Review by New York Times Review
Boyce, the author of "Millions," tells good stories about fathers and sons. With echoes of Roald Dahl, four specially chosen fathers and children (well, with one ringer - a very tall 12-year-old) face a set of challenges posed by a slightly mad billionaire that will send them around the moon, if they don't drift into space first. The novel ends with an elegant punch line, and a touching endorsement of filial love. "Maybe everyone's got their own special gravity that lets you go far away, really far away sometimes, but which always brings you back in the end." THE LONGEST NIGHT By Marion Dane Bauer. Illustrated by Ted Lewin. Holiday House. $17.95. (Ages 4 to 8) "The snow lies deep. The night is long and long." Aided by Lewin's shadowy watercolors of a forest at night, Bauer beautifully conjures the deepest part of winter, when bears and mice sleep but other creatures think they know how to bring the darkness to an end, like a moose who says, "I have antlers strong enough to scoop up the sun and bring it home" (the wind sighs, "Not you"). In the end, the chickadee's song does the trick, and light floods in. NASREEN'S SECRET SCHOOL A True Story From Afghanistan. Written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Ages 6 to 9) Winter's precise acrylics tell this story in matter-of-fact images: Taliban soldiers coming down the mountain to the city of Herat, "where art and music and learning once flourished"; a girl called Nasreen sitting at home, silent since her parents disappeared, forbidden to attend school; the grandmother, who tells the story, taking her to a secret girls' school in a private home. The students' brightly colored headscarves stand in for their bravery and eagerness to learn. HERE COMES JACK FROST Written and illustrated by Kazuno Kohara. Roaring Brook. $12.99. (Ages 3 to 6) Kohara follows up her beguiling Halloween tale, "Ghosts in the House!" with another seasonal fable. "Once there was a boy who lived in a house in the woods. It was winter, and all his friends were hibernating. 'I hate winter,' he sighed." Then Jack Frost, a spiky elf full of good cheer, shows up to remind him that winter has a magic all its own. Kohara's linocut illustrations begin in faded blue, but deep azure and white take over as everything is covered in snow and ice; finally an early sign of spring brings the fun to an end, until next year. WAR GAMES By Audrey Couloumbis and Akila Couloumbis. Random House. $16.99. (Ages 8 to 12) In this richly detailed novel, a Greek family tries to stay on the sidelines as the German Army closes in. The year is 1941, and two brothers shoot marbles and play catch as a cover for dangerous games, like passing defiant messages (inspired by a 19-year-old cousin, a resistance fighter). Based on research and family memories of the period, the novel shows how the greatest risk for the villagers, besides enemy soldiers, may be the suspicion that comes between neighbors. WHEN STELLA WAS VERY, VERY SMALL Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay. Groundwood/House of Anansi. $16.95. (Ages 2 to 5) In a kind of prequel to Gay's much loved Stella series, a toddler Stella - we immediately recognize the unruly red hair - has some early adventures. "Stella couldn't open doors, look through keyholes or even tie her shoes," but she can already train her sky-high imagination on her surroundings. The repeated words "when Stella was very, very small" accompany images of everyday objects and family pets pressed into service as sidekicks, charmingly animating her world. JULIE JUST
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 17, 2010]
Review by Booklist Review
Kohara, author-illustrator of the well-received Ghosts in the House! (2008), moves from autumn to winter and introduces another not-of-this world creature. A young boy has nobody to play with until a frosty figure named Jack appears. Running and jumping, sledding, and skiing ensue, along with a snowball fight. All the boy has to do to ensure more fun is never mention anything warm. Then one day he finds a snowdrop: It's almost spring. In an instant, Jack disappears, leaving behind only the whisper of a promised return. The story is slight, but the artwork is divine, beginning with the glittered jacket cover. In Ghosts, Kohara, a printmaker, used orange and black to great effect. Here, the simple yet creatively rendered shapes are all icy blues and snowy whites (except inside, where a more subdued gray-blue is juxtaposed against a woody brown). The artful design (for instance, a snowy hill is simply an empty space) is what will draw repeat viewers, young and old, who'll be taken with the pictures' evocative feel.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Never mention anything warm in front of me..." Jack Frost, a spiky elfin creature, tells his new friend, a boy whose winter doldrums are interrupted by the sprightly figure's arrival. "That would break the spell and force me to leave." The boy agrees, and he and Jack Frost scamper off across the spreads of this celebration of winter magic. Kohara's (Ghosts in the House!) sharp-edged white silhouettes suggest the crisp ice-cold of winter, but midnight blue backgrounds pale as they near the horizon like old Japanese woodblock prints, softening and adding depth. Jack Frost's challenges ("You can't catch me! You can't jump over the pond!") are easily met: the boy sails effortlessly with eyes closed to where the sprite waits on the far side, while the boy's hound, wearing skates as well, pirouettes. In an especially lovely scene, Jack, the boy and the dog build three snowmen with features that echo their own. Jack's a wonderful playmate, and only when the boy discovers a snowdrop does their idyll end. The book ends with a promise: "See you next winter!" A sparkling winter treat. Ages 3-6. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PrS-Gr 1-Kohara's second book lacks the perfection of story she achieved in Ghosts in the House! (Roaring Brook, 2008). Nevertheless, the clean, stylistic simplicity she employed there is in evidence again, with crisp, sharp-edged woodcuts and limited use of color. A little boy is lonely because his friends are hibernating. One day Jack Frost appears. In a Runaway Bunny meets the Gingerbread Boy moment, Frost runs away. "'You can't catch me!.You can't jump over the pond!' But the boy had ice skates." He also has a sled, and the two become friends, playing all winter long. Frost warns him not to mention anything warm because that would break the spell. Nevertheless, one day the boy mentions spring, and Frost disappears. But ".the boy was sure he heard a whisper.'See you next winter!'" Kohara's command of her medium and use of color are masterful. Initially, the pages are gray and brown, but as soon as Frost appears, they change to white and a luminous blue that gradually darkens as it moves upward. The simple lines and crisp images, especially of spiky Jack Frost, pop and are a delight for the eyes. Unfortunately, Jack Frost's explanation detracts from the magic of the book and feels forced and abrupt. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful piece of bookmaking, and libraries in need of more winter titles will want to add it.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool) Having provided readers with the Halloween treat of Ghosts in the House! (rev. 9/08), Kohara advances the calendar to wintertime. Here Comes Jack Frost begins on overcast gray and black pages, introducing a little boy who's lonely because "all his friends were hibernating." After a snowstorm -- and with the turn of a page -- the world turns a cheery ice-blue and white, as Jack Frost, all impish and pointy-angled, materializes to keep the boy company. Jack's only caveat: "Never mention anything warm in front of me...That would break the spell and force me to leave." All winter the new pals delight in ice-skating and sledding, having snowball fights, and building a snowman. In the end, the boy mentions spring, and the sight of a tiny snowdrop sends Jack Frost packing -- for now ("See you next winter!"). Kohara deals deftly with the inevitability of change, the natural progression of the seasons representing not only what is lost but also what else may be just around the corner. It's a bittersweet theme, but the lighthearted delivery leaves readers feeling optimistic. As in Ghosts in the House!, the limited-palette illustrations are composed of the simplest shapes and lines, here enhanced with swirls of motion (check out Jack's shoes), mottled-background snowfall, and a few perfectly formed snowflakes. The child-friendly pictures tell much of the story, displaying the little boy's emotional ups and downs in addition to the warmth of wintertime fun as enjoyed by two high-spirited friends. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gorgeous prints illuminate an unusual friendship. The first few spreads are rendered in black and dull blue, as a little boy mopes inside with his dog: "I hate winter." But when he sees "strange patterns [appear] on his window," he's lured outside into a gorgeous white-and-blue fairyland, courtesy of Jack Frost, a spiky creature with elf shoes. After an initial period of suspicion, they play together all winter, with Jack Frost's warning never to "mention anything warm in front of [him]" hanging in the air. This outing partakes of the striking visual sense of Kohara's award-wining Ghosts in the House (2008), but it is almost entirely lacking in the earlier book's whimsy of story and play of illustrations against text. Probably most disappointing is the entirely unmagical explanation of Jack Frost's magictoo bad. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
