A Gaggle of Book Reviews

I’ve mentioned before that our library is sponsoring a Community Reads program focusing on books from Haiti, which encouraged us to read books from other countries. The three books I’m discussing in this entry show a piece of life in another country. We currently live in a very homogeneous area, so I think it is especially important to show my kids another way of living. Today we will travel to Haiti twice, and once to Africa.

Painted Dreams, by Karen Lynn Williams shows the beauty of the art in Haiti. In the story, a girl from a poor family in Haiti has a gift for drawing. She can’t spend too much time on her art, as she needs to do chores and help her family. She admires the art of the local Bocor whenever she passes his home, and wishes she could paint with the beautiful colors. One day she finds some almost-empty tubes of paint, and sneaks off to paint the area of the market where her family sells fruit. The pictures in the book by Catherine Stock show the beauty of the art and the scenery in Haiti. The book is very gentle in showing the difficulties faced by a poor family, so children who are being read the book should not become anxious. We all loved seeing the different animals that are part of life in Haiti, but we rarely see here.

Running The Road To ABC, by Denize Lauture, illustrated by Reynold Ruffins is another story that depicts the life of children in Haiti. This book is not an ABC book, as one might think from the title. Rather, this is a book that shows the road the children run each morning to get to their school in order to learn. The book follows four children (2 boys and 2 girls) as they start from home in the pre-dawn hours, then run for miles – they pass people and towns, and they run as the sun begins to shine in the sky. The story has a wonderful rhythm to it, which mimics the rhythm of someone running. The illustrations are vibrant with the beauty of the colors of Haiti. This book also brought up a wonderful discussion in our house about the value of learning, but the book was also enjoyed just for itself.

I Lost My Tooth In Africa is a wonderful story about a family visiting their extended family in Mali, West Africa. It is written by a young woman, Penda Diakite, and illustrated by her father, Baba Wague Diakite. In the story (which is based on the real experience of the author’s younger sister), the little girl loses her tooth on a visit to Mali to spend time with her father’s family. She puts the tooth under a gourd, and the African tooth fairy leaves her a chicken and a rooster. This charming tale has wonderful illustrations which show the homes, day-to-day life, and animals in the family’s compound.

All three stories entertained the three children (3, 6, and 8 ), as well as the adult book reader. All three are highly recommended as books that entertain with some education about different life experiences tossed in as a side benefit. The primary wonder of the three books is the beauty of the illustrations and the fabulous storytelling.

We found the first The Adventures of Maxi the Taxi Dog book earlier, and reviewed it with some other books about finding a home (Maxi is a stray dog who is adopted by Jim, a taxi driver). What I didn’t realize at the time is that a percentage of the proceeds from all of the wonderful Maxi Taxi books are donated to animal shelters to help the animals who still need homes. We received the other three Maxi Taxi books through interlibrary loan, and have loved all of them – they are fun and engaging for the kids (3, 6, 8 ), and the rhyming scheme is fun for the reader, too.

(An aside to adult readers – these books were published before September 11, 2001, and as a result there are pictures of the World Trade Center towers in the skylines of New York City. On one page in Maxi, the Star, you see the WTC towers as a part of the skyline, with an airplane flying above them in the clouds. The sight was jarring for this adult reader, and I wish I had known about the picture prior to reading the books)

Maxi the Hero is written by Debra and Sal Barracca, and illustrated by Mark Buehner. In this story, Maxi the Taxi dog and his owner Jim take several fun people on trips around New York City, and then a man steals a woman’s purse. Maxi says:

The thief tried to flee –
It was now up to me!
I had to run faster to catch him.
I was close to his heel
When he slipped on a peel
And at last I was able to snatch him

Maxi is named a hero, and his picture appears on page one of the New York Times, with people waving to him and calling to him as they travel around the city.

The authors have a new illustrator, Alan Ayers, for Maxi, the Star but my daughters and I thought that the illustrations were very similar to the originals. This story follows up on Maxi the Hero, and in the story a producer hops into Jim and Maxi’s taxi and invites him out to Hollywood to screen test to be the star of a dog food commercial. Jim and Maxi drive the taxi out of New York City and drive across the country with their taxi filled with suitcases. They stop for food at places with signs that say “EATS”, visit with farmers in wheat fields, and see the sights. When they arrive in Hollywood, they do the screen test, and of course everything works out well. But they are happy to return home, “Back home was the best place to be.” It ends with a great picture of Maxi and Jim watching Maxi on TV!

It appears as if A Taxi Dog Christmas is currently out of print, but if you can find a copy through your library or the used books on Amazon or elsewhere, it’s another fun read. The great illustrations and the fun rhyming scheme continue, while Maxi and Jim decorate for Christmas. They play in the snow, making a snow dog, but then they hear a “meow”, and “six cold, hungry kittens we found.” They bring the kittens to the Taxi garage so they can begin their work, but the kitties get loose! “The fur started flying / As drivers were trying / To catch them before they could flee.” All is well, though, as “each lucky tabby / Went home with a cabbie, / Except one who wanted to play.” Of course Maxi and the new kitten have fun seeing the Christmas sights of New York City, until their fun is disrupted when Santa crashes! His sled has broken, and he can’t carry the toys without the sled! The reindeer are hitched to the taxi at Santa’s request, and “Together we saved Christmas Day.”

