INFINITY AND ME by Kate Hosford

Hosford, Kate. Infinity and Me. Illus. Gabi Swiatkowska. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 2012. ISBN 0-7613-6726-0. $16.95.

I like books that show children as intelligent speculators about the nature of existence and our place in it. For children certainly think deep thoughts, especially when, like this narrator, they look up at the stars and feel very small. It’s a significant moment when our egos open to the fact that it’s not all about us after all, and the concept of infinity surely puts us all in our places.

From the moment one opens the first page, this book is special. The little girl telling her story begins with her new red shoes. Too excited about them to sleep, she goes outside to sit on the lawn and is confronted with the “huge and cold” night sky and its seeming ”infinity” of stars. She spends the next few days sounding out friends and family about their conception of infinity. The answers she receives give readers much to think about, and they also give illustrator Swiatkowska full range for her extraordinary artistic range. Her illustrations are a really brilliant variety of techniques and textures, juxtapositions, swirls, and frames. And there’s an affectionate substory about the narrator’s Grandmother complimenting her at the story’s end on her lovely red shoes.

Alida Allison

MUDKIN by Stephen Gammell

Gammell, Stephen. Mudkin. Minneapolis, NM: Carolrhoda Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7613-5790-2. $16.95. Ages 5-8.

What child doesn’t love playing in the mud? Mud even  offers endless possibilities for adventure in the imagination. Mudkin is an almost wordless picturebook about a girl’s adventure one afternoon after a rainstorm. On this fantastic day, the girl meets Mudkin, a creature of earth and fantasy who makes the girl a queen, dressing her in fine mud apparel, and whisks her away to a castle where she meets her mud subjects. It’s a glorious afternoon there, but then the rain returns. The girl must return home, although she will never forget her subjects, nor ever stop being their queen. 

Mudkin is a strong reminder that you can present children with all the toys in the world, but nothing beats the imagination and nature. Gammell’s illustrations are marvelous in depicting what is going on in the girl’s head better than any words could. Mudkin looks like a blob with knobby arms and legs and an onion shaped head. The things Mudkin then creates out of the mud are incredible, including a mud crown and robe for the queen, a wonderful mud carriage, and castle. In the few words and dialogue featured in the book, the girl talks to Mudkin and her subjects. While her speech is in text,  what the mud creatures speak are lines of mud, leaving it up  to the reader to infer what they are saying. Not only is this book a story about a child’s imagination, it requires readers to use their own imagination to interpret the story. It is a clever and beautiful book.

Joyce Myers

Review: NOAH'S BARK by Stephen Krensky

Krensky, Stephen. Noah’s Bark. Illustrated by Rogé. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 2010. ISBN 9-78-0-8225-7645-7. $16.95. Ages 4 and up.

As implied by the title, Noah’s Bark is a playful retelling of the classic biblical Noah’s Ark story. In this adaptation, the world is full of familiar animals children know, such as cows, pigs, snakes and sheep, but the animals are all making the wrong noises! Cows are hissing and sheep are meowing. Not only that, they are loud—so loud, that Noah is having trouble concentrating on building the ark—so he “barks” a command to the animals to quiet down. Once it begins raining and all are on the boat, Noah assigns the proper sounds to each animal, and forevermore, animals make the sounds that we are familiar with today. It is a simple, yet humorous chaos-to-order story.

With vibrant and colorful illustrations, this entertaining and interactive book is one that parents and children can enjoy together. The illustrations depict the animals making incorrect noises. Children will like pointing these out, demonstrating the noises the animals should be making, and matching which animal should be associated with the various “wrong” noises. I had a lot of fun with this book and hope readers do, too.

Joyce Myers