Karen GoatKeeper's Blog, page 9

"Hurry! Hurry!", "Nibble Nibble" and "The Origami Master"

Imaginative books all.

Hurry! Hurry!
4 stars
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Jeff Mack

The hen calls all the farm animals with "Hurry! Hurry!" All of them come, each with a repeated comment, as they gather in the barn for the big event. Hen's egg is hatching.
The illustrations are colorful. The animals have a felt texture to them. This is just a fun book to read with a young child.

Nibble Nibble
3 stars
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Wendell Minor

The highlight of this book are the illustrations of the rabbits and other creatures. They look soft with marvelous detail.
The text is of several poems by Brown. The poems might be cute for a young child, but leave much to be desired otherwise.

The Origami Master
5 stars
Author: Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
Illustrator: Aki Sogabe

The origami master lives in an isolated home surrounded by nature. He spends his time folding origami paper into various creatures and other forms.
One day he finds an elephant folded differently from his. who has folded this? He folds a dragon only to find a better example on his desk the next day.
The master sets out a spider and hides to see who is doing this paper folding. It is a bird, a warbler that lives in the tree outside his room.
The master captures the bird to learn its secrets.
The illustrations have an Oriental look to them. They have that simplicity and beauty to them.
At the end are the instructions for folding an origami bird.

"The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks" and "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears"

I'm starting 2025 with a couple of African folk tales. These Just So type of stories make fun reading.

The Lonely Lioness and the Ostrich Chicks
5 stars
Author: Verna Aardema
Illustrator: Yumi Heo

Mother Ostrich leads her four chicks under a tree not realizing a lioness is sleeping in it. The lioness wants a child and decides to steal one chick. She ends up with all four. Mother Ostrich is frantic as she tries to find a way to get her chicks back.
The illustrations are stylized with lots of symbols included in them. The story almost tells itself in the illustrations.

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
5 stars
Author: Verna Aardema
Illustrator: Leo and Diane Dillon

This is one of those chain stories. The mosquito sets the chain off by bothering the iguana that then seems to ignore the snake. The snake thinks the iguana is planning mischief and hides in a rabbit's hole sending the rabbit off in panic. The chain continues until the lion stops it and demands to know what is going on.
The illustrations are different. They look like stained glass pictures with white lines instead of black.

"Police Cat" and "Hand-Me-Down Doll"

Two great picture books to close out my year of reviews. I will pick up again in the New Year.

Police Cat
5 stars
Author: Enid Hinkes
Illustrator: Wendy Rasmussen

Noodles is the unofficial mascot of the Police Station. He takes his position seriously patrolling the alleys for rats. One night he smells smoke. A family is in a burning house! Noodles knows what to do.

Hand-Me-Down Doll
5 stars
Author: Steven Kroll
Illustrator: Dan Andreasen

The doll has no name. First one person, then another takes her. No one really wants her. Then a poor girl finds her.

"Monty and Milli: The Totally Amazing Magic Trick" and "Bear Snores On"

Getting along with friends and siblings is an important lesson for young children and these deal with both.

Monty and Milli: The Totally Amazing Magic Trick
5 stars
Author: Tracey Corderoy
Illustrator: Tim Warnes

Monty's sister Milli copies everything he does. When he gets a magic set for one, he is delighted to finally do something on his own. Milli is upset.
Every trick Monty tries doesn't work. Milli decides to help. Except her help soon makes her the magician.
The illustrations are colorful and cute. They make the magic seem possible.

Bear Snores On
5 stars
Author: Karma Wilson
Illustrator: Jane Chapman

Bear is hibernating in a deep cave. Winter has descended on all the creatures still outside. First a mouse moves in and builds a fire to keep warm. Others join the mouse until there is a party going on around the sleeping bear. Then the bear wakes up.
The illustrations are fun.

"Pete the Cat Scaredy Cat" and "The Man Who Could Call Down Owls"

Animals rule picture books, it seems.

Pete the Cat Scaredy Cat
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Kimberly and James Dean

Pete loves stories of all kinds, both for reading and listening. Except Pete hasn't read any scary stories. Then Bob tells Pete a scary story about a monster.
The illustrations are the usual good, bold, colorful Pete the Cat ones. Poor Pete has a bushy tail in many of these.

The Man Who Could Call Down Owls
5 stars
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrator: Charles Mikolaycak

This is more a short story than a picture book.
An old man wrapped in a white cloak and wearing a broad-rimmed hat goes out to the woods every evening. He raises a willow wand and the owls come to sit on his shoulders, his hat and the bushes and trees nearby. The people of the village follow him out to see this sight. Con seeks him out to learn about the owls.
A stranger covets this power and goes out one night in the old man's cloak and hat. Both he and Con have a surprise waiting there in the woods with the owls.
The illustrations are black and white. They have shading and texture to them making them beautiful. Color would detract from them.

"Beardream" and "Jamaica Louise James"

Children can bring big changes as these two books show.

Beardream
5 stars
Author: Will Hobbs
Illustrator: Jill Kastner

Many Native American tribes had a Bear Dance. Each also had a legend to explain where the dance began. This is one of those stories.
A boy is concerned when the Great Bear doesn't appear one spring. He goes in search of him. The Great Bear is grateful and takes him to the bear's dance. The boy brings the dance back to his people.
The illustrations have a soft, slightly out of focus look emphasizing the dreamlike feel of the legend.

Jamaica Louise James
4 stars
Author: Amy Hest
Illustrator: Sheila White Samton

New York City's subway stations are dull places. Jamaica is a girl full of ideas and enthusiasm. Her grandmother works in a toll booth in a subway station. Jamaica gives her a unique birthday gift that dresses up the subway station.

The illustrations are bold, colorful, filled with expressions on the people and the cats.

"A Pussycat's Christmas", "Call of the Wolves" and "My Name is Sangoel"

Although very different, all of these were fun and interesting.

A Pussycat's Christmas
5 stars
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Anne Mortimer

This is a cat lover's book.
How does a cat know it's Christmas time? There are the sights, the sounds, the smells.
Even though the text is great reading, the illustrations make the book. The cat seems real. His antics definitely are real. Mortimer definitely deserves the accolades for her cat illustrations.

Call of the Wolves
4.5 stars
Author: Jim Murphy
Illustrator: Mark Alan Weatherby

This is more a short story than a picture book.
A wolf pack is moving down to follow the caribou for the winter. Illegal hunters fly through and leave a young wolf injured and stranded. He must escape another wolf pack as he has trespassed int heir territory and find his own pack, if he is to survive.
There is an information story about wolves at the end of the book.
The illustrations are superb. Their subdues coloring almost makes you shiver with the cold of the mountains.

My Name is Sangoel
5 stars
Author: Karen Lynn Williams, Khadra Mohammed
Illustrator: Catherine Stock

Sangoel, his mother and sister are refugees from an area of Sudan. They are some of the lucky ones who find a sponsor and leave the refugee camp for the United States.
Suddenly they see lots of people, traffic, escalators and more totally foreign to them. Even in the apartment The stove, refrigerator, TV are strange. So is the food.
Sangoel goes to school. No one knows how to pronounce his name. He feels so alone.
His solution to help people pronounce his name is a delight.
The illustrations bring out some of the things a new refugee would find strange, difficult to cope with and the determination it takes to move to a strange, new world.

"Extra Yarn" and "My Lost Freedom"

This week had some light-hearted fun and some serious thinking.

Extra Yarn
5 stars
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Annabelle lived in a black and white world. One day she found a box filled with yarn of many colors. She began to knit and knit and knit covering the black and white with color.

The illustrations are simple, filled with details and fun. The yarn coats look warm in a snowy world.

My Lost Freedom
5 stars
Author: George Takei
Illustrator: Michelle Lee

I had previously read his graphic novel about the Japanese Internment Camps. This is more of a serious nonfiction account of a bit of American history than a true picture book.

George and his family were of Japanese descent, American citizens, yet, a month after Pearl Harbor, the government declared them along with anyone of Japanese descent enemy aliens and ordered their arrest and confinement in camps. He was very young and grew up thinking it was normal to have barbed wire and guards around him. This is about his time at various places during these years.
The illustrations are first rate. They create the feeling of being in the camps without creating despair.

"Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" and "The Storm"

Wildly different books.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
4 stars
Author/Illustrator: Dav Pilkey

The semi verse parodies "Twas the Night Before Christmas".
Eight children go on a field trip to Mack Nuggett's
farm and meet eight turkeys. The turkeys are fun. Then the children find out the turkeys will be dinner the next day. Their solution is not really believable, but lots of fun.
The illustrations are colorful and lots of fun. The turkeys look so friendly.
The book does leave you with an unsaid message to go vegetarian.

The Storm
5 stars
Author: Marc Harshman
Illustrator: Mark Mohr

This is more a short story than a picture book.
Jonathon was in an accident and is now in a wheelchair. He finds people no longer see him, but only his handicap. This is emphasized in class when tornadoes are discussed.
At home Jonathon is left alone for a time. A storm moves in. He puts the livestock up. Then a tornado forms and heads for the farm. He is left with important decisions to make.

"The Fox and the Falling Leaves" and "I'm a Turkey!"

Nature books are always fun to read.

The Fox and the Falling Leaves
aka Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
5 stars
Author: Julia Rawlinson
Illustrator: Tiphanie Beeke

Fletcher the Fox has a favorite tree. He plays and lives under it all summer. Then, one day, he thinks his tree is sick. It's leaves are turning color. Then they begin to fall off.
Fletcher is frantic. He must save his tree.
The illustrations are cute. Fletcher tries so hard to help his tree. The ending is darling.

I'm a Turkey!
5 stars
Author/Illustrator: Jim Arnosky

There is a downloadable song to go with the book. I didn't find it necessary to liven up the text which has quite a rhythm and beat on its own.
Wild turkeys are interesting birds. This book packs a lot of information about them into the text.
Don't expect the turkeys to look cute in this book. Turkeys are wary, independent and fierce birds and look it.
This book is fun to read.