A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis - review

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
Edna's whole world is white and black and blue, and she yearns for something else.

"'There is white ice for sliding,' says Edna. 'There is black night for seeing stars. There is blue sea for hunting fish. But there must be something else.'"

She is not Lost, or gay, or afraid to swim, or an unusual color (Not that I am saying there are too many penguin books out there - hey man you can NEVER have too many penguin books. Penguins are perfect for picture books - they are graphically interesting and inherently funny. My dad says they're pesty, but more on that later. I think they're funny - they waddle.)

I could quibble and say that Edna, living as she does in an environment wholly populated by carnivores, is surely acquainted with the color red, in addition to white, black, and blue, but really, how is Antoinette Portis going to work that in? "There is red blood when the seals come to visit." Yeah, no.

So anyway, Edna goes looking. And do you know what she finds? MY DAD, circa 1963! (or my uncle, circa 1961-1963, or my brother in 2001) Edna stumbles upon a detachment of scientists from USAP (formerly the United States Antarctic Research Program), who have been wearing the same shade of orange (cosmonaut orange, for high visibility on the ice) for more than fifty years.

Oh, wait, you wanted to know about the book? Well come on, it's Antoinette Portis. Not a Box is one of the most genius kid books of ALL TIME, and A Penguin Story is both different - doesn't have that empowering kid-is-the-one-who-gets-to-say-no thing going on - and the same - same terrific, simple drawings, excellent use of a limited color palette. Also, one strong, determined, curious, creative kid with a lot going on upstairs.

Further endorsement: immediately after reading A Penguin Story, the men in my family (aged 5, 7, and 44; none of whom have been to Antarctica - yet) grabbed the sidewalk chalk and drew portraits of Edna on our front walk. See if you can guess which man drew which picture:

Penguins by Liz Pichon - review

Penguins by Liz Pichon
Okay, it's another penguin book. Love the penguins. 365 Penguins, Polly Dunbar's Penguin, Sergio the penguin, penguins really seem to bring out the best in illustrators. And by that metric, Liz Pichon's penguin book is cute and appealing. BUT. There is extra fun.

The penguins in this book live in the zoo, and after everybody leaves one day, they find a camera. "DON'T TOUCH IT!" says a mama penguin. They investigate. The baby penguin jumps on it and says, "Lets press ALL the buttons!" When the flash goes off, they all get bug eyes. FLASH! The penguins all make like loony little kids with the camera, and when it runs out of film (film!), they put it back where they found it. It's put in the lost and found, and eventually reclaimed.

And when the film is developed...

Patrick the Somnambulist, written and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley - review

Patrick the Somnambulist, written and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley
To all of the tedious, obvious, cheery-fake picture books that try to demonstrate that Being Different Has Hidden Benefits! REALLY! Your Love of Ballet / Eccentricity / Fashion Sense / Favorite Color / Intelligence / Strabismus / Bipedalism / Love of Poetry / Lack of Athleticism / Species / Size / Diet / Unusual Color Makes You Special (and ok, most of these books are neither tedious nor obvious, I am just being lazy, because I tend not to remember books I don't like) - I finally have a response: LOOK AT THIS ONE.

Patrick is a normal penguin kid who is also a sleepwalker. His concerned parents take him to therapy. The therapist confirms that Patrick is a normal penguin kid who is also a sleepwalker. Teaches Patrick a fancy word for himself - somnambulist. Patrick adores his new word, is empowered by it, does great things under its imprimatur. Goes on Conan. Becomes a multi-millionaire at the age of six.

The little full-page watercolor illustrations are witty and sweet, done in a rather somber nighttime palette that in no way harshes the happy, giggly mellow of the text. Love the mute, soulful penguin expressions (no mouths on these penguins and yet we know just what they're thinking). Kids will get a laugh out of all the odd situations Patrick finds himself in as a result of his sleepwalking, and parents will surreptitiously enjoy, "At first his parents just thought he was just weird."

Who hasn't thought that at one time or another?

Endpaper bonus: Patrick wrapped in toilet paper, rocking an umbrella, and wearing a plunger on his head.

Sergio Makes a Splash! by Edel Rodriguez - review

Sergio Makes a Splash! by Edel Rodriguez

The cutest penguin since Polly Dunbar's Penguin and Jean-Luc Fromental's 365 Penguins is Sergio, an Argentine soccer fan who is afraid to learn to swim, in this funny funny book by the gifted illustrator of Float Like a Butterfly and Oye, Celia!.

Gifted? Oh yeah. Three colors: cyan, orange, and navy. Woodblock illustration, which yields that luscious porous texture and sticky edge. And what does it say about the design of a book when a two-page spread of blank blue ocean, textureless white sky, and an orange sun the size of a pea is not only interesting but suspenseful as well?

Adult gift alert: nice for anyone embarking on a new career or life change. "Great, next time we'll swim without the floaties!".

Tillie Lays An Egg by Terry Golson with photography by Ben Fink - review

Tillie Lays An Egg by Terry Golson with photography by Ben Fink
Chickens, like penguins, are always funny. When I had chickens, and, yes, I had chickens in my city backyard, I used to go out a couple times a day to just sit and watch them bumble around and giggle to myself. Chickens - well I don't think I'm going to offend them by saying this - chickens are... not bright. My chickens, for example, were dumb enough to get themselves eaten by anything with teeth, and at least one thing without teeth. I've sworn off keeping chickens because I can't endure the heartbreak of losing any more. Hawks, foxes, raccoons, a dog, and I think possibly a family of possums consumed a total of eleven chickens at my house.



