Duck at the Door

Author: Jackie Urbanovic (also the illustrator)
Rating:
Reading Level: pre-k to 2nd

Publisher: HarperCollins
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

This is an absolute WINNER! The text is sparing and just right to convey the situations from page to page -- I enjoyed the individual thoughts from the animals mixed in with the straightforward text.

Each animal in the house is distinctly designed and incredibly adorable/attractive/expressive. Their body language speaks volumes!

The surprising second-to-last spread made me *GASP* with horrified delight.

This whole package just WORKS!

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County

Author: Janice Harrington
Illustrator: Shelley Jackson
Rating:
Reading Level: Pre-K - 3rd

Publisher: FSG
Edition: Hardcover, 2007

I would have to say that this is one of the most joyful picture books I've read this year. I adore everything about it. It's incredibly fun to read the text out loud and to hear it read. It is colorful and energetic, full of poetic inventions:

"wash away the dreaming and brush my teeth whiter than a biscuit"
"fast as a mosquito buzzing and quick as a fleabite"
and listen to the cadence and joy of these glorious lines:
"I think of all kinds of chicken thoughts so they won't know I'm up to something.
Corn, I think, bright, shiny knuckles of yellow corn.
Eggs! Eggs! Eggs! Goldy-brown eggs all warm, warm warm.
Corn bread, corn bread! Crumb and crumble bread.
Worms, Slurms, swishy, swishy-mishy, ickly-tickly worms"

Oh... I'm having so much fun just looking at these words and lines.

And then, of course, there are these glorious illustrations -- where the energy, the colorfulness, and sunshiny fun is captured and further expanded. The mixed media with real object collage illustrations convey the carefree high spirit of our heroine. The most effective compositions are the ones that explode outward:

The page with Pah-Quawkkkkk! and Quawkkkkkk exploding in the center of the spread.

And there are pages more subdued but no less pleasing. There is a great pacing of action verses internal thoughtfulness both in the text, and especially in the illustrations. This is just GLORIOUS! I said it a third time now :)

Why the long silence

I've been reading... and writing, and thinking about what I've been reading. But, I have been jotting down notes on a private database since I am on the 2008 Notable Children's Books Committee and must read quicker and write more notes about them -- so I have not had time to craft more coherent reading journal entries. But, they will be coming soon. I have quite a bit to say about quite a few books published in 2007!

A Scanner Darkly

Author: Philip Dick
Rating:
Reading Level: Adult

Publisher: Random House Audio
Edition: Text: 1977; Audio Book, read by Paul Giamatti, 2006

Loved the enigmatic plot line and shared the despair of the main characters in such bleak circumstances. Giamatti's more than competent rendition of the text added to the appeal. I usually only listen to audio books when washing dishes or doing chores, but this one I had to listen on my iPod in bed and on the bus... couldn't stop, especially during the latter half of the story. There are also many moments of absurdity that are both laughable and pitifully so. Really glad that I got to know this story -- and now am wondering, "How on EARTH could they make this fairly introspective novel into a movie?" But, then, Blade Runner (based on Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) was made and successfully so, although it is true that the book and the movie are quite different, both powerful in their own ways.

It was nice to finally understand the meaning of the title, too!

Secret History of Tom Trueheart

Author: Ian Beck
Reading Level: 4th-6th

Publisher: Greenwillow (HarperCollins)
Edition: Hardcover, 2007 (ARC)

Very little works for me in this fairy-tale inspired fantasy. The logic seems largely faulty (such as the limited view on fairy-tale world and that only these 7 brothers - all named Jack - can take on these "quest" assignments.) The "message" is so blatant that the tale holds little depth. It simply did not work for me.

The Last Girls of Pompeii

Author: Kathryn Lasky
Reading Level: 5th-7th

Publisher: Viking
Edition: Hardcover, 2007 (ARC)

The imagined story of a group of nobles, slaves, and gladiators during the days leading to the eruption of Vesuvius is a great topic. I enjoyed the historical details but at the same time found that at certain points, the "history lesson" overshadows the momentum of the plotline and thus slows down the pacing of an otherwise very exciting tale.

Magpie Gabbard and the Quest for the Buried Moon

Author: Sally M. Keehn
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th - 6th

Publisher: Philomel
Edition: Hardcover, 2007 (ARC)

It is definitely Quirky, with that capital Q! The tall-tale tone and the magical and outlandish plotline are consistent and coherent in their own way. Very strong opening scene and concluding passages.