Day: July 20, 2016

Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban

| Tasha

Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban

Weekends with Max and His Dad by Linda Urban, illustrated by Katie Kath (InfoSoup)

Max’s father has an apartment of his own now where Max spends weekends. On his first visit to the apartment, Max is amazed at how white and clean everything is. Everything except his bedroom which is filled with football things, even though Max doesn’t particularly care about football any more. He is much more into being a spy. So Max and his father spend their weekend getting to know his new neighborhood by dressing as spies, taking covert photographs, eating pancakes, and following a mysterious man. Following visits to his father’s apartment involve meeting the neighbors, walking dogs, doing some homework, having a friend over and buying a couch. As Max settles into his new weekend routines with his dad, he learns a lot about what makes a place a home.

Urban writes with a gentleness about this new circumstance in Max’s life. Max is refreshingly unburdened by guilt in his parent’s divorce. The focus instead is on the new place to live, figuring out the different relationship, and realizing that a person can happily have two homes. Throughout the book, real love and devotion is shown by both Max and his father. There is a beautiful flexibility from both of them in each story and also a willingness to listen and learn from one another. Each also takes care of the other emotionally, not wanting to hurt one another. Which is also a very nice change from children lashing out in books about divorce.

The illustrations by Kath make this book very approachable for young readers. They nicely break up the text, plus add to the humor. Readers can see Max’s father in his full spy disguise as well as enjoying the finished school project and the furry fun of two basset hounds. The pictures add to the warmth and love that exude from this book.

A loving book about father and son relationships after a divorce, this novel for young readers demonstrates that life and love continues. Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

Lion Lessons by Jon Agee

| Tasha

Lion Lessons by Jon Agee

Lion Lessons by Jon Agee (InfoSoup)

A boy heads into a shop to take lessons in being a lion. First he has to don the appropriate outfit, complete with mane. His instructor is a professional and informs him that there are seven steps to becoming a lion. First though they have to stretch. The first step is looking fierce, but the boy’s poses don’t impress his teacher. The second step is roaring, but the he wasn’t loud enough. The third step was what to eat and the boy only wanted spaghetti, not the various animals. Prowling Around came next but the boy kept forgetting his tail. Sprinting had the boy running far up a hill and exhausted by the end. Pouncing didn’t work at all. Looking Out for Your Friends though suddenly had the boy acting a lot more lion-like than ever before!

I love Agee’s surreal picture book and his absurd look at life. This picture book is a delight with the farcical attempts of a boy trying to act like a lion alongside the stern professorial lion himself. The pairing of the two of them is wonderfully funny. Children will relate easily to the joy of pretending to be an animal and will see the humor in this much more formal way to learn something that is usually done so casually.

Agee’s illustrations are done in his signature style that is minimalist and effective. The illustrations are simple and will work well with a group thanks to their large format. There is plenty of humor in the illustrations as well, from the lion stretches as yoga poses to the glower of the lion himself. It is all filled with lovely timing too, all designed for maximum joy.

A great and surprising pick for back-to-school, this picture book will have them roaring with laughter. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.