“Terrible Storm,” by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (HarperCollins, 32 pages, $16.99)
Through Hurst, who died last month, two grandfathers recount the blizzard of 1888, a March storm that brought Massachusetts to a halt for 36 hours. Gregarious Grandpa Walt is stranded in a barn, with only horses and cats for company. Introverted Grandpa Fred unwittingly shelters in an overpopulated boarding house.
“Had to take cover in the worst possible place,” both men recollect. Contrasting pictures show Walt, bored silly, in the spacious barn, while Fred wears the only magnificently unhappy face in a sea of smiles.
The story wryly reflects the adage about one man’s meat being another’s poison. Can somebody say “Amen”? Ages 5 to 8.
“Smile!” by Geraldine McCaughrean (Random House, 128 pages, $14.95)
The bad news: The plane crashes. The good news: The photographer inside survives when he’s thrown clear. Better news: So does his instant camera, which in turns is responsible for threatening his life and then saving it.
Knocked unconscious, the photographer awakens under the curious gaze of cloistered villagers who are terrified, then enraptured by the pictures his camera emits. Only 10 frames remain, so the story’s tension lies in how they’re meted out.
Each photograph holds a winsome vignette, but individually the parts are more than the sum of the novel’s whole. By the final chapter, the photographer comes off as a bit of a callow xenophobe, and the villagers as overly naïve, a surprise and disappointment for a writer of McCaughrean’s considerable skill. Ages 9 to 12.
“The Pull of the Ocean,” by Jean-Claude Mourlevat (Delacorte, 208 pages, $13.95)
This odd, enthralling version of Charles Perrault’s Little Tom Thumb carries undertones of love and menace. Seven brothers – three sets of twins, led by their youngest sibling, a mute dwarf named Yann – run away from their hateful parents, identified throughout as “the father” and “the mother.”
In alternating chapters, the boys and the people they meet chronicle the brothers’ panicked journey to the French Atlantic. The technique lies somewhere between storytelling and documentary. The mist cloaking the boys’ fear of their parents lifts, but only a little, as the tale concludes with a disconcerting send-off for little Yann.
Read it once for the story, and then again after re-reading “Tom Thumb,” to fully appreciate Mourlevat’s deft interpretation. Ages 10 and up.
“The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean,” by Alexander McCall Smith (Bloomsbury, 80 pages, $9.95)
The author of the enormously popular adult mystery series that began with “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” also writes about child detective Harriet Bean. Like Smith’s adult mysteries, the Harriet Bean books are engagingly quirky, with an arm’s length of eccentric characters.
This time, Harriet and her unusual aunts set off to find a long-lost relative who happens to be a cowgirl and a crack shot. Aunt Formica needs help tracking down some rustlers who’ve helped themselves to her cattle and horses. Her visitors find an innovative way for the bad guys to do penance. Ages 4 to 8.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
