It's a Book

It's a Book
Lane Smith
2010

Here is a story straightforward enough even the youngest reader can understand yet, amusing enough for parents to enjoy. Actually, all of Lane Smith books are that way. Some examples are The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Both are to be enjoyed by children a little older than your average picturebook reader. In this particualr book Smith uses the word "jackass" gratuitously throughout its pages but being that it is a term used for a donkey, I guess I can respect the author’s choice of words in the name of Art and Literature.

At the very beginning of this book, we are introduced to the characters — a mouse, a monkey, and a jackass. The monkey is enjoying a good old fashioned book when a tech-savvy “Jackass” wonders what special capabilities it has. (“Does it Text?” “Does it tweet?” “Does it have a Password”) after the monkey has explained the concept of a book throughout the story, the book ends with the line, “It’s a book, jackass.”



This led me to ask, are books really that ancient? The NY Times seems to thinks so. They published in article entitled “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children”, citing reasons such as the economic downturn and parents pushing “Big Kids” books, still some say Children’s picturebooks are experiencing a Digital Revolution. So what is it? A bad economy, over-ambitious parents trying to prepare their five year olds for Harvard or the decision to abandon print books in favor of electronic ones?

I can picture my grandchildren trying to explain “Once upon a time there were books, but now….____”

GooGooGalleryKids 50th Sale!

I’m proud to say that the very humble little shop I run over at ETSY, GooGooGalleryKids, has reached its 50th sale this week. GooGooGallery has been up and running now for a little under two years and to tell you the truth, when I decided to start selling my books on ETSY I had no idea I would sell 1 let alone 50! The greatest feeling is when someone is reacquainted with a book from their childhood and they are very eager to share it with their children! That is exactly why I started GooGooGallery in the first place and I will continue to cherish each and every book I find a new home for.

I look forward to another 50 sales!

Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody

Goodnight Goon: A (Not so) Petrifying Parody
Michael Rex - 2008

In a previous post I mentioned that Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's Goodnight Moon is one of The Boog’s favorite bedtime books of all time! (At least for the time being) and millions of children agree since the book has been a kids' classic for over 60 years now. It’s a story of socks, clocks, kittens, mittens, chairs, bears and……. Well, I’m certain you have the entire thing memorized. Now forget that version and all the verses that you have recited and replace them with Michael Rex’s version, Goodnight Goon.

As a spinoff of Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Goon gets a fiendish makeover. The charming room is replaced by dungeon-like stones. The old bunny’s knitting becomes a voodoo doll. The three little bears sitting in chairs have become three little mummies, rubbing their tummies and Cows jumping over the moon turned into Martians “taking over the moon”. The pages boast an imaginative revision of the famous bedroom with furry little kittens to a tomb filled with monsters! Im not quite sure that The Boog is ready for Goodnight Moon’s evil twin just yet but you can be sure it’ll be waiting for her when she is!


P.S There is also a spinoff of The Runaway Bunny also by Margaret Wise Brown & Clement Hurd, which I have yet to check out. It’s called The Runaway Mummy. Like it’s predecessor, Little Mummy calls up all the ways he can declare his independence and thwart Mommy Mummy's attempts to capture him for bedtime.

Top Halloween Movies

I know that this is a vintage book blog but I have to admit I grew up on tv and cinema almost as much as I grew up reading books. There is something about Halloween that gets me excited to watch certain movies over and over again and everytime I watch the movies on this list I feel like a little girl all over again! So, I thought I’d share some of my choice Halloween picks of the season. They are movies that the whole family can watch. .... .... ....

Labyrinth- 1986 Rated PGJennifer Connelly – David Bowie
15-year-old Sarah accidentally wishes her baby half-brother, Toby, away to the Goblin King Jareth, played by Bowie, who intends on keeping him if Sarah does not complete his Labyrinth in 13 hours.

Nightmare Before Christmas – 1993 Rated PGTim Burton
Jack Skellington is king of Halloween Town. After discovering Christmas Town he decides to kidnap Santa and claim the holiday as his own although he doesn’t quite understand the entire concept of Christmas.

Hocus Pocus- 1993 Rated PG
Bette Midler – Sarah Jessica Parker – Kathy Nijimy
More than 300 years ago, 3 witches were sentenced to die in Salem, Massachusetts and a boy was turned into a cat (a black cat, naturally). Now it's Halloween, and the witches are back. This time, they've got their eyes on immortal life and have turned their wrath on trick-or-treaters and it's up to the 300-year-old cat to save the day.

It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown- 1966 Rated NR
The Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween while Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin

The Worst Witch- 1986 Rated PG
Tim Curry – Fairuza Balk
Mildred is one of the young girls at a prestigious witch academy. She can't seem to do anything right and is picked on by classmates and teachers. The headmistress of the school, Miss Cackle, has an evil twin sister (Agatha) who plans to destroy the school. Can Mildred foil the plan before the Grand Wizard (Tim Curry) comes to the Academy for the Halloween celebration?

Beetlejuice- 1988 Rated PG
Alec Baldwin – Geena Davis – Michael Keaton – Winona Ryder
A couple of recently deceased ghosts contract the services of a "bio-exorcist" in order to remove the obnoxious new owners of their house.

(It was going to be a top five but I had to include Beetlejuice, It’s a classic!)
Happy Halloween!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst – Illustrated by Ray Cruz – 1972

So this morning I woke up with the BOOG’s foot in my rib, a tangle in my hair and meowing hungry cats (because I forgot to put more food in their “Self-Feeder”) All before my first cup of coffee!

“I think I’ll move to Australia!”

If you get my meaning than you’re familiar with this book and if you have no idea what I’m talking about but know the feeling than you’ll completely relate to Alexander. In this instance,Alexander is having a really craptastic day. For example…….

“ I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
Ahhhh, to be young! When all you had to worry about was little gum in the hair and not getting the right sneakers or you arrive famished to the dining room table only to discover Lima Beans on your plate. The truth is, bad days happen to everyone sooner or later at any age. Imagine for a second your only 3 and you can’t quite get your foot into your pants on your own, your mom says no when you want a cookie and on top of it all dad is watching Sunday night football and you can’t watch your favorite cartoon! When you’re a little child all these minor hassles can seem like the end of the world!

Just when I thought I conquered The Terrible Twos it seems we are just getting started!

P.S I found my copy at a local thrift store and almost didn’t purchase it because it had an inscription on the title page. That little scribble turned out to be Judith Viorst’s signature! That wasn’t such a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at all!