Tuesday Storytime: October Already!

The month of October is a happy time for my storytime selecting; as it becomes essentially a month-long celebration of Halloween and all things spooky. This is my partner's first October, and she's off to a great start:

Me and My Dragon: Afraid of Halloween
David Biedrzycki
ISBN: 9781580896580
The boy and his adorable bright red dragon confront the frights and startlements of Halloween, and decide it's not that bad after all.

Penguin and Pumpkin
Salina Yoon
ISBN: 9780802737335
A little longer than it seems like it should be: Penguin heads out away from the ice with a pack of friends to see what "fall" is like, but baby brother Pumpkin has to stay home, as he's not quite big enough. (Serious questions about given names in this world remain unanswered) When Penguin and crew come back with fall leaves and pumpkins for all, they do what they can to give baby Pumpkin a chance to experience fall himself.

Crankenstein
Samantha Berger, illustrated by Dan Santat
ISBN: 9780316126564
Crankenstein is a very scary monster. Have you seen it? Check around when there are annoying or disappointing situations, or when life just doesn't go quite right. Crank will vanish sometimes, but it will always be back. A funny sideways view of childhood fits and grumps works perfectly for this time of year.

Tuesday Storytime: Creativity Day

Chase's Calendar of Events is a dangerous tool, y'all.  Some day in January is "creativity day" so off we go!

The Dot

Peter H. Reynolds

ISBN: 0763619612

School-girl doesn't think she is artistic until she's encouraged, then passes the gift along.

Vashti can't draw, but at her teacher's gentle urging, she smacks an angry dot down on a page during art class. Her teacher has her sign it, and then the next day the page is framed and hanging behind the teacher's desk. Now Vashti's on her mettle; she can make a better dot than that! So she does, and learns about different artistic principles (my colleague and I discussed how every book about colors or painting feels incontrovertibly bound to have a section on blending primary colors to make secondary colors) and even art styles.  At the end, during a school art exhibit featuring her extensive works, she encounters another young boy who "can't draw." Vashti gets him to produce a signed squiggle, and the cycle begins again. A great storytime choice, but I do wish the book (or the pictures inside the book) were larger.

Duck! Rabbit! (boardbook)

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

ISBN (boardbook format): 9781452137339

Hinged on the "duck/rabbit" optical illusion, and a set of offscreen narrators.

CUTEST BOOK EVAR!  I love the arguments for the duck and rabbit, and the various pages where essentially the same picture is repeated over and over and over again with different backgrounds or verbal contexts forcing it to change what it is.  Totally went over the little kids' heads, but the adults were hooked.  A funny "twist" ending made them all crack up, and prompted a question about brachiosaurus.  Superb choice.  Nice and short and funny.  

The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend

Dan Santat

ISBN: 9780316199988

An imaginary friend gets sick of waiting to be imagined, so he sets off to find a friend.

This is the first book that has been one I would not choose myself.  See my initial impressions here if you like (I was unimpressed for various reasons) but I'll talk about it from a storytime perspective here.  Firstly, I initially thought it was too long, and I still think that.  If I had been using it, I would have placed this one first, and used The Dot as my last story. There was a lot of squirming and a lot of kids wandering off. That's something you pick up with experience tho - no way to really teach that juggle between stretching attention spans and keeping interest in the majority. That aside, the kids seemed to like the illustrations and the language was smooth and flowing. I don't know how much they understood the story, but there was a section in the middle that really dragged - the voyage and the initial foray into the city was just SLOW and ponderous. Lots of lost attention during that bit. Overall, not a bad storytime use, discounting the reservations I have about content that are mentioned in my own review.

Tuesday Storytime: Cats and Dogs

(I know, I know - but I'm caught up now!)

So hard to pick, so I included a bonus title today.  I couldn't choose until the day of, so I'm reviewing my "first runner-up" as well, because it's so cute and fun.

Dog In Charge
K. L. Going, illustrated by Dan Santat
ISBN: 9780803734791
"Good dog" has been left in charge of the 5 cats for the afternoon - will they be good?  Nope.

