I didn't give the program again today (I hate missing so many of these this summer!) but we had a repeat of Mustache! and then two more, and made silly mustaches!
Mustache!
Reviewed this morning.
School for Bandits
Hannah Shaw
ISBN: 9780375967689
Ralph Raccoon is not very good at being bad, but he finds success in his own way.
Ralph was a nice raccoon: he had manners, brushed his teeth, and generally was good. His parents sent him off to the School for Bandits to learn how to be bad, but he failed all his classes. His only hope is to get a giant bag of loot for the end-of-year Bandit Contest, but how is he going to manage that with no badness at all? Clever lesson, and cute enough to be funny.
Mustache Baby
Bridget Heos, illustrated by Joy Ang
ISBN: 9780547773575
Baby born with mustache becomes whatever stereotype matches his mustache shape.
Billy was born with a mustache, but that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that he took on the qualities of the mustache as it grew and changed, becoming everything from a cowboy to a spanish painter to a sword-fighter to a policeman. Until... the mustache became a Bad Guy Mustache. Billy starts down a bad path that very day, and ends up in jail (his crib). Second chances are for everyone, and he finally gets released, just in time for a playdate with another baby; this one with a hipster mountain-man beard!
Showing posts with label Mac Barnett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mac Barnett. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Tuesday Storytime, Summer Reading: Villains
Three more really good ones today for our younger kids.
Mustache!
Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell
ISBN: 9781423116714
"Medieval" style meets caricature art.
A vain king doesn't do anything for his subjects other than inflict them with representational art of himself. The populace begs for basic support (roads and playgrounds) but only get a giant tapestry of the king's face. Which gets vandalized with a mustache. So the king posts reward posters (also with his face, because of course he does) all over the countryside, which ALSO get mustached. He keeps thinking that it's a single vandal, but it's actually everyone in the entire country. So he puts them all in a new jail he's built, with new roads and playgrounds, and big high safe walls, and is really shocked to hear them enjoying themselves in jail, while he's all alone in his castle. Cute pictures and fun wordplay keep the littles entertained, while the big people can enjoy the political and social critiques.
The Boss Baby
Marla Frazee
ISBN: 9781442401679
Delightful pop-deco 50s-era illustrations with plenty of expression, especially by the tiny tyrant.
A fun sly interpretation of the realities of a new baby has the infant as the driven and incomprehensible boss of a modern company, driving his staff to distraction with endless demands, meetings full of gibberish, working all-nighters. The flip side hits on the perks of infancy, comparing them to the insane bonuses and material benefits of being a CEO: lounges, spas, handmade artisan drinks, a private jet (the bouncy seat!). At the end, the overworked staff (parents) are exhausted and unresponsive, so our devious boss baby tries a new tactic: "Mama? Dada?" pour encourager les autres.
Big Bad Bunny
Franny Billingsley, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
ISBN: 9781416906018
Split-narrative of a sweet mama mouse and a terrifying sharp-toothed bad bunny.
We start our tale with the Big Bad Bunny, crashing through the woods with sharp claws and yellow teeth and a scary growl (compared to ever-increasing numbers of "hungry hyenas" each time), but quickly switch back to a much more pastoral tale of Mama Mouse kissing her babies goodnight. When she gets to the end of the row of beds, she discovers that Baby Boo-Boo is missing! Now Mama Mouse is off in the same woods as the Big Bad Bunny! Whatever will happen to her? On the other side of the narrative, our Big Bad Bunny is not happy to hear someone calling out the name "Baby" at her, but she's also a bit scared of the giant hill she's found. She is now a lost Big Bad Bunny, and Mama Mouse is kind and tactful about her offspring's acquired fierce identity, even when scared and sniffling.
Mustache!
Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell
ISBN: 9781423116714
"Medieval" style meets caricature art.
A vain king doesn't do anything for his subjects other than inflict them with representational art of himself. The populace begs for basic support (roads and playgrounds) but only get a giant tapestry of the king's face. Which gets vandalized with a mustache. So the king posts reward posters (also with his face, because of course he does) all over the countryside, which ALSO get mustached. He keeps thinking that it's a single vandal, but it's actually everyone in the entire country. So he puts them all in a new jail he's built, with new roads and playgrounds, and big high safe walls, and is really shocked to hear them enjoying themselves in jail, while he's all alone in his castle. Cute pictures and fun wordplay keep the littles entertained, while the big people can enjoy the political and social critiques.
The Boss Baby
Marla Frazee
ISBN: 9781442401679
Delightful pop-deco 50s-era illustrations with plenty of expression, especially by the tiny tyrant.
A fun sly interpretation of the realities of a new baby has the infant as the driven and incomprehensible boss of a modern company, driving his staff to distraction with endless demands, meetings full of gibberish, working all-nighters. The flip side hits on the perks of infancy, comparing them to the insane bonuses and material benefits of being a CEO: lounges, spas, handmade artisan drinks, a private jet (the bouncy seat!). At the end, the overworked staff (parents) are exhausted and unresponsive, so our devious boss baby tries a new tactic: "Mama? Dada?" pour encourager les autres.
