Senor Parrot’s Perch

Doppelganger is the third of the Bloodwater Mysteries series written by Pete Hautman and Mary Logue. And of the three, Doppelganger is my favorite. Like the previous two books in the Bloodwater Mysteries series, the chemistry between Roni and her sluething friend Brian is as fun as ever. However, in this story, Roni’s unbridled drive to solve every mystery nearly drives a wedge between the two friends.

Always irrepressible, Roni  is looking for a story online. She’s browsing a missing children website when she comes across a missing boy, Korean by birth, who was supposedly kidnapped by his mother at the age of three. Still missing after 10 years, the site includes an age-progressed photograph of the missing boy as he might appear now. Roni can’t believe her eyes. This photo is a dead ringer -a Doppelganger-for her friend Brian, also Korean by birth and adopted, and the age is the same.

She immediately tells Brian about the picture, hinting that maybe the missing child is him. How else could someone look so exactly like him. Brian brushes the insinuation aside, but when he questions his parents about his own adoption and they aren’t forthcoming with the facts, he begins to harbor doubts of his own. His doubts fester more deeply when he thinks back when he was three. The memories he is able to recall are not of his parents, but of two other people and a little dog.

Roni is now in motion, diving headlong into the mystery of the missing boy, almost sure that he is her friend Brian. Speeding around Minnesota and Wisconsin on her faithful Vespa named Hillary -actually speeding is way to grand a word for their putt-putting down the highway- Roni and Brian chase down clues and the people tied to the cold case until they uncover the chilling truth.

I recommend Doppelganger highly. If you haven’t read the previous two books in the Bloodwater Mysteries, get them all and start with Snatched, the first in the series, mostly because it chronicles the meeting between Roni and Brian as they wait outside the principle’s office at school, and it is in this book that the two become friends. It won’t take that much time to read through them, because you won’t want to put them down after you’ve started.

In Snatched, Roni and Brian hunt for a kidnapped teen from their school. The second book in the Bloodwater Mysteries series is Skullduggery; finding the skull of a murdered faculty member of the town college sets the two friends down the trail of another dangerous mystery.

 

How to Be a Detective

By Barbara Mitchelhill

Illustrated by Tony Ross

How to Be a Detective, by Barbara Mitchelhill, and illustrated by Tony Ross, is one of a series Mitchelhill has written about Damien Drooth Supersleuth. Damien is quite the amateur detective. and he has built up quite a reputation in his town as an outstanding amateur sleuth. He’s a confident fellow, conceited, even. If you’re familiar with Nate the Great, he will remind you a bit of him. Written for slightly more advanced readers than Nate the Great, How to Be a Detective has more action and more humor.

When Damien opens a school for detectives he immediately has a long line kids waiting to get in. After a few short words of introduction to identifying criminals, he leads his class into the fray. They head downtown and begin to search for criminals. Watch out! If you have a beard, or maybe close-set eyes, these crime hunting kids will be onto your trail.

And in How to Be a Detective, they do find a tail! Er, a trail! at the local dog show. The whole gang gets involved solving this one and Damien’s students are ready, maybe even more than Damien is.

I’m happy to know that Damien Drooth Supersleuth is a series. I’ve already several more. This is a terrific book for grades 2-5 and could easily become a favorite. I know that my older daughter would have loved this book when she was younger. She consumed every mystery and detective book she could get her hands on, even attempting books much beyond her reading ability at the time.

Barbara Mitchelhill has a website where she talks about her life, career as a teacher and writer, and tells us about all her books.

Robot Zot!

by Jon Scieszka

illustrated by David Shannon

Robot Zot! by Jon Scieska and David Shannon explodes with energy. Robot Zot has landed in the backyard and quickly invades the house where he destroys the toaster, an infomercial, and plenty of other things, and he rescues a toy telephone from a toddler, convinced she is captive queen. Everywhere he is followed by his faithful robot pet who looks something like a Spanish conquistador’s helmet.

Bravery is the key here. When our hero Zot faces the enemy, quaking and tempted to turn, he screws up his courage and shouts his battle cry, “Hero Zot–never fall. Hero Zot–conquers all!”

Jon Scieska has created pure boy material here, full of daring, high adventure, and zany mayhem. Then again, if your girl is the type who loves silly antics and great illustration, she’s covered here, as well.

