Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker by Geoffrey Hayes

Another seemingly perfect day for Benny and Penny is underway. They have a treasure map that leads to loot, spoons and pails for digging, and a spyglass. The day quickly takes a turn for the worse, however, with an announcement:

“Benny…Penny! Cousin Bo is here.”

Cousin Bo! Oh no! All the toys must be hidden, and fast, because Cousin Bo always breaks them. Sure enough, even though Cousin Bo’s asks, “Where are all your toys?” he finds one almost immediately. The paddleball smacks Benny in the eye, Bo gives Benny a RAZZ!, and he refuses to give the toy back. Bo only lets go when he notices the treasure map. And of course, the paddleball breaks.

Geoffrey Hayes and Toon-Books continue to create and publish excellent graphic novels for younger readers. Not only to readers read the speech bubbles, but Bo steals the map with a SNATCH!, runs through the kiddie-pool with a SPLASH!, and collides with Benny with a POOM!. Sound effects and strong expressions – Penny’s NO! and GAAAAA!! for example – enhance readers’ experience on nearly every page.

Benny and Penny’s attempts to continue their treasure hunt without Bo are unsuccessful as Bo taunts, tricks, and teases them continuously. When his antics break Penny’s beloved monkey, Benny’s reaction drives Bo away. He says he’ll find a new friend.

Instead, he finds himself stuck under the fence. Crying.

Geoffrey Hayes gets his young characters exactly right. Benny and Penny are frustrated with how Bo treats their toys. Bo just wants to play but doesn’t express his desire well. All of them are quick to jump to conclusions and tears make more than one appearance, but in the end they discover – together – that toys and maps aren’t always needed.

Sometimes you can just play, and that way nothing gets broken.

New Article About New Additions

Two moms recently added sons to their families. And that's where the similarities end.

Teri's family waited three months before learning they'd receive a new addition, followed by the standard nine additional months. Jodi's family waited 18 months for the same news, then had only two months to prepare the nursery.

People take different paths to parenthood, but children are children, and families are families, regardless of the path taken to get there. That's the subject of my latest newspaper column. (And a special thanks to Teri and Jodi for each sharing their unique stories.)

Read the column or get the printable version.

Zig and Wikki by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler

I've become a big fan of TOON BOOKS since running into Otto's Orange Day nearly two years ago. According to their books and website, they are "bringing new readers to the pleasure of comics." They're also bringing old readers (like me) the new pleasure of comics.

Zig and Wikki are entertaining characters that will make young readers laugh and the book's bright and colorful illustrations fit the traditional TOON BOOKS' mold. The pacing fits young readers and plot elements - video games, forgotten homework, lost in space - are just the thing to get young readers' attention.

But Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework gives a unique spin to comics that TOON BOOKS hasn't yet shown. In addition to an enjoyable story, author Nadja Spiegelman and illustrator Trade Loeffler weave photographs and science facts into their story, courtesy of Wikki's head (more about his head later). So what's that give us?

Graphic Novel + Nonfiction Facts = Zig and Wikki + Tons of Fun

Zig is a one-eyed, orange, tentacled young space creature who needs to complete his homework - find a pet to add to the class zoo. Wikki is walking 1950's flat screen, if such a thing existed, who tends to act before thinking out his actions. When they stumble upon Earth after Wikki gets them lost, they figure the swamp they discover would be a great place to find a class pet. A fly? A dragonfly? A frog? All would make great additions to the class zoo. If they could only catch them.

Each time they discover something new, the screen in the middle of Wikki's head turns on, offering photographs and descriptions of their new discovery, many times disgustingly awesome to young readers. Did you know flies spit on their food and then suck it back up again? Neither did Zig and Wikki until Wikki's screen told them.

The Zig and Wikki series - this interview suggest it will be a series, with Zig and Wikki possibly headed under the sea - will be an excellent way to introduce science topics to first or second graders. It's also an excellent way to introduce them to the joy of reading, especially comics.

I Bring Up This Topic...

My latest column for the local newspaper tests the theory that all parents share certain, specific experiences, regardless of when or where they were parents. Today's topic?

Throwing up.

