Review #33: How Are You Peeling

Dad:  It's time for "How Are You Peeling..."
Gracie (age 8):  "...Foods With Moods."
Dad:  And the guys who made this book have great names: Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers.
Isaac (age 10):  It sounds like a "Juice" guy.
Dad:  What is the interesting thing about this book?  How is this different from other books?
Isaac:  Vegetables!
Gracie:  This book is about a whole bunch of different moods.
Isaac:  And vegetables and fruits!
Gracie:  A "mood" is how you are feeling -- if you are feeling happy or feeling sad.  And this whole book is told with food, because the guy that does the pictures goes to the store, buys a bunch of food, and carves in faces.
Lily (age 6):  He puts eyes on the food, and sometimes he carves mouths and noses.  Actually, I bet he doesn't carve the noses.  Then he takes pictures of them.
Gracie:  But sometimes he doesn't carve the food at all.  Sometimes the faces are already there!
Isaac:  Mostly he tries to find weird looking fruits.  Like this one... he really found an apple that looked like that.
Gracie:  It's an apple with a big hole in it, and the guy didn't carve it.
Lily:  He actually found that real dent in an apple.  He was like, "Oh, that could be good -- I'm going to use it for my character!"
Dad:  And that's probably an apple most people would have skipped over.  Most people would say, "Eww... I don't want that apple..."  But he saw it and thought, "That's my book, baby!  I take all the weirdies!"
Kids:  Ha ha ha ha ha!
Isaac:  Woah!  Look at that one!  It's a weirdie!
Dad:  Putting faces on food isn't a completely new idea.  Can you think of a food that everybody already carves?
Isaac:  Tomatoes.
...pause followed by laughter
Dad:  Who carves tomatoes?!
Gracie:  Pumpkins!  Pumpkins!!
Dad:  There you go.  Winner!  We have a winner!
Lily:  People carve pumpkins for Halloween.
Dad:  But these guys thought, "Why not oranges?"
Gracie:  Why not strawberries?
Lily:  There's no pumpkins in this book at all.
Isaac:  They'd probably get a weirdie pumpkin or turn the stem into a nose.
Dad:  So when you illustrate a book, do you have to use pencils or paints?
Isaac:  No, you can take photographs.
Gracie:  You can do it with food!
Isaac:  I did something like this once!  I used Gracie and Lily's dollhouse set, and I took my camera, and I zoomed in so that it looked like a real room, and I took a picture of it.  Then I stuck a banana in the dollhouse, and I zoomed in the same way, and took another picture, and it made it look like a giant banana appeared in the room.
Dad:  Can you describe some of the pictures in this book?
Isaac:  Sometimes they have to combine three foods.  The turtle has a seed for the eye, a pepper for the head, and a melon for the shell.
Gracie:  I like the little radish guys.  There are these tiny, itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, little radishes.  And there's this giant yellow melon or something...
Isaac:  Squash.
Gracie: ...this giant yellow squash, and the radishes are freaking him out.  And the squash is, like, eleven times their size...
Isaac:  Nine times.
Gracie: ...nine times their size.  The radish is this teeny-tiny guy with an open mouth, screaming at the squash.  And the radish has a pointy stick nose.  Some of the other radishes have curvy noses...  I love them!
Isaac:  Here's another one of those weirdies.
Dad:  Yeah, they hardly did anything to that pepper.  All they did was add eyes.  The natural folds make all the expression.
Isaac:  He was a weirdie.
Gracie:  He looks like one of those bulldogs.
Isaac:  There are tons of weirdies on this page!
Dad:  That one looks like baby Evie.
Isaac:  Oh, for the love...
Lily:  Look at tha-ha-ha-hat!
Isaac:  He has weird teeth.  He looks evil.
Dad:  Who?  The orange?
Gracie:  Do you think the guys that make the book eat the food afterward?
Isaac:  "Hello, I'm going to eat you, big teeth guy."
Lily:  I like this one - he's cute.  He's a lemon.  He doesn't have freaky teeth.  I like the ones that don't have freaky teeth.  But this one is sad.  He's feeling very sad.
Dad:  You like the sad ones?
Lily:  No.  I like the ones that don't have freaky teeth.  I like to eat lemons too.  They are sour and good!  But I haven't had one for ages.
Isaac:  I saw in a magazine how he makes these pictures.  That would be fun to do.  For this review, we could go to the grocery store...
Dad:  That IS what we're going to do.
Isaac:  It is!?!
Dad:  Yep!
Isaac:  I want to find a piece of food, a vegetable, that looks weird.  I want to get a weirdie vegetable.
Gracie:  I am going to find the weirdie-est one of all!
Lily:  Me too!  I'm going to find the second weirdie-est one of all.
Gracie:  I want to eeeeeeeat something.
Dad:  Did that book make you hungry?
Gracie:  Now I want to eat a kiwi.  I want to eat that kiwi.  The one that's going, "Aaaaaghhhhh!"

pear bird & melon guy, by Lily

lemon man & potato seal, by Gracie

beet creature & pear mouse, by Isaac

I have to say, the whole process of shopping for these foods and bringing them to life was a blast!  Here's one last group shot:



The kids also had fun eating them when we were all done.  Here are some funny picts I got when little brother Elijah started digging in:

 


Creators: Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Published, 1999: Arthur A. Levine Books
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Review #32: I Spy A to Z

Dad:  Here's the package that just came in the mail!
Gracie (age 8):  It says "Bookie Woogie" on it!
Dad:  What do you think it is?
Gracie:  A book!
(opening package)
Gracie:  It's "I Spy!"
Dad:  Elijah's favorite kind of book.
Gracie:  "I Spy A to Z!"
Elijah (age 3):  Read it to us!  Read it to us!
Dad:  Right this second?
Elijah:  Yeah!
Dad:  I was only going to open the package...  Let me check with Mom to see if we have time to do this right now...
Lily (age 6):  We're reviewing this!
Isaac (age 10):  Can I see it?  I haven't gotten to hold it yet.
Dad:  We love "I Spy."  We have three of the other "I Spy" books already.  Plus we also have an "I Spy" board book.
Gracie:  And I have an "I Spy" memory game that I got for Christmas.
Dad:  But we can't assume everyone else out there knows what "I Spy" books are.  If someone's never seen one, how would you describe them?
Isaac:  People take photographs of all these things -- toys and screws and bolts -- all kinds of bits and ends and things.
Gracie:  Real toys -- a lot -- tons of different toys and shelves and boxes all over the place.
Isaac:  Then they say: "Find a ball" or "Find a cow."
Lily:  Then you find them in the pictures.
Gracie:  They're really good for younger kids.  Especially Elijah.  He loves "Finding Books."
Dad:  Yep, that's what he calls them.  "Finding Books."
Elijah:  Me.  Yeah.
Dad:  So Buddy, are you going to review it with us?
Elijah:  Yeah.  But is it a Finding Book?
Dad:  It is!
Elijah:  A BIG Finding Book!
Gracie:  The cover is so sparkly...
Elijah:  There is a "J" that has a bead on the bottom...
Dad:  Yeah - you know some of your letters already.  This is a great book for you!
Elijah:  Read it now.  Read it now.
Dad:  Why is this book called "A to Z"?
Gracie:  Because the letters go in order.
Isaac:  Like on these first pages, you find things that have A's.
Elijah:  Find them now.

(reading begins)

Isaac:  You know what they did?  They cut half of this page off.  This used to be a big page in a different "I Spy" book, and they cut it down to a little square.
Dad:  So are these all pictures from other "I Spy" books?
Isaac:  Yeah.
Dad:  But that's cool, because it makes this book huge!  Look at how many pages there are!
Isaac:  See this picture here?  That one used to be a much bigger picture in a different book.
Dad:  It's kind of like a "best of."  And even though they are reusing pictures, I bet they have you finding different things this time.

(reading continues)

Dad:  How do you think they do the pictures where it looks like all the toys are flying through the air?
Lily:  On strings maybe?
Isaac:  On the computer?  I have no clue.
Gracie:  Maybe they put everything on a trampoline.
Dad:  And then jumped on it?
Isaac:  It wouldn't come out that perfect.
Dad:  And if they did it on the computer, they'd have to add all the shadows that the objects cast on each other.
Isaac:  Well, do you have any ideas?
Dad:  I don't have any idea.
Gracie:  A glass blower trapped them in glass.
Isaac:  If the person who makes the "I Spy" books is reading this, could you tell us how you make things look like they are floating in the air?

(reading concludes)

Dad:  Did you like that book?
Elijah:  Yeah!  I like the letters that we found.
Dad:  Did you like the easy ones that you could find fast, or the tricky ones you had to hunt for?
Elijah:  Hunting!
Gracie:  I like the parts where it's super hard and everyone is looking and looking...
Lily:  This book was long and fun.
Gracie:  And there's an awesome Spanish corn dude on one page!  I want a Spanish corn dude!
Lily:  All the pictures look really cool.
Gracie:  Especially the picture with the sweet Spanish corn dude.  He was so stinkin' awesome!
Dad:  Now this "I Spy" is different from the others.  There are little pictures along with the text that show you what you are looking for.  That's a new addition.
Gracie:  It's a good thing they did that.  I like it a lot.  Now kids that can't read can enjoy this book too.
Dad:  Which is especially good since it's an Alphabet Book.  Who's more likely to need an alphabet book?  Someone who can't read yet.
Isaac:  I know.  I loved these books when I was little too, but I couldn't read.
Gracie:  I like how they make the pictures.  They just put a whole bunch of stuff together.  They find a whole bunch of toys and build a set.
Isaac:  There's a game my friends and I play.  We each get an "I Spy" book, and then we look for the hardest thing on the page.  Then you say "Look for, like, a green car."  Then the other person says, "Look for a... zebra."
Dad:  So then you switch books and say "go"?
Gracie:  Yep, and the first one to find it wins.
Dad:  That's fun!  You guys are clever!
Isaac:  What are we going to do for our pictures at the end of this review?
Dad:  Maybe you guys could all work to build a scene, and Isaac can take a picture of it.  He's good at taking pictures.  You've never done a collaboration for Bookie Woogie before.
Gracie:  What in the dickens is a "collaboration"?
Lily:  It's where everybody does something together.
Dad:  Did you know that word, Lily?  Or did you just figure it out from the context?
Long silent pause...
Dad (in mock-Lily voice):  What in the dickens is a "context?"
Laughter by all

Here's a picture hunt the kids made for you all:

And a close up detail:
I spy an Alligator, a Ballerina (who lost her bun),
the Captain of a ship, and a tiny green Dude with a gun.

I Spy A to Z
Riddles by: Jean Marzollo
Photographs: Walter Wick <– secrets revealed!
Published, June 2009: Scholastic
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Now comes some more fun!  Giveaway time!!  Scholastic has provided a generous giveaway with five lucky winners!!!

Four winners will receive a copy of this new book, "I SPY A to Z:
A Book of Picture Riddles."

And one Grand Prize Winner will receive a Grand Prize Pack including:

• "I SPY A to Z: A Book of Picture Riddles"
and...
• "I SPY Treasure Hunt"
and!
• Board Game "I SPY Memory Game"
AND!
• Wii Video Game "Ultimate I SPY"

That pack is worth over $85!

So to enter, simply leave a comment on this post.  And for those of you who have been visiting Bookie Woogie for a while - or for new visitors who want to peek at the archives - you can multiply your chances: in your comment if you let us know which Bookie Woogie review has been your favorite so far, you'll get extra entry points.

(Also, be sure your comment has a way for us to contact you when it's time to pick the random winners)

Contest runs until July 4th.  Good luck!  Spread the word!

Review #31: Scribble

Lily (age 6):  Let's do this already...
Gracie (age 8):  "Scribble."
Lily:  By Deborah Freedman.
Isaac (age 10):  It's a super cool book.
Lily:  It's one of my favorite books in the world.  Scribble, scribble, scribble...
Dad:  So tell me about it...
Gracie:  There is a girl named Lucie and her sister named Emma.  They both draw pictures.
Lily:  Lucie has a yellow outfit, and she drew a picture of a kitty on yellow paper.  Emma has a pink outfit, and she drew a picture of a princess on pink paper.
Gracie:  They get in a fight because Emma is making fun of Lucie's kitty picture.  Then Lucie gets mad and scribbles on her sister's princess picture.
Lily:  That was mean.
Gracie:  But I think she feels sad for what she did.
Lily:  Then the yellow kitty picture grew and turned alive!
Gracie:  The kitty found Emma's picture and saw the princess.  But since Lucie had scribbled on it there was a thicket.
Isaac:  The scribbles Lucie made are the thicket.
Gracie:  The kitty wanted to rescue the princess, and so he walked right in there.
Dad:  Right into her drawing.
Lily:  The kitty was trying to save the pink princess from being asleep forever.
Dad:  Like in Sleeping Beauty.
Lily:  But he couldn't get to her because of the tangly scribbles.  The scribbles that Lucie made.
Gracie:  He got tangled up in the scribble thicket.  So Lucie followed him into the picture and had to help him get the thicket untangled.
Dad:  And to wake her, the kitty gave the princess a kiss.  Smack!  (Dad gives Lily a kiss)
Gracie:  Awww - how come Lily gets a kiss?
Lily:  Because I'm sitting on his lap.
Dad:  Smack!  (Dad gives Gracie a kiss)
Gracie:  Hee hee!
Dad:  Do you want a kiss, Isaac?
Isaac:  Aghh!
Gracie:  The kitty woke the princess up.
Lily:  And then they got married.
Dad:  Was it real?  Or was it all a dream?
Isaac:  Imagination.
Lily:  But Lucie did un-scribble the picture.
Isaac:  It's like the real world, but then it's not.  It's the real world when they are drawing the pictures.  It's not real when she goes into the picture.
Dad:  But it's a fun thought -- that you could draw a little friend who would come alive, and you could follow him around on adventures...
Gracie:  Lily does that.  She talks to her drawings.
Lily:  I also make the drawings talk back.
Dad:  How do you guys feel about people wrecking your pictures?
Lily:  Mad.  Sad.
Dad:  In our family, that's about the worst thing you can do.
Gracie:  Yep.
Dad:  Someone drawing over a picture you'd worked on?  Tragedy.  You guys are very protective of your pictures.
Lily:  You wrecked my picture!
Gracie:  Yeah, this morning I wrecked one of Lily's pictures.
Dad:  This very morning?  Oh my lands.
Lily:  She rubbed clay on it, and it left a little smudge.  And there wasn't any way to get it out.
Dad:  This book is an appropriate pick today then.
Isaac:  I know one other story that is like this one.  "The Three Pigs."
Dad:  By David Wiesner?
Isaac:  Yeah, because they go in and out of pictures too.
Gracie:  And what about "Inkheart"?
Dad:  Yep, it's also like "Inkheart" -- people hopping in and out of their own creations.
Isaac:  There's a story, but there's also a story inside a story.
Lily:  I like the kitty in this book.  He is yellow.
Dad:  It's important the way the author uses colors.
Isaac:  The colors in the book are pink and yellow.
Dad:  Pink represents Emma, and yellow represents Lucie.
Gracie:  First, the author uses it for their outfits.  Emma is wearing a pink outfit and she drew on a pink paper.  And Lucie is wearing a yellow outfit with a kitty on it, and she drew a kitty on yellow paper.
Dad:  I never noticed Lucie's outfit has a kitty on it.
Gracie:  See!
Dad:  So there are three pink things and three yellow things.  The girl, the paper, and the drawing that comes to life.
Gracie:  But part way through the book, Lucie turns pink!  See - her clothes do.  And the kitty gives the princess a yellow heart kiss.  And the princess gives the kitty pink cheeks.
Dad:  Aw, he's blushing!
Isaac:  It might be hard to draw in different styles for the different characters.
Gracie:  You'd have to draw like a five-year old!
Isaac:  But it would be fun.
Lily:  This is one of the most wonderfulest books in the world.  And I want you to read it.  Because it is wonderful.  And I don't want you to miss it.

Prince Kitty and Aurora, by Lily

Aurora, Kitty, and what their children might look like,
by Isaac


Lucie chasing after more drawings, by Gracie

Author/Illustrator: Deborah Freedman
Published, 2007: Knopf
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