Mooshka, A Quilt Story

 Title: Mooshka: A Quilt Story
Author and Illustrator: Julie Paschkis
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Publication Date: March 1, 2012
Rating: 3 Stars

At bedtime, Mooshka always said, "Sweet dreams." First thing in the morning, Mooshka might say, "Pancakes."

This is a story of a talking quilt, made by the main character's grandmother to tell the stories of the generations. Quite a cute idea, I might add. However, I'm sad to say that the storyline simply does not live up to the uniqueness of that idea or the normal quality of books from Peachtree Publishers.

I received Mooshka: A Quilt Story from NetGalley for review. The story's illustrations are made from pieces of quilt fabric and are bright, textured, and cheerful. They would capture any child easily from beginning to end. On the contrary, the narrative starts out well but doesn't carry through.

Mooshka is the name of the quilt, and it is somehow magical because it tells stories that help Karla go to sleep each night. All she has to do is touch a piece of fabric, and Mooshka will tell her the story. Readers enjoy short stories of Karla's grandfather's proposal and her mother's escapades of jumping out of the cherry tree to learn how to fly. We also reads stories about the dog's Halloween costume and Karla's aunt's fortune telling.

Then one day when Hannah, Karla's little baby sister moves into Karla's room, the quilt mysteriously stops talking. Karla feels a bit jealous of her little sister, but one night when the baby is crying, she goes over to her sister's crib tell her stories from the quilt. This is where I took issue with the plot of the book. I understand the thought of wanting Karla to tell the stories to her younger sister, but I was disappointed that Mooshka didn't start telling stories again. I dare say children will be dissatisfied with this conclusion, also. In addition, there is no explanation of why Mooshka stops talking. Is it because Mooshka doesn't like the new baby? Is it because Karla was jealous? There is no resolution.

Despite its closing pages, however, Mooshka: A Quilt Story has a strong Russian flavor and captures the joy of giving to the next generation (or at least, in Karla's case, her little sister).

What items do you have in your house that tell a story of past generations?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Carla's Cloud Catastrophe

In my "Note to Authors and Publishers," I promise an honest review of the ARC's they send me so that the parents who read my blog can find the absolute best choices for their children.  I am very grateful to Beth Bence Reinke for the opportunity to review her newest children's book:

Title: Carla's Cloud Catastrophe
Author: Beth Bence Reinke
Illustrator: Ginger Nielson
Publisher: 4RV Publishing

"Disaster struck two hours before my birthday party."

What kind of disaster, you ask?  Well, the kind that makes all the clouds fall from the summer sky and cover the ground like snow. Carla is concerned about whether she will be back at home in time for her birthday party.  Dad, as the Director of Transportation, has to go to a meeting and fix the situation before they can go home with her birthday cake.  Will they take the clouds to the dump, send them to the ocean, or use them for pillow stuffing? Or will Carla think of a better idea?

Positive Elements: Carla is helpful, thinking of a way to save the day. The whole town pitches in together to clear away the trouble.  Carla makes the best of the situation and encourages others despite her disappointment about missing the majority of her own birthday party. The author uses a lot of creative similes to paint a picture.  Ginger Nielson's illustrations effectively capture the townspeople's awe, worry, and excitement. 

Negative Elements: I shared Carla's Cloud Catastrophe with my nine-year-old sister and six-year-old brother to get their reactions, and without any help from me, they voiced my concerns. The dad in the story is rather cold toward Carla, not really putting her birthday first but going to work (on his day off) instead.  I would have appreciated some dialog between them about this. Also, it is said that the clouds fell from the sky because of a tornado. Not to be little Johnny RainCloud, but tornadoes are low pressure systems made of rapidly rising air that suck things up, not down. I know we're using our imagination, here, but even my six-year-old brother had trouble with that one. Also, for children who live in an area where tornadoes are common, this might prove too close to reality and scary.

Nevertheless, if you liked Chicken Little or any book like that as a child, you and your children will most likely enjoy Carla's Cloud Catastrophe.  Just be ready for the laws of gravity and physics to be a little stretched!

What would you do if the clouds fell from the sky?

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I also received the products mentioned above for free in hopes that I would review it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Moon Over Manifest

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby.  I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I knew only from stories.  The one just outside of town with big blue letters: MANIFEST: A TOWN WITH A RICH PAST AND A BRIGHT FUTURE.
...The conductor came into the car. "Manifest, next stop."
...Being a paying customer this time, with a full-fledged ticket, I didn't have to jump off, and I knew that the preacher would be waiting for me.  But as anyone worth his salt knows, it's best to get a look at a place before it gets a look at you...
At the last car, I waited, listen the way I'd been taught--wait till the clack of the train wheels slows to the rhythm of your heartbeat...The ground came quick and hard, but I landed and rolled as the tain lumbered on without a thank-you or goodbye.
As I stood and brushed myself off, there was the sign not five feet in front of me.  It was so weathered there was hardly a chip of blue paint to be found. And it looked to have been shot up so bad most of the words were gone.  All that was left read MANIFEST: A TOWN WITH A PAST.
(Moon Over Manifest 1, 3-4) 
 
Abilene Tucker doesn't really know who she is or where she's going.  Her father, Gideon Tucker, has decided that jumping trains is no place for a young lady and sent her to life with Shady Howard, the pastor of a small town Gideon lived in as a teen.

Once she's in Manifest, Abilene meets many strange people with interesting characteristics.  At first she thinks that she's going to be fine in this new place because every town is made of "universals"-- types of people who you'll always meet in a large group.

But the town of Manifest and it's townspeople aren't one bit universal.  There's some strange things in this town.  There's Hattie Mae--the newspaper lady--and her weekly "whos, whats, whys, whens, and wheres."  There's Sister Redempta, the nun who teaches the town's school and acts as the town midwife.  There's Lettie and Ruthanne, two girls who are friendly to Abilene and accompany her on her adventures to discover who "the Rattler" is and whether he still wants revenge. There's Ivan DeVore, the postmaster, Mr. Cooper, the barber, Velma T, the chemistry teacher, and Mr. Underhill, the undertaker.  But that's just the beginning...

There's also Miss Sadie, the Hungarian Woman, whom everyone calls a diviner, and her intriguing stories about Jinx and Ned and times past.  Her stories begin to pull the present together into a clearer picture, and over time, just might answer some of Abilene's questions concerning her origins. 

Released on October 12, 2010 by Delacorte Press (a division of Random House), Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool is the 2011 winner of the well-known Newberry Award.  The book is excellently written, with alternating chapters between the Manifest of 1918 and the Manifest of 1936.  Interspersed between the chapters are excerpts from Hattie Mae's newspaper column which add a bit of authenticity to the story.

The biggest literary flaw with this book is its pace. As an adult, I enjoyed the pace of the book, but the first couple of chapters might be hard for a child to get into. Other than that, I found its literary quality to be worth the Newberry title.  Vanderpool includes some great expressions that made me laugh and think all at once. 

Pros about Moon Over Manifest:
--The author does an excellent job of switching between narratives throughout the book, never making the reader feel that the transition is "out of place."
--There are several pieces of the conclusion that come as a surprise to the reader, but none of the surprises stray from the plot.
--The author included a post-script about what was historical and what was fiction.  She based the story loosely on her family's history.
--The author's tale can appeal to many teen and adult readers as well.
--The storyline contains several layers of suspense and challenges readers to look beyond the words on the page into the character's personalities, struggles, hopes, and fears just like readers have to look beyond a person's outer appearance to appreciate them.
--The characters have depth.

Despite all of these wonderful literary elements that make this book scholastic, there are several elements that have a tendency to make it not "safe" or family friendly.  While all parents may not agree with my conclusion, I still wish to provide those who do with my reasons.  If Moon Over Manifest was made into a movie, it would have to be rated PG-13 because of spiritual, alcohol, and violence content. 

