That Canine Classmate Is Back

Having a dog as a schoolmate is the most natural thing in the world for students at Champlain Elementary.  When Bailey (Scholastic Press, August 2011)(review here) written and illustrated by Harry Bliss was introduced to readers, I can imagine them wishing they could attend class with this comical four-footed, furry student.  Never a dull moment tops the agenda of days spent with Bailey.

In this companion title, Bailey at the Museum (Scholastic Press), Harry Bliss places his canine character with his school chums on a tour of the Museum of Natural History.  Field trip fun is in the offing.  Miss Smith, the epitome of Educator of the Year, is one very calm (usually), patient lady.

No one is more elated about this new adventure than Bailey.  Tail wagging like brushes in a car wash, Bailey can hardly await to arrive.  With instructions to select a buddy and stay in...Bailey...what are you doing in the fountain?

All begins well until the group, lead by the museum guide, stands before the bony Tyrannosaurus rex.  Bones plus dogs equals sheer satisfaction except in a museum exhibit.  Shouts, gasps, and one guard with a ladder saves the day and the dog.

Touring with Bailey is his new partner...you guessed it, the guard.  Lunch is a bonus for Bailey; the guy has a huge heart.  Doggy kisses are the dessert of the day.

From the Stone Age to the Native American exhibit complete with a totem pole, artifacts and a tepee the visit continues.  Wait a minute...where's Bailey?  He's snoozing away inside until the clever guard utters the one word all dogs jump to---SQUIRREL!

Despite their scurrying the class has disappeared.  But everyone knows, no nose is like a pooch's nose.  Rescued becomes the rescuer and a friendship is forged.


Harry Bliss uses one or two short, simple sentences for each of his illustrations as his narrative text.  Interspersed in his visuals are Bailey's thoughts in speech bubbles as well as other character's thoughts and dialogue which are similarly shown. It's in these additions readers are enticed to participate in the story and love being there.  While seeming to be as human as the other students Bailey's actions and unspoken words are all dog.  Hilarity abounds.

Museum guide:  Clown fish have orange and white coloring and live in reefs.

Bailey:  I wonder if they miss the circus?


According to an interview given at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast on April 2, 2009, Bliss states his usual medium is black ink and watercolor, having mastered this technique and created his own notable style over the course of his career.  A sense of movement is prevalent throughout the book with the alteration in perspective, extent of the illustrations on the pages (size), use of white space and Bailey's ever present tail wagging merrily.  The jacket and cover art, like the narrative, give readers a hint of Bliss's keen sense of humor. On the back Bailey is shown peering from behind an ancient vase encased in glass.  Pictured on the vase is a toga-wearing dog chasing a squirrel; bones completing the design at the top.

Attention to detail invites readers to pause or reread.  On the school bus a student is reading The New Yorkshire while others read graphic novels and chapter books.  On the guard's ladder is Warning: No Dancing.  Beneath the progression of mankind painting hanging on the wall is the class walking in a line--guard, Miss Smith, students, tallest to shortest, with Bailey leading.  The comparison is grin-worthy.


The combination of Harry Bliss's wit and artistic talent gives readers another grand episode in the life of this irresistible dog who loves school and everything it includes.  Bailey at the Museum is one trip you won't want to miss.  After all, he's just your average student...with a tail, paws, big black-tipped nose and a bright red collar.  This guy has captured my heart.

For another more recent interview of Harry Bliss follow this link.

Enjoy this short video of Harry Bliss drawing Bailey.

Average Is For Mathematics, Not People

Back in the 1960s my Mom told me that my facial features were classic. Classic?  What did that mean?  I'm sure that would have been fine if I had been living in ancient Rome or Greece rather than attending junior high school.  We all know middle school, junior high school, high school, those preteen and teen years can be touch and go, a whole lot of the time; trying to figure out who you are, liking yourself on the inside and outside.

Being smack dab in the center of any description can be heartening or disheartening in the measure of a breath.  Andrew Clements, author of Frindle, The Landry News, The Last Holiday Concert, and No Talking (among many others), clearly has a handle on the ins and outs of life in school for students.  Last month About Average (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), his newest title, was released.  Protagonist, Jordan Johnston, has the distinct label of being average.

It was a sunny spring morning, but there was murder in the air.

No, this is not a mystery story but this first sentence gets your attention right away.  It leads into a description of Jordan's skills, or lack thereof, in the elementary school orchestra.  This one particular day in her sixth grade year, coming to a close, will be one not only Jordan but her entire community will remember.

What Jordan desires above all else is to excel at one thing before this year is over.  She's hoping it will be her violin playing.  As most people eventually come to know, wanting and doing might not come as quickly or as easily as one would desire.

To complicate her endeavors her list of three, Things I'm Good At, Things I'm Okay At and Things I Stink At, has fallen into the hands of Marlea Harkins, a mean girl who bullies Jordan (for reasons unknown to her) in the most subtle of ways.  Another welcome, but nonetheless, distraction is Jonathan Cardley, who Jordan believes is the most perfect boy in her class.  The final hindrance comes at the hands of Mother Nature; the heat in Salton, Illinois is spiking.

As the day progresses readers are privy to Jordan's thought processes about her classmate relationships, flashbacks of events earlier in the year and her musings about her strengths and weaknesses.  It's the core of her character, what she wants to be, what she won't do, that shines.  When disaster strikes, it's one of those Things I'm Good At which gives her the confidence to be glad about who she is.

Andrew Clements speaks to the universal hopes and fears of middle grade students through his apt descriptions of the typical happenings in a school setting.  He most definitely has his fingers on the pulse of how they think and feel.  His characters are believable, real, in every sense of the word.  Adults in the story are not cardboard caricatures but play relevant roles; parents who care but are not quite as careful as they could be, a mindful meteorologist and a reading teacher whose passion is catching.

Clements pacing is effective, blending and shifting various elements of the storyline through chapter changes.  Readers can see what Jordan is experiencing currently as well as what happened previously. A tension of sorts is also created by what we know but Jordan does not; what is taking place outside the walls of the school.

Here are a couple of passages from the pages of this title.

Jordan wished that all the really pretty girls would disappear, one by one, until she was left as the cutest girl at school.  Then Jonathan Cardley would be asking some other girl, "Hey, have you seen Jordan?"
A lot of girls would have to vanish.

Books kidnapped Jordan the same way her memories did.  Starting a new book was like jumping into a rushing stream--something she wished she could do right about then.  She was still sweating.

Soft, expressive illustrations by Mark Elliot are found on twelve single pages throughout the title further illuminating the narrative flow.

Within 120 pages Andrew Clements is able to bring to readers exactly what they need; having proven time and time again, this is his true gift.   About Average is so real you can almost taste it; the perfect piece of life's pie.  Everyone does have something at which they excel.  Finding it is life's journey.

By following the link attached to Andrew Clements's name above you can explore his website.  By following this link you can browse inside About Average courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

The Force Is Still With Us-Stronger Than Ever

There are two, of many, things that have stood the test of time: Star Wars and the Japanese art of paper folding, origami.  The first's popularity has never diminished in thirty-five years and the love of shaping the latter has continued for centuries.  What these two cultural icons of human history have in common is the widely and wildly popular middle grade book series created by the mind of Tom Angleberger; an energetic, innovative look at a group of middle school students.

Now a little more than two years after the publication of the first book, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda in March of 2010, followed by Darth Paper Strikes Back in August of 2011, the third volume, The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee (Amulet Books), amid much anticipation, was released this month. Consumed in a single sitting (I could not stop reading.), this book makes one of my Dad's favorite sayings, "Anticipation is greater than realization" not ring true in any way, shape or form.  The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee far exceeds what I might have imagined it to be.

Even if readers have not read the previous two books in the series, the first four pages offer an explanation of events up to this point in an upbeat, conversational tone.

