Sneetches

The Star-Bellied Sneetches had bellies with stars, 

the Plain-Bellied Sneetches had none upon thars

Those stars weren't so big. They were really so small

You'd think such a thing wouldn't matter at all.

The story of the Sneetches is so simple, but like many Dr Seuss books has more subtle layers of meaning and message. On one level you see fashion and capitalist exploitation of insecurities, at another you can see racial and cultural tension and prejudice. The Star-Bellies think they are so much better, the Plain-Belies are excluded from all the privileges of Star-Bellied life. Then along comes Sylvester McMonkey McBean, with his amazing Star machine and suddenly no-one can tell the difference. 

"Through the machine they raced round and about again,

Changing their stars every minute or two.

They kept paying money. They kept running through

Until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew

Whether this one was that one ... or that one was this one

Or which one was what one ... or what one was who."

I don't think it's meant to imply that solutions are simple, maybe just that they are possible.

And here is my Sneetch. 

This is my first attempt to crochet something from a pattern and it is designed by the lovely Nicole at Nicole's Nerdy Knots. She publishes lots of free patterns on Ravelry so do check her out (particularly if you have a child into Pokemon). It was very fiddly in places and I think my tension leaves a little to be desired but I am so chuffed that he looks like a Sneetch and not just a yellow blob. 

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

Ok, I had forgotten all about this one, Monkey and I read it a couple of months ago, but I am reviewing it here for the Weirdathon, because, I mean, what kind of a title is 'The Boy Who Kicked Pigs'! And it's by Tom Baker, and who doesn't love Tom Baker, he always was my favourite Dr Who. 

This books pretty much does what it says on the tin; it is about a really unpleasant boy called Robert Caligari, who begins with hatred of his sister's piggy bank, and an insatiable desire to kick it, a habit that leads to all sorts of insane consequences. 

Here he is, looking quite diabolic:

 Here is the flying bacon butty, the cause of the abrupt ending of his pig kicking days: "Robert flew over the church wall hot in the same trajectory as the mugged butty. He fell headlong into what felt like a scalding pond of stinging nettles. A neglected grave carrying the name Cheesemans and suggesting, rather improbably, that the aforesaid Cheesemans were merely sleeping, nestled in the nettles where the kidnapped and abused butty had landed." (p.35)

After reading about the shark lynching incident Robert finds other ways to let out his increasing hatred of the human race: "With quite amazing cheerfulness he called out sweetly but clearly to old Mr Grice, 'All clear, Mr Grice.' The old man smiled for the last time as he thanked Robert for his kindness, and slipped him a pound for his trouble. And so Mr Grice stepped under the roaring TIR forty-tonner. The brakes shrieked as the driver did his best and hit the 'dead man's handle.' People screamed and rushed forward. Robert got there first." (p.47)

Then what starts out as an attempt to upset a poor unsuspecting horse rider with a bow and arrow turns into a major catastrophe: "The woman clung on and did her best to calm the shocked creature. The cyclists, heads down and legs whirling, went past the woman on the horse and they noticed nothing. The poor woman must have been very scared to be up there on a rearing horse and on the motorway bridge too. And she had reason to be scared. The horse leapt up and sideways and trying to get away from the arrow in its arse, it jumped off the motorway bridge and fell down on to the south-bound carriageway below." (p.69)

You will be pleased to hear that he gets his just deserts, but I won't spoil the end because it is far more gruesome than you could imagine, making this story most unsuitable for younger children. 

The Sleeper and the Spindle

There seems to have been a glut recently of people re-writing classic fairy tales and 'The Sleeper and the Spindle' is Neil Gaiman's contribution. It is a concoction of ideas from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, with a very clever twist, and beautiful, subtle illustrations by Chris Riddell that bring a real fairytale feel to the book. 

Our main protagonists are a group of three dwarfs who discover a sleep plague spreading across a neighbouring kingdom and so seek the assistance of their queen to break the enchantment; it turns out she has some experience with these matters. We are not told who they are, but details emerge as the story progresses:

"They had names, the dwarfs, but human beings weren't permitted to know what they were, such things being sacred.

The queen had a name, but nowadays people only ever called her Your Majesty. Names are in short supply in this telling." (p.23)

Meanwhile in the castle at the centre of the enchantment a wizened old hag wanders alone and angry amongst the sleepers.

But when the princess is awoken things are not as they might at first appear, and the tables have to be turned before the spell is broken.

The whole experience gives our queen a taste for life and instead of returning for her wedding she sets out with the dwarfs in search of something else.

 A book that can easily be read in one sitting, as a bedtime story or on a wet Wednesday afternoon. A tale without the neat happy-ever-after cliché and some wonderful subversion of traditional expectations.

Boys and Bears and Boats

'A Boy and a Bear in a Boat' by Dave Shelton
I ordered this from the library after reading about it somewhere online and thinking it might be a good birthday gift for the Babe (who is rising five so I think due a change of nickname). I have read it with my breakfast for the last week and loved it. 

It is quite simply a story about a boy and a bear in a boat. It starts off rather dull and slow and you wonder where it might be heading, but as the situation becomes more surreal you get caught up in the story. The front cover, in case you're wondering, is meant to have that cup stain: the blue cover is supposed to be the 'map' of the sea (utterly without landmarks) that the bear consults and he makes the ring with his cup of tea. The journey they are taking is unfortunately extended by unforeseen tidal anomalies and they end up battling a sea monster, encountering a ghost ship and having to build a raft. I think the story it unusual for a children's book because it has an inconclusive ending, but it does tread the well worn theme of friendship and learning to value people. It is also about facing up to challenges and taking responsibility; all through the story the boy is a little bit a victim of circumstance and turns to the bear for knowledge and reassurance, but then at the end the bear succumbs to despair and the boy has to take charge and save the day. The practicalities of living out at sea in a rowing boat are sorely neglected, but I guess that's just me be being an adult reader, a child would not be concerned with such tedious details. It is nearly 300 pages, though they are small and many of them are taken up with illustrations, so it does require some sustained attention, and maybe not for children who are easily scared; although the boy is in quite a vulnerable situation the threats are all very short lived and punctuated by stops for tea:

"And he smiled and stared into space, wearing an expression of deep contentment that he retained for the next quarter of an hour as he consumed, one small (and loudly appreciated) sip at a time, the rest of the contents of the cup. When he was done, he used the last drop of water from the kettle to rinse out his cup, emptied out the teapot into the sea, put everything neatly away and took up his oars again, beaming with happiness." (p.55)

A to Z Reflections and a Postscript

I have had a sluggish week after the exhausting Read-a-thon last weekend so am only just getting round to my A to Z Reflections post. During the month I probably visited over 1300 of the participants, though I confess that in many cases I clicked the link and closed it again if the content did not interest me. Who would have thought there were quite so many fantasy writers out there. At least most people were actually writing about stuff; last year I was disappointed by how many people just picked a word and defined it and called it a blog post. Having said that I have read lots of interesting blogs over the last month; book reviewers, family stories, curious hobbies, some fabulous recipes and pictures from around the globe. So here are a few I enjoyed:

Kyle Henderson blogs at This is Otis, where he draws cartoons of a curious little green character in a variety of common and not-so-common situation.

Azia blogs at Azia Says What? and she treated us to a poem a day during the challenge, I will have to wait and see what she blogs about the rest of the year.

Lisa Southard blogs at Wishbone Soup Cures Everything and wrote a strange story about a woman and a little girl. 

Luana Krause blogs at Skating Buffalo and had a very unique theme of objects that have been used as film props, just quirky and interesting.

Anyway I just needed to add a little postscript to my challenge. When browsing the wiki page of Helen Oxenbury I came across a link to Margaret Mahy and was astounded that I had completely forgotten her and how much we loved 'The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate'. However the one I had to write about is 'Jam' (illustrated by Helen Craig) (and had to pop to Amazon to find a second hand copy, I am not sure we ever owned this but had it from the library regularly.)

The story goes that Mr Castle takes over the running of the family home when Mrs Castle goes off to be a scientist. Of course he has to be an uber-house-husband and gets all the jobs done in super efficient style, but we'll let that pass because the rest of the tale is so good. In searching for more domestic chores to fill his day he discovers the plum tree in the garden just loaded with fruit and sets about making some jam.

However, he begins to take it all a little too far. Determined not to waste any of the precious plums he makes more and more jam, filling every possible container in the house, including the flower vases and the sherry glasses. Then the family has to eat all the jam. At first it is wonderful and they enjoy all the cakes and puddings, but after a while they begin to tire of it (not to mention worrying about their expanding waistlines.)

They dare not say anything to Mr Castle for fear of hurting his feelings but eventually the jam haunts their dreams and they come to long for something, anything, to eat that is not jam. At last the final jar of jam is consumed and they plan a new exciting menu, only to discover that a whole year has passed and the plums on the tree are ripe once again. A cautionary tale about home preserves I think.

(You can visit other A to Z Reflections posts here)

Z for ZZZZZ

Today is the final post in the A to Z Challenge. My Z post is for zzzzzz and these are books that send me to sleep.

We had a couple of the original Rev. W. Awdry 'Thomas the Tank Engine' books when Lewis was a toddler. They are just plain awful. I gave them away and swore I would never read them again.

Similarly Postman Pat, trite and unreadable. I dislike them on a second front these days because of small children (and grown men) calling 'Hey Postman Pat' at me and for the terrible, inaccurate impression they give of being a postie.

We had a boxed set of Beatrix Potter books given to us by the great-grandparents. I might have tried to read Peter Rabbit once but never again. They come from an era when the view of children and childhood was so different. The children very much enjoyed carrying them around in the little box that had a handle but they were a huge pain and I spent far too much time having to put them away again.

However ... on the subject of going to sleep and discussing this post with Creature this morning she told me about a much more fun and much more inappropriate bedtime story book, and it seems like a good way to end the month. It is called 'Go the Fuck to Sleep' by Adam Mansbach, illustrated by Ricardo Cortés. I think that this is a book for the parents to share with each other and I doubt if anyone is buying it to read to their children.

Here is the book read by Samuel L. Jackson, excuse the poor sound quality and he does chat for the first couple of minutes.

CONTENT WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY OFFEND

I hope everyone participating and visiting had enjoyed the A to Z challenge, it has been a lovely month of nostalgia for me. Thanks to all my visitors and commenters, and the new followers, I hope you stick around and read the more grown up book reviews to come.

Y for Yeoman

'The Wild Washerwomen' by John Yeoman has appeared on this blog before but I could not resist writing about it for the A to Z because it is so brilliant. Quentin Blake gets another outing as the illustrator.

The seven washerwomen work in a laundry for Mr Balthazar Tight (excellent name), but he is really mean and makes them work too hard, so one day they push the mound of laundry on top of him and escape (it seems to be some form of indentured labour because they all live there together too). The years of hard work have made them pretty tough so they run amok amongst the local community creating havoc.

They splash people with muddy water and overturn the stalls in the market. They steal apples from the trees and hats from hat shops, then swing on the church bell ropes and make a terrible noise.

They are so tough no one can stop them. Then a bunch of woodcutters hear the story. They cover themselves in mud and soot to make themselves intimidating, hoping to scare the washerwomen away. However when they come up the mountain path in the goat cart things don't turn out like that.

"But then Minnie realised they were looking at the dirtiest and grubbiest things that they had ever seen in their lives. 'Come on girls,' she shouted. 'Remember you're washerwomen!' "

And they grab the woodcutters and plunge them in the river. "They soaked them and squeezed them and pounded them on stones. They rinsed them and wrung them and laid them out to dry."

And it turns out they weren't such a bad looking load of woodcutters and the washerwomen take a liking to them. So they marry the woodcutters and "after that, people who travelled along the mountain path would see them, all happily washing and woodcutting and having the time of their lives."

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)

X for Xargle

Dr Xargle's explanations of the oddities of human life from the point of a view of a green alien are just wonderfully inventive, described as being 'translated into human' by Jeanne Willis (a second mention for this author too) and illustrated by Tony Ross. The one about Earthlets is brilliant too but here I have Earth Mobiles and Earth Tiggers.

Dr Xargles is an alien teacher and he is trying to help his charges make sense of the peculiar behaviour of humans. They are funny books for children because it allows them to laugh at someone who doesn't understand what to us are obvious things, but it also points out that the things we think are obvious might not be so after all. It also points out to children how there might be any number of alternative explanations for things, and that different cultures have totally different ways of seeing the world.

"A car has many eyes. It winks at it's friends with these. It has a tail. Out of this comes stink fume."

