Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Easy Read, Funny, L. Frank Baum, Oz
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Ojo the Unlucky and his Unc Nunkie visit the Crooked Magician on their way out of the Blue Forest. There they witness the Patchwork Girl being brought to life. All seems well, but an accident occurs. Unc Nunkie and the Crooked Magician’s wife, Margolotte, are turned into marble statues. The precious Powder of Life, which could have restored them, is wasted on a phonograph. Ojo sets out with the Patchwork Girl and a Glass Cat to find the necessary ingredients to bring the statues back to life. The quest takes them all over Oz, and they, in the company of the Scarecrow and Dorothy (the Glass Cat stayed behind for fear of breaking), visit many interesting new races, including the Tottenhots, the Hoppers, the Horners, and a large giant!
This is a fun book with quite a few puns. (Nowhere near as many as in The Emerald City of Oz.) Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, is quite a character. Also, this is the same Crooked Magician who gave the Powder of Life to Old Mombi in The Land of Oz.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Cats, Funny, John Peterson, Mice, Quick Read
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Mr. Little, Mrs. Little, Granny Little, Uncle Pete, Lucy, and Tom live in the walls of a house owned by George W. Bigg. Mr. Little is the tallest, and he is only about six inches high! All the Littles have tails, which they are proud of. One day, Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb rent the Biggs’ house and don’t houseclean or fix damages. Soon the Littles fear that mice will come, as there are a lot of crumbs. And sure enough, they do. The Littles hope the Newcombs will set up mousetraps—but they’re in for a surprise!
This book is the first of the Littles series. It’s pretty good, in my opinion.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Dogs, Funny, George Selden, Good Read Aloud, Mice
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When Harry Cat shows up at the drainpipe with a forlorn and bedraggled little puppy, Tucker Mouse flatly refuses to let him stay. But, of course, the puppy (“Huppy”) soon joins them as part of the family. Keeping him presents many challenges, such as feeding him, bathing him, and training him. And when Huppy grows so big that he can no longer fit in the drainpipe serving as their home, they decide that it’s time to find Huppy a home with humans, becoming their greatest challenge yet.
I enjoy the Cricket in Times Square books very much, and I think this is one of my favorites. Tucker is his funny, grumbling self, while Harry patiently deals with situations while trying to calm Tucker down. This is a book that children of all ages can enjoy.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Award Winner, Cats, Crickets, Funny, George Selden, Mice
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Chester Cricket finds himself stranded in New York, after falling asleep in someone’s picnic basket out in the Old Meadow. Lost and alone, he stays hidden under a newspaper near the station until a boy named Mario finds him and promptly adopts him as a pet. Mario’s family owns a newspaper stand, and the business is poor, but maybe Chester’s musical talent can help bring in more customers. As well as helping Mario’s family, the cricket has time for being with his new friends in New York: Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse, who live in the nearby drainpipe.
Though not one of my all-time favorites, this book is good now and then for a quick, fun read. Harry and Tucker add a lot to the story, with their personalities.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Dogs, Funny, Horses, Rudyard Kipling
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Fairly short fantasy stories with animals by Rudyard Kipling.
I like this book. I enjoyed listening to Just So Stories on tape, narrated by Flo Gibson. However, I don’t think Amazon has the recording, but maybe you can get it at your library. Or you could just read the book and then you could see the illustrations!
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