Review #125: Charlotte's Web

 
The 3rd Annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is coming soon!  We attended the screening in Chicago last year and it was tons of fun!  Don't know what the 90-Second Newbery is?  I'll put some links at the bottom of this post.  But in the meantime...

For our entry this year, we decided to tackle one of the most highly favored novels in Children's Literature.  Charlotte's Web won a Newbery Honor in 1952.  Ten years later, Spider-Man made his first appearance.  Hey... why not bring the two legendary spiders together?  Why not re-imagine the "Charlotte" characters as costumed heroes and villains in the opening credits of an imaginary tv show?  Okay!  Let's do it!  

We're proud to present our Charlotte's Web / Spider-Man / Mashup Video:



And for an actual 'review' of the book, here are the lyrics to our song:

­­

Charlotte’s web, Charlotte’s web

Making miracles with her thread
She spins a web that brings surprise
With her words she saves lives
Look Out!
Here comes Charlotte’s web

See that pig in the mud?
He will faint at the thought of blood
Will our Wilbur soon be dead?
Just take a look overhead
See there:
There’s hope in Charlotte’s web

From the farm to the fair

Meeting animals everywhere

He could get eaten any day

Danger’s never far away

That’s why

He needs Charlotte’s web

In the chill of night
With her own special twine
She in secret writes
To save the life of a swine

Charlotte’s web, Charlotte’s web

Friendly, generous, lots of legs
The pig gets fame
While she’s ignored
Making friends is her reward

So pigs, whenever you are shakin’
She’ll come and save your bacon
Look out for Charlotte’s web!

To see all four of our own Newbery Videos, click here...
To learn more about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, click here...
To see the best of the 90-Second Newbery videos, click here...

Author: E.B. White
Illustrator: Garth Williams
Published, 1952: HarperCollins
Want the book?  Here it is

 

Review #119: Frog and Toad Together

It's that time of year again... The 2nd Annual 90-Second Newbery Festival is right around the corner!  Each year kids across the land are invited to make short video versions of their favorite Newbery winners, and this year the Z-Kids were eager to have another go at it.

You might know that one of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad books won a Caldecott Honor for illustration.  But did you know that a different one received the Newbery Honor for story?

We're excited to present our Frog and Toad Fan Film, performed by Isaac (14), Gracie (12), Lily (9), Elijah (7), and Evie (4)...





To watch it larger, you can click here...

If you'd like to see a behind-the-scenes "Making Of" video, click here...

If you'd like to hear Isaac's original free-styling harmonica score, click here...

If you'd like to watch all of our 90-Second Newbery entries, click here...

Author/Illustrator: Arnold Lobel
Published, 1979: HarperCollins
Like it?  Here it is

Review #97: Rain Brings Frogs

Lily (age 8):  "Rain Brings Frogs"!
Isaac (age 12):  By Maryann Cocca-Leffler.
Lily:  Cocca-Cola...  Hot Cocca!
Gracie (age 10):  Lily!
Isaac:  The book is about this kid named Nate.
Lily:  He's a "happy side" person.
Gracie:  He's always looking at the bright side.
Isaac:  For example, his sister got a present -- this purple and neon green scarf and hat.  And she thought it was the ugliest ever.  Then Nate saw it and said it was warm.  He found something good to say about it.
Gracie:  He's showing her the bright side.
Lily:  And there is a boy named Ben who has more ice cream than a banana split, and he says to everyone, "Nooo!! I'm not going to share with you!"  But Nate is sharing his.
Gracie:  Even though Nate's ice cream is a billion times smaller than the other guy's.
Lily:  Nate only has one scoop of ice cream, but he's sharing.
Dad:  Does this book help you learn anything?
Isaac:  Be content with what you have.
Lily:  Don't complain.  Be thankful for what you've got.
Dad:  Does our attitude depend on the things around us?
Lily:  Our attitude comes from what's inside.  It's pretty much love and self-control.
Dad:  Would you like to have Nate for a friend?
Gracie:  He would give me ice cream!
Lily:  Nate would be my BFF.
Gracie:  I already have a friend who is happy all the time.  I have Julia.
Dad:  How about you guys?  Could we say that you are like Nate?
Gracie:  No-ho-ho.  No one is THAT perfect.
Isaac:  Nobody could be like Nate.  Not ALL the time.
Gracie:  Except Julia.
Dad:  Could we work to be more like Nate?
Isaac:  Well, we do try to be like Jesus... which is an impossible goal.
Lily:  But we try our best.
Dad:  Are there legitimate things to be sad about?
Gracie:  Like if a person fell down and skinned their knee.
Lily:  But Gracie, there's a bright side -- at least the person didn't break their leg!
Dad:  Has that happened to you before in real life?  Did something disappointing happen, but you looked on the bright side?
Lily:  At Christmas.  Mom was in the hospital having a baby.  So I only got to open one present.  I was kind of sad about that.  We had to wait for three days to open the rest.
Dad:  Ha ha...  But what was the good thing in that situation?
Lily:  At least I got to open one present.
Dad:  What else?
Isaac:  And we got a BABY SISTER!
Lily:  Oh yeah.
Gracie:  Would you rather have gotten a few more Polly Pockets, or had a BABY come into the world?!
Lily:  Ba-by!
Gracie:  Hey... Mom wanted to review this book with us!
Dad:  That's right... what did you want to say about this book, Hon?
Mom:  Just that I loved it.  It gets your kids thinking about thankfulness.  It gets them looking on the bright side.  We all know people out there who are positive...
Gracie & Lily:  Julia!!!
Mom:  And Julia's mom is like that too.  They are a bright-side-of-things family.
Dad:  Is there specific "complaining" that we deal with in our family?  Maybe we can think through a good response instead?
Mom:  All the time when we are homeschooling they say, "I have to do Math again?  Every day?  I'm sick of Math..."
Dad:  So what would be a better response?
Gracie:  "We...  have the ability...  to learn."
Mom:  "I can do Math on my couch."
Gracie:  Yeah, you don't send us away to learn Math!
Dad:  "I can do Math in my jammies."
Gracie:  Yeah!!!
Dad:  How about positive examples.  Can you think of a time when one of our kids looked on the bright side in a hard situation?
Mom:  It seems like something just happened the other day...  What was it?  It seems like...  it might have been Isaac....
Gracie:  That figures.  He's the perfect kid.
Mom:  It's hard having one perfect sibling.  But on the bright side: at least you have four other imperfect siblings -- Ha ha ha ha!

Lee says, "It's so green"
Nate says, "It's so yummy"
- by Lily

When Mom says, "What a mess"
Nate says, "Yuuummm!"
- by Gracie

Jake says, "It's too long!"
Nate says, "But it's worth it!"
- by Isaac

Author/Illustrator: Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Published, 2011: Harper
Like it?  Here it is

Review #87: A Pet for Petunia

Dad:  Tell us about "A Pet for Petunia."
Elijah (age 5):  Petunia wants a pet skunk.
Lily (age 8):  Petunia really likes skunks.  Actually, she really, really, really, really, really so-much-likes skunks that she LOVES skunks.
Isaac (age 12):  She loves skunks more than anything in the whole universe.  And so she wants a skunk.  You don't hear that every day.
Elijah:  I wouldn't want one.
Lily:  Petunia doesn't know the secret-secrets of skunks.  A smell.
Gracie (age 10):  I've never smelled one, and I don't want to.
Lily:  Petunia runs out to the forest.  She sees a skunk.  And she smells the smell of her life: Stink.
Elijah:  She loved the stink.
Lily:  She smelled the Stink of Stinks.  After that, she still loved skunks, but she stopped wanting a real one.
Gracie:  She decided her pet would be a stuffed animal skunk.
Isaac:  But then Petunia wants a porcupine.
Lily: (singing)  "Now I love porcupines just the way they are..."
Dad:  What did you think of that skunk in the book?
Elijah:  He's adorable!
Gracie:  He's so cute!
Lily:  I would want that skunk.  If we got gas masks I would.
Gracie:  Paul Schmid draws the cutest skunks in the world.
Lily:  The key is big foreheads.
Isaac:  Little eyeballs.  Little cute smile.
Gracie:  It's just so cute.
Isaac:  I love that skunk!
Gracie:  For these pictures Paul Schmid only uses black and white and purple.  And tiny bits and pieces of yellow.  But most of the book is just black, white, and purple.
Elijah:  It's like he used watercolor.
Isaac:  Little splotches.
Dad:  Just like Petunia loves her skunks, each of you guys has your own favorite animal, don't you.  Lily is our duck lover.
Lily:  I want a real duck.  Ducks are adorable.  Our neighbor Gina had a real duck from a farm.  Why can't I have a duck?
Gracie:  Gina used to have a turtle.  But she had to give it away.  And then she had a duck.  But that ran away.  And she used to have three bunnies.  But two of them died.
Dad:  Yikes.  I don't think I'd give Gina any more animals.  Now, we saw that skunks have drawbacks -- are there any problems with having a duck?
Lily:  They nibble you.
Elijah:  I want a turtle.  I love turtles.
Gracie:  I love, love, love pandas.  They are absolutely adorable.  Even more adorable than skunks.  But I can't have a panda because they are almost extinct, and they are protected by Chinese police.  But I want one so bad.  I at least want to see one in real life.
Elijah:  I want to see a real turtle in real life.
Dad:  I think your chances are better than Gracie's.
Gracie:  I could fly to China...  smuggle a panda bear onto the plane...
Dad:  Even little sister Evie has her "own" special animal.
Lily:  Owls!
Dad:  And you each have lots of stuffed versions of your favorite animal.
Elijah:  Yeah.
Isaac:  I don't.
Dad:  What is your animal Isaac?  Do you even have one?
Isaac:  A turkey.
Dad:  What?  You are making that up.  I've never heard you say that once ever.
Isaac:  No, no, no.  I decided that two weeks ago.  I decided I need to get a real turkey, so ever since I've wanted one.
Dad:  I thought dragons were your favorite.  You are Dragon-boy.
Isaac:  Dragons don't exist.
Gracie:  You don't have any stuffed turkeys do you?
Isaac:  Nope.
Dad:  On Thanksgiving we get stuffed with turkey.
Isaac:  Or we get turkey with stuffing.
Dad:  Alright.  So Isaac likes turkeys now.  Now you each have an animal.
Isaac:  I want a real turkey so it can guard the house.  I could train it to attack robbers.
Dad:  I think Elijah's animal is the most realistic.  We might be able to get an aquarium with a little turtle someday.
Gracie:  How much do you think they cost?
Elijah:  Ninety million.
Dad:  Wow.  Well, maybe we won't be getting one.

