Child Size Book Bites

“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest. ” — C.S. Lewis

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The Cats of Tanglewood Forest written by Charles de Lint; illustrated by Charles Vess

Lillian has always been kind to the wild cats that live in the forest next to her family farm. This comes in handy when Lillian is bitten by a poisonous snake and only the cats are around to help. The cats use all their magic to turn Lillian into a kitten to save her life. While Lillian is glad she's no longer poisoned, she would much rather be a little girl than a kitten. However, everything Lillian does to try to turn herself back only makes her situation worse. Will Lillian every be a little girl again?

Audience: Grades 3 to 6.

Appeal: This book is largely a plot-driven fantasy story. The writing style is lyrical and the watercolour illustrations are gorgeously lush and rich. The lengths Lillian goes to fix her situation are admirable and it's so refreshing to see an adventurous coming of age fantasy novel with a female protagonist.

Limitations/weaknesses: The plot of this book meanders a little. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest does have the issue of including a fictional First Nations group. While the depiction of First Nations people in this book is no better or worse than the depiction of any of the other humans in the book (easily 90% of the characters in this book are talking animals) it is important to explain to children the stories and legends within the book are not actual First Nations' legends. In addition, the character of Aunt Nancy is a stumbling block. While Aunt Nancy is a representation of the actual historical blending of Anansi stories and Cherokee or Algonquin stories that occurred in the southern United States, this will undoubtedly fly right over children's (and most adults') heads. Instead, Aunt Nancy may come off as the haggard old trope of the "magical negro". Preferably, children interested in these aspects of the book should be directed to real Anansi stories and resources on real First Nations peoples indigenous to their area.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Another book with fairies and fantastic illustrations is Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You by Holly Black.

Lint, C., & Vess, C. (2013). The cats of Tanglewood Forest. New York: Little, Brown.

Tags: Fantasy, Canadian, series

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Nugget and Fang: Friends Forever--or Snack Time? written by Tammi Sauer; illustrated by Michael Slack

Nugget the minnow and Fang the shark are best friends. That is until Nugget goes to minnow school and learns sharks eat minnows! Fang would never do a thing like that! But can he convince Nugget he means it?

Audience: Preschool to Grade 2.

Appeal: This story is a great one for teaching kids not to let their peers choose who their friends should be. It also teaches not to believe stereotypes. The the illustrations are attractive with bright colours and cartoony shapes. The flow of the writing also lends itself well to being read aloud. The story and illustrations are also often silly and amusing.

Limitations/weaknesses: The only problem I have with this book is sharks do totally eat other fish.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Fang has a lot in common with Bruce the shark from Pixar's feature film Finding Nemo.

Sauer, T., & Slack, M. H. (2013). Nugget and Fang: friends forever--or snack time?. Boston: Harcourt Children's Books.

Tags: picture books

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Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

When Primrose Squarp's parents are lost at sea in a storm everyone in the village of Coal Harbour thinks them dead, except Primrose. She lives with her dashing developer uncle, who has designs to turn Coal Harbour into a tourist town, while she waits patiently for their return. She gathers recipes in her mother's old notebook and learns to cook from the owner of the Girl on the Red Swing, the local restaurant where everything no matter the dish is served on a waffle. Life wouldn't be so bad if she could just get her meddlesome guidance counsellor to leave her alone. Miss Honeycut has eyes on Primrose's uncle and is determined that Primrose would be much better off in foster care.

Audience: Grades 4 to 9.

Appeal: Despite the mystery of the fate of Primrose's parents hanging over the majority of the novel, Everything on a Waffle is a funny and upbeat novel. The characters are whimsical and kooky. Miss Honeycut is descended from British aristocracy and is just passing the time before her father leaves her his estate and title by being a guidance counselor in small town British Columbia. The plot is fast-paced and Primrose manages to get herself into some bizarre situations (like accidentally setting the class guinea pig on fire). Plus every chapter ends with a delicious recipe.

Limitations/weaknesses: I got frustrated with how often Primrose said some version of "Haven't you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?" in response to someone trying to convince her her parents were dead. The book is only 160 pages long and she says it easily 6 or 7 times. However, that said, children in the intended audience may read this novel a little slower than I did and not notice this as much.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Everything on a Waffle has a sequel called One Year in Coal Harbour.

