Imagination and reality to a 3-year-old

There's a discussion right now on the fantastic email list child-lit about "creepy" children's books.  I shared the following anecdote about Ivy and her experience of a creepy book.   

My daughter Ivy's creepy book was Mo Willems' "I Will Surprise My Friend," one of his Elephant and Piggie books.  At age 2, she was enamored of E&P and had us read them aloud to her often.  When this one was released, we immediately bought it for her and she was scared witless by the part where Gerald imagines Piggie being eaten by a scary scary monster "right now."  But she wanted it read again.  And again.  Every time she'd cry and cover her eyes, then ask for it again.  We read it to her, I kid you not, fifty or sixty times over the next few days -- clearly she was working it out.  We'd patiently explain about the thought bubbles and how Gerald was imagining, and she'd nod understanding, and then freak out again when we got to the scary scary monster part.

One week later, she brought the book to our neighbor Chet and proceeded to read it aloud to him.  When she got to the part with the thought bubbles, she pointed solemnly and reassured him, "Those are just imagination.  It's not a real monster." Success!

The final part of the story came four months later, when drawing a picture with her grandmother.  Ivy drew a picture with thought bubbles, and told grandmother (who is a noted child development expert), "This part is real life, but this part is just imagining.

Now she's four and reads the books aloud to her little brother, who is totally oblivious to scary scary monsters.

Review: The Mitten - Jim Aylesworth

The Mitten retold by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock Ages 4-8 32 pages Scholastic Press, October 2009

In Michigan, winter goes on for quite a long time, and so there is a great demand by teachers for winter-themed tales.  Our school does not do much with holidays, so secular stories like this one are doubly requested.  I can already tell this new retelling of a classic Ukranian folktale will find a comfortable place in the early elementary curriculum.

Illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Our Abe Lincoln), in lines recalling the style of Maurice Sendak, Aylesworth tells the story of a boy gone out to play in the snow, proudly wearing mittens, hat and scarf knitted by his grandmother.  The mitten is lost in the snow.  In turn, a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox, a bear and a mouse squirm in to get warm.

The only other version of The Mitten I've read is the Jan Brett one, although we have another (Tresselt?) in the library.  I'm going to have to check that one out, because the ending of this one is quite different.  I didn't think it was as cute.  In the Brett retelling, the animals are ejected from the mitten by the mouse's sneeze, and the child finds the mitten all stretched out.  There's a hilarious, wordless picture of her holding the two mittens, one small, one enormous, with a befuddled look on her face.  Aylesworth chose to have the mitten explode into little bits (admittedly an excellent illustration, with freaked-out animals flying everywhere) and the boy's grandmother knits him another one; this is cozy, but not as strong a conclusion.

Otherwise, though, this is a masterful retelling of a very enjoyable tale.  Aylesworth's repetitive, rhythmic cadences just beg to be read aloud.  I immediately began writing the reader's theater script in my head.

Ivy chose this one from my big pile of Caldecott hopefuls.  She predicted the fox would eat the rabbit and squirrel, but was pleased by the actual outcome.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - Aylesworth + McClintock = a dynamite package
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - fine repetitive retelling
  
• Personages: 5 - flat fairy tale characters
  
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - excellent re-readability
  
• Illustrations: 7 - nice contrast of colorful cartoon animals on white backgrounds
  

Other Reviews

• on KidsLit
  
• on A Patchwork of Books
  
• on 4IQRead
  
• on Kiss the Book