Take a trip into some silly fantasy realms that explore the kind of off-the-wall worlds that only exist in picture books for kids.
In Front of My House
Ever wonder who (or what) could be lying beyond, under, or around a hidden corner? Maybe it’s something ordinary, like a bird or tree – or maybe that unknown space is hiding something exotic – like a family of rabbits, a princess, or even a dragon!
In her first English-translated picture book, Quebec artist Marianne Dubuc offers some whimsical answers to these questions, by showing a simple illustration of an ordinary-looking house, and then shifting her point of view to the rosebush in front of the house, the window above the rosebush, a room inside the house, and the space under the bed.
At first everything seems normal – until we enter a fairytale book that puts us face-to-face with the Big Bad Wolf, the Abominable Snowman, alien planets, and even a pirate! Soon, this fanciful odyssey becomes limited only by the spaces that lie beyond immediate reach – and the boundaries of imagination.
A creative picture book, In Front of My House offers a light fantasy full of engaging pencil-and-crayon sketches that could have come out of a child’s dream sketchbook. Dubuc’s text is very sparse and consists primarily of short prepositional phrases (“beyond the forest,” “on the planet,” “in the Big Bad Wolf’s belly”) that will keep young readers and parents guessing about what fantastic creature or place lies on the other side of the page.
Original, fast, and very fun to read aloud, In Front of My House makes a great book to share with kids.
Making the Moose Out of Life
There was once a moose who was so timid he refused to play, fly kites, or ski with his animal friends – until one day he decided to finally be spontaneous and go on a boat ride.
Unfortunately for the moose, he picked the wrong day for sailing when a storm smashed his boat and marooned him on a desert island. Fortunately, the moose was more self-sufficient than he imagined and learned to make signal fires, build a shelter, climb for coconuts, and spear fish. And then one day he met a friendly tortoise named Tuesday…
Robinson Crusoe meets funny animal picture books in this sequel to Nicholas Oldland’s Big Bear Hug. Curiously, where the first book showed a bear trying to peacefully prevent humans from destroying his home, Making the Moose Out of Life is basically a collection of sight gags of animals acting remarkably human-like (at one point, the moose searches the Internet to find what's missing from his life!). It’s still a very funny book – yet like many sequels, it lacks some of the original’s charm.
Find more fun picture books for kids at Whimsical Read Aloud Picture Books and Read Aloud Books with Hyperactive and Quiet Kids.
Dubuc, Marianne. In Front of My House. Toronto ON: Kids Can Press. 2010. ISBN: 978-1-55453-641-2
Oldland, Nicholas. Making the Moose Out of Life. Toronto ON: Kids Can Press. 2010. ISBN: 978-1-55453-4
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Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
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