An Abundance of Books: February 2012

Pretty Cool or Painfully Hip, You Decide

A lot of times, when we buy gifts for a baby, we're really buying for the parents, and there's nothing wrong with that. This past Christmas I bought two board books for my son from a nearby bookstore, specifically looking for books on counting, colors, or shapes. I completely forgot about Kinokuniya's fabulous board book section at the Dubai Mall. If I had remembered, I never would have picked up these books.

There wasn't a lot of choice, but Dwell Studio had some very attractive books.

But while they were very trendy and pretty, they didn't seem very engaging. Yes, the animals were all cute and rounded, there were some pull out pages, but the glossy coating on some of the images was the only oomph these books had. I was also looking for possibly the world's most boring subject matter: numbers and shapes. Was I being too demanding?

I was torn, super cute books but serious lack of child appeal. I liked these images in their toys and puzzles, but the Dwell Studio style just wasn't doing it for me in a book format. I ended up going with Count, it had lovely colors and really used the glossy layer to reinforce counted objects and the word for each number. The whole book had visual and tactile appeal. I did like Kitty in Squares, but I new my son would rip out that little finger puppet in no time flat.

The next was Orla Kiely's Colours and Numbers books.

Kiely is currently a very popular designer in the UK and her books were very stylized. I really liked that her book covers were covered in fabric, which will show dirt faster but felt so nice. Her graphics used a bit more detail, showed shades of each color, and the repeated objet on the left hand page could be used for counting. By far my favorite of the trendy books, so I picked up Colours as all of the remaining Numbers copies were damaged.

Again, these are all lovely books, but really do seem made for adults more than children. We all love pretty book shelves, but children's books should engage in some way, In my opinion there was nothing to draw children back to these books after looking at it once or twice. The touch and feel books weren't even that impressive. They were cute and attractive, but all of the touch and fell it bits felt the same. It's like the main element, touch and feel, was sacrificed to maintain the series's chic look.

I think some of these would be great books to throw in with a baby shower gift, they look pretty and decorating the nursery is fun. However, I would also even it out with a board book or two that have a bit more to offer story or illustration to offer. There are some fabulous books available as board books now, like Oliver Jeffers, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and Sam McBratney (there's a veritable library of Guess How Much I Love You books out now).

Tots to Teens & in beTween - Far Far Away! by John Segal

Title: Far Far Away!

Author & Illustrator: John Segal

Publisher: Philomel Books

Publication Date: May 14, 2009

Format: Hardback, 32 pages

Genre: Children's book, Picture book

Other Books in the Series:

Pirates Don't Take Baths

How I Got It: the library

Goodreads Summary:
That's it.
I'm leaving. Tonight. Forever.

What child hasn't wanted to pack up his worldly belongings and run away to teach his parents a lesson? That's just what this pig plans to do! But when he, and his helpful mother, consider what those worldly belongings involve - tent, sleeping bag, clothes, pets, toys - he realizes everything he needs is right where he is. And, more importantly, so is everyone he needs.

John Segal gives this universal story a warm and funny treatment full of hilarious details and a pig you won't soon forget.

Far Far Away! is a fun story about an angry child that decides to runaway. Instead of being snotty like the bunny in The Runaway Bunny, Segal's piglet is never mean and his anger is gently soothed by his clever mother.

The story starts on the title page where we can see the piglet and his mother grocery shopping. In the following pages we can see him dropping things out of the shopping cart and finally getting in trouble with his mother. The piglet responds like a lot of angry children:

Image courtesy of John Segal Design

That's it. I'm leaving. Tonight. Forever. You can't stop me.

The conversation continues down the street and all the way home. When his mother asks exactly where he's going, the piglet replies, "Away. Far far away from here!" As the mother begins to make a cake she continues to question him and he imagines his escape.

Image courtesy of John Segal Design

How will you get there?

On my BIKE.

At night? You'll need a light

Okay.

And your helmet.

Fine.

Image courtesy of John Segal Design

When the piglet's mother learns that he plans to sleep on the ground, she asks him what will happen if it rains. He boldly states that he'll just get wet. Well, being the loving mother that she is, she suggests that he bring a tent, sleeping bag, warm coat, and his blanky. The piglet decides he would also like to bring his pet dog, cat, bird, two fish and some assorted toys. His mother completely agrees with him and he imagines his overloaded bicycle. When she suggests a that a piece of cake would also be nice to take along, her son is confused.

CAKE?

There's cake?

He's told he'll need to wait for the cake to finish but then he'll be free to go. By this point the piglet's anger has run its course and he states that he's not leaving as he as everything he needs right there.

Image courtesy of John Segal Design

I love that the piglet gets a chance to cool down as he thinks of all the things he has to take with him. His mother is very calm and supportive the whole time - he doesn't even notice her knowing little smile. Segal uses a very clean water color style for his expressive illustrations. The alternating font type for the mother and piglet was brilliant. The mother has a sweet italicized font for her soothing words and the piglet has a bold font of varying size. I can just hear him being all angry, determined, and matter of fact. (Is it strange that in my head the piglet sounds a lot like my little sister did when she was three?)

Verdict:

This is a story that everyone can relate to. I think kids will enjoy the grumpy piglet and parents the way the he sounds like a real kid. The story is great and the text is simple enough that younger readers can read Far Far Away to their family. This is a fun one to pick up from the store or library.

Review - Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells

Title:
Silver-Tongued Devil (Sabina Kane, book 4)

Author: Jaye Wells

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date: January 5, 2012

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Other books in the series:
Red-Headed Stepchild, book #1
The Mage in Black, book #2
Green-Eyed Demon, book #3 (reviewed)
Silver-Tongued Devil, book #4
Blue-Blooded Vamp, book #5, TBR June 21, 2012

How I Got It: Net Galley for review, my own purchased copy

Goodreads Summary:

Now that the threat of war has passed, Sabina Kane is ready to focus on the future. Her relationship with Adam Lazarus is getting stronger and she's helping her sister, Maisie, overcome the trauma of her captivity in New Orleans. Even Giguhl is managing to stay out of trouble thanks to the arrival of Pussy Willow and his new roller derby team. But as much as Sabina wants to feel hopeful about the future, part of her doesn't trust that peace is possible.

Her suspicions are confirmed when a string of sadistic murders threaten to stall treaty negotiations between the mages and the vampires. Sabina pitches in to find the killer, but her investigation soon leads her down dark paths that have her questioning everyone she thought she could trust. And the closer she gets to the killer, the more Sabina begins to suspect this is one foe she may not be able to kill.

I have enjoyed the Sabina Kane series a great deal. I love how she has grown as a character instead of being stuck in the crochity-I'm-the-scary-assassin-and-I-hate-everybody attitude that we see in the beginning of Red-Headed Stepchild. Sabina has developed into a person she likes that has friends, can fall in love, and doesn't always kill problems before trying to solve them (this was a hard habit to break). So it's understandable that I was quite worried after reading the preview of Silver-Tongued Devil at the end of book three. The excerpt made it seem that she was unhappy and lost because she wasn't killing people and I feared she would do something monumentally stupid and screw up the new life she had built. I was worried when I started this book and discovered that those particular fears were unfounded.

Sabina is filled with guilt, worry, and anger after the events of Green-Eyed Demon. Her grandmother drove her twin sister Maisie mad with fear and blood lust. Maisie attacked her best friend and Sabina's lover Adam and almost killed him. On top of this Sabina blames herself for not rescuing Maisie, for screwing up her perfect life, for not killing her grandmother in time, and is angry at herself for her anger and fear towards Maisie. Adam and Maisie are clearly suffering from PTSD and not addressing it. Instead everyone is denying their problems and walking around on egg shells. This creates additional problems for Sabina and Adam. He is afraid of her vampire half and Sabina spends a lot of time and effort repressing that side of herself. In turn Maisie seems to be going downhill fast; she depressed, isolating herself, and her behavior has changed quite a bit. I thought Wells handled all of these complicated emotions and connections very well. This part of the story never seemed drawn out or melodramatic - it was their reality and they were struggling through it.

Their lives are further complicated by vampire murders that must be stopped and solved. Clues point to all of the wrong people and tensions run high in Sabina's tight knit group. This aspect of the story was also well handled. The mystery was nice and tense and also gave us more of the dynamic duo of Sabina in Giguhl (such a welcome return). The investigations also brings up past actions that Sabina never wanted known and they hurt Adam greatly. Wells doesn't sabotage this relationship, she remains true to both characters. Neither Adam nor Sabina does anything rash or foolish but readers will understand why each party is hurt.

