Standing In For Lincoln Green by David Mackintosh

Standing In For Lincoln Green by David Mackintosh

Rating: 4 stars

Oh to figure out how to do what Lincoln Green does in this book: to be two places at once!

Lincoln Green figures out a way to pull his reflection out of the mirror and make him--by "him" I mean his reflection, the second Lincoln Green, his willing impersonator--do all of the things that fall into the category of "things that need to happen RIGHT NOW."  You know, all of those things that you want to do for your child because you'll do it faster, better and without complaining (though that pesky resentment might build a bit more) but they should do for themselves…  Lincoln Green figures out a way to get those things done for him so that he can spend all of his time swimming at the pool, hanging out with his buddies, and swinging on ropes.

So that's just what he does--his stand-in works while he plays.  Not bad!  Life goes along like this for quite some time, until the stand-in/reflection Lincoln Green gets invited by the neighbor boy to build a tree house with him.  Suddenly, he realizes anything involving a tree house is more fun than raking the leaves and mowing the lawn.  He's IN!

So the real Lincoln Green is pulled by his mom from all that fun stuff and approaches the lawn with trepidation.  But the neighborhood boy comes by and, with his help, they make a game of it, get it done quickly, then play afterwards together.

Definitely a creative, fun story (with a mom-approved lesson: chores can be FUN!) that got my kids thinking about what two places they'd like to be at the same time.  As their mom--of three--this wistful thinking is not new to me.  MAN could I accomplish a lot!  My to-do list would be no match for me and ME!  The four of us had a fun conversation after reading this a few days ago at dinner…alas, we haven't found a way to lure our reflections to do anything but reflect.  Yet.

What I really appreciate about writer and illustrator David Mackintosh is that each time we read a book by him (we are big fans of Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School) we get a healthy dose of fun, new vocabulary words.  Born in Belfast, raised in Australia, now residing in the UK, his vocabulary is wonderfully different from mine.  In Standing In For Lincoln Green my kids learned/were introduced to these fun, colorful words and expressions:

• stand-in
• sorting out
• handy
• shoot the breeze
• fizzy sarsaparilla (those two words just go together!)
• fancy (as in "anything he doesn't fancy doing himself is on a list for...")

And what more is reading and writing than stringing together a bunch of fun words into an interesting story?  This is what David Mackintosh has done…again.  We can't wait to read Lucky when it comes out at the end of the summer (2014)!

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh

Rating: 5 stars

I love when people recommend books to me.  Regardless of the length of my to-do list, or the hunger level of my children, it suddenly becomes my mission in life to find that book and review it.  And so it was with Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School.  An old coworker/pal of mine (we used to sell furniture together, and now we read picture books to our babies miles apart) found it and thought it special, and I totally agree!

The pint-sized kid in the front row has news for us: Marshall Armstrong is new to his school.  He is quick to point out (and the talented David Mackintosh is quick to illustrate, literally and figuratively) all the differences:

• His school supplies are different--much more elaborate and fancy.
• His face is different--his skin redder and pastier, his eyes always focused on teacher.
• His arm is different--more mosquito-bite food-like.
• His lunch is different--it is wrapped in silver packages like space food.
• His activity in recess is different--his doctor says reading is enough activity for him.

After all these observations, the young narrator arrives at this conclusion: Marshall Armstrong does not fit in at his school.  Not one bit.

"He looks different to me."

Yet Marshall Armstrong is having a birthday party, and the narrator's parents are making him go.  Sigh.  Ugh.  Man.  The injustice!

And then: the party happens.  The house is unique and cool!  The party is even unique-er and cool-er!  It involves stilts, monkey bars, a train set, a piñata, a bike that runs an electric lightbulb, a microscope, a fireman's pole that goes from the top of the house to the bottom… In other words, a whole slew of neat-o things.

Our young narrator's perspective has, um, changed a little.  The next time a new kid arrives at the school, he offers that she sit next to him for the first few days so he can kindly show her around.

Now that this review is done, I guess my kids can eat now...