Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure

I have a confession to make - I am probably a small town girl at heart.  Or possibly a medium city girl at the most.  This might surprise those of you who know that I lived in San Diego until I was 21.  Or those of you who know me from my time living in Phoenix - both big cities.  I do love the benefits of living in a big city - the shopping (an actual mall!), the arts (very few bands make Helena a tour stop!)!  But I also really appreciate many of the things this small town showcases.  And I'm comfortable here.  When I was in college, I took a train from Virginia to Massachusetts.  I had to switch trains in New York City.  Granted, I never left the actual station, but even that experience intimidated me.  I've never wanted to go back.  So I feel a lot of admiration for books with characters who treat New York City so casually - who have, indeed, conquered it.  It's one of the things I mentioned in my review of Starry Night.  And that confident independence (something I could never imitate) is what strikes me about Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure.

It begins like any other school day for these tweens.  They emerge from the subway, thinking about the field trip that day.  And then there is Pablo, whose parents are hovering over him, worrying because it is his first day at this school.  He tugs away from them to enter school on his own, saying "Please just go away!"  But in true mom fashion, his mother gets in the last word, announcing loudly and in public that she's packed Pablo's teddy bear into his backpack in case he gets lonely.  I can feel Pablo's cringing embarrassment from all these thousands of miles away.

Pablo is part of the class going on the field trip, and Alicia volunteers to be his partner for the trip.  It starts off poorly, with the other kids teasing them.  Then  the teacher engages the class in a discussion of their favorite subway trains, since they will be traveling on one to the Empire State Building.  When all the other students rattle off their preferred subway lines, Pablo takes a calculated risk and volunteers the X train.  That starts the rest of the class off into giggles again, since everyone else knows there is no X train.  Pablo has attracted the wrong sort of attention.

But their teacher smoothly moves on from Pablo's mistake, giving lots of facts about both the construction of the subway system and the Empire State Building.  As the class makes their way down to the subway platform, Alicia asks Pablo where he's from.  Pablo replies "Nowhere.  My dad has to move a lot for his job."  Alicia asks Pablo "But where is HOME for you?"  He replies angrily "NOWHERE!", and Alicia states the obvious "Then I guess New York is your home now!"  Pablo huffs "Whatever."  You can already see their emotions about the day in this exchange - Pablo is overwhelmed and negative; Alicia upbeat and positive.

As they enter the platform, the teacher is explaining the difference between express and local trains.  The platform fills with commuters - talking, walking, checking their phones.  Alicia takes the opportunity to show Pablo a map, so he can familiarize himself with the subway system.  Just as she drags him over, though, the rest of the class boards a local train (which makes additional stops).  In a moment of panic, Pablo grabs Alicia to rush her to the train.  But they have rushed onto the wrong train.  The teacher gestures wildly at them, hoping that they will get off at the next stop the two trains share.  In the meantime, Pablo and Alicia argue over whose decision got them separated from the rest of the class.

The panicked decision-making from Pablo and Alicia only continues throughout their travels.  They are impulsive and worried, jumping from train to train.  At this point in the story, this mother was worrying about their safety.  But at least Alicia is a city kid, comfortable with the maze of subways.  Pablo has the sheer determination to conquer the new school and the subway.  The thing they need to succeed in reuniting with their class: each other.  Can they work together and maybe even become friends?

As much of the story fascinates me, being as far from my children's life experiences as can be, what amazes me about Lost in NYC are the layered, thoughtful illustrations.  The series that TOON Books began publishing last fall is called TOON Graphics for Visual Readers, and I think Lost in NYC is one of the best examples of this series.  Let's start with the endpapers.

The front set of endpapers shows a cropped section of the NYC Subway map, including parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.  It has the stops marked in bold black font and the trains in different colors.  The subway lines interweave on the map, showing how commuters get where they need to go.  It's a traditional subway map - one that is most likely available at any stop to stash in your pocket.  It is the same map posted on the wall in the subway station where the class loses Alicia and Pablo.  On the back endpapers, the students' trip is shown.  The scale is off - the children are as big as buildings - but this is purposeful.  You can spot Alicia, Pablo, and their class throughout this map as they travel.  It's whimsical and suits the story perfectly.  Pablo, for instance, enters a subway car at one height, then in the next car, he fills the car completely, looking a little scared and out of his depth.  It also shows Alicia, the class and Pablo all converging on the Empire State Building.  I like this slightly different perspective on the map of their journey - it feels a little more emotional.  It gives readers a unique view of how they all got to their destination.

As we all know, there are millions of people in New York City, Sanchez has the challenge of drawing the crowd of people surrounding Pablo and Alicia throughout the book, but to also keep the readers' attention.  Many people are dressed in muted colors, so that Alicia (dressed in pink and green) and Pablo (in blues) stand out.  But the commuters also have lots of individual details that draw the eye - absorbed in their phones as they wait, shuffling along in single-file lines, listening to headphones, reading - there are lots of terrific details when the reader pores over the illustrations.

One of the other very cool things about this book is the way it incorporates photographs and New York City history into the graphic novel format.  When the teacher begins to give information to the class in preparation for their trip, the class is shown on a map of the subways (again, much like the one in the front of the book).  The teacher explains how the subways were constructed at the turn of the century, which included digging trenches for the trains.  As he describes the construction process, the students perch on the edges of newly dug trenches.  This double-paged spread is also filled with historic photographs of the subways being built - another way for students to visualize what happened then.

Finally, this book does not disappoint in back matter either.  TOON always has great information in its back matter, and Lost in NYC is perfect.  There is a fascinating behind-the-scenes section about Sanchez's trip to New York City and how he found all the details included in the book.  There are also pages on the subway system's history and the subway system today.  Finally, there is a brief history of the Empire State Building and of course, a bibliography. It is especially helpful that the books in the bibliography are provided with age ranges to help guide readers.

As always, these books are quality products, elegantly designed, but with an appeal to children.  Even here in our little town of Helena, Frances and Gloria have read and re-read Lost in NYC.  I hope you will too!

Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure.  Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio Garcia Sanchez.  TOON Graphics, 2015.

sent by the publisher for review

GIrl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank - 48 Hour Book Challenge

There's nothing better than a graphic novel to clear your palate after a longer book. This one only took me a half-hour to read, and I thought it would help get me going so that I could finish writing a blog post next.  Then it will be off to the library for a quick stop to return overdue books and pick up some holds before I'm back to reading.

