Reviews by : (Seymour) Muehl Public Library
A great bedtime story!
Kids love this story where the animal children trick their animal parents so they can stay up later.
A stunning book to add to the collection of Iroquois storytelling
The Huron-Iroquois lived in Canada prior to the Iroquois Confederacy that lived in and around New York State. The Iroquois Confederacy consists of the following tribes: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. In Wisconsin, the Oneida Nation is represented. This creation myth is rooted in this history. It is a story that has been passed down through time. The illustrations are captivating and geometrical. I love how the artwork interprets the story. Having worked at the Oneida Turtle School I appreciate the cultural significance of the images. I applaud the illustration of the turtle and how the calendar is represented on turtle's back. I am so happy about the imagery of the longhouses. Congratulations to David McLimans for his wonderful and reverential eye for detail. This book is a great springboard for Wisconsin studies in schools. It is a significant contribution for the state of WI and our country. (This title is a recommended book from the Children's Book Award committee from Wisconsin for books published in 2011.)
Give it your all!
This fourth "Pete the Cat" book brings us another inspiring and uplifting message about positivity. In this wonderful book the song we sing is "give it your all". This is the perfect refrain to match the annual season of giving. Pete the Cat has to take the place of Santa. We know he can do it! As he sings his song (and keeps moving along) readers of all ages are reminded to be sharing, giving people who go the extra mile! (Funny truth: Eric Litwin says he has joined the annals of Jewish authors who have created Christmas offerings. Yippee for all of us!)
A book about encouragement
Rat has been having a hard time pulling it together until he receives an uplifting note. When Rat checks in with his friends he realizes that it is friendships which keep him going. He passes the note on to the next animal who needs a boost.
A fabulous addition to the fantasy genre!
** please note!! Colette Bezio is a librarian at the Muehl Public Library in Seymour, WI.
Congratulations to Colette Bezio on her debut fantasy for chapter book readers! If you love fairy tales (and who doesn’t love a good fairy tale?) , you will love this book. Replete with a castle and a moat, spells and witches, royalty and servants, power struggles and wizardy, this story provides more than lovely drawn magical settings.
This tale also gives us tension and a quickly moving and changing plot with a cliffhanger at the end of several of the chapters! Colette is a master of set up and plot devices. If something is mysterious, you can be assured that it will be cleared up later in the yarn.
Miggin and Druzilla are two girls who are similar in that they have no families. They are moved into Castle Crabapple and are being “rated” by the king and queen to see which one is suited to become the princess of the castle and thus inherit the kingdom. At first this competition is not clear to the girls as they are too busy getting on each other’s nerves and trying to share a bedroom! However, over time they come to realize that they are players in a “Conspiracy of Fate” and that they actually are beginning to “influence” one another. Eventually a friendship blossoms and that friendship emerges into a strong one of sisterhood.
This book is highly entertaining in that it is infused with humor and word play. Colette assembles some of our modern phrases into the dialogue and text and challenges us with new vocabulary for a rollicking and edifying ride. Even her spells are catchy and imaginative. I am very much looking forward to book two in this series!
A slim non-fiction book about the night sky
This book gives a nice condensed version of what you might see when you "look up" at night.
A gentle tribute to old age
In this book, a great grandson describes the life of his great grandfather and how they are able to recall his life together by walking through a garden.
Sweetest riff on an old tale!
This book is pure delight. The troll is not so scary as he usually is and how Mother Goat gets the billy goats fluff to be silent going across the bridge is pure genius!! Fun, fun!
