Review #118: Mal and Chad

Dad:  What book are we reviewing today?

Evangeline (age 4):  Mal and Chad.

Lily (age 9):  It's by Stephen McCranie.  He sure can draw.  He's good.

Dad:  What kind of book is this?

Lily:  It's a comic book.  A graphic novel.  And there is a sequel.

Elijah (age 6):  I like these kind of longer books best.  The longer they get, the better they are.  There is more exciting stuff.

Lily:  This is an adventure story.  It's interesting - very interesting and fun.

Dad:  Who is the star of the story?

Lily:  There's this kid named Mal.  His real name is Malison.

Dad:  Malison?

Lily:  Malcoe.

Dad:  Malcoe??

Lily:  I don't know!

Dad:  Malcolm.

Lily:  Yeah!  Malcolm!  And he has a dog named Chad.

Evangeline:  Chad talks - which most dogs can't do. 

Elijah:  Having a talking dog would be awesome!  Then I would be able to know what dogs are actually saying.

Evangeline:  The dog eats person-food because he doesn't like dog food.  It's yucky.  If I ate dog food, I would try to throw it up in a bucket.

Elijah:  If Evie ate dog food, she would have to get her belly pumped.

Dad:  Tell me more about Mal.  Was he a normal boy?

Lily:  No.  He's a genius.  But he doesn't want anyone to know that he's a genius who could go to college -- he wants to stay in his class with Megan, the prettiest girl in the world.

Evangeline:  The girl in the book is my favorite.  That one.  And I like those two girls too.

Dad:  What kinds of things could Mal do?

Lily:  Build a whole bunch of inventions.

Dad:  Big brother Isaac is the inventor in our house.

Lily:  Yeah but Isaac is not as smart as Mal.  Isaac builds little models of robots that don't work.

Evangeline:  But Mal made a backpack that could fly.  And he made a rocket ship.  I would love to ride in it.

Lily:  And he made a Yum-Sauce.  Which I want!  It makes any yucky food taste like your favorite food.  Actually, before I even read this book, I always wished I had a superpower where I could think of food tasting like something else and it would taste like that thing.  That would be awesome.

Dad:  So Mal invented the superpower you always wanted.

Lily:  Yeah.  He also has this rubber ducky -- a modified rubber ducky.  He squeezes it, and it turns into a giant duck boat.

Evangeline:  And Mal made this thing that sucked him up, and he shrinked. 

Lily:  They shrank themselves with an old vacuum cleaner that Mal modified.  They wanted to try out scuba diving, so they shrank and went into the sink. 

Evangeline:  There's a straw they slide down like a waterslide into the sink.

Lily:  They licked some suckers that are very special -- suckers that he modified.

Dad:  I think "Modified" is the word of the day.

Lily:  They lick the modified suckers, and then they can hold their breath underwater for a whole entire hour.

Dad:  When I was a kid, I used to imagine that I could shrink down little and run around the house.  I would take my Star Wars figures and crouch down so I could see things from their size and pretend I was climbing up bookshelves and chairs and swinging around on curtains.  Do you guys ever imagine things like that?

Lily:  Yeah, I always pretend that I can turn Polly Pocket sized, and then I can wear all their clothes and run around in their clothes.

Elijah:  But Pollys don't have underwear!  You wouldn't have underwear on!

Dad:  What would you do if you could shrink, Elijah?

Elijah:  I would take my stuffed animals and pretend there is a giant animal that is going to eat me.  Then I would take another animal and kill that animal.  And then another animal to kill that animal.  I would keep going until there was only one left, then I would eat that animal.

Dad:  Lovely.

Elijah:  Ha ha hah!

Dad:  What's one other major thing that Mal invented?

Evangeline:  He made an elevator that could hop away.

Dad:  Did the elevator go up and down?

Evangeline:  No, it did something weird.  It hops around in different places.  Not like the elevator at our library - that one goes up and down.  Mal's elevator went to places.  It went way far away.  To dinosaurs!

Lily:  It's an elevator time machine.  A MODIFIED elevator.  So they go back in time to dinosaur times.  When they get there they see weird lumpies in the water, but it's just the noses of longneck dinosaurs underwater.

Evangeline:  Then there was a dinosaur egg that was cracking.  But just a little one came out. 

Elijah:  He was a cute little squeaky one!

Lily:  They named him Charlie.

Evangeline:  Then there was a dinosaur behind them.  A big one.  And it chased them away!  Then it crashed all of them. 

Elijah:  A killer dinosaur adventure!

Dad:  If you had genius inventing powers, what would you make?

Elijah:  I would invent a robotic bed.  It could turn into a house.  And it can turn into a robot pizza that spies on people when it shrinks.  It could throw off pepperonis at people to kill bad guys.

Dad:  Lovely.  What if you could have any of Mal's inventions, which one of those would you pick?

Lily:  I want the duck boat.

Elijah:  Yeah - that duck boat was awesome!  But I would want the time machine.  I would go to Viking days.  Actually, first I would get a dinosaur.  Then I would take him to the Viking place so he could eat all the Vikings.

Dad:  Lovely.  So if Elijah was a genius, apparently he would be an evil genius.

Elijah:  Hee hee hee ha hah!

Dad:  His plans would involve attacking different things throughout history.

Elijah:  Mal only used his powers to keep people safe.

Mal, Chad, and Megan, by Evangeline

 

running from a pterodactyl toward the time machine, 
by Elijah

 

Mal, Charlie, and Chad riding their duckie past a longneck, 
by Lily

 

Author/Illustrator:  Stephen McCranie

Published, 2011: Philomel

Like it?  Here it is

Review #113: Bad Island

Gracie (age 11):  "Bad Island" is a good book about a bad island.  And it's a book about a good family with bad kids.
Dad:  Hmmm... any resemblance to our family?
Gracie:  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Lily (age 8):  We kids aren't totally bad.
Dad:  What was the family like at the beginning of the book?
Lily:  They didn't spend much time together.  They didn't like to be with each other.  They were whining and they were yelling things like, "Don't touch my petunias!" and "I want Pickles!"
Gracie:  Oh yeah - Pickles!  The little girl in the book is obsessed with animals, and she carries around this dead snake named Pickles.
Dad:  Would you carry around a dead snake?
Gracie:  I wouldn't carry around a dead snake OR a live snake.
Isaac (age 13):  I'd carry around a snake so I could make Gracie kiss it.
Gracie:  And I'd bite your eyeball!
Dad:  You'd bite Isaac's eyeball?
Gracie:  No actually, I wouldn't bite his eyeball.  That's just the first words that came out of my mouth.
Dad:  So tell us what happens to this family...
Isaac:  They go on a boat trip, and they get stuck in a really bad storm.  Their boat smashes on this island, so they are trapped.
Lily:  In the middle of the sea.
Gracie:  It's a bad island that is really creepy.  They have to survive.
Isaac:  The island has lots of aliens and creatures on it.
Gracie:  There are a whole bunch of creepy monsters... which is like, really cool.
Lily:  "Creepy" plus "Islands" equals "Cool."
Isaac:  Something starts tracking the family...
Gracie:  It's a triangle-headed lizard guy.
Elijah (age 6):  He's Gumby.
Gracie:  He looks just like Gumby -- he's green, he's naked, and he has no buns.  Only he's darker green than Gumby, and he's scaly and ugly.
Dad:  Evil Gumby.
Gracie:  The book switches back and forth between telling you about the time of the bad island and the time of the creepy-alien-space-guys.
Elijah:  These big whisker-monster-creatures were fighting these flying-crab-octopuses.
Dad:  Elijah, you love monsters.  I bet your favorite part of the book was all the creatures.
Elijah:  I didn't want you to stop reading, ever.  My favorite creatures were probably those guys with the spear-staffs.  They say "Mo."  Or "Mo-Mo."  Or "Mo-Mo-Mo."
Lily:  The Mo-Mo's are evil.
Elijah:  They look like pancake-pillow-people with horns.
Gracie:  They are creepy little Poptart Men.
Isaac:  Poptart Men?
Gracie:  They remind me of chocolate poptarts with evil brains and spears.  Someday I'm going to draw a Mo-Mo eating a poptart.
Dad:  How about you, Isaac?  Did you have a favorite monster?
Isaac:  The Tree Monster is so cool...  Its mouth is not on the front of the bark -- it rips out from inside the tree... the tree itself rips open in half to make its mouth.  So cool.
Gracie:  Creepsters.  But the creatures aren't all bad.  Not the baby rock creature.
Lily:  The baby rock creature was the adorable of the adorables!
Gracie:  I would want one for a pet.  Then I would have a protector that had grown to love me.  The rock monster can't help it if he looks scary when he grows up.
Dad:  So you said the family had problems at the start of the book.  How about after they went through all the adventures together on the island?
Lily:  Then they felt happy with each other and loving toward each other.
Dad:  So was it a good thing that they went to the bad island?
Gracie:  It was a bad thing, but it happened for a good reason.
Dad:  Isaac, you and I have read lots of other graphic novels by this author as well.  Is there anything you can think of that is similar from book to book?
Isaac:  They're all awesome.
Dad:  Yeah, but are there any elements that you would say define Doug TenNapel's books?
Gracie:  Tentacles???  His last name is Tentacles!?!
Isaac:  "TenNapel."
Dad:  Although "Tentacles" would be pretty appropriate for the kinds of books he makes.
Gracie:  Because he's an octopus?
Dad:  No - because he makes awesome creatures.
Isaac:  That's one of the things I like most about his books.  They all have really cool creatures and robots and aliens.
Dad:  Well, any last words?  Anything you want to say to Mr. TenNapel about his new book?
Gracie:  Sorry I called you an octopus.

Janie, Pickles, and a Mo-Mo, by Lily

creatures, by Elijah

tree monster, by Isaac

the Bad Island bunch, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Doug TenNapel
Published, 2011: Scholastic
Like it?  Here it is

Review #103: Sidekicks

Lily (age 8):  This is a book called Sidekicks, and I'm gonna tell you about it.
Gracie (age 11):  It's a graphic novel.
Lily:  It's about Captain Amazing.
Gracie:  He is a superhero.
Lily:  He has a whole bunch of pets.  They love him.  And they always want to be with him, but he's always gone on his missions.
Isaac (age 12):  Captain Amazing thinks he's getting too old, and he wants to get a sidekick to help him.
Gracie:  So he's going to hold sidekick auditions.  All of his pets have superpowers.
Isaac:  They each want to become his sidekick so they can spend more time with him.  They fight crime.  And there are EXPLOSIONS!
Dad:  Is it ever like that with kids and their dads too?  Sometimes you want to be with me, but I have to work?
Gracie:  YES.  All the time.
Dad:  Maybe you guys can be my sidekicks.  You can sharpen my pencils for me.
Gracie: (sarcastically)  That sounds... exciting...
Dad:  Tell me about the four pets...
Gracie:  I'll tell you about Shifty.  Shifty is a chameleon.  He changes colors to match his surroundings so you can't see him.  His skin is his suit.
Isaac:  The hamster's name is Fluffy.  He thinks he doesn't have superpowers.  But he still wants to be the sidekick so he can be closer to his dude.
Lily:  The cat has electricity and can electrocute.  The dog can turn into metal.  His name is Metal Mutt.
Dad:  Did you have a favorite part?
Gracie:  Inside the penguin's igloo at the zoo there is a secret nightclub.
Lily:  I like that place.
Isaac:  Not that we go to nightclubs.
Dad:  What was eating all the food... a hippo?
Gracie:  Yeah.  He had big fat butt cheeks.
Dad:  We're not going to put "butt cheeks" in the review.
Gracie:  "Bottom... cushions..."
Dad:  If you could have a superpower what would you pick?
Lily:  I would have night vision.  I would go out at night and get all the bad guys while they are sleeping.
Dad:  You would hate night vision.  You already say that it's too bright for you to go to sleep at night.  It would be like having the lights on all the time.
Isaac:  I would have the power to go back in time.  So if a bad guy punched me in the nose, I would go back in time and dodge it.
Dad:  What would your snazzy superhero name be?
Isaac:  (pause)  Back-in-Time-Guy.
Dad:  Pbbbbb.
Gracie:  I would have shape shifting powers.  I would catch a bad guy, and shape shift my hand into a big club.  After I shoved him into a dumpster, I would shape shift into him, and then I would get the other guys.  Wow! Pow! Pow! Shickapoo!
Dad:  Do you know who made this book?
Gracie:  Dan Santat.
Lily:  This book is so cool that I am speechless.
Gracie:  I loved your book, Dan Santat.  It is definitely a good one.  It was very action filled and funny too.
Lily:  Everybody will like your book because it is, like, the awesomest book ever.
Isaac:  You could so make another one.  It's perfect for a sequel.  Or a t.v. show - that would be awesome!
Dad:  Any last words?  Do you have a blurb?
Gracie:  It is a fun fantasy about furry fighters of fury.
Dad:  Wow... FFFantastic!
Gracie:  It's Dan Santastic!

Metal Mutt stopping a rocket, by Isaac

the Chameleon and HIS sidekick?  by Gracie

sidekicks, by Lily

Author/Illustrator: Dan Santat
Published, 2011: Arthur A. Levine Books
Like it?  Here it is



The fun's not over yet!

I almost never buy new books.  Of the 3000+ children's books in our personal collection, I'm certain that less than 1% of them I purchased new.  As a "starving artist," I'm content to wait for birthday gifts, and I make dedicated rounds to used book sources... 10 cents here, 50 cents there.

But I was so excited about Sidekicks, that I bought it the week it came out.  My first new-release purchase in years.  Then... the VERY next day... we received a review copy in the mail from the publisher.  So we've got 2 copies!  And I decided that, rather than return one, we'd give this great book to one of our readers.

To be entered in the Giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment below.  It's that easy!

And while it's not necessary, if you'd like to turn it into 2 entries, include within your comment a favorite Bookie Woogie memory.  The kids recently hit their 100th review (yea!) and it would be fun to celebrate that.  So if you've been with us for a while, share a favorite moment from a Bookie Woogie review or interview, and you'll get two entries in the Giveaway.

We'll announce a winner on August 1st.  Good luck!

Review #93: Bone

When Isaac, Grace, Lily, and I recorded our very first Bookie Woogie review, Elijah was only 2 years old.  Over the years he's started joining in... slowly... more and more... bit by little bit.  I think he's participated in around 15 reviews so far.  And now that he's five years old, his contributions have started becoming more substantial.

Recently I decided that here on the blog we'll diverge from our group reviews from time to time for some One on One conversations with the kids about books.  And today Elijah gets his own moment in the spotlight!

