Picture Book - The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha

2020 Caldecott Honor Award

Illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

2020 G. P. Putman's Sons

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:   4.25 - 627 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  Aleppo skyline, with lots of sky and white dove-like birds

1^st line/s:  "Alaa loves his city of Aleppo.  He loves its narrow alleys and covered bazaars selling pistachios, jasmine soap, and green za'atar.  He loves the boiled corn and dried figs offered on the street.  Most of all, he loves the people of Aleppo.  The are gentle, polite, and loving - like him."

My comments:  Fantastic story and rich illustrations come together beautifully to tell a true, meaningful, heartwarming story.  After civil war bombings and crumbling buildings encourage many of Aleppo's citizens to flee, leaving their cats behind to fend for themselves, Alaa begins feeding, rescuing, and ultimately creating a shelter for these helpless animals.  There is currently a way that people all over the world can donate to keep this shelter ongoing.

Goodreads:  The courageous and true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who in the midst of the Syrian Civil War offered safe haven to Aleppo's abandoned cats.

          Aleppo's city center no longer echoes with the rich, exciting sounds of copper-pot pounding and traditional sword sharpening. His neighborhood is empty--except for the many cats left behind.
          Alaa loves Aleppo, but when war comes his neighbors flee to safety, leaving their many pets behind. Alaa decides to stay--he can make a difference by driving an ambulance, carrying the sick and wounded to safety. One day he hears hungry cats calling out to him on his way home. They are lonely and scared, just like him. He feeds and pets them to let them know they are loved. The next day more cats come, and then even more! There are too many for Alaa to take care of on his own. Alaa has a big heart, but he will need help from others if he wants to keep all of his new friends safe

7. A Tail as Old as Time by Elle Hay

an Audible Original
narrated by Therese Plummer
Unabridged audio (1:32)
2021
100 pgs. ??

Finished 1/31/21

Goodreads:  3.48 - 116 ratings

My rating:  2
RomCom

My comments:   Two next-door neighbors chase their escaped darling dog and cat all around Coral Gables, only to discover they ran home again.  Love how they even get up and down on the elevator on their own (not!)  And of course the neighbors end up really liking each other.  Totally stupid from beginning to end.

Goodreads synopsis:  A rom-com novella that will warm every animal lover’s heart about two neighbors who fight like cats and dogs - but who can’t deny their animal attraction.
          Ever since Alana Diaz adopted her cat Furrari, she has found herself in a feud with her infuriating neighbor, whom she knows only by the name on the passive aggressive notes he leaves on her door - R. Jones. Alana works hard all day, and the last thing she needs when she finally relaxes on her balcony with a glass of wine and her new furry roommate is her neighbor’s dog barking his head off. The only solution is to retreat inside. So what if her neighbor has smoldering good looks? It’s ruined when he glares at her little fuzzball of joy for upsetting his dog Kevin. And who the hell names their dog Kevin, anyway?
          But when Furrari and Kevin both go missing, Alana and Jones are left with no choice but to team up. As their pets lead them through the beaches, fancy hotels, and more all over Coral Gables, two lonely, jaded people might find they've been chasing the wrong things all along.

Christmas Storytime at the Library

I read three books aloud to preschoolers today, I chose ones with three different animals as protagonists. Then we glued sequins for ornaments, drew garlands with glitter crayons, and topped the pre-cut green construction paper tree with a sticky star.  Very cute, and manageable for little hands.  I had eight books to choose from and the ones I chose were big hits:

Merry Christmas, Merry Crow
by Kathi Appelt
Illustrated by Jon Goodell
2005, Harcourt, Inc.

     "Wind's a blowin'
Sky's a snowin'
     Where's this feathered
               fellow goin'?"

The crow glides through each double-page spread, collecting all sorts of tinsel and trinkets he finds laying around, to decorate a tree for all his flying friends.  Gorgeously illustrated, with no white edges (I love edge-of-page to edge-of-page illustrations), the continuous snowfall and merry Christmas shoppers and carolers make this a happy, fun book to share with kids.
     Goodreads rating:  3.93 - 87 ratings

Stowaway in a Sleigh
Written and illustrated by C. Roger Mader
2016 Houghton Mifflin

"It was the darkest hour of night when Slipper heard strange footsteps in the house."

Well, of course she went to investigate, and discovered Mr. Fuzzy Boots...and crawled into his now-empty cozy red bag. After she was whisked away to the North Pole where she made new friends, Santa made a special trip back to Slippers' house to return her.  My little listener was at first a little distressed when she realized that Slippers might not be able to get home again, but enjoyed the story and the illustrations greatly.  Again the gorgeous illustrations covered each entire double-page spread from edge to edge and accentuated the story superbly.
     Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 161 ratings

Bear Stays Up for Christmas
by Karma Wilson
Illustrated by Jane Chapman
2004, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster

"The day before Christmas,
snuggled on his floor,
Bear sleeps soundly
with a great big snore."

Bear has such a tough time staying up once his friends awaken him for Christmas...it is time for his "big sleep" after all, but when it comes time for them to doze off on Christmas Eve, he has a wonderful time preparing surprises for them to find in the morning.  A very cute story, again with many double-page spreads.  Three winners today!
     Goodreads:  4.28 - 6,938 ratings



   

PICTURE BOOK - Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah da Costa

Illustrated by Cornelius VanWright & Ying-Hwa Hu

2001, Albert Whitman Co.

Only available new, in paper, $6.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:3.58 - 65 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers:  an illustration:  the walled city, with a golden-domed building on the other side of the wall

Illustrations cover both pages, and the text is on top of the illustration, no white edges!

1^st line/s:  "In the walled old city of Jerusalem, which some call the Center of the Universe, Avi waited."

My comments: I didn't realize there are four ethnic/cultural sections in Jerusalem - Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.  In this story, two boys from different cultures - Jewish and Muslim - find common ground because of a stray cat who "befriends" them both.

Goodreads:  Avi and Hamudi are two boys who live in Jerusalem's Old City -- Avi in the Jewish Quarter and Hamudi in the Muslim Quarter. To each boy, the other's neighborhood is an alien land. And although neither boy knows it, both are caring for the same beautiful white stray cat.One day the boys follow the cat as she travels the winding streets and crosses the boundaries between the city's quarters. And on this journey something wonderful happens, as unexpected as a snowfall in Jerusalem.

PICTURE BOOK - A Very Improbable Story by Edward Einhorn

Illustrated by Adam Gustavson

2008, Charlesbridge

HC $16.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.99 - 94 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers: Dark blue

Illustrations on much or most of page, text is on white

1^st line/s:  "one morning Ethan woke up with a cat on his head."

My comments:   Oh my gosh, what a great picture book to introduce probability to older kids!  It's cute and fun and gives wonderful mathematical information in a straight-forward, interesting way.  It gets a little convoluted at the end, but if it's being used as a read aloud, stress and pausing  can be used  effectively, and then play a probability game similar to one described in the book and VOILA!!

Goodreads:  Ethan wakes up one morning with a talking cat on his head. The cat refuses to budge until Ethan wins a game of probability. Without looking, Ethan must pick out a dime from his coin collection, or two matching socks from his dresser, or do something else improbable. Avery improbable story about a challenging math concept. Author: Edward Einhorn Format: 32 pages, paperback Ages: 7-10

MOVIE - Nine Lives

PG (1;27)

Wide release 8/5/16

Viewed Monday, August 15, 2016 at the Carlisle-8

RT Critic:  8  Audience:  44
Critic's Consensus:  Not meow, not ever.

Cag:  3.5 Great fun even if not top-notch literature

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

EuropaCorp

Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner

My comments: For such a low-rated film, Ella and I certainly enjoyed it! It was light family entertainment...even any nail-biting parts were not actually nail-biting because it was the kind of film that you knew everything would come out all right in the end.  Well worth a couple of hours in recliners with a big bucket of popcorn!

RT Summary:  Tom Brand (Kevin Spacey) is a daredevil billionaire at the top of his game. His eponymous company FireBrand is nearing completion on its greatest achievement to date - the tallest skyscraper in the northern hemisphere. But Tom's workaholic lifestyle has disconnected him from his family, particularly his beautiful wife Lara (Jennifer Garner) and his adoring daughter Rebecca (Malina Weissman). Rebecca's 11th birthday is here, and she wants the gift she wants every year, a cat. Tom hates cats, but he is without a gift and time is running out. His GPS directs him to a mystical pet store brimming with odd and exotic cats- where the store's eccentric owner- Felix Perkins (Christopher Walken), presents him with a majestic tomcat, named Mr. Fuzzypants. En route to his daughter's party, Tom has a terrible accident. When he regains consciousness he discovers that somehow, he has become trapped inside the body of the cat. Adopted by his own family, he begins to experience what life is truly like for the family pet, and as a cat, Tom begins to see his family and his life through a new and unexpected perspective. Meanwhile, his family adjusts to life with an odd and stubborn cat, and his son David (Robbie Amell), steps up in ways Tom never expected. If any hope exists of returning to his family as the husband and father they deserve, Tom will have to learn why he has been placed in this peculiar situation and the great lengths he must go to earn back his human existence

