Fire

In the words of the immortal, yet presently irrelevant, Lil Kim: "put your lighters up!" 

THREE PROS

*David Bennett was able to construct a very readable product, while still addressing the important issue of fire safety  

*Carries a virtually unheard of listing price of under $4 (full disclosure: it's a 25-year old printing)
*At first I thought the choice of a teddy bear as the lead was a poor choice, but as time went on illustrator Rosalinda Kightley was able to convince me otherwise

THREE CONS 

*This book is next to impossible to find on the Internet, and not just because its title is so generic -- I was only able to find one listing on Google Shopping for an eBay auction that will expire in two days (and that was after trying a few unsuccessful search term queries) 
*As with anything fire-related, I am worried that talking about it has just as much chance of spawning an arsonist as it does of preventing my son from becoming one 

*Does not leave open the possibility that aliens taught early man how to start fires:)

ONE DAD'S OPINION
You'd think there would be more kidlit devoted to a topic so essential to human life.  [Moreso when you factor in its destructive capability.]  Yet, somehow, there is a dearth of toddler-appropriate material on this Earth.  Thankfully, someone at Bantam Little Rooster Books greenlit the spark that led to this burn book.  It ignited my desire to award a Buy by accelerating what is in essence an informational text with enough cutesy pictures to make it amply fun.  Fan your child's educational flame with Fire.      

BUY / Borrow / Donate / Destroy

The Snow Show

"Hey dad, where does snow come from?" will never be a question you'll need to field again... 

THREE PROS

*Breaks down a complicated concept so deftly it can even be understood by the densest snowflake in your home   

*Carolyn Fisher's decision to deliver the info as if we were watching a cable tv taping reinforces the learning process
*Has plenty of extra content on the last two pages for those who want to dive even deeper into snow

THREE CONS 

*Reading Chef Kelvin's 'witty' sidebars on every page only served to freeze the momentum of what would otherwise be a fun scientific read -- comic relief is a great arrow in a writer's quiver, but sometimes the writer has to write less and let the pictures do the talking for her/him 
*Similarly the 'commercial break' might make it feel like more of a tv show, but stymies the story unnecessarily 

*Could have consolidated all of the snow crystal shapes in the back glossary instead of bogging down the meat of the book with a virtually unreadable page

ONE DAD'S OPINION
The Snow Show reminded me of snowfall in the middle of spring.  It's a beautiful experience that is quickly muddied up by external factors.  By choosing to focus on Fisher's actual snow-creation process and ignoring all the extra precipitation surrounding it, you'd be hard pressed to think this is anything other than a Buy.  However, if you try and read every word on each page before turning to the next, you'll melt away the good memories before they can accumulate.  For this reason, this book, much like the very thing it discusses, is living on Borrowed time. 

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy

Poopendous!

Holy crap!  This was hilarious! 

THREE PROS

*I honestly can't tell whether I like Artie Bennett's writing or Mike Moran's illustrations more -- which is a great problem to have  

*This isn't just a book that shows a bunch of poop because it will make kids laugh -- the knowledge it imparts is actually quite useful
*It's a small thing, but my favorite part of the book might have been the sign that reads "Yurt is where the heart is" 

THREE CONS 

*I was a little disappointed on the page where the angry bear literally scares the shit out of numerous animals that the humans didn't crap their pants, too 
*The migrating bird page could have been a tiny bit clearer in it's description of how these birds were travelling from point A to point B with their special deliveries (although you've got to give Bennett kudos for working in Guadeloupe into a rhyme) 

*While I enjoyed Moran's depiction of a severely constipated mouse trying to push out that last little nugget, others might think this to be a tad gratuitous compared to the rest of the book (since I think everything else is either a before or after shot)

ONE DAD'S OPINION
If you'll notice how macro my first two pros were then you'll understand why Poopendous! is a heaping pile of steaming goodness.  It's not like there are but a few droppings of humor spread thinly across the pages.  No, no, the whole book is legit and will definitely cause you to lose your shit!  In fact, any other author out there who tries to put the poop back in the butthole is merely playing for #2!  Scatalogically speaking, this is a monster upper-decker so awesome you have to show your friends.     

