So, unpopular opinion time: I hate Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I hate that the message of the story is that it’s totally fine and acceptable to make fun of and ostracize someone for being Different until you need them. People don’t need to be useful to be valuable. You don’t have to prove your worth to your friends. This book is about two friends that do everything together. They enjoy each other’s company. Nugget is a minnow and Fang is a shark. Eventually, Nugget […]
No Spoilers except: meh.
I’m a HUGE Agatha Christie fan. HUGE. I’ve been reading her mystery novels for over 30 years; they were among the first Grown Up novels I read as a kid and are the basis for my love of mystery novels and tv procedurals. I have read and watched every Poirot and Miss Marple book, movie, episode. So imagine my shock and glee when I discovered that there was an upcoming movie, starring my beloved Gillian Anderson, of a Christie novel that I could not remember […]
I Do Not Want this but I love it?
I love to watch almost any kind of procedural show from the sublime (Elementary) to the ridiculous (Hawaii Five-O) but I usually loathe reading police-focused detective novels. I like my mysteries to be Cozy. I need a butler serving tea to the vicar in the library while someone is murdered by undetectable exotic poison in the Conservatory. I don’t want to read about violent grisly death or forensic details or police procedure in the modern world. I also don’t particularly enjoy paranormal books where supernatural […]
We don’t need no words
You may think: CV, even you cannot write an over- 250 word book review of a tiny book with no words. You would be wrong and here is why: I have a lot of words in me and also I’m going to cheat. Mercer Mayer is a brilliant illustrator of children’s books, probably best known for his Little Critter books. (This is the part where I cheat by going on about other books.) That series follows the adventures of a weird little guy identified only […]
Perspective matters.
I read and review a LOT of picture books. Clearly I have many opinions on this topic. I can’t even blame my current lifestyle of Squishie Wrangler- I’ve always collected picture books, the only difference is now I have to share them. Books are precious and magic. They need to be amazing and special to inspire a child’s imagination. I have 3 criteria for a picture book: 1) beautiful illustrations 2) lyrical language 3) powerful message. I think the illustrations can be as complex or […]
Just be Yourself… unless you can be a Unicorn, then be a Unicorn.
So obviously we all want to be unicorns. Unicorns are special and magical and made of glitter and sparkles. I got this book for Little Squishie, who is a magical sparkle unicorn of a child. She is the most Herself person I know, and even though she is only 3 years old, I never want her to lose that sense of herself as special and magical. I’m not sure about this book though. The more we read it, the less I like the message. The […]
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