Zoomer's Summer Snowstorm

Title: Zoomer's Summer Snowstorm
Author/Illustrator: Ned Young
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: May 10, 2011


Zoomer's Summer Snowstorm was a great book for me to find on a day that is in supposed to be 95 degrees Fahrenheit and very humid here in the Peach State.  I only wish I could have as much imagination as Zoomer does!

What starts out as a small snowcone ends up an entire empire called Zoomartica plus an amusement park.  Zoomer and his family are soon enjoying hot chocolate and chili in the middle of the hot summer.

Ned Young's illustration are impressively detailed. All of Zoomer's snow sculptures look real.  All but two of the pages (that show Zoomer inside the house) include a monarch butterfly that is fun to find.  Painting with rich colors allows Ned Young to transform the silly into the spectacular.  I dare say they will make you (as the parent) laugh, too.

One specifically positive element is that Zoomer is careful to clean up after his play without his mother needing to tell him to.

So put on your mittens, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and curl up with Zoomer's Summer Snowstorm.

What's your favorite game to play in the snow?

The Tale of Two Castles

The dragon stood on IT's back legs.  "I will return at the nine-o'clock bells tonight.  As soon as His Lordship's guests arrive, remain with him."  IT flapped IT's wings.  "Do not let him out of your sight.  Trust no one.  Keep him safe."
How could a girl keep an ogre safe?
IT circled above me.  "You can shout.  A person half your size can shout.  Act!"

In this new book from Gail Carson Levine (the author of the Newberry-Honor-winning Ella Enchanted), Elodie is on an unpredictable adventure. An assistant to a dragon, a spy in disguise, cupbearer for an ogre?  Only A Tale of Two Castles (from Harper Collins on May 10, 2011) can allow Elodie to do all of those.

Elodie wants to be a mansioner, but the master rejects her as an apprentice.  All alone in a foreign city, what will she do to survive?  This city of Two Castles is full to the rim with strange things, including a form-shifting ogre who changes into a crazy monkey or a mouse or a lion, trained cats that steal and stalk, and someone who keeps stealing and poisoning people.  Can Elodie discover who is in the wrong and who she can trust?

A Tale of Two Castles does an excellent job illustrating that a person's looks or prestige are not what makes them trustworthy, kind, or great.  Character is a matter of the heart.  Elodie also gives great insight into what it means to act a certain way versus to BE a certain way. Elodie also learns that it's not right to be quick to judge and throw blame on others; you must study facts and induce and deduce only from truth and common sense (younger readers may need a definition of the difference between these two words). Greed is troublesome and being a giver is joy-bearing.  The ending comes as a surprise but holds a lot of truth.  You have to stick with those who you know to be true, honorable, and warmhearted even if the less-noble way tries to draw you in. 

There was one negative element, which is why I'm giving this book a four out of five  Elodie's parents send her to Two Castles with instructions to apprentice herself to a weaver.  She decides that she will ignore them and run her own life.  While things end up that she would not have been able to apprentice as a weaver, after all, she still disrespects her parent's advice. Because you know that your twelve-year-olds are not really ready for life's decisions without wise counsel from adults, you might want to bring this up.  I would have preferred that she would have discussed this with her parents rather than just throw their advice to the wind as soon as she sets sail. 

A Tale of Two Castles was a great twist on the traditional princess/castle/dragon stories. It seemed to have a few more deep lessons and a lot of laughter.  When I laughed aloud within the first page, I knew I had a great book. This would be a great family read-aloud.

What will happen to the ogre if the village cats turn him into a mouse?  Can Elodie help him, escape from prison, and save the kingdom at the same time?

Charlie the Ranch Dog

Ears drooping, eyes plead,

Tail wagging, tongue hanging out.

Charlie the Ranch Dog.

Charlie is a basset hound ranch dog.  Breakfast is his life, especially when bacon is involved.  Charlie has a friend named Suzie.  And it seems like young, agile Suzie is always out-doing old, uncordinated Charlie. 

New from HarperCollin's Children on April 26, 2011, Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond is the story of one dog's quest to be of help when all of life seems to be working against him.  Will he find a way to be helpful on the ranch?

Diane deGroat's illustrations bring the story to life with a humorous twist and show reader's just how Suzie always gets the best of Charlie.  Story and pictures combined will have your child laugh again and again.  My favorite part of Charlie the Ranch Dog was the language.  All of the words used are perfect for the target age--something that I realize more and more is (unfortunately) a rare find. This book can be easily read by children in second-fourth grade, but preschoolers will enjoy it as a lap read.

Have you ever had two dogs that competed to be helpful to you?

Go West, Amelia Bedelia!

"Morning," said Uncle Buck.  "You look happier every day.  Do you feel at home on the range?"

"Absolutely," said Amelia Bedelia.  "I can cook on any range, gas or electric."

For sixteen years, Herman Parish has been carrying on the tradition of his aunt, Peggy Parish, by continuing The Adventures of Amelia Bedelia. 

Published on April 1, 2011 by Greenwillow Books (an imprint of HarperCollins), Go West, Amelia Bedelia! follows the same classic style that readers have delighted in since 1963. 

Although the language is someone antiquated, the watercolor illustrations by Lynn Sweat offer some explanation for what Parish hopes to imply.  I'm labeling this book as a family read-aloud rather than for a particular age group, because while the publisher marked it as a book for ages 5-9, I feel that children that age would not get the jokes without an adults help the first read through. 

Go West, Amelia Bedelia! is a great way to teach your children about homonyms and figures of speech that they may encounter in social situations or cowboy books and movies.

Though not an exhaustive list, here are a couple of examples of concepts that you might need to explain:
On page 9, Amelia Bedelia meets Jake, the ranch foreman and promptly wishes to know where the one, two, and three men are. 
On page 21, Jake describes a horse as being a quarter horse, to which Amelia Bedelia replies, "That horse is worth at least a dollar."
On page 25, Jake says that an outlaw was "tossed in the cooler."  Amelia Bedelia thinks that would be a lovely way to spend such a hot day.
On page 52, Jake tell Amelia Bedelia "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."  Though she doesn't understand the idiom, Amelia Bedelia agrees with this only because the horse "might have bad breath."

All-in-all, Go West, Amelia Bedelia! follows tradition and makes you chuckle with its dry humor. I laughed even more with the illustrations.  Amelia Bedelia would wear green cowgirl boots decorated with yellow flowers!

What is your favorite Amelia Bedelia book?  Have you ever done anything "Amelia Bedelia-ish"?