Reviews: Picture Books, 2 & up
Wendy E. Betts
Be Gentle! written and illustrated by Virginia Miller
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Clement Herd.
"Only Joking," Laughed the Lobster written and illustrated by Colin
West
One Day in the Jungle written and illustrated by Colin West
One Windy Wednesday by Phyllis Root. Illustrated by Helen Craig.
The Caterpillow Fight by Sam McBratney. Illustrated by Jill Barton.
Higgle Wiggle by Eve Merriam. Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm
Ellen and Penguin and the New Baby written and illustrated by Clara
Vulliamy
NOTES FROM THE WINDOWSILL ISSN 1078-8697
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Vol. 5, No. 9g Picture Books, ages 2 & up 9/25/97
__ Be Gentle!_ written and illustrated by Virginia Miller. Candlewick,
1997 (0-7636-1251-5) $15.99
In the fourth book about a young bear named Bartholomew--Ba for
short--big bear George gives him a little black kitten, telling him
"be gentle because she's only little." But Ba's idea of playing with
the kitten is to give it a swing, a ride in his red wagon, and a bath
with the garden hose, all of which scare the poor thing out of its
wits. When the kitten runs away, Ba is sad and sorry and creeps off
to his secret hiding place under the bed--where he finds the kitten,
who's only too happy to be gently stroked in his lap. This is
obviously a book with a message, but though the text is direct, it
doesn't feel didactic or uncomfortably in your face; much of the story
is told through the expressive illustrations, which show better than
words how important being gentle with young animals is. Young readers
can easily sympathize with stubborn, contrary, but essentially nice
Ba, and the soft earth tones of the pictures are just right for a
story about loveable bears. (2-4)
__ Goodnight Moon_ by Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Clement Herd.
HarperChildren'sAudio, 1997 (0-89845-988-5) $7.95 pb and tape
I must have been one of the few children in America who was _not_
brought up on _Goodnight Moon_; even so, just reading the words "And a
comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush/And a quiet old lady who was
whispering `hush,'" puts me immediately under its spell. With its
cozy illustrations, quiet verses and gentle mystery, it's no wonder
that this bedtime book has been a perennial favorite for 50 years.
This package includes a paperback of the book and a cassette tape,
which has a reading of the story on one side and a musical version on
the other. I didn't care much for the reading, which is very slow and
has frequent pauses for music, because it didn't capture the
irresistible rhythm of the story; moreover, though it's obviously
designed to be soporific, the spell is broken when the story begins
again, this time asking readers to fill in some of the text. The
lengthy acoustic ballad breaks up the rhythm even more (and will bore
adults to distraction), but some young fans may enjoy being able to
sing along with their favorite story. (2 & up)
__ "Only Joking," Laughed the Lobster_ written and illustrated by Colin
West. Candlewick, 1995 (1-56402-647-7) $9.95; 1997 (0-7636-0279-5)
$3.29 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 3, number 10c)
The undersea equivalent of "crying wolf" must be "crying shark" and
that's just what an obnoxious practical-joking lobster decides to do
one day. But practical jokes have a way of backfiring, as the poor
lobster discovers when he tries his on one underwater creature too
many. Brightly colored watercolor pictures and a repetitive,
cumulative text should make this book go over well with toddlers, but
be careful with sensitive children who might be disturbed by the
lobster's thorough comeuppance. (2-4)
__ One Day in the Jungle_ written and illustrated by Colin West.
Candlewick, 1995 (1-56402-646-9) $9.95; 1997 (1-56402-987-5) $3.29 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 3, number 10c)
A butterfly's little sneeze gets passed along through the jungle,
growing bigger each time, until--uh oh!--the Elephant gets it. Like
_Only Joking..._, this book also has an enjoyable cumulative text and
comical, vividly colored pictures--but the end, although rather
catastrophic, is much less sinister. (2-4)
__ One Windy Wednesday_ by Phyllis Root. Illustrated by Helen Craig.
Candlewick, 1996 (0-7636-0054-7) $9.99; 1997 (0-7636-0278-7) $3.29 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 5, number 2h)
When a fierce wind begins to blow, life on Bonnie Bumble's farm
quickly becomes quite chaotic: the wind blows the quack right out of
the duck, the moo right out of the cow and the oink right out of the
pig! Soon every farm animal is stuck with the wrong sound, until
Bonnie comes to the rescue and matches each animal with their proper
sound. EverythingÕs okay again--until the next wind begins to blow.
Despite its frantic plot, this simple story has a gentle,
non-challenging feel to it; cheerful watercolor and ink illustrations
of the plump young farmer and her bewildered animals find extra humor
in the one-joke story. (2-4)
__ The Caterpillow Fight_ by Sam McBratney. Illustrated by Jill Barton.
Candlewick, 1996 (1-56402-804-6) $9.99; 1997 (0-7636-0123-3) $3.29 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 4, number 4r)
Prepare to have your tongue twisted into knots when you read this wild
and wooly story about an unusual pillow fight. Starring seven
colorful caterpillars and their fluffy caterpillows, it's a very silly
story in rhyme. Fortunately, big caterpillar comes in to stop the
caterpillow fight before it ends in tears (as they so often do.) The
watercolor illustrations of the jolly caterpillars are too cutesy and
cartoony, but overall this is a fun spin on a familiar situation.
(2-4)
__ Higgle Wiggle_ by Eve Merriam. Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm. Morrow,
1994 (0-688-11948-4) $15.00; Mulberry, 1997 (0-688-14547-7) $4.95 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 2, number 58)
An ideal first poetry book, this collection shows how words can make
the most familiar objects and actions seem exciting and wondrous.
Merriam finds word-play in everything: in the smells from a kitchen,
the sand that gets in your shoes on the beach, the sound of keys in
your pocket. Her rollicking rhythms and somehow sensible nonsense
words are a joy to read aloud. The illustrations, which follow a
little pink pig throughout the pages, are a bit cutesy, but their
light, airy look is pleasantly uncluttered, never getting in the the
way of the words. (2-5)
__ Ellen and Penguin and the New Baby_ written and illustrated by
Clara Vulliamy. Candlewick, 1996 (1-56402-697-3) $14.99; 1997
(0-7636-0268-X) $5.99 pb
(reprinted from the hardcover review, volume 6, number 6l)
In a familiar story about adjusting to a new baby, Ellen and her
favorite stuffed animal Penguin find that having a new baby brother
means a lot of changes: he cries, and takes up a lot of Mom's time
and even gets Ellen's old mobile of woolly sheep, which makes Penguin
mad. But when Mom asks Ellen to try and cheer the crying baby up,
it's Penguin's little dance that makes him laugh--and Ellen and
Penguin both agree that "new baby brothers weren't so bad after all."
An insightful look at how children sometimes use their toys to express
their feelings, this is an introduction to subtext that even very
young children can appreciate. I'm not a big fan of Vulliamy's
cherubic looking people--all with big eyes, rosy cheeks and rosebud
mouths--but they work surprisingly well here, showing that even
cherubs can look upset and angry. Vulliamy's style doesn't allow for
much variety though: Ellen and her mother look like the same person
in different clothes. (2-6)
--
Wendy E. Betts, Editor, "Notes from the Windowsill."
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