Horvath, P. (2001). Everything on a waffle. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Tags: canadian, realistic fiction, series

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Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher

Learn all about the life of the man behind the Muppets. Follow his life from his childhood to his untimely death at age 53.

Audience: Ages 5 to 9.

Appeal: This book is constructed as almost more of a narrative than a biography. The book focuses on events rather than dates. There are no photographs in this book instead the book uses semi-realistic illustrations. Interestingly the style means the muppets look more photorealistic than the humans. The illustrations also use vibrant colours just like the Muppets. The book also includes a list on print and online resources suitable for children.

Limitations/weaknesses: As expected this biography glosses over some of the less friendly parts of Henson's life such as his separation from his wife in 1986 and the cause of his death in 1990. As might be expected by the target audience a lot more time is spent on the Sesame Street period of Henson's career.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: For more information of Jim Henson aimed at children try: Who Was Jim Henson? by Joan Holub.

Krull, K., Johnson, S., & Fancher, L. (2011). Jim Henson: the guy who played with puppets. New York: Random House.

Tags: Non-fiction, Biography, Picture book, Jim Henson

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The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

Everything is normal in this story of the Three Little Pigs until the wolf huffs and puffs the pigs right out of the story! The three pigs then go on an adventure in the margins to visit other fairy tales and rhymes. Eventually, they must return home, but now that they've seen the world can the three pigs re-write their own story?

Audience: Ages 4 to 9.

Appeal: This book uses a variety of art styles to tell it's story. Each story the pigs visit transforms them into a new art style. In the inbetween land of the margins the pigs are drawn in a realistic style and my favourite moment occurs when one of the pigs looks out at the reader and questions if there might be something out there.

The story and text are interdependent. For example, the narrative of the three little pigs continues even as the pigs act against the original script. Overall, the book is a very clever and funny post-modern take on the Three Little Pigs.

Limitations/weaknesses: The meta concepts in this book may require a little explaining for younger readers.

Overall: 5/5

Read-alikes: If readers enjoy amusing re-tellings of the Three Little Pigs they might also enjoy The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka.

Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York: Clarion Books.

Tags: picture books, Folktales/Fairy Tales

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Case Closed?: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science written by Susan Hughes; illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier

  Get the skinny on nine mysteries solved by modern science. Cases include what happened to Princess Anastasia, the true location of the lost city of Ubar, and what happened on the last flight of the Star Dust. Each case includes historical background, potential theories, and details on how science uncovered the facts.

Audience: Grades 5 to 9

Appeal: There is great variety of mysteries tied together by the common thread of being solved or partially solved by modern science. The book is illustrated with a combination of hand-drawn illustrations and photographs. The cartoony style of illustrations take the edge off some of the darker subject matter. All the actual photographs are also appropriate for the target audience. There is great representation across genders and races within the illustrations and the major players in the mysteries. It's super to see the inclusion of everyone in a book about science.

The journalistic writing style with a casefile format is very accessible. It explains complicated or technical concepts and technology (such as DNA and spectrometry) in a way children can understand. The book also contains a glossary of challenging terms. The book itself is browsable and each case can be read in any order.

Limitations/weaknesses: The book is a little dumbed down or self censoring in places, but that's to be expected in a book aimed at children. For example, the occurrence of cannibalism is never mentioned during the chapter on Sir John Franklin's lost expedition for the North West Passage.  

Overall: 5/5

Read-alikes: Readers might also enjoy Sarah Hughes other nonfiction book No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure.

Hughes, S., & Wandelmaier, M. (2010). Case closed?: nine mysteries unlocked by modern science. Toronto: Kids Can Press.

Tags: Canadian, Non-fiction,

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The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

One day a little boy finds an airplane in his closet and flies all the way to the moon. When he runs out of fuel he ends up stranded there. Thankfully, he's not the only one stuck there. A little alien has also been stranded there by engine trouble and together they hatch a plan to get them both back home.

Audience: Preschool to Grade 2.

Appeal: The illustrations for this book are darling. They're very imaginative and child-like. I also enjoyed all the little Britishism such as "aeroplane" instead of "airplane", "petrol" instead of "gas", "torch" instead of "flashlight", and "spanner" instead of "wrench". The plot is very over the top and exciting. Things work on a child's logic and will no doubt catch children's imaginations. For example, the fact the boy can even use an airplane to reach the moon and climb back to earth with a rope.

Limitations/weaknesses: My edition of this book is published as a board book despite the fact that it's much too long and advanced to be read to a baby/toddler.

Overall: 5/5

Read-alikes: Check out the other books by Oliver Jeffers that feature The Boy: How to Catch a Star, Lost and Found, and Up and Down.   

Jeffers, O. (2008). The way back home. London: HarperCollins.

Tags: picture books, Action/Adventure, science fiction, series

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Coraline Written and Performed by Neil Gaiman

Having recently moved into a large old house that contains no other children but herself Coraline Jones is having a very boring summer. Her parents are too busy working to play with her and while her new neighbours are interesting, they are very old and very odd. Coraline despairs that nothing interesting will ever happen to her this summer. That is until she finds a door in her house that shouldn't lead anywhere at all but somehow it does... On the other side of the door lives Coraline's Other Mother with her shiny black button eyes and her long spider-like fingers. She wants to keep Coraline, forever.

Audience: Grades 4 to 8.

Appeal: Neil Gaiman does a fantastic job (as usual) at narrating his own story. Delightfully creepy and compelling, readers will be held in absolute suspense as they wait to find out Coraline's fate. However, the book can be funny as well as creepy. The humour is often wry and offbeat, and children will enjoy Coraline's less than flattering opinion of adults.

Limitations/weaknesses: Coraline can be very frightening at times and is perhaps not suitable for younger children. 

Overall: 5/5

Read-alikes: Coraline shares a lot in tone with "The New Mother" by Lucy Clifford.

Gaiman, Neil (2003).Coraline [Audiobook]. Retrieved from http://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca

Tags: Audiobook, Fantasy

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Lon Po Po: A Red-riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

When Mother leaves to visit Grandmother, she leaves her three daughters home alone. She warns them not to open the door to anyone, but when a sly wolf pretends to be their sick grandmother they let him in out of kindness. Thankfully, the three sisters are clever as well as kind and manage to outsmart the wolf before he can eat them.

Audience: Grades 2 to 3.

Appeal: This story is familiar and yet very different at the same time. The way the girls save themselves from the wolf is much preferable to the european version of Little Red Riding Hood. The story is very suspenseful just like the original with its back and forth as the girls slowly realize they're in bed with a wolf. The art also adds to the suspense with its shadowy pastels and watercolours.  

Limitations/weaknesses: It has often been remarked that younger children find the illustrations scary or frightening  

Overall: 4/5

Young, E. (1989). Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood story from China. New York: Philomel Books.

Tags: picture books, Folktales/Fairy Tales

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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Season One)

Twilight Sparkle studies very hard to learn magic. A little too hard in fact. Princess Celestia sends her to Ponyville under the guise of looking after the arrangements for a festival in the hopes she'll make friends. Despite Twilight Sparkle best efforts not to get involved with any of the ponies of Ponyville, she ends up making friends with several other ponies.

Appeal: This show is incredibly cute and colourful. The characters (despite being ponies) are also well-rounded relatable characters. The effort that was put into this show to make it more than just a cash grab is evident. The humour is cheery and benign, and the music is catchy.

Limitations/weaknesses: The show can be a bit schmaltzy in its tone when talking about the virtues of friendship, but its intentions are so good it's forgivable.

Overall: 3/5

Faust, L. (Executive Producer). (2010). My little pony: Friendship is magic [Television series]. Burbank: Hub Network.

Tags: DVD (TV show), Fantasy

[childsizebookbites]

Schooled by Gordon Korman

Capricorn Anderson (Cap for short) has been home-schooled by his grandmother on their (almost deserted) hippie commune his whole life. But when his grandmother breaks her hip, Cap is sent to a public middle school while she recovers. Cap knows more about Zen Buddhism than popularity and more about tie dying than television, so when the class elects him to be class president its obviously a joke right? Unfortunately, no one's told Cap that...

Audience: Grades 4 to 9.

Appeal: The book is fast-paced and uses fish-out-of-water humour to great effect. The book is a comedic romp including some rather improbable stunts. At one point Cap commodores a school bus after the driver has a heart attack and leads a police chase to the hospital. However, it still manages to reflect on the human condition and why humans (especially middle-schoolers) can be so cruel.

Limitations/weaknesses: The book is written in first-person and the chapters alternate between way too many character's POV. At least seven characters get chapters from their POV in the spand of only 224 pages. I believe the jumps also would have been a little less jarring if they didn't happen every chapter.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Fans of Schooled will also enjoy Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick about another new kid who uses his (albeit basic) knowledge of Zen to try and make friends.

Korman, G. (2007). Schooled. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Tags: Schooled, Gordon Korman, Realistic fiction, Canadian

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The Monster at the End of This Book...starring Grover! By Sesame Street

Grover wants to read with you, but he's terrified of the monster waiting at the end of the book!

Audience: Ages 3 to 8.

Appeal: Based on the original Little Golden Book this eBook is a wonderful modern adaptation. The original book was very meta with the plot mostly revolving around grover attempting to prevent the reader from turning pages. This translates very well to the app. Children interact with Grover (voiced by the current Sesame Street puppeteer) by not just turning pages, but also untying his knots, pulling down his reinforcements, and knocking down his brickwall. The original colourful and charming illustrations have been animated for the app to beautiful effect. Both my boyfriend's nephews (2.5 and 5) loved this book.

Limitations/weaknesses: The eBook highlights certain important words, but the ability for younger readers to follow along is hindered by the fact that not every word is highlighted.

Overall: 5/5

Read-alikes: Fans of The Monster at the End of This Book will also enjoy Another Monster at the End of This Book (again both a book and eBook app) and Hide and Seek: with Lovable, Furry Old Grover by Jon Stone & Michael J. Smollin (not an app).

Sesame Workshop. (2014). The Monster at the End of This Book...starring Grover! (Version 4.2) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://itunes.apple.com

Tags: ebook, The Monster at the End of This Book, Grover

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Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

When Leslie Burke moves in next door to Jess Aarons and promptly beats him in a footrace he's been practising for all summer it doesn't look like a good start for their friendship. However over the course of the fifth grade Jess and the tomboyish, free-thinking Leslie become close friends. Together they create and rule imaginary magical kingdom called Terabithia in the woods surrounding their homes. 

Audience: Ages 9 to 12.

Appeal: This book is widely regarded as a children's classic. The writing style is attention-grabbing and emotionally intense. This tear-jerker has made generations of children cry. However, while I do admit to tearing up reading this I found the character death was wielded like a blunt instrument. The death happens so close to the end of the novel it appears to almost have been included for shock value. There really isn't enough pages spent dealing with the emotional aftermath.

Limitations/weaknesses: I was expecting much more from this "classic" children's novel. It comes across as very dated. The Vietnam references will fly entirely over the head of most kids. It also contains a incredibly poor treatment of child abuse. You're supposed to defend your abuser? Are you serious!?! This kind of nonsense is dangerous and just doesn't fly with modern audiences. I also could have done without the copious amount of fat jokes.

Overall I found the novel to be very emotionally manipulative and unappealing.

Overall: 2/5

Read-alikes: For another more developed take on a child's grief that focuses more on the aftermath try Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith.

Paterson, K. (2003). Bridge to Terabithia. New York: HarperCollins. (Original work published 1977)

Tags: Bridge to Terabithia, Classics, Realistic fiction

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Mrs. P's Magic Library

Cosy up on the rug by the fire while Mrs. P reads you some of her favourite classic children's stories. Mrs. P's Magic Library is an award-winning website that uses free streaming videos to provide classic story times to children in a world where grownups might be too busy to read to them.

Audience: Ages 4 to 8

Appeal: This site includes activities and games but the real draw is the videos. Watching Mrs. P's Magic Library is almost as good as going to a real storytime. The way Mrs. P does all the voices and engages her audience directly combined with elaborate set and subtle sound effects makes you almost think you might actually be in Mrs. P's living room. Kathy Kinney really breathes life into the character of Mrs. P in introductory moments of the videos that show snippets of Mrs. P's life. The story's text is also shown at the bottom of the screen for older children to follow along.

Limitations/weaknesses: All the stories are bit older because they need to be in the public domain, but fairy tales and classics offer plenty of good material for Mrs. P to read. The only lackluster element of Mrs. P's storytime are illustrations which appear to be very low budget. Fortunately, they are well balanced out with Kinney's engaging performance.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Children who enjoy Mrs. P's Magic Library may also enjoy the Reading Rainbow app.

Mrs. P Enterprises. (n.d.). Mrs. P's magic library. Mrs. P's magic library. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://mrsp.com

Tags: Website

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Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi by Susan Aihoshi

Mary Kobayashi is a twelve-year-old first generation Canadian whose family originally came from Japan to settle in Vancouver. Mary's life is as normal as life can be in Canada during World War II. She enjoys playing sports, reading, and going to Girl Guides with her friends. However, after Japan attacks Pearl Harbour Mary is exposed to the racial tensions of her city with ugly clarity. "Japanese-Canadians are completely stripped of their rights, their jobs and their homes. Mary is terrified when her family is torn apart and sent to various work camps, while she and her two sisters are sent, alone, to a primitive camp in B.C.’s interior. Here Mary spends the duration of the war, scared and uncertain of how it will all end." (source).

Audience: Ages 9 to 12.

Appeal: Torn Apart is attention-grabbing and richly detailed. The choice to show the events surrounding the Japanese Internment in Canada during WWII through the eyes of a young Japanese-Canadian is an excellent one. The first person perspective provides young readers with a way to personally identify with the hardships of the Japanese-Canadians during this period. Real life details about the culture of Japanese-Canadians during the time period, such as their enthusiasm for baseball and the tradition of Girl's Day, are included throughout the novel.

Limitations/weaknesses: Placing the copyright material at the back of the novel is a tad misleading for younger readers. While the story is based on real events it still is a work of fiction. Also while the subtitle claims the book is an "Internment Diary" very little of the diary takes place during Mary's internment and the book cuts off half way through the period and leaves the rest of her internment to be hastily covered in the epilogue.

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed this novel should check out the rest of the books in the Dear Canada series. The Royal Diaries series might also be of interest.

Aihoshi, S. M. (2012). Torn apart: the internment diary of Mary Kobayashi. Toronto: Scholastic Canada.

Tags: Historical fiction, Series, Canadian, Dear Canada

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Rōblox

Rōblox is an online world featuring Lego-like avatars and landscapes that allow kids to build, play, and program with others. All the games are generated by users and children have the option to build their own games for others amusement as well.

Audience: Ages 9 to 14

Appeal: A free account can allow children to play a virtually endless amount of games created by other users in a variety of genres. A paid builders account allows them to create their own games. Users are provided with a simplified "building kit" for simple games or they can also write more complex games using the scripting language Lua (allowing kids to teach themselves computer programming and computer science). The graphics are chunky and colourful and many of the games are action oriented. The complexity of game play ranges in complexity depending on the age and skill of the creator.

Limitations/weaknesses: Parents should definitely supervise their children's use of the site, especially if they're using the forums or have anything, but the safe chat function enabled. The language from some of the older users is often very explicit. Many of the games in the horror category can also be very frightening for younger children. There may not be any gore in Rōblox, but many games rely heavily on explosions, fighting, and violence.

Overall: 3/5

Read-alikes: Kid who enjoy Roblox may also enjoy Minecraft.

ROBLOX Corporation. (2009). Rōblox [online game]. ROBLOX Corporation. Retrieved 15 March 2014 from http://www.roblox.com/

Tags: videogame

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Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith

When Phone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone get run out of town thanks to Phoney's crazy money making schemes they end up separated and lost in magical valley. Can the Bone's find each other and return to Boneville? Or will the outside world with it's dragons, ratmen, cow racing, and mysterious dark lords prove too dangerous?

Audience: Grade 5 & Up

Appeal: The art reminds me of classic newspaper comic strips with its charmingly detailed and colourful style. The Bones and fantastical creatures have a more cartoony look while the people and animals are more detailed. The comic also has an offbeat sense of humour and fantastic comedic timing. The story is fast-paced and the characters are all distinct from one another.

Limitations/weaknesses: There is a lot of tobacco use in this comic which makes me mildly uncomfortable recommending it to younger kids. It also has some rather frightening scenes towards the end that confirms its age range to be 11+ only.  

Overall: 4/5

Read-alikes: Fans of Bone may also enjoy Owly by Andy Runton and Jellaby by Kean Soo

Smith, J., & Hamaker, S. (2005). Out from Boneville. New York: Graphix/Scholastic.

Tags: Series, Graphic Novels, Action/Adventure, Fantasy