Book Review: Wonderland Adult Coloring Book

I love adult coloring books. At first I was skeptical about whether coloring was an actual stress reliever or not, however once I started collecting adult coloring books I just could not stop being enthralled by all the creative, cute, and fun designs that are out there to be consumed. 

As a former English Literature major and lover of books of all kinds this Alice and Wonderland coloring book created by Amily Shen peaked my interest rather easily. This book is particularly fun because the pages actually take you through Alice's story. Shen has expertly illustrated images that might go through one's head while reading about Alice's adventures in Wonderland. However you, as the reader, get to add the color to her world. 

I especially like the text throughout the coloring book that tells the story. This addition takes this from just another adult coloring book inspired by childish things to an actual story book. 

Overall I really enjoyed looking at this coloring book and I look forward to continuing to color this story. 

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review from Blogging for Books.

Book Review: Mustache Baby Series

The mustache baby books by Bridget Heos are probably my favorite books that I have come across in the children's section to date. B

Both books tell the story of baby Billy. In the first book, Mustache Baby, Billy is born with a mustache. The question isn't why does this baby have a mustache. The question is will this mustache be a "good guy mustache" or a "bad guy mustache." In the sequel we meet Javier, Billy's rival, who has a mostly good guy, but sometimes bad guy beard.

I like these books because they're really silly. The overall concept deals with the idea of good vs. evil, but not really. In the first book Billy learns that when he acts like a bad guy he does suffer consequences by being sentenced to crib jail. In the second book Billy and Javier learn that when they're being bad guys towards each other they loose their friends and get lonely. However it is presented in a funny way. 

The author, Bridget Heos, uses and chooses her words and phrases very carefully. I admire her playfulness with phrases such as cat burglar and cereal criminal.

Overall I find these books to be fun for both children and adults. Personally I hope Bridget Heos continues to publish books telling the story of the Mustache Baby. 

Books Without Words

One of my new favorite types of books is books without words. I think there is a lot of potential to build a child's reading comprehension skills and overall personal literacy story when presenting a child with different forms of literature. I have included 5 of my current favorite wordless books in this post. I am sure that I will be adding many more to my favorites in the future.

These first two books were my first wordless reads. In Flora and the Penguin Flora ice skates alongside a penguin friend in Flora and the Flamingo Flora synchronize swim/dances alongside a flamingo friend. These books are beautifully drawn. Anyone of any age can appreciate the effort and skill that went in to making Flora's worlds a reality, at least in book world. The other thing that is really cool about these books are the interactive flaps that help mimic the movement of dance and skating.

 

Journey of the Sea Glass is absolutely my favorite wordless book. This book tells the story of how a bottle of lemon-lime soda becomes a piece of sea glass that floats to shore. This story involves a lot of thought and there is a lot to interpret in the story. First it can be difficult to spot the piece of glass in each frame of the story. Second this story can bring about discussions about pollution because even though sea glass is a cool thing to find on the beach, if the glass were say a piece of plastic or some type of substance that were harmful to the environment that it traveled in this story might be very different. Finally the more perceptive reader may pick up on the idea that the boy who drops the bottle is also the grandfather of the girl who finds the piece of sea glass. 

I think this book can be read and looked at as a very simple, nice story with beautiful illustrations OR it can be a very deep and meaningful story that can lead to an array of topic discussions with audiences young and old. 

These next two books by Mark Pett are also amazing choices because like Journey of the Sea Glass both stories show change over a long period of time and they both can open up conversations about deeper, meaningful concepts. 

The Boy and The Airplane tells the story of a young boy who gets a toy airplane. Soon this toy becomes one of his favorite toys. Like most favorite toys he eventually looses his airplane. The story proceeds to show how he gets his favorite toy back. 

The Girl and the Bicycle tells the story of a young girl who finds the bicycle of her dreams. The book shows her journey to getting the bike.

Both stories make statements about patience, hard work, dedication, and kindness. Both stories can open up conversations with young people about times when they have had to be patient and work for something that they really wanted. They also could work as good remedy books for parents who are dealing with children who exhibit opposite behaviors than are discussed in the books. 

These are just a few of my favorite books without words. I'm sure there will be many more posts like this one in the future.

Book Review: A Mom For Umande

While working on my blog posts for this week I decided I wanted to look for books about Moms in honor of Mother's Day. Since I am me the first one I found was a book about gorilla moms.

A Mom for Umande tells the story of Umande a diamond back gorilla who is born to a gorilla momma who is not quite ready to step up and be a parent just yet. Umande is cared for by zoo keepers until they find a new mom for Umande at another zoo.  

This story was very heart warming. You instantly feel for Umande and want for him to find a forever family. This book is really fun and unique in that it deals with issues of family and adoption in a very inviting way. You get to see how Umande's birth parents were good gorillas even if they weren't fit to be parents. You also get to see the positive, loving relationship formed between Umande and his new mom.

The illustrations are cute, warm and inviting. They really complement the overall positive feeling of the story very well. 

I also find this story very interesting because Umande is a real gorilla. It's very easy to find additional information and photos about Umande on the internet, which lends itself well to projects and learning in conjunction with the book. 

Book Review: What Every Child Needs to Know Series

When I first found these books I absolutely had to read them. I love pizza and I love punk rock so I was extremely intrigued to see how these two topics would be made interesting for a child (these books are board books so I would assume the intended audience is rather young).

Personally I loved the books. I even learned some facts such as the fact that the Queen consort of Italy requested nothing but pizza to eat when she visited Naples. The punk rock book even brings about philosophical debates such as whether a book about punk rock is punk rock or not and the fact that the core principle behind punk rock is about being unique, however many people who identify as punk rock dress the same. 

I am going to be brutally honest in this review. I think their books are fantastic. There are others in the series that are probably equally as fantastic on the topics of Elvis Presley, coffee, cancer, and the economy. While I like the themes, facts, and fun photos in the books I think the execution is a little off. While esthetically pleasing as board books, they would probably peak the interests of more children if they were printed as regular picture books.

Book Review: Ugly Fish

Ugly Fish is a very territorial fish. He loves swimming around in HIS tank and most importantly he enjoys eating. In this book we find out what happens when the fish tank bully finally meets his match.

When I first read this book I thought it was very dark. The second time I read the book I thought it was pretty dark and twisty. The third time that I read Ugly Fish I read the author bio on the dust jacket that said that Kara LaReau decided to write this book after reading about childhood bullying. By the fourth time that I read this book I realized the value in reading about a bully fish that eats all the other fish- especially when your audience is children who may be on the giving or receiving end of bulling. 

After realizing the bigger message embedded in this book I think this book can be very useful for talking about topics of bullying. The bully in this story is presented in a very silly character. The story itself is very simplistic and easy to follow. Lots of very fun voices could be utilized for the different fishy characters. 

Readers also get to see the concept of actions, wishes, and consequences. For example throughout the entire book the Ugly Fish just wants to eat and have his fish tank all to himself. Towards the end of the book, however, he gets lonely and wishes he hadn't eaten all the fish who could have been his friends.Finally by the end of the book the Ugly Fish gets a new friend...and a taste of his own medicine. 

Book Review: Mom, Mac & Cheese Please

Can you imagine what would happen if you're mom accidentally signed up for cooking classes from a school for witches? In this funny story a little girl experiences some very odd and disgusting recipes her mom begins to make after leaving work.

This book is written in a very rhyming, sing son manner. This book would lend itself very well to read a louds. The story is also very short The consequences the little girl experiences as a result of eating the crazy foods her mom makes are very funny and age appropriate for most elementary school aged children.

The illustrations are very bright and cartoony. The mom almost reminds me of a character from Rugrats.

The overall theme of not wanting Mom's cooking and wanting Mac and Cheese instead is a very relatable experience for any young child.

Book Review: The Book That Eats People

The Book That Eats People holds a very special place in my library career memories heart. One afternoon a very cute little patron came into the library ready to return this book. She had it wrapped up in some string because according to her this book was very dangerous because it eats people. She did not want to anyone to get hurt by this crazy book. It was a super cute story she had created and it peaked my interest in the book.

The illustrations of the book are what really caught my attention first. There is a lot of texture and dimension with the way certain pages are created. The people in the story are illustrated in an eerie, goofy, Tim Burton type way that really adds to the weirdness of the story. The illustrations take a little bit of collage elements, a little bit from graphic novel elements, and a little bit of just plain weird elements.

The descriptions in the book are also notable. For example he describes tummy rumble sounds as "a sound like an octopus in a tub of yogurt." (I know we've all had that hunger feeling!) 

This book lends itself very well to being read out loud. There are lots of places in the book to utilize different voices and tones to make the story come to life. 

You may be wondering if this book is too scary for some audiences. The story does follow a book, that you are meant to believe is the book you hold in your hand, through his journey of eating every person in sight- including children. However, the book is written in just a goofy enough way that even the smallest child can likely discern that no book, much less this book, can actually eat people.

This is a perfect, funny book that children and adults can enjoy together.  

Book Review: Inside Out

Inside Out was an absolutely fantastic movie. Not only was the story adorable and the animation fun, but this movie created a vehicle to help talk to kids about the difficult subject of personal emotions. 

Like any well marketed Disney movie there were companion books. These two came across the the circulation desk. I think both are excellent companions to the movie and can help continue any conversations or questions a child might have about emotions.

First there is the board book Meet the Emotions. This book features all five emotions- joy, anger, disgust, sadness and fear. Joy, sadness and anger get two pages devoted to them, while disgust and fear get one. Each emotion gets fun, glittery pictures the show what each emotion looks like. At the end the book asks how do you feel? This question could be a great conversation starter to get children talking about their personal feelings.

The second book is an easy reader book called Mom, Dad, and Me. This is a level 2 book intended for Preschool-Grade 1. I can best describe the plot as the movie without the emotions. Simply put the easy reader version is about a girl who is generally very happy until her family has to move, but in the end she realizes that everything is going to be okay even though they moved. Again this version is a good conversation starter. In the event that a child has encounter a loss or experiences something that causes them a certain level of emotion distress a book such as this one may help them discuss and understand the feelings they are having.

Programing: What To Do With A Box

A coworker of mine found this book called What To Do With A Box By: Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban. in our new book section. I absolutely knew that a fun program or story time could come out of this.

The actual story is a short one about two children who are simply playing with boxes. They make libraries, beaches, and a tea time spot among other things. The book would make for a very easy read aloud.

Below I have a template for a program featuring this book. Bare with me as I am new at creating programs. Please if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to pass them along.

Objectives:  Participants will be able to flex their creativity skills by creating something entirely from their imagination out of a box and some simple craft supplies.

Materials:  Plain boxes (maybe reused shipping boxes or tissue boxes), glue, scissors, tissue paper, scissors, pipe cleaners, markers, big white board or poster board/easel 

Anticipatory Set: (5 minutes) Ask the participants if they have ever created something out of a box. Write ideas on the white board or easel. 

"Teaching": (15 minutes) Read the book What to do with a Box. Point out some aspects of the boxes on each page. Example on the landscape with a sun page point out the drawings of the water, sun, and other 

Modeling: (1 minute) Prior to the program create a few examples out of a box (monster, doll, house, etc) to show the participants examples of what they could possibly make.  Add any additional ideas to the brainstorm list from the anticipatory set.

Activity: (30-40 minutes) Let the participants loose to create their creations.

Closure: (5-10 minutes) Allow participants to share their creations if they would like. 

Book Series Review: Book-O- Series

When I first saw these books come across the library shelves I knew I just had to pick them up and check them out. There are four books in this series by Donald Lemke and Bob Lentz. There's a Book O Beards, Teeth, Masks, and Hats, respectively. A review on the back of the book describes them as "Old-timey interactive technology at its best." 

Each book doesn't really tell a story, but rather has a short description of the person who may go along with the beard, teeth, mask or hat that is featured on the page. Such characters include lumber jacks, ninjas, pirates, and sharks just to name a few.

These books really create a fun playtime out of reading. Kids of different ages will have fun "putting on" the different disguises while learning fun, descriptive words. 

This book series also lends themselves very well to story telling as they have fun little phrases associated with each description that can be fun to read aloud with different voices.

Book Review: Jedi Academy Series

For my first book review I wanted to go back to the first book series that grabbed my attention in the library. For those unfamiliar with Jeffrey Brown's work he has authored such books as Vader's Little Princess and Darth Vader and Son, along with three books in the Jedi Academy series. 

This series is a series of three graphic novels which follow the journey of Roan Novachez, a young boy who was determined to become the next great pilot, but instead he gets accepted into the Jedi Academy. 

There are two major trends I was introduced to in the world of children's literature over the past year:

1. With the new Star Wars movies many children are eager to read   Star Wars themed books
2. Novels written in the first person using comic books style (ex. Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Dork Diaries)

This novel series fulfills both of these trends while also providing a relateable, funny character. 

For the reader who is familiar with Star Wars this series is a fun extension of their preexisting interest. For the reader who devoured books written in a similar style, but is unfamiliar with Star Wars they can have a new, relateable character to follow without needing an extensive knowledge of Star Wars vocab and concepts.