Junking Junket: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

THIS IS A REGULAR GIRL AND HER BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.

SHE MAKES THINGS.

ONE DAY THE GIRL GETS A WONDERFUL IDEA. SHE IS GONG TO MAKE THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING.

With her little pug pup along for moral support, our little inventor begins at the beginning. She collects supplies (others might call it junk), rounds up her tools, and sets up shop on a piece of unused sidewalk in front of her brownstone. She radiates confidence. She's done this before, you know.

Her mind abuzz with grandiose concepts, she sets to work. She knows just what it should look like and exactly what it should do.

But it doesn't.

THE THING ISN'T MAGNIFICENT. OR GOOD.

IT ISN'T EVEN KIND-OF-SORT-OF OKAY.

IT'S ALL WRONG!

But our girl doesn't quit. She perseveres.

SHE TWISTS, TWEAKS, FASTENS.

Nothing.

SHE EXPLODES. (It is not her finest moment.)

It's a hunk of junk! The girl is fit to be tied! She's tried everything and she's either going to have a meltdown or her invention is going to be headed that way.

Her dog steps in with his leash in his mouth and suggests that they cool it with a nice walk. The dog is a genius!

On her walk the girl starts to see what she can do to make her invention just what she imagines--something spectacular! She sees that some parts are not all wrong, after all.

Suffice it to say our girl prevails, and she ends up with a superlative sidecar for her skooter, just right for her dog, in Ashley Spires' inspired and inspiring The Most Magnificent Thing (Kids Can Press, 2014), which shows that the course of invention doesn't always go well,  but there's always something to be learned. Spire's main characters, her regular girl and her loyal pup, play out their device drama in front of a row of big-city brownstone houses sketched out only in black and white, and if you read the copyright page, (and I know you always do!) she herself admits that her illustrations having been "rendered digitally with lots of practice, two hissy fits, and one all-out tantrum!" It's a case of, er, life imitating art, or something like that, as this author-illustrator shows the value of tinkering, fiddling, and finally going back to the drawing board until she achieves something magnificent!

Spires should feel vindicated: the reviewers love her creation, and kids will, too! Kirkus gives it their gold star and says, "Spires' understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight."

Heart-Hater: A Crankenstein Valentine by Samantha Berger

YOU CAN'T MISS CRANKENSTEIN ON VALENTINE'S DAY.

YOU WOULD SAY "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, MY LOVE!"

CRANKENSTEIN WOULD SAY "YEEECHHHH!"

How do you change HATER TO HEART?

No, it's not one of those tedious schoolroom word jumbles. It is the story of a little boy who find Valentine's Day downright repulsive. You, dear reader, know that Crankenstein is no fan of hearts and flowers as soon as you open the book. The opening endpapers feature candy hearts that say GAAK!, SCRAM, YUCK, and I'VE SEEN BETTER!

Crankenstein's face is already monster green. His mom's warm greeting and red-ribbon-wrapped gift makes him cringe when he sees its contents--heart-printed tightie whities. She also makes him carry a bouquet of fresh-cut roses to his teacher. YEEECHHHH!

The day only gets worse. On the school bus someone plants a big red smooch on his kisser. His lunch juice box says "Love Potion." He has to make stinky, pinky paper chains to decorate the classroom. He even has to play Cupid, complete with cute little wings and bow and arrow, in the Valentine's Day program. So by the time art class rolls around and the kids begin to make Valentines for their secret crushes, Crankenstein has just the rhyme in mind for his:

ROSES ARE RED,
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
VALENTINE'S DAY STINKS!
P.U.

Then comes the potentially worst moment of the day when a certain girl hands him her handmade Valentine. He's got his biggest YEEECHHHH! of the day ready,... until he reads it.

ROSES ARE RED,
VIOLETS ARE BLUE.
ON VALENTINE'S DAY
I FEEL JUST LIKE YOU!
EWWWW!

Crankenstein's face turns a bit pink as he senses a similarly minded soulmate, in Samantha Berger's A Crankenstein Valentine (Little, Brown and Company, 2014). Again partnered with illustrator Dan Santat, ably channeling his inner monster, Berger uses her story to give those lovey-dovey-day resisters a voice, even if it is a Yeeechhhh screech! Santat's Crankenstein is back again, representing those numerous nay-sayers of that holiday that turns some kids into cranks. But perhaps there's a hint of a change of heart for our little anti-hero to be found in the closing endpapers--candy hearts that say BE MINE, CALL ME, YAY YOU! and XOXO!

Berger and Santat's first book together was Crankenstein (Little Brown and Company, 2013). (Read my cranky review here.)

Gift from the Heart: Clark the Shark Takes Heart by Bruce Hale

IF YOU LIKE A GIRL AND IT'S ALMOST HER BIRTHDAY, WHAT DO YOU DO?" CLARK ASKED HIS BEST FRIEND, JOEY MACKEREL.

Clark the Shark is a guy who makes no small gestures. When his mentor in all things social suggests that he send his crush, Anna Angelfish, some candy and a card, to the ebullient Clark the tried-and-true girl-pleasing gift seems too dull.

"WHAT WOULD IMPRESS ANNA ANGELFISH THE MOST?" HE WORRIED. THEN HE HAD A SHARK-ARIFIC IDEA!"