And I'd love to extend that theory beyond the informal questioning conducted at a recent school gathering. (Those little nuggets make up the bulk of the article.) So I hereby open up the floor to ... well, everyone. Anyone got a good story to toss out there? After reading the column, consider sharing your experiences. I'd love to hear them. Leave a comment here or over at the Daily Tribune. Thanks.

Here's the column: COLUMN: Parents recount tales of untimely regurgitation or here's the printable version.

Finally, I couldn't resist this little excerpt from Jon Scieszka's Knucklehead. "Stick with your brothers. Stick up for your brothers. And if you ever drop a pecan nut log in a car with your five brothers and the cat . . . you will probably stick to your brothers."

Thanks for visiting Help Readers Love Reading!

Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day by Kate McMullan

No matter what day it is, waking up late because you don’t hear your alarm clock is a lousy way for a day to begin. When that day is April Fools’ Day, however, as happens to Wagner in One Funny Day, he is immediately thrown off guard. So when good friend Pearl informs Wagner that their teacher, Ms. Star, is roller-skating around the classroom, he says, “She is?” Everyone starts laughing, and Pearl informs him, “Today is April Fools’ Day. And I fooled you.”

“Oh,” says Wagner, but he’s certainly not laughing.

Wagner panics when Ms. Star tells the class to turn in their homework. He freaks when the librarian, Mr. Fox, notifies him his library book is overdue and he must pay a fine. He loses his appetite when the lunch menu lists fisheye stew, french fried flies, applecore pie, and bug juice.

“April Fools!” everyone cries – even the responsible adults!

After a gym class of dancing and a glass of real bug juice from his froggy friend, Henry, Wagner is definitely having a day, but it’s not a funny day as the title implies.

Readers will be thinking, “Poor Wagner!” when he suddenly becomes ill in chapter three. What’s worse than being sent to the school nurse during silent reading time?!? When he returns to class covered in green spots, he announces his diagnosis from the school nurse: bug pox, and a bad case of it at that. It’s only contagious if he … ah-ah-ah-CHOO! … sneezes.

For as bad as Wagner’s day begins, he ends the day laughing harder than anyone else, and no, uncontrolled delirium is not a symptom of bug pox.

I was not familiar with the Pearl and Wagner series until Kate McMullan was awarded a 2010 Geisel Honor. After reading One Funny Day, beginning readers (and you) will be looking for Two Good Friends and Three Secrets and more adventures from these two good friends.

I Spy Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold

Tedd Arnold adds to his excellent Fly Guy series with I Spy Fly Guy!, winner of a 2010 Geisel Honor for beginning readers. This time Buzz and his gifted pet, Fly Guy, a pet who can say his owner’s name, are back for a game of hide-and-seek.

Buzz is it first. Fly Guy hides in the garbage can. That’s where he always hides. After all, he enjoys a delicious snack while he waits for Buzz to find him. Later, when Buzz shuts himself in the garden shed, Fly Guy finds a way inside. “BUZZ!” he calls.

When Buzz is it a second time, Fly Guy heads to the garbage can. Before Buzz can find him, the garbage man comes! He empties the can into the back of the truck and takes the garbage – and Fly Guy – to the town dump. Buzz catches his dad before he leaves for work, and they race to follow the garbage man.

“Fly Guy, where are you? Fly Guy, answer me!” calls Buzz in the town dump. A zillion flies all answer at the same time.

“BUZZZZZZZZZ!”

How will Buzz find Fly Guy when there are a zillion flies, and all of them are able to say his name? Twice he thinks he finds Fly Guy, but instead of getting back his pet, Buzz gets boinked on the nose and bit on the hand! Only when Buzz remembers that the game of hide-and-seek is still going does he come up with a solution to finding Fly Guy.

Beginning readers will love I Spy Fly Guy! and all the books in the Fly Guy series. Familiar characters, simple text, and satisfying stories are found in them all, and Tedd Arnold’s second Geisel Honor is well deserved.

I wish I had a pet who could say my name.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes

Mom said a new kid moved in next door, so Benny does what any normal boy would do. Spy through a knothole in the backyard fence. And since Penny is a normal little sister, she wants to look too. Penny hopes the new kid is a girl because girls are nicer. Benny disagrees. “Girls are cry-babies. I hope it’s a boy!” he says.

