PICTURE BOOK - Hattie & Hudson by Chris Van Dusen

Illustrated by the author

2017, Candlewick Press

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.82 - 173 ratings

My rating: 5

Endpapers:  All pale green - small island on a lovely lake/silhouettes

Illustrations:  Bright, bold, and completely covering most pages

1^st line/s:  "Haddie McFadden loved to explore.  Every morning after breakfast, she'd grab her life jacket, wave good-bye to her parents, and paddle out in the canoe to see what she could see."

My comments:  Chris VanDusen does it again! (I love his stuff.)  His illustrations amaze me - big and bold, covering the page from edge to edge.  Hudson is a "monster" who lives at the bottom of a quiet country lake.  (He looks more like a dinosaur to me.)  I can't wait to read it to my grandson - he's afraid to swim in fresh water, but LOVES the stories of Sasquatch and Bigfoot.  I'm betting he's going to love this.  And I like the end note that Mr. Van Dusen writes on the copyright page: "And to all the young explorers who will be spending time at a lake this summer: Remember, there are no such things as a lake monster.  They don't exist.  At least I've never seen one.  But I keep looking."

Goodreads:  A little girl and her colossal friend teach a monster-size lesson about prejudging others in a charming new offering from Chris Van Dusen. 
          Hattie McFadden is a born explorer. Every morning she grabs her life jacket and paddles out in her canoe to discover something new on the lake, singing a little song on her way. When her singing draws up from the depths a huge mysterious beast, everyone in town is terrified except Hattie, who looks into the creature's friendly, curious eyes and knows that this is no monster. So Hattie sneaks out at night to see the giant whom she names Hudson and the two become friends. But how can she make the frightened, hostile townspeople see that Hudson isn't scary or dangerous at all? 
          Chris Van Dusen brings his colorful, perspective-bending artwork to this satisfying new story about acceptance, friendship, and sticking up for those who are different.

36. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

#1 Monsters of Verity
read on my Kindle
2016, Greenwillow Books
427 pgs.
Genre/Level: YA Dystopia/Fantasy
Finished 6/30/2017
Goodreads rating: 4.14 - 18,963 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Verity City, USA in the future

First line/s:  "The night Kate Harker decided to burn down the school chapel, she wasn't angry or drunk.  She was desperate."

My comments:  This book was okay.  So much darkness, just a little too much, it definitely overtook the light.  What is a monster?  There are more than just three detailed in this book!  Kate, a human and Andrew, a monster that wants to be human, are enemies....until they meet and bond in a weird way.

Goodreads synopsis:  There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.
          Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives. 

Substitute Creature - Chris Gall

illustrated by the author
Little Brown & Co., 2011
HC $16.99
32 pages
Endpapers:  Full double page illustrations of a street on Halloween - before and after the story. (Look for the changes!)
Title Page:  The doors of the school with monster shadow - full page illustration
Illustrations:  all encased with a border
1st sentence/s:

"On a windswept day in late October, the students of Ms. Jenkin's class arrived to a surprise at school.

"Substitute teacher today! announced Peyton.

Amanda giggled and scribbled on the chalkboard.  Luke performed a circus act.  Gavin laughed like a mad scientist.

Then, at precisely eight o'clock, the door to the classroom creaked open.  The substitute teacher entered the room."

Mr. Creacher (a 5-eyed green monster with tentacles) tells his unruly class the tales of six different students who got into trouble in school and the unhappy results - with a twist at the end!

This has a Halloween aspect, but I wouldn't consider it a Halloween book at all.

3. Hereville - Barry Deutsch

How Mirka Got Her Sword
A graphic novel
Amulet Books, 2010
HC $15.95
For: Middle Grades
142 pgs.
Rating: 5

Now here’s a winner. The first graphic novel I’ve really enjoyed…enjoyed enough to finish, too! Hereville is a fairy tale, set solidly in an Orthodox Jewish community somewhere in contemporary America. However, it could have been set just about anywhere. It is isolated and totally Orthodox. Residents speak Yiddish and Hebrew, words are sprinkled thorough the story. The translations are thoughtfully stuck onto the bottom of the page, but most of the text is in English.