He spots a sign, SWIM RACE TODAY," and Clark thinks that winning the race and dedicating his win to the birthday girl would really score with a speedy fish like Anna. Being the biggest fish in the inlet, he takes the lead easily, but when he looks back to see if Anna is impressed, he gets off course and crashes into the reef. Bummer!

Efforts to impress Anna by rescuing her from a stuck school sub-bus just make a mess of the bus, and Clark despairs of ever impressing Anna Angelfish.

"SOMETIMES," ADVISES JOEY, "GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES."

And the third time is the charm, as Clark finds just the right small gift to win Anna's favor, in Bruce Hale's latest Clark the Shark saga of mastering undersea social skills, in Clark the Shark Takes Heart (HarperCollins, 2015). Hale's deft narration helps readers understand that sometimes what appears to showing off is just a lack of more subtle interpersonal skills. And then, sometimes "Less is more," as Clark learns in a lesson in affairs of the heart at Theodore Roosterfish Elementary School. Illustrator Guy Frances again does a fine job of portraying personalities and interpersonal relations among denizens of the deep in charming style.

Other similarly themed Clark the Shark stories are Clark the Shark and Clark the Shark Dares to Share (See my reviews here.)

Heavy Metal? TIN by Chris Judge

TIN'S MOM ASKED HIM TO LOOK AFTER HIS LITTLE SISTER, NICKEL FOR THE AFTERNOON.

"NO PROBLEM." HE SAYS.

Expecting easy duty, big brother Tin sends little Nickel off to play on the backyard gym, and leans back against a tree to enjoy his new comic book without another thought.

But while big brother Tin is lost in his story, Sis is setting out on an adventure of her own. Spotting a red helium balloon caught in the top of their tree, she begins a potentially accident-prone ascent. Luckily, somebody is being a better babysitter than Tin!

WOOF! WOOF!

Their dog Zinc's warning bark rouses Tin. He clambers up the tree to rescue Nickel, just as she grabs the string of the balloon. The balloon floats free, with Nickel hanging on for dear life.

Tin jumps on his bike, pedaling at top speed as he follows the balloon as it is blown from the suburbs toward the city. Soon Nickel is dangling over downtown, high above the skyscrapers. Tin climbs up to the tallest tower and manages to get a tenuous hold on the string. Weighted down, their balloon sags lower.

But as the breeze blows the two past a parade and over Safari Park, the balloon finally breaks, and Tin and Nickel fall down, down, down, luckily landing on an elephant and a giraffe, respectively, just as the two animals split off to head toward their own quarters. Hanging onto the giraffe's neck, little Nickel is having the time of her life, but her big brother is NOT! How can he find his sister and get her back into their backyard before Mom notices they're gone? In Chris Judge's Tin (Andersen Press Picture Books) (Andersen Press, 2014), there's no back story on the metallic robotic characters, but this plot-driven tale is quite an adventure for this unusual brother-and-sister pair. Judge's illustrations provide the visual appeal, with his tin-man-type people and his surrealistic geometric Big City of blocky buildings add interest to this unusual story. "...a delightfully detailed futuristic society depicted in geometric shapes and strong ultrabright hues with the appeal of a tiny-tot video game, text and illustrations work in harmony, with each element enhancing the other. Just plain fun," observes Kirkus Reviews.

Soldier, Sailor, Gingerbread Maker: Gingerbread for Liberty! How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution by Mara Rockliff

EVERYONE IN PHILADELPHIA KNEW THE GINGERBREAD BAKER. HIS HONEST FACE, HIS BOOMING VOICE.... AND, OF COURSE, HIS GINGERBREAD, THE BEST IN PHILADELPHIA.

AND YET, DESPITE HIS CARE, THERE ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE BROKEN PIECES FOR THE HUNGRY CHILDREN WHO FOLLOWED THEIR NOSES TO HIS SPICY-SMELLING SHOP.

"NO EMPTY BELLIES HERE!" THE BAKER BELLOWED. "NOT IN MY AMERICA!"

Christopher Ludwick was a German immigrant whose belly was often empty until he sailed to America and opened his own bakery. He was famous for his gingerbread, but also for his citizenship, contributing generously to the life of his adopted city.

And then independence from the old world was suddenly in the air, and the baker felt the call to join George Washington's army.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" HIS WIFE ASKED.

"TO FIGHT FOR MY AMERICA!" HE SAID. "I WAS A SOLDIER ONCE."

"YOU ARE A BAKER NOW, AND YOU ARE OLD AND FAT," SHE SAID.

But Washington's citizen army was young and hungry and General Washington saw just what the gingerbread baker could do for his ragtag army, and soon Ludwick was turning out loaves of nourishing bread and the occasional sweet gingerbread soldier cookie for the troops.

"NO EMPTY BELLIES HERE!" THE BAKER SAID.

And when German mercenaries were hired to fight for the English king, the baker-turned-spy secretly won over many of those hungry young Hessians to join the Americans at a crucial moment with his promise:

"NO EMPTY BELLIES IN MY AMERICA!" HE TOLD THEM.

"An army travels on its stomach," goes the old saying. Washington understood that well, and his ebullient baker-in-chief soon set up a network of bakeries that finally fed the whole Continental Army.

