R.G. de Rouen

Excellent! Timely in its sparkling respect for libraries, with a story and illustrations that are really appealing to children. I'll definitely use it in my ESL classes, as well. I was initially surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, until I saw that it was written by a veteran primary teacher who'd also taken the time to seriously study writing-for-children, and illustrated by a fine artist from the Ukraine whose drawings are wildly colorful, a little edgy and thoroughly captivating. show more Still, I should note that I'm truly picky about children's books: my most-beloved aunt was in library school when I was born, and over the next few formative years she did all of her children's reading projects with me as a 'guinea pig'. Then as the oldest of six siblings, who always liked reading bedtime stories aloud, and someone who babysat other families' kids from junior high through college; as a teacher and a bookseller, even, I've read a LOT of books for young people over the years. Books for Benjamin impressed me -- it would've been just about perfect even without the afterwords on libraries and copyright, or the very clever touch of Benjamin 'making his mark', but those two elements -- along with its consistently natural tone, which is tough to achieve in children's books -- raised it to a whole other level. show less

Biography with everything: adventure, humor, warmth, devotion...
As a biography for young readers Mother to Elephants strikes just the right tone. I've read all sorts of bios for kids, since the series I grew up with in the 50s, and they often 'talk down' by hammering home moral lessons. This is just the opposite: it draws children into a story of a species everyone wants to learn more about, in a far-off setting, and makes them feel at home there.
The way Daphne Sheldrick's life is unusually show more sophisticated for a young-people's book, gently but firmly evoking lessons we ALL really need in this era -- her humility, her ability to ask for plenty of help and to 'let go'.
The illustrations are wonderful, striking just the right balance between moving-the-story and providing zoologically-correct info for kids. I can picture both 'right'- and 'left-brain' kids enjoying it a lot.
The 'Elefacts' are brilliant, making it much more than a biography, and worth much more than one or two readings.

en español: Biografía con todo: aventura, humor, calidez, devoción...
Como biografía para jóvenes lectores, Madre de elefantes tiene el tono justo. He leído todo tipo de biografías para niños, desde la serie con la que crecí en los años 50, y muchas veces hablan c/ altivez y 'lecciones' a los niños. Esto es justo lo contrario: introduce a los niños en la historia de una especie de la que todos quieren saber más, en un lugar lejano, y les hace sentirse como en casa.
La forma de vida de Daphne Sheldrick es inusualmente sofisticada para un libro juvenil, evocando con suavidad pero con firmeza lecciones que TODOS necesitamos realmente en esta época: su humildad, su capacidad para pedir mucha ayuda y para 'dejarse llevar'.
Las ilustraciones son maravillosas, logrando el equilibrio justo entre la emoción de la historia y la información zoológica correcta para los niños. Puedo imaginarme a niños tanto 'cerebrales derechos' como 'cerebrales izquierdos' disfrutando mucho.
Los 'Elefacts' son brillantes, lo que hace que sea mucho más que una biografía y que merezca mucho más que una o dos lecturas. show less

¡Excelente historia, c/ dibujos vivaces! -- Tanto la historia como las ilustraciones son realmente atractivas para los niños: Lo leí por primera vez con un niño muy leído de seis años al que le encantó, aunque es apto para una gama más amplia de lectores jóvenes y mayores, y sin duda voy a regalarlo a varios parientes. Al principio me sorprendió lo mucho que lo disfruté, hasta que vi que estaba escrito por un veterano profesor de primaria que también se había tomado el tiempo de show more estudiar seriamente la escritura para niños, e ilustrado por un artista ucraniano cuyos dibujos son muy coloridos, un poco atrevidos y completamente cautivadores. Aun así, debo decir que soy muy exigente con los libros infantiles: mi tía más querida estaba en la escuela de biblioteconomía cuando nací, y durante los siguientes años de formación hizo todos sus proyectos de lectura infantil conmigo como "conejillo de indias". Luego, como la mayor de seis hermanos, a la que siempre le gustó leer (¡y releer a demanda!) cuentos en voz alta antes de dormir, y niñera de los hijos de otras familias desde la secundaria hasta la universidad; como profesora y librera, incluso, he leído MUCHOS libros para jóvenes a lo largo de los años. Libros para Benjamín me impresionó: habría sido perfecta incluso sin los epílogos sobre bibliotecas y derechos de autor, o el toque muy inteligente de Benjamín "dejando su huella", pero esos dos elementos, junto con su tono natural, que es difícil de conseguir en los libros para niños, la elevaron a otro nivel. Me gustaría agregar que la muy respetada artista Uliana Barabash, de Ucrania, ha contribuido con imágenes maravillosas que resaltan la experiencia de leer Libros para Benjamín con sus pequeños. show less

In a Nutshell: A cute indie picture book for early readers. Takes the word ‘bookworm’ to a whole new level!

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Plot Preview:

Benjamin the worm lives in the back lot of a grocery store with his family. While the rest of the worms devour their way through scraps, Benjamin eats up books, not in the way a worm should but by actually reading them. Imagine the horror of his family at this unhealthy habit!
As Benjamin wants more reading material than he finds, he makes

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an ingenious plan to get access to books. But his plan, while taking some stumbles at the start, works even better than he dreamt.

The story of this book is obviously exaggerated, as is evident from the fact that Benjamin the worm can actually read books. But that’s the fun of reading a children’s story – its imaginativeness needs no bounds.

Benjamin is a wonderful character, what with his love for books and his courage in pursuing his dreams. Little readers will surely enjoy his adventurous quest for new reading material, which culminates in a location they might not even have heard of. The ending made me chuckle, while still impressing me with how creatively the author had created a connection between Benjamin and a symbol that is found in every book.

There are some fun facts at the end about libraries and about the special symbol, both of which sync perfectly with the plot.

On the flip side, the second half of the story goes by too fast and on too grand a scale. The reactions and situations seem exaggerated, even for a fanciful picture book. I’d also have loved some details on why Benjamin chose that specific letter of the alphabet as his signature, especially as his name doesn’t begin with it.

The story is written in text blocks of 1-2 sentences, and each page contains not more than 3-4 such blocks. Thus, the textual content is a little more than typical in beginner-level picture books, but the page layout makes it easy on the eyes. There are a couple of difficult words herein, but these can be explained with adult guidance.

I am not sure what art style the illustrations are in (pastel sketches made digitally, perhaps?), but they complement the story in cuteness as well as vibrancy. However, at times, the size of the critters in the story wrt other elements isn’t on a realistic scale, making them appear more like colourful snakes and giant bugs than like regular-sized insects.

All in all, a sweet little story for little book lovers, combining a whimsical plot with some interesting facts. Maybe kids won’t be so afraid of worms after getting to know Benjamin. show less