Children's Book Review: 'A Smidgen of Sky' by Dianna Dorisi Winget

A Smidgen of Sky
by Dianna Dorisi Winget
Harcourt Children's Books, 2012


Ten-year old Piper DeLuna is not happy about her mother's upcoming wedding. Piper's dad was a pilot whose plane crashed in a storm about four years ago, but his body was never found, so Piper still holds out hope that he may be alive somewhere. Piper's mom is now engaged to Ben Hutchings, a prison guard, who has a daughter Piper's age.

Unfortunately, Ginger is nothing like Piper. Piper wants to be a pilot, like her dad. Ginger wants to be a professional cheerleader. The girls have an antagonistic relationship, until it occurs to Piper that she may be able to prevent her mother from marrying Ginger's father if she is able to get Ben back together with his estranged first wife, Ginger's mom.

While doing research to hunt down Tina Liman, Piper stumbles upon a “people finder” who offers to help Piper find her father. Piper's plan to foil her mother's wedding plans works better than she expected, but she never could have anticipated the dangerous consequences that result from it.

First-time novelist Dianna Dorisi Winget hits the ground running with A Smidgen of Sky. Piper is a likable  believable character and the situation that she finds herself in escalates organically into a complex and thrilling climax. While the characters do face real danger, the descriptions are respectfully circumspect, making this book appropriate for older elementary school and pre-teen readers.
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Dianna Dorisi Winget writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers. She is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest and lives in the mountains of north Idaho with her husband, daughter, and two canine buddies. A Smidgen of Sky is her first novel. www.diannawinget.com
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Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor, blogger, and website developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.

Children's Book Review: 'Mary Wrightly, So Politely' by Shirin Yim Bridges

Mary Wrightly, So Politely
by Shirin Yim Bridges
illustrated by Maria Monescillo
Harcourt Children's Books, 2013


Mary Wrightly speaks in a very soft voice. She always says please and thank you. She apologizes, even when other people are at fault. But when she's looking for the perfect gift for her baby brother, and others snatch her first few choices away, she finally learns to stand up for herself (for her brother's sake).

Maria Monescillo's smudgy pastel-like illustrations of characters with broad faces and delicate features capture Mary's self-effacing manner perfectly. Even the font size is small, throughout this book, except when Mary (and her brother) raise their voices. The images reflect Mary's view of the world, focused on stuffed animals while surrounded by people in a busy department store as her mother chats with a friend.

The first-grade students that I read this story to liked that Mary was polite, but were also glad when she spoke up to claim the toy that she was eyeing for her brother. They laughed at the baby's surprising squeal of joy at the end of the book when he receives his gift (and asked me to read it again and again).

This delightful story beautifully illustrates that it's possible to be both assertive and polite, especially if you're doing it for someone you love.
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Shirin Yim Bridges writes books for children and is the founder of the nonfiction press Goosebottom Books. Her first picture book, Ruby's Wish, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, received the Ezra Jack Keats New Author Award. Shirin lives in Northern California and speaks in a polite, quiet voice. www.goosebottombooks.com

Maria Monescillo has worked as an animator as well as a children's book illustrator. Among her picture books is Myra Wolfe's Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime, which Kirkus Reviews called "downright refreshing." Maria lives in Norway with her family where she, so politely, makes wooden puppets. www.monescillo.es
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Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor, blogger, and website developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.

Children's Book Review: 'Apple Cake: A Recipe for Love' by Julie Paschkis

Apple Cake: A Recipe for Love by Julie Paschkis
Harcourt Children's Books, 2012

"Beautiful, kind, brilliant Ida...always kept her nose in a book." So begins Apple Cake: A Recipe for Love by Julie Paschkis. Alfonso goes to great lengths to capture Ida's attention, offering her flowers, serenading her with a guitar, and finally, resorting to baking her a cake.

The illustrations tell the story with just a few words to fill in the details. Alfonso goes to the ends of the earth to gather apples, eggs, salt, flour, and mixes them together with three wishes: "one bitter, and two sweet." The delicious aroma of the cake baking is what finally captures Ida's attention, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Julie Paschkis' illustrations incorporate folklore motifs to create an elegant storybook effect. The characters are small against the backdrop of the wide world, emphasizing the lengths to which Alfonso is willing to go to win Ida's affection. The book ends with a real recipe for Apple Cake from Paschkis' great-grandmother Lily.

The first graders that I read this story to were enchanted by the adventures of Alfonso and the whimsy of the illustrations. They commented on how Alfonso plucked an egg from a bird's nest, distilled salt from sea water, and baked his cake with the help of a fire-breathing dragon. While children are drawn in by the story's humor, adults will be enthralled by its elegant simplicity and the heart-warming message.
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Julie Paschkis has illustrated many award-winning books. At her home in Seattle, Washington, Julie loves to make things from scratch: paintings, book illustration, fabric designs, and cake. Visit her at juliepaschkis.com.
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Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor, blogger, and website developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.

Children's Book Review: 'The Adventures of Jo Schmo: Dinos Are Forever' by Greg Trine

The Adventures of Jo Schmo: Dinos are Forever by Greg Trine
illustrated by Frank W. Dormer
Harcourt Children's Books, 2012

Dinos are Forever is the first book in the new series The Adventures of Jo Schmo by Greg Trine which will likely appeal to both girls and boys of upper elementary school age.

Jo is a fourth grader whose grandfather (also named Joe) is a retired sheriff and lives in a shack in her family's backyard. When Jo receives a mysterious package from her uncle George, which contains a superhero cape and an instruction manual, she decides to try her hand at fighting crime as well.

With her dog, Raymond, as a sidekick, Jo creates a hideout and invents a Schmomobile then sets off about the business of catching bank robbers and saving the day. Her crime-stopping adventures become more challenging when a mad scientist sets out to bring dinosaurs from the Museum of Natural History to life to do evil in the city.

Trine cleverly plays on cliches and stereotypes throughout the story. Not only are the main character and her grandfather named Jo(e) Schmo, but Jo's best friends at school are Tom, Dick, and Harry. The mad scientist is named Dr. Dastardly and frequently says, "Mwah-ha-ha" both to call his assistant Pete and as an expression of joy (which can be confusing to Pete).

Jo's dog Raymond, for some reason, drools uncontrollably every time his superhero cape is put on, and chases his tail "at such superhero speed" that it drills holes in the backyard, which Jo and her grandfather fill with water and use as jacuzzis. This random and outlandish humor is spot-on for elementary school students, who will be carried along by the story and pulled in by Frank W. Dormer's simple but entertaining black and white comic strip-like illustrations throughout. Parents will also enjoy the allusions to superheros that they remember from their childhood, so this would be a fun read for the whole family.
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Greg Trine lives in his hideout in California, where he has been saving the world since the seventh grade.  When he is not ridding the world of devious and sinister bad guys, he is either trying to invent a new flavor of ice cream—his last one was Rainbow Trout Ripple—or writing funny books.
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Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor and website designer and developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.