The Cow who Clucked

Story: A cow wakes up one day and can no longer moo. Instead, she finds herself clucking. She undertakes a quest to find out who stole her moo.

Pictures: The pictures were amazing. They were colorful and expressionist and I loved them. I love this style of illustration and even without the story I would have truly enjoyed this book.

Thoughts: This story reminded me of "Are You My Mother?" (one of my favorites as a kid). I think it really stepped up the illustrations for books written for early readers.

June 29, 1999

Story: Holly Evans launches several plants into the sky as a science project. Then, on June 29, 1999, giant vegetables begin to fall from the sky. Holly is delighted with the outcome of her experiment, and follows the news developments obsessively. But then vegetables start appearing that weren't in her experiment. So where did they come from?

Picture: As always David Wiesner creates stunning pictures for an amazingly intriguing story. I really enjoyed everything about this book. He is probably my favorite author/illustrator of children's books.

Thoughts: The story was very creative and the ending is equally surprising and humorous and entertaining. I smiled the whole way through this book. It is one of my favorite picture books.

The Story of Babar

Story: Babar is a baby elephant who, after his mother is killed by hunters, runs away to the city. Here he meets a wealthy old woman who takes care of him, and teaches him to love clothing. His cousins come to visit and she buys them close too. Then he returns with them in his little car (although, I'd like to see the LITTLE car that can fit an elephant), takes his cousin Celeste as his wife, and is crowned King of all the elephants.

Pictures: I expected more of the pictures. They weren't terrible. I would go so far as to say they were good, but they were not a style I enjoyed. However, if the story had been better, the pictures would have been more acceptable.

Thoughts: This book is a classic, with many sequels and it has been turned into a television program (that I liked as a child). However, this book did not appeal to me at all when I read it. It was boring, pretentious, and unrealistic. Besides the mother dying in the very beginning, nothing bad happens. Babar is just handed everything. And I think the old lady was taken advantage of by Babar.

Once a Mouse

Story: A hermit is sitting and to help a mouse, proceeds to turn it (the mouse) into larger and larger animals until it is a tiger. When it is a tiger, the mouse/tiger is boastful. Annoyed the hermit turns him back into a mouse.

Picture: The pictures are amazing! They are the reason I picked up this book in the first place. I'm not a huge fan of traditional literature, but the pictures made this story totally worth it. Woodcuts is a style that has always impressed me.

Thoughts: It's an interesting fable and not one I've heard before. The story was really good as far as traditional literature goes. I really only read traditional literature in order to understand references in contemporary literature.

Dr. De Soto

Story: Dr. De Soto is a mouse with a dental practice. When, against his better judgement, he admits a fox, he must find a way to outwit the fox before he and his wife become dinner.

Pictures: I like these pictures a lot better than those in Steig's other books. They are more traditional, yet still have that unrefined quality that I like about Steig.

Thoughts: This story was one of my favorites as a kid. I could read so much into it, but just rest assured that it's a good book reassure kids that evil is easily spotted and outwitted. It's up to you whether you want to promote that message.

Shrek

Story: Shrek is an ogre making his way through the world. When a witch tells him that he will marry a princess more hideous than he is, he is determined to find her.

Pictures: They are a lot like Steig's other illustrations, although they do seem a bit more colorful. They're fun. Children will relate to them, because they look childlike.

Thoughts: I may be biased because the movies are so good, but I didn't really like it. I didn't think the story had much depth, but then again, it's a picture book. Just be warned. It's nothing like the movie, although the movie was based off the book.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Story: Sylvester finds a magic pebble, that will grant any wish you make when you are holding it. But he mistakenly turns himself into a rock. No longer able to hold the pebble, will he be stuck as a rock forever?

Pictures: William Steig is a pretty respected illustrator, but I'm not a huge fan. Even though they are not my style there is not denying that they are much better than a lot of the stuff that's out there.

Thoughts: William Steig is REALLY respected and has won all sorts of awards. However, I don't love most of the stuff he's done. A lot of the stuff that he has written is older, so I hope that's why I don't connect with it. It's not bad, it's just not for me. This book feels a bit didactic at the end, but overall, it's probably my favorite of all of Steig's work.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Story: Officer Buckle is a boring police man who tells children about safety. His lectures never sink in, but this all changes when he brings the new police dog, Gloria. She entertains everyone behind his back during his lecture. Now the students are learning about safety and Officer Buckle and Gloria have become celebrities. But what will happen when Officer Buckle finds out the truth about Gloria?

Pictures: The pictures are amazing and fun. There are so many great details that you won't get tired of looking at the pictures. For example, Officer Buckle's pajamas have safety signs on them.

Thoughts: An intriguing fantasy for young readers. You will be just as enchanted with Gloria as the children are in the story. It's a FUN story, that incidentally also teaches safety, but it does not feel didactic.

Sector 7

Another picture book, from award-winner David Wiesner. This book was lent to me by the same friend who lent me Flotsam. I like Flotsam a lot more, but this one is great as well. At first I thought it was going to be the cheesiest thing I ever read (well, kind of) in my life, but it was such an enjoyable book.

Summary: A young boy goes on a school trip to the top of a very high building to look through binoculars. But it's really cloudy that day and the boy ends up making friends with a cloud. When the wind comes to take the could away, the boy goes with him to Sector 7, where clouds get their assignments. There the boy helps the clouds transform themselves into all sorts of crazy shapes (like fish). The people in charge at Sector 7 aren't happy about this and send the boy home on a much older cloud. He is very sad when he discovers his friend the cloud back on the roof. This time the cloud escorts the boy to his world.

Other: This book is terribly fun. I wish I had a cloud for a friend.

Favorite parts:
1. The boy turns all the clouds into amazing shapes.
2. The boy tries to hide the cloud under his coat and looks very suspicious when he starts floating.
3. At the very end all the wonderfully shaped clouds come and amaze the city.

Flotsam

A friend had this in her room and I picked it up to look at it. She said it was great, but I had my doubts. I have a hard time loving books for this age group. But I was so impressed with this book. It is one of my favorite all time books I think. The summary will give away the whole book, just so that you are aware.

Summary: A boy is at the beach with this family, collecting things that wash up and examining them under his microscope. He finds normal things like crabs and starfish and shells, but then he finds an underwater camera. Getting the pictures developed he sees the most amazing things from under the ocean. But the last picture is special. It is a picture of a kid holding a picture of a kid holding a picture of a kid... etc. When he uses his telescope he discovers that the pictures go all the way back about fifty or sixty years. Not to break the chain he puts new film in the camera and lobs it out to sea, but not after adding his picture holding the special picture of all the children who have discovered the joys of the ocean.

Other: This is a picture book. There are absolutely no words in it, but it is a better told story than half the books out there for this age group.

Favorite parts:
1. All of the pages that were pictures from under the ocean were amazing.
2. The pages that showed the chain of children who have found the underwater camera were great.