The Challenge Continues

The Challenge Continues

Last week I took up the challenge of tossing out book recommendations to anyone who provided a couple of their kid’s favorite titles or series, but I only got halfway through the wealth of challengers. I’m finishing them up this week.

And so, here are my responses to the last three challenges:

4) Veronique (2nd request of 2)—7 year old boy, likes:

• Harry Potter but really it’s too advanced
• Calvin & Hobbes
• Popeye
• Picks lots of books with illustrations & reads them easily

My recommendations:

• The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy (series), by William Boniface. Ordinary Boy lives in Superopolis, a town full of superheroes, but as his name implies, he is sadly…ordinary. Luckily, Ordinary Boy has smarts, and good friends, and he’ll need both of them if he is to prevail against…the sinister Professor Brain-Drain!. Although this isn’t a graphic novel, it’s great for kids who like comic books, as the illustrations play a major part—I especially loved the Superhero Trading Cards scattered throughout the book.

• Rowan of Rin, by Emily Rodda. Rowan is the smallest and weakest person in his village, where strength and courage are valued above all else. But when the village is threatened, the map that will save everyone is visible only when it’s in Rowan’s hands, so the questing party is forced to include him. Fantasy fans who aren’t quite up for the heft of Harry Potter often enjoy this series.

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznik. Not a comic book, not a picture book, not a traditional novel, it’s a 500-page novel-in-pictures: the bulk of the story is told in full-page black-and-white wordless illustrations, with the narrative filling in every once in a while to provide dialogue and exposition. The story, of a young boy living alone in a Paris train station and trying to reconstruct a mystery from clues left by his dead father, is intriguing, but it’s the format that made this book the talk of the kids’ literature world in the past year (and actual kids were reading it like crazy, too).

5) Liz—5(?) year old boy, likes:

• Ira Sleeps Over
• Fantastic Mr. Fox

My recommendations:

• Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson. There’s nothing worse than an enemy, right? And Jeremy Ross is definitely our hero’s worst enemy. So when his dad promises to make an Enemy Pie that will get rid of that enemy once and for all, it seems perfect. Only one catch: he has to invite Jeremy over. For the WHOLE DAY. This is one of those books that’s a near-perfect read-aloud. And the illustrations are cheerful and vivid and ever so slightly surreal.

• The Voyage to the Bunny Planet series, by Rosemary Wells. “Far beyond the moon and stars, twenty light-years south of Mars, spins the gentle Bunny Planet. And the Bunny Queen is Janet.” Three small picture books tell the stories of three children (well, they’re depicted as rabbits, but their lives—rife with ill-timed illness, wet shoes, and arguing relatives—will be all too recognizable to human children) who are having Bad Days. At the nadir of their experience, each child is whisked (in imagination? In reality? It’s hard to tell, and doesn’t really matter) off to the Bunny Planet, where they experience “the day that should have been.” It’s hard to convey the magical quality of these three books in a single paragraph. Such is their soothing appeal that many an adult of my acquaintance has been heard to cry out, “I need a visit to the Bunny Planet!” [Alas, these books appear to be out of print, but they're well worth hunting down at the library or on used book sites.]

6) Eugenie—3 year old boy, loves:

• Mister Dog
• The Moon in My Room

I have to admit I didn’t know these two books and had to look them up! They share a certain sweet, comforting quality; I can see why your son would want to hold onto them. Here are a few other books that he might also like: 

• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. Brown had a gift for simple stories that connected—and continue to connect, decades after her death—with young kids. You might have read this one with your son already, but if not, it’s well worth a try. The simple repetition and gentle illustrations have made this book a bedtime touchstone for generations of children. Your son might also like The Sailor Dog, Brown’s story about a dog adventuring on the high seas,

• I’m trying to think of another title featuring someone with the sprightly self-possession that Mister Dog evinces on the cover of his book, and it’s tough. Hmm…Oh! You know what he might like? Kitten’s First Full Moon, by Kevin Kenkes! It’s another moon book, so I hope that’s not cheating too much, but there’s just something touching and also deadpan amusing about that kitten who mistakes the moon for a big bowl of milk in the sky. And the illustrations—plain black and white pencil or maybe charcoal, with big chunky outlines around the kitten and the moon—are clear and simple and lovely.

That's all for this challenge, unless anyone else has any requests; I'd also love to hear what you think of these, and to hear any book recommendations that you might have!

October 9, 2007

Comments

[ALKELDA]

The Paperboy, by Dav Pilkey, has both a moon and a dog in it! It's a soothing early-early morning story, and of course, the paperboy gets to crawl back into bed once everyone else starts to wake up.

[Els Kushner]

Thanks, Alkelda! I love the illustrations in that book.

[Liz]

COOL BEANS!!!!

We actually own the Bunny Planet books and he loves First Tomato. I'm going to go looking for Enemy Pie. Thanks!!

[Genevieve]

Terrific! I will follow the Veronique recommendations for my own 7-year-old fan of Harry Potter and Calvin & Hobbes. I'd forgotten about Ordinary Boy -- had thought of it for him a couple years ago and thought he wasn't quite old enough for it yet, but now it would be perfect. And I had checked Hugo Cabret out for myself, thinking it would be too old for him, so now when I start reading it I'll read it to both of us.

[Eugenie Rodgers]

Thanks for all of the recommendations, and just in time for Christmas. I'm sure he'll love them all!

Eugenie