I am on vacation with my boys for the next couple of days and then will spend the bulk of next week at PLA in Minneapolis. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the new children’s books, begging for ARCs, and chatting with vendors and librarians alike.
Hope you have a wonderful Easter and a great spring break!
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee.
James and Eamon head to Eamon’s grandparents house at the beach to go to nature camp nearby during the day. The book follows the boys not as they go to camp, but as they return to the house each evening. They play video games, each lots of banana waffles, and spend most of their time indoors even though the beach is right at their doorstep. It isn’t until their final night there that they spend some time outside and discover that it is the best part of their week.
This book is such a treat. Frazee has a great sense of humor that children will immediately appreciate. Often the text says one thing while the pictures tell the truth of the situation, which is great fun. But what makes this book so stellar is that it perfectly captures modern boys, video games, and friendship. The tone is exactly right, the characterizations are spot on, and there is a joyous skip to the entire book.
Additionally, the grandparents are a welcome pair in children’s books. Not relegated to the background, these grandparents are unique individuals who simply allow the boys to have the week they want to have rather than pushing them to do more constructive things.
Highly, highly recommended for boys, girls, parents and grandparents. This goes in my top ten picture books of the year. Recommended for a wide range of ages because of the humor: ages 6-10. (Actually, my 11-year-old laughed even louder than the rest of us!)
What’s So Bad About Being an Only Child? by Cari Best, illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
Rosemary Emma Angela Lynette Isabelle Iris Malone knows what it feels like to be an only child. And to her, it feels horrible! Smothering and lonely at the same time. She begs for a sibling, sulks for a sibling, but her parents don’t understand what’s wrong with being an only child. Rosemary struggles with her lack of brother or sisterhood until she meets a turtle at the pond and brings it home. Soon other animals follow as well and she has a menagerie at home who play with her, argue, share secrets and generally are the family she never had.
Rosemary is a character written and illustrated with such verve and vinegar. She’s a refreshing change from other little girls in picture books who can be a bit too pink and frilly to read as real. Rosemary is a true child from her pigtails to her crooked teeth to the glint of frustration in her eye. The illustrations and the text work well together, creating the pitch-perfect tone here.
While reading the book, I feared that this little girl was going to find a way to have a baby enter her family in one way or another. So I was happily surprised when she started collecting animals to be her family.
Immensely fun to read aloud and a joy to share, this book will be loved by children with many brothers and sisters or those with none. Recommended for ages 5-7.
Waking Brain Cells 