A Random Picture Book Three

We have read so many picture books lately that we have a backlog of them to review!  Two of these are ones that Z loved and one was not quite a fit for our family.

This first book, Otto Grows Down by Michael Sussman and illustrated by Scott Magoon, is the one that wasn't right for us.  The simple reason -- Z is an only child.  This is a story about a boy that resents his baby sister and wishes her away on his birthday candles during his sixth birthday party when she is getting more attention than he is.  The wish backfires though when time starts moving backward.  His sister is returned to the hospital but only because she hasn't been born yet.  And as Otto passes back through time, he begins to regret his wish and tries to reverse it.  It takes a very strong wish on his first birthday to return to the normal timeline and get his family back.

There are quite a few picture books about sibling rivalry and Z just doesn't get it.  I think they even upset him a bit because the siblings are being mean to each other so often.  I'm not sure we would have liked this one anyway as it was just a bit strange.  When time is moving backward, paintings are undone, trash is taken back into the house and, well, food takes the reverse trip through the system.  This was something I really didn't need to have a mental picture of!

This version of the classic Old Lady story is called There Was An Old Monster! by three generations of artists -- Rebecca, Adrian and Ed Emberley.  This is a cute book with some wacked out illustrations.  The monster starts by swallowing a tick (that strangely looks just like a spider), then some ants, a lizard (that appears to actually be a chameleon), a bat, a jackal, a bear and finally sets his sights on a lion.  Unfortunately, the lion turns out to be bigger than the monster and the monster ends up being the one who is swallowed.

Z loved this one -- as would most adventurous children under the age of six or seven.  Z has always liked There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and I'll admit that I was worried that he would be upset that it was changed in this book.  Sometimes he gets ideas about things being a certain way and doesn't like them to be altered.  Luckily, this was fun enough to satisfy even him! You can download a companion song to the book from Scholastic's website.

The final book, Boris and the Wrong Shadow by Leigh Hodgkinson, was the one that excited us the most.  Z has started making shadow puppets lately and so a book about shadows was just right for us.  Boris the cat wakes up from his nap and immediately senses something is wrong.  This is confirmed when he gets up and sees his shadow on the wall -- it's a mouse shadow instead of a cat shadow.  The other cats make fun of him, the birds aren't scared at all and he's starting to worry when he notices his own shadow walking down the street!  He finds that it's attached to Vernon the mouse.  Vernon says that while Boris was sleeping, his shadow got bored and walked off and Vernon couldn't resist trying it on and seeing what it felt like.  They work things out and Vernon ends up getting the strength he was looking for -- by becoming friends with Boris.

This is an adorable book!  The collage-style artwork is bright and has a wonderful texture.  The drawings are similar to Lauren Child's but different enough to feel fresh and unique.  There are many different fonts used and sometimes it seems a bit overboard but overall, we loved this book. There's another Boris book and I think we will try and find it!

Waiting for the sun to come back out so that we can enjoy shadows again,
K and Z


Support our site and buy Otto Grows Down, There Was An Old Monster! and Boris and the Wrong Shadow on Amazon or find them at your local library. We borrowed our copies from the library.

The Book List Meme: Books That Take You Back to High School

What a fun list this week!  Since I'm not too many (read "two") years away from a twentieth reunion, the books that I remember when I think back to high school are the ones I spent the most time with. So, without further ado ...

Three Books That Take You Back To High School

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Mrs. Murphy would never forgive me if I had forgotten this book by now.  We spent what seemed like months analyzing this book to death -- themes, characters, settings, etc.  I'm only now getting to the point where I'm considering a re-read!  I wish I still had the group paper we wrote on it but I passed it on to my brother when he had the class.
2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - This may have been the most painful reading experience of my life.  I can't stand this book.  Luckily, one of the characters had the middle name of my boyfriend at the time and so I sketched in his first and last names around every instance of the character name.  That distracted me enough to get me through the dustbowl.  My brother didn't appreciate inheriting my copy of the book though!  I think he convinced my mom to buy him a new one.
3. My Antonia by Willa Cather - This book actually has good memories as it's one of the first adult books that my mom recommended to me.  Along with Gone With the Wind, Jane Eyre and some other random books, this one means something to me because it meant something to her as a young reader.  I read it a couple of times when I was young but haven't visited it in a while.

What books do you recall the strongest from your high school days?

Letting these novels take me back,
K

Discussion: Children's Books That Age Well and Those That Don't

Z and I read two older chapter books recently, one from 1960 and the other from 1965, and I have been faced with the realization that some children's books age far better than others.

The book from 1960 (here if you're curious) is a Newbery Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book.  And yet, I found myself cringing in parts as I read it out loud to Z.  The racially-stereotyped language and emotions for the various characters (Chinese and Italian mostly) were so discomforting that I found myself changing words as I went along.  There were no "pronunciation" spellings but the grammar was terrible (for the "Chinaman") and the vocabulary was skewed (for the Italian mama).  I didn't want these stereotypes to be incorporated into Z's world view.  I believe they belong to a different era -- one where Mickey Rooney can put in some fake teeth, yellow his face, use bad grammar and pass as Japanese.

The book from 1965 (this one), on the other hand, didn't use any sixties slang or stereotypes.  There were only two things I had to change or explain as I read.  The first was the word "aspirin" because Z just hears name brands now.  So I just told him it was medicine like Motrin and moved on.  The second was "zwieback" -- something I haven't heard mentioned since the seventies.  I just started saying "crackers" instead because I couldn't quite remember what it was!  Besides these product references, the characters all spoke in normal ways and we had no problems getting through the story.

Sidenote: Strangely, both books refer to facial tissue as Kleenex -- which my mom (a child of the 60's) has never called anything else but Kleenex.  It took years for me to realize it was a name brand!

So, readers, what do you think?  Should all children's books remain on the shelves forever as representatives of their times?  Does an award nomination or win make a book valuable forever?  Or should some books be "retired" to archival status once their messages are far enough from what we want our children learning?

Do you have any examples of children's books that you think have aged especially well or somewhat poorly?

Finding the balance between sentiment and value,
K

Starred Saturdays: week of February 28

I took some beautiful spring pictures around our neighborhood but haven't uploaded them yet so maybe I will have them for you next week.  We have many neighbors with apple and cherry trees so there are some beautiful blossoms.  What is blooming in your neighborhood?

If you're like me, your favorite thing that shows up in movies is the breakfast-making machine.  Well here's one that Yuri Suzuki and Masa Kimura made in real life.  (via Design for Mankind)

This week spawned a few book-to-movie news items:

The Incarceron movie rights have been bought by Fox.  (via io9)

Studio Ghibli's new movie is a Japanese adaptation of The Borrowers.  There's a website if you read Japanese.  (via GalleryNucleus Ghibli blog)

And Tim Burton will be bringing us Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: The Movie.  (via Techland and io9)

Lev Grossman discusses the best way to travel between worlds on the Techland blog.  My favorite -- "fall asleep".

The NY Times discusses e-book pricing to dispel the idea that they should be uber-cheap.  (via Pages To Type Before I Sleep ...)

Bored at work?  Spend some time searching the archives of Popular Science magazine.  They have magazines online back to 1872.  I just found an awesome article about the Great Auk (which is now extinct).  (via io9)

The husband loves apple fritters and I think I might surprise him with these, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. Really ... they're for him.  I won't eat many at all.

And I found a couple of awesome visual features this week so here you go ...

A National Geographic reader took this picture of an all black penguin on South Georgia Island. (via io9)

Iron-rich waters in the Antarctic or a zombie breeding ground? (via io9)

Apartment Therapy has a gallery of snow-covered homes.  I love this one!  I've never seen anything like it.



And here are some awesome NASA high-res photos of the Earth made into a video.  The Earth is sure beautiful. (via io9)

Marching on to spring,
K

"The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex."

I have avoided reading Jane Austen's Emma because I find Emma's character in film versions to be quite repulsive through most of the story.  I saved that novel for last, assuming it would be the Austen that I would enjoy the least.  I never guessed that Sense and Sensibility would be so infuriating and would not have a single character that I did not find significantly deficient in some way.  In the next couple of weeks, I will be reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for the Chance Challenge (Challenge 8: Real and Inspired) and I can honestly admit that I will be rooting for the sea monsters.

Elinor Dashwood and her younger sister Marianne experience a change in situation when their father dies and leaves his estate, Norwood, to their half-brother.  They, along with their mother and younger sister, find themselves in reduced circumstances and they end up moving to a cottage on the estate of a distant relative.  It appears to be sufficient for their needs and they settle in nicely.  Elinor pines for Edward Ferrars, her sister-in law's brother, and Marianne meets the handsome and sporty Willoughby and both sisters seem headed on their way to marriage.  It's quite a surprise then when Willoughby leaves town quickly and unexpectedly and Edward starts behaving with a strange reserve toward Elinor.  What could be the source of trouble for these two seemingly well-matched couples?

I really didn't have a problem with Austen's writing or storytelling in this book.  I understood many of the social complexities that she was attempting to highlight.  And yet I found every character to be flawed just past the point where it was tolerable.  I didn't want to stop reading the book before it was done but I felt that each character received more than they deserved by the end of the story.  At least in Emma I am assured of a few characters worthy of respect and the eventual improvement of Emma herself.  Now on to the sea monsters ...

Wishing I had re-read Persuasion instead,
K


Support our site and buy Sense and Sensibility on Amazon or find it at your local library. We bought our own copy of it.

National Grammar Day

Hooray!  It's National Grammar Day!  Go visit the website for e-cards, t-shirts, grammar tips and more.  There's also a playlist of songs with poor grammar -- quite funny!

Hoping they don't notice our blog name,
K

Sweet, Cute and Put Back Together Again

We have been checking out huge stacks of picture books from the library ever since starting our reading calendar.  We have to keep our choices open!

Our first choice this time was this simple book written and illustrated by Amy Schwartz called Tiny & Hercules.  It's about Tiny (the elephant) and Hercules (the mouse).  It is a series of short episodes which each end with one or the other of these friends being able to use their unique qualities to help the other.  They go ice skating, run a lemonade stand, knit, paint and more.

Z liked this book because it is so simple.  He loved the opposite names and he liked the friendship between these two -- especially since he truly believes that elephants are afraid of mice.  This one is also great for younger kids because of the short segments.  The illustrations are a bit odd but the message of friendship is clear.

The next picture book is Little Hoot, written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace.  This is the story of a small owl that is sad each night when his other animal friends get to go to bed and he has to stay up and play.  All he wants is a normal bedtime when the sun goes down.  His parents try to keep him up, in preparation for becoming a grown owl, but he just can't do it yet.

Besides having super adorable illustrations, this book has very simple words that will appeal to even the youngest kids.  I'm not sure what exactly the message is (because Little Hoot doesn't actually stay awake at night like an owl should) but the cuteness of the book has won us over anyway.

The final book of the bunch is Humpty Dumpty by Daniel Kirk (of Library Mouse fame).  This twist on the classic nursery rhyme, still written in verse form, is the story of Humpty the boy.  His mom entreats him to be careful because he is fragile but he likes to have fun and take risks.  On this day, what he really wants is to go to the birthday parade of the boy king.  He heads to the town with his friends just as the king, King Moe, is fighting his own mother because he is too nervous to go outside.  As Humpty climbs higher to be able to see the parade, he falls off a brick wall and falls through the roof of the king's coach.  Though all of the king's horses and all of the king's men are unsuccessful in putting him together, the king turns out to have fantastic puzzle skills and he is able to reconstruct Humpty before the two become fast friends.

This was Z's favorite of the bunch.  He loves well-executed rhyming books and this is definitely one of them.  He also recently learned the rhyme in kindergarten which helped him enjoy the book even more.  This is a bright and happy book.

Keeping the precious innocence around a bit longer,
K and Z


Support our site and buy Tiny and Hercules and Little Hoot on Amazon or find them at your local library. Humpty Dumpty is out of print so you will have to find it at the library like we did with all of these.

New Release: The Agency: A Spy in the House

When I saw Y.S. Lee's YA mystery novel The Agency: A Spy in the House advertised, I was excited enough to request a review copy from the publisher.  I've always thought that there need to be more children's and YA books with a Victorian setting.  I shouldn't have had to wait for my mom to hand me Jane Eyre before I first visited Victorian England for the first time.  Coupled with the fact that this is a mystery and that it deals with education for girls, it seemed to have everything going for it and so I bumped it up in my reading queue.

The book begins as twelve year old orphan Mary Lang is about to be hanged for theft.  As she's being lead back to the cells after sentencing, she is saved by a group of women who look for promising young girls to educate -- girls that have the potential and inner strength to become more than scullery maids or wives.  Mary accepts their offer, takes on the name Mary Quinn and spends the next few years at their school, becoming educated and learning to act like a lady despite her low birth.  And yet, at the end of her time there, she finds herself without a vocation.  She doesn't feel cut out to be a teacher, nurse or clerk so she approaches the leaders at the school to see if they have any suggestions for other professions that she might try.  They do, in fact, have a suggestion but it's so out of the norm that Mary hesitates for a moment-- but only a moment --until she accepts their uncommon position -- a woman spy in Victorian England.  She trains and is sent on her first mission where it is up to her to use everything she has learned and secure her future.

I wasn't sure at the start of the book what direction it was going to take but, once it got going, I found myself fully invested in Mary and her future.  The main story is a standard Victorian mystery that reminds me of Georgette Heyer or Agatha Christie but Lee adds a twist to Mary's story that gives this book surprising depth and heart.  I won't say more than that because it really is a wonderful thing that Lee has done and I don't want to ruin it for anyone.  My quibbles with the book were only because I wished it was an adult novel and more fleshed out.  But as a YA novel I think it's quite good.  The ending was also unexpected and made me believe in Lee's vision of the independent Victorian woman.  I will be first in line to buy the second book in this series, The Agency: The Body in the Tower, when it is released in September.

This book will be released in the U.S. next week.  I believe it's already available in the U.K.

Taking a unique trip to a familiar place,
K


Support our site and buy The Agency: A Spy in the House on Amazon or find it at your local library. We requested an advance reading copy from the publisher.