Review of Woo Hoo! You’re Doing Great! by Sandra Boynton

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Woo Hoo! You’re Doing Great!

by Sandra Boynton

Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 36 pages.
Review written April 10, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

I’ve loved Sandra Boynton’s work ever since I found her greeting cards in my college bookstore. Recently, she’s moved beyond board books to picture books — and as usual, all ages will enjoy her humor and distinctive style.

I like the flap copy so much, I’m going to quote it here:

We all get overwhelmed sometimes, small people and big people and fictitious animals alike. Probably ESPECIALLY fictitious animals — just imagine how difficult it must be for THEM to believe in themselves.

So if you or someone you know or an imaginary friend of yours could really use a one-chicken cheerleading squad, this is the book for you!

And that’s what this book is about — a one-chicken cheerleading squad, telling various animals they’re doing great.

There’s a fun rhyme scheme, addressing the reader if they might be feeling low.

Or are you feeling quite upended?
Underprepared
and overextended?

If that is the case, you are in luck! Here’s an enthusiastic chicken all set to cheer you on and encourage you!

But when the chicken makes a little blunder, fortunately someone comes along to encourage them.

And that friend reminds us that we can also say these words to ourselves:

WOO HOO! YOU’RE DOING GREAT!

(And you know what? You really are!)

sandraboynton.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Elena Rides, by Juana Medina

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Elena Rides

by Juana Medina

Candlewick Press, 2023. 28 pages.
Review written March 28, 2023, from a library book.
Starred Review

Oh, this beginning reader is wonderful! Since kids who are learning to read also tend to be kids who have recently learned to ride a bike, the subject matter is perfectly appropriate.

This is a book about Elena, a young elephant, who is learning to ride a bike.

And if kids think it’s hard to learn to ride a bike, well, it’s easier for them to balance than it is for an elephant!

The pictures are delightful. There’s so much joy on Elena’s face each time she gets going. And somehow, Juana Medina makes you believe an elephant actually could balance on a bike.

But the choice of words is also delightful. Sitting here in my home, I simply had to read the book aloud. This would be perfect in a story time, as each fall has an expressive sound with plenty of drama. Here’s how the book begins:

Elena wants to ride.
Elena buckles her helmet.

She readies,
she steadies . . .

she pushes,
she pedals!

She wobbles
and bobbles . . .

KA-BANG!

After the first fall, Elena has a look of worried determination. After the second, she does some crying. When a third fall happens after some exhilarating riding, she needs the encouragement of her bird friend to try again. But the book ends with the triumph of the title repeated:

Elena rides!

This seems like a practically perfect easy reader to me. I hope it gets some Geisel love!

candlewick.com

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Review of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, retold by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Animal Characters, Folk Tales, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

retold by Mac Barnett
illustrated by Jon Klassen

Orchard Books (Scholastic), 2022. 48 pages.
Review written December 19, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

Hooray! Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen have done my favorite fairy tale — the book I didn’t know I needed!

I’m not quite sure why, but “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” has long been one of my favorite fairy tales to retell to children — since before I had kids of my own, when I would sometimes tell stories to entertain my many younger siblings. (And I mean many — I’m third of thirteen kids.) But after I had kids, this storytelling (and the fun part is the big mean troll’s voice, “WHO’S THAT STOMPING OVER MY BRIDGE?”) became a family game. You see, we lived in Germany for ten years. And one of our favorite nearby castles had a bridge over, well, not a moat but a ditch. And the kids thought it was tremendous fun for one of us to pretend to be the troll and the others to go over the bridge.

Now, the only problem with this book is that here the troll says:

“Who seeks to reach the grassy ridge?
Who dares to walk across my bridge?”

But hey, we could work with it! And it’s very fun that after the goat answers, the troll describes with rhyming couplets the ways he likes to dine on goat.

After the first goat gets by by telling the troll his bigger brother is coming, the troll chuckles to himself:

“I can’t believe I tricked that goat
into telling me about his big brother.
I’m so smart!
And fun and handsome.”

This gives you an idea of how this pair adds to the character of the troll, who’d been subsisting on his own earwax and belly button lint.

You probably know the story — the first two goats get by after telling the troll to wait for their bigger brother. In this book, the biggest billy goat gruff is so big, only his legs show on the page. And yes, he does away with the troll.

So much fun! Now thousands more families will find out about this fairy tale, a wonderful one about the little guy making his way.

scholastic.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Monsters in the Fog, by Ali Bahrampour

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Monsters in the Fog

by Ali Bahrampour

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2022. 32 pages.
Review written December 23, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

Oh, this book is exactly what I love in a picture! A sweet story full of surprises with a great message and a twist at the end. This is one of those picture books that makes me sad I’m not doing storytimes any more.

The main character is Hakim, a donkey. He reminds me of Sylvester, from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. The beginning pages set the stage:

It’s hard to knit a sweater with your hooves,
but Hakim somehow did it.
It was a present for his friend Daisy,
who lived on top of the mountain.

He packed the sweater in his saddlebag.
“She’ll love it,” he thought. “It gets cold up there.”

It was a foggy morning.
Hakim could barely see the end of his nose.

Then Hakim starts encountering others on the narrow, winding trail. The first one appears out of nowhere and warns Hakim to turn around because there are monsters up the mountain!

And then Hakim starts seeing frightening shapes in the fog. But when he gets closer, they turn out to be other frightened travelers. My favorite one is the shape like a screaming skull that turns out to be a bear on a runaway tricycle.

Each animal Hakim encounters ends up joining the group climbing the mountain, with help carrying things in Hakim’s saddlebags. The last shape in the fog they encounter ends up being a wonderful surprise.

At the end, Hakim gives his friend her present and the other animals go on their way in the sunshine on the other side of the mountain.

But I love Hakim’s wise words first:

“Everything looks like a monster in the fog,” said Hakim.
“But the closer you get, the less scary it becomes.”

This is a picture book that’s destined to become a classic.

alibahrampourbooks.com

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Review of How to Be Cooler Than Cool, by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

How to be Cooler Than Cool

by Sean Taylor
illustrated by Jean Jullien

Candlewick Press, 2021. 36 pages.
Review written April 8, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

I’ve got a whole category of Delightfully Silly picture books, and this book fits right in with a story that makes my heart smile. I was already a big fan of these creators from their book Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise, and this book is equally quirky and wonderful.

As the book opens, Cat finds a pair of sunglasses. And they bring a revelation:

“You know what,” she said.
“I’m not just any old cat at the playground.
I’m a real cool cat who can glide backward down the slide, looking cooler than cool . . .
WITH EXTRA COOL ON TOP!”

But gliding down the slide doesn’t go as Cat had hoped, and among other things, the sunglasses go flying off her face.

Cockatoo finds them.

“You know what,” he said.
“I’m not just any old cockatoo.
I’m a supercool cockatoo
who can dance coolly along the seesaw,
doing the supercool cockatoo boogaloo!”

>

But Cockatoo’s antics, too, don’t end up as cool as he’d hoped.

Some more animals get into the act, and the book finishes up with a wonderful message that it’s not about trying to be cool — it’s all about having fun.

But the fun part to this book is of course how it gets there — the expressive faces in the pictures, the comments in speech bubbles, and yes, seeing animals who think they’re cool having a downfall.

This book is more for Kindergarten through first graders than preschoolers, and if I were booktalking in schools this year, this would be on top of my list. It would also work great for family storytimes — or, okay, anyone who has five minutes to read it. Yes, this is the sort of book I push on my coworkers to make them smile.

Read this book! You’ll be cooler than cool if you do!

candlewick.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Mel Fell, by Corey R. Tabor

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Picture Book Review 0

Mel Fell

by Corey R. Tabor

Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2021. 40 pages.
Review written July 10, 2021, from a library book
2022 Caldecott Honor Book

Mel Fell is a simple picture book with pizzazz. I love the way it plays with the format of the picture book to catch interest.

The book begins in an unusual position. You open the book with the spine up. Then we get a tale of a baby kingfisher named Mel who decides it’s time to fly. But when she stepped off the branch, instead of flying, Mel fell.

We’re zoomed in on Mel and see various creatures try to catch her – squirrels, bees, a spider – all to no avail. Then there’s a big “Oh no!” and Mel’s eyes that were serenely closed pop open.

But on the next page, there’s a big splash. Then we see underwater, where Mel catches a fish in her beak, and we’re cleverly asked to turn the book.

The rest of the book has Mel flying triumphantly out of the water (now with the spine of the book below the pages we’re turning) and up and up, past the creatures we saw on the way down, back to her nest.

It’s all fun and simple, with only a little text on each page, but a dramatic and easy-to-follow story.

An author’s note at the back explains that kingfishers dive into the water from trees. “A young kingfisher probably doesn’t catch a fish the first time they leave the nest. But then, Mel is a very special bird.”

coreyrtabor.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of 1 Smile 10 Toes, by Nelleke Verhoeff

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Good for the Very Young, Mathematical, Picture Book Review 0

1 Smile 10 Toes

by Nelleke Verhoeff

Barefoot Books, 2021. 24 pages.
Review written December 10, 2021, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review
2022 Mathical Book Prize Winner, PreK

1 Smile 10 Toes is now one of my favorite board books. As with many board books, this one is part toy. All the pages except the last one are split in two, featuring a friendly imaginary animal all the same width in the middle. So you can turn parts of pages to mix and match the tops and bottoms and create many different kinds of creatures.

But the learning part is that each half-page has something to count. The only text is a numeral with the body part being featured. Some examples on top are 8 Feathers, 7 Curls, 3 Beaks, 5 Eyelashes, 4 Ears, 10 Spikes. Some examples on the bottom are 8 Toes, 9 Claws, 4 Feathers, 10 Hooves, 2 Thighs, 9 Fingers.

You can tell from the examples, the author didn’t worry about being conventional. I imagine that adults will get tired of counting things for kids long before a child will get tired of looking at these pages. I remember as a small child being fascinated with mix-and-match books, and this one has the additional bonus of teaching counting.

There’s no order to the number of things featured – all the numbers between 1 and 10 are featured, but in random order, which works well with the mix-and-match theme. You might want to wait to use it with a kid who knows that having 4 ears is silly.

No matter what, it’s a lovely way to give a small child endless things to count.

barefootbooks.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Pax: Journey Home, by Sara Pennypacker

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Pax

Journey Home

by Sara Pennypacker
illustrated by Jon Klassen

Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2021. 247 pages.
Review written October 16, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review
2021 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #6 Children’s Fiction

Wonderful! A sequel to the beautiful book Pax, which is about a boy and his fox, separated by the boy’s father and trying to reach each other despite perilous obstacles — and a war.

In Journey Home, the war is over, but devastation has been left behind. Among that devastation, Peter’s father was killed in the war. And for the wildlife, rivers and streams and a reservoir were polluted. The entire town where Peter had lived when his parents were alive was abandoned.

This is a sequel, and you should read Pax first. I will try not to give away what happens in the first book, but Peter and Pax are again on quests that make them encounter each other.

Pax has a family now, but humans are encroaching too near, and he wants to find them a new den. However, in his search, his most adventurous kit comes along, and they have to take a roundabout path because of more humans.

Peter has lost his family — his father died in the war, on top of the loss of his mother before the first book started. Vola sees him as family, but Peter has learned that it’s better not to love — you’ll only lose them and get hurt again. He goes off to join the Junior Water Warriors, who are spending the summer cleaning up the polluted rivers left behind by the war. Peter does not intend to come back.

But he didn’t expect to encounter Pax.

For awhile, I thought this book a little too bleak, but Sara Pennypacker pulls off a transformation in Peter’s heart with exactly the right touch — not too sentimental and not even too predictable or unbelievable. The result is a powerful and inspirational story of healing. Pax is even more firmly rooted in my heart than he was before.

If you didn’t catch Pax when the book was first published, you now have two books you really should read!

sarapennypacker.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Sun Flower Lion, by Kevin Henkes

Animal Characters, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Sun Flower Lion

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 32 pages.
Review written October 3, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This is a brilliant book for very young children or very beginning readers. The language is simple. The pictures are simple. But it’s got patterns and a progression.

We’ve got four things – the sun, a flower, and a lion, that are all drawn with the same basic pattern. We’ve also got six chapters. Each chapter is just one spread or a spread-and-a-half.

Here are the words for the first chapter:

This is the sun.
Can you see it?

The sun is in the sky.
It is shining.
It is as bright as a flower.

In the next chapter, we meet the flower, and then the lion.

My favorite page is this one:

The lion runs home.
Can you see him?
No, you can’t.
He is running too fast.

And it all ends with him cozy and back with his family.

Amazing that Kevin Henkes can tell a satisfying story with so few words – and so few shapes.

kevinhenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf, by Sam Wedelich

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf

by Sam Wedelich

Scholastic Press, Spring 2021. 40 pages.
Review written March 8, 2021, from an advance reader copy sent by the publisher
Starred Review

In this book, Chicken Little, who is well known for leaping to conclusions, is knocked down by a wolf jogging by. It must be the Big, Bad Wolf! He’s certainly big anyway.

And when Chicken Little tells another chicken about it, the whole flock is all aflutter. What should their reaction be, fight or flight? And will either one work for a bunch of chickens?

While the flock is laying plans, Chicken Little decides to bravely investigate. She asks the wolf, “Are you bad?”

And the wolf answers:

Me? I don’t think so. I suppose we all have light and dark in us. . . but I try to make good choices if that’s what you mean.

It turns out that the wolf is a vegetarian, which made it hard for him to fit in with other wolves. After Chicken Little convinces the flock, they think of a way to make him feel at home.

It all adds up to a delightfully silly story about not jumping to conclusions and being willing to make others feel welcome.

scholastic.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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