A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Pennsylvania One Book. Every Young Child. is an annual campaign that "encourages adults to read daily to the young children in their lives and to engage children in conversations and experiences around the story and illustrations."  These practices help develop early emergent literacy skills in babies and young children and provide a deeper reading experience for the child.  The campaign runs in April of each year, and each year a new title is selected.  This year's title is Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer.  You can go to www.paonebook.org  for more information on the campaign, this year's title, and to see titles from previous years.  You can also access a 64 page activity guide, a fun guide, rhymes, songs, and more under the Resources tab of the main menu. While Micha Archer has previously illustrated other books, this is the first book she has both written and illustrated.  Archer is a former kindergarten teacher who has traveled the world...

I read Rebecca of Sunnybrooke Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin for a class.  I had some opinions so I decided to review it for the blog.  This is considered a classic of children's literature.  The edition I read is a slim volume, and the chapters are brief, so it made for a quick read once I got sucked into the story. At first it was a slow start, but the story is engrossing, so stick with it.  The vernacular of some characters' dialog can be difficult to decipher, and this too slows the story.  Wiggin's writing style can also take some getting used to. Rebecca Randall, a vibrant, lively, good hearted girl, is sent to her maternal aunts in Riverboro, Maine to receive an education (that her mother hopes to be "the making of" Rebecca).  Rebecca's tenure with her aunts also ameliorates the economic situation at home where her ne'er do well father is three years dead, there are seven small mouths to feed, and a mortgage to pay on the farm.  Any tiny, un...

Last week I confessed my weakness for fairy tales and shared a review for the book Cinderella and the Incredible Techno-slippers .  You can scroll down to read that review and also to see what I reviewed earlier in the month.  This week I'm reviewing Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Meg Hunt.  I mentioned it in the last week's blog. This sci-fi twist on the Cinderella fairy tale is set in outer space where Cinderella is a brainy gal who fixes space ships while her stepmother and stepsisters jet off to the prince's space ship parade taking Cinderella's tool box with them and leaving her stranded at home.  Fortunately Cinderella's fairy godrobot shows up to save the day and get Cinderella to the space parade where she arrives just in time to save the prince's bacon when his space ship breaks down (you know, because the royal space ship mechanic quit and all).  Unfortunately, before the prince can get Cinderella's name she ha...

Ya'll already know about my weaknesses for British TV/period dramas and Jane Austen adaptations.  But now I have another confession to make.  I also have a weakness for fairy tales.  They are a fascinating genre to study, which I did in college when I did an independent study with a professor on fairy tales.  That professor now teaches a course on fairy tales that shares some of the same readings we did in our independent study.  My undergraduate honors thesis was a case study of the Snow White fairy tale.  I'm not sure if you're aware, but there are hundreds of versions of most fairy tales across the world and dating back hundreds of years.  If you're interested in learning more about the study of fairy tales, some authors who have written books about the subject include Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar.  You can also check out the website SurLaLune Fairy Tales ; it's a great place to start because it has almost 50 different fairy tales annotated, in...

In an earlier post I mentioned that we acquired some new easy reader books that I really liked and would probably be reviewing on the blog.   Stick and Stone is one these books.  I'm not sure how I found it; I may have seen it on Amazon.  But it's one of my favorite books from this year.  I don't care that it's an easy reader.  I love this book.  I think both adults and children will enjoy it, and it also contains a great lesson for children.   Stick and Stone is written by Beth Ferry and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. You guys.  I.  Love.  This.  Book.  I've read it three times now (and I'll probably read it again too), and I love it every time.  The story is told in spare, rhyming prose, and the illustrations are lovely, interesting, and creative.  It's both uplifting and a little sad--stick and stone are both alone!  They don't have friends!  Then some pine cone comes along and starts bullying ston...

Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust is written by Loic Dauvillier, illustrated by Marc Lizano and colored by Greg Salsedo.  It was also translated by Alexis Siegel.  It's a very slim, middle level graphic novel.  This is the second Holocaust themed graphic novel that I've read.  In college I read Art Spiegelman's Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began ; I also read Spiegelman's later graphic novel that depicted his experiences in New York City on September 11, 2001, and I highly recommend them all. I don't know if Hidden is based upon the writer's family history or if it is a fictionalized Holocaust story.  Other than a synopsis of the story on the book jacket, there isn't really information on the writer and illustrator.  According to the publisher's website, Hidden is a Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book, an America Library Association Notable Children's ...