really see things, you just have to look through a different lens."

"I don't think you're a video nerd," I say.

"I think you're right."

And I really, really mean that.

Both Chelsea and Dina see themselves and their classmates through a different lens in Lisa Greenwald's Reel Life Starring Us (Amulet Books/Abrams), a  young adult novel that takes a closeup shot of middle-school society through the alternating narratives of its two main characters. "This funny, nuanced tale offers keen observations on middle-school life," says Kirkus Reviews.

Greenwald's other popular 'tween books include My Life in Pink & Green, My Summer of Pink & Green, and Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes.

Oppositional Couple :What's Up, Bear? A Book About Opposites by Frieda Wishinsky

YES! WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY!

DOESN'T THE CITY LOOK BIG AND BEAUTIFUL, BEAR?

NO! IT'S BIG AND SCARY, SOPHIE!

Sophie and Bear could not be more different. Sophie can't wait for her family trip to the Big Apple. Bear tries to hide under a blankie. Sophie loves going up, up, up, in the big jet. For Bear, the only good part of the trip is when the plane is at last down.

Sophie loves speeding cross town in the taxi--going fast. Bear prefers slow. Sophie dotes on the go-go subway train. Bear can't wait for it to stop. Stop!

Sophie waves a big hello! to the super-giant dino skeleton in the museum. Bear can’t wait to say goodbye! But Bear loyally hangs in there as Sophie traipses from one tourist attraction to the next – to the top of tall buildings, across those big bridges, exploring Central Park and, for Bear going from wet back to dry as he takes a dip in the lake. Sophie is over the moon, and Bear is, well, hiding under her sweater as much as possible.

And then, Sophie and her dad arrive a that BIG Manhattan toy story (you know which one that is), and Sophie is amazed at all the new bears. One of them is very big. Meanwhile,  Bear is feeling definitely small and old!

And then....Bear is forgotten in the excitement of that terrific toy store. Will Sophie remember him before it’s too late?

Bear has never, never, ever been a lost bear! Will he ever be found?

Frieda Wishinsky’s just-published What's Up, Bear?: A Book About Opposites (Owl Kids Books, 2012) puts an unlikely pair–exuberant Sophie and reticent Bear, into a setting which points up pairs of opposite concepts, twenty of them, in a quicky tour of New York City, in an outing just right for the preschool set. Sean L. Moore’s cartoon-style illustrations are full of motion and perspective while keeping the focus on the two characters. Publishers Weekly concurs, saying, ”Moore’s crisp digital cartoons capture both the duo’s fluctuating emotions and the energy of the city.”

A Boy, A Pigeon, and the Girl from Savannah: Signed by Zelda by Kate Feiffer

EVERY SIGNATURE HAS A SECRET (LWR #5)

Lucy believed this as much as she believed the sun was hot.

Eleven-year-old Lucy Bertel has a passion for forensic graphology--handwriting analysis. Back home in sunny Savannah, her whole class was into it, but now that her parents have moved her to the big city, into a fifth-floor apartment, there is no one to share her interest. Her new classmates even refuse to give her samples of their penmanship, claiming violation of personal privacy.

In the bedroom above Lucy's is someone who THUMP, THUMP, THUMPS the floor constantly. It's Nicky, also eleven, whose TOA (time-out average) is batting .750 at school and even higher at home. Since his mother left the family, his father's communications with Nicky pretty much consists of four words, "You're in time-out," so Nicky spends most of his time in his room, trying to learn to fly by jumping off his bed and flapping his arms.

Would it make more sense to know that Nicky is inspired to fly by his only friend, Pigeon, who chats with  him constantly from the ledge outside his window? Since his sister Stella seems to want to pretend he doesn't exist and he's in time-out most of the time at school, Pigeon is Nicky's only reliable contact...

...Except for Grandma Zelda, who lives in the apartment above Nicky and keeps him well supplied with Zeldaberry Pie and hugs, along with plenty of stories about her adventurous life and who shares his close relationship with Pigeon.

And then, Grandma Zelda goes missing from her apartment on April Fools' Day. The only clue Nicky can find is a cryptic note, apparently dropped in the hall.

