scholarly journals Editorial

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse ◽  
Joanne De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Group Project ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Authentic Writing ◽  
The University

It is our pleasure to be contributing to this editorial for The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature:My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature, and have eagerly read each issue of The Deakin since its inception in 2011. I have made sure to introduce my students to this valuable resource. For example, I have the undergraduate students in my children’s literature course undertake an assignment which requires them to explore the site in detail and compare it to its predecessor, the Deakin Newsletter. I was intrigued when I came across the special issue that featured Joanne de Groot’s teacher-librarian students recommending “great new books.” At the time, I was teaching a graduate course, Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510). I thought how I would love to have my students involved in such an initiative. The next time I was due to teach the course, I contacted the editorial team to discuss the possibility. As it happened, Joanne had done the same. The editorial team kindly offered for us to share a special double issue; my students would review books that are geared primarily for an elementary audience, while Joanne's class would review books that are intended for a secondary audience.I made space in the course so that my students, all of whom are practicing teachers, could have the invaluable opportunity to review contemporary books for children. I was delighted with the diverse range of books my students selected for review. In our course, we discussed the importance of authentic writing opportunities for children; this certainly proved to be an authentic writing experience for my students, one that they embraced with enthusiasm! We are very excited to see their published reviews in The Deakin, and we are looking forward to reading the reviews of the students in EDEL 546 as well. I thank Kim Frail and the rest of the editorial team of The Deakin Review of Children’s Literature for their support of this special issue.Lynne WiltseAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Elementary EducationUniversity of Albertaemail: [email protected] name is Joanne de Groot and I am an instructor in the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning (TLDL) program at the University of Alberta.   Students in this class are teachers and teacher-librarians from across Canada, particularly British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nunavut.  We even had a student in EDEL 546 who is currently teaching in Kathmandu!EDEL 546 is an Introduction to Resources for Children and Young Adults and provides students with an introduction to literature and other print and digital media for young people in schools and libraries.  Throughout this course, students are given opportunities to learn how to select and use resources in their classrooms and school libraries.  The major assignment asks small groups of students to develop proposals to build a focused collection of resources for a school library.  This group project required students to select an area or topic and then create a selection list of resources they would purchase to build their collection, identify selection criteria, and provide links to professional reviews.  Students were also asked to write professional reviews of two titles published in 2013 or 2014 that would be suitable for a high school audience. This term’s groups focused on topics such as high interest/low vocabulary titles, graphic novels, pleasure or recreational reading, and Immigrant Voices.   Many of the reviews submitted for this project are now included in this issue of The Deakin.  The task of writing reviews that might be published in a reviewing journal made this assignment more relevant and interesting for the students and I am very pleased to be able to share their work with you now.Joanne de GrootAdjunct Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Elementary EducationUniversity of Albertaemail: [email protected] 

A New Year of New Reading: Teacher-Librarians Recommend Great New Books

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children And Young Adults ◽  
Teacher Librarians

Welcome to the new issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature!  My name is Joanne de Groot and it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the first issue of 2013.  I am an instructor in the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning (TLDL) program at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada.  The TLDL program is an entirely online Master of Education that prepares teachers across Canada and around the world to become teacher-librarians.  The MEd in Teacher-Librarianship develops school and professional leadership in inquiry, literacies, technology, and resources through meaningful learning experiences. All the courses in this program focus on curriculum, community, consultation, collaboration, coordination, and communication. You might be wondering why I was asked to write this editorial and why I am introducing you to this issue.  Let me explain!  In the fall of 2012, I taught a required course in the TLDL program called ‘Introduction to Resources for Children and Young Adults’ (EDES 546).  This course provides students with an introduction to literature and other print and digital media for children and young adults and provides strategies and resources for selecting and using these resources in library settings.  The major assignment for this course asked small groups of students to work together to develop a proposal to build a focused collection of resources for a school library.  Each group had to select a particular area or topic and then work through a series of tasks to develop their proposal.  Groups in this particular class focused on topics such as Canadian materials, graphic novels, high interest/low vocabulary titles, picture books, reluctant readers, and First Nations resources. Each group had a number of required tasks to complete as part of their project, including: a selection list of resources they would purchase to build their collection; the selection criteria they used to develop this list; and links to professional reviews for some of the items on their list. The complete group projects are also available online to anyone who is interested in viewing them. Please contact me for the links.  In addition, each student had to write their own professional reviews for two items on the selection list.  Many of the reviews written by the students in this course have now been compiled to form the basis of this issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature. When I first approached the editorial team at the Deakin Review about the possibility of having my students contribute to this issue, none of us were sure how, or if, it would work.  I greatly appreciate that the entire team at the Deakin Review was willing to take a leap of faith and put this issue almost entirely into my students’ hands.  The task of writing reviews that were going to be published in a reviewing journal made the assignment that much more relevant and interesting for my students.  I would like to thank everyone at the Deakin Review for their enthusiastic support of the idea and for working with me and my students to make it happen! And now, without further delay, I am very pleased to share with you this new issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature, brought to you by the students in the Fall, 2012 sections of EDES 546.  Happy Reading! Joanne de Groot Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Elementary Education University of Alberta email: [email protected]

scholarly journals Announcing a Special Issue of the Deakin Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Authentic Writing

It is my pleasure to be contributing this editorial for the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature.My name is Lynne Wiltse and I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. I teach courses in language and literacy and children’s literature, and have eagerly read each issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature since its inception in 2011. I have made sure to introduce my students to this valuable resource. For example, I have the undergraduate students in my children’s literature course undertake an assignment that requires them to explore the site in detail. With its feature editorial and reviews of contemporary English-language texts for children and young adults, the Deakin Review is an excellent resource for prospective teachers.  This is the second time that the graduate students in my Children's Literature in the Elementary School (EDEL 510) course have participated by writing book reviews for a Special Issue of the Deakin Review (the reviews were published in Vol 4, No 4, 2015). The first time my students took part in this initiative was such a powerful learning experience that the next time I was due to teach the course, I approached the editorial team to see if we could recreate the opportunity. The result is this Special Issue. Once again, I am delighted with the diverse range of books my students selected for review. With the 2015 issue, the book review of The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, introduced me to the amazing author and illustrator team of Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet. I have since read all their other biographies written for children. This year, Ada Twist Scientist, written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts, one of the books selected for review, really caught my attention. I can’t wait to read Beaty’s other books! As most of my students are practicing elementary teachers, we focused on picture books for young children at the K-6 level. These graduate students were able to apply what they were learning about visual literacy and evaluating picture books in our course to the picture books they had selected to review. We also discuss the importance of authentic writing opportunities for children; writing the reviews certainly proved to be an authentic writing experience for my students, one that they took very seriously. We are excited to see the published reviews. I thank Kim Frail and the rest of the editorial team of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature for their support of this special issue.   

scholarly journals Building the Spanish Juvenile Fiction Collection at the University of Alberta’s HT Coutts Education Library

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Lacroix
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Collection Selection ◽  
Practical Information ◽  
Juvenile Fiction ◽  
The University

This article describes why and how the University of Alberta Libraries built a Spanish language children’s literature collection. Selection criteria, findability, visibility, and assessment are addressed in the context of this collection. Practical information is provided to help librarians build similar collections and promote them.

scholarly journals Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet by S. O'Leary

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Aitken
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Child Readers

O’Leary, Sara.  Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets: An Unusual Alphabet. Illustrated by Jacob Grant. Tundra Books, 2018. From first to last, the phonic examples in O’Leary’s alphabet book are disarming:                 “Aa                 Alligators think you’d like them if you got to know them.”                 “Zz                Zebras would like to be first. Just once.“ Unlike so many other authors of this genre, O’Leary rarely struggles to find simple, memorable examples of words that begin with the appropriate vowels and consonants. The sole exception in his work is the use of “Chipmunks” to illustrate the sound of the letter “C.” Child readers would have to be mature enough to recognize the digraph (ch) and be alert to its sound. That exception being noted, all of the other phonic illustrations—even the ones for the “difficult” sounds—are straight-forward, playful and engaging.                 “Qq                 Quail get quite tired of being told to be quiet.”                 “Uu                 Unicorns believe in themselves.                 “Yy                 Yaks giggle at their own jokes.” Joseph Brant’s illustrations are all that they ought to be: large, clear, colourful and, most importantly in this type of book, unambiguous. His depiction of voles for the letter “V” is particularly endearing. Those of us involved in the field of children’s literature might want this illustration and its motto on our flag:                 “Vv                 Voles always want just one more book.” In any case, we should ensure that this delightful book is on our children’s library shelves. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Leslie Aitken Leslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship included selection of children’s literature for school, public, special and academic libraries. She was a Curriculum Librarian for the University of Alberta.              

scholarly journals The Good Little Book by K. Maclear

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Aitken
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Public Library ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Public ◽  
Child Psychologists ◽  
Clear Vision ◽  
Intended Reader ◽  
Age Appropriate ◽  
The University

Maclear, Kyo.  The Good Little Book. Illustrated by Marion Arbona.  Tundra Books, 2015.In this work, Maclear uses allegorical techniques to expand on compelling themes.  Her protagonist is unnamed; he is “the boy,” every boy who loves to read.  The Good Little Book is every book that captivates a reader.  Its author is unnamed.   Its characters are not delineated.  Only a captioned illustration, one of Arbona’s many colorful offerings, provides clues to the book’s plot and impact:“It carried him to the deep sea and steered him towards a faraway land. It dazzled him and stumped him and made him laugh and gasp.  He read it through.  Then he turned back to the beginning and read it again.”[pp.11-12]Humour is a feature of the work; Maclear likes to play with words--literary words. The Good Little Book resides with others, one of which has won the “Called a Cat” medal.  We are informed, however, that “The good little book…had no shiny medals…it didn’t even own a proper jacket.” [p.3]The protagonist’s compulsion to read and reread his good little book introduces the first theme: books transport us to imagined worlds.  When the book is lost, then rediscovered, a secondary theme emerges: books are to be shared.Text and illustration lead the reader to surmise that “the boy” is school-aged, a child physically mature enough to walk his dog while riding a skateboard.  He is, of course, an avid and independent reader.  Tormented by the loss of his book, he is old enough to hunt for it on his own, to scour crowded and heavily trafficked streets, to search the public library.  Initially, he appears to have an age appropriate appreciation of the book’s capacity to occupy his mind, to move his thoughts.“The book the boy thought couldn’t do anything did many things.” [p.11] “It did become a loyal companion, there to see him to sleep and distract him when he had to “think things over.””[p.13].To this point, the boy’s relationship with the book seems in keeping with the primary theme: book as intellectual transport.  Suddenly, his thought processes revert to those of a much younger child.“The boy worried. How would such a good and quiet book survive?  What would it do if it found itself at the edge of the unknown? Or among frightful enemies?...the book did not have skills that would help it in the dangerous wild….”[pp.19-20 ]The story becomes even more anthropomorphic when the book is discovered by various creatures:“A squirrel thought it might be a thriller.  A sparrow thought it might be a romance.  A raccoon thought it might be a sandwich.” [p.29 ]These developments raise a question: “Who is the intended reader?”  A child who has completed grade three would generally have both the ability and the maturity to read the book and to appreciate its messages.  This reader might, initially, identify with the protagonist’s dilemma. But would this same youngster identify with thinking that becomes, in the lexicon of child psychologists, animistic?  One can readily imagine a nine-year-old reader’s sudden dismissal of the work as, “…a little kid’s book.” One can also imagine that a preschooler would listen with rapt attention to the anthropomorphic sections, but zone out during the development of the book’s themes. Finally, it may be that only librarians, booksellers, and children’s literature specialists would appreciate the humour.  In sum, maintaining a clear vision of the intended reader or listener is a requisite in any kind of storytelling; The Good Little Book falls short in this regard.Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer:  Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections.  She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

scholarly journals Siuluk: The Last Tuniq by N. Sammurtok

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Inuit People ◽  
The University

