[BOOK REVIEW] Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes

Title:  Lilly's Big Day

Author:  Kevin Henkes

Genre:  School / Weddings / Manners / Animals / Aspirations 

Year Published: 2006

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:   Greenwillow Books

Series: Mouse Books #9

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, it has been a long time since I had read a book from Kevin Henkes’ famous “Mouse” series since I had so many other children’s books to get through over the years.  Many of the books from the “Mouse” series had an everlasting place in my childhood nostalgia as I used to read these books when I was little and I was surprised that there was a newer book from Kevin Henkes’ “Mouse” series called “Lilly’s Big Day” which seems to be a conclusion of a sort to Lilly’s story!

Mr. Slinger, Lilly’s teacher, is about to get married to Ms. Shotwell, the school nurse and he excitedly tells the class about this big news.  Lilly is excited about this news as well as she believes that Mr. Slinger will ask her to be the flower girl at his wedding. However, when Lilly told her parents about the big news, her parents tried to explain to Lilly that just because Mr. Slinger is having a wedding, does not mean that Lilly will automatically become a flower girl in Mr. Slinger’s wedding. But Lilly still believed that she will become the flower girl in Mr. Slinger’s wedding and when Mr. Slinger finally told Lilly that she will not be the flower girl at his wedding and that his niece Ginger will be the flower girl, Lilly was upset by this.  But Mr. Slinger assured Lilly that she can be Ginger’s assistant and help her get through the wedding.

Will Lilly help Ginger get through the wedding and will she still be the center stage of the wedding?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  You know it has been so long since I had read a “Mouse” book from Kevin Henkes and I have not heard anything about Lilly and her adventures for many years now.  So, imagine my pure delight when I finally sat down and picked up a “Mouse” book that featured Lilly again and I was able to read more of her adventures in this cute and amazing book!   I loved the way that Kevin Henkes made this book seem like a finale to Lilly’s story (although, this might or might not be the final book featuring Lilly since I am not sure if Kevin Henkes is still writing books featuring Lilly) as we get to see Mr. Slinger finally getting married and seeing most of the characters featured in other “Mouse” books such as Chester, Julius and Victor make their appearances in this book.   I also enjoyed the scenes of Lilly imagining herself as the flower girl, even though Mr. Slinger had not said anything about Lilly being a flower girl as it shows that Lilly is in her own little world which was entertaining to watch.  It also shows how some children in real life would occasionally get their expectations for an event a bit too high and not think things completely through once they start imagining themselves in situations that they normally would not be able to participate in.  I also like the fact that Kevin Henkes actually progressed the characters much further in their lives in this book as we get to see Mr. Slinger get married and we see Lilly slightly maturing as a character, despite her need to be a flower girl.  Kevin Henkes’ artwork is as always adorable to look at as the mice characters look so cute and I loved the fact that we get to see these mice characters performing human activities such as planning weddings in a humanized way!  I especially love the appearance of Ginger herself as she is possibly the cutest character in the story with her pink dress and her small smile that shows up on each page!

Overall, “Lilly’s Big Day” is a truly fantastic book in Kevin Henkes’ famous “Mouse” series and I hope to read more from Kevin Henkes “Mouse” series in the near future!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless parents think that Lilly’s bratty behavior might be a bit troublesome for smaller children.

* 2007 Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Highly Commended Title

* 2007 Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Book Award

[BOOK REVIEW] Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

Title:  Kitten's First Full Moon

Author:  Kevin Henkes

Genre:  Animals / Humor / Bedtime / Adventure / Perseverance 

Year Published: 2004

Year Read:  2011

Publisher: Greenwillow Books       

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I have been reading Kevin Henkes’ works ever since I was a child and every one of his children’s books always featured mice as the main characters.  Well, imagine my surprise when I finally found a book by Kevin Henkes that was about a cat!  “Kitten’s First Full Moon” is a Caldecott Medal award winning book by Kevin Henkes and it is about a small kitten who tries to grab a bowl of milk in the sky (the moon!)  “Kitten’s First Full Moon” is a truly cute book that every child would definitely love for many years!

I was really interested in how well crafted this book was!  Kevin Henkes has done an excellent job at writing this story about a small kitten’s attempts to grab a “bowl of milk” in the sky.  The writing is extremely simple yet cute at the same time and I loved all the creative ways that Kitten tries to get to the moon, like trying to lick at it, jump towards the moon and chase after the moon.  It was also cute in how the kitten mistakes the full moon for being a bowl of milk as it strongly relates to any child’s first experiences with a certain object, like say a child mistakes a piece of chalk for candy and it was this experience that Kitten has that made this book extremely relatable to everyone who had mistaken objects for something else.  Kevin Henkes’ illustrations are truly beautiful and adorable as Kevin Henkes draws the Kitten in an extremely cute manner that my heart literally melted whenever I keep seeing an image of the little white kitten!  I also loved the background images in the story as they truly looking dazzling, especially the scene where Kitten is running through the fields and you can see flowers and tall grass as she approaches them.  The black and white colorings of the images make this book extremely fascinating to look at as it made the images look both dramatic and effective at the same time!

Overall, “Kitten’s First Full Moon” is a truly cute book for children who love reading about cats and experiencing new things in life.  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since the format of this book is simple for smaller children to read.

* 2005 Caldecott Medal
* 2005 Charlotte Zolotow Award
* 2005 Elizabeth Burr / Worzalla Award

[BOOK REVIEW] Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Title:  Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Author:  Kevin Henkes

Genre:  School / Animals / Manners / Creativity

Year Published: 1996

Year Read:  1997

Publisher:   Greenwillow Books

Series: Mouse Books #7

Source:  Library

Content Warning:  Ages 4+ (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I have been reading Kevin Henkes’ books ever since I was small, so it was a great day for me in discovering an old favorite of mine when I was small. “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse” is a children’s book by Kevin Henkes that details the relationship that Lilly has with her teacher Mr. Slinger and how one event almost causes a huge rift between them. “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse” is a truly beautiful book about having a great relationship with your teachers that everyone will love for many years!

Lilly loved going to school and she especially loved her teacher Mr. Slinger who was quite an extraordinary teacher. Lilly always wanted to be a teacher because of him and she always drew pictures of him. One day however, Lilly got a new purple plastic purse and movie star glasses and she wanted to show them to the class, but Mr. Slinger kept telling Lilly that she should wait until sharing time to share her purse. But Lilly would not wait and Mr. Slinger ended up taking her purse and her movie star glasses away. Lilly was so upset about this that she drew a cruel picture of Mr. Slinger and put it in his book bag.

Will Mr. Slinger find the drawing and will Lilly live with what she has done?

Oh my goodness! This is just as amazing as I remembered it! Kevin Henkes has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this book about the importance of good behavior and relationships with teachers. I loved the way that Kevin Henkes portrayed both Lilly and Mr. Slinger’s relationship with each other in a positive way as they clearly care about each other and I loved seeing Lilly’s enthusiasm in wanting to be a teacher based on her love of Mr. Slinger which is a truly inspirational moment of the book as Lilly truly wants to further express herself because of Mr. Slinger. I also loved Mr. Slinger himself as he is clearly a good natured teacher who was only doing his job and I also loved the way that he was still kind towards Lilly after the plastic purple purse incident and this is a really good example of how teachers should treat students who are often upset at getting into trouble for the first time. Kevin Henkes’ illustrations are extremely cute as the main characters are portrayed as mice which makes the illustrations look creative and the images that I loved seeing the most was of Lilly in her red and white starred boots and her creative outfits as she is clearly a very intuitive character.

Overall, “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse” is a truly memorable book for children who love their teachers and who are fans of Kevin Henkes’ works. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

* 1997 American Booksellers Book of the Year Award for Children