Book Buds Kidlit Reviews

A ratty little sister

Rosie and Buttercup
by Chieri Uegaki; illustrated by Stephane Jorisch
Kids Can Press

Everybody who'd be perfectly happy swapping their siblings for a bag of chips, raise your hand. I have both mine in the air. Can I swap them even if they're full-grown? Please? I promise to eat the chips slowly.

Yeah, okay, I'm over the sibling rivalry thing. Mostly.

But if it weren't for that ages-old tussle over birth order, there'd be so much less fodder for adorable picture books, this one included. Rosie's a rat with pet crickets and a taste for dried dandelion puffs. She looks mighty cute in a tu-tu too, as depicted with European flair in Jorisch's watercolors.

Buttercup ruins a perfectly good solo act, and a fed-up Rosie offers her free to a good home. Fortunately, it's the babysitter down the street, who takes Buttercup off Rosie's hands long enough for her to cycle through her immediate bliss, then gradual remorse and finally, sheer panic.

If you've seen this before in other forms, it's fine to recycle the idea, as it rarely gets old. Rosie gives it a girly girl spin, though I'd have liked to see more of Buttercup's personality to better underscore their conflict.

Rating: *\*\

Un-bearably persistent

A Visitor for Bear
by Bonny Becker; illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Candlewick Press

Hooray for us introverts! I've long savored this essay about the horrors of enduring those in-your-face, smile-a-minute, non-stop extroverts. Let them go chat up amoeba down at the bottom of the food chain and leave us higher-functioning types to our deep, world-saving contemplations, says misanthrope moi.

Naturally, my sympathies go out to critters like Bear, with his growly countenance and "No Visitors Allowed" sign. All he wants is a spot of breakfast. All Mouse wants is to join him. Bear finds every way possible to turn him away. Mouse finds every way back in, until Bear finds all that friendliness, well, over-bear-ing and surrenders to the inevitable.

Mouse is all British-style cheek and cheeriness, but is overall quite polite, in his persistent way, while Bear is all gruff and grizzly temper. The duo is in the best tradition of Odd Couple-type pairings, and there's no question by the end that Bear will find the expected solace in having such a companionable visitor.

MacDonald Denton's watercolors place Bear in a cozy, suburban-style home with all the creature comforts--just the sort of place where a friendly Mouse might want to make himself welcome. And a few jots and lines conjure up a full range of bearish expressions, from delight to exasperation and back again.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Better than Benadryl

Little Rabbit and the Night Mare
By Kate Klise; illustrated by M. Sarah Klise

Reviewed by Kelly Herold

Sisters Kate and M. Sarah Klise make bedtime safe again with their newest picture book.   

School is stressing Little Rabbit out: It's Monday and the teacher tells the class they're to prepare a report on any topic they'd like. Mother Rabbit suggests a variety of topics to Little Rabbit, "But Little Rabbit didn't like those topics."

Little Rabbit begins to worry and then at night, "a mysterious creature appeared in his dream and carried him away." Mother explains that Little Rabbit had a nightmare, but Little Rabbit hears only "night mare." Now he has two worries--his report and the night mare. And the only way Little Rabbit can conquer his fears is to face them head on and to "look [the night mare] in the eye."

Kate Klise serves up Little Rabbit's universal tale so sweetly and with such compassion, that you'll cheer when the hero chases his night mare off and finishes his report. M. Sarah Klise's warm illustrations draw the reader in to a comforting world of a lucky, loved childhood.  Little Rabbit and the Night Mare is a cozy blanket for light sleepers of every age.

Rating: *\*\*\

Up, up and away

Pilot Pups
by Michelle Meadows; illustrated by Dan Andreason
Simon & Schuster

My son never had much enthusiasm for stuffed animals, which generally gather dust on his shelves, with a new, notable exception. His kindergarten class just did a unit on pets and created a stuffed animal shelter. Families donated their less-beloved plush toys, which were renamed and kept in a "kennel" (really wire baskets stacked on their sides). Each kid adopted one for a $1.00 donation to the Anti-Cruelty Society.

