My opinions on books I read to my kids.
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A simple and good little tale. What makes it stand out is the elaborate illustrations done in a… let's say highly distinctive style. Not too many picture books out there that give Gothic horror vibes.
Shout out to my man Theodore.
Part of the fun of the illustrations is the slightly deranged feel they give to the world of the adults in the book. This is, I think, basically how children see us.
The Princess in Black is a 2014 chapter book co-authored by Shannon Hale and Dean …
I found the period around 4 years old to be a challenging time for reading to the kid. His attention span and comprehension were getting good enough that short picture books weren't entirely cutting it any more. But he wasn't quite ready for full novel-style chapter books. He couldn't read to himself, of course, and with one notable exception, most of the "early reader" style books stink to read aloud to a kid. They're dumbed down and shallow and boring to both the reader and the kid. I felt like a castaway dying of thirst on the ocean, surrounded everywhere I looked by water yet with nothing to drink.
This desperation combined with the sheer surprise of discovering the Princess in Black series made it feel like a revelation. I had low expectations going in--the concept of "wow people can subvert expectations" had me rolling my eyes and …
I found the period around 4 years old to be a challenging time for reading to the kid. His attention span and comprehension were getting good enough that short picture books weren't entirely cutting it any more. But he wasn't quite ready for full novel-style chapter books. He couldn't read to himself, of course, and with one notable exception, most of the "early reader" style books stink to read aloud to a kid. They're dumbed down and shallow and boring to both the reader and the kid. I felt like a castaway dying of thirst on the ocean, surrounded everywhere I looked by water yet with nothing to drink.
This desperation combined with the sheer surprise of discovering the Princess in Black series made it feel like a revelation. I had low expectations going in--the concept of "wow people can subvert expectations" had me rolling my eyes and prepared for a saccharine plodding sermon of a book. Was I ever wrong!
The writing here is masterful. It's carefully constructed of short sentences and simple words that make it easy for kids to follow along, but doesn't sacrifice all the joy of the written word in the process. The prose flows cleanly, it's funny and evocative, it has a distinct authorial voice.
And the themes! The narrative construction! There is some beautiful stuff packed in here behind the deceptively simple packaging. The story structure itself is a complex multi-viewpoint narrative, the sort of thing you'd expect from an adult novel. The story arc tackles some big ideas like the stress of having to hide part of yourself from the people around you, and the feeling of yearning to be more than what society tells you to be. It's a small miracle to have all of this presented in a format a 4 year old can easily follow.
The illustrations are great too. They complement the story nicely and were a big help for keeping my kid engaged and following along. They have a lot of character too, with some great visual humor in the monsters and the goats.
One demerit awarded for naming the horse "Blacky", which is just a weird choice, especially when there are so many other fine options available. Still, that's not nearly enough to dethrone this book in my power rankings.
KID VERDICT (4y-6y): Very popular with the kid, thank goodness. I genuinely believe this series helped him make the jump to full chapter books.
A story-poem about the activities of such unusual animals as the Nook, Womp, Yink, Yap, …
It's not even about fish! There are three spreads about fish and then it meanders off into a disjointed collection of standalone pages, only the most meager scraps of narrative to hold them together. Why do we collectively remember this book as about fish when it's not?!
The middle of the book is especially trying as many of the pages feel like filler, populated by fictional beasts who only exist so their names can be rhymed with common words like "bike" or "cans". It's some of Suess' most uninspired work, punctuated only occasionally by more enjoyable vignettes, like the hapless Ned in his undersized bed. Or Clark. Ohhhh, Clark. I could almost forgive all this book's shortcomings for Clark.
This is all the information we get about Clark and I couldn't ask for anything more.
KID VERDICT (3y - 5y): He likes it. Not as well as …
It's not even about fish! There are three spreads about fish and then it meanders off into a disjointed collection of standalone pages, only the most meager scraps of narrative to hold them together. Why do we collectively remember this book as about fish when it's not?!
The middle of the book is especially trying as many of the pages feel like filler, populated by fictional beasts who only exist so their names can be rhymed with common words like "bike" or "cans". It's some of Suess' most uninspired work, punctuated only occasionally by more enjoyable vignettes, like the hapless Ned in his undersized bed. Or Clark. Ohhhh, Clark. I could almost forgive all this book's shortcomings for Clark.
This is all the information we get about Clark and I couldn't ask for anything more.
KID VERDICT (3y - 5y): He likes it. Not as well as some of his preferred Suess books, though. He thinks Clark is creepy (accurate).
A winner! It's a simple chanting rhyme but executed flawlessly. The illustrations are what elevate this to greatness. They're fun and full of character and have a very dynamic feel. Bona fide badass behavior to list in your back matter "Illustration medium: magic pencil and mud". They painted the mud with mud. Hell yeah.
KID VERDICT (1y-2y): Both kids have loved this one. The chant style is magnetic for them at that age. Kid 1 got very invested in what the small bird was doing on each page and would track it through the book. Go buy this for a kid in your life.
The best of friends From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost …
A perfect book. Let me count the ways. There's the prose, sweet and lyrical despite how simple it is. The rich dynamics of how the two personalities play off each other. The sly, gentle humor. The illustrations, which are restrained yet beautifully bring to life Frog and Toad's world. Most of all, there's the love these two friends have for each other, which runs through each story like a deep, strong current.
