New Book Reviews from The Children's Bookstore Staff

Machines Go To Work
by William Low

Are you looking for a great new book about trucks, boats, and trains? Look no further—this is it. With pull-out sheets, Low's beautiful, painterly art works perfectly to make this book more than just a "truck book." It will appeal to the adults as well as to the little guys.

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Dark Night
written and illustrated by Dorothee de Monfreid

Felix is trying to get home through the woods on a dark night, but the woods are full of dangerous creatures and Felix is quite frightened. While hiding in a hole in a tree, Felix finds a doorway and lets himself in. Inside, he meets a rabbit who has a fantastic method for traversing the forest and avoiding the ferocious creatures. A wonderful, empowering story about the dark, with distinctive illustration.

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Chicken Little
written by Rebecca Emberley and illustrated by Ed Emberley
(Featured Title for The Bryn Mawr School 2009 Book Fair)

This traditional tale with completely non-traditional, colorful, fun, and wacky illustrations is a perfect example of a successful folk tale retelling. Ed and Rebecca Emberley are masters at getting children's attention joyfully.

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The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph
by Jack Gantos

Sarah's mischievous cat Ralph is sick, so sick that he willingly goes to the vet, where he receives bad news. Ralph has used up 8 of his 9 lives. Sarah and Ralph sadly review the lost lives, lives lost to misbehavior and misdeeds. Ever loving, Sarah is determined to protect Ralph and his last life, but Ralph has other ideas. While Sarah worries at home, fearing the worst, Ralph is out on the town, back to living life to its fullest.

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The Busiest Street in Town
written by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Sarah McMenemy

Agatha May Walker lived on one side of Rushmore Boulevard, her best friend Eulalie Scruggs lives across the street. When Agatha finds she can't get across the street to visit Eulalie because of all the speeding cars, she takes matters into her own hands and seats herself in an a wingback chair in the middle of Rushmore Boulevard. Soon the rest of the neighborhood has joined her in the street and the traffic has no choice but to slow down.

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43 Old Cemetery Road
Book One: Dying to Meet You
Book Two: Over My Dead Body
written by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise
(Featured Title for The RPCS 2009 Book Fair)

Best-selling author Ignatius B. Grumply moves into the victorian mansion at 43 Old Cemetery Road in search of a secluded and inspiring environment to break his terrible writer's block, only to find that his lease includes an eleven-year old boy named Seymour, his cat, Shadow, and his good friend and ghost, Olive, none of whom want to share their home. The story is cleverly told through illustration, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. Charming and funny.

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The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival
Book One: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone
by Dene Lowe

This send-up/celebration of the society novel is a lot of fun. To begin with, there's the cover…it's attractive, and it has millipedes on it.

When Petronella's uncle and guardian accidentally swallows a beetle that causes him to have an insatiable appetite for everything creepy and crawly, Petronella's chances in society could be completely ruined. To make matters worse, a foreign notable and a member of the aristocracy are kidnapped during her birthday party. Petronella, with the help of her loyal and dependable butler, her bug-eating uncle, her best friend Sarah and Sarah's handsome older brother James, set out to solve the mystery themselves.

Dene Lowe has not quite mastered the victorian style of autobiographical narration as she has tried to do so the narrative tone sometimes falls a little flat, and her character's references to the handsomeness and desireability of James tend to be somewhat heavy-handed, but the story with its ridiculous plot twists and numerous literary tropes make reading it worthwhile. This being said, to a younger reader, not yet familiar with our many literary traditions, there is no grounds for objection to the outright fun of this book.

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Nothing But Ghosts
by Beth Kephart

Beth Kephart is luminous. Her attention to sparkling detail and transformational moments makes me want to pay better attention. There's a mystery at the heart of this book and engaging characters. You'll want to read fast to solve the mystery, but go slow to experience the language. (Middle School and Up)

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The Forests of Hands and Teeth
by Carrie Ryan

We've had enough vampires lately, now it's the zombies' turn. The Forests of Hands and Teeth is set in a post-apocalyptic world of wire-fenced communities in constant peril of being overrun by 'The Unconsecrated' (those who refuse to stay dead and who crave the flesh of living humans) whose bites are poisonous. When an accident causes Mary's own mother to become one of the unconsecrated, she finds herself questioning both the Sisterhood who govern her community and the traditions and laws by which the community survives. When the community's defenses are breached, Mary and a small band of survivors are forced to flee into a previously unknown maze of wire tunnels through the Forest of Hands and Teeth. (Middle School and Up)

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The Uninvited
by Tim Wynne-Jones

Having disentangled herself from an unfortunate involvement with one of her professors at the end of her freshman year of college, Mary Shapiro needs time and space to recover and sort out her thoughts and feelings. Her artist father's remote cabin in Canada seems like the perfect place. When she arrives, the cabin is already occupied by a 20-something musician named Jay. At first, Jay accuses Mimi of leaving strange and threatening tokens in the cabin, but Mimi has only just arrived and soon she too is receiving threatening tokens. The Uninvited is a gripping thriller and a complex family drama that celebrates the intense bonds that exist between siblings- a somewhat uncommon theme in YA literature. (High School)

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Geektastic Stories From the Nerd Herd
edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

If you aren't a Geek already, by the time you finish this book, you'll be wishing you were one. What happens at a science fiction convention when a Klingon from Star Trek hooks up with a Jedi from Star Wars? This question is answered in the opening story by Black and Castellucci. Charming, touching, thoughtful, silly, this collection covers the gamut. The stories in this collection cover LARPing, science-fiction conventions, video games, Quiz Bowl teams, vast online roleplaying games, baton-twirling, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, dinosaur obsession, astronomy, academic competition, theatre… Even if you think you have no interest in these subjects or don't even know what some of these subjects are, these stories will teach you to understand and maybe even appreciate all of them. If you are already a geek, these stories will celebrate your own geekiness. (High School)

Contributing writers include: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Tracy Lynn, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfeld, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr with comics illustrated by Hope Larson, and Bryan Lee O'Malley.