Inside Jacket

My two boys LOVE worms.  I have a huge rule in my house which they know well:  no worms in the house!  We have an insane amount of worms in our backyard (which for this gardener is a good thing) and they love to go out with a shovel in hand to find them.  My oldest has come to me before with no less than twenty worms all writhing in his two little hands.  I won’t lie.  That sight does make me want to puke a little.  I won’t touch them.  Anyways, they enjoy non-fiction books about worms from the library and I’ve listened (book on CD) to Diary of A Worm by Doreen Cronin in the car I don’t know how many times.

So it was pretty much a no-brainer that my kids would like the picture book  Ned’s New Home by Kevin Tseng.  In this book, Ned, the worm, lives inside a wonderful red apple.  He loved to bake apple pies.  But when the apple began to rot Ned knew that he would have to find a new home.  He tests out various other homes including a pear, watermelon, blueberries, lemon, kiwi, and a bowl of cherries.  None of them were perfect like his apple used to be.  One day he finds himself being lifted into the sky by a big hungry bird.  He manages to escape and lands in a tree full of big, beautiful . . . apples.

A happy ending for this cute little worm and a book which will make children happy as well.  And if only real worms were as cute as Ned.  If they were, he could move into my house.  But as it is, my rule stays.  No worms in my home.

Links of interest:  Kevin Tseng website,  more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book
Publisher: Tricycle Press. August 11, 2009
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 1582462976
Copy source: Review copy for 2009 Cybil’s nomination consideration  for which I was a panelist.
Ned’s New Home 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.

If you are a parent of young children and don’t currently have a goldfish in your house then I would not recommend My Goldfish by Barroux.  After you read this book together they will beg you for a goldfish of their very own.  Every time you go to the store, they will beg you to go to the fish display. They will be very upset when you just look at the fish as opposed to immediately summing a clerk over right away to pick out which fish you will naturally take home.

But if you have a fish at home and perhaps are looking for a way to get rid of that fish, oddly enough My Goldfish will help you in that area as well.  This book just happens to end with the very old goldfish jumping out the bowl and leaving.  Where too?  To swim with the great white fish of course (perhaps they’re white because it’s fish heaven).

I love the big thick lines and bold color in the illustrations for My Goldfish.  The fish bowl is front and center in each picture.  And the fish is quite talented as it’s  proud owner would love to tell you.  He’s strong.  He loves to dress up for Halloween (my boys favorite picture spread), he loves to sing, he even goes on vacation and comes back sunburned.  Some days he lives like a pig and must have his bowl changed everyday, other days he acts like he might be in love.

A fun look at pet ownership although I suspect that reading this book would actually be more entertainment than watching a goldfish.  So for now (and hopefully forever) you will find no fish at our house.

Links of interest:  More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Picture Book,, Fiction.  Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. January 20, 2009
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 080285334X
Copy source: Review copy for 2009 Cybils picture book nomination for which I was a panelist.
My Goldfish 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.

Kenya is the beautiful location for a great migration of animals coming in from neighboring Tanzania.  Each animal including the zebra, which comes first, the wildebeest, and the gazelle’s take just what they need from the land.  By sharing the land there will be plenty for all and peace among the grazers.  It is this analogy which is the basis of the story in the picture book First Come the Zebra by Lynne Barasch.

Early one morning Abaani, a young Maasai boy wakes up early, as he does each day, to take his cattle out to graze for the day.  He discovers along the road a new vendor stall tended by a Kikuyu boy.  Knowing that the Kikuyu have begun to farm on the grasslands needed for the Maasai’s cattle, he begins to hurl insults at the boy.  Haki, the Kikuyu boy, indignantly returns the insults.

But when a nearby baby wanders to close to three warthogs in the area, both boys act quickly and together to safely return the child to his mother.  Each begin to think that the other boy must be all right but yet they each go home and say nothing.  Each day Abaani continues to herd his cattle and pass Haki’s stall.  Each are reluctant to speak with each other.  Finally, they both overcome their apprehension and begin to play mancala together each day.  They even realize that they could benefit from trading Haki’s fruit and vegetables for Abaani’s milk.

Just as the zebra, the wildebeest and the gazeel share the grasslands, the boys hope that the Maasai and the Kikuyu will also find their own peaceful way to share the land.

A very touching book about overcoming prejudices, forging friendships and looking beyond conflict towards the hope of a peaceful coexistence.

At the back of the book are some excellent resources including an authors’s note about the people of Kenya, how to play the game mancala, a map of the area and where Kenya is located in Africa.  There is also a pronunciation guide and glossary for the words that children would be unfamiliar with in the story including the tribe names, sayings, animals such as gazelle, warthog, and wildebeest.  It is always attention to these kinds of details and resources that takes a picture book to the next level for me.

Links of interest:  Lynn Barasch website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Lee & Low Books, July 1, 2009.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 1600603653
Source: Review copy for a 2009 Cybil’s nomination for which I was a panelist.
First Come The Zebra 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.

The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Reneta Liwska is a beautiful book.  I had to stop myself from typing out instead – a beautiful, quiet book.  But The Quiet Book is just that.  Quiet.  A book meant to be read in hushed whispers and soft voices. The perfect book to read to small ones in bed too, that’s right, quietly usher them to sleep.

There are many different kinds of quiet that one will experience throughout the day.  A few of those are first awake quiet, others telling secrets quiet, color in the lines quiet, hide-and-seek quiet, sleeping sister quiet, car ride at night quiet, bedtime kiss quiet, and also sound asleep quiet.

The simple text is multi-layered.   “Thinking of a good reason you were drawing on the wall quiet” will surely have children reflecting on their own experiences.

The illustrations by Reneta Liwska are soft.  Gorgeous.  The many different type of quiet are portrayed by different forest animals – bear, rabbit, moose, mouse, porcupine, owl to name a few. When one thinks of how many different ways an illustrator can take the text of a book and choose to interpret it, The Quiet Book feels as though the text and illustration were made for each other.  It simply wouldn’t work any other way.  It’s perfectly done.

The Quiet Book is one of those books that when you have it in your hands and even before opening that first page, you know it’s special.  It feels special.  I love books like that.


Links of interest: Deborah Underwood website, Reneta Liwska blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction picture book. Approx ages 4-8.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.  April 12, 2010.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 0547215673
Source: Review copy sent from the author.
The Quiet Book is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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.