It's Not Fair! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

It's Not Fair! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Rating: 5 stars

I was worried about checking out this book.  I really didn't want to hear, "IT'S NOT FAIR!" ten times a day for the next, um, 18 years.  Because with three kids, there will be a whole lot of unfairness every hour of every day of every month of every year.  It's practically the only thing I can guarantee my kids!

But I'm such a fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and I do so love Tom Lichtenheld (and the other book on which they teamed up, Yes Day, is so great...), I had to give this book a chance.

I'm so glad I did.

Literally, this book is full of simple examples through grand illustrations of what's not fair in a child's world.  My cookie half is smaller.  The crowd clapped louder for someone else.  I'm sick for my own birthday party.  Surely your kids can think of a million other examples of times when it's just not fair--and the solution is not to fix it to make it fair, but to live with that unfairness.  To accept it and move on.

I was reminded of this book on our drive down to the beach yesterday.  I finished Caddie Woodlawn (okay, the fact that I could read while also supervising/entertaining/handing out snacks to three kids five and under makes me pat myself on the back a few times) and teared up towards the end.  Caddie's wise father, who has already had the foresight to "let her run wild with the boys," gives her some very sage words.  Caddie's mother has just punished Caddie and only Caddie for a crime her two brothers also committed.  But her mother singled out Caddie, and she was still stinging from the whip of the switch and of her mother's choice.  Here's what he says:

It's a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys.  It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful.  What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things their rough way!  A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness.  I'ts a big task, too, Caddie--harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers.  It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things.  They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through wilderness.  A woman's work is something fine and noble to grow up to, just as important as a man's.  But no man could ever do it so well.  I don't want you to be the silly, affected person with fine clothes and manners whom folks sometimes call a lady.  No, that is not what I want for you, my little girl.  I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind.

Even as I read this, at 36, I squirm a little at the unfairness of it.  But I wouldn't want it any other way.  I sure don't feel the need to clue in Lorelei on some of the future "unfairnesses" of being a girl, but it's good for me to be aware of our expectations of her.  I will still let her run as wild as she wants to for a long, long time.  Maybe because I'd like to run wild for a bit longer, too!

It's Not Fair is a good book--a little dangerous one because of that "It's not fair!" catchphrase!--but a good introduction to a big concept that'll surround us and our kids every day.

Fly Guy vs the Flyswatter by Tedd Arnold

Fly Guy vs the Flyswatter by Tedd Arnold

Rating: 3.5 stars

Please learn from my mistake: Don't read this book before you take a vacation at the beach, where there are flies aplenty.

In it, Fly Guy takes a field trip to a flyswatter company, where he hides in his buddy Buzz's shirt pocket, afraid for his life.  He cowers even lower when each kid gets their very own flyswatter and happily zips them through the air.  And when a robotic flyswatter comes out with its swatter arms a-blazin'...Fly Guy almost loses it completely.  His big bug eyes are even bigger, which I didn't think was possible!

Of course he ends up okay, but in the reading of the book I had to explain--or remind--Lorelei and Ben what a flyswatter is, and what it does.  This was all fine and dandy in our fly-free home in Virginia, but...

Flash forward six not-so-bad, the-traffic-gods-were-smiling-on-us hours in the car and we are at the beach, where two annoying flies met us in the kitchen.  I started looking for the flyswatter.  When I found it, Lorelei and Ben looked at me.

"Don't kill Fly Guy!" they said.

Shoot.  Man these kids have good memories.  Too good, really...

So it's Kate vs the Flies after bedtime.

When I read the first book in this series (review here), I was on the fence.  Maybe I'm not ready for the boy humor that will certainly be coming my way with two boys cracking each other up too quickly.  I still think they are a little better than just okay, but I am beginning to see their mass appeal.  The stories are funny; the characters quirky and likable.  There are little "chapters" in the book, so Ben sort of thinks that he's reading a chapter book but since there's an explosion of Magic Treehouse in our house, he understands it's not the real deal.  Still, for a 3 or 4 year old boy (or girl) who has yet to latch onto books, this is worth a try.

Just wait until after the beach for this one!

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe, illustrated by Maria Monescillo

Rating: 5 stars

Charotte Jane and I have a lot in common, I think.  Both of us were born with "oomph," as Myra Wolfe wittily puts it.  She relishes swashbuckling sessions, treasure hunts, and Fantastic Feats of Daring.  I relish Crossfit workouts, dance parties with my trio, and Fantastic Foods I Prepare.  We both "get all the juice" from our days.

Unlike me, Charlotte Jane doesn't like bedtime.  She stays up later and later and later until finally--victory!--she stays up.  All.  Night.  Long.  (I do have occasional bouts of insomnia, but I do not whisper "victory" like she does.  Instead I work on this blog or other writing projects.)

The next day, Charlotte Jane can't find her "oomph."  She was too tired to do all the stuff that she normally likes to do, too sleepy to participate with her usual chutzpah.  Her parents are alarmed and hunt for her "oomph" as if it is something to be picked up, dusted off, and replaced.  This is where Charlotte Jane and I are one again--I sorta feel like I've lost my "oomph."  I'd very much like to have it picked up, dusted off, and replaced.  Has anyone seen it?  I know my parents would gladly search in the neighbor's recycling bin or up in the old oak tree for my "oomph," just as Charlotte Jane's pirate parents do.

Finally, Charlotte Jane herself finds it.  In the form of her soft feather bed.  She decides that sleep is for landlubbers, but dreams...her "hearty dreams"...were worth sleeping for.

This is a great book.  I love how the main character is a headstrong little girl (I'm rereading Caddie Woodlawn, which makes me even more aware of great female roles in books), I love how she's a swashbuckling pirate, and I love how she solves her own problem.  I'm trying to solve my own missing-"oomph" problem.  Perhaps a week at the beach with my family will help.  I'll keep my eyes on the horizon for some pirates such as these.

The only downside to this gem of a book: how to explain what "oomph" means to your 3 and 5 year old...

Plant A Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Plant A Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Peter Reynolds

Rating: 4.5 stars

Lately I've been thinking a lot about love, and one day I looked up and saw it.  Lorelei and her great friend Owen were greeting each other in the parking lot one morning before camp last week.

We had arrived and hopped out of our Suburban first; Owen's family was parking across the lot.  Owen bounded out of the car in his uber-enthusiastic way, sure to alarm his mother but delight Lorelei, who looked across the lot and screamed in her uber-enthusiastic way: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"  It was as if they hadn't seen each other in years, not a matter of hours.  The hugged and went off together to play and giggle, enjoying each other's company in the few minutes before the bus picked them up.

Lorelei and Owen, on their first day of camp!

They are pretty inseparable at school, though they do spend time apart.  They make up silly games at lunchtime, do art together, and have funny little conversations that trickle their way back to their moms.  Owen's hand is often around Lorelei's shoulder or waist in an oddly grown up way, guiding her this way or that, making sure she's comfortable and happy.

I think of them when I read Plant A Kiss because this is something that Lorelei and Owen would do: Plant a garden and help the flowers bloom.  Once they do, they'd go against the advice of the majority, which is what the little girl in the story does as well.  They wouldn't shelter it and keep it to themselves.  They'd share them--pluck them up and, magically, help more flowers bloom.  This book is simple, focusing on the basics.  Hmmm...sorta like the good sort of love.

These two little cuties exemplify love in such a pure, uncomplicated way--I only wish that people will pay attention as they continue to love each other help love bloom.

Shoe-la-la! by Karen Beaumont

Shoe-la-la! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Rating: 3.5 stars

I officially want to dislike this book.  Its cover is a sparkly image of four young girls dressed up far too maturely for their own good.  Let them be kids!  Keep them from wanting to wear high heels and pearls!

Sigh.

I'm sure there is a huge fan base for this book and others like it--books about dressing up and wearing the fanciest shoes in town with your closest girlfriends.  I guess the problem I have with that is that's what I would like to do on some weekends!  I don't want my five year old daughter doing that for, um, three decades!  Okay, maybe two.

These show off my pretty feet. / These look good enough to eat.
Fuzzy boots for when it snows. / Ballerina on my toes!

BUT I am a huge fan of Karen Beaumont and I'm glad I gave the book a chance.  Like all her books, there is a great rhyme that makes the book fun to read.  The very tomboyish girls decide to go find new party shoes, and head to the nearest shop to try on every pair imaginable.  They try on about three dozen each but still can't find a pair they like, so they head back home, empty-handed.

And then, as Ben would say, they used "their own imaginations" and grabbed their old shoes and made them fancy.  Okay, I can deal with an ending like that.  I can easily supply Lorelei with some glue and every art supply I've got in the house and let her go to town decorating those shoes until she is satisfied with the results.  And yup, I'd let her wear them in public.  And yup, if Ben wanted to do it, I'd let him decorate and wear his shoes "of his own imagination" in public, too.  Because why should girls get to have all the fun?

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Mary Peterson

Rating: 5 stars

Ben is into chapter books.  Don't tell him that he actually can't read these, and he'll argue with you with more words than you know what to do with.  The other day he sat reading a Magic Treehouse book while I finished checking out the 513 other books he/we chose at the library when the librarian saw him.  "How old is he?  Is he actually reading that?"  Ben looked up and realized she was asking about him.

"I'm 3 years old."  She looked at me, and I quietly shook my head.  "But he thinks he can!"

So Ben is into any books with chapters, because "chapter" is one of the words that he actually can read.  This book is great for more reasons, but because it has five chapters, it gets two thumbs up from Ben.

I'm not sure how we happened upon it in the beginner reader section of our library, but I'm glad we did.  Wiggle and Waggle are two hard working worms who--you guessed it--wiggle and waggle their way under a garden in order to help it grow.  They make up a (catchy, you-can't-forget-it) song, they spell out their own names in the dirt, they take muddy picnic breaks, they splash in puddles.  All together, like two peas in a pod.  Two worms in the mud!

The illustrations push the book over the edge into the Super Cute category--I know the worms in our yard aren't really this cute.  Including the dead one that was stuck to Kiefer's foot yesterday!  Ew.  Kinda gross...sure hope it wasn't a cousin of one of these guys in the book.  Anyway, Ben and Lorelei had a good time figuring out which one was Wiggle and which one was Waggle, which makes me wonder: Do other kid-readers do this, too?  I love the little logic games that go into it so I totally encourage it.

"Ben, Wiggle is talking here, and the pink worm has its mouth open.  The pink one must be Wiggle!" Lorelei says with the excitement usually reserved for winning the lottery or sleeping in until 7 AM (if you're me).

We've had this book from the library for about two weeks and I think I've read it about five times--plus the time IN the library with Ben, when I happily sang the digging song in the Children's section while other patrons smirked or smiled around me.  I don't care.  I was reading with my kids!  Sometimes that requires a little goofitude.  And I'm fine with that.


P.S.  If you like worm books, check out Diary of A Worm by Doreen Cronin!

Grandchildren's Library Suggestions

Here are your suggestions for Grammy (and GrandBill)'s grand-children's library.  The ones I've reviewed have a link.  Happy reading to us, and to you, too!


How Do Bears Sleep?  by E.J. Bird
Puff the Magic Dragon  by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton
What Do People Do All Day?  by Richard Scarry
Birds  by Kevin Henkes
Love You Forever  by Robert Munsch
The Giving Tree  by Shel Silverstein
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Quiet Book  by Deborah Underwood
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev
Little Rabbit Lost by Harry Horse
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Mommy's Best Kisses by Margaret Anastas
Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
Blueberries for Sal  by Robert McCloskey
Make Way for Ducklings  by Robert McCloskey
Good Night Gorilla
A Cricket in Times Square
The Seven Silly Eaters
All Oliva books
All Eloise books
The Diary of A Wombat
Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
Edwina the Dinosaur by Mo Willems
Hugless Douglass by David Melling
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper
And of course the Elephant and Piggie series by: Mo Willems
Noodle by Munro Leaf

Chapter Books
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing
Ramona Quimby, Age 8


Activity Books
Super Simple Paper Airplanes by Robinson
Ed Emberly's Big Green Drawing book
Oregami by Henry and Cook
Good Earth Art
Scribble Art
Preschool Art
DK's One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia
The Story of Flight (Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum)

These are such great suggestions...thanks to all, and congratulations again to Sophia!

Q is For Duck by Mary Elting

Q is For Duck by Mary Elting, illustrated by Marcia McClintock Folsom

Rating: 4 stars

This afternoon I taught Ben how to use a shoulder--mine--as a pillow.  It's a necessary skill in the world, I think, especially when I wish for him that snuggling is always on the forefront.  In what seems to be becoming a quiet, sweet little habit, I lay on his bed and read my book ("Mommy, are you going to read Wild?  The one with the red cover and no pictures?"  "Good memory, Ben!  Yes.") and he reads his chapter books.

I say read, but I mean "read."  He flips through as I flip through, impatiently waiting for me to turn the page in my book so he can turn a page in his book.  He flat refuses to turn the page without a turn from me, so I end up faking a turn or two so that his impatience doesn't grow to frustration.

Quiet time is a strict routine in our house--the kids choose something and head up to their rooms to take a break from each other and "quiet their body," usually on their beds.  It usually lasts about 30 minutes, unless my husband is around and then somehow they remain in their rooms for an hour or more.

Today I put my book down when he so sweetly asked me to read him a book.  It did not take much arm-twisting...  My friends would fall over laughing if you asked them if I was a push-over, but we all have our buttons, and I'd drop everything and anything (well, except Kiefer) if they asked me to read to them.

He chose this book, Q is For Duck.  It's an alphabet guessing game--you've got to think about why the chosen letter goes with the chosen thing.  Clearly you realize that Q is for duck because ducks quack, but the answer requires some serious thinking from a 3 or 4 year old.  I like books and games like this, and this game is easily adapted to car rides (as long as you don't have one of those pesky DVD players that spoil conversation and reading and stuff...!).  It is very similar to White is for Blueberry, another logic-building book that twists the norm and makes you change your perspective.

Ben and I lay in his bed, reading this book on our backs with the book up in the air over us, thinking and wondering and laughing at the silly connections.  It was a lazy summer afternoon with just one of my three kids.  One of those hours you just want to freeze.

M is for Afternoon...because a little Memory was made.
S is for Ben...because he too can be sweet, like his big sister.
N is for Kiefer...because Kiefer was napping during this little interlude.
L is for me...because I'm lucky to have these kids, this life.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Gift card raffle!

BIG NEWS: The kids' beloved Grammy and her husband have relocated from too-far-away and too-hot-anyway Georgia to a quiet home about an hour away from us.  What luck!  We are super thrilled, for more reasons than the fact that we now have a place to drop our kids and run for the hills.  (Just kidding, GrandBill.  Sort of.)

But I need your help!

Our housewarming gift to them is to provide a good children's library for their house.  I've already pulled about 50 books from our own library to give them, but I know there are others that I need to buy.  Including our three kids, they will have nine pint-sized grandkids, all local, spending a lot of quality time there, so there had better be books lying around for the times when GrandBill needs a bit of peace and quiet.

What books MUST their shelves hold?  Which book in your childhood, or in your parenthood, has stood out SO MUCH that you just can't imagine a grandparent not having it available to their grandchild?  (By the way, right now all kids are between 1 and 5, so all picture books are good but beginner or easier chapter books like Roald Dahl are also totally legit.)

Post your answer below--anyone can do it (yes, even you)--but you've got to provide a way for me to contact you should you be the winner.  So don't forget that contact information--preferably an email address--if I don't know you.  I'll put all the names in a hat and have Kiefer choose the winner.  Lorelei and Ben have figured out how to cheat, so...I just can't trust them anymore...  Anyway, the winner will receive a $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

My answer: Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?  And no, though I shamelessly voted for myself in student government I will not include my own name in the drawing.

Can't wait to hear what suggestions you have!  Let 'em rip...

(UPDATE: SEE THE SUGGESTIONS HERE.)

Llama Llama Zippity-Zoom by Anna Dewdney

Llama Llama Zippity-Zoom by Anna Dewdney

Rating: 4.5 stars

I think I have the imprint of this book still on my cheek.  Because that's what Kiefer does when he wants me to read him a book at bedtime: He grabs the book and smacks me with it.  Words, please come at anytime...

This book is so great.  It's super fun to read, and has all the sounds that little guys and girls like to hear.  There's not much to it.  Here is the entire book:

Llama Llama zip, Llama Llama zoom
Llama Llama Red Pajama vroom vroom vroom
Llama Llama swish! Llama Llama swoosh!
Llama Llama Red Pajama Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!
Llama Llama Beep!  Llama Llama Bop!
Llama Llama Red Pajama Screech!  Clunk!  Stop!

It's like a song you can't get out of your head, but it hasn't annoyed me...yet.  The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 rating is the hard corners.  They hurt.  Okay, not really--it's the price.  At $7 (even at Target, where the check out lady and I had a grand little conversation about all of the Llama Llama books), it seems a little steep for such a tiny book.  But I still bought it as a gift for a vet-friend who is having a baby in the fall.  

Hmm...I hope she doesn't read this, about how I complained about the price of part of her gift!

Buzz Boy and Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

Buzz Boy and Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold

Rating: 3 stars

Well, good news: this superhero book is not violent.  It is pretty silly, but not laugh-out-loud hilarious.  Maybe it was before the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems taught us what a really funny book was like...  But we've been ruined for life by those great books!  All other silly books are just...a little silly.  Like those cards that are in the "almost funny" category.

Anyway, this is just the first book of eight, and two of the ones we've ordered from the library have won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book award, so...  maybe this first one was a warm up for Tedd Arnold.  I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Here's the story: a boy named Buzz writes a story about himself and his friend, who happens to be a fly.  In his story, he wakes up one day as the same size as his buddy, and finds that both of them are superheroes.  What fun!  They go on a silly adventure where their house was carried off by pirates and placed in a dragon cave (hate it when that happens).  To outsmart the pirates, they move the sleeping dragon, wake him, and use his flames to scare away the pirates.  I like the David and Goliath aspect to this.

The pictures are cute--the duo have enormous eyes and happy faces.  Ben and Lorelei both liked the book, but didn't love it.  I'm curious what the others are like...the rest of them are headed to our local library as I type!

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon, illustrated by Jake Parker

Rating: 2 stars

This book just couldn't commit.

It has one superhero boot-clad foot on the side of the sweeter stories with flying, masked men who are actually cute kids.  They do good deeds as their capes swirl around them.  The superhero--Awesome Man--in this story is totally imaginary--all adventures in the book are completely in his head.  But it also has one superhero boot-clad foot in the traditional, violent stories where these same masked men hit their enemies, throw things, destroy vehicles.  All of this is done while wearing what we call in our house a "mean face."

The story, too, is all over the place.  Despite all of the sentences on each and every page, we really don't get to know the hero at all.  The story line is jumbled up and we get bits and pieces of where he comes from and what he does while he bashes this and bruises that.  There are a bunch of enemies; too many to really understand one or two very well.  We don't realize that he's a boy until the end (that's his astonishing secret), when he throws a "power grip"--also known as a hug--around his mom.  For that reason, we don't get good part of the traditional superhero story: A normal kid, probably unpopular in one way or another, transforms into a hero and helps the very people who belittle him when he's normal.  

Lorelei and Ben think the pictures are pretty cool--disturbingly, the one where Awesome Man shoots positronic rays out of his eyeballs in order to decapitate a giant killer robot is one of their favorites.  I think this is my first "what's cool is not good" lesson...not that I really spilled all these thoughts to them, but...  I'm guessing this won't be my last lesson in this genre.  I have those teenage years to look forward to!

I don't think the author thought about his audience while writing this book.  The language requires kids to be pretty old for this book, but I can't imagine a kid older than 6 wanting to read it.  Lorelei, 5, who really has a wide range of facts in her little brain, is left confused about what "postitronic rays" are, and then here I am explaining "arch nemesis" and "force shield," too...  So this is a book for Ben's age?  I don't think so...

We'll be taking this book back to the library today...won't miss it at all!

G is for Gold Medal by Brad Herzog, illustrated by Doug Bowles

G is for Gold Medal: An Olympic Alphabet by Brad Herzog, illustrated by Doug Bowles

Rating: 5 stars (or just one gold medal)

HURRY!  If you order this book RIGHT NOW it'll arrive at your house before the Opening Ceremonies!

We ordered our copy about a week ago and the kids were super excited to look through it.  I don't really make a big deal out of a lot of things.  I drag my feet in decorating for Halloween (much to Lorelei the Decorator's chagrin).  I force myself to put something green on their plate for St Patrick's Day (last year was guacamole.  I know...mommy demerit for me).

But the Olympics!  The OLYMPICS!  THIS is a reason for all caps and exclamation marks if I've ever had one!

I was a horseback rider growing up.  Did you know that I was the (ahem) state champion of Hawaii in both English and Western in 1990?  (It helped to have only two opponents and a cute pony named Flashdance.)  Anyway, I really believed when I was little that I would ride in the Olympics.  I was dedicated and had a lot of talent--but not the money.  When I was a child of an Army officer, I didn't realize that my leased pony was worth about as much as one unshod hoof of an Olympic steed.

But you know what?  No matter.  I believed, and I dreamed.  And I wasn't too disappointed when reality caught up with me. realized that life would not include the Games.  Sports--mostly riding, but also running--helped channel my energy into healthy pursuits.

My husband and I totally get into the Games.  We watch them as much as possible, even non-TV me.  Track and field, gymnastics, and horseback riding are my favorites.  We explain to Lorelei and Ben how much the athletes have to train, how hard they have to work, how much they have to want it.  I am inspired by these athletes, and I know they'll see that and get a little inspired in their own way, too.

It's hard to find ANY book about the Olympics, and I'm glad to say that this is a really good one that explains what the Games are about.  If you're not familiar with these alphabet books by Herzog, there are two ways to read them--first, a short poem for each letter that make the book a good sit-in-my-lap-for-a-bit-and-read book; second, an additional description of that letter-inspired theme that would take about 20-30 minutes to read out loud, but would really provide a ton of information to a curious kid.  Each one is informative and insightful.  It took us one long lunch to read this book; Lorelei and Ben had a bunch of (wonderful) questions that I was excited they asked and therefore took my time answering.

But the pictures are what make this book excellent.  They are HUGE in scale; they are drawn to draw in all these little eyes that are looking at the book, and hopefully watching a bit of the Games.  The illustrations are slightly bigger than life, and I found myself looking through the book once again after bedtime.

The Olympics only come once every four years, of course, so I think it's worth making them a BIG DEAL in your house, too.  Even if you're annoyed by these ALL CAPS and exclamation points!

(I'm excited.  What can I say?!)

P.S.  One of the other few books I can find with any Olympic storyline is the wonderful Koala Lou, which is also my very first blog post.

Reading in front of my kids...

I don't think my kids have ever seen me cry.  I don't cry a lot and I don't like to cry, so...I hide my tears.  Good or bad?  Feel free to debate.  But the answer is not likely to change my habit!

But they saw me tear up today.  They saw the tell-tale chin quiver.

"Mommy, what's the matter?"

I had to compose myself.  I looked up at them, tears still obviously hanging in my eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.

"My book is at a really sad part!"


Let me tell you about the hours leading up to this, if I may...

I woke up way too early, after having some disturbing dreams, I think...not that I can remember them.  And then the boys woke up way too early, each choosing their own moment way too soon after 5 AM.  I tried to pull myself out of my unhappy mood...I breakfasted well, had coffee, showered, dressed, played a bunch, took the kids on random Sunday morning errands (and made a scene at Trader Joe's with them dancing in the aisles like crazy kids).  But still...I was just in a poopy, crabby mood.

After Kiefer screamed his way down to a nap at lunchtime, I told the big kids that I needed twenty minutes of quiet reading to help get me happy again.  Lorelei pulled out a Ladybug magazine and Ben grabbed a book of Shel Silverstein.  Guidry snored between us.

Only it wasn't as peaceful as it sounds.  It would have been had there been a "mute" button on the room.  But here was the constant chatter dripping from Ben's tired mouth:

"How many minutes left, Mommy?  What are you reading?  I want Guidry to move.  How many minutes left, Mommy?  I have a question for you.  Mommy.  Just one question.  Mommy?  What are you reading about? Lorelei, what are you reading?  What is in the magazine?  How many minutes left, Mommy?  How many minutes left, Mommy?  What are you reading?  I want Guidry to move.  How many minutes left, Mommy?  I have a question for you.  Mommy.  Just one question.  Mommy?  What are you reading about? Lorelei, what are you reading?  What is in the magazine?  How many minutes left, Mommy?"   

Yup, your assumption is right: my twenty minutes of reading wasn't as restorative as I had planned.

And, to make matters worse, I am at the end of Undaunted Courage and have been trying to finish it for the past week.  It's exceptional and moving and interesting and inspiring, and I really love it.  But I'm at the very end, and my pal Lewis isn't doing well.  And I really like him, so it's sad for me to see how quickly he's fallen from being a beloved leader to a staggering old man.  At his end, he and is alone and sad, numbing himself from reality with drink.  And he doesn't even get his wonderful journals published.

But I didn't know that he committed suicide!  I couldn't help but cry.  It was so sad.  My heart breaks for him.


The silver lining in this story involves reading.  While I sat there reading, Ben finally calmed down a little and said, "I want to read like you, Mommy."  And now they are at memory age, and they'll remember me becoming so involved with a book, so attached to a character, so emotionally caught up with the story that I cried while reading it.

Those tears are worth it, I think.

The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy by David Soman and Jacky Davis

The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Rating: 4 stars

Last fall, Ladybug Girl's partner-in-crime, Bumbleebee Boy, got his own book.  We checked it out then and liked it, but my appreciation for the book has gone up between then and now.  Ben, our resident superhero-in-training, and Kiefer, his little brother, are just beginning to play together.

I use the term "play" loosely.  Really, they like to yell at each other, happily taking turns out-shouting the other.  And then there's chase: Ben is doing something and Kiefer zombie-walks near him, Ben screams "Here comes a Kiefer monster!" and runs away, much to Kiefer's delight.  The other version of chase is totally dangerous but even more fun because it involves our dog Guidry racing around the table, with Ben racing, too, and Kiefer...tottering precariously between and around them.  I am certain that our first trip to the Emergency Room will be a result of one such game.

Ben climbed onto my lap with this book earlier today--Lorelei was at camp and Kiefer was napping.  "Let's read this one, Mommy."  Okay, twist my arm.

Bumblebee Boy has adventure after adventure in this book.  He fights pirates and battles dragons.  He faces wild lions and chases after bandits.  On each of these uber-boy adventures, his little brother Owen interrupts and wants to play, too.  "Me be soup hero too!" Owen says, wearing his zip-up footie pajamas and from-the-hospital newborn blanket tied around as a cape.  (Pretty adorable stuff.)

My superhero boys this morning...

At first, Bumblebee Boy is adamant that he wants to play alone, and doesn't appreciate Owen's eagerness to participate at all.  Slowly, with each interaction with Owen, he realizes that these games would be more fun with a partner.  Not only does he invite his little brother to play with him, but he also incorporates what Owen is doing into his own game.  Without a tantrum or bribe or --gasp!-- a parent telling him that he should play (nicely!) with his brother.

Not the best superhero book out there (Max is still my favorite) but...right now it's my second favorite.  The good brothers in the story make me want to check this out every other month, just so Ben remembers that Kiefer will soon develop from a screeching partner to a fellow superhero.  Talking might help a little.

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

Rating: 3.5 stars

Ben and I just read this book.  I think we said "dogs" one too many times, because my doggone dog Guidry came over and joined us.  Guidry is just as much a character as the full-of-life dogs on the pages of these books.  Leave it to David Catrow to give us ten different dogs, each one hilariously unique in their own way.  He is so talented!

But it's a winning combination, really, because Karen Beaumont is an author who is good to have in your pocket if you go to the library without a clue (an overwhelming thing, definitely).  Her books are always great, silly rhymes--Baby Danced the Polka is my favorite but there are a bunch of good ones.  And Catrow has a zany way about him that makes characters--human or animal--jump off the page and into your imagination.

Doggone Guidry.  He's either hyper or asleep.

When considering a book to review, I usually choose one that offers a good message or ties into what we are doing in our lives.  But sometimes there's a reason to read and review a book that is just entertaining.  That's it, and that's all.  (Right now my husband and I are in debate: are more violent superhero books okay for Ben?  I think that they're not, and he thinks that ANY book is okay.  The jury is still out on this one...actually, wouldn't a jury be helpful in a marriage?  There'd be no person who was right or wrong...oh I am totally getting off track here...)

Anyway, this book IS highly entertaining, with it's slobbering canines romping like crazy through the park, hardly able to see where they are going with fur in their faces, eyes shut with glee, or inability to focus on anything but flowers to pee on.  The word "delightful" is surely overused in the kidlit review world, but that is what this book is: doggone delightful.

Woof!

Superdog: The Heart of a Hero by Caralyn Bu

Superdog: The Heart of a Hero by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner

Rating: 4.5 stars

All right, let the superhero book reviews begin!

Who doesn't love an underdog?  Especially when the underdog is a little sausage of a dog who receives ridicule from dogs and cats alike.  But Dex longs to be more than the butt of jokes.  He wants to be a superhero so badly that he decides to MAKE IT HAPPEN.  That's my kind of thinking.  With a lot of hard work building his muscles and one well-fitting superdog costume, he becomes what he wants to be: Superdog.

While his friends continue to chuckle he finds heaps of ways to help: he finds a lost kitten, tracks down a lost wallet, tackles a purse-snatcher, and fixes his neighbor's sprinkler.

But when his arch nemesis Cleevis (of course it's a cat who is just evil enough not to like) gets stuck in a tree and needs rescuing, Superdog doesn't think twice.  He charges over to Cleevis the cat, has his friends jump on the opposite side of the teeter totter to catapult him into the air, and makes his cape into a parachute so that Cleevis can land gently rather than with a thud.

And then Cleevis the cat asks if he can be his partner.  Dex says yes again, and the last picture is of them romping off together.

