I have to admit, I'm still confused by the title.

Airhead (Airhead #1) by Meg Cabot
(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If there ever was a time not to judge a book by it's cover, this is it. Or by it's title.

After reading my first Cabot, Abandon, I took a gander at the other options we had in stock, which entirely consists of this series or Princess Diaries. Reading the back, I discovered Airhead to not at all be what I thought it was. Furthermore, I'd just recently watched Drop Dead Diva, the Lifetime show where an aspiring model dies and ends up in the body of an overweight lawyer.

Airhead is, basically, the opposite. Tomboy, outcast and geek, Emerson Watts is killed by a falling flatscreen television and wakes up in the body of supermodel, Nikki Howard, thanks to the technology of a BRAIN TRANSPLANT.

You know, I don't even like the synopsis on the back of this book. It makes it sound like being Nikki (haha, title of the next book) is going to make all of Em's wildest dreams come true, when actually it puts a serious crimp in her plans, like ever hanging out with her best friend ever again, let alone having him fall in love with her.

I like Em and maybe her most endearing and equally annoying quality is how prejudiced she is against all the mainstream "cool kid" stuff and how becoming Nikki makes her have to rethink some of that, but not all of it. Things like people harping on her beauty regimen gets a bit tiresome, but, despite it being fluff, Cabot has managed to pleasantly surprise me, yet again.

While I definitely enjoyed these books, some parts, while realistic, seem like a little bit of the wrong message to be sending to teenage girls. As an adult, I appreciate the realism, but I feel like teenagers should still be under the impression that boys will like them for who they are, and they shouldn't have to pretend to be helpless to get a man. Or being pretty is helpful in life, but there's a legitimacy to be a tomboy or an outcast, especially when you're sixteen, which I feel kind of gets pushed to the wayside as Em embraces her new life as Nikki. At least the bitchy high schooler gets hers in the end.

Hmm, I'm gonna have to go reread Jane Eyre after this.

Also, Em/Nikki is a total kissing slut, which, I was told by a twelve-year-old in the store, is a common theme in Meg Cabot's books. I mean, I'm all for getting kissed by boys, but really? Every time it happens, even if she doesn't like the boy she goes all woobly in the knees? Not buying it, sorry.

But overall, I enjoyed the series. It's a little far-fetched that most of the vapid celebrities in Em's new life turn out to have hearts of gold, but I'll go with it. Christopher is great in his turns as hero and super-villain. And I like that when Em does stupid things, she at least has the good sense to turn around and smack herself in the head over doing something so stupid. The conspiracy plot got a little confusing in the middle (when you find out what Nikki overheard, you're like, "Really? That's it?") but pulls itself together in the end to be pretty brutal. Things have to wrap up pretty fast, but at least we don't end up with a ten years later epilogue. Hurray!

So, all in all, it was pure fluff, but I liked it.

Being Nikki (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot
(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Runaway (Airhead #3) by Meg Cabot
(Point, 12-14)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Storytime 4/12/11.

Slightly belated, but here it is. Thankfully a fair amount of the three and four set showed up, so it wasn't all babies. Hurray!

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler (illustrator)
(Puffin, 4+)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How had I missed The Gruffalo? I think maybe it was just one of those things that got a little over-hyped for me, but we'd just got it back in stock at work, so I picked it up for storytime. And it's brilliant.

A little mouse walking through the woods keeps running into different predators (fox, owl, snake) all of whom he scares away with threats of the fictional Gruffalo (whose favorite food is the animal in question). It's an unpleasant surprise when he runs into the Gruffalo who turns out to be real and exactly as he described, except his favorite food is mouse. However, the little mouse handles himself with aplomb, convincing the Gruffalo that he's the baddest cat in the woods by having him follow along to see the predators run away from him. And of course, the mouse's favorite food is Gruffalo.

Smart and funny, it's a brilliant read aloud because the rhyme scheme is so good and natural. It has a nice repetition without getting boring and there's still some room for interaction with the kids over it. I can't recommend it highly enough for storytime.

Break for ABC's. And kids actually sang along. Huzzah!

I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems
(Hyperion Book CH, 4-8)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I honestly think this is my favorite Elephant & Piggie book (which is saying a lot). It's certainly the one I recommend the most, although that's partially cause it's the one we always have in stock.

Piggie gets invited to a party and she's never been to one before. Thankfully, Gerald knows parties. But what if it's a costume party? Or a pool party? Or a fancy pool costume party? THEY MUST BE READY!

Cute, fun and witty. Also, Elephant & Piggie books are my favorite recommendation for early readers. The text is simple and often repetitive, but the plot will still keep them engaged. I mean, it keeps me engaged.

Slipped some Itsy Bitsy Spider in here. One boy was particularly excited about it.

Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
(Viking Juvenile, 3+)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SO cute. Mama drags Llama Llama to run errands at the Shop-O-Rama, when all he really wants to do is play. As we can imagine, this does not make Llama Llama a happy camper. But my favorite thing about this book (aside from the amazing rhyming scheme) is how Mama Llama handles his inevitable tantrum. Llama Llama throws a fit (and a good portion of the shopping cart) but Mama just coolly calms him down by saying how she doesn't like shopping either but she's just happy to spend time with him. How ridiculously sweet is that? And b) can all parents learn to function this way? I have worked in retail for much too long and have seen far too many parents throwing a bigger fit than their children or treating them abominably. Mama Llama wins at life.

I also like it better than Llama Llama Red Pajama, which mostly just sees Baby Llama being whiny and Mama being busy. The shopping experience was just a little more relatable as to why he was so unhappy. This book also gets props for being my favorite counter-recommendation to the creepiness that is Mad at Mommy.

Also really cute? The teenaged girl who was forcing her mom to sit through her reading it today. The mom then tells me her daughters are fifteen and sixteen and love to buy picture books. Clearly girls after my own heart.

And in the in between we did the Hokey Pokey. The best part? The four Asian moms who would chime in "Hokey Pokey!" in between the verses.

Otis by Loren Long
(Philomel, 3-5)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oh, I want to love Otis. The illustrations are the most super gorgeous and Otis and his little calf are too cute, but it's just kind of boring. That might be a little harsher than I mean, but there's too much text for not enough plot. And frankly, that "puff puff puttedy-chuff" business was just hard to read. It might work better in a single child bedtime story situation, but unfortunately for storytime, it just fell a bit flat. It does nicely fall in the vein of Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel, but it's trying a little too hard. A little bit.

Definitely this would rank as one of my favorite storytimes. Otis is going to lose out in the future, but the other three I would pick up again anytime.

A Pink Birthday Party Storytime, 3/12/11.

The first party we had this morning was a pink/princess-themed party for a sweet little three-year-old girl named Austen (PS how cute and literary is that?). Actually my favorite part of the party was at the end when I got her to help me hand out the goody bags to all her friends. She was so cute and shy, totally willing to discuss with me which friends hadn't gotten a bag yet, but then would go up at stand behind them, holding the bag out until they noticed her. If I said, "Austen, can you say 'excuse me, Olivia'?" she'd say it so quietly they couldn't possibly hear her. But then, "Austen, who still needs a goody bag?" and it's all, "Sienna didn't get one!"

Anyway, my second favorite part of the party was storytime, cause it was a good one today.

Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann
(HarperCollins, 5-8)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I won't lie, today was the first time I ever read Pinkalicious. And truthfully, I'm a little torn about it, I honestly would like to give it three and a half stars.

On the one hand, I'm not really sure what the message is here. Pinkalicious is kind of a horrible child who just wants cupcakes and only realizes the consequences of her actions when they turn her red instead of pink. Oh, spoiler alert. But being pink was just fine by her and in the end her brother ends up pink. Vegetables, and all green foods for that matter, are regarded as gross and she's demanding and kind of a brat.

On the other hand, it's a great read-aloud. And the kids were quick to pick up that her behavior is not the way to act. And the page about the green foods prompted a lively discussion about which green foods we like and isn't Pinkalicious silly for not liking them.

HarperCollins for whatever reason puts this in the 5-8 range, but it was great for reading to the threes. They called out, "Pink!" when prompted and were engaged and interested.

Princess Penelope by Todd Mack & Julia Gran (illustrator)
(Scholastic, 5-8)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Princess Penelope is one we've been reading at princess parties for a while now, and I think I'm gonna have to make a change. While the story has a good rhythm and some nice repetition, the kids aren't as engaged by it and not very interactive at all. I did eventually get them to fill in the word "princess", but it took a good long while. Also Penelope is a bit spoiled and bratty at times, although this does generally end in a time out (on her "throne").

