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Elephant, Piggie, and Mo Willems

Nov17

Cybils nominees: Easy Readers.
Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems. Nominated by Sarah at Page in Training.
I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems. Nominated by Becky of Becky’s Reviews and Young Readers.
Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems. Nominated by Danielle Smith at There’s a Book.

What is there to say about Mo Willems and his easy reader creations, Elephant and Piggie? The books are deceptively simple, a long comic strip in book form. However, this form is not so simple to conceive, write, and illustrate well. I’ve seen attempts by other authors fall flat. Mr. Willems has the gift or the genius or the 99% perspiration or something.

In Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Gerald Elephant obsesses over whether or not to share his ice cream with his friend Piggie, until the issue becomes moot when the ice cream cone falls splat on the ground. Of all the elephants in children’s literature, Gerald is the Charlie Browniest. But unlike good old Charlie Brown, Elephant has a friend in Piggie, and in this story Piggie saves the day.

The story of how I Broke My Trunk begins with Elephant and a bandaged trunk. Of course, Piggie (and readers) want to know how Elephant broke his trunk, but hold on, because it’s a long crazy story. Suffice it to say that “two hippos, one rhino, and a piano on your trunk are very, very heavy,” and very, very funny. But that’s not even the whole story.

Happy Pig Day! Is it just for pigs, or can Gerald Elephant celebrate Pig Day, too? Again, I am reminded of what Charlie Brown could have been if he had had even one faithful friend. (Peppermint Patty doesn’t count. She couldn’t even get his name right, and she was undependable.)

The exciting thing about these books is that beginning readers of all ages can enjoy them over and over again. My fourth/fifth grader whose reading skills and interest leave a lot to be desired loves Elephant and Piggie. She reads the books to herself, reads them to her dad, reads them again to herself, and chuckles softly. Then she tells me to read them or else she reads them to me. Elephant and Piggie and other books like them are what the Sunday comics were to another generation. How many adults can say they learned to love reading and stories from their reading of the comic strips on Sunday mornings?

*These books are nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Mr. Putter & Tabby Ring the Bell by Cynthia Rylant

Oct18

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by Maria Ciccone at The Serpentine Library.

Cynthia Rylant has published twenty Mr. Putter & Tabby books with this latest adventure, Mr. Putter & Tabby Ring the Bell. If I were a first grade teacher or librarian at an elementary school, I’d buy all twenty, line them up on an accessible shelf and watch the books fly off the shelf. And I’d watch the smiles and the laughter. And the soaring reading abilities and enjoyment.

In Mr. Putter & Tabby Ring the Bell the fall weather reminds Mr. Putter of school, and Mr Putter waxes nostalgic for the sight of erasers and pencils and globes and schoolrooms. Mr. Putter then has an idea: why not take Tabby and go to school for show-and-tell? Of course, Mr. Putter’s neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry and her pet, Zeke, a rather disreputable-looking dog, tag along. But what ae they to do when the first grade teacher expects Tabby and Zeke to do tricks for the first graders?

My favorite character in this story was Zeke the dog. Zeke is the kind of dog who wears a half of a stolen cake on his head. Then he eats it. He loves banana cake. He also eats a whole tray of cupcakes. Zeke’s tongue hangs out a lot, and he probably drools. And he learns a new trick—all in the course of a forty-four page easy reader.

If you already know and love Mr. Putter and Taby (and Zeke), this book is a worthy addition to the canon. If not, Mr. Putter and Tabby Ring the Bell would be a great introduction to a great series.

Z-baby: “Mr Putter wants to go to school even though he’s really old. I don’t know why.”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

No Room for Dessert by Hallie Durand

Oct17

Cybils nominee: Early Chapter Books. Nominated by Jama Rattigan. And here’s Jama’s interview with author Hallie Durand about her Dessert trilogy.

Dessert Schneider, the most important and firstborn child in the Schneider family, feels as if she’s been forgotten as her younger sister and two younger brothers get the lion’s share of the attention. But if Dessert can win the Thomas Edison Contest in her class at school for the invention that will improve people’s lives the most, she’s sure to get the attention that she craves.

Dessert is self-centered, attention-seeking, and highly competitive. She’s also funny, inventive, and real. Typical eight year old. I liked Dessert, even when I cringed a little at her grandiose plans and thoughts and her cockiness about winning the contest. Lack of self-confidence is NOT Dessert’s problem, until . . .

Z-baby’s going to love this one, and after she reads it, I’m planning to have her make a notebook of her own inventions. After all, as Mrs. Howdy Doody, Dessert’s teacher, says, “Thomas Edison filled three thousand five hundred notebooks with his ideas! Let your minds dance! Let your minds go crazy! Let your minds fly to the moon and back!”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Dixie by Grace Gilman

Oct14

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by Bigfoot at Bigfoot Reads.

Emma is really excited about her part as Dorothy in the school play, The Wizard of Oz. And Emma’s dog, Dixie, gets to play Toto. But will Emma be able to learn her part with Dixie distracting her and begging her to play?

Cute. The illustrations by Sarah McConnell are whimsical watercolors, and Emma looks just like my imaginary picture of Dorothy with her red pigtails and freckled face. The story itself has a bit of gentle suspense (will Emma do well in the play?), and of course, everything turns out O.K. for both Emma and Dixie.

Pet stories and pet characters seem to be quite popular for this age group, maybe because early elementary is a good age to get your first pet. I know that Z-baby, age 10, has been wanting a pet, preferably a cat, since she was about five or six years old. And she finally got a cat a few months ago. Said cat, by the way, whose name is Monica, has taken over my previously cat-free house, and she is now lying on my bed, making herself at home.

Z-baby: “I liked this dog story better than the other one. It was good for little kids, too.”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Ruby’s New Home by Tony and Lauren Dungy

Oct14

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by The HappyNappyBookseller.

Ruby is the new puppy, and Jade, Jordan, and Justin must learn to share. This easy reader (level two) reads like a Sunday School story without the God-talk. All the kids in the family learn to share the new puppy, Ruby.

Tony Dungy is a name even I recognize. He was the head football coach for the 2006 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, and he’s known to be an evangelical Christian. Maybe that’s why the book reminded me of Sunday School. Coach Dungy and his wife Lauren have two daughters and five sons, another reason for me to like this writing team. There’s also an advertisement inside the back cover for Mr. Dungy’s fatherhood encouragement program, All Pro Dad’s Day and the matching program for women called iMom Mornings. There are currently 931 “All Pro Dad’s Day” chapters at public schools in 48 states in nine countries, where more than 40,000 fathers and their kids gather.

So, the story is slight but fun, and the intent and purpose is good. The family in the book is a happy, puppy-loving, African American family, and I think that’s a plus.

Z-baby: “It would be good for really little kids like five or six year olds.”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan

Oct13

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers Nominated by Sondra Eklund at SonderBooks.

Dodsworth and the duck have been to New York, Paris, and London in previous books in this series about a mole?/badger?/some kind of animal with a pointy nose named Dodsworth and his sidekick, simply known as “the duck.” In this book Dodsworth and the duck are on vacation in Rome.

In this book the pair tour Rome, at first from the seat of a scooter, and then on foot. They visit the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Sistine Chapel. They eat gelato, and then, when they come into some unexpected funds, lots of other very Italian dishes at nice Italian restaurants. The duck tries his hand at throwing pizzas, and Dodsworth tries to keep the duck and himself out of trouble.

I think kids would like this series with its simple jokes and wordplay. Dodsworth and the duck are like a comedy team, with Dodsworth as the straight man and the crazy duck as the jokester. As they explore Rome, kids get a fun introduction to that city and a chuckle or two. The funny parts reminded me of the classic Amelia Bedelia because the duck tends to take comments rather literally with comedic results.

Z-baby: Wow! I never knew that Italy was in Rome!
Me: No, Rome is in Italy. Rome is the city, and it’s in the country of Italy.
Z-baby: Oh, now I get it.

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.