Tag Archives: kid’s books

Hi! Fly Guy, or the pest that impressed

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Nothing is more exciting to an emerging reader than the idea of a chapter book. Even if those “chapters” are a few pages long and are accompanied by hilarious drawings and puns about insects, the feeling of accomplishment is no less remarkable. But which chapter books to pick for your new little book worm? If your children are anything like mine, the Fly Guy series will fit the bill perfectly. Tedd Arnold’s rhyming prose, hysterical drawings and comic book-like antics will keep you child buzzing with excitement about reading. Hi! Fly Guy introduces our main character, a little boy named Buzz, who meets a fly whose intelligence is immediately demonstrated by its ability to say the boy’s name. Buzz and Fly Guy make quick friends and soon, Buzz enters Fly Guy into The Amazing Pet Show. Does a fly have what it takes? Will the pesky beast capture the judges’ icy hearts? Dive right into this delightful series and discover what a successful combination chapter books and pestilent insects can be.

 

What’s Happening to Me?…or unexpected hair

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(Over the last year, I’ve received so many comments and e-mails about this review, that I couldn’t help reposting. Enjoy!)

In 1975, Peter Mayle (yes, of A Year in Provence fame) and Arthur Robins published a book that would forever change my life. Their brilliantly informative and remarkably unembarrassing teenage tome, What is Happening to Me: A Guide to Puberty, would prove to be my personal roadmap through acne (why yes, it does appear on your back!), periods (why yes, they do happen on ski trips!) and bras (why, yes, the woman in the bra department will quickly become your worst nightmare!). Written for both boys and girls, Mayle and Robins’ book gently and factually describes every injustice known to plague teenagers – handling each question, no matter how humiliating, with common sense, and no hint of ridicule or judgment. Robins’ illustrations bring a sense of humor to the topics and make the reader feel a lot more comfortable reading about unexpected hairs than you’d ever imagine. I poured over this book as puberty beckoned and found comfort in not being the only person on the face of the earth to experience the new feelings, emotions and struggles of that time. For any parent working through the first signs of adolescence with their children, this book is as powerful now as it was then to a little girl in her pegged jeans who just needed to know that everything was going to be alright.

The Kissing Hand…or, The Lifesaver

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This book isn’t new, nor does it tackle a new theme of school time. Nevertheless, this book brought about such a turnaround in our household that I can’t help but write about  it. When my sons went to preschool, I was that mother with the weeping child. The one whose children literally held on to her clothing, begging for her not to leave…whose sticky fingers and tear-stained faces peeked out from the window as I was directed to walk away since I was “upsetting the children.” After sobbing in my car for what seemed like weeks, a friend of mind recommended Audrey Penn’s amazing book, The Kissing Hand. The powers of this book seemed to be widespread at this time, but for anyone who is facing a teary first few weeks  of school, it might be just what the doctor ordered. In this lovely little book, Chester Raccoon wants to stay home with his mother instead of going to school. His mother (a significantly more enterprising mother than I) tells Chester of a secret – a “kissing hand” in which she takes her son’s little paw and kisses it right in the middle. When he feels sad or lonely at school, all he has to do is take that kissing hand and press it to his cheek to feel all the love his mother has for him. It may sound sappy, but it worked for me and my sons and turned what once was a saline-laden experience into a new tradition of comfort and love.

Silly School Riddles, or How to Annoy Lady Gaga

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Silly School Riddles

Written by Lisa Eisenberg, illustrated by Elwood Smith

Ages: 6 and up

If your kids are anything like mine, they can’t resist a good joke. My older son’s current favorite is “Why was the mummy late for dinner? Cause he was wrapped up in his work.” And we all cracked up recently at my dear friend’s son who asked, “How do you annoy Lady Gaga? You poke her face.” Get it? Poker Face? Love it.

If your kids have a tendency toward knee slaps and belly laughs, or even just want to impress their friends with a few jokes on the first day of school, then check out Lisa Eisenberg’s Silly School Riddles. It’s a zany, fantastic collection of great riddles, accompanied by Elwood Smith’s hilarious illustrations. Wanna try one? OK. Which state is the best place to buy school supplies?  Why, that would be Pencil-vania, of course. C’mon, admit it. That one’s a keeper.

50 Years of Snowy Days

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Amazing to think that it has been 50 years since Ezra Jack Keats published his quietly groundbreaking children’s book, The Snowy Day.  Today, we celebrate that achievement with the 50th Anniversary edition of the book – available now at bookstores near you. Not only is The Snowy Day one of the most lovely and gorgeous books of its generation, it brought with it the added triumph of being, what is widely known as, the first mainstream children’s book to feature an African-American child as its lead character. Peter, in his bright red snowsuit and matching elfin hat, not only made footprints across a snowy landscape, but made important footprints across American literature. For me, the success of Ezra Jack Keats, long a hero of mine, is not necessarily in his choice of Peter’s ethnicity, but in his ability to create a piece of literature in which the ethnicity of the child was not the focus of the book.  His simple tales of childhood and city life speak not just to one but to multiple audiences – carving out a new lexicon in children’s literature that has been spoken from then on. If you have never read The Snowy Day or even if you’ve read it 100 times, please celebrate this special anniversary by sharing it with your children – a generation who, hopefully, won’t even notice that Peter is any different from them.

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dresses, or the best book title ever

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If that isn’t the best children’s book title ever devised, I’ll eat my hat. Mo Willems has done it again – this time with a naked mole rat. If your kids adore the penguin who wants to drive the bus, and just can’t get enough of elephant and piggie, then this will most certainly be their new favorite book. In it, Wilbur (said naked mole rat) rebels against his community’s dress code of nothing and dons space suits, tuxedos…to the horror of his fellow naked mole rats. But when the leader of the bunch, Grand-pah, is called in to mediate, they’re soon surprised to find that maybe clothes aren’t such a social taboo after all. Mo Willems can do no wrong, in my opinion. And everything…EVERYTHING…about this book is right.

Have I Got a Book for You!…or the mole who bought a vacuum

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Meet Mr. Al Foxword, salesman extraordinaire. Al could sell an umbrella to a fish, an icebox to a penguin, a vacuum to a mole. (Wait, he did! Amazing!) And now Al wants YOU to buy his top-of-the-line, utterly fantastic, flying-off-the-shelves book. Not convinced? Consider other books available to children. “Sleeping Beauty” might put you to sleep. Cookbooks just leave a bad taste in your mouth. But with Al Foxword’s new book, you’ll be the talk of the town and the envy of your neighbors. Buy within the next ten seconds and you’ll be the lucky recipient of a bookmark! Melanie Watt’s delightfully quirky book takes every ridiculous sales pitch ever heard and turns it into an uproarious infomercial for kids. It’s like Guy Smiley and that Sham-Wow guy got together and created a book character. And that Al is amazingly persuasive. I mean, he almost had me calling the 1-800 number when he offered me two for the price of one! Not sure how to use that second book? Al offers a few suggestions, including my favorite, a unique hat. The end of the book will make even the most stoic parent giggle. A truly enjoyable, utterly endearing and supremely marketable tale.

My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out

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For starters, there’s really nothing better than Charlie and Lola. And for any of you who have not yet fallen in love with Lauren Child’s dynamic brother and sister duo, you must do so immediately. That said, Charlie and Lola are two of my favorite characters of all time (right up there with Anne Shirley and Veruca Salt)  – perhaps slightly because they’re British and I have that thing for all things British, but also because they’re beautifully rendered as hilariously lovable children. So today, as I sat in the dentist’s chair (which for me is akin to sitting in a torture chamber) I let my mind drift happily to one of my favorite Charlie and Lola books about teeth: My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out. This little morsel of a book tells the story of Lola’s wibbly-wobbly tooth that, at first, she does not want to lose. But when wind of the Tooth Fairy hits her ears, she embarks on a mission to wiggle it out of its gummy slumber. Charlie, as always, steps up to the plate as the best big brother on the planet and shepherds Lola from worry to happy in a way only he can. You don’t a wobbly tooth to truly appreciate this lovely book. You don’t even need to be sitting in the inquisitor’s…uh…I mean…dentist’s chair.

I Like This Poem – A Collection of Best-Loved Poems Chosen by Children for Other Children

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Happy National Poetry Month to you all! I hope you all run out and grab your nearest copy of Millay or Nash or Silverstein or Cummings and spend an afternoon wrapped up in a wonderful poem or two. While you’re at it, take this month as a fabulous excuse to introduce your children to poetry and its many forms with I Like this Poem: A Collection of Best-Loved Poems Chosen by Children for Other Children. This is, by far, the most amazingly fantastic collection of poems for children I’ve ever seen. Originally published in 1979, this collection doesn’t include some of my favorite children’s poets (i.e. Silverstein or Prelutsky) but what it does include are famous poems from every corner of literature. It’s like a primer for future English Majors (hooray!). Where else can you find The Witches’ Spell from Macbeth alongside The Owl and the Pussycat? Not to mention Roald Dahl’s I’ve Eaten Many Strange and Scrumptious Dishes in my Time (from James and the Giant Peach) a few pages away from Wordsworth’s I’ve Watched You Know a Full Half-Hour. Recommended by children ages 6-15, the best part of this collection, for me, is that after each poem, there is a quote from the child who recommended it. It’s like a poetry anthology that’s been kid approved, and it’s a must-have for any book shelf.

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.