I REALLY LIKE SLOP!

By Mo Willems

(Hyperion Books for Children, 2015)

Mo Willems is a genius. He takes simple, timeless concepts and makes them fresh and funny. In I Really Like Slop! Willems tackles food differences. Sometimes a certain dish from a foreign culture can make kids (and, yes, adults) cringe. It looks different, it smells different. Trying it is out of the question. Indeed, a strong negative reaction can make the person eating the dish feel pretty awful.

The meal at the center of this amusing book is Piggie’s titular slop and it’s hard to imagine a dish more polarizing. Elephant Gerald is outright repulsed. “YIKES!” he exclaims when seeing Piggie’s bowl of green glop. And then the judgy, “You EAT that!?”

Piggie is unfazed. “Pigs really, really, really, really, really like slop!”

Gerald remains critical. “What about all of those...flies?”

“The flies,” Piggie says, “are how you know it is ripe!” 

Ah, but of course.

Gerald doesn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings when offered a taste. Still, kids will easily relate to Gerald’s reticence. It takes twenty-one pages for Gerald to muster up the courage to try the teensiest, tiniest amount of slop. And, SPOILER ALERT, slop is no green eggs and ham and Gerald is no Sam I Am. Again, this is slop we’re talking about.

Just imagine Gerald’s response when Piggie offers up dessert.

The good news for humans is nothing will ever compare to slop. Not broccoli, not bok choy, not even frog’s legs. (Okay, well maybe frog’s legs!) The wonderful thing about Mo Willems’ series books is that the humor will surely make the dozens and dozens of repeated readings more than tolerable for adult ears. Moreover, how delightful it is to hear a young reader become more and more expressive with his or her oral reading. The added bonus of Piggie and Gerald books is that the dialogue bubbles are color coded, Piggie’s lines in pink, Gerald’s in gray. Adult and child can take turns playing the two characters during shared reads. What an opportunity for early positive reading experiences!

Now pass the slop.

BONKERS ABOUT BEETLES

By Owen Davey

(Flying Eye Books, 2018)

I expose my bias when I say I have a hard time finding nonfiction books for children to recommend. Part of it is a chronic problem in the publishing industry: books may pack a lot of information but they lack in entertainment. Would a boy pick up this book if he weren’t assigned a project on, say, Brazil or guinea pigs? If he did pick it up for fun, would he actually read it or just peruse the pictures and a few sidebars? A book may have compelling facts, but too often they are not compellingly presented. Too many nonfiction books for young readers make me feel like I need to buy some poster board and start covering it with facts that begin with the phrase, “Did you know...?”

It’s a good thing I didn’t glance at the back cover of Bonkers about Beetles because there it is again: “Did you know...?” (I still can’t read the text that follows.) I’ll confess that I have spent very little time thinking about beetles; to be sure, I’ve never wanted to become a coleopterist (a person who studies these creatures). Perhaps a true test of this book is whether or not I have more interest in beetles after reading it. I’m still not going to change careers, but at least I’ll give beetles a second glance. Success!

The language in the book is fairly simple and clear, providing for smooth reading and comprehension for students in grade five. Owen Davey provides plenty of pictures that support the text. In fact, the book is crawling with brilliantly colored and patterned beetles, so much so that it may be overwhelming. Does the violin beetle, for instance, get its due with a single sentence as compared to the mole beetle? Probably not.

Two beetles—fireflies and ladybugs—are “Featured Creatures” and given double-page spreads, making them stand out. Others getting shorter shrift will be memorable based on how much their trivia facts resonate with the individual reader. For example, I was drawn to the fact that rove beetles resemble army ants and infiltrate ant colonies to eat their young. Gross maybe but clever! Moreover, the iron-clad beetle is well named—its exterior is so hardy, a person could step on it without causing damage.

There’s a conscious attempt to entertain the reader based on how facts are grouped and presented. Page headings include “You Can’t Run, But You Can Hide” and “Dress for Success”. The best of these groupings may be “And the Award Goes to...” with honorees such as the tiger beetle as the fastest (eight feet per second!), the cashew stem girdler as most fashion-minded and the bearded weevil whose “bushy whiskers” give it “the look of a 19^th century English gentleman.” (You won’t find that on the Wikipedia page!)

I do have a few quibbles with the book. When labeling the parts of a beetle, numbers are somewhat ambiguously placed beside the particular diagram. A simple line touching the intended part would add clarity to a young reader who may confuse, say, the antennae with the front legs. There is a “Conservation” page about the importance of beetles but there isn’t mention of the destructive nature of some, such as the pine beetle. This would offer some balance. Finally, the index is organized by scientific family rather than simply alphabetically. This makes it more cumbersome to search for the page that mentioned the violin beetle (Family Carabidae) or the horned dung beetle (Family Scarabaeidae). That said, I do think many young readers will be satisfied with Bonkers about Beetles. Mission accomplished.

BUG IN A VACUUM

By Melanie Watt

(Tundra Books, 2015)

This is another picture book that speaks to the power of the subject matter that can be presented in this format. Watt, the acclaimed author/illustrator of Scaredy Squirrel and Chester books, takes on the five stages of grief as developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross while also chronicling a funny adventure. Actually, there are two stories that play out simultaneously, two examples of loss or change.

