The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

Jun24

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key is another older science fiction title, published in 1965, and it reads like a vintage episode of The Twilight Zone. The boy, Jon, has lost his memory and does not know who he is or where he came from. He only knows that he has fallen through the forgotten door to this strange planet, Earth, and that he is in great danger.

Jon first meets up with some unfriendly, even hostile, people who chase him and are frightened by his exceptional abilities. Then, the Bean family—Thomas and Mary Bean and their children Brooks and Sally—befriend Jon and try to help him remember and return to his own home. But this story takes place back in the hills of the Carolinas, and not everyone is as welcoming as the Beans are to strangers, especially a strange boy who can run like a deer and who can possibly read minds.

As I said, this short 140 page juvenile novel reminded me of a TV episode from the 1960’s. I could picture the story played out on the small screen. The Beans come to realize that Jon is from an “advanced civilization” where things are simpler and more honest than they are on Earth. Jon doesn’t understand money or airplanes or killing animals for meat, but he does seem to understand some things quite well and learn things exceptionally quickly. The question is, how can Jon return to his own planet before his presence gets the Beans into serious trouble?

The science fiction of that time was more hopeful, much less dystopian than nowadays, and may even sound a little hokey to an adult reader of the 21st century. Nevertheless, I would be happy to recommend this book to children who are less jaded and more optimistic about the possibility of human perfectibility—or at least human improvement. Mr. Key also wrote Escape to Witch Mountain, a book with many of the same themes as this one. Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a Disney movie back in the seventies, and I remember reading it and seeing the movie back then, although I don’t remember much about it.

Read this one for a gentle introduction to science fiction and paranormal fiction (with no occult undertones). It’s a precursor to E.T.

Tana Hoban’s Concept Books

Jun23

For the smallest book lovers of all, the three and under crowd, I love books with real photographs. My baby grandchildren, 13 months old and 8 months, are still enjoying the Global Babies books with lots of pictures of babies from around the world. There are Global Babies, Global Baby Boys, Global Baby Girls, American Babies, and Global Baby Bedtimes—all published by The Global Fund for Children. Babies love pictures of other babies, and parents can enjoy talking about the babies and showing the pictures of babies in these board books to their own babies.

What comes next? I recommend Tana Hoban’s concept books with photographs of al sort of objects and scenes that will spark conversation and questioning with your youngest pre-readers. Learn about colors, numbers, shapes, sizes, things that go, machines, position, signs, and symbols—and much more—in these lovely books illustrated with Ms. Hoban’s award-winning photographs. Most of Hoban’s books are wordless, and the ones that do have a few words are understated and leave much room for the imagination and speaking skills of a child who is looking at the books to grow and develop. You can go through these books of photographs over and over again and see something new every time.

Tana Hoban was so prolific that I can’t list all of her many, many titles for young children, but here are a few of my favorites:

  • Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue?
  • Count and See
  • Dig, Drill, Dump, Fill
  • Over, Under, & Through
  • Push, Pull, Empty, Full; A Book of Opposites
  • I Read Signs
  •  I Read Symbols
  • Is It Rough? Is It Smooth? Is It Shiny?
  • Take Another Look
  • Look Again!
  • Cubes, Cones, Cylinders & Spheres
  • 26 Letters and 99 Cents

Any of these, and others by Tana Hoban, will enrich your preschooler’s learning experiences and will make going for a walk even more exciting and discussion-filled than it was before you encountered these concept books. I love words, but having these books of just (mostly) photographs on hand for preschool learning is a great encouragement to building that vocabulary that leads to the enjoyment of entire stories. In fact, Hoban’s books encourage you and your preschooler to tell your own stories, and that’s definitely educational and just plain fun.

And by the way, I just read that Tana Hoban was Russell Hoban’s (the Frances books and others) older sister. Talent and a love for children and children’s books runs in the family, I guess.

Tana Hoban’s books are listed in my book, Picture Book Preschool. Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase an updated, downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone

Jun22

WARNING: There will be spoilers in this review.