Cons about Moon Over Manifest:
--Miss Sadie is a diviner.  In the beginning of the books, she "talks to the spirits" and says that she is going to "build a bridge between the living and the dead."  However, by the end of the book, readers learn that Miss Sadie is only a diviner because no one would talk to a poor Hungarian woman that they perceived to be a diviner.  They came to her as if she was such, and she went along with it to have her place in society; she "puts on a show and dresses the part."  Abilene realizes that the "divining" that she gives them is "really the truth she observes and knows about them... And mostly she watches, she waits, and she loves... She bears the story of Manifest." However, as the divining has no explanation for the majority of the text, parents may wish to remove this from their child's reading list or discuss what divining is and how that fits in with their own religious beliefs. 
--Shady Howard, the fill-in pastor in the town, is just that--a bit shady.  He owns a bar.  The church meets in the bar, but no alcohol is served on Sundays.  Abilene lives in the room above the bar--no place for a child.  Shady is also involved in making Moonshine during Prohibition--sometimes this is presented as wrong since it's against the law and sometimes it is presented as okay because it helps the town's economy.  The town's sheriff requires that Shady give him two bottles of moonshine a week if Shady wants him to not tell the government about his illegal activity. 
--There is a murder in the 1918 section of the book, for which one of the main characters (who is a child) is supposedly responsible.  Truth does come out, and the real murderer is punished, but younger children may find this distressing.

Despite the fact that I could give Moon Over Manifest a five out of five stars for literary quality, I'm giving Moon Over Manifest a three out of five stars because of some of the questionable content for the age group. This is not a book that I plan on handing over to the children in my life because of the PG13 content. However, whether you as a parent choose to have your children read Moon Over Manifest as summer reading, discuss it as a family read-aloud, or be aware of it's contents when your child reads it for school sometime, I hope that this review helps you and your children make wise choices that are safe but scholastic.

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints

On Sunday afternoon, Encyclopedia received the treat of treats.  He went with his father on a real police case.  Clarence Heiden had reported a pair of valuable bookends missing.  He had asked Chief Brown to investigate the theft personally...


In Donald J. Sobol's new book, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints, the boy detective goes on adventures that have made the series bestsellers for years. On March 23, 2011, Yearling published a Kindle edition. Lively drawings by Gail Owens illustrate ten cases that Leroy Brown (Encyclopedia) solves, all while invites readers to decipher each puzzle in their own mind. In the title story, odd handprints will make a wheelchair-bound guest a suspect in the theft of his host's valuables. But leave it up to Encyclopedia to recognize the red herring, absolve the innocent, and make a true accusation against the culprit. 

Bugs Meany comes back as always, and Sally the girl detective does her work.  While Sobol's earlier stories were better in my opinion, these were also very fun to solve and each was still a unique challenge. 

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints includes the following mysteries:
The Case of the Blond Wig
The Case of the Battle Cries
The Case of the Stolen Tools
The Case of the Angry Girl
The Case of the Albatross
The Case of the Prize Pig
The Case of the Hard-luck Boy
The Case of the Giant Watermelon
The Case of the Fighter Kite
The Case of the Mysterious Handprints

Other than Encyclopedia Brown, what is your favorite mystery story and why?

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Pablo's Nose

Desmoana came to the front door herself.  "What do you want?" she demanded, giving Pablo an unfriendly look.
Pablo accused her straightaway.  "About an hour ago you stole my nose didn't you?"
"No, but I should have," Desmoana retorted. "I'd have improved your looks."


Stolen noses, masked men, and smoke signals are all apart of this newest Encyclopedia Brown Kindle release from Yearling on May 4, 2011. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Pablos Nose by Donald J. Sobol is a good choice for critical thinkers or for getting children to start problem-solving. Each short mystery is full of clues that make solving the mystery with Encyclopedia Brown a ton of fun.

Without giving too much away, I'll just say that this time around, Encyclopedia uses wordplay to figure out a safe's combination, one of the presidents to catch a forger, and a wallet full of money to prove that a thief was blind. As usual, a good and fun workout for the brain. Pencil illustrations by Eric Velasquez occur at key moments in the text.

The mysteries included in this volume are:
The Case of the Sleeveless Lock
The Case of the Smoke Signals
The Case of the Peace Offering
The Case of the Masked Man
The Case of the Organ-Grinder
The Case of Pablo's Nose
The Case of the Carousel Horse
The Case of the Wilford Whammy
The Case of the Racing Reptiles
The Case of the Unknown Thief

While I found this particular selection of mysteries much more difficult to solve than some of the others in previous books I've reviewed, I still enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Pablos Nose.  I am rating it only for 10-12-year-olds this time, however, since I feel that the solutions might be discouraging to the 6-9 age range this time around.

Will you figure out what happened to Pablo's nose?

Go West, Amelia Bedelia!

"Morning," said Uncle Buck.  "You look happier every day.  Do you feel at home on the range?"

"Absolutely," said Amelia Bedelia.  "I can cook on any range, gas or electric."

For sixteen years, Herman Parish has been carrying on the tradition of his aunt, Peggy Parish, by continuing The Adventures of Amelia Bedelia. 

Published on April 1, 2011 by Greenwillow Books (an imprint of HarperCollins), Go West, Amelia Bedelia! follows the same classic style that readers have delighted in since 1963. 

Although the language is someone antiquated, the watercolor illustrations by Lynn Sweat offer some explanation for what Parish hopes to imply.  I'm labeling this book as a family read-aloud rather than for a particular age group, because while the publisher marked it as a book for ages 5-9, I feel that children that age would not get the jokes without an adults help the first read through. 

Go West, Amelia Bedelia! is a great way to teach your children about homonyms and figures of speech that they may encounter in social situations or cowboy books and movies.

Though not an exhaustive list, here are a couple of examples of concepts that you might need to explain:
On page 9, Amelia Bedelia meets Jake, the ranch foreman and promptly wishes to know where the one, two, and three men are. 
On page 21, Jake describes a horse as being a quarter horse, to which Amelia Bedelia replies, "That horse is worth at least a dollar."
On page 25, Jake says that an outlaw was "tossed in the cooler."  Amelia Bedelia thinks that would be a lovely way to spend such a hot day.
On page 52, Jake tell Amelia Bedelia "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."  Though she doesn't understand the idiom, Amelia Bedelia agrees with this only because the horse "might have bad breath."

All-in-all, Go West, Amelia Bedelia! follows tradition and makes you chuckle with its dry humor. I laughed even more with the illustrations.  Amelia Bedelia would wear green cowgirl boots decorated with yellow flowers!

What is your favorite Amelia Bedelia book?  Have you ever done anything "Amelia Bedelia-ish"?

Little Mouse's Big Secret

"Will you give us a hint?"

"I promise not to tell anyone!"

"Lemme see!"

"Tell me! Ooh me! Me!"

"C'mon, you can trust us." 

Little Mouse might have a big secret, but even more than that, Little Mouse has a big truth!
In Eric Battut's Little Mouse's Big Secret, Little Mouse finds an apple.  But Little Mouse has a mind to be selfish and decides to hide it.  After burying it, Little Mouse stays nearby to protect it.  Each of his friends approach him, asking, "What are you hiding?"  Little Mouse vows to never tell, but a surprise leaves him realizing (with a bit of worry, at first) that his secret is out.  By the end of this simple but charming tale, Mouse learns that sometimes your secrets are even better when you share them. Little Mouse's Big Secret, released on March 1, 2011 by Sterling, will show your children that it is truly better to share and give than to receive and horde.

The only two reasons that I am choosing to give three stars to Little Mouse's Big Secret are because Battut uses so little vocabulary and because sentence structure becomes unnecessarily repetitive towards the middle of the book, failing to challenge the reader's word choice and diction.  Other than that, this is a cute story with a great message.