The definition of a boat: "A boat is made from a tree and a sheet is tied to a stick with string"

Weird behaviour on aeroplanes: "The earthlings are only allowed to get on if they smile. Then, they are tied to the chairs so they don't escape."

At the end of each book his students disguise themselves as schoolchildren and travel to earth, only to get in a whole lot of trouble because of their slightly strange lessons.

We always liked the cat one, you probably have to be a cat person to find it funny.

"Earth tiggers like gardening. They dig a hole and plant a stinkpot. This never grows."

Earth tigers mainly eat 'meatblob' but "A healthy earth tigger also needs cow juice, tandoori cluck bird, muckworm and old green gibble in dustbin gravy." Just brilliant and laugh out loud funny.

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)

W for Waddell and Wise

As I mentioned earlier in the challenge here is a post for Martin Waddell. His list of publications is pretty extensive and he has collaborated with many different illustrators. Mostly his stories are very gentle and reassuring, perfect for bedtime reads. 

I am annoyed at the library for failing me. I requested their copy of 'Once There Were Giants' weeks ago and according to the online catalogue it is sat on the shelf in Wythenshawe but it has not arrived so I have no photos of the story to share with you. This book was always my favourite, though I am not sure if the children were so taken with it. It is the story of a young woman looking at family photographs and watching her own growing up, the 'giants' being the adults around her, and how in the end she becomes one of the giants and has a baby of her own. Just lovely. (Illustrations in this by Penny Dale, who also illustrated another called 'Rosie's Babies' which I love too.)

'The Tough Princess' (illustrated by Patrick Benson) is a wonderful role model for little girls too exposed to Disney princesses. Our heroine is Princess Rosamund. Her mother and father are very  poor and they all live in a  caravan, they are worried about their old age and need to marry her off. But instead of fitting in with their plans she grows very tall, beats up the bad fairy and goes off on her bike to find a prince. She has adventures and rescues several "but she didn't like them, so she threw them back".  Eventually she fights through to an enchanted castle and kisses a beautiful prince so it all ends happily, but at least she does it on her own terms.

The most beloved of Martin Waddell's books however is 'Owl Babies' (also illustrated by Patrick Benson), and if you have a two-year-old and don't own this yet ...go buy a copy.

A lovely simple tale of three baby owl, called Sarah and Percy and Bill, who wake up to find themselves alone. A little bit of tension builds as they worry about where their mother might have gone or the things that might have befallen her, but the big sister reassures the little ones and they all sit on the branch awaiting her return. And of course she comes back, "Mummy, they cried, and they flapped and they danced, and they bounced up and down on their branch." The message being that no matter what, mummies are reliable and will always come home. 

'Ten Sly Piranhas' by William Wise, illustrated by Victoria Chess (hear it read on youtube here). I am just sneaking another one in here under the radar. This book came I think from a library book sale and is a counting book with a tasty twist. 

We start the story with ten sly piranhas but there is one really sly one and during the course of the story he manages to sneak up and eat all the others (I mean I'm assuming it's the same one, it might be that several of them eat someone and then they get eaten in their turn). The book is full of these lovely vivid pictures as the river passes through the jungle and we see a vast array of different animals both above and below the water. It puts a slightly more 'friendly' face on a much maligned creature; I saw one once in an aquarium and they really do not look friendly at all. 

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)

V for Varley

I am going back to the illustrators today with two books from Susan Varley, each with very different styles. The first is 'Why is the Sky Blue' written by Sally Grindley which I confess I love mostly for the message it conveys.

In this book Donkey and Rabbit live in a field. "Donkey was very old and knew a lot of things" and "Rabbit was very young and wanted to learn". But Rabbit is very excitable and runs back and forth around the field discovering things for himself and finds it hard to pay attention to the lessons Donkey wants to impart. The pictures show Rabbit chasing butterflies or looking at the clouds or trying to fly like the birds:

He comes back each day and tells Donkey excitedly all about the things he has discovered and says how he really does want to learn about why the shy is blue, Donkey always says "But I can only teach you if you sit still and listen." Eventually, one day when Rabbit doesn't come back, Donkey sets out to look for him and along the way rediscovers the joy of adventure and imagination. I always liked it because it subverts the classic school message that children can only learn if they sit quiet and listen to what the teacher says, and embraces the notion of individual discovery that forms the basis of autonomous education.  

(By the way, here is why the sky is blue, in case you are wondering.)

The second one is 'The Monster Bed' written by Jeanne Willis, another book that subverts the monster story genre. 

In it we have young Dennis the Monster who is afraid of the children who might be under his bed while he is asleep. He decides that to prevent this happening he will sleep under the bed. Unfortunately when a small boy who gets lost in the woods happens to wander into their cave and find the bed a traumatic meeting between the two of them becomes inevitable.

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)

U for Unknown

This is slightly cheating but I make the rules for my A to Z challenge and today I am going to write about a few books that I have come across that I thought were brilliant but were not around when my children were little. 

First up is Jon Klassen. 'I Want My Hat Back' apparently raised a bit of a furore (Spoiler Alert) because the bear who is looking for his hat finds the rabbit who has taken it and eats him. Although the event is not pictured there is some concern about whether this is okay in a children's story.

 His other book sees a similar story from the other perspective. 'This Is Not My Hat' is told by a small fish who has stolen a hat from a very large fish and is convinced he will get away with it. The big fish hunts him down into the weeds and comes out alone so you are left unsure as to his fate. Both books have a lovely sparse quality to them, just the characters passing across each page in pursuit of their respective objectives. The reader is required to interpret to a certain extent, judging the emotions based on minimalist eye movements. I like the kind of book that is more subtle and allows the listener to engage and wonder what the characters might be thinking.

 Second up is Oliver Jeffers. His books have a similar feel to Klassen, again they are very sparse with a plain coloured background to each page and minimal uncluttered pictures. These are the ones that I sat and read in Waterstones.
'The Heart and the Bottle' about a little girl who protects her heart by putting it in a bottle.

In 'Stuck' a little boy gets his kite stuck in a tree and attempts to get it down by throwing other things into the tree. The story gets more and more surreal as he throws bigger and bigger items and the tree gets more and more crowded . It reminds me of the definition of stupidity; doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 

The one I really loved however was 'This Moose Belongs to Me' in which a boy discovers the true meaning of friendship and how you shouldn't take anyone for granted. 

I mentioned 'Stanley's Stick' by John Hegley (illustrated by Neal Layton) back in October when I saw a  most peculiar dramatisation of the story during the Manchester Literature Festival. It is just a lovely story about a little boy and a stick and the games he plays. I liked it because it makes me think of Lewis and the years I spent going on outings with him and *always* coming home with a stick. They are just the best toys ever.

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)

T for Three Little Wolves

'The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig' by Eugene Trivizas (what an interesting man, do go read his wiki page), illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (coincidentally married to John Burningham who I wrote about earlier this month). I thought I still had this book but unfortunately not. I will definitely buy another copy. The pictures today are courtesy of Passionate about Picturebooks, where a lovely lady called Sandie shares her enthusiasm for books that she uses in teaching english. This is another book where you really need to be familiar with the original to appreciate the subversion of the tale. 

The three little wolves are sent out into the world by their mother, after a stern warning about the Big Bad Pig, and meet a random selection of animals who provide them with building materials. Rather more robust than the feeble house of straw that the little pigs build, the wolves start off with one made of bricks. However, after all the huffing and puffing, we discover that the pig "isn't called big and bad for nothing" and he takes a sledgehammer and knocks it down:

So they follow that up with a house of concrete and then a house made of metal sheets and barbed wire. I rather like the bit where the Big Bad Pig does not knock on the door but buzzes for their attention via the video entrance phone. I also like the fact that their most precious possession is a china teapot that they manage to save on each occasion.

What is lovely about the pictures is how beautifully the animal roles are reversed; the wolves do look sweet and defenceless and the pig looks mean and vicious. 

In a very neat bit of outside-the-box thinking the wolves then decide to build a house of flowers. It has roses and sunflowers and cherry blossom, it smells beautiful and it sways gently in the breeze.

When the Pig comes to try and blow it away he is so overwhelmed by the scent of the flowers that he sees the error of his ways and ends up playing games and having tea with the wolves, and they all live happily ever after. This book is the whole package, fantastic illustrations, full of details that are integral to the story, and an excellent clever tale, with an interesting point to make about the nature of criminality. I always liked books that give rise to conversations about the motivations of the characters, and this one was always thought provoking.

(Go to the list here and visit other A to Z Bloggers.)