A Gift of Her Own by Wendy Pini, Father Tree Press, 1995.

What do you do when someone laughs at something that’s close to your heart, until you think your heart will break? Run away from home, into the forest, to live on wild berries for the rest of your life?

That is what young Elmy tries to do in A Gift of Her Own, a fantasy picture book from the creators of the Elfquest graphic novels. Illustrated with Wendy Pini’s achingly beautiful artwork, the story carries an important message for young children with creative souls.

Elmy is a poor child in an alternate world, the World of Two Moons. When she is mocked for a button necklace that she made for herself, she flees into the forest, vowing never to return. There she meets some mysterious people — the wolfriding elves that she believed were only legend. The gentle treeshaper, Redlance, takes her deep into the elfin holt, where she meets two youngsters, Ember and Suntop. Elmy soon finds the values of her human world turned around, for the elves trade furs and meat with the trolls for gold and jewels that they view as mere decoration, while Elmy’s handmade necklace is treated with respect. “Elmy made that!” Ember says, holding back the greedy troll child, Trinket, who makes a grab for the necklace. “It’s special!”

“You are a Maker,” Redlance tells her. “With such a gift, you’ll never want for anything. Someone will always have a use for what you can do. There aren’t many Makers, after all.”

In the 1980’s, Wendy and Richard Pini published the first of their fantasy graphic novels that becaome the Elfquest series. “Fantasy with teeth,” they called it, for the Wolfriders weren’t the sort of elves to just drift around the forest looking ethereal. The ancestors of the wolfriders were forced to live in a savage world, and adapted by becoming creatures of the night, bonding with wolves and learning to hunt as the wolves do. The novels live on, supported by a fan base playing out their out their own Wolfrider fantasies in online holts all across the Internet. While the original Elfquest novels deal with adult subjects, A Gift of Her Own brings the world of the Wolfriders to children in this gentle and lovely picture book.

Where’s My Cow? by Terry Pratchett, illustrations by Melvyn Grant (HarperCollins, 2005).

Terry Pratchett, in his brilliant Discworld novels, created an alternate universe in which the world really is flat, wizards spend a great deal of time not doing magic (because it causes no end of trouble, and there’s always a good dinner at the Unseen University to attend to), vampires take the no-bloodsucking pledge, Death rides a pale horse (named Binky), and beneath it all, magic gnaws at the edges until they fray, and someone must step in.

In addition to his mainstream fantasy novels, Pratchett has written other Discworld books for children, including the Tiffany Aching books (The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, both starring Discworld’s infamous Pictsies). This is his first foray into picture books.

While avid Discworld fans may be disappointed that Melvyn Grant’s illustrations give us a very different Sam Vimes than the classic Jack Kidby vision they’re used to, the illustrations are charming, even if the picture of Foul Ol’ Ron might give a sensitive child (or adult!) nightmares.

Where’s My Cow? plays on a theme running through Pratchett’s newest novel, Thud!, in which Sam Vimes, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch (and, incidentally, at this point in the series, His Grace, the Duke of Ankh-Morpork, Sir Samuel Vimes) must get home at 6:00, no matter what, to read “Where’s My Cow?” to his small son, Young Sam. In Where’s My Cow?, as Vimes reads, Grant’s illustrations show the cartoon animals from Young Sam’s book coming to life, perhaps in Young Sam’s imagination.

But Vimes isn’t satisfied with the book, even though Young Sam loves how Daddy does the animal noises: horses, sheep, hippos, and more. Young Sam, thinks Vimes, is a city child. He hasn’t been raised around farm animals — he just eats them. For Young Sam, animals go sizzle.

So Vimes creates his own story, “Where’s My Daddy?” and takes the reader on a tour to see some of Ankh-Morpork’s more colorful characters: Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler and his dreadful sausage-inna-bun, Foul Ol’ Ron (Famous quote: “Bugrit, bugrit, milennium hand and shrimp!”), the Patrician, and more.

Discworld fans will love this book as a way to introduce young readers to Pratchett’s world. Youngsters with a quirky sense of humor may also find the book appealing. It may be best followed up with more forays into Discworld for young readers, such as the Tiffany Aching novels, or the Discworld cartoon DVDs, Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music.

The Neat Line by Pamela Duncan Edwards, illustrations by Diana Cain Bluthenthal (HarperCollins, 2005).

When you’re born just a little scribble, there’s not much you can do, but as you grow into a neat line, you may find you can work wonders.

This whimsical remake of Mother Goose rhymes takes the reader on a scribbles journey. The young scribble practiced and practiced until it became a neat line. Even the line’s handwriting improves down a sheet of paper in one of Bluthenthal’s illustrations.

The neat line, ready to become part of a real book, takes a journey into Mother Goose, where it encounters familiar characters and their troubles. But rather than leave Little Boy Blue by the haystack to get in trouble for losing the sheep and cows, or letting Jack and Jill roll down the hill again, or let the contrary Mary’s flowers dry up, or let Miss Muffet be frightened away from her meal by the spider once again, the neat line steps in and neatly helps them solve their problems.

After a hard day’s work, the line draws itself an nice, quiet ending.

Bluthenthal’s simple and colorful illustrations and Edwards’ spare text pair up in a clever tale that will appeal to youngsters who may feel they’re only unformed scribbles themselves.

 Don’t Know Much About Mummies by Kenneth C. Davis (HarperCollins, 2005)

Mummies: engrossing, or gross-out? Readers may react both ways in this lavishly-illustrated picture book by Ken Davis. With his trademark question-and-answer format, Davis explores the myths, facts, and mysteries of human-made mummies.

 Beginning with Egyptian mummies, Davis explains the religious reasons behind the ancient Egyptian practice of mummification, then explains in detail the process of reducing a human body to a preserved mummy that can endure for thousands of years. The process is far more complex than just wrapping a dead body in cloth, as many young readers may imagine. Rather, the body underwent a painstaking disassembly and drying procedure long before the wrappers went on. Readers will also learn about Egyptian funerals, and the rituals of paying respect to the mummified dead — not to mention the disrespect paid by tomb raiders, some of whom were the very people who helped build the tombs, and therefore knew all the secrets!

From Egypt, Davis takes the reader on a world-wide mummy tour. He includes the Chinchorro, Paracas, and Inca mummies of South America, mysterious European-type people mummified in China, charcoal-covered and jade-covered bodies also in China, bog mummies in northern Europe, frozen Inuit mummies in Greenland, the famous Iceman from Italy, and many more.

S.D. Schindler’s illustrations throughout, some cartoony and some life-like, add liveliness and interest to the text. Schindler never shies away from reality, giving before-and-after images of mummified bodies, and realistic sketches of many different mummies. He also manages to lighten the mood with illustrated mummy jokes (How do you know when a mummy is angry? She flips her lid!).

For kids who are curious about Egypt or mummies in general, Davis’ highly-accessible text and Schindler’s engaging illustrations provide a terrific way to explore the fascinating history of mummies. The book would be useful for teachers who want to prepare world history units, or homeschool parents whose kids are interested in ancient history.

Review of Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin, illustrated by Wendell Minor (HarperCollins, 2005)  

 Those of us old enough to remember the moon landings of 1969 know the name of Buzz Aldrin, one of the Apollo 11 crew. In Reaching for the Moon, Aldrin tells his own story of how he went from a boy in the street, staring up at the moon, to becoming one of the first to walk on the moon.

Aldrin recalls his boyhood, and his dreams that he pursued, each a lesson in perseverence. From clinging to a rock collection despite a plunge in a lake, to riding his bicycle alond across the George Washington Bridge into New York City on a twenty-mile adventure, to graduating from West Point and becoming a fighter pilot, each time Aldrin set one of these goals for himself, he pressed forward until he achieved it. When he read of the first American astronaut training program, and learned that a friend of his was applying to become an astronaut, Aldrin realized that astronauts weren’t supermen. They were ordinary men like him. There was no reason he couldn’t become an astronaut, too. He applied to the program, was turned down, and applied again and was accepted.

Aldrin then tells the tale of his training for the Gemini and Apollo missions. Throughout the narrative, he inserts telling details that bring space flight to light: the liftoff that was so gentle, he had to look at the instruments to know he was on his way; looking out the window and seeing that he could cover the earth with his thumb; trying to force a flagpole into the moon’s dusty surface and finding it would only go in a few inches.

Reaching for the Moon would make great reading for classrooms during units on space travel or U.S. history. It’s also an excellent inspirational book to teach children the value of pursuing their dreams and always doing their best. One doesn’t reach the moon — or any other high-flying goal — without working hard.

This little picture book came in a package from HarperCollins. I looked at the title and thought, “Cookies? Okay — so what about cookies?” Then I saw the sub-title and paged through it, thinking, “What a fabulous concept!” It’s one of those books that makes every author say, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

Cookies: Bite-size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jane Dyer (HarperCollins, 2006) is one of the best concept books I’ve seen in some time. On each page, cookies are used as a familiar vehicle to teach important lessons about life: concepts such as “fair” and “unfair,” what “respect” means, and what “courageous” and “honest” look like. Here’s a sampling:

Cooperate means, How about you add the chips while I stir?

Trustworthy means, If you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie.

The text is simple, but the lessons sublime, each a tasty bite of knowledge to help youngsters understand important values. The watercolor illustrations are sweet, depicting a colorful fantasy world where children interact with well-dressed, sentient animals.

