Fall Ball by Peter McCarty

Fall Ball by Peter McCarty

Rating: 2 stars

Hmm.  I hope I don't offend any football-watching enthusiasts out there, but...this book is not for me.

Peter McCarty's unique, soft illustrations show a handful of kids enjoying a few great things in the great season of fall.  They suit themselves up in light coats to keep themselves warm against the chill. They bounce like crazy over a bump while coming home on the school bus.  They enjoy leaves blowing all around them.  And they enjoy a fine game of football on a leaf-filled field.

Then, it starts to get dark.  Earlier than they would like.  Another fall thing, right?

So they give up the game and pile on the sofa and watch football on TV instead.

Say whaaaaat?

How can a children's book's happy-ending involve watching TV?!  I know: I admit that TV watching isn't abhorrent all the time, and that some bonding can occur, especially when the TV watching involves sports and boys, big and small.  But STILL.  I just can't love a book that lauds it.  I sure wish that the kids in this book had creatively rigged some lights, or worn headlamps in order to play longer, or found a way to take the game indoors.

Again, sorry to those football-watchers out there.  I don't hate you, promise!  But please do balance your watching with playing and you're all right by me.

Chloe by Peter McCarty

Chloe by Peter McCarty

Rating: 4 stars

Here's a little satire for your little one...

Chloe is a bunny who is smack in the middle of all her siblings--ten older, ten younger.  Her favorite time of day is in the evening, when all of her family plays together.  But one day her father brings home a present: a television set.  Most of her bunny siblings are excited, and they crowd around the television during the next evening playtime.  All except for Chloe and the youngest bunny, who sulk behind the oh-so-packed sofa.

"This is the worst family playtime ever!" she declares.

Soon, she grabs the box in which the television arrived and is pretending to be ON a television set.  And then she finds the bubble wrap that came with the box (oh, yeah, and the television).  Pop!  Pop!  Pop!  Pop!  One by one she grabs the attention of her siblings, and the box is soon more crowded than the sofa, because playing in a box with bubble wrap is--as we with imaginative kids know--waaaaaaay more fun that watching TV.  Soon the 21 bunnies are all laughing and playing so loudly they get the predictable Shhhhhhhhh! from their father, who wants to watch his show.

Moral of the story: Turn off the television and grab some bubble wrap!