2 comments about Pignic.

1. I love this book and so do the children in my 1st grade class! The illustrations are whimsical and detailed enough to hold the children's interest when they "read" independently. There is one short sentence per page (For example: Ray steamed pots of rice.)so that young readers can build reading confidence with this book. If you are a fan of alphabet books, pigs, and/or food (after all, it is an accounting of a "pignic" ), you will enjoy this book!



2. If you live in Iowa . . . or. . . if you have a pig farm. . . or if you earn your living from the pork industry. . . or if you just plain get a kick out of pigs, then buy this book and read it to your young children.
   
   Alphabet books can be boring, simple, intriguing, and/or tell a story. This one tells a story. It seems that a family of pigs gets together each summer for a pignic. (Don't we all?) And, ironically, the family has a pig with a name from each letter of the alphabet. More intriguing, each of them brings a food to the pignic that begins with the same letter as their name. Isn't that great?? They can remember Cousin Karl's name because he brought ". . . pickled kumquat mousse" to the event. Enjoy the fun.

5 comments about Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka.

1. Jamie O'Rourke is the laziest man in all of Ireland. When his wife, Eileen, visits her sister to help with the new baby, Jamie figures the easiest way to keep the house nice and clean is to stay in bed and rest all week. But when his friends come over with a jug of cider to keep him company, and help him eat all the good food Eileen prepared before she left, they leave quite a mess for Jamie to clean up. "...But the mere sight of the messy cottage made him the most tired man in all of Ireland, as well as the laziest. So he went to bed..." In the middle of the night, Jamie was awakened by a noise. There in the cottage was a donkey-like creature, a pooka, standing on two legs, cleaning and washing and sweeping. Jamie couldn't believe his good fortune. Night after night, all week long, his friends came to have a fine old time eating and laughing and making a terrible mess. And every night after Jamie had gone to sleep, the pooka came and cleaned everything up for him. But never fear, this hard working pooka is just too good to last, and Jamie O'Rourke is about to find out the hard way on the night before Eileen comes home..... Tomie dePaola is back with another delightful and entertaining Jamie O'Rourke misadventure. His easy to read, charming text, based on an old Irish folk tale is only outdone by his very engaging and familiar artwork, and youngsters will enjoy all the wonderful facial expressions and humorous detail in each picture. With an author's note at the end explaining the pooka in Irish folklore, Jamie O'Rourke And The Pooka is an endearing, good time read that's perfect for St Patrick's Day, or any other day of the year. Tomie dePaola is an American treasure. You can never go wrong with one of his books.



2. In brief, my husband and I were disappointed in this book. The depiction of the teeth-baring, donkey-like, and definitely not cute pooka is quite sinister--I thought my 3 1/2 year old would be afraid of it, but she's in a bit of stage where she's intrigued by evil characters lately. The story itself isn't too scary, but in the end the moral basically seems to say that O'Rourke shouldn't have taken pity on the cold, hard-working pooka, that his one act of unselfishness backfires. What kind of lesson is that for a child? We love just about everything else De Paola has published, so this book took us by surprise.



3. My six year old son and I loved reading this book together. He's now eight and we still enjoy it. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to be amused.



4. Jamie O'Rourke is the laziest man in all of Ireland, and when his wife goes off to visit her sister, she leaves him with clear instructions on how he should run the home in her absence. However, when Jamie's friends show up to help him eat the food his wife left, he finds himself confronted with a gigantic mess. But, when a pooka shows up and does the cleaning up for him, Jamie is the luckiest man. Now, what reward should he give the pooka?
   
   This is a very cute book. The story is very simple and easy to understand, making it just right for the little reader, and the illustrations are colorful and quite pleasing. Overall, I thought this was a grand book, with a charming story, with a surprising ending. Did Jamie O'Rourke learn a lesson? Well, no, but reading this book you might just learn something about gratitude.



5. Ah and I'll be telling you true this is a better story than the one about the pratie(potato)by Paola. Fun to read to your 1st grade students aloud as they listen to another fascinating tale of the laziest man in all of Ireland, Jamie O'Rourke.
   
   This time around Jamie's wife leaves him to go visit her sister who is having her baby. Jamie and his cronies wreck havoc on the home. Being lazy just like Jamie their pal, the cronies after a night of festive partying leave the mess to Jamie for cleaning up. But a Pooka comes in the night and cleans it all up for him. Night after night as Jamie watches and wonders the Pooka returns and then Jamie finally manages to confront him. Through the course of the story Jamie learns a Pooka is a lazy man trapped to do all the work in this strange form, work avoided in the last life. Think "learn your lesson Jamie" . But does this change Jamie, straighten him out? Scare him even?
   
   Never fear Jamie really is the laziest of all men bound even to cheat the undertaker of this punishment for his lazy ways I fear.
   It's a cute read for a class, my 1-sters loved it. Too bad he hasn't created another. Erin go Braugh..

No comments about What is the Holiday? A Book of Learning for the Seasons.

No comments about Rabbit's Birthday Surprise (Picture Books).

1 comments about Hazel Green.

1. When I was about nine or ten, I loved the Hazel Green series and basically grew up on Odo Hirsch stories. Now I am still in love with the books and note my pen-name: Hazel Green has got to be my favourite literary character.
   
   "Hazel Green" follows the adventures of a girl(Hazel) in her urban environment around her. The characters are true and believable, and the most enjoyable things about this book and the others in the series is the way that they describe the ordinary life of normal people in the neighbourhood - but it hooks you. It is delightful to learn how the local florist arranges her flowers, how the fish shop owner obtains his fish, and you lick your lips at all the amazing delicacies on sale at the bakery.
   
   The reader is put into the the shoes of someone in Hazel's vicinity, who is delightful company with her charismatic and childish but frank and true personality that reflects exactly what it feels like to be a child.
   
   THe other thing that Odo Hirsch has managed to do is make a sort of soap-opera about the kids and shop-owners in the neighbourhood of the Moody building and other places in the urban setting. He manages to make the completely normal problems in life interesting as Hazel, inquisitively, tries to solve the problems and mysteries of her neighbourhood.

1 comments about Arthur's Easter Activity Book : With Reuseable Stickers!.

1. Over fifty stickers can be used and reused on glossy scenes of the family kitchen, Arthur's classroom or a local park. Activity pages include coloring, word search, mazes, matching, a crossword, hidden pictures and a lesson in how to draw Arthur. There's also an answer page. Lots here to keep an Arthur or D.W. fan busy for a while, and a nice introduction to various puzzle types.

   Stickers depict many characters from Marc Brown's series as well as Easter-themed objects. Very nice.

1 comments about Ramadan (Rookie Read-About Holidays).

1. The basic ideas, customs, and attitudes of this holiday are introduced to young children with most of the appropriate vocabulary and pronunciation guides. Photographs show a nice cultural variety of Muslims, from Arabic to Indian and Indonesian. The book says that at the end of Ramadan, "Muslims have a three-day celebration." Since that celebration is a major part of the holiday and easy to pronounce (EED), its omission is a significant flaw. Another cause for concern is the photograph accompanying the suggestion that all-day fasting is to difficult for some people. Among all the beautiful variety of Muslims world-wide, the picture of apparently African-American children eating cotton candy implies that they are the ones who cannot "keep a promise" to fast. But even with these flaws, this may be the best introduction currently available.

1 comments about The Story of Saint Patrick's Day.

1. We have several of the books in this series and have enjoyed them all, until now. The Story of St. Patrick is choppy and does not give a final thought about God's love. I highly recommend The Story of ... Jesus, Noah, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, but the St. Patrick's day book is more of a novelty.

1 comments about The Three Bears Holiday Rhyme Book.

1. From the gorgeous illustrations to the catchy rhymes, this book is a wonderful buy & a fantastic depiction of many holidays ("common" ones such as Thanksgiving as well as more obscure ones such as Earth Day). I especially liked how the author provided a combo poem for Christmas/Chanukah:
   
   Stars are shining
   Down the lane,
   Making halos
   On each pane.
   
   Celebrations
   For a night
   Made of holy
   Candlelight.
   
   For each candle
   Say a prayer.
   Blessings on us,
   Every bear.
   
   I am only surprised not to find more enthusiastic reviews of this book, but perhaps that is because it was published awhile back (I found our copy at a thrift store). It may be an oldie, but it is timeless & classic.

No comments about Just for Mommy!.