Title: Barbapapa's Ark Author/Illustrator: Annette Tison and Talus Taylor Reviewed by: Tanya Barbapapa and Barbamama are 2 blobs that hatched out of the earth and they have 7 blobby kids. They can all morph into different shapes (animate and inanimate). I think that they are French characters from the 70's and not sure if they were popular in the US (my hubby, who grew up in Michigan, had never heard for them and thought the whole concept was weird until...
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Posted by greg at
05:02 PM
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July 09, 2006
If you've been itching to write a review of a headscratchingly bizarre children's book, you have about 26 hours to send it into DT's review contest. Come Monday night, the contest will end--though with the backlog, reviews will still be published for a couple of days. Everyone whose review is published is eligible for the random name-in-a-hat-style drawing for some sweet, sweet prizes from a few cool generous sponsors--and a couple from me: Sparkability's provided a riding toy designed by...
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Posted by greg at
10:08 PM
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Comments (1)
July 07, 2006
Title: Tom and Pippo's Day Author/Illustrator: Helen Oxenbury Reviewer: Nina [blog: superha's speculations] Tom and Pippo's Day is one of several books in the Tom and Pippo series by Helen Oxenbury. It's the only book my husband Ben and I read to our daughter Ashley Lauren every night. We've been doing the bedtime ritual since she was about two months old. So, I guess we've read it about 365 times. It's a board book that's only a few cardboard pages...
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10:40 PM
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Title: The Steamroller Text: Margaret Wise Brown (published in 1974, 22 years after her death - the copyright is in her sister's name, Roberta Rauch) Illustrations: Evaline Ness [see sample pages] Reviewed by: Eric This book (and the fact that it's described on the cover as a "fantasy") just proves my earlier point that Margaret Wise Brown was one weird lady. No cute little bunnies here. Just the story of a girl who receives an actual steamroller for Christmas,...
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10:19 AM
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Comments (1)
Title: Baby Animals Author/Illustrator: Garth Williams Reviewed by: Jason (a.k.a. daddy in a strange land a.k.a. Rice Daddies Jason) Copyright 1952, this one's a "Little Golden Book Classic." Which is fine, for the most part. I mean, who can argue with cute baby animals? It?s the ragtag selection I find strange, is all. My babygirl loooves the baby owl that closes the book (though, having never actually read the text to her, I'm only now noticing that the baby owl...
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10:07 AM
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Comments (1)
Title: Too Big for Diapers Photographer: John E. Barrett; Stylist: Danielle Obinger; Art Director: Laurent Linn Title: The Potty Book - for girls Author/Illustrator: Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Dorothy Stott Reviewed by: Jason (a.k.a. daddy in a strange land a.k.a. Rice Daddies Jason) Okay, I understand the need for books that familiarize a pre-potty-trained toddler with what she (and her parents) are about to be put through. But there's something slightly unsettling about these books. Maybe it's the 3-D puppet...
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Posted by greg at
09:42 AM
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Comments (4)
July 06, 2006
The rules and complete prize list is here for the DT Bizarre Children's Book review contest. You have until the end of Monday (July 10) to enter, and to have your name included in the drawing for some truly fabulous prizes--it's a word that rarely gets used on DT, so it must be special. And true. Just consider for a moment the extraordinary prize offered up by Javis Davis, purveyor of fine custom-made linens and textiles and such for nurseries...
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11:15 PM
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Title: The Biggest House in the World Author/Illustrator: Leo Lionni Review by: Noisette's Maman Cautionary tale within a tale about a small snail who wants to have the biggest shell. He ignores the advice of his father and learns to 'twist and twitch' until his house gets bigger, then 'moves his tail swiftly from left to right' to grow large bulges on it, then 'squeezes and pushes and wishes very hard' to create stripes and swirls. Everyone's impressed with the...
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09:22 PM
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Title: Safety Can Be Fun Author / Illustrator: Munro Leaf [ed note: ?! He wrote The Story of Ferdinand!] Reviewed by: Chris As a graphic designer, I purchased this original 1938 book for the illustrations and typography, then discovered the freakish story line. It's from the good old days when the words "sissy" and "nit-wit" were used freely and rifles and explosives were household items. Each page names a nit-wit behavior (Firebug Nit-Wit, Head Out The Window Nit-Wit, Explosion...
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12:50 PM
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Title: Open Me... I'm a Dog! Author/Illustrator: Art Spiegelman Reviewed by: Heather I bought this book B.C. (before Clara) when I worked at a comic store. It was a gamble since the catalog was very vague on the description, so all my co-workers thought I was ordering an adult book. Luckily, they were wrong! I was surprised how realistic it, I mean HE is! He even has a leash and when you open the cover you can pet his soft...
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10:22 AM
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Title: Farmer Duck Author/Illustrator: Martin Waddell, Helen Oxenbury Reviewed by: "wildhair" (E.A. Canada) [via amazon reviews] The author has written a children's version of George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The story is the same but with the violence omitted. The duck works for the farmer, who is portrayed as lazy. The animals decide to revolt but instead of being killed (a la Animal Farm), the farmer is run off the property that he owns. In effect, the animals have stolen the...
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09:15 AM
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That's right, Bob, as design director at Herman Miller, Alexander Girard practically defined the color palette of mid-century modernist American design. His bold use of color and his sensitivity to the way folk art and indigenous design resonated with modernist ideals became hallmarks of the era. AND, he painted Braniff Airlines' fleet to look like jelly beans. In collaboration with the Girard estate, the folks at Modernseed selected these exclusive designs from Girard's archives in New Mexico for reissue,...
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Posted by greg at
07:36 AM
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Comments (1)
July 05, 2006
Title: Busy Penguins Author/Photographer: John Schindel, Jonathan Chester Reviewed by: Kim This book has beautiful photography, showing all the things penguins do (splashing, dashing, sliding, diving etc.). And I do mean ALL the things... (okay, there's no penguin sex). We always bring this book when we travel as it is one of my fourteen month old son Oliver's favorites. I love handing this book to unsuspecting adults and watching their face when they get to the page showing "Penguin Pooping"....
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02:50 PM
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Title: CLICK, CLACK MOO: Cows that type Author/Illustrator: Doreen Cronin, Betsy Lewin Reviewed by: Debbie It's ostensibly about cows learning valuable administrative skills. It's REALLY about labor unions and socialism. Synopsis: The cows request blankets for the barn and withhold milk from Farmer Jones until their demands are met. The Ducks are brought in as impartial mediators. It's a great lesson in collective bargaining! [Ed note: Yeah, I think I did a book report on this one. Don't the ducks...
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Posted by greg at
01:24 PM
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Comments (6)
Title: Bridget and the Gray Wolves Author/Illustrator: Pija Lindenbaum Reviewed by: Naomi Lately, our two year old has been asking us to tell her stories, and we have been obliging with off the cuff renditions of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood. I had never really thought about those old stories in-depth, but it occurred to me that none of the drama would have happened if those little girls hadn't been out playing alone in the woods. My husband, who grew...
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12:37 PM
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Title: Muha-Zhokotuha (Buzzing Fly) [ebay search] Author/Illustrator: Korney Chukovsky [wikipedia entry] Reviewed by: Ana & Sergei Here is a Russian must-have, read and learn rhymes and stories collection. I had it as a kid, and my 4-yo recently got it as gift. The poem is about a Fly that finds money and decides to throw a party for all her bug friends. She buys Samovar and invites the bugs. In the midst of the party, a mean Spider shows up...
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12:17 PM
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July 03, 2006
Title: Underwear! Author/Illustrator: Mary Elise Monsell, Lynn Munsinger Reviewed by: Laura Ok, here is my choice for the bizarre book that we have in our collection. It is in storage at the moment because we just moved across the country and are holed up in corporate housing, so I'll have to rely on memory since I don't have in in front of me. Anyway, This book is really bizarre in the hilarious way more than the "what?" kind of way....
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Posted by greg at
10:01 AM
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Title: Noisy Nora Author/Illustrator: Rosemary Wells Reviewed by: Maya I know this book from my own childhood, but I think this is one I'll be skipping with my babe. Or maybe not. Anyway, it's about a rather neglected child/mouse named Nora. "Quiet said her father, hush said her mum. 'Nora,' said her sister, 'Why are you so dumb?'" I don't think they make books like this anymore--now the mouse would go to therapy--but seriously, this book teaches you that you...
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09:55 AM
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July 02, 2006
Title: Itsudemo aeru (We can always meet) [amazon japan] Author/Illustrator: Mariko Kikuta Reviewed by: Bakahage This is a Japanese book that I loved when I lived there (trying to get Mom-in-law to send a copy of it to me...) It is the story of a little girl, Mika, and her dog, Shiro. The two play every day and love each other very very much. Then one day the little girl dies. Shiro searches for her everywhere, but can't find her....
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Posted by greg at
10:58 PM
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Comments (1)
July 01, 2006
Title: Hush, Little Alien Author/Illustrator:Daniel Kirk "Reviewed" by: Mathowie I don't know if he meant to enter it into the contest, but Matt Haughey posted this picture to his flickr photostream today: My favorite page in Hush, Little Alien "If that shooting star's too hot, Pappa's gonna find you an astronaut" if you zoom in on the original, you can see the astronauts are terrified. It's great....
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Posted by greg at
09:43 AM
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Comments (3)
