Book Review: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

It is about time for another book review.  And what better time then when I'm avoiding finishing my book!?

Can I just say that I love the humor in David Wiesner's pictures in general, but especially in this book.  He does absolutely gorgeous illustrations, but they also happen to have a fantastic sense of humor.  (Found also his book: Art and Max, which is also phenomenal)  He stretches the ideas of what can be portrayed on a printed page, and finds humor in the two-dimensional vs. three dimensional elements on a page.  This is no standard retelling of a classic story.  Stories can ONLY improve when you add a dragon (filched from his own story of course).  Liam absolutely loves it, and we're definitely going to have to purchase him his own copy when the library won't let us renew this anymore.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book as both a great read aloud to the kids book, as well as one that even little kids are going to want to peruse on their own for the beautiful storytelling found in the pictures alone.  It is also big kid accessible as the bigger kids enjoy the silliness of the animals jumping out of their pages.   Page layouts have wonderful variation that isn't afraid to vary greatly in both minimizing and maximizing negative space.  If you haven't read it (or aren't familiar with any of David Wiesner's books) you truly need to do yourself and your children a favor and go buy it. 

See, this is how much he loves this book!

*(none of this is solicited or paid or asked for reviews, it is taken on solely by me, and I get nothing whatsoever for my review except the warm fuzzies of knowing I'm passing on great children's literature to others)

Classic Book Review: Tell Me a Trudy

Funniest book ever.   The pairing of the quirkiness of the story of Lore Segal and the awesome hilarity of Rosemary Wells illustrations is a killer combo.  There are three stories in the book, all told about a girl named Gertrude but who goes by Trudy and a mother and a father and a baby brother Jacob.

 They have adventures with Superman and aliens in their bathroom, and with Aunt Shirley and Cousin Leonard and sharing, and with their copycatting Grandmother.  All of whom are extremely funny characters.  The three stories (or Trudys) are all wonderful, but I think the Superman one is my favorite.

The essence of children is truly captured in the full spectrum: annoying, intelligent, gullible, fair, innocent and hilarious.  Both in Lore Segal's dialog, and in Rosmary Well's evocative illustrations.  I grew up with this book, and it weaved itself in and around our inside jokes and random references to become the stuff of familial legend.  Buy it for yourself or your kids for Christmas, or check it out from the library.  You won't regret it.

Book Review, King Hugo's Huge Ego by Chris Van Dusen

Not only are the pictures beautiful, but I even laughed out loud at the hilarity illustrated in one of the pictures.  His expression, the total ridiculousness of the situation, it was comic genius.  As for the rhyming text, well, I am actually usually not a big fan of rhyming verse in children's books.  It is just hard to do well and most of the time it becomes quite tedious, and I find myself just paraphrasing.  Quite surprisingly that is NOT the case with this book.  Which is quite the feat in my eyes.  Very few people can pull of rhyming text and make it work.  The pace is good, and not tedious and the storyline is exciting, funny and not repetitive.  And the illustrations are wonderful!  The colors throughout the book are vibrant and the compositions have just the right amount of detail.  We checked it out from the library, but now it is on our "to get" list.  Because it is a hit for both parents and kids in our house.

Have you read it?  What do you think about it?

Book Review, Beegu by Alexis Deacon

I have discovered so many wonderful books from other reviews on blogs and such, I thought I'd blog about my favorites.  And perhaps it would give me more incentive to blog.  Besides, yay for sharing book love!

see, book love!

and sharing

sort of.

Look close though.

This is Sohvi. Not Lucy.

I discovered Beegu when I was first researching authoring/illustration of kids books.  So embarrassingly long ago I am ashamed to admit how little progress I have made since then.  My own personal book making journey has been (and will continue to be) a very long process.  I am not what you would call ambitious.  But I do have a stubborn streak.  It is pretty selective, and though often buried, is fierce.  Anyway, back to Beegu.  Fell in love with the book, as did Sohvi and so I bought her the book and made up a quirky pattern to make her a stuffed Beegu for her birthday that year.  She loved (and still does, years later) both of them.

It is a delightful, and very charming book about a little three eyed alien who is accidentally stranded here and she is lonely.  I love that the heroine is female but perfectly relate-able/accessible to everyone.  Most "neutral" characters just always seem to be boys.  The pictures are expressive and beautiful and communicate the perfect mood and feel for the book.  Though alien in form, her body language is amazingly communicative whether it be in expressing forlorn or delight.  The text is concise and evocative.  I love that I don't have to paraphrase it for impatient little kids who just want to turn the page and see the next picture already.  It is a total favorite with both the kids and adults in this house.  We absolutely adore this book.

Have you read it?  What do you think about it?