It’s lovely to find sweet, gentle, fun books that are still interesting for kids and the reader. We highly recommend all of these!

We love books about animals. These are funny, good reads for boys or for girls – they are silly and off-the-wall, and fun books, which should enthrall all the readers, as well as the adults.

We picked up Ballet of the Elephants by Leda Schubert, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, simply because of the cover. Who can resist ballerinas dancing in front of an elephant in a tutu? What we really loved about this book was that this is a true story! The book tells about a ballet dreamed up by John Ringling North, choreographed by George Ballanchine, to music composed by Igor Stravinsky. We learn about John Ringling North growing up in the circus business, and his dreams; as well as the backgrounds of Ballanchine and Stravinsky – but all as a part of the story, not in a way that distracts from the excitement of the ballet/elephants/circus. The illustrations of the dancers with the ballet-dancing elephants are amazing – and the end pages include photographs of the real elephant ballet. This book was very, very cool.

Moving from the inspiring and cool to the absurd and cool is Young MacDonald by David Milgrim. This story is about Old MacDonald’s son, who uses his cloning machine to make crazy animals -

Young MacDonald Had a farm,
Ee-i-ee-i-o.
And on that farm he made …
A Hig! Ee-i-ee-i-o.
With an Oink-Neigh here
and an Oink-Neigh there,

etc. It’s hysterical to watch Young MacDonald create Deese, Shickens, Mucks, a Cowl, but then he accidentally makes a Bog (boy/dog) – with an “oops-arf”! When Young MacDonald’s parents come back to the farm with pizza for dinner, he manages to make things right, so everyone can enjoy their meal! It’s a sweet, silly, quick, and fun read. The adults will get a kick out of the changes to the animals, and the kids find it funny to sing silly noises to the traditional Old MacDonald song.

Another farmer with cows is the main character in Manny’s Cows: The Niagara Falls Tale, by Suzy Becker (she of greeting card fame). This is a fun story about a boy who is upset because he can’t take a summer vacation – he has to take care of his 500 cows. He thinks about it, and thinks about it, and thinks some more, until he figures out what to do – he decides to take the cows with him on vacation! They pack, get on the bus, and head for Niagra falls. The cows are hysterical characters, upsetting Manny with constant sing-alongs on the bus ride, and requesting food breaks and bathroom breaks. The cows all go on tours of Niagra falls, and ring up a huge bill at the gift shop, and then they have to figure out how to help Manny pay for his vacation, which has turned into a nightmare. They’re quite inventive, and we all hope that Suzy Becker comes out with a sequel! As a bonus, there are cow facts sprinkled throughout the book – so you can count it as entertaining and educational!

Deputy Harvey and the Ant Cow Caper by Brad Sneed is another book that counts as fun and educational. Deputy Harvey is an Ant who is trying to solve the mystery of the missing Ant Cows. The book explains at the end that “Ant Cows” are actually aphids, and real ants drink the juice made by aphids, called honeydew. Real ants will truly round up a herd of aphids to “milk” it for the honeydew! But back to the book … Deputy Harvey’s town is having problems – half the Ant Cow herd is missing! His Sheriff is grouchy, requiring honeydew coffee before he will go out to interview a witness. Witness Clem says the cows vanished, and he just thinks they had spots, leading the deputy and sheriff think of Ladybugs. The entire town becomes upset about the idea of running out of honeydew. When someone comes to town selling Diamond A honeydew at a golden price, most folks buy it so they will have some, but Deputy Harvey is convinced there is something rotten, and figures it is odd that none of the Diamond A cows are being stolen. Deputy Harvey dresses up as an Ant Cow to solve the crime, and returns to the diner for some honeydew cakes a hero! You have to read it to find out how he captures the crooks, though – I can’t do it justice here. This is a great book for boys and girls who like mysteries but prefer them to be more gentle. It’s also great for bug-lovers and kids who like to learn about animals through stories instead of straight facts. It’s another fun book for the adult reader, too.

If you like a little learning amid a lot of fun, another book to check out is Dinosaurumpus!, by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Reese. Parker-Reese also illustrated Giraffes Can’t Dance, which has a similar feel. In Dinosaurumpus!, the dinosaurs start to donk, bomp, shake, shudder, and other noises. Each dinosaur is named and described – “Here’s Triceratops jumping up and down doing dinosaur hops. He wears three horns on his big, bony head, and thunders around with a Bomp! Bomp! tread.” The rhythm of the words and the noises used grab the audience’s attention, and the illustrations are colorful and amusing. All the dinosaurs gather to dance together, when they hear the “Roooaaarrr…!” of Tyrannosaurus crashing into the middle of the dance! Thankfully, he wants to “join the romp”, and everyone is encouraged to romp together near the sludgy old swamp. This book has a similar feel to some of the Sandra Boynton books (I’m especially thinking of Barnyard Dance!