KID VERDICT (3y-5y): He's been on and off of the Frog & Toad series over the years but keeps returning to them. We got a Yoto card with the audiobook read by the author, which I highly recommend, it's great. He listened to that one every night at bedtime for months straight.
A small blue truck finds his way out of a jam, with a little help …
It has trucks. It has animal sounds. The villain learns a lesson about the importance of strong community ties. What more could you possibly want?
KID VERDICT (18m-4y): Our youngest adores this book and forced us to read it to him 3-6 times in a row every single night for months. Our eldest never got quite as into it but it's still well liked and I can usually sell him on this one if he's feeling indecisive. He learned the phrase "muck and mire" from it. He spent several weeks accusatorially telling me the toad was a frog, and was unswayed by my claim that it needed to rhyme with "road".
Klassen's Iliad. Feels like a novel despite the trademark minimalism, with all the twists and turns you might expect of a story with full chapter markers. Even though it's quite a journey, it still isn't all that long of a read, a real boon when you're trying to hit the mark on bedtime and have already suffered half an hour of foot-dragging. Has some genuinely funny moments, and some beautiful ones, and some surreal ones.
I'm actually enjoying this one more on subsequent read-throughs, a real feat for picture books. The Chekov's gun. The way Turtle's own behavior is the source of all his discontent. The unanswered questions about what has occurred prior to the story to situate these three creatures in some sort of mildly apocalyptic limbo. When they imagine into the future, a forest grows on this spot, which only highlights the desolation of their current …
Klassen's Iliad. Feels like a novel despite the trademark minimalism, with all the twists and turns you might expect of a story with full chapter markers. Even though it's quite a journey, it still isn't all that long of a read, a real boon when you're trying to hit the mark on bedtime and have already suffered half an hour of foot-dragging. Has some genuinely funny moments, and some beautiful ones, and some surreal ones.
I'm actually enjoying this one more on subsequent read-throughs, a real feat for picture books. The Chekov's gun. The way Turtle's own behavior is the source of all his discontent. The unanswered questions about what has occurred prior to the story to situate these three creatures in some sort of mildly apocalyptic limbo. When they imagine into the future, a forest grows on this spot, which only highlights the desolation of their current landscape--what happened that there is no forest here now???
KID VERDICT (3y-6y): He only reaches for it once every few months, but he's been happy to keep coming back to it. I think he enjoys the frisson of danger and we talk regularly about those parts. He also gets some of the sly humor around Turtle's ego, which is fun and not the kind of thing he always catches.
Hours before Paris fell to the Nazis, Margret and H.A. Rey fled the city by bicycle, carrying with them the manuscripts that would become Curious George. I think about that backstory every time I read this one. A bike is an object that can carry a lot of meaning, and I can't help but read some poignancy into this story knowing that bikes literally carried the Reys to freedom.
Once of my preferred original Curious Georges. The rollercoaster of George's adventures and misadventures is well calibrated here. The only parts that feel dark or dated are the sad animal menagerie and an ostrich almost asphyxiating(?!).
KID VERDICT (3y - 4y): He's a big fan of Curious George and reaches for this one regularly. I think he can follow the story well, which helps a lot.
Like Frog and Toad, but without all the things that make Frog and Toad worth reading, like the rich characterizations, lyrical prose, and sly humor.
KID VERDICT: He thinks they are dinosaurs and is not swayed by my explanation of their names. Honestly, I think I lost the argument. They look like dinosaurs. They do not look like a crocodile and alligator.
A little boy walking in the forest meets a big lovable bear that takes him …
One of the books I can recite cover to cover from memory, and I'm not even mad about it. The language is delightful and funny, the illustrations are charming and just the right amount of surreal, the story is about how picking berries is the best adventure.
KID VERDICT (2y-4y): One of his very favorites, for literal years. He's mostly grown out of it but we still read it occasionally. There's a pure and simple joy to it that he feels as much as I do.
For the most part, this is a sweet little story about a common kid experience. It's nicely illustrated, has a little bit of humor, a little bit of whimsy, and a lot of empathy for the experience of being a kid.
However, there's a weird plot twist right at the end that derails the narrative and robs the scene of the big emotional note it's been building to. And after that unexpected lurch, the ending that would otherwise have felt just right instead falls flat and seems too sudden. By this point I'm always fumbling to explain to the kid why there are five moving parts on one too-sparsely-elaborated page, and so I usually just rush through it so I can be done. It's a shame to end an otherwise good book this way!
KID VERDICT (3y): He enjoyed this one and kept reaching for it, but he …
For the most part, this is a sweet little story about a common kid experience. It's nicely illustrated, has a little bit of humor, a little bit of whimsy, and a lot of empathy for the experience of being a kid.
However, there's a weird plot twist right at the end that derails the narrative and robs the scene of the big emotional note it's been building to. And after that unexpected lurch, the ending that would otherwise have felt just right instead falls flat and seems too sudden. By this point I'm always fumbling to explain to the kid why there are five moving parts on one too-sparsely-elaborated page, and so I usually just rush through it so I can be done. It's a shame to end an otherwise good book this way!
KID VERDICT (3y): He enjoyed this one and kept reaching for it, but he was also confused by the plot twist and reliably would start asking me for explanations I didn't really have.