WHEN I WOKE UP I WAS A HIPPOPOTAMUS

Written by Tom MacRae

Illustrated by Ross Collins

(Andersen Press, 2011)

Okay, before I begin to discuss this book, let me just work through a rant.  Writing and illustrating a picture book involve distinct skill sets.  I have particular respect for the talented few who excel in both realms.  The recent trend in children’s publishing is to print both the author and the illustrator’s name on the cover without noting his/her particular role.  Same for the title page.  Only from the back jacket flap can one determine that one person was the writer and the other the illustrator rather than having the book be a wholly collaborative undertaking.  I agree that names deserve equal billing on the cover and I realize that, when there is no specification, the author’s name appears first, followed by the illustrator.  I just think the contributors should receive a specific credit for what they did.  Am I the only one who feels this way?  Feel free to leave a comment.

Okay,...I feel better.  I shall shed my cranky Grizzly persona and move on to talking about hippos.

When I Woke Up I Was a Hippopotamus doesn’t actually dwell long on the hippo transformation.  No, this is a book about a boy who imagines he is a series of objects, each occurring at the most (in)opportune time.  When it is time to get up and go to school, enter hippo.  “[H]ippos in their sludge don’t get up in the morning, and so I didn’t budge.”  As the boy nears school, he becomes a statue.  His poor parents must push and tug to fight the inertia.  Once class is dismissed, the boy is a rocket, zipping home faster than the speed of light.

It is a fun book, one that might feed young minds with DANGEROUS bursts of imagination to help cope with the day while leading to greater exasperation from parents and teachers with their own schedules and commitments.

The story reminds me of the amusing imaginings of Frankie in Let’s Do Nothing and the adventures of Calvin in so many Calvin & Hobbes sequences.  Why be human when you can be a monster, a robot or a mud-lovin’ hippo?

My one quibble with the book is that the text is told in rhyme.  Some of the verses come off clunky as one has to squeeze in a couple of extra syllables.  Getting the rhyme right distracts from the goofy antics.  But then, I confess to reading every children’s rhyme as though it were written by Dr. Seuss.  Perhaps it is I who needs to stretch myself.

GREEN EGGS AND HAM COOKBOOK

Recipes inspired by Dr. Seuss

Concocted by Georgeanne Brennan

Photographed by Frankie Frankeny

(Random House Books for Young Readers, 2006)

This is part of a week-long focus on feeding minds and stomachs, a celebration of children’s cookbooks and picture books that fixate on food.

The star attraction of the cookbook appears on the cover:   green eggs and ham.  Haven’t we all wondered what that would taste like?  And would they taste even better on a boat with a goat or on a train in the rain?  What other diverse foods might Sam I Am introduce to us? 

Alas, we don’t know the answer to the last question, but Dr. Seuss, like Roald Dahl, knew how to stir our imaginations with off the names of kilter culinary treats, among other things.  It should come as no surprise that there is a Seuss-inspired cookbook. 

Author Georgeanne Brennan relies heavily on Dr. Seuss’s illustrations as well as his words to dream up food names and their recipes.  Sometimes, the color in a drawing is what Seussifies a basic item like the cake the Cat in the Hat eats in the tub in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.  Clearly, this cake has a filling and a pinkish coating on top.  Brennan’s “Cat in the Hat Tub Cake” becomes one of the easier concoctions in the book:  store-bought angel food cake with a layer of strawberry-infused whip cream in the middle and on top. 

Some of the recipes are a bigger stretch.  For instance, “Zans’ Cans Chili”, while looking mighty tasty in the photograph, is a creation inspired by the literary reference to a Zans that opens cans in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.  The chili seems to come more from Brennan’s imagination than that of Theodore Geisel.  Based on the intent look on the boy and girl’s faces and the number of cans they want opened, I think the contents would more likely be canned candy or Fudge Sludge than chili. 

I do like the idea to turn the head-sprouting daisy from Daisy-Head Mayzie into a cookie to top a burger referenced in the original book.   Kids would be thrilled to be served a burger with a daisy-shaped, icing-decorated cookie on top.  Dessert first?  Oh, it isn’t the worst!

The recipes are organized into sections (e.g., Breakfast, Beverages, Lunch), but without tabs or title pages, everything seems to run together.  If you are going to organize the collection, make it clearer.

The photographs are helpful.  When you’re going for zany, the recipe followers need to see the end product and how it is served.  For that reason, I was disappointed that some recipes lacked a photo, particularly Who-Roast-Beast, in actuality a chicken dish with mushrooms under the skin.  Brennan refers to the “dramatic Who look” from this mushroom tucking.  Why then no photo?  I don’t want to sound like I have a heart two sizes too small, but I just can’t visualize Brennan’s Roast Beast.

And on the subject of Whoville food fare, it is a bit of a head scratcher to include recipes for “Who-Roast-Beast” and “Who-Pudding”, but to leave out Who-Hash.  Seems the hash is just what’s needed to create a complete Who meal.  Perhaps the Grinch made a dash with the whats and hows for Who-Hash.

Unlike Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes, the Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook becomes a clear ode to Seuss by including quotes from the relevant portions of the master’s original books.  Including the source illustrations also helps to make this book a perfect companion piece to a treasured shelf of Dr. Seuss picture books. 

And so what’s the secret to Green Eggs and Ham?  Guacamole-coated egg yolks and a ham slathered with apple jelly and coated with cilantro and parsley.  Not entirely unappetizing, but the cover shot is enough for me to get the picture.

I CAN READ WITH MY EYES SHUT!