PICTURE BOOK - Here Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood

Illustrated by Claudia Rueda

2014 Dial Books for Young Readers

HC $16.99

88 pgs. - but minimal words and lots of priceless pictures to peruse - similar in text length )or shorter) than a 32-page picture book

Goodreads rating: 4.34

My rating: 4

Endpapers: red

My comments: Very, very cute!  Cat, being a cat, can't talk ... so he draws picture messages back and forth to the invisible, omnipotent speaker/owner/friend.  He'd like a Christmas gift from Santa - but has been naughty most of the year.  "Speaker" suggests that he do something nice, even if it's last minute - it's better than never.  The outcome is gently funny and fun.  I'd love to read this to my grandkids.

Goodreads:  Cat took on a bunny in Here Comes the Easter Cat, but now Christmas is coming, and Cat has a hunch he's not on Santa's "nice" list. Which means? No presents for Cat. So he tries to be good, but children, it seems, aren't wild for his brand of gift-giving. Still, Cat might surprise himself, and best of all, he may just get to meet the man in the red suit himself—and receive a holiday surprise of his own. Fans of Pete the Cat, Splat the Cat, and Bad Kitty will delight in this holiday treat.

PICTURE BOOK - Mr. Wuffles - David Wiesner

Illustrated by the author
A Caldecott Honor Book

2013, Clarion

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.01

My rating:3

Endpapers: solid gray

Title Page: spread across two pages - large black (and white) protagonist with each letter of the title done in a different color.

Illustrations:  Really great.  Watercolor & ink

1^st line/s: This is a wordless book.

My comments: I've got to admit, I had to read this book more than several times to figure out what I thought was going on.  It was wordless and I guess my imagination wasn't up to par.  I wasn't prepared for aliens from outer space....

Goodreads: A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book In a near wordless masterpiece that could only have been devised by David Wiesner, a cat named Mr. Wuffles doesn't care about toy mice or toy goldfish. He’s much more interested in playing with a little spaceship full of actual aliens—but the ship wasn't designed for this kind of rough treatment. Between motion sickness and damaged equipment, the aliens are in deep trouble.When the space visitors dodge the cat and take shelter behind the radiator to repair the damage, they make a host of insect friends. The result? A humorous exploration of cooperation between aliens and insects, and of the universal nature of communication involving symbols, “cave” paintings, and gestures of friendship

Captain Cat - Inga Moore

Illustrated by the author

2013, Candlewick Press

HC $15.99

48 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.64

My rating: 4

Endpapers: All blue - ocean with hints of the island along the edge

Title Page: simple, Title & author with 1.5 x 8-inch (like a sideways bookmark) of the Carlotta roughing it out on the ocean

Illustrations: she says mixed media, they're water colory with tiny faint hatchmarks.  Love 'em.

1^st paragraph/page:  Captain Cat loved cats.  There were more cats on board his ship, the Carlotta, than there were sailors in his crew - which was why his sailors called him Captain Cat.

My comments: This is a delightful picture book...cute story and wonderful illustrations. I'm guessing that some people might be put off by the cats killing all the rats, but I sure have no problem with that. Premise of the story is that if you have no greed and just a love of something...whether it be cats, or people, or blue skies and warm waters...don't be influenced by anything else. What is happiness?

Note:  Captain Cat looks an awful lot like Santa Claus......

Goodreads says: Captain Cat loves cats. In fact, he has more cats on his ship than he has sailors. On one voyage, he discovers a remote and lonely island where the little-girl Queen has never even seen a cat. When Captain Cat’s furry companions trounce the rats infesting the island, the Queen begs Captain Cat to trade her the cats for untold treasure. Does he? Could he? What happens next? Never fear, fellow travelers! The purr-fect solution is on the horizon — and is sure to satisfy both pet-lovers and adventurers

South - Patrick McDonnell

(creator of the comic strip "Mutts")
2008, Little Brown & Co.
$14.99 HC
www.muttscomics.com
Goodreads: 4.43
my rating:  Liked it a lot (4.5)
40 pgs. & endpapers
Endpapers (& all pages) recycled beige

This simple, wordless picture book is super -- sweet and quite a lovely story.  It is autumn.  A flock of songbirds takes off for the south and forgets one of their own, who is asleep on the ground under a tree.  Along comes a cat who helps him through all sorts of strange,foreign terrain...pages and pages of a journey....until they come upon the bird's flock, resting on a telephone wire.  By now the bird and cat are close friends and their parting is a meaningful one.

Yes, my fourth graders could write a lovely story to go with this.  The simple beige/brown/pale yellow pages could easily be photocopied for students to use -- and even water color in the pale blues and greens that appear here and there.

(Note to self:  Check out other books by this author.  Are they wordless?  (The Gift of Nothing, Art, Just Like Heaven, Hug Time.)  "Sometimes it takes a friend to help you find your way."

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku - Lee Wardlaw

Illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
2011, Henry Holt & Co.
$16.99
32 pages
Rating:  4.5
Endpapers:  Navy & lt. blue/gray cat fur, close up

Very cool story, told entirely in haiku (3 lines, syllables count! 5-7-5) about a huge-eyed Siamese cat who is adopted from an animal shelter and taken home by a young boy.  Count the syllables.

Nice place they got there
Bed. Bowl. Blankie.  Just like home!
or so I've been told.

Yawn.  String-on-a-stick.
Fine.  I'll come out and chase it
to make you happy.

Help!  I've been catnapped,
dressed in frillies, forced to lap
tea with your sister.

Artwork:  fully cover page.  The at is great.  "Graphite and gouache on watercolor paper."  They're nice, very nice.

Small Medium & Large - Jane Monroe Donovan

Sleeping Bear Press, 2010
$15.95
32 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: White

In this beautifully illustrated wordless picture book, a girl writes a letter to Santa and is rewarded on Christmas morning with three boxes - one small, one medium, and one large. Inside are a cat, a dog, and a miniature pony. They all immediately become fast friends, eating together, playing and tobogganing in the snow, making snow angels and snowmen, having snowball fights, baking cookies, sitting by the fire together, than all snuggling into her bed at night.

At the end of the book the author tells of her own three animals who are really the prototypes for this story.

This is a lovely wordless book, a perfect addition to a Christmas library, for animal lovers especially. I went through it a number of times - the illustrations are beautiful, full of happy Christmas feelings (and I wouldn't consider myself a great animal lover, either).

Mattoo, Let's Play - Irene Luxbacher

Kids Can Press, 2010
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Dark rusty clay

Illustrations: Black and white with added colors of dark red, olive green, mustard, dark blue. Collaged a bit - mainly the fabrics, I think. It's different and very cool. All the way to the edge of the page.

Story: Simple, but boy does it bring back memories. A boisterous little girl keeps trying to get her cat, Mattoo, to play with her. She's imaginative and her ideas are clever and loud and wild. Poor Mattoo just isn't up for any of it. In each of the illustrations you can see his fluffed-up tail peeking out from wherever he's trying to hide. It isn't until the girl decides to go on a safari, where you have to be really quiet to see animals, that Mattoo comes around.

There aren't a whole lot of words in this book, there don't need to be. it's a great story, imaginative and creative.

Irene Luxbacher's website.

Benno and the Night of Broken Glass - Meg Wiviott

Illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
Kar-Ben Publishers, 2010
"ages 7-11"
$17.95
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: The legs and feet of people pre-11/10/38 and post-11/10/38

Told from the point-of-view of a neighborhood cat in 1938 Berlin, we learn of life in a small, friendly neighborhood before and after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) which most consider the beginning of the Holocaust in November of 1938. It's a particularly powerful story. Although it's hard to say at what age the concept of the Holocaust should be discussed, this would be an excellent book with which to begin, I think.

The illustrations seem to be a combination of cut paper, stenciled painting, line drawing, and coloring. Pages are covered from edge-to-edge and get darker as the story progresses.

The 2-page Afterword and 2-page Bibliography are just right for my 4th graders, and include a couple of actual photos.

Super book.

That Cat Can't Stay - Thad Krasnesky

Illustrated by David Parkins
Flash Light Press, 2010
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: blue with cat scratches, perhaps? Hard to say!

In this rollicking, rhyming story, a cat-hating dad gets saddled with first one, then two...three...four...FIVE cats...that all come to the family in different ways.

Cute, cute, cute.

The illustrations - watercolor over pen and ink - are a riot, especially the dad, a plump guy who always wears short and horizontally striped short sleeved shirts. And the cats. Oh, yeah.

This one's a real winner. I want to read it aloud - to my class, to my grandkids, to my friends....

What a great picture book to read along with Hate That Cat (Creech).

Cats Night Out - Carolyn Stutson

A Foot-Tapping, Finger Snapping Counting Book
Illustrated by J. Klassen
Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, 2010
$15.99
ages 4-8
32 pgs.
Endpapers: Mustard

This sing-songy musical book is catchy and fun and uses great words. In twos, and adding more and more at each turn of the page, pairs of cats dance. It becomes a counting book that counts by 2's!

"Six cats tango in red capes....up and down the fire escapes."
"Sixteen rumba in the dark, twitching silk bottoms through the park."

We see cats doing the samba, boogying, tap dancing, line-dancing, doing the twist, fox-trotting, doing the polka, the conga, and even the waltz...until neighbors complain.

The illustrations are dark - it's night after all - in numerous shades of browns and creams with just a subtle touch of pink and pinky red here and there. No white.

Exceptionally cool book.
I want to read it aloud!

But Who Will Bell the Cats? Cynthia von Buhler

Houghton Mifflin, 2009
$16.00
32 pages
My rating: 4
Endpapers: Rosy red

I enjoy adaptations of Aesop's Tales - more so since I created some cool Aesop's Fable lesson plans for fifth graders in the last few years. This version of "Belling the Cat" will be a fun addition to an Aesop collection - for two reasons. The story is clever. It's about a princess with eight pampered cats and the mouse and bat who live in the castle basement. And secondly, the artwork is cleverly different, to say the least -- von Buhler has created the rooms as tiny sets for her story. She painted, then cut out the characters beforeplacing them in the rooms and photographing it all. Font is white, pages are borrdered; really different and special on many counts!

77. & 78. - Love That Dog AND Hate That Cat - Sharon Creech

Love That Dog, 2001
Hate That Cat, 2008
Rating for both: FIVE!

Two very special books, both written in verse, both with layer upon layer of witty writing, clever intertwining of poetry, and a healthy dose of a very cool relationship between a student and his teacher. I LOVED these books. I've read Love That Dog twice, and just knew that Hate That Cat couldn't come close. WRONG!!! So wrong....I think Hate That Cat is even better! Both are short reads, although Love That Dog is a bit shorter, and perhaps a little harder for some kids to get into. I read it aloud to my fourth graders after spending a week prepping them by sharing Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Pasture", William Carlos William's "The Red Wheelbarrow:, many of Valerie Worth's SHORT poems, William Blake's "The Tyger," Walter Dean Myer's "Love That Boy", and some of the poetry of Arnold Adoff. They were oh-so prepared, and they loved it. It was great fun to read aloud, and the kids' reactions were very gratifying.

Now I'm preparing the pre-poetry for Hate That Cat. There's more William Carlos Williams and Valerie Worth,with additional poems from Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Lord Tennyson, T. S. Eliot ("The Naming of Cats"!!!), and Walter Dean Myer's son, Christopher. There's alliteration and onomotapoeia, similes and metaphors, rhythm and image. There's laugh-out-loud cleverness and a rolling, thought-provoking storyline.

I don't want to share the plots. They're a joy to watch unfold. They take 20-30 minutes each to read. Enjoy, enjoy.

Cool Cat - Nonny Hogrogian

A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Book Press, 2009
$17.99
36 pages
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: (They actually begin this wordless story, 2 different illustrations framed in white)

This wordless picture book begins with a black and white cat (just like the "Mittens" we had when I grew up) in a rocky, brown, desolate place. The only vegetation is dead and broken, and the ground is littered with empty tin cans and a broken bottle. But the cat has a paint set in a wooden box, and slowly begins to paint the scene. Starting in the corner leaves appear, then a blue sky begins. A mouse comes to help...then a bunny, then a cardinal. The colors are now spreading from left and write as the animals are joined by a turtle, a squirrel, a goldfinch, a frog. A mallard duck appears to swim in the water that's been included. Butterflies flitter across the page, flowers appear, becoming more and more sluh. The animal friends celebrate.

Most of the two page spreads are made created as one long, horizonatal painting, with about an inch of white around the edges as a frame. More and more story comes into your head every time you take a trip through the pages. It really is a environmental/ecological story as well - to take your world from a dead, barren place to a live, green one...

Uncle Andy's Cats - James Warhola

G. P. Putnams, 2009
$16.99
32 pgs.
For: Kids of all ages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Pale peach with numerous "Sams" in many stances and sizes

As a child, James would go to visit his Uncle Andy and his Bubba in New York City. The tall, skinny house was full of Uncle Andy's art projects (including numerous soup cartons) ..... and cats. This is the story - made into a bit of a tall tale, but based on fact nontheless - of Andy Warhol and his dozens of Sams. Yes, they were all named the same as the father cat because all the kittens looked like the father. But it all started with a blue pussycat named Hester.

The illustrations are fun-fun-fun, drawn from different angles and points-of-view. They also give us a good peek into the life, home, and art of Andy Warhol. Each colorful illustrations tells a story in itself. I will definitely share this book when the art teacher at my school does his unit on Andy Warhol. Perfect for a fun-and-easy fourth grade read aloud.