Entries Categorized as 'Picture Books'

You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum

Our rating: ****½

Picture Books Younger Readers

You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum (Picture Puffins) (Paperback)
by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman
ISBN: 0140568166

Price: USD 6.99
37 used & new available from USD 1.99

Balloons simply aren’t allowed in the art museum. But the kind door guard promises to keep an eye on the little girl’s balloon so she and her grandmother can continue their tour. The balloon is safely attached to the railing… until a pigeon unties it when the guard’s back is turned. And so a fantastic chase begins as the guard strives to recover the balloon before the little girl and her grandmother get back.

A hilarious story! The book is completely wordless, using only pictures to show the turns of events–which are comical to no end. As the balloon chase continues, more and more people get involved, and one of my favorite parts is that whenever it shows what the girl and her grandmother are looking at in the museum, that piece of art is paralleled somehow by the balloon-chasers.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (No Ratings Yet)
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McBroom and the Big Wind

Our rating: ***½

Picture Books Younger Readers

Mcbroom and the Big Wind (Hardcover)
by Sid Fleischman
ISBN: 0316285439

Price:
13 used & new available from USD 1.79

Josh McBroom is having trouble with a big wind that threatens to ruin his wonderful one acre farm that will grow anything (even his sons’ marbles). This isn’t just any old wind, though. This wind moves post holes, takes the milk bucket, and even sucks McBroom’s children up the chimney! What can he do to save his farm and his kids, and get rid of that bear jumping rope with the clothesline?

Once again, Sid Fleischman has written a story full of silliness that is just barely believable. I hardly scratched the surface of the goofy events that the story contains. Just try not to die laughing and you’ll be okay.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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McBroom Tells the Truth

Our rating: ****

All Ages Picture Books

McBroom Tells the Truth (Graphic Readers. Level 3) (Paperback)
by Sid Fleischman
ISBN: 0843179473

Price: USD 4.99
40 used & new available from USD 0.20

Josh McBroom, his dear wife Melissa, and their eleven children, Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarryandlittleclarinda, all head West to find better farm land. On arriving in Iowa, they meet scrawny Hector Jones, who sells them eighty acres of land, not a tree stump on it, for ten dollars. The catch? When the McBrooms reach their new farm, it turns out to be a one acre pond that is eighty acres deep. Things seem to be going poorly for them, until one extremely hot summer day, when the pond dries up, and they find out that the soil underneath is so rich, anything will grow in it within a few minutes! Of course, neighbor Jones is not happy and will stop at nothing to get the farm back.

The story contained within McBroom Tells the Truth is good enough to keep everybody turning the pages. It’s a sort of picture book, in that there are pictures on every page, but the book runs almost fifty pages and takes quite awhile to read aloud. As you may have guessed, McBroom Tells the Truth is full of silliness and is most definitely a tall tale. Fleischman must have loved writing these, since there are many, many more books about McBroom and his wonderful one acre farm.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (No Ratings Yet)
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Reasons and Raisins

Our rating: ***½

Picture Books Younger Readers

Reasons and Raisins (School & Library Binding)
by Josephine H. Aldridge
ISBN: 0395276896

Price:
10 used & new available from USD 2.50

“Don’t eat the raisins,” says Little Fox’s mother. She wants to make pudding for dinner. But Little Fox disobeys and takes the raisins on his bike. And so begins a series of events with several people who have reasons for what they do.

Here’s a great story to read aloud. Not only does it teach that people have reasons for what they do, it also shows that some people have a reason entirely different than the reason they tell. Young children will love the fun story line in Reasons and Raisins.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (No Ratings Yet)
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The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments

Our rating: ****

Picture Books Younger Readers

The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments (Hardcover)
by Arnold Lobel
ISBN: 0064433161

Price:
15 used & new available from USD 15.74

A wizard, who lived in a time in which there were no colors except black, white, and gray, invents the color blue. The rest of the people see him painting his house and want some blue. The wizard gives them his invention and they paint everything blue, which after a while, makes everyone sad. The wizard then invents yellow and red in turn, each having a different effect on everyone.

The Great Blueness, just like all of Arnold Lobel’s books that I’ve read, has a hint of silliness. Don’t forget to look at the pictures because a lot of the silliness is in the pictures.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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