Category: Entertainment

A couple of years ago my wife and I went out for date night. It’s that mythical time where moms and dads leave the kids at home then out with other parents, get a drink and eat food with too much cheese. When we got home, part of our conversation led me to say, “the journey is the destination”. Mind you, this was years before I heard it used as a luxury car tagline. But, when I said it, my wife commented that it made sense, we weren’t headed to a big finale, rather; life is the little things that we do and encounter on the way. Secrets of Topsea, The Extremely High Tide! By Kir Fox and M. Shelley Coats is a book that fits that description.

This is the second book in the Secrets of Topsea series and it solidifies the tone that the authors are going for. I’ll readily admit that I didn’t get the first book in the series, A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean. I thought it was slow, pointless, weird and rather aimless.  

With The Extremely High Tide! I get it now-and so will any middle school readers who latch onto this series. As it wears its weirdness as a superhero cape you don’t really need to read the first book to understand what’s going on.

Talise is a fifth-grade student who knows a lot about the ocean. She also has a pet sea blob and has a fear of rubber ducks. As the book starts we see the class by the seaside. Not long after that Talise finds a bottle with a note in it. The note has a drawing of a boat and Talise takes that as an omen that she should build a boat.

This is where the ‘journey is the destination’ aspect factors in. The boat and the journey to build it seems like it’s a main plot point. However, the main thing that ties the characters together is friendship, albeit a friendship that’s painted across all manner of oddities. Parents will also enjoy this series because it manages to keep young reader’s attention without any potty humor. Granted, potty humor is more of a low elementary thing, I’m sure it’s just our upper elementary reader who can’t seem to squeeze it out of his system.

Another thing that the book does well is to balance the interest between boys and girls. The main character is a girl, but it’s not set against a Lilith Fair quilt. Girls will enjoy it more than boys, but not by much. It’s odd and creative to where the overwhelming vibe of the book is trippy, fun and silly-without being sophomoric.

The chapters are presented in a creative, unpredictable fashion with some pages pushing the story forward. Other chapters are short newspaper clippings or the cafeteria menu. In other words, it’s a format that middle school readers will be immediately attracted to, because the journey is the destination.

Sometimes I squeal when books arrive. I let out a small one when Crafty Llama arrived at the office. This is not a book that was on my radar. I knew nothing about it. Yet, when I saw the cover something about this children’s illustrated book seemed so warm and comforting it simply felt like something we already knew. And, to be clear, I don’t mean that in the sense of old and repetitious. This was more of a comfort food feeling, for example, a food that I eat when I need solace, like clam chowder on a cold winter day….in case you’re in the area.

Crafty Llama is by Mike Kerr with illustrations by Renata Liwska. Its subtitle is, A story about crafting, friendship and the very best gifts. The book starts with Llama walking home on a warm summer day. When she gets home she knows that there are legitimate things that need to be done around the house like laundry, vacuuming the fireplace, putting WD-40 on the doors or straightening up the garage. She knows those things need to be done, but she spies a massive ball of yarn, conveniently the same color as her…, so she starts sewing something. When Llama is not sure what to do she sews so that she can clear her mind.  

Before long some of her forest friends show up. They each bring their unique set of skills to help her. The turtle, elephant, wolf and more all show up to add elements to whatever she’s sewing. Some animals provide ideas on what she can craft. Everyone helps except for beaver, who’s not sure how he can help so he chews on a tree so that he can clear his mind.

It’s a social afternoon with all of the animal friends sharing, being silly and having fun.  By the time night rolls around Llama has knitted a very nice blanket, which she promptly shares with one of her buck-toothed sleeping friends.

  Crafty Llama is a slice of illustrated book heaven for crafty kids 4-8. The illustrations are soft, warm and will delight (and calm…) young readers as they drift off to sleep land. This is a great good-night book for those younger kids in this spectrum. It’s short enough to re-read more than one time a night, but also long enough to qualify as the “one book” that you’re reading after a long day.

Our 9 year-old has loved Bad Kitty for the past three years. It was Bad Kitty Scaredy-Cat and ever since then he’s been mental about reading about Uncle Murray, Bad Kitty and the other characters that revolve around their feline world. When he got Bad Kitty Kitten Trouble in the mail he ran to his room where I didn’t see him for 45 minutes. I did hear the occasional laugh, guffaw and more, but he was fully engrossed in Kitten Trouble.

Bad Kitty is one of those book series that really speaks to elementary school kids. Some of them are illustrated books of varying length while others have more of a graphic novel feel. Kitten Trouble is formatted like a graphic novel and immediately registered with our oldest. He was thrilled when he had the chance to as author Nick Bruel some questions about his books, kittens who don’t behave and a certain uncle that has more that we were led to believe. Here are the questions our 9 year-old asked Mr. Bruel about his latest book, Bad Kitty Kitten Trouble.

Q1. Why did you add three more kittens?

A: I think one would have been too few and 5 million might have been too many.  Three seemed like a nice concession between the two.

That was a sarcastic response, wasn’t it.  I’m sorry.  Truth is, I’m not sure.  I think three is a common number for grouping characters.  Think 3 Musketeers.  3 men in a tub.  3 pigs.  3 billy goats gruff.  I think I was a little more than a slave to convention when I decided to have three kittens entering Kitty’s household.

Q2. What was your motivation to write this book? (Technically…he asked”Why did you write this book?” I just re-worded his question a bit…)

A: About two years ago, while I was driving to pick up my daughter from school, I was listening to a brief but uplifting report on the radio about a man named Luke Miller of Real New York Tours who was similarly distressed by this overwhelming refugee crisis and asked himself the simplest of questions: “What can I do to help?” His answer was obvious. He owned a tourism agency! He could give free tours of the city to newly arrived refugees, giving them the kind of welcome a new family in unfamiliar surroundings could use. And that’s precisely what he did.  I was inspired. I decided to ask myself the same question. What could I do to help? All I do is write and illustrate simple, heavily illustrated chapter books about an ornery pussycat — Bad Kitty. Hang on… I write and illustrate simple, heavily illustrated chapter books about an ornery pussycat! The answer was obvious. I could use my platform as a children’s book author to create a work that in some way gave a voice to child refugees. Plus, I could hopefully counter the anti-refugee vitriol that was permeating the media more and more every day. The story came to me in a flash, and I began putting it together later the same day.

Q3. Why does one kitten speak French?

A: I wanted to make all of the kittens seem foreign in some way to Kitty, which is why they look so different compared to her.  But I also wanted to make all of the kittens distinct from each other rather than make three kittens who looked exactly the same.  I think graphically it makes them more interesting.  It occurred to me to make one kitten look like a kitten version of Strange Kitty, because he already looks so distinct from all of the other cats.  If I was going to have a Strange Kitten, then I would have to have her talk, and having her speak another language seemed natural and in keeping with having the kittens being foreign in origin.  I chose French as the language not only because I love the language but also because seeing small children speak French is always particularly adorable.

Q4. Why does Bad Kitty always look scared?

A: It’s interesting you think that.  I grow concerned that I have her look ornery or grumpy too much.  I will say that I think having her look scared or perplexed has been a pattern on the covers over recent years.

Q5. Why does Bad Kitty not share things?

A: This is my keeping her in character as a cat.  I’ve had multiple cats in the past, and most cats simply do not share the things that are most precious to them.  And let’s be honest… a lot of kids can be like that.  Grown ups, too.  This is frankly one of the themes to this book.  We all share the same planet, the same air, the same water, the same streets, the same hardships and joys.  But, we don’t always share the same point of view, which is all too often the source of our discord despite how much we all have in common.  Kitty, by the end of this story, comes to recognize much of what I just discussed here.  I think she is at her finest when it comes to sharing on the closing pages of this book.

Q6. What book are you going to write next?

A: I just handed in all of the pages for the next Bad Kitty chapter book, “BAD KITTY JOINS THE TEAM”.  It will be my Bad Kitty book on sports and exercise, and it is exceptionally silly.  Before that one comes out, there will be two simple picture books coming out later this year: “BAD KITTY DOES NOT LIKE THANKSGIVING” and “BAD KITTY: SEARCHING FOR SANTA”.

Q7. Are you an Uncle Murray to someone?

A: Neat question.  I do not have any biological nieces, but I do have a “niece” who I’ve known since the moment she was born.  Literally.  I was her mother’s birth partner.  She is about to turn 26 but she calls me “uncle” because she knows she can turn to me for advice or assistance whenever she wants.  That, to me, is what defines an uncle the most.  Uncle Murray himself is scatter brained and easily confused, but he is undeniably reliable and is often the moral center of my books.  

Q8. Do you have a cat?

A: We have a fluffy, gray cat named Rose.  We named her “Rose” because she looks and smells nothing like a rose.

Q9. Why do so many people read Bad Kitty?

A: I think that depends on the reader.  I think some people like these books simply because it features a cat, and they like cats.  Some people like them because they think they’re funny.  Some people might like them because they’re relatively simple to read compared to other books their size.  I think ultimately people read books they can relate to; they see something of themselves or their reality in the story, whatever that might be.  I am thrilled that people read my books.  Why, is entirely up to them.

Q10. What would you do to encourage students who are curious (or want to become an author/illustrator?

A: Be brave.  That might seem like a vague bit of advice, and maybe it is, but it’s also the best advice I can give.  If you want to write stories, you have to be brave enough to take that step to sit down with pen and paper or in front of your computer screen to write that story or make that drawing.  But it doesn’t end there, because if you want to do this professionally, then you have to be brave enough to share your work.  This is an extremely difficult step for some people.  If you want to write stories or paint pictures purely for personal satisfaction, I think that is wonderful.  But if you want to earn a living doing so, then you have to push back that nagging fear of judgment or criticism and share your work with those around you regardless of the outcome.  Not everyone is going to love the work you create, but that’s okay.  You’re creating your work to satisfy your own love, not others.  Be brave.

Q11. What’s one of the best experiences that you’ve had in touring schools or book stores and meeting fans of the books?

A: I’m proud to say that I was only the 12th author in the history of the Make-A-Wish Foundation to be the wish.  Several years ago, a young man with numerous, non-life threatening ailments wished to meet me and talk to me about my Bad Kitty books.  I arranged to have him and his family fly to New York City so we could all meet inside the offices of my publisher.  We then sat and plotted out a short story about Kitty based on his idea.  He wrote the story to “Bad Kitty Goes To Camp” and I made the illustrations.  When we were done, I gave him the book we created to keep.  Afterwards, we toured lower Manhattan together until it was time to part.