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| Children's Picture Books
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Abracadabra!: Magic with Mouse and Mole
by Wong Herbert Yee
Published 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780618759262
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Jacket Notes:
Mouse and Mole are very excited. Minkus the Magnificent is in town--ONE SHOW ONLY!--and they can't wait to sit in the front row and see his tricks. After the abracadabras happen, though, something goes a bit wrong--and Mole is very disappointed to discover that magic is sometimes not exactly what it seems. How will Mouse help her friend realize that there is magic happening right in front of their very eyes? Wong Herbert Yee gives readers another grand adventure with two best friends, Mouse and Mole, who, despite their different outlooks on life, manage to show each other that friendship itself is a magical event!
12/01/2007 REVIEW: School Library Journal
K-Gr 3-In this second chapter book about best friends Mouse and Mole, Mole is excited because Minkus the Magnificent is coming to town. The show is marvelous at first, but disappointing in the end when a table collapses and the audience realizes that the magic is really trickery. He is depressed: "There is NO such thing as magic!" Then Mouse summons him to a midnight show featuring fireflies, mimosa plants, and the full moon. Reassured that magic is all around, he falls asleep beneath the moon and stars, next to her. Yee portrays Mole's vulnerability and Mouse's pragmatism with great sensitivity and humor (and a refreshing reversal of traditional gender roles). The attractive layouts interweave small, bright charcoal-and-gouache illustrations with the clear, large type of the text. In one scene, Mouse is shown mulling over what to wear: a dress with yellow polka dots on purple, or one with red-and-white stripes, or another with a moon-and-stars motif. Throughout, Mole looks comfortable in his chartreuse shirt and orange pants. These two are a lovely addition to the pantheon of easy-reader pals.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, GA
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Emma's Turtle
by Eve Bunting
Published 2007 by Boyds Mills Press
Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781590783504
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Jacket Notes:
Although Emmas turtle lives a good life in a backyard pen, he loves to listen to Emma as she tells him of such faraway places as Africa, Australia, and China. One day he decides to stop dreaming of those places and see the world beyond his pen. Full color.
09/01/2007 REVIEW: School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1- A girl reads about faraway lands to her pet turtle. The turtle then decides to do a bit of exploring, digging a hole to get under the wire of his pen. He makes immediate discoveries, such as, "My legs are short and the grass is long. I think this must be the jungle." He sees a tree stump and thinks it must be an elephant leg in Africa. He mistakes a frog at first for a kangaroo leaping in Australia, and fears that the cat from next door is an Indian tiger. Just when the turtle begins to worry that he might be lost, Emma finds him and takes him home. Children will immediately get the joke that despite the turtle's impressions, he never leaves the yard. The nice twist is that he is not disappointed with his adventure. He reflects, "It is exciting to have the whole world here in my backyard." The whimsical watercolor illustrations match the tone of the story well. The turtle's face shows many emotions as he travels and discovers. The pictures are drawn on scale with the small creature himself, echoing a childlike perspective and interpretation of size in a personal world. Humorous, warm, and ultimately reassuring, this story will be appreciated by individual readers but it's also a good choice for group read-alouds.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
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When Dinosaurs Came with Everything
by Elise Broach
Published 2007 by Atheneum Books
Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780689869228
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Jacket Notes:
Just when a little boy thinks hes going to die of boredom from running errands with his mom, the most remarkable thing happens. Caldecott Medalist Small teams up with newcomer Broach to explore the age-old battle of wills in this clever book. Full color.
REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 08/06/2007
Broach (Shakespeare's Secret ) and Caldecott Medalist Small's (So You Want to Be President? ) deadpan delivery of a delectably over-the-top premise makes this tall-format picture book a virtually guaranteed crowd-pleaser. At the bakery with his mother, the freckle-faced narrator spies an odd sign above the doughnut case: "Buy a Dozen Get a Dinosaur." They make the purchase, expecting a toy, but the bakery lady trots out a triceratops. When the boy's flummoxed mother cries, "How are we supposed to getthat home?" the proprietor responds with a sardonic smile, "Oh, don't worry, he'll follow you. They always do." After his doctor's appointment, the boy asks for a sticker, but the nurse announces that there are no stickers today, "just dinosaurs," and the receptionist presents him with a stegosaurus. His mother prudently refuses to stop at the shoe store, movie theater and diner, but the boy picks up a pterosaur at the barber shop and uses a doughnut to lure home a hadrosaur ("It wasn't my fault" he disingenuously tells readers). Beleaguered by prehistoric pets, Mom comes up with a brilliant solution. Small fuels his watercolor-and-ink art with just the right dose of hyperbole, comically relaying the boy's elation and the mother's distress at the expanding menagerie. This well-balanced romp packs an outsize helping of humor. Ages 3-7. (Sept .)
09/01/2007 REVIEW: School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1- In a playful take on the stickers and lollipops that bored kids sweep up at businesses as parents do errands, Broach imagines what would happen if a dinosaur were the giveaway of the day. A boy's increasing delight at the freebies he collects from the bakery, the doctor, and barber contrast with his mother's increasing panic and dismay as the lumbering beasts start to accumulate. When they acquire the fourth behemoth, Mom decides that the errands are done and whisks everyone home. Once there, she finds some unique ways to put the stegosaurus, triceratops, hadrosaur, and pterosaur to good use doing household chores. Small's sketchy, tongue-in-cheek watercolor-and-ink artwork perfectly captures the boy's exuberance, the dinosaurs' mass, and the hubbub that a city full of these reptiles would create. Dinosaur lovers will enjoy seeing their favorite creatures pictured and named, though the book's appeal won't just be for them. Both listeners and independent readers will appreciate the humor in the text, and the book will spark imaginations and discussions on what else might make great giveaways.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI
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