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kingofspain93's reviews
324 reviews
The Bunny Hop by Sarah Albee
3.75
this was unexpectedly pleasant. it turns out I really like Elmo, something I could not have told you before reading this. I wish he was in it more. fortunately this doesn't skew religious, it's just a fun book vaguely about a holiday that I think no one will celebrate in 50 years.
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
2.25
I thought Jeram’s illustrations were great and I get why they're iconic. there is something soft and yet wild about the hares that is appealing. the story is terrible though, with a father hare constantly trying to top his son's love. very negative and weird. made me anxious.
Good Night New Baby by Adam Gamble, Mark Jasper
3.75
the WikiHow art style is distracting and at first gives the impression that this is going to be religious but as soon as I realized it was just a normal book I started to like it. it's got a warm tone and it's very family-focused which is comforting. I can't believe how broad this series is in terms of subject matter. other titles include Good Night Yoga and Good Night Statue of Liberty. I randomly read the most normal one.
On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
3.5
smacks of that unique religious strain of self-centeredness but the energy/art is unhinged enough that it actually undermines the narciness of it a bit. no one is one of a kind but cute frogs and ducks with big butts are universally enjoyed so the message doesn't matter. an extra half star because the scary moon reminded me of Bear in the Big Blue House which I have extremely fond childhood memories of.
How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? by Jane Yolen
4.0
the dinosaurs-but-they’re-children concept is such a funny one and I remember loving it when I was a kid. sometimes you are a big lizard monster and also you want to be tucked in and read to. great art and a cute story. I love the range of attitudes and activities, too, from rambunctious dinos to the stegosaurus thoughtfully painting. good and subtly supportive imagery for kids exploring all their aspects!
Pooh's Honey Trouble by Sara F. Miller
3.5
I was raised on secondhand Winnie-the-Pooh video tapes and so basically no matter what as long as it's this particular art style I am a sucker for this bear and his neighbors. I've mentioned before but I think textured kid’s books are gross. I've known twinks who modeled themselves after Christopher Robin.
Dear Zoo: A Lift-The-Flap Book by Rod Campbell
0.75
a book about Rod Campbell's shitty taste in animals. it's like a slightly more fantastical story about bringing a dog home from the pound but returning it when it's “too much work”
Where Is Baby's Belly Button? by Karen Katz
3.75
one thing I have learned is that good art, and specifically art with personality, makes a huge difference in kid's book quality. simple books like this with a very basic concept become memorable because of their art. the very basic text demands non-generic visuals. thinking back, so many of my visceral childhood memories about certain books are based on the art even when the stories were elaborate. it's very cool to be reintroduced to this whole arena of literature in adulthood so that I can critically reflect. that said, I think my best reflective work on this subject was done at two years old.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Selected Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Herbert Bates
5.0
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
read this to fill the gap in my literary education and it far exceeded my expectations. Coleridge was writing about sublimity in the Rime and his awed appreciation for the overwhelming vastness of inner and outer experience is well complemented by his grasp of the sinister.
also in this collection were Kubla Khan, which I have read before and which always leaves me feeling shaken, and Christabel. this latter was entirely new to me and so it totally caught me off-guard. it frightened me and I mean that literally. crazy that he couldn't figure out how to finish it so it will always be this terrible suggestion, a hint at a dark truth. huge Carmilla vibes. amazing.
a few other minor works were collected here. I thought Love was actually quite sweet despite the boring implications of the simple title. I like Coleridge better in his haunted cosmic mode than his personal reflective mode so the other more traditional poems didn't do much for me.
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
read this to fill the gap in my literary education and it far exceeded my expectations. Coleridge was writing about sublimity in the Rime and his awed appreciation for the overwhelming vastness of inner and outer experience is well complemented by his grasp of the sinister.
also in this collection were Kubla Khan, which I have read before and which always leaves me feeling shaken, and Christabel. this latter was entirely new to me and so it totally caught me off-guard. it frightened me and I mean that literally. crazy that he couldn't figure out how to finish it so it will always be this terrible suggestion, a hint at a dark truth. huge Carmilla vibes. amazing.
a few other minor works were collected here. I thought Love was actually quite sweet despite the boring implications of the simple title. I like Coleridge better in his haunted cosmic mode than his personal reflective mode so the other more traditional poems didn't do much for me.
The I Love You Book by Todd Parr
4.5
there is something about the simplistic artwork that captures how babies are like cartoon humans who nevertheless have a very real range of emotions, of strengths and weaknesses. big bows, big tears, big smiles, bright colors. while everything else around them may be so hard it's worth it for the joy of knowing them. this book has some lovely energy.