Pure Fun: Laughter & Joy

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Splat the Cat
by Rob Scotton
HarperCollins (July 2008) ISBN: 9780060831547

Ages: 3-7 (and up)

My rating:

"I don't have any clean socks, Mom. Maybe I should go to school tomorrow instead?" said Splat.
"You don't wear socks," said his mom.
"I'm having a bad hair day, Mom. Maybe I should go to school tomorrow instead?" said Splat.
His mom combed his hair. "Purr-fect!" she said.

Splat the Cat is lively and full of emotion that kids (and adults) will identify with, such as not wanting to get up to face the day, trying to put off something that's scary, and worrying before a big change. Scotton's (Russell the Sheep, Russell and the Lost Treasure) text is evocative--"If I hide from the day, maybe it'll go away, he thought," while at the same time laced with snappy humor--"It didn't go away," and, later, "The lamppost won't get out of my way, Mom." Scotton uses both telling and showing to help readers understand what Splat is feeling, and he does this well. The writing is tight, with nothing extraneous. Kids will turn the pages quickly, wanting to find out what happens next.

Read the entire review here.

My First Flip-Flap Book of Numbers
illustrated by Robert Salanitro
Educational Publishing (June 2008))
ISBN-10: 1604360070, ISBN-13: 978-1604360073

My rating:

The Early Start series helps parents, caregivers, and educators create discussions with a young child as they read to them, which helps develop the child's language and vocabulary, all while providing fun for the child. When the publisher first contacted me to review this new series, I wasn't feeling enthusiastic. Though I was interested in the idea of books that would help parents and educators more easily interest children in reading, the thought of using non-fiction as the vehicle didn't seem to fit. I think non-fiction often isn't as interesting or as fun as fiction. But the Early Start series changed my mind. Non-fiction can be fun and innovative, and engage both the child and the parent.

My First Flip-Flap Book of Numbers takes a young child (from birth to age three) through the numbers one to ten. On each page, there is the number, both the digit and the spelled-out word, and the object (one ball, two umbrellas), as well as a flap that either folds up or down. What brings such fun and delight to this book is that every flap brings a visual and cognitive surprise--once unfolded, you see characters engaged with or using the object, much more fun than an inanimate object on the page. For instance, for one ball, you see a rainbow beach ball. Lift the flap, and you see a happy elephant balancing on top of the ball. For two umbrellas, you see the open umbrellas. Lift the flap, and you see two smiling ducks in yellow raincoats and rain hats, each holding an umbrella. Three boxes turn into jack-in-the-boxes. Five ladders end up with fire fighters on the ladders. You never know what to expect--and that is a key part of the fun. It's also great fun for young children to lift the flaps themselves, which helps them actively engage with the books--although that alone would not be satisfying, without the real surprises behind them. The surprises are fun and satisfying.

My Favorite Sounds from A to Z

My rating:

My Favorite Sounds from A to Z is a feel-good alphabet book that explores sounds and situations that many kids will enjoy and recognize. It invites readers to remember the sound and the pleasure of the experience, such as breaking icicles off with your mitt, or crunching gravel beneath your shoes. Snow's (Feelings to Share from A to Z) text has a lightness to it, a strong child quality with kid appeal. This is someone who remembers the small pleasures of being a child, the small details that can still bring wonder in the world around us.

I love how Snow brings such vivid sensory details into her text, making the details come alive. They're so vivid, they make the reader a part of the poetry through the sounds, images, and memories they evoke. Just her titles alone evoke sounds for me: Acorns Cracking; Gravel Crunching; Horses Galloping. Accompanying each title is a poem about the subject, many of which are also vivid and feel inspired. Most of Snow's choices of sounds feel fresh and alive. The poems usually involve both auditory and visual details. Snow also incorporates onomatopoeia in some of the poems, some of which feel perfect (crunch! of gravel; click, whoosh, snap! of umbrellas opening), and some of which don't work as well (Munch, crunch, chew).

Chester

My rating:

Melanie Watt, the author, starts writing a story about a mouse. Chester the cat, a character she's drawn, quickly objects to that. He wants to hog all the attention in Watt's book, and tries to, so the author and her character have a fight over whose story will take the upper hand, with Chester winning for much of the story, making the book about him, and not some mouse. Chester is a funny--at times laugh-out-loud funny--and clever book. It's easy to identify with Chester; who hasn't wanted to occasionally be the center of attention, or to have someone give you positives? Chester goes for that, no holds barred. This is a book that will have you grinning and wanting more.

Watt's (Scaredy Squirrel, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend ,Augustine) humor runs throughout the entire book; it begins on the cover, with Chester the cat crossing out the author's name (Melanie Watt), and putting his own in bright red marker, then continues on the fly leaf, the front matter, the copyright page, the intro page, and all throughout the story, with Chester making over-the-top, full-of-himself comments in bright red marker. The humor is a delight. Chester was nominated for the 2007 Cybils awards.

The story starts out with what is clearly the author's text about a mouse. The first two lines are ho-hum, which make it all the more funny when Watt switches to Chester's self-absorbed voice, with Chester's text appearing in bright red marker beneath the first two lines. Chester's efforts to take over the book are funny, such as him trying to make the mouse move from his home so the story will be all about Chester. There are also red-marker scribbles over the illustrations, as Chester circles the mouse and shows it leaving on an airplane, and then on the next page, puts his mark on many things in the illustration so that it is clearly HIS: marking the chair "Chester's chair" and scribbling in a red ball of yarn, marking the curtain his, scribbling a stick-figure portrait of a cat over top all the mouse portraits, crossing out the cheese and putting in a fish to eat, etc. Readers will enjoy looking at all the ways that Chester tries to make the illustrations his own.

Read the whole review here!

Pssst!
by Adam Rex
Harcourt (September 2007)
ISBN: 0152058176, ISBN-13: 9780152058173

My rating:

One day, when I was at the zoo. . .
PSSST!
?
Over here.
Oh, hi.
What's up.
Not much.
Great. Listen. Could you get me a new tire?
Why do you need a tire?
My swing broke. See?
Oh. Well...I guess so.
Great. Get two. Just in case.

--Pssst! by Adam Rex, p. 1-2.

When a young girl visits the zoo by herself, she's startled when a gorilla speaks to her, but she quickly adapts and engages in conversation with him. When the gorilla asks her to bring him tires to replace his broken swing, she reluctantly agrees. She visits the next animal, a boar, and it, too, has a request to make. And so it goes with every animal the girl visits, until she has so many requests she doesn't know how she'll pay for them all--but a baboon and a tortoise solve that for her. She brings everything back for the delighted animals, and is astonished by what they do with the objects. Rex (Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Tree-Ring Circus) has written and illustrated a funny, light-hearted fantasy. There's a fantastic sense of humor throughout the entire book, shown both through the text and the illustrations. Pssst! is a delight to read.

The story is told almost completely in short bits of dialogue, shown in speech bubbles, which moves the story along at a fast clip. There are also lettered signs throughout the zoo; many of these signs are quite funny: "If You're Close Enough To Read This, Keep Off The Grass," and "Ice Cold Penguins." The abundance of funny or silly signs adds to the fun of the book, and encourages readers to pore over the illustrations to read all the signs (or have them all read to them). The dialogue is snappy, colloquial, and easy to relate to. . . .

Read the whole review here!

My rating:

Mildred, an old woman, is lonely--until she discovers what she thinks is a stray puppy (it's really a baby elephant). She takes the "puppy" home, and though the "puppy" doesn't like dog food but instead likes peanuts, and doesn't quite behave like a dog, Mildred doesn't put two and two together. Instead she names her "puppy" Peanut. The two develop a friendship and Mildred isn't lonely any more--until someone recognizes Peanut and takes the elephant back to the circus, where Peanut is happy. Mildred becomes lonely again--until she notices another stray to take in--what she thinks is a kitten, which is really a camel.

This is a funny, sweet, enjoyable book, though it does have a touch of sadness to it. What makes this book particularly funny is the great difference between the text, which tells one story, and the illustrations, which tell another; it's clear through the illustrations that the "puppy" that Mildred brings home is actually a baby elephant. This works especially well because the text uses a straight-man approach . . . .

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My rating:

Fergus, a West Highland terrier, is clearly adored by his owner, the narrator. Fergus, however, has a mind of his own, and often doesn't want to do what his owner wants him to do. His owner cajoles him, instructs him, berates him, but mostly indulges him, praising Fergus even when he hasn't done as he was asked (which is almost always). The reader follows Fergus as he goes outside, chases a cat, gets a belly rub, gets into "trouble" by digging up a plant, and much more. This book is absolutely hilarious, especially for anyone who has a dog. It may also be familiar to some parents, as well. Both children and adults should find the humor enjoyable.

Shannon's (Alice the Fairy; No, David!) conversational text consists solely of the narrator speaking to his dog. On some pages it's brief, even down to one word, and on other pages there are a few short sentences (on one page, many), but it always moves swiftly, full of a wry humor. . . .

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My rating:

Estelle is taking a peppermint bubble bath when a mouse sneaks in out of a blizzard, follows the delicious scent of peppermint, and touches noses with Estelle. Both Estelle and the mouse are frightened. Estelle leaps out of the bath after the mouse, and the chase ensues, until finally the mouse falls into the tub and is about to drown--and Estelle discovers that she can't let the mouse die, so she rescues him. This is a silly, funny book with a kind-hearted ending.

Esbaum's (Stink Soup, Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'!) text is written in lively, conversational rhyme....

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My rating:

How do you get the love of your life to notice you if you're too shy to approach them face-to-face? In Slugs In Love, shy Marylou leaves poems for Herbie to find, writing them with her glistening slime. Herbie becomes interested, and writes her back, but a series of events keep Marylou from discovering that he's responded. Marylou continues to write Herbie poems, getting more and more desperate, until finally Herbie leaves a poem that Marylou can't miss--on the tallest tomato plant ("All slugs like tomatoes!"). Then they meet and fall in love. This is a funny, sweet book about love, communication, not giving up, and poetry.

Pearson's (Grimericks, Who Swallowed Harold?) humorous text is a mixture of prose and poetry; the prose takes up the bulk of the story, while the poems are written by the two slugs, Marylou and Herbie, as they try to connect with each other. The poems in this book scan well; the rhythms line up perfectly, not missing a beat, and they move smoothly into each other, always making sense . . . .

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My rating:

Who solves problems on a farm? Well, at the Greenstalk farm it's the chickens. On each day of the week some trouble occurs that the chickens solve--on Monday, Farmer Greenstalk drops his watch down the well, and the chickens fetch it out; on Tuesday Mrs. Greenstalk is too tired to make dinner and the chickens make it for her; on Wednesday the dog eats Jeffrey Greenstalk's homework and the chickens re-create it, and so on--until by Sunday, they are so worn out that they take a long nap--and the pigs come out instead. Chickens to the Rescue is a light, funny book with a lot of good feeling.

Himmelman's (Tudley Didn't Know) brief, simple text dives immediately into the problem, and then the solution, and then on into the next problem, sweeping readers away into the action. . . .

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My rating:

We all want to be seen for who we are. But what happens when we're not only seen, but we're mistaken for something we're absolutely not? The rhinoceros in Hippo! No, Rhino! contorts himself trying to be seen for who he is after an inept—possibly illiterate—zookeeper mistakenly labels the rhino a hippo. As adult visitors blithely accept what the sign says, the rhino becomes increasingly upset. He tries to get visitors to see him for who he is and to change his sign, but they all get frightened away until a young boy sees the truth and changes the sign for him. Newman (Reginald) shows adults believing what they read (or are told) instead of using their own senses, perceptions, and minds, or just trusting themselves. It's a child who sees the truth and acts on it, bringing compassion and relief to the rhino. Readers will enjoy pointing out the mistake the zoo keeper made, and seeing the rhino's attempts to be heard.

This is a delightful, laugh-out-loud book that is almost completely wordless. Newman added just enough text to make the story clear to readers and to add to the humor . . . .

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My Cat, The Silliest Cat In the World
by Gilles Bachelet
Abrams Books for Young Readers (May 2006)
ISBN: 081094913X, ISBN-13: 9780810949133

My rating:

My cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly.
When my cat's not eating, he's sleeping.
When he's not sleeping, he's eating.
When he's not eating, he's sleeping.
In rare instances, my cat devotes several minutes to exercise.

--My Cat, The Silliest Cat In the World, by Gilles Bachelet, p. 1-3.

What strikes your funny bone? It's different for different people, but My Cat, The Silliest Cat In the World, sure struck mine. The unnamed narrator insists throughout the book that his cat is a cat, who does cat things like eat a lot, sleep frequently and anywhere, chase yarn, and so on—but it's clear from the illustrations that his cat is an elephant. And that is where much of the humor comes in—through the interplay between the wry text and the appealing illustrations that show a very different scene. Many readers will love the silly, funny absurdity of this book.

Bachelet's very first sentence ("MY cat is very fat, very sweet, and very, very silly") combined with the first illustration (an elephant trying to fit himself into a cat bed) sets the tone of the book and lets the reader know that this is, indeed, a very silly story. . . .

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Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
Simon & Schuster, 2000. ISBN: 0689832133

My rating:

Farmer Brown has a problem.
His cows like to type.
All day long he hears
Click, clack, moo.
Click, clack, moo.
Clickety, clack, moo.
At first, he couldn't believe his ears. Cows that type? Impossible!

--Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewis, p. 1-3.

In this laugh-out-loud book, Farmer Brown has a problem—his cows have learned to type, and the sound is bugging him. And worse, they politely request better working conditions (electric blankets for the cold nights) in exchange for providing milk. When Farmer Brown refuses their request, the cows go on strike, and unite with the other barnyard animals until, through negotiation, they both get what they want--the cows and hens get electric blankets, and they give him the typewriter. Little did Farmer Brown know that the duck would start typing on the typewriter, and come up with his own demands!

This is a hilarious turn-a-situation-on-its-head book, where the animals are vocal about their wishes, and the controlling farmer is frustrated. Cronin's text sounds perfect to the ear—it clips along at a great pace, is interesting and funny, and no words seem out of place . . . .

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You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum
by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Puffin/Penguin, 2001 (reprint), ISBN: 0140568166

My rating:

In this wordless book, Weitzman has crafted a fun, amusing adventure, where the reader cares what the outcome will be, and may also absorb something about art along the way. A little girl and her grandmother visit the museum, only to be told by a guard that she must leave her balloon behind. The girl is reluctant to do so, but the guard ties her balloon to a post. A pigeon pecks the balloon free, and the guard—joined by other people the balloon has affected—chases the balloon throughout the city as it goes on a hilarious adventure, desperate to get the balloon back before the girl and her grandmother leave.

There is a lovely balance of moving between the balloon's adventure, and what the girl and her grandmother are doing, the art they're seeing . . . .

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