Mara Rockliff's just published Gingerbread for Liberty!: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) tells the story of Christopher Ludwick's devotion to his craft and to his adopted country, from his buttery frosted gingerbread dainties to his brave midnight mission, rowing alone across the bay to win over the boatloads of mercenaries in their own tongue and in the universal language of hunger. A humorous look at one of the more colorful little-known heroes of the American Revolution, Rockliff's account has great appeal, especially with its refrain of "No empty bellies in America," which kids will quickly adopt.

Artist Vincent X. Kirsch uses a gingerbread-themed palette in stylized illustrations that add to the fun of this true story of love of country. Mara Rockliff appends a brief bibliography historical note that points out that the Ludwick Foundation still provides resources for education in his beloved city so that there will be fewer hungry minds in his America.

Winning kudos from all reviewers, Rockliff's just published Gingerbread for Liberty!: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution is a star-spangled treat and a terrific patriotic story for primary readers.

Do Children's Media Adversely Affect Body Image?

Research shows that even preschoolers are well aware that how they look influences how other feel toward them. Over half of the girls between 6 and 8 years of age feel that the ideal body is slimmer than their own, and one-third of boys express the same feeling.

Common Sense Media has a new report, Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image, (available for download here) which, not surprisingly, claims that parents, books and magazines, movies and advertisements, begin to affect children, boys as well as girls, before Kindergarten, far and above normal awareness of healthy weight and good grooming advice.

For an short rundown, check out the Infographic which highlights some of the findings of the full report here.

And best of all, Common Sense Media offers their own list of "Books That Promote a Healthy Body Image," for boys and girls both, here.

Follow the Leader! My BiBi Always Remembers! by Tony Buzzeo

Little Tembo the elephant is thirsty!

RUMMMMMMMBBBBLLLLE!

Tembo hears her Bibi (grandmother) calling the aunties, the sisters, and her own Mama across the dry plain.

WHEN BIBI CALLS, EVERYONE COMES!

It's the dry season, and everyone is thirsty, but Bibi remembers where the water can be found, just below the ground. Mama and the others hustle toward where Bibi is digging with her long tusks where the water hole used to be.

BUT TEMBO HAS ANOTHER IDEA.

Little Tembo sees the cool shade of the jackleberry tree and decides to stop to snack on its dark, green leaves. But Mama comes back, scoops her up with her tusks, and urges her to come along, and when they find the others, Bibi squirts some cool water in Tembo's mouth.

Their matriarch treks on, with Tembo bringing up the rear. Then she notices a stork, and she can't resist giving it a chase! Storks are so funny when they run!

But when Tembo looks up, the others are out of sight! Her squeals bring Auntie back to curl her trunk around Tembo and lead her in the way the others have gone. But soon she is tired.

TEMBO HAS ANOTHER IDEA.

She lies down in the shade and when she wakes up, there are hyenas laughing and lions huffing in the tall grass. She squeals, but this time there is no Mama or Auntie in sight. Afraid, Tembo calls again, very loudly.

BIBI! WHICH WAY SHOULD I GO!

BRRRRAWW! And Bibi appears, kicking up the dust with her quick step, step, step.

COME ALONG, LITTLE TEMBO. BIBI REMEMBERS THE WAY!

Tony Buzzeo's latest My Bibi Always Remembers (Hyperion Books, 2014) describes how elephant matriarchs lead their families to the places where their long memories recall where food and water can be found. Along with the familiar story of the lost little one, Buzzeo's narrative and artist Mike Wohnoutka's charming but realistic illustrations show how elephants pass along their wisdom in the ways of nature. As Tembo whispers to herself as she snuggles next to her grandmother that night,

SOMEDAY I'LL BE THE BIBI, AND THEN I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER.

Tony Buzzeo is also the author of her cool hit with artist David Small, One Cool Friend (see review here).

Hide-and-Peek? Is There a Dog in This Book? by Viviane Schwarz

"OH! HELLO!

YOU OPENED OUR BOOK!

Right away, in her latest finger-friendly flap book, Is There a Dog in This Book? (Candlewick Press, 2014), Viviane Schwarz's three comic cats let us know that this is no ordinary missing puppy tale. Her cats, Moonpie, Andre', and Tiny, let us know that we are visitors in a metabook, where the characters interact with whomever is off page. It's no problem for this practiced three, however, and right away the reader is invited to join in on their search for the dog they just know, with the mysterious intuition of cats, is hiding in their house.

"WAIT! IS THERE SOMEBODY ELSE IN THIS BOOK?

SOMEBODY DRANK ALL MY MILK!"

The last thing these felines want in their domicile is a yappish, snappish dog, so they mount a vigorous search. Could he be hiding behind the purple sofa? Can somebody help them look?

"CAN YOU MOVE THIS SOFA?" they implore the reader.

Bingo! There, behind the sofa flap, is a long-eared purple canine who looks like he's there to stay! The cats flee!

"PSSST! FRIEND.

NOW WE'RE HIDING IN THE PIANO."

The reader is enjoined NOT to lift the piano lid, but who could resist?

You can see where this one is going, as an extensive dog, er, cat hunt follows, with the three kitties eager to seek the perfect hiding place all over the house--the closet, the suitcase (Very Boring! says their sign), and even the kitchen cabinet, which opens to reveal a small but possibly smokey dragon! But finally, Tiny, the littlest and least dog-averse cat has an intriguing speculation.

"WHAT IF THE DOG LIKES CATS?"

Curiosity overtakes the cautious cats. Would it be nice to touch his furry coat? Would he be fun to play with?

There many a slip between lift-the-flaps and friendship, but it looks like when the cats finally find their doggy, there are going to be some changes made around their house in this interactive game of hide-and-seek. Viviane Schwarz's inventive flaps, so well integrated with the interior of the house, make for some surprises and lots of giggles, and her deft page-turn design keeps human curiosity as keen as the cats'. She throws in a bit of dogs drool visual humor by portraying the pup's thought balloons in the simplest of stick figures, while the cats speak only in artful language. There definitely is a dog in this book, and it looks like he's there to stay.

Schwarz's three likeable cats also star in her previous companion books, There Are No Cats in this Book and
There Are Cats in This Book, all filled with interactive feline fun. "Along with a hand-lettered text, animal figures rendered in vigorous daubs of black and colored inks give the episode an endearing, informal energy reminiscent of Chris Raschka's Daisy outings," says Kirkus.

When The Snow Goes: Bear and Mimi in the Snow by Janee Trasler

WHEN MIMI TRIED ON HATS TO HAVE TEA WITH THE QUEEN, BEAR WAS THERE.

Mimi actually does almost nothing without her little blue Bear. So when she ventures out into the new snowfall, she pretends to ice skate in the Olympics, tips a teacup with royalty, and finally creates a scary snow monster, all with Bear at hand. But when she notices that it's getting dark and turns to go inside...

BEAR WAS NOT THERE.

She looks everywhere she has been in the snow, but there's no Bear anywhere! At last when Mimi has to go inside and go to bed, sadly there's no Bear there with her either.

The next morning Mimi bundles up to go search for Bear some more. But outside her door, everything is not as it was before.

Her championship ice rink is gone, with nothing but a muddy pond where it had been. Where she had worn her fancy hat for the Queen's high tea, there was just a muddy spot. Her hat was not there either. Mimi is sad. Where the hairy snow beast had stood tall in the snow, there was no snow at all.

BUT BEAR WAS THERE.

When the snow goes, what's below shows, in Janee Trasler's Mimi and Bear in the Snow (Feiwel and Friends, 2014), and like the sensible little rabbit girl she is, Mimi makes sure that in the future Bear travels inside her backpack--so that wherever she goes, Bear goes, too.

Janee Trasler's little snow story is told in simple, straightforward text, with only a few lines in Mimi's face revealing her feelings. But young readers, who likely know what it's like to lose a favorite toy, will spot when and where Bear makes his disappearance and love being ahead of the story all along. Trasler's rounded figures and simplified snowscape fit perfectly within the matter-of-fact narration, making this one a sweet and satisfying snowy day tale for preschoolers, a story for youngsters not quite ready for the step into fantasy in Raymond Briggs'classic story of The Snowman.

You've Got Mail! A Letter for Leo by Sergio Ruzzier

LEO IS THE MAILMAN OF A LITTLE OLD TOWN.

HE CARRIES ALL KINDS OF MAIL: BIG BOXES, SMALL PACKETS, ENVELOPES OF EVERY SIZE, CATALOGS, LOVE LETTERS, BIRTHDAY CARDS.

LEO HAS A PLEASANT LIFE, EXCEPT FOR ONE THING.

HE HAS NEVER RECEIVED A LETTER HIMSELF.

Every day Leo trudges through town, stopping sometimes for a game of bocce with the others, or sitting and sipping tea with a hospitable hen.

But Leo, a slightly stooped, mild-mannered weasel, is clearly lonely, and the letters he delivers only remind him that he is alone most of the time.

Then one morning, when he is about to open a mailbox, he hears something strange:

"Cheep!"

What could it be? He looks inside the box and sees a little bird who seems lost.

"YOU ARE TOO LITTLE TO FLY SOUTH BY YOURSELF," SAYS LEO.

Leo gently takes the little bird home and feeds him his emergency supply of dried crickets. He beds him down in an old mail-sorting box, and soon the two settle in for the winter. They prepare and eat their meals together and sit by the fire together, and when it snows, they build a snowman together. Cheep borrows Leo's mailman's cap for their snowman and gives him birdlike feet made from twigs.

But spring comes. Cheep learns to fly, and soon they both know that it is time for him to take flight with the flocks of birds passing over and heading for their nesting territory. They wave, and with a last "cheep," Leo's friend leaves. Now Leo is even more lonely as he goes back to his solitary life.

But one day there is something in his mailbox. It's a letter--for him.

Hopefully, he opens it to read:

Cheep cheep cheep cheep. Cheep cheep cheep cheep!
--CHEEP.

Does this mean that Cheep will be back when autumn comes?

Sergio Ruzzier's latest, A Letter for Leo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion Books, 2014). is a sweetly simple story of loneliness, longing, and friendship found that finds it way straight to the heart. Stylized and spare, Ruzzier's art speaks through his simple line drawings and expressive faces, with something of the sensibility of Dr. Seuss, with comfortably curved lines for his characters and grassy hills colored in pale yellows, lavenders, and greens, spare, almost surreal flowers and weeds, and tiled-roof houses a la Tomie dePaola's that give a hint of an Italian setting. Kids too young to have ever been alone for more than a minute will feel the pathos of Leo's loneliness, the mailman who delivers daily but never receives, and will empathize at the happiness that just one letter can bring.

See some of Ruzzier's earlier work, as author-illustrator himself or providing the artwork for the noted Eve Bunting's text, right here.

Hot off the Press! How to Bake a Book by Ellen Burfoot

I'M GOING TO BAKE A BOOK!
I'LL BREAK SOME IDEAS INTO A CUP.
I'LL BEAT THEM, WHISK THEM, MIX THEM UP.

I'LL WEIGH OUT MY WORDS. JUST ENOUGH.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT ONES CAN BE TOUGH.

In her new How to Bake a Book (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2014) Ellen Burfoot stirs up a light and fluffy description of the process of writing a story book, a sweet concoction to introduce the idea of authorship, the combination of elements that make a story that rises to expectations.

Other things are needed--putting ideas together in the best language, adding rising action into the plot, excitement, and appealing characters, providing sounds and words that offer their own sound effects (gurgle, squelch, splash), all with the right punctuation, spelling, and capital letters make it go down smoothly and leave a good taste behind for the reader.

Burfoot's analogy of writing to baking suggests that a lot of elements go into a work of fiction, and offers young readers or students setting out on an introduction to a unit on the elements of fiction with bouncy rhymes and light-handed mixed media illustrations that will be sweet to the taste of primary readers. Says Kirkus Reviews, "As the trend of picture books praising the codex continues, few will match the light tone, originality and quirkiness of this one."

Read this one with Barbara Bottner's equally delicious story about stories, Miss Brooks' Story Nook (where tales are told and ogres are welcome) for a slightly more sophisticated but delightful lesson on what it takes to tell a good story (See my review here.)

Automotive Abecedarius: Race From A to Z (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) by Jon Scieszka

"CALLING ALL TRUCKS--A, B, C.

LET'S GO, TRUCKS--RACE FROM A TO Z!"

Jack Truck throws down the oil rag, er, gauntlet, and gets the Trucktown gang revving up for a race, not to a place, but from one end of the alphabet to the other!

A IS FOR AXLE, BUMPER STARTS WITH A B!

C IS FOR CONSTRUCTION, CURB, CONES, AND CRASHES!

And pistons are pounding as trucks take to the road! Dan the Dump Truck, (who dumps dirt and dashes) takes the lead, but all the citizens of Trucktown have their moments--Cool Grader Kat smoothes the way, Gabby the Garbage Truck fairly flies, Rescue Rita and Wrecker Rosie strut their stuff, while little Izzy the Ice Cream Truck trails along in the rear, with a plaintive

"ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM! DO YOU WANT AN ICE CREAM?"

"NOT WHILE WE'RE RACING!" THE BIG RIGS ROAR AT POOR IZZY.

But harsh words do not melt Izzy's determination, as he stays cool and keeps in the race. In fact, when all the rest screech to a halt at the Y is for Yield sign and get themselves in a terrible truck traffic jam, Izzy chugs by, triumphant. Z, it seems, is for IZZY!

With the help of superstar illustrators David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon on his pet crew, Jon Sciezka's latest in his top-selling Trucktown series, Race from A to Z (Jon Scieszka's Trucktown) (Simon and Schuster, 2014), offers an alphabet lesson embedded in a demolition derby that gives readers quite a ride. The trio of artists contribute a fine cast of rambunctious googly-eyed characters, full of personality from grill to tailpipe, to keep kids' heads in the alphabet game all the way to the fast and funny finish line. "Clever fun, swooshing with motion and energy, this latest in the series will keep readers racing their engines for more," says Kirkus Reviews.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker: Playing with Matches by Suri Rosen

Here's some advice if you plan on taking the Number 7 bus down Bathurst Street at 7:36 a.m. Do not sit downwind from the woman eating the industrial grade tuna fish.

I took a deep breath and squeezed myself through the maze of human heat machines to the rear of the bus. Craning my neck, I caught sight of the ginger-haired woman reading in a seat next to the sealed window. I plopped into the empty seat beside her.

Gingie-Locks eyes were trained on the book resting in her lap. I glanced over her shoulder and noticed the word "love" sprinkled across the page. The title was written in a tiny font at the top of the page. I leaned over and pretended to adjust the bow on my right shoe so I could make out the name of the book. Hope and Inspiration for the Single Soul.

Sixteen-year-old Raina has just be expelled for an cruel email prank from the New York High School where she had tons of popular friends and shipped off to her Aunt Bernstein in Toronto. With no friends, Aunt Mira's terrible cooking, her Grandma Bubby, who sleeps through reruns of 1970s sitcoms, and "family friend" Jeremy, a lonely bachelor lawyer dorky and desperate enough to show up nightly for one of Mira's drab dinners, her exile in Toronto is bad enough, but when her older sister Leah shows up with the news that her wedding is off because her fiance finds Rain's prank proof of poor family values, Rain feels permanently trapped in the role of Resnick family pariah.

Rain is lonely enough to make friends with Tamara, the ginger-haired woman on her bus, who confesses that she is twenty-seven and has no marriage prospects, practically a hopeless spinster for a Jewish girl who is supposed to be married with children by age 25.

Suddenly Rain has an inspiration. What if she fixes up the pretty and perfectly nice Tamara with the annoyingly needy Jeremy? Two problems solved, perhaps.

And the match works. A whirlwind courtship begins. Tamara begs Rain to email her advice as the romance proceeds, and Rain, buoyed with her success, sets up an anonymous email under the name of matchmaven.com, (safe from Aunt Mira's prying eyes) and soon after, Rain gets an unexpected email:

Dear Matchmaven,I'm hoping you can help me. I've had such an awful time getting dates. I'm twenty-nine, attended the University of Toronto and work as an occupational therapist. I got your email address from Tamara, and I understand you work anonymously. Will you please, please help me?

Thanks, Deb Cohen

On the same day Matchmaven gets another pleading email, from the desperate Daniel Sharfstein, age 30, and Rain thinks, Why not?

And before she realizes what she's doing, Rain is beset with lovelorn single souls, begging to be fixed up by the marvelous Matchmaven. Soon she has so many clients that she asks Dahlia, the nerdy classmate assigned to help her "integrate socially" at school, to design a spreadsheet to keep track of her matches. The job begins to take over her life, and even with her new assistant, she's up half the night coaching her clients and, unfortunately, failing most of her classes.

And the match that she wants most to make, finding the jilted Leah the perfect husband, is still to be made.

Suri Rosen's Playing With Matches (ECW Press, 2014) develops a novel premise for a high school heroine, involved not with her own romances, but the unwed twenty- and thirty-somethings of Toronto. In a nice twist, Rain even pulls off a soul-mate match between a seventy-something widower professor and her nemesis, Mrs. Levine, the dragon-lady principal of Maimonides High School, and it is only at their wedding that Matchmaven at last makes the match she is seeking for Leah.

Loosely but deliciously plotted and unflaggingly entertaining, the narration of Rain's double-life adventures is frantic, funny, and finally heart-warming, even promising, perhaps, a sequel, a catch readers won't want to miss. "Fizzy, funny and ultimately redemptive!" quoth Kirkus Reviews.

Common Denominator: Pirate,Viking, and Scientist by Jared Chapman

PIRATE WAS FRIENDS WITH SCIENTIST.

SCIENTIST WAS FRIENDS WITH VIKING.

VIKING AND PIRATE WERE NOT FRIENDS.

Scientist has a problem. His birthday party is coming up soon, and he'd like to invite all his friends. But Viking and Pirate can't stand each other. And these two can cause some major mayhem when they get together.

But Scientist believes in the scientific method. There's got to be something they can enjoy together.

Birthday cake?

The cake doesn't survive the fight over it between the two.

Party games?

A furious free-for-all follows!

Results of the experiment are negative. But before Scientist scraps his hypothesis, he decides to try again to find common ground between the warring factions: he asks three questions:

"DO YOU LIKE BOATS?"

"YES!" SAID PIRATE. "YES!" SAID VIKING.

"WHAT DO YOU KEEP UNDER YOUR PILLOWS?"

"A SWORD!" THEY BOTH ANSWERED

"WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND SATURDAY MORNING?"

"PILLAGING AND PLUNDERING!" THEY SHOUTED!

Bingo! Scientist has his conclusion. With common ground established between Pirate and Viking, it's time for something else they both like--ice cream, in Jared Chapman's Pirate, Viking, and Scientist (Little Brown and Company, 2014). While pillaging and plundering are not exactly recommended weekend pastimes, Jared Chapman's goofy little tribute to the scientific method does establish the value of negotiation to get even these ruffians to YES. Chapman's zany cartoon characters are over the top in a way that makes his point that almost any antagonists can find something to agree upon, and he does so in a way that hits a couple of curriculum targets as well. As Publishers Weekly puts it, "... it’s great inspiration for classroom science units or at-home Venn-diagramming."

Art for Art's Sake: Draw! by Raul Colon

What if a regular kid, lying across his bed with a pen and a fresh drawing pad, were on a safari on the plains of Africa?

What would he see? What could he draw?

Himself, in pith helmet, carrying his easel across the dry, sandy earth? An elephant, apparently eager to pose for a portrait?

Would there be picturesque zebras to portray? Maybe tawny, lordly lions? Perhaps a happy hippo mudbathing?

Would there be a waiting water buffalo, big and still?

And... What if there were a charging rhino?

Yikes! This could be serious.

Will the boy run for safety behind a tree? Maybe. But what if there is a lazy leopard lying in that tree already?

Drawing can be hazardous to your health!

Raul Colon's Draw! (Simon and Schuster, 2014) is a trip!--a wordless picture book which celebrates animal art while providing a little African adventure, a sort of series of safari selfies done as terrific paintings instead of iPhone pictures.

It's a different sort of show-and-tell for this young artist which will give youngsters some ideas about what they can draw, with Colon's fine line and watercolor paintings of the wild life of the great African plains.

Too-Much-Tail-Tale: Waggers by Stacy Nyikosi

WAGGERS TRIED TO BE GOOD. HE REALLY TRIED HARD.

WHEN HE SAW MONA AND MICHAEL, HIS TAIL TWIRLED SO MUCH IT SENT THE OTHER PUPPIES FLYING.

"THAT'S SOME TAIL," SAID MOM.

And is Mom going to want to reconsider thatstatement! Perhaps she should have paid attention to the sign in the pet shop over Wagger's puppy pen.

