Saturday, September 10, 2011
Poppy
by AviHarper Trophy
978 0 380 72769 8
This is one of those classics I've always thought I should read, and a favourite of many. It finally jumped off a shelf at me, and I took it home (no really, it did, when I pulled down something else for a patron!).
It's not the first of the series, as I had figured it would be, but a followup to Ragweed. Thankfully, it is not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this one, and I really didn't feel that I was missing much background starting here.
Poppy is a small mouse who lives in a field under the sadistic control of an owl who restricts their movements and eats them for any infraction. Not that he wouldn't eat them anyhow, but he enjoys their terror and gives them the illusion of safety and choice to play with them. Terrible stuff, but handled deftly, this.
After the owl eats Poppy's boyfriend and denied her family permission to move to a larger home with more food, Poppy takes matters into her own hands, and sets out to find out more about this new home. The owl, Mr. Ocax, is both panicked and enraged by her defiance, and tries to stop her, but she allies herself with a grouchy porcupine who helps her avoid him as she finds out what has Mr. Ocax so scared and returns to her family home. By the time she gets there, she has made fast friend of Ereth the porcupine, and Mr. Ocax has died, never to harrass the mice again, who can now move as they please. The scene is set for the next book of the five-book series.
These are fantastic animal tales in the vein of Redwall or the Rats of Nimh, with the small overthrowing the mighty, and the valiant taking the day. It's got some scary bits, of course, but on the whole is written to be pretty accessible even to grade two or three kids, if they are not the easily frightened type, like my girl is.
Labels: action/adventure, animal story, golden oldies, good stuff, middle grades
Friday, July 23, 2010
Maybelle - Cockroach With Ambition
Maybelle in the Soup
Maybelle Goes to Tea
by Katie Speck
Maybelle is a cockroach. She lives in the apartment of a couple who like everything Just So - no dust, no mess, and no bugs. There are rules that help keep a cockroach alive in this kind of situation, and she knows them, but, well, she really, really wants to taste food that isn't a leftover crumb, you see, and that ambition tempts her into some dangerous situations, along with her friend, the flea who occasionally hops onto the cat for his own snacks.
Whenever Maybelle's wishes overtake her good sense, the two find themselves off on an adventures of some sort, precipitated by an urgent need to flee (heh, heh) when they are noticed by a human and must hide in a hurry and find safe shelter while the humans try to make sure there can be no bugs left in their apartment.
These predicaments are fast-paced, funny, and easy to read, making these books a great pick for an early chapter reader.
Maybelle Goes to Tea
by Katie Speck
Maybelle is a cockroach. She lives in the apartment of a couple who like everything Just So - no dust, no mess, and no bugs. There are rules that help keep a cockroach alive in this kind of situation, and she knows them, but, well, she really, really wants to taste food that isn't a leftover crumb, you see, and that ambition tempts her into some dangerous situations, along with her friend, the flea who occasionally hops onto the cat for his own snacks.
Whenever Maybelle's wishes overtake her good sense, the two find themselves off on an adventures of some sort, precipitated by an urgent need to flee (heh, heh) when they are noticed by a human and must hide in a hurry and find safe shelter while the humans try to make sure there can be no bugs left in their apartment.
These predicaments are fast-paced, funny, and easy to read, making these books a great pick for an early chapter reader.
Labels: 2007, 2008, action/adventure, animal story, early chapters, friendship, good stuff, humour
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Publisher Review: Unicorn Races
by Stephen J. Brooks, ill. Linda Crockett. From Purple Sky Publishing, a small press from Missouri.
First: here's my promise about Publisher Reviews, reviews of books which, like this one, have been sent to me by the publisher for review.
Second: This book was suggested to me by the publisher as possibly fitting the category of Advanced Picture Book. Here's a little information about those in general and what they are.
This picture books announces from the sparkly-titled, purply-hued, puffy-textured front cover that it is a book for a girly girl. The inside pages, in illustration and in story, follow this through and won't disappoint the frilliest, most princess-and-unicorn obssessed of young ones.
I am, I will be honest, not a girly girl or particularly in love with overly girly stories, so my first reaction to this is not to b drawn in, but to approach with caution! Knowing this of myself, I decided to test this one on someone who is a girly girl - my daughter, Pumpkinpie, of nearly four years of age. And much as it is not what I would choose, it is now a nightly read because it is right up her alley.
The story is simple - a young girl sneaks out at bedtime in her finest princess garb, mounts a unicorn, and rides away to a magic clearing filled with fairies, elves, and unicorns, who will race in the moonlight. The princess decides the winner, and rides back to bed as the fairies begin a great goodie-laden feast. Whether this is dream or fantasy or real live magic is left unclear, and not addressed.
