Puss Reboots: Blog: October 2010: Room on the Broom

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Reviews
Altered Realities by Alfred Bester
Angus and the Ducks by Marjorie Flack
Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
Battlestar Galactica by Jeffrey A. Carver
Bhangra Babes by Narinder Dhami
The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner
Bone: Ghost Circles by Jeff Smith
Bone: Treasure Hunters by Jeff Smith
Coast to Coast by Catherine Donzel
Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman
The Devil's Arthmetic by Jane Yolen
The Dyodyne Experiment by James Doulgeris and V. Michael Santoro
The Emergence of Maps in Libraries by Walter William Ristow
Finding Marco by Kenneth C. Cancellara
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Klondike Cat by Julie Lawson
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Little Rascals by Leonard Maltin
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
More Flanimals by Ricky Gervais
Mr McGratt and the Ornery Cat by Marilyn Helmer
My Guy by Sarah Weeks
Pass It Down by Leonard S. Marcus
Pure by Terra Elan McVoy
The Quest for Merlin's Map (The Jumper Chronicles) by W. C. Peever
Pure by Terra Elan McVoy
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine by Ann Hood
Texas Tomboy by Lois Lenski
Thief of Shadows by Fred Chappell
Wildfire by Sarah Micklem

Misc Thoughts:
In Search of Manning Coles

Room on the Broom: 10/06/10

Monsters, ghosts, witches and Halloween stories favorites of my children. Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson is a perfect example of what they like. It's the story of a witch and her cat who fly to different monster friends' homes. They "broom pool" together to a party.

As you can imagine, a broom doesn't seem like it would be big enough for a whole cast of characters but somehow everyone manages to hang on. The cat, much like our cat, isn't fond of traveling. She howls through out the trip and looks more and more put out by the journey.

The book works for its extremes. It's ridiculous in set up and funny to watch as the plan unfolds. Axel Scheffler's colorful illustrations help bring this comedy to life. The repetitive text is easy to follow although there are a few places where I sometimes stumble. For younger kids who are "reading" by themselves, the pictures tell enough of the story to keep them entertained.