It’s natural to be scared of one thing or another. Let’s be clear, it’s not that I was scared of Star Wars A Merry Sithmas Pop-Up Book; it’s just that I was hesitant to get started on it because I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the book in a way that’s presentable. Any Star Wars fan knows that once you open the packaging or break the seal its collectible value plummets. That’s where this book is utterly, thankfully different. “Daddy, can we do the pop-up book”, asked the 10 year-old. It’s when he asked that question I knew it was time, for better or worse to get the tape, read the directions and jump into the book.
Nancy who? Nancy Drew? Is this shorthand for Fancy Nancy? Nancy’s Genius Plan is a new board book staring Nancy. She’s the distinctively drawn character with the brillo-esque hair, polka dot skirt and sly grin. Her best friend is Sluggo, a buzz cut boy who could easily be confused for a know-nothing hooligan. Nancy was introduced in the 1930’s and had an almost constant presence in the now metaphorical comic strip page since then. In 2018 Nancy did take a two-month break for a slight modernization. The comic strip is funny, filled with dry observations and humor that appeals to kids and adults. Nancy’s Genius Plan has the same DNA, but it doesn’t take off in the board book.
Sulwe is a children’s illustrated book about color. It’s color from the perspective of darkness and a young girl named Sulwe that looks nothing like her family. She’s the color of midnight, while her mother, father and sister all have lighter hues. Sulwe’s skin tone is affecting her personality, ability to make friends and her morale. How she deals with this and overcomes it will resonate with any pre-k through mid-elementary school student.
Paint By Sticker Kids Christmas is the latest in the best selling activity series that’s been entertaining our kids for years. The concept behind these books is very simple. There’s a sheet that has a couple dozen stickers on it. Beneath each sticker is a number that corresponds to a number that’s within a blank space in the final image. Young mosaic artists will put the stickers in the picture one at a time until the final image is revealed.
Write, craft, play. That’s the backdrop to The Kids’ Book of Paper Love by Irene Smit & Astrid Van Der Hulst. For kids of a certain age this will be a creative cul de sac where they’ll be able to spend hours playing, dreaming and enjoying the love of paper. From the moment you pick up the book it’s obvious that there are details upon details lovingly crammed into every corner of every page. It’s thick, compact and just like those collector stamps at the post office, meant to be used.
Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao is not a book about babies. My very limited Chinese knowledge knew that bao bao means baby. Thus, this is obviously a book about Amy and her search for the perfect baby. I was wrong. Had I thought about it for a moment the very large dumpling on the cover should’ve pointed me in the correct direction. Instead, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao is about a young girl in search of the perfect dumpling. It’s a book about family traditions, good food, not getting discouraged and learning how to do things by yourself.
Like pizza, a cat video or peeking under the wrapping paper, Superbuns is impossible to resist. Superbuns is by author/illustrator Diane Kredensor and if you’ve read Buck’s Tooth you’ll recognize her style. The feel of the book is as at home with the classic vibe of a comic strip. Its size compliments the cuteness and takes a rabbit named Buns across the city with a hot pie of a happy time.
Buns is a rabbit. Actually, she
could be a bunny as the other main character is Superbuns is her know-it-all
sister, Blossom. Blossom means well, but is insistent that being kind is not a
super power. Sure Buns may hold open doors for old people, take out garbage and
pay compliments to lots of people, but being kind is not a super power.
On this particular day the two rabbits are being quite kind. They’re taking a pie that they baked to their grandmother’s house. Halfway through their journey they notice that a stranger is following them. This is the city and stranger danger is a real thing, but it’s also a city populated with impossibly cute anthropomorphic animals. However, things are further complicated by the fact that this stranger is a fox.
A fox who has been following two
rabbits can’t be a good thing, can it? In this case Blossom freaks out when
Buns starts innocently talking to the young fox. Foxes eat rabbits, you silly
rabbit. As this is a children’s illustrated book, Superbuns turns the animal
world on its head and this particular fox is just trying to get home.
Thankfully Blossom knows all about directions and getting lost, all of which
she’s eager to share with their new pointy eared friend.
Superbuns is cute. It’s disarmingly cute and will suck readers in who are 4-8 years old. Those on the upper end of that scale will be unwittingly charmed by the illustrations. The text in the book is such that those ages should be able to read all of it effortlessly. There are some sight words for the emerging readers that are on the younger spectrum of that scale.
Ultimately what makes Superbuns
work is its illustrations and the simple, home-spun nature of the story. It
feels like the book equivalent of a pillow with two cold sides. Kredensor is an
Emmy Award-winning director and producer for lots of animated shows that you
and your kids have seen before. Have you ever seen Pinky and the Brain (!!),
Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George or a couple others? Her resume is a
cartoon lover’s watch list and Superbuns rides into your child’s library as
effortless as using Superbuns power.
Our 9 year old is a hanger on to The Bad Guys and we are 100% OK with that. He’s going into fourth grade and has been reading The Bad Guys since the end of first grade. In real world time I know that‘s not a long time, but through the eyes of a kid’s library it can be an eternity. Two years ago he wouldn’t have dreamed of reading the stuff that he’s reading now. These books have no pictures, chapters that are more than a dozen pages long and might even mention the subject of boys and girls ‘liking’ each other.
The ninth book in The Bad Guys series of books from Scholastic is called The Bad Guys in The Big Bad Wolf. Each book in this series has our title characters in such elementary school adventures as in…The Furball Strikes Back, in Attack of the Zittens, in Do-You-Think-He-Saurus and other books that your kids aged five and older have already read. When you visit an elementary school library ask where their copies of any books featuring The Bad Guys are. You’ll see a handful of beaten up, dog-eared books with yellowed pages that most likely have some degree of little hand prints all of them. These books have been loved, read, re-read and had their spine tapped several times in order to extend their life span.
Our 9 year-old has been counting the days until The Big Bad Wolf was released. We got to the store and saw a couple of older books by Aaron Blabey on the shelf, but no sight of the new one. At first he was dejected and looked like he might cry. He was certain, absolutely positive that it was hitting stores on this day. I suggested that he ask a person at the store where the book is. This is an important leap of faith for him because he’s not one to ask questions to people that he doesn’t know.
However, as we were
buying some other stuff I suggest that he go to Guest Services and ask them. No
sooner had I looked up then I saw his every growing flip-flop covered feet
blazing a train to see where the book was. Guest Services directed us to the
area where the book should’ve been, but it wasn’t. Again I suggested that he go
ask someone in a red vest about the book. They checked their computer; saw that
it was in the back, still in the box, but that they’d go get a copy for us.
I kid you not, our nine year-old was skipping up and down
the isle with nervous energy. After a couple of minutes he grew tired of this
and started to peek around the corner like he was scouting out a drive-by for a
teenage girl in 10 years. “He’s got it. He’s got it!” I heard.
For adults who need to know what the plot’s about, Mr. Wolf gets blown up to a massive sized monster and The Bad Guys need to find a way to stop him ASAP. Toss in some new friends, lots of humor, a few potty jokes, some more humor, several dashes of action and you’ll see why elementary readers will absolutely love this series. They don’t need to know the series before reading The Big Bad Wolf. Most elementary school kids will know the characters, their role in the story and are already eager to be the first ones to tell the other kids that they’ve read the new book. A bonus for parents is that The Bad Guys,Big Bad Wolf only retails for $5.99, even less if you shop around.
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