The debate ends, however, when Benny realizes his sandbox pail is missing. Again Benny does what any normal boy would do. Jump to conclusions. “Maybe the new kid took it. Do you think the new kid climbed over the fence and came into our yard?”

Trying to get a closer look, Benny ends up falling into the neighbor’s yard. Penny follows. They discover big and scary footprints – monster footprints, they’re sure – and Benny’s missing pail. When Benny takes back his pail, there’s an encounter with the new kid. Mud is thrown, tears are shed, names are called, and a mistake is discovered.

Once again Toon-Books have published a winner – literally. Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! is the winner of the 2010 Geisel Medal for beginning readers. This is the second book in author Geoffrey Hayes’ Benny and Penny series. This simple graphic novel leads readers through a series of choices Benny and Penny make. Should they cross the fence into someone else’s yard? Should they take back what is rightfully theirs, even if it means facing a monster? Most importantly, can they admit a mistake?

But it’s not all choices and lessons. There’s laughs a-plenty. Penny sticks out her tongue at Benny and gives him razzberries. Benny SPLOPs in the mud, a board WHAPPs him in the face, and he is sprayed by a hose. “YEOW!”

Beginning readers will enjoy Benny and Penny in all their adventures including the first book in the series, Benny and Penny in Just Pretend, and the upcoming Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Here’s the deal: When a book gives valuable clues and important details immediately in the first few chapters and layers numerous subplots upon one another and then in the end, the plot and all the subplots get tied tightly together and all those clues and details in the opening chapters appear significantly more important than originally believed… Well, like I said, here’s the deal: That drives me nuts. Really. Completely and utterly crazy. Because after finishing the book, and after, like, every other chapter in the closing pages, I think, “Why didn’t I see that coming?!?”

And I absolutely love it.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is one of those books. At first it seems a simple story. Minli lives with her parents in a small, poor village beside the Jade River at the foot of Fruitless Mountain. In order to seek a way to bring fortune to her family and village, Minli leaves. She wants to find Never-Ending Mountain and ask its resident, the Old Man of the Moon, how she can change her family’s fortune. Basically, that’s the story.

Added throughout the novel are stories told by Minli’s father, fellow travelers, characters she meets on the way, and Minli herself. But they’re not just stories added to color the seemingly simple novel. The first story, The Story of Fruitless Mountain, begins on page four, and attentive readers will recall it at the book’s conclusion.

There’s also plenty of action. Secret entrances through hidden gates, dangerous encounters and daring escapes, gifts from kings and statues that come alive, dragons, talking fish, overprotective but easily-fooled monkeys … and Minli’s journey is filled with them.

Author Grace Lin has taken the folktales and fairy-tales from her Chinese heritage and woven them into this book. The author’s note describes how, while she originally dismissed her Asian heritage, she ultimately embraced the stories and began to invent storylines, add details, and fit them together into what finally became Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. She closes the author’s note with “I hope there is magic in it for you as well.”

There is.

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

An artist must have a distinctive, memorable style for my seven-year-old to recognize the similarities between illustrations in different books.

“Dad, can we read All the World?”

“Sure, Bud. Climb aboard.”

So up on my lap he hops, we crack open the book, and he says, “Is this by the same person who did A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever?” (At the same time I was thinking, “That little girl on the front could be Clementine at age five if she had red hair.”)

So congratulations to Marla Frazee. Seven-year-olds in Wisconsin recognize your distinctive style, and their parents appreciate how it so engages their seven-year-olds.

But let’s not give short shrift to Liz Garton Scanlon’s text. All the World, written in verse, shows the smallest parts of our world and our selves and slowly moves outward to reveal how each of us and each of the small parts around us fit into the world as a whole.

“Rock, stone, pebble, sand …” starts the first page showing two siblings on the beach.
“Body, shoulder arm, hand …” continues page two, showing how the siblings interact with the beach.
“A moat to dig, a shell to keep …” is read as the perspective moves to see Mom, Dad, and the truck waiting to take them home.
“All the world is wide and deep.” So finishes the first rhyme.

In the final illustration of the first rhyme, readers can now see the ocean, the shore, others on the beach, the family truck whisking the family down a dusty road toward the village in the distance. From two kids and a bucket of rocks to the entire ocean, All the World shows how all the small parts make up the whole.

