Reindeer Dust by Kate Dwyer

by Carol4 Comments
Christmas is my favorite time of year - even if I hate the cold. So today, as part of A Month of Favorites, I thought I'd share a review of a new Christmas picture book I received this year. A Month of Favorites is hosted by Girlxoxo, Traveling with T and Estella’s Revenge. Today we’re linking up at Estella’s Revenge. When Amber was little, we always put out milk and cookies for Santa, but she's always been an animal lover, so we couldn't forget about the reindeer. They got carrots, but I bet they would have preferred reindeer dust. This is a cute story. Santa's got so many presents to deliver that he doesn't have time to feed his reindeer and, to make matters worse, it's a foggy night. Happily, William has been watching the weather reports and comes up with a plan to help Santa find his and his friends' houses - reindeer dust. Don't worry, the recipe's included in the book. I...
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Thursday’s Tale: Please, Malese! by Amy MacDonald

by Carol2 Comments
Today's Tale is a retelling of a story from Haiti. The back of the book explains that in Haiti, the trickster is known as Malese, derived from the French "malice". Sometimes Malese is evil and sometimes he is mischievous, but above all, he enjoys taking advantage of people, including his friends who can't seem to catch on to his cunning ways. This story was adapted from the original, "The Magic Island", written in 1929 by W.B. Seabrook This book is just pure fun. The pictures are gorgeous, simply drawn but full of vibrant colors. Malese tricks his neighbors into giving him everything from shoes to rum for a cake. The end up throwing him in jail for a month, but of course Malese is pretty sly. By the end, not only is he out of jail, but his neighbors are fixing up his house for him—for free of course. At first I thought it's kind of a shame that Malese never learns...
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Thursday’s Tale: Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

by Carol7 Comments
Love, love, love this Halloween kids book! We read our copy so many times when Amber was young that it started falling apart. We went to the pumpkin patch this Sunday and while we were picking out our pumpkins, we had to repeat the catch phrase - "It’s big and it’s mine, but it’s stuck on the vine, and Halloween’s just hours away.” The rhythmic, repetitive text is perfect and I love the monsters. There’s the must have Halloween visitors, the witch herself, a ghost, a vampire, a mummy and a bat, but the story focuses on how they all end up working together. It's got a great message of teamwork and friendship. And then they all get to share the pie. A definite Halloween treat. It's a perfect read-aloud with plenty of repetition and rhyming and fun voices. Just then, along came a vampire. “Big pumpkin,” said the vampire. “It’s big and it’s mine, but it’s stuck on the vine, and Halloween’s...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Flying Witch by Jane Yolen

by Carol4 Comments
The Flying Witch is not a traditional Baba Yaga story, but it's still entertaining. The witch is after a tasty, plump child to eat, but the girl she finds is brave and clever. She has "two good feet, a fine sense of direction, two strong arms, and a clever mind." She finds a way to escape from the witch with - get this- her father's help. Dad is pretty smart himself, puts two and two together, and finds his daughter. I love that we have a strong female lead in the little girl and a dad who is not the stereotypical disinterested/absent fairy tale father. He cares and risks his safety to go after her. Yolen's Baba Yaga follows tradition. She flies using a mortar and pestle, is wrinkled and ugly and has an iron nose. The book doesn't talk down to its young audience, it explains and shows what the mortar and pestle look like instead of just letting her...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

by Carol3 Comments
In his introduction to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was first published in 1900, Baum wrote that the story "aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.” It has been considered the first American fairy tale because of its references to clear American locations like Kansas and Omaha. While agreeing with authors like Carroll about fantasy literature and its importance for children along with numerous illustrations, Baum also wanted to create a story that had recognizable American elements in it like farming and industrialization. It's a mix of fantasy: witches and wizards, and the everyday: scarecrows, puppy dogs. I have watched three movie versions of the Wizard of Oz over the years - the classic from 1939, the Muppet version, and last year's Oz the Great and Powerful. Each has aspects of the original story, but none capture the whole adventure. We all know Dorothy is...
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