MORRIS'S DISAPPEARING BAG /by Rosemary Wells

The story of MORRIS'S DISAPPEARING BAG by Rosemary Wells takes place on one Christmas morning, when a young bunny named Morris, his two older sisters, and his older brother open their gifts. In typical fashion the older siblings get the most interesting and thrilling gifts  (a chemistry set, a hockey outfit, and a beauty kit) and are not willing to let their baby brother touch them.  But then ...   Morris finds a disappearing bag.  He jumps right in and becomes invisible! Now he has something everyone wants to try. Think back to Christmases long ago.  Wasn't the packaging always the most fun?  And, if you could have made you siblings disappear wouldn't that have made it the best Christmas ever?  Merry Christmas, Bryan!!

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Bonnie Roeder

PEACE AT LAST / by Jill Murphy

PEACE AT LAST  by Jill Murphy is a story that follows Mr Bear who can't sleep because of all the sounds that keep him awake, from his wife's snoring to a dripping tap. Mr Bear goes to a myriad of different places in and outside their house trying to find somewhere quiet to sleep.  That's where the fun begins for the reader.  Murphy’s brilliant use of onomatopoeia like "SNORE, SNORE, SNORE"; "TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK, CUCKOO! CUCKOO!" and "DRIP, DRIP" engages us, appealing to the auditory senses. And, Murphy’s colorful and detailed illustrations are appealing our visual senses.  Well, poor Mr Bear has a pretty rough night.  By the time he settled down and said to himself, "Peace at last." ........  "BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"  went the alarm clock!  It was time to wake up!
Haven't we all been there, done that?  Ugh!
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Bonnie Roeder

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE/ by Maurice Sendak

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak tells the story of Max, who gets a little carried away in a wolf costume and threatens to eat his mother up. As punishment, his mother sent him to bed without supper.  Now, that's when things start getting interesting! Alone, in his room, a wild forest and sea grows out of the recesses of his disgruntled mind, and Max sails to the land of the Wild Things. The Wild Things are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max proves to be the fiercest, conquering them by "staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once", and he is made "the king of all wild things", dancing with the monsters in a "wild rumpus". Even though he enjoys the excitement of being with his adoring subjects, he soon finds himself lonely.  And, he smells good things to eat so he abdicates his throne and returns to his bedroom where he finds his supper.... and it was still hot.

Bonnie R

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MR. TICKLE / by Roger Hargreaves

MR. TICKLE by Roger Hargreaves begins with Mr. Tickle bed and making himself breakfast without getting up because of his "extraordinarily long arms".  I found that  a bit creepy.  He then decides that it is a tickling sort of day and so goes around town tickling people (and, in some instances causing some pretty serious havoc) - a teacher, a policeman, a greengrocer, a station guard, a doctor, a butcher and a postman.  I'm not a ticklish sort of person so the thought of this indiscriminate tickling struck me as a more than a bit creepy.  Mr. Tickle "laughed and laughed" at the thought of all the people he had tickled.  The book ends with a warning that Mr. Tickle could be lurking around your doorway, waiting to tickle you.  Now that's really creepy! 

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Bonnie R

THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats

He thought it would be fun to join the big boys in their snowball fight, but he knew he wasn't old enough -- not yet.

THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats is a wonderful book capturing the peaceful nature and simple pleasures of a small boy named Peter on a snowy day. We don't get very many snowy days here in the Willamette Valley and I doubt if there is a child in the neighborhood that owns a snow suit but the delight of fresh-fallen snow first thing in the morning is a common thread for children anywhere it ever snows. On each page of wonderful and unique illustrations and easy to read text, we follow Peter making different tracks as he crunches and drags through the snow, making a snowman and snow angels, and of coarse climbing and sliding down the biggest hill he can find. He has so much fun that he tries to capture it by putting a big snow ball in his pocket before he goes inside, telling his mother all about it while she takes off his wet socks and thinking and thinking and thinking about it as he sat in the tub. Written more than fifty years ago, this story drives home the importance of playtime and home in a child's life. Some things never change. And, that's good.

Bonnie R

P.S. I enjoyed reading the postscript and seeing the photographs that inspired the character of Peter included in this 2011 edition. It was amazing to me that Keats the illustrator kept the clipping from a 1940 Life magazine and waited for twenty-two years hoping he'd be asked to illustrate a picture book about an African American child but no such opportunity came. That's when Keats the illustrator decided to become Keats the writer. And, what a great one!
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HENRY AND AMY / by Stephen Michael King

... very, very best of friends... right way-round and upside down,

Stephen Michael King's HENRY AND AMY is a quick, touching story about how friends can be very different, but they can still learn from each other and help one another grow. Henry is a sweet, creative kid, who struggles with getting things right. But then he meets Amy, a sweet, smart kid who struggles with having fun. She taught Henry his right from his left, that the sky was up and the ground was down. He found Amy a hat and coat that didn't match and taught her how to play.

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Bonnie R

HEY, AL / by Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski

``Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found.''

Al, a janitor, and his faithful dog, Eddie, in HEY, AL by Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski (illustrator) are living in a cramped one room flat on the West Side and their life is an endless struggle. Then a large and mysterious bird offers them a new life in paradise and they decide to accept. Transported to a gorgeous island in the sky, Al and Eddie are soon living a life of ease and luxury. But there are some really bad side effects to leaving the life they have always known. Their dream became a nightmare and they manage to escape. The experience makes them realize there is no place like home, how much they mean to each other and just how good life really is.

 

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Bonnie R