Lanna Michaels (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lannamichaels) wrote2025-01-04 10:14 pm
lannamichaels) wrote2025-01-04 10:14 pm
Entry tags:
Children's Books
Picture Book recommendations:
- 100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli by David LaRochelle (2023): An unexpected success of a book. 100 dragons named Broccoli are reduced down to 1 dragon named Broccoli by virtue of some dragons going off to start a rock band or join the Green Bay Packers, etc. In the spring, the remaining Broccoli comes out of her cave, followed by 100 baby dragons not all named Broccoli, so you get to gallop through 99 names, ending with... Broccoli Junior!
Really just a delightful subtraction book that I did not actually know was a Learn About Numbers book when I got it out based entirely on the title. - P Is for Pterodactyl by Raj Haldar (2018): Not a new one for me, but always a delight, and I don't think I mentioned it before. Perfect for kids starting at the age of sounding out how words are spelled, and continuing on through fluent readers. The first time I picked it up, I wowed a kid by reading it without hesitation.
- The Serious Goose by Jimmy Kimmel (2019): I am skeptical of celeb authors, but this one is actually good. There is a very serious goose that will not smile! Oh, no, the kid made the goose smile.
Midgrade book log:
- Mendel the Mess-up by Terry LaBan (2024): Shtetl fantasy graphic novel about 12 year old Mendel, who is the world's worst klutz. Everything he tries to do backfires. This is blamed on him being cursed by the evil eye in utero by a woman whose son Yossel was stolen from her by Cossacks when he was two. Mendel cannot do anything right, no matter what he tries.
But then Cossacks attack the shtetl and Mendel realizes he can use his curse to benefit his shtetl by doing everything he can to help the Cossacks, specifically Pivik The Cossack, who turns out to be the stolen Jewish child, and is reunited with his mother. Yossel doesn't believe her until she feeds him his favorite mushroom barley soup. Happy ending for everyone! Including Mendel, who has not only broken the evil eye curse on him by returning Pivik/Yossel to his mother, but who also now realizes that that curse was confirmation bias and him psyching himself out, for the most part.
A cute, quick read despite dealing with some heavy subject matter. Recommended.
Also, this is somehow both a book with essentially no Yiddish or Hebrew and is completely readable to non-Jews, and ALSO something that Olameinu would have published with only very very very very slight edits. I'm amazed. Like, Mendel is saved in part by the power of learning Bava Metzia. - My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian, illustrated by Jake Tashjian (2010): 12 year old Derek is a "reluctant reader", who enjoys reading comic books, drawing, and being an absolute terror to everyone around him. Did not finish at page 62. I was asked to read this to assess it as a potential birthday present. What I liked: simple, mostly clear, illustrations in the margins of assumed-difficult vocabulary words. What I didn't like: everything else. My assessment was either the birthday boy will appreciate Derek's antics, or, more likely, it will remind him of his older brother. (In his older brother's defense, he has never tried to set their lawn on fire or freed a monkey from a cage). Also this recipient is not a reluctant reader, and graphic novels help him understand words and concepts, which is a good thing.
- The 13-story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton (2023 reprint): The author and illustrator are tween boys living in the titular treehouse, and they have a book due to their publisher by tomorrow. This was much better, I can see it appealing to multiple potential audiences. I found it full of filler, as if they had an idea that would fit 5 pages and then had to pad it out. But the target audience would appreciate the antics and the humor and probably even all the fillter.
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