On Story Bent

Ok, this one's rather weird. Based off the cover I had high hopes for it being cute + a lot of fun to read, what with all the different animal noises, etc. But, as aforesaid, sadly it was a disappointment, at least for us. I thought the simple illustrations would act kind of like a Dr. Suess, but instead they just seemed scraggly and didn't capture the interest of Princess E at all. (Instead she was actually disturbed and concerned about the mother dog on one of the pages. Honestly, it was more than a little disturbing.) And I thought the premise was that of a young dog learning how to bark, but *spoilers* the problem is actually that he has a bunch of other animals inside him making all the wrong noises. (Parenthetical note: through it all the mother dog also has no sense of humor. :/) Anyhow, the way they go about solving the problem is, yeah... just kinda weird for the young age group it's geared for, IMHO. Not bizarre necessarily, the overall effect's just... o

This has long been my tippity top favorite Jan Brett. It's been around for years now and still thoroughly fresh, lovely, and absolutely gorgeous. I was so excited to introduce it to the Little Princess this week! (And she loved it; getting very animated over the different animals. That and bees are a big thing right now, so there was that too, what with all the zum zum buzzzzzing. ;)) An absolute delight all round and definitely a classic. <3 I also just found this link for a Berlioz coloring page, so be sure to check that out. It's adorable.