Review #47: Jeremy Draws a Monster

Gracie (age 9):  "Jeremy Draws a Monster" is by Peter McCarty.
Dad:  This is a departure from his regular style.  Do you remember "Hondo and Fabian" or "T is for Terrible" or "Little Bunny on the Move"?
Gracie:  Little Bunny!  "Little Bunny, where are you going...?"
Dad:  This is that same guy.
Gracie:  Definitely a different style.
Lily (age 6):  The most fun thing about this book is the drawings.
Isaac (age 11):  Some of it is colored, some of it is just black and white.
Gracie:  Peter McCarty's drawings are totally sweetness.
Dad:  Alright, so tell me what the story was about...
Isaac:  There once was this kid named Jeremy, and he never went outside because he liked to draw.  One time when he got bored he drew a monster.
Gracie:  Jeremy had a magical pen!
Dad:  Was it a magic pen?  The book never said it was magic.  It just says "fancy pen."
Gracie:  It's got to be magic.
Dad:  I suppose so -- the monster did come to life.
Gracie:  I want a fancy pen too.
Lily:  Jeremy got in trouble -- because it's a monster!
Gracie:  The monster says, "Give me a hamburger.  Give me a sandwich.  Give me a hot dog.  Give me cake.  Give me a toaster.  I like toast.  Give me.  Give me.  Give me a fancy hat!"
Isaac:  Jeremy got angry.  And a little annoyed.  So he drew the monster a bus ticket and a suitcase and threw him on the bus.  And it drove away, never to be seen again.  Because it was only a one way ticket.
Dad:  The story kind of reminds me of you guys.
Isaac:  What do you mean?
Dad:  Mom and I made you guys.  And now you need all this stuff.  Maybe we should stick you on the bus.
Gracie:  If you did that, Mom would be sad for the rest of her days.
Lily:  When the monster leaves, there is a rainbow colored flower thing in the sky, and it is awesome.  That was my favorite part.  It was a rainbow made out of colored flowers.  (Lily starts singing) "Yeah! He's leaving because he made so much trouble... so I got him out finally! Out of the house!"
Gracie:  Jeremy finally has to go outside to put the monster on the bus, which is a cool coincidence because Jeremy finds some friends and they play ball.
Lily:  Now there is a friend.  Jeremy will always go outside now.
Gracie:  I still don't feel like the monster is gone for good.
Dad:  So what did you think of that monster?
Lily:  Greedy.
Gracie:  "Gimme, gimme, gimme.  I'm selfish, I'm selfish.  Gimme, gimme, gimme.  Blah, blah, blah."
Dad:  Can you describe what the monster looks like?
Gracie:  He's freaky.
Isaac:  He's cool.
Gracie:  Awesomeness freaky.
Lily:  He's a blue oval with freaky toes and horns.
Isaac:  And flowers all over him.
Dad:  I love his cheeks and the lines that go to his nose.  Aren't those weird?
Gracie:  Those are freaky.
Dad:  That's the coolest part!  The line that goes cheek to nose -- so cool.
Gracie:  Jeremy and the monster both have 3's on their shirts.
Dad:  I don't think the monster is wearing a shirt.
Isaac:  He's naked.
Gracie:  He's a naked monster!
Lily:  The monster has a number 3 on his belly.  Because the boy has a number 3 on his shirt.
Dad:  What do you think that means?  Why do they both have 3's?  Do you think it means that the things we create are part of ourselves?
Gracie:  No.
Dad:  Oh.
Gracie:  Jeremy's favorite number is 3.  So he wears a 3.  And he made his monster have a 3.
Dad:  That's a much simpler explanation.  I think you're probably right.  Anything else you want to say about the pictures?
Isaac:  Jeremy drew with pen -- and I think this book is probably made out of pen.
Gracie:  Guess what!  Peter McCarty made this book with his magic pen!
Dad:  So, is this a book about creativity?  Is it a book about greediness?  Or is there no lesson - is it just fun?
Gracie:  Don't be greedy or else your parents will put you on a bus.
Isaac:  I think it's about creativity.  Because Jeremy has a good imagination.
Dad:  But would it encourage creativity or discourage it?  Jeremy found himself in pretty big trouble.  Maybe the point is: Be careful what you draw?
Gracie:  Yes.  Like one time, I drew a picture, and I got punished for it.
Dad:  Yeeeeeah..... We won't describe what the picture was, will we?
Gracie:  NO!
Dad:  That's an episode of life we'd like to forget.  But we did learn there are consequences for our actions.
Gracie:  Yes, you punished me!
Dad:  Now, Jeremy's magic pen could bring things to life.  Would you guys want to have a pen like that?
Gracie:  Yes!
Dad:  But what happened when Jeremy had a pen like that?  Did it turn out good or bad?
Gracie:  It turned out bad.  But I would only draw fluffy little kitties.
Dad:  What if the fluffy little kitties were demanding?
Isaac:  Make them with no mouths.
Gracie:  Yeah - I would make them with no mouths.
Dad:  How are they going to eat stuff if they don't have mouths?
Gracie:  There's a little tube in their heads.
Dad:  What?  So you ARE making a monster!  By the time you're done describing these kitties with no mouths and tubes on top of their heads... I think you've just designed a monster!
Gracie:  Awesome!  I'm going to draw that!  Right now!
Lily:  If I had a magic pen, I would draw Evie.
Dad:  We already have baby Evie.  Would you draw her again so she could have a twin?
Lily:  Yes!
Dad:  Isaac, what would you draw if you had a pen that could bring things to life?
Isaac:  I would draw another magic pen so if the first one broke, I'd have another one.
Dad:  You'd make some backup?
Isaac:  I'd make a million magic pens.
Dad:  Where do you think the monster went on the bus?
Gracie:  Jeremy put the monster on a bus to go to a happy land of wonderness.  The monster hopped off the bus, and he saw a glorious land of magic monsters...  and my tube cat.  And he said "Look at all the butterflies. I want a sandwich!"
Dad:  Lovely.  Are there any last things you want to say about this book?
Gracie:  Draw me a sandwich!
Dad:  Anything you want to say to Peter McCarty?
Gracie:  I have words to Peter McCarty.  You should make more books like this.  This style is totally the latest look for books.

