Freight Train

Author: Donald Crews

Illustrator: Doland Crews
 

Year Published: 1978

The Gist of It: A colorful fright train travels on a set of tracks.

This is a very simple book and is really more of an art book than a story book. Kids will love to look at the pictures even of they can't read. The illustrations are beautiful; especially once the train starts moving quickly and the smoke. Even though there is a lot more emphasis on the illustrations there is learning for the kids. Each car on the train is labeled and is a different color. 

On the Bookshelf? Yes. It is a fun book to read and brings back great memories.

Waddley Sees the World: Upside Down Under: The Adventure Begins!

Author: Julie Davis Canter

Illustrator: Anca Delia Budeanu

Year Published: 2014

The Gist of It: A penguin stows away on a boat and gets to visit and learn about Australia. 

There is a lot of information in this book, which is very cool, but it may be too mucg for younger readers.For example, some pages have way too much writing on them because the author wanted to fit too much information in. The illustrations are nothing special, but every picture is brightly colored and very clean looking.

On the Bookshelf? Yes. Even with its faults it is a very cute book.

The Luck of the Loch Ness Monster

Author: A.W. Flaherty

Illustrator: Scott Magoon

Year Published: 2007

The Gist of It: A little girl traveling by boat in Scotland continually throws her oatmeal into the water where a sea worm eats it and grows into the Loch Ness monster.

Before reading this book, I thought it was going to be a book about the Loch Ness Monster, but it's really about the little girl which is disappointing.  The story is not that great, relying on telling what happened instead of illustrating it (with words obviously) There was also a lack of tension in the book; it all went in a straight line.In addition to that it is really not going to be a good book to read if you are trying to get a little one to eat their vegetables. The illustrations were interesting, but not worth the rest of the book. Each page had a faded tone to it building on the fact that this book is set in the past. 

On the Bookshelf? No. I really did not like this book. 

Hump-Free the Wrong Way Whale

Author: Henry Eismann

Illustrator: Jay Campbell

Year Published: 1985

The Gist of It: This is the story of a real humpback whale that wound up in the San Francisco Bay and how the people of San Francisco got him back out to sea to rejoin his pod.

This is a really simple book that mostly just states the facts, but it does so in an entertaining way. Reading this book you worry as Hump-Free keeps going further and further from the ocean and are happy for him once he makes his safe return. I think this book is unique the the norm of animal books because while it is about Hump-Free, the author doesn't anthropomorphize him. The illustrations are well done. Since Hump-Free is in water all the time it may have been difficult to show what he was doing as well as what was going on above the surface, but Campbell eliminated the problem in a very aesthetic way.

On the Bookshelf? Yes. It is always encouraging to see people doing the right thing and the people who help Hump-Free in this book do just that.

King & King

Author: Linda de Haan & Stern Nijland

Illustrator: Linda de Haan & Stern Nijland

Year Published: 2000 (2003 in English)

The Gist of It: The queen decides it is time for her son to be king, which means getting married. A lot of princesses come to the palace to see the prince, but he is not impressed by anyone until he meets Prince Lee.

This book is like a classic fairytale (rushed romance included) where the prince happens to marry a prince. While it is for young children it would have been nice to see a conflict in the story (similar to other fairtales) and more of Prince Lee. The illustrations for this book were created using a mixed media platform, which I really like because it makes every page unique. There is also so much to see on each page that may be overlooked the first time around.

On the Bookshelf? Yes. I think it is important to expose kids to different types of relationships so they don't turn into Neanderthals later in life and this book does a good job of that. Plus, I really like the artwork.

The Paper Bag Princess

Author: Robert Munsch

Illustrator: Michael Martchenko

Year Published: 1980

The Gist of It: After her castle and clothes are destroyed by a dragon, Princess Elizabeth, dressed in a paper bag, sets out to rescue Prince Ronald, who was taken captive - who is less than pleased at her un-princess-like appearance.

I like the moral of the story, that there is more to someone than their looks (even princesses) and that girls can be the hero of the story, too. However, there are several things I didn't like about this book. Number one: if Elizabeth's clothes got burned off in the fire, why did Ronald look so clean? Number two: Elizabeth had the dragon burn down 150 forests while she was tricking him, without worrying about anyone else was going to get hurt by this. The illustration is nice with a lot of vibrant colors and Elizabeth before and after the fire is well done; but, it is nothing special, with the exception to the dragon's fire which I think has a great look.

On the Bookshelf? I'll pass. While I like the overall message of the book, there are others that show it better, without the heroine doing heroic things because of a boy.

Goodnight Moon

Author: Margret Wise Brown

Illustrator: Clement Hurd

Year Published: 1947

The Gist of It: A little rabbit is going to sleep and is telling everything goodnight before he does.

This is definitely a classic children's book and it has spawned many parodies. It is a bit dated as to what is in the room, for instance the fireplace. But I think that adds to the nostalgic feel. The inconsistent rhyming drives me crazy, especially the line "goodnight moon/goodnight cow jumping over the moon." I also don't like that the picture on the wall opposite the bed completely got ignored. I do realize that it was the illustrator who made the decision to draw it, but in that case perhaps there should have been more collaboration between them. Other than that I really like the artwork in this book; not so much the drawing technique which seems pretty standard, but for the alternating pages of images being in black & white and the entire room being in color. And definitely for how the room gets darker every time it gets shown, but the fire remains the same. 

On the Bookshelf? Yes. My sister gave it to me for my first birthday and I gave it to her baby because it is a nice simple book to read to little ones before bed.

Greetings!

I cannot believe a new year has just began. It only seems like a week ago that it was summer, but that is how time goes I guess. I've been planning this for over a year now and I'm finally starting. And it feels good. My plan is to read children's books that sound interesting and that I would most likely read to my neveu and record what I think of the book once I read it. And the art, art is very important too. Here goes!