Amanda Racher's First Book Review

Pfister, Marcus. The Rainbow Fish. New York: North-South Books, 1992. Print.

This book was a beloved classic from my childhood, and is about a fish with extraordinary glimmering scales, much different from the dull scales of his peers. He is reluctant to give away his scales, but after some self-discovery, he learns how to share.

The Rainbow Fish draws children in with beautiful watercolor illustrations and metallic scales on the Rainbow Fish. The pictures are beautiful and captivate even older audiences. The story also reveals a very important moral, the importance of sharing. After a brief chat with a wise old octopus, the Rainbow Fish is willing to share some of his precious scales with his friends. The story tells that happiness is reached by giving, which is a very important moral parents value in teaching their children. Using beautiful colors, the book interests children, as well as pleases parents.

Tolhurstm Marilyn. Somebody and the Three Blairs. New York: Orchard Books, 1990. Print.

This story is a "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" spin-off where a family of three, the Blairs, leave the house and a bear comes into their home. The bear messes with the furniture in their apartment, much like Goldilocks, and at the end, the family falls in love with the bear.

I remember being read this book when I was small, and thinking that it was hilarious! It has a quick wit about it, and it is impossible not to fall in love with the little bear that travels into the Blair's home. The pictures are cute and pretty simple, and they get the point across. When I was young, I found the book to be so clever (for expample, the title, where "Blair" rhymes with "bear"), whereas now I feel like the jokes are a bit too cutesy. But it is the type of humor first graders would understand and appreciate, because I know I did.

Scieszka, Jon; Smith, Lane. Squids will be Squids. New York: Viking, 1998. Print.

"Squids will be Squids" is a spin-off of the classic "Aesop's Fables" in which it tells short stories with underlying morals. The stories told in this book, however, are a bit more zany than anything Aesop has written.

Again, this is another childhood favorite of mine simply because of the crazy characters and the situations they somehow get into. What interests me the most about this book is the morals. The morals are very vague, one simply being "squids will be squids". I feel that the authors of this book intended to make extremely vague morals at the end of the stories to encourage conversations between children and the adults reading the book to them. The fables have very clear messages to adults, but to children they may be a bit more difficult to see. This makes it a requirement for adults to give their own interpretations of the morals, making it so the children can understand them in Layman's terms, and therefore apply them.

Jackson, Ellen. Cinder Edna. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, 1994. Print.

Like some of the others I have reviewed, this book is a takeoff on a classic: Cinderella. It compares two women, Cinderella and Cinder Edna and both of their stories. Cinderella is the classic character, beautiful and waiting for her prince charming, while Edna is a savvy, practical girl who is in the same situation as Cinderella, working for her stepmother and stepsisters, but makes the most out of her situation.

This book reminded me a lot of "Somebody and the Three Blairs" because of its up-to-date references (for expample: Edna took the bus to her ball, and wore loafers because they were comfortable dancing shoes). It also had a quick humor about it that interests the reader quickly. It is a refreshing spinoff that highlights female empowerment. Cinderella does not have fun at the ball, and does not live happily ever after even though she has a handsome prince and a ton of money. Edna does live happily ever after, even though she lives a more modest life with a less-handsome prince of her own.

Numeroff, Laura. If You Take A Mouse To School. New York: Laura Geringer Books, 2002. Print.

This book is not a spin-off on an older classic, but is in the series "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", so it is written in the same fashion. A boy takes his mouse to school and the mouse is very needy, always needing one school-themed item after the next.

I thought that this was a cute story, but I was familiar with the series and predicted correctly what the ending would be like. The cartoon-like illustrations are captivating and humorous. It is entertaining to watch a tiny mouse behave like a human: eating sandwiches, coloring, and shooting a basketball (or trying to, anyway). I am sure many children have fantasized of having a little furry friend specifically designated to make them laugh during long hours in a classroom, and this book fulfills that very wish.