Celebrating 100 Books in my Blog!

I made this collage of book covers using Picasa.

I have learnt so many new tricks since I started my blog last year.

This is my CELEBRATION of 100 book reviews

Problem Child by James Roy

If you have no idea what a rhetorical question is then you should read this book. If you think practical jokes are okay then you should read this book. If you have ever been a bully you should read this book. If you have had trouble with bullies you should read this book. If you love to eat pies for lunch then you should definitely read this book!

In fact nearly every chapter begins with a pie eating lunch as our hero Max Quigley, the naughtiest boy in the school, navigates the hazards of the playground, friends, teachers, little kids, parents and most of all one very special boy called Triffin Nordstrom. Triffin Nordstrom now there is a name any bully would capitalize on and that is certainly what happens to Nordstrom – Max Quigley makes his life hell.

This bullying all comes to a head on a class excursion to a cake factory. Max eats too many cheesecakes and Triffin is left behind when the bus leaves. “By the time we were down to our last cheesecake we were feeling very sick but I couldn’t go home and tell mum that we could only get one cake for ten dollars, so we decided to get rid of it. By eating it. That was when I threw up. It was a heaps big spew that’s for sure, right in the aisle of the bus." Meanwhile "Me and Jared had pushed Nerdstrom out one of the exits in the seconds shop, and there was a sign on the door that said THIS DOOR LOCKS FROM THE INSIDE, EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY."

This book made me laugh, groan and cheer. It is a must read for senior primary boys. I knew right from the first sentence I would enjoy this very funny book. In fact I would really like to send a copy to Mr K (see my side bar) because I know he would love it. The author James Roy also has a terrific web site.

Your Pal Mo Willems presents Leonardo the terrible Monster

A big part of my job involves recommending books to teachers, to students, to parents and to colleagues so when someone actually recommends a book to ME I am always keen to get my hands on the book in question and that is how I found Your Pal Mo Willems presents Leonardo the terrible monster.

There seem to have been a huge number of terrific monster books in recent years. Pog by Lyn Lee is an absolute favourite of mine and I have to say Leonardo is certainly just as good.

Leonardo wants to be a scary monster but he is a dismal failure. When he compares himself with other fabulous monsters he just falls short. Until he hits upon the ingenious idea of finding the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world so he can “scare the tuna salad out of him.” I think I will adopt this expression next time I have to deal with a senior student with very overdue library books!

Leonardo finds Sam – the perfect candidate for this plan – but of course things don’t quite work out as expected. The bold, capital letter text and simple naive illustrations just add to the charm of this very special book

Sorry Miss Folio by Jo Furtado illustrated by Frederic Joos

It is now just over a year since I first started my Momo Blog and I am so happy to say:

this is book number 100!

Sorry Miss Folio is the perfect book for a librarian (although I am really a Teacher-Librarian and there is an important difference). The opening pages have no text and this usually causes some consternation when I read this book each year to our youngest students. How can it be a 'real' book if there is no story?

Then we look more closely and discover there is a 'story' an important story here about visiting the public library, at Christmas, and borrowing a book.  The boy reads the book in the car going home, his mum reads it to him, his brother reads it to him, his dad reads it to him and then he puts it under his pillow ready to read again in the morning - this is certainly a very good book.

The real fun comes one month later when the book is due to be returned. Unfortunately something has happened and so it goes on month after month each incident marked by the new due date progressing from January right through to December.

Sorry Miss Folio...

• an elephant sat on your book
• I left it outside in the rain
• an ostrich swallowed it at the zoo
• a burglar stole it
• My brother threw it into a nettle bush
• it went to Aberdeen with Catherine's luggage
• it is in a hole outside the library
• I left it on the bus

And.... my favourite:

"My brother tied your book to a rocket and sent it up in the sky and it came down in the old canal and my dad found it floating the next morning and he waded in and got very smelly and so is the book very smelly and my mum is getting rid of the pong for you..."

Sorry Miss Folio is a simple little picture book with a warm message about imagination and reading and libraries. I treasure reading it, with lots of funny voices, to young students at the start of each school year.

The original edition had a slightly different title - Sorry Miss!

Take a look here and you can see Miss Folio and her emotions as they change! Will she EVER see that book again?

Herbert Binns and the flying tricycle by Caroline Castle and Peter Weevers

In some books I find I can really hear the characters talking, I can hear their voices, I can hear the nuances of their speech, their local dialects and accents. This is certainly true for Herbert Binns and the flying tricycle.

Herbert is an inventor and he has made a wonderful flying machine incorporating a bicycle and huge wings. His three arch enemies McTabbity, an old rabbit, Zip, a greedy young rat and Measly, a mean old weasel, are enraged with jealousy. They hit upon a diabolical plan, to wreck Herbert’s flying machine just before his maiden flight but of course our hero is one step ahead of the evil trio and so things do not turn out as all as they expect.

Here we have another terrific picture book, beautifully illustrated and with a lovely message that is, alas, out of print. It was first published 1986 and if you ever see a copy I would say grab it with both hands and don’t let go – this book is a treasure. Oh and I forgot to mention Herbert is a mouse – this is rapidly become a theme of my blog books so many seem to be about mice!!

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo illustrated by Yoko Tanaka

This book was featured recently in the Sydney Morning Herald (January 2010) and it received a glowing review by Angie Schiavone. Kate DiCamillo is a loved author so I was very excited to begin reading this fabulous little story.

There are many small incidents in the book and small, seemingly unrelated characters but Kate DiCamillo weaves such an intricate story that is able to pull all these seemingly disparate threads together. You just know you are in the hands of a master storyteller right from the opening page and that there will be a very special happy ending.

Our hero is Peter Augustus Duchene. Over the first half of the book we learn Peter’s mother and father are both dead and he is in the care of an old autocratic soldier who uses harsh treatment and austere living to prepare Peter to become a solider.

All of this changes one day when Peter uses their dinner money, one florin, to ask just one very important question of a fortune teller. Peter knows he will be in trouble with this disobedience but he must know the truth is his sister dead or alive? “Your sister? … She lives…. You must follow the elephant.”

Meanwhile at the Bliffendorf Opera House a magician has performed the most astonishing magic, conjuring an elephant who comes crashing through the ceiling.

Like all Kate DiCamillo books – The tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie, The Tiger Rising – this is a truly special book and one I highly recommend for Middle Primary readers. 

Marley a dog like no other by John Grogan

MY dog was called Charlie and for me he was a dog like no other. Just like Marley, Charlie and I went to obedience but unlike Marley my lovely dog was obedient and I like to think if we had continued beyond the novice level he might even have been a champ. Marley's experiences at obedience training are just so funny.

Marley a dog like no other is a very enjoyable read probably because the author is talking about experiences dear to his own heart and letting us see his life with Marley who is such a lovable if somewhat destructive character. Chapter one introduces is to Shaun, John Gorgan’s childhood dog – the perfect specimen and then in subsequent chapters we meet Marley, the dog John buys with his new wife Jenny. Marley certainly is a dog like no other. I think I liked him best when he calmed down in his old age.

Our library copy of this book is one adapted for children. If you have a dog or if you love dogs this book would be a great one to read it would also be a fun family read-a-loud.