Irregular Books

The Earth Is Good is simple, and needed, providing children with a reassuring natural respite that is probably missing from their everyday lives.

I know that some imagination is allowed in mythological illustrations, but the imagination ought to take place from within the cultural area from which the story comes. Fiodorov might as well have had maple trees in the background, with a man in a plaid shirt collecting syrup for his pancakes.

The dinosaurs in this children’s book are docile implements for human domination of the Earth. What would they be fed in order to fuel their gigantic appetites? Where would all the vegetable matter for the sauropods come from, what with all the dinosaur-powered construction covering nature up with asphalt? Who would provide the flesh for tyrannosaurus work horses to feast upon?

Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings goes only half the distance. Many publishers of children’s books focus on the illustrations - after all, it is illustration that sets kids’ books apart from those written by adults. Also, the illustrations are usually the first thing noticed by parents flipping through the piles of books for children for sale at their local book stores.

Hippos Go Beserk is best read to the youngest group of children: Those from a few months old to around two or three years of age. These kids are not exactly readers, but they’ll pay attention to the right kind of book — the kind with simple, dramatic illustrations that catch the eye and simple yet entertaining concepts that capture the young mind’s attention. Hippos Go Beserk is just that kind of book.

It seems that my son is amused most by the turning of pages and a quick scan of the pictures, although he’s willing to sit still for a reading longer than he would otherwise. Spot in the Garden is perfectly designed to have a quick pace so as not to bore the really young ones.

One little picture in I Saw Esau provokes imprudently prude teachers and parents into a swirling fit of puritan rejection.

It’s not easy to fix family problems of the sort that lead to kids who are labeled ADD and ADHD. That’s exactly why there’s no reason to make it even more complicated by forcing families to fit into a behavioral therapy model. If Ritalin is a cop-out, so is the CSP Stein pushes as if it were a cure-all drug.