A Kitten Tale
By Eric Rohmann
Knopf, 2008
I had to wait FOREVER to get my paws on a copy of this book at my local library. Someone else snatched it up before I did. This book is perfect for preschoolers.
Four little kittens are talking about snow in the middle of the summer. Three of them are dreading and worrying about the coming snow. The fourth kitten can’t wait. Then the fall comes. They continue to talk about snow with trepidation. The fourth kitten is so excited about the possibility. Finally, the snow comes. The fourth kitten jumps right out into the snow and has a rollicking good time. Of course, the others follow out and enjoy themselves too. It is a simple story, told with fun language that reminds me of little kittens frolicking.
Here’s an excerpt of the short, frolicking dialogue that takes place between the kittens:
When autumn winds ruffled the trees, the first kitten said, “Soon the snow will
fall and fall. We’ll be cold and wet and snow will cover everything!”
“Piles and drifts!” said the second kitten.
“Heaped to our whiskers,” said the third kitten.
Still the fourth kitten said, “I can’t wait.”
This post is a day late. I was having difficulty with blogger last night. It wouldn't let me post at all. So today, you get the last two installments of Eric Rohmann.
My Friend Rabbit
Written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Roaring Brook Press, 2002
This book won the Caldecott Medal in 2003. I remember buying this book and thinking: WOW. The illustrations are so bold and so toddler-minded. The text is simple and has a wonderful cadence to it. Rabbit’s toy airplane is stuck in the tree. He tries to come up with an inventive way to get it out, so he gathers, pushes, and shoves his animal friends on top of one another until they form a tall tower. This of course comes crashing down!
I love his use of perspective in the illustrations. On one spread rabbit is in the far corner of the page pulling on an elephant’s tale. Everything looks so small and the spread is rather bare. Then the next page explodes with a giant elephant taking over the entire spread. When all of the animals are piled on top of one another, you must turn the book vertically to view it correctly. Then they all come crashing down and we see wild animal eyes of every sort as they looked surprised, shocked, and flabbergasted. Then we see those same animal eyes all glaring at rabbit. Every spread is full of surprises and delight. The illustrations are appealing to a very young audience. In fact, a non-reader could figure out what is going on in the story even without the text.
A romping fun read and so well-deserving of the Caldecott Award.
Time Flies
Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Crown Publishers, 1994
This wordless picture book begins when a bird is inside of a museum where dinosaur skeleton exhibits are displayed. The bird flies around and suddenly the dinosaur is no longer just bones, but a full living creature. The setting changes to a land full of dinosaurs of all kinds. The bird flies around among the dinosaurs until he gets eaten by a dinosaur. Then the dinosaurs slowly began to change back to skeletons.
This book will delight little dinosaur lovers.
I am going to be featuring Eric Rohmann books for the next few days. I wasn't able to get ahold of all of his picture books, but I am doing reviews on the ones I could find. I was first introduced to Eric Rohmann through My Friend Rabbit, but I was thrilled to find other fabulous books by him that I wasn't aware of.
The Cinder-Eyed CatsWritten and illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Crown Publishers, 1997
I have read some amazing books lately where kids go to imaginary lands. This one is one of the books. It opens with a little boy climbing into a boat in the sky. He sails away in the sky to an island. On this island there are cinder-eyed cats. At night the creatures from the sea rendezvous with the cinder-eyed cats and the boy. The boy gets to watch as the creatures intermingle only until the sun comes up. The little boy sails back home in his flying boat.
The illustrations are large and make the animals appear large and the boy just a small observer in the great big world. I love the fish illustrations and there is even a fish sculpted into the sand. Rohmann illustrates another fish like this in his book
Clara and Asha (to be featured tomorrow).
Lost and Found
By Oliver Jeffers
Philomel, 2005
The boy in this book looks the same as the boy in How to Catch a Star, so here’s adventure number 2. He finds a penguin, and the penguin wants to be with him. He realizes the penguin is very sad. So he sets out on a quest to take the penguin back “home” to the South Pole. After he takes him back, he realizes he misses him on the boat ride back. The penguin misses him too. They met up with each other again for good.
The writing in this book is still soft, like How to Catch a Star, but it is a very enjoyable read. Young children will enjoy anticipating the ending of the story.
Lost and Found and How to Catch a Star are very different in tone and in illustration than Jeffer’s Incredible Book Eating Boy.
If I were a librarian I would pair this book with Polly Dunbar’s Penguin for a preschool story hour.
Other Jeffers' books I've reviewed:
How to Catch a Star
The Incredible Book-Eating Boy
How to Catch a Star
By Oliver Jeffers
Philomel, 2004
A little boy really wants to catch a star, but he realizes it’s too far away. He waits and waits and waits during the day to see the star. Finally it gets dark. He can’t reach the star, so he climbs up a tree and tries to reach it, and he tries to get into a paper rocket ship to reach it. He can’t. Finally, he sees the reflection of the star in the water. He tries to reach out and grab it, but it can’t be caught. Finally, on his way back home, disappointed, he finds a starfish that he can hold.
The story line is reminiscent of Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes. The watercolor illustrations are simple and geometric, but they fit perfectly with the concept. This is the first of Oliver Jeffers books for kids.
Other reviews of books by Oliver Jeffers:
Hi Neil You've probably already seen this but just in case - you're mentioned in the latest Dog eat Doug.
http://www.comics.com/creators/dogeat/archive/dogeat-20070709.html
Enjoy!
Maria
Good lord. So I am. What a nice way to start a morning.
John Hudgens writes to tell me about about his film American Scary, the documentary on horror hosts (of which I am one), letting me know about a screening of the film at Comic-Con: The screening is at 7:30pm, Thursday July 26 in Room 26AB (south side of the Convention Center, above Hall H.
Because the con is so big and so much is happening, it's usually true that anything you want to see or do clashes with something else you also want to see or do, and in this case I think I'll be introducing a Stardust screening mostly for journalists that Paramount are doing that night. (The Will Eisner's Legacy panel, which was the only one I really wanted to be at, is opposite the Spotlight on Neil Gaiman panel. So it goes.)
In a recent Journal entry, Logan asked about novel word counts. Amazon.com has a feature for some books that gives text statistics in the "Inside this book" section. The American Gods trade paper has, according to this, 182,721 words, an average of 11.4 words per sentence and at their price you get 16,300 words per dollar, a bargain!
I like to think so. (Although priced per word, upcoming picture books like The Dangerous Alphabet, which Gris Grimly has illustrated, will work out at something nightmarish, like 10 words to a dollar or something... Then again, a picture is worth a thousand words, which adds about 30,000 words.)
The Comic Con schedule has been announced, although I know there are a few extra things that aren't up yet or decided, including a couple of Coraline-related happenings on the Saturday which Focus haven't yet announced so people won't know that I'm doing anything on the Saturday yet. (Or, if they don't get the information up quickly, ever. )
I wish I was on more comics or book-related events -- Thursday and Saturday it's basically just the giant movie presentations, which I tend to think of as something separate to real Comic-con, and movie-related events that may not be open to all or even to lots. (And a couple of events that were hoped for, one with me and Joss Whedon, and one with me and Dave McKean, had to go by the wayside, one because of scheduling problems and one because of Dave not actually coming to Comic-Con this year.)
I'm just glad that Mark Evanier invited me onto his Jack Kirby panel on the Sunday morning.
And talking about Coraline, I meant to post this earlier. It's a long article that gives background on Laika (the studio) and on Phil Knight, and on Travis Knight, who is the lead animator on Coraline and is really good http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-the-knights-tale.html
(Also I fixed the word counts in the last post.)
Right. Back to work.
