Updating a Red-Headed Children's Classic

For Z's birthday, one of the books we bought for him was the updated Pippi Longstocking with illustrations by Lauren Child, published in 2007. Of course when he first opened it, he said "Charlie and Lola!" but then he realized that it was a different book by the same illustrator. Normally, I try to find original versions of books because that's the way they were intended to be. In this case, though, I wanted to make sure that Z fell for the precocious red-pigtailed girl the way I did when I was young. I thought it would help bring him into the story if he was excited by the illustrations.

The first thing Z seemed to love about this book were the names -- Pippi, Tommy, Annika, Mr. Nilsson (the monkey, if you've forgotten). He also liked the horse on the porch and was somewhat dismayed that he didn't have a name. The next thing he liked was the variation in font that you will be familiar with if you read any other Lauren Child books. She uses font in a way that brings the text to life. Finally, Z is fascinated by the silly things that happen in Pippi's home --treasure and pancakes and climbing trees--all things that appeal to any young child, boy or girl.

Taking a trip together to Villa Villekulla,
K and Z


Buy Pippi Longstocking on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Fuse #8's Top Picture Books List

If you missed the fun that was the compilation and reveal of Fuse #8's Top 100 Picture Books Poll, head over and check out the final list ... which actually became a 101 list after an error. The poll lists were submitted by blog readers/writers as top ten lists and then were weighted and tallied by Betsy.

These were our Top Ten picture books and I noted if they made it on the list ...

1. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel -- the absolute best book to read out loud and for kids to want to memorize - number 35
2. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf -- smelling the flowers is MUCH better than fighting - number 11
3. Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak -- a little book that takes you through the months AND around the world - number 60 (with my quote!)
4. I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go To Bed by Lauren Child -- Lola has the most fantastic imagination
5. The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone -- a little bit of fear is fun and a lot of Grover is even more fun! - number 22
6. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans -- a boarding school full of happy children? you don't see that often in fiction - number 8
7. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle -- the cadence of the book is perfect - number 30 (also with my quote!)
8. The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey -- puppies are so cute that they can still somehow have their fun and eat their cake too
9. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina -- cheeky monkeys! - number 17
10. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson -- imagination is everything - number 7

Eight of our ten made it to the final list and we own 25 of the books so I guess we like a lot of classics around here! There are so many other fantastic books on the list that I really suggest going to check it out. It's a perfect list for filling in those holes in your home library! There is also a complete list of nominated books that didn't make it to the Top list.

Praise to picture books,
K and Z

Z's Holiday Wish List

As promised, here are some of the books from Z's wish list! We are using this holiday to stock his shelves wih some of the books that we hope he will want to read in the next couple of years. It was nice when I was a kid to have well-stocked bookshelves at home that I could then supplement with visits to the library.













What books are your kids wishing for this year?

Waiting for our first snowman of the season,
K and Z


Visit our Amazon e-store for a great selection of books that we have reviewed or recommended on this site.

"Herb loved storybooks."

A favorite around our house is Lauren Child and the Charlie and Lola series. I thought we should try another of her books and so we got Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? from the library. This is the story of Herb, a boy who doesn't take the best care of his books even though they are well-loved. One night, he falls asleep on his book and then he falls right into it!

First he meets Goldilocks who is very upset that he has invaded her story. Then he runs past Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and Puss in Boots. Finally he reaches a fancy home where a party is going on. He has a series of run-ins and mishaps due to his mistreatment of the book -- cutting out pictures, drawing in moustaches and telephones and other things. When he finally gets out of the book he takes the time to repair and clean it and set everything straight again ... well, almost everything.

This is a cute book that would be good for a bit older kid than Z. He didn't enjoy a lot of the dialogue because it was confrontational and even sarcastic. I found it amusing, of course. The book is made to look like Herb has abused it, with a cup stain on one page that I could swear was made by Z! I was about to lecture him about how we treat our books until I started reading it with him and realized that the book damage was intentional and printed on the page. Silly me!

Taking care of our books so that they don't take care of us,
K and Z


Buy Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? on Amazon or find it at your local library.