Really, the only thing I didn't like about this book was the part where Sabina and Giguhl go to a different dimension to rescue Maisie from Caine. Instead of the series moving organically to a final confrontation with Caine, I felt like I was being forced and occasionally beaten over the head with this particular aspect of the storyline. I was very disappointed, especially after enjoying the story up until this point. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied and once again concerned over the next, and final, book.

Verdict:

Silver-Tongued Devil was an enjoyable read with more Sabina and Giguhl action, a good bloody mystery, and lots of realistic emotional conflict. The Empire Strikes Back-esque ending (as in not quite an ending) made sense, but was unsatisfying. I felt that the drive to the final book of the series seemed forced and made the last few chapters a little disappointing. This is a good story overall, filled with witty banter and action, it just felt like the end of the book was shoving me towards the final conflict instead of taking me there.

Related Links & Reviews:

My Bookish Ways review

Get Graphic - Courtney Crumrin, Volume 1 by Ted Naifeh

Title: Courtney Crumrin, Volume 1: The Night Things, Special Edition

Author & Illustrator: Ted Naifeh

Publisher: Oni Press

Publication Date: March 2012

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy

Other books in the series:

Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics, Vol. 2

Courtney Crumrin and the Twilight Kingdom, Vol. 3

Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday, Vol. 4

Courtney Crumrin Tales: Portrait of the Warlock as a Young Man #1

Courtney Crumrin Tales: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen #2

Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief's Tale

Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere

How I Got It: from NetGalley for review

Summary from galley:

Fan-favorite and critical darling Courtney Crumrin is back in a series of newly remastered, full color hardcover editions!
Courtney's parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She's not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

I had never heard of the "fan-favorite and critical darling" Courtney Crumrin books, but I wanted to read them after they set the bar so high! I had read book one of Holly Black's Kin series (reviewed) that Naifeh had illustrated and I wasn't a fan of his work, but I was willing to give this one a try. I'm very glad I did.

Courtney Crumrin has grown up with painfully awkward social ladder climbing parents. They normally don't pay any attention to her unless she can be used to make connections for them. Despite this she's a sassy and self-sufficient though a bit cranky. She has very little patience for her family, foolish people, snobs, or those who simply sit back and take life's punches. Her parents jump at the opportunity to move in with her father's very wealthy great uncle. They've run out of credit cards and now they'll be able to live rent free in a very posh and exclusive neighborhood. Unfortunately for Courtney, her Uncle Aloysius's house has a creepy and haunted reputation. So not only is she the new "poor" girl, but she lives in a haunted house with her great uncle the ax murderer/devil worshipper/ex-hippy. Even though all of the kids at school either pick on her or ignore her, and her parents are embarrassingly awful, she does befriend Uncle Aloysious. Which is a good thing, since it always helps to have a powerful witch help you out with slavery in the goblin markets, changelings, glamours gone awry, and the occasional missing-and-presumed-eaten classmate.

Courtney Crumrin is quite possibly the world's most lovable teenage curmudgeon. She's sassy and sticks up for herself, but like most teenagers, is prone to lapses in judgement that can get her into trouble. Naifeh's story unashamedly has children eaten by goblins or switched with changelings and nothing is done about it. It's kind of a creepy world more similar to the original Grimm's tales than today's spun sugar fairytales. I liked Naifeh's art much more this time around, and felt his mix of manga and chibi styles worked well. His stories were darkly humorous and fun but there were times I wish he had added one or two more sentences to better explain what was happening. I could quickly figure things out, but a little bit of confusion could be avoided with either written or drawn explanations.

"I must have been really rotten in a previous life. Maybe a gym teacher."
courtesy of TedNaifeh.com

"These your friends? Is this where you all wait for the short bus?"
courtesy of TedNaifeh.com

Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 1 is listed as recommended for all audience, and like others, I must disagree. The black humor, subject matter, and story lines are far more appropriate for older readers. I have had a few fourth and fifth grade students that would enjoy Courtney Crumrin, but it's probably a better fit for 12 years and up. Not that the books have inappropriate content, I just think older kids would be better able to understand and relate to Courtney. And, well, kids do get eaten, so maybe not such a great read for younger children.

Verdict:

I enjoyed Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 1 and will definitely be looking for more of her books. The art and grim humor were great and the cranky lead character was enjoyable. I think this is a book that will appeal to a lot of readers.