Review #71: The Cobble Street Cousins

A special treat this week!  For a year and a half we've reviewed books that we read together as a family.  But the kids are all voracious readers on their own as well.  So I thought I'd chat with them one-on-one to find out about the books they are reading for their own pleasure.  These are books I personally know nothing about, so I'm learning too!  Here's the schedule for the week:

Monday:  Isaac with the "Percy Jackson" series
Yesterday:  Gracie with the "Just Grace" series
Today:  Lily with the "Cobble Street Cousins" series

So let's hear from Lily...


Dad:  Alright, we need to find out what Lily is reading right now.
Lily (age 7):  I'm reading The Cobble Street Cousins.
Dad:  Who are the Cobble Street cousins?
Lily:  There is one girl named Lily.
Dad:  Just like you?
Lily:  Yes!
Dad:  Oh my lands.  Gracie reviewed a series about a girl named Grace, and you are reviewing a series with a girl named Lily!
Lily:  Hee hee hee!
Dad:  Who are the other cousins?
Lily:  There's Rose and Tess.
Dad:  And what do they do?
Lily:  The cousins make a whole bunch of stuff.  They make cookies.  They sell cookies.  And they make a dollhouse out of cardboard and scraps.  They have to get the little teeny furniture.  And they make little paper dolls of the people in their family.
Dad:  Wow, that sounds like the kind of stuff you guys like to do!
Lily:  Yeah.  But we don't sell cookies.
Dad:  Right.  But you guys like making stuff.  Don't the cousins also make a newspaper?
Lily:  Uhhhhh...
Dad:  Maybe that's in a book you haven't gotten to yet.  I think I remember that from when Gracie read the series.
Lily:  I'm still on book number two.
Dad:  They sound like creative, crafty kids.
Lily:  They live at their aunt's house.  In the attic.  And they put up blankets like forts for their rooms in the attic.  It's cool.
Dad:  And I know you are learning some big words.  What word did you ask me about the other day?  "Botanist"?
Lily:  You said it was a plant guy that studies plants.
Dad:  And now you know a big word.
Lily:  Botanist.
Dad:  Do you like reading books that help you learn new words, or would you rather read books where you already know all the words.
Lily:  I just like reading books.  Any books.  I just read books that seem interesting.
Dad:  And what is one reason you like these "Cobble Street Cousin" books?
Lily:  They give you all these different ideas of stuff to do.  Like, if you are old enough to sell cookies, you could do that.  And they have little adventures.  Realistic ones.
Dad:  So it's not like the cousins are flying to the moon.  They are adventures that you could even have.
Lily:  Yeah, selling cookies or making dollhouses.  And catching birds.
Dad:  Woah, they catch birds?
Lily:  This old lady had a parrot that flew away, so they had to catch him!  And Rose said, "He's on the turkey!"
Dad:  On the turkey?
Lily:  I mean, "He's on the chicken!"
Dad:  A parrot was sitting on top of a chicken?
Lily:  You know those little chickens that tell "north"...
Dad:  Ahhhh... a weather vane?
Lily:  Yeah.
Dad:  Thanks for telling me about these stories Lily!  It makes me want to read them.
Lily:  Yeah.
Dad:  We should tell people that these are written by Cynthia Rylant.
Lily:  Do you know her?
Dad:  No, I've never met her, but I know about her.  We have lots and lots of her picture books.  "The Cobble Street Cousins" books are chapter books, but they do have pictures too.  How would you describe the pictures?
Lily:  Like... old timey.  And realisticyness.
Dad:  Realistic-y?
Lily:  Ness.
Dad:  Realistic-y-ness?
Lily:  Because they are realisticynesses.
Dad:  Realistic-y-ness-es?  Oh my lands, this word is getting longer and longer!
Lily:  Hee hee hee ha ha hahh!
Dad:  The pictures are by Wendy Anderson Halperin.
Lily:  I love her drawings.  They are cool.
Dad:  Now, I did meet her once.
Lily:  Aaaaaaaah!  I'm flabbergasted.
Dad:  Did you see what she wrote in this one?  "To Lily..."
Lily: (Gasp!)
Dad:  Oh, you haven't gotten to that book in the series yet!  You didn't know?
Lily:  What?
Dad:  You girls each have one signed to you.
Lily:  I have a new favorite book!  It is signed "To Lily."

Lily, Tess, and Rosie, by Lily

Author: Cynthia Rylant
Illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
Book 1: "In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen" published, 2000: Aladdin
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