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New Children's Books

MEGAN’S YEAR
(Sleeping Bear Press August 2011)

A Tales of the World story of Ireland Megan spends her summers traveling around the Irish countryside with her family.  They move from place to place, hauling their caravan (camper) behind their old car, never staying very long in any one location.  But Megan and her family aren’t on vacation.  This is their way of wife.

But at summer’s end, when there’s no more work to be had, it’s time for the family to move to the city of Dublin.  The caravan is parked and they move into a cramped house.  Megan and her siblings attend the local school as their parents struggle to make ends meet.  And as the seasons pass, Megan counts down the days until she can return to her summer life.  Illustrations by Beth Peck.

Ten-year old Megan Brady enjoys summers the most because that season marks when she joins her four siblings and parents in their caravan as they travel across the Irish countryside in search of work.  Their family belongs to the Irish Travelers, a group of about 25,000 ethnic Irish who have adopted their won language and traditions, including a lifestyle of migration that responds to work opportunities.
           
Megan loves the freedom of traveling, the excitement of defining their own destinies, and the chance to spend time with other Travelers at campsites.  Her strong wanderlust, however, makes winters more difficult to handle.  Winters mean settling down in a cramped house in Dublin, dependent on charitable donations from others and subject to ridicule at school.  Even the encouragement of her teachers to focus on her studies in insufficient to overcome Megan’s strong desire to return to life on the road.

Sweeping broad brush paintings add an intriguing element to this meaningful picture book that introduces readers to a migrant community they may not know much about.  Thoroughly intertwined in the text are a set of economics lessons related to jobs, child schooling, scarcity, and social safety nets.  The book stands out for its unique topic and is highly recommended.

-Yana V. Rodgers,
Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children

THE BOY WHO WANTED TO COOK
(Sleeping Bear Press, September 2011)

La Bonne Vache (The Good Cow) is a little restaurant in the south of France.  It takes its name from and is famous for its boeuf á la mode, a delicious beef stew.   Ten-year-old Pierre longs to follow in the culinary footsteps of his father, Monsieur Valcourt.  Monsieur Valcourt is the chef and owner of La Bonne Vache.  Pierre spends as much times as possible in the restaurant’s kitchen hoping for a chance to demonstrate his cooking skills.  But his parents shoo him away and tell him to spend time outdoors.  He is not allowed to cook.

One day, by chance, Pierre meets a visitor who is on his way to eat at the restaurant.  This is no ordinary visitor but an important food critic.  If he enjoys his experience at La Bonne Vache, it can mean great honor for the restaurant.  At last, Pierre sees his chance to prove himself.   A Tale of the World story of France.  Illustrated by Steve Adams.

“The Boy Who Wanted to Cook” is beautifully illustrated and can be read as an introduction to France and its food (there is even a glossary with a pronunciation guide at the back) or as the opening to a discussion of ethical behavior.  Perfect for any young foodie.
- Beth Fish Reads

SMALL ACTS OF AMAZING COURAGE
(Simon & Schuster April 2011)

Master storyteller Whelan (Homeless Bird) again whisks readers to a dramatic period in world history, this time to post-WWI India, where Gandhi's unconventional methods of protest are causing a stir. Fifteen-year-old Rosy, the daughter of a major serving in the British Indian army, possesses a big heart, curiosity, and a strong sense of justice. Unfortunately, her strict father doesn't share these traits. When she takes enormous risks--saving an Indian infant sold to a villainous beggar and sneaking off with her friend, Lt. Max Nelson, to witness one of Gandhi's speeches--her father becomes enraged. Rosy is sent back to England to live with her austere Aunt Ethyl and Ethyl's bullied younger sister, Aunt Louise ("Aunt Louise clutched me to her as if she were drowning and I was a life preserver"). It doesn't take Rosy long to shake up her aunts' somber household with her bold notions regarding Indian liberation. Whelan's insight into history and her characters' minds make every moment of this saga believable. The open-ended finale will leave fans yearning for a second installment.  
-Stared Review, Publisher's Weekly

While her British Army major father has been away in WWI, 15-year-old Rosalind has enjoyed her southeast Indian town, roaming the bazaar with her Indian friends rather than chatting with other Brits at the local club.  Then her father returns, and she chafes against his strict colonial views.  After she is caught listening to Gandhi at a rally, Rosalind's furious father ships her off to her English aunts where her free-thinking spirit once again shakes up the status quo....Set during a pivotal moment in Indian history, Whelan's vivid, episodic story explores the tension between doing what's right, rather than what's expected and the infinite complexities of colonialism.  
-Booklist

SEE WHAT I SEE
(Harper Collins December 2010).  

Kate Tapert sees the world around her in the paintings she admires.  Yet one place she never sees her life is in the work of the famous and reclusive artist Dalton Quinn -- her father whom she hasn't seen or heard from in ten years.

Kate's own dreams of becoming an artist look like they're on the verge of coming true when she's offered a scholarship to art school in Detroit.  Kate is ready to leave home and immerse herself in art heaven! -- and the only thing she needs is a place to stay.  Her father's house would be the perfect place, but when Kate shows up on his doorstep out of the blue, she has no idea what a life-altering decision that will turn out to be.

 “See What I See is an absolutely riveting and heartrending work of fiction.  I read it in a single session.  It contians numerous surprises and doesn’t shrink from the seriousness of its subject and from the wonderful integrity of its young heroine Kate”  
Joyce Carol Oates

With clear and elegant prose, Whelan portrays a gradually developing and complex relationship built on guilt, curiosity, love and a passion for art.  Kate's eloquent depictions of nature may well inspire readers to look more carefully and thoughtfully at the world around them, be it urban or rural.  Although the plotline and sentence structure are accessible enough for middle-schoolers, the lyrical writing will hold the interest of older readers as well.
Booklist

Beautifully expressing adolescent uncertainties and yearnings, this intimate novel will draw readers who, like Kate, have big hearts and big dreams.
Publishers Weekly

Ella May lives on a plantation but she doesn’t live in the great house. She is a slave. It’s dark in the morning when Ella May heads to the fields to pick cotton. And it’s sunset when she comes home. But her day isn’t done, not yet. Ella May still has important work to do. She’s got to listen. Each night Ella May and her friends, Bobby and Sue, listen outside the windows of their master’s house. Acting as the ears of their families, the children listen in the hopes of gleaning information about their fates and those of their loved ones. Who will be sold? Who will stay? What is happening in the rest of the country? The lives of slaves depended on the whims and inclinations of their owners. They had no control over the circumstances of their daily lives or futures. But they could dream. And when the promise of freedom is spoken a, the children are the first to hear it.

"Children are given a beginning understanding of what was expected from the slaves, with an emphasis on the work and meager living conditions, but the spirit of the community rises above, depicting the tenacity people could exhibit when facing an enslaved life. The characters wear their emotions in the expressions with Mike Benny’s realistic and hauntingly beautiful illustrations, truly showing how a story can be more deeply told when the pictures match perfectly. Gloria Whelan and Mike Benny give a voice to the slave experience, and it’s the wondrous, beautiful and awe-inspiring one of a child in THE LISTENERS."
-Jennifer Donovan
5minutesforbooks.com

2010 USA Book News Honor finalist
 

Eight-year-old Zulviya, her sister and her cousin, her mother and her grandmother, and their mothers and grandmothers before them…they all belong to the loom. For generations the women of Zulviya’s family have earned their living by weaving rugs by hand. The rugs are beautiful and valuable, and the women are proud of their handiwork. But the work is hard. The wool must be scrubbed clean, carded between wire combs, and spun into thread, which must be dyed. Once on the loom, the work is even more laborious. It takes months to weave a rug, each one of which contains hundreds of thousands of knots. Before one workday has passed, Zulviya will tie thousands of knots. As she sits at her work, Zulviya weaves not one but two patterns. She weaves a second pattern in her mind. There she sees the green of the Afghani hills, the bright blue of the nearby lake, and the vivid orange of the setting sun. And Zulviya takes comfort in the landscape in her mind. The sights, sounds, and vibrant spirit of the Turkoman people come alive in this story of one day in the life of a young girl in Afghanistan.

2010 USA Book News Honor finalist

It's the year 1900, the dawn of a new century for Verna and Carlie, whose mother died two years ago. They are headed to their new home-the grounds of an asylum for the mentally ill. Their father, a doctor, has been hired to treat its patients while the girls are under the strict and watchful eye of their aunt Maude. The towering asylum, the murmuring patients with their tormented pasts, the exquisite locked garden at the center of the grounds-Verna perceives forbidden mystery and enchantment everywhere. Even Aunt Maude's temper will not keep her from striking out on her own exciting adventures.

But is Verna ready to confront all the secrets and emotions that have been locked within-even those of her own heart?

"When her father, a well-known psychiatrist, accepts a position at a remote asylum in northern Michigan, Verna is reluctant to leave their home, which holds happy memories of her mother, who died two years earlier in 1898. Once settled into their cozy new house on the asylum grounds, though, Verna and her younger sister welcome their new life, particularly after the arrival of their young maid, Eleanor. Although she is a melancholia patient, Eleanor brings a warmth that contrasts sharply with the girls’ guardian, Aunt Maude, who can be “as menacing as a hornet’s nest.” Tensions rise as Aunt Maude grows furiously jealous of the affection Eleanor shares with the girls, who, in turn, plot to send Maude packing. Descriptions of the sprawling, grand asylum and its mysteriously locked wings may lead readers to suppose that they’ve begun a gothic novel. They’ll quickly realize, though, that the evocative setting is a backdrop to the sensitive, sometimes comedic family story filled with character lessons for Verna and compassionate questions about mental illness and its treatment."
-ALA Booklist

K is for Kabuki
(Sleeping Bear Press, June 2009)

Judo, origami, sushi, Samurai, Manga…with just a few words an immediate landscape is conjured:  the country of Japan.  Readers are invited to travel to faraway Japan and explore its rich history, traditions, and role in today’s world.

"Peter Liebig can't wait for summer. He's tired of classrooms, teachers, and the endless lectures about the horrible Nazis. The war has been over for ten years, and besides, his town of Rolfen, West Germany, has moved on nicely. Despite its bombed-out church, it looks just as calm and pretty as ever. There is money to be made at the beach, and there are whole days to spend with Father at his job. And of course, there's soccer. Plenty for a thirteen-year-old boy to look forward to. But when Peter stumbles across a letter he was never meant to see, he unravels a troubling secret. Soon he questions everything --- the town's peaceful nature, his parents' stories about the war, and his own sense of belonging."
-Harper/Collins


"...the intensity of the issues, the blend of personal conflict and historical facts, and the young teen's present-tense narrative will hold readers as Peter embraces his Judaism, attends synagogue, and confronts the prejudice that continues among classmates and adults."
-Booklist

"When the police break into Silvia's home in Buenos Aires in 1976 and drag her beloved older brother, Eduardo, 17, to prison, Silvia is willing to risk anything to save him, even dating the powerful general's son, Norberto. She dreads the idea that Eduardo will become one of los Desaparecidos (the Disappeared) prisoners who are never seen again. For his part, Eduardo endures torture and worries that Silvia will also be arrested. In terse, alternating present-tense narratives, the siblings talk to one another and reveal their secret thoughts. Most moving are their family memories....readers will be held by the recent history -- many of the victims are still Disappeared -- and the teen voices personalize the political cruelty and courage."
- Booklist

"Gr 7-10 - A story set in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s. Despite its peaceful facade, Argentina is rife with guerrilla warfare and run by malevolent generals. Told in alternating chapters by two teenage siblings, the novel relates how one young person decides to stand up for his political beliefs and ideals .... The deftly handled voices of Silvia and Eduardo follow the well-intentioned, but often grievous, mistakes of youth. Their compelling tale is a chilling account of the manipulative power of corruption."
- School Library Journal

"Part of the Tales of the World fiction series, this picture book draws on seventeenth-century Japanese history, traditional art, and haiku poetry to tell the story of a young child on a 300-mile journey between the cities of Kyoto and Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Yuki hates leaving her home in Kyoto, but when the emperor summons her father, she and her mother must go, too, accompanied by more than 1,000 carriers, Award-winning illustrator, Nascimbene stays true to Yuki's childish perspective as she follows the family's journey along the narrow path over the mountains and along the river and the sea. Accompanying the simple prose narrative, are haiku, one or more on each double-page spread, that express intense feelings in clear, casual words: "Once outside the gate/ how will I find my way back? / Will home disappear?" Children will recognize Yuki's longing, and then her joy when she's able to stop looking back."
- Booklist

"...As Yuki's haiku acknowledge changes in the weather, the topography, and her own moods, Yan Nascimbene's delicate watercolor illustrations give readers visual images of the scenery, the inns and villages on the route, and the long, long, line of carriers walking ahead of her. ...The artist's flat washes and outlined shapes suggest something of Hiroshige's woodcuts. The original art in Yuki won Nascimbe a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators."
- Paper Tigers.org

A PARADE OF SHADOWS tells one story and one lesson. It's 1907 and Julia Hamilton has talked her father into letting her accompany him on a secret mission for England's Foreign Service. They will journey to the Middle East: to Istanbul, Damascus, Palmyra and Alexandretta. Traveling with them is a young man from Oxford who supports the young Turks' efforts to overthrow the Sultan and his Ottoman Empire, a Turkish guide in the pay of the Sultan, a Frenchman who wished to acquire for France more than antiquities and a botanist whose collecting hides the biggest secret of all. There are sandstorms, travel of the Orient Express, Druse and Dervishes, a romance, a betrayal and a poisoning. There is also a lesson. You can trace today's headlines and much of today's violence in the Middle East to that time when greedy nations set out to grab for themselves their own bit of land. Turning the pages of a 1906 Baedeker's travel guide to Palestine and Syria I longed to joint those intrepid travelers. I used A PARADE OF SHADOWS to write my way there and to let others make the trip with me. When I set out I knew it would be an adventure. I didn't know it would be a lesson.

"Delivering a serious indictment of European colonialism, Whelan supplies within her tale the requisite background information to allow readers to sort through the player' competing interests. Most importantly, she carries it off with a whirl of intrigues, betrayals, attempted murder and of course, romance that should render teen readers oblivious to the fact that they're also getting a crash course in Middle Eastern history."
- University of Chicago Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This satisfying read is a romantic adventure in the best tradition by a master of such stories."
- School Library Journal

"Once again, National Book Award winner Whelan (Homeless Bird) whisks us readers to another time and place to experience history in the making.....The heroine gets far more excitement than she has bargained for when she and other members of her tour group -- all of whom have hidden agendas and differing political view-- are placed in a variety of dangerous situations."
- Publishers Weekly

"Though it's an area of the world with much history and culture, Julia's early concerns are over what to pack and where she will wash her hair in the desert. The carefree and romantic trip she had imagined turns into a life-changing experience in a region in turmoil, with snakebites, a murder attempt, spies, revolutionaries, conspiracy and passion. This engaging tale of the Ottoman Empire prior to World War I teaches much history, mostly through dialogue, and has clear historical lessons for today's readers about greed and meddling in cultures without understanding them."
- Kirkus Reviews

Yatandou lives in a Mali village with her family and neighbors. It is dry and dusty; the red sand is everywhere. And though she is only eight years old and would much rather play with her friend, Yantandou must sit with the women from her village and pound millet kernels. To grind enough millet for one day's food, the women must pound the kernels with their pounding sticks for three hours. It is hard work, especially when one is eight years old. As they work the women dream - they dream of a wonderful machine that can grind the millet and free them from their pounding sticks. But the machine will only come when the women have raised enough money to buy it. Yantandou must help raise money, even if it means parting with something she holds dear. Illustrations are by Peter Sylvada whose A SYMPHONY OF WHALES was named a 1999 New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book.

"Yatandou, the eight-year-old narrator of this lyrical first volume in the Tales of the World series, spends long days at work in her village in Mali. As she pounds millet kernels with a stick, she daydreams about going to school, where she might 'learn book secrets like my brother did' and about the day the village women save up enough money to buy a machine to grind the millet....The text is set on a rich brick-colored background that evokes the ever-present sand ('the desert lives with us,' says Yatandou) and that successfully counterpoints the luminosity of Sylvada's impressionistic paintings."
- Publishers Weekly

"Sylvada's breathtaking artwork, paired with Whelan's vivid, poetic prose, intensifies the immediacy and emotion of Yatandou's first-person narrative and her selfless, heartrending sacrifice."
- The Bloomsbury Review

ALA Bloomer List
Junior Library Guild Selection
2007 USA Book News Honor finalist