So I dedicate my review of this darling book in loving memory of Micker-Micker and Mrs. Miller, timid Penguin, big beautiful Barge, rock star Lou, Lou Two, three pullets that the kindergarten had raised from chicks, and two bad-tempered Polish hens whose names I can't remember. The funny, fun, beautiful photographs in Tillie Lays an Egg made me heave a wistful sigh thinking of how wonderful it was for my kids to have a chance to observe the life cycle firsthand, to think about food and where it comes from, and how nice it was to pet those gorgeous girls.

As you can probably tell from my photos, taking pictures of chickens is not easy. Either they are curious about the camera, and you get freaky close-up pictures of beaks and eyes - not the most attractive aspect of a chicken - or they are terrified of the camera, and run like idiots as soon as they see it. So the photographs in Tillie Lays an Egg, which are well-lit, in focus, and STAGED, for goodness sake! are not only entertaining, but really impressive.

As is the concept as a whole. Tillie, a chicken who thinks outside the coop, prefers wandering in search of worms to waiting for her turn in a nesting box. Every day she explores a different corner of the farm, and every day she lays her egg in an unexpected place. Children and adults have been observed enjoying the hunt for Tillie's eggs in each day's picture, and chuckling over the vintage chicken-themed items that pop up here and there - a chicken doormat, board games, table linens, and a juice glass that I covet.

I can't think of a more lovely hommage to these sometimes underappreciated farmyard friends, and I was so pleased to read that the chickens in the book - and all the chickeny props - are the author's own. I look forward to the further adventures of Tillie.

The Very Silly Mayor by Tom Tomorrow - review

The Very Silly Mayor by Tom Tomorrow
You know what? This is not bad! Bright colors, readable artwork, cops in clown costumes... yeah, I'm giving this the thumbs-up.

The worry, of course, with a kid book written by uber-snarkmeister cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, is that Mr. Tomorrow is writing for the parents - that the very silly mayor is in fact a member of the Bush family and Sparky the Penguin is doing his usual emperor-has-no-clothes schtick, and kids will find it amusing but parents will nod smugly. "That George Bush," they'll smirk internally. "What a dorkus."

But that is not what Tom Tomorrow has done here. Sure, you could read the very silly mayor, with his pronouncements that firefighters should use peanut butter to put out fires instead of water, and that everyone should paint their houses purple and green, as George Bush. But you could read the very silly mayor as just about any authority figure that people follow without question. Your third-grade teacher, for example.



The book is, in the end, about dissent. It's about speaking up when you don't understand something, or when you have an opinion, or when you think that cops can't possibly catch robbers when they're wearing clown shoes. Plus - silly!

Triplets turn three! Best books for three year olds

Our friends Heather and The Toddfather have triplets. Yep, a girl and two boys: C, D, and E, all three just as cute and full of fun as a pillowcase full of puppies. It's their birthday - they're three - as well as the birthday of the admirable Heather.

In their honor, I am running down the best books I know for three-year olds. Three is such a great age. They can stand a bit of story in their books, but not much. They get a few jokes. They like strong colors and funny noises. They're a little young for alphabet books, but counting books and colors go over well. Best of all, the end of diapers is in sight.



Ravenous Beast by Niamh Sharkey. Lots of visual cues and repeating elements - our boy Mao started "reading" this one out loud to himself when he was about 3.



Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta and Paul Stickland



The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman



Chicka chicka boom boom by Martin and Archambault. This book taught our Zhou all his letters before he was two. He was like a bar trick there for a while.



Sunshine by Jan Ormerod.



Bark, George by Jules Feiffer



I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by local hero Kevin McSherry, the t-shirt pimp of the Mt. Royal corridor.



The Pigeon books by Mo Willems, plus Leonardo, the Terrible Monster. I recently reviewed The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! here.



Not a Box and Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis. Here's what I wrote about Not a Box.



Penguin by Polly Dunbar



Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers



No, David! and the other David books by David Shannon



Bubble Bath Pirates and Good Night, Monkey Boy by Jarrett Krosoczka



Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. I just want to see Todd going, "Chee! Chee! Chee!".



Henny-Penny and Mrs. Mustard's Beastly Babies by Jane Wattenberg.



Good Night, Gorilla and 10 Minutes to Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann



Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett. Reviewed here earlier.



Living Color, Sisters and Brothers, and What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkins. Living Color reviewed here.



Runaway Dinner by Allan Ahlberg. This is the one that I said reads like Tom Waits.



Pigs from 1 to 10 by Arthur Geisert. I like the rest of Geisert's books for older kids.



Hello, Day by Anita Lobel. Reviewed here just the other day.



Color by Ella Doran. Reviewed here previously.



Grumpy Bird and Me Hungry! by Jeremy Tankard. Reviewed here previously.



Where is Coco Going? and the other Coco books by Sloane Tanen. Except the grown-up Coco books: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens, Going for the Bronze: Still Bitter, More Baggage, and Hatched!: The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood, although I totally recommend those for Heather.



Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Last but not least. A classic.

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.