OWTK Bi-Monthly Book Review - February/March 2007

Below are three books that have been fixtures in our house over the last couple months. Track these down at your local library or pick them up from a fine independent bookseller in your area (should one still exist). You could also purchase them from Amazon.com by clicking on the Amazon ads over there on the right and search the titles - you help OWTK when you do so...but I would actually rather y'all show some love to the small bookstores that are hanging-on out there in the country.


Library Lion
by Michelle Knudsen
illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Candlewick Press

A lovely edition featuring an adorably gentle, book-loving lion who takes up residence at the city library in exchange for some light dusting and odd-jobs. After disobeying the no yelling policy when faced with the end of his first story time, he fell in line and became as much of a fixture in the library as the books themselves. When the head librarian, the lion's biggest fan, finds herself in a pickle after a rough fall, our lion is faced with a choice - break the rules and be expelled from his utopia or remain silent and not help his friend. A beautifully illustrated work by Kevin Hawkes and a nice tale for youngsters about decision making and when it is OK to break the rules.


How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
by Jane Yolen
illustrated by Mark Teague
The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic

You have to love children's literature. Where else would dinosaurs-as-children of human adults be feasible? That is what Jane Yolen has created in this silly, charming book. With striking illustrations by Mark Teague depicting larger-than-life, previously thought-of-to-be-extinct dinos throwing fits at bedtime, requesting piggy back rides and giving goodnight kisses. His drawings fit perfectly with Yolen's short, to the point phrasing. There is an economy of words here as the author defers to the hilariously absurd images and that decision is brilliant. It's what makes How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? a refreshing change of pace, even for a more advanced reader - it is just plain fun!

On a side note, I am quite excited about the final installment of the Harry Potter series. While I have not read any of the previous works, I have seen all the films and my curiosity to discover what happens at the end will probably cause me to get the book this summer as opposed to waiting for the film version.