animals – Page 11 – One Chapter

Clarice the Brave by Lisa McMann

“It only takes 1 mouse to believe in you. And that mouse is me.”

This is a quote that Clarice’s mom heard from her father which is then passed down to Clarice. Clarice holds onto these words as she tries to care for her brother Charlies, aboard a pirate ship. Clarice and Charles are the only two remaining members of their family. As mice living aboard a ship, daily life at sea, has claimed the lives of the rest of their family members. Living in fear, the brothers live in a wooden crate by the pantry, this is their home. Clarice travels out for supplies but Charles prefers to stay securely inside the box, waiting on Clarice, the provider.

I found myself immediately absorbed into this story as Clarice describes the world around her. The ship was full, as the humans were filling up all the available space. They consisted of two groups of people: the crew/captain and the prisoners. Fighting erupts on the ship and the brothers hear the word, mutiny. What does this word even mean?

The brothers soon find out as Clarice finds himself in a smaller boat with some of the individuals from the ship and Special Lady. Packed with sailors, a mouse, and a cat, this boat which has been cast out into the sea, does have the captain aboard, which gave me some hope. Meanwhile, Charles is still aboard the ship. Charles the mouse who doesn’t like to move out his box needs to do something to stay alive without his brother.

Will the brothers ever be reunited again? What happens to the brothers as they float out in the sea in two different vessels? What a good adventure story, a story of friendship and family, a story that will stay with you.

If You Live Here by Kate Gardner

This is a cute picture book and the illustrations are amazing. I think the language of the book can lead a little one to higher level thinking and the illustrations compliment and stretch that thinking. As you open up each two-page spread, you are greeted with one place that might be an option for someone to live on. Now, some options are more feasible than others but they all are options.

Some examples are:

“If you live on a spaceship, keep curious for there is wonder all around. “

The illustration is a blue & green spaceship traveling through black space with stars and spaceships, rocks, and shooting stars all around. There are people in space helmets outside the spaceship. People inside the spaceship drawing, looking out the window and waving. It’s a friendly homey looking spaceship.

“If you live in a burrow, everyone snuggles”

The illustration shows a hilly tree section leading up to a castle. This section is a ¼ of the top of the book. The rest of the page is life under the ground in the dirt. We see multiple tunnels – tunnels made by squirrels, snakes, turtles, foxes, rabbits, mole, and mice. Some of these tunnels are simple and some of them are elaborate with paths this way and that.

I loved the language in this book. It’s fun to look at these illustrations and the amount of detail in them. I like the paper that the illustrations are printed on too. From a castle, to a submarine, to a dollhouse, to a nest, (just to name a few) – you will see that there is a lot to look at. 5 stars

Here We Are: Book of Animals by Oliver Jeffers

This is great, fun alphabet book that includes some different animals that you don’t typically see. Sure, there are familiar animals but D for Dodo, H for Hedgehog, V for Vampire Bat, X for Xerus, what is a Xerus? He looks like a squirrel to me. Actually, a Xerus is an African ground squirrel, that has spiky fur, short ears and long tails that live in Africa. That’s what I like about Oliver Jeffers, he makes me think, he opens up my eyes to see the world in another light.

You have to love the way this book feels in your hands, the thick and glossy pages will hold up to a lot of readings and the size of this book is perfect for lying down flat or for reading with someone. I like the simplicity of each page as each letter gets its own page in this book. The letter is highlighted in a hold color, the animal is drawn on the page, and then, the animal’s name is written at the bottom of the page. Sometimes a comment from the animal is included on the page otherwise, nothing extra is included on the page. There is no busy colors or no busy activity, the child can focus on the letter, the spelling of the animal’s name and the illustration. Let’s keep it simple: repetition, and recognition. The best way to help a child learn. I think this is a great ABC book for infants to any age who need to be exposed to their ABC’s. 5 stars

Here We Are: Book of Numbers by Oliver Jeffers

This is a cute, square board book which I feel is appropriate for toddlers. Why? I really like this book but I feel that the language used in the book is too deep for little infants to appreciate. Sure, you can read it to them but to fully enjoy the book, I think a toddler is about the youngest person who could understand what the book is all about. I love that this book is constructed with heavy cardboard which means it will last and the pages are glossy for little fingers to thumb through the pages and really get into the beautiful illustrations.

