The Horn Book » HBMSept2012

Gary D. Schmidt on What Came from the Stars

Deirdre Baker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:20:36 +0000

From the September/October issue of The Horn Book Magazine:
Reviewer Deirdre F. Baker asks What Came from the Stars author Gary D. Schmidt about the function of elevated language in the novel. Read the full starred review of What Came from the Stars here.

Deirdre F. Baker: For the book’s fantasy elements, you hark back to biblical, Old English, and Tolkienesque language, imagery, and style. How do these inform the story’s contemporary-realism scenes?

Gary D. Schmidt: What we know about our world—and ourselves—is mediated through language, so when I decided to try a fantasy, it seemed right to enter that alternate world through a fitting medium. And since I wanted a high, noble, epic world for some chapters, I turned to Old English, which, as C. S. Lewis rightly noted, sounds like castles coming out of your mouth—an apt contrast to Tommy’s everyday life. The two languages’ representations of their worlds create the conflict—which is echoed in the story’s events.

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Review of Machines Go to Work in the City

Betty Carter — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:11:51 +0000

Machines Go to Work in the City
by William Low; illus. by the author
Preschool Holt 32 pp.
6/12 978-0-8050-9050-5 $16.99
Books don’t get much better than this for machinery-loving preschoolers. Listeners are first introduced to a particular situation involving vehicles, from a garbage truck to a tower crane to an airplane. What happens next? Lift a flap (which provides an extended scene of the problem at hand) and find out. For example, traffic has stalled because of a broken light. Can a police officer fix the light? Open the flap: “No, when the bucket truck arrives, the signal crew will fix the traffic light.” The tactile component here is thoughtfully varied in ways appropriate to the situation. Some flaps fold out; one depicting a crane using hydraulic jacks for extension flips up; and one, of a vacuum truck draining water from a subterranean broken pipe, opens downward to set the underground scene. Just as they did in Machines Go to Work (rev. 7/09), Low’s painterly illustrations display the drama and excitement of a bustling cityscape. The final spread shows an airplane ready for departure. Once it’s towed to the runway, it takes off and soars over the city, which is unveiled in a glorious finale as youngsters construct the scene by opening four flaps and creating a poster-sized panorama. Back matter shows each vehicle, complete with a definition and labels for important parts.

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Jon Klassen on This Is Not My Hat

Horn Book — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:55:22 +0000

From the September/October issue of The Horn Book Magazine:
We ask This Is Not My Hat author/illustrator Jon Klassen about his own taste in haberdashery. Read the full starred review of This Is Not My Hat here.

Horn Book editors: What is your favorite style of chapeau and why?

Jon Klassen: A good old-fashioned baseball cap. I wear one all the time, and have since grade school. I can’t say why I like wearing it so much. It keeps me feeling put together, somehow. I’ve tried other kinds of hats, but they never feel right. I’ve been told I look all right in a cowboy hat, but I’m not in a position to start wearing one of those. Maybe someday.

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