Silly Sally / Audrey Wood

"Silly Sally" is a lovely board book that portrays Sally as she tries to get to town, walking backwards, upside down. Sally runs across a dog, a pig, a loon and various other characters on her journey and they all end up walking to town (backwards and upside down) with Sally.

Silly Sally is a colourful, fun, interesting, lively, tough little book. The bright yellow, blue and purple colours are sure to catch the attention of young children and the bouncing lively narrative will be fun for infants and toddlers to listen to and repeat. The actions in the book also merit the attention of readers and listeners as Sally dances with the pig, as she sings with the loon, and she sleeps with the sheep. This is a tough little book that could endure lots of handling by little hands, and I'm sure it will instigated a round of tickling near the end of the story.

Full moon rising / Joanne Taylor, ill. Susan Tooke

"Full moon rising" is book about the mythology of full moon naming. Each month the full moon has been given a name relating to events that happen in that month like; the Snow Moon or Planting Moon. The story is told from the point of view of a youngster living on a farm who describes events that take place during that moon phase.

The narrative evokes images of rural life and the changing of the seasons. The illustrations are lush and detailed and filled with joy and contentment. The background for each page is a print of a seasonal nature which sometimes distracts the eye from the main illustration. This book may not be one that grabs the attention of a distracted toddler, but it is beautiful and interesting and it would be nice for a sleepy morning story time.

Goosebumps: Chicken Chicken / R. L. Stine

“Chicken Chicken” is a story about a brother and sister named Crystal and Cole. Crystal and Cole get caught at the scene of a practical joke being played on Vanessa (the town weird woman), and she whispers “chicken chicken” at them as they run away. After that weirdness gets a new name as sister and brother slowly begin turning into chickens.

This book is just plain fun. I have not previously read any of the Goosebumps series and I thought they were mainly spooky tales. “Chicken Chicken” is a fast paced, simple, thrilling and spooky story. All these elements make for a story that would probably catch the interest of any older children. There are seems to be simple moral in this the story which may or may not strike a cord with readers, but it certainly clearly makes a point about politeness and respect.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear? / Bill Martin, Eric Carle

"Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?" is a simple and colourful picture book that would be ideal for story time. The story asks an animal what it hears and it replies with the name of yet another animal. This goes on until the zookeeper hears children making the sounds of the animals in the zoo.

The text in this book is simple and repetitive and would fit story time perfectly, allowing children to make their favourite animal sounds on the last page with the rest of the children. The images are large (filling the whole page), colourful and set on a clear background. I can imagine children would ask to have this book read time after time.

I want a dog / Dayal Kaur Khalsa

May is a young girl who is obsessed with the thought of owning a dog. She thinks about dogs constantly and regularly asks her parents to get her one. May tries several strategies to convince her parents to buy a dog, to no avail. Eventually, May starts walking her roller skate around by its lace (leash) and she tells everyone she is practicing for when she gets a dog. After some teasing, May's friends start walking their rollers skates as well.

The text complexity and story about responsibility makes this story more appropriate for children old enough to understand this concept. The illustrations are a simple, colourful representation of a typical North American suburban neighbourhood. I like the fact that their story shows a young girl's persistent, creative and proactive methods of convincing her family that she could handle owning a dog. I think the story is a very encouraging book for children with problems they are working to solve and it encourages them to 'think outside the box.'

My friend gorilla / Atsuko Morozumi

When a small boy's father brings home a gorilla from a zoo that has just been closed, at first the boy appears to be very surprised and apprehensive. As the gorilla spends time living with the boy and his family, the boy seems to become more at ease with the new family member. The gorilla plays with the boy, sleeps in the bunk under him and attends his birthday.

This picture book is large colourful and is beautifully illustrated. The premise of "My friend gorilla" is very odd, but it may be intended to be a book that encourages younger children to think about new additions to their family like; pets or new siblings and how they will eventually become accustomed to the new addition and even miss them if they leave. The odd premise will not likely be a problem for a young child, and it may prove to be a good subject for debate among older children. The text is very simple and repetitive, but not rhythmic. I think a better working of the text may enhance the book, but in general the it is well done.

Tales of a fourth grade nothing / Judy Blume, ill. Roy Doty

"Tales of a fourth grade nothing" is a story told by Peter the older of two brothers living in a New York apartment next to Central Park. Peters younger brother Fudgie, is always getting into trouble often at Peter's expense. Peter is regularly put in the embarrassing position of doing things so that his little brother will then imitate his older brother. Each chapter of this story presents a misadventure that this family undergoes in the run of a day.

Tales of a fourth grade nothing is well written and entertaining story that some children of Peter's age (9 years) could relate to if they had younger siblings. Of course Fudgie pulls some very outrageous stunts, but those tricks may certainly have similar parallels in the lives potential readers. The boy's parents usually handle the situations well and we find that Peter is usually a good sport and helps his parents deal with his precocious younger brother.

Is it hairy? Is it scary? / Annie Owen

"Is it hairy? Is it scary?" is the first picture book that I have read for INFO 6450. The text for this book is a simple rhyme that compares various animals and traits that they may have in common with other animals or traits that may be different. An example of the text is: "Does it have...no legs? two legs? four legs? or more legs?" This two page spread is accompanied by illustrations of animals with various numbers of legs. Each animal is named and there are a number of humans included on each page.

I found this book only moderately interesting. I consider myself a bit of a naturalist, so I enjoy books about animals, but I was not overly impressed by the illustrations in this book. I might have been more impressed if the animals had been put in their natural environment or if the illustrations were somehow organized in a more creative fashion. It might have also been interesting to make the labelling of the animals into a game, the readers of the book would have to match the name to the illustration. I do like the way that the author compares animals to humans by including some drawings of people that resemble an animal on the page and by making that relationship more obvious on the concluding page of the book. The simple rhyme makes this book appropriate for young children.

Encyclopedia Brown saves the day / Donald J. Sobol, ill. Leonard Shortall

Encyclopedia Brown is a ten year old boy who lives in Idaville. Encyclopedia is reported to be the brains behind the fact that all crimes in Idaville are solved. Even crimes that his father, the police chief, deals with are solved at the dinner table along with Encyclopedia his brilliant son.

The "Encyclopedia Brown saves the day" is broken into ten chapters which are each short separate mysteries. The one page solution to each mystery is printed at the back of the book, apparently to encourage readers to solve the mystery themselves, before reading the actual solution.

I found this book curiously unsatisfying. The short mystery / solution concept is a interesting idea, but it did not seem to work well. The solutions to the mysteries should be ones that readers could reason out for themselves and sometimes that was the case, but often it was not. I think this book may appeal to readers with very short attention spans, but it does not give the same satisfaction as reading a good fully developed mystery.

Ramona the brave / Beverly Cleary

"Ramona the brave" is the first of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary that I have ever read. Ramona is six years old and Beverly Cleary provides us with an entertaining interpretation of the way the mind of a six year old works. Ramona is fiercely independent yet she also desperately wants acceptance from her parents, sister, teachers and friends.

This book explores how Ramona thinks about bravery. Ramona has to deal with a strange angry dog who steals her shoe, staying in a room by herself at night, a scary gorilla in a book on her shelf, protecting her older sister from some name calling boys and various other classroom challenges.

I think Ramona the brave is an excellent look into the mind of a six year old. The book is written from the point of view of Ramona with all of her thoughts, judgements, prejudices, and description of events. Parents might find these books an educational look into the mind of their own child, while children would find the book an interesting look at how another child acts and reacts in certain situations that they themselves may find themselves.

The lion, the witch and the wardrobe / C. S. Lewis

The first book that I read for my INFO6450 course was "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis. The version I read came from HarperCollins Publishers collection of stories published in 2001 as the "Chronicles of Narnia."

The story follows the adventure of four children who are moved to the English countryside during the second world war for their protection. The house where they stay has a wardrobe in a spare room that ends up being a portal to a fantastic world called Narnia. The children disappear into this new land and find adventures among this new land with the Faun, the White Witch, the beavers, the lion and many other magical creatures.

This "classic" story is known and loved by many readers today and has been produced in many forms including a recent film version. The story is well crafted, written and creates a marvellous world that readers or listeners can partially create in their own minds. The readings skills necessary to understand this story may be a bit beyond some children, but the story of battle between good and evil is timeless and can be enjoyed by listeners of all ages.