Newcomers

The Horn Book is always on the watch for talented newcomers to the children’s literature scene. This page highlights exceptional work by the latest crop of novice authors and artists. All these books were reviewed in The Horn Book Magazine during the last year.

Béatrice Boutignon  Not All Animals Are Blue; illus. by the author
    Kane/Miller
    (Preschool)
    Reviewed 5/09
Each double-page spread in this French import features a handful of animals ("Five Elephants on Their Way," "Five Brand New Babies," "Five Monkeys Hanging Around," etc.) on the right-hand page, while on the left are five sentences (e.g., "Why is she wearing pajamas?"); young viewers get to figure out which sentence refers to which animal. Some of the answers are less obvious than others (which of five different animal tails is "elegant"?), but preschoolers will be up for the challenge, learning something about the process of elimination along the way. Hints are embedded in the sentences: a key word in each appears in color and in larger type. The softly colored animals drawn in pen, pencil, and oil possess just the right amount of detail and personality to intrigue young audiences, and while the small pictures won't work for a large group, the book offers a lot to puzzle out (there are twenty groups of animals) for a child or two and an adult. j.m.b.

Ellen Booraem  The Unnameables
    Harcourt
    (Intermediate, Middle School)
    Reviewed 1/09
In this quirky, gentle fable sure to have wide appeal, Booraem depicts a repressive, orderly Island society to which thirteen-year-old Medford Runyuin, a shipwrecked orphan, has had to adapt despite the many ways in which he doesn't belong. His meaningless name sets him apart from a community of people named for their trades; even more troubling and isolating is his urge to "waste time" by carving playful sculptures instead of the Useful bowls and spoons he should be producing. The Island culture values Usefulness only, and self-expression and the making of art are an abomination. Then the Goatman shows up, a smelly Pan-like figure who explodes Medford's careful secrecy and, with it, the Island society's self-understanding. Booraem's Goatman is an endearing, anarchic figure, a gust of creative wildness in a controlled, Puritan-esque community that distances itself from the modern, gas- and electric-powered Mainland. An optimistic story about the importance of art (and its marketability), this also plays lightly with questions of language and naming; friendship and integrity, too, are notable themes. The novel's humor and amiable tone make it a highly accessible but thought-provoking read. DEIRDRE F. BAKER

Jason Chin  Redwoods; illus. by the author
    Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook
    (Primaryl)
    Reviewed 5/09
Here's a plot straight out of a Barbara Lehman picture book. A young boy waiting for the subway finds an abandoned book next to him. He boards the train, and as he reads about redwood trees and learns just how old they are, he becomes so engrossed that he doesn't notice either the dinosaurs out the window or the Romans sitting next to him. When he exits the subway, he finds himself in the middle of a redwood forest, learning all manner of things about them, culminating with their staggering height ("taller than a thirty-story skyscraper"). Finally, the urban landscape breaks through his reverie and, sitting on a park bench, he realizes he is late for something and dashes off, leaving the book behind for the approaching girl who picks it up and starts reading. Chin's watercolor illustrations capture both the majesty of the redwoods and the young boy's inquisitive personality, and while the idea of a storybook so vivid that it comes to life is not new, what sets this one apart is that Chin has paired his fantastical visual narrative with a straightforward nonfiction text. Thus we are privy both to what the boy is reading and to the effect that it has on his imagination. The book is, therefore, a contagious celebration of the relationship between information and imagination, the pure joy of learning. j.h.

Karen Foxlee  The Anatomy of Wings
    Knopf
    (Middle School, High School)
    Reviewed 3/09
"[Nanna] told me things that her mother had told her, for instance, if you are unhappy with an embroidered flower you should unstitch it. It is the same with life. If you are unhappy you must unstitch it until you find the wrong part and make it right." Set in a poignantly evoked, sun-scorched 1980s Australian mining town, Foxlee's graceful first novel recounts a tragedy that occurred despite family members' efforts to "unstitch." Eleven-year-old Jennifer's narrative begins after the death of her older sister Beth and flashes between the present and the preceding year, which encompasses Beth's increasingly disaffected adolescence. Foxlee's vaguely mystical imagery seems forced at times, and her periodic shifts to Jennifer's neighbors' points of view are more distracting than revelatory. Nevertheless, she creates a moving, believable portrait of a teenage girl falling into destructive behavior (lying, drinking, having casual sex, etc.) without a straightforward reason why. Was Beth, as Nanna insists, communing with angels? Was she, as Foxlee occasionally hints, too beautiful and fragile to survive? After Beth dies, Jennifer and her best friend sift through a box of Beth's belongings, looking for clues; but they can't really piece together any answers. Perhaps the best answer is that every loss is something of a mystery. c.m.h.

