TITLE: The Truth About Grandparents
AUTHOR: Elina Ellis
PUBLISHER: Little Brown & Co.
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: n/a
FORMAT: print
FORMAT: print
RATING - not recommended
At the heart of this story for young children are (pardon my bluntness) 2 extremely funny looking, old grandparents. The grandmother is obese and the grandfather very slim. The story uses statements and adjectives like: GRANDPARENTS are: slow, clumsy, not bendy, scared of new things. don't dance, not into romance, not adventurous etc. Each picture then shows the grandparents doing the opposite of what was initially stated about them and, then the story ending on a positive note stating: grandparents are amazing.
Even though the book definitely shows grandparents in a positive light, I didn't care for the negative tone/cues throughout. In my opinion, there are much nicer grandparent books out there for young children. The illustrations are quite comical.
TITLE: Hide and Seek
AUTHOR: Katie May Green
PUBLISHER: Candlewick
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: n/a
FORMAT: print
FORMAT: print
RATING - 4/5
Shiverhawk Hall is the setting for this semi-spooky but, not scary game of Hide and Seek.
The DeVilleechild twins live in pictures framed and hanging on the walls. However, when the moon comes out, the twins disappear from their frames and the other children: Percy, Lily and Billy set out to search for them.
They hunt through elaborate mazes on their large estate as their black cat follows along. As they search they find many interesting things including the twins who are on the run but, once a rain storm hits the twins pop back into their wall frames until the next time the moon is aglow and it's time for another game of Hide and Seek.
Cute imaginative story with incredibly beautiful and detailed illustrations.
I think I would enjoy both books, although I wouldn't like the negativity in the first book much either.
ReplyDeleteWhy teach young children to label people even if it's supposed to be tongue in cheek?
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts about both of these children's books.Happy reading in the week ahead, Diane!
ReplyDeleteThat Grandparents one does sound a bit tacky.
ReplyDeleteI read 4 Caldecott winners from the 1990s last week. They were all good and my grand nieces who were over for a family get together on Sunday loved them.
ReplyDelete