black dog

I had a lovely day at KidLitCon.  The panels were fun, useful and interesting, the keynote speech accessible, and the people (old friends and new) wonderful.  To top it off, I stayed the night with my cousins and their two children in Brooklyn.  I’ve found myself unable to visit those kids without a picture book gift in hand.  It’s too much fun to make the selection, and beside that, I get to read a(nother) book!  This is how I discovered Levi Pinfold’s charming Black Dog.

An enormous black dog and a very tiny little girl star in this offbeat tale about confronting one’s fears.

When a huge black dog appears outside the Hope family home, each member of the household sees it and hides. Only Small, the youngest Hope, has the courage to face the black dog, who might not be as frightening as everyone else thinks.

Black Dog opens with a… black dog.  A rather large one.  The dog is sniffing around the Hope house on a snowy winter morning when Mr. Hope spots it – and is alarmed – the dog is the size of a tiger!  As the rest of the family wake up, one by one, their exclamations of surprise seem to cause the dog to grow, until it’s the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (!).  By the time Small (for short) Hope wakes up, the rest of her family is cowering underneath a blanket.  It is Small who bundles up in her winter gear and heads out the door to confront the monstrous dog.  Her adventure through the winter morning puts things in perspective, and when she arrives back at home she has conquered the thing her family feared and found herself a new friend.

Oh, I LIKED this picture book!  The story itself is timeless, and will appeal especially to dog-lovers, youngest children, and parents and kids who enjoy pictures that you can pour over for hours.  Resourcefulness and facing big fears are the two themes, and they are complemented by excellent artwork and touches of humor.  It’s a beautiful book and a worthy one too.

Back to Pinfold’s illustrations: they are imaginative and not all what you’d expect.  There is of course the enormous dog, but there are also spreads demonstrating the family’s reaction to it.  The Hope house interior is a fascinating and whimsical place, and the wintry outdoors is full of animals and pathways that only a child would recognize.  The book as a whole is a delightful piece of art, and I only wish I knew more children to gift it to.

Recommended for: children (and the adults who read to them) who like picture-rich books, and anyone who needs a dose of fearlessness.

avocado and gouda grilled cheese sandwich

I’m going to cheat a little bit this week.  And you are going to be complicit.  Okay?  Okay.  (thanks, you’re rad!)  As you read this, I’m in New York City for KidLitCon (a one-day conference for those who blog about children’s lit), an event that I’ve been looking forward to for a while.  I also managed to miss work on Wednesday with a migraine.  Baking?  Farthest thing from my mind.  In fact, my only food prep this week involved cheese, avocado, and nutty bread.  This is where the cheating comes in (we’re going to pretend that it counts for Weekend Cooking!).

Avocado and Gouda Grilled Cheese Sandwich

INGREDIENTS

baking spray

2 slices of oat nut bread (or other bread with crunchy texture and mild taste)

1 tablespoon butter (salted)

1/2 avocado, sliced thinly

1-2 generous slices creamy Gouda cheese (mine is from Spring Gap Mountain Creamery, via farmers’ market)

DIRECTIONS

Place an omelet pan or skillet over medium-low heat.

Spread (or in my case, chop!) butter onto slices of bread, and then layer the Gouda and avocado evenly onto one side.  Place other slice – butter side down – on the top of the pile of ingredients.  Squish down a bit with your hand or a spatula, and then spray the top slice evenly with baking spray.  Flip into the pan, spray side down.  Spray (new) top slice with baking spray.  Turn sandwich after 3-4 minutes, or when dark brown.  When grilled to your satisfaction, remove from pan and slice.  Wait a minute for the hot cheese to cool a bit, and enjoy!

Grilled cheese sandwiches and omelets are my go-to dinners when stressed and tired.  You could, of course, make the grilled cheese with any combination of cheese, bread and filling, but this one is pretty freaking delicious (and looks pretty, too).  Besides: avocado nutrients! Okay, now I’m reaching.  Tell me, what are your favorite grilled cheese combinations?

Recommended for: a quick, delicious meal when time is of the essence and simplicity is the order of the day, for that random cheese craving, and a decadent take on an old standby.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking.

the cavendish home for boys and girls

I don’t like scary stories.  Or at least that’s what I tell myself.  I’ve never read Stephen King, never finished an R.L. Stine book (I know!), and I can’t watch horror films to save my life.  That said, I have some tolerance for creepy tales, because I read dark fantasy fairly often (zombies, too!).  Maybe it’s a thing I’ve made up in my head?  In any case, when I saw the summary and cover art for Claire Legrand’s debut, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, I knew right away that I couldn’t let a little squeamishness get in the way.  It looked too fun to be anything but good.

Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster—lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does, too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that Mrs. Cavendish’s children’s home is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out…different, or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria, even if it means getting a little messy.

Victoria Wright is always right.  She is the best at school, she is her parents’ pride and joy, and she faces challenges with imperturbable calm, because she knows she’ll get her way.  In fact, the only blot in her ledger is her only friend, Lawrence.  But Lawrence is more of a project than a friend – isn’t he?  That’s what Victoria tells herself until one fateful day, when he goes missing.  And Victoria must know what has happened to him.  After all, he was her friend.  What she finds is a deep, rotten mystery surrounding the Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls.  And something sinister has taken note of her search…

The hook in this tale is too-perfect Victoria.  She rigid and a bit too intelligent, which makes her somewhat bizarre.  Her reactions range from logical and funny to ridiculous.  It’s a good combination for a middle grade book, and the result is a stylized story that reads like a classic.  Beyond Victoria, what kept me reading was the clever and sinister way the story unfolded.  I needed to know how it would end, if Lawrence would survive, and what it would take for Belleville to return to ‘normal.’  IF it could, even.

One lovely surprise in the book? The illustrations by Sarah Watts – done in black and white and meant not only to reel in the reluctant chapter book reader, but also add to the atmosphere.  Watts’ art reminded me a bit of the illustrations in the Chronicles of Narnia books – just a bit of a scene to aid your imagination in picturing a slice of the fantastic or remind you that these characters are quite normal, thank you.

In all, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is a well-written and slightly gruesome adventure that will give you delightful shivers and possibly send you to the store for more bug spray.  I found it immensely enjoyable, even thought I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at (much less eat!) a certain candy again.  Claire Legrand has written the perfect Halloween tale for someone who isn’t sure they like creepy stories at all.

Recommended for: fans of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and classic children’s horror, anyone who may find themselves influenced by beautiful cover art and extremely confident girl heroines, and readers of all ages who like their stories a little bizarre, a lot dark, and all the way clever.

waiting on wednesday (36)

I’m participating today in "Waiting On" Wednesday. It is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, and its purpose is to spotlight eagerly anticipated upcoming releases.

I’ve never read Brenna Yovanoff’s books, but I’ve heard great things about them.  Great and creepy things (that’s a pretty decent combination, if you ask me…).  I’ve always meant to pick up her books, but haven’t followed through.  Enter a special breakfast during BEA put on by the folks at Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab in honor of The Curiosities, and a couple of minutes spent talking with Yovanoff about her latest projects… and I immediately knew that Paper Valentine would live on my wishlist until it made its debut.  I’m even more excited now to see its beautiful cover and read the synopsis.  Paper Valentine will be published by Razorbill (Penguin), and releases on January 8, 2013.

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record.  The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls. 

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one.  Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders?  Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness. 

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets.  She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

What books are you waiting on?