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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Review #60: You Are Special

Lily (age 6):  "You Are Special."
Isaac (age 11):  By Max Lucado.
Gracie (age 9):  And illustrations are by... Sergio Martinez.
Isaac:  That's a long name.
Gracie:  I love this book.  It's got a sweet ending.  It just makes me feel happy inside.
Lily:  It's about a little wooden guy named Punchinello.  He is a Wemmick.  A Wemmick is a wooden man that this carpenter makes.
Isaac:  The carpenter builds all the little Wemmicks.
Gracie:  He's their "Maker Dude."
Isaac:  He's their creator.
Gracie:  How did he make them come to life and talk and stuff?
Isaac:  With his magic touch.
Lily:  Punchinello has a big nose.  And no one likes him.
Gracie:  People don't like him because he doesn't know any tricks.  He can't say big fancy words.
Isaac:  And the Wemmicks put gray dot stickers on anyone they don't like.
Lily:  They put big stars on the people they do like.  Stars are for people that are cool.  Dots are for not-cool people.
Dad:  And Puncinello was covered in dots.
Lily:  They put big, big, big gray dots on him.  He thought he had not a speck of special.
Gracie:  Punchinello doesn't give anyone else dots or stars.  I wonder why?
Lily:  The Wemmick in this page is my favorite.
Isaac:  He looks like a little robot.
Lily:  He's a cute dude.
Gracie:  I think all the Wemmicks are cute.
Isaac:  I like that blue one.  He has a weird head.
Dad:  He's getting a lot of dots too.
Isaac:  Wow.  Maybe he's just blue from dots.
Dad:  So, what happens to poor Punchinello?
Gracie:  When Puncinello goes to see the woodcarver, he feels like no one wants him.
Isaac:  The carpenter said, "It doesn't matter what they think.  It only matters what I think."  Because the carpenter really loves all the Wemmicks.
Lily:  He was special because the carpenter made him.
Gracie:  Then Punchinello gets all happy.  He feels really happy.
Dad:  The woodcarver loves the Wemmicks, not for what they can do, but because he made them.  Because they belong to him.
Isaac:  It's like God.  Even though people might not like you, God made you and He loves you.
Gracie:  Yeah, it doesn't matter what other people think.  It just matters what God thinks.  Because He made us.
Dad:  Does it work the other way too?  What if people praise you for the things you do, but God isn't happy?  Whose opinion matters in that case?
Gracie:  It just matters what God thinks.  What about that guy in the Bible who turned into an animal?
Dad:  King Nebuchadnezzer?  Yep, he thought he was hot stuff.  Not because of God's love, but because of his own pride.  And did it matter if he thought himself great?
Gracie:  Nope, because he turned into an animal.
Dad:  Not an actual animal.  He turned into a wild man and crawled around like an animal.
Isaac:  And ate grass.
Gracie:  And he let his hair flow.
Dad:  So good or bad, whose is the only opinion we should concern ourselves with?
Isaac:  God.
Dad:  So that deals with how we view ourselves...  Can we also learn anything about how we should treat others?
Isaac:  Treat them specially.  Don't make fun of people.
Gracie:  The next person is just as special as us.
Dad:  Who would this be a good book for?
Isaac:  For people who think they are not very special.  God loves us, and this book reminds us of that.
Gracie:  And if you've got a sweet heart and you like little cutie guys, this is a good book for you too.
Dad:  So Lily, are you special?
Lily:  Mm-hm.
Dad:  Why?
Lily:  Because God made me.  Actually, Jesus and God made me.  They worked together.

