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Amy Krouse Rosenthal: the Ginger Rogers of children’s lit

Amy Krouse Rosenthal (1965-2017) was a prolific children’s picture book author, crafting more than 30 in just a dozen years. Together with illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, who worked with her at least a dozen times, they were called the “Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire of children’s literature.”

But that wasn’t Rosenthal’s only outlet: she made quirky videos, adult books, and, after getting diagnosed with terminal cancer, tried to get her husband a new wife, by publishing an essay, “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” in the New York Times just ten days before she died.

While she might be best known for her series of unicorn books, I was impressed by what else she had to offer. I’ve ordered them below from my most to least favorite.

RECOMMENDED (19)

I Scream! Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordles
2014 /40 pages
What are wordles, you might ask? They are, as this book explains, “groups of words that sound exactly the same but mean different things,” like “I scream” and “Ice cream.” In each instance that follows the first wordle is presented, and then the reader can guess what the soundalike will be, before turning the page to find out. Super fun!

Little Miss Big Sis
2015  / 40 pages
With just a half dozen words each page, but loads of rhymes, this is a wonderful early reader about the arrival of a new baby in the family, and how his (or her?) Big Sis is ready to step up. Could be a good one to read to prep a Big Sis-to-be.

Little Pea (3)
2005 / 30 pages
This is the one that started it all, about a little pea that loved to roll, and play with his dad, and hear stories from his mama about what it was like when she was a little pea. But there was one thing he hated: candy. He absolutely hated eating it, but, in a fun, silly twist, if you want to grow up to be a big strong pea, you have to finish all your candy. And his stern parents won’t let him have any dessert until he has at least five pieces of candy first. What’s for dessert? Pea’s favorite: spinach! What a great joke for a pint-sized audience! A sequel, Little Hoot (2009 / 32 pages) plays on this same reversal theme, with a young owl desperately wishing he could go to bed early. But in his house, the rule is, you have to stay up late, because that’s what owls do! The third and last in the series, Little Oink (2009 / 32 pages) has a piglet just wishing he could clean up his room, but his parents need him to keep it messy because, after all, they are pigs! All three are available as picture books and also as a board book set.

Spoon (3)
2009 / 40 pages
Little Spoon is a part of a very big spoon family, and at bedtime he likes nothing better than to hear “the story about his adventurous great-grandmother, who fell in love with a dish and ran off to a distant land.” But Spoon is a bit jealous of his friends, Knife and Fork, who seem to live more exciting lives. “Knife is so lucky! He gets to cut, he gets to spread. I never get to cut or spread.” Mom Spoon agrees Knife is pretty “spiffy” that way, and Fork, and the Chopsticks too, all “are something else, aren’t they?” But it turns out his friends think Spoon is pretty lucky too, for the fun he can have banging on pots, measuring stuff, and diving headfirst into a bowl of ice cream. It’s a wonderful, creative lesson, in appreciating both your friends, and all they can do, but appreciating the abilities and opportunities you’ve been blessed with too. Two sequels are also fun. Chopsticks (2012 / 40 pages) is an inventive tale about how the two of them always work in tandem, until the day one of them breaks and, after a quick surgical intervention by the Glue Bottle, Chopstick #2 has to take some time off to recover. Then Chopstick #1 has to figure out how to contribute on his own. Then, in Straw (2020 / 48 pages), a bendy straw learns that being first isn’t always the most important thing. Sometimes, instead of slurping things right up, it’s nice to take it slow and savor.

This Plus That
2011 / 40 pages
Some great math problems in this one, with equations like “1 + 1 = us” and “somersaults + somersaults + somersaults = dizzy.” There’s also some fun pairs, like, “chalk + sitting = school” versus “chalk + jumping = hopscotch.” I read this to my kids as a guessing game: I didn’t show them the pictures, but just read the equations and paused on some of them to give them a chance to provide the answer. I’ll sometimes make additions to stories as I read them (just to mix things up and keep myself engaged) so when I read “blaming + eye rolling ≠ sincere apology” one daughter asked if I had made an insertion. But nope, it’s in the book! Very fun!

Duck! Rabbit!
2009 / 32 pages
Is it a duck, or is it a rabbit? A back and forth debate is more entertaining than I thought it could be, with the two sides each making a series of pretty compelling points. I wonder if this might be something to inspire a kid to take up drawing, as they see that a picture doesn’t even have to be clearly one thing or the other to make it into a picture book!

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons (3)
2005 / 40 pages
This is part dictionary, part cookbook, and part lessons for life. Each page begins with a picture of a child taking on some baking task, often helped by a fully-dressed dog, rabbit, frog, or kitten. I’m guessing those might be their stuffies, come to life to give an assist. Each page also starts with a word, and the definition is then the lesson. For example: “Modest means you don’t run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if you know it to be true.” And: “Greedy means taking all the cookies for myself.” Each page is worth a pause to consider. And the book ends (of course!) with a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Two sequels, Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love (2010 / 40 pages) and One Smart Cookie: Bite-Size Life Lessons for the School Years and Beyond (2010 / 40 pages), are every bit as nice, though there is a bit of repetition from one book to the next.

Exclamation Mark!
2013 / 56 pages
An exclamation mark doesn’t fit in with all the periods around him. But when he meets a question mark, he realizes that standing out isn’t a bad thing. And he has a special talent for making things exciting! A great book to get kids excited about punctuation!

Choo-Choo School
2020 / 34 pages
What kind of puns can you come up with if you pretend a train full of cars were actually kids heading to school? Well, the Conductor would lead music class, of course. And the Diner car would make a joke during lunch about how they were now a “chew-chew choo-choo train.” Lots more humor that First Graders will appreciate.

Friendshape
2015 / 40 pages
A square, circle, triangle, and rectangle share lessons about getting along with folks who are a bit different from us.

I Wish You More
2015/ 40 pages
This is a book of wishes: “I wish you more ups than downs,” “I wish you more give than take,” and “I wish you more will than hill.” The weakness of the book is that it is secular so these wishes, however well-meant, are just sent out into the air. But that doesn’t mean the book can’t serve as some good inspiration for Christians on what we can bring to our God regarding our friends and neighbors.

the OK book
2007 / 36 pages
The gimmick here is that if you turn the world “OK” sideways it can look like a stick person. From page to page we see this “okay” person (boy? girl? it’s not clear, and doesn’t really matter) explaining how, while they like to try a lot of different things, “I’m not great at all of them, but I enjoy them just the same.” It’s an encouragement to enjoy doing, even when you aren’t all that good, just because that’s fun, and in part because that’s how you’ll find out what you are good at.

On the Spot
2017 / 32 pages
Reusable stickers can be placed in specific spots throughout the book to change the story. So, for example, a child could place a pig in a certain spot so an old favorite nursery rhyme now goes, “Twinkle, twinkle, little pig…” As my daughter put it, it’s kind of a reusable Mad-Lib. So, a fun book, but those reusable stickers would get quickly lost in a school library setting. That means this could make for a good gift, but not a good school purchase.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons
2008 / 40 pages
A sequel to her Cookies: Bite-Size Lessons for Life, recommended above, this is more of the same, with a Christmas cookie recipe in the back instead. The reason it got bumped down to “Take It or Leave It” is its handling of Santa. The definition reads, “Believe means I might never see it happen, but he will come and eat [the cookies I laid out]. I just know it.” I’m not a big fan of encouraging our kids to believe in a never-seen, amazingly powerful entity that knows when you’ve been bad or good, but who is not God, but made up. I think that would quite logically breed distrust when we would later reveal that, no, Santa isn’t actually real… but God still is. It’s only one of the 40 pages (or sort of two) so it’s not a big deal, especially if your kids already know Santa isn’t real.

Yes Day!
2009 / 40 pages
On one day of the year, this boy’s parents have agreed to say yes to whatever he ask. Pizza for breakfast? Yes. Can I clean my room tomorrow instead? Yes. Can we get ice cream? Yes indeed. Even when the boy asks if they can have a food fight, his parents say yes (though they take it outside). Aside from the food fight, the requests here are of a modest sort (staying up late, piggyback, etc.) so the only reason this got bumped down here is that this could inspire some kids to think they should have a yes day too, but with less reasonable requests. It’s still a fun read, and I think parents might be inspired to, every now and again (and maybe without even telling your kids) set aside a day in which you and your spouse agree to grant every reasonable request your kids ask. Could be interesting!

The Wonder Book
2010 / 80 pages
All sorts of amazing poems, palindromes, and short stories fill page after page. The only reason it got bumped down here is that there is an instance of potty humor (“Tinkle, Tinkle, in the sea. Don’t look under while I pee.”) and a weird Dracula-looking kid shows up a couple of times. A couple more reasons to check it out include a great poem about brats, and all those palindromes.

Moo-Moo, I Love You!
2020 /40 pages
A cow explains that her love for you is as big as a “moo-se.” A couple dozen more moo jokes fill out the book. It is funny, but the humor is repetitive, making it one of those books that I sure wouldn’t want to have to read again and again.

Plant a Kiss
2011 / 36 pages
A girl plants a kiss and when a strange and wonderful tree-like thing sprouts, she is willing to share its fruit with everyone. You might think that sharing the fruit of a kissing tree might involve some actual kissing. But nope. Only one kiss in this book. An odd one, that I don’t really get (other than the overall message that sharing is caring).

One of Those Days
2006 / 32 pages
If your kid is having “one of those days” days, this might be a book you could read with them. It highlights how all sorts of days are those sorts of days including “your best friend acting like your beast friend day,” “favorite pants too short day” and “annoying sibling day.” With a parent along for the ride, this could be a lesson in empathy and sympathy. Without a parent, reading about all this bad stuff happening might not help, fostering whining rather than seeing difficulties for the small problems they actually are.

Dear Girl
2017 / 40 pages
This a book of encouragements, perhaps intended to be given by a mother to her daughter. Overall, it is pretty good, with insightful thoughts like, “”Find people like you. Find people unlike you.” and “You know what’s really boring? When people say how bored they are.” But one of the encouragements is something I would discourage: “there are no rules about what to wear, or how to cut your hair.” So, one to read with your kid and discuss.

DON’T BOTHER

Bedtime for Mommy takes the same sort of reversal idea we saw in Little Oink, Little Hoot, and Little Pea, but now has a little girl putting her mommy to bed, including getting her bathed. For me, that crosses the line from funny to weird.

Uni the Unicorn knows that little girls are real, no matter what anyone else says. In an age when people really do think that believing can make something so, this idea of a unicorn believing in a girl, and a girl believing in a unicorn, and them being right because they believed so strong, just isn’t an idea I want to pitch to my kids. This original story spawned a whole series (10 more so far) of Uni books, and while the original was at least clever, these others are not.

Al Pha’s Bet is an alphabet book, and while a little less boring than most such books, is boring still. It also has “Al Pha” repeatedly saying “Gee” as he names the seventh letter in the alphabet. Awake Beautiful Child is sort of an alphabet book too, though it focuses on only the first three letters. The three words on each page begin with A, then B, and finally C, as in “All begins cheerily” and “Amusing breakfast chatter.” An odd artistic style doesn’t improve things.

Page after page of lame moo jokes aren’t reason enough to overlook the problematic title of Holy Cow, I Sure Do Love You! And a staring contest with an owl isn’t reason enough to overlook minced oaths like “Dang” and “Jeepers” in Don’t Blink!

There is no “d9” it, Wumbers is very clever, with words “cre8ed” with numbers. But two pages of clueless angels, sitting on clouds wondering where they are (“I think it is 7” says one, to which the other replies, “I suppose it is our f8”) pitches the popular and wrong notion that people become angels when we die.

That’s Me Loving You promises something to a child that isn’t true: that their loved ones will never really be far from them. “That shimmering star? That’s me winking at you.” “That inviting ocean? That’s me waving at you.” This notion directs kids to look to their imagination for what only God can give them. God actually is everywhere they go, and He can always be right nearby. So this book misdirects kids.

It’s Not Fair is just one whine after another. Some of them are funny whines – “Why can’t books go on and on? No more endings, only Once Upons…” – but these whines end with “It’s not fair.” There aren’t many kids who’d benefit from hearing or reading “It’s not fair” a dozen times.

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Articles, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Keiko Kasza: All about cartoon critters

Author and illustrator Keiko Kasza was born in Japan and moved to the US for college only to meet and marry an American and then become American herself. On her website she shares the fun factoid that while her last name sounds Japanese, it actually comes from her husband, whose family has Hungarian roots. Kasza loves to people her stories with adorable furry and feathered friends, and illustrates in a somewhat cartoonish style, coloring characters in bright colors and surrounding them with plenty of bright white space. There's often a gentle moral shared, and of the sort that'd we'd appreciate, like: adoption is good, try to be brave, grandparents have lessons to share, and sometimes two disagreeing friends may discover they have both been a little wrong and a little right. There's a sense of playfulness to her work, perhaps because some of her books come off a little like a joke, the build-up leading to a satisfying punchline. And, at 32 pages each (and shorter for the board book), they are all pretty quick reads, which means you can share two or three at a time with your little ones. Sadly, some of her titles aren't readily available, so I've noted the ones that are easier to get by including a cover picture. But all twelve of the recommendations are worth putting in some effort to track down. RECOMMENDED (12) Silly Goose's Big Story (2012) Goose is so good at making up stories, his friends always ask him for more. But when the roles get handed out, his friends start noticing that Goose always gets the hero role. And they want a turn too. Goose isn't about to do that. Then a wolf interrupts things, swoops up Goose, and tells him, "So you're the hero, huh? More like a hero sandwich to me!" Goose can't get away. But he can tell a story. So Goose tells the most outlandish story about a wolf-eating monster that lives in the area. And who should be coming through the woods right then, but the monster himself! Wolf runs off, and we discover the monster is nothing more than Goose's three friends stacked atop each other. Goose gives them thanks, and notes that they are the real heroes! It's a sweet story, where friends fight, but figure it out... with some help from a wolf. :) Ready for Anything! (2009) Duck wants to go on a picnic, but Raccoon wonders, what if killer bees, or a terrible storm, or even a ferocious dragon make an appearance? In contrast, Duck is a glass-half-full kind of guy, and has his own what ifs to share: what if butterflies pass by, and what if the weather is warm and the breeze just strong enough to blow a kite? Raccoon agrees to go, but brings loads of gear – he’s ready for anything! – and actually saves the day when Duck forgets to bring their food. I loved that both friends learn a lesson: Raccoon learns not to obsess about the bad, and Duck learns that it’s not crazy to prepare for bad stuff, because it does sometimes happen. The Dog Who Cried Wolf (2005) When Moka's owner reads a book about wolves, Moka starts getting jealous. He wishes he could be a wolf. So the next day he takes off for the mountains. The only caution for the book concerns his celebration: "He ran. He jumped. He danced. And he peed where he wanted." That is, however, the only bit of potty humor. And soon after celebrating his freedom Moka realizes it isn't all that it is cracked up to be. He is soon very hungry, and he can't catch his dinner. Then, when he meets a pack of real wolves, Moka realizes that he never understood how good he had it back home. When he runs back, he's met at the gate by his master, her arms wide open to hug him – this could have been titled "The Prodigal Dog"! The Mightiest (2003) A lion, bear, and elephant happen upon a crown with an inscription that says it is for the mightiest. To figure out how should get it, they take turns trying to scare an old lady. Each, in turn, manages to "scare the daylights out of" the old lady. But then the three of them get scared themselves when a giant comes along and scoops them all up. "Help!" they all cry, and who should rescue them but the little old lady. She is the giant's mama, and since he's sure scared to disobey her, isn't she the mightiest of this whole lot? My Lucky Day (2003) A hungry wolf thinks it must be his lucky day when a delicious piglet, looking for his friend rabbit, knocks on the door. But as the wolf’s dinner prep begins, the piglet notes “I’m filthy. Shouldn’t you wash me first?” And so the wolf sets out to collect wood, start a fire, draw the water and give the piglet a wonderful scrub. As they head back to the kitchen the piglet notes, he’s quite small, and wouldn’t he be more delicious if the wolf fattened him up. Yes, the wolf agrees, and he picks tomatoes, cooks spaghetti, bakes cookies, etc. Piglet ends up having such a wonderful time that he thinks it must be his lucky day. And the wolf gets so tuckered, the piglet easily makes his escape. There is a sequel, My Lucky Birthday (2013), that's almost its match, marred by one use of “gosh.” Don’t Laugh, Joe! (1997) Joe is a young possum who can’t help but giggle. That’s fun for all his friends, but his mom is worried that it might give him away when danger comes – after all, possums evade danger by playing dead, and no predator is going to believe a laughing possum is dead. But with a little help from a grumpy bear, he figures it out… and helps the grumpy bear see the funny side of things too. A Mother for Choco (1996) A little bird looking for a mother finds a giraffe that’s the right color… but she doesn’t have wings. A penguin mother has wings, but doesn’t have Choco’s round cheeks. And so the hunt goes on. Finally she meets mother bear, who looks nothing like Choco, but wants to hug and kiss her like a mom would. And they decide that’s what matters. Choco heads home with the bear, and discovers she has other children that also don’t look like her: a pig, a crocodile, and a hippo. I think the point of this is to celebrate adoption, and it does a good job (though I would have liked it more if dad bear had shown up). Grandpa Toad’s Secrets (1995) On a walk in the forest, Grandpa toad shares with his little grandson three secrets to dealing with danger. The first is to be brave, and when a snake jumps out to eat them, Grandpa puts his advice into action. He puffs himself up, until he’s twice his normal size and shoos the snake away. His second piece of advice? Be smart! When a huge snapping turtle tries to eat them, Grandpa tells the turtle about an even tastier snack that just slithered by only moments before. Before he can give his third piece of advice, a monster grabs him. Thankfully, little grandson has been listening, and uses the first two tips to mount a very brave and very smart rescue of his dear ol’ grandpappy. A very fun story! When the Elephant Walks (1990) A scared elephant scares a bear, who in turn scares a crocodile, and so on, until we have a running raccoon accidentally scaring a mouse. Will it all stop with the mouse? Who would be scared by a mouse? Well... an elephant of course! So round we go once more. This board book is clever, but it is very short, taking just a minute to read. The Pig’s Picnic (1988) Mr. Pig wants to ask Miss Pig out for a picnic, and on the way to her house, he meets three friends, who all want to help him look his very best. Fox loans the pig his bushy tail, while Lion gives his hair, and Zebra shares his stripes. But with Mr. Pig now looking so very different, Miss Pig slams the door on him. And when he comes back looking like himself, she is happy to go on a picnic with him, and eager to tell him about the ugly monster that had visited that morning. The moral of the story is to be yourself, not someone else. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew (1987) A wolf anticipates eating a wonderful chicken stew. But before pouncing on the chicken, he leaves gifts of 100 pancakes, followed by 100 doughnuts, then a 100-pound cake, all in an effort to fatten the chicken up. When he finally thinks it’s time to pounce, he goes to her house only to discover a grateful brood of 100 chicks who have been enjoying his cooking. The newly minted “Uncle Wolf” gratefully receives their 100 kisses. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT (1) Badger’s Fancy Meal (2007) Badger has plenty to eat in his hole, but wants something fancy. So he goes after a mole, rat, and rabbit, all of them escaping in turn by diving into the hole he just left…where they find what, in their eyes at least, is a fancy feast just waiting for them. When the Badger finally returns to his den he finds his food gone. All that’s left is a note, signed by three critters: “Sorry for dropping by uninvited. A nasty badger was chasing us and we had nowhere else to hide. The apples, worms and roots were delicious.” The bad guy gets what he deserves, which is good. But the reason I didn’t rate this higher is because as parents we also need to teach our children that we should be thankful that God is not giving us what we deserve. DON’T BOTHER (3) Finders, Keepers! (2015) A little squirrel in a bright red hat finds a big acorn and celebrates with a shout of “Finders Keepers.” He buries it for later, marking the spot with his hat, which is later found by a bird, who thinks it would make for a great nest and takes his turn at declaring “Finders Keepers.” And on it goes. This is a light-hearted tale but only because it completely ignores that finders keeping leads to losers weeping. We don't want our kids living out the moral of this story: instead of being keepers, finders should try to be returners. Dorothy and Mikey (2000) Two hippopotamus best friends share three stories here, all three of which center around fights. In the second, Dorothy pulls a trick on Mikey because he's being all braggadocios about how much better he is at their contests. She challenges him to a contest of standing on one leg with eyes closed to see who can do it longer. But once they start, she goes home and enjoys a nice cool lemonade while Mike continues standing on one leg in the hot sun for hours, thinking she is there too. This is just returning evil for evil, which God doesn't want us to do (1 Pet. 3:9). The Rat and the Tiger (1993) A little rat is best friends with a big tiger who isn’t always looking out for his little friend. For example, when they play cowboys, Tiger always gets to be the good guy, and Rat has to be the bad guy. After a lot of this, Rat gets fed up and won’t be friends with Tiger until Tiger gets a taste of his own treatment. But while Tiger was thoughtless, Rat treats Tiger badly on purpose. This is one to give a miss because as much as the world preaches it, we don’t want our kids to ever believe two wrongs make a right.  ...