Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

Hum a happy Toon

Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons
by Agnes Rosenstiehl
TOON Books

TOON Books ran out of copies of their three debut titles before they even hit the shelves the other week. I got an email press release (as I suspect a lot of bloggers did, but I'm too lazy to check Technorati) with a fun quote from the publishers:

“We were in the middle of preparing for our launch,” says Editorial Director Françoise Mouly, also the Art Editor of The New Yorker, “but I couldn’t imagine a more welcome distraction.”

Here, here.

I plan to review all three titles, but picked Silly Lilly as my immediate favorite for its understated simplicity and total girl appeal. Like all graphic novels, the story is told in comic format, though the gap between picture book and graphic novel has all but disappeared. About the only way I didn't know this was, in fact, a picture book is that there's no narration, no text imposed over the art except in Lilly's speech bubbles.

The book breaks into five short vignettes, one for each season plus a bonus Spring. In each, Lilly sets herself a simple task, such as going to the park or the beach or picking apples. And that's it--though every story has its twist at the end, when a sea shell has a tiny inhabitant or a snowball goes astray.

It's all Lilly, and she's all glee and giggles, a pen-and-ink Everygirl who can turn any day into a pleasant adventure.

I'm all for it.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Come on, take a chance...

A Kitten Tale
by Eric Rohmann

reviewed by Kelly Herold

Eric Rohmann's A Kitten Tale suggests living brave is simply more fun.

Four little kittens--one gray, and three brownish-yellowish tabbies--enjoy spring and summer.  While they romp and play, a troubling thought plagues three of them: "Snow scares me!...When winter comes, the snow will fall and fall and we'll be cold!" This fear of winter--perfectly justified, in my opinion--keeps three of the kittens from enjoying themselves fully.

One kitten, however--the yellowest of the tabbies--responds to their fears with a jubilant "I can't wait!" And when the snow finally comes he's the first one out the door.  Three kitten heads watch out the window as yellow kitten jumps and rolls and laughs.  Soon they join their friend for some fun in the snow.

Eric Rohmann's illustrations to A Kitten Tale are joyful, exuberant works of art.  Rohmann captures the inquisitive spirit of young cats as they creep into the frame, roll about in a heap, stalk a frog.  These four kittens are delight to watch and a breath of fresh, if frosty, air.  Enjoy A Kitten Tale with a young child (2-5) today.  It will cheer up any season of the year.

Rating: *\*\*\

POETRY FRIDAY Ehlert's 'Oodles'

Oodles of Animals
Lois Ehlert
Harcourt, Inc.

Ah, joy of silly joys! What's more fun that curling up with a wiggledy-piggledy toddler and dazzling her with colors and rhymes that zing. She might even sit still for the whole book (I can dream, can't I?)

The wildly popular Ehlert doesn't need my help selling books (though I'm always happy to take a tiny commission should you order via the box above). Her latest features several familiar feathered, finned or furry friends per page, from the ever-popular penguins to a not-too-scary wolf.

Her cut-paper creations in vivid primary colors are a wonder to behold, as bold, geometric shapes come together as various animals, and who knew that hole punches and pinking shears could be put to such artsy uses. The poems also leap out for their cleverness and simplicity that should keep parents as amused as kiddies.

Here's a small sampling:

CHICKEN
If a chicken crossed
the road and rampled,
would the eggs she laid
be scrambled?

CATERPILLAR
A caterpillar's
future plan
includes a
butterfly wingspan

I particularly liked CATERPILLAR, as it forms the end papers, with numerous geometric caterpillars looking like gear parts from a mechanical drawing.

And there are several along the lines of CAT, which use the most obvious rhymes and still manage to sound fresh:

CAT
A cat
is a purr
wrapped up
in fur.

In a word: delightful.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Blossoms for Mom

Flower Garden
by Eve Bunting; illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
Harcourt, Inc.

I haven't reviewed many board books, but then I haven't encountered many as lovely and enticing as this one. A young girl and her Dad are planning a special birthday surprise for her mother in this sweet, all-too-brief story told in super-simple quatrains.

We meet the girl--and her would-be garden--in the store:

Garden in a shopping cart
Doesn't it look great?

Garden on the checkout stand
I can hardly wait.

And so it goes, until the flowers have been lugged home, repotted and perched in a window box overlooking a bustling city street. Hewitt captures expressions flawlessly in her warm, earthy acrylics, from the girl's glowing fascination to the mother's genuine surprise.

Nice, too, that the book's rugged cardboard will hold up to rough treatment from little fingers, as this may become a fast favorite. Toddlers are notorious for getting restless quickly, but the story is short and the rhymes easy, and you can point out flowers and colors to keep them engaged.

The art features an African-American family, but the appeal should quite obviously be universal. (I like how many illustrators no longer assume the default race of characters is white, but that's another topic for another day.)

Rating: *\*\*\

Ma! Don't Let the Baby Out!

Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here!: A Word from Your Baby-In-Waiting
by Barbara Park

Random House

reviewed by Kelly Herold

Park, author of the Junie B. Jones series, brings her impish sense of humor to a new picture book for the very young.

