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Picture books that are reassuring can help soothe a child, help them know that they are loved–or should be loved. I think they can have great benefit. No Matter What by Debi Gliori is one of those books.

No Matter What

by Debi Gliori

Harcourt (March 2008)

ISBN-10: 0152063439, ISBN-13: 978-0152063436

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“I’m grim and grumpy,” said little Small,

“and I don’t think you love me at all.”

“Oh Small,” said Large, “grumpy or not,

I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

“If I were a grumpy grizzly bear,
would you still love me?
Would you still care?
“Of course,” said Large. “Bear or not,

I’d always love you, no matter what.”

–No Matter What by Debi Gliori, p. 5-8.


We all need to know that we’re loved and cherished, and to know that we’re unconditionally loved. This is especially important for young children, who, at a certain age, can’t hear it enough. No Matter What helps reassure the reader that they will be loved, no matter how they feel or act. This 2008 edition is a chubby board book, one where the pages will withstand a lot of use.

The little fox in this book starts out feeling grumpy when her/his parent is on the phone, ignoring her/him, and this sets the stage for the little fox to ask for reassurance and to find out that she/he will be loved, no matter what. Gliori’s (The Snow Lambs, Pure Dead Magic) rhyming text is sweet and reassuring; the parent fox always has a loving, reassuring answer to give the child. The first two examples are easy to see why a child might feel they need reassurance that they’ll still be loved–feeling awful and/or acting out when feeling grumpy or angry (grim and grumpy, and grumpy and grizzly bear). The next two examples were not as immediately clear to me, and didn’t feel as strongly written. After some thought, I realized that “squishy bug” and the child worrying if they’ll still get a hug might mean if the child was feeling unlovable–but I wish that connection were stronger. Still, a child needing reassurance that they will still be loved is a universal need.

One section stopped me short while reading, since it felt un-childlike, and in a different tone than the rest of the book, almost formal: “But does love wear out? Does it break or bend? Can you fix it or patch it? Does it mend?” I would have preferred the text to flow more easily. Still, all the answers are reassuring, and answer questions that many children may not even be able to express–such as knowing that the parent will still love the child, even if they are away from them.

The characters are named “Large” for the parent and “Small” for the child, and this generalization makes it easy for the reader to identity with the characters. It also makes the characters gender-neutral. The text starts off with two non-rhyming pages; I really like this leap from non-rhyming to rhyming, and the change in rhythm.

Gliori’s reassuring, cozy illustrations really bring forth the comfort and love in the book. The two foxes are always a red-orange, bringing a sense of warmth, and the parent is shown taking care of the child in almost every spread–picking the child up, giving the child a bath, feeding the child, reading the child a bedtime story, hugging the child. These loving and reassuring acts are not mentioned in the text, but they add to and build on the story, adding more layers and actual story. I think this is clever, though it feels like much more of the story is told through illustration than text. The reassuring acts appear in either a side panel, or in the main illustration, sometimes with the child as another animal.

The illustrations alternate between full-spread, bleed-right-to-the-edges illustrations, to three-quarters of a spread with a white side panel where another scene takes place. Gliori uses patterns and textures throughout the illustrations, making the work aesthetically pleasing. The patterns never detract from the scene, but always add to it, sometimes quite subtly. Gliori also makes great use of light and shadow, using it to highlight characters and events, bring a sense of warmth, and lighten the page. Streaks and lines in the opening and closing illustrations make the foxes the visual focus of the scene and bring a sense of pleasing texture.

Characters are deftly illustrated, with sure lines that show emotion well. Gliori also adds in many small, fun details that both young and old readers will enjoy poring over. Observant readers may enjoy finding the chickens in many of the illustrations (such as on a drawing on the wall; Small’s toy; Small’s bib; a poster). Bunnies and ducks also frequently find their way into the illustrations.

This is a warm, reassuring book that will give readers the message that they will always be loved. The text could be a little stronger, but it works, and the illustrations are a visual delight; I would pick the book up just to look at them.

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I love books that encourage creative thinking and dreaming, books that bring good feeling and feel inspiring. Like a Windy Day is just that kind of book.

Like a Windy Day


written and illustrated by Frank Asch and Devin Asch

Voyager Books/Harcourt (March 2008)
ISBN-10: 0152064036, ISBN-13: 9780152064037

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I want to play like a windy day.
I want to zoom down hillsides

and race through streets.

I want to scatter seeds

turn windmills,

fly kites

–Like a Windy Day, by Frank Asch, illustrated by Devin Asrch, p. 1-8.

Have you ever felt excited when the wind blows strongly, and wanted to join in? The girl in Like a Windy Day wants to play the way the wind does, and she imagines many ways to do this. This is a book that will delight any reader who enjoys fantasy or flights of the imagination. Like a Windy Day is a sweet, fun book that will spark creative thinking and play.

Frank Asch (Happy Birthday, Moon,Mooncake, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice) and Devin Asch’s (Mr. Maxwell’s Mouse, Mrs. Marlowe’s Mice) text is playful and fanciful, encouraging the reader to imagine how they could play like the wind. I love this idea. The text reads like a poem, with the initial idea “I want to play like a windy day” repeated several times throughout the book, and each page or spread containing one idea of how you might do this–scatter seeds, snap wet sheets. The repetition of the phrase both encourages readers to come to expect the line, and to imagine what might come next.

The idea of playing like a windy day may at first seem abstract, but the authors quickly make it concrete with specific examples. Some of their examples use strong verbs and specific word choices to create visual and almost auditory images (snap wet sheets, shake the dew from a spider’s web), which brings a strength to the book, while others are more general and don’t come alive as much (steal hats, wave flags). I would have preferred that all the images have that same freshness and use strong verbs, though I know that’s hard to do.

The text is simple and flows well, though sometimes it feels like there are too many beats in a phrase. At times I found the text lacked something–I wanted more specifics, more of the delight that is so evident in the illustrations, to be expressed in words. And yet many of the examples are beautiful, and inspire me. The closing feels like a closing, encouraging readers to move from the active and playful windy day to a gentle breeze.

Frank and Devin Asch’s pen-and-ink illustrations, colorized in Photoshop, are a visual delight. The illustrations are beautiful and feel-good, with the two main characters–the human girl and the wind, depicted as a wind-girl (or boy)–each looking happy, light, and free. There is a sense of magic and play in the illustrations, and this is increased by the wind-girl, herself, who can fly, and whose legs don’t seem to taper to an end, but curl and stretch like the wind itself. The wind-girl captures my attention in every illustration, with her silhouette lighter than any other color and standing out against a darker background, and the happy image of her flying, hair streaming behind her, her body looking almost like frosted glass. She looks so carefree.

The human girl and the wind-girl are always the focus points in the illustrations. The human girl always stands out with her bright blue coat and pink-and-red scarf, drawing the reader’s eye to her. From there, the reader’s eye is drawn to the wind-girl through visual choreography that pulls the reader’s eye to her–leaves that make a trail toward her, streaks of wind that move from the girl to the wind-girl. This works well, tying the two characters together and ensuring that we notice them both. Although the wind-girl is faded, light like the wind, she is always placed on darker backgrounds, which helps her stand out.

The illustrations are bright and full of color. The illustrators use varying shades of color and brushstroke effects to create texture, such as the color variation in a blade of grass, the roughness of a building, or the graininess of the sky, with dark and light to create a sense of shadow. The sense of texture adds to the overall appeal. This contrasts with the smooth one-shade of the girl’s skin and socks and shoes. I don’t think I would have known that all the color was all done in Photoshop, especially the textured color, though I’m not a Photoshop expert. Some things, though, such as the hot-air balloon and the girl’s skin, are more obviously done in Photoshop.

The sky, where the wind-girl flies, plays a big part of most of the illustrations. The sky is shown in various transitioning colors, such as an orange-yellow sunrise, a blue day, a purple-hued sky, though many of the skies are shades of blue or green. The abundance of sky adds to the feeling of lightness. Characters and scenery seem flat, almost like cut outs, but because the illustrators use perspective and layering, there is an illusion of some depth.

The illustrations give some practical ideas of how a person can experience that feeling of flying on the wind (by riding on a skateboard), or how a person can feel the pull of the wind (by flying a kite). But most of the illustrations pick up and add to the fanciful tone of the text, showing the girl playing like the wind in ways that we can only do in our imagination, such as riding on a leaf, or flying through the air with an umbrella. This adds to the playful magic and joy of the book, and will spark reader imagination.

Some spreads will particularly appeal to readers who love fantasy and beauty, such as a spread where the air is filled with butterflies and Canadian geese, the wind-girl drawing them onward through her body, the girl following in a hot air balloon.

If you like books that make you dream, or feel-good books, you’ll like this book. This is a beautiful, gentle book, sure to inspire the reader’s imagination, and help them briefly see the world differently. Highly recommended!

Want more books?

Go to Fantasy & Magic:
Let Your Imagination Soar to find another great picture book.

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Reviewed by Hazel Booth

Title: 006 and a Half
Written by: Kes Gray
Illustrated by: Nick Sharrett
Hardback: 24 pages
Ages: 4 to 7
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 13:978-0-8109-1719-4
Publication: April 2007

“Daisy made up her mind. She wasn’t going to be a girl anymore. She was going to be a spy.”

Daisy gave herself a black felt-marker moustache and put on dark glasses. She collected special spy gadgets from her Mom’s bedroom. She moved stealthily around her house, speaking in code. As 006 and a Half, she attracted only odd looks from friends, family, and the neighbor’s cat. Miserable with being misunderstood, Daisy “trudged into the living room and slumped onto the sofa…’Being a spy is stupid,’ she grumbled.” But a knock on the door restored her hope, with the appearance of a mysterious stranger who spoke in code and brought a message just for her.

Simple, yet expressive pictures resonate with kids, making this a fun, frequent re-read for children ages 4 to 7.

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Hazel Booth is a freelance writer and a student of the Institute for Children’s Literature. She reviews picture books for the National Writing for Children Center and is currently working on nonfiction articles for kids.

I like to review older books, as well as books just off the press. I think there are some beautiful books that shouldn’t be missed–and this is one of them.

Marc Just Couldn’t Sleep

by Gabriela Keselman, illustrated by Noemi Villamuza

Kane/Miller (August 2004)

ISBN-10: 1929132689, ISBN-13: 978-1929132683

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Shortly afterwards Marc called out once more.

“What if the moon melts, and the world goes dark?” he asked.

“Don’t worry honey,” his mom answered, “I’ll fix that, and soon you’ll fall fast asleep.”

She gave him a pair of glasses with glow in the dark lenses and sent a letter to the moon. The letter said, “Moon, don’t even think about doing anything silly like melting or something.”

And then she left.

–Marc Just Couldn’t Sleep, by Gabriela Keselman, illustrated by Noemi Villamuza, p. 10.

Marc can’t sleep. He’s scared, and he worries about big things and small things. Each time he tells his mother a worry, she comes up with imaginative, playful ways to try to soothe him and get him to sleep. But even after she’s found a solution for each of his worries, he’s still scared. Exasperated, his mother comes in, takes away all the things she gave him as solutions, and sits with him, touching his hair, and encourages him to tell her all his fears–but by then, Marc is tired enough that he falls asleep. Imagination can help–but sometimes we just need physical comfort and having someone sit with us and listen, to go to sleep. This is a sweet, imaginative bedtime story.

Keselman makes it easy to identify with Marc–we hear immediately that he’s scared. Anyone who worries a lot, or who has a strong imagination, will understand Marc’s worrying and fear all the more. Some of Marc’s worries are universal–afraid of falling out of bed–and some are much more specific and imaginative–such as being afraid a giant mosquito will fly in and bite him. This movement between common fears and outrageous, imaginative ones helps bring variation, makes the fears entertaining, and may help some readers know that they are not alone in their worries and fears.

Marc’s mother shows great ingenuity and imagination in her solutions for Marc’s fears, and this brings a lightness and comforting feeling to the book. It may also encourage readers to come up with their own imaginative solutions. But the thing that soothed Marc the most was his mother sitting down next to him, touching his hair, and encouraging him to tell her everything. This rings true; talking out fears, having someone listen to you, and getting safe physical comfort can help allay fears. Marc’s mother also uses various endearments throughout the book (little one, honey, my love, darling) which all add to the sense of comfort.

The imaginative solutions have a playfulness to them, and a magical thinking that will appeal to young readers, especially, and the young at heart–a buzz-repellent teddy bear when he’s afraid a giant mosquito will bite him; a parachute when he’s afraid of falling out of bed; and a pair of glasses with glow-in-the-dark lenses when he’s afraid the moon will go out. The solutions are gentle, perfect for nighttime and for encouraging dreaming and flights of imagination.

Keselman creates a nice echo with the opening and closing paragraphs which brings us full circle, the words slightly changed to reflect the change in the story, from Marc not being able to sleep, to Marc not being able to stay awake. Keselman also uses repetition before each solution “Don’t worry, honey/love/darling, I’ll fix that, you’ll soon fall asleep” with slight variations in the endearments and way of saying he’ll fall asleep. This repetition is pleasing, comes to be expected in the text, and yet is not tedious or boring, because of the slight variations. The text flows well and smoothly.

Villamuza’s illustrations use the same tone that Keselman does in the text, bringing a feeling of comfort and sweetness, as well as a playfulness and gentle humor (such as a strainer being used for a helmet). Soft earthy tones are used and echoed throughout the illustrations, such as the clay-orange colander that Marc wears on his head, which is also found in his mother’s sweater.

Villamuza’s illustrations have long, lovely curves, found especially in Marc’s mom and the furniture, and there are no extraneous details in the illustrations. Marc is almost always the center of attention through close-ups that feature him. Large eyes, a sweet button nose, generous lips, and beautiful curvy hair make Marc look sweet, as does his pajamas and body language. Charcoal shading over top color brings a sense of light and shadow, and also movement.

Villamuza adds to the story by visually suggesting the great inventiveness and resourcefulness of Marc’s mother in using things around the house in an imaginative way to help him feel safer, such as a metal cooking spoon for a sword. A lot of white space is used in a number of the illustrations, bringing a feeling of lightness, with illustrations using full color mixed in, bringing visual variation. Villamuza has a great sense of design, using wallpaper that rises halfway up the wall to make Marc even more of a visual focus point.

This is a gentle, imaginative, and ultimately soothing book, both in the illustrations and text. Recommended!

Want more books?
Go to Bedtime Soothers:Night Time Doesn’t Have to Be Scary to find another great picture book.

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Books that encourage imagination, and that feel hopeful and inspiring, are books to be treasured. This is such a book.

Green as a Bean

by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Melissa Iwai

Laura Geringer/HarperCollins (January 2007)

ISBN-10: 0060753323, ISBN-13: 978-0060753320

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If you could be green

would you be a lawn

or a lean green bean

and the stalk it’s on?

Would you be a leaf

on a leafy tree?

Tell me, lean green one,

what would you be?

–Green as a Bean by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Melissa Iwai, p. 1-2.

In this poem of a book, the reader is encouraged to wonder what if you could be ____? This is a fun game to play, most especially when the suggestions are imaginative, playful, and poetic. Children have great imaginations, and Kuskin has captured that in Green as a Bean.

Kuskin’s text is fanciful and creative; it encourages you to stretch your imagination, imagining yourself as many different ways you probably haven’t thought of. Kuskin’s suggestions cycle through different qualities throughout the book–a color, a texture, a volume of sound, a size. This helps to keep the concept interesting and fresh, and to move quickly; the reader will want to see what new idea is being suggested. Kuskin gives specific examples for each, many of which are lovely, playful, and evocative. A few didn’t quite work for me (such as an acrobat’s tights with a hole in the knee–that does not have the same flight of fancy or tone as the rest of the examples), but most of the examples work beautifully.

I love Kuskin’s thoughtful suggestions, things I’d never have thought of–like imagining yourself green as a lawn, a green bean or a leaf, or soft as the snow or a breeze. Kuskin gives different suggestions for each idea, which encourages the reader to not only imagine each one, but to think of their own. The suggestions encourage creative thinking and play, imagining yourself as different than you are, and dreaming, and also suggest that you can change–you don’t have to stay static.

Kuskin’s specific examples also suggest emotions–such as excited or angry for loud (loud as thunder at night), or serene or sleepy for soft (as a breeze or pillow), or calm or thoughtful (blue as the sky or passing clouds), or happy and excited or hopeful (bright as the sun, or the stars at night). There is much to be gleaned from the text, and great discussions could spring from this.

The text is in rhyming verse, and it flows seamlessly for most of the book, although there are a few places where the rhythm doesn’t quite work, at least to my ear. Kuskin’s poetry is both playful and deep, and this combination makes the book inspiring. It’s beautifully written.

Iwai’s gentle illustrations perfectly fit the tone of the book, and are comforting. Her illustrations feature one child in particular, which could be a girl or a boy, with a broad smile and glasses. The child is often easy to spot because of her glasses. Other children of various ethnicities also appear, all with smiling faces. Iwai’s illustrations move between magical illustrations with a touch of surreal (such as the child as a green bean inside the green pod, or her face a giant building block) and between more realistic yet still magical illustrations, such as the child watching a car, sitting on the back of a dragon, or looking up at the night stars and fireflies. This movement works beautifully, and allows the reader to both imagine themselves right within the poem, and gain some distance.

Iwai is very tuned into the text; for the text about being soft, the illustrations look light and airy and gentle, and for the text about being loud, the illustrations have strong movement and energy. Bright yet soft colors are used throughout, with the colors bleeding right to the edges of every page, creating a rich visual experience. One color often dominates a particular illustration or spread, with various hues of the color repeated throughout the illustration. The texture of the paper often shows through in the illustrations, which is pleasing. Texture is also created through the layers of highlight and some visible brush strokes. All of the illustrations span full spreads, and though I would have liked a bit more visual variation, it feels like there is more, through some visual divisions between concepts. Iwai’s illustrations are inspiring.

This is a feel-good book that encourages dreaming and imagination. Recommended!

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Go to Encouraging Creativity: Thinking Outside the Box to find another great picture book.

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I love playful books that have a real sense of fun and imagination. If you do, too, then this book will interest you.

If You Were a Parrot

by Katherine Rawson, illustrated by Sherry Rogers

Sylvan Dell (August 2006)

ISBN-10: 0976494396, ISBN-13: 978-0976494393

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars


What would you do if you were a parrot? The children in If You Were a Parrot climb curtains, chew on pencils and spoons, imitate a phone ringing, and have a lot of fun. You will, too, reading this book.

The opening text grabs reader interest by beginning with a surprise–the idea of the reader only having four toes on each foot, and two that would point backwards. I love the playfulness of this, and the way it encourages the reader to use their imagination. The playfulness continues throughout the book.

Rawson gently teaches the reader about parrots, mostly without the reader feeling that they are being taught, because of the child-like playfulness, such as a child climbing the curtains, or enjoying eating a popsicle, stick and all. There is joy in so many of the examples, and fun at imagining doing something that the reader could not and should not do (such as chew through a table leg or successfully immitate a phone ringing so that people think they have to answer it), and this joy and impishness is contagious. Many of the ideas are startling to think of a child doing, which adds to the fun, and brings a freshness to the writing. The examples also give the reader insight into what a parrot might actually do all day.

Expectation is set up after each introductory idea of how the reader could be like a parrot, so that the reader gets to enjoy the idea of what she could do with that trait, but this is not always successful; sometimes the silliest ideas are incorporated into the introductory idea, and sometimes (as with the splashing and preening), there doesn’t seem to be any fun or uniqueness to the trait at all. I was looking for a rhythm that wasn’t completely there. At times the text moves into what feels like teaching, and then the story becomes slow, or doesn’t feel like a story. I would have preferred that the playfulness remain the strongest thread. I also found the mention of a cage off-putting; parrots in their natural environment do not live in cages, and it feels strange to have a child imagine themselves in a cage. However, that does fit a pet parrot. For the most part, this is a very playful, fun book that will stir children’s imaginations.

Rogers’ (Counting Little Geckos, Burro’s Tortillas) vibrant digital illustrations make the book come alive. Characters and objects are painted realistically, and almost look like you can reach out and touch them. Rogers makes great use of shadow and hues, which adds to the at times almost three-dimensional feeling. Bold colors emulate those of parrots and make the illustrations pop.

Rogers captures the feeling of the text and builds on it, adding setting details that enhance the story, such as a young child surrounded by crayons and drawings she’s completed, and a beautiful star-and-night blanket that covers the bird cage in the closing spread. The backgrounds fade into the page, with foggy blues and greys, and this makes the children and the parrots burst into the foreground even more. Rogers uses great detail, making the parrots feathers appear to have texture, and folds in clothing appear natural.

Different species of parrots and various ethnicicites of children are represented in the illustrations, which is refreshing. The illustrations use strong body language, adding to the surprise and joy of the text. One thing that sometimes visually threw me were the parrot beaks on the children’s faces, instead of children’s mouths. They take some getting used to. But once you do, they’re fun.

The last few pages after the story include interesting parrot facts, a parrot-related activity (make-a-beak craft), and some things you need to know if you want to have a pet parrot.

This is a book that is playful and fun–a flight into the imagination–while offering a lot of information about parrots. If You Were a Parrot encourages creative thinking and play. Recommended!

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Go to Encouraging Creativity: Thinking Outside the Box to find another great picture book.

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I love picture books that are full of wonder, books that feel magical, hope-filled, and that make me feel good to read. Un-Brella by Scott E Franson has that kind of wonder and delight.

Un-Brella

by Scott E. Franson

Roaring Brook Press (April 2007)

ISBN-10: 1596431792, ISBN-13: 978-1596431799

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Have you ever wanted to have some toasty warmth on a cold winter day, or some refreshing cold on a hot summer day? I sure have–and so has the girl in Un-Brella. Only this girl brings warmth to her winter and cold to her summer in a very magical way. In this wordless book, the young girl uses her magic un-brella to create a path of pure summer on a snowy winter day, and a path of snowy winter on a summer’s day. Her un-brella only changes the weather beneath the canopy of the un-brella (and the direction it’s pointed in), and only when it’s open–which makes it an intimate magical playtime for the girl. So on a cold, winter day, she dresses in her bathing suit and flippers, and takes along a bottle of sunscreen–which will have readers wondering what she’s doing until they see her open her un-brella and see the sun, flowers, grass, and insects that pop up. Un-Brella is a magical flight of imagination, beautifully designed, and a real feel-good book; it’s pure delight. Un-Brella was nominated for the 2007 Cybils awards.

Franson piques reader curiosity by the second spread; the first spread shows the young girl peering out at the cold, snowy day, and the second spread shows her reaching for her summer outfits and choosing a bathing suit. By the next spread, reader tension and curiosity increases, as the girl is clearly ready for an outing to a beach or somewhere in the sun, and then we’re faced with astonishment as the girl goes outside in the snow, dressed in only flippers, a bathing suit, and sun glasses, carrying her un-brella. This tension builds up nicely, and is immediately released into a feeling of wonder as the girl opens her un-brella and all is revealed–summer pops up beneath its canopy, warming her and the earth. There’s also a great foreshadowing in the early spreads, with photos on the wall showing the snowman in the fall, spring, and summer, as well as the winter.

Franson creates a great sense of play and fun, showing the path that the girl took through the snow by the green summer path she leaves, and through having her engage in fun, magical play such as bathing in small pond with her inflatable toy, a goldfish, and a penguin that happens by, while the rest of the world is blanketed in snow.
Later, winter moves into spring, then summer, and then the girl is back with her un-brella, bringing winter fun to the hot summer, creating snow angels, skating on the pond, sliding down the hill, and creating snow men, while all around her summer blossoms.

The second-to-last spread shows the girl building a snowman in her living room, while outside it is still summer–exactly the kind of fun many children would love to have. Her cat hiding his head beneath her bed in dismay adds a comical sense of fun. And the very last spread shows it snowing inside the girl’s house, with the snowman behind her, while outside it rains, bringing a wonderful sense of magic. The girl looking out at the spring rain makes the reader wonder what fabulous things her un-brella will do next; it brings the delicious sense that the fun and magic isn’t over yet.

Franson has a background in graphic design and illustration, and that influence is clear here; Franson’s illustrations use a stylized design and beautiful palette. The illustrations have the lovely feel of paper collage, and cut-out paper with layers, though they are computer generated. Shadows behind objects, such as snow flakes and sunflowers, add to the feeling of layers and visual depth in a flat, paper-layered way. Other shadows, such as those on the snowmen and on the bushes seem more three dimensional, and this mixture is visually appealing and fun. A gradation of color is used which adds depth

.

Franson uses bright, soft colors, bringing a feeling of happiness and play, and the warmth of summer. The same colors are echoed throughout the book, which creates continuity. The splotches of summer that the girl’s un-brella create really pop on the page, as the bright green grass and tall flowers greatly contrast the white and light-violet snow. The girl always stands out in each illustration, with her bright pink bathing suit, glasses, and flippers in the summer, and bright pink coat and purple hat and boots in the winter, as well as the trail of summer or winter that she leaves behind her, making her a visual focal point.

There are so many things to explore and examine in the illustrations, such as the ah-ha details that foreshadow or hint at the story (including a snow globe that contains both a snow man and huge flowers); the girl’s own illustrations that tie in characters; the rich patterns; and the recurring characters. You can look for hours and still discover more to look at, such as the way some of the patterns are layered, and almost appear to change if you look at them closely, like the tiny pink flowered wallpaper on the girl’s wall, that also has paler yellow flowers around some of the pink flowers, and then pale green flowers around both of those which join multiple pink flowers together.

Observant readers will enjoy following some of the characters that appear throughout the book in different ways, such as the small white rabbit that first appears in the opening spread (along with bunny tracks in the snow), then appears as a drawing on the girls wall. The rabbit joins the girl in some of her play, then appears older, fatter, and brown in the summer, and finally appears as a stuffed animal in the girl’s room near the end. Other recurring characters are a penguin, a goldfish, and the girl’s cat, though the cat appears only in the opening and closing illustrations, and shows a funny dismay over the girl’s use of her magical un-brella. These recurring characters are not only fun to spot, they also bring a sense of continuity.

Almost everything in the illustrations has a pattern on it (though you have to look closely to see some of them)–from the flowered wallpaper, to the snow-flake patterned snow, to the dotted, multi-toned bull rushes. The patterns are different and varied, each one truly fitting the object, such as diamond and criss-cross patterns on the tree trunks that give a great sense of bark. Even the branches of the trees are formed in a pattern, as well as the leaves and flowers on the trees and bushes, and each tree or bush on a page has a different pattern or set of flowers and leaves that puff out in a ball-shape, looking full and almost ready to touch, and each beautiful in their own way. The patterns bring visual interest, add a sense of texture, and add to the feeling of magic and fantasy. They make the book a visual treat. The one distracting thing I found in the book was the size of the girl’s eyes; they are huge and overly round in her face, and slightly mar my enjoyment of her. Otherwise, the design is exceptional.

Franson creates a sense of time and seasons passing midway through the book, moving from winter on the left, into spring, and then summer on the right, moving from snow and bare branches, to buds and small leaves, to flowers, green apples that turn red, and larger leaves. This moves the reader from the winter into the summer, and prepares the reader for what the girl will do next–appear in her winter clothes in the summer warmth with her closed un-brella–all ready to open it. Every spread is a delight, and there is so much to look at. One small thing I wish for is some variation in the layout, the spreads, to tell the story, but that is minor.

Un-Brella beautifully captures the wonderful imagination and sense of play and fun that children can have, and the idea that anything is possible and that magic can exist–something that is so much a part of many young children’s minds. Un-Brella is beautiful on so many levels–story wise, visually, and design-wise. It makes me feel good just to look at it, every single time I open the book. Highly recommended.

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Title: Olive, the Other Reindeer Deluxe Edition

Written by: Vivian Walsh and J.otto Seibold

Illustrated by: J.otto Seibold

Hardback: 40 pages
align=”left”
Ages: 3 and up

Publisher: Chronicle Books

ISBN: 978-0-8118-5719-2

Publication: September 2007 (original publication 1997)

Olive, the Other Reindeer was originally published in 1997, and this new Deluxe Edition marks the tenth anniversary of this Christmas favorite.

