Posts Tagged children’s books

Judging by the number of times he goes up and down the stairs, LTD has no problem with repetition. Katie Davis’ 1998 book Who Hops? provides the little guy with the rule of three in a fun way. She presents three animals that do something, then one that clearly does not. “Birds fly. Bats fly. Flies fly. Rhinos fly. NO THEY DON’T!” The colors are bright and the drawings are silly and simple. As usual I don’t want to spoil the ending, but someone very special shows up. Someone who hops, flies and swims. The book is short enough that the repetition that LTD so enjoys doesn’t cause the reader to stick a fork in his eye. I would suggest that Who Hops? isn’t the right book for right before bedtime as it tends to wind the little guy up due to the fun interaction and volume change that comes with No They Don’t!

Our good friends Keith and Sara recently had a baby boy and in honor of the event, I present On the Day You Were Born. The 1991 book was written and illustrated by Debra Frasier and is now considered a modern classic. The book drifts into hippy territory without being preachy. The story explores nature, our planet, weather events and heavenly objects to show how happy the universe is that ‘you’ were born. “On the day you were born the round planet Earth turned toward your morning sky, whirling past darkness, spinning the night into light.” The book is very popular as a gift for newborns because you can read it to the new baby if you don’t know what to say. The simple artwork is bright and easy for babies to follow. The author’s website features school projects featuring On the Day You Were Born. Perhaps if the book has taught me anything it is that on the day I was born, the Greek javelin thrower Konstadinos Gatsioudis was also born.

Okay, so I have finally finished Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, but before I end my first Sesame Street kick I would like to present 1983’s Grover’s Just So So-Stories. The book plays off of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories for Little Children and instead of the tale of how the Elephant Got His Trunk these stories include How the Monster Got His Fur and How the Honker Got His Honk. While the story detailing how monsters got fur isn’t scientifically accurate it uses poetic license to prove that the monsters needed fur to stay warm. The tale of the Honker is slightly more realistic with more of a nice moral lesson that everyone is important. Now all that is left is to see what happens during my next Sesame Street kick. And as always I must mention that Grover’s Just So-So Stories is Elmo free.

So I’m still reading Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street (Yes, I should have finished it by now, but having a 16 month old isn’t conducive to reading books that don’t have cartoon cows on the cover in a timely manner) and I’m still riding my first Sesame Street kick. 1987’s Oscar’s Silly ABC’s and Other Stories leads with Oscar the Grouch’s Grumpster Dictionary. The story features definitions of silly words like Flabbergasted and Rotten. However, the books highlight is the story starring The Amazing Mumford. Of course, no Mumford magic trick would be complete without his assistant Grover. Mumford performs awesome word tricks like changing one letter to make the word rock into sock, a fete I would have liked to see Houdini try. The heart of the book is provided by Snuffle-upagus. The furry friend takes care of everyone in his story. However, as always the truly best part, no Elmo.

I have been reading Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street and it has reminded me how awesome Sesame Street is and has always been. The book has also caused me to get on a bit of a Sesame Street kick even if it is a bit premature. I got the little guy a soft Big Bird and have been accumulating some cool old Sesame Street books. So with that introduction I present 1978’s The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook. This bad boy features 12 short stories staring the likes of Grover, Oscar, and Big Bird. However, special mention goes to the two tales staring The Count because and come on lets face it, True Blood is very popular right now.

The stories are pretty random, but play to the characters strengths. In Cookie Monster Has a Bad Dream the nightmare is that he finds himself living in a world without cookies. Don’t worry though the story has a ‘sweet’ ending. The art has that Seventies Sesame Street look today’s kids might be slightly confused as to the unpolished nature of their favorite characters. I say bring it on and show the children how in the last 30 years media and culture have changed. And don’t forget this book is Elmo free.

A lot has been written about Ezra Jack Keats’1963 Caldecott Medal classic The Snowy Day. I don’t seek to add anything to the critical discussion, but I would like to say that the book makes great reading during a heat wave. I bring this up of course because LTD and I have just experience a nice long one and after seeing the little guy’s hair matted down with sweat, I thought it was time for something cool. Since The Mommy has put the kibosh on me giving him Dairy Queen everyday I have had to think outside of the box on ways to cool us down. The Snowy Day helps, if only for a moment.

The story features Peter in his first appearance out of many books that Keats wrote about the city living lad. The narrative follows Peter’s adventures enjoying a recent snowstorm. He pretty much does what you would expect a kid to do in the snow, but he does it all in a wicked cool red snow suit. When it is a million degrees outside it is comforting to let The Snowy Day takes us away and cool down for a while.

According to wikipedia, The Friendly Ghost, the first Noveltoon to feature Casper, was released by Paramount in 1945, which I guess makes 1962’s Gus Was a Friendly Ghost a little bit of a rip off. However, with the exception of the title, Jane Thayer’s Gus and Casper don’t have too much in common as Gus might have an undiagnosed mental disorder. The plot centers on an old house where Gus lives in the attic. The Scott family lives there part of the year and when Gus rattles chains, they laugh cause they don’t believe in ghosts. When the Scotts take off for the winter Gus is bored and alone. He befriends a mouse and spends his days making the mouse comfortable and happy in the house (can you say co-dependent?)

The story hits its dramatic point when the Scotts come back to the house to enjoy the warm weather. The mouse is very unhappy, but since Gus has a crush on Mrs. Scott he thinks everything will be okay. Of course the mouse isn’t cool with his new limitations in the house and acts out. I won’t spoil the ending but if you know anything about human/poltergeist crushes you can guess who wins. The book has a subtle sixties vibe that you just don’t see that much of these days and no annoying Casper, so check it out.

The family has been on a bit of a Sandra Boynton kick as of late. Since LTD makes us ‘read’ books over and over to him, it’s nice to read ones that are quick and funny. Lately, he has been shoving Hey! Wake Up! in our face so we have been reading that to him. Again, just to be clear the word read is being used here in the loosest possible terms as he mostly listens for a few seconds then begins turning the pages and screaming. However, Hey! Wake Up! provides and excuse for The Mommy and me to get a few yells in ourselves. About six pages in, you get to read the line: Shout out loud: GOOD MORNING, SUN! HAPPY MORNING, EVERYONE! Now what is great about this line is not only that you can give a little scream right back at the kid, but you get to utter the phrase Happy Morning and feel British. Another thing that happens in the short story is that the rabbit is constantly eating broccoli for breakfast and lunch and the rhino thinks it’s disgusting. Not bad for a book if you have to read it one million times a day.

I was going to write about this phenomenon, but someone beat me to it. Enjoy this article from the Smithsonian Magazine. Click Here.

For this weeks book review I have decided to review my son. Recently, LTD has picked up the baby book habit known as ‘read it again.’ Thankfully, they this behavior has been limited to short board books and not lengthy stories. The pattern goes like this, he thrusts a board book into my face while emitting a ‘emmmh’ sound. I begin to read the book to him and then he starts turning the pages not allowing me to finish the story. Then I, like a fool, put the book down. He then picks it up and the cycle repeats. The worst part of the whole situation is that when he isn’t turning the pages he starts off listening but then wanders off. My thinking at these times is that he is done with the story. Not so, much like a king toying with a jester, he will reprimand me if I stop reading. The last straw was yesterday when I was lying down in his room, trying to rest while he played. Out of nowhere he made it clear it was story time. How was it clear you ask? Well, he struck me in the head with Sandra Boynton’s Doggies. While my wounds healed I could only hope that in the future he will either listen to the story once or learn to read soon.