Each two-page spread in this book features a number from 1-11. This book is about Earth and aspects of it. For #1, we have “1 Earth” and the illustration is of Earth in space. For #6, the page is yellow, “6 things to do (on a nice sunny day)” and there are 6 illustrations of adults and children doing 6 activities outside on a sunny day (painting, kite flying, hopscotch, bike riding, playing with a truck, taking a baby for a walk). For #10, the page is simply beautiful with the text, “10 ways to travel (quickly, but sometimes slowly) and you’ll need to find those 10 ways in the illustration. For #7, the page is an underwater scene with “7 creatures of the sea (and lots of little fish). For little toddlers, they can quickly pick out the 7 creatures of the sea but for those who know their sea life, they might be able to name exactly that there is a dolphin, a whale, a turtle, an octopus, a shark, a narwhal, and a sea lion. I really like that this book is interactive and that it can be simple and also challenging, if you choose. The illustrations are fantastic and so colorful! I love that about Oliver Jeffers books, he draws you in with his incredible illustrations and when you add in his text, you feel like you have been transported inside his books.

I adore the last few pages of this book. The discussion goes to larger numbers. “A lot of stars (too many to count)” and the page shows lots of stars in-front of a dark blue background with the North Star, The Little Dipper and The Big Dipper outlined and shows the connection of these two stars. The last page addresses Infinity. He connects this word with love and shows a mobile constructed of planets and stars with an adult holding a baby. What a sweet ending to this book.

Carl’s Summer Vacation by Alexandra Day

We love Carl and this book is another reason why we do. Carl and his family have headed to their cabin for summer vacation and the parents don’t realize how lucky they are, that they brought Carl along with them. With only a few pages containing actual words, the illustrations tell the story of what actually transpires in the story.

My grandson (he’s almost 3-years-old) and I like to read stories about Carl as his stories give way to conversations, Carl sets a great example, and the stories are upbeat and cheerful. Carl is a large, rottweiler who is mindful of his family’s young daughter, Madeleine. In the series, the two of them have wonderful adventures together, for which the adults have no idea what, the two of them have been up to. Carl is her protector.

While the parents get the cabin cleaned up, they set Madeleine and Carl down for a nap. Immediately, they set off to see the sights. I love the way that Carl tends to Madeleine and how she follows his lead. They do get into an empty boat which isn’t a good idea but she’s wearing a life vest, so she’s safe and this scenario brings up a good conversation for my grandson and I. I’m surprised that her parents don’t check-in on the two “sleeping” youngsters, for Madeleine and Carl have quite the adventure while her parents clean and tidy up the cabin. Their excursion finally comes to an end as they scramble back up onto the porch. They arrived just in time, for Madeleine’s parent’s call out to them, supposedly waking them up. Dinner is about to be served and the rest of the book is super cute.

The illustrations in the Carl books remind me of some books I used to read from in the 1970’s. The vivid colors, the way the faces are drawn, and how the illustrations just pop off the pages. I like how the illustrator paid attention to some details while blending in others. I highly recommend Carl books by Alexandra Day.

Bunny Book Club by Annie Silvestro

This is a super cute book about reading, sharing and loving books. The book is about a bunny who loves books. He secretly listened to individuals reading to their children in the park and he listened along with the children outside the library as the librarian read, rabbit hid in the bushes. Problems arose when the summer program ended and all the activities moved back inside the library, leaving rabbit outside without his stories. He could watch them through the window but bunny couldn’t hear about the adventures that were inside those pages.

Bunny couldn’t handle life without books so he decided to sneak into the library. Wow, so many books awaited him! After creating a huge pile, Bunny found his way out of the library with his books and he hurried home to start reading. Bunny was so happy!

What a happy, positive story about reading and the love of sharing this with others. I thought it was funny how bunny’s house was getting full of books and I loved how bunny gathered a variety of books. As his friends joined in on his adventure, I liked the titles that they were looking into and I loved that they all got together to share this common activity. The illustrations were adorable! This book is a treasure. I see that there is a sequel to this book, I’m going to have to grab that. 5 stars!!

Cat Problems by Jory John

If you ever had a cat or had a close relationship with a cat, you have to read this. The story is not complicated, in fact, it’s very simple. It’s the cat and its attitude that will get you laughing. The world revolves around this little black cat but isn’t that what all cats think: the world revolves around them.

