A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition by Charles M. Schulz

Premise: A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition is a biographical tribute to the animated television classic. With stories about how the Christmas special came together, readers will learn about producer Lee Mendelson, animator Bill Melendez, musician Vince Guaraldi, and creator Charles Schulz.

The book includes the script of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Guaraldi’s original score and publication notes for songs “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Linus and Lucy,” and original animation art from the special. Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez give their perspective of their relationships with each of the contributors and with the Peanuts characters, along with how the special came to fruition.

Themes: Charles Schultz’s comics tell grown-up problems from the perspective of children. With deep theological and cultural insight, the Peanuts kids share wisdom about life through the simplicity of their story.

A Charlie Brown Christmas shares the true meaning of the holiday in a very literal sense. In sharing in the nostalgia of this Christmas classic, the topics of life, faith, friendship, and love are brought forth through the classic Peanuts comics.

Pros: A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition told me so much about the people behind the cartoons that I didn’t know, but it also revealed to me more about the Peanuts creator. I like how they share how the cartoon eventually came to be, seemingly slapped together and lacking in content, but beloved to this day for its simplicity. I love that the book includes the full script and the original score of “Christmas Time is Here” and “Linus and Lucy.” The way the book is put together, sharing the different perspectives of the cartoon’s creators along with the artwork makes the book more than a keepsake. It really does feel more like a biography.

Cons: Knowing this was only about the Christmas special, I would have liked a more in depth look into Charles Schulz’s beliefs. I think it would have added to the meaning Schulz wanted to create through his work. And though there is a lot of original art, I would also have liked the A Charlie Brown Christmas to include more animation cells and storyboard sketches.

Recommendations: If you’re looking for biography and nostalgia, A Charlie Brown Christmas has plenty of both. I learned things not only about the Christmas special but about the people behind creating it. With a realistic view of how television shows are (or at least used to be) made, this book romanticizes how things came together to develop this classic cartoon loved by many. Great to pick up in bites or to read all the way through, lovers of the Peanuts gang and of the Charlie Brown Christmas special would do themselves well to pick up a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition to understand how it all came together.

Charles M. Schulz museum
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith

Premise: Twin siblings Nick and Tesla are sent to live with their Uncle Newt for the summer while their parents study soybean irrigation in Uzbekistan. When they arrive in Half Moon Bay they discover it’s a pretty boring place, but their uncle is far from boring. In his basement is a science lab where he performs various experiments. The incredible thing is that he tells his niece and nephew to have a ball in the lab (with several safety caveats) while he is away. Their time in Half Moon Bay is about to get interesting.

The siblings go outside to test their soda bottle rocket made from materials laying around the lab, but when it rips the necklace from Tesla’s neck as it launches things go awry. This wouldn’t be a problem if the necklace wasn’t one of the special necklaces their parents gave each child right before they were sent to live with Newt. Now they must venture onto the property of the abandoned house next door in order to find the necklace, but there are remodelers there with very large dogs who want them to stay off the property at all costs.

Nick and Tesla craft various devices to attempt to retrieve their rocket and necklace, and in the process uncover a nefarious plot in the quiet town. Along the way the siblings make new friends, learn more about their quirky uncle, and find there is more in the abandoned house than just remodelers. Nick and Tesla are also left questioning if their parents are really studying soy beans in Uzbekistan.

Themes: Nick and Tesla think they have a grasp on who their parents are, but when the siblings are sent away for the summer so their parents can do research they learn there is so much more about their parents that they don’t know. They begin to wonder if their parents really are studying soybeans or if they are even scientists.

Nick and Tesla discover there are mysteries about the house next door, its inhabitants, and its past that fall on them to solve.

Summer vacation takes on a different spin when it is spent at a strange uncle’s house. Nick and Tesla get to learn more about their Uncle Newt and his unusual inventions. With his inexperience in caring for kids and making his lab available for them to use helps to give the siblings insight into the kind of person he is.

Also: science!

Pros: Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab was way more fun than I was expecting. The science experiments not only introduce some cool concepts, but they fit right in with the storyline. The characters are unique and the story has the perfect tone for kids to be reading: lighthearted and fun. I like that Pflugfelder and Hockensmith didn’t try to add too many characters, but each one is well developed within this first book. Nick and Tesla is a complete fast-paced story, but it also leaves the reader wanting more in additional books.

Cons: One of the experiments might be a little dangerous dealing with air pressure that will probably require some adult supervision. Also, the concept of kidnapping might be a difficult concept for younger kids to grasp, especially the threats made against these kids. Contains some mild peril and the riding of small bikes down the middle of city streets in the dark.

Recommendations: Not only is this a fun read for kids and adults, it offers several science experiments kids can do with parents, including instructions and materials needed. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series to find out more about these kids and their secretive family. I am also excited about having more science experiments to do with my kids when they are old enough to read these books. Pflugfelder and Hockensmith have introduced a neat series combining science concepts and experiments with good, lighthearted fiction. Nick and Tesla is educational and fun.

Nick and Tesla
Bob Pflugfelder’s website
Steve Hockensmith’s website
Nick and Tesla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself on Goodreads
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn

Premise: Through life’s trials and disappointments, Stacy Horn found joy in in one aspect of her life: singing in a community choir. In this autobiographical account of her time spent in the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York she accounts for the constant encouragement and bliss found through singing with other people. In her constant search for companionship and happiness, Stacy’s one part of her life that regularly brings her joy is the community choir in her neighborhood. She walks to the same building every week during choral season to practice with other people in the community.

With a great amount of historical and scientific research, Stacy makes the convincing argument that singing with others in groups can not only make you feel better emotionally and spiritually, but physically as well. She also recounts her experiences, for better or worse, including insight into the music the choirs have sung and the people she has encountered because of her time at Grace Church.

Themes: Singing with others will make you feel happier and healthier. It is proven to lower blood pressure and positively affect the limbic system. Singing has been shown to cause euphoric and uplifting feelings, especially when it is done with other people. The quality of the singing doesn’t even matter. In fact, better singers have been shown to be more focused on hitting the right notes, lessening the overall positive effects than those of lower quality singers.

Singing in community can also bring you closer to those you are singing with, building friendships and relationships that would otherwise not have been there had it not been for the common interest and the action of singing in a choir or group.

Pros: Stacy Horn makes a great case for singing with other people. Stacy’s straightforward and humorous account of her years with the choir sound quite genuine, giving credence to her historical research. She backs up the historical and scientific statements with a good deal of evidence from multiple resources. Stacy lays her heart out there for everyone to examine, which makes Imperfect Harmony a very human and personal story. I can appreciate some of her favorite songs, as I have sung many of them. I can also relate to many of Horn’s experiences, especially the euphoria mixed with adrenaline when performing a heavily-practiced piece of emotional music. It is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Cons: Stacy is very up front with not being religious, but sharing her derision for religion in this book is mostly unnecessary, especially considering it is the inspiration for much of the music she and her choir perform. Some of the songs she mentions about God’s wrath during Easter make me think their choir just needs to sing different songs. Even worse were the political infusions that really have nothing to do with the autobiographical story of music and community. The part where she talks about Barack Obama’s inauguration night is especially unnecessary, speaking about the joy of that occasion in such a way that it sounds almost like believers worshiping a deity. It really didn’t add anything to the story or even help make the point she was trying to make.

Recommendations: In spite of political and religious differences, Imperfect Harmony shares a visceral yet thoroughly-researched study of how singing with others can have a positive impact on a person’s life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I only wish Stacy could personally experience the even greater joy of actually believing the words being sung when singing about God. In my experience singing in choirs and various a cappella singing groups I have found everything Horn says about the happiness found through singing in a community to be true. Accepting Horn’s words to be her honest perspective, singers and non-singers alike should take this book to heart and follow through; find people to sing with. Not only will reading Imperfect Harmony make you feel better, but it encourages you to sing, and that will make you feel better and happier regardless of how good a singer you think you are.

Stacy Horn’s website
Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others on Goodreads
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Premise: Society has crumbled and the government has become a fragmented array of city-states, but the reason for this is a lack of resources. More specifically: there is a lack of water. For Lynn, it’s not as much of an issue, since she and her mother live on a rural farm with a pond. The biggest problems are outbreaks of cholera that require them to treat their water before they drink it, hunting for food that takes them away from their guard duties on the roof of their house, and now the signs of smoke that say that there are others nearby that are a threat to their supply. Shooting people who encroach on their land hasn’t been much of a question for Lynn and Mother; it’s a matter of life and death.

But when things go terribly wrong and with winter approaching, the neighbor that has never been a threat to them is now their closest ally. With strangers roaming close to their property, Lynn must make decisions that go against everything Mother taught her: giving away supplies to others will only lead you closer to death. But what if those people can’t fend for themselves?

Not a Drop to Drink examines the ability to survive with limited resources and the lengths to which people are willing to protect them. When someone is in dire need of help, who can you trust when there are thieves and killers about? A drink of water may be all someone is asking for, and it might just be the one thing that can keep them alive.