Punchinello, by Isaac

covered in dots, by Gracie

stickers bounce off! by Lily

Author: Max Lucado
Illustrator: Sergio Martinez
Published, 1997: Crossway Books
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Review #59: If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now

Gracie (age 9):  Why in the world is this book called "If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now"?
Dad:  I was just going to ask you guys that.  What do you think?
Gracie:  I don't know.
Dad:  Usually when you see that phrase on signs or bumper stickers it means: "This is a good place to live -- don't you wish you lived here?  Ha ha, I live here, you don't."  That kind of thing.
Gracie:  What does that have to do with a giant monster?
Dad:  How about this...  we'll talk about the story first, and then maybe you'll be able to answer that question.
Gracie:  Okay.
Dad:  This book is by Ed Briant.  What did you guys think of the words in this story?
Lily (age 6):  They were blank.
Gracie:  There were no words!
Dad:  Yep, so it's a wordless book.
Gracie:  The characters do talk, but there are pictures inside the word bubbles instead of writing.
Isaac (age 11):  This was a graphic novel.
Dad:  I don't know about that...  It was kind of short for a graphic novel.  "Novel" usually signifies something longer...
Gracie:  It's a "Graphic Short-el"
Isaac:  The story is about this boy who reads a book about a forest.  He knows where that forest is, so he runs over there, but he can't find any animals.  Then he sees a giant leaf pile, so he jumps in it.  But it actually wasn't a leaf pile.  It was a Leafy Beast.
Lily:  A monster man!  A monster dude!
Gracie:  They jump in leaf piles together.  They read a book together.
Isaac:  Then he asked if the monster could show him where all the animals were.  They find the animals, but there was a boom and a crash and all the animals ran away.
Lily:  People were cutting down all the trees and turning it into buildings.  They were turning the forest into a town.
Gracie:  The boy tells his mom and dad "I found a Leafy Beast!"
Isaac:  The parents think their son is a weirdie.
Lily:  Then the boy grows up.  He doesn't remember about the leafy monster any more.
Isaac:  Now he has a kid.  He takes his kid to different forest, but they still can't find animals.  Then the kid hears something -- it was all the animals.  Then the kid turns around, and there was Leafy Beast.
Dad:  Why do you think only kids can see him?
Gracie:  He hides when adults come.
Dad:  Why?
Gracie:  They might scream and shoot their rifles at him.
Dad:  What did you like best about the book, Lily?
Lily:  My favorite part of the book was the leaf monster.
Dad:  Why?
Lily:  Because he's a monster.
Dad:  It's fun to create monsters.  You can design them any way you want.
Lily:  Yeah, because they are not real.  But they might be real.  No one knows...
Dad:  How about you, Gracie?
Gracie:  I like the way the illustrator paints.  He doesn't do it very careful.  Sometimes he gets a little bit out of the lines.  And sometimes he doesn't go all the way to the lines.
Dad:  Does that make you feel good knowing that grownups paint like that?
Gracie:  Yes.
Dad:  On purpose even!
Gracie:  There's something I didn't like.  I didn't like the fact that they had to turn the forest into a city.
Dad:  That happens sometimes, doesn't it.  I'm sure before our house was built here, this would have been a woodsy area.
Isaac:  Well, we have a little area in our backyard that is saved for nature.  Remember all those trees?  It's like a little tiny forest in our backyard.
Dad:  Yeah, it's good that the people who built this house didn't tear all the trees up.  Do you think there are any leaf monsters back there?
Isaac:  No.  I've been back there too often.  I would know.
Gracie:  I've searched every part of that forest, and there's not.  I wish there was though.
Dad:  So back to your original question...  Why do you think this book is called "If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now"?  Any ideas?
Lily:  Because I wish I lived with a leafy monster.
Isaac:  It has to do with the forest.  If you lived in the forest, you'd be there already.
Dad:  What about you guys?  Would you rather live in a big city, or out in nature?
Gracie:  I'd like to live out with animals.  But every year I would have to order twenty thousand shipments of bug spray.
Isaac:  These are mostly guesses about the title.
Gracie:  Maybe the author can tell us what it means.
Isaac:  Exactly what it means.
Gracie:  I have words for Mr. Ed Briant.  Can you, like, email us or something and tell us what in the world the title has to do with this book?  Or something?
Isaac:  We're still trying to figure it out.

leaves and leafy beast, by Isaac

boy riding leafy beast, by Lily

drawing with leafy beast, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Ed Briant
Published, 2009: Roaring Brook Press
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