“Poppy and Rye” by Avi ($14, Avon Books), a heartbroken Poppy, a deer mouse, persuades her porcupine friend, Ereth, to journey with her to tell the family of her mouse boyfriend, Ragweed, that he has died. Once they reach The Brook, the pair finds that Ragweed’s family has been evicted because beavers have built a dam. The mice fall into life-threatening adventures in an attempt to save their home. This sequel to “Poppy” packs plenty of action, but its characters (with the exception of insult-expert Ereth) aren’t as vivid. ***
“The Friendship Ring” series by Rachel Vail tells the story of four middle-school pals: C.J., Morgan, Olivia and Zoe. In “Please, Please, Please” ($5, Scholastic), C.J. dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. Problem is, her lessons don’t leave much time to do fun stuff with friends, like soccer. Trouble erupts when C.J. must choose between dance and her friends – but, instead of hurting anyone’s feelings, she tries to please everyone. We liked this book for the believable way it handled C.J.’s tough decision, which you may or may not agree with. ***
In Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” ($5.50, Yearling), Meg Murry hates being different. Townspeople think she’s combative and slow-witted; they assume her 5-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, is a moron. Plus, they whisper about the disappearance of their physicist father. Meg soon discovers her differences are her gift – a gift she’ll need to battle the evil force that has captured their father and threatens to overtake the universe, one planet at a time. This children’s classic, reissued for its 35th anniversary, tackles big themes (good vs. evil, for one) in ways that’ll leave you thinking. ****
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my… Yeah, they’re covered in “Maneaters and Blood Suckers” by Kirsty Murray ($7, Little Ark), and so are wolves, sharks, rats, dingoes, snakes and tapeworms. Murray, in gory detail, writes of attacks on humans by these predators. (A favorite tidbit: In the mangrove swamps of West Bengal, natives wear rubber masks on the back of their heads to confuse tigers and prevent a sneak attack from behind. It works -sometimes.) Murray balances attack stories with facts about each species and their relationship to man. She even provides hints on how to avoid attacks (hey, you never know). At first, we devoured the grisly stories, but digesting too many in a row gave us indigestion. ** 1/2
If you want to learn more about the “state of yo,” a good place to start is “The Yo-Yo Book” by Jon E. Ten Eyck ($10, Workman Publishing Co.). You’ll get the lowdown on the culture, history and lingo of yo-yoers and the how-tos on tricks. The book starts with basics (how to hold a yo-yo, wind it and throw it) and progresses to trickier tricks like the Lunar Eclipse and Shoot the Moon. Plus, a fixed-axle, wooden yo-yo comes with a cotton-fiber string (good for sleepers) to get you rolling. ***
“In front of all the houses children were playing. Some were skipping rope, some were bouncing balls. Meg felt vaguely that something was wrong with their play… `Look,’ Charles Wallace said suddenly. `They’re skipping and bouncing in rhythm! Everyone’s doing it at exactly the same moment.’ This was so. As the skipping rope hit the pavement, so did the ball. As the rope curved over the head of the jumping child, the child with the ball caught the ball. Down came the ropes. Down came the balls. Over and over again. All in rhythm. All identical. Like the houses. Like the paths. Like the flowers.”
– From “A Wrinkle in Time”
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**** Wow! It took no time for us to lose ourselves in this book.
*** Interesting enough for us to keep the lights on way after bedtime.
** It’s better than watching reruns.
* And we could have mowed the grass.
