All 14 books have a few things in common. They have kooky unpredictable plots. They have terrific illustrations. They have marvelously moody characters that evolve and transcend their predicaments. Naomi and Simone each received a book a day during the first seven days of Hanakkah.
Naomi who is three years old, started out with three of the extraordinarily well written and brilliantly drawn books of Berkeley Breathed.
Iggy Peck is one of Naomi’s favorite books of this list. She can recite most of the pages and has built many a wild structure after reading it.
Library Lion is a beautiful book by Michelle Knudsen.
Things go frightfully wrong for Chico Bon Bon, but he can build anything and little by little he figures out a way to use his craftsmanship to get out of his terrifying situation. This book was a little too scary for Naomi at first but she talked about it and got herself through it and now wants to hear it again and again.
For Simone who is six years old and just getting her reading legs, we started with “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo. My friend Toni Redmond suggested this book for the launch of our 1st grade Book Club. (It’s going great.) What a deep and lasting read! Simone quotes parts as well as pulls ideas from it to help illustrate what is going on in her world. I teared up a few times and of course laughed too. Superb book. Enjoy!
The next six books are about 10 year old mad-scientist named Franny K. Stein. Franny’s creepy perception of the world, heartfelt concerns for the fate of others and madcap adventures captured Simone’s imagination. These well written books are by Jim Benton who did the Doonesbury series. A friend of ours, Joan Pedersen, a reading tutor, recommended these as they crack kids up. Simone literally laughed out-loud as she was reading and her younger sister Naomi was in stitches when I shared them with her.
In “Attack of the 50-Ft Cupid” quirky Franny is trying to understand Valentine’s Cards so that she can create homemade cards both her teacher and her classmates will enjoy. After many hilariously inappropriate valentine cards, Franny does succeed and she does so while also juggling her mom’s present of a lab assistant. Nice thought for sure and she does need help in her laboratory making things like miniaturized cows you can put in your pocket for those milk-on-the-go days. Unfortunately, her new assistant is not particularly precise and accidentally creates a 50 ft, flying baby who can’t stop shooting arrows at everybody. Suddenly, Franny needs to think fast so she can rescue her home town from this cute monstrosity. Suffice to say, in the process of saving the day, she discovers a few surprising things about herself.
.”Enjoy!
I love Franny K. Stein! I can visualize the girls, enthusiastically enjoying these books. Love Amber