Child's Literature Review with Raymond Ream

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Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

Illustrated by Anita Jeram

Never judge a book by it’s cover. That is, unless you think this book is about a larger bunny and a smaller bunny. If that is the case then you’ll be fine. If however, you thought that this would be a mystery…wrong. This is a tale about a father bunny and his child professing their love for each other. Each trying to one-up the other. Their dysfunctional relationship, a psychologist may refer to as Obsessive Love, is based on a competitive need to be the more caring participant in the relationship. This can only lead to hardship and jealousy. In the end, the parent’s stamina wins out as the child is so exhausted he simply passes out.
Thankfully the book ends there, but unfortunately the tale would go on. This book merely covers phase three of Obsessive Rational Progression or ORP. Next is Facebook stalking and a short trip to Phase 4, the destructive phase; drug use, self-blame violence and possibly suicide. This could be the reason rabbits tend to procreate so prolifically. As far as self help books I would recommend reading other titles such as “Obsessive Love. How to Free Your Emotions and Live Again” by Liz Hodgkinson and use this book as more of a peripheral source. On another note, I find the illustrations touching and full of a whimsical youthful energy, A+.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
This book does little justice to the movie. I don’t think it’s the same without Karen O’s music. Sometimes I want to believe in all of the hype and read the book instead. Not in this case, the character’s in the book are 2-dimensional, literally. The illustrator did a good job of conveying which character was which but I mean really were there no CG animator’s around or still shots from the movie that they could have used. The hair on the creatures is hardly so real that I question whether or not it’s real. It’s very obvious that someone simply drew these pictures and colored them in. I’m giving this book 2 thumbs up because I could picture the movie the entire time I was thinking about how unlike the movie it was. Spike Jonze is rolling over in his 1600 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets as I write this.
2 thumbs up

A Young People’s History of the United States
by Howard Zinn, Rebecca Stefoff
If you enjoy watching children cry as much as I do then this is a good read for you.
3 thumbs up

Animal Farm fans take heed! Wow, this must be the best take on the fall of communism and the development of capitalism in Russia to date. The demand of food is far outweighing the supply for the “Red” giant. In a last ditch effort to revive the starving superpower “Clifford” joins the free market. In the end however, Clifford the big “Red” dog fails at capitalism and reverts to economic support from the state.
I find Norman Bridwell’s comments on the Socioeconomic status of the once superpower astonishing, well informed and almost prophetical. If you like this story I would also recommend Revolution, Democracy, Socialism: Selected Writings of Lenin by Paul Le Blanc
5 thumbs up

Los Osos Berenstain En LA Oscuridad by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain
I really like the Berenstain Bears Series and plan to cover much more in the future. The books are mostly insightful. However, Los Osos Berenstain En LA Oscuridad, comes from way out of left field. I think that they authors were trying to harness Tolkien and create a whole new language. If it weren’t for the illustrations I’d have zero clue as to the plot line of this book. I don’t think there was 1 word in English. This may be meant for die hard Beren-heads who will take time to learn this new language. To me it’s kitschy and a weak attempt to grab readers.
2 thumbs down

Are You My Mother by Dr. Suess
Suspenseful thriller. I love a good mystery and I didn’t figure this one out until the end of the book. I won’t spoil it for you but lets just say in the end you’ll kick yourself at how obvious it was.
5 thumbs up

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
I still am not sure if this book is fiction or not but the writing is insightful and forced me to look inwards to see who I am as a person? What am I eating? where am I eating it.
5 thumbs Up