Tag Archives: bedtime stories
Bedtime Stories: Pop-Up Moby Dick!
Post by Mark T. Locker.
I have a number of books that are very appealing to children that I would never allow children to get their hands on. One is my collection of first/early editions of John Bellairs books, illustrated by Edward Gorey. Another is my artfully crafted pop-up version of Moby-Dick, as interpreted by paper engineer Sam Ita.
My boy has no interest in Gothic horror for middle readers. And it’s my fault that I was reading my Moby-Dick within sight of my boy. It’s got so many lovely moving parts and a giant pop-up 19th-century whaling ship, who could resist? And what cold-hearted soul would tell a little boy “no” to that?
Books like this are a fantastic introduction to the classics; it is obviously abridged; I can’t imagine what an unabridged pop-up of Moby-Dick would be like! So the story is short and more to the point, there are lots of fun interactive tabs to pull, whirlpools to whirl, and spyglasses to peer through. Sam Ita, creator of this rendition, has also made a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Odyssey. Personally, I’m tempted to buy 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea right this instant. Heartily recommended for children and adults of all ages.
Bedtime Stories: Delicious, Mouthwatering Weather
Post by Mark T. Locker
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett; illustrated by Ronald Barrett.
My Grandpa bought me this book when I was a kid and I was fascinated with it on so many levels. I brought it home from the library for my own kid this week. I’m not sure if he will obsess over it the way I did, but he definitely loves it. Apparently a movie of this book was released a few years ago…I’m just going to pretend that never happened and keep my memories preserved in the print version.
If you haven’t read this before, I’ll give you a quick synopsis. One morning Grandpa comes over and makes pancakes for the kids. A mishap leads to a pancake landing on a child’s head. Inspired by the incident he tells them a story that night about the land of Chewandswallow. In that land, nobody has to cook their own food. Instead, the food comes in in the weather systems. It might rain orange juice in the morning, mashed potato clouds might roll in for lunch and a roast beef front may come through in the evening. All is well and good until the weather starts to go haywire. Overcooked broccoli three days in a row. Giant doughnuts rolling down Main Street. Apparently that’s a problem but I don’t see why.
It’s a fun, creative and unusual book from the author/illustrator couple who also brought us Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing (which is also great fun). Now go, read, and dream of hamburgers raining down.
Bedtime Stories: King Midas: the Golden Touch
Post by Mark T. Locker.
King Midas: the Golden Touch by Demi
Today’s bedtime story comes to us from the lands of ancient Greece and from the skilled hands of Demi, who has authored and illustrated loads of great books, most, if not all, are either biographies of spiritual leaders, (Muhammad, St. Francis, Rumi, etc.) or retellings of folklore from around the globe. We grabbed one of the latter on our most recent trip to the library, the story of King Midas.
I thought I knew the story pretty well: Midas made Apollo (or someone) happy and they granted him a wish. As we all know, the foolish king wished for the golden touch. I never realized that this was just the end of the story! Turns out that FIRST Midas angered Apollo, who gave him donkey’s ears. (I had thought that was part of a Grimms’ fairy tale.) And the LATER he please Dionysus, who granted him the fateful wish.
Anyways, if you haven’t been exposed to Demi, she does really great retellings of tales, both well-known and obscure. In King Midas, she does a great job of mirroring the style of ancient Greek imagery. It’s not too short and not too long and a story which is sure to captivate kids. Imagine turning your child to gold on accident! Whoopsy!
Bedtime Stories: Space Operas!
Post by Mark T. Locker.
A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix.
As long as there are no dragons, I tend to enjoy young adult/teen fantasy. Science fiction is, generally speaking, a different story. I discovered Douglas Adams in my middle school years and he has always been the exception to my disinterest in sci-fi. But you know how there are some authors who could write a phone book and it would be amazing? That’s kind of how I feel about Garth Nix. Although mostly a YA/teen fantasy novelist, he has breached the sci-fi genre with his most recent novel, A Confusion of Princes. I figured, what the heck, I’d give it a try despite the obvious science fiction overtones. Note: I just learned that technically, it’s a “space opera”, whatever that is.
Here’s my takeaway: it was good enough to read all the way through. Nix has a way of creating imaginative worlds that don’t come across as silly and contrived. Sometimes I open a book and see all the names are Llethywynn and Glêmrax and I just close it straight away, because it’s silly! This one isn’t overly serious or overly silly. It’s intriguing, exciting, fun. My only criticism would be that 75% of the way through the book, I was sure it would lead to a sequel, but instead he just wraps it up very, very rapidly and I was left thinking: huh. I guess it’s over, then. Other than that, totally fun and will give you some interesting dreams.
Bedtime Stories: June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Holly Evans amazes her classmates with the most ambitious science project imaginable. She planted vegetable seeds and then floated them on giant weather balloons out into space, as an experiment to see what the effects of space would be on them.
Several weeks later, enormous vegetable begin to fall from the sky. Giant red peppers the size of hot air balloons, green beans fifty feet long! Holly is beside herself. Who would have guessed that her vegetables would grow to such a gargantuan size? Over the next weeks, more and more vegetables descend. Asparagus, radishes, lettuce. But…those weren’t vegetables she had sent into space! If these didn’t come from her, where did they come from?
For a short picture book, David Wiesner manages to tell a very exciting and mysterious story. His illustrations are, as always, beautiful and detailed. Even if there isn’t a literate soul in sight, the story is easily told through the images.
