One Elephant, Deux Éléphants

Sharon, Lois, and Bram
Casablanca Kids, 1978
All ages
5/5

There's a reason One Elephant, Deux Éléphants was recently re-released as a twenty-fifth anniversary special edition CD - it's a classic children's album that is as enjoyable today as it was back in 1978. With its mix of playground chants, traditional songs (such as "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" and "Paw Paw Patch"), and Sharon, Lois, and Bram specials (such as "One Elephant, Deux Éléphants" and "Skinnamarink"), this CD is a great example of high-quality children's entertainment.

The tracks encourage audience participation through the inclusion of children's voices as a central part of the recording. The lyrics of songs such as "Candy Man, Salty Dog" are suitably ridiculous and amusing, while parents will enjoy singing "'A'. You're Adorable" and "Yes Sir, You're My Baby" to their kids. With a mix of English and French songs, as well as one Iroquois lullaby, the CD is also staunchly Canadian.

In my opinion, some of the best children's music ever!

Tacky and the Emperor

By Helen Lester
Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Houghton Mifflin, 2000
Ages 4-7
3/5

Tacky the Penguin, that odd bird who never seems to fit in, returns in a story about mixed-up identities and true hospitality. The Emperor is coming to visit, and Tacky's companions throw themselves into elaborate plans to entertain him. When Tacky finds the Emperor's crown and robes, he is mistaken for the Emperor and given royal treatment. When the Emperor himself arrives, Tacky provides a much simpler visit than his friends had planned, but it turns out that the Emperor loves being treated like an ordinary penguin best of all.

Once again Lester shows readers how being different can sometimes save the day. In this case, Tacky's unique spin on entertaining the Emperor makes everyone happy. The story also shows that sometimes special "important" people just want to be treated like everyone else.

Not as good as the original Tacky, but still pretty entertaining.

Tacky the Penguin

By Helen Lester
Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Houghton Mifflin, 1988
Ages 4-7
4.5/5

Tacky the Penguin is an odd bird who doesn't fit in with his companions, the aptly-named Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect. However, when rough and tough hunters arrive to catch some pretty penguins, it's Tacky who manages to save the day.

This is a hilarious story that can help children see that being different can have its advantages.

Munsinger's illustrations suit the tone of the book and help to show readers the contrast between Tacky and his friends. The illustrations and text complement each other particularly well on the pages where the penguins march in rows and Tacky bounces all other the place.

Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?

Written by Carmela LaVigna Coyle
Illustrated by Mike Gordan
Rising Moon, 2003
Ages 3-7
4/5

In this book, a little girl asks all kinds of questions about being a princess: Do princesses wear hiking boots? Do they climb trees? Do they do chores? Do they eat their crusts? Her mother replies in rhyme, explaining that princesses do all the things every little girl does and that "A princess is a place in your heart."

This is a simple book with great repetition and rhythm for reading aloud. The pictures are lively and bright, full of the vivacious personality of the little girl. The story contains a positive message about being yourself and believing in your "inner princess" that I think is very valuable in this heyday of Disney princesses.

Saint George and the Dragon

Retold by Margaret Hodges
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Little, Brown, and Company, 1984
Ages 8+
4/5

This book retells the familiar legend of Saint George's battle with a ferocious dragon. As the champion of the Queen of Faeries, George is sent to defeat a terrible dragon that is destroying the kingdom of a beautiful princess named Una. Although the fight lasts for several days, George is eventually able to kill the dragon and claim Una for his bride.

Hodges has obviously tried to remain true to the tone and style of Spenser's poem in her version of George's story; however, this means that the text is dense, with long, complex paragraphs and the rhythm of the words may be less familiar to some readers. The language is beautifully descriptive, but younger readers may become frustrated at how long it takes to get through the story.

Although I have some misgivings about the story, the illustrations are exquisite! (The book is a Caldecott winner.) The pictures are done in the style of an old-fashioned manuscript or tapestry and expertly portray both the action of the battle and the beauty of the surrounding scenery. The small illustrations that frame each page of text show another story, this one of a Viking ship that voyages across the sea and then returns home.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Directed by Steve Box and Nick Park
With the Voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, and Helena Bonham Carter
Dreamworks Animated, 2005
85 minutes
All ages
5/5

When a vegetable-ravaging were-rabbit threatens to ruin the town's annual giant vegetable growing contest, Wallace and his faithful companion, Gromit, set out to capture the bunny monster. However, the duo faces competition from Victor Quartermain, a hunter who is jealous of Wallace's friendly relationship with the competition's sponsor, Lady Tottington.

With its endearingly eccentric characters and homages to classic horror movies such as King Kong and Frankenstein, it's not surprising this stop-animation film won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. In fact, Gromit is one of my favourite movie characters of all time: it's amazing how much emotion he can express simply by furrowing his brow!

In my opinion, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit exemplifies family-friendly entertainment. This film can be enjoyed by both parents and children, as well as university students like me!

The Day My Butt Went Psycho!

By Andy Griffiths
Scholastic, 2003
8-12
2/5

Zack's butt has run away and appears to be leading a butt rebellion. Determined to stop it, Zack embarks on a butt-blasting adventure with the B-Team (the Kicker, the Smacker, and the Kisser) and Eleanor, the Butt Hunter's daughter. In the end, Zack and his friends must stop the explosion of a buttcano and defeat the Great White Butt.

This book comes with a warning for parents, teachers, and other adults that they will not like this story because they "won't understand it" and "will be totally grossed out by it": this is certainly very accurate! While Griffith's The Day My Butt Went Psycho! is creative, it is very disgusting. Unwiped butts, the smell of methane, and pimple-popping figure largely in the plot.

The quality is poor at best, but I can see this book having a strong appeal to boys in elementary school.

The Glass Castle

Our Canadian Girl Series
By Sharon E. McKay
Penguin Books, 2002
Ages 8-12
2.5/5

After the Halifax Explosion, Penny Reid's father sends her to live with her rich grandmother in Montreal. Unfortunately, Grandmother dislikes Penny's father and forbids the mention of his name. Homesick and lonely, Penny must learn to adapt to her new life and find a way to become friends with her grandmother.

Although The Glass Castle is filled with information about Halifax and Montreal during World War I, including discrimination against the Irish and the conflict between French and English Canadians over participation in a British war, the story's plot is weak and uninteresting. There is minimal character development: Penny is headstrong, Aunt Colleen is kind, and Grandmother is stern. In addition, the writing is poor; several chapters end with cliff-hangers that are not resolved, or even mentioned, in the next chapter.

While I like the idea of the Our Canadian Girl series, The Glass Castle is not a great book.

It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel

Written by Jamie Lee Curtis
Illustrated by Laura Cornell
Joanna Cotler Books, 2004
5/5

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized this book was by Jamie Lee Curtis. I usually assume books with celebrity authors are not the best quality, but in this case my own biases are completely unjustified. It's Hard to be Five is a delightfully silly book about a five year old struggling to learn self-control.

The story is told through rhythmic verse with a nursery-rhyme feeling. Instead of a traditional font, the text helps express the moods of the narrator by getting bigger or smaller, bolder or less bold, and mixing up upper and lower case letters. It also complements the illustrations; for example, on one page the words form a circle around a picture of children sitting in a circle. The illustrations themselves are filled with extra jokes for parents, such as the T-shirt that reads "The 5th Beatle" or the map that shows "Five Around the World".

This is a fantastic book that shows real empathy with a five-year old's attempts to become more responsible and desire to still enjoy some of the perks of being "little".

I Found a Dead Bird: The Kids' Guide to the Cycle of Life and Death

By Jan Thornhill
Maple Tree Press, 2006
Ages 8+
5/5

In simple, factual language, Thornhill's book explains what death is and why it is a necessary part of life. Thornhill describes what happens to bodies after they die and talks about different kinds of death, including when people kill animals for food, when people die in accidents, and when people kill other people. Although death can be a scary and emotional topic, Thornhill's calm, matter-of-fact tone allows readers to learn about death without making their curiosity seem morbid or inappropriate.

The creative layout and bright colours of the book are extremely attractive and draw the eye across each page. The text has been divided into smaller sections and placed in boxes, which makes it easier to read. Most of the pictures in this book are actually photographs. In fact, some of these pictures may be considered too intense by parents: for example, the stages of decomposition as illustrated by a decaying pig carcass, the child afflicted by smallpox, or the Tollund Man. One of the major strengths of this book is that it is constructed using the same template as more complex research materials, allowing children to gain experience in using things like tables of contents, headings, and indexes.

While not suitable for younger children, this book truly deserves the many awards and accolades it has received.

The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Field Guide
Written by Holly Black
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Ages 8-12
4/5










The Seeing Stone
Written by Holly Black
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Ages 8-12
4/5










Lucinda's Secret
Written by Holly Black
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Ages 8-12
3.5/5










The Ironwood Tree
Written by Holly Black
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Ages 8-12
3.5/5









The Wrath of Mulgrath
Written by Holly Black
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Ages 8-12
3.5/5









The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of five books about the Grace children, who discover Arthur Spiderwick's Guide to the Fantastical World Around You in the attic of their new home. This Guide contains information about all kinds of magical creatures, both friendly and not-so-friendly. Twins Jared (often in trouble for fighting at school) and Simon (an animal-lover), along with their big sister, Mallory (an expert fencer), discover that the ogre, Mulgarath, wants the Guide and will do anything to get it. Together with the help of Thimbletack, a house brownie, and Hogsqueal, a hobgoblin, the Graces must find out what happened to Arthur Spiderwick, rescue their mother from the clutches of Mulgarath, and save the book from being used for evil.

It's easy to see why the Spiderwick Chronicles are so popular. They are extremely attractive books, with beautifully detailed and labelled black and white drawings and richly coloured covers. The chapter titles in the table of contents, the map of the Spiderwick Estate, and list of pictures in each book feel delightfully old-fashioned, making it seem as though the books are a special secret for readers. This is helped along by the "letters" from the author and illustrator, as well as the Grace children, included at the beginning of every story.

The writing itself is mediocre. Much of the dialogue feels stilted and many of the chapters end with unnecessary cliffhangers. However, the short chapters are well-suited to a less experienced reader and the vocabulary is not too complicated either. Jared's anger at the absence of his father and his slow realization that he must accept the way things have changed is the strongest depiction of character in the novels, although Hogsqueal is also entertaining. Some parents may be unhappy with the use of the word "crappy" at several points during the books.

While these books are not of the highest calibre, they are still entertaining and will be thoroughly enjoyed by those with an interest in fantasy. Perhaps a good suggestion for kids who are not yet confident enough to tackle the longer Harry Potter books?

Don't Forget I Love You

Written by Miriam Moss
Illustrated by Anna Currey
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2004
Ages 3-7
4/5

Billy's Mama is late for work because Billy keeps playing with his favourite toy, Rabbit. Mama is cranky when she drops Billy off at nursery school; she forgets to tell Billy she loves him and accidentally takes Rabbit with her in her coat pocket. Just as Billy, who thinks Rabbit is lost in the rain, begins to cry, Mama comes back: not only did she just realize she has Rabbit, but she knows the most important thing of all is to say, "I love you."

This story is simple, but the rush of getting ready for school and work in the morning will be familiar to many children. Mama's reappearance with Rabbit is a reassurance that parents may sometimes seem to forget things or be too busy, but they still love their children.

Currey's watercolour pictures perfectly complement Moss's writing. The illustrations of Rabbit are particularly expressive, even though he's a stuffed animal, and illustrations of Billy show a little kid dawdling on a rainy morning.

This would be a great story for parents to read with their children.