Review #114: The Hobbit

Dad:  What did you think about "The Hobbit"?
Isaac (age 13):  "The Hobbit" is one of my favorite books.
Lily (age 8):  It's the bestest book ever.  Really good.  It should win an award.
Isaac:  I like it because it feels like it could have really happened thousands of years ago.  I like how the author describes everything.  It feels like you could go hiking around outside and find those places.
Lily:  I like it because it's an adventure story.  It's exciting.
Gracie (age 11):  I like this book because it was funny.  The characters are funny.  I like fat old Bombur.
Elijah (age 6):  Everyone should read the book because it's cool.  The coolest book we've ever read.
Dad:  Tell us what the story is about...
Gracie:  There's this Bilbo.  Bilbo Baggins.  And he's a quiet little guy.  He's a REALLY little guy.  He's a hobbit.  Hobbits are baby-sized people with big fuzzy feet.
Isaac:  They're not the size of babies.
Gracie:  Maybe the size of a baby cow.  Bilbo's friend Gandalf -- who he just met -- is a wizard.  He's cool, except he always keeps disappearing at the worst times.  Gandalf tells Bilbo, "You need to go on an adventure."
Lily:  Then a whole bunch of dwarves come.  They want Bilbo to go on an adventure to be a burglar to get gold back from the dragon who stole all the gold from the dwarves.
Dad:  They had lots of adventures along the way...  What was your favorite one?
Isaac:  The spiders.
Lily:  I like spiders...
Gracie:  You like spiders?
Isaac:  The group got completely lost in Mirkwood Forest.
Lily:  They went off the forest path.  They fell asleep and the spiders wrapped them up in their spider webs.  They are huuuuuuge spiders.
Isaac:  I imagine the spiders to be the size of dining room chairs.
Gracie:  Cows.  I think they are as big as full grown cows.
Isaac:  Yeah!  Cows!  That big.
Dad:  Hmmm, spider-cows....  They could squirt webs from their udders.
Lily:  Bilbo Baggins got out of his spider web and saved all the dwarves.
Isaac:  He sees the other dwarves wrapped up in the trees, but there were tons of spiders.  This is the first time Bilbo can't rely on anyone else.  He has to do it himself.  He becomes a hero.
Gracie:  Normally they would all be like, "The wizard saved us."  But Gandalf had disappeared again.  So Bilbo was like "I'll have to stand up and save these dwarves, because apparently, they can't save themselves!"
Isaac:  It's the first time the dwarves start appreciating him.
Elijah:  Bilbo was a warrior.  Bilbo killed practically all of the spiders.
Dad:  Would you be brave enough to do that?
Elijah:  If I was like Bilbo.  But I think Bilbo is braver than me.
Dad:  What if Dad was wrapped up in a spider web, about to be eaten?  Would you come save me?
Elijah:  Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm......
Isaac:  You'd better say yes!
Elijah:  Yeah, I'd do it.
Dad:  Thank-you!
Gracie:  What about me?
Elijah:  No.  I would leave you there.
Gracie:  My brother loves me.
Elijah:  I'm just kidding.
Dad:  Tell us about some of the characters and creatures they all met along the way.  How about Elves?
Gracie:  Sometimes elves are like solemn warriors.  But in this book they were like, "Tra-la-la-la-loodle! Tra-da-doo-da-doodle!"  They were jumping around, dancing in the trees, drinking wine.
Dad:  How about Goblins?
Isaac:  They escaped goblins more than once.  Wolves chased everyone up into the trees.  Then the goblins came and started setting the trees on fire so they were trapped.  Then these eagles came and picked the dwarves and Bilbo up off the trees.
Gracie:  The eagles are coming!  The eagles are coming!
Dad:  How about Dragons?
Elijah:  Smaug is the name of a big dragon.  He's cool.
Gracie:  I like Smaug.  Smaug is the bestest.  He's my favorite besides Fili and Kili.  He's the dragon who guards all the treasure.  He's kind of funny and gruesome.  He likes to kill things.
Dad:  Anyone else?
Lily:  My favorite character of the book was Gollum.
Gracie:  What - are you serious?
Lily:  I like Gollum.
Gracie:  You like Gollum?  And you like spiders?  You're just creepy.
Dad:  You didn't like Gollum, Gracie?  I thought you loved that chapter.
Gracie:  I did.  It was my favorite.  I just don't like him.  But he makes a good villain.  Gollum is yucky.  He's evil!  He's creepy!!!  And he liked to eat people.  He became invisible with a magic ring and he ate a baby goblin!  A little squeaker!
Dad:  That's one less goblin in the world.
Gracie:  But it was just a baby squeaker!
Lily:  Gollum is really mischievous.  He likes riddles.
Gracie:  His riddles were tricky.  I don't know how Bilbo solved them.  But I like people who can tell riddles.  So maybe Gollum and I could be friends -- if he wasn't evil, and still had his grandma, and wasn't living down in the caves eating people and little baby squeakers.  Then he might be my friend.

Bilbo and Gollum, by Lily

Bilbo and spiders, by Elijah

Smaug, by Gracie

eagles carrying dwarves and Bilbo, by Isaac

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Published, 1937: Allen & Unwin
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Review #70: Just Grace

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:

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

Now, take it away Gracie!


Dad:  Hello Gracie.
Gracie (age 9):  Hi.
Dad:  Do you know why you are the only one here Bookie Woogie-ing?
Gracie:  It's just me today.
Dad:  Just you?  Just Grace?!
Gracie:  Yeah!!!
Dad:  And what book are we going to discus?
Gracie:  "Just Grace."
Dad:  I know it's just you.  But what book are we going to look at?
Gracie:  "Just Grace!"  The book is called "Just Grace!"
Dad:  Oh.... okay.
Gracie:  HA ha ha!  You know that.
Dad:  Why do you love these books?  Is it because your name is Grace?
Gracie:  I like them because the books are funny.
Dad:  So it's coincidence?  If the series was called "Just Hildegard," you would have still read them?
Gracie:  Hildegard is an awesome name.
Dad:  What does the "Just" in "Just Grace" mean?
Gracie:  She is in school with three other Graces.  There is Gracie, Grace W, Grace L, and Just Grace.  When she signs her papers she has to write "Just Grace" above them.
Dad:  I see.
Gracie:  This is how it started: At the beginning of the school year, the teachers said, "We can't have four Graces, we won't know who is who."  So they said, "your new name is Grace W for--" ...I don't remember what her last name was.  Grace Weebsnopper or whatever.
Dad:  Weebsnopper?
Gracie:  "And Grace... uh... Lowwee - you will be Grace L."  So Just Grace is thinking, if everyone else has a new name, maybe I can be Grace with no initial.  So she says, "Teacher, since everyone else's name isn't Grace anymore, can I be just Grace?"  So the teacher calls her Just Grace.  But I'm thinking the teacher really knew what she meant.
Dad:  So it was just a joke.
Gracie:  But kids loved that -- "Just Grace!  Just Grace!"
Dad:  Ah, kids, kids, kids...
Gracie:  You shouldn't blame kids about teasing.  You are the biggest teaser ever!
Dad:  Who me?
Gracie:  Yes you!  You tease about everything!
Dad:  Dad's are good at teasing.  So, what are the stories about?  Is there anything special about the main character?
Gracie:  She has empathy powers.
Dad:  Woah!  What does that mean?  What is "empathy."
Gracie:  I have no idea.  All I know is that she calls them "empathy powers."  And when somebody feels bad, she automatically has to do something to make them feel better.
Dad:  Then, I think you do know what empathy is.  "Empathy" means if someone feels a certain way, you feel it along with them.
Gracie:  I have empathy powers too.
Dad:  Does she use her powers for good or for evil?
Gracie:  How can you use "feeling bad for someone" for evil?
Dad:  Yeah, you're right.
Gracie:  Anyone out there with empathy powers who wants to destroy the world... sorry.  You are going to have to find something else to do.
Dad:  So give me an example of one time when Just Grace had empathy powers.
Gracie:  Once her best friend Mimi got this big triple ice cream cone, and Grace got a strawberry fudge one...
Dad:  Is this in the first book or a different one?
Gracie:  This isn't in any of the books.
Dad:  What???
Gracie:  I'm making it up.
Dad:  Pbbbbbb...
Gracie:  Ha ha ha ha ha!
Dad:  Okay.  So you are writing further adventures?
Gracie:  Oops... No...
Dad:  You are just trying to create an example.
Gracie:  Mm-hm.  So, if somebody gets a big fudge ice cream cone, and they spill it, you feel so bad for them that you give them yours.
Dad:  Is there anything else to say about the characters?
Gracie:  Just Grace loves to draw.  Whenever she feels sad or bad or mad or even happy, she goes up to her room, draws a comic, and then she feels, "Okiedoke, okay I'm fine..."
Dad:  Is that where you get that?  Sometimes when you are mad, you draw a picture about what happened.
Gracie:  I draw a picture of what just happened and then it calms me down.  But I started that before I read these books.
Dad:  So you are just like "Just Grace."  Same name.  Same powers.  Same drawing.  Maybe that could be the next book in the series... "Just Like Grace."
Gracie:  She's just a normal girl with empathy powers.
Dad:  Do you have to read the books in order?
Gracie:  I haven't been reading them in order at all.  It doesn't matter.
Dad:  Does the series feel complete?
Gracie:  The author needs to write more.  Please.
Dad:  Do you who the author is?
Gracie:  Fashion Kitty!!!
Dad:  Yep - it's the same lady who wrote the Fashion Kitty books.
Gracie:  I love them.
Dad:  Her name is Charise Mericle Harper.
Gracie:  She rocks.
Dad:  Is there anything similar between the Fashion Kitty graphic novels and the Just Grace chapter books?
Gracie:  The style of the pictures looks the same.  They have really squishy oval eyes.
Dad:  Well, thanks for telling us about these book!  I have one more question for you.  What are you currently reading?
Gracie:  Inkspell.  I'm on chapter 11.
Dad:  We all read Inkheart together.  Then you liked it so much that you decided to read the sequel on your own.  You know, you're just like Isaac - you are leaving me behind!  You are leaving me in the dust!
Gracie:  Ha ha ha!

four Graces, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Charise Mericle Harper
Book 1: "Just Grace" published, 2007: Houghton Mifflin
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Review #67: The Quiet Book

Gracie (age 9):  I can't see the book!  Your head is too big.
Isaac (age 11):  Shh!  It's "The Quiet Book."  You have to be quiet.
Dad:  Two people worked on "The Quiet Book"...
Lily (age 7):  Deborah Underwood and Renata Liwska.
Isaac:  People should know -- if you are reading this book to kids, it is not going to be a very quiet book.
Dad:  And why is that?
Isaac:  You are going to find yourself actually laughing.  Everyone here just kept laughing.
Dad:  So, what is the book about?
Lily:  "The Quiet Book" is about people being quiet.
Dad:  People?
Lily:  No.  Animals.
Gracie:  Cute animal characters.
Isaac:  Fluffy.
Gracie:  Cute.
Isaac:  And some have bad haircuts.
Dad:  Why was it so funny?
Isaac:  The pictures are really funny.  And sometimes the words help a picture to be funny.  If you just saw the picture by itself you would think, "Oh that's kind of sad."  But with the words it's really funny.
Dad:  The book lists many different kinds of quiet.  What were some examples?
Lily:  "Looking at your horrible new hairdo quiet."  And "underwater quiet."  And "I don't have a flashlight quiet."
Isaac:  And "trying not to hiccup quiet."  A bear is just holding this bunny up by his legs, dangling him down!
Lily:  There are tons of characters.  My favorite character is a porcupine.  Because he has an awesome hairdo.
Isaac:  Ha ha!  It's freaky.
Gracie:  It looks horrible.  He has the worst hairdo in the whole world!
Isaac:  I want that porcupine to come back.  He's funny!  He does not have very good luck.  Everything that has to do with that porcupine is hilarious.
Gracie:  Look at the kid in the background!  She's trying to get away from the barber!
Dad:  She doesn't want to end up like the porcupine...
Isaac:  Hi, little freaky hair dude!
Lily:  I like quiet.  I also like loud.  Crazy loud.
Dad:  What are some times that you guys are quiet?  Gracie, are you ever quiet?
Gracie:  Nope!
Isaac:  I like "trying to sleep quiet."  Or "getting out of bed quiet."
Gracie:  I like "first bite of cake quiet."
Dad:  Does the first bite of cake make you quiet?  Really?  Of course not long after, the sugar winds you up.
Lily:  I don't like "Daddy taking an hour on the phone quiet."
Dad:  Yeah, sometimes you guys have to settle down while I'm on the phone.
Lily:  I hate it.
Isaac:  One kind I don't like is "Being sent to my room quiet."  But nobody likes that.
Gracie:  Actually, if I was in trouble, I would like that.  Quiet means I wouldn't be getting yelled at.
Isaac:  (yawn)
Dad:  Talking about all this "quiet" made Isaac yawn.
Gracie:  (yawn)
Dad:  Now Gracie is yawning too!  We should save this book for before bed.
Isaac:  (yawn)  Agh - I keep yawning.
Lily:  (yawn)
Gracie:  That was a big yawn.
Dad:  Do you recognize the style of the drawings in this book?
Gracie:  "Little Panda."
Dad:  That's one of our favorite books by one of our favorite artists.
Gracie:  In "The Quiet Book" there is a clue that Renata Liwska also made "Little Panda."  In one of the pictures there is a "Little Panda" book on a shelf.
Isaac:  Her books have really good artwork.
Gracie:  She draws sketchy and cute.
Isaac:  Very sketchy.  Scribbly.  But amazingly cool.
Gracie:  The pictures have dull colors.  But that matches the book.
Dad:  Does that mean it's a dull book?
Gracie:  No!  It's hilarious.  But if the pages had bright purple or neon pink, that would wreck the book.  It's a quiet book, so it needs quiet colors.
Dad:  That's pretty clever of Mrs. Liwska, huh?
Lily:  She's one of our favorites.
Isaac:  She's going to get that medal thingie someday probably.
Gracie:  The Caldecott.
Isaac:  Yeah.  The Caldecott.  The drawing just looks so good.

