Sophie's Squash

I love, love, love this picture book. Perfect for the fall season, Sophie's Squash tells of an abiding friendship that forms between a young girl and her, well, gourd. Sophie spots an appealingly shaped butternut squash at a farmers' market and by the time suppertime rolls around, she's named her new acquaintance Bernice and given her a face with markers. Her mother, who is shown thumbing through a cookbook looking for squash recipes, says, "I'll call for a pizza."

If the mother thinks her daughter will tire of her new friend, she's mistaken. Sophie and Bernice enjoy idyllic fall days playing together. When Bernice develops some spots, Sophie, undeterred, calls them freckles. But soon even Sophie can't deny that her friend isn't her usual self. "Bernice seemed softer, and her somersaults lacked their usual style."

On advice from a farmer, Sophie tucks her friend into "a bed of soft soil" to recover. And recover she does, and come summer Sophie has two new friends that are "just the right size to love."

Pitch perfect and with exquisite pacing, this book is sure to charm young readers. I only wish it was around when my daughter was a first grader. That's when she created--without any help--a sister doll from a rolled-up sleeping bag, tee shirt, hat, and a pasted-on face. That's why I wasn't surprise to learn that first time author Pat Zietlow Miller based the story on her daughter, who, like Sophie, met a squash she couldn't resist.

Anne Wilsdorf's illustrations are endearing and full of life. Her Sophie looks just the type of girl who would tenderly bounce a squash on her knee or cuddle it in her arms.  

Highly recommended!

Sophie's Squash
By Pat Zietlow Miller
Illustrations by Anne Wilsdorf
Schwartz & Wade Books
Published: 2013

My Happy Life

In this charmer of an early chapter book, Lagercrantz brilliantly captures the essence of first grade with all its ups and down. Dani, the book's resilient heroine, is concerned that she won't make friends. She does, of course, and she and Ella experience all the joys of getting to know each other. They share swing rides, a friendship necklace, and sleepovers. There is also the pain of the first fight, when Ella refuses to swap her angel bookmark.

But all good things must come to an end, and Dani's world crumbles after Ella moves away. Until her friend's departure, Dani used to go to sleep counting all her happy times. Now she no longer can. Dani is deeply sad and one of this book's strengths is that it doesn't shy away from childhood grief. Dani misses her friend and although her teacher and father try their best to make her feel better, things go from bad to worse. In the days that follow Dani skins her knee, is tackled playing soccer, and feels terribly guilty after injuring a boy during a class free-for-all. Slowly, though, Dani regains her old cheerful self. She makes new friends (although none can take Ella's place). She gets two hamsters. Finally, she receives a letter from Ella and an invitation to see her new home. Joy.

Translated from Swedish by Julia Marshall, the book's twenty easy-to-read short chapters explore the day to day life of a young child, respecting each experience, from the small joys of jumping rope 500 times to the larger issues of death and loss.

"Dani used to have a mother who lived there too, but she passed away. That's what people said when someone died. They said she had passed away, but how could a dead person pass anything? And away to where?"

The pen-and-ink illustrations are full of life and vitality, just like Dani. Eriksson manages with just a few strokes of her pen to capture a multitude of expressions on the children's faces. The world she creates rings true and subtly adds to the story. Just by looking at the illustrations of Dani's teacher we know she's great at her job.

A treasure of a book!

My Happy Life
by Rose Lagercrantz
illustrations by Eva Eriksson
Gecko Press, 134 pages
Published: 2013 (U.S. edition)  

On a Beam of Light

I wouldn't have thought Albert Einstein, poster boy for the word genius, a good candidate for a picture book biography. How could the life of the creator of E = mc² be crammed into a few pages of text? Well, happily, Jennifer Berne has proven me wrong. Her biography, aimed at young readers between ages 6 to 9, is a masterful condensation of big ideas into clear and accessible prose.

The book begins, appropriately, with the universe: "Over 100 years ago, as the stars swirled in the sky, as the Earth circled the sun, as the March winds blew through a little town by the river, a baby boy was born. His parents named him Albert."

The text then follows him through his childhood (puzzling the secrets of the universe) to adulthood (still puzzling the secrets of the universe). We see young Albert mystified and enchanted by the workings of a compass and later wondering what it would be like to ride his bike on a beam of sunlight. As an adult, he watches sugar dissolve in his tea and pipe smoke vanish into the air and questions how one thing could disappear into another. By focusing on such concrete everyday examples, Berne grounds Einstein's remarkable abstract discoveries into things a child can comprehend.

Radunsky's innovated illustrations cast Einstein as a wide-eyed free spirit and allow you to see the child in the old man and vice versa. Through Radunsky's free-flowing hand, Einstein springs to life, striding through these pages as a wild-haired prophet in an endless search for the truth.

For readers eager to learn more, Berne provides an author's note covering other aspects of Einstein's life, such as his playful nature and his lifelong pacifism. A short bibliography is also included.

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein
by Jennifer Berne
illustrations by Vladimir Radunsky
Chronicle, 56 pages
Published: 2013

Squirrel's Fun Day

It's a sunny summer afternoon and what am I doing? Sitting in my office writing this post. Why? Because that's my version of a fun day. What's Squirrel's? To play with his friends: Mouse, Turtle, and Rabbit. Trouble is Mouse is busy cleaning. So Squirrel helps, but he makes more of a mess than before. Next he urges a sleepy Turtle off his log and ends up slathering his friend in mud. Finally he convinces Rabbit to alter his routine and poor Rabbit ends up lost. In the final chapter of this easy reader, Squirrel realizes that while he had fun, his friends didn't. Or did they? Sometimes going outside your comfort zone and trying new things can lead to, yes, fun.

Squirrel, a rambunctious fellow with a tendency to repeat himself, makes an engaging character that young readers will identify with and root for. Although he's often clueless, his heart is in the right place and, like many children I've known, he can't contain his exuberance for life. The quartet of friends, each charmingly portrayed, cavort through Gorbachev's idyllic landscape, a forest rendered in soft mossy hues. Reading this pitch-perfect book, the second in a series, beginning readers are sure to have their own fun day.  

Squirrel's Fun Day
by Lisa Moser
illustrations by Valeri Gorbachev
Candlewick Press, 46 pages
Published: 2013

Joe and Sparky Go to School

Stories that feature animals in a school setting are always lots of fun, and Joe and Sparky Go to School, I'm happy to report, is no exception. Joe, an inquisitive giraffe, teams up with Sparky, a turtle more interested in sleeping than adventure, to investigate a school bus parked in Safari Land's lot. The bus, filled with "noisy short people" is heading back to school, and when Sparky mistakenly gets whisked away, Joe takes off after him. When the pair arrived at the school, Joe decides a field trip is in order. (Poor Sparky just wants to go home.) Luckily for Joe--and for young readers--Miss Hootie, the teacher, breaks her glasses and never discovers that two zoo animals are among her students. This, of course, provides for more belly laughs as Joe gets into trouble because he's, well, a giraffe. Sparky does much better and by day's end his shell is plastered with gold stars. Don't worry, though. Joe manages to get a star too, in a heartwarming way.

The third in a series, Joe and Sparky Go to School is sure to win over beginning readers. The action moves along at a brisk pace and something to chuckle over happens on nearly every spread. The section in which Joe and Sparky visit the boys' restroom is sure to have kids rolling on the floor! Remkiewicz's cheerful illustrations help reinforce the story line and add to the humor. All in all, this is one easy reader that will have kids eager to go back to school. Who knows? Just maybe a giraffe and his sidekick turtle will visit their class.

Joe and Sparky Go to School
by Jamie Michalak
illustrations by Frank Remkiewicz
Candlewick Press 48 pages
Published: June 2013

Annie and Simon: The Sneeze and Other Stories

This the second in a series about Annie, a preschooler, and Simon, her big, big brother. Catharine O'Neill based the stories on her own daughter and stepsons. Refreshingly, the sibling relationship is free of angst. Simon is a protective, sympathetic older brother,  and Annie is an admiring younger sister. ("Simon," she said, "do you know everything?")

The four stories involve casual moments as the two hang out together. Is Simon minding Annie? Perhaps, but if so the author never lets on. In the first story, which takes place on a dock, Annie sketches animals while Simon incorrectly identifies them. (He thinks a clam is a rock.) In "The Sneeze" Annie nurses Simon through his allergies, although in actuality it's Simon who ends up doing the bulk of the work. Chapter Three has Annie learning to appreciate her dog Hazel's dogginess, and in the final story Annie learns (with some gentle prodding from Simon) to share the horse chestnuts she's collected with a deserving squirrel.

While the pace of these stories might be a bit slow for some tastes, the underlying humor and the real sense of affection between brother and sister more than makes up for it. The typical reader for this book most likely falls somewhere between the two protagonists ages: older and more savvy than Annie, yet younger and less accomplished than Simon. Again, this might be a problem for certain readers. Most, however, should be able to feel comfortably superior to Annie (who's just learning to read), while aspiring to Simon's sophistication. All in all, this is a worthy series for beginning chapter book readers.

Niño Wrestles the World

When two of my nephews were around six and seven nothing delighted them more than tuning in to Thursday night's wrestling shows. Naturally, they refused any adult's attempt to inform them that the performances were fake. When I read this page-turning picture book, I thought of them (now young adults) and how much they would have enjoyed it.

The niño of this title sports a pair of tighty whities and not much else. Using his way too active imagination, he casts himself as a luchadore, a professional wrestler popular in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. Niño's opponents are nothing to sneeze at. What I liked best about this book was Morales' depiction of these truly scary characters. There's La Momia de Guanajuato, a zombie-like creature; Cabeza Olmeca, an ancient stone-head sculpture; La Llorona, a ghost, El Extraterrestre, a space alien; and El Chamuco, the devil himself. Niño creatively dispatches his opponents with ease--until, that is, he faces his most fearsome match. Las Hermanitas, his twin sisters, wake from their nap and gleefully attack their big brother.

The bold art offers surprises on every page and the graphic text adds to the excitement. An informative end note explains lucha libre, Mexican professional wrestling, in greater detail. Great fun!