Ivy's Pick: That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell & Neal Layton

This book reminded me strongly of a whole bunch of other books.  Photographic background images and floppy bunny: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.  Wit and style: Wolves by Emily Gravett.  Spunky heroine with strange capabilities to get around town without any adults present: A Beautiful Girl by Amy Schwartz.  And yet, it has a style all its own.  Army, Navy AND Air Force, PLUS a queen!  Boys and girls alike will swoon.   

Ivy made me read it three times in one day.  She covered her ears when I yelled the Air Force words too loudly, and solemnly pronounced Stanley "dead" as he lay in state at the royal palace after being stolen, restuffed and accidentally dyed pink.  

Awesomeness: 7/10

Wordsmithing: 6/10

Personages: 6/10

Illustrations: 6/10

Earthquake in the Third Grade by Laurie Myers

Here's another of the Byars family's beginning chapter books. 

I guess I could say it has all the qualities one would want from a chapter book, were one a typical third grader: it's short (around 60 pages), familiar territory (school/home), pleasantly multicultural (the main character is portrayed in the pictures as Asian-American, though this is never mentioned in the text), boy-heavy (2 boys : 1 girl and she's obnoxious -- can we say Hermione syndrome?) and all the metaphor is completely transparent and spelled out (the class is experiencing an "earthquake" in the form of their teacher moving, paralleled by a similar earthquake experienced by David's ant farm).  

Of course, there's the argument put forth by Richard Peck that children don't want to read about kids their age -- "they want to read about the people they wish to be."  My limited experience has taught me that this may be true for kids -- once they can read full sentences without struggling to decode words longer than two syllables.  Most 3rd graders are still becoming familiar with comprehension and basic plot elements.  They don't want to wrestle with big issues.  They are happy to see themselves in books, even if it's not the most flattering picture.

My only regret is the pictures are hopelessly 80s and thus would probably not sell with my kids.  I just started reading The SOS Files to one third grade and they already love it... I can't help but feel the love would not flow as freely were the illustrations not hip and cartoony.  Ditto with Surviving Brick Johnson.  Publishers, if you're reading this (ha!), take note: would you please reprint all of the Byars/Duffey/Myers clan books with trendy 21st century illustrations?  Thanks so much!

Awesomeness: 4/10

Personages: 4/10

Wordsmithing: 3/10

Mesmerizitude: 5/10

Illustrations: 3/10

I read this as part of the Spring Reading Thing.

Ivy's Pick: How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

My first encounter with Steve Jenkins was reading What Can You Do With A Tail Like This? to a kindergarten class.  They were mesmerized.  Then I had the fun of discovering all of his other nifty-animal books, like Actual Size.  This new one is just as cool.  

First of all, pictures.  Layout.  Fantastic.  The Eyewitness white background inset picture with caption thing is here to stay, and it really works to focus kids' attention.  The book alternates one page of introductory material about a facet of animal behavior, such as how do they get into those tough clam shells?  At the bottom of each page,  you get a glimpse of what animals they'll be talking about on the next page, which provides a perfect guessing-game format for read-alouds.  It was great for reading with Ivy, too, as she chose a few bits to read on each page until her attention to the topic waned and we moved on to another.

Second of all, how many cool animal factoids can one (okay, two) people cram into one book!? Example: the Surinam toad lays its fertilized eggs into cavities on its own back, where they incubate, hatch and grow for several months before erupting.  Can't you just hear the delighted squeals of Ewwww!?  I really can't wait to share this book with my fourth graders, currently working on swamp animal research projects about predator-prey relationships.  

Jenkins does a great job of making the book accessible to all levels of interest.  Very young children can enjoy the cutouts with very little attention to the text.  Slightly older kids can jump around from factoid to factoid with no need for any organizing schema.  Older still, and they will appreciate the summaries at the beginning of each section, as well as the additional (and still interesting) material at the end.  

Ivy really liked the dolphin bubble net, although she still insists the Polynesian megapode is really a ptarmigan.

Thanks, Jenkins & Page!  I feel rather giddy... I sense a wave of nifty coming on.

Awesomeness: 9/10

Wordsmithing: 5/10

Factfulness: 8/10

Illustrations: 9/10

My Dog, My Hero by Betsy Byars et al

I didn't realize that Laurie Myers, one of the other co-authors of this book, was Betsy Byars' daughter until I read Surviving Brick Johnson, which Myers wrote on her own.  

I can't imagine why I missed this title.  It fills that all-important middle reader category, children who are beyond Junie B. and Magic Tree House series books, but aren't quite ready to jump into the ambitious middle grade pool of books.  Most kids hit this point somewhere in the third grade.  This one is cool enough to appeal to fourth graders, too, which is great.  

The illustrations are lovely, but totally not necessary to paint a picture of the characters, neither dog nor human -- the words are descriptive enough, quite a feat in less than six pages per chapter.  

I suspect this book will fly off my shelves... and I'm looking forward to testing my theory!

Booklist said: "Drama, humor, excitement, and love fuel these short, well-written stories that are certain to be relished by dog lovers. The selections can also provide students in English classes with excellent examples of point of view, characterization, and plot construction."

Awesomeness: 5/10

Wordsmithing: 3/10

Personages: 6/10

Mesmerizitude: 6/10

I read this for the Spring Reading Thing.

Ivy's Pick: Rapunzel by Grimm, illustrated by Dorothee Duntze

Ivy knows the Rapunzel story from a coloring book, but she'd not read the fairy tale, so I decided to pick up a copy to share with her.  I knew she would find the copy of Rapunzel's Revenge I got from the library, too, so I figured this would give her some background story.  

Duntz's version is less scary than Zelinsky's; there's no poking-out-of-the-eyes or anything.  The style is soft, mostly pastel, and has a strange undersea quality: the table in her tower looks like a snail, and is that a sea urchin hanging from the ceiling?  The translation was solid and appropriate for elementary kids.

Ivy liked the part where Rapunzel had two children, but wondered why they were so old.  They did seem to spring out of nowhere.

Pub Weekly said: "The arresting art abounds with sensuality and charm, making this version a welcome reimagining of a classic tale."

Awesomeness: 5/10

Wordsmithing: 6/10

Personages: 3/10 

Illustrations: 6/10