A note on the illustrations: If you don't smile at the cover, you are either completely humorless or having a really bad day.  An awkward dachshund dog hovering over the sidewalk, looking fierce and funny...makes me crack a smile and I've looked at it a dozen times already.  The pictures poke fun at little Dex but you like him too much to laugh at him--Mark Buehner did a great job.

What I love most about this story is that there was no magic anything to make Superdog a superhero.  He didn't eat, find, or fall into something.  Nope, he CHOSE to be a superhero.  He knew what he wanted and earned it through canine blood, sweat, and tears.  It was great to point this out to my kids, showing them the difference of happening upon some skill/power (which still would require responsibility to use it wisely) versus putting your mind to it and achieving that goal.  Such an important lesson; one that I believe should be taught from early in the preschool years.

This book is not as good as Max but it is definitely in the same realm of quality, nonviolent superhero books. There aren't too many, so...better grab this one, too, if your kids are into capes and emblems.

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.

The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, illustrated by Cyd Moore

The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, illustrated by Cyd Moore

Rating: 4 stars

I read this book at 4 AM this morning, just a few hours ago.

Lorelei is starting camp today, but it's really like her first day of kindergarten--she is riding the bus to her new school.  WOW!  What a big day.  I've not made a huge deal of it, but of course we have talked about it; I've made sure she has what she needs in her backpack and reassured her that she'll have fun.  Two of her preschool friends will be there, one on the bus alongside her.  She has been nothing but excited.

But, clearly, she's been hiding her nerves a little, because at 3:30 AM she walked into our room, sobbing: "I can't sleep!"  She reported that there was a funny noise in her room and she couldn't figure out what it was.  I lay down with her, telling her stories of when she was a baby and what I used to sing to her and do with her to help her sleep.  That didn't work so well, so I suggested we do our bedtime routine so to remind her body of what it was supposed to be doing right now.  She got up and went to the bathroom and chose a book.  It was this one.

The Most Thankful Thing is a little cheesy and definitely predictable.  A girl finds her mom sitting and "giving thanks" in a rare moment of quiet (I can relate!).  "What are you most thankful for?" asks her daughter.  "Guess," is the reply.  So the girl gets her mom's scrapbooks and guesses: your time on a winning soccer team?  Being the editor of the yearbook?  Having your first job?  Getting married to Daddy?

She's close on the last one, but of course it's having her daughter, holding her for the first time.  It's cheesy and predictable...and I've gotten a little misty every time I've read the book.  I was really touched that thoughtful, thought-filled Lorelei chose it--in the middle of the night--before a day that held actual, real-life stress for her little mind and body.

She fell back to sleep around 5 (when Kiefer woke up!).  When I woke her up at 7, she bounced out of bed, giggling and smiling, thrilled to go to camp today.  That's my girl.  She's ready, even though a tiny part of her mind is probably a little bit scared.  If she learns how to act--and act boldly, confidently, and cheerfully--while a little bit scared, I'll have done my job.

I'm thankful for this book.  Because I can leave a note like this (see below) in Lorelei's lunch and she'll really get what I mean.

George Washington's Cows by David Small

George Washington's Cows by David Small

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book really wouldn't appeal to many, but I can't help but throw it out there.  For those of us who live within a drive of Mount Vernon, it might be fun to check out this book before or during the trip...just to see if, in fact, there are cows and pigs and sheep such as Small describes.

When you and your family pull up to his estate, will your kids see cows who are "fed on a diet of jam and cream scones, / Frequently sprayed with expensive colognes" and pigs who are "Eager to serve the honored guests, / Leaping to meet each need expressed?"  You never know.  Will they see sheep who "sorted the stars with a needle / And measured the sea with a stick?"  Hmmm...

(Spoiler alert: I've been there.  They won't.)

Anyway, the amusing rhyme goes on, and your kids will probably think that the animals in the well-drawn, very realistic pictures are pretty hilarious (the sheep in old-school scientist garb, looking studiously and seriously at their measurements and calculations, are my favorite).

But in the end, only the adult will laugh.  Kids just won't get the joke.  Because George, head in hand, with tears in his eyes, says:

"My cows wear dresses, my pigs wear wigs,
And my sheep are more learned than me.
In all my days on the farm I've seen
Nothing to equal such tricks." 

Then bundling into his wool underwear,
He ferried across the cold Delaware,
And muttered in tones of deepest despair:
Sell the farm, I'll try politics!