FREE PUPS!
RAZORTAIL WHIPPETS

When the twins get their happy pup home, Mom and Mona decide to make cookies to celebrate their new family member. Waggers is ecstatic!

HIS TAIL STARTED TO WAG.
SWOOP! SWOOP! SWOOP!

The kitchen is wrecked. Bowl, batter, oven mitts, all fly! The bowl breaks, the batter hits the walls, ceiling, floor, and sides of the oven. Is Waggers a bad dog?

Mom has to agree that he might be, but Dad tries to make light of the mess until... he flops down to watch TV and perhaps snooze on the sofa. Michael suddenly pops up with a dramatic whisper:

"MONSTER!"

Waggles pounces, his tail twirls, and the lamp, the side table and the sofa are shredded to a shambles. Dad is now on Mom's side in her opinion of Waggers, who is banished to the garage. But Waggers is so glad to see them in the morning that he can't help wagging his yards of tail, which scratches the family car catastrophically!

It's outside to the back yard with Waggers this time. But he is so excited to be outdoors that he wags again! Yikes!

"MY BUSHES!!!" MOM CRIED.

"MY YARD!!!" CRIED DAD.

But this time there's some good news. Thanks to Waggers, the grass is cut, the bushes are trimmed, and even the sagging tree branches are pruned. What a tail! What a dog! What a Waggers!

Stacy Nyikosi's Waggers (Sky Pony Press, 2014) is a tale that is as wild as her over-endowed pooch's tail. Kids will find her cartoon dog cute but quite over the top, with some snickers along the way. A funny pet fantasy that just might make kids think about what sort of dog they want!

Never A Flower Girl? Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century by Jane O'Connor

MY UNCLE CAL CALLED! HE'S GETTING MARRIED!

WEDDINGS ARE SUCH SPECIAL OCCASIONS. (OCCASION IS A FANCY WORLD FOR SPECIAL EVENT.)

I'VE PLANNED SO MANY WEDDINGS, AND NOW I'M GOING TO A REAL ONE!

Nancy's head is filled with visions of herself strewing rose petals before an elegantly gowned bride and tuxedoed groom. She packs up her laciest, frilliest dresses and best shoes in high state of excitement. Dad is not much help with the wedding details.

"PERHAPS UNCLE CAL WANTS IT TO BE A SURPRISE!"

With the car finally packed, Nancy leans back in her seat and conjures up expectations of a snazzy weekend wedding.

I MAY SHUT MY EYES FOR A MOMENT OR TWO AND GET A LITTLE BEAUTY SLEEP," SHE THINKS TO HERSELF...

...Oooh-la-la! The hotel is fit for royalty, the swimming pool is like a lake and the water slide is a mile long, and after the water fun, Nancy enjoys a spa mani and pedi and lots of pampering before she dons her fabulous flower girl gown, summoning JoJo to hold her train... and then it's almost time to be the first in the wedding party to walk down the....

"WE'RE HERE! WAKE UP! NANCY!...."

"SAY WHAT?"

The reality of the affair is nothing like Nancy's dream. They are at a lake with log cabins all around. Dawn the bride wants an all-natural service, so there is not going to be any fancy wedding, no elegante reception with molded ice sculptures, towering, tiered cake, and jacketed waiters. And there is not going to be any flower girl at all.

It is a terrible blow to Nancy's hopes, but our girl bucks up and carries it off like a proper niece should. She even offers her own coronet to add some sparkle to Dawn's white muslin dress for "something borrowed" luck. Nancy is a bit overdressed for the pre-sunrise ceremony, but she takes an aisle seat and hops up to strew a few petals before the bride after all. And, she reflects...

"OF ALL THE GUESTS, I AM THE FANCIEST BY FAR."

In Jane O'Connor's latest full-color Fancy Nancy picture book, Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century (Harper, 2014), Nancy Clancy comes through to make the rustic wedding an occasion to remember. Artist Robin Preiss Glasser gets to go all out, illustrating two possible weddings in her trademark style, plus a hearty bucolic party with fun for all.

Is Nancy never to make it down the aisle as the fanciest of flower girls? Surely Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser have a rose-petal basket somewhere yet in Nancy's future! It would be tres triste if her creators let her age out of the flower girl job, especially since that means that honor will go to ... JoJo. Quelle horreur!

"Frothy and fun, Nancy's latest adventure feels as fresh as her first appearance," pronounces Kirkus Reviews.

How Daddies DO It! Daddy Hugs by Nancy Tafuri

"I LOVE DRIPPY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE TURTLE."JUST-DADDY-AND-ME-HUGS."

With the simple theme that "little ones love hugs," Caldecott author-illustrator Nancy Tafuri gives the daddies of the wild their chance to shine. And do they embrace the opportunity!

Tafuri opens with a raccoon dad and his little one snuggling in the hollow of a tree. It's a sweet sight... but....there's more!

"I LOVE DRIPPY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE TURTLE.
JUST-DADDY-AND-ME-HUGS!"

Tafuri's hook for little ones is that each two-page spread of Dad and his little one shows, in the background, a tantalizing glimpse of at least part of the animal to be featured next, giving sharp-eyed observers a chance to figure what follows the page turn.  Adult read-alouders, on auto pilot at bedtime, may be surprised when their youngsters seem to have amazing predictive powers.

