Happy by Mies van Hout

The pictures are gorgeous! One emotion is depicted on each two-page spread through colorful fish drawings. The artist did a wonderful job of capturing what each word feels like. I think this would make a neat board book.

Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress

It was an excellent adventure! Great vocabulary and I personally loved the snarky, tongue-in-cheek narator! Very funny indeed. Would be wonderful for advanced fifth-grade readers.
(Highly wonderful audiobook provides wonderfully accented voices to the large cast of characters!)

Charlie Chick by Nick Denchfield

Was anyone else completely surprised when this book didn't rhyme? It's all set up so you expect it and then...it doesn't. Odd. My husband was coming up with better couplets to finish the lines as I was reading it aloud for practice. Love the pop-ups of Charlie's body. Very well done.

The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy

This was not the edition I remember from my own childhood. That one was very cartoony and silly, so I started out a little disappointed. I had picked this up again because my husband had never read the book when he was young and was unfamiliar with the story of the Seven Chinese Brothers.
I like the fuller storyline, though. The repetition of phrasing is fun and the emperor's titles are a nice touch.

How to Teach a Slug to Read by Susan Pearson

Unlike Slugs in Love , these pictures were silly and cartoony enough to overcome the grossness of slugs. Their little slug faces evoked a much wider span of emotions to make the characters relateable and funny. Personally, I loved every time their antenna poked out above a hat!
Real suggestions to parents are given in slug terms for helping your child learn to read. Very reminiscent of Read to Your Bunny , which is still the better book, but more geared toward younger bunnies. This would appeal to 5-8 year old male slugs especially!

Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

I think this book is an excellent example of what adults think kids SHOULD like in books. All the Lessons are very heavy-handed and moralistic. The main character forever self-examines all his mistakes and regrets them earnestly. Everything this kid did was earnest! There was never a moment of silliness or sarcasm!
I do not buy that this kid is ten. No way! He comes across as years younger than ten. Perhaps a believable seven?
I think getting an intermediate grade boy to read this all the way through would be incredibly difficult.
There is NO humor. None! I didn't even realize that was possible. The "sensitive" William is forever crying and whining and moping. Gag! The main character comes off as a real goody-goody Dork! My guess is that this has not aged well. Boys in 1985 must have been very different.
Can't believe this was chosen for Battle of the Books

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

 Based on the kind of books I typically read, when the blurb on the back cover mentions a "demon," I'm used to it being a real Demon, not a personal demon, a bad memory, or even a haunting experience. An actual unholy creature from a demonic dimension! So I was understandably a little confused for most of this book. Was there a Mongolian demon after these boys or wasn't there? Is this a fantasy tale or realistic fiction? I really wasn't sure until the very last chapter, which I suppose isn't bad in and of itself. The book definitely kept me guessing, which is also appropriate since the narrator herself isn't always sure what to think either.
The brothers' relentless belief in their own explanation of events reminded me uncomfortably of Afternoon of the Elves, a book I hated. In its favor, this book had a much more upbeat ending appropriate for a children's book and the author's note at the end is a fascinating peek into the origin of the story.

A Book-Loving Culture

Michael Rosen - Tips for reading bedtime stories

Replacing the "n-word" with "robot" in Huck Finn