I wish I could remember where I heard about Girl Genius, but I suspect it was a blog posting somewhere, and I think it was about girls reading graphic novels.  Regardless, I didn't remember hearing about this series before, although it has definitely been around for awhile (almost 15 years).  It sounded interesting enough that I bought a copy of my own, since our library didn't have it. 


This first title in the series (which is collected from the previously published comic books) doesn't have much exposition before you dive right in to the action.  And there is a lot of action, forcing me to just sort of keep up with what was going on.  Agatha Clay works in a shop at Transylvania Polygnostic University.  She is on her way there to work when there is an odd electrical anomaly and then she is mugged by a couple of soldiers.  A locket is stolen from her - one that her uncle told her she always needed to keep on.  When she arrives at work, things go from bad to worse when her boss is killed.  This all happens very, very quickly, so you don't get much of a sense of Agatha at all - except that she has spells when she gets upset, and that she loves working for the boss who was killed. 

When she gets home, she falls asleep after not feeling quite herself.  When she wakes up, there is an enormous clank coming in the door, along with one of the robbers who is returning her locket - it killed the other robber after they stole it.

Again, a lot of action going on all at the same time, but I do like steampunk, and I think this is going to be an intriguing series.  I know it's a little late to be catching up with this one, but I also bet in a couple of years Frances and Gloria will read and enjoy it too.  I'll keep reading in this series.

Current Reading Time: 3 1/2 hours
Books Finished: 2

Girl Genius (Book One): Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank. Phil and Kaja Foglio.  Airship Entertainment, 2006.

from my personal collection

Cast Away on the Letter A

In getting ready to review a new season of TOON Books, I realized that I still had a couple from the fall that I hadn't reviewed yet.  And in the case of Cast Away on the Letter A, there will be a new book in the series coming out this spring.  So I wanted to make sure I took the opportunity to introduce you to Philemon now, so you'll know who he is when I talk about him again.

Just the title Cast Away on the Letter A evokes nonsense, mystery and quirkiness.  How, exactly, can you be cast away on the letter A?  What does that even mean?  Well for Philemon, it all begins with a trip to the well.  His father tries to pump water at their spigot, but nothing comes out, so he sends Philemon to the well for water.  When Philemon gets there, he is surprised by a message in a bottle that he hauls up in his bucket of water.  It simply says "Help!"  He can't imagine how it could have gotten in the well, but dismisses it as a prank.  Until more bottles appear immediately in the same well.  Philemon is dying to figure out how the bottles are arriving.  So he shimmies down the rope to get a closer look.  While Philemon's donkey, Anatole, mutters dry comments such as "Curiosity killed the cat, Phil." (p. 15), Philemon slips into the well and is pulled under the water.  As he is gasping for breath, a tide pulls him down deeper and deeper.  One of the next indications that things aren't what they seem happens as a shark swims past bewildered Philemon.

Now Philemon is really in trouble.  He wakes up on a beach as things continue to get weird.  After he wonders what time it is, a clock emerges out of the sand.  Just as rapidly, it explodes.  He believes Anatole has come through the well also - he sees a pair of hind legs - but they turn out to belong to a centaur.  The centaur mentions in passing that they are on an island, which really confuses Philemon.  Philemon runs after the centaur, trips and falls into another hole.  This hole has a little man in it, dressed all in green.

The man introduces himself as Bartholomew, the well digger.  He tells Philemon he's been digging wells for forty years.  Bartholomew was digging a well all that time ago, was sucked into a whirlpool, and never escaped.  He's been digging wells on the island ever since, sending messages in the bottles, hoping he can reverse the effect and get back to his life.  Oh yes, and he explains that they are stranded on the letter A...  Philemon thinks "What's he talking about?  He's off his rocker!  Too many years living alone, no doubt..." (p. 23).  As usual, I don't want to give away too much of the plot in my post.  But this is also such an intriguing book that I don't want to give away too many of the surprises.

TOON Books has translated and reprinted Cast Away on the Letter A from its original French.  Francoise Mouly, who is one of the publishers of TOON Books (but also Art Editor of The New Yorker), recalls "As a teenager growing up in Paris in the late sixties..." (p. 44), she would read the serialized versions of Philemon's adventures.  This story was originally published in 1972, and I was pleasantly surprised at how timeless these adventures feel.  The art has a slightly retro feel to them, but readers can interpret that retro quality as occurring because of Philemon's trip down the well.  That island where he lands feels very much out of time.  As the story unfolds, it is so odd and unbelievable that the reader doesn't expect anything modern anyway.  And the language is plain, so without any dated frills or vocabulary.  It works very well.

Just from the little I've mentioned of the plot, it should feel very fantastic as well.  When Philemon awakes on the beach after his trip through the well, he exclaims "That's impossible! A beach inside a well? But I'm not dreaming.  It's real sand." (p. 18)  He is already having a hard time distinguishing reality from the bizarre world around him.  And who could blame poor Philemon?  He sees a clock grow out of the sand, then explode.  He meets a centaur and a man who has been digging ditches for 40 years.  The influence of fantasy on this story is heavy.  When Philemon begins to hear Bartholomew's story, he says "Then you're the well digger in the legend?'  Philemon goes on to explain "Well, in my village, they tell the story of a well digger who never came back up from the well he was digging forty years ago." (p. 22).  So Bartholomew has become a legend through his disappearance.  And the island is also a place of legend and mythology.  There are also many mysterious elements here, including a bottle tree.  Bartholomew harvests bottles off the tree for the messages in the bottles he sends. 

This title comes from TOON Books' series called "TOON Graphics for Visual Readers".  This is a newer series, which was first issued in Fall 2014.  (I reviewed Theseus and the Minotaur here) and it is designed for a slightly older audience.  I found a Teacher's Guide to Cast Away on the Letter A on the TOON Books website, and it is as thoughtfully produced as everything they do.  The Teacher's Guide ties the book to the Common Core standards, and includes questions that help readers interpret the many layers of the story and the art.  One of the things that I found most thought-provoking about the Teacher's Guide was an explanation about how the story had been originally serialized.  The Guide challenges readers to find the cliff-hangers in the story, where the story would have stopped temporarily until the next issue. 

