Reading Roundup: October 2012

By the Numbers
Picture Books: 19


Sources
Library: all

Standouts
Writing: Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson
Any long-time reader of this blog knows that I love a retold fairy tale, and this is one of my favorite kinds--the kind that speculates what happened after. A bear lost in a city finds himself in an apartment, and the owner (when she finally comes home), is awfully familiar . . .
Illustration: Flora's Very Windy Day, illustrated by Matt Phelan, written by Jeanne Birdsall
The soft, swirling, curling shapes and lines of Phelan's distinctive style are just right for this tale of two siblings carried off by the wind. Just lovely.
Overall: This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Really, can there be two opinions on this subject? With the same dark-edged storyline and the amazing-in-their-simplicity illustrations that set I Want My Hat Back out from the crowd, this book is going in my storytime collection forever.

Because I Want To Awards
The Book That Inspired a Surrealism Storytime: I'm Bored by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Um, yeah. We haven't done it yet, but a surrealism-themed storytime is just the place for this story of a bored kid and a bored-er potato. Yes. You read that correctly.
You Will Never Look at a Salad the the Same Way Again: Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
This story of a carrot-lovin' bunny (is there any other kind?) who suddenly starts seeing creepy carrots everywhere will just flat crack you up.
Butt Humor FTW: Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Tony Ross
Second-graders won't be able to get enough of this book about a hippo that finds a mysterious spot on her rear and the various animals that attempt to cure it. The reveal of the spot's true origin will bring down the house. Promise.

Roundup Delayed

I'm going to have to postpone the reading roundup until tomorrow. Almost too tired to operate.

Book Review: Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Book: Big Mean Mike
Author: Michelle Knudsen
Illustrator: Scott Magoon
Published: 2012
Source: Local Library

Big Mean Mike is rough and tough and mean, mean, mean! And he only likes things that are rough and tough and extra-super-mean. That’s why he’s so dismayed when a little pack of fluffy bunnies attaches themselves to him. Fluffy bunnies do not suit his image (even if they are pretty darn cute). What will he do if all his big, mean friends find out?

From the first image of Big Mean Mike, with his spikes and his claws and his teeth, to the final page with the fuzzy bunnies accompanying Mike to a demolition derby, this charmed me. I loved that Big Mean Mike remained essentially himself at the end. He still likes rough and tough, he just knows that being true to friends is more important than any image.

Scott Magoon plays up the incongruity of the cute bunnies in Big Mean Mike’s hard-edged world by making them little balls of fluff, all soft roundness. They’re not even outlined--they’re pure white fuzz. They're more than capable of holding their own, however. It's got to take some serious bunny-guts to sit there being fuzzy and adorable in the face of Big Mike's determined meanness.

This book just made me laugh and laugh. I can’t wait to see what a first or second-grade class makes of it.

Book Review: Lucy Can't Sleep by Amy Schwartz

Book: Lucy Can’t Sleep
Author: Amy Schwartz
Illustrator: Amy Schwartz
Published: 2012
Source: Local Library

A little girl lies awake in her sleeping house. After various unsuccessful forays toward the Land of Nod, she decides that she really needs Dolly and Bear, and sets off through the still, quiet night to find them.

Even after you grow up, there’s something magical about the stillness of a quiet night. Your familiar surroundings become wrapped about in a benign hush. Amy Schwartz has captured that magic and set her small protagonist free to go walkabout through it.

What charmed me the most about this story was that no appalled parent came rushing out to shatter the illusion and herd Lucy back to bed. The magical quiet stillness of the night does the work all on its own. It may make some parents nervous, but I’ll lay you money that’s just what some kids will find the most intoxicating.

Stack-buster #6

Caveman: A B.C. story by Janee Trasler

Here’s a different alphabet story. Working her way through the alphabet with one word on each page, Trasler follows a caveman through his day, including encounters with dinosaurs, lightning, and other prehistoric dangers. Sweet, silly, and unpredictable, you’ll enjoy this one.

It’s a Tiger! written by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard
There are tigers everywhere for the hapless narrator of this charming story within a story. Tankard’s distinctive illustrations are thick with color, and kids will be able to spot the tiger before you turn the page and get the chance to yell, “IT’S A TIGER! RUN!”



One Pup’s Up written by Marsha Wilson Chall, illustrated by Henry Cole
Ready your squee-o-meters, folks. This tale of ten adorable puppies doing all their puppy-things is really incapable of evoking any other emotion. The story counts up to ten and then back down again as the puppies gambol through their day. I’ve already made a spot for it on my storytime shelf.

Reading Roundup: September 2012

By the Numbers
Picture Books: 24
Early Readers: 1

Sources
Review Copies: 1
Library: 23

Standouts
Writing: Lucy Can't Sleep by Amy Schwartz
A breathless magic pervades this story of a little girl's midnight wanderings. Review coming soon.
Illustration: Up Above and Down Below, illustrated by Susan Ouriou, written by Paloma Valdivia
There's something brain-twistingly modern in these illustrations, which tell the story of the differences, and more, the similarities between you and the people on the other side of the world.
Overall: Bear Has a Story to Tell by Phillip C Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
Like A Sick Day for Amos McGee, the main character is a self-effacing and generous soul, who helps his friends first. Glowing with autumn colors and gentle lines, it's definitely a quiet book. Not one you put in the hands of the most zooey kid in the room. But then again, the gentle story may have a calming effect. You never know.

Because I Want To Awards
Yay! Sequel!: Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hill
I've been using the first book, How Rocket Learned to Read, in school visits for a couple of years, so I was extra-excited to see this second book. Like the first one, kids struggling with the whole writing thing will recognize themselves in this determined pup, and everybody, canine or human, should have a teacher as warm and encouraging as the little bird.
There's a Reason It's a Classic: King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood
We all have a tendency to focus on the cool and new, but there are books that should never leave our shelves. I was doing a bathtime storytime, and remembered this last-minute. The kids adored it.
Giggles Galore: Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Big Mean Mike is afraid of only one thing: having his rough, tough image compromised. When a herd of adorable bunny wabbits attach themselves to him, he may be in big trouble. Review coming soon.

Book Review: The Day Louis Got Eaten by John Fardell

Book: The Day Louis Got Eaten
Author: John Fardell
Illustrator: John Fardell
Published: 2011
Source: Local Library

Louis and Sarah were out for a bicycle ride one day when--yikes!--Louis got snatched up by a Gulper monster. Lucky for Louis, Sarah knew just what to do in such a situation, and she set off after it, determined to get her brother back. Of course, it complicates matters somewhat when another monster eats the Gulper--and another monster eats that one . . . but don’t underestimate a determined big sister.

Can you tell I enjoyed this book? I really, really did. The matter of fact recitation of disaster, and then Sarah’s practical approach to the problem just tickled the heck out of me. Kids will get a kick out of the nutty details in the pictures (Sarah builds herself various traveling devices out of what she has on hand, and Louis is reading a comic book by flashlight in the monster’s stomach when she finally catches up with him), and the names of the monsters evoke Seuss and Dahl in their melodic nonsense. (Undersnatch! Saber-Toothed Yumper!) I may well do a monster storytime, just for the chance to read this one.