Editor’s Notes: Good afternoon. If you missed out on the morning post from Rebecca on the tradition of advent, you can catch it over HERE. Now it’s time for a review of two very fun children’s books and a giveaway…
We have moved into the comedy portion of our daily story routine these days. There’s still a fair amount of angel swans and sweet tales about chipmunks finding secret homes in the Winter. But, really, the big hits in our house these days are the goofy, fun books about animals in pursuit of great discoveries that involve bones, fossils and ancient history.
Being a bit of a kids lit traditionalist, I haven’t been a big pusher of the whole contemporary funny kid thing. But, Skippyjon Jones got on the tiny person’s radar after spotting his mummy adventure at the bookstore in October and we have been in pursuit of great cat-who-thinks-he’s-a-chihuahua adventures ever since.
There is a whole whack of stories in the Skippyjon Jones universe. But, our favorite (surprise, surprise) is most definitely Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by author illustrator Judy Schachner.
This great, hilarious story about Skippyjon’s search for the very rare Skipposaurus is roaring laughter and fun in the kid universe (recommended for kids ages 4-7).
There’s a goofy altercation with a T-Mex and the legendary sword fighter El Skippito comes to the rescue of all, so that they may continue on in their great dinosaur quest.
I have to tell you, Skippyjon is so charming. He also is a lot of fun to read out loud as the characters have seriously defined personalities that lend themselves well to voices and roll playing.
We dig the Skipster and I must say that he is the perfect boy goofball superhero adventurer.
Then we met up with Max Spaniel and discovered that there could be two loves at the same time. We got a pile of books from Scholastic Canada and Max Spaniel, Dinosaur Hunt rose to the top almost instantly.
Author illustrator David Catrow has created a sweet goof of a dog that is both sassy and determined to create a great dinosaur – even though the family cat thinks he is the biggest, most ridiculous dork on the planet for trying.
But, Max prevails and the cat gets his due… and we all cheer because Max IS a dork – a super creative, fun, lovable, charming, every-man’s dog sort of dork.
You can catch a video about the drawing and creation of Max Spaniel HERE.
Being in major dino fossil mode around here these days, Skippyjon and Max Spaniel make the perfect pair of goofy adventurers to keep things less than serious, but always fun, on our treks out to discover the great OBEasaurus.
Who are your favorite goofy kids book characters? I have a copy of Max Spaniel, Dinosaur Hunt for one random commenter.
Marnie won the book, Yay!
You can find either of these books at your local library or independent book seller.
Book covers courtesy of Scholastic Canada and skippyjonjones.com
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OH OH OH OH (not Ho Ho)
SkippyJon Jones and the Big Bones has been a firm favourite here for over a year now; mummy and daddy get quite linguistically overworked but it is worth it for the laughs.
Had never heard of Max Spaniel and his Dinosaur Hunt so looking forward to tracking that down.
One of our favourites is Miss Smith Rides Again (and I’ll check the author later) about a school teacher with a magical book to transport you anywhere – even to dinosaur times! There is a whole series but dinosaurs, what can I say? The Gruffalo always rates highly with the giggling crowd and we’re glad that series is continuing. All time tops? The Cat in the Hat! How glad we are that Seuss continues – the lad loves them all but the Cat is the favourite. Can’t wait to get him into some delicious Roald Dahl wickedness but they aren’t really goofy.
Ah, so many good books, so little whine………
A long standing favourite in our house has been Where the Wild Things are. It is so easy to really get into the dramatics of it!
Thanks for highlighting this one OBE. I am always on the lookout for books for my animal loving daughter who enjoys humorous characters. Some of our early faves that we frequently revisit are by Lynley Dodd: Hairy Maclary (best read with a Scottish accent) and Slinky Malinki, the cat who has a little klepto issue… “A tatty old sneaker, a smelly old sock and Jennifer Turkington’s pottery smock.”
We love the Skippyjon Jones books that we have read and we own quite a few of the Hairy Maclary books mentioned by Marnie. I had a my doubts when I saw the cover of some of our now favourite books until I saw that our neighbours owned almost all of them and everyone was borrowing them. Walter the Farting Dog got huge laughs at our house with the kids and the adults. Walter is a goofy canine who get himself into trouble because of his flatulence problem.
Thanks for the book reviews, Robin. More for my classroom collection (shhhhh! Don’t tell my hubby!)… I’m with Dawn. Walter the Farting Dog is actually very clever! And definitely a favourite at the gr. 1 and 2 level. I’m not sure if it’s the story, or the fact that the teacher says “farting”… Either way, it is a fun read!!
Yay Dr. Seuss!!! Cat in the Hat Rocks!!! My three year old is currently loving ‘The Glunk that got Thunk’ which is one of three Dr. Seuss stories published in the book, “I Can Lick Thirty Tigers Today.” Am I jogging any memories?
The Glunk is a character who is imagined by a young girl’s, ‘thinker-upper’ one evening after supper, and much to her surprise, The Glunk materializes right before her eyes!
He’s extremely rude and starts ringing up a huge phone bill whilst talking to his mother, long distance, about a recipe for stew :
“Now, mother plunk one berry razz,
Now plunk one berry blue,”
It’s SO much fun to read, and ranks high on the Goofy-meter.
Here’s a third vote for Walter the Farting Dog series. My personal favorite is the one about the cruise ship. My son’s favorite is the garage sale one. Yes, the grade 2’s still love it and they can start to read it themselves. I have to admit though – it is a hit at 3 years old too. When the grade 2 starts to read it to the 3 year old, it usually doesn’t get finished because of all the giggles.
I just wanted to thank you for posting my book on your blog – much appreciation!
DC
BY the way, here is one very important fact: MAX SPANIEL, the squishy and lovable sort that he is, (relative to the above mentioned Walter…) has virtually no carbon footprint- he emits no greenhouse gases. think about that, next time you’re in a bookstore; he is good for the earth.
If your looking for a good place to pick up some classic kids books check out David’s website — http://www.catrow.com
PS. I love your work & great post!
Lib