The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

 Johannes is a stray dog who lives in a large park in a large city. The bison watch over the park to maintain the balance, and Johannes acts as "eyes" for the bison who are confined in an enclosure. Whenever Johannes sees pet dogs, he is proud of his freedom, but the thing he is most proud of is how he can run "at the speed of light". Things start to change in the park.  There is a new building, a boatload of goats, and new kinds of visitors that bring trouble.  All these start to change Johannes' view of the world, and of himself.

This is the Newbery winner for this year, and oh, does it deserve it.  The writing is fresh and vibrant and the story is original.  Most of all, Johannes and the other animals in the park have wonderful voices. Johannes sounds "doggy," the Bison sound "bison-y" and the squirrel sounds "squirrel-y".  What's more, the reader does a wonderful job performing all the different characters, capturing, especially, Johannes' exuberance for life. As soon as I read this book I wanted to order a copy for my grandkids.  I really think it will take its place among other great animal classics like Charlotte's Web and The One and Only Ivan. (2023, 256 p.
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Redwall by Brian Jacques

The mice of Redwall Abby are a peaceful group, dedicated to helping the poor and downtrodden.  Then one day an evil pack of rats show up.  Their leader, Cluny the Scourge, had his heart set on taking the Abby, killing or enslaving its inhabitants, and then making it his headquarters.  A great peril makes way for great heros, and the hero in this story is Matthias.  Although a lowly apprentice monk, Matthias has always dreamed of becoming a great warrior mouse, like the legendary Martin.  But to do this, he must first find Martin's sword.  As he quests for the sword, the other good animals of Redwall Abby use their wits to best Cluny's band, but they cannot hold them off forever.  Will Matthias find the sword, save his friends, and fulfill his destiny? 

I have, or course, read Redwall before, but I guess it was before I started this blog.  I read it again because it is our June Parent/Child bookclub book.  I had forgotten how melodramic and cliche it is. It has every high fantasy trope you could think of: the brave Mattias, the sweet but brave Cornflower, the wize Methusuelah, and the good hearted head Abbot. The bad guys are sooo bad, and the good guys are sooo good.  You know what?  There is no problem with that.  It is a legetimate genre, and I know my sons, especially my oldest, loved it when they were boys. My oldest especially enjoyed the different dialects the animals spoke.  I think it was fun for him to challenge his mind to discipher ithem. It will be interesting to see what my parent/child group thinks of it. (1986, 351p)

Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

A family of fox kits sneaks out to hear stories that are supposed to be so scary they will "put the white in their tales."  Six young foxes sit together as the stories begin, but as the heroes of the stories face sickness, familial betrayal, a giant water lizard, and a crazed taxidermist, one fox after another sneaks away to the safety of their own den.  As the storyteller warned at the beginning of her tale, only those who are brave enough to last until the end will find the stories contain, not only terror, but also love.

This book won a Newbery honor medal last year.  It is a unusual book.  You wouldn't think that stories about anthropomorphized foxes could be very intense, but they are.  Heck, I almost sneaked away like the little foxes did after the first couple of stories.  The writing is lovely, and, like I said, very intense.  I am not quite sure what, if anything, the book was meant to accomplish, except maybe to reassure the reader, that, no matter how bad things get, there can still be better times ahead.  That said, I would not give this to any child unless they specifically asked for a scary story.  It could make a sensitive child have bad dreams for weeks, especially if they didn't finish the book.  Especially disturbing is the story about the an knife wielding Beatrix Potter. She puts even Dolores Umbridge to shame. (2019, 314 p)

The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

 

In this sequel to The One and Only Ivan, we get to follow the adventures of the lovable mutt, Bob, as he enjoys his new life as a pet.  Although Bob has gotten used to three square meals a day, and scratches behind the ears by his young mistress, he hasn't forgotten his puppy days on the streets, and his friends, Ivan and Ruby.  He visits Ivan and Ruby at the zoo whenever he can, but is haunted by the memory of his sister, separated from him the day his original owners left his whole litter by the side of a highway and drove off.  One day, as he is visiting the zoo, a hurricane hits, and the animals and zoo keepers are thrown into chaos.  Will Bob ever find his friends, and his last remaining family member, again?

Once again, Katherine Applegate is the master of voice.  In Ivan, we got to hear the voice of the methodical and serene Ivan, and in this book we live in the head of the feisty Bob. Bob is at once brave and afraid he is not brave, kind and afraid he is not kind.  He is a truly wonderful character that children will love. The audio version is read by Danny DiVito and he gets it exactly right.  This is a sequel worthy of the original.  (240 p. 2020)

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

Sam calls Lily a QAG, or Quiet Asian Girl.  She always does what her mom wants her to, and tries to make peace between her mom and her increasingly rebellious sister, Sam. As a QAD Lily is good at being invisible around other people, but the one person who always sees her is her grandmother, or Halmoni. When her family moves into her Halmoni's house, Lily basks in her grandmother's love and longs for the closeness she used to feel with Sam.  But not everything is as Lily would hope.  Her Halmoni is very ill and Lily keeps seeing a giant tiger that no one else can see. When the mystical tiger offers Lily a way to save her grandmother, Lily must discover the tiger-girl within herself.

This book is getting a lot of attention in the review journals.  It reminds me a lot of the Newbery winner, Onion John.  At the beginning of the story it is easy for Lily to believe the folktales her Halmoni tells her, but as Lily starts to mature, she comes to realize that facing real life takes just as much courage as facing a giant mystical tiger.  All the characters of the book are fully developed and sympathetic and the magical realism is enchanting.
I think this book is going to be on a lot of people's Newbery lists this fall.  (2020, 297 p.)

Murphy and the Great Surf Rescue by Gill Lewis

Murphy has always wanted to be a surf rescue dog.  When it comes time for him to earn his surf rescue badge, he finds that the waves in the ocean are much bigger and scarier than he had imagined.  After he fails on his first attempt, and embarrasses himself in front of his hero, he is afraid to try again but when he sees a boy in real trouble, he finds the courage he needs.

I didn't realize when I took this book off of the New Book cart that this is in the same series as another intermediate I read, Star on Stormy Mountain. This book had almost the exact same plot as that one did.  That is not necessarily a bad thing for an intermediate series.  If all the books have similar plots, it helps emerging readers gain confidence and speed because they don't have to spend a lot of effort figuring out what is going on.  This book has simple black and white illustrations that add to the kid appeal and is a good choice for any dog lovers. (109 p. 2016)

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine by Philip Stead and Mark Twain

The origin of this book is more interesting than its story.  Mark Twain mentioned in one of his journals that his kid's would always bug him to tell a story before they went to bed.  Once when the family was in Paris, the story Twain told was so good he wrote some notes about it so that he could write it up later.  Recently some Twain scholars found the notes, but they were pretty sketchy and incomplete.  They contracted Philip Stead to fill in and complete the story and Erin Stead to do the illustrations.

The story itself is pretty random.  It reminds me of the stories my husband used to make up for my kids.  Johnny lives with an overbearing father. When he father asks him to go to town and sell his pet chicken for some food, Johnny starts on an adventure that includes magic beans, talking animals, and a spoiled rotten prince.  The book is illustrated with colored pictures throughout.  I wasn't thrilled with the audio recording.  It was full cast, but the producers were not 100% consistent with which actors where reading which parts.  It was fairly distracting.  This book got several starred reviews, but I think it is because of where it came from instead of its actual content. (2017, 151 p.)

Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein

Isaiah is the smallest, and perhaps the most cowardly of all the mice at the "horrible place," a research laboratory. It is amazing, therefore, that when 97 genetically altered mice try to escape, Isaiah is the only one who is not caught.  Despite his bright blue color, he is accepted into a nearby mischief, or mouse family group, and discovers that his scientifically augmented abilities come in handy in the outside world.  He soon finds that he has become a leader among mice, but what he really wants is to find a way to free his family from the lab.  In the end it is not his agility, his intelligence, or even his ability to speak with humans, but his ability to look past differences with an open heart that is the key to his success.

This book was about what you would expect form Patterson/Grabenstein.  There is a lot that would appeal to children, but it seemed a little heavy handed and melodramatic to me. Part of that impression might be because of the reader in the audiobook I listened to.  His inflection was a little over-the-top.  Because I listened to the book instead of reading it I didn't see any of the illustrations, but the story worked fine without them.  This is a good book for kids who are transitioning from intermediate to longer fiction who like animal stories and haven't yet developed a sophisticated taste in literature.

Star on Stormy Mountain by Gill Lewis

Star is a student at the Puppy Academy.  Her mother is a champion sheep dog, and everyone expects Star to be one, too.  Unfortunately, Star doesn't seem to have what it takes to herd sheep.  She is too fast and reckless, but she keeps on trying.  On the day of the mountain sheep herding class, a storm comes up.  The other puppies race back to the lodge, but Star realizes there are lambs and humans still lost in the storm.  Will her fast feet and reckless courage help her help them?

This is my intermediate of the week. It is a cute story written on a good level for an emerging novel reader. Cartoon illustrations scattered throughout add to the book's kid appeal.  There are other books in the Puppy Academy series, and it seems like they are all about puppies discovering their true vocation.  It is an old theme, aptly presented here for a new generation. (115 p.)

Saving Mr. Nibbles! by Patrick Carman

My intermediate chapter book for this week is the first in the Elliot's Park series.  Elliot is a squirrel who is good at solving problems.  He has a number of squirrel friends who each have their own personalities and talents. There are other animals that are friendly, and some that are not.  In this adventure Elliot and his friends see a strange squirrel given to a human boy for his birthday.  It only talks when they squeeze its ear, and it only knows how to say a few phrases.  Still, it is a squirrel and the other squirrels in the park feel that they must save it from being a prisoner in the human house.  Simple language, a short text and engaging illustrations make this a good transition book for kids that are moving from easy readers to chapter books. The story will appeal to kids as young as preschool and even the youngest readers/listeners will quickly figure out what the squirrels do not, that Mr. Nibbles is just a toy. (79 p.)

First Born by Tor Seidler

Maggie is a magpie who was born on a farm in Montana.  She makes friends with a young wolf, Blue Boy, who has wandered out of Yellowstone Park.  She follows Blue Boy as he finds and joins a small pack and eventually becomes its leader. Together, Maggie and Blue Boy lead their pack back to the safety of Yellowstone Park, where they brave the wrath of other established packs to make a home for themselves. 

Not many people now days have read the original Bambi book.  It is very different from the Bambi movie, more harsh and raw, and this book reminded me of that one.  Even though the animals are anthropomorphized, the book doesn't gloss over the realities of "kill or be killed" in the wild.  The book was nicely written and I believe the author did quite a bit of research in Yellowstone before writing it.  The forward by the author also notes that he was inspired to write about wolves by his friendship with Jean Craighead George who wrote Julie of the Wolves. (227 p)

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck

A small mouse lives under the stables of Buckingham Palace.  He doesn't know who his parents are, or even what his name is.  The other mice call him Mouse Minor but he wants to find out who he really is. It is the time of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the small mouse decides he wants to ask Queen Victoria herself who he is. Little does he know, as he sets out on his path of discovery, that it will change his life forever.

I am a huge Richard Peck fan.  I liked his last mouse book, Secrets at Sea.  But I must say this one was a disappointment.  The story was cute, and the characters were interesting and endearing, but the writing was not up to Peck's usual level.  I can't account for it.  There were a lot of problems you would expect from an amateur.  A lot of the sentences were the same length and structure.  That made it choppy and stilted. There were a couple of folk sayings that were used over and over.  I think Peck was trying to be cute, but it turned out as just annoying. The pacing was monotone. The mouse did this, and then this, and then this. There wasn't really any emotional build up until the very end.  Even then I didn't feel like the mouse cared much about what was happening to him. I listened to it on recording (as I do most of my books) and maybe a different reader would have done a better job.  I don't think it was the reader, though.  I wonder if this is a book Peck wrote a long time ago, maybe even as a young man, that he decided to publish. That would explain the immature style. If so, he should have given it a more thorough rewrite. (223 p)

The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp by Kathi Appelt

Chap Brayburn lives on the edge of the Bayou Tourterelle,with his mother in a little pie shop.  Bingo and J'miah, two faithful scout racoons, live in the old DeSoto deep in the tangle of the swamp. Sony Boy Boucoup and Jaeger Stitch want to turn the Bayou into a large alligator wrestling theme park.  The wild hogs, Buzzie and Clydine, want to tear the Sugar Man swamp apart and trample all the wild sugarcane.  When the swamp and Bayou are threatened both Chap and the racoon scouts go into action.  It seems like an impossible task to save their beloved home, but Chap and the racoons are willing to do whatever it takes even if that means waking up the old Sugar Man himself.

This book is a delight.  It is the most entertaining book I have read in a long time.  The narrative sounds like an old southern yarn told sitting on the front stoop, but the plot is deceptively complicated. The stories of the racoons and Chap run parallel.  The Raccoons don't know about Chap and the plan to develop the swamp.  Chap doesn't know about the Racoons and the terrible hogs, but the two sets of heroes end up inadvertently working together and helping each other. Appelt has created such a well crafted story, endearing and courageous protagonists, and deliciously evil and humorous villains.  This is a great family read aloud and would appeal to a wide range of ages.(326 p)

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

The story is told from the point of view of Ivan, an adult male gorilla that has spent most of his live in a cage in a mall.  He is friends with some other mall animals, including a dog called Bob and an Elephant called Stella.  The mall is struggling financially, so the mall owner, Max, jumps at the opportunity to acquire a baby elephant to add to the show.  Ruby brings new life and enthusiasm to the mall menagerie, and both Stella and Ivan become very attached to her.  When Stella becomes ill and is about to die, she makes Ivan promise he will find a way to get Ruby out of the mall and into a proper zoo.  Ivan likes to draw, so he uses his artistic skills to send a message to the world that Ruby needs a better home.

This was the Newbery winner for this year.  I didn't read it for a while after it was released, because I had heard it was kind of sad and I wasn't really ever in a mood to read a sad book.  It was a little sad, but I ended up liking the book.  Ms Applegate does a good job creating a believable voice for Ivan and the other animals.  The book is based on a true story, and she really explores all the complicated emotions animals in that kind of situation might have.  I can see why a committee of adults would choose it for an award.  It would be a great book for a grade school or even junior high reading groups to read and discuss.  There are so many ethical questions it brings up, but also questions about friendship, leaving a familiar place to make a better start, and non-violent protest.  I don't know how many kids would pick it up and read it for fun. The cover is nothings special  and it starts a little slowly.  Once they got into it, they would probably enjoy it. (305p)

Mr. and Mrs Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire, by Polly Horvath

Madeline lives on Hornby Island, Canada with her very "New Age" (aka Hippy) parents.  Madeline is not like her parents, and takes responsibility for her own education and well being.  One day her parents are stolen away by a troop of criminal foxes.  As Madeline goes to try to find them, she meets up with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, who are amateur detectives. Madeline discovers that she can understand Rabbit language, and accepts the Bunny's help to discover and rescue her parents.   This is an extremely silly book.  There is a lot of "tongue in cheek" humor about hippies, society and life in general. There is also a great deal of snappy dialog between the two bunnies. The story is not without a little tenderness. Although Madeline is resourceful and independent, she finds herself enjoying the kind mothering of Mrs Bunny, something she never got from her own mother.  I am not sure who the target audience is for this book.  I might recommend it for a child who is quite young, but a good reader.  That demographic, however, would miss a lot of the jokes.  Maybe a book for an adult to read to an intelligent younger child.  The child would enjoy the silliness, and the adult could chuckle at the jokes. (248 p)

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

This was a better than average little fantasy.  Liza wakes up one morning to find that her little brother, Patrick, is not right. She suspects that the Spindlers, spider-like creatures from the land below, have stolen his soul. Courageously she arms herself with a broom, goes through the hole behind the water heater and enters the mysterious world below. She meets a rat, named Mirabella, and together they have all kinds of Alice in Wonderland like adventures.  Oliver has created an interesting fantasy world with gentle nudges at philosophy and meaning at every turn.   She is pretty good at characterization, and I enjoyed how she depicted the body language of the characters.  An inexperienced author with fall back on cliche references to body language, "she bit her lip" or "He clenched his fists" but this author found subtler ways of expressing the character's emotions through their gestures.  The ending of the book was satisfying, but she left the door open for a sequel, and if it comes out I would certainly be willing to give it a look. (246 p)

Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt

I am always on the look out for low age, high reading level books, and this is a great one. Fredle is a kitchen mouse who spends his days in a nest behind the utility closet, and his nights foraging on the kitchen floor.  He is very cautious, and timid, but he has a friend, Axle, who is more adventurous. One day Fredle and his friend find a mysterious food that is so delicious that they eat until they are sick.  In the kitchen mouse culture there is only one fate for a sick mouse: he gets "pushed out."  The other mice push him out into the open floor in the day time. Luckily for Fredle, the lady of the house sees him before the cat does, carefully traps him in a bottle, and then releases him outside.  The outside world is bewildering and terrifying to the young mouse, but gradually, and with the help of some barn mice, he learns how to survive in the bigger world. Cynthia Voigt is a Newbery medal winner and knows how to write characters. Fredle and all the animals he meets have well developed, and interesting personalities, that realistically motivate their decisions.  She also does a pretty good job of seeing the world from a mouse's point of view.  The only part of the story that was a little less believable was when Fredle spends some time with a pack of raccoons.   Fredle stays with them for several days before making a serious attempt to escape.  That is pretty un-mouse like, but is was good for the story.  There is a lot to think about in this story, and it would make a good literature circle book for 3rd or 4th grade. Even a younger child, (second or even first grade) who was a good reader, could enjoy it. (227 p)

The Cheshire Cheese Cat by Carmen Deedy and Randall Wright

Carmen Deedy is a wonderful author and storyteller.  I have seen her perform at the Timpanogos Story Telling Festival.  She has written some amazing picture books.  The range from quite serious and touching (14 Cows for America) to silly and fun (Martina the Beautiful Cockroach).  This is one of her first chapter books and it fits into the latter category.

Skilly is a cat who manages to get adopted by the owner of an eating establishment in Victorian England.  The the inn owner, Henry, takes Skilly on as mouser, but Skilly doesn't like to eat mice.  Instead he makes a bargain with the mice to supply him with his favorite food, cheese, in return for protection.   Skilly becomes friends with the mouse leader, Pip, and together they fend off a less friendly cats and ultimately solve the mystery of the Queen's missing tower raven.  One of the regular patrons of the inn is Charles Dickens and there are all kinds of cute references to famous Dickens quotes. This one is similar in flavor and reading level to Bless this Mouse by Lois Lowery, and like that, is a great book for low age/ high reading level readers. It would also be a fun read aloud for families with young children. (228 p)

Winter Pony by Ian Lawrence

There are some kids, usually girls, who love books about horses.  I am not one of them.  I never did go "horse crazy" as a child.  I would not have normally picked up a book with a beautiful white horse on the front.  But this book is by Ian Lawrence, and I would basically ready anything by Ian Lawrence because he is an amazing writer and storyteller.  His book, Lord of the Nutcracker Men, is one of my all time favorite books.

This is the story of the ill fated attempt of the Englishman, Robert Falcon Scott, to be the first man to reach the south pole.  He was racing the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen in 1910-1911.  Admundsen used dog sleds, but Scott decided to use motor vehicles, dogs, and ponies.  This story is told from the point of view of one of the ponies whom them men named James Pig. He was born a wild pony in Russia and was captured and used in a mine for several years before he was purchased by Scott's party.  As it turned out all of Scott's ponies were old and broken down before Scott's agent purchased them. As they make their way south one after another of the ponies come to an unfortunate end.  It is a heart wrenching book, but a beautiful book, too.  Lawrence is so good at depicting deep emotion without sounding sappy.  The core of the book is James Pig's relationship with his handler, Patrick.  It was difficult for the horse to trust a human because he had been mistreated in the mines. During the trek Patrick shows the pony kindness after kindness, until in the end James Pig would have done anything for the man.

I liked the book and it made me cry, but there was one thing that bothered me just a little bit.  Lawrence anthropomorphised the horse a little too much.  The pony understood things about human culture that he couldn't have known with his limited experience with people.  Lawrence depicted him as if he were a human in a horse's body instead of a horse.  Still, the book was so well written that I was willing to forgive the one shortcoming. (246 p)

Of Mice and Magic by David Farland

This is a book by a local publisher and author. It was a cute story about a boy who gets changed into a mouse by a mouse wizard, and goes on a quest to save all the mice in the world who are caged in pet shops.  The characters in the book are surprisingly complex, and Farland does a good job of creating a voice for each.  My main problem with the book is that Farland writes in superlative.  Whenever a character gets upset they are weeping, or trembling or shaking with emotion.  There is no subtlety.  This creates two problems.  First, the author cannot build up emotion to an emotional climax because it is so high from the beginning.  Second, the reader gets emotionally tired out early in the book, and after that it is easy to just laugh when the character is shaking with rage, or weeping with despair yet again.  I think children might not be bothered by this particular writing deficiency as much as adults, and will probably enjoy the creative story and premise. (276 p)