Inside Jacket

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.

Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler is the biography of Wangari Maathai who won the Novel Peace Prize in 2004 for her environmental activism which included founding The Green Belt Movement which teaches people to take care of the environment by planting trees, recycling, and seeking alternative energy sources.  She was the first African woman and environmentalist to receive the award.

Her mother had taught her to revere and love the trees of Kenya.  When few girls went to school, Wangari’s parents managed to send her where she excelled in science.  She won a scholarship to attend college in Kansas where she learned that a woman could do anything she wanted to.  She found her strength as a woman scientist. America had changed her.

When returning to her homeland she accepted a teaching job at the University of Nairobi in a profession were there were very few woman teachers and even less female scientists.  But she also witnessed a change happening in Kenya.  Trees and the land were being destroyed and so much that the people depended on was lost. Wangari had an idea that started as small as a seedling but that would effect  much change in the environment of her country and that was to plant trees.  “We might not change the big world but we change the landscape of the forest,” she said.

Seeds of Change is Wangari Maathai’s inspirational story.  It is a story of planting more than thirty million trees in Kenya.  It is also a story of overcoming and persvering through those who work against you.  It is a story of woman’s rights.  It is a story of giving back to the Earth when we take too much from it.

To quote the book, “She understood that persistence, patience, and commitment – to an idea as small as a seed but as tall as a tree that reaches for the sky – must be planted in every child’s heart. ‘Young people you are our hope and our future,’ she said.”

An excellent portrayal of  Wangari Maathai.  And a great reminder that even as an adult, I learn so much from picture books.


Links of interest: Jen Cullerton Johnson website, Sonia Lynn Sadler website, The Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai biography on Nobel Prize site.
Genre: Non-fiction picture book. Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Lee and Low Books.  June 30, 2010.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 160060367X
Copy source: Review copy sent from publisher.
Seeds of Change is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 201. 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.

I am going to tell you a secret.  I have checked out The Potty Train by David Hochman and Ruth Kennison and illustrated by Derek Anderson from the library SO many times that it is really ridiculous that I haven’t bought it yet.  I am most ashamed of this because if I have checked out the book no less than half a dozen times (renewing three times for three weeks each – meaning I’ve had the book in my home at least for 54 weeks off and on) then the least I can do is to actually buy this this book thus supporting the authors and illustrator.  So by putting this shameful secret on the internet I will remedy the error of my ways and make the book a permanent book in my collection.

We started reading The Potty Train when I was potty training my oldest who has since mastered it some time ago.  And sadly, I do have to say that no matter how many times we read The Potty Train much to the enjoyment of my three-year-old we have come to a standstill with the potty training.  I’m hoping that you will have better luck than me.

That said, we LOVE The Potty Train! I mean come on, any book that says “Chugga chugga pooo-poooooo!” not only on the cover but also in the story is going to be a huge hit.  My boys love trains so this is perfect for them.  The illustrations are ADORABLE! And we love how learning how to go potty is just like taking a train ride – sometimes you get off track, you might get wet, sometimes you have to wait at crossings but one day you’ll even be able to ride through the night.

Highly recommended for the potty training toddler in your life.  Sadly, I think mine just might enjoy the book more than actual potty training.  We’ve already read it twice today.  I do wish potty training books would come with a 100% guarantee to actually potty train your child. I can dream right?


Links of interest: David Hochman website, Derek Anderson website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction picture book. Approx ages baby to preschool.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. January 8, 2008
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 1416928332
Copy source: library.
The Potty Train 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.

Ninja’s, cowboy’s and bears.  What more could two little boys want?  I mean really.  That’s all you have to say.

Ninja’s.

Cowboy’s.

Bears.

That’s it.  End of story.  End of review.

(Wait.  Really?  End of review?  Let’s at least squeeze the name of this adorable picture book in here somewhere: The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins and Hilary Leung.  Did I say adorable?  Take that back. Really adorable.)

Now it’s the end of review.

Links of interest:  Hilary Leung blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher:  Kids Can Press.  September 1, 2009.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 1554534860
Copy source:  Review copy for 2009 Cybil’s nomination consideration for which I was a panelist.
The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear 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.

Now I’ll easily admit that Long Shot by Mike Lupica is not my usual fare in reading material.  But when I was offered it for review, I accepted for a couple of reasons.  I have two boys myself who one day are going to grow up and start reading on their own.  I was merely curious to find out what the heck the prolific Mike Lupica was about and what type of sports fiction boys are reading right now.

Long Shot summary from Mike Lupica’s website:

Pedro Morales has always been content helping others look great. The epitome of a point guard, he plays the game to set up his teammates—Ned, in particular, the star forward on the receiving end of Pedro’s pinpoint passes. Pedro wants to make his father proud, and so he runs for class president. Yet doing so means going one-on-one against Ned, easily the most popular boy in school. And Pedro learns the hard way that being a good teammate doesn’t mean that others will return the favor. Now Pedro wants to win more than ever—but this time, it’s for himself.

Reading this as a mother and a thirty-something old woman, I could tolerate it.  It was okay, but I wasn’t loving it at all.  But that’s not a very fair assessment is it?  After all, I’m not the target audience here.  Mike Lupica’s books are meant for preteen boys who love sports.

I guess they’d like it just fine.  But if this is as good as it gets, I hope that something better in regards to sports fiction will come along by the time my boys are reading independently. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, the book wasn’t completely awful but it did feel as though it was hitting me over the head with it’s message.

I guess I was hoping that the book would give us something different than expected.  But instead, it’s exactly what you would expect: a story all about teamwork, which in sports fiction, I can only imagine is a recurring theme. A good thing?  If that’s what you’re looking for than that’s definitely good.  But if you’re hoping for something a little unexpected and different, than nope, not the book for you.

If you have a sports loving preteen boy in your house, and perhaps a reluctant reader at that, than I wouldn’t hesitate to see how they respond to Mike Lupica’s books.

Links of interest:  Mike Lupica website.
Genre:  Juvenile Sport Fiction, ages 9-12.
Publisher:  Philomel.  October 2, 2008.
Hardcover, 192 pages.  ISBN:  0399247173
Long Shot 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.