Anancy and Mr Dry-Bone

by Fiona French (Illustrator)

With eye-catching art and a saucy tone, French ( Rise and Shine ; Snow White in New York ) tells an original story based on characters borrowed from Jamaican and African folktales.

Both Mr. Dry-Bone and Anancy attempt to win the hand of Miss Louise who is "very clever, and very, very pretty."

Determined to marry the first man who makes her laugh, Miss Louise is not impressed with Mr. Dry-Bone, a skeletal scarecrow in black-and-white checkered pants who woos her with his conjuring tricks.

Anancy, a handsome black man, borrows clothing from various animals to create a ridiculous outfit and ends up making everyone laugh, even Mr. Dry-Bone.

The story is slight, but French's language is street-smart and jazzy. The illustrations--vibrant background colors overlaid with complex black-and-white silhouettes--are singular and striking.

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아프리카에서 전해오는 구전동화라네요.

일러스트가 아름다운 동화인데, 어릴때 흰도화지에 여러가지 색의 크레파스로 색칠한후 검정크레파스로 덧칠해 벗겨낸 스타일로 되어있어요.

내용도 재미있었구요.

이 동화책을 다 읽고 집에 돌아가려는길에 갑자기 비가 내린 덕분에 홀딱 다 젖어버린 기억이 나네요.

The Boy Who Longed for a Lift

by Norma Farber, Brian Selznick (Illustrator)

"The boy went walking one fine day, / walking, walking, a long, long way. / He grew quite tired, so he cried, / 'Who'll offer me a ride? / Who'll carry me far and wide?'"

So begins Norma Farber and illustrator Brian Selznick's whimsical picture book The Boy Who Longed for a Lift. The story, language, and even the charming illustrations are as curiously old-fashioned as the title. As the beginning illustrations imply, the boy is feeling displaced by the new baby in the house, so he packs up a knapsack-on-a-stick and sets off for a journey.

When he gets tired, his innovative ride-finding mission takes off.

The brook, soft and swift, gives him his first lift, but the water gets too cold and he turns blue; the light and swift sailboat flips; the trout, sleek and swift, proves to be a slippery vehicle; a "far from swift" snail ride is rather boring; and the horseman, "galloping swift," goes a bit too fast, throwing the boy up into a tree.

 In the end, the would-be passenger discovers the benefits of using his own two feet, "till finally he was home. / His father ran out, strong and swift, / and gave the boy a lift." Young children will be swept up in the lyrical repetition of the story, Selznick's comical depictions of high-action adventure, and, of course, the happy ending.

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읽으면서 재미있었던 책이예요.

시처럼 음율이 있어서 읽으면서 이해하기 쉬웠구요.
읽을때는 책 내용만 신경써서 몰랐는데,
나중에 다시 보니 책속에 세계의 기념비(에펠탑등)가 살짝 숨어 있어군요.

그것을 찾아보며 이야기를 나누는것도 재미있었어요.
아쉽게도 우리나라의 기념비가 있었으면 좋겠더군요.

Amelia Bedelia

 

by Peggy Parish, Fritz Siebel (Illustrator)

Amelia Bedelia is a housekeeper who takes her instructions quite literally.

Reading the list of chores that her employer has left her, Amelia begins with "Dust the furniture." How odd, Amelia thinks to herself.

"At my house we undust the furniture." Nonetheless, she dutifully locates the "Dusting Powder" in the bathroom, and proceeds to sprinkle it all over the living-room furniture and floor.

Next she is asked to "Draw the drapes when the sun comes in." So of course, Amelia sits down with a sketchpad and gives it her best shot.

Children love reading about the antics of silly Amelia Bedelia for myriad reasons. It's an early reader book, so children in primary grades can take satisfaction in reading the book on their own.

But, even more thrilling, children who are 6 and older can successfully interpret the figurative meaning behind most adult idioms.

Being told to "keep an eye on the cat," for example, might compel some preschoolers to stick their eyeballs on a cat's face, eliciting peals of laughter from know-it-all grownups. But older children know better, and they love the fact that they know better.

Young readers will find this bumblingly charming, eager-to-please housekeeper as irresistible as Amelia Bedelia's employers do.

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한국어도 마찬가지겠지만, 영어는 한 단어에 여러가지 뜻을 더 많이 내포되어있는 것 같아요.

'아멜리아 베델리아' 책은 그런 점을 꼬집어서 만든 책이랍니다.

예를 들어 Draw에는 우리가 알고 있는 '그리다'라는 뜻도 있지만, '걷다(묶다)'라는 뜻도 있거든요.
그래서 '아멜리아'는 커튼을 묶는 대신에 커튼을 그리지요.

암튼... 읽으면서도 저도 아멜리아를 충분히 이해할수 있었어요. ^^

저의 영어선생님의 여자친구가 가장 좋아하는 캐릭터라고 하더군요.

그럴만해요. 엉뚱하지만 무척 사랑스러운 캐릭터거든요.

Riddles and More Riddles!

by Bennett Cerf, Debbie Palen (Illustrator)

"Why do birds fly south?"
"Because it is too far to walk."

Riddles and More Riddles! contains funny, laugh-out-loud riddles that kids will love to read and retell over and over again!

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수수께끼 같은 이야기를 다루었어요.

한국어로도 이해하기 힘든 내용을 영어로 이해하려니 골치가 아팠습니다..^^;;

Madeline and the Bad Hat

  

by Ludwig Bemelmans

One day the Spanish ambassador moves into the Parisian house next door to Miss Clavel, Madeline, and her 11 classmates.

And, His Excellency has a boy! Pepito, as he is named, is not just any boy: according to Madeline, he is a "bad hat"--for starters, he's equipped with an irksome slingshot, he "ghosts," and he boasts. And when Miss Clavel gives him a box of tools to function as an "outlet for his energy," he makes a guillotine for the cook's chickens. ("He ate them ROASTED, GRILLED, AND FRITO! Oh what a horror was PEPITO.")

Children will love Ludwig Bemelmans's jaunty rhymes and simple, evocative drawings, and the ferocity with which the feisty Madeline suspects, condemns, and rebuffs the boisterous new boy neighbor. In the end, however, everything comes out right, and we, along with Miss Clavel, can relax.