a porcupine for Petunia, by Gracie

a duck for Lily, by Lily

a turtle for Elijah, by Elijah

a turkey for Isaac, by Isaac

Author/Illustrator: Paul Schmid
Published, 2011: HarperCollins
Like it?  Here it is

Review #77: The Chronicles of Narnia

Dad:  What books did we re-read as a family over the summer?
Kids:  Narnia!!!
Lily (age 7):  We called it the "Summer of Narnia."
Gracie (age 10):  On the first night, we made a big fort in the living room.
Isaac (age 12):  A big fort out of blankets.
Gracie:  We ate popcorn in the fort while we listened.
Isaac:  Dad made tickets for "The Summer of Narnia" and hid them all over.  We had to find them before we could go inside the fort.
Dad:  Before we talk about specific books, tell me about the series as a whole.
Gracie:  In each book, these kids travel from our world to a world called Narnia.
Lily:  I like all the exploring in the books.  One time they went in a boat to the End of the World.  One time they went underground to the center of the earth.
Dad:  Is it the same kids in every book?
Gracie:  Not in every book.  Sometimes there are new kids.
Dad:  Who is the one character that appears in every Narnia book.
Gracie:  Aslan!
Elijah (age 5):  He is a lion.
Gracie:  Narnia is the place where a lion is king.
Elijah:  If we ever get a lion for a pet, I would name it Aslan.
Dad:  There are seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia series.  But why don't you each choose one book, and then you can tell us about that particular book in the series.  Which one are you going to pick, Lily?
Lily:  "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."  It is about a wardrobe.  And a witch.  And a lion.
Dad:  Ha ha ha...  Well, there's a good summary of the book's title.
Lily:  These four kids go to a house in the country.  Lucy goes into a wardrobe and comes into Narnia.  It is a place where animals can talk.  And the trees are alive.  And there was a faun!
Isaac:  Mr. Tumnus.  Goat man.
Lily:  Lucy went to the goat man's house, and they had tea.  And there is an evil witch who makes it always winter.
Gracie:  She enchants their brother Edmund by giving him Turkish Delight.
Lily:  They try to save him from the witch.  The beavers help them.
Isaac:  Mrs. Beaver tried to bring everything along on the trip.
Gracie:  "Thank heavens I brought the butter knife!"  She even tried to pack her sewing machine.  "You don't suppose my sewing machine will fit, do you?"
Lily:  The witch can turn people into stone with her wand.  But Aslan breathes on the stones and he makes the stone alive.  The animals turn back to how they were before because of his breath.
Dad:  What was your favorite part of the book?
Lily:  I like how you can get through the wardrobe into Narnia.
Dad:  Does it make you want to hunt around our house to see if there are any nooks that can take you places?
Lily:  Well...  I have tried to once.  In your closet.  It didn't work.
Gracie:  I've already checked in all the closets about twenty times.
Isaac:  Me too.  In my closet.
Dad:  You guys are only checking closets?  Maybe that's your problem.
Elijah:  I think a hidden place is behind the bookcase.
Dad:  Okay, next book...  Elijah's turn!  Which book are you going to pick?
Elijah:  "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."
Dad:  What is the Dawn Treader?
Elijah:  It is a boat that was shaped like a dragon.
Dad:  Who was on the boat?
Elijah:  Reepicheep.  He is a mouse.  He likes to fight people with a sword.  I think Reepicheep is braver than me.
Dad:  Who else was on the boat?
Elijah:  King Caspian.  He wanted to go to the End of the World.
Dad:  What did they see on their way there?
Elijah:  A place where dreams come true.  Some dreams can be really scary.  They also found a dragon's cave.  Eustace was sleeping in the dragon's cave.  When he woke up, he turned into a dragon.  He put on a bracelet when he was a boy, and when he turned into a dragon it hurt because he grew.
Dad:  How did he stop being a dragon?
Elijah:  There were different kinds of skins on him, and he had to scratch them to get them off.  It didn't work very good when he did it.  But when Aslan did it, it worked better.  Then Eustace turned back into a boy.
Dad:  What are some other places they discovered?
Elijah:  There was a place where if somebody puts part of themself in the water, it turns to gold.  If you went swimming, you would turn to gold.  And there was a place with some people that were invisible.  One footed people.
Isaac:  Dufflepuds.
Gracie:  Elijah covered everything pretty good.  Wait!  The mermaid people!  They saw mermaid people, and Reepicheep thought they were declaring war.  So he freaked out and jumped into the water.
Dad:  What was your favorite part, Elijah?
Elijah:  I like it when Eustace turns into a dragon.
Dad:  Who's next?  What book are you going to pick, Isaac?
Isaac:  "The Silver Chair."  It is about finding a prince.  The lost prince of Narnia.
Dad:  Who are the kids in this book?
Isaac:  Eustace and Jill.  And there's also Puddleglum.  You can't forget Puddleglum!
Gracie:  Puddleglum is the best!
Elijah:  Puddleglum is my favorite character.  He is a webbed-hand and webbed-footed guy.
Isaac:  Puddleglum is a marshwiggle.  They are tall muddy people.  He is the most carefree of all the marshwiggles, which is kind of freaky because he is always looking on the downside.  He's always sad about stuff.
Dad:  Where do their adventures take them?
Isaac:  The first place they go is to the giants' castle.  But they had to escape.  They found out they were going to be made into pies for the Autumn Feast.  They tried to get out as fast as they possibly could.  Then they fell into this pit and met these people that live underground.  This is the Underworld.
Gracie:  There is no light there except dull gray.  And there is a huge, huge, huge underground lake.
Isaac:  The queen of the Underworld is a witch.  And the Silver Chair traps the prince under a spell.
Gracie:  "In Aslan's Name, let me go!"
Dad:  That is probably my favorite family reading moment EVER.  The first time we read these books together, a few years ago...
Gracie:  I was freaking out at that part.  I was jumping up and down.
Dad:  You were literally screaming out loud at the characters in the book, "Listen to him! Listen to him!"  You were so emotionally involved in the story.
Gracie:  This time, my favorite part was Puddleglum's speech.  "You might be right.  There might be no Aslan.  But I'm going to keep following him, even if he isn't real.  Even if we are making him up, he's way better than what you've got down here!"  Only, he said it way more dramatically than me.
Dad:  How about you Isaac?  What was your favorite part?
Isaac:  The snake lady.  The witch turns into a giant snake, and they have to try to kill her.
Dad:  Okay Gracie, you're up.  Final pick.
Gracie:  I am going to tell you about how Narnia starts.  It is in "The Magician's Nephew."  It is a prequel.
Dad:  Who are the kids in this one?
Gracie:  Digory and Polly.  Digory's Uncle Andrew gives them rings and they can travel to different worlds.  First they went into a dead world called Charn.  Queen Jadis was the empress there.  They rang a bell and woke her up.  She grabbed them, and they traveled back to our world.  They had to get her out of our world because she was destroying everything.  But instead of bringing her back into Charn, they accidentally brought her to Narnia.
Dad:  What happened when they landed there.
Gracie:  There was no Narnia yet.  But they heard singing, and then they got to see Aslan make the world of Narnia.
Elijah:  Aslan makes things grow by singing.  He can do anything.
Isaac:  They even made a taffy tree.  Anything you planted in the ground would grow.
Dad:  What was your favorite part of the book, Gracie?
Gracie:  They go to a big garden and pick an apple of youth from the tree of life.  Digory's mother is sick back home, and he has to get the apple of life to cure her.
Dad:  So what's the verdict?  Are you glad we spent the summer reading these?
Elijah:  If there weren't books about Narnia, we wouldn't know anything about Narnia.  I hope I will go there someday.
Dad:  What would you do there?
Lily:  I would go find the creatures and make friends.
Elijah:  I would go to the place where I could turn into a dragon.
Dad:  You would want to be a dragon on purpose?
Elijah:  Yeah.  I could fly.  I actually want to be in the suit of a dragon.
Dad:  Who is your favorite character from the series?
Gracie:  Puddleglum.
Isaac:  Puddleglum.  He's funny.
Elijah:  Reepicheep and Puddleglum.  Reepicheep is a fighter, and he would be on my team so I could fight bad guys with him.
Dad:  Do you like the movie versions?
Isaac:  The movies are great, but the books are even better.
Dad:  Are you excited about the next movie coming up?  "Dawn Treader" is out soon.
Isaac:  We are so going to that!

Aslan breathing on the Mr. Tumnus statue, by Lily

Reepicheep and Caspian aboard the Dawn Treader, by Elijah

Jadis and Digory by the apple tree, by Gracie

Puddleglum and Prince Rilian fight the serpent, by Isaac

Update:  Check out the site 5 Minutes For Books for our review of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" movie!


Author: C. S. Lewis
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Published 1950-1956
Like them?  Here they are

Review #68: Mathilda and the Orange Balloon

Dad:  Today we are looking at "Mathilda and the Orange Balloon" by Randall de Seve, illustrated by Jen Corace.
Lily (age 7):  This book is about balloons.
Isaac (age 11):  And imagination.
Lily:  Imagination and balloons.
Dad:  Do you guys remember who Jen Corace is?
Gracie (age 9):  She illustrated Little Pea, Little Hoot, and Little... um... Pig.
Isaac:  She's back.  And cooler than ever.
Dad:  Who is the star of this book?
Isaac:  The book is about this sheep who has a huge imagination.
Gracie:  Mathilda is the sheep.  Mathilda is kind of a weird name for her.  It sounds like a boring name, even though she is fun.
Dad:  You think the name "Mathilda" sounds boring?
Gracie:  It sounds like a name you would give one of those really proper stepmothers that live in the big mansions.
Isaac:  It sounds like a name from Anne of Green Gables.
Gracie:  I think the sheep's name should be "Marshmallow."
Lily:  Mathilda saw a big, orange balloon.  And she wanted to be one.  But all the other sheep said, "You can't do that, because... we are boring - that's why.  Sheep are boring, so you are not allowed to turn into an orange balloon."
Isaac:  She changed their minds by proving them wrong.  By turning into a big rubber round thing.  And turning colors.  And turning fluffy.
Gracie:  She imagined all the things that balloons look like.  Round, flying, and orange.  So when the sheep say, "A balloon is round," all of a sudden Mathilda is like - POOM!  And she is round.  Then the sheep say, "And it flies." And she says, "Like this?"  And then she's 15 feet off the ground.  And when they say "orange," she turns into a freaky tiger and all the sheep freak out.
Lily:  You said "freak" two times.
Dad:  Was she really doing these things, or was she imagining them?
Gracie:  I hope she was really doing it.  Because that would be funny.
Isaac:  It would be funny if it really was happening, and then right when she turns all big, round, and fluffy and started floating, the farmer opens up the door!
Gracie:  She is a balloon.  A freakishly strange balloon.
Isaac:  She has an orange imagination of fun.
Lily:  And all the other sheep turn into flowers, bees, buses, and even sailors!
Isaac:  Actually - it just occurred to me...  When she turns into the tiger, all the other sheep are cowering.  So it must be real.
Dad:  Or maybe they also got caught up in her imagination...  Has that ever happened to you?  Have you ever gotten swept up into someone else's imagination?
Gracie:  Yeah!  That happens a lot.
Dad:  Think of movies even.  Other people just make them up, but you get caught up into the story and for a while you feel like it's real.
Gracie:  I had to stop watching a movie.  Right in the middle of "2012," it scared me half to death.
Isaac:  Like "Signs" did for me.  That's the first scary movie I ever watched.  I did not expect that.
Dad:  So maybe all the little lambies had to stop in the middle of Mathilda's orange tiger story because it scared them half to death.
Gracie:  Ha ha!
Isaac:  Did you see that tiger's teeth!  They look like huge bent up needles!  Look at them!
Gracie:  They are so shocked.  Look at their faces.
Dad:  So, do you guys have good imaginations?
Gracie:  I don't want to toot my own horn...
Dad:  I don't know, (sniff)...  I think I just heard Gracie's horn toot.  Or...  something tooted over there...
Isaac:  Ha ha ha ha HA!
Lily:  Grammy always says to me, "You have such a good imagination."
Gracie:  Dad, you are most like the old sheep.
Dad:  Why?  Because I'm old?
Gracie:  No.
Dad:  Because I'm gray?
Gracie:  No.
Dad:  Because I'm poofy?
Kids:  Ha HA HAH ha ha!!!
Gracie:  No - because sometimes instead of letting us have fun, you make us clean the living room.
Dad:  Well, just use your imaginations!  Maybe you can make clean-up fun!  Now, do you guys ever do what Mathilda does?  Do you ever imagine you are some other thing?
Isaac:  Hmmm... I'm trying to think.... what's the weirdest thing I've ever pretended I was.
Gracie:  Oh!  Oh!  Remember.  Just last night you were pretending to be--
Isaac:  NO!!!  NOT THAT!!!  DON'T SAY IT!!!
Gracie:  UNDERWEAR MODEL!!!
Isaac:  NO NO NO!!!
Gracie:  UNDERWEAR MODEL!!!!
Dad:  Alright...  I know what picture I'm drawing for the review...
Gracie:  Isaac the underwear model!
(Laughter by all)
Isaac:  It was pajama pants.
Dad:  How about you, Lily -- Do you ever pretend to be something funny?
Lily:  Yes.  A bird.  I make a nest out of blankets, and I pretend I'm a bird.
Gracie:  Sometimes I wish with all my might that I could be small enough to fit into Polly Pocket clothes.
Dad:  Be careful what you wish for!

