Curious George

I got The Complete Adventures of Curious George two years ago after a lot of deliberation. It's over €22 after all. (Although it looks like now there is an edition that's almost identical for a few euros cheaper.) But its a keeper. In this massive hardback there are seven Curious George stories all written by the original creators of the monkey. (the character lives on but is now written and drawn by others.)

The first draft of the first Curious George story, (he was originally called Fifi) was written in Paris and left the city strapped on the back of a bicycle just hours before the Nazis arrived in June 1940. Margret and H.A. Rey, both Jewish had been living in the French capital and made it to the States through Spain, Portugal and Brazil. In Autumn 1941 it was published in America and in 1942 it was published in England. Although in the U.K. it was titled Zozo because the King at the time was called George(the one in The Kings Speech whose brother had gone off with Wally Simpson) and "curious" then meant homosexual. Written when it was and read now, there are aspects of the stories (there are six in this volume) which aren't terribly politically correct - capturing George for one, and quite a bit of pipe smoking, but who cares, these are great stories. And the illustrations - well here they are, in all their wonderful colours. They are fantastic.

Here is George after curiosity about the sea got the better of him.

 Where did he go?

 Aha!

 And here he is arriving in America, delighted with himself.

 Here he is flying a kite,

 and getting a pet bunny,

 being searched for in the Zoo,

 heading off to space in a rocket,

 going fishing,

 and helping in a hospital.

At first, for my then two year old, I had to paraphrase the stories as there are six or so lines per page, but now at nearly four, I can read them as is. He loves the book and I'm reckoning we will have at least two more years reading it. This anniversary edition has all the information about the authors and a few background details about the stories. If your into all that, which clearly I am, its fascinating. 

A School Like Mine

A School Like Mine. I picked this up in the library last week, really because I had seen a Dorling Kindersley book like it recommended on the Ben and Birdy blog. I don't often go for the big hardcover encyclopedia types, for no good reason other than I just love picture books and I don't want to carry something heavy to the car if its not definitely going to be read. But anyways, this looked interesting.

So interesting in fact that when I was having my mid afternoon slump pick-me-up cuppa yesterday, I read it myself. Its fascinating. A simple, clever idea, very well done. Each double page covers the daily life of a child in a different country. What they have for breakfast, how they get to school, what they do at school, their favourite toy, their family. I love this stuff. The French girls predictably healthy lunch, the Indian boys' cool stainless steel lunch containers that screw onto each other, the Mongolian little boys' raisin drink served by his teacher.

There is the temptation of course, of playing the guilt card (and being an Irish mother, I cannot resist it) and pointing out to ones kids how easy they have it compared to some. And this is true, but really the book is about children who seem happy and cared for. And the photos are quite "real" insofar as the subjects aren't in their best clothes, the shoes look a bit scuffed and the little Belgian girl has a ladder in her tights. Its as if the Dorling Kindersley people said they'd be along to photograph the kids but didn't give an exact time, so no one was quite ready. Or maybe they said, just let them wear what they normally wear on a weekday. Whatever they did it worked. This is about €16.something on Book Depository, so its not cheap, but it really is an education. For ages five to eleven, I'd say.

Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel

I've been reading the Frog and Toad books for a few years but hadn't heard of this one by the same author til about a month ago. Its called Owl At Home.

You could say its nothing special, just a few little stories about Owl, but oh my goodness its really, really great.

Owl lives alone. He's a bit of a thinker, pretty neurotic actually, but in the end he figures things out. For example, his little house has two storeys. Which is great. But how does the ground floor manage when he is upstairs? And are things ok in his bedroom when he is sitting by the fire? So Owl races up a down the stairs trying to figure this out. Its nice to read a book that brings up stuff like this. Daft but still, who hasn't thought about it?

Theres another story where Owl, in order to make some Tear Water Tea, has to think about sad things, to make himself cry. 

"Chairs with broken legs," said Owl. His eyes began to water. "Songs that cannot be sung," said Owl, "Because the words have been forgotten."...

"Mashed potatoes left on a plate, because no one wanted to eat them. And pencils that are too short to use."

In the end he had a full pot and sat back in his armchair and enjoyed it. Which is exactly what we did with this book. Highly recommended, for ages three to six.

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt, illustrated by Dan Santat

I spotted this when I was buying Sidekicks, which was both illustrated and written by Santat. I had never heard of R.A. Spratt and thought the name sounded pretty pseudonym-ish, but I was wrong. She lives in Bowral, Australia and has written nine Nanny Piggins books. She also has a new series on the way, Friday Barnes, Girl Detective the first of which is due out in July. I'd say its definitely worth a look.

My eleven year old loved The Adventures of Nanny Piggins. Once he saw it was a series, he immediately requested the second one, but I delayed. I know its always nice to have the complete set of anything, but this time he had to actually finish the first book before we thought about getting the second. That was no problem at all and within three days I was clicking on The Book Depository and ordering Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan.

As you can see, there are some illustrations, and the text is a nice size. I think this another good one for weaning on from Wimpy Kids. And its funny which in my view is the most important thing at all. Is there a nicer sound than a child chuckling quietly, absorbed in a book?

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson, again.

My kids tell me that I have reviewed this before. I had completely forgotten. However, I think Rabbit Hill is good enough to warrant two mentions.

All I have to add to what I said the last time is that if you have spent the day at home with your children, fighting the urge to tell the lot of them to shag off, spending twenty minutes reading this aloud is a balm for the soul. By the time I had finished a chapter I liked them all again! A really wonderful book. Perfect read-aloud for ages five or six and up and for independent readers I'd say nine and up. Happy Easter!

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

For the past week I have been asking my eleven year to give me a little review of D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths. He always says, "But its not mine!" and I remember that when I was evening things out under the tree one Christmas Eve, I moved it from his pile to his brothers. Oh dear, I keep forgetting that. Because this book is most definitely for a child who is into myths and monsters, and he is our one of those.

I do know his brother read it, he just didn't reread it, so for those who aren't mythology nuts, it might be a good one to read aloud together. It is both fascinating and beautiful. Here are just a few of the illustrations. I got my expert to interpret them.

Three brothers defeating an Ice Giant whose body parts then became Earth. I think those rocks are his teeth.

The first people, who used to be trees.

 These guys ate a special apple that made them younger. Before is above and after is below.

  

Highly recommended. This is one that will eventually be a family heirloom. For ages seven or eight and up.

Moomin comics and Laurie Graham

My eight year old couldn't get to sleep the other night and I took out these old favourites.

They did the trick. These little Moomin comicy books are Tove Janssons comic strips, one story at a time. We love them. Perfect for Christmas stockings, hospital waiting rooms, flights, ferries and reluctant sleepers.

Age seven and up. 

And what the grown ups are reading. This is our kitchen table.

Laurie Graham is hands down my favourite author so I have all her books. I've just finished re reading The Future Homemakers of America, moved straight onto Gone With The Windsors , and my husband is reading Life According to Lubka. I constantly hear him chuckling quietly when he gets to one of the many,many funny bits. Anyone who hasn't read any of her books yet is lucky. They have such a treat in store! Her books are, as I said, funny, fantastically well written, fascinating and brilliant. Each and every one of them. Whey there isn't a special section for her in every book shop, I don't know. And in every airport. They are just so,so enjoyable.