"Marty McGuire" is an excellent addition to the popular trend of gutsy girl adventure books, like "Ivy and Bean" and "Pippi Longstocking." Readers will be able to relate to the issues, ones I remember from elementary school. I was an athletic kid and liked to physically challenge myself by doing backward somersaults up the stairs. For career day in the 3rd grade, I wore my baseball uniform to school and felt infuriated when other kids told me girls couldn't be professional baseball players. I remember pounding my fist in my glove and telling them to watch "A League of Their Own." Sometimes I would act prissy for no reason other than to fit in with other girls. Many girls have to confront that confusing gender divide, but this book relates the message that girls don't have to choose between playing dodgeball and Barbies. They can be whoever they want and play whatever they want.
The only nitpicky complaint I have is that there were too many adults in this book. Marty McGuire was dishonest, and her parents gave her a gentle talking to that reminded me of something out of Full House. I'm fine with kids misbehaving in children's books. Who wants to read about some little angel? Nobody. I would rather skip the blantent moral message and have all the powerless adults be aghast by the mischievious children around them.
I just heard an interview with author/illustrator, Christoph Niemann, on Fresh Air and now I am going to read all his books. Two of them, "Subway" and "That's How," have elephants on the covers, so I'm sold. Children's book authors and illustrators are the most glamourous celebrities in my world, so I hung on Niemann's every word. His creative process sounds like an act of worship. He is so respectful of his subject matter and mindful of his audience. I thought I had never read one of his books, until he mentioned "The Police Cloud" and the memory of that book made me smile. I read it several years ago, and it was the sweetest book. Niemann has also illustrated covers for The New Yorker, The Antlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine. He writes and illustrates the blog "Abstract Sunday," which is inspiring in that he's able to pack humor and grace into each pencil drawing. 
P.S.-I just looked more closely at the cover of "Subway" and realized there is no elephant, just a subway that looks like an elephant. Maybe it's a subway that swallowed an elephant. (Little Prince reference.)