Sammurtok, Nadia. Siuluk: The Last Tuniq. Illustrated by Rob Nix. Inhabit Media, 2018.This picture book, published in both English and Inuktitut syllabic script, tells the story of the last of the Tuniit, or the giants of the Eastern Arctic. The story is connected to a large rock, near Chesterfied Inlet in Nunavut, which is called Siuluk’s Rock. Nadia Sammurtok who is from Rankin Inlet and heard the story from her father, recounts that people were unkind to Siuluk and teased him because he was different. Through a show of strength by lifting the very large rock, Siuluk convinced the Inuit people that he really was the strongest man and gained their respect.Both the language and the artwork in the book are simple. The clothing pictured is unadorned. Vegetation is suggested, but not detailed. Rob Nix has taken some liberties with the appearance of the individuals. Artwork left by the Tuniit (also known as the Dorset Culture), typically show rounded faces, similar to modern Inuit. Siuluk’s face is depicted as long and angular, with a prominent and high-bridged, convex nose, more common in some European people.Overall this is a good retelling of the traditional story and conveys the message of tolerance of difference. Libraries with children’s collections, and particularly those that collect polar children’s literature will want to include these volumes. Recommendation: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

scholarly journals Happy New Year!

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desmarais
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The University

Dear Readers,Our winter issue features many excellent book reviews that cover a fascinating range of subjects and experiences, such as: crossing a harbour to an extraordinary island full of treasure (The Riddlemaster), examining issues such as poverty, racism, addiction, and healing (Dreaming in Indian); and exploring the delightful flora and fauna of Australia (Simone in Australia). There are many more books to choose from and we hope you enjoy the variety.We also take great pleasure announcing that our new issue has book reviews from the recently updated Children’s Health Fiction Titles List, including: Fishing with Grandma, Mon ami Claire, Noni Speaks Up, Saila and Betty, and Tattle-tell. The update includes titles from 2014 to 2016 and we encourage readers to have a look at the full list, A Selective Collection of Children’s Health Fiction 2014 – 2016, in the University of Alberta’s Education and Research Archive (ERA).The Children’s Health Fiction list was created to help libraries and parents looking for high quality stories that help children to better understand and cope with health issues in their lives. Information about the project, a link to the original titles list, and guidance for selecting children’s fictional works on health-related topics, was published in the October 2014 Special Issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature (Vol. 4, No. 2).On a final note in the way of announcements, we are delighted to offer a peer-reviewed article that “describes why and how the University of Alberta Libraries built a Spanish language children’s literature collection.” You will find it under the “Articles” heading of the Table of Contents. All of us at the Deakin Review wish you a peaceful and happy winter season filled with good books and many visits to the library.Best wishes,Robert Desmarais, Managing Editor (with thanks to Sandy Campbell & Maria Tan for an update on the Children’s Health Fiction Titles List) 

scholarly journals Introduction

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Fountain Of Youth ◽  
The University

This special issue of the Deakin Review of Children’s Literature is dedicated to health fiction.  The concept for the special issue grew out of an interest in using fiction as a tool in health literacy and healing.  Many of us have had the experience of escaping in to a book as a place of refuge when the real world seems too tough or being moved and inspired by a story about someone coping with illness, injury, or disability.  We wondered whether or not fictional works that offer children similar benefits are readily available? The answer is ‘Yes’, to a large extent.  But as we started to read our way through the books in local libraries, we realized that a number of the books may be of questionable benefit. Many had flaws, from obvious content errors to subtle issues that you might not recognize unless you read the book closely or someone brought them to your attention.  We wanted to take the opportunity to use this issue of Deakin to showcase some of the high quality fiction that we would recommend to libraries and parents. The authors of the reviews are librarians or other information professionals, with strengths in children's literature, health librarianship, or both.  Many have children.  Most are experienced reviewers.   Even though we had done some pre-screening, several of the reviewers started reviews and then discarded them when they found that upon close examination, they could not recommend the books. The accompanying article describes the larger study that we undertook to thoroughly review current children's health fiction. The end products of this research were: 1) a checklist for selection of children's health fiction; 2) a list of readily available works in the area; 3) this special theme issue of the Deakin, and; 4) a joint exhibit of the reviewed books, at the University of Alberta’s Education and Health Sciences libraries, to complement the publication of this issue. In addition to the outcomes mentioned above, it is our hope that an additional benefit of this project will be an increased community awareness of the value of children’s health fiction and the knowledge that sometimes a good story is good medicine. Sandy Campbell and Maria TanSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines.  Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. Maria C. Tan is a medical librarian at the Abdul Khaliq Library in Alberta Health Services’ Cross Cancer Institute and a former editorial team member of the Deakin Review. She firmly believes that children's literature is an essential component in the fountain of youth.

scholarly journals Where Do You Look? by M. & N. Jocelyn

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Aitken
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Older Students ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Sensitive Issue ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of

Jocelyn, Martha and Nell Jocelyn.  Where Do You Look?  Toronto: Tundra Books, a Division of Random House of Canada, 2013. Print.This picture book is a playful exploration of homonyms—in this case, those that are spelled alike.  The text comprises a series of questions; e.g.,    “Where do you look for a letter?  In the mailbox?”  Or on the page?” The illustrations, which incorporate collage and photographic techniques, are colourful and well defined—perfect for story hour viewing.  The accompanying questions are an invitation to participate; children will enjoy guessing what further meanings of a word might next be illustrated.  Beyond story hour, the book is appropriate, both in terms of font size and vocabulary, for independent reading by beginners.A further possibility for this book is its use in English as a Second Language classes.  Gleaning the contextual meaning of a word is always difficult when learning a new language and the Jocelyns provide a light-hearted approach to the problem.  To avoid the sensitive issue of using a beginner’s book in a lesson for older students and adults, introduce it as something an ESL learner might like to share with a child.  (Confess: those of us who love children’s literature have been playing that card forever!)Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer:  Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections.  She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

scholarly journals What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Banski
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Color Palette ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
The University

Seuss, Dr. What Pet Should I Get? New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2015. Print.This title will be of great interest to children’s literature specialists and researchers.  The end notes tell us that in 1991, when Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) died, the manuscript was left in a box of his studio projects.   His widow, Audrey, and former secretary, Claudia Prescott, discovered it in the fall of 2013.  The manuscript comprised line drawings to which pieces of paper containing potential text had been attached. In some instances, multiple versions of text had been taped on top of each other.Cathy Goldsmith, Seuss’s art director for the last eleven years of his life, surmises that Seuss began the book between 1958 and 1962.  If she is correct, Seuss was by this time a very well established figure in children’s literature, having had success with such treasures as And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street (1937); The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins (1938); Horton Hatches the Egg (1940); and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957).Seuss had ventured into writing for children after a very successful career as a cartoonist.  (In particular, his design of advertisements had proven lucrative.) Beginning in the late 1950s, however, his artistic and literary talents were to be employed in yet another direction, the Beginner Books that Random House would publish to foster reading interest among children in their primary school years.  The challenge was to create an interesting picture book using the controlled vocabulary (200 to 300 very basic words) of the “Dick, Jane and Baby Sally” variety of primer.  Seuss was up for the challenge.  Certainly, The Cat in the Hat, also 1957, had astonishing success in this regard. It may well be that What Pet Should I Get? was another such attempt. In any case, its story line is simple: two children in a pet store face the dilemma of selecting just one of the vast array of adorable possibilities.Goldsmith and the editors at Random House have done their best to create the book Seuss might have intended.  They have made decisions about not only which lines of text might best suit his drawings, but also the color palette he might have selected, the position and nature of the font, and so forth.  The end result is mixed in terms of its literary impact.  The drawings are pure Seuss; his signature is all over them.  The color palette is, arguably, what he might have chosen.  The text, however, is dull.  It never lifts from the page—possibly because Seuss felt he must restrict his vocabulary choices.            THEN . . .            I saw a new kind!            And they were good, too!            How could I pick one?            Now what should we do?            We could only pick one.            That is what my dad said,            Now how could I make up            that mind in my head?                                                (page 18, unnumbered)          This is scarcely lively, engaging Seuss.  When he was at his best, his writing maintained a consistent beat, a measured foot, and, often, an internal rhyme.  He repeated, distorted and created words in the cause of a rollicking rhythm.  Consider this stanza describing the fiendish Grinch in flight with the holiday loot that he has stolen from Whoville.              Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,             He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!             “Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming.            “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming!            “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!            “Their mouths will hang open a minute or two            “Then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!The passage simply spirits the reader along.  Sadly, What Pet Should I Get? does not contain this kind of writing.  Still, we must treasure the manuscript.  It gives us insight into the artist at work: what he envisioned, how he began, what he decreed to be finished or not.  This early draft of What Pet Should I Get? was probably not quite what Seuss had hoped it would be.  It was not perfect.  It was not finished.  He set it aside.  The inescapable conclusion is that he, who gave much to his readers, demanded much of himself.Rating: Not applicable in this caseReviewer:  Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections. She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

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