By Dr. Seuss

(Random House, 1978)

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, this post focuses on one of the master’s lesser known works, a book I believe deserves more attention.

When I pull out I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!, not many children or adults recognize it. The book is not a Dr. Seuss classic and, heavens, it will never become a movie starring the hot comedian du jour. This despite the fact that the Cat in the Hat is the main character.

Still, I like to use this book as one of my first read-alouds at the beginning of the year. In fact, I often read it two or three times. I challenge the audience to think critically about the message. Is there even a message other than that crocodiles look silly in pants and knees on trees are even sillier?

At its core, this book goes beyond helping beginning readers. It is a springboard for thinking about how we read and why we read. One part rubs me the wrong way: “You have to be a speedy reader ‘cause there’s so, so much to read!” The last thing I want is for young readers to race through the pages of a book the way they whiz through math facts or run to the sycamore tree to avoid being the rotten egg. Reading goes deeper. (Yes, so does math.) Reading is an interactive experience between an author’s words, an illustrator’s pictures (when they exist) and a reader’s own thoughts and images. Speed reading compromises all components, but may wholly eliminate the reader’s own contribution to the process of understanding and appreciating. I have always been a slow reader. I like to ponder the word choice, the message and my own thoughts and reactions. I can’t imagine short-changing my experience for the sake of speed.

Thankfully, one of Seuss’s most quoted statements also appears in the book:
The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you’ll go.

That is something the good Doctor and I can agree on!

WE ARE IN A BOOK!

By Mo Willems

(Hyperion Books for Children, 2010)

I love books about books and have previously featured It’s a Book and The Incredible Book-Eating Boy. I also love books that break conventions such as Mélanie Watt’s Chester which chronicles a conflict between author/illustrator and a wannabe main character and Watt’s You’re Finally Here! wherein a hyper hare talks directly to the reader. It should come as no surprise then that I am completely taken by Mo Willems’ We Are in a Book!, a book about books with characters that discover a reader is eying them.

This is part of Willems’ easy reader series, following the classics of P.D. Eastman and Dr. Seuss. An elephant named Gerald and a pig referred to as Piggie are the main characters. As the book opens, the elephant suspects someone is watching them.

Piggie moves up for a closer look.

Why, yes, indeed! Someone is watching. It’s…it’s…it’s a reader! A reader is watching AND reading.

Well, this is astonishing to Gerald. Piggie and Gerald decide to have some fun with the reader and, no doubt, the fun will be a mutually shared experience.

Mo Willems draws the elephant and pig simplistically and yet these characters are tremendously expressive, particularly Gerald the elephant whose amusement will become infectious. While Willems does not engage in the playful, sometimes nonsensical rhymes of Dr. Seuss, he masterfully conveys a sense of humor using a limited number of simple words. In fact, I read this book to a group of high school volunteers who have signed up to participate in an after-school reading program at my school. I didn’t know this group of thirty adolescents who were polite, yet a tad weary after a full day of classes. As I read the book, they relaxed. Smiles evolved into laughs and, at the end, the teens applauded.

This is a book that is sure to amuse any reader. Yes, that’s a sweeping statement. Mo Willems is that talented. I am so envious!

THE SHY CREATURES

By David Mack

(Feiwel and Friends, 2007)

When I was young, I spent a lot of time wondering about Bigfoot. What if he snuck into the basement? What if he jumped out of the forested area behind our cottage? Would he come out of hiding if people let him be the punter on the football team?

I also thought about the Loch Ness Monster. How old must it be? Did it send invisible vibrations to make photos blurry? Who decided it was a monster in the first place?

I never shared my thoughts. I was shy. Pathologically so. I thought Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and other questionable creatures made the world a more interesting place. Please, let them be real. Expressing my opinions was too risky though. My pasty face reddened all too easily.

Thank you, David Mack, for creating The Shy Creatures! The book dignifies shy people and mythical creatures alike. A shy girl sits in class, listening to classmates eagerly shout out what they want to be when they grow up. “‘I want to be a doctor to the shy creatures,’ said the shy girl. Or she would have if she wasn’t so shy.’” The class may have laughed and the teacher may have dashed the girl’s imagination, explaining that Bigfoot is not real. Maybe. Maybe not. When you’re shy, the maybes keep you quiet.

As the shy girl considers all the things she would do as a doctor tending to the Abominable Snowman, the Cyclops and Grey Aliens, David Mack reveals a creative, considerate and funny little girl, a personality as unknown (and perhaps as misunderstood) as the true character of the evasive mythical (or real?) creatures. Maybe all these seldom seen beasts are simply shy. (That is, if shyness is ever simple.) Mack finally asks, “[W]hat if the shy creatures just needed a friend?”

In a classroom or during bedtime reading, this book could be used as a springboard to thinking about a particular child’s own shyness. Imagine sharing a trait with a mighty dragon or a unicorn! It could also lead to discussion about how to chat with and include quiet peers in fun activities.

Mack’s art is reminiscent of that of Dr. Seuss, so much so that I expected The Grinch and little Cindy Lou Who to make a special appearance. I think many kids will be able to connect the art, a wonderful early opportunity to compare art and to talk about how iconic artists influence others.

Don’t overlook the shy creatures. I can think of a little girl and a young boy at my school whose eyes twinkle every time I read a story to their classes. They never share their ideas and reactions. I will make an extra effort to touch base with them on Monday. As for coaxing Bigfoot out from his hiding place, well, I’ll leave that for someone with a video-camera and a yearning for YouTube notoriety. I’m still too shy for that!