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The African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" is demonstrated again and again in Anna Hibiscus, an early chapter book by Atinuke. Set in Africa in an unnamed country (that sounds a lot like Nigeria), the book features its eponymous character, a young girl who lives with her extended family "in an old white house with balconies and secret staircases."

Anna can't image a life not surrounded by grandparents, aunties, uncles, and many, many cousins. So when, in the first story, Anna's father announces that only the immediate family will be going on a beach vacation, Anna is incredulous. And rightly so. For without the help of their relatives, the workload is overwhelming, and Anna's twin baby brothers, Double and Trouble, prove a handful. Father returns home to fetch the aunties to help with the work, then the cousins to amuse the twins, then the uncles to keep him company, and finally his parents for their wisdom and their ability to restore order to the squabbling household.    

With all its dozens of family members, the household would seem to be complete. But it's not. Auntie Comfort lives far away in America on the other side of the Atlantic. Anna can't wait until she is strong enough to swim right across the ocean to see her aunt. Luckily, she won't have to make such an arduous journey because the family learns that Auntie Comfort is coming to visit. Preparations begin at once, with everyone doing his or her part. Anna notices that Grandfather is worried that his youngest daughter might have forgotten "the proper African way" of doing things. With the help of an uncle, Anna sends messages to her aunt, reminding her of their customs. When Auntie Comfort arrives, dressed in traditional garb, Anna is reassured.

Anna learns an important lesson in the third story about work, money, and class. Bored with the quiet life in the family's comfortable compound, she yearns for the excitement of the city outside its walls. She's especially enamored of the girls who sell fruit and vegetables from baskets on their heads. Anna longs to be one of them, and begs her grandfather to allow her to do so. When he ignores her, she fills a basket with oranges and marches off. Because her oranges are freshly picked, they sell quickly. At the end of the day, Anna has a handful of coins in her pocket. The other girls do not fare as well, and Anna learns that they and their family will go hungry. She confesses to her grandfather, and the next morning he has Anna work for the girls. All day she walks back and forth to the market to fetch the girls the fruit that they sell. When evening falls, Anna's feet have blisters and she is sore through and through. But she knows "what it is to work hard."

The final story involves Anna's desire to "set her eyes, her feet, her hands, on snow." In her family, only her mother, who was born and raised in Canada, has experienced its frosty delight. Anna goes about the compound trying to recreate snow and failing. It's only when a letter comes from Granny Canada that Anna gets an inkling how to make her dream come true.

Anna Hibiscus is a finalist in the 2010 Cybils awards and deservedly so. Beginning readers are rarely given the opportunity of reading a book set in a world so different from their own. Luckily for them, Atinuke has a storyteller's natural voice. She brings Anna and her family to life through snatches of spot-on dialogue and by showing what it really means to be part of a large, loving family. Sometime

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Actually, I'm not going to try and tell you how to write a series.

I don't approach books that way. I'm wary about rules about how to write anything, basically. I get nervous when writers approach a project by saying, "I'm going to write a series." Or "I'm going to write a chapter book."

I've critiqued many manuscripts which began with the genre first. I would suggest it's not the best way to start a book. That the best way to start is to have an idea and then write. The age of your protagonist, the situation, the conflict ... these are the things that will determine the language you use, the length of your sentences, and the way your characters talk, which ultimately will lead up to the genre your book falls into.

As in, don't try to write a chapter book with a 10-year-old protagonist.

Having said that, of course, I'm immediately aware that there will be exceptions to that idea. With reading levels being what they are, and publishers attempting to fill previously unknown niches to accommodate those levels, new genres seem to be popping up every week.


I have never actually set out to write a series. But I started thinking about the subject when I knew my week here was coming up because the first of what's going to be my 4th series is coming out from Putnam next week.

I wrote the first book as a one-off ... Something. I had no idea it was going to fit into a relatively new "Transitional Reader" genre. The early chapter book genre.

What happened was that I saw a sign in front of a school and I got an idea. The book turned out to be as long as it did because of the simplicity of that idea. It ended up being roughly 2,900 words divided into ten chapters. It had short sentences. It was called KISS AND GO LANE. The little girl was called Megan. She just happened to wear - and depend upon - her pink tutu for courage because it makes her feel like a pink princess.

My editor, Susan Kochan, liked it. She found a terrific illustrator in Stephanie Roth Sisson who made Megan come to life. The character and concept suddenly looked as if they had the potential for longevity. Megan became Posey. I got my first multiple-book contract - ever  - and I've been doing this for quite awhile. It has been a delightful journey.

[A bit of background: my other series came one-book-at-a-time, including the six Owen Foote chapter books and the three Sophie Hartley middle grade novels that I did with Clarion. Ditto the 4 Moose and Hildy books I did with Marshall Cavendish. In retrospect, for a person like me, this was a comfortable way to go about ending up with a series. As someone who left her homework, for her entire educational career, until the very last minute, a multiple-book contract feels like homework. Yes, it's great. Yes, it's wonderful. The next book is due on ... gulp.

So. Series can, and do, happen. But which comes first? And what makes it have life as a series -  is it the concept? the character? or the plot?

Each writer goes about ending up with a series in his or her own way. This week, I'm going to talk to Barrie Summy about how she ended up writing her middle grade mystery series for Delacorte, I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES, I SO DON'T DO SPOOKY, and her most recent - I SO DON'T DO MAKE UP.

I'm also going to talk to Greg Trine about his hilarious MELVIN BEEDERMAN, SUPER HERO series.

All of our experiences have been different.

Sometimes, it's a savvy agent who recognizes what you have. Other times, it's your editor. I'm not sure that any one of the three of us went into our projects planning on being handed a series contract, but I imagi

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Hello, hello!

I've blogged about Ruby Lu, Brave and True here.


And I've blogged about Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything here.


Check the posts out! They are all at Color Online. :o)

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I have blogged about Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything, an early chapter book written by Lenore Look and illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf, at Color Online. :o) Click here to check it out!

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*I've blogged about Ruby Lu, Brave and True, an early chapter book written by Lenore Look and illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf, over at Color Online. Click here to read the post.

I loved Ruby Lu, Brave and True so much that I read it twice in a row. I just bought the sequel Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything, so expect me to blog about it at Color Online next week. :o)


*I've been given a Sunshine Award by Megumi Lemons of Goomie's World. "The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging world." Thank you, Megumi!

Megumi is an illustrator and you should all check out her work here.



*I will be in Singapore from May 5 to May 9 to attend the very first Asian Festival of Children's Content. Expect blog posts from me about the festival. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Let me know if you are going to the festival too. :o)

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Nelson by Tor and Jude Freeman (Walker Books, 2009) contains three connected short stories for children. In "A Long Journey," Flora and Annie travel from the big city of Cape Town, South Africa to a small country town. They are going to spend the school holidays with their ouma and oupa (grandmother and grandfather). Flora feels very grown up because it is their first time to take the long bus ride without their mother and it is Flora's job to take care of her little sister.

In "A Dropped Egg," Flora doesn't feel so grown up anymore. She is scared of Ouma's big red rooster, Nelson. Ouma is baking a cake and asks Flora to get four eggs from the henhouse. But Flora can't do it with Nelson so near the henhouse!

In "A Big Wave," Flora, Annie, Ouma, and Oupa spend the day at the beach. Flora is worried about the big waves washing over Annie, but she sees that Annie isn't afraid of the waves. This and a talk with Ouma gets Flora wondering about whether she can overcome her fear of Nelson.

Nelson is a good book about the many simple pleasures of school holidays: from eating sweets and drinking fizzy drinks while traveling, to swinging on an old tire hanging from a tree and racing hermit crabs against each other. It's also a good book about growing up and overcoming fears. But the leisurely pace and simplicity of the stories and the simplicity of the black and white illustrations made the book underwhelming for me.

Nelson is underwhelming especially when compared with Handa's Surprising Day by Eileen Browne (Walker Books, 2007), which I read right after reading Nelson.


Handa's Surprising Day has three connected short stories for children set in the villages of the Luo tribe in southwest Kenya. Its black and white illustrations are bold and, as befits the title, it's a surprising book.

In "Where's Mondi?," Handa goes searching for her grandma's missing chicken, and finds something unexpected. In "The Fruity Surprise," Handa walks to another village to bring her friend Akeyo a banana, guava, orange, mango, pineapple, avocado-pear, and passion-fruit - but ends up giving Akeyo something else. In "The Big, Bad Goat," a (you guessed it) big, bad goat follows Handa back to her village and tries to butt her, but something always gets in his way.

What I really found pleasantly surprising about Handa's Surprising Day was that it teaches kids numbers, colors, fruits, and animals while telling truly entertaining stories. :o)


[I bought my own copies of

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New Crayons is a meme started by Susan at Color Online. Check out all the multicultural books ("new crayons") I just bought! =D

Handa's Surprising Day, written and illustrated by Eileen Browne (Walker Books UK, 2007), is set in Africa and features a girl in a Kenyan tribe. Watch out for my review of this right here at Into the Wardrobe!


The rest of the books I bought will be reviewed at Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind.

My Dad, the Hero, written by Stella Gurney and illustrated by Katharine McEwen (Walker Books UK, 2008), is set in the UK and features a boy of Bengali descent.


A Heart for Ruby, written by Franzeska G. Ewart and illustrated by Lauren Tobia (Walker Books UK, 2009), is set in the UK and features a girl of Indian descent.


Ruby Lu, Brave and True, written by Lenore Look and illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf (Atheneum, 2006), is set in the US and features a girl of Chinese descent.

I've already started reading this and so far it is so precious and funny. :o)


I boug

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Nikki and Deja: The Newsy News Newsletter by Karen English. Illustrated by Laura Freeman. Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. January 2010. Reviewed from ARC.

The Plot: Nikki and Deja decide to start a neighborhood newsletter. Problem is, what types of things can two third graders report on? Especially when they may not know the whole story?

The Good: Nikki, Deja, and their classmates are typical kids, in dialogue, characterization, classroom antics, and as portrayed in the realistic illustrations throughout the book.

Children will readily identify with the school dynamics and recognize themselves and their classmates in the too zealous lunchroom monitor, the teasing notes despite the teacher's instructions to treat one another with respect, the gray line between not having permission but not being told not to do something.

While Nikki and Deja do learn a lesson about their newsletter (not to jump to conclusions and to really investigate something), everything is not tidely resolved.

A great fit for children who are beginning to read chapter books: illustrations, short chapters, realistic stories, familiar friends and surroundings.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.


© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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Here are three books I highly recommend for your Halloween reading!


"On the first day of Halloween, / my good friend gave to me: / a vulture in a dead tree."

The 13 Days of Halloween, written by Carol Greene and illustrated by Tim Raglin (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2009), is a Halloween twist on the classic Christmas carol "The 12 Days of Christmas." Children will love singing "The 13 Days of Halloween." And they will be tickled by the funny illustrations. The song is about what one friend gives another for the 13 days of Halloween, but the illustrations show a man ghoul courting a lady ghoul. And they show the hilarity that would certainly ensue with such gifts as "eleven bats a-swooping" and "four giggling ghosts"! The ending of this picture book is engaging. It doesn't reveal the thirteenth gift, so kids can have fun guessing what it is and making up their own ending to the song!


I Need My Monster, written by Amanda Noll and illustrated by Howard McWilliam (Flashlight Press, 2009), is simply stunning. It's a truly unique story: a little boy named Ethan absolutely needs the monster under his bed.

"The whole point of having a monster, after all, / was to keep me in bed, imagining all the / scary stuff that could happen if I got out."

His monster, Gabe, is gone for the week to go fishing and substitute monsters try to fill in for him. However, none of them are as scary as Gabe, so Ethan just cannot fall asleep!

The illustrations in I Need My Monster are amazing. They were drawn with pencil on paper, then rendered with digital acrylic paint that jump off the glossy pages quite nicely. Ethan is adorable and has a very expressive face. Plus, the interesting shapes, monsters, and perspectives in the illustrations (as well as the story itself) balance humor with a little bit of scary stuff for children.

Below are a few of the illustrations from the book, as shared by Howard McWilliam on his official website:




The monster under author Amanda Noll's bed is Gertie. The monster under Howard McWilliam's bed is Brompton. There is no monster under my bed, which probably explains why I have trouble falling asleep at night. :o(

What's the name of the monster under your bed?


The last of my Halloween reading was Horrid Henry's Underpants and Horrid Henry and the Scary Sitter, both written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross (and both published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2009). I'd like to share a bit about Horrid Henry and the Scary Sitter because it contains a Halloween story.

Halloween is Henry's favorite holiday because it is a day devoted to gorging on candy and playing pranks on people. But this Halloween, Henry isn't allowed to go trick or treating as punishment for giving his younger brother Perfect Peter a scary haircut: one side of his head gets a big bald patch. LOL. But hey what was Henry supposed to do? He was dressed as a red and black devil and didn't want to be seen with Peter in his pink bunny costume!

How will Henry make sure that he still gets to fill his trick-or-treat bag? Read Horrid Henry and the Scary Sitter to find out!


[My copies of The 13 Days of Halloween, Horrid Henry's Underpants, and Horrid Henry and the Scary Sitter were provided by their publisher. My copy of I Need My Monster was provided by the author.]

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Horse Crazy: The Silver Horse Switch. Book 1, by Alison Lester; illustrated by Roland Harvey, Chronicle Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8118-6554-8 Originally published in Australia as The Shadow Brumby in 2007. -- Book retailer supplied review copy


The first thought that came to mind after I finished this book was "what a jolly little series!" Jolly as in 1 a (1) : full of high spirits : joyous (2) : given to conviviality : jovial b : expressing, suggesting, or inspiring gaiety : cheerful
2 : extremely pleasant or agreeable : splendid
synonyms see merry

Two friends, Bonnie and Samantha, love horses. They know all the horses in Currawong Creek. It is their familiarity with the different personalities and manners of these horses that help them figure out that the horse Sam's father uses for his police work has traded places with another brumby mare that is the same color and size. The girls work with the new horse to train it for the job so Sam's father will not detect the switch.

Roland Harvey's watercolor and ink illustrations take this story to the next level. Countless tiny, humorous details of life in Currawong Creek are depicted and invite the reader to study the pages closely, shades of "Where's Waldo." The characters and horses are expressive and full of life. The illustrations will beautiflly support emerging readers who are just beginning to read with fluency and discovering the pleasures of "chapter books."

Alison Lester has provided a little glossary of Australian terms so 'yanks' will understand expressions like "double-dinking" and "brumby" -- although the context of the story and the pictures make clear what the expressions mean.

A very 'jolly' little series to be sure!

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The Horrid Henry books written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2009) are great bedtime stories. Each book holds four short stories, each story being the perfect length to read to your child before bedtime. That is, of course, unless your child begs for more. Which I can definitely imagine happening. :o)

The stories are about the pranks of Henry, a boy so mischievous and so troublesome that his parents call him "horrid" and even pretend sometimes that he is not theirs. Every morning, Henry wakes up his little brother by pouring water on his head. Henry stinkbombs girls. Henry ruins his classmates' school projects. The list goes on and on. These stories are not laugh-out-loud funny to me, but they are definitely funny, and I bet they are laugh-out-loud funny to children. It's the illustrations that are laugh-out-loud funny to me. I love the illustrations in these early chapter books.

There are many, many Horrid Henry books, but the ones I have read are Horrid Henry, Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy, Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine, and Horrid Henry's Stinkbomb. My favorite out of the four is Horrid Henry Tricks the Tooth Fairy. In it Henry tries his darnedest to lose a tooth and get money from the tooth fairy, sabotages his cousin's wedding, gets rid of a house guest called Moody Margaret, and sends a new teacher screaming out the classroom before lunch break is over. These stories stood out for me because Henry's shenanigans in them are especially clever and entertaining.

There are times Henry's plans are foiled. But many times he gets his way, and as a reader I find those times the most satisfying. You see, I was a good little girl. (Whaaat? Don't look at me that way. I was! I was practically an angel! *flaps her wings*) The Horrid Henry books allow me to be naughty vicariously. I have a feeling other good little boys and girls will feel the same way. Also, you can't help but root for Henry. At first he shocks with his behavior. Then you realize that Henry isn't really that horrid. He's just a normal boy and he becomes endearing.


[My copies of the Horrid Henry books are from the publisher.]

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Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel. A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press. 2008. Personal copy.

The Plot:

How to give a kitty -- especially a bad kitty -- a bath.

The Good:

Since last year my reading was all about YA, I missed gems such as this one. Bad Kitty Gets a Bath is aimed at beginning readers, but doesn't talk down to them.

All too often, because beginning readers/early chapter books are about strengthening reader skills, they are simplistic, both in vocabulary and story. This book is perfect for that reader who is moving beyond basic readers, who wants something more interesting and entertaining, but who doesn't want a long, text-heavy book. Yes, it's all well and good that some kids are reading Chaucer in kindergarten; but the other kids deserve good stories, too. Bad Kitty Gets a Bath is a book that will make a reader of any age laugh. And it's not a book that looks young or babyish; other kids are not going to snicker at the child reading this book.

On to the book itself; as the title says, it's about giving a kitty a bath. Many reluctant readers like non-fiction; this book appeals to that need, with facts about cats and how cats clean themselves and baths, and even includes a glossary. The illustrations are wonderful, adding a layer of meaning and humor to the text. But, the book also works just reading the text; I think it would work very well as an audiobook.

I laughed out loud for most of this book; it's a Favorite Book for this year. How much did I love it? I bought my own copy. That's love, what with the spending the money and needing to find room on the shelves. The second bit probably won't be a real problem; I'm sure the niece and nephew will pounce on it and claim it as theirs and take it home.

The Publisher's website includes a few pages from the book, so you can see the brilliance.

Links:
Publisher's Weekly interview with Nick Bruel.




© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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