Unfriending: Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown

"OH, MY GOSH! YOU ARE THE CUTEST CRITTER IN THE WHOLE FOREST!

MOM! LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND! I CALL HIM SQUEAKER.

ISN'T HE THE CUTEST?

CAN I KEEP HIM?"

When the tutu-ed little bear Lucy brings home a human toddler and begs to keep him as a pet, her mom is definitely dubious.

"CHILDREN MAKE TERRIBLE PETS!" SHE WARNS.

But Mom relents before Lucy's persistent pleas, and at first Lucy is quite taken with her cute little pet. Squeaker never tires of playing, and Lucy is thrilled.

But things quickly begin to go downhill with the pet training program. Squeaker does NOT respond to training. He throws tantrums, makes monstrous messes in the house, and resolutely refuses to visit his sandbox for the necessary, er, sanitary processes. Lucy is flummoxed with her failures to shape Squeaker's behavior to the requirements of her orderly home.

Finally, when Squeaker disappears, Lucy is at first relieved to be free of the 24/7 responsibility for her pet. But then, feeling a tiny twinge of guilt, she searches for him in the woods near where she found him, and in a clearing comes upon an unexpected scene. There is Squeaker, obviously happy to be back among his loving human family, picnicking in their backyard. Lucy sees that Squeaker is back where he belongs.

"GOODBYE, SQUEAKER," SHE WHISPERS.

Peter Brown's clever little Children Make Terrible Pets (Little, Brown, 2010) flips the found pet scenario to give children a different view of the whole "Can I Keep Him" theme, pointing out that sometimes some potential "pets" are happier in their own habitats. Brown's illustrations are simple but creatively stylized, with his brief text enlightened by thought and speech balloons adding to the unique design. Squeaker is limited to his basic "Squeak!" but Lucy's remarks succinctly show her thoughts as she thinks through her initial decision to bring home a "wild" pet. Kids will chuckle over the switch in roles but definitely get the message.

Optimism Pays! You Will Be My Friend! by Peter Brown

LUCY WAS VERY EXCITED THE MINUTE SHE WOKE UP.

"MOM! I'VE DECIDED I'M GOING TO MAKE A NEW FRIEND TODAY! ISN'T IT EXCITING?"

Mom tries to suggest that this idea might do with a bit of pre-planning, but the ebullient Lucy can't wait to get into her trademark tutu and start looking for fun critters to befriend.

Enthusiasm and self-confidence definitely aren't Lucy's problem. But she comes on too strong when she meets up with a pleasant-looking frog beside his pond.

"WE'RE GOING TO DO CARTWHEELS AND CLIMB TREES AND HAVE PICNICS!" SHE GUSHES.

And just in case the frog isn't into those activities, Lucy decides to prove that she can enjoy his agenda, too, and with a loud "WOOHOO! jumps into the pool.

The resulting splash empties the pool and ends the nascent friendship before it begins, but Lucy is undeterred. She climbs a tree to befriend the top-grazing giraffe, and interrupts her breakfast. She invites herself to a tete-a-tete with some bees and unfortunately snacks on their honey-filled house, prompting a fast farewell to those potential friends.

In rapid order Lucy strikes out with a beaver, some fish, and commits the ultimate faux pas when she asks an ostrich how it feels to fly. Her only chance for playmates comes with some human toddlers, but they exuberantly make her their toy, as Lucy gets a taste of her own medicine.

But from that encounter, Lucy begins to get the message that coming on too strong is not the way to make a friend, and she lets a lonely flamingo approach her with a friendly overture and finally finds a friend at last.

Last seen in Peter Brown's recent hit, Children Make Terrible Pets, (see my recent review here) the gung ho Lucy learns another lesson about looking before she leaps in YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! (Little Brown, 2011), filled with Brown's inimitable mixed media art and punctuated piquantly with speech balloons and wry facial expressions that make the over-the-top Lucy lovably irresistible.

This Just In! American Library Association Youth Media Awards Just Announced

ALA has just completed their annual awards program announcing the prestigious 2012 Newbery and Caldecott Awards


I am especially pleased with the Newbery Medal winner, Jack Gantos, for his wonderful serio-comic/mystery/coming of age novel, Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar, Strous, and Giroux, 2011), reviewed here only last week. Gantos is no stranger to the Newbery Awards lineup, but this top award is indeed well deserved, both for this excellent book and for his entire body of work.

Newbery Honor Books include Thanha Lai's National Book Award winner, Inside Out and Back Again (see my recent review here,) and Eugene Yelchin's Breaking Stalin's Nose.

The 75th annual Caldecott Medal, given to illustrator Chris Raschka, is A Ball for Daisy. Raschka is also a repeat winner for this award. Caldecott Honor Books are Patrick McDonnell's Me . . . Jane, (reviewed here April 14, 2011), Lane Smith's Grandpa Green (see my November 11 review) and John Rocco's Blackout.

Taking both the author and illustrator Coretta Scott King Awards is the peerless Kadir Nelson for his historical and personal narrative, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, with my recent review here.

Taking the Theodore Seuss Geisel Medal for excellence in books for beginning readers is Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider. Taking second honors for this award are former Geisel winner Mo Willems for his I Broke My Trunk! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), (see review here) and John Clausen's best-selling I Want My Hat Back.

The Sibert Award for children's informational books goes to author-illustrator Melissa Sweet for her delightful Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. My review of November 7 is posted here.

The Andrew Carnegie Award for Excellence in children's videos goes to Weston Woods' production of Peter Brown's book Children Make Terrible Pets, review posted here.

A complete listing of all of the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards has just been posted here. If you, like me, missed a few of these winning titles, we've got something to look forward to!

"I Am Not!" My Teacher Is a Monster by Peter Brown

BOBBY HAD A PROBLEM IN SCHOOL.

HER NAME WAS MRS. KIRBY.

Mrs. Kirby is a monster. Built like a cross between a dowdy fireplug and a warthog with fangs, Mrs. Kirby stomps around like Godzilla and bellows his name when he innocently sails a paper airplane around the classroom.

"ROBERT!! NO RECESS!"

Through the week Mrs. Kirby's monster face haunts Bobby's dreams. But at last it is Saturday and he heads off for the local park for some much-needed
R and R.

It can't be. But it IS. Mrs. Kirby is there, in his park, sitting on his bench, wearing a large, flowered hat, with no sign of welcome on her fanged face when she spots Bobby. They look long at each other, each wishing the other was somewhere, anywhere else.

Bobby longs to run, but something tells him that is the wrong move. Warily, he sits down on the far edge of the bench and raises his hand.

"BOBBY, YOU DON'T NEED TO RAISE YOUR HAND OUT HERE."

"I WAS GOING TO SAY 'HELLO, MRS. KIRBY.'"

It is a awkward moment as they both sit there wondering what to say next, when a brisk breeze blows Mrs. Kirby's hat away. Muttering something about its being a gift from her granny, Mrs. Kirby gets up to give chase, but Bobby beats her to the hat, and the grateful Mrs. Kirby calls him her hero.

With the ice broken, Bobby and Mrs. Kirby have a quacking contest with a mother duck and her ducklings swimming by, and when they are quite quacked out, Bobby offers to show his teacher his favorite part of the park, a high knoll.

Bobby scampers up the rocks, and Mrs. K. clambers up behind him. They sit atop the hill together.

"THIS IS LOVELY," SAID MRS. KIRBY."

She hands Bobby a fresh sheet of paper from her bag and he makes and flies his best paper airplane ever. And as the two say goodbye, Bobby notices that Mrs. Kirby doesn't look like a monster at all.

That is, until Monday, when Bobby has an uncontrollable urge to fly his best paper airplane across the classroom.

"ROBERT!!!"

Mark Brown's Arthur had Mr. Ratburn, and Harry Allard's miscreant Room 207 had Miss Viola Swamp. Heck, we've all had that teacher, the one we were sure lived to torture us with pages and pages of arithmetic problems, cancelled recesses, and dirty looks. Now it is Bobby's turn, in Peter Brown's My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) (Little, Brown and Company, 2014). Caldecott-winning artist (for Creepy Carrots!) Peter Brown lays down a deadpan text and lets his illustrations, done in India ink, pencil, and gouache with digital effects, project Bobby's assessment of his teacher, shown with moldy green skin and snaggly fangs at school which morph into a rather pleasant teacherly face at the park, and which only start to flush a bit greenish at the sight of that errant airplane on Monday.

Mark Brown's Arthur had Mr. Ratburn, and Harry Allard's miscreant Room 207 had Miss Viola Swamp. Heck, we've all had that teacher, the one we were sure lived to torture us with pages and pages of arithmetic problems, cancelled recesses, and dirty looks. Kids will laugh--sympathetically--with Bobby, whose hair literally stands on end under the glare of his monster teacher, and perhaps get the hint that misbehaving may be what turns teachers into monsters after all.

Other top-selling books by Peter Brown are Mr. Tiger Goes Wild (Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (Awards)) and Children Make Terrible Pets (Starring Lucille Beatrice Bear). (See reviews here)