Hermie and Friends: Buzby and the Grumble Bees-A Review....or.... The thing that kept my daughter from going to bed tonight

Article by Scott Tingley, January 28, 2008

It has been a common theme on this blog for me to use some cute little story involving my three year old daughter. It is a hook that comes in handy for these kinds of reviews and I think it ads a nice touch. That was then. Now all that I can think about is the hour I just spent sitting on my daughter’s bedroom floor trying to convince her that she, in fact, did not need to “read” me the book again after I had just read it three times; and NO, she did not have to call her Grammy to thank her for the book again [Note to self: all new books are to be given in the morning so that the girl has time to get used to it. No new books at supper time!]

In summary, I would like to thank Superstar Christian grown-up book writer Max Lucado for keeping me from getting to my marking and planning. Thanks a lot for a series of books that keeps my daughter interested and excited about reading. Thanks a lot!

Review redo:

Remember those episodes of The Cosby Show where the whole family goes into “Lesson Teaching Mode”? You remember the ones – when someone needs to be reminded about what kind of person they really are so the rest of the family play-acts to draw attention to a certain quality a family member is forgetting they have? Great stuff.

Now picture that instead of comic genius Bill Cosby and an ensemble cast of talented actors you have the talents of comic geniuses Tim Conway and Don Knotts (together again!) providing the voices for a couple of odd looking caterpillars (now picture that you can’t actually hear them because this is a book. Remember? They do the voices for the videos, but I’ll get to that). In my daughter’s favorite new obsession – I mean book - the two friends help Buzby Bee teach his niece and nephew about manners.

Hermie and Friends: Buzby and the Grumble Bees is a lot like all of the other Hermie books and videos I have come across in the last couple of years. It has a very clear lesson that gets taught in a not very subtle way. The first time I saw one of the books I thought that there was no way it was going to be any good – just a money grab by a company that thinks they know what parents want their kids to read. Then I watched one of the videos and realized to my joy that one of my favorite comedy teams was providing the voices. That allowed me to have an open mind and I realized that I was looking at the series all wrong. I was not doing what I am able to do with most books. I was not able to keep in mind that these books and videos are not written for me. They are written for 2 year olds up to maybe 4-5 year olds [note that the videos are fun for older kids as well and the Christmas Fruitcake one has a great Deputy/Landlord joke). My daughter does not need subtlety in her morality plays. The value needs to be presented and the misbehavers need to learn the lesson. The behaving lesson of this book is the only reason that I was able to convince her to go to bed.

This is a Christian book, but I don’t think it is only for devout, or even practicing church goers. The uncle bee prays for help on one page. It is right there but to me it does not feel in-you-face. If you don’t have a problem with someone praying then you should be alright with it.

The 3D art is not a style I tend to enjoy, but kids love it, so what do I know?

Would I be a bad father if I hid this book tomorrow? Never mind. I know.

By the way, this board book comes with “an interactive CD-ROM with read-along story, song,coloring pages, computer game, wallpaper, and screensaver for use onWindows® PCs. The read-along story is also playable on a CD player.” (from hermieandfriends.com) I haven’t checked it out yet, but it sounds like something my kids will really enjoy.
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Be sure to visit us at comicsintheclassroom.net for your all ages comic book needs.

Ma! There's Nothing To Do: a Review.....or...."Mommy. What's That?"

Article by Scott Tingley, January 20, 2008

Quote #1
My ambition is to interview Neil Armstrong without mentioning the moon landing and observe his reaction. - Ardal O’Hanlon

Quote #2
Every mother would love to get this book at her baby shower. – Comics in the Classroom Kid’s Book Blog contributor Nancy T.

Quote #3:
I wouldn’t read it to a three year old unless you want some questions – like about the chord. – Comics in the Classroom Kid’s Book Blog contributor Nancy T.

COMMENT:

Quote #1: You will either get it or you won’t (and I really don't mean for it to sound like an in-joke, because it isn't really)

Quote #2: I might as well stop there, because it can’t get any better than that.

Quote #3: Yikes!

