The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish Neil Gaiman illust Dave McKean Borealis
ages: 4-7
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goldfish cover When looking at the cover of this book you might think it looks too funky, probably a parents' children's book. I took a chance with it. I was pleasantly surprised to find a complete plot, engaging illustration and a bit of a dig at dads. What more could you want?
When Mom gets home to find that Dad has been swapped to Nathan in exchange for two goldfish, she demands that her son and innocent daughter retrieve him. But it is too late. Because he sits with a newspaper in front of his face the whole time, Nathan swaps him for an electric guitar. After much hunting they finally swap him back for a rabbit named Galveston.
McKean's pictures are skillfully drawn. Collage, pastel, watercolour and a handwritten text add a lot to the story of lost and found. On the other hand you might want to keep it away from kids lest they get any ideas.
Mangaboom by Charlotte Pomerantz illust Anita Lobel Greenwillow Books
ages: 3-7
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Have you ever met an eligible giant? Do you know what a jacaranda tree looks like? Do you know how to say "bear hug" in Spanish? Mangaboom is a whimsical love story. It will introduce you to three eligible giants, a doting auntie and a very tall, outspoken, liberated giant who lives in the top of a mango tree with her pet goat.
Mangaboom is a joyful creature who accidentally meets a little boy when he steps into her shoe. She leaves a shoe at the foot of her tree as a place to collect her post. He is briefly visiting the area and the two get along immediately. She includes him in the goings on in her life and thus we get a glimpse of the life of a modern giant in an old-fashioned world.
The delightful aspects of Mangaboom are the bold and expressive drawings of the giants' woodsy world, and the amusing language.
The book is long, as picture books go. It could have benefited from some editing. One might avoid it on the grounds that you could read three or four shorter books in the same amount of time. But Mangaboom will grow on you. It may take weeks before you find yourself using expressions such as "caramba!", but it will happen.
Besides the unusual phrases that Mangaboom and her friends use, the text is peppered with Spanish words, and variations on the theme of "fee, fi, fo, fum". The characters all have interesting names which match their wonderful clothing.
Although the main theme of Mangaboom is about friendship and love, feminism is certainly an undercurrent. Mangaboom has strong likes and dislikes and she will not be pushed around. Daniel, her small friend, supports her in her liberation especially when one of the eligible giants says that a woman should stay at home and listen to her husband. At a time where roles are changing and many children take it for granted that women work out of the home, it is nice to have a catalyst to discuss the issues involved in women's emancipation. Equally, one could ignore that subplot and just bask in the theme of affection.
Surprise! Surprise! It's Grandfather's Birthday! by Barbara Ann Porte illust Bo Jia Greenwillow Books
ages: 3-7
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Barbara Ann Porte has broken a fundamental rule of children's book writing. She spends nearly half her latest book introducing the characters, instead of diving head first into the plot. She does not acquaint you with her characters through action in the narrative but rather through straight descriptions of them. And surprise, surprise, it works.
The story begins with a typical sentence from the thoughts of a Jewish grandmother, "In this family are seven grandchildren. All of them are good looking and talented." Porte then proceeds to introduce the seven and their strange habits and their parents' responses. Jonquetta likes to cross her eyes, though her mother warns her that they'll stick. Stacey wiggles her ears but her mother wishes that she would spend her time being tidy instead. Anna walks around with a chicken singing "La Cucaracha" which she learned in school. Terrence likes to scare people by hiding and then shouting "Boo!". This last habit is what causes the plot to gain momentum.
Perhaps the slow introduction works so well is because, due to the title, one is guaranteed a birthday party. After the youngest child is introduced, with yet another unique name, Emerson, the story gets rolling. The children follow their grandmother in a silent line until Heather shouts "Boo!" and they all go tumbling down including grandmother with the birthday cake.
In Surprise! children are really children with all their goofiness and oddities. Parents are parents and say things like "You always want to look where you are going." and "For goodness sake!". The grandmother is unflappable and practical and tends to salvaging the cake. The grandfather, though one knows little of him except that he is a flower seller, is sincere. His birthday wish is that he can celebrate with them next year. And Porte informs us that his wish comes true.
Bo Jia's drawings add to the hilarity of some of Porte's images. Although, his realistic portraits leaves the question of beauty in the eye of the beholder. He has clearly had a good time and a challenging time. Drawing Emerson's mother with a spoon hanging from her nose could not have been simple, neither could the movement of the line of cousins falling down have been easy. The portrait of the grandfather sandwiched between brightly coloured flowers and multi-coloured apartment buildings is inspired. This book will not be to everyone's taste. But whether one appreciates the humour or not, they certainly won't be bored. It is worth opening just to take a peek at what a girl in plaid glasses looks like.
"Surprise" is not just a word on the cover.
Grandmothers' Stories Burleigh Muten illust Sian Bailey Barefoot Books
ages: 5-8
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gmother cover As matriarchal societies diminished in favour of the Western standard, so too did the old woman's role in fairy tales. Instead of being heroic and loving, she became evil and harmful to the innocent. Grandmothers' Stories is also called "Wise Woman Tales From Many Cultures". This collection of eight rather lengthy stories have been gathered to redeem the old woman. Some of the tales call on the supernatural and some are realistic. Burleigh Muten hopes that these stories will provoke interest in old women in our society and remind us of their hidden depth. Perhaps grandmothers will be asked to plow their own memory banks in search of their own stories or stories that were popular when they were young.
Many of these stories find grandmothers in traditional roles as midwives, caretakers, cooks, farmers wives, hard working and under appreciated women. As in classic fairy tales, treasure appears in strange places, little folks are mischievous as well as heroic, pictures come to life, poor are made rich and animals talk.
Bailey's precise illustrations break up the text and give young chapter book readers a rest. Each story has a pair of pictures lining the bottom of its pages. They depict a classic scene of the terrain whether it be Japanese cherry blossoms and kimono clad people, or Hawaiian greenery and grass skirts. Unusually, there are quite a few grey and white-haired women with flowing locks. The good women look kind and the villains, such as the woodwitch, in the Russian version of Hansel and Gretel, is scary looking indeed.
This book and some of the others in the Barefoot Book collection prove that there is life beyond Grimm. This volume is certainly worth a perusal.
Please Don't Chat to the Bus Driver Shen Roddie and Jill Newton Bloomsbury
ages: 2-5
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cover How many parents have left the house for the school run saying, "Don't forget your school bag," and still the school bag is left by the front door? Have you ever gone to answer the phone for a pseudo-business call and said to your child on the way, "Please don't talk to me for the next two minutes until this is finished," and they forget? Please Don't Chat to the Bus Driver plays that scenario out seven times. Luckily, Roddie and Newton have transformed the situation into something amusing instead of disheartening.
Stop by stop a series of countryside animals get on a yellow bus driven by a dog. Each one is told not to talk to the dog but each one does. They either have something to show, explain or relate. As a result, the driver misses a stop, crashes, is delayed, loses a wheel and finally stops.
A lot of this story is told in the illustrations - big bright acrylic paintings - which are challenging and fun for children to interpret. The animals are delightfully expressive. The weather is constantly changing and so are the moods of the passengers.
The list of the bus' troubles is ever-increasing and ever-amusing for young listeners. There is no hidden depth in the this book, just a lot to talk about afterwards.
The Topsy-Turvies Francesca Simon illust Keren Ludlow Dolphin
ages: 3-6
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Young children often find the mundane fascinating because they have few preconceived notions that are set in stone. Childhood consists of dividing the world around oneself with what is the norm and what isn't. Humans from a very young age thrive on schedules, daily patterns and rules. How quickly could one adjust to the idea that one must finish one's cake before eating one's main course, or putting on one's pajamas to start the day that began at midnight?
The Topsy-Turvies is about a family who does everything differently. Their lives run on without a hitch until a neighbour's emergency brings them into contact with the outside world. Even that encounter does not make them question their own lives but presumably the local education authority will eventually confront them.
This story is sure to make every audience giggle, at least the first time. The children push the adults on the swings. They teach them arithmetic upside-down and watch television standing on their heads.
Ludlow paints the scene in what looks like the 1950's. The details are amusing. The characters do not look like real people and that's because they aren't.
This Is Our House by Michael Rosen illustrated by Bob Graham Walker Books
ages: ?
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Let's face it, sharing with others has its drawbacks. Sometimes it is hard to see why it is worth doing. This captivating story, stuffed with a diverse cast, clearly explains how rusty headed George learns this lesson.
In a small yard shadowed by a hand-full of towering blocks of flats, is a yard which a group of friends use as a playground.
George has taken over a playhouse. When his friends try one by one to join him inside, he refuses them all - inventing a reason for excluding each one that is based on sex, hair colour, size or some other detail.
The child's dominant position is overthrown when he has to do a wee. The children give him a taste of his own medicine and realizes how it feels to be excluded. The text of This is Our House is true to life. It seems, when reading it, that Rosen spent many afternoons in a playground and recorded events. He is extremely perceptive. He understands how childhood conflicts can escalate. He shows them losing and regaining confidence against the bully, and their ingenuity in trying to overcome him.
Bob Graham's watercolour and crayon faces show anger, worry, doubt and eventually cheer, extremely well. He uses grisaille to continue activity in the busy yard but to focus one's attention on the stars who are drawn in colour.
By using a racial mix of kids, he accurately depicts a typical central London play-area, while reminding the reader that discrimination among children is rarely racially motivated. Thus the message of sharing as well as acceptance is being taught.
Zelda & Ivy by Laura McGee Kvasnosky Walker Books
ages: ?
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Manipulative, cunning, tricky and sly - four words to describe an older sister from the perspective of her younger sister. Of course, things change dramatically later on, but in the meantime, older sisters can terrorize when they wish to.
Heroically, younger sisters tend to accept such treatment as par for the course. Zelda and Ivy is a book about death-defying acts and mutilation. It is about batons and magic fairy dust. It is about sisters - that intimate relationship that is filled with as much love as envy, as much closeness as remoteness.
Zelda and Ivy consists of three short chapters - Circus Act, The Latest Style, and Fairy Dust. Zelda and Ivy are foxes who live in a little yellow house with an expansive front porch.
The first story ends with Ivy falling from a swing. Zelda has called the shots for the circus act ending with the "fabulous Ivy" balancing on her tail while swinging. In the second story Zelda cuts, paints and glitters Ivy's tail in the name of fashion.
The third story illustrates that even trickster sisters can be compassionate. Zelda fools Ivy into believing that her chalk dust is magic fairy dust. Ivy wishes for a baton like Zelda's and Zelda helps her make that dream come true. The pictures have a touch of the Russell Ayto about them; rough charcoal outlines filled in with pinks, purples and puce. The fox sisters' faces show all the glee and disappointment that the girls feel inside.
Kvasnosky is sure to give sisters flashbacks and everyone else insight into the complexity of young female relationships. She dedicates the book to her brother and her three sisters, referring to herself as "the favourite". This fails to shed light on which position in the family she was in, but one can be certain that she draws her ideas from personal experiences.
Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door by Laura McGee Kvasnosky Walker Books
ages: 3-7
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Friends Together Rob Lewis The Bodley Head
ages: 2-5
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Do you ever fall in love with characters in a novel and loathe to finish the book? With children's books, one can simply re-read the book twenty thousand times. But on the twenty thousandth and one time, one wishes that the story would vary.
Two lovely children's books have come out with continuing stories of the characters and their antics. With Zelda and Ivy one gets three more mini-chapters about the charming fox sisters (and a new friend). In Friends Together, the acquaintances from the last book are real pals now but not without their troubles.
What is wonderful about the characters Zelda and her little sister Ivy is that the good old fashioned children in their play habits and yet they possess a modern spirit. They invent games to play outside, they share a room, sell lemonade, and don't seem to be bored and in need of a video game or TV.
In chapter one, Eugene has just moved in next door and wants to marry Zelda. He has an extensive plaster collection which he shares. Part two is called Pirates. Ivy is excluded from Zelda's game now that there is another option. Ivy manages to join in when she buries some treasure for them to find. The last story is about camping in their garden and not being able to fall asleep.
They are humorous, filled with tame sibling rivalry and touching without being cute. For the old fans, it will make you feel even more fond of the original.
Lewis' seven rabbit friends with names like Clive and Ambrose, are have a ship wreck and are stranded on an island. They each have their own ideas about how to be saved. As one learns in the first Friends book is that tends to be the most successful way to solve problems.
Lewis' illustrations are delightful. The rabbits are adorable and his use of light is worth noting throughout the book.
The story is unremarkable but well structured. The outcome is positive and the theme of cooperation is a good lesson. Ambrose who was the new kid in town in the previous story is one of the gang. That is also worth pointing out for anyone who is having new school blues.
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