Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

I loved Mo Willems previous book, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and I think that his newest book Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale might even be better.

Willems takes would could have been a very simple story about a child losing a favorite stuffed animal and turns it into something wonderful for the whole family. It becomes a story about parenting, the frustration of not being understood, the frustration of not understanding, the beginning of language, and much more. The book instantly grabbed me, because of Willems' creative mixture of cartoon illustrations and photographs. I hope he certainly gives this style additional tries in the future (I hope some other writers and illustrators give this method a shot also). The photographs give it a richness and depth that is often missing from many books.

Oh and most of all, this book is absolutely hilarious. It is definitely a book that will be read many times.

Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer

Olivia Saves the Circus is another fine picture book in the Olivia series by Ian Falconer. In this adventure Olivia is asked to tell her class about her vacation. As Olivia begins to tell the class about a visit to the circus her imagination gets the best of her, and soon Olivia has replaced all the usual performers in the circus.

As usual, Falconer's drawings are amazing. Especially the large foldout picture of Olivia imagining herself as the Queen of the Trampoline. Thinking of Falconer's artwork, I would love to see him write a wordless Olivia picture book. Think of the imaginative stories that kids could make up using his pictures!

Mermaid Mary Margaret by Lynn Hazen

Mermaid Mary Margaret is the journal of a 4th grader who goes on a cruise in Greece with her grandmother, in place of her recently deceased grandfather. For such a young girl I think a lot is expected of her and I wondered how many parents would put their own child in this position. Once I let go of that question I was able to enjoy this very cute and touching story.

The cruise is populated mainly by a senior citizen crowd and her grandma spends a lot of time napping so it leaves Mary Margaret a lot of time to write in her journal and "wonder" about life. At one point she even makes up her own list of her seven wonders of the world. A lot of her wondering has to do with imagining to be a mermaid.

She does manage to have several adventures on the book and meet lots of interesting characters.

This is a very well written book, but it is filled with the sadness of losing a grandparent and probably even more sad, watching her grandmother try to cope with the loss of her grandfather. I think this will be a good story for some children, but for others they might not be able to cope with some of it. But overall, I give a big thumbs up to this book.

Teachers: This would be a great story to use when you are discussing longitude and latitude in class. Mary Margaret has to chart the longitude and latitude of every place she visits to make up for the school work she is missing.

Keywords: Death, Grandparents, Journals or Diaries, Travel, Greece, Sadness, Geography, Longitude and Latitude

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner

Skippyjon Jones was one of my favorite read alouds of this past summer. Schachner has such lyrical pacing in her writing, plus it is hilariously funny. This is the story of a Siamese kitten with a very active imagination when he is sent to his room by his mother Skippyjon imagines that he is actually a Mexican Chihuahua. And not just any Chihuahua, but Skippito Jones a great sword fighter.

Skippito is picked by the other Chihuahuas to fight the great bandito who is stealing all the beans (red, black, boston baked, jelly, and more). Schachner works in lots of small Spanish words into the story (so definitely read it through before attempting a read aloud with this story).

This story has fantastic language, and lots of funny and suprising twists as it moves along. It also has good opportunities for audience participation (clapping and singing Skippito's song). And Schachner has added lots of colorful and fun illustrations that fill the whole page and will fascinate every child.

Definitely one of the top five books I've read this year.

Keywords: Imagination, Role Playing, Spanish, Dogs, Cats, Mothers, Adventure

The Fall of Fergal: Or Not So Dingly in the Dell (Unlikely Exploits #01) by Philip Ardagh

This was a funny and twisted book. If Quentin Tarantino ever decided to write a children's book I suspect that it might end up being something like The Fall of Fergal, and I mean that in a good way. The story is told in a very non-linear fashion, but in an easy to understand fashion because the author speaks directly to the reader.

The book is twisted because it starts off with young Fergal McNally falling to his death from a 14th floor hotel room. The story then tracks backward trying to explain how and why Fergal fell out the room. This story has a drunk father, poor siblings being raised by the oldest sister both necessary components for a tale of pity.

The story revolves around one La Fey McNally attempting to win a typing contest (parts of it reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I know you are saying a book about a typing contest---but yes it does work for this story, and it allows some other interesting characters in addition to the McNally family to enter the story.

I enjoyed this book and I am anxiously awaiting future books in the Unlikely Exploits book. There is much more that I still want to know about Fergal and the rest of the McNally's. Book 2 in the series is titled Heir of Mystery and is now available.

David Roberts contributes funny and unique illustrations to this story.

Most appropriate for ages 9 and up.

A website to learn more about Philip Ardagh is located at http://www.philipardagh.com.


Keywords: Death, Humor, Siblings, Family, Contests, Mystery

Looking for Bobowicz: A Hoboken Chicken Story by Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Jill Pinkwater

Looking for Bobowicz is the story of young Nick Itch whose parents have just made him move from their comfortable suburban life to Hoboken, New Jersey. On Nick's first day in Hoboken his bicycle is stolen by a mysterious phantom who everyone seems to know about, but that no one wants to talk about.

Nick and his two new friends Loretta and Bruno work together to solve the mystery while reading comic books and meeting the many interesting characters of their neighborhood.

This is a fun and silly book, and its all good clean fun (unlike a Captain Underpants or The Day My Butt Went Psycho------even though I do enjoy those). A funny mystery story with excellent characters that kids will love.

Good for ages 8-12.

Keywords: Moving, City Life, Humor, Mystery, Adventure, Problem Solving

Mallory on the Move by Laurie B. Friedman, illustrated by Tamara Schmitz

Mallory on the Move is the story of 8-year old Mallory who is struggling with her families move to a town three hours away from her best friend. Mallory copes with an obnoxious older brother, the snobby girl who lives next door, and being true to her old best friend.

Mallory quickly becomes friends with the 8-year old boy who lives next door (after promising her best friend that neither would become friends with boys). The two 8-year olds share stupid jokes and learn to team up against their older siblings.

This is a fun and fast-paced book that I think will appeal to both boys and girls, especially anyone who has had to move before.

Tamara Schmitz's cartoon-style drawings are a nice touch. This book is a good one for younger readers (ages 7-10) who are a little bit past beginning chapter books, but aren't quite ready for the harder chapter books.

Keywords: Moving, Sibling Rivalry, Friendship, Wishes