kestrell: (Default)
Kestrell ([personal profile] kestrell) wrote2011-02-10 12:15 pm
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A trio of bad books for children

Kes: These are not books which are written badly--quite the opposite--but rather books about behaving badly, one of my favorite themes in children's literature.

Bad Bears written by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrated by Jill Pinkwater (Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
The first book in the series featuring Irving and Muktuk, two polar bears who are not to be trusted.

17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore written by Jenny Offill and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Random House, 2007)
I *love* this book. Sample lines:

block quote start
I had an idea to set Joey Whipple's shoe on fire using the sun and a magnifying glass.
I am not allowed to set Joey Whipple on fire anymore.
block quote end

This is a great book for exploring how fiction lets us explore being bad or expressing negative emotions in a safe way.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein (Candlewick Press, 2010)
Papa Chicken tells little chicken "Try not to get so involved," but it's no use--little chicken keeps literally throwing herself into the story so that she can save the characters from themselves. This seems like a great book to help explore why stories excite us, and how the stories we read make us feel.
jesse_the_k: Baby wearing black glasses bigger than head (eyeglasses baby)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2011-02-10 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Those books sound so wonderful I almost wish I had kids to read them to *grin*,

(Particularly because I used to set insects on fire with my glasses [high plus thus magnifying])