This book begins with a quote from Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” And author Nic Stone gives us a story that is an exploration of that idea as well as the accompanying truisms that “there’s sometimes more to people than meets the eye” and “people have a way of surprising you.” While the story is certainly timely with its depiction of racial tensions and the history of discrimination based on race in the past that sometimes continues into the present, some cursing and a flawed ending that buries the past instead of making it right make it unacceptable, IMHO.

In this middle grade novel, Scoob, who is black, and his G’ma, who is white, go on a road trip, following the route that G’ma and Scoob’s African American grandfather took through the South from Atlanta, Georgia headed to Juarez, Mexico more than forty years ago. The trip begins in a bid for freedom as Scoob joins G’ma, his favorite person in the world, in her new RV. When G’ma invites Scoob to “go on a little adventure”, little does he know that that adventure will take him halfway across the country as well as deep into his family’s past. And he accidentally, on purpose, leaves his cell phone behind so that Dad can’t spoil the adventure by reminding Scoob that he’s supposed to be grounded at home.

So the set-up for the story is pretty good, although it stretches credulity to swallow that Scoob doesn’t really notice at first that a brand new Winnebago has replaced G’ma’s MINI Cooper. Still, I was ready to go with it just as Scoob goes with the whole notion of a surprise road trip with G’ma. And the entire trip is full of surprises, with G’ma acting just like the grandmother Scoob has always known and loved, except when she doesn’t act like G’ma at all.

It was the ending that threw me. Of course, Scoob’s and G’ma’s adventure must come to an end, and it’s not exactly a good ending. That sad ending was not entirely unexpected. But my question is (spoiler alert): if I find a cache of jewels that my recently deceased grandmother stole, maybe recently, maybe forty years ago, what is my responsibility in regard to those jewels? Don’t I need to at least think about trying to return those jewels to their rightful owners? Or to the police? The fact that Scoob never even considers this idea, except in the case of one small set of earrings, is problematic, especially in a book written for middle grade readers.

This book is Nic Stone’s first middle grade novel, and it’s promising. The author works into the story a lot of information about racial injustice and civil right era history without being too preachy or teachy. Scoob and his G’ma are engaging characters, and I’m always up for a good road trip story. But I can’t quite bring myself to make peace with the ending. Maybe that’s because an ending where you bury the past instead of bringing it out into the light in all of its messiness and difficulty is just an unresolved ending, and a bad one.

Apricot ABC by Miska Miles

Jun20

I really like this little alphabet book because, unlike many ABC books that are just collections of objects or words, it’s a rhyming poem that also tells a story. With frequent alliteration showcasing the letter that is featured on each page, author Miska Miles tells the story of an apricot that falls to the ground and is the subject of much talk and investigation by the varied inhabitants of the meadow where the apricot lands.

Then, comes the conflict of the story when a monstrous hen comes along, threatening to trample or even devour all of the insects and other small creatures in the meadow. Can the creatures hide themselves quickly enough to escape the hen? What will happen when the hen finds the apricot? How will the story of the little apricot end, only to begin again in the cycle of nature?

Young tree will flower, fruit will grow,

While crickets click and roosters crow

And sparrows cheep

And locusts leap.

Young fruit will ripen in the sun

And busy creatures, one by one,

Will hop or jump or creep to see

Yellow-ripe apricots fall from the tree.

The pictures by illustrator Peter Parnall hide a capital letter in each page of the double page spreads, and children will have fun finding the hidden letters as they view each page. The colors are mostly natural greens, browns, and oranges with little splashes of color now and again for the sake of interest—and flowers.

I highly recommend Apricot ABC for your alphabet book or poetry picture book collection. Author Miska Miles, aka Patricia Miles Martin, also wrote Annie and the Old One, a Newbery Honor book in 1972, and several other lovely picture books. Peter Parnall’s illustrations can also be found in Year on Muskrat Marsh by Berniece Freschet and The Moon of the Wild Pigs by Jean Craighead George as well as in several picture books that Mr. Parnall wrote and illustrated himself.

Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman

Jun19

Don Freeman wrote many picture books, but he is probably best known for his books about Corduroy, the stuffed bear that belongs to a girl named Lisa. My children enjoyed the Corduroy stories, but perhaps their favorite book by Don Freeman was this one, Norman the Doorman.

Norman is a mouse who lives in the basement of the Majestic Museum of Art. He stands daily in front of a “small, well-hidden hole” and welcomes all of the art-loving mice visitors who come to the museum to see the treasures kept in the basement. Norman also acts as a guide, pointing out and explaining the artwork to cousins and strangers alike. And finally, Norman protects his art patrons from the sharp-eyed upstairs guard (human) by preemptively springing all of the traps and by keeping a sharp eye out himself for the guard and his flashlight.

The story goes on to tell of Norman’s artistic aspirations and of how he manages to enter a sculpture competition even though he’s much tinier than all of the other entrants. Norman is just an endearing and humble little mouse with a good lesson to teach the rest of us. “Each night after work he tried to create something pleasing or beautiful—perhaps a painting of Swiss cheese and crackers, or a statue.” Now, what if we all tried to create something pleasing or beautiful each day?

Don Freeman’s illustrations for his story are pleasing and beautiful themselves. Watercolor pencil drawings make Norman and his adventures as well as scenes from the museum itself a lovely sight to behold. In addition, since one of Norman’s art pieces is a sculpture made of wire, this book might be a good introduction for younger children to the idea of sculpture and mobiles. You might even want to have some wires or or pipe cleaners or other sculpting materials on hand to work with after reading Norman the Doorman. (Another book about making things out of wire is Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams.)

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne

Jun18

Katy No-Pocket is a simple book about a kangaroo with no pocket who tries to find a way to carry her baby by observing all the other animals and how they solve this perennial problem. In the end, Katy meets a kind man who generously helps her to solve her problem.

I say, simple, but it’s sort of deceptively simple since the themes of kindness and ingenuity and persistence in solving problems are themes that could be discussed and taken to heart by everyone from preschoolers to grown-ups. Katy is a really a disabled kangaroo, with no pocket, but she finds a way to replace her missing pocket with something that works even better. In the same way, isn’t it possible for all of us to work around our limitations, in many instances with the help of a kind friend or two, and perhaps learn to do what we thought we couldn’t? I like this story for many reasons, but especially for its message of hope and kindness.

The illustrations for Katy No-Pocket are by H.A. Rey, of Curious George fame. The cover of the book is yellow, and the pictures look a lot like the pictures of George the monkey and The Man with the Yellow Hat. Emmy Payne, aka Emily Govan West, is a good storyteller, and I can remember, in my youth, enjoying all the many Lookout Club mystery novels for middle grade readers that she and her mother Christine Noble Govan wrote and published.

Katy No-Pocket is a stand alone picture book, but it could be a good addition to the collection of Curious George lovers. You might want to have an apron or another garment with multiple pockets available for play after reading this book so that young readers can enjoy putting things in their own pockets. A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman and The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransome would be a good followup reads for this one.

Always Room for One More by Sorche Nic Leodhas

Jun17

This Caldecott award-winning picture book does have some interesting illustrations. Basically, they’re done with black and white cross-hatch lines, with a splash of purple color on each page. I guess the purple alludes to the heather? Since the book is a retelling of a Scottish folk song?

Sorche Nic Leodhas, whose real name was LeClaire Gowans Alger, was an American librarian of Scottish extraction. Her father and grandfather handed down this folk song to her when she was a child, and she re-wrote it to make it a bit more friendly to American children, taking out some of the Scottish dialect and replacing it with more familiar English words. There’s still plenty of Scottish flavor and dialect left in the song as presented in this picture book, and there’s also a glossary in the back of the book to translate those Scottish words and phrases.

In the story song, householder Lachie MacLachlan welcomes all of the travelers who pass by his door to come in and rest a while, saying “There’s room galore! There’s room for one more! There’s always room for one more!” He welcomes so many visitors that his house, already full with Lachie and his wife and ten bairns, is literally filled to bursting, and everyone who’s enjoying the hospitality must decide what to do next when the house “with its but and its ben and its walls and its roof DINGED DOWN!” (Tumbled down)

So, this book is a folk song. I very much appreciate the printed music, also in the back of the book, for a suggested tune for this song, but what I’d really like to have is a video or recorded version online where I could listen to the song as it’s meant to be sung. This book is a little bit difficult to read aloud what with the unfamiliar words and the inconsistent rhythm of the song. I looked for a video version, but I couldn’t find one. I would suggest picking out the melody on the piano if you can before reading/singing the book aloud with a child. That would make it a lot more fun.

On a couple of review sites I checked, most people were not too fond of the illustration style in this little book, with pictures by Nonny Hogrogian. They are rather different, but a close look might inspire a child or an adult to try some of the same. I kind of enjoyed the style that Hogrogian chose, once I got used to it.

If you enjoy this picture book and the story it tells, you might like Sorche Nic Leodhas’s longer compilation of Scottish folk tales, Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland. This folk tale anthology won a Newbery Honor in 1963, and it’s a good source for anyone interested investigating old Scottish tales or one’s own Scottish heritage.

The Wonder Smith and His Son, retold by Ella Young

Jun15

The Gobán Saor was a highly skilled smith or architect in Irish history and legend.  Gobban Saer (Gobban the Builder) is a figure regarded in Irish traditional lore as an architect of the seventh century, and popularly canonized as St. Gobban. The Catholic Encyclopedia considers him historical and born at Turvey, on the Donabate peninsula in North County Dublin, about 560.

Wikipedia, Goban Saor

Ella Young, an Irish poet and mythologist and part of the literary revival in Ireland around the turn of the last century, took the myths and stories about Gubban Saor or Cullion the Smith aka Mananaun and rewrote them for children in this Newbery Honor book of 1928. The full title of the book is The Wondersmith and His Son: A Tale from the Golden Childhood of the World. The tales were fantastical and very odd to my ear, but maybe not so very child-like. I’m too used to my folklore in simple everyday language, pre-digested and probably dumbed down. This collection is written in highly poetical language, and the tales meander about without a clear meaning or plot or character arc.

The Gubbaun wandered at his own will, as the wind wanders. Every place seemed good to him, because his heart was happy.

p.31

On the morrow the Son of the Gubbaun rose in the whiteness of dawn. He put a linen robe on his body. He crowned himself with a chaplet of arbutus that had fruit and blossom. Barefooted he went three times around the Sacred Well, as the sun travels, stepping from East to West. Then he knelt and touched the waters with his forehead and the palms of his hands.

p.109

Tulkinna the Peerless one stepped forward. He had nine golden apples and nine feathers of white silver and nine discs of findruiney. He tossed them up: they leaped like a plume of sea-spray, they shone like the wind-stirred flame, they whirled like leaves rising and falling. He wove them into patterns. They danced like gauze-winged flies on a summer’s eve. They gyrated like motes of dust. They tangled the mind in a web of light and darkness till at last it seemed that Tulkinna was tossing the stars.

The Gubbaun’s Feast, p.168

Perhaps it would be fun to read these tales aloud to a group of children and see just what they make of them. I’m baffled, befuddled, and bewildered, although I do catch some moments of beauty in the midst of the confusion. If you are of Irish extraction or just interested in myths and folktales and hero tales, you might enjoy trying to make sense of these stories. I read for plot, meaning, and characters, with a nod to language along the way. Therefore, I had to force myself to finish this translation and retelling of old Gaelic tales.

The pictures by Boris Artzybasheff, a Caldecott honor winner in 1938 for his illustrations for the tale Seven Simeons, are fittingly odd themselves. They’re black and white woodcut-looking pen and ink drawings with lots of Celtic knots and strangely writhing creatures and illuminated letters at the beginning of each tale. I thought they were . . . interesting and perhaps would bear closer examination if I were interested enough in the stories themselves to try to match illustration to prose.

Young ends her introduction to this storybook with the wish: “I would wish to have for this book the goodwill of Ireland and of America.” She has my goodwill, but not my further interest, unless someone else can explain them or simplify them enough for them to make sense to me. Your mileage may vary.

The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey

Jun13

The Runaway Robot by prolific science fiction author Lester Del Ray uses simple language to tell the not-as-simple story of a boy and his robot. Maybe in this current political environment I’m just thinking more about enslavement and its underlying causes and effects, but this book definitely made me think about the relationship between a human and his animal pet as well as a human and another human who is enslaved to him.

Rex, the robot of the title, is something between human and pet. He is man-made, owned by the boy Paul, and given to Paul as a companion and guardian. Rex has no human rights and few human privileges. Rex is often unable to understand the things that he has been programmed to do. He has no curiosity, only “a limited capacity to inquire into unforeseeable conditions in order to avoid destruction.” Rex doesn’t grow in his abilities or his understanding. He is what he is programmed to be. Or is he?

“After all, I was only a robot. I wasn’t a human even if I did feel like one sometimes. At least I thought that what I felt must have been somewhat the same as human emotions.“

The Runaway Robot, p. 27

Paul, however, is human. He’s sixteen years old, but this book was published in 1965 and Paul acts more like a twelve year old. When Rex and Paul are told that Paul’s family is returning to Earth from the colony on Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon) where they have lived all of Paul’s life, but that Rex can’t go with them, Paul rebels. And somehow, a bit of that rebellion infects Rex, too, and the two friends run away together. As Paul and Rex journey together through the solar system, stowaways, runaways, fugitives, and partners-in-crime, Rex becomes, like Pinocchio, something like a Real Boy.

The story, although exciting and just fun, brings up ethical and political issues that will make children and adults think. What is the value of fulfillment in a job or career? What is the line between stealing and borrowing? And most of all, can a sentient and feeling being be owned by another? What is the line between humans and animal or human and thinking robot? Are we going to have to deal with this last ethical question in a very real way as robots become more and more human-like, and humans make more and more use of robotics and computers to enhance and even replace their own abilities? Can a robot be human? I’d say no. Can a human become robotic? The jury’s still out on that.

The Boundary Riders by Joan Phipson

Jun12

Jane, age 13, and her brother Bobby, age 11, go with their cousin Vincent, age 15, to ride the boundary fence of their family’s property in the wild and rough country of central New South Wales. Their job is to check the fence for breaks, fix what simple things they can, and mark the places that need more extensive repairs. The job will take several days, and the three young people are excited to be entrusted with such a responsibility and given freedom to camp and ride on their own for up to a week.

Of course, trouble overtakes the trio, both unavoidable trouble and some of their own making. The central character and theme of the story are Bobby and his emergence into leadership and maturity over the course of the children’s adventure. Bobby, who grows up to become Robert by the end of the book, is “thin, freckled, and silent”, “not a boy that motherly ladies longed to cuddle, nor had he ever been.” His gaze is described as “remote and calculating”, and he is said to be “accustomed to working out his own problems”, “not ungenerous and no fool.”

Vincent and Jane, on the other hand, are more gregarious, cheerful, and friendly. They are the sort of children, or teens, that adults trust, and Jane looks up to Vincent with a sort of hero-worship that she could never give to her younger brother. It was fascinating and quite true-to-life to see how the dynamics between these three change over the course of their very dangerous and challenging adventure in the wild outback of Australia.

I have read several other children’s books by Australian authors, set in Australia, or said to be characteristic of Australian children’s literature:

I can recommend all of the above books. But from now on for children or adults who are asking for one book set in Australia to give them a taste of that continent and country, I will be recommending The Boundary Riders. I would like to read more of Ms Phipson’s books, especially her two books Good Luck to the Rider and The Family Conspiracy, both of which won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award. Maybe those will become go-to recommendations as well.