A Kiss Goodbye: Audrey Penn & Barbara L. Gibson

Another volume in the Chester Raccoon series, A Kiss Goodbye illustrates the challenges of moving to a new home. Any kid who has had to leave their home, friends, and school, knows how hard it is to get comfortable with change.

Chester announces that he's not moving. He wants to stay in his tree with his friends, where he's always lived. When Chester's mother encourages him to think of it as an adventure, Chester recounts the many adventures he's had that did not go well. When Chester continues to resist, his mother points out that their home tree and many of the surrounding trees have been marked to be cut down for wood, and if Chester stays, he will be all alone because the other animals are leaving, too. When Chester begrudgingly agrees to move with his mother and Ronny, he spends some time saying goodbye to his home. At their new home, Chester meets someone new to befriend, proving that moving really can be an adventure.

I was so hopeful for this story. Penn dances around the issue of clear-cutting and the devastation that deforestation leaves behind. I know that this story is about the adventure of leaving home, and not a social criticism, but I felt like there was so much potential for this lovable forest animal to do a little more teaching.

I was also disappointed in Gibson's art this time. The illustrations felt a little more cartoonish than the other Chester books. They're still very bright and colorful, but I just wasn't in love with the art this time.

Rating: $$

ARC received courtesy of Tanglewood

The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Frères: Marie Le Tourneau with Danielle Reed Baty

I have a love of all things French, so when I had the chance to read about a family of mice who run a French Bistro, I didn't have to think twice. Besides--just look at the illustrations!

Perfectly translated, Marie Le Tourneau's storybook is about the mice of the Seven Brothers Bistro. Among bright, full-page illustrations, the story of a family of mice unravels, describing the role of each mouse. Chef Marcel is renowned for his Award-Winning cheese soup, which he makes with the assistance of his seven sons. When it comes time to make the award-winning soup for the annual competition again, Chef Marcel must run an errand to purchase the Secret Ingredient, leaving his sons in the kitchen to start cooking the cheese soup without him. When Marcel doesn't make it back in time, the youngest mouse--and only girl--Michelle, quietly walks to the stove and finishes the soup with her own ingredients. The result is a Happy Ending and the renaming of the bistro to Le Bistrot des Sept Frères et une Sœur (The Seven Brothers and One Sister Bistro).

The story of these minuscule chefs is darling, but the real joy in this book comes from the illustrations. Inspired by the French Art Nouveau, The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Frères is filled with beautifully detailed line drawings. It's also incredibly charming to come across bilingual children's books. Le Tourneau has included a glossary of French pronunciations for her young readers.

Whether your little ones can read or not, they will enjoy searching through the illustrations to find the details. This would be a great picture book for early readers.

Rating: $$$

ARC received courtesy of Tanglewood

The Kissing Hand: Audrey Penn & Ruth E. Harper & Nancy M. Leak

Having read the sequel, I was compelled to go back and read the first book in the Chester series, The Kissing Hand. This is the book that started it all...

Chester the raccoon is nervous. He has never been to school and he's scared. He would much rather stay home with his mother. Chester's kind, compassionate, and understanding mother gently encourages him, telling Chester that he will love school once he gets started. She gives Chester something very special to take with him so that he never forgets how much he's loved. Chester's mother gives him a kiss right in the middle of his palm, and tells him that when he puts it to his cheek, he will be able to hear her whisper "Mommy loves you." Chester is so happy to have his mother's reassurance that he is able to dance off to school.

Penn's storybooks about Chester are so sweet! Chester is such a sweet little raccoon with such human emotions that we can all relate to. Everyone has had to face something new that they may have been nervous or scared about, and children are no exception. Chester is an example of the kind of love and support that every child needs, but unfortunately, not every child receives. Something as simply magical as a kiss on the palm can instill confidence and encourage a child to face their day, knowing they are loved.

I have to say, having read the sequel, A Pocketful of Kisses first, I am sorry to report that the illustrations in The Kissing Hand are nice, but not quite as wonderful. Chester and his mother make for very tender drawings, but the forest didn't seem as vibrant as it is in Pocketful.

Rating: $$.5


ARC received courtesy of Tanglewood

A Pocket Full of Kisses: Audrey Penn & Barbara Leonard Gibson

This is only one in a series of books about a raccoon named Chester that I will read and review. A Pocketful of Kisses is the sequel to The Kissing Hand, which I haven't had the pleasure of reading, however, I see no reason why this tale can't stand on its own.

Chester is a very very good little raccoon whose family has just expanded to include a baby brother. Chester asks his mother if they can send him back, but his mother says it's simply not possible to send a baby back. To reassure him, Chester's mother gives him a special kiss on the palm of his hand that lights up his heart. Chester is filled with his mother's love, until he watches mother give the same kind of kiss to his baby brother, Ronny. What a racket Chester makes! In his saddest voice, he asks if his mother doesn't love him anymore. Mother quickly seizes her opportunity to teach both of her children about how much love a mother has. She tells the story of the sun, that touches every star with it's rays, lighting up each and every star, even when we can't see them. Chester's mom let's him know that she has enough love for him and his brother, but she also acknowledges that maybe he deserves a little something extra for being the big brother. So Chester receives a special kiss that he can put in his pocket, to carry with him.

I absolutely loved this storybook! It is so true that mothers have a special kind of love that seems bottomless. A mother can give her love to all of her children and never run out. And dear Chester is a familiar character to anyone with siblings--or anyone who has ever felt jealousy! We so often want to feel that the love we receive is special and more meaningful. I am sure that children learning how to be a big brother or sister would benefit from hearing this story.

As for the illustrations, I am in love. Gibson has such a talented hand, and has brought this little raccoon family alive. Except she doesn't just draw the raccoons, she also illustrates the wilderness they live in, with other animals, trees, and plants. The picture of the night sky over the valley, with the geese flying across the sunset is absolutely breathtaking. I would own this book as adult, if only for the illustrations!

Rating: $$$

ARC received courtesy of Tanglewood

Mudkin: Stephen Gammell

My love of picture books started at a very young age.  I love a story that can be told without words. The child of artists, my first books were colorful works of art, filled with illustrations worth framing. It is the very artful cover of Mudkin that drew me to it.

Mud and imagination are two of a child's more prized possessions. When there's a pause in the rain, a young girl is greeted by a cute mud creature called Mudkin. Mudkin takes the girl as his queen and introduces her to the whole mud population. When the rain returns, her new kingdom is washed away, but her mud crown will remain forever.

The story, like so many imaginative games that children play, is magical and whimsical. The total number of words in Gammell's book number less than two dozen, but the illustrations communicate volumes about playtime. Mudkin is reminiscent of childhood, not only because of the story, but also because of the beautiful watercolor pictures. I found myself staring at a couple of the pictures, awed by the detail. Stephen Gammell is one of those rare artists who is not only an illustrator, but a story-teller as well.

Rating: $$$

ARC received courtesy of Lerner Publishing Group.

The Mistress of the Art of Death: Ariana Franklin

I have no idea why I picked up this book. It was on sale and then also on clearance. I was in a mood to read something Victorian. The cover art was interesting. I honestly don't know what compelled me to pick up this book, especially since it's not the kind of thing I normally read, but I'm glad I did!

The story begins with a band of travelers on their way to Cambridge in the twelfth century. Among the travelers is a killer. A murderer and sodomizer of children who has been kidnapping, raping, and murdering children of Cambridge and blaming it on the Jewish community. Also among the travelers is a woman doctor from Salerno, trained in the Art of Death--we would call her a coroner. Adelia, along with Jewish detective Simon and Muslim eunuch Mansur, has been sent to Cambridge by the King of Italy to quietly assist in the case. Determined to unearth the deranged killer and clear the Jews of any wrongdoing, the trio embark on a covert mission to infiltrate the community and learn as much as they can. The list of suspects quickly thins out until even the reader thinks they know whodunnit. However, as any good mystery will do, this story takes a wild turn for the unexpected that will likely leave you shocked and disgusted.

This isn't a new story. It's not even a sort-of-new story. In fact, as the author writes in the Author's Note, there was in fact a string of kidnappings in the twelfth century that was blamed on the Jews. However, what makes this novel so refreshing is the pure talent that Franklin delivers. At first I thought she was simply verbose. So many, many words! And yet it is obvious that author and editor alike have combed this novel within an inch to ensure that every word is necessary. The descriptions are intensely satisfying, reanimating an entire era and culture. The characters are colorful and independent; there is no confusion with overlapping traits as are so often found with lazy contemporary authors. And the villain. It has been awhile since such a monster made it's way into mainstream media. I don't remember an antagonist so humanly grotesque since George Harvey of The Lovely Bones. And I do mean grotesque. Sensitive readers should steer clear!

By far the most interesting character in this novel is Adelia. An educated woman in the twelfth century was most likely to be hanged/drowned/burned for witchcraft. To be a competent woman, trained to put together the pieces of a body's death, carries a stigma even in our "enlightened" 21st century. Adelia is also without faith, believing instead in science, which is one more mark against her favor. She is also young, unmarried, and intentionally celibate. Realistically, she seems more like someone who would exist on the Sarah Lawrence campus in the late 1990's.

While The Mistress of the Art of Death is gruesome, it is also a fantastically crafted thrilling mystery.

Rating: $$.5 (The gore kept it from receiving $$$)

The Swimming Pool: Holly LeCraw

I finished reading The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw about two weeks ago. At first, I had no idea where to begin in my review. What a complicated story! And then, just as I was really picking up some steam on my review, my computer crashed. And I mean it CRASHED. I tried to do a system restore, but alas, the only treatment was to re-start the system from scratch. So. Obviously I lost the beautiful, poetic, righteous review I was working on. And of course, now that it's gone into the silicon Neverland and no one can read it, I can tell you that it was my best work ever! Okay, it wasn't really, but you'll never know, will you?

So. This book. It's confusing. That's all there is to it. Because it starts out as a story about one thing, but it ends up being a story about something totally different. Which, really, is just like life. We start out our day thinking it will just be about work, and it ends up being about the kids and the dog and the co-workers mother-in-law who doesn't approve. In that sense, LeCraw is a fabulous writer. She easily captures a slice of life. The life she has captured, though, is chaotic at best.

So there are all these people who have intersecting lives. Marcella was married to Anthony and they have a daughter named Toni. Marcella had an affair with a man named Cecil who was married to a woman named Betsy. Cecil and Betsy have two kids; Jed and Callie. Betsey ends up getting murdered, Marcella and Anthony get divorced, and Cecil eventually dies. That's not what this story is actually about though. Because some years later, it's summer on the Cape and Toni is hired to nanny for Callie, who now has two kids of her own. And brother Jed is spending the summer at the Cape with his sister. I know, right? Marcella's kid is nannying for the daughter of Marcella's former lover? Crazy. But wait, it gets worse. What could be worse, you ask? Oh, I don't know, maybe if Marcella and Jed become lovers! That's right, first she's lovin on the papa, then she's lovin on the son. Sick, ya'all, sick! It appears this woman has no boundaries. And to complicate things further, back at the Cape house, Toni keeps coming on to Jed, and he's trying desperately to deny that he finds her attractive. Because after all, she's the daughter of his lover!

So, if you've swallowed all of that information, now I can tell you that this book isn't really about those wicked relationships. It's about Callie and how postpartum depression is nasty. Because she's got this beautiful baby girl, right, but she's so totally unattached. And she's too scared to talk about it, because she's kind of WASPy and doesn't want anyone to know that she's not perfect. So what happens? Nothing, actually. She does not drown her baby in a bathtub. She does not shake her baby to death. Nothing like that. She just locks her baby in the nursery, where she is safe from crazy mamma, which is the best thing she could have done. But none of this happens until the last part of the book! There are all of these subtle little paragraphs about Callie's unhappiness, but reader is so tied up with Jed and Marcella that we don't realize it's all about Callie!

Now, I'm not gonna lie and say I loved this book. Because I was kind of into it until I figured out that I had been misled. But I can't lie and say I hated it, either. Because the characters are fascinating people! And I am a sucker for stories that take place on The Cape. New England is super foreign to this NW girlie, so I'm always interested to read about those folks. I guess I'm just not keen on the plot devices LeCraw utilizes. However, this is her debut novel, and I am mildly curious to see what she does next. Will she continue to be a tale-twister, or will she change it up next time?

Rating: $$

The Thief Lord: Cornelia Funke

Prosper and Boniface (Bo) are brothers who have run away to Venice. After the death of their parents, greedy aunt Esther offered to adopt the adorably angelic Bo, but wanted nothing to do with the slightly older Prosper. Refusing to be separated, the boys run away to Venice—a city their mother frequently spoke of as wonderful and magical. They are soon adopted into a group of other street children who are living in an abandoned movie theatre. They live off their wits and the money they earn by selling loot that the Thief Lord steals from the grand houses of Venice. When the Thief Lord is asked to take on a special mission of thievery, his own secrets are brought to light, and the band of runaways may never be the same.

The Thief Lord is an extremely entertaining story, full of mystery and excitement, action and tenacity. Cornelia Funke earned my adoration with her Inkspell novels, and her creative imagination. The story of the Thief Lord is really about Prosper and Bo and their search for a safe and comfortable home. The adventures along the way—starring Scipio, Riccio, Mosca, and Hornet—are a thrill ride, exposing each character as a dimensional individual.

Ultimately, the plot revolves around a magical merry-go-round located on the Isola Segreta—the secret island. The legend says that the merry-go-round will make children into adults, and adults into children. Of course, as a group of young runaways constantly harassed by authorities, the group of children is very interested in finding the merry-go-round and changing themselves into adults as soon as possible. There is a rather heavy-handed moral here that explicitly illustrates that no one should take their age for granted. When a child is turned into an adult, he is at a loss as to what an adult does all day. When an adult is turned into a child, he is frustrated at his inability to be taken seriously. The lesson is laid on pretty thick, but I suppose that’s to be expected in a young adult novel.

Overall, this is a really fun novel. It’s kind of mystical and magical, but it’s also mysterious and intriguing. I think it’s a fun novel for the young and old alike.