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Author: Jarrett Krosoczka (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Jarrett Krosoczka
Published: 2009 Knopf (on JOMB)
ISBN: 9780375846847

Lunch Lady arrived this week and our young Jarrett fans were on these books “like cheese on macaroni”. Today Lucy (10) and Bayla (8) share their thoughts on the first two books in this zany graphic novel series.

For a behind the scenes glimpse at the making of Lunch Lady , check out our video interview with author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka:

• Rock Stars of Reading part 9: Digital Jarrett Krosoczka

More Jarrett on JOMB:

• Rock Stars of Reading part 08: Jarrett Krosoczka
• Interview with Jarrett Krosoczka
• Rock Stars of Reading part 20: Advice for aspiring readers
• Rock Stars of Reading part 7: Creators of the Round Table

HOTLINE VOICES: An anonymous caller tells us why she loves My Friend Isabelle (by Eliza Woloson and Bryan Gough).

We’d love to hear your thoughts on a favourite children’s book. Leave a voice message on our JOMB listener hotline, +1-206-350-6487, so we can include your audio in our show.

Gillingham, Sara. In My Pond. Chronicle Books: 2009 In My Pond is a cute book that immediately catches the eye due to the orange felt fish "floating" in the center of the book. At first Ladybug thought the fish was detachable but on closer observation and after Snugglebug tugged on it a time or two, we realized it was a finger puppet that remains attached to the book itself. This seemed to be an interesting idea but Snugglebug, who has newly discovered the art of crawling, quickly lost interest despite the puppet. The text is simple, descriptive, and lyrical while not being rhyming. It is a pleasant little story about a fish describing his underwater home. The illustrations are very appealing in that they are neither too bright nor too dull and encompass different shapes and colors on each page. The artist does a wonderful job of adding depth to the illustrations without distracting from the simplicity of the text. There are two titles in this series with the same author and illustrator. The second is In My Nest which is a bird describing its nest. The text is quite similar but of course with different descriptions. In My Nest also has the cute finger puppet but this time a bird. Both books are cute, and are more appropriate for the "not quite crawling" crowd. Once mobility is discovered it seems that it takes a lot more to keep the interest of certain young readers, with Snugglebug being in that group. So grab these books while your little ones are still little.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Macdonald, Suse. Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash. Little Simon, 2007

Snugglebug loves Macdonald’s Alphabet Animals so much that for his first birthday his mama, Ladybug, purchased another of Macdonald’s books.

Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash is an unusual counting book in more ways than one, making it an especially fun book to read. The illustrations are actually cut-outs with the colors of the next page showing through. Snugglebug loves sticking his fingers through the cut-outs.

The second aspect of the book is that it is really two books in one. Once you get to the end of the book, you turn it around and count backwards to the cover. It can be a never ending story because once you reach number one it again invites you to turn the book around and count to ten again.

This book is fun and one that Snugglebug can grow into as he learns to appreciate counting in both directions.

A Childs' Day: An Alphabet of Play. Pearle, Ida. 2008: Harcourt, Inc.

Ladybug was thrilled when Miss Becky passed this book on to Snugglebug to review. The art is bright and stimulating. Snugglebug loved this book. The art keeps his attention while the text introduces the alphabet.

Alphabet Animals: A Slide and Peek Adventure. Macdonald, Suse. 2008, Little Simon (Simon and Schuster).

This book is a Caldecott Honoree for good reason. Macdonald has taken the alphabet and made it appealing to the youngest audience. Each page is a single animal in the shape of the letter. Within that page is a sliding page with the letter in block form and the animal name underneath.

An alligator illustrates the letter A, and a bird represents the letter B, and so on. The illustrations are bright and clear. The letters are easy to recognize in the animal shapes and the pull-out pages are so much fun. Snugglebug enjoys seeing the page pop out from nowhere.

At almost one year of age, Alphabet Animals is the perfect introduction to the alphabet. Ladybug hopes he will learn his alphabet at a very early age, paving the way to a lifetime of reading.

Hindley, Judy. 2002 Does a Cow Say Boo. Illustrated by Brita Granstrom

Miss Becky reviewed this book in July, and now Snugglebug is taking his turn to review it. This is a cute book, and Snugglebug agrees that animal noises are fun. At 8 months, Snugglebug isn't old enough to make those noises yet, but one day he will be joining in as we read this book. He really enjoys this book. It is by no means a favorite, but he finds the noises and the illustrations entertaining. We do read it quite often, but not as often as aforementioned fish books. But, Ladybug thinks that is just a personal preference of Snugglebug. We recommend this book to those at least 6 months of age or older.

Ackerman, Jill. 2008 Welcome Winter. Illustrated by Nancy Davis.

Welcome Winter is an anomaly in Snugglebug's library at the moment. Miss Becky, who previously reviewed this book, shared it with Snugglebug because of its touch and feel characteristics that should appeal to infants his age. Ladybug would agree with this point since Snugglebug loves feeling the pages of the books and stroking the animals or fish as we read. But, Welcome Winter, oddly enough, does not attract his interest at all.

On the first page, the book begins, "It's winter! Snowflakes fall in front of your eyes." Soft snowflakes cover the page for the little one to touch. But Snugglebug finds no interest in this page or any other, and neither touches it or pays attention.

Ladybug likes this book, and reads it anyway for her own enjoyment. A kid at heart, she likes touching the snowflakes, crunching the snow, and feeling the rough wind. She hopes that 8 month-old Snugglebug will grow into it and enjoy the book with her later down the road. It could be the book would be more appealing to toddlers than infants.

Cousins, Lucy. 2005. Hooray for Fish!

Written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins, this book is cute, fun, and educational. Little Fish is a bright orange baby fish who introduces the reader to all his fish friends. The fish themselves introduce the baby reader to concepts such as colors, spots, and stripes and to opposites such as happy and gripy. By the end of the book, Little Fish has introduced, Spotty Fish, Stripy Fish, Happy Fish, Gripy Fish, Ele-Fish (yes, she looks like an elephant), and so many more. But alas, Little Fish asks,

So many friends, so many fish, splosh, splash, splish!

But, where's the one I love the best, even more than all the rest?

"Hello, Mom."

"Hello, Little Fish."

Kiss, kiss, kiss,

Hooray for fish!

What mom doesn't love that ending! For that reason, Ladybug loves this book. But Snugglebug loves it because he has a thing for fishy books. Big Fish, Little Fish by Ed Heck is still one of his favorites. The illustrations of this book are bright and fun and far from realistic, keeping Snugglebug's attention quite well. Ladybug loves the unique way Cousins introduces such ordinary concepts, making this book one of our everyday readers.

Emberley, Rebecca. 2008. My BIG Book of Spanish Words

Rebecca Emberley is a fabulous children's author and illustrator. She is one of Ladybug's favorites. Emberley's series of bilingual board books were first published in 2000 with more books added in 2002 and 2005. Each book originally had ten pages and one subject. The page had one illustration and the word in English and Spanish.

My BIG Book of Spanish Words is a compilation of 8 of her original books and three new ones. The pages are large with each page being the equivalent of one ten page book. Each page has the same vibrant illustrations that have captured Snugglebug's interest from the first time he saw one of her books, as well as the words in both English and Spanish. The subjects in this compilation are colors, food, toys, clothes, rooms, animals, things that go, shapes, numbers, bath time, and bedtime.

As readers of several of her original bilingual board books, Ladybug and Snugglebug highly recommend this latest publication.

Spangenberg, Judy and Phoebe Dunn. A Big Treasury of Little Animals. Random House, 2007.

This collection of animal stories was written between 1977 and 1987 by Judy Spangenberg. Six stories separately follow the adventures of a lamb, a puppy, a kitten, a rabbit, a duck, and a pig. Each story is accompanied by photographs taken by Phoebe Dunn. The photos vividly capture the text, which considering the artist was working with animals is quite a feat.

The stories are a bit too long for one sitting with little ones; each story is about 30 pages. But the photographs kept Snugglebug interested in the story for the entire length of his short attention span. Each story is strongly formulaic in that it begins at the animal's birth, continues with a child being the new owner, and is followed by the animal making all types of discoveries and getting into various types of mischief. Ladybug was a bit bored with the formula after the first two stories but Snugglebug didn't seem to notice.

Overall, Ladybug and Snugglebug would say this is a good collection of stories but not the greatest. The photographs definitely make up for the lack of diversity within the text.

Sweet Dreams: A Bedtime Storybook Collection. Various Authors. Scholastic, 2007.

The authors and illustrators vary from story to story with the overall theme being bedtime and sleep. The stories include: If You Were My Bunny, Thank You Prayer, Good Night, Sleep Tight, Little Bunnies, and Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. Each story is very repetitive and rhythmic, perfect for lulling little ones to sleep. Snugglebug and Ladybug's favorite of the collection is Good Night, Sleep Tight, Little Bunnies. It's so rhythmic it's almost like a lullaby. Some of the text reads:

Hidden in the meadow,

Among the pretty flowers,

Little Bunnies dream away

The long night hours.

Good night, sleep tight,

Little bunnies.

It continues in the same rhythm for several animals. And the illustrations are just as beautiful as the text.

Snugglebug enjoyed this book and has fallen asleep to the stories on a couple of different occasions. Ladybug would highly recommend this book as a bedtime book for all ages.

You know how much I love baby reviewers! Well, I am very proud and happy to introduce you to our newest baby reviewer, Snugglebug!!! Snugglebug's reviews will be written by his mama, Ladybug.

McBratney, Sam. 1996. Guess How Much I Love You. Illustrated by Anita Jeram.

Originally published in 1996, Guess How Much I Love You is a definite must read for anyone young or old. Four-month old Snugglebug was mesmerized the first time his mama, Ladybug, read it to him. The illustrations by Anita Jeram are simple enough to catch his eye and detailed enough to keep him interested. He studied the illustrations of Little Brown Hare and Big Brown Hare while listening intently to the story of Little Brown Hare's attempt to prove he loves his father, Big Brown Hare, more than his father loves him.

The author, Sam McBratney, uses just the right number of words for each page so little eyes are not bored before reaching the end of the page. The number of pages are also the perfect amount reaching an end to the story just as the small one's attention span also reaches an end.

While not a classic yet, Snugglebug declared it one of his favorites. Ladybug noted the only downside is the pages are not thick enough for Snugglebug to turn them. Ladybug would strongly recommend one's parents purchase this book as a board book for anyone Snugglebug's age.

A former student sent me these reviews of a couple of new books I passed along to her to read.

On this edition of Just One More Book!, Mark gathers some book suggestions from Podcamp Philly Campers.

Our guest reviewers, their primary websites/blogs and their favourite children’s books are:

Todd Marrone: Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Kristen Crusius: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Chef Mark Tafoya: In the Night Kitchen (on JOMB)
Francis Wooby: Goodnight Moon
Jesse Taylor: A Wrinkle in Time
C.C. Chapman: Green Eggs and Ham
Gretchen Vogelzang: Who Says Quack?, Goodnight Moon, The Magic Treehouse Series, The Enders
Steve Garfield: Help us identify the book
Whitney Hoffman: Artemis Fowl
Eric Skiff: Everyone Poops
Christopher Penn: The Butter Battle Book
Paige Heninger: The Rainbow Goblins, Sheep in a Jeep, Charlie and Lola Series
Lynnette Young: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Wizard of Oz

Photo courtesy of C.C. Chapman

The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary's Daring Daughter
by Katheri Kirkpatrick
Holiday House, 2007
Guest review by A.J. Wald, resident Arctic and Antarctic expert

I do so love a surprise. That is probably why I gladly read Katherine Kirkpatrick’s The Snow Baby, even though I have shelves groaning under the weight of books on Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Book after book of determined adventurer’s and scientist’s tales of grim survival under the trials of cold, darkness, fear and, sometimes, madness. Not a single one of these volumes, however, tells the story of the sweet-faced little tyke born to Robert E. Peary and his wife Josephine Diebitsch Peary on September 12, 1893 on the shores of Smith Sound, Greenland.

Other books on the Arctic barely mention the birth of Marie Ahnighito (the woman who sewed Marie’s fox skin coat and caribou skin trousers also provided the baby’s middle name) Peary. Marie’s story is important, however, within the context of Arctic exploration and in light of her own, unique experiences.

It will come as no shock that Marie Peary did not have a stereotypical childhood. Beginning her life in Greenland, she was taken south to Washington D.C. at age 11 months. There, the Snow Baby lived with her mother and her maternal family while her explorer father continued to strive to reach the North Pole. A pattern developed that brought Marie and Mrs. Peary back to the Arctic for periodic reunions with Robert Peary, interspersed with time in ‘civilization’.

During the Arctic episodes, Marie meets a who’s who of North Pole exploration, from the indispensable Inuit, to the ice pilot Bartlett, to Mathew Henson. Marie has her own adventures too, skidding across glaciers, literally by the ‘seat of her pants’.

Her life, both in the far North and in the urbane strictures of Victorian America, fascinates and informs the reader about the history and the society of the times. Ms. Kirkpatrick does not shy away from the recognition of Robert Peary’s ‘other’ children, produced by his liaisons with Inuit women. Her frank, tasteful explanation of the historical existence of Marie’s half-brothers and sisters was refreshing in its tact and honesty.

