Review - The Thingamabob by Il Sung Na

Title: The Thingamabob

Author & Illustrator: Il Sung Na

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Date: March 9, 2010

Format: Hardback, 24 pages

Genre: children's book, picture books

How I Got It: the library

Goodreads Summary: 

One day, he found the thingamabob.

He had no idea what it was or where it came from. . . .

So begins the story of a curious elephant and a mysterious red object. But what is it?! When none of his friends can tell him, the little elephant decides to experiment. He thinks: Maybe I can fly with it? (Maybe not.) Maybe I can sail in it? (Maybe not.) Maybe I can hide behind it? (Maybe not.) Nothing seems to work, until big drops of rain begin to fall. The little elephant does not want to get wet. Luckily, with the thingamabob (an umbrella), he does not need to get wet!

With bright, adorable illustrations and a simple, playful text, Il Sung Na captures the excitement of making—and sharing—an unexpected discovery.

I love Il Sung Na's whimsical and textured illustrations and sweet stories.  This is a brief story (the synopsis pretty much covers it all) but the adorable animals and his confusion of the umbrella will have younger children giggling.  I have two favorite pages, one where the elephant tries to hide behind the thingamabob and the other when he shakes it and cries, "What are you, then?!"  Na's wonderful full page illustrations are humorous and compliment the story wonderfully - you hardly even notice how brief it is.

"He had no idea

what the thingamabob was 

or where it came from."

courtesy Il Sung Na

"Sometimes,

it didn't do anything at all.

Sometimes,

 it game him a surprise!"

courtesy Il Sung Na

"He asked his friends…

…but they did not seem to know."

courtesy Il Sung Na

"Then big drops of rain started to fall.

he did not want to get wet."

courtesy Il Sung Na

"He did not need

to get wet!"

courtesy Il Sung Na

"And neither did his friends."

courtesy Il Sung Na

Verdict:

A lovely and fun book that is a must for young children.  I would recommend picking this one up from the library as it is quite short.

Tots to Teens & in beTween -Pirates Don't Take Baths by John Segal

Title: Pirates Don't Take Baths

Author & Illustrator: John Segal

Publisher: Philomel Books

Publication Date: March 3, 2011

Format: Hardback, 32 pages

Genre: Children's book, Picture book, pirates

Other Books in the Series:

Far Far Away! (reviewed)

How I Got It: the library

Summary from book:
No!  No!  No!
I'm not taking a bath.
Not tonight.
Bot tomorrow.
Never.
And why should this little pig take a bath?  After all, astronauts don't take baths.  Cowboys don't take baths.  And EVERYONE knows that pirates don't take baths.
so why in the world shoo he?!  Besides, there' nothing his mother can do about it.  Or is there…?

Our favorite pugnacious piglet is back, and this time he's putting his foot down.  There will be no more baths for him!  Because he's a pirate.

His mother calmly points out that Pirates don't get seasick, but he does.  In bold font the piglet declares that he's a cowboy now so he still doesn't have to take a bath.  His mother asks him if he would mind sleeping on the cold, hard ground like cowboys do.  He quickly becomes an Eskimo.  (So I guess that's a "no" to sleeping on the ground.)  His mother agrees that it's too cold to take baths where Eskimos live.

…but do you know what Eskimos eat?

Whale blubber and walrus liver.

Blubber and liver?  That's gross.

The piglet figures a knight is a safe bet, his armor would rust in a bath.  His mother says that it's important to have a good suit of armor "to protect you from…FIRE-BREATHING DRAGONS!"  Well, that argument didn't work out so well, so the little pig tries out some other ideas.  From running away to the desert, becoming an astronaut or a treasure hunter.  While his mother can find something wrong with each his ideas, she's oddly supportive of the whole treasure hunter idea.

However, while he imagined digging for treasure on an island, his mother hands him a mask and snorkel and plops him in the tub.  Because of course you find treasure in sunken pirate ships.


The back-and-forth between mother and son is great.  Mom calmly prepares her son's bath while the piglet comes up with a variety of stalling tactics.  Kids will enjoy the humor very much.  This is also perfect to read to young children.  The ideas are fairly simple and what they might not understand is made up for with simple but imaginative watercolor illustrations.  Segal's piglet is so expressive that you can't help but chuckle at almost every page.  My favorite is the end where he imagines himself swimming through the ocean and finding treasure.  The pages is full of brightly colored sea life and children will have fun looking at every detail.  Heck, I had fun looking at every detail.

Verdict:

I think Pirates Don't Take Baths would make a great addition to any family library.  It's a story every kid can relate to (I hated baths as a kid).  The illustrations are vibrant and bring the characters to life.  Even if you don't want to buy it, you've got to pick it up from the library, you won't be sorry.

Related Reviews:

Buckeye Bookworm review

Waking Brain Cells review

Well 2012 has not been kind

I've been gone for awhile, I'm hopping I've got things nailed down now so that I can return to blogging.  Basically 2012 has seen us lose a close family friend quite suddenly to his recently diagnosed cancer, my mothers own losing battle with cancer, and a bunch of other crap that has completely taken over our life.  We've worked out a better Skype schedule with my family and have been able to share a nice little surprise with them - I'm pregnant.  This has really seemed to cheer up my parents and I think my nephew is going to explode with excitement (he's super cute that way).

So here's hoping that the rest of the year will be much kinder.

Get Graphic - Once in a Blue Moon by Nunzio DeFlilippis & Christina Weir

Title: Once in a Blue Moon (Avalon Chronicles, Volume 1)

Author: Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir

Illustrator: Emma Vieceli

Publisher: Oni Press

Publication Date: March 21, 2012

Genre: Graphic Novel, Middle Grades, YA, Fantasy

How I Got It: from NetGalley for review

Goodreads Summary:

When Aeslin Finn was a little girl, her parents read to her from a magical book called The Avalon Chronicles. But that was a long time ago. Now a teenager, Aeslin is about to discover just how magical she and that book really are. Transported to the world of Avalon, she discovers a kingdom in need of a Dragon Knight - and the last dragon, Blue Moon, is waiting for her!

Once in a Blue Moon opens with 8 year old Aeslin's parents reading her a bed time story.  They abruptly stop the story when they flip ahead and deem the rest "too scary" for their daughter.  Aeslin is indignant and even further irritated when her parents suddenly tell her that they are going on a business trip.  A day or so later Aeslin is acting out the new story for her friend Meg when they notice her mother has returned.  Aeslin runs into the house to find her mother tearing down any fantasy type picture off of her walls and packing away her toys.

"We've given you too much fantasy and not enough reality.  It's time for you to grow up.  There are no happy endings and we don't ride off into the sunset on the dragon."

Her mother then breaks down and tells Aeslin that her father has died.


We next see Aesling eight years later, hoping to get the attention of the super hot Michael.  Meg is still her friend and is very supportive, fun, and level headed even though she thinks Aeslin needs a little magic in her life.  At this point Once in a Blue Moon begins to remind me strongly of The Never Ending Story.  There's a shop the girls have never seen before, an older shopkeeper who knows there names and sells them a magical book, and the book whisks Aesling away into Avalon.  There she discovers a country suffering under the heel of a tyrant.  Through a few short adventures she meets the hot captain of the guard (who's pretty decent even though he works for the bad guy), some bandits, a rebel playwright, and an angry heroine who holds a grudge against Aeslin and seems to be in love with the aforementioned playwright (not that he notices). The action moves along quickly but we still get a feel for our characters and have a better understanding of the world and Aesling's connection to it.  The ending wraps up one important step of the journey, claiming the dragon, and has a satisfying ending while still making want to read the next book.

Once in a Blue Moon is an enjoyable read and I think a good choice for older elementary kids, middle grade readers, and older teens looking for something fun and fluffy. While the story is a bit predictable, the characters are likable and Aesling is a girl that people can relate to.  She just wants to fit in and get a boyfriend, but she's true to herself and has no problem admitting when she's scared and she she needs to suck it up and get the job done.You don't often find a comic with a good story, an action adventure plot with a female lead, that is still appropriate for kids of various ages.  This is a great fit for girls who like adventure but are still drawn to books with female leads.

  

Emma Vieceli's art was great and tells the story well.  She uses a black and white manga style that's nice but not always my favorite.  The lack of color isn't an issue so much as the absence of scenery or detailed backgrounds in several panels.  It just feels like everyone's floating in Limbo.  But that's my personal issue and something that most people tend to overlook.

Verdict:

Aesling was a fun character and I enjoyed the story, the similarities to A Never Ending Story were nice, almost like comfort food for the brain.  Once in a Blue Moon is a great addition for any library, but I think it's one you might want to checkout first before buying.  It's not a serious book but definitely an enjoyable one.  If you've been wanting to try out graphic novels, this one might be a good test drive for you.

Tots to Teens & in beTween - The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

Title: The Curious Garden

Author & Illustrator: Peter Brown

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Publication Date: 2009

Format: Hardback, 40 pages

Genre: Ghildren's book, Picture book

How I Got It: the library

Summary from book: 

One day, a curious boy named Liam is out exploring his drab, gray city when he comes across a struggling garden. He decides to help the plants grow, never imagining what he is starting. As time passes, the garden takes on a life of its own and spreads across the city, changing everything in its path. Bit by bit, the city is transformed, becoming a lush green world.

I'm a fan of Peter Brown's books and The Curious Garden strengthens my fangirl tendencies.  It's a sweet story told partially through the narrative and partially through wordless full page spread illustrations.

Liam lives in a pretty dreary (and polluted) city "without gardens or trees or greenery of any kind."  Being a curious boy, he liked to explore, and one rainy day he decided to wander around the abandoned railway.  The elevated train hadn't run for years and it was one of Liam's favorite spots.  But on this particular rain day he discovered a dark stairwell that led up to the tracks.  As he wandered the abandoned rail lines he saw a little spot of color.  He noticed that the little plants were dying, and while he wasn't a gardener, Liam knew that he could help.  There were a few mishaps he got better and better at tending his plants.

The flowers nearly drowned and he had a few

pruning problems, but the plants waited while Liam

found better ways of gardening.  

As the weeks rolled by, Liam began to feel like a real gardener,

and the plants began to feel like a real garden.

Now this particular garden had miles of unused tracks to explore.  The garden grew restless and wanted to explore. 

 The tougher weeds and the mosses moved further and further down the tracks followed by "the more delicate plants".

Over the next few months, Liam and the curious

garden explored every corner of the railway.

Courtesy of Peter Brown

Spring, summer, and fall pass and finally winter comes and snows him out of his garden.  He decides to use his time learning about gardening and preparing for the coming spring.  He buys books and gardening tools and is finally able to take his new equipment over to the tracks after three months of waiting.  

Winter had been hard and the garden had yellowed and faded.  But nature and Liam's patience and planning soon revived it.  And once again the garden was ready to begin exploring.  "The garden was especially curious about old, forgotten things."  We see the garden leave the elevated train tracks and grow down buildings, over stop signs (Liam had to stop that), and he helped it along by gifting planters to neighbors or mini gardens to empty spots.  He loved watching his garden grow in surprising ways, but "the most surprising things that popped up were the new gardeners.

Years pass and we see a grown Liam gardening with his own family, living in a city that has been completely transformed by his once small but curious garden.

Courtesy of Peter Brown

I really enjoyed this story, partially because my parents were avid gardeners.  When Liam almost drowned the plants, I remember doing the same thing.  His "pruning problems" reminded me of the time my mother had a heart attack because my sister had "weeded" the herb bed and managed to leave nothing but clover and dandelions.  I also loved watching the garden slowly explore the city, eventually transforming it to a wonder urban green space with the help of the people.  There were so many wonderful little details; simple pictures would be balanced out with full page spreads filled with whimsical rooftop and sidewalk gardens.  And the fact the garden was a character with it's own a personality and an adventurous spirit was a delightful touch.  Brown's storytelling style was also quite different from Children Make Terrible Pets (reviewed).  In The Curious Garden, it was almost like he was whispering a bed time story filled with whimsy and fun.

To top it off, Brown includes a note at the end of the story stating that the inspiration for this story was the High Line Park in Manhattan.  Once an abandoned elevated train track, it's now a city park with community programs and gardens.  My students love it when stories tie in with real life and I thought this was a touch that surprise and please my kids.

Verdict:

I liked The Curious Garden and will probably end up buying this book for my own picture book collection.  Brown's illustrations were stylized and fanciful and the writing was quiet and mellow.  I can understand that not everyone will want to purchase this book, but I think it's a fabulous one to share with your family.  Pick it up from the library and enjoy.