Friday, October 30, 2015

Hansel and Gretel by Holly Hobbie

Hansel and Gretel by Holly Hobbie
Little, Brown, and Company

Rating: 5 stars

Kiefer has been saying how much he likes scary stories. I told him I got a good one from the library--could I read it to him? After reading Holly Hobbie's indescribably gorgeous new version of the classic Hansel and Gretel, he said, "I never want to read that again!"

I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm chuckling at chilling my four year old to the bone...

But that's what this tale is: bone-chilling.

Do you remember all the details? Hansel and Gretel live on a farm with their father and their step-mother. (This is one of the many examples of a story where step-mothers don't look so great.) Times are hard and money is tight; the step-mother convinces the man to abandon his children. After a few tries, and when the birds eat the crumbs Hansel spread along the path, the children are successfully abandoned.

In a deep, dark creepy forest.
"The children waited...and no one came to take them home."
(this image is sure to give my son nightmares)

(Did I mention we live in the woods? Perhaps I should have thought of that before reading this to poor Kiefer.)

The two children walk along until they find a house made of candy, with a suspicious-looking lady welcoming them. They soon find out she's feeding them well to plump them up so she can eat them for dinner. Hansel is caged; Gretel is enlisted with chores.

They need a plan, and it's up to Gretel. When the witch asks her to lean into the fire to make sure it's hot enough, Gretel asks, "How?" in her most innocent voice. The witch leans into the large fire, and Gretel shoves her backside with all her little-girl might. When the "dreadful shrieks" end, she rescues Hansel and they run back home together.

When they get home, their father opens his arms to them. He's grateful for their return (there's no talk of forgiveness; no "Why'd you ditch us, Dad?"). The step-mother? She "had died after eating food that had gone bad." What??!!?!! I'm actually concerned that Kiefer will remember this and use it against me in the court of dinner sometime.

"Fetch wood while I sharpen my best knife."
Anyhow, I do think this story is important for children to know as part of their cultural literacy. And if you're going to chill your child to the bone on this day before Halloween, let it be with this version of the tale. Holly Hobbie's artwork is unbelievable. Are you familiar with it? If not, go check out all her recent stuff and prepare to sit down after the kids go to bed to just appreciate her talent. She's a fantastic storyteller (read her Toot and Puddle series) and her illustrations make classic books come to life (check out...no, just buy... The Night Before Christmas).

And to the step-mothers out there...yikes! Sorry about the bad rap those Grimm brothers gave you.

Happy Halloween!


Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Contract by Derek Jeter

The Contract by Derek Jeter and Paul Mantell
Simon and Schuster

Rating: Five stars

Most book bloggers might be focusing on Halloween this week...but the World Series is also happening! There are a whole lot of us who are more excited about the Royals vs. Mets than how many Tootsie Rolls we get to eat. Honestly, I like a good ball game, but it's watching my son Ben's excitement over a ball game that I like even more. 

Because of Ben's excitement and love for baseball, we read The Contract, by Derek Jeter. A little background: Jeter is the starting shortstop for the NY Yankees--and he's also written several books. In his rookie season, he founded the Turn 2 Foundation, an organization that helps promote healthy lifestyles in kids. He's a talented ball player and sure seems like a pretty good guy. (Paul Mantell helped write the book.) The Contract is a novel inspired by Jeter's childhood--how he had these big, lofty dreams from a very young age, and how he set about starting to achieve them.

In the book, the character Derek Jeter is a third grader who writes an essay about his dream of being the starting shortstop for the NY Yankees. He dares to say this dream out loud, and explain how he wants to achieve this dream. Some classmates believe his dream, others laugh. But his parents not only believe in him (and stick up for him when the teacher doesn't take him seriously)--they also help map out a path to achieve his dream. His dad writes up a contract that spells out the guidelines he must follow if he wants to continue playing. The contract includes broad but important rules: Respect others. Family first. Keep your grades up. Play hard. Etc.

Derek is a fine character, though he is a bit of a goody two-shoes, making his character a bit flawless and therefore, not the most authentic around. He only has one minor temper tantrum, despite the fact that his coach favors his own son in the batting lineup and when handing out awards. When life is unfair to character Derek, the third grader takes it all in stride. Although his maturity might be a smidge unrealistic, I like that my son sees this calm response to crises big and small.

I'm all about making good choices--and making them deliberately. I talk with my parent-friends and my kids about how their actions today affect what they can do later in life. This book feeds into that argument, in a great way. Jeter explains that his success in sports came early, when his parents made him buckle down and focus on all the right things--family, school, friendships, sports--and demanded excellence in all these categories. And then (get this!) there were consequences when the contract was broken. 

So, if I do all those things like Jeter's parents do, will my Ben play for the NY Yankees someday? Maybe. Maybe I'll cheering for him when he's in the World Series one day. But I hope he knows I'll be cheering for him no matter what he ends up doing.


P.S. The sequel to this book, Hit and Miss, is fine, too. Not as great as this one, but still a good read with fine lessons about sports and life.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner, illustrated by John Parra

Chronicle Books

Rating: 4 stars

Cornelius Washington is not a typical subject for nonfiction picture books. He was a garbage man in the French Quarter in New Orleans before and when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. He once was written about in the Times-Picayune and described as "a wizard of trash cans."

Cornelius did his job as a garbageman, usually thought of as nasty but necessary, with flair. He seemed to have fun with it, but also take it very seriously. The people in the Quarter knew him and waved as Cornelius danced with lids, threw trash bags into formation, and kept the streets "sparkling."

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Cornelius was devastated to see the city he loved so devastated. Water flooded the city; the city was "a gumbo of mush and mud." New Orleans was destroyed. Cornelius was overwhelmed with the amount of work to do--there was so much to clean up and rebuild. Cornelius, like many others, dried his eyes and got to work. The same people who waved to him weeks and months and years before pitched in to help--the people of New Orleans all helped. And others from far away came to help, too.

(He leaves out the looting and lawlessness--probably a good idea for this age group.)

The story ends the way all picture books do: happily. The city is rebuilt to its former glory in a couple dozen pages. Even though Cornelius Washington passed away soon after Katrina, Bildner writes that he symbolizes the spirit of New Orleans--the determination, flair, and friendliness that will always be a part of the city.

Without getting too stuck in the murkiness of history, I think Bildner does a great job of shining the spotlight on a person who doesn't normally show up in picture books. The quotation at the beginning of the book by Martin Luther King, Jr., sets the scene well:
Even if it's called your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to phase and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."
Whatever you are, do it well. And Cornelius seems to have done this.

I think it's important to note that Phil Bildner admits to taking some liberty with the true story of Cornelius. He first becomes interested in Cornelius because he sounded like a legend, like a myth, like a story from the American folk tradition. He admits to exaggerating the facts he has about Cornelius in order to carry on the spirit of his story. I hope Cornelius' surviving family supports the book.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Farrar Straus Giroux

Rating: 5 stars

Ellen Prentiss wasn't like other girls. She fell in love with sea at an early age. Her father, loving and appreciating that she loved the water as much as he loved it, taught her all that he knew about hoisting sails, steering a schooner, and most important of all: navigating. Every chance she got, she was practicing one of these skills with her father's trading schooner.

She loved racing any and all ship around her. Her father's advice was always the same: "A true navigator must have the caution to read the sea, as well as the courage to dare the wind."

Decades later, when Ellen found a man who loved the sea as much as she did and who encouraged her sea skills as much as her father did, she married him. The two soon were charged with navigating the Flying Cloud on a fifteen-thousand-mile journey from New York City down to Cape Horn and up to San Francisco. The Gold Rush was on, and they were hurrying to get passengers and cargo to America's West Coast.

If they could make the trip faster than any other ship, they would receive a bonus and the world record. Ellen was excited--and determined.

Ellen pushed the Flying Cloud hard at the start of the ship, covering hundreds of miles each day. But she pushes it too hard and the mainmast rips. The damage humbles Ellen, and makes her reconsider how hard she pushed the ship. The next few weeks she sets a cautious course, catching only gentle breezes. Then she remembers her father's advice and thinks "There is no glory in second place. Now is the time for courage."

And so, Ellen dares the wind and leads the Flying Cloud through dangerous waters, a frightening storm, and around the cliffs of Cape Horn. They charged north again, once again covering hundreds of miles each day. After eighty-nine days at sea, they reached San Francisco in world-record time.

This is an exciting true story--an example of how history really does churn out the best stories around. (Congratulations to Tracey Fern who writes the story with such suspense.) I really want to imprint Ellen's father's words in all of my kids' brains. You must have caution and courage, I want them to see, and the wisdom to know when to use which. Caution and courage, caution and courage, caution and courage.