Super Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold.

This is the sequel to the Geisel Honor Book, Hi Fly Guy.  It contains the trademark Tedd Arnold humor and style.  In this book, Fly Guy goes to school with Buzz and discovers the lunch room.  He makes friends with the lunch lady by saying her name, Roz.  But the principal is not happy and when he discovers Fly Guy, he fires Roz for allowing the lunchroom to have flies.  They hire Miss Muzzle who can’t cook at all, burning everything into piles of brown glop.  But Buzz and Fly Guy come to the rescue and find a way to get rid of Miss Muzzle and get Roz back. 

I think I enjoyed this sequel more than the first book.  It has a great rhythm to the writing, the story is funny, and the book just carries the reader along.  This kind of momentum in an early reader is wonderful to see, because early readers need books that will grab them and make them want to see what will happen next.  The humor is also crucial because then the reader gets the joke and understands that the book is there for their enjoyment.  And perhaps best of all, this is a very boy-friendly book with gross humor that will not bother the adults. 

This is a necessary purchase.  If you are a librarian, get a copy for your library.  If you are a parent, find this at your library.  And make sure you read the first book too!

Super Fly Guy is being released in March.

Do Not Open This Book! by Michaela Muntean, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre.

As a child, I always adored The Monster at the End of This Book with Grover frantically trying to stop the reader from turning the pages.  Do Not Open This Book has the same feel as a little pig tries to stop the reader from reading the book because it isn’t finished.  He can’t figure out what kind of story to write, scary or bedtime.  He does try hanging word after word, but then the reader turns the page and scrambles them around.  Some of the jokes are straight out of the Grover book with the pig taking a Very Heavy Rock and putting it in the way of page turning. 

That said, this book does cause laughs of its own.  It contains a nasty letter to get the reader to leave where for every blank, you put in your own name.  This caused a lot of laughter with my two sons, and we had to read it over several times using each person’s name in the blanks. 

And on top of it, the book is really about the power of words, the writing process, and humor.  It is a great book to read one-on-one with an emerging reader.  They will be able to see how words go together to form sentences, gain clues to words from the way they are written, and have fun doing it. 

Sir Thursday by Garth Nix is the fourth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series.   Arthur is intent on heading out of the House and returning to the secondary realms to check on his family before he tries to find the next part of the Will and win the next Key.  But that is not to be.  Instead he is unable to return to his home because someone else is already there, pretending to be him.  Luckily, his friend Leaf can return and do battle with the strange creation that is impersonating him.  While he is trapped in the House, Arthur is drafted into the Glorious Army of the Architect under the command of Sir Thursday.  Arthur has to survive not only basic training, but a suicide run led by Sir Thursday himself. 

If all of this sounds a little confusing, that is part of the charm of this series.  The books are set in the House where the Universe is run.  Arthur is a reluctant hero who has been chosen as the Rightful Heir.  Because his own world and his family are threatened, he is forced to continue to battle through the Morrow Days one by one, putting the Will back together and gathering the Keys.  To my great joy, Arthur is accompanied now by two great girls who face battles themselves: Leaf and Suzy Blue.  The child characters are vividly rendered and they are surrounded by complex characters in the House.  The entire series should be read from the first, Mister Monday on through.  No skipping around, or you will miss some of the fun!

This book is recommended primarily for those who have read the first three.  But it could serve as a way for new people to get hooked on the series, wondering what they have missed.  It is not for reluctant readers or squeamish ones.  This is a dark series filled with humor and action.
Released March 2006.

Can You See What I See: Seymour Makes New Friends by Walter Wick. 

Walter Wick does it again with another charming Seymour book.  This illustrator of the continually popular I Spy series has created a series of his own that is for smaller children.  The illustrations are similar but more open with the same clear but cluttered photos.  Seymour is a little man made of wooden beads who along with the readers searches for items amid the pictures.   There is a slight storyline, but the most important part is finding the items and the fun of the search. 

This is not a book for storytimes, but one to curl up with a child and enjoy together.   Enjoy this one and search out the other Seymour books too. 

Fast Food by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers is another clever book from this duo.  They take vegetables and turn them into hilarious little creatures.  This time, they have focused on vehicles, from trucks made from squash to fire engines from red bell peppers to pear helicopters.  The result is a quirky, endearing book filled with all sorts of oohs and aahs. 

This duo is one of my favorites, and this book is one of the most readable books they have done.  This is a picture book that reads well and will allow you to share their silly humor with a group.  Really, if you haven’t seen their books, run out and get them while their fresh. 

A big thanks to A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy for posting about blog clouds, and for making me desperately want a t-shirt too! 

Here is my blog cloud: