The Song of Delphine

The Song of Delphine by Kenneth Kraegel (Candlewick Press)

HC RRP 24.95

ISBN 9780763670016

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Delphine is a servant girl, a friendless orphan who lives and works in the palace of Queen Theodora. She is alone and lonely. The one thing that brings her comfort is the ability to sing. When she does at night all her loneliness drifts away on song.

When Beatrice, the Queen’s niece, arrives at the palace, Delphine believes at last she will have a friend her own age. But Beatrice, unkind, spiteful and a trouble-maker, makes Delphine’s life more miserable than ever.

Delphine’s songs travel on the night air across the Savannah. A herd of giraffes respond to the loneliness and desperation in the child’s voice and move toward the sound. Their heads in Delphine’s window beckon her and she goes with them. There is a whole new and wondrous world outside the palace that Delphine can savour, and she fills her empty heart with scenes of beauty and nature.

Delphine wants to stay with the herd but knows she must return. Then the giraffe mistakes her window and puts her into Beatrice’s. It’s a photo on the bedside table that makes Delphine see past the cruel side of the other girl. They have something in common and this makes Delphine reach out in compassion and song to that commonality.

This is a moving story of loneliness and grief that addresses how emotions are often displayed in children’s misbehaviour. An excellent picture book, it can be used to generate class or any other adult/child discussion about feelings and emotions of anger and unkindness, and why and how they affect people the way they do.

Beautifully illustrated in watercolour and ink, this book will appeal to the 5+ year age group. Kenneth Kraegel is the author and illustrator of King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Ship of Dolls

Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau (Candlewick Press)

HC RRP $19.95

ISBN 9780763670030

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

The Immigration Act of 1924 stopped East Asians from migrating to America. To promote goodwill and ease the friction between the two countries, former missionary Dr Sidney Gulick, who had spent many years in Japan, participated in the formation of the Committee on World Friendship Between Children.  

In 1927, the first program was to send almost 13,000 of what were called the American blue eyed dolls, also known as Friendship dolls, to Japanese children. It took into account the importance of dolls in Japanese culture. Each doll travelled with a passport, tickets, and a change of clothing. The doll delivery was to coincide with the Hinamatsuri, the yearly Japanese Doll Festival.

This little-known historical fact was the inspiration for this book.

The story begins in Portland, Ohio, 1926. Eleven year old Lexie lives with her grandparents after her unconventional, widowed mother remarries a man who doesn’t want kids around. Jack’s house connects with Lexie’s grandparents’ home by a tree branch that extends from his window to hers. They are secretly friends but enemies at school and in public.

Jack double dares Lexie to find, pick up and hold the Friendship doll that the school children had raised money to buy. This forbidden act leads to a complex web of half-truths, white lies, and humiliation for Lexie and her grandparents.

A letter writing competition is announced. The best letter will accompany the doll to Japan. Lexie longs to see her mother and when an undreamed of opportunity arises Lexie knows she must be the winner.

Spoilt, rich Louise is always in the light. Her popularity is threatened when the focus begins to fall on Lexie. High expectations by her parents lead the devious Louise to steal Lexie’s far better letter and claim it as her own. The whole competition becomes a nightmare when Lexie is accused of lying and dishonouring her grandparents.

Armed with her mother’s and grandmother’s ethics and teachings, can Lexie rise above all these challenges with her chin up?

This is a unique, multi-layered storyline with the Friendship dolls as the main tier. All the other themes are strong supports of a unique structure. The main theme is truth: how it is misused, abused, falsely claimed, but ultimately rises to the surface. Other themes include love and pride, relationships between children and grandparents, friendship and loyalty, the importance of being yourself, and finding your place in life.

This extraordinary book is for the 8+ age group. Further research is recommended to those interested in the incredible history behind the Friendship dolls.

Come August, Come Freedom

Come August, Come Freedom by Gigi Amateau (Candlewick/Walker Books)

PB RRP $17.95

ISBN 9780763668709

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Gigi Amateau has created an outstanding historical factional novel on the African American slaves of the mid to late 1700s. The main character Gabriel was a real person, and it is around his life that the story is built.

Gabriel is born on the Brookfield plantation and belongs to Thomas Prosser along with his two brothers and parents. He is educated with Prosser’s son, Thomas Henry, and grows into an intelligent person who looks and acts much older than his years.

After Gabriel’s father is taken away never to return, Gabriel and his brother Solomon are sent to the smithy to learn and take over their father’s trade. It is while in Richmond, that his mind further expands when he witnesses further unrelenting injustices of white landowners against the working slaves.

He dreams of becoming like Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Saint Domingue rebellion, known as the black general, which saw the slaves revolt and gain freedom. This is what Gabriel wanted for his people above all else. It was toward this end that plans were made for that dream to come true in October 1800.

Woven into the historical events is a powerful love story between Gabriel and Nan, the slave girl he loved from childhood. His other longing was to purchase her freedom, so their children could also be born free.

But conspiracy, treachery, and betrayal via promises of reward from people he trusted, tragically end Gabriel’s dream.

These dramatic times in American history are portrayed in lyrical prose with deep spiritual content that reflects the hearts and minds of the slaves of Virginia. Reading about their inhuman treatment and the control by whip of their owners, brought frequent tears to my eyes. But nothing could stop me from continuing.

This is a book of incredible depth and valuable historical content. It will propel the reader to further examine the history of the times and the evolution of the slave trade. It unearths the unshakable faith, strength, courage and determination to gain freedom nurtured by the African American slaves in the face of continued brutality, injustice, suffering and death.

Tales from the Waterhole

Tales from the Waterhole by Bob Graham (Candlewick)
PB RRP $11.95
ISBN 9780763668761
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Tales from the Waterhole comes from fantastic Candlewick Sparks series for those just beginning to read. There are 27 books in the series written and illustrated by popular authors, using loved and known characters.

This four chapter book offers short stories with Morris and his animal friends that live around the waterhole of the African savannah.

Bob Graham’s easily identifiable watercolours bring to life the animals’ antics, their fun-loving characters, and the theme of friendship within a perfect blend of illustration and simple prose.

This series is produced in a new edition which is smaller than the normal sized picture book, and will fit neatly on any child’s book case.

Ghetto Cowboy

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson (Candlewick Press)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 9780763664534
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This highly interesting book brings into focus the obscure subject of black American cowboys.  It sent me straight to the computer to learn about the history of black cowboys which stems from prior to the Civil War.

Unable to cope with her recalcitrant son’s truancy, and living in fear of a pending juvenile facility for reform, Cole’s mother drives him thousands of miles to a father he’s never seen. The cowboy ghetto where the boy is dumped houses horses saved from the slaughterhouse, and is run by Cole’s father Harper as an initiative for young boys to stay out of trouble. 

Harper is a gifted horse whisperer and looked up to in the ghetto. Cole’s built up resentment slowly dissipates when he befriends and learns to ride the old hack, Boo. But their white Council moves to take over their land for development. What will become of the confiscated horses and the boys whose lives were saved from delinquency? Will the Cowboy Way defeat the scheme?

This is a moving story of fighting for what you believe in and finding your place in the world, wherever it may be. Written in authentic language, it addresses themes of broken lives, poverty, community and survival.

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko (Candlewick Press/Walker Books)
PB RRP $16.95
ISBN 9780763664657
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

‘I saw many of the poems in it as solemn songs to the memory of the people who died within the walls of Theresienstadt’.

This powerful and profoundly moving collection of 35 poems has been informed by the writer’s research. Based on historical events and facts, the poems concentrate on the Czech village of Terezin (or Theresienstadt), which was used by the Germans as a way station to house the Jews of Prague on their way to the gas chambers.

The poems cover amongst other subjects: last goodbyes, letters from lovers, suicides, words of love, partings, the unbearable act of sorting the collected bundles, and several that describe the feelings of guards towards their prisoners. Included to accent the poetry are 9 historical illustrations by the inmates, three of which are double spreads.

This book is a valuable documentation on the tragic lives of the people at Terezin concentration camp. Readers interested in the subject can also refer to the extensive online information about this time in history, the area and its people.

A bibliography is listed with website information, foreign words and phrases and other resource references.

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Candlewick)
PB RRP $16.95
ISBN 9780763664589
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Ella’s story begins in Yonkers, New York, in 1930 when there wasn’t much money around. But nickels always fell when thirteen year old Ella Fitzgerald danced, for music hadn’t reached her mouth yet. It was a time when Jazz music poured from every house and Harlem was 45 minutes and a world away.

Ella was determined to be famous. All she needed was for someone to notice her. She saved her nickels and dimes and travelled to Harlem. There she watched the dancers and copied their steps, and came back to Yonkers to dance the new moves. And more nickels fell.

Ella’s life twisted out of shape when her mother died suddenly. Her mother’s boyfriend treated her badly, so her aunt Virginia took Ella to Harlem to live. Ella had lost more than her mother. Now her friends, home, school, and dancing jobs were gone. Worst of all, aunt Virginia offered nothing more than food and shelter to the orphaned child who was tough on the outside but ‘milky and silky and soft and shy’ inside.

Breaking the law meant a school for orphans. This was a nightmare for Ella and after two years, she escaped and ended up on Seventh Avenue where furs and jewels reigned, and where Ella found she could sing as well as dance. Homeless, but supported in various ways by charity, she entered the Apollo Theatre’s Amateur Night and won. But her lack of clothing and poor appearance found her still singing for coins on the street.

It was the Harlem Opera House Amateur Night win that changed the course of Ella’s life, and she was invited to sing with Chick Webb’s band.

Ella Fitzgerald’s life is a success born of tragedy as are many great artists’ lives. Beautifully and emotively portrayed through the text and illustrations, this moving biography is accompanied by a wonderful bibliography for further reading, a listening list, a view list, a referenced website, and an Index.

The Luck of the Buttons

The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker (Candlewick Press/ Walker Books)
PB RRP $15.95
ISBN 9780763660611
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Tug Button, the main character in this outstanding novel, is reminiscent of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. The whole setting and environment brings that book to mind. A strong-willed tomboy, intelligent and questioning, Tug spends a lot of time in the local library with the Librarian learning words and their definitions from the giant dictionary. This is a marvellous thread that leads Tug to discovery and change.

The Buttons have never been lucky. Nothing ever goes right in their life. They are a rag-tag bunch known for their poverty and low educational status. But everything begins to shift when Aggie Millhouse, daughter of the Banking family of Goodhue, decides to be Tug’s friend.

Within this story weaves another sub-story of significance. Harvey Moore enters Goodhue claiming to be a newspaper man on a mission to bring progress once again to the place by bringing back the local newspaper and calling it the Goodhue Progress. He persuades the wealthy people to hand over money for a down payment on a printing press in return for advertising in the first edition. These two themes entwine and extend into a revealing tale of manipulation and possibilities.

When Tug wins two blue ribbons – one for best essay, and the other in a three-legged race with Aggie, everyone is astonished.  But then she goes on to win a Brownie camera in the raffle from tickets given to her for helping the shopkeeper unpack his goods. The camera becomes instrumental to the awakening of great optimism and opportunity in Tug, a child who, ‘in her life, could not find one beautiful thing’, for she thinks of all the things the Buttons are not. And the list is endless. But she feels a sense of possibility; that life has brought about a change for her.

It’s when Tug sees past Harvey Moore’s façade, and her sleuthing and library research uncovers the truth about this smart-talking, beguiling persuader, that the wealthy of the town are forced to take the transformed Tug seriously.

Me and Momma and Big John

Me and Momma and Big John by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by William Low (Walker Books)
HB RRP $ 29.95
ISBN 9780763643591
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This story was inspired by Carol Hazel, a mother who became an apprentice stonecutter to support her children. It’s about the building of the largest cathedral in the world, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, also known as ‘Big John’ and Saint John the Unfinished, because it is still unfinished today due to delays since the laying of the first stone in 1892. After World War 2, forty years passed before building started up again.

The stonecutters and carvers of the Cathedral stones were apprentices drawn from the large population of unemployed people. They were taught by masters brought from Europe to teach the art of stonecutting which stopped it from dying out as well as creating work for people in desperate need.

John’s Momma has lost her job at the factory but has trained for a new one - a stonecutter for ‘Big John’. It’s hard for John and his siblings to understand how his mother works so long and hard on one stone. But Momma knows her stone ‘just like her babies’ faces’. She can ‘smell it in her sleep’.

Momma takes her children to see the great Cathedral. First they visit the area where the workers are using their tools to chip and shape; where the ‘tools make music on the stone’. Then the family looks at the light filtering through the stained-glass windows. They listen to the sound of voices as they lift and float to the ceiling before joining their own to the music.

Then Momma shows them her stone. They watch as the stones are lifted by a crane up to the tower. Building a Cathedral is ‘an art’, Momma tells them. John has seen art before. It always has the artist’s name beneath it. How will everyone know that this stone is his Momma’s? But Momma knows that even one stone becomes something grand within a building of this kind.

William Low’s superb illuminated artwork embraces the elegance of the text to create an outstanding publication for collectors and readers of all ages. There is a generous amount of information on the Cathedral and its history at the end of the book.

Snook Alone

 Snook Alone by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick Press/Walker Books)
PB RRP $16.95
ISBN 978-0-7636-6120-5
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

There is a special bond between Snook, the rat terrier, and Abba Jacob. They do everything together.  Abba Jacob along with several others is asked to help catalogue the plants and animal species of seven islands. Snook of course goes too. He fills his time chasing rats, digging, marking trees and enjoying all kinds of adventures while Abba Jacob does his work.

It is during one of these adventures on Avocaire Island, that Snook and his friend are separated. Gale force winds cause the sky to darken. Snook is busy digging and chasing rats, and doesn’t hear Abba Jacob’s calls and whistles above the roar of the wind. The gale forces the workers’ small boat to anchor in the lee of a larger island. When at last Snook tries to follow the Abba’s scent, it ends at the water’s edge. He is forced by the wind to find shelter.

Snook sits at the water’s edge each day where the scent ends and waits and waits. He sees crabs and birds of many kinds, but not Abba Jacob. Turtles make their way up the sand and lay their eggs, then turn back towards the sea.

Snook learns the sad loneliness of being left alone; the pain of being separated from a friend. But trust and faith live on in Snook within ‘a vast circle of longing’. And there, within that circle, Snook waits for Abba Jacob’s return.

An emotional and moving tale of faith and trust, and the pain of being separated from someone you love, is presented in poetic prose. The endearing illustrations are produced in acrylic and ink, with more than adequate text which allows older readers to enjoy this excellent picture book. Although it is aimed at age 4-7+, it is more than suitable for an ageless audience due to the absolute beauty of the book.

A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Sing, Speak and Shout

 A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka (Candlewick Press/Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 978-0-7636-6083-3
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

All the poems in this book have been chosen because they are ideal for reading aloud. The poets range from Shakespeare to Lewis Carroll. They are a delightful selection of word sounds, up and downs, loud and soft, happy and sad, tales of woe and tales of triumph. In The Loch Ness Monster’s Song, there is language that will make you laugh out loud because you can’t say it, as there is in parts of Jabberwocky.

The poems are entertaining and ridiculous, clever and creative as in Pasta Parade and Corinna. There are Limericks and Tongue Twisters; List poems, Bilingual poems; Poems For One Voice, Poems For Two Voices, Poems For Three Voices and Poems For a Group. You’ll find Rhymed Poems and Short Stuff.

This selection is outstanding! Children will love the sounds and have fun with this book simply because that’s what it’s created for. It’s also educational and encourages the reader to learn a poem by heart The cover is as crazy and lively as the poems in the book.

The wonderful watercolour illustrations in thick brushstrokes complement each page. The end pages show patchwork pieces of patterned cloth and letters of different writing styles floating upon a bright red background.

There is always a favourite. Mine is Favourite! It’s about ‘an olive drab corduroy coat’ that ends: ‘I may have looked funny – But I called myself Honey – In my olive drab – horizontal – wide-wale - barrel buttoned - plush coloured – corduroy coat’. (I had a coat like this as a child.)

Who says children have all the fun? I love this book! Its contents filled me with laughter and joy. It is the ideal gift for anyone wanting a pick-me-up, or for no reason at all except for enjoying the surprising selection of wonderful work contained within. Ideal for readers of 5 to 105+