Monthly Archives: March 2011

Thursday: Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute

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Remember the Lunch Ladies we had growing up? Hair nets. Sausage Surprise. Mustaches. Today’s Lunch Ladies are so much cooler. The Lunch Lady at my son’s school is fabulous and nice and loves kids –  all the traits the Lunch Ladies were certainly missing out on for me growing up. And their equipment today is so much cooler, too. My Lunch Lady’s technology consisted of an empty can of Yuban coffee that she’d put the dimes in for a carton of milk. Today, the Lunch Lady has this cool credit card swiper-looking contraption that allows the kids to pay for their lunch like they’re using an ATM. Super cool. Not perhaps as cool as the Lunch Lady in Jarrett Krosoczka’s awesome book, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, since she can fly and drives a scooter with a “sloppy joe” button that allows her to cream her evil nemeses…ooo…and a “spatucopter” which sounds exactly like what is it – a spatula that can fly. Krosoczka’s graphic novels (yes, this is just the first in a set of Lunch Lady adventures!) are fantastic – fast-paced, entertaining and with just the right amount of kid humor to keep your children engaged and asking for more.  Sure, she may have yellow rubber gloves and wear Mom jeans, but in this graphic novel, the Lunch Lady’s the coolest thing since sliced bread, or Sausage Surprise as the case may be…

Wednesday: The Twits

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In honor of my son’s birthday, I offer you his favorite book, The Twits. Written by none other than Roald Dahl (who’s like a celebrity around our house), The Twits details the, well, twitty, awful, ridiculous, offensive and downright hilarious adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Twit. The Twits, as their name might suggest, are two of the foulest people you could ever meet. Mr. Twit has a beard which he never cleans and, as such, has a collection of food items like fishsticks and chicken livers, adhered to it which he licks when he wants a slight snack. Mrs. Twit has a “wonky nose” and “stick-out teeth” and likes to hit cats and small children with her walking stick. And together, they wreak havoc among others and themselves. That is, until, their pet monkeys (the Muggle-Wump family) decide they’ve had enough and exact their twisted, upside-down revenge. This book is Dahl at his finest – wicked, clever, a tad nauseating and altogether fabulous.

Fat Tuesday: Gaston Goes to Mardi Gras

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And a Happy Fat Tuesday to you! For those of us not able to grab our beads and beignets and head straight for New Orleans, I offer Gaston, our tour guide for Mardi Gras. He knows his way around. Trust me, he’s an alligator. And in James Rice’s adorably informative book, Gaston takes us on an insider’s tour of Mardi Gras. Visit the Krewes, the Bouef Gras, hear the Zydeco and march with the band in this colorful and engaging book that (wait for it) also happens to be a coloring books. I mean, really? How much more awesome could Mardi Gras with Gaston get? A fantastic introduction to the festivities for little ones, and a great walk down memory lane for those of us who have ever walked in Gaston’s shoes.

Monday: A is for Abigail

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Happy Women’s History Month, everyone! To celebrate, I’d like everyone to raise a glass or sippy cup as the case may be and toast all of the remarkable women who have contributed to the proud progress of our country. And what better way to celebrate that with this fabulous alphabet book, A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women. By utilizing the alphabet as a springboard, this book catalogs the achievements and success of a bevy of groundbreaking women – from Abigail Adams to Sandra Day O’Connor to Emily Dickinson to Nellie Bly. It’s a treasure trove of information all brought to you by none other than Lynne Cheney. Yes, that Lynne Cheney (with whom I worked in my younger, more impressionable days) – and whether you like her (or her husband) or not is irrelevant in the presence of this wonderful little book. Robin Preiss Glasser provides much-appreciated whimsy and delight with her illustrations. Overall, a great book to check out this month to teach all of our little ones just how fabulous we gals can be.

Friday: Earrings!

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Seems that every girl has a vivid memory of when they got their ears pierced. Mine was at Beadazzled at the mall with that earring-gun contraption that fueled my nightmares for months. My mother’s was at the hands of her uncle, a needle and a well-placed ice cube. (Ack!) No matter the situation, we all remember that fateful day and what it meant to us. For me, it meant long dangly earrings. Earrings with stars. Earrings with unicorns. Even earrings with (now, remember this was the 80’s) feathers. And for the months leading up to my fateful bejewelment, I thought about it constantly and what a rite of passage it was. Judith Viorst (of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day fame) has captured that sentiment perfectly in her book, Earrings! which tells the story of a little girl who will do ANYTHING if her parents would just agree to let her pierce her ears. And with deals like walking the dog and cleaning her room every day for a year, how could those parents resist? For anyone who has ever wanted something so badly they’re willing to even be nice to their little brother, this is the book for you…and a fun read if in fact you have a little one doing some earring wheelin’ and dealin’ right now…

Thursday: Ira Sleeps Over

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Last night at dinner, we were talking about my son’s impending slumber party and the excitement inherent in such an adventure. Pizza! Movies! Cake with store-bought frosting! And I remembered my own delight at the prospect of slumber parties growing up – playing “light as a feather stiff as a board”, my friend Damara’s mother reading Edgar Allen Poe stories to us in our sleeping bags (the coolest mom ever!)…And my husband remembered, all those years ago, reading a book about sleeping over at someone’s house, but couldn’t quite remember the name of it, but it had a little boy and a teddy bear. Fast forward to a trip to Barnes and Noble and a walk down memory lane, and you’ve got Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. How could I have ever forgotten this little gem of a book? In it, a little boy named Ira is excited beyond belief for an upcoming sleepover at his friend Reggie’s house. But when his older sister asksif he’ll be taking his teddy bear, Tah Tah, to Reggie’s house, Ira starts to wonder what his friend’s reaction could be to this. Will Reggie make fun of him? Will he want to be friends anymore? Ira decides to leave Tah Tah at home, only to find that Reggie has a little secret of his own…and the two friends share a wonderful, touching moment together. Written in 1975, Waber’s book not only stands the test of time for any child today – but it lingers in the memories of nostalgic grown-ups too…

Wednesday: The Secret Art of Dr. Suess

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First of all, happy birthday my dear Dr. Suess! And thank you for enriching the lives of my children and children around the world. Everyone has a favorite Dr. Suess book – Oh, the Places You’ll Go…The Foot Book…Cat in the Hat…and I just wasn’t quite sure which one I would choose for today’s spotlight…But then I remembered something my dear friend Joanna told me long ago – that Dr. Suess had a large collection of artwork beyond the fox in socks and the lorax and horton..and that this artwork was indeed even more splendiforous than we could imagine.  Upon hearing this, I immediately went online to try to find a book of his artwork and, lo and behold, came to find The Secret Art of Dr. Suess. You don’t have to be a true Suess-o-phile to find this book amazing –  it’s like a little secret treasure, a gem of a book (with an introduction by Maurice Sendak, no less…) that further emphasizes Dr. Suess’ contribution to not only literature but the art world as well…Labeled as artwork for adults, the art inside this lovely book will appeal to people of all ages, for Dr. Suess’ inimitable humor and whimsy comes through in technicolor. Take his Angry Pig in which a, well, an irate pig stares down a South American villager. Or his Impractical Marshmallow Toasting Device which you’ll just have to see for yourself. This book is rich in art, laughter, beauty and imagination – a perfect combination for adults and children alike.