Kid's picks:


One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo

4.5/5 stars.

This is a really cute, funny book. 
A very proper young man named Elliot goes on a trip to the aquarium with his father. There he makes friends with a penguin whom he names Magellan, who he proceeds to take home. Elliot must learn how to properly take care of his new friend. And how will his father react when he finds out? 

Very cute, and I really like the way the illustrator did the pictures. The verso says the were done with pen & ink, ink wash, watercolour and coloured pencil. 

I have to admit I'm a little embarrassed. I made it all the way to the end without catching any of the 'hints' about the dad... : ).



Fabulous: A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen

3\5 stars

A short, but interesting look at the artists life. I know nothing about Warhol to start with, so for me it was quite informative. It's not presented as a bunch of facts though. The author did put work into trying to make it interesting for readers.
The book follows the author from his childhood onward, with short entries of text (about 2 paragraphs) talking about what was going on in his life at that time. 
The illustrations are interesting - the jacket says they're reproductions of Warhols' paintings. I'm not sure if this means all of them (again, not familiar with the artist) but included are examples of his more well-known paintings, like his Campbell soup series. A reviewer below says differently, so perhaps they just include the odd work? Either way, the art in the book is very nicely done. There's lots of detail on every page for readers to examine. 

It'd be a good resource for a school or public library, or for children who have an interest in art.


Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

4/5 stars.

Last semester of high school, this was one of the options to read for a group project. Unfortunately no one else wanted to read it, so I ended up borrowing it from the teacher and reading it myself. (The group I was in ended up reading 'The Englishman's Boy'. Ugh.)

I was seriously glad I decided to read it. My clearest memory of reading it is just sitting in class and having to stop and put the book down in the midst of a giggling fit so I could calm down enough to keep reading (and not look like a total moron in class). 

Farley Mowat is hired by the government to go up north an investigate the wolves they say are threatening the northern economy by wiping out herds of caribou. They basically want justification to cull the wolves. 
Unfortunately for them, Mowat was actually competent. (Not that they probably cared about the actual findings...)

Some of the points I found most amusing were the actions he took in emulating the wolves - when he had problems sleeping due the wolves coming too close to the cabin at night, he attempted to "cordon off" a section of land around it -- needing to return to his cabin several times to fill up on tea during the process.
He emulated their eating habits as well - during his observations he rarely saw the wolves take down game. But he would frequently see them catching mice and other small mammals and eating those. Finding it hard to believe that they could survive on such a diet he copied them 9and a warning if you have a weak stomach, he shares the experience with his readers). What's even better is when some of his neighbours find out. Apparently according to first nations beliefs, eating mice can shrink certain parts of male anatomy. His neighbour was concerned and decided to bring him an owl egg to cure the problem... by the time Mowat received it, however, it was fairly far in the incubation process. 

A good book for anyone interested in animals. I have heard mention before of Mowat maybe not being the most reliable source, but it still makes an entertaining read, with a good message.