Clever. Funny. Fun. And even educational, when it comes to learning about Orthodox Judaism. I can’t even begin to go into the plot, which is multi-layered. The protagonist, Mirka, is one of nine children in a blended family. She respects and cares about her stepmother, Fruma, who is wise and my favorite character in the book. Mirka has studied monsters, she keeps a hidden book about them under her mattress. It his her great desire to become a dragon slayer. She has a younger brother, Zindel, who spends much time with her, and a stepsister, Rochel, who seems wise beyond her years.

The characters, including a huge talking pig, a witch that lives in a nearby house just discovered, and a knitting troll are wonderful. Fresh, believable, fun, and funny. Adventurous, animated, well-illustrated, clear…a wonderful book!

Barry Deutsch has a Hereville BLOG that he writes almost every day. It’s fun.

Stephen Frug has a blog that reviews Hereville beautifully and thoroughly. So does the Bob Hayes Online blog. So I'd suggest reading one (or both) of those for more in-depth information about the plot.

The Odious Ogre - Norton Juster

Illustrated by Jules Feiffer
Michael DiCapua Bks/Scholastic, 2010
$17.95
32 pages
Rating: 4
for older kids
Endpapers: Easter yellow

Lots and lots.....and lots......of high-level , fancy, wonderful words. There once was a horrendous ogre. "He was, it was widely believed, extraordinarily large, exceedingly ugly, unusually angry, constantly hungry, and absolutely merciless." He terrified one and all - until he met his match in a friendly, happy, positive-thinking young lady.

Talk with kids about the ending: "She also understood that the terrible things that can happen when you come face to face with an Ogre can sometimes happen to the Ogre and not to you."

I'm not usually a Jules Feiffer fan - but these watercolor illustrations, framed with a thicker line of paint, work perfectly.

Jeremy Draws a Monster - Peter McCarty

Henry Holt & Co. 2009
$16.99
32 pages
My Rating: 3 at first, 4 after a couple of readings
Endpapers: Front: Illustrations of the boy/ Back: The boy plus lots of monsters
Dedication: To Stanford Nursery School

Jeremy never left his room. He watched the kids play, but he never joined them. He must've been pretty bored, because he drew a big monster in the air. However, it was an extremely demanding monster. he had to draw and draw and draw to create food and items it wanted. It even slept in his bed! He couldn't get rid of it -- until he drew it a bus ticket out of town. After he saw the monster off on the bus, he joined the kids to play.

Distinct line drawings, water colored over.

I enjoyed the story more when I read it aloud. So if you're sitting in a quiet library reading to yourself for you first reading, check it out and take it with you so you can read it aloud to a three or four year old boy. That's when it takes on a life of its own.

There Was an Old Monster - Ed Emberley

Illustrated by Rebecca Emberley
Music by Adrian Emberley
Listen to the song at Scholastic.com/OldMonster
Orchard/Scholastic, 2009
For: young kids
Endpapers: Red

Cut paper collage on black. This time this New England Father-daughter team add another generation - granddaughter Adrian is a performing songwriter!

Based on - what else - the old lady who swallowed a fly - a monster begins his uncomfortable journey by swallowing a tick that makes him feel sick. He follows that with ants, a lizard, a bat, a jackal, a bear, and then he encounters a lion! Guess what happens next!

Too much fun! And perfect for Halloween.

Bedtime at the Swamp - Kristyn Crow

Illustrator: Macky Paminutan
Published: July, 2008
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Swampy cranberry

I was sittin' by a swamp just hummin' a tune
with the fireflies dancin' 'neath the fat golden moon
when off in the distance was a splashin' sound
so I stood on my tippy-toes and looked around.

This is a fun bedtime story, illustrated for the most part in deep purple/greens- with rhyme, rhythm, and cadence. The expressive of the kids are very cute.

Mom sends a sibling, then cousins, to summon the nameless boy to bed. But when a real monster appears at the next Splish Splash Rumba-Rumba Bim Bam BOOM! he is not as scary as the mom that's now crashing throught the swamp behind him!

A bedtime book in the same genre of Where the Wild Things Are. Fun