Genre: Fairy Tale / Fantasy / Royalty

Year Published: 1954

Year Read: 2010

Publisher:   Charles Scribner's Sons

“Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is the winner of the Caldecott Medal and is one of the earlier books by Marcia Brown that retells the French fairy tale “Cinderella” about how a miserable girl named Cinderella tries to go to the grand ball with the help of her fairy godmother. “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is clearly one of Marcia Brown’s most memorable books yet!

Marcia Brown has indeed created many children’s books throughout her life. Imagine my surprise and excitement when I read her first children’s book! Marcia Brown has made this version of Cinderella much more tame than in the other versions of “Cinderella” I have seen as Cinderella’s stepsisters in this version seem a bit nicer to Cinderella by easily telling Cinderella about their time at the ball, although they still maintained their cruel nature by teasing Cinderella about not going to the ball, which is a bit unusual for in most versions that I have read of “Cinderella,” the stepsisters were always mean to Cinderella regardless of the situation that Cinderella was in. Marcia Brown’s illustrations are truly beautiful and simplistic in this version of the classic fairy tale as Cinderella truly looks beautiful with her wavy golden hair and beautiful black eyes. Also, the illustrations are a bit simplistic due to the fact that there is barely any color in the background, but the color is mainly focused on the characters, which allows the characters to stand out more, which I have never seen done in any other book that have simplistic illustrations.



“Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is a brilliant retelling of the classic fairy tale that I think will be more suitable to children who want to read the more tame version of the fairy tale and will be a great hit for children everywhere. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book other than the stepsisters’ poor behavior towards Cinderella.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre: Fairy Tale / Fantasy / Royalty

Year Published: 1954

Year Read: 2010

Publisher:   Charles Scribner's Sons

“Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is the winner of the Caldecott Medal and is one of the earlier books by Marcia Brown that retells the French fairy tale “Cinderella” about how a miserable girl named Cinderella tries to go to the grand ball with the help of her fairy godmother. “Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is clearly one of Marcia Brown’s most memorable books yet!

Marcia Brown has indeed created many children’s books throughout her life. Imagine my surprise and excitement when I read her first children’s book! Marcia Brown has made this version of Cinderella much more tame than in the other versions of “Cinderella” I have seen as Cinderella’s stepsisters in this version seem a bit nicer to Cinderella by easily telling Cinderella about their time at the ball, although they still maintained their cruel nature by teasing Cinderella about not going to the ball, which is a bit unusual for in most versions that I have read of “Cinderella,” the stepsisters were always mean to Cinderella regardless of the situation that Cinderella was in. Marcia Brown’s illustrations are truly beautiful and simplistic in this version of the classic fairy tale as Cinderella truly looks beautiful with her wavy golden hair and beautiful black eyes. Also, the illustrations are a bit simplistic due to the fact that there is barely any color in the background, but the color is mainly focused on the characters, which allows the characters to stand out more, which I have never seen done in any other book that have simplistic illustrations.



“Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper” is a brilliant retelling of the classic fairy tale that I think will be more suitable to children who want to read the more tame version of the fairy tale and will be a great hit for children everywhere. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book other than the stepsisters’ poor behavior towards Cinderella.

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:  Short Stories / Horror / Drama / Monsters

Year Published: 1984

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Now, I have been introduced to Alvin Schwartz’s works before through his famous and controversial “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series and after I found out that Alvin Schwartz had written another pair of horror stories for children called “In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories,” of course I had to give this series a whirl!

This is a collection of horror stories for children and there is a total of seven stories being told in this book. The stories featured in this collection are:

1. The Teeth
2. In the Graveyard
3. The Green Ribbon
4. In a Dark, Dark Room
5. The Night it Rained
6. The Pirate
7. The Ghost of John 

Wow! Alvin Schwartz really knows how to create stories that are both scary and tame for any child and all of these horror stories contain a mixture of humor and horror that made me both smile and cringe at the same time. I loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz did some research on these stories and allows the readers to understand where these stories came from as he mentions it in the “Where the Stories Come From” section at the end of the book as I wanted to know where these stories came from. I also enjoyed many of the stories in this book with my favorites being “The Green Ribbon” and “In a Dark, Dark Room” as I believe that those are the creepiest stories in this collection, especially “The Green Ribbon!” Dirk Zimmer’s artwork conveys both horror and comedy in this book as the characters have exaggerated features which includes some of the characters have large noses and wide eyes and I also loved the way that the characters look so pale and frightened in most of the images as it shows what kind of horrors the readers will be introduced to when they start reading this book!



The reason why I took off a half point from the star rating was because I felt that there were too many abrupt endings in each story and I wanted to see some closure in these stories, although given the short length of this book, that was to be expected. Also, even though I have enjoyed Alvin Schwartz’s work on “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” I felt that this collection of horror stories was not as scary as “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Maybe it is because the artwork was not as scary as Stephen Gammell’s artwork in “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and that took away the creepiness of the stories, although stories like “The Green Ribbon” still remained creepy no matter how the illustrations looked like.

Overall, “In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories” is a great collection of horror stories that children will gladly enjoy during Halloween time! I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since there are some scary stories in this book that might creep out younger readers.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog