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One Morning in Maine

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey, 1952.

This cute picture book features Sal, a little girl who also appeared in Blueberries for Sal. She and her family live or are staying on an island off the coast of Maine. One morning, Sal wakes up and is excited because she remembers that she and her father will be going to Buck’s Harbor (a real place).

She helps her little sister, Jane, to get ready, and while they’re brushing their teeth, she feels that one of her teeth is loose. She’s never had a loose tooth before, and she runs to tell her mother. Her mother tells her not to worry about it because everyone loses their baby teeth when they’re growing up. She say that a new, bigger tooth will grow in when the old tooth falls out. Her mother says that if she puts her baby tooth under her pillow, she will get a wish, but she shouldn’t tell anyone what the wish is.

On her way to the beach, where her father is digging clams, Sal proudly tells all the animals she sees about her loose tooth. When she reaches her father, she tells him about the tooth, too. Then, she joins him in digging for clams.

Then, Sal realizes that she’s already lost the tooth somewhere. She’s really disappointed because she wanted to make a wish. As she and her father walk back to the house, Sal sees a feather that a gull lost. Since the feather is kind of like a tooth because a new feather grows in when one falls out, she decides that she can make her wish on that.

When it’s time to go to Buck’s Harbor, the motor on the boat won’t run, so the girls’ father has to row the boat. When they go to get the motor fixed, Sal tells the mechanic about her tooth. When the spark plug in the motor is replaced, Sal compares the old plug to her lost tooth and gives the old plug to Jane so she can have something to wish on, too.

She also tells the men at the grocery store about her tooth, and she ends up getting an ice cream cone, exactly what she wished for! The book ends with Sal, her father, and her little sister all going home for clam chowder for lunch.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies). It’s a Newbery Honor Book!

My Reaction

This is just a cute little story about a little girl who is proud of losing her first loose tooth. It’s a sort of rite of passage that all small children go through. Her parents don’t tell her about the tooth fairy or promise her money for her tooth, but she does get a wish. Because her wish is a simple one, it’s easily fulfilled.

The different animals that can be found on the coast of Maine would also be interesting to child readers. Sal and her father also talk about which of the animals have teeth and which don’t. The birds and the clams don’t have teeth, but seals do. Sal keeps making comparisons between her tooth and other things that have to be replaced eventually, like the bird’s feather and the old spark plug, finding a kind of magic in things that are discarded and replaced with something new.

Sal and Jane are based on the author’s real life daughters, and their family did live in Maine. The setting of the book is the family’s summer home.

Posted on by TracyC

Clocks and More Clocks

Clocks and More Clocks by Pat Hutchins, 1970.

One day, Mr. Higgins finds an old grandfather clock in his attic. He likes the grandfather clock, but he wonders if it really keeps accurate time.

To figure out how accurate the grandfather clock is, he decides to buy another clock. He puts the second clock in his bedroom.

The problem is that when Mr. Higgins goes from his bedroom up to the attic, the clock in the attic reads one minute later than the one in the bedroom. Mr. Higgins isn’t sure which one is right.

Confused, Mr. Higgins decides to buy a third clock to compare to the other two. He puts this one in his kitchen. However, the same thing happens! Each time Mr. Higgins leaves one clock and walks to the next, they’re always a little different!

After purchasing a fourth clock gives him the same results, Mr. Higgins asks the Clockmaker what the problem is and he should do. The Clockmaker comes to Mr. Higgins’s house to take a look at his clocks.

When the Clockmaker compares the time on his watch to the time on each of the clocks, each of the clocks is correct. All of Mr. Higgins’s clocks are working just fine. Suddenly, Mr. Higgins knows what he must do!

Mr. Higgins goes out and buys a watch like the one the Clockmaker owns. Since he bought his watch, all of his clocks have been reading correctly, and Mr. Higgins is happy.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

This is a fun picture book, partly because even kids will begin to figure out what’s going on with Mr. Higgins’s clocks before he does. He never figures out that it takes him one minute to get from one floor of his house to the next. It doesn’t occur to him that the clocks he left behind in each room have been advancing since he walked to the next one. Even at the end, he still doesn’t seem to fully understand it. He just knows than, when he compares any of his clocks to his new watch, they’re always right! The reason why this happens is never explicitly explained. It’s just left for readers to notice and chuckle at.

