Picture Book Monday's review of Who Goes there?

There have been times, when I was alone at home at night, when strange noises from outside made me more than a little nervous. For some reason my imagination went wild and I found myself gathering my pet dogs around me. Not that they would be much help in a crisis. They are a bunch of cowards.
    In today's picture book you will meet a mouse who is frightened by noises outside and who, thanks to the noises, finds out what is missing in his life.

Who goes there?

Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Anna Curry

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 6

Simon and Schuster, 2013, 978-1-4169-8002-5

Winter is on its way and Lewis Mouse gets ready by filling his nest with leaves, twigs, and grass. The wind howls outside his snug little home. It pushes against his little door, but it cannot come in. Lewis has plenty to eat and he is warm and snug, but he cannot help feeling that something is missing.

   Lewis is nibbling on a nut where he hears a scratching and tapping noise on his door. Not surprisingly, Lewis feels a little nervous, but he doesn’t want whoever is at the door to know this so he roars out, “Who goes there? Who could it be? Who scritches and scratches and taps at my tree.” Lewis thinks that perhaps there is an owl out there, but when he opens his door and peaks out there is nothing outside at all except the night and the wind.

   Later Lewis is fast asleep when something starts scritching, scratching, and tapping on his door again. Feeling very annoyed Lewis bellows out again, and once again, when he looks outside nothing is there. Now that Lewis is awake he knows he is never going to be able to go back to sleep. He makes some raspberry tea with honey and sits down to drink when…that’s right….the noise starts up again. Now Lewis is really fed up, and scared. What if the animal outside is a bear?

   In this delightful picture book we meet a mouse whose roar is bigger than his courage. Readers will start feeling very sorry for this poor little creature who just wants a little peace and quiet. Thankfully, when the adventure is all over, Lewis finds out just what his little home is missing.

Poetry Friday's review of Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll

Though I learned the poem many many years ago I can still narrate the Jabberwocky, and I still laugh when I read the poem about the Walrus and the Carpenter. These and other wonderful poems can be found in today's poetry title, which looks at the life and works of Lewis Carroll.

Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll

Edited by Edward Mendelson

Illustrated by Eric Copeland

Poetry Picture book

For ages 8 and up

Sterling, 2008, 978-1-4027-5474-6

Charles Ludwidge Dodson was a mathematician who taught and studied at Oxford University.  He was greatly respected, and was a serious scholar who lived a quiet life. However, this tall thin young man had a silly and playful side, a side that chose to write fantastical stories and poems under a pen name. As Lewis Carroll, he was able to break free of his college teacher life and indulge in creating colorful characters, ridiculous situations, and amusing poems.

   Though Charles wrote little stories and poems when he was living with his family and later, his writing adventures really began on July 4^th, 1862, when he was thirty years old. On this day he went for a picnic and went rowing on the River Thames with friends. One of the picnickers was a ten year old girl called Alice, and he made up a story for her and the other children about a girl called Alice who jumped down a rabbit hole. This story would, sometime later, get turned into a book called Alice in Wonderland. A sequel followed called Through the Looking-Glass.

   In this splendid book the editor takes many of the poems from these two books, plus excerpts from his poem The Hunting of the Snark, poems from his novel Sylvie and Bruno, and other poems that he wrote during his life.

   In many of his poems Carroll finds ways to make fun of conventions that were popular in his time. For example, many poets liked to write poems that encouraged children to work hard, to be good, and to do as they are told. In How Doth the Little Crocodile, Carroll parodies a poem someone else wrote about “the little busy bee” that works hard to collect nectar “from every opening flower.” In his version we meet a crocodile who, with a big and wide grin, “welcomes little fishes” to swim into his tooth-filled jaws.

   In A Sea Dirge Carroll makes fun of all those popular poems that waxed eloquent about the sea. As far as Carroll is concerned, the sea is a place where you get wet feet, a case of seasickness, and ruined food because sand gets in your tea. It is a place where one might fall down a cliff, slip on some rocks, and where one has to put up with having to watch nannies and their charges and other similar unpleasant sights.

   Throughout this excellent collection, each of the poems are introduced by a note from the editor and are accompanied by wonderful paintings, all of which beautifully capture the essence of the poems.

Picture Book Monday's review of Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift

The season of giving is almost here and for today's picture book I have a title that I think beautifully captures the true spirit of the season, no matter who you are. In this story you will meet a pair of bears who love one another and who willingly give up things they care for so that they can purchase the perfect gift.

Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift

Dara Goldman

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Sleeping Bear Press, 2013, 978-1-58536-859-4

Boris and Stella are a pair of bears who, despite their very different backgrounds and occupations, love many of the same things. Boris plays the piano in a restaurant, and Stella is a baker, and they both like hats and scary movies.

   Stella wants to give Boris something special for Hanukkah, but she only has a few coins in her piggy bank. She has nothing worth selling except the pine tree that came from the family farm in Italy. Even though the tree is special to her, Stella decides to sell the tree so that she can buy Boris a dreidel to add to his dreidel collection.

   Boris is also thinking about gift giving. Christmas is coming up and he wants to get Stella a gift that she will treasure. He doesn’t have much money saved up either, but he does have a dreidel collection that his parents gave him when he was growing up in Russia. Boris decides that he will sell his dreidel collection so that he can buy a lovely star for Stella’s special pine tree.

   This heart-warming version of The Gift of the Magi will delight children and their grownups. It is wonderful to see that these two bears in this tale have no trouble giving up things they treasure. Children will see how giving a gift to someone you love is a gift in and of itself.

Poetry Friday - A review of: Beast Feast

I used to be a very wordy writer. I could not for the life of me be concise, and sometimes I took ages to get to the point. I am less verbose now, but I still admire people who can say a lot without having to use reams of words. In this book Douglas Florian beautifully describes a collection of animals using very few words and I am in awe of his skill.

Beast Feast

Douglas Florian

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Harcourt, 1994, 978-0-152-01737-8

Most of us tend to take a long time to say what we want to say. We don’t try to describe things in a concise way, and sometimes what we want to say or describe gets lost in the throng of words. In this collection, poet and illustrator, Douglas Florian, beautifully captures the nature or habits of twenty-one animals using very few words.

   Often the poems are amusing. For example in The Anteater we are told that this animal has a “long and tacky tongue,” which goes “snaking from its snout.” The anteater uses this tongue to snag termites, a thousand of which go “riding in” to the anteater’s mouth, but none come “riding out.”

   In the shortest of the poems Douglas Florian often tweaks the words he uses, and the result is clever and amusing. In The Rhea he tells us that this large bird is “rheally” strange. It is just like an ostrich that has been “rhearranged.”

   Sometimes the poem is told from the animal’s point of view, and sometimes the poet himself expresses an opinion. In The Pigeon, he admits that he does not “Love the pigeon” but he does “like it” because the bird has its own way of doing things. It bobs its head when it walks, and pigeons are brave creatures, who may even we willing to sit on one’s shoulder.

   There are some poems that tell us exactly what the animal in question is like. For example we learn that toads, the “squat and plump” relative of the frog, does not jump very often. It is a nocturnal creature that hunts during the night and that “hops into an earthy borrow” to nap until it is time to hunt again.

   With poems that amuse, intrigue, and inform, this is a collection that young readers will enjoy sharing with friends and family members.

Picture Book Monday - A review of Hello, Mr. Hulot

It is not easy to tell a story using art when you only have a few pages to work with, and yet in this book the illustrator does this twenty-two times, giving readers little stories that are sweet, funny, and delightfully odd. It is a book that comic book fans will enjoy, and it is also a book that art lovers of all ages will find intriguing.

Hello, Mr. Hulot

David Merveille

Picture Book

For ages 7 and up

NorthSouth, 2013, 978-0-7358-4135-2

In France a character called Mr. Hulot was created and played by a comic actor called Jacques Tati. Mr. Hulot featured in four films in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and he became hugely popular. Being a big fan of Mr. Hulot, David Merveille has created illustrations capturing twenty-two vignettes from the films. Comic book style artwork brings these almost wordless scenarios to life, giving readers a truly unique picture book experience.

   We begin with Mr. Hulot going into a souvenir shop in Paris. He buys a snow globe with a miniature Eiffel Tower inside. When he takes the globe outside and shakes it, it starts to snow, in real life! Snow also plays a big part in another vignette in the book. Mr. Hulot is walking down a snowy sidewalk when a boy throws a snowball at him. Mr. Hulot throws a snowball back, and he hits a man walking behind the boy. In no time the snowball fight escalates and soon the whole street is full of people happily throwing snowballs at one another.

   In The Umbrella Corner we see that Mr. Hulot is a kind man. Mr. Hulot is standing at a bus stop and it starts to rain. He puts up his umbrella and one by one birds fly in and land by his feet. They want to shelter from the rain too. When the bus arrives Mr. Hulot makes a decision and he leaves his umbrella lodged in a nearby tree so that his bird acquaintances have shelter from the rain.

