Monday, October 17, 2011

Review: Frog and Toad Are Friends


Frog and Toad Are Friends
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book of short stories about Frog and his friend Toad is a time-tested classic and a good addition to any collection. Frog and Toad may not be having the kinds of adventures where they end up saving the world, but their stories of waking up from hibernation, losing buttons off of coats, and being worried about looking funny in their swimsuits is quite entertaining, and the large print, easy vocabulary, and short sentences make it easy for young children to read on their own or follow along with their parent or an older sibling that's reading the book to them. The illustrations, mostly in greens, browns, and grays, are done in a pen and watercolor style that many parents today might remember from their own childhoods, as the book received the Caldecott in 1971. Recommended for grades K-2.



View all my reviews

Review: Ivy and Bean


Ivy and Bean
Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



In this illustration-rich book, Ivy and Bean are thrown together by situations outside of their control, and the unlikely duo become friends in spite of themselves. Bean, the unstoppable prankster and tomboy, didn't much care for the new girl, Ivy, who had moved in across the street from her. Ivy seems perfectly nice-- and nice is so boring! But when Bean plays a prank on her older sister and needs to get away to escape her wrath and parental retribution, Ivy surprisingly steps up to the plate and hides her. It turns out that Ivy is a lot more interesting than Bean initially thought. She knows how to get past her mom, her room is full of the coolest stuff Bean has ever seen, and she is an aspiring witch. Together they have fun re-imagining Ivy's witch clothing to make it more impressive (Ivy can't make very good stars; some of them don't even have five points, so Bean teaches her how to make them properly) and plotting how to get Bean out of the punishment that's waiting for her at home. Recommended for grades two to four.



View all my reviews

Review: The Wide Window


The Wide Window
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Full of clever word-play and repeating themes and jokes, the Wide Window is an entertaining book that could sneakily help younger readers learn vocabulary and turns of phrase. Though some of the words used in this book may seem a bit advanced, the narrator kindly takes the time to explain them in the text so that no external dictionary is necessary. For example: "Violet was kicking the creature from behind, and Sunny was biting its wrist, but the person was so Brobdingnagian-- a word which here means 'unbelievably husky'-- that the children were causing it minimal pain, a phrase which here means 'no pain at all.'" In this book, the third in the Series of Unfortunate Events, the three Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with their Aunt Josephine, a grammar-loving woman who is scared of stoves, realtors, telephones, doorknobs, and many other innocuous objects. The villainous Count Olaf, masquerading as Captain Sham, is out to get the children (and their family estate) again, and none of the grown-ups will believe the children when they try to expose his nefarious scheme. Will they manage to escape his clutches again? Recommended for grades 5 and up.



View all my reviews

Friday, October 14, 2011

Review: The Last Resort


The Last Resort
The Last Resort by Roberto Innocenti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



An imaginative tale of looking for lost imagination, The Last Resort is surprisingly complex, and may be too complicated for younger readers although it is a picture book. There are also cameos from famous characters and authors, and thankfully, an index of them on the last few pages of the book, as some of them might not be immediately familiar to the reader from the hints in the text and pictures. Even without knowledge of the allusions, the characters are interesting enough. There is a boy that speaks in rhymes, a sea captain missing a leg, and a little man who is in black and white. The Last Resort (a beautiful building by the sea) is run by a talking parrot. The art is very well done, with exquisite detail and color. Recommended for middle school and up.



View all my reviews

Review: Mercy Watson to the Rescue


Mercy Watson to the Rescue
Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Mercy Watson's porcine hijinks are always worth a read. In this book, the first in the series, Mercy gets scared at night, and so decides to go sleep with her owners, Mr. and Mrs. Watson. Being the kind people that they are (the kind of kind people who would give a pig her own bed in her own room and sing to her every night), the Watsons have no problem with this, and they all blissfully fall asleep. Unfortunately, the added weight of the pig makes the bed start to fall through the floor, and all three are jarred from their peaceful slumber. Mr. Watson tells everyone not to move, but Mercy gets hungry, and jumps off of the bed to search for some of her favorite food, toast with lots of butter on it. The Watsons, convinced that she is going to get help, cheer her on. When Mercy finds no toast waiting for her in the kitchen, she is forced to take her search for snacks elsewhere-- to the neighbors. Mercy's unconcern for the predicament her beloved owners are in and her fixation on food above all else make for a very silly story. The artwork is very colorful and skillfully done. The style, and the shininess of people's faces, brings to mind the wholesome art of the 50's. Recommended for grades 1-3.




View all my reviews

Review: The Best Chef in Second Grade


The Best Chef in Second Grade
The Best Chef in Second Grade by Katharine Kenah

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A great Easy Reader for children who like to spend time helping out in the kitchen, The Best Chef in Second Grade is a good choice for young readers who might still need a little assistance to get through a book. Ollie is a young boy who feels like he isn't the best at anything in his class. So when he hears that a famous chef is visiting the classroom and all the students will get to bring in their family's favorite dish, he's excited-- this could be his time to shine. Unfortunately, it's much harder to figure out what his Family Favorite is than he had anticipated. His little sister doesn't like anything! But Ollie perseveres and finds the perfect dish in the nick of time. The book has several good messages: First, that no one person is the best at everything, but everyone has their own particular set of skills. Second, though nothing was really made of it, having the main character being male showed that there's nothing wrong with being a boy and liking to cook. Recommended for K-2.