"I LOVE  WHISKERY HUGS," SAYS LITTLE FOX."

And while he's getting his version of just-Daddy-and-Me-Hugs, a big quail soars by, obviously on a mission--a hugging mission--as we see in the next double-page spread, in which Little Bobwhite gets his own "feathery hugs," from his dad.  There are also daddy hugs from Mr. Skunk, Fox, Chipmunk, Beaver, Chipmunk, and Owl, and finally a human parent and child enjoying the best of hugs....

"... GOODNIGHT. SWEET DREAMS, MY LITTLE ONE."

With a repeating and repeatable refrain and Tafuri's big, signature pencil and watercolored drawings, good to teach tots animal names and a bit about their habitats,Daddy Hugs (Little, Brown and Company, 2014) is both a bedtime story and a nature lesson in one.  Tafuri also throws in some fun-to-spot bit parts for an orb spider in her web, a dragonfly, a bee, and an ever-present lady bird beetle on every page.

The author also appends a list of featured animals and their official names (downy woodpecker, American gray squirrel) and challenges older readers to spot and point out arachnids, insects, mammals, reptiles, mollusks, worms, and amphibians depicted throughout.

Read this one with Tafuri's lovely companion book, All Kinds of Kisses, for a perfect pair of Tafuri tales.

Wingin' It: On the Wing by David Elliott

The Caribbean Flamingo

Singular, an ember waiting to ignite.                     A conflagration.
The sky is set alight!


David Elliott's On the Wing (Candlewick Press, 2014) is an invitation even for non-birders, to look up in delight. With both lyric lines, surprisingly comic wordplay, and quirky humor, Elliott includes gives us delightful descriptions of seventeen very different birds: the hummingbird, "always in a tizzy, busy, busy, busy;" the crow, "pure caw-caw-phony;" the macaw, "Who spilled the paint?" the sparrow, who "wants to roar: small cousin of the dinosaur; "and America's favorite redbird:

The Cardinal

He's a hot shot Valentine.She's a plain Jane.

But one without the other? A song with no refrain.

From ordinary urban chirpers to the majestic eagle, condor, and albatross, Elliott varies his poetry from decorous couplets and quipping quatrains to haiku and free verse, all set to the elegant artwork of Becca Stadtlander, whose illustrations are both as natural as a snapshot or as stylized as a Greek frieze. This is a poetry book that soars as gracefully as the crane on its cover, a delightful way to see all sorts of birds in all of their glory. As Kirkus Reviews says in a starred review, "From the graceful cranes flying across its wraparound cover to the single feather on the title page to the soaring eagle at the end, this book astounds."

Snow Trail Snow Tale: Blizzard by John Rocca

THE FIRST FLAKE FELL BEFORE RECESS.

From his desk, a boy spots the first flake through his school's tall windows. The excitement is palpable in the classroom, as the students hope that this will be the first big snow of the winter. Yea!

SCHOOL CLOSED EARLY.

The boy and his sister trudge home in the snow, already high up on their boots. By the next morning the snow is too deep for them to open their front door.

SO WE WENT OUT THE WINDOW!

The kids play in the snow until they are too tired and wet to have fun anymore, and they resort to cocoa and camping out before the stove. The boy bones up on blizzard lore, reading Arctic Survival.

As more snow days go by, the children begin to tire of snow play and the family begins to run out of their favorite foods. Without milk, their cocoa is not the same, and their snacks are down to raisins dug out of the back of the pantry.

Snowbound for six days, the boy decides that only a certified survivalist like himself is up to the task of resupplying the family larder. And... there is one more thing...

HE WAS THE ONLY ONE LIGHT ENOUGH TO WALK ON THE SNOW.

He suits up, fashions tennis rackets into snowshoes, and with a list of necessities (peanut butter, coffee!) and sled in tow, heads out to the store, stopping by the neighbors to see if they need anything.

It's a post-blizzard scene outside as the boy plods through the snow-obliterated streets. He is a Arctic explorer, stopping to make a snow angel, checking out an igloo some kids have built, getting into their snowball fight, and breaking a trail toward the store, which he is happy to find OPEN.

He's a celebrated returning hero when he drops off supplies at the neighbor's house and when he stomps into his own yard, his dog barks out a fanfare:WOOOFFF!

There's milk for the cocoa, coffee for his parents, and the next day brings a loud but welcome sound in the snow-deadened landscape.

"SNOWPLOWS!"

It's civilization at last for the snow-weary family in Caldecott artist John Rocco's personal memoir of the blizzard of 1978, in his latest, Blizzard (Hyperion Books, 2014). Telling the story primarily through his art, Rocco makes good use of a palette of wintry whites and hues of blue, providing a delightful fisheye lens view of the town's snowbound landscape on a four-page foldout painting. In Rocco's impressive illustrations, it's a child's dream of the biggest blizzard ever, with snow fun and seven days off from school to boot. Special touches, such as the day of the week shown cleverly on each page--Monday in careful cursive on the class blackboard, Tuesday written in the snow by squirrel tracks, Thursday spelled out in spilled raisins from the box---add touches of humor throughout. As Kirkus says "The Caldecott honoree's pencil, watercolor and digital paint illustrations are reminiscent of Steven Kellogg in their light and line and detail, and readers will pore over the pages as they vicariously live through a blizzard,"