Charles Reasoner

While sitting in the woods near his house, a young boy envisions the various types of dwellings that serve as homes for animals.
A lodge of twigs is a beaver's digs, where he can be with his family.
It's fine for beavers . . .
" . . . but not for me!" he tells us as we turn the page to find him trapped in tangle of twigs. Further on in the book we read, "Brown bats dwell in a pine hotel, / feet over head— / no need for a bed! / It's fine for bats . . ." Again we turn the page to find
. . . show more the little boy hanging upside down on a tree limb among the bats while he exclaims "but not for me!"
After a day of imagining all kinds of abodes from logs to hives to sycamore trees, our young protagonist makes his way home. With its red roof and little light and fluffy cat it welcomes the little boy into the cozy interior where he finds his dad waiting by the fire and his "warm little bed" and the books he's read. A fine and fitting ending for this charming, lyrical tale. show less

A Halloween witch with her magic broom zooms all over her house, and all through the night sky in this seasonal board book from author/illustrator Charles Reasoner, before returning home to snooze. Fortunately for her, her broom tidies up her messy house, while she takes to her chair to nap...

One of four die-cut board books Reasoner created in 2014 for a Halloween collection—other titles include Boo Bat, Halloween Ghost and Mr. Bones—Magic Broom is a short, simple book for the youngest show more children. The rhyming text can be read aloud to infants and toddlers, who can follow along with the bright, colorful artwork, and who can be trusted to touch and turn the chunky board pages. show less

Six assorted critters, and a 'find them in the scene' spread at the end. One word per page... two if you count the ones in Spanish. (Which I would, as a cool way to learn a little bit of another language.) Small enough for a toddler to carry around. My favorite kind of board book.

This is our second in the series...I'm not sure what order they were printed in or meant to be read in, but we're picking them up as they are available at our local library. This volume of Legends of the World find us in Haiti, spending time with Coucou the night owl who, believing himself to be ugly, hides from the rest of the animals and only come out when the moon is dark. One night, he meets Drina the swallow who lost her way when it got dark and, since it is the dark moon, he escorts show more her home. What ensues is a bit of a romance, though only when the moon is dark, he takes care never to let Drina see his ugly face. When she announces her family is throwing a party for him because he's spending so much time with Drina, he knows he's in trouble and turns to his friend, Rouge the rooster (who is, apparently quite the ladies man and none too happy that Coucou might steal away a lady bird that he's not yet had a crack at). Well, when the night of the party rolls around, Rogue turns out to only be interested in insuring that Drina is his, and tries to trick Coucou into abandoning Drina, so he can step in and "console" her.

You know, this true moral of this story might be lost on young children, but it's an interesting and colorful tale non-the-less. The language is simple and straightforward, even if the point is a bit ambiguous...and the illustrations are a riot of color. We enjoyed this tale...but I think we will probably have to revisit it when the kids are a bit older, so they can pick up additional things from the story.

Overall, I think this series is a great basic introduction to a wide array of stories from many cultures the world over...a jumping off point also for kids to research more into the culture and mythology of any given place. I'd recommend this for introducing young children to mythology and folklore. The age range cited is 9-12 which is probably the range of kids who would most appreciate and benefit from the story and additional information provided...but even younger kids (say 5-8) will love the stories and vivid, colorful illustrations...the stores aren't so complex or long that they will lose interest in them. I would definitely buy this for my permanent collection and hope to read more from this series soon! I give it a B-, simply because young children might miss the point of the story altogether. show less