Toys Go Out (Bluebonnet nominee)

  Jenkins, Emily. (2006). Toys Go Out. (P. Zelinsky, Illus.). New York; Schwartz & Wade Books.

  Toys Go Out is a Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee for 2008-2009.

   Toys Go Out is a chapter book in which each chapter is actually a short story about the adventures of a group of toys. Each story has its own plot and lesson. The toys include a stuffed buffalo (Lumphy), a toy stingray (StingRay), and a rubber ball (Plastic). Their owner is the Little Girl, who takes some or all of them to the places she goes. The toys learn lessons about uncertainty, self-esteem, jealousy, and love.

  This book is illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. I didn’t really feel that the illustrations added to the story. There are only one or two pictures per chapter. It is, for the most part, a chapter book.

                                   There is a lot of imagery used in the narrative of Toys Go Out. For instance, when the toys are discussing where they are being taken, they speculate that it is the dump. “We’ll be tossed in a pile of old green beans, and sour milk cartons, …  and it will be icy cold all the time, and full of garbage-eating sharks…”

     Also, the dialogue is realistic. The toys speak as toys might speak if their owner is a little girl.

 

One Potato, Two Potato (Bluebonnet nominee)

   DeFelice, Cynthia. (2006). One Potato, Two Potato (A. U’Ren, Illus.). New York; Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

   One Potato, Two Potato is a Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee for 2008-2009.

   Mr. and Mrs. O’Grady live in a cottage in the country. Their children are grown and gone. They love each other, but each longs for a friend to also share in their life.

   The O’Grady’s are so poor they dig one potato from their garden every day and share it. That is all they eat all day long. They have just one chair, one hairpin, one blanket, and one candle that they only pretend to burn, and one gold coin for a rainy day.

                                          One day, Mr. O’Grady digs up the LAST potato. As he digs deeper, hoping to find another, he finds a large pot. He and his wife discover that anything they put into the pot multiplies and comes out in twos.

    The O’Grady’s set about putting their old, worn household items into the magic pot and creating more things (although they come out exactly as they go in). They also make enough potatoes for a feast! When they realize they can put their one gold coin in and it will create many more, Mr. O’Grady goes to town to buy new furniture.  When he comes back, Mrs. O’Grady accidentally trips and falls into the pot. There are, of course, now two of her.  What on earth is Mr. O’Grady going to do with TWO wives?

   They decide he should also jump into the pot, which he does. When another Mr. O’Grady comes out, each man has a wife and each person has a friend. The two couples decide to bury the magic pot once again because they now, of course, have everything they could ever want.

   The illustrations in One Potato, Two Potato are quite large. Even on pages with text, the pictures take up quite a bit of space. This helps show the facial expressions on the protagonists. That works, as this is a story about longing for something and then getting what you want.

                                         

 

Help Me, Mr. Mutt! (Bluebonnet nominee)

   Stevens, Janet, Crummel, Susan Stevens. (2008). Help Me, Mr. Mutt!  Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems. Austin, TX; Harcourt, Inc.

   Help Me, Mr. Mutt! Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems is a Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee for 2009-2010.

   This book doesn’t follow a traditional plot line. Mr. Mutt is the protagonist. He calls himself a canine counselor (he’s an advice columnist of sorts!). He lives with, The Queen, a bossy cat.

    Mr. Mutt answers letters from dogs about problems they are having with their humans. The book is written from the dog and cat’s point of view and is strictly humorous!  For instance, when a “workin’ dog” writes in that his people are always trying to clean him up, Mr. Mutt replies, “I don’t know why people hate dog hair. I’m covered with it and I like it!”

         The format of the book is letters to Mr. Mutt, his replies, and letters of response from the cat.

         I like the illustrations in this book on some pages and don’t care so much for them on others. In Mr. Mutt’s response letters, the illustrations of how a dog should sleep on a human’s bed, or how a dog should play are clearly drawn and very cute. Some of the pages in the book, although not many, have illustrations that use expressionism and these didn’t work so well for me.

 

The Uglified Ducky; A Maynard Moose Tale (Bluebonnet Nominee)

   Claflin, Willy. (2008). The Uglified Ducky; A Maynard Moose Tale. Atlanta; August House LIttleFolk

   The Uglified Ducky; A Maynard Moose Tale is a 2010-2011 Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee.

   In this book, Maynard Moose gives his spin on the fable. A baby moose lives in the forest.

   One day, the moose wanders off and falls asleep in a nest of duck eggs. The mama duck comes back and sees the sleeping baby moose and thinks he is the most uglified ducky she has ever seen.

   The mama duck tries to raise the moose with her duck babies but he can’t do anything to her satisfaction. He can’t waddle. He can’t quack. He can’t swim. And he’s not cute and fluffy.  She takes the moose to the doctor, who makes him carry around a sign that says “quack!”

     When it’s time for the ducklings to fly, the moose is left behind with a bump on his head. He’s so upset about being an uglified ducky that he wanders off into the forest to be alone.

     In the forest, he sees these wonderful creatures with brown fur and antlers. When he realizes he is one of THEM, he lives happily ever after. Remember, everything is beautiful in it’s own way!

    The illustrations in this book definitely develop and define the characters. We see the awkward moose as he trips and stumbles instead of waddling. They also reinforce the text, as the moose tries to quack, swim, and fly.  It’s kind of hard to exactly define these illustrations but I’d put them somewhere between naive and cartoon art.

(note: This book made me laugh out loud! I absolutely loved it.)