Seth brought home "Fluffy," which Brett and I renamed "Scruffy" for the kitty's much-abused condition. Don't tell that to Seth, who gleefully described how she jumped out of her cage to him and purred in his arms. Fortunately, she eats only Lego blocks and hasn't needed a litter box, though she could probably use a good stain-sticking and some judicious restitching.

I thought of Fluffy as I read Pilot Pups, since it captures so well the absolute, unshakable belief of kids that their favorite plush toys do indeed have a rich, inner life--when we're not looking. In this one,  two stuffed puppies soar around the house as the human family obliviously goes about their morning.

Meadows keeps the rhymes short and spirited, with plenty of alliteration, repetition and other nifty tricks for beginning readers:

Canines cruising,
in control.
Searching, searching--
on patrol.

Andreason strikes a playful tone in his oil paints, which are infused with a cheerful, golden glow. We had fun with this one, though I'm told Fluffy gets jealous.

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: *\*\*\

Not so nuts-o

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach
by Melanie Watt
Kids Can Press

Okay, Scaredy fans, the squirrel's back, with his neuroses kicked up a few notches. This time, he's off to the beach. Or, er, not. Maybe just a rendition of the beach at the foot of his nut tree, made with kitty litter and an inflatable pool.

Yep, he's just as jittery as ever, armed this time with enough protective gear for a minefield, and he doesn't miss an important opportunity to play dead. And, yes, he does wind up at the real beach after much fuss and to-do.

If you've read the other installments (reviews here and here), you're going to find this one a tad predictable. For kids, that's a good thing. They know where Scaredy lives, they have his overcautious M.O. down pat and there's still a giggle a page, perhaps more so for all the anticipation.

Still, it's overdone compared to the previous books, with Watt cramming ever more items into maps and diagrams. I end up vaguely pointing to a page, exclaiming, "Look at all the stuff he's got on!" and leave it at that. The crowding overwhelms the small format, which Watt used so adroitly to comic effect in the previous books.

Scaredy fans who must have this book will still welcome their nutty friend, but I'm starting to fret that the franchise is losing some of its freshness.

Rating: *\*\

Curing with cookies

Doctor Ted
by Andrea Beaty; illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre
Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster)

Beaty brings her sharp wit to another character with a fertile imagination who runs afoul of us numskull adults. Ted's a bear who wakes up and bangs his knee. When he can't find a doctor anywhere in his room, he dons a labcoat and stethoscope and goes about diagnosing everything from gingivitis to mumps and dispensing cookies.

Sounds like my kinda medicine!

But his Mom, teacher and principal just don't appreciate Doctor Ted's contributions to modern medicine and order him back to reality. I don't know what it is about us grown-ups that we're always portrayed as such sticks in the mud. We're fun! We like to play too! Just look at ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Okay, that's probably not the kind of fun we had in mind here.

Ted wins the day, of course, after a playground incident that requires medical assistance. Kids like that sort of predictability--and seeing us grown-ups get our lumps too.

Rating: *\*\*\

Note: Other books by Beaty include Iggy Peck, Architect.

S-s-s-s-s-s-Slugs!

Sally and Dave: A Slug Story
by Felice Arena
Kane/Miller Books

reviewed by Kelly Herold

Warning: Unintentional Alliteration Ahead

Sally Slug is a stuck-up gastropod mollusk, proud of her sports skills and sleek physique.  Dave Slug is more rounded, prefers "sleeping sideways in his own slime," and is fond of sweets. Felice Arena's Sally and Dave: A Slug Story is a sweet tale featuring lots of s-alliteration and a clash of sluggish personalities.

Sally's Type-A Slug finds Dave to be woefully lacking in ambition:

"'Why don't you get off your slimy slug bottom and do something special?' Sally         
sneered one day.