HELP ME.

ZELDA GIBSON

Nicky needs help. First he needs a handwriting expert, and luckily he finds one, on the elevator on the way down, and when Lucy sees the shakily written note from Grandma Zelda, she brings all her forensic skills to solving the disappearance of Grandma Lucy.

Pigeon helps with aerial surveying, and the mystery is finally solved by a seemingly blank front page of a legal pad by the graphology detective Lucy in Kate Feiffer's off-beat semi-fantastical story of a mystery missing person, a talking pigeon, and an unlikely friendship, in her Signed by Zelda (Paula Wiseman Books) (Simon & Schuster, 2012) Known for her picture books done with her legendary artist father, Jules Feiffer, author Kate shows off her ability to spin an absorbing family mystery out of some quirky characters and the sharp forensics of Lucy, with a comforting conclusion that ends with a family-centered flourish. "A quick and steady story for readers who like some substance to their mystery but are not quite ready for the complexity of Blue Balliett" says Kirkus Review.

Feiffer appends a recipe for Zelda's special zeldaberry pie and an intriguing section on handwriting analysis, violas-d'amore, and how she was inspired by the FBI graphologists who helped solve the case of heiress Brooke Astor's allegedly forged will. Clearly, Feiffer is an author with admittedly eclectic interests. Who knows what's next for her?

Gonna Be All Right! : Every Little Thing by Bob and Cedella Marley

RISE UP IN THE MORNING, SMILE WITH THE RISING SUN.

A big smile goes a long way in this world, and this kid has that! He bounces up and into his day with exuberant energy, and with three little birds to follow him wherever he goes, it’s easy to sing.

“EVERY LITTLE THING
WILL BE ALL RIGHT!”

Not that everything goes just like he wants it! He sets out to bake a cake, with messy results. His soccer game has its ups and down, but with hugs from his parents and empathy from his friends, it all turns out well, and as he waves to the setting sun, his mom and dad assure him everything is all right with them.

SETTLE DOWN, SWEET CHILD, AND GO TO SLEEP.

Cedella Marley, Bob Marley’s oldest child, adds to the picture books based on her father’s songs, with the help of artist Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s spritely illustrations of her eternally optimistic main character in her latest tribute, Every Little Thing: Based on the song 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley Chronicle Books, 2012). Cedella’s earlier top-selling adaptation of one of Bob Marley’s songs, is One Love.

Can't Getcha Out of My Head! Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

MAC WAS A GOOD APPLE.

Mac is a solid guy. His shape is perfect; his color is rosy red, But something is missing. He's just a little lonely, even with all those other apples to "hang" with all around him. Then one day something is different.

WHEN MAC WOKE UP, HE WAS COVERED WITH RAINDROPS AND HE WASN'T ALONE.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE DREAM HE JUST HAD.

"A FUNNY LITTLE WORM WAS TICKLING ME RIGHT HERE....

AND NOW I CAN'T SEEM TO GET HIM....

... OUT OF MY HEAD."

Will the Worm seems to have taken up residence in Mac's head. But it's a good thing. They are instant friends. Will seems to finish Mac's sentences for him, and they are totally compatible. It's nice to have a friend who's always with you. Until....

"LOOK AT MAC!" SHOUT THE OTHER APPLES.

"HE'S GOT WORMS! MAC'S A ROTTEN APPLE!"

Granny Smith is sour on the whole thing. The crabapples are especially bitter about Mac's new friend, and Mac is persona non grata around the other apples.

Mac has a decision to make. The other apples shun him. They think he must have a hole in his head to hang out with a worm! But Mac knows he's still a good apple!

Edward Hemingway's strange little tale of an odd couple of friends, Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2012) uses bright 1930s-style cartoon characters with stick arms and legs to illustrate this unusual story of a friendship which may be a bit mind-bending for some readers. A wormy apple may be an off-beat metaphor for a close friendship, but this tale certainly gets the attention of the reader as it looks at all sides of the friendship story. "Tender interactions between Mac and Will (they read books together, and Will finishes Mac’s sentences) make it clear that Mac’s conclusion that he’d rather be “a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him” is the right one," says Publishers Weekly.