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It's shark week on the Discovery Channel! Many of shark shows in this week-long television series are a little too dark for young children so we decided to celebrate by picking up a light and silly shark read from the library.
"I'm going to choo-choo you up and spit you out." / "HA! I'm going to fin-ish you, mackerel-breath."
Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld; LB Kids (April 2010); ISBN 9780316007627; 40 pages; Book Source: Copy from local library
You know that toy box full of toys in your home? Buried deep within you might just find two rivals ready for some friendly competition - shark and train. At least that's the case in a new book by Chris Barton called Shark Vs. Train. Two kids rummage through their toy box and bring out a toy shark and a toy train that face off in various silly competitions. Who rules the ocean? How about the tracks? The card game, "Go Fish?" OK, those scenarios are fairly easy to call. But who would prevail in a game of hide-and-seek or a burping contest? You'll need to read the book to learn the outcome of those match-ups. Lichtenheld's comical illustrations, complete with snarky narratives in word balloons, portray the hilarious expressions of both the shark and train at moments of glory and defeat. The caboose even makes a few funny comments. It's so very clever, you'll need to page through it multiple times to catch all the humor.
The kids quickly searched their toy box for a shark figure and a train right after reading the book and played out their own shark vs. train scenarios. The battle became quite heated at one point and one shark attack left the train derailed. (I quickly reminded the competitors that the book showed only friendly competition.) Shark: 1 ; Train: 0. A strange result considering both my kids wanted the train to win in the book. That's imaginative play at it's best, prompted by a creative and fun book. I wonder which of our toys will tangle next?
This might be a first! The book Sleepy Kittens, labeled "as seen in the film Despicable Me from Universal Pictures," is a movie tie-in title that is really and truly featured in the actual movie. Talk about amazing and clever product placement. I love it when characters in a movie read or discuss books. When Meg Ryan's character mentioned Noel Streatfeild's children's books in You've Got Mail, I sure wanted to read them all. I bet I wasn't the only one. The 3-D, animated comedy Despicable Me releases in theaters today (July 9th) and, yes, the board book with cute finger puppet kittens is in the movie. Three little kittens loved to play. They had fun in the sun all day. Then their mother came out and said, "Time for kittens to go to bed!"
Sleepy Kittens (Despicable Me) by Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Illustrated by Eric Guillon; LB Kids (May 2010); ISBN 9780316083812; 10 pages; Board Book Book Source: Review copy provided by publisher
In Sleepy Kittens, a pink mama cat announces that it is bedtime for her three chubby little kittens. The kittens have other ideas and try their best to stall the inevitable. Smart mama cat, not to be outdone, has a few tricks up her pink paw and lovingly soothes them to sleep. The short text is written in rhyming verse.
If you watch this movie trailer, about two minutes into the video the Sleepy Kitten book appears. Gru, the villain, is reading the book to the orphaned girls. Ok, ok...so the actual book isn't exactly the same as the one in the movie but it is pretty darn close. The three finger puppets are there but you don't manipulate them through holes like Gru does. And, the text isn't exactly the same either but still it is pretty cool that kids can actually read the story for themselves and interact with the finger puppet kittens. Kids can even make the kittens drink the milk out of the milk bowl, just like in the movie. My kindergarten-aged daughter thought the book was fun to play with and even made up her own story while operating the puppets. My toddler son isn't able to manipulate the puppets as well as his older sister but seems amused by this novelty. One thing I noticed -- the roly-poly kittens have such short little legs I'm surprised they can do anything but sleep! The three finger puppets, made out of flat, felt-like material, are glued into the back cover and cannot be removed.
Sleepy Kittens sounds like a great book. I saw the movie Inkheart before I read the book. I like the book more (It was so beautifully written that it took me 2 weeks to read it. Usually, I'm a fast reader.), but by reading it after seeing the movie I don't have as many objections to the film. Thanks for offering the giveaway.
My husband really enjoys watching movies like that one! I rarely read a book just because I saw on TV or in a movie....but I am open to reading anything so if it looked good I might read it.
(Slightly off the subject, but about product placement...) My husband worked for Anheuser-Busch awhile back in one of their breweries. You would not believe the number of movies that have used the A-B LA brewery as a set (the new Star Trek movie, for example). Once you know what it looks like, it's crazy how often it shows up as different locations!
i saw this movie. it was cute and quite amusing. i love that the kitten book is real even if it's changed a bit. how adorable! it's great when movies and other things mention books. I love it!
Awesome giveaway! Sometimes if a movie is really nice, I end up reading the book but most of the time, I have read the book or read the book first :) Thanks for the chance!
We saw this movie and everyone in our family loved it! The prize pack looks wonderful and I'm so glad there's a sleepy kitten book! winnieayala at yahoo dot com
I would love to win this prize pack for my kids! They would love it! clariline98 at yahoo dot com p.s. books don't always translate well to movies - so many people were disappointed with what was done to the first Percy Jackson book.
Anonymous said, on 7/11/2010 3:12:00 PM
Additional entry: I subscribe to your blog in my google reader. clariline98 at yahoo dot com
Great giveaway! My son would love this! I don't recall ever reading anything after seeing it in a movie, but ut does seem like a good way of advertising. talonsmom731 at gmail dot com
I plan on taking kids to see the movie and one of the movies I can recall that I just seen was inkheart where he read the book and the characters came to life tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse book series after seeing True Blood on HBO. (Don't recommend it for the kids). These books would be great for my kids to read. Thanks. partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com
Participate in 100 Scope Notes' "Lion Yourself." I guarantee you'll have a roaring good time. The kids pretended to be the lion and the mouse (my son wanted to look at the lion, and I couldn't convince him to turn the book around to snap a lion picture). We're sending our pictures to Travis for inclusion in his gallery on 100 Scope Notes. Don't forget to check out our review of this book, The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney.
ROAR!
SQUEAK!
3 Comments on "Lion Yourself" at 100 Scope Notes, last added: 1/17/2010
Today I'm participating for the first time in The Well-Read Child's weekly meme, "What My Children Are Reading." I'm also the lucky host this week!! Welcome to all the regular participants and if you're newbie like me, join in the fun and write up a quick post about the books you're reading this week with your kids. Leave your link in the comments section of this post and I'll round them all up.
Just to mix things up a little bit, I'm also participating in A Mommy's Adventures "stART" meme. StART = story + art. We created an art project to go along with one of the books that we've been reading.
This week we checked out several monster themed books from the library. So far we've read The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone, illustrated by Michael Smollin; Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak; Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems and I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll (will review this one here on 10/17/09).
Both the kids really loved Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley. This monster book has become quite a popular classic. By turning the die cut pages kids "build" the face of a green monster and then make the green monster "Go Away!" piece by piece. Perfect for toddlers through early grade schoolers, the book helps teach colors and parts of the face (nose, eyes, etc.) For those children afraid of monsters, the book may help alleviate some of their fears because they can control the monster and make it disappear. The dazzling, sparkly cover on the newer editions really entices kids to pick this book up. Plus, it makes a great Halloween holiday read.
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley. Little, Brown and Company (1992); 32 pages; ISBN 9780316236539 Book Source: Review copy from public library (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)
Go Away, Big Green Monster! Door Sign Craft
Turns out, the die cut pages of Go Away, Big Green Monster! lend themselves perfectly to a fun, educational and colorful monster craft project.
Materials: Black, green, red, blue-green, white, yellow and purple paper Black marker White crayon Glue Scissors Pencil
Directions: Trace the monster face parts using the die-cut book pages as your guide. Cut the pieces out with a scissors.
Assemble the monster face using the cut pieces. (Discuss the names of the different facial parts and talk about the colors used.) Disassemble the monster piece by piece, just like in the story. Glue all parts to the black background. Draw the black eye centers in using a marker. Use the white crayon and write the words "GO AWAY!" on the bottom of the paper.
Thanks for hosting. And I love the story + art idea. We do lots of book related crafts at our house. We're reading Angus Lost and lots of short chapter books: http://inneedofchocolate.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/what-were-reading-this-week-october-15/
That is really clever to make the monster on a door hanger. I love it! We really like that book too! One of our favorite monster books that we discovered recently is When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor.
Thanks for linking to me! My daughter is not a big fan of monsters, but she loved this book. Thanks for the link to the printable - I am one of those people who is too bad at art to draw even a simple monster face :)
"CRACK! BONK! DOZERATOPS had no patience. Trees and boulders-get out of the way! DUMPLODUCUS was a litterbug. What at MESS!" - Dinotrux by Chris Gall
I've witnessed plenty of mechanical dinosaurs in my day. Old trucks and cars left in my grandfather's field to rust and tractors that look like they should have been sent to the metal scrap yard years ago. But I can't say that I ever imagined them as "real" dinosaurs that once roamed the earth long, long ago. What would a bulldozer dinosaur look like? Author/Illustrator Chris Gall decided to show the world. Roaring, loud, destructive mechanical dinosaurs fill the pages of his newest children's book, Dinotrux.
Gall tells the story of the Dinotrux species from prehistoric times to present day. Oh yeah, they are all present in his book - the Dozeratops, the Craneosaurus, the Semisaur - in their menacing, fiery glory. The expressive text filled with noisy sounds is similar to the writing style in Kate and Jim McMullan's I'm Dirty! and I Stink! books. "RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!" and "HOOOOOOOOOONK!" The Dinotrux manners need refining; they shovel in the food, burp and perform other body functions right out in the open. A big, fold-out page in the back shows what happened to the prehistoric Dinotrux. Kids can compare prehistoric Dinotrux to modern versions by looking at the illustrations on the endpapers.
Dinotrux has "boy" written all over it. My princess crazy daughter warily looked at the pictures out of the corner of her eye as I read the story to her. I'm not sure she knew exactly what to make of it, with the angry looking cavemen screaming and running away from massive, prehistoric mechanical monsters. But, since we just visited the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton at The Field Museum in Chicago, at least she seemed to enjoy the picture of a Dinotrux fossil on display. The napping pile of snoring Deliveradons (Delivery trucks) made me giggle. Can't get enough Dinotrux? A Dinotrux film is possibly in the works. Dreamworks Animation bought the screen rights to the book before it was even published.
By the way, I'm quite certain the massive, destructive Dinotrux are not extinct. Here's a recent spotting of a certain Megasaurus species. Apparently, others have seen Robosaurus eating cars as well. Know any kids that like to watch Monster Trucks in action? The Dinotrux picture book would be perfect for them!
Dinotrux by Chris Gall. Little, Brown Young Readers (June 2009); 32 pages; ISBN 9780316027779 Book Source: Review copy provided for free by Hachette Book Group (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)
I will have to check this one out - my 2 boys LOVE trucks and are just getting into dinosaurs. We were on a dinosaur hunt in the backyard just yesterday!
"I don't want a posh dog. A blow-dry-when washed dog. I don't want a bouncy dog. A jump-up-and-pounce-me dog." - I don't want a posh dog! by Emma Dodd
I conducted an experiment. For the first time since I've been reading stories to my daughter, I gave her a book that she had never seen before and asked her to tell me the storyline, using the pictures as her guide. She is a preschooler and doesn't read yet, though she can recite many, many books from memory. I thought the book I Don't Want a Posh Dog! written and illustrated by Emma Dodd seemed like a good candidate for my experiment, with its action filled, expressive and large illustrations. She took her time paging through the book, carefully considering each dog-filled picture. Her verdict? "The little girl is saying, 'Hmmm, What dog I want?'"
Impressive! My daughter nailed the gist of the story right on the head. That shows that Emma Dodd knows how to illustrate a picture book. The illustrations show a little girl as she searches for the perfect dog all the while discussing the traits she doesn't want her dog to possess. No uppity poodles or stylish purse dogs for her and especially no mean, growling, biting dogs. She just wants to find the right dog for her. The story, told in short rhyming verses, describes multiple dogs using silly and funny adjectives like scritchy, scratchy and greedy, pleady. Many different comically illustrated dogs are pictured, and, for better or worse, the story includes some generalizations regarding certain dog breeds.
Emma Dodd lives in England and has illustrated a large number of books including the "Amazing Baby" board book series. In I Don't Want a Posh Dog! her adorable illustrations show texture sometimes though the use of different mediums including an almost collage like style. This is great book for dog-loving preschoolers, and is especially appropriate for families that are planning to search for the perfect family dog. (Cat lovers should check out Dodd's I Don't Want a Cool Cat).
I Don't Want a Posh Dog by Emma Dodd. Little, Brown Young Readers (June 2009); 32 pages; ISBN 9780316033909 Book Source: Review copy provided for free by Hachette Book Group
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
We love this book! Next time we read it, we'll have to pull out a train and shark too. Such a fun idea!
It sounds like the only thing that could make it better is if you added a dinosaur! We'll have to look for this book.
This is Tom Lichtenheld, illustrator of Shark vs. Train. Thank you for covering our book, and for the fun photograph!
Great review! First Dive to Shark Dive is another good book on the subject. It's a higher level picture book. I appreciate all these reviews you do!!
What a great post. Thanks for sharing! I'm off to check out your links :)
How random and totally fun! If I can find it at the library, this might be our next train-themed book! Thanks!