Book People Unite!

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

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

"So Nora had to wait!"
When I was little, my favorite part was Nora's explosive outburst of destruction! "CRASH went the lamp!" and my little heart thrilled from the messy chaos. 

Migrant by Maxine Trottier

I've never heard of the Mennonites from Mexico. That was an interesting bit of history. This book reminds me a lot of My Name Is Yoon.
The text is quiet and Anna's yearning is palpable. I give the author props for that. But the illustrations aren't my cup of tea.
The author's note at the end was also very interesting and political...
Not sure what to think.

Magic Trixie Vol.1 by Jill Thompson

As a long-time fan of and all things magical from a very young age, I would have flipped my lid had this series been around when I was in elementary school. As it is, I still might need to own them all...soon.
I love the hipster elements of Trixie's family: Dad has long black hair and a goatee, Grandma wears chic chunky black glasses and chunky green jewelry, and older cousin Tansy has hip purple pigtails. It's all very 1950's meets punk rock. Colorful! (I think Jill Thompson might secretly look at the dream world in my head...)
Anyway, Loved it!

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

This was a little self-absorbed-teen-angsty, but that is the age of the character and I remember those days too. (I hope I have mostly grown out of them... :/ )
That said, the pictures were very interesting and the author had a wonderful ability to show how she felt through the metaphor of the picture. The other nice thing about the story was how normal it showed her plight to be. It's hard to be the new kid and it's always hard to meet true friends and then keep them. I actually thought her transition into "take charge project planner" seemed too quick and easy. She had doubt and set-backs later, though.
We all worry about what others are "really" thinking of us and when we are young, it's even harder to handle. This book showed that problem clearly and sensitively. 

Don't Slam the Door! by Dori Chaconas

I'm tickled that there is so much knitting in this delightful book! Unfortunately, it's not being portrayed accurately but that's typical. The rhyme is bouncy and catchy and I love that it's the little girl who's trying to avert disaster instead of the mother for once. Despite her efforts, no one listens to her.
Great book for story time! Can't wait to try it!        

Mr. & Mrs. God in the Creation Kitchen by Nancy Wood

A very light-hearted look at creation for children. I especially like that there is a Mr. AND and Mrs. God working in the creation kitchen side by side. The illustrations are pitch perfect for the subject since the splatter watercolor technique makes the reader think of space. I also liked that the "people" created at the end were not the typical Homo Sapien Adam and Eve but Neanderthals! And as a final delight, the end pages look like blue prints for creature creation in a very strange laboratory!

Many Days, One Shabbat by Fran Manushkin

I liked this cozy book. I really like the illustrations, which show a modern Jewish family's daily life.

Looking for the Easy Life by Walter Dean Myers

I've been putting off writing this review because I'm still not exactly sure what to say. I hated this book. There are so many things wrong that I can't believe it was published. This seems to be yet another example of publishing based on name recognition instead of the merit of the manuscript.
First, there's the way the monkeys speak. Myers doesn't go far enough to make it an accent or a colloquial twist, instead it's just bad grammar. It reads very awkwardly.
My second gripe is that the two female monkeys are two dimensional idiots. Their only thoughts are about how cute the male monkeys are and which one can bankroll the best easy life. That is also the sum of their worth. There are also comments made about them that are just inappropriate. "She was Drusilla's best friend, even though she was known to have flirty eyes." Why is this even relevant??
The overall message of the book should be a good one, but I think he starts to mix his metaphors. Instead of "looking for the good life," the monkeys go on a quest to find greener pastures in anything. Since they have a laughably easy life to begin with ("I'm tired of having to stretch all out of shape just to get a banana.") this is an absurd comparison to make. The author missed the mark.
My biggest issue with this book is one particular line. The lion has treed the male monkeys and is standing guard with a bloody tail hanging out of his mouth. "The five monkey friends stayed there, shivering and shaking, until the moon came up and the lion went off to mess with his girlfriend." Excuse me?! If that doesn't mean sex then it alludes to violence, neither is appropriate for a preschool picture book. Dear god, what was the editor thinking?!
Walter Dean Myers might be a force to reckon with in young adult fiction, but he has no clue how to create a book for younger readers and someone in the publishing industry should have explained that Before this disaster was published. I hope it dies quietly before too many children read it. Yuck!