Mathilda as an orange balloon, by Gracie

Mathilda as an orange tiger, by Lily

Mathilda as an orange...  orange! by Isaac

Author: Randall de Seve
Illustrator: Jen Corace
Published, 2010: Harper Collins
Like it? Find it

Review #64: The Wonder Book

Dad:  Today we are taking a look at "The Wonder Book," written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Paul Schmid.  What did you guys think of it?
Lily (age 7):  Kids should pick this book up.  They would like it.
Gracie (age 9):  Any kid would like this.  It's hilarious.
Lily:  I want everyone to know the hilarious-ness-es of this book.
Isaac (age 11):  This is a poem book.
Dad:  Did you have a favorite poem in there, Lily?
Lily:  I don't know which is my favorite.  But the one I remember most is with the boy in the water, and he says: "Tinkle / Tinkle / In the sea / Don't look under / While I pee."
Dad:  Ah, so sophisticated...
Isaac:  It's funny!
Dad:  How about you, Gracie?
Gracie:  I like the Various Friends of Mary Mack.  You know that rhyme that goes "Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack / All dressed in black black black..."  Well, these are the Less Famous Friends of Mary Mack.  So there is "Miss Mary Fred Fred Fred / All dressed in red red red..." and stuff like that.
Dad:  And many of these poems involve wordplay...  Making a pun...  Or making a palindrome...
Lily:  A whatty-what?
Gracie:  A palindrome is a word that is the same spelled both backward and forward.
Dad:  And Isaac, tell us about puns.
Isaac:  This is an example from the book...  If you said, "Puns of the Week," then "Sun" Day would be hot.  And "Twos" Day would be a girl and her reflection.  And "Fry" Day would be french fry day.
Gracie: (flipping through the book)  I like this poem too...
Dad:  It's a funny list of names...
Gracie:  The illustrator could have drawn anything, but he drew all these kids piled on top of a camel, and the camel is the one named Bob.
Dad:  So the poem is funny by itself.  And even the picture is funny by itself.  But what happens when you put the two together?
Gracie:  It explodes into little nuggets of laughing goodness.
Dad:  So what did the illustrator bring to the book?
Gracie:  Hilariousness.
Isaac:  I don't think it would have been as good without the words, and I don't think it would have been as good without the pictures.
Dad:  So the book needed both Mrs. Rosenthal and Mr. Schmid.
Gracie:  Paul Schmid makes skinny, little, stick ears on his guys.  Look at them!  Bumpy, stick ears.
Isaac:  And they have little, teeny legs and little, teeny arms.
Elijah (age 4):  They look like little moosh-kins.
Dad:  What is a mooshkin?  You mean munchkins?
Elijah:  Moosh-kin.
Isaac:  The drawings look like they were done really fast.  They are really good though.  I really like his drawings.
Gracie:  Loose doodley black and white.
Dad:  Did you have a favorite drawing?
Gracie:  At the very beginning of the book where everybody is standing in a line, there is this hilarious bunny.  He's freaky!  A fat monster bunny!  He's got big eyebrows and he's the freakiest bunny in the world.  And standing in line there is also a little teeny short dude in a superman costume that we all thought looks like Grandpa!
Isaac:  Ha hah!
Dad:  Does "The Wonder Book" remind you of any other books we have?
Isaac:  Yes!  Those other two poem books.  "The End of the Sidewalk..."
Gracie:  It's called "The Edge of the World."
Dad:  Actually, it's "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
Isaac:  And the other one is called something like "I Have a House on My Head."
Dad:  Ha ha -- "A Light in the Attic."  Those are both by Shel Silverstein.
Gracie:  Those books have a whole bunch of poems in them too.  And look at these pictures!  They are very much the same style as the pictures in the Freaky-guy books.
Dad:  Freaky-guy?  You mean Shel Silverstein?
Gracie: (running to get the Silverstein books)  There are really freaky photographs of him on the backs of the books.  This one has a picture of his foot.  And this one... is... Eeeeea!  They are all freaky, freaky pictures of him, his face, and his feet.
Dad:  So should they have taken a really scary, horrifying picture of Amy Krouse Rosenthal for the back of The Wonder Book?
Isaac:  Ha hah ha... No...  Ha ha...
Dad: (turning to the jacket flap/author bio in The Wonder Book)  See, this is what she looks like in real life...
Gracie:  Oh, she's cute!
Dad:  What about this picture of Paul Schmidt?
Gracie:  He's... not as cute...
Isaac:  Ha ha!
Gracie:  Um.
Lily:  He's got cool hair.
Gracie:  Yeah!  He's got REALLY cool hair!

monster bunnies attacking grandpa boy, by Gracie

Miss Mary Bean Bean Bean
All dressed in green green green
Had the cutest kitten kitten kitten
You've ever seen seen seen

- poem and picture by Lily

And some "Month Puns" by Isaac:

Ape Rule

Jewel Lie

Sup' Timber

Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Paul Schmid
Published, 2010: Harper Collins
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Review #61: Crazy Hair

Dad:  What book are we reading?
Gracie (age 9):  "Crazy Hair."
Dad:  And the cover says "From the award-winning creators of 'The Wolves in the Walls.' "
Lily (age 7):  Wait.  The "Wolves in the Walls" guys made this?  Oh my goodness!!
Dad:  You like that one, eh?  So what are your impressions of "Crazy Hair"?
Lily:  It's crazy.
Isaac (age 11):  Crazy.
Gracie: (whispering)  Dad, can you stop the recorder...
Dad:  Huh?  Why?
Gracie: (still whispering)  I can't say...
Dad:  Can't say what?
Gracie:  The book freaks me out a little bit.  But I don't want to say that, because it might hurt the author's feelings...
Dad:  I am willing to bet that Neil Gaiman can take it.
Gracie:  This book freaks me out.  It gives me goosebumps.
Dad:  What part of it?
Gracie:  Everything.
Isaac:  I like it!
Dad:  You must have never read "Wolves in the Walls" yet.
Gracie:  Oh, yes I did.  It was awesome.
Dad:  That one didn't bother you...  but this one does???  I think "Wolves in the Walls" is the scariest children's book on the planet!
Isaac:  It is probably the scariest children's book on the planet... but it's cool!
Dad:  And Gracie, "Crazy Hair" is the one that freaks you out?
Gracie:  It's just kind of creepy...
Dad:  What -- his hair was creepy, or the book was creepy?
Gracie:  The book.
Dad:  Which part?
Gracie:  It was freaky all along, but then at the end it got really creepy.
Dad:  How about you, Lily?  Did it freak you out?  You're the youngest one here...
Gracie:  That doesn't count!  She's the toughest, bravest one in the whole family!
Lily:  I thought it was cool.  But it does have a scary tiger with red eyes.
Dad:  Well, before we go any farther, how about you guys give us a recap of the story...
Isaac:  It's about this girl...
Gracie:  Bonnie.
Isaac: ...she's walking by, and she sees a guy who has this crazy, really long, extremely long, crazy hair.  And he tells her all about this stuff living in his hair.
Gracie:  That's just -- Okay, that's just wrong.  He's got people dancing in his hair.  And he doesn't care?
Dad:  I would love to have people singing and dancing on my head.
Isaac:  You would?
Dad:  Sure.  Then you'd always have music with you -- you wouldn't have to have an ipod.
Isaac:  That's true.
Gracie:  There are parrots, and pirates, and acrobats living in his hair.  And octopuses.
Isaac:  And hot air balloons and lions.
Lily:  I bet he even has an elephant in his hair.
Isaac:  I bet there were wolves in his hair-walls.
Dad:  He probably has a little of everything.
Gracie:  Does he have a pool?  And a jacuzzi?  Does he have a roller coaster?
Isaac:  Then Bonnie tries to comb the guy's hair, but a big fist of hair comes out and grabs her and pulls her into the hair.
Lily:  How did Bonnie all of a sudden shrink small enough to get in there?
Dad:  It's crazy.  The hair isn't logical.  But she doesn't really mind it.  She has adventures in there.
Isaac:  She does stuff like teaching the lions to rhyme.  Digging for buried treasure.  Teaching parrots naughty words.
Gracie:  Oh, that's bad.
Isaac:  I think these guys should keep making more books.  Just don't let Gracie see them.
Gracie:  I like "Wolves in the Walls" and "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish."
Dad:  So what about Rapunzel?  She had crazy hair.
Gracie:  Rapunzel's hair does not have lions, circus people, and parrots that say naughty words in it.
Dad:  That's true.  But Gracie, there's gold coins in his hair!  Treasure!
Gracie:  How would the people in his hair use it?  There's nothing to buy in there.
Dad:  Carousel rides.
Gracie:  You can get those for free.  Money wouldn't matter... unless he's got a Walmart in his hair.
Dad:  Maybe he does.  He's got everything else.
Isaac:  It is kind of freaky hair.
Dad:  Now, is it the poem that freaks you out, or is it the pictures?
Gracie:  If you had illustrated it, you would have done it in bright colored pencils.  This guy does it in weird chunky thingies.
Dad:  The poem is just as strange as anything Dr. Seuss wrote.  But Dr. Seuss pictures are silly.  If someone had illustrated this with silly pictures, would it still have freaked you out?
Gracie:  No, not really.
Dad:  Aha!  So maybe it's not so much the words, but the pictures?  Maybe it's not Neil Gaiman.  Maybe it's Dave McKean who is freaky...
Isaac:  Where do you think the illustrator got all this hair?
Dad:  Do you think he used real hair in the illustrations?
Isaac:  I think so.
Dad:  I'm wondering if it's computer hair.
Gracie:  I'm just still wondering how that guy's hair got so long.
Dad:  Tell me about these illustrations.
Lily:  Do you want to know my favorite picture?  It's the one with the little, cute bear in the hair... the bear with the comb.  Cute.
Dad:  So not all the pictures are "freaky."
Gracie:  In some parts it looks like the artist cut things out.  In some parts it looks like he drew them on the computer.  And some parts it looks like paint.
Dad:  Do you know what that's called?
Gracie:  Collage.
Dad:  I was going to say "Mixed Media."  That means it's not just one material.  He probably mixed lots of things together to make the pictures.
Isaac:  Yeah... that hair looks digital.  Dad, I think you are right.
Dad:  So you've seen their three books... "Wolves," "Goldfish," and "Crazy Hair."  Is there anything those three books have in common?
Isaac:  They are all kind of...
(long pause)
Gracie:  ...Odd.
Isaac:  Strange.  Different.  Crazy.  Good crazy.
Gracie:  Are you sure no one will be offended?
Dad:  What do you think... Is it okay for people to have differing opinions?  Or does everyone have to like the same things?
Gracie:  Well, I like chocolate, and Andrea says she doesn't like it.  Chocolate is one of my favorite things!
Dad:  And besides... Isaac, Lily, and I all like this book.  Three against one.
Gracie:  Hey.
Dad:  People can have different tastes.  We can still all get along!
Gracie:  Not all books have to be sweet and cuddly.
Isaac:  There's a place for weird books.  Weird books are cool books.  I like these books.

crazy hair about to grab Bonnie, by Gracie

crazy hair guy, by Isaac

taking a treasure chest to a Walmart inside the crazy hair, by Lily

Author: Neil Gaiman
(see Neil Gaiman read Crazy Hair)
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Published, 2009: Harper Collins
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