picking a flower quiet, by Gracie

sneaking up on a duck quiet, by Lily

sailing through space quiet, by Isaac

Author: Deborah Underwood
Illustrator: Renata Liwska
Published, 2010: Houghton Mifflin
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Review #35: Black and White

Lily (age 6):  I want to tell them what the book is.  This is "Black and White" by David Macaulay.
Dad:  Now, this is one of the weirdest books you'll ever see.
Isaac (age 10):  And one of the coolest.
Dad:  And out of all the books in our house, out of all the books I've ever read -- kid books, chapter books, grown-up books, fiction, non-fiction -- this is my very favorite book in the entire world.
Gracie (age 8):  What.
Isaac:  I knew that.  It's one of my favorites too.  That's why I picked it.
Dad:  Of course, that's after the Bible -- obviously the Bible is in a category all its own.  But after that, this is my favorite book.
Lily:  I love this stor-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Dad:  Here's the reason it's my favorite.  I find some new detail, some new connection, every single time I read it.  And that's not an exaggeration.  EVERY time.  And I've read this countless times.
Isaac:  It's an awesome book.  It's just crazy though.  Sometimes it's really hard to understand it.
Dad:  This book even has a warning on the jacket flap.
Isaac:  And on the first page too.  There's a lot of warnings.
Dad:  So, is anyone brave enough to try to describe this book?
Isaac:  At the beginning, it seems like there are four different stories.
Gracie:  It tells all four stories at the exact same time.
Dad:  Each page spread is divided into four sections.
Lily:  But it's still just one story.
Dad:  This is a hard book to describe, isn't it?
Gracie:  It's a book with four parts.  Each part tells a story.  It's kind of fun, because you can imagine it as one story because the parts kind of hook up when it gets toward the end of the book.  But sometimes it's a little confusing.  You could imagine it as four different stories or as one big, very unusual story.
Dad:  Tell me about the individual stories.
Gracie:  One story called "Udder Chaos" is about cows and a robber.  One called "Waiting Game" is about waiting for a train.  One called "Problem Parents" is about parents dressed in newspaper-clothes.  And one called "Seeing Things" is about a little kid sitting in a train riding back to his parents because he went on a big trip all by himself.
Dad:  I like how there are four different styles of art for the four stories, even though there is one artist who made the book.
Gracie:  I like the way he drew "Problem Parents" because everything is brown, except for the dog and the newspaper and the son's shirt which are black and white.
Lily:  I like 'Udder Chaos" because you can find stuff hidden in the cow shapes.
Dad:  Tell me some of the elements that show up in more than one of the stories.
Isaac:  Traintracks.  That robber.
Lily:  Newspaper.  Singing.
Dad:  How about hats?
Gracie:  And cows.  Clouds.
Dad:  Yeah, see - that's something that I never noticed until this reading...  How clouds work their way into more than one story.
Isaac:  That dog looks like the masked bandit.
Dad:  You said all the stories "hook up."  How do they come together?
Isaac:  I think the mom and the dad from "Problem Parents" are at the train station waiting for the train.  And the train got blocked off...
Gracie: ...by the cows!
Isaac:  Yeah, the cows from "Udder Chaos."
Gracie:  And the train that the boy rides in "Seeing Things" is the same train the people are waiting for in "Waiting Game."  Everybody has to wait and wait and wait, so they start making clothes out of their newspapers.  And then the "Problem Parents" mom and dad come home in newspaper clothes, and they make the kids sing and jump around in the clothes.
Isaac:  I think this is ONE story.  Not four.  See, look in this picture...  The boy is playing with the train station, so that's why at the very end a giant hand picks it up -- because it's a model!  A train model.  It's a train model.
Dad:  So you think the story "Waiting Game" is happening inside "Problem Parents"?
Isaac:  Yeah!  Everything is happening at the same time.  Right now.
Dad:  But earlier you said the parents were at the train station in "Waiting Game," and then came home in their newspaper outfits in "Problem Parents."