Narrating from in utero, the protagonist of Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! kvetches--in verse, no less--on the boredom of his day: "My choices are slim./There is no room to swim./I'm so tired of floating./I'd love to go boating,/But where's the canoe?/Ma!/There's nothing to do!" Park writes that watching the ultrasound of "her unborn grandson for the first time" inspired this picture book and answers the question, "What must it feel like...being in there? What did a baby in utero do all day?"

Well, this baby dreams, snoozes, and complains.  He also sings Cassandra's song: "You're set for me, right? You've got a night-light?/ And diapers? Shampoo?/Does my room have a view?/I could use a good bib./And I'd like my own crib." Yep. This baby knows his boredom won't last long, and neither will Ma's. The clock is ticking and soon he'll be out in the world. (Warning: He looks like a handful.)

Now, on the surface of things, it may seem that Park wrote Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! for parents awaiting their first child.  But Park's exuberant, fast-paced rhythms paired with Viviana Garofoli's brightly-colored, energetic illustrations--with the unborn child the center of every page--make this picture book just perfect for the toddler listener. She'll love lording her walking-and-talking power over this trapped creature, no matter how cute he is. And, the toddler reader knows something else the baby doesn't: Being on your own two feet is way better than being a baby.

Rating: *\*\*\

Take a bow. Or not.

NO BOWS!
by Shirley Duke Smith; illustrated by Jenny Mattheson

Peachtree

My hungry! My watch Care Bears! My dance Raffi now! My read book this one!

Can you tell we have a two-year-old in the house?

These are exact quotes, though I probably didn't add enough exclamation points.

Smith obviously interviewed my daughter for this book on a little girl with big opinions, who even has her same fondness for purple. Though I admit I misread the title and thought she was talking about bowing, as in the opposite of curtsying.

It's actually the kind you put in your hair, and the little girl insists "braids" instead. On each page, she lists the thing she hates (no puppy)  and when you turn the page, in all caps, are what she prefers (LIZARDS). Duke is wise enough to avoid true opposites, keeping us guessing, and the girl's choices remain true to her quirky, irrepressible character.

Even the ending, where she and her parents agree on hugs, at least, ties up the story in a big, sweet bow (or braid?) for appreciative little readers. The vocabulary is simple enough for toddlers, and I can see this eventually being released as a board book.

Mattheson pulls off the concept with a touch of '60s-retro simplicity, including a clever bird's eye view of the girl staring up at a dinosaur. And watch out for that lizard ...

Rating: *\*\*\

Schizophrenia, A-Z

The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z!
by Steve Martin; illustrated by Roz Chast

Flying Dolphin Press

Reviewed by Kelly Herold

I'm of two minds reviewing this. On the one hand, does the world really need another alphabet book? (I have one child who refused to be read yet another alphabet book from age two on.)  On the other hand, how can a creative, wacky alphabet book be a bad thing? On the one hand: I hate the whole celebrity book industry. On the other hand, Steve Martin is a smart celebrity who can write (see: Shopgirl) and Roz Chast is a genius (see: The New Yorker). On the one hand, it's nice to see a book for children that adults will enjoy.  Over to you, other hand: aren't we all just a little sick of coy books written to two audiences?

It's difficult to review a picture book when your mind is so obviously boggled, but I'll do my best. 

One hand:

Steve Martin's couplets are funny and scan beautifully. No stray syllables here!  His "letter" choices are unusual, giving xylophone, x-ray, and zebra a sorely needed break.  Take the letter X as a successful example of Martin's technique:

Ambidextrous Alex was actually axed
For waxing, then faxing, his boss's new slacks.

These lines have a nice crunchy feel to them and are truly new. Chast's iconic illustrations add to Martin's lines. They're busy and full of supplementary detail (the X page, for example, does indeed contain xylophones in the illustration), giving the child plenty to look at and consider. 

Chast has added a truly brilliant touch to her illustrations, posters and notes that deal with English's infuriating orthography. On the X page, for example, a poster gracing the side of a desk reads, "Links, minks, facts, and links sound like they have X's, But that idea STINKS!" 

Other hand:

Some of Martin's vocabulary choices tend to the overly knowing.   Do you really want to explain the letter G to a three year old?: "While Granny in Greenland had gravlax for three,/Her gallant son Gary grew green gracefully." Really? Or, how about O?: "Old Ollie the owl owed Owen an oboe/But instead bought him oysters at Osgood's in Soho."  Shorthand? O is for annOying.

Also on this other hand...I wonder about Chast's illustrations and their appeal to the average alphabet-book audience.  Do small children really appreciate her anxious style?

In bringing my two minds together, I find I have to give this book two ratings.  One for adults (3 buds) and one for children (2 buds).  Considering that celebrity books are really written with adults in mind, The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z! is a marketing success just in time for the holidays.

Not a surprise

Not a Stick
by Antoinette Portis

HarperCollins

Oh dear. Sometimes sequels just don't work at all.

