The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and Mo Willems

The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and Mo Willems
Disney Press

Rating: 5 stars

Four friends. Three cookies.

Is there any better start to a book? Because if you have ever been in a situation like this one, I assure you: it's a fiasco.

These four friends are beside themselves with despair. They think of possible solutions to the problem. Alligator suggests that the two little squirrels share one cookie. One squirrel states that Alligators shouldn't like cookies. Hippo suggests the cookies be allotted according to size. The final squirrel throws her hands up in the air--she's too overwhelmed with the thought of cookie loss to solve any problems.

Then, Hippo starts breaking the cookies. It's what he does when he's nervous, another friend explains. She can't help herself! She breaks them all once, and there are six half-cookies. A few pages later she breaks all of those in half. Suddenly, there are twelve quarters.

"TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME BEFORE ALL WE HAVE ARE CRUMBS!" she screams.

Each animals grabs some cookies...and (I know you've guessed it) they each have three pieces of cookie in their hands.

Talk about a smile-inducing book right before bedtime! (Or anytime!)

I knew this book was going to great because:

• The title: it had the word fiasco in it. And fiasco is such a great word--in general and for young readers to know.
  
• It is written and illustrated by Dan Santat. He's the guy who created the gorgeous story and pictures in The Adventures of Beekle, so I knew he'd bring warmth and silliness to any and all characters in this book.
  
• This book is in a new series called "Elephant and Piggie Like Reading! Series" This series is launched from the enormous success of the enormously wonderful Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books. While at first I was annoyed by the marketing of it, the books selected for this series are really great easy readers for readers who are making the big leap into reading by themselves.

The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
Little, Brown, and Company

Rating: 5 stars

The Caldecott (and Newbery) awards were announced when we were on vacation back in early February. I checked my phone like crazy to see which books (and their authors and illustrators) won... I'm not the only one who does this, right?!

In case you are more laid-back in your approach to children's literature, I'll fill you in: Here's the winner. Right here. Beekle. And it was a shocker! No one saw it coming. The experts thought Draw! or The Farmer and the Clown or Bad Bye, Good Bye or Three Bears in a Boat. But Beekle? It was a surprise win.

But it's worthy for sure. It took me some months to get my hands on it, because I often think that Caldecott winners have gorgeous art, but their appeal to kids is limited, or the story is just so-so. This year, that's not the case.

Here, they lived and played,
eagerly waiting to be imagined by a real child.

Beekle is an imaginary friend (if you see the title, he and his human believe he's unimaginary, or real) who lives in the imaginary world where imaginary friends live before their humans imagine them and unite with them. While all the other monsters and funny-looking whatevers get beamed up and zipped over to the real world, Beekle remains.

Until he decides to do something about all the waiting and waiting. He "did the unimaginable" and sailed to the real world. (You'll love how dull and drab the real world is compared to the amazingly colorful and exciting unimaginary world. I love, and my kids love, how Beekle is confused why "no kids were eating cake"--just grown-ups. Ha!)

Beekle looks and looks for his friend and climbs up a beautiful big tree to get a better view, but...still can't find the friend. Suddenly, below, a girl starts waving at him. They found each other!

The girl and imaginary friend are two peas in a pod. They laugh at the same jokes no one else gets, they made each other feel confident and comfortable. The book ends with: "Together, they did the unimaginable."

He climbed to the top of the tree and looked out,
wishing and hoping his friend would come.

Isn't the unimaginable possible with the support of one really great friend? I think so.

At the very least, add "Must check out Beekle immediately" to your long end-of-the-year to do list. Or just buy it for your kids or for the next birthday your kid attends. You might end up tucking it away because you just can't part the sweet, bold Beekle.



P.S. This book is SO similar to another recently released book, Marilyn's Monster, that I can't get over it. (Marilyn and her monster also find each other in a tree!) This is such a fun example of how two people could have the same idea, pursue it, and get it published around the same time--it has happened more than once. But if you've read both please comment so I don't feel like I'm the only one on earth chuckling at the coincidence!

Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show by Michael Buckley

 Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show by Michael Buckley, illustrated by Dan Santat

Rating: 4 stars

I was just saying the other day in my review of It's Christmas, David! that I don't want to provide my trio--especially the two boys of that pack--extra ideas of how to be mischievous.  They come up with enough ways to walk the line between fun and stupid!  And I must take a moment of silence when I realize that, at age 4 and 19 months, they are just getting warmed up!  Yikes. 

And then I check out Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show just because I found it on the goodreads.com Best of 2012 list.  Hmm.  Maybe I am still learning to walk the line between fun and stupid...?  But this book is a riot, in mostly appropriate ways.

Kel Gilligan is a three-ish-year-old daredevil and takes his daredevil-ness very seriously, though the stunts he performs would be approved by parents (or at least, me).  He puts his life at risk eating healthy food, he throws caution to the wind and poops on the potty, he attempts to get dressed all by himself, nearly fails to let his mom finish a phone conversation uninterrupted, and tests his nerve underwater during bath time.

That stunt took a little longer than I expected.
I should have brought a coloring book or something.

He knows no fear!

The sarcasm is almost too much for me and Kel's "mean faces" that I force Ben to soften in his own face make this a borrow-from-the-library book rather than one that Ben (and Lorelei and Kiefer) can look at again and again and again.  But Dan Santat's illustrations are hilarious--without question, laugh-out-loud funny!

Hopefully when they perform these daredevil stunts and others, our kids will at least wear a helmet!

Dog in Charge by K.L. Going, illustrated by Dan Santat

Dog in Charge by K.L. Going, illustrated by Dan Santat

Rating: 4.5 stars

At first, I thought this was going to be a book for anti-cat dog lovers like myself.  Chalk up another point for the dogs, please!  But, in the end, the book's focus on teamwork and taking responsibility for your mess are much better ones for kids (oh, and me--I can always use the reminder).

After being praised for being the best dog in the world, Dog's people leave to go to the store.  "You're in charge," they tell him.  "Watch the cats, and make sure they don't get in any mischief."

(Enter Ben's question: "What's mischief mean, Mommy?"  Glad you asked!  The stuff you get into all the time!  Ha.  Such a good vocabulary word for little guys.  Oh and girls, too.)

Dog is pretty clueless about discipline; the cats get into a LOT of mischief and the whole house is a mess within minutes.  He is completely distraught and thinks he'll try to bribe them to be good cats by getting treats for them.  But the treats smell so tasty he can't help but eat one.  Maybe two.  Okay, just three!  Oh no he ate the whole bag!  He wants to fix everything but "his eyes grew heavy and his paw was soft."  (That's my favorite line in the book, but there are a lot of good lines.)

While he sleeps, the cats take pity on him and clean up everything.  After all, they love Dog.  Dog wakes when his family comes home.  He is immediately distraught, then fearful and finally VERY confused when they tell him "Good dog!" and give him treats.  Dog looks back at the pack of sleeping cats and thinks: "Good cats.  Smart cats.  The very best cats."

Very cute book.  Really well written.  And a great message.  I think you'll like it.  Even if you are, like me, someone who only really cheers for the dogs in books.