See Me Run

See Me Run
by Paul Meisel

Dogs everywhere!  Dogs running!  Dogs chasing!  Dogs splashing!  Surprise ending!

This book was a serendipitous find.  It needed a new sticker, so one of my coworkers opened it up after fixing it and started laughing.  Well, then I had to read it.  There is only one word in this book that has more than one syllable.  It’s fanTAStic for that very beginning reader.  But better than that, it’s FUNNY!  It’s that one word that has two syllables that makes this book hilarious.  And Meisel’s illustrations that accompany it, of course.  I know little about the Geisel Medal winners and honor books.  However, knowing that this won one makes complete sense.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

Pirates and Princesses

Pirates and Princesses
by Jill Kargman and Christine Davenier (illus.)

Ivy and Fletch have done pretty much everything together since the day they were born.  Their mommies were good friends, so they were together all the time.  Things were going great until the year they went to kindergarten.  During recess (which was something cool and exciting), the girls invited Ivy to play princesses while the boys invited Fletch to play pirates.  Princesses and pirates don’t usually play well together.  Could this be the end of a beautiful friendship?

“Ivy and Fletch had known each other their entire lives.  That’s five whole year, people!”  With such a promising opening line, I had to find out how the rest of this book went.  Well… I was disappointed.  It was a cute story, for sure.  But I felt misled by the title.  There were not enough piratical or princessical happenings in this book.  They were the context for a different, much less adventurous story.  Some of the language was a lot of fun; as in the way I would probably write a picture book.  But overall, one I could take or leave.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

So I somehow missed reading this book in middle school, high school, college, or grad school.  It’s about time.

Even though I’d never read it, I knew what this book was about.  It was the personal diary of a girl during the Holocaust who lived in hiding with her family for two years.  I also knew she didn’t survive the war.  What I didn’t know was how deep, honest, and penetrating her writing was.  And it can’t possibly be all due to the translator.  Anne’s voice is striking.  I really can’t find the right word I want to use to describe it.  All that resonates with me is her desire and need to write, even if she knows that her writings will never amount to anything.  And yet here we are, 70 years later, still reading what she had to say.  She couldn’t have had any idea.  And something like a diary is so personal and private, you can be more honest with that than in any other form of writing.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like to go through those crucial formative years never leaving the house, never seeing anyone but the same people day in and day out.

Yeah, “It’s a about time” definitely sums up how I felt about reading this book.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

From Pie Town to Yum Yum

From Pie Town to Yum Yum
by Debbie Herman and Linda Sarah Goldman (illus.)

There are hundreds of cities and towns in this country that have just plainly bizarre names.  There are some in every state.  Herman has pulled out 12-15 actual places for each state, along with a couple of fun facts about those places or the state in general and assembled it into this one volume.

This is not your 5th grade geography book.  This is the kind of geography book that inspires road trips and wordplay and immature jokes.  I probably spent a good hour with a friend of mine going through this book and just laughing at some of these names.  My favorites?  Glad you asked!

• Manly, Iowa
• Maybee, Michigan
• Great Scott, Minnesota
• Frankenstein, Missouri
• Bat Cave, North Carolina
• Library, Pennsylvania

Definitely check out this book to learn more wacky geography!

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.