Ollie’s Halloween. By Olivier
Dunrea. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $6.99.
Mia Dances Back to School! By
Robin Farley. Pictures by Olga and Aleksey Ivanov. HarperFestival. $4.99.
First Day of School. By Anne
Rockwell. Pictures by Lizzy Rockwell. Harper. $6.99.
It is not even
back-to-school time yet, and already publishers are offering books with
Halloween themes. But why quibble when they are as cute as Ollie’s Halloween? This is the latest in Olivier Dunrea’s series
about goslings, and much of the fun here comes from seeing the cute baby geese
dressed up in their costumes. Gertie, as a chicken, and Peedie, as a dragon,
are particularly amusing in this simple and enjoyable board book; also here are
Gossie, dressed as a wizard, and BooBoo, costumed as a bunny. Ollie himself is
dressed as a mummy, and tends to get separated from the group as he “stalks in
the cornfield” and “stares at a ghost in the open barn door.” Dunrea calls
Halloween “a night to beware” and “a night to scare,” but everything is much too
good-humored here to be at all frightening, with the atmospherically drawn
jack-o-lantern and scarecrow’s head being just out-of-the-ordinary enough
without being likely to cause any nightmares. A flash of lightning sends the
five goslings scurrying back to the barn, with Ollie ending up standing “alone
in the dark” until his friends bring him over to the Halloween treats that
everyone shares. A mild and pleasant adventure, Ollie’s Halloween has a little more heft and a little more story
than do many board books, and Dunrea’s characters are as much fun to follow as
they always are.
Mia, the kitten ballerina,
brings a lot of fun to her fans as well, and Mia Dances Back to School! even has a full page of stickers showing
back-to-school supplies that young readers can use to help Mia pack her
backpack. The story is on the predictable side, as in many back-to-school books
for ages 4-8: this year Mia’s friends, Anna and Ruby, are in Miss Bear’s class,
while Mia is assigned to Miss Bunny’s classroom, where she does not know anyone
and feels sad and left out. However, she soon discovers that she can easily make new friends in the new class,
and then she learns that Miss Bunny used to be a ballerina, and as all Mia’s
fans know, anything ballet-related is the way to Mia’s heart. So she gets to
demonstrate a leap for the class, and everyone applauds, and soon Mia is
happily fitting right in. This (+++) book can be a good one for
pre-back-to-school reading for kids who enjoy Mia’s other stories.
Same topic, same
anticipatory approach, but a series book of a different sort: First Day of School is also for ages 4-8
and also gets a (+++) rating. This too is a pleasantly reassuring story, but it
is filled with people rather than anthropomorphic animals. Various friends
happily get ready for the new school year by getting haircuts, new backpacks,
new shoes, and so on, and recounting their experiences from the previous school
year. Like many group-experience books today, this one makes it a point to be
multi-ethnic and multicultural, and in this case even multi-aged: one girl has
a grandmother who is a crossing guard. Mild worries are quickly conquered, as
when two boys say they hope they will be in the same class this year, but even
if they aren’t, they will still be friends. The series element in First Day of School comes from the
teacher, Mrs. Madoff, who has appeared in other books by Anne and Lizzy
Rockwell but plays only a minor role here. No matter – as a short, simple,
reassuring summertime book about the coming return to the classroom, First Day of School (originally
published in 2011 and now available in paperback) will be enjoyable for kids
and families that identify with the characters, their concerns and their straightforward
back-to-school preparations.
No comments:
Post a Comment