Big Bad Bunny
Franny Billingsley, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
ISBN: 9781416906018
Split-narrative of a sweet mama mouse and a terrifying sharp-toothed bad bunny.
We start our tale with the Big Bad Bunny, crashing through the woods with sharp claws and yellow teeth and a scary growl (compared to ever-increasing numbers of "hungry hyenas" each time), but quickly switch back to a much more pastoral tale of Mama Mouse kissing her babies goodnight. When she gets to the end of the row of beds, she discovers that Baby Boo-Boo is missing! Now Mama Mouse is off in the same woods as the Big Bad Bunny! Whatever will happen to her? On the other side of the narrative, our Big Bad Bunny is not happy to hear someone calling out the name "Baby" at her, but she's also a bit scared of the giant hill she's found. She is now a lost Big Bad Bunny, and Mama Mouse is kind and tactful about her offspring's acquired fierce identity, even when scared and sniffling.
Friday, February 20, 2015
New Arrival: Picture Book: Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen
Another cute new one into the system!
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole
Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back)
ISBN: 9780763662295
Read February 18, 2015
A Caldecott Honor recipient, this duo knocks it out of the park. Kids will really get a kick out of all the "treasures" that the digging duo just barely miss, and even the zany imaginative ending should be a hit. Sam and Dave (and the dog, a very important cast-member) are digging, and they are going to dig until they find something spectacular. Sadly, they keep changing directions and ending up missing spectacular finds in almost every spread! Finally bushed, they stop for a rest, while the dog keeps digging, and something spectacular happens anyway.
Very cute, and a good way to enjoy Klassen's artwork if you aren't quite ready for the subversive humor of his own books.
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole
Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back)
ISBN: 9780763662295
Read February 18, 2015
A Caldecott Honor recipient, this duo knocks it out of the park. Kids will really get a kick out of all the "treasures" that the digging duo just barely miss, and even the zany imaginative ending should be a hit. Sam and Dave (and the dog, a very important cast-member) are digging, and they are going to dig until they find something spectacular. Sadly, they keep changing directions and ending up missing spectacular finds in almost every spread! Finally bushed, they stop for a rest, while the dog keeps digging, and something spectacular happens anyway.
Very cute, and a good way to enjoy Klassen's artwork if you aren't quite ready for the subversive humor of his own books.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Short Reviews: July 2013. Last Days of an Immortal, Rocketeer Adventures, The Dance, Chloe and the Lion
Chloe and the Lion, Mac Barnett, illus Adam Rex. ISBN:
9781423113348
July 25, 2013
Picture Book: An interesting
fourth-wall-demolishing foray into the conflicts and challenges in the picture
book author vs illustrator relationship. The story of Chloe and the lion
that attacks her takes a backseat to the developing interpersonal drama between
Mac and Adam when Adam decides that lions aren't impressive enough, and
illustrates a dragon instead. Mac tries to do without, but quickly
realizes his talents do not lie in the drawing department.
Chloe assists, as does the lion, and everything ends happily ever after.The Dance, Garry Smalley & Dan Walsh. ISBN: 978-0800721480
July 10, 2013
Christian relationship-repair manual thinly disguised as fiction. :) The heroine has been trying to get her self-absorbed pompous insufferable husband to pay attention to her (and the kids) for their entire marriage. Finally she gives up, and hopes that if she leaves home it will be the clue-by-four that he needs upside the head. She takes dance lessons to feel happy, and he gets relationship counseling from an elderly lady, and everything's hunky-dory in about 150 pages and less than half-a-year.
Rocketeer Adventures, Vol 1 and Vol 2, (various authors, various illustrators) IDW Publishing.
ISBN: 978-1613770344 & 978-1613774014
July 9, 2013
Graphic Novel. Collected stand-alone tribute stories in the Rocketeer universe (which I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know was a popular and loved comic series before the movie (which I'm also somewhat ashamed to admit that I really do like) came out in 1991) after the passing of the creator Dave Stevens. I liked the first volume better than the second, mainly due to the artwork. The second, while populated with "big names" had a lot of really odd stylistic choices, and I find my preferred art to be really representational and as realistic as possible. Personal choice. Not having read the original comics, I can't say anything regarding the quality of the stories, but they were all fun, and all pulpy, and all independent of each other.
Last Days of an Immortal, Gwen De Bonneval & Fabian Vehlmann (translated from the French by Edward Gauvin). ISBN: 978-1936393442
July 5, 2013
Graphic Novel. If it wasn't for the clothing-optional human society, and the graphic (no pun intended) sex scenes (which didn't really have anything to do with the plot) I would have thought this was intended for younger readers. It is VERY reminiscent of Asimov and early "philosophical" science-fiction. I have to admit, I got more than a little confused by all of the "echoes" and wasn't entirely sure who was who at any given time, but that really didn't matter that much. Weird but mentally stimulating.
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