Lulu's mysterious mission by Judith Viorst illustrated by Kevin Cornell

There was never any doubt I would love Lulu's Mysterious Mission.  I am a huge fan of Lulu.  Take a look at my review of her first two outings -  Lulu and the Brontosaurus and Lulu walks the dogs.

In this episode we have a new illustrator in Kevin Cornell but this does not detract from the fun. (Lane Smith illustrated the first two installments.)

"Lulu's dad explained that as much as they loved and adored their precious only child, they wanted to have - for the first time since they'd been parents - a private grown-ups-only vacation together.  And that even though they wouldn't be having the kind of fun they had with her fabulous Lulu, they would be having a DIFFERENT kid of fun."

Mum and Dad are going and so Lulu will need a babysitter.  Lulu is not happy. Let me say that another way Lulu is NOT happy.  Lulu is a plotter and so she devises all sort of plans to drive this babysitter away.  Oddly no matter how hard she tries Ms Solinsky is always one step ahead of her.

This book will make you laugh out loud.  You will cheer for our hero Lulu and admire her amazing babysitter.  Be warned you will probably read this book quite quickly then I recommend reading it all over again just for fun.

I love the use of white space, the whole page announcement of each chapter, the use of different fonts and even the colour of the paper!

"Eeny meeny miney mo, that babysitter's got to go
Hot or cold or sun or snow, that babysitter's got to go
Soon, not later; fast not slow, that babysitter's got to go
Up and down and to and fro, that babysitter's got to go
Forehead, belly, knee and toe, that babysitter's got to go
Ha-ha-ha and ho-ho-ho, that babysitter's GOT TO GO."

Great fun for Lulu fans old and new.

Lulu walks the dogs by Judith Viorst illustrated by Lane Smith

Writing book reviews it such a subjective thing.  This really struck me when I finished reading Lulu Walks the dogs.  I absolutely loved loved loved this funny and warm hearted little book. I liked it even more than the first Lulu installment which I also reviewed called Lulu and the Brontosaurus. And I am now excited to discover book three is coming soon.

When I finished reading Lulu walks the dogs I immediately clicked open the Kirkus review.  Read it yourself if you like but I was so disappointed the Kirkus reviewer did not really like Lulu walks the dogs.  He or she found "Viorst’s numerous authorial asides—in which the narrator insists on control of the storyline and stops for brief question-and-answer sessions with readers—come across as more confusing than clever because the voice and personality of the narrator are almost indistinguishable from Lulu’s."  I utterly disagree.  I loved all the little asides.  I always enjoy comments from an off stage narrator and in this book they work really well adding to the humour and also sustaining the mystery of why Lulu needs all this money.  The comments come as a repeated refrain.  "I really don't feel like discussing that right now."

Lulu needs money.  She won't say why but to get money she will need a job.

"Well may be you already know and maybe you don't.  Because Lulu first decided her jobs - or job - should be baking cookies, or spying, or reading to old people, and these jobs did not turn out too well. And maybe instead of writing a chapter about how those jobs did not turn out too well, I'm moving right along to Chapter Four."

What about the dogs?  Well they are hilarious too.  There is Brutus "an enormous, bigheaded, bad-breathed brute", Pookie (rhymes with DUKE and not BOOK) a teeny-tiny white fuzzball who must be carried until she needs to be placed gently under a tree to do what she needs to do and finally there is Cordelia, a German speaking Dachshund.  How will Lulu ever manage to walk these three very different dogs every morning before school?  Well the short answer is she won't - not without help and that help will come from Fleishman - her sworn enemy.

If I gave book stars Lulu walks the dog would be a five out of five or a ten out of ten or a one hundred out of one hundred book - I am sure you are getting the message here.  Rush rush into your library and read this book today.  I am sure you will love it too.

Elmer by David McKee

"There was one a herd of elephants. Elephants young, elephants old, elephants tall or fat or thin. Elephants like this, that or the other, all different but all happy and all the same colour.  All that is except Elmer."

Thus begins a book series I love to share with Kindergarten.  There are more than ten books in this series.  Why do I love Elmer?

• He is kind.
• He is an individual.
• He is brave.
• He is a problem solver.
• He loves a joke.
• He likes to make others happy.
• He is friendly.
• He is unique.

In the first book Elmer has a great idea for a practical joke.  He covers his body with berry juice and makes himself all grey.  Then he heads back to join the herd wearing his disguise.  "After a while Elmer felt that something was wrong.  But what?  He looked around : same old jungle, same old bright sky, same old rain cloud that came over from time to time and lastly same old elephants."

Can you guess what is about to happen?  The best part comes right at the end.  The other elephants enjoy this joke so much they decide to have an annual Elmer day.  Everyone parades in bright colours except for Elmer himself who comes decorated in an ordinary elephant colour.

There is so much merchandise around about Elmer. I have the toy, the cassette tape and a place mat.  In New York I also saw a toy of Rose.  Here are some teaching materials. The picture below shows Elmer with his cousin WIlbur!

The magnificent nose and other marvels by Anna Fienberg illustrated by Kim Gamble

In 1992 The Magnificent Nose and other marvels was short listed for the CBCA awards.  It is a collection of five enchanting short stories featuring characters with special gifts.  Linking each story is a special spider called Aristan.

I thought of this book this week as I was re-reading The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo.  I saw The Snow Spider in my local second hand bookshop and I remembered enjoying it years ago.  You can read the plot here.  I did enjoy this story of healing and magic but not enough to buy a new copy for our school library. It seemed a little contrived the way the stranger Eiryls is able to heal the grief of this family following the disappearance of their daughter Bethann.  This review sums up my feelings.

The magnificent nose on the other hand is a fabulous book and one I love to read aloud.  My favourite story in the collection is Ignatius Binz and his magnificent nose.  Ignatius comes from a family of perfume makers.  He has inherited a brilliant nose but he is not content to stay home and continue the family tradition. He longs for adventure. "...alone in his room at night, Ignatius wondered if there mightn't more to life than perfume. It wasn't very exciting, he thought, to sit in an office with a lot of test tubes. And was it, Ignatius wondered deep in his soul, very useful?"

Aristan encourages Ignatius to follow his dream. He sets of to see the world until is nose detects danger in the city. Ignatius alerts the fire brigade and saves the city and in turn finds his place in the world. "... up here on the tower I can sniff out trouble before it gets started. I deal in fires, floods and any number of Natural Disasters.".

This book would be a perfect family read-a-loud for young children aged 6 to 9.  In addition to the book I also have a CD read by Anna Paquin.  I find this strange but The magnificent nose even has a Wikipedia entry.  My copy has a different cover but I was not able to find a image of this to share with you. If you are in the mood for a magical book with charming Kim Gamble illustrations look for this book in your library today.