Posted on by TracyC

The Invitation

The Invitation by Nicola Smee, 1989.

This fun picture book is written in comic book form. Almost all of the text is in speech bubbles in the pictures.

One morning, Leo finds an unexpected prize in his cereal box: an invitation to dinner at a fancy restaurant! He and his parents decide to accept the invitation, getting dressed up for the occasion.

The food is great, and Leo notices that there is a band playing. He asks his mother if she’s going to dance, and on a whim, she decides to dance with the waiter with the dessert cart.

From there, the evening goes from good to great for everyone! The restaurant turns into a party with everyone dancing, Leo’s mother swinging from the chandelier, and the musicians having the time of their lives!

Then, a lady who is a dancing with Leo loses one of her diamond earrings. Leo volunteers to find it for her, and it turns up in an unexpected place.

The evening is such a success that the owner of the restaurant invites them to dinner the next night, too!

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive. It was first published in Great Britain.

My Reaction

In real life, fancy adult restaurants tend to serve foods that kids don’t like and require a level of etiquette that kids often find stifling, but in this fun, comic book style story, Leo and his parents have the time of their lives on this fun evening out! All of the adults in the story are open to some zany fun, and even the owner of the restaurant enjoys himself so much that he’d love to have them back the next day.

Like all picture books, it’s the details in the pictures that really make the story. The story doesn’t tell you that the reason why the cereal box prize was an invitation to this restaurant is that the restaurant owner also owns that brand of cereal, but it’s shown in the pictures, with his name on the box. When Leo and his parents arrive at the restaurant, the owner meets them and compliments them on their taste in cereal. Later, he’s shown eating a bowl of his cereal himself. I also loved the picture that includes Leo’s mother letting loose and swinging on the chandelier. The other people in the restaurant are also eccentrics. One of the dancing women is wearing a dress with a banana print and a matching hat with a banana on it, and while Leo is searching for the lost earring, he finds a lady in an elephant print dress and fuzzy slippers. There’s nothing dull about this elegant dinner or the people enjoying it!

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Little Miss Curious

Little Miss Curious by Roger Hargreaves, 1990.

Little Miss Curious is a very curious person. She is curious about everything.

She wonders about all kinds of things and constantly asks questions. Most of the questions she has are silly nonsense, but Little Miss Curious can’t stop wondering things like why flowers are in beds but don’t sleep or why sandwiches don’t contain sand.

She finds out that sandwiches do have sand when Mr. Nonsense makes them, but this is the only question she gets answered in the book.

Little Miss Curious has so many questions that she decides to go to the library in town and find books that can answer all of her questions. It’s a sensible thing to do, but because books in this series are mainly nonsense, her library visit doesn’t go as planned.

Little Miss Curious takes so much time peppering the librarian with all of her questions that the other patrons get annoyed, and Little Miss Curious gets thrown out of the library.

Little Miss Curious can’t understand why that happened or why people are giving her strange looks. The book ends with her running off down the road, and it invites curious readers to wonder why and where she’s going.

This book is part of the Little Miss series. It’s available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

Sometimes, books in this series emphasize morals by showing positive traits and negative ones, but even more often, the traits of the characters are played for humor, and that’s the case with this book. No morals are taught, and no lessons are learned. Miss Curious faces some consequences for wasting people’s time with ridiculous questions, but she doesn’t seem to understand the way people react to her. There is no change to her character, and the story has an open end, where readers are invited to be curious about where Little Miss Curious is going and what she’s going to do next.

Although Little Miss Curious’s curiosity goes overboard, curiosity is inevitable, and the reader can be as curious as anyone. In a nonsense book, that’s about as close to a moral as I can draw. Mainly, the book is for fun and humor. Readers can chuckle at the silly things Little Miss Curious ponders and indulge in a little curiosity of their own.

Posted on by TracyC

Fin M’Coul

Fin M’Coul retold and illustrated by Tomie de Paola, 1981.

This is a retelling of a classic Irish folktale. The story is fun and silly, but one of the parts of this story I like the best is the introduction of the Giant’s Causeway – a real place with a magical look. There’s a geological explanation of this rock formation, but this story introduces the folkloric explanation.

