Mr. Tiger Goes Wild

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, written and illustrated by Peter Brown, is a charming children's book about a tiger who has grown tired of the very proper and conservative society in which he lives.  He looks very dapper in that top hat and bow tie, but Mr. Tiger just wants to be free.  When he finally starts acting on this desire, however, his friends and neighbors aren't so happy about it, and he has to leave the city.

Just from this, it sounds like kind of a sad story about intolerance, but Mr. Tiger Goes Wild has a nice ending.  The wild turns out not to be as great as Mr. Tiger expected, and he returns to the city, presumably resigned to resume his previous conformity to the society's rules about behavior and fancy dress.  To his surprise, though, all his friends and neighbors have apparently decided maybe Mr. Tiger had the right idea (to an extent) --- everyone seems to have found a nice balance between being proper and being wild, and they welcome Mr. Tiger back with open arms (open forelimbs?).

Pride & Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every small child is in want of this book.  Even if you haven't read it, chances are good you have at least heard of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (and if you haven't read it, you probably should).  Jennifer Adams, with the help of artist Alison Oliver, is introducing the classics to your small children through Baby Lit, a series of board books.  Little Miss Austen: Pride & Prejudice will help your offspring with the numbers one through ten using some of the most important themes of Austen's work and Regency life in general, such as "2 Rich Gentlemen" and "4 Marriage Proposals."  The illustrations are really cute, too.

I would recommend this for both your tiny ladies AND gentlemen, because little boys can enjoy the classics too, and that includes Austen.  Plus, numbers and counting are for people of every gender!  This also makes a sweet and unique gift for any Janeite.

And as an aside, another fun thing for all you Janeites:  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  This was featured as a Fave Five on Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry show, The Flog, and I fell in love with it.  This young lady is retelling Pride & Prejudice as a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet, through a series of vlog posts, shot and edited by none other than her best friend, Charlotte Lu!  Sisters Jane and Lydia make appearances, and Lizzie's impersonations of Mrs Bennet are absolutely hilarious.  There is a little bit of swearing, but that mostly comes from Lydia (I am sure that may not entirely surprise you).  Definitely check it out!

ISBN:

9781423622024

ASIN:
B00B11P8ZY

Publisher:
Gibbs Smith

See what others are saying about it, or buy it now:
Amazon
Better World Books

Animals Everywhere

So, for Spring Break, I'm heading to New England to visit my brother and his family.  I'm so glad to be seeing them again soon and to have a change of scenery for a little while!  I'm bringing a little book for my niece, and thought before I hand it over, that I'd share it with you all.

Animals Everywhere by Lillian Pluta (with illustrations by Jillian Phillips) is a board book written in verse that takes young children on a trip around the world, introducing different animals that inhabit various habitats.  Pluta  uses some animals that are likely to be familiar to your child, such as elephants, monkeys, and alligators, but she also includes some others that not as many kids may know:  red pandas, marmots, and manatees.  Some animals she provides more specific names for as well, such as "horned owl," rather than simply "owl."  The illustrations are incredibly precious.  Phillips creates images that are fun and sure to please both child and adult alike, not only for this book, but in all her work - check out her website and/or blog to see what I mean.

Merry Christmas, Teddy Beddy Bear

My mom was going through Christmas books, I guess to see if there were any she might take to work for her class, and she came across one of my old books:  Merry Christmas, Teddy Beddy Bear by Don E. Plumme and illustrated by Morgan, Inc.  Teddy Beddy is Adam's bear, and they do everything together.  One day, Adam's mother takes them downtown to see the big Christmas tree, and they get to look at the toys in the department store while they're there.  A sales clerk sees how shabby Teddy Beddy is and shows Adam all the brand new bears.  Teddy Beddy starts to worry - does Adam want a new bear for Christmas?

What Is Your Language?

What Is Your Language? by Debra Leventhal (illustrations by Monica Wellington) is a children's book that celebrates diversity in the world's languages.  Rather than a prose story or even a story in rhyme, Leventhal has written a simple song with a melody children will love to sing along to!  Follow along as a little boy from the United States goes on a trip around the world and meets new friends in other countries.

Most of the languages represented in this book are very common, unlike Good Morning, Good Night, which is a story in Maori, an endangered language of New Zealand.  I chose to feature What Is Your Language? anyway, because I think it's really cute and it is still relevant to the topic of Endangered Languages Week.  With this book, you and your child can learn together how to say "yes" and "no" in nine other of the world's languages:  German, French, Russian, Inuktitut (an Inuit language), Japanese, Chinese (I assume Mandarin, since that appears to be the most common dialect for second-language learners), Arabic, Swahili, and Spanish.

Good Morning, Good Night

I'm not normally one for posting more than once a day, but as I have a couple other things to post tomorrow - Halloween! - I wanted to get this one up tonight.  From 31 October until 4 November, my school (The University of Texas at Arlington) is participating in Endangered Languages Week by hosting some really great events featuring Native American, African and Polynesian languages.  I'm a student in the linguistics department, so I'm already helping as a volunteer but I wanted to do a little something of my own as well, here on the blog, to help raise awareness of language endangerment and appreciation for language diversity.  Language is a big part of cultural identity, and each language provides unique ways of expressing unique worldviews - and yet, according to National  Geographic's project Enduring Voices, a language effectively dies about every 14 days. Some communities have language revitalization programs in place, but not all.  When a language has died along with its last speakers, the world loses that community's perspective and becomes a little less diverse, a little less beautiful.  Because a part of what makes our planet beautiful and interesting is its diversity.

Anyway, enough with the lecture and on to the book I wanted to share with you all!

Lovely, Love My Family

So I'm sure all of you (at least all of you in the US - I'm not sure where else this show airs) who have small children or who are around small children are aware of the television show on Nick Jr, Yo Gabba Gabba! For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's a show with a crazy looking guy and a bunch of crazy looking monster things (and what looks like also a robot), and they teach kids stuff. They also feature contemporary musical acts, which is what I think is really cool and unique about this show - they've featured some of my own favourite groups, and I bet if you look up who all has performed in a guest spot on this show, you'll find some of your favourites as well!

Anyway, my niece (who will be two in April) freakin' LOVES this show. I asked my sister-in-law to describe it for me, and apparently it is really wack-a-doodle (this is a word my phonology professor uses a lot; thought I'd try it out, lol) to watch. Here is part of what she had to say:

(sister-in-law): they have music in every ep but it's not all music

(sister-in-law): they dance a lot and show kids riding around on giant wind up snails wearing elton john glasses and beaver teeth etc
(sister-in-law): and i'm not making this up