My Friend, the Starfinder - George Ella Lyon

Illustrator: Stephen Gammell
For: Young kids, I guess
Published: 2008
Rating: 2
Read: Oct. 211, 2008
Endpapers: The galaxy - stars and meteors and colors...

I'll probably be the only children's book lover who does not like this book. It didn't work for me. It didn't flow. I have very much enjoyed other Lyon books, but this one just didn't do it for me. I reread it twice after the first reading. Didn't get any bettter. Based on a real old man that she knew as a kid, Lyon remembers how he told her about catching a falling star and bringing it home, and about flying through/with a rainbow. It ends abruptly and weirdly. At least I didn't get it. Maybe kids will. Maybe I'm overtired, but I read it for the first time 24 hours ago. I'll have to revisit it at some future time.

Some of the illustrations are pretty cool, some are gloomy and boring.

Both the author and illustrator are award-winning, admired, and very, very good. But this time out just didn't do it for me. Oh well. Maybe next time...

I Know an Old Teacher - Anne Bowen

Illustrated by Stephen Gammell
For: Kids
Pub: 2008
Rating: 3/5
Finished: Aug. 10, 2008
signed by the author

I picked this up at BEA in May, but just got a chance to read it. I love rhyme and rhythm (repetition I can take or leave....well, mainly leave) and since this is a take off on The Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly, it's full of rhyme and ryhthm. The red haired teacher, Miss Bindley, takes the class pets home for the weekend. When she inadvertantly swallows a flea:

"I know an old lady who swallowed a flea.
It fell from her hair and plopped into her tea."

she begins gulping down various class pets to begin the inevitable chain reaction. I love humor, I LOVE Gammell's illustrations, but somehow the premise of this story doesn't tickle my funny bone just right. Why would such a cool-looking, smart teacher start eating...live...her class's beloved pets? Yuck! At the end she swallows one of her students who has been peeking into her window throughout the story. This I laughed at. Go figure.

Again, I love the illustrations, although I'm more grossed out than I would have guessed at the rat and the snake disappearing into - and protruding from - Miss Bindley's mouth. This is probably the reaction the illustrator was looking for. Stephen Gammell IS terrific.