'But I always thought I was special,' sighed Dave. 'And I like sitting on my slimy slug bottom.'

'I've never heard anything so silly,' snapped Sally. 'It's slobs like you that give slugs a bad name.'"

The reader sympathizes with Dave who just wants to live a happy life of relaxation, food and sun. And he proves himself in the end as slackers often do, rescuing Sally when she's gobbled up by a sparrow.

Sally and Dave: A Slug Story begs to be read aloud.  Toddlers to emergent readers will enjoy hearing the hiss of the words as they stream by.  But what really makes Sally and Dave a hit are Arena's inspired illustrations.  His cartoon-like slugs are obsessed with sports, food and the good life.  Their expressive googly eyes tell a tale of friendship all their own and are fun to follow throughout Sally and Dave's epic story.

A not-to-miss read aloud for the three- to eight-year-old set.

Rating: *\*\*\

Go, Creature!

Maybe a Bear Ate It!
by Robie H. Harris
Orchard Books

reviewed by Kelly Herold

It's refreshing to read a picture book about a cherished childhood object that is a book itself.  Think about it: Most picture books about lost beloved items concern blankies, or stuffed animals, or favorite toys. Harris's new picture book, Maybe A Bear Ate It!, turns its focus to the pleasure a most-loved book can bring a child and the corresponding pain it causes when it goes missing.

Maybe a Bear Ate It! opens with five wordless pages showing our protagonist--some sort of cute creature with badger-like facial features--reading his favorite book.  He climbs into bed, clad in striped pajamas, and studies his book carefully until becoming drowsy. Suddenly, the book disappears. Then the words and imagination begin: "Maybe a BEAR ate it!...Maybe a RHINO ran away with it!...Maybe a SHARK swallowed it!" 

Our hero becomes more and more frantic as he imagines the terrible fate that his book may have met.

Harris shows in a visceral way--the panic! the despair! the chaos!--how important books can be to a child.  Or monster. And Emberley's illustrations complement Harris's sentiment in a cheerful, child-friendly way. His creature is adorable and has the manic movement and changeable facial expressions of your average three year old. 

I also appreciate what Emberley does with the protagonist's size in Maybe a Bear Ate It! When the hero is alone in his bed reading, he is of normal size.  When imagining the horrible, scary animals who could have stolen his book, however, the hero becomes small and peripheral on the page. As a reader, you want to pick him up and promise to find that missing book for him.

Finally, I have to add that what is most compelling about Maybe A Bear Ate It! is that the hero solves the problem himself. There's no all-knowing Mama Creature or Papa Creature or Teacher Creature who shows up to save the day.  Creature pulls himself together, does the work, and finds his best-loved book himself.

Rating: *\*\*\*\

Editor's note: Harris is on blog tour this week. Catch her here tomorrow!

True friends

Sylvie & True
by David McPhail
FSG

This odd pairing of a zaftig rabbit and a hapless water snake in four short stories reminds me too much of an old lesbian couple. Okay, so most lesbians don't sleep in the bathtub, like True, the snake. There's just something about their level of comfort together--plus the kinda frumpy way they're drawn--that whispered that in my ear.

Sylvie's the one who cooks and goes off to work and is generally the useful husband-type. She and True wear matching bowling shirts--I mean, c'mon, is that not a clue right there? True cheats at bowling, burns whatever horrid concoction was supposed to be dinner, watches TV through the smoke alarm blaring, and is generally not self-sufficient.

It's humorous, to be sure, the same way the Honeymooners would be a scream if remade today as a same-sex couple, maybe Alice and Ralphine Kramden (Book Buds Instant Challenge--who would you cast in it? No points for suggesting Ellen Degeneres--let's be original.)

I'm having fun with this for reasons the author didn't intend, of course. It might've helped if we knew why Sylvie stays in this friendship, but maybe that's something we should leave untouched in a kids' book.

Rating: *\*\