HIDE AND SEEK

By David A. Carter

(Tate Publishing, 2012)

The pop-up books of my childhood never lasted. Too many hands on them, too many folds that just gave out as the wear and tear from small hands proved unforgiving. Sadly, the few that I came across in classroom and library collections had a short shelf lie. And yet, they were magical works, books to gaze at with wonder while appreciating their unique design.

Pop-up books, while fascinating in and of themselves, can teach children how to value something delicate and, more broadly, how to respect a book. I received the glorious Hide and Seek as a gift shortly after its release and I’m proud to say my copy is well preserved despite having been viewed by many classes of children. The key has been presenting the book to the whole group and treating it as the treasure that it is. At first, I open the book to a random page. There is a chorus of “Whoas” and “Wows”. Little bodies inch up. A few complain they can’t see. (You can get a peek at the book on a YouTube video here.)

I close the book again. It is immediately clear to all, regardless of how much or how little they saw, that this is a special book and it requires a different kind of viewing. We sit on the floor in a circle. I talk about how hands on the book can damage the delicate pieces so extraordinarily designed. I share my own wonder over how they can print multiple copies of such an intricate work. 

The tricky part of Hide and Seek is that each page invites searching eyes as harder-to-find features are mentioned in the text.

A fish and a teardrop.

Five black spots, four blossoms blue and a T that is white.

A heart and an arabesque.

A smile, a black Q and a reflection of you.

Yes, each page presents the danger more inching forward. The viewers have to trust that the book will be turned and shifted so that everyone has a chance to nod when he or she was spotted the named objects. The pages invite you to linger.

Carter sticks to a bold, limited palette of red, blue, yellow, black and white. He invites hands to pull tabs and turn wheels to reveal more items on the page. This is when turn taking may bring out calls of “No fair” when someone doesn’t get picked, but I mention that pairs of students may come to my desk during reading times to see the book up close again. It’s amazing to see how carefully they turn and examine each page.

Inevitably, a few features on the page will give out from simple page turns and, yes, from hands that just can’t resist. It’s happened in a couple of places to my copy, but that just serves as a reminder that this pop-up book has been loved.

   

RUBE GOLDBERG'S SIMPLE NORMAL HUMDRUM SCHOOL DAY

Written by Jennifer George

Illustrated by Ed Steckley

Invention design by Jospeph Herscher and Ed Steckley

(Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2017)

Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist who devised complex, convoluted pathways for accomplishing everyday tasks. There would be a setup of pulleys and hammers, balances and levers that would be set  in motion like a chain of dominoes. This book takes an ordinary school day and imagines how a young Rube might make them more interesting through a series of linked steps. Simply waking up is no longer so simple. It requires a ray of sunshine reflecting off a mirror, ricocheting off and warming (and thus lightening) a wet towel which the raises its half of a balance...and so on and so forth. A boxing glove, a train set, a vacuum cleaner and a pitcher of water also come into play, creating a ten-step wake-up routine.

Oh, my.

A classic Rube Goldberg cartoon                            

Young readers will study the illustrations at length and then read the directions, imagining how a particular circuit might play out in their own lives while also possibly finding the glitchier steps in each sequence. Who wouldn't want to try getting dressed with a chain of events that begins with sliding down a banister? And why  not board the school bus by launching onto a zip line from your front doorsteps? Finding a hungry goat might get in the way of Rube's plan for sneaking into class late, but the sequence will put a smile on the reader's face. Art and P.E. teachers may have to brace for their rooms being completely transformed to make room for Rube's painting and hoop-throwing contraptions.

No doubt, kids will want to draft their own sequences for accomplishing ordinary tasks. There are, in fact, Rube Goldberg Machine contests held each year in which teams create their own multi-steps chains for doing a particular task such as putting money in a piggy bank. More information can be found at rubegoldberg.com.

Whether this book inspires kids to create a team or simply amuses them by looking at the fourteen tasks presented within, it's a book that should definitely be added to classroom and home libraries.

A HUNDRED BILLION TRILLION STARS

Written by Seth Fishman

Illustrated by Isabel Greenberg

(Greenwillow Books, 2017)

Prepare to have your mind blown. Big numbers have a tendency to do just that. Sometimes they cause a panic. Like in math class. In that case, I draw a dollar sign in front of the number. Imagining that it’s money—your money—always makes it more palatable.