First is the titular bug, a housefly that unexpectedly gets sucked up in a vacuum cleaner. The fly goes through denial, bargaining, anger, despair and acceptance as it adjusts to its new environment and a future life seemingly trapped forevermore in the vacuum bag.  But, just before the bug gets sucked in, Napoleon the household dachshund, experiences his own loss, one portrayed throughout the book primarily in the illustrations. The mad vacuumer sucks up Napoleon’s favorite chew toy, a soft little dog stuffie with button eyes. Napoleon navigates this loss, experiencing his own saga of denial, bargaining, anger, despair and acceptance.

I have read this book to classes for its pure entertainment value and it has been a big hit. I do have to specifically point out the fact that the dog’s toy gets sucked up because the kids often miss this piece. It’s a great example of how an audience must “read” the pictures in picture books. Truly outstanding picture books add something extra in the illustrations. 

Watt offers an opportunity for a deeper read, beginning with the first page in which she offers two definitions of the key words in the book’s title: bug and vacuum. 

            Bug:                 an insect; an unexpected glitch

            Vacuum:          a cleaning machine; a void left by a loss

How brilliant that both meanings of each word apply in the book!

Ideally, I’d go through the book a couple of times, on different days. The first reading would be for fun, with some incidental learning of the five stages of loss. (Each stage is specifically introduced on a double-page spread, with the emotion featured as environmental print on a spray can, a box of detergent, a TV dinner box, a book cover and a tissue box.) Before the second reading, I’d invite students to chime in with a retelling of the story. Perhaps one or more of the stages will be mentioned, perhaps they won’t. But the second read allows the reader to stop on each stage and talk about how the bug and the dog are experiencing change or loss. For bargaining, for instance, the fly starts out saying that, clearly, the wrong bug got sucked up. The fly asks to postpone its stay. (“Can I be vacuumed next Monday instead? Tonight’s bowling night with the dung beetles!”) Eventually the fly finds the stub of a pencil and a scrap of paper in the vacuum to write a letter. It makes an offer: Set me free and I’ll be a reformed bug! The dog’s bargaining is simpler. He offers up a doggy treat for the vacuum in exchange for the release of his beloved toy.

A counselor could display the five stages of loss/change and add in examples from the book. It would serve as a great beginning point for talking about kids’ feelings as they deal with loss/change in their own lives (e.g., death of a relative, a friend moving, a change in friendship, news that they have to play inside on a rainy day, a canceled or postponed play-date) or as they try to understand a friend or relative who is experiencing a loss or a change.

I adore Bug in a Vacuum! It’s playful while offering the framework for understanding how we work through some of life’s greatest challenges, disappointments and losses. I hope you’re able to track it down and add it to your personal or professional library.

PUDDLE

By Hyewon Yum

(Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2016)

Ugh, rain.

It can feel so restricting. Often, the first thought for a child is, Now I’ll have to stay inside.It’s a thought reinforced by many a parent or teacher. After all, the child will get all wet and will traipse back inside with mud on his shoes or boots. 

Rain means wet which means mess.

A pouty, arms-crossed boy begins this story with a familiar refrain:

I hate rainy days.

There’s nothing to do. 

Nothing!

I can’t go to the playground.

I can’t play soccer.

I can’t ride my bike!

Anyone knows that not being able to do a choice activity only makes a person want to do it more. And leads to a sulky, miserable state of mind.

The boy’s mom suggests that they draw together. Fat chance. Sulky, miserable individuals are prone to shooting down every idea. 

Mom draws an umbrella and the curious boy gets pulled in. He draws himself holding the umbrella and then Mom and son take turns drawing as well as talking. (The mother’s words are in red italics, the boy’s in standard black.)

Eventually the two of them head outside with Billy, the family dog, for some real fun in the rain. Indeed, why stay indoors!

My one quibble with the book involves the illustrations. The boy draws his character while the mother draws herself. There’s too much detail in the young boy—stripes on the pants; five fingers per hand, four when the thumb can’t be seen while it holds the umbrella. (Presumably, the mother adds color to his cheeks and nose.) It would be more playful to see a greater contrast in the drawn characters, with Yum adopting a simpler style for the boy, the way Oliver Jeffers and David Shannon draw. 

Still, Puddlereminds children (and adults) how rain can bring a different kind of outdoor fun, with the right gear and perhaps a towel or well-placed mat waiting by the door when it’s finally time to come back inside.

A LONG WAY AWAY: A Two-Way Story

By Frank Viva

(HarperCollins, 2013)

This is an adventure book involving the travels of either an alien or an octopus. It all depends which end of the book you begin with since this book is designed to be read front-to-back OR back-to-front. The book is held lengthwise so that each page creates a double spread, with text read top-to-bottom OR bottom to top. Confused? You won’t be once you get your hands on the actual book.

Inside the front cover, the text begins:

     READY...STEADY...DOWN!

     ZOOM AWAY ON AN

     ADVENTURE THAT BEGINS ON

     A DISTANT PLANET

     AND TAKES YOU SOARING

     DOWNWARD

     INTO THE MYSTERIOUS DEEP.

     GO THIS AWAY

Conversely, from the back cover, the text begins:

     GO THAT AWAY

     ZOOM OFF ON AN

     ADVENTURE THAT BEGINS DEEP

     UNDERWATER

     AND TAKES YOU ZIPPING

     UPWARD

     INTO THE MYSTERIOUS COSMOS.

     READY...STEADY...UP!

Thus, depending on the direction you choose, your vertical voyage either plunges downward from space to sea or rises upward from sea to space. How can this book not invite repeated readings? Readers will also want to experiment with whether the meaning is intact, altered or lost when reading pages bottom to top. They can recommend adding words or phrases to deepen or expand understanding. In doing so, they are actively making meaning, playing with order and referring to Viva’s retro illustrations all of which are cast in a limited palette of single shades of blue, yellow, red, black and beige.

The novelty of the book’s construction will also lend itself to shared readings. I can even imagine turn-taking whereby one begins at the front and the other begins at the back to determine the middle point of the adventure. (The middle spread is perfect!)

It’s a quirky, playful book,...just what you’d want when the main character is an alien/octopus.

THE WOLF THE DUCK & THE MOUSE

Written by Mac Barnett

Illustrated by Jon Klassen

(Candlewick Press, 2017)

I have to prepare for the worst when I read a picture book with Jon Klassen’s name attached to it. As an animal lover, I didn’t immediately embrace I Want My Hat Back due to the ending. (I’ve come around, loosened up a tad.) Klassen and Mac Barnett are gifted humorists who, along with Mo Willems, have shaken up the picture book industry. So I opened The Duck The Wolf & The Mouse [no comma in the title] with both anticipation and trepidation. Predictably—at least for a book by these two—the book begins with a jolt:

Early one morning, a mouse met a wolf,

and he was quickly gobbled up.

In the traditional picture book world, this would not happen. Wolf and mouse would go on an adventure or exchange curiosities but there would be no eating, except maybe a pizza or some fresh-baked bread. Of course, the wolf eats the mouse. What a tasty snack.

But then things get twisted. The hungry wolf swallowed the mouse whole. And, prior to that, he swallowed a duck whole. Now mouse and duck live in perpetual darkness in the wolf’s achy belly. As duck invites mouse to join him for breakfast, mouse asks:

“Where did you get jam? And a tablecloth?”

The duck munched a crust.

“You’d be surprised what you find inside a wolf.”

Of course! It’s a winking explanation for all the nonsensical picture books with animals eating at pre-set dining tables.

The poor wolf experiences all sorts of stomach pains due to his active residents. (Is the moral of the story for little boys and girls, Chew your food? My mother would approve.) I shall not reveal more but Barnett’s clever story and Klassen’s familiar dark illustrations—all browns and grays—are a delight.

This is a satisfying tale that will turn the most frowny face upside down.

EXCLAMATION MARK

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

(Scholastic Press, 2013)

Such a fun book! There. I did it. I went ahead a used an exclamation mark. You should know that I try to use this punctuation sparingly. Even after my fourth cup of coffee. I just feel it can be overused, especially by excitable folks who put two, three or many more together in a row. As if Hello!!! tops my Hello!

Grr!

Exclamation Mark is a breezy read, a clever sentence or two on each spread. One poor exclamation mark feels very different in a community of periods. Alas, he stands out when all he (why not she?) wants to do is fit in. “It seemed like the only time he didn’t stand out was when he was asleep.” Here, Lichtenheld draws a row of sleeping periods and a reclining exclamation mark, his stick part horizontal instead of vertical.

As with so many characters in children’s books, being different doesn’t feel special to exclamation mark. It interferes with a desire to belong and to share things in common. Then one day he meets a question mark, a character who barrages exclamation mark with—What else?—a series of questions.

Do you like frogs?

What’s your favorite ice cream?

When’s your birthday?

Know any good jokes?

Do you wanna race to the corner?

On and on it goes until exclamation mark is forced to truly apply himself and utter an exclamation. And there it is. A sense of purpose. Exclamation mark is elated. He begins exclaiming more and more. By golly, there is value in being different.

The text of the book is set against pages designed to look like interlined notebook paper, a simple touch that kids will find familiar and inviting. Tom Lichtenheld, the acclaimed illustrator of such books as Shark vs. Train and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, has a challenge in bringing character to periods, exclamation marks and question marks, but he pulls it off. (This is the same guy who created a book with a small cloud as a main character.) The late Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s sparing text is as witty as ever. The talents of author and illustrator mesh together beautifully.

While the book is pure enjoyment, it also can be reread as a playful way to help children understand when to use each of the three featured punctuation marks. As a teacher, I would recreate each character and magnetize them for the classroom whiteboard, writing sentences and having volunteers add the proper punctuation. I might even have kids create three flashcards with these marks. For quick practice, someone could offer a sentence and classmates could hold up the correct flashcard as end punctuation. Even if kids don’t immediately improve punctuation in their own writing, the book and a bit of follow-up can raise awareness.

It’s a good book. Find it! What are you waiting for?