Every case file begins with a question....
The first time it was "Is Origami Yoda real?"
Then "Will Darth Paper destroy Origami Yoda?"
It looked like THIS case file was going to start-and end-with the question:
How can you have a case file without Dwight?

The entire cast of characters at McQuarrie Middle School has returned minus Dwight.  Dwight, the guy with the origami Yoda finger puppet, eccentric but seeming to get to the heart of any situation through the voice of Yoda, is attending Tippett Academy having been suspended from McQuarrie until January.  On the second day sans Dwight, the crew has gathered in the library, before morning classes, contemplating their boredom when Sara, a neighbor of Dwight's and Tommy's crush, strolls in with big news.  That morning Dwight tossed a plastic baggie out his bedroom window containing another finger puppet--a Wookiee, Fortune Wookiee, a cootie catcher like none other.

This newest member of the paper Star Wars menagerie is to only be used for emergencies per Dwight's instructions to Sara.  Plus without the intercession of the school librarian, Mrs. Calhoun, Principal Rabbski nearly had Fortune Wookiee banned.  It gets even better when Sara reveals Han Foldo, another puppet who will interpret Chewbacca's unique language.

What follows is a book jam-packed with episodes as one student after another presents Sara with problems needing answers that typically might plague students; a boy worried a secret will be revealed, a sixth grade girl who has a crush on a boy who doesn't even know she exists, or a boy terrified of eating his grandmother's traditional Thanksgiving culinary speciality.  As in the previous two titles each chapter is written in the voice of a specific character with comments by Tommy and Harvey at the end.  Interspersed among these are chapters about worrisome changes in Dwight.

Something not quite right is in the air at McQuarrie Middle School.  The mystery of Dwight's apparent new normalcy is not the only "game afoot".  In an ending where characters readers have come to know and yes, love, the Force is strong...and as we know, Yoda is never wrong.

Tom Angleberger is one of those authors who nails life and the special lingo in a middle school setting with perfection.  The dialogue could not be better, capturing the sense of urgency and importance of these situations and events to the students involved.  The play on words, the references to Star Wars, enhances his "Super" command of pacing, plot and language.

Here are a couple of passages.

"I can see you haven't learned one thing about not acting like animals since you were in my class! That was a new level of embarrassment! What on earth were you hardheads doing, anyway?"
"Tommy just blew his nose on my snowtrooper!"
"Correction," whispered Kellen. "Snot trooper."
"SHUT UP," I hissed.  If Kellen made me laugh, Howell would explode all over again.   ...

...We got to the office before Rabbski, so we had to sit in there and wait.
"Nice going!" I said.
And Harvey goes, "Me? You did it!"
"Yeah, I played a LITTLE joke.  You're the one that acted like a BIG baby, made us all look like idiots, and got us in trouble!"
"Yeah," said Kellen, "and I didn't even---"
The door opened.  ...

(As an aside here I need to also point out the versatility of Angleberger as a writer.  I have read his other books outside this series, Fake Mustache and Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M'Lady Luggertuck's Corset.  His ability at descriptions, creating a sense of place and time and again, the dialogue between the characters, shifts splendidly between the types of story as it should with all well written books.)

The cover and front matter art for The Secret of Fortune Wookiee was done by Jason Rosenstock, Cece Bell (Angleberger's wife, also an author and illustrator) and Tom Angleberger.  Throughout the remainder of the book all the small sketches in the borders of the pages as well as the larger pictures were done by Angleberger adding to the feel of this being a true "case file" crafted by middle school students.  The acknowledgments at the book's end are well worth reading.

Fans of the earlier Origami Yoda volumes will read The Secret of Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger eagerly and repeatedly but so will anyone wanting to read a great story with unforgettable characters.  Will there be another in the series?  You'll have to listen to Yoda.

Follow the link to Tom Angleberger's name above to enjoy all the excellent pluses of his website.  Follow this link to an interview given at The Seattle Times by Angleberger.