Jamaica Louise James

Amy Hest's Jamaica Louise James has been a surprising success during the nightly storytime at our house. The story is told in a first-person style that's uncommon in books for younger children, but our now 5-year-old son got hooked into the plot right away and actually seems to like the novel twist on the narration. Jamaica is a spunky 8-year-old girl who relates the tale of her "grammy", who works nights in a token booth down in the 86th Street subway station. While her grandmother's subterranean world is peopled by interesting characters, many of whom she describes to Jamaica and her mom during their pre-work afternoons spent together, the subway surroundings themselves are dismal and uninspiring. Jamaica gets a new paint set from mom and grandmother for her birthday, and she hatches a plot to enliven the walls of the station with a series of paintings of the underground denizens she's heard about from her grandmother. She paints and paints, and one evening she and mom slip out to put the artwork all over the walls of the station. The change works a little bit of magic on everyone who passes through the station, not to mention "grammy" herself. As with most of our favorite books, the illustrations are key to keeping our eyes glued to the pages, and Sheila White Samton's pictures are perfectly suited to the simple but exuberant storyline that unfolds. We also liked that the book featured a somewhat uncommon family group in the persons of Jamaica, mom and grammy, all sharing the same Brooklyn apartment. That's "uncommon" as far as children's books go -- never mind that in the real world, many kids could identify.

Sadie the Airmail Pilot

Without a doubt, this is one of the most engaging books we've come across. Sadie the Airmail Pilot, by Kellie Strom, is a thrilling adventure that has Sadie departing from a fantastical, futuristic city and flying through wondrous landscapes to reach to an isolated weather station high atop a mountain on a craggy ledge to deliver the mail. The illustrations are splendid and full of imaginative detail, and while futuristic, they also hearken back to those wildly improbable "imagine the future" images that appeared in newspapers and books at the beginning of the 20th century, with trolley tracks hovering 20 stories above the street, giant dirigibles, and the like. There's also an abundance of flora and fauna covering the topography that Sadie flies through. She runs into trouble on her journey through the snowy mountains, and the thrilling rescue and triumphant return to home base round out the story. Our little boy was absolutely glued to this story, but it's also a great book for little girls who can benefit from the knowledge that girls can do anything too!