Portis gave us the delightful Not a Box last year, and it dazzled for seemingly being the perfect picture book. The premise was both surprising and obvious, as if it had been laying there waiting for someone to think of it, and all the rest of us were left slapping our heads.

And it captured a child's imagination like none other, with a simple box becoming an extraordinary plaything.

In this one, we get a stick instead of a box, a piglet instead of a bunny, but there's still the offstage adult chiding about not playing the thing. "It's not a stick" says the piglet, as it becomes a lance or fishing pole.

There's still the minimalist black lines on white paper. Red squiggles have been changed to blue to denote what the character's imagining. The cover has a wood grain instead of being box-like. And on and on.

I so loved the last book. If I hadn't read "Not a Box," I might've liked "Not a Stick" just fine.

I'm having serious trouble imagining where else this series might go. Not a Rock? Not a Plastic Bag? Not a Turd?

The concept is done. Time to take your considerable talents and move on, Ms. Portis.

Rating: *\*\

A three-hanky read

The Purple Balloon
by Chris Raschka

Okay, make that four. I just reread it.

This is a simple book about a complex subject, but Raschka isn't given the task of explaining the hows or whys. His job is to raise a subject no one wants to discuss:

"No one likes to talk about dying. It's hard work."

And if dying is a topic that needs to come up in your household, this slender volume may be the tonic you need to smooth the way.

In it, balloons represent people, a notion explained in a forward by the Children's Hospice International, which will benefit from sales of the book. When dying children are asked to draw their feelings, they "often draw a blue or purple balloon, released and floating free."

Raschka, with his signature splotchy watercolors, reimagines these childlike notions with balloon figures whose strings intertwine, or who loop around to form limbs or angel's wings, with all the attendent symbolism. The circular heads bob together as if huddling around a deathbed or float freely as if escaping earthly bonds, with a few heavy black lines for the expressive faces.

All he does is offer a few sentences that having people around helps -- friends and family, doctors and nurses, quiet or noisy. The same is true whether it's an older person or a child who dies, though it's hardest to talk about the latter. 

Perhaps I'm especially sensitive these days. I'm having to explain this terrible subject to my son, who often asks after one of his grandmas, but is puzzled and bored by my tortured explanations of what's wrong. This book isn't a way to explain it, as I said, only a way to get the conversation restarted on terms he can understand.

Note: Other works by this illustrator include Good Sports.

Rating: *\*\*\

In the kitchen with Mollie

Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes
by Mollie Katzen and Anne Henderson

Salad People and More Real Recipes
by Millie Katzen

I love Mollie Katzen. I find her recipes easy to read and adapt, and she has a feel for how real people cook and eat. Yeah, the recipes can be gourmet, but not oppressively so.

I jumped at the chance to finagle copies of her cookbooks for toddlers. Yes, toddlers. What, kids can't read a long list of ingredients? Meh. They can look at pictures. And that's what Mollie offers up, inspired by preschool teacher Henderson's sketches for her students.

Basically, you prepare the ingredients and then open the book to the sketches. Your kids follows the drawings and voila! Creations that look good enough to eat.

I went into this with no illusions whatsoever of rivaling the fabulous, legendary Vegan Lunchbox, whose Shmoo loves her cooking. Seth's Mr. Persnickety himself, and we left out or substituted as many ingredients as we used.

Here he is making "Tiny Tacos" by smushing refried beans and shredded cheese between tortilla chips. We left out the salsa and guacamole and all the "ewwws" that accompany it. Sigh.

Putting it all together was a messy enterprise, but I gave it high marks for encouraging motor skills, problem solving and, well, an appreciation for basic Mexican fare.

Not as successful was this lovely dish, Cool Cucumber Soup, which got praise for its taste from ... my husband:

Yep, neither of the kids would touch it. They loved the blender, however, and even fought over who got to push the buttons. I thought it'd be a big hit, since it has exactly three ingredients: yogurt, mint and cukes, and the kids like all three. I guess seeing the stuff get swirled into drippy slush was a turn-off. Who knew?

I'm sorry I don't have pics of the silly salad faces they made; that too was a hit. Think carrot peels for the hair, blueberries for the eyes and apple slices for the mouth.

And we're veterans of Katzen's homemade mini-pizzas, but we skip her complicated directions for making your own dough and use mini pita or nan breads from the store.

True to Katzen's reputation as the grand dame of vegetarian eating, all the recipes are meat-free and healthy, though of course that depends on how closely you follow them and what substitutions you make. Nobody's saying you can't add some pepperonis to those pizzas, right?

The books feature soups and appetizers, snacks and desserts; pretty much the full range of food choices, all pared down to their simplest elements and drawn up for easy following. I'd have preferred a spiral binding so that it lay flat when the kids are perusing it, but you can't have everything.

Is this the answer to childhood obesity? Or finicky eating habits? Will it prep your future Emeril for his or her own FoodTV show? No, no and no.

But it's a fun way to spend a snowy or rainy day together, and teaches them that food isn't made with a wave of Mommy's magic spatula.

Rating: *\*\*\*\