Review #51: The Book That Eats People

Dad:  So what are we reading here?
Lily (age 6):  "The Book That Eats People."  It's about a book that eats people.
Dad:  The book in the story is about this book -- the very book in our hands.
Lily:  Yeah.  It's the book that eats people.
Dad:  The book we are holding eats people.
Lily:  Yeah.
Dad:  And Lily, you said it's not a good book?
Lily:  Yeah.  Because it eats people.
Dad:  Oh.
Lily:  Actually, everything you could say about this book is "It eats people."
Dad:  Because that's the main point, huh.
Lily:  Yeah.  It's a book that eats people.
Gracie (age 9):  This book is about the book.  It's a book about itself.
Isaac (age 11):  This is a weird book to review.  Why are we going to review it if it wants to eat us?
Lily:  It's an evil book that eats people!  Beware of it!  You might find it in the library.  You should kill it.
Isaac:  Destroy it at first sight!
Lily:  We've got to stomp on it and destroy it and put it in a fire.
Isaac:  Or a paper shredder.  Where's a paper shredder?  We need to go to Staples and borrow their paper shredder.
Gracie:  The book tells you warnings and cautions.
Lily:  Like, put something heavy on it if it starts growling.
Gracie:  And don't read it with syrupy fingers.  Or a cookie in your pocket.
Isaac: (whispering)  Dad!  Pssst!  Dad!  What if the book realizes we just ate pizza for dinner 10 minutes ago?
Dad:  It can probably smell the food still on our breath...
Isaac:  Oh no.  I think my hands smell like cookies.
Dad:  So what is the story about?
Lily:  About the kids that the book ate so far.
Isaac:  It has eaten a whole lot of people.  Including Sammy.
Dad:  Sammy Ruskin.
Isaac:  At least it's not my friend Sammy Emmons.
Dad:  And who was that little cutie it ate?
Gracie:  Victoria.  She IS cute.
Isaac:  Way too cute.  She's so cute that she looks sort of evil.
Dad:  Tell me about the pictures...
Isaac:  The pages are done in all different styles.
Dad:  There are lots of collages.  You guys might have fun doing collages.  The illustrator made it look like things are taped in there... or like different papers are stacked on top of each other.
Isaac:  I don't know what I should say.  "Read the book" or "Don't read the book"?
Dad:  What is good about the book?
Isaac:  It's a good, great, awesome book with cool pictures.
Lily:  It IS a good book.
Dad:  What is bad about the book?
Isaac:  It could bite your hands off.
Dad:  So you are conflicted about whether to recommend it or not...
Isaac:  I recommend it very much.  Because we don't want it at our house one more day.
Dad:  We got this one from the library...
Gracie:  And this book is overdue, so we have to pay money.
Isaac:  We're paying money to have a book that is evil?  That's kind of weird.  They should be paying us because we kept it away for extra long.
Dad:  This is my very favorite book of the year, did you know that?  I think this is the best book of 2009.
Isaac:  What?  One that eats people?  And is evil?
Dad:  Yep.  I love it.
Isaac:  I don't believe it.  How could you?
Dad:  Now we've been having fun, but tell me really... do you think there is anyone that shouldn't read this?  Do you think it could actually scare kids?  Or do you think all kids would know this is just fun and silly?
Gracie:  If you are a kid who is very, very, very, very, very, very, very cautious about everything, then don't read it.
Dad:  What kind of kids would enjoy a book like this?
Gracie:  Goofy kids.  Me!
Lily:  I like this book!  Because it's a fun book.
Gracie:  It's a terrifying book.  In a good way.
Dad:  It's fun to be silly and scary sometimes, isn't it.
Gracie:  Yeah...  If only it didn't eat people...
Isaac:  Everyone, say good things about this book so it won't eat us.
Dad:  Do you have any words for the creators... John Perry and Mark Fearing?
Gracie:  Yeah.  If the book didn't already eat you guys, make more books!
Isaac:  It probably ate them already.
Dad:  Did it look like it wanted to nibble any of you guys?
Isaac:  It was staring at Lily.
Gracie:  Evie is plump.  We could feed her to the book.
Isaac:  Throw her to the beast!
Lily:  Let the book eat me.
Dad:  Let the book eat Lily?
Lily:  Yes.
Dad:  You are willing to sacrifice yourself?
Lily:  So he won't eat any others of you.
Dad:  That's so nice of you.  (kiss)  Awww... that was very kind of you, my little sweet girl.

collage of carnage, by Isaac

the zookeeper brought pizza and cake... but he was too late, by Lily

the book that ate Gracie, by Gracie

Author: John Perry
Illustrator: Mark Fearing
Published, 2009: Tricycle Press
Like it:  Find it

Review #30: A Curious Collection of Cats

Isaac (age 10):  "A Curious Collection of Cats"
Gracie (age 8):  This book is fun!
Isaac:  It has lots of cats and lots of colors.
Lily (age 6):  A whole universe of cats.
Dad:  The cover says "Concrete Poems by Betsy Franco."  Do you know what a concrete poem is?
Gracie:  No.
Dad:  Let's think about "concrete."
Isaac:  It's cement.
Gracie:  You make things with it.
Isaac:  You put it on the ground to make sidewalks and roads.
Dad:  And buildings and sculptures... all different shapes.  Concrete is the material that makes them up.
Isaac:  So for a concrete poem, you make the poem into different shapes.  Or build the words into parts of things.
Dad:  Are the words in these pages laid out in a normal succession from top to bottom?
Gracie:  No.
Lily:  There are pictures with words inside them.  And sometimes the words hook onto part of the picture.
Dad:  In a concrete poem, what the words say is important, obviously.  But the way the words are arranged on the page is equally important.  They can twist, follow paths, form shapes.  Concrete poems acknowledge the "physical material" - the words - that make them up.  Where the words fall is just as significant as what they say.  That's a concrete poem.
Isaac:  Like, one of the lines says "Falling upside down" and it is written upside down.
Dad:  Good one!  What are some other examples?
Isaac:  In "Rascal's Tongue" the words are about a tongue, and the words ARE a tongue.  And they are pink.
Dad:  Same with "Tabitha's Tail."  The words are about the tail...
Gracie:  But the words also make the tail.
Isaac:  They are all twisted around.
Lily:  Another poem has a cat spitting out a hairball-thingie.
Dad:  And the words made the path of the hairball.
Gracie:  Yeck!
Dad:  The illustrations are by Michael Wertz.  So his job in crafting these poems was just as important as Betsy Franco's job, huh?  He's not just making supplemental pictures off to the side.  He's 'sculpting' the actual poem.  Giving it form.
Gracie:  It's poetry stacked on colorful cats!
Isaac:  Oh no.
Dad:  What?
Isaac:  I just realized...  We're all going to have to make a concrete poem about a cat for our review...
Dad:  Ha ha ha ha...  Yep.
Isaac:  This is going to be difficult.
Dad:  I bet you'll have fun.
Isaac:  I'm doomed.
Dad:  You're not doomed.  Come on, dude.  If it's too hard, you don't have to make a picture.  But at least have fun trying.
Gracie:  Yah-hoo!
Isaac:  I'm horrible at poems.
Dad:  We've never tried this!  Concrete poems may be your favorite thing ever, after we try!
Lily:  Daddy, I have a favorite poem.  I looooove "Shadow's Dream."  It's so cool!
Dad:  That one is beautiful.  There were some gross poems in here too.
Kids:  Yes!!!
Gracie:  Hairballs...  drinking from the toilet...  peeing on people's hats...
Lily:  Eating a fish cake.
Dad:  Those poems will probably be kids' favorites...
Gracie:  Yeah... hee hee hee!
Lily:  We like gross things.  Oo-hooey.
Dad:  Let me ask you about one more specific poem.  Who does Wide Veronica remind you of?
Lily:  Fat Cat!
Gracie:  She's our Nana's cat.
Isaac:  It also reminds me of Pumpkin, Sam's cat.
Dad:  Sam's cat is fat now too?
Gracie:  Very fat.
Dad:  Fatter than Fat Cat?
Gracie:  No way!  There's no cat that's fatter than Fat Cat.
Lily:  She could beat a bulldog in a fight.
Isaac:  Pumpkin is probably second place.  He has tons of fat that wobbles when he walks.  It jiggles around.
Dad:  We don't get to see Fat Cat wobble around too much, do we?
Gracie:  She mostly hides and growls.  We love her anyway.
Dad:  She used to be tiny once upon a time, before you all were born.  Mom and I babysat her when she was a kitten, and she jumped into our Christmas tree and hid.  Imagine what would happen to a Christmas tree if she jumped into it now!
Isaac:  HA HAH HA HA HA!!!
Dad:  Did Michael Wertz use realistic colors in this book?
Gracie:  No.  And that's okay.
Lily:  Some of the cats are pink cats.
Isaac:  It almost looks like layered tissue paper.
Gracie:  The colors are cool.
Dad:  Now, people who have cats would like this book...
Isaac:  I recommend Nana reading this book.
Dad: ...but what about us?  We didn't know that much about cats beforehand, but what did we learn from reading this?
Gracie:  Some cats can have six toes!
Lily:  And they eat spiders.  Mommy would freak out about that.
Isaac:  They have different personalities.
Lily:  Yeah, some of them like to kiss.
Isaac:  Some of them sleep and hide.
Gracie:  Some are shy.
Dad:  Some are brave.
Gracie:  And some of them pee on people's hats.
Dad:  Does this book make you want to get a cat or not?
Gracie:  I want to get a kitten that doesn't drink from toilet bowls.
Dad:  Kittens don't stay kittens.  They grow up to be...
Gracie:  Plump!

My cat May plays with Jerry
in the month of February
-- by Gracie

My kitten has a mitten that got bitten
-- by Lily


When people visited me
my cat jumped up the tree
And when she got FAT
the tree went splat
-- by Isaac

Good poems guys! (You too Isaac!)

Author: Betsy Franco
Illustrator: Michael Wertz
Published, 2009: Tricycle Press
Like it? Find it