Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Long Haul

Author and Illustrator: Jeff Kinney

Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2015

Talk about an exercise in 'how to bond with your boys': I'd just finished reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a bedtime read with Alf (7) and Bert (5) and was looking for a 'filler' before starting another heavy novel. Alf suggested The Long Haul; he's read most of The Wimpy Kid series, is obsessed with watching The Wimpy Kid films and 

emulates the older brother in the series, Rodderick (not the greatest literary role model, but I see the appeal in wanting to be the cool older brother). The boys' eyes lit up when I agreed, and in hindsight, I think it's been really beneficial to model fluent reading of these books, as while Alf is a good reader for his age, these books, in my opinion move fast, have a lot of contemporary references and words, so require very competent level of indendent reading to read well, to follow well. Moreover, letting my son lead this, letting him share one of his favourite authors with me, made for great role reversal, and was illuminating- so this is what he finds funny, best of all, I found it hilarious, so funny, laugh -out- loud funny, that the boys grew quite fed up of me repeating extracts to my husband the following day or pausing for breath in between giggles. 

To be precise, the first part of The Long Haul is laugh-out-loud, it flags a bit once the family, who are taking a road trip as a part of mum's aspiration for family, and are repeatedly interacting with another family (I lost the gist a bit here, it turns quite slapstick). As a writer, Jeff Kinney reminds me of Matt Groening of Simpson's fame, offering the right mix of joke aimed at young boys (plenty of toilet humour, jokes about hairy bodies, junk food, mishaps) and jokes aimed at parent introspection (the mum sees life in 'learning opportunities' for her boys, playing them a Spainish language CD in the car, the dad, seeking to reclaim personal joy beyond 'the family' buys himself a boat and pays the humourous consequences). 

Written through the eyes of 'Wimpy Kid' Greg Heffley,this character's self reflections are drole, astute and full of contemporary social references (the books are undoubtedly written in American English, so occasionally takes a bit of explaining, e.g. 'Car lot' as 'car park) . There's a self deprecating storyline, in that Jeff is weedy and actively avoids trouble, while his older brother Rodderick is cock-sure and arrogant, and his younger brother, a toddler, Manny, is mollycoddled and intent. The road trip is chaotic and full of funny despairing moments when things go wrong, such as winning a pig at the farm show, the motel not having adequate sleeping arrangements, the 'hot tub' being taken by one whole family, and all the the while Greg is the one most effected by the mishap. For my boys, there seemed to be a real identification with Greg, 'the put upon' child despairing of the well intentioned efforts of his parents. As a parent, I certainly identified with the mum character, reading 'Family Frolic' magazine to better inform herself on good parenting practice. The Long Haul then, insightful hyperbole on modern family life (albeit American, and a quick, comic like, fun read to share between generations.

I am Batman

Adapted by Catherine Hapka
Illutrations: Pencils by Adrian Barrios, Digital Paints by Kanila Tripp
Inspired by the film The Dark Knight
Publisher: HarperCollins, DC Comics, 2008

This book is part of the I Can Read! series; this title sits in the level 2 category, 'reading with help' (billed as 'high-interest stories for developing readers'). I'm truly grateful for this series as at various moments in their journeys to learn to read both Alf (now 7) and Bert (now 5) have declared that 'books aren't for them' (historically this has been at about 4 and a half), and this series has coaxed them back.  Without having ever seen the film Batman: Dark Knight they still expressed the opinion that 'Dark Knight Batman in black' was far cooler than 'Batman Bold and Brave in Blue' (so says five year old boys then). With these books it's like the battle to engage is won simply from the cover. 

In I am Batman the first half of the book introduces Batman, his alter ego, his gear, his gadgets, and some of his friends, such as Lucius Fox and Police Lieutenant Gordon. The second half of the book offers a smidgen of story; Batman's friend Rachel throws a party gatecrashed by The Joker, and Batman, and his gadgets, come to the rescue. There's a satisfying ending, with the joker about to spend time in jail, and Batman uttering the famous words, 'I am not just Bruce Wayne. I am Batman.' 

The graphics in the book are comicbook-like enough to feel grown up and as if you're accessing a book for older children. The prose is a little confusing: while the sentences are short, sensibly, there's a lack of fluidity in what's being told ( but then this is 'Batman' so that's fine, we're expecting some macho grunts). The vocabulary is very challenging, and there's a host of American English spellings and words: 'armor' for example, and 'apartment', but saying that, the batman specific vocabulary is appealing to my boys: 'gadgets', 'crime fighting gear', 'batarang' ( I'm always surprised how they remember these words and then they crop up in their own writing). Anything that fuels an interest in reading for that crucial 4-5 year old boy age group, to me, is worthy of applause. 

Meg's Castle

Author: Helen Nicoll
Illustrator: Jan Pienkowski
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd 1975, Puffin Books 1979, edition featured 2009

I think this is a 'Marmite' series, you either love these bizarre, nonsensical, bold, bright books of the 1970s Nicoll and Pienkowski Partnership, or they furrow your brow in a bad way. I love watching adults who aren't familiar with the series, try to read these to children for the first time. The series  borders on the psychedelic, with dystopic plots and a strange sort of coherence. They leave you filling puzzled and yet fulfilled. 

Cartoon witch Meg lives (in a house) with Mog the black cat and Owl, the white bird.
Together they go on an adventure or celebrate an event, usually involving making spells that go slightly wrong, always ending peacefully with the characters waving their goodbyes. The books are made up of exuberant colourful illustrations, pop-art style, and incredibly short stanza, one- six words per page normally.  There's a a lot of onomatopoeia used, mixtures of font sizes and styles, and grabbing impact words such as ' victory!' ( huge font). In Meg's castle there are interesting cultural references to the Green knight legend and St George, with snippets of rhyme and proverb thrown in for good measure, 'I'm the king of the castle.' Meg, Mog and Owl books are action-filled as well as eye catching, and are great fun to read aloud. Here's my favourite high-drama page of this title: 

The Meg, Mog and Owl series are perfect share-with stories for the 18month- 3 year old old range because these books are loud, fun and the snippets of speech, rhyme, spell are very catchy and memorable, 'call me George'! This series also comes into its own again for 3-5 year olds, with such simple sentences, making them suitable 'first readers.' I'm also finding the series quite useful to inpart the principles of comic- book writing on my 7 year old, encouraging him to add speech bubbles and sound tags to his pictures, as those techniques are abundant and effective here. Now as this series is over forty years old, it is understandable that it's somewhat of an institution, and as such, the series has a huge array of resources to support reading available online. Here's a selection: Pinterest Meg and Mog resources, Meg and Mog WordSearch

Betty goes bananas in her pyjamas

Author and Illustrator: Steve Antony
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2015

Voices, is what we say about this book, really fun to read-out-aloud voices.  
Toddler ape Betty is resistant to bedtime, and, like many an ape before her, she borders on the edge of extreme meltdown distracting herself and procrastinating at the same time with any toy that comes to hand. And my my is she active, wanting to play instruments, paint on her easel, and play with all manner of transportation device, anything but go to bed. 
Meanwhile, poor tired looking Mr Toucan (Toucan? Yes, we were baffled at first, but then this strangely makes sense alongside toddler-gorilla-in-pyjamas), Mr Toucan manages to keep very calm and in a soothing (if slightly wearisome voice), he convinces Betty to go to bed. Until one final amusing calamity, as Betty's toys burst back out the cupboard and she once again looks (very) awake. Doh!

This book succeeds where many don't attempt to go, hitting at the stormy waters of the 2-4 year old age range. At 2 and a half years old Edie (now 3) turned ape every night demanding this book was read before she'd get in her bed...oh the irony! The comic timing, as Mr Toucan finally looses his rag with Betty, then returning his composure by summoning his inner super nanny, is genius. The very keep-calm-and-get-them-to-bed of Mr Toucan resonates brilliantly, and my wry smile increases every time I read Steve Antony's dedication at the end of the book 'To Mum, the best storyteller ever, and all other toucans.'

Main character Betty, is probably one of my favourite of all fictional characters. Her expression-filled face says it all, you almost don't need to 'read' this book, as little ones can certainly follow the gist of how Betty feels from the illustrations alone (excited, elated, engrossed, sleepy, wired). The voice of Betty, for us, is this monosyllabic butch ('Little Britain' style) man voice. Our children roll about in fits of hysterics when we read this book, especially if we have Mr Toucan's voice the same as our own 'get to bed' voice ( and roll our eyes and sigh at the same time). At 5 (Bert) and 7 (Alf) the older boys still like this book, but mainly reading it and imitating 'the voices' for the younger two. There's a good amount of repetition in the story, so again, really perfect for the 2 year olds, and there's plenty of bright colours and inanimate objects in the illustrations such as lorry, teddy, drum, that the little ones enjoy spotting/recognising/naming/pointing at. There's also lots of little quirks I enjoy about the book; Betty's romper suit has a banana print, there's letter blocks scattered about 
on each page which cover the whole alphabet from start to finish, there's no hint of a gender stereotype- Betty plays with her bananas lorry and pink open top car. 
We love this book- big thumbs up for Betty and her weary toucan parent /carer. 

Here's a link to The BookTrust's review and e-card request for this book as we love it so: BookTrust - Betty Goes Bananas  

Top Top Secret

Author: Claire Freedman 
Illustrations: Russell Ayto

What better way to start the New Year off with 'the boys' favourite book, only I hadn't read it in a few months so had forgotten the rhyming beat, and it did flow quite as well as usual. Once you perfect reading this book to little ones, with the snappy twists and turns of the spy mission agent Sid, a boy in bed, takes, it's a fun read that the children help to chant out. Freedman has the sentences running both horizontal and parallel, zigzagging beside a miniature Sid on his daredevil adventure to seize the stolen king's ring from the dragon and return to bed before anyone notices. 7 year old Alf and 5 year old Bert have enjoyed this book for a good two years now, with plenty of mileage from Bert to come I think as it's very comic strip - like, bright, and gadget happy. Unconventional boy agent Sid crawls through tunnels and slides on skis, and fights the dragon with an old toffee. 

This book is a must read for ages 3-8, and is a particular favourite with my boys. Highly recommended.