[BOOK REVIEW] Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp by Mercer Mayer

Title:  Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp

Author:  Mercer Mayer

Genre: Animals / Classic / Mischief / Horror / Trickery / African American

Year Published: 1976

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: Four Winds Press - Macmillan Publishing Company

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Some Scary Scenes involving Monsters)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp” is a clever tale set in the swamp by Mercer Mayer, well-known author of the “Little Critter” series and it is about how a smart and brave girl named Liza Lou manages to outsmart the monsters that lurk in the swamp. “Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp” is an amazing book about battle of wits that children will love for many years!

Mercer Mayer has certainly outdone himself in this tale of cunning and bravery as it details the wild adventures that Liza Lou has in the Yeller Belly Swamp. Mercer Mayer shows Liza Lou as a strong and cunning female character as she is able to trick any monster that comes in her path and she never shows fear in front of any monster she comes across. Liza Lou is also shown as a well-behaved child as she always does what her mother tells her to do and she has so much knowledge about what lies in the swamp as she knows every monster’s weakness and Liza Lou’s character will surely teach children how being cunning towards bullies always works out the best. Mercer Mayer’s illustrations are beautiful and hilarious at the same time, especially of the images of some of the monsters themselves as the monsters that Liza Lou encounter look large and menacing, such as the swamp haunt wearing a white sheet and yet has large feet and a bucktooth, but the monsters also look hilarious whenever they are shocked or frightened off by the tricks that Liza Lou pulls on them.

Parents should know that the monsters in this book might frighten smaller children as some of them do look a bit threatening such as the image of the swamp haunt looking like a large person being covered in a white sheet and has matted black hair and is shown to be transparent. Parents might want to tell their children that there are no such things as monsters in real life; however they must be careful whenever they travel to dangerous places by themselves or they should be accompanied by their parents until they get older to understand the dangers of the world.

“Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp” is a truly clever and exciting book that children who love reading about swamps and monsters will easily enjoy for many years. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the images of the monsters might scare smaller children.

Feature and Follow Friday #10: Happy 4th of July!

The Feature and Follow Friday Meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and basically what this meme is all about is that you get to new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogging Community by following each blogger!  All you have to do is leave your name and your blog name on the post on the main Feature and Follow Friday Meme page and then create your own post on Feature and Follow Friday and link back to the main page and then you visit as many blogs as you want and you tell the other bloggers "hi!" in their comments (on the post that has the Feature and Follow Friday Image). You follow that blogger and they follow you back!  Just make sure to follow back if that blogger follows you back!

Well fellow readers, it looks like I am back on track on reading again!  My new job is going smoothly now, since I've learned everything I need to know and now it seems like everything is pretty easy to do at my new job (although I still make a few mistakes every now and then).  I hope that I do well on this job and use the money from this job to buy more books for this year!  Also, Happy 4th of July to everyone!  Hopefully, we can get some fireworks to shoot this year!

 Question of the Week: What is the first book you remember reading? - Suggested by Bookish Findings. 

 Hmm...this is a tough one since I've read so many books when I was little.  But, probably the first book I've ever read was Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat."  This one springs to mind the most because I've read a lot of books by Dr. Seuss when I was little and "The Cat in the Hat" was the one that really inspired me to read even more books afterwards.

So, what was the first book you've ever read?

Please comment down below!
 

June Monthly Wrap Up!

Hey everybody! I'm going to go through everything that I had done for June which includes how many challenges I was able to complete to how many books I've read during this month!

June Challenges Wrap Up:

2015 I Love Picture Books

Completed:1

1.  What's in Fox's Sack? by Paul Galdone: Completed: 6/29/2015

2015 Bookish Bingo Summer Edition

Completed: 1

Date: June 1, 2015 - August 31, 2015

1. Blue Cover: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas: Completed: 6/14/2015

2015 Full House Reading Challenge

Completed: 1

1. Novella: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas: Completed: 6/14/2015

Other Reviews and Activities Completed this Month:

1. [Top Ten Tuesday] Top Ten Tuesday #15: Top 10 Books I Would Love to See as Movies/TV Shows

2. [Sunday Post]  The Sunday Post Meme (25)

3. [Graphic Novel Review]  Rat Queens Volume 1 Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe: Completed: 6/13/2015

4. [Old Review] The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter

[BOOK REVIEW] What's in Fox's Sack? by Paul Galdone

Title:  What's in Fox's Sack

Author:  Paul Galdone

Genre: Animals / Folktale / England / Trickery

Year Published: 1982

Year Read:  2015

Publisher: Clarion Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Depictions of Kidnapping)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

Wow! I have certainly been on the roll when it comes to reading Paul Galdone’s books!  So, I just recently stumbled upon another picture book written and illustrated by Paul Galdone called “What’s In Fox’s Sack?” which is based off an old English tale and man, was it a pretty interesting tale!

The story starts off with Fox finding a big bumblebee in the ground and he decides to put the bumblebee into his sack.  Later on, Fox meets up with a very little woman and he asks her to watch his sack while he goes off to visit his friend Squintum.  After Fox had left, the very little woman looked into the sack anyway and out flew the bumblebee, who ends up being gobbled by the very little woman’s rooster.  When Fox comes back, the very little woman confessed to Fox that she opened the sack and her rooster ate up the bumblebee after it flew out of the sack.  So, Fox decides to put the very little woman’s rooster into the sack instead and he continues to travel across the village, meeting up with different women while getting many different creatures into his sack! 

I have read many folktales that deal with tricksters trying to get want they want in various ways, but I have never read a tale where said trickster uses a normal sack to capture his prey in exchange for something much bigger and better!  Paul Galdone has done an excellent job at retelling this ancient English folktale as it shows how trickery against innocent bystanders can have its own consequences and I really enjoyed seeing Fox going to different houses in each page and put something even bigger and better than the last prey he captures into his sack, such as putting a rooster from a little lady into his sack to putting a pig from a very big woman into his sack after the rooster escapes from the sack.  I also loved how unique this story is since I had never read a story that dealt with the trickster tricking everyone he meets by taking their possessions and putting them into his sack while he looks for a much larger prey on his journey through the village. Paul Galdone’s artwork is as usual gorgeous to look at as the characters look so scratchy and yet they really convey the traditional sense of this story, especially of the images of Fox looking so sneaky whenever he is taking his sack to different places in the village.

Overall, “What’s in Fox’s Sack?” is a truly fantastic book about tricky animals and I am sure that children and parents will enjoy this book for many years!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

WWW Wednesdays #2: July 1, 2015

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

I'm currently reading "Grave Mercy" by Robin LaFevers and it's pretty good so far! I'm really enjoying these books that have female assassins in the lead roles!

I just finished reading "The Assassin's Blade" by Sarah J. Maas and it was fantastic!  I just loved the extra back story of the main heroine and I definitely can't wait to check out the rest of this series soon!

Since I already have this book in my book pile, I'll try to read "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell next as soon as I finish up "Grave Mercy!"

Looking for New Co-Bloggers for Rabbit Ears Productions Blog!

Hello everyone! I am currently searching for some new co-bloggers for my Rabbit Ears Productions Blog over at wordpress!  Here's the link for more information on what to expect in becoming a co-blogger of this website:

https://rabbitearsblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/announcement-looking-for-new-co-bloggers-for-this-blog/

And please feel free to sign up to become a co-blogger of this website!  You don't necessarily have to know what Rabbit Ears Productions is, just have fun on this blog and participate in the many discussions we have regarding books or Rabbit Ears in general!