Americas

Materials from the Americas

Green

Die cut pages bring surprise after surprise in this magical new book from the “Queen of the concept book”—an intricate and satisfying homage to green, the color of all creation. How many kinds of green are there? There’s the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea. In her newest book, Caldecott and Geisel Honor Book author Laura Vaccaro Seeger fashions an homage to a single color and, in doing so, creates a book that will delight and, quite possibly astonish you.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 4

The Smart Princess, And Other Deaf Tales

A unique and much-needed collection, The Smart Princess takes readers inside the fantasies, dreams and disappointments of young people who are deaf. This book is written and illustrated by winners of the Ladder Awards, organized by the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf. In one tale a princess runs away when her intolerant aunt forbids her to sign. Another story looks at the experience of being a deaf child at a hearing school. Two strangefriendrs, one giant and one tiny, become friends despite their difficulties in seeing each other. In another, a spaceship lands on a planet of the Deaf, forcing hearing astronauts to reconsider their ways. And in a poetic adventure, an imaginary tiger wreaks havoc.

See the review at WOW Review Volume 5, Issue 4

Waiting For No One

Taylor Jane Simon is an eighteen-year-old girl with Asperger’s Syndrome who has a refreshingly different view of the people she encounters and the life she wants to have. Young adult readers will identify with Taylor’s struggle for independence and self-control, and empathize as she outlines the ways—both positive and negative– that her Asperger’s Syndrome affects her daily life. Connecting with a play by Samuel Beckett, Taylor explores a fear of solitary existence while reaching out to a world at times perplexing. Most important, Taylor wants to be seen as an individual, not as a stereotypical “person with special needs,” or a rare wild flower—images that haunt her from the past. A cameo performance by Taylor’s new gerbil — Harold Pinter– adds further emphasis to themes of existentialism and humour.

See the review at WOW Review Volume 5, Issue 4

The Lovely Shoes

Can the right pair of shoes make *anyone* feel beautiful? Franny is constantly embarrassed by two things in her life. One is her right foot, which curls in from a birth defect, so she has to wear ugly, heavy orthopedic shoes. And the other is her mother Margaret: beautiful, extravagant, flamboyant — *mortifying*, in their small Ohio town. Franny’s first school dance is a disaster, so Margaret announces her latest crazy plan: They will travel to Italy to meet Salvatore Ferragamo, who will sculpt a pair of slippers especially for Franny. The idea is outrageous. The trip is expensive. And the experience changes Franny’s life forever.

See the review at WOW Review Volume 5, Issue 4