Your young fantasy acolyte will thrill to ‘Rowan of the Wood’ (Dalton Publishing, $14.95), a homegrown wizarding tale by Austin authors Ethan and Christine Rose. A contractor and college English teacher respectively by day, this husband-and-wife team make their debut with the story of Cullen, a 12-year-old misfit who finds a magic wand inhabited by the powerful sorcerer Rowan.

SHARYN WIZDA VANE: CHILDREN’S BOOKS (SOURCE ARTICLE)

The best kids books we didn’t get a chance to write about

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Yes, it’s just as you imagine: Nearly every day I open my mailbox to find boxes or padded envelopes filled with children’s books. The sheer abundance is a delight — and a drag. With so many books to consider and only a relative few inches of space to fill each month, there are, inevitably, casualties along the way, titles that are more than worthy but didn’t make the cut because of timing or theme. As we near year’s end (and as you steel yourself for the last few days’ worth of holiday shopping), here are a few of my favorites I’ve held on to. Their time, I’ve decided, is now:

Louise Erdrich, who is best known for her adult novels (“Love Medicine,” “The Beet Queen”), winds up her award-

winning trilogy for middle-graders with ‘The Porcupine Year’ (HarperCollins, $15.99), following 12-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe Indian family as they move westward from Minnesota in 1852. Full of historical detail but never pedantic, “Porcupine” entertains as it informs, laced with folktales from Omakayas’ elders and an acute sense of the natural world: “They woke covered by a blanket of yellow butterflies. Thousands of wings had fluttered down on them by night, and as the sun rose and warmed the creatures, they skipped everywhere, across the sand, over the light waves. Hundreds fanned their wings on the damp bark of the canoes, on the packs.” (Ages 8-12)

The appeal of Polly Horvath’s ‘My One Hundred Adventures’ (Schwartz & Wade, $16.99) is its quiet but keenly observed portrait of a tween becoming a young woman. Twelve-year-old Jane’s placid summer by the sea turns almost magical after she wishes to step beyond her comfort zone into the “know-not-what,” as National Book Award winner Horvath puts it. Horvath, who recently came through Austin on book tour, has a way with inner monologue, capturing that messy toggle between child and not-child with aplomb. “The library in summer is the most wonderful thing,” young Jane thinks, “because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long as they hold your interest, abandoning any that don’t, halfway or a quarter of the way through if you like, and store up all that knowledge in the happy corners of your mind for your own self and not to show off how much you know or spit it back at your teacher on a test paper.” (Ages 8-12)

Your young fantasy acolyte will thrill to ‘Rowan of the Wood’ (Dalton Publishing, $14.95), a homegrown wizarding tale by Austin authors Ethan and Christine Rose. A contractor and college English teacher respectively by day, this husband-and-wife team make their debut with the story of Cullen, a 12-year-old misfit who finds a magic wand inhabited by the powerful sorcerer Rowan. Once Rowan is unleashed, Cullen’s transformation begins — from shy boy to the human host for this centuries-old magician. (Ages 8-12. Parents should know there are a few romantic references that felt more adult to this admittedly overprotective mom; screen for your own red flags.)

You might have seen artist Bob Staake’s work in The New Yorker (he created the recent image of a moonlike “O” rising over the Lincoln Memorial that Time named the best magazine cover of the year). His new book, ‘The Donut Chef’ (Golden Books, $14.99), employs retro, poster-style graphics to tell the story of a pair of dueling bake shops. Witty rhymes beg to be chanted aloud:

They tried new shapes beyond just rings —

Their donuts were such crazy things!

Some were square and some were starry,

Some looked just like calamari!l

Any story that features a “donut dressed just like a Shriner” has my vote, frankly. And the fact that the duel’s winning creation is, contrary to expectations, quite simple, feels perfect amid the ever-increasing calls for simplicity in these shaky economic times. (Ages 3-5)

At first glance, Mark Reibstein’s ‘Wabi Sabi’ (Little, Brown, $16.99) looks like one of those books well-meaning non-parents buy for young children — impossibly beautiful but not very practical. Could the story of a Japanese cat on a quest to explain her unusual name — the titular outlook that finds the beauty in the broken — really hold a preschooler’s interest? My 5-year-old test case skews more “Kung Fu Panda” than contemplative, but Caldecott winner Ed Young’s lavish collages caught his eye, and Reibstein’s examples of wabi sabi intrigued him. The brown, decaying leaves amid the green, the worn pottery cup offered with hospitality and the ripples disturbing the surface of the water after a frog dives into a pond — such imperfections are embodied in wabi sabi, an elusive concept that this book succeeds in celebrating. Search out this lovely picture book and try snaring the mystery yourself. (Ages 3 to 5)

Kidcetera

Seeking an official holiday title for someone’s stocking? Here are a few of the most inviting new Christmas books: ‘Amazing Peace’ (Schwartz & Wade, $17.99) is the book version of poet-to-the-stars Maya Angelou’s ode to holiday community that she unveiled at the 2005 White House tree-lighting ceremony. Gorgeously illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, the book includes a CD of Angelou reading her work. \u2026 Blast away that holiday ennui with ‘The Dinosaurs’ Night Before Christmas’ (Chronicle Books, $18.99), a rollicking prehistoric take on the classic, set in the American Museum of Natural History. Penned by former docent Anne Muecke and brought to life with color-drenched illustrations by Nathan Hale, the book also includes a CD with “Today” show personality Al Roker reading the text and dinosaur-themed versions of Christmas carols. \u2026 Dinos not your thing? I can’t resist Austin librarian Philip Yates’ devilishly yo-ho-ho version of the poem: ‘The Pirate’s Night Before Christmas’ (Sterling, $14.95). \u2026 Lemony Snicket returns with a typically sardonic view of the holidays in the very funny ‘The Lump of Coal’ (HarperCollins, $12.99). \u2026 Make the pint-sized fairy princess in your house swoon with ‘Priscilla and the Great Santa Search’ (Little, Brown, $16.99), an homage to pink and pluck.