The vacuum cleaner is a monster but luckily, it only comes around once a week. The little yellow cat in the house seems to be sitting in all of little black kitty’s spots just when he wants to sit in them. Little black kitty thinks he would eat the cute little squirrel outside, fortunately for the squirrel, there’s a screen on the window! This little black cat had me laughing out loud as I read his reflections. Oh, the life of little black cat.

What a funny picture book. I’ve had cats pretty much my entire life so this book was a perfect fit for me. The cat’s attitude and the illustrations went perfectly together. I really enjoyed this book. 5 stars

Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

What a fun book. I read this book a couple times as I couldn’t quite figure out if I was fully getting into the rhythm of it. I felt the pace got clunky a few times in the text while at other times, the flow was effortless. The story made sense; it was the rhythm of the words that felt off. I liked the illustrations, as they were very interesting to look at. Inside Cat’s observes the world from a variety of different perspectives (sizes, sights, positions, etc.). Inside Cat sees all as he has a wide variety of windows to look out and he’s looking, looking at everything!

The illustrations are very entertaining and unique. I liked the way the illustrations were created. The paper had the appearance of many different layers of print, stacked on top: of each other. I thought this was a cute book. 4 stars

Batpig: When Pigs Fly by Rob Harrell

This is a hoot! I will definitely be reading more of this series. You need to have a sense of humor to really appreciate this fantastic book. I found myself smiling and laughing through most of this book as Gary, Brooklyn, and Carl discover a new super hero. I do think some younger readers might not fully understand or “get” all the laughs/puns that are written in this book but they’ll still enjoy the story. I think a reader’s age, maturity and life’s experiences helps them fully appreciate this book.

Gary was once a normal, boring pig. Not normal as in a barnyard style pig but normal as in a 6^th grade pig who loves video games, comic books, and playing cards. His best friends were Carl, a fish and Brooklyn, a bat. He’d play Go Fish with Brooklyn and Carl, (I hope you got that laugh – Go Fish with Carl, the fish). I can’t help but smile/chuckle just thinking of this book as there’s so many great lines and these friends are so very entertaining. With lines like, “I’m gonna go hop in the toilet for a bit. Get wet.” (Carl) “AAAAA! I wanna go home! And I also wanna pony!!” “Batpig sped off like…..like a pig in a leotard.” “I know Gary. I’m sorry I haven’t created a Batpig ringtone for you yet.” It was a typical night of playing cards that changed Gary’s life forever.

It’s a hilarious read but these friends also wrestled with a variety of different issues that young children also cope with and I liked how they addressed and tackled it. From talking things out, to trying a different solution, to encouragement, the friends never strayed far from one another. This is an easy graphic novel to follow with bright colorful text boxes and just a handful of characters to follow. I loved the variety of text fonts that were used to bring this book to life. Children will love this graphic novel but anyone who is looking for a good laugh should read it, for its bound to put a smile on your face, just like it did mine. 5 stars

sometimes it’s TURKEY – sometimes it’s FEATHERS by Lorna Balian

A cute story that will warm your heart not just at the holidays but year-round. When old Mrs. Gumm is out hunting for wild mushrooms, she stumbles upon a large, freckled egg. Using her mushroom basket, she places some “fresh April grass” inside and she carefully places the egg on top. Excited with her treasure, she explains to Cat that believes that she has found their Thanksgiving dinner and she proceeds to take it inside their house. Mrs. Gumm cares for that egg for months until the day that it hatches. Now, Mrs. Gumm must feed the little turkey so that it grows up big and plump, she is still excited about enjoying it for their Thanksgiving dinner. This becomes quite the process for Mrs. Gumm: first the hatching and now, getting the turkey nice and plump. Cat though, is right in the middle of this activity and is quite inquisitive as to what the turkey is up to.

I think older, mature individuals reading this book can guess what options are coming towards the end of this book. I think the way that the author chose to end this book made this book special. That combined with the relationships that Mrs. Gumm had with Cat and the turkey throughout the story and how her original intention flowed throughout the text that made this story stand out for me. The use of the mustard and white colors might turn some readers off but I really enjoyed them. I think a keynote to enjoying this book with younger children is to make sure that the child understands where their Thanksgiving turkey comes from. I think it’s a great book. 5 stars from me and I’m glad that I stumbled upon it.