Dad:  So tell us Elijah... What books did you and Dad just finish reading together?  We read them special, just you and I.
Elijah (age 5):  Bone.
Dad:  Yep, by Jeff Smith.  And how would you describe these books?
Elijah:  I don't know which they are out of these two things... chapter books or comic books.
Dad:  It's kind of a mix of the two.  Nowadays they would call them "graphic novels."  That just means a really long comic book that is divided into chapters.  So you are right - they are a bit of both.
Elijah:  But it isn't the longest story in the world.  There are other books that are way longer than Bone.
Dad:  So, what is a Bone?  Are these like the bones in your body?
Elijah:  They are a different kind of Bone.  Bones are like people, only they are white and they have really big noses.
Dad:  Who is the hero of the books?
Elijah:  Fone Bone.  He never wears clothes.
Dad:  And who are the Bone Cousins?
Elijah:  Phoney Bone is the one with a star on his shirt.  And Smiley Bone has a jacket.  Smiley also has a big nose, and his head is longer than the others.  I think I'm the goodest at drawing Smiley Bone.
Dad:  What kind of adventures do the Bones have?
Elijah:  They explore.  Like climbing high, high mountains.  And exploring woods and stuff like that.  Sometimes they stick together, but they always keep getting spread apart.
Dad:  They do, don't they!  And when they split up, it's always in different combinations.  So what happens in the stories?
Elijah:  There are these Rat Creatures.  They are trying to catch the Bone people.  Because they are hungry.  To the Rat Creatures, the Bones look yummy.  But to us, the Bones just look cool.
Dad:  So Rat Creatures are the bad guys.
Elijah:  Except for one.  His name is Bartleby.  He isn't mean -- he's a good Rat Creature.  He's a young, young Rat Creature.  He's on the Bones' side.
Dad:  So, we've got Bone guys and Rat Creatures.  Is that it?
Elijah:  No, no.  There's an old lady - her name is Grandma Ben.  She is super strong with cows.
Dad:  She can lift cows.
Elijah:  And she's faster than cows.  Stuff like that.  And she has a girl named Thorn.  And Fone Bone is in loooooooove with Thorn.  He writes secret love letters, but he never tells her.
Dad:  So there are some human characters too.
Elijah:  Oh - and there is one more character.  Her name is Briar.  And they call her "The Hooded One."
Dad:  You loved it every time she took her hood off...
Elijah:  No.  I hated it.  She freaks me out with her face.
Dad:  So what else happens in the books?
Elijah:  There are a lot of big wars.  All the bad guys and the good guys -- everybody in the whole world of Bone -- they are all attacking.
Dad:  That's the main storyline, right.  There is a big war coming.  The Rat Creatures are on one side, and the good humans are on the other side.
Elijah:  And also the dragon.  You know... the dragon with the fluffies on his ears.
Dad:  How would you describe these stories?  Funny?  Or exciting?  Or scary?
Elijah:  Cool.
Dad:  Cool?
Elijah:  Yeah.  They are just cool.  Mostly I always said, "Can we read it now?  Can we read it now?  Can we read it now?"  I never wanted to stop.
Dad:  Why did you like them so much?
Elijah:  I liked them because they are exciting.  I don't know my favorite part, but they are fun and exciting.  There were tons and tons and tons of scary parts.  But not too scary.
Dad:  So who would like these books?
Elijah:  My friend Nathan would like them.  And boys in my classes at church.  Some boys.  But for some boys, it would freak them out.  But it wouldn't freak Nathan out.  For Nathan, he would think it was really cool.
Dad:  You and I had read these together, just the two of us for our special reading time.  But the other kids in our family are reading them too.
Elijah:  Everyone is reading them.  Except for Mom.  And Maggie.  Because Maggie is not old enough to read.
Dad:  How old is Maggie?
Elijah:  Three months.
Dad:  She doesn't do much reading.
Elijah:  Yeah.
Dad:  So, what was your favorite part?
Elijah:  I liked it all.
Dad:  Was there a funniest part?
Elijah:  When Bartleby said his first words.
Dad:  We didn't expect him to talk, did we...
Elijah:  It was a surprise.
Dad:  I was reading along, and I didn't know he was going to talk -- I was just as surprised as you -- and I had to quick make up a voice on the spot.
Elijah:  I think it was the same as Ted's voice.  Ted is a little leaf monster.  Bartleby sounded really high and squeaky!
Dad:  And we cracked up.  He's just a baby rat creature.
Elijah:  When he grows up, he'll probably sound like the other rat creatures.
Dad:  Thanks for reading these books with me.  Do you remember any other books we've read together, just you and I?
Elijah:  The first book before Bone was called "James and the Giant Peach."
Dad:  You do remember!  I wondered if you would -- that was a while ago.
Elijah:  Nobody read it except just you and me.
Dad:  It's fun to read with just Dad and one kid sometimes.  Which story did you like better?
Elijah:  I don't know...  I like them the same.  Well, "James and the Giant Peach" is much longer than a Bone book.  But not with all of the books of Bone put together.  All of them put together is WAY longer.
Dad:  Tell us how many Bone books make up the whole story.
Elijah:  Nine!  And we read all nine.
Dad:  Thanks for reading these books with me.  I love you, Bud.
Elijah:  I love you too.  Now can we read Bone?  Let's go read.  Now.

all pictures by Elijah:

dragon with the fluffies on his ears

Bartleby

Phoney Bone

Smiley Bone

Author/Illustrator: Jeff Smith
Originally serialized 1997-2004
Collections published, 2004-2009: Scholastic
Like them?  Here they are

Review #92: Zita the Spacegirl

Dad:  What did you guys think of Zita the Spacegirl?
Kids: (cheering)  Woohoo!  Oh yeah!
Dad:  Why did she get all these cheers?
Gracie (age 10):  Because it's a cool book!
Dad:  And how about the author?
Gracie:  Ben Hatke, you rock!  Woo!
Dad:  We saw videos of him on his website.
Isaac (age 12):  He can jump through flaming hoops of fire!
Gracie:  And I saw this really detailed, really pretty painting on his website.  It was a sword and a stack of books and a shell.
Dad:  So, tell me about this book.
Isaac:  It's awesome and everyone should read it.
Dad:  What was awesome about it?
Lily (age 8):  Space Monsters.
Elijah (age 5):  All these awesome aliens and monster guys.
Isaac:  I love graphic novels.
Gracie:  The book is all about this girl named Zita.  She and her friend Joseph find a meteoroid with a button in it.  Zita pushes the button, and her friend gets sucked into an alien world.
Elijah:  He went to the space-guy world where there is all kinds of alien things and monsters and things like that.  Then Zita had to go in there to save him.
Lily:  She has to save him from the guys with long black arms that capture people.
Isaac:  An asteroid is going to hit the alien planet, so Zita has to find Joseph and get back to earth before that world explodes.
Dad:  So what's most fun about this book?
Isaac:  All the little alien people.
Gracie:  They are so cute!
Isaac:  They are curious little creatures.
Dad:  Tell me about some of the friends Zita makes.
Gracie:  Mouse is a giant mouse that can't talk -- so instead he's got this little machine that pops out these little paper messages, like - chick-ching.
Elijah:  It's the hugest mouse in the whole world.  Zita travels by riding on it.
Dad:  Would that be fun?  Would you like to ride on a giant mouse?
Elijah:  No way!  It might go too fast.
Dad:  Who was your favorite guy Lily?
Lily:  I like Strong-Strong.  He's big.  Really tall.  And strong.
Elijah:  He's a monster.  But not too smart.
Lily:  No, he's not too smart, but I want him for a friend.  I want him to be my friend.
Isaac:  I want to tell you who my favorite guy is.  It is One.  One is this super battle robot.
Elijah:  I think he's a cherry.  Because he is round and red.  He flies.
Dad:  He's a flying cherry robot?
Elijah:  Hee hee, Yeah!
Isaac:  Actually, there are lots of these super battle robots that are like super guards.  There is a One, a Five, and an Eight.  They each have a special power.  Five shoots a tracking beacon, and all these barnacle bombs fly out of him.  Eight's body can open up, and he has all these razor sharp slashers.  And One has a laser.
Elijah:  And there is another robot named Randy.  He squeaks.  He's not a brave robot.  Look on the back cover...  He's a scaredy cat.
Gracie:  Randy is a nervous wreck.
Dad:  My favorites were the little whacker guys.
Gracie:  Those are the cute ones.
Lily:  They are little blue men with giant sticks that whack people.
Dad:  They are hilarious.  I love them.
Gracie:  My favorite guy was Piper.  He's pretty awesome.  He's handsome.  He's very handsome.  If he were real, I would definitely have a crush on him.  He's handsome, and he's got this cool magic flute that makes people dance and get so tired that they fall asleep.
Dad:  Would you say he is a good guy?
Gracie:  Kinda.  He's kind of someone who just wants his ship fueled up so he can leave.  But toward the end he starts being on Zita's side.  Hey - there's a story arc with Piper!
Dad:  Good phrase!  Tell me about it.
Gracie:  At first he only cares about himself... and money... and fuel for his ship... and getting off the planet before it explodes.  But by the end he really, really puts his life on the line for Zita.
Dad:  So there are lots of cool creatures in this book.
Gracie:  It is a collection of rather strange friends.
Isaac:  And exciting adventures.
Dad:  Do you hope there will be more Zita books?
Gracie:  I think there might be more stories coming.  Because it says Book One on the cover, so there's got to be more.  And Zita never got home!  She has to go home still.

Mouse and Zita, by Lily

Piper, by Gracie

cast of characters, by Isaac

Strong-Strong and the whacker guys, by Elijah

Author/Illustrator: Ben Hatke
Watch: the author jump through fire
Published, 2011: First Second
Like it?  Here it is

Review #80: Gabby and Gator

Dad:  "Gabby and Gator" by James Burks.
Gracie (age 10):  Gabs and Gades.
Dad:  How did you like it?
Gracie:  "Gabby and Gator" is great and good and glorious.
Lily (age 7):  The book is about a girl named Gabby who has no friends because she doesn't talk that much.
Gracie:  The bad bully boy said she was a freak.
Lily:  She was looking for a friend.  And she found a friend.  That would be the big, dog-eating, monster alligator.  But he didn't want to be a monster.  He wanted to be nice.
Elijah (age 5):  But he didn't know how to be nice.
Dad:  Why not?
Elijah:  He eats dogs!
Gracie:  Gator is a poodle-chomper.  He's hungry, and there's nothing else for him to eat.
Isaac (age 12):  Poor Fifi.
Gracie:  I think I know why he eats dogs.  When he was a little gator, he snipped that dog tail.  Remember?
Isaac:  And he's been addicted to dogs ever since.
Lily:  Gabby doesn't eat anything in this story except for that vegetable milkshake.  But Gator eats everything, even dogs.
Elijah:  They are opposites.
Gracie:  But it's not food that makes them a good match for each other...
Lily:  They both play instruments.  They recycle other people's trash together.  They played alligator-pulls-Gabby-around-on-skis.
Isaac:  They play together until the big bad bully comes and teases Gabby.  Gator throws him in the mud.  Then the bully tells the animal control.  It is actually the Inhumane Society, because the guy wants to kill all animals, even innocent teddy bears.
Gracie:  The animal control guy has a lumpy belly and a big nose.
Isaac:  He chases them, and Gator faces his worst fear.  Water.
Gracie:  His worst fear is a toilet.
Isaac:  No, water.
Gracie:  And a toilet.
Isaac:  Toilet water.
Gracie:  He's afraid of toilets because he got flushed down a toilet when he was a little baby gator.
Isaac:  But they live happily ever after.  Kind of.
Dad:  How would you describe the art in the book?
Gracie:  This is a graphic novel.
Lily:  The pictures are unrealistic.
Isaac:  My favorite thing about the book is how he doesn't try to draw the pictures realistically.  He likes to draw the characters with pointy noses and exaggerated sizes.
Lily: (speaking to Gator)  You're just a big cartoon!
Gracie:  I think it's funny how the bully boy is so wide and flat!
Lily:  He's like a skinny square.
Gracie: (holding up her hands)  He's only that thick.
Dad:  What about Gator's design?
Gracie:  He's pretty cool.  He's got checkers on him.
Lily:  His eyes aren't even on his head.
Dad:  And he's got floating eyebrows.
Gracie:  Everybody should have floating eyebrows.
Lily:  I like the three twins.
Dad:  I believe "three twins" is called triplets.
Lily:  Ha ha ha ha!
Gracie:  He did a good job making the triplets look like popular people.
Dad:  Would you guys be friends with Gabby?
Gracie:  I like her.  I'm friends with everybody.
Dad:  Would you be friends with an alligator?
Gracie:  Maybe.  If I got to know him well.
Lily:  I would make a model of a dog and give it to him first to see if he eats dogs.  I would make him a dog out of bacon.
Gracie:  I'd be afraid he'd eat our little sister Evie.  I'd bring Gator home, but I'd just lock Evie up in the bathroom.
Dad:  You'd rather lock up Evie than the alligator?
Gracie:  Oh yeah.  I'd lock up the alligator.  Sorry, Evie!
Dad:  But the gator is terrified of the bathroom.
Gracie:  Oh yeah.  Sorry, Gator.  I wouldn't lock him up.  I'd just wait until Evie was on vacation.
Dad:  Who is this book for?
Gracie:  Everybody.
Isaac:  The book is especially for people who don't fit in.
Gracie:  If you don't fit in, buy yourself an alligator.
Lily:  And hope it doesn't eat you.

Gabby and Gator, by Elijah

Gator and Fifi, by Isaac

a peek inside Gator, by Lily

off to the pool, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: James Burks
Published, 2010: Yen Press
Like it?  Here it is

Interview #3: Aaron Reynolds

We've got another interview for you this week!  We're delighted to share a conference call style conversation that the kids and I recently had with Aaron Reynolds, author of "Joey Fly Private Eye."  It's been a lot of fun to put the kids in contact with creative folks, to let the kids pick their brains, and to simply talk about creativity together.  Thanks for engaging with us Mr. Reynolds!

The portrait of Aaron Reynolds is by Gracie, who I think can now (with 3 in a row) be declared our official Bookie Woogie portraitist.

And with that, we'll get started...


Dad:  So guys, tell me about "Joey Fly Private Eye."
Isaac (age 11):  The story is a about this fly who is a detective named Joey Fly.
Lily (age 6):  He's a good detective.  Joey kept saying, "We've got to have proof!"
Gracie (age 9):  The characters are all bugs.  Bug world!
Isaac:  Joey's sidekick is Sammy Stingtail who is a scorpion.  Sammy is really clumsy.
Lily:  He has a long tail and he keeps whacking, whacking, whacking everything!  Sammy is learning to be a detective.  But right now he's just cleaning up the office.
Dad:  Does the office get very clean?
Isaac:  It looks like a tornado went through the office because his tail keeps bumping into everything.  He'll pick up one piece of paper, but he'll destroy fifty three thousand things while picking it up.
Dad:  What kind of book is this?
Lily:  It's a wordy book.
Isaac:  It's a graphic novel.
Dad:  What is a Graphic Novel, for any of our readers who might not know...
Isaac:  It's like a comic book.  Imagine a book, but when you open it up there are comics inside.
Dad:  So how is that different from a comic book?  It's longer?
Isaac:  It's in a book - not a magazine.
Gracie:  This is also a funny book.  Puns!  Bug puns!  You know how some people say, "Life in the big city"?  Joey Fly on the beginning page says "Life in the BUG city!"
Isaac:  It's a mystery story too.
Lily:  It's a detective book.
Dad:  Have you guys ever read any mystery books before this?  We have a lot of Nate the Great books...
Isaac:  I've read Hardy Boys books too.
Dad:  Good job guys.  Now for our interview with Aaron Reynolds!  It's nice to meet you...  or, to meet your voice.
Aaron Reynolds:  It's good to meet your voices!
Gracie:  Guess what!
Aaron Reynolds:  What?
Gracie:  My dad's name is Aaron too!
Aaron Reynolds:  I know -- coolest name ever!
Dad:  This is the first time on Bookie Woogie that we're talking about a book we didn't read together as a group.  None of the kids could wait to get their hands on it, so we each read it on our own.  I'm assuming you guys liked "Joey Fly" since you devoured it?
Gracie:  I read it, like, five times!
Aaron Reynolds:  You did!
Lily:  I read it two times.
Aaron Reynolds:  That's awesome.  What was your favorite part?
Gracie:  My favorite part was when Joey was talking to the ladybug, Gloria.  And Gloria tells Joey, "She had a funny look on her face, like she'd just found a fly in her soup."  And then Joey says, "That hurt."
Aaron Reynolds: (laughter)
Gracie:  That's funny!
Lily:  Yeah, that's my favorite part too!
Isaac:  I just like the whole book.
Gracie:  Do you have a favorite part?
Aaron Reynolds:  Oh man... that's a tough one.  I think my favorite part is at the very end when Joey tricks the culprit into revealing herself.  I thought it was pretty sneaky of him.
Dad:  Earlier this week Isaac was trying his hand at writing a mystery story.
Aaron Reynolds:  Oh, cool...
Dad:  And he had a bit of trouble.  What was the main problem you were having?
Isaac:  I couldn't get all the clues to match up.
Aaron Reynolds:  Yeah, that's hard isn't it?  Mysteries are tricky.  I think it's harder than writing a regular story.
Dad:  Isaac had some good ideas for clues.  He knew how they would reveal the ending.  I think he just didn't know how to pace all the clues into a story.
Isaac:  I knew a few of the clues pointed to one person.  But I couldn't figure out how to get all the clues to do it.
Aaron Reynolds:  I have trouble with that sometimes too.  Sometimes I figure out the clues that lead up to the ending as I write.  Other times I jump to the ending and think backwards... I reveal the whole thing to myself in my imagination and then think about all the things that the crook might have missed or left behind.  I also don't want the clues to be obvious.  When you find a clue, I don't want everyone who is reading the book to go, "I know what happened!"  I also watch a lot of cool mystery movies.  And when I see other people who do mysteries really well, it gives me some ideas.
Gracie:  We watch Scooby Doo.
Aaron Reynolds:  Scooby Doo!  I love Scooby Doo.
Isaac:  Because you are writing the story and it is a graphic novel, do you ever worry about how the pictures are going to come out?
Aaron Reynolds:  That's a great question.  The guy who illustrated the book - his name is Neil Numberman.  He and I did not know each other until after the book came out, so we never worked together.  We never spoke once during the creation of the book.  So how the book looks was totally in his hands.  And I'll tell you guys a secret.  When I first saw his sketches of Joey, I hated them!
Dad:  Uh-oh!
Aaron Reynolds:  Ohhhh... I hated them.  I thought to myself, okay, the main character you've drawn for my book doesn't even have a mouth.  And he doesn't have pupils in his eyeballs!  How are you going to do a main character like this for an entire 98 page graphic novel?  How are people going to know how he's feeling?  I was a little worried about it.
Dad:  So did you see some actual pages?  Or just some character sketches?
Aaron Reynolds:  Character sketches.  It was when the publisher thought they wanted Neil to do the book, but they hadn't decided yet.  My editor wasn't showing me to ask "Is this okay."  Because I don't get to decide.  They decide.  But my editor did go back to Neil and told him how I was feeling.  So Neil made a sheet of the 50 emotions of Joey Fly.
Gracie:  Yikes!
Aaron Reynolds:  He drew 50 different little pictures of Joey feeling different emotions.  My editor sent that back to me and I was like, okay I'm sold.  If he can make this character work in 50 different expressions -- and in each one I knew exactly how he was feeling -- then I'm sold.  So yes, sometimes I do worry about the illustrations because I don't get a lot of control over it.  But you learn to trust these artists who are in the mix... they're usually pretty good.
Dad:  Ahh, those stinkin' artists....
Isaac:  I like Joey.  He's my favorite character.
Dad:  Actually, right before the interview, mere moments ago, I was telling the kids that I loved the fact that Joey only has a little tube for a mouth and pupil-less eyes.  I thought it was the coolest part of the whole book.  But see, that's another artist talking.
Lily:  Who is your favorite character?
Aaron Reynolds:  I really love Joey.  And I've also got a new favorite...  Now, you guys haven't even seen it yet, but I've looked at the sketches for Joey Fly #2 --