Themes: Survival is incredibly difficult when resources are limited. Even with their stockpile of water in the form of their pond, gathering, treating, and storing make everyday tasks become a burden. Imagine trying to survive without a store of water, food, weapons or shelter. Learning basic skills becomes essential, like making shelter, fire, hunting, treating wounds.

Mother has taught Lynn not to trust anybody, which has led Lynn to shoot people in defense of their water, even as a child. Lynn is so used to considering every single person a threat, overcoming what is ingrained in her to help others makes compassion an underdeveloped emotion for her. Even Stebbs, who has lived near them as far back as Lynn can remember, is really a stranger to her. When people enter her life that have no survival skills and are in dire need of help, the decision to help is incredibly difficult for Lynn.

When society has crumbled, what shreds of decency are left when those around us are in need? How much of our humanity are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival? Or does helping someone in need benefit us when we do so?

Pros: Not a Drop to Drink really highlights the difficulty and drudgery of survival without modern amenities. It brings out how the most common of minor injuries can be debilitating or even deadly without medical treatments available to us every day. Even with the grim subject matter in a free-for-all frontier full of scavenging, injury, sickness, and death, it is refreshing to be such a fairly clean young adult novel mostly free of sex and profanity. McGinnis manages to effectively describe terrible things with sparse language, merely hinting at humanity’s ugliness through the reality of survival. The characters are pretty realistic, even the one-dimensional “bad guys” we see later in the story. We get to watch some real change in heart for Lynn through different stages of the story.

Cons: It is interesting how quickly Lynn goes from never speaking to another human to cuddling in bed with a guy, especially with the limited amount of time she knows him. I thought the plot twist reveal toward the end was an attempt to up the stakes for Lynn, but it felt unnecessary for this story. I understand the philosophical implications of fighting your past and becoming a new person, but these things were already happening with how Lynn treated people compared to what Mother had ingrained in her. With limited action, some readers might find Not a Drop to Drink to be boring.

Recommendations: Not a Drop to Drink is a chilling, gut-wrenching vision of an all too realistic future with limited resources. It is a sad yet beautiful debut novel that makes the reader think about what they would willing to do when placed in a survival situation, while simultaneously examining how much they would be willing to help someone else in need. Be ready for some intense scenes that contain deeply real emotions. While not overly flashy and action-packed, Not a Drop to Drink pushes toward redemption for a broken world through small deeds by normal folks.

Mindy McGinnis’ website
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists, edited by Chris Duffy

Premise: Gather a selection of classic fairy tales, pair each of them with different cartoonists, and you get this collection of visual interpretations of many commonly known stories, with a few obscure ones for good measure.

Fairy tale classics like Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Rapunzel are set along with other lesser known stories such as Azzolino’s Story Without End and The Boy Who Drew Cats. Each of them is unique in their own right, especially interpreted for this collection.

Themes: Fairy tales are ways of telling legends to children, but the stories remain with us through adulthood. Often they remind us how the perseverance of goodness ends in triumph over wickedness. And even when things don’t quite turn out right, doing good will still bring happiness and prosperity. At least, that’s what we want to believe, which is why these stories continue to endure.

Pros: The artwork is fantastic for every story, but there are several that stood out to me. I liked the bold cutout style of the simple yet colorful Little Red Riding Hood by Gigi D.G., especially contrasted by the drab brown and gray color palette in Luke Pearson’s The Boy Who Drew Cats. Brett Helquist’s painting like quality is beautiful in his rendition of Rumpelstiltskin. I also appreciate how Joseph Lambert interpreted music through his art in Rabbit Will Not Work. One of my favorites is because of how Graham Annable managed to tell Goldilocks and the Three Bears without a single word. The facial expressions are just whimsical. One of the best things about Fairy Tale Comics is that in just about every story the art adds to the telling of the story, making it more accessible to the reader.

Cons: Reading some of these stories anew reminded me that many fairy tales, especially from the Brothers Grimm, are pretty inappropriate for too young an audience. Some of the interpretations use language I don’t really want my child using, with words like “stupid” and “dumb” and “idiots” that should not be in a child’s vocabulary as long as can be prevented.

Recommendations: While most of the stories are retold versions from the Brothers Grimm, Fairy Tale Comics brings in some fairy tales that I hadn’t heard before. Each of these adaptations is unique to each artist, but as a collection they are visually stunning, making the sum of the whole even greater than the individual stories themselves. While it is really meant for an older audience than Nursery Rhyme Comics, Fairy Tale Comics is a book that comes nicely on its heels. I might wait until your child is at least old enough to read for themselves so that they can appreciate the artistic nuances as they enjoy the story. Just be mindful of swears, witches, and giant rats.

Fairy Tale Comics on Goodreads
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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.