S. Terrell French   Operation Redwood
    Amulet/Abrams
    (Intermediate)
    Reviewed 7/09
Like main character Julian, many kids won't know much about old-growth redwood forests to begin with, but by the end of this eco-mystery they will know quite a bit and will probably care, too. The story engages the reader right from the start: Julian, who lives with his uncle Sibley while his mother travels, can't resist reading an e-mail on his uncle's computer with his own name as the subject — not to mention another message with the subject line "Sibley Carter is a moron and a world-class jerk!!!" Julian manages to connect with Robin, the young author of the latter e-mail, who is trying to protect a redwood forest near her family's ranch from Uncle Sibley's voracious investment company. Julian's life in his uncle's household resembles Harry Potter's at the Dursleys', so it's a relief for Julian to spend time with Robin's family ("something clenched and anxious inside of Julian [began] to melt away"). French works in many facts about redwoods but keeps the focus on the characters; even the secondary characters are distinct and lively. Julian's best friend, Danny Lopez, provides welcome humor; and with his Mexican background and Julian's half-Chinese ethnicity, the book has a modern multicultural feel that balances the pastoral nature scenes. French gives the children some success in their quest to save the redwoods but wisely leaves the ultimate power in the hands of adults, combining child appeal with realism for a satisfying conclusion. s.d.l.

Saci Lloyd  The Carbon Diaries 2015
    Holiday
    (Middle School, High School)
    Reviewed 5/09
"Carbon footprint" is fast becoming the buzz-phrase du jour, and, in a brilliantly conceived speculative drama set six years in the future, first-time novelist Lloyd ex-trapolates a logical, world-changing application of the concept that is both optimistic and terrifying. Optimistic in that the government concocts and enforces a viable policy for the reduction of carbon emissions; terrifying in that the policy-in combination with power losses and food shortages, extreme weather, and the inevitable bureaucratic missteps-creates a volatile atmosphere of civil unrest that feels all too possible. South London teen Laura chronicles in biting journal entries the first year of Britain's new, stringent carbon rationing points system. Her viewpoint is utterly personal, as she bemoans the small indignities and rails at how the extreme lifestyle changes (fascinatingly juxtaposed against modern cultural values) exacerbate previously suppressed family tensions. Older sister Kim falls in with local thugs running a carbon points black market; Mum moves out to join the cultish Women Moving Forward group; Dad buys a pig. Through it all, Laura balances big-picture fears with everyday issues of crushes and friends, finding creative release in her "screaming, Straight X punk" band and trying to imagine a future in a world she's no longer sure will offer her one. Her Georgia Nicolson-esque voice infuses accounts of blackouts and deprivations, riots and floods, with equal amounts immediacy and tart humor, placing readers squarely inside her world. Gripping, perceptive, and impassioned, this provocative debut is speculative fiction at its finest. claire e. gross

Kierin Meehan  Hannah's Winter
    Kane/Miller
    (intermediate, Middle School)
    Reviewed 5/09
Twelve-year-old Hannah gets dragged to Japan by her mother, who's researching Japanese gardens. At least Hannah speaks the language, having lived there briefly as a child and studied Japanese at school in Australia. But nothing has prepared her for what awaits her in the town of Kanazawa, whose narrow streets and wooden shops make her feel she is "traveling backwards in time." While her mother crisscrosses the country, Hannah stays with the Maekawa family, whose daughter, Miki, is thrilled when Hannah discovers a ghost-a young boy who needs their help. Australian author Meehan shrouds her first novel in a quietly creepy atmosphere: a Ninja Temple with a dramatic, bloody history; a town white and silent with snow; a house in which unexplained breezes suddenly occur. The spooky mood, however, is lightened with humor-the ghost hurls donuts at Hannah and writes on her mirror with sunscreen; the three elderly sisters whom Hannah, Miki, and neighbor-boy Hiro encounter one stormy afternoon are as mysterious but as unthreatening as A Wrinkle in Time's Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Who. Hannah helps free the ghost boy to finally join his loved ones; Miki's aunt is reunited with the man she loves; and Hiro's missing scientist father is found (more L'Engle!) in a comedic ending featuring Hannah's eccentric, boisterous mum. The happy reunions provide a satisfying conclusion to this entirely accessible, but agreeably exotic, ghost story. j.m.b.