This little book would be a fabulous gift from grandparents. It would be a great Sunday school reading, for though there are no overt religious messages, the values expressed are universal and presented in an easy-to-digest form. Kindergarten and primary teachers will appreciate the simplicity of the message, and might have their own student create more cookie lessons, or create their own illustrations of the concepts in the books. And of course parents will find this a calming book for bedtime reading.

All in all, Cookies: Bite-size Life Lessons gets top marks from me.

 Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself by Maxine Anderson(Nomad Press, 2006)

As a science instructor, I’m always on the lookout for good resource books; those with interesting activities that aren’t just the same old thing warmed over: the same activities that all the other books have, the same incorrect instructions for chromatography, the same incorrect use of the Bernoulli effect to explain flight.

Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself (Nomad Press, 2006) is refreshingly different. Author Maxine Anderson has gone to da Vinci’s original drawings and has created interesting ways to interpret the inventive sketches in models or full-sized working replicas using everyday household materials. The book includes more than 30 projects.

The inventions range from art to science to practical tools. Anderson includes instructions for making a perspectograph that helps young artists make perspective drawings. There is a recipe for making egg tempera, the medium used by the artists who created church icons. Readers can build a camera obscura, make weather instruments, make their own working monkey wrench, or build walk-on-water shoes and finned gloves. There are instructions for making models of some of da Vinci’s war machines, including a safety bridge, a trebuchet, and a human-powered tank. All projects include detailed step-by-step instructions with illustrations and diagrams that make the instructions easy to follow. The detail of the instructions make it clear that the author has actually tried these projects herself.

What makes this book valuable to teachers and homeschool parents is the integration of science, art, and history, a terrific tool for building thematic units about da Vinci or about the Renaissance in general.Throughout the book, readers will find anecdotes about life during da Vinci’s times and about other artists and inventors of the Renaissance. da Vinci’s visionary “nothing is impossible” attitude shines through, making the book an inspiration to young inventors.

I’ll start off with one of our own: Daredevils of the Air (Avisson Press, 2003). Written to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk, Daredevils grew out of the research I did on several books on avation for the school and library markets. The stories I’d found of daring and often foolhardy adventures were incredible. The dedication of so many aviators to their craft and the risks they would take made for some amazing stories.Out of the dozens of stories and personalities in my files, I chose those that were real daredevils, either deliberately seeking danger, such as stunt pilot Lincoln Beachey, or those who by accident found themselves in hair-raising situations, such as the mid-air oil change performed over the Tasman Sea by Charles Kingford-Smith and P.G. Taylor. I wanted people who overcame incredible odds to make a “first,” such as Bessie Coleman, the first African-American to earn an international pilot’s licence, or Harriet Quimby, first woman to fly across the English Channel. Amelia Earhart made the book for her courageous “firsts,” including the first flight from Hawaii to California.

Here’s the whole list of fifteen amazing aviators in this book:

1. The Wright Brothers: The story of the first flight at Kitty Hawk.
2. Alberto Santos-Dumont: A Brazilian in Paris and avid dirigible pilot who was the first to build and fly a working airplane in Europe, shortly after the Wright Brothers’ flight, but before the world had heard of them.
3. Glenn Curtiss: An absolute dynamo of a man who invented the banked turn, invented float planes, and almost single-handedly developed a Naval flight program.
4. Lincoln Beachey: Stunt pilot extraordinaire, who began his flying career by landing a homemade dirigible on the White House lawn just to call on the President.
5. Louis Blériot: French pilot who was the first to fly across the English Channel, beating his rival, Hugh Latham.
6. Cal Rodgers: A crash-by-crash tale of the first person to cross the United States by air.
7. Harriet Quimby: First female stunt pilot in America, and the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
8. Eddie Rickenbacker: World War I flying ace.
9. Bessie Coleman: Queen of the barnstormers, and first licenced African-American pilot.
10. “Slats” Rodgers: A stunt pilot and bootlegger who’d do just about anything in the air for a buck.
11. Charles Lindbergh: Stories from his airmail pilot days, when survival rates were worse for airmail pilots than for pony express riders in the old west.
12. Amelia Earhart: A story of devotion to the science of aeronautics — but never forget the fun.
13. Beryl Markham: The only female bush pilot in Africa in her day, and the first to fly the Atlantic solo from east to west.
14. Charles Kingford-Smith and P.G. Taylor: How the first attempt at an airmail run from Australia to Tasmania would have ended in a crash in the sea, had Taylor not performed a mid-air oil change.
15. Douglas Corrigan: The famous “Wrong Way” Corrigan and his “accidental” Atlantic flight. That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.