Great Messages Beyond a Good Story

You may recall from a past post that I get easily annoyed by people casually writing “lose” when the mean “loose” and vice versa, or writing “alot”, or misusing apostrophes. Therefore, I was completely thrilled by Greedy Apostrophe: A Cautionary Tale by Jan Carr, illustrated by Ethan Long.  A very funny picture book that is not boringly didactic, or a boring punctuation lesson, but simply a funny story that will hopefully get into kids’ heads (you see how I used that apostrophe there?) and help them remember how to use apostrophes correctly. The story begins when punctuation marks go to the hiring hall to receive jobs.  Commas, question marks, and exclamation points all get tasks. But then all that’s left is a job for a possessive. Everyone gets nervous because Greedy Apostrophe is well known as kind of a jerk who wants to insert himself all over the place.  The Director sternly goes over the rules for his usage and off he goes.  Greedy Apostrophe does exactly what he shouldn’t. At a toy store he puts himself into signs for Puppets, Marbles, Yo-Yos, and Kites turning them into Puppet’s, Marble’s, Yo-Yo’s, and Kite’s.  He is naughty and terrible, but when he tries it in a school the class quickly sees the mistakes and tries to catch him. Even if I didn’t like the lesson of this story, I’d still think it was a fun read-aloud as I enjoy books like this where something unusual is animated  (like the Scrambled States of America, crayons,  or Chopsticks.)

What a sweet story! Brimsby’s Hats by Andrew Prahin is about Brimsby, a hat maker who leads a quiet routine life in his village. Every day he makes hats and drinks tea with his friend. But then his friend decides to follow his own dream of being a sea captain and leaves.  Brimsby is very lonely and the changing view outside his window shows that quite a long time passes.  Out for a walk one snowy day he comes across some birds who are having trouble in the snow.  A clever and unexpected choice turns Brimsby’s life around as it brings him new friends, new happiness, and new adventures.  If I was doing a storytime about hats this would be a new book to add to my hat collection.

Noah and the Space Ark by Laura Cecil, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark is an interesting story to me because of it simultaneously being a retelling of Noah’s Ark at the same time as a futuristic story with the message that we’d better take care of our earth. I guess I found it so interesting because she didn’t have to change that much of the original story to make it work for this modern message.  I think my kids just thought it was a good story, liked the pictures, and could see the parallels to the original story. In the future the earth is very over-crowded and dirty.  Noah and his family (who even retain the Biblical names Ham, Shem, and Japhet) run the only park left, which is a green sanctuary for the earth’s last birds, animals, trees, and flowers.  As Earth heats up and the air worsens the plants struggle to grow and one day Noah finds a bird that is dying.  He takes this as a sign that they must build a spaceship and find a new place to live.  The cross view of the space ark is marvelous, showing how they all fit in.  Two by two they board the space-ark and flee the new truly horrifying looking dark planet. 40 days and 40 nights pass before they find  a new place, which looks like a beautiful Eden.  They vow to care for this new planet.  I happen to like Clark’s illustration style and found this a very heart-warming story.

 

Man’s Best Friend

We’re animal lovers in this family and our beloved dog, Pippin, is a part of our family.  I got him just before I met my husband at a shelter.  In today’s post you’ll see four different stories all showing a different way a dog comes to his family.

Piper, by Emma Chichester Clark, is about  Piper, a dog who is eager to please, a little nervous to leave his mother, but willing and ready to be a good dog to his new owner.  Unfortunately his new owner is a nasty man who treats him cruelly.  Through a good deed being repaid a group of bunnies helps Piper run away.  He runs and runs and eventually makes it to a city.  In the city he rescues an elderly lady, but gets hurt himself in the process.  This was such a touching story, with a very satisfying ending.

 

The Old Woman Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Kathryn Brown, is one of my very favorite picture books.  I cannot read it aloud with out getting chocked up and teary at the end.  It’s got some very mature concepts in it, but I kind of like it that Rylant put them in a picture book. The titular old lady is so old that all of her dear friends have died.  This makes her sad and lonely and so she only names those things in her life that are guaranteed to outlive her-her chair, her bed, her car.  Then one day a puppy shows up at her gate.  She gives him some food and he returns the next day.  This goes on for a long time until one day the puppy doesn’t show up.  The old woman thinks and realizes that she has grown to love the dog, and that fear of loss has kept her closed off from loving.  The ending is so beautifully written and so touching I could cry just thinking about it!

 

The Stray Dog by Marc Simont is such a simple story about a stray dog bringing joy and love to a family, but I think what makes it wonderful is how the pictures convey half the story. A family (who live in a city) spend a day at the park one weekend.  A stray dog visits them and they have a lot of fun playing with it. But at the end of the day they must say good-bye.  The children would love to keep him, but their mother says he must belong to someone.  They go home, but that week they all think about the dog.  This is my favorite spread as it shows just how they are all thinking about the dog and being distracted (spilling coffee.) I especially like it that the parents are every bit as captivated as the kids are. The next Saturday they return to the park and hope that the dog will return. This is a sweet story that we have read many, many times.

 

“Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate by Bob Graham shows a more conventional way of a family acquiring a dog-going to the shelter.  I love the typical Bob Graham illustrations, showing a cheerful family with a messy house, some tattoos and nose rings.  One day they decide to go ahead and get a dog and troop off to the shelter to check out all the dogs.  But what kind to get? A bouncy puppy seems just right for them, until they see Rosie at the end. She’s old and broad, but there’s just something about her.  They head home with the puppy but once at home, just like in The Stray Dog, the whole family, including the adults, can’t stop thinking about the dog they left behind.  I’ll bet you can guess how that turns out 🙂

 

Fairy Tale Favorites

I love a good fairy tale. As an older child I read many of the Andrew Lang fairytales and had a nice collection of the red, yellow, green, and blue fairy books. (I loved it that they were just named by color.) I still have that set and can’t wait to share them with my kids.  For now, though, we are still reading picture book versions.  To me a beautiful fairytale is one you might read again and again and want to have in your home library. Pretty much every fairy tale has lots of different versions, illustrators, and styles to choose from. Here are two favorites that we’ve added to our collection:

Rapunzel by Sarah Gibb.  I adored the illustrations in this version so much that I bought it right away.  I knew this would be a gorgeous, readable story for my daughter to enjoy for many years. This is a classic Grimm tale and doesn’t shy away from including the gruesome elements, notably when the prince falls into the thorny patch and is blinded and has to wander the forest.  This is a longer book with some full pages of text, but also some beautiful double page spread illustrations. As befits a story about a tall tower and long hair, the illustrations are very vertical and tall.  The pictures are really lovely and romantic. And speaking of romantic, I love in this telling how clearly Rapunzel and her prince fall in love.  The happy ending is not unexpected, but I still find it very touching every time.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Emma Chichester Clark. Goldilocks has always been my daughter’s favorite fairy tale, but when it came to buying our own copy, which one to choose? The possibilities seemed endless. We’ve read so many different versions from the library and there are so many different styles of illustrations and takes on the story, most of which we’ve enjoyed.  I settled on this one because I’m keen on Clark’s pictures and I like how naughty Goldilocks is.  The pictures show a lovely cottage with a prominent bird motif, and lavishly patterned curtains, rugs, tablecloths, and dishes. Cuckoo clocks, wall art, tea sets–I basically want to live in this house. In fact, Baby Bear’s bed is my ideal and I wish I could find one like it.  Goldilocks does her typical thing-barging in and breaking things and eating things up, but the bears’ reactions are priceless. They seem so genuinely shocked by these bad manners.  When Daddy Bear says “that someone is a hooligan and a thief” you completely agree with him. This is a very charming version and we love it!

Other versions we’ve especially enjoyed are:
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems-classic, goofy Willems. A hilarious twist on the story.

The 3 Bears and Goldilocks by Margaret Willey-in this version Goldilocks tries to be helpful and tidy the bears’ abode, but they are angry about it.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Caralyn Buehner-this version’s pictures show a very log cabin, plaid setting that is delightful