[BOOK REVIEW] The Big Jump and Other Stories by Benjamin Elkin

Title:  The Big Jump and Other Stories

Author:  Benjamin Elkin

Artist: Katherine Evans

Genre:  Children's / Fantasy

Year Published: 1958

Year Read:  1993 (Re Read: 2019)

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Intense Scenes)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

Now, I have been reading many children’s books ever since I was little and most of these children’s books that I had read at the time were inspired by Dr. Seuss’ works.  One of the Dr. Seuss inspired books that I had read as a child was an unknown children’s book called “The Big Jump and Other Stories” by Benjamin Elkin, along with artwork by Katherine Evans and it was such a treat to read again!

The book contains three stories that details the adventures of the King and a young boy named Ben.

The Big Jump

Many years ago, only the king was allowed to have a dog as a pet and the King had over a dozen dogs as pets.  One day, the King took his dogs out for a walk when suddenly, one of the dogs ran over to a young boy named Ben and would not go back to the king.  The king then decided that he will give the dog to Ben if Ben is able to jump to the top of the palace like the King can.

Something New

The story starts off with the King trying to find something new in the woods so that he could take this new item to the bad king of a separate kingdom.  If the good king does not bring the bad king an item that he has never seen before, then the bad king will take all of the good king’s gold.  Ben then comes up with a plan that might help the good king keep his gold.

The Wish Sack

One day, an old man meets up with Ben and decided to give Ben a small wish sack that will grant anyone’s wishes.  Ben was happy with receiving such a gift, but he did not notice that the bad king had witnessed all of this and the bad king decided to steal the sack from Ben. So, the bad king sent his soldiers to Ben’s house and had them steal Ben’s wish sack. Ben tried to go after the soldiers to get his sack back, but the good king came by and told Ben to wait until nightfall so that they could properly enact a plan to get the wish sack back.

Wow! I never would have thought that I would find another children’s book from Beginner Books that would be just as good as Dr. Seuss’ works!  Benjamin Elkin has done an excellent job at writing this book as while it is not done in a rhyming style that is synonymous with Dr. Seuss’ works, the narrative is still creatively done!  I loved the fact that the narrative is both fluffy and intense at the same time as you have light hearted scenes with the King and Ben spending time with each other, while having darker scenes with the bad king causing problems for Ben and the good King.  I loved Ben himself as he is such a clever and friendly little boy who is willing to help out the King with his problems.  Ben’s relationship with the King is probably the main highlight of this book as the good King has complete trust in Ben’s judgement on certain affairs and Ben would do anything to help the King with his problems.  Katherine Evans’ artwork is adorable to look at as all the characters are drawn in an old-fashioned way that is reminiscent of stories like “The Little House” and “Mike Mulligan,” giving you a sort of nostalgic feel to the whole story.

Overall, “The Big Jump” is a truly fantastic book for children who love reading about kings and learning about the importance of friendship.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless the scenes with the bad king might be a bit intense for some smaller children.

You might also like:

• Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

• Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss

[ARC REVIEW] The Cat Who Ate Christmas by Lil Chase

Title:  The Cat Who Ate Christmas

Author:  Lil Chase

Artist: Thomas Docherty

Genre:  Children's / Animals / Pets / Family / Christmas / Humor

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  4/23/2018

Publisher: RP Kids

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Mischief)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and RP Kids for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I was browsing for more books on NetGalley again and I stumbled upon a children’s book that had a pretty interesting title, which was called “The Cat Who Ate Christmas” which is written by Lil Chase along with artwork by Thomas Docherty and of course, I had to pick this book up for the title alone! 

It is Christmas and the Hudson family are celebrating the holidays with activities such as decorating their tree and cooking a big and delicious turkey!   Unfortunately, Jingles, the family cat, is being extremely naughty this Christmas as he destroys the family’s Christmas decorations and ends up eating the family turkey!  Of course, everyone in the family gets cross with Jingles and this causes Jingles to run away from home!

Can the Hudson family find Jingles or will their Christmas be ruined?

Read this book to find out!

Lil Chase did a great job at writing this book as this book turned out way differently than what I had expected!  I must admit that when I first saw the title of this book, I thought that the cat in this book actually did ate Christmas or at least ate everything that dealt with Christmas!  But, when I actually started reading this book, I found out that the title of this book was more in a metaphorical sense than what I had originally thought and it made the title of this book such an interesting concept for a simple family mishap!  I loved the fact that Lil Chase made the Hudson family into such a caring and loving family as they might get a bit annoyed by Jingles’ antics, but they do truly care about Jingles in the end.  I also enjoyed the scenes of the family members setting up their decorations for Christmas as it made the book so relatable to me as my family and I love to hang up the decorations for Christmas every year and this book made me wish that Christmas was actually here already!  Thomas Docherty’s artwork is highly creative as the artwork is done mainly in two colors, which are blue and glitter (at least in the edition I got).  I loved the way that the items done in glittering colors really stood out in the artwork as they bring out the importance of the items in the story, such as the turkey and the Christmas decorations.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the pacing of this book was a bit slow at times and there were times where I tried to speed through this book to get to the more intriguing parts of the book.

Overall, “The Cat Who Ate Christmas” is a truly humorous and cute book that children who want to read books about Christmas or who want to read books about naughty pets will easily enjoy!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• Morris's Disappearing Bag by Rosemary Wells

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss
• Max's Christmas by Rosemary Wells

[ARC REVIEW] Scout's Heaven by Bibi Dumon Tak (@ebyrbooks)

Title:  Scout's Heaven

Author:  Bibi Dumon Tak

Artist: Annemarie van Haeringen

Genre:  Pets / Drama / Children's / Death / Family

Year Published: 2016

Year Read: 2018

Publisher:  Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Source:  eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Discussions about Death)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I have read many children’s books that dealt with the subject of death of a pet or a loved one, but I had never read a children’s book quite as unique as Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen’s book “Scout’s Heaven,” which I got from NetGalley!

The story starts off with a family’s beloved dog Scout, dying and the family ends up burying him after his death.  While the family mourned for the loss of their pet, Little Brother started asking questions about whether or not Scout is now in Heaven and is happy there.  At first, the family was not sure how to answer Little Brother’s questions since they were all still grieving over Scout’s death, but then a strange and wonderous thing happens…

What wonderous thing happened to the family and will they be able to cope with Scout’s death?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! I must admit that I was quite impressed with how this book dealt with the subject of death in a children’s book and I think that it handled it pretty well!   Both Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen did an excellent job at writing this book as this book is extremely emotional to read through as I sympathized with the family’s efforts to try to deal with the death of their pet.  I also felt sympathy for Little Brother as he was constantly asking his family questions about Scout’s whereabouts after he died and I think that Little Brother’s reactions to Scout’s death is pretty realistic to how a young child would react to their pets or loved ones dying.  They would be asking questions about the concept of death and would be wondering where their loved ones would go after their deaths.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the story was a bit too short and I wished that they actually fleshed out the story a bit more so that way, we would be able to learn more about what Scout was like when he was still alive and what kind of activities the family did with him so that way, the news of Scout’s death would have had a more emotional impact on the readers.  Also, apparently the copy I got from NetGalley did not have the artwork that was supposed to go with this story and even though I still liked the story, I would have liked it better if I had received a copy that had the artwork contained in it.

Overall, “Scout’s Heaven” is a lovely book about learning how to deal with the death of a pet and this is definitely a book that would be enjoyable to children both young and old!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the theme of death might upset some smaller children.

You might also like:

• My Little Heart, Ruthie by Toni Jannotta

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• Is a Worry Worrying You? by Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz