JEREMY DRAWS A MONSTER

McCarty, P. (2009). Jeremy Draws a Monster. New York: Henry Hold and Company.

                                                     Plot Summary:

Jeremy Draw me a Monster is about a little boy, named Jeremy who never leaves his room. Instead, he watches the neighbourhood children playing from his bedroom window. For entertainment, Jeremy draws a monster who comes to life. The monster turns out to be very demanding and wants to continously be entertained. Jeremy draws items, such as a toaster for eating toast, a record player to liven up the room, and a hat so that he can go outside. The book ends with Jeremy being so fed up with the monster that he draws him a one way bus ticket away from Jeremy's house.

Review: 
This book is very visually appealing, and allows the reader to endulge in his/her imagination. It has stunning hand-drawn images, however, the story lacks the ability to draw the reader into the plot.   The dynamics between Jeremy and the monster are funny, however, the book does not adequately address the issue that Jeremy does not socialize with the real-world children, only a make-belief monster until the very end when he sends the monster away on the bus and gets invited to play ball by one of the neighbourhood children. This transition in the story left me perplexed, as there was no foreshadowing that this may occur.

Age Range - 3-5

Rating


***

how it works:THE HUMAN BODY

Barnes, K. &Weston, S. (1995). Howit works: the human body. London: Horus Editions Limited.

Plot Summary
This book uses text and illustrations to describe and explain the complexities of the human body: from cells; the blood stream; breathing; muscles; reproduction; and more. It aims to help the young reader discover how interesting our bodies are. For example, the book shows the reader how the heart pumps blood, how our eyes see, what the inside of a bone looks like.


Evaluation
This book is ideal for children of many different ages because the images and the text are both very engaging. The images are informative on their own and could potentially be used as a starting point to  attract the interest of a child. 
The text is sometimes technical and wordy, and could be simplified to ensure that the reader does not struggle with the language and become distracted by the challenges presented. However, by introducing new vocabulary to the reader and by using images to aid in their descriptions, there is an opportunity for the reader to enjoy this learning process.

The text is written by a medical doctor and it is apparent as many of the sentences are long and could be presented as a challenge for new readers. 
Overall, I think that this book would be a great book to have around the house for any parent because the images are strong and  have the ability to peak the interest of children of many different ages. However, the child will have to be a somewhat advanced reader to fully comprehend the text.


Age Range -3-7(enjoy the images) 
                     8-12 (full comprehension)


Rating 
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***

OLIVIA

Falconer, I. (2000). Olivia. Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Plot Summary
This book is about a day in the life of the precious little piglet, Olivia. The reader follows her through one of her energetic days where she dresses up, dances, goes to the museum, interacting with her little brother, goes the beach and builds a sand castle, paints, and reads bed-time stories with her mom. 


Evaluation
This book is so charming. In my experience, young children love to read the Olivia books. The drawings are depicted in a playful and funny manner that encourage children to engage and interact with the story, and they captivate their audience with their simple colour scheme: red, white and black, 


The stories portrayal of Olivia's playful and precocious personality is bound to attract young children and adults alike. Her life is reflective of the everyday routines that are involved in many children's lives, and brings humour to these activities. In addition, the story positively reinforces reading as an important bonding experience between parents and children. 


Age Range - 3-5


Rating


*****



 

IMAGINE A NIGHT

Thomson, S.L. (2003). Imagine a night. New York: Byron Preiss Publications, Inc. 

Plot Summary

Based on a series of paintings by Rob Gonzalvez, Imagine a night is a rhyming bedtime book that encourages the reader to imagine a night....to the theme of the images on each page.

Evaluation

This book has beautiful, rick images, however the text that accompanies each image does not harmoniously flow. It is apparent that the text was written after the completion of the images. I think that this book is one of those children's books that is primarity meant for an adult audience. I think that a child would enjoy the images, however, when truly considered, the text and the images are slightly haunting. I would not recommend that it be read at bedtime, as the title suggests. 

Age Range- 6-9

Rating 


**

THE BREADWINNER

Ellis, D. (2004). The Breadwinner. Toronto: A Groundwood Book - Douglas & McIntyre.

Plot Summary 
The Breadwinner is the story of a little Afghan girl, named Parvana, and her family, as they struggle to exist and survive in their war torn country. After Parvana's father has been arrested, Parvana must cut her hair and wear boy's clothes so that she can roam and work freely in the male dominated market-place of her city, all of this so that she can provide food for her family.

Evaluation 
The story clearly and creatively depicts life as it was during the Taliban rule in Afganistan. Throughout the book, there is a constant tension and fear that those in the market-place will find out Parvana's real sex. Although this book is for a tween audience, I think that it portrays the challenges of maintaining expectations from family and trials and pressures involved in living in Afghanistan. This book allows for children in our modern culture to gain a glimpse of life outside of our milieu.

Age Range - 9-12

Rating 


****

SLUGS

Greenberg, D. (1983). Slugs. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.

Summary:
A moralistically disturbing tale of revenge, this book is not suitable for children. It begins with a silly rhyming scheme about the many uses for slugs, which primarily include destructive and violent acts against them.
The slugs turn on the boy who has been conducting these cruel experiments, they swarm him and “chop [him] into pancakes, “turn [him] inside out, so [his] liver is on the outside and [his] brain is sauerkraut”.

Evaluation:
The images that accompany the story are seemingly amusing and colourful. They depict funny characters with silly facial expressions doing funny things. The images suggest that the book is intended for children. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the violence depicted in the story is not for the faint of heart, or for that matter, for children. 

 
The images would most likely make many children giggle, however, the text and images are not harmonious, in that the images do not fully depict the cruel and sadistic actions taken upon the slugs and then to the little boy at the end of the story.

The purposes of sharing this book with children may be to teach them a harsh lesson about treating people nicely and with respect. However, I can think of many other ways to convey this message without the use of violence and graphic imagery.

Age Range -  adult

RATING


*