Neighbors in a garden change to an entire vegetable market. One child hanging on a branch becomes a family picnic under a tree. “Table, bowl, cup, spoon” becomes a warm, crowded restaurant on a cool night.

But in the end, the pattern changes. All the World moves from the big picture back toward each individual. The book concludes with

“Hope and peace and love and trust
All the world is all of us.”

Guess Again! by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

Guess Again! has all the characteristics of a classic children’s picture book. Predictable text written in rhyme, pictures that offer comprehension clues, topics young readers will find familiar, and flaps and foldouts for little fingers.

And Grandpa Ned.

The first page features a picture of a garden. Vegetables grow in the background. Carrots, some still buried, some half eaten, are in the foreground. In the center is the black outline of what is apparently a fuzzy, floppy-eared creature. The text on the opposite page mentions stolen carrots, soft hair, and hard teeth. The last two lines read:

“His floppy ears are long and funny.
Can you guess who? That’s right! My …”

The reader then turns the page to reveal the obvious conclusion to the rhyme.

Okay, there’s a reason this book is called Guess Again!. The obvious conclusion of the rhyme never comes. Instead readers are presented with completely unrelated, un-rhyming, unbelievable alternatives, each more absurd than the last, and every one downright hilarious.

I can’t in good conscience give them away. Get it. Read it for yourself. Here’s what happened the first four times I read it:

1. By myself – I laughed so hard tears streamed down my face.
2. Aloud with my 10-year-old – Again, uncontrolled laughter. Both of us cried.
3. Aloud to my wife – More fits. Wife acknowledged book’s hilarity.
4. Prepared for this review – Tears shorted out keyboard.

After enjoying Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem so much, I looked for more books by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex. Guess Again! exceeded all expectations. It is head-thrown-back, tears-run-down, short-of-breath, unable-to-finish-even-short-sentences, laugh-out-loud funny.

Trust me. For more information, just click Grandpa Ned.

Patience and Parenting and a Newspaper Column

New column in the newspaper today concerning patience, so it would probably be inappropriate to make anyone wait any longer for the links.

Here's a link to the column and to the printable version.

And thank you to everyone for stopping by Help Readers Love Reading.

Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

I like books that get your attention right from the start, and lines like “Mom says, ‘Billy Twitters, clean up your room, or we’re buying you a blue whale,’” do exactly that. They get your attention.

Honestly, this book had me with the advertisements inside the front cover. Seaman Stubb’s Do-It-Yourself Sailor Tattoo Kit sold me on their “Hula Girl” design, and what self-respecting book reviewer could pass on a mail order course from Professor Pequot on Monkey Training or Scurvy Etiquette?

But this book isn’t about tattoos or monkeys or vitamin C deficiency. It’s about Billy Twitters, a boy who doesn’t clean his room, doesn’t brush his teeth, doesn’t finish his baked peas … and does end up with a blue whale.

And all the responsibilities that come with it.

Billy needs to take his blue whale to school. He needs to feed it. He needs to play with it, clean it, and check it for barnacles. The book follows Billy through Day One of blue whale ownership. In the end, Billy does learn responsibility. He also learns hanging out inside a whale, at least his blue whale, isn’t nearly as bad as that guy Jonah made it out to be.

Kids will certainly enjoy the story, but adults will enjoy it on another level. Kids will find it funny that Billy tows his blue whale to school on a skateboard behind his bike, but it’s the adults who will giggle when they realize Billy lives in San Francisco. Kids will like Billy’s Blue Whale Owner’s Manual, but the adults will notice the manual resembles the emergency cards in commercial airplanes. (And that whales apparently have emergency exit routes.)

This is what makes Mac Barnett and Adam Rex’s book such a winner: Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem will have both kids and adults laughing. And it’s books like Billy Twitters – books that kids and adults enjoy together – that truly Help Readers Love Reading!

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

I generally don’t follow all the pre-Caldecott buzz, but apparently there has never been less suspense than in January of 2010, when everyone and their mother’s librarian expected Jerry Pinkney to take home the medal for The Lion and the Mouse. The Caldecott Medal is awarded for a book’s illustrations. In fact, in the official Caldecott Terms and Criteria, the word author only appears once. Artist appears eight times.