Furthermore, Scholastic has labeled it ages 5-8 on the website, but it's DEFINITELY skewed younger than that. In fact, I would say that the oldest for this book would be the threes I read it to. Penelope is apparently a toddler, as evidenced by her car seat, potty and "chariot". But on the other hand, I'm not sure the kids get the nuances of the illustrations, half based in reality and half in Penelope's fantasy kingdom.

I do like the dog, cat and teddy bear doing her bidding, however. Also the dog reminds me of Boodle My Dog (a book which I can find no record of on the internet, oddly enough. It's a good one.) and I actually restrained myself from referring to it as Boodle at one point. Edited to add: thanks to the lovely people at Goodreads, I've realized it's Boodil, My Dog by Pija Lindenbaum.

I'll definitely read aloud Pinkalicious again. (Truthfully I like Fancy Nancy better, but especially for this age group, Pinkalicious was a real find.) Princess Penelope I think is going to be shelved in exchange for a new princess book. I'm taking suggestions.

Storytime 2/22/11

Storytime at Scholastic tends to attract mostly babies, considering it runs at 11am on weekday mornings. However this week the NYC kids are off from school, so we had some older kids, which is so much nicer. Unfortunately I didn't realize this while picking the books, but it still went okay.

Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer
(Simon & Schuster, 3-7)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Olivia, but this one is just not as solid as the original. Olivia's mother is taking them to the fireworks and Olivia wants to know if there will be a band, because there has to be a fireworks band. When her mother assumes not, Olivia decides that she'll be the band. While cute, the plot sort of meanders then when Olivia finishes being a band and focuses on other things like her make-up. The images, however, are always worth the price of admission and the crash-bang-twink-ploink noises of Olivia's band make for a fun read-aloud.

Break for "Itsy-Bitsy Spider." Had to shy away from the normal baby-ness of songs like "ABC" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Maybe next time I'll go with "The People in Your Neighborhood."

Tony Baloney by Pam Muñoz Ryan & Edwin Fotheringham
(Scholastic, 4-8)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Cute with bright illustrations, but it's only just an okay read. Far and away the best part of the whole book is Dandelion the stuffed ostrich, who helps Tony Baloney with his problems by sitting and taking notes like a psychiatrist, and is clearly the source of any trouble going on. The dynamics between Tony Baloney and his siblings (one older and bossy and twin babies) doesn't ring quite as true, and I found the plot more annoying than Tony did his siblings. Also, I had to stop and explain the word "exasperated" to the kids, and while new vocabulary is always good, they wouldn't have figured it out on their own from the context. There's a cute gimmick in the writing, where Tony says things like, "for twenty years, or maybe just an hour", but it doesn't flow in the narrative very well, although that could've just been from reading it for the first time.

Cat the Cat, Who Is That? by Mo Willems
(Balzer + Bray, newborn-5)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The simplest Willems for the youngest use, but really perhaps too simple. I agree with a reviewer on Goodreads who stated this might be better suited as a board book than in picture book form. However, it's saved by the alien/monster at the end ("Blarggie Blarggie!") and a sweet message.

Break for the "Hokey Pokey," my very favorite and a good one with the older kids. Also, later in the day a lady came in with a "The Hokey Pokey really is what's it's all about" t-shirt, so that made me happy.

Ivy Loves To Give by Freya Blackwood
(Arthur A. Levine, 4-8)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully drawn Ivy loves to give presents to the people (and animals) in her life, but she doesn't always get it right (glasses for the dog, tea for the chicken). Cute and silly at times, Ivy's story is very sweet when she does give the right gifts and her sister gives her a gift in return. A nice story in the vein of "it's better to give than receive" and about sharing. A nice short read-aloud with lovely illustrations and fun for the kids to point out Ivy's mistakes.

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj
(Balzer + Bray, 3-6)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Originally I gave this book four stars because it's super adorable and I anticipated some awesomeness with storytime. I still think it's really cute, but it doesn't translate to storytime quite like I hoped. The interactive bits are great, my kids were fabulous meowers, but there's a LOT of pages where the cats are just staring at you listening. Almost like the pauses in Dora the Explorer, only you don't actually need that in the a storybook. Still, very cute and interactive.

All in all, a successful storytime, although I think the only one I'd pick again would be Ivy Loves to Give, especially for the two to five range. Maybe on another baby day, I'd bust out Cat the Cat and Cat Secrets. Sorry, Dandelion, but Tony Baloney misses out. And I'd pick a different Olivia book, cause there are far superior ones.