The Borrowers

Written by Mary Norton
Illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1952
Ages 8-12
3.5/5

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock are Borrowers, little people who "borrow" things from larger "human beans" to feed themselves and furnish their tiny home under the kitchen floor. When the Borrowers are "seen" they must escape, and the only person who can help them is a human boy.

I tried reading this book several times when I was younger and was never able to finish it. For some reason, I found the Borrowers far less interesting than the Littles. Although I finished the novel, it still took a while to become absorbed in the predicament of the Clock family. The writing is high-quality, particularly the descriptions of Arrietty's feelings of confinement and her longing to go outside. I think perhaps part of my problem with the book is my confusion over the time period in which events occur: the first narrator is Kate, and I assume she must be an adult when she is telling the story. Next Mrs. May begins to tell her story about the Borrowers, and her story took place when she was a child. This means that the Clock family lived a long time ago and makes it harder for me to imagine all the little things that would have been used to make their home comfortable.

A great novel, but perhaps ultimately more appreciated by older readers than young ones.

Dracula

By Bram Stoker
Retold by Tim Wynne-Jones
Illustrated by Laszlo Gal
Key Porter Kids, 1997
Ages 10+
1.5/5

Dracula is a re-telling of Stoker's novel by the same name. Englishman Jonathan Harker discovers that the Transylvanian count for whom he is negotiating the purchase of an estate near London is actually a vampire. When Dracula arrives in England he seduces and destroys the friend of Harker's fiancee. Harker and his friend, Dr. Van Helsing, must find a way to stop Dracula forever.

I had several problems with this book. The first is that although the idea of exposing young people to a piece of classic fiction by converting it into a picture book may seem smart, Dracula is simply too scary for most children, even when attempts have been made to lessen the fear factor. I consider this book unsuitable for children under the age of ten, and some parents may still find it inappropriate.

Secondly, although the story has been extensively edited, it is still very long and complicated. There is a lot of text on each page, and much of it reads with a stilted feeling (although this may be an effort to retain some of the style of the original novel). The several switches in narration would be confusing to a less advanced reader.

Thirdly, Gal's illustrations, while probably meant to enhance the creepy mood of the story, resemble the pencil-crayon drawings of a high school student. They are suitably somber, yet feel 2-D and fuzzy, as though something is wrong with the perspective. Some pages have dark text over backgrounds like falling snow or stone walls, which makes it difficult to read.

Although this book is meant to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the publication of Stoker's Dracula, in this case I think both the story and pictures are of unfortunately low quality.

The Quigleys

Written by Simon Mason
Illustrated by Helen Stephens
Dell Yearling, 2002
Ages 6 to 10
3/5

Each of the four chapters in Mason's book tell a story about a member of the Quigleys, an ordinary British family: Dad loses the neighbour's children while he's supposed to be babysitting them; Mum almost has a horrible birthday; Lucy is supposed to be a bridesmaid, but she wants to dress as a bee; and Will wants a harpy eagle for Christmas.

The characters are quirky, albeit in a very British way, and the novel paints a picture of a happy, loving family whose members get into the occasional scrape. The plots in each chapter are extremely simple, but this in no way detracts from the book's charm. The vocabulary Mason uses is relatively uncomplicated, although some parents may object to the way Dad says "Christ Almighty!" every time something goes wrong. This book would be most suitable for a child who has progressed beyond reading the most simple chapter books and is ready for something a little longer.

The Quigleys is the first in a series about the Quigley family.

Mary Poppins

Directed by Robert Stevenson
Starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke
Based on the books by P.L. Traverse
Walt Disney, 1964
139 minutes
All ages
5/5

I'll admit my bias from the beginning: Mary Poppins is my favourite movie of all time and Julie Andrews is my hero. That being said, there are many reasons why this Walt Disney film won five Academy Awards and is considered a children's classic.

Set in Edwardian England, Mary Poppins tells the story of how the Banks family is changed by the arrival of an unusual nanny. Jane and Michael Banks are neglected by their busy parents, a banker and a suffragette who are so caught up in their own affairs they forget to pay attention to their children. When Mary Poppins, with her flying umbrella and her seemingly bottomless carpet-bag, slides up the banister to their nursery, Jane and Micheal begin to experience all kinds of adventures. They take part in a horse race inside an enchanted chalk drawing, have tea on the ceiling, and dance with chimney sweeps on the rooftops of London. By the end of the movie, as Mr. and Mrs. Banks finally begin to see what they have been missing by ignoring their children, Mary Poppins leaves, presumably to find another family that needs her help.

This movie is filled with comedy, much of which pokes fun at boring, everyday events and too-serious adults. The songs are catchy without being annoying and would be fun to sing-along with, either while watching the film or as a soundtrack in the car. Children will particularly enjoy Jane and Michael tidying their nursery by snapping their fingers, the animated picnic sequence in the chalk drawing (who can resist dancing penguin waiters?) and the energetic, acrobatic dance of the chimney sweeps.

Even better, the movie is still appealing to adults. While kids may focus on the visual magic performed by Mary Poppins, parents can find a whole other level of humour in the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Banks and the interactions between adult characters. This means that when children want to watch it again and again, it will (hopefully) be less irritating than many other movies made for children.

Although Mary Poppins is long enough that it may not hold a pre-schooler's attention for the full length of the movie, its episodic nature makes it easy to watch in smaller segments.

As another bonus, the 40th Anniversary DVD set comes with a new animated short ("The Cat Who Looked at a King"), a new song, an interactive game, and behind-the-scenes footage showing how some of the special effects were created. Who knew that the sounds of the penguins' feet as they tapdanced was the sound of the movie's director slapping his bare stomach?

This is a solid movie that has stood the test of time, 1960s special effects and all. I feel it truly deserves the designation of "classic" and a 5 out of 5 rating.

Papa and the Pioneer Quilt

Written by Jean Van Leeuwen
Illustrated by Rebecca Bond
Dial Books, 2007
Ages 4-9
4.5/5

Papa has "wandering feet", so Rebecca's family must leave their farm in Missouri and journey west to Oregon. Along their journey, Rebecca collects scraps of cloth - from an apron, Papa's torn shirt, a friend's bonnet - to make a quilt when her family reaches their new home.

Told in Rebecca's voice, this book describes what it was like to travel in a covered-wagon train across the American west. Rebecca talks about how worn out her shoes are, how frightened she is when her father almost drowns, how her mother cries when they have to leave a chest of her fine china by the side of the trail, and how beautiful Oregon is when they finally arrive after six months. The story is enhanced by joyful watercolour illustrations that evoke the changing landscape and express a range of emotions through both people and animals.

The author's note about the pattern of Rebecca's quilt reminds readers that many families did travel across the American west, and that many girls may have made quilts like Rebecca's.

The strength of this book is that it gently teaches children about an important part of American heritage without sounding too preachy or boring. In effect, it makes history into a story.

That Stripy Cat

Written by Norene Smiley
Illustrated by Tara Anderson
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2007
Ages 2-7
4/5

Smiley's picture book is about a stripy cat in an animal shelter who needs a home. No one wants him, and he almost gets sent to several unpleasant places instead (like the dump). By the end of the story the stripy cat has found a cozy home with an owner who loves him.

Kids will feel sorry for the stripy cat and happy when he finally gets a home. With its repetitive patterns and bright illustrations, this book would be a good choice for reading aloud. In particular, Anderson's pictures do a great job of expressing the personality of the stripy cat.

The Penguin and the Pea

Written and Illustrated by Janet Perlman
Kids Can Press, 2004
Ages 4-8
3.5/5

This picture book is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. However, in this version Perlman has recast all the characters as penguins. The Penguin Prince falls in love with a penguin who arrives at the castle during a storm and claims to be a real princess. The Queen is suspicious, so she places a pea underneath twenty mattresses and twenty quilts on the penguin maiden's bed. When the penguin admits the next day she was unable to sleep because of something hard in her bed, the Queen realizes she is indeed a real Penguin Princess. They all live "flappily" ever after.

Of course, the best thing about this book is the mostly anthropomorphized penguins. Although they have hair, wear robes and crowns, sing, dance, and make shadow puppets, the characters also wear "rainflippers", ask for a "fin in marriage", and bruise their flippers and break feathers when they fall. Instead of the classic descriptions of the princess's golden hair and blue eyes, we read the Penguin Princess is beautiful "from the gentle curve of her beak down to her delicately webbed feet". The humour that stems from the idea of penguins acting like humans is present ed through text and pictures that complement each other. This would definitely be a solid read-aloud selection, especially for younger school-aged children.

The Princess and the Pea has never been my favourite fairy tale. I guess I don't like the idea that the only way someone can be a real princess is if she is so delicate and fragile she will be bothered by a pea in her bed. Although my love of penguins made it impossible for me to not enjoy this version of The Princess and the Pea, I think I prefer Perlman's version of Cinderella, titled Cinderella and the Little Glass Flipper.