And from first glance onward, it is easily apparent that Jerry Pinkney is an artist by anyone’s definition.

Readers will be able to move through the book quickly, but The Lion and the Mouse begs for an immediate reread. Right from the title page, where the mouse finds himself in paw prints larger than he is, readers will study the remarkable illustrations that reveal more details with each look.

Nearly wordless, the pictures are left to tell the story. Most readers will be familiar with the story already, and my guess is that children who encounter the story for the first time via this book will have an adult leading them through it.

But I wonder if a familiarity with the story is necessary for kids to understand the book independently. For example, kids will see the mouse climb on the lion and see that the lion has captured the Mouse, but why is the lion so mad, and why does he suddenly let the mouse go? More importantly, is it even necessary to know the mouse woke the lion up from a nap? Is the conversation about how someone so small could never help someone so big needed? Do readers need to hear the mouse plead his case?

Maybe the fact that the lion lets the mouse go is reason enough for the Mouse to free the Lion from the hunter’s trap. Maybe a simplified story – lion frees mouse, mouse repays debt – works just as well as the one with a moral about friendship.

Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman

I am a big fan of This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness, the first collaboration between author Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski, so I was eager to get read Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Poems, their latest and 2010 Caldecott Honor book. Both books have similar illustrations – part painting and part collage – and I willingly admit, it’s personally a bit frustrating that my favorite of the two isn’t the one with the medal on the cover.

Adding to the illustrations in Red Sings from Treetops are the changes in text. The book starts in spring and progresses through the seasons highlighting the colors of each. Each color word is bold and printed in its own color. Some are highlighted to set them off from backgrounds of the same color.

Spring features red singing from treetops, the white of hail and lightning, and green everywhere. The yellow of the summer sun melt everything and numerous variations of blue describe water. Black describes summer nights. Brown takes over for tired green in fall when orange also arrives. Black and white take center stage in winter, but speckles of red, blue, and even green all make appearances to those who look hard enough. Teachers could certainly use Red Sings from Treetops when studying the seasons, and art teachers could have a field day looking for colors in all parts of life.

I have a healthy respect for poetry even if it isn't a personal favorite, but recommending Red Sings from Treetops is easy despite my literary preferences. The illustrations are deserving, and the text is a colorful walk through the year, especially for people who live in areas where all four seasons firmly stake claim to their own portion of the year.

Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith

Most people know Jeff Smith from his masterful Bone graphic novels, but add him to the list of acclaimed authors for beginning readers. Little Mouse Gets Ready, a 2010 Geisel Honor Book, tells the simple story of Little Mouse getting ready for a trip to the barn with Mama and his siblings. Of course, as it usually is with little ones, telling the story is much easier than the act of getting ready.

“Oh boy, I love going to the barn!” says Little Mouse. “Yes sir! There are LOTS of places to run and hide in the barn!"

Little Mouse lays out everything he needs to get ready: underpants, socks, pants, shoes, and shirt. Starting with the underpants, Little Mouse explains to readers that some items are easy (underpants) and some items are hard (the second arm in a shirt) and some items are downright tricky (buttons). His narration of the process is sprinkled with the great stuff he’ll get to do at the barn like eat the seeds dropped by the chickens and the oats spilled by the horses and swim in the cow’s water.

Finally – finally! – Little Mouse is ready. “One… more… button… Mm! THERE! I did it! I’m READY!"

From Little Mouse Gets Ready, © 2008 Jeff Smith & Raw Junior. Used by permission

Fully dressed and ready to head to the barn, Little Mouse gets a surprise. “Well…” says Mama, “mice don’t wear clothes!”

I wonder when a graphic novel will be recognized by the Caldecott committee. I’m not an expert on Caldecott criteria, and someone fill me in if graphic novels would be ineligible, but one item stands out: “Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the pictures.” Little Mouse’s response to Mama’s no-clothes declaration is wordless, but it says plenty.

From Little Mouse Gets Ready, © 2008 Jeff Smith & Raw Junior. Used by permission

Young readers will successfully read the text of Little Mouse Gets Ready. More importantly, they will enjoy the book repeatedly as more details of the seemingly simple illustrations are discovered upon subsequent readings.

