Our adorable duckling watches their brothers swimming, but only from the safety of the shore because they’re scared they won’t be able to swim. They seek advice from Big Frog and Owl, and their mother encourages them as they practice swimming in puddles. Then the big day arrives; it’s time for our brave duckling to face their fear.
I read this sweet little book at least five times when I borrowed it from my library last year. Over the past couple of months I’ve kept thinking about it and had to read it again.
I love that our duckling’s friends and mother gently encourage them to face their fear but don’t push them to jump in before they’re ready. By gaining confidence as they approach their fear in small steps it helps them take the final plunge. I practically melted when everyone celebrated this brave duckling’s accomplishment and rejoiced when they were encouraged, not teased, for doing things differently.
Will Hillenbrand’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! The colour palette is soft and all of the animals are expressive. This is one of those books I’d be happily pulling out to read each bedtime. I don’t think this is the last time I’ll be borrowing this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Sometimes it takes a lot to get your webbed feet wet! An adorable picture book makes a splash with a satisfying story about conquering your fears.
I cannot swim, and that is bad. A landlocked duck is very sad.
One day, an egg rolled out of a nest and right into a deep pond. Now that egg is a little duck, and the water is still very scary. Jumping into the pond at all seems impossible, never mind swimming in a line with all his brothers. “You’re a duck, and ducks don’t sink,” Big Frog points out. Practicing in a puddle helps a little, while backrubs and snacks from his mother help a little more. Big Frog offers to hold his friend’s wing and dive in together, but our little duck knows that some challenges need to be faced alone. Even when they are very scary!
“It is a long and tragic story full of dark alleys and twists and turns and many unexpected happenings,” I said. “And also curses. There are curses in the story.”
When Louisiana’s Granny wakes her at 3am, bundles her in the car and starts driving, Louisiana assumes this is just another one of Granny’s “middle-of-the-night ideas”. But this time Granny keeps driving and Louisiana wonders if she’ll ever see Raymie and Beverly (her two best friends), Archie the King of the Cats or one eyed dog Buddy again.
Louisiana’s story should be devastating and believe me when I tell you that parts of it are (have tissues on hand), but Louisiana’s perseverance, determination and courage transforms her story into one of hope. My main niggle was that while Louisiana did express sadness, anger and confusion about her circumstances, the extent of those very understandable feelings appeared to be glossed over on occasion in the rush to find the positive.
This is Louisiana’s second appearance in a Kate DiCamillo book but the first of Kate’s books I’ve read. After falling in love with Louisiana I’ve ordered Raymie Nightingale from the library (I love my library!). While I could easily jump straight into reading Louisiana’s Way Home without having already read Raymie Nightingale I want to get to know Raymie and Beverly. I‘m keen to find out what Louisiana was up to two years ago and am very interested in learning more about Louisiana’s relationship with her Granny.
Louisiana is simply adorable and I was equally fond of many of the people she meets along the way. I also appreciated the roles the cantankerous characters played and I loved that the author was able to bring all of the characters to life, even those we only meet briefly. I want to tell you all about the different characters that I fell in love with but I don’t want to spoil anything for you so instead will encourage you to discover them all for yourself.
In some ways, this is a story of woe and confusion, but it is also a story of joy and kindness and free peanuts.
Louisiana’s story is ultimately one of family, friendship and deciding who you want to be. This young girl is going to find her way into the hearts of so many readers, children and adults alike. I already know that I’m going to want to reread this book once I’ve read Raymie Nightingale and I expect that I’m going to need to read more of this author’s books as soon as possible.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Reread 12 June 2019
I am absolutely in love with this book! I didn’t think I could love Louisiana more than I did when I first read her story but I was so wrong. I want to hug her and make her feel safe and wanted and loved, and never let her go. This story is about deciding who you are, something we all need to do. Louisiana just has to make that decision earlier than most people. It’s a heartbreaking and heartwarming story and it’s gorgeous!
I appreciated the Allen family more with this reread too. All of the Burke Allen’s and the sole Betty Allen are my new favourite people; I want to bake with Betty and hang out with every Burke. I want to meet Clarence and let him know he can trust me.
I finally read Raymie Nightingale and jumped straight into this reread. I realise now that there are spoilers in this book for Raymie so I’d recommend reading the Three Rancheros books in publication order. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to read Beverly’s story early and will be starting Beverly, Right Here right now!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are – and deciding who you want to be.
When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return.
Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town – including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder – she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.)
This was a reread for me. I love Megan McDonald’s Stink and Judy Moody series. We first meet Judy as she’s about to begin third grade in Mr Toad’s Todd’s class at Virginia Dare School. Judy is in a mood because she didn’t go anywhere special during the vacation and she just knows that everyone else will be wearing a rare (Judy slang for cool) shirt from whatever theme park or other enviable destination they visited.
While Judy is hoping to sit near her best friend Rocky in class, she is certain she’ll be forced to sit near Frank Eats-Paste Pearl. Naturally she’s correct and she has to sit at the front of the classroom too. When it looks like her mood couldn’t get any worse Frank, who has pestered and irritated her every school year, invites her to his birthday party three weeks away and she has to try to find a way to get out of it.
One of the only good things that happens that day is a school assignment where each student needs to make a collage all about themselves which they will later be presenting to the class. Judy thinks this sounds like fun but of course that doesn’t match her mood so she won’t tell anyone she’s looking forward to working on it.
In Judy Moody Was in a Mood we also get to meet Judy’s parents and her younger brother Stink who became so popular he got his own spin off series. Both series are entertaining, funny and usually wind up with the kids learning something that makes them better kids than they already are. Judy is mean to Stink and plays a trick on him in this book but overall the siblings look out for one another.
I really enjoyed this reread. I discovered Judy Moody and Stink at my local library (yay libraries!) almost a year ago and have read all of each series that my library owns. While I do have a few favourites in each series there hasn’t been a single one I haven’t enjoyed. Starting from scratch again with Judy reminded me how much fun these books are and I’m now keen to reread them all.
Peter H. Reynolds’ illustrations are always wonderful and this book introduces the reader to what the Moody family look like (including their cat called Mouse) and how expressive they all are. My favourite illustration in this book is Judy’s finished collage.
Amongst other interesting tidbits you get to find out that she’s a member of the exclusive T.P. Club. T.P. doesn’t stand for toilet paper but as it’s a secret club I can’t tell you any more. We also discover throughout the book the worst and funniest things that have happened to Judy and are introduced to her various rare collections. Incidentally I can personally blame this book for my own obsession collection of cute and quirky bandaids.
Need to Eat – Rainforest Mist ice cream. I have no idea what rainforest mist tastes like but apparently it’s blue and I’m intrigued.
Need to Buy – Glow in the dark bloodshot eyeball bandaids. 👁
My first read was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. The reread, now that I know the characters so well and am itching to retrace the whole adventure to date, was definitely worth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The mercurial Judy Moody will delight any kid who’s known a bad mood or a bad day – and managed to laugh anyway.
“Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood. A mad-faced mood.”
To start, Judy Moody doesn’t have high hopes for third grade. Her new desk won’t have an armadillo sticker with her name on it. Her new classroom will not have a porcupine named Roger. And with her luck, she’ll get stuck sitting in the first row, where Mr. Todd will notice every time she tries to pass a note to her best friend, Rocky. An aspiring doctor, Judy does have a little brother who comes in handy for practicing medicine, a cool new pet, and a huge Band-Aid collection.
Judy also has an abundance of individuality and attitude, and when Mr. Todd assigns a very special class project, she really gets a chance to express herself! Megan McDonald’s spirited text and Peter Reynolds’s wry illustrations combine in a feisty, funny first chapter book for every kid who has ever felt a little out of sorts.
It’s spring break and Stink joins Sophie of the Elves at Shakespeare Camp. Webster is in Mexico for spring break and with the promise of learning swordplay and Shakespeare type insults (Maggot pie!), Stink is convinced that being a Shakespeare Sprite will be fun. Except Sophie of the Elves neglects to mention two important points about camp:
Stink will be the only boy at camp 😳
One particular girl, Riley Rottenberger, will also be there. 🤮
While Riley is sometimes a friend and sometimes an enemy, she’s certainly annoying Stink in this book as she spends most of the camp trying to smooch, follow and otherwise harass him. Usually I find Riley an amusing annoyance in Stink stories but in this one there was no amusement, only annoyance.
Call me oversensitive if you like but if this was a book aimed at teens Riley’s behaviour would be in sexual harassment territory so I’m not so sure I liked it being made a joke of in this book. I pondered this while reading and I still enjoyed the book but this behaviour didn’t sit right with me.
I hadn’t realised the impact of the interplay between the three main characters until this book where Webster is absent. While it was still entertaining I did miss the banter between Stink, Webster and Sophie of the Elves. Without Webster there to add his personality to the mix some of the charm of my favourite Stink books, like Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk and Stink and the Shark Sleepover, was missing.
I don’t know how young readers will manage with the thee, thy and thou language along with the rest of the Shakespeare-speak. It’s a good introduction to some of the themes and stories of the Bard but that language can be intimidating when you first come across it.
I would have loved to have known the contents of Riley’s letter, although to be fair I read an ARC sans illustrations and it’s possible the letter’s contents may be shown in one of the illustrations.
I was disappointed I didn’t get to see the illustrations while I was reading but based on having already read most of both the Stink and Judy Moody series I know Peter H. Reynolds will come through in this book too. His illustrations are always spot on in both series, bringing the characters and scenes to life in a humourous way. I will make a point of borrowing this book from my library once it’s released to fill in the pieces that my imagination has missed or gotten wrong.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Hie thee to Shakespeare camp with Stink to learn fake sword-fighting, spout silly curses, and prithee try to escape a kiss . . . BLUCK!
It’s spring break, and Stink is faced with a difficult choice: hang out at home with his sister, Judy, or become a Shakespeare Sprite with his friend Sophie of the Elves. Hanged be! When Sophie tells Stink that there will be swordplay and cursing at Shakespeare camp, his choice is made. But wait! How now? The eager young thespian hadn’t counted on Riley Rottenberger being a Sprite, too. And he positively had not counted on being the only boy! Fie upon’t!
Schizanthus Nerd 