Review of Grandma and the Great Gourd, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Susy Pilgrim Waters

Animal Characters, Fantasy, Folk Tales, Picture Book Review, Readalouds 0

Grandma and the Great Gourd

A Bengali Folktale

retold by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
illustrated by Susy Pilgrim Waters

A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2013. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s a wonderful folktale, marvelously told. The pictures are exquisite, giving the flavor of India. The story is sprinkled with sound effects that aren’t ones native English speakers would naturally use. There’s the repetition of a folktale, and a lovely predictability — with a twist.

This is a book for school age kids, with the text on the long side for preschoolers. With that in mind, the telling is sure to engage their interest.

Here’s how it begins:

Once upon a time, in a little village in India, there lived an old woman whom everyone called Grandma. She loved gardening and had the best vegetable patch in the village.

Grandma lived by herself in a little hut at the edge of the village, next to a deep, dark jungle. At times she could hear herds of elephants lumbering on forest paths, thup-thup-thup, or giant lizards slithering over dry leaves, khash-khash.

She didn’t mind because she had two loyal dogs, Kalu and Bhulu, to protect her. They also helped her with garden chores.

When Grandma crosses the deep, dark forest to visit her daughter, she encounters three fierce animals who want to eat her up. But this is how that goes:

Grandma’s heart went dhip-dhip, but she didn’t let the fox see how scared she was.

“If you’re planning to have me for breakfast,” she said, “that’s a terrible idea. See how skinny I am? I’ll be a lot plumper on my way back from my daughter’s house because she’s such a good cook. You can eat me then, if you like.”

“That sounds good!” said the fox, and he let her go.

Of course, to get home after visiting her daughter, and indeed growing plump, Grandma must outwit the tiger, the bear, and the fox. Her plan works on the tiger and the bear, but the fox is more clever and confronts her. However, there’s a lovely satisfying ending, for which the groundwork was laid at the very start.

This has all that’s good about a folktale, including being one you’ll want to tell again and again.

mackids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Flora and the Flamingo, by Molly Idle

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

Flora and the Flamingo

by Molly Idle

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2013. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Flora and the Flamingo is a wordless picture book. So I can’t quote the book to tell you how delightful it is.

The story is simple. Doesn’t even use different settings. But you can look at it again and again. We’ve got a flamingo. We’ve got a flamingo-shaped little girl. The flamingo poses. The girl poses in imitation.

Flaps on several pages over both the flamingo and Flora give us more pictures and an additional sense of movement.

At first, the flamingo doesn’t seem too happy about Flora’s imitation. She falls down.

But the flamingo helps her up, and they begin posing together, and it flows into a lovely pas de deux, culminating in an exuberant leap into a pond.

Words don’t do the book justice. Check it out, look at it again and again, and share it with a child!

idleillustration.com
chroniclebooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Little Nelly’s Big Book, by Pippa Goodhart and Andy Rowland

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review 0

Little Nelly’s Big Book

by Pippa Goodhart
illustrated by Andy Rowland

Bloomsbury, New York, 2012. 32 pages.

This book makes me laugh. Little Nelly, whom we can see is an elephant, looks in a book and learns that she is a mouse. She is gray. She has big ears. She has a skinny tail.

Nelly goes to find other mice in their home behind the wall, and they aren’t so sure, but they welcome her among them and are very kind.

Now, Granny Mouse looks on her computer and she says, “I found out that there are other mice like you. Most of them live far away, but some live in a zoo nearby.” Nelly and her friends move in with the Zoo Mice.

When Little Nelly’s actual mouse friend Micky looks in her book and learns that he’s really an elephant, we get the moral of the story:

Which just goes to show why books should always have pictures.

Kids are sure to enjoy this fun story of mistaken identity. They will get wholeheartedly behind the moral, too.

bloomsburykids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of The Loopy Coop Hens: Letting Go, by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

The Loopy Coop Hens
Letting Go

By Janet Morgan Stoeke

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. 32 pages.

Janet Morgan Stoeke came to our library in May. I love her work. She has mastered the art of expressing the mind of a child – or in this case the minds of three childish hens.

The format is a full-sized picture book, but the book is perfect for beginning readers, complete with four short chapters. And the entire book is short enough to use in Storytime and will appeal to a wide age range.

The story is that the three silly hens Midge, Pip, and Dot are sitting in the shade under a tree, when apples begin to fall on them. They decide a fox must be throwing them and ask Rooster Sam for help. Children will delight in finding the flaw in the hens’ logic.

When Rooster Sam gets frightened away by another falling apple, Dot bravely decides to go up a ladder and investigate. She manages to explain to the other hens that the apples aren’t being thrown, they are letting go. The book comes to a nice conclusion when the hens all climb the ladder, see the pretty view, and decide to let go like an apple.

Now, parents might feel the need to explain to very young readers that hens with feathers, even if they can’t fly, aren’t at as big a risk falling from a tree as children. But children can probably figure that out, and the book shows the hens dazed, but eager to do it again.

I like the simple good-hearted fun in this book. We have a puzzle for the hens to solve, in which children will be way ahead of them. Then they turn it into an adventure, which children might not anticipate. This book works on many different levels.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Tiny Little Fly, by Michael Rosen and Kevin Waldron

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

Tiny Little Fly

by Michael Rosen
pictures by Kevin Waldron

Candlewick Press, 2010. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I’ve found a book I simply must read for my next Baby Storytime. It’s got great big pages and features great big animals – and one tiny little fly.

Tiny Little Fly lands on Great Big Elephant, and Great Big Hippo, and Great Big Tiger. They each wink one eye and try to catch the fly, with appropriate sound effects. They all fail.

The big vivid pictures make this perfect for a group reading, especially combined with the chorus of sounds like “Tramp! Crush! Tramp!” for the elephant. I especially like the winding trail of the fly pictured behind it. You can almost feel the fly landing.

And how common is that situation? You can easily relate to the animals saying to themselves, “I’m going to catch that fly!” But it’s so easy to believe they would vigorously try and fail.

My, oh my,
Tiny Little Fly!

At the end, there’s a big fold-out spread, with all three animals fruitlessly after the fly.

Tiny Little Fly
winks one eye. . . .
“See you all soon.
Bye, everyone, bye!”

Just right for a beginning experience with books. It’s got animals, rhymes, repetition and predictability, big lovely pictures, buzzing sounds, things to chant, and even a happy ending.

candlewick.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Construction Kitties, by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges and Shari Halpern

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Construction Kitties

by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges
illustrated by Shari Halpern

Christy Ottaviano Books (Henry Holt), New York, 2013. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I’m sorry, but this book is way too cute! Though it’s not saccharine. It’s an honest, worthy book about construction machines – with adorable kitties driving them.

We’ve got standard Construction Book pages:

Into the loader.
Onto the excavator.
Dig that dirt!

Then at lunch time:

Out with their pails.
Tasty sardines.
Cool milk.
Tummies are full.
Construction Kitties purr and rest.

And what are those Construction Kitties building? What could be better? A playground! The endpapers show the workers now playing with many smaller kittens on the newly constructed playground.

Here’s another one that’s going straight into my next Baby Storytime. Construction machines. Kitties. What’s not to like?

mackids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Dodsworth in Tokyo, by Tim Egan

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

Dodsworth in Tokyo

by Tim Egan

HMH Books for Young Readers, 2013. 48 pages.
Starred Review

Dodsworth and the Duck have been in New York, Paris, London, and Rome. Now they take on Tokyo.

This fabulous series of chapter books for beginning readers introduces a few customs and places from the host cities, while leaving the readers wondering, What will the Duck mess up in this place?

In Tokyo, the duck gets along amazingly well. He finds a kendama, and he is remarkably good at playing with it. But can he really stay out of trouble?

Pictures go along with the story. The characters are animals rather than people, and it’s all done in Tim Egan’s understated cartoon style, but with a Japanese setting.

The duck ran across a row of taiko drums.
The patter of his feet fit the music perfectly.
The crowd cheered.
“Don’t encourage him!” yelled Dodsworth.
The duck grabbed a rope and swung over the festival.
The crowd cheered again.
“This won’t end well,” said Dodsworth.

Hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf, by Mark Teague

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

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf

by Mark Teague

Orchard Books, New York, 2013. 40 pages.
Starred Review

What is it about Three Little Pigs adjustments? Like The Three Pigs, The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot, and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, this book simply makes me laugh.

The story isn’t much different from the traditional one. Instead of being sent off by their mother, the three pigs are let go because the farmer and his wife move to Florida.

From there, things progress as expected. The commentary along the way is the hilarious part. The first and second pig love potato chips and sody-pop, respectively. The Somewhat Bad Wolf succeeds in blowing down their houses, saying, “I can’t believe that worked!” The wolf is so surprised, the pigs have time to escape to their sister’s fine brick house.

The pictures are fabulous. I especially love the one where the wolf is collapsed on the lawn after trying to blow down the brick house. It’s no wonder the pigs take pity on him!

scholastic.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? by Eve Bunting and Sergio Ruzzier

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?

by Eve Bunting
illustrated by Serge Ruzzier

Clarion Books, 2013. 32 pages.

I’m afraid I tend to cringe with most rhyming picture books. But here’s one that’s done well, with just a touch of tongue twister. Add to that a charming and recognizable situation, and you’ve got a winner.

Here’s a page toward the end:

“Peacocks? Have you seen my socks?
I did not put them in my box.
I asked my good friend Mr. Fox.
I asked my good friend Mr. Ox.
Peacocks? Have you seen my socks?
They are such a pretty blue!
I just got them. They are new.”

I recently used this book at a Baby Storytime where I was focusing on Phonological Awareness. I’m sure the babies didn’t understand the situation, but they could enjoy the rhymes. At the same time, the parents gave a chuckle of delight when it became apparent that the duck was wearing his new blue socks all along.

Now, I admit that the rhymes aren’t quite up to a Dr. Seuss level. But they aren’t bad, and the story makes for a delightful book good for reading aloud or for independent readers to tackle on their own.

hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.

Review of Moo Hoo, by Candace Ryan and Mike Lowery

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

Moo Hoo

by Candace Ryan
illustrated by Mike Lowery

Walker & Company, New York, 2012. 28 pages.

This book just makes me laugh. You can figure out the pattern from the first three double-page spreads:

Cow and Owl are friends.

Moo Hoo.
Hoo Moo.

They make music together.

Moo Hoo.
Two coo.

They fix things together.

Moo Hoo.
Glue shoe.

Cow and Owl each have a superhero toy. Owl’s superhero’s shoe broke when he hit it against his drum set on the second page.

But then a kangaroo shows up and wants to play. (Roo new.)

Roo wants to play, but Cow and Owl are hesitant to let him join them, and he feels bad. For this entire exchange, the same two-word rhyme structure is used.

At the end?

They discover that three is better than two.

Moo Hoo Roo.
New true crew.

I can’t decide if this humor and cleverness is a little beyond the usual preschool storytime set. I suspect that they would enjoy the simple language and the simple friend-making plot, while their parents would get a kick out of the clever wordplay. And I’m sure that early elementary school kids will enjoy it. It’s easy to read, and tells a clever story in a tightly-constrained format. A lot of fun.

candaceryanbooks.com
argyleacademy.com
bloomsburykids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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.