Tag Archives: out of print

The Three Billy Goats Fluff

Posted on January 20, 2014 | Comments Off on The Three Billy Goats Fluff

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Trolls usually don’t have a great reputation (the cute troll family in Frozen is definitely an outlier).  But how would you like it if every time you tried to sleep someone went trip-trapping all over your ceiling?  Poor Mr. Troll hasn’t slept well since he moved under the bridge leading to a lush green field.  How can he get the rest he needs while letting his neighbors (the goats of the title) get the grass they need?  Luckily, Mother Goat is a knitter and she works up an unorthodox solution.  This story is fun to read and never quite overly cute and fluffy.  My youngest particularly enjoys it.

Author:  Rachael Mortimer
Illustrator:  Liz Pichon

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Remarkable Animals: 1,000 Amazing Amalgamations

Posted on January 15, 2014 | Comments Off on Remarkable Animals: 1,000 Amazing Amalgamations

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It is remarkable how long this book keeps us all entertained.  First the boys make a truly wacky animal by flipping through various flaps made up of pieces of ten real animals (the picture above is of one of their creations).  Than I do my best to pronounce the resulting name and we read the description of our newly-created beast.  Much laughter ensues.  This is perfect for situations when you will be waiting on line (we used it this year when we were waiting to see Santa and the time flew by) or just want a good laugh.

Author:  Tony Meeuwissen
Illustrator:  Tony Meeuwissen

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Posted in Non-fiction, Picture Books

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I Love You, Mister Bear

Posted on January 13, 2014 | Comments Off on I Love You, Mister Bear

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Continuing our mini-trend of children and beloved toys, this is a sweet and quiet book about a girl who finds a worse-for-wear bear at a tag sale.  She purchases him (with some help from dad), repairs him (with some help from mom), bathes him, and loves him.  When my oldest was a toddler, this was his very favorite book for a long, long time.  I read it to him over and over and over again.  Now he barely seems to remember it (and his little brother has not taken much of an interest in it).  But I suspect this book will live with us forever.

Author:  Sylvie Wickstrom
Illustrator:  Sylvie Wickstrom

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The Ballad of Valentine

Posted on January 6, 2014 | Comments Off on The Ballad of Valentine

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Happily, it is Clementine season.  We love those sweet, juicy balls of Spanish citrus, and it is hard to eat them without humming a bit of “oh my darling, oh my darling…”  Which, strangely enough, leads us to this book.  Using the tune from the famous western folk ballad, this story is told from the viewpoint of a hapless would-be suitor who keeps trying (and trying) and failing to send a romantic message to his darling, Valentine (who is concurrently working on a, much more successful, surprise of her own).  The word play is clever, the scenarios delightfully ridiculous, and it offers the opportunity for lots of dramatic interpretation (singing is optional, but lots of fun).

Author:  Alison Jackson
Illustrator:  Tricia Tusa

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Zoom at Sea

Posted on December 28, 2013 | Comments Off on Zoom at Sea

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Zoom (a cat who loves water) finds an address and a map left by his uncle (who has gone off adventuring) labeled “The Sea and how to get there.”  But following the map does not help Zoom find what he expected–at least not at first.  This is a deeply imaginative book that intrigues the boys–it reminds me of The Maggie B. with its beauty, coziness, and themes of sailing, adventure, and family.  It is the first of three books about Zoom and it may be our favorite.  

Author:  Tim Wynne-Jones
Illustrator:  Eric Beddows

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The Big Pets

Posted on December 21, 2013 | Comments Off on The Big Pets

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The girl was small and the cat was big.
And on certain nights
she rode on his back
to the place where
the Milk-Pool was.

Another simple and beautiful bedtime tale.  This has role reversals, great illustrations, and lots of creativity.  Perfect for  a quick and cozy read before bed.

Author: Lane Smith
Illustrator: Lane Smith

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The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

Posted on December 9, 2013 | Comments Off on The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

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A fierce little woman’s solitary life (filled with knitting, playing the bagpipes, and fishing) is suddenly interrupted by a self-proclaimed wicked pirate with an adorable parrot and an utterly unexpected, dark, secret.  A spirited standoff ensues with an surprising and very satisfying outcome.

The boys particularly love the parrot and pirate.  I’m partial to that fierce little knitting woman.  But we all love the very happy ending.

Author:  Joy Cowley
Illustrator:  Sarah Davis

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The Chocolate Cat

Posted on December 1, 2013 | Comments Off on The Chocolate Cat

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Who can resist a chocolate cat?  Not us.  This sumptuous book begins by introducing a chocolate maker who lives in a “drab little place,” has nearly no friends (or customers), and has forgotten how to smile.  His only companion, a chocolate-colored cat, is rather lazy and grumpy.  But then–

One day, for no particular reason, the chocolate maker made something different.  Suddenly, there were chocolate mice with crunchy pink-sugar tails everywhere.

And everything begins to change.  This book inspires rapt attention and much wide-eyed dreaming as we watch an inspired cat transform an entire town.

Author:  Sue Stainton
Illustrator:  Anne Mortimer

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Mrs. Armitage and the Big Wave

Posted on November 24, 2013 | Comments Off on Mrs. Armitage and the Big Wave

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I’ve always associated Quentin Blake with his illustrations for Roald Dahl’s books, but Blake has both written and illustrated over thirty books of his own.  In his three-book Armitage series, a quirky character reacts to seemingly mundane situations in increasingly unusual ways.

In the Big Wave, the second Armitage book, the title character triumphantly turns a simple surfboard into something more akin to a flotilla, based on repeated discoveries of “what we need here” while waiting for the Big Wave with her faithful dog.  In the other Armitage books, Mrs. Armitage seems a bit scattered and disaster prone.  But the Big Wave shows Mrs. Armitage at her most creative, competent, and engaging.  (Mrs. Armitage, Queen of the Road is also popular in our house; Mrs. Armitage on Wheels is not.)

Author:  Quentin Blake
Illustrator:  Quentin Blake

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The Hidden House

Posted on November 24, 2013 | Comments Off on The Hidden House

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This book tells a quiet story.  Three dolls are made by an old man and are happy for a time, but are then abandoned along with his house (implicitly upon his death) and left lonely for many years, only to be rediscovered and made happy again by a young family.  When we read it, it captures the boys’ attention completely–sometimes I think it is largely because of the beautiful,  dreamlike illustrations.  But we’ve read a number of books with wonderful illustrations that never really caught their interest (sometimes much to my surprise).  There is more here than meets the eye.

Author:  Martin Waddell
Illustrator:  Angela Barrett

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