Inside Jacket

In Frankie Stein Starts School by Lola M Schaefer and illustrated by Kevan Atteberry, Frankie is different.  He certainly doesn’t look like his parents.  And he certainly doesn’t act like them either. He’s just a tad too clean cut and non-scary looking.  Which happens to make him the scariest Stein of all.

Frankie is ready to start school at Miss Wart’s Academy for Ghouls & Goblins and he’s very excited.  But his classmates – witches, skeletons, and vampires – won’t sit next to him and make fun of him for not looking like the rest of them.

But Frankie declares that he can be scarier than all of them.  By the end of the school day, Frankie undergoes a grotesque, bone-chilling, ear-shattering, and bloodcurdling transformation until he becomes scarier and scarier.  When he leaves for home after his first successful day of school, he has made many new friends and proved that even with his rosy red cheeks and blond hair, he can be scary as well.

The illustrations are bright and silly.  Kids will enjoy copying Frankie’s antics.

Links of interest: Lola Schaefer website, Kevan Atteberry website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books. July 2010.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 0761456562
Source: Review copy for 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Frankie Stein Starts School is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Broom, Zoom! by Caron Lee Cohen, Illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier is a book for the youngest of children.

A little witch with a big red pointy hat wants to take a late night flight on a broom but discovers that goblin is using it to sweep up spilled flour. After going back and forth about each needing the broom, the little witch helps goblin clean it up.  Afterwards, she takes goblin on a broom ride.

The text is very simple.  Most lines are only a few words.

“I want the broom.”
“I need the broom.”
“I want it.”
“I need it.”

Many spreads just have a single word.  Makes for easy reading for those with the shortest attention spans. The illustrations are also simple with large swaths of flat color. I wasn’t in love with the character illustrations but a story of friendship and working together which the youngest children should enjoy for it’s simplicity.

Links of interest: Sergio Ruzzier website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. August 10, 2010.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 1416991131
Source: Review copy for 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Broom Zoom is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Scaredy-Cat, Splat! by Rob Scotton is my first introduction to Splat and I found him so cute that I must go seek out Rob Scotton’s other books featuring the same character.  It’s Halloween and Splat is in search of the scariest costume.  But no matter what he does or wear, everybody else is scarier than him.  Even his jack-o’-lantern is funny instead of scary.

But when his teacher, Mrs. Wimpydimple tells a ghost story in the dark, Splat gets so scared that he throws his jack-o’lantern up in the air and it lands straight on his head! Unable to see anything, he stumbles around and scares the entire class! Splat may be more scary than silly after all!

The illustrations in Scaredy-Cat, Splat! are adorable!  I don’t even really like cats all that much but Splat looks so soft and cuddly that I’d love to take him home with me. I particularly loved Splat’s friend Spike dressed as a mummy. Too cute. I think a couple of the pages of text at the very beginning were a bit too long as I much preferred the more brief text in later pages. But a fun story to read out loud.

A great Halloween book that kids will love.

Links of interest: More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Harper Collins, August 24, 2010.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0061177601
Source: Library copy. A 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Scaredy-Cat, Splat is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

I know I’ve been saying this a lot about the Halloween picture books that I’ve been reviewing this past week but I have another book for you that is sooooo cute and adorable that I can hardly stand it.  Have you seen Goodnight, Little Monster by Helen Ketteman and illustrated by Bonnie Leick?  It’s a new one this  year and one that you have to have!

Rhyming text describes one little monster’s going to bed rituals: bathtime and scrubbing every scale, tangling his hair, bedtime snack of worm juice and baked beetle bread, brushing his fangs, reading a book, checking under the bed for scary children, and snuggling in with a night-light (an eyeball of course).

Sweet dreams, Little Monster.
My darling, sleep tight.
With Mama nearby,
you’ll be safe through the night.

What absolutely steals the show in this book are the gorgeous illustrations. Just enough cuteness and just enough ick. Bonnie Leick certainly knows how to make me wish I could bottle up that little monster, put him in my pocket, and take him home with me.  I love the clawed monster feet on all the furniture.  Lots of bugs.  Lots of spiders.  Bats and mice as well.  Both of my kids got a great kick out of the worm juice and baked beetle bread. They love to point out the jar of eyeballs on the copyright page.

Although perfect for the Halloween season, I’d read this book all year round.  Oh man, the illustrations are just too adorable.  I can hardly stand it.

Links of interest:  Helen Ketteman website, Bonnie Leick website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books.  August 2010.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 076145683X
Source: Library copy.  A 2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Goodnight, Little Monster is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Ollie’s Halloween by Oliver Dunrea is just about the cutest Halloween picture book that I have read. Oliver Dunrea’s popular characters Gossie, Gertie, Peedie, BooBoo and Ollie all make an appearance in what can only be called an adorable tale.

Gossie is a wizard. Gertie is a chicken. Peedie is a dragon. BooBoo is a bunny.  And Ollie is a mummy. It’s Halloween night and the goslings are all on the prowl. They hoot, they howl, they creep, they scare and they stalk.  It’s Halloween night, a night to beware. But most important, it’s a night about sharing.

I love Oliver Dunrea’s books and this one also hits the mark.  Love the characters, love the illustrations, love the story.  If you have little ones in your house this Halloween, don’t miss picking up Ollie’s Halloween.  You’ll want to add it to your permanent collection.  It’s just too cute to miss.

Links of interest: Oliver Dunrea website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. September 6, 2010
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 0618532412
Source:Library.  A  2010 Cybil’s nomination for which I am a 1st round  panelist.
Ollie’s Halloween is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.