There is a truly excellent map of Robert Peary’s expeditions and delightful photographs of the Pearys and the extended family, the Inuit of Greenland, the ships, dogs and characters that were part of Marie’s life. A fine bibliography of research works and a useful index round out this very worthwhile fifty page edition.

Upper level 4th and 5th grade readers, girls or boys, will be able to glean a great deal from The Snow Baby, as will anyone who delves into the exciting and complex life Marie Ahnighito Peary.

The Cat Master
by Bonnie Pemberton
Marshall Cavendish, 2007
review copy courtesy of publisher

Remember my former student who is the Warriors series expert? She's the one who read and reported on the new (then) Warriors graphic novel last spring.

When the box of books came from Marshall Cavendish and I came across The Cat Master, I knew Warriors Girl was the one who should read and review it. Here is a loosely reconstructed transcript of our discussion of The Cat Master over ice cream at Graeters:

Me: So tell me a little about the book.

Warriors Girl: Well, it's the author's first book, and it took about 10 years for her to write. I know this because I googled her and read her website.

The two main characters in the book are Buddy and Jett, cats who are brothers. Jett is greedy and ambitious. When the Cat Master dies -- he's their father, but they don't know it -- Buddy is chosen to be the next Cat Master, but he doesn't know it because Jett intercepts the message. Jett wants to kill Buddy before Buddy becomes the master.

Me: Is this book at all like the Warriors books?

WG: It's like Warriors in that there are indoor and outdoor cats, but they are named differently (feral/indoor). It's different because there are other animals besides cats in the story (dogs, a possum, a lizard). Both have good and evil characters. The Cat Master feels really different than Warriors -- the chapters alternate between characters.

Me: Which series do you like better?

WG: It's too soon to tell, but I will definitely read more books by this author if she writes more. It seems like she will. You can kind of tell that the next book will be about Soot, Buddy's son, becoming Cat Master.

She dedicated the book "In Memory of Buddy" and in the acknowledgments she says Buddy was "a stray cat who changed my life forever." She has lots of cats and she really gets cat behavior. She even has a business that sells anti-scratching stuff that keeps cats from scratching on furniture.

Me: Anything else?

WG: I think I'm going to start reading prologues. If you skip them, you miss out on some pretty important information. I've always read epilogues; they give a summary and some good hints.

Me (in my mind): It's good to know that she's still growing as a reader! It's never too late to learn that prologues are pretty important!

Today, we have a guest review by Larry Swartz. This weekend, we had our Dublin Literacy Conference. This conference is a teacher conference put on by the Dublin City Schools run by a committee of teachers. We had lots of great speakers--children's authors, professional authors, teachers, and more! It was a great day. Larry Swartz was one of the speakers.



Larry Swartz is an instructor in the Elementary Pre-service Program at OISE/UT and the Principal of Dramatic Arts Additional Qualifications courses at OISE/UT. He is frequently called upon to share his expertise with children's literature, classroom talk, and anti-bullying strategies.

Here is his review of EGGS by Jerry Spinelli.


I’ll start off by saying that I think Jerry Spinelli is one of the best authors for readers 10 – 13 years old. I would say that his books appeal to boys and girls. His characterization is always rich. The problems that he presents in his books connect to his readers because they can easily identify with them (i.e., peer pressure in Wringer, belonging in Loser, outcast in Star Girl, heroism in Maniac Magee). The stories have just enough of an imaginative twist to take readers into an imaginative world that is the stuff of fiction (Does a community exist that forces boys to wring the neck of pigeons?). Milkweed aside, there is a veneer of humour in Spinelli’s novel events, in the dialogue and in character quirks.

A student teacher recently gave me an advance copy of his newest novel EGGS and since I was heading off on a plane, I was thrilled to have a new Spinelli to keep me company. A good read it was. As I was reading, I couldn’t help thinking about the novels that I recently read that featured characters whose parents have died. . Give me a fifth grade class and I would love to organize Literature Circles (when all titles are available in paperback) around THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, JEREMY FINK AND THE MEANING OF LIFE, WING NUT and EGGS, not only because one or more character has a missing parent, but because they get inside the skin and hearts of these kids who are coping with life’s rotten eggs and hoping to make omelets out of life’s dilemmas-large and small.

Take David and Primrose. David lost his mother to a freak accident. His father is often away on business and so the young boy lives with his grandmother. Primrose only knows of her father from a photograph. She lives with a mother whose talent is telling fortunes and whose outlook on life is a little less mature than her daughter’s. David and Primrose are friends, despite an age difference of four years (Primrose is older).

It’s very tempting to use an egg metaphor as a review of this book (hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, poached) but here I’ll pay tribute to the egg carton and offer a dozen reasons for admiring and respecting Spinelli’s new work.

1. Boy and girl protagonists. I’m a bit concerned about boy reads and girl reads. Yes, enjoyed the Newbery winner, but few boys are going to choose this book by the cover, by the title and because of its female protagonist. Spinnelli’s strength is in boy characters, but here he has a friendship between a boy and a girl. How clever too to make Primrose an ‘older’ friend. Without reading the book, can’t you imagine how a character named ‘Primrose’ might behave?

2. 224 pages. 42 chapters. Book is divided into sections (Eggs, The Waving Man,
Nightcrawlers, Painted Windows, Who Cares, Only Children). I like / many kids like short chapters.

3. The “Ha Ha” factor. When David first meets, Primrose’s fortune-telling mother, she predicts his future by reading the soul of his bare foot.

4. The Gross factor. David and Primrose have a tug of war fight over a nightcrawler. Each wants to capture the twelve-inch worm to raise money. Primrose pulled. David pulled - Thp. Each then held six inches of flailing nightcrawler. Gross!

5. A moment to touch-your-heart factor. Memories of David’s dead mother linger throughout. On the day she died in a bad fall, David decided to never break any rules. David believe if he went long enough without breaking a rule. sooner or later his mother would come back and they would together see the sunrise, that she promised they’d see together. In one episode, David clings to Primrose, sobbing.
“I’m not her you, she,” she whispered hoarsely. “I’m only me. Primrose.”
He nodded against her. “I know.”
(Goosebumps.)

6. Great dialogue… “Are we gonna be out all night?”
“Yerp.”
“You don’t even care. Do you?
“Nerp.”

7. This-only-happens-in-books episode. David first meets Primrose during an Easter Egg Hunt. While on his search, he comes across the still body of a girl hidden amongst the leaves. He takes a yellow egg from the mouth of the body and asks, “Are you dead yet?”. The girl does not answer. Later we learn, that the body belonged to Primrose who was just playing a trick on the boy, just like Spinelli was playing a trick on the reader. This is not a murder mystery.

8. A quirky character (or two). Spinelli’s short descriptions of a character paint a wide portrait in a sentence or two. Refrigerator John, “who was neither as tall nor as wide as a refrigerator. “His own right leg had been withered since birth. When he walked, the leg flapped out sideways, as though he were shaking a dog loose. Madame Dufee. Her body was lost in a robe of flowers, birds, and dragons with flaming tongues. Golden hoops you could pitch a baseball through hung from her earlobes.”

9. Two characters, so different, so the same. They plot together. They argue.
“What was with these two? The thirteen year-old girl, the nine year old boy.
What brought them together? Sometimes they acted their own ages, Sometimes
they switched. Sometimes they both seemed to be nine, other times thirteen.
Both were touchy, ready to squawk over nothing.” (note to publisher: Terrific
passage for a book jacket blurb).

10. The omelets-out-of rotten-egg factor. David and Primrose take the bad things
that life offers and learn to make the best of them. They learn from each other.
They need each other. They take care of each other. They’re going to be all
right!

11. A touch of symbolism giving readers lots to think about. Eggs figure into the
plot (early in the book, David goes on an Easter Egg Hunt, vandals splatter eggs
against Primrose’s bedroom window, the sunrise is described as crisp and sharp
and beautiful and smooth as a painted egg.). I would love to ask ten year-olds
what the title makes them think about: Does it tell the truth of the story?Why six
eggs on the cover? How are David and Primrose like eggs? What kind of egg dish might each character be?

12. Great cover. No boys. No girls. Just six eggs resting in a robin’s egg blue carton.

In this episode, two Listener Submitted Reviews:

• Dolphin Diaries: Following the Rainbow reviewed by Freddie (11) and her dad, Charles of the Mostly News and Desperate Husbands Podcasts
• Charlotte’s Web reviewed by Bob (5) and his dad, Charles of the Mostly News and Desperate Husbands Podcasts

and our first Guest Review:

• Goodnight Moon reviewed by Laurence Wall of CBC Ottawa.

We hope you’ll tell us about one of your favourite books too!

Send your review (five-minutes or less) as an MP3 file in email to [email protected], phone it in to our listener feedback line (206-350-6487), leave a two-minute MyChingo, or send your text review in email.