The illustrations are, thoughout, suffused with pink and purple and a sort of glow about the characters that suggests magic. They are, in some places, quite realistic, while in other places have a touch of impressionism about them. For someone like Pumpkinpie, who adores this sort of thing, they are quite lovely, in fact, although they are not, as I say, to my personal taste.
Although I had hoped this would be a more advanced picture book to be more in line with this site's usual age ranges, it was quite suitable for someone as young as three, like Pumpkinpie, as the content is quite gentle. I can see, though, that a girl of 7 or 8 who was reading early chapters with a girly bent such as the My Secret Unicorn series or any of a number of the fairy series available right now would love it. I certainly have plenty of girls in that older age bracket at the library still asking for slightly schlocky princess-y stuffthat makes me cringe a bit - and they would adore it!
This book is available through the publisher or from Amazon.
First: here's my promise about Publisher Reviews, reviews of books which, like this one, have been sent to me by the publisher for review.
Second: This book was suggested to me by the publisher as possibly fitting the category of Advanced Picture Book. Here's a little information about those in general and what they are.
This picture books announces from the sparkly-titled, purply-hued, puffy-textured front cover that it is a book for a girly girl. The inside pages, in illustration and in story, follow this through and won't disappoint the frilliest, most princess-and-unicorn obssessed of young ones.
I am, I will be honest, not a girly girl or particularly in love with overly girly stories, so my first reaction to this is not to b drawn in, but to approach with caution! Knowing this of myself, I decided to test this one on someone who is a girly girl - my daughter, Pumpkinpie, of nearly four years of age. And much as it is not what I would choose, it is now a nightly read because it is right up her alley.
The story is simple - a young girl sneaks out at bedtime in her finest princess garb, mounts a unicorn, and rides away to a magic clearing filled with fairies, elves, and unicorns, who will race in the moonlight. The princess decides the winner, and rides back to bed as the fairies begin a great goodie-laden feast. Whether this is dream or fantasy or real live magic is left unclear, and not addressed.
The illustrations are, thoughout, suffused with pink and purple and a sort of glow about the characters that suggests magic. They are, in some places, quite realistic, while in other places have a touch of impressionism about them. For someone like Pumpkinpie, who adores this sort of thing, they are quite lovely, in fact, although they are not, as I say, to my personal taste.
Although I had hoped this would be a more advanced picture book to be more in line with this site's usual age ranges, it was quite suitable for someone as young as three, like Pumpkinpie, as the content is quite gentle. I can see, though, that a girl of 7 or 8 who was reading early chapters with a girly bent such as the My Secret Unicorn series or any of a number of the fairy series available right now would love it. I certainly have plenty of girls in that older age bracket at the library still asking for slightly schlocky princess-y stuffthat makes me cringe a bit - and they would adore it!
This book is available through the publisher or from Amazon.
Labels: 2007, Advanced Picture Books, animal story, girly, Publisher Reviews
Monday, August 06, 2007
Cassie Loves Beethoven
by Alan Arkin.
This book would make a wonderful read-aloud for a child maybe 5-10 years old. Why the wide range? Well, it's gentle enough for a younger child who can sit still long enough for a chapter or two a night but needs light themes, but is fun and has enough depth of feeling and discussable ideas to suit an older kid, too.
It is, in short, about a cow who discovers classical music and the awe of Beethoven. Well, I certainly can relate to that, because he is my favourite, too. She becomes determined to learn to play his music, to feel it deeply, to taste what it might have been like to be him, to have the soul she hears in the notes. The book writes beautifully about music and its power to move the spirit - you can really hear the author's own love for it. Cassie the cow does, in the end, learn a valuable lesson, too, but the lesson is not that harsh, and the book never takes on a lesson-giving tone. While not as funny as I had been led to expect, this was nonetheless a great read, and one that I will keep in mind for a couple of years from now.
This book would make a wonderful read-aloud for a child maybe 5-10 years old. Why the wide range? Well, it's gentle enough for a younger child who can sit still long enough for a chapter or two a night but needs light themes, but is fun and has enough depth of feeling and discussable ideas to suit an older kid, too.
It is, in short, about a cow who discovers classical music and the awe of Beethoven. Well, I certainly can relate to that, because he is my favourite, too. She becomes determined to learn to play his music, to feel it deeply, to taste what it might have been like to be him, to have the soul she hears in the notes. The book writes beautifully about music and its power to move the spirit - you can really hear the author's own love for it. Cassie the cow does, in the end, learn a valuable lesson, too, but the lesson is not that harsh, and the book never takes on a lesson-giving tone. While not as funny as I had been led to expect, this was nonetheless a great read, and one that I will keep in mind for a couple of years from now.
Labels: 2000, animal story, early chapters, good stuff, middle grades, music theme