View all my reviews

Review: Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement


Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement
Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement by Camilla Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book tells the tale of one of the most impressive women in the civil rights movement in a manner that is very straightforward and easy to understand. It takes the reader from her childhood all the way up to near the end of her life, as it was published four years before her death in 2005. Rosa Parks was very under-appreciated in her heyday, downtrodden by the white majority and even the males that were her fellow fighters for equal rights. Both racism and sexism were huge issues in Parks' life, and she dealt with both in the same way: by not bending, and steadfastly and patiently doing what she could with what she had. Thankfully, her hard work was recognized within her lifetime. Her story is an inspiring one, and it is laid out clearly in this book. Highly recommended for grades 3-5.



View all my reviews

Review: Queen of the World!


Queen of the World!
Queen of the World! by Jennifer L. Holm

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Babymouse is a quirky little comic about a mouse of the same name who wants to be popular more than anything else. She has a habit of slipping off into dream worlds in her mind, possibly because of all the books she loves to read-- she imagines giant squid fights, being captain of a star ship, stumbling upon a monster, and being a detective in a very film noir style, among other things. She wants to go to the mean popular girl's slumber party very badly. Babymouse ends up giving the mean girl her book report to turn in as her own just so she'll get an invite. Once she gets to the slumber party, though, she realizes that these girls are nothing like her, and she doesn't enjoy the things they like to do. Additionally, she hears them insulting her friend, Wilson, and realizes that she was happier before she 'fit in' with these people, and that she didn't need to become the Queen of the World with them, since she was already the Queen of a world she cared much more about. The art is very simplistic, and the simplicity is heightened by the limited color palate: only black, white, and pink are used. Recommended for grades 1-4.



View all my reviews

Review: Hungry Monster ABC


Hungry Monster ABC
Hungry Monster ABC by Susan O'Keefe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Hungry Monster ABC is a great board book to sit and read with a child learning his or her alphabet. The rhyming text begs to be read aloud, and the pictures of the hungry monsters running amok in school are too great not to be shared-- there's even a 'bite' taken out of the corner of the book. Ten hungry monsters arrive at a boy's school, and he teaches them the alphabet using common objects (mostly food, since they're so hungry) to help the monsters understand. "W's for Wiffle ball. (In gym they'll show you how.) But Wiffles aren't waffles. The monsters know that now." There is a lot of silly humor in the rhyming. The boy can't find examples for X, Y, and Z, so the monsters call up their friends X-Ray Man, Yeti, and Zombie to help out. The teacher has to get all of the monsters out of her classroom: ""It's time to stop," Ms. Tubbins says, "and drive out every pest! Here are words each monster hates: Homework, grades, and test!"" The illustration shows her brandishing homework and exams at the cowering monsters. On the next page, the book ends with: "Then ten hungry monsters and monster buddies, too, jump right out the window but-- Ms. Tubbins grabs my shoe." The illustration shows Ms. Tubbins just managing to grab the boy's leg as he's about to flee from the classroom with the monsters, away from the dreaded homework. Recommended.



View all my reviews

Review: Fairy School Dropout


Fairy School Dropout
Fairy School Dropout by Meredith Badger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This book is a fun look into the world of fairies, and incorporates relate-able themes such as academic troubles and not fitting in. Ella is a fairy who can't seem to get things right-- her wand is broken and never fully charged, and she has an unfortunate habit of turning her teachers purple. All of her trouble-making is accidental, but she's been kicked out of two fairy schools and is not doing too well at her third. She doesn't like wearing fairy tutus, and isn't great at fairy magic, though she comes from a very distinguished family. She prefers skateboarding to other, more fairy-like forms of transportation. She doesn't want to be a fairy at all-- she sees them as slaves to humans, always flying around granting wishes. But then she accidentally reveals her true nature to her human neighbor, and an unlikely friendship is formed. She finds that helping people can be its own reward, and that you don't need fairy magic to make someone's wish come true. Whimsical depictions of magical fairy appliances are peppered throughout the book (Elly sees most of them as more of a hassle than a convenience), as well as entertaining diagrams of wands, fairy facts and rules, and Elly's family tree. The cover is eye-catching, with silver text and stars, and the text and illustrations inside are purple. Each short chapter has several illustrations, which are a little artistically messy, with lines extending beyond the boundaries of the figure. Many of the illustrations are somewhat repetitive. Stars and hearts are a motif. Recommended for grades 2-4.



View all my reviews

Review: Sunshine


Sunshine
Sunshine by Robin McKinley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Set in a world of magic and wars between humans and vampires, Sunshine is an interesting addition to any bookshelf. Sunshine (or Rae), a baker in her mid-twenties, had a pretty ordinary life until the night she went out to the lake for some peace and tranquility, and was instead captured by vampires. She is pulled into the supernatural world against her will with her unlikely vampire ally, Con, and must make peace with her magic-user ancestry while struggling with media and police attention for having escaped from the vampires who had captured her. The imaginative writing and world make this book a real page-turner. There are a few mildly sexual scenes. Recommended for grades nine and up.



View all my reviews

Review: How to Drive Your Sister Crazy


How to Drive Your Sister Crazy
How to Drive Your Sister Crazy by Diane Z. Shore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A mischievous guide book for boys looking to irritate their older sisters, this book is silly enough to hold the attention of a boy reading with the help of his parents. The pranks described in the book are harmless for the most part-- rubber snake hijinks, alarm clock hidden in a sock drawer, turning on the sink while the sister is in the shower to make the shower cold, being annoying to one's sister's friends on the phone-- but there are some pranks it might be best not to get into the heads of more impressionable children. For instance, it advises putting chewing gum on light switches and teddy bears on ceiling fans. The one can be messy and easy to do, and the other could be dangerous if actually attempted. If you think your child can tell that the naughtiness in the book is for entertainment and not to be reenacted in real life, then this book would be a chance to have some laughs. If, however, you don't want to put ideas into anyone's head, this book might not be the best choice.



View all my reviews