Thursday, August 7, 2014

Get the bucket...I don't feel so well



Quote of the day:

                 "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."  - Richard Steele


Nothing like a poem about vomit.....



An Ode to Vomit

Vomit, your are a vile and disgusting thing
Whether on the floor, in a pot or on the toilet ring
You sink, slither and splatter everywhere
Sometimes you even end up in my hair
Nothing I use seems to clear your smell
Although my nose is so assaulted I really can't tell
Sometimes you are quite chunky and colorful
But you are never welcomed and always stressful
I fight you off with buckets of disinfectant spray
But still you live to fight another day
I am finally able to get you to go
But you fought well my worthy foe.


Today's featured book:





Title:  Sometimes You Barf
Author and Illustrator:  Nancy Carson


Let's peek inside shall we?











About the book:

What do all these words have in common? Upchuck, vomit, throw-up, spew, puke, hurl, be sick, purge, regurgitate, retch, egest, honk or disgorge?  Yep....you guessed it...they are all synonyms for the word we use most often....barf!  And as Kermit the frog often sings, "It's Not Easy Being Green", in a different context of course, but you get the picture.

Nancy Carlson writes this book with humour and compassion.  Yes, everybody barfs, it is a right of passage and luckily we all usually recover from it.  The little girl who was chosen by the flu bug to be its BFF for a spell starts feeling really ill and her math paper gets the brunt of her chuck.  Mortification and embarrassment sets in as she realizes the consequences of such a disgusting and disturbing action on her part.  Her classmates freak, the teacher clicks into "Code Red" mode, the janitor comes in with a HAZMAT suit and special barf cleanup machine and the coveted barf bucket is now her's to claim.  Oh my.  After pick up from her parents, a few days out of commission and the ability to eat again is restored she find she's "in the pink" again.  

The illustrations are expressive and full of icky barf scenarios which kids will just love and most be able to relate to.  All in all it is a very fun book to read aloud and enables you to discuss the possibilities with your child starting with, "What if you ......."?  I recommend this book for sure.



About the author:


This year illustrator and author Nancy Carlson published her 44th children's book. Her specialty is teaching kids to feel good about themselves and others.Kids, parents, teachers and even book critics think she does a great job. That's because she is never out of touch with the kid spirit inside herself. Her brightly colored pencil drawings perfectly capture the happy-go-lucky characters that fill her clever and funny books. There is a life lesson to be learned from each story.Nancy decided at age five to be an artist. As a child, Nancy would sit on her bed and draw for hours. "I began creating characters and telling stories through my drawings," Nancy said. "I always had the need to communicate something through my art." Her early love of comic books influenced her style of drawing and use of color.A graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art, Nancy has kept alive a youthful zest for life. Readers and book reviewers alike are charmed by her jazzy yet childlike drawings done with bright colored pencils. In all 42 books and four stage plays, she uses well-placed humor in words and pictures to tickle the funny bone of children and their parents.Humorous childhood experiences from her own life growing up in Minneapolis and from the escapades of her three children provide themes for stories. Most of her books feature animal characters that show the funny side of people. Nancy's two dogs, cat and a guinea pig are a source of inspiration.Nancy Carson lives in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. She and her husband, Barry McCool, have three children, two dogs, and a cat. Nancy loves nature and spends as much time outdoors as possible, running, biking and birdwatching. Besides writing and illustrating children's books, she designs posters, t-shirts, caps, greeting cards and other specialty items, which are marketed across the country through McCool Unlimited, Inc. and available though Nancy's on-line catalogue.Readers say they recognize themselves and their friends in the characters who triumph over everyday situations.Each story helps young readers deal with life's little problems, while teaching the basic values of honesty, determination and self-confidence.




Book Review Rating:  8 (Fantastic!)

Read on and read always!  

P.S.  I am still looking for guest bloggers so if you are interested let me know and I will certainly see what we can do.  It is always fun to use Storywraps as a forum for great discussion and tips by others rather than me.  I look forward to hearing from you.  You can shoot me off at email at:   
                                                       
                                                      www. storywrapsblog.gmail.com.  

No comments: