Lit Mama

I'm With Him

The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. 32 pp. Dial Books, 2005. $16.99.

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As all children know, or soon will once they begin reading fairy tales, forests are dark, dangerous places. So it would seem for Julia Donaldson’s small mouse hero as he embarks on a stroll through the woods. Except this little mouse, who looks like a good meal to each creature he meets — fox, owl, snake — outwits them by describing the friend he’s about to meet: gruffalo.

"A gruffalo? What’s a gruffalo?"
"A gruffalo! Why didn’t you know?"

"He has terrible tusks and terrible claws,
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws."

"Where are you meeting him?"
"Here by these rocks,
And his favorite food is roasted fox."

Even when he comes face to face with the real gruffalo, huge claws and all, little mouse keeps his cool and uses his brains, a lesson every child will take to heart.

A beloved Smarties Book Prize winner in the UK, this excellent read-aloud book deserves to be on every American bookshelf. Donaldon’s exuberant rhyming prose and farcical descriptions hand readers a license to really ham it up too.

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If you like this book, you might also like: The Snail and the Whale, by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler; Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Erika Oller; Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak.

Also, gruffalo.com has many fun activities, video of Julia Donaldson singing (she started as a children’s song writer and performer) and more.

Rock Steady

Lightship, written and illustrated by Brian Floca. 48 pp., Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books (a Simon and Schuster imprint), 2007. $16.99.

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Before there was GPS navigation, there were many dangerous areas in deep water where lighthouses couldn’t be built. Enter the lightship.

Here is a ship that holds her place... She does not sail from port to port. She does not carry passengers or mail or packages. She holds to one sure spot as other ships sail by. She waits.

And what Brian Floca’s Ambrose and her crew are waiting for is fog and bad weather. Then with an ear-splitting foghorn — "Beeooh!" — the brilliant lights are lit atop the masts.

Floca’s cheery watercolor illustrations and simple language reveal a slice of history many children (and adults) will be unfamiliar with. His detailed pictures add elements to the tale that are great jumping-off points for talks about big waves, how boats are anchored, sea birds, jobs where people live in remote places, navigation and even sharks.

Inspired by the real Ambrose at dock in New York City, Floca did substantial research for the book yet leaves readers feeling like they’ve visited a lightship rather than a lecture.

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If you like this book, you might like: The Great Ships by Patrick O’Brien (author of the adult Aubrey-Maturin series); Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman; and Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements by Deborah Hopkinson.

Three's Company

Lottie’s New Friend, written and illustrated by Petra Mathers. 32 pp. Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books (a Simon & Schuster imprint), 1999. $15.

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Learning how to navigate the sometimes-treacherous waters of friendship is one of the most important skills children acquire in their early years. What is a friend? How do friends behave toward each other? How do two best friends add a third to the mix?

With her trademark low-key humor and colorful, offbeat characters, Petra Mathers offers her own answers in Lottie’s New Friend. As readers of Mathers’ quirky and delightful avian series know, Herbie the duck and Lottie the chicken are best friends. But when Dodo, a glamorous, exotic bird — tall, purple, German, a former actress — arrives and becomes fast friends with Lottie, Herbie suddenly wonders if Lottie still cares about him.

He finds out when Lottie leaves town and Dodo needs to be rescued from her roof. The transition to a happy threesome in any friendship can be bumpy. But with lovable cookie-gobbling Herbie as a guide, readers will be cheered that if he can do it, they can too.

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If you like this book, you might also like: Lottie’s New Beach Towel, A Cake for Herbie and Dodo Gets Married, all written and illustrated by Petra Mathers; The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders and In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden, both written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Petra Mathers.

Lion on the Loose

The Happy Lion (50th anniversary edition), by Louise Fatio, illus. Roger Duvoisin. 40 pp. Knopf, 2004. $14.95.

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What would happen if a lion escaped from the zoo? Based on a true story of a well-fed lion that went on a walkabout and didn’t harm anyone, husband and wife picture book creators Louise Fatio and Roger Duvoisin spun the timeless tale of the Happy Lion more than fifty years ago.

Playing to children’s natural love of the absurd, the story is told from the lion’s point of view. He is a civilized, loving lion who, when the zookeeper inadvertently leaves the door to the lion house open, responds with “I don’t like that, anyone might walk in.”

On most days, a few regulars come to the zoo to say Bon jour to him. So, when his gate is opened, he decides to go visit them. Much to his surprise, when he encounters them outside the zoo, they are terrified. Luckily, Francois, the keeper’s son, knows the lion’s true nature and, before the fire department can take over, calmly leads him back to his house.

Pen and ink illustrations and muted colors evoke a simpler era in a small French city. Have no fear — the only French needed is Bon jour. (French language editions are available, though.)

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If you like his book, you might also like: The Happy Lion Roars (reissued, 2006, Knopf); The Happy Lion in Africa, The Happy Lion’s Rabbits and The Happy Lion’s Treasure; Petunia, Veronica, both written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin; Crictor by Tomi Ungerer; The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr.

You can find the ones that haven't been reissued used through Powell's and Alibris.

When Cats Fly

Catwings (4 Volume Set), by Ursula K. Le Guin, illus. by S.D. Schindler. 192 pp. Orchard Books. $15.99. (The four-book series includes: Catwings, Catwings Return, Wonderful Alexander and Jane on Her Own.)

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Imagine the avian outrage when four tabby kittens arrive in the forest flying under their own wing power. Their mother, Mrs. Jane Tabby, guesses her children’s unique genetic adaptation occurred because they were meant to fly away from the mean streets where they were born. Like so many children’s stories, the adventures really start when Mrs. Tabby sends her children away, in this case explaining she “doesn’t want them underfoot” when she marries Mr. Tom Jones.

Fans of Ursula K. Le Guin’s books for older readers, like her classic Earthsea Cycle, might be surprised she’s written these four fantasy tales for such young readers. But her spare, strong language and utterly believable fantasy makes this entertaining enough to be read aloud over and over. All in this series are also excellent transition books for animal lovers starting to read on their own.

At the heart of all four of these books is the quite mature message that parents will have experienced but even young children seem to understand: being different can be difficult and even dangerous. In lesser books, the easy — and unrealistic — ending would have been that the larger world comes to accept and embrace the catwings on their own terms. Le Guin respects her readers too much for this, instead providing each tale with a satisfying, true-to-life conclusion.

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Although available in hardback, the four-paperback set is the best buy. The books can stand alone, but are much better read together. (My daughter and I read one at each bedtime, then started over again. And again...)

Warm Summers Past

Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome. 352 pp. David R Godine. $14.95. (First in a ten-book series.)

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You don’t find parents like the Walkers anymore. Overly protective they are not. Instead, while Mr. Walker is at sea with the Navy, he and Mrs. Walker encourage their four children, ranging in age from seven to about 14, to live out their fantasies during their summer holiday in England’s Lake District. The children sail their small boat to an uninhabited island and camp there for weeks, pretending to be pirates and explorers. They spend their days and nights sailing, cooking their own food, bathing in the lake, and teaching their younger brother how to swim. Mother checks in on the children regularly while also keeping tabs on them through the eyes and ears of friendly locals, including farmers who give them milk each morning and another family whose two daughters, known as the Amazons, soon join the adventure. 

Based on Ransome’s own childhood, "Swallows and Amazons" is the first in a remarkable ten-book series set in the 1920s about four siblings — John, Susan, Titty and Roger — and the friends and family members who join them in their adventures. Girls take center stage as much as boys do. In fact, the elder Amazon, Nancy, is more adventurous and a better sailor than the eldest Swallow, John. In this first title and as the series continues, sailing remains at the heart of the books though it never overwhelms.

Roger, aged seven, and no longer the youngest of the family, ran in wide zigzags, to and fro, across the steep field that sloped up from the lake...The wind was against him, and he was tacking up against it to the farm, where at the gate his patient mother was awaiting him. He could not run straight against the wind because he was a sailing vessel, a tea-clipper, the Cutty Sark.

In this era of the "Dangerous Book for Boys" and the "Daring Book for Girls" teaching our children how to play in the natural world, the practical-minded Walker kids who make their own adventures then cook dinner and get their younger siblings to bed on time make me yearn to create the same sort of vacations for my children. But if I can’t do that, we’ll at least read all these books together.

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Other formats:

• BBC TV productions of two of the ten "Swallows and Amazons" books — "The Big Six" and "Coot Club" — are available on DVD.

• Unabridged audio cassettes of the series are hard to find but well-reviewed.