As Olive the dog was listening to the radio, she heard a song about “Olive, the other reindeer” and realized that she must be a reindeer after all. She immediately headed to the North Pole. Even though she was a dog, Santa gave Olive a chance, and she joined the other reindeer in pulling the sleigh. At the end of their long night, Olive used her keen sense of smell to help guide Santa’s sleigh back home. To her surprise, Santa’s Christmas gift to Olive was her very own set of antlers.

This new edition is loaded with tons flaps to lift, tabs to pull, and fragrant scratch and sniff panels. There is an amazing pop-up “grand finale” at the end of the book, too! Children will fall in love with this new version of Olive, the Other Reindeer, just as they did the original.

***********************
Reviewed by Amy Seim, Picture Book Reviewer for the National Writing for Children Center

Every once in a while you find a picture book that makes you grin and grin, all the way through. Melanie Watt’s Chester did that for me. I really enjoyed it.

Chester

by Melanie Watt

Kids Can Press (September 2007)
ISBN-10: 1554531403, ISBN-13: 978-1554531400

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Once upon a time there was a mouse.

He lived in a house in the country.

Then Mouse packed his bags and went on a trip very, very far away and we neevr saw him ever again!

So Chester moved in and made a few changes to HIS new place.

–Chester by Melanie Watt, p. 1-3.




Melanie Watt, the author, starts writing a story about a mouse. Chester the cat, a character she’s drawn, quickly objects to that. He wants to hog all the attention in Watt’s book, and tries to, so the author and her character have a fight over whose story will take the upper hand, with Chester winning for much of the story, making the book about him, and not some mouse. Chester is a funny–at times laugh-out-loud funny–and clever book. It’s easy to identify with Chester; who hasn’t wanted to occasionally be the center of attention, or to have someone give you positives? Chester goes for that, no holds barred. This is a book that will have you grinning and wanting more.

Watt’s (Scaredy Squirrel, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend,Augustine) humor runs throughout the entire book; it begins on the cover, with Chester the cat crossing out the author’s name (Melanie Watt), and putting his own in bright red marker, then continues on the fly leaf, the front matter, the copyright page, the intro page, and all throughout the story, with Chester making over-the-top, full-of-himself comments in bright red marker. The humor is a delight. Chester was nominated for the 2007 Cybils awards.

The story starts out with what is clearly the author’s text about a mouse. The first two lines are ho-hum, which make it all the more funny when Watt switches to Chester’s self-absorbed voice, with Chester’s text appearing in bright red marker beneath the first two lines. Chester’s efforts to take over the book are funny, such as him trying to make the mouse move from his home so the story will be all about Chester. There are also red-marker scribbles over the illustrations, as Chester circles the mouse and shows it leaving on an airplane, and then on the next page, puts his mark on many things in the illustration so that it is clearly HIS: marking the chair “Chester’s chair” and scribbling in a red ball of yarn, marking the curtain his, scribbling a stick-figure portrait of a cat over top all the mouse portraits, crossing out the cheese and putting in a fish to eat, etc. Readers will enjoy looking at all the ways that Chester tries to make the illustrations his own.

Watt retaliates in saucy and playful text by making the mouse return home, bringing with him a huge dog with teeth. The tug-of-war between the author and her character brings a light thread of tension as well as humor, which will make readers want to turn the pages quickly to find out what happens next. Watt and Chester talk back and forth, which makes the story feel more playful and tension-fraught, and moves the story along quickly. The dialogue is not put into quotation marks, as it’s seen as part of the text that they each write.

There is a wonderful playfulness, creativity, and inventiveness in the text and illustrations as Chester tries to make the story his own–and it helps the reader become aware of the author and the process of writing a book (in a good way). It also suggests creative problem solving, such as when Chester quickly makes the dog a vegetarian dog who only eats carrots.

Chester’s over-the-top enthusiasm about himself feels like the self-confidence that a healthy young child should have about her/himself. As a character in a book, and as a cat, it’s incredibly funny, as Chester’s proclamations reach greater and greater heights of outrageousness. The text is well written.

The ending didn’t feel like enough of an ending for me; I didn’t feel like there was quite enough of a wrap-up. I wanted a few sentences more, an extra beat or two, to bring the story to a satisfying close. I felt like I was left hanging. It also felt like a bit of a trick that the reader and Chester could see coming, when the author says she’ll write him his own story; of course the reader knows the author hasn’t given up trying to assert her “own” story. I would have preferred that Chester won or that there was some kind of truce; I found myself feeling badly for him, especially with the illustration on the back cover. Still, overall, the book made me feel happy; the humor is so strong.

Visually, Chester’s text always stands out from the rest of the story, through his bright red, large text and scribbled additions. This not only makes it easy and fun to read and to distinguish between what is supposed to be Watt, and what is Chester, but it also feels like Chester’s character–loud and bright.

The text and illustrations feel inseparable, each reinforcing the other, adding their own information and layers to the story, and neither repeating unnecessary information (such as when Watt adds a big dog into the story–the text says “Oh yes, did I mention he brought back a really big souvenir with teeth?”, while the illustration shows the huge dog with two incisors sticking out of his mouth. What is stated in the text occurs in the illustrations, like a cause and effect (such as when Watt says “it started to rain,” and all of Chester’s writing and drawings about himself are smudged and washed away, and he looks like a very drenched, unhappy cat. I love that glorious sense that the writing and text are so connected, and that the text so strongly influences the illustrations; there’s a kind of magic to that.

Watt’s pencil-and-watercolor illustrations have a soft, muted feel to them, which makes Chester’s bright red text and scribbles pop, making it immediately clear which are Chester’s additions and which are supposed to be Watt’s text. The red marker that Chester uses looks real and three dimensional, like it comes from a photograph, while Chester looks like he’s part of the illustrations, as he should be, being a character–and yet he’s so much more real than his own scribblings. His own text and illustrations make him seem alive, an active participant in the story.

I love the strong body language; Chester looks blissed out, happy, or smug when he adds his own additions; scared (with his hair getting all scruffy and his body puffing up) when he feels threatened by the dog; dissatisfied, grumpy, and wet when Watt makes it rain on him; and grumpy and disgruntled when he’s stuffed into a tutu. Chester’s expressions and body language really add to the fun of the book, and will have readers giggling aloud when Chester gets grumpy.

Some form of the mouse appears in all the illustrations, either as Watt’s illustration, or as Chester’s (which, of course, is really Watt). Keen readers will have fun spotting the mouse.

Watt’s illustrations are a visual delight; they are wonderfully creative in layout, such as when, in the text, she says she’s had enough by stating “This is where I draw the line!” and then in the illustration, Chester actually draws a red line, splitting the spread diagonally, where a tenth of the previous illustration shows up on the left page, bleeding to the edge of the page as if it’s been pushed off, and on the right page, taking up most of the space, is an illustration of Chester from behind as he draws the line with the red marker.

Watt’s illustrations frequently burst through borders and off single pages, which adds to the pleasing visual effect, and the aliveness of the illustrations. There’s a lot of white space, which brings a feeling of lightness.

The opening and closing illustrations are very similar. The opening illustration has a photo of Melanie Watt, and an illustration of her paints, pencil, tape, and desk, as well as a painting of Chester and the mouse, where Chester is coming alive, grabbing the red marker. In the closing illustration, the illustration is very similar, and over top of it, Chester appears with his red marker (no longer constrained by the paper he was once on), where he’s drawn a mustache, beard, and glasses on top of Watt’s face. This brings a nice echo and feeling of repetition, along with change.

Props to Watt, the designer, or whoever made sure that Chester’s scribbles were found throughout the entire book, including the front and back cover, the inner flaps and front matter. It adds to the utter delight of the story, and makes the whole book seem playful and part of the experience. Even the author/illustrator bio at the back is a delight to read, as Watt’s author photo is pushed up off the page, so her face doesn’t even appear (just her neck), and Chester has written notations throughout her short bio, such as “Boring!!” and “This biography is putting me to sleep!”, and then Chester’s bio appears, written and drawn by him, completely in character: “Forget what’s-her-name…CHESTER is the real author and illustrator of Chester” (and more). The back cover has the mouse putting one over on Chester, which works well for any readers who felt badly for the mouse; the mouse has taped a “Mice rule!” to Chester’s back, though may prompt other readers to feel some sympathy for Chester.

Looking for a fun read that will make you laugh? Or a light-hearted read that will bring out the joyful, confident, wanting attention parts of you. Pick this book up. Highly recommended!

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Space Boy

by Leo Landry

Houghton Mifflin (September 2007)

ISBN-10: 0618605681, ISBN-13: 978-0618605682

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The moon shined brightly as Nicholas readied for bed.

This is what he could hear:

his baby sister crying in her crib,

the dog barking to be let out,

and the radio blaring on the front porch.

Even the noises from his neighborhood floated through his open window.

Too loud, thought Nicholas, holding his ears, and I’m NOT going to bed!

In that moment, Nicholas made a decision.

Space Boy, by Leo Landry, p. 1-4




We all need some alone time, sometimes–some time away from noise and people and distractions. This is especially true for sensitive and creative people. After Nicholas hears his baby sister crying, his dog barking, and the radio blaring all at the same time, Nicholas decides that the world is too noisy. He wisely finds a way to get some quiet for himself–by taking a trip to the moon. On the moon he has a picnic, walks around, remembering the people he loves, and then goes back to find everyone more quiet and peaceful, which helps him be ready for bed.

Many readers will be able to identify with Nicholas becoming overwhelmed by noise and wanting some time and space to himself–and the creative way he finds that space, through his imagination, is a wonderful way to inspire both finding quiet and using one’s imagination.

Landry’s (Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise; The Snow Ghosts) story is a gentle fantasy with layers of reality and a nice sense of language and rhythm woven throughout the text. Landry uses repetition of the sounds Nicholas could hear–or not hear–three times overtly in the story, in the opening, middle, and closing, which brings a lovely sense of balance, rhythm, and rightness, and once more, less overtly, when Nicholas is thinking about the people and animals that made those sounds. The second time Landry repeats the sounds, he repeats them with a twist–what Nicholas could NOT hear. I love that twist; it underscores just how overwhelming–and important–the sounds are.

The repetition is not only pleasing and soothing, but also works well as a catalyst throughout the story, and is an emotional thread that Nicholas (and the reader) respond to–first as an irritant or overwhelming noise, then as something he can’t hear when he has his peace and quiet, then as positive memories that make him want to go back home, and finally, back home, as quiet and peaceful, positive once more.

Landry creates a real sense of calm and peace when Nicholas is on the moon, through the well-chosen words and phrases such as, “How nice,” (about the quiet), “delicious,” “beautiful blue earth,” and “silent and peaceful.” The sense of calm and peace is also created through the fun of Nicholas’ imagination–the weightlessness of his tomato slices as they fly off his sandwich–and through the familiarity and soothing quality of what he chooses to do on the moon–have a picnic, take a walk on the moon, silent and alone.

Landry then moves the reader into a shift, as things start to remind Nicholas of what drove him away earlier–his sister, his dog, his parents listening to the blaring radio–only now he’s reminded of positive memories of them, and of the good times he had with his family and dog. Those memories and associations help convince both Nicholas and the reader that he really does want to go back home to earth to be with his family, and they help us believe in his deciding to go back home when he gets to his ship. Landry also has Nicholas realize that the moon that he is on is the same moon that he and his family watch from the porch, which brings some poignancy to the story.

Although I love the shift that Landry created, it felt a little too long, and I also thought that while two connections were very clear (his sister, his dog), the third (his family sitting on the porch); in the beginning, this is stated as the radio blaring on the front porch, not his family sitting on the porch in the moonlight (it’s missing the sound connection, the radio). Some readers may not be able to make the connection at first, and those connections are what helps bring the pleasing feeling of repetition and the emotional working through of an issue, so for me, it creates a small gap. Still, the other two are quite satisfying on their own.

Nicolas’ certainty at what to do in order to have his rocket get to the moon–he knew exactly what buttons to press–fits a child’s imagination and sense of being in control of their own play, as does Nicholas having a picnic on the moon.

The ending wraps up nicely; Nicholas, having had the quiet he needs, goes back home to find that everyone else is quiet now, too (although his parents are still listening to the radio, but it is “listening”, not a “blaring” radio). Nicholas then feels ready for bed, and after his parents tell him good night (without criticizing him for being up past his bedtime), he realizes how good it feels to be home. This brings an uplifting, cozy feeling to the ending.

Landry’s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are simple and child-like, with gentle colors. Backgrounds are often washes of one color. Many illustrations are contained within rectangles with rounded borders, while others bleed right to the edge of the page or take up an entire spread, bringing visual variety. The illustrations have a slightly flat feel to them, without depth or gradation of hue, which gives them a child-like feeling.

Landry visually distinguishes between Nicholas’ imaginative visit to the moon–all of the illustrations during his visit bleed right to the edges of the pages, taking up the entire page or full spreads–and his time at home–the illustrations when he’s at home are smaller than the entire page and are contained within borders if they’re a scene, or smaller, free-floating illustrations paired with the text.

Landry pairs the tone of the text with the illustrations well; on the moon, where everything is quiet, this quiet is underscored by how small Nicholas is on the moon, alone, with small mountains around him and great wide open space, and the vastness of the star-lit sky above him.

There’s a lovely spread that creates a balance between the two worlds as Nicholas starts off on his trip, both contained within a circle; on the left-hand page, we see the earth through the round porthole, and Nicholas’ space-helmet taking up part of the round porthole, creating both a crescent-moon and a full-moon effect, and on the opposite page, we see the full, bright round moon, surrounded by sky.

When Nicholas is on the moon, the earth is visible in almost every illustration, which helps remind the reader that home is there, waiting.

Landry includes some fun outer-space touches in Nicholas’ bedroom in the opening illustrations, which young readers will enjoy spotting, such as Nicholas’ miniature spaceship lamp, his spaceship helmet on the dresser, and a painting of the moon and stars above his bed. Even after Nicholas arrives home, the moon continues to be brought into the text and illustrations, as he steps onto moonlit grass, he tells his parents he’s ready for bed (and in the illustration, Nicholas appears within a circle which is bright yellow, like the moon), and the moon appears above his parents sitting on the porch, as well as above his head (in the painting above him) when he goes to sleep. This reinforces the quiet place that Nicholas found on the moon.

Space Boy encourages the reader to use their imagination, to find a quiet place of their own, and to come back when they’re ready. Do you know a sensitive person, or a child who loves outer space? Give them a copy of this book. Recommended!

-Added December 16, 2007

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I was a shy child who often had trouble speaking up, and when I did speak, people usually couldn’t hear me. So Oliver Has Something to Say! really appeals to me; it’s the kind of book that I’ll want to read many times. Oliver Has Something to Say! was nominated for the 2007 Cybils awards.

Oliver Has Something to Say!

by Pamela Edwards, illustrated by Louis Pilon

Lobster Press (April 2007)
ISBN-10: 1897073526, ISBN-13: 978-1897073520

Ages 4+

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“Oliver, dear, would you like some more spaghetti?” asked his mom at the dinner table.
Oliver opened his mouth and his big sister, Margaret, said, “No, he doesn’t want any more. He’s got sauce all over his face and noodles in his hair.”

Oliver closed his mouth.

“You’re right,” said Mom.

She looked at Oliver.

“Go wash your face, dear. I’ll deal with your hair later.”

Oliver looked down at his plate.

A noodle fell out of his hair and landed there.

–Oliver Has Something to Say!, by Pamela Edwards, illustrated by Louis Pilon, p. 1-2.

Four-year-old Oliver is shy, and doesn’t talk at all–his family answers for him every time he’s asked a question. They assume they know what he likes and wants, and don’t listen to his body language. Oliver keeps trying to tell them, but they don’t listen–until finally one night when Oliver makes them listen. Do you know a shy child, or were you shy yourself as a child? This book will appeal to shy readers. It strikes a chord in me; I was a shy, introverted child myself, so I really enjoy Oliver Has Something to Say!. This is definitely a book worth checking out.

Throughout the book, Oliver opens his mouth to say something, and the others speak for him instead. This could quickly get overwhelming, but Oliver’s continued small acts of rebellion help to balance out the others taking over–such as Oliver locking the door on his sister after she rushes out with the goody bags when he was about to tell the guests they’d forgotten them, and his patting a dog and letting it lick his face, even though his sister says he’s scared of dogs. Still, I would have liked to see the rebellion come in just a little sooner–or have there be a few less incidents where people take over for him, before he begins to rebel.

Oliver’s family seems absolutely clueless and insensitive, ignoring his nonverbal communication, but they do not come off as cruel–just obtuse. They seem to care about Oliver, which helps.

Oliver increasingly becomes stronger in his small rebellions as the story progresses, which helps the reader root for him, wanting him to succeed, and helps balance out what could otherwise be too painful a book. Although Oliver’s family keep ignoring his attempts to make himself heard, it’s clear to the reader what he wants and doesn’t want.

Edwards makes the point of how a child can get used to others answering for her/him, and so may feel unable to speak when they are on their own–until they are encouraged to. Oliver’s teacher, who clearly listens to Oliver and helps him break through his silence, is refreshing and provides some comfort and relief for the reader. Oliver (and the reader, through the story) is encouraged to speak up, and speaking up is shown to be a positive thing.

When Oliver finally rebels against others making all the decisions and speaking for him, by telling his family what he does and doesn’t like, the reader will cheer for him. Edwards shows us great character change through Oliver, and shows us Oliver coming into his own strength and self. There’s also humor and a feeling of satisfaction when for once it’s Oliver who’s speaking, and the others who are opening their mouths without words coming out. Although it takes him a while to get there, Oliver is the true hero of the story; he is the one who breaks through his own silence and gets past others always answering for him. He makes himself heard.

Edwards creates instant reader empathy for Oliver, through other characters not giving him the space to speak and not listening to him, and through his obviously sad body language in the text (Oliver bowing his head and the spaghetti falling off). There’s a lot of text in the story, but the frequent dialogue helps make the text move quickly. Oliver’s small rebellions also help the story move forward, as the reader will want to see him succeed.

Oliver Has Something to Say! will appeal to many readers–young readers, shy readers, readers who know what it’s like to have someone else try to control you (as most children experience at one time or another). The story shows some of the powerlessness of being a child, and the way people control you, often without realizing it. When a child is hesitant, shy, or has trouble speaking up, it’s often easy for the people around the child to take over and speak for the child–but in doing so, this can take away the child’s voice, as this book so clearly shows. Oliver Has Something to Say! has an important message woven into the story–that it’s not only good, but important to be heard, and that even if you’re shy, you can do it, if you give yourself enough time.

Pilon uses an expressive cartoon style. There is strong, clear emotion in every illustration; Oliver, who has such trouble speaking, has a very small mouth parted in an tiny O, while his eyes take up most of the room on his face. Oliver’s anger and resistance when he locks the door on his sister are so strong and clear that you can really feel it, and it makes me laugh. And when Oliver finally speaks up, his happiness and delight is made strong by his grinning open mouth and wide eyes, and the sound lines that radiate from his head. Pilon captures the feeling of the text; the text and illustration work beautifully together. The cartoon-style illustrations also add some lightness and humor to the book; it’s especially fun to see Oliver’s bossy sister visually freak out when Oliver lets a dog lick his entire face–especially since the sister appears smug earlier in the book.

Colors are soft and bright. Oliver always stands out, in part through his wearing a red t-shirt or his standing by something red, which helps make him a visual focus point, and in part by his huge eyes, which are almost always larger than any other character’s. Setting and background are often slightly faded, bringing characters into the foreground and into the reader’s attention.

One to two illustrations appear on each page, with some illustrations in small contained boxes, which adds to the cartoon feel of the book and helps match the pace of the text. Often illustrations from the same scene appear on a spread, which brings a feeling of continuity. Characters are often in motion, looking natural (such as when Oliver’s mom is seen carrying laundry down the hall, for her one line in that illustration). Characters are never static.

Oliver Has Something to Say! works well; Oliver has a problem that he solves himself–a problem that many children can relate to. Do you know a shy child, or a child who has a hard time speaking up? Give them this book; it may help them to feel understood or less alone. Oliver Has Something to Say! encourages self-confidence, speaking up, and listening to others. This is a great story with depth and understanding of how it feels to be a shy child. It’s easy to read and to relate to. Highly recommended!

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Sometimes book banning has a positive effect--the book gains publicity, and it finds new readers. That is how I stumbled over And Tango Makes Three, and I'm very glad I did; it is one of my new favorite picture books. I also think it's a very important picture book to ... Read the rest of this post

I enjoy reviewing new books–and I think it’s important that good, “older” books do not get lost or forgotten, just because they’re not hot off the press. So this review is about a book that I think is fantastic from 2004.

Billy’s Bucket

by Kes Gray, illustrated by Garry Parsons

Red Fox/Random House (June 2004)

ISBN-10: 0099438747, ISBN-13: 978-0099438748

My rating: 5 out of 5

Billy looked long and hard at every single bucket on every single shelf.

“There it is,” he shouted excitedly, “that’s the one I want, right up there–19 shelves up, 78 along from the left!”

Billy’s mum and dad got someone to help them.

“They all look the same to me,” said the shop assistant.

“No, that one’s special,” said Billy excitedly.

When Billy got home he ran straight into the kitchen and filled his bucket with water.

“Wow!” said Billy, peering inside his bucket.

“I can see a rock pool with crabs and seaweed and little shrimpy things!”

“Of course you can, Billy,” smiled his dad.

Billy’s Bucket, written by Kes Gray, illustrated by Garry Parsons, p. 7-12

All Billy wants for his birthday is a bucket. His parents try to talk him out of it, but when he won’t change his mind, they give in and take him to Buckets-R-Us, where Billy picks out a very specific bucket. The store assistant and his parents can’t see anything different about it, but Billy can. He knows it’s special. And when he gets home and fills it with water, the reader sees he was right. Each time Billy peers into the bucket, he sees an underwater scene. He tells his parents, but they don’t believe him. Even worse, they tease him about it, suggesting that they’ll use his bucket for mundane things. Billy forcefully tells them that whatever they do, they must not use his bucket. But in the morning when he wakes up, his bucket isn’t there. Billy runs outside, only to find that his father has emptied a gigantic whale onto the street and cars. Billy simply says “I told you not to borrow my bucket.” Billy’s Bucket is a wonderfully imaginative, magical, and feel-good fantasy.

Gray (Eat Your Peas, You Do!) creates sympathy and empathy for Billy in the very first spread as his parents try to talk him out of what he really wants, suggesting other, more expensive things that many kids would jump at–a computer game, a bike, running shoes–and belittling his wish for a bucket. Gray notches up the sympathy through having Billy’s parents laugh at him and tease him when he tells them what he sees, refusing to believe him. Young readers may enjoy Billy’s seriousness and earnestness of what is truly fantastical, and root for him, believing in his underwater world along with him.

Billy shows great strength of character and tenaciousness as he sticks to his both his desire for a bucket though his dad tells him that “nobody has buckets for their birthday,” and to what he sees in his bucket, though his parents don’t believe him. This helps the reader like Billy right from the opening, and by the end, shows the reader that Billy was right to stay true to himself.

Gray’s pacing works well. Billy’s search for the perfect bucket brings reader curiosity and suspense (Why does Billy want a bucket? Why is this one special?) as well as humor, as Billy is the only one who can see that the bucket is special. That Billy is so precise in picking out his bucket helps clue the reader in that Billy really can see something special, and the precise detail also helps the magic seem more believable, as does his parents scoffing at the magic. (Adults often–but not always–seem to miss what children can see so easily.)

Gray’s dialogue helps the text move forward quickly. The dialogue feels believable, especially Billy’s description of what he sees in his bucket “I can see a rock pool with crabs and seaweed and little shrimpy things!”. Billy’s dialogue where he names what he knows and only describes what he doesn’t know makes what he sees in the bucket seem all the more real; it sounds just like a child would act if it were really happening.

Gray creates tension for the reader as Billy is laughed at, unfairly teased, and not believed by his parents. This tension makes the ending all the more sweet and triumphant, as Billy is proved right beyond a doubt, and the tension is released. It brings a great reward for the reader, and is deeply satisfying. It also brings a sense of justice, of having some right in the world, especially for a young child.

Billy’s Bucket is a tribute to a child’s imagination and a child’s wisdom, in seeing something that the adults around him are blind to because it does not fit into their understanding of the world. It also shows how real one’s inner world can feel; it is made real in this book.

Billy’s Bucket has a great pairing of text and illustration; the illustrations show things that the text does not, and without the text, the story would not be a story, or so deeply satisfying.

Parsons (G.E.M., Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe) uses a loose, exaggerated, cartoon-like style. Parsons’ illustrations have wonky, fun perspectives and a free energy. Characters and objects are outlined in thin color, and sometimes background objects are only depicted through colored outlines. The illustrations are cheerful, with full color spreads and bright colors, and repeating shades of yellow, blue, green, and red.

Keen observers will love spotting all the sea themes in the book that also appear in the buckte’s underwater scenes and serve as a kind of visual foreshadowing, such as the wind-up toy whale and the paintings and drawings on the wall of a whale and a boat on a wave; the octopus that appears underwater and recurs in the newspaper and calender; and the crab that appears in the bucket and later in a drawing on the wall. Another fun visual detail that also helps to tie the book together is that a truck that transports buckets, presumably from the same store where Billy purchased his bucket, is seen passing through the window in the opening and closing illustrations, and also on the copyright page.

Throughout the story, we see Billy’s parents preparing birthday things for him–balloons, cupcakes, food–that is not mentioned in the text. This helps add dimension to the story, and make it feel more full and rich; the characters are “living” beyond the text.

Parsons cleverly uses perspective to make the reader feel as if they are in the bucket with the sea creatures, looking up at Billy looking in, whenever Billy peers in his bucket. This perspective helps the reader feel more a part of the story and magic, and makes the magic seem more real. It’s not just Billy’s perspective; we’re there, too. This feeling grows each time Billy looks in the bucket, as the underwater scene grows larger and larger, and Billy’s face and the top of the bucket grow smaller and smaller. Visually, the underwater scenes also take up more room on the spread, moving from one page, to a page and a fifth, to a page and a half, to a page and a bit more than that.

Readers may also enjoy deciding things for themselves through the illustrations that are not told (or decided) in the text, such as when Billy says he thinks he saw a mermaid but it could be a big herring. If the reader looks closely they can see that it is, indeed, a mermaid in the water. The ending is punctuated by the illustrations; we are not told in the text exactly what happened until the very last page, but in the second-to-last page we see it–the whale lying in the street, Billy’s father staring flabbergasted, his mouth open, the bucket still swinging, water splashing out of it. This allows the reader to put some things together for themselves, and ensures that the text and illustrations do not retell what is unnecessary.

Billy’s Bucket encourages imagination, dreaming, and staying with your own truth. It is a fun, deeply satisfying fantasy, and is one of my very favorite books. Highly recommended.

review by Cheryl Rainfield

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Go to Fantasy & Magic: Let Your Imagination Soar to find another great fantasy picture book.

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The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley

by Colin Thompson, illustrated by Amy Lissiat

Kane/Miller (September 2007)

ISBN-10: 1933605502, ISBN-13: 978-1933605500

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Everyone wants to live forever.

They want to be happy and healthy.

Some of these things are actually quite difficult, but some of them are really easy, which might seem surprising because most people hardly manage any of them. At least not all of the time.

None of this bothered Riley.

Riley had been born happy. His earliest memory was being with his brothers and sisters and mom in a big bed with plenty of food and no rain.

He was always happy, even when he was asleep.



–The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley, by Colin Thompson, illustrated by Amy Lissiat, p. 1-5.

Riley the rat is always happy. Riley doesn’t want much–just enough to be happy. He wants food in his belly, a stick with a pointy end to scratch his back, and to be where he is. He appreciates everything in his life, is satisfied with everything he has, is sure that he is beautiful and everyone loves him, and feels that he has everything he needs–unlike people, who so often want something more, and something after that, and who are so often depressed, unsatisfied, and satiated. This is a humorous, philosophical look at life, where the rat clearly knows how to live happier and with less baggage.

Thoughtful, thought-provoking, and unique, The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley combines a zen-like philosophy (”The only place Riley ever wanted to be was here, which he always was.”) with humor, wisdom, criticism of modern culture, and a definite lesson. The book feels like it’s aimed more at adults than children. Thompson’s (How To Live Forever, The Paper Bag Prince ) text does not read like a story, though Riley’s scenes are close (yet without tension). The text reads more like a modern folk tale that imparts a lesson. However, the strong humor keeps the lesson from feeling overly didactic.

Each scene with Riley (where he only wants just as much as he needs, or is happy) is quickly contrasted by the greed, discontent, and sometimes meanness of people, first shown through a brief example that contrasts Riley’s, and then through a long hyphenated list of things people want. The hyphenated lists will be very funny to older readers, who may recognize some of their own wants or those of the people around them. The lists may also appeal to young children, just through the lovely jumble of language and specific details that are listed (”People want double-fudge-chocolate-caviar-sausage-gourmet-jumbo-size-
baby-cow-sheep-chicken-with-extra-thick-whipped-cream-
and-msg-sauce-burgers. Some of which is gross, some cruel and most, unhealthy.”). Thompson clearly had a lot of fun writing this book; the dry humor and satire leaps from the text, as if the author is there winking at you from the page and giving you a sly grin.

Thompson’s text flows easily; humor, careful word choice, and the hyphenated lists carry it through. Thompson sometimes uses metaphor to make his point (such as that people shouldn’t be allowed to have sticks with pointy ends because they stick them in each other–ie. hurt each other emotionally, verbally, physically) and it works well.

Through Riley’s example, the reader can see healthy, healing ways of thinking about themselves and the world around them, and may be able to absorb some of the philosophy themselves (”He was beautiful and everyone loved him. He was the best and so were his brothers and sisters and mom.”). These sections are powerful and healing. However, I worry how a young reader will take the frequent putting down of people and the way we think and act that follows the sections on Riley (since the reader is, after all, a person). How a reader takes it will depend on the reader. Thompson pokes fun at the way some people act–ways that are unhealthy and unhelpful. Those are good things for young and old readers to be aware of, to get some distance from. I just wish that Thompson had said “some.”

Riley’s sections bring a warm, cozy feeling, which Thompson brings about through well-chosen words (”…being with his brothers and sisters and mom in a big bed with plenty of food and no rain”). Lightness is also brought through the frequent humor. The strong contrast between how people are and how Riley is makes it all the more clear how much better Riley’s way is, how much happier he is.

Thompson’s wise observations spiced with humor are ones that young, and especially older, readers may identify with–such as that people often don’t allow themselves to eat what they want; that people often feel depressed when they look in the mirror; or that people always want more. Thompson points out that people, though often not allowing themselves to be happy, usually live for a long time, whereas Riley, who is very happy, lives for only a short time. Thompson suggests that you just have to be happy with a lot less, which is a good concept, though that wording could have been a little more positive (enjoy what you have, instead of be happy with less). The very last page says “Release your inner Riley,” which is a great suggestion.

On my first read through I was put off by the overt lesson, but on subsequent read throughs I found myself enjoying it, and liking the lessen, wisdom, and philosophy that runs through the book. I think I’d pick and choose which children I’d recommend this book to, though this will have a definite appeal to some children, especially those who like clear guidance or a subversive humor. I’d heartily recommend this book to most adults. You may want to purchase this book just to remind yourself of what’s important in life.

Lissiat’s illustrations are quirky, unique, and fit the humorous and satiric text. The illustrations look like a mix between watercolor and ink, and acrylic, though they are actually Photoshop illustrations–incredibly good ones. Riley’s spreads are child-like and overtly happy; Riley himself is a lovely bright mauve, and is almost always surrounded by shades of blue and yellow (sky) and green (grass and outdoors), adding an expansive, happy, easy-to-breathe feeling. Riley is usually smiling, and looks laid back and content.

In stark contrast, Lissiat’s illustrations of people are either completely sepia tinted, including the backgrounds (especially when people are depressed or mean in the text), or are a dull beige on washed out backgrounds. This underscores the painful emotion, and makes those illustrations stand out from the rest of the color in the book. It also makes the contrast between the people and Riley even greater. Lissiat’s illustrations of people are decidedly quirky, and even off-putting or disturbing. The adult male figure looks strange, like a short, stocky child in adult clothes and one of those glasses-and-mustache disguises, with a bowler hat on his head. And in the opening spread, he is seen holding a bouquet of flowers towards a curvy woman in lingerie with hearts all around her. That particular illustration doesn’t seem quite relevant to children.

Background are often washes of color with some fuzzily depicted setting details. In several illustrations near the end (which fit with the text), Lissiat plays with famous paintings such as the Mona Lisa and Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, inserting the strange little man’s face into most of them. Older readers may enjoy this playful, humorous touch.

The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley is an enjoyable, funny, thoughtful and thought-provoking book that is sure to remind the reader of what’s important in life, and what really matters. Recommended.

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy

by Oliver Jeffers

Penguin Group (April 2007)

ISBN-10: 0399247491, ISBN-13: 978-0399247491
(In Canada: HarperCollins Canada

ISBN-10: 0007182279, ISBN-13: 978-0007182275

In the UK: HarperCollins Children’s Books

ISBN-10: 0007182279, ISBN-13: 978-0007182275)

My rating: 5/5

Henry loved books.

But not like you and I love books, no. Not quite…

…Henry loved to EAT books.

It all began quite by mistake one afternoon when he wasn’t paying attention.

He wasn’t sure at first, and tried eating a single word, just to test.

Next, he tried a whole sentence and then the whole page.

Yes, Henry definitely liked them. By Wednesday, he had eaten a WHOLE book.

–The Incredible Book Eating Boyby Oliver Jeffers, p. 1-3.
Do you love books? I sure do. And so does Henry. But Henry loves books so much that he literally eats them. Just a single word, at first, then a page, then an entire book. He starts eating many books at once, and as he eats them, he becomes smarter, which he loves. But soon he’s eating too many, too fast, which makes him feel sick. All his knowledge starts to get jumbled up because he didn’t have time to digest it properly. So finally he opens up a book, and instead of eating it, he reads it–and discovers he loves reading. And that reading makes him smart, too. Just more slowly. The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is a wonderfully creative, fun, and humorous fantasy that encourages books and reading. It’s the perfect gift for a book lover of any age. It makes me feel happy, reading it.

Jeffers (Lost and Found, How to Catch a Star) has a fantastic sense of pacing, shown from the initial page where the text set up tells us that Henry’s love for books is different then our own, but forces the reader to turn the page to find out why (by breaking the sentence up with elipses, then revealing the surprise (that Henry eats books) on the next page).

The text continues forward at a strong clip, moving from the initial instant interest and surprise, to increasing good feeling and excitement as Henry gains more knowledge and intelligence, to the crisis point when Henry starts getting muddled up, and on to the feel-good resolution where Henry begins to read, loves it, and realizes that he can become smart through reading (which encourages readers to realize the same). Jeffers’ text has the perfect amount of tension and humor, and it flows nicely; there is never anything unnecessary.

Jeffers brings in dialogue that adds richness to the story but doesn’t interrupt the flow, through hand-written speech in the illustrations. The dialogue is brief and believable. The story can be read without it, though it adds to the enjoyment. There are also some hand-written explanations, such as how Henry got smarter by eating the books. These explanations read more like side notes, and while funny, did not fit into the flow of text for me.

There is a lovely humor throughout the text that should appeal to both young and old readers, starting with the incredibleness of Henry actually eating books, continuing as Henry becomes smarter than even his teacher, and then grows nauseous from too much book eating.

I love all the double-layered meanings and fantastical metaphors used throughout the book–of Henry eating a book, which is often used to mean reading a book voraciously (I gulped that book down); of Henry gaining knowledge and intelligence through eating (reading) all those books; of Henry eating books too quickly, not savoring them, so that the knowledge started to get all jumbled–which is exactly what happens when you try to learn or read too many different things all at once. The metaphors with their bookish overtones delighted the reader in me.

Jeffers brings a funny twist into the ending that echoes the beginning, where, even after Henry learns to love to read, he occasionally takes a bite out of a book. This is told through a combination of the text (which tapers off, leaving readers to figure it out) and then the huge actual bite out of the back book cover, which is visible from the last page. The text and illustrations build on and add to each other; they are so meshed that one would not work without the other.

Both the text and the illustrations are wonderfully creative and full of a love of books. Readers may want to read the story many times–the first for the story, to know what happens, and then again, more slowly, to absorb the wonder of the illustrations.

Jeffers’ paint, pencil, and letraset illustrations created on the pages of old books are a real delight to pore through. They are unique, layered, and visually pleasing, and are so strong and creative that they really make the book stand out.

Every illustration has a background that ties in books, reading, or writing through the paper, book page, or book cover used, adding to the book-love feel of the story. Various types of paper and book covers are incorporated, from lined paper, newspaper, graph paper, pages from books and dictionaries, to covers from old books. Most pages are yellowed or browning, including the front matter, which brings the sense of old books. The text from the book pages used in the backgrounds is either painted over (so illegible), in another language, or a fine dense print (like a dictionary), so it’s clearly not part of the main text, yet still adds to the visual appeal. Sharp-eyed readers will enjoy finding all the ways that Jeffers has included books into the illustrations, such as the large faded book cover that almost fades into the background in the theater scene.

Jeffers’ love of words and books also shows up through his quirky illustration of the words and knowledge inside Henry’s head and whole books sitting inside Henry’s belly; through the mixed up words and letters that sit inside his head and come out after he eats too many books; through the way letters splash crazily out of a book that he puts into a blender; and through the books shoved into Henry’s mouth.

Jeffers’ uses a lot of white to highlight Henry’s face in every illustration, as well as the pages of books Henry eats, other objects, and some of the background, which creates a visual echo throughout the book. Characters are drawn in a quirky style, mixing both a flatness and a roundness together, and incorporating spindly arms and legs, creating a kid appeal and almost child-like drawings. Henry’s mouth is greatly exaggerated whenever he eats a book, which appeals to me. Henry always wears an orange or yellow shirt, which, along with the generous use of white in his face as highlights, makes him the visual focus of each illustration and makes him easily recognizable.

There is great humor in the illustrations, such as when we see Henry sitting at the table with his father and sister, a bowl of salad in the middle of the table, regular food on the two plates, and a book with a bite out of it on Henry’s plate, the book-bite speared on his fork. Or when Henry draws a mathematical equation involving a rocket on the chalkboard while his teacher sits slumped in her chair, staring. Or, sure to bring giggles to most children, the series of small drawings that show Henry feeling ill, then nauseous, then vomiting into a toilet from eating too many books too quickly.

The illustrations vary from one per page, to one per spread, to three illustrations per page in even horizontal divisions, as well as other sizes and shapes. This variation keeps the visual pace fresh, as does the changing color of backgrounds.

The design of the book itself is beautifully thought out and creative, with a bite (with teeth marks) cut right out of the back cover (both in the hardcover and paperback editions). There’s even humor on the back cover: “Disclaimer: Please do NOT try to eat this book at home” that both adds to the fun, and adds a real warning for any child who thinks they want to be like Henry once was.

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy promotes a love of books and reading in a fun, enjoyable, and humorous way. If you love books, know someone who loves books, or just want a fantastic picture book, run and get this book! You won’t regret it. I never tire of reading it, and have already bought myself another copy.

Highly recommended!

review by Cheryl Rainfield

Want more recommended books?
Go to Love of Words:
Celebrating Books, Writing, & Language to find another great picture book.

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I just posted my review of Mrs. Biddlebox by Linda Smith and Marla Frazee (Harcourt, October 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0152063498) on my site. If you’ve never read a picture book by Smith or Frazee before, you’re missing out! Smith’s text is lyrical, vivid, and incredibly strong and well written, and Frazee’s illustrations are powerful, evocative, and sure.

If you’ve ever had a bad day or gotten up on the wrong side of the bed–or know someone who has–this is a book you’ll want to read. I loved it, and highly recommend it.

From my review:

Have you ever woken up grumpy without knowing why, or had a bad day? Mrs. Biddlebox has. From the moment she wakes up, everything feels wrong–even her breakfast is awful, with bitter tea and hard crumpets. So Mrs. Biddlebox decides that she’ll cook the rotten morning into a cake, and eat it. She gathers up the gloom, and everything else that’s made her day bad, and beats it into dough, becoming happier as she does so. The cake turns out sweet and merry, and so does her tea. She eats the whole thing, and welcomes in the night, feeling better. This book is a wonderful metaphor that will speak to anyone who’s ever had a rotten day, and it gives hope that you can make a bad day into a good one, or at least a good evening.

Smith’s (Mrs. Crump’s Cat) writing is powerful and dynamic, with a vivid voice. She uses strong, colorful words to make the story come alive, evoke a sensory or emotional response, and emphasize how Mrs. Biddlebox feels, even in her setting: “grubby little hill,” “A breeze blew dank and dreary.” Smith also uses partially made-up words (creakies, grumblies, whizzled) which bring a sense of fun, while still making intuitive sense. These two qualities–strong words and made-up ones that fit the context–make the text vibrant.

Strong verbs, precise descriptions and metaphors also add to the full quality of the text (”Mrs. Biddlebox slammed the door on morning”).

Smith’s text is written in rhyming prose, with the second and fourth line of every stanza rhyming with each other. Since not every line rhymes, this leaves some openness to Smith’s word choice and language, and helps the text feel unconstrained (as do the made up words). Smith never misses a beat; all the words feel carefully chosen for the way they work together, and the text has a lyrical quality to it.

Mrs. Biddlebox starts out with a problem–a rotten morning–but she solves this by deciding to cook the rotten morning and turn it into cake. We see her mood change from grumpy (”tromped out into morning,” “stabbed the dreary lot”) to a gleeful physical and emotional release as she punches, whips, and beats the dough, and then stomps it when it rises.

You can read my entire review here: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/picture-book-review_Mrs-biddlebox.html

I just posted a review of My First… by Eva Montanari (Houghton Mifflin, November 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0618646449) on my site. My First… is a delightful book that celebrates books, reading, and individuality, and it has a fantastic sense of pacing and build up of anticipation. If you like books that encourage reading, or you just like a good read, check this book out. I highly recommend it.

From my review:

Have you ever really wanted something for your birthday–something that everyone else seems to have–and then not gotten it? In My First… , that’s what happens to Alice. All her friends have dolls. Alice wants one, too. But instead, she’s given something her mother says is even better–it’s alive, it will tell her stories, and it will stay with Alice her whole life. Alice is disappointed, and pretends her gift is a doll. For a while, she gets away with it, hiding it in blankets in her baby carriage, telling her friends it’s asleep so they can’t look at it. Over time, Alice starts to really like her gift, and the stories it tells her and the way that it makes her think of her own stories. But then one day, her friends find a way to make Alice reveal what’s really in her baby carriage. They laugh at her when she tries to explain, and Alice runs away from them, angry and upset, but she soon finds that she really wants to find out how the story ends that her birthday gift–a book–has to tell her. She runs back to get it, and finds her friends curled up with her book, absorbed in its stories. So Alice sits down to join them, contented. My First… is a wonderful story with a great build up of anticipation that ends in a nice surprise, and a story that celebrates and encourages reading and individuality.

Montanari (A Very Full Morning) creates a delightful feeling of anticipation and suspense as she cleverly withholds exactly what Alice got for her birthday, instead of the doll she hoped for. Montanari instead focuses on details–on the attributes Alice wanted her gift to have that it doesn’t (no curls, freckles, or chubby little hands); on the ways that she hides her gift from her friends’ view (telling them he’s fragile, sick, or sleeping, which is why ‘he’ is wrapped in blankets), on how her gift acts with her and what he gives her (that he tells her stories, is polite, and never asks to hear her stories but makes her think of her own), and on the ways he is not like her friends’ dolls (does not have hair that will grow back, a loud voice, or a button to push to hear his voice). Montanari doesn’t divulge exactly what Alice’s gift is until two-thirds of the way through the book. This built-up suspense will have readers eagerly turning the pages to find out exactly what the gift is. I found such delight in discovering that Alice’s gift was a book. With Montanari’s skillful writing, it was both a surprise and a fitting revelation.

You can read my entire review here: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/picture-book-review_My-first.html

I’ve just posted a review of Go to Bed, Monster! by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz (Harcourt, October 2007, ISBN-13: 9780152057756) on my site. Go to Bed, Monster! is a funny, sweet, and imaginative bedtime story–or any-time story. If you like Harold and the Purple Crayon, or drawings come alive, check out this book! I highly recommend it.

From my review:

Lucy doesn’t want to go to sleep–she wants to draw. Her drawing turns into a monster, and the monster comes alive. Monster wants to play and play, so much so that Lucy is soon tired out–but Monster is not. Lucy tries various ways to get Monster to go to sleep, but Monster won’t sleep, and keeps wanting things which Lucy draws for him–until finally Lucy comes up with a solution that helps put them both to sleep–a bedtime story.

Wing (The Night Before Kindergraten, The Night Before First Grade) cleverly turns the usual bedtime scene around, so that it is Lucy, the child, who has to cajole and soothe her Monster to bed (not the child’s parents cajoling or soothing her to bed). This reversal is funny. Go To Bed, Monster! is also about the power of imagination, and the ways imagination can entertain, soothe, and find solutions to problems. It’s Lucy’s imagination and creativity that brings Monster alive, and allows them to use everything she creates. The fantasy aspect of drawings coming alive or being able to be used is highly enjoyable–similar to Harold and the Purple Crayon–and will spark reader imagination and encourage creativity and art. This is a lovely, sweet bedtime story that has humor and a gentle playfulness.

Wing’s opening text is immediately gripping and interesting, with the problem stated emphatically in the second sentence “…could not, would not, did not want to go to bed.” Many readers will identify with that problem. Wing’s opening and closing text act as book ends; in the opening, Lucy doesn’t want to go to sleep, but instead wants to draw, in the closing, Lucy falls asleep with her drawing that came alive–and in between, the action occurs. This works well, and brings a satisfying feeling of having come back to the initial problem with a solution.

Wing has a good sense of timing; it works well to break up the sentence of what Lucy’s drawn shapes have become, so that the reader doesn’t see or hear the answer until they turn the page–a monster. This adds surprise, enjoyment, and brings a greater impact to the answer. That Lucy is not scared of the monster, even though all he does is roar when he first comes to life, is refreshing, helps the reader like Lucy more, and helps the reader see that Lucy is brave.

Wing never tells too much; she leaves some things up to the illustrator and the reader to figure out, which helps make the text work even better (for instance, when Monster has to go to the potty, Wing doesn’t tell us that Monster went; she just says that “Lucy drew a bathroom,” and adds a sound effect, and then goes on, in the next page, to Monster’s next demand. That, along with Kantorovitz’s drawings, work to tell us the whole story without telling details twice.

You can read my entire review here: http://www.cherylrainfield.com/picture-book-review_Go-to-bed-monster.html

I highly recommend it!