Tag Archives: Children’s book reviews

Bedtime Stories: Kittens! Kittens Everywhere!

Post by Mark T. Locker.

My kid may be pushing nine years old but that doesn’t stop him from getting any and all picture books related to kittens. Currently on high renewal rate are K is for Kitten and Kitten’s First Full Moon.

Kitten’s First Full Moon is arguably the better of the two. It was written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, a prolific author/illustrator many of whose books feature mice in teeny tiny outfits. Henkes nabbed a Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon thanks to its simple but eye-catching images. The book follows around a tiny cute white kitty who is experiencing its first full moon and thinks the big white orb is a bowl of celestial milk. So kitty embarks on a quixotic mission to lap from the great white bowl of milk. But all kitty gets is a mouthful of bugs, or a tumble down the stairs, or a bunch of wet fur. Poor Kitty!

K is for Kitten by Niki Clark Leopold and Susan Jeffers is an A-Z book about a kitten adopted and taken to its new home by a little girl. With such captivating verse as
B is for Brave
All the way home
She purred in my arms
Soft fur and bone

it’s remarkable it took two people to create this book. The illustrations are done by Susan Jeffers, a prolific and talented illustrator and I think that’s what my son is drawn to. Admittedly, the kitty on the cover is pretty adorable.

So if you know a child who like cute little kitties, both of these books are bound to satisfy their cuteness quota.

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Bedtime Stories: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

Post by Mark T. Locker.

In 1995, the first volume of the greatest trilogy ever written was released. This is of course my opinion and there are those out there who would wholly disagree with this. But the first time I read The Golden Compass it blew my mind. And although it’s really meant for middle-age readers I had a feeling my 8-year-old would dig it. And we have been reading it nightly and he can’t get enough.

The Golden Compass is full of mysterious forces, witches, armored bears, adventure and monsters. Lyra Belacqua has grown up in Jordan College in Oxford in a world much like ours, but very different. In Lyra’s world, every person has a daemon, an animal companion, bound to them in spirit. It’s very much an physical manifestation of the soul. Lyra’s daemon is named Pantalaimon and like all daemons of children, it can change shape into any animal they can imagine.

She has always been a bright, if fierce and precocious young girl, with few cares in the world. But her world is changing. The Gobblers have come to Oxford. All over England, there have been stories of children going missing. And now her best friend Roger has gone missing and Lyra finds herself plunged into an adventure she never dreamed of. She’s headed to the North, to find her friend, and to learn about the mysterious alethiometer given to her in secret by the head of Jordan College. A strange kind of compass that tells the truth and Lyra can read it like nobody else. And it’s all connected to the Gobblers, to herself, to the North and to a mysterious element known only as Dust.

There are layers to this story that make it enjoyable for readers of many ages. Although Pullman’s feelings on religion are not always shared by all, I found this series impossible to put down.

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Bedtime Stories: How This Book Was Made

bookPost by Mark T. Locker.

Bedtime Stories: How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex.

So you think you know how a picture book comes into being? You may think you know, but you don’t. I don’t think you took into account the pirates, or the arm-wrestling tigers. Or the roaring fires of discarded drafts. No, you don’t know how this book was made at all.

From the mind and hands of Adam Rex and Mac Barnett comes another clever and hilarious picture book. Mac Barnett writes with a number of talented illustrators but his work with Adam Rex is my favorite. I see this book as a companion piece to Barnett/Rex’s 2012 picture book Chloe and the Lion which is another behind-the-scenes peek at the making of a picture book. Where Chloe looked at the collaboration between author and illustrator, How This Book Was Made looks at the process from inception to publication. In some ways, it really does explain how this book was probably made, though of course embellished and changed to make it interesting for children.

When Mac Barnett tells you his editor sent him back the first 20 drafts of the story, you can’t help but believe that this was indeed the case. But whether or not he burned the other drafts to scare away the tiger bent on revenge cannot be confirmed or denied.

To take Mac’s word on it, the process of getting the book from his original idea to becoming the copy in your hands is an incredible process! Adam Rex makes a valuable contribution, turning simple statements like “I found a quiet place to write” and placing the author at the top of a ladder on the top of a desolate mountain. Although Mac insists “it took the illustrator took a VERY long time to draw all the pictures” it was definitely worth waiting for his fantastic illustrations.

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Bedtime Stories: Goldenhand

goldenhand_garthnix_epicreadsPost by Mark T. Locker.

Goldenhand by Garth Nix.

I don’t have a scary story for you today. Sorry! I was too excited about the new Garth Nix novel to read anything else. I’m sure you all understand.

20 years ago, the Australian author released Sabriel the YA fantasy novel about a young woman, Sabriel, flung before her time into the dark and dangerous world of necromancy. Wielder of seven magical bells, her job is to fight Free Magic necromancers, who bring the dead back to life to do their bidding. Later, we met Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr. Lirael is a Clayr, the Seers who live underneath the glacier and watch the future and the past. In the final book, Abhorsen, Lirael continues her quest to defeat a dark necromancer.

And now, 20 years after the last battles of the Old Kingdom, we get Goldenhand, a new tale that picks up shortly after Abhorsen. Tying together all the novels (including Clariel, a story that takes place hundreds of years earlier) we get what appears to probably be the final book in the series. Focusing again mostly on Lirael, we join her as she reunites with a young man from the other side of the Wall, a non-magical person with little experience in the magical North. We also meet a new character, another brave and fierce woman, a tribal warrior named Ferin. While Lirael and Nick work their way to the Clayr’s glacier, Ferin is fighting to make her way to Lirael, carrying an important message from Lirael’s long-deceased mother.

If you have read the other four books in the Old Kingdom series, Goldenhand will quench your thirst for another trip north of the Wall. Personally, Sabriel is still my favorite but this is a satisfactory end to a much-loved series.

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Bedtime Stories: Ghosts!

ghostsPost by Mark T. Locker.

Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara

As my kid gets older, the books I am exposed to are geared towards older and older kids. Occasionally I need to remember to look backwards and find great books for younger kids. As the time of the year demands an eye towards the spooky, it’s important not to overlook the little kids who like the idea of ghosts and goblins but cannot abide actually scary spooks. That’s where books like Ghosts in the House! come in handy. It’s super Halloweeny without being scary at all. Even though, like the title suggests, there are indeed ghosts in a little girl’s house, it’s really quite okay. In fact, it’s downright adorable. The girl is a witch, so she’s totally cool with ghosts. However, they still need to be dealt with. After all, we can’t have ghosts floating about all higgledy-piggledy!

So the witch and her cat gather up all the ghosts, run them through the wash (don’t worry; a window in the washer shows the ghosts are having a fine time in there) and put them to work as curtains and tablecloths.

Simply illustrated black and white images on orange pages add to the Halloween feel of this very simple and very cute story. If you have a little one in your life who likes spooky stuff but doesn’t like to be actually scared, Ghosts in the House! is a great choice. Read it to them in bed and rest assured they won’t have any scary dreams as a result!

ghosts2

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