The basic plot is the same as in the original, but instead of the wolf, there's a "big, bad wrecking ball", and instead of houses of straw, sticks, and bricks, there are "garages" made of wood, stone and steel. Kids who like trucks and all manner of machinery will dig the industrial settings, and many will delight in figuring out the various correspondences between the original tale and this updated version (even down to the one-letter difference in the title, which was noted by our four-year-old, who has a recent obsession with all the letters of the alphabet). All in all, this is an imaginative rendering of the age-old story, and we've been interspersing it with readings of the classic version now and then too.
Showing posts with label rockets and trucks and.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label rockets and trucks and.... Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Three Little Rigs
The Three Little Rigs is a modern, and somewhat faithful, take on the classic tale of the Three Little Pigs. Penned and illustrated by David Gordon, it substitutes three little trucks for the porcine characters of the original story. The basic plot is the same as in the original, but instead of the wolf, there's a "big, bad wrecking ball", and instead of houses of straw, sticks, and bricks, there are "garages" made of wood, stone and steel. Kids who like trucks and all manner of machinery will dig the industrial settings, and many will delight in figuring out the various correspondences between the original tale and this updated version (even down to the one-letter difference in the title, which was noted by our four-year-old, who has a recent obsession with all the letters of the alphabet). All in all, this is an imaginative rendering of the age-old story, and we've been interspersing it with readings of the classic version now and then too.
The basic plot is the same as in the original, but instead of the wolf, there's a "big, bad wrecking ball", and instead of houses of straw, sticks, and bricks, there are "garages" made of wood, stone and steel. Kids who like trucks and all manner of machinery will dig the industrial settings, and many will delight in figuring out the various correspondences between the original tale and this updated version (even down to the one-letter difference in the title, which was noted by our four-year-old, who has a recent obsession with all the letters of the alphabet). All in all, this is an imaginative rendering of the age-old story, and we've been interspersing it with readings of the classic version now and then too.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sadie the Airmail Pilot
Without a doubt, this is one of the most engaging books we've come across. Sadie the Airmail Pilot, by Kellie Strom, is a thrilling adventure that has Sadie departing from a fantastical, futuristic city 
and flying through wondrous landscapes to reach to an isolated weather station high atop a mountain on a craggy ledge to deliver the mail. The illustrations are splendid and full of imaginative detail, and while futuristic, they also hearken back to those wildly improbable "imagine the future" images that appeared in newspapers and books at the beginning of the 20th century, with trolley tracks hovering 20 stories above the street, giant dirigibles, and the like. There's also an abundance of flora and fauna 
covering the topography that Sadie flies through. She runs into trouble on her journey through the snowy mountains, and the thrilling rescue and triumphant return to home base round out the story. Our little boy was absolutely glued to this story, but it's also a great book for little girls who can benefit from the knowledge that girls can do anything too!
and flying through wondrous landscapes to reach to an isolated weather station high atop a mountain on a craggy ledge to deliver the mail. The illustrations are splendid and full of imaginative detail, and while futuristic, they also hearken back to those wildly improbable "imagine the future" images that appeared in newspapers and books at the beginning of the 20th century, with trolley tracks hovering 20 stories above the street, giant dirigibles, and the like. There's also an abundance of flora and fauna covering the topography that Sadie flies through. She runs into trouble on her journey through the snowy mountains, and the thrilling rescue and triumphant return to home base round out the story. Our little boy was absolutely glued to this story, but it's also a great book for little girls who can benefit from the knowledge that girls can do anything too!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mickey Moonbeam
Mike Brownlow's Mickey Moonbeam is a great read for little kids who have a thing for rockets, space, planets and the like. The four-year-old in our household had me reading it night after night for quite awhile, even as I eyed the other books in our stack. The full-page illustrations are colorful and very evocative of the space-y theme. In this story, Mickey, a little boy who lives on the moon with his parents, has to rescue his penpal Quiggle after Quiggle's space scooter crashes on a nearby asteroid. There's plenty of action in the plot to keep kids glued to the pages.
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