A Pair of Children's Books
That Is Not a Good Idea, Mo Willems
Okay, you guys remember Jon Klassen? He of the weird and semicreepy and murderous and utterly hysterical children's books? (He has a new one out, incidentally; We Found a Hat, which is considerably more heartwarming and less murderous.) Right, well, That Is Not a Good Idea is along those lines. An extremely hungry fox meets a plump, tasty goose in a silent film-esque narration and proceeds to entice her to his home and to a boiling pot. All of this is watched by several goslings, who comment on the proceedings. There's a twist, naturally; since I compared this to Klassen, I think you can guess what it is. We've used this book in storytime a few times and the kids just die laughing at the end. I did a bit too. Definitely recommended.
The Escape of Oney Judge, Emily Arnold McCully
Round about the time of that "George Washington's Birthday Cake" fiasco, one of my coworkers handed me this book and said, "Did you hear about that children's book? Yeah, this does it better." And damn if she wasn't right. Oney Judge is a slave in the Washington household, chosen to attend Martha Washington as her personal slave in New York when George is elected president. There Oney meets free black people, and finds out that when Martha Washington dies, she will be sent to live with a Washington granddaughter instead of freed. Oney is not down with this and runs. The book details her escape and her subsequent life, including multiple attempts to return her to the Washingtons. I really liked it; it's well-written, appropriately horrifying without being too much for kids, and extremely sympathetic to Oney (as well it should be). It also casts the Washingtons in a decidedly poor light, good for kids who may be taught that they were godlike in history class. I think my favorite (well, "favorite") part is the bit where the Washingtons wonder why Oney ran: she was well treated, wasn't she? Like a daughter to them.
Very well done.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/393819.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Okay, you guys remember Jon Klassen? He of the weird and semicreepy and murderous and utterly hysterical children's books? (He has a new one out, incidentally; We Found a Hat, which is considerably more heartwarming and less murderous.) Right, well, That Is Not a Good Idea is along those lines. An extremely hungry fox meets a plump, tasty goose in a silent film-esque narration and proceeds to entice her to his home and to a boiling pot. All of this is watched by several goslings, who comment on the proceedings. There's a twist, naturally; since I compared this to Klassen, I think you can guess what it is. We've used this book in storytime a few times and the kids just die laughing at the end. I did a bit too. Definitely recommended.
The Escape of Oney Judge, Emily Arnold McCully
Round about the time of that "George Washington's Birthday Cake" fiasco, one of my coworkers handed me this book and said, "Did you hear about that children's book? Yeah, this does it better." And damn if she wasn't right. Oney Judge is a slave in the Washington household, chosen to attend Martha Washington as her personal slave in New York when George is elected president. There Oney meets free black people, and finds out that when Martha Washington dies, she will be sent to live with a Washington granddaughter instead of freed. Oney is not down with this and runs. The book details her escape and her subsequent life, including multiple attempts to return her to the Washingtons. I really liked it; it's well-written, appropriately horrifying without being too much for kids, and extremely sympathetic to Oney (as well it should be). It also casts the Washingtons in a decidedly poor light, good for kids who may be taught that they were godlike in history class. I think my favorite (well, "favorite") part is the bit where the Washingtons wonder why Oney ran: she was well treated, wasn't she? Like a daughter to them.
Very well done.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/393819.html. Please comment over there if possible.