Book Reviews

How You Got So Smart by: David Milgrim

From infant to child, you have a come a long, long way! This book reveals just how you got as smart as you are. You watched and listened. Chewed on things. Explored and asked lots of questions. You investigated, made friends, and were very brave. Each and every step taught you something, and that is what made you so very smart. This jolly book takes a humorous but sincere look at how babies grow into amazing children every day.

Milgrim’s success with this book is in its tone. It is funny but really honest and truthful about what makes each of us smart. The best part is that it is about normal children, who all grow in their own way, who all explore, who all invent. Every child will see themselves here and relate effortlessly to the book. Milgrim’s illustrations add to the humor. They also bring the necessary bright colors and charm.

Perfect spring reading for classes of children who are advancing to the next grade. This reminds everyone that they are special and smart. Appropriate for ages 4-7, older as a treat read-aloud around graduation time.



Sylvia's Long Thumbelina
by: Sylvia Long

Enter the world of Thumbelina as depicted by award-winning illustrator Sylvia Long. This is a classic tale of the tiny Thumbelina and her birth to a woman desperate to have a child. Thumbelina is beautiful and is stolen by a toad to marry her son. She is kept on a lily pad until the wedding is prepared. The fish in the pond chew her lily pad free. She then seeks shelter from the winter cold with a field mouse who decides that she should wed her neighbor, a mole. Thumbelina discovers a bird in the tunnels that is supposedly dead, but that she nurses back to health. In the spring, the bird returns to save her from a marriage to the mole. He carries her to a special place where winter never comes and where she discovers others just her size, including a handsome prince.

Long has not only beautifully illustrated this classic tale, she has also created a very readable version of the story. It is cleanly written, making if useful for classrooms or families looking for a version to share. Long’s illustrations are jewel toned and delicate. The small details that fill the book help tell more of the story. The closeups of dragonflies, the bird and fairies are entrancing. She has created a tale filled with color and beautiful perspectives and compositions.

Highly recommended, this book with its small heroine and classic story will entrance those new to the story and become a favorite of those of us who already love the tale. Appropriate for ages 4-8.

~ by Tasha Saecker, Menasha Public Library
Read more of Tasha's reviews on her KidsLit blog.