Anything you can do Boris can do better. He can gather more flies. He can catch more fish. He can do it all except blowing himself up like a toad. The outcome is not a good one. The ending of this book surprises me because it’s not happy. There are consequences for boastful actions. It just came out of nowhere and while as an adult, I enjoyed it, I can see some parents complaining. 

 

I didn’t expect anything from this book, but I got quite a bit. On each page of this book, the reader is given a limerick, and at the bottom of the page the limerick is explained. For example, there’s a limerick about a trapeze artist who falls into the net. Below, it tells you about the first trapeze artist, and how his act came about. and how he died. Not from falling through the air by the way. The illustrations are bright and they’re lively, but there’s just a little something that does not appeal to me. At times it almost feels more like student work than professional artist. However, they do a great job of doing panel by panel for the illustrations and overall, this book was a pleasure and an interesting read. 

 

The absolute best part of this book is the illustrations. The reader says good night to Tahoe in alphabetical order. Each page represents a different place in Tahoe, a different activity, and a different animal. I wish this had some sort of cadence because it doesn’t but as I said earlier the best part of this book are the illustrations. They’re colorful, they’re fun, they make you want to laugh, and they do a much better job illustrating what the author is talking about then the authors actual words. 

 

This is book number two in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Academy and it’s just as magical as book one. This time we follow the character whose motto is more, more, more! She wants everything to be more grand, more big, more sparkly, more everything.  So when given the assignment to create the carriage for the ball, a plane cabbage won’t do it. She had more and more and more until she turned her classmate into a unicorn. And no matter what she does she can’t undo her own spell. There’s a lesson in her here for her to learn.  Once again, these books are adorable. They’re full of magic as done as only Disney can and they teach a lesson but bring a smile to your face. I am loving this series and can’t wait to see what comes next. 

 

This is book one in the Bibbidi-Bobbidi  academy and it is darling. It is a beginning chapter book on the lines of magic treehouse, except with fairies, and it’s the very first day at school. Roy is different from her classmates because she was raised in the human world so she didn’t go to magic preschool. That means she has a problem with spelling. Not spelling with letters but spelling with her wand. She really tries. Everything comes out just a little off. But practice and experience at school can help her become one of the best fairy godmother‘s. This book was adorable. Boys would like it as well as girls because there are some fairy godfathers. The illustrations are Disney magic on a page. They’re soft and dreamy, but bright and colorful and altogether it just works and I can’t wait to continue the series. 

 

This is a severely modern retelling of Cinderella. In this retelling a modern girl falls through the story back into Cinderella‘s land and becomes her friend. She brings with her the magic of modern technology. She helps Cinderella clean the house and calls her sister is bully and tells her dad he’s a typical storybook dad and he needs to stop it. It completely changes the way the story not only comes out in the end but the way the character sees it and turns it more into a story about fixing a bad family dynamic. In that way I think it works quite well. It’s rather cute but if you’re looking for a true Cinderella story stay away.  If you’re looking for what a modern girl thinks about Cinderella give this one a try. 

 

This is an oddly beautiful graphic novel. It’s about a little girl Nolla who has lost her mother. It’s her eighth birthday and her dad assured her that it is one OK to celebrate and that her mother was looking forward to giving her a special gift. The special gift is an odd little music box. Later in the evening Nolla comes to learn that her music box is an inhabitant of a special world that she shrinks down explores. There she meets another girl her age and her brother and their sick mother and it’s up to Nola to help make her better and figure out what is poisoning her. Pandoriant is an odd little world the people are almost fairy or nymph like but there are monsters and Beings that are both good and evil or funny and grouchy. It’s an entirely new world or Nolla has no idea what’s going on. She’s been told to be careful because this new world is dangerous but besides what’s happening to her new friend’s mom, she doesn’t understand why it’s dangerous. We don’t get much beyond that in book number one, but it was really intriguing, and the art is beautiful. It’s a style of art not normally found in most graphic novels. This book is translated from French, and it’s very well done.  So far there are a total of five books, and I plan on reading every one of them. 

 

This was a laugh riot. It’s both picture book and graphic novel for the very youngest. We have a tiny spoon and a little fork whose job is to feed the baby. But which ones better? Fork is sure they’re better, but no spoon thinks they’re better, so it becomes a battle of who the baby thinks is better. The book is very tongue-in-cheek but also relatable and funny. As someone with a baby niece who is has just started using little spoons and little forks maybe I like this too much, but I don’t care. This was fun and would be fun for story time, or for naptime, or just for mealtime. 

 

This book is about how to draw a cat. Duh, right? But you can’t assume that just because you draw a smiley face the cat is going to be happy. So, the omniscient narrator is drawing various things to help keep the cat happy. These things include airplanes and pizza and a catapult. Eventually the cat doesn’t look happy but someone else ends up sad so what shall the narrator do now? This book was fun, and the illustrations are simple enough that any reader could repeat them.  I really like how it was colored and how one does not need to stay inside the lines. Overall, this is fun. 

 

I was expecting this to be a picture book and instead it’s more of a comedic book for adults. Each page is a different graphic illustration on how you could pet a dog. By approaching people, stealing dogs, dripping yourself in bacon so they come to you, etc. The book is fine but not what I was expecting. I would hate to think that somebody meant this for kids because it could get some kids in trouble with the tongue-in-cheek comedy but overall, it was pleasant read and a surprising one.