Ribbit!

Ribbit!
Author:  Rodrigo Folgueria
Illustrator: Poly Bernatene
Age Range: 3 – 7 years
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (March 26, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307981460
ISBN-13: 978-0307981462

This is one of the most charming books I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a while.  I fell in love the story of a pink pig who just wanted to make friends.  The illustrations on textured paper are big, colorful and comical.  Children, both in the age group it targets and a little older, will adore it.  The book shows that making friends isn’t always easy, but worth the trouble.  It also shows children that just because someone is different, that’s no reason to be suspicious of them.  Sometimes, people do just want to be your friend.  In a world gone a little mad lately, this simple message of friendship is very welcome and assuring.

The illustrations really are beautiful.  The expressive faces of pig and frogs are wonderful.  They say it all and the text/story provides a little extra detail.  The pig’s rather large face is completely lovable and cute.  I can see small children falling in love with it.  The text is wonderful too – it grows larger as the ribbits do and provides emphasis to the story.

When the pig ends up in a tree with lots of little bird friends my middle-grade grandchildren laughed aloud in pure enjoyment.

Lovely, charming and highly recommended.

Book Description from the publisher:

A group of frogs are living happily in a peaceful pond, until they discover a surprise visitor: a little pink pig. Sitting contentedly on a rock in the middle of their pond, the pig opens his mouth and says: RIBBIT! The frogs are bewildered at first, and then a bit annoyed—”What did that little pig just say?”, “Does he think he’s a frog?”, “Is he making fun of us?”

Soon the pig draws the attention of all the nearby animals; everyone is curious to know what he wants! After much guessing (and shouting) and a visit to the wise old beetle, the animals realize that perhaps the pig was not there to mock them after all—maybe he just wanted to make new friends!  But is it too late?  This is a warm, funny, and beautifully illustrated story of friendship, with boisterous RIBBIT!s throughout—perfect for reading aloud.

About the Author & Illustrator

RODRIGO FOLGUEIRA studied art at Buenos Aires National School of Fine Art and works as an author and illustrator, specializing in children’s books. He lives and works in Argentina.

POLY BERNATENE graduated from Buenos Aires Art School and has worked across many different genres including advertising, animation, and comic books. He has published more than 60 children’s books all over the world. He lives and works in Argentina.

Scholastic Discover More: World War II

Scholastic Discover More: World War II
Author: Sean Callery
Publisher: Scholastic Reference (March 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545479754
ISBN-13: 978-0545479752

I’m quickly learning to love the Scholastic Discover More series of books. The grandchildren love them and for me, they are a wealth of information.

In World War II, a visual history of the world’s darkest days, there are plenty of full color photographs, as well as some stunning black and whites and infographic type pages laid out in a way that is appealing to most children. Also provided is a free digital companion book that kids and parents can access either on Mac or PC through Scholastic’s Discover More website.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest
Charles de Lint (Author), Charles Vess (Illustrator)
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316053570
ISBN-13: 978-0316053570

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is a fairytale that reads like those old epic stories that tell of someone seemingly ordinary, but who has an extraordinarily kind heart. In the old stories, that was your hero who went on a long quest, filled with adventure, mystery and danger. At the heart of this tale is Lillian, a red-headed girl who loves to run and play in the forest, seeking out fairies and daydreaming under trees. She’s close to the earth and her kindness shows. She has respect for nature, respect for magic and is a lover of tales. You immediately love her and are drawn into her world with the beautiful writing of Charles de Lint, an expert at telling tales. His words paint a vivid and marvelous world full of magic. Charles Vess’ artwork, as always is dreamy, lush and gorgeous. His colors and brushstrokes pull you farther into this world that seems so real. The story makes you feel at home and it also takes you back into your childhood, reminding you of those hours you spent curled up with an old fairytale adventure, being transported into that world.

Holiday Gift Guide from Random House Children’s Books

It’s that time of year again.  The highly anticipated and highly dreaded holiday season.  We here at AmoXcalli can think of nothing better to give than books – a gift that will last a lifetime, even if the actual books don’t.  Our friends at Random House Children’s Books have put together a handy list of their titles in a downloadable PDF document for your holiday gift giving and what wonderful titles they are.  I highly recommend any of these for the kids in your life.  Just click the link below to download the list of titles.

Holiday Titles and Gift Guide from Random House Children’s Books

Shannon Muir Reviews Batula

BATULA

Writer: Steven T. Seagle

Illustrator: Marco Cinello

Publisher:Man of Action Studios/Image Comics

ISBN-10: 160706572X

ISBN-13: 978-1607065722

Livingston is a fruit bat in a country orchard who feels out of place. So, despite warnings, he goes one day to check out the big city. In the city, he finds a bat in a cage that he thinks needs help… but instead this mean bat bites him and makes him a vampire bat! Finding it even harder to fit in, Livingston runs away from home again and finds a spider mentor who helps him hone his new skills and create the identity of BATULA. When an unexpected crisis arises, can Livingston use the new skills he’s learned as BATULA to save the day? Written by Steven T. Seagle (part of Man of Action Studios), and drawn by Marc Cinello (whose credits include work on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS), this book is both humorous and touching for young audiences.

Disclosure:  A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review via Netgalley, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.

Children’s Books Roundup for 7/28/2012

The grandkids and I have been doing a lot of reading this summer and we have some recommendations for you from our Random House Children’s Books stack. We’re great fans of RHCB because of the great writing, print quality and storytelling. Some of them are new books from favorite authors and others are completely new to us. We hope you will find these books equally appealing. Don’t forget that the Cybils nominations are coming up in October, so make your notations, we’re sure some of these will make the noms.

OLLIE & MOON: FUHGEDDABOUTIT! By Diane Kredensor
Reading level: Ages 3 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (May 22, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375870148
ISBN-13: 978-0375870149

Our family fell in love with the first Ollie & Moon book, so we were excited about this one. We love the great photos and the silly antics of Ollie and Moon, who are the best of friends. In this latest story, Ollie & Moon roam New York City. The full color photographs of Central Park, Chinatown and other landmarks are a stunning backdrop for the animated and comic figures of Ollie & Moon. It’s a great way to teach your kids about the city. The story is funny as are all the Ollie & Moon stories. It’s silly and wonderful with all the qualities of a cartoon, which is not surprising since the author is an animator and Emmy-award winning artist.

About the Authors

DIANE KREDENSOR’s grown-up years have been spent pursuing a successful career in animation. She still hasn’t grown up all the way, for which she’s proud. Diane is an Emmy Award-winning artist for her work on Pinky and the Brain, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and WordWorld, to name a few. This is her second children’s book with Random House. Diane happily lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner, their son, and two cats who bear a passing resemblance to Ollie and Moon. Visit Diane at DianeKredensor.com.

MIKE MESKIN is a Mac wizard who happens to shoot lovely photographs in his spare time. He lives in New York with his wife and son.

RIP Donald J. Sobol

Did you grow up reading Encyclopedia Brown books?  I did.  I was in love with those books and always learned so much.  I was deeply saddened today when I heard the news that Donald J. Sobol, the author of those wonderful books of my childhood, had passed away on Wednesday at age 87.  He will be greatly missed, but his work lives on.  Encyclopedia Brown has NEVER been out of print and has been translated in various languages.  Rest in peace.

Round-up:

People Magazine

Entertainment Weekly

Wall Street Journal

NY Daily News

ABC News

Los Angeles Times

CBS News

The Independant

The Star Ledger

Vulture

The Atlantic Wire

CBC News

Pigmares: Porcine Poems of the Silver Screen

Pigmares: Porcine Poems of the Silver Screen
Author/Illustrator: Doug Cushman
Publisher: Charlesbridge
ISBN-10: 1580894011
ISBN-13: 978-1580894012

My granddaughter Jasmine collects what she calls “Piglit”, or books about pigs. She’s amassed quite a collection over the years of everything from Babe the Gallant Pig, to Charlotte’s Web and everything in between. Pigmares was a must have for her collection and when it arrived in the mail, she beamed, grabbed the book and ran to her room to read. You know a book is good when you can hear a nine-year old girl chortling out loud. I myself am a huge fan of both poetry and old movie posters, so I got a big kick out of these wonderfully illustrated poems with a piggy theme. There are Werehogs! Need I say more?

