stealing – Mom Read It

Hello, Door, by Alastair Heim/Illustrated by Alisa Coburn, (Jan. 2018, little bee), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4998-0536-9

Recommended for readers 3-7

A wily fox sneaks into an opulent home and starts helping himself to food, furnishings, and valuables, greeting each item as he goes; he’s in for a big surprise once the owners return in this fun retelling of The Three Bears!

Alastair Heim creates a fun, repetitive rhyming story where kids can thrill to the fox’s antics and laugh when he gets caught. I’ve test-run this with my picture book storytime; the kids cackled with every “Hel-LO!”: windows, sinks, sandwiches, drinks, and more; you can have a great time switching up the different ways to greet each item he comes across, making it progressively sillier, leading up to the return of none other than The Three Bears, who exact hilarious retribution. The story reminds me of the funniest Warner Brothers cartoons I loved growing up – parents will get just a big a laugh out of this story as the kids.

Alisa Coburn’s art is vibrant, with fun details for sharp-eyed readers (notice the book in the bedroom). The cover, made up of Georgian doors spelling out the book’s title, is eye-catching and gives us an idea of what’s going to happen: that wily fox is already sneaking around. Hello, Door is going to make a fun read-aloud for your next storytime.

Find out more about Alastair Heim and his books at his author webpage. Enjoy more of Alisa Coburn’s illustration at her webpage.

Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar, by Emily MacKenzie, (May 2016, Bloomsbury), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1681192208

Recommended for ages 4-7

Ralfy Rabbit LOVES books: he dreams about them; he makes lists of them; he wants to be surrounded by books ALL THE TIME. He loved books so much that he started sneaking into people’s bedrooms and reading their books while they were sleeping, but even that wasn’t good enough; he upgraded to taking the books home! One little boy named Arthur noticed that his books were starting to go missing, and to add insult to injury, soggy lettuce and half-eaten carrots were left behind. He makes a plan to catch the book burglar, but can Ralfy be rehabilitated?

A fun story with a good subplot about borrowing (and a great shout-out to libraries!), Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar is a great storytime book and a great independent read. Kids can appreciate Ralfy’s single-minded love for books and understand Arthur’s dual frustration at having his books go missing and have no one believe him. Arthur’s confrontation and solution makes for good conflict resolution and problem-solving that works for everyone.

Emily MacKenzie’s artwork is adorable. Ralfy is wide-eyed and innocent, even when he’s up to no good; when he’s caught red-handed, his eyes fill up with tears and readers can’t help but feel bad for the poor book bandit. Arthur is drawn with a kindness that will invite readers to put themselves in his place right away. The pictures are sketched with defined outlines, and the font changes for emphasis: bolds, enlarged fonts, angled text to keep readers’ attention.

I’ve paired this with Helen Docherty’s Snatchabook and Ian Schoenherr’s Read It, Don’t Eat It! for library visit read-alouds; the kids love Ralfy and Arthur, but know that Ralfy’s “not being nice” when he takes books. One Kindergartner even called out, “He should just go to the library!” (Love that kid!) You can have a great discussion about borrowing versus taking things with kids as young as preschool; for younger audiences, use Ralfy’s adventure as a good starting point for talking about sharing and forgiveness.

Originally published in 2015 in the UK, Ralfy’s just arrived on US shores. Give him a welcome space on your shelves! There’s an activity kit available from Bloomsbury UK, and you can see more of Emily MacKenzie’s art and books at her author site.

Tag: stealing

Hello, Door gives a fun new twist to a classic tale

Catch Ralfy Rabbit, the Book Burglar!