(long pause)
Isaac:  That's one of the things that I don't get.  It confuses everything up.
Lily:  That is crazy.
Dad:  You can ALMOST try to figure out how all the stories fit together, but not quite.  As soon as you think you know how it works...
Isaac: ...something goes wrong.
Dad:  You see some other little detail, and you go, "Aww, but that can't be how they fit."
Isaac:  It's a weirdo book.  It's a really crazy-noodle book.
Dad:  This book feels like a riddle, but it doesn't necessarily have any answers.
Isaac:  It's just really confusing.
Gracie:  And I like being confused!
Dad:  Are there any other books you can think of that are ANYTHING like this?
Isaac:  No.
Gracie:  No.
Dad:  That's why I like this book so much.  There's nothing else in the entire world like it.  Maybe the movie "The Fountain," but you guys have never seen that.
Isaac:  I was thinking, it would have taken the guy who made this years and years and years of planning to get everything just right in this book.  All those details.
Dad:  It would be fun to talk to him and see what he thinks about this book.
Gracie:  He must like cows.
Isaac:  What if he had a master plan of how you can figure it out.
Dad:  The four individual stories probably make more sense each on their own.  I think it's only when you try to hook them together that it gets confusing.  But that's part of the fun game  ...for me, at least.
Isaac:  Hey, I know -- the robber goes through all the stories.  So that's why it's "One."  He shows up in all the stories.
Dad:  Okay, so that's your second theory now.  Or do you think one of these stories is the "Real" story going on?
Isaac:  "Problem Parents."  And these other stories are just going on in the son's mind.
Dad:  So they're all in his imagination?  That's our third theory.
Gracie:  I figured it out!  The CHOIR!  The robber is in the choir, the train-boy hears singing, the waiting people are singing, the parents are singing!
Dad: ...fourth theory.
Isaac:  Maybe the mom and dad are aliens, and they can shrink and grow...
Dad:  HA ha ha ha ha HA Hah!!!  So now, we've got aliens in the story?!
Isaac:  Why is this book called "Black and White" anyway?
Dad:  Well, let's see if you can answer your own question.  Let's name all the things that were black and white.
Isaac:  Cows.  The robber.
Gracie:  Newspaper.  Dog.  Striped shirt.
Isaac:  Newspaper shreds.
Dad:  There's a well-known expression.  When an issue is "black and white," it means there's no confusion.  It's obvious.  There's black, and there's white.  No gray areas.  Is this book very obvious about what's going on?
Gracie:  No-ho ho ho!
Dad:  It blurs what's real and not real, so the title itself is sort of a funny joke.
Isaac:  Is this a famous book?
Dad:  Well, it's got a big, gold sticker on the front.
Isaac:  Ahhh, so it won that one Thingamajigger.  A Caldecott.
Dad:  However, even though it got a Caldecott, I'm guessing the author/illustrator is far more well-known for his other books.  And not only is there no other book in the world like this, but the author has made lots of other books and they're nothing like this book either.
Isaac:  What are they?
Dad:  I should show you.
(Dad runs into the other room and back)
Dad:  So here are three other David Macaulay books we have.
Isaac:  Woah.  Out of all the books in the whole world, I did not expect those would be the three.
Dad:  We have "Castle," "Rome Antics," and "The Way Things Work."  They are cool, hyper-detailed, non-fiction books.
Isaac:  I bet the people who read this review are going to have no clue what we've been talking about.
Dad:  Yeah, that's my fear.  I worry that since the book is so unique, the review will be confusing, and no one reading this will want to go find this book.  SO...  tell me one reason why they should go find this book.
Isaac:  Because it's my dad's favorite book, and it's one of my very favorites.
Dad:  But give them a reason.
Gracie:  If you really like cows and reading the newspaper, go read this book.
Isaac:  Ha ha ha ha ha!
Dad:  So... that's a lot of people.
Kids:  Ha ha ha ha ha!
Lily:  And if you like to make paper hats!
Dad:  Okay, all those people that make paper hats and love cows are just going to storm the bookstores!  Demanding this book!
All:  Ha ha ha!  Hee hee ha!
Isaac:  Read the book.  It's a great book.  And then read the book again.

