Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Alpha Oops! H is for Halloween by Althea Kontis

Alpha Oops!  H is for Halloween by Althea Kontis, illustrated by Bob Kolar

Rating: 3.5 stars

So we're finally getting into the Halloween groove, and it's really only because Lorelei is in preschool and all her friends are into it.  Last year I was impressed we even got a costume, and we even went trick-or-treating in the local way (which involved a little strip-mall-like place because the houses around here require a hike and a half to get through one neighborhood).  This year Lorelei's spook-o-meter is a little higher, so she's not at all frightened by pictures like those in this book, of monsters and goblins, werewolves and vampires.

The book is a follow up to Alpha Oops!  The Day Z Went First, which we checked out at the same time.  Like that book, it's a classic "A is for..." book with a twist: the letters are all jumbled up in fairly random order.  The only plot is they all have to find a Halloween-themed item that starts with their letter.  One in particular, B, shows up again and again, and is uncertain of his choice, but then ends up as the last letter as B for BOO!  And he scares all the letters off stage.  It's a cute ending.

It's a little confusing, and definitely better for kids who are completely comfortable with their ABCs in order, and therefore see the humor in getting them all mixed up.  It's only sorta fun to read out loud, because the only text apart from the "A is for..." lines is the dialogue between the letters.  And Lorelei and Ben don't find that too easy to follow.  Still, it's Halloween-y and it's Halloween week, so we've been reading it every day!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

Rating: 4 stars

I am all for simplicity, but sometimes there are too few words in books for my personal taste.  This one definitely falls in that category, but it's too clever to dislike and it holds a special place in my heart because Lorelei read it all by herself.  Well, she can't read yet, but she's great at realizing which words are which once she has a general idea of what the words are.  Wait, is that what reading is?  I mean, I can officially read Thai but a) only at an embarrassingly slow pace, b) only words I know already, and c) a whopping sentence at a time.  So maybe Lorelei can read...well, we'll just keep an eye on that and let her keep reading/listening as much as she wants...

There are just four words in this book (well, a fifth appears at the end), but they are rearranged as many times as possible in cute little ways, and have illustrations that support the new arrangement.  The bear is cuddly and adorable and seems to dance around with the fruit on his head or rump or hand.  At the end he gobbles them all up and, funnily, what remains of the fruit are just cores and peels.

I don't know how many times you could read this--it might get old after a dozen times--but we appreciated it for the two weeks we had it from the library.  And because it was a great confidence booster for Lorelei, there's a good chance we'll check it out again.

Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli

Higher!  Higher!  by Leslie Patricelli
Rating: 4.5 stars

There isn't a whole lot to this book, but I think that--plus some wonderfully clear and bright illustrations--is what make Ben and Lorelei request it again and again and again.  Our kids are both swing-lovers (they got it in their DNA from beloved Grammy, I think); just this morning Ben was giggling himself silly at the playground when I was pushing him, and then stopping him suddenly, then starting him up again in full swing.  Whiplash?  Oooh...hadn't thought of that.  As Lorelei would say, "Next time, I'll be more careful."

Anyway, this book is adorable.  A little girl and her father walk to the playground and she requests, "Higher!  Higher!"  ("Add a please, please!" I want to add.)  Despite the lack of a "please," he pushes her higher, and she soars as high as a giraffe, then as high as a rooftop, then as high as the Himalayas, past an airplane, into space.  Then she meets a martian, who is on a swing, shouting "Higher!  Higher!" just like she is...from Mars!  How fun!  They greet each other, share a high five, say good-bye, and she wordlessly floats back to real-swinging-range, back to the playground.

A very cute book.  I can't imagine any kid not loving it!  If it had a please or two, I'd have given it a 5.  I'm feeling stingy with my stars today.

How Kind! by Mary Murphy

How Kind! by Mary Murphy

Rating: 5 stars

If ever there was a book for my mother, this is it.  My mom grew up telling us to "be charitable" (my best friend still tells me that in her best mom-voice because she heard it almost as much as me); here is a book that has the same message without that parental you-know-better-than-that tone of voice! 

This book is wonderfully simple: Hen does something kind for Pig, who replies "How kind!" and then Pig wants to do something kind for someone else, and he decides to give Rabbit a carrot.  Rabbit replies "How kind!" and then Rabbit wants to do something kind for someone else, and he...  It's just a chain reaction to kindness that ends up with Pig returning the egg (now turned chick) back to Hen.  See?  What goes around comes around, especially kindness.  (My mother would so agree.)

Lorelei has begun to have some, um, loquacious moments when her mouth doesn't seem to stop moving.  She likes to repeat the same thing over and over again, something that requires more patience than a deep breath or a full night's sleep can provide.  But when she repeats "How kind!" or "I want to do something kind!" I really don't mind at all.

Just a few things that I wonder about, though: How does Cow milk herself to give milk to Cat?  And did Mary Murphy decide that the first kind gesture would be giving away one of Hen's unhatched children?  I find that a little funny, but I think it's a detail that few, if any, 3- or 4-year olds would actually pick up.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

L M N O Peas by Keith Baker

L M N O Peas by Keith Baker

Rating: 5 stars

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but how about by its jacket flap?  Here's a snippet from Keith Baker's bio, found on the back flap:
"Keith Baker has ten letters in his name, all of which can be found in the alphabet.  If he could be any vegetable, he would be a pea--green, round, quick, smart, easy to draw, and always surrounded by friends... He's sometimes grumpea, sometimes sleepea, but usually happea, and he hopes that someday there will be peas everywhere on Earth."

"We're dancers--and drivers round town."
 That excerpt is an example of the cleverness that can be found in the pages of the book.  What a funny genius Keith Baker is!  It is clear that he had fun with this book, and our family has had a great time with it, too.  I'm not sure why we passed it up so many different times at the bookstore and the library; we really should have checked it out earlier.  (It was published earlier this year.) 

Many alphabet books tell too much a story, and you lose the actual letters and words that go with them.  Other books don't tell any story at all, so kids whose interest in "just" the alphabet will be, most likely, less than enthused to read them.  But this is a perfect balance: Baker introduces us to the peas, and tells them of all the vocations they can be.  Some of my favorite new vocabulary words for Lorelei include: investigator, officer, parachutist ('cause the GRAND-Dad is...ok, was...one!), unique, voter, volunteer. 

The story is great.  The pictures are SUPERB!  They are just fun--the peas are doing all sorts of things, illustrating the words.  As a bonus, there's a little ladybug on each page that the kids love to find, especially the first time we read through it.  (In fact, I had to wipe down the pages because we were eating pasta while we looked, so some marinara sauce from Ben's always-sticky fingers got on the pages when he excitedly pointed to the ladybug...but I cleaned them.  Promise!) 

This is a fantastic book--one that is tempting to buy...let's see if I can sit on my hands and resist the temptation.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Beach Ball by Peter Sis

Beach Ball by Peter Sis

Rating: 4.5 stars

We went to the library last week to get some books for our fall beach trip and happened upon this one.  Since we liked Fire Truck by Peter Sis, I went to see if there were any other books by him that we might like.  How perfect to find this one!  What wasn't perfect was not realizing how great a car book it really was...until we got down to the beach.  Lorelei could have easily studied this book for an hour in the car, which would have given me only four other hours to fill with something else.

The book is a look-and-find, but not of the usual variety.  The story line which hardly exists at all is just that a little girl's beach ball gets swept up by the wind and she chases it across the beach, through all of the pages of the book.  On each page is a different theme of things you need to find.  On one page are shapes, so you can see how many triangles you can find or just how many different shapes exist.  On another page are numbers, and you count all the different things--that was Lorelei's favorite page.  On another is a too-easy maze and on the trickiest page is the alphabet.  The reader is challenged to find something that starts with each letter of the alphabet.  It's tricky and fun.  It definitely kept my interest for awhile!

This is an old-ish book, printed in 1990, and it definitely could be more than what it is--the book could be bigger and hold more, the illustrations could be more charming and/or funnier, the setting could be different in each book.  I can hardly imagine the awesome result if another illustrator got his or her hands on the idea and ran with it!  I really wish Robert Nuebecker or Rotraut Susanne Berner would do something like this...

Berenstain Bears Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Berenstain Bears Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Rating: 5 stars

We LOVE these books.  We check them out about every other time we go to the library, especially if I didn't pre-order a bunch of good books for Lorelei.  They are such great go-to books, and she'll happily read them a few times a day.  Because the words are limited and they rhyme, Ben sits through them just as happily.  The whole collection is just great--though, as I've said before, poor Papa Bear looks like a bumbling fool, though a lovable one.

Story time by Lorelei.


But I really wanted to write about this book because of the picture below.  Now that Lorelei has started preschool, she now has "story time" with her animals and dolls and brother.  (Ben is such a good sport!)  She perches herself on one of the cubes in our playroom and holds the book up just like her teacher and/or the librarian at her school.  I can't get over how cute she looks, but am more amazed at the emulation that's going on.  Obviously she likes what she sees at school, or else she wouldn't be doing stuff like this at home!  Lucky her.  Lucky us!







The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

 
The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, illustrated by Christine Davenier

Rating: 4 stars

Shocking!  A princess book!  But, you know, I'm trying to relax a little about the whole princess thing.  I don't love it (or maybe I just wish there were more princess books about princesses who get dirty, hike up mountains, care less about their attire) but I realize that it is the first interest--of many!--that my daughter will have that I will not wholeheartedly share.  But, because she's my daughter and it's really not that unhealthy, I should and do support it.  I just hope that princes isn't replaced by goth in a few years...

Our own very fairy princess.
My sister's twin girls have this book and love it, so we checked it out from the library.  It's definitely one of the better princess books.  Geraldine tells us right away that's she's a fairy princess because she FEELS it inside, a "sparkly feeling of just KNOWING in my heart."  Cute!  She puts fairy dust on her pancakes, has a wardrobe of pink and pink-ish dresses, dances ballet, and wears wings whenever possible.  Throughout the book and with a little princess twist to each, "Gerry" teaches little axioms, such as: Fairy princesses have very refined taste.  Fairy princesses are very practical.  Fairy princesses are very supportive.

The supportive bit is my favorite part.  Gerry's best friend Delilah doesn't believe in the fairy princess stuff, but Gerry points out that she can "be whatever you want to be.  You just have to let your SPARKLE out!"  Gerry points out that Delilah sparkles while playing the trombone, and Gerry is still friends with her despite the fact that Delilah wears a lot of blue. 

I don't like how the whole princess thing is so obnoxiously predictable.  You like princesses, dancing ballet, wearing pink, things that sparkle, and stuff like that.  But...princesses can do great things too, right?  I hope so...because guess what Lorelei wants to be for Halloween...?


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems

Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion by Mo Willems

Rating: 5 wonderful stars

Let me just assume you've read the first two of these wonderful books (if you've not, just know that little Trixie has a beloved bunny she's lost but recovered before) and tell you about the third book.  Trixie goes to visit her Oma and Opa in Sweden, taking a taxi, airplane, and train to get there.  She is drinking a glass of chocolate milk in their garden when she suddenly realizes something: She left Knuffle Bunny on the plane!  She's pretty sad, but when her father finds out her bunny is on its way to China, she tries to grin and bear it--she's "older now," though she doesn't really want to be.  But then she has a dream of Knuffle Bunny traveling to all these different places, making all these different children happy.  And she wakes up happy, ok with the fact that she no longer has her beloved bunny.

The trip ends and they head home.  They get on the plane, right in front of a screaming baby, and Trixie notices something: Knuffle Bunny is in the seat pocket in front of her!  She is ecstatic.  And then she turns to the baby behind her and asks her parents, "Would your baby like my Knuffle Bunny?"  All the parents are shocked, and Trixie is sure of her decision.  (Even my husband said, "Awwww" when I explained the book to him.)  She gives her bunny to the child, who is now gloriously happy and, even better, gloriously quiet.  And Trixie gets a letter in the mail to say thanks.

What a wonderful book about being kind and thoughtful!  This book was released just last week, and before our trip to the beach I scooted out to the bookstore to buy it for Lorelei.  My mom, a middle school teacher, and I were just talking about the horrible cyberbullying/suicide at Rutgers University... (And here I am trying to make a segueway from a great children's book to a horrible situation.  But bear with me.)  I was almost in tears asking her: What can I do?  How can I prevent this in my own community, with my own kids?  What lessons are important for me to teach our kids? 

I got to thinking, and I think there are two things: First, to teach my children--today, tomorrow, and every single day until I die--how to stop and think of other people.  They need to be thoughtful, and not just the card-on-your-birthday thoughtful.  To be compassionate and caring, even though they'll not replace Mother Teresa.  Second, to teach my children how to be strong and confident when they face the inevitable criticism their peers will throw their way.  They need to know that not everyone will adore them like their parents certainly do, and they need to have a larger perspective than the one child/group/day that is really, really bad.

This book is a tiny step in that.  How wonderful to see one of Lorelei's favorite little characters, Trixie, give her most favorite stuffed animal to a stranger when she realizes Knuffle Bunny will comfort the crying baby more than it would comfort herself.  This is a book for your shelf, not to check out at the library (though that is certainly better than passing up this gem).

To end on a light note, I mentioned to Lorelei how, one day, she'll decide she's old enough to stop sleeping with all of her guys (as of this post, she has about eight that get tucked in beside her at night).  Normally smiley Lorelei immediately frowned, with tears forming in her eyes.  I back pedaled like there was no tomorrow:  "Not tonight!  When you're ready!  Maybe when you're in college!"

Friday, October 1, 2010

Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Rating: 5 stars

We are loving these Zimmerman and Clemesha books.  The husband-wife team has three sons, so all of their books (that we've read so far) are SO perfect for little boys, including our little boy. 

Fire Engine Man, and their other book that's on our shelf Digger Man, are great simple books with the tried and true boy subjects of firetrucks and diggers.  You can't go wrong with these images on the pages of a children's book!  The stories are both told through the voice of a young boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old, and tell how he's going to be a "Fire Engine Man."  He's going to drive his own big fire engine, hook up his hose, and help the other firefighters fight the fire. 

But what makes this book (and Digger Man, too) special is the fact that the little boy has a younger brother, maybe 12 or 18 months, whom he actively adores.  He drives by his family in his big fire engine, so his brother can see him, and then invites his little brother to the fire station to visit, "because it would be safe."  There's a great picture of the big brother driving the fire truck, and the little brother in the passenger seat, in a car seat, with a bottle.  Lorelei and Ben and I always wonder if a real fire truck could have a carseat in it...I'm guessing not, but it's fun to pretend it's possible.  The end of the book shows the two brothers playing happily together, with the big brother declaring, "When my brother gets bigger, he can help."

How wonderful to see a positive sibling book!  I can't get the ones where one sibling is trying to sell off the other one out of my hands fast enough.  I don't want to give Lorelei any ideas...  Really, though, I don't think it's too much to expect that my kids are going to love each other.  Most days, at least. 

This book, and Digger Man too, are GREAT books for boys who have a new little brother in their life.