Or stars. Don’t big numbers become more fascinating when we imagine them as stars in the sky? The titular quantity (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of stars is only the first number Fishman presents. Indeed most of the numbers in this book are gargantuan—the trees on Earth, all of the ants, the number of children (“or smallish snakes”) it would take to stretch from Earth to the moon. Some numbers don’t seem so large until one considers the context. Most alarming for me: Fishman tells us the average human consumes 70 pounds of bugs in a lifetime. (From now on, I shall be more selective about opening my mouth!)

A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars is absolutely mesmerizing. The facts are relatable to kids and Greenberg’s colorful illustrations depict diverse people. Even better, the book has one of the most useful Author’s Notes I’ve read. (What a great way to introduce kids to this oft-ignored component of a book!) In it, Fishman talks about how the numbers in the book are estimates and that the numbers will constantly change. (Mind boggling for kids!) “We can get very near the correct number on many things,” Fishman says, “near enough for us to understand how big they are—especially in comparison to the world around us.” The Note also breaks down place value to the billion trillions (or sextillions), enough to stretch everyone’s mind.

I LOST MY TOOTH!

By Mo Willems

(Hyperion Books for Children, 2018)

When you're young, losing a tooth is a big deal. I forgot that until I became a principal. Then I'd see kindergarteners and first graders come down to the office with a buddy, tooth in the palm of their hand, proudly telling the school secretary they lost their tooth. While I'd ham it up--"Oh, dear! Where'd you lose it? We should do a search!"--the school administrative assistant would reach in a cupboard to get a plastic tooth holder for the tooth-lite person to take home the little white nugget. Smiles all around.

I Lost My Tooth! is one of Willems' easy readers, a hefty 85-page book that is a quick page turner for the most part. The bulk of the book is taken up by the "BIG Story" about a bunch of squirrels fretting over Zoom Squirrel's lost tooth. And it's as silly as you'd expect.

     ZOOM SQUIRREL:     The tooth was loose.
     FLINK SQUIRREL:     Aha!
     ZOWIE SQUIRREL:    You should not let a tooth go loose, Zoom Squirrel.
     WINK SQUIRREL:      Teeth have no sense of direction.
     FLINK SQUIRREL:     You should have used a leash.

These squirrels are as corny--or as Willems would say, acorn-y--as I am.

The reading level is slightly higher than Elephant and Piggie books so it may require more support and it may not generate as many encore readings. Kids will like bonus features like the Emot-acorns in the bottom corner of pages and the Acorn-y jokes that appear after the main story. I Lost My Tooth! also includes nonfiction information at the end of the book, explaining what teeth are made of and comparing numbers and sets of teeth in squirrels, bears and sharks. (I also like the fact that this book has a table of contents which Willems intentionally points out to readers.) As is often the case with factual material, the reading level goes up a couple notches with vocabulary such as enamel, research and theory. This part of the book will require extra support. Still, it's refreshing to get the real scoop about squirrel teeth after all the zany fun.

I Lost My Tooth! doesn't have quite the charm factor of the Pigeon books or the Elephant and Piggie series but it will still be an entertaining experience for young readers, another memorable notch on their reading journey.

BILLY'S BOOGER: A MEMOIR

By William Joyce

(Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015)

Admittedly, I'm torn when I see books like this. Boogers, captains in underpants, farting dogs...not my thing. But then again, I wasn't the kind of kid who chugged root beer on a quest for the biggest belch. This book isn't for me.

And that's okay. It has an audience. I can see boys doing a double-take when they see the title. Did Mrs. Read really get this book for our library?! Yes, BILLY'S BOOGER will be one of the popular books in circulation. Because boogers are gross and hysterical (and apparently tasty according to four finger-active classmates).

BILLY'S BOOGER: A MEMOIR portrays Billy (author William Joyce's younger, fourth-grade self) as a creative boy who makes mashed potato-pea towers on his plate and does best with "invented" sports at school. The accompanying '50s-retro illustration shows a focused Billy, wearing flippers, a golf bag and holding a ping pong paddle in his mouth, ready to swing an oversized racket at a pitched pineapple. It doesn't jive with his P.E. teacher.

Things are worse with other subjects. Math is a special challenge. When the school announces a book contest, Billy gets excited. Here's a chance to channel his imagination. At this point, Joyce creates a smaller book within the book, younger Billy's booger book, complete with more primitive comic-style drawing, hand-print font and invented spelling. (Personally, I'd have called the book "Billy's Boogers" and given larger roles to other boogers. Why not go big?)

SPOILER ALERT: Billy's book doesn't win. Not even close. But, when the librarian puts the entries into library circulation, Billy's is most popular.

This echoes what I felt as a kid. The books with award stickers were the ones to avoid. They were the ones the librarians oohed and aahed over, the ones that made me restless with boredom. The really good books--the ones my boy group clustered around--never had silver-ribbon stickers.

So let a new generation of boys revel in BILLY'S BOOGER. Let them snicker as they take turns checking it out. Let them be amused when they take it home and proudly show it to tsk-tsking parents. Yes, it's a book and it's reading. Go with it.

MIDDLE SCHOOL: SAVE RAFE!

Written by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

Illustrated by Laura Park

(Little, Brown and Company, 2014)

I'll admit to Patterson-envy. It's one thing that his name is a constant on the adult fiction bestseller charts, but he has a solid stake in the middle grade list as well. Always another book, always another hit.

Oh, to be James Patterson!

This is the sixth book in the Middle School series, centered on Rafe Khatchadorian, a young comics artist with a knack for getting into trouble. The story begins with the news that the arts school Rafe planned to attend in the fall has closed. Thus, he is faced with going back to Hills Village Middle School. Reentry is not exactly a no-brainer since Rafe was previously expelled from HVMS. Moreover, Vice Principal Ida P. Stricker is now the principal and her equally rule-thirsty sister, Charlotte P. Stonecase, is the new VP. Rafe cannot return to HVMS unless he successfully completes a week-long intensive wilderness survival program prior to the start of school. And so Rafe, his mom, his grandmother and his sister Georgia head off  to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. As his car-mates sing a robust version of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," Rafe stews over his predicament, changing the lyrics:

     You'll be miles from civilization when you come!
     You'll be fighting dehydration when you come!
     You'll be riding on the river,
     Maybe eat some raccoon's liver,
     And you can't bring e-lec-tron-ics when you come!

Under the stern leadership of Sergeants Fish and Pittman, Rafe and seven other troubled (or in trouble) kids have to work through a series of nine challenges, from tower climbing to fire building to white water rafting, all of which require teamwork and grit. Participants must earn a certain number of reward tags at various points during the week in order to continue on the tortuous quest.  

The story sets the perfect tone and pace for middle grade readers with lots of humor tossed in. The comics which can take up part of a page or run across several pages complement  the narrative and are usually even funnier than the main story.  They portray chronically unfortunate Rafe, sometimes under the name Loozer, as he encounters his nemeses, be it Principal Stricker, Sergeant Fish or serpent-transforming Carmen. Kids could find great satisfaction just from skipping to all the comic sections--and surely some will do just that--but it's worthwhile to read the entire book, taking in the comics as text breaks.

My one quibble is it's a challenge to distinguish the seven other campers without most of them being single-trait caricatures. Veronica is the quiet talker, Burp is the pathological liar. Only Rafe's frequent task partner, Carmen, gets to become a fleshed out character and, even then, the information is limited. This really is The Rafe Show.

And an entertaining show it is. It's easy to see why Rafe Khatchadorian helms an eleven-book series. Kids will relate to the trials and humiliations of Rafe as he goes from one book setting to the next. Gosh darn it, Patterson--with a hand from Tebbetts and Park--knows what he's doing! 

WINDOWS

Written by Julia Denos

Illustrated by E.B. Goodale

(Candlewick Press, 2017)

This is a picture book that oozes with quiet charm. It follows a young boy at dusk, heading out from his home to walk the family dog through his neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts.  The boy appears to be of that age where he finally has some independence in roaming the local streets and, as the title suggests, the experience allows him to notice the simultaneous goings-on through a variety of windows of other houses and multi-family dwellings. It’s a simple, captivating book, imploring the reader to be more observant of his/her surroundings during local outings while also appreciating that warm feeling of returning home once again.