Children’s Literature

After all of the serious Penguin reading I’ve been doing, I needed a light and easy break. Thankfully, I had three Cybils books on my library cart and those did the trick.

First, I’m fascinated by Zapato Power. I’ve never seen a children’s book quite like it. First, we learn that Freddie and his mom live in an apartment complex where the superintendent works hard to keep things neat and tidy – not like the last place they lived where the big kids wrote nasty words on the walls and nobody cleaned it up. And then we learn that Freddie’s dad was not only in the Army, he DIED while overseas fighting. That never, ever happens in early reader books. Never ever. Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!  I am now a Freddie Ramos fan.

Next, a middle grade graphic novel called Smile. Elly read it last week and said it was SAD. That confused me. I expected it to be funny. She’s right, it was sad. Forget the dental drama – it was the mean girl issue that was sad. And unfortunately, felt pretty accurate.

Last and also least, my dirty little secret comes out. I have never liked “choose your own ending” books. I cringed when I saw Meanwhile on the Cybils shortlist. I tried to be hopeful about it. Maybe a graphic novel version would be something I’d like? Alas. No. It was worse. On the first try… the story ended on the second page. (which was cleverly done, by the way.) On my next try, it ended on the third page – or maybe I got confused and did not follow the tube-y lines properly, which is pretty likely because lord help me I cannot follow those little lines. The third and fourth times, I was more successful but again… I cannot follow those lines. The panels not related to my current path distract me and I found myself completely confused.

None of this means that Meanwhile isn’t a brilliant, awesome book. IT IS. Elly loves it. I am just not hardwired for this kind of thing. I’m just not. Your kids (and you) might be. You should check it out. It’s a very clever idea – and nicely drawn.

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I’m still dealing with this virus or whatever the hell it is that sent me to the ER on Thursday. So reading – not easy. Also, work is really busy (I’m sneaking a five minute break at 9:15pm to write this before I forget… that’s how busy it is…) so having these light and easy Cybil’s to turn to was a real joy. Well, mostly a joy.

The least joy-bringing, The Unsinkable Walker Bean. Elly read this one last week and said it was ok (great art) but it was kind of hard to follow and she didn’t love it. I read it last night and… it was ok (great art) but it felt muddy at the end – which is why I think Elly said it was hard to follow. I think also, at least at first, it wasn’t always easy to tell who people were because they were drawn healthy and then sick so there was a bit of confusion until you got comfortable with that. I liked Walker and his grandfather and the other “kids” he met along the way. I’m guessing there’s a part two, where we learn why Gen was able to look at the skull…

Next, Princess Posey and the First Grade Parade was a very cute book that those going to first grade will appreciate. Heck, I think the idea of a first day of school parade like Posey’s teacher did is a terrific idea – I’m glad Posey thought of it. Very cute.

My favorite of these three was Anna Hibiscus and I didn’t expect that to be the case. But, there’s something about Anna and her family that sucked me in and by the end of the book I was yelling (out loud) “NO! It can’t end there! Children’s books should not have cliffhangers! What happens NEXT?” Seriously. TW was not amused with me. I’m dying to find out what happens when Anna visits Granny Canada and sees snow for the first time. Which reminds me, I need to go reserve that book right now. MUST read.

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