No Ghost Under My Bed

 

Clavis

Guido Van Genechten

I don't know anyone who has children or even anyone who was a child that didn't think at least one thing in their bedroom seemed scary in the dark. The nightlight makes ordinary objects throw crazy shadows and the house seems to creak overtime at night. Jake the penguin is very young with a large imagination, so he does some conclusion jumping of his own. 

First it is cr ... cr ... crack! that Jack hears. Without wasting any time on rational thought, he quickly concludes there must be a ghost under his ed who is making that noise. Jake's dad comes right in when beckoned, belly flops on the floor to peek under the bed, and deems it a ghost free zone. Shortly after, Jake is sure there is a ghost behind his curtains, in the wardrobe, in the toy chest and under the rug.  Poor Jake's dad is working overtime hustling in there to lay every fear to rest.   

I thought it was funny that the penguins don't wear a stitch of clothing, but live in a nicely decorated house.  Jake has a nice collection of stuffed animals, (including an antelope, bunny and elephant), curtains and the windows and a lamp on his bedside table. Apparently they believe in home furnishings, but not clothing. Eventually, Jake believes his dad that there are no ghosts in his room, not because they don't exist, but because his dad scared them all away. And that's the end of Jake's scary night!  

Review copy provided by Clavis.

Guido's Great Coloring and Drawing Book

Clavis

Guido van Genechten

Guido's right on the money. This book really is great! What an awesome treasure chest full of unique projects to draw and color. If you have ever hunkered down with a child and a box of art supplies, thinking it would be an easy way to carve out some quiet time ... you may have been hit with "What should I draw? Now what can I draw? Now what? Mom? Mom?" You will want to meet Guido, grab his great ideas and find your quiet time.

I really love that he doles out the assignments and the child supplies the creativity. And I especially like that it isn't several pages of the same thing over and over. These babies are varied!  One page has four bottles/jars in different sizes and shapes, with the directive "Make labels for jars full of delicious food."  Another page provides the beginning of a story with plenty of room to continue the exciting tale. Go on to decorate an ice cream cone with your favorite toppings, invent some new traffic signs, or design your own unique mailbox.

Draw, color, count, and above all, put those imaginations to good use. One of my favorite favorite pages has a handful of small ink blobs and says "Add about 827 more dots." Why can't I come up with things like that? While all the pages are black and white, some are more plain than others. Another of my favorites simply states "Draw a slice of sausage."  The real charm of this book is that he comes up with very simple, but completely off the wall ideas.  

This is one of the best creative books I have seen, and I truly hope this author puts out another book in a similar style. What a wonderful tool to jump start little minds, plus it's just plain FUN.   


Review copy provided by Clavis.  

Crow

Clavis

Leo Timmers

If it wouldn't completely destroy it, I would just tear this book apart in seconds. Not because I don't care for it, but because I would absolutely love to have some of these illustrations framed and hung on my walls. Leo Timmers is such a genius with his illustrations.  Gimme, gimme. Ah, well, I couldn't destroy a book with such a cute story behind these wonderful illustrations, so we'll move onto that.

Crow is a friendly, fun bird. In spite of his personality, he is also one of the loneliest birds around.  Sure, he's as friendly as they come, but the other birds won't get close enough to discover that for themselves. Crow sports jet black feathers, with a very large, curved black beak, black legs and a tuft of black feathers at the tip of his noggin. The other birds are positive that a creature as dark as this must have a black heart to match, and so they flee from him with pounding hearts.   

Crow feels sad and depressed about his appearance, so he hatches a plan and quickly gathers the necessary supplies. He paints his feathers blue and yellow so that he looks just like a finch! When that fails, Crow breaks out the pail of green and becomes a parakeet. And finally, he uses gray and pink to make himself look like a chickadee. With each new bird "costume" the other birds still flee.  Poor Crow cries so hard that all the paint washes clear away.

Now that he has returned to his usual black visage, the other birds flock to him ... to say thanks. They are grateful that his grim appearance chased away "that hideous chickadee, that scary parakeet and that creepy finch."  Crow's plan did work, in a roundabout way.

So, yes, in addition to the loveliness of the art, there are several good messages wrapped up in here. The big weeping bird is a great way to get across that you can't always judge a person (bird) by their appearance. A second point is that there's no point in trying to make yourself be someone you're not.  Morals, lessons, awesome illustrated birds, what else could you ask for?


Review copy provided by Clavis.