Alan Benjamin

I enjoyed reading the classic story of The Three Little Pigs with the author's use of language and text to engage readers and effective repetitive theme and structures throughout the story. When describing exciting parts of the story, the author used nice descriptive words in big, bold text which added to the events going on. For example, whenever the wolf came to try and blow the pigs' houses down, the author wrote that he "H-U-F-F-E-D, and he P-U-F-F-E-D" over and over again, adding a fun show more aspect to the text as it is being read. Also, The story was told with a repeated structure that stayed the same while the scenario differed between each character, helping the reader compare the changing variable, the building materials, and clearly develop a theme as the story progressed. For instance, the author told each pig's experience the same way by having them ask, "Please sir, could you spare enough for me to build myself a house?", but changed the material each time. When the big, bad wolf came for each pig, the author used the same dialog between characters to emphasize how the wolf tried to blow each of their houses down as well. This clearly showed how the little pig who worked hard to build a brick house was the only one whose experience ended well. This story presents the lesson that hard work eventually pays off and brings good fortune, just like the pig with the brick house ended up with a strong house and happy family. show less

A beautifully illustrated book exploring a man, an encounter with his destiny, and an attempt to change that destiny. This book took me by surprise completely, and I think it would be an excellent book to use while introducing irony! The story exemplifies situational irony since we expect the old man to be safe when we leaves Baghdad, and readers also experience dramatic irony when Death claims she will meet him in Samarra.

Very detailed illustrations with dark, deep colors are featured in this story that's been retold in a picture book version. It's a very interesting story about a man who sees death reaching for him and so he attempts to run away. It's a very interesting story that can lead to great discussions about if you can avoid destiny. This is for older readers.

ISBN 0671707221 – 5 stars. Super cute Halloween book for the not yet reading, and maybe even not yet eating candy, set. Illustrations by Ellen Appleby are really sharp and not particularly scary, a good thing for little kids.

Very simple rhyming text describes the costumes of children as they trick-or-treat on Halloween. On the same pages are “real” creatures, as well – for example, on the pages that say “An owl hooting, A wolf howling” two children in those costumes approach a show more house while an owl watches and a wolf howls at the moon.

Sturdy board book pages are nice and the small size is great for tiny hands. The images, rather than being scary, are mostly that cute little kids’ book cute, so parents won’t have to worry about scaring the youngest readers. As an introduction to a holiday they’re not really yet ready to enjoy, this is a great little book, especially for those small ones with older siblings who will be out haunting the neighborhood without them.

- AnnaLovesBooks show less