Toon-Books have found a flawless formula and the scientists – er…authors – to masterfully mix the ingredients into beginning reader perfection. The proof lies not only in award recognition, but more so in the enjoyment and laughter of countless young readers.

Waukesha County Reading Council

Thanks to everyone from the Waukesha County Reading Council who attended Help Readers Love Reading today. I hope everyone was introduced to a new book or two (or more!) that you can't wait to take back to your students. Hopefully you took away some new ideas about how to use them as well. A special thank you goes to Colleen for inviting me to Waukesha to speak with you today and for taking care of all the planning. Thanks!

If you have any questions you didn't get a chance to ask, additional thoughts or comments, or anything else you'd like to share, leave a comment below this post or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks again for attending this morning's meeting, and thanks to everyone for all you do to Help Readers Love Reading!

UPDATE: Many of you mentioned a desire for more books geared at middle school and high school. All the reviews on the site are organized by grade level. Try here: Grade 6-8 and here: Grade Young Adult. Hopefully you will find more of what you are looking for. I've got plenty of books on the site for those age ranges, but for some reason they didn't make it into the presentation. Thanks for the suggestion.

The 2010 Newbery Medal - Some Quick First Thoughts

The 2010 Newbery Medal

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - I can't argue. The only nit I'd have to pick was mentioned in my initial review. That whole time travel thing is open to debate, I think, and I wonder if the committee discussed whether or not it affected the novel's worthiness. Obviously, they felt it didn't, seeing that it has that shiny medal on the cover.


The 2010 Newbery Honor Books

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose - Haven't read it.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly - Another one that gets no argument from me. I thought it moved a bit slow at times, but that's just personal preference. I liked Calpurnia, I liked her grandfather, and I liked how everything turns out in the end.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - Haven't read it.

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick - A rousing "Woo-Hoo!" for this one. As I said in my initial review, how can you not like someone who says, "Telling the truth don't come easy to me, but I will try, even if old Truth ain't nearly as useful as a fib sometimes." Loved the book, love the choice.

More to come as I get the books read, as well as reactions to the Caldecott and Geisel awards. For now I'll simply say the Caldecott didn't stir too much excitement for me, but the Geisel awards? It's time to stand and cheer!

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

Found: One sticky note containing the following message: "Tottally good/awesome! I really liked The Puzzling World of Winston Breen." Location: Attached to the cover of my copy of the book.

Allow me, for just a moment, a little soapbox standing. "Eh-hem. If you find a sticky note written by a child, similar to the one listed above, read the book. Thank the child repeatedly. Don't mention any spelling errors." Thank you.

Now as the book itself, here's my review: ""Tottally good/awesome! I really liked The Puzzling World of Winston Breen."

Winston is a kid who loves solving puzzles and sees them everywhere. Anagrams, patterns, numbers, word problems, pictures, you name it. Winston loves it. He finds them, solves them, and creates them. In the first chapter Winston gives his sister, Katie, a carved wooden box for her birthday. When Katie finds a hidden compartment containing four thin strips of wood with words on them, nobody believes that Winston, puzzle-man extraordinaire, isn’t behind it. Everyone thinks he planted them there.

He didn’t. He’s just as surprised as everyone else. The four wooden pieces end up being part of a larger set of sixteen. Put together, these sixteen pieces lead to a treasure left in the will of a very rich, local inventor. His four children could never work together, and the pieces eventually end up separated. Winston is drawn into the treasure hunt by the only remaining child, Violet Lewis, and two suspicious treasure hunters.

Each person owns four of the pieces. Each wants to find the treasure for different reasons. Two want the treasure. Violet Lewis wants to end her father’s mystery. Winston wants to solve the puzzle.

The book is filled with puzzles, and a website is given that contains all of them ready to print out, cut up, or write on. Some are answered within the story’s text, usually those that matter to the plot. Some puzzles are simply for the reader. Their solutions don’t matter to the story, only to Winston’s character development and the reader’s enjoyment. The only problem is that the story is so engaging, readers may find it difficult to stop reading to solve the puzzles!

Eric Berlin, a puzzle maker himself, has created a children’s book that will engage kids who enjoy puzzles and mysteries. Most readers will be able to solve a number of the puzzles and come away with the feeling that they helped Winston solve the biggest puzzle of his life.

A WiiBit Embarassing

Not quite a year ago I wrote a newspaper column about the iWants and WiiNeeds of my children and the lack of certain items in their lives. My most recent column revisits the topic - sort of - in light of recent events this past Christmas season.

And as I said in the column, I'm washing my hands (and thumbs) of all responsibility, and I'm casting the blame far and wide. Here are the links:

Plenty of blame to go around for Nintendo purchase OR the printable version.

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes by Kate DiCamillo

Mercy Watson hits a pig and butter bonanza when Mr. and Mrs. Watson decide to take the family to the Bijou to see When Pigs Fly. Even though Mercy’s favorite food is toast with a great deal of butter on it, the Bijou offers real butter on their buckets of popcorn, and those buckets are bottomless.

Predictably, neighbors Baby and Eugenia Lincoln climb in the backseat, followed closely by neighborhood children Frank and Stella. Some familiar characters are already at the drive-in. Officer Tomilello is in attendance with his wife and former burglar Leroy Ninker is now a reformed thief and cowboy-in-training, gainfully employed selling bottomless buckets of real-buttered popcorn.

With a familiar cast of characters now set, the now familiar chaos that follows Mercy Watson arrives as well. Mr. Watson and Frank leave to get popcorn, but Mercy, the scent of butter in the air, leaves to investigate on her own. Finding a large bucket of popcorn in the hands of a little girl, she helps herself. The young girl’s buttery scream of distress draws the attention of Officer Tomilello, cowboy-in-training Leroy Ninker, and Animal Control Officer Francine Poulet, who is also in attendance. Soon readers’ favorite firefighters, Ned and Lorenzo, are called.

Let the chase begin.

Mercy chases more popcorn. Everyone else chases Mercy. The chaos at the drive-in is absolutely thrilling to Mercy who always has loved a good chase. Finally, as they have in previous Mercy Watson stories, Ned and Lorenzo save the day, and everyone enjoys some hot buttered toast.

Readers can expect to enjoy Something Wonky This Way Comes as much as Kate DiCamillo’s other Mercy Watson books. Probably as much as Mercy enjoys hot toast with a great deal of butter on it.

Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem by Chris Monroe

There are a number of things that can cause an Arooga Boom Clang Clang sound in your house. You know, sometimes you’re laying in bed, maybe just starting to wake up, and suddenly Arooga Boom Clang Clang pulls you completely out of your slumber. Just off the top of my head, it could it be:

A. The furnace reacting to the -4 degree overnight low.
B. An early morning visitor in a Model T.
C. An elephant clogging the laundry chute.

No matter what the cause, when you have a tool belt like Chico Bon Bon, you can handle it. But finding the noisy problem can prove to be more difficult than solving the noisy problem. Where could it be? The bread box? The hamper? Under the floor boards? No, it was none of those.

What could cause it? A tricky family of woodpeckers? A lumberjack? Bats, monsters, or squirrels? Again, none of those. Believe it or not, there truly is an elephant clogging Chico Bon Bon’s laundry chute. An elephant named Clark.

Clark thought he was visiting his Elsa’s house, but Elsa lives two doors down. The next thing he knew, WHAM! Stuck in the laundry chute. Thankfully, Chico Bon Bon is one resourceful monkey.

A monkey with a tool belt. And tool belts have everything needed for solving problems. A chipper, a chopper, a bopper, a bipper. A tacker, a clacker, a snicker-snacker. A paper scraper, a glitter vac, a putty splapper, a tail clamp.

And numerous others, especially those used to laundry de-chute an elephant.

Kids will once again enjoy Chico Bon Bon’s adventure, even though this one doesn’t even take him out of his house. Author Chris Monroe has created a monkey who is thoughtful, thorough, and creative problem solver, and who proves to be a great friend.

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

I was hooked immediately. I’m not sure if the hook would work for all readers, but for me it was perfect. “From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bone is closer to four seconds than to five. One Mississippi: The quarterback of the Washington Redskins, Joe Theismann …” That’s all I needed. In that instant I was twelve years old, watching Monday Night Football, and seeing that unforgettable play over and over in my mind. If you’ve seen The Blind Side in theaters, you’ve seen the play. The movie starts exactly as the book does.

Unless of course, like me, you couldn’t watch.

There’s much more football in the book than the movie, and that’s more than fine by me. Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Parcells - these are names that drew me into football in my childhood. They are also names that provide the back story for why a six-five, 350 pound man is worth his weight in gold in the NFL.

Michael Oher’s story has become pretty familiar in the last year. You’ve at least seen the movie trailer on TV. Maybe you’ve seen the features produced by ESPN or NFL Network leading up the 2009 NFL Draft. Michael Oher, now a starting lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, lived homeless and basically parentless until, mostly by chance, he ended up at Briarcrest Christian School and had random run-ins with the Tuohy family.

Big Mike, by simply seeking warmth in the school gym one cold night, ends up on the Tuohy family’s ten thousand dollar couch. They share their Thanksgiving dinner with him. Mrs. Tuohy buys him clothing. More and more frequently they offer him a place to stay. Soon they offer him a permanent place in the Tuohy family. They legally adopt him.

The story of Michael’s (he hates being called Big Mike) journey from homeless and education-less to NFL starter is truly amazing. More people than just the Tuohy family offer their time and talents to give Michael what he needs. Tutoring, coaching, patience, and time, time, time. In the book author Michael Lewis takes a more methodical approach to telling the story. The movie’s approach is more emotional. Both, however, tell an incredible story and neither should be missed.

And I don’t say that very often about movies based on books.

Robot Zot! by Jon Scieszka

Robot Zot is a Wham Bot! A Bam Bot! Robot Zot is unstoppable, and he's about to conquer the blue planet out his ship's porthole. Earth. He crashes his ship in the midst of the fierce Earth Army and howls his battle cry: “Robot Zot – never fall. Robot Zot – conquer all!” Leaving behind the safety of his ship, Robot Zot bravely races into …

… a kitchen.

Yes, a kitchen. With a black-and-white checkered linoleum floor, various appliances, and beautiful yellow cabinets.

Undaunted, he quickly begins his domination Earth. Robot Zot may be only 6 inches tall, but he’s a Wham Bot! A Bam Bot! And his blaster gun is certainly real. Blender? Blended. Egg beater? Beaten. Stainless steel toaster? Also falls at the hands of the great Robot Zot.

“Zot scans the battlefield. He is glorious. He stands victorious.”

Robot Zot continues his world domination with a fiery destruction of a box-shaped foe that issues challenges and insults. “Is your breath not smelling as fresh as you would like? Maybe you should try lemonmintpinefresh!” Ka-boom!

Readers will enjoy Robot Zot’s destruction of various household items, and just as they are expecting more explosions and victories on each page, a new challenge arises. Robot Zot meets the Queen of all Earth and falls quickly and deeply in love. When she’s kidnapped, his mission immediately changes from world domination to rescuing his new love.

Jon Scieszka’s sense of humor is … uh … not typical of children’s literature. Seriously, a robot bent on conquering an entire planet who destroys a blender and falls in love with the next generation of this? No, it’s not typical for children’s literature. It’s better. David Shannon’s illustrations show the diminutive Robot Zot as the force he truly is. He leaps off the page, gun blazing, eyes scowling, ready for battle. Ready for victory.

Be prepared for little robots to chant their way through the house or classroom, issuing challenges, and referring to themselves in third person. “Brian Bot – never fall! Brian Bot – conquer all!” One reading will lead to more, and reader bots will be hoping for more adventures featuring Robot Zot!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

In order to meet my deadline, I started writing my latest column on December 1. November 30, a Monday, was a beautiful day. The temperature reached the 50s, I think. The grass was still mostly green and pretty soft. (I know the soft part because I was tackled into it by my children numerous times.)

Today it's below zero. Outside is all white. Nothing is soft. Even the snowbanks, which were soft initially, have frozen. Keep that in mind as you read Made-up games lead to winning day with kids, my latest column for the local paper. (Click here for the printable version.)

Rest assured, however, that I could have written the article about this past Wednesday evening when the first Wisconsin blizzard began or most of Thursday as the storm continued. The games were the same, just a bit snowier and a bit slower.

But every bit as fun.