Mr. Popper's Penguins GIVEAWAY!

Because, overall, Mr. Popper's Penguins is such a great book....

The Twenty-Six Letter Imagination is holding a giveaway!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

by Richard and Florence Atwater

Originally Released in 1938

From Little, Brown and Company
See the book review HERE.

Giveaway Rules:

1. You must be (or become) a follower (either on Google, Twitter, or Facebook) to enter.

2. You must comment below to receive one (1) entry.
3. The giveaway will close on Saturday, July 30th, 2011 at 5 pm. EST.

4.. Winner will be randomly chosen.

5. Winner will be announced on the blog and will have one week to provide a mailing address before the book is given away to a different winner.

 6. Residents of the U.S. only, please.
 

In order to receive extra entries and increase your chance of winning, you may consider the following...

* You may receive one (1) additional entry for posting a link to this giveaway on Twitter using the hashtag #26letterpenguins or tagging @26letterblog

* You may receive one (1) additional entry for posting a link to this blog on Facebook, as long as you tag "The Twenty-Six Letter Imagination: A Children's Book Blog" group page.

* You may receive (5) additional entries by posting about this giveaway on your own blog and providing me the link to your blog entry in your comment below.



Which is your favorite penguin from Mr. Popper's Penguins?


Note: I have been informed that Blogger is giving people trouble when they try to comment on this post using their openID, LiveJournalID or URL.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience.  Please still post using your Blogger name, your personal name, or as anonymous (if posting as anonymous, give me some way in your comment to identify you if you win). Thanks!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Title: Mr. Popper's Penguins
Author: Richard and Florence Atwater
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: (Originally published in 1938)

There's been a lot of discussion about Mr. Popper's Penguins and the new movie with the same name in the past few weeks.  Let me just preface this review by saying that the book is NOTHING like the movie.  At all.  Pretty much the only aspect that they share is the fact the main character gets a penguin.

Unlike the selfish, haughty character that appears in the movie, the Mr. Popper of the original book is a selfless and kind family man who daydreams of traveling and loves everything exploration.  He has a wife and two kids (whom he loves dearly), and they live in the days-gone-by in a modest house on Proudfoot Ave.

And then one day out of the blue, Mr. Popper—the humble painter—becomes the most popular man in the small town of Stillwater.  However, the reason behind his popularity has nothing whatsoever to do with his own merit or personal gain.  His favorite Antarctic explorer, Admiral Drake, sends him a surprise in response to a fan letter.  The surprise turns out to be life-altering—the Popper family soon has snow all over their house and a large freezing plant installed in the cellar--not to mention twelve additions to their family of four!  But Mr. Popper’s unique visitors could not have come at a more opportune time; the Poppers are in financial trouble and his friends can save the day.

Positive elements:
The Popper family is always respectful of each other in their conversation. Family values are also held in high-esteem--something that the literature of this day could use a heftier amount of. The penguins are trained to be polite.  Despite the fame that his penguins give him, Mr. Popper remains humble and seeks to only do what is best for the penguins instead of seeking his personal monetary gain. Flexibility and patience abound. Admiral Drake gives of himself to help Mr. Popper in a time of need. The text is easy to read and well-composed, showing rather than telling; the book won the Newberry Honor Award in 1939 for its excellent literary quality.  The characterizations of the individual penguins are specific and funny despite the fact that the authors could not use dialog to make them so.  The authors present even adult-like concepts (such as the Popper's money problems) with grace and clarity such that even children will be able to sympathize with them and find joy in the solution.

Negative elements:
Typical of the day in which the book was written, Mr. Popper smokes a cigar while reading the paper.  The conclusion seems a short and a bit stiff compared to the rest of the manuscript (but still brings a smile and satisfaction). 

Otherwise, Mr. Popper's Penguins is an excellent example of the a well-composed children's book (that could also serve as a great family read-aloud), and it receives five stars from me!

How do you feel about the differences between the movie and the book?

The Roly-Poly Pudding

Title: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding
Author: Beatrix Potter
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Price: $0.99



The Tale of Samuel Whiskers (better known as The Roly-Poly Pudding) has a lot to say about the consequences of disobedience.

When Thomas disobeys his mother, he finds himself in quite the predicament and puts his mother in a tizzy!  Unless he can escape, the rats are going to make him into roly-poly pudding!  How he wishes that he'd obeyed mother's bidding and stayed near her when she asked.


