I grabbed this audiobook on the way to the checkout counter at my library, and I’m glad I did. It made much more sense than the last audiobook I listened to, so it was a nice change. Plus, it was read by Del Roy, so it was like grandpa was telling me a story! This book has been making the rounds and has some notoriety in the children’s book world, despite being very long for a children’s book (over 400 pages!) We first meet […]
The review in which I weep and fulfill all your baby shower shopping needs
My baby and I cleaned off his bookshelf this weekend. My baby is nearly 8, and his interest in the picture books that I spent hours upon hours reading to him and his big sister has waned in favor of a growing number of graphic novels and chapter books. He needed more room on his shelf. My heart broke a little (read: a lot) when he handed me You Are My I Love You and said that it was time to pack it away. It’s […]
A Different Look at Art
It was really hard for me to turn off my teacher brain while reading Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer. The book’s intended audience is middle-grade readers, and while I think the me of that age would have been delighted with this book (it would have appealed to my snootiest, inner-art-snob instincts), 33-year-old me had a hard time getting into it. I kept looking at it from a “Would I want to teach this?” perspective, rather than from “Am I enjoying reading this?” I don’t know that […]
Author/Illustrators are kind of cheating, taking all that talent up, don’t you think?
NetGalley introduced me to the work of Ashley Spires this week, and, if you haven’t read any of her picture books, you’re going to be thanking them as much as I am. Spires is both author and illustrator of The Most Magnificent Thing and Over-Scheduled Andrew, as well as many other books. The illustrations are simple – mostly penciled backgrounds, with the colorful characters and all the action in the foreground – but also really expressive. The young inventor in The Most Magnificent Thing, for […]