Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child, photography by Polly Borland, set creation by Emily L. Jenkins - review

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Lauren Child, photography by Polly Borland, set creation by Emily L. Jenkins
Goldilocks is a doll. A beautifully made wool felt doll with a head full of honey curls and a sultry, sultry gaze. The bears are dolls. Fuzzy, immaculately-dressed, bears with birdlike eyes.

AAAAAAAGHHH!!

Wait, maybe I am too quick to judge. The sets are very cute and dollhousey. The dedications page is interesting and beautiful. But somewhere, the ageless ghost of Dare Wright is working herself up into a delusional jealous frenzy. And dolls - they just freak me right out.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney - review

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney is a god. I think that's my whole review. No, wait, I have to mention that this book is wordless (except for beautifully lettered onomatopoeia incorporated into the paintings).

In a year when Jerry Pinkney also illustrated The Moon Over Star, I think he is his own stiffest competition for a Caldecott.

Bone Soup by Cambria Evans - review

Bone Soup by Cambria Evans
I am a sucker for illustrations with little diagram arrows. They funny. And on the first page of this Halloweeny version of the old Stone Soup story, we get big arrows pointing to little Finnegan's special eating stool, his eating spoon, and his big, wide, friendly Eating Mouth.

Deep, spectral colors balance the cuteness of Cambria Evans's pen and ink zombies, monsters and other spookies.

A winner for Halloween and beyond.

Tops and Bottoms, adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens - review

Tops and Bottoms, adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens

Janet Stevens always draws the most... animated animal characters. They fully seem to wiggle on the page, to wink at you, to flop, flap or flee. And in Tops and Bottoms, Janet has found a story worthy of her fabulous animals.

A quick gardening fable about lazy vs. hard-working and clever, it could also be read as a pre-industrial economic fable: landowner vs. serf. But that would pretty much take all the fun out of it. Eat your veggies and read this book.

Books in a pod

Charlotte at Charlotte's Library reviewed a new book I've not seen yet. Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War and Peas is apparently not your garden-variety garden book, and I'm gonna find it and I'm gonna read it. It's by the team that came up with Ugly Fish - the illustrator of The Luck of the Loch Ness Monster and the author of the Rocko and Spanky books.

Charlotte was kind of queasy about the book - mostly because she's feeling very protective of the baby peas in her garden. I know how she feels. We've been getting enough peas for dinner every night this week and there is nothing as sweet and full of life as a mouthful of peas you just picked out of your own garden. All that tilling, and planting the li'l suckers in cold crappy March, and it comes down to a tiny green burst as they pop between your molars.

I wonder what it is about peas, though, that so inspires children's authors? There's Little Pea, of course, Pickin' Peas, and The Pea Blossom. We met Henry, who believes that peas bring on an uncontrollable physical reaction in him, in Night of the Veggie Monster, reviewed earlier here, and another picky eater in Don't Let The Peas Touch. There was Paul the pea in The Runaway Dinner, although he got eaten by a duck, so that's kind of sad.

Rachel Isadora, Lauren Child, Harriet Ziefert, and Mini Grey have coaxed multiple princesses (and one penguin) into attempting to sleep on multiple peas. There's The Monster Who Ate My Peas, The Cowboy and the Black-Eyed Pea, and Shanté Keys and the New Year's Peas. We've got Pea Pod Babies, which is especially gruesome if you know how my sons and I eat our peas. There's even a picture book biography of Gregor Mendel, fer Pete's sake!

My theory - and you know I have one - is simple. Just as it is easy to grow peas - the seeds are big and easy to handle, the soil needn't be tilled too deeply, they're early enough that weeds and powdery mildew don't really come into play - it is easy to draw peas. Get a green marker. Draw a slightly irregular circle. Color it in. Hey! You drew a pea! Draw a face on your pea. Hey! You drew a character! Now all you need is a plot, some dialogue, a friendly editor, a publishing house, and you are on your way!*

In fact, here's a plot for you. Thank me later.



When he says "giraffe" I'm fairly certain he means "raft".

*I am joking. No disrespect intended. Keep writing about peas.

Snoring Beauty by Bruce Hale, illustrated by Howard Fine - review

Snoring Beauty by Bruce Hale, illustrated by Howard Fine
This is not a bedtime book. This is not a book for the gentle reader. No, Snoring Beauty is a book for a person who can SNORE like a DRAGON. It's a book for the person who really enjoyed reading Ruby Sings the Blues, and Carolinda Clatter!, and The Worm Family.

In short, this is a book for the fee-fi-fo-fummer in your family.

And it's FUNNY. Oversize personalities, hearing impairment, nutty names (Umpudine! I'm going to name our next pet that!), and did I mention the snoring? The art is also funny (and beautiful, done in rich watercolors) - each face is full of life, with exaggerated features that made me think of Tenniel's Red Queen, or Gothic caricatures. Howard Fine was the best thing about All Aboard the Dinotrain and Ding Dong, Ding Dong, but in Bruce Hale, he has met his match! I hope they make fifty books together.

Like most folk / fairy tales, it's a bit long on text, so pick this up for kids maybe 4 and up.

Kaito's cloth by Glenda Millard and Gaye Chapman - review

Kaito's cloth by Glenda Millard and Gaye Chapman
Here's something of a weird book. Kaito arrives at the top of the Mountain of Dreams with a basket full of dead butterflies, hoping the Lord of Flight will make them fly one more time before winter. He says no. She goes home and makes a kite.

Now, of course it's not fair to summarize the plot of a picture book like that. On the other hand, that IS how the book goes - from the start, it feels like you've come in late... Kaito is just arriving at the mountain after a three-day walk. You have no idea why she started walking or what she wants on the Mountain of Dreams. And at the end, when she has sewn her fine cloth with "ten thousand tiny stitches" and brought it to the Lord of Flight, you feel like it might just be possible that she's going to use it as wings to attempt flight herself. She'll die tragically and the Lord of Flight will turn her into a butterfly... but luckily, it's just a kite.

The illustrations are spectacular though, with nearly every surface embellished with butterflies and curlicues. Not super-well-known in the U.S., Australian artist Gaye Chapman's books are always worth finding.

Hansel & Gretel by the Brothers Grimm and Lisbeth Zwerger - review

Hansel & Gretel by the Brothers Grimm and Lisbeth Zwerger
I do love a faithful retelling. This Hansel & Gretel surely is that - there' s no sugar-coating in this book. The parents abandon the children in the forest, not once but twice. The witch tricks them into the house, then locks up Hansel to be fattened while she uses Gretel as a slave. And the witch gets shoved in the oven at the end.

Not for the faint of heart! The illustrations are marvelous. Pencil and watercolor, earth tones, fine lines, and soft washes. The language is tight and expressive, with an old-fashioned cadence and word choice that puts the scary story safely out of reach from everyday life.

The apple-pip princess by Jane Ray - review

The apple-pip princess by Jane Ray
Here is a lovely folk tale for spring. Three princesses, each must try to demonstrate to her aging father why she would be the best successor to the throne. One sister is grandiose, one is vain, and the third, Serenity, is little and shy. Ok, sure, it's predictable. But it's lyrical and it has strong but delicate illustrations that incorporate collage, and it has an underlying message about leadership by example. Plus, the beautiful princesses have brown skin, and I'd be lying if I didn't say that will influence my purchase decision.