Wednesday, August 6, 2014

New Picture Books

Upside Down Babies
9781467734240

One day, the earth turns upside down, and all the baby animals fall into different nests! Very little kids will be amused at the parents' confusion, but too much older and I think they will just wonder why an otter thinks a turtle is its baby. In fact, a couple parts confused me - on the camel/polar bear page, shouldn't it read, "why he had NO hump," rather than "THE hump"? And at the end, if Mom kept the gorilla baby (which is a cute twist), why does she still have her human baby on her lap? Not as good as I would expect from this duo.

Diary of a Worm: Nat the Gnat
9780062087089

I've been looking forward to this junior reader series, because the picture books were so much fun. With a different author and illustrator, I was afraid it would go the route of Pete the Cat. Fortunately, these are pretty good, so far. In this title, our friend Worm gets to take care of the class pet...and loses him. Generic lesson on honesty, some word play that will amuse younger readers, illustrations that could easily pass for Bliss's. We'll be ordering the rest!

Plants vs. Zombies: Save Your Brains!
9780062294968

I don't normally - okay, ever - review TV tie-ins, but that doesn't stop publishers from sending them to me. Since I don't have cable or Netflix or anything of the sort, I never know enough about the show in question to give an informed review. 

In this case, however, that worked out perfectly. We do Halloween in a big way at our library, and our theme this fall (yes, I know it's only August) will be zombies. I need to make it more kid-friendly for our room, and I was vaguely aware that Plants vs. Zombies is a 'thing', but I needed an idiot's guide of sorts. And here it is! Crazy Dave gives a general run-down of the zombie issue, the different plants you will need to defend your home (and brains), and the possible counterattacks the zombies will use. Kids who are familiar with the program will enjoy the easy read, parents who have avoided watching it will appreciate the primer, and clueless librarians will find enough material to create a display and some possible activities!

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