Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear Written by Lindsay Mattick Illustrated by Sophie Blackall Little, Brown and Company 10/20/2015 978-0-316-32490-8 32 pages Ages 4—8 . . “Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World …
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Filed under: 5stars, Books for Boys, Favorites, Middle Grade, Series Tagged: Brown and Company, Chronicle of Egg, family relationships, Geoff Rodkey, Hachette Book Grou, humor, Little, New York City, private schools, sibling fighting, The Trapper Twins Go to War (with each other), The Trapper Twins Tear Up New York, twins
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 9/14/2012
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Holly Hobbie, 2012, Little, Gem, Brown and Company, children's books about spring, nature books for kids, books about toads, toads and kids, books about setting animals free, Add a tag
Written illustrated by Holly Hobbie
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By: Sue Morris @ KidLitReviews,
on 3/9/2016
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Harry Colebourn, Library Donated Books, Lindsay Mattick, 5-Stars, Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, Children's Books, Picture Books, NonFiction, bears, Winnie-the-Pooh, World War I, Sophie Blackall, Debut Author, Hachette Book Group, Little, Brown and Company, Add a tag
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JacketFlap tags: Harry Colebourn, Library Donated Books, Lindsay Mattick, 5-Stars, Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, Children's Books, Picture Books, NonFiction, bears, Winnie-the-Pooh, World War I, Sophie Blackall, Debut Author, Hachette Book Group, Little, Brown and Company, Add a tag
By: Sue Morris @ KidLitReviews,
on 5/28/2015
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Middle Grade, humor, Favorites, New York City, Series, twins, Books for Boys, private schools, Little, family relationships, Brown and Company, 5stars, Geoff Rodkey, Chronicle of Egg, Hachette Book Grou, sibling fighting, The Trapper Twins Go to War (with each other), The Trapper Twins Tear Up New York, Add a tag
Blog: Kid Lit Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Middle Grade, humor, Favorites, New York City, Series, twins, Books for Boys, private schools, Little, family relationships, Brown and Company, 5stars, Geoff Rodkey, Chronicle of Egg, Hachette Book Grou, sibling fighting, The Trapper Twins Go to War (with each other), The Trapper Twins Tear Up New York, Add a tag
The Tapper Twins Go to War (with Each Other)
written by Claudia Tapper with Geoff Rodkey
Little, Brown and Company 4/07/2015
978-0-316-29779-0
236 pages Age 8—12
“This brand-new series by a popular screenwriter is a pitch-perfect, contemporary comedy featuring twelve-year-old fraternal twins, Claudia and Reese, who couldn’t be more different…except in their determination to come out on top in a vicious prank war! But when the competition escalates into an all-out battle that’s fought from the cafeteria of their New York City private school all the way to the fictional universe of an online video game, the twins have to decide if their efforts to destroy each other are worth the price.
“Told as a colorful “oral history” by the twins and their friends, and including photos, screenshots, chat logs, online gaming digital art, and text messages between their clueless parents, The Tapper Twins is a hilariously authentic showcase of what it’s like to be in middle school in our digitally-saturated world.” [publisher]
Review
Claudia and Reese, age 12, twins, are at war, with each other. Who started the war depends on whom you ask, Claudia or Reese. They cannot agree on anything. Claudia decides, after the war is over, to document what happened. She writes using all at her disposal, including photos, interviews, online screenshots, and her mostly-absent parents’ phone text messages. I love her description of her and Reese,
“We are, unfortunately, twins. I am twelve years old. Reese is six.”
Reese interjects whenever he can. Like any war, it starts when one side (Reese), accuses the other side (Claudia), of doing something wrong (farting in the sixth-grade cafeteria), which harms others (a few sixth-grade princess sensibilities, many noses, and Jens—Claudia’s secret crush). Embarrassed and angry at such a terrible accusation—she claims innocence—Claudia is out for revenge. The War has begun.
Claudia tries several ways of embarrassing her brother, but Reese does not embarrass easily. Claudia begins by placing a large, dead, stinky fish in Reese’s backpack, but even after several days, and others complaining of the awful smell, Reese doesn’t notice. When he learns of the fish, he fires back. Then Claudia returns his fire, and back-and-forth, until someone is tragically hurt. The fighting is both online and off for some digital-age humor. Claudia also allows others to comment in her “Officially True History of the War between the Trapper Twins (Claudia and Reese).” These interjections into Claudia’s history of war help the story gel into a humorous middle school tale. Readers meet Claudia’s secret Norwegian crush (Jens), the twins’ Upper East Side private school friends, the snobby Princesses, and the twin’s parents.
Rodkey, who wrote the excellent Chronicles of Egg series (reviewed here: bk1, bk2, bk3), knows his readers well and understands how siblings fight. I loved the first book of this new series, which delves into cyberbullying as part of the twins’ fighting. Even though Claudia writes the history, she comes off as the antagonist, rather than the victim she sees herself to be, making it easy to favor Reese. Still, the sibling fighting feels natural, not forced. That the twins are more alike than they believe and never really lose their sibling-love is also true to form. If you have siblings, you just might recognize yourself in either Claudia or Reese.
The Trapper Twins will have readers laughing, happily rolling their eyes, and smiling throughout its witty story. Those who like the Dork series, or the Aldo Zelnick Alphabet Novels (example here), will love The Trapper Twins even more. The Trapper Twins series continues this September with book 2: The Trapper Twins Tear Up New York. The prologue and first chapter are at the back of this book to give you a taste of the next. I cannot wait to continue this series. I love Rodkey’s writing and his wit.
THE TRAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER). Text copyright © 2015 by Geoff Rodkey. Illustrations and photographs (except where noted) copyright © 2015 by Geoff Rodkey. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY.
Purchase The Trapper Twins Go to War at Amazon
The Trapper Twins made the New York Times Bestseller List at #14!
Learn more about The Trapper Twins Go to War (with each other) HERE.
Read an Excerpt HERE.
Meet the author, Geoff Rodkey, at his website: http://geoffrodkey.com/
Meet the illustrator, The Trapper Twins book website: http://www.tappertwins.com/
Find more middle grade books at the Little, Brown and Company website: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/kids/
Little, Brown and Company is part of the Hachette Book Group
Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
Review section word count = 413
Filed under: 5stars, Books for Boys, Favorites, Middle Grade, Series Tagged: Brown and Company, Chronicle of Egg, family relationships, Geoff Rodkey, Hachette Book Grou, humor, Little, New York City, private schools, sibling fighting, The Trapper Twins Go to War (with each other), The Trapper Twins Tear Up New York, twins
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 9/14/2012
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Holly Hobbie, 2012, Little, Gem, Brown and Company, children's books about spring, nature books for kids, books about toads, toads and kids, books about setting animals free, Add a tag
$16.99, 32 pages, ages 3-7
A girl catches a toad in her hands, then lets him spring away and be free again, as she realizes there's more joy in letting him go than making him stay.
In this lovely picture book, Toot & Puddle creator Holly Hobbie chronicles the wondrous journey of a toad named Gem to her garden and a touching encounter there between him and her granddaughter Hope.
The journey through spring is told without words and is bookended by two letters: One from Hobbie to Hope, dedicating the book to her and Gem, and the other is a reply from Hope, thanking her grandmother for bringing Gem back to her through pictures.
The story begins in a field of newly sprouted dandelions. Gem is gazing at a butterfly flitting by one of the blossoms and everything seems right in the world. But then, out of nowhere, a car rolls by, spitting gravel from a tire, and Gem tumbles head-over-heels off the lane.
Gem is raddled and dusty, but he's quick to rebound, perhaps aware of all the living he has yet to do.
He hops to a pool of water where a female toad is wading in the shallows. From above on a rock, he serenades her by inflating a sack at his neck and soon the two are encircled by a stream of eggs transforming into tadpoles then little toads.
In the next spread Gem sits alert and still as the little toads pop up down around him. Does he sense danger? Suddenly he's racing out of the marsh, the shadow of a hawk looming over him. Is he luring the predator away? As claws descend, readers wince as if being chased too.
Gem seems to fly as he leaps and just in time, slips into Hobbie's garden -- a place too lush for even a hawk to see into. He's greeted by the smiling faces of pansies as he catches his breath. Then he peers around. A girl in a sunny yellow top sits on a path, sifting through a patch of flowers.
No mind, he seems to say, as if sensing she's no threat -- and he plunks into a bird bath nearby. The water looks cool and must calm his pounding heart, and after a time he climbs out and jumps to the ground to bound away.
But suddenly he's not moving. Something's got him. But where did it come from? Small hands have wrapped around his stomach. They are not sharp like the hawk's talons; they hold him gently like a sling as his legs flop down between fingers.
Now the hands are raising Gem higher than he's ever been. What must he think as the sky comes suddenly toward him? Is he trembling? Does he think he'll be eaten? Suddenly, he's looking into a face that must seem as a big as a moon. A face that shows no teeth -- but is he safe?
Only the girl knows -- or does Gem sense it too? Does he see the wonder in her eyes? Does he know that her smile is kind? He is wrapped so completely in her hands, there is no way for Gem to escape. Only the girl can decide what happens next. Will she keep him or will she set him free?
This is a book to treasure for its simple, quiet message: that even humblest creatures deserve to see how far they can go in life, how much they can do and see.
Hobbie has an amazing ability to make readers feel a part of whatever she paints. Her art wraps itself around them, like an arm around a shoulder, and welcomes them along, as if to say, "Come, look at what I have seen." And every stroke feels as if it was guided by a warm, spring breeze.
Her perspective offers intimacy. She puts readers down in the grass with Gem and nudges them to feel protective of him -- even watchful. Every wide-eyed look from Gem and floppy leap makes hearts skip. Should readers flip ahead in the book, make sure it's safe for him to go on?
In sharing Gem's world, a world that's full of wonder but easily missed (if only because humans rise so high above it and they have to hunker down to really see it), Hobbie makes readers want get down low and go there too.
I wondered as I finished this book, how many little readers will fly out their backdoor after they've read it, go deep into their garden, scrunch down as small as they can and wait for a Gem of their own to hold and set free.
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