A Grandma without her glasses can get into all sorts of trouble. Grandma Jo discovers this when she goes to pick up her grandson, Lloyd, in his new coat with a fluffy collar. Instead, she brings home an escaped angry lion.

Grandma Joe doesn’t see a thing and muddles along with a cranky lion. She soon finds out that he loves to eat ice cream and he mellows right down. The lion scares a burglar in the house and the police capture the burglar and the ferocious lion. The mess gets straightened out. Grandma Jo saves the lion from a undesirable ending and she becomes a hero in the process.

The fun, lively watercolors illustrating this book are a magnificent compliment to the delightful story with its twists and turns.

In Because Amelia Smiled, Stein effortlessly takes readers on a world tour all because a little girl, Amelia, wore an infectious smile while skipping down the street. For details how to enter and for entire contest rules, please click here or scroll down all the way to the bottom of this page for partial info. The contest ends midnight on April 16, 2013 so don’t wait to enter and good luck!

As Stein says in his jacket flap, “The story of Amelia is bigger than anything that can fit in a book. It’s the story of how we are connected.”  I could not agree more. Perhaps you are as fascinated by the idea of six degrees of separation as I am and if so, you will love sharing this picture book with your children.

The town on the hill has a monster. It lives in the valley below and eats the town’s garbage. In humorous verse, Tom Watson tells the tale of when this handy arrangement back-fired on the town. You see, the town had grown.

“… more houses and pools
more people, more parks,
more restaurants and schools.

More paper, more metal
more cans and more wires
more boxes, more bottles
more bicycle tires.”

Too much trash to eat causes unpleasant consequences. Monster burps are not good for the town.

The Mayor and his comities try to solve the problem. They only make it worse. The children decide to do something. They discovered that the monster needed to eat less, not more. They collected. They recycled. And then …

“The clouds dissipated
The sun shone again
And the burping subsided
It was peaceful and zen.”

While fun and offbeat, this tale all too closely reflects our current environmental problems. Children can get involved. Children can make a difference. The story is so much fun to read with its catchy verse that no one knows they’re learning a useful lesson.

This ebook is available FREE for Nooks from www.barnesandnoble.com and from Apple’s ibooks store.

For authors of all genres, a great book review is so uplifting that it seems like “music” to their ears and poetry to their souls!

Recently, I had received several book reviews from middle-grade youngsters who completed reading my book, Whale Island and the Mysterious Bones. I learned that Sam, a 12 year-old from Long Island would be writing one for  Boating Times Long Island Magazine, which was published in their April issue.  I did not meet Sam or know him – all I knew was that the editor of the magazine asked him if he would write the review and he agreed. I was pleasantly surprised at Sam’s mastery in crafting beautiful words that described my plot, and the way he felt while he was reading the book. A copy of his review can be found in this link:  http://boatingtimesli.com/NY/whaleislandbookreview/

Another excellent review recently came to me from Patrick, an elementary school aged boy whose mother is a fellow member of the Long Island Authors Group, a non-profit that promotes authorship on Long Island. Patrick wrote his comments in a book report that described in detail the protagonists’ journey from Cape Cod (where they live) to an island thousands of miles from their home (Whale Island). Patrick ended his book report with this comment:

“I liked this book because it had a lot of twists and turns in it. It was very well-written and it was a very good book.”

I wonder if these children realize that their words are priceless and  are exremely encouraging, especially coming from a youngster. Children today have packed schedules, between school obligations and afterschool activities, so taking the time to write a book review is greatly appreciated – it brings joy to an author! Plus, it’s a wonderful feeling to know youngsters are enjoying their book/reading experiences. I am fond of saying to them and all who love to read books that take you on unforgettable adventures that inspire and enrich the mind, “Keep reading and enjoy the journey!”

A Fox on the Box is one of the School Zone Start to Read books. The story is simple. The sentences are short. The words repeat for the young early reader.

The charming watercolor illustrations show the fox in many activities, all on the box. He eats on the box. He jumps on the box. He plays on the box … and more. All pages are delightful. I fell in love with this active little fox – even when the box sat on the fox!

The Fox on the Box is available in print or as an e-book. Yet, for this one I downloaded the e-book to my reader. Next time I visit my grandson, I’m prepared with a stack of books, all in a little reader. That’s a load this grandma can easily carry through the airport.

Elephants don’t do ballet? That’s what Esmeralda’s brother, Ernest, proclaims. But Esmeralda is one determined elephant, with an mother on the path to help her daughter follow her dreams.

Even if elephants are too big too clumsy, or too uncoordinated to dance, Esmeralda sets out to prove everyone wrong. She is going to dance. Besides, what a few squished fellow ballet dancers, or a smashed piano and pianist?

The final dance show gets off to a disastrous start. But, Esmeralda saves the performance and brings the show to an unexpected, delightful close.

Then, on the way home, Esmeralda spies …. A skating rink ….

April is National Poetry Month so throughout the month we’ll be reviewing different poetry books we think you will enjoy.

I chose this particular biography to kick off National Poetry Month because I was drawn to it by the title and then moved by this remarkable and intelligent woman’s story. A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet (Candlewick, $14.99, hardcover, ages 8-12; also available in paperback) by Kathryn Lasky with illustrations by Paul Lee is certain to enlighten curious young readers.

“At first there was just blackness. Complete blackness.  Then the blackness dissolved into darkness …”

The year is 1761 when Phillis Wheatley’s story begins with these short yet powerful sentences. I felt compelled to read on about this young girl stolen from her family in Africa. I tried to imagine her fears and sorrow as she was thrown on board a slave ship bound for America and treated more like cargo than a human being. I could not imagine at seven years old being separated from my mother, my life and my country and then enduring a grueling ten-week journey across the sea only to find myself being purchased for a few dollars upon arrival. Phillis’s only good fortune, if it can be called fortune, was that her new owners, John and Susannah Wheatley, were kind Bostonians and the laws for slaves in New England were far more lax than in the South.

Phillis was a quick study and not only learned English but Latin and Greek as well. She taught herself from books Mrs. Wheatley gave her and copied Bible passages by the light of a candle. Her passion for poetry soon emerged and her first published poem was in 1767 in the Newport Mercury newspaper. How many of your children know about this extraordinary black woman who at fourteen years old was visiting the “finest families in Boston” alongside Mrs. Wheatley, to read her poems? I think her story should be shared in every classroom.

Phillis’s earliest poems were written prior to the Revolution, and one particular poem, a tribute to Reverend George Whitefield upon his death, made her famous both “in the colonies and in England.” This English preacher who found slavery sinful, had made a profound and lasting impression upon young Phillis who had found a new kind of freedom through her words. Mrs. Wheatley, who considered Phillis more like a daughter than a slave, was determined to have Phillis’s collection of poetry published but printers in Boston refused to publish “the work of a Negro.” The only choice Mrs. Wheatley had then was to send Phillis to England where the collection was published in 1773.

The book is broken down into nine vividly illustrated chapters, plus an epilogue, notes from the author and illustrator, selected sources, an index and author and illustrator biographies. It’s an inspirational read for anyone interested in learning how individuals can overcome some of life’s harshest obstacles. Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped as a diamond in the rough from Africa and grew to become a polished poet who could shine on even the dullest New England day. Her outstanding contribution to poetry has truly earned her a place in American history.

- Reviewed by Ronna Mandel

Celeste and Ivey are two little girls traveling the sometimes muddled path to friendship. A dream pillow that brings nightmares goes back and forth between the two girls. When they enlist Ivy’s mother’s help, she divides the pillow in two, bringing the dream pillow’s effects to just the right blend for fun, magical dreams.

Friends after all; it’s a satisfying and heart-warming end to the tale.

The author’s watercolor illustrations complement the story beautifully. This is a perfect story for young girls navigating the early world of female friends.

If you are a regular reader you may have noticed that Debbie Glade is hopelessly addicted to reading science books for kids. Today she reviews a special book that is a must-have for any curious child’s library (ages 9 and up). You can buy it in time for Earth Day – April 22, 2013.

I’ve often wondered what scientists of earlier years would think about the environmental challenges we face in the world today. After reading Friends of the Earth: A History of American Environmentalism with 21 Activities ($16.95, Chicago Review Press, Ages 9 and up) I learned that even scientists of long ago encountered many of the same earthly challenges we face today.

The book begins with environmental observations dating back to the very first Americans – Indians or Native Americans – who spoke about protecting forests and taking care to protect natural resources to leave the earth unharmed. I learned that Ben Franklin willed money to be used after his death (1789) to build a pipeline for fresh water for Philadelphia because polluted drinking water was the cause of great illness at the time. Did you know that the Sierra Club was founded in 1892 by John Muir and Robert Underwood?  Learned that, too! And thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, many national parks were established in our country to protect our wildlife and natural resources. The very first Earth Day was established in 1970, the same year the Clean Air Act was passed. This era marks the beginning of what is referred to as “modern environmentalism.”

Author Pat McCarthy introduces readers to 11 key people who made great contributions to the environmental movement, starting with James Audubon, whose love of painting birds helped to educate the world. His Birds of America was published in four volumes in the 1820s and 30s, featuring 497 different species of birds. The cost of printing these volumes was astronomical as each of the illustrations was engraved on copper plates. Most of the funds were raised through subscriptions. The National Audubon Society was established in 1905. Among the many other early environmentalists covered in the book are Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), who was inspired by the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and who would become one of his closest friends, and Cordelia Stanwood (1865-1958), a botanist, bird lover, photographer, teacher and prolific writer.

My favorite environmentalist in the book is Marjory Stoneman Douglas whose respect for the Florida Everglades led to her penning the famous 1947 book, Everglades: River of Grass. Before her book was published, it was commonly believed that the Everglades was a meandering, worthless swamp that should be drained. Of course we now know that there is no other place on earth like the Everglades, and there is great treasure in the abundance of endemic plants and animal species found there. (Miami is my home and I will forever be amazed by the wildlife of the Everglades.) What I admire even more about Douglas than her dedication to the environment is that before 1920, she helped pass laws in Miami to make it mandatory that poor black families had toilets and bathtubs in their homes, and she also set up a fund to provide milk to babies whose families could not afford to by it.

© Debbie Glade

A photo I took in Everglades National Park on a hike in February, 2013

In addition to the featured environmentalists in the book, there are many side stories about other influential and fascinating people as well as 21 fantastic activities for kids to try.  From building a compost pile and journaling like Thoreau to making an organic bird feeder and turning salt water into drinking water (by use of the sun), young readers will delight in trying these activities. The last chapter of the book is entitled, “Where Do We Go From Here?” Author McCarthy touches upon the most pressing environmental issues of our time – global warming, deforestation and pollution. There are also many valuable resources in the back of the book.

Friends of the Earth is the highest quality educational book, one that just may inspire a young person to put his or her environmental concerns into action and pursue a quest to help save our precious planet. Not only is it the perfect resource for celebrating Earth Day, but it is ideal for any day, because we should all be Friends of The Earth and make every day Earth Day.

]]> http://binkeyandbubblegumbooks.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/chickens-may-not-cross-the-road/ Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:50:32 +0000 trishafaye http://binkeyandbubblegumbooks.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/chickens-may-not-cross-the-road/ Title: Chickens May Not Cross the Road: and Other Crazy (But True) Laws
Author: Kathi Linz
Illustrated by: Tony Griego
Date/Publisher: 2002, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Reviewed by: Trisha Faye, Binkey and Bubblegum Books

What? It’s illegal for my donkey to sleep in a bathtub? Riding an ugly horse is illegal? I need a doctor’s prescription to take a bath? (I know several kiddos who will like this one though!)

Have you heard all the old jokes about ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ The rebel-rousing, road-crossing-chickens in Quitman, Georgia must have stirred things up so much that a law was passed that chickens may not cross the road.

Interspersed throughout this hilarious picture book of crazy (and at one time real) laws, is easy to understand information about laws: why we need them, some of the oldest laws, and how laws are made.

The pictures are bright, colorful and wacky, much like the ludicrous laws they illustrate. I was sorry to turn the last page and have it over all ready. I laughed my way through the whole book and wanted more.

Thanks to this funny book I’m now wiser than I was yesterday. I also know that next time I’m out trout fishing; I can’t if I’m sitting on a giraffes back.

Play-Doh: Where Learning and Creativity Take Shape series.

Counting Bunnies, Making Shapes with Monkey, Mama’s Little Ducklings, Rainbow Butterflies ($6.95 each) and Let’s Get Creative Jumbo Sticker Book ($12.95) are written by Michele Boyd and illustrated/digitally composed by Kara Kenna; ages 0-3; Silver Dolphin Books

For many children, Play-Doh is a gateway for letting their imaginations come to life. Want to swim under the sea even though you live nowhere near the ocean? Sculpt some fish and a reef, and you have your own underwater world. Play-Doh has taken the creativity of its products, added a serious cuteness factor, and produced the sturdy Where Learning and Creativity Take Shape board book series, ideal for children three years and older (Silver Dolphin Books, 2013; $6.95 each). Each book is brightly colored with digitally composed illustrations of Play-Doh creations.  You’ll want to reach out and touch the pictures that seem like real Play-Doh creations.  The text is simple and fun.

Counting Bunnies features a group of adorable bunnies counting from one to ten. Each page consists of the target number prominently displayed along with explanatory text and a number sense question (for example, What other groups of six do you see?). And, of course, let’s not forget the growing number of bunnies who do everything from talking on phones to growing dizzy on a merry-go-round to splashing in a pool.

Making Shapes with Monkey includes a simple rhyme scheme with Monkey and his friends identifying basic shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, and diamond. Silly friend Squirrel stopped by to say, “Can you make me a special kite today?” There are colorful shapes in the sky. Can you name the shapes soaring up so high?  The shapes are embedded into the pictures, making it fun for the young reader to spot. What shapes make up the flowers? The bird house is made from which five shapes?

Rainbow Butterflies introduces the colors of the rainbows plus perennial favorite, pink. Each color features a hidden butterfly and a finding question (for example, What other yellow things do you see?) on pages choc-full of colored creatures and items. Now we spy with our little eyes the lovely orange butterfly. Not to mention the orange cat, sun, balloon, flowers, and butterflies.

Mama’s Little Ducklings is a lift-the-flap book that tells the story of Mama Duck as she readies for her eggs to hatch and then realizes one is missing! (The mischievous egg rolled away!) Follow Mama and her colorful crew as they ask their fellow creatures if they can help.   Mama Duck and her four ducklings waddled down the path and into the river. “Has anyone seen my missing egg?” asked Mama Duck. “Not here,” said the fish with a glug-glug-glug! If little eyes look carefully, they will see the yellow polka-dotted egg hiding in each section.

The Let’s Get Creative Jumbo Sticker Book ($12.95) features over 300 reusable stickers in eight different sections—Building Blocks, All about Animals, Under the Sea Surprises, Travel and Adventure!, Let’s Go to School, At Home, Fun with Food, and Exploring Nature. There are plenty of pages to create your own scenes, as well as pages with guided themes. To add to the fun (and, ssshhh, learning), there are question-and-answer and suggestion pages that encourage critical thinking. Boy or girl, whatever their interests, there is something for everyone in this jumbo book of sticker fun!

Betsy, a young shepherd girl, is diligent in protecting her flock of sheep. When a wild, hungry wolf threatens her flock, she discovers that not everything bad is as it’s perceived. This delightful story is a twist on the old story of the boy who cried wolf with an unexpected ending.

Not every is as we think it is. Not all endings end as we think they will; for stories or for life.

The charming illustrations and comments from the sheep through out the book propelled this to my favorites list. Here’s a story this Grandma loves to read, just for herself. A copy will soon be on the way to my toddler grandson for his enjoyment also. This fun book rates a five-star rating!

Squirrel, who is blue with a square head covered with an acorn top, is busy hoarding acorns to prepare for the long winter ahead. He bumps into goggle-wearing Bird, who wants desperately to befriend Squirrel and even travel together. But Squirrel is just not interested – that is until he has to unload his stash of acorns to save Bird from the big, mean, orange Cat. With no food for winter, Squirrel has no choice but to head south with Bird to a warmer place. So he packs everything he owns (which is a lot!), and the two set out on their way. The entire book revolves around the challenges Bird and Squirrel face while trying to dodge Cat’s attempts to eat them. With one rather frustrating, yet hilarious adventure after another, Bird and Squirrel do all they can to survive.

The cartoon illustrations are crisp, bold and so much fun to look at. I was happy to discover that both the words and the pictures are of equal importance to the story. Because there are so many illustrations, graphic children’s novels like this can really encourage reluctant readers to get interested in reading a book. The story is entertaining, adorable, and Squirrel and Bird remind me a bit of the unlikely friendship of the amusing characters in the Odd Couple. Despite their differences, they work together to reach their goal, and I promise you will be enchanted by the way this adorable story ends.

-Reviewed by Debbie Glade

Fiction!

Sofia the First is based on a Disney show, I think, which you can tell, because it’s as flat as most “from the episode” books.  I really wanted to like it, and the art is cute, but fairly uninspired as well.  Basically, it’s there to make kids who watch a lot of TV read.  It is not there to be a good story.  So it should just have had TV show art, I think.  Disney people, you need to talk to the person who did the Brave: One Perfect Day book to see how it’s done.

Allen Ahlberg’s The Goldilocks Variations, or Who’s been snooperink in my woodootog? is…insane.  Seriously.  It’s batcrazy.  It’s all difficult-to-pull tabs and pop-ups and the stories are wonderfully madcap and wild.  First, you have Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Then 33 Bears.  Then Aliens.  Then a play which is a book within a book (heh), with its own pop-ups and whatnot and…it just keeps going and being sillier and more wonderful.  I loved it.  Jessica Ahlberg’s art is adorable, but it’s really the way the book is presented that takes that to a whole other level.  It really shows you what children’s books can do.

WAHHHHH! Sheri Sinykin’s Zayde Comes to Live is a sweet, sad story of a girl and her grandfather, who’s moved in because his time is almost up.  She learns and comes to terms with his death, and the traditions of her religion and the religions of her friends.  So good, so helpful.  I wasn’t sure about Kristina Swarner’s art at first, but of course the softness is perfect for the story.  Duh.

Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is an oldie but goodie that I don’t remember ever reading before.  It’s from the 1930s but is far less annoying then The Little Engine That Could.  There’s a reason the classics are classics, I suppose, and of course, hey, anything with building, digging, etc.

Bunnies on Ice is about a cute but full-of-herself little rabbit who looooves ice skating, but is sadly an anthropomorphized rabbit so she has to wait until winter to get snotty about her supposed talents, instead of always having a rink nearby.  But she has a scarf.  Come on, bunnies!  Industrialize!  For serious, it’s really cute, even if the bunny’s a brat.  Text and art by Johanna Wright.

Aaron Meshon’s Take Me Out to the Yakyu is fantastic!  You get to see side by side how baseball is in America and Japan–the sounds, the food, the different game play.  The language is simple enough for any child to follow along with, but never feels repetitive.  And then you’ve got a couple of extras at the end which teaches you even more, hurray!  Highly recommended!

Grumpy Goat has great art, a grumpy goat, and some awwww moments.  What else do you need from a children’s book?  Something to laugh at, something to warm your heart, something that catches the eye.  And a grumpy goat.  Brett Helquist makes some really clever art choices here–the title page made me laugh aloud with delight.  Another book I can recommend wholeheartedly.

Eva Moore’s Lucky Ducklings feels like Make Way for Ducklings, and acts like Make Way for Ducklings (if I remember it correctly, which who knows?), and has this old-fashioned feel to it, and I liked it.  It’s based on a true story, and kids dig that, right?  RIGHT?  Maybe they can then Google the story and see if anyone took a picture of the actual ducks in question?  Look, the book may be old-fashioned but I’m not.

Carole Lexa Schaefer’s Monkey and Elephant Get Better is like Gerald and Piggie mixed with Timon and Pumbaa, but nowhere near as funny.  Basically, Gerald & Piggie if they were written for a younger, less savvy audience.  Cute, though, in sort of a chilled way.  Galia Bernstein’s art has a lot to do with that.

Ol’ Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein has the feeling of a true story, but doesn’t cite its sources.  It’s pretty much Lucky Ducklings, but funnier.  Ol’ Mama Squirrel scares off anything that she thinks might be a threat to her babies–dogs, bears, kites.  Hee.

Non-fiction!

Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems by Jack Prelutsky, with sometimes cool, sometimes creepy illustrations by Carin Berger, is actually quite good for a poetry compilation.  Some of the poems are inspired; others are good but not as good as the rest, you know?  Stardines, bluffaloes, plandas, etc. Hee.  Good for National Poetry Month.  I should make a display before I go.

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Maker’s Strike of 1909 is the story of Clara Lemlich, a girl off the boat from…um…and then she works a lot and apparently learns English (which I got from the description on Goodreads, not the book itself)…look, it’s not perfect.  But it sort of works to help kids have their eyes open about how children used to be treated.  (New way to make your kids stop being so selfish: “If this were 1908, you’d be in a factory right now!”  Oh wait, you can still say that about overseas sweatshops…)  So yeah, Michelle Markel’s book isn’t perfect, and neither is Melissa Sweet’s art–sometimes Clara looks young, sometimes she doesn’t.  LOVE the picture of the girls in the factory all crammed together and the stitches around the pictures, but like I said, I wish there were a less childish-looking, more CHILD-looking Clara consistently through the book.  This is going right in my Women’s History Month display, of course.

Good Manners at Home, Good Manners in Public, and Good Manners on the Phone came in today.  These books, by Katie Marsico, don’t really work hard to make sure children understand why they need good manners, but they do an adequate job of giving examples of good manners, at least, and that’s what I was looking for when I ordered them.  John Haslam’s art is generic and even looks a bit dated already–another thing I knew going in–but hey.  Even the amazing facts aren’t often amazing.  But the books fill a gap.  Sort of.  They fill in a section that needed refills, at least.  Good Manners on the Phone is the strongest one, with a clear script on how to take a message and whatnot.

Jean Craighead George’s The Eagles are Back is the story of a kid who saw the bald eagles die off and come back, and his role in helping to save them.  It gets a little explain-y, but I guess that’s why it’s in the non-fiction section and not the fiction.  Gorgeous paintings by Wendell Minor.

Okay, I really tried to read Valerie Worth’s Pug and Other Animal Poems, but honestly?  They don’t seem to be written for the little kids who browse my section, and I’m bored. Steve Jenkins’s art is pretty cool.

Easy Readers!

Lego DC Universe Super Heroes: Super-Villains is another sure-you’re-selling-things-but-I-can’t-tell Lego book by Victoria Taylor.  Hello, Catwoman!  Hello, Harley!  Hello, Ivy and her curves!  (She doesn’t have the drawn-in wasp waist I was expecting.)  Happy happy!

Yay!  Veggieman!  I mean, Wedgieman to the Rescue!  Shea is back in my heart again!  This is the origin and defeat of Bad Dude, and I love how Wedgieman will beat him down but not give him a wedgie.  I mean, come on, man, that’s just evil.  So yeah, I like this series, it’s goofy fun.

Of course I do.  SUPERHEROES.

…Oh, that’s it.  I’m done here forever.

Neat?

This hard cover book is the diary of Joan Wehlen Morrison, beginning in the pre WWII year of 1937, when she was 14 years old, through the spring of 1943 when she was 20. Joan was a witty and insightful teenager from Chicago who wrote her thoughts, dreams and experiences in her journal on a regular basis. Following her death in 2010, her children discovered her written treasures, and her daughter, Susan Morrison, set out to get them published. Home Front Girl is the glorious result of those efforts.

It was fate that I was asked to review this book because not only was I born in Chicago where Joan lived, but my family has a long history with The University of Chicago, where Joan attended school. My grandfather received his degree from UC in the 1920s, my uncle (my father’s brother) was a well known professor of Economics at UC, my cousins – his daughters – attended the Lab School where Joan went, and my brother received his MBA there in the early 1990s. And although I have lived in Miami most of my life, I am very familiar with all the Chicago places Joan writes about in her diary.

Nothing can match the raw honesty of a teenager’s diary, especially when that teenager is highly intelligent, insightful, sensitive and hopelessly optimistic. I suppose all who write in a journal write for themselves not really contemplating who will read it after they are gone, and that is what makes them so honest and real.

“By the way, I’m a genius. I found out my I.Q. rating accidentally yesterday. It’s 141. And the biology book said people with I.Q.s of 140 or more are ‘usually considered geniuses.’ Only 1 percent get that.”

Throughout the diary, readers can step inside Joan’s thoughts and read of her experiences, from the every day to the extraordinary – her latest crushes, her talents as a top student, her friendships, a tuberculosis scare, how she is always hungry and how she is perpetually late for nearly everything. Most importantly, Joan is sensitive to the pre-war atmosphere and writes with great wisdom about what is happening globally as well as what she dreads with the impending doom of America going to war looming in the air. Her WWII comments are really quite perceptive and educational.

Joan’s academic abilities led to a prestigious scholarship to attend The University of Chicago’s Junior College for her last two years of high school. Later she got her college degree in Anthropology there. Considering the time period in which her writing takes place, when women in academics were the minority, her accomplishments were quite impressive. I love that some of her actual diary pages and doodles are included in the book and footnotes are used to help the reader understand details about Joan’s entries.

What I enjoyed most about the diary is Joan’s intellectual insight about what is most important in life. In a passage about a friend’s father who passed away suddenly she writes:

“Vera’s father is dead. Gee, I came home and Mom told me. I used to play cards with him and tell jokes and I saw him last Sunday and he is dead . . . and the Spanish War is over and the Chinese War is going on and 8,000 people died in the Chile earthquake and people all over the world are eating their suppers and doing their homework (as I shall) and laughing and reading and moving about in lighted rooms and a man I know is dead.”

Other than a whole lot of wisdom about the WII era, what young readers will take away from this book is that teenagers from more than 70 years ago were not much different in most ways than teenagers of today  – minus technology of course. The fact that Joan did not have a typewriter or computer to write her diary is perhaps the very reason her written thoughts were preserved as well as discovered by her children. Computers fail over time, CD roms are almost obsolete, but pen and paper endure.

I highly ecommend this book for any young readers, particularly girls, who wish to broaden their horizons and make friends with an American girl from decades ago who was honest and real. I now feel as though I know Joan Wehlen Morrison personally, and I only wish she had written more journal entries about her life so I could read more.

I commend Susan Morrison and her brothers for sharing their mother’s private words with the world. Oh how I wish my mother or grandmothers had left me with a treasure of a diary such as this!

- Reviewed by Debbie Glade.

Who knows what he meant, but throwing acorns at a scarecrow is the epitomy
of a great day out in the Daddington household, so I can only presume that Carl was endorsing
it wholeheartedly. And who’s to argue with the great Carl Marks? Not me.

So, with those wise words ringing around my girdled-brainbush,
here are 5 great acorns to throw at your little scarecrows.

~

Again! (by John Prater)
Plot: Heavy irony. In a handy pocket-sized volume.

Ahhhh. Is there anything sweeter than when a toddler, having just finished a favoured activity, repeats the word ‘Again’ over and over, at increasing volume, until you give in and repeat said activity? Then upon completion, that sweet utterance springs forth once more. “Again! Again! Again!” And off you go again, like the diligent man-slave you are. Well, when the activity in question is reading ‘Again!’ (part of the mini treasures series from Red Fox – very handy for holiday reading/torture) then your cyclical existence takes on a delightful irony, that will either lead you to a higher plain or an early grave. Pocket-sized though, so there is a silver lining.

~

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (illustrated by Pat Adams)
Plot: Due to extensive NHS cuts, an old lady takes matters into her own hands.

After swallowing the fly, the old lady tried to get an appointment with her local GP, but he was too busy managing local healthcare budgets to actually dispense care or advice. The spider made not a jot of difference, other than taking the edge off the hunger she’d been feeling since the Tory government had delayed her pension for another 2 years,
forcing her back into relative poverty.

After eating her neighbours cat, she felt distinctly unwell and decided it was probably time for a trip to hospital. But no! The Tories had just closed down her local A+E, leaving her a good 120 miles from the nearest emergency services. The local dial-a-ride had been abolished (along with the library and community centre) after the recent council cuts. What was she going to do?! “I wonder if I can get medical help at that Tescos that’s thriving up the road from where the high street used to be?
Hmmm. Probably not”.

In desperation, she jumped on her dog, rode it until she found a cow. Rode that until she found a horse…and rode the old nag until it collapsed from exhaustion. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, hungry and alone, she was forced to eat the horse. Which, it turned out, was actually 90% beef, the one meat she was allergic to. She died. But hey, at least we’re cutting the deficit.
Oh, wait. We’re not, are we.

~

La Surprise (by Janik Coat)
Plot: “Honey…we’re going to need a bigger litter tray!”

This beautifully simple, wordless kids book would make the ideal present for a 3yr old whose world you’re about to ruin by gifting them a younger sibling. In delightfully simple, and strangely calming, graphic form, it tells a tale of tranquility, new arrivals and serene co-existence. Quiet and harmonious, it’s everything your house will never be once that second noise-box arrives.

~

Not Now Bernard (by David McKee)
Plot: A step-by-step guide to getting your child taken into protective custody

Published in 1980 (before every children’s book had to contain a heart-warming and politically correct narrative about chasing stars or befriending animals…and research found that severe neglect can cause permanent psychological damage) Not Now Bernard is the tale of one boys attempt to get his parent’s attention. He fails…and gets eaten by a monster, who in turn, fails to get Bernard’s parent’s attention. Great illustrations and a slightly confusing moral undertone (neglect child, child becomes monster. Neglect monster, monster goes to bed quietly. Uh?) makes this far more interesting (for narrators at least) than a lot of the crap out there.

~

Pants (by Giles Andreae + Nick Sharratt)
Plot: Hmmm. Not an extensive one, that’s for sure. In fact the title pretty much says it all.

I was stuck for a short while, trying to work out what can be said about this little beaut, beyond describing the vibrant illustrations and catchy rhyme that run throughout. Then it hit me! Whammy! Like a literary wedgy. It’s a subtle, underwear-based metaphor for embracing the myriad of different creeds, colours, shapes, sizes and sexualities that grace this doomed little planet of ours.
‘What a lot of lovely pants there are!’
How better to introduce your youngun to the joys of liberty, acceptance and equality for all, than through the medium of pant-rhyme. (Ironic then that the quote on the back ‘Hilariously funny for any pre-schooler’ comes from The Daily Mail….our gnarled bastion of ignorance and prejudice)

~

Let’s Dad! urges you NOT to buy your books from amazon…until they start paying UK corporation tax.

There are hundreds of independent bookshops out there that offer fine collections of kids books and great levels of service.
Failing that, charity shops are often choca with classic children’s books.
Basically, do anything, even write your own, before feeding the devil that is amazon.

If shopping online is your only option, try The Book Depository, who are often cheaper than amazon and offer free delivery…and they’re a registered UK company paying their share of tax.

The Passover Lamb (Random House, Books for Young Readers, $17.99, ages 6-9) is an upbeat Passover story based on a true event from author Linda Elovitz Marshall and one I found particularly touching. This heartwarming, unique tale features sweet yet subdued watercolor illustrations from Tatjana Mai-Wyss and is sure to be a story families will want to return to each Passover holiday

As Miriam checks on the farm animals before it’s time for the family seder at her grandparents’ house, she notices that Snowball the sheep is not acting like herself. Miriam’s parents realize that Snowball’s woolly coat must have hidden her pregnancy and though late in the season for a birth, it appears Snowball is due any moment.

It’s not long before Snowball gives birth to three little lambs, but her milk can only accommodate two. While Miriam worries about the hungry rejected lamb she’s in a quandary as to what to do.  She’s finally mastered The Four Questions which the youngest child (when able to) recites in Hebrew and is eager for her turn. The questions – why do we eat matzoh, eat bitter herbs, dip our vegetables twice in salted water and dine while reclining – are a major component of the Passover seder, the answers being explanations as to why this night is different than all other nights. But how can she leave the abandoned lamb on its own?

It seems the decision is made for her when Miriam’s father announces the family will have to hold their own seder to be able to care for the new lamb, but Miriam is determined to find a solution to please everyone. She fittingly finds inspiration from the tale of baby Moses’s rescue and applies it to her very own situation. The end result is truly satisfying: a saved seder with the grandparents all because of one bright little girl.

Find out more about the author by reading this wonderful interview by Barbara Krasner.

Read about other recommended Good Reads With Ronna Passover books from previous years at these links:

A Sweet Passover  

A Tale of Two Seders 

Nachshon Who Was Afraid to Swim  

The Yankee at the Seder  

- Reviewed by Ronna Mandel