Here Comes The Big, Mean, Dust Bunny!

Thomas, Jan. 2009. Here Comes The Big, Mean Dust Bunny! Simon & Schuster.

I loved the dust bunnies first adventure: Rhyming Dust Bunnies. And I loved this second one as well. Who knew that rhyming could be so very fun?! So very entertaining?! Ed, Ned, Ted, and Bob are back! And there is plenty more rhyming fun to be had. But someone doesn't like all the rhyming. Someone in their midst is in a very bad mood. That someone would be the BIG and MEAN dust bunny. For some reason, he just doesn't want to sit around playing rhyming games. And because that's the kind of guy he is, he doesn't want Ed, Ned, Ted, and Bob to have any fun either.

Want to play a rhyming game?
No!
Come on!
What rhymes with fit?
lit
kit
cat
I know!
SIT!

Yes, the big, mean dust bunny squashes the other four by sitting on them! Can these dust bunnies make a new friend out of this grump?

This one is fun and playful. Definitely recommended!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Thomas, Jan. 2009. Rhyming Dust Bunnies. Simon & Schuster.

I don't think I've always been good when it comes to reviewing Jan Thomas, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jan Thomas. And this one is no exception. In this book, we are introduced to four very colorful (and rhyming) dust bunnies.

Hello! We are Ed, Ned, Ted...and Bob. We rhyme all the time!

As you can see--from the start--one of the dust bunnies isn't quite like the others. Poor Bob! But it is because he is different from the others that makes this one so very funny and charming.

What do I mean? Well, let's go back to the text:

Hey! What rhymes with car?
Far
Jar
Tar
Look!

Anyway, this one is a LOT of fun. These lovable little dust bunnies are guys I would have just been crazy about as a kid. Hey, I love them now!!!

I would definitely recommend this one.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales

Cousins, Lucy. 2009. Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales. Candlewick Press. 121 pages.

Lucy Cousins (perhaps best known for her Maisy books) brings us eight (familiar) tales in this bright and bold collection for young readers. The tales included are: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, and The Musicians of Bremen. (I only wish she'd chosen to include The Gingerbread Boy.)

Cousins' stories are a bit more violent than some contemporary retellings. She doesn't shy away from death and violence. (Though not each tale is violent. It's really just Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs that are. Her wolves are definitely in the big and bad category.)

The text of each story is simple and straightforward.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. Her mother asked her to take a basket of food through the woods to her grandmother, who was ill. Little Red Riding Hood had not gone far when she met a wolf.

What did I like best about this one? The illustrations! If you like Cousins' bright, bold, and colorful and larger-than-life (almost) illustrations. (Illustrations that command your attention right from the start.) Then you'll appreciate this collection of stories.

This is another impressive title by Candlewick Press.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Cat On The Mat Is Flat

Griffiths, Andy. 2007. Cat On The Mat Is Flat. Illustrated by Terry Denton. Feiwel and Friends. 167 pages.

This early reader is heavily illustrated. So don't be intimidated by its length! It's a fun little collection of stories--rhyming stories--that are just about right. Mostly. I read The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow first. So I was comparing this earlier effort with his newest effort. But I *still* think this one is a lot of fun. There are nine little rhyming stories in all. Some stories have more substance than others. But all are simple and meant to appeal to a young audience.

My personal favorite is Bill and Phil and the Very Big Hill. I just thought that one was hilarious.

Here's how it starts out:

There was a man.
His name was Bill.
Bill had a friend.
His name was Phil.

One day Bill and his friend Phil
climbed to the top of a very big hill.
"I dare you to roll down the hill,"
said Bill.
"I will if you will, Bill,"
said Phil.
"I will if you will, Phil,"
said Bill.

So Bill and Phil rolled down the hill.

Of course that is just the start of this story. With nine stories, there is something for everyone, I think. You may not love all of the stories. But there will probably be a few--at least--that you think work.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

The Beast of Blackslope

Barrett, Tracy. 2009. The Sherlock Files: The Beast of Blackslope. Henry Holt. 174 pages.

This is the second in a mystery series. The first is The 100 Year Old Secret. Xander and Xena are a brother-sister detective team. Descendants of the great Sherlock Holmes. They inherited his book of 'unsolved cases' in the first book, and are back for their second adventure. These two (along with their parents) are visiting a not-so-cozy bed and breakfast in the country. They hear a strange and frightening noise one day, and then begin to hear rumors of a beast. Thanks to a superb memory, one of the two remembers that Sherlock Holmes tried to solve this case a hundred years ago--a case of a strange beast in this area--but couldn't. Can these two figure out both mysteries--the identity of the beast then and now?

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay)

Trueit, Trudi. 2009. Secrets of a Lab Rat: No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay). Simon & Schuster. 118 pages.

I think this one might work for the younger crowd (especially boys). But the immature humor could limit the appeal for everyone else. What this one has working for it is some kid appeal. I think the easy-and-obvious jokes (bantering) could appeal to some readers. Not to this reader. But to some readers. Our hero is a young boy, Scab, who loves, loves, loves to drive his sister (his twin sister), Isabelle, crazy. He's always thinking of a hundred different ways to annoy, frustrate, and/or torture his sister. These pranks and inventions are never-ending. (Which is tiresome in a way.) This book is about one of his inventions. He wants to invent a spray (or perfume) to drive away sisters. He accidentally is successful on this one when he starts selling this sister-repellent to other boys at his school. Unfortunately, it's named after his sister, and she's not laughing about it. Can this brother grow a heart and work up an apology? Or is he a hopeless case?

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

The Funeral Director's Son

Paratore, Coleen Murtagh. 2009. The Funeral Director's Son. 136 pages. Simon & Schuster.

This one falls into the cute but not quite for me category. What it does have going for it, in my opinion, is its light, conversational often-humorous narrative style. I think you'll see what I mean right from the start:

I spend a lot of time thinking about f-words.
Food. Friends. Fun.
And funerals.
That's right, funerals.

Our narrator is Christopher (Kip) and he's just turned twelve. He doesn't want to go into the family business. He doesn't care how many generations back the business goes. He knows there must be more to life than burying other folks.

How does Kip contribute to the family business? Well, he talks to dead people. (In a way. He hears a voice that tells him what the dead person *needs* to cross over to the other side.) So he helps the dead take care of their unfinished business; he helps unburden the dead. So there are several different adventures in the book where he does just that.

The narrator does make this a fun and easy read. So I can see why readers could get hooked.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers