Sunday, October 4, 2009

This Week's Library Haul

We have taken ten million books out of the library since last installment. But all this linking and cover-finding takes time I do not have. Also, some of our haul includes I Spy: Spooky Things That No Kid Could Find* and the such. So here are my two favorites.


The Mine-o-saur
by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, illus. David Clark

"It's mine!" screams the Mine-o-saur about everything, until none of the other dinosaurs will play with him. Now he's got all the toys, but (surprise) it's not much fun. So he returns the toys and wins back his friends. The book has some rhyming verse, some prose, which gives it a nice rhythm but keeps it from becoming sing-song.

At first, I thought, "Oh, this is cute." Then we read it. "Again," said Destructo. So we read it the next night. "Again," said Destructo. So we read it the next night. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And I didn't get tired of it, which is saying A LOT.

Then, the other day, we were in the sand box, making spaghetti with rockballs in the dump truck as usual, when a little boy came over and screamed, "Mine!" He grabbed the dump truck/sauce pan. I expected fireworks. But Destructo just smiled and looked at me. "Dat the Mine-o-saur," he said. See that people? Books in life!

P.S. He still snatched the truck back from the other kid.



Wolves
by Emily Gravett

"Idolize" is not too strong a word for how I feel about Emily Gravett. You've heard about the snuggly fun that Monkey & Me has brought my house. And now I find this. Nobody else plays around with the picture book format like this.

A rabbit borrows a book about wolves from the library. As he reads, a wolf peels off the pages of the book. Tink giggled herself silly at the rabbit's oblivion, as he continues to read even while standing amidst the fleas on the wolf's back. At the end of the book, yes, the wolf eats him, leaving only a fur tuft on the page. The best part: Gravett adds an ending for more "sensitive" readers in which the wolf turns out to be vegetarian and shares a jam sandwich with the rabbit (and they are illustrated as taped back together, rescued from the carnage of the previous page).

It was a little scary for Destructo ("Mama, I don't YIKE wooves.") but Tink and I loved it. And every picture book writer should read it, if only to see the possibilities in the format.

* not the real title

6 comments:

Boni Ashburn said...

Yay! Two excellent books :) Nice haul.

Anonymous said...

I love WOLVES. My kind of book.

Sharon Blankenship said...

In a way, I miss cuddling with picture books and kids. But I have loved to watch my kids dive into books like sharks after sailors.
To watch them "tear up" in "Terabithia." To smile at Sooner, to love, totally love Pippi Longstocking. And more scenes in my life.
I've been thinking about "banned books." Often, it seems that parents or adults are so afraid of some ideas that they want their kids never to hear about them. That is a true shame.
Life does not censor. They will find friends in gay and biracial kids. They will learn to recognize goodness not by the face or color, but by the heart.
And they will, given the chance, develop their own sense of morality.

cath c said...

love the bunny on the cover, looks absolutely charming. thanks for the recommendations.

Amber Lough said...

I will have to find this Mine-o-Saur book. I am interested to see how my mine-o-saur will handle her unauthorized autobiography.

Little Willow said...

Hilarious book... but I want the bunnies to LIVE!