Jane Belk Moncure (1926–2013)

I liked this book for a couple of reasons. The story presents a good message for children. It starts out with a “funny-looking bird” named Little Too-Tall, who wishes she had a friend. She goes throughout the jungle looking for someone who could be her friend, but all the animals make fun of her because of what she looks like. Upset that no one would be her friend, she runs out of the jungle into a grassy field where she sees a lion. She warns a zebra and an antelope of the lion and they show more run away to safety together. The zebra and the antelope want to be Little Too-Tall’s friends and say “We like you just the way you are.” The message of this story is that no matter what you look like or who you are, there is always someone who loves you just the way you are. I like the illustrations because they are very cartoon like and colorful, which I found very amusing. The language in the book follows a rhyming pattern some of the time. This pattern flows very nicely through the pages. For example, when Little Too-Tall asks the parrot if he would be her friend he says, “My word, you are a funny looking bird. Your legs are too tall. You can not fly at all.” This pattern makes the story more entertaining to read. show less

I'm a bit wistful on this one because I love it when kids' imaginary friends come to real life, but ultimately this is a bit too much weird wish fulfillment (little davie or whatever is king for a day when his dinosaur wins the pet race and gives all the other kids rides!), when we should be teaching our children to care about more than whether they get to be the best and most important. And it calls books "windows" (as in, of the imagination) in this weirdly casual way, like that's the new show more word for books. show less

"Squirrel did make one more pie. She cut it into four pieces, so everyone had a fair share." (Moncure, 1988, p. 29)

Another gem in Moncure's Magic Castle series. This time, her young animal characters learn about math as they explore sharing and dividing up pastry goodness in the form of acorn pie. Frog, Mouse, Squirrel, and Pig begin to understand the importance of fairness as well as some math concepts of fractions in discovering different ways to cut a pie so they all can enjoy it show more together. The illustrations cover a lot of the page and they are colorfully stylized. Another memorable classic Moncure, one of the biggest promoters of childhood education and literature. It is a terrific series to introduce to beginning readers. show less

I read this book to my grandaughter while babysitting day. We both enjoyed the story and the humor. It did make her laugh. She likes to say individual words, one of which is "hat". She could also identify many of the animals pictured. The book shows how a hat can have many uses and also shows how the farmer's wife was able to solve the problem of the wind repeatedly blowing away the farmer's hat.. This is a cute story!