Horns & Wrinkles

Learn more about Joseph Helgerson at his website

Mal and Chad by Stephen McCranie

Learn more about Chad McCranie at his website

BIG PLANS

Learn more about Bob Shea at his website

OR about Lane Smith at his website

Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies! Oh My!

Find out more about Andrea Beatty at her website

OR about Dan Santat at his website

The Book That Eats People

A Monster Calls: Patrick Ness

You can find out more about Patrick Ness at his WEBSITE,

where you can also find news about how this book is being turned into a movie.

(I actually just watched the trailer and now I'm excited about seeing the movie this October.)

You can find out more about the illustrator, Jim Kay at his WEBSITE.

He also illustrated the new Harry Potter book.

Wooden Mile - Chris Mould

Find out more about Chris Mould at his WEBSITE or BLOG.

Kalevala: Tales of Magic and Adventure

"Better for me in the ocean,

dwelling deep beneath the waters;

be a sister to the whitefish,

sibling to the deep-sea creatures,

than be comfort to a dotard,

or to nurse a trembling codger."

- Rune 4: lines 247-252

Down Unders: Uprooted

Book Details:

• Written by Lynne Reid Banks
• Cover Illustration - I couldn't find this information, though I looked all over the place, which made me sad because I absolutely adore this cover. It's so perfect for the story.
• Published by HarperCollins Children's Books (first published in 2015 in Great Britain)
• This is geared toward a solid middle grade audience. Lindy is 10 and her cousin is a little older.

Summary:

• Ten year old Lindy along with her mother and cousin Cameron flee England as war begins to encroach on their home. Settling in Saskatoon, Canada with a kind couple who welcomes them in, the three struggle to adapt to their new situation in a new country. Lindy has to find ways to deal with her feelings of loss and displacement and the uncertainty of what is happening to the family she left behind on top of the every day trials of growing up, going to school, and making and losing friends.

Important Things To Know:

•  This book does deal with issues of war and some domestic issues, but everything is handled in an age appropriate way.
• Although this is a fictional story, it is based on Banks' own life story, which is really cool and makes this story even more interesting, in my opinion!
• This is a standalone novel, but Lynne Reid Banks has written many books, including the classic The Indian in the Cupboard. You can check out more of her books and more about the author on her website.
• I got an Advance Reader Copy of this book at Book Expo America this year

Why I Enjoyed This Book:

• I really liked the way that the different levels of the story came together. Even though there were really big, intense troubles going on from the war to the troubles they had with their sponsor family, there were also the more intimate problems a ten year old would face like settling into a new school with a "funny" accent, losing friends, and worries over her parents being apart for so long.
• I loved Lindy's voice and the way the book is told sort of as a flashback (without being too cheesy or belaboring that aspect). It makes even more sense knowing this was based on Banks' own childhood memories.
• I liked the way Lindy interacted with her cousin Cameron. They felt very real in the way they got along, fought, and found each other confusing at times.

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Chapters
• An Indie Bookstore Near You

Art! by Patrick McDonnell

Click here to find out more about Patrick McDonnell

Wombly and I loved this book for a couple of reasons:

• It introduces Down Unders to the concept of art
• Patrick McDonnell ALWAYS has a feel good message to his books. Always nice to have a little bit of that in life!
• Wombly was reminded of Harold and the Purple Crayon, the way Art was running around with a paintbrush.
• Annnnd... Wombly found the book inspiring!

Happy Reading!

~ NaomiRuth, Wombly the Wombat

Down Unders: The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party

Normally NaomiRuth does the Down Under posts, but I had to review Shannon and Dean Hale's The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party, which is a great chapter book, so she gave me permission to post my own Down Under review here.

Book Details:

• Written by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale
• Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
• Published by Candlewick Press
• This book is listed by the publisher for ages 5-8, but younger kids will enjoy it being read to them and older kids will enjoy the rollicking adventures, too.

Summary:

• It's Princess Magnolia's birthday and princesses from all over are coming to help her celebrate. But just when she's ready to open her presents the alarm sounds and she has to sneak away to become the Princess in Black to save her kingdom from monsters. Can Princess Magnolia keep her identity a secret, scare away the monsters, and still manage to enjoy her party?

Important Things to Know:

• This is the second book in the Princess in Black series and it just came out a couple of weeks ago!
• The first book, The Princess in Black came out in October of 2014 and is now also available in paperback.
• The third book, The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde comes out in February of 2016, which is really not that far away, when you think about it.
• You can check out the Princess in Black website for more information including a Q&A with the authors an activity kit and even book club questions!
• You can find Shannon Hale on her website or tweeting wonderful things on her Twitter.
• You can find Dean Hale on his Twitter as well.
• You can find LeUyen Pham (and how to pronounce her name) on her website.

