Carolyn Bracken

As an art lover who takes her kids regularly to our local art galleries this book has made my MUST HAVE list. The story is really cute and told well so that it captured my daughters’ attention. They loved that it was full of animal being depicted in positions and actions normally reserved for humans. What really made this stand out is how the author uses well-known pieces of work depicted throughout her museum only animals are in the place of humans. It’s an absolutely indigenous way to show more introduce art to the young to peak their interest then show them the real pieces the book is based upon. At the end of the story you are treated to a small history lesson of each of the pieces which includes the real title, artist and time period. This was such an imaginative and unique work, it inspired my daughters to want to create their own version of popular pieces for a summer project. show less

A fairly good mimic of the art and tone of the original Eloise books, this picture book tells a slight story of Eloise shopping for Christmas presents and getting into a little mischief along the way.

The flaps for the lift-the-flaps function are enormous by the way, effectively acting as a page turn within each page, telling more of the story -- showing the outcome of Eloise's mischief usually -- rather than exposing a little element as other lift-the-flap books tend to do.

My wife and show more daughter have always liked Eloise more than I, so I think they got more out of this.

FOR REFERENCE:

Rated "Indifferent" in our old book database by Rod; rated "Good" by Adelia. show less

A board book as big as Clifford! But apparently size doesn't matter, as the flaps and matching games made for a tepid experience.

This book is great to read to your child before going on an airplane. When my daughter was around 15 months, we showed her the pictures a few weeks before we took a trip overseas. She got really excited about getting on a real airplane. It remained a favorite even after the flight. I like how it shows the inside of an airplane as well as views of them on the runway and in the sky. The illustrations are definitely from the 80s, but I find that charming.