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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. .

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

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