“Stories are the wildest things of all, the monster rumbled.” (p. 35)
A Monster Calls left me breathless. Speechless. And completely incapable of producing a coherent review. All I had were a bunch of words tumbling around in my head, an ache in my heart, and one charge: READ IT. Below, see my best attempt at captivating what this book meant to me.
Filed under Book Reviews, Young Adult Literature
Friday seemed to come around quickly this week, which I’m sure everyone will agree is a very good thing. I have 3 fun books to share today. They’re great for storytime and I’ve used them with a ton of success at our school outreaches.
That’s Not Funny by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds
When a mischievous Hyena decides to place a banana peel on his friend Giraffe’s path, a hilarious chain of events ensues. Giraffe skids into a tree, knocking a coconut on Hippo’s head, who steps on Snake, who bites Ostrich…and, well, you get the picture. Through it all Hyena just laughs and laughs at his friend’s misfortunes. He’s so busy laughing that he forgets all about the banana peel, which is now in his path. Let’s just say Hyena gets what he deserves…and elephant poo is involved. The kids were rolling on the floor by the end of this book.
When A Monster is Born by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Nick Sharratt
“When a monster is born, there are two possibilities – either it’s a faraway-in-the-forests monster, or … it’s an under-your-bed monster.” And so begins a choose-your-own-adventure-esque type of story about what would happen if you took your monster to school, it eats the principal, then walks out through the wall, meets a kitchen-girl, who turns into a monster and they fall in love and has a little monster baby. I love how the kids shriek “EWWWWWW” when the monsters fall in love. Of course, I make it sound as gushy and romantic as possible, which makes them shriek even louder.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Leonardo is a terrible monster. He can’t seem to scare anyone. One day, he decides he’ll find the wimpiest kid out there and scare the tuna salad out of him. After much research, Leonardo narrows it down to one pathetic little boy named Sam. Leonardo gave it all he’s got and Sam begins to cry. Finally! Success! Leonardo isn’t such a terrible monster after all! But Sam quickly bursts his bubble by blurting out a long and very whiny list of reasons as to why he is crying, none of which has anything to with being scared by Leonardo. The monster is disappointed at first, but is cheered by the idea that perhaps instead of terrible monster, he could try being a really good friend. Mo Willems does it again with a simple, humorous tale that kids love every time they hear it.
Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature
The Paper Pusher 