The post where I preach about the virtues of graphic novels

I have recently discovered some amazing graphic novels.  First off, let me explain what a graphic novel is for any Red Hot Eyebrows readers who are wondering what it is I'm talking about.  The word graphic is being used in the sense that it is a novel told in pictures, not graphic as in a graphic nature.  It's also a term for comic books, but honestly, the graphic novels I've read don't bear much resemblance to comic books, so having a whole different word makes sense to me.

In the past, I've reviewed some graphic novels without realizing what a big deal they are.  I mean, the term graphic novel didn't exist in my vocabulary until a couple of years ago, so I wouldn't have known that, for instance, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, could be considered one.  It won the Caldecott award recently for the best picture book of the year.  Can you imagine a comic book receiving the same honor?  Not me, but much of Hugo Cabret is told in pictures, which is a defining characteristic of graphic novels and also of comic books.  So what makes them different from each other?  Good question, Jenny.  Thank you, I thought so too.

Comic books and graphic novels share some qualities but differ in other ways.  Graphic novels are longer, are more in a book format than a thinner magazine format, are more accepted by librarians as acceptable literature, and are sometimes based on already familiar stories.  Moms around the world get more warm fuzzies if their child is reading graphic novels versus reading comic books.  Honestly, I'd take a graphic novel over a comic book any day, but that's because the nature of comic books is to never have closure, to continually keep the reader buying new installments.  It's the boy's version of soap operas.  That's a turn off for me.  Graphic novels tell stories that don't require the reader to have read the last 20 years worth of comics.  That's a big appeal for me.

I always pictured comic books as something nerdy adolescent boys perused in dimly lit shops run by men chasing their own adolescence, wearing t-shirts with obscure slogans on them and bemoaning their inability to move out of their parents' houses.  Whew, that was harsh, but forgive me while I eventually get to my point. Comic book collecting is a profitable business and good golly, there are enough movies made out of comic book stories to make Stan Lee a rich man many times over.  Obviously there's a demand.  So what if it's stories based on aliens and superheroes and villains and mutations and whatever?  I happen to like that sort of stuff, but it's a universal fact that parents and teachers have been scorning comic books since the first caveman drew his first flying boy on his cave wall.  "Put that burnt stick down and quick making up those stupid flying caveboy stories!" his mom would cry.  "Why can't you make nice drawings like your brother, with buffalo and fire and real things?"  And thus the first comic book nerd was born.


What's interesting to me is that reluctant readers are known to devour graphic novels, yet there are still parents and teachers who still discourage kids from reading them.  Now, I'm not talking about graphic novels that are not intended for children.  There's plenty of graphic graphic novels out there.  I'm talking about graphic novels, or comic books for that matter, that are written for kids.  I can't believe that there are adults out there that would discourage children from reading.  Who cares if they'd rather read Pride and Prejudice the graphic novel versus the original?  They're reading, for cryin' in the mud!  Hook 'em, reel 'em in and then get them tackling Mark Twain!  

Luckily, I've only encountered really good graphic novels so far.  Shannon and Dean Hale did an excellent job with Rapunzel's Revenge and its sequel Calamity Jack.  The stories were exciting and the voice of the narrators witty, funny and interesting.  Nathan Hale (no relation to Shannon and Dean) did an excellent job with the illustrations and he kept the story constantly moving.  Shannon Hale has proven herself amazing at telling her own version of familiar stories and these books are no exception.  I found myself glued to the pages, absorbed in the story and the visual treat it was to read.  I had these books at my house for over a month, waiting for me to get around to reading them for this blog post.  My kids must have read them a dozen times at least, including my five-year-old who isn't a proficient reader yet.  She was drawn into the stories just from the pictures.  These books are great for the eight and up crowd, due to some scary critters and very slight romantic elements, but you'll know your own kids best.  Tying in the already familiar stories of Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk made these great graphic novels for younger kids and I highly recommend them.  Heck, I recommend them for adult readers.  They're that awesome.

The next graphic novel was something different.  Eric Shanower retold The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as L. Frank Baum wrote it, not like the Hollywood version most people know best.  My kids and I read the original Baum book a few years ago so they already knew what to expect.  Skottie Young's illustrations were way scarier than those of Nathan Hale, so I wish I had taken more time to carefully look it over before my kids got a hold of it.  Regardless, my older kids read the book at least three or four times each before we returned it to the library.  It was suspenseful and exciting.  The storytelling seemed a bit forced to me, but it didn't deter my kids one bit.

If you're already a graphic novel convert then I'm preaching to the choir.  If you've looked down on the genre, I hope I've shown you a different angle or convinced you to give them a try.  I've certainly enjoyed myself with the ones I've found and I hope to add a few more to my list.  I'll try not to skulk about in darkened stores with the other nerds too much in the mean time.

Once upon a time, the end

I don't know about you, but sometimes the last thing I feel like doing at the end of the day is to read the same old books out loud to my children.  Sometimes I don't even like my children after 7 p.m. I'm tired, the books they pick are mind-numbing, the day's been too long already and I have no patience to sit and read to them.  That's sad to say because I feel like reading to my children falls into the same category as making sure they brush their teeth.  It's necessary, it's a failure on my part if we don't do it, and it's something you can't really put off very often.  I mean, you can justify skipping a tooth brushing on rare occasions, but several times a week?  That way leads to Cavityville and Gingivitistown.

I thought of that myself.

Anyway, skipping reading time to my kids is just as detrimental to their health as dirty, skeezy teeth.  Despite all the many joyful hours I have spent in the last near-decade reading to my kids, there are times that I don't feel like doing it at all.

I know somebody out there understands this because they wrote about it.  I found a gem of a book on the PBS Booklights blog recently called Once Upon A Time, The End: (asleep in 60 seconds) by Geoffrey Kloske and illustrated by Barry Blitt.  It's a book written from the perspective of an exhausted father who would rather not read stories for hours at bedtime because he's tired and wants his child to go to bed.  He starts to condense the stories, leaving out parts and usually ending each story with "and they went to sleep.  The end."  At first he's just shortening well-known stories and then he's picking only short nursery rhymes and then editing those.  The story of Goldilocks and the Bears starts out with "There were some bears, it doesn't really matter how many.  There was a bunch.  Let's get to the point."  That cracked me up, but what did me in was this nursery rhyme:

Hickory, dickory, dock

The mouse ran up the clcok.

The clock struck eight.

Oh my, it's late!

So the mouse went straight to bed.

You can feel the father's exasperation with trying to get his child to sleep by how he didn't even attempt to make his revised version rhyme.  It gets funnier and the tales get shorter as you near the end of the book.  What was ironic is how long the book is, considering that it's about shortening stories.  It was worth it, though.

This picture book was such fun to read for all of us.  My older kids laughed at the jokes and re-writes while my younger children were in awe at how different the stories are than what they know.  It reminded me of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, except more tame and less gruesome and slightly disturbing.  The best part is that I looked forward to story time the last few nights, despite my days being long and crazy.  Maybe it's because there's someone out there that can relate to wanting their kids to just go to bed, for cryin' out loud.

The Top 100 Picture Books

Since so many of you enjoyed the post about the top 100 children's novels, I thought I would do some digging and present the top 100 picture books list from 2009.  There were a whole pile of books I didn't recognize in this list, though the top 15 were all ones I have read or own.  Here are the books that didn't make the list, in case you were curious.  I would do some major shuffling, eliminating and adding to this particular list.  I didn't disagree nearly as strongly with the novel list.  Why is that, I wonder?  Hmmm.

You might notice that I haven't blogged about anything I've read lately.  That's because I'm in the midst of RCPP season.  That would be Recitals, Concerts, Presentations, and Projects. Oy.  I'm sick of school and it's not even me who's going.  Caren's excuse is a new baby.  Congrats to her!  Now spend some of those wee hours reading, wouldya?  It'll make me look less lazy.  Ha ha, I jest.  Sorta.

Haven Kimmel's books for children

If I ever get to meet Haven Kimmel, I already know what I will ask her.  "How do you manage to tell such sad stories with humor and beauty?  Huh?  HUH?!"  I'll try not to grab her by the shoulders and shake really hard.  Seriously, it is amazing to me and maybe if I shake her hard enough something will pop out of her brain and I can steal it and write my own beautiful book.  It would be worth the restraining order she'd inevitably put on me.  Caren and I are huge fans of Haven Kimmel's books, which is evidenced here, here, here, here, and here.  I'm starting to think I should just write a blog post that says, "Read a new Haven Kimmel book, you should read it too" and leave it at that.  But no, I will wax long and enthusiastically on every new book she writes.  Get used to it.

I discovered recently that Kimmel had written two books for younger readers, so of course I had to read them.  The first is a picture book called Orville: A Dog Story and was actually written in 2003, so it's been out for a while.  It tells the story of Orville, a dog who's had a sad life of being mistreated and shuffled from one owner to another.  He ends up with a farmer and his wife, who clean him up and use him as a watchdog, but don't really love him.  It doesn't help that he's ugly, huge, wild and barks constantly.  The poor thing barks because he's so miserable.  See what I mean?  Sad story.  Well, Orville sees a woman move in next door and he falls in love.  He breaks his chain, gets into Sally's house and watches over her while she sleeps.  She wakes up shocked to find a huge ugly dog in her living room and calls the fire department.  Orville is dragged back home by the farmer only to break free again and go back to Sally's house.  This happens several times before a firefighter makes the observation that maybe the dog loves her.  The only thing that could have made this book perfect is better illustrations.  I didn't care for the watercolors that left out so much detail and looked sloppily done.  Other than that, it was a beautiful book.  It's a tale of heart-rending loneliness, of neglect and loss.  But it's also a tale of love and joy.  Geared towards children, it's not too sad but just enough for me to have a good talk with my kids about that poor sad dog and why he was now happy.

The second book was Kaline Klattermaster's Treehouse and was written a few years ago.  It's a juvenile fiction book, so about 150 pages and great for a 2nd or 3rd grader to read.  It would also make an excellent read-aloud book, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Kaline Klattermaster is an odd little seven-year-old boy who doesn't understand why he can't play his imaginary bugle at school, dig holes in his yard and then cover them up with grass for someone to fall into, explore his strange neighbor's basement, or figure out where his father has disappeared to.  His father always made sure to set the timer for his bath, brushing his teeth and other activities that need regulation.  Things with his father are always very orderly, giving the reader the distinct impression that this guy has a serious case of obsessive compulsive disorder.  Kaline's mother is not nearly as orderly, driving on the grass and making Kaline eat a chicken leg for breakfast after forgetting to wake him up in time for school.  Nothing like his father.  In defense of the bullies at school and his no longer orderly household, Kaline imagines up two big brothers, who also happen to be in the third grade, and an enormous treehouse to play in.  It keeps him safe and helps him cope with the fact that he doesn't know where his father has gone.

Doesn't that sound like a sad story?  Then let me tell you that I laughed out loud over and over and over again reading this book.  I laughed until I thought I would get a stitch in my side.  Kaline has the best imagination I have ever read about.  My oldest daughter and I read it and quoted it to each other and laughed over it and talked about it and read it again.  I could own this book.  When my daughter had her birthday, she'd convinced herself I was giving her a copy of Kaline Klattermaster and was sorely disappointed that she got Nancy Drew instead. This book was a treasure and despite the fact that it's dealing with separated parents, a little boy lost and confused, and nasty school bullies, you can't help feeling lighter after reading it. 

How does she do it?  How can Haven Kimmel take such sad circumstances and make you laugh out loud over them?  Like in A Girl Named Zippy, she doesn't mope or generate pity for less than ideal circumstances, and in some cases really horrible situations, but instead finds reasons to laugh.  Not all her books are like that.  Oh my goodness, Iodine was not funny in the least, nor some of her other books, but when she aims to create humor, she does it splendidly.

Books for bedtime

I haven't done a batch of picture books in forever so I figured it was about time to share some recent finds. We haven't had the best of luck finding books lately, mostly due to my lack of effort, but I happened across some books these last few weeks that have made it into the favorites pile.

