What a magnificent combination of author and illustrator!Mo Willems has moved into the world of chapter book writing with the expertise he brings to every one of his other books. Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations are the just right accompaniment!
The first time I read it, I sped through it. The second go round I
took time to savour each illustration and linger over words, phrases,
paragraphs and whole pages.
Diva is a wee dog who has never been outside his garden. Flea, a cat, is
a flâneur who has explored the world of
Paris. When the two of them become friends, they help each other to expand
their horizons.
There is so much to adore about this book.
There is the gentle humour:
"Diva took her job seriously. Every day, she would exit the grand front
door, trot across the small courtyard, and stand at the building's front gate.
From there she watched and guarded, and guarded and watched.
And if anything ever happened,
no matter how big or small, Diva would yelp and run away.
Diva was very good at her
job."
There are tender messages with
moments of awareness, like this one:
"As soon as Flea saw the small dog, he was captivated. As soon as Diva
saw the large cat, she yelped and ran away."
Flea
found this so funny that he flâneured past the courtyard every day.
"Then
one day Diva didn't yelp or run away. Instead, she looked right at Flea's big
face and asked, "Are you trying to hurt my feelings?"
Flea
had never thought about it like that."
It is filled with inspiration
and hope:
"Come
on! said Flea as he turned and dashed into the sidewalk.
Diva
did not move.
Flea
looked at her from the middle of the sidewalk and smiled a nice smile.
"Take a little step and see how it feels," he said.
Even a
little step felt like a big step to Diva. The sidewalk was large and different
and not courtyard-y. But if Flea was there (and he was), then it couldn't be
all that bad."
It was a delightful surprise to get to the end of the book and realize that DiTerlizzi had put both himself and Willems in the illustrations. You will have to go and purchase your own copy and discover them for yourself. While you are at it, you might as well purchase a few extra copies because I promise, you will want to give them away as gifts. I really really hope there is a sequel or two in the offing.
Halloween is my favourite time of year. People get dressed up in
all kinds of weird, wacky, and wonderful costumes. Sometimes they are even
scary. I love the decorations, the carving of the pumpkin, the making of witch finger cookies. Maybe the best part is that it's permissible to eat as much chocolate as you want!
October is also the time to read a scary book or two. We have many fabulous Halloween Picture Books in our library, but here are a few, new to our
library, that are sure to entertain readers of all ages.
PICTURE BOOKS
Fright Clubby Ethan Long
A group of monsters have an elite club
where they get together to practice making their best moves, sounds, and
gruesome faces in preparation for Operation Kiddie Scare. Then a cute little
bunny comes knocking and wants to join. It is refused and the monsters
continue with their rehearsal. Then the bunny returns with his lawyer. Soon all
the cute critters are protesting outside the club and the monsters inside are
terrified. Operation Kiddie Scare turns out to be more successful than
ever.
I read this to a lovely group of K/1/2's
this week. There was a gasp of horror when the club members wouldn't let the
cute little bunny join. Then at the end of the book, I heard a couple of
murmurs, "That isn't a very nice thing to do."
I'm so proud of our kids and their
teachers!
Leo A Ghost Storyby Mac Barnett & Christian
Robinson (illustrator)
Leo is a ghost. Most people can't see him. (But we the readers
can.) When his house is purchased by a family, Leo tries to make them welcome
with disastrous results. He leaves his home to the terrified family and sets of
to make his way in the world. Luckily he meets up with Jane, a girl with
copious amounts of imagination and heart. Soon the two of them are best
friends.
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds & Peter Brown
(illustrator)
This one isn't exactly new, but it is a recent addition. It's
scary in a really fun kind of way as the carrots manage to get back at Jasper
Rabbit for eating them all the time. Peter Brown's illustrations are just right
with Reynolds text.
NOVELS
I've posted about scary novels to read at this time of year before. The following are a few novels I've read this past year that deserve to be
recognized and read. Hopefully the nightmares will be minimal.
These
first two books are ones I just couldn't finish. They are too terrifying for
me. I think it is a testimony to the stellar writing by Holly Black and Libba
Bray. If you are looking for an exceptionally written book that will trouble
your sleep, check these out.
I've tried to finish this book three times. I tried to listen to it as an audiobook, I tried reading it in text form. Then I tried the audiobook again. Each time a manage to get a bit farther in, but it is just way way too creepy for me. Here's the thing, the doll is made from porcelain. The porcelain is made from the ground up bones of the doll maker's daughter. Need I say more?
The Diviners by Libba Bray
I only tried to finish this book once. It just freaked me out so much, I'm not prepared to take another stab at it. Maybe when I'm grown up a bit more I'll try it again. It's a 1920's historical novel with a murder mystery and characters with all kinds of strange occultish powers. Evie O'Neill, the heroine, is ecstatic to have been sent off to New York because of some misbehaviour, connected to her paranormal ability.
Here are a few scary novels that I did manage to finish.
This is one of the best and most terrifying books I finished last
year. Even though they are warned away, two orphans end up in a cursed
manor house. Something very evil abides there. Their lives, and the lives of
the family living there, depend on them destroying it before it destroys
them.
TheLockwood & CoSeries by Jonathan Stroud
Even though it nearly scared the bejeesus out of me, I adoredThe Screaming Staircase, the first
in this series. Imagine a Victorian setting where ghosts have been unleashed upon
the world. Imagine that only teens and younger people can see and sense their
presence. Lockwood & Co is a trio of young teens who go out hunting
these ghosts. It is very dangerous work. The next in the series, The Whispering Skull, is better than
than the first, and this is saying a lot. I've got #3,The Hollow Boy, waiting for me to
get started on it. The following videos show Stroud introducing the series and
reading from the first chapters.
Sabriel by Garth Nix
"Sabriel, an 18 year old girl, inhabits a world that is
separated into two parallel realities. Ancelstierre, is a more modern place
with technology. The Old Kingdom is a place filled with magic. A wall separates
these two places, but on occasion, magic spills across the wall into
Ancelstierre. When Sabriel is forced to take on her father's mantle as
Abhorsen, a magical personage whose role is to put the dead to rest, she heads
off into The Old Kingdom to find him and try to bring him back to the living.
On the way, she has to battle numerous evil undead creatures.
Ultimately, her task is to find Kerrigor, the most powerful necromancer ever,
and defeat him, or at the very least, curtail his power."
I ended up getting hooked on this series last year and have
finished up the first six books. If you like creepy books with massive amounts of
action, and a large dollop of humour, this might be for you. Skulduggery
himself is a detective who just happens to be a skeleton. Twelve year old,
Stephanie Edgley, is his assistant. There is much to love about these novels,
but one thing that keeps me coming back for more, is that Stephanie grows up
and takes on more responsibility as the saga continues.
Here are a few other terrifying titles you
might be interested in reading at this time of year. The first two are easy
reads for reluctant readers. Clicking on the captions will take you to more
information about them.
