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.