The Underneath

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (J APP)

This Newberry Honor and National Book Award Finalist book was hailed by many critics as “lyrical.” I read this book with high expectations, only to finish wondering how it had garnered such high praise. The story is woven together with seemingly unrelated plotlines that leave the reader wondering what is going on until the threads finally converge in one climatic moment.

One plotline involves a bloodhound named Ranger who is forever chained to his master’s porch and a calico cat and her kittens Sabine and Puck who all live under the cruel Gar Face’s decrepit house in the East Texas swamps. Gar Face abuses the animals and one day takes Puck and his mother to the swamp to feed them to the giant alligator he is obsessed with killing. Puck escapes and must find a way back to save Ranger and Sabine from Gar Face’s cruelty.

In another plotline, a character named Grandmother Moccasin is trapped in a pot buried near a tree as punishment for her crimes, which are detailed in an ancient Indian story plot thread.

The novel’s “lyrical” language is annoying, but perhaps it is best suited for reading aloud. The language and style of the book seemed designed in such a way as to be literary and artistic at the expense of spinning a good yarn.

Reviewed by Margaret Ballard

The Tale of Two Mice

The Tale of Two Mice by Ruth Brown (E BRO)

Billy is a mouse who lives in a baseboard inside a big house with his older brother Bo. One night they run out of food and are forced to leave the safety of their baseboard in search of nourishment. Bo sees the cat every step of the way, but when Billy turns to look, he sees object arranged in such a way that they give the illusion of being a scary beast, and believes his little brother is just paranoid.
Beautifully illustrated lift-the-flap pages and a special pop-up are essential to this humorous story.

Reviewed by Margaret Ballard

Tillie Lays An Egg

Tillie Lays an Egg by Terry Blonder Golson (E GOL)

Tillie likes to lay her eggs in unusual places such as the porch, the laundry basket, and inside a pickup truck, rather wait for her turn with the traditional nesting boxes her fellow chickens share.

Vivid color photographs of the author’s chickens, on which the story is based, accompany the simple, fun text. On each page, a chicken asks where Tillie laid her egg. Read it to see of you can find all the places Tillie laid her egg.
The author has a Hen Cam where you can watch her chickens.

Reviewed by Margaret Ballard

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circle of Heck #1) by Dale E. Basye

When siblings Milton and Marlo Fauster die in a giant marshmallow sculpture explosion, their souls descend into Heck, the netherworld where the souls of bad kids go for rehabilitation and punishment. Marlo is an experienced shoplifter, but Milton is a Boy Scout and straight-A student and believes he was sent there by mistake.

In Heck, children go to a school run by Bea “Elsa” Bubb, Principal of Darkness, and take classes such as home economics taught by Lizzie Borden and P.E. with Blackbeard the Pirate. The cafeteria in Heck serves atrocious food and houses a sappy singing purple dinosaur who hugs children against their will. Events take a turn for the worse for Milton when Damian, the bully responsible for the fatal marshmallow explosion, dies and goes to Heck. Milton and Marlo, along with their new friend Virgil determine to escape from Heck and return to the world of the living.

The premise of the book is creative and leads one to believe that the story will be interesting and worth the time. Unfortunately, the book fails to be either. Filled with too many puns, the story drags on leaving the reader to wonder if perhaps they are experiencing Heck in a way the author did not intend.

Reviewed by Margaret Ballard