Sally Nicholls  Ways to Live Forever
    Levine/Scholastic
    (Intermediate)
    Reviewed 1/09
Sam is eleven, and he is dying of leukemia. In this journal record of the final four months of Sam's life, Nicholls creates a character and a world that are authentic, buoyant, honest, and stripped of sentimentality. The story is structured around Sam's eight goals, from breaking a world record to going up a down escalator, from being a teenager (smoking, drinking, having a girlfriend) to seeing the earth from space. In varied, plausible ways he accomplishes all his goals, and with each one he grows as a person. The world record involves his friend Felix and their construction of the world's smallest nightclub, a classic vignette of a middle-grade project gone awry. Sam's achievement of a girlfriend (a relationship that lasts as long as a single kiss) reveals the further quirky kindness of Felix. The texture of the narrative, with lists, clippings, footnotes, and doodles, allows for quick shifts in tone. In all the events recorded by Sam we see his degenerating physical condition without Nicholls ever once explicitly alluding to it. The overarching story is the hard-won rebuilding of Sam's relationship with his father, a man who simply denies the tragedy of Sam's illness. Most original of all is Nicholls's handling of the religious questions that Sam faces. Nobody provides him with easy or doctrinaire answers, but in his passionate exploration of spiritual issues he reveals himself to be fully alive until the moment of his death, engaged with the world, trying to make sense of it, being and becoming a unique, thinking, questing human. The energy and joy of this novel is a remarkable feat. S.E.

Koko Nishizuka  The Beckoning Cat; illus. by Rosanne Litzinger
    Holiday
    (Primary)
    Reviewed 5/09
In this story set in Japan "long, long ago," young Yohei must take care of his sick father and still sell enough fish to keep them both alive. Despite his own empty stomach, when a wet and hungry white cat shows up at the door, he dries the cat off and shares his food with her. When his father takes a turn for the worse, Yohei's worries multiply: he can't leave his father, but he needs to sell his fish door-to-door. Instead, people begin coming to his house to buy fish, saying that the white cat "waved her paw as if to say, 'Come here,'" and they followed. Soon the cat herself becomes an attraction, and Yohei's lot in life improves; other merchants, wanting their own good-luck cats, begin putting white cat statues in their stores. The sweetly uncomplicated tale (source not given) concludes by telling readers to look for "the beckoning cat perched on the counter" the next time they're in an Asian restaurant. Litzinger combines several media but keeps the pictures very simple, focusing on the colors and shapes rather than on details. s.d.l.

Rosanne Parry  Heart of a Shepherd
    Random
    (Intermediate, Middle School)
    Reviewed 5/09
With his artist mother living in Italy, his four older brothers away at school or in the service, and now his Army-Reserve father off to serve an extended tour in Iraq, sixth-grader Ignatius (thankfully nicknamed Brother) is the only one left to help his grandparents run the family ranch. "I get to thinking about the long line of soldiers that have marched away from this table, which is great if you're the patriotic type. But it's not so great if you are the one waiting for your dad to come home." Distinctively set in the cattle and sheep country of eastern Oregon, this first novel chronicles Brother's year of hard work (lambing, calving), danger (a rattlesnake, a fire), worry about his father's safety, and pondering what direction his own future will take. (The conclusion he comes to is surprising only because we haven't seen anything like it in children's books in quite a long time.) Brother's honest voice conveys an emotional terrain as thoughtfully developed as Parry's evocation of the Western landscape. r.s.

Hyewon Yum, illustrator  Last Night
    Foster/Farrar
    (Preschool)
    Reviewed 1/09
Whether this wordless book was meant as an intentional homage to Where the Wild Things Are or is just displaying Sendak's pervasive influence, the treatment is wholly original. A girl is given a time out, presumably because she will not eat her dinner. In her room, she fumes alone and then reaches for the comfort of her stuffed bear. Either in a dream or reality, the small bear becomes life-sized and animated, leading her into the woods where they meet and play with wild animals. Over several spreads, the girl becomes increasingly sleepy until she and the bear fall asleep. Waking up in her own bed, she sees that her bear is back to his original size. The final spread shows the girl descending the stairs to her mother and a big hug. Yum's linocut illustrations with their foggily stippled blocks of color are appropriate for the open-ended mystery, while her palette hints at the mood of each illustration. Faces are revealed with the simplest curved lines but never fail to indicate a precise mood. The technique used, employing several blocks of different color combinations for each illustration, requires much planning and time-consuming execution, yet the result looks spontaneous and intimate. LOLLY ROBINSON