The Book Children Store! And a giveaway!

We're thrilled to announce the opening of The Book Children's Store. Every book in our store has been enjoyed by a member (or five) of our family, and we're happy to now be able to help deliver those books to you! Every book you purchase from our little store will help us bring you more reviews and even better...more giveaways! Additionally, if you purchase books that are linked in our posts, we will similarly benefit from those purchases. Thank you so much for your support!

To kick things off the right way at The Book Children's Store, we are excited to announce a giveaway of the book of your choice from our Featured This Month page. All of the books that are Featured This Month have been recently reviewed by The Book Children. Simply check out our store by clicking on the logo or one of the Store links above, and let us know in the comments which book would be your choice from the Featured This Month page. You can earn additional chances to win by liking The Book Children's Facebook page or following The Book Children on Twitter. The giveaway ends Friday, 5/9 at 4 pm, and we will announce the winner then! Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ball

Getting back to the books I bought at the Medal Winner's book signing, one of the Geisel honor books for this year is the adorable and hilarious Ball. Ball will remind of you of every dog you ever owned, or even played with, that is obsessed with chasing and retrieving his ball. 

Beginning with waking his owner wishing to play ball, this humorous and quickly paced story moves through the dog's day of trying to get anyone and everyone to play ball with him. From the family cat to the baby, the dog's persistence has entertaining results as he eventually finds a playmate to toss his ball.

I categorized Ball as both a wordless book and an early reader because although it contains only one word throughout, non-readers can certainly enjoy this story as it is largely portrayed through the witty illustrations. An early reader will gain confidence through the repetitive lone word sprinkled liberally throughout the illustrations.

And the inscribed message that Ball's author, Mary Sullivan, left in our copy might have been my favorite of the medal winner's signing. :)

Fortunately, the Milk

Fortunately, the Milk, a whimsical tale by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, found its way to our bookshelf when I needed a last minute book to add to Paulie's Christmas books. A short read, Paulie devoured it in one evening, then Elizabeth proceeded to inhale it over a road trip a couple of days later. Both declared Fortunately, the Milk to be raucously funny with awesome illustrations. Because of it's relatively short pages, plentiful pictures, and eccentrically comical story, advanced readers as young as first grade would probably find this tale perfectly engrossing.

In Fortunately, the Milk, mother travels to a conference leaving dad in charge, and he promptly hits a crisis at breakfast time when there is no milk for the cereal or tea. What follows is a lengthy wait by the children and when dad finally, finally arrives home with the milk, he regales them with a bizarre tale that is equal parts Baum's Oz, Douglas Adams, and Roald Dahl. The adventurous story moves along quite quickly, accompanied by Skottie Young's hilarious and outrageous illustrations.

Fortunately, this is a tale well worth recommending to a great variety of ages, anyone, in fact, who enjoys a fantastically funny bedtime story.

Rump - an interview

Elizabeth received a copy of Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin for Christmas this year. Since it's been high on many middle grade book lists this year, but I've yet to read it, I decided to feature it here in interview form. It's also worth noting that Elizabeth raved about it; Paulie read this when she finished and enjoyed it as well. Also, my father-in-law started reading it when we were visiting him at Christmas-time, and he enjoyed it so much that he bought a copy when we left so that he could finish it!

Can you give me a brief description of Rump?
In the book, your name is your destiny. When Rump was born, he didn’t hear his full name; he only knew his name as Rump. Since being called Rump, he’s had a bad destiny. Mean boys chase him down the street and throw stuff at him. His mother died, and he had to live with his grandmother. He’s been trying to find his full name, and by finding his true name find his true destiny. By the end, he found out that you can help control your own destiny not just your name or what other people think of you.

What ages would you recommend to read Rump? 
Pretty much anyone who could understand the story. 9 and up. Even adults would like this story.

How closely did Rump stick to the original Rumpelstiltskin story? 
Pretty far from the original fairy tale but they keep the basic story line.

What was your favorite part of Rump? 
That they could spin anything into anything…grass to silver…wool into yarn. And I liked that the yarn could dye while they spun using their emotions. One time, while someone spun, she became angry and the dye grew darker into a very dark deep purple, then as she calmed down, the wool lightened to a lavender.

Do you think Rump should have a sequel?
No. The story was finished, and I was satisfied with ending.

Interactive History Adventures

If you have an elementary age child who loves history, they will be delighted with these Choose Your Own adventure type books which lead them as a historical figure through that period in time. If you have a child who is disinterested in reading much about history, these books might just be the catalyst by which they tolerate or even, dare I say it, enjoy learning a bit more about history.

I've read a few of these interactive history adventures as a read-aloud, and my kids have read many of them alone. The last couple of summers as we studied both Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, I read the accompanying Interactive History Adventure books, several times actually, as we would choose different paths each time. While I wouldn't say they gained a depth of knowledge of those places and periods in history, they certainly covered a few basics, and the enjoyment factor was higher than with other presentations.

Before we went on our road trip last summer, when I knew we would be visiting several historical sights, I bought the Revolutionary War, Battle of the Bull Run, Colonial America, and Civil War adventures for the kids to read before we left. The older kids each took turns trading them around before bedtime, and all were read by each of them by the time we hit the road.

In addition to these, Elizabeth has the Titanic interactive history adventure that she read during her voracious obsession with all things Titanic. When Philip needed a book on the Great Depression, and I wanted him to enjoy his reading, we purchased the interactive history adventure about that topic. And I just purchased the Race to the Moon adventure for Finn to read this summer, now that he's reading chapter books and continues to be preoccupied with all things related to space. Thus far, we have been delighted with all of these books and the portrayal of history within. There are dozens more titles than the ones mentioned here, which means that many periods and events in history are available in this appealingly child-accessible form.

Journey

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm in the process of reviewing the books I acquired at the Medal Winners book signing in NYC. The second book in my stack is the 2014 Caldecott Honor book, Journey. This book never made it onto my radar prior to the Caldecott list being publish in late January. I'm thrilled that it did; I think it's the family favorite of all the books I bought at the book signing. Even my teens are hooked, and just the other day, my oldest (14) brought it along on a car ride with us. 

At first glance, Journey hearkens back to the timeless classic Harold and the Purple Crayon. Aside from a writing apparatus creating an object with which the main character interacts, the connection quickly withers. Where Harold draws one-dimensional objects which comprise the only illustration, Journey's red drawings open a door to an odyssey in entirely new realm.

Although Journey contains no words, none are particularly needed as the red draws your eyes and imagination through the muted tones of the cities and landscapes on the adventure of this imaginative little girl. The architecture is decidedly amazing. The villains are fearsome, but not exactly nightmare-worthy. The forests have an idyllic path with whimsical lanterns floating overhead. A visual treat, to say the least.

Were it just the lovely pictures and expansive imaginary world this book would be quite enjoyable, but the truly distinguishing feature is the ending. I don't want to spoil the ending for others, but when the purple bird leads the little girl to a purple door, the book finds an enchanting ending to this remarkable Journey.

Locomotive

Paul and I were fortunate enough to spend the last weekend in March visiting NYC...without children. Although we traveled without the kids, that didn't mean that children's literature was very far from my mind, and as I made plans to visit a few local bookstores I discovered that the renowned Books of Wonder had scheduled a Medal Winners book signing for the very weekend we were in town. That's right...Medal Winners. As in, Caldecott and Geisel Medal Winners. I think it was my very favorite part of the entire weekend! Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to review each of the books I bought and had signed, beginning today with Locomotive, the 2014 Caldecott winner.

Just inside the front and back covers of Locomotive you will find depictions of the train parts (back) and the travel line depicted in the book (front). The information here lends itself well to children who are interested in the details and will soak up the background, maps, and history that led to the formation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Although this is a lovely picture book, it could also be a useful research tool for many children.

It goes without saying that the illustrations of Locomotive are amazing. What I truly appreciated about the artistic style of the book is that while the rendering of the locomotive itself is extremely detailed and full of life, the landscape scenery is more dreamy and ethereal, and the text is typically placed among a minimalist background. This style allows the reader to truly focus on the locomotive and the action depicted without being distracted by peripheral busyness.

One of the most remarkable feats of this book is the use of vintage typefaces and sound effects to draw the reader into the adventure aboard the locomotive. The hiss of the steam, the clang of the bell, the breath of the engine nearly jump off of each page as you move through the varying landscapes, heaving up mountains, barreling across deserts toward the West Coast.

Locomotive is sure to delight those with a childhood train obsession and enthrall those who never knew a train story could be quite so captivating.