Denise Doyen

The neighborhood children face off against the eponymous Pomegranate Witch in this delightful rhyming Halloween picture-book from author/illustrator team Denise Doyen and Eliza Wheeler. Wise to their ways, the experienced witch manages to mostly defend her fruit, despite multiple creative incursions on the children's part. One sneak thief manages to make off with a single pomegranate, but that's it. Until, that is, the Halloween night party thrown by the witch's sister, the Kindly Lady, during which each is given a precious piece of fruit of their own...

The Pomegranate Witch is only the second picture-book from Doyen, following upon her 2009 Once Upon a Twice, but given my enjoyment of that earlier title, and my appreciation for Wheeler's artwork in other books, I picked it up with a great deal of anticipation. My fondness for witchy tales of all sorts probably also whetted my appetite. However that may be, what I discovered upon reading it was a cleverly inventive text, an engaging story, and charming illustrations. The rhyme scheme here works well, as do the made-up portmanteau words that Doyen employs, while the artwork capture both the fun of the 'Pomegranate War' and the spookiness of the Witch and her tree. This is a bit text-heavy for a picture-book, so I'd recommend it primarily to older children, who are looking for fun new witchy tales for Halloween.… (mehr)

I'm not sure what to think of this. The text is creative, energetic, begs to be read-aloud. The illustrations are Barry Moser's usual good quality - engaging and pretty. However:

It's about a little mouse who makes a narrow escape from death while trying to be bold and explorative.

So, yes, it's true that mice should be timid. But since children are accustomed to learning about *themselves* via animals, with this picture-book we'd be teaching children to stay in line, mind their place, and forget about having adventures. Is that what we *want* to teach them?… (mehr)

I tremendously enjoyed this creative Caldecott Honor book.

This is a delightful story of a young mouse who loves living without rules. When the full moon occurs, The mouse named "Jam Boy" throws caution to the wind and delights in calling attention to himself by not following the pack.

There is a twisting of words, and it takes time to go with the flow, but soon I was laughing at the expressions on the faces of the mice and the rhyming catchy phrases.

Ostracized by the elder mice and banished to go home while the rest of the pack scampers together under a bright full moon, Jam Boy just cannot help himself, and all too soon he is back to his wayward ways.

"Shuns every warning, jumps the fence!
Jamagination in a flurry:
"I won't scamper! I won't scurry!
A clever mousling need not worry."

Furry overconfidence.

And, in his overconfidence, there is danger not only to him, but to the others.

Alone, he sits in the full moon, long tail lazily in the water and then, so full of himself, he does not hear the impending hissing warning of a snake approaching. This defining moment changes him.… (mehr)