Review of I Really Like Slop! by Mo Willems

Animal Characters, Humorous, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

i_really_like_slop_largeI Really Like Slop!

by Mo Willems

Hyperion Books for Children, New York, 2015. 57 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s Mo Willems’ answer to Green Eggs and Ham!

Gerald, an elephant, and Piggie are best friends. But Piggie likes food that appeals to pigs.

In this book, Piggie dons a chef’s hat and has created a bowl of green Slop with flies buzzing around it. She really likes slop, and asks her best friend to try some. “The flies are how you know it is ripe!”

Even with the simple cartoons that characterize Mo Willems’ drawings, there’s all kinds of physical humor here. Facial expressions show a wide range of interest and disgust. And once Gerald tries slop? His body turns various different colors and patterns.

But this is not Green Eggs and Ham. The reader is pretty sure from Gerald’s reactions that slop tastes terrible.

When Piggie asks him if he really likes slop, Gerald answers:

No.
I do not really like slop.
But, I am glad I tried it.

Because I really like you.

There’s a punchline follow up to that when Piggie has a suggestion for dessert.

I can’t think of another combination of Friendship Story and Trying-New-Foods Story (though there may well be one. If you can think of one, tell me in the comments). After all, Sam-I-Am isn’t really much of a friend!

Kids will love the humor in this story. Parents will have another chance to give the “It’s good to try new foods” message, along with an acknowledgment that sometimes the new food tastes like slop.

pigeonpresents.com
hyperionbooksforchildren.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 A Hungry Lion or: A Dwindling Assortment of Animals, by Lucy Ruth Cummins

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

hungry_lion_largeA Hungry Lion

or

A Dwindling Assortment of Animals

by Lucy Ruth Cummins

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2016. 36 pages.
Starred Review

The title alone of this book makes me laugh. I think the book is probably a bit too violent (though all off-stage) for preschoolers, but could be very fun to book talk in the elementary schools. (“Who knows what ‘Dwindling’ means?”)

I once had a co-worker who especially enjoyed picture books where someone gets eaten, and I’ve gained an appreciation for them myself. In fact, I’ve got a Pinterest board with this theme. Such books are especially good when they add an unexpected element.

In this book, the beginning is sweetness and light:

Once upon a time there was a hungry lion, a penguin, a turtle, a little calico kitten, a brown mouse, a bunny with floppy ears and a bunny with un-floppy ears, a frog, a bat, a pig, a slightly bigger pig, a woolly sheep, a koala, and also a hen.

The assortment of animals on each page rapidly dwindles.

But just when you think there has been off-stage violence… we see that the animals were preparing a surprise party and a large cake for the lion!

But alas… the cake does not, actually, stop the off-stage violence.

And then who should show up fashionably late to the party but a “really ravenous T. Rex”!

The lone survivor from the original assortment of animals is a satisfying surprise.

Like I said, I wouldn’t necessarily use this with preschoolers or any child who will be distressed by the sweet animals who disappear. But a child who enjoys I Want My Hat Back would be a good audience for this book, or any child who is learning to make inferences and read between the lines (and pictures). Though it’s better if the inferences they make do not distress them – so this is a bit better for kids who enjoy a little cynicism!

There’s no real moral to this story, except perhaps that you should think twice before planning a birthday party for a hungry lion. Or maybe that bullies should beware that there’s always someone bigger. Or maybe that sometimes hiding is the wisest plan. But moral or no, I place this picture book firmly in the “Delightfully Silly” category. It makes me laugh.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 McToad Mows Tiny Island, by Tom Angleberger and John Hendrix

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

mctoad_mows_tiny_island_largeMcToad Mows Tiny Island

A Transportation Tale by Tom Angleberger

Pictures by John Hendrix

Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, 2015. 32 pages.

As its caption says, this is a Transportation Tale for little ones who love cars and trucks and things that go.

The text is simple, and the pictures carry the story.

McToad likes Thursdays.

Every other day of the week he mows the grass on Big Island.
But Thursday is the day he mows Tiny Island.

A map filling the double-page spread shows that Big Island is indeed Big and Tiny Island is indeed tiny.

But to get the lawn mower to Tiny Island? That process is what this book is about.

McToad drives the lawn mower onto a truck, which takes it to a train, where it’s loaded using a forklift, and then is taken to the airport. At the airport a conveyor belt takes it onto an airplane which flies to the other side of Big Island. There a baggage buggy takes the lawn mower to a helicopter, which flies it to a dock where it’s lowered onto the deck of a boat. Then a crane on the boat lowers the lawn mower onto Tiny Island.

Tiny Island is indeed tiny. So it’s amusing that McToad takes a break in the middle of the job. When he finishes mowing, it’s time to take the lawn mower back.

It’s funny to me that adding the simple storyline makes this book much more interesting than your typical list-of-vehicles book. Of course, the pictures are delightful. McToad pilots every vehicle with his never-changing, satisfied smile.

McToad likes Thursdays.

Kids who like vehicles will like this book.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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, by Sara Pennypacker

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

pax_largePax

by Sara Pennypacker
illustrated by Jon Klassen

Balzer + Bray, 2016. 280 pages.
Starred Review

At ALA Midwinter Meeting, this Advance Reader’s Edition came in a special gift box, which opens up to a diorama.

When you open the first lid of the box, you see a blurb from librarian and blogger Betsy Bird, and next, one from librarian John Schumacher, and only after that from Newbery author Katherine Applegate. It made me happy to see bloggers featured so prominently (and there are more people I know blurbing the book on the back cover).

Then I read the book itself — and what they say is true. I was pulled in to this book, and finished it by the next day. Even though I have this ARC, I’ve already pre-ordered my own published copy — this edition didn’t have very much of the art by Jon Klassen, which I know will be wonderful, and whose stark artwork is exactly suited to this material.

The book alternates viewpoints between Pax, a fox, and Peter, his boy.

Peter has been raising Pax since he found the orphaned fox kit, not long after Peter’s mother had died. But now, five years later, Peter’s father has enlisted to fight in the war, and he says it’s time for Peter to return Pax to the wild. And Peter is going to have to live with his grandfather three hundred miles away.

The book opens as Peter leaves Pax in the woods. Pax doesn’t understand.

The boy’s anxiety surprised the fox. The few times they had traveled in the car before, the boy had been calm or even excited. The fox nudged his muzzle into the glove’s webbing, although he hated the leather smell. His boy always laughed when he did this. He would close the glove around his pet’s head, play-wrestling, and in this way the fox would distract him.

But today the boy lifted his pet and buried his face in the fox’s white ruff, pressing hard.

It was then that the fox realized his boy was crying. He twisted around to study his face to be sure. Yes, crying — although without a sound, something the fox had never known him to do. The boy hadn’t shed tears for a very long time, but the fox remembered: always before he had cried out, as if to demand that attention be paid to the curious occurrence of salty water streaming from his eyes.

The fox licked at the tears and then grew more confused. There was no scent of blood. He squirmed out of the boy’s arms to inspect his human more carefully, alarmed that he could have failed to notice an injury, although his sense of smell was never wrong. No, no blood; not even the under-skin pooling of a bruise or the marrow leak of a cracked bone, which had happened once.

It doesn’t take Peter long at his grandfather’s house for him to know that he is in the wrong place. He needs to go back and find Pax and take him home. He knows that Pax will wait for him.

But it’s not simple for a boy to travel three hundred miles. The book follows Peter and Pax in alternating chapters as they try to find one another.

The war is coming to the place where Pax was left. The house where they lived is in an evacuation zone. The soldiers are wiring traps at the river, without regard for animals. So besides Pax having to learn to live in the wild, he is affected by what the humans are doing. The other foxes don’t trust him because he smells like humans.

Peter also meets someone on his journey who’s been deeply affected by war. Circumstances force him to slow down and learn some lessons while he’s waiting to travel on, even though he so urgently wants to get to Pax.

This story is an intricate, well-orchestrated look inside the characters, both human and animal. The title is appropriate, because it’s also a look at war and peace.

After I finished the book and was mulling it over (This is a book that you will mull over.), I wondered where it was set. Certain clues — Peter’s love for baseball and the woman he meets having Creole heritage — would indicate this is the United States. But the animals knew about war and had seen war in their lifetimes.

An old fox (who has seen war) explains:

There is a disease that strikes foxes sometimes. It causes them to abandon their ways, to attack strangers. War is a human sickness like this.

Anyway, I was wondering how this could be America, since this doesn’t happen here. Then I noticed the sentence on a page at the very front of the book:

Just because it isn’t happening here
doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

I’m looking forward to reading this again with Jon Klassen’s illustrations. Publication date is today! Yes, this, the first new book I read in 2016 is already what I hope wins the Newbery in 2017. We’ll see….

sarapennypacker.com
burstofbeaden.com

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Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader’s Copy I got at ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 Bug in a Vacuum, by Mélanie Watt

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

bug_in_a_vacuum_largeBug in a Vacuum

by Mélanie Watt

Tundra Books, 2015. 96 pages.