BUY / Borrow / Donate / Destroy

Looking Down

Talk about your extreme close-ups! 

THREE PROS

*Teaches your child perspective the way few other books can, by starting from a total view of the Earth and slowly zooming in frame-by-frame all the way down to the wings of a ladybug in some family's front yard  

*My son really got into things when I started to play a modified form of hide and seek with the objects on each page (as in, "okay, now where's the school bus?")
*The fabric made to construct the planet is so cheap (it looks like the a combination of wadded up toilet paper and dollar store construction paper), but it somehow translates into a more real kidlit experience

THREE CONS 

*I pretty much just recreated this on Google Maps today, where the locations can actually change each time if you want them to, instead of always landing on the same bug's butt 
*According to the globe in Steve Jenkins' book, the Atlantic coast of Brazil should be roughly a thirty-minute ferry ride from Namibia or South Africa 

*I don't quite get why the afterword limits the location used in the book to a town geographically between MD and SC since it could have been any river community that empties into a nearby body of water

ONE DAD'S OPINION
As you know by now, Donates can vary wildly in their quality.  I actually liked this one a fair amount and so did my son.  I didn't even have a huge problem with the fact that it is wordless, since this allowed me to take it down whatever path I wanted to each time we read it.  Nonetheless, there is no way Looking Down is a Buy, and I'd have a tough time justifying that you need to go out of your way to Borrow it given con #1.  So Donate it is!    

Buy / Borrow / DONATE / Destroy

Ants In Your Pants, Worms In Your Plants!

Full disclosure: As a member of the DC Green Party, my review might be overly influenced by the planet-loving theme.  In other words, I'm Erik and I approve of Diane deGroat's message. 

THREE PROS

*Not only is that message strong, but it is detailed -- there are numerous examples of life changes we can all undertake to become better residents of Earth  

*My favorite spread in the book has to be the discussion on composting since it involves worms, worms pooping, and multiple opportunities to say the words "Eewww" and "Pee-you"
*I found the usage of thought bubbles filled with white space to be an amusing way to depict being in a creative rut 

THREE CONS 

*The beginning few pages made me think I was embarking on another boring school adventure with characters I would hate -- thankfully this notion ended once they kids left the classroom  
*Maybe it's just hard for illustrators to get me to like anthropomorphic animals that are drawn rather realistically (rather than cartoon-y) -- and the lead character is the freakiest of all 

*While it doesn't really matter, I found it slightly annoying that the author assumed we knew which first names corresponded to which animals (on the bright side, it did give me and my boy an extra activity to undertake while reading)

ONE DAD'S OPINION
So my wife (who has been making a lot of appearances on this blog of late) picked this one out last week.  When I saw the cover picture, I've gotta tell you, I was not excited.  The combination of Gilbert's countenance and a lame-o title made me avoid it for a few solid days.  But tonight my son brought it over to me personally and asked me to read it (on World Read Aloud Day, no less).  How could I say no to that?!  By page three, my opinion hadn't changed much, but as things went on, I really started to appreciate what deGroat was doing.  As soon as we reached the final page, I knew I had a Buy in my hands, albeit not one of my favorite books to earn this designation.  If you are just starting a child's collection of picture books, I would not include this one on the list (especially if you are budget-conscious).  However, if you're even half as book crazy as me, I'm giving you the green light to drop the $17 on this joint.  Oh, one last thing.  Allow me to clarify why this book is listed under my Holiday category... it's because AIYPWIYP pays homage to Earth Day.  [Although it would have been nice to see a mention of the actual date, even if it was on a poster in the background.]  If anyone's interested, I will be celebrating 2012's event by helping to clean up parks around the US Capitol.  I'd be more than happy to drop a few ants in your pants if you stop by and say hi!    

BUY / Borrow / Donate / Destroy

I Know Where My Food Goes

I haven't had to create a new category for some time, but this one warranted such a move. 

THREE PROS

*Until your child reads this book, there's a good chance that she or he will have no idea what happens between the time when food enters the mouth and when it comes out the other side  

*Katharine McEwen's drawings are fairly crude but do a good job of getting the point across
*Emphasizes being careful when swallowing food, which has to be one of my top three concerns as a parent

THREE CONS 

*I want you to click on the cover picture below and analyze what's going on right above the word "Illustrated" -- yes, it's the final step in the process, but c'mon 
*The whole back-and-forth between mother and son is kind of stupid -- I would have liked it more if Sam was learning along with us instead of being a semi-know-it-all with the vocabulary of a know-very-little 

*I was most interested to learn more about the "faucet" action that takes place between the stomach and the small intestine (since author Jacqui Maynard brought it up), but was left hungry

ONE DAD'S OPINION
I'm still not sure my almost-three-year-old son is totally prepared for the leap to books seemingly designed for older kids, but my librarian recommended IKWMFG after I asked for something with pictures of skeletons.  [Sidebar: there are none.]  So I figured why not.  It's heart is in the right place (as are all the rest of the vital organs!) and it projects a voice that is appropriate for the age it intends to educate.  Still, it is not a good book.  The way I see it, it was a decent change of pace from the fictional material my boy and I normally share, so reading it a few times was okay.  But, again, it is not good.    

Buy / Borrow / DONATE / Destroy

Redwoods

Timber!  I'm about to chop down another all-natural review for you. 

THREE PROS

*Even though I lived under 30 minutes from Muir Woods as a teen, I must admit I didn't know half of the information I learned from reading this story  

*If you have even the slightest desire to instill conservationist values in your kid, there are few children's books that would do a better job than this one
*Those first few pages, where the illustrations carry the boy on a journey through space and time, were extremely creative and engaging 

THREE CONS 

*I wanted to like the ending more than I did, but it's missing a point of action that might have further pushed children to do something to help the environment 
*While this book has a justifiable reason to include a picture of itself in the actual story (since the physical embodiment of the text is what transports the characters to the magical Redwood forest), putting it on almost every page felt over-the-top 

*Hate to hold it against author Jason Chin, but my boy couldn't make it to the end without asking to do something else

ONE DAD'S OPINION
As a proud alum of Redwood High School, there was no way I was not checking this book out of my local library.  In hindsight, I probably should have opened it first; had I done so, I might have seen that its target age is approximately five to ten.  Predictably, my 2.5 year-old was bored with the long pauses between page flips (owing to the abundance of text) at about the halfway point.  So I went to plan B and powered through Chin's creation while distracting my son with this awesome YouTube video.  I'm glad I did -- Redwoods really taught me a lot about these majestic California and Oregon forests.  It's a comprehensive effort that pairs a ton of facts with skillful artistry.  It's very close to being a Buy, but falls a few feet short because the reading time feels magnified (regardless of age) by the similarity inherent in page after page of tree drawings, no matter how nice they look.    

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy

What Does A Seed Need?

How about some good old-fashioned TLC?  No?  That doesn't help seeds grow?  Hmmm, guess we'll have to do some learnin'... 

THREE PROS

*If you're looking for a pop-up book that won't get ripped to shreds by the active hands of a toddler, this one works (except for the last sunflower) 

*I like that you can open the seed packets on the first page
*My ex-roommate would totally approve of a pig named Mo

THREE CONS 

*Liz Goulet Dubois' biggest book pro comes with some con to it -- namely, the spinning wheels that are so hard to damage are also hard to manipulate, especially for little, still coordinating fingers   

*The similarities between the pig having to wait for the seeds to grow and your child turning to a page where there is nothing to pull or pop is kind of neat; but I've found my son could totally do without it 

*Why half of the water is green will never make sense to me

ONE DAD'S OPINION
Before we get down to brass tacks, can I give a shout-out to publisher Price Stern Sloan?  Most publishers would shy away from referring to themselves as a sound most commonly associated with a bathroom (PSS).  But not these guys!  OK, moving on...  So what do we have here?  We have a pretty solid pop-up that might be a tad short in length and lacking in any truly spectacular effects. Metaphallically speaking (I just made that up), it's the kind of book women could see marrying, but wouldn't get a thrill out of if thrown together for a one-night stand.  In other words, you can Buy it if you want a safe, yet joyless, marriage or Borrow it if you would rather hedge your bets.  That's what I would do at least. 

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy