Piper Reed: Navy Brat, by Kimberly Holt & illustrated by Christine Davenier

This is a good chapter book for early readers. Children who have just moved or are part of a military family would really be able to relate to the story. The book is a little but long (160 pages) but the simple text is meant for younger readers. The main character is 9, so I would say kids older than this would most likely think it was too immature for them.

The book tells a humorous story of a girl named Piper and her family. Her mother is a painter and her father is in the Navy, so the family is always traveling from place to place. Piper has to learn to adjust to a new place and finds a lot of adventure along the way.

The story talks about a lot of things that kids can relate to and seems to be very true to life - bossy older siblings, whiny younger siblings, disagreeing with parents, long car rides, meeting new friends, among some. I really enjoyed the book, as I read, I noticed that I was getting anxious to know what was coming next. Holt's descriptive writing style definitely pulls in the reader, and gets them involved in the text. The illustrations add a little bit to the story, and seem to match up with Piper's personality and what's happening in the story.

The Market Square Dog, by James Harriet & illustrated by Ruth Brown

This story is so touching. I can see how kids would really enjoy it, it sparks emotions and Harriet is able to create a bond with the reader/listener right off the bat. It is written in a simple and straightforward manner, which makes it easy for a child to understand and follow the progression of the story.

It tells the story of a frightened stray dog that lives on the Market Square, the people of the market are curious about the little dog, but the dog is too frightened to get near anyone. The dog is lonely and sad as it begs patrons of the market for a biscuit. One day the dog is injured with a broken leg and a veterinarian notices that the dog is in a lot of pain. Finally the dog realizes his need for a human companion, and the vet and his wife take the dog home to repair the dog's broken leg. When the dog is well, it goes back to the market until finally it is "arrested" by the police officer who was never before able to get close enough to the dog. In the end the dog goes home with the policeman, and we see the two daughters of the officer playing happily with the Market Square dog.

The dog was gentle all along, the people of the market just needed to give him a chance to prove it. I almost cried while reading this book, I just wanted someone to help the dog so badly!

The illustrations are very beautiful as well. They are realistic, detailed, and classic illustrations that are perfect for the mood of the story. I would recommend reading this in a lower elementary classroom to bring up the importance of being compassion.

Goop Tales: Alphabetically Told, by Gelett Burgess

Above is a page of Burgess' book, Goops and How to be Them, introducing the Goops.

Well, now that I have explained my infatuation with the stories of the Goops, I might as well blog about a Goop book. I never knew how many children's books Gelett Burgess had published. The one I read in my imaginary schoolhouse called Goops and How to be Them, was published in 1900. It is a collection of poems about misbehaving children. It is classified as a manual on manners and is supposed to teach kids manners using poems and small drawings about the horrible Goops as examples of BAD BEHAVIOR.

This "new" book (not really new, but new to me - published 1905) about the Goops, is even more similar to Ashman's M is for Mischief than the other book that initially sparked my curiosity in this whole thing. I wonder if Goop Tales was an inspiration for Ashman's humorous manners book??

Goop Tales is an alphabetical collection of poems about poor mannered children, the beginning letters of their names and behaviors correspond to a letter of the alphabet.

The book is so funny! I think that, even though the book is more than one hundred years old, the content and messages are still relevant and can be humorous as well! I'm definitely going to keep these on the shelf and continue my search for more of Burgess' children's books.

M is for Mischief: An A to Z of Naughty Children, by Linda Ashman & illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

I loved this book! It's hilarious! I remember reading this old fashioned book called Goops: and How to Be Them by Gelett Burgess when I was really little. I pretended I was in a one room schoolhouse, I read the old primer and other "old-looking" books my dad kept in his office, perhaps some I should not have read... Anyway, reading this book by Ashman took my right back to my Goop reading days in the "schoolhouse." The rhyming language, and extraordinary use of vocabulary is reminiscent to that of Burgess, and I LOVE IT.

This book is a collection a rhyming poems about naughty children. Each poem uses as many words in each short poem as possible using the child's name as the foundation. For instance, my favorite is the letter J -
"Joking Jackson
How that joker, Jackson, joshes:
Hiding jacks in Joe's golashes; ..."

Ha! It's so great! Plus, I suppose if you are brave enough to use this in a classroom setting, it could be a book full of mini-lessons on behavior. However, teacher be ware: the author provides a WARNING on the cover: "This book contains obnoxious children. Read at your own risk!"

The illustrations are really neat too, using all kinds of interesting design elements. For instance, there are pen drawings, water color, digital images, photography, and others. Did I say that I love this book?

Alphabet Mystery, by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Bruce Wood

This book was a real page-turner! It uses the lower-case letter (and capital I and M) as the characters. The letters belong to a little boy named Andy, who is planning a birthday surprise for his mom.

Beginning on the very first page, a mystery is introduced, little x is missing! The rest of the book tells the story of an imaginative adventure of flying on pencils, exploring a castle and finally finding little x dancing for the horrible green monster -capital M. Little x feels lonely and sad because he is never used (not many words need a little x). Finally the little x is coaxed back home and I and M are invited as well. Finally the final page displays the message that is written on a birthday cake for Andy's mom "I love you Mom! xxxx" Of course you need lots of little x for this message!

This book is excellent for teaching the alphabet and letter recognition to kids. The names of the letters are emphasized in the text using a different color which could be used in the classroom to get all the kids to say these letters together. One page of the book shows each letter of the alphabet with the presents they chose for Andy's mom, this can be used as a fun activity for kids too (they could find all the letters and realize, "hmm... the present each letter chooses begins with them").

There are just endless opportunities in this book to stop and discuss, unlike many of the other alphabet books that are out there, this one expands and allows for elaboration on teaching skills like comprehension, inquiry, and learning about components the of a story.

P.S. After I read this book with a two-year old who was very engaged with the story, he was seeing "little x" all over the place: in other books, on the fridge (magnet), on a tv program... There should be one like this for every letter of the alphabet!

Among the Odds and Evens: A Tale of Adventure, by Priscilla Turner & illustrated by Whitney Turner

Hmmm... That's what I was thinking after having read, re-read, and contemplated the multiple meanings, messages, motivators for learning in this strange children's book. I really liked it, it was thought provoking and used very intellectual language and dialogue.

Turner tells a story about two travelers, X and Y who crash land in their "aerocycle" on the land of Wontoo which just happens to be populated by some very strange and different these beings - numbers! Upon closer study of the mysterious new peoples, X and Y find that there are two groups - odds and evens. Of course the story gets even stranger when the children of the Wontoois are brought into the "equation." You see, a couple of even numbers have even children, a couple of odds have even children, but it is ONLY when an even and an odd "hook-up" that odd kids are produced.

Wow! Weird.

I could analyze this book as a work in anthropology (a mirror to our own anthropological studies of those who are different, who are "the other"), as a book to introduce numbers or odds and evens, or perhaps X and Y are the variables?? I just don't know how to interpret it, but however it is done, the book is just plain CRAZY - crazy in a good way.

I'm not sure if younger children would be able to keep up with vocabulary and hidden meaning, but the illustrations and basic story line are engaging nonetheless. Actually, the illustrations are amazing, they tell a story all by themselves, I was lost for over an hour in these watercolor paintings by Whitney Turner (it would have been longer if I hadn't forced myself to stay on task. What creativity and imagination it must have taken to create this story of adventure!