cows riding a train, by Lily


cow reading a newspaper, by Isaac


cow wearing a newspaper outfit, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: David Macaulay
Published, 1990: Houghton Mifflin
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Review #18: Museum Trip

Dad:  We just read "Museum Trip" by Barbara Lehman...
Gracie (age 8):  Read it?  How do you read it?  There aren't any words!  You make up the words.
Dad:  Would the book have been better with words?
Isaac (age 10):  It's best the way it is.  Words could have wrecked it.
Gracie:  They should have called this book "Maze" because that's the main part of the book.
Dad:  Tell me about it...
Gracie:  A boy got lost in a museum, and then he went into a secret room where he found a bunch of mazes on pieces of paper.  He shrunk down and did all these mazes.
Lily (age 6):  They're cool.
Isaac:  This book is different than other books.  It's a story about someone who found mazes, but parts of the book turn into real mazes that he goes through.
Lily:  If you want to, you can do every single maze.  And you can do it over and over again if you want to.
Isaac:  I like the cover.  He's pulling the mat back, and behind it you can see a maze.
Dad:  So was it real or a dream?  Did he really shrink down tiny and go though the mazes, or was it his imagination?
Isaac:  Real.
Gracie:  Well, at the end he still HAD the medal he got in the last maze.
Isaac:  The museum guy and the kid both have medals.  So the museum guy did the same thing.
Gracie:  It... was... magic...
Isaac:  It was magic!
Lily:  It would be cool to shrink down and go around a maze on paper.
Gracie:  But what if you never got out? What if you got stuck in there?  Lily IS the wandering one in our family.
Isaac:  It would be cool to shrink down onto paper because - what if somebody saw you?
Gracie: ...and they were like, "Look, Daddy!  Little tiny miniature robots are crawling in the maze!"
Isaac:  But what if you got wrinkled up...
Gracie: ...and thrown in the trash can!

maze, by Isaac

entering the tower, by Lily

receiving a medal, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Barbara Lehman
Published, 2006: Houghton Mifflin
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Review #15: Little Panda

