Posted on by TracyC

Diary of a Wombat

Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley, 2002.

This cute picture book is written in the form of a diary written by a wombat.  The early entries are mostly eating and sleeping, typical for an animal. 

It gets funnier when the wombat makes herself at home in someone’s yard.

The wombat wins a fight with their doormat and demands food from the humans. They give the wombat a carrot. Big mistake.

Once you feed a wild animal, it comes back for more, and it doesn’t want to take “no” for an answer.

The wombat makes a hole in the humans’ yard but moves out when she doesn’t like their sprinkler.

She also gets tired of the carrots they’ve been feeding her and demands oats instead.

You could say that the humans now have a pet wombat, but the wombat looks at it the other way around.  The wombat is probably right.

This is one of those books where the pictures really make the story.  It’s also a good warning against feeding wild animals! Yet, the wombat is pretty cute . . .

Posted on by TracyC

Edward the Emu

Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles, illustrated by Rod Clement, 1988.

Edward the Emu lives in a zoo, but he finds it boring.  He is so bored that he decides to try living with and acting like the other animals. 

First, he envies the seals who live in the pen next to his and always seem to be swimming and having fun.  So, one night, he jumps out of his pen to join the seals.  The next day, he hangs out with the seals, lying in the sun and balancing a ball on his nose.  It’s much more fun than his boring old pen, but then he overhears a zoo visitor say that the lions are “the best thing to see at the zoo.”

Edward once again switches pens, deciding that he’ll try to be a lion.  He spends the next day growling and snarling while the lions roar.  It’s a lot of fun, but then another visitor comments that he likes snakes the best. 

Once again, Edward switches pens and tries being a snake.  This time, someone comments about great emus are.  Feeling better about himself, Edward decides to return to his own pen. 

However, to Edward’s surprise, there is another emu in his pen, his replacement because he disappeared!  It’s not a problem, though, because the new emu, Edwina, is glad to see him, and Edward is less likely to be bored now that he has a friend.

A friend sent me this cute picture book from Australia.  The story is told in rhyme, and the pictures of Edward trying to be different types of animals are fun.

Posted on by TracyC

The Dancing Goat

The Dancing Goat by Bonnie Book, 1966.

Mimi is a good little goat who lives with a poor farmer and his wife.  They like her and take good care of her, and in return, she provides them with milk that they sell to help make their living.  However, things change for Mimi when she happens to see a circus parade with a dancing dog.  From that moment on, all Mimi wants to do is to dance!

It wouldn’t matter so much except that Mimi develops a bad habit of dancing when the farmer is trying to milk her, spilling the milk.  Eventually, the farmer concludes that he can no longer afford to keep Mimi, even though he and his wife don’t really want to part with her.  Mimi is upset at the thought of losing her home, and when the farmer takes her to the market to sell her, she starts to cry.

The people at the market don’t want to buy a crying goat and think that something is wrong with Mimi.  To cover up the noise of Mimi crying, the farmer starts to blow a tune on his comb.  Hearing the music, Mimi starts to dance again.

To the farmer’s surprise, everyone in the market loves Mimi the Dancing Goat, and they throw coins.  With the money that Mimi makes with her dancing, the farmer can now only afford to keep her but buy other livestock as well.  From then on, the farmer regularly takes Mimi to the market to show off her dancing and earn some extra money.  He plans to buy another goat to keep Mimi company, and he hopes that the new goat turns out to be a dancer, too!

I usually don’t like “animal almost loses their home” type stories because I always feel too sorry for the poor little animal, but the risk in this story is over pretty quickly, which helps. It also helped that the farmer and his wife genuinely liked Mimi and were only going to part with her reluctantly, so it wasn’t difficult for the farmer to change his mind as soon as Mimi showed that she could bring in money to help earn her keep.

Posted on by TracyC

The Large and Growly Bear

The Large and Growly Bear by Gertrude Crampton, 1961.

One spring day, a large and growly bear is bored.  What else can a large and growly bear do but find someone to scare with his growling?  But, finding someone to scare proves harder than he thought it would be.

As the bear goes through the forest, trying to scare different types of animals, he discovers that they’re all too busy to be frightened of his growling.  The birds are busy feeding their babies, the rabbits are busy jumping around and counting their bounces, and the moles are busy digging tunnels halfway to China. All of them tell the bear to go find someone else to scare.

Eventually, he gets the idea of trying to scare the fish because fish just swim around and aren’t too busy to be scared, but when he gets to the river, he’s in for a big surprise! The easiest target to scare is . . . himself!

My Reaction

This is just a cute story that my brother really liked as a kid. It has repetition that kids like as the bear repeatedly tries to frighten different types of animals with the same disappointing result, and then a funny twist ending when it turns out the only animal who even has the time to be frightened by the bear is himself.  It’s a Little Golden Book.

Posted on by TracyC

Caps for Sale

CapsSale

Caps for Sale written and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina, 1940.

A peddler who sells caps likes to carry his wares on top of his own head, stacked in order of color.  One day, when he has trouble selling his caps, he decides to take a nap under a tree.  When he wakes up, he is astonished to see that all of his caps are gone!

He looks around frantically for his caps and realizes that the tree is full of monkeys, all wearing his caps!  At first, he doesn’t know what to do about it.  He tries shouting at the monkeys, shaking his fists, and stamping his feet, but it doesn’t help.  The monkeys just imitate everything he does.

CapsSaleMonkeys

Finally, in frustration, he throws his own cap to the ground, and the monkeys do that same thing, giving him back his caps.  The peddler is able to reclaim all of his caps, and he goes on his way.

This book is considered a children’s classic!  The story is simple, but the repetition of the peddler’s attempts to get his caps back and the “monkey see, monkey do” imitation are fun for kids.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Cookie Tree

CookieTree

The Cookie Tree by Jay Williams, 1967.

Owlgate is a very orderly little village.  Everything has a purpose and a place, and nothing unexpected happens . . . until the day the cookie tree appears in the middle of town.  The tree is silver and gold and has chocolate cookies.

CookieTreeOwlgate

A girl named Meg notices it first, but her parents refuse to allow her to pick a cookie from the tree because they’re worried about where it came from. For all they know, the cookies could be poisonous!  Meg’s father gets the mayor to come look at the tree.

CookieTreeTownspeople

Eventually, everyone in town comes out to see the tree.  The miller thinks that the whole thing is probably a big joke, but most of the other adults are worried because it’s weird.  Some of them think maybe it’s some kind of bad omen.  Little Meg’s theory is that a magician sent it as a present for the village, just to give them cookies.  However, the adults reject that explanation, saying that it doesn’t make sense and they don’t any reason see why a magician would send them a cookie tree.

The mayor consults with the Village Councillors, but they don’t accomplish much other than to establish that there are indeed chocolate cookies growing on the tree when one of them samples a cookie.  The adults argue back and forth about what to do about the tree, but by the time they come up with a plan, the tree has vanished!

CookieTreeDebate

While the adults’ backs were turned, the children of the village ate all the cookies, and once the cookies were gone, the tree disappeared.  Apparently, Meg’s theory about the magician sending the tree just to give them cookies was correct.

One of the things that people sometimes praise children for doing is seeing things for what they are. Adults have a tendency to over-analyze things, looking for hidden meanings that may or may not exist. Sometimes, things really are just what they appear to be, and over-analyzing just confuses the issue. It can be like that with children’s books. Adults worry about every little thing in stories and possible messages being sent to children, but when people start over-analyzing stories, they can find themselves making up hidden messages and reading things into stories that aren’t really there.  Sometimes, stories and other things are just for fun, and you might as well simply enjoy them for what they are!

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

The White Marble

WhiteMarble

The White Marble by Charlotte Zolotow, 1963.

WhiteMarbleGoingToPark

It’s a hot night in the city, and John Henry’s parents decide that they should go to the park to cool off.  John Henry is a little thrilled to be out with his parents at night, stopping to pick up a beautiful white marble he finds as they enter the park, but disappointed when he realizes that he is the only child there.

Then, a little girl he knows from school, Pamela, comes to the park with her mother.  John Henry is pleased to see her because only another child could understand how magical this night in the park really is.  He calls to her to come run with him, and the two children run off to play in the park together.

WhiteMarbleTwoKids

The children kick off their shoes and run barefoot in the cool grass.  They lie in the grass for awhile, drink water from a fountain, and have ice sticks (we always called them popsicles when we were kids) from the ice cream man.

John Henry shows Pamela the little white marble he found.  Pamela thinks it’s as beautiful as he does, and John Henry realizes that no adult could understand how beautiful a small, simple thing like that could be, only another child.  That’s what binds John Henry and Pamela together.  As children, they can still appreciate the simple pleasures of life and the beauty and magic of small, ordinary things that adults take for granted, like a small white marble someone forgot in a park or how nice an evening can feel as rain moves in after a hot day.

WhiteMarbleGoodNight

When it’s time to go home, John Henry gives Pamela the white marble, a memento of this special night.

The pictures in this edition of the book are different from the ones that I remembered from the first time that I read it as a child.  This edition of the book, available through Internet Archive, shows the pictures that I remember.  The pictures in the later edition of the book are black and white, but the ones in the original edition are done in three colors: black, white, and blue.  Of the two, I really prefer the original drawings.  They capture the magic of a lovely night shared with a friend.

Posted on by TracyC

Drac and the Gremlin

Drac and the Gremlin by Allan Baillie, pictures by Jane Tanner, 1988.

The great thing about this book is that you really need to look at the pictures in order to get the full story.  If you read the text alone, it sounds like a magical space adventure story, but when you see the pictures, you realize that it all takes place in a girl’s imagination as she and her younger brother play in their backyard.  The book never mentions the children’s names (or directly talks about reality at all).  The girl calls herself “Drac, the Warrior Queen of Tirnol Two”, and her younger brother “the Gremlin of the Groaning Grotto.”

DracGremlinChase

Drac begins by trying to capture the The Gremlin.  She pursues him across the jungles, but when she finally traps him, she receives a message from the White Wizard.  The White Wizard is being attacked by “General Min” (their cat, Minnie) and desperately needs her help!  Drac persuades the Gremlin to help her.

DracGremlinCapture

The two of them get into Drac’s “anti-gravity solar-powered planet hopper” and race to the rescue!  They arrive just in time to save the White Wizard in her current form (a moth).

DracGremlinPlanetHopper

But, they are soon facing another peril: “The Terrible Tongued Dragon” (their dog)!   Drac is almost overcome by the dragon, but the Gremlin saves her just in time!

DracGremlinRescue

Their adventure ends at the palace, where the “White Wizard” (their mother) rewards them with “the Twin Crimson Cones of Tirnol Two” (ice cream).

DracGremlinReward

I love the way that the adventure unfolds in the children’s minds and the pictures show what is actually happening to the children, as their mother and everyone else sees them.  The pictures are beautiful and realistic.  The book was originally published in Australia, and I recognize some of the plants from pictures that a friend of mine there has sent me!

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

Drac
Posted on by TracyC

Tell Me Some More

Tell Me Some More by Crosby Newell Bonsall, 1961.

I liked this picture book when I was a kid.  It’s one of those books that plays on the power of children’s imaginations.

Two friends, Andrew and Tim, are talking, and Andrew starts to tell Tim about a mysterious “place” he knows about.  Andrew doesn’t say right away what the place is, but he makes some amazing claims about it.

Andrew says that at this place, a person can hold an elephant under his arm and a camel in his hand.  With each new claim, Tim says, “Tell me some more.”

Many of Andrew’s claims involve animals, but he also says that in his place, he can be taller than a tree, that he can pick up a river without getting wet, and that there are all sorts of wonderful things there, like mountains, kings, trucks, and lakes.  Basically, this place has everything.

When Tim says that he doesn’t believe it, Andrew says that he’ll take him there and show him.  The “place” is the public library.  All of the amazing things that Andrew described are in the books.  You can pick up and carry around elephants, camels, and rivers easily when they’re in book form.

As the boys walk home, they talk about the giraffe, elephant, rocket, and steam shovel that they’re bringing home in book form as if they’re really full size.  When they get home, Tim starts talking to his sister, Tansy, like Andrew did to him earlier, introducing her to the library.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 2 Comments

The Polar Express

PolarExpress

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, 1985.

One Christmas Eve, a young boy is lying awake in bed when he hears strange sounds.  When he looks out of his window, he is astonished to see a train outside of his house, where there aren’t any train tracks.  He goes outside to investigate, and the train conductor tells him that the train is heading to the North Pole and asks the boy if he wants to come.

PolarExpressTrainRide

The boy (who is never named) believes in Santa Claus even though some of his friends no longer do, and he gets on board the train.  The train is filled with other children, singing Christmas songs, eating candy, and drinking hot cocoa.

PolarExpressSantasCity

After a long trip over mountains and through forests, they arrive at Santa’s city at the North Pole, where they get to take part in a ceremony to give the first gift of Christmas.  Out of all the children from the train, the boy who narrates the story is chosen to receive the first gift.  He can ask for anything he wants for Christmas, but he asks for a bell from Santa’s sleigh as proof of his adventures and Santa’s existence.

PolarExpressGift

When the children get on the train to go back home, the boy seems to have lost the bell because of a hole in his pocket, and he is sad.  However, the bell reappears on Christmas morning as a mysterious extra present under the tree.  The boy’s parents can’t hear the bell ring, and they think it’s broken, but the boy and his sister, Sarah, can hear it.  The boy says when he and his sister grew up, Sarah eventually reached the point where she could no longer hear the bell, but he still can because only people who believe in Santa can hear the bells on his sleigh.

PolarExpressChristmasMorning

The book is a Caldecott Medal winner, and it has become a Christmas classic!  Some places that have trains hold special Polar Express train rides where they decorate the trains with Christmas decorations and try to re-create the ride from the book.  There is also a movie version of the book, although the story in the movie includes incidents which weren’t in the book to make the movie longer and more dramatic.  The original story was very calm and low-key, although still magical, the kind of thing that you could easily read to a child in bed on Christmas Eve.

Most of what Internet Archive has about The Polar Express is related to the movie, but there is also an audio version of the original book. For the benefit of teachers and homeschooling parents, there is also A Guide for Using The Polar Express in the Classroom on Internet Archive.