book reviews for Thursday, December 13, 2001:

Dr. Seuss was a genius at not only writing all kinds of rhyming patterns and in using silly, made-up words, but more importantly, in making kids laugh.  He also had the unique ability to draw funny, inventive animals, and he knew the situations to place these animals in to bring a smile to a child's face.  Perhaps the most amazing fact about Dr. Suess was that he never had children himself.  He used to say  "You make 'em, and I'll amuse 'em." 

There's now a compilation that has been assembled in a large bound book that contains some of his very best work.  "Six by Seuss" is a treasury of these stories.  "Mulberry Street" was his first published story. (Interestingly, it took over twenty seven tries for him to finally find a publisher willing to work with him!) "Yertle the Turtle" is all about power and what happens if you rule your own little part of the world with selfishness.  Here's a simplistic way to teach children all about how kingdoms become entranced in ruling others.  (This could be one way to demonstrate or teach about our current international crisis.) "Horton Hatches the Egg" has the cutest elephant showing little listeners how important it is to be loyal.  "The Lorax" has become a hero for the environmentalists.  This story is all about standing up for trees. There are more stories in this nice compilation of work.  The book is big, the writing is large, and the illustrations are, well, Dr. Seuss drawings.  They're like no other.

Are you looking for a good book for your early reader?  Is your child just getting into chapter books?  (A chapter book is a book that has fewer pictures and more words.)  This is a critical time for a child because this is often when he or she begins to read more about the story and look less at the pictures.  "The Frog and Toad Treasury", by Arnold Lobel, is a perfect book for that 7 or 8 year old that is making this type of transition.  Mr. Lobel has the ability to write for children at this age and incorporate humor as well as friendship.  These are two valuable components that children can easily relate to, as well as be interested in.  Furthermore, his drawings fit the storylines perfectly. Perhaps this is why he has received many awards, including a Caldecott and a Newbery Award.  This compilation has "Frog and Toad Are Friends", "Frog and Toad Together", and Frog and Toad All Year".

Are you looking for a "good night" book that will help your little one go to sleep? "The Big Night Night Book" is a collection of bedtime stories.  The stories are relatively short so that you can easily finish them in one reading and they are all about bedtime or nighttime.  The book can be found in some of the local bookstores at a very good price. The only factor to consider is that they were all written by English (not American) authors and so some of the vocabulary might be unusual to the reader.  For instance, "mom" is always referred in some of the stories as "mum".  But, this can be educational to your child and can be used to teach about the different ways that we express ourselves throughout the world.  The pictures are bright and beautiful.  The book will be great for anyone 4 through 7 years of age.