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Sample
Reviews
Each issue of The Horn Book Magazine
reviews approximately seventy new books for children and young adults.
Below are sample reviews from our most recent issue, May/June 2008,
including audiobooks. For recent reviews of
impressive debuts by new writers and illustrators, visit Newcomers.
Brief biographies of staff reviewers
are available as well.
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Emily
Gravett Monkey and Me; illus. by the author
32 pp. Simon 3/08 ISBN
978-1-4169-5457-6 $15.99
(Preschool)
Gravett (Orange Pear Apple Bear, rev. 7/07; Wolves)
creates a whole world here with just two characters —
a little girl and her stuffed monkey — and not since
Oxenbury’s Tom and Pippo have a child and a
toy seemed so in sync. The repeated refrain — “Monkey
and me / Monkey and me / Monkey and me / We went to see /
We went to see some . . . ” — will
be both an anchor for the young reader or listener and a tantalizing
invitation to What Comes Next. Monkey and girl are a moving
riddle as readers try to figure out which animal they are
imitating before a page turn reveals the answer. Here is the
girl, with monkey tucked inside her shirt, bouncing like a
kangaroo, waddling like a penguin, swinging her arm à
la an elephant’s trunk, and hanging upside-down like
a bat. After so much action, it’s no wonder they are
too exhausted to finish their snack, as the final double-page
spread provides a soothing and satisfying ending with, nevertheless,
a bit of a twist (could the animals in the girl’s imaginative
play be real?). The open, all-white-space background sets
off the high energy of the heroine and her faithful friend,
who are depicted in soft browns, grays, and reds. From the
pencil-sketched illustrations of the girl struggling with
her tights on the opening endpapers to the animals parading
off the final ones, Monkey and Me has all the earmarks
of a classic. R.L.S.
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Jeremy
Tankard Me Hungry!; illus. by the author
40 pp. Candlewick 4/08 ISBN
978-0-7636-3360-8 $15.99 g
(Preschool, Primary)
It would take a heart of stone not to be charmed by the cartoonish
Stone Age characters and dialogue in this picture book. “Me
hungry,” a cave-boy complains to his father. “Me
busy,” Dad gruffly replies as he focuses on cracking
open a peanut with his club. Mom, weighed down with a bunch
of cave-babies, has the same response. So what’s a peckish
and resourceful cave-boy to do? “Me hunt!” His
prehistoric prey doesn’t cooperate, however, and as
the young hunter beats a hasty retreat from a mean saber-tooth
tiger, he runs smack into a huge, imposing woolly mammoth.
This might signal the end for less-fortunate cave-boys, but
in a happy turn of events, it’s the beginning of a great
partnership: “You just right!” says the boy, as
his new pal helps him pick an out-of-reach apple. Also just
right are Tankard’s uncluttered, brightly colored illustrations
for the simple story, which is told entirely in cave-speak.
The bold ink-and-digital compositions feature the same deft
use of line and surprising background hues as in the author-illustrator’s
first book, Grumpy Bird (rev. 5/07); here, however,
there’s a lot less detail, befitting the blunt text
and broad humor. Me like — and so will hunter-gatherers
of all ages (and epochs). K.F.
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Mary
Downing Hahn All the Lovely Bad Ones
182 pp. Clarion 4/08 ISBN
978-0-618-85467-7 $16.00 g
(Intermediate, Middle School)
Travis and his sister Corey love to make mischief, so a summer’s
stay at their grandmother’s reputedly haunted Vermont
inn holds much promise. A flashlight, makeup, a filmy white
scarf, and some well-timed screams allow the kids to freak
out the other visitors, but soon enough the game isn’t
funny: “You and your sister may have begun this as a
game,” says one of the guests, “but the ghosts
are awake now. Putting them back to sleep will not be easy.”
Hahn expertly combines the comedy of spectral hijinks and
bumbling ghost-busters with a dark backstory of abused children
and the malevolent guardian who torments them even in death.
Here’s an author who really understands how to put a
scary story together, unafraid even to use an appearance by
Old Nick himself for an extremely satisfying finale. R.S.
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Catherine
Gilbert Murdock Princess Ben
344 pp. Houghton 5/08 ISBN
978-0-618-95971-6 $16.00 g
(Middle School)
Murdock (Dairy Queen, rev. 5/06; The Off Season,
rev. 7/07) switches gears and genres to bring us a deliciously
frothy yet substantial fairy tale, composed of equal parts
“Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White,” “Cinderella,”
“Saint George and the Dragon,” and As You
Like It. Fifteen-year-old Princess Ben of the kingdom
of Montagne — plump, petulant, and indulged —
wakes up one morning to find that her parents have been killed
in a violent attack and that she, next in line for the throne,
is now to be governed by the cold, haughty Queen Sophia. Ben
is tormented by the boring lessons (and the minuscule portions)
until she happens upon a mysterious tower, where she learns
how to conjure up the four elements, make a sleeping double
of herself, and enchant a flying broom. From this point on
the story’s vistas and themes widen as threads of political
intrigue, romance, adventure, self-actualization, and feminism
(this “Sleeping Beauty” wakes herself
up) are interwoven with skill and verve. Murdock’s prose
sweeps the reader up and never falters, blending a formal
syntax and vocabulary with an intimate tone that bonds the
reader with Ben as she transforms from a selfish child into
a competent, compassionate “thinking young woman.”
Many original turns of phrase (a wall “simply . . .
abandoned all pretext of solidity”) and surprising twists
on fairy-tale devices (here the talking mirror tells the truth
about Ben’s capabilities and relationships rather than
her appearance) give this novel additional loft. M.V.P.
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Walter
Dean Myers Sunrise over Fallujah
288 pp. Scholastic 5/08 ISBN
978-0-439-91624-0 $17.99 g
(Middle School, High School)
Private Robin Perry joins the army during his senior year
in high school because “I felt like crap after 9-11
and I wanted to do something, to stand up for my country.”
In February 2003 he becomes part of the initial U.S. troop
deployment in the second Iraq war. His story — told
through a first-person account; honest, soul-searching letters
to his uncle Richie (the protagonist of Myers’s Fallen
Angels, rev. 7/88); and cheerful missives to his mother
— shows a young man who starts his tour of duty optimistically,
begins to wonder what the war is really about, and finally
concludes that “we were in a war of complete randomness . . .
There was no logic except the constant adding up of numbers.
How many are dead?” Robin takes readers behind the headlines
to the everyday life of a soldier, an existence full of fear,
bravery, boredom, confusion, compassion, and violence. His
voice and perspective never waver from that of a young man
trying to make some sense out of his tasks and his duty. An
appended glossary defines potentially unfamiliar language,
but the non-political approach of the novel allows readers
to create their own definitions for the central word: war.
B.C.
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Steve
Jenkins and Robin Page Sisters & Brothers: Sibling
Relationships in the Animal World; illus. by Steve Jenkins
32 pp. Houghton 5/08 ISBN
978-0-618-37596-7 $16.00
(Primary)
In the latest Jenkins and Page collaboration, sibling relationships
provide the context for a presentation of some fascinating
animal facts and Jenkins’s splendid cut-paper illustrations.
It’s a nice change to read about family relationships
other than parent-offspring, and the new focus allows deeper
explorations of the growth and development stages of animal
life cycles. Of course, to young readers the appeal of comparing
their own sibling relationships to those in nature is the
big draw here. Those not too thrilled with their brothers
or sisters may be happy they aren’t termites, with millions
of siblings to deal with, or sad they aren’t black widow
spiders, who eat one another. Adults may want to extol the
model behavior of elephants, who help care for their younger
siblings, or turkeys, who stick together for life. Among the
book’s coolest facts are that armadillo siblings are
always quadruplets, perfect clones of one another; there are
no male New Mexico whiptail lizards, only female; and, like
bees, only the queen naked mole rat can have babies. Headings
tucked away at the corners of the pages indicate the major
behavioral, reproductive, and survival categories of relationships,
while a brief phrase on each layout humorously sums up the
main idea for each species. Additional facts, including measurements
and habitats, are found at the back of the book. D.J.F.
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Kadir
Nelson We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League
Baseball; illus. by the author
88 pp. Jump at the Sun/Hyperion
1/08 ISBN
978-0-7868-0832-8 $18.99
(Intermediate, Middle School)
Imagine listening to baseball legends Willie Mays and Ernie
Banks swapping stories about their Negro League days as they
sit in the stands, munching on peanuts and watching Ken Griffey
Jr. launch a curve ball into the stratosphere. That kind of
easygoing, conversational storytelling is exactly what Kadir
Nelson achieves in this pitch-perfect history of Negro League
baseball. “Seems like we’ve been playing baseball
for a mighty long time. At least as long as we’ve been
free,” the narrator says. Nelson’s collective
“we” honors “the voice of every player,”
as he explains in an author’s note, and it also works
to draw readers into and through the text’s nine “innings.”
Nelson’s extensive research (including interviews with
former players) yields loads of attention-grabbing details:
how much money players made; where, when, and how often games
took place; who the standout owners, managers, and players
were; and so on. And not surprisingly, he often returns to
the impact of racism on the leagues, teams, and individual
athletes. His grand slam, though, is the art: Nelson’s
oil paintings have a steely dignity, and his from-the-ground
perspectives make the players look larger than life. The book
also includes a foreword by Hank Aaron, an Extra Innings section
identifying Hall-of-Fame Negro Leaguers, a bibliography, endnotes,
and an index. TANYA D. AUGER
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Audiobook
review
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Kevin
Brooks The Road of the Dead
Rev. 5/06 Recorded Books 10
cass. ISBN
978-1-4281-6446-8 $78.75
8 CDs ISBN
978-1-4281-6451-2 $108.75
Read by Paul Thornley.
(High School)
Fourteen-year-old Ruben, half-gypsy, is devastated when he
psychically witnesses the rape and murder of his sister. After
the police investigation goes cold, Ruben and his older brother,
Cole, set off for the crumbling village of Lychcombe on Dartmoor
to search for her killer. Their investigation is met with
fierce opposition from the coarse locals, resulting in quarrels,
beatings, and Ruben’s kidnapping. Narrator Thornley’s
reading is perfectly wedded to Brooks’s text. His authentic
English accents convey the cadence of Brooks’s poetic
prose; his phrasing preserves the taut rhythm of the action-driven
plot. The dialogue between the brothers propels this engrossing
crime thriller as they develop a newfound respect and fraternal
love for each other. PHILIP CHARLES
CRAWFORD
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Biographies of Reviewers | Additional
reviews |
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