Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

I think there are a lot of aspects of Where the Wild Things are that might make this children's picture book controversial. First off, the main character is an angry child who is being sent to bed without supper. Now a days this is called neglect and child endangerment. I do not think it is quite that extreme, but I do not support withholding food from a child who is being naughty. There is also talking monsters in this story, as if children do not already have enough night mares. These scary, weird creatures not only influence their dreams, but also their imagination. Having imaginary friends and creatures that your child plays with and talks to does not always reflect positively on the parents, a cause for concern.

I never read this book as a child, but through my experiences I know that a lot of children love this book. With the moving version coming out, I do not think this book is going to be going anywhere any time soon. I do not necessarily love this book, but I do not think that the content is going to stop me from letting children read it.

Daddy's Roomate by Michael Willhoite

This book is about a child who's parents got a divorce, and the father is now living with another man. Throughout the book it talks about things that the father and his roommate do, as well as things they all three do together. In the end it says that the men are happy and so is the boy. I can definitely see how this would be a controversial book, especially since it was published in 1990, twenty years ago. We are becoming more accepting of others every day, but I can not image what people who are different went through that long ago. I feel like this book is very modest and comes from the viewpoint of the child, making it perfectly acceptable for children to read. I think that it would be very important for children who have gay parents to read a book like this, because the main focus of it is that they are all happy, and that is all that matters.

The Old Tree by: Ruth Brown

The Old Tree by Ruth Brown is a wonderful story about all of these animals that live in a tree marked with an X. One of the great things about this book is that each of the animals have their own little story about their lives, directed by Pigeon, the mail man. He tells all of them, your tree has an x on it, do you know why? None of them know, until he gets to the top of the tree when Captain Crow realizes it means the tree is going to get cut down. The second reason why this book is great is becuase all of the animals, even though they do not get along, work together to save all of their homes. Once one person sparks an idea, they all went with it and tried their hardest, which is great for children to learn. The third reason why I loved this book so much is that the illustrations are beautifully done in acrylic and watercolor. The art takes up both sides of the open pages, with only one long rectangle for the writing. Not only are the pictures amazing, but the last page is a pop up of a giant tree with all of the animals celebrating around it, becuase they saved the tree. I love that they did this, because it works really well with the story, and adds a lot to it. I think that this pop up made the tree come alive for me, it even included window flaps, so you could see animals inside their houses celebrating. Overall, I think that this story has a good message and beautiful artwork to attract all ages.

Seven for a Secret by: Laurence Anholt & Jim Coplestone

Seven for a Secret is about a young girl writing to her sick grandpa that she has not seen in a long time. The whole story is in letters that they have written back and forth, revealing a lot about their life. I think that this format the author used really helped to enhance the book,not telling too much, but getting the view of both characters. In the young girl's letters she asks about her father, about magpie's, about his health, and tells him how excited she is for him to visit and for her baby brother to be born. He writes back about her father and how he used to sing him a song about magpies, a type of bird. In the song one magpies represents one thing and 2 represents another and so on. The magpies show up throughout the book, representing the meaning from the song, it is how the reader finds out that the grandpa has died. One magpie comes, which means sorrow. I think that this book could potentially be a controversial book, becuase it does deal with death. I think if children were reading this by themselves they would not understand the symbolism of the birds.

The Mitten by: Jan Brett

I think the most memorable aspect of The Mitten is the beautiful illustrations done by author, Jan Brett. Every inch of this stories pages are covered in her beautiful work. There is a wooden border around every page, with a mitten cut out on both the left and right side. I believe these cutouts are what make this book so unique. In side of them are glimpses of what the boy is doing and what animal is going to appear next and go inside of the mitten. I think that this forecast is great, and something that especially younger children will love, because they can guess what type of animal is coming next.

Babymouse: Queen of the World! by Jennifer L Holm & Matthew Holm

Babymouse is a graphic novel series that shows all of the adventures that Babymouse goes on. This is my first graphic novel that I have ever read, and I am undecided on it. There are many aspects to this book that I did not like, such as the flow of the words in all of the different boxes. I felt like I was a little lost half of the time and wanted more storyline to go with the amazing pictures.

One thing that I loved about this particular graphic novel is the cover. The front cover shows Baby mouse on top of the world with all of her friends behind her cheering. When you turn the book over there is one picture that shows she is dreaming this. The next picture shows she is dreaming this in the middle of class, because her teacher is standing over her, upset. The inside cover give a brief description of who Babymouse is and an overview of the novel, all done in the graphic novel format. Also, this whole book is in black, white, and pink which would presumably be aimed more at girls, which is probably why I chose it in the first place, now that I think about it. In class we discussed in the genre presentations how graphic novels are written for and read more heavily by boys, so it is good to know that their is some variation out there.

After reading this particular novel, I was intrigued. I wanted to know more about this book and the rest of the books in the series, so I googled "Babymouse." I found that there is an entire website devoted to this series and the authors have a blog about all of their work. With the technology available to children, I think that having a website that ties to the books really help increase the readable factor.

The Lonlely Only Dog by: Adele M. Brodkin

The Lonely Only Dog is about a dog named Harry who is happily living a life that a lot of dogs dream about. He has his own pillows, food and water bowls, he gets treats and goes on walks, and he has owners who play fetch with him in the house. One day he realizes that all the other dogs he sees has dog friends and he has none and becomes lonely. After he gets another dog to play with he realizes how much better his life was before. This story about Henry reminded me of the classic phrase, "the grass isn't always greener on the other side." What we think we want or what we think is great, isn't necessarily the way we picture it to be. I think that this is a good story for children, because a lot of kids think that their pets want another pet to play with, or even need an entire pet family to be happy, and will beg for days and weeks to get them it. Parents can read this book to them, or have them read it to show that it is not always the case. Pets are happy when they get taken care of and played with.