Wonder Bear

From the moment I saw this cover, I was mesmerized.

Two children trudge up a hill and plant some seeds. The girl plants watermelon, and the boy seemingly plants top hats.

As they sleep beside the garden, something magical happens. The top hat seeds thrust up a twisted vine that is topped with gorgeous orange flowers. Out from an orange flower climbs a polar bear wearing a top hat.

From that top hat wondrous things emerge for the children with which to play. Monkeys with fuzzy arms and legs. Lion shaped bubbles. Breezes filled with sea creatures.

After the adventure, the children are put back to bed, the wonders go back into the hat, and though the vine stays, the bear and his hat do not.

Was it a dream?

Wordless, wonderful an absolutely beautiful, Wonder Bear was apparently inspired by a gummi bear. Tao Nyeu is certainly a gifted artist with a real sense of story. Under the dust jacket are pre-printed covers featuring our monkey friends and wonder bear himself (herself?). I am not a student of design, but I do know when folks get it right. Wonder Bear begs readers to go back time and time again to discover new wonders.

Delightful.

Magical Kids

What a cute book!

Josie Jenkins is very tricky. She can do lots of tricks. But one day, the best trick ever happens to her. Billy Brand has his head stuck in the bars of a fence and nobody can help him. But then Josie feels a tingling in her arms and she knows just what to do! She simply bends the bars! None of the grown-ups believe her until she bends the bars back.

Josie's fame spread quickly, and while she just wants to use her trick to help people, there are other folks who see dollar signs in Josie's strength. How can Josie avoid becoming another pony show?

Once you are finished Josie's story, just flip the book over to read about Sam.

Sam's parents have just won a Dream Maker Tour trip to the moon! Everyone is so excited until they realize that nobody under age 12 is allowed to go. Sam has to stay home. It's all okay, because Sam has plans to stay with his friend Billy Brand. But when the big day comes, Billy's contagious and Sam has nowhere to go.

Then neighbour Hilda Hardbottom volunteers to watch Sam. This is a bit fishy as old Hilda isn't the friendliest neighbour ever...but his parents are in a pickle. Turns out, Hilda's in it for the insurance money. Certainly something has to happen on the first ever trip to the moon for tourists. Sam feels doomed until he gets some help from an unlikely source!

What a fun little duo of stories! Sally Gardner has put together a great text to illustration ratio for the younger set who are beyond easy readers, but in need for a not-too-long story. The illustrations are so cute, and give the reader a real sense of the kids. Quick aside...I know that my students will pick up right away that the twin towers are still in the NYC skyline in Josie's story. Not that it's a big deal, but conversations may arise.

Punished

Logan and his friend Benedict head over to the library to get a head start on their project for school. They have to write 5 whole pages on "What's So Great About Being a Human?" For Logan, this is easy. Baseball. He heads right over to the baseball books and gets to work.

It's not so easy for Benedict, however. He can't seem to pay attention to anything for more than 5 minutes, and before Logan knows it, Benedict smacks him on the back and calls out "tag".

Who can resist?

Logan is soon chasing Benedict down into the Reference Section. He soon crashes into a elderly gentleman. Logan gives him a bit of cheek, and the man says that Logan needs to be punished. He then blows a bunch of dust right in Logan's face.

Logan hightales it out of there only to discover that when he speaks more than 3 words, all he can utter are puns. Will he ever be able to speak normally again? What will his friends and teachers think of this new way of speaking?

Young readers are introduced to wordplay in the form of palindromes, anagrams, redundancies and oxymorons. Definately appealing to those kids who love language.