Yoo-Hoo, Lady Bug! by Mem Fox

Yoo-Hoo, Lady Bug! by Mem Fox, illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist

Rating: 4 stars

When Lorelei was about 2 1/2, I read a book aimed at parents by Mem Fox called Reading Magic.  In this book, she talks about the huge emotional and intellectual impact reading aloud to children has on their own ability to read and their own intellectual development.  I read that and was completely inspired to share my own love of books with our kids, and to record some of those little adventures with books here on this blog.

It was with Mem Fox's books that I started.  While we vacationed as a family to the beach three and a half years ago, when Lorelei was nearly three, Ben was some months over one, and Kiefer was a conversation yet to be held, I wrote my first blog post about Koala Lou.  It is a delightful book about the love a mother has for her baby, regardless of whether she wins or loses.

Here's my 500th post, and I'm returning to Mem Fox as a way to thank her.  Life always come full circle anyway...

And while I'm paying tribute to Mem Fox, it really is illustrator Laura Ljungkvist who shines in this book.  The text is a simple little rhyme inviting us, the readers--and you'll be hunting right alongside your child--for the lady bug in each picture.  And those pictures are gorgeous invitations to forget everything else going on around you and dive right in to hunt for the silly little ladybug hiding from view.


The pictures are like our playroom at the end of the day: full!  Full of toys, slightly messy, proof that fun has been had.  And Ladybug stays silly til the end, when your kiddo will spot her zooming away in a yellow toy car.



P.S.  Fun fact: Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug was actually written and published as Yoo-Hoo, Ladybird in Fox's native Australia.   Clearly, we Yanks a) get it all wrong and b) demand the book be written for us!

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, illustrated by Leslie Staub

Rating: 5 stars

This book should be given to any former Peace Corps Volunteer when they have a child.  If you are a former Peace Corps Volunteer, just go ahead and buy it.  You'll love it.  My good friend and fellow booklover Beth gave me the board book version when Ben was a baby--and I've read it at least a few times a week since then.

Here's a little snippet from the well-worn pages:

Little one, whoever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world.
Their smiles are like yours, and they laugh just like you.
Their hurts are like yours, and they cry like you, too.
Whoever they are, wherever they are,
All over the world.

The illustrations are, on the one hand, great--most pages features bright, happy international faces with different landscapes in the background that'd make a Peace Corps Volunteer's heart ache a little for their days spent abroad.  You might have to pull out the ol' scrapbooks.  On the other hand, there is this really strange rastafarian dude who shows up with a gaggle of kids on each spread of pages.  Check him out on the cover.  He's usually flying, with the kids attached to his blue suit.  I totally don't get it.

The poem is soothing and quiet and calming, making it a great bedtime/naptime book.  It's just the right length--a little long if you've got an impatient tyke on your lap that thinks flipping the pages really fast is really fun--but nice once a bit of patience kicks in.

And the message?  That love is the same, and joy is the same for everyone, whoever we are, wherever we are, all over the world.

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by

Rating: 5 shining stars

I'm not sure how I forgot to review this book.  I know that I shouldn't give every book a five star rating...shouldn't I mix in some 2s and 3s to somehow gain credibility because I hold the ability to sneer at a book?  I just can't!  There are way too many incredible ones to waste time on the not-so-great ones (which are still probably special to someone else).

Anyway, this is one book that we don't own but Lorelei and Ben have both found it on their own in the library, so we check it out at least once a month in the board book or hardcover edition.

I started off this venture with Mem Fox's Reading Magic, a book for adults/parents/caregivers/teachers that explains how reading aloud to the little ones in your life can really change their world.  I inhaled the book as if it was my favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's (Phish Food if you must know) and immediately got myself a library card and started checking out the books on her list at the end of the book.  The connection with Reading Magic and Where is the Green Sheep? is the illustrator: Judy Horacek.  (To read more about the connection and the origin of the idea behind the book, check it out here.)

The text is silly and simple but works wonderfully.  Judy Horacek just takes the text a notch above with her silly but simple drawings illustrating opposites--sheep doing everything, from shooting themselves out of cannons, acting as a one-sheep-band, basking in the sun, singing in the rain, and taking a bubble bath.  Throughout the whole book, the text asks the reader "Where is the green sheep?  Where is that green sheep?"  It's like a kid's first suspense novel!  And, amazingly, it works on the fourth or tenth or twentieth read as well! 

The best page is near the end, where you turn the page and suddenly you see dozens of sheep doing everything--parachuting, crying, singing wildly, having a tea party, eating birthday cake, doing a cheerleader-type pyramid, snorkeling, and a bunch of other things I'm surprised I can't remember.  Lorelei (through her eloquent little sentences) and Ben (through grunts and rude pointing) insist I describe what each sheep is doing on these two fun pages.

Of course I won't tell you where the green sheep is.  Go find out for yourself!

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

 Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, illustrated by Julia Vivas

Rating: 5 quirky stars

During the first few years of my parents' divorce, I didn't think there would be much good to come of it, for me. But, as it always does, time proves one wrong. I realized how much I had to gain from certain new people in my life that appeared because something else disappeared. Carmen is one of those people. Carmen is my stepfather's mother, and she is the best character in my real life that I have. She is one of the strongest women I have ever met, which means to say that she is stubborn beyond belief, hard-headed to a fault, and so strong-willed that it's hard to leave a conversation with her without feeling frustrated. But man is she cool. I don't wonder what she was like as a younger version of herself in Germany before she married a soldier and became a more ordinary American than she really would have preferred because I can't imagine a diluted version of Carmen.

How does Carmen fit in with Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge? Good question. I come from a long line of tangent-talkers, so I'll cut to the chase: First, this book is about memory, and about memory loss. Young Wilfred Gordon lives next to an old folks' home, and befriends all of its characters. His favorite, Miss Nancy, is losing her memory--he finds this out because his parents are talking about her. Being so young, he's oblivious to such big concepts as "memory" so he goes to his friends, those wise wrinkled ones at the old folks' home, to find out. They each tell him something different: "Something warm" or "something funny" or "something sad" and he goes to find something of his own that represents that something in order to help Miss Nancy regain her memory. It is a quirky book for the children's section, and the few times I've explained what this book is about to other mothers, their eyes widen.

Obviously, Miss Nancy has Alzheimer's, as does our beloved Carmen. The woman whose intellect and personality was once so fierce, strong, spot-on, and quick is now murky, confused, unsure, and lost. It is hard to watch, and I have the comfortable spot of watching from several hundred miles away. But can you imagine watching someone who was once such a force shrink? It breaks my heart.

And, at the same time as Carmen is losing her memory, Lorelei is gaining hers. It is just mind-boggling to watch a little girl and old woman be in a very similar spot at this very moment, but each with a very different future. These days, I am so aware that Lorelei is now so aware, and will be able to remember some of these days for decades to come. In the first few years of her life I realized that memory was more of a feeling, just knowing that she was beloved and admired and cherished created an aura of a memory that, hopefully, will be a good foundation for the rest of her memories both in this house and beyond. And here is Carmen, who is currently at the twilight of her journey, who might be able to remember random things--hopefully incredibly wonderful highlights of her incredible and often wonderful life--but not always specifics. Hopefully her memory at this point is like an infants--a warm, secure feeling, rather than specific anything. For me, it is just a crazy thing to even attempt to wrap my head around.

But Mem Fox, through this book, somehow does it. Mem Fox says "I decided to write a book that might bring children and the elderly together in the hope that teachers would initiate the inter-generational contact." (Check out the story of how she wrote it and who the characters represent.) I am in awe that she was able to bring such grace and wisdom to Miss Alice, and such sweet naivety and gentleness to Wilfred Gordon in such few words, with beautiful, somehow floating illustrations by Julia Vivas. Bravo. I can only hope that some spirit or magic is passed between my little Lorelei and the grand Carmen somehow, someway.

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

Koala Lou by Mem Fox, illustrated by Pamela Lofts

Rating: 4.5 stars

During the recent Winter Olympics we searched high and low for some children's books to explain what the games were. We came up empty-handed...and figured that the Olympics Committee had copyrighted everything to the extent that they'd be officially un-thrilled with me using the O-word in this posting! Anyway, with that search and after I read Mem Fox's book Reading Magic (I'll blog on that later; amazingly I paused to read a book for my own age group), I found Koala Lou What a gem!

Little Koala Lou is the oldest koala in the family, and after all her little brothers and sisters are born, she seeks to regain the attention and love of her mother by participating in the "Bush Olympics." Of course, her mother loved her all along and, not of course, she doesn't win the gum tree climbing event. I think that losing--well--is a great little lesson for kids. Some of my friends would disagree heartily--but who in this world wins every time? Certainly not me in Scrabble, I must report sadly. In almost all other books, the main character achieves the objective and wins the gold and reaches the top...but in this one, little Koala Lou is sad--and Lorelei definitely feels sad for her--but when her mother throws her arms around her and reaffirms her love... I admit that a) I'm a sap and b) tears came to my eyes the first time I read it. And no, I wasn't pregnant when that happened.

The book has a great sing-songy rhythm to it--my daughter loves to read the part "Koala Lou, I do love you!" which appears on half of the pages. The illustrations (thanks to Pamela Lofts) are beautiful and there's a lot to look at and discuss. It'd be a fine book to bring on a plane, for example, because there are all sorts of crazy animals from Australia and a great scene where all the animals wear fabulous hats.