This book makes me laugh. The premise is simple: It’s the stages of grief as experienced by a fly caught in a vacuum cleaner.

The note at the back explains, “The five stages of grief, also known as the Kubler-Ross model, introduced in 1969, are a series of emotions commonly experienced when facing a life-changing event.”

Yes, this would be helpful for explaining the stages of grief to a child. But it’s also just plain fun. Although it’s long, there aren’t a lot of words on each page, and the lavish illustrations do most of the work of telling the story.

The fly, of course, has something to say at every stage:

Denial: “This is amazing! Doesn’t get much cozier than this … Can’t wait to tell my friends about this place!”

Bargaining: “My how the time flies! I must be on my way. Can I be vacuumed next Monday instead? Tonight’s bowling night with the dung beetles.”

Anger: “I WANT OUT NOW!!! NO MORE MR. NICE FLY!!!”

Despair: “I’ll never see the sky again. Let’s face it … I have no future!”

Acceptance: “I surrender! I’ll make the best of things …”

Now, the book is made less bleak in that the fly eventually does escape, as the vacuum is hauled to a dump and breaks open. There’s a parallel journey involving a dog and its stuffed toy – and the dog gets distracted while the toy ends up part of a bird’s nest, so we are given an alternate ending.

You might think that a lot of pictures of the inside of a vacuum would get old, but Mélanie Watt knows how to add details to keep you occupied many times through the book.

This isn’t exactly a book for storytimes – but it is a book that could be used as bibliotherapy – but is also an engaging, brilliantly illustrated, and entertaining story totally apart from its teaching value. And since I consider few things worse than a didactic book that is not entertaining, as far as I’m concerned, that’s a big win.

penguinrandomhouse.ca

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 The Sky Is Falling! by Mark Teague

Animal Characters, Fairy Tale Variant, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

sky_is_falling_largeThe Sky Is Falling!

by Mark Teague

Orchard Books (Scholastic), New York, 2015. 32 pages.
Starred Review

This book cracked me up. It’s very much in the same style as The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf, by the same author.

The book contains a twisted retelling of Chicken Little’s story. Or perhaps I should say a more logical telling of Chicken Little’s story. Kids who are familiar with the traditional tale will appreciate the changes in this one.

And look! The third time through the story, I noticed for the first time a detail on the first page that adds impact to how the story turns out. This is a book that rewards close attention.

The story starts the common way:

One day an acorn hit Chicken Little on the head.

She popped up, screeching,
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

The difference is apparent right away:

”I don’t think so,” said Squirrel.
Squirrel knew a thing or two about acorns.
“See, it fell from a tree.”

But Chicken Little doesn’t pay attention to squirrel.

Soon, all the chickens were in a tizzy.
Chickens are like that.

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
they cried.

They danced around the yard,
flapping their wings.

But in this version, the birds don’t go to tell the king – they start a dance that infects all the animals in the barnyard!

Fox is up to his same tricks, however. If the sky is falling, he thinks everyone should hide in his den.

I love the chicken logic on this page:

”But why aren’t you dancing?” asked Chicken Little.

Fox began to feel annoyed. “Because it makes no sense!”

“Everyone dances when the sky is falling,”
Chicken Little explained. “Look!”

I will simply say about this tale that the fox does get an appropriate comeuppance.

The pictures of the animals dancing their hearts out definitely make it worth your while to pick this book up.

A very silly story which is ever so much fun.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 Lindbergh, by Torben Kuhlmann

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review 0

lindbergh_largeLindbergh

The Tale of a Flying Mouse

by Torben Kuhlmann

English text by Suzanne Levesque

NorthSouth Books, 2014. 92 pages.

Lindbergh is a long-form picture book, for lack of a better way to describe it. We’ve got a story of a little mouse for whom life has gotten bleak in Germany. He wants to go to America, but faces many obstacles. After it proves to difficult to get on a ship, he decides to fly. Successive inventions (paralleling the history of human flight) finally result in a tiny plane capable of crossing the Atlantic.

The story is simple, but the detailed, lavish illustrations make this book a feast for the eyes. The painting of the mouse taking off with an owl bearing down on him will give you goose bumps!

There’s a short history of aviation at the back, and I feel confident there are details in the drawings about actual flying machines which escaped me, but won’t necessarily escape avid child readers.

This is a beautiful book. Children who enjoy poring over detailed paintings will be richly rewarded.

northsouth.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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 Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny, by John Himmelman

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

bunjitsu_bunny_largeTales of Bunjitsu Bunny

by John Himmelman

Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2014. 120 pages.
Starred Review

Isabel was the best bunjitsu artist in her school. She could kick higher than anyone. She could hit harder than anyone. She could throw her classmates farther than anyone.

Some were frightened of her. But Isabel never hurt another creature, unless she had to.

“Bunjitsu is not just about kicking, hitting, and throwing,” she said. “It is about finding ways NOT to kick, hit, and throw.”

They called her Bunjitsu Bunny.

That is the entire text of the first chapter. The rest of the book consists of short stories about Bunjitsu Bunny, with plenty of pictures. My favorites are the many stories that explain how Isabel finds a way NOT to kick, hit, or throw. Though when necessary, she is quite good at those things.

The stories are short and easy to read, but they are full of cleverness and interest. We’ve got a powerful and wise ninja – and she’s a bunny girl! These are wonderful for kids who are ready for chapter books.

mackids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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Review of P. Zonka Lays an Egg, by Julie Paschkis

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

p_zonka_lays_an_egg_largeP. Zonka Lays an Egg

by Julie Paschkis

Peachtree, Atlanta, 2015. 36 pages.
Starred Review

All the other chickens laid eggs regularly, but not P. Zonka. She’s a dreamer. She wanders around the farmyard day in and day out, staring at flowers and gawking at clouds. She looks down at the shiny green grass and gazes up at the deep blue sky. She notices big red tulips and little pink cherry blossoms.

The other hens criticize her and urge her to make an effort.

Day after day, Nadine, Dora, and Maud and all of the other hens filled baskets of eggs.

P. Zonka didn’t lay a single egg.

“Why?” asked Maud.
“Please tell us why,” said Dora.
“Why indeed?” clucked Nadine.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo?”

“I will tell you why,” said P. Zonka.
“Because of the pale mornings, the soft dark moss, the stripes on the crocuses, the orange cat with one blue eye, the shining center of a dandelion, the sky at midnight.”

“I don’t get it,” said Maud.
“P. Zonka is just plain lazy,” said Nadine.
“Come on, P. Zonka,” urged Dora. “You might like laying an egg.”
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

“Can’t you at least try?” they all asked.

When she does? The result is extraordinary! Let’s just say there’s a reason the author gave her a name that sounds like pysanka — a Ukrainian decorated egg.

After that, P. Zonka went back to wandering around the farmyard. She looked down and she gazed up. She clucked in wonder at all the colors she saw. She didn’t lay very many eggs…

…but the ones she laid were worth the wait.

I’ve told you about the delightful ending, but this is a book you need to see for yourself. The illustrations all along remind the reader of pysanky, sunny and beautiful and carefree. The message reminds me of Leo Lionni’s classic, Frederick.

And I love the idea that pysanky are actually laid by chickens who notice beautiful things. Also that beautiful things are worth a little wait.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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Review of Ribbit, by Roderigo Fulgueira and Poly Bernatene

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

ribbit_largeRibbit!

written by Roderigo Folgueira
illustrated by Poly Bernatene

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2013. Originally published in Great Britain in 2012.
Starred Review

One morning, a surprise visitor is in the frog’s pond.

It was a pig – a little pink pig sitting on a rock.

When they ask the pig what it’s doing there, the only thing the pig says is, “Ribbit!”

The frogs get into a tizzy about it:

”WHAT did he say?”
cried the frogs.
“This pig is confused!”
“Does he think he’s a frog?”
“Is he making fun of us?”

But again, all the little pig said was . . .

“Ribbit!”

Soon, the other animals of the forest hear about the pig who thinks he’s a frog. They start teasing the frogs, and doing their own speculating.

The animals laughed and laughed –
and the frogs got angrier and angrier –
until, finally, the chief frog shouted out . . .

“Stop!

We’re not getting anywhere by fighting!
We must go and find the wise old beetle.
He’ll know what to do.”

But when all the animals and frogs go to the wise old beetle and try to show him the problem, the pig is gone. However, the wise old beetle indeed is able to shed light on the situation, and the book wraps up with a new situation, and some insights for all the animals about how to make new friends.

“Tweet!”

This book has the fun of animal sounds, a lovely twist ending, a nice message, and wonderful illustrations. Just see if you don’t get a giggle every time the pig says “Ribbit!” This is another book that makes me itch to read it aloud.

randomhouse.com/kids

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. 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.

What did you think of this book?