Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast. Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Meg Park. 2017. Disney-Hyperion. 40 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: There lived three sisters and a father in a humble house in the country. They had once known great riches. But the father's business had failed, and now they lived a spare, hard life.

Premise/plot: A father asks each of his daughters what they would like him to bring them as a present when he returns from a business trip. His youngest daughter asks for a rose, just a rose. When the business trip fails--and he's lost all hope of financial success--he faces a hard trip back. He can't even bring a rose home. But after taking refuge in a stone castle--he never sees his host, but is treated well--he spots a rose in the garden and takes it. His host? So not happy.

This is the original story of Beauty and the Beast retold by Cynthia Rylant. It is not Disney's Beauty and the Beast retold by Cynthia Rylant. (I think that's a great thing actually.)

My thoughts: I love this story, the original story, I mean. The Beast is a dear from cover to cover. And it's just a magical story. It's not crazy-dramatic. It's not over-the-top. It's just good and simple and lovely.

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Mother Bruce

Mother Bruce. Ryan T. Higgins. 2015. Disney-Hyperion. 44 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Bruce was a bear who lived all by himself. He was a grump.

Premise/plot: Bruce WAS a grump, but, by the end of the story will he still be a grump?! In Ryan T. Higgins' Mother Bruce, Bruce finds himself unexpectedly a MOTHER. It all starts when he gathers eggs from Mrs. Goose's nest. He wanted HARD-BOILED eggs, but, what he gets are hatched goslings all calling him MAMA! What is he to do?! Will the raising of these geese make him a better bear?!

My thoughts: This one was cute and clever and FUNNY. I really enjoyed it. I think what I loved most of all were the illustrations of Bruce. He's my kind of bear honestly. The illustrations really MAKE the story. They add a lot of the humor. For example, when Bruce is trying to explain migration--heading south for the winter--and the geese are just not getting it! (The geese all flying in tiny airplanes just made me grin!)

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Thank You Book

The Thank You Book. Mo Willems. 2016. Disney-Hyperion. 64 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: I have a lot to be thankful for...I had better get thanking.

Premise/plot: Piggie is out to thank EVERYONE. But Gerald worries that Piggie will forget someone, someone important, someone REALLY, REALLY important. Readers see Piggie go about thanking various characters including the Pigeon, Brian Bat, the whale, some flies, etc. All the while Gerald gets more and more concerned. Piggie IS forgetting someone important. And Piggie is not taking hints!

My thoughts: I have mixed feelings about The Thank You Book. Part of me would like to put it in the freezer and pretend it simply doesn't exist. Why? It feels very much like THE LAST BOOK IN A SERIES. I do not want it to be the last book, the END. Cue the music. There could be a hundred titles in the series, and I'd still be looking for the release of 101! I haven't processed the loss yet...to there being no more books starring Gerald and Piggie.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Ballet Cat Dance! Dance! Underpants

Ballet Cat Dance! Dance! Underpants. Bob Shea. 2016. Disney-Hyperion. 56 pages. [Source: Library]

For the record, I have not read the first Ballet Cat book. So perhaps if I had, I would have maybe liked this one more than I did. It's not that I didn't like it, mind you. It's just that I didn't find it amazingly wonderful and laugh-out-loud funny.

Ballet Cat is playing with Butter Bear. She wants to play ballet. Butter Bear wants to play ballet, too, so long as playing ballet doesn't include mandatory leaps--or super high leaps. Ballet Cat is insistent. Leaping is required. No exceptions. Butter Bear makes half-a-dozen or so excuses...before revealing the real reason. Why won't Butter Bear leap???

The answer, my friend, is in the title. So it's not a complete surprise, perhaps. But if you have a little one who laughs and giggles every time the word "underpants" or "underwear" is mentioned, then this one is worth picking up.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Sword of Summer

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) Rick Riordan. 2015. Disney Hyperion. 528 pages. [Source: Library]

I haven't read any Rick Riordan in a year or two, so I was quite happy to pick up The Sword of Summer, the first book in his new series. I was hoping that it would be just what I needed: an exciting blend of action, drama, and humor. And it was. For the most part.

Magnus Chase, the hero, or almost-hero, is surrounded by a wild, diverse cast of sidekicks. Slowly but surely this team comes together in an almost-ultimate showdown between good and evil. There are plenty of tests put into place throughout the book to get the team to be a TEAM, ready to work together for the good of mankind.

Magnus Chase has just turned sixteen when the action begins. He's homeless, but, he's not friendless, and he's been warned that trouble is heading his way. Always thinking to stay a couple of steps ahead of trouble, he decides to investigate. Surely he can get close enough to trouble to see what's going on, and stay far enough away that he can slip away, right?! Wrong. But it's just what readers expect. After all, when the narrator tells you on page one that he dies, it's a sign that he actually dies...

Most of the book features Magnus in the after-life. And the focus of this fantasy series is on Norse mythology--Asgard. So there are fire giants, frost giants, wolves, and so much more...

Can Magnus and his friends prevent Doomsday from coming?

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

I Really Like Slop!

I Really Like Slop! Mo Willems. 2015. Disney-Hyperion. 64 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: La! La! La! Hi, Gerald! Hi, Piggie! Yikes! What is that?! THIS is slop!

Premise/plot: Gerald and Piggie are best friends. Piggie really, really, REALLY loves slop. Gerald, well, let's just say that he thinks it smells HORRIBLE. Absolutely horrible. Can Piggie get Gerald to try slop? Will he survive the experience?

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one very much. I did. One person's idea of "yummy, yummy" food MIGHT just be another person's idea of slop. Though in this instance, it is actually slop. (The flies are a clue. As is the fact that Piggie herself says it has old shoes in it.) If Piggie had been eating broccoli or spinach, Gerald's bravery would have made more sense, and the illustrations would have been even funnier. That being said, I have no complaints about this one. Loved the text. Loved the illustrations. And, of course, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the characters.

Hint: Notice the endpapers!

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Story of Diva and Flea

The Story of Diva and Flea. Mo Willems. Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. 2015. Disney-Hyperion. 80 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: This is Diva's story. For as long as she could remember, Diva lived at 11 avenue Le Play in Paris, France.

Premise/plot: The Story of Diva and Flea is an early chapter book. Diva is a small dog; Flea is a large cat, a flaneur. You might think these two could never be friends--best friends--because they are so very different from one another. Diva stays in her apartment, or in the courtyard of the apartment building; she's frightened of people--of stomping feet. Flea, well, Flea is a loner, a bit mistrustful of humans, who seem to always be waving brooms at him. Every single day is an adventure for this wanderer. He never knows when his next meal will be, or what it will be, but oh the sights he's seen. Yet these two do become friends, and they bring out the best in one another...

My thoughts: The Story of Diva and Flea is giddy-making. I loved, loved, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. I loved everything about it. I loved the setting--Paris, France. I loved the characters--Diva and Flea. I loved the premise: two animals becoming the best of friends. I loved how it reminded me of some of my favorite Disney movies (Lady & The Tramp and The Aristocats). I loved the illustrations. I loved the writing. For example,

Flea did not even have a fixed name. Some people called him "Puss" or "Midnight" or "Richard," but he didn't care too much about what people called him. He liked the name "Flea." He thought it was a funny name because he was a large cat, and a flea is a small animal. Also, he may or may not have had fleas.

I expected to love it because it is Mo Willems. But I didn't expect to love it so very, very much!!!

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

I Will Take A Nap

I Will Take A Nap. Mo Willems. 2015. Hyperion. 64 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: I am tired. And cranky. I will take a nap! I like to nap. I am happier when I am rested.

Premise/plot: Gerald, the elephant, is TIRED and CRANKY. What does Gerald need? A nap, of course! Will Gerald get a nap, a PROPER nap, that is?! Or will Piggie keep him from getting the rest he so desperately needs?!

My thoughts: I liked this one very much. Of course, I always like Gerald and Piggie very much. I adore this series so much. I liked it for all the reasons I like Elephant & Piggie. I like the relationship between Gerald and Piggie, their friendship. I like how these two balance each other out. They just make a great team. I like Gerald. I like Piggie. But together they are better. Together they are perfect. But one of the strongest reasons I like the series so much is how expressive the books are. I love the illustrations. Gerald and Piggie are drawn with such expression--such emotion--on every page. And these expressions are oh-so-easy to relate to! For example, I love Gerald's expression when Piggie wakes him up on page 12! And Gerald's expression when Piggie is doing all the snoring?! Loved it! That one is on page 34.

Have you read I Will Take A Nap? Did you like it? love it?

Do you have a favorite book in the series?


© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Iva Honeysuckle Meets Her Match (2013)

Iva Honeysuckle Meets Her Match. Candice F. Ransom. Illustrated by Heather Ross. 2013. Disney-Hyperion. 192 pages. [Source: Library]

Sissy One and Sissy Two are brave in Iva Honeysuckle Meets Her Match. These two sisters head to the beach for a week-long vacation with all six children.

Why brave? Well, Iva and Heaven and Lily Pearl and Howard aren't exactly calm, predictable, obedient children. Though in Howard's defense, he is led by Lily Pearl most of the time. In the first chapter book, Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World, Lily Pearl was in a witchy phase. (One of her favorite games was playing Naked Witch which involves running wildly around the house: naked, of course.) Howard was a ghost, I believe, in that game. In the second book, Lily Pearl has moved on to playing BRIDE. And Howard, of course, is her victim-playmate. But as it turns out, all six children take a notion to be disobedient and break all the rules set for them by their moms.

Summer vacation. One week. Plenty of adventures and misadventures. They meet new (and interesting) people. They try to manage their own spending money. They try to problem-solve.

Iva, poor dear, has a time of it during vacation! She sees a SEA MONSTER, takes her mom's camera, DROPS it into the ocean, doesn't confess and lets her mother search for it all week long. She feels bad--really bad--so then she starts trying to SOLVE this problem all on her own, how to make restitution AND how to establish proof of the sea monster.

Plenty of action and fun in this one. And the characters, while far from flawless, continue to be entertaining.

I would definitely recommend this one!

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World (2012)

Ivy Honeysuckle Discovers the World. Candice F. Ransom. 2012. Disney-Hyperion. 160 pages. [Source: Library book]

I definitely enjoyed meeting Iva and Heaven Honeycutt. These two are double first cousins. There is a LOT of tension in their relationship. Their mothers (Aunt Sissy and Aunt Sissy Two) wanted to time their pregnancies so that all their children could be best friends with each other. Arden and Lily Pearl are Iva's sisters. Hunter and Howard are Heaven's sister and brother. Ransom does a great job at bringing ALL six children to life in her book. Both families feel completely believable. I also enjoyed the community that this one is set in. Several neighbors enter into the story in lovely ways.

Iva and Heaven are different. Different from one another, yes, but also different from other children their own age. Neither girl truly excels in making and keeping friends.

Heaven loves going to yard sales. She likes buying things for her hope chest. When she's not looking for embroidered pillow cases and other dainty household items, she might be found praying or assisting with vacation church school.

Iva dreams of being an adventurer, she longs to discover something WONDERFUL in her hometown of Uncertain, Virginia. She has a plan. Once this girl has a plan, she likes to STICK to it. But it isn't always easy to stick to plans when plans don't take into account every little thing!

This is a summer adventure. I would definitely recommend this one!

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews