Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster

 Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster

by Debra Frasier

2000

0-15-202163-9

Found in the JE easy fiction section.

Using bright colors, great hand-drawn artwork on binder-paper, and an original integration of story and vocabulary lessons, Frasier's Miss Alaineus is an intelligent, funny, and enjoyable read for 3rd to 6th graders.

When Sage, the narrator of the story, catches a cold from a boy named Forest, "not a thicket of trees", she stays home from school and misses Mrs. Page's vocabulary list.  Getting the list hastily from a friend over the phone, the Sage erroneously jots down the last word as "Miss Alaineus".  She struggles to find the definition of the word, ending in a hilarious result, that ends in an embarrassing situation when she brings her definition to school.  How does Sage redeem herself and make the best of an embarrassing moment?

The bottom of each page uses vocabulary words in a sentence for each letter of the alphabet.  What a clever and inventive book that is sure to make readers laugh!  Highly recommended!

Polar Bear Morning

 

Polar Bear Morning

by Lauren Thompson, Pictures by Steven Savage

2013 

978-0-439-69885-6

A polar bear cub awakens to explore the surroundings and finds a friend to play with.  The polar bear cub and the "snow cub" run all the way to the edge of their icy environment.

The best aspect of "Polar Bear Morning" is the artwork, using a monochrome color scheme and interesting geometric shapes on the page.  Triangles and squares pop out of the pictures, that will most likely prove a good talking point when reading to younger children.  The plot of the story is less interesting.  The two bears run and play and are friends, and that's about it.  I was confused as to what differentiated the "snow cub" from the polar bear cub.  Were they the same species?  I'm too hard on the book, by posing these questions, I'm sure.  On a positive note, the book describes well, the characters that live on an ice sheet: polar bears, seals, seagulls.  The book might spark the interest of a future environmentalist.

Black Is Brown Is Tan

Black Is Brown Is Tan
by Arnold Adoff, pictures by Emily McCully
1973
978-0060200831

Black Is Brown Is Tan
by Arnold Adoff, pictures by Emily McCully
2002
0-06-028777-2


A poetic expression of an interracial family with an African American mother, a Caucasian father, and their two children.  It is lyrically beautiful and captures the universal interactions and feelings between parents and children, regardless of race, but also examines how skin color affects the equation.  Adoff presents a curious conundrum positing a confusion of positives and negatives.  Mother is the color of chocolate milk with chocolate cheeks and hands.  Father is white, but not the color of snow or milk.  Why the juxtaposition of "am" and "am not"?  Does the author's race correlate to the reason for this dichotomy?  Is chocolate to be praised, as snow and milk to be denied?

The artwork and sensibilities of this family book are very 1970's and it works in the book's favor, resulting in a warmth and a retrospective family presentation.  Would living in a bi-racial family structure be an experience such as Adoff presents?  It wouldn't be a bad thing if it was...

***Reprinted in 2002 with new illustrations in vivid watercolors.  The new artwork updates the dress and grooming styles to more modern standards.  Maybe or maybe not an improvement on the original.

The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau

The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau
by Jon Agee
1988
978-0374435820

An unknown painter on the Parisian art scene, Felix Clousseau wins a painting contest, displaying magical artistic skills.  Soon, his paintings take on a life of their own and he is branded an outcast until his strange paintings are found useful to the king.

With a silent-film sensibility and art reminiscent of Herge's Tintin, Agee's book is humorous and warm as it slowly draws you into early twentieth century Paris.  The story is short and simply told, but unfolds a fascinating narrative that leaves readers believing in the magic that Felix Clousseau performs.