Image from BarelyFitz's Flickr Creative Commons

So, it was Father’s Day last Sunday. Per usual, I’m approximately 4 days behind the rest of the world’s calendar. That’s not to say I didn’t give my dad a hug on Sunday (we had him over for a cookout), but I didn’t exactly get his gift to him that day. I delivered it last night.

What do you give a dad who has everything? Who is retired and financially comfortable enough that he has the time and money to get and do whatever he’d like, when he’d like it*? Well, I’ve been giving him booklists. A few years ago, desperate for a gift, I gave him a bookmark with a list of books that sounded “like him.” He carried it around for a year and when he’d come in to volunteer at my school library (yes, he’s that great of a dad), he’d often have one of the books on the list under his arm. He wondered out loud to me once how I had compiled a list of so many great books that tickled his interest.

Ha! Finding books for readers is kinda what I do for a living, Dad. Probably my favorite part.

So, this year, it was time for a new list. And here it is: The Super-Long Father’s Day List of Books. It IS long, in no particular order, a strange mix of nonfiction, mystery, and science fiction/fantasy, and it includes some series halfway through because that’s where my dad is in them. I don’t know why I’m posting it here, except it’s books and it’s a list and I’m a librarian, so pass it on I must in the hopes that someone else somewhere might find their “just right” book.

Enjoy! (And please, I’m always looking for suggestions for next year’s list. Send them my way!)

* Not that he necessarily does. He’s pretty frugal, my dad. Which only makes gift-giving harder because if you give something too extravagant, it might be construed as, well…extravagant.

* I’ve already waxed on about my dad and reading here.

Related posts:

1. The Great Summer Reading Challenge
2. Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
3. Favorite Reads of 2009

So you’d think these would be my favorites of 2009, right? Um, kind of. While I do still really like all of these books, when I consider my favorite-favorites, I always think about how much the book stuck with me. How much I remember it later. How much I’ve thought about it since I finished it. To me, those are the Truly Best Stories. And those are here:

And just in case you can’t read the covers, that’d be…

All the World

The Mistress of the Art of Death

One World, One Day

The Frog Scientist

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

When the Whistle Blows

Beka Cooper

The Dunderheads

Heart of a Shepherd

Ain’t Nothing But a Man

Ways to Live Forever

Home of the Brave

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
2. Nonfiction Monday
3. Every Reader Tells a Story

I’m not the only one excited about The Frog Scientist–it’s garnered starred reviews in The Horn Book, Booklist, The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books, and School Library Journal. Whew!

But enough about all that; here’s what Pamela says about her book, her writing and herself:

Tell us about your book.

In THE FROG SCIENTIST, biologist Tyrone Hayes is researching the links between declining frog populations and pesticide use. He loved catching frogs when he was younger, and he tells kids, “Whatever you want to do, stick with it!” He’s an amazing guy. I wrote about Tyrone’s life, about the dangers frogs are facing, and I describe one of Tyrone’s experiments all the way from start to finish.

How did you get the idea for The Frog Scientist?

I saw an article about Tyrone in the San Francisco Chronicle. He’d just published a scientific paper showing that if you raised tadpoles in water contaminated with the most widely-used pesticide in the U.S., atrazine, many of the male frogs grew eggs instead of sperm in their testes. And he found this effect at levels of atrazine contamination ONE-THIRTIETH (1/30) of the levels allowed in our drinking water by the EPA. The article in the Chronicle also noted that Tyrone nurtured a very diverse group of young people in his laboratory. My editor at Houghton Mifflin loved the idea of writing about Tryone and his work, and so I went to Berkeley to meet him. Tyrone is such a warm, funny, smart guy with such a great personal story that I knew he would be a wonderful subject for a “Scientist in the Field” book.

If you were a scientist, what kind would you like to be? Why?

I really love scuba diving, so I think I would want to be a marine biologist.

How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you like to write? What time of day? (Or anything else you want to add about your process.)

That’s always a difficult question to answer because I work on more than one project at a time, and often the writing part is less time-consuming than the research and putting all the photos together. For a book like THE FROG SCIENTIST, I worked on it over the course of two years. I write at home, usually at a computer set up in our family room, and usually during the day when my husband is at work and our youngest is off at school. I like to compose at the computer but I like to do final edits on a hardcopy. Go figure.

What were you like as a kid?

I was a big animal lover (still am) and I loved to read (still do).

Did you like school?

Yes–I was a good student. I read well above grade level and I was fond of math. I will admit that when I took Calculus in college I was appalled–”This stuff is HARD! I feel stupid!”

So…readers want to know….what’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

One time I was outside running toward a school building (we were playing some game) and I fell just before I got to the wall and scraped my scalp down the stucco. So I ended up with a big, gross, bloody stripe on the top of my head, sort of a reverse Mohawk, which took forever to heal. Ick!

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

Before I started writing for children, I worked in international public health. So I would probably be doing that, with a focus on women’s and children’s health.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

A few years ago I started studying kendo (Japanese swordfighting). I’d like to be better, but I’m slow and uncoordinated. I love it, though. And it’s OK to do something you love even if you’re never going to be great at it.

And the coolest place you’ve ever been?

Above water: the Serengeti in Tanzania. It’s a vision of what the world looked like before we plowed it and paved it. Below water: Palau, in the western Pacific. Beautiful reefs still teeming with sharks and manta rays, a vision of what the sea looked like before we overfished it.

THE SNAKE SCIENTIST or THE TARANTULA SCIENTIST by Sy Montgomery.

What’s next?

Just out: PROWLING THE SEAS: EXPLORING THE WORLD OF OCEAN PREDATORS, which tells the story of a leatherback sea turtle, white shark, bluefin tuna, and a pair of seabirds given high-tech tags by scientists who are following their travels. And PROJECT SEAHORSE, coming in August 2010. I went to the Philippines with the world’s expert on seahorses and wrote about what she is doing to save seahorses and the coral reefs where they live.

What do you wish we’d asked, but didn’t?

“How did writing THE FROG SCIENTIST change you?”

#1: I bought a White’s tree frog and named her Dumpy. There’s a photo of a White’s tree frog on THE FROG SCIENTIST’s title page, and I think it’s the cutest frog picture I’ve ever seen. So now I have my own adorable frog, which my kids think is a very strange pet. #2: I bought a Brita water filter and now I filter all our drinking water to keep the pesticides out. #3: When I bought a green Prius car I noticed it looked vaguely like a hunched-over frog, so I got a personalized license plate that says “Riibiit”. Yet another way of embarrassing my children.

Fast Facts about Pamela Turner

Age: 52

Family: Husband Rob (a lawyer), son Travis, 22, just out of college and looking for a job; daughter Kelsey, 20, a junior at Wesleyan University; and Connor, 17, a high school junior.

Home: Oakland, California

Other Books:
HACHIKO: THE TRUE STORY OF A LOYAL DOG
GORILLA DOCTORS: SAVING ENDANGERED GREAT APES
LIFE ON EARTH–AND BEYOND: AN ASTROBIOLOGIST’S QUEST
A LIFE IN THE WILD: GEORGE SCHALLER’S STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LAST GREAT BEASTS
PROWLING THE SEAS: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN WORLD OF OCEAN PREDATORS

Favorite Superhero: I have to go with Wolverine. Maybe that has something to do with Hugh Jackman.

Favorite Book: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C.S. Lewis. 

Favorite Sports Team: I guess I have to say Oakland Raiders! 

Pamela’s Website: http://www.pamelasturner.com. And see frog scientist Tyrone Hayes hard at work in the book trailer for The Frog Scientist!

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Barbara Kerley and One World, One Day
2. Favorite Reads of 2009
3. Author/Illustrator Talk: Chris Gall and Dinotrux

Describe your book:

Dinotrux is about an ancient race of primitive trucks that apparently existed millions of years ago. It turns out that they had not yet evolved into the kind, helpful trucks we have today.

How did you get the idea for the Dinotrux?

Dinotrux was inspired by a day stuck in traffic. As I was passing through an area of road construction on the highway outside of town, I watched a great line of heavy earth-movers lumbering in the median, making groaning sounds, and carving out a new road in the dirt. They seemed eerily reminiscent of dinosaurs—and my imagination took over. What if these same earth-moving trucks had ancestors? What if all trucks had primitive ancestors that existed millions of years ago and then somehow evolved into the kind, helpful trucks we have today? What would they have looked like? What would their personalities have been like? And what in the world happened to them?

