Marian Librarian reviews: The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming

Circus Week continues!

I had heard some glowing recommendations of this book from some colleagues and so, when trying to think of a book to go with my Circus Week, I sought it out.

The book is The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum by Candace Fleming.

Unlike some, I actually have a great affection for the Circus.  I'm aware of the controversies surrounding it.  I know all of the sort of seediness that people attribute to it, but I still enjoy it.

Barnum didn't invent the circus but he made it sparkle.  He found his calling in being a showman and was unapologetic about it.  He knew what people wanted and he gave it to them.

The story follows the entirety of Barnum's life, so truthfully the Circus doesn't factor in until very late in the story as he didn't even get into the circus game until he was 60 and didn't meet his business partner Bailey until he was 77.

Before that, you hear of his childhood, where he learned the value of practical jokes and the fact that he was an idea man rather than a hard worker.  It talks about how he met a local celebrity in his hometown of Bethel: an elephant named Old Bet.  Her owner made a small fortune taking her from town to town, so it was then that Barnum famously learned: "When entertaining the public, it is best to have an elephant."

Much of the story is dedicated to Bailey's exploits with his "American Museum," a place of curiosities, oddities, and animals.  It was chock full of things and people we would associate with documentaries on the Discovery Channel or Ripley's Believe it or Not.  This is the place where Barnum got his infamous reputation as a liar or "humbug."  His philosophy was that he just used his "humbugs" to draw people in, then entertained them.  They always got their money's worth.

It's interesting to melt the man with the seedy side-show image.  He was a deeply religious man, a friend to children, and the acts that some would say that he exploited, like the small man known as General Tom Thumb whom considered him a great friend.  He was not a perfect man by any means, but he was also not a mustache-twirling villain.  It's a fascinating look at the beginnings of an American institution and the man behind it.

There are anecdotes in here that are stories in themselves: how Barnum moved Circus's from 1 to 3 rings, the story of Jumbo the great elephant, the first circus train.  Also, stories of the people who crossed into his life: his partner James Bailey, the diva Jenny Lind (the inspiration for the Ugly Duckling who broke Hans Christian Anderson's heart), Mr. and Mrs. "Tom Thumb," and the oldest woman alive Joice Heth.  It's the kind of book where you'll find yourself reading passages to people out loud until you just press the book in their hands anyway.  Great for a kid who needs to do a biography project and the adult who's as curious as Barnum's audiences were.

All Hallow's Read: Zombie Book Round-Up

There are about 600 billion Zombie books out there.  I believe that's an exact figure.  I read a lot of them, but the universe keeps throwing more and more out there.  Some say it's because we are a consumer society and zombies are the ultimate consumers, a morality tale of our fate as a people.  Some say that the zombie hoard is unstoppable and inescapable terror.  Others just think zombies are pretty cool.


Here's a list of my favorite and not-so-favorite Zombie Reads:


Love it:


Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne

I've already discussed this comedy were self-aware zombies live afterlives of outcasts and attend support groups here.


Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum

Don't read it when you're eating pasta for dinner, like I did.


Zombies for Kids and Teens:


Zombies vs Unicorns by Various Authors, Edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

This book is a who's who of the greatest YA authors out there.  Children of the Revolution by Maureen Johnson is my favorite zombie story in it.


Zombie Chasers by John Kloepfer

Funny little zombie story with great-gross out illustrations and a zombie dog!


Leave it:


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith

Jane Austin + Zombies.  Awesome, right?  Surprisingly terribly dull.  A one-note joke that goes to bathroom humor once it know it goes stale.


The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Two people in love held apart more by their own inaction and self-absorption than anything.  Romeo and Juliet they are not.  Zombies are a backdrop to teen angst, and in the end I was rooting for the zombies.


That's a little cruel.  I was absorbed by this book until I reached the end, and then it left me sour grapes.


The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Reads like a technical manual, which is really the only joke.  Isn't it funny that this book is so serious and is about zombies?  It isn't.  I couldn't finish it.


Recommended to me but haven't checked out:


Feed by Mira Grant


Zombie, Ohio by Scott Kenemore


Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger


The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn and Tony Moore


So what are your feelings?  Any of the recommended reads I should avoid or add?  Any of my picks you disagree with?  Are you sick of zombies?


Just remember, Zombie's Were People too.

M is for Monster: My favorite Monstrous Storytime Books

It's a wonderful thing to me that Monsters are so en vogue in picture books.  Monster Storytime allows for:

1. A lot of ROARING, STOMPING, and other excellent mischief making.

2. Awesome monster-related crafting

3. Some of the best Children's books out there.

Nearly all of my colleagues have some Farm Animal Storytime or another, yet the monster books go nearly untouched in any month other than October.  But why give Monster books a season?  Where the Wild Things Are is not a Halloween book.  There's a Monster at the End of this Book is a book about Grover from Sesame Street, a program that has shown us that monsters are acceptable for every day consumption by children (or that monsters might consume children every day, whichever you like.)

I have so many Monster Books I love, so I think I'll do this over several posts, 3 books a post.

Monsters Eat Whiny Children by Bruce Eric Kaplan

This one is sort of an Honorable Mention.  Have you ever read a Children's book as an adult and laughed out loud?  It's awesome when it happens, and this book had me laughing so much I struggled to finish reading it to my niece.  Two children are whining and monsters come to eat them.  Unfortunately, the monster's cannot decide how to prepare their whiny children.  They try to put them in a salad, a sandwich, a burger, etc.  One of the lines that had me in stitches was when they wanted to make a nice Whiny Child Vindaloo, but "sometimes it's hard to decide if you want Indian Food or not."

Now, obviously jokes like that are funnier to adults, and I don't mind "adult" humor in children's books because kids are smarter than we sometimes give them credit.  The only problem with this book is that it sways too much for the adults in the room because of the length and the illustrations.  I don't mind a sort of messy, black and white sketchy style, but with a book of this length a child will.  One of those books that's just "almost" there.  Check it out even with the flaws.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems

Mo Willems knows monsters and kids.  The man worked on Sesame Street!  The great thing about a lot of his books is that they are wonderful to read but especially great to have read to you.  They lend themselves to performance.  This books is no exception with the monologue Sam has in the middle, which I often try to do quickly and in one breath, the way I figure a child would.  It's also a pretty good story for a "Friendship" storytime, if you are so inclined.

There Was an Old Monster by Rebecca, Adrian, and Ed Emberley

The Emberley's seem to be as fond of monsters as I am since it is time and again the subject of their books.  I could put many on here: Glad Monster, Sad Monster, Go Away Big Green Monster, If You're a Monster and You Know it, etc.  The style of these books is so bold with bright colors contrasted against black that they are always a Storytime favorite, but this one has the line "Ants in his pants" and allows wiggling and "scritchy-scratching", so it's the clear winner.

To be Continued...Mwhahaha.

Okay, perhaps maniacal laughter isn't necessary in a Children's book discussion.

Wish I had loved it: Capt. Hook by J.V. Hart; Illustrated by Brett Helquist

Here was the promise of all things good in the world.

A book about Captain Hook, written by the screenwriter of the movie Hook, and illustrated by Brett Helquist.

This blog has only been up for a few days and I’ve already proclaimed my love of Peter Pan, the movie “Hook,” and the illustrations of Brett Helquist; so I was there.

Neverland is purposefully set up to be every kid’s dream.  Yes, it’s tailored a little more to boys interests what with the pirates and Indians, but there are also mermaids and fairies there, not to mention that these days you’ll find as many girls who love pirates as boys.  Problem with Neverland is that Peter Pan is in it, and he’s sort of a jerk.  All kids are jerks around Peter Pan’s age, but we don’t like to know it.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one who saw Captain Hook in his smashing pirate garb and thought, “I think I might be on his side.”  The movie “Hook” only re-enforced this, because Peter Pan was an even bigger jerk in that movie and Dustin Hoffman played a cool, humorous, charismatic Hook.  I even remember trying to make “Bad form” happen as a catchphrase at my school. (So cool, I know.)

So why didn’t I love this book?  I desperately wanted to.  The story follows the School Age years of James Matthew, the illegitimate son of Lord Byron, at Eton School.  The Eton section is long with a lot of boarding school hazing, Eton ritual, and general Britishness going on.  Some people felt that would be a turn off for young American readers, but it certainly didn’t bother an Anglophile like me.

The main problem with the book isn’t the setting, the future Captain Hook himself.  He’s a proud, arrogant character, phased by nothing.  I’m certain this was done on purpose, paralleling Peter Pan himself.  Thing is, because he is phased by nothing, there is no real conflict.  It’s like playing pretend with a friend who is God-moding the whole time.

“You can’t beat me; now I’m the greatest swordfighter in the world.”

It all gets very dull because nothing seems to be a challenge or excite this character who I would also describe as a sociopath.  Even Peter Pan, arrogant and fearless as he was, bit off more than he could chew sometimes and was humbled a bit by it.  I think this is the main reason the pace feels so slow, not because of wordiness or bad setting but because one doesn’t desire to keep reading about him.

Also, this uber-capable Captain Hook confuses me, doesn’t this guy spend the rest of his life fighting an enemy half his age to no avail?  I love Captain Hook, but let’s face it, he’s a bit of a loser.

Helquist’s name is featured prominently on the cover but don’t look for his illustrations to save you some word count, there are far less than in the average Lemony Snicket book.  You can count them on one hand.

I think what happened is that J.V. Hart fell as much in love with his “Hook” character as I did when I was a kid, and wanted to give him a heroic back story (which he frankly doesn’t need/deserve).

Bad form, J.V. Hart.  Bad form.

P is for Pirates: Geekery in Picture Books

Best Pirate Children's Books for Storytime

Every self-respecting Geek knows that International Talk Like a Pirate Day is on September 19th, and even though my pirate accent is absolutely terrible (it turns Southern about midway through, kids don't seem to notice) this week's entries are going to be about Pirates!  First up, my favorite storytime, read-aloud Pirate books.

Now, the Pirate craze is probably on its way out if not over.  I think its rise can be attributed to "Pirates of the Caribbean" and its fall can be attributed to the sequels being absolutely terrible.  The thing about Pirates, however, is that they never really go away.  Pirate Halloween costumes have always been a staple for kids and adults and not just because of Johnny Depp.  My main exposure to pirates growing up stemmed from Peter Pan, more specifically the movie "Hook," which I think I watched 11 million times as a child, even though parts scared the heck out of me.

What is it about kids and Pirates?  There were, and still are, awful human beings who stole, murdered, and pillaged their way through life.  Perhaps we still can't shake that romantic image of sea-fairing life we still might have.  Maybe its the swashbuckling image we've gotten from movies going back as far as Error Flynn.  It could just be the funny hats.  Whatever it is, I like pirates, you probably like pirates, and kids love pirates.

Pirate picture books aren't hard to find, the only tricky thing is finding ones that don't make your preschooler glaze over with boredom because they're too long.  Here are my top pics for a Pirate Storytime.

Small Saul by Ashley Spires

Small Saul wants to live the life of sea-fairing adventure but he's short on size and big on being considerate.  Can he find a way to fit in with his rough and tumble crew?  Great "it's okay to be different story" with a pirate theme.

Roger the Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist

Very similar story to Small Saul, about a guy who is just too darn Jolly to be a proper pirate.  I love this book because it has the awesome illustrations of Brett Helquist, whom I fell in love with from his work on Lemony Snicket and still adore.  It's a bit long, but I love that there's a song at the end that sums up the story that goes to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?"  It promotes narrative skills, because you can use it to ask the kids what happened in the book before each verse.  The song is catchy and you can have kids "get their wiggles out" by standing up for the chorus "Way, hey, up she rises."

Pirate Pete's Talk Like a Pirate by Kim Kennedy; Illustrated by Doug Kennedy

The ridiculousness of me, with my terrible Pirate accent, attempting this book, is not lost on me.  However, I still really love the book for the repetition, and it's just plain funny.  Though it's long for a Preschool storytime, the repetition, changing voices, and a parrot impression will make this story a knock out.

Henry and the Pirate Chickens by Carolyn Crimi; Illustrated by John Manders

Carolyn Crimi is fast becoming one of my favorite children's authors.  This book has what I like to call, "Book propaganda," in which the problem is solved with the power of books.  In libraries, schools, and children's lit, "book propaganda" is a pretty oft-used weapon in the arsenal, which I frankly have mixed feelings about (but that is for another blog).  This book had the added benefit, however, of being about Rabbit and Chicken Pirates.  Really, what more could one want?  Also, in Last Starfighter/Independence Day/The Librarian fashion, they are saved by the nerd/bookworm, which is also appreciated.

Honorable Mentions: Peg Leg Peke by Brie Spangler; Pirate vs. Pirate: The Terrific Tale of a Big, Blustery Maritime Match by Mary Quattlebaum, Ill. by Alexandra Boiger

Any other Pirate book favorites that should have gone on the List?