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This is one of the most transcendentally beautiful children’s books I’ve ever read. As a poet, Randall Jarrell gives every word a particular grace and spaciousness, and the illustrations by Maurice Sendak are peaceful and evocative.

The story begins with a hunter who lives alone on an island. Although his world is lovely, he has no one to share it with. Jarrell gives a sense of the hunter’s loneliness in a particularly memorable paragraph: “One winter night, as he looked at the star that, blazing coldly, made the belt and the sword of the hunter Orion, a great green meteor went slowly across the sky. The hunter’s heart leaped, he cried ‘Look, look!’ But there was no one to look.”

One night, as the hunter stands looking out over the sea, he hears a kind of burbling laughter arising from the waves. He returns night after night, and eventually becomes friends with an adventurous mermaid who wants to see what living on land is like. Together they begin a kind of family, to which is eventually added a baby lynx and a bear cub. Without being anthropomorphized, the two animals are fully realized characters, capable of both great kindness and foolishness. The adventures of this foursome are often funny and always moving because of the great love that binds them together. One of my favorite details in this wonderful book is that the mermaid is not afraid of making mistakes; they simply make her laugh!

My uncle gave me this book on my seventh birthday, and I have read it at least once a year (43!) since. Although it is a wonderful book for ages six to eight, it will enchant readers of any age. In fact, I read it often during my teens when I needed to be reassured by its serene sweetness.

Alix Pitcher

Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel

When enough of my students tell me a book is good, I like to get around to reading it at some point–first because it probably is good, and second because I want to know what they like. I have a very low willingness to suspend disbelief when it comes to anthrophmorphic tales (aw come-on, would a wolf really say something like that) but I had no trouble with Silverwing. Shade, the endearing juvenile bat, and his cold-hearted enemy Goth, the giant carnivorous jungle bat, were both completely believable for me.

Shade is a runt and as such he has a relentless need to prove he is as brave and as tough as the other juvenile bats. This need leads him to make a terrible mistake that puts his entire clan in grave danger. In the first book of this trilogy, Shade shows great courage and intelligence as he strives to redeem himself and protect his clan. Goth is only one of the overwhelming dangers Shade must outwit; the adventure is non-stop, very visual, and well-paced.

Silverwing is perfect for kids in grades four through eight who like adventurous stories about other species, for reluctant as well as experienced readers, for boys and girls. It will make them want to read the rest of the trilogy and want to know more about bats–try Shadows in the Night by Diane Ackerman or some of the ones listed on Anastasia Suen’s 5 Books blog.

Gaby Chapman

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

The Whipping Boy

I’ve adopted an orphan who I spank and punish every time my children misbehave. That way my children can learn something is wrong, but the only pain they suffer is one of sympathy. I’m kidding, of course. However, that is the basic premise of the book, The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman.

Whipping boys existed in the 15th and 16th centuries because the Divine Right of Kings decreed that to punish a prince would be the same as heresy. The whipping boys were usually actually of noble birth and quite close with the prince so that, in theory, the prince would care when their friends were beaten for their own misdeeds. In the Newberry award winning The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman, the whipping boy is instead an orphan of a rat catcher. The prince feels no sympathy towards the boy, is quite mischievous, and is only disappointed when his whipping boy does not cry when he is beaten. The royal rapscallion is so bored he decides to run away and drags his very reluctant whipping boy along with him. What follows is a romp of an adventure where the boys outwit kidnappers, escape through sewers and befriend pretty young bear tamers. This small book (89 pp) has the perfect children’s story arc with the prince eventually learning what friendship means and he and the whipping boy living happily ever after. I recommend this book for any age that can read at this level (4th grade reading level) as the ‘danger’ is all silly and fun.

- Jessica Wheeler