In ancient times, when Ireland was inhabited by giants and magical creatures, a giant named Fin M’Coul lived on Knockmany Hill with his wife, Oonagh. One day, as he is building a causeway between Ireland and Scotland, Fin M’Coul hears that another giant, Cucullin, is coming.

Cucullin has a fearsome reputation, and he has beaten up many other giants, just to prove how strong he is. So far, Fin M’Coul has been able to keep out of his way, but Cucullin is now looking for Fin M’Coul to beat him. In fact, he’s so close that there’s no time for Fin M’Coul to get away.

Fin M’Coul goes home to his wife and asks her what he should do. Oonagh says that he won’t have any peace until he gets this confrontation with Cucullin over with, but Fin M’Coul doubts that he could be a match for Cucullin in a fight. Oonagh decides that they’re going to have to defeat Cucullin with cunning rather than strength.

She quickly does a special charm to bring them success, and then, she begins setting the scene for the trick they’re going to play on Cucullin. She makes up a giant cradle and makes her husband dress in baby clothes and sit in the cradle. It’s ridiculous, but Oonagh has a plan.

When Cucullin comes, Oonagh tells him that her husband isn’t home, but she invites him to come in and wait with her and her “baby.” Not only is the “baby” astonishingly large, even by giant standards, but Oonagh carefully convinces Cucullin of the baby’s unusual strength. She tricks him into thinking that the “baby” can eat bread and cheese that’s rock hard while giving Cucullin bread with a frying pan in the center and a real stone instead of cheese. Not only does Cucullin break his teeth on these things, but if Fin M’Coul’s “baby” can eat these things, how much stronger could Fin M’Coul be?

Oonagh’s tricks allow Fin M’Coul to get the upper hand against Cucullin and defeat him once and for all!

There is a brief section in the back of the book that explains a little about the background of the legend. I love the pictures in this version of the story. Tomie de Paola books always have fun illustrations, but if it weren’t for the little people and animals in the pictures with the giant characters, you might almost forget that the main characters in the story are all giants.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, 1986.

I remember this book from when I was in elementary school! This was the book that my teacher or librarian (I forget which one now) used to introduce us to the concept of tall tales. Tall tales, like the story of Pecos Bill, are a major feature of American folklore, particularly Western American folklore.

When the story begins, young Bill is traveling west from New England with his family as part of a wagon train. As they cross the Pecos River, Bill tries to fish, but an enormous trout pulls him out of his family’s wagon. Bill is rescued by a coyote, and he spends some time living and growing up with the coyotes and other animals in Texas.

Eventually Bill meets up with a cowboy named Chuck, who explains to him that he’s a human and a Texan, not a coyote. Chuck gives him some extra clothes to wear (because he’s long outgrown his childhood clothes). Chuck tells Bill that many Texans are outlaws, but they would be better if they started herding cattle and became ranchers. Bill decides to try life as a Texas rancher.

Because of his wild upbringing, Pecos Bill is able to perform amazing feats of strength, like subduing a giant rattlesnake to the point where it becomes tame and allows Pecos Bill to use him as a lasso. He also gets the hide of a monster to make other lassos to give to the worst gang of outlaws around. The outlaws are so impressed with Bill’s ability to subdue wild creatures that they agree to make him the boss of their gang, and they all become cowboys.

Bill subdues a wild horse called Lightning and uses the language of wild animals to befriend him. He leads the other cowboys on a massive cattle drive, and he creates the impossible Perpetual Motion Ranch on Pinnacle Peak.

Then, Pecos Bill meets a pretty girl named Sue and decides to get married. However, Sue’s bustle is so tight that when she tries to sit on Bill’s horse, Sue bounces in the air so high that she reaches the moon. Every time she hit the ground, she bounces into the sky again, so Pecos Bill has to lasso a tornado to catch up with her.

When they finally land, they land on top of Bill’s family’s wagon in California. Apparently, they’re still wandering after all these years, trying to find a place to settle. Pecos Bill convinces his family to settle with him and his bride in Texas.

I’m not very big on tall tales, in spite of having grown in the American Southwest, where many of these types of stories evolved, but I have some sentimental attachment to this one because it was my first as a kid. The pictures in the book are wild and chaotic, just like the action in the story.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

Posted on by TracyC

Eyewitness Train

Eyewitness Books

Eyewitness Train by John Coiley, 1992, 2009.

I love Eyewitness Books for their collections of pictures! I always say that nonfiction books for adults need more pictures because pictures are worth a thousand words, and I love how this particular book uses pictures to explain the details of different kinds of train cars and how railroads work.

It begins with an explanation of what trains are and the history of the first railroads. Trains, which are series of linked wheeled vehicles, are older than the first steam engines and developed from chains of wagons used in European mines during the 1500s. Steam engines were developed in the 1700s, although it wasn’t until the 1800s that railroads as we know them developed and became popular modes of transporting people and goods.

The book explains how steam engines work, using pictures of model train engines with cutaway designs. Then, it explains about railroads around the world and how railways are built.

From there, the book explains about both freight trains and passenger trains. The part about mail trains reminds me of the kids’ book Mailing May. When it discusses passenger trains, it explains the differences between first, second, and third class sections on historic passenger trains. There is also a page about George Pullman, who developed luxury sleeping and dining cars catering to wealthy travelers. The level of luxury on trains could be quite impressive, and the book mentions that this is the level of luxury the passengers experienced in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, a classic mystery story that many people think of when they hear about luxury train travel.

When I was a kid, the sections about passenger trains and sleeper cars would have appealed to me the most because that is the stuff of stories, and I’ve always been a big mystery fan. However, I also find the parts about how railroads function interesting. They explain about the purpose of the signal tower and how train signal and track controls have changed since the 1800s. Earlier, I covered a different train book that showed the old, manual signals they would use, but this book covers modern methods of signaling and controlling trains as well. It also explains the evolution of train stations.

The book covers the differences between steam, electric, and diesel trains, and there are also sections about elevated trains and underground trains. There is also a section about new technology for trains and what the future of trains might be.

I also enjoyed the section about toy trains and model railroads!

The book ends with a map showing famous railways around the world, a timeline of the development of trains, a glossary of terms, and a section with sources of additional information, a list of railway museums, and recommendations for movies that include trains, including the movie versions of Harry Potter, The Polar Express, and The Railway Children.

My copy of this book included a poster about trains and a CD with train clip-art, but not all copies of this book might include the same extra items, especially if you buy a used copy. I lucked out with mine. The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

The Big Book of Real Trains

The Big Book of Real Trains by Elizabeth Cameron, illustrated by George J. Zaffo, 1949, 1953, 1963.

This is a vintage children’s nonfiction book that’s all about trains! It was reprinted and had its copyright renewed many times, which is why I give multiple dates for the book. My edition was the 1973 printing. The pictures are detailed, and they alternate between color and black-and-white.

I thought it was interesting that the first half of the book devotes a page to explaining each specific type of train car and its purpose, so kids can learn to recognize them on sight. If you look at the bottom of each of those pages, you’ll see how they’re slowly building a complete train, from locomotive to caboose, with each new car.

There is a special page that shows the inside of a locomotive to explain each of its parts and how it functions, and there is another picture that shows the parts of a streamlined locomotive.

After the book explains each of the basic train cars, it explains the classification yard, where freight cars are assembled into trains.

I particularly liked the sections of the book that explain the signals railway personal use and all of the types of personnel who work on trains. The signals are old-fashioned manual signals, but it’s still interesting, especially if someone might be writing a story that takes place in the past on a train. Some of the jobs might also be different on modern trains, but I liked how they pointed out just how many types of people who might be working on a train. The book refers to these workers as “men”, which sounds a little old-fashioned, but I noticed that the tiny figures representing different jobs had different skin colors, even for higher-ranking jobs on the train, which is very good for a vintage book. The illustrator made an effort to show diversity! Overall, I thought their explanations were pretty good.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive, although the copy is listed under an alternate title, The Book of Classic Trains.

Posted on by TracyC

The Story of Ruby Bridges

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, illustrated by George Ford, 1995.

This is a beautifully illustrated picture book about Ruby Bridges, one of the first black children to attend a school that was formerly all-white during the desegregation of schools that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. The story is told in the form of the memories of Ruby and other people, looking back on their experiences, rather than as a first-person account.

When the book begins, it introduces Ruby as the child of a poor family who moved to the city after her father lost his job picking crops when farmers began using mechanical pickers instead. After her family moved to New Orleans in 1957, her father worked as a janitor, and her mother became a cleaner at a bank.

The book explains briefly that schools were segregated at the time, and that black children were not given an education that was equal to what was offered in white schools. Because the book is for children, it doesn’t go deep into detail about the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation or exactly how Ruby Bridges’s family became involved. (Ruby was selected as one of the children because she passed a test for academic aptitude, showing that she could keep up with a class of white children, who had better early education.) It simply says that, in 1960, a judge decided that four young black girls would be sent to schools that had been for just white children and that six-year-old Ruby Bridges was one of them.

It was a harrowing experience for young Ruby. There were protesters outside the school, yelling angrily and threatening the little girl. For her safety, she had to be escorted by armed federal marshals.

Parents in the area refused to send their children to school so they wouldn’t be in the same classroom with a black child, so Ruby Bridges was literally in a class all by herself. Her teacher, Miss Hurley taught Ruby in an otherwise empty classroom. Miss Hurley was surprised at how Ruby was able to keep a good attitude in spite of the angry protestors and the lack of other children.

One day, Miss Hurley was looking out the window as Ruby approached the school, and she thought she saw Ruby saying something to the angry crowd before coming inside. When Miss Hurley asked Ruby what she said to them, Ruby said that she was talking to them; she was praying for them. Miss Hurley hadn’t realized it before, but Ruby had a ritual of praying for the people who were angry and hated her every day before school. This was just the first time that Miss Hurley had seen her doing it.

Ruby also said the same prayer after school. This prayer was part of what helped her get through those difficult days of hostility and loneliness.

The book ends by explaining that the parents soon began to send their children to school again and let them join Ruby’s class because they realized that life had to continue and that keeping their children from their education was hurting them. The angry protestors gradually gave up. Ruby continued going to school and eventually graduated from high school. She later married a building contractor and had four sons of her own. She founded the Ruby Bridges Educational Foundation to help parents become more involved with their children’s education and to promote equality in education.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

I’ve heard the story before of Ruby Bridges praying for the people threatening her and protesting against her. This particular rendition is very good, although there is one thing that confuses me. According to this book, her teacher’s name is Miss Hurley, but I understood her name was Barbara Henry. I thought perhaps Hurley was her maiden name and that she later got married, but I haven’t been able to find anything to confirm that. I haven’t found anything to explain where the name Hurley came from at all. I’m not the only reviewer who questions the name confusion.

Ruby Bridges wrote books herself about her experiences, at different reading levels, and they’re also available on Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Ben’s Trumpet

Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora, 1979.

A boy named Ben likes to listen to the music coming from the nearby jazz club at night.

During the day, Ben stops by the club on his way home from school so he can watch the musicians practice.

Ben’s favorite instrument is the trumpet. Ben doesn’t have a trumpet himself, but he imagines that he does and that he can play for his family or play along with the musicians from the club.

Some of the other kids in the neighborhood laugh at Ben for playing an imaginary trumpet, but the trumpeter from the club doesn’t laugh. When he sees Ben playing his imaginary horn, he compliments him.

Later, when he sees Ben watching the club, the trumpeter invites Ben inside and lets him try his trumpet for real.

This book is a Caldecott Honor Book. It’s available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

I thought this was a nice story about an adult who understands a boy’s dream and is willing to take him under his wing. Both Ben and the trumpeter understand the love of music, and the trumpeter sees how badly Ben wants to be a real musician. We don’t know whether Ben eventually becomes a professional musician or not because the story ends with him trying a real trumpet for the first time, but the story implies that the trumpeter may become a mentor to Ben and that this might be the beginning of Ben realizing his dream.

The book doesn’t give a specific date for the story, but the illustrations and use of terms like “the cat’s meow” indicate that it takes place in the 1920s. The illustrations not only give the story its 1920s vibe, but the abstract lines included in the pictures help to convey the sounds of the music and echo the art deco style popular during the 1920s.

There are a couple of things in the pictures that adults should be aware of. There is one picture where Ben’s baby brother is completely naked, for some reason, and there are adults with cigarettes. Other than that, I can’t think of anything else about the book that would be a cause for concern. There is no specific location given for the story, but it takes place in a city, and all of the characters are African American.