the monster wants a cookie before he goes, by Isaac

"Draw me a friend!" by Gracie

Lily draws a monster (that wants a balloon
and a sandwich), by Lily

feeding a tube-cat, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Peter McCarty
Published, 2009: Henry Holt
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Review #46: Where the Wild Things Are

Dad:  "Where the Wild Things Are" is probably one of the 3 most famous children's books ever made.
Isaac (age 11):  What are the other two famous ones?
Dad:  I've always thought the three best known are probably "Where the Wild Things Are," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "Goodnight Moon."  I would guess just about everyone, at least in this country, will have heard of those books even if they haven't read them.
Gracie (age 9):  What is "Goodnight Moon"?
Dad:  You don't know that one?  We have it.  There is a hole in your picture book knowledge!  Anyways... back to this book.  Do you know who made "Where the Wild Things Are"?
Gracie:  Nuh-uh.
Dad:  Maurice Sendak.
Gracie:  Who is she?
Dad:  A man.
Gracie:  Who is he?
Dad:  Uhhh... one of the most famous picture book makers ever.
Gracie:  Then why are we reviewing it if everybody already knows what this book is about?
Dad:  Well, people might like to know what you think about it.  I know what I think about this book.  And I've read what other grownups have had to say.  But I have no idea what you three guys think about it.
Lily (age 6):  I like it!  I like it!
Isaac:  Kids like this book.
Gracie:  Maybe there is someone who doesn't know about it, just like I didn't know about "Goodnight Moon."
Dad:  So tell us what happens.
Lily:  There's this boy that gets into a wolf suit.  Max.  And he says to his mom, "I'm going to gobble you up!"
Dad:  Did his mom think that was precious of him?
Lily:  No.  She said, "Go to your room without supper."
Gracie:  He's got a tall bed.
Isaac:  He does have a tall bed.
Lily:  And then his room turns into a wild place!  A forest.
Gracie:  His room becomes a world around him...  The world is in his room -- and it's really sweet.
Isaac:  Somehow this sailboat appeared, and he goes on this trip.  He went to an island and the wild things are there.
Lily:  They rolled their terrible eyes...  they showed their terrible claws...  they... did something... with there terrible teeth...  and they roared their terrible roars!  Mwoo haw haw!  Mwoo haw Haw HAW!
Isaac:  They were going to eat him, but he tamed them with a staring technique.
Gracie:  They make him their king.  And they have a wild rumpus.  And a monster runs into a tree.
Dad:  What else happens during the wild rumpus?
Isaac:  Crazy stuff.
Gracie:  Swinging.
Isaac:  Banging and jumping.
Gracie:  Having a parade.
Isaac:  Doing the conga.
Gracie:  After the wild rumpus stops, Max sends them to bed without supper.  But then he feels bad and wants to go home to his mommy.
Isaac:  He sailed away back to his room, and his supper was on the table.
Lily:  And it was still hot.
Dad:  Any votes on whether this all really happened to Max, or was he imagining?
Isaac:  It's really happening.
Gracie:  It's magical!
Lily:  No, it's his imagination.
Gracie:  It was not a dream.  How could it be?
Dad:  Look at this... what kind of moon is out when Max returns home?
Gracie:  Full moon.
Dad:  But what about when he left?
Gracie:  Not a full moon.
Dad:  So a lot of days went by.
Gracie:  Yeah, but his supper was still hot!
Dad:  Ahhh, so confusing.  So we don't really know.  There are clues that suggest it could be either way.
Gracie:  I think he went into a portal.
Dad:  Why do you think this book is so famous?
Gracie:  Because of the cool words.
Dad:  What did you think was cool about the writing?
Gracie:  It just sounded pretty.  Not pretty... it just sounded cool.
Dad:  I don't know if you guys looked at the words while I was reading.  But he doesn't use many periods.  All the sentences string together - they just keep going and going.  You guys would probably get in trouble in school for writing like that.
Lily:  I never make periods.
Dad:  Now if you forget to use periods, you can just say, "Maurice Sendak didn't always use periods!"
Gracie:  Hee hee!
Isaac:  We can get out of doing that extra work!
Dad:  What did we notice that happens to the borders around the pictures?
Isaac:  The pictures get bigger... and bigger... and bigger... until they touch the edge of the page.
Lily:  Then it gets over here onto the other page.
Gracie:  Max's world is getting bigger.
Lily:  And the leaves of the trees are poofing out of the picture.
Gracie:  When Max starts going towards the wild rumpus, the pictures get bigger and the borders shrink.  But when he goes away from the wild rumpus the borders get bigger and the pictures shrink.  So that's sneaky craftwork!
Dad:  I have two things I like most about this book.  I like how the borders around the pictures shrink and grow, and I like the design of the creatures.
Gracie:  I think Maurice Sendak had to be really creative to think of all those wild things.
Isaac:  I have a question...  He's half monster and half... duck?  Right?
Dad:  Who?
Isaac:  This dude.
Dad:  Ha ha ha...  He's whatever...  I don't know...  The monsters all look like bits and pieces of things.
Isaac:  Maybe he's half bear, half duck, half monster.  And his cousin twice removed is a dragon.
Lily:  That's a lion with horns.
Isaac:  Can I name all the monster guys?  This is Hairy....  Duckfeet....  Buffalo....  Parroty...  and Hornnose.
Dad:  What about that weird little goat man on the other page?
Isaac:  Joe.
(laughter)
Isaac:  What's wrong with "Joe"?
Gracie:  I get to name the sea serpent.  The sea serpent's name is Waterfull Nosetoot!
Lily:  I get to name this guy -- he's Bignose.
Gracie:  And this one's name is... "I-Walked-Into-A-Tree--Ouch"!
Lily:  There's a new guy!
Isaac:  No, that's Duckfeet.
Dad:  Isn't it weird that the monsters are all the same size except for that little goat guy?
Gracie:  I like Goat Dude.  He's awesome.  He's my favorite monster.
Lily:  Baaaa...  baaaaa...
Isaac:  They are cool monsters.
Lily:  My favorite thing about the book is the monsters.
Dad:  Would you like to meet those guys in real life?
Lily:  No way.  They would gobble me up!  Because I don't have Max's trick.
Dad:  You couldn't stare into the monsters' eyes?
Lily:  I would blink.
Dad:  Now in the book, Max's mother sends Max to bed without supper.  Later Max does the same thing to the monsters.  Why do you think that is?
Isaac:  Because he's the king.
Lily:  But it made him feel sad.
Dad:  Do you think moms and dads like having to discipline?
Isaac:  We can ask someone about this.  Dad, do you like disciplining us?
Dad:  It makes me sad when I have to do it.
Gracie:  Then don't do it anymore!
Dad:  But what would happen if we didn't ever discipline you?
Lily:  We would be selfish!  Mean!  Terrible!  A brat!  A monster!
Isaac:  I would be Duckfeet.
Lily:  I would be Bignose.
Gracie:  I would be "I-Walked-Into-A-Tree--Ouch."
Dad:  Max was pretty monstrous.
Gracie:  He made a mischief of one kind unto another.
Dad:  It's fine to be wild and silly from time to time.
Gracie:  Wild, yes.  Naughty, no.
Dad:  Wild at the right times.  Not all the time.
Lily:  If Max wasn't wild, the monsters were going to eat him.
Dad:  Does anyone want to say anything about the "Terrible Yellow Eyes" blog?
Isaac:  Oh!  Everyone should go there!
Gracie:  It's a blog where famous artists make their own versions of "Where the Wild Things Are" pictures.
Dad:  Including you three!
Isaac:  It has tons of art from different artists.
Dad:  It's kind of like what you guys have been doing for a whole year here at Bookie Woogie.  But you do a different book every week.
Gracie:  Oh my goodness!  They copied!
Dad:  Last thing... are you excited about seeing the movie?
Gracie:  Yes I am.
Dad:  How long did it take us to read the book?
Isaac:  Two minutes.
Dad:  How do you think they're going to make a movie out of a two minute picture book?
Isaac:  People have done it before.  The Iron Giant was a shorter book.
Gracie:  They'll just add stuff.  I'm excited to see "I-Walked-Into-A-Tree--Ouch."
Dad:  We'll have to see what the movie-people named the monsters.
Gracie:  What if they didn't name him "I-Walked-Into-A-Tree--Ouch"?
Isaac:  They're not going to name him that.
Gracie:  Oh no!

by Isaac

by Gracie

by Lily

Check out the site 5 Minutes For Books for our review of the "Where the Wild Things Are" movie!


Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Published, 1963: Harper & Row
visit: the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog
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Interview #1: Deborah Diesen

The kids have been wanting to try their hand at doing an interview for some time now.  They've practiced on me in a couple of previous posts.  We recently got our first big chance when author Deborah Diesen visited a nearby library.  After the storytime wrapped up and the crowds eventually thinned, she kindly spent some time visiting with us.  The five of us sat in a circle on the big storytime rug and had a great little chat!  We had lots of fun -- Thanks Deborah Diesen!
(Portrait of Mrs. Diesen by Gracie)

Dad:  Alright, before the interview, how about you kids tell our readers a bit about Mrs. Diesen's book "The Pout-Pout Fish"...
Isaac (age 11):  Okay, it is about this fish.
Gracie (age 9):  Mr. Fish.  Hee hee!  I like the name Mr. Fish.
Isaac:  He had a pout.  He is always pouting.
Gracie:  He's "a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face, so he spreads the dreary-wearies all over the place."
Lily (age 6):  He met these guys -- underwater people -- that said, "Stop pouting."
Gracie:  He sees a clam that says, "Stop pouting!"  He sees a jellyfish that says, "Stop pouting!"  He sees a bunch of guys that always say "Stop pouting!  Stop pouting!"  But he can't stop pouting because he's a pout-pout fish.  But then he meets Shimmer.
Lily:  Shimmer is a kiss-kiss fish.
Gracie:  And instead of saying "Stop pouting," she says... nothing... actually.  She just kisses him.  Kissie-kiss!
Isaac:  Then he starts smiling and kissing people.
Lily:  He knew he was a kiss-kiss fish instead.  He was never pouty ever again!  He spread the cheery-cheeries all over the place.
Dad:  Great!  Thanks guys!  And now, we get to talk with the author of this wonderful book, Deborah Diesen!
Deborah Diesen:  First, I really love your blog.  I've looked at it before...
Gracie:  You have?!
Deborah Diesen:  Mm-Hmm.  And my friend Boni loves your blog too!
Dad:  You guys remember who that is -- Gracie, you drew a picture of a dragon eating her.
(laughter)
Deborah Diesen:  She loved that!  So, do you like doing the blog?
Isaac:  Yeah.
Lily:  I like drawing the pictures.
Dad:  These guys are little artists.
Deborah Diesen:  Writing gets encouraged in kids a lot... but drawing, not so much.  So I love to see kids drawing and doing art.
Gracie:  Our family would be VERY different if we didn't draw as much.  Totally different.
Dad:  As a kid, the worst punishment I ever received was not being allowed to do anything art related for a whole day.  I don't remember what I had done wrong, but I can assure you that whatever it was, I never did it again.  It was torture to be kept from touching a crayon or a pencil all day.
Gracie:  Gasp!  You poor thing.  That's terrible.
Dad:  Alright, let's try an interview!  Who's got a question for Mrs. Diesen?
Isaac:  What is your favorite part about "The Pout-Pout Fish"?
Deborah Diesen:  The thing I like most visually about the book is the cover.  I'm not a very visual person, and to be honest, when I wrote it I didn't know what Mr. Fish looked like.  But when I saw the art that Dan Hanna made, I said, "That's it exactly!"  The cover is so striking, and it tells a little bit of the story with just one picture.  Dan Hanna did a tremendous job with the pictures throughout the book.  But the cover starts to tell you the story.  The story doesn't start on page one.  It starts with whatever part of the book you see first.
Dad:  And guys, look at all the funny stuff happening on the back cover, for when you are done...
Lily:  On the back cover there's a whole bunch of sea creatures behind the pout-pout fish!  On the front it looks like he was alone.  But on the back there's a whole bunch of creatures, and they're even having tea parties.
Isaac:  How would they have a tea party underwater?  Ha ha...  All the tea would just be floating around!
Deborah Diesen:  Dan Hanna has a real sense of whimsy about those details in the illustrations.  There's going to be a sequel to this called "The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark," and he had a lot of fun with the details.
Gracie:  How did you come up with the idea for these books?
Deborah Diesen:  I was making faces with my son because he was in a grouchy mood.  We were just horsing around about looking pouty, exaggerating our pouty faces to each other, and I suddenly realized we looked like fish.  I wrote down the phrase "Pout-Pout Fish" on the back of an envelope.  It was a few days before I started writing the story, but at least I had grabbed the idea.  Because good ideas are like birds.  When you are lucky enough to have one land on your shoulder, you need to write it down immediately -- or it will fly away and land on someone else's shoulder, and they'll write your story instead of you.
Dad:  This book has the catchiest refrain.  We'll be out in public somewhere, and I'll find myself randomly saying out of the blue, "I'm a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face..."  You guys hear me say that all the time, don't you...
Lily:  Yeah...
Gracie:  "I'm a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face, so I spread the dreary-wearies all over the place."
Dad:  Not that I'm pouty at the time.  You've just worked up a very catchy phrase there!  It sticks in your head like music.
Deborah Diesen:  It may come from the fact that I played the clarinet when I was growing up.  I have at least a passing familiarity with musical rhythms.  When I'm writing things I hear them like music.
Gracie:  There's actually a fish called a "pout fish."
Deborah Diesen:  That's right, there is!  I didn't find that out until after I had written my story.  At first I was sad because I thought, "Well, now I can't have this story about a pout-pout fish."  But then I thought -- they are actually entirely different from each other.  I think the real pout fish is an eel.
Gracie:  Their names are different too.  This one is the "Pout-Pout" Fish, and that other one is just the "pout" fish.
Dad:  Interesting!  I had imagined that you stumbled across the pout fish and thought, "Oh, that sounds like a story."  But that's not the case.
Deborah Diesen:  Right, it was the other way around.
Lily:  How did you choose which guys the pout-pout fish would meet?
Deborah Diesen:  After I decided to write about Mr. Fish, those were just the creatures that went through my head when I thought of the ocean.  I probably should have worked a little harder to keep them all in one part of the ocean.  I picked fish and creatures that don't necessarily hang out together.  But Dan did a good job at putting the creatures into their actual environments.  But mostly, those were just the ones I thought of... the clam, the squid, the jellyfish, and... whom have I left out?
Gracie:  The octopus!
Deborah Diesen:  Yep.
Isaac:  Wasn't there a worm in there too?
Deborah Diesen:  Yeah, the ones that aren't named are ones that Dan added.  Dan lives in California so he has some familiarity with the ocean.
Gracie:  What kind of fish is this?  "Shimmer" is a pretty fish.
Deborah Diesen:  She's another made up fish, just like Mr. Fish -- there's no other fish in the ocean that looks like him.  And she's just made up too.  Although, Dan Hanna may have modeled her after something.
Lily:  I have another question...  Did you write any books when you were littler like us?
Deborah Diesen:  Yep!  Right around your age is when I started writing.  You are seven?
Lily:  Six...
Deborah Diesen:  Okay, I was probably a little older than you.  But right around your age I started writing a lot of rhyming poems.
Gracie:  Isaac hates writing poems.
Deborah Diesen:  And that's okay!  You've got to write what you like!
Isaac:  I'm good at it...  it just takes me forever to think of one.  Once a poem just came into my head, and I was very proud of it.
Deborah Diesen:  Do you have a Rhyming Dictionary?
Isaac:  Uhhhhh...
Dad:  I do.  Isaac, I'll get it out for you when we get home.
Deborah Diesen:  That helps get ideas sometimes.  That's how I came up with "kaleidoscope of mope."  I was looking in the "ope's" and thought, "I've never seen 'kaleidoscope' and 'mope' put together - I'll try that."
Isaac:  Dad, is that where you got your rhyming word for Orange?
Dad:  Uh, no.  I did not.  No.
Deborah Diesen:  My rhyming dictionary doesn't have a rhyme for Orange!
Dad:  When I was a kid I knew there was supposed to be no rhyme, but I was determined to prove that wrong.  The closest I managed was "Door Hinge."
Deborah Diesen:  That is petty close!  And I also think it's fine to just make some up.
Dad:  Well now, I have a question...  I wonder if you are a good speller?
Deborah Diesen:  I have to work at it.  I'm not a great speller...
Dad:  So that shouldn't discourage anyone here from writing?
Deborah Diesen:  Not at all.  I have misspellings in some of my drafts and that's okay.  I don't worry about my penmanship when I'm writing my stories, I don't worry about my spelling...  Worrying about those things doesn't come until the second, or third, or sometimes even the fourth draft.
Dad:  Wonderful!  Well, are you guys happy to meet a new author?  To make a new friend?
Kids:  Yeah!
Deborah Diesen:  Well, I was thrilled to meet all of you.  I just love your blog.  I hope you keep doing that.  And I hope you keep writing and drawing and reading lots of books.
Gracie:  We will keep reading books.  You should see how big the bookshelf is in our room!
Deborah Diesen:  Ha ha, I can imagine!
Gracie:  It's like our house is a mini library!  We have books everywhere.
Dad:  Anything else you guys want to say?
Kids:  Thank-you!
Deborah Diesen:  Well, you're welcome.  (shaking hands) Lily, pleased to meet you.  Isaac, pleased to meet you.  Grace, pleased to meet you.  I feel very honored.
Lily:  You forgot my Daddy.
Deborah Diesen:  Oh, pleased to meet you!
Dad:  Ha ha, very nice to meet you too.

the pout-pout fish, by Isaac

shimmer fish about to kiss Mr. Fish, by Lily

shimmer fish, by Gracie

Author: Deborah Diesen
Illustrator: Dan Hanna
Published 2008, Farrar Straus Giroux
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