PIGMARES is a wildly humorous collection of poems about pigs as old movie characters like Frankenstein a.k.a. Frankenswine or the Pig Mummy. The poems are fun, bouncy, full of rhythm and with a big homage to these wonderful old monster movies. I could see this book getting nominated for a Cybils Award next year (probably by me) and doing well in the category. I know the poetry panelists will truly enjoy it.
How can you resist lines like these from Pigzilla?

“Born undersea from toxic waste,
Miles from Tokyo’s shore,
I’m a scaly beast below the waves,
With a radioactive roar.”

Or how about these from The Bride of Frankenswine?

“A wooden table with a squeaking crank
Holds a shrouded from near a bubbling tank.
The howling wind drives the pounding rain.
A rattling clank sounds from a rusted chain.”

Aren’t they fun?

The illustrations are just as wonderful as the poems. I especially loved the Abominable Snow Pig, The Invisible Swine, The Bride of Frankenswine, Pigzila and Pig Kong. They are colorful, bright and beautifully done. Fans of old monster movies will love these gorgeous illustrations and kids will be drawn to the bright colors.

Doug Cushman has thoughtfully included a list at the back of the book that gives a short paragraph about what inspired each poem and illustration. Those short paragraphs were just as fun to read as the poems.

PIGMARES will make an excellent Halloween gift and would also be a great way to get kids, even the boys interested in poetry. Since there are monsters, boys will love it. Highly recommended!

Book description from the publisher:

When a young pig watches monster movies before bed, he’s in for some tail-curling fun. From the Phantom Hog of the Opera to the Porker from the Black Lagoon, seventeen poems put a pigmarish spin on creepy classics. Illustrations evoke retro movie posters with hog-wild humor. Back matter includes information about the movies and literature that inspired each poem.

About the Author
Doug Cushman has written and/or illustrated more than one hundred books for children, including Halloween Goodnight, the Dirk Bones series, and the Inspector Hopper series. Doug lives in Paris, France.

Check out the Pigmares Facebook page and give it a Like or check out the Pigmare website.

Suggested hashtags: #dougcushman #amoxcallireviews #kidlit #books #illustration #pigs #poetry

Disclosure:  A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.

Fred Patten Reviews Dragonbreath #6: Revenge of the Horned Bunnies

Dragonbreath #6: Revenge of the Horned Bunnies
Author:  Ursula Vernon
Publisher: Penguin Group/Dial Books
ISBN-10: 0-8037-3677-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8037-3677-1

I do not usually read children’s books of the “8 and up” age level, but Ursula Vernon painted an award-winning cover for a book of mine (adult) in 2003.  So when I learned that she was starting a series of her own written-and-illustrated children’s books in 2009, I was curious enough to read the first of them … and I have enjoyed it and its five sequels very much.  “and up”, indeed.

Danny Dragonbreath is an elementary-school student in a middle-class anthropomorphic reptilian/amphibian community.  His best friend is Wendell the bookish iguana; other classmates include Christiana the crested lizard (she’s okay, for a girl), and his nemesis, Big Eddy the komodo dragon (the class bully).  Eddy accuses Danny of being a liar for claiming that he is a dragon, just because he can’t breathe fire yet; Eddy taunts that he is just a common lizard.

“Danny Dragonbreath had a great imagination, much to the dismay of his parents, his teachers, the lunch lady, and the occasional ambulance crew.

“Even he, however, had a hard time imagining his best friend, Wendell the iguana, as a desperate outlaw.  Wendell would never ride into a town and shoot it up, and given the choice between holding up a train and determining how fast a train leaving Cincinnati going sixty miles an hour would take to catch up to a train leaving an hour earlier and going forty-five miles an hour … well, Wendell would take the story problem every time.”

Previous books have gotten Danny and Wendell involved with sea serpents and giant squid, ninja frogs, were-weiners, a giant bat who might or might not be a vampire, and a ghost.  In “Revenge of the Horned Bunnies”, Danny is excitedly preparing for a week of summer camp.  “Camp was going to be so cool.  Maybe they’d even find gold in the desert!  Outlaws buried their gold sometimes, didn’t they?  Either way, nothing could spoil his excitement.  He loved summer camp.”

And then his mother tells him that he is expected to watch over his bratty seven-year-old cousin Spencer all the time that they are in camp.  “He supposed he probably wouldn’t want Spencer to be eaten by ravenous eels, but that was only because his aunt Shirley was pretty nice and sent good Christmas presents (never socks and underwear), and having her son eaten by eels would make her sad.  On the other hand, if Spencer were merely kidnapped by ravenous eels, and forced to work in an eel-owned salt mine, that would be just fine with Danny.”

Danny, Christiana, Wendell, and little Spencer go to Camp Jackalope (Your Home on the Range).  Jackalopes are only mythical animals, of course.  Until Spencer meets a real one.  “It had big liquid eyes, like a Japanese anime princess.”  The jackalopes have been mysteriously vanishing, and the adult camp counselors can’t be trusted, so the four youngsters have to investigate and solve the 195-page case of the jackalope-nappers on their own.

The Dragonbreath books switch smoothly on almost every page between text and comic-book illustrated dialogue.  Text:  “‘Maybe aliens got [Spencer],’ said Danny hopefully.  “In a UFO.’  ‘Unlikely.’  Christiana looked down her snout at him.  ‘Most UFOs turn out to be weather balloons or the planet Venus.’  ‘I don’t mind if the aliens take him to Venus.  I bet Venus is very nice this time of year.’”  Comic-book:  “‘Actually, it rains sulfuric acid on Venus.’  ‘Smells like rotten eggs AND eats through flesh.’  ‘That.  Is.  So.  COOL!’”

Vernon does not hesitate to throw in advanced vocabulary like “ponderosa pine forest”, “dominant biome”, “bourgeois institution”, and “structural integrity”.  (Christiana uses Big Words that the others pretend they understand.)  The Dragonbreath series can be counted on for both childish and adult giggles and chuckles approximately every six months.  There is a preview of Dragonbreath #7: When Fairies Go Bad.

Suggested hashtags:  #fredpatten #ursulavernon #dragonbreath #books #illustration #kidlit

When I Was Small

When I Was Small
Author: Sara O’Leary
Illustrator: Julie Morstad
Publisher: Simply Read Books
ISBN-10: 1897476388
ISBN-13: 978-189-7476383

It is books like this one that reminds me of why I adore picture books and love to review them.  There is something about children’s literature that just oozes joy and wonder when a book is done well. Simple illustrations and spare but eloquent writing can convey so much. WHEN I WAS SMALL does this beautifully.

The story begins with Henry, an adorable little boy that looks remarkably like my grandson Aiden (which instantly made me love him) asking his mother to tell him a story about when she was small. What follows is a charming and fanciful story about a very tiny, Thumbelina-sized tiny girl.

The language is simple and concise, letting the ethereal and powerful illustrations do most of the telling. The illustrations, done in pen and ink have this Old World feel to them and makes me think I’d stumbled across the book in a used book store. It’s got this vintage look and feel and has a dreamlike quality.

Each page is such a pleasure to read and look at. The reader is tempted to linger and examine the drawings. When I read it to Aiden and his sister Jasmine, they both asked me to read it again and again. Jasmine really loved a drawing of Henry’s very tiny mother feasting on a very large raspberry, while Aiden loved the illustration of her being borne away in the mouth of a cat.

Both children and parents will love this book. It is simply enchanting and a strong message about the power of story.

Product Description

Curious little Henry from the award-winning books When You Were Small and Where You Came From has a new question for his mother in this charming new picture book. “What was it like when you were small?” he asks. His mother proceeds to describe her adventures to him, all about when she was little – very little!

About the Author

Sara O’Leary is a playwright, fiction writer, and literary journalist. She teaches Writing for Children and Screenwriting at Concordia University in Montreal.

About the illustrator

Julie Morstad is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist known for her surreal, whimsical work. Illustrator of numerous children’s books, including Singing Away the Dark and When You Were Small and its two sequels Where You Came From and When I Was Small, Julie has exhibited her work in galleries, animated two music videos with her brother, filled up stacks of sketchbooks, and made countless pots of soup and many loaves of bread. She lives in Vancouver with her family.

Disclosure:  A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.