Word of the Week/Bink & Gollie

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is implore, a verb meaning "to beg for urgently," as Johnny Boo does when he says, "I implore you to read Bink & Gollie to me again."

And we're reading Bink & Gollie, in which a note on Gollie's door says, "Bink: I implore you, do not knock."

Bink & Gollie
Authors/Illustrator: Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee/Tony Fucile
Publisher: Candlewick (September 2010)
Source: Public library

Bink and Gollie are marvelous companions who are complete opposites. Bink lives in a small cottage at the base of Gollie's modern tree house, and they see each other every day. Whether it's to share pancakes or peanut butter sandwiches or to fulfill their need for speed and adventure, the two are almost inseparable. In the book's three humor-filled short stories, the two learn to compromise and overcome jealousy. They go to a sock bonanza, followed by a "compromise bonanza;" after several interruptions from Bink, they meet up at the top of the Andes Mountains (which just happen to be in Gollie's living room); and, after the purchase of a fish named Fred, they learn that fish don't actually long for speed (at least not when roller skates are involved). The digital illustrations (black-and-white with some splashes of color) show off Bink and Gollie's personalities and add to the humor. This book is now a favorite in our house for both boys, especially as a read-aloud. I think we must have read it at least six times in the last couple of days.

Tintin's note: I thought it was really good. It's a fantastic book. I like when the river was frozen and the fish was still swimming under there.

Johnny Boo's note: I liked when Gollie makes pancakes. I liked when Bink got a fish. I recommend this book to people who like people.

For more about Bink & Gollie – the book and the girls – go to the Bink & Gollie website.

For more on Kate DiCamillo, check out Happy Birthday Author.

For more on Bink & Gollie and Kate DiCamillo, visit Johnny Boo's favorite blog, Watch. Connect. Read.

And here's the book trailer:

















Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

8-Year-Old Boy Books of the Week: The Book of Beasts, Imagine a Place, Rose (Bone)

Here are Tintin's favorites from the past week:

The Book of Beasts
Author/illustrator: E. Nesbit/Inga Moore
Publisher: Candlewick (October 2001)
Source: Public library

To Lionel's surprise, he's just been made king of his people, even though he's just a boy and there hasn't been a king in quite some time (the people had been saving up for a crown ever since the death of Lionel's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather). When Lionel discovers the palace library, he calls it "a worldful of books" and decides he must look at a book right then and there, despite the chancellor and prime minister's warnings that the books might be magical. He finds a book called The Book of Beasts and opens to the first page. Out pops a beautiful  butterfly. On the next page, a bird flies out. Before Lionel can turn the page, the book is snatched away and put up on a very high shelf. The prime minister and chancellor worry that what's next might be "a snake or a centipede or a revolutionist," but Lionel is tempted and takes the book outside when no one's looking. What he finds is much worse than anyone could have imagined, and now he must find a way to get the fearsome creature back into The Book of Beasts.

Tintin's note: I like it when the dragon comes out of the book. I like when the boy is flying on the hippogriph.

 Find it: Amazon
 

Imagine a Place
Author/illustrator: Sarah L. Thomson/Rob Gonsalves
Publisher: Atheneum (September 2008)
Source: Public library

Imagine a Place follows Imagine a Day and Imagine a Night, two books we still need to read but will be getting soon. Each magic realist painting is accompanied by lyrical text that always begins with "Imagine a place..." The artist, according to this bio, was influenced by René Magritte and M.C. Escher, and you can definitely tell. Gonsalves's work, according to the same bio, "is an attempt to represent human beings' desire to believe in the impossible." Tintin liked the text and especially loved the pictures and would keep saying, "Wait, can you go back to the other one for a minute?"

Tintin's note: I like when there was a houseboat because it is cool, but you can't really take a house out on the ocean. The poems were beautiful. I like when those people were skiing on the blossoms.

 Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

Bone: Rose
Author/illustrator: Jeff Smith/Charles Vess
Publisher: Graphix (August 2009)
Source: Public library

Rose is the the first prequel to the original Bone graphic novel series, of which there are eight books. Princess Rose and her sister, Princess Briar, are taking lessons to help build awareness in their dreams. Their parents, the king and queen, soon send them off to take their final test at Old Man's Cave, and that's when the adventure really begins. When a river dragon possessed by the Lord of the Locusts is let loose during one of Rose's dreams, Rose feels she must be the one to stop it. It's a difficult task, seeing as how it appears that the dragon cannot be permanently hurt. The Great Red Dragon gives Rose the solution she needs, but there is a price to pay, and the princess must make a difficult choice. This is the second Bone book Tintin has read (his first was the eighth), but Tintin has said he now wants to read them all in order, which shouldn't take too long, since he finished this one without interruption.

Tintin's note: I liked when Rose cut off the dragon named Mim's head. The drawings were awesome. They were bloody and they were adventurous.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

5-Year-Old Boy Books of the Week: Adopt a Glurb, Baby Brains and RoboMom, Children Make Terrible Pets

Here are Johnny Boo's favorites from the past week (we'll write about another favorite, Bink and Gollie, for our Word of the Week feature in a couple of days):

Balloon Toons: Adopt a Glurb
Author/illustrator: Elise Gravel
Publisher: Blue Apple Books (August 2010)
Source: Public library

After reading Balloon Toons: Rick & Rack and the Great Outdoors (see our review), we were eager to read Adopt a Glurb, a book about a most unusual pet. The book is chock full of everything one needs to know about this cute little monster, with both good points and bad. For instance, three glurbs will make your bed for you, but yell at them and you might wake up with plucked eyebrows. And they stink, even when they're clean. And, like a certain someone I know, they like to unroll toilet paper. But, did I mention they're cute? They even fit in your pocket. They need a lot of attention, though, and act silly if you don't cuddle with them enough. Plus, their hunger rivals that of an 8-year-old boy's. But they're cute.

Johnny Boo's note: It was good. Glurbs stink a lot. I like their freakiness.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

Baby Brains and RoboMom
Author/illustrator: Simon James
Publisher: Candlewick (March 2008)
Source: Public library

Johnny Boo insisted on getting this book after having fallen in love with the first two Baby Brains books (see our review). The smartest baby in the whole world is back, but instead of becoming a doctor or a rock star, he's focusing on making life easier for his tired-out mom and dad. He designs RoboMom, who is a huge help – at first. She does the dishes and fixes the car but then soon takes over some responsibilities that Baby Brains would rather his parents do, like changing his diapers and putting him to bed. When RoboMom starts acting a little strange (she serves nuts and bolts in engine oil for breakfast and hangs Baby Brains out to dry with the laundry), Baby Brains realizes it's time to go back to the drawing board, especially after a rather explosive ending for the malfunctioning robot.

Johnny Boo's note: I like when RoboMom exploded. I like when he says, "I want my Mommy!"

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

Children Make Terrible Pets
Author/illustrator: Peter Brown
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 2010)
Source: Public library

Lucy is a bear. One day she finds a child spying on her. Lucy really wants a pet, so she takes the child home with her and asks her mother to let her keep "Squeaker" for a pet. Lucy's mother tells her that children make terrible pets, but Lucy doesn't believe her. Squeaker is just so cute that he can't possibly do anything wrong. It turns out, though, that Lucy's mother is right – Squeaker's behavior is really terrible, plus he's hard to potty train. When Lucy finds Squeaker after he's suddenly disappeared, she finally realizes that he's not the right pet for her and tells her mother that she was right, children do make terrible pets. Her mother's reply: They really are the worst.

Johnny Boo's note: It was terrific. I liked when Lucy was being watched by that squeaky person.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

Word of the Week/Chibi: A True Story from Japan

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is chibi, a Japanese adjective meaning "tiny."

And we're reading Chibi: A True Story from Japan, in which the tiniest duckling is named Chibi: "Among the duck watchers was a news photographer, Mr. Sato, who gave a name to the tiniest duckling. Sato-san named her Chibi... ."

Chibi: A True Story from Japan
Authors/Illustrator: Barbara Brenner and Julia Takaya/June Otani
Publisher: Clarion Books (February 1996)
Source: Public library

Set in Tokyo, Chibi is the true story of a mother duck who settles down in a pool beside a downtown office building to raise her 10 ducklings. The people of Tokyo, including a news photographer named Sato-san, become mesmerized by the family of ducks and come to watch them, rain or shine. When the ducks grow too big for their pool, they venture across a busy highway to get to the moat of the Imperial Gardens. Not long after, a typhoon arrives, keeping the citizens of Tokyo inside and threatening the animals outside. When the storm dies down, Sato-san and others look for the ducks and find that Chibi, the smallest duckling, and two of her siblings are missing. The people worry, especially about their favorite, Chibi, and continue searching until finally Chibi reappears, albeit in an unexpected manner. The book includes a one-page glossary of Japanese words used in the book, such as Oka-san (Mother) and kamo (duck).

Tintin's note: It was very precious. I liked when Chibi was on that floating thingie because it was good to see him come back.

Johnny Boo's note: I like it because it's wonderful. And my name is Chibi now. It made me sad because I was lost. Quack quack.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

Books of the Week: Franny K. Stein, Holler Loudly, Baby Brains, Hide and Seek Mr. Croc

Here are our favorites from the past week (Tintin is in the middle of several chapter books – Hardy Boys, Harry Potter, Encyclopedia Brown, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, etc., etc., – but isn't far enough in any of them to consider it to be a favorite of the week):

Tintin, age 8

Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist: The Fran That Time Forgot
Author/illustrator: Jim Benton
Publisher: Scholastic (October 2005)
Source: Scholastic Book Club/home library

In the fourth installment of the Franny K. Stein series, Franny comes up with a science fair project that for once doesn't pose a threat to anyone. At least, not until Franny decides to use the Time Warp Dessert Plate on herself instead of on her cake. After Franny becomes the laughing stock of the school all because of her ridiculous middle name, she goes back in time to change it to something more befitting a mad scientist and to warn her baby self against those who laugh at her. As often happens when one interferes with time, however, things don't actually end up for the better, and Franny must figure out how to save the world from her future, now-evil self.

Tintin read this book in one sitting. Shortly after, he went to his room, closed the door, cleaned his room (mostly), turned it into a lab, and became a mad scientist. He stayed up until midnight and came up with 10 inventions. The next day he found a faithful lab assistant and came up with 10 more inventions, complete with diagrams. Fortunately, none of these inventions was as terrifying as Franny's remote control scissors or tornado in a jar.

Tintin's note: I like when she goes back in time because it's awesome.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

• Our review of Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid
• More about Franny at Jim Benton's website
• Franny books, toys, and shirts at Benton Books, including this doorhanger that will be going on Tintin's wish list:

Johnny Boo, age 5

Holler Loudly
Author/illustrator: Cynthia Leitich Smith/Barry Gott
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (November 2010)
Source: Public library

Holler was named for his loud voice, a voice he has trouble controlling. He gets shushed and shunned constantly because of it. He finally decides to keep quiet and learns that he actually likes listening. When a tornado strikes, however, Holler proves to the townspeople that his hollering can actually come in handy sometimes. He learns that there are times for quiet and times for loud. Johnny Boo isn't quite as loud as Holler, but this is still a good lesson for him to learn. As I write this, the two of us are in his room while he sings (after annoying his book-reading brother in the living room).

Johnny Boo's note: I like when Holler screams, "SOOEY!" It's so LOUD!

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

More about Holler Loudly at Cynthia Leitich Smith's website, including some amazing teacher guides.

Baby Brains Superstar
Author/illustrator: Simon James
Publisher: Candlewick (September 2005)
Source: Public library 

Baby Brains Superstar is the second Baby Brains book, about an incredibly smart baby. In the first book Baby Brains starts reading the newspaper the day after he's brought home from the hospital and goes on to become a doctor and a space explorer while still an infant. In Superstar we find out that he's also a musical genius, and while he of course has mastered just about every instrument, like my own baby brains, he prefers the electric guitar. He becomes a famous musician and performs in front of a huge crowd, but he soon realizes that maybe he's not quite ready for the rock star lifestyle. This book, at least for Johnny Boo, is a "Read it again!" book.

Johnny Boo's note: I like it because there are so much brains in there [not really–Ed.]. I like when the baby calls for his mommy.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound

More about Simon James

Hide and Seek Mr. Croc
Author/illustrator: Jo Lodge
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books (November 2007)
Source: Half Price Books/home library

Hide and Seek Mr. Croc is a book that opens up into a house, as you can see from the picture at left. Johnny Boo reads it occasionally, but mostly he uses his imagination to make up his own Mr. Croc stories. The book comes with a small Mr. Croc figure that can sit at a kitchen table, in a chair and in a bathtub, sleep on a bed, and hide in a closet. Johnny Boo will sit and play with this for a very long time, which makes this one of the best impulse purchases I've ever made.
 
Johnny Boo's note: It's playable. I like to play with it so much at night. I like when you get to hide Mr. Croc.

Find it: Amazon

The Trouble With Chickens

Review by Tintin, age 8

The Trouble With Chickens: A J.J. Tully Mystery
Author/illustrator: Doreen Cronin/Kevin Cornell
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (March 2011)
Source: NetGalley

The Trouble With Chickens is about two chicks and one chicken and one dog who go on an adventure to find their two missing chicks. Moosh is a chicken that is annoying. She bothers the dog by talking too long. Moosh is very loquacious. J.J. is very taciturn. He used to be a search-and-rescue dog and now he lives on a farm. I like that scary dog at the end because he's silly. I like the adventure they go on. My favorite part is when they tricked Vince. I would recommend this book to kids who like mystery and adventure books.

LitLass's note: As a retired search-and-rescue dog, J.J. Tully longs for another mystery to solve, but not one involving a crazy chicken who runs around "like a chicken without a head." He's approached by Millicent the chicken, also known as Moosh, and reluctantly agrees to help her find her two lost chicks. When his nose leads him to the house, and to inside dog Vince the Funnel, the real adventure begins. The short, humorous chapters (the black-and-white illustrations are fun to look at, too) make this detective book a great read-aloud but also wonderful for both reluctant and not-so-reluctant readers. And Tintin was happy to find out that this is the first in a planned series of J.J. Tully mysteries.

Find it: Amazon (check out the book trailer), IndieBound

To go along with the book, we made our own chicks. We started by dipping cotton balls (with a tweezer) into a cup of water and yellow food coloring:

And then we glued googly eyes and a folded-up piece of orange pipe cleaner to the head, glued the head to the body, and stuck the whole thing in a cleaned-out egg shell:


















We're linking this up with stART, A Crafty Soiree and Kids Get Crafty.

Word of the Week/Love That Kitty!: The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be a Cat

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is hapless, an adjective that means "luckless, unfortunate."

And we're reading Love That Kitty!, in which a boy pretending to be a cat pounces on "hapless, unsuspecting prey."

Love That Kitty!: The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be a Cat
Author/Illustrator: Jeff Jarka
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (September 2010)
Source: Public library

Peter wants to be a cat. He dresses up in a cat suit, he practices his balance so he'll land on his feet, he scratches the furniture, and he even uses a litter box. Peter's parents are not amused, until one day Peter decides he's had enough of being a cat and goes back to being a boy. Unfortunately for Peter's parents, their happiness is short-lived.

Tintin's note: I like the picture of his mom yelling at him when he's climbing the curtain because it's silly.

Johnny Boo's note: I thought that it was adorable. I like when the kitty is standing on the window.

For more about Peter, see Love That Puppy!: The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be a Dog, and for more on author Jeff Jarka, go to Love That Site!

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound