Karen GoatKeeper's Blog, page 8

"Henry Hikes to Fitchburg", "Aqualicious" and "Silverlicious"

I needed some picture books on pink. A nature book helps when winter descends in earnest.

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: D.B. Johnson

Henry Thoreau and a friend wanted to go to Fitchburg. He decided to hike the 30 miles. His friend decided to work to earn the train fare.
This book has one page showing how the friend makes money and the opposite page shows Henry's hike. Both are depicted as bears. They do both get to Fitchburg. Which way was better? It's an interesting question.
The illustrations are colorful and show different things the two do during the day.

Aqualicious
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Victoria Kann

Pinkalicious and her brother are at the beach. She finds Aqua, a merminnie. Surely this little one needs a home. So Pinkalicious and her brother do their best to make or find her one.
The illustrations are colorful. Aqua is pretty. The various home ideas are fun.

Silverlicious
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Victoria Kann

Pinkalicious has a loose tooth. She takes a cookie away from her brother and the tooth comes out. Unfortunately, it is her sweet tooth so everything tastes bad.
The tooth fairy needs to do something about this. Or does she? Is the problem really Pinkalicious?
The illustrations are good. The various stand ins for the tooth fairy do wonderful things in her room.

"Chicken Soup with Rice", "Splat the Cat" and "Cowboy & Octopus"

This was an eclectic set of books.

Chicken Rice with Rice
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

Chicken Soup with Rice can be enjoyed every month of the year in some way. This is a fantasy book of the ways given month by month.
The drawings are fun and imaginative.
Unfortunately a recipe for the soup is not given so the reader is left feeling hungry.

Splat the Cat
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Rob Scotton

Splat the cat faces his first day of cat school. He is scared. So he takes his best friend Seymour Mouse with interesting results.
The illustrations are colorful and consistent. The cats look like stuffed toy robot cats, but work well with the story.

Cowboy & Octopus
3 stars
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith

The short sketches are supposed to be funny. A few of them are. Most are trite and silly.
The illustrations are collages where the cowboy and the octopus are like paper dolls. They do fit the stories well.

"Three Hens and a Peacock", "Mapping Penny's World" and "Henry's Freedom Box"

Three books in search of where and how you fit into this world.

Henry's Freedom Box
5 stars
Author: Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

This is the story of a slave who risked it all to be free. Henry was born a slave. When his master became ill, he gave Henry to his son.
Henry grew up and married. He loved his wife and children. When his master had money troubles, he sold Henry's family.
With help from others who hated slavery, Henry nailed himself in a box and was mailed to Philadelphia.
The illustrations have a brown tone to them. This is a short story with excellent illustrations of events within the story.

Mapping Penny's World
3 stars
Author/Illustrator: Loreen Leedy

Lisa's class is studying maps. One assignment is to make a map. She includes her dog Penny in these maps.
The different maps are interesting to see. Only the final maps are shown, not how Lisa does the measurements etc. to create the maps. The book becomes more a series of maps as though Lisa went crazy making maps.
The illustrations are colorful. They do show the maps well along with the various symbols used to orient and key them.

Three Hens and a Peacock
5 stars
Author: Lester L. Laminack
Illustrator: Henry Cole

The farm is a quiet place with a small produce stand along the road. One day a passing truck loses a box containing a peacock.
Hens do the hard work of producing eggs to sell. What work is the peacock doing? Can't the hens do a better job than he does?
The illustrations are fun. They are a bit cartoonish which fits the story well. The ones of the hens trying to do the peacock's job are humorous. The last one hints at the next chapter for the farm.

"The Goldfish Yawned", "Rain School" and "One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab"

These were an interesting selection.

The Goldfish Yawned
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Elizabeth Sayles

This is a going-to-bed story for a young child. The text is quiet, somewhat repetitive and soothing.
The illustrations have a soft look to them in keeping with the lullaby feel of the book.

One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab
5 stars
Authors: April Pulley Sayre & Jeff Sayre
Illustrator: Randy Cecil

This is a beginning counting book. It's fun as it counts feet, one on a snail, two on a person and up to ten. Then it goes by tens by combining the other figures to get to the new number thus introducing addition and nuber concept.
The illustrations are done for fun. Each creature is done to look friendly, not necessarily accurately. They are colorful and fun to look at.

Rain School
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: James Rumford

In Chad there are no regular school buildings in the rural areas. When a teacher shows up for the beginning of the school year, the first lessons are in how to build a school out of mud bricks, poles and thatch.
These children are motivated to learn. They work hard all school year.
The year ends with the arrival of the rainy season. Rain melts the school, but it will be rebuilt when the next year begins.
The illustrations are full of action and color.

"Dragon Stew", "Watercress" and "The Dark"

Common to most children are the fear of the dark, embarrassment at your family and boredom. These take a look at these.

Dragon Stew
5 stars
Author: Steve Smallman
Illustrator: Lee Wildish

Five Vikings are bored. What can they do? There must be something new and interesting to do.
The five decide to go to Dragon Island, catch a dragon and have dragon stew.
The dragon is not in any mood to agree to this plan.
The story is fun. The ending a delight. The illustrations are wonderful.

The Dark
5 stars
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Laszlo is afraid of the dark. Usually the dark hides in the basement. At night the dark creeps around the house. Then, one night, his nightlight goes out and the dark covers him. What can he do to make the dark go away? The dark invites him to find out.
The illustrations are stark. The colors are subdued. The dark is black and lit up by Laszlo's flashlight. They work well with the text to make the dark a bit scary, then not so scary at all.

Watercress
5 stars
Author: Andrea Wang
Illustrator: Jason Chin

A girl and her family are driving along when her parents stop. The family is out to gather watercress from the roadside ditch.
Anybody can drive by and see her out in the muck. Why can't they just buy food at the store? No one should pull weeds from the ditches!
The girl is still mad that evening, refusing to eat this ditch weed. Her mother brings out an old photograph and tells some family history.
There are worse things than a little embarrassment and those watercress plants are tasty.

Tasha Tudor, "Pumpkin Moonshine", "Around the Year" and "The Great Corgiville Kidnapping"

Step back into the past with these books. They reflect the 1800s in attitudes, dress and life styles.

Pumpkin Moonshine
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Tasha Tudor

A pumpkin moonshine is the old name for a jack o'lantern. This follows Silvie as she finds her pumpkin up in the corn field, rolls it back to the house with several misadventures along the way and ends up with her pumpkin moonshine.

Around the Year
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Tasha Tudor

Each month of the year has four pages, two in color and two in pencil, detailing some event of that month in the 1850s.

The Great Corgiville Kidnapping
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Tasha Tudor

Caleb Corgi is suspicious. A large number of raccoons are arriving in Corgiville. They are often up to no good.
Caleb investigates and finds they are busy preparing for a big chicken dinner. The famous rooster Babe seems to be on the menu.
After Babe disappears, Caleb investigates. A series of lucky breaks and narrow escapes leave Caleb and Babe high above the raccoons.

All of these books are illustrated using watercolors one of the most difficult mediums to work in. The details in the images is amazing. In "Around the Year" be sure to check out the border around the images. The end paper images of Corgiville are ones to take many explorations and still offer new scenes.

"Harvey the Gardener" and "There's NO Such Thing as a Dragon"

Winter moved in for another round and good, fun books help see it through.

Harvey the Gardener
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Lars Klinting

Harvey needs a new houseplant. Chip comes up with beans for it. The two get busy planting the pots and growing the beans.
This book can be a way to have children try planting their own seeds. I would recommend not soaking the beans all night. Take care choosing the beans as some will take over the room.
The illustrations are bright, colorful and show the steps well.

There's NO Such Thing as a Dragon
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Jack Kent

Pure fantasy, but lots of fun. Billy finds a tiny dragon one morning. He is delighted. His mother declares dragons do not exist, so Billy ignores the dragon which then gets bigger and bigger with fun consequences.
The dragon is very cute. The illustrations make it look like a wonderful pet. They lend a lot of humor to the story as well.

"Diary of a Worm" and "Pete the Cat and the Cool Cat Boogie"

Fun books and very imaginative.

Pete the Cat and the Cool Cat Boogie
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Kimberly and James Dean

Pete loves to dance. The music starts and his feet start to move. They do until Grumpy Toad tells him he dances all wrong. Or does he?
The illustrations are fun Pete the Cat ones.
The last pages teach Pete's Boogie. It's a challenge.

Diary of a Worm
5 stars
Author: Doreen Cronin
Illustrator: Harry Bliss

This young worm is full of fun. He goes places, tries to teach friends to tunnel, scares children, behaves like an earthworm. The book is imaginative, but definitely full of information about worms.
The worm illustrations are fun, full of expression and variety.

"Painting a Rainbow" and "Watch Out!"

These are two fun books.

Planting a Rainbow
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Lois Ehlert

How do you plant a rainbow? You plant flowers! And this book plants lots of flowers, bulbs and seeds. Each is named and the color given.
The illustrations are basic emphasizing the colors with a suggestion of the flower's shape.

Watch Out!
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Jan Fearnley

Wilf is a typical kid: He only hears what he wants to hear. This gets him into lots of scrapes and disappoints his mother.
But, do mothers always listen?
The illustrations are lots of fun. They show, with a little exaggeration, all of Wilf's disasters.

"Mule Train Mail" and "The Black Hole Debacle"

One is something I should've thought of, but haven't and the other is unbelievable fun.

Mule Train Mail
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Craig Brown

The Havasupai Indians live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Like everyone else, they send and receive mail. How do they get their mail?
There are only two ways in and out of the town: helicopter and trail. The mail comes down the trail carried by mules. This tells the story of this special way of getting the mail.
The illustrations are fun. They reflect the grandeur of the Canyon and the difficulties of the trail.

The Black Hole Debacle
5 stars
Author: Keri Claiborne Boyle
Illustrator: Deborah Melmon

Black holes devour everything and are found in the centers of galaxies and other places in space. Except this baby one has appeared in Jordie's school desk where it is busily devouring everything it can get to.
Jordie sneaks it home and stashes it in her closet. Things disappear as it outgrows the closet. Even her dog Neptune disappears.
Jordie might let the black hole have lots of her things, but not her dog. Her solution is a delight. The black hole has a final surprise.
The illustrations fit the story. They are bright when Jordie is in the normal world and suitable dark when she confronts the black hole.