Review: The True Meaning of Smekday

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The jokes are laugh-out-loud, and keep coming throughout the book. This kind of sustained comedy is unusual, especially since the funny moments here are conversational, more than just situational. There's a sense of voice and timing that worked really well for me. BTW, my daughter and I both had completely different voices for J.Lo--mine is more like Andy Kaufman's Latka and Pearl's is more of a gravelly Frank Oz. At any rate, the book was very good for read-aloud--either he's a natural or Rex really worked hard on the dialog and pace. Maybe both? There are a lot of popular authors who write page turners that just flop as read-alouds. Adam Rex made this one very friendly to perform!

I enjoyed the sprawling American setting (shown on a map on the back of the book), which was really great for supporting the underlying colonial allegory. It was really fun to see touchy historical themes such as conquest, relocation, and internment done up in comedy. When I worked in a middle school, we always tried to find the ways of talking about difficult history without making the kids dread coming to class. This book is an excellent way of showing that you can have fun without making fun of real issues. Science fiction and comedy can be a knockout combo, and I hadn't had this much fun with sci fi since Doug Adams.



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Review: Nana in the City

Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Another book about what kids don't need to be afraid of? And an honor medal? Jeez. Last year's Caldecott committee...



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Review: Viva Frida

Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Much like Melissa Sweet's illustrations in [b:A River of Words|3238642|A River of Words The Story of William Carlos Williams|Jennifer Fisher Bryant|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347836624s/3238642.jpg|3273289] Yuyi Morales was able to make the book about the art. This was far more than a biographical telling, it was an exploration of imagery and sounds that Frida Kahlo's work and biography evoke. In fact, some people (not me) might be disappointed by the sparse biographical material. The picturebook format is a kind of poetry, in that it has severe limitations on scope (32 pages). Authors and illustrators of informative genres can either embrace that economy and go for something poetic, or they can try to squeeze in the most important factual information. There are plenty of other places to go for facts and specific stories about Frida Kahlo. The 3D and multimedia work Morales did here was enchanting! She walked me through a number of different explorations of art media, with none of them appearing weaker or stronger than the others. I loved looking at especially her 3D dolls, and the entire book drew me back to look again.



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Review: Are You My Mother?

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Bechdel was in masterful control of the pace and narrative. While it was a difficult, long read, she kept me coming back and I needed to talk about it a lot afterward. There is a clear thread of self-indulgence in her telling the story. But being annoyed by that was balanced by the craft.

Also, it seemed like she was thinking about the relationship between picture and text on every panel. Yes, there's a lot of text, but it's not thick. The book took me a long time to read, so the only way I can explain that is that Bechdel drew me to look a bit longer than usual at each of the panels, looking for the visual story. Nice example of complementary pictures-words.



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Review: Little Roja Riding Hood

Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



(Thanks for the recommendation, Lu!)

Skeptical to start, convinced by the end!

I worried this would be just another jazzed up tale with modern setting and some token multicultural trappings. This was partly true, but let's focus on the surprises!

On the jacket flap, Elya wrote that the whole woodcutter scene was not one of her favorites and that she wanted to write a version where Roja solved her own problem. She did it by combining with The Scalded Wolf! (See [b:Folktales Of France|4488058|Folktales Of France|Genevieve Massignon|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|4757068].) This was a charming meld of a standard folk tale with a classic that is not well known (but a favorite of mine for storytelling). This brings it to a 4 instead of 3-star rating!

The blend of a couplet-based narrative with the Spanish phrases worked well. Elya kept a nice pace and rhythm to the words, and the Spanish felt seamless. That was also a nice surprise, because a new rhyming picturebook is one of the standard warning signs.

Finally, [a:Susan Guevara|453672|Susan Guevara|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s illustrations were a good match. She peppered in a Greek-chorus-style subtext between a group of magpies and a couple of fairy-sized imps (drawn to look like Punch!). These elements along with the eyes in the sunflowers added a menacing undertone that balanced the lighthearted and relatively safe version of the text.

Biggest criticism? No one gets eaten, which means the wolf wasn't really dangerous. In a story about predator and prey, a suggestion isn't enough. If she had really wanted to move away from the woodcutter rescue, she should have had Rojo save Abuelita from the wolf's belly.



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Review: Coyote Run

Coyote Run by Gaetan Doremus

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This book was missing the frenetic action and the superbly illustrated emotion of [b:Bear Despair|13592095|Bear Despair|Gaetan Dorémus|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344718349s/13592095.jpg|19180178]. Doremus' storyboarding and pacing are good, but the plot changes weren't really believable. His colored pencil work is very interesting, and kept me looking at the features of each spread for a while and going back to some favorite pages just to look again.



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Review: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Eh. Santat had a good time making a raft of imaginary friends, all of whom were creatures instead of people. The little marshmallowy, pokemonny main character can't wait around for someone to imagine him. This is a fun concept, but the story itself has little to it other than that concept. An uneventful and fairly boring search ends just right. Eh.

Santat's sensibility for how to compose a double-page spread is very good--it was especially interesting to see some of what he did with contrast in the backgrounds in the middle spreads. The figure illustrations are in a normalized style, very much a tv animation style. I thought it was okay, but not terribly interesting to look at over and over again. (Which reminds me: Cartoon Network's "Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends" does a much better job at playing around with the imaginary friend concept.)

Overall, this book doesn't really match up to some of the other Caldecott contenders this year ([b:Draw!|20759593|Draw!|Raúl Colón|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394422502s/20759593.jpg|24510862], [b:The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus|20696727|The Right Word Roget and His Thesaurus|Jennifer Fisher Bryant|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424201895s/20696727.jpg|40016232])...and yet it won the medal. Eh.



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