Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Children’s stories

  • S is for Safari: An Alphabetical Adventure with Quickly, the Magic Spatula by Jeryl Abelmann and Miriam Kronish

    S is for Safari: An Alphabetical Adventure with Quickly, the Magic Spatula by Jeryl Abelmann and Miriam Kronish

    Quickly, the Magic Spatula has returned in an engaging new book by award-winning authors, Miriam Kronish and Jeryl Abelmann. Illustrator Daniel J. Seward playfully portrays Quickly in white sneakers sporting a bright red ‘Q’ and brings Quickly, PanDora, and their new friend Ponnie to life with sparkling eyes and action poses. His animal illustrations are both accurate and charming.

    After greeting us with a big “Hello!” Quickly explains that Ponnie, a spatula that he and his old friend PanDora met last year, has invited them to visit his country, South Africa. He will be their safari guide, driving their smiling green jeep as they make their way around the land to “visit the animals and learn their names” [each one representing a different letter of the alphabet] and “see the country [with sights representing a letter] and play some games.”

    Kronish and Abelmann’s alphabet stories, which proffer a few simple facts about the animals and places, are written in the most delightful verse. Rhyming words are here, there, and everywhere! For example: “B stands for Buffalo…If you look at its back, you’ll find a tiny bird. No, it’s not absurd to find a bird. The oxpecker is its name. What a wonderful word! And the buffalo loves to be part of the herd.” Another favorite, “H stands for Hippo—Hippos love to play in water. Don’t you think they oughtta?” Then there is “Victoria Falls—where the water never stops falling, and the mists never stop rising. It’s not so surprising.” Finally, the safari party meets the Zebra, which “gallops like a horse, and is related to a donkey, of course!”

    The safari is over. It’s time to go home. As a parting surprise, Ponnie gives his friends a recipe for the South African Pannekoek, or pancake, which Quickly shares with us.

    Quickly’s safari adventure is a delightful way to introduce children to new vocabulary words, geographic information, and learn about African animals. The handy games make learning this new information fun and entertaining. And the captivating rhymes will have young readers giggling as they repeat the verses.

    Next, children and adults will have a lot of fun with “Quickly’s Safari Adventure Coloring & Activity Book.” And, if you haven’t already read them, “Quickly, the Magic Spatula” and “Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure” will fill you in on the story of how Quickly came to life and his earlier adventures.

    Quickly, the Magic Spatula

    A surefire way to make a children’s book a favorite is to mix a bit of truth with a bit of magic, and that’s just what Jeryl Abelmann and Miriam Kronish have done in the award winning “Quickly: The Magic Spatula.” Chason Matthams’s illustrations further enliven the story with their unique design and bright color.

    Big sister and younger brother, all grown up, are searching for mementos in the attic of their childhood home when they come upon a dusty box marked ‘kitchen utensils’. Pulling the cardboard flaps open, something catches their eyes, and they both shout “Quickly! It’s Quickly!” An old spatula—its metal bent and dulled, and the green paint on its handle almost peeled off. But in an instant, brother and sister are young again, once more in Mommy’s sunny kitchen.

    Mommy’s delicious pancakes are sizzling in the pan, as always on Sunday mornings, and the children eagerly awaiting a plateful. Suddenly Mommy cried “Jeffrey! Please bring me the spatula—quickly!” Jeffrey grabs the sparkly, green-handled spatula and, running across the kitchen, hollers “Here’s Quickly, Mommy!” Four-year-old Jeffrey thinks the spatula was named Quickly!

    Discovering that he has a name brings the spatula magically to life. Quickly, the spatula is now convinced that he possesses the magic to make Mommy’s pancakes taste better than ever. And sure enough, Quickly’s magic works!

    For children as well as adults, giving life to an inanimate object can create magic in a story—or two or three. Quickly, the Magic Spatula gives us pause to consider the beloved objects in our daily lives that create magical memorable moments—a great way to start a conversation with children! The story is also a much needed reminder to busy adults just how special simple rituals can be to children and the memories that create can last a lifetime.

    Be sure to follow Quickly’s continuing story in “Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure” and “S is for Safari: An Alphabetical Adventure with Quickly, the Magic Spatula.” Then have fun with “Quickly’s Safari Adventure Coloring & Activity Book.”

    Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure

    Miriam Kronish and Jeryl Abelmann’s lovable character, Quickly, the Magical Spatula, returns in Quickly’s Magical Pancake Adventure. In this story, his magic extends beyond helping Mommy make Silver Dollar pancakes in her sunny kitchen. Quickly decides to see the world and meet other spatulas who make different kinds of pancakes. But there is more magic at work in this book, with the power to pique young readers’ interest with not just an engaging story, but also what could become an enjoyable activity for the whole family!

    Eager to begin his next adventure, Quickly wiggles out of the frame in which Jeffrey and his sister had placed him. He hops out the window and sets off on his adventure. Soon he meets up with a friendly fellow spatula, who introduces himself as Backburner, the Pancake Turner, or just Bernie. He is a pancake historian, on the lookout for new facts about pancakes, and invites Quickly to join him.

    The new friends head down the road until they see a large colorful sign: “Calling All Spatulas to the First Annual Spatula Camp.” Heading for the Grand Exhibition Hall, they join a crowd of spatulas—of all shapes and colors—deciding which sessions to attend: pancake recipes and tips, pancake songs and stories, pancake makeup (like cherry cheeks and blackberry brows), or Great Chefs’ Pancakes, at which each chef will share a special recipe.

    While at the camp, Quickly collects recipes from the chefs, while Bernie picks up griddling tips. Then they join a group of spatulas listening to PanDora tell the story of Pancake Day in the UK. Quickly muses about a world in which all people belong to one big, happy pancake-eating family. Inspired, he writes “A Pancake Poem” to share with his new friends.

    Quickly suddenly realizes it is time to go home. In less time than it takes to say ‘Quickly, the Magic Spatula’, he lands on the kitchen counter (where, as you will see, the book’s respected illustrator, Chason Matthams, has laid out all the ingredients for Mommy’s Silver Dollar pancakes). Before Quickly climbs back into his frame, he compiles his collection of famous pancake recipes just for his readers including one from one of my favorite chefs, Jacques Pepin.

    Young readers will be happy to know that “Quickly, The Magic Spatula” and the new (2016) “S is for Safari: An Alphabetical Adventure with Quickly, the Magic Spatula”, and the beautiful coloring/activity book, “Safari Adventure Coloring & Activity Book” are available for more fun and adventures.

     

  • LIFE on the FARM by Heather Gardam, a Children’s Book about Farm Life

    LIFE on the FARM by Heather Gardam, a Children’s Book about Farm Life

    Ten-year-old Patti is a curious child who lives on a farm and longs for a horse. She also longs for her family to recognize that she’s growing up and isn’t a baby girl anymore.

    Patti is wakened on the morning of her tenth birthday to a ruckus in the barn. It turns out that a mink has snuck into the chicken coop. Patti immediately heads outside to help her dad and brother save the chickens and their baby chicks. Things don’t go quite right, but one chick is saved. Patti’s dad offers her the job of nursing it back to health. On the way back to the house, her parents and brother surprise her with a shiny silver and blue bicycle for her birthday. It isn’t the horse she longs for, but Silver is a wonderful present and it’s a big bike for her to grow into. And that everything is not perfect, nor does everything work out just right is the beauty of Gardam’s story.

    Patti spends her tenth year working hard to prove to her family that she is growing up. On her trusty bike,  Patti sets out on a series of adventures filled with discoveries that will delight any young person reading this book. Patti longs for her family to see her as growing up and able to pull her own weight around the farm. She wants to make a good impression as someone her family can count on and who will help out.

    Each chapter in this book is a snapshot of young Patti’s life.  Through the ups and downs of everyday life, we learn more about Patti and her family life on the farm. Patti works hard doing her chores around the farm, learning new skills like milking the cow and tapping trees for maple syrup. She is a curious and observant child and continually surprises her family with her knowledge and perseverance.

    Whether it’s working hard to put out a fire in the hay-field or serving dinner to the threshers, Patti proves that she can be counted on. She surprises her family when she trains Chicky for the Fall Fair and with her strength under pressure when her brother Jamie is hurt.  Patti impresses them with her level-headedness when she’s caught in a blizzard and deals with a bully.

    Patti discovers growing up isn’t easy and grown ups don’t always have the right answers. Everything continuously fascinates her: learning about bees, driving a tractor,  trying to figure out how grownups think, and understanding the strange things they say and do.

    Through a series of adventures that will entertain and delight young readers, Patti learns that people can be very different from each other and live very different lifestyles from her family’s. Patti also discovers she is stronger and smarter than she thinks and that she can make a difference in the lives of those around her. Most importantly, she learns that she belongs to a loving and supportive family that even includes her big brother.

    Gardam’s Life On The Farm will captivate young readers with its authentic voice and earnestness. Patti’s journey is filled with the curiosity, the adventures, and everyday delights that Gardam herself experienced as a child growing up in rural Ontario, Canada.

  • An Editorial Review of “Tree: One Life that Made a Difference by Norman E. Kjono

    An Editorial Review of “Tree: One Life that Made a Difference by Norman E. Kjono

    It is clear that Norman E. Kjono, author of Tree: One Life That Made a Difference, cares deeply for the interconnected nature of all living things. In his book, he takes us on a journey to a small valley in the Pacific Northwest where the “lifes” of this sacred place are in trouble—the inhabitants of this valley consider themselves to be lifes.

    “In the valley they thought of themselves together as “lifes.” This preserved their individual identity yet acknowledged the plural sense of them together as more than one.”

    The core message in Tree: One Life that Made a Difference, is thought provoking. That all lifes would work toward being the best they can be, and helping others without thought of reward, is ideal. This is a story that mixes form—interspersing prose,  poetry and songs; the poems dispersed through the story are to be read like proverbs.

    Valley culture is built on the idea that all lifes are interdependent, and that by each individual doing his or her best, the purpose of the Cosmos and Creator will be best served. Few characters in this novel are human, and a few are even inanimate, like Stream and Rock. Owls, deer, beavers, mushrooms, frogs, raccoons, and other creatures including Tree and the Ancients (redwood trees) make up the cast of characters in this inspirational work that asserts that one life can make a difference. And that difference begins with one positive act that in turn inspires another and another.

    The valley thrives and draws human visitors who leave their negative energy behind when they return home. All the lifes come together to try and figure out a way to deal with the negative energy produced by visitors to the valley. A toll plan is put forth by Elizabeth Jay and Harvey Crow. At first, this seems reasonable, but soon any life that disagrees with the plan is attacked and threatened by Jay and Crow, showing their intentions to be about controlling Life rather than helping it. The lifes of the valley quickly decide the toll plan is not for them, and the rest of the book takes place largely in dialogue over the best possible way to exist.

    Most of the book deals with examples of why interdependence works best. The tale that best shows this is about Randolph Raccoon, an ambitious life who almost destroyed his people and caused a war. Randolph’s tale shows how greed and the desire for power can destroy a life’s internal spirit and their community as well.

    Kjono shares his core belief of interdependence based on love and compassion with more than 300 pages of philosophical debate that extends from the local lifes of the valley to Arthurian legend told to them by the Ancients to a brief introduction of other-worldly aliens to the valley lifes. What begins as an interesting thought experiment quickly becomes a homily. However, Kjono’s supposition of doing your best to support not only yourself, but others around you, without regard for how you benefit, is a noble one.

    Norman E. Kjono has put forth a beautiful philosophy that if one of aspires to do what is best for one’s world, that others will follow suit. And,  as Tree said, “If we start out thinking it can’t be done, the we’ve lost before we begin!”