Genre:  Japan / Animals / Trickery / Folktale / Peace

Year Published: 2003

Year Read:  2008

Publisher: Holiday House

Source:  Library

“Three Samurai Cats” is an ancient Japanese folktale about how three samurai cats come to the Daimyo’s castle to defeat a savage rat with the last samurai cat giving the rat a taste of his own medicine. Eric A. Kimmel’s hilarious retelling and Mordicai Gerstein’s colorful drawings combine greatly to make a great and funny story from ancient Japan. 

Eric A. Kimmel’s humorous storytelling of an ancient Japanese folktale is extremely inventive and witty as the last samurai cat uses a nonviolent stragety to defeat the rat at the end of the book. I found the part where the rat kicks the fierce samurai cat across the room to be extremely funny since the samurai cat looked funny when he crashed to the ground. Mordicai Gerstein’s illustrations are colorful yet scratchy, giving the story a humourous edge. One of the illustrations that really stood out the most for me was the image of Neko Roshi giving an intense look after he had just woken up when the rat yelled out “help!” when he was stuck in the rice ball. Neko Roshi’s eyes look huge like when a cat sees something that terrifies it and his hair also stood on its end. 



“Three Samurai Cats” is an excellent story about how violence does not always solve the problem and how clear thinking can always win the battle if you allow the right moment to come. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the younger children might not understand the Japanese vocabulary, such as daimyo and docho.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Manners / Children / Humor / Behavior 

Year Published: 1998

Year Read:  2008

Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

Series: David #1

“No, David!” is David Shannon’s first book of the “David” series and has won the Caldecott Honor Book Award, which it richly deserves that honor. This book details the adventures of David being bad while his mother continually tells him: “NO, DAVID!” 

David Shannon’s first attempt at making the “David” series is truly a masterpiece to this very day. David Shannon’s writing style is memorable as he writes in a simple preschool format that is easy enough for readers at a young age could relate to as he details David’s mischievous adventures. David Shannon’s illustrations are truly inspiring as he illustrates David with a large head and sharp teeth and his gleeful expressions as he seemly enjoys the mischief that he causes. 




“No, David!” is one of David Shannon’s finest children’s books ever created and is surely to make anyone laugh out loud whenever they witness David’s mischief in the household and making his mother go crazy when she keeps telling him, “NO, DAVID!” Even though this book might entice bad behavior towards children, it is suitable for children ages four and up since the vocabulary and the writing style are simple to read for any preschooler.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Manners / Children / Humor / Behavior 

Year Published: 1998

Year Read:  2008

Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

Series: David #1

“No, David!” is David Shannon’s first book of the “David” series and has won the Caldecott Honor Book Award, which it richly deserves that honor. This book details the adventures of David being bad while his mother continually tells him: “NO, DAVID!” 

David Shannon’s first attempt at making the “David” series is truly a masterpiece to this very day. David Shannon’s writing style is memorable as he writes in a simple preschool format that is easy enough for readers at a young age could relate to as he details David’s mischievous adventures. David Shannon’s illustrations are truly inspiring as he illustrates David with a large head and sharp teeth and his gleeful expressions as he seemly enjoys the mischief that he causes. 




“No, David!” is one of David Shannon’s finest children’s books ever created and is surely to make anyone laugh out loud whenever they witness David’s mischief in the household and making his mother go crazy when she keeps telling him, “NO, DAVID!” Even though this book might entice bad behavior towards children, it is suitable for children ages four and up since the vocabulary and the writing style are simple to read for any preschooler.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Homelessness / Friendship / Surrealism / Nursery Rhyme

Year Published: 1993

Year Read:  2008

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

“We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy” (whew, long title name!) is a Mother Goose nursery rhyme along with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. This book tells the tale of two guys trying to save a kid and a lot of kittens from a band of shrewd rats. This book may not be a classic like “Where the Wild Things Are” and “In the Night Kitchen,” but it is still full of good humor and excitement!

The nursery rhyme is surreal yet creative to read because the characters themselves are not what you would expect from a normal nursery rhyme. The characters seem to be tough and even cruel to a certain extent but they are also brave and even friendly especially when Jack and Guy seem to hate the kid at the beginning of the book but they risk their lives to save the kid at the end. The moon is the most surreal character of all as it tortures anyone who harms the kittens and the kid such as when the rat bites the kid and the moon ended up carrying Jack and Guy towards the rye field and when Jack tried to hit the kid, the moon transformed into an intimidating looking cat. Maurice Sendak’s illustrations are truly surrealistic yet beautiful as he makes the main characters dress up in old rags and running around the streets with no shoes to wear. The moon’s image is surreal as it has a grumpy looking face throughout the whole book and looks menacing when it transforms into a cat that is white all over and has intense looking eyes.



“We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy” may not have the comforting tone as “Where the Wild Things Are” or light humor like “In the Night Kitchen,” but it is certainly a truly unique and creative little book as it is in a nursery rhyme format. Many children ages five and up would greatly enjoy this book as soon as they get pass the violent images and understand the confusing plot.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre: Family / Drama / Magic / Animals

Year Published: 1969

Year Read:  2008

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is one of William Steig’s earlier books and has proven to be the most emotional and heartwarming of all of his books. Also, this was William Steig’s first controversial book due to the image of the police being portrayed as pigs, even though I do not think that it is an issue because all the characters are animals, but it depends on how you view this issue. Anyway, William Steig’s dramatic storyline and illustrations has won this book a Caldecott Book Award and will surely be a treat to read.

William Steig has done an excellent job at beautifully detailing a young donkey’s attempts to change back to normal after a wish goes awry. Both children and adults will feel for Sylvester’s great sadness at not being able to tell his parents that he is still alive and his parents’ misery as they thought that their darling son was dead. William Steig’s illustrations are beautiful and detailed as he vividly draws the sad and happy emotions on Sylvester’s parents’ faces when they worried about their son, Sylvester. Also, the illustrations of the flowers and the trees and even the snow during the winter scene are memorizing as they provide a calm background the images.

***Small Rant:***

Alright, so everyone who has been browsing through various banned books knows that the reason why this book was banned was because of the image of the policemen being portrayed as pigs. First of all, I have an issue with this book being banned because of that reason. I mean, this is a book about TALKING ANIMALS, so what is wrong with the police being portrayed as pigs in a book about talking animals? Also, the main character is a DONKEY! So, that means that if the characters were switched and the main character was a pig and the policemen were donkeys, would that still be an issue? There were a couple of banned books where I do not agree with the reasons of it being banned (although, I never agree with any book being banned), but this was one of those books where I think the reason for it being banned was COMPLETELY unjustified.

***Rant Ended***



Also, the scenes where Sylvester's parents worry about Sylvester's whereabouts might worry smaller children who might worry about whether or not Sylvester will ever transform back into himself again. Parents should reassure their children about the importance of staying safe if they wonder out into an unknown area.

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is William Steig’s milestone children’s book as it discusses the love that Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have for their child, Sylvester, when he turns up missing and [how the spell of the magic pebble is broken when Mr. and Mrs. Duncan wished for their child’s return. (hide spoiler)] This book will be a cult favorite for both children and adults and is suitable for children ages five and up, even though it discusses the loss of a child.


Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog