Henry And Mudge In Puddle Trouble

Rating:
Summary: Homework Assignment
Review: Henry and his big dog Mudge are back in this wonderful 2nd addition to the ever-growing series. This time, spring has come, bringing with it spring flowers, giant puddles and new births.

Books in this series are excellent choices for emergent or beginning readers. The sentences are short and easy to read, and the illustrations practically tell the story by themselves. Like other Henry and Mudge books (H&M for short), this book is divided into chapters. In this case, each chapter represents a different story for our boy & dog team in springtime (in other H&M books the story is split up into chapters like regular books).

In the first book, H&M discover a beautiful flower that has sprung from the ground. That is, until Mudge eats it! In the second, the spring rains have made the world puddle-luscious and they're just perfect for jumping in (even for adults!!). In the final chapter, a neighborhood cat has her kittens, and Mudge acts as a kind of guardian/father to them when another neighborhood dog comes prowling around.

Henry & Mudge books are by far a favorite of both me the teacher and my students. They're about the simple happy pleasures of everyday that often we tend to overlook in the pursuit for the Next Big Thing To Do For Fun And Excitement. It isn't necessary to start with any one particular book, but once you start reading H&M, you'll want to keep reading them all!!

Rating:
Summary: Springtime fun with boy and dog
Review: Henry and his big dog Mudge are back in this wonderful 2nd addition to the ever-growing series. This time, spring has come, bringing with it spring flowers, giant puddles and new births.

Books in this series are excellent choices for emergent or beginning readers. The sentences are short and easy to read, and the illustrations practically tell the story by themselves. Like other Henry and Mudge books (H&M for short), this book is divided into chapters. In this case, each chapter represents a different story for our boy & dog team in springtime (in other H&M books the story is split up into chapters like regular books).

In the first book, H&M discover a beautiful flower that has sprung from the ground. That is, until Mudge eats it! In the second, the spring rains have made the world puddle-luscious and they're just perfect for jumping in (even for adults!!). In the final chapter, a neighborhood cat has her kittens, and Mudge acts as a kind of guardian/father to them when another neighborhood dog comes prowling around.

Henry & Mudge books are by far a favorite of both me the teacher and my students. They're about the simple happy pleasures of everyday that often we tend to overlook in the pursuit for the Next Big Thing To Do For Fun And Excitement. It isn't necessary to start with any one particular book, but once you start reading H&M, you'll want to keep reading them all!!

Rating:
Summary: Homework Assignment
Review: I like this book because I like the stories. It was fun to see if the kittens are going to get in trouble by the new dog or not, and if Henry and Mudge were going to get into trouble by their dad. I like that Henry and Mudge ae such good friends, and that they understand each other.

Rating:
Summary: Fan-freakin'-tastic
Review: When you're dealing with as big a star as author Cynthia Rylant, you can look back on the artist's early projects and see the blooming seeds of greatness that established themselves early on. As an author, Rylant has penned books that speak to the quiet still voice in all of us. Her, "When I Was Young In the Mountains" is a delicate return to the Appalachia of her youth. More recently her, "God Went to Beauty School" gives us a book that is both succinct and grandiose. With these works (and many others) in mind I decided to take a gander at her early reader series starring the irascible Henry and his sweet natured St. Bernard (or so I assume him to be) Mudge.

In this, the second book in the "Henry and Mudge" series, we follow our intrepid duo through three bite sized adventures. In "Snow Glory", it's Spring and Henry has fallen head over heels in love with a small blue flower that has bloomed. Though his mother tells him not to pick it, Henry is entranced by the plant and confesses this love to his dog. Unfortunately, Mudge listens intently to Henry and then proceeds to devour the plant. Initially angry, Henry understands that it is necessary to forgive his pet and the two continue companionably. In the second tale, "Puddle Trouble", Henry forgets to inform his father that he and Mudge are going puddle jumping in the wet April weather. When his pop comes looking for the two, his intentions are not as dire as they may first appear. Finally, the third tale in this collection, "The Kittens", is for me the best written of the bunch. The cat who lives next door to Henry and Mudge has kittens, and the two friends have a great deal of fun watching the sweet little balls of fur play. The neighbors like to put the kittens in a box on the porch in the sun to give the mama cat some time to rest. Mudge is greatly attached to the little creatures, and when he suspects that they are threatened, he retaliates in a fashion unseen until now in the series.

Each story in this collection deals with a serious topic, lightly told and playfully presented. The first is about forgiving people for being themselves. The second informs people to act responsibly and, when appropriate, irresponsibly too. The third, my personal favorite, is about finding hidden reserves of strength. Mudge is such a lovable clumsy fellow that for most of the book he's featured as a happy-to-lucky kind of pup. When he sees something he loves threatened, however, he reacts with a great deal of self-possession. Accompanying Rylant's sly tales are Sucie Stevenson's illustrations. Admittedly, I can take or leave these pics. They're certainly lighthearted and fun and they get the story across without difficulty. Just the same, it might have been nice to give these tales a little more depth or feeling. So thought I until I saw the last illustration. After the kittens have been threatened and a potentially dangerous dog has left the premises there is an excellent shot of Mudge with his paws protectively around the sides of the kittens' box. His head is down but he looks completely alert and ready, in case of further trouble. It's an image that stays with you.

Good clean fun sums up the "Henry and Mudge" series fairly well. But what separates these books from other series like "Junie B. Jones" or "Cam Jansen" is their moral core. Rylant has given these books some heart and a little soul. In a series, this is extraordinary. For an author of Rylant's skill, however, it's just to be expected.

Rating:
Summary: Fan-freakin'-tastic
Review: When you're dealing with as big a star as author Cynthia Rylant, you can look back on the artist's early projects and see the blooming seeds of greatness that established themselves early on. As an author, Rylant has penned books that speak to the quiet still voice in all of us. Her, "When I Was Young In the Mountains" is a delicate return to the Appalachia of her youth. More recently her, "God Went to Beauty School" gives us a book that is both succinct and grandiose. With these works (and many others) in mind I decided to take a gander at her early reader series starring the irascible Henry and his sweet natured St. Bernard (or so I assume him to be) Mudge.

In this, the second book in the "Henry and Mudge" series, we follow our intrepid duo through three bite sized adventures. In "Snow Glory", it's Spring and Henry has fallen head over heels in love with a small blue flower that has bloomed. Though his mother tells him not to pick it, Henry is entranced by the plant and confesses this love to his dog. Unfortunately, Mudge listens intently to Henry and then proceeds to devour the plant. Initially angry, Henry understands that it is necessary to forgive his pet and the two continue companionably. In the second tale, "Puddle Trouble", Henry forgets to inform his father that he and Mudge are going puddle jumping in the wet April weather. When his pop comes looking for the two, his intentions are not as dire as they may first appear. Finally, the third tale in this collection, "The Kittens", is for me the best written of the bunch. The cat who lives next door to Henry and Mudge has kittens, and the two friends have a great deal of fun watching the sweet little balls of fur play. The neighbors like to put the kittens in a box on the porch in the sun to give the mama cat some time to rest. Mudge is greatly attached to the little creatures, and when he suspects that they are threatened, he retaliates in a fashion unseen until now in the series.

Each story in this collection deals with a serious topic, lightly told and playfully presented. The first is about forgiving people for being themselves. The second informs people to act responsibly and, when appropriate, irresponsibly too. The third, my personal favorite, is about finding hidden reserves of strength. Mudge is such a lovable clumsy fellow that for most of the book he's featured as a happy-to-lucky kind of pup. When he sees something he loves threatened, however, he reacts with a great deal of self-possession. Accompanying Rylant's sly tales are Sucie Stevenson's illustrations. Admittedly, I can take or leave these pics. They're certainly lighthearted and fun and they get the story across without difficulty. Just the same, it might have been nice to give these tales a little more depth or feeling. So thought I until I saw the last illustration. After the kittens have been threatened and a potentially dangerous dog has left the premises there is an excellent shot of Mudge with his paws protectively around the sides of the kittens' box. His head is down but he looks completely alert and ready, in case of further trouble. It's an image that stays with you.

Good clean fun sums up the "Henry and Mudge" series fairly well. But what separates these books from other series like "Junie B. Jones" or "Cam Jansen" is their moral core. Rylant has given these books some heart and a little soul. In a series, this is extraordinary. For an author of Rylant's skill, however, it's just to be expected.