“Ma! there’s nothing to do here!” complains the precocious protagonist of this rhyming tale set entirely in utero. It’s not exactly a scintillating experience spending nine months in your mother’s womb. You’re just stuck there at the end of that dumb bungee cord (a.k.a. the umbilical cord), with nothing whatsoever to do but slosh around. But, oh, the endless joys you have to look forward to as you listen to the tick-tock of ma’s happy heart clock and await that happy day when you finally come out to play. (from RandomHouse.com)

Yes, this is a book about a yet to be born baby stuck hanging a round a boring womb. It is not hard to understand the sentiments of my wife in that this is a book any mother would love to have right before the little bundle of joy is born. What expectant parents wouldn’t chuckle at the sight of a baby canoeing around the uterus, or attempting to play tag alone in such a confined space?

But the big question is: Will kids like it?

Well, I know that my daughter liked it. She is three and even though she watched her mother’s belly get bigger and bigger for nine months; and even though she can tell you that her baby brother came out of that tummy, she doesn’t get it. Of course she doesn’t. She’s three! But she knows what she likes, and she thought Ma! There’s Nothing To Do Here! was hilarious. BUT, please refer back to quote #3.

Also, this would be a fine book read to grades five or six, whichever grade is about to begin sex-ed (I know! Can you believe it? And not a moment too soon for some). Sort of deals with the whole baby issue in a silly, fun and real way.

Veteran children’s writer Barbra Park and illustrator Viviana Garofoli have done a very nice job on a special book that will likely be around for a long time and be given to new mothers as a companion to Munsch’s Love You Forever.

This will be available on January 22, 2008 - get it for the expectant moms and the confused preschoolers in your life.

Written by Barbara Park
Illustrated by Viviana Garofoli

• 40 pages
• On Sale: January 22, 2008
• Price: $18.99 (hardcover)
• ISBN: 978-0-375-93852-8 (0-375-93852-4)

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Be sure to visit us at comicsintheclassroom.net for your all ages comic book needs.

Princess Baby: 30 Reads and Counting

Article by Scott Tingley, January 09, 2008

My daughter is clumsy. I was going to name the article that, but my wife wouldn’t let me. However, the fact remains that my daughter is clumsy – she is a lot like her dear old dad that way. Fortunately I got the new children’s book Princess Baby on Friday, because on Sunday my daughter fell down pretty hard. The only thing that would get her to stop crying was to show her the book for the first time and twenty minutes and five readings later she had stopped crying, but I was not allowed up. We had to read it again.

“Poor baby, no one calls her by her real name! “I am not a buttercup, or a giggly goose. I am not a cupcake. Please don’t call me Little Lamb, and never ever Gum Drop,” she insists. With a curtsy and a twirl, again and again our protagonist makes it abundantly clear who she is.” (from Randomhouse.com)

My wife and I have read this book at least thirty times this week so far (It’s only Wednesday!). I was thinking of calling this review “Don’t Buy This Book If You Know What’s Good For You” but I thought that might be misleading to you an therefore a little annoying to author / writer Karen Katz. My three year old daughter loves this book so much – we actually have to keep it out of sight so we can get something done around the house without her demanding to have it read once again. If you as a parent have to read a book over and over again, at least you hope that it is a well crafted and clever book. As I said in an earlier review on this blog, “there are only so many times a man can read Care Bears What Makes You Happy? before contemplating the positive merits of book burning.”

Princess Baby is one of those well crafted ones that you won’t mind reading over and over and over and over. Or, at least won’t mind so much.

The book’s topic is relevant to little girls, the art is appealing and the pacing is perfect. I highly recommend this book. And Mariah gives this one 544 out of 544 “read it again”s
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Be sure to visit us at comicsintheclassroom.net for your all ages comic book needs.

Back Off - Leave Me Alone: A GRUMPY BIRD Review

Article by Scott Tingley, December 03, 2007

Holy cow I’m in a bad mood. And the only cure is cute, colourful animals.

That’s what I said.

Cute colourful animals.

A few months ago, I had the good fortune to be able to observe artist Jeremy Tankard give a comic creating workshop to a group of middle and high school students during the Fry [Literature] Festival. The hour or two he did with Jimmy Beaulieu (a better site, but in French) was a pretty big influence on how I have conducted my comic creating workshops ever since.

But the only thing that has to do with what I am talking about here is the part where I was introduced to Mr. Tankard’s children’s book, Grumpy Bird.

Bird wakes up feeling grumpy. Too grumpy to eat or play -- too grumpy even to fly. “Looks like I'm walking today,” says Bird. He walks past Sheep, who offers to keep him company. He walks past Rabbit, who also could use a walk. Raccoon, Beaver, and Fox join in, too.

Before he knows it, a little exercise and companionship help Bird shake his bad mood. From jeremytankard.com

This is everything I look for in a kid’s storybook. It’s got: goofy, wildly colourful art; a funny cast of characters (Canadian Tankard included a beaver! Yay Canada!); and a grumpy protagonist looking like a dork (my life J ).

Alright! I can’t take it any more! I am a complete sell out! After Tankard’s workshop I hung around and had him draw a sketch for both my class and for me (I have one in my class and one hanging behind me as I type right now). My only regret is that I didn’t have him draw me a sketch of the little girl superhero he has on his business cards for my daughter. I’m such a sell out. Sigh.

I don’t care.

I like my sketches, and I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I didn’t like what I saw….So there.

I like Grumpy Bird. You might too. You can find it in Canada’s November PreK-K (which you can still order from) Scholastic order form for 5$ each. A good deal for a book you can get a lot of mileage out of in an early years guidance/health class (Grumpy behaviour and how to beat it. The lesson practically writes itself).

Even if you are not a sell out like me, you will probably enjoy Grumpy Bird. I promise nothing though. So back off chump……See what I did there? I ended on a grumpy note. I’m clever like that.

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Be sure to visit us at comicsintheclassroom.net for your all ages comic book needs.

Big and Little - or - Mariah Won't Give Me Back My Book!

Article by Scott Tingley, November 01, 2007

Blame Mariah. I might be telling you a whole bunch of positive (or negative, I suppose) things about a new book I just got in the mail, but as soon as I opened it my almost three year old daughter took it from me and she won’t give it back. “I’m reading my book, Daddy,” she says. Sheesh.

If things had gone differently I might be using this space right now to tell you that Big and Little by John Stadler is a really great book for preschoolers. I might be telling you that the pages are made of high quality cardstock that will likely hold up to repeated readings by kids with sticky hands. I might be telling you that the illustrations are simple, cute and vibrantly colored. I might be telling you that Ellie the Elephant and the Ringmaster mouse pull a really fun bait-and-switch that might even surprise YOU. But NO. Mariah won’t give me my book back!

Okay, I obviously got the book back, but not until she went to bed. It is a nice looking, compact book with an attractive cover, all of which, apparently, are appealing to almost three year olds.

Mariah was too busy reading the book herself, so I don’t know how many times I will have to read it too her, but I predict 5 times tomorrow.

Juvenile Fiction; 32 pages; August 28, 2007; $9.99us; ISBN: 978-0-375-84175-0 (0-375-84175-X)

The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! : A Review That Rambles On For A While And Then Finally Gets Down To It For A Paragraph Or Two

Article by Scott and Nancy Tingley, October 12, 2007

I wonder if he would sign it for me. I wonder if he would actually sign it for me. He’s rushing for a plane and I pull out a copy of The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! He stops in his tracks – the shock of someone having his new children’s book in his hand in an airport being too odd to pass without acknowledging - and signs my book “To my new best friend, the guy in the airport. Love Steve Martin”

Sigh..

Sorry – I went somewhere for a second. Confirming that he is one of the coolest celebrities on the planet, I once heard that when rushed he won’t sign autographs, but he will give you a personalized business card that says: “'This certifies that you've had a personal encounter with me and that you found me warm, polite and colorful.”

I want to ambush him. At an airport. Book in hand. Maybe not.

Odd wandering thought #2. I should have written this whole review in alliteration. Whenever a Superman comic featuring Bizarro gets reviewed there very often is a section of the piece dedicated to talking in Bizarro speak: (taken from Wikipedia) "Me am going to kill you" would mean "I will save you" in Bizarro speech, etc…..

What?

We are about 200 words into a review of The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! and I haven’t actually done any reviewing yet. Better get to it.

The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! is a new children’s book by superstar Steve Martin (Did you know he has Grammy’s for his banjo playing?) and longtime New Yorker artist Roz Chast. I am always dubious when I come across a storybook written by a celebrity, but I really like Martin’s work and I knew that he had written a number of books and screenplays so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Aren’t I wonderful?

This clever alphabet book is written using alliteration and an art style that I am not sure will appeal to younger readers, but will to an older crowd – grade 5 or so and up. I’m not sure if that is where the creators were going with this, but I think it is a good idea. Not everyone in upper elementary school is a good reader, and not everyone wants to be caught reading Dr. Seuss’ ABC. The difficult word choices, style of art and subject matter make this well suited for an upper elementary lesson on alliteration, or as an ESL reading selection.

You can see a few pages by downloading this PDF from Doubleday.

That said, I know I had to read it twice as soon as my 3 year old daughter saw it in the mail. So what do I know? I’ll let you knbow what my grade 3 students think when I bring it in for them. I won’t use them for my reviews directly, but I would be interested in what they think of it – and maybe so would you.

Look for the “wrapping paper” in the inside covers for the letters that didn’t actually make the cut (like the umlaut). I could use another book to just tell me what they are.

Funny thing. I jumbled the letters to alphabet earlier and came up with analphabet. I noticed that the computer thought it was a correctly spelled word, so I looked it up. Apparently, analphabet mean: an illiterate person who does not know the alphabet.

Ha.

The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z!

Written by Steve Martin and Roz Chast
Juvenile Fiction | Flying Dolphin Press | Hardcover | October 2007 | $17.95 | 978-0-385-51662-4 (0-385-51662-2)

Squirrelly Gray and the Awesome Dust Jacket

Article by Scott Tingley, September 29, 2007

Now THAT is a NICE quality dust jacket.

You don't see many reviews that start by talking about the quality of paper used for a book's dust jacket. You certainly don't see it in reviews for books that are any good. Sure, you might see it in a piece where the reviewer has been told write up a book that really stinks and is looking for something good to say (By the way, when opening an awful gift in front of the giver, the correct and foolproof response is for you to enthusiastically say: “Would you look at that! Would you just look at that! Wow. Just look at that.” You will thank me this holiday season).

This is not such a book. This book is as cool as monkeys fighting robots.

.....

The creator of the book, James Kochalka, is an indy comic creator famous for comics like Peanutbutter & Jeremy and…..Monkey vs Robot! As wild and fun as his books are, some are for a youngish audience and others are so far from being for kids it's unreal (I am speaking of his superhero comic – funny, but woah!). I was really pleased to see that he had done a book specifically for kids. I was even more pleased when the book turned out to be good…….and what a dust jacket.

With a dust jacket like that Kochalka could have phoned it in, but no, he went and made something kids would like. The book follows a pattern of rhyming text on the left and a comic page on the right. This allows him to go with his strengths as a comic storyteller, but also to play with language in the longer poetry/text pieces. This is my first exposure to that side of the creator and he does a fine job. The poetry is light, but there seems to be a bit of the edge that is found in the best works for children. The comic pages can be read independently of the text and vice versa – but together the book is a lot more fun.

So, what happens? Well, Suirrelly Gray wiggles away his front teeth, prompting the tooth fairy to come. She gets caught in a spider's web. Gray saves her. There is a magic acorn involved and the thing that helped him get the nut causes him problems with the nut – so, enter a hungry fox! Actually, it all turns out to be a legend. A legend telling the tale of what I will leave for you to discover.

Squirrelly Gray is a must read, must share. It is funny and wacky in the tradition of Jon Scieszka , but completely Kolchalka. Even with a quality dust jacket like that he pulled out all the stops.

This got an immediate two “Read it”s from daughter Mariah. Not bad for a book that just entered my home this afternoon.

Random House Books for Young Readers
Hardcover · Ages 2-7 · August 28, 2007 · $12.99
978-0-375-83975-7 (0-375-83975-5)