Gracie:  GAAASP!!!
Aaron Reynolds: (stunned pause followed by laughter)
Dad: (also laughing)  Wow - all the air just got sucked out of the room here.
Lily:  There's going to be another one?  Yeah!  There's going to be another one!
Aaron Reynolds:  Number 2 is already written, and Neil is illustrating it right now.  He's already done the sketches, and he's doing the final artwork right now.  He'd better be doing it right now... today!  And I'm already writing #3.
Dad:  Yay - We were wondering if there would be more.  That's good news!
Aaron Reynolds:  So my favorite-favorite character is from the second book.  His name is Harry Spiderson, and he's a brazilian tarantula.
Dad:  We're going to have to hide that from Mom...
Gracie:  She freaks out!
Aaron Reynolds:  Doesn't like spiders?
Gracie:  Nuh-uh.
Aaron Reynolds:  I don't like them in real life either.
Lily:  I'm not afraid of spiders.  And spiders are even half poisonous.
Dad:  Half poisonous?  Which half?
Lily:  The top half.  If they bite you.
Dad:  So is Harry a nice spider or a creepy one?
Aaron Reynolds: He's a good guy.  He's actually the customer that comes to Joey for help.  We think he's a bad guy at first because, you know, what do spiders eat?  They eat flies.  So we're a little worried about him at first, but he turns out to be okay.  He's a little dramatic though.  The whole story takes place in a theater, and he's the director of the theater company.
Dad:  Gracie, you were on the stage recently, weren't you...
Gracie:  Yes!  I was doing a skit at my drama camp.
Aaron Reynolds:  Very cool.  Very cool.  Before I became a writer I was an actor in Chicago.
Gracie:  And you write plays.
Dad:  Yeah, we did some looking online and found a few songs you wrote and some of the plays you were in.
Aaron Reynolds:  You did?
Gracie:  You had little red pointy horns!
Aaron Reynolds: (laughter)  You saw that, did you?
Dad:  You don't have horns in real life do you?
Aaron Reynolds:  Not in real life.  Ah, that's the bad thing about letting someone video you doing drama...  You never know when it's going to pop up.
Lily:  Gracie was a cowgirl.
Gracie:  Yeah, in my skit I was a wrangler.
Aaron Reynolds:  Cool.
Gracie:  I still remember all my lines.
Dad:  It didn't surprise any of us that Gracie took to drama pretty well.
Gracie:  Which one is your favorite?  Writing graphic novels, writing picture books, writing plays, or writing songs?
Aaron Reynolds:  You know I like them all.  They're all a little different.  Right now I really love graphic novels.  In a lot of ways it's like writing plays.  When I write a graphic novel, I don't write a story like a regular book.  I write a script.
Dad:  Yeah, we were wondering what that looks like... how writing a graphic novel looks different than writing a picture book.
Aaron Reynolds:  Gracie's script at drama camp probably gave the name of a character and what they say, and then the name of the next character and what they say.  And also stage directions that tell where you walk and how you move.  That's a lot like how it looks when you are writing a graphic novel.  It's just 100 pages of a script.
Gracie:  100 pages?
Aaron Reynolds:  You're right... the finished script is probably more like 60 or 70 pages once it had all the stage direction in it.
Gracie:  Was "Joey Fly" fun to write?
Aaron Reynolds:  It is fun to write.  But you know what, I'm writing the third one right now and I'm not having fun.  I'm having a hard time figuring out what I want to have happen.
Gracie:  You're writing it right now?
Aaron Reynolds:  Well, not right now, not while we're talking.
Lily:  Oh, you mean like in this part of the week.
Aaron Reynolds:  Yes.  These days.
Lily:  Gracie writes songs too.
Gracie:  Yeah, I usually only write Jesus songs.  Except once when we were at Disney World, just quick off the top of my head I made up a song about a kangaroo and a turtle which I do not want to sing right now.
Aaron Reynolds:  But now that you said it, I have to hear it!  Let's hear it!
Gracie:  It's embarrassing!
Isaac:  Sing it!
Lily:  Sing!  Sing!
Gracie:  It's embarrassing - no!
Dad:  Well, what if Mr. Reynolds sings you a little something?  Then will you sing for him?
Aaron Reynolds:  Oh my goodness.  Alright, I'm embarrassed too, Gracie.  Neither of us have to sing.
Gracie: (giggles)
Aaron Reynolds:  Sometimes we creative people are actually pretty shy.
Dad:  But it's fun -- we get to hide behind other characters, right?
Aaron Reynolds:  This is true.
Dad:  I was wondering what other graphic novels you like.  Are there any other ones that you take inspiration from.
Aaron Reynolds:  I love Babymouse.  Do you guys know Babymouse?
Gracie:  I LOVE Babymouse!  They're my favorite books ever!
Lily:  Me too.  But I also like Joey Fly.
Aaron Reynolds:  Well if I rate up there with Babymouse, then I'm very happy.  Because Babymouse is awesome.  There's also a series called Jellaby.  Have you seen Jellaby?
Isaac:  Yes!
Lily:  Yeah!  I love Jellaby.
Dad:  These guys are very into graphic novels.
Gracie:  Oh yeah!
Aaron Reynolds:  Owly?  Do you guys like Owly?
Gracie:  Yeeeeeah.  I love Owly.
Aaron Reynolds:  And there's a new series -- the second book just came out -- it's called Amulet...
Isaac:  Oh yeah.
Lily:  AW!  I love Amulet!
Gracie:  Whenever we get an Amulet book, everybody races to see who can finish it first.  And there's always fighting about who can read it first.
Aaron Reynolds:  Did you guys just get the second one?  It's so good.
Dad:  Yeah, we have it sitting right here on the table next to us... from the library...
Gracie:  We love, love, love Amulet.
Lily:  We already finished book 1 and book 2.
Aaron Reynolds:  Did you?  I got book 2 and just finished it a couple weeks ago.
Dad:  It sounds like Mr. Reynolds has the same taste in graphic novels as you guys.
Gracie:  Awesome!
Dad:  Anything else you guys want to say as we wrap up?
Isaac:  Thank-you for letting us interview you!
Lily:  And thank-you for writing Joey Fly.
Gracie:  It's a cool book.
Aaron Reynolds:  Oh, you're welcome.  I'm so glad you guys like it!  I can't wait for you guys to see the second one.
Lily:  I can't wait!

"She had a funny look on her face, like she had just found a fly in her soup," by Lily

Delilah, Flittany, and Sammy Stingtail, by Gracie

Sammy returns, by Isaac

Author: Aaron Reynolds
Illustrator: Neil Numberman
Published, 2009: Henry Holt
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