Click, Clack, Moo - Cows That Type, by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin

Click, Clack, Moo - Cows That Type is a Caldecott Honor award winner for 2001. It was written by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin, for children ages six to nine. This book's plot and illustrations are extremely entertaining. Farmer Brown's cows love to type, and all day long he hears "click, clack, moo, click, clack, moo, clickety, clack, moo." This phrase is repeated several times in the book, which is very effective for young children listening to the story; the reader can make the sounds as he reads the words. The farmer doesn't believe that cows can type, so he goes to find out for himself. He finds a note on the barn door: "Dear Farmer Brown, the barn is very cold at night. We'd like some electric blankets. Sincerely, The Cows." The farmer becomes furious, and notes are posted back and forth on the barn door between the cows and the farmer, who tells the cows he will not get them blankets. The cows go on strike and refuse to give milk, and the hens quickly follow and refuse to lay eggs. Farmer Brown finally sends Duck, "a neutral party" with an ultimatum to deliver to the cows. They, in turn, send Duck back with a note saying they will exchange their typewriter for electric blankets and they will send Duck over with the typewriter. The farmer decided this was a good deal, sent blankets, and waited for Duck. The next morning he got a note from the Ducks stating the pond was boring and they wanted a diving board. The last words of the book are another example of effective onomatopoeia: "Click, clack, quack, click, clack, quack, clickety, clack, quack."

The illustrations in the book really enhance the hysteria of the plot. The notes on the barn door are drawn exactly as they would appear, with nails hammered to the door, and the text appears in a "typewriter" font. The group of cows (and at the end, the ducks) poring over the typewriter are cleverly drawn, and Farmer Brown's frustration from the notes is evident from the pictures. In the repeated phrase "click, clack, moo," the word "moo" is in bold print for emphasis, so the reader cannot help but make the sounds as he reads it aloud. The very last page of the book is purely an illustration of a duck landing in a pond after jumping off a diving board, and the reader may infer that the ducks were granted their wish after posting their "ransom" note.

My daughter received this book when she was three years old; she is now five and we still read it from time to time before bed. It's one of those funny books that you never get tired of reading. I am jealous of the idea and wish I would have thought up such a clever book. This one's right up my alley. I liked it so much that its sequel, Giggle, Giggle, Quack, was a "must-have" from my daughter's Scholastic book order.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

The first book I read for LME 518 was Hope Was Here, by Joan Bauer. This book was published in 2000 and won the Newbery Honor award in 2001. The target audience is ages 12 to 14. This book was a realistic story about a 16-year-old girl, Hope, a waitress, who lives with her aunt Addie, a cook/chef. Hope was originally named Tulip by her mother Dana when she was born, and Hope had only seen her mother a few times in her life - according to Addie, Hope's mother was not ready or capable of having a child. Neither of them knew who her father was, or where. For as long as she can remember, Hope had moved with Addie from place to place whenever a restaurant that employed them went belly-up. The book begins with them moving from New York City to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, where they would work for G.T. Stoop, owner of the restaurant Welcome Stairways, recently diagnosed with leukemia. Little did Hope know that she would become involved in the politics of the town, when G.T. ran for mayor against the town's long-time mayor - learning of his scandals and proving to the town that G.T. was the best candidate even though he was dying. Addie eventually marries G.T., who adopts Hope and becomes the father that she never had. The leukemia that had been in remission did come back, but G.T. was able to put respectable leaders in place in Mulhoney before he died. The book ends with Hope realizing that it was better to have two years with a father that loved her than to never have the experience at all.

This book really hit home for me, because my mother was recently diagnosed with IBC, an aggressive form of breast cancer. I have come to the realization that although this disease may be conquerable, there is a chance that it will come back even if her chemotherapy treatments and surgery are successful. The underlying theme of the book rests in Hope's name. She was able to change her name from Tulip to Hope when she was 12 years old, and she chose the name Hope because "I think hope is just about the best thing a person can have." Hope lived her life trying to be as cheerful and positive as possible, despite all the downfalls in her life, hoping to live up to the name she had chosen. She leaves her mark wherever she goes in life, carving it in the restaurants that are boarded up when she leaves them: "Hope Was Here." She carved those words small, so as not to deface anything terribly, but she thinks that way someone will know that she tried to make that place better somehow. I want to have the same outlook that Hope had with regard to my mother, and try to be positive while she faces this disease. I will cherish the time that I do have with her now, and I hope to have many years with her left ahead.

This book reflects the theme of death and how it is a part of life. Hope's character is a positive role model for young readers, since she realizes that it is better to have had G.T. in her life as a father than never to have had him at all. This book would be a wonderful book for young people and a "hopeful" one - readers might be able to relate to Hope's experience personally, and may decide to adopt her philosophy on life and death. Hope makes the best of her experiences by scrapbooking everything in her life (Something else I can also relate to, since I am a scrapbooker), to preserve her memories and keep them close to her heart.

I highly recommend this book to readers young and old.

Ready, set, blog!

I have never had a blog, so I guess I am now a part of the twenty-first century. I am very excited about this class, LME 518, Advanced Children's Literature, for which I was assigned to create a reading journal blog. I just got my textbook 2 days ago, so I finally know which books are on the accepted reading list. My children have a lot of these books in their libraries alread, fortunately, so I am ready to get started today. It snowed yesterday, so a good book is what I need anyway. I am going to start with a Caldecott winner - more later.