I am all for works of fantasy and sci-fi to tell stories that pull the reader into different worlds and experiences. However, there's something to be said about introducing a piece of realistic fiction to an emerging reader so that they can feel that 'so someone has felt the same things that I have' feeling. When you're growing up, it's so easy to feel isolated and alien. You feel like your problems are huge and that no one could possibly understand your pains, frustrations, or anguish. And then a little book like this one comes along. Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie by Julie Sternberg follows a little girl called Eleanor who experiences suffers abandonment and all the attendant stages of grief that come along after when the babysitter she's had her entire life moves away. With Eleanor's adjustment to a new babysitter who is wholly different from Bibi, she learns that sometimes change is good and relationships can survive distance. This is a good lesson for us all I think. This book is perfect for the emerging reader (probably why it was recommended in Excellent Books for Early and Eager Readers). It's written in short, simple sentences (somewhat oddly structured on each page) with illustrations by Matthew Cordell liberally spread throughout.  7/10

 

What I'm Currently Reading: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Isamov

I had a bad August.

A very bad August.

As bad as pickle juice on a cookie.

As bad as a spiderweb on your leg.

As bad as the black parts of a banana.

I hope your August was better.

I really do.

 

What a cute book. It's an easy chapter book about an 8-year old girl named Eleanor. She has had the same babysitter her whole life, Bibi. And now, Bibi is moving to Florida. Eleanor is devastated. She doesn't want Bib to move; she doesn't want anything to change. 

 

It's a quick read and fun. It reminds us (adults) how scary the slightest change can be and how when you are a kid, everything seems monumentally important. For the kids, it shows that change isn't so scary and we can all adapt, even if (at first) it seems like the world is ending.

 

Recommended to:

Second or Third graders, especially girls will enjoy this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this book, Eleanor loses her first and only babysitter. She is in third grade and I think her voice is written so well. I love how dramatic she can be, because it made her feel like a real kid. When she finds out Bibi is leaving, she claims it's as bad as someone dying.

Overall, this is just a cute book. Eleanor is sweet and funny, and has such supportive parents. Natalie, her new babysitter, was my favorite in this book.

I can imagine myself enjoying this when I was younger, even more than I loved reading it now, and it would be so helpful to a child in Eleanor's situation. It's hard, especially as a kid, when someone you care about moves away. This book captured that perfectly.

I definitely want to use this book for a STEM storytime! It was utter hilarity!

Judging the book by its cover, I wasn't ready to be interested. It has that 'Boynton' greeting card style illustration that I hated through the entire 1980s. But Cordell is hilarious. Like in Hello, Hello! it is the exaggeration that gets me. What could have been a very trite 'lesson' book follows a character who has his identity, loses it, and then loses it some more, and then finds a new one. I'm a Matthew Cordell fan now, and I'll have to go find all his other books.