Guess what? Another book review!
This time, it’s the picture book Tuesday by David Wiesner. This story will take you for a ride on a flying lily pad. Curious? You can click on the link below to Jennifer Hallmark’s blog, where I review the fantastical adventure experienced by…frogs?
The Last Stardog by E.K. Mosley is a brilliant book for children grades kindergarten to second grade. Prismatic illustrations fill the pages and immerse you in a world of multi-colored creatures, humanoid flowers, and even a dog from outer space.
Stardog is a sunshine-yellow dog who dwells on a planet covered with flowers. The planet is small for her size, much like how the asteroid is small for Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince. Stardog is the only stardog around, born of five stars that grouped together. She dreams of dancing with other dogs like her, adorned with stars and flying through the sky. “There was music and laughter and a feeling of belonging,” in her dreams. This all reveals her longing and foreshadows what will happen in the book.
Suddenly, she falls and lands on Earth. As she roams the land, she sees amazing sights, quite unlike the Earth we call home. Mosley gives the planet whimsical touches, like land and sea dragons, a unicorn, a Pegasus, and even blue cats.
Stardog hopes to find another stardog, but this isn’t another Last Unicorn story. She soon learns that she can find loyal friends in a diversity of animals. On her journey, she rescues a luna moth and a crow, and they next meet a lute-playing, sailing frog and become his crew. I love the picture where Stardog and her new pals sail in a boat, followed by an ocean-colored sea dragon playing a tune on a shell horn. The animals then greet a purple-striped tiger, who is accepted by them despite his unusual fur tones.
They cross a dark tunnel, and the blackness overwhelms them, but Stardog fights it with her starlight. “For I shine brightest in the dark!” she says. I’d note that while it’s true that as Christians, we shine bright in an evil world, but our light is not of ourselves. Rather, it’s the Holy Spirit who fuels us with light.
The animals encounter a desert. However, because of Stardog’s feeling of belonging with her friends, stardust emanates from her and brings up flowers from the barren ground. Friendship can feel sunny, though this book doesn’t show what would happen if Stardog and her friends have a fight. It would be something for you and your child to speculate together.
This book is a great nighttime read, as shooting stars and star clusters deck the pages, and it reminds us to cherish the friendships we have. This may not be Mosley’s intention, but it makes me think how Christians, whose Lord is Jesus, can rejoice, mourn, and support each other, even though they’re different.
Hopefully Mosley will share with us more adventures of Stardog with Moth, Crow, Frog, and Tiger.
You might be in the market for more books. If that’s the case, Lou Allen of Christian Faith and Fiction has some ideas. I highly recommend reading The Wingfeather Saga, a middle-grade fantasy series by Andrew Peterson. They’re full of humor, adventure, and unique living beings like toothy cows. Yes, you read that right.
Every heard of a packzi?
Read this short story by CDPunt(igam) that features packzis, or pastries filled with jelly or cream. The story even includes a link that shares the history behind these desserts.
I Wonder Who Lives In That Tree, written by Scott Bryan and illustrated by Emma Bryan, has a beautiful flowing rhyme, and the watercolor illustrations capture the freshness of nature. The opening illustration shows a tree trunk with a gaping hole, and rustic leaves litter the hole, probably as bedding for a creature. This picture introduces young children to a mystery with “I wonder who lives in that tree.”
The black bear is loveable with its shiny brown eyes and soft body, and I find it humorous and adorable that the bee on its nose doesn’t frighten it. A cute baby rabbit stands to maybe reach a butterfly, and it’s clever that the woodpecker’s flaming red crest is called a “bright red hat.” Emma Bryan has animals do what they naturally do, like a raccoon eating berries and a bat hanging upside down. The book even shares something about minks I hadn’t considered before: they have webbed feet. Well, the Forest Preserve District of Will County says American Minks have partially webbed feet.
If your child loves animals and rhymes, this book will appeal to them, and the rhymes may help them read on their own. Read “I wonder who lives in that tree. Could it be a bear or a bumble…” You can say, “What rhymes with tree? Bumble…” Your child may respond with, “Bee.”
Spring, summer, and autumn are captured in one setting. Bright flowers and berries celebrate the warmer months, and crinkly orange and tan leaves reflect the autumn. The last illustration has the bear, raccoon, rabbits, and other creatures all cooped up in one hole. In reality, they would attack each other, but maybe the picture captures how animals got along in Eden. It shouldn’t surprise us that it’ll be that way again when Jesus returns and changes the earth.
Merry Christmas to you all!
How about celebrating the day with a song recorded by Clamavi De Profundis? Here’s their version of “O Come Divine Messiah.” Let me tell you, it’s fantastic and festive.
How about a holiday detective story?
This one was written by Elizabeth McD, aka Creative Wending. It features Detective Coleman, who also starred in Elizabeth’s “When Angels Sing (another story I posted on this blog).”
Without further ado, here’s “The Newborn King,” a story fitting for teens and adults.
Hi, all.
Thought I’d give you an update on my stories. You’ve probably heard of my work-in-progress, The Galdur Snow Dog. If you haven’t, here’s the link to an old blog post that describes the book.
Anyway, I submitted my proposal for this book to another publisher, and I’ll see if they’ll give it a “yea” or a “nay.”
I’m also currently waiting to send a short story to a magazine when their submissions window opens. It’s a retelling of the Ugly Duckling, where the main character is an arctic fox raised by dogs. Then she realizes she’s a fox who creates blue light for the Northern Lights.
When you’re a writer, you have to be open to both acceptations and rejections from the publishing industry. If your writing gets accepted, it would be time to celebrate. *smile* If not, that doesn’t mean you can’t pick yourself up and submit it someplace else.
A fellow writer posted on social media “There’s Always Tomorrow” from the movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She thought of it as her theme song, and I think it’s so perfect, I should share the song with you, too. If you’re a creator who has experienced rejection after rejection, I want to tell you to have faith that God has a plan for your art, even if it may not look exactly how you’ve planned.
Here’s to writing! Let’s keep charging forward.
I wrote another book review! It’s perfect for kids who love wolves and want to read about somebody who thrives while living with a disability.
Click on the following link to Jennifer Hallmark’s blog, where you’ll see my review of Rose Wolves, a graphic novel for middle graders by Natalie Warner.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
To celebrate, here’s Stories with Star reading I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, written by Alison Jackson and illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner. It’s a retelling of “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” like no other.
K.A. Ramstad 