Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
A book doesn’t have arms. It can’t hug you. How a Bear Became a Book: The Collaborations That Created Winnie-the-Pooh does have the aura of a comforting hug. It’s the smell of a kitchen after Snickerdoodles have just been made. The very subtle off-kilter letters in the book’s title evoke a playful nature. This aspect is magnified by the translucent bear running across the pages of a book, whose words are jumbled, incomplete, and utterly Pooh-esque.
I thought it was a velvet cover. But no, the cover to Winnie-the-Pooh: 100th Anniversary (Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner) (The Winnie-the-Pooh Collection) is a flocked cover. Flocking is a process where short fibers are glued to a surface and feels like velvet, but it is much cheaper. If the question was, how do make reading Winnie-the-Pooh more adorable, the answer would certainly be to provide it with a flocked cover.
Muslim Mavericks is a new series of books by Salaam Reads. They’re non-fiction books that highlight inspirational Muslim figures. Maysoon Zayid: The Girl Who Can Can is an early chapter book. Zayid has Cerebral Palsy, a condition that impacts 10,000 people in the United States. The chapters in The Girl Who Can Can tell a story that’s inspirational, but its length and organization will impact who can enjoy the book and to what degree.
Homophones make for great elementary school comedy, in addition to dad jokes. Piece Out takes that homophone madness, adds a splash of early 90s slang, some Toy Story, and everyday things that kids will understand and laugh at. The frustration of a missing puzzle piece or someone’s favorite piece or character for family game night will provide a lifetime of memories. “You always had to be the car” or “I wanted to be red for the longest time” are just a couple of things people will remember from their youth.
I know Quentin Blake’s illustrations; they were in Mad Magazine. No, they were in some other, more trendy and mature magazine that I can’t remember. Blake’s drawings resonate with audiences for those reasons and more. They have the friendly and affable demeanor of something whimsical and appealing to children, yet operating at a higher, more complex level too. Quentin Blake’s Fantastic Journeys lives somewhere between the world of wordless book, cartoon book, sketches for a Redbull commercial, Sergio Aragones compilation and illustrations from a Roald Dahl book that you forgot the name of.
The personification on the cover of What’s For Dinner? drives its interest. The morbid curiosity of what could possibly happen helps also. The rabbit is so lightweight that it’s fluttering around like a kite in the wind. The wolf, who is carrying the rabbit by the hand, has a row of white, razor-sharp teeth. In his other hand, there’s a sheet of paper, probably a recipe for how to cook dinner. It’s a moonlit night, and the question of What’s For Dinner? can’t possibly be the long-eared critter. They also look so friendly that they could be my neighbor.
Call Me Moby was entirely unexpected. It has allusions to a story that most high school students won’t read, yet its inspiration is from a classic book. The illustrations in Call Me Moby don’t care about any of that. Its playful cover, with a massive, friendly white whale jumping over a tiny ship, will bring in young audiences as if they were a hungry bass looking at a bloodworm dangling from a hook.
Silly illustrated books need an ending that simultaneously makes young children roll their eyes and yearn for more. Kitty Caterpillar got that memo. This is an illustrated book about a cat with too many legs, her misadventures when curiosity gets the better of her and her short, but eventful quest to find her early elementary school human best friend. Kitty Caterpillar has illustrations that bring home the bacon. When kids engage with the book, they’ll giggle at the story, but be enthralled with the art.
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