Princess Cora and the Crocodile

Princess Cora and the Crocodile

Laura Amy Schlitz
Illustrated by Brian Floca
Candlewick Press

Princess Cora is overwhelmed.  Her parents love her so much and want her to be successful, so they fill her day with the things that are most important to being an excellent princess and queen - taking baths (a queen must be tidy), studying (a queen must be intelligent) and physical activity (a queen must be strong).  Cora often tries to suggest to them that they're over doing it, but they don't listen.  One day, Cora has had enough and she writes her fairy godmother a letter, asking for help in the form of a pet.  Cora wants a dog, but her fairy godmother has other plans.  She sends Cora a crocodile, and a naughty crocodile at that.  Hilarity ensues, and eventually (after a little gnawing from a crocodile dressed like a princess) the king, the queen and the nanny all realized that Cora does need a bit of a break.
This is a great book with a kind of sad twist to it.  At first, none of the adults even notice that it's not Cora but a crocodile - they are all to wrapped up in "worrying what might be wrong with her". And every minute of every day is planned around training for Cora by the time she is seven years old.  I enjoyed the story when I first read it for it's absurdity and silliness, but as I think about it more, I can't help but see some parallels in the way we currently raise and educate our children.
Are Schlitz and Floca trying to subtly tell us something?  I recently read an article about the life lessons found in Chinese children's literature vs. children's literature in the United States, and it got me thinking about how what we read shapes our beliefs and thoughts.  I can't help but wonder who will benefit more from reading this book - children who might learn that it's OK to play and to ask adults for what we need, or adults who might need to be reminded that kids need to be kids.
In any case, the book is absolutely worth the time for readers of any age.

Just Like Jackie by Lindsey Stoddard

Just Like Jackie
Lindsey Stoddard
HarperCollins Children's Books
Release Date: Jan 2, 2018

It's been awhile....
Like four years. Whoops. It's not like I stopped reading or anything - in fact, I'd say the opposite.  And just recently I was given the opportunity to read and review some ARC (advanced reader copies) from a local book store.  The one condition to getting the free ARCs is that I must review the ones I particularly like.  So I figured why not review them here as well.  You know, dust off the ol' blog and get back at it!

Cover art courtesy of HarperCollins

Just Like Jackie is an amazing story. If you enjoyed Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, or Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, you will love this book.
Robbie Hart was named after baseball great Jackie Robinson, even though she's nothing like him.  Robbie wishes she could stay calm under pressure, but usually it just boils up and right out of her - like the time Alex Carter called her a motherless bird and she punched him in the face.  He may have deserved it, but when the principal calls Robbie's grandpa into school, she knows there will be trouble.  Robbie's grandpa is having trouble remembering things lately and she's afraid people at the school will find out and blame her.  She knows that if she would just be a better student, then grandpa's memory could rest and his word's wouldn't get confused.
This is an amazing story that, like Counting by 7s and Fish in a Tree is told from Robbie's point of view.  I really love these books because it gives kids a chance to hear their own voice in a novel.  In fact, while I was reading it, I couldn't help but think of a couple of kids at our school who would benefit from reading this book.
I can't help but wonder though, how much of the inferred meaning do kids get out of books like this?  When I read it as an adult, I know that grandpa's memory issues have nothing to do with Robbie's behavior at school...but will a 10-year-old know that when they're reading? And then I wonder - does it really matter? And the answer is no, not really.  I believe deep in my core that if a reader gets lost in a story, then the story has served its purpose, and it is not our place to decide whether or not the reader inferred enough depth of meaning from the story.  I've read the same book (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak) countless times, and each time I read it, I find something new to love and cherish about the story.  That's what makes a book great - one that you'll read multiple times and continue to lose yourself in it, love it, and learn from it. Just Like Jackie has the potential to be that kind of book for kids and adults alike.

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

Mirror Mirror

by Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by Josée Masse

Dutton Children's Books

New York

2010

Funny story behind me reading this book. See, since last fall I’ve fallen in love with the Cybils awards (mostly because I aspire to be a judge someday...), and I’ve  slooowly been working my way through the winners.  Many of the young adult books I’d read, so I kind of skipped those and headed for the elementary books – they’re the group of books I usually don’t get around to.  So where’s the funny part?  I accidentally bookmarked the 2010 winners in the elementary category.  So I’ve slooooly worked my way through LAST YEAR’S winners.  You’d think someone as “techno-saavy” as me wouldn’t make such a mistake.  But you’d be wrong.  Either that, or I’m not as “techno-saavy” as everyone thinks.  Anyway, I’m especially thankful that I made this mistake because I’ve found some really great early reading books!  One of those books is one that I haven’t been able to get out of my head for weeks.  It’s called Mirror Mirror.  The inside cover reads:

Ther are two sides to every story, from the princess and the frog, to the beauty and the beast, to Sleeping Beauty and that charming prince.

Now in a unique collection of reversible verse, classic fairy tales are turned on their heads.  Literally. Read these clever poems from top to bottom.  Then reverse the lines and read from bottom to top to give these well-loved stories a delicious new spin.

Isn’t that a fantastic idea?  The author calls these reversible verse poems reverso.  I wasn’t sure how it would work, but once I read one, it all made sense.  Here’s what one of the poems looks like:

It may be such

a fairy-tale secret,

this much

I know:

The road leads

wherever

you need to go.

When you reverse it, it looks like this:

You need to go

wherever

the road leads –

I know

this much.

A fairy-tale secret?

It may be such.

Isn’t that fantastic!?!?  The illustrations are also fantastic – each illustration is split in half and matches each side of the reverso.

Who would I recommend this book to?  Uh, just about anyone.  And I totally understand why it won…last year.  Now I’m off to find this year’s winner!

Guest Post: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

My friend Lisa's son Michael is an absolutely avid reader (I'd put money on the fact that he reads more than I do), and since he has read the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and I haven't, I thought it would be AWESOME to have him do a guest review for me!  I was so right!  What a smart kid!

Warriors: Into the Wild

Erin Hunter

HarperCollins

2003

  

In this book, a young cat, named Rusty, is introduced to the life of a wild cat. One day, he was hunting a mouse in the woods behind his house, and runs into some of the wild cats of the forest. They offer him a place in their Clan, ThunderClan. He accepts the offer, and starts training to be a warrior. Rusty has to be an apprentice before he is a warrior. Rusty’s apprentice name was Firepaw. He doesn’t settle in quickly; a lot of the cats teased him because of his kittypet (house cat) roots. He trained hard to become a warrior with his best friend, Graypaw.  In the end, after saving kits from a rival Clan (ShadowClan; there are five Clans total: ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, and StarClan), Firepaw and Graypaw become warriors, and their names change to Fireheart and Graystripe. Fireheart’s first moons (months) with the Clan are full of adventure, and there is more to come in Warriors: Fire and Ice. 

The only book I’ve read that is similar to Warriors: Into the Wild is A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin. That book is about one stray dog’s journey to try to find a nice home.  I like this book (this series) because it (they) all have a sense of adventure in them. Also, the cats have problems similar to humans* (such as joining a new school, falling in love with the wrong person or being bullied by someone that should just take care of you).  However, in this book (series), I noticed a lot of mistakes. Sometimes, the wrong names were stated or paragraphs were repeated a few pages later. On the Warriors website, the author says this: Since starting the series in 2003, there have been more than forty Warriors and Seekers books, including separate story arcs, mangas, special editions, and field guides. With all of this, you can imagine how many characters and story lines there are to keep track of! While each book is carefully checked and double-checked by the author, the editors, and others, we are only human and sometimes mistakes can slip through. We love your sharp eyes and always listen when you’ve found a mistake so we can be sure to fix it for next time!*

     I would recommend this book to anyone with a taste for cats and/or adventure in 2nd grade and up.  I think any person who likes cats or adventure will really like this book. Before I read the book, I didn’t really have a taste for cats. But now, I would love to have one as a pet.

      If you are wanting to learn more about the “ Warriors “ or the author ( Erin Hunter ), go to the Warrior Website. You can also go to the  HarperCollins Website to learn more about “ Warriors: Into the Wild “.

*As cited on the Warriors website.

THANK YOU MICHAEL!  WHAT A GREAT REVIEW!!!

Zoom by Istvan Banyai

Zoom
Istvan Banyai
Penguin Books
1995

What a fun book to read...er...not read.  Zoom is a picture book that does just that - repeatedly zooms.  Each image turns into another image on the next page.  And amazingly the image on the last page is completely different from the image on the first page, but if you "read" the entire book, there is a storyline there, and it's great.
This book was recommended to me by one of the elementary para-librarians that works in our district.  I took it home this weekend intending to read it on my own time, but some precious, unexpected time with my 7-year-old niece came up on Saturday, so I decided to read it with her.  Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I decided to make reading Zoom a game.  Once I figured out how the book worked, we would look at the page and look for clues as to what the next image would be.  Sometimes we were right, other times we were way off.
What I found in exploring the book with my niece is that her ideas of what would come next were worlds away from mine.  While many of my ideas were right or pretty close, her's were fun.  She simply ignored the obvious hints and made up her own fun ideas.
How I wish I could be seven again...

If you're looking for a trippy webpage that gives a great preview of the book, visit Istvan Banyai's homepage (linked above).  Wow.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Kate DiCamillo

I know, I know, lots of postings about children's books.  I promise, by weeks end, there will be postings about adult books (I'm almost done with a great one...).  This book was recommended to me by my dear friend the Rybrarian (Ryan Whitenack.  He's a genius, and I'm not just saying that so he'll continue to help me out on my grad school work.  The man makes me belly laugh constantly).  Although we did not have the same reaction to the book, I did thoroughly enjoy the book.  For one, the illustrations are fantastic, and I plan to look for other books illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.  Secondly, it is a great story about the trappings of vanity and the true meaning of love.

I will admit, I did not have a favorite doll growing up.  Yes, I had a few dolls that I really enjoyed, like Sally and my Ewok Wicket, but my heart always belonged to Woobie...my beloved baby blanket.  Truth be told, the original Woobie went to blankie heaven many many years ago.  And the day my mom told me we'd have to put Woobie down, I cried like I'd never cried before.  And in an act of unprecedented heroism, my older brother offered his Woobie in replacement.  I can honestly say that Woobie 2 has been my constant comfort for almost 30 years.  Yep, he still is the first thing I look for when I go to bed at night and the first thing I fold every morning when I wake up.

Reading the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane makes me wonder what my Woobie thinks of me.  In the beginning of the book, Edward is far more concerned with himself than he is the undying love that Abeline gives him.  When he's lost at sea, his true adventures begin, and he learns that love is the most important thing.  Lucky for me, I've never lost Woobie at sea, but I have forgotten him in many a hotel room, and thus, he is now too old to travel.

I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this book is because, as an adult, we look at the things our children (or in my case, my nieces and nephews) cling to and wonder why on earth they get so attached.  But through this story, we realize that there is so much love in the world, and sometimes people, especially children, just don't have the outlets they need to give the love they have.  So they choose china rabbits, or even raggedy old blankets.  And it is through those seemingly inanimate objects that our children learn to love and care for something outside of themselves.

So I encourage all of you with children to read this book to them, because if nothing else, it will teach them that love is important, regardless of who you give it to.

Avi - Children's Author

Avi - An Author worth reading

This is not your typical posting for me, but because I had to do an author study for grad school, I thought I'd share with all of you what I'd learned.

Avi?  Is an awesome author.  For multiple reasons.

1) He has one name.  Like Madonna.  And Prince.  Instant cool.

2) He writes children's books/YA novels about good stuff - morals and doing what is right.

3) He is not limited to one genre.  He's written historical ficiton, children's books, thrillers, you name it.

4) One Newberry Medal and two Newberry Honors top his list of awards.  I'd print the whole list, but it's long.

5) And lastly, in a time where our teenagers and young people are swept up in vampire thrillers and the like, Avi's novels are interesting to kids (and adults) on a level that is familiar.  His characters go through things that everyone goes through, and he doesn't have to set his novels in fantastic, unrealistic situations (not that I think fantasy is bad, I like fantasy.  It's just nice to read something like Nothing but the Truth that strikes a chord with everyday students and teaches them about communication and honesty without supernatural forces).

The books that I loved the most are:

Nothing but the Truth (1991).  The story of how different perspectives on a single event can be completely misunderstood if communication isn't clear.  This book hit a little close to home for me as a teacher, but it also gave particular insight to those kids I can't ever get through to, as well as the reasoning behind some of the parental reactions I've recieved over the years.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990).  A thirteen-year-old girl must cross the Atlantic on a ship teetering on the brink of mutany.  A great story about doing the right thing and being the best person you can be, despite odds and social mandates.  Loved this book.

The End of the Beginning (2004).  A great story of adventure (on a very small scale) and friendship.  This book would be an excellent bedtime story to read to kids.  It's about a snail named Avon who is tired of reading about adventures and decides to set out on one, with his new-found best friend, Edward, giving him advice and company, what could possibly go wrong?  Full of funny word plays and life lessons.

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude - Kevin O'Malley

Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Kevin O'Malley

I will say that I don't make it a habit of reading many children's books.  Mostly...because I don't have any kids.  Alright, alright, I'll admit that I think I have kids.  But they are four-legged, furry and don't care much for my reading voice.  However, for my masters program, I'm taking a class on chidren's literature (it's called Children's Literature.  Shocking, I know) and thus I've started reading lots of kids books.  And this book is the children's book to end all children's books.  I wish this book had been around when I was a kid.  It's fantastic.

 The premise of the book is that two kids - a boy and a girl - have to tell their favorite fairy tale as a library project.  The problem is they can't decide which story they want to tell, so they decide to write one together.  The girl wants to tell the story of a princess and her ponies and the evil giant that steals her ponies and the prince who saves the day.  The boy wants to tell the story of the awesome dude who rides up on his motorcycle and has some gnarly battles with the giant and ends up rich and awesome.  The two go back and forth and everything about the book changes depending on who is telling the story - as you can see from the cover.  When the girl tells the story, everything is very fairytale-esque.  When the boy tells the story its, well, dude-tastic.

Not only did the book keep me interested, my nephew was enthralled!  Last week, I read him The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and for the rest of the day he'd chant "You can't catch me, I'm the Stinky Cheese Man!"  But when it came to reading other parts of the book, he was too busy jumping up and down and running around hoping to be caught by someone.  

However this book...wow.  He would not put it down.  He's 4, so he can't read yet, but by the end of the day I had read the book at least five times and he had re-told the story to me as many times.  He kept flipping to the different pages and telling me what was happening, and he'd also let me know who - the boy or the girl - was doing the narrating.

I'm hoping (hoping!) that this is the kind of excitement I have in store for me as a librarian.  I'm not sure, but I think watching a kid be excited about a book might just be one of the greatest things in life. I'm still young though, I'm sure I'll find other wonderful things.  For now, watching a little boy light up about a book is, as the German say vom Feinsten.