“Tuck Me In!” by Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt

Age: birth to 2 years old

Genre: picture book

This book starts with a simple line: “It’s time for bed. Who needs to be tucked in?” This is followed with a different animal on each page and a half-page blanket that the reader flips over the animal to tuck it in. The book ends with asking if the reader needs to be tucked in. There is not much to this book. There is no theme that unites the animals chosen unless it’s that they are mostly difficult to make up sounds for (What does the hedgehog say? How about the moose?). I like that it provides a variety of animals, and my son (who is 1.5 years old) seems to enjoy “tucking in” the animals. But overall, not too exciting of a book to read. No story, no characters, no anything, really. More of a game than a story.

Bibliographic Information:

Hacohen, Dean & Sherry Scharschmidt. Tuck Me In!  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2010.

Tuck Me In! on BarnesandNoble.com

“You Are My Baby: Farm” by Lorena Siminovich

Age: birth to 2 years old

Genre: board book

This book is advertised as “two books in one” because it has a little book inside a bigger book. (It’s a little hard to explain, so see the picture here). The illustrations are very cute and cover many of the usual farm animals, so the reader gets an opportunity to teach animal noises as well as names. Though the book is designed to let the adult turn the big page and the child turn the small page, my son (who is 1.5 years old) turns the little pages before I’m done with the big one, so the animals don’t usually match up like they are supposed to. The only way for us to enjoy it “correctly” is if I do all the page turning. We enjoy reading the book together either way. My main complaint with this book is its shoddy construction. Because of the little/big book format, the binding is compromised. I have used packing tape up and down the spine, but it’s still falling apart. We haven’t even had it for more than a few months, so this is just poor quality. Board books need to hold up to young hands and vigorous page turning, and this is the first one we’ve had a major problem with. I recommend getting a different farm book instead.

Bibliographic Information:

Siminovich, Lorean. You Are My Baby: Farm.  San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2013.

You Are MyBaby: Farm on BarnesandNoble.com

“City Cat, Country Cat” by Patricia Cleveland-Peck with illustrations by Gilly Marklew

Here's my review of another cat book that caught my eye. Remember ratings are out of a possible 4 paws.

“City Cat, Country Cat” by Patricia Cleveland-Peck with illustrations by Gilly Marklew

Age: 3 and up

Genre: Fiction, Picture book

Freckle the cat lives in the country on a farm with a boy named David. Charlie the cat lives in the city with a girl named Sarah. Both cats enjoy eating, sleeping, and playing with their owners (when they feel like it). Both cats disappear, sometimes for days, but always come back. Where do they go? We soon find out. Freckle and Charlie have something else in common, which the owners are surprised to discover in the story’s end. Though the text is a little long at times, this story is overall one young readers will enjoy. It’s a quiet story with not a lot of action, but much like a cat’s day, full of everyday joys. I think readers who like cats will have fun following the lives of Freckle and Charlie. Recommended for ages 3 and up. This book is currently out of print, so look for it in your local library.

Cleveland-Peck, Patricia. City Cat, Country Cat. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1992.

A Collection of Cat Books

I recently read a handful of cat picture books, so I thought I would review them all together. There are of course dozens, possibly hundreds, of other cat picture books out there, so maybe I will do some more in the future. I rated them on a scale from 1 to 4 paws. Though none reached the four-paw pinnacle, they each held some merit.

“Leo the Magnificat” by Ann M. Martin with illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully

One day a stray cat shows up at a church and makes himself at home. Mrs. Moody, the church secretary, cares for him and names him Leo the Magnificat. Everyone at the church loves Leo, and he keeps them all company during church services and at covered-dish dinners. Leo even has a special spot on the front pew and sometimes “sings” with the choir. Though Mrs. Moody is worried he will wander away, Leo never strays far from the church, his home for twelve years. This heartwarming tale, which is based on a true story, of a friendly cat that came to stay shows how one animal can touch many lives. The illustrator captures the cat’s facial expressions and personality well. Because of the sad ending to this story, I would recommend it for older readers (ages 7 and up).

Martin, Ann. Leo the Magnificat. New York: Scholastic, 1996.

“What Cats Want for Christmas” by Kandy Radzinski (author/illustrator)

This picture book is a collection of cats’ letters to Santa, each accompanied by a drawing of a cat enjoying the present they asked for. The cats ask for very cat things, such as birds (“something sweet, that went tweet tweet”), food (“a big silver dish filled with little silver fish”) or a nice place to sleep (“A soft blanket of fowl wings”). The final cat asks for a home so he won’t be lonely any more. The illustrations in this book are beautiful, and readers may enjoy all the different colors and patterns of cats portrayed here. However, I didn’t particularly like the text of the book. Each letter is written in rhyme, and the meter is often uneven so it doesn’t read smoothly. I also don’t like that some of the cats want things made from dogs. I assume the author intended it to mean just the dog’s hair, but I’m not sure why a cat would want a dog’s hair sweater or rug. The cats also frequently wish for deceased snacks, and I’m not sure a child reader would like imagining dead mice and birds being devoured by a cute kitty. All in all, I loved the pictures but not the text of this book.

Radzinski, Kandy. What Cats Want for Christmas. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2007.

“Cross-Country Cat” by Mary Calhoun with illustrations by Erick Ingraham

I picked up this book at the library while shelving one day because I remember it from my childhood and haven’t read it in years. It is the story of a cat named Henry, who is described as “a hind-leg walker.” While on a ski vacation with his human family, “The Kid” (as Henry calls him) makes Henry a set of cross-country skis out of some old roof shingles. When The Kid puts Henry into the skis, Henry falls face first into the snow and thinks the people are crazy for wanting to pursue such a hobby. However, when Henry is accidently left behind at the cabin and can’t get back inside, he realizes the only way to get home is by learning to use those blasted skis. Ingraham’s soft illustrations detail Henry’s journey through the snowy forests and hills as he skis along with pine boughs for poles. Cross-Country Cat is a fun adventure story of a cat overcoming a challenge and learning a new skill. I don’t know that this book would get published today, however, because it has a lot of text and the current trend is to make picture books as short as possible. I can see some spots an editor could cut for space, but the story is still a good one for a read-aloud to an older child with a longer attention span or for an advanced independent reader.

Calhoun, Mary. Cross-Country Cat. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1979.

“Chester” by Mélanie Watt (author/illustrator)

Chester is a trouble-maker. All Mélanie wants to do is write a nice little story about a mouse, but Chester comes in with his red marker and changes everything. He wants the story to be about himself, not some boring mouse. But in the end, Mélanie will have her revenge by giving Chester exactly what he wants…plus a little something extra. In this creative picture book, we see a strong-willed cat duel it out with the book’s author for control. Young readers will likely laugh out loud at the selfish Chester and his need to be the star. Readers who enjoy “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” by Mo Willems should like the humor in this book. Reading this book could even encourage children to create their own stories (though hopefully not by writing in other books with a red marker).  This book seems like it would be difficult to read out loud, however, since the author and Chester interrupt each other and speakers are never attributed, so young listeners could get confused about what character is talking at a given moment. The reader would have to be careful to distinguish the two voices well for the listener. This book is probably better suited to an independent reader.

Watt, Mélanie. Chester. Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can Press, 2007.

“The Lost Hero” (The Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

Age: Middle Grade/ Young Adult

Genre: Fiction, fantasy

After finishing the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Heroes of Olympus series is the next step. It is a continuation of the stories of the demi-gods at Camp Half-Blood and beyond. I thought it would directly follow the same characters, but this was not the case (as anyone can tell by reading the book’s synopsis). Instead we start the story with Jason, who has woken up on a school bus next to a girl who claims to be his girlfriend. He has a bad case of amnesia and though everyone knows him, he has no idea who he is. The guy claiming to be his best friend, Leo, and his girlfriend, Piper, prove themselves to be friends to him quickly when they help him fight some evil storm spirits during a field trip. All three know something is different about them, but they don’t know what until they are taken away to Camp Half-Blood and filled in on the whole Mount Olympus in America and godly-parent thing. Meanwhile, our friend Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series is trying to find her boyfriend (Percy), who has suddenly and inexplicably gone missing. With many familiar characters and a whole new problem to figure out, The Lost Hero proves an easy transition into this new series.

I wasn’t crazy about Riordan’s choice to use three points of view in this book. Switching point of view is a difficult task for the writer and the reader as it can easily lead to confusion. However Riordan carries it off well. A few changes were not as clear as they could have been, but otherwise he kept the voices different enough for us to understand and recognize the individual characters. I didn’t feel as connected to these characters as I had to Percy, and I think that’s because I was trying to focus on three instead of just one. I would say that was the biggest sacrifice when sharing the main character’s spot. The back and forth with Roman and Greek names was a bit confusing at times as well. But the story moved well and I wanted to keep reading until the last page. I am more excited about the next book as it goes back to Percy’s point of view.

A note on the audio version: I had listened to the entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on audio, but when I tried to do the same with the Heroes of Olympus, I was disappointed. The company switched narrators, and I didn’t like the changes the new one instituted. He changed the pronunciation of some character’s names slightly (but I found it annoying) and made Annabeth’s character sound completely different, which I couldn’t get past. She used to be very spunky and he made her sound sad and wistful. I realize she is dealing with worrying about Percy in this book, but it didn’t come off in the right way. So I gave up after the first CD and switched to reading the hard copy of this book.

Bibliographic Information:

Riordan, Rick. The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1). New York, NY: Disney Hyperion Books, 2010.

Link to book on bn.com

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs

Age: Young Adult

Genre: Fiction, fantasy

The creepy black-and-white photograph on the cover of this novel caught my attention, as I’m sure it did many of this book’s readers.  The photo is of a young girl dressed in very old-fashioned clothing who appears to be levitating perhaps a foot off the ground. As I flipped through the book, I found it contains other old photographs, such as a girl standing alone by a pool with two girls reflected back, a girl who holds a ball of glowing light in her hands, and a young boy lifting a large boulder with one hand. I was interested to see what a book containing such strange photos was about. It had the unique ability to pull me in before I had read a single word.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the story of sixteen-year-old Jacob, who is struggling with the sudden death of his beloved grandfather. Jacob witnessed his grandfather’s death at the hands of a monster in the woods, though no one believes him when he describes it. They chalk the story up to all the stories his grandfather told about a children’s home on an island he stayed in during World War II and its strange inhabitants. His grandfather even saved photos of some of the children from the home, which he shared with Jacob before his death. Jacob’s parents send him to therapy, where the psychiatrist convinces Jacob he imagined the whole thing and that his grandfather’s stories were all fiction. Jacob is left trying to move on with his life, but he remembers his grandfather’s last words about how he must find the bird on the island. Jacob convinces his father to take him to the island off the coast of Wales, and what he finds there leads him on a very strange adventure indeed.

While reading this book, I found myself questioning what is real and not right along with Jacob. The author presents a unique scenario dealing with freakshow-type children, time travel, and monsters who dwell in the island’s mist. Though this book wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, it was still an entertaining read and kept me turning pages. I found the photographs used throughout the book to be a fun addition, but sometimes it felt like the author was writing the story to include them and not because they really needed to be part of the story. I would recommend this book for readers old enough to handle some foul language and gruesome scenes, though these are not a major part of the book. I look forward to the next installment in this series.

Bibliographic Information:

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books, 2011.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children  on BarnesandNoble.com

"The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" by Michael Chabon

Age: Adult
Genre: Fiction

I picked up this book because it was set in Pittsburgh, where I spent four years of my life, and it was on clearance at Borders (before they shut down). It was a departure from my usual fare since it is a Real Adult book and I typically read children's/YA stuff. But I like to make detours every once in awhile to remind myself how serious people write. 

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh follows recent college graduate Art as he tries to figure out what to do with his life. His father is a mobster, a field which neither Art nor his father wish for Art to get into. Art works at a bookstore and spends the rest of the time trying to have fun, make friends, and move on with life. I would consider this a very character-driven book as for a long time nothing much happens in the story. Despite the lack of an exciting plot, the author got me interested in the characters and their fates, so I kept reading. The book read for me much like The Great Gatsby, an observation I was glad to find was not off base when I read in the end notes that Chabon had intended it that way. I enjoyed thinking of Pittsburgh and envisioning the scenes while reading the book, especially when it came to what Art calls "the lost neighborhood" beneath the bridge. I walked over that bridge many times and wondered about the houses below, just as Art did, and it was cool to see it used in a story. 

Chabon writes his characters in a way that feels realistic, and he has an excellent control of language. I felt like I could see the characters in the way he described them and their styles. Overall, however, there wasn't much to the story to keep me interested. Very little suspense or mystery, just a story about a guy who doesn't know who or what he wants from life. But a good story nonetheless.

Chabon, Michael. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. New York: Harper Collins, 1988.