Treats That Speak Volumes

(3 of 3)

For the Junior Stargazer
The Remarkable Farkle McBride
by John Lithgow; illustrated by C.F. Payne (Simon & Schuster; $16)
One sometimes suspects that celebrities write children's books because they don't have long enough attention spans to master a short story. This may be true, but Lithgow (of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame) has produced a corker of a book, helped immeasurably by the pencil-wielding wizardry of Payne (who also does illustrations for Time). Farkle McBride is a musical prodigy. He masters new instruments and then gets intolerably bored with them, until he discovers his true avocation. (No, that would be telling.) We follow the waxing and waning of his passions in rhyming verse, complete with instrument noises. Farkle stays just on the amusing side of corny when read aloud.

RUNNER-UP: Where Do Balloons Go? by Jamie Lee Curtis; illustrated by Laura Cornell (HarperCollins; $16.95)
This, Curtis' fourth book, may be her best. Balloons go on quite the odyssey once they leave their owners' hands. One even ends up outside the Bates Motel. (You may have to wait a few years to explain that one.)

For the Whole Family
The Memory String
by Eve Bunting; illustrated by Ted Rand (Clarion Books; $15)
Laura's mom died, and she has a stepmom Jane. Laura's not at all happy with this arrangement and takes solace in the string of buttons her mother once owned, each with its own story. But after one of the buttons goes missing, Laura realizes that Jane understands her and her feelings better than she suspected. This is a nuanced tale for the slightly older child, and there's no tidy bow at the end. But what real family ever has one of those?

RUNNER-UP: Quinnie Blue by Dinah Johnson; illustrated by James Ransome (Henry Holt & Co.; $16.95)
A sunny, curious young African-American girl celebrates the grandmother she is named after and imagines what life must have been like for her.