   Each little pictorial story or vignette in this book is beautifully paced so that the dénouement always appears after a page is turned, thus keeping tension going until the end. There is a cinematographic flavor throughout the book that makes each story memorable and a good to look at.

Poetry Friday - A Review Of I’ve lost my hippopotamus

When I saw the title of today's poetry title I just had to smile. After all, can you imagine how it would be possible to lose a pet hippo? The title sets the tone for the whole book, which is full of poems that children will find irresistible.

I’ve lost my hippopotamus

Jack Prelutsky

Illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 7 to 10

HarperCollins, 2012, 978-0-06-201457-3

You only have to look online to see that many people find animal stories, pictures, and videos entertaining. People share these things using social media, and in just days everyone knows about the panda who got her head stuck in a box or the cat who stole the dog’s bed and refused to give it up. Animals doing funny things appeals to people, which is why this book will delight children and adults alike. It is full of funny animals, and funny people interacting with animals. Oh, and then there are the poems that are just about funny people who somehow manage to be funny even though there are no animals around.

   The first poem is about a girl who has lost her hippopotamus. It is hard to imagine how one could lose such an enormous animal, but this girl has managed it. The situation is so bizarre that she thinks that something is “fishy” and that some “unsavory subterfuge” is at play. What we know, thanks to the accompanying illustration, is that the girl’s hippo is not very far away at all.

   If you thought having a pet hippo was odd, then you should read the next poem. In this one you will meet someone who is wishing that the day would get more interesting. It has been a rather humdrum day so far, what with “fish in the treetops,” “owls underwater” and cows and elephants who are flying around. If this is a normal, boring sort of day, what would an interesting day in this world look like?

   Obviously, Jack Prelutsky has the gift for coming up with the most extraordinary ideas. Pet hippos and fish in trees are just a few of them. He has many more. For example, have you ever wondered what it would be like if pigeons weighed as much as pigs? No, neither have I, but Jack Prelutsky has. What should a person do if  pigeons weighed as much as pigs and “dragonflies were dragons,” and if caterpillars were as big as wagons and alley cats were as big as lions.

   Pig-sized pigeons are interesting, but going to a store to buy a dragon is surely even more so. In “Shopping at a dragon store,” the poet tells us all about a visit to a dragon store and how he tries to find a “very special kind of dragon,” the kind that he can take home.

   Some people have a gift for being amusing, for taking just a few lines of words and creating something that tickles people’s giggle spots. Jack Prelutsky is just such a person, and in this collection of more than one hundred poems, he gives readers more than one hundred reasons to smile. His poems are accompanied by line drawings that perfectly capture the essence of the poems, and that often contain a little joke of their own.

Picture Book Monday - A review of Bluebird

It is always wonderful when you make a meaningful connection with someone new. When you are alone and sad such a connection is particularly powerful and perhaps even life-changing. In today's picture book, which is wordless, we see how a friendship between a friendly bird and a lonely little boy grows, and we also see how senseless cruelty can end something precious and beautiful.

Bluebird

Bob Staake

Picture Book

For ages 6 and up

Random House, 2013, 978-0-375-87037-8

In a grey city world there is a little boy who is friendless and lonely. At school many of the other children laugh at the little boy, which naturally hurts his feelings and makes him feel even lonelier. One day a little bluebird sits on the little boy’s classroom window sill. It watches the little boy and when he walks home at three o’clock it follows him. Then the bluebird tries to make friends with the little boy, and it even manages to make him smile.

   The little boy finds himself interacting with the bird, playing hide-and-seek with it, and then sharing his cookie with his charming little companion. When the other children ignore the little boy, the bird comes and sits on his shoulder, making the little boy feel special.

   In the park the little boy buys a toy boat and he and his new friend play with it, and the other children playing with their boats notice the little boy and the bird and respond to them in a friendly and welcoming way. Then the little boy goes into a wooded part of the park where he encounters a trio of bullies and his special afternoon with his new friend is spoiled.

   All too often in this world we are too busy or too indifferent to notice when people around us are unhappy. In this extraordinary worldless picture book Bob Staake explores a special relationship that a little bird offers a lonely child. We see how compassion and an offer of friendship can brighten someone’s life, and how cruel bullying and aggression is. Though the tale is touched with pain and loss, it also gives readers a bright message of hope.

Poetry Friday - A Review of Wolf and Dog

We have coyotes in the hills around my house, and many evenings we hear them yipping and yowling. Not long ago I wondered what they must think of the domesticated dogs that they encounter. Do they know that they are related to the dogs? Today's poetry title looks at the relationship that exists between a dog and his wild cousin, the wolf.

Wolf and Dog

Sylvia Vaden Heede

Illustrated by Marije Tolman

Translated by Bill Nagelkerke

Poetry

For ages 7 to 10

Gecko Press, 2013, 978-1-877579-47-9

Wolf lives in the forest at the top of the hill and his cousin, Dog, lives in a house and sleeps in a basket every night. Wolf is a rather uncouth fellow who bites when he is hungry. He is hungry when he visits Dog, but Dog reminds him that they are cousins and that cousins don’t bite one another.

   Being a hospitable fellow, Dog cooks Wolf some bacon. Dog might be willing to eat lettuce, but Wolf wants meat, and lots of it. Wolf, being the kind of creature he is, snatches the bacon right out of the pan, leaving nothing for Dog.

   Wolf comes to call on another day, when the boss is gone again, and Dog tells him that he has a flea bothering him. He accuses Wolf of being the animal responsible for giving him the flea. Wolf, being a sly and sometimes unpleasant creature, turns the tables on Dog and demands that Dog return his flea. Dog gets scared when he sees his cousin’s teeth and hears his growl.  Wolf may be his cousin, but Wolf is wild and “can’t be tamed.” Dog has no choice but to threaten Wolf. If Wolf harms him, Dog will bark for his boss and Wolf would not like that to happen. At all. To avert what could turn into a nasty situation Wolf decides that he is going to give Dog his flea. Wolf was given the bacon to eat, and in return he has given Dog one of his fleas, of which he has many.

   In this delightful, often funny collection of story poems, the author tells nine stories about the interactions between Dog and Wolf. Sometimes the two animals are competing or trying to get the better of each other, and at other times they realize that they have more in common than they thought. There are even times when they get along and help one another out.

   

Picture Book Monday - A Review of The Invisible Boy

Most of us have experienced times when we feel as if we are invisible, when the people around us don't seem to realize that we are even there. The alone and cut-off-from-the-world feeling is horrible. In this picture book the author looks at one little boy who is made to feel invisible, and who still manages to be generous to someone else.

The invisible Boy

Trudy Ludwig

Illustrated by Patrice Barton

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Random House, 2013, 978-1-582-46450-3

Brian is not really an invisible boy but he is so quiet and makes so little fuss in class, that it is almost as if he really is invisible. Mrs. Carlotti has her hands full dealing with Nathan, who shouts all the time, and Sophie, “who whines and complains” whenever she doesn’t get what she wants. Somehow Brian never gets picked when the children play kickball, and when one of the children has a birthday party, Brian isn’t invited.

   Then one day a new boy called Justin joins Brian’s class. At lunch Justin eats something called bulgogi with chopsticks and when he offers some to the other children they make fun of him and his strange Korean food. Brian wonders which is worse; being laughed at or feeling invisible.

  The next morning Justin finds a note waiting for him in his cubby. The note is from Brian and in it Brian says that he thinks Justin’s bulgogi “looked good.” One the note Brian even drew a little picture of himself eating bulgogi with chopsticks.

   In this wonderful picture book Trudy Ludwig shows young readers how painful it is to be the child who is always left out of everything. Her story is thoughtfully sensitive and she explores the idea that being kind to one another is simple to do, taking little effort, and yet it makes such a difference to someone who feels alone and lonely.

Poetry Friday - A review of: Nicola Bayley’s Book of Rhymes

I have looked at a lot of nursery rhyme books over the years. There have been pop-up versions, magic window versions, and even some board book editions. Today's poetry title has some of the richest and most beautiful illustrations that I have ever seen in a nursery rhyme book. The illustrations are so detailed that it is easy to lose track of time as you look through the book.

Nicola Bayley’s Book of Rhymes
Illustrated by Nicola Bayley
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Random House UK, 2013, 978-1-780-08038-3
 Nursery rhymes are wonderful because they bring poetry, and often little songs, into the lives of very young children. They also introduce children to little stories, such as the tale of poor Dumpty Dumpty, and they allow us to meet interesting characters such as Little Miss Muffet and Little Jack Horner.
   In this collection of nursery rhymes Nicola Bayley pairs her extraordinary artwork with twenty- two popular nursery rhymes. For every nursery poem she creates either a full page illustration or a series of small jewel-like vignettes. Every illustration is rich with color and extraordinary detail.  Some of the illustrations have lovely frames that give the artwork an added layer of richness. Children will have a wonderful time exploring the world of the Queen of Hearts, Simple Simon, and other nursery rhyme characters.
   This book first came out in 1992 and launched Nicola Bayley’s career as a children’s book illustrator.