( U ) Books - Page 2

Cats As Cats Can

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $10.95 By: Roberts Rinehart Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $1.43

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Cats -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Amusing Cats 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is full of imaginative, mostly abstract drawings, of cats, most of them funny and a little strange and off-beat. The drawings, for the most part in colour, do not include any words, the artworks speak for themselves. My young daughter and son thought they were funny, as I did. At the end of this large sized volume are a few words by the author describing some of the antics of cats he has responsibility for, notice I did not say he actually owns them, I'm not sure anyone truly owns a cat!

More like an art experiment than actual cats. 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I love cats, and I love "Crictor", that's how I came to possess this little book. Thing is, the drawings are more like an art experiment than a true representation of cats. The drawings reflect the concept of cats rather than actual cats. The cover is the only drawing in the book that flatters cats and their beauty. I'm not trashing this book completely, it does have interesting art value, but if you admire cats for their beauty and pose, I don't believe this book is for you.

Editorial Review:

Acclaimed European artist and lifelong cat lover Tomi Ungerer captures the distinct characteristics of finicky felines in 140 color illustrations. In a style reminiscent of Gary Larson's personification of animals in "The Far Side, " Ungerer shows us the secret life of cats. This treasury of comic artwork will keep fans of humor--and of Ungerer's work--highly entertained.

Zeralda's Ogre

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $15.99 By: Doubleday Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $14.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A good sitting on daddy's knee bed-time story 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The subject is very Grimm's fairy tale, an ogre that eats children; the tone, and the illustrations, are not. The ogre is shown walking down the village street with a bag over his shoulder, a child's arm is sticking out! But the picture includes lots of other details - children being hidden in cellars, and a depessed looking teacher in gown and mortarboard; the text with this picture says that children went into hiding, schools shut and teachers were unemployed. The light tone fits the story-line, which is, that the ogre accidentally comes to taste young Zeralda's wonderful cooking, goes off eating children, and they have a long, happy, life, spent throwing extravagent dinner parties (a lavish sample menu is illustrated).

Editorial Review:

For weeks now, all the children in town have been hiding in trunks, barrels, and basements to avoid becoming the hungry ogre's breakfast. All the children, that is, except one, Zeralda, who lives in a clearing in the woods and doesn't know much about ogres. But then this ogre doesn't know very much about Zeralda, either! When they finally come face to face, marvelously funny things begin to happen.

I Am Papa Snap and These Are My Favorite No-Such Stories

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $6.95 By: Roberts Rinehart Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $49.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This Book Is A Wonderful Experience 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Oh my, where to begin? Papa Snap. He is a saviour, my friends, a saviour for children. Never have I seen a book this clever, and silly, and never have I seen such witty characters or colourful, imaginative illustrations. Papa Snap has given me the power to live again. I ask you, where would you find the adventures of Mr Limpid and Mrs Lame? Where would you find little Arson Twitch, or keen fisherman Bunny Bunson Brittle? Nowhere, but in the creative mind of Tommy Ungerer which has been brought to life in "I Am Papa Snap, And These Are My Favorite No Such Stories". A wonderful experience for kids and adults alike, let Papa Snap run through your veins! Hail PSAS!

Quirky warm tales with a secular non-didactic morality 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a child of five fed these tales in the 70s, I loved them for their shortness, their weirdness, the quirky drawings and unexpected outcomes. As an adult I see it as a collection of fairy tales for children who don't grow up but reach their 30s knowing what a critical perspective is. If anybody can come up with anything more delicately miniature and heartwarming than the story of the Limpids well I take my hat off to them. But I won't sit on that sofa.

Editorial Review:

A collection of nonsense stories in which Papa Snap is eaten by a sofa, Uncle Rimsky lights his cigars with dragons, Mrs. Maroon irons her laundry with a steam roller, and Mr. Tuber Sprout gets up to miss the train every morning.

No Kiss for Mother

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $4.99 By: Yearling Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $29.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Simply the Best! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is my absolute favorite Children's book! Growing up as a child, I would read this several times each summer and would laugh for hours at the expressions and the illustrations. The illustrations are brilliant. I think that deep down, we all share the desire to be as mischievous as Piper.

A Lot of Fun 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

My mother used to love to read this to me when I was a kid; we still have one of the earlier issues.

I'm glad it was re-released. It's a classic: recommended for adults as well as children.

Cats will be cats 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This little gem of a children's book addresses the sometimes difficult relationships between parents and children with a dark humor that is hard to ignore. I have owned my copy of this book for years, and it has enough complexity to provide new meaning each time I read it. I have always found Piper Paw's world somewhat grim--perhaps the smudgey, black and white illustrations have something to do with this. His relationship with his parents, teachers and schoolmates is so antagonistic that I begin to wonder what made him so incapable of love--this of course is a conclusion I have reached recently, and not when I first read the book as a pre-teen. But Piper comes around at the end, if not completely, at least to a level of compromise that he can live with, which includes no kissing. Because of Piper's antics and some of the more bizarre illustrations, I would recommend this book for kids 9 years and older.

Editorial Review:

Piper Paw cannot bear being kissed by his mother all the time, and it takes some painful experiences for them to reach a mutual understanding.

The Beast of Monsieur Racine

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $5.95 By: Farrar Straus & Giroux (J) Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $46.97

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Clever and surprising 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

My 3-year old son and daughter enjoy this book thoroughly as the pictures are delightful and the plot is simple and engaging. It ends rather unpredictably which makes it as much fun to read to them as it is for them to hear it. It also is sophisticated enough to keep an older child's interest.

One of the All-Time Greats 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As the other reviewer says this one has a great unexpected ending, one that I--the adult reader--didn't see coming myself! Upon re-reading, there are clues
as to this great ending, and the book becomes a great way to show kids how writers often sprinkle in clues (foreshadowing) to give us readers a hint as to the ending.Each page is packaged with great sight gags, many centered around the "picture frame" border around each main illustration. (These gags are funny to a particular four year old I know)Some over-squeamish contemporary parents may want to see the book first: there's lots of oozing, dripping, and even bleeding drawn here. On the other hand, the book is a nice antidote to today's money-centered culture. Racine says he will not sell his prized pears for any amount of money; nor will he sell the beast, because friends are not for sale! Take that typical Americans!

The Hat

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $11.95 By: Simon & Schuster (Juv) Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $74.71

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A wonderful story 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I first encountered this story in animated form on a VHS collection. My three-year-old son and I loved the story and so I sought out the book, which is out of print. The story is about this magical hat. It begins on a rich man's head, then flies off while he's en route to his honeymoon. Then it lands on the head of an empoverished veteran. The hat obeys his instructions and soon changes his life. He saves a rich woman and ends up marrying her, and then the hats flies off his head while he's en route to his honeymoon. The drawings are sweet and yet have a lot of character. My son named a stuffed dog "Badolio" after the main character.

Editorial Review:

A handsome black top hat changes penniless Benito Badoglio's life.

Adelaide

Tomi Ungerer

List Price: $3.99 By: Yearling Amazon Marketplace: 3 new & used starting at $13.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A charming children's book about a flying kangaroo. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Adelaide is a delightfully written and illustrated children's book about a clever and talented flying kangeroo. This book introduces children to other lands (Australia and France) in a fanciful, charming story about Adelaide's adventurous life. The story also shows how being different can have its benefits.

I was pre-disposed to like this book, because this kangeroo and I share the same first name; however, I found the book to be truly wonderful. My only complaint is that you can't find it in bookstores because it's out of print.

The Rooster Who Understood Japanese

Yoshiko Uchida, Charles Robinson

List Price: $6.95 By: Encore Editions Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $0.59

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

IT WAS AN EDUCATIONAL BOOK ABOUT JAPANESE-AMERICANS 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Uchida is a very nice author. It was awesome that she wrote a book at age five!

Editorial Review:

Miyo, a young Japanese American, helps her neighbor find a home in the country for her pet.

Los Tres Bandidos/ The Three Bandits (Spanish Edition)

Tomi Ungerer

Amazon Price: $16.37 List Price: $20.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Kalandraka Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $13.63

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The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography

Yoshiko Uchida

List Price: $5.99 By: HarperTrophy Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $1.03

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not so invisible any more, thank goodness 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

In addition to her writings about the Japanese and Japanese-American culture, Yoshiko Uchida wrote several fiction books that drew from her experiences as a Japanese American during World War II. The Invisible Thread, written for young adults, is an autobiography that tells of her life before, during her family's internment in a camp in Utah.

Although her parents were Japanese citizens, Yoshi and her sister were born in the United States. They were as American in their speech and culture as the Swedish family next door to them. Yet, because of their appearance, they faced discrimination even before the war. The American government violated the Japanese Americans' constitutional rights when they removed them from their homes. The conditions under which they were forced to live were deplorable.

The author chose not to dwell on the horrors of that period of her life. Although she clearly describes their relocation and the stable and barracks they lived in, her emphasis is more on family life and the positive things they did to keep their lives as normal as possible. She does a fine job of describing her own confusion, her loyalty to her family and friends and her loyalty to the government that betrayed them.

This book is on our local school system's 2005 Summer Reading List. With the current backlash against Arab Americans, this is an important book for children to read. It is only through education and tolerance that we have a hope of avoiding past mistakes.

Editorial Review:

Growing up in California, Yoshi knew her family looked different from their neighbors. Still, she felt like an American. But everything changed when America went to war against Japan. Along with all the other Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, Yoshi's family were rounded up and imprisoned in a crowded. badly built camp in the desert because they"looked like the enemy." Yoshiko Uchida grew up to be an award-winning author. This memoir of her childhood gives a personal account of a shameful episode in American history.