"Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice" by Her Interactive, Inc.

Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice is a video game based on the Nancy Drew books.  Although there is a book that shares the title with the video game, the case does not appear to be the same.  Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice is mystery number 18 in the series of games.  Fans of Nancy Drew books will find familiar elements in the game. For example, Nancy can call Ned, who is staying with Joe and Frank Hardy, for a hint.  After Nancy apprehends the thief, Nancy explains that her motivation is not personal gain but to see justice done.  This sense of doing what is right fits with the character of Nancy presented in the books.  The game is played on a PC and is controlled by using the mouse.  There are some issues with the mouse control, especially when trying to turn the point-of-view in a circle.  There are two different levels of play, Junior and Senior.  Junior play provides a task list as well as slightly easier puzzles. 

The player is Nancy Drew invited to Venice to solve a slew of burglaries committed by “The Phantom.”  The player needs to use a variety of methods to solve the puzzles presented, ranging from finding hidden objects to understanding Italian directions.  It is important to pay attention to what Nancy is wearing, as clothing changes are essential for solving some of the puzzles.  There are many instances of dialogue with various characters.  This dialogue is closed-captioned but there is no option to fast forward through the spoken parts.  The dialogue can make game play drag.  Because of the skills needed to solve the mystery, I would recommend this game for players aged 10 and above. 

This game was tested on a PC running Windows Vista; there did not appear to be any glitches or program issues.  Her Interactive indicates The Phantom of Venice will run with Windows XP or Vista.  The game is available as a download or on CD.  Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice was awarded the Parents’ Choice 2008 Gold Award for Best Software, ages 10-18.  

Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice.1. 2008. Her Interactive, Inc. Nov. 20, 2010.

"The Storm in the Barn" by Matt Phelan

The Storm in the Barn is a graphic novel written about the Dust Bowl in Kansas in 1937.  The Clark family is struggling to keep the farm as nothing is growing in the dust.  The children debate who among them has actually seen green things growing.  Jack Clark is having trouble finding his place.  He gets beaten up by the older kids in town, and Jack’s dad does not let Jack help.  Jack seems to feel as if he cannot do anything right or important and, therefore, he was not important.  Things begin to change when he finds a storm in an abandoned barn.  Can Jack defeat the storm and force him out to water the desperately dry land?

The illustrations give the book a dried-out feel.  The background for the frames is a tan and the pictures in the frames are done in shades of gray, white and brown.  A dust cloud invades every picture, which adds to the desperate feeling of the story.  Once Jack goes into the barn, the color tone changes; there are splashes of blue and the gray becomes more blue-gray.  These tones are carried to the world outside the barn once the storm spreads over the land.

In the author’s note, Phelan says he wants a story set during the Dust Bowl but with a fantastical element.  He succeeds in this goal.  The story feels dusty until the relief of the rain comes.  The storm in the barn is a tall, imposing figure.  This figure almost looks like the Grim Reaper; his face is unclear and he is wearing a dark, flowing robe. The storm’s fingers are long and claw-like.  Clearly, this storm is an imposing figure. Jack has to work up his courage to face down the storm.  He does so because he wants to do something helpful and prove his worth.  The Storm in the Barn is a short coming-of-age story set in a desperate time for farm families in Kansas.

The Storm in the Barn won the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction.  It is the first graphic novel to have won this award.   I would recommend this book for readers over 9.  The personification of the storm may be more difficult for younger readers to follow.  

Phelan, Matt. The Storm in the Barn. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009. Print.

"Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon" by Catherine Thimmesh

Demonstrating the necessity of team work, Catherine Thimmesh explains the work that went into the Apollo 11 moon landing.  The background of each page is black, evoking outer space.  Team Moon is illustrated with great photographs, both of the people involved and views from space.  However, the way these photographs are positioned on the page can distract from the narrative.  The captions are not positioned under the pictures but in a box at the bottom of the page.  This layout could confuse young readers. 

Telling the story of 400,000 people is a daunting task, and there are times that the narrative gets away from Thimmesh.   The story is not told sequentially and the jumps forward and backward through time may also confuse the young reader.  Team Moon does give insight to lesser-known elements of the space project that may be taken for granted.  For example, the care and detail gone into making the spacesuits and the nervousness felt because the astronauts were jumping (35).  Another issue that may not be thought of was the fear of “moon bugs” and the steps taken to decontaminate both the astronauts and film.  Team Moon also makes clear the risks involved and the fact that no one knew if the astronauts would make it safely home until they did.  Each step was stepping into the unknown, and the people involved were not sure that everything would work the way they thought it would. 

The importance of teamwork and the magnitude of the Apollo project are clearly felt throughout Team Moon.  The layout may make this book more appropriate as a reference source that a book to be read straight through.  Team Moon is well-documented including many interviews with members of the 400,000 people team.  I would recommend this book for readers aged 10 and up. 

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon won many awards.  Among these are the 2007 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal and the AAAS/Subaru SB& F Prize for Excellence in Science for 2007.  

Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2006. Print.

"The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain" by Peter Sís

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain is autobiographical; it is the story of Peter Sís coming of age in Soviet Czechoslovakia.  It is two stories in one; the personal story of Sís as well as the story of Czechoslovakia as a nation. Sís tells his story along the bottom of the pages, while the story of the nation is told around the illustrations.  Since Sís has loved to draw as long as he can remember, the illustrations tell a good part of the story.  Color plays an important role in The Wall.  As long as the picture portray Soviet rule, the colors are black, white and red.  The only other colors appear in Peter’s drawings.   The spread on pages ten and eleven show an imposing image of thinks that represent the Soviets.  These images, including Stalin, Lenin and the Kremlin, are all in shades of red in an imposing cloud chasing Peter, portrayed as a little boy.  The image is entitled “This was the time of brainwashing.” The personal elements, especially the journal entries, make the broader history seem real to the reader.  Other colors appear later in the book, when discussing the summer of 1968.  Color is clearly tied to the West and concepts of freedom.  

The appearance of the text of The Wall also sends a message.  The text about world events is written in italics except for a few words, such as compulsory and prohibited, which are written in bold and all-caps.  The text telling the story of Peter is in a regular typeface.  The book is cyclical; it begins and ends with almost the same illustration.  The high point is in the middle of the book with a two-page spread done all in color celebrating Western music and culture.  This spread represents the hope of the summer of 1968.  That spread has the most vibrant color in the book; even more vibrant than the fall of the Berlin Wall alluded to at the end of the book.

The Wall is a great introduction to the Cold War.  It provides both a global and a personal perspective on some of the issues involved.  I would recommend The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain for readers in middle school or above.  It has won many awards including the 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, the 2007 Cybil Award, the 2007 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year, the 2008 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for 

Sís, Peter. The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2007. Print.

"Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream" by Tanya Lee Stone

Almost Astronauts is a nonfiction book about 13 women who went through tests in the 1960’s in hopes of becoming astronauts.  The story starts by following the journey of just one woman, Jerrie Cobb.  From there, it moves to the background of the program and then to the other women involved.  It is clear from the text that the women had an uphill climb.  Not only does it look at the issues the women faced while attempting to break into NASA, Almost Astronauts also looks at the pervasive attitudes of women throughout society.  It not only addresses the question of women in space but also the bigger question of what a woman’s role in society should be.  

Almost Astronauts uses period photographs throughout.  The photographs are well-captioned, and their relationships to the text are clear.  The story is told in an easy-to-follow, sequential manner.  The photographs help to make the story more personal by giving the reader images of the women.  The photographs also give a glimpse of the period.  On page 44 there is a picture of Jamie Cobb posing next to a Mercury space capsule; she is dressed in heels and white gloves, which gives a picture of female expectations of the time.  Almost Astronauts also gives updates on what the women did after their failed attempt to join NASA.  The presentation of the women is well-rounded, giving glimpses of their personal and professional lives.  Stone also discusses the heirs of these 13 women; the women who have made it into space.  The book ends up an uplifting note of ultimate success.  

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream has a wide appeal and tells a story that is often missed.  It is well-documented with extensive notes and a bibliography.  I would recommend this book for readers aged 10 and up.  

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream has won several awards, including the 2010 Sibert Medal and the Bank Street Flor Stieglitz Straus Award.

Lee, Tanya. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press,      2009. Print.

"The Secret World of Walter Anderson" by Hester Bass; illustrated by E.B. Lewis

The Secret World of Walter Anderson captures the reader’s interest on the first page.  The book introduces Walter Anderson as “the most famous American artist you’ve never heard of” (2).  The author continues to be matter-of-fact about things that are out of the ordinary.  For example, the author says Anderson “used metal garbage cans as suitcases” (5).  The author focuses on Walter Anderson’s life as an adult, specifically how he created his art. His wife and family are mentioned briefly but the focus is clearly on Anderson’s work.  His family is mentioned in the context of Anderson’s hiding his work from them.  Bass provides an interesting glimpse of how an artist creates his work.

The illustrations are done in muted watercolors.  They give the reader a soft, peaceful feeling.  However, the illustrations do not reflect Walter Anderson’s work, which was more abstract and used bolder colors.  The illustrations also add depth to the story; page 8 shows Anderson traveling with his supplies in a wheelbarrow.  This portrayal adds to his eccentricity as portrayed throughout the book.  The illustrations also give the reader a glimpse of the landscape that played such an important role in Anderson’s life.

Although the publisher says the interest level is kindergarten through second grade, I believe this book would be better for readers from 7-10.  It may not be clear to younger children what Anderson’s job is and the illustrations do not portray is work clearly.  However, the book is well-referenced with an extensive list of sources in the back.    Also included in the back of the book is a photograph of Anderson’s room.  There are also images of Anderson’s work in the informational notes. These connections are a great way to explain to children about the work of the artist.  

The Secret World of Walter Anderson has been deemed a Best Children’s Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education in 2010 as well as a 2010 choice from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center.

Bass, Hester. The Secret World of Walter Anderson. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009. Print.

"Billy Tartle in Say Cheese!" by Michael Townsend

In Billy Tartle in Say Cheese!, Michael Townsend uses manga-style cartoons to tell the story of Billy.  Billy desperately wants his class picture to be exciting this year.  His first idea is an exciting haircut, spikey and pink.  When his mother chooses a sensible, normal haircut, Billy finds another way to add excitement to his class picture.  The barber offers Billy a lollypop to cheer him up.  Billy takes the whole jar to share on picture day.  The class ends up with a rainbow of smiles for the picture. 

Billy Tartle is laid out in a comic-strip format.  The illustrations use bright, vibrant colors.  The characters have eyes like Little Orphan Annie, just whites without pupils.  The illustrations exude energy through the bold colors and use of motion. Billy rarely walks anywhere; he runs.  This energy is also shown in the words.  Most of the text is in black but there are occasional parts in red or green, usually when Billy is excited.

Billy is a relatable character.  His imagination is featured at several points in the book.  He imagines being a superhero with his new haircut.  One the way to get his haircut he talks to everything in sight, such as the fire hydrant and the parking meter (8).  The personification of objects is another trait to which the reader may be able to relate.  

Billy Tartle in Say Cheese! presents a realistic story despite the format.  Billy seems like a real child, and the adults around him react in typical ways.  His mother is annoyed when he pretends to be a T-rex while waiting for his haircut (9).  Billy’s teacher wants the boys to stop playing around while they wait for their picture to be taken (25).  Billy Tartle in Say Cheese! would be a great book for readers from 4-8, either as a read aloud or read on their own.  It may appeal especially to boys.  

Billy Tartle in Say Cheese!  won the 2008 Gryphon Award as well as was named a 2007 Blue Ribbon book by The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.  

Townsend, Michael. Billy Tartle in Say Cheese!. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.

"My People" by Langston Hughes; photography by Charles R. Smith, Jr.

Charles R. Smith, Jr. used his photography skills to illustrate a short poem written by Langston Hughes.  The book is done in shades of brown and black, which makes it feel comfortable.  The background of each page is black, with tan writing.  This background makes the faces in the photographs stand out.  The focus is clearly on the people, especially the faces since the people are wearing black, which blends into the background.  The photographs are done in sepia-tone, which adds a nostalgic tone to the book.  The people in the book are both male and female and young and old.  This variety of people appear to be cheerful and having fun.  The pictures in the book make the reader smile in response.  

The text in the book consists of a 33-word poem written in the 1920’s by Langston Hughes.  The celebration of African Americans was unique in its time and the photographs add a human face to the poem.  Charles R. Smith, Jr. has written a note at the end of the book explaining his reasons for illustrating this poem and for his choice of models.  His purpose is “to show that like any other group of people, black people come in all shapes, sizes, shades, and ages, and that each of us is unique” (29).  The variety of people featured ensures that Smith has met his goal.  

This book would be an excellent read-aloud or independent reader.  Beginning readers could enjoy it on their own since it has a limited vocabulary (only 33 word).  It would also be a great choice for an introduction to Langston Hughes work or an example of adding images to expand the meaning of a poem.  My People is a good choice for any age.  

My People has won the 2010 Coretta Scott King Book Award for illustrations.  It was also named a best book by many organizations including, the Bank Street College of Education, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, and the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) a part of the American Library Association.  

Hughes, Langston, and Charles R. Smith, Jr. My People. New York: Simon & Schuster Children, 2009. Print.

"Watch Me Throw the Ball" by Mo Willems

This book is part of an easy reader series (Elephant and Piggie Books) brought to you by the author of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  There are few words on each page and the text is found in speech bubbles.  These speech bubbles are color-coded (pink for Piggie and grey for Elephant) so an early-reader can easily follow who is talking.  The dialogue is accompanied by simple illustrations surrounded by a significant amount of white space.  The only objects that appear are the elephant, the pig and the ball; the focus is on the words and the characters’ emotions. The drawings are expressive; a reader can easily tell what the character is feeling though the face and movements.  The reader can easily see Elephant’s pride when he asserts that he is good at throwing; he stands up tall with his chin up and satisfied smile on his face (10).  Movement plays a significant role in the story and is evident through the illustrations.  For example, when Elephant yells on page 46, Piggie is blown over onto one hand. The illustrations feature thick, bold outlines and simple colors, reminiscent of a coloring book or similar children’s art.   

The dialogue between Piggie and Elephant is engaging and funny.  The vocabulary is simple although not easily decoded.  The illustrations add to the emotion of the story but do not contain many decoding clues.  The dialogue lends itself to reading with emotion, especially since the situation is one to which a child could relate.  Piggie is told that he cannot throw the ball because he does not know how.  The child could also relate to Elephant’s impatience with Piggie’s bragging, shown clearly in the illustrations; Elephant glares off to the side and then directly at the reader (44-45).  In the end, Piggie stresses the importance of having fun rather than being perfect.  By the end, Elephant also comes to appreciate this way of thinking.   Watch Me Throw the Ball! would be an amusing read-aloud or independent reader for children ages 4-7. 

 Watch Me Throw the Ball! has won two honors: the 2009 Cybil Award for Easy Reader and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice for 2010. 

Willems, Mo. Watch Me Throw the Ball!. New York: Hyperion, 2009. Print.

Introduction

This blog is designed to highlight award-winning children's books, new media and blogs. 

Awards are one way the canon of children’s literature is established. When one thinks of awards for children’s literature, the Caldecott and the Newberry are often the two that come to mind. However, there are many other awards both regional and for specific genres of books.  Awards for online resources and new media are less codified. I am considering a recommendation as equivalent to a more formal award in the case of children’s literature.  Enjoy!