The man who walked between the towers

The man who walked between the towers
4.5 Stars

By Mordicai Gerstein

2003

ISBN :0-7613-1791-0

Amazon Link

About a

I would definitely buy this new, in fact it is already saved for later in our Amazon basket.

My name is Elizabeth

My name is Elizabeth
4 Stars

By Annika Dunklee

Illustrated by Matthew Forsythe

2011

ISBN :978-1-55453-560-6

Amazon Link

I would love to buy this book.

The High Street

The High Street

3 Stars

By Alice Melvin

2011

ISBN :978-1-85437-943-6

Amazon Link

This book has amazing illustrations, but a very average story. The text has nothing unacceptable in content, however the story is extremely boring. Lucinda and I like it to look at what is in the different shops. They would actually make great posters. There is a lolly shop, bakery store, china/ porcelain store, antique store, music store, pet shop, toy store, green grocers, hardware store, and florist. It really is a wonderful way to study what is in each different store (eg the different kinds of musical instruments in the music store).

I would not buy this new, but would buy it secondhand.

The Odd Egg

The Odd Egg
3 Stars

By Emily Gravett

2008

ISBN :978-1-4169-6872-6

Amazon Link 

About a duck who cannot lay an egg, but finds one. The illustations and the text flows well. I like the cleverly cut pages. I just don't like some of the content (mostly in terms of text).

-"he thought it was the most beautiful egg in the whole wide world". ""but the other birds did not".
and the other birds are laughing and saying things like "not pretty", "it'll never hatch" and "that is and odd egg".

- I also don't like the mother bird holding a mirror and the bird saying "I'm a pretty boy".

I would not buy this new, but would buy it if I happened to find a copy at the Salvos. In other words it would have to be very cheap.

999 Tadpoles

999 Tadpoles
3 Stars

By Ken Kimura

Illustrated by Yasunari Murakami

2011

ISBN : 978-0-7358-4013-3

Amazon Link 

A cute book about a family of frog who have to move to a bigger pond and the dangers on the way. wThe illustrations are very cute.

I don't think I would buy this book at least not first hand anyway. It was chosen as one of the top 10 picture books of the year by our library and I can most certainly see why, but it is just not for us. I don't really like the snake part in the book. The story line of the hawk dropping the frogs, because they are too heavy, but not the mother frog letting go because they are too heavy does not really make sense to me either....Then again there are a lot of books out there that do not make complete sense.

Henry and Mudge Books

Lucinda is obsessed with Henry and Mudge Books at the moment.

I have borrowed a whole lot of them from the library to see which ones we especially like and will hope to eventually buy.

The Henry and Mudge books are writted by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Sucie Stevenson. They are early reader books and there are 28 in the series.

Henry and Mudge: The First Book (1987) - no

Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble (1987) - yes

Henry and Mudge in the Green Time (1987) - no

Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon (1987) - no
(dislike, due to the ghost stories and the Aunt Sally Story)

Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days (1988) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Forever Sea (1989) - yes

Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers (1989) - yes

Henry and Mudge and the Happy Cat (1990) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Bedtime Thumps (1991) - yes
I really like this one :)

Henry and Mudge Take the Big Test (1991)
(We have this one and it is okay)

Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend (1992) - yes
(like, the first 2 chapters are not that great, but the last 3 are fantastic, so much that I like the book)

Henry and Mudge and the Wild Wind (1993) - no
(dislike, mainly due to the enemy couch and enemy lines, but I also don't like Henry calling Mudge chicken and that after the storm has gone it has cleared up so much that it looks so light, but is suppose to be evening).

Henry and Mudge and the Careful Cousin (1994) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All (1995) - yes

Henry and Mudge in the Family Trees (September 1998)
(we have this one and it is okay) 

Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers (February 1999) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night (May 1999) - yes
I really like this one and we have it

Henry and Mudge and Annie's Good Move (January 2000) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan (October 2000)
(we have this one and it is okay)

Henry and Mudge and Annie's Perfect Pet (February 2001) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree House (2002) - no
(dislike, due to the wrestling and the tree house ends up in Henry's room)

Henry and Mudge and Mrs. Hopper's House (February 2003) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Wild Goose Chase (October 2003) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Funny Lunch (March 2004) - still deciding

Henry and Mudge and a Very Merry Christmas (October 2004)
(this is okay and we have it)

Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas (April 2005) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Tumbling Trip (October 2005) - no

Henry and Mudge and the Big Sleepover (May 2007) - no
(dislike, mainly due to the monster talk)

I Know a Rhino

I Know a Rhino
4 Stars

By Charles Fuge

2002

ISBN : 978-1-4027-0861-9

Amazon Link

A wonderful book about a toddler who has a lot of fun with a very cute group of animals .  The illustrations are gorgeous and I like the rhyming text.  The only problem I do have with this book is the girl calling her toys her friends.  I believe that a toy, no matter how special it is to a child should not be called a friend.  To me a friend should be an actual living animal, be it human or not.

I would most certainly buy this book for it's gorgeous illustrations and fun rhyming text.

My Cat Copies Me

My Cat Copies Me
3.5 Stars

By Yoon-duck Kwon

2005 (in Korea), 2007 (in America)

ISBN : 978-1-933605-26-5

Amazon Link

This is a wonderful book, with beautiful illustrations. It tells a story about a girl who does everything with her cat and in the end is enlightened by her cat to do things she was not confident enough to do by herself.  I feel that the end of the book is a bit abrupt, but there maybe something lost in translation, or how books in Korea end.

I would probably buy this book.  Wonderful to expose children to a different culture.

DK Baby Touch and Feel - Wild Animals

DK Baby Touch and Feel - Wild Animals
3 Stars

2009

ISBN - 978-0-7566-5150-3

Amazon Link

This book is as the name suggests a touch and feel book.  It is probably one of the better touch and feel books that I have come across.  The textures are a lot more realistic than other books in this category.  There is a texture or something shiny on each page.  Still this book has pictures of animals with labels on each page such as "rhino calf", "stomp! stomp!" and I am not really taken with label books.  I much prefer those with whole sentences and so does L, even as a newborn.

I would only buy this book if I was looking for a touch and feel book with good textures, but would probably find a better one with whole sentences.

My Friends

My Friends
3 Stars

By Taro Gomi
1989 (in Japanese), 1990 (in English)
ISBN 978-0-8118-4786-5
Amazon Link

This book is written in the eyes of a young girl who has learnt a lot from a variety of sources.
Some of the illustrations are very cute, but I don't feel that this book is outstanding.

I would only buy this book if I needed something to add to a bit of Japanese culture to our collection.

Camping Day

Camping Day
4 Stars

Written by Patricia Lakin and Illustrated by Scott Nash.

2009

ISBN  978-0-8037-3309-1

Amazon Link 

A delightful book about four crocodiles; Sam, Pam, Will and Jill who go on a camping trip.

Lucinda loves this book.  It is a wonderful rhyming book which also offers itself well to early readers.  There are many short sentences with lots of intellient repitition.

I would most certainly LOVE to see this book in our collection.

Biased Opinions

These of course are my own opinions about each book.  I do feel however that I will be somewhat biased towards what Lucinda and Adam like as well.  A lot of the books reviewed will be at Lucinda's ability level as well.  She is now 18 months and therefore most of the books will be picture books with not so many words.

The rating system that I will use on this blog

5 = Outstanding, noteworthy in style, content, and/or illustration.
4 = Superior, well above average.
3 = Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

2 = Recommended, with minor flaws.

1 = Marginal, seriously flawed, but with some redeeming quality.
0 = Unacceptable in style, content, and/or illustration. 

I think most of the books I review will be 4s, 3s and 2s.

I do want to focus on the good ones.

Rating System

I am actually going to borrow the Horn Book's rating system and change it a little.

I really hope they do not mind me copying and posting it here on my private blog.

The Horn book rating system

Each book receives a rating of 1 to 6:

1 = Outstanding, noteworthy in style, content, and/or illustration.
2 = Superior, well above average.
3 = Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.
4 = Recommended, with minor flaws.
5 = Marginal, seriously flawed, but with some redeeming quality.
6 = Unacceptable in style, content, and/or illustration. 

According to the horn book guide;

1%  receive a 1
8% receive a 2
40% receive a 3
32%  receive a 4
17%  receive a 5
2%  receive a 6 

which seems like a tough rating guide.

I am just going to switch the number system around so that the higher the number the higher the quality of the book, etc.  I want to do this because most rating stystems are like this and it almost seems intuitive.  So it will  be a bit like a 5 star rating system.  I will write a separate post discussing this.

 
 


 

Children's Literature Blog

I have always been a fan of picture books for young children.  Years before Adam and I planned to have a child (and even before we were married) I was buying books for them.  I had acquired so many board books before L was born.  Little did I know that my child would LOVE the books even more than me!  She is enthralled by them, asking for a book to be read to her many times over.  At one stage we owned 80 board books and I could not believe that L was bored of them.  Well it did make sense; L was being read between 10-20 books per day and she herself spent a lot of time in front of the bookshelf flipping through many a books.  

To help our daughter's boredom we started reading non-board books to her.  She loved the new variety so much that for some time she did not want to look at any of the board books.  She would point up to the higher shelves for a paper book.  Paper books were only meant to be for adults to read to her and then put back on the shelf and this is the rule we follow for the most part.  The rule is in place so that she does not destroy all of our books.

We also started going to the library and borrow about 10 books at a time.  The library is a valuable resource.  We borrow many a books and I can then get to see which books are actually good for our child. So here is where I am going to review mostly good books that I would like to purchase....ONE day :) .  Some books will be rated as mediocre for reference.