I'm completely behind the times in discovering Kevin Henke's book Kitten's First Full Moon that also won a Caldecott Award some years ago. My daughter picked it up at the library and all of us loved it. Kitten thinks the moon is a giant bowl of milk hanging in the sky, but all her efforts to get to it fail. She eventually gets her bowl of milk after an accidental dunk in a pond. The book is done completely in black and white illustrations that are beautiful and riveting. I can see an infant being interested in this book because of the stark contrast. The story is sweet and it has all the charm of Henkes' book.

My two-year-old has a mantra that she shares with the title of Jonathan Allen's book I'm not cute! My daughter hates it when her sisters pat her head, give her kisses and say the dreaded phrase. I think it makes her feel small when she thinks she is so very big. Little Owl in this book feels the same way and keeps insisting to the other animals that he is NOT cute and is actually a deadly predator. When bedtime comes around, his mommy reassures him that he is a stealthy hunting machine. I could relate to this book as the mommy who loves her darling little child and reassures them that they are big and important despite their inherent adorableness. Serious points on the cute scale for this book.

The idea of kids being frightened by monsters under their beds isn't anything new, but author Amanda Noll gives it a new twist in I Need My Monster. Ethan gets a note from his regular monster that he's gone fishing and that a substitute monster will be filling in for him, but how will Ethan get to sleep without his monster? He'll miss his ragged breathing and scratching claws. Ethan rejects each monster fill-in that shows up and is in despair over how he'll get to sleep. This book is far from frightening and my kids wanted it read to them over and over again. Part of that is due to Howard McWilliam's amazing illustrations. These eye-popping, zinging pictures leave you wanting more. Too bad this is his first picture book because now I want to see everything he's ever done. Somebody please hire him for more books! This book is a big winner.

For another slightly scary but mostly cute bedtime book, we have The Book That Eats People by John Perry. The conversation I had with my five-year-old went something like this:
Me: I'm a little nervous to read this book. I mean, it says that it eats people.
Adorable Daughter: Mom, books don't really eat people.
Me: Are you sure? It has warning tape all over the cover and seems pretty serious about it.
Adorable Daughter: It'll be fine, Mom. Just read it.
She wasn't falling for it, despite my best efforts to build up suspense. The book is serious about it being hungry for people, describing the fates of many young children who carelessly ate cookies while reading or turned their backs on it. We survived that first reading, thankfully, and have since read it over and over again. The illustrations are very cool and slightly frightening, two aspects I greatly enjoy. I read about this book somewhere online and immediately requested that my library purchase the book, which they willingly did because they are smart.

Another book I requested for purchase for the library was Spot the Plot: a riddle book of book riddles by J. Patrick Lewis. I bet all the children's librarians who review my requests for material purchases are wishing they could shake my hand and thank me in person. This clever book has a riddle and illustration that hints at a book that most children would know. There was only one that I hadn't heard of and another additional one that my kids hadn't heard of but that's my fault. These riddles are seriously awesome, one of my favorites being: "Good wood makes fake bad lad. Toy boy cries, lies. Nose grows." How cool is that? Loved it. Your kids will too.

This is a good batch of books! It'll make up for not having done any picture books in forever. It might be too late for any Christmas shopping, but certainly it'll at least give you some selections for the next library trip.

Meeting Linda Ashman

The Bookies is a bookstore in Denver that I don't often frequent due to the fact that I love The Tattered Cover so much and The Bookies is in a part of town I don't find myself in very often. I do get their newsletter, mostly for curiosity's sake and to know when they do their amazing sidewalk sales. When the September newsletter came and it said that Linda Ashman, children's book author who I've raved about in the past, would be signing books there on a day when I was also going to be within a few miles of the store, I couldn't pass it up.

We arrived ten minutes early for the signing, but Linda Ashman was already there, ready and waiting to sign some children's books. My mother-in-law gave each of my youngest three daughters a book of hers for their birthdays this year, so we brought those along to get them signed. Some of my girls were more timid than the others, but Ashman was so cute with each of them. My six-year-old had questions about being an author and they chatted a bit about ideas and where they come from. Ashman had a copy of the preliminary sketches the illustrator did for her new book, Creaky Old House, which I found fascinating. She and I talked a bit about writing and the publishing process and she was delightful and interesting.

Ashman's husband and son were there too and my husband and I chatted with Jackson, her son, about his favorite books and his interests. Jackson blogs about his favorite books and I was totally impressed that this eleven-year-old could express himself in writing so well. My poor kids will now have extra pressure from their mom to do more writing. I thought it was sweet that her family would be there to support her while she did signings.

The whole encounter was such fun and now we have a copy of Creaky Old House, which is just as charming as her other books. My only regret is that I didn't buy Come to the Castle as well, but there's always next time.

Two sides of Dav Pilkey

If you were a pre-teen boy in the late 90s, you might know you Dav Pilkey is, author of the Captain Underpants books geared mainly towards that gender and age group. Those were the only books I knew by Pilkey and in my mind I had categorized him at pandering to the gross-loving boy group. Then when my oldest was small, my husband's aunt gave her two books about Big Dog and Little Dog by Pilkey that were sweet and funny and nothing at all about boogers or tighty-whities or pranking 10-year-olds. "Huh," I said to myself and never thought about it again, until recently when my two-year-old became obsessed with Big Dog and Little Dog. "I wonder if Pilkey has anything else not involving captains of undergarments." Yes, yes he does.

First off, I sought out all the Big Dog and Little Dog books. There are five in all and each is as wonderful as the two we own. Big Dog and Little Dog get into some mischief, since they are dogs after all, but in general are tender and lovable. We got a compilation book from the library that might have to go into the permanent collections from how many times we have read it so far. It sits in my giant denim library bag and when I tell my little ones it's time to read stories, my youngest heads to the bag for her new favorite dog duo. The drawings, always done by Pilkey, are simple yet expressive, especially when the dogs mistake a skunk for a cat. Yowza. Two big thumbs up for this book, especially if you ask my two-year-old.

Another wonderful book by Pilkey is The Paperboy, written and illustrated by him in oil paints. It actually was a Caldecott Honor book the year it was published and I can see why. It's about the life of a paperboy, how he gets up when it's still dark and cold and delivers his papers while his dog runs alongside, knowing the route just as well as he does. It's a nice book, but I still like Big Dog and Little Dog better. Worth reading from the library.

As if Pilkey didn't want to get too warm and fuzzy, he also has his Dumb Bunnies series of books. If you ever read The Stupids by Harry Allard and James Marshall, you already know what kind of characters the Dumb Bunnies are. They do everything wrong and backwards and are ridiculous to the point of annoyance. I love The Stupids, but I hate the Dumb Bunnies. Why? Why is that I cannot stand this book but I'll laugh myself silly over The Stupids Die? I kept asking myself as my kids asked me to read that dreadful book over and over again. My conclusion is that the Dumb Bunnies are not funny. Not one bit. Children around the world will disagree, but this is my blog and that's what I think.

I checked out the first Captain Underpants book, but I never read it. My six-year-old read it and laughed herself silly. Apparently it's not just for 10-year-old boys. That concludes what I have to say about that book.

I've decided that Dav Pilkey is kind of like Adam Sandler. He can rein himself in and make The Wedding Singer or Spanglish, but he secretly wants to make Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy every single year until he dies. I don't know what Pilkey secretly wants to do, maybe the Big Dog and Little Dog books are his true loves and he does Captain Underpants and Dumb Bunnies to pay the mortgage. If that's the case, and I hope it is, I'm glad for all the people who buy the books I can't stand so he can make enough money to write books I can love.

Haikus and an inside joke

Haikus are pretty cool, if you can understand what they mean. My favorite t-shirt of all time says:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense.
Refrigerator

I love the idea of writing haikus and being really, really good at it. Unfortunately, I'm more of a limerick kind of girl. I appreciate the skill that would take to write a whole book of haikus, specifically one just about birds, but it's never something I would undertake. Michael J. Rosen, bird-watcher and poet, wrote The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Birding Poems as a poetry book for children. I will admit to you right now, I lacked the capacity to truly appreciate it. I thought I could rise above my plebian love of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky and Roald Dahl, but I can't. I barely skimmed this book, as beautifully illustrated and written as it was. Seriously, the watercolor was astounding. I could rip pages out of this book and frame them for my walls. Maybe years of staring at the haikus would make me appreciate them more.

This next book will only be funny and clever to people who have played in orchestras. So, let's see, that'll be one or two of you readers out there. If you're familiar with music you might still get it. But you might not laugh so hard that you use your big ole belly laugh you reserve for people who know you well and it makes your sides ache and you make a fool of yourself while you sit in front of school waiting for your kindergartner. Not that I know from experience or anything.

Lemony Snicket is once again back writing in his dismally funny way with The Composer is Dead. Snicket is taking another crack at a picture book and once again, I'm happy with the result. What made this book even more fun is the CD included that has his narration along with an orchestral score. The music was so fun and interesting and smart but not so smart that your kids wouldn't enjoy it. The story is that a composer is found dead and the Inspector is sent to question each section of the composer to find the culprit. Snicket perfectly nails the idiosyncracies of an orchestra, down to the second violin section being more fun at parties, the put-upon bitterness of the violas, the arrogance of the brass, the barely concealed need for attention from the conductor, and on and on. I laughed on each page spread and by the end, I was rolling. Even if you're completely non-musical, I think you can enjoy the deadpan humor of Lemony Snicket.

Plenty of picture books

Man oh man, I could just keep a whole separate blog about picture books. There are just too many to write about. Wait, that could be a problem. There are too many good picture books out there and if I only blogged about them, I would get sucked into this universe that included me ignoring my children for the sake of reading picture books and that is just wrong in so many ways. I'll just stick to the ones that really pop out to me and share them with you, okay? It's a deal. My children are breathing a sigh of relief right about now.

Of all the books in the post, this is the one that I have memorized and my children can quote. Wild About Books by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown was clever and fun, filled with references to books my children love and spread with bright and happy drawings. Marc Brown is the author and illustrator of the Arthur empire, books and shows, but here you get to see him take his hand to a zoo filled with book-loving animals. The bookmobile driven by Molly McGrew parks outside the zoo and soon the animals discover how wonderful it is to read. The tree kangaroo loves Nancy Drew, the otter loves (wait for it) Harry Potter, and the hyenas love joke books, the llamas love dramas, etc. etc. Some of the animals weren't as gentle with the books, like when the giant termites devoured The Wizard of Oz. Pretty soon the animals decide to take a try at writing. My kids' favorite section is when the insect zoo tries their hands at haiku, with the scorpion giving each one a stinging review.

Hands down this was the best loved book of the bunch we got this time around. We have read it over and over again, have chuckled over the rhymes and the silliness, and loved the pictures of animals buried in books, oh so happily reading and enjoying it as much as we do.

When I read in at least five different places that Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury was the perfect picture book, I had to see if I would feel the same. It's told from a mother's point of view about how all little babies are born the same way all over the world, with ten little fingers and ten little toes. The babies were utterly kissable and huggable, the rhymes were sweet and lilting, and my two-year-old insisted on at least fifty readings. Perfect is a term I would hesitate to use, but doggone it, that book sure gave me warm fuzzies. Perfect for bedtime or snuggles with babes.

I read an author/illustrator profile of Polly Dunbar months ago and decided I needed to check out every single book of hers from the library. I did just that and we read all of them over and over again. I debated on doing a post just about her books, but decided that I liked best two of her books, Dog Blue and Penguin. Her illustrations are simple and the little boys in each of the books looked really similar to each other. Bertie in Dog Blue wishes he had a dog that was blue and makes do by pretending to be a dog. When he meets a darling little white dog with black spots, he wonders if he can love this dog, even if it isn't blue. Ben in Penguin is given a penguin as a gift, but is frustrated when he cannot get a word or sound out of the penguin, no matter what he says or does. It's only when something huge happens that Penguin is pulled out of silence and saves the day.

Dunbar's books are not overly wordy. In fact, I would guess that there's not even 100 words in either, but she packs it in with her simple illustrations. Her books usually have surprising endings that take you off guard and make you laugh. Penguin would probably qualify as a SDPB, but isn't quite as startling as some of those books. If you decide you like Dunbar, check out her Tilly and friends series.