And, as always, TOON Books does an impeccable job with the back matter.  Inside the back cover is a list of tips for parents, teachers, and librarians.  One of the items noted there is that "Reading TOON Graphics is a pleasure for all.  Beginners and seasoned readers alike will sharpen both their literal and inferential reading skills."  That is so true of this book.  I may have recognized some of the ideas mentioned here, but there is an amazing compendium of elements on pages 44-45 for readers to engage with.  There is a small graphic to help readers tie the element back to a specific place in the story.  There are also page numbers for the citation, and information from other myths and legends that may have influenced the author.  This is incredibly useful for readers and teachers alike.  In her preface to this section, Mouly notes "I knew that in that first slow, careful reading, and every re-reading after that, I would be rewarded with a wealth of hidden treasures."  (p. 44)  Honestly, even with my initial reading (and multiple re-readings to write this post), there are most likely many layers and themes to this story that I've missed.  I'm grateful for the extra help in the back matter.

Philemon's adventure is created of fantasy with a kernel of truth in it.  And I haven't done justice to the book's sense of humor -that will have to be saved for another post.  Philemon is quirky, clumsy, disbelieving, but a lot of fun.  I am looking forward to reviewing another of Philemon's adventures this spring - catch up while you still can!

Cast Away on the Letter A: A Philemon Adventure.  Fred.  TOON Graphics, 2014.

sent by the publisher for review

Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors

This year Gloria started Kindergarten in the same school where Frances is now in second grade.  We were lucky to already have a great relationship with the school librarian (who is a reader of this blog, yay!), so she wasn't surprised to have another reader on her hands.  Now we check out piles of books out of our public library on a regular basis.  But there, the girls check out as many books as they want, so there is very little actual selection on their part.  They take home everything they might be interested in.  But at the school library, Frances can only select two books at a time, and Gloria's class only checks out one book at a time.  I'm always fascinated by what they choose to bring home on those visits.  Frances tends to choose chapter books.  A few weeks ago, she brought home My Friend Flicka because she loves the movie.  I'm not sure she ever opened it, though.  She also checked out Just Grace last week, and actually renewed it this week because she liked it so much.  But two weeks ago, Gloria checked out a book that we both instantly loved.  I wouldn't let her return it until I had blogged about it (although the librarian was nice enough to let Gloria check out another book while I kept this one an extra week!).

I also want to note that this book was also published by Roaring Brook Press, who published the book I featured last week, Viva Frida. These books are both very cool pieces of art, and I hope that the rest of their offerings are just as magical!  I'll be looking out for them.  So back to Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors...

This isn't the first book about Bow-Wow.  Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug came out in 2007, and I only vaguely remember it.  But now, seven years later, here comes Bow-Wow again.  And he's not very happy.  Bow-Wow is rudely interrupted mid-nap by three perfectly white (ghostly) kittens.  They nip him on the tail, startling him.  Bow-Wow leaps straight up, and while he's in the air, the kittens steal his comfy teal bed.  They slip out the window, but Bow-Wow is in hot pursuit.  He races across the street, and enters an abandoned house.  It certainly looks spooky, built out of gray stone, with sharply pointed shrubbery surrounding.  There are many cracked and broken windows, but Bow-Wow knows it is the right place because two little white kitten faces peer out from upper windows.

The chase is on.  It involves secret passages, mysterious doors, and glimpses of white tails.  Also, sometimes he sees just a hint of the teal dog bed to spur him on.  Or so he thinks.  Everywhere he goes, kittens follow him.  They always manage to disappear as he turns corners.  The white kittens romp through rooms, just ahead of Bow-Wow, acting incredibly entertaining and very ghost-kitten-like.  Those white kittens prefer nipping Bow-Wow on the tail, over and over and over again.  Bow-Wow searches and searches for his beloved dog bed, surprising a burglar and scaring him off in the process.  It isn't until Bow-Wow opens the very last door that he comes across the reason those ghostly kittens needed his teal bed.  There is a whole floor full of rainbow-colored cushions, and Bow-Wow's teal dog bed completes it.  It's a surprising moment, but it's not the only one in this story - there is another moment when the determined Bow-Wow goes to take back his cushion.

What's funny about this blog post is that I told you much of the plot of this picture book just now.  But I've told you that without reading a single printed word.  Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors is a perfect introduction to the graphic novel.  The pages are a combination of panels and full-page illustrations.  The action is very easy to follow.  There is a clear path that guides Bow-Wow from panel to panel throughout the house.  The kittens and Bow-Wow have likable, expressive faces so readers can tell exactly what they are thinking.  The book is expressly designed to convey lots of meaning without words.

There is a limited range of colors in the book.  Most pages only have five colors - gray, white for the kittens, a tan for Bow-Wow, and of course teal, used as an accent color and also for the infamous bed.  The usage of standard colors also helps young readers focus on the main action on the page, or in the panel.  The pictures still show movement, for instance, when the dog sees a mannequin wearing a teal dress.  Bow-Wow believes that the dress hides his teal dog bed.  He darts through the dress after two kittens who have popped out of the sleeves to taunt him.  You can almost hear the thud as Bow-Wow inevitably knocks over the mannequin.

The color palette also does something astonishing for me.  The colors are consistent from page to page, which frees your eye to see all of the details Newgarden and Cash have created.  A kitten hides himself between a wall and a piece of peeling wallpaper.  I especially love a series of drawings that starts with a ghostly kitten parading up the stairs with Bow-Wow's teal dog bed.  Bow-Wow follows behind him.  As Bow-Wow starts up the stairs in an upper right hand panel, another kitten jumps to bite him on the tail in a lower left hand panel.  And after all of them race up the staircase, more kittens peek out of each stair tread - beguiling, yet a little spooky too.

There is a definite gothic feel to the abandoned house across the street.  Bow-Wow (and hence the reader) never knows what to expect.  There's a cracked mirror, leaves blowing across the hallway through broken windows, a closet full of teal junk, cats running in mid-air.  It's surprising, yet not.  The quirky details even extend to the endpapers.  When you examine them closely, each of the fleur de lis in the wallpaper is made up of ghostly kittens.  It's all clever, and intriguing, fun and sweet.

This book rewards the careful reader.  Those details don't all show themselves on the first reading, or even the second reading.  It's why this book is a perfect introduction to panels in graphic novels, but an experienced reader will also laugh out loud at some of the fun scenes.  Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors did a great job of surprising and delighting me.  We enjoyed every moment with this book.  Check it out if you're a graphic novel fan, a dog fan, a cat fan, a haunted house fan...or a fan of really cool books.

Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors.  Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash.  Roaring Brook Press, 2014.

borrowed from Helena School District library

Secret of the Stone Frog

We have read so many fascinating, quality books from TOON Books.  It does my heart proud that Gloria particularly is a comic book reader.  I've mentioned before how it will take me awhile to blog about books from TOON.  That is primarily because Gloria steals them from my blog pile to pore over them.  She is a strong reader at 5 1/2, and could read chapter books if she wanted.  But unlike Frances, she's not been interested in tackling chapter books.  While Frances sees chapter books as a sign of being a big kid and a strong reader, Gloria prefers to pull down a large stack of picture books from the bookcase, or catalogs to read.  But she has now finished her first long book, and I am especially pleased that it is a graphic novel.

The Secret of the Stone Frog was sent to me almost two years ago.  It was the very first graphic novel  that TOON had produced.  Let's start with the book design.  It is gorgeous - a rich red with faux binding on the corners and spine.  The frontispiece is slightly inset, and the front cover illustration is done in black and white.  There is a bookplate printed inside the front cover.  The edges of the paper are deckled.  All of this effort together gives an expensive air, but more importantly, it also gives off an old-fashioned feel.  It sets the tone for the book right from the cover.

So then the reader isn't surprised when they meet Leah and Alan, who awaken in beds, under a tree.  Under a tree?  Yes, their beds have appeared under a large tree.  And that isn't the oddest thing that will happen in the course of this book.  In their crisp white pajamas they look around in bewilderment.  As they are trying to decide what to do, a voice intones "If it's a way home you're looking for It's right behind me.  Look no more." (p. 5)  The voice belongs to a stone frog, who gives them more advice: as they travel, they should watch for other stone frogs to ask for help.  And, most importantly, they should stay on the path.

Leah is older, and a little more conscious of the rules.  She is quick to obey the stone frogs, and navigates down the path.  Alan, on the other hand, is young and impetuous enough that his hunger trumps the stone frog's warning.  He convinces Leah that a house they glimpse through the thicket might have food, so off the path they go.  As they approach the house, they stumble into a garden filled with enormouse bees.  Then they meet the beekeeper, a lady dressed in vaguely Victorian attire, but with an absurdly, disproportionately large head.  She seems kind enough, so Alan and Leah follow her into her home.  The beekeeper serves them a fabulous tea, with an assortment of enticing  things to eat.  As Alan and Leah dig in, all thoughts of disobeying the stone frog have disappeared.  And when the beekeeper asks questions of Alan, he obligingly answers.  But as Alan speaks, a bee darts out and begins to carry away his words.  Alan is struck dumb, as Leah fights the bee to get her brother's words back.  When she stuns the bee, it makes the beekeeper furious.

As Leah and Alan race down the path, trying to outrun the beekeeper and her mob of her angry bees, they swear they won't divert from the path again.  There are a whole host of awesomely odd characters waiting for them off,the path, though, and it's where all the fun is.  They discover large rabbits and fish waiting for a train.  The ordinary and extraordinary are all jumbled together in one big adventure.

At the same time as I was reading The Secret of the Stone Frog I was reading a book of critical essays on children's literature called Only Connect.  In an essay by Edward W. Rosenheim, Jr., I found this quote: "Effective imaginative literature is an amalgam of the new and strange - what taxes credulity and complacency - with what is somehow believable, authentic, and immediate." (p. 47)  This quote really struck me as applicable to this graphic novel.  This is why waking up under a tree isn't very surprising to Leah and Alan.  They begin to solve the problem of how to get home, but never stop to ask how they actually got under that tree.  There is that combination of the strange and the believable here.  After all, the children did wake up in their own beds.  Another example of this are the fish waiting for the train in the station.  There is an enormous disparity in the fish, eager to go home.  Again, Victorian style is a commonality, but there are short fish, tall fish, fish in cravats, fish with bow ties.  And I'm sure you could superimpose this picture onto a picture of commuters in any big city, and they would look very similar.  The waiting behavior (eyes straight ahead or slightly raised, arms at sides, near each other but not touching) will be recognizable to children.  The odd-looking fish are the mystery here.

I'm sure you may be drawing parallels to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as I did while reading.  Like Alice, Leah and Alan are forced to negotiate foreign rules and cultural norms while on their quest to return home.  They both get into trouble when they go off the proscribed path.  The weird and familiar are all intermingled in both books, along with a dream-like quality to the adventure.  And both adventures are bookended by sleep.

This adventure eventually has a happy ending, but one of the things that Alan is trying to understand throughout their adventure is that it has been decided that Leah will be moving out of the nursery and into her own room.  It is one of those transitions of childhood, and could serve to make Leah and Alan more disconnected than they are now.  During the story, they are wound closely together physically - one always has their arm around the other, or Alan will hide behind Leah's nightgown.  The transition to a new, grown-up room for Leah reminds me of Wendy in another classic novel, Peter Pan, where the transition out of the nursery is inevitable but mourned by all involved.

The illustrations at time reminded me of Tenniel's illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  The beekeeper, with her indignant expression and overly large head, reminds me of the Queen of Hearts.  Nytra's style is very detailed and specific, with lots of background crosshatching.  All of the crosshatching gives texture to each panel.  It adds to the gloom and opressive feel of each page as the children wind along another unfamiliar path.  The children are dressed in pure white pajamas to help draw the reader's eye towards the children in every panel.  Every character's facial expressions are easily discernable, helping children interpret the mood of the story.

While this is billed as a graphic novel,  that does not mean that the text is novel-length.  There are not very many panels with more than a sentence of text.  Confident younger readers will enjoy this adventure just as much as older children.  Gloria said that this book was "really weird but awesome" and she's right.  The fantasy in this story will appeal to older readers, but younger readers will love it too.  I'm not sure even I have made sense of it, even after repeated readings.  I love that about this book.  Readers will continue to make connections to it long after they've closed its sumptuous covers.

The Secret of the Stone Frog.  David Nytra.  TOON Books, 2012.

"Children's Reading and Adults' Values."  Edward W. Rosenheim, Jr.  Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature.  2nd ed.  Oxford University Press, 1980 (p. 39-54).

The Secret of the Stone Frog was sent by the publisher by request.  Only Connect is from my personal library.

A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse

More than a year ago, I received an email from TOON Books, telling me about their Fall 2012 line.  Among those books was this title from Frank Viva, A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse.  I requested it immediately, because I loved Viva's previous book, Along a Long Road.  And when it came, it went right into my "To Blog" pile, because I was excited about it.  And sadly, there it sat.  Through two Cybils panels, through many,  many other blog posts, it sat in the pile.  And it wasn't because I didn't like it - it just always seemed like I was on deadline for something else or had another book I was really enthusiastic about.  And A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse waited patiently for me.

In the meantime, Frances and Gloria grew and changed.  They both are voracious readers now (just like their mama).  And while I am enthusiastic about this book, it truly belongs to Gloria.  In fact, at least once a week Gloria asks to take it to bed with her.  She also asks regularly when it will get out of my blog pile so she can keep it in her room for good.  So now it's time to talk about A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse so Gloria can finally get it for her very own.

One of the things I love best about Viva's artistic style is how he regularly breaks "out of the box".  The story begins on the endpapers.  As a ship sails through a series of icebergs, there is one sad question "Are we there yet?" With just four words, Viva manages to convey the length of the journey to Antarctica and the tedium of such a lengthy journey by sea.  On the title page comes the answer "Soon, Mouse."  It is in a differently colored speech balloon, to indicate a different speaker.  All you can see is the freighter, sailing placidly along under a midnight sky.

Once they "get there", Mouse and the other speaker (a young boy) peer over the side of the ship.  And all Mouse wants to know is "Can we go home now?"  The anxiety is evident in his face as he asks - whiskers sticking straight out in alarm, worry lines radiating around his wide eyes.  But the answer is "Not yet, Mouse."  The reader can plainly see that the trip does not agree with Mouse, even before he lists all the things that are difficult to do in the waves: "eat...sleep...kiss...draw...and stand!"  Mouse does not want to be there, and he doesn't care who knows it.

As his friend excitedly explores Antarctica, with its enormous sky, its penguins and whales, Mouse's familiar, repeated chorus is "Can we go home NOW?"  There is always the steady, patient reply "Not yet!"  The discoveries continue, until finally the ship sails off into the horizon.  And on the endpapers, one final question from Mouse: "Can we go back there soon?'

This is a fun book, a funny book.  Viva does a terrific job bringing Antarctica to the comprehension level of the youngest readers (it's marked Level One, which is defined as approximately K-Grade 1).  Mouse is the perfect foil  to the other explorer.  Not only does Mouse's repeated question help beginning readers decode the action, but his plaintive request will most likely sound familiar too.  Gloria quite often gets somewhere fun (a movie, a birthday party) and announces "I want to go home.".  Sometimes parents talk up an activity, and it isn't quite what the child has envisioned.  So many children can feel for Mouse and his preference for home.

I mentioned already that Mouse and his friend use a list style to give facts about the Antarctic.  It is a fun way to give a lot of information.  For instance, when Mouse friend notes "It is COLD out there, Mouse."  Mouse suggests that he needs "boots...mittens..a hat...a scarf...and a snowsuit!"  And quickly adds "Can we go home now?"  On many pages, four of the options take up one page.  Each choice in the list is in its own box, with bold, heavy black lines separating the panels.  The last choice is on its own page.  In the list of clothing,  Mouse is shown in each panel adding on more clothing also.  So by the end, in the snowsuit panel, Mouse looks quite silly indeed, peering out of one boot with mittens over his ears.  And those worry lines around his eyes haven't gone away.

Viva keeps the lists feeling fresh.  In a list of different types of penguins, each penguin is seen through a telescope, which gives the effect of an old-fashioned cameo.  A goldenrod line leads from one speech balloon to the next, guiding the reader's eye.  It keeps the sense of fun for new readers, and it is one of the things I appreciate most about TOON Books.  These are very visual stories, and this style suits Viva's graphic sensibility perfectly.

One final thing I loved about this book came at the very end.  In a page about the author, it is noted that this book was based on Viva's own trip to Antarctica on a Russian research vessel.  What an amazing experience!  But the blurb also notes that Viva, much like Mouse, became very seasick.  It forms a great connection between the author and the story, and can lead to some interesting discussion with children.  This could also be paired with simple nonfiction books about Antarctica to enhance their learning about this continent.

I can't wait to read other collaborations between Frank Viva and TOON Books.  This seems to be a natural, dynamic fit.  In the meantime, I started writing this post one afternoon, and then set my notebook down.  As soon as Gloria saw the book with my notebook, she started asking for it again.  I need to hit publish so she can have it back!

A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse.  Frank Viva.  TOON Books, 2012.

sent by the publisher for review

The Big Wet Balloon

I didn't intend to go two months without a blog post.  I'm sure no one ever does.  I started to write this post two months ago, got stuck, and stopped.  Then life got in the way.  So if you are still reading, THANK YOU.  I promise I have a backlog of great books to review, along with some other exciting things!  2014 is going to be my year.

I'm not sure what spurred me to request The Big Wet Balloon from TOON Books.  I suspect that I requested it because Liniers is a famous Argentinian cartoonist, and I was curious to see how his work translated to English.  I also knew that it had to be a terrific book, as TOON Books has amazing and innovative taste.  I was not disappointed.

The book begins with a little girl waking up her baby sister, announcing boisterously that it is SATURDAY!  The day is full of opportunities - they can have a picnic! They can pick flowers!  It doesn't matter what they do because today (or TA-DAY as the younger sister pipes up from her crib) is full of choices and chances for fun.  That is, until they go to the window and see the rain pouring down.  But Matilda (the older sister) knows that a rainy day can still be fun "We just have to dress for it." (p. 9).  Her relentless cheer and enthusiasm gets Clemmie (the younger of the two) onto the porch, but no farther. 

Matilda, always the wise one, informs Clemmie "You have to TRY things, Clemmie.  If you TRY something, you'll see that you LIKE it." (p. 14).  Clemmie still won't budge until Matilda bounds off into the rain without her.  Then she finally works up her courage and takes a risk, venturing out into the rain where the sisters do spend a fun-filled day.  They have made the most of their Saturday.  Even better, Matilda promises "Tomorrow is Sunday...and Sundays are FUN too!" (p. 30).

I know you've all read about my little girls, Frances and Gloria.  They are wonderful sisters, mostly playing together, experiencing things together, learning about the world together.  They are a pair, and while they both give each other the freedom to play by themselves (sometimes Gloria's preference), or with other friends (Frances' preference), they are rarely divided.  Frances and Gloria are 18 months apart, which seems like nothing now.  When they were a toddler and an infant, they seemed very different, and there didn't seem to be much hope of them ever being interested in each other.  But as I write this, they are both in their beds, reading books aloud and sharing them.  Don't worry, while it sounds idyllic, I'm sure a fight will start up soon!

But everything I ever learned about being a sister, I learned from the best.  My own sister, Katie, is 20 months younger than me.  We have (almost) always been close.  I treasure my sister, and our relationship helps me keep Frances and Gloria's highs and lows in perspective.  I know that sometimes they will be incredibly annoyed with each other, possibly for weeks on end, and then suddenly it will dissipate and they will be close again.  My relationship with Katie growing up was almost the opposite of Matilda and Clemmie's.  My sister is far more extroverted and daring than I am.  I have always been content to let her lead the way in everything.  There are family stories about how I never tried to get out of my crib until Katie did it first.  I vividly remember cringing when Katie (who was then 8) rode her bike for the first time.  I grumbled because while I had a new pink Huffy bike at that point (I was 10), I had had no interest in trying something new.  I knew now that she had been successful, I would have to figure it out, and fast.  She has always smoothed the way for me - with friends, with new activities, in our lives.  And she continues to be my best friend and show me the way all these years later.

In this story, it is the older sister, Matilda, who shows the way.  She begins the book, instantly awake and alert.  Matilda sees the potential in a Saturday and guides Clemmie into excitement.  "This is how you wake up on Saturday...HOOORAAYY! HOOOORAAAY! FOR ALL DAY TODAY IS SAAAATURDAAAAY!" (p. 2).  This is all said with her arms thrust above her head, in excitement and delight.  When Clemmie is worried about the rain, Matilda soothes her fears of getting wet "We just have to dress for it." (p. 9).  Matilda fearlessly leads the way, dashing out to dance in the rain.  But sometimes Matilda's impulsive excitement hurts her younger sister.  The title balloon belongs to Clemmie.  Matilda decides to send it to the rainbow, because the rainbow needs something colorful.  It devastates Clemmie.  But like any good big sister, Matilda tries to make it right in the end.

One of the things I like best about this book (which by the way was named the Best Early Reader by Parents Magazine) was how appealing it was to everyone in our house.  I saw it as Liniers' love letter to a moment in his own daughters' lives (and friendship).  I watched the tenderness in how closely he observed their interaction.  This story depicts one of those moments that all parents treasure.  But both Frances and Gloria requested and read this book over and over again.  They loved the humor in the girls' relationship, as well as both relating to the sisters and their feelings.  Frances and Gloria share a room, just like Matilda and Clemmie do, which makes concocting adventures together very easy.

Liniers' illustrative style also makes this book fun to read.  The colors are perfect - sometimes muddy and gray as the rain comes down, bright pure pastels in the girls' room and after the rain subsides.  Matilda and Clemmie have small eyes and button noses, and it is most often their mouths that carry their expressions.  There are grins, grimaces and outstretched tongues.  It is a fun book to look at, as the girls' emotions are readily apparent - and Matilda's enthusiasm is matchless.  Liniers has even created a scrapbook feel to the pages with rain spatters across some of the panels, just as if the book had been outside on the porch with Clemmie.

The final thing I love about this book is that it is simple.  There is nothing fancy about this particular Saturday - there isn't a gadget or a piece of technology to be seen.  It's two little girls engaging with the outdoors and using their imaginations.  While Matilda and Clemmie's parents (we assume) wait safely out of our line of vision, the girls are free to explore their yard and the storm.

One of the things I have always loved best about TOON Books is their assessment of quality and the way they help parents and teachers introduce comics to new readers.  The Big Wet Balloon is a level 2 book, which TOON defines as being between 300-600 words, using short sentences, and a story arc with few characters in a small world.  This is a perfect level 2 book, as with initial  guidance, eventually both Frances and Gloria could read it unassisted.  There are also guidelines to reading comics with kids in the back of the book.  One of my favorite recommendations is "Use your finger to show your place in the text, but keep it at the bottom of the speaking character so it doesn't hide
the very important facial expressions."  I think this shows the difference between using picture books or traditional early readers with your children and these comic books.  Facial expressions help add so much to the text, and TOON is smart to point it out to readers who may not be familiar with this style of reading.  Another recommendation is to talk with your reader about pacing and how the panels can indicate pacing of the story  This isn't something we've talked about before with Frances and Gloria, but we definitely will!

TOON Books also provides lots of literacy resources on their website.  We received a poster about the questions kids should ask while they read (which I will be sharing with Frances' school librarian).  It includes questions about the main idea (what is this story about?) and is this story fiction or nonfiction?  This poster is another example of how hard TOON Books works to promote literacy through comics.

The Big Wet Balloon is a charming story that we can't get enough of.  It celebrates weekends and sisters - two things that are dear to our hearts!  I can't wait to read more of Liniers' work.

The Big Wet Balloon.  Liniers.  TOON Books, 2013.

sent by publisher for review consideration.

Maya Makes a Mess

When TOON Books originally asked me to advertise their Maya Makes a Mess contest in July, I asked for a copy of the book to review along with the contest.  I mentioned in the blog post how much I liked TOON Books, so I selfishly wanted the book for myself.  When we got the book in the mail, the girls wanted to read it right away.  Gloria ended up loving this book and reading it over and over.  In fact, I've had a hard time holding onto it for long enough to get a review written!  It's been a huge hit at our house.

The book opens with Maya and her parents eating dinner at the table.  Her parents are scolding her for eating with her hands (something I am very familiar with!).  The scolding continues: "'Sit down!' 'Sit up!'... 'Use a spoon!'. (p.6)  Frustrated, Maya asks why she has to follow all these rules.  Her father tells her "You need manners! What if you were eating dinner with the QUEEN?!" (p. 7).  And then the doorbell promptly rings.  Of course, it is the Queen's courtier.  Maya is whisked off to court for a dinner party.  She does point out htat she has already eaten, but that doesn't matter.  When the royal dinner is served, it is made up of all the things a child does NOT like to eat - goose livers, snail salad, spinach juice and broccoli broth.  So Maya pulls out her manners to request pasta with ketchup.  She pats herself on the back for good manners, and when she isn't sure which fork is the pasta fork, she digs in to the pasta the way she always has.  There are slurps, long noodles jammed into Maya's mouth, slipping through her teeth.  Suddenly, Maya becomes aware that while she's enjoying herself, everyone in the room is staring at her.

Maya's total lack of manners is at first horrifying to the party guests.  The Queen is shocked and disgusted.  But when she asks Maya why she eats that way, Maya tells the Queeen that it makes food taste better.  This then intrigues the Queen, who decides she (and everyone else at court) should try eating Maya's way.  There is a huge free-for-all, with people eating messily, but enjoying every moment of it.  And lest you parents worry that your children will want to eat like Maya all the time, the Queen declares that this has been so much fun that they will all eat like this again.  But only on holidays. 

In my first blog post on this book, I mentioned that I was a little leery of it.  I, along with most parents, work hard to instill good manners and behavior in my daughters.  I was afraid that this book would indulge bad manners, messy eating and ignoring the polite way to do things.  I was especially afraid when Gloria kept reading it - poring over it again and again in her bed, on the couch, wherever she could find it.  I was sure there was going to be a manners revolution in my house.

But I was so focused on the bad manners that I didn't realize Modan's subtle way of putting those manners into perspective.  Maya's bad manners aren't applauded by the Queen at first.  As I said previously, the Queen stops the entire dinner party in disgust.  But it's the way Maya describes her way of eating that appeals to the Queen.  When the Queen asks, repulsed, "...why, for heaven's sake, do you eat that way?"  Maya tells her "It makes food taste better." and adds "much better!" (p. 25).  It's Maya's total enjoyment that makes the Queen curious.  The double page spread that follows is hilarious and gross at the same time.  People are cramming lettuce in their mouths with their hands, slurping soup out of a ladle, feeding each other and spilling.  But here is the best part - the Queen's dinner party has gone from being a stuffy affair, with too many forks and food no one wants to eat, to a fun party where the guests are relaxed, smiling, and enjoying themselves.  That's what Modan is really emphasizing here.  There is a time and a place for manners and fun.  Maya may have mixed the two up slightly, but she has brought fresh air into the palace.  And the Queen is wise enough to mandatethat this sort of fun should only take place on holidays.  This isn't an everyday free-for-all - it's reserved only for special occasions.

For me, one of the best things about this book are the illustrative details.  Modan gets the life of a young girl just right.  From the very first panel, Maya is a total charming mess.  As she leaves on the plane to the palace, she stands on the cabin stairway, waving cheerfully.  She wears mismatched socks, scrunched around her feet, with no shoes and unkempt hair.  Her parents fruitlessly wave a dress and a toothbrush at Maya while the ambassador mutters "'No time, no time!'" (p. 11).  The Queen is much younger than Queen Elizabeth, but does have corgis that follow her every move.  And the illustration of her at the wild feast, pouring ketchup into her mouth straight from the bottle, is simply perfect.  There is nothing better.  Oh, except for the long, loopy strand of spaghetti that meanders along the bottom of all the pages.  It begins on the back of the title page, with a pot filled with boiled noodles.  And it ends, on the last page, in a final perfectly fitting detail.  Just perfect.

You may also remember from my blog post that I love how TOON Books has created these titles for easy readers.  This book lists its reading level as Grades 1-2, and I would say for the most part that is exactly right.  Many words are repeated throughout so if a child doesn't know it the first time they encounter it, they'll have plenty of opportunities to review it.  The only place I thought an emerging reader might have trouble was with the food labels at the dinner party.  I don't know many first graders who would recognize the words broth, livers or souffle, but that could just be nitpicking on my part.  Otherwise this book is easy for a child to pick up and get great enjoyment from.

The visual literacy aspect is also strong.  There are at the most six panels per page.  Modan is careful to indicate movement from panel to panel, so the new reader can easily decode which panel they should look at next.  And text and illustrations work together harmoniously.  Maya is very expressive, and Modan includes lots of emphasis in the text through bold fonts and italics.  It's easy to see how the text should be read.  All in all, Maya is a fun book to share with young readers.  It might make them not just a voracious reader, but a polite eater too.

Maya Makes a Mess.  Rutu Modan.  TOON Books, 2012.

sent by publisher for review

Maya Makes a Mess

I don't usually talk about graphic novels for children for one simple reason - my public library doesn't carry them!! When I worked at the Glendale Public Library in Arizona, I had librarians on my staff with excellent graphic novel taste (this book was written by one of my staff) and I honestly could not imagine living in a place without graphic novels for children.  Now I want my girls to begin reading some graphic novels, and I can't get my hands on them - it is frustrating!

One of those series is the innovative easy-to-read comic book series produced by the Candlewick Books imprint, TOON Books.  TOON Books is remarkable for being a collaboration between Francoise Mouly (art editor of the New Yorker  among other accomplishments) and Art Spiegelman, who is a celebrated, award-winning comic book creator.  They have taken many famous comic book and graphic novel creators and artists and have them create books designed specifically for emergent readers.  Comic books can help young readers "crack the code" of literacy - the illustrations and text help guide them from left to right, and from the top to the bottom of the page.  Also, even though these are beginning readers, they are great stories as well.  One of my favorites, Little Mouse Gets Ready, was written and drawn by Jeff Smith (who created the uber-popular Bone series).  The books are leveled, so parents and teachers can tell at a glance what would be most appropriate for their reader.

TOON's backlist is very strong, but there are a couple of books that are coming out this fall that I wanted to draw your attention to.  I am interested in seeing A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse, by Frank Viva.  Last year I read his picture book, Along a Long Road.  What is remarkable about that book is that it was created as one enormous piece of art (from the book: "created as a single continuous thirty-five-foot-long piece of art using Adobe Illustrator").  It had a retro yet modern feel to it.  I cannot wait for this new title from him - I think he will only continue to become more innovative.

But I'm really here to tell you all about an opportunity to get a new TOON books Fall 2012 title for yourself.  TOON Books is celebrating the publishing of the book Maya Makes a Mess with a very fun giveaway.  This book is written by another high-quality graphic novelist - Rutu Modan won a Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Novel for her first published work.  She has written about a topic that is very familiar to parents - Maya, who has atrocious table manners, is suddenly invited to dine with the Queen.  Will the Queen find Maya's manners lacking? I don't want to give too much away, as I plan to blog this soon.  But TOON Books is offering copies of this title to the readers who are the messiest eaters.  I hate to tell you this, but bad manners are encouraged here!!  Follow this link to see how to enter (but basically all you have to do is email a picture - what could be easier?).  While you are there, check out some hilarious pictures of TOON staffers making...well, a mess.  It is a fun way to encourage reading.  If you win a copy, you'd better let me know!  By the way, don't wait to enter - this giveaway ends August 15th.

Watch for my review of Maya Makes a Mess coming soon.  I hope that more reviews of great graphic novels and comic books for children will convince the children's librarian at our public library to reconsider.  For now, look for TOON books at your library and enjoy them!

Little Mouse Gets Ready.  Jeff Smith.  TOON Books, 2009.
A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse.  Frank Viva.  TOON Books, 2012.
Maya Makes a Mess.  Rutu Modan.  TOON Books, 2012.

Lost & Found

I haven't written any reviews of young adult books lately.  But that doesn't mean I haven't been reading young adult books.  It just means that with the Cybils and the reading I focused on for awards season, I've written way more picture book and nonfiction reviews.  But I had this really special book I've been longing to share with all of you.

I was first introduced to Shaun Tan, an Australian author and artist, when The Arrival was published here in the United States in 2007.  It is an amazing graphic novel about relationships, immigration and family.  So I was looking forward to reading Lost & Found, an omnibus of three short stories that had been previously published.  This is just as classic in its themes, art and emotions.  What I want to stress to you is that this book resonates for adults just as much as it connects with teens.  Teens may be more comfortable than most adults with the graphic style.  But Tan does not often use the comic book panel style, so adults may be willing to give Tan's work a try.  Then they'll be sucked in by the feelings behind these stories.

I want to describe Tan's artistic style before I start describing the stories.  Because this is a graphic novel and because I don't have a way to present pages from the book for you to look at, you'll need to be able to envision his style.  Tan has a genius way of combining a realistic world with elements that are out of the ordinary.  There are mostly familiar things, so if you scan the illustration, you might not notice anything different.  But then, looking at the details, you see things that don't fit.  On a beach full of sunbathers with umbrellas, everything looks normal and peaceful.  Then you see the large, red...thing hunched over in the middle of the beach-goers.  The thing is industrial, almost like an enormous red pot-bellied stove, but it's not quite that either.  It has legs, a tail, a spiky head.  He takes a familiar scene and gives it an edge, something that makes you just a little uncomfortable.  You can look at that red thing (or many other elements in this book) several times and never quite figure out what it is or how it works.

Tan also uses collage and text to great effect in his work.  Text is present in several ways.  Each story has its own, individual typeface. "The Red Tree"'s typeface is more of a typewriter style, while "The Lost Thing" looks like it was neatly copied into a composition notebook.  And "The Rabbits" is done in a mostly capitals typeface which looks angry and unstable, fitting its theme.  But there is also text everywhere you look.  Many of the backgrounds of the illustrations are made up of ads, newsprint, signs and other forms of text.  And the collages lend a lush, inscrutable look to the illustrations - because Tan has painted over text and sketches and other illustrations, you can almost (but not quite) see what's going on behind the larger illustrations.

The first story is "The Red Tree".  It opens with a girl peering down at a red maple leaf swirling in the water.  She is floating in a paper boat.  You can clearly see that she is unhappy - the paper the boat is constructed from has words like "nothing", "worse", and "darkness" on it.  She looks hopeless.  And as the story takes shape, her isolation becomes overwhelming.  She is shown walking, hunched down, with the shadow from an enormous fish covering her.  She tries to ascend a ladder to a paper house - clearly there is no real way in.  Words surround her.  I've never seen depression expressed like this, and I believe many teens and adults will connect with its raw emotion.  And just when the girl seems to have given up all hope, she returns home at the end of the day.  And there, waiting for her, is that red leaf on her floor, growing into a lush tree.  It's magical, and a powerful expression of hope.  The girl, who has been mostly looking down throughout the story, suddenly looks up at the tree and her  face lights up.

"The Lost Thing" is the story of a boy who sees that large red thing I referenced earlier.  He sees that no one notices it and that no one comes to get this enormous...thing.  All of the adults around him just look right past it, or hurry past it on their way to other things.  Visually, this story is very industrial.  There are factories, steam pipes, gadgets and workers everywhere.  Even the backgrounds of this story are filled with work plans, diagrams and text on hydraulics.  When the boy can't find anyone to care for this thing, he and the Lost Thing go on a journey to find a place where the Lost Thing should go.  In the end, the boy states that he, too, has gotten too busy to notice the Lost Things which are clearly still around.  He has shed the majority of the trappings of childhood, but holds onto this one story to remind him of what he has lost.

Finally, there's the story "The Rabbits".  This is a story written by John Marsden, another Australian author, but illustrated by Tan.  These are the most unsettling, threatening illustrations in the book.  The story begins with rabbits  who come to the unseen narrator's land.   As rabbits do, they multiply, beginning to overtake the land.  The rabbits speak differently, build their own houses, and remake the narrator's land the way the rabbits want it, without regard for the people who were there first.  They fight wars against the narrator's people, they destroy the landscape, and most terrifyingly, the rabbits steal their children.  This story is shocking and heartbreaking.  Tan's illustrations suit the stark text perfectly.  The rabbits are oddly shaped, yet have human characteristics, including canes, top hats and spectacles.  They definitely give off an evil feel, yet you can see prosperity and innovation in the way they create.  The rabbits are in contrast to the landscape, with rich colors and empty spaces.  This is another story where both adults and teens will come away with questions and issues to think through.

All of these stories contain so much to think about and connect with.  I strongly urge you to find this book and take time with it.  It will be well worth your while.  There are no easy answers here, and I know that's why many readers will embrace it.

Lost & Found.  Shaun Tan.  Arthur A. Levine: Scholastic, 2011.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library