One Upon a Baby Brother - A review

Last week I read a charming picture book that successfully looks at not one but at two themes. Sarah Sullivan looks at what it is like to have a new sibling in the house, and she explores the nature of artistic inspiration. Young writers in particular will enjoy this book, as the author shows us that material for stories can be found right under our noses, if we open our minds to the possibility. 




Once Upon a baby brother

Sarah Sullivan

Illustrated by Tricia Tusa

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 8

Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2010, 978-0-374-34635-5

   More than almost anything else in the world Lizzie likes to tell stories. She tells her mother and her father stories, and even Big George the dog gets to hear Lizzie’s tales – and he likes them too. Then one day baby Marvin arrives on the scene and Lizzie discovers that little brothers are not conducive to storytelling. Her parents are too busy to hear her stories now, and Big George is the only person at home who has time for her. Thankfully Lizzie’s new teacher, Miss Pennyroyal, loves stories too and she encourages her students to write and then share their stories. With her trusty Princess Merriweather pencil in hand and her Imagination Notebook to write in, Lizzie happily spins her yarns.

   Then the unthinkable happens. Lizzie is given a great writing assignment to do and she cannot come up with a single idea. Her head is empty and nothing, not even her Princess Merriweather pencil and her Imagination Notebook are able to get the creative juices flowing. Will Lizzie be faced with this terrible writer’s block forever?

   This delightful book not only looks at the problems associate with having a new little sibling in the house, but it also looks at the nature of inspiration. Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places.

   With delightful illustrations and a deliciously creative text, this picture book is sure to be a big hit with readers who have a fondness for tales and storytelling.

Poetry Friday - Inspirational poems from around the world

For Poetry Friday I have a review of Come to the Great World: Poems from Around the Globe. This is a very special collection of poems that readers of all ages will enjoy.

Come to the Great World: Poems from Around the Globe

Selected by Wendy Cooling
Illustrated by Sheila Moxley
Poetry
5 to 8
Holiday House, 2004, 0823418227

All too often, children are encouraged to notice the differences that exist between different cultures, races, and nationalities. More often then not, left to their own devices, children will play with each other very easily even if they don’t share a common language and even if they don’t look alike. This collection of thirty-one poems was written by poets from “every corner of the earth,” and they “show what children share as well as reflecting the differences in their lives.”

Ross Falconer, who is from Australia, writes about the special “small world” where children live. It is a world that adults cannot enter because it has a wall around it that is twenty feet high, and “adults only have ten feet ladders.”

Gloria Guevra from Nicaragua tells us about “people in poverty,” and how children pick through the garbage in the town dump. You can hear the pain in her voice as she describes how the children fill old sacks “with rusty tins / worn-out shoes / bits of old cardboard boxes.” Teresa de Jesus’s voice is angry as she tells us that seeing poverty “makes me furious.” She perfectly captures the emotions many children experience when they see poverty. It simply makes no sense to them why poverty should exist.

With messages of hope and inspiration about the world’s problems and its riches, this collection of poems will give young readers a great deal to think about.

The last day of school - Graduation gifts

Tomorrow is the last day of school in Ashland, Oregon and my daughter is really looking forward to the end of the school year. She loves school, but she looking forward to summer camps, play dates with her friends, and a break from having to get up at six thirty in the morning! If you have a child who is 'graduating' in the next few days I have a wonderful gift idea for you. Here is my review:

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Happy Graduation Gift Set

Dr. Seuss

Novelty Kit

Ages 5 and up

Scholastic, 2010, 978-0-545-20201-5

   Children and young people love to celebrate school graduations. Even children who are leaving kindergarten and who are going into “big kid” school like to have some kind of celebration to mark their elevation to ‘big kid’ status.

   In this wonderful kit, the themes and art from Dr. Seuss’ book Oh the Places You’ll go, are used to create a wonderful gift for school and college graduates. Included in the kit is a keepsake box, a graduation journal, a graduation banner, a diploma, stickers, a doorhanger, magnets, a magnetic photograph frame, a jigsaw puzzle, and a bookmark.

   This kit would make a wonderful gift for a graduate of practically any age. 

And for those of you who haven't yet read Oh the places you'll go, here is a review of this splendid book.

Oh, the places You’ll go!

Dr. Seuss

Picture Book

Ages 5 and up

Random House, 1990, 978-0-679-80527-4

   It is your special day and you are about to embark on a new adventure. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes,” and you can go anywhere you want to go. Of course, you may need a little time to figure out where you want to go. There will be times when you will have to decide “I don’t choose to go there,” in which case you may have to head into the unknown. It might be a little scary, but it will also be exciting. You’ll see “great sights” and “soar to high heights,” and have all kinds of adventures.

   There will be times when things won’t work out as you hope. After all, life is full of “Bang-ups” and “Hang-ups.” You’ll find yourself in a “Lurch” and in a “Slump” and it won’t be much fun. There will be tricky times ahead, but you will, in the end, succeed in whatever it is that you want to do “98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.”

   This inspirational and motivational picture book is perfect for anyone who is embarking on a new adventure. High school graduates, college graduates, and university graduates will all be encouraged and uplifted by Dr. Seuss’s words and his wonderfully quirky art. What is special about this book is that Dr. Seuss does not pretend that the future will always be rosy and perfect. He is honest about what the future might hold, and he offers encouragement and advice for those moments when life, that “Great Balancing Act,” is complicated. 

Finally, for those of you who like pop-up books, there is also an Oh the places you go Pop-up! For this title there are both single page and full double page pop-ups that are not only beautifully crafted, but that also (on some pages) have tabs to pull. 

The Alison Dare Double Blog Dare Tour and Contest

Alison Dare has been seen in pursuit of Baron

von Baron is Ashland,Oregon (note Mount Ashland

in the background)

Tundra books has released two graphic novels about Alison Dare, a young teen who has unusual parents and who has tends to have rather extraordinary adventures involving dastardly villains, lamps with genies in them, walking mummies and more. Here is my review of one of the titles.

Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures

J. Torres

Illustrated by J. Bone

Graphic Novel

Ages 8 to 11

Tundra Books, 2010, 978-0-99776-934-4

   Alison Dare has a very unusual family. Her mother is a world famous archeologist, and her father is a librarian who is secretly the Blue Scarab, an honest to goodness super-hero. Most of the time Alison is in school, but every so often she gets to go on special trips with her mother, Dr. Alice Dare.

   In the first adventure in this collection, Alison is on an expedition with her mother in the Sultanate of Shahrazad and she is bored to tears. Alison’s mother is busy working so Alison decides to take a peek at some of the things her mother has stashed on one of the tents. Inside a crate she finds a lamp which she rubs, thus summoning a genie. Alison knows that she has three wishes - as per tradition - and her first wish is to summon her friends Wendy and Dot. The girls are not, for some bizarre reason, delighted to be whisked away from the lives to join Alison in an adventure. They do warm up to the idea though when Alison accidentally summons 1001 knights. The knights lavish Alison and the girls with lovely clothes, fantastic foods, and other delights. Things are looking up, until the knights decide that Alison’s mother is an “interloper” who should be removed.

   In the second adventure we find out how Alison’s parents met and how her father, who was a scholarly librarian, was turned into the Blue Scarab, a superhero with all kinds of fantastic powers.

   Finally, there is the story of “Alison Dare and the mummy child.” In this thrilling adventure, Alison goes to the museum to see her mother’s new exhibit and to set up a family picnic there – she is hoping to bring her estranged parents together. Instead Alison finds herself in a power struggle between her parents and Baron Von Baron, a ‘bad guy’ who wants to take over the world (isn’t that what most of them want to do?).

   Readers who like an exciting story that is full of evil doers, superheroes, and a sprinkling of magic and archeology, will greatly enjoy this book. With tongue-in-cheek jokes and completely outrageous plots, the three stories in this book are highly entertaining and enjoyable.

You are invited to enter the Alison Dare contest hosted by Tundra books. This is what you have to do to enter:

1. Save the image above to your computer and then print it out.

2. There are two different poses for Alison Dare, but you only need to choose one (although if you wanted to do both, go for it!).

3. Please cut out the Alison Dare figure you have chosen. Feel free to colour and decorate.

4. Put Alison Dare in front of a famous landmark, in an exotic location, or in the face of danger. You can also be creative with common everyday objects.

5. Take a photo (or photos) of Alison Dare! There is no limit.

6. Send your photo of Alison Dare and witty caption to tundra@mcclelland.com before June 30, 2010.

You can see my Alison Dare photo at the beginning of this post!

Please visit the Blog Tour webpage to see what other bloggers are doing.

Here is some information about the author and illustrator of this exciting series:

J. TORRES is a Shuster Award-winning, Eisner Award-nominated writer whose credits include adaptations of Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E and CTV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation, the comic book series Teen Titans Go and Wonder Girl for DC Comics, as well as the graphic novels Lola: A Ghost Story and the YALSA-listed Days Like This for Oni Press. He has also written for children’s magazines, books, and television. The author lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario.

J. BONE is an Eisner Award-nominated illustrator of several critically acclaimed comic books and graphic novels, including Spiderman: Tangled Web, Batman / The Spirit, and Paul Dini’s Mutant, Texas. J. Bone lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Earth Calendar - Holidays from around the world.

Children love to celebrate holidays of all kinds. Of course they like the holidays that they are familiar with, but they also like to celebrate holidays from cultures other than their own as well. Here is a nifty little tool that you might like to explore with the child in your life. It is called the Earth Calendar and on it you will find holidays of all kinds from around the world. You can look up the holidays for today, and you can also look up holidays by date, by country, and by religion.

You are sure to find some interesting holidays during the year that will help you and your child or children to explore the history and culture of people who live on the other side of the world.

Enjoy!