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    Aunt Matilda's Almost Boring Party

Aunt Matilda's Almost Boring Party

At an elegant party, a little boy's dreamy imagination takes flight--and so do the custard pies. A little boy is a bored and sleepy guest at his Aunt Matilda's charity ball, until...a tiny dog darts across the dance floor, a gentleman's toupee loses its grip, and a lemon custard pie sails through the crowd. Before long, pies are flying through the air at this elegant affair. Jane Morris Udovic's engaging story in rhyme and David Udovic's vibrant, comic paintings show how a young boy's dreamy imagination turns a stuffy party into a boisterously good time.--Front Street

Reviews

Booklist Review
Set in a grand ballroom, Jane Morris Udovic’s picture-book debut is narrated by a boy who’s been forced to attend the fancy charity gala his aunt is throwing. In orderly rhymes, he tells the story of a party gone awry. All starts out well, if not excitingly—the guests are elegantly dressed, the punch bowl is flowing, and the boy calls his Aunt Matilda an “oh-so-perfect” hostess. But he seems to be on the verge of falling asleep, his eyes sweetly heavy-lidded. Then both the party and the story go wild: a little dog is on the loose, a toupee is liberated from a man’s head, and custard pies start flying. Illustrator Udovic choreographs the slapstick comedics with plenty of verve; the dancers don’t mind getting hit by pies, and some partiers even swing from the chandeliers. Just as the author and illustrator keep the boy near all the action, so Aunt Matilda is watching out for him. When he wakes up, there’s a giant custard pie at the ready.—Abby Nolan

Kirkus review
In a first-person, rhyming narration, an unnamed little boy recounts being forced to attend a party by his Aunt Matilda of the "oh-so-perfect manners" and the "oh-so-perfect friends." Bored and exhausted, the boy falls asleep in an armchair and begins to dream. In his dreams, the boring party morphs into a boisterous free-for-all, in which the guests all wind up throwing pies at each other. In dreamland, the boy has a change of heart about his Aunt and invites her to participate in his birthday baseball game. In muted colors and much detail, the illustrations depict both the real party and the dream party with the same combination of realism and whimsy. The illustrations also do the job of clearly indicating with a palette modulation that the boy is asleep and remains dreaming through the rest of the tale. A pleasing-enough romp but with an ending somehow unsatisfying, probably because readers know that the boy's fond memories and new appreciation for Aunt Matilda will vanish—rather undeservedly, as the last scene depicts her lovingly covering him with a blanket—when he wakes up. (Picture book. 4-8)

Front Street Website
"Illustrator Udovic choreographs the slapstick comedics with plenty of verve; the dancers don’t mind getting hit by pies, and some partiers even swing from the chandeliers."
—School Library Journal

A Child's Guide To Common Household Monsters

What's a girl to do when she realizes her house is full of monsters? She befriends them! This humorous and slightly spooky story will delight any child who has ever suspected that monsters are roaming around the house.--Front Street

Awards · Included in NEW BOOKS FOR MISSOURI STUDENTS, 2008 edition produced by the Missouri State Teacher Association

Reviews

"The rhyming text flows smoothly. ...Attractive double-page spreads, several of which require rotating the book to view it vertically, appear to be executed in oil pastels. The varying perspectives and unusual angles help to freshen this take on a perennially popular topic." -Kirkus Reviews

We all know they are there…hiding under the bed, in the closet, down in the basement…monsters waiting for our parents to leave and turn out the lights. Join our intrepid heroine (and her scaredy cat) as she ventures into their lairs to flush them out. What she discovers is that monsters are more afraid of each other and of her than she is of them. So, she befriends them, with some amusing consequences. This simple little story is told in spare, rhyming text that is printed at the edge of beautiful full-spread and color-saturated pastel drawings in night-time shades of blues and purples. Occasionally, you have to turn the book sideways to get the right perspective, and this adds to the fun. The expressions on the face of the little girl, her cat and the frightened monsters are wonderfully evocative. This is a book that will delight children both visually and aurally. Hopefully, we will see more picture books from both Thach and Udovic. This would be a great resource for parents to use in dealing with night scares or for teachers or counselors to use as a support for confronting fears.--Reviewer: Paula McMillen, Ph.D

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Eight Wild Nights: A Family Hanukkah Tale

Eight Wild Nights... A Family Hanukkah Tale

With humor and rhyme, a Jewish family celebrates and survives the eight days of Hanukkah. Every family will relate to this roller coaster of joys and adventures as an assortment of relatives and friends descend on the household. -- KAR-BEN

A Sydney Taylor Award Notable Book "The amusing rhythmic text carries the action along from one crazy night to the next, supported by a busy cast of characters whose antics are illustrated on crowded spreads rich in color...An enjoyable, if irreverent, offering." -- School Library Journal "Elementary-aged children will laugh and giggle at both the text and pictures in this refreshing and hilarious Hanukkah tale." -- Jewish Book World

Attention educators: This book has been recently scored by Accelerated Reader, progress monitoring software by Renaissance Learning, Inc
AZ quiz...115574     Points...0.5    Level...4.5