humor

Review: What to Do If an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson

| Tasha

if an elephant stands

What to Do If an Elephant Stands on Your Foot by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

You must stay calm, if an elephant stands on your foot.  The last thing you want to do is startle it…YEEEOOOWWW!  Now you probably want to run away from the elephant, but resist that and don’t run.  After all, running attracts tigers.  Oops.  OK, so now that you have the tiger’s attention you have to be silent.  No sudden noises, like a sneeze.  And so the romp in the jungle continues with the poor character steadily making worse and worse choices, including climbing up a tree and jumping into crocodile infested water.  Finally, thanks to the help of some friendly monkeys, you arrive home safe and sound.  All you need to do is apologize to the elephant, but remember, don’t startle him! 

I absolutely adored this wild ride of a book.  It reads aloud beautifully, though I’d practice a bit before using it with a group because the timing of the jokes is everything here.  Robinson’s writing has a great comedic feel, and the book design maximizes the humor with the page turns.  The pace is wild and almost run away, suiting the subject.  The book is one long running gag, which will delight young readers.

Reynolds’ art adds to the humor.  He manages to take sedate and even friendly animals and with one sneeze or jump turn them alarmingly grumpy.  This creates a zany energy in the art and the book as a whole.

This is a book to keep in your bag for when the kids get restless.  Pull it out with a grin and a flourish.  I’d also keep it in mind for an option when reading to older elementary children, since they will love the humor too.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Review: Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It by Gail Carson Levine

| Tasha

forgive me i meant to do it

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Based on William Carlos Williams’s “This Is Just to Say” poem, these poems borrow the form and the apology but build upon it with a wild array of situations.  In each poem, an apology is offered, but all of them are done conditionally and many are completely insincere.  There is an apology for eating all of the ice cream and replacing it with anchovies.  There is an apology for turning a bully into a fly and having a swatter ready to go.  Then there are many apologies based on fairy tales or songs that children will enjoy seeing from a new and inventive perspective.  This is a book to pick up and read out of order, unless of course you stumble upon one of the apologies the author has included that might make you reconsider that approach! 

I’m always on the look out for funny poems to share with children, since I’ve found that Prelutsky and Silverstein make a great ice breaker when talking with groups.  Even the jaded upper elementary class can be caught off guard by a charmer of a poem, especially one that elicits guffaws and merriment.  I can see these very short poems being shared in groupings as part of a class visit.  Perhaps interspersed with information about the library and its offerings.

The entire work is very funny, though some of the poems work better than others.  The illustrations hearken to Silverstein’s work with the ink drawings done without additional color.  They have a wonderful frenetic energy to them and also a delight at the situations. 

This will be a welcome addition in elementary classrooms that are working with poetry.  It also makes for a great giggly bedtime read.  Appropriate for ages 7-10. 

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Bink & Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee

| Tasha

bink and gollie two for one

Bink & Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile

Oh how I adore these two characters!  I was thrilled to see Bink and Gollie returning for a second book.  This time the friends head to the state fair.  Bink wants to play Whack a Duck but her aim is not as good as she might think.  She manages to hit the man running the booth with hysterically funny results.  The two girls then head to what Gollie wants to do, which is to enter the talent show.  She assures everyone that she has several talents and Bink continues to tell people that, but it doesn’t quite work out like Gollie had expected.  Finally, the friends head to the fortune teller’s tent where they are told just what they both want to hear most.  The entire book is a laugh-out-loud funny, warm and cozy work that is simply glorious.

I really enjoyed that the different chapters in the book have very different feelings.  The first is so wildly funny that I was chortling out loud to myself and had to share it with others in my family.  The writing throughout the book is smart, clever and funny.  Readers will be able to see the jokes coming, but the writing takes it to a different level.  Above all, these two are friends who stand together and celebrate their differences.

Fucile’s art is a huge part of both the humor and the warmth of the book.  Throughout the vaudeville humor of the first chapter, I was amazed at how much physical humor could be portrayed on a page.  He has his own sense of comic timing that adds so much.

Highly recommended, if you haven’t read Bink & Gollie yet, make sure to try both books.  Fans will adore this second in the series and long for the next one immediately.  This is a modern children’s classic.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Dog in Charge by K. L. Going

| Tasha

dog in charge

Dog in Charge by K. L. Going, illustrated by Dan Santat

Dog had been busy all day.  He had sat, stayed and even danced dressed in a pink ribbon and tutu.  But his entire day changed when he was left in charge of the cats when the humans left.  Dog knew just what to do.  He would have the cats sit and stay.  But before he could order the cats around, all five of them had completely disappeared.  One-by-one dog found the cats.  They were lapping milk on the kitchen counter, hiding in the fireplace, in the clothes hamper, in bed, and putting on makeup.  Dog had to think of something quick!  Then he had a great idea: cat treats!  Unfortunately, they smelled so delicious that he couldn’t help himself and ate the entire bag.  Then, exhausted and full, he fell asleep.  When the cats found him, you will never guess what they did next!

Going has a wonderful tone and patter for slapstick comedy.  Her timing is right on and makes the book a delight to read aloud.  She also puts on an unexpected ending that will warm the heart and makes the book all the more wonderful to share. 

Santat’s illustrations are done in a mixture of different types of frames that add a dynamic touch to the book.  At the same time, they bring to mind vintage cartoon characters and have all of their charm and wit. 

This jolly picture book would make a great addition to storytimes about either cats or dogs.  It’s one of those that you can hold until the end to make the little bodies stay still.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Review: Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough

| Tasha

devine intervention

Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough

When his best friend shot him in the head with an arrow, Jerome died instantly.  Now he finds himself in between Heaven and Hell, given a second chance to save himself from eternal torment.  He’s been appointed as Heidi’s guardian angel as part of soul rehabilitation.  Jerome didn’t actually read the handbook for guardian angels, so he’s mostly just winging it.  Heidi has heard Jerome’s voice in her head since she was small.  When she got older, she started to realize that others don’t hear voices like that and that she may be crazy.  So Heidi started to withdraw and kept more and more to herself.  She doesn’t always listen to Jerome’s advice, though he tries to help.  So when she and her best friend head on stage during Talentpalooza and there is a major wardrobe malfunction, Heidi has no one but herself to blame.  But that’s not why she was out on the pond’s thin ice at all.  Though her life (or death) will never be the same after falling through.

Brockenbrough strikes just the write tone in this novel.  While deep issues are dealt with, she keeps the writing light and playful.  It helps that she is a truly funny author, writing with a hilarity that makes reading the novel pure fun.  At the same time, she does fully explore the meaning of life in the book, what death may hold for us, and the importance of family, even dysfunctional ones.  Her lighter tone makes these deeper issues all the more reflective and powerful.

The two main characters are very successfully drawn.  For me, Jerome is the voice of the book.  It is his perspective on life and death that makes the book work so well.  Heidi on the other hand is vital to the book, but doesn’t have the whiz and bang of Jerome.  That said, a book only needs one star of a character.  Heidi makes a grand secondary lead character, offering a different perspective and a lot of action to the book.

This funny teen novel about death and life features juvenile delinquents as guardian angels.  I think that explains a lot about life.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from ARC received from Arthur A. Levine Books.

Review: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

| Tasha

three times lucky

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Mo LoBeau arrived in the small North Carolina town of Tupelo Landing as an infant riding on a hurricane wave.  She was discovered by the Colonel, a man also trapped in the storm who completely lost his memory.  Now at age 11, Mo helps the Colonel and Miss Lana run the café that is attached to their home.  It’s a quiet life, punctuated by the hope of her long-lost mother finding one of the bottles that Mo sends off upstream.  Then the law comes to town and things get interesting.  A murder was committed in a nearby town, then someone is murdered right in Tupelo Landing!  Mo and her best friend, Dale, form a detective agency and try to stay a step ahead of the police as they investigate the murder, try to clear Dale’s name, and worry that the Colonel may be mixed up in things too.  All Mo knows is that it is up to her to continue to trust the people she loves so fiercely and to prove their innocence. 

I must admit that I sighed a bit when I discovered that this was another book set in a small town in the south.  I knew that it would be filled with interesting small town characters, probably have a spunky heroine, and expected that it would be pretty formulaic as well.  It does have interesting small town characters, but also ones that resemble modern society.  As much as this is a story of a family that is created out of love alone, it is also the story of what a small town community can be.  Yes, Mo is spunky.  She is also smart, savvy and wonderfully inventive.  And while the story starts out in a familiar way, it quickly turns into a book that is a fun, fast-paced read.

The story is not as light-hearted as it might seem on the surface.  Dale lives with his mother in fear of his drunken father returning and beating him.  There are families that are divided in other ways, including money.  And without giving anything away, there are twists that are surprising in a children’s book.

Turnage’s writing is filled with humor.  She creates memorable characters, dancing quickly with stereotypes and then reaching beyond them to something that means much more.  She is not afraid of real danger in her book and she is also not shy about deep love.  It is a book about family, community, bravery and friendship. 

This is one to read on a slow summer day, preferably one threatening a nice fat thunderstorm.  Now if someone can just find me a real café like Miss Lana’s I’m all set.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books.

Review: Animal Masquerade by Marianne Dubuc

| Tasha

animal masquerade

Animal Masquerade by Marianne Dubuc

This picture book takes one long-running gag and turns it into a very funny picture book.  As the animals get ready for the masquerade, they have to dress up in costumes.  Each animal dresses up as another animal and then that animal chooses yet another animal to dress up as.  It forms a neat chain.  Much of the humor is in the depictions of the costumes themselves and also in the occasional asides that break the rhythm of the book for even more of a punch-line effect.  Fonts are also played with as the hummingbird disguised as an ostrich has its fonts hidden half underground just like its head.  In another spot, the butterfly disguised as a bat has its font upside-down.  All of the small touches add to the giggles in this picture book.

Dubuc’s art here is wonderfully whimsical and playful.  The different animals in disguise are often absurd and completely strange.  Just wait until you get to the animals that dress up like a three-headed monster, Red Riding Hood dressed as a chocolate cake, and the hen that is too dim to understand what is happening and doesn’t dress up as anything at all.   The book is longer than most picture books in terms of number of pages, but that adds to the running gag theme here. 

This picture book will do well read aloud very straight and seriously until the first big joke hits.  Then make sure to leave plenty of time for the giggles to pass before moving on.  It will work well for Halloween too, without anything scary about it.  Appropriate for ages 4-6. 

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Remarkable by Lizzie K. Foley

| Tasha

remarkable

Remarkable by Lizzie K. Foley

Jane Doe is a very ordinary person, which wouldn’t be that odd, except she lives in the town of Remarkable, which is filled with the most gifted and talented people anywhere.  Her family is full of gifted people, like her grandmother the mayor, her mother the architect, her brother the painter, her father the best-selling author, and her sister the mathematical genius.  Jane on the other hand is just like her grandfather, easily overlooked and ordinary.  They are so ordinary that they can’t get noticed long enough to get ice cream at the local soda shop.  Jane is the only student left in the regular school, since all of the other children are in the gifted school.  But then things start to change in Remarkable.  A pirate captain comes to town, followed by three of his crew who are searching for him.  Jane gets two classmates who have been kicked out of the gifted school because of their mischief.  In fact, Jane’s life might not be quite as dull and ordinary as she first thought.

Foley takes the idea of a very ordinary character and runs with it.  Jane is completely normal and it is her surroundings that are wild, extraordinary and unusual.  At the same time though, Foley does much to celebrate the ordinary and to point out that the quiet, the plain and the unassuming have gifts too though it may take some time to find them or notice them.

Foley’s writing is great fun in this book that mixes a huge sense of humor with some wild adventures.  The book starts slowly, nicely building towards the incredible ending that is filled with pirates, storms, music, cheap jelly, and even a sea monster.  The story has wonderful little touches, side characters who are nice diversions, and plenty to love. 

This would make a great pick for a class read aloud in elementary school and it would also make a remarkable read this summer.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

Review: Frog and Fly by Jeff Mack

| Tasha

frog and fly

Frog and Fly: Six Slurpy Stories by Jeff Mack

Six very short stories about a frog and a fly are told here.  Done in comic panels, the stories are all simple and quite funny.  In each story, the frog meets a fly and ends up not really making friends but instead making lunch.  Each story is slightly different and filled with little puns.  The frog manages to cleverly lure the fly closer by talking with it, but eventually just slurps that fly right up.  The arc of the first two stories is very similar.  The third brings in ketchup and a burger.  The fourth has different animals shooing the fly away from them, until the frog welcomes the fly closer.  The fifth story has races between the frog and fly that the fly wins over and over again, until the final one.  The sixth story has the frog get his comeuppance much to the glee of the fly.  Slurp!

Mack has tapped right into the sense of humor of preschoolers with these stories.  The running gag of eating the fly makes the final story all the more satisfying with its twist.  This is the sort of book that my two sons would have loved at that age, laughing along with delight.  It’s one that reads aloud very nicely, and even better, gives you the opportunity to work on a fly voice and a frog ribbit.

Mack’s illustrations are simple and colorful.  The lines are crisp and clean, echoing the thickness of the font used for their dialogue.  They reflect the humor of the entire book, with silly grins and a big pink slurping tongue.

Sure to get laughs at preschool story time, this makes a silly addition to any story time on frogs or flies.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.