Another book that was receiving a lot of buzz out there in the blogosphere was All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Nikki McClure. The illustrations are cut paper which McClure did by drawing on black paper and then cut with an x-acto knife. She describes it at the end of the book in the publishing notes and I enjoyed reading that more than reading the book itself. The book felt like a philosophical message disguised as a children's book. Each day is an opportunity to grow and learn and is a "perfect piece of time", which is all true, but I just felt like this would be something my kids would hear and go, "huh?" Sure enough, I asked my eight-year-old to read it and tell me what she thought it meant and her response was, "I have no idea." Shouldn't a book written for children be able to be understood by children? Maybe this is one of those instances where the language is nice and the rhythm of the words is appealing and comprehension comes later. I wouldn't bother to buy it, though.

Ahh, another batch of picture books. Makes me happy. If I read half as many blogs about novels as I do about picture books, I would read all the time and never get anything done. At least this way, I'm enjoying books with my kids and I get good parent points for that.

Some cool chicks

I love chickens. I have this dream of owning some land with a beautiful farm house, a barn, and a chicken coop. This is ridiculous, really, because my grandmother had chickens and when she went looking for a grandchild to collect eggs, I'd hide. Those little monsters pecked my legs and the rooster would rush me like some demonic creature out to banish me from his domain! So my dream of owning chickens really comes with the requirement that my husband take care of the little beasties. I love chickens from a distance and preferably just in picture books.

Speaking of such books, I have found a beautiful trio of chicken-related picture books that I'd like to endorse for you. Ever read Simms Taback's picture books, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat or There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly? Those books are pure genius, with holes cut through the pages that act as foreshadowing to the story. First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger falls in that same category of imaginative picture book construction, though not to the degree of Taback's books. And, having preluded this post as some sort of chicken-only picture book review, it actually has a bunch of other non-chicken related things in it. First the egg, then the chicken, first the seed, then the plant and on and on. It was cute, beautifully painted, cleverly designed, and kept my two-year-old riveted. This is a new standard by which I grade books, by the way. If a book is boring, she won't put up with it. There was no waffling about which came first, the chicken or the egg, either. Seeger just makes it go both ways.

I'm not so snobbish that I insist that all picture books be drawn, painted, collaged or some other such thing, but I don't really like photography-based picture books. "Meh" is what I usually say, but I read somewhere that Tillie Lays an Egg by Terry Golson was a worthy read. My kids loved trying to discover on each page where Tillie, that crazy hen, had laid her egg each day. My favorite part was reading at the end that the author owned everything that was photographed, minus a red pickup truck, and that each of those chickens had their own personalities and characters. My dream of owning my farm doubled after reading it to my kids and their own nearly constant pleas for animals didn't lessen any either. If my farm would look like those pictures and I could have such personable hens, I don't know how I could resist.

I saved the best for last. Kate DiCamillo, author of amazing junior chapter books such as The Tale of Despereaux, Tiger Rising, and Because of Winn-Dixie wrote Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken. She has only written two picture books, but if is what I can expect, I hope she does a dozen more. To make it even better, Harry Bliss illustrated Louise and his illustrations in Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider make me happy. Dare I say, blissfully happy? Oh, stop groaning, it was funny. Anyway, Louise is a chicken who decides she is ready for adventure outside of the farm. First, she goes to sea and escapes being captured by pirates who are busy arguing over how best to cook her up. Then, she runs away to the circus that comes to town and narrowly misses being snatched by a lion when she falls from the high wire. Last adventure of all, she travels far away to a bazaar where she is captured, imprisoned with other chickens, rallies them to escape and travels by camel, boat and hot air balloon to return home to her beloved sister chickens. After each adventure, she sleeps the deep and dreamless sleep of the true adventurer.

I keep arguing with myself over what is better, the story or the pictures. I think it's a draw because they are equally amazing. I loved the language, how DiCamillo can make our own hearts pound with excitement, even as Louise anticipates her true adventures beginning. I loved the crashing waves of the sea, the pages where Louise was on the high wire and how the illustrations are turned vertically so you get a sense of vertigo with how high she is. Man, everything is so good!

In all, you can't run a-fowl with any of these books. What is with me and the puns? They are egg-stremely annoying. I'll stop now. Be warned, however, that reading any of these will give you an itching to buy a chicken coop and some beautiful snowy white hens to hide their eggs and disappear on occasion to join the circus.

Bear, Dinosaur, Mouse and Dog

When I sat down to write about the latest quartet of amazing picture books, I realized that they were all about animals who were referred to by the type of animal they were, no cutesy names or trying to make them like people. Coincidence worth mentioning? Eh, probably not, but it got me an introductory paragraph out of the deal.

I love Kevin Henkes' books. Owen with his precious blankie, Lilly and her purple plastic purse, Chrysanthemum with her glorious name, poor worried Wemberly and so many more characters that my children adore and identify with. I didn't know he wrote and illustrated anything other than his mice characters, so I was excited to see what Old Bear was about. In the three weeks we had Old Bear in our house, we read it at least twice a day. In the forty-something times I read that book, I never once got tired of it. The illustrations are beautiful and charming, the text is sweet, the colors captivated and we found new things to look at with every reading. Old Bear goes to sleep for the winter and dreams that he is a cub again, with the seasons passing in more brilliance and excitement that he can absorb. When he awakes, spring has arrived to his and the reader's delight. This is an example of a perfect book for 2-4 year olds, but don't let that stop you from reading it to your older kids because mine loved it.

Speaking of other perfect picture books, but on a completely different end of the spectrum, I have lost my voice on several occasions reading Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea. Little Dinosaur battles a pile of leaves, talking grown-ups, a bowl of spaghetti, and other enemies with great success, but bedtime might be his greatest opponent. My kids loved this book so much that I had to put in a request to only read it once a day to preserve my vocal chords. There is a LOT of roaring in this book. My oldest and second daughters took over for additional readings and giggling could be heard throughout the house when this book was pulled out. Big, bright, fun drawings that bounce you from page to page. Everybody should know a dinosaur like this one and he would be welcome at my house any day.

Emily Gravett's books are visual smorgasbords. We read Wolves a while back and loved it, so I fully expected the same fun with Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears. We weren't disappointed. Each page is a multi-media display of different phobias and Little Mouse's additions and journal entries. Gravett's books are more geared toward the six and up crowd, but really, my almost eight-year-old was the only one to truly appreciate the book. My personal favorite fear was isolophobia (fear of solitude) and Little Mouse's entry, "I don't like being alone, or in the dark" followed by a black, blank page. Or maybe it was whereamiphobia (fear of getting lost) with only the words, "I'm scared of getting lost" and a pencil dropped on the floor, no mouse to be seen. The ending was the dessert of the book, after having survived Little Mouse's chronicled phobias and was well worth all the explanations of what everything meant to my younger kids.

Author Amy Hest and illustrator Amy Bates made an amazing team with The Dog Who Belonged to No One. I'll refer to them as Amy 1 or Amy 2, or maybe The Amys. Watch, they'll never team up for a book again and I'll have gone to that effort for nothing. The Dog Who Belonged to No One lives a parallel life to a wisp of a girl named Lia, who delivers bread for her baker parents. He's a good dog, wanting to be loved and sad to be cold and alone. Lia works hard and wishes she had a friend to work along side with her. As you read it, you so desperately want them to meet and when they do, it is so satisfying, so gentle and tender. The pencil and watercolor drawings make The Dog so cute with his crooked ears and spotted coat and Lia with her bike, apron and cap. I just wanted to scoop them all up and hug them hard. My girls enjoyed it too and it sure didn't help with the dog fever around here.

Ahh, there's not much else better than a bunch of beautiful and fun picture books. I could fill my house top to bottom with all these treasures and be happy for a lifetime. The second best thing is an amazing library and a blog in which to spout off on what books tickle me pink. Not a bad second best thing at all. Tell me if any of you readers try out one of these books and how your kids/nephews and nieces/students/random children you meet in the library liked them. It makes me happy to know that good books are being read.

The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury

Oh, the aspirations I had! The lofty and apparently unattainable aspirations! I was going to read all sorts of new Christmas books, look through our plentiful collection and pick out our favorites, research and paw through piles of books, finding new treasures. Well, that didn't happen. I forgot that my non-blogging life goes berserk as soon as December arrives. I'm lucky to get anything read at all, much less blog about it.

I did pull out all of our Christmas books so that I could be sure to read them all with my kids over the month. As we read, I realized that we don't have nearly enough good Christmas books. Some mediocre, some dull, but only a few truly great books. One is Jan Brett's The Night Before Christmas. If you've ever looked at a Jan Brett book, it is so richly illustrated and full of detail that you can get caught up in a single spread and stay there, lingering. Her books are ones I can read several times every Christmas season and not get tired of them.

If you've ever read the Arthur books by Marc Brown, you're familiar with his sweet illustrations. I like Arthur just fine, love D.W. even more, but his animal characters are pretty nebulous. Aardvark? Dog? Groundhog? What is that thing? But when he draws people, they make me happy. The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury was compiled by Alice Low and illustrated by Marc Brown. This is such a great compilation, I wish everybody had a copy. It has the standard poems, stories and songs from Christmas, but some extras stories from books and folk tales that I had never heard or had forgotten I knew. It has the story of Ramona and the three wise persons, from Ramona and Her Father, the story of the Christmas whale, "The More is Snows" from The House at Pooh Corner and many more. It has poems by e. e. cummings, John Updike, Edgar Allen Poe (not the morbid Poe) and Jack Prelutsky. With over one hundred pages, there is plenty to read for many nights leading up to Christmas. It even has the text from Luke 2, for reading on Christmas Eve. If you only owned one Christmas book, this would be a good one to have.

Perhaps next year I'll start looking into Christmas books before Halloween. That seems to be the prime time to get anything done before my schedule gets wacky. Maybe if I start on Easter books on December 26th, there's a hope I'll get it done in time, if I don't procrastinate once again. In any case, Happy Holidays!

Linda Ashman and her picture books that delight me

How is it that I haven't heard of Linda Ashman before now? She's been publishing books since 2001 and people have been raving about her all over the internet, but I heard of her first from a blog a few weeks ago and decided she was worth reading. What an understatement! She is amazing! Linda Ashman writes children's books that are such great fun that I read them to my kids and to myself over and over again. I checked out four of her books, out of several that she's written.

The first book we read was Stella, Unleashed: Notes from the Doghouse, illustrated by Paul Meisel. This is a collection of poems from the viewpoint of Stella, the dog. Ashman obviously knows dogs well because you felt like you really were seeing the world the same way Stella must see it. There were some seriously funny ones in there, like when Stella meets the pretentious prize poodle, and some sweet ones, like how Stella feels about the little boy who loves her. I loved that Stella didn't think the parents were all that smart because they didn't understand her obvious communications. This book almost made me wish we had a dog. Then I snapped out of it.

The second was The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide, which is illustrated by David Small. It's full of poems about different creatures and monsters from around the world. I only recognized a handful of them, and that's saying a lot. I had an obsession with all things creepy when I was in elementary school, but I never came across some of the ones in this book. I worried that it was a bit too scary for my kindergartner and preschooler, but they reassured me that it wasn't that scary. And really, Ashman's poetry makes it lighter than what the illustrations depict. I loved this book and I know my seven-year-old will love it (also obsessed with monsters and such), but I'd stay away if you have kiddos who aren't as fascinated and would be frightened by it.

The third and probably my favorite was M is for Mischief: and A to Z of Naughty Children, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Ashman writes a poem describing a naughty child for each letter of the alphabet and instead of coming across as preachy, it was hilarious. I've seen kids like this and my own children have had their own Picky Penelope, Eavesdropping Eva, Zany Zelda, and Doodling Daphne moments. My kids read this book with me with wide eyes and I thought the poems and descriptions weren't so over the top that they couldn't be real. Another aspect that makes this my favorite was Carpenter's illustrations. She brilliantly combines photos and drawings and makes these naughty children pop out from the pages.

The only book I checked out that wasn't all poems was Desmond and the Naughty Bugs, illustrated by Anik McGrory. I couldn't find a picture of the cover online, so you'll have to use your imagination. Still more fun, still very entertaining to see what kind of bugs would cause poor Desmond to change from a very obedient boy to one that squirms and whines, dawdles and complains, but I think I prefer the poems. Ashman just has a way with metered rhyme that dances across my brainpan and puts a skip in my step.

In addition to her brilliant writing, Ashman has great taste in illustrators. Do authors get to pick? If so, kudos to her. David Small is one of my favorites, Nancy Carpenter is a new favorite, Anik McGrory was delightful, and even though Paul Meisel didn't thrill me to death, my children loved it. Just now, I quizzed my five and three-year-olds on which of the four was their favorite and they both agreed that Stella, Unleashed was the best. It could be my children's collective obsession with getting a dog, but the poems were absolutely wonderful too. The books I would buy. Not a dog. Have I mentioned I don't want a dog?

Leprechauns, Death, and a pirate named Fluffy

Thanks to a little blurb in the BYU Magazine a year or so ago highlighting BYU grad Teresa Bateman, we have discovered a new favorite children's author at our house. Her whimsical stories are delightful for children, and she often uses clever wordplay and unexpected twists that make them a treat for parents too.

A hands down favorite for my kids is Fluffy, Scourge of the Sea. This story features a pampered poodle, Fluffy, who falls into the hands of pirates. He uses his wits and talents to not only save his life, but ends up overthrowing the pirate captain and instituting a new regime. The illustrations by Michael Chesworth are as humorous as the rhyming verse, with details that keep my kids poring over the pages.

I instantly fell in love with Keeper of Soles. While the subject of Death coming to get you may be a bit macabre for young children, Bateman's characteristic good humor is imbued into every page. Colin is a cobbler who has great talent and a generous heart. When Death comes to his door one night to claim his soul, Colin notices his bare feet and distracts him by offering to make him a pair of sandals. When the sandals are finished he moves on to boots, sneakers, and so forth, succeeding in staving off Death's claim for years to come. The illustrations by Yayo with their repeating shoe motif add to the humor of the story and provided giggles for my kids when some of the text went over their heads. The story ends with a clever twist and satisfying resolution, making it worth reading over again.

A Plump and Perky Turkey is another example of Bateman's flair for snappy rhymes. (And the title? I dare you to not use it this Thanksgiving!) This story features a town with a serious problem: At Thanksgiving time, all of the local turkeys make themselves scarce. To lure one to town, the townspeople decide to hold an arts and crafts fair featuring turkey art, which will (of course) require a live model. When Pete -- a very plump and perky turkey -- answers their ad, things don't go exactly as planned, but the silly ending is fitting and engenders a new appreciation for shredded wheat!

Many of Bateman's stories have Irish themes. While I don't like the illustrations in Leprechaun Gold, the story and narrative voice are delightful. Donald O'Dell is an honest man whose only disappointment in life is not having a wife and family. When he saves a leprechaun's life and refuses the reward of leprechaun gold, the leprechaun finds a more creative way to repay him for his good deed and brings Donald lasting happiness that far outweighs worldly prosperity. It's a sweet story that lacks some of the quick wit of her others', but has a deeper meaning instead. And the delightful Irish lilt in the narrative voice makes it a lot of fun to read out loud!

April Foolishness and Will You Be My Valenswine? both fall into the "cute" category. So far I've only read one of hers that I didn't like. Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun starts out as a cute story but ends with a slightly negative tone that I didn't care for. Even more unsettling were the illustrations, though I can't really put my finger on why they creeped me out. Of course, that isn't the author's fault, but the two combined to give it a thumbs down from me.

But with so many other successes, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Teresa Bateman's work. And checking my library's online catalog, I see that she has a lot more we need to try!

A Whole Pile of Picture Books

It's probably getting redundant and highly unoriginal to praise Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books, but dang they're cute! He's put quite a few out, but the ones that we have read are "I Am Invited to a Party!" and "Today I Will Fly!" and both are fabulous. These books are labeled as early or emergent readers. Simple text for beginning readers and yet, these books are so much better than that description sounds. Something Willems excels at is his sense of humor and fun that permeates every book he writes. When I checked "I Am Invited to a Party!" from the library, I didn't expect much. I mean, we're talking very simple text easy enough for my not-yet-kindergartener to be able to read. How funny or complex can it be? Oh my, was I surprised and tickled pink. Mo Willems' drawings tell half the story themselves with wry facial expressions on Elephant and Piggie in "Today I Will Fly!" that cracked me up. Check out these books and be happy you did.

Speaking of cracking up, "Imogene's Antlers" by David Small was very funny and charming. Imogene wakes up one morning with a full set of antlers. Small also illustrates this book and it was so entertaining to see how Imogene copes with having antlers that are bigger than she is. And her mother fainting away every other page was hilarious. Not unlike what my reaction might be if my child woke up looking like an elk. My kids loved this book best of all the lot we got that week at the library. I've also decided that David Small is one of my newest favorite illustrators.

I don't know about you, but the word "whatever" has become one of those words that make my skin crawl. It's the epitome of apathy. "Whatever" by William Bee is about a little boy who says "whatever" about everything. Let's just say he gets what he deserves. Heaven help my kids if they ever start uttering the word.

The concept behind "Danny's Drawing Book" by Sue Heap is really cool. Danny and his friend Ettie go to the zoo. Danny draws a funny story about the animals he sees and when he draws in himself and Ettie, the book becomes Danny's drawing book. When the story is done, you flip and page and pop! you're back to Danny's world. You have to read it to see it.

Graphic novels and books are all the rage these days. Everybody is writing them. This is not quite in that style, but has the feel of it. I don't have boys, but I think I can relate to "A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever" by Marla Frazee. Most often, friends have fun because of being together, not because of the activities planned for them. I had to explain some of the visual jokes to my kids, but for the most part, it was a cute and fun read.

The title of this book caught my eye and since I know my kids so well, I grabbed it. "Badness for Beginners" by Ian Whybrow and Tony Ross is about the Wolf Family, namely Mom and Dad, Little and Baby. Baby also goes by Smellybreff since he is the stinkiest. How to wolves become so Big and Bad, you might wonder? Because their parents teach them, of course. Mom and Dad Wolf take their boys on an outing and teaching them how to be truly rotten at the same time. Smellybreff has a gift for the awful, but Little has to work at it. He keeps saying "thank you" and picking up after himself. A real disappointment to his parents, you see. My kids loved it.

Slightly Demented Picture Books

Ever since I read this post about Slightly Demented Picture Books, I've been on a mission to find them. My preliminary research began with the books from the post, so those are the ones I'll share with you. Of course, you could just read the post in its entirety yourself, but then I'd have nothing to write about and I haven't finished "Just a Geek" by Wil Wheaton yet. Plus, you're dying to read what I think, right? Right? Hello? Is this thing on?

You're probably wondering what a Slightly Demented Picture Book (or SDPB) is, so I'll summarize by saying that it's a book that kids love and makes some adults uncomfortable. The books focused on in the post link above deal with the food chain. Here's the truth. Animals eat other animals, and yet, we don't want to see that in our children's books. I remember the first time I told my daughter that the chicken we eat is the same as the chicken that clucks and lays eggs. I thought for sure she'd be horrified but her response was, "Oh. Can I have some more?" When I checked out the books from the post, I wondered what my kids would think of them and, in general, they loved them. Some more than others. But they weren't upset or damaged, like some parents assume will happen. The books were funny and clever and some we read over and over again before returning them to the library.

Honestly, it's kind of liberating to read a book that isn't super cuddly and lovely or has counting in it. I hate counting books. I know it's important for a child's development, but I am so sick of those books. There are roughly 5,000,000,000 books that deal with counting to ten in some cutesy way and if I never read another one again, I'll be happy. Almost as bad are the books where the child finds all sorts of ways to avoid going to sleep and the mom and dad are so patient and put up with the child roaming the house, begging for more water or something. Never once do they show the mom saying, "That's enough! Stay in your bed! I don't care if you lay there with your eyes open all night, you're not coming downstairs again!" Nooo, they read more stories, have more glasses of water, find more ways to soothe them to sleep. Bleh.

What was I writing about. Reading previous paragraphs... Ah yes! SDPBs. Here are what I think of our recent reads.

This book about a giant squid was so popular with my girls that I read it four times one night before refusing to read it another time. Then my three-year-old read it to herself another couple times, since by now she had it memorized. Funny, funny book. It reminded me of a girl I knew growing up who had to be the "biggest" thing around no matter what. Truly hilarious.

Achilles the crocodile decides he's sick of bananas and would like to try eating a child. His parents do their best to discourage him of it, but he's determined to try. What ensues when he meets up with the child is so funny, but you honestly think something scary is going to happen. Loved it.

My kids seemed slightly stunned with what happened in "Ugly Fish", but once they understood how the book ends, they thought it was great. I think I like "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean" better, but "Ugly Fish" does have an interesting view of bullying. I don't think my kids picked up on it, but it was still funny for them.

The first time I read "Tadpole's Promise" to my five-year-old, she laughed so hard I thought she was going to hurt herself. I read all of these books first to make sure nothing was too weird or out there for them. I thought this one was funny, but I honestly thought it might be sad for my kids. When she burst out laughing, I knew it was a winner. Tadpole and Caterpillar meet and fall in love. Caterpillar makes Tadpole promise to never change but, alas, he does. When she sees his new arms and legs, she says that he broke his promise and leaves him, brokenhearted. Of course, she changes too, but the ending was totally unpredictable. Super funny.

"Wolves" was not so much funny as suspenseful, waiting for the poor little bunny to figure out what wolves eat exactly. But it was funny to read the alternate ending where the bunny and wolf become best friends. There's not a whole lot to this book, but the illustrations are cool.

For other SDPBs that don't have to do with the food chain, there's some winners. I don't know if anybody else read "The Stupids" by James Marshall when they were in elementary school, but I always thought they were funny, being all backwards and weird and stuff. I checked out "The Stupids Die" for my SDPB experiment and the kids loved it so much, I got the rest of the books from the library. In my opinion, "The Stupids Die" is by far the funniest. My seven-year-old talked about the kids' report cards for days afterward ("They flunked everything! Even lunch!") and I read it multiple times. Stupid has become almost a bad word, like fat or ugly. But sometimes it's just accurate.

I didn't know that binky translated well, but apparently it's the same in Swedish and English. "Benny and the Binky" was so relevant to my kids who tend to get a new sibling every couple of years and have to cope with no longer being the baby. Benny decides to steal his new baby brother's binky and takes off with it, only to have it stolen by some touch soccer-playing pigs. The best part is when a dog comes to his rescue. My favorite picture is the one of the cover of Benny running like the wind.

I love Chris Van Allsburg because his illustrations always make me feel like I'm in an IMAX theater. "The Sweetest Fig" was just a little too much for my kids. They didn't get it, but if they did and I just couldn't tell, they didn't care for it too much. It's about a dentist who's strict and bordering on cruel to his little dog and when he gets some magic figs that makes your dreams come true, the dog is able to exact his revenge. Kind of dark, but I still liked it.

The one book I truly did not like was "When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire". I felt like this was supposed to be read to children whose mothers are bipolar. Very weird and I didn't even read it to my kids. Owen's mom gets stressed out and turns into a dragon. She forgets how to be a mom and Owen has to be the adult. Upsetting and frightening for kids to read. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.

A lullaby that I've sung to my children many times is "Hush, Little Baby" and "Hush, Little Dragon" is the version the mommy dragon sings to her baby as she tries to get him some tasty villagers to eat before bedtime. I sang it like a lullaby and I think that softened it a bit. Not that it was scary or harsh, but it's hard to imagine a dragon battling a knight when it's being sung to the tune of a lullaby. I got a kick out of sweetly crooning about a queen being chomped on by a baby dragon.

I was looking through the comments on the post listed above and found oodles of SDPBs to explore. I have my work cut out for me but somehow, I'll suffer through.