Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

POETRY FRIDAY A Tribute to Ogden Nash

While packing up the house, I found an anthology of children's poems that had belonged to my mother. The cover's torn and the pages yellowed, but inside was a treasure trove of fine poems that no child should grow up without.

I thought I'd start with a tribute to Ogden Nash, one of the pithiest writers of light verse ever. Judge for yourself. You can read his full bio here.

The Panther
The panther is like leopard,
Except it hasn't been peppered,
Should you behold a panther crouch,
prepare to say Ouch.
Better yet, if called by a panther,
Don't anther.

The Jelly Fish
Who wants my jellyfish?
I'm not sellyfish.

The Centipede
I objurate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
At sleepy-time he beats a path
Straight to the bedroom or the bath.
You always wallop where he's not,
Or, if he is, he makes a spot.

The Fly
The Lord in His wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.

Little Star

Stellina

by Matteo Pericoli

I was in the American Museum of Natural History last month, or rather, in their gift shop (honestly, is there any better place to shop for kiddie stuff?) when I noticed Pericoli's impressive rendering of the city skyline, Manhattan Unfurled, on prominent display.

I knew that on my shelf sat a more humble volume of his, about a single bird and not an entire cityscape. Stellina was a finch chick rescued by his wife, Holly, when she heard its tiny peeps at her feet above the roar of traffic.

While a press release and the book itself make much of the love that sprung between rescuer and foundling, I was struck more by Pericoli's obvious awe of his wife. He dotes on the way she fed the bird by trickling juice down her pinky, or played piano to inspire it to sing, or schlepped it in a plastic box whereever she went until it was old enough to be left alone in her tiny apartment.

He also refers to her as "Holly, my wife" on every single reference, in case you missed it. An end note explains she was only his future wife when Stellina peeped into their lives, and further confuses matters by saying a security guard first rescued the bird. There is no guard in Pericoli's narrative.

There is, however, what appears to be a lovely, stylized rendering of Holly, with an elongated nose and slender frame, dabbled with just enough watercolor to suggest her clothes or Stellina's plumage. Pericoli's use of pigment is like his spare prose, giving us only what's essential:

It was evening when Holly, my wife,
decided to take Stellina home with her.

They sat together for a while,
looking at each other,
and both must have wondered:
"And now? What's going to happen now?"

Stellina finally died after eight years as Holly's well-tended pet, probably a better lifespan than she could've expected in the wild (I'm guessing). This tribute to the bird -- but really to its keeper -- is much like a splotch of warm color in the big, gray city.

Rating: *\*\*\

Got your goose

Gossie and Friends

by Olivia Dunrea

Oooh ... flaps. We love flaps around here. Little fingers can't wait to lift them and see what's underneath. Hey, wait 'til I read it first, 'kay?

Gossie's a goose from a board book series, and this is her flap book where she hides, plays with friends, counts, etc. It pretends to be educational, but we all know flap books aren't about becoming geniuses. They're about fun! And, uh, crying hysterically when the flaps tear.

The yellow goslings remind me of bathroom decor you can buy at Target, but rendering everything in watercolor (outlined in black ink) somehow makes it artier. It's in an extra-big size too, making it harder to lose and easier for those tiny paws to grab onto.

Rating: *\*\

How Priscilla Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Rain

Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise

by Nathaniel Hobbie; illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie

Reviewed by Deb Clark

Three days of nonstop rain have Priscilla stuck in the house and stir-crazy enough to do just about anything – even chores – to stave off boredom. When her efforts fail, she ventures outside to try a rain-stopping dance. There she meets Posy, a pixie from the Land of Primrose, who imparts to Priscilla the positive aspects of precipitation.

“Look here,” Posy called. “The Funk Funnel Vine.
The smell isn’t great but it’s funneling’s devine.
And the Bob-Along Beetle.
The Umbrella Flower.
The Muck Mover Mole has come out for his shower
Just get a gander at the Great Gargling Crane.
All of these creatures, they live for the rain!”

The whole thing is more than a bit Seussian, and while Nathaniel Hobbie isn’t the master of rhyming verse that Theodore Geisel was (but then, who is?), the brightly-hued, cartoonish illustrations by sibling Jocelyn are dripping with exuberance and droll detail. This is the pair’s second book featuring Priscilla.

My 4-year-old was so enchanted with this book that after I read it to her the first time, she postponed a requested viewing of the latest Disney video rental from the local library to “read” it again herself.

Rating: *\*\*\

Amazon ranger

I was so proud that in March and April, this site broke even with Amazon commissions and Google ads. So of course I had to go and screw everything up, right?

Even with my daily readership slowly rising, my commissions have dropped to zero. The reason? I link to Barnes and Noble on my posts now. Nobody's buying.

So either you all shy away from B&N or nobody's doing much shopping this month.

To play it safe, I'm returning to Amazon. That means a return of the ugly sales box, alas. They do have an option to post just the cover art, but their link html doesn't seem to work for me and I have to use up my own bandwidth, which is the problem I'd sought to avoid in the first place.

Wow, this technical stuff is tough, even with a techie husband. All I wanna do is review books. Sheesh.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day all. The hubby has a post about the hoopla here.

UPDATE What happens to all those review copies

You may've noticed this new logo toward the bottom-right column. Or maybe your eyes just skip over anything that looks remotely like an ad.

This isn't.

I'm pleased to announce that Book Buds (ahem) now participates in Reading by 9, a literacy program in Southern California that tries to get kids reading at their grade level by fourth grade.

I've known about the program since 2000, when I worked as a junior editor for a community newspaper owned by the L.A. Times, which runs it. One of my education reporters began volunteering with them a few hours a week to read to inner-city schoolkids and before I knew it, she'd been offered a teaching job and switched careers.

When I saw their booth at the L.A. BookFest the other week, I dropped off a business card and exchanged a few pleasantries.

The result: this past week, the hubby schlepped about 45 books into their offices a floor below his. The books will go to elementary schools in my county. Many of the books started out in the L.A. Times' slush pile, of course, lugged home by Brett to begin with. Now that he's hauled them back, they'll be sent out here again. Phew.

I'm amazed this man still loves me, really.

In case you ever wondered where those review copies go, many of them have indeed wound up on the bookshelves of my son's playmates. But most have gone to charity or to schools. From now on, they'll go where they're needed most.

I feel good.

-- Anne

SEA WEEK Avast, ye puppies!

Fluffy, Scourge of the Sea

by Teresa Bateman; illustrated by Michael Chesworth

What better way to celebrate both Poetry Friday and the grand finale of Sea Week than with a poem about pirates?

Okay, so this book has been out for over a year, but my hubby won't let me give it away. I've tried. He repeatedly fished it out of bags meant first for Katrina victims, my Mommy friends, and a literacy program. It's the book that won't leave.

Using standard-issue quatrains with frequent lapses in meter and rhymes that only occasionally surprise, Bateman still manages to create one of the more memorable buccaneers to prowl the Seven Seas.

Fluffy's a preening poodle captured unawares on his yacht by a shipload of canine brigands. Rather than cower with his tail between his legs, he strikes a fierce pose and insists he's also a pirate, and both the yacht and all his tasty kibble are really loot.

He challenges the burly, bulldog of a captain for his ship, and the two opposites match off in a funny sequence that leaves the growling sea dog, well, out to sea. Fluffy then gives the ship and its flea-bitten crew a makeover, teaching them how a few manners will more easily fill their bellies -- not to mention getting a few good belly rubs.

What am I to make of this? Perhaps inside every ornery cur is a lapdog scratching to come out. Or that scurvy strays need love too. Or that even sporting a big, pink bow in your hat doesn't make you less of a man, er, mutt.

I really don't know. I really don't care. It's fun anyway.

Rating: *\*\

SEA WEEK Colorful escapes

Octavia Octopus and Her Purple Ink Cloud

by Donna and Doreen Rathmell; illustrated by Connie McLennan

This silly octopus can't get her colors straight. She means to shoot purple ink to practice her getaways; instead, she spurts all the other colors of the rainbow. Her finny friends have no trouble hiding or camouflaging themselves. Fortunately, she gets her act together in time to escape a shark. Yipes!

Like most titles from Sylvan Dell, it's meant to be educational, hence the emphasis on learning colors and about sea life. The watercolors imitate the vivid hues of a coral reef, and end notes give additional information and creative exercises.

Rating: *\*\

SEA WEEK Message in a bottle

Dear Fish

by Chris Gall

Note to self: Do not write "snail mail" to actual snails.

Doing so might seem harmless enough, but when Peter Alan caps a perfect day at the beach by tossing a note to his finny friends, they come a-calling:

Where you live is pretty cool. You should come visit us someday. Plus my Mom makes good pies.

The next day finds catfish mowing a lawn, puffer fish as birthday ballons, and an octopus who gives new meaning to bad hair day. It's all in surreal good fun, but little Peter eventually has to disinvite his smelly, slimy visitors.

That's okay -- the story ends with a reciprocal invitation tucked into a conch shell.

Gall hand-engraved the images on clay-coated board, then digitized the color. The result feels straight out of old Art Deco posters, but in a more contemporary palette of autumn tones and ocean hues.

Watch for visual puns on every page: the sea horses at the rodeo, mice running from the catfish, etc. Even the end papers will keep you busy.

Rating: *\*\*\

SEA WEEK The porpoise-driven life

If a Dolphin Were a Fish

by Loran Wlodarski; illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein

Everybody loves dolphins. At least they should. They navigate by sonor and kick shark butt and eat sushi. That's one heckuva fish.

But wait, they're not fish at all. Nor is a dolphin an octopus or a sea turtle, as this book helpfully points out. Klein's whimsical drawings in colored pencils morph a dolphin named Delfina into several other animals including, quite amusingly, a pelican.

No-nonsense prose sets us straight: what dolphins eat, how they bear and raise their young, even why they're bald.

The end notes even explain why dolphins aren't really porpoises, and how they're both closely related to whales. I think this would be the perfect read before taking a kid to SeaWorld where, by the way, Klein works as the on-staff artist.

Rating: *\*\