Dad:  Today we are reviewing a book I love, love, love: "Little Panda."
Isaac (age 10):  The letters on the title go down because Chinese writing goes down instead of sideways...
Gracie (age 8):  And pandas are in China.
Dad:  The person who made this book has a great name - Renata Liwska.
Isaac:  Is she from China?  Hong Kong?
Dad:  The bio on the jacket said she's never been to China -- so she never met a real panda.  But she watched pandas on her computer to study them.  I wonder if we could find pandas on the computer.
Gracie:  Let's go!
Isaac:  Where is she from?
Dad:  I don't know - it doesn't tell.  I'm guessing from America, but I don't know for sure.
Isaac:  Maybe her grandparents are from China and they moved here.  Or maybe her mom...
Gracie:  Or maybe her favorite animal is just a panda bear.
Dad:  I really don't know...
Isaac:  Does she have any relatives in China?
Dad:  I have no idea...
Gracie:  She has a cool name.  Renata Liwska.  It sounds like a famous tapdacer.  A famous Mexican tapdancer.
Dad:  You guys have got her coming from all over the world...
Gracie:  Everyone should read this book!  It's about a little panda and a flying tiger.  There's a funny surprise!
Dad:  We don't want give away the ending or the funny parts...  So can you guys talk about this book without spoiling the surprise?
Gracie:  It was awesome!  It's hilarious and adorable all mixed up!
Isaac:  Little Panda, Bao Bao, is a cutie.
Gracie:  He's adorable!  He's a little ball of glory when he's sleeping.
Lily (age 5):  He looks like a chipmunk.
Isaac:  He looks like a ball that got stuck in a tree.
Gracie:  A ball of panda glory.
Dad:  What things was Little Panda good at?
Lily:  Falling!
Dad:  What things did his mother try to teach him?
Gracie:  Running.  Jumping.  Climbing.
Lily:  And hula-hooping.
Isaac:  But mostly he just fell.  He's good at falling like
what's-his-name.  That guy with the nickname Stoneface...
Gracie:  Buster Keaton!
Isaac:  Yeah, Buster Keaton.
Gracie:  Buster Keaton is FUN!
Dad:  Tell me about Little Panda's mother...
Gracie:  His mother was good at eating!  But she must not have been very good at teaching.  He didn't do any of that stuff.  And she flings him around in circles... by one of his legs and one of his arms so he does the splits.
Dad:  Do they love each other?
Gracie:  Yes, but she makes her son do the splits.
Dad:  What about the tiger?
Gracie:  It looks like a baby tiger.  He's the size of Little Panda.
Isaac:  What is that on Bao Bao?  A birthmark?
Gracie:  No - the tiger scratched his bum-bum.
Dad:  There's a very funny picture in here, isn't there...  You guys cracked up.  I don't think I've ever heard you guys laugh so hard at a story.
Gracie:  Yeah!  Hah ha hah ha ha ha haa!!!
Dad:  It's the picture of the tiger flying...  Tell me about it - don't tell me how he flies - we'll save the surprise.  But tell me what the picture looks like...
Gracie:  It's the tiger flying...  and the mama is looking backwards at it...  hee hee he...  and it's the baby's fault that the tiger is flying...  Ha haha haha ha ha!!
Isaac:  The words make it funny -- how it happens makes it funny -- you need to hear the story...
Dad:  Did you think that was going to be how the tiger would fly?
Gracie:  No - because at the beginning there was a little tiger with wings.
Dad:  Yeah - that picture kind of throws you off...  I think the illustrator did that to trick us.
Isaac:  The pictures are really cool.
Gracie:  She made the pictures with pencil and blended a lot.
Dad:  Then she added color on the computer.
Isaac:  I knew it.
Gracie:  My favorite picture is the one with the waterfall.
Lily:  That's a long waterfall...  They're up high....
Isaac:  I see a monkey.
Lily:  Of course you see a monkey.
Dad:  This picture back here is the one I love - I want to cut it out and hang it on the wall in a frame.
Isaac:  Me too.
Gracie:  But then you would wreck the book.
Dad:  Well, we'd have to get two copies, wouldn't we.
Gracie:  Then I could cut out my favorite too.
Lily:  I want the one with the tiger flying.
Gracie:  I want the one with the waterfall.
Isaac:  I want the one with all the leaves tumbling down.
Gracie:  But Daddy wants that one.
Isaac:  Nuts.
Dad:  So, can tigers really fly?
Isaac:  In imaginations they can.
Gracie:  Wait - I know a tiger that can fly!  (Gracie throws Elijah's stuffed Baby Jaguar across the room)  "Fly, Tiger!"
Isaac:  That was more of a "flop."
Dad:  And it was more of a jaguar.  "Flop, Baby Jaguar!"
All:  Hah ha ha ha...

Bao Bao, Lin Lin, and a tiger, by Lily

falling panda, by Gracie

panda out on a limb, by Isaac

Author/Illustrator: Renata Liwska who, as it turns out, is originally from Poland and now lives in Canada...
Published 2008, Houghton Mifflin
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