Picture This: Extraordinary Jane

Extraordinary Jane by Hannah E. Harrison

Jane's family is filled with the extraordinary: a mother that rides horses, a father who lifts elephants with his bare hands, brothers that shoot out of cannons, and sisters that walk tightropes. Yet Jane is just ordinary. Can she find a place in the circus with the rest of her family?

If you're wondering who Jane is, she's the plain little white dog on the cover. She tries to find ways to be extraordinary, but each attempt ends in humorous disaster. The text Harrison has composed is simple and understated, letting the illustrations do more of the telling of the story (and jokes). Harrison makes wonderful use of perspective and negative space throughout. The white backgrounds focus our attention on the illustrations, pacing, and well-placed text. Her paintings are detailed and expressive. And the story is very nice one.

Hannah E. Harrison has won a number of awards for her artwork, and not surprisingly, she specializes in animal subjects. I looked through her online portfolio to find fanciful portraits of animals, often in costume of some sort. She captures so much expression in the eyes and faces. Her style is ideal for children's books, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

Recent Read: The Truth About Alice

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu 

Everyone’s heard that Alice slept with two guys in one night at Elaine’s party. And one of them, dreamy star quarterback Brandon, has just died in a car accident. And everyone knows it was Alice's fault.

The Truth About Alice is told from four perspectives—social queen bee Elaine, former best friend of Alice (and wannabe popular girl) Kelsie, the beloved quarterback’s best friend Josh, and nerdy social pariah Kurt. Through these lenses, we start to get a picture of what really happened, how various lies and rumors get started, and who each of these people are individually. They look like stereotypes or categories, but Mathieu does an excellent job of forming distinct, well-rounded characters. There’s something relatable and human in each character’s story.

This might seem like a weird thing to say, seeing as how some of these people make a girl’s life miserable by lying to cover their own asses, to get ahead socially, or just because. The narration from each character is unflinching in its honesty. But they’re all people, with emotions and desires that are human (and dare I say sympathetic?). They justify their actions in ways that are all too familiar.

I should note that this is not Some Girls Are. It’s not the story of a cruel, relentless attack on Alice. And in there, amongst the selfishness is a story of friendship that’s sweet and meaningful.This is a good one for fans of 13 Reasons Why and  Before I Fall.