humor

Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus

| Tasha

Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus by Kristen Tracy

Camille is having a rough time as a fourth grader.  Her best friend has moved to Japan, and Camille has not gotten a letter from her yet.  She has low blood sugar and has to carry extra food to school in a cooler which makes her stand out from the others.  Her desk is right under a dangling hornet.  And to top it all off, she fell under the bus when she was trying to get on.  It’s enough to make someone give up entirely!  But not Camille McPhee.  Instead she is hopeful that things will get better.  She even has a plan to avoid making new friends by acting like a lone dingo.  And how could that fail?

Tracy has created a book that is modern and fresh.  It speaks to everyone who has been accident prone, or a misfit, or just has days or years filled with things going wrong.  In other words, it will speak to everyone.  Camille is a great heroine with a spot-on voice that is wry, funny and entirely herself.   Throughout the book, we can see Camille grow despite her own best efforts at staying the same.  The secondary characters are equally interesting from her warring parents to the girls who just might become her friends if she lets them.

A funny book about self-esteem, friendship and life in general, this book is a winner of a novel.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Check out Kristen Tracy’s website.

The Duck and the Kangaroo

| Tasha

The Duck and the Kangaroo by Edward Lear, illustrated by Jane Wattenberg

Combine Lear’s classic poem with funky, modern collages and you get a winner of a picture book!  Duck is bored living in his pond.  He wishes that he could travel the world the way Kangaroo does so he asks Kangaroo to carry him on his back.  But Kangaroo has one major concern about the plan, Duck’s wet, cold feet would be awfully uncomfortable.  Duck has already solved this problem by getting knitted socks and a cape to keep himself warm.  So off they hop, the two friends around the world three times.

Lear’s poem would make a great pairing with his other more famous The Owl and the Pussycat.  This poem is silly, wild and rather surreal, which matches well with Wattenberg’s illustrations.  Her collages incorporate Lear’s own art and that of others, creating a cohesive and fascinating blend of old and new, all in vibrant color.  Duck’s wide-eyed view of the world enhances the humor of the poem, as do other small touches like the rainbow of knitted socks perfect for webbed feet.

A wild and funny book that will find a niche of eager readers looking for something joyous and surreal.  Just hop along with the story and you will find a real treasure of a friendship by the end.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

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The Everything Machine

| Tasha

The Everything Machine by Matt Novak

On planet Quirk, they have an Everything Machine that does all of the work.  The machine cooks, cleans, gardens, paints, and even colors in the children’s coloring books and scratches people’s backs.  But one day, the machine stopped working.  There was no noise from its gears and whirring.  The people tried to fix it, but nothing worked.  Then they found a label that told them to call a repairman from Planet Bing Bong.  He immediately arrived and took the machine apart.  But now what were they to do!  They tried to help themselves but it was very hard to suddenly have to care for yourself.  Eventually it got easier and then it became fun to cook, garden, and color.  After months and months, the machine was finally fixed.  The problem was then that the people liked doing things themselves, so what could they do with the Everything Machine?

A brilliant statement on modern life and technology, this book is filled with humor both in its text and illustrations which keeps it from becoming heavy handed.  Novak’s illustrations feature cartoon-like aliens which are very human except for their single antenna topped with a red ball.  Novak excels at framed illustrations that show the people struggling to do things for themselves.  Nearly wordless, that two-page spread is pure vaudeville humor that every child will love. 

Highly recommended, this book has Everything and humor too.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Big Elephant in the Room

| Tasha

The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith

One donkey says to the other, “Can we talk about the big elephant in the room?”  The other donkey responds by trying to think of all of the things he may have done that are big problems.  Could it be the fact he ate all of the ice cream?  Could it be when he took the cool bike?  Could it be when he “fixed” the computer?  One after another these confessions of wrong-doing are mentioned without pause for breath.  Until finally, the other donkey says that it is none of those things.  He wants to talk about the blue elephant sitting in the room.

This vaudeville-style book is laugh-out-loud funny.  It captures the comedic timing perfectly and is great fun to read aloud at breakneck speed (with pauses for laughter of course.)  Smith’s donkeys are permanently frazzled and crumpled.  They are wildly silly and a great pair of opposite personalities.  Smith’s art is appropriately wild as well, lending just the right feel to the book.

Highly recommended for the slightly more sophisticated child who will enjoy the rather sly humor.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by A Patchwork of Books, 4IQREAD, Where the Best Books Are, The Hungry Readers, Pink Me, and Best Book I Have Not Read.

Guess Again!

| Tasha

Guess Again! by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex

If you have ever been asked to read a story aloud to a class of second and third graders, you know how hard it can be to find the perfect book.  It has to take less than five minutes to read but not insult these elementary children by being too juvenile for them.  Well, have I got the perfect book for you!

The book starts in a traditional format with a rhyming poem that for these older children obviously is talking about a bunny.  You may even get a few eye rolls from the crowd.  How young does this person think we are?!  Turn the page though, and watch the crowd go wild as the entire format of rhyming clues is turned on its head.  Expect a delicious moment of stunned silence and then lots and lots of laughter.  Filled with entirely silly moments, children will still enjoy trying to outguess the joke.  And in the end, they will have one final surprise as a running gag turns on its heel.

This is a book you must pick up and take a look at.  It is delightfully silly, monumentally funny to the target audience, and a complete hoot.  Make sure you are in the mood for laughing, or even better find a kid around 8 years old and laugh together.  As I look at it, it is also a great choice for reluctant readers because there are plenty of pictures, lots of whitespace, and humor! 

This is not a picture book for small children who will not understand the joke.  Save it for the jaded age of 7 and 8 year olds to get the best reaction.  Hey, I just may have to volunteer to read to my son’s class this year just to be able to share this book.

Appropriate for ages 5-8, older the better.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by A Year of Reading.

Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage

| Tasha

Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage by Kaye Umansky, illustrated by Johanna Wright

Clover is a sensible girl who isn’t bothered by being a housekeeper for a witch.  In fact, now Clover doesn’t have to tidy up after her many younger siblings at home and can have a bedroom all her own.  Tidying the witch’s cottage, cooking, cleaning and running errands is all very normal and domestic, but it can’t be that simple when magic is involved.  Clover meets Wilf, an exceedingly clumsy boy, who always seems to be in the middle of some sort of trouble.  But it takes a magic potion, a wicked witch, an invisible flying horse, and a lot more to really cause mischief and strife!

This book is funny and fast-paced.  The pace is a romp through a surprises, cunning plans, and twists.  Urmansky has written a book filled with magic that is not sentimental at all and happily pokes fun at the entire genre.  Clover is a wonderful and unexpected heroine in all of her quiet and clean glory.  Wilf is a great foil for her as he pratfalls around the book, causing confusion wherever he goes.  This book is not subtle.  It is vaudeville comedy wrapped in fairy tale paper. 

This would make a grand read-aloud for a 2nd or 3rd grade classroom where the broad comedy will play extremely well.  Appropriate for ages 7-11.

Reviewed from library copy.

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano

| Tasha

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano by Peggy Gifford

This third book in the Moxy Maxwell series continues with the same spirit and humor as the first two.  In this book, Moxy is getting ready for her piano recital, or she is supposed to be.  But she has a long list of things she has to do, which doesn’t include practicing her duet with her little sister Pansy.  So she must make a Green Grass Power shake for upper body strength, she must warm up her voice in case she is asked to sing, she must try on the cape that her grandmother is making for the recital, and much more.  Plus her mother expects her to practice the hard part of her song and her piano teacher expects her to stop at the end of the song and stop the banging in the middle.  Even with everyone’s great planning and expectations, things do not work out as Moxy envisioned them at the recital.

I adore Moxy’s character.  She is headstrong, unique and vivacious.  In each book, she remains true to herself and no one else.  Every other character is also written with great spunk, giving Moxy a canvas to really shine against.  All of the book feature the skilled photography of Valorie Fisher, who manages to take pictures just like a gifted young person would.  Her great eye mixes flawlessly with the great voice of the novel. 

Laugh-out-loud funny and a great hoot for this daughter of a pianist, I highly recommend you head out and read all of the Moxy books.  Right now!  If you are already a fan, this third novel will not disappoint at all.  Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy sent by the publisher.

Tacky Goes to Camp

| Tasha

Tacky Goes to Camp by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger.

Another great entry in the Tacky series, this time Tacky and his fellow penguins are headed to summer camp.  It is a rather frozen and snowy, summer camp, but most of the activities are the same.  There is swimming, sleeping in tents, archery, canoeing, and arts and crafts.  Tacky does things in his own unique way, especially compared to the other penguins who follow the rules, march in line, and don’t ever color outside the lines.  At the campfire, there are smores and stories.  Tacky eats as many smores as possible and  tells a very scary story, Beware the bear, that ends with a joke.  The other penguins are unimpressed until a bear enters their camp that night. Tacky is asleep in a smore-induced stupor but still manages to save the day.

Tacky is great humor for kids.  They will relate to his messiness, his inattention to details, and his amazing hunger for sweets.  They will laugh along with the story, happily knowing that Tacky will save the day.  Lester manages to create a story with humor and drama but no real fear for children.  Munsinger’s art sings along with the storyline, carrying some of the more visual humor. 

This light-hearted winner is a perfect for hot summer days or cold wintry ones.  It is a book that I would read aloud to slightly older children who will enjoy the humor and the setting.  Appropriate for ages 4-6, though children as old as 8 will love the story read aloud.

Dragonbreath

| Tasha

Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon

Danny the dragon wants to please his father and breathe fire, but he just can’t seem to do it.  His father advises him to “think hot thoughts” but that doesn’t work.  Delayed by his father’s fire-breathing lesson, Danny has to write his report about the sea on the bus.  Though he comes up with a clever but imaginary sea creature, he ends up getting an F but has a chance to redo the assignment.  So he and his best friend Wendell, an iguana, head to the Sargasso Sea (which happens to be on the bus route) and meet up with Danny’s cousin Edward, a sea serpent, who takes them on a great tour of the sea complete with adventure, danger and laughs. 

This book is a great mix of comic and novel with panels inserted regularly that carry the story forward via cartoons.  The story is then picked up again in prose form interspersed with illustrations.  This makes it very child-friendly and welcoming for children who enjoy reading on their own but may not be ready for a picture-free book yet.  The style of the book also works well with the comics, filled with jokes, humor and lots of laughs.  There is a great sarcasm about the dialogue that makes this a book that children throughout elementary school will enjoy. 

Danny and Wendell are a great pair of friends.  Danny always upbeat and ready for anything (with the exception of breathing fire.)  Wendell rather morose and cautious, often the butt of the jokes, but also intelligent.  The characterization throughout is nice, never being lost at the expense of the humor or short length of the novel.

Appropriate for ages 7-10, this book makes a great read aloud too.  The voices are distinct and lots of fun to portray when reading aloud.  That said, this is also a good book to give to reluctant readers.   I’m looking forward to the next book in the series with its promise of ninja frogs!