MotherReader

I'm already over the idea of posting these booktalks, as evidenced by my weeklong absence. So let's knock out a few that had some oddball tricks to the hook. In the first, I howled. That shuts up a room, I'll tell you that. In the second, I used a fake mustache on a stick. Again, attention grabber. In the third, I used the ask-a-question technique, but with the twist that the third part of the question is clever. There were always a few who raised their hands, and I told the classes to hang out with those kids.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling
by Maryrose Woods, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Balzar & Bray, 2010
Awhooooooooo! That was the noise that Penelope heard as she was being interviewed to be governess to three children in a very grand house called Ashton Place. Oddly the mistress of the house was very eager to hire Penelope, even though she had yet to meet the children. Awhooooooo! Penelope heard as she followed the sound to the barn, expecting to find dogs in some distress. Awhoooooo! She heard just before she opened the door, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness within she saw three children, dirty with tangled hair and wide eyes. Three children who had been raised by wolves, and who were now in her care. Other young ladies might have run away, but Penelope had the training of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, a determined state of mind, and a very, very fortunate love of animals. Can Penelope help The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place?

Fake Mustache
by Tom Angleberger
Amulet Books, 2012
I couldn’t fool you with this mustache into believing that I am someone else, but that’s exactly what happens when Lenny’s friend Casper buys a fake mustache, specifically the Heidelberg Handlebar Number Seven. Along with a specially fitted suit for a man-about-town, he is fooling everyone into believing he is someone else, someone important. Lenny is the only one who can see the seventh grader behind the mustache and the only one who can keep Casper from taking over – not only the little town of Hairsprinkle – but the entire country. Yes, it's that wacky. Tom Angleberger, the author of the Origami Yoda books, has given us a funny, wild story in Fake Mustache: or How Jodie O’Rodeo and her Wonder Horse (and some nerdy kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind.

Earthling!
by Mark Fearing, illustrated by Tim Rummel
Chronicle Books, 2012
Raise your hand if you’ve been the new kid at school? Moved in from another state? From another country? How about from another planet? Well, Bud has moved to New Mexico with his dad and he's waiting for the bus on the first day of school. It's early in the morning, and he thinks he sees it leave, but no, it pulls up and he steps on and the bus takes off. I mean, really takes off into space. Instead of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Bud finds himself on the way to Cosmos Academy on the other side of the galaxy. This it not the plan. Saving the life of a kid on the bus wins him a friend, and he needs one after finding out that his planet – our planet – is the most feared and despised in the universe! He has to fit in at this odd school of aliens or be discovered as an Earthling! His new friend Gort warns that he could get suspended or expelled – um, meaning “suspension for eternity in molecular binding gel or being expelled into deep place to die” – but Bud needs to get back to Earth. But how? Pick up this colorful graphic novel that’s funny and out of this world.

Hey — TeenReader here, bringing you a fabulous review of the equally fabulous book, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger. The first thing I noticed about this book was the unusually large number of references to the dorky kingdom (Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, and of course Star Wars). The second thing I noticed? I get every one of them. It’s a real eye opener. Now if you’ll excuse me, my tribble named Gandalf and I need to watch a Buffy marathon in nerdy peace.

But really, I did like the book. Basically, an oddball sixth grader creates a Yoda finger puppet out of origami and begins to predict fortunes with it and give advice, which often seems to work out spookily well. The story was compelling and easy to follow. The book itself was meant to be a case file on “origami Yoda,” with different students telling stories about how “Yoda” has helped or hindered them. The collection of short stories kept an otherwise static plot moving in a good flow. The writing styles and thought process really did seem to convey the minds of sixth graders. I also love the slight surrealistic element to it. Not enough to creep you out, but just enough to make you wonder…

My only small problem with the book is that the setup kind of reveals the payoff. Wookiee mistake (I’m sorry — I couldn’t resist). I don’t want to reveal too much, but the book started by letting us know there was a problem, and went into more detail about what exactly the problem was. And as soon as I found out exactly what the problem was, I (correctly) predicted the solution. So either I’m a better fortune teller than origami Yoga, or this needs to involve a few more unconventional twists to keep us guessing. But I could just be very clever.

On the whole, however, this was a really fun, light, and enjoyable read for all my nerdy brethren out there. I would definitely pick it up. I found it to be more enjoyable than blowing up a Death Star. And blowing up a Death Star, that’s fun.

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MotherReader here just to add a “What she said!” to this review. I enjoyed the book very much myself — which is one of my key requirements to passing it on to TeenReader. All I can really add is that I particularly appreciated the shout out to the KidLitosphere in the acknowledgements. That’s certainly a first, and I loved it.

I could talk at length about how funny and cute The HICCUPotamus is, or rave about the bright and humorous illustrations, or wax poetic about the clever and silly rhymes. I could do that, but honestly I couldn’t come close to the awesome descriptions given at Fuse#8 and 5 Minutes for Books on Tuesday and Wednesday of this Blog Tour. I can’t corner the adorable market when Aaron Zenz’s own kids have knocked it out of the park on the first day of the tour on his own blog, Bookie Woogie. (By the way, if you don’t know about this blog’s unique approach to children’s books, now is the time to correct that error by reading their post and commenting for the chance to win ten books. Yes, that’s ten books.) But what I can do is share some of the funniest responses ever to my MotherReader Five Ws Interview, with only slight trepidation that said interview reveals the author to be much funnier than... um, me. Enjoy.

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When did you start writing?

I was born with pencils in hand. Although this made for a very uncomfortable delivery for more than one of us involved, it led to many early writing experiences. Here’s the cover from one of my first stories, called “The Great Crayon Escape,” which you can read in its multicolored entirety here.

Where do you do your best thinking?

Typically in my head.

I’ve considered getting one of those puffy thought bubbles, so I can think ABOVE my head. But have you priced those things? Outrageous. I’m going to have to stick with “inside my head” for the time being.

Who inspires you, personally or professionally?

I have to choose either or? Gosh. Well, Personally is an awfully nice fellow. And I really don’t want to hurt Professionally’s feelings. But if I have to choose between the two... Personally. Yep. I’d say Personally inspires me more.

(Man, I hope Professionally isn’t going to be reading this...)

Why did you want to write this particular book?

Hiccup. Plus. Potamus. It all started with a single awful pun in 1996.

The title came first: “The Hiccupotamus.”

Nanoseconds later, the first verse arrived perfectly intact: “There was a hippopotamus / Who hiccuped quite-a-lotamus / And every time he got’emus / He’d fall upon his bottomus.”

After that it took eight years of pounding and hammering and scraping and carving for the rest of the book to come together.

The funny thing is, I later discovered that the “hiccuping hippo” book is almost a genre unto itself. However I have NO idea why. I suspect it’s because they both start with “H.” But if that’s the case, where are all the hiccuping hamsters? Or hiccuping hedgehogs? Type Hippopotamus+Hiccup into Amazon sometime. (Mercer Mayer’s is the best, by the way.) It’s hard to believe that none of these others books were titled “Hiccupotamus” first. Seems like a no-brainer. What other good reason IS there for creating a hiccuping hippo than to use such a wonderfully horrid pun?

Hey I just took my advice — I typed Hippopotamus+Hiccup into Amazon, and I see that Mercer Mayer wrote his on Jan 1, 1976. That’s six days before I was born. That’s cool!

Wait a minute... what was the actual question? Oh yeah, why did I write The Hiccupotamus. I think that Mercer Mayer/birth connection explains everything pretty well.

What’s next for you?

I illustrated a book called Nugget on the Flight Deck (written by Patricia Newman) that comes out this month side by side with The Hiccupotamus. I also have a number of manuscripts that are in publishers’ hands right now. I’m waiting and praying for one of these projects to green-light. If it doesn’t happen soon, I’m going to have to abandon the world of kid lit and go work in a factory. Ha, ha, ha! Actually... that’s true. This is the only answer where I haven’t joked. Publishers? Yoo-hoo? Any green lights out there?

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Admit it, you’re intrigued about the book this clever guy wrote. Well, you can win two signed copies of The Hiccupotamus — one for you and one for a friend — by leaving a comment on today’s post with the title of any of your other favorite funny picture books. (Contest open to U.S. mailing addresses only.)

Today I’m giving you a poem that made me laugh out loud from an excellent, funny book, Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf, by Jennifer Holm.

I think you should get a badge
for not smacking
your bratty little brother
when he eats the charms
off your bracelet because
he thinks it will give
him super powers.
I think you should get a badge
for taking the blame
about shaving the cat
when it was
your weird older brother who did it.
I think you should get a badge
for not crying when
your new stepfather
forgets to pick you up
after school
and Mary Catherine Kelly
gets the part
of the Sugarplum Fairy.
I think you should get a badge
for all these things,
but the Girl Scouts
don’t agree with me.

Man, those last lines crack me up. Really the whole book is funny and interesting and so very different. The subtitle is A Year Told Through Stuff, and that phrase explains it perfectly. The book covers a difficult year for Ginny as she starts middle school, gains a stepdad, loses a friend, makes a friend, changes her look, deals with brothers and endures disappointment. But the whole book is told through... well, stuff. Notes, an ad, a school schedule, a bank statement, poems, essays, flyers, horoscopes, receipts, and on and on. It’s brilliant storytelling and a fresh, new way to convey events. Great example: On one page we see an article on five ways to look pretty that includes coloring your hair. On the same page is the box of a hair coloring product and a receipt from a drugstore. Now, turn the page, and we have a receipt from a hair salon for “hair color treatment (color reversal from red to blond)” along with “haircut and style (to remove burned ends).” And if that weren’t enough humor for you, then the next page has a change to Ginny’s Big To Do List with “Look good in the school photo for once!!!” crossed out, and “Why bother!!! (maybe next year)” now noted.

I loved this innovative approach to charting a year, and props go out to Elicia Castaldi for the pictures. My sixth grade daughter (not middle school here, but still) really enjoyed the book too. I gave it to her and she read it straight through, right then, as opposed to her usual preteen way of half-heartedly taking the book from me with an implied eye-roll, tossing it beside her bed, and ignoring it for two weeks. So, that’s gotta mean something, right?