Tag Archives: book-review

Mr. S

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Title: Mr. S
Author/Illustrator: Monica Arnaldo
Published By: Katherine Tegen Books, 2023

I have to admit something: I’m a huge fan of funny picture books. I know lots of people prefer emotionally resonant ones, or ones that teach lessons or are quiet and peaceful…and I like those ones too. But deep in my heart there lives a little five year old who just wants to read something absolutely silly and hilarious. And this book delivers.

I read it to Lily while we were waiting in the parking lot to see her orthodontist. We were, as usual, fifteen minutes early. I can either be fifteen minutes early or five minutes late, there is no in-between. So I opt for early. I had a large bag of library books sitting in the passenger seat (as you do), and I decided to read them to Lily to pass the time.

This was the favourite.

Mr. S is a totally off-beat story of the first day of school. It features a class of kids who are new to this whole ‘school’ thing. When they arrive in their classroom, it appears their teacher has stepped out. There is, however, a sandwich on the teacher’s desk and a name on the board: “Mr. S.”

It gradually dawns on the students that maybe the sandwich IS their teacher — the ‘S’ stands for Sandwich! Mr. Sandwich! With this in mind, they proceed through their lessons and have quite an enjoyable morning at school.

Throughout the story, we, the reader, can see out the classroom window. We see a man (who, uncoincidentally, was the person who wrote ‘Mr. S’ on the board before leaving in a huge hurry) experiencing a multitude of difficulties in the parking lot (a tree falls on his car, a pizza guy gets his pizzas stolen by raccoons, the car gets struck by lightning…you know, the usual stuff that happens in parking lots). The reader (well, this reader) assumes that the man in the parking lot is the real teacher…

BUT!

When the man eventually reenters the classroom, he introduces himself as Mr. Spencer, the PRINCIPAL. And he introduces the kids to their teacher — Mr. S! The SANDWICH!

Aaaa! You guys, I absolutely laughed out loud when I read this. What a wonderful surprise — the author decided to give in to the craziness of the story and just allow the teacher to be a sandwich. Why not?!

And then, because this story is absolutely hilarious, the second-to-last page has Mr. S correcting the kids — his name isn’t Mr. Sandwich, it’s…

Well, I don’t know what it is. Because on the end pages, we see the staff photos, but Mr. S’ name has been obscured with mustard.

Aside from a really funny story, this book is also full of beautiful art. I really love the style Ms. Arnaldo used when drawing the kids (and sandwich). Their wide-eyed expressiveness suits the story just perfectly!

This book is fantastic. If you’re looking for a really unique ‘first-day-of-school’ book, this is the one. (And, yes, I know we’re much closer to the end of the school year than the beginning, but…well…you can’t always time when you’re going to find an excellent picture book).

Five sandwiches out of five. (Lily says “Five gluten-free sandwiches out of five.” Fair enough.)

The Fly

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Title: The Fly
Author/Illustrator: Elise Gravel
Published By: Scholastic, 2014

There are three types of people in the world: those who love fiction, those who love non-fiction and those who love both (especially when they come together in a hilarious series of picture books).*

I’m the third type of person, if that wasn’t totally obvious. I love both fictional and non-fictional books, and I especially love the blending of fantastic and realistic elements.

When I first saw Elise Gravel’s books that featured some truly gross main characters, I was intrigued. These books are part of the ‘Disgusting Critters’ series, and they feature such memorable protagonists as:

  • The Fly
  • The Mosquito
  • The Toad
  • The Slug

And many others…including my least favourite of the bunch, head lice. (Fun side note: when my brother and I were in elementary school, about 200/500 kids got head lice one year. My mother was so grossed out by the concept of bugs in our hair that she told us that if we came home with lice, she would kill us. We didn’t know if she was serious or not, but suffice it to say, we didn’t chance it.)

Anyway, these books are fantastic. Despite having moments of super-grossness (like the part in The Fly where the fly is barfing digestive liquids onto its food to soften it), the books are super-informative. My girls absolutely loved this series when they were in senior kindergarten/first grade. They thought it was hilarious…and they actually learned a bunch of fun facts! For instance, in The Spider, they learned that spiders can live in almost any environment. In The Bat, they learned that bats are the only mammals that can fly. In The Rat, they learned that rats are garbage-eating disease spreaders.**

Okay, so all the facts aren’t fun. But they are factual!

The art is adorable (I mean, as adorable as disgusting critters can be), and the text is engaging and entertaining. If you’re hoping to learn some interesting (and super-gross) facts about your (least) favourite critter, this is the series for you!

* Okay, there are probably more types of people in the world than this. Like those who don’t like books at all. But do they really count? Like, really?

*sigh* okay, fine, they do.

** I know lots of rats are adorable and make great pets. But…they’re also objectively kinda creepy.

The Bear Must Go On

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Title: The Bear Must Go On
Author: Dev Petty
Illustrator: Brandon Todd
Published By: Philomel Books, 2020

Ah, bears. They’ve always been one of my favourite animals. I collected teddy bears when I was a kid, encourage my children in the collection of many bears and generally love anything bear-related. Obviously, when I saw this book at the library, I had no choice but to take it out and read it.

And what a delightful read it was! Not only was there a bear, but he was also a left-handed (pawed?), shy, writerly bear. Who sings little songs to himself! It was basically the male, cartoon bear version of me! (As an aside, to all of my leftie readers out there: do you notice, in books or on TV or in movies, which characters are left-handed? I always do. I don’t know if this is a left-handed-person thing, or just one of those weird Jess foibles).

The story is about a group of woodland creatures who endeavor to put on a show. There’s Squirrel, Other Squirrel, Rabbit and, of course, my man Bear.

The small critters are very excited. They want to make this show EPIC. Bear, on the other hand, wants to take notes and NOT perform. To which I say: know thyself, Bear. Way to do what makes you most comfortable while also participating in a social event. Kudos.

Anyway, they plan for everything. Costumes, sets, tickets, refreshments, the works. Then, they build the stage, sew the curtains and the show is ready to go on…or…wait…

WHAT SHOW?

They were so busy with all the other theatre-related jobs that they kinda forgot to write a show. Whoops. Happens to the best of us.

Fortunately, Bear to the rescue, he’s been secretly writing down the little song he was singing! So, you know, they could perform that. Except that they don’t really know the tune and Bear’s writing is a little hard to read. Which means…

Bear has to go on.

Now, Bear being a people (animal?) pleaser decides that he’s going to overcome his paralyzing shyness and step into the limelight. To help his friends and all that.

And, of course, he does a great job and everyone loves the show.

I really like the story. As someone who is shy, sometimes it just takes a little nudge (or a very good reason, like helping your friends out) to push you outside of that comfort zone.* And sometimes it works out really well (and, okay, sometimes it doesn’t**).

The art is fantastic. It captures Bear’s emotions perfectly, and it’s delightful to look at. The best picture books have writing and art that support each other, and this one most definitely does.

If you want a fun, sweet book about friendship, overcoming your fears and large, friendly, left-handed bears, this is a must-read.

5/5 sequined curtains

* My older daughter actually had this experience at school in December. She wrote a really good essay and was asked to read it at an assembly. She would normally decline such a public performance, but she tried it and she did amazingly well. I’m not saying she’ll start a career in public speaking, but it was super-good for her ego to have the auditorium erupt in applause.

**See: Jess Stars in a Grade 12 Sears Drama Festival Play That Still Gives her Nightmares to This Day.

What Do You Do…

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When you don’t like a book?

That’s what I’m going to discuss today. Why? Because I took two picture books out of the library yesterday and I chose them solely based on their covers. (I know, I know.) I had high hopes. Both books had kind of a fun, friendly vibe. Both books appeared, on the outside, to be something that they very much weren’t on the inside.

The long and short of it is: I didn’t like them. Either of them. I wouldn’t have read them to my kids (if they were still picture book aged), and I wouldn’t buy them for our home library. They were strange in a not-good way, and both stories were really, really shallow. I. Didn’t. Like. Them. At. All.

So, as a reviewer, I wouldn’t have many positive things to say about them. But those not-positive things would be honest. And maybe they’d stop someone from choosing these books in the future.

Which, I don’t know. Is that fair?

There have been books that I have absolutely LOVED that others have not. And vice versa. An example? You know I’ve got one.

I’ve recently been reading The Professor and the Madman (it’s about the making of the OED), and I’ve gotta be honest…it’s a slow read for me. I’m a huge word-nerd, so I was excited to read this one…but…I’ve had to set page goals for myself each day. I WANT to get through it, it’s just taking forever. So, in hopes of finding some like-minded friends, I checked Goodreads and found that many, many people felt the same way as I did. Whew. I’m not alone. But OTHER people absolutely loved it. Like, adored the book.

In terms of reviewing kid-lit, it feels more personal to me. As a writer myself, I know how hard it is to actually GET a book to the publishing stage, to go through the editing process/waiting process/more waiting…and then to get the book reviewed! It’s scary. It’s nerve-wracking. A bad review can make your day so, so awful.

So, to that end, I’m going to do what I’ve always done: I’m going to review books I like. I’m not all about ‘positive vibes only,’ (I hate that saying, actually), but I also don’t believe in giving a totally negative review. If there are one or two things I dislike, sure. But if the whole book is a no for me, I’m just going to load it back in the car and ship it back to the library.*

*The one exception to this is my really old, really crappy picture book collection. Those books are from at least 30-40 years ago, and they’re all objectively terrible.