Positive elements: Beatrix Potter's lovely watercolor illustrations are spread throughout The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding and bring Mrs. Tabitha's search to life.  The text provides an opportunity for your children to learn a few new words such as "fender," "unruly," "wainscot," "queer," and "disarranged," as well as phrases like "give her leave," "be obliged," and "it was of no consequence."  The rats get justice in the end. Tom is rescued but not without learning some important lessons about obedience first.

Negative elements: There is one reference to the rats "taking snuff."

What is your favorite Beatrix Potter tale?

Miss Suzy

Miss Suzy was a little gray squirrel who lived all by herself in the tip, tip, top of a tall oak tree.  She liked to cook, she liked to clean, and she liked to sing while she worked.

Every once in a while on this blog I have to include a review of an old release or a classic that is still in print.  And how could I possibly forget Miss Suzy by Miriam Young?

Miss Suzy was among the top five books for me as a child.  The author's name enthralled me because it was the same as my own; I decided that I would one day be a children's author, too, and I am writing all the time with that goal still in mind. I also loved the story of the little gray squirrel who was happy until the mean red squirrels chased her out.  She seeks refuge in a dollhouse hidden away in a nearby attic, where she meets and shows caring hospitality to a band of toy soldiers through the winter.  The way the toy soldiers choose to repay Miss Suzy in the spring is a great example of kindness, compassion, and bravery.  One of the morals is that some things are just worth fighting for!

The book is such a wonderful one that on Amazon.com the 40th Anniversary Edition of Miss Suzy (Purple House Publishers) has received 135 five star reviews, 1 four star review, and no review under four stars.  Arnold Lobel's illustrations are some of my favorite of all time and compliment the text excellently.

To this day, I pretty much have Miss Suzy memorized.  I can still hear it the way my mom read it to me over and over, including the melodies she made up to go with the snippets of Miss Suzy's songs that appear in several places throughout the text.  Without a doubt, Miss Suzy is sure to delight your children. 

That night when she went to bed, she was very tired.  But she looked through the branches and she could see a million stars.  The wind blew gently and rocked the tree like a cradle.  It was very peaceful, and Miss Suzy was happy once more.

Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Read-Aloud Treasury

As a child, I often climbed up on the sofa next to my grandmother during story-time with the book,  Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Read-Aloud Treasury by Johnny Gruelle in hand.  I loved the stories about the two rag dolls that lived at Marcella's house.

Ninety years ago a story about a rag doll found in a grandmother's attic captured the hearts of Americans. Through many generations, Raggedy Ann and Andy and their stories have inspired a sense of adventure, friendship, and devotion.

On April 5, 2011, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Read-Aloud Treasury became available to a whole new generation of readers through Kindle and Simon and Schuster.  The E-book contains ten of the most popular Raggedy Ann and Andy stories and all of the stories' original full-color illustrations.  A library-binding edition is available for those who do not wish to own the book on Kindle.

Some comments about the stories included in this book:
"How Raggedy Ann and Andy Came to Marcella's House": This story combines two original stories into one to set some background.
"The Nursery Dance": In this story, readers see how Raggedy Andy first day and night pass in the nursery with the other dolls.  He is friendly and kind and even comfortable enough in his own skin...er...fabric to invite the others to dance around the nursery with him. Best moral from this story:"You see how easy it is to pass over the little bumps of life if we are happy inside."
"Raggedy Ann Learns a Lesson":  Raggedy Ann is normally very mature and wise, but every once in awhile, she get a mischievous Big Idea.  Like getting in the pantry and making a terrible mess.  In the end, however, Raggedy Ann mends her ways and shares her new-found nugget of wisdom with the other dolls: "We must never take without asking."
"Raggedy Ann and the Painter":  This has long been my favorite Raggedy Ann story, for it is in this story that Raggedy Ann gets her candy heart.  Best moral from this story: Always make amends for what you do that is wrong or foolish.
"Doctor Raggedy Andy": Raggedy Andy to the rescue!  When the French dolls ends up "ill" because of some sticky medicine that Marcela poured into her, leave it to Raggedy Andy to think of a solution.  Some parents may wish to note that Raggedy Andy's solution includes all of the dolls pulling off the French doll's head and washing the sticky medicine out. While it is a doll, this may not be something you wish to encourage.  Otherwise, it is a very cute story about one doll's desire to help his friend.
"Raggedy Ann's Trip on the River" is the perfect sequel to "Raggedy Ann and the Painter."  After a tossle with Fido the dog, Raggedy Ann takes a dip in the river that leaves her with a melted candy heart.  But this is not bad because "happiness is so easy to catch when you love each other and you are sweet through and through."
"The Taffy Pull": Although the dolls get caught up in a crazy raid of the kitchen, again, they learn that it is very rewarding to give.
"Raggedy Ann and the Strange Dolls": Two new dolls, Annebelle and Thomas, come to live in the nursery.  They speak ill of Raggedy Ann, making fun of her looks.  But Raggedy Ann knows that there is so much more to life that that.  Leave it up to Raggedy Ann to perform a deed of kindness in return!
Raggedy Ann's New Sisters": Imagine Raggedy Ann times several hundred and that's what you get in this story.  A man with a silly story about fairies visits Marcela and asks to borrow Raggedy Ann for a week.  He then makes hundreds of dolls that look just like Raggedy Ann, and that is where the dolls your little ones cherish originated.
"The Singing Shell": A present from Marcela's grandmother, the seashell enters the nursery scene. It has an intriguing story to tell as well as a valuable lesson: "Those who are unselfish may wear rough clothes, but inside they are always beautiful, just like the shell, and reflect to others the happiness and sunny music within their own hearts."

What is your favorite Raggedy Ann and Andy story? Did your grandmother introduce you to it?

Put Me in the Zoo

Put Me in the Zoo is a classic "I Can Read It By Myself" book, orginally published in 1960 by Random House.  On March 16, 2011, it was released in Kindle Edition.  Written and illustrated by Robert Lopshire, the book has a lovable Dr. Seuss style; read this book to your pre-school children or give it to your beginning readers and watch them smile as the main character brags about the reasons he should be put in the zoo.  He can put his spots on trees and then back on himself.  He can put the spot on the wall and then make them tall.  He can even make his spots change different colors on his body!  This cute children's story has a unique ending that children will not expect with all of the talk of the zoo. The illustrations are simple but brightly colored and keep children turning the page.  While is not the best "I Can Read" book that I've read (who can beat Dr. Seuss or P.D. Eastman?), Put Me in the Zoo is definitely a book that your young child will want to read more than once.

The Phantom Tollbooth

Milo is a typical school-aged boy who can't see the point in "learning to solve useless problems, or subtracting turnips from turnips, or knowing where Ethiopia is or how to spell February." He didn't see the point, that is, until he received a surprise box labeled "ONE GENUINE TURNPIKE TOLLBOOTH." After he decides to take his toy car through the booth, strange yet wonderful things begin to happen.

The Phantom Tollbooth  by Norton Juster was originally published in 1961. Back in January, the children's classic was released in Kindle edition. Children will love the story of Milo and his visit to Dictionopolis, the city where all of the words in the world are homegrown. In that mysterious land, he meets the Whether Man, travels through The Doldrums, and makes friends with a watchdog named Tock (whose body is a huge alarm clock). In the Word Market, Milo receives a greeting from the "Emperor of Phrases, Sentences, and Miscellaneous Figures of Speech" and gets put in jail for jumbling all the words together. In jail, they meet a Which, who sends to rescue the twin Princesses, Rhyme and Reason, from the Mountains of Ignorance.

This book is full of surprises at every turn. First there's the tallest, shortest, fattest, thinnest man. Then there's the Isle of Conclusions, a place you can easily jump to. The book personifies such abstract concepts as statistics, like the half a child that Milo meets who represents the fact that the average family has 2.58 children. And what about the boy that grows down rather than up simply because he chooses to take an unique Point of View?

Some parents may wish to be aware that Demons are mentioned several times in the book, but the Demons turn out to be loathsome creatures that are only pretending to be bad in order to cover up how small and helpless they are against people who don't agree with them. From them, children see how little it pays off to be insincere, afraid, or ignorant and how easily Wisdom conquers Foolishness.

Among the lessons learned from this book include the fact that "people who don't pay attention often get stuck in the doldrums," "time is our most valuable possession," and "you must pick your words very carefully and be sure to say just what you intend to say."

The Phantom Tollbooth is a hilarious satire that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages, including parents. While making them laugh, the book will teach your children rules of grammar and syntax and context as well as statistics and angles and infinity through a crazy tale of one boy's mission to bring Wisdom to the fictitious world beyond the Phantom Tollbooth. After all, "so many things are possible if you just don't know that they are impossible."

Hello!

Welcome to The Twenty-Six Letter Imagination! As a children's book lover and a writer for children, I hope that you and your child will find many enjoyable books to discover together through my blog. I plan to cover fiction and nonfiction: new releases, old reprints, and classics. Along the way, I plan on have some giveaways. My focus will be children's books ages 2-12, but I may include some board books, teen books, or books that the whole family can enjoy together from time to time. Come and join the fun of exploring what the twenty-six letters can do to your imagination!