Why I Enjoyed This Book:

• Anyone who's followed this blog knows that I am a very big Shannon Hale fan. And I loved the story behind her reasons for writing this series.
• I love that Princess Magnolia is both a pink-loving, fancy-dress-and-glass-slipper-wearing princess and a masked avenger who can kick monsters all the way back to their own home and out of her kingdom. I like that it doesn't have to be an either/or. She doesn't have to be all rough and tough or all glitter and fluff. She can be both. I think that is such a great message. So often when girls in books are fighters, they lose their femininity and I appreciate that Magnolia can be both tough and dainty.
• The pure silliness of the story will have kids of all ages giggling over the lengths Magnolia has to go to hide her secret identity.
• I love that the princesses who come to Magnolia's party represent such a diverse group, not only ethnically, but also in other physical features as well.
• I love Princess Sneezewort and I really hope she features more fully in future books.

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Chapters
• Or an Indie Bookstore near you!

I received this advance reader copy via BookExpo America

Dragonbreath, Ursula Vernon

   

Book Details:

• Written by Ursula Vernon
• Illustrated by Ursula Vernon
• Published by Dial Books (an imprint of Penguin)

Important Things to Know:

• Over on my other blog I'm going to try and write Media Monday posts about media things (books, games, movies, etc.) that I really love and enjoy. I've noticed that discontent and dislike tend to be "louder" than contentedness and likeableness (cause those are totally words). Therefore! For the next couple of Thursdays Down Under I will try and focus on the young readers books that I have read and loved and appreciate. Dragonbreath seemed like a good place to start.
• Dragonbreath is a series of books (there are about 9 of them I believe) and I want to own them all.

Why Wombly and I Enjoyed This Series:

• One of the main reasons why I wanted to read these books in the first place: the artwork. I love, love, love Ursula Vernon's artwork. It's fun to look at. It had a sort of bubbly feeling that I really enjoy. Wombly likes the tone of having it two-toned in green, blue, and black. He thinks it gives it a unique flavor.
• It is one of the few books that drifts from the main character's pov (Danny) to side character's pov (Wendell) without driving me crazy. I'm not sure why. Most of the time when author's head-hop from one character's thoughts to another it makes me want to hit things. Vernon does it in such a way that feels organic, it's fluid, and it feels necessary. When I'm hearing how Wendell feels it's because it adds something to the story and because Danny's thoughts are not currently necessary.
     
• I always feel like I learn a tiny little something new about animals, whether it be bats or iguanas or what have you.
• They are fun to read. There is adventure. There is mystery. There is humor.

• Vernon takes the stereo-typical class goof-ball and nerdy side-kick and somehow doesn't get stuck in that stereotype. Danny is fairly predictable, but he is growing up as the series progresses and dealing with how he fits in his family dynamic and what it's like for him to grow up into a more mature dragon. And where this kind of dynamic as a friendship can sometimes be unhealthy, I really feel like Wendell and Danny compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Wombly and I Read This Book Because:

• I saw these books when working at Borders and soon as Wombly came along I knew we had to try these books out together. I was not disappointed!

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble

• Books-a-Million

• Or an Indie Bookstore near you!

Wombly and I Go to BEA

So, ages ago back in May Wombly and I went to Book Expo of America to volunteer. Then I got caught up in work and things that I never posted about it. *le gasp!* I am now rectifying that and posting up some pictures of our time there.

At the conference center.

We stopped to get coffee at this wonderful shop.

We went to Candlewick and they told Wombly and I about this book they are very excited about. It's called The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon. Wombly and I are excited about it too!

We then stopped by Abrams to see what books we
could find.

Lastly we stopped by Chronicle Books.

 There you have it! New books, exciting times. Yay!

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms

I just realized I took a picture of the sequel and not the first one,
which is the book I actually read *facepalm*

Book Details: 

• Written by Lissa Evans (I couldn't find an author website but if you check out the link HERE you can find out about the book and watch an interview with the author.)

• Illustrated by (I think Lissa Evans? I don't have the book in front of me and I can't quite figure it out, so that's my only guess)
• Published by Sterling Publishers (originally published in Great Britain)

Important Things to Know:

• This book not only has a great cover - I really love black and white artwork of this style - but the story is wonderful as well.

• Really, I just couldn't think of anything to put under this category.

• I just thought there should be some bullet points here.

Why Wombly and I Enjoyed This Book:

• Stuart is adorable. He's short for his age, he moves to a new town, and he is annoyed at life. But then, starting with a mysterious phone booth, he starts on an adventure.

• Stuart's dad writes the clues for crossword puzzles and so uses all sorts of bizarre and arcane and old words that nobody really uses in day to day life. This is not only a great way to expose down unders [and up overs(?)] to a larger vocabulary, but it's a great way to add character to what could otherwise be a flat character. It's nice to see there being a reason and a depth to a parent's actions. Anyway.
• There was a blind lady. Okay, that sounds weird. However. My reason for saying this: Wombly and I have noticed a lack of people with disabilities in children's literature. I think it's an important part of life and an important perspective that is oftentimes overlooked in children's literature. I was excited that, without making a big to do over it, this author had a blind lady and had a very honest and respectful way of handling Stuart's reaction to her. It made Wombly and I very proud.
• April. What she does to buy Stuart extra time is fantastic. (I won't tell you more so you can go read the book and find out what I'm talking about.)

• Magicians. Magicians are always exciting.

• The characters were quirky, the adventure was exciting. You were never quite sure what was going to happen next. And there was a sense of magic intertwined in the mundane in a believable way.

Wombly and I Read This Book Because:

• A customer left it lying about and so it was at customer service as a re-shelve (I'm working at Barnes & Noble now). I brought it home to read with Wombly because I liked the cover art of the book. Wombly and I are very glad I did!

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble

• Books-a-Million

• Or an Indie Bookstore near you!

Kat, Incorrigible

Book Details:

• Written by Stephanie Burgis (author website HERE blog HERE)
• Illustrated by Annette Marnat (blog HERE, which is in French, btw, and has great images of her work)
• Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers (link HERE) which is an imprint of Simon & Schuster (link HERE)

Important Things to Know:

• This book is geared toward female down unders, however, I think young boys will enjoy the sense of adventure and the magic.

Why Wombly and I Enjoyed This Book:

• It was a middle grade book in the same time period and style as Jane Austen books (plus magic). I've never read a book of that time period and style as a middle grade book. It was quite fun.
• It was written in an engaging voice.
• It was intriguing. I didn't want to stop! I wanted to know what happened and got completely wrapped up in the story.

Wombly and I Read This Book Because:

• Mostly because of the title. Incorrigible is just such a fun word.

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Or an Indie Bookstore near you!

Review: Timmy Failure, Mistakes Were Made

Book Details:

• Written & Illustrated by Stephan Pastis (author blog may not be suitable for Down Unders)
• Published by Candlewick Press
• Book Website: Here

Why Wombly and I Enjoyed This Book:

• This book had a Calvin & Hobbes-ish feel to it. If Calvin was a Private Eye and Hobbes was a giant Polar Bear. I love that kind of feel to a book, as I love Calvin and Hobbes.
• I love the illustrations.
• One of the reasons why Wombly and I loved this book was that the whole time you, the reader, felt like you knew more than the main character, Timmy Failure. Because, despite protestations to the contrary, Timmy Failure is not that smart of a guy. This lends the reader the ability to be in a position of superiority. And who doesn't love to feel superior to other people? And now that Wombly is glaring at me we shall move on!

• I laughed. Wombly chuckled. It's good to be able to laugh/chuckle.

Wombly and I Read This Book Because:

• I picked it up at a store. I was drawn to it because of the cover. I like more simplistic line drawings. Then I opened it up and immediately starting snortling (a snort/chortle). I knew immediately that I'd have to find it later and share it with Wombly. I am definitely looking forward to reading more.
• It's written in the same style as Diary of a WImpy Kid and Dork Diaries and I love that kind of format for a book.

• The author is the same guy who wrote Pearls Before Swine (which is NOT a kids book), which is a Day-by-Day calendar I read and liked, so I was excited to read a Middle Grade book by the same author.
• Also: I watched the video preview for this book and it made me want to read the book even more.

You Can Find This Book At:

• Barnes & Noble

• Books-a-Million

• Or an Indie Bookstore near you!
  
  

Press Here

Book Details:

• Written and Illustrated by Herve Tullet (who is French, so if you can read French you can experience his website in French.)
• Published by Chronicle Books
• It has been translated into other languages, like Russian.

Wombly and I Loved this Book Because:

• I could sit and read it again and again and still be amused each time
• It's a great book for helping a child's imagination, I think
• I love the colors of it
• Wombly enjoyed that he could interact with the book
• I love that I could sit in the library and giggle to myself over a board book. There's some kind of magic in a book that allows you to do that. Or, as the Chronicle Books page for this book will tell you: "It's not magic. It's the power of your imagination."

I Read This Book Because:

• It was published by Chronicle Books and I trust their stuff. (For example: The Hieroglyph Detective, and The Templeton Twins)

You Can Find The Book Here:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Or find an indie store near you!

Herbert's Wormhole

Wombly and I read this on the Nook we got for Christmas :)

Book Details:

• Written by Peter Nelson
• Illustrated by Rohitash Rao                           (for Down Unders: be aware that this illustrator doesn't just do drawings for Down Unders, so you may want to stick to the book website, link found below, for more info on the illustrator.)
• Published by Harper Collins
• (who was the publishing company that published A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Important things to know:

• Alex is obsessed with video games. The kind where he gets to slay aliens.
• His mom and dad set up a play date with him and the nerdy next door neighbor Herbert.
• A time/space portal opens in Alex's backyard
• Wacky time adventures ensue.

Wombly and I liked this book because:

• It was a lot of fun
• The sense of place was very clear - Wombly and I felt like we had lived in the world while we were reading the book
• The characters were fantastic
• The main character Alex is kind of a jerk ~ but he's a fun character because there's a lot of room for growth in imperfect characters
• Wombly loved how Herbert is so incredibly over-the-top nerdy
• I love Sammi ~ I love strong female characters
• I loved the scene where Alex loses his memories of video games.
• Wombly loved how Nelson played with the time traveling into the future thing - - I don't want to give away details, but Wombly and I enjoyed the old man they meet in the future.

I read this because:

• I read the Time Warp Trio.

(Random Fact: the first three books in the Time Warp series was re-published by HarperCollins in 2006/2007; the same publisher that published Herbert's Wormhole)

Check out the book's website!

Well Witched - Frances Hardinge

Hey, Down Unders. It's been a tough time over here with Wombly. Over Thanksgiving my car caught on fire and during the kerfuffle of panic and moving things from car to car and everything a horrible accident occurred. Wombly had something happen to his eye. The doctor's are still looking into possibilities of surgery, and it's been a little bit rough. But, he's been feeling a bit better so he thought it would be nice to try and get back into the swing of things over here.

So. Moving on to happier things...

~ ~ ~

Well Witched by Frances Hardinge

            • Jacket Illustration: Greg Swearingen

He also did the artwork for Garden of Eve by KL Going. I loved the jacket cover of that book. Ohmygoodness. I want to go find the other books he's jacket illustrated now. They're so prettttty. Ahem. Moving on.

            • Publisher: HarperCollins 

It was originally published as Verdigris Deep by panmacmillan. I'm assuming the change in name happened when the book came over to America. This may be my cynical side coming out, but I can imagine someone saying, "Hey, American children aren't going to know what verdigris means, so let's use something like 'well' and 'witch' because most kids know what those words mean." Unfortunately, I know that for some Down Unders it may be true. BUT anyway. Onto the story:

The story is about three kids Ryan, Josh, and Chelle who steal coins from a well. What they don't realize: they stole the wishes as well. Weird things start happening. Electricity spazzes out around Josh. The voices of the wishers comes out of Chelle's mouth whenever she's around them. And Ryan? Ryan has creepy little eye warts pop out of his knuckles. Um. Gross. The three friends start trying to fulfill the wishes for the Well Witch, but everything quickly spins out of control.

What I love about this book is that:

1) Frances Hardinge wrote it.

2) The characters are interesting and flawed. I wanted to punch Josh in the face so bad, and pat Ryan on the head, and sit down and listen to Chelle. They felt so real.

3) The story is fast paced and flows so well.

This one was illustrated by
Christopher Gibbs

4) There are sentences like this: “There was a penny of panic in his throat” (37).

Frances Hardinge writes complicated worlds that are so unique and compelling so you want to dive into the book and live there. Except. That. There are also unsafe things. So. You might get emotionally scarred if you actually end up in one of her worlds. Ahem. Anyway.

This book is great for anyone, but in particular for boy Down Unders. The story is fast paced and slightly creepy. Perfect.

ALSO: if you check out Hardinge's website there is a secret story you can read that starts here. I'm horrible with codes so I haven't figured out the first clue yet. 

 If you're interested in purchasing this book check out the linky-do's:

Barns&Noble
Books-A-Million (I could only find the e-book version on their website - don't know why)
indiebound

Have a good week Down Unders!