Illustrator David Shannon completes this book with high energy and perfectly expressive illustrations. Its difficult to imagine a better collaboration between author and illustrator. Every pose and every view is perfect. Each kitchen counter appliance seems alive and menacing. The vacuum hose is a giant boa constrictor. The wide-eyed toddler the cruel captor. A dad lurks occasionally in the background, scratching his head at the devastation Robot Zot leaves in his wake.

I love Robot Zot!. Every reading seems to get better. It’s perfect for a bedtime read, take-along in the car, for pre-readers or kids headed for the second grade

Pop
by Gordon Korman

Pop by Gordon Korman is an excellent book about High School football and growing up. It’s ideal for YA readers, especially football loving boys.

Marcus Jordan is new in town and wants to play quarterback on the football team. His reception couldn’t have been cooler. Just off their perfect championship season, and led by star quarterback Troy Popovich, no one on the team offers any sort of welcome to the new kid in town. And it seems like more than just a cold shoulder, its an all out campaign to drive him from the team, lead by Troy, the golden boy who led the team to all its victories the prior year. When Marcus does get to take some snaps in practice, the offensive line dissolves and the defense thunders in unhindered. Panicked, Marcus is unable to connect with his passing.

After practice, Marcus heads to the park to practice his throwing at targets he sets up. Tossing one long he sees a middle-aged man suddenly sprint for the pass and make an amazing catch. They begin playing together and the older man surprisingly gives Marcus a bone crunching tackle. Furious, he protests, but he’s rebuffed and the tackling continues. The older man encourages Marcus to have at him, as well. The afternoon, crazy and intense, becomes a turning point for Marcus. He begins to enjoy the hard hitting style of football the older man, Charlie, likes to play. It transforms his game, no longer fearing a tackle, but preferring to deliver the bone crushing pop to his opponent, instead.

This is the beginning of a very unusual friendship with the older man. Marcus can’t quite figure out why Charlie calls him Mac, as though he were someone else. He begins to wonder if Charlie thinks he is still sixteen. Charlie’s behavior is sometimes completely erratic and constantly puzzling to Marcus. In time, though, Marcus begins to unravel the puzzle of who Charlie really is, exposing family secrets along the way.

I have to say I loved this book. There is a great deal more than only football that gets covered in these pages. Marcus’ rivalry with the quarterback Troy is at the center of much of it, complicated by the interest in Marcus that Troy’s ex-girlfriend displays. And there is Charlie, the teen-aged kid in a man’s body, and the discoveries that Marcus makes about his past and the reasons behind his current condition. The writing is straight to the point, fast moving, and full of emotional punches without any melodrama.

I have one reservation for this book. Some sites indicate that kids 9-12 would be interested in it, but the sexual content level should make it higher than that, maybe 14 or older. It’s too bad, too. There is one incident, really just some language, in an early chapter and there is a strong amount of sexual tension between Marcus and Alyssa, the cheerleader. As the book progresses, this isn’t as overtly portrayed, yet nevertheless exists and continues to work as a strong driver to some plot elements. Had the tone of the first few chapters been at the same level as the rest of the book, I wouldn’t question the appropriateness for younger readers. I do think that Korman could have easily changed the early comment from his book and not lost any of the plot driver of the relationship between Marcus and Alyssa.

Birds

by Kevin Henkes
illustrated by Laura Dronzek

Published by Greenwillow Books, 2009
ISBN: 978-0061363047

Birds is an excellent new picture book by well known and loved children’s and YA author Kevin Henkes, and illustrated by Laura Droznek, his wife. Henkes and Droznek previously collaborated 10 years ago on their book Oh!

Henkes‘ text and Droznek‘s illustrations mesh perfectly in this beautiful book which is told from the perspective of a young girl. The text is simple, straightforward, and witty. The illustrations remarkably express and expand everything that is written. When I was reading this book to my youngest daughter tonight as I was putting her to bed, I wondered how someone other than Henkes himself could express through the illustrations the book so well. Learning just this evening that Henkes and Droznek are married explains a lot.

I quickly searched the internet looking for more pictures from the book so I could show just how beautiful it is, but I couldn’t find any other than the cover and these two. When you’re in the bookstore, look for Birds and turn inside to the pages where the text reads:

If clouds were birds,
the sky would look like this.
Or this.

The illustrations for these two pages are exquisite; I want them for my wall.

Droznek has also illustrated several books by George Shannon.

Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls

By Lucy Nolan

Illustrated by Connie McLennan

ISBN: 978-1-934359-96-9
Published by Sylvan-Dell Publishing, emphasizing Science and Math through Literature

Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.
Just beneath the waves you lie,
like a star tossed from the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.

Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls, written by Lucy Nolan and illustrated by Connie McLennan, is a collection of  fun and entertaining parodies of many favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes. But the rhymes inside Mother Osprey are parodies with purpose. Math and counting skills, science and history are all lessons taught in these poems.  Don’t think “Boring” when you see that this book teaches hard subjects like math or science. The rhymes and illustrations are pure enjoyment in themselves.

Most of Lucy Nolan’s rhymes are pure silly fun that kids will enjoy listening to over and over and even memorizing; the rest vividly illustrate a point in time from history. An appendix in the back adds more facts and explanations that the parent or teacher can use to draw young listeners further into a teaching moment. A map shows where each of the habitats is located.

Twinkle,  Twinkle starfish dear, quoted above, places the starfish in its natural habitat and opens up rich opportunities for discussing the shallows and beaches along a rocky coast. What other animals life nearby? What do they eat? What eats them?

But Lobster Pies is just plain silly:

Old Mrs. Wise
made lobster pies all on a winter’s day;
her greedy son
grabbed every one
and took them clean away.

What a surprise
for Junior Wise
lay inside that croaker sack.
When he sat on a bench
to eat a pinch,
the lobster pies pinched back!

Nursery rhymes satisfy at many levels: they’re great fun to listen to, with their rhymes and the rhythm of their meter. They’re pleasing for the strength of their imagery. They easily capture a child’s imagination, slipping into their memories and never losing their ability to bring enjoyment. Children seem to never tire of repeating them over and over and the verses are a natural invitation to singing. Nursery rhymes teach children language skills and the repetition packs information into their young, developing brains and they help develop their ears for word use and phrasing.

Mother Osprey is a perfect gift for your child or your child’s classroom teacher, whether in preschool, kindergarten, or the early grades. The rhymes are a perfect starter to get children to focus on some part of the environment, or a place. They introduce elements of nature in an interesting way, which leads naturally to a discussion of what is in the rhyme.

The Book Smugglers reviewed Rapunzel’s Revenge today, and as is usual with them, their review was thorough and excellent, and they loved it. (Here’s the link to my review of Rapunzel’s Revenge). Reading their review, they let it be known that Team Hale (Shannon Hale, her husband Dean Hale, and not-at-all related Nathan Hale) have competed their sequel, Calamity Jack.

Oooohh, I thought, as my oldest daughter wandered into the kitchen for breakfast while I was reading The Book Smugglers’ review, she’ll will be excited to know about this! So I tell her, with an excited tone, and show her the cover image The Book Smugglers had posted. “Oh yeah, I knew”, she says. “How did you hear?”, says I. “I heard it a long time ago. I’ve known about that for a long time.”

Well, it didn’t really burn my toast, but I do hate being the last to know. (So, do I tell her that the newest graphic novel in the Kat & Mouse series,  Kat & Mouse Volume 4 (Kat and Mouse (Graphic Novels)),  is out in September? She’s been waiting for over a year and given up hope.)

Anyway, if you haven’t read Shannon Hale’s (and team Hale’s, to keep it short) graphic novel, Rapunzel’s Revenge, go out and get it today. It’s really aimed mostly at girls, but boys might get a few kicks out of it, too.

And here is a bit of the lowdown from the publisher on Calamity Jack, this snagged from The Book Smugglers review:

Jack thinks of himself as a criminal mastermind with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, a trickster …maybe even a thief? But, of course, he’s not out for himself he’s trying to take the burden off his hardworking mum’s shoulders. She’d understand, right? He hopes she might even be proud. Then, one day, Jack chooses a target a little more …’giant’ than the usual, and as one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk, his troubles really begin. But with help from Rapunzel and other eccentric friends, Jack just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of the people who live there …whilst catapulting them and the reader into another fantastical adventure.

New cover image for the retitled book and series: Sluggers #1: Magic in the Outfield

Original cover and title for book: Barnstormers: Game 1

Magic in the Outfield (Sluggers) is the exciting and mysterious first book in the Sluggers: Three Kids, A Mystery, and a Magic Baseball series for kids. You may find this titled Game 1 (Barnstormers), which is the original name for the series. The authors, both baseball lovers, are series originator Loren Long, also very well known for his outstanding work  illustrating books, and Phil Bildner, author of Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy, as well as several other books on baseball that kids will love.

The story begins with Griffith, his sister Ruby, and young brother Graham, and a strange baseball with an odd hole nearly all the way through it. Unlike any other baseball they’d seen, it was something their dead father had carried with him during the war.  Now the ball was a reminder that they were still a family, a symbol of togetherness. They’re traveling with their mother, and eight men, a traveling baseball team, that earns its living by playing teams from the different cities they visit.

They stop first in Cincinnati, where bizarre things happen during the game, things they and their team can see, but no one else can. Is their father’s old baseball some connected to all these strange events?

I first heard about this book over at Boys Read Boys Rule! where Carl and the others have been raving about it. And now its my turn to rave. Magic in the Outfield (Sluggers) is nearly impossible to put down as the mystery mounts with every page. This book is exceptionally well written. The illustrations are amazing. The action is fast and the mystery runs high. You’ll love the characters, the team members, the mother, the children’s uncle, and especially Griffith, Ruby and Graham. You’ll want them all, too. I’m heading out this weekend for the next one in the series.

Both baseball buffs, Bildner and Long have reached back into history to describe the game as it was played in the late 1800′s. Their love of the game comes through in the great descriptions and drawings of the big game between The Travelin’ Nine and the local Cincinnati team and they incorporate the jargon that was current for the time, adding a nice sense of the times that helps you experience the game as it was played back then.

George’s Secret Key to the Universe

by Lucy Hawking and Stephen Hawking with Christophe Galfard

Illustrated by Garry Parsons

Novelist Lucy Hawking has teamed up with her famous father, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, to write a terrific science fiction book for kids and middle grade readers. They get further assistance from Christophe Galfard and the book is illustrated by Garry Parsons. Their first effort is George’s Secret Key to the Universe. Within the framework of this novel the Hawkings have managed to create a very fun story that includes the latest fantastic facts about the universe and theories of its origin. Together they present an amazing amount of knowledge at a level that anyone can understand. Unlike much science fiction, which is really fantasy with a few smatterings of highly speculative and dubious science, with this book we have real science.

Next door to George’s home stands an old abandoned house, its yard and structure long neglected after the old man who had lived there disappeared. One night George pursues his pet pig, which had broken through a hole in the fence, into the overgrown yard. He sees lights are on and his pig has just dashed into the house through an open door. As he catches his pig, he is discovered by a girl, a bit younger, but close to his own age, who is not the least bothered by the pig.  She is Annie. George soon meets the girl’s father, Eric, also not bothered by the presence of the pig.

George discovers that his new neighbors have a secret. Not an evil secret, but a fantastic secret of great power. They possess the most powerful (more…)

Little Rat Sets Sail by Monika Bang-Campbell, illustrated by Molly Bang.

Little Rat Sets Sail introduces kids to sailing without really downplaying their ambiguous feelings. The book depicts learning to sail pretty much the way they will experience it for themselves.  As Little Rat grows in experience and overcomes some of her fears, she grows in confidence, too. It’s also very entertaining for young readers along the way. The illustrations are great. Illustrator Molly Bang has fantastic fun exaggerating Little Rat’s fears, and she shows what it’s like to be out in the boat, the way sailing really is.

In Monika Bang-Campbell’s book, Little Rat’s parents enroll her in a sailing class, much to her dismay. She shouldn’t have been surprised, though. Pictures of sailing scenes hang from every wall in her home, evidence that her parents are passionate about sailing. But Little Rat finds danger and distress everywhere, from the steep descent from the top of the hill down to the boats, the deep water that she thinks is filled with eels and jellyfish, and even having a life jacket different from what the other kids wear, not dorky like hers. But she has a good teacher who recognizes her fears and helps her to grow in confidence and courage as the summer progresses.

Sailing can be scary for little folks. Sailboats rock. They are never level. Things happen all the time. The wind strengthens or wanes and changing direction means changing sides and ducking heads to avoid the boom, changing which line is held, and on and on.

For my kids, it wasn’t so much the depth of the water or the thought of what might be waiting just below the surface that upset them. It was the tipping and rolling with the wind and the constant sense of losing their balance. The boat would not stay level or at even the same angle. But these things, disconcerting or not, are much of what later becomes the fun of sailing.

After a while, my kids became eager to get into the boat and spend a few hours out on the lake. As long as they have enough to keep them busy, its a lot of fun. Now they’re old enough to spend some time steering at the rudder, or holding the jib or main sheets to control the sails. Videos can also be helpful. We’ve acquired several and we review them in the spring, or watch them snowy nights when we’d rather be on a warm lake soaking up the sun.

Here’s a video clip from Youtube, cut from a popular video Teaching Kids How To Sail: