Picture Book Catch-Up, reviewed by "the new guy"

I really do need a name, folks! We've had some good suggestions so far, but I'd love to have more to choose from. Go to this post to leave your idea by November 24 - and remember, if we choose yours, you get three free books and bragging rights!

Today I'm reviewing three cool picture books that got lost in the shuffle when everyone moved and changed jobs.



We love Vaunda Nelson, and not just because she is a New Mexico librarian:) She is quite the versatile author, with picture, chapter, and nonfiction books under her belt. This latest offering is a nonfiction picture book about Bass Reeves, a widely respected lawmen in the days following the Civil War, when many people would prefer blacks didn't even have guns.

It is always good to hear about men of integrity, and this book offers a great role model for kids of any race, while offering at the same time plenty of action and excitement. Quite a remarkable man I knew nothing about - kudos to Nelson for making sure he isn't forgotten.



Kitamura is one of my favorite illustrators. His drawings look so simple and so complex at the same time. With sparse lines and simple shapes, he still manages to convey a lot of expression on his characters' faces.

In this story, Millie very much wants a fancy, feathery hat, but doesn't quite have the $500 and change it costs. Fortunately, the salesman has just the thing - a magical hat that can look like whatever you imagine it to be. This has some obvious art connections, as kids draw, or even just describe what their hats would look like - then ask them to tell you what YOUR hat looks like!



New printing of an old favorite. The cover is different from the 1979 version, but the other illustrations aren't the same - and who could not love Quentin Blake? Would Roald Dahl's books be half as much fun with a different illustrator? (And yes, we know there are some, but we choose to ignore their existence.)

Who could not love the wild washerwomen, for that matter? We have all had days, whatever our age, when the work seems to just keep piling up, and we wonder what it would be like to just chuck it all and go have fun. Unfortunately, the wild washerwomen get a little too wild, dunking people in water barrels and making a terrible ruckus with the church bells, until everyone for miles around is quite terrified of them.

Enter seven brave woodcutters, who decide to scare them back, beginning by making themselves as dirty as possible. Well, what do you suppose a wild washerwoman will do when confronted by something matted and grubby? By the time the woodcutters have been soaked and squeezed and pounded against stones, everyone has become quite attached to each other, and the final spread shows a happily ever after in true Quentin Blake style. The scruffy-looking woodsman with the kids piled in his lap reading rather reminds me of someone I know, and would make a super mural for the wall of a children's area.

Any of these books can be purchased through Amazon by clicking on the cover picture. We receive a small portion towards books for our library (which, for all you IRS auditors out there, totals a whopping $1.52 so far this year).

Nonfiction Monday (on Monday this time! Yeah us!) - reviews by Freaky

Nonfiction Monday is a chance for bloggers and readers to see what's new in the world of...well....nonfiction! We are going with some animals books today, all 3 from Lerner Publishing and each part of a series.



Personally, I think Lerner is just asking for angry e-mails with this series. They currently have titles for beagles, German shepherds, labs, Portuguese water dogs, and yorkies. That leaves a WHOLE lot of breed owners who are going to want to know why theirs wasn't first on the list! I mean, golden retrievers, hello?! Great Danes? Mutts???

That said, these are great books, judging from this one on boxers. Their personality is captured immediately:

You hear the doorbell and go to answer it. But your dog gets to the door before you. He's excited and eager to see who's there. When your guest comes in, your dog warmly welcomes him. Your pooch jumps up and plants a wet, sloppy kiss on the visitor.

Your fully grown dog has a puppy's spirit. He's always full of energy and loves being around people. You've fallen for the clown of the dog world. You have a boxer.

Many series on dog breeds turn out to be very general - they give the same advice about exercise, vet care, etc., for every dog of the same size, and just change out the pictures. This one has some very specific boxer traits and needs mentioned, such as the way they become attuned to their owners' feelings, and the fact that they can be "Velcro dogs". I was also pleased to see white boxers mentioned in a side bar - since they can't be shown (genetic predisposition to hearing issues), they make great pets. Many never get that chance, so it was good to see a little plug put in for them.



Wherever you live, you probably have pigeons around, making this an easy book for youngsters to identify with. This series, which also includes bats, brown bears, iguanas, prairie dogs and snails, is very simply writen, making it a good source for first reports. The print is huge and often makes use of color change or curved text, with no more than a paragraph or two per page. Great pictures (honestly, I would have thought it would be a challenge to find that many pictures of pigeons without them all looking the same) help make this a very visually appealing book.



As one who is more on the prey end of the animal kingdom, I personally don't see the appeal in reading about predators, but there is no denying kids love them! In addition to the leopard seals (800 pounds? I'm, like, one!) this series takes on crocodiles, eagles, foxes, sharks, grizzly bears, killer whales, mountain lions, owls, polar bears, rattlesnakes, and wolves. Okay, any one of those could eat me and not even notice.

Just look at the cover photo: people think of seals as cute little things, but there is nothing cute about those teeth! Even the one on the title page looks smug, like he just ate your uncle Fred and he's sizing you up for dessert. Yeesh. Those pictures are nothing compared to those to come, however. These are definitely books about predators, so do not expect warm, fuzzy feelings. And definitely do not give this one to a fan of penguins! Kids who like blood and gore will love these, for the pictures and the text, and will learn a lot along the way.

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, as reviewed by Nula

For my very first review, I have a book I had no intention of reading:



I was actually looking for something I could skim over lunch and then happily put back on the shelf and forget about. This looked mildly interesting, but a little too sci-fi for my taste. As J. Lo (the alien, not the actress/singer/perfume) would say, "Maaaaaaaaa -aa-aa-aa-aa!" That, of course, is Boov laughter. This book is hysterical! Or, wicked funny, as J. Lo wuold also say. After immersing myself in it all afternoon and just now coming up for air, I will be hard-pressed to NOT speak entirely in lines from the book, but I will try.

It's just that there are so many great lines. Some are funny and wise at the same time - "Some were looting, because I guess they thought that with aliens invading they were really going to need new DVD players." Others sound just like Dave barry (we LOVE Dave Barry here), so I shouldn't have been surprised to find he liked the book too.

So, what is it about? Well, about aliens. Invading. They learned our language mostly through moles they implanted on the backs of people like our main character's mom, while forcing her to fold laundry (see, they mean it when they say you should be concerned if your mole changes shape. Or glows purple.) Not-so-subtle references here to the Europeans taking over every other continent in the world on the grounds that they were the more advanced race. Eventually, all the humans are sent to a reservation in Florida. Or maybe not. And those were the NICE aliens. Confused yet? Just keep a cat around, you'll be okay.

Give this to fans of Dave Barry, Daniel Pinkwater, or Douglas Adams - and by all means, read it yourself!

Guest Review: Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich, reviewed by Steve

Ms. Ehrenreich strikes a decisive blow to the “positive thinking” phenomenon that seems to have supplanted rational thought in our culture. She exposes the pseudo-science that the many motivational speakers and writers present to prove that visualization and positive thinking will get you whatever you want. From positive thinking promoters like the founding fathers, Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People) and Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich), to the breast cancer support groups, the push is on to erase negativity from our lives. Her research exposes a primary use for the motivational positive thinking model as a distraction to the real world problems of job loss and poverty. Ms. Ehrenreich presents a convincing argument for returning to a reasoning, rational approach to improving one’s life and the world, and exposes the intolerance that many of these motivational speakers seem to promote.

Changes and a Contest!

Yoda and Atlas, the two biggest turtles, have outgrown the tank at the library. They have gone to live with our typist for a while, and in Spring will probably go to live at the local zoo. To fill their spots in the tank and on the blog, we have been joined by a Peninsular Cooter named Nulalamba, and a very tiny Mississippi Map Turtle named…er…well, he doesn’t have a name yet!

Do you have a great name idea? Post it here! You have until November 24 to give your suggestion (one per person, please), then Library Staff will vote on their favorite. The winner will get three new books (titles will depend on age of winner), and the honor of saying you named the new guy! Make sure we can either click on your name to link to you, or that we have some other way of reaching you if you win.

Photo coming as soon as our camera stops acting up!

***For those interested in turtle welfare, yes, the new guy is, at about 1 1/2" wide, too small to be sold in a pet store - which is how he ended up here. There are many reasons for this law, protecting both turtles (who are often not cared for properly) and small children (who put EVERYTHING in their mouths!).

You may have seen tiny water turtles at flea markets, etc., where the sellers rarely mention anything about UVB lighting, heat lamps, filtration needs, etc. They also don't mention how big turtles can get, assuming they don't die from lack of proper care! Our tank was checked out by a herpetologist after the recent upgrade, and when this new guy came to his attention, he felt confident enough to send it our way.

Picture Book Catch-Up by Freaky

Every once in a while you read a "new" book and think, "People should know about this one!" Then you realize the book has been out for several years, and you are possibly the only person who does NOT know about it already. We are presenting a couple of those books today, on the chance that they may have slipped by you as well:



Donna Rae Hadley is my kind of gal - full of all sorts of fantastic ideas, undaunted when they result in explosions of beverages or icing. (((I wonder what kinds of library programs she would cook up?!))) In this delightful book, Donna Rae is determined to have the winning cake in her town's Fourth of July contest. The cakes are spectacular, and so are the messes that follow.

This is a fun book on its own merits - the pictures are bright and full of great details, worth spending extra time on themselves. I love the gigundy wrench used on the Boston Tea Party cake, and the sense of perspective in the picture where the mayor (who is sweet on Donna Rae) is lighting the Statue of Liberty's torch.

I also loved the book because of the blog it immediately brought to mind. Our evil friend Amanda over at A Patchwork of Books introduced us to the very popular Cake Wrecks blog a while back, and we have been wasting countless hours there ever since! (Go ahead, click on the link - but don't say we didn't warn you! And don't forget to check out Amanda's blog as well!)

"The Great Cake Bake" is the perfect way to introduce youngsters to the fine art of cake wrecking, in a very literal way. If these cakes (and their subsequent disasters) don't fire up their imaginations, nothing will. Have your young readers design their own spectaular cakes around the theme of the season, then imagine what could go wrong once they were put into motion. (Hmm, teaching kids to anticipate and prevent problems before acting, novel concept!)

This is definitely one of Ketteman's best! Matt Collins is certainly an illustrator to watch out for as well.



We saw this one at a storytelling workshop and had to go out and purchase it immediately. Pair it with Daniel Pinkwater's "The Big Orange Splot", then have kids design their own homes. No square box houses with triangle roofs here! Kids who live in apartment houses or project areas - or even neighborhoods with a strict homeowner's association - may identify with the boring sameness of Liberty Street. They will delight in the changes and excitement brought by the Araboolies when they move in, with their multicolored skin, strange pets, and joie de vive.

The neighborhood grumps complain, but the Araboolies, who do not understand the language, carry on unoffended (just imagine the conversations THAT can lead to with your youngsters!) In the end, it is the kids who save the day. Some parents may object to the portrayal of adults and the military in this story (the former being crotchety or passive, the latter being clueless), but the main push of the book is on individuality and fighting (without fighting) for what is right.

Holiday Swap

What a neat idea! I love Secret Santas, and I really do like buying little presents for people more than getting them. This one is just for book bloggers, so if you be one, head over and sign up:

Book Bloggers Holiday Swap