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23 Minutes. Vivian Vande Velde. 2016. Boyds Mills Press. 176 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: The story starts with an act of stunning violence.

Premise/plot: Zoe, our heroine, has a superpower of sorts. She has the ability to curl herself up into a ball, say PLAYBACK, and have time reverse itself exactly twenty-three minutes. She can playback one twenty-three segment of time up to ten times...and then whatever the last time was...is forever frozen. So when Zoe witnesses a crime, a bank robbery, and ends up covered in blood, it seems like the natural right thing to do to try to make it better. True, the robber ended up being shot, but, so did Daniel, the super-nice guy who helped pick up all the papers from the folder when she dropped it.

Readers go with Zoe on the journey to try to make things better. But it won't be easy. For Zoe finds the odds are against happy endings in this instance in particular. Some tries result in "just" two to four people being shot. Others result in a LOT more shots being fired. Including shots into the street where a mom has her child in a stroller passing by...unaware of the lurking danger.

What Zoe needs is an ally, and, Daniel may just be her best chance....

My thoughts: This one is PREMISE-driven. One character is definitely explored and that is Zoe herself. One learns what is in the folder she carries, the secrets in the papers she's got with her. And what they reveal about her is interesting in a way. Though I'm not sure they provide a complete picture. Either readers believe Zoe is who she says she is, and she truly has this power. (Which readers don't really have reason to doubt the way the story is presented.) OR readers can choose to doubt Zoe and believe the papers, Zoe being a psychological mess. (I don't think there is enough ambiguity in the text to allow for this interpretation).

There is a lot of ACTION in this one. I found it nearly impossible to put this one down.

If the book has a weakness, it is Zoe's crush on Daniel. I don't think every reader will have trouble believing that a young girl (15) could notice the "cuteness" of a guy regardless of his age. But some will. I think there's a big difference between noticing how cute a guy is, and, seriously believing that a relationship is possible. Zoe doesn't really, truly think Daniel is boyfriend material. But she can't help finding him cute all the same. And for better or worse, readers have to hear Zoe talk about how cute Daniel is again and again. As I said before, this may prove annoying to some readers. But I don't think every reader will react the same way.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Bug Off! Creepy, Crawly Poems. Jane Yolen. Photographs by Jason Stemple. 2012. Boyds Mill Press. 32 pages.

I had low expectations for Bug Off! For one, I do not like insects. I don't like looking at insects, photos of insects. Even in a photograph, some can still make me squirm. And poetry is hit or miss for me, most of the time. So what did I think about Jane Yolen's Bug Off? Well, I liked it. It wasn't perfect. I'm not claiming that all thirteen poems are amazingly, wonderfully worthy. But the fact that each poem is followed by a nonfiction (prose) paragraph with detailed information on each insect, the fact that these paragraphs usually have at least one or two facts that are fascinating, it helps to make up for some of the more mediocre poems. In other words, I can be unimpressed by an insect's particular poem, but fascinated by the nonfiction prose about that insect. And then, of course, there are times where I enjoyed both.

The thirteen poems:

• Oh, Fly
• Praying Mantis on the Prowl
• Butterfly to a Flower
• An Army of Ants
• Honey Bee Mine
• Lovebug Alone
• Daddy Very Long Legs
• Spider to the Poet
• Dragonfly Lights
• Pop! Goes the Tick
• The No-Spot Ladybug in Court
• Grasshopper Green
• Swarm

My favorite poems were "An Army of Ants," "Butterfly to a Flower," and "Grasshopper Green."

Here is one stanza from An Army of Ants

An army of ants, an army of ants,
A-walk on a stalk, everyone in a trance;
Over and under a number of plants.
Too busy for beauty, not even a glance. 

Here is one stanza from Grasshopper Green

Greener than the grass he swings on,
Greener than the stalk he clings on,
Greener than the grass he sings on,
Green, green, green.

Some new-to-me facts...

• Many butterflies can taste food with their feet
• The number of spots a ladybug has depends on the number of spots its parents had
• The lovebug can fly as high as 1,500 feet in the air which is higher than the Empire State Building

Read Bug Off!

• If you're a teacher looking for a book about insects to share with your students
• If you're a teacher looking for creative poetry and nonfiction to share with your students
• If you have an interest in insects
• If you have an interest in nature photographs

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Nancy Cote is an author and illustrator from Somerset, Massachusetts. Since 1992, she has created the characters and stories children have grown to love. Nancy Cote has illustrated forty-six Children’s Picture Books. Her work has been featured in the “ORIGINAL ART” exhibit in NYC, Scholastic Book Club, Highlights Magazine and has earned many awards including the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award, Society of School Librarians International Honor Book, ABA “Pick of the Lists”, Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, Florida Reading Association Children’s Book Award, CBC-IRA Notable Children’s Trade Book, Sidney Taylor Notable Book Award, and Parenting Magazine Best Book.

Nancy says,”Ever since I can remember, I have been either drawing or late for something. I find myself constantly being side tracked by the infinite beauty around me. I’ve always needed to see, feel and breathe in everything in sight, which keeps me moving at a rather slow pace.”

She never thought about writing or illustrating Childrens Books while growing up. It was after she had a family that she discovered this world of immense creative possibility.

She literally read thousands of books to her children and was convinced that she wanted to express herself through this medium. Having majored in Painting in college, it was a natural progression for her to tie the two life experiences together. She says, “As a mom, I had endless inspiration and insight into the world of children. In many ways I’ve never lost the emotional ties to my own childhood and still feel very connected to that spirit.”

Working as a full time author / illustrator just reinforces her conviction that you can achieve any goal that you have, “even though you may get distracted along the way!”

Here is Nancy and discussing her procees:

1. Here I’ve created a sketch of the opening scene from the story. In the composition, I’ve allowed enough space for text to be placed in the left hand side of the page to the right of the tree with the squirrel in it. The swirls will be eventually be eliminated. They serve as my reminder to keep energy alive at the onset of the project.

2. The pencil sketch is transferred onto Arches 140lb hot press paper using a light box. Here I am beginning to block in some underlying color with soft body acrylics. Using red the complementary to green, I roughly block in the space that will be variations in green then begin to highlight the sunlight that is pouring in through the park.

3. The initial green grass is laid in and I try not to concentrate on any particular area for too long moving all around the canvas until there is color on everything. All the while my mind is processing the time of year, the way the light would be entering the scene with many, many changes rapidly taking

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Kathleen Kemly has wanted to illustrate children’s books since she was in third grade. She grew up in Michigan and studied illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. She is the Illustrator of many award winning books. Kathleen works in pastels, oils and pencil and has exhibited her pastel paintings in Seattle. She has worked with children as an artist in residence for middle school students and enjoys visiting schools and talking to children about illustration and creating characters.

Ms. Kemly is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a recipient of the Seattle Arts Council Arts in Education Grant. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two grown sons. She likes to ski, hike in the mountains and be outside as much as possible.

Above and Below are Two illustrations from THE ICE POND – A Work in Progress.

Below is Kathleen’s newest book, MOLLY, BY GOLLY: The Legend of Molly Williams Americas First Female Firefighter. Written by Dianne Ochiltree and published by Boyd’s Mill Press. You will have to wait until the fall of 2012 for it to hit the bookshevles.

KT: This is so much fun. I just realized that Molly, by Golly was written by my friend Dianne Ochiltree. Did you have a chance to interact with Dianne while working on the book?

KK: Not directly, but she provided lots of reference material for me to use. She was also part of the illustration review process, not usual for a writer, because she is an expert on the history of fire fighters equipment and clothing. Her input really helped Molly come to life, along with her great story!

Couple all these great illustrations and a wonderful story by Dianne Ochiltree, to me, this is a must by book. Can’t wait until it is available to buy.

Here is Kathleen sharing her process:

I like to start in Photoshop with sketches. For a book I will do a bunch of character sketches first and then storyboard the book very loosely. When the storyboard is where I want it to be I’ll print it out and make a dummy to make sure there are few compositional redundancies and it has good ‘page turn-ability’. I like to have my art director and editor take a look at this point so they know and approve of the direction of the project.

Next I enlarge each thumbnail, in Photoshop, to the final art size and do the sketch. Drawing in Photoshop enables me to make changes easily, move, resize and warp until the drawing is just where I want it.

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© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Bloom, Suzanne. 2009. A Mighty Fine Time Machine. Boyds Mill Press. March 2009.

Meet Samantha the anteater, Grant the aardvark, and Antoine the armadillo. These three star in Suzanne Bloom's latest picture book A Mighty Fine Time Machine. Can three friends make the impossible happen? Can they turn a seemingly ordinary box into a time machine? They can sure try! But Samantha's determination along with her keen insights make this one a fun read.

In what will probably be a rare occurrence, A Mighty Fine Time Machine had me at hello. Here's how it starts off,

"Boys," said Sam, "you've been bamboozled."
Grant and Antoine did not know what to say. They had just traded twenty Yummy Gummys and a bag of Buggy Bonbons for a time machine.

I love the language. It is so expressive. So intelligent. I'm not sure intelligent is the right word. Is there a word that means clever but that also means really, really fun? The language and style has a rhythm to it. It just makes for a fun read-aloud because the words--the sounds--are so fun to say.

For example,

They plotted and planned. They mixed and matched.
They stood back and admired their work.
It was a mighty fine time machine, and it was ready to launch.

Grant set the dials to another time and place. Sam counted backward. Antoine made blast-off noises. Flippers flapped. Wings whapped. Nothing happened.

"We're still here," said Grant.
"It's still now," said Antoine.
"Maybe we've miscalculated," said Sam.
"Maybe it's not a rockety kind of time machine."
"It's rickety," said Grant.
"It's rackety," said Antoine.
But definitely not rockety, they all agreed.
"Back to work, boys."

I just loved this one cover to cover. The language. The style. The characters. The premise. And the magical ending. Not that I'll ever tell you if this group succeeds on their mission!

Definitely recommended!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

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