Our dog is very happy to be a Good Dog.  He sits, stays, and does dances for treats.  When the people leave him in charge (of the 1,2,3,4- 5!) cats, he expects them to sit and stay also.  They don't.  Dog bosses them around, gets a little frantic, attempts bribery (and fails miserably at his own willpower) and finally sags into a nap of despair.  But no worries - the kitties aren't bad, only active.  They love that dog, and they'll make sure he's still considered a Good Dog when the people get back home.


Un Gato y un Perro / A Cat and a Dog
Claire Masurel, illustrated by Bob Kolar
ISBN: 0735818355
Bilingual, with Spanish as the primary text, about two mortal enemies who learn to help each other.

A very short story, and one that made me wish I was brave enough to try Spanish, but I don't speak it, and I'm afraid that some of my families DO, and I don't wish to cause offense or embarrass myself.  Our cat and dog don't like each other one single bit, and they growl and hiss at each other, and always play alone, in their own ways, with their own toys - until the day comes when each toy is lost in just the perfect way that they need the other's help.  I like that one of them thinks to help first without having to be asked, and the other one enthusiastically returns the favor.  A bit too simplistic and over very quickly, but it all works for that short middle read,

Widget
Lyn Rossiter McFarland, illustrated by Jim McFarland
ISBN: 0374384282
Widget is a stray, so he's willing to do just about anything for a nice warm home - even become a cat.

I love Widget.  It's the perfect story of fitting in and working with people.  Widget is sick of being a stray, so when he finds Mrs Diggs and her six cats, he's pretty sure he's got it made - one small problem; "the girls" don't like dogs.  No big deal - Widget can be just as catly as any of them!  In fact, as he settles into his posh new life, Widget even occasionally forgets he IS a dog - until Mrs Diggs falls down one day and doesn't get back up.  When meowing, hissing, and caterwauling for help does nothing, Widget risks it all by barking again, and inspires the girls.  A beautiful story, and one I will always be happy to read.


Bonus Book:
Won Ton and Chopstick
Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
ISBN: 9780805099874
Won Ton's haiku book gets a sequel here, with a new puppy added to the family.

The conceit here is lovely, but the reading is a little odd with my age-group - haiku are notorious for being indirect and glancing and not-quite-exactly-to-the-point, which is lovely for reading to yourself, or with older children who are a bit experienced with metaphor and simile and conceptual thinking.  It's less fitting for toddlers, unfortunately, despite the bright colors and really adorable pictures.  Won Ton is less than pleased to have a new puppy in the house, especially when spats leave Won Ton (not the newcomer) exiled to the yard.  Still, familiarity does the trick, and harmony regains peaceful sway by the end.

New Arrivals: Bilingual Picture Book: Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos, by Susan Middleton Elya & Dan Santat

Another bilingual one, and this one's a firefighting book and I LOVE IT!

Fire! ¡Fuego! Brave Bomberos

Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Dan Santat (Beekle) 

ISBN: 9781599904610

A crew of firefighters - er - bomberos - put out a fire and save a kitty cat, in English and Spanish.

This one is less poppy than Bebe Goes Shopping or Little Roja Riding Hood, but the subject matter (and frankly, Santat's amazing scenes and facial expressions) more than covers the lack of snap.

I could tell that a few of the rhymes and constructions were a little labored, but overall the quality of the storytelling is lovely, and the words are a good mix between cognates (capitan, compadres), basic vocabulary most people pick up by casual contact (casa, hasta luego) and more peculiar or specific words that might be unfamiliar to non-speakers (afuera, humo).  Our crew of five (white, brown, black, and one woman) battles the fire valiantly, saves the kitty (there is always a kitty to be saved, I think it's an actual rule for these books) and heads back to the station for clean-up, dinner, and a final emergency at the end of the night.  Our glossary is at the end this time, and I don't know which I prefer - but I'm very glad that she always includes one.  I suppose I could guess, (and often my guesses are correct, which says more for the storytelling and careful construction of the sentences and situations than it does about me) but it is nice to have it there.  One other thing I like is that the Spanish words and phrases are always in bold, so it's obvious they're coming up, and that they're different from the primary language of the story.  That's less useful to me in a storytelling venue, but very helpful for teachers or parents beginning language studies with their kids.

New Arrival: Picture Book: The Adventures of Beekle the Unimaginary Friend, Dan Santat

The Adventures of Beekle, The Unimaginary Friend
Dan Santat
ISBN: 9780316199988
Lovely imaginative mixed-media panels, but a strange and meandering storyline.

I'm sadly really unappy about this one.  Spoilers ahoy, so I can ramble.

PLOT: An adipose-looking (ref. Doctor Who) blob person lives on the island of imaginary friends, where they hang about waiting for kids to imagine them, whereupon they are teleported off the island into the real world with their new best friend.  But no one imagines the blob, so he decides to take matters into his own hands and find his friend.  He travels to the real world (done in grey and taupe) where he's stunned by the boring and sad nature of all the grownups, until he finds a park with children, happily accompanied by their imaginary friends (the park is a lovely, but confusing, illustration - it's difficult to tell which constructs are imaginary friends and which are park play equipment) but still no friend.  He climbs a tree to see further, but still no dice, until a little girl comes by, and they sort of awkwardly ease into friendship, she names him Beekle, and they play happily together forever, the end.

Hokay.

First issue - a jungly "exotic" island of creatures who have their own lives and presumably interests and dreams, but live there just waiting for someone they don't know to essentially capture them and spirit them away to a different "civilized" world where they get assigned a name, and are stuck there as best friends forever with no escape is a little Curious George gets kidnapped by the Man in the Big Yellow Hat, yes?  Colonialism is not a cool concept to reference, and while kids are innocent and won't get it, lots of parents (especially parents of color) WILL, and that isn't a great way to start off.  It just - between the "rapture beam" illustration of the imaginary friend who was chosen, and the idea that they don't even have names until a kid names them, but they do have lives and imaginations and willpower and enough determination to take a difficult journey - but no name?  Just... really offputting.

Second issue - I am the first person to sing the praises of picture books with no drama.  Nothing happens, no conflict, everything is peaceful or fun, life is good - I love those books.  But, they have to have a structure that supports the lack of drama or conflict.  This book isn't like that.  It's a journey - an ADVENTURE!  It's in the bloody title already!  But our little blob friend just meanders through everywhere, looking vaguely nonplussed, but not afraid or menaced, or really even very sad, even though the text assures us he is.  If you're going to have an adventure, perhaps it should be adventurous?  I just can't see this holding the attention of a room full of little ones.

Third issue - it's pretty obvious that the intended "moral" of the story is that finding and making friends is sometimes a slow process, and can be awkward.  I got that, and it's a great moral, especially for shy or socially-anxious kids.  However, I think that the framework of the imaginary friend isn't so hot for this message, and in fact, I think that it's sending entirely different messages through the choices of text and illustrations.  Here's why.

First off, since the imaginary friend is our "hero character" for most of the book, that's who the readers will most likely identify with.  He wants a friend, so he looks for one, and then he does a favor for someone, they stand around awkwardly, sort of toe-into the idea of hanging out, then what do they do?  She NAMES him, and they proceed to do everything that she wants to do, in her world, by her rules.  Now our moral message is "find someone that you like, and make them like you by doing everything they ask" which is a great way to keep that book about co-dependency on the re-print list for decades to come.

Secondly, an imaginary friend by nature only has ONE human person that sees them, knows them, and is friends with them.  So not only is our protagonist blob-person stuck with the herculean task of finding the ONE SINGLE RIGHT person, then once found, that's the only friend there is.  And that isn't how it works with kids, nor is that a healthy concept.  Again, the implied message there is that "there's only one bestfriend/soulmate for you, and once you find them, everything will be perfect forever" which is wrong on so many levels that I really don't know where to start.


So - sadly, because it's awfully cute, and I'm especially vulnerable to adorable little almost adiposes - I have to vote to give this one a miss because it just twigs too many weird uncomfortable issues for me to be able to recommend.