Book Review: Algernon Graeves is Scary Enough by Peter Bollinger

Book: Algernon Graeves Is Scary Enough
Author: Peter Bollinger
Illustrator: Peter Bollinger
Published: 2005

Algernon Graeves is having a heck of a time finding a Halloween costume. Nothing is scary enough: not mummies, not vampires, not ghosts, nothing! Will he find something in time to go trick-or-treating?

I was one of those kids like Algernon--I had amazing ideas for costumes in my head, but they always came out . . . kinda silly-looking. (We won't discuss what I wore to the seventh-grade Halloween dance. We just . . . won't.) I think every kid has had that experience at some point in their lives, which is why this book is so much fun.

One of the things I loved about the art (and one of the things that made this work) was the elaborate spreads that represent Algernon's ideas. They leer out of the page at you, red eyes glowing, claws at the ready. But they are transparent, so you still see Algernon's attic through them. (In a fun detail, Bollinger fuses the lines and tones of the imaginary monsters with the background, so that the curve of a werewolf's claw continues into a knot on a support beam, or the edges of the ghost become cobwebs.) On the next spread, representing Algernon's best attempt at his newest idea, everything is opaque and down-to-earth and very reassuring to non-monster fans.

I read it to a pack of kids who all had differing opinions on which of Algernon's ideas was the scariest in theory, but were united in recognizing the silliness of the practical application when you turned the page.

A fun one for Halloween, but also fun for a monster storytime. Try it out on your preschooler or early elementary kid.

Ezra Jack Keats, Coming to an Envelope Near You?

From the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation comes the press release urging the U.S. Postage Stamp Citizen’s Advisory Committee to put The Snowy Day on a stamp, just in time for the 50th anniversary of its publication.

I have one of those strange, intense memories of reading The Snowy Day when I was little. We lived in Michigan, and Peter climbing into his red snowsuit and looking over his shoulder at the footprints he left behind was very familiar to me.

I've never been into collecting stamps but I would hoard those puppies. Drop by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website to offer your support.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the news.

Um . . . Interesting

Apparently there's to be a Walter the Farting Dog movie. Somehow, I'm not at all surprised that the Farelly brothers are directing.

What do you guys think? Are you going to see it?

Graeme Base Interview

Look how pretty!

Ahem. I mean. I want that picture of the lions for my wall.

Go read this interview with author/illustrator Graeme Base, from the Sydney Morning Herald. Although he's based in Australia, a lot of his work has made its way across the pond and into your local library.

He has strong words for publishers who want to dumb down his vocabulary or obvious-ize some of the more subtle elements. Something he's (sigh) right about:

"Maybe I will be brave enough to say this: the problem is more evident in America, where there's the need, it seems to me, to spoonfeed," Base says. "You can't leave something slightly ambiguous or not show the solution ... they needed explanation for something where my inclination was to not explain but to ask the reader to work it out or to slowly realise there's something else going on here."

Reading to Babies

Have a gander at this short, easily digestible article on reading with your baby. Favorite bit?

Luckily, a wriggly infant doesn't need to sit through pages of text to reap the benefits of being read to, which come from hearing new words, exploring pictures, and snuggling with you.

Absolutely. I feel like we need to have this pasted on every board book in the library.

Thanks to Cheryl Rainfield.

Tell Me a Story

It's been a busy week, but here I am, back posting.

Over on her blog, Cheryl Rainfield pointed out some very reasonably-priced picture books in audio form on Audible.com, including Horton Hears a Who, Where the Wild Things Are and A Bad Case of Stripes.

This is great news for those of us who can't afford to buy the book and the CD packaged together, or who already have the book and want to audio.

Kids still want to be read to even after they can read to themselves, and for some kids having difficulty reading, hearing the words while seeing them on the page helps them connect the sounds with the letters. They're also useful for car trips. Come on, wouldn't you rather hear Green Eggs and Ham than CNN pundits on your car radio?

Lots of people disdain audiobooks for kids, thinking of them as cheating, but to my mind, it's just another way of experiencing a story. The only thing that's changed is the medium, and that not very much. The words are (usually) just being spoken, not acted out with special effects. Kids still have to fill in all the gaps with their own imagination, and iPods give you the choice to listen to audiobooks at a slower pace if you need the decoding time. (Do any other brands do that? I cleave unto iPod, I'm afraid.)

What do you do with audiobooks?

It's the Uber-List!

In other words, the grand collection of nominations for the 2008 Cybils Awards, right here!

Now it's time for the first round of judges to go to work, reading, reading, and reading some more to winnow out those special few that will make it to the second round. Good luck, guys! Just from my skimming, it looks like a tough job.

The shortlists will be announced January 1 and the winners on Valentine's Day.