Hey, That's MY Monster! by Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam

Ethan has his very own monster under the bed. Gabe is the perfect monster for Ethan -- scary enough to keep him in bed at night but not to keep him from sleeping. But, then Gabe leaves Ethan a note:

So long, kid. 

Gotta go. 

Someone needs me

more than you do.

               --Gabe

The "someone" is Ethan's little sister, Emma. Emma is a happy little girl and not easily frightened. She likes to climb out of her toddler bed, roam the house, and play noisy games at night.

I knew a monster would keep her 
in bed so she could fall asleep.
But not MY monster!
I had to get Gabe back.

Now, Gabe is under Emma's bed and Ethan says he'll get Emma to sleep. Anything to get Gabe back. Gabe is skeptical but says he'll give Ethan three chances. "If she's not asleep, I'll be back!" And, then Gabe disappears. To summon a monster, you must knock on the floor. Ethan encourages Emma to knock, but the monsters just make her giggle. She's not afraid at all! She laughs at a disgusting mucus monster and tells it to wipe. A second monster has a long tail and claws. Emma just decorates the monster's tail with bracelets. The third monster has tentacles. Emma high-fives one of the tentacles and hops over others like she's playing jump rope.

Oh, no! What is Ethan going to do? He's about to lose Gabe, forever!

Fortunately, it all works out and Ethan gets his monster back. And, I can't imagine any child not enjoying the journey. I reviewed I Need My Monster way back in 2012 and it was one of my favorite picture books, that year, because I was so in love with the storyline and the illustrations. Hey, That's MY Monster! is every bit as fun and the illustrations absolutely pop: the colors, the details in the background, even the digustingness of a slimy monster with too many drippy noses are all marvelous.

Highly recommended - So stinking cute! I'm a fan of monsters and aliens and Hey, That's MY Monster! does not disappoint. Great illustrations, a fun storyline, and a great batch of monsters all trying and failing to get little Emma to bed (it's the hiccuping sister of Gabe who finally manages to frighten little Emma under the covers) make this monster book a winner. I highly recommend buying the first book, I Need My Monster, along with Hey, That's MY Monster! for gift-giving or just for fun fall reading. With Halloween coming up, you have a perfect excuse to read about monsters to the little ones in your world.

Side note: This is my second post, today. There will be no Monday Malarkey, today. Malarkey will return, next week!


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Maya was Grumpy, written and illus. by Courtney Pippin-Mathur - #4 for Children's Day

Maya was Grumpy by Courtney Pippin-Mathur just happened to arrive after one of those days that I grumped around the house all day and even coffee wasn't doing the trick.  Excellent timing.  I smiled and even laughed out loud a little because I could so totally relate to little grumpy Maya.

She didn't know why she was grumpy.
She was just in a 
crispy, cranky,
grumpy, 
grouchy
mood.

She didn't want to read
or color or eat banana chips,
or wear her favorite shorts, or go outside and play.

The only thing Maya wanted to do
was grouch around the house and share her bad mood.

Yeah, exactly.  And, obviously, she was having every bit as bad a hair day as I was.  Haha.  Fortunately, Maya has one of those terrific grandmothers with a crazy sense of humor.

"Well then," said Gramma, "I guess that means 
no hunting for hippos after breakfast."

After Gramma talks about not being able to stick her head in a crocodile, swing with the monkeys or slide down the neck of a giraffe, etc., with Maya grumping the whole time, finally she weasles a smile and a hug out of Maya and fixes her hair.  You can usually peek into Flashlight Press books at their website (link leads to info about Maya was Grumpy), but I don't see a link to an inside view for this one.  Trust me, it's great, though.

After Gramma fixes Maya's hair, they go to the playground, where all the animal references make sense.  There's a hippo-shaped sandbox, monkey bars with a monkey figure hanging at the end, a giraffe slide, an open crocodile-mouth tunnel to climb into.  That makes for a very smile-worthy and perfect wrap-up.

Highly recommended - Hilarious and perfect to read on a cranky day.  Gorgeous, bright, funny illustrations, a great story and a perfect conclusion made Maya was Grumpy a personal favorite.

Maya was Grumpy is my final review of 4 for Children's Day.  Next up will be a recap of this week's posts, since I have written quite a few, then on to my review and F2F report on the discussion about Kate Atkinson's Life After Life.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Being Frank by Donna Earnhardt & Andrea Castellani

Being Frank is the story of what happens when a person blurts out whatever is on his or her mind, for better or worse.  

Frank's motto is, "Honesty is the best policy." But, he's a little too frank when he speaks.  He tells people exactly what he thinks -- and his honesty is getting him into trouble.  He tells his mother she's wrinkled, describes a friend's freckles in a way that offends her and tells another girl her singing voice is screechy.

Pretty soon, Frank has made nearly everyone around him angry (except for the police officers, with whom he's shared the fact that his mother was driving too fast).  Frank asks his grandfather for help and learns how to be honest in a positive way.

You can actually see the entire book online: Being Frank at the Flashlight Press website. Just click on the image of Being Frank (or the words "Look Inside") and a PDF version will pop up.  

I love this story.  It is colorful, funny and provides a nice object lesson.  I found myself smiling as I read the book, which is pretty much a guarantee that a book is going to be a favorite.  The quality of books published by Flashlight Press is always consistently top-notch, as well.  There's a nice, shiny cover that exactly matches the slipcover.  With children's books, I prefer to remove the cover while reading and then replace it when I put the book back on the shelf.  And, they do often get torn to pieces, so you have to appreciate it when a wrecked jacket won't mean a less attractive book.  Highly recommended.

In other news:

Our sofa arrives tomorrow!!  Excitement!

Book news:

I received a package of 4 Christmas books from Sterling Kids and The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories 2  from Harper It on Monday evening.  Since I promptly sat down and read them all, I've just thrown myself even further behind on reviews.  I'll keep on cranking them out, as fast as I can!

Both of my current reads ended up getting ditched, last night.  How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard is funny at times, but it's a bit dry.  Still, I thought I'd read it because it's a F2F group selection.  Unfortunately, the book contains spoilers.  I have not yet read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, but I have a copy and I also have a pretty decent memory so I wasn't thrilled when Bayard went into great gasping detail, explaining the entire plot and how the main character managed to deduce the content of a mysterious book and solve a murder without having read the book in question.  But, I kept going . . . until it seemed he was about to do the same thing to Graham Greene's The Third Man.  Well, that did it.  I've been planning to read The Third Man soon (assuming I can find my copy) and I really am not a skimmer, so I wasn't willing to keep going and just tossed the book aside.

Unfortunately, I also managed to miss my F2F meeting.  I was too tired to drive the 30 miles.  Bummer.  But, I had a fun evening photographing cats in Christmas bows.

The White Forest by Adam McOmber also went on the DNF pile, although I'll give it a second shot.  I have read only a single chapter per night and it's a book that demands fuller attention than I'm able to give it at the moment.  What little I read (about 6 chapters) was interesting, though.  Weird, but interesting.

I'm now reading Outside In by Maria V. Snyder and Underground by Haruki Murakami.

That's all for now!  Happy middle-of-the-week!  Wahoo!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Victricia Malicia, Book-Loving Buccaneer by Clickard & Myers - #4 for Children's Day

Victricia Malicia, Book-Loving Buccaneer by Carrie Clickard

Illustrated by Mark Myers

Copyright 2012

Flashlight Press - Children's (Ages 4-8)

32 pages

Last review for Children's Day, a wee bit late because the afternoon heat turned me into a big lump of blah and I got a bit sidetracked (bought groceries, fixed supper, watched a movie).

Victricia Malicia is about a girl born to a family of pirates. But, she really just wants to read and live on dry land:

Victricia Malicia Calamity Barrett

was born on the deck of the Potbellied Parrot.

Her mom was the captain. Her dad, the ship's cook.

Her grandma was proud of her peg leg and hook.

But despite a tradition since sixteen-o-three

for every last Barrett to set out to sea,

plund'ring and looting

and pirate pursuiting,

Victricia detested it vehemently.

Victricia Malicia was sick of the sea.

Those are the words on the opening page. You have to love this book right off the bat because the author chose to make Victricia's mother the captain and her father the ship's cook, don't you?

The text of Victricia Malicia is so terrific that I feel like just describing it is kind of pitiful, but I'll go ahead and tell you about it, then you can dash off to read the pdf of Victricia Malicia and see the whole thing for yourself. Basically, it goes on to say her distaste for the sea was not her family's fault, "They raised her up right. They gave her a name filled with menace and fright," and describes how she learned her first words from a parrot, learned to tie knots from Uncle Hank (whom she's tied to the mast), etc.

In spite of all her wonderful pirate education, Victricia taught herself to read -- and reading was simply her best skill. She's shown falling from the rigging because she's not great at tying knots. With wrinkled nose, she's shown trying to cook but her cooking, the book says, "caused rats to abandon the ship." Here is where the book begins to be a real booklover's joy. When Victricia is falling from the rigging, you see a book hanging on the ropes. I turned my copy of Victricia Malicia to read the title and laughed. It's Macrame for Beginners. When she's shown cooking, the book beside her is Betty Wanna Cracker Cookbook.

As the story continues describing Victricia's un-pirate-like preferences, both real book titles and funny fake ones are shown.

Eventually, Victricia causes an accident and everyone agrees she should be let off at an island. But, then the same thing that caused the accident saves everyone from a sea serpent. Still, Victricia would rather be set on dry land and she's taken to shore. She goes into town and opens a bookstore. Now dressed in landlubber clothing, Victricia even reads to the pirates when they're in port -- and turns the entire crew into such reading addicts that the ship becomes a floating library.

My thoughts:

What a fun book! Bright, cheerful illustrations in vivid colors, clever writing with some challenging vocabulary words (opportunities to teach!) and a great storyline make this comfortably rhythmic book a delight. All the book titles crammed into its pages make reading the book doubly fun. Highly recommended.

There's a trailer for Victricia Malicia at the Flashlight Press website. I usually don't care much for book trailers but I enjoyed this one.

I received my copy of Victricia Malicia unsolicited from Flashlight Press. My thanks to the people at Flashlight! Since you can't pick up the book and feel it, I'll just tell you their books are hardcover with jackets but you can toss your jacket aside if you're worried about it. The cover beneath is identical. Inside the book, the front endpapers have a cutaway view of a ship with objects and actions (like walking the plank) labeled. The back endpapers look like an unlabeled treasure map. Cool.

That's all for Children's Day! It's 11:38 PM. Whew! Cutting it close, eh?

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

I Need My Monster by Noll & McWilliam - #3 for Children's Day

I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll & Howard McWilliam

Copyright 2009

Flashlight Press - Children's (Ages 5 & up)

32 pages

Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it. I Need My Monster is my absolute favorite, so far, in today's book pile. It's funny, clever and the illustrations are fabulous. Adults will want to just sit and stare, taking in the detail -- even the angles the illustrator used are fascinating.

I Need My Monster turns the typical "monster under the bed" story concept on its head. Instead of a child who is worried about monsters, the protagonist, Ethan, is used to his monster, Gabe. Gabe is the perfect amount of scary - enough to keep Ethan in bed but not enough to keep him from sleeping. When Gabe leaves a note saying he's gone fishing for a week, Ethan is horrified. How will he sleep without Gabe's ragged breathing and the scary claws that remind him it's best to stay tucked in for the night?

Ethan decides he needs another monster, so he knocks on the floor and another monster appears. Unfortunately, Ethan is not satisfied. Gabe has scary claws that scratch the floor. This monster, Herbert, does not. His name isn't quite right, either. Herbert leaves and another monster appears. The next one has polished claws and tidy fur. Not good enough. The third has scary claws and a slimy tail but Ethan is horrified to see a bow on the tale. He needs a boy monster, not a girl monster!

Ethan wonders if he'll ever find a decent replacement for Gabe.

Was I being too picky? NO!

I knew that my new monster needed to be

well-clawed and menacing.

The whole point of having a monster, after all,

was to keep me in bed, imagining all the

scary stuff that could happen if I got out.

The next monster that shows up has a long tongue. Ethan nearly falls out of the bed laughing.

But, finally, Gabe reappears. Fishing, he says, is not challenging enough.

"You, however, are challenging,

my friend. You're almost too old

to be afraid of monsters.

You keep me on my toes.

Ah, toes . . . a delicious snack."

Gabe scratches on the bedpost, snorts comfortingly and eats a pillow, among other things. Ethan is happy. His perfect monster has returned.

My thoughts:

Well, you already know I love this book and obviously highly recommend it. I can't say enough wonderful things about the illustrations, but naturally you don't have to take my word for it. You can see inside the book because it's from Flashlight Press! Here's the pdf of I Need My Monster. I love the story as much as the illustrations. I'd give this one a perfect 5/5 rating, if I felt like using numbers.

In which I address the complaints at Amazon:

I went to Amazon to find out the number of pages in I Need My Monster because I've found dashing over to Amazon the quickest way to get info. While there, I noticed there was a 3-star review and a few 4-stars. I Need My Monster has mostly 5-star reviews and it has won a boat-load of awards, so I was curious. I like knowing what people don't like about a book.

And, the big complaints?

1. Some people considered the fact that Ethan doesn't want a girl monster a "gender issue" that must be addressed by parents.

I must admit I think that's totally silly. If I had a little girl, I'd just remind her that Ethan is not satisfied with any of the substitute monsters. He's obviously rejecting every monster because what he really wants is what he's already accustomed to. He just wants Gabe back.

2. There was a slight concern that the book might cause nightmares, depending on the child.

That's a distinct possibility and worth considering. On the other hand, I Need My Monster could very well help children who are frightened of the dark to laugh about what they fear. I'd definitely keep the sensitivity of my child in mind.

The bottom line:

Love it, highly recommend it, would buy it for any child I read to. One of my children was terrified of the book Jumanji. If you're worried that it might be too frightening, you can always read the book to your child online and see how it goes. I'm hanging onto this one for future grandchildren.

I confess that I begged to review I Need My Monster because I loved the artwork in When a Dragon Moves In, which is also illustrated by Howard McWilliam.

One more review for Children's Day coming soon!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

I Always, Always Get My Way by Thad Krasnesky & David Parkins - #1 for Children's Day

I Always, Always Get My Way by Krasnesky & Parkins

Copyright 2009

Flashlight Press - Children's (Ages 5 and up)

32 pages

Emmy is three years old and she's a typical, active girl. She spills orange juice on her father's work pants and upsets him, as the book opens, but Mom says:

"Now, sweetheart, you should let it be.

After all . . . she's only three."

Those are Emmy's favorite words. She gets off the hook for all sorts of trouble-making until she asks her dad if she can "hide a treasure like a pirate queen". Dad agrees but tells her, "Just stay clean."

Little Emmy draws a treasure map, dresses like a pirate and digs a hole, into which she throws her sister's rings, her brother's boot . . . and then she goes in the house to grab the silverware, leaving muddy tracks on the floor and chair. This is where the story turns.

Emmy's dad makes her put back all her "pirate loot", vacuum the rug and refill the hole she dug in the yard. She thinks she shouldn't have to clean.

"I know Mom would agree with me.

After all . . . I'm only three."

But, then Emmy creates another disaster when she gets up early, raids the refrigerator and gets food all over the place. This time Mom makes her clean up.

The last straw comes when Emmy decides to play with her brother's lizard. She dresses "Steve", fills the bathtub and plunks all of her sister's shoes in the water, looking for one that will float so Steve can have a boat. Then, the lizard runs off and Emmy leaves the water going, flooding the bathroom, hall and bedroom. Big brother is angry that Emmy has taken his lizard. Mom is angry because the lizard frightened her. Dad's peeved about the flooding and big sis is upset because all of her shoes are ruined.

Emmy gets sent to bed and I Always, Always Get My Way ends on this note:

"I sadly closed my bedroom door.

I may be here until I'm four."

My thoughts:

I loved That Cat Can't Stay by Krasnesky and Parkins and figured I'd enjoy pretty much anything they did together. When I started reading, though, I thought I wasn't going to like this story. Emmy's such a typical three-year-old and mine were so difficult at that age! It did seem like she was going to get away with an awful lot because she was "only three." Then, of course, she began to have to pay the consequences and I sighed with relief. When reading to young children, I do believe it's good to have a strong theme and "action leads to consequences" is a good one.

Recommendation:

Definitely recommended. Wonderful, goofy-expressive illustrations,comfortable read-aloud rhyming and a solid theme make I Always, Always Get My Way a winner. The only thing I thought might be a little off was the fact that Emmy is so precocious. But, then . . . mine were at that age and I recall having a tiny broom and dustpan for them to use when they made messes (long gone, now). The story is a good reminder that responsibility for one's actions should be taught early.

One of the wonderful things about Flashlight Press Books is that you can actually read the books in their entirety at their website by clicking on the words "Look Inside!" just above the cover image. Here's the pdf site for I Always, Always Get My Way. What a great way for parents, grandparents, aunts, etc. to find out whether or not the book is the right choice!

This is Book #1 for Children's Day. More reviews forthcoming!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Pobble's Way by Simon Van Booy and Wendy Edelson

Pobble's Way by Simon Van Booy and Wendy Edelson

Copyright 2010

Flashlight Press - Children's (Ages 5 and up)

32 pages

Reason for reading: I am crazy about the children's books published by Flashlight Press because they're consistently excellent and the printing is high quality -- nice, shiny hardback covers beneath match slipcovers and the pages are a nice weight. So I asked if I could review a few of their backlist titles ("begged" might be a more appropriate word). Simon Van Booy is, of course, one of my favorite authors and Pobble's Way is a book I've been anxious to read.

Brief summary: Pobble and her daddy go for a walk in the snow, one evening. When Pobble loses one of her pink mittens, the woodland animals all have a different idea of what exactly that pink fuzzy thing might be.

Pobble's Way is a charming and creative story. Before Pobble loses her mitten, she and her father play an imaginative game.

Daddy smiled and pointed to a floating leaf.

"What is it, Daddy?" Pobble asked.

"It's a butterfly raft!" he said

Pobble giggled.

Just below is an illustration of a butterfly on a floating leaf. Another leaf, the sail, is held in place by a twig.

"My turn now," Pobble called, pointing

at some chubby winter mushrooms.

"Look at those, Daddy"

"What are they?" he asked.

"Frog umbrellas!" Pobble announced.

Daddy laughed.

Adorable! The illustrations are really just perfect. The humans look human but their clothing is wildly colorful, the leaves bright and cheery, the snowy background shades of purple and blue with white highlights, and the animals are pretty, not cutesy.

After Pobble's mitten is lost, the animals theorize about the mitten, each thinking it wildly different. The squirrel thinks it's cotton candy, the mouse claims it's an emergency mouse house (the cut-away illustration of three mice sleeping inside the mitten with tiny pillows, blankets and a book, shown below, is my absolute favorite illustration), the owl thinks it's a wing warmer, and so forth. Finally, the deer corrects them all, explaining that it is a mitten and they're meant to keep children's hands warm in the winter.

Just then, Daddy crunches through the snow and the animals dive for cover. He finds the mitten and asks Pobble what it is.

"Oooh, Daddy," Pobble gasped,

"it's a baby cloud!"

The animals laugh, except for the sleeping mouse, and the book ends with a lovely description of the moon.

5/5 - Highly recommended! A clever and beautifully-written story and gorgeous, bright illustrations that are more realistic than cartoonish make Pobble's Way the kind of book I get all gushy about. I just love it. I think it could easily be read to children as young as 3, just depending upon the individual. There's nothing particularly girly about Pobble's Way; little boys will love it, too. As much as it's a tale that encourages creative thinking, it's also a story of a sweet and loving relationship between a father and child.

The endpapers are also wonderful - a map showing Pobble's House and the woods, with the animals' homes labeled and illustrations of each animal next to its home. I wish I could show you a little more of the inside. I snatched two of my favorite images from Amazon because I let my camera battery run low, but I've since been informed that you can look inside every title at the Flashlight Press site. Click on the "Look Inside" button above the image to see inside Pobble's Way.

In keeping with the purple that seems to be running heavily through this post, I give you an iris from bulbs my mother brought me about a decade ago. I have more iris photos I'll share, eventually. They were pretty breathtaking, this year. Some years they take time off from blooming, but not this year!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie by Jacobs & Jewett

Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie by Laurie A. Jacobs, illustrated by Anne Jewett, tells the story of two little girls who enjoy an evening of babysitting with their nutty grandmother. When Grandma Tillie shows up, Sophie and Chloe know they're in for a treat, even though:

Grandma Tillie says she is too old to play games.

She says all she likes to do is sit and knit.

The moment their parents leave, though, Grandma Tillie disappears into the closet and reemerges with a giant pink wig, saying it's time for the "Tillie Vanilly Show".

Tillie Vanilly can recite the alphabet

backwards while balancing on one leg.

She can hang a spoon from her nose.

And she can juggle and tell jokes

at the same time.

She tells a few jokes and starts up a conga line that leads to the kitchen. Then, she trades her pink wig for a lampshade hat and becomes Chef Silly Tillie. After feeding Sophie and Chloe, she sends them to the bathroom to wash their hands and shows up wearing sparkly eyeglasses and a bathroom towel on her head, wrapped like a turban. Madame Frilly Tillie gives the girls their bath, including a bubble beard for one and a tower of bubbles on the head of the other.

But, at bedtime, the real Grandma Tillie returns to read a bedtime story. And, Sophie says:

But as I close my eyes,

I'm sure I hear my Silly

Frilly Grandma Tillie

dancing down the hall.

You can see more of the artist's work, including images from Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie at Anne Jewett's Art Blog. While I thought the cat looked a bit like a chipmunk and I can't say I was a fan of the giant pink wig, I loved the artwork and I like the creativity of the storyline. Some little girls may wish for a crazy grandmother after having Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie read to them. And, I'm sure little boys would enjoy the book, too, since it's directed at small enough children that a whole lot of pink and all girls won't make a difference to them.

Recommended - A creative, playful storyline with bold, happy illustrations make Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie a winner. Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie was just released by Flashlight Press.

Silly Isabel checks out a stuffed cockatoo, one of many treasures I found whilst "cleaning" the closet, this weekend:

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister by Lodding & Beaky

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister by Linda Ravin Lodding

Illustrated by Suzanne Beaky

Copyright 2011

Children's Fiction (Ages 4-8)

Flashlight Press

32 pages

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister is the delightful story of a young girl whose working parents have booked her solid with daily after-school activities. She takes lessons in knitting, tuba, yodeling, sculpture, water ballet and karate. Her parents mean well, although they don't realize Ernestine yearns to just play like her next-door neighbor, Hugo. When her father leaves for work, he says, "Live life to the fullest, Ern!" Her mother says, "Make every moment count, E!" as she heads out to catch the bus.

One day, Ernestine gets a scathingly brilliant idea. She hides her calendar and her nanny's phone, then zips across the street to the park, where she and Nanny happily play. Meanwhile, Ernestine's yodeling instructor informs Mrs. Buckmeister that her daughter has not shown up for her lesson. Mr. & Mrs. Buckmeister go from one class to another, asking if anyone has seen Ernestine and becoming increasingly frazzled. They arrive home exhausted, with a fresh understanding of why Ernestine looks so pale. Then they hear laughter across the street and find their daughter in the park. Ernestine explains what she and her nanny have been up to and asks if she can drop a few of her extra-curricular classes.

"But how will you live life to the fullest without sculpting and swimming?" asked Mr. Buckmeister.

"Right," Mrs. Buckmeister agreed. "And how will you make every moment count without yoga and yodeling?"

"Like this," Ernestine said.

Here, you see an illustration of Ernestine with her arms spread wide, her eyes closed, breathing in the fresh air.

Everyone inhaled. Then they exhaled.

"My, the view is heavenly," said Mrs. Buckmeister.

Ernestine gets her way. Her mother takes up gardening. Her father builds a treehouse. Ernestine still practices karate and plays the tuba, but with her friend Hugo.

And sometimes she just plays.

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister almost seems geared more to the parents who will read the book to their children than to a small child, at least thematically. It's a meaningful but nicely silly story with cheerful, goofy, colorful illustrations. The author was particularly clever at naming Ernestine's teachers. She takes sculpting from Mr. Lumpkin. Mrs. Goldfisher teaches water ballet. Mrs. Stichem is her knitting instructor. Karate is taught by Grand Master Hi Ya. Nanny O'Dear says "Oh, Dear," quite a bit as she finds Ernestine's calendar of activities complex enough to make the occasional error.

Illustration-wise, I particularly love the fact that the "cast" -- teachers, friends and classmates -- is ethnically mixed. And, Ernestine's two cats add a bit of adorable fun to the depictions of Ernestine's home interior.

The bottom line:

A bright and playfully illustrated, immensely clever story about how living life to the fullest can be accomplished without exhausting oneself by cramming in as many activities as possible. The only thing I did not like about The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister was the occasional sequence within an illustration, showing the characters progressing, say, down a hill. For some reason, I thought that might be a little confusing. I could be wrong. I'm going to ask one of my teacher friends what she thinks, and I'll try to remember to report back on that after my blogging break.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

When a Dragon Moves In by Moore and McWilliam

When a Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore

Illustrated by Howard McWilliam

Copyright 2011

Flashlight Press/Ages 4-8

32 pages

If you build a perfect sandcastle,

a dragon will move in.

He'll settle in all cozy

and peep at you from inside . . .

. . . and you'll wonder how you ever got so lucky.

When a little boy spends a day at the beach and builds a beautiful sandcastle, a dragon moves in. The dragon toasts marshmallows, holds up the little boy's kites, scares bullies away. He roars (like the sound of the ocean), has sharp teeth (like broken shells) and eats a little too much of the family's food. As you read When a Dragon Moves In, you are clearly shown that the dragon is simply a figment of the little boy's imagination. His father lounges on the beach and chases away the bullies, mother reads her book and hears the sound of the ocean, not a roar.

What a beautiful, imaginative, perfect picture book for preschoolers! I love the way the illustrator's cheerful paintings make it plain that the dragon isn't real and it's okay for youngsters to pretend -- but careful what you try to slip past the rest of the family. Blaming your misdeeds on an imaginary friend only goes so far!

Highly recommended for little ones and new readers. My thanks to Flashlight Press for the review copy!

In other news:

Gosh. I'm having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things. Huzzybuns put down about 3/4 of the office floor while I was away and I've spent the last three days catching up on laundry, moving books from cabinets that need to be moved, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Oh, yes -- and editing Charleston photos. Too many! Did I tell you I took about 2,000 photos? Eeks.

Anyway, back to the flooring. I'm going to have to move the computer and the desk has developed a little paper entropy (piles, piles, where do they come from?) so first I have to tidy that. I think, since I have over a week till my tour and only one more book finished, I'll go ahead and write a little about Charleston is Burning! then just show up when I find the time. As I've said before, posting is going to have to be very sporadic, this summer, and blog-hopping is just a, "When I can get to it," thing. There's a lot of not-getting-to-it going on. Things should settle down in the fall. I hope.

Want to see a photo of three chicks on a Charleston adventure? Here you go:

Left to right: Bookfool, Care and Cindi. That's not a great shot of Care, so I'll share one I think is much better with you. In this shot, Care's wearing the dress I kept telling her she ought to buy! Doesn't she look cute?

Gotta go clean, clean, clean. Happy day!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.