Quick Library Round-up

I went to the library the other day to look for some picture books.  I've been reading about picture books in my course, and wanted to find some of the books used as examples.  I started out looking for One Boy  by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, which was supposed to be on the shelf...but in the way it often goes with the children's library, I couldn't find it, but instead came home with a bunch of other picture books, all of which were new titles for me.


Here is a rapid fire review of them all


Spot's Hide and Seek by Eric Hill.  Spot without flaps = boring!


Questions, Questions by Marcus Pfister.  I really liked the illustration style, which as it happens was explained at the back of the book - shapes cut from thick card were painted and then used as stamps.  Very effective.  Lovely textures and colours in the illustrations.  Illustrations grabbed me more than the text, which was a series of questions.  I can imagine a very curious child would enjoy it, it was nice, but not amazing.


Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell and Helen Oxenbury.  I loved this!  Funny text, so simple, the humour is in what is not said.  The illustrations are wonderful, they add a real richness to the story...in fact, without the illustrations, it just wouldn't work.  I always do like Helen Oxenbury.


The Dirty Great Dinosaur by Martin Waddell and Leonie Lord (I only just realised I had two by Martin Waddell).  This was a good giggle.  Fun story, clever boy hero.

The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss (ok, might not be a new title, but I didn't at first remember reading it before).  I read "What was I Scared of?"  It's Dr. Seuss, what more need I say?

Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker.  Didn't like this much.  Too didactic I think.  Miss Missy was not impressed either.  The illustrations are kind of fun and funky, but the concept seemed a bit strained to me.  The square cat feels left out because it's different.  The other cats climb inside boxes so they can all be square.  Nice message, but not very well done, I thought.  Maybe if the story had been a bit less obvious, it would have worked better.

I Went Walking by Sue Machin and Julie Vivas.  Sweet illustrations, very simple text, the picture on each page has a hint of what's to come on the next.  Very readable, repetitive story, so would be great to read to little ones.



So, there's todays picks for Little Bookworms...some great, some not so great.  Happy reading!