How to use this Page

Peppa's Busy Day Magnet Book. 2016. Scholastic. 10 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Peppa and George love visiting the museum. But the museum is very big and they're lost somewhere inside! Can you find Peppa and her family and put them in the dinosaur room?

Premise/plot: Peppa's Busy Day is an interactive magnet book. The book comes with eight magnets. The book features several different scenes: the museum, the park, the beach, the family's living room, and Peppa and George's bedroom. The text guides/encourages participation. For example, the last page reads: "It's nighttime and Peppa and George are tucked in bed with Teddy and Mr. Dinosaur. Can you put Mummy and Daddy Pig in the room and ask them to read a bedtime story?"

My thoughts: I like it. I do. I'm not sure I love, love, love it. But for someone who loves Peppa Pig, for someone who is still young enough to PLAY, I think this one would be a good choice.

Text: 3.5 out of 5
Illustrations: 3.5 out of 5
Total: 7 out of 10

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

History of Women's Fashion (Design Line). Natasha Slee. Illustrated by Sanna Mander. 2015. Candlewick. 16 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Is it a book? Is it a chart? Readers can decide for themselves how they want to approach this newest book in Candlewick's Design Line. The subject of this illustrated nonfiction guide? Women's fashion from the past hundred and ten years--or so.

One side of the fold-out-spread (or chart) features the fashions themselves, briefly labeled. The other side features a silhouette of each fashion and a longer description. Each item was chosen because it was "iconic." (Readers can agree or disagree with the choices. Perhaps even have some suggestions on what should have been included instead.)

It covers hats, shoes, purses, dresses, bathing suits, shirts, skirts, pants, glasses, jewelry etc.

This is a fine example of one type of nonfiction reading. You don't have to read it cover to cover. You are invited to look, to examine, to study. There isn't a right or wrong way to read this one.

So what iconic pieces are included in this one:

• The Gibson Girl (1906)
• Silk Turban Hat (1912)
• Flapper Dress (1926)
• Chanel Costume Jewelry (1935)
• Christian Dior Suit (1947)
• Halter-Neck Sundress (1952)
• Mondrian Dress (1965)
• Mid-Calf Platform Boots (1972)
• High-Waisted Jeans (1986)
• Flannel Shirt and Ripped Jeans (1990s)
• Gym Chic (2004)

There are over 100 pieces illustrated and discussed.

 Blue Utility Suit (1945)
War rationing meant the "utility look" dominated fashion. Skirts were shorter as more women rode bicycles, while narrow waists, peep-toe shoes, and the 1940s curl hairstyles ensured that the look remained feminine. Even brides wore the utility suit!

Land Girl Uniform (1939)
The British Government formed the Women's Land Army at the start of World War II to replace farm laborers who had gone to fight and to help the country grow more of its own food. Nicknamed the "Land Girls," 80,000 women volunteered. They wore a uniform of overalls, a shirt, and Wellington boots, with headscarves to hold back their hair.

Beaded Purse with Zipper (1924)
Frenetic Charleston dancers required secure bags small enough to grip in their hands. This elegantly beaded bag, in the "tango purse" style designed for dancing, features a small strap to wrap around the wrist and a zipper to keep possessions inside--zippers having only just begun to be used in fashion.

I really enjoyed the illustrations.

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

I'm just ruminating over my last three poems, where I got going on a set of Spoon, Knife and Fork.  Atypically for me, all three are rhymed, similarly metered, and all share a basic 4-line stanza. I could keep going like this for a while, I guess, picking kitchen items and writing each its little ditty (see all the "Deeper Wisdom" poems featured at Today's Little Ditty, of which "What Does the Knife Know?" is one).

But would that make a readable collection, a saleable collection?  When I started typing this, I was planning for the answer to be "NO; that would be a little boring and samey and in a way unchallenging for both writer and reader," and then I was going to contrast that with any collection of "traditional" haiku, which would be therefore by its very nature boring and samey and unchallenging, and then I was going to wonder why haiku collections don't seem that way.

And then as I entered that second paragraph, I got walloped upside the head by Jack on one side and Shel on the other, and A.A. Milne appeared to wag his clever ghostly finger in my face, reminding me how many, many classic poems and entire volumes of poetry for children are rhymed and metered and kind of about the same things (although not usually kitchen items).

Now I'm wondering what it is that makes me want a new shape, a new rhythm, a new challenge each time I begin a poem. I never cook the same recipe or meal the same way twice, and at school I'm forever devising new greetings, new center activities, new routines (and creating a lot of work for myself).  While I craved novelty as a kid, I understand that for many students, sticking with one thing for longer is what's needed for competent mastery, and that too much "new" can be stressful.

Well, it seems that in the spirit of my OLW for 2015, I'm revising my 2nd-paragraph thinking.  I still think it's important for young writers to learn that poetry is not all rhythm and rhyme, and that for most beginning writers those things are hard to pull off and probably best avoided.  But golly, when 2/3 of a class of kindergarteners need to be TAUGHT to hear rhyme instead of having grown it into their bodies, and in the knowledge that I am not a beginning writer myself and quite enjoy the challenge of hewing to a rhymed and metered form, perhaps Spoon, Knife and Fork are suggesting a less varied--but no less tasty--diet of poetry for now.


Heidi Heidi
Mordhorst Mordhorst:
As teacher and poet she
Took great
Care to seek freedom,
Craving the novelty.
Heidi Heidi
Said to herself,
"Self," she said, said she:
"You must never get stuck at the end of the town
  called Free-Verse Poetry."

HM 2015
all rights reserved

Today's Little Roundup is with Paul at These 4 Corners.  Hope to see you there!

Add a Comment

My Little Pink Princess Purse 
Stephen T. Johnson
16 pages
Novelty/Book
Simon & Schuster
978-1416979791
October 2010
Review copy provided by publisher

Add a Comment

Magical Menagerie, by Junzo Terada, Chronicle Books, $24.95. Build 20 enchanting animals with this unique kit of 3-D sculptures by Japanese artist Terada. Punch out paperboard pieces and fit them into slots to make whimsical stand-alone designs, including a lion with a heart-shaped mane, a deer holding its baby and songbirds sitting in a tree. Envelopes are included for mailing or storing designs. Terada's pattern and color combinations are spectacular!

The Encyclopedia of Immaturity: Volume 2, by The Editors of Klutz, Klutz, $19.95, ages 8 +, 200 pages. In this hysterical followup to 2007 manual of immature pranks and skills, The Encyclopedia of Immaturity, Volume 1, the editors of Klutz present an array of silly how-tos, from making a toiletgram to playing indoor Frisbee golf, and explore all manner of taboo subjects, including the truth about wedgies and the art of picking diary locks. (Couple this with the first volume and your 10-year-old boy will be deliriously happy.)

Made by Me, by Jane Bull, Dorling Kindersley, $14.99 respectively, ages 4-8 +, 48-62 pages. Girls will squeal with delight when they flip through this charming book of crafts with colorful tutorials that are easy to follow. Dress up a plain t-shirt with embroidered flowers, felt cupcakes and a button-trimmed collar or hand sew a two-sided doll with embroidered faces. Pair this with Annabel Karmel's Cook It Together (DK, $12.99) for a wonderful gift set.

Eragon's Guide to Alagaesia, by Christopher Paolini, Alfred A. Knopf, $24.99, ages 9 +, 32 pages. Wannabe dragon riders will delight in every page of this magical guide to the mysterious land of Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series by the creators of Dragonology. Explore a map of Alagaesia stolen from the elves' library, ink drawings of shape-shifting cats and wind-vipers and the training regimen of dragon riders, and touch the scarlet gem that lives in the chest of dragons.

My Little Fire Truck, Simon & Schuster, written and illustrated by Stephen T. Johnson, $19.99 ages 4-8, 16 pages. A wonderful segue into child play, this interactive book by Caldecott Honor-winning author Johnson encourages little ones to practice telling time and move sturdy parts on a fire engine: lift a gas nozzle and fuel the truck, test tire pressure, put away fire tools, start the ignition and steer, turn the siren light and ring the fire bell. Johnson is the author/illustrator of Alphabet City and My Little Red Toolbox.

Open Me Up: Everything You Need to Know About the Human Body, Dorling Kindersley, $24.99, ages 9-12, 256 pages. Open Me Up makes a trip through the human body feel like a walk through an amusement park with exciting

Add a Comment

Adapted and illustrated by Jane Ray

Candlewick Press, 2009

$19.99, ages 3 and up, 10 pages

Reading through Ray's 3-D adaptation of the Brothers Grimm's Snow White evokes the same wondrous feeling as peering into a dollhouse through a miniature window.

Designed to look like a theater, this fascinating book is made up of six two-page spreads that resemble a stage in different acts. The reader is the audience, sitting before the stage, looking into scenes angling back to the fold and following text by flipping open red curtains to either side.

Ray creates a sense of depth similar to that of dioramas in natural history museums by allowing the spreads to open no further than a 120 degree angle. This allows two layers of delicately cut trees, beams, walls, windows and people to appear on the stage against a scenic backdrop.

At first it's awkward not to open the book flat and you struggle to find a comfortable way to read it in your lap, but the more you gaze into Ray's magical scenes, the less focused you become on the book's restrictions. You find yourself transported into the fairy tale in a way that flat images may suggest but normally can't show.

The first act, staged to look like a winter wonderland, sets the magical mood of the book: with the queen standing at a stone balcony adorned with bare vines and ornate columns as snow falls in the woods and birds look on from icy perches. Staying true to the 1857 fairy tale, the queen pricks her finger and wistfully wishes for a child with lips as red as the drop of blood that falls from her finger.

The queen, as we know, realizes her dream but dies soon after Snow White's birth, and in the second act, we leap ahead in time to find Snow White, now a young girl, playing on the floor of the castle with her cat. Across from her on stage right, her wicked stepmother, the new queen, glowers at her magic mirror on the wall, which has just informed her that Snow White is the fairer beauty.

In act three, the story shifts to spring; trees are bursting with leaves and blossoms, and squirrels are scampering from tree to tree as a deer wanders into the scene. The huntsman, unable to follow through with the queen's orders to kill Snow White, is seen departing with his bow and arrows, as Snow White runs deeper into the forest toward a brick cottage where seven dwarves are busily tending to chores.

By act four, the queen has already made her sinister entrance into the forest, dressed as an old peddler woman. As we look over a picket fence and through trees, we see Snow White standing at a cottage window, as the queen cinches a belt to her waist. Behind the curtain on stage left, we learn that the queen eventually pulls the belt so tightly that Snow White can't breath. But fortunately the dwarves discover Snow White passed out in time to revive her.

Turning to act five, we open the curtain on stage right to learn that the queen has again tried to hurt Snow White, this time by slipping a poisoned comb in her hair, and again the dwarves save the day. On stage, however, the scene is very somber. As we look past a wooden beam hung with hats and shawls, we see the dwarfs crowded around Snow White, who is unconscious on the floor, having bitten into a poisonous apple, the last attempt by the queen to hurt her.

But luckily this story has a fairy tale ending, and turning to the last act, we look through the trees to see Snow White many years later in the arms of a prince who is about to kiss her. Fittingly, as we learn behind the curtains, it wasn't the kiss that saved her, as the Disney version goes. Nor was it the clumsiness of the prince's servants, as the Grimm tale suggests. In Ray's remake, it was a dwarf who tripped trying to lift Snow White's glass coffin who dislodged the poisonous apple from her throat.

The format of Ray's book and her lush scenes really set this version of Snow White apart. When opened on its side to a favorite act and displayed on a dresser top, it's as alluring as a dollhouse. You can't help but peek in and imagine what it would be like to wander through the scene.

Add a Comment

Crowther, Robert. 2009. Pop-Up House of Inventions: Hundreds of Fabulous Facts About Your Home. Candlewick.

Every now and then a book surprises me. Such is the case with Pop-Up House of Inventions. I expected it to be at least somewhat interesting. What I didn't expect was to find it entertaining and fascinating and oh-so-cool. Some pop-up books are more thrilling than others. Some are simple. Some are complex. Some are intricate. Some are amazingly intricate. Such is the case with Robert Crowther's Pop-Up House of Inventions. Each pop-up spread offers something--many somethings in fact--to delight and educate. Take the kitchen, for example, there are cabinet doors to open, refrigerator doors to open, an open/close oven with a pull-out tray of cookies, and a swishable washing machine with a wheel tab so you can make the clothes spin. Some of the kitchen facts include: first pop-up toaster, 1927; first microwave, 1945; the first electric clothes washer was patented in 1907, the inventor, Alva J. Fisher, named it "Thor." And that's just a handful from one page of the book. Rooms explored in the book include the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, the bedroom, and the garage. Among my favorites? I love that you can pull the tab on the shower to reveal a man singing in the shower. The bathroom mirror transforms to show a woman before-and-after make-up. Hint, she looks better before. But in the process, I learned that lipstick is at least four thousand years old and that Egyptians were all about eyeshadow.

I think this is a book anyone can enjoy--kids and adults alike.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
If you're reading this post on another site, or another feed, the content has been stolen.

Display Comments Add a Comment