Did you like dinosaurs or trucks better when you were a kid?

I think I liked trucks better because I knew that some day I might actually own one.  That’s rarely true with dinosaurs.

Which is harder for you, writing or drawing?

Always the writing. Because if the story isn’t just right, all the illustrations in the world aren’t going to help it.

What do you use to make your illustrations?

I have used everything an artist can use—pencils, paint, pastel, watercolor, wood block engraving, and my new favorite tool—my computer.

How do you work?

I work form 7am until 6pm almost every day. Every day is different because it all depends on what phase of a book I am working on at the time. I have a nice studio in my house so I don’t have to go anywhere. That way I can work in my jammies if I want.

What were you like as a kid?

I was usually described as “lacking self-control” on my report card. I was a day-dreamer and a class clown. I was always taking apart electronic devices and sometimes getting them back together again. I was interested in something new every day.   And that hasn’t really changed.

Did you like school? What was your favorite subject? Why?

I loved school and I doubt if I ever missed a day. My favorite subject was science, and later on, art.

What’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

I was once beaten up by football players for using the word “melancholy” at just the wrong moment.

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

Hmmmm, tough question. Perhaps a mad scientist.  They seem to have lots of adventures. A Pirate is out of the question because I get sea-sick.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

Play the piano.  I’ve had one in my living room for 10 years and its not going to learn to play itself!

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?

A town in Switzerland called Kleine Scheidegg.  It sits high in the alps in the shadow of three great mountains—the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau.

We loved your book! Is there a similar book from a different author that’d you’d recommend for kids who liked yours?

I always liked Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

What’s next?

I am currently working on my next book, Substitute Creacher, due out in spring 2011.

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Barbara Kerley and One World, One Day
2. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
3. Author Talk: Fran Cannon Slayton and When the Whistle Blows

Recently, Fran answered a few questions about her book…

Tell us about your book.  

When the Whistle Blows is a coming of age story about Jimmy Cannon who is growing up in 1940s Appalachia during an era of economic upheaval.   The backbone of his small town is the B&O Railroad, and with the engines switching from steam to diesel technology, Jimmy’s world is changing – and he doesn’t want it to.  Jimmy navigates the tracks of friendship, love, loss, and going head-to-head with his father as he struggles to carve out his own niche in the adult world.  Did I mention the secret society he discovers his father is a part of?  Or the Halloween pranks he engineers?  They’re in there too!

What were you like as a kid? 

I was a tomboy all the way.  Queen of the kickball field!

Did you like school? 

Yes, loved it.

What’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

I’m having a brain block on this, but when I was 18 my boyfriend (now husband) and I cut off all my hair, shooting for the Annie Lennox look (do you remember, the lead singer in the Eurythmics?)  But my hair didn’t turn out quite as cool as hers.  In fact it looked as if I might have just had head surgery!  One night a few weeks later I was standing outside with my coat wrapped up around me and a man addressed me as “son.”  Doh!

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why? 

Maybe a professional football player.  But I guess I’m a little too old.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do? 

Paint.  Oil and watercolor.

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been? 

Rowlesburg, WV.  Second place?  Reykjavik, Iceland – very cool geysers!

How did you get the idea for When the Whistle Blows?

Which story (chapter) is your favorite one? Why?

Oh I can’t pick a favorite story!  I love them all! 

How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you like to write?

It took me about 2 1/2 years from start to acceptance to write When the Whistle Blows.  Regarding where I write – I like to change atmospheres often, so sometimes I type away in my office, while other times I’ll go to the family room or out to a local coffee or pastry shop.  The time of day varies too, but mostly it’s during school hours or late at night.  If I didn’t have to keep a schedule I’d write from dinner until 2-3 in the morning and then get up around 11 the next morning.  But real world obligations don’t allow that!

We loved your book! Is there a similar book from a different author that’d you’d recommend for kids who liked yours?

Thank you!  It’s had to compare my own book to the work of others, especially books I admire and are well known!  But some books I’d like to think share some similar elements to When the Whistle Blows are Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.  Other book reviewers have compared my book to Richard Peck’s A Long Way From Chicago, which I consider to be an incredible compliment!

What’s next? 

I’m currently writing a fantasy about a girl who wants to be a pirate, tentatively titled Ship’s Boy.

Fran’s haiku about When the Whistle Blows!:

The coffin’s dark wood
Draws the boy from the shadows
Into his future

And finally, Fran’s facts on her author card:

Visit Fran Cannon Slayton’s website

Visit Fran Cannon Slayton’s blog

Related posts:

1. Favorite Reads of 2009
2. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
3. Author/Illustrator Talk: Chris Gall and Dinotrux

But! I won’t let that detract from telling you about a great book: Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder! This middle grade novels (for ~grades 3-7) is a fun little fantasy romp. There are cozy mysteries; can a fantasy be cozy? ‘Cause if it can, Any Which Wall is.

Recently, Laurel agreed to answer some questions for me….

Tell us about your book.

This book, Any Which Wall, is a story of four kids who disover a magical wishing wall in the middle of a cornfield, and take it to all sorts of wonderful places. Like Camelot, and Coney Island.

How did you get the idea for Any Which Wall?

I wrote the book as a tribute to some of my favorite books, the books of Edward Eager.   Setting it in Iowa was an obvious choice, both because I love it there, and because placing the story in Iowa was a little like placing it in the past.  Kids in Iowa have a little more freedom than they do here, in Atlanta, where I live.  It seemed more possible that kids in Iowa could actually go on magical adventures without their parents noticing.

Where would you wish to go if you had a wishing wall? Why?

This sounds really boring, but I’d probably go to Baltimore, New York, Iowa, and Chattanooga. Over and over again.  Because my kids are little, and because I have family and friends in those places, I find I mostly just want to go revisit the palces I already know and love.  That’s not to say I don’t also want to go to Istanbul.  I do! But right now, this year of my life, my mother’s dinner table, or my best friends apartment in Manhattan, are the places I most want to be.

How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you like to write? What time of day? (Or anything else you want to add about your process.)

Oh, it can be very different with each book. Until a few years ago, I mostly wrote poetry.  Poetry is something I can do around the edges of my life.  So I would scribble late at night, or during a train ride.  Now, with these middle grade novels, I find I work best in 4-5 hour blocks of time, with silence.  Oddly, my best writing gets done in bed. I don’t know why that is.  Maybe because its the only place where I don’t–as a mom– fell like I should be doing something else.  I do write in coffee shops sometimes, when my kids are at home, but its not ideal. In my dream world, I’d have a little writing cabin, with a single bed in it, and a desk, and a bookshelf, and no internet.

What were you like as a kid?

I was a reader. I really believed in magic (and still do). I was a daydreamer. But I was also a chatterbox, and very impatient.  My parents often had to use a pot of “bottom-glue” to keep me in my chair through dinner.

Did you like school?

I loved it!  My school was kind of a rough place, and there were never enough books or chairs, but I had some great teachers, and I really liked learning.

So…readers want to know….what’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

Heh.  There’s a story I love to tell, about how, as a bedwetter, I was terrified  of slumber parties.  One year, by best friend had a slumber party, and I went, and because I was her best friend, I got to sleep on the pullout sofa with her, while the others slept on the floor in sleeping bags. Well, in the middle of the night I woke up soaking wet.  !!!  I didn’t know what to do, but there was no way to kep it a secret, so I woke up my friend and told her I’d wet the bed. She looked at me for a minute, and then she said, “I did too!”  I was baffled by this, but she insisted that SHE had wet the bed, and woke up her mom, and asked to ahve the sheets changed.  She took the blame for it, and since she was the birthday girl, and awesome and fun, nobody teased her.  Not coincidentally, she’s still my best friend.

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

Well, in my other life I’m a mom, and that’s the most important job there is, as well as the most fun.  But if I weren’t an author, I’d probably be an English teacher of some kind.  I can’t get very far away from books and kids.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

Keep my mouth shut!  I’m a terrible interrupter.  I’d also like to learn to fly.  But I think you probably mean in a “taking a class” kind of way.  In which case, I’d love to be a carpenter.  I wish I could build things. I’d like to build a little house.

And the coolest place you’ve ever been?

Israel.  It’s a magical, ancient, amazing place. I love Jerusalem, but I also love a little place called Tzfat. I have some very special memories from there.

We loved your book! Is there a similar book from a different author that’d you’d recommend for kids who liked yours?

Well, the place to start is Edward Eager– with Half Magic and Magic by the Lake, and Seven Day Magic.  And Eager’s model/ideal was Edith Nesbit, who wrote Five Children and It (which I just wrote an introduction for a new edition of, actually).  They’re both amazing writers, but older.  For kids who liked Any Which Wall, and want something new, I might suggest Ellen Potter’s Olivia Kidney books.  They’re different from mine, but I think Ellen and I share a silly sense of humor. I love her writing.

What’s next?

Penny Dreadful!  I just turned in my new novel, about a girl who moves from a big mansion in The City to a small town in the mountains of Tennessee.  I also have a picture book coming out next year: Baxter, the pig who wanted to be kosher.

What do you wish we’d asked, but didn’t?

Nothing! These were wonderful questions!  Thanks so much…

The setting for Laurel’s next book, Penny Dreadful, as drawn by Laurel.  It’s a map of where the action takes place…an old house/estate called the Whipporwillows. She used this as she wrote to help keep track of her story.

Finally, for you author card lovers who just want the facts:

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
2. Author/Illustrator Talk: Chris Gall and Dinotrux
3. Author Talk: Fran Cannon Slayton and When the Whistle Blows

Orville and Wilbur Riot are two brothers who never stop. Never stop talking, stop joking, stop hatching plans. Whether it’s Pufferbelly Point Punt (popcorn table hockey) for breakfast or leading a lost mummy to the Egypt room at the museum, their exuberance, admiration for one another, and manic, funny antics are a hoot to read.
Colonel Mustard and I couldn’t stop giggling. One of our favorite parts:

“Orville starting scrubbing his toes with a toothbrush and singing.
We laughed.
Mom came in. ‘Orville! It’s disgusting to use your toothbrush for that.’
‘I’m not using my toothbrush,’ he said. ‘I’m using yours. And my piggies love it!’
Mom made Orville’s little piggies march over to his little piggy bank. He had to give her his own money to buy a new toothbrush.’

Pure, silly fun. We’re off to find Riot Brothers books #1-3.

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Mac Barnett
2. Book Look: Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom

So the question that begs to be asked–in these end-of-the-month-book-reports time at school–is: Am I still reading the book if I only read most of it? Or if I don’t read it in order from first page to last? What do you think? Some teachers would have a very hard time answering this.

Whether you call it reading the whole book or not, here are some recent reads of mine that are definitely worth taking a look at:

Darwin by Alice B. McGinty

Handwritten words of Charles Darwin show the evolution of his idea of the survival of the fittest.

 
The Story of Salt by Mark Kurlansky

The history of salt–from rock to seasoning to the revolutions and wars that have been fought over it. I had no idea.

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia by Sy Montgomery

Rare snow leopards! In Mongolia! With photos by Nic Bishop!

The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner

Mr. E and Colonel Mustard are Frog People, so we loved this book on the race to save frogs around the world from pesticides and pollution. The teacher in me loved the overview of the scientific process and also the multicultural cast of scientists. (The frogs are pretty cute, too.)

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley

After returning from China recently, this book–about how kids all over the world are so different and yet, so the same–really hit home.

Big, Bigger, Biggest! by Nancy Coffelt

Big, bigger, biggest…large, huge, enormous, gigantic! I’m handing this book to my Six Traits writing teachers for their next “word choice” lesson.

Related posts:

1. Favorite Reads of 2009
2. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
3. What’s Your Secret Site?

Cracker starts out life as a championship show dog, but then a broken leg sends her to twelve-year-old Willie and his family as a pet. But when Willie can’t keep her, she becomes a U. S. Army dog, assigned to newly-enlisted teenager, Rick Hanski. And there, they bond so tightly that they both end up surviving the horrors of the Vietnam War.

Mr. E and I loved this book, although I think it was for very different reasons. It was a hard sell for me at first. The style it’s written in reminded me of books from when I was kid. More description, more characters, more shifts of points of view, more…distance from what is happening. I’m not sure how to describe it. But it took me a while to connect to the story. And, anyway, it didn’t seem to bother Mr. E in the least. He loved the action and the single-mindedness of Cracker. I loved this window into the Vietnam War. There aren’t many kids’ books that are set in Vietnam during the war (I think I’ve only read Fallen Angels) and because of that, it was powerful and eye-opening for both of us. It also made Mr. E and I give our two dogs some extra loving every night. Even if they barely come when they are called, much less sniff out booby traps and save hundreds of lives.

Related posts:

1. Author Talk: Pamela Turner and The Frog Scientist
2. Book Look: Any Which Wall and Laurel Snyder
3. Book Look: When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

Of course, that’s not all When the Whistle Blows is about. It’s also about a small railroad town on the brink of extinction with the coming of the diesel engines. It’s about a headstrong boy growing up. And mostly, it’s about a son learning to love and respect his father as a person. In fact, it was some of these deeper themes that made Mr. E stumble. He’s used to reading books with clear-cut obvious conflicts and goals: a quest to get the golden chalice!, defeat the evil villain and save the world as we know it!, solve the mystery before the clock runs out! When we finished When the Whistle Blows, Mr. E paused and said, “I liked it, but I don’t really get what that book was about. I mean, I know what Jimmy wanted in each chapter, but what was the point of the whole book?” And then we proceeded to have a wonderful conversation about characters and people changing and growing up. It was lovely. Thank you, Fran Cannon Slayton.

More About When the Whistle Blows

• School Library Journal article
• Washington Post review
• Discussion Guide
• Fran Cannon Slayton’s website
• Video interview with the author

Related posts:

1. Favorite Reads of 2009
2. Author Talk: Fran Cannon Slayton and When the Whistle Blows
3. Nonfiction Monday

Well, those two have nothing on Miss Breakbone from Paul Fleischman’s The Dunderheads. Miss Breakbone has a real alligator for her alligator bag. She decorates her classroom with pictures of vicious predators. She gives herself gold stars when she makes kids cry. She has an electric chair. And, according to Miss Breakbone, she has never taught “such a scraping-together of fiddling, twiddling, time-squandering, mind-wandering, doodling, dozing, don’t-knowing dunderheads!”"

But Miss Breakbone goes too far one day when she confiscates a trash-to-treasure cat statue from one of her students, Theodore, who was saving it for his mother’s birthday present. Theodore, aka “Junkyard”, turns to our hero and narrator, the brilliant strategist “Einstein,” for help. Einstein enlists the expertise of the whole class to retrieve the cat from Miss Breakbone’s house. From “Hollywood” (who has watched every movie 11 times), to “Clips” (“His reading scores were low. His math scores were worse. But if they tested for paper-clip chains…”) to “Wheels” (who’s a bicycling nut), to “Pencil” (who can draw perfectly from memory), to “Spider” (who can climb anything), Einstein will need every Dunderhead and their crazy micro-talent to pull off the caper.

At 56 pages, The Dunderheads is longer than a typical picture book, and, while there’s enough action that younger kids will enjoy it, it’s audience really is older elementary kids with a little more experience under their belts. What kid hasn’t daydreamed of getting back at an adult who has done them wrong? This books taps right into that: readers can’t help but root for the underdog Dunderheads as they scheme to defeat evil Miss Breakbone.

Careful readers (especially grown-up ones) will find even more fun in the illustrations by David Roberts. Hollywood has posters up of a “West Side Anecdote.” One of Miss Breakbone’s gargoyles is yawning; the other is picking its nose. Miss Breakbone has a skull for a bedlamp. And my favorite: the fallen queen from Einstein’s chess board on the title page. That says it all, right there: “The Dunderheads were here!”

More about The Dunderheads

• School Library Journal (starred)
• Wisconsin State Journal
• Pink Me
• Just One More Book (podcast)
• Paul Fleischman’s website

And finally, the discussion question that’s begging to be asked after reading this book:

What would your classroom nickname be (have been)?

Related posts:

1. The Great Summer Reading Challenge
2. Every Reader Tells a Story
3. Author Talk: Eve B. Feldman

View all my reviews >>

Related posts:

1. Favorite Reads of 2009
2. Trading Books for Bathrooms
3. Book Look: You Are the First Kid on Mars by Patrick O’Brien