A Dahl's House

Z got quite a few new books for Christmas and we've been having a great time reading them together. He got a couple of Roald Dahl books, ones that I had never read (or even heard of) before. The first was the absolutely delightful The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. It's a little bit harder than an easy reader level but isn't broken into chapters. There are wonderful drawings throughout the book by Quentin Blake.

A young boy lives next door to an abandoned store front that used to house a candy store. One day renovations are started at the store -- things are chucked out the window, the door is made super tall and a sign appears announcing that it's a window washing firm. Eventually the members of their firm poke their heads out of the window -- a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey. The giraffe reaches the tall windows, the pelican uses its beak as a bucket and the monkey does the washing. All they need now are some clients and a rather wealthy one falls right into their laps. If they can just get through a few trials first, they may be set for life!

Z adored this book. I couldn't read it fast enough for him. He loved the characters, the situations and the drawings. I've honestly never seen him quite so excited about a book. I wouldn't be surprised if I catch him reading it again soon!

The second Dahl we read was George's Marvelous Medicine. Definitely for an older audience (both in length and tone), this is a strange and somewhat dangerous story. George is a young boy with an awful live-in grandma. She's verbally abusive and possibly a witch. George is left in charge of watching her one morning and giving her a daily dose of medicine. He decides that what she really needs is a medicine that will cure her nastiness, meanness and crotchetiness (which I'm fairly sure is not a word). He goes around the house and collects all sorts of household products to add to the mix--hairspray, toothpaste, face powder, motor oil, paint and more--to make a truly toxic blend. What happens when he puts a bit into Granny?

I was getting a bit worried as we were reading the two or three chapters of "ingredients" that Z was getting some bad ideas about what is safe to give someone to eat. This is definitely not a book for adventurous kids who may want to try concocting something on their own. Leave this one to the timid ones who will dream up crazy things but never act on them. This book was amusing but strange and had a rather awful ending. Z even seemed a bit shocked by what happened. Have you read this one before? What did you think?

Moving together past the standards,
K and Z


Support our site and buy The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me and George's Marvelous Medicine on Amazon or find them at your local library. We own our own copies.

Roald Dahl 2009 Shortlist

As this might be my favorite award ever and it's in its second year, I wanted to make sure and bring to your attention the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009 Shortlist. The purposes of this award are to

> promote laughter and humour as a feel-good factor when reading, by encouraging families to read together and discover the pleasure of humorous (funny) books. This in turn will reinforce the message that reading together promotes family well-being.

> draw attention to funny books as readable and enjoyable books. We hope that the prize will enable these books to gain a profile that makes them more accessible to children and young people. The prize will work to achieve this through a range of activities supported by libraries, teachers and parents.

> reward and encourage authors (and illustrators) who write and illustrate books using humour in their stories, poetry and fiction. By creating these awards we hope to promote a vibrant area of publishing often overlooked by other awards.

The shortlists are for "funniest book for children aged six and under" and "funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen".

Go take a look at the lists and find your child or grandchild (or secretly yourself) a new and very funny kid book! I like shortlists because there's more chance to find the right book for you or your family.

And don't forget that you still have a week and a half left to celebrate! September is Roald Dahl Month. Head to the website for activity sheets and more to celebrate the gift of humor that Dahl gave to all of the world's young readers.

Looking for a good childish laugh,
K

Bedtime Story: James and the Giant Peach

For the last month or so, Z's bedtime story has been Roald Dahl's classic James and the Giant Peach. When we started reading one chapter a night, I didn't realize that this book has 39 chapters! However, it managed to keep our interest and we've had a fun time reading it.

I'll admit that I never read this Dahl classic when I was a kid. I can't remember why I never chose it but maybe the lure of another story with "Chocolate" in the title just overshadowed it. Z and I have watched Henry Selick's stop-animation retelling of the story but never knew how it compared to the original. Now that we've finished this bedtime story, we know!

The original Roald Dahl story is definitely crankier and somewhat less fanciful but definitely exciting. There were a couple of times where I had to quick edit during my reading (one racist remark and a few choice insults). I probably wouldn't have changed anything but the racist remark if Z was older. This book has a good message about keeping your head during hard times and using your brain. It was also humorous and inventive and has some fun insect facts. I hope we enjoy our next story as much as we enjoyed this one!

Dreaming about seagull travel and Cloud-Men,
K and Z


Buy James and the Giant Peach on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Stocking the Kid Shelves

Z got very few toys for Christmas this year. He spends most of his time typing on the computer and reading books anyway. He got a good variety of books this year -- some that he can read now and some that will be available to him on his shelves whenever he is ready. I also took this opportunity to clear out some of the toddler books. There are some that are very loved and worn but they aren't holding his attention anymore. Here are the books that are filling the spaces --

Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (this is a family favorite that I will probably take the opportunity to re-read this spring!)
The Rabbit and the Turtle - Eric Carle (a set of short retellings of Aesop's Fables)
Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, A Color of His Own, An Extraordinary Egg, Inch by Inch, and the alphabet tree - Leo Lionni (there was a bundle of these offered through the Scholastic book flier)
My Friend Is Sad - Mo Willems
Starry Safari - Linda Ashman
Come Rhyme With Me - Hans Wilhelm
Bonjour, Babar! - Jean de Brunhoff (a volume with all 6 original books in it)
and our own copy of the much adored Wolf's Coming by Joe Kulka.

We will be working through these over the next month or two and will post reviews and links for most of them. Right now Z is reading The Rabbit and the Turtle but since he already knows it as "The Tortoise and the Hare", he changes the words!

Enjoying a life full of 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.

Beginning the Spooky Season

I have taken my spooky book post to heart and am going to re-read as many of these books as I can this season. I started this week with Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories. These aren't stories by Roald Dahl but the top fourteen short stories that he thought were the spookiest ever written. Now, most people would read a few dozen well-known stories and choose a few for their anthology but Roald Dahl says that he read seven-hundred and forty-nine stories to find these good ones -- and they are fantastic!

The first that really got to me was Harry by Rosemary Timperley. This story has the uncertainty and menacing aspects of a good ghost story. A young adopted girl makes an imaginary friend but her mother is not so sure that the friend is all that made-up. Maybe having a young child right now makes this story scarier because nothing is worse than the fears you have for the safety of your children.

The next story that I loved was The Corner Shop by Cynthia Asquith. This is one of those ghost stories with a warm and fuzzy ending -- which happens to be my favorite kind. I have always liked benevolent ghosts. In this story a man enters a curio shop at two different times and is met by extremely different proprietors. Through the story you aren't entirely sure which is the ghostly scenario.

In the Tube by E.F. Benson focuses more on spiritualism and "ghosts versus astral projections" and that sort of thing. It's a very well-written story and it gives you the chills at the end.

One of the best in the book is A.M. Burrage's Playmates. It deals with how a non-believer comes to terms with the regular existence of harmless ghosts. The next one I liked a lot is by the same author and is called The Sweeper. This one is the exact opposite type of story in that it is about people who have no doubt as to the existence of a certain ghost and are sure of his ability to wreak vengeance. I would like to find out more about Burrage as I really enjoyed his stories.

All of the stories in the book are good and creepy and they are each so different from the other that it's a very interesting read. I strongly recommend this if you are looking for some good spooky reading.

Sleeping with a nightlight,
K


Buy Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories on Amazon or find it at your local library.

A Fantastic New Children's Book Award

Kelly at Big A little a linked to an article in the Telegraph about a new children's book award -- the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. On the panel of judges are Roald Dahl's granddaughter, some children's authors and, most importantly, a comedian! The purpose of the award is to recognize those books that typically get overlooked when prizes go to books with what are considered "more serious" topics.

I think the best line from the article is "humour is one of the best ways to make children into readers." This is absolutely true. I remember cracking up as a kid when the BFG started farting but I can be sure that most adults would not have considered The BFG an award winning book. In fact, this article says that Roald Dahl never won an award that was decided by adults. Nothing could be more tragic for the king of children's humor.

Appreciating the funny,
K and Z

"These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr. Bucket."

On our library trip this week, I decided to go ahead and pick up our first chapter book and start some nighttime chapter reading. Z has always wanted to read his own books so we've never been able to do this before. He's gotten better lately about sitting and listening to me read without grabbing the book out of my hands and taking off running. As I thought about which book to choose first, I felt that I couldn't choose anything more appealing to a 4 year old kid than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

There's no point in reviewing this book -- most of us know it by heart! I would like to recommend the version that we picked up at the library, the one that is pictured here, the 40th Anniversary Edition from 2004. The book is incredibly colorful with little sketches of candy on each page and different pastel colors for each chapter, along with the always fantastic illustrations by Quentin Blake.

We started last night and ended up reading three chapters and two chapters tonight. When I try and close the book, Z runs over and turns to the next page and reads "Chapter Five, The Golden Tickets" and I have to keep going. I'm enjoying reading to Z and even though it's not always obvious if he is paying attention or not, when he comes running back over to ask for more, I know that he is enjoying himself. These are the rewards of being a parent!

Happily reading,
K and Z


Buy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Amazon or find it at your local library.

Telling the Story in Your Own Words

Roald Dahl is a childhood staple so when Z and I went to the library, I grabbed The Enormous Crocodile. We got home and I started reading it to Z and he lost interest almost immediately. It's got quite a lot of text per page and I think it intimidated him. I also saw a bit of nervousness in his face when we got to the fourth line of the book: "The Enormous Crocodile grinned, showing hundreds of sharp white teeth. 'For my lunch today,' he said, 'I would like a nice juicy child.'" I could almost see Z's little throat make a ::gulp:: motion as he slipped off of the couch and snuck away.

A few days later, I picked up the book again and started to read it to him. This time, though, I paraphrased based on some quick page skimming and looking at the illustrations and by the end, Z was laughing! He really thought it was a funny story and was happy that The Enormous Crocodile got his in the end. It was just overwhelming for him with the specific vocabulary and amount of text in the book. So, this is a good lesson that you can take any story that you want to tell your child and make it appropriate for their age and attention level with just a little work from your own imagination. This opens up the amount of books that I can share with Z